So you've decided that it's probably time for you to try playing as the big, bad boy of Victoria 2.The red blob which you've seen smacking around uncivilized nations, civilized nations, and great powers alike.

But that was the vanilla game, not Heart of Darkness, or HOD for short. In HOD, the United Kingdom is no longer some OP beast whose population can consist of one fourth soldier pops and still have a functioning economy. Gone are the days of watching all of India and its millions of people somehow become British. Gone are the days of outright British supremacy.

Why? Because this is HOD. Sure, the UK still stands as a great power among great powers, but its position can easily be challenged and overtaken. A single mistake may see masses of French and German army units swarm across the Strait of Dover and into England, where your smaller army will be devastated and the entire war and Empire lost. Millions of Indians may decide to somehow dress themselves up as anarcho-liberal and communist rebels, toppling the imperial government in London despite only controlling the Indian subcontinent. Your clumsy and useless allies may be overrun by enemy forces, ruining the war score despite countless British victories and thereby dragging wars longer than they should be.

The point being, the United Kingdom is no longer the one and only superpower that can withstand any issue. Any number of circumstances may irrevocably destroy the Empire.

And it is your job as a player to therefore avoid this annoying and sad outcome. Imperial hegemony, if not supremacy, can only occur at acute and considerable effort.

The Imperial Federation was a concept proposed in the decades before WWI, as an alternative to imperial colonialism that had been the norm for the major imperialist nations. The sheer size of the British Empire meant that the United Kingdom was overstretched in maintaining its political borders, as both the British Army and the Royal Navy had to be thinly spread out. Despite the size of both, the manpower and resources needed to maintain the Empire was a massive drain on the finances of the UK.

With White Dominions (Canada, Australia, New Zealand, South Africa, Newfoundland) already enjoying sufficient autonomy and sovereignty, the idea was to reorganize the British Empire into a multi-state entity with a supranational government to oversea general affairs. Regional governments like England, Ireland, or Canada would look after their own domestic issues, while the issues of foreign policy and defense would be decided and directed from a purely imperial government in Westminster. The United Kingdom would be able to reduce and share the cost of defense, while the colonies and dominions had a greater say in policy making. In fact, the governments of the UK, Canada, Australia, New Zealand, South Africa, and even British India met together in a series of colonial and imperial conferences to coordinate imperial policy, most notably during WW1 and WW2.

Ultimately, international and domestic politics caused the idea to fail. Nationalism in the dominions caused Canada and Australia to eventually oppose the idea. Disagreements on imperial trade policy, which switched between free trade and imperial preferential trade, came to a head in WW2 when Churchill ended the policy of imperial preferential trade at the behest of American president Franklin D. Roosevelt in exchange for American material support in Lend-Lease. After that, the Imperial Federation was ended as a serious idea.

The idea is important because it serves as the idea in how a successful game as the United Kingdom can be played. Why should you be forced to release Australia, New Zealand, or Canada in order to save colonial power points in order to mass colonize in Africa, only for Canada to fall into the American sphere of influence and Australia and New Zealand fall to communist rebels? So many people are moving from the UK to the colonies that all this population is locked away from actually being part of the industrial labor force as well as the army.

So what do you do?

Turn the colonies into states of course.

Whats that? Do I hear scoffing?

Well okay, you have me there. Why go through the effort of making colonies into states? You just as easily gain more industrial and military power by just directly taking states from civilized nations (or China if you really want to). But whats the downside? The chance for rebellion by unaccepted cultures, bad diplomatic relations with everyone else, and just general headache of having to fight a war against possible multiple enemies and watching your wartime economy tank as the war nears its tenth year.

Furthermore, any UK player would prefer to see an industrial score of five thousand and growing, rather than three thousand and in second place behind Germany. Even better is to watch all of Canada, Australia, New Zealand, and southern Africa slowly become British in culture and then the possibility of spawning 500+ brigades of purely British soldier pops (aka Guards).

A transcontinental superpower is much better than merely a colonial powerhouse.

So how does one achieve this goal?

