My first properly successful game was as Brazil. I think it's a great candidate for new players, less competitive diplomatic sphere than Europe with loads of room for growth and a relatively malleable political situation. Its position in the prestige/power rankings gives a less antagonistic early game but a clear and relatively straightforward path to becoming a great power.
If you play it right you can take all the South American countries before 1950, then with the teeming shores multiplier youll get immigrants in the millions with all the resources a GP needs
I’d actually recommend Japan to new players to learn how economics works as a whole, but Brazil is def the one to learn the more intricate parts of the game. Japans isolationism is just so cool though
The isolationist policy is one of the most interesting and unique things about the Japan start, especially in Vic3 where everything revolves around trade and economy. Some great opportunities to learn production, without trade to fill in missing gaps
I think my biggest gripe about the economic system is you can't disable international trade for certain sectors. While I was isolationist Japan, I met all my military demands and expanded my militarily easily. When I opened the market, everyone bought my ironclads and artillery and now the prices are high. I spend most of my convoys on trade routes that vastly overcompensate for my market demand. I don't need 2,000 excess grain and 2,500 convoys importing grain China, I just needed 500 grain. Those fat convoys mean I can't buy other goods in bulk, so in the end there was no benefit to opening the market, I can't even import paper or fabric which was the only thing I needed.
@@TrueXyrael Yea hopefully blocking specific products from export is a future option, for "national security" purposes etc. What you described is the reason I don't like the Free Trade Law for how Vic3's economy works. At least with Mercantilism/Protectionism you can slow exports by increasing the price that other countries pay, not to mention making a lot of money for yourself along the way. But even that doesn't totally stop some trade routes.
@@TrueXyrael your population wants to earn money, if they sell artillery to your military at low prices, they dont. so they decide to sell to markets with lower supply / higher demand and great prices. what you are trying to do is called protectionism. you can set the priority for each good to import, export, or balanced. if you have mercantile or protectionism trade policy they will each modify the tarrifs (customs tax) set by each priority. Under protectionism trade policy with "protect domestic supply" priority on a specific good you enforce 20% customs duties/tariff/export tax. thats revenue for the government at the expense of your local industry and foreign buyers. hopefully that price difference is enough to disuade them from buying your supply, but if its not that fine too because the revenue generated compensates for the higher prices you pay for your military goods anyway. also note, under free trade policy you cannot impose tariffs. if you establish a trade agreement with another nation you also have free trade with their market, so be careful about establishing trade agreements with your customers. it would be a cool feature to enable total control on import export of a good for some authority though.
My first game was as Chile, and I never expanded beyond three states. I focused on being a major exporter of various resources, finishing as the #10 power by the end of the game. It was really fun as my introduction to the series.
I'm having a blast as Mexico. Was able to save the game from all my mistakes by joining a CU with Russia for a few years. Used their market to build up my essentials and am now steadily climbing as I industrialize .
A surprisingly easy nation to start learning is Benim. It is a poor nation but their only region has a lot of different resources that can be produced, which means that you can understand the mechanics of the game and production without having too much to handle at first. Afterwards you can start building a port and looking outwards, also it is fairly easy to join the british market eventually and then you just jumpstart your econ. I played Benim in my third (and longest) run and I am now the 7th economy in the world and I only have 3 regions.
@@max__pain that's another reason why I am not playing it now, I feel like it will get better over time. There are still some mistakes in the game, which I hope will be resolved soon.
@@speere8825 that's a controversial opinion to say the least. I don't even mind the frontline system/general lack of micro compared to Vic2, but Vic3's warfare is still terribly implemented.
Chile is actually an amazing starting location. A simple small starting economy with incredible potential for industrialization. Plus great opportunities for agriculture if you expand into Patagonia and La Plata
I am brand new to this franchise, and I have been learning on Russia and just how to perfect the industrialisation before swerving into intelligentsia. I feel I've learned so much, and wanted to dive into the deep end of the management. I suppose I shall find out just how much I've learned when I move onto what I truly love in Paradox GS games, and that is playing a relative minnow and making something of them. Oh! A Ukraine playthrough would be great! Thank you for the knowledge that it is possible!
I've had a lot of fun playing as Great Qing. The Qing dynasty starts off in a tricky situation. You are essentially trapped in the middle ages. Your people can't read, there is no industry and your bureaucracy is too underdeveloped to even collect taxes. Best of all: Opium addiction runs rampant and if you try to end it the British will stop you. Even if you outnumber them 10:1 they'll still beat you. If you manage to avoid conflict (or beat the British) you can either turn the Qing dynasty into an egalitarian utopia using your immense resources to ensure democracy, freedom and equal rights... or you can show those pesky Europeans the true meaning of "Empire". When you get your industry going nobody will be able to stop you.
I have played a lot of games with them. You basically cant build fast enough and I always end up running out if convoys from the first 10 years selling all the excess. I wish they let you sort money per convoy. So I could prioritize the correct routes.
I tried a game as the Kingdom of Hawaii. Let's just say that it wasn't a lot of fun. Takes a long time to build up the economy and then you'd have to slowly conquer/subject all the island nations in the Pacific. Then you're most likely still not strong enough (both militarily and economically) to take on any other mainland nation.
Hudson's Bay Company/Canada. Early play can be made to confederate Canada into a single nation, and the gold fields/mines in Yukon Territory and British Columbia lead to insane profits. Great starting country.
Greece has been my favourite so far as you get to taste all parts of the game. It seems to be one of the only nations with a special journal entry? (my main complaint of the game so far). Either way you get to quickly get an annexation from British for free, then eat away at the decaying Ottoman Empire who is stuck between you, the Egyptians and Russia. You're also on the edge of the European market and have some freedom to enter the Austrian or Russian Markets. I personally started in russian market but went solo as soon as the 5year deal was up. Personally I get pretty overwhelmed by playing an already established economy but Greece is in a great place where you start of somewhat barebones but have the options to expand your economy or territory at your own learning pace! Would recommend.
