Advice on Idea Groups for England/Great Britain?

[Corvus_Alt1]

So, I'm thinking of playing as England for my next game, and I was wondering if anyone had some advice on the best idea groups and the order in which I should take them. Any suggestions?

[Lembley42]

I think I'd go something like
Exploration -> Quantity / Offensive -> Trade -> Administrative (to the 2nd, for -25% Core Costs if you want to expand) or the other Quantity / Offensive
but im gonna sleep now, its almost 8am >_<

[Sum Ting Wong]

i go with naval -> exploration -> trade -> expansion and then pick the rest depending on what would be more helpful at the time

[Corvus_Alt1]

Thanks for the advice everyone. Not sure whether or not Naval should precede Exploration though. Of course, there is the issue of trying to juggle so many diplomatic idea groups consecutively, so I may need to add some military or administrative ideas in between. And then there is the question of whether I should go for Expansion after Exploration is finished, or if Naval and Trade hold higher precedence. I really would like to be able to beat everyone to the East Indies, Philippines, and Australia while I'm taking North America. Also, I am thinking of getting Quality, Defense and/or Offense, and I'm still deciding what to do for the remaining groups and the ideal order. Economic perhaps? Or Innovative? Or something else?

[Mikey]

Originally posted by Sum Ting Wong:

i go with naval -> exploration -> trade -> expansion and then pick the rest depending on what would be more helpful at the time

so you'd spend your first 10000+ diplo points on ideas rather than expanding the naval tech?

[Shin]

I'm currently playing an England game, and I'm liking Exploration -> Expansion -> Quality -> Administrative -> Defense -> Naval

Being behind isn't too bad if you can lock down the trade nodes in North America... which also had me at war with Spain and I've won the war. The qaulity makes the most of the small amount of men I have, so that's useful. Defensive for the extra morale is vital as well. Naval for the obvious. I'm still debating if Trade is important or not... I'll likely get it... but I'm definitely considering innovative to save monarch points long term...5% is huge if you can use it for ideas... In the future, I would likely take Innovative as the third set of ideas... the points saved will allow for the purchase of future ideas.

[Lembley42]

i dont think expansion is necessary in any way. and if you dont rush 2x diplomatic, you can get the trade effiency & colonialrange with the diplomatic techs (which will also boost your navy overall and allows you to build more ships (via docks etc.)
and Quality?? i mean, as a colonial power you really need manpower, thats why I would prefer quantity instead.

[Xander Tyrann]

i'd say expansion is an important one to go for as it is a good blend of increasing colonising speed and trade power early on, which is really what i found most important. Trade ideas give such a strong boost its a tough decision between the two. Naval 50% force limit increase is tempting but i think both expansion and trade trump it and theres not much else i find important in naval for England / GB. by the mid 1500's i was rolling in money, so raising naval limits through shipyards etc wasnt too much of a problem by this point either.

I agree with quantity over quality, but i used mercs quite a lot during my playthrough in major wars, since money was my main attribute. your standing army should always be big enough for your colonial needs. though i still cant see any reason to take any of the others over quantity.

[Lembley42]

offensive gives better leaders, and good leaders can win wars.

@expansion, true but the AI doesnt tend to be very effective / active on colonization and as you pointed out you get pretty rich through the trade so i dont see a reason for wasting even more diplo points early on just to be swimming in money a few years earlier, when most of the game, money tend to be quite useless (forcelimits & manpower are the important stuff)

[Corvus_Alt1]

Okay, wow, never thought I'd see so many comments. Thanks for the input everyone! I think I'll probably go with Exploration, Quality, Expansion, Innovative, Naval, Defense, Trade, and probably Offense, though I may end up switching Quality and Expansion later on depending on how the AI behaves. Again, thanks everyone, and Happy Holidays!

[AXEMAN!]

Originally posted by Lembley42:

I think I'd go something like
Exploration -> Quantity / Offensive -> Trade -> Administrative (to the 2nd, for -25% Core Costs if you want to expand) or the other Quantity / Offensive
but im gonna sleep now, its almost 8am >_<

oy m8, found you

[Fellini_Fiend]

All of these are good ideas if you plan on colonizing. Personally, I've done a lot of colonization and when I continue my England game I'm doing that. I just want to eat up France and Iberia and be completely content with that. If any of the other colonizers still have colonial nations when I annex them then that's a plus because then that's a free colonial nation I didn't have to micro manage. Also, because England's national ideas are already naval heavy focused I would go with some ideas that help ground troops, goods produced and trade.

[Laladen]

Nice necro

[ChaffyExpert]

Avoid the BBB!

[jonny]

Exploration > Expansion >Quantity >Quality. works well for me :)

[King_0_Hell]

Generally, I kinda for idea's based on the points of my leader and heir. For instance, Right now, I'm playing as England myself, my ruler is a 6-1-2 and my heir is a 5-1-1. Although ADM points are vital early on, I've decided to power through the humanist idea group right off the bat, because I've got a great chance to get the idea group finished somewhat fast, which means I can get that -10% idea cost reduction as early as possible.

Combine that with my plans for going protestant when the reformation hits, and I'm saving a lot of points on ideas :D