That Civil War was easily dealt with, which is reassuring. Also, having it done now means you can avoid it later or have any mighty opponents attack you, as you feared earlier.
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TBH, after watching that counter tick up constantly for a couple of in-game years, and knowing there was absolutely nothing I could do to stop it, it was a bit of an anti-climax.
Of course, if the alert hadn't been there, I would have been screaming bloody murder, so this is the better end result.
Of course, if the alert hadn't been there, I would have been screaming bloody murder, so this is the better end result.
Chapter 15: Trade Bonanza.
Last time, Parliament revolted against our righteous rule and sparked a civil war, which was quickly crushed. Parliament was disbanded and the nobles have now joined the estates, as well they should. The benefit to that is, of course, that I don’t have to bribe them anymore to get things done. The downside is that they require 10 provinces from me.
But after all is said and done, they are the most loyal of the bunch.
Another effect of the civil war is that we only have 17K in our manpower pool, so I need to let that grow a bit. My maximum is almost 73K. It would be even higher if I found the spare Diplo points to culture shift the French countryside to Francien.
Unrest is below zero in all provinces. Even Franche-Comté, who has recently been converted into catholic, has been toroughly pacified. There is a center of reformation in Friesland turning my people into Reformed, but short of conquering the province and converting it myself, I don’t see what I can do about that.
Most of the international community doesn’t mind us, so we should be relatively safe for now, as you can see from the opinion mapmode.
Our new heir is not too shabby. Too bad about that Military rating, but I’m not complaining.
It is October 1622. Portugal has arrived, as expected, and the race is on.
We are the first Europeans to discover Japan and pay a visit to the capital of Kyoto.
Mauritius is ours, enabling us to extend our range into the Spice Islands.
Now that is interesting. Two primitive nations in alliance with each other, all alone on their continent in the New World. Time for them to join our empire.
But first we unlock Admin 17 and take Trade ideas. I have 6 merchants as we speak, but can you ever really have too many of them? Gotta collect ‘em all!
My newest colony is called Bengkulu. There are others in the region that are more developed (10 and 13), but this one allows my ships to take the shortest route, and there is value in that as well. Let’s not lose any more ships due to attrition.
There we go. Both have “gladly” agreed to join the British Empire. They will be cored and form our new CN, New Scotland.
On the other side of the world, we take Diego Garcia as our new colony, in the midway point between Madagascar and Bengkulu. This makes it a perfect place to dock ships in an emergency.
I found the Indian Trade Company, which gives me an extra merchant and 5% global Trade Power. The merchant is put to good use in the Zanzibar trade node, steering 1.22 Ducats to the Cape, and from there further towards Europe. I make 39.79 Ducats per month in trade. With so much money coming in, I start building market places in my African holdings to further strengthen our trade power without having to send half the navy there.
China, as expected, have fallen apart, even though Ming is still in there. From what I can see, the Daimyo is doing a good job uniting the Japanese islands, but look at that Bukhara! They reach from the edge of Europe clear across central Asia to China! Certainly a force to reckon with.
Central Europe once again explodes into violence as Austria tries a second time to purge the Bohemian heresy. You can clearly see why I don’t want to upset the Grand Duke any more than I have to. With that list of allies, they are scary.
Oh, no! My spices! Damn you, Ottomans!
Oh well. In order to soothe my nerves, I start colonising Australia.
After an income bonanza event in the North Sea, we tranfer 4.07 Ducats to the Channel (6.12 along with the other merchants) out of a total of 7.02 Ducats in the node. Trade Income 45.58 Ducats per month. In the list, you can see just how many nodes we dominate at the moment. With so much money coming in, it’s time to start spamming trade depots in the Channel and Champagne trade nodes. Spamming is a relative term, since these cost 288 Ducats each, which, in and by itself, says plenty of just how much money we are making right now (a net gain of around 25 Ducats per month).
