Agitators are characters attached to political movements who boost the movement behind a law. Find an agitator supporting a movement for a law you want (the Politics screen lists movements and their agitators), start enacting that law, and the agitator's support feeds into your enactment odds. Inviting an exiled agitator who champions the law you want is the most direct route.
Company prosperity rises when the company's buildings are profitable and its productivity conditions are met. Charter three companies whose industries you can genuinely dominate, then pour construction into exactly those building types and keep them supplied with cheap inputs so they stay in the black. A large industrialised economy with a secure resource supply is what makes all three peak together.
The game checks for a negative harvest condition of intensity 6 or more, no famine in any state, and one of these: National Guard with Home Affairs at level 3+, Charitable Health System with Health at level 3+, or Social Security at level 3+. Set up the institution first, then wait for a strong harvest condition to hit.
France starts with 13 fully accepted non-primary cultures and reportedly pops this on day one. Elsewhere, get Multiculturalism and enough culture variety through conquest or migration.
The fourth principle slot needs at least 10 members and a bloc at level 3 or higher. Found the bloc, recruit members and keep cohesion up until all four slots hold level 3 principles.
No DLC is needed, but without Sphere of Influence only your subjects can be invested in. Puppet a country that will have oil, like Venezuela, and let your investment pool build rigs there once oil tech spreads.
The USA starts with Homesteading and is already near the top for both goods, so it's the obvious pick. Keep building farms and Food Industries side by side so you lead in both.
Agitator popularity climbs as their movement grows, so let a movement you dislike swell and refuse its demands until its agitator passes 100 popularity. Then use the exile action on them from the character panel.
State Atheism is the far end of the church-and-state track and normally requires a radical government. Grow the Intelligentsia to Powerful clout by driving up literacy and urbanisation, put them in government with the Trade Unions, and enact the law with a secularist movement behind it. A council republic makes the whole thing far smoother.
Ottoman subjects break free automatically if the Tanzimat reforms fail, and Hanover is reported to get loose easily early on. Otherwise raise liberty desire and line up a backer before the independence play.
Regional headquarters are the company expansion mechanic: a company can plant an HQ in a region and then own buildings through it. Charter a company, establish its regional HQ, and keep building the company's building types in that region until the HQ owns twenty levels. Privatisation helps, since privately owned buildings are what the company can absorb.
Start enacting a law that at least two significant interest groups oppose, then flip them before it passes. The levers are reshuffling government to include or exclude groups, the suppress and bolster interactions, and letting a movement grow that pulls an interest group's stance around. Making the opposition marginal by shrinking their clout also counts.
This is the Restoration journal entry, with a deadline of the end of 1912. Defeating the shogunate by force means letting it radicalise into a revolution and winning that war, and you must hold the Monarchy law at the end. Get Intelligentsia and Industrialists behind you and cut the shogunate's power with law reforms.
Treaties are built article by article, with each article costing or granting leverage. Stack ten or more into one agreement with a country you have enormous leverage over - a defeated enemy or a dependent minor - so they will actually sign it. Mixing cheap mutual articles in with your demands keeps the total acceptance workable.
This needs a huge, static, late-game war: two industrialised powers with enormous conscript armies grinding on one front for years. Mass as many battalions as your manpower allows on a single front, keep reinforcing rather than withdrawing, and let the front stalemate. Late-game weapons technology multiplies casualties, so the later in the campaign the faster it accumulates.
Two countries on opposite sides of the world in the same bloc. Found a bloc with principles attractive to both, then either invite them once your influence reaches them or make them your subjects first, since subjects follow their overlord into the bloc. Russia and Japan are the natural launch points, being neighbours to one each.
Marines are the naval invasion unit type. Build marine battalions, assign them to a naval invasion order, and land that invasion directly on the enemy's capital state rather than a softer coastal target. Naval supremacy in the relevant sea is the prerequisite - without it the invasion never launches.
Build lobbies in each Great Power through good relations and agreements. Knocking the other Great Powers down to Major or Minor rank also reportedly works, since fewer powers means fewer lobbies to need.
You need the Coup entry to fire and finish, not a plain Armed Forces civil war. Conditions: the Armed Forces are powerful, in government (with other groups too), approval below zero, opposed to your governance law, and you don't have Autocracy or Oligarchy. Grow them with barracks, promoted commanders and higher military wages, sink their approval, then push a law they oppose. Keep them in government; locking them out breaks the setup.
