I will revisit an analysis of the play of various Nations for the first two periods. I would like to point out that my opinions are my own and that some are more contraversial than others. People have been kind thus far. Feel free to dis agree when you feel the need. Afterall, these are only one point of view.

England begins the game very weak and does not gain much true power in the first two periods.

The first issue for England is Calais. It is the really the only genuine conflict area for England in the first two periods. While England is still has Medieval tech it is vertually impossible for England to hold Calais if France decides to attack. But if you concentrate on the big picture you can hold Calais vetually forever.

England has only one province on the Mainland [Calais]. France can assault this and take it from you in one round [two on average]. Then what does France do? It has cost him two levels of stability and 10VPs for his
DOW and he has only gained two military points towards a peace [for the siege and taking a province].  Effectively, he actually has only earned a draw even though he has been 100% successful on the board. This means that France must do something else to actually win the war. But his only option is a naval campaign to invade England or Ireland. And on the water the battles favour England.  France is risking truly losing the war in
order to try to win it if he sets sail.

If France is unwilling to risk a Naval war then the the War for Calais will degenerate into a contest of how low the two combatants can drag themselves down. Without a successful stability improvement both nations will crash to -3 at the end of the third turn of war,  If England gets even one successful stability investment level he can last to the fourth turn.  The truth is that at the time of a constrained peace England will lose the war and France will have won a level 2 peace and will get to keep Calais.

But France can hardly afford such a victory. He is bound to two potential Wars in Italy in the first period and yet another in the second period, none of which he could begin to hope to win with such a poor stability. All of this is to say that any French threats over Calais are completely without substance.

Having said my peace on Calais it is now time to discuss what is important to England.

Exploration.
It makes a big difference as to whether you are playing with the expansion set rules, or not. Without the expansion set rules England is going to languish with very few gains prior to his turning Protestant. Using only
the basic rules I would reluctantly advise going Protestant at the earliest opportunity. As it is the only way to explore and expand economically. With the expansion set rules there is a wealth of opportunity for expansion.

First a discussion of how to explore Sea Zones with no explorers. First you take your best ROTW admirals and two full NDets and move to the current 'edge of the world'. You can then detach a NDet with 2n and it attempts to move into the first sea zone. 50/50 chance of success, and only 10% of the time will you be successful and survive with 2n all the other successes will have only 1n survive. In the next round, the exploring NDet moves back toward a port. When it reaches the main fleet it should attach another 1n so that there will be a survivor from the move to port. Sea Zone is discovered and reported.

You can use the same tactics to discover land area by transporting LDets offshore and dropping 2i LDets into the province until there is a success. The knowledge is then transported automatically to the ship.

With the expansion set rules, any LDets that make a discovery should immediately begin building a fort. Note: once completed the fort is also a port and the discovery is automatically reported. Plus, they are sources of supply for detachments. This in turn makes bordering seas safer to travel and therefore exploration easier and cheaper [less attrition]. Also, when a fort is no longer useful disband it.

Terre Neuve[east] is a good place for England to get to early. Easy colonization and no natives, plus fish. [Note: here is a design flaw for those trying to make the history of the game better. Newfoundland was the only place in North America where the British were unable to reach an accord with the local natives. Eventually, the British hired natives from the Nova Scotia region to hunt down the natives in Newfoundland and the Newfoundland natives were wiped out.]

Given the limited amount of missionaries available I would use them in the Americas area so as to counter to Natives there.

From here branch out and discover so that you can prosper in the future.

Attacking Natives is an expensive process for England. Unlike Spain you do not have a special CB vs natives. Instead, in Americas you can build your fort and after you are successful put two full LDets there and wait for the natives to attack you. With the fort you have supply and a safe place to retreat. With Renaissance tech you should win most battles. And the natives will be eliminated.

Until England turns Protestant it will cost England -1 Stability to have a force leave the European map once the Treaty of Tordesillas kicks in [turn 2], so send as much as you can in each stack, both land and naval forces. England can afford to send off about one stack a turn once prosperity sets in. And investments in stability are just another cost of exploration.

England has a few project to take care of. First is investments in land tech. Militarily England needs Renaissance Tech.

Second, Commercial fleets. Build to your max and avoid competition vs Netherlands fleets. Early action vs Netherlands fleets is a waste of time and cash. [Over the years there have been a great deal of house rules proposed that take away some of the neutral abilities of the Netherlands fleets. By the RAW the are to be treated like any other minor, with the exception that the will increase in number.]

Invest in manufactures. England gets good return on manufactures and prosperity can really help England thoughout the game.

And when the time comes always invest in colonies and trading posts. More than any other player England needs to expand continually economically and into an empire in the ROTW.