I am playing as the unite tribes in New Zealand, a because it's my home and 2 because it's such a...well it's in the bottom ten ranked countries. Started with substances farming and that's it. Using it to learn the game because I instantly know when I'm doing anything wrong. I've crashed and burnt my whole economy and I always new why. Now I've got my gdp at 1 million and I am in the top ten gdp per capita would wide. With just a population of 200,000. Know those stats aren't great but as a new player I'm extremely proud to achieve that. I'd highly recommend it. It's a painful run but knowing everything there is something you built. Makes it really satisfying
@@JumboPixel definitely, took me about 20 years only goal for the run is make a good nation become free from Britain and form aoteroa. If I can manage that I'll be so much better at the big nations. My mates a Dutch South African and he's playing as the country north of aronje so we both are trying to make better futures for our homes. It's really damm fun. Can't wait to be free from Britain so can actually coop haha.
same experience. except until the 'bolshevik' revolution happened and dragged me into and to prevent me from being absorbed into it, I accepted Austria protectorate and kind of messed up my market and trade routes when the war ended.
Went with Chile for my first game and really enjoyed it. You have a solid economy in your main regions but also endless potential for alliances and rivalries with other south american nations. Plus, unlike brazil, you share spanish heritage with the rest of them so theres potential for empire. I ended up conquering everything except brazil and venezuela (which i just puppetet), creating a greater Chile from Fireland to Panama and joining the worlds great powers towards the end
I made the mistake of playing as Sweden, for no reason other than they are literally the first pick on the tutorial list. They aren't that hard to play, especially if you know Paradox games, but they have an economy that somehow only produces wood while never having enough wood, and the closest conquerable lands are north German nations that Prussia _really_ doesn't want you to have. They're probably good to turtle up with, but I want that expansion, baby!
Same here! And after a while of sitting there not really knowing what to do, I decided to binge on construction which instantly ruined my economy. Played another game as Japan and that went quite well, but my economy started slowing down at around 700m gdp. Also didn't know that innovation can overflow into tech spread, so my tech was behind. For my third game I played Qing and was able to dominate the world in 1890. Now I'm giving Japan another try to see if I can dominate the world with that. My expectations are to catch up in tech more quickly and move on to conquer stuff, especially Qing for the population.
Released Philippines was fun. You're alot more advanced than your neighbors but you don't have coal to industrialize properly... but your neighbors do. Whatever shall you do? Lol it was surprisingly a very aggressive start.
if you like starting small and getting big, i’ve had so much fun with Tuscany trying to form Italy. you need to secure other states to get key resources and start industrialising. you start with just one state, which i find great for a beginner to learn the economy.
Started a game as Afghanistan today, managed to conquer the entire Persian region and most of Arabia. One of the biggest exporters of opium in the world, stacked military and an alliance with Russia. Oman is another interesting one in that part of the world as well because you start off with a state in Africa which offers some nice opportunities. Also some treaty ports in Persia for Oman.
Great list and some very interesting game ideas. Would second America, played it for my first run, lots of options and pretty straightforward to grow the economy to an epic scale. Definitely going to try Persia and expand east for the opium fields. Silk industries at the start as well.
My first game was with Lanfang and I really enjoyed it, it's really a minor, and is pretty hard to stay alive in the early game, as some countries like the Netherlands and Spain really tries to take you, but you know, there's some spicy in being that little republic in the middle of the Borneo jungle
The best nation ive played so far was Persia. Its fun to slowly westernise by changing politics but the economic potential is huge. Literally tripled my GPD in less than 10 years, modernised the army and started expanding. Also just for giggles i even made some colonies in Africa.
I've been playing Prussia and a couple of stumbles have left me far behind on the market and the economy overall, a note for those looking to try Prussia too, you have to incorporate the new states or you'll be super broke, I didn't incorporate anything until I had been Germany for a couple months :)
Cuba is a great pick Only after a brief Sweden tutorial game where I bankrupted myself, I managed to do a Cuba game where I because one of the richest nations in the world, with the highest quality of living and one of the highest GDPs, the highest in terms of GDP per state, since I only had 3. Havana streched from coast to coast, and all of Latin American was in the Cuban Pan-Hispanic market...no Spaniards allowed though It lets you expand and train yourself on the economics, while only having to worry about 1 state (or more, I ended up conquering Haiti and Dominican republic) and having little to no threats as you are a Spanish colony and even after you're free, no one seems to want to meddle with you if you keep relations high with would be colonizers There is one problem though...lack of workforce. By the 1880s I found myself with no peeps to man the factories😞
@@blakedake19 Problem is the newer production methods almost all need oil and lead. I have neither and all colonizable land has already been gobbled up. Venezuela has oil but they're too braindead to actually extract it To help the fact, all the possible exportations aren't enough to mantain the Cuban industry I might have overdeveloped Cuba a bit too much...
it should be noted that part of the reason why brazil is so strong is that is has been the country of the future since it got its independence, but like fusion it never arose. Mostly due to poor management and social issue. somthing the game does not fully simulate. (for instance brazil was the last nation in the west to get rid of slavery since they built their economy around agriculture that couldnt be easily automated or industrialized) If you the gods with foresight play however there is an abundance of maize in brazils territories offering a massive amount of grain to either sell on or process yourself and even a huge economic boom just behind rio making it so that if you build that region up early you can easily have that be the primary center for gdp, no agriculture needed
I've been playing as Van Diemen's Land and have just swallowed up the entire continent of Australia. It's been a struggle to get an economy going with such a small country but on the way now :)
Philippines anyone? Pretty tight considering as a puppet state you could immediately declare independence from the weakening Spanish, then annex Maguindanao and Sulu and maybe even the whole of Borneo if you were feeling a little spicy. If you conquer the parts of Borneo that aren't colonized/vassalized by the Dutch East Indies you might just get the complete trifecta of Coal, Sulfur, and Lead + the Starting Iron already present within the home islands. Pretty neat if I don't say so myself, or maybe that's just me cause its my home country lol.
