Children of the Sun - a Cuzco MEIOU AAR

[Malurous]

South America has a lot of awesome stuff, for sure! I like it.

That's true, especially if you compare it to the vanilla South America of two nations and nothing to do.

What do you do with all those shiny stuff?
It cannot be eaten, it has no value, why bother getting it?

Huh? You're still asking after the end of that update? Look, I'm not one to question street cred king YHC's motives.

Beowulf1990: Exactly! Brilliantly done!

Update soon. My apologies as I don't think it's a very well written one - I wrote it some morning after an interesting night out. I figured that it's a better choice to make sure I can keep the pace by writing more updates instead of redoing this, so it'll be presented as is.

[Malurous]

Chapter Seven
1374-1377

In late June, Chibchaya offers peace, demanding Cajamarca. Yeah right!

I send one of the Aymara watch armies north and the other to deal with the Nazca nationalists.

In August, two positive things of note happen: we win the siege of Sharanawa, and Chibchaya loses a very good number of its remaining troops to attrition.



That's over 1600 men lost to attrition - that's huge with all the difficulty I've had killing their troops.

Late in the month, we "win" the battle against the Nazca rebels.



So much for those additional men to the front.

Days later, we bleed Chibchaya's stack a bit more - they're down to under 4000 men without significant losses to Tupac Amaru's army. Could his luck be changing?

In late September, we win one battle and "win" another.



Like I said earlier, these rebels are trouble. Chibchaya, on the other hand, has now bled enough and is offering white peace. I'm not going to accept that, not after this suffering.

The third battle against the rebels goes nicely - we only lose 2000 men to about one hundred rebels! Time to recall that other 9000 man stack to deal with these rebels.

Manubo falls in mid-November and peace is signed with Ayamarca.



We get some cash and, perhaps more importantly, weaken Chimu a bit. Still, the biggest deal is freeing my siege forces. They head towards Chibchaya, some to help with the battles, some to start sieges.

There are two more battles against the Chibchaya stack late in the year. They don't go too well and we lose about 1700 men to just 500 enemies dead. I'd fall back and regroup but I'm hoping to get a lucky roll to quickly eliminate them - this isn't optimal play but the war will be won anyway, that's safe to say at this point.

Meanwhile, the other 9000 man stack does really well against the Nazca rebels:



Sheesh. I'd hire a general here but my diplomats go towards bribing a royal marriage with a Central American personal union candidate - I need to take every such opportunity I see if I hope to enter that region. So instead, I bring what's left of the other 9000 man army as well as some heavily damaged regiments from the north to the area. They'll move in and out of provinces, making sure that I'm defending against the rebels wherever they go.

Also, Tupac Amaru's brilliant administration continues to bear fruit:



In July 1375, Chimu attacks Chibchaya and is joined by Ayamarca. I need to get sieges up, fast. Fortunately, Aymara dishonors both sides here. If there's something this wreck of a war has accomplished, it's dividing the other tribes. That's huge.

Later in the month, I finally get what I've been waiting for:



Quito immediately declares war on Chibchaya and beats us to one of our target provinces, Hatun Canar!



That province would have connected us to Quito and their valuable province of Huancauilcas, so this is actually smart self-defense by Quito. But no matter, I'll get there eventually.

In October, I get interesting news:



This is a mixed thing. On one hand they do get stronger now and build a bigger army, but on the other hand Mapuche's provinces aren't very good and now I can take more of Aymara's provinces without them losing the large tribe penalties. If I do a good job with them in the future, this could actually turn out to be positive.

The next months are a painful combination of trying to bleed the rebel army dry and sieging with damaged troops and no manpower - I actually need to move all these 200 man regiments around, timing them so that I don't lose a siege to new recruits.

In February 1376, Tupac Amaru finally succeeds in bringing down the Nazca rebellion.



How this took, after Tupac Amaru's arrival, four or five defensive battles with a superior general and a troop advantage of anything between three to one and eight to one is beyond me.

I now have 11 fresh regiments to send north and help with the sieges.

In May, I win the siege of Shipibo and Chibchaya is soon offering the province for peace. But additionally, something horrible happens!



Huh? I got to Cuenca first, but somehow Chimu controls the province? How can this be?

