State of the Nation: 1399 to 1821
It's with mixed feelings that I write this, the final update for the Yamato Destiny (conversion to Vicky 2 notwithstanding). On the one hand I'm coming to the end of what's been a far longer journey than I anticipated. On the other, I'm really happy that I've been able to make it to the end at all. As I've said before it took far longer than I first thought it would.
This update is intended to provide an overview of the whole game from Japan's humble beginnings to its eventual emergence as one of the great powers - if not the greatest. As I said when I started out I wanted to keep expansion vaguely historical, in the sense of where an externally-aggressively Japan might go. Arguably I overstepped this in the eighteenth century when I began a colonisation kick, but I don't think the final map looks too outrageous (at least where I'm concerned).
Economy
One of the surprising things about the game is how Japan's economy took off during the seventeenth century. By 1821 Japan's GDP is much larger than even the big European empires. Of note here is how strong the Russians are, although their inflation has reached a staggering 53%.
In addition, note the strong performance of Sind, Madurai and Ceylon. The latter is there as a result of its excellent trading abilities, but the other two have carved out impressive Indian empires.
The graph below shows how Japan's economy has broadly tracked the increase in the number of provinces, although the comparison can be somewhat misleading as the province count starts from a much higher base.
It can also be noted that after the conquering spree of the seventeenth century Japan has grown at a much more sober pace.
Technology
As I said way back in the introduction, I like to be leading a high-tech nation, and by the end of the game that's exactly what Japan has become. I'm facing ahead-of-time penalties in all tech groups, but there's not much else to spend that monthly investment on.
The tech comparison actually shows that I've slowed down in tech speed as compared to the 1799 update when I had a decent lead across all categories. Part of this is down to ahead-of-time penalties being a great leveller, the other part possibly indicating I've let the trade game slide a bit.
This graph shows how tech speed has slowed compared to the eighteenth century, which is when I westernised. That, coupled with the rapid increase of monthly income shot my average tech level up by almost 50 in the course of 100 years. In a way it would have been interesting to see what would have happened had I not westernised, but that's probably another game in itself.
Military
Militarily I've not done much these past 21 years. The graph below shows the huge increases in army and navy sizes were confined to the eighteenth century and Japan's wars with the European powers. Since then, my tech lead has meant that I don't need to field quite as large an army as my rivals.
Speaking of army sizes, in the past two decades the Russians have added over 80,000 new troops to their roster. France, Castille, Austria and even Great Britain field more troops than I do, although in the latter case they don't really have the manpower to sustain operations on that scale. Again, Sind and Madurai aren't doing too badly either. Modena, who caught me on the hop in the last war, field a respectable 63,000 men.
Armed forces comparison: 1799
Armed forces comparison: 1821
Home affairs
Unlike the last update, we have a rival and a threat again - Castille. I'm not sure that's entirely justified as we share a single-province border in Siberia and I think I can handle them navally, but there you go: the price of playing in the big leagues.
Also of note is Japan's foreign relations. We're at 193 with France, which should make a Japanese-Spanish war a less appealing prospect in Madrid. The patient European diplomacy seems to have paid off to a degree as Japan has a number of prominent allies on the continent. Furthermore, the Empire has been successful in keeping the European colonisers out of mainland Asia proper - Siberia notwithstanding.
The Court
And here's the Emperor himself and his now middle-aged heir. Kashiwabara's been a great and long-lived ruler and has handily allowed me to achieve another of my aims - retaining the same dynasty throughout the game. It would have been unfortunate if the Yamato line had died out given the name of the AAR!
In terms of the advisers, I was running out people I really had a need for, which explains why the Sheriff is there.
Slider-wise I'd have liked to go a little more Free Trade, but apart from that I'm very happy with how things have turned out. My low stability costs and good monthly investment/province ratio have meant I could swap out some of the older NIs and replace them with good new ones. The switch to Constitutional Monarch was more-or-less a flavour thing, but I was thinking of starting Japan as one in Victoria 2. Now I might go for Prussian Constitutionalism instead to give me a little more leeway to evolve throughout the game.
As the charts show, being religiously tolerant has played havoc with conversions away from the state religion, although the colonisation kick has helped Shinto remain dominant. The same can be said for the cultural situation. I'm pretty sure all the non-core provinces are colonies as I've sold the few I've taken in wars.
World affairs
Finally, here's the overview of Japan's Empire in 1821. Not a great change from 20 years ago, but with the populace reaping the benefits of peace and stability there didn't seem like much reason to hazard it all in acquisitive warfare.
Elsewhere, the Russian Empire has not quite reached the Pacific yet, and Spanish colonisers might make sure it never does. India is looking fairly sensible, partitioned as it is between Sind in the north and Madurai in the south.
Japan in 1821
Asia in 1821
Europe and Africa in 1821
In Europe, the Russian bear has swallowed many of its western neighbours and now borders Bohemia, Austria and France. Spain hasn't managed to control North Africa, but has done much better further south. France is just being silly.
The Americas in 1821
The Americas are home to a number of indigenous nations and exiles, the latter of which include Aragon, Great Britain and Trebizond, who've been warring with Colombia over control of that region. Mexico is a new creation of mine having been rested from Britain during the war. Canada is a revolter that has nothing to do with me, as is Argentina in the south.
Conclusion
And that's that! Like I said, it's been a much bigger job than I'd anticipated when I started, but has provided me with a lot of fun. I'd just like to thank everyone for reading and especially those of you who've dropped by to leave comments, observations and suggestions. It's nice to know I'm not just talking to a wall!