Children of the Sun - a Cuzco MEIOU AAR

[Enewald]

Splendid!
Why must the Ai send all forces to Americas?

[Malurous]

The next slider move is pretty close and my high ADM Sapa Inca is still alive, so does anyone remember how military modernization works? Are your preferred units changed to Western automatically or do you change them manually? It seems that the New World cavalry at this tech level has considerably better shock pips than the Western one (strange, I know, but quite obvious from the casualties) and I may have to reconsider modernization at this point if you lose the original units instantly.

Wow update this time not posted in midnight

Anyway keep sure that you kick that iberian ass ^^

Will do! I have the flu, nothing too bad but I don't feel like posting in the midnight and have more time earlier anyway.

A very well fought war. How do the odds of getting backstabbed by Portugal look? Do you plan on rewarding Naples with Spanish land in Greece?

Thanks! Definitely not, if I succeed in my goals I'll go over the infamy limit just for my own stuff. And besides, I don't think I'll be able to scrape up enough warscore for just one Greek province, never mind both that and my own needs.

Sadly, I don't think Portugal will backstab me. If they did, I'm sure my Mesoamerican forces would take care of them no problem. And they, unlike Spain, don't have serious transport capacity so, lacking a land connection, they couldn't cause any trouble in South America, which is the critical place.

Suitably quick destruction of the Spanish armies in South America. Now you need to get your fleet in action. What warscore do you need to get the provinces connecting INca south with mesoamerica Portugal? You may be able to land troops in Spain and thanks to Naples' assistance -great alliance that - the Spanish may have left their homeland unprotected.

Uhh... no. I have 30 cogs at naval tech 7, Spain has 150 ships including 120 warships at naval tech 30. In most cases, my ships can't even leave the harbor because of blockades. And that's as planned, the extent of my naval operations here was moving the ships to the safest possible provinces before the war so they can't get thrown to sea.

Given the infamy he'll take per province...that seems to be a very bad idea.

South America: Where the Spanish Army goes to die.

And die they do! Correct on the infamy.

Spain should be now pretty war exhausted too. Push a bit harder and you'll get what you want.

I'm more war exhausted than they are. Of course, my WE is going down and theirs up, so what you're saying should be true soon enough.

Hunt down the pale men and eat their hearts to gain the power of Inti!

...I'm happy that EU III has such abstracted battles.

Question here about strategy on those bady damaged doomstacks - does it make sense to not destroy them but actually let them continue to drain reinforcements by knocking them about a lot without letting them either recover or die?

I remember killing a French 100 regiment doomstack in 'Rebels' and watching the French AI build and reinforce like crazy once the drain from that damaged stack had gone.

The problem for that is travel times in the area. There are even places where travel from one province to next takes three months, enough for that doomstack to recover enough to beat me if they make a retreat like that in their own territory (not to mention the WE I'd take). And I can't let it get away, there's a possibility that it attacks a bit smarter next time if there is a next time...

This will lead to Spain building troops, but what they can put together as a new army in this region is limited by their transport capacity. I'm much more confident about handling 30 regiments than 95, and I doubt that the AI can coordinate the naval operation it would take to put together even the 30.

Heh, whenever I fight a war I usually end up being "the Spain".

Keep up the killing, Inca shall rule the world!

Ruling the world might be a bit overconfident, but we'll certainly do some killing!

Impressive job so far of beating up the Spanish. It's a far cry from the days when the Incas trembled in terror at the mere sight of a Portuguese frown. But now it is the Inca that march forward, led by their valiant llama cavalry, whose thunderous charge is heralded by a hail of spitballs. Against such an attack, no army can possibly withstand for long.

Thanks. It seems that the in-game unit descriptions need some work. It's true that things have changed quickly thanks to the westernization and the resulting tech progress.

what do you plan on taking from this war?

The Spanish part of the Inca land connection, i.e. land northwest to the Portuguese border.

Well fought! That damage is impressive

Cheers!

Great start to the war!

As to one of your early quotes... "Cuahnahuac converts in the end of April, immediately followed by Huaxtepec on May 1st and then Tlapan on the 16th. Hmm, I guess I took the religion screenshot at a bad time, seeing that there were three conversions in the next half a year..."

Nah, this means you should take more conversion screenshots! Or maybe wait until you're sieging about 10 Spanish provinces, and take a 'siege progress' shot!

Thanks! I added that part that I bolded pretty late, I didn't notice that I had so many conversions so soon after before I was posting the update. I took those overview shots when I loaded the save with the intention of starting the war ASAP so I didn't think much about the other stuff.