The pope grants us exclusive rights to the coninent named Wettyn by the natives. I will keep the men here to help New Scotland in keeping the peace. They will undoubtedly need it.
Bohemia gives up Vogtland to peace out Brunswick, but the war continues.
I am going to end this chapter with this nice overview of the parts of the world you haven’t seen before, all uncovered thanks to the valiant efforts of the intrepid British explorers. See you next time!
mmmm, I wonder how did Portuguese sailor arrived to that island without any bases but some post in Cerntral African Coast
It's entirely possible that Portugal might be ahead of me in terms of Diplo tech and colonial range.
Oh, Manchu. I am somewhat disappointed in their inability to form Qing and overrun at least northern China. Things look sweet for you, though, as long as the enmity with Austria can be kept at a low level.
The expanding of the British Empire continues steadily. Interesting how close the New World is to Australia, that makes crossing the Pacific a lot easier I guess.
I love how strong AI Russia is here. In EU3 you rarely see them survive the hordes, let along thrive to the point where any of the minors can form Russia.
I love how strong AI Russia is here. In EU3 you rarely see them survive the hordes, let along thrive to the point where any of the minors can form Russia.
Good to see some colonial expansion! What was the area that now form new Scotland worth in terms of trade and development?
I have never played in that part of the world, myself, so I have no idea how easy it is for one of the Chinese minors to dominate the others. From the British perspective, it just means that there is one less big competitor over there.
Ah, EU 3. It has been so long. My worst memory is of the alliance webs. Those were upredictable. DoW a minor somewhere in Europe and suddenly half the known world is breathing down your neck.
In 1677, New Scotland has an income of about 8.5 ducats and a total development of 110, according to the ledger. They are reasonably stable. I've only had to help them with rebels once or twice. As for trade, the trade node is hidden in TI for me, so I can't give you any specifics, but since they are alone on that continent, they should have a reasonably powerful trade to back them up.
Haha yea thats true. I'm playing Russia in it atm for the hundreth time, 1530 and I jsut made contact with Ming. Good times. But yea the alliance webs can be frustrating, that is better in EU IV?
I should find the time to learn it someday.
I don't know if they're better. They're easier to read. When you DoW someone, the screen will tell you exactly who their allies are and who is expected to answer a call to arms. In the current patch, you need to use favors or promise them land if you want your allies to join you in an offensive war. Defensive CtA are always available, of course, so there is still some planning you have to do. For instance, if France is allied to Savoy, and Savoy is allied to Milan, and you want to wage war against Savoy without France getting involved, you could DoW Milan, who would call in Savoy.
I haven't thought about it, TBH. Time and circumstances permitting, certainly.
Making good progress. Already you have the Empire of Perpetual Daylight. ("It's five o'clock somewhere!" "I'll drink to that!")
Something however must be done about Brittany. It's not just unsightly it's a strategic knife in your back.
Something however must be done about Brittany. It's not just unsightly it's a strategic knife in your back.
Manchu is formable by one of the three Jurchen (Manchu culture) tribes, and can in time form Qing merely by taking Beijing and the Chinese-controlled Manchu culture provinces. They have quite good ideas, and if Manchu has formed already, there isn't a very good reason for them not to have gone the full way and rule at least down to the Huang He. Not that it happens too often, though. The Ming have a nasty tendency to survive.
sorry about the continued silence, people. My Baldur's Gate addiction has come back with a vengeance now that Siege Of Dragonspear is going to come out at the end of the month. Don't worry, though. I haven't forgotten you. This AAR will continue soon.
Chapter 16: Java!
Say hello to my new explorer, Frederick Fairfax. Completely useless in combat, but look at that 6 maneuver! If I ever want to succeed in circumnavigating the world, he is the guy to do it!
The Austria-Bohemia war ends, completely breaking the power of the Bohemians. They lose 3 provinces to Austria, return a core to Pomerania and Saxony and are forced to release Silesia, Brandeburg and Wurzburg. Commonwealth loses Memel to Sweden.