I take a look and it seems that adjacent recruits who ping-ponged to Cuenca took their toll on my damaged army:



I did make a mistake here: I figured that I could leave some weaker regiments in that province as Chimu's sizable army would beat any enemies there. Turns out they took a chunk out of my men instead. If this was anyone other than Tupac Amaru, I'd be furious. Now I guess it's just par for the course.

Speaking of him... Only months later, on July 11th, I actually fist pump. YEEHAAA!





Somehow even that history entry doesn't look very convincing. His greatest accomplishment was causing some losses to a Chibchaya army? Sure feels like it.

I'll be filthy rich for some time: I lose the tribal -33 % to tax (as well as +3 RR) due to Tupac Yupanqui's stats, as well as -10 % tax from Tupac Amaru's crappy trait. I'm so lucky that loser only reigned for three and a half disastrous years.

Tupac Yupanqui's trait is negative as well, but I'm too happy to care.



In the next three months, we get a sense of how things change:





In March 1377, we get a solid heir in Huayna Capac (A/D/M 7/5/6).

In May, Tucume falls. I could take it and Shipibo in a peace, but Chibchaya's other provinces are almost done and with breaches, so I decide to send some men to assault instead. I could use all of the sacking benefits: legitimacy, prestige and war exhaustion reduction.

This turns out to be an excellent decision if there ever was one, as the next month we get one heck of a break:



Yay! That frees a target province, and our army can reach it before Quito's can.

Days later, Chibchaya's capital falls. After all the adversity, the war is looking nice enough now.



There's a breach in Cuenca's walls only two months into the siege so we succesfully assault. Peace is signed on August 23rd.



After over four years of war of mixed success, this certainly feels good. I've grabbed three provinces, two of which were priorities as they make me border a gold province as well as a CoT.

Additionally, the AI's carefully crafted web of alliances is in shambles after my peace terms as well as the AI's intervening wars. It should be easier to make gains next time.

In the end, I get pretty much what I came for in this war. It simply took me a bit longer and cost me a bit more manpower and WE than expected - that's nothing I can't recover from.

[Beowulf1990]

I knew that pic of Mr T would come in handy sometime.
I have like hundreds of pics just sitting in a folder on my desktop waiting for situations like this .

[Enewald]

Bah, not even an grand coalition could stop you now.
But gold prices going down would do some harm, I'd think.

[Dewirix]

I think we've just seen the pivotal war that puts you in the driving seat for control of South America.

With hindsight using your diplomats for Central American marriages now seems to make perfect sense.

Is it me, or does anyone else think that Tupac Yupanqui's 'elusive shadow' could have something to do with the unexpectedly sudden death of Tupac Amaru? It certainly doesn't seem to have done Cuzco any harm.

[gabor]

Now it seems you can bully all your neighbours at your whim.
You're planning to PU -> inherit in Mezzoamerica? How's it going?

[blsteen]

Ah Cuzco certainly seems to be on the winning way...Nice to see the fist pump and YEEHAAA!

[Malurous]

Alright, I've been a bit under the weather but I hope to have the energy to update tomorrow. If not, then the day after.

I knew that pic of Mr T would come in handy sometime.
I have like hundreds of pics just sitting in a folder on my desktop waiting for situations like this .

Hehe, well you certainly found a great spot there.

Bah, not even an grand coalition could stop you now.
But gold prices going down would do some harm, I'd think.

Fortunately, there seems to be constant demand for bling-bling in Cuzco.

I think we've just seen the pivotal war that puts you in the driving seat for control of South America.

That's kind of how I feel about that war too. Not only did I make important gains against a major (important strategically and to weaken them, the provinces by themselves aren't that special), I found out that a) I'm still not strong enough to fool around without consequences but b) if I do, I can grind out a victory. Both bits of information will come in handy in shaping Cuzco's future.

With hindsight using your diplomats for Central American marriages now seems to make perfect sense.

Yes - as that's the only way to advance beyond South America before the Europeans come, that has to be priority number one now that I've ensured Cuzco's survival and economic strength. If that means delaying South American progress or having it be more difficult, so be it.

