Chinese Cheese - A Ming AAR

MizarNX said:

Austria is in a real bad shape! So, Lithuania and the Nederlands are the only powers left, is it correct? It would be funny to force Lithuania retreat to ile-de-france. Maybe the could even re-form France!
Anyway, great job with the Holy Roman Empire, or, better, what it's left of it!

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With Scandinavia and Austria in decline, Lithuania and the Netherlands are the biggest concern left - but at this point, there isn't much warfare that could truly hurt me. Maybe if they all hit me with destabilizing spy missions and revolts in large provinces; that would certainly hurt since I've picked at least two +1 RR religious decisions. I haven't been hit with too many spies since the demise of the Golden Horde and the Timurids, both of which hammered me with spy revolts and such relentlessly.

anweRU said:

The Danes have returned to their Pagan ways! Hurrah!

I forget - are there Druids in Ireland now, or is it Hindu?

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Druids in the bits I've sold Ryukyu, Catholics in the rest. No Hindus yet.

PrawnStar said:

A Saturday night in Newcastle's Bigg market should convince anyone we're already pagans :rofl:

That pagan Denmark has potential, is it narrowminded enough?

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Why yes... Yes, they are narrowminded enough...

Sweet, sun-dried grapes from Iberia are pledged for the Oirats.


Chinese-Horde Exotic Eateries Soothing Efforts (CHEESE): 84


Oirat vacation homes are to be set up in Wukari.


November 17th, 1680 - Anjou is force-converted to animism.


Emperor Zhengde II finally bought the noodle. Empress Makata I takes the throne, and as she is a fair diplomat, she is welcomed. At this point in time, diplomats are in short supply to work the Oirat Elevator quickly enough to match our conquest of European OPMs.


March 30th, 1681 - Cyrenaica is force-converted to animism.


Valencia harbour is open for business.


May 19th, 1681 - Harer is force-converted to animism.


June 3rd, 1681 - Suakin is force-converted to animism.


July 14th, 1681 - Aberdeen is force-converted to animism.


July 14th, 1681 - Bearn is force-converted to animism.


July 22nd, 1681 - Morbihan is force-converted to animism.


September 10th, 1681 - Lincoln is force-converted to animism.


September 20th, 1681 - Aden is force-converted to animism.


October 19th, 1681 - Mogilyov is force-converted to shamanism.


October 21st, 1681 - Cordoba is force-converted to animism.


December 24th, 1681 - Beni Yas is force-converted to animism.


Austria's navy is now utterly sunk.


Moldavia is whisked away.


We are far from done with Austria, though. January 4th, 1682, war is declared on Bavaria. This does bring in the Netherlands, though.


The Dutch have made quite a nice, little empire for themselves, and field a small army.


They've moved in on the bits and pieces left behind in the wake of Ming conquests. Now, they must pay for that. Also, note Polish Germany - they still hold a good portion there.


The promises of tulip buds and clogs is just too alluring for the Oirats. They support our campaign.


Chinese-Horde Exotic Eateries Soothing Efforts (CHEESE): 85


Curiously enough, we do save Olonets... since those rebels were in a 'push' phase anyway.


April 29th, 1682 - Nubia is force-converted to animism.


May 1st, 1682 - Gascogne is force-converted to animism.


May 17th, 1682 - Tajura is force-converted to animism.


June 19th, 1682 - Finistere is force-converted to animism.


Bavaria, gone.


August 4th, 1682 - Marches is force-converted to animism.


Australian pirates, also gone.


August 7th, 1682 - Yorkshire is force-converted to animism.


August 12th, 1682 - Polesia is force-converted to shamanism.


August 24th, 1682 - Cadiz is force-converted to animism.


September 13th, 1682 - Cantabria is force-converted to animism.


September 23rd, 1682 - Perigord is force-converted to animism.


Norway is cut down to one province.


Flanders meets oblivion.


December 7th, 1682 - Silistria is force-converted to animism.
Silistria was a level 4 fort... and took a long, long time to fall...


January 15th, 1683 - Kexholm is force-converted to shamanism.


February 28th, 1683 - Mahra is force-converted to animism.


