From Victoria 2 Wiki
Jump to navigation Jump to search
Government type Absolute Monarchy
Ruling party Royal Faction
Capital Riyadh (ID 1157)
Population 102.87 thousand
Primary culture Bedouin
Literacy 1%
National value Order
Tech school Uncivilized
Status Uncivilized
Arabian Peninsula in 1836

Nejd is a poor country in the Middle East with almost no resources, and starts off with about £1 in tax income. It has the lowest literacy in the game at 1%, and a population that counts just above 100 000. Together with its neighbor Abu Dhabi Abu Dhabi it is generally one of the most insignificant countries in the game. Despite all these problems Nejd does have an opportunity to make a difference on the world stage.

Nejd can form Arabia Arabia and unlike Egypt Egypt and the other Arab nations it doesn't have to reach great power status first. The decision Form Arabia has a special clause for Nejd. Instead, all it needs to do is to invade and annex Hedjaz Hedjaz. Once Arabia is formed the player gets the "restore order" casus belli on all other Arab countries, enabling Arabia to establish itself as a regional power and potentially even a secondary or great power.


In order for Nejd to have the money to expand, a change in ruling party is needed. The reactionary party is best suited for this purpose as its state capitalism policy allows setting higher taxes, bringing in some much needed money. Even with this boost to income Nejd does not have enough money to go around, so sacrifices have to be made. While at peace, military can be sacrificed, while at war, education must be sacrificed.

Starting up and invading Hedjaz

Invading Hedjaz is no easy task. Nejd starts with enough soldiers for 9 brigades, but can only hope to support irregulars, not regulars. Hedjaz is of a similar strength, so outside help is generally needed to defeat it. As such, the best course of action is to seek an alliance with Yemen Yemen, Oman Oman, or Egypt. This can be achieved by raising relations, as eventually the AI will have high enough relations to accept. Once an ally has been obtained, Hedjaz is ripe for the taking; as long as they have not found someone to ally they cannot hope to stand against the combined forces of Nejd and another country.

During the war, defensive tactics are Nejd's best bet, as even with an ally an offensive battle will be near impossible to win, or at the very least incur heavy losses that Nejd simply cannot afford. Instead, it is best to lure Hedjaz' forces in and then destroy them decisively. Once this is done their land can be easily occupied, the war won, and Arabia formed. Forming Arabia will add several more accepted cultures, and claims letting the player invade Yemen, Oman, Abu Dhabi, Egypt, Iraq (which starts as a part of the ottoman empire), Tunis Tunis, Tripoli Tripoli, Morocco Morocco and Algeria Algeria without incurring any infamy penalties.

After forming Arabia

The easiest country to invade is Abu Dhabi, as they barely have an army. Conquering them does not bring any significant benefits when it comes to resources, but it does provide some much needed prestige and research points. After that, Oman and Yemen are good targets, providing further population and troops.

Further on Egypt becomes a good target even though they're not an enemy to be trifled with. It may well take several wars to conquer them, but it will provide a sizable boost to your resources. Ethiopia can be a useful ally, forcing Egypt to fight on two fronts, but they may well become the war leader, making enforcing Arabia's claims more difficult.

Nejd will get 10 prestige per annexed arabian country, which will quickly add up to a lot of prestige if one manages to take it all. It should by far be enough to reach secondary power and possibly Great power status.

Once Egypt is taken, expansion can continue further west, and possibly even into Ottoman territory to the north. Once westernized Arabia may even be in a position to push France out of Algeria and securing all of North Africa.

In the late years of the game, a lot of Oil will be discovered in Arabia's lands.

Hearts Of Darkness

Forming Arabia as Nejd is more difficult in the Hearts of Darkness version of the game because Hedjaz has friendly opinions of The Ottoman Empire, and so the Ottomans will intervene shall Nejd try to conquer Hedjaz resulting in an unwinnable war. Thankfully, the Ottomans do tend to fall out of Great Power status not long into the game, so be patient and wait for this happen before trying to annex Hedjaz. In the meantime, it is advised you concentrate on Westernizing (especially on Foreign Weapons to make sure you will have Infantry instead of pathetic Irregulars) and annex Abu Dhabi since they are easy to beat and provide a pretty nice literacy boost.