Is it me, or does anyone else think that Tupac Yupanqui's 'elusive shadow' could have something to do with the unexpectedly sudden death of Tupac Amaru? It certainly doesn't seem to have done Cuzco any harm.

Hehe, good point. And 100 % agreed on the last bit, I'm very pleased that reign of error ended so soon.

Now it seems you can bully all your neighbours at your whim.
You're planning to PU -> inherit in Mezzoamerica? How's it going?

I've come very close once, I think some time a bit after the latest update: I had claimed the throne of a tribe that had an old ruler and no heir, but they got an heir just before the old ruler died. I wish I'd taken screenshots of that, but I had no way of knowing that the ruler was going to die so soon after I lost my claim.

Overall, I just have to hope it succeeds at some point. I make an attempt every time there is a chance, after all.

Ah Cuzco certainly seems to be on the winning way...Nice to see the fist pump and YEEHAAA!

Yes, I think that was one death that was worth a fist pump!

[Beowulf1990]

Get well soon
Hope it's not the plague :P

[Malurous]

Get well soon
Hope it's not the plague :P

Thanks. Not much better yet but hopefully soon.

And I doubt it, not enough deaths.

Regardless, I hope to have the update up in about an hour.

[Malurous]

Chapter Eight
1377-1384

As the war ends, we succeed in our mission to retake Cajamarca. The new one is to arrange a royal marriage with Chimu.

Our successful mission gave army tradition, as did the war. I now have spare diplomats so I hire one general even though I'll be at peace for a little while. General Surandaman Quizo is certainly a good one.



In late 1377 we have several rebellions in the new lands. Handling them isn't a problem now - while I still have some seriously damaged stacks, the healthy ones now have nothing else they must do so they're available for rebel duty.

Replenishing manpower and getting war exhaustion down will take a little while, so with a higher infamy limit I attempt diploannexing Chancay in December.



The chances are Unlikely - I fail two or three more times during this update. However, I do ally the vassal.

I notice a very positive development: getting rid of the tribal tax penalty and Tupac Amaru's trait penalty, we actually have tax income in our earliest acquisitions! Of course, it still goes back to zero if we get penalties again before nationalism runs out. But for the time being, richer provinces actually make some kind of a difference.



An interesting peace up north has the minor Quito effectively replace Chibchaya as a northern tribe of interest in late 1378.

Chibchaya is an OPM now.



A move centralized in January 1379 leads to pretender Ninan Cuyuchi Ronpa rising, but he displays Tupac Amaru-like sensibility in starting his campaign in Vilcashuaman, one of our major garrisons. Fortunately, Cuzco won't be ruled by another idiot as Ninan and his 6000 men are easily defeated in just a few battles.

More rebels rise in former Chibchaya lands, but dealing with them is simple in this situation. I still get high casualties when forced to attack difficult terrain, but I have no problem taking that now.

A petition for redress allows me to move a step Free Subjects in April 1380. This is very much welcome - I want to get in that direction but can't spare the slider moves.



Infamy reaches zero in 1381. WE got there earlier, but I'm still almost out of manpower. My armies are finally replenished in July - it took about four years. Of course some men died against rebels during this time, but still.

As we now start getting manpower, I build three more regiments, effectively reaching the limit that my economy can take. After the buildup, I have 55 regiments with a force limit of 39, so I'm paying quite a bit extra.

I'm not going to wait for the manpower pool to fill and lose more infamy reduction time, so I declare war on Aymara when the pool reaches 5000 men in the beginning of 1382. Note that I'm facing Chimu, the second-strongest tribe in the region, for the first time.



I feel that I should redeem myself after the questionable effort in the previous war, so I'm going to do this one with deadly effectiveness and no fooling around. I start by recruiting two more generals - both are good enough (shock 5 and 4) even though I'm still missing a really fast one. Maneuver can be really useful in this mountainous region, as Manco Capac demonstrated during his reign. I'm not going to turn Tupac Yupanqui into a general as he's too good a ruler to lose.

The plan is to get Chimu out of the war as soon as possible. I have nothing to gain from them without a CB and the alliance still has quite many men for my liking, so I'll take white peace when I can get it. Aymara, on the other hand, will be utterly crushed with their silver and diamonds as the priority.

