Poland - can never be stopped.....

[jmstitanic]

In my recent campaigns in Empire Total War, Poland has always gotten out of hand and has taken over almost half of Europe. In the beginning of the campaign, they don't start out with any ports and have a weak economy. I almost always expect for Prussia and/or Austria to destroy Poland in the first 20 turns or so. Instead, Poland wipes out Austria AND Prussia. I give Austria and Prussia money, technology and gifts to give them the upper hand over Poland. But they never seem to benefit from them and are always destroyed. This happens in almost every one of my campaigns. And in my recent campaign as Austria, I never have a trade agreement with Poland, nor do I give them any techs. I ally with Prussia, give them techs and money, and they seem to do fine. Prussia conquers Barvaria, Saxony, and East Prussia, almost getting Poland into a chokehold. Then, Poland revs up numerous armies out of nowhere and almost destroys Prussia. What's the big deal? How do I keep Poland from getting too strong? ***Poland is at war with half of Europe, and I'm kind of acting as a pacifist in my campaign as I don't want to go to war with Poland***

[Josh]

The AI follows consistent patterns of behaviour at some points.

For example, the Maratha Confederacy in India will *always* defeat the Mughal Empire. It seems it is scripted to happen, which I admit makes the game less exciting.

Not everything is pre-determined though. I have had some campaigns where Sweden has conquered Russia and even odd things happening where the AI has exchanged or sold cities to a distant nation (the Marathas from India bought a city in Europe!)

Can't say I ever had a problem with Poland in particular. The issue with attacking them is that they have Russia to back them up. It shouldn't be too hard to knock them out of the equation, try and take Warsaw (the capital) early on. Keep an eye on your Prussian allies and support their soldiers when possible.

Playing as the Austrians, if you're having trouble multi-tasking with the territories you start with, sell some to another country (maybe even Prussia and see if that helps). The quick cash you get for the deal will help you invest more money into your other territories or early armies.

[ReallyMeanGoldfish]

In different campaigns, I have seen different outcomes. Poland almost always becomes strong unless they declare war on the Ottomans. For some reason, they cannot seem to progresss against them.
In most campaigns, it isn't until I decide what happens to them , that bad things happen to them.
I had one game where tittle Hannover conquered Sweden and half of Central Europe.

[Iron93]

for me it is the same
in many cases poland seems undefeatable
the only solution is that YOU declare war against it
anywhay i made 3-4 long campaigns nd in 3/4 Maratha wins but if you give them money especially at the beginning they canwin

[Ultra Smurf]

The instant a country declares war it usually leads with them taking or trying to take a city within the same turn. Prussia is small, only two territories that are located close to the border of Poland. Within one turn they lose a city, any armies in that territory and are forced on the defensive as they can’t reclaim it. Usually it’s their Capital and East Prussia is not geared up to produce anything beyond militia quality troops, soon it falls.

By now Austria decide to attack Poland for the Lols and join in the fun, usually between Poland conquering East Prussia or slightly after. Russia does nothing but border skirmishes with Sweden and possible have taken Crimea by now. Britain has declared war due to an alliance with Prussia but only block Poland’s Black sea trading ports. Poland gets carried into the conflict between Russia and Sweden but does nothing, Sweden blockades their ports alongside Britain. They are usually dragged into Russia’s war with Ottoman Empire but do nothing despite being in a position of control.

With no one to attack Poland to the North, East or South they quickly take most of Austria’s territories bar main and hungry. Poland is so land locked that it's hard to take them unless you use top tier units, other factions will not provide any help to you as most of their armies are throttled.

Spain or France might declare war but they are so concentrated with the Berbers that they do nothing beyond destroying ships and raiding trade routes. Though Austria holds out for quite some time they eventually cave in due to a lack of support and inability to compete with Poland’s far superior production rate. Poland’s now rules over all Austrian and Prussian territories.

Despite being at war with all of Europe, nothing is done. They start to rebuild and mass stupid armies un-challenged. Only the West in Venerable to attack but the smaller states have no real power and the bigger powers decide to do nothing. They are still at war with Ottoman Empire but the later does nothing. It is one of the greatest ironies of the game that Poland prefer to go for the harder to take territories and then leave Ottomans venerable lot alone until Late game.

By know you have realise the mistake of leaving Poland alone and they are almost impossible to move unless you spend 20 Turns creating multiple stacks to attack Poland via the Mediterranean and Black Sea, even then they won’t go easily.

The Answer???
Attack them early in the game with big armies and hold territories let the other faction mop up. Russia won’t bother you as they have Sweden and Ottoman ships to contend with. I am also sure that you can make Russia break their alliance with Poland, don’t know if that only Napoleonic Wars. You could also try landing Rakes in their territories and sabotage most of their buildings, the rake spam will cause hell and slow them down. If you are playing say... Spain or England and don’t want their territories and all the hassle that comes with just do raids and kill all of their armies and Austria and Prussia will take over land. Ask Prussia or Austria to allow for you to cross their lands to pursue this tactic. If you want to keeps costs to a minimum just use a single highly trained army then and not multiple stacks.

