I missed this comment when it was first posted. I'm sorry. :(
At the moment, we have a fair number of countries that are pretty much quiet, although one player or another has taken an interest in making sure they're not completely silent. For example, Hood and I have been caretaking Brazil.
I'm somewhat reluctant to advise taking on a large power as a starting player, and most of the smaller countries are fairly well-off in terms of their fleets. That said, there are a few spots I can think of that might benefit from some attention.
- Persia (three factories) - this one could be interesting.
- India (eleven factories) - a good balanced fleet overall.
- Romania (six factories) - although Romania's fleet is pretty large at present, and they probably don't need anything.
- Greece (fifteen factories) - something of an over-large fleet, but it's gotten pretty outdated by this point in the game.
- Chosen (Korea) - I think Walter's actually playing them now, though...?
- Brazil (seven factories) - is theoretically possible, although Hood and I have been caretaking them, and committed most of their remaining quarters to at least some building projects.
- Mexico (three factories) - a numerically massive but technologically obsolete navy.
Of the options listed, is there a particular country you'd have any interest in managing? If so, I'd recommend doing some research about what they've done up to this point in Wesworld, and maybe tossing a few proposed ship designs out there so we can get a feel for things.