March 9th, 1683 - Zaporozhia is force-converted to shamanism.


May 18th, 1683 - Rouergue is force-converted to animism.


July 12th, 1683 - Asturias is force-converted to animism.

anweRU said:

May be they built up in anticipation of Abdulhamid II exiling political activists there in the late 19th century (which he did in real life). Oops, the OE is no more !

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I fear I have no clue of the history of the region. My history curriculum sorta fast-forwarded from 1349 to 1905, with a quick stop at 1814 and mention of Columbus and Napoleon. Until the EU series enlightened me, I didn't know there ever was such a thing as Poland-Lithuania. There is a thing to be said for the 'history book' mode of EUII and Victoria.

sprites said:

why did you took a province from denmark if they are narrowminded enough?
or maybe you didn't foresee they would respaw animist
well you can still give them back their land now

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At the time, I did not know if Denmark was sufficiently narrowminded, only that they were Pagan. I could exploit them by selling them provinces with a missionary already placed given that. I could not be certain they'd place a missionary on their own - and whether or not they would bother to convert their capitol would thus be the test.

August 16th, 1683 - Glamorgan is force-converted to animism.


September 6th, 1683 - Bahrain is force-converted to animism.


Austria is allowed to draw a breath of relief.


As is the Netherlands.


Then, they're forced to exhale. November 30th, 1683, Cleves is under attack.


Despite fielding the largest army of the three, Cleves does not become alliance leader.


All this sullies our reputation, but some fresh noodles dispatched to the Oirats solves that problem easily enough.


Chinese-Horde Exotic Eateries Soothing Efforts (CHEESE): 86


December 8th, 1683 - Gibraltar is force-converted to animism.


January 13th, 1684 - Blois is force-converted to animism.


A quick reset, thanks to pirates again.


Cleves, gone.


June 2nd, 1684 - Vizcaya is force-converted to animism.


June 14th, 1684 - Crimea is force-converted to shamanism.


July 30th, 1684 - Poitou is force-converted to animism.


That alone pushes us beyond tolerance limits, so again the Oirats are given some spoils of war.


Chinese-Horde Exotic Eateries Soothing Efforts (CHEESE): 87


October 19th, 1684 - Zeila is force-converted to animism.


November 20th, 1684 - Kaffa is force-converted to shamanism.


Austria is splintered apart - the main goal here is to cut down on rebel retreat paths, since any peace deal is also about forcing up cores. Of course, there is the risk the country could break apart in the meantime... if it lasted for more than a day or two.


The Dutch empire is trimmed down.


The German Pope is fast becoming a valid target. March 4th, 1585, Ming forces step up.


Once more, the Netherlands take charge.


April 13th, 1685 - Limousin is force-converted to animism.


June 13th, 1685 - Gwynedd is force-converted to animism.


June 15th, 1685 - Galicia is force-converted to animism.


With Roussillon open for business, the Oirats are promised new shipments of wine.


One of our darling advisors decide to come through - and thus offers us an opportunity to shuffle National Ideas. National Bank is fast becoming less useful to us. Annual income has grown, and the minting that Centralization permits is sufficient to keep us at 0 inflation. Instead, we go for Scientific Revolution; our tech costs are quite large at this point.

The advisor event leaves us at +2 stability, only one Oirat Elevator away from perfection. Mind, we need some BadBoy first.


July 12th, 1685 - Cherson is force-converted to shamanism.


August 18th, 1685 - Awsa is force-converted to animism.


November 20th, 1685 - Cornwall is force-converted to animism.


November 29th, 1685 - Dhofar is force-converted to animism.


That's easy enough to get.


March 26th, 1686 - Vendee is force-converted to animism.


April 1st, 1686 - Berber is force-converted to animism.


May 7th, 1686 - Saintonge is force-converted to animism.


The crates of French wine arrives. With that, Tahiti is next.


Chinese-Horde Exotic Eateries Soothing Efforts (CHEESE): 88


June 18th, 1686 - East Anglia is force-converted to animism.


October 24th, 1686 - Bourgogne is force-converted to animism.


Austria, now a single province.


The Netherlands are not quite there yet.