Whatever you may chose the main aim is attack, economic might will not scratch Poland as remember they can survive without ports and trade agreements, the only way defeat them is on the open field. You got armies so use them.

[|FTG|Mouth of Delorian]

normally poland owns in my campaigns but weirdly in the one were i am the marathas austria is has been nearly destroyed by prussia, sweden and the ottomans are conquering russia, persia is conquering the ottomans and prussia and poland are at a standstill. they both own roughly the same amount of regions which is 6/7 each. also the dutch are starting to conquer lands in europe which never happens for me either. they are always defeated in about 50-60 turns for me but they are growing.

[Ultra Smurf]

Really depends if you are close enough to influence events. Now and again Prussia manage to conquer a line of lands from their capitol to Bavaria. Though they then slowly got worn away by multiple enemies not giving them time to regroup, the remoteness of their territories signs their death warrant. When Poland’s does take Austria’s Capitol they always rise up in rebellion but get put down by the next turn. Sweden usually take Moscow for Russia to then retaliate by taking Sweden’s Black Sea port to the North (City above Moscow, forgot name). Russia tend to have the upper hand but it takes half of the game just for that to happen, and they are usually tide up from Crimea with Ottoman ships.

I have never seen Prussia lay a single finger on Ottoman though Persia is another story. Mid game for me Martha manages to push through and quickly and I mean over the period of a few turns to take all ottoman territories East of Istanbul, never go further than that.

The Dutch always end up being ganged up on by France and Spain, their ports blocked by Sweden and are left alone with 1 full stack in their city and another close to their port. When I want to expand I usually mop up their over sea territories for some easy gain. They can do nothing but you have to be aware for the occasional ship they have lurking about on trade routes. They never get touched beyond Blockade and declaration of war the computer lets them sit still and the Dutch does nothing... Until I come MU HA HA HA

[|FTG|Mouth of Delorian]

weirdly poland has somehow managed to just managed to take 2 swedish lands despite the prussians constantly attacking them. also the austrians have done a comeback and are destroying the ottomans. the dutch are starting to invade france and are also threatening the prussians. meanwhile the spanish are busy invading africa. does anybody else get spain deciding to just invade africa because it happens every time in my campaigns?

[Ultra Smurf]

Spain will always invade Morocco while Britain will go for Berber territories, France express some interest but nothing usually come from this. Though in a game Spain *WILL ATTACK* Morocco and Britain *WILL ATTACK* Berbers, there are some instances that this isn’t the case of Britain but Spain taking Morocco is like 95% unless you intervene or take Spain.

It probably comes down to scripting with the conquest of Portugal in early game follow by Morocco slightly after. Think the ai is set a list of priorities and target of importance set by developers as roughly every game, events tend to pan out the same or at least follow a sting of events though there are instances where this isn’t the case.

[juliancoleman2162]

My last Campaign as the Dutch Prussia destroyed Poland now my campaign with Spain Poland destroyed Prussia. Also I have seen the Mughals ruling all of India

[Diphridas]

This is weird Prussia Austria and Russia almost always carve up Poland within a few turns

[SnakesAndArrows71]

In darthmod I have not seen the Marathas beat the Mughals yet.....

[Iron93]

another thing
in a campaign with sweden on hard/medium i conquered england
at a certain point a maratha's fleet with a big army appear in SCOTLAND!
i think that this is one of the most strange things never happened
also in that campaign stangely France (that usually stays immobile) at 100th turn it started to conquest Italy
at the moment it wiped out Genova and Savoia and it is involved in a war against Italian States to get Rome

[juliancoleman2162]

Originally posted by Iron93*"G·L™"*:

another thing
in a campaign with sweden on hard/medium i conquered england
at a certain point a maratha's fleet with a big army appear in SCOTLAND!
i think that this is one of the most strange things never happened
also in that campaign stangely France (that usually stays immobile) at 100th turn it started to conquest Italy
at the moment it wiped out Genova and Savoia and it is involved in a war against Italian States to get Rome

I have seen this where Maratha's ln Scotland. The campaign im playing now Italian states have taken French and Dutch Guyana, as well as Munich lol.

[Josh]

Originally posted by Lord Jethro "The Chevrolet Guy":

In darthmod I have not seen the Marathas beat the Mughals yet.....

But we are not talking about Darthmod...this is the vanilla game.

[Captain_NES]

Poland usually wins because their constant militia stack spammage overwhelms Austria (who's usually warring on multiple fronts), and Prussia (usually focuses conquering western EU). Yeah, thats pretty much all they do. Just throwing bodies at every country in the west with Russia at their back.