Still in my first game since I bought the game. Started as Sweden, then formed Scandinavia. Had an interesting time when I formed Scandinavia as I wrecked my budget balance good times in the process, but it allowed to learn how to resolve that. I might try Brazil, Japan, or America, in my next game. Try something outside of Europe to get a different feel.
I played Cape Colony first. The gold mines of North Cape and coal mines from East Cape plus being in the British Market make for a fairly straightforward economic game. I'm now in the 1870s. I'm the #15 rank but no where near strong enough to threaten GB and i don't really want to leave their market, but I don't see how I can get freedom.
My first successsful game was with Mexico goldfields and goldmines where popping off everywhere. I was making tons of money trough minting thanks to the goldfields and mines.
I dunno why but when I tried to play as Brazil it was impossible to expand in South America. Every diplomatic play i was checked by either the british and french who would go all out mobilization if i tried to puppet or annex Urugay for example.
@@Forlfir I am not American but I changed it. I find it really irritating when people get my country name wrong, but now i know I can make that mistake too. 😅
I have been having great fun playing as the Philippines! I failed forward a few times as it can be a real challenge if you wish to throw off the yoke of your overlord Spain, and put the Catholic Church in check.
Does anyone know why Paradox doesn't add Antarctica, Svalbard and other territories of the extreme pole to the game? at least it would be interesting to see the expedition to Antarctica and how you create your base there
The game is really focused on development, economics and politics. At this time in history colonizing antarctia just isn't possible evem if someone wanted to. Outposts or an expedition would be fun though.
Sokoto is an interesting nation. Despite being very undeveloped it has a sizable military and a fairly substantial GDP. Along with access to most of decentralized Africa.
Well... Yes, Japan is easy not to lose as, but pretty hard to "westernize" for new players. The shogun faction is pretty strong, and the reforms benefit their cloud.
Somewhere, I saw that you could start as the United States, but then release and play "New Africa," which is the southern states - still slave states, oddly enough - but with an African American leadership. That sounds like fun, too. Of course, I've _just_ gotten the game, and I'm struggling to even start. Which is why I'm watching these videos. :)
Belgium is really a sleeper nation. Very easy industrialization. As a player you have the capability to annex netherlands and even eclipse great britain in mid-lategame
transvaal is great too its a bit hard start but you have gold and if you get th british market you can make a lot of money from coal and beacuse you are independed you can declare war an its fun to see the culture in africa shift to european boar culture
I am in 1903 in my Brazil run. What a ride boyos! #7 GDP and #7 in prestige, I hope to end the game in the top 5. My country is now a socialist state allied with Socialist United States kicking the colonizers out of Africa! Crazy stuff, for real
I'd pick Brazil as number one. It's fairly easy to industrialize, and it doesn't have all the diplomatic finagling that e.g. Prussia has. Granted, it has issues with Radicals, and its industrial base isn't great to begin with...... But you're a big fish in a fairly small pond (as long as the Great Powers don't dip a toe into it), so you can experiment with diplomatic options without risking getting vassalized. I'd stay way clear of Japan as a new player. Yes, it has the natural barrier of being an island. It also has a reactionary shogunate, and it's isolationist, meaning you can't trade for anything. Can Japan become a Great Power? Absolutely. But it requires some deft footwork to pull it off. I mean, when OneProudBavarian says it's a hard start, I'm fairly confident that it is.
Totally not biased but Australia is a fun nation too. You get the gold rush so you can grow your population and GDP insanely quickly while benefiting from the British market.
Played as Korea...maintained Tributary status with Qing...never got invaded by Japan, not even once. Had a North-South Civil War twice, which I won. Transitioned from Monarchy to a sort of Liberal-Socialist Presidency. Ended the game with mounting debts and a Middling Standard of Living and no Colonies. But the country was at least intact... what did I do wrong/right? I'd appreciate your comments, thanks!!
I disagree with Japan being a "best" nation for beginners. Japan starts off very limited in terms of potential until you reform, and it can be unclear or unintuitive as to how. Unless you're following a guide or you read every tool tip, I would recommend starting elsewhere. Perhaps as one of the Canadas or Cape Colony until you understand how the various pop/economy/technology/political systems interconnect to make the most out of a Japan run. For reference, I'm saying this as someone with 3k hours in other Paradox games, and of those, about 150 hours in Vic2.
I agree. Its hard to play. You have to get the right laws passed fast otherwise you are screwed. Vic 2 playing japan was way more fun and had way more mechanics for westernizing.
My first successful game was persia, ending the game as the #2 great power and trying to crush france (the #1 great power). There wasn’t enough time to finish the great franco-persian war 😂 might try ukraine or sikh empire from this list later. Overall nice list 👍🏻 👏🏻
Got to try my first game with.... Siam (or thailand nowadays) that was very fun :D Don't recommend for beginners the political aspect of things is the hardest. I don't even mention the geo-political aspect... But lot of fun and trying to befriend major power, china and everyone btw... Everyone want a peace of rubber lol
I learned that France is pretty easy (starting off strong), can get a big lead as #1, but then bumps into an oily ceiling until someone starts exporting the stuff.
My first playthrough has been South Australia (As that's where I live) and I found it relatively easy (Although I had reduced AI aggressiveness on I think), especially starting with one state connected to the huge british market
on the same note. i have also seen the ai doing stuff that makes no sense just to screw with the player. trying to form italy. al the italian nations hate you for no reason. trying to form germany. every single nation is at least wary of you. took me till 1900 to form germany because of that. want to take a single mexican state as usa. britain, france, germany, and russia all side with mexico despite having 50+ opinion of the us and 0 of mexico.
@@danielgiron6 i will admit its a bit rng what i had to do was put welfare decree on the largest areas import goods that the people needed and then hope my government would allow me to put every group in without tanking my legitimacy after that i would vote for ever church schools or monarchy as everyone liked that. Finally i would improve relations with England this is what i did before unpausing next is the really rng part u need to hope they stay long enough for u to join the uk customs union once u do good become that cheap ur pops will start becoming happy and will help u slowly build up ur own economy. I am not going to lie though its not a definite thing the is a lot of rng with it and it will take a few attempts to get it right
In Vicky 2 i had a fun game with Oman. It is the strongest nation in the arabian peninsula in terms of military, and its a real challenge to westernize it, building up the industry, increase literacy, while slowly take control over the whole area. And once you are done with that, beating the Ottoman empire is also a big challenge. I might start a game with Oman, my first game with Sweden was a real disaster lol
I think Russia is a Great start too learn bc you are going to understand how to reform a goverment and learn how to industrialise. Only thing that is maybe a bit bad is that it's a hard start but still after 5 Saves i now know how to play the Game. xD
I want to “game” the game and have Russia trade me Alaska for my home 1-state country (was thinking either a German minor or Wallachia) and then see how it goes from there
tbh Russia is one of the worst pick regarding economy. You produce the most wood, but it gets all siphoned from other nations via trade you can't limit. Leaving you with exorbitant building cost and no possibility to produce tools cheaply. And the worst part is that wood is woth nothing in tariffs.
@@JumboPixel it's gets funny with the context. In the release day when I was looking when the game actually was unlocked in steam threads I got one russian vatnique started thread telling that if Ukraine is so good country why it is not on the map. Well it is buddy, but there is a nuance
hmm. uniting india and persia with the sikh empire could be funny indeed. sadly the game basically forces a playert to play the same thing always again. colonize africa, or you dont have luxury clothes. conquer persia for silk and opium. trading with AI just cant keep up with delivering enough ressources for an advanced economy
East India Company was incredibly fun in my experience, industrialized relatively quickly then turned India into an independent communist "company" state.
My first properly successful game was as Brazil. I think it's a great candidate for new players, less competitive diplomatic sphere than Europe with loads of room for growth and a relatively malleable political situation. Its position in the prestige/power rankings gives a less antagonistic early game but a clear and relatively straightforward path to becoming a great power.
Haha same that was my first successful game as well. I really had a good time playing Brazil.
Oh i tried them multiple times and every time it didn’t really feel good for me. I liked my games in south Italy or Sweden as a beginner more.
Im playing it right now. I was crushing it being part of the french market and suddenly france had a internal war and my whole economy imploded.
If you play it right you can take all the South American countries before 1950, then with the teeming shores multiplier youll get immigrants in the millions with all the resources a GP needs
I’d actually recommend Japan to new players to learn how economics works as a whole, but Brazil is def the one to learn the more intricate parts of the game. Japans isolationism is just so cool though
The isolationist policy is one of the most interesting and unique things about the Japan start, especially in Vic3 where everything revolves around trade and economy. Some great opportunities to learn production, without trade to fill in missing gaps
I think my biggest gripe about the economic system is you can't disable international trade for certain sectors. While I was isolationist Japan, I met all my military demands and expanded my militarily easily. When I opened the market, everyone bought my ironclads and artillery and now the prices are high. I spend most of my convoys on trade routes that vastly overcompensate for my market demand. I don't need 2,000 excess grain and 2,500 convoys importing grain China, I just needed 500 grain. Those fat convoys mean I can't buy other goods in bulk, so in the end there was no benefit to opening the market, I can't even import paper or fabric which was the only thing I needed.
@@TrueXyrael Yea hopefully blocking specific products from export is a future option, for "national security" purposes etc. What you described is the reason I don't like the Free Trade Law for how Vic3's economy works. At least with Mercantilism/Protectionism you can slow exports by increasing the price that other countries pay, not to mention making a lot of money for yourself along the way. But even that doesn't totally stop some trade routes.
@@TrueXyrael can’t you put tarrifs on them to make less likely to buy them?
@@TrueXyrael yeah I was about to say you can increase the tariffs on exports of those items and hopefully it will help a bit
@@TrueXyrael your population wants to earn money, if they sell artillery to your military at low prices, they dont. so they decide to sell to markets with lower supply / higher demand and great prices. what you are trying to do is called protectionism. you can set the priority for each good to import, export, or balanced. if you have mercantile or protectionism trade policy they will each modify the tarrifs (customs tax) set by each priority. Under protectionism trade policy with "protect domestic supply" priority on a specific good you enforce 20% customs duties/tariff/export tax. thats revenue for the government at the expense of your local industry and foreign buyers. hopefully that price difference is enough to disuade them from buying your supply, but if its not that fine too because the revenue generated compensates for the higher prices you pay for your military goods anyway. also note, under free trade policy you cannot impose tariffs. if you establish a trade agreement with another nation you also have free trade with their market, so be careful about establishing trade agreements with your customers. it would be a cool feature to enable total control on import export of a good for some authority though.
My first game was as Chile, and I never expanded beyond three states. I focused on being a major exporter of various resources, finishing as the #10 power by the end of the game. It was really fun as my introduction to the series.
MEJOR PAÍS DE CHILE
I'm having a blast as Mexico. Was able to save the game from all my mistakes by joining a CU with Russia for a few years. Used their market to build up my essentials and am now steadily climbing as I industrialize .
A surprisingly easy nation to start learning is Benim. It is a poor nation but their only region has a lot of different resources that can be produced, which means that you can understand the mechanics of the game and production without having too much to handle at first. Afterwards you can start building a port and looking outwards, also it is fairly easy to join the british market eventually and then you just jumpstart your econ. I played Benim in my third (and longest) run and I am now the 7th economy in the world and I only have 3 regions.
I am really looking forward to playing Vic3. I currently don't have the time for it. But maybe I can get it around Christmas and play it then.
It has big flaws rn (AI, warfare etc) but it's still a solid economy/society development game and there's already good mods for it.
@@max__pain that's another reason why I am not playing it now, I feel like it will get better over time. There are still some mistakes in the game, which I hope will be resolved soon.
@@max__pain warfare isn’t even bad
@@speere8825 it's buggy. Frontlines and battallions work unintuitively
@@speere8825 that's a controversial opinion to say the least. I don't even mind the frontline system/general lack of micro compared to Vic2, but Vic3's warfare is still terribly implemented.
I’m glad to see your Victoria 3 videos bringing in new viewers and I hope your channel explodes
Argentina was my first succesful game !
Definitely the best channel for V3. Thanks for the content, man.
Chile is actually an amazing starting location. A simple small starting economy with incredible potential for industrialization. Plus great opportunities for agriculture if you expand into Patagonia and La Plata
Brazil is even more fun has almost all the resources necessary excpet for opium
I am brand new to this franchise, and I have been learning on Russia and just how to perfect the industrialisation before swerving into intelligentsia. I feel I've learned so much, and wanted to dive into the deep end of the management. I suppose I shall find out just how much I've learned when I move onto what I truly love in Paradox GS games, and that is playing a relative minnow and making something of them.
Oh! A Ukraine playthrough would be great! Thank you for the knowledge that it is possible!
I've had a lot of fun playing as Great Qing. The Qing dynasty starts off in a tricky situation. You are essentially trapped in the middle ages. Your people can't read, there is no industry and your bureaucracy is too underdeveloped to even collect taxes. Best of all: Opium addiction runs rampant and if you try to end it the British will stop you. Even if you outnumber them 10:1 they'll still beat you. If you manage to avoid conflict (or beat the British) you can either turn the Qing dynasty into an egalitarian utopia using your immense resources to ensure democracy, freedom and equal rights... or you can show those pesky Europeans the true meaning of "Empire". When you get your industry going nobody will be able to stop you.
I have played a lot of games with them. You basically cant build fast enough and I always end up running out if convoys from the first 10 years selling all the excess. I wish they let you sort money per convoy. So I could prioritize the correct routes.
I tried a game as the Kingdom of Hawaii. Let's just say that it wasn't a lot of fun. Takes a long time to build up the economy and then you'd have to slowly conquer/subject all the island nations in the Pacific. Then you're most likely still not strong enough (both militarily and economically) to take on any other mainland nation.
Hudson's Bay Company/Canada. Early play can be made to confederate Canada into a single nation, and the gold fields/mines in Yukon Territory and British Columbia lead to insane profits. Great starting country.
Greece has been my favourite so far as you get to taste all parts of the game. It seems to be one of the only nations with a special journal entry? (my main complaint of the game so far).
Either way you get to quickly get an annexation from British for free, then eat away at the decaying Ottoman Empire who is stuck between you, the Egyptians and Russia. You're also on the edge of the European market and have some freedom to enter the Austrian or Russian Markets. I personally started in russian market but went solo as soon as the 5year deal was up.
Personally I get pretty overwhelmed by playing an already established economy but Greece is in a great place where you start of somewhat barebones but have the options to expand your economy or territory at your own learning pace! Would recommend.
I am playing as the unite tribes in New Zealand, a because it's my home and 2 because it's such a...well it's in the bottom ten ranked countries. Started with substances farming and that's it. Using it to learn the game because I instantly know when I'm doing anything wrong. I've crashed and burnt my whole economy and I always new why. Now I've got my gdp at 1 million and I am in the top ten gdp per capita would wide. With just a population of 200,000. Know those stats aren't great but as a new player I'm extremely proud to achieve that. I'd highly recommend it. It's a painful run but knowing everything there is something you built. Makes it really satisfying
Can't wait to see a skilled player try and do it.
Churr g
A nation close to my heart! Fun challenge, albeit a pretty slow paced one starting with a GDP of like 11.4K 😂
@@JumboPixel definitely, took me about 20 years only goal for the run is make a good nation become free from Britain and form aoteroa. If I can manage that I'll be so much better at the big nations. My mates a Dutch South African and he's playing as the country north of aronje so we both are trying to make better futures for our homes. It's really damm fun. Can't wait to be free from Britain so can actually coop haha.
@@JumboPixel also your a legend for replying to comments. Never see that too often these days. Love your content
I honestly found Wallachia to be very fun and beginner friendly.
same experience. except until the 'bolshevik' revolution happened and dragged me into and to prevent me from being absorbed into it, I accepted Austria protectorate and kind of messed up my market and trade routes when the war ended.
Went with Chile for my first game and really enjoyed it. You have a solid economy in your main regions but also endless potential for alliances and rivalries with other south american nations. Plus, unlike brazil, you share spanish heritage with the rest of them so theres potential for empire.
I ended up conquering everything except brazil and venezuela (which i just puppetet), creating a greater Chile from Fireland to Panama and joining the worlds great powers towards the end
Good Ending
I made the mistake of playing as Sweden, for no reason other than they are literally the first pick on the tutorial list. They aren't that hard to play, especially if you know Paradox games, but they have an economy that somehow only produces wood while never having enough wood, and the closest conquerable lands are north German nations that Prussia _really_ doesn't want you to have. They're probably good to turtle up with, but I want that expansion, baby!
Same here! And after a while of sitting there not really knowing what to do, I decided to binge on construction which instantly ruined my economy. Played another game as Japan and that went quite well, but my economy started slowing down at around 700m gdp. Also didn't know that innovation can overflow into tech spread, so my tech was behind. For my third game I played Qing and was able to dominate the world in 1890. Now I'm giving Japan another try to see if I can dominate the world with that. My expectations are to catch up in tech more quickly and move on to conquer stuff, especially Qing for the population.
Been playing As Qing and so far im In 1890 amd have become rank 9 unreconized and a major exporter of goods. Loving this version of victoria honestly!
Released Philippines was fun. You're alot more advanced than your neighbors but you don't have coal to industrialize properly... but your neighbors do. Whatever shall you do? Lol it was surprisingly a very aggressive start.
I'll put in a word on Belgium for getting into the economics of the game.
That's who I want to start as, any tips?
if you like starting small and getting big, i’ve had so much fun with Tuscany trying to form Italy. you need to secure other states to get key resources and start industrialising. you start with just one state, which i find great for a beginner to learn the economy.
Started a game as Afghanistan today, managed to conquer the entire Persian region and most of Arabia. One of the biggest exporters of opium in the world, stacked military and an alliance with Russia. Oman is another interesting one in that part of the world as well because you start off with a state in Africa which offers some nice opportunities. Also some treaty ports in Persia for Oman.
Great list and some very interesting game ideas. Would second America, played it for my first run, lots of options and pretty straightforward to grow the economy to an epic scale. Definitely going to try Persia and expand east for the opium fields. Silk industries at the start as well.
My first game was with Lanfang and I really enjoyed it, it's really a minor, and is pretty hard to stay alive in the early game, as some countries like the Netherlands and Spain really tries to take you, but you know, there's some spicy in being that little republic in the middle of the Borneo jungle
Love the editing❤
I really loved playing as Cuba!
Prussia is insanely op. Second game with them, I managed to get like 440mil gdp 1 or 2 decades before the 20th century
The best nation ive played so far was Persia. Its fun to slowly westernise by changing politics but the economic potential is huge. Literally tripled my GPD in less than 10 years, modernised the army and started expanding. Also just for giggles i even made some colonies in Africa.
Seconded, managed to make it the 3rd biggest economy by 1936 in my game. Heaps of fun
I've been playing Prussia and a couple of stumbles have left me far behind on the market and the economy overall,
a note for those looking to try Prussia too, you have to incorporate the new states or you'll be super broke, I didn't incorporate anything until I had been Germany for a couple months :)
Just build your Silesian mines and you`ll make fat stacks regardless.
What mines do you build there?
@@Chumuel coal and iron obviously
Jumbo, i started as Brazil and now I'm playing Portugal! This game is fantastic 😊!
Cuba is a great pick
Only after a brief Sweden tutorial game where I bankrupted myself, I managed to do a Cuba game where I because one of the richest nations in the world, with the highest quality of living and one of the highest GDPs, the highest in terms of GDP per state, since I only had 3.
Havana streched from coast to coast, and all of Latin American was in the Cuban Pan-Hispanic market...no Spaniards allowed though
It lets you expand and train yourself on the economics, while only having to worry about 1 state (or more, I ended up conquering Haiti and Dominican republic) and having little to no threats as you are a Spanish colony and even after you're free, no one seems to want to meddle with you if you keep relations high with would be colonizers
There is one problem though...lack of workforce. By the 1880s I found myself with no peeps to man the factories😞
You need to do research and improve the production methods so that you use more stuff and less people for the same-ish output.
@@blakedake19 Problem is the newer production methods almost all need oil and lead. I have neither and all colonizable land has already been gobbled up. Venezuela has oil but they're too braindead to actually extract it
To help the fact, all the possible exportations aren't enough to mantain the Cuban industry
I might have overdeveloped Cuba a bit too much...
it should be noted that part of the reason why brazil is so strong is that is has been the country of the future since it got its independence, but like fusion it never arose.
Mostly due to poor management and social issue. somthing the game does not fully simulate. (for instance brazil was the last nation in the west to get rid of slavery since they built their economy around agriculture that couldnt be easily automated or industrialized)
If you the gods with foresight play however there is an abundance of maize in brazils territories offering a massive amount of grain to either sell on or process yourself and even a huge economic boom just behind rio making it so that if you build that region up early you can easily have that be the primary center for gdp, no agriculture needed
I've been playing as Van Diemen's Land and have just swallowed up the entire continent of Australia. It's been a struggle to get an economy going with such a small country but on the way now :)
Philippines anyone? Pretty tight considering as a puppet state you could immediately declare independence from the weakening Spanish, then annex Maguindanao and Sulu and maybe even the whole of Borneo if you were feeling a little spicy. If you conquer the parts of Borneo that aren't colonized/vassalized by the Dutch East Indies you might just get the complete trifecta of Coal, Sulfur, and Lead + the Starting Iron already present within the home islands. Pretty neat if I don't say so myself, or maybe that's just me cause its my home country lol.
Still in my first game since I bought the game. Started as Sweden, then formed Scandinavia. Had an interesting time when I formed Scandinavia as I wrecked my budget balance good times in the process, but it allowed to learn how to resolve that.
I might try Brazil, Japan, or America, in my next game. Try something outside of Europe to get a different feel.
