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White peace them.
French wouldn't accept a White Peace. They are looking to humiliate. Looks like Rensslaer is in one of his stubborn moods. Hope that didn't cost him elsewhere. I see the Britsh and US influence is getting interesting in China, Japan and Korea where they may soon be able to remove them from your sphere. A ban diplomats would be a wise precaution.

I see you found the French army of Africa- the opposite of Caesar: you came, you saw and you ran away.

Do stop the southward march of Ottoman colonisers. I wonder what happened to reduce the numbers of Ottoman troops? A war, perhaps?

I doubt you'd get the provinces of French Asia in a peace deal, but you look like you're trying. You'll have to probe the French mainland to see what troops they have there. How long before the telephone factories are up and running?
 
French wouldn't accept a White Peace. They are looking to humiliate. Looks like Rensslaer is in one of his stubborn moods. Hope that didn't cost him elsewhere.

When have I -EVER- been in a stubborn mood? :p :D

Renss
 
As war rages throughout much of the world, the South Pacific is fittingly calm. Having recently colonized both Micronesia and the Bonin Islands, Siam has been using these, and their many other Pacific colonies, to build new cruisers. As they are constructed, they congregate at Port Moresby to be formed into combat squadrons and then dispatched to the warzones to relieve beleaguered fleets there.

NewCruisers.jpg


These cruisers – the 18 shown – constitute a large percentage of Siam’s total new cruiser fleet, so they will come as harbingers of success in Arabian seas and elsewhere. Ratings of 33 attack and 50 hull entirely outclass our other ships, and even most of the French fleet.

The summer of 1925 was brutally scorching in Arabia, but the war continued. Generally, in so many battles, the Siamese would lose more men killed or wounded, but the French would lose the battle.

ArabiaTurning.jpg


Having lost battles already, the French formations wandered from Arabian town to Arabian town, meeting resistance at every stop, and fighting for a few days before being forced to retreat once more.

The French were being whittled down. Now Siamese divisions outnumbered them, more often than not. Having been eventually defeated at Nizwa, the French moved instead deeper into Oman, and were faced with the fortress at Muscat.

MuscatToo.jpg


Another army was defeated at Riyadh, deep in the northern desert. Gen. Chao Nitithada, an expert at defensive fighting, was sent to anticipate the destination of the retreating French army, and battle was joined in mid-July.

Riyadh.jpg


By the end of August, the Dutch had finally had enough. They had fought well enough to be granted a White Peace by France. Siam, however, refused the demand to give in. The Warscore, since the early French victories, had been shaved from 12% down to 9% and it could only go lower from there.

NethPeace.jpg


The French Navy fought valiantly, but they could not hope to prevail. More and more were being isolated and ground down in tough fighting.

In fact, the war of attrition at sea was beginning to bear REAL fruit, with French naval vessels sinking beneath the waves.

SeaBatts.jpg


A similar dynamic was making itself apparent on land. More and more battles were resulting in more French casualties than Siamese, and the French troops were tired and tattered. Siamese troops retook the one remaining French-occupied province, in Salalah, Oman.

Trapped.jpg


It was still apparent that France was a steady superpower, being contended with by an upstart regional power with aspirations above its station. But the balance of power was slowly but steadily shifting. In September, 1925, for instance, France had 74 naval vessels against Siam's 178. But by January, 1926, Siam's navy had added 23 new warships, while France had lost 10 vessels in combat (Siam had lost vessels too, which makes the increase in ships more impressive).

NavalComparison.jpg


France lost another 4 ships by the end of January, bringing their total down to only 60 (their navy now outnumbered by 3:1).

The westernmost French Arabian army -- the sizeable one which had at one time conquered Amman (since retaken) -- was by February 1926 cornered in Medina, fighting for its life for a second time in that location alone, outnumbered nearly 10:1 with casualty figures not in her favor. Their war was drawing to a close for those who might survive.

Medina.jpg


Unless Siam might be willing to compromise in order to end the war -- something which she showed no sign of doing -- there was no end of the war in sight. The small margin of victory Siam was building -- or smaller margin of defeat, depending how one looked at it -- would take time to work out. Siam showed every evidence of being willing to wait, so long as no other major powers decided to step in.

A brief sidelight on the colonial race. From the graphic, you can imagine the rush to "turn the corner" and head off Ottoman southern expansion in Africa. The Rift Valley was open for the taking, and both powers were attempting to be the first to establish a solid claim. However, only Siam had troops on scene to accelerate the colonization and protect their interests.

Kigali.jpg


As you can see from the progressing graphics, in mid-1925 the Ottomans had the better claim and Siam was playing catch-up. But by the end of 1925 the two great powers had drawn even, and by March, 1926, Siam's claim was nearing fruition. This same race was ongoing in two or three African regions, where Siam was determined to out-colonize the Ottomans and put an end to their efforts to colonize in southern Africa. This same effort drew Siam's colonial reach further westward, inexorably toward the Atlantic coast of Africa.
 
Only in an AAR could you see the armies of France and Siam duking it out for superiority in the Arabian peninsula :D

Good job thus far. The war's tide is turning, and even if it's heading towards a simple white peace, that's better than having to pay some kind of tribute. At least that's the way I look at it.
 
This war is looking more and more like a White Peace. With your newly-established naval superiority you can keep your territory safe, but you'll not be able to get the big warscore provinces as these are chock full of better-equipped French troops.

