Cosmopoli-Taint; A Blue Within Blue World - France AAR

[sprites]

both ming and korea want to annex ryukyu? with 2 cores korea must be punished

 

[jhhowell]

I actually tried to use pagans this way this game. Alas, none of the Pagan rebels seemed capable of force-converting the provinces they won the sieges of. I'm wondering whether this was 'disabled' in 3.2b for pagans.

I don't think so - in my "play France to see what changed between 1.3 and 3.2b" game it appears that Animist zealots went wild in east Africa. Every province from Mogadishu south was pagan, and about half of Adal was as well. All Cosmopolitaine Catholic now of course (I was going to go Reformed, but didn't realize Edict of Nantes was a trap... o). I've seen Animist zealots converting parts of west Africa also.

Could it be time-dependent? Seems like a lot of religion-based issues change in 1650, maybe zealot force-conversion is one of them? Or maybe Animists can only convert provinces without forts, though that seems a bit silly...

Great AAR!

 

[PrawnStar]

I say keep the updates coming!

I'm fascinated by how this will play out - and by your conclusions - especially since I'm up to 1560 and my Diplo 4 King won't die no matter how hard I try (4 shock, 4 manouvre).

Religious Zealots don't always convert provinces, at least that's true in 3.1.

 

[sprites]

religious zealots convert provinces if there is one adjacent which doesn't have the force converted effect , which lasts 2 years ^^

 

[kebzero]

FEEDBACK​

Paraguay, a state that never even was, although wanted to be a nation.

How many CoTs you control by now?

I've lost track - around twenty coastal CoTs, and a few inland. Enough, to say the least.

both ming and korea want to annex ryukyu? with 2 cores korea must be punished

Three cores, actually... I just can't grab their capitol province off the bat.

I don't think so - in my "play France to see what changed between 1.3 and 3.2b" game it appears that Animist zealots went wild in east Africa. Every province from Mogadishu south was pagan, and about half of Adal was as well. All Cosmopolitaine Catholic now of course (I was going to go Reformed, but didn't realize Edict of Nantes was a trap... o). I've seen Animist zealots converting parts of west Africa also.

Could it be time-dependent? Seems like a lot of religion-based issues change in 1650, maybe zealot force-conversion is one of them? Or maybe Animists can only convert provinces without forts, though that seems a bit silly...

Great AAR!

Ah, yes - I think you're on to something there. I saw plenty of force conversion in this game, but that was early on...Not impossible at all that it shuts down at 1650. It isn't that often I play beyond that year.

I say keep the updates coming!

I'm fascinated by how this will play out - and by your conclusions - especially since I'm up to 1560 and my Diplo 4 King won't die no matter how hard I try (4 shock, 4 manouvre).

Religious Zealots don't always convert provinces, at least that's true in 3.1.

You're at 1560 and hasn't gone Noble Republic yet?

I know they don't always convert, but I figured they'd at least stand a chance. I had those Pagan zealots siege their way around in Asia, but after five sieges and no conversions, I gave up.

religious zealots convert provinces if there is one adjacent which doesn't have the force converted effect , which lasts 2 years ^^

Wait... so, that means that if they siege the province they spawn in (which is already their religion), they cannot convert any neighboring province unless two years pass? Or doesn't a province already of their religion get the force converted flag?

I need to play a Hindu Ming again, to refamiliarize myself with these rules.

 

[kebzero]

Part 86 - Ending the Lancastrian-Scottish stalemate

Korea is in for a beating.

The Mongol Khanagate caves, and the Ottoman-Ming war begins in earnest.

Now, this is more like it.

Our claim on Holland is due, and we wants it.

Their allies is the best thing.

Ming is forced to surrender land.

After more than fifty years, French forces helps Lancashire complete their siege in Scotland, and thus the war.

Thus endeth Scotland.

The Emperor is extorted.

Not much luck in the Stadtholder lottery.

Lorraine is at last absorbed into France proper.

As is Holland.

We claim a chunk of Poland.

Eating two nations gives us a fair bit of points to work off.

Korea is OPM'ed.

...and our BadBoy rises.

Lancashire should be French.

April 1758... We cannot delay the attempt any further, even though we lack a great Stadtholder and still have a good sum of BadBoy remaining. Norway and Mecklenburg accepts.

And then, to defend our expiring core...

 

[Enewald]

With 9 diplo ruler and that advisor they all would have accepted.o Maybe.

 

[dem61s]

With 9 diplo ruler and that advisor they all would have accepted.o Maybe.

I have recently had 5 vassals accepting annexation at the same time as France. It made my day!

 

[kebzero]

FEEDBACK​

With 9 diplo ruler and that advisor they all would have accepted.o Maybe.

Yeah... I'm starting to feel a Diplomacy 9 rating will trump a Diplomacy 5 rating with 15 less BadBoy points any day, when it comes to annexation attempts. Too bad I can't seem to maintain a good Diplomacy ruler at the 'right time' for annexing.