I've had a few cracks at Cape colony but my economy always tanks and I've got no idea how to break away from Britain without a war lol
I played Cape Colony first. The gold mines of North Cape and coal mines from East Cape plus being in the British Market make for a fairly straightforward economic game. I'm now in the 1870s. I'm the #15 rank but no where near strong enough to threaten GB and i don't really want to leave their market, but I don't see how I can get freedom.
My first successsful game was with Mexico goldfields and goldmines where popping off everywhere. I was making tons of money trough minting thanks to the goldfields and mines.
I dunno why but when I tried to play as Brazil it was impossible to expand in South America. Every diplomatic play i was checked by either the british and french who would go all out mobilization if i tried to puppet or annex Urugay for example.
You need to wait for them to be at war then you go berzerk
Same for me as Colombia
I have really enjoyed playing Colombia in South America, I ended up being a French puppet but besides that it was really nice.
10/10 classic Vic experience 😅
ikr i was about to say that, Columbia, Im preparinng to fight against france for venezuela, but i already have ecuador, costa rica and Nicaragua
ColOmbia. Can Americans please stop getting the name of the country wrong
@@Forlfir Bold of you to assume they're American
@@Forlfir I am not American but I changed it. I find it really irritating when people get my country name wrong, but now i know I can make that mistake too. 😅
it's so sad that those colony or vassal of powerful nation almost never break free from their overlord for entry game.
Probably bc most colonies didn't until post ww2.....
For india you can just play as the aikh empire. It's already independent at the start and it's extremely militarized
I have been having great fun playing as the Philippines! I failed forward a few times as it can be a real challenge if you wish to throw off the yoke of your overlord Spain, and put the Catholic Church in check.
Does anyone know why Paradox doesn't add Antarctica, Svalbard and other territories of the extreme pole to the game? at least it would be interesting to see the expedition to Antarctica and how you create your base there
Watch then lock Antarctica behind a DLC because this is a Paradox game after all
The game is really focused on development, economics and politics. At this time in history colonizing antarctia just isn't possible evem if someone wanted to. Outposts or an expedition would be fun though.
Sokoto is an interesting nation. Despite being very undeveloped it has a sizable military and a fairly substantial GDP. Along with access to most of decentralized Africa.
Well... Yes, Japan is easy not to lose as, but pretty hard to "westernize" for new players. The shogun faction is pretty strong, and the reforms benefit their cloud.
been having a lot of fun as siam .
Somewhere, I saw that you could start as the United States, but then release and play "New Africa," which is the southern states - still slave states, oddly enough - but with an African American leadership. That sounds like fun, too.
Of course, I've _just_ gotten the game, and I'm struggling to even start. Which is why I'm watching these videos. :)
Swiss are something else, I achieved 45mln gdp by 1860, really easy and fun nation to play
Belgium is really a sleeper nation. Very easy industrialization. As a player you have the capability to annex netherlands and even eclipse great britain in mid-lategame
transvaal is great too its a bit hard start but you have gold and if you get th british market you can make a lot of money from coal and beacuse you are independed you can declare war an its fun to see the culture in africa shift to european boar culture
As chilean I just play Chile xD
mejor país de Chile
Logre que sea el 12 país del mundo en vic3 con masiva inmigración de Inglaterra y escocia
Jumbo, will you do a sikh empire playthrough?
I am in 1903 in my Brazil run. What a ride boyos! #7 GDP and #7 in prestige, I hope to end the game in the top 5. My country is now a socialist state allied with Socialist United States kicking the colonizers out of Africa! Crazy stuff, for real
I'd pick Brazil as number one.
It's fairly easy to industrialize, and it doesn't have all the diplomatic finagling that e.g. Prussia has.
Granted, it has issues with Radicals, and its industrial base isn't great to begin with......
But you're a big fish in a fairly small pond (as long as the Great Powers don't dip a toe into it), so you can experiment with diplomatic options without risking getting vassalized.
I'd stay way clear of Japan as a new player.
Yes, it has the natural barrier of being an island.
It also has a reactionary shogunate, and it's isolationist, meaning you can't trade for anything.
Can Japan become a Great Power? Absolutely.
But it requires some deft footwork to pull it off. I mean, when OneProudBavarian says it's a hard start, I'm fairly confident that it is.
I am having so much fun as Persia.
watching this for insperation on vic 2
Really missing the pop filter for this one.
Beyond that, thx for the tips!
Madagascar is also strangely easy. Just make everyone else an ally!
Totally not biased but Australia is a fun nation too. You get the gold rush so you can grow your population and GDP insanely quickly while benefiting from the British market.
Ok I’ll subscribe! Can you do a Mexico video? I’m tired of watching people get stomped on by the USA 😂
Btw, Ukraine is a good choice. It has a lot of everything to be a great power, but also it has three empires to be your threat
Personally I've been trying to make Van Diemensland work. But because I have no clue what to do it's not exactly going great.
Where are you from? I have been trying to figure it out lol. Your accent doesn't sound quite Aussie or Kiwi or English but a mix of all three
Played as Korea...maintained Tributary status with Qing...never got invaded by Japan, not even once. Had a North-South Civil War twice, which I won. Transitioned from Monarchy to a sort of Liberal-Socialist Presidency. Ended the game with mounting debts and a Middling Standard of Living and no Colonies. But the country was at least intact...
what did I do wrong/right? I'd appreciate your comments, thanks!!
Can u try Walachia or Moldovia? I cannot get them up. Is very hard right between three major powers.
Im new to the franchise and find myself realy enjoying to play the dutch east indies
I disagree with Japan being a "best" nation for beginners. Japan starts off very limited in terms of potential until you reform, and it can be unclear or unintuitive as to how. Unless you're following a guide or you read every tool tip, I would recommend starting elsewhere. Perhaps as one of the Canadas or Cape Colony until you understand how the various pop/economy/technology/political systems interconnect to make the most out of a Japan run.