A studious use of diplomacy, colonial warfare, and massive naval expansion. The maintenance of the Royal Navy as the most advanced and largest military entity on the planet. The easy access to strategic and luxury resources that can be found in Asia, Africa, and South America. It sounds vague and expansive, but its not that complex if you're working with a slow game speed and give yourself time to plan ahead. And above all, use of warfare and diplomatic crisis' to throw your weight against countries that prove to be a detriment to your position.

The early bird gets the worm, as the saying goes. As such, colonial warfare and diplomacy in this period is crucial to securing some short-term resources and opportunities.

Her Majesty's Government starts off as HM's Government, a fancy way to just say constitutional monarchy. The Whigs are in power, with Free Trade, Laissez Faire, Pluralism, and anti-military policies. Try your best to maintain the Whigs in power or any party that holds the exact same or most of these policies.

In 1836, Europe has just passed through the Napoleonic era, and yet liberal ideas live long and the people are desiring more political freedoms as a result. This wave of liberalism is a boon for your Whig party's ability to stay in power, so do everything you can to make sure you can convince British citizens to become more liberal and stay that way. During elections use your National Foci to make people more loyal to liberal ideologies, improving the chances of reelection. When people demand reforms however, refuse to grant them reforms. The purpose of this is to force national public anger to such levels the government will grant social reforms rather than political reforms. The goal is that provisions for public healthcare, public education, and the elimination of child labor are available. Improvements in these three categories are needed for better population growth, a more educated populace, and more prestige, respectively and the earlier you get them, the bigger advantage you have over your rivals in research and international rankings.

In the international forums, 2 major issues will come your way. First off the bat is a Belgian request for an alliance against the Netherlands. If you don't want the Netherlands as a GP, its best to accept this alliance. Immediately increase relations with France before they ally with Russia, and then ally France. When the inevitable Dutch-Belgian war occurs, call on France to do your bidding will you sit back in England watching from the sidelines. The Dutch will be readily crushed by French numerical superiority.

The 2nd major issue will be the creation of Germany. This occurs after Victoria ascends as Queen, and steps must be taken to slow down German unification to give Britain more time to remain top dog. Influencing Hannover and decreasing their opinion of Prussia will slow down the time before the formation of the North German Federation. This gives France more time to grow as well, which prevents them from being easily pushed over by a powerful Germany. With luck, a NGF that forms later will be weaker than France and thus the two can perpetually be at loggerheads while Britain stands ascendant and no Germany actually exists.

In addition to influencing Hannover, there are also several countries needed to be sphered for economic/political reasons or for future conquest. The former category includes Brazil (for coffee and rubber/to ally/), Ethiopia (for coffee), Siam/Thailand (for the opium), Sweden (to ally), Portugal (to ally), Persia (for cotton, to ally), Afghanistan (buffer zone with Russia), Egypt (for cotton/possible conquest/Suez Canal), and Ottoman Turkey (buffer zone with Russia). In the category for required conquest includes Johore, Brunei, Panjab, Kalat, Burma, and Sokoto. Little Makram can be annexed or sphered at your leisure.

The wars you fight between 1836-1860 well of course generate plenty of infamy, especially since the establishing of protectorates costs 10 infamy, and additional war goals set during a war will quickly pile on. With the threshold infamy limit of 25, it is important to release puppets whenever the infamy value becomes troublesome. Fortunately, the in-game mechanic of the Doctrine of Lapse is a boon for removing infamy accumulated from wars. The Doctrine of Lapse event will result in the UK inheriting one of their Indian puppets, which buffs up national anger as a result. While this may seem bad, the good side has two main benefits. A national revolt risk that nears or exceeds 6 revolt risk will scare your Whig/Liberal government into allowing those needed social reforms. Furthermore, you will be able to release the inherited puppet state at a later time when infamy levels are too high. Typically, releasing the smaller Indian puppets is the most cost-effective, namely loss of resources and territory won't cause much affect on overall policy goals.

A word of caution though: releasing larger puppets like Hyderabad or Orissa will do you more harm, especially since those released nations will get all of their cores, some of which are important to you. This problem is compounded when the larger puppets westernize, and may reach great power or secondary power status.