One working setup is Parma: sign a defensive pact with Austria, open a play against Lucca for investment rights, bring Austria in by offering to become its subject, then add a regime-support demand. That reportedly maxes the pro-Austria lobby's appeasement.
You need naval dominance over a major power's home waters. Build a fleet that beats theirs, order a blockade on the sea node containing their market hub, and hold it until the blockade shows as total. Britain's home islands are the obvious target because their hub is connected to the most trade centres - and the hardest navy to beat.
Bolivia has a formation path that brings Peru under one state. You need to hold or claim the required Peruvian and Bolivian states and then take the decision - which usually means beating Peru in a diplomatic play first, and keeping Chile and Argentina from intervening.
Join a power bloc you do not lead, then challenge for leadership. Winning turns on your power score relative to the current leader and on the other members backing you, so grow past the leader economically and militarily first and cultivate the members before you make the move.
Choose it at game setup. Play Britain or Russia; the entry wants the contested lands split between those two, and pushing both out of the region counts as failure. Early versions had a bug here that has since been fixed.
The entry needs every French homeland state plus Wallonia, Flanders, the Rhineland and North Rhine. That means taking land from Belgium or the Netherlands and the German states west of the Rhine, which tends to pull in Prussia and Britain.
You need Platinean, North Andean or South Andean as primary culture. Bolivia works well: attack Brazil right away while it's already fighting two wars, take land or release states, then hit Brazil again so it can't interfere later. Viva la Confederacion and Devil's Railroad fit into the same run, but forming the Federation blocks Grander Colombia and Republic or Death.
Get to the council republic and command economy first, then keep a chartered company's buildings profitable and productive enough to peak its prosperity. State ownership does not prevent companies from prospering - what matters is that their building types are productive - so concentrate construction into one company's industries.
These sit on three different law tracks, so pass them one after another and keep a government that will back each. Expect radicals to grow while you do it. If you're also doing Estado Novo as Brazil, don't go the Integralist route here, they won't back Outlawed Dissent.
The entry completes when you still have Monarchy, its progress bar is over 50%, and Pedro II dies. Avoid abolishing slavery and similar moves that cut its progress, and don't do any republic reform, which kills the entry. One reported shortcut: once Princess Isabel is heir and 18, push a law the Intelligentsia hate until a revolution starts, then abdicate.
Gunboat diplomacy is a treaty-negotiation lever that uses your navy as leverage against a coastal country. Park a fleet where it counts, open a treaty with a weak maritime neighbour, apply the gunboat threat, and they accept. It has to be accepted under the threat, not agreed to freely.
Prussia and Austria will both try to unify Germany, so you have to keep beating whoever leads the attempt. Guarantee the small German states, intervene in every unification play, and if possible hold German homeland states yourself so the formation requirements can never be met. Ninety-odd years of vigilance is what makes this hard.
Prestige goods come from companies running specific production methods at sufficient scale. Charter three Japanese companies whose prestige goods you can actually supply, research the methods they need, and build enough of their buildings to trigger each one. Industrialising early via the Meiji path is the prerequisite.
Presidential, Parliamentary or Council Republic all count. While the Risorgimento entry is running, enough radicals can fire the Tricolour over Rome event that gives you a republic in one go. Too many radicals can get you absorbed by another Italian state, so watch the numbers.
Two hard things stacked: the most radical religious law, and a power bloc of ten members built on an ideological principle. Get to State Atheism through a radical government, found an ideological bloc, then recruit ten countries into it - which realistically means creating most of them as subjects or liberating them into your sphere.
You need Yamato primary culture from the start, an active revolution-led civil war, serfdom or a variant still in force, and a state in Hokushin'etsu on your side.
A state becomes a migration target for a culture when it is attractive to that culture: high standard of living, available jobs, and no discrimination against them. Build out industry in a state so there are unfilled jobs, keep your citizenship law tolerant enough that the culture is at least partially accepted, and the migration target appears on the state panel. Migration-friendly citizenship laws make this much easier than an Ethnostate.
Start a diplomatic play with a demand against a weaker country and win the manoeuvring phase so they back down instead of escalating to war. What decides it is the balance of support: swing third parties to your side with favours and obligations, keep your own war support high, and target a country with no strong allies. Small demands against isolated minors are the reliable way to force a backdown.
Norton shows up as an agitator around December 1860, but only if California is incorporated before 1860. His movement makes your current ruler monarch, not him, so you have to make him leader of the Petite Bourgeoisie and get him elected president first. Boost that group: National Supremacy citizenship, Government Administrations, Mercantilism for shopkeeper-heavy trade centres, and steering elections. With Norton as president the Petite Bourgeoisie back the Monarchy law and you can pass it.
This is a branch of the Restoration journal entry. Pick the options that reconcile the court and shogunate.
Play France, secure the Bonaparte dynasty, and end with the Presidential Republic law specifically. Parliamentary Republic or other republics don't count. Stamping out monarchism first and switching to Presidential Republic afterwards also works.
Movement support grows from radicalised pops. Industrialise heavily while keeping standard of living low and refusing labour reforms, and the communist movement climbs fast. An agitator championing it accelerates things considerably.
Either Spain or Carlist Spain counts. The entry's goals show in the journal once it opens; expect them to put you at war with neighbours across the Mediterranean, so rebuild the navy and army before you start ticking them off.
You need Wallachia, Moldavia, both Transylvanias, Banat, Bekes, Dobruja and Bessarabia. Lean on Russia early and break from the Ottomans while they're fighting Egypt. Work with the other powers to take the Austrian states, and leave Bessarabia, held by Russia, for last.
Charter the United Fruit Company and then build the plantations it needs, which means owning a lot of tropical arable land - Central America and the Caribbean. Seventy-five plantation levels is a large colonial holding, and maxing prosperity on top means keeping them all profitable.
Institutions are funded on the Government screen and each level costs bureaucracy. The maximum level an institution can reach is capped by your laws, so pick one where your current law already allows a high cap, then build Government Administrations until you have the bureaucracy surplus to pay for every level.
The prestige good comes from the United Fruit Company running the right production method, so charter it and get its plantations to the level that unlocks the good. A 25% share of all goods on the world market is an enormous economy on top - effectively you need to be the dominant industrial power as well.
Poland-Lithuania needs ten states held by Russia, Prussia and Austria, so you'll fight all three eventually. First win independence from Austria by pushing liberty desire while keeping relations from collapsing. You also want the Schleswig-Holstein question left unresolved so the German federations don't form and make Prussia and Austria stronger. A coastal state matters early so your infamy goes somewhere useful.
Affirmative Action is the top of the discrimination track, so you have to walk all the way up it while the traditionalist interest groups resist. In an Indian country the caste modifiers make acceptance harder still - so industrialise to grow the progressive groups first, then push the law with a movement behind it.
The states are Guyana, Bolivar, Guaviare, Pastaza, Santa Cruz, La Paz, Para, Maranhao, Amazonas, Acre, Goias and Mato Grosso. The Guyana states belong to Britain and France; colonising next to them and swapping states is one way to get them. Every one needs a railway.
Literacy only counts across incorporated states. Build a university in each and rotate Encourage Social Mobility through your biggest states. The small states to the east are easy targets, but leave a buffer before India, then flip between Britain and Russia as allies to grab the rest. Done this way you can be at 80% before 1890.
The Commune entry needs Socialism and Anarchism researched, 20% turmoil in Ile-de-France, either a capitulation in the last five years or a French homeland state owned by someone else, and an active socialist or liberal revolution. Demolishing buildings in Paris drives turmoil, and declaring war on a minor and surrendering covers the defeat condition. Then win the civil war it starts.
Privateering is a naval order that raids enemy trade. Assign one admiral to privateer and leave them on it for decades against the wealthiest trade routes you can reach - Britain's above all - and never rotate them out, since the total is per character. Keep that admiral alive.
Three institutions at level five each need a lot of bureaucracy plus the laws that raise their caps, and Corporate State is a specific economic law with its own political requirements. Build Government Administrations far past what feels necessary, pass the strongest welfare laws, then switch the economic system last.
Both are Brazilian breakaway states that normally get reabsorbed. Survive first - find a sponsor and win independence - then industrialise a small base past a large one, which realistically means taking Brazilian states as well so the gap closes from both directions.
Bahrain is the easy answer: it starts with nothing state or worker owned, so you leave the game running for 12 years. Anywhere else, privatise everything and make sure nothing slips into state or worker ownership until the timer runs out.
Avoid both decisions the entry offers. Meet the full economic goals by industrialising Spain properly.
Research the Political Agitation society tech first. Without it, interest group leaders can't roll the Feminist ideology and nobody will back Women's Suffrage when you try to pass it. Then raise literacy and urbanisation so progressive groups gain clout, put them in government and enact the law.
