Hipster's Method (Strategy)

**Overview:**

Hipster's Method refers to the game strategy where one does not progress in the warfare tab, yet still focuses most of their effort into conquering. This is achieved through the use of Mercenary troops and Colonial Troops.

**Pros:**

-Very strong early game

-Very strong late game

-Allows time to actually research most things in a tier before the next tier arrives. Makes it easy to catch up if you go afk.

-Usually allows you to have the strongest naval presence on the server as you have time to research navy upgrades as soon as they come.

-Allows you to appear unique, as you aren't just spamming light infantry for the first two weeks like everyone else.

-Colonial infantry can be trained much faster than regular infantry, performs much better on wild terrain, performs much better against artillery and cavalry units, is cheaper to train and maintain, and only takes up one unit space.

**Cons:**

-Prone to having low manpower due to not using barracks. This is partially negated by the extensive use of Mercenary troops and can further by medicated with the implementation of colonies.

- Stage 4 of progression can feel very awkward as no military upgrades are available to you at all. If you are fighting in stage 4 it will be with stage 3 units. Stage 6 is also a bit awkward although not as bad. I recommend using this time to build up your existing provinces and establishing colonies.

-Some unit cap is tied up in the warfare tab, making your unit cap relatively low. This is partially negated by the fact that colonial infantry only take up 1 unit slot as opposed to the 2 that regular infantry take. Still, you will be operating at max unit cap during the early game merc phase.

**Guide:**

Early on, try to buy up as much luxury goods as reasonable. They can usually be had for under 5 credits a piece. This will allow you to make mercs (Mercenary Troops) especially if your starting nation does not have a luxury goods bearing province.

Do not research anything in the warfare tab aside from maybe the level 1 unit cap upgrade. Instead research mercenary camp and infantry. Level 2 markets are also imperative early game.

Your starting regular troops are enough to conquer a playable nation immediately. I recommend targeting a neighboring playable nation governed by a bot. Taking out another player can eliminate competition later on, but you never know if they will ducat spam some extra troops or whatever. Remember you are 26 hours away from getting reinforcements with this strategy, pick your battles strategically.

Mercs are expensive, take a few mercs and sail around attacking capitals. London, Scotland, Norway. Netherlands, Denmark, Portugal, Morocco, Ifriqya, Naples, Mamluk, Crimea, Novgorod, and Ottoman all have capitals accessible from the sea. Conquering a capital rewards you with half that nations credit supply. This is an extremely effective way to earn massive amounts of credits early and mid game. Just remember to declare peace afterwards and obviously only do this with bot or afk playable nations.

By stage 3 you can start producing colonial infantry. This infantry is objectively superior to regular infantry at stage three. You should have level 2 colonial offices in several of your provinces to be ready to produce. At this point you should stop mercenary production almost entirely. Your main army composition should be a mix of colonial troops but with the bulk of it in infantry. Mercenaries are essential to defense when you need to pump out huge amounts of troops in a short time, so keep researching them even after you stop using them.

This is a very open to modification strategy so I will try not to micro manage it too much. I did not even touch on when to build a navy because it varies in importance so much based on what country you select. Obviously England and Muscovy are going to place a navy differently on their to do lists.

Good luck!