I get lucky with the roll on my king's military stats: two points of shock, and one of manoever. Pretty good for a dude with a military skill of 4. I have three infantry units; Adal has 1. I raise one more while sending the standing army south to the border at Awsa, where I will split off a single unit to conquer the country while the main forces duke it out in their capital.
(Note: This is the basic way of dealing with low-tech battles in countries without forts. They can last forever, so don't bother actually trying to win. Just stall the main army long enough to conquer everything else.)
Meanwhile, I move the slider innovative and get -1 stability, just what I need for my already revolt-ridden provinces. Oh, well, better now than later. Stability investment to max, of course. It'll take ... you can't be serious. A year? I miss my days of playing European OPMs.
Advisers are mostly crap. I'm looking for inflation and RR reducers at this point. There's one 1 point inflation reducer. Better than nothing, although it still leaves .06 inflation every year with no minting. I also take a two-point stability restorer. I need to get that RR down yesterday, or I'll be awash with Islamic rebels.
As soon as I'm in position, I declare war on Adal and invade. They're already allied with Swahili and Najd. Oh, well, I'll learn the location of a couple of capitals.
Five days later, a stack of 4k animist rebels rises in Tigre - larger than my whole army at this point. It takes the province at once, of course, since there are no forts, and heads north to Islamic Massawa. I leave it to its own devices for the time being. After taking Massawa, it unfortunately doesn't decide to continue north to Egypt. Instead, it enters the unoccupied zone, apparently en route to my capital. Not good. This may be a short game.
The war against Adal goes according to plan:
I debate whether to invade Swahili for map knowledge, or wait for the white peace. Sometimes Mutapa inexplicably manages to take their capital early on, so it might be useful to know another province. On the other hand, I want peace ASAP, so that I can declare war again and bring in any new allies. And by “new allies” I mean hopefully Yemen.
Why Yemen? Patience, grasshopper. “I Got My Mind Set On You” comes on the radio. I take this as an omen and inform Swahili that I have my mind set on them. After investigating the province in question, I back off again. Adal is between us, and they don't have access, so they can't reach me and I can leave this as a cold war for as long as I want.
A show of force in the capital causes the animist rebels to back off towards terra incognita in the north. I later discover that they apparently chose to remain in Berber indefinitely. Fine with me - it should slow down Mamluke colonization.
14 October 1400: jackpot. Two inflation advisers for a total of .10 reduction, and a four-star judge for RR reduction. Only problem is that I now make -4.5 gold per year. Oh, well, hopefully a little more stability should help with that.
December 1401: Stability finally is maxed out. Thanks to the adviser, my revolt risk is gone ... until I move another slider.
6 Dec 1401: White Peace with Najd.
23 Dec 1401: ...and Swahili. Guarantee Najd in an effort to get more contacts (when somebody declares war on them). This is a very useful if rather abusive way to expand your map knowledge when you start out as isolated as Ethiopia does.
Shortly thereafter, they declare on Haasa and bring in the whole Muslim world against them. Blast. I could have gained contacts with half the world if I had warned instead of guaranteeing.
1 Feb 1402: My citizens in Massawa finally look across the big red line to the north and notice that there are Mamlukes there. Promptly start trying to sell the province to Adal, so that I don't share a border with the big meanie.
My blasted nobles get uppity, causing a stabhit.
Later in 1403 I give up on getting anything for Massawa and give it to Adal.
Nov 1404 - another stability-reducing event. Blast.
Oct 1406 - and another, just as I'm gearing up for another war.
1 Jan 1407 - war on Swahili. I discover Yemen's capital and start heading there. Yemen doesn't have forts, and only 3k infantry, so strategy is the same as for Adal.
Peace -
I immediately start swapping my infantry for cavalry, which I can build in the new provinces since they have Yemeni cores.
A new king:
Meanwhile, the Mamlukes declare war on Hedjaz. This is bad either way - they could get clobbered by the Ottomans, who guaranteed Hedjaz. This would result in a colossus to my north. Or they might, more plausibly, crush Hedjaz, giving them a border with me. In the end they peace out with Hedjaz for Tabouk.
1411 - I move Centralized, and get two rebel stacks, one under my main stack. It keeps it occupied while the second collapses the country, and I lose the new provinces. Oh, well, I got a vassal and some cavalry out of it.
I celebrate by declaring war on Najd, currently guaranteed by everyone:
