Chapter 9: life in the 20th Century
Chapter 9: life in the 20th Century
Welcome back to the AAR, this chapter features a lot of combat (always a crowd-pleaser
), and yet more Lessons Learned.
When we left Persia, it was
1900, and I was, for once, at peace.
THE IRAQI "Honey-Pot"
Peace only lasts about 6 months, as in
January 1900 Portugal DOWs Iraq, which is in my SOI, though not my Ally (I have been refusing all my SOI ally requests, as having them enter a war
I call just adds them as easy targets, and in a war against them, as we see here, I get called anyways). They call me, and I answer - I wonder if the AI isn't smart enough to consider me as a foe?
Portugal and I stare at each other for about a year, until Portugal gives up and we do a White Peace. I only mention this thrilling episode because of later events.....
OPPORTUNITY KNOCKS
In
October 1901, a major event changes things, as China DOWs Russia! This seems like an opportunity that I can't let pass, I have to assume that China will give Russia all it can handle and then some. I scramble to move my troops into position, and in
April 1902 Persia DOWs Russia! My, my, how far we've come
Russia calls on a handful of allies from the far north -
Sweden, Finland, and I think Krakow - nothing that really alters things.
In a sign that Allah may be smiling on us, shortly after the DOW, I get "Inorganic Chemistry", which raises my supply limit by 25% - just the thing for trekking across the Russian steppes.
THE IRAQI "Honey-Pot", Round 2
In a sign that Allah may be frowning on us, shortly after the DOW, it's now the Netherlands turn to DOW Iraq. I keep a deterrent force along the Persian Gulf, and decide this two-front war means I must mobilize the reserves - most troops go streaming north.
THE War against Russia
For two months, my troops stream northwards through the Caucasus, spying nary a Russian soldier - it looks like China has indeed diverted most of the Russian troops.
This happy state ends in
June 1902, as a significant Russian force comes marching in from the east - another sign that they may have been fighting the Chinese. In our first key battle, 76K fightin' Persians take on 77K hopefully-less-fightin' Russians in a battle around Astrakhan (just north of the Caspian Sea). To my delight, as I watch the battle, it looks like all those years of focusing on military tech have paid off, as the Russia morale drops quicker than mine does. Although our casualties are roughly equal, Persia wins the battle! The Persian lion roars its delight - this is, I think, our first victory ever against a European force of more than 3K troops. Yes, I know it's just Russia, but hey, don't
harsh my mellow
After this, I decide on a 'narrow front' offensive, basically driving in a spearhead straight to Moscow. I fight battle after battle on a rolling front along the way - the graphic below shows the 4 biggest battles, the first one (with the '1') being the first, key battle:
I feel like I'm playing HOI3
, as I wend my way towards Moscow. Over the next 6 months, up to
January 1903, I fight 13 battles, winning all 13 - the graphic above showed the biggest 4. I'm besieging Moscow, baby!
Lesson: it's the battles, not the territory
The 13 victories give me a cumulative war score of 12.0. Territorially, I have conquered a stripe of Russia from the Caucasus due North, all the way up to Moscow - I would guess at least 20 provinces, probably about 25% of Russia. My total war score turns out to be .... 21.
I'm debating whether to add another war goal, when a massive infestation of rebels breaks out in Russia, mostly in my territories - check out the map below, which also shows my progress:
Doesn't this look like an HOI3 screen grab?
I decide not to add an additional war goal besides the 'humiliation' CB I had at the start, as
- I have all these rebels to deal with, and
- I am still at war with the Dutch to the south, and
- My infamy is still at, I think, 19 - I can't add a war goal without going over BB, and
- Attrition has whittled my army down to about 1/3 its original size, and
- in January 1903, China bows out with a White Peace. Uh-oh.
- I'm a wimp
So the war ends in
March 1903, when Russia agrees to Humiliation! <insert ululation noise here> A day of national celebration is declared!
Beating the Europeans, the second time
The Dutch finally land an expeditionary force in Iraq. Emboldened by my success against the Russians, I decide to take on the Dutch with a force that 'only' outnumbers them 3-1. This may seem excessively timid, but remember that about 10 years earlier I fought battles against the Spanish and Portugese where I outnumbered them 10-1 and barely won.
It's another sign that my army has come a long way, as I win the battle ([1] below), and eventually wipe out the Dutch expeditionary force entirely ([2])!