Liquor comes from Food Industries, so build those and set the monopoly from the building screen. Don't ban liquor. Forming Scandinavia may break it, so stay Sweden.
Win independence from Spain first, ideally with US support. Fill the island with sugar plantations on good methods and export the surplus to as many markets as you can reach to hit both the share and the volume.
The expansion entry only opens if you decline to continue Francia's legacy at the Asuncion congress. It wants Corrientes, Santa Fe, Parana and Rio Grande do Sul, so jump on Brazil early while it fights Grao-Para and Piratini, then go after Argentina. Populating the Americas scales its population target with your incorporated states, so don't grab low-value land. Don't switch tags, and forming the Federation of the Andes blocks it.
Cuba, the British East India Company and the Dutch East Indies start above 10% foreign-owned GDP. Cuba is a common pick: get independent so the overlord stops investing, then pass Command Economy to nationalise without compensation. Before nationalising, make sure every state foreign capital is investing in belongs to you, or some buildings can't be taken. If you have no construction sector the investment pool doesn't spend, so private buildings won't reappear.
Charter a car company and let it colonise. Unconfirmed: one report says the top ten check is GDP per capita, and another says it's your own country's GDP rather than the colony's. Read the achievement tooltip in game for which applies.
Promoting a commander pleases the interest group they belong to and can annoy others. You want a promotion that annoys everyone at once, which means a commander whose own interest group is already hostile or marginal while the promotion offends the rest. Check the tooltip before confirming - it shows each group's reaction.
Getting British protection is the usual route: restart until Britain's stance toward you is domineering, declare interest near Britain and open a play against them; they ask for you as a protectorate and you back down. Under that cover Russia leaves you alone for a long time. An event later gives you a primary culture that lets you expand into the Middle East, and when you're ready you take Kuban from Russia to finish.
Herat is a small Afghan state between two empires. Unify Afghanistan, take the full historic Durrani extent - which reaches into Persian and Indian territory - and stay out of any bloc you do not lead. That last condition means refusing British and Russian protection while holding land both of them want.
The USA is quick: invite Juan Lavalleja, make him leader of the Landowners, bolster them and he can beat Andrew Jackson in the 1836 election. Once he's president, use the Rural Folk to pass Closed Borders. It was reported as needing the Voice of the People DLC even though it's listed as base game, so own that DLC to be safe.
Keep playing until the date passes late December 1935. Any country works and you don't need Ironman. If you're going for one of the objective achievements you'll end up here anyway.
Stirner comes from the Nihilism movement entry, which fires when you research Realism. He only appears if the entry triggers between 1844 and 1866. It also needs no Socialism tech yet, a free agitator slot, State Religion, Monarchy or Theocracy, Autocracy or Oligarchy, and Intelligentsia that are not marginal and either suppressed or unhappy. Then get him into power and form Germany.
You need Yankee as primary culture. As the USA, releasing and switching to a Yankee nation like New England or Michigan makes it much easier. Industry Banned must be enacted before 1846, but you're reportedly free to change it later and switch back once standard of living hits 20, so you're not stuck agrarian for the whole climb.
Reported shortcut: play Austria, build trade centres in Venice, then release Venice and switch to it.
The historic Pink Map. Colonise inland from both Angola and Mozambique until the two meet, which means going through territory Britain wants for its own north-south line - so expect a confrontation. Colonial laws, a navy and steady colonisation funding are the whole game here.
The trigger is researching the Military Aviation tech before anyone else. Pick a country with strong innovation, keep literacy high, and beeline the military tree toward it rather than spreading research around.
GDP is the total value of goods produced in your market, so this is a pure industrialisation race. Build continuously, keep construction sectors expanding, secure input goods so factories never idle, and grow your population through migration and standard of living. Any large starting power passes a billion comfortably by the 1900s if you never stop building.
Needs the Sphere of Influence DLC. Harlan arrives through a random event; pick the option to take his guns and cloth and he becomes leader. The event is rare, so restarts are common. Go for Line Infantry first, then defend the mountains on adamant defence, let Kunduz break itself, and take it, then Chitral and Kabul the same way.
Populist Unrest comes first and needs Political Agitation, Landowners as the strongest group in government and the Petite Bourgeoisie not marginal. If it completes after 1909, Vargas appears leading the Petite Bourgeoisie. Keep the Landowners on top by not removing their favourite laws. New Republic then needs Compulsory Primary School, Censorship, Autocracy, Interventionism, Presidential Republic and Regulatory Bodies or Worker Protections.
