Sweden strategy
From EU3 Wiki
At the opening game Sweden's position is strong, it borders Norway, Denmark and Novgorod. By attacking each in turn it is quite possible to become the dominant power in Northern Europe. However annexing Norway requires a navy, as does Denmark.
Sweden begins in a state of war with Denmark and Norway. None of you have large armies as of 1453. The traditional strategy is to end the war in a white peace quickly, then consolidate your power and focus on future expansion. However, by taking out some loans and making use of mercenaries, a skilled Sweden player can dominate Norway and Denmark in this original war, giving you control of almost all of Scandanavia in the early steps of the game. You will spend time recovering from the interest and badboy, but once all of your loans are repaid and your reputation is restored(10 years or so), you will basically begin the game with all of Scandanavia as the strongest force in northern Europe. You wont be threatened by anyone for a while, so focus on building forts and workshops in all of your provinces.
After conquering or Vassalising Scandanavia Sweden is in a good position to expand anywhere, into Germany will give Sweden the benefits of wealth, and perhaps even being Emperor, whereas colonsiationw will give welath and power to Sweden.
However when playing Sweden it is advissable to prevent the formatio of Russia, one idea being to attack Novogord and seize it's territory. If Russia does form there is a real danger to Sweden, since the Swedish Army could easily be overwhelmed by the immense Russian one.
Sweden is, at the middle of the 17th century and the early 18th century, not a big power in Europe, but still can be quite large. They have three large enemies at their borders: Poland, Denmark/Norway and Russia. Denmark and Russia are the most aggressive ones, since they have claims on Swedish territory such as Ingermanland and Skåne. Due to its climate, Russia is harder to deal with.
However, were one to forget the constraints of history and try to forge a Swedish empire in northern europe through the weak russian areas, one could take deus vult and easily pick off the weak states to the east before they become threats.
