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1652-1701

When I left off, I had just finished a war against Portugal to claim my core area. I used my conquistador to aid in colonizing the coast, and then passed the time waiting for the truce with the Songhai to run out.

I figured the only way I was going to expand beyond north Africa in this game was by getting some more maps, so I looked for a nation to trade maps with. The problem was that (1) all of the european powers hated me, (2) most of them knew either too many maps too be willing to trade, or too few to be useful, and (3) most of the exploring nations were ridiculously expensive to bribe. But as luck would have it, one-province Brittany had revoted during the wars of religion, and had never ben re-absorbed. They were reasonably cheap to bribe, and after I brought them from -200 to +190 I was able to get a map across the atlantic and down the north american coast.

But with my low naval tech, this was not going to be enough. I needed military access, and I also probably needed Caribbean maps. So, I decided to try to bribe the Portugese. This was more expensive, but reasonable unlike Spain or France (~80d for a letter of introduction). During this period, I also left and re-formed (as the leader now) my alliance with Morocco, brough Mali into the alliance, gave them a royal marriage, bribed them a bit, and diplo-vassalized them. Hey, when you've got a monarch with good diplo skills, make the most of it, right?

When the truce expired, Morocco was the first to declare war, so I didn't have control of the peace negotiations. Mali took three provinces in a seperate peace, and I was able to grab two provinces (Kano and Niani) before Morocco called off the war. They did get me the two provinces in the settlement, at least.

Anyway, I managed to exchange maps (and get military access) with Portugal around this time, and I found that the coast was well colonized from Portugese Brazil through Spanish central America into French Louisiana, with only a couple open slots. At first, I wasn't really sure what I could do with my discoveries, since I only had one colonist left, and trying to launch a war on a north american tribe using galleys and without a CRT advantage didn't seem like a good option. But as luck would have it, I got another random conquistador at this point. Somebody likes me...

Since I couldn't build transports, and warships were extremely expensive (being an aristocratic land-based nation), I decided to try to brave the seas with galleys. This may have been a poor decision. The two province hop across the ocean from Africa to Brazil tended to cost me about one quarter of my ships, unless a storm hit, in which case it was three quarters. But I made it through, and with the help of my conqustador I managed to found two colonies, one in Venezuela and one at the mouth of the Rio Grande. While these two colonies will probably never become cities for me, they have enormous strategic value as waystations for my ships, and even more importantly, as wedges that keep Spain from grabbing the entire coastline and blocking my expansion into the interior.

As an aside, I'd like to share with you the worst CoT coloring scheme ever conceived. If you can't decipher it, Cuzco is French-blue, Zacatecas is Sweedish-blue, and the Spanish colonial CoT in Baja California is also French-Blue. Note that after discovering the Incas, I got my second monopoly there, which became even more profitable when the Incas annexed the Chimu a few years later. Zimbabwe finally annexed Xhosa around this time, too, which opened up five slots in Zanzibar for my merchants. Oman embargoed me, but relented a few years later. I tried to put some merchants in the Spanish colonial CoT too (which was a 20/20 monopoly for them), but they (predictably) embargoed me, and they did not reverse their decision.

After my conquistador died, I spent several years trying to ship over enough troops to fight a decent war in America. I also declared war on Songhai (without a CB, but my BB is so low for this late in the game I don't care) and reduced them to a 1-province minor. As soon as I reached land 9, I switched my investment to naval, so that I could get naval 4 and build some much-needed transports.

In 1689, Morocco did the honors on the Final DoW against the Songhai, although I did the honors of rushing Gao and assaulting before Morocco's leader could arrive. After militarily annexing Songhai, and diplo-annexing Mali, western Africa was one big swath of Moroccan and Kongolese grey.

Around 1690 I finally got naval 4, and I quickly got my troop total in Rio Grande up to about 11,000, which seemed like enough to take on the Navajo. I declared war and quickly overran them with my fire phase, cavalry, and CRT advantage. I didn't have enough troops to siege everything, so rather than assaulting in turn I played it safe and brought more troops in from Africa. And despite a "cities demand old rights", "political crisis" , "plague" and "temporary insanity of the monarch" (can't blame him, really) I was able to fight through revolts at home and still win the war abroad.

After annexing the Navajo, I got a population boom event, which I used to place TPs in the inland gold province of Venezuela, and the one remaining unoccupied border province of the Azteks. You may notice the new CoT that spawned in Sacramento. Yes, I tried to put some merchants there, and yes, the English embargoed me.

A really good monarch had risen to the throne, so I decided to take time out for some conversion work. Once one of the Navajo provinces is converted, I'll be able to produce troops on the continent, which will make things a lot easier. I plan to take out a couple more easy marks like the Dakota and the Shawnee, before I proceed to the main events - the Aztek and the Inca. Capturing their territory may put me over the top in VPs. I'm also considering trying to diploannex Morocco, although I doubt I'm strong enough to pull this of yet.

For those who are curious, here's the situation in Europe and the situation in Asia. France and Austria can only be stopped by Austria and France. Russia is taking care of business, having just won a big war agianst Poland. The Ottomans remain an afterthought, but the Mughals have clearly taken the banner for the Muslim world (except perhaps for those African upstarts). Maybe the most absurd thing of all is the Uzbekh Khanate holding two provinces in Tibet for well over a century, and converting both. Buddhism and Hinduism are really hurting in this game, with only one Hindu state (Indonesia is all Muslim) and several of the SE Asian states revolting away from China with Confucian religion.
 
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1702-1732

This was the period that saw the Kongo really become a major power.

At the onset of this period, I dropped a missionary in Utah and Colorado, and started to bring troops over to the Americas in anticipation of moves against the Dakota and Shawnee. After five years, my missionaries failed, but I had a pretty good-sized army ready to turn north.

Two events quickly changed my focus. One was France putting a TP in Oaklahoma, thereby blocking my path to the north. The second was getting a free CB against the Aztecs. I was a bit intimidated by their size and the fact that they had won a couple wars against Spain, but I figured I had little to lose by going after them, and besides they were currently fighting with Spain, which was probably weakening them. I also got a random conquistador, which would help a lot in trailblazing a path into Aztec territory. So I furiously brought over troops (reaching about 35,000 men) and declared war just before the CB expired.

The beginning of the war was a series of quick wins and successful assaults. But The Aztecs had a ton of troops, and they were able to wear me down to the point that I had to bring in more troops in order to keep up the assaults. Finally I managed to control all the provinces (even though the Aztecs still had about 20,000 men on the field) and I quickly annexed them. My inflation was now rising at .1 a year due to gold, but with this kind of income, who cares? Taking advantage of my old but high-admin monarch, I slid the slider to the right and dropped five missionaries before he died.

I was a bit drunk with power at this point, so I slightly overextended myself with a declaration of war (without a CB) on the Inca. I thought I could tear through them just as easily as I had the Aztec, but I quickly found that they had many more troops than the Aztec, while I had less than I had in the previous war. I quickly assaulted two provinces with my advance (conquistador) force, and accepted a peace settlement that gave me two central Incan provinces. I had moved my conquistador out of those provinces in advance of the settlement, so I was able to continue exploring the Inca lands, and I eventually brought the conquistador over the Andes to explore Argentina.

My plan at this point was to rest for a bit and try to convert more provinces, and eventually make a run at the Incas again. I lucked out when four of the five provinces successfully converted (only Colorado resisted). I was considering a war against Spain, as they had lots of unfortified provinces in the area, but it seemed risky with their massive CRT advantage and ability to land in Africa. Then, Spain spared me the decision by declaring war.

Quite simply, I was shocked by how well this war went. I asked for Morocco's aid, and they complied and proceeded to score some impressive victories over Spain both in Morocco and in the water. Meanwhile, I overran all of Spanish Mexico, all of Spanish central America, and the majority of Spanish South America (except for fortified Cartegena, a garrison in Brazil, and a colony in Guyana). I also managed to get control of part of Cuba and several small islands, all before Spain really managed to mount a response. My conquistador even overran Argentina. Spain was starting to win some sea battles and take some islands back, and had landed an army in Africa, when I reached a 99% war score. I accepted Spain's first 99% peace offer (which was much better than the settlement I offered which they refused) and I stared in disbelief at my massive gains.

I spent the next five years bringing more troops over, trying to put down revolts, and, after reaching land 14, investing in stability for the first time in the game. I also tried (unsucsessfully) to diplovassalize Morocco. I was able to get a monopoly in the Spanish colonial CoT that I now owned, but it was only worth about 150. Most of the former Spanish colonies transferred their trade to Zacatecas (since it was closer), which was now the richest CoT in the game at over 800. Unfortunately, until England bothered to exterminate the Huron, Iroquois, Lenape, and Shawnee, I was going to have a hard time picking up the monopoly there.

In due time, Spain declared war again. This time, they had a few more advance troops, and many fewer unfortified territories. I was already losing naval engagements and dealing with a large Spanish force in Africa by the time I reached +25 in war score, so I get out while I was still ahead, claiming Moron and Everglades in the process. The next time I fight them in a war (if there is a next time) I'll be sure to have my armies placed in the most advanced positions possible, so that I can grab as much land as I can before they respond.

I have gotten pretty close to all my slider goals. Aristocracy 10, Innovation 7, Land 10, Offensive 9, and Quality 9 are right where I want them. Centralization 7 and Serfdom 1 are close, while Mercantilism 10 is pretty irrelevant to me.

In VPs, I am now third behind uber-Austria and Uber-France. I'm hoping that the French Revolution actually happens this game, as it could bring both of them down. Right now France and Austria are in an alliance, which is, of course, insanely powerful. Russia and the Mughals have boh been torn apart by rebellion events. Russia has annexed Nogai and Sibir three times by my count, while the Mughals have managed to re-annex Gujarat and are still dealing with newly-formed Persia, Iraq, Baluchistan, and Afghanistan.
 
Well done the Kongolese! Show them dirty imperialists what for!
(well, OK, you are a dirty imperialist, but it's the thought that counts)

I played Kongo once, but I took the opposite course to you - I went Catholic (by event IIRC), didn't max out on Land/Innovation and tried to conquer up and colonise down the west coast.
It didn't work out too well - I could get nowhere against Benin, and my South African colonies (which were separated from the rest of my empire by the Portuguese in Angola and the French in Namibia) got munched by the Xhosa. I ended up with my core territories, two or three adjacent provinces and a bad case of frustration.
Now you've shown the way, I might try again. Africa Shall Be United!

And it was goo to see the Mughals doing well - they always seem to be 'the historical empire that doesn't', even more than the Ottomans. I hope they deal with all those upstart revolters.
 
This is a really interesting AAR. It is always interesting to read about small obscure countries:D
 
Judge/Gaijin - thanks again. The Navajo must have gotten some "land reclaimed" events or something - but I'm not complaining. My production in Mexico should really take off when the Spanish nationalism wears off.

Merrick - well, I got lucky early in this game with two breaks - the capture of Ivoria that opened up diplomatic channels, and the Suuni conversion. The early diplomatic opening allowed me to trade maps all the way out to Asia, which allowed me to trade maps across the Atlantic later on. And the Suuni conversion allowed me to forge alliances in Africa more easily, allowed me to more easlily profit from Songhai gold, and later on allowed me to diploannex Mali. If either of those things hadn't happened, this might have been a shorter and more boring AAR.

On the other hand, being Catholic looks really good right now - I'd have same religion/same culture in all those colonies in about 10 years.
 
What is your land technology? If you're not too far back from France and Austria, you might try and fight them both (one at a time). Just mass up a huge army at one's border and then swarm them. That should be a HUGE war, and I wanna see it!!! :D
 
Originally posted by juszuf7
What is your land technology? If you're not too far back from France and Austria, you might try and fight them both (one at a time). Just mass up a huge army at one's border and then swarm them. That should be a HUGE war, and I wanna see it!!! :D
Well, I'm about 7 years ahead of the last update at this point, and my landtech is 17, heading toward 18. France and Austria are both in "war of Maneuver" - i.e. two CRTs ahead even after I make 18. Seeing how Spain seems content to declare war on me on roughly five year intervals, I'm happy with the number of wars on my plate at the moment.

There's a chance I'll go to war with France to grab some colonial territory (especially if they are busy fighting all of Europe), but going to war with Austria would just be a waste of time. The European mainland is off limits to me. If I had managed to get to this point 150 years ago, then I'd probably be ready to go to war in Europe around now... but I've spotted the major powers too much of a head start.
 
1733-1754

If there was any doubt that my fate in this game lay in teh Americas, it was put to rest in this play session.

As promised, I spent the next five years preparing my army for the next war with Spain - building troops and placing them in advanced positions where they could quickly strike all of Spain's unfortified territories. Apparently, Spain took note of these troops, as the year following the truce expiration passed without incident. Not one to be deterred, I dropped several merchants in Andalucia, was promptly embargoed, and then put that CB to good use. Morocco of course took up the call, and my troops quickly rushed and took over nearly every Spanish colonial posession. I was beseiging the four forts, sitting at 33% war score, when Spain saw fit to sue for peace, giving me six provinces in the process. Since this was surely more than they would give me in any negotiation I broached, I accepted. I now held Curacao and all of Spanish Brazil. Only the Carribean, northern Argentina, and the former Creek lands were significant Spanish cores.

Naturally, I re-tooled and prepared myself for another war against Spain in five years - one which I would probably have to declare on my own. Towards the end of the waiting period, I decided it was high time that my Moroccan allies became my vassals, but Morocco disagreed. France apparently considered this to be a sign of waekness. Uh oh. I was really hoping to make land 18 before I saw any action against the French, but they declared war on me, so I had no choice.

At this point, I had about 10,000 troops in Africa, and maybe 40,000 in the Americas. There was no way I could fight the 3 CRTs ahead French with that. So I raised war taxes, slid the slider to the right, and went on a massive recruitment binge. War taxes dramtically increased my American troop capacity, as many of my captured colonies were now capable of recruitment. Before long I had 90,000 troops marching on the French colonies on the West African coast, and another 60,000 or so marching into French Louisiana, while the rest of my American troops tried to take Carribean islands.

I was able to overrun French Louisiana fairly easily, but French ships in the Carribean and French armies in West Africa were putting up stiff resistance. I saw the blocade Icons springing up on my coasts in South America and near Ivoria, and I knew that French armies could not be far behind. So I cashed out my 16% war score, taking only one province - Biloxi, which happened to have a Fine Arts academy in it.

Meanwhile, the sub-5000 population territories I gained in my first Spanish war flipped to Kongolese culture. At the war's conclusion, I left the slider to the right and quickly expended all six of my missionaries on six of the newly-same cultured provinces. Once I reach land tech 18 next year, I will once again cash the slider out and build several weapons manufactories (something I have been neglecting to do for a while).

If the French decide to declare war again, I will be much more prepared. almost 70,000 troops are waiting at the border of France's West African colonies, and I have troops waiting at the border of all nine French colonies and trading posts in Louisiana/North America. And if France does not declare war on me, then I will sail an army up to French Canada and initiate the hostilities myself.

After France, I should return to war against Spain, and attempt to get the Argentinian territories at least. After that, the obvious choice is Portugal, as Brazil is very vulnerable at the moment. I should make sure to attack Portugal if they become weak, as I don't want Brazil to revolt before I have a chance to capture it.

While I would still like to capture Morocco and Algeria, at the moment wars in the Americas are so much more fruitful that it seems a waste to turn on my ally. Even if I soundly defeated France, Spain AND Portugal in the Americas, I would get more gains for less cost by going to war with the Incas, the minor NA tribes, or the English and Netherlands, than I would by attacking Morocco. My goal in that department remains diploannexation, although time is running out.
 
At least you got Biloxi out of the war with France and didn't get hammered by them. So you are doing pretty good, in my opinion...
 
1755-1768

The previous session had ended with me licking my wounds from the war with France. I basically waited out the truce without incident. The only thing of note that happened in this period was the England went to war with the Lenape and Shawnee, finally annexed the Lenape, took one province off the Shawnee, and then had the USA rebel from them, with their capital in Tenessee of all places (completely seperate from the other two USA provinces, Massachusetts and Conneticut). Seizing on the appearance of a country in my region that doesn't hate me, I bribed them to +200, and got military access, a trade agreement, and finally an alliance. The port in Boston will probably prove useful in wars against French Canada down the line.

When five years passed, France did not declare war. I waited until I reached land 18, acquired a CB by embargo, and declared war. My troops were all in position, and within a month I controlled all of French Louisiana along with Puerto Rico and Trinidad. Only Martinique, which had a garrison, escaped my initial attack. In West Africa, I overwhelmed the French resistance with sheer numbers. France's 9,000 men were winning their first battle with my 20,000 attackers, but the second set of 20,000 that arrived in the middle of the battle tipped the scales. I assaulted the only fortress in West Africa (at Nouadibuh) with 15,000 men, backed up by two mid-battle reinfocements of 10,000 men each, and took the fort.

At this point I had a 30+ war score, but I was running out of time before French fleets reached the Caribbean. My first peace proposal was for Trinidad, Puerto Rico, and Nouadibuh. It was rejected. French troops then landed in Venezuela, so I quickly made peace for Puerto Rico and Nouadibuh.

Now that I had reached land 18, it was time for a building spree. I slid the slider all the way right and built weapon manufactories in the three Aztec provinces that I had converted (not the capital), my three original provinces aside from my capital (which already had a FA academy), Utah, and one other former Benin province in West Africa. When combined with the one that had appeared by event in Ivoria, I now had nine weapons manufactories to go with my three Fine Arts academies.

Towards the end of this five-year period, the conversions finished, and once again I was fairly lucky in my conversion percentage. While my choice of target provinces (seven provinces with less than 5000 population and Kongolese culture) made for high percentages, the success rate (5 of 7) was still higher than I should have expected. I quickly promoted TCs in the now same culture/same religion provinces. My base in the Americas was now quite powerful.