Of course, that is easily rectified. January 7th, 1687, Ming charges Brunswick like a mad china shop owner would a bull.

MizarNX said:

OMG!!! Austria and the Netherlands have fallen so quickly! Now I'm wondering how will be elected as HRE!
Because the next war will se Brunswick and Austria gone and the Netherlands OPMed. Maybe Poland or Lithuania will accept the challenge?

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Poland and Lithuania both would be good emperors, in my opinion - I need to kill them too.

sprites said:

well they just can't resist assisting those allies ;, leading to their doom?

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Presumably, the AI assumes the human player will do as the AI player does - fight a long, bitter war and then just white-peace.

Enewald said:

Lolz, the fall of Austria is nearly as epic as the fall of France... :rofl:

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Austria went down a little slower, though, thanks to the post-1650 BadBoy costs and the low limit from Very Hard difficulty.

January 8th, 1687 - Tigre is force-converted to animism.


February 22nd, 1687 - Massawa is force-converted to animism.


The next National Idea slot opens up, and we pick Smithian Economics - more money is always useful, albeit not really that necessary anymore.


May 3rd, 1687 - Lancashire is force-converted to animism.


June 2nd, 1687 - Polotsk is force-converted to shamanism.


June 12th, 1687 - Othe is force-converted to animism.


The long way down for Austria is finally over.


What's left of the empire couldn't have made a better choice.


July 24th, 1687 - Liwa is force-converted to animism.


With Tahiti refusing to be colonized, the time has come to cancel that mission in favor of something more palatable. Alas, we get anti-pirate duty.


A quick reset fixes that problem.


One more province, just one more... but not today.


We do, however, clean our reputation. Tulips are all the rage in Oirat lands these days - mostly for scent and aesthetics, but some former Cantonese chefs can make wonders with the flowers as a dish too.


Chinese-Horde Exotic Eateries Soothing Efforts (CHEESE): 89


July 1st, 1688 - Gonder is force-converted to animism.


August 5th, 1688 - Nevers is force-converted to animism.


October 2nd, 1688 - Poltava is force-converted to shamanism.


Since we are finally at peace for a while, time to sell off random bits and pieces - Borneo...


December 9th, 1688 - Savoie is force-converted to animism.


...one chunk of Ireland...


February 21st, 1689 - Podolia is force-converted to shamanism.


...and another. Ryukyu has ducats and missionaries, all they need is the will to do something about this. They're also low-tech enough not to know every building there is yet.


August 24th, 1689 - Kiev is force-converted to shamanism.


Denmark is higher tech, but they are also in the Scandinavian culture group, making them far more likely to buy those culture provinces, like Gotland. The odds were a grand 'maybe'.


February 21st, 1690 - Nizwa is force-converted to animism.


A border would make it 'very likely', as in this case.


Ryukyu decides to re-settle their seat of power, from the deep south to the high north.


March 31st, 1690 - Muscat is force-converted to animism.


All this peace is aggravating, particularly when there are lands near the pagan wavefronts still. August 4th, 1690, China assaults Poland. There is no Great Britain to defend them this time... nor anyone else, for that matter.


Even Ryukyu alone has a stronger army.


A few peacemonger dissenters are exiled.


October 18th, 1690 - Bern is force-converted to animism.


November 7th, 1690 - Lyonnais is force-converted to animism.


November 20th, 1690 - Bessarabia is force-converted to shamanism.


January 22nd, 1691 - London is force-converted to animism.


A fair chunk of German Poland is taken in.


The appetizer done, April 9th, 1691 heralds the arrival of the main dish.

Nodscouterr said:

Could you load up as Ryukyu and give us their world map?

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I could, but I'd have to wait until the 1700 update. I don't have a 'closer' savegame available, I think. Is it okay if I include it in the 1700 update? Should be in the upcoming part #88.

sprites said:

london converted? GB should be nearly paganized by now

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I think only Kent and Wessex were left after London.

Enewald said:

Yes for Nodscouterr request!


Why don't you simply put one ship in every coastal province?

