Sick Man of Europe - an Ottoman Empire AAR

[Kaltorak]

Its great fun seeing the 'Sick Man of Europe' put the bear back in its place. Hehe. You would think the Ruskies would get over their human wave advances after so many good men have been made into compost in your empire. Nice of the UK to do a nice flip-flop on your foes lol. Hopefully Russia losing war after war on you hasn't let them put in every reform they might ever want. I would hate to see what happens to those mobilisation numbers with some mighty healthcare reform that most of the 21st century world would be envious of lol. Thanks for the good read naggy!

[Tanzhang (譚張)]

Yay! British Alaska!

March 9: A farmer falls into his thresher and becomes a cause celebre for pensions. Liberals call for a Russian manservant to be provided to all Ottoman Citizens, to be called a "pension".

I see you've reintroduced slavery. Good show.

[naggy]

I see you've reintroduced slavery. Good show.

Nah. Although, amusingly, my African Minor POPs are militant because they want Allow Slavery.

[Duke of Awesome]

Nah. Although, amusingly, my African Minor POPs are militant because they want Allow Slavery.

extreme reactionaries?

[Alexspeed]

Great update naggy!
I am glad you where able to show them where they belong
Some great tactics shown, the AI looked like a small puppy crushed by ... something big and painfull

Hope to read more of it

[naggy]

Kaltorak: I haven't really driven their WE up high, and the 2 militancy from losing the war goal seems to fade pretty quickly. I suspect that Russia has few, if any, reforms. However, the AI is pretty stubborn - I'm betting more Russians will be fertilizing Ottoman soil.

Duke of Awesome: Not extreme, but they are some of my more reactionary POPs.

Alexspeed: They belong under my bootheel! And don't worry, another update is around the corner...

[naggy]

December 1856: Persia re-allies with us.

January, 1857: The British Army is on an Italian holiday - over 34,000 of them. It takes a few months for the British to take them back home.

April 14: Typhoid Fever is spotted in the Kars region, prompting a strict quarantine. Thousands die, even with the quarantine, leading to widespread anger. Russia is blamed, and a ring of Croatian officers in Karlovac are executed for treason as well. (I love the synchronicity of events...)

April 15: Italy acquires the Sidi Barrani region of Egypt.

July 7: One advantage of Prussia being split in two is that rebels get stuck on one side or the other.



You know there have been some beat downs when the Netherlands has the 6th largest army in the world (and 4th in Europe).



A look at the angriest Ottoman POPs - the two reform desires causing militancy are Landed Voting and Allow Slavery. The majority of them, of course, are Anarcho-Liberal rebels.



Also, we've unlocked a new party...my first with L-F! Unfortunately, I have too many small factories to be able to switch to L-F yet - they'd all be wiped out immediately. I also can't balance my budget under L-F: the max of 50% tax would wipe out my budget and prevent me from keeping taxes on my Rich low so I can get more liberals.



December 28, 1857: We finish researching Positivism and start on Functionalism. More education efficiency = more literacy = faster pop promotion and more RP. I now get 8.19 RP/day, which is probably around 60-70% what other GPs would have at this point.

May 18, 1858: The Confederate States of America secede from the USA. Without anything west of the Mississippi, they're doomed.



July 4, 1857: Some very weird Asian-looking Ethiopians insult our wig-bearing pasty-white ambassadors, giving us a Cut Down to Size CB on Ethiopia (The pictures are extra-hilarious when you play other nations...). Usually, I'd ignore such things, but Ethiopia is close by, and happens to border the two African regions I have the tech to colonize (Werder and Negele).



This, of course, leads to war (why turn down 10 free prestige?)...



January 28, 1859: The concept of Organic Work spreads to a province in our nation, but doesn't spread further.

March 21: The war is expanded to take the Negele region in the south from Ethiopia.

April 20: Ottoman schools, not being discriminatory enough, are made moreso.



May 23: Panjab besieges our diplomatic mission yet again. We eat the 5 prestige and go back to bringing her back into our SoI. Once N&I is researched, she's dead.

August: The war with Ethiopia is finished, with Ethiopia cut down to size and forced to give up the Negele region (leading to us gaining 6 pounds/day in indemnities). Colonization efforts are begun in Negele province.



September: Our Temperance League has resulted in a Viticultural Association springing up in Southern Serbia (lushes!). Rather than allow beer halls and end the Temperance League, we take the +militancy option for local Liberals. They'll get over it.