I unfortunately seem to have less unobstructed map screenshots during the war than I should - I don't think I have zoomed out shots that really show that siege stuff in a large area.

Are you going to seize any of the new Spanish colonies? Should be a warscore-free way of weakening their grip on South America, although at the expense of awarding you anything to bargain with. Do you think you can get enough warscore together to establish a land-bridge to Portuguese Central America?

There are none. All of the Spanish provinces in that region are cities. And these provinces aren't very good bargaining chips, 0.1 warscore per... It's battle score that I hope to get stuff with.

What's needed at a minimum is four provinces for eight warscore total, so it should be doable.

Splendid!
Why must the Ai send all forces to Americas?

While the AI leaving their homeland close to empty isn't usually smart, I'd say it's a good call here. Especially since they have now allied Mallorca, the only truly dangerous nation bordering them (damn I'm happy they hadn't when I DoWed...). I'm the big threat for them.

[naggy]

[FONT="Palatino Linotype"][SIZE="3"]The next slider move is pretty close and my high ADM Sapa Inca is still alive, so does anyone remember how military modernization works? Are your preferred units changed to Western automatically or do you change them manually? It seems that the New World cavalry at this tech level has considerably better shock pips than the Western one (strange, I know, but quite obvious from the casualties) and I may have to reconsider modernization at this point if you lose the original units instantly.

IIRC, you have to switch them manually, so you could switch infantry and keep cavalry for now.

[Malurous]

IIRC, you have to switch them manually, so you could switch infantry and keep cavalry for now.

Okay thanks. And now that I think about it, I suppose there's no harm in testing it, I'll just save right before I modernize (if I modernize, still some years for the ruler to stay alive).

[Boris ze Spider]

Why didnt you get a Holy War CB?

[Chief Ragusa]

The old hide the fleet in any safe port ploy. That's a sizeable Spanish fleet. One day the Incan fleet will outnumber it and then they will die. Once you have taken the connecting provinces, how long before you remove the Portuguese from meso-America?

[morningSIDEr]

Very impressive stuff against Spain. Hopefully all this good work will result in some decent gains, although as you said the AI can be quite vexing with regards to how resistant it is to giving up land at times.

[blsteen]

Nice to see the Spanish taken down a peg but you'll have to work the Inca hard to get a decent peace

[aldriq]

Excellent work in this war so far. I was quite surprised by how aggressively Spain has managed to colonise in this game. Good thing the Portuguese set their little buffer in Texas, imagine if the Spaniards had had another front with you available there...

[CatKnight]

I was wondering when you'd pop in and say something, I spied you endorsing this in the bAAR. Thanks for that!

Oh my. I didn't realize I never commented. How remiss of me. It was your AAR that introduced me to MEIOU and convinced me to give it a shot!

Excellent war so far with Spain. I agree taking out the 95 regiments was necessary and will hopefully mess up the AI for some time.

Now...convincing the Spanish AI they've lost - that's going to be harder.

The good news is that even if you're forced to white peace, you've proven you can stand toe-to-toe against the greatest colonizer in your world. Once you finish westernizing you'll be able to take the fight to them.

[Grunthex]

Why didnt you get a Holy War CB?

Primitives don't get Holy War CB. Only Christians and Muslims, I think. Pretty sure the Hindu don't from a Vij* game I played a while back, no idea about the Buddhists.

This is for HTTT anyway, things may have changed for DW, I dunnO!

[Malurous]

Why didnt you get a Holy War CB?

That's for Christian and Muslim religious groups only. In vanilla and in MEIOU as well.

The old hide the fleet in any safe port ploy. That's a sizeable Spanish fleet. One day the Incan fleet will outnumber it and then they will die. Once you have taken the connecting provinces, how long before you remove the Portuguese from meso-America?

That depends on a couple of factors. They've been guaranteed by Spain as well as England so I'd probably have to fight them as well. I've racked up some WE by this point and infamy should go high as well, so those would have to decrease before further action. Should the Europeans advance in land tech during that wait, I may have no choice but to wait for a diplomatic opening.

Also, that's just finishing the connection, actually removing them from Mesoamerica would take two wars I think.

I'm looking forward to the day my fleet can compete, but that'll have to wait for quite a while - no sense in building models that are obsolete from a European point of view. Heavy naval tech investment is on the agenda quite soon.

Very impressive stuff against Spain. Hopefully all this good work will result in some decent gains, although as you said the AI can be quite vexing with regards to how resistant it is to giving up land at times.

Thanks. That's true, I have to be pretty nasty with the Spanish before they're ready to negotiate.

Nice to see the Spanish taken down a peg but you'll have to work the Inca hard to get a decent peace

Indeed.

