Help:Gameplay Guides/Opening Strategies Comparison: Difference between revisions

Revision as of 15:40, 19 May 2025

Thanks to Graveless Gaming for this summary of his related video.

This article compares the three main starting nations in Terra Invicta and provides recommendations for new and experienced players.

The United States offers the strongest early-game advantages, primarily due to its exceptional Research output.

Advantages:

Highest Research output of all large starting nations
Excellent research-to-CP ratio due to wealth and education
Strong starting Military capable of handling most threats until approximately 2030
High initial Boost capacity of the starters

Disadvantages:

Requires significant internal fixing:
- High Inequality requiring extensive Welfare investment
- Relies on declaring/undeclaring wars for temporary Cohesion boosts, or maintaining wars to improve resting cohesion
Poor scaling into mid and late game
Limited population (350 million) compared to other starting options
Lowest Maximum MC, only 99 at the start
Expansion includes Mexico, which has severe problems (high inequality, Anocracy, poor economy)

Advanced Strategy Note:

For Jupiter Rush strategies, focusing on knowledge to improve RP and cohesion at once, kicking the can forward
This approach worsens inequality-related problems, but accelerates research gains and you aren't keeping the US anyway

You start in France and then unify either through the federation mechanic or by military means.

The European Union excels in setting you up for rapid space expansion, but takes longer to get there.

Advantages:

Superior mid-game space scaling
High potential Mission Control (approximately 130 at the start and it reaches it sooner)
Building Funding in small nations pays off very quickly
Combined population of approximately 550 million
Better starting government than US
Eventually gains claims on Russia, Turkey, and more of Europe

Disadvantages:

China offers unmatched late-game potential with some early-game challenges.

Advantages:

Massive starting population (1.4 billion)
Unrivaled late-game scaling potential
Can expand to include high-quality nations like Japan, South Korea, and Malaysia
Additional claims on Thailand, Vietnam, Myanmar, Taiwan, and others
Most expansion targets are in better condition than the US's Mexico
Through use of Taiwan, can completely ignore its low gov score in midgame

Disadvantages:

Requires time and high Persuasion investment to capture (around 13 modified Persuasion to begin having a chance)
Takes longer to reach peak potential

Recommended Start: China

US Opening:

Use for early research advantage
Pivot to EU or China for mid/late-game scaling, either burning the US to the ground with spoils before abandoning or just running Mission Control after fixing it
Consider researching "Fall of America" to accelerate Mission Control development

EU Opening:

China Opening:

Focus on securing high-value adjacent regions (South Korea, Japan, Malaysia)
Consider having Malaysia expand to Indonesia and Philippines
With sufficient Control Point capacity (~800), consider claiming EU for its accumulated MC

Africa and Caliphate: Highest late-game potential but extremely difficult to develop
Eurasian Union: Suboptimal due to Russia's limitations and poor research potential
India: Suboptimal as it winds up turning into a worse China with limited expansion
South American Union: Considered the weakest mega-state option

@@ Line 31: / Line 31: @@
 ==== European Union ====
+You start in France and then unify either through the federation mechanic or by military means.
 The [[European Union]] excels in setting you up for rapid space expansion, but takes longer to get there.