The alternative is dragging out the war to raise French WE, but with only ten years left on the clock I think that might be a non-starter. Still, it's France that'll take the pain for an unmet wargoal, which is a moral victory for Siam. Great stuff!
 
France offers a white peace and Siam ... rejects it. It looks as though Siam wants to send the French navy to the bottom of the ocean.

Is Siam really after French Asia?

No, France offered Contain Siam, which is their primary war goal -- to impose military limits on me.

Rensslaer
 
This war reminds me of the Vietnam War (with the French as the Americans and your Siam as the Vietnamese). No, not because I envision you running around in black pyjamas, smearing buffalo dung on sharpened sticks and pledging allegiance to Uncle Ho, Karl Marx and Lenin, but because the French are technologically superior (and killing your ground troops in staggering numbers), yet you are infinitely more willing to take the pain and losses needed to win, so that the end is pretty much a foregone conclusion: this war will end on your terms, not theirs.
 
Great multi-front management, pity Algeria was a bit too much to open a new one... So you still have some hopes to get something out of this war? How dare anybody say you are in a stubborn mood? You are never fickle with your stubbornness! :D
 
The French Channel Fleet had remained in port through the entire war until it finally emerged in February, 1926. It was seen as a move of desperation -- France realized it was being strangled by the blockade and mounting losses of ships. They felt they had a chance to turn the tables and break the blockade with regional superiority.

BlockadeRun.jpg


But this location became a magnet for most of the Siamese naval units in the Atlantic theatre. By "sailing to the sound of the guns" as they could, they essentially created the same sort of rolling battle as had been seen elsewhere -- engage, fight, withdraw when weakened and be replaced by others.

In March the first Telephone and Electic Gear factories came on line at home. This spurred the waiting Dreadnought hulls into life, and production began in earnest. It would still be months, however, before the first were ready. Not in time, surely, to be used in this war.

DreadnoughtLaidDown.jpg


In their stead stood the Cruisers. Siamese and French cruisers had begun yet another battle off the southern shores of West Africa, along the Gold Coast. When exhausted, some of the Siamese fleet sheltered in Dutch Sekondi while other fresh vessels fought on. The French were suffering terribly, and some ships were already near to sinking.

In April, the most powerful Siamese allies -- other than the Dutch, who had made peace earlier -- signed truces with France. But this was of no consequence, as these allies had contributed little in the war, so far.

Truces.jpg


In terms of research, Siam had recently finished researching and deploying bolt-action rifles. Now Market Structures became the focus, which would have significant economic and educational impact once the discoveries came on line (this probably should have been researched earlier, but again there's always a short-term vs. long-term tradeoff).

The French were trapped, and they knew it. Their gambit in the English Channel had become another losing battle, their ships overwhelmed and increasingly battered. Her warscore, which at one point had reached 13%, had dropped to only 5%.

SpringProgress.jpg


The French, seeing no way out of their constant decline, accepted Siam's humiliating terms. They had failed in their war -- failed to contain Siam's growing power, and failed to dominate either on land or the high seas. France was embarrassed by her showing.

Released from war, Siam turned to new ways to make her power known. Steam Turbines would soon be developed to automate her factories and drive her ships. It would take time to shed her Badboy -- having risen to 42 points. Was it even worth trying?

GreatPower1926.jpg


Siam remained in that odd 4th ranking -- far ahead of the lower powers, but seemingly too far from 3rd to have a realistic shot at it with only 10 years left in the game. France had not been terribly hurt by her defeat. Neither had the Ottomans, for that matter, though it had moved her down to 7th from 6th and ruined her chance at attaining 5th.

Siam had become the first country in the world to begin producing Telephones. But it was a race she just barely won -- the inventor Sunidark Prakashbangboom beat out British Thomas Eddington by mere weeks -- and within 6 months the United Kingdom overtook Siamese production of telephones by orders of magnitude.

Colonies1827.jpg


In the colonial race, by 1927, though, Siam was surging ahead. The Ottoman expansion to the south had been cut off on two frontiers in Africa already, and a further cordon was beginning to stretch west.

By mid-1927 the first Siamese Dreadnought was launched (again, presumably just ahead of the first British). It was somewhat cheering to still be catching glimpses of US Navy ships boasting full sail! The British Royal Navy still had some of these too (Siam as well, but they stayed at home for picket duty, as mentioned in a previous update).

1stDreadnought.jpg




Here's a look at all of Siam's factories in 1928:



Factories1928.jpg


Most of the high-tech factories are still being upgraded, but I get the impression other countries are not very far ahead in that respect. Some of our formerly profitable factories are as popular now as buggy whip shops. But others are doing quite well. We still try to keep ahead of the curve, having a new factory or expansion ready when new workers show up. I use subsidies only sparingly -- particularly, though, for the new high-tech factories whose production I want to foster.

Below you can see our master production chart. Siam is among the top 5 producers of most of these goods -- the top producer of a great many. Fabric and shipping come to mind. Glass maybe.

Production1928.jpg


As a brief sidelight, Peru may be the new badboy target! :D Actually, they may have had CBs for those. But two new conquests, literally within a week of one another, added vast tracts of land to Peru's South American empire. It's starting to remind me of Sforza!!! (my EU3 game) :)

PeruExpands.jpg


And... We have a new CB against the Ottomans! :) Hmm.... This may be the first really useable CB I've gotten all game. What to do?