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As sprites and MizarNX have explained - some piracy is actually good for me. Between every Oirat Elevator, I need one other mission. The by far easiest one to engineer - and fastest to accomplish - is the 'clear blockade of...' mission. This one will only trigger during wartime, though. Good thing the engine can't tell apart enemy navies and pirates. If it could, this trick would be blocked.

sprites said:

i think it's easyer to accomplish the missions to break blocade somewhere than colonize some island or buil a manufactory

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Very much easier, and much faster.

MizarNX said:

Because the break blockade mission is useful as a buffer between the Oriat Relations missions, and, as sprites says:

Lithuania as HRE is indeed the best option the electors could choose. Anyway this will only be a mere delay to their end.
It is quite strange that Lithuania is without allies.
I've also noticed that you are pushing form west to east, and no more from east to west. Now that you've cleaned up western Europe I imagine that you will take Lithuania between the hammer and the anvil.

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Not electors. Elector. I believe the Netherlands is the only HRE member left.

As for allies, their only choices are Scandinavia and Poland - and I believe those are both on the 'make enemies of' list for the Lithuania AI.

I've ignored Lithuania for a long time, just so I could mop up France and Austria - this is a bit of a problem, since the shamanist wavefront has bordered Lithuania for a while as a result. Time to rectify that.

Lithuania's armies exist... but for how long?


April 27th, 1691 - Kent is force-converted to animism.


May 8th, 1691 - Suhar is force-converted to animism.


June 26th, 1691 - Wessex is force-converted to animism.


July 11th, 1691 - Ruthenia is force-converted to shamanism.


July 23rd, 1691 - Champagne is force-converted to animism.


Paris is claimed even before the peace settlement.


December 22nd, 1691 - Franche-Comte is force-converted to animism.


Even so, Paris is worth far too much to Lithuania - provoking nationalist rebels might have been wiser, but it would cost more BadBoy and take more time. Moreover, our core claim is towards Lithuania. If it has been longer than fifty years since we last fought France - which it has - the core will be lost the instant France breaks free. At least, this is my experience in other games.


This brief peace leads us to sell land again. Pagan Denmark is awarded a province with a missionary - might as well take advantage of them.


April 2nd, 1692 - Vermandois is force-converted to animism.


This is especially true since they're far more likely to accept Scandinavian culture provinces - like Iceland.


We bolster Ryukyu...


August 1st, 1692 - Cambray is force-converted to animism.


...and finish Iceland.


With that, war beckons yet again. September 2nd, 1692 was not a day Scandinavian rulers enjoyed.


Their situation is fairly grim.


Tunis is proving too bothersome, so that mission is cancelled at first opportunity.


December 13th, 1692 - Lothringen is force-converted to animism.


June 25th, 1693 - Ifat is force-converted to animism.


More adventurers flock to the new world.


November 3rd, 1693 - Ile-de-France is force-converted to animism.


What was once Sweden is fast trimmed down towards their core territory.


Falukorv sausage is served to the Oirat envoys.


Chinese-Horde Exotic Eateries Soothing Efforts (CHEESE): 90


December 13th, 1693 - Shoa is force-converted to animism.


December 27th, 1693 - Gojjam is force-converted to animism.


March 1st, 1694 - Barrois is force-converted to animism.


...an event I've been hoping for all game, really. At last, full Mercantilism.


June 27th, 1694 - Qawasim is force-converted to animism.


September 19th, 1694 - Apulia is force-converted to animism.


November 14th, 1694 - Valenciennes is force-converted to animism.


July 14th, 1695 - Hainaut is force-converted to animism.


Denmark grows.


March 10th, 1696 - Kefa is force-converted to animism.


...and grows. Lappland was especially important to get rid of; there was a level 4 fort there, and no province anywhere near them could spawn a rebel stack that size.


April 8th, 1696 - Abruzzi is force-converted to animism.


While we're at it... May 5th, 1696 it's time to raid the Iroquois.


Poland is jumped on the same day; our guarantee of German Dependence calls for Poland to abandon their wicked invasion...


August 24th, 1696 - Lombardia is force-converted to animism.


It doesn't take too long to get results.


Our plans for the Iroquois are slightly different, however...

Here's the Question of the Day - why release these particular four vassals?