I have recently had 5 vassals accepting annexation at the same time as France. It made my day!

*envious murmuring*

 

[kebzero]

Part 87 - Racing for China

This might hurt a little.

Lithuania is not above kicking someone when they're down.

A replacement arrives, no real gain.

A new Center of Trade, just to irk the Chinese.

Bad calculations results in our defending cavalry detachment being in the wrong place when a single Mongol cavalry regiment shows up at our colony.

Ming attempts Ryukyu again... but France has had enough of such tomfoolery.

The Ottomans immediately jumps in, and a race to secure sieges ensues.

Lithuania must be overjoyed at winning a war again.

We're fairly content with the outcome too, though we want a little more than pennies.

BadBoy goes up, up, up...

The Ottomans beat us to two provinces, which makes it harder for us to 'close' this attack vector for them. It was bad enough to have Persia running around in China...

...and such wonderful timing.

The event engine must be telling me something.

We seriously trim down Ming. We might have done better to wait for the Ottomans to peace out, but...

...this little problem is becoming rather bothersome, with revolts happening everywhere. I only have two transport fleets, and they're overworked ferrying cavalry groups to and from rebellious islands.

Our BadBoy is rapidly approaching the limit - but we need time to work down the War Exhaustion anyway, so we'll be at peace for a while.

We leave Ryukyu to fend for themselves.

The Ottomans extort some land, including our core. They will regret that...

Rather than risk more revolts, we let a core province slip.

...and yes, it can't get any worse than that.

The Ottomans go after the Horde, as the Horde is still in turmoil from the recent French invasion.

 

[Enewald]

How is it possible to get so many bad rulers in a row?

And how does the Ottoman Empire look like?

 

[Turrosh Mak]

A quick lesson in force converting your empire. First, grab a shamanist/animist province, plant a missionary, then turn missionary maintenance to 0. It is best to pick high tax provinces as those produce several regiments of rebels. Once a rebel stack spawns, put a regiment in all the surrounding provinces except the province you want to push them toward. You want to break the rebels, not kill them, so pick a troop that causes moral rather than shock damage if you can. Match the rebels regiment for regiment (dont overlap, that just kills people) then fight. If you are lucky, when the rebel stack finishes the siege of the province you pushed them to, they will walk to the next province you leave unprotected, but the target/retreat engine is stupid sometimes, so you may need to push them again. I can usually get two pushes, sometimes three out of a rebel stack.

The newly converted province will not be able to spread conversion for 2 years as noted above, but the initial province in which the rebels spawned usually borders plenty of targets for spread and you could (ideally) spiral out around that one. Plant more missionaries to snowball the heathen avalanche.

Once you get 20 or so provinces converted to heathens, just turn missionaries back on and convert the center provinces to your religion/culture, because any rebels that spawn 3 provinces deep will be useless by the time you push them into virgin territory.

Enjoy! In my current game, All of india, most of asia, and half of Africa is now Sunni Uzbek. Converting Mecca and Jeruselum were most satisfying.

 

[kebzero]

FEEDBACK​

How is it possible to get so many bad rulers in a row?

And how does the Ottoman Empire look like?

It's perfectly possible - just as a string of good leaders is possible. You just notice the bad ones a lot more.

At this point, the Ottomans still hold all their traditional holdings in Turkey and Greece that I haven't yet taken from them.

A quick lesson in force converting your empire. First, grab a shamanist/animist province, plant a missionary, then turn missionary maintenance to 0. It is best to pick high tax provinces as those produce several regiments of rebels. Once a rebel stack spawns, put a regiment in all the surrounding provinces except the province you want to push them toward. You want to break the rebels, not kill them, so pick a troop that causes moral rather than shock damage if you can. Match the rebels regiment for regiment (dont overlap, that just kills people) then fight. If you are lucky, when the rebel stack finishes the siege of the province you pushed them to, they will walk to the next province you leave unprotected, but the target/retreat engine is stupid sometimes, so you may need to push them again. I can usually get two pushes, sometimes three out of a rebel stack.

The newly converted province will not be able to spread conversion for 2 years as noted above, but the initial province in which the rebels spawned usually borders plenty of targets for spread and you could (ideally) spiral out around that one. Plant more missionaries to snowball the heathen avalanche.

Once you get 20 or so provinces converted to heathens, just turn missionaries back on and convert the center provinces to your religion/culture, because any rebels that spawn 3 provinces deep will be useless by the time you push them into virgin territory.

Enjoy! In my current game, All of india, most of asia, and half of Africa is now Sunni Uzbek. Converting Mecca and Jeruselum were most satisfying.

Thank you, I'll definitely play with this in my next game.

One question though - does this still apply after 1650? Since so many other religious game rules changes then, does force conversion also change?