The first battle against one of Aymara's stacks goes well. They still have the problem of having their armies so far away from each other, so they can't really muster enough force in one place.



Surandaman Quizo chases the Aymara army to their capital Tilcara. Quizo is faster than their ruler, and the enemy even transfers the ruler/general to their other army, so the result in Tilcara is easy to guess.



I'm surprised that the other Aymara army attacked from Caterpe - I have the same number of men in Pica that they're bringing to the battle, and this wasn't a case of baiting.

Meanwhile up north, the first battle against Chimu goes marvelously.



Unfortunately, I'm not able to reach the province they're retreating to before them, and I'm not going to risk an offensive battle against a six-star general (a relative, nonetheless!). Still, Ninan Cuyuchi Parinango has proved his worth in this battle.

Our mission to arrange a royal marriage with Chimu failed when I declared war, and I get a new one in May: I must save Shipibo which is under siege after Chibchaya's army crossed the border while the northern armies were working on Chimu. The mission is completed (giving me -0.25 WE) less than two weeks later when I dispatch a small unit to take care of Chibchaya.



Parinango follows the enemy to Yagua, eventually leaves a siege force there in July and finally routs the Chibchaya army in August back in Shipibo.

In the south, it seems that Aymara knew something I didn't.



I mean, that's a win, but that's also a lot of casualties for a defensive battle like this. Huaypalcon has to do a better job.

On the other side of Aymara, Quizo destroys what's left of that enemy stack in Salta. Siege forces are left behind in Tilcara and Salta, while the rest of the army heads towards Pica to reinforce there.



In late June Chancay makes itself very useful by occupying Chimu (the capital). I want peace anyway, and am currently fighting a shorthanded battle in Cuenca because of the Chibchaya campaign. I decide to make peace with Chimu now before casualties get out of hand.

Chimu is offering white peace but I find out that I can do better.



Chibchaya and Aymara both get scared when the big boy is out, so both offer white peace within days. I obviously reject Aymara, and choose to do the same with Chibchaya as keeping a siege force in one province isn't exactly going to hinder my actions elsewhere.

Turns out that making peace was the right call - I run into rebel trouble in the north late in the year that would have been difficult to handle if I still had to fight Chimu. Now, it's no big deal.

The next couple of months are spent simply continuing the sieges and moving armies around to make sure that I have ample defenses on the two fronts in Aymara. The relative lull ends when I fight a relative () in April 1383: the Aymara monarch is defeated by Quizo in Pica.



Unfortunately, I can't give chase as Aymara was wise enough to leave men behind in Caterpe. I won't risk an offensive battle when I don't have much of an advantage in numbers.

In June and July, good progress is made when Tilcara and Salta fall. This also frees men to advance further south.



Another inconclusive battle is won in July against the remaining large Aymara force.

In August, a small Aymara army is thrown out of Pucara on the eastern front, allowing me to siege.

Yet another battle is won in Pica in October, once again with no clear result. This time, I decide to send Quizo with around 18000 men to Caterpe: they'll reach the province a bit earlier than Aymara's army and Aymara only has 1000 men back, so I hope to overrun the defending regiment and get a defensive battle against the main stack. If it doesn't succeed, retreating is a real option.

It does.



That's finally the war right there. With the fast Quizo and no other defensive forces left, all that's left is overrunning Aymara's stacks and sieging the provinces. That's simple enough to do.

While waiting, I get a great sense of my economic strength without the tribal penalties:



I already get this in 1384 - just barely after the time I was supposed to get to level four in the beginning.

Heck, if I had rulers of this level all the time, I just might reach QFTNW before the Europeans get this far.

I spend my time fighting rebels and the remnants of Aymara until March when Yagua falls, finally getting me to 100 legitimacy with the sacking event and allowing me to peace out Chibchaya.



Fighting them was of little use, but at least I removed their cores.

Caterpe falls in April and Copiapo and Pucara in September, and peace is signed after Chiletico is occupied in October (I did some assaulting when I only needed the last provinces).



I take five provinces, including diamond province Chiletico and silver province Pucara.

Note Tupac Yupanqui's effect on my infamy limit - with a limit of seven, I can actually make big gains like these in one war.