Champagne needs wine-producing arable land and the right production method, so you need the French or a similar wine region, and then a council republic on top. Easiest as France after a communist revolution, since the vineyards are already yours.
Britain is the easy pick: its opium exports start above 1500 units. Research what you need to build ports up to level 8, upgrade one home port and keep opium flowing out until exports pass 2500.
You need Yamato primary culture from the start and the Taikunate result. Fifty railway levels follow once Japan is industrialised and has steel, engines and coal flowing.
The German formation decision requires you to be a German-culture country holding or claiming the German homeland states and to be strong enough to press the claim. Prussia is the intended route: win against Austria and Denmark, absorb the smaller German states, then take the formation decision. Austria has its own path, and either way expect a Great Power to intervene.
Monitors are an early ironclad ship type - the original was designed by a Swedish-born engineer, which is what the name is nodding at. Beeline the naval technology that unlocks them and lay one down before any other country does, which means prioritising that branch over economic tech for a while.
Donghak needs Human Rights, no Isolationism, a European-led bloc with influence in Korea and at least 10% radicals. Keep the Rural Folk out of revolutions and don't push radicals under 5%, either ends it. Gyojo Sinwon then fires with 20%+ radicals and the Rural Folk in opposition but not marginal. To finish it, readopt Isolationism, drop State Religion, and keep the Landowners out of government and not powerful, all within 10 years.
It has to be exactly four deaths while the entry is active, then the entry completed. Track the ruler count and don't finish until the fourth has died. Save before the last objective ticks.
Japan can switch to Ainu primary culture while Taming the North is active, if you own The Great Wave DLC. Own all of Hokkaido and build four gold mine levels.
Take the west coast early - the Mexican war and the Oregon settlement both hand you these states in the standard American opening. The population target is the slow part: develop each state with plenty of jobs so migration flows west, and build real industry and resource extraction rather than leaving subsistence farms, which grow a state very slowly.
You need every state in those five regions owned by you or your subjects, and you can't be in Britain's power bloc. Forming India no longer blocks it. A reported shortcut: play the East India Company, max taxes until it destabilises, feed land around the Mughals beforehand, then switch to the Mughals when the rebellion event fires. If the achievement shows as unavailable after switching, save and reload.
Every production, military and society technology, with nothing left. That means research output far above what any one country needs, sustained for the whole game: maximum literacy, the largest possible Intelligentsia, universities in every state, and innovation-boosting laws. Playing a big power and never falling behind on literacy is the only realistic route.
Ships can be transferred through treaty articles. Research and build a pre-dreadnought, then sign a treaty with Spain or a Latin American country that includes handing the ship over. Both halves need the naval technology first, so this is a mid-to-late game tick.
Personal unions come from succession events and diplomatic plays with the union demand. Portugal has a historical claim thread to Brazil; Spain has to be forced or inherited. Holding both at once means keeping each union from breaking while you secure the other.
Worker Protections is locked behind the Human Rights society tech. Only your starting law has to be Serfdom, so you can change labour laws freely along the way. Russia is the usual pick: industrialise so Trade Unions grow, then push the reforms one at a time so you don't trigger a revolution.
Reportedly the only way to change another country's religion is to bring Spain into your Religious Convocation power bloc and use the bloc's diplomatic action. Lead such a bloc as a Sunni, Shia or Ibadi country and get Spain in.
When a revolution fires you are offered the option to join the revolutionary side rather than the government. Take it, then win the civil war that follows. Deliberately provoking a revolution by enacting a law a large radical movement hates - or refusing one they demand - is how you get the choice, and it helps if the revolting interest groups hold most of your army.
You need the Philippines tag, the earthquake event and the rebuild choice. Keep cash on hand so you can afford the rebuild when it fires.
Max Education, use the Encourage Social Mobility decree, get standard of living up, and research Empiricism, Dialectics and Human Rights for the institution levels and Compulsory Primary School. Small single-culture, single-religion starts with Closed Borders are far easier because new low-literacy pops keep appearing when pops split through migration or conversion. Serbia is the common pick. Industrialise to remove peasants, then avoid new building types late on so you don't create fresh illiterate pops.
Gandhi appears in 1910 if the Indian national movement exists. The suggested setup is the East India Company staying a British subject and conquering until infamy passes 100, then getting Gandhi into power.