When the truce expired, I once again provoked an embargo and declared war. This time, Martinique was not defended, and there was no fort in Nouadibuh to storm. The war was over in one month, as I captured every province in Louisiana, the Carribean, and West Africa in one move. The only battle that was fought was one lopsided affair in West Africa. I quickly sued for peace and received both Trinidad and Martinique. This was a crucial win for me, because this victory drove France out of the Caribbean altogether. I no longer have to live in fear of the French fleet, so I should be able to let the future wars with France rage longer, so I can seek to make gains against French domains in Canada as well.

At this point, things have gotten quite a bit easier for me. I probably won't give the blow-by-blow of the next few wars I fight. Suffice to say they will follow a predidictable pattern: acquire CB, declare war, rush as many unfortified provinces as I can reach, make as favorable a peace as I can manage, wait out the truce, repeat. The only wrinkle is that I will probably start alternating between France and Spain to speed things along, and once they are beaten down I will move on to Portugal and possibly England. Basically, it's colony grabbing from here to 1819.

On other fronts, Morocco twice declined to be vassalized, but I will keep trying. I'm hoping that the USA will declare war on the Iroquois or Shawnee, so that I can help the USA annex them without it costing me a 2 stability/4 BB hit. I don't really care about the land, but removing the Indians will make it easier to maintian my monopoly in the 1000+ ducat Zacatecas. I will also probably slaugther the Inca at some point, although their scores of small forts and my inability to acquire a CB makes them a much less inviting target than you might think.

Finally, I've passed Austria and France in VPs. I'm barely ahead of Austria, but I think I'm on the way up (and France, of course, is on the way down.)
 
Originally posted by Desertfox
Nice blitz :) That should level up your income considerably. Only bad side from grabbing American provinces is that you don`t get manpower from them.
Yeah, I was starting to have some issues with my support limit until I built all those weapon manufactories - now I'm in good shape again. I really need to diploannex Morocco to put myself over the top, but they are being awfully stubborn about it.
 
Aw, I though you're going to launch an invasion on the French mainland... But there's still time! :)
 
1769-1793

Sorry for the slow update, folks. This game has become much more tedious to play of late. Since I can get CBs and grab provinces so easily in the americas, it's basically in my interest to be either at war, or re-positioning my troops for the next war. ergo, lots of micromanagement and lots of pausing. But also lots of wins. ;)

My first war of this time period was yet another war against Spain. I assaulted all three Spanish forsts (Savannah, Santiago, Cartegena) but only Savannah fell, so it was my only gain in the war. Still, a valuable addition. My next war was against France. This was an extremely successful war, as France offered me five or six provinces right away, including one French Canadian province I had moved into.

After this war, I finally managed to get Morocco to accept vassalization. Horray!

I prosocuted another Spanish and another French war. These were less successful than in the past, due to the fact that I was running out of provinces to run up my war score with. Still, I managed to get both Hatian provinces from Spain, and another Canadian province from France.

During the second of these wars, a major war broke out on the continent - Spain/France versus Austria/Netherlands. France got some territory in a seperate peace, but Spain was forced to give up most (read: every non-fortified) Carribean province to the Netherlands. No problem for me - this just gave me a new enemy to aim for.

First I decided to take a shot at the biggest block of European presence in the Americas - Brazil. I cancelled my military access, acquired a CB, and declared war. This war was a real turning point for my troops - I had reached the 20s in land technology, and I was fighting an enemy that lacked a CRT advantage for the first time in a while. The war with them went quite well, and in the end they gave be seven Brazillian provinces. I then moved on to the Netehrlands, and captured most of the provinces thay had taken from Spain in the previous war, along with one more Canadian province. During this war, I also got the unexpected boost of having Spanish Argentina revolt away to me. The three northern provinces actually revolted as La Plata, but Spain quickly re-annexed them.

In 1787, Morocco accepted my offer of annexation, giving me the majority of east Africa. Shortly after this, I got a "border dispute" event with the Inca, which was just what I had been waiting for. Given my wealth and CRT advantages at this point in the game, defeating the Inca was just a matter of spending time and manpower. In 1793, the last assault was completed and I annexed the Inca.

Next on the docket is another beat-down of Portugal. Soon I should reach land 26 and the next CRT, which will put me in the same category as Spain. A good long Spanish war to end all Spanish wars would be appropriate at that point. Beyond that, I could take another shot at the French (who didn't have a revolution... argh). I'm not terribly interested in taking protestant lands from the Sweedish, English, or Dutch, but I'll figure something out to keep me occupied until 1820.
 
I see you have not send your merchants to any CoT. That doesn't trouble you?