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2
Where the sidewalk ends...


The Egyptians don't show up immediately after the DoW. Without knowing their forces I don't want to risk leaving my home territory. I just send a single brigade to besiege Assab, where I'd have enough notice to defend or retreat. I still find awkward the 3k groupings (instead of the 1K EU3 units), was post-Napoleonic military organisation really able to treble the number of soldiers under the same officers' command?

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It's in late July that a 24K force finally appears, heading directly for Gonder. I wait and defemd with all my forces (except the brigade in Assab), and the mountain bonus seems to work: the Egyptian losses are quite bad.

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I chase them to Akordat and finally Massawa, where they are completely eliminated. I quickly retreat back to Ethiopia when I notice the horrible attrition levels anything above 1 brigade gets in these provinces...

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Egypt sends another force of 9,000 men in November (defeated in Assab) and two or three lone brigades in early 1838. Assab falls this point and I feel confident enough to set a war goal and demand the state of Asmara (today's Eritrea) for my efforts (at the cost of 10 Infamy points).

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That's not the end of the Egyptians, though, they send a 15K force in March which manages to capture Aksum in May. But again, I defeat them at my capital.

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The rest of 1838 and early 1839 I'm left to occupy the rest of Asmara undisturbed, until I have enough warscore to get the state in a peace offer in April 1839 :) (I choose not to extend slavery to Asmara, since I plant to abolish it when I get enough support in the upper house.)

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And with enough prestige from victory I can enact the Negusa Nagast! decision, which confirms the monarch as the one and only, absolute emperor of Ethiopia.

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Now I can sit back and bask on my newly acquired position and prestige for a while, and keep researching and saving some money for when I have something to spend it on. In fact, I do have something to start spending... the state of Asmara is not very rich or populous, but it gives Ethiopia a new strategic factor to consider: access to the sea. I commission the construction of a transport and a frigate as a fledgeling Imperial Navy. I also use my diplomatic points to improve relations with the United Kingdom and the Ottomans whenever possible.

Finally in September 1843 the research of Freedom of Trade is complete! I select Post-Napoleonic Thought as second technology, in order to build forts and as another step to westernisation.

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I can't emphasise enough what a massive difference Freedom of Trade makes in an uncivilised economy. But I can show the figures. Income a month before and a month after FoT:

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Income from my two main wealth sources, coffee and cattle, has doubled, and with it the tax take across the board :eek: Outgoings, tariffs and daily balance, a month before and a month after:

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So basically, I'm filthy rich! :) After the war with Egypt I had already been able to loosen taxes down to 40-35-40% and tariffs to 15%. Now with FoT I can lower tax further to the minimum allowed by my current government and reduce tariffs to 5%, while still keeping a decent surplus for the future.

And of course the future always comes sooner than expected, in this case May 1844...

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Oh my, they are back for the next beating allready, dont they ever learn? :D

Excellent update, thanks :)
 
Congrats on the victory, and the update!

The AI tends to keep making the same mistakes over and over - I would expect Egypt to be DOWing you every 5 years for quite some time. May I suggest investing in an army technology or two? It may delay the technological progress towards Westernization, but beating up on Egypt will help with the prestige and military scores needed for it.
 
Nice job against Egypt, the first time! I completely concur in your tactics.

Interested to see what this new war will bring. You can blockade now... unless the Egyptians have warships, maybe?

Rensslaer
 
Hey, great AAR so far! It's the first one I've decided to unlurk for... Ethiopia's an awesome country, and I look forward to see where you take her. :D I'm a relative newbie to both Vic2 and Paradox, so this is really exciting for me. Are you thinking of gaining turf mostly by colonizing or showing the rest of the world what Prestor John thinks about their imperialism? :p Either way, keep it up!
 
The historically hard-to-beat Ethiopians triumph again. I'd have thought Egypt would have better things to do like trying to westernise, but it seems it just likes donating provinces to you.

Maybe their plan is to tempt you over the BB-limit.
 
Good of Egypt to provide you with easy prestige via the drubbing you are sure to deal them once again! Clearly they are simply aiding their fellow African neighbours towards westernisation, they do not actually wish to harm Ethiopia.
 
What is your army like at the start of "the second war of Egyptian agression"? Any larger or more moder than the first time round?
 
Title is made of win.
 