Alliances play a great effect on the fortunes of England. Portugal is the most important ally of England. The Portugese has the only admiral that is both better than the English admirals and can operate outside the Med. Portugal could combine with either Spain or France and transport an invading force to England. Luckily, there is no natural rivalry between Portugal and England. Still keep Portugal as a good and close ally and do what you are able to do to keep him happy.

{The only successful invasion of England I have been involved in resulted from an early war between England and Spain where Portugal intervened as an ally on behalf of Spain. France and Spain where also at war via a war in
Italy event so Spain could not afford to commit much to the war against England. Portugal transported a force composed of one Spanish LDet and one Portugese LDet to England. The force landed in an unoccupied
province of England [Cornwall, but any province in England would have worked out equally as well]. The Renaissance tech of the Spanish gave the invaders an advantage and the took the level 1 fortress there with light losses. The English counter-attacked and were did not win [statistically unlikely in a Medieval vs Renaissance attack]. Effectively, the war was over. England could not win. Luckily the invaders were not out to destroy England and a sort of truce was called to the peace phase.]  Note: the Renaissance LDet could have come from either Spain or France, the key to the invader success was the Portugese fleet and admiral.

Spain and France are rivals in the first two periods in most games. A Protestant France does change this relationship but otherwise these two will be uneasy allies at best.  Do not ally with both at the same time. This opens you to being called by one ally to join in a war against the other, this will force you to break one of the alliance to your detriment [-2 stability for breaking an alliance].  If you ally with either you should ensure that you are not called into a War in Italy event war.  With such a limited theatre the forces of England are of little use to either combatant. My presonal preference for an ally is Spain [mainly because there is usually a good relationship between Spain and Portugal].  For the most part these are defensive alliance situations, but there can be some interesting offensive situations.

Venice is another decent ally.  Especially after both of you have Renaissance Tech there are several small campaigns open to the two of you while the powers are engage in more serious conflicts.  Helping Venice in Italy is one option or even a joint campaign against Algeria [say while Persia attacks Turkey].

Turkey is also an interesting ally.  Turkey is almost always at war. Turkey also needs allies to counter the various waves of 'get Turkey' that occasionally rise in the first few periods.  [In EU5, I joined Turkey in an attack on the Mameluks.  The cost to me was my participation in a war on Spain.  I actually got a force into Mameluk territory and was rewarded with the province of Nile.  Turkey and England went on to share discoveries in the Indian Ocean and Southern Atlantic.  Plus the war on Spain was successful as well.]  With Turkey involved in so many campaigns in the first two periods there is often a small role that England can play.  Most often there is no territorial gains in it for you but you can still share in the victory.  In exchange, a Turkish ally certainly curbs any Spanish agressions towards England.  On balance an excellent alliance for both.  And a Protestant England is immune to the bad effects of having a Crusade interfering with this alliance.

Period of Objectives.
First period.  Go for each province or Vassal in Europe first. You might gain a province and/or vassal in Europe for 10 VPs but you might get more. Second is 4 units of manufacture, for 10 VPs. Between these first two options we can reasonably expect 20 VPs with a minimum of 10 VPs and an upper limit of 30 VPs or more. [If you reverse the order you still expect 20 VPs but you low is 15 VPs and your high is only 25 VPs or more. I like the potential higher range and feel it is worth the lower potential downside.]  Then 'No revolt in Ireland' and Calais.

Second period.  Colonies/Trading Posts, gain a province and/or vassal in Europe, Commercial fleets, and 6 units of manufacture.

The second period is where you start to get some points.

There are a number of small campaigns England can undertake either on your own or with another power. My favourite is Denmark. This is a two turn war for England on its own but the reward is a level 5 peace and three provinces for a net of 58 VPs minimum. Sweden where you take southern Sweden, 59 VPs. Hanover taking Oldenburg for 27 VPs and 150D$. Hessen taking Munster for 29 VPs and 150D$ [can only be done after Hanover]. All the above totals include period VPs.

Note: there are a minimum number of small campaigns available and you are not the only player that may be looking for such an opportunity.

England can also benefit enough by assisting in the campaign of another player even if there is no territory in it for England.  VPs for a win and the building of an alliance are valuable commodities for England.

You will note that in the discussion of England I have not stressed VPs as I did with Venice. First, the VP totals are variable and are dependent upon to many variables to accurately predict. For England in the first two periods it is far superior to stress good sound play. Carefully control your own situation, avoid risks that have a big downside. Careful and reasonable exploration will yield bigger point totals throughout the game than you will ever get in a poorly chosen war.

England in the first period will have one of the lowest VP totals. But he should start passing other players as the game progresses.

Sincerely;
Mitchell Wageler