Win the Carlist War on the government side, then when the Glorious Revolution ends make sure the new ruler has the Carlist ideology.
Money transfer is a treaty article that moves funds between countries. Sign transfer treaties with as many wealthy countries as will accept, keeping Switzerland's own GDP small enough that the incoming transfers are a large share of it. Leverage is what buys the articles, so build diplomatic standing rather than industry.
The requirement looks at your starting status, so any country that begins unrecognised qualifies. Get a fleet into the Baltic and keep it raiding there for a year.
Sardinia-Piedmont is the intended start: take the Italian homeland states off Austria and the other Italian minors, then take the formation decision once you hold or claim enough of them. Austria will contest every play, so secure a Great Power ally before you open the first one. The Two Sicilies and the Papal States can also unify Italy by the same decision.
Fight a naval battle against Britain and destroy the specific ship flying their flagship status. That means winning a fleet engagement outright, so build a navy that can beat the Royal Navy at the technology level you are at - or catch a detached British squadron containing the flagship.
Sweden is the easiest start. It needs three more states and the Pan-Nationalism society tech. Beat Denmark in a war or play to take the states, then form.
After independence, improve relations with Russia and support Russia in its plays against Japan.
Spain or Carlist Spain both count, but Iberia doesn't. After the Carlist War, beeline the Anarchism tech, provoke the movement until it revolts, then switch sides during the opening phase and win. Build arms factories in rebel territory beforehand.
France starts with the industry and literacy to do both; the obstacle is Britain, the USA and later Germany outgrowing you. Industrialise hard and early, keep Britain from running away with its lead, and invest continuously in education and universities so innovation stays ahead of the population-heavy rivals. Keeping Germany unformed helps on both counts.
Every state you own, colonies too, needs an Urban Center with the Electric Streetlights method switched on. You only need the method active; it doesn't have to be powered. Research Electrical Generation, and build a few levels of Food Industry in states without an Urban Center to generate urbanisation (five levels per state reportedly does it). The production list view helps you spot states you've missed.
Start as Shewa, which already holds two of the needed states, and immediately open a Unify Ethiopia play on Harar. With luck they give in without a war. The other Ethiopian states fight each other with the same play, so you can pick them off one at a time. You don't need every state to form, but the Unify Ethiopia play disappears once you do.
Fervor here is a cultural stat, not religious. Literacy, the share of Academics and the Public Schools law each give a chunk, which reportedly gets you to about 75. Exclusionary citizenship laws (Ethnostate, National Supremacy, Racial Segregation, Cultural Exclusion) also raise it. The rest can come from heavy war casualties among your primary culture, which count as a percentage of that culture's population, so a small high-literacy country like an Italian minor gets there fastest.
Two things at once: take Silesia back off Prussia, and grind Prussia's power rank down to Minor Power. Beat them in a war for Silesia, then keep dismembering them - take more homeland states, force them out of Great Power status, or let another power carve them up. Blocking German unification is effectively part of the job.
Unify Germany first, then turn to colonising Africa with a colonial affairs setup and a navy. Forming Mitteleuropa afterwards blocks the achievement, so stop at Germany. Three Hurrahs pops along the way.
Either republic law counts, paired with Universal Suffrage on the voting track. Going for Universal Suffrage first makes the later republic switch easier, and you don't have to free the slaves to get this. The Landowners and Armed Forces are what block you, and a Dedicated Police Force law is one way to weaken them. Any republic reform kills the Magnanimous Monarch journal entry, so do Magnanimous in a different run.
The khanates are the easy part. The hard part is the four Central Asian states Qing owns, which means a war with Qing. Hold the long land border with one army and use naval invasions near Beijing to take the capital and end the war quickly. Qing is weaker early while the opium debuffs hit it, so don't wait too long.
Complete the 'Learn the Game' objective, which is the guided tutorial track Victoria 3 offers on a new campaign. Start a fresh game with objectives enabled, pick 'Learn the Game' from the objective list, and work through its steps. This is the cheapest achievement in the game and a genuinely good primer on construction, laws and the market if you are new.
Both are neighbouring states held by regional powers. Take Sind first, since it is the weaker target, then build up enough army to beat the Sikh Empire for Punjab - they are a real military, not a pushover. Britain usually backs you as its own subject, so the plays are winnable.