Contrary to my French AAR, though, it will not be enough. They still lose IA and have barely gotten the first reform a century or so ago. No united HRE this time, which means that the only real empire in Europe remains the British Empire.
Fairfax has set off and is suffering tremendous attrition again, but at least this time some of it is negated. Please don’t die.
My worries were unwarranted. Three weeks later, they dock and we are the first to travel around the world! Prestige goes up to 99.61 and naval tradition goes up to 99.6 as well, showing the whole world who rules the seven oceans, even though we only traveled from one end of the New World to the other one (the short way round, in other words).
November 1634. We establish our new colony at Palembang, the second one in Indonesia. This reminds me that I have a mission to go to war against Sunda. They have an impressive navy, with 11 heavy ships and a surprisingly high Military Tech of 15 and a Diplo Tech of 17. This will actually require a serious investment. I ship our entire complement of Heavy Ships to Palembang, along with 25 regiments and delare war on Sunda.
Their army is 23 regiments big, so we fully depend on the tech difference between us, and it works. They lose every battle.
10% reduction of build costs you say? How very interesting that we are building a lot of stuff right now. Trade depots all around!
The war is over. I couldn’t take it all, because they were too big in terms of overextension and some of their provinces were having rebel problems, but the rest will come later. Now all I have to do, is quietly start coring things.
This was bound to happen with so much of my attention devoted to Indonesia. Aragon becomes a colonising nation.
Oh, bugger! Majapahit separatists rise up in revolt with an army that defies all logic. I had previously consolidated my regiments to reduce the MP loss, figuring that 15 regiments would be plenty to keep the peace. I was wrong. The battle is lost and I lose 6,000 men. The survivors beat a hasty retreat. I can’t fight this with the numbers I have available and sending men from Britain would take too long. What do I do? How can I fight a 36K army with a decent leader with only 9K of my own?
Thankfully, my transports were still there, so I build a truckload of infantry in the Cape, Madagascar, Diego Garcia and my other established colonies in the region. Through deft maneuvering (and quite a bit of luck) my 9K army manges to survive for 2 years, unsieging provinces after the separatists leave a province.
Then, finally, with an army of 40K, I am able to engage the rebels in open combat in the Battle of Kediri and return proper peace and order to the island after 2 years of chaos. In this timeline, books will be written, based on diaries of surviving soldiers. The 20th century British movie, “Java”, is about the heroes of the 5th army, starring David Niven in his first leading role as general Beresford. He would later be knighted for that role.
So how are we doing right now?
Conversion of the first Javan province has started and will take about 11 months.
We are slightly over our Land Limit (103/96), but the overhead is not that much, in part becaue the Nobility is paying 7.5% of the overall maintenance costs.
Note also the Sundanese peasants, who have been stubbornly refusing to go anywhere. I am going to keep the 5th army where they are now. They are 33K strong, by the way.
My other armies are 24K in Paris, 23K in London and 23K in New Scotland, who will not need us to hold their hands for much longer. All provinces have been converted to Catholic. All but one of their provinces have been cored and they have even started a colony! I’ll give them another year or two and then I can bring the army home and leave them to it.
My technology screen. The Trade ideas are going to have to wait until I can get my Diplo back on track. Otherwise we are doing good.
There is still some unrest in Java, but that’s to be expected. All provinces are being cored and conversions have started. Until then, we’ll have to be on our toes.
We broke our alliance with Brabant when they tried to drag us into a war of aggression that would involve Austria. Ties with Provence have also been severed because I still hope to get those provinces some day. And, finally, we will be able to complete the conquest of Sunda in 8 years.
As you can see, there are plans for the future. See you next time!
The British East Indies are coming into shape nicely, the globe circumnavigated and only now do we see th first rival colonies really popping up. Good work overall I'd say.