Hello everyone! As a long-term lurker on this forum, and an admirer of many of the writers here, I think it's only fair to try and put something back and write an AAR of my own. (OK, who am I kidding - I'm a confirmed show-off).
I've chosen to try Ayutthaya because
a) It's an interesting challenge - tricky, but not Albania
(Actually, this is my second try at Ayutthaya - the first one came to an untimely and sticky end under the Chinese juggernaut. And that was only on Normal).
b) There aren't many South-East-Asian AARs out there
(I note there are only two Ayatthaya AARs in the LibrAARy and neither gets to 1500 - I'll try and live longer than that.)
c) I like elephants. 'Nough said.
The Game will be a vanilla Grand Campaign, starting in 1419, played in v1.05 (I'm not going to try and learn a whole new playing style until the betas stop and 1.08 comes out), on Very Hard Difficulty (I'm stupid, but brave) and Normal Aggressiveness (not that brave!)
The AAR will probably be written in pseudo-history-text mode unless I get struck by inspiration (stranger things have happened...).
While I'm trying to do well, this is not a World Conquest attempt. I'm well aware that there are people here who could conquer the world with Ayutthaya - by 1650 - and write a brilliant AAR about it (not to mention doing the Minute Waltz and ...), I am not one of them.
So I'm trying to keep my objectives reasonable.
Objectives
1) Not to get squashed by China.
2) To unite all Buddhist provinces (or as many as I can manage) under a single flag (mine).
3) To claim as much currently unclaimed land as reasonably possible for Enlightenment and the Thai people.
4) To return the European colonialists whence they came, suitably chastised.
5) If things go really well, Ganges & Guangdong look nice...
6) To maintain a tenuous grip on rationality.
7) Not to get squashed by China.
0) To have as much fun as possible on the way. Enjoy the ride!
I've chosen to try Ayutthaya because
a) It's an interesting challenge - tricky, but not Albania
(Actually, this is my second try at Ayutthaya - the first one came to an untimely and sticky end under the Chinese juggernaut. And that was only on Normal).
b) There aren't many South-East-Asian AARs out there
(I note there are only two Ayatthaya AARs in the LibrAARy and neither gets to 1500 - I'll try and live longer than that.)
c) I like elephants. 'Nough said.
The Game will be a vanilla Grand Campaign, starting in 1419, played in v1.05 (I'm not going to try and learn a whole new playing style until the betas stop and 1.08 comes out), on Very Hard Difficulty (I'm stupid, but brave) and Normal Aggressiveness (not that brave!)
The AAR will probably be written in pseudo-history-text mode unless I get struck by inspiration (stranger things have happened...).
While I'm trying to do well, this is not a World Conquest attempt. I'm well aware that there are people here who could conquer the world with Ayutthaya - by 1650 - and write a brilliant AAR about it (not to mention doing the Minute Waltz and ...), I am not one of them.
So I'm trying to keep my objectives reasonable.
Objectives
1) Not to get squashed by China.
2) To unite all Buddhist provinces (or as many as I can manage) under a single flag (mine).
3) To claim as much currently unclaimed land as reasonably possible for Enlightenment and the Thai people.
4) To return the European colonialists whence they came, suitably chastised.
5) If things go really well, Ganges & Guangdong look nice...
6) To maintain a tenuous grip on rationality.
7) Not to get squashed by China.
0) To have as much fun as possible on the way. Enjoy the ride!