You have to choose Economic Dominance when setting up the game; it can't be added later. The chain runs through mining, steel, Motor Industries and engines, and grows your market to 8+ countries. The final step, Strong Market, asks for your market to hold more than 25% of world GDP. Newer patches no longer make you play to 1936 for it.
Choose Hegemon at game setup. The early steps want a colonial institution, alliances or five subjects, an African colony, a 150-strong army with a 75 navy, and Bolt-Action Rifles, Dreadnoughts and Malaria Prevention. Rank steps depend on where you started, and a Great Power has to reach number one. The final step counts the share of world population living in your country plus your subjects; the exact threshold is unconfirmed (40% and 50% have both been reported), so check the journal. Britain with India is the strongest start, and breaking Qing apart and puppeting it covers the rest.
Forming Iberia disqualifies you, so stay Spain. The usual approach is to make Spain a self-sufficient market, take or puppet resource-rich land in the Americas, and concentrate industry in a core state. Fill every building's jobs so few pops are stuck as peasants, and max government and military wages since those workers count toward the average. Releasing low-SoL states as puppets raises the average quickly.
Besides the 100 incorporated states, you must keep the Presidential Republic law and must not have Autocracy, so don't go monarchist or dictatorial on the way. Washington DC doesn't count as a state. An early-patch bug needed exactly 100, which was fixed in 1.0.6, so going over is fine now. Conquer Mexico, Canada and the Caribbean and keep incorporation running constantly.
Two techs gate this: Socialism unlocks Council Republic and Central Planning unlocks Command Economy, so push society research down that line early. Then grow the Trade Unions and get a government that will pass both laws, or let a revolution install the Council Republic and pass Command Economy afterwards. This pairs well with Enlightened Despot, since late events can turn Trade Union leaders vanguardist and willing to accept Autocracy.
Egypt begins as an Ottoman subject, so break free first, then take the Arabian homeland states to qualify for the Arabia formation. East Thrace is Constantinople's state - taking it means beating the Ottomans outright in a later war, after you have already carved the peninsula off them.
Two checks: power rank 1 and Health System at investment level 5. Level 5 needs the Medical Degrees, Pharmaceuticals and Antibiotics society techs plus either Private or Public Health Insurance, so plan research around it. The rest is the usual Ottoman turnaround: reform, industrialise and keep your territory long enough to climb to the top spot.
Choose Egalitarian Society at game setup. Along the way you need Slavery Banned, Protected Speech, Public Schools, Multiculturalism and no State Religion, then Education, Health, Social Security and Workplace Safety at level 3 or more, then Compulsory Primary School and Women's Suffrage. The last step wants peasants under 10% of the population, average standard of living 20+ and 90% literacy.
The ports don't have to come from the countries that dominate those regions. A treaty port anywhere inside each of the five areas counts, so minor countries in Germany, Italy and Iberia are much softer targets than the big powers. You still need a navy that can reach Europe and an army that can win there, so reform and industrialise Qing before starting the run of wars.
Drop the rivalry with France and improve relations, then add subsidies or waive obligations to push them up faster. Get relations to at least 50 before you expel, because they need to stay at 20 or more afterwards. You also have to stop the improve-relations action first or the expel option is greyed out.
Lanfang starts as a Qing subject, and Qing's huge army is what lets you roll over the small Bornean states, so don't rush independence. Keep relations up with the other major powers so they don't jump in against you. You need all three Borneo states fully owned, then the Compulsory Primary School child-labour law. Once the whole island is yours the country is renamed Brunei.
The state list doesn't match the strategic regions exactly. It covers Texas, the Pacific coast (California, Baja California, Oregon, Washington, Nevada, Arizona, Utah, Idaho) and the plains states from Montana and the Dakotas down to Oklahoma and New Mexico. You must be a Great Power and the USA has to be at Major Power or below, or gone. Hit the USA early, before its industry outgrows yours.
Art comes from Arts Academies and furniture from Furniture Manufacturies, so build both well past your own needs and keep their inputs cheap. Don't form Germany, Mitteleuropa or the Danubian Federation (USGA), any of those blocks it.
What gets checked is the Anarchy law on the distribution-of-power track while you play Great Britain. Britain starts as a stable parliamentary power, so getting a government that will back Anarchy takes deliberate effort: grow a radical left that wants it and either pass the law or let a revolution hand it to you. Exactly how the law becomes available isn't something two sources confirmed, so look at the law's tooltip in game for its requirements before committing a run.