Excellent work in this war so far. I was quite surprised by how aggressively Spain has managed to colonise in this game. Good thing the Portuguese set their little buffer in Texas, imagine if the Spaniards had had another front with you available there...

Thanks! Heh true, that would be very difficult to manage. I doubt that they'd have enough troops to properly man both regions (now they have like 2000 men that I can see in North America) but still such a war would require much more caution.

Oh my. I didn't realize I never commented. How remiss of me. It was your AAR that introduced me to MEIOU and convinced me to give it a shot!

That's always good to hear. Showcasing MEIOU is one of the goals here.

Excellent war so far with Spain. I agree taking out the 95 regiments was necessary and will hopefully mess up the AI for some time.

Thanks! Yeah, considering the strategic situation, it makes it a lot easier for me when they have to ship the replacements instead of that stack reinforcing.

Now...convincing the Spanish AI they've lost - that's going to be harder.

The good news is that even if you're forced to white peace, you've proven you can stand toe-to-toe against the greatest colonizer in your world. Once you finish westernizing you'll be able to take the fight to them.

Very much true. Unless I go for one of those gamey "get military access from someone -> post troops on the Spanish European border" ploys, crushing them won't be possible before I'm much more advanced in several ways. Of course, I could invade Europe somewhere else first...

I fear it doesn't come across in the update(s), but at one point I was actually damn close to paying them the 25 ducats it would have taken to get them off my back thanks to annoying naval landings, rebels due to WE and seemingly no progress in getting them to the table. But then I had a PrawnStarian cup of tea and it all seemed more manageable again.

Primitives don't get Holy War CB. Only Christians and Muslims, I think. Pretty sure the Hindu don't from a Vij* game I played a while back, no idea about the Buddhists.

This is for HTTT anyway, things may have changed for DW, I dunnO!

This, and yes only Christians and Muslims.

Also, who are you calling primitive?

[FinnishFish]

You should try to draw next AAR in flagland style

[blsteen]

PrawnStarian Tea
The Tea of Rebel bashing Horde lovin' gamers

[Malurous]

You should try to draw next AAR in flagland style

While generally an artistic guy, I really, really, REALLY can't draw. Doesn't matter if it's on paper or computer, it looks horrible. So I'll leave that side to others. I'm a decent photoshopper though, we'll see if I ever make heavier use of that in an AAR.

PrawnStarian Tea
The Tea of Rebel bashing Horde lovin' gamers

AARland should be more mainstream - imagine the endorsement deal possibilities!

[Malurous]

Chapter Forty-two
1609-1614

I have over 50000 men in hostile Chibchan, which probably isn't smart in the long run. I alleviate the situation a bit by quickly assaulting so that it's at least an occupied province. I then start sending armies away, some home and some to take Spanish territory.

Full stability is reached in August. Apparently my people are happier with the threat removed, makes sense.

Small Spanish armies are beaten in many provinces, while the enemy siege of Quibdo is lifted. I move an army to Chocoan and successfully assault that province.

Also, some tech:



My artillery army isn't going to fight any time soon so I switch the unit type. The morale bonus is of course good to have.

A glorious monument is built in Tikal. We'll hopefully have infamy soon for a change, so it's prudent to get ready to lower it when we do.

In September, Cueva and Bucaramanga are assaulted (I'm probably hurrying too much, but it's nice to have the chokepoint entry to Central America in my hands before there are Spanish reinforcements), while Xalapa converts. The next month, we get a core on Tamaholipa - another Tlacopan conquest - and Wayuu falls to our hands.

In November, three provinces fall, including Kamemtxa which we've been sieging for pretty much the whole war.



We get naval tech 8 in December. That enables Early Carrack and Small Caravel, the first non-galley battle ships that we have available.

We occupy more and more provinces in early 1610, but Spain still won't negotiate at warscore 24. The problem is that these provinces give me nonexistant warscore, it's pretty much only battles. At least Naples' efforts in Greece give some warscore.



In May we get colonial news: Atroari will produce maize.

In June the Spanish land troops in Yabaraya, Venezuela, attempting to retake the province. Unfortunately, they get a patriot rebel revolt in the province to support them. I'm able to send an army to lift the siege in October.



That army is eliminated months later.

Also in October, a Glorious Monument is built in Texcoco.

Land tech 22 is reached in November, giving another +0.25 morale and enabling regiment camps. We really don't need them with our manpower reserves.

I move my national focus to Tlaxcallan in February 1611, reaching most of the remaining richer provinces that aren't distant overseas.