Her Majesty's Armed Forces are among the strongest on the planet in 1836. The Royal Navy keeps all enemies at arms distance, and can be easily be expanded such that rival powers do not dare attack British colonies while you may invade their colonies at your own leisure. The British Army on the other hand is to be used primarily for rolling over the natives, and or amphibious assaults on enemy colonies.

Begin the game with a massive naval expansion programs, building naval bases in all possible locations while continuously building commerce raiders nets you two advantages of more colonial points from the ships, as well as the ability to totally blockade any nation in Europe. Raise taxes if needed when building bases and forts. By 1860, a Royal Navy that has 700 ships, however old or outdated they may be, is more than enough to ensure that even the United States cannot claim control of the seas, let alone a European nation. The British Army may then be built around the Navy, its power projection dependent upon the Navy's ability to keep total control of the seas.

The financial might of the United Kingdom comes from its early stranglehold over the fruits of the industrial revolution. At the start of the game, the UK will be making buckets of cash, such that a Treasury that contains more than one million pound sterling by 1860 is possible. Even more astounding is that this sort of economic strength can feed itself, manifested when you note that the Bank of England may have an additional five million pounds in 1860, ready to either be lent to other nations for interest or to be used by your own citizens to build and expand factories.

In order to set this chain of events going, early economic policy should be geared to encourage mass education, good government bureaucracy, as well as savings for all citizens. Setting government spending on Education and Administration to the maximum will encourage the growth of clergy and bureaucrats, two types of POPs that are needed for improving the effectiveness of government economic and social policy, as well as the literacy rate. Improving the socio-economic position of your citizens, whether they be in the colonies or in actual British states, will encourage the growth of better POPs or reduce the chance of rebellion. After all, a starving, illiterate, poor person is more likely to cause trouble than a rich or content one.

Taxes should be cut in a fashion that will rankle most of modern Left, but which is necessary for the foundation of a successful industrial economy. This means, cutting taxes on the rich and the middle classes to zero or near zero percent, with the government reliant on income from trade or the lower classes to pay for the entire budget. Whenever possible however, lower taxes on the poor and increase the percentage who meet their everyday needs as this will obviously facilitate the growth of the middle class and improve your economy.

Use national foci to first encourage clergy until they consist of 2% of national population. Then switch to promoting capitalists, in order to have more POPs who can build more factories. The resources provided by your empire, as well as by nations within your sphere, will be more than enough to ensure that factories will be consistently humming.

Britain's technological lead is very evident from the very start of the game, rivaled only by France, Germany, America, and later on Japan. You may notice that the UK special tech focus is "Sea Power and Merchant Marine", granting bonuses to Naval and Commerce tech, while detrimental to Army and Culture Tech. Do not freak out. As long as Britain's education spending and overall literacy rate are high, the negative bonuses will not affect much. This is crucial to securing advantages in industry, the navy, and thus colonization.

You may have noticed that any nation you play may be hit by one of those terrifying disease outbreaks, killing thousands of people. This is extremely bad, and thus needs to be countered by high population growth. As a result, the first technology to be researched should be Medicine, which gives you a double advantage of higher population growth as well as unlocking the first obstacle to colonization, Prophylaxis against Malaria. This reduces the minimum Life Rating required for colonization, opening some previously colonizable territories, namely in Canada and New Zealand.

Because there are so many ways for research, I will only suggest a few needed techs. Aside from Medicine, any UK player prior to 1850 should beeline as many Culture, Naval, Industry, and Commerce techs as possible. This is stated in order of decreasing importance. Culture nets you more education and national foci, Naval grants higher level naval bases and the tech needed to build better ships (both which grant more colonial points), Industry increases your income, and Commerce increases your income as well as your diplomatic influence. Out of any of these, I would emphasize rushing State and Government (for more colonization opportunities) and Nationalism and Imperialism (so you full annex larger uncivilized nations like Burma and Panjab).

You may noticed I chose to omit Army tech, namely because your starting British army is good enough to deal with the armies of uncivilized and primitive nations. However, research these as you see fit, depending your desire to fight wars with the other Great Powers. The only technology I would deem the most important to rush for is Breech-Loaded Rifles, namely because you will have a head start in the late game colonization rush that starts in after 1860. Breech-Loaded Rifles has the vital Colonial Negotiations invention needed for African colonization.