New Granada is a good start since it can quickly absorb or puppet Venezuela and Ecuador. Don't form the Federation of the Andes, that blocks it. Late in the run you also need the three Guianas held by Britain, the Netherlands and France, and the Falklands, which count as La Plata. Naval invasions help open second fronts there, and don't sign away even a treaty port inside the three regions.
Tanks sit at the very end of the military tree, so this is a full-length campaign no matter what. You don't need to break away from Russia: staying in Russia's orbit as a subject works and gets you a big protector while you build. Plan for Motor Industries running the tank method plus a steady supply of steel, oil and engines, which Finland mostly has to import through Russia's market.
There is no 'Algeria' tag at the start. Pick one of the four Algerian minors, unite the region and form Algeria. You then need every part of the Algiers state, which France usually grabs early, and a rank of Major Power or higher. An unrecognised Major Power doesn't count, so you have to get recognised as well.
Luxembourg starts as a Dutch subject, so get out first. One route that has worked: expel Dutch diplomats to tank relations, open the independence play once relations drop below 20, and bribe a big power such as Austria into your side so the Dutch fold. After that, join a large customs union like France's so you can specialise in the three goods without worrying about inputs or local demand. Grabbing the rest of Wallonia speeds things up a lot, and a migration-friendly citizenship law such as Multiculturalism helps fill the factories.
Britain can't be subjugated while it is a Great Power, and since patch 1.2 not while it is a Major Power either, so you have to beat it down over several wars before the final one. Forming India locks you out, so stay as the Sikh Empire until it pops. A workable line: fight west early for ports and iron (Kalat, Makran), get a Great Power like France as a backer, reform laws and push literacy hard. When Britain finally comes for you, invade the home islands with a proper fleet while their army is busy elsewhere, take home states, force EIC independence, then go for the puppet demand.
One of the hardest starts in the game: a tiny unrecognised nation inside the USA's borders. You need an outside sponsor, then to dismantle the United States piece by piece through repeated wars until it is a rump of three states, and finally subjugate it. Expect many restarts.
Serbia is the usual base. Take the South Slav homeland states off the Ottomans and then Austria, which means at least one war with a Great Power, then take the formation decision. Russia is the natural sponsor for the Ottoman half.
Don't annex Hungary when the choice comes up; take the Dual Monarchy route, which is the one that leads to the Federal Solution. From there work through the journal entry's conditions and form the USGA at the end. Forming it kills Biedermeier, so get that first if you want both.
Hungary starts inside Austria's orbit, so independence means a war with Austria at some point. Time the break for when Austria is tied up with Prussia, Italy or its own internal trouble, and line up a great power backer before it comes. Two separate checks matter: the journal entry must be completed and you must be independent at the end.
You can't join against an ally who is the play's leader or target, so the two allies have to be secondary backers on the same side. The trick is to ally two countries after they've already picked a side in someone else's play, then join the other side. Defensive pacts count as allies, so you don't need the Multilateral Alliances tech. Be the top power with a big navy and interests everywhere so you can join plays worldwide, and keep relations friendly with lots of minors.
The entry only unlocks once the Petite Bourgeoisie are in government and you have Autocracy plus Secret Police. You only need four of its five goals. Some prep helps: get relations with the Papal States to 50 and pass Appointed Bureaucrats before it fires. A reported trick for the GDP and output goals is to drop buildings to their worst methods before the entry starts and switch them back afterwards.
Montenegro is a mountain minor next to an empire. You do not have to destroy the Ottomans yourself - you only have to still exist when they do not - so the practical play is to survive, expand carefully into Ottoman Balkan states alongside Russia and the other Balkan states, and let the partition finish the job.
The easy way in is Russia: demand the Ottomans release Bulgaria at the start, and when it's released an event lets you switch to playing it. Hand Bulgaria Dobruja before you switch. Then build the economy, finish the journal entry and fight the Ottomans with Russia's help until you're a great power. Prestige has to beat whichever of Prussia, the North German Federation or Germany exists.
Bulgaria, Greece, Montenegro and Serbia all have to be invited into the Balkan League. The Balkan League entry shows its trigger conditions in the potential journal list. Spoils of War appears after the Balkan war against the Ottomans, and you complete it from there. Playing Serbia or Montenegro works.
Saxony is deep in Germany, hundreds of miles from Serbia, and the pun is on the Sorbs who live there. You need to become strong enough to take a German state - either by intervening in a German war on the winning side and claiming Saxony as your prize, or by growing into a power that can beat whoever holds it.