I didn’t want to say anything at first because I’ve seen AI Ethiopia win the initial war a few times in my games. Didn’t want to sour you in case you lost. :p But there’s always next war. :cool:
 
Alexspeed - I don't mind AI stubbornness, when it plays in my favour :D

Strategic Fail - I was quite surprised as well, I thought the Egyptians would have a bigger army. Then again the war wasn't cost-free, I lost a lot of able soldiers. The state of Asmara is divided in 4 provinces: Asmara, Akordat, Massawa and Assab.

Vesimir - I'll definitely try, the last part of the AAR title is the religious agenda, I'd like to take Alexandria for the Coptic patriarchate, Mecca and Medina for the Muslims and Jerusalem for all Abrahamic religions.

Quacky - It seems the AI went straight for the capital, which is generally a good tactic decision. Only this time it was well defended :D

Rabid - What do you mean give to me? They are rightfully mine ;)

badger_ken - Thanks! Now I can't remember exactly when I started research in military techs, but it was further down the line.

Rensslaer - Thanks! I can't remember if I used my fleet in the next war, but I do remember the only Egyptian fleet is in the Med, and obviously with no canal... :D

Communitarian! - Thanks and welcome! My first objective is to learn and survive, then hopefully become a Middle Eastern power.

Enewald - The Nile delta is a bad place to hide, it's full of anarcho-liberals ;)

Dewirix - if that's is their plan I'm afraid it won't work :)

Tmac - I don't mind being stuck with Egypt as long as I can defend myself and get some land in the process :D

morningSIDEr - Maybe Paradox are just trying to simulate the bad state in which the Egyptian sultanate was a the time.

Alfredian - same number of brigades, but I think I'd replaced 1 or 2 with regular infantry.

Arilou - I hope so. Thanks and welcome!

Brandenburg III - Thanks for your support :p I'm following Rennslaer's advice, what can possibly go wrong?

Searry - I wish! But as far as I can remember Asmara only had sandalwood and cattle.


Update coming. I'm on holiday in sunny Rhodes at the moment, but I brought enough screen shots with me for a couple of updates, if the patchy hotel wifi lets me...
 

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3
Denial ain't just a river


Egypt once again comes south with its main army and once again I wait for it in my own territory. And yes, once again the Egyptians get routed, although I'm quite surprised about the casualty differential, given that Akordat doesn't have mountain terrain. At this point I can't remember if my leader was particularly good or if I had already replaced some brigades of irregulars with regular infantry.

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Either way (maybe thanks to both) I completely destroy what seems to be the only serious Egyptian force. The next 18 months I can go for the state of Khartoum undisturbed (the war goal costs another 10 infamy points), apart from a few single brigades showing up occasionally.

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In December 1845 Egypt eventually concedes my war goal. Will they learn the lesson this time?

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Unlike Asmara, Khartoum is a very populous state (my second largest now), so once I've finished promoting enough bureaucrats and clergymen in my capital I switch my national focus to promote clergymen in the new state in order to have the biggest national impact.

Things stay quiet for a few years, in which I recruit 2 more brigades and build 3 more vessels. In 1849 I get a border dispute with Egypt, and with it a handy casus belli. Unfortunately the Ottomans add Egypt to their sphere of influence in 1850, before the truce runs out. I start seeing the famous rebel problems in v1.1 in the UK: Scotland becomes independent in 1849, and Ireland follows the following year, although the UK will eventually manage to re-annex them five years later… :wacko:

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Also in 1849 the research of Post-Napoleonic thought is completed, giving me something substantial to spend money on. I start building forts along the coast and the northern border. I move research to Rights of Man, again on the path to westernisation.

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In 1850 I get my first taste of rebels, some anarcho-liberals rise in two provinces of Khartoum. Luckily they are no great threat. They are dealt with quickly and I don't see any more after that.

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The economy continues doing well, thanks to Freedom of Trade I can afford relatively low taxes (30-25-30%), low tariffs (5%), some investment in administration (55%) and even a bit more in education (60%). The three population strata seem happy enough (even the artisans!). Maybe these were the days when coffee was really profitable… or maybe the effects of Freedom of Trade should be softened a bit in future patches.

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Rights of Man is completed in 1854 (it would have given me an extra national focus if I'd had enough population of my main culture) and I continue research on Private Banks. This year I notice three things: 1. Egypt is having serious trouble with rebels; 2. the Ottomans are pushed out of the Great Power list by Mexico; 3 My infamy is below 10. No prices to those who guess what comes next... :rolleyes:

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You get invaded by Polish space adventurers?