Beware, even in my worst campaigns I find myself adopting an attitude of "seeing it through" because of the work I've put into it. A few decades with any of these countries can teach you everything you need to know about Vicky 2. You don't have to play the entire campaign for every one of these countries to 'get it'. France is much the same, but it is much closer to the action, the tradeoff being France can dominate the colonial game fairly easily. The USA starts off on a good footing but can be a little overwhelming if you aren't familiar with the basic war/political mechanics. If you want to play the industry game, switch to state capitalism and have fun building resource chains. Sweden is out of the way of most of the European hot zones and has a good set up for industrializing.
Brazil is also nice for learning about political parties. Brazil can invade her neighbors in the early game with almost no risk(and no infamy when taking certain states). They may be inherently powerful, but they are not good choices for a first playthrough.Įdit: I recommend these countries because they make learning Vicky 2 fun. Germany and Britain start out as some of the most complex countries because there is so much going on. You start out a Great Power, but you aren't really overwhelmed.(I favor the USA for this, since you really can't screw the pooch unless you try.) To learn Great Power mechanics, France or USA make good choices.
They're out of the way and don't have to worry about a lot of the Great Power mechanics(like influence) until later. To learn a lot of the basics, play Sweden or Brazil.