I forgot to take a screenshot of the new lands at this point, so here's a later shot of the area. The only difference is the troop placements but I figured I'd disclose this so nobody wonders about them.



So, I got two new valuable provinces that are connected, while Aymara is a wreck. I'll have to take the capital Tilcara at some point to make logistics easier, but I'm in no hurry as the province sucks.

As far as fighting a war better than last time goes, guess my WE? 0.00.

[Beowulf1990]

Awesome progress! Nothing can stand in your way now, specially with all that new bling!
Nothing says 'I pity you fools' quite like a diamond studded golden necklace

How are things up in Mesoamerica?

[Enewald]

Quite pretty.
Can you force the capital move?

[Ashantai]

Fantastic playing! This AAR is really unique, and MEIOU looks fantastic, like a whole other game.

[blsteen]

Well done, time to burn some bb and await the next opportunity

[Axe27]

Keep it going. I like this AAR.

[Dewirix]

I like the way 9,000 men is now a small force. MEIOU seems to be more punishing casualty-wise than vanilla.

Is QFTNW still at trade 7, or has it been moved?

[PrawnStar]

Is the BB limit much of a problem? Can't you just blitz and butcher the locals then let it run down while you spend decades on fast?

[Malurous]

I'll likely update today - I would have yesterday but the forum was down, so I'm trying to find the time today.

Awesome progress! Nothing can stand in your way now, specially with all that new bling!
Nothing says 'I pity you fools' quite like a diamond studded golden necklace

Good thinking!

How are things up in Mesoamerica?

It looked a bit worrying for a while with Tenochtitlan and Chichen Itza blobbing, but that got under control in one war. I believe that there's a screenshot in either the next update or the one after that.

Quite pretty.
Can you force the capital move?

They don't seem to want to move it, which is fine by me - I can still take it separately in a peace if I want to. And frankly, as I'm going to follow your pleads for grain (actually maize in this part of the world) at some point soon as I don't produce enough to feed my army without importing, I might not want it to move as that would make taking the southern maize provinces more difficult.

Fantastic playing! This AAR is really unique, and MEIOU looks fantastic, like a whole other game.

Thanks for the high praise! Yes, it looks fantastic and the gameplay has enough difference but enough of the same too.

Well done, time to burn some bb and await the next opportunity

Yep, luckily my BB burn is substantial with DIP 8 Tupac Yupanqui.

Keep it going. I like this AAR.

Will do!

I like the way 9,000 men is now a small force. MEIOU seems to be more punishing casualty-wise than vanilla.

I'm not sure about the mechanics, but it feels like the generals are generally (couldn't resist) better. Could be the sliders I guess? That leads to quick casualties if you're not careful. The region has an effect too: you don't get the human advantage of smart army composition when there's nothing available but infantry. And of course, as a major which I suppose Cuzco is at this point, you don't get nearly the same manpower advantage over the minors as in vanilla. So that's the bigger difference: when you lose men, it's something of a struggle getting them back with relatively low-manpower provinces (most of South America). EDIT: Which leads to more casualties because you're fighting with damaged regiments. /EDIT

Is QFTNW still at trade 7, or has it been moved?

It's 15. Plus you need at least Government 10 IIRC as you need two ideas (QftNW requires Merchant Adventures).

I'm in the progress of reading your AAR by the way, great stuff!

Is the BB limit much of a problem? Can't you just blitz and butcher the locals then let it run down while you spend decades on fast?

I honestly don't know if the vanilla beta BB events (-1 stability on average once per four years for being at 125 % of limit, goes to once a year for being at 200 %, and another one with the same frequency causing plus WE and minus manpower if you're at war) are in the mod, or if there are other nasties in it, but I don't intend to find out either.

So I could do that, but my guess is that it's better for my economy and tech to take it slower than to sit at -3 stab while BB burns. Might not be true as I'd get cores earlier, but I also find this more pleasant to play: the mod isn't the fastest so I'm not going out of my way to add to the time I have to sit around doing nothing.

I'm not taking any precautions for monarch death though, so going over the limit briefly when I go from a high DIP monarch to a low DIP one is likely.

[aldriq]

When do you expect the Europeans to show up? After all they have also started in 1356...