• Largest army of the Italian nations, as well as the largest population.
  
• Huge industrial potential as we develop-- we have the resources for wine and liquor, two valuable consumer goods.
  
• Doesn't start in a sphere of influence, allowing us to extract revenue from tariffs and build ourselves up.

• Starts as an absolute monarchy with reactionaries in charge.
  
• Europe's going to be hit by a wave of liberalism and nationalism, which goes doubly so for Italy. We have to either ride the wave of nationalism or sink beneath it.
  
• Low starting literacy and an agrarian population, no initial industrialization.

• Surprisingly good resource base, with other things we need within conquering distance.
  
• Large, culturally homogenous population base, high literacy. Of the nations available as choices, Japan's got the largest population.
  
• Lots of easy conquest targets, with Korea being the closest, but also the dying empires of the Netherlands and Spain. Assuming conquest is the direction we go in.

• Starts as an uncivilized nation. In order to become civilized, we have to adopt a series of reforms to our military and economy, bringing us to equal status with Western nations. I'll talk more about this mechanic and my contentions with it if you choose Japan or one of the other uncivilized nations.
  
• Deeply isolationist and divided into substate daimyos, which we'll need to unite to become a real power.
  
• If China modernizes, they'll be a fierce rival for any ambitions we have in Asia-- as will the existing imperial powers, like Great Britain and Russia.

• Starts with a colonial empire in Africa, as well as outposts in China and India.
  
• That's, uh, that's honestly the only advantage.
  
• It's a really big advantage though.

• Fairly low starting literacy, little to no industry built up.
  
• Other nations might want to take our colonies, and if they're certain nations (like Great Britain) we won't be in a position to fight back.
  
• Starts with liberals in charge, who will gladly refuse to help bolster our nonexistent industry because of their adamant insistence on laissez-faire economics.

• Plentiful supply of fruit and coffee, which are solid exports. Tobacco, another good export, is within conquering distance. Gets some rubber in the late game, which is used for the electric industry.
  
• Is a democracy in the Americas, which means we'll attract a lot of immigrants trying to escape Europe and Asia.
  
• If we somehow become a Great Power and take Panama, we can build and own the Panama Canal and become the gateway between the Pacific and Atlantic oceans. This is very difficult.
  
• We can also purchase Belize from the British, if our impoverished economy somehow improves enough to afford the astronomical cost.

• Literally starts with most of the country in open separatist rebellion.
  
• Starts out dirt-poor and with an incredibly small population-- the smallest of the nations available, I think. Bloody wars can utterly wreck our country, and even victory is likely to be brutally costly.
  
• Incredibly low literacy and limited starting technologies, which make research and industrializing our nation difficult.
  
• Liberals start out in charge.

• Surprisingly high starting literacy, which will help our research and progression towards becoming a civilized nation.
  
• Large starting army and good commanders, as well as some initial reforms to give us professional infantry.
  
• A plethora of conquest targets nearby, which we can use to fuel our rise to modernity.

• Starts as an uncivilized nation.
  
• Powerful enemies in all directions, as we expand beyond our initial borders. The British Raj and Russia are the biggest enemies, but there's also the Sikh Empire (who vastly outnumber us), Persia (who vastly outnumbers us),
  
• Not a lot of resources available to us in our core territory, few inputs for industry besides timber and some cotton. Survival depends on taking other people's stuff.
  
• Pashtun culture has super high radicalism, meaning they absolutely love rebelling against things like Western influences, or our absolute monarchy, or anything really.
  
• Seriously, fuck the Sikh Empire.

• Culturally homogenous, reasonably sized population base to work from. We're the most populous of the nations in Southeast Asia.
  
• Small but reliable ally in Cambodia, our vassal state. Burma is also a potential ally, and sometimes even China is willing to help us.
  
• Has some valuable resources-- tropical wood in the early game, rubber in the late game. Precious metals and oil are within conquest distance, if we can somehow get boats.

• Starts as an uncivilized nation, like Afghanistan and Japan.
  
• Impoverished population, low starting literacy.
  
• Scarcity of some resources, most notably coal, iron, and sulphur. Industrialization's hard without these.
  
• High radicalism, just like Afghanistan. Might even be higher.
  
• As we expand we'll run into a lot of powerful enemies-- Britain to the west, the Dutch and Spanish to the south, China and Japan to the north, and the United States on the other side of the Pacific. All of them may want to take a bite out of us.
  
• As an addendum to that, France explicitly will want to build a colonial empire in Southeast Asia out of us, and if we're uncivilized they'll be free to do so. We have to either modernize or die, and modernize fast.

(12-18-2014, 05:23 AM)Schazer Wrote: »Whichever one lets us annex New Zealand first