For a good starting position and a funny game I want to offer you some ideas for the first turns.
Strategy:
Don’t be afraid about having so many neighbours. Because of its stronge army it should be the Rhine that chooses which country should be visited by its troops first. It is necessary for the Rhine to become bigger and stronger as soon as possible. So an early search for allies and enemies is important. It matters a lot for the Rhine to get as soon as possible more inhabitants and a second ore mine in Europe. To reach this goal early, France , Holland, Prussia or Italy are possible enemies.
Don´t forget that war already can be declared in April 1808. An early war is the strategic adventage of the Rhine. In this case your stronge position at the beginning of the game (stronger army and more resources than most of the others) can be used effectively.
Economy:
My suggestion is to build 3 factories, 3 mines (1 ore and 1 gold mine in Europe and one gold mine in India), 1 mint, 1 weaving mill and 2 Sheep farms in the first turn. In the next turns more sheep farms and mills should follow. About 12-15 farms and 3 mills together. By the reason of the wood in the warehouse lumbercamps will be needed a bit later.
In my opinion it is very important to have as soon as possible a very strong economy to get a lot of EcPt in the first turns. So a strong army can be built very soon and you will have advantages for the next turns.
Usually you need 1 mill, 4-5 sheep farms and 1 lumbercamp for full production in one factory. For one european ore mine 2 factories are ok.. But by the reason of the good ressources in the warehouse you can built 3 factories in the starting turn. So you can produce more EcPt than with 2 factories and you can use that in the second turn for increase your army faster. For a bit better production I propose to you buying wool and textile from Munich trading centre in the first turn.
The Rhine has 4 areas with a population density of 4 or more, except Munich. These areas should be used for the factories and the mint. There would be the possibility to increase one area from 3 to 4, but it is better to use them the citizen for building troops and economy.
The inhabitants have to pay taxes and the mint changes gold into Lousidore. So the Rhine has a regular income. To earn more money there are some possibilities: In the starting turn the Rhine has in Europe and India a lot of Gold. This could be taken on a trading ship or baggage trains and be sold in other trading centres when the rate is high there (6 or 5). Even the ships can move to Caribian Sea too. Or the gold could be sold in Munich. You could sell other goods too, but it could be better to use them for the production of the EcPt. It is better to sell the goods in little steps. You can earn more many if you sell 10 times 100 EcPt than 1 time 1000 EcPt.
The money from the colonies could be transferred to Europe. But it is necessary to take care, that enough money would be in the Indian warehouse, if any production site want to build there.
Brigades:
It is important to build as many strong troops as possible in the first turns. Never forget to train them. It is much better to have 170 batallions with an expirience level of 8 and 7 than 340 with 3.
I would prefer for the Rhine the Grenadiers. They only cost 140 Louisdore per man and are the strongest infantry troops. Additionally some Riflemen. Later, then the number of Citizen is low, pioneers and light artillery should be build. After building horse farms cavallry could follow.
The Musketeers are great to build extra federations. They can be sent in the hostile country to conquer.
In the starting turn there is one brigade of 7 Colonial Troops (Kt). I would suggest these brigade to demolish in the first turn. They cost nearly 200000 Louisdore per month. And before they could be do anything in the colonies they’ve needed about one million Louisdore for nothing.
If you don’t like to demolish it, transport this brigade to the colonies.
Ships:
The trading ships are good enough for transport goods or brigades and for trading goods in other trading centres.
Colonies:
It should be important to transport ore, zinc and wool from India to Europe in the first turns for the EcPt production there.
There are some possibilities for the colonies. One way is to get Haiphong, but usally it will be a run between the Rhine and Spain. Or Thailand/ Malaysia and their mines can be interesting to conquer too. The same for the lonely zinc mine island on 82/99.
The colonies are not necessary for living in Europe. But India could deliver some interesting goods like ore, gold or zinc.
After conquering the first areas estates and lumbercamps (for increasing population or building fortresses if necessary) should be built.
Diplomacy :
In reason of the six neighbours a good diplomacy is important. Try to make alliances or at least friendship with some of them. Or if not possible with other neighbours of them, they could help you in the case of a war. That means that Naples could help in a war with Italy, Warsaw in a war with Austria or Prussia and so on.
Selling your war ships could be a part of your diplomacy and could be a good start for making an alliance.
Your spys should be used to get information about your neighbours (how many troops they have or which relationship they have to the others). So you can avoid a surprise of them.
This was a little guide for playing the Confederation of the Rhine in the first turns. I hope it could be helpfully and I wish you a lot of fun for playing this country.
Joerg Titze
Vienna, Austria
February 2003