I finished an enjoyable game as Manchu with the 30 Mar beta and a bunch of bonuses for the AI. With Ming as an ally for the first two hundred years, I kept Manchu out of harm’s way and spent the time building up trade and colonizing. Although Manchu starts with a large landmass, it's really not that many provinces and most have a low tax base with grain/fish.
Since the European countries tend to beeline towards Central America, I steered Manchu's initial new world colonization towards Central America so I could westernize without having to resort to selling a province. It worked perfectly. Portugal was the first to Central America. But over the course of the game, Portugal was systematically chipped to pieces and gobbled.
The accelerated tech made the game very enjoyable. It kept all the major powers within 10 tech of one another up through the early 1700's. The late-game European units are far better than anything anyone else can field. I also removed the slow tech malus.
Here's the tech I used:
Code:
groups = {
nomad_group = {
modifier = 0.1
start_level = 3
cav_to_inf_ratio = 1.0
}
western = {
modifier = 1.1
start_level = 3
cav_to_inf_ratio = 0.5
}
eastern = {
modifier = 0.9
start_level = 3
cav_to_inf_ratio = 0.6
}
ottoman = {
modifier = 0.9
start_level = 5
cav_to_inf_ratio = 0.5
}
muslim = {
modifier = 0.9
start_level = 5
cav_to_inf_ratio = 0.8
}
indian = {
modifier = 0.8
start_level = 3
cav_to_inf_ratio = 0.5
}
chinese = {
modifier = 0.8
start_level = 3
cav_to_inf_ratio = 0.5
}
sub_saharan = {
modifier = 0.5
start_level = 1
cav_to_inf_ratio = 0.5
}
new_world = {
modifier = 0.4
start_level = 0
cav_to_inf_ratio = 0.5
}
}
France moved its capital to Muskogee as a result of several large wars versus Burgundy and Castille. France received the short end of the stick, and at one point, was booted off continental Europe. I kept Manchu's relationship with Burgundy and France on a high note for most of the game. I never got into a war with England, France or Burgundy. Prussia and I went to war a few times, but nothing significant occurred.
Japan refused to capitulate (due to an annexation bug). When it was whittled away to 3 provinces, I resulted to a console annex.
The Ottomans did a remarkable job of beating off the Timurids then slowly expanding everywhere. For a while, I though Austria was going to fall when Milan's monarch was elected as the Emperor. However, Austria hung on for a long time and was re-elected and reclaimed some lands from the Ottomans.
In the early portion of the campaign, Morocco controlled all of North Africa up to the Mamaluks. That was pretty impressive.
Scotland lasted just long enough to get a colony on North America. England was relentless in its pursuit of Scotland and kept going to war with the few remaining Scottish provinces in North America.
Here are the AI settings:
Code:
hard_ai = {
inflation_reduction = 1.0
land_morale = 0.1
naval_morale = 0.1
global_tax_modifier = 0.25
max_war_exhaustion = -3
war_exhaustion = -0.5
badboy = -0.5
global_manpower_modifier = 0.25
missionary_placement_chance = 0.1
officials = 0.5
}
I had a ten year period of hell when I annexed lands from Vijayanagar up to my infamy limit, then my King died. This left me with a regency council that dropped the infamy limit and legitimacy. The non-stop rebels almost made me RQ. But I kept at it, and the situation was brought under control. Fortunately, I had 12 man stacks positioned throughout the empire to combat rebels. If it weren’t for this, I would have been in serious trouble.