 

[kebzero]

Part 88 - Separating Turkey, Greece and China

Time flies when you're bored, and speed up the game.

A few years of peace is long enough. The War Exhaustion is not gone, but we have a claim about to vanish.

Attacking the Ottomans directly would have been better, but they are guaranteed by Persia still, and I'd rather not fight the both of them at the same time.

The Ottomans are fielding a much more modern force than their neighbors, and French forces in the region are only slightly greater in numbers.

Our faithful 'ally', Lithuania, instantly jumps the Ottomans.

At least the Ottomans have one 'friend'.

Optimists.

Now we're talking!

The Ottomans are allowed some reprieve - in return, they are pushed out of Central Asia and western Greece. Bosnia also succumbs.

These conquests does give something for our Diplomacy 9 ruler to work on, though. Let's hope he lives long enough that we cross the absolute minimum threshold (22 points if a 5-rated ruler takes over).

Persia smells an easy victory.

Champa makes a final attempt at reclaiming lost glory.

It does not succeed.

China has always been an integral part of France.

As has Persia. "Free" China and Persia? Nonsense.

And so, the once great regional power of Champa comes to an end.

More cores on the Ottoman Empire is always welcome.

Chagatai surrenders to Persia. A decade later, they are annexed.

Wusuli assimilates, and French culture now borders Korea.

More of Ming should be French.

Like Lan Xang, I always pick a fight when my entire country is beset by rebels. Foreign empires taking over is certainly one way to clear rebel sieges... and certainly not a good one.

To pester Persia, we induce a slight disturbance at our border.

 

[kebzero]

Part 89 - Diplomatic successes

I find it rather mysterious that the Stadtholders keep dying on election day... but there we have it.

Persia forces a small tribute.

They have to work for a while to clear French-sponsored rebels, but eventually manage.

Lan Xang gives up some land, and then collapses under rebels.

The personal union between Styria and Gelre comes to a close - though this does open up an interesting possibility...

Ming goes on a rampage.

They take a nibble.

Khmer goes ambitious.

The Mediterranean should be a French lake.

Another claim in China.

Election time, without an assassination this time. Best keep this guy.

Khmer is trimmed down.

Persia seeks to clean up their border.

One step closer.

While not near zero, we're out of time. Another diploannexation round is made, with considerably greater success. Three of our vassals are integrated into France.

Our BadBoy score is thus left at a reasonable level. Time to secure more land.

Before we can get a new diplomat, Persia goes after the Ottomans again.

As does Lithuania.

The core expiring is the one in Toledo. We don't want to tangle with Austria right now, and since Austria is allied to Castille, we have to go the way of another of Castille's allies. It's a good thing the AI alliances are almost a sure-fire thing at this stage.

 

[kebzero]

Part 90 - Foraging for France

The entire alliance joins. Time to secure some more land.

A mercenary regiment occupies unfortified Asturias, and during the assault on the Castillian royal palace, the court agrees the coastal province should be French. We accept.

We've held out on picking a new National Idea until we reached levels sufficient for the top tier ideas. Foraging should help in asaulting Eastern Europe and Central Asia over and over.

Saxony is brought under our wing, and pays a fee for it.

As a result, the Imperial crown passes to Ansbach.

Cleves joins the French vassal group.

....right about now, Lithuania is regretting their decision to jump the Ottomans, while the Horde warned them.

Despite a tech lag, Persia succeeds in making some small gains.

We're not going to gamble away an 8-8-3 ruler. He's re-elected.

Lithuania gives up ground.

Going Defensive really pays off once you start getting free Level 6 forts... Too bad the first of these is located in a remote African province.

Gelre is evicted from Gelre, and forced into exile in Styria.

With luck, Austria will feast on them - though the Level 6 fort might stall them somewhat.

Cores are always welcome.

It's 1781, and the last colony reaches maturity.

Our last slider move is towards Centralization. As a result, we lose stability.

It's time to modernize our government as well, abandoning the Administrative Republic in favor of a Constitutional Republic.

The Ottomans declare a war I can't quite figure out - albeit, this does bring them into a war with their northern neighbor, the Horde.

Persia tidies up their border.

The former Stadtholder is formally elected President.

The Ottomans leave Haasa alone, but they continue to fight the Horde.

Time to pick another fight. A claim in Lithuania is expiring, and thus, they're our target.

 

[dem61s]

China has always been an integral part of France.

It would seem so. And yet, something just feels wrong.

 

[Vesimir]

Free China! Free China! Free China!

And apart from that, I'm happy to finally see France getting rid of german-like rulers. (Statdholder? Please...)

 

[phargle]

I really hate Stadtholders, so it's nice to see Presidents at last.

 

[sprites]

you had quite a lot of boundary disputes on that update
there's not much of the world who won't follow the president at end game