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Polar Mongoose

Ill Growl of Talking
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Mar 16, 2006
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Hello all and welcome to my Victoria 2 Argentina AAR. This will be a gameplay style AAR played under patch 1.2 using Alexspeed's Map Improvement Package. I am by no means an expert, so any suggestions for gameplay are welcome. I'm submitting this AAR for Alexspeed's AAR writing contest which can be found here - go there and check it out for some great AARs.

I shall be playing this with a number of goals in mind, in no particular order;
  • Populate my territory
  • Reunite the territory of the Viceroyalty of the Rio de la Plata
  • Be the dominant military power of South America
  • Transform to a democracy (ideally by reforms rather than revolution)
  • Gain and keep GP status
  • Keep the rest of South America out of the sphere's of the European powers and the USA

Index
Chapter 1: Introduction and Uruguay
Chapter 2: Bolivians and Politicians
Chapter 3: Economy, economy, economy
Chapter 4: Paraguay
Chapter 5: Railways, machines and the Pacific
Chapter 6: Los Rios and Liberty
 
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Chapter One: Introduction and Uruguay

Argentina36.jpg

Argentina in January 1936​

Let us start by looking at the position Argentina finds itself in at the beginning of 1836. By landmass Argentina is one of the largest nations on the planet, however the vast majority of that land is nearly empty. The total population is less than 240,000 of which over half is clustered within just three states and only three quarters are of the national culture.

Startpops.jpg

A look at the population screen shows us that the southern half of the country is essentially empty, aside from a small number of Patagonian natives. It also shows an unusually high proportion of soldiers in the Argentine population, almost ten percent. The large soldier population supports nine brigades, giving Argentina the same sized army as Brazil with her 1.5 million citizens. Having such a large soldier population, and so many brigades to support places quite a burden on the national budget with full taxes and tariffs needed to support the armed forces.

startbudget.jpg

One option of course would be to scale back the armed forces, disbanding some brigades and cutting defence spending. But where would the fun be in that. Instead I shall pursue increased incomes, through technology and through increasing non-soldier pops. Freedom of Trade is a fairly obvious first technology, due to be completed in 20 months and offering a significant boost to outputs for my entirely agrarian nation. While Argentina is a civilised nation, technologically it is rather backwards and with a literacy of just 12% for my national population research will be limited. Education techs will have to be a high priority if I am to keep up with the European powers. I do have a decent proportion of my population as clergy at least, but with the population being so small relatively minor changes can lead to big distortions, so I shall have to keep an eye on my clergy.

Politically Argentina begins the game as a presidential dictatorship ruled over by the reactionary Partido Reactionary (inventive name they chose there), with no options for changing ruling party without first ending the dictatorship. In the long term a presidential government will reduce the immigration I need to populate my country, so one way or another I will want to transform to a democracy. I've not had any success in any previous