Excellent! The Dutch white-peace out a few months later.
UK gets awesomer
In
October 1904, the UK DOWs china, and by
August 1906 it has grabbed off two big chunks of China - check it out:
Provinces '1' and '2' are taken from China by the UK.
By
June 1906 China enters the UK SOI. The UK is Godzilla in this game now.
The only 'good news' here is that as part of this war the UK asked me for military access, which I cravenly immediately granted - I figure it's another deterrent to a UK attack.
Beating the Europeans, the third time
My experiences with Russia and the Netherlands have me feeling that I'm now on a par, or nearly so, with the Europeans militarily. when I see that Hedjaz (owned by Spain, the red-sea part of Saudi-Arabia) is rebel-controlled (which usually is a signal for no army in the area), and with my infamy finally all the way down to 17
, I DOW Spain in
January 1907
I cruise into the little nubbin of Turkey they own, and drive the Spanish into the sea - in [2] below you see the elimination of the Spanish army. Bwa ha ha.
However, despite this, the Spanish blockade means I only have a +4 war score. Note to self: next game, have a dominant navy
To make things worse, I get an alert in
March 1907 that I will lose Great Power status
My military exploits aren't enough to outweigh my lack of industrial progress, and lack of a navy
.
However, by
April 1908 the Spanish give in, and I get two more nice Turkish provinces
(1) shows my new provinces. (2) shows that the UK owns the Suez canal (and Egypt is in their SOI, hence my inability to attack them).
The new coastal province, the Spanish had thoughtfully upgraded up to a Level 3 railroad (I'm only at level 2), and a naval base to boot:
In other news
The world has been pretty quiet for a while, but in
1907
1) Italy forms
2) Prussia rips off a chunk of Austria:
3) Ukraine is doing quite nicelyl
4) Ireland has conquered Scotland
THE IRAQI "Honey-Pot", Round 3
I've been at peace for a whole week when in
April 1908 Iraq gets DOWed yet again, this time by Portugal. Obviously something in the AI deems Iraq a tempting target. Once again I answer the call, once again Portugal flails (in a particularly nasty AI fail, they march 25K soldiers into the arabian desert, which attrition whittles down to 3K), once again they white-peace out after about 18 months - the net affect of all this is that these guys are all taking minor hits to their Prestige and Infamy numbers.
THE Spanish tail-spin
My war against the Spanish seems to have knocked them off the cliff - in
October 1908 the Philipines secedes, in
July 1809 they go bankrupt, in
February 1810 France DOWs them and gets Taza (a province in North Africa), and in
June 1810 Portugal DOWs them.
The pitter-patter of little jack-booted feet
My populace started something like 90% Conservative, and now in 1908 it's still something like 40% conservative (and with a solid plurality). No social reform has ever gotten above 11% support ('trinket pensions', I beleive) - even if I wanted to, I've never been anywhere close to having an Upper House that would grant reforms, not that I needed to.
However, it appears that the game feels that if you don't reform long enough, eventually it's time for.....
Fascists! They come out of nowhere in 1908 and get 2.48% of the house, in each of the next two years they add another percent, at the expense of all the other parties. Perhaps in imitating Prussia I went a little bit too far
Another lesson learned: it's the Navy and the Factories
So, how could I still be barely clinging to 8th place, given my glorious conquests? Take a look at the ledger, and all will be clear:
First, two side notes:
(1) The UK is Godzilla. both their military and industrial scores probably exceed every other countries put together.
(2) Austria has
7 prestige! I guess doing nothing but letting Prussia beat you up for 70 years has its downside
(3) Note how the USCA and Colombia are ranked 7th and 11th in the world, respectively. Neither has fought a single war the entire game. However, if you sit quietly and industrialize (as Colombia is doing), or if you sit quietly and industrialize
and build a big navy (as USCA has), you can rack up quite the high score.
(4) Denmark shows this as well - note how their military score (437) is over
three times that of Persia, and over
twice that of Prussia. Now, I really doubt that the Danish army is anything that will scare Prussia. The answer seems to be that it's all about the Navy.
So, I think the game is showing us that if you want to have fun, you can certainly conquer, conquer, conquer. However, if you want to
win (or at least finish second to the UK, which I would now consider winning
), you don't need that - focus on the Navy and the Industry.