Napoleon 100% Conquest with no Vassals.

[Uscari]

I recently did a fun challenge with Napoleon where I conquered the world outright, having all territories as direct French territory instead of vassal states. Figured I'd share some of my experience.

There are 21 turns in the Napoleon Campaign and 18 nations excluding your own. However, 6 of your turns are predetermined and you have limited control of how to proceed. The key to conquering the whole world is making sure you basically are positioned to conquer a nation every single turn.

There are 4 routes you can do at the start.

1. Royalist Campaign -> Spanish Campaign (Defeat Royalists and Spain)
2. Austrian Campaign --> Spanish Campaign (Kill only Spain)
3. Royalist Campaign --> North African Campaign (Defeat Royalists, Knights of Malta and Mamelukes)
4. Austrian Campaign --> North African Campaign (Defeat Knights of Malta and Mamelukes.

Assuming you don't lose any battles, you have 15 turns left and this is where you stand if you go each of those routes.

1. 16 nations left with 15 turns. (1 turn deficit)
2. 17 nations left with 15 turns. (2 turn deficit)
3. 15 nations left with 15 turns. (0 turn deficit)
4. 16 nations left with 15 turns. (1 turn deficit)

The route I went with was Royalist Campaign and Spanish Campaign. I think this is the best route for multiple reasons:

1. It provides colonies which makes it easier to conquer other nations with.
2. It opens up a route to Portugal without fighting Britain or spending an extra turn invading Spain.
3. You get the Advisor Talleyrand and Advisor Fouche cards which allow you to mitigate the turn deficit by turning nations against each other and having them eliminate 1 nation.

I haven't found any way to win with option #2, it may be possible that the Dutch and Swedes eliminate each other without the Advisor Fouche card, but that's completely up to chance. If it could be accomplished however, it would be nice as it would make overrunning Corsica and getting the Commander Paoli card much easier without sacrificing the strategic benefits of conquering Spain.

So has anyone else tried this? Do you have any favorite strategies to truly conquer the world in the Napoleon Campaign?

[Fission Power]

I believe I've passed this campaign exactly like you said, with 100% conquest. Yes, all you have to do is attack capitals and don't lose the battles. I don't remember the exact route though. The tough battles were:
The very first, with citizens which are constantly rebelling and monarchists attacking.
Battle for Britait battle, I even coudn't win the first time because of Portuguese allies that eventually outnumbered me, so I had to conquer Apennines.
Sweden were tough as well, but only becuase I had to fight with four nations at a time. Thankfully I've managed to quickly reach Civic 4 teck and get sweet Wonder bonuses.
Moscow battle. Later I realized that even wasn't Russian capital, ha-ha...
All was performed in Tough difficulty.

[Uscari]

Originally posted by Fission Power:

I believe I've passed this campaign exactly like you said, with 100% conquest. Yes, all you have to do is attack capitals and don't lose the battles. I don't remember the exact route though. The tough battles were:
The very first, with citizens which are constantly rebelling and monarchists attacking.
Battle for Britait battle, I even coudn't win the first time because of Portuguese allies that eventually outnumbered me, so I had to conquer Apennines.
Sweden were tough as well, but only becuase I had to fight with four nations at a time. Thankfully I've managed to quickly reach Civic 4 teck and get sweet Wonder bonuses.
Moscow battle. Later I realized that even wasn't Russian capital, ha-ha...
All was performed in Tough difficulty.

I think the key to the Battle of Britain is way easier when you get the full navy which I think they offer you by Turn 11.

However, I'm currently trying out a strat where I take out Britain earlier by starting out with 3 mercenary cards and pairing that with the Knights of Malta nation bonuses, giving me free economy and an army large enough to take Great Britain uncontested.

The Portuguese are a problem but fortunately they won't have much room to make an economy, I think they can get rushed down if you can manage to cross the english channel quickly.

Oddly enough when I did the campaign the hardest battle was Saxony. I don't think they let you keep your strategic resources in that fight and you end up going up against like 4 different nations. It's a pain.