Matrix Games Forums

Bought this game yesterday and spend the 1st day reading the manual. Now want to start mu first game but am wondering what a good nation is to start with.

IMHO, Italy (and not because I'm Italian ).

You are a regional power, so not some small fry but also not the globe-spanning Commonwealth. You have a single area of interest, The Med - which is (as historically always was) a hotbed of intrigue. You need to keep an eye on A-H, France and UK - with UK not being so overbearing due to the increasing menace of Germany in thew North Sea.

[Historically, UK and France had a "understanding": France would cover the Med with almost all her naval assets with Britain protecting her Atlantic/Northern Coast with the Home Fleet. This because it was a given that Italy and A-H, allied, would have tried to dominate the Med. To give an idea of how wild the situation was, Franco-Italian relations were at their lowest point in 1912 - three years later they were allied, and both had built the wrong fleet].

Anyway, Italy gives you a manageable fleet and a focused but very interesting theatre of operations. They also have some unexpected strong bonuses. "Ship Design" as research advantage, triple turrets and moto torpedo boats.

Of course I do hope that the developers didn't implement some very Italian stunts like the "Terni scandal". If you don't know what it was... you don't want to know.

I'll second Italy. It's my first time playing and it's not very hard to rule the Mediterranean if you keep your focus there. You'll pick up colonies (like Iceland for me for some reason), but mostly can focus on your area. It's not too difficult to keep your research going at 10 to 12 most of the game and be at the forefront (or close to) of tech. I've also never run into an issue with fleet size, but I keep my ports expanding most of the time.

It depends what year you would like to start:

1890 and 1900:
Italy - Suggested as Italy is decent with minimal overseas commitment
France - Could be good start too as have large fleet but overseas commitment put another burdern to you.
Austria-Hungary -Could be good to but a little lacking over Italy.
Russia - Has specific play, so I would not suggest for the beginner
Japan, USA -I would not suggest as they are separated
China, Spain - I would not suggest as they are the most difficult to play.
UK - I would not suggest as it can be overwhelming for the beginner

Other years only quickly.
1920, 1935
Italy, probably France can be too

Started a 1890 and a 1900 as Italy, and it does seem pretty manageable.

Although now I have to concentrate on not getting sacked in 3 or 4 years and get some ships built. Seems the secret is in the responses to the events that pop up - keep losing prestige.

Dave

ultradave wrote: Sun May 21, 2023 12:23 am Started a 1890 and a 1900 as Italy, and it does seem pretty manageable.

Although now I have to concentrate on not getting sacked in 3 or 4 years and get some ships built. Seems the secret is in the responses to the events that pop up - keep losing prestige.

Dave

You can hover your mouse over each response to an event and you should see something like "prestige + tension ++", which shows the general effects of that decision if selected.

Yes well I couldn't wait for your replies and started a game as Japan. That didn't go that well...
So following your advice will start a new game as italy.

WilliamMiller wrote: Sun May 21, 2023 4:42 pm

ultradave wrote: Sun May 21, 2023 12:23 am Started a 1890 and a 1900 as Italy, and it does seem pretty manageable.

Although now I have to concentrate on not getting sacked in 3 or 4 years and get some ships built. Seems the secret is in the responses to the events that pop up - keep losing prestige.

Dave

You can hover your mouse over each response to an event and you should see something like "prestige + tension ++", which shows the general effects of that decision if selected.

Ah, thanks for that. I hadn't noticed and/or missed it. That will help. Seems like by flying by the seat of my pants I continually lose prestige.

Dave

I would add suggestion about fleet size to be somewhere in the middle, from medium to larger.
Having smaller fleet can be difficult as any mistake can be big mistake and larger fleets can be a little overwhelming.

weinsoldner wrote: Sat May 20, 2023 9:21 am Bought this game yesterday and spend the 1st day reading the manual. Now want to start mu first game but am wondering what a good nation is to start with.

My favorite has always been Japan. I always like starting out not having powerful adversaries as neighbors. It seems like a little bit simpler of a start in some ways.