Also in February, my frontline army deep in Spanish Central America gets into trouble (note that the rest of this area has now been explored).



The Spanish navy, becoming visible to me too late to react, landed thirteen almost fresh regiments into that province south of my men, bouncing my siege force to that northern province. Combined with the force that I already had there, that's 17 damaged regiments sitting in one poor enemy province. They can't beat that Spanish army so they're stuck, while having all those men in one province kills me with attrition. All options are bad but the best one is disbanding the army.

Overall, they're rebuilding their army: I see lots of men recruited in Europe, waiting to be shipped like those thirteen regiments were.

Atroari becomes a city in March - Wai Wai, the province directly east of it, is the next target. We have fully blocked the Spanish from colonizing any further.

Meanwhile, the fall of Waimiri in April means that all of Spanish South America is under Inca occupation. That doesn't help in getting the Spanish to the table.



Production tech 16 gives +2 % PE in May, while June features government tech 23. That enables tax assessors and, more importantly, another idea.

We choose Bill of Rights, mostly for the CB. I don't want to start every war without one, and I see limited options to get them against Europeans. In addition, the RR bonus is very useful right now with our problematic WE.



In the very late summer, the Spanish start retaking the provinces we've occupied.



We let them come. They're going to get WE while we're sitting in our territory getting a nice -0.1 per month. And we'll have to fight them more anyway in order to get warscore.

Caxcan converts in October, while the next month the Spanish are a bit silly and send their twenty-five regiment main stack to northern Chocoan, leaving the way towards Central America open for me. I spend the next months picking off stray regiments in Chibchan and Cueva for easy warscore.



Spain has recovered pretty well - they have around 100000 men in March 1612. Good, I need more cannon fodder in order to get the battle warscore up. Hmm, funny, if they just kept their troops away and did nothing, there'd be nothing I could do here.

Sugar becomes Wai Wai's resource, and also replaces maize in Atroari.

In July we get surprise news:



Spain has landed 11000 men in my southern tip. I didn't even know they knew that place. It will take a long time to intercept, but I send two of my rebel patrol armies towards the far south.

Switzerland finally becomes dishonorable scum in August. That was inevitable, we'll see how they handle the situation.

This battle in Cueva looks pretty innocent, doesn't it?



A standard stray regiment case, yes, but that gets warscore to stab hit territory! I start immediately.

Chocoan falls in October, and the Spanish army moves on to Chibchan. My reaction is unsurprising: I let them siege but move a force around them to assault Chocoan before the garrison recovers.



Tuscany is the next country to become dishonorable scum in December. Meanwhile, the operation to retake Chocoan seems to have been the last straw as far as WE goes - the revolts are getting nastier.

Azcaptzalco converts in January 1613, while Spain reaches stability -3 days later.

Huilliche is reached in late February, after a march of over half a year, and the battle goes well against the weary enemy army.



The enemy army is eliminated in July in Mapuche.

Meanwhile, we continue destroying any small Spanish forces. Battle warscore is close to max, so it's time to finish this. I chase the enemy from Chibchan in August.



They ping pong to Chocoan, where they're badly damaged the next month. Their artillery is slowing them down, allowing my non-artillery armies to get the defensive side every time.

I happened to check the units during the battle, and you know what's funny? I'd say that all things considered, I have better units than the Spanish. Yeah, they have better infantry, but I have a very nice advantage where it counts - cavalry shock.

Also in September, we get trade tech 22 (+2 % TE), while land tech 24 (+0.25 morale) is finished the next month.

With their new main army almost gone after another battle, the Spanish have had enough in late November.



I surprise everyone by declining.

The Spanish have some 10000 reinforcements coming from Central America, but I make sure that their armies can't combine. The next couple of months are spent throwing enemy armies around, culminating in the destruction of the two larger armies eight days apart in April 1614.



Wai Wai becomes a city and Cempaloa converts in May, while my armies start moving west and assaulting. Right now I don't give a damn about WE because I can actually end this soon.

Maku is the next colony. Natives are encountered there in July, and we open trade relations.



That's gotta be one heck of a trade proposal - permanent base tax despite the fact that, having actually noticed them now thanks to the event, I kill the natives a month later. You'd think the trade would suffer from that, but apparently not.

By August I've assaulted my way to the Portuguese border, so it's time to sign peace.



Very nice. The Spanish part of the land connection is now done.

[Boris ze Spider]

Nice job defeatig the Spaniards, will the Portuguese be next?

[FinnishFish]

Next time you shall invade their main land ;D

And take Gibraltar

[Zzzzz...]

Soon, our lands will unite!!!

[Enewald]

I also demand Gibraltar as the next war goal.