Chapter 7: V1.2 strikes (and 3 wars)
Chapter 7: V1.2 strikes (and 3 wars)
Welcome back! In this chapter we go form
1888 all the way to
1900, and boasts 3 wars, and dealing with V1.2
When we left Persia, we had just been DOWed by Spain (which owns a little piece of Turkey, and the Arabian side of the red coast (Hedjaz)), and its buddy Portugal. Luckily, it's powerful allies of Russia and the UK have bowed out.
I immiediately march my armies into Spanish Turkey, where my westernized, trained, fully organized, well led 40K army attacks the 3K spanish defenders - and barely wins.
The same thing happens a little later in the war, when a 36K stack of mine pounces on 3K
leaderless Portugese who wander into Iran.
Ouch! While I'm far stronger than the uncivs around me, I'm still, despite many years of concentrating on it, not nearly up to par with the Europeans. The main issue seems to be morale/tactics. In both battles, my morale steadily dips from 100 to 90 to 80 to ..., while their morale dips from 100 to 99 to 98 to ...., while I inflict barely perceptible casualties - it's as if my troops are firing Nerf bullets! I only win the battles (with my morale at around 30%, as I recall) when the Europeans are in danger of being wiped out - instead, they retreat in good order.
So it seems clear that I need to switch from a "50% industry, 50% military" technology to 100% military for a while - I do so, though it's really too late for this war.
On the war front, I do indeed manage to take the two Turkish provinces from Spain - however in Saudi Arabia, it's a different story, as something like 50K Spanish are there, far too many for me to attack, even if I marched my entire army across the desert to fight them. The only good news is that Nejd, which is in my SOI, let's me enter it and observe the Spaniards, who themselves are prevented from entering Nejd. Chortle.
So, after these intial skirmishes, we stare at each other for a while - though I have taken two provinces, and they zero, the war score is
0, due to a Spanish blockade. When they offer white peace in
April 1889, I accept. Well, that was a bit of a disappointment, but it was a useful lesson in how far I am from truly being one of the Big Boys.
IN RELATED NEWS
While this is happening, two other things of some interest happen:
In
January 1889 I note that the Brits have built the Suez canal.
In
March 1891 another piece gets knocked off the Russian bear, which has been beset by chronic rebellions for something like 40 years now, as Estonia secedes.
THE ATTACK OF VERSION 1.2
So there I am in
February 1892 when I fire up the game, and it auto-updates to V1.2. The good news is, the game is still playable! I had read that 1.2 wasn't saved-game compatible, so this is great news. The bad news is, the changes to the technology tree, and perhaps some minor tweaks they made to the save game format, combine to do some damage:
- my RP plunge from 17.93 to 7.57 - OUCH! I think this is because they've moved a lot of the RP-enhancing tech into the Culture tree.
- my mobilization size drops from 34 to 20. Odd - not a biggie.
- I somehow lose my SOI and military access agreement with Nejd. Double odd.
- my second national focus is wedged - the game has somehow conflated my national focus with an Ottoman national focus (doing something in the Aegean islands), yet won't let me remove it.
The second third, and fourth are annoying, the first is a crippler, and I immediately change my tech strategy
TECH STRATEGY
Until the 1.2 patch, I had been on an all-military research tear, trying to learn the lessons from the Spanish war - I get
military plans (better org) in
1888, iron muzzle-loaded artillery and 'mobilization time tables' in
1889, and
breech-loaded rifles in
1890,
army decision making (better morale and tactics) in
1892, and finally
point defense (better forts and defense) in
1894.
I then switch to a "fix the damage from 1.2" strategy, getting
Idealism (+25% RP - still just up to 9 from the pre1.2 17) in
March 1897 (note how long it took, even as an level 1 tech), and
Introspectionism in
March 1898
TWO LITTLE WARS
Although my infamy is now finally down to the point where I could DOW the Ottoman again, they have managed to ally themselves with Russia, so I decide to wait a while and let things calm down (my infamy is still well above 10). I get a little excitement in
October 1894 when I get a 'diplomatic incident' with little Sindh, one of the few small Indian states in my SOI, and not the UKs. I happily DOW them, and by
February 1895 the war is over with Sindh 'cut down to size'. I could have made a protectorate out of them (and perhaps, in hindsight, should have), but I thought I would rather pay 10 infamy to get a nice Ottoman territory than pay 8 infamy to get Sindh.
The next little war is more annoying, as in
March 1895 Spain DOWs Nedj - remember how they had lost my protection as part of the 1.2 upgrade? I grit my teeth and watch as Spain chomps off a big piece.
Spanish gain the area marked with "1"
A BIG WAR
In
December 1897 Prussia, of all people, offer an alliance. I accept, thinking that this might deter Russia (who is still allied with the Ottoman) from intervening in my next round against the Ottoman.
In
January 1898, I DOW the Ottoman, and the good news is, Russia doesn't answer the Ottoman call. Prussia doesn't answer
my call either, but that's a trade I'll take any day - it's just me against the Ottoman.
Once again, I swoop into Turkey, which once again is almost totally undefended. At this point, things Start To Go Wrong:
first, in
March 1898, I just happen to notice that....
I'm at war with
two countries, not one, and the new one has a rather well-known tricolor flag. Gulp! Looking through the diplomatic log, I see that
France decided to intervene to support the Ottoman. I think this is a change due to improved 1.2 AI, and I must say, while as a Persian emperor I am displeased, as a gamer, I give this two thumbs up - this seems very realistic - a European great power is stepping in to try and keep 'the Sick Man' intact.
The second piece of bad news is that the 'center of gravity' of the Ottoman Empire has now moved far enough west, as I have ripped off chunks of it, that the percentage of it that I conquer when I conquer Turkey is going steadily down! This is made worse by another 1.2 bug fix, which is that when I conquer Syria, which had been rebel-controlled, it doesn't affect the war score
The third piece of bad news is that France blockades me, reducing the war score by 2.
The fourth piece of bad news is that France lands a 50K+ expeditionary force in Iraq, at the mouth of the gulf
I am gathering my forces for a climactic battle against the French expeditionary force
(I'm hoping all those years of military investment will bear fruit), when to my relief in
June 1899 France sells out the OE, and another chunk of Turkey now flies the Persian flag
The '1' area is newly Persian, liberated from the Ottoman.
Shortly after the war, I decide that "if you can't conquer 'em any more, SOI 'em", and the Ottoman Empire joins my SOI!
By the way,
Comrade Chaos in post
38 informs us that the Persian emblem
isn't a 'winged' lion, it's a lion with a sun behind it. With my technology where it is, I decide this is now a
solar-powered sword-wielding lion! Glow and roar, baby, glow and roar!
POLITICAL RUMBLINGS
It's taken 65 years, but it appears the populace is finally starting to get a bit restless:
Suport for 'trinket' pensions is up to 13% (2 above), and the socialist party has a whopping 24% of the upper house (1 above) - still not enough to allow any reforms, however. Also, I'm getting very close to an anarchist rebellion.
Interesting times ahead!
INDUSTRIAL GRUMBLINGS
Throughout this entire period, my capitalists have built exactly
zero factories. It's hard to blame them, as my existing factories are averaging less than 50% full - this despite spending a national focus on it for decades. This has caused my industry to go from 6th in the world to 11th over the last 20 years, with more sliding probably to come. I'm at a loss here - I have taxes at the minimum on the middle class, quite low on the lower class - how can I blast these POPs off the farm?
I'll end on this note - next post, hopefully soon, will be a survey of the world and the empire as of
1900.