October 29: The Ethiopians insult us again. Because last time worked so well! However, since they are already paying indemnities, we couldn't use the CB even if there wasn't a truce. Argh!

November 6, 1859: A look at Panjab via our alliance shows that their army is lost somewhere that I can't see it. 7 brigades are probably trapped in Siberia or something. And to make things funnier - the Communists are in charge (but it's still an absolute monarchy).

March 25, 1860: Austria is now #2 in industry with 443 points. This bodes very badly. In Prussia Reactionaries are close to breaking the nation (not a big loss, Prussia has no SoI currently anyway).

June, 1860: Portugal declares war on Egypt to take the Asyut region, right before we can sphere Egypt. However, since we are still allied, we get the call to beat Portugal up.

[Rastar]

Great update! Seems only fitting that the Turks would head into Ethiopia and work to secure a good supply of coffee

[TonyJoe]

Nice work even if it was kinda quiet. I'm sure Russia will liven things up again soon.

[Tanzhang (譚張)]

naggy, could you post a map showing your new conquests in Africa next update?

[Enewald]

Young Turks?
Sounds legit to me.

[Fronzel]

What an absurdly small Confederacy. It's hard to imagine states like Virginia and Kentucky seceding with such poor conditions for it, "lol ahistoricity" I guess.

What's with the pie charts for Negele? They look all screwed up.

[aldriq]

Now you'll need a proper land bridge to your new Ethiopian lands... but first of course, anything to be had from Portugal?

[morningSIDEr]

Good stuff. I rather think Austria needs to suffer a bit of a beating soon, that industry score is worrying. Something tells me that the American Civil War will not be quite as important in this timeline as it is in our own.

[Kaltorak]

Poor Portugal.. They always seem to stick their head into things and get it chopped off. That been said its usually for white peace. For some reason no one really punishes them. Maybe you will however. I hear them begging to keep west Africa already! An African empire awaits! So what else... the clockwork Russian DOW and maybe a dust up with Austria.. all sounds like fun to me!

[naggy]

Rastar: Unfortunately the Spanish do too...

TonyJoe: It does get interesting quickly...

Tanzhang: Sure!

Enewald: Yeah, they'll be picked in a few years, I think.

Fronzel: Well, most of the South's population is in the East, but yes, seceding with the USA keeping control of the western half of the Mississippi spells a quick doom. The pie charts seem to be caused by a graphics display bug.

aldriq: Nope. Nothing worth taking from Portugal, and a land bridge will take a while.

morningSIDEr: That leads me to a question...

Kaltorak: Nope, going to let them go with WP. Nothing they have in Africa is worth the infamy.

So, here's the question:
I think it's safe to assume Austria and Russia will DoW me in the next 10 years. If I stay under the infamy limit, they'll just get more industrial score and do it again. However, if I ignore the infamy limit, I can probably permanently secure a more permanent peace (and regain the Ottomans old claims in Eastern Europe and the Caucasus), at the cost of a lengthy British blockade (I have no hope of naval superiority since I can't build ironclads), and the occupation of Ottoman Sindh.

I'm certainly not going for a WC, however, at this point, my current constant warfare with Russia and Austria is frankly annoying and getting somewhat tedious.

So, which should I do? Stay under the infamy limit? Or restore the Ottoman Empire to its former glory?

[Arilou]

Is there a choice in the matter?

Did Mehmed the Conqueror care for Infamy limits?

FOR GLORY! PLANT THE STANDARD OF OSMAN IN THE HEART OF EUROPE!

[Alexspeed]

So, which should I do? Stay under the infamy limit? Or restore the Ottoman Empire to its former glory?

Now is that really a question?

Break the limit, be bold, be victorious!

Or loose and vanish with a big bang

[Dewirix]

Core recovery wars do stop eventually, but I think you have to have enough military score to make the AI think twice before attacking you.

You don't need to have more military score than the AI though, as otherwise I would never have stopped fighting China.

That said, I think it would be fun to see the Ottomans go on another European rampage. Let's put the past couple of centuries behind us and play like it's 1529. Onward to Vienna!

[morningSIDEr]

Actually paying any heed to the infamy limit? Who is this imposter and what has happened to naggy?! War, glory and power, ignore the infamy limit! Restore Ottoman to her former power!

(uhm...and if you do somehow get defeated, I shall vehemently deny suggesting this course of action!)