For reference, I'm saying this as someone with 3k hours in other Paradox games, and of those, about 150 hours in Vic2.
I agree. Its hard to play. You have to get the right laws passed fast otherwise you are screwed. Vic 2 playing japan was way more fun and had way more mechanics for westernizing.
So Japan and the Sikh are both number 15 ranked? 1:18 and 13:55 ??
My first successful game was persia, ending the game as the #2 great power and trying to crush france (the #1 great power). There wasn’t enough time to finish the great franco-persian war 😂 might try ukraine or sikh empire from this list later. Overall nice list 👍🏻 👏🏻
Pure industralisation as spain, u have coal iron sulpur and lead. Also access to rubber through your colonies. Didnt have a war until 1900.
I think I’m gonna start w Brazil 🇧🇷 and go for a military dominance and maybe become the biggest arms dealer?
Got to try my first game with.... Siam (or thailand nowadays) that was very fun :D Don't recommend for beginners the political aspect of things is the hardest. I don't even mention the geo-political aspect... But lot of fun and trying to befriend major power, china and everyone btw... Everyone want a peace of rubber lol
France. It literally has everything starting off. But for something smaller as recommended then Belgium.
France isn't going to help you learn the game at all
@@deusvult6920 ??
@@Oliver9402 it's too strong to really learn the game.
@@deusvult6920 It's a recommendation for new players because it's probably the easiest large nation in the game and I don't see what you dont learn?
I learned that France is pretty easy (starting off strong), can get a big lead as #1, but then bumps into an oily ceiling until someone starts exporting the stuff.
My first playthrough has been South Australia (As that's where I live) and I found it relatively easy (Although I had reduced AI aggressiveness on I think), especially starting with one state connected to the huge british market
i was playing as japan trying to colonize hokkaido. then great britain decided it wants to colonize that. in 1840. just to screw me over
on the same note. i have also seen the ai doing stuff that makes no sense just to screw with the player. trying to form italy. al the italian nations hate you for no reason.
trying to form germany. every single nation is at least wary of you.
took me till 1900 to form germany because of that.
want to take a single mexican state as usa. britain, france, germany, and russia all side with mexico despite having 50+ opinion of the us and 0 of mexico.
My first succesful game was Mexico after winning several mexican-american games
A gd nation for intermediate players is central America its a bit rng but they can get a gd mix off resources and their pop can grow out of control
I tried playing as it but all of my states eventually become independent, any tips?
@@danielgiron6 i will admit its a bit rng what i had to do was put welfare decree on the largest areas import goods that the people needed and then hope my government would allow me to put every group in without tanking my legitimacy after that i would vote for ever church schools or monarchy as everyone liked that. Finally i would improve relations with England this is what i did before unpausing next is the really rng part u need to hope they stay long enough for u to join the uk customs union once u do good become that cheap ur pops will start becoming happy and will help u slowly build up ur own economy.
I am not going to lie though its not a definite thing the is a lot of rng with it and it will take a few attempts to get it right
@@CrimsonReaper189 thx for advice
how you can recommend prussia in victoria 3?!
does the game probhit transporting workers from Africa to United States?
Awesome idea to play as Ukraine, the only problem is strong empires nearby.
Як завжди :(
no problem :)
Belgium is really good
In Vicky 2 i had a fun game with Oman. It is the strongest nation in the arabian peninsula in terms of military, and its a real challenge to westernize it, building up the industry, increase literacy, while slowly take control over the whole area. And once you are done with that, beating the Ottoman empire is also a big challenge.
I might start a game with Oman, my first game with Sweden was a real disaster lol
1. Any Ethiopian minor
2. Transval
3. Egypt - which is like Iran but better
The countries are all the same in Vic 3....so it makes no difference really.
I think Russia is a Great start too learn bc you are going to understand how to reform a goverment and learn how to industrialise. Only thing that is maybe a bit bad is that it's a hard start but still after 5 Saves i now know how to play the Game. xD
when are they gonna add all the real life events like the grape of nanking
I want to “game” the game and have Russia trade me Alaska for my home 1-state country (was thinking either a German minor or Wallachia) and then see how it goes from there
tbh Russia is one of the worst pick regarding economy. You produce the most wood, but it gets all siphoned from other nations via trade you can't limit. Leaving you with exorbitant building cost and no possibility to produce tools cheaply. And the worst part is that wood is woth nothing in tariffs.
Try changing your economic laws, or embargoing nations that are messing with your domestic supply
'Quickly expand' as a qoute on this game is just the biggest lie of the century
Thanks for telling how to unlock Ukraine
There are HEAPS of other seemingly hidden but playable nations at the start! Glad you liked that tip 🙂
@@JumboPixel it's gets funny with the context. In the release day when I was looking when the game actually was unlocked in steam threads I got one russian vatnique started thread telling that if Ukraine is so good country why it is not on the map. Well it is buddy, but there is a nuance
@@mfthaking well look up in the history book, which region was ukraine at that time…not what paradox shows us here
congratulations from Ukraine!
Took Zulu to number 4 in the world
I chose madagaskar lol😮💨🤣
rags to riches, vicky 3 edition?
any tip abt how win with one of those separatists states in brazil?
That thumbnail is a bit sheepish tbh 🐑
I'll let it slide this time.
Greetings from Ukraine 🇺🇦⚔️
hmm. uniting india and persia with the sikh empire could be funny indeed. sadly the game basically forces a playert to play the same thing always again. colonize africa, or you dont have luxury clothes. conquer persia for silk and opium. trading with AI just cant keep up with delivering enough ressources for an advanced economy
East India Company was incredibly fun in my experience, industrialized relatively quickly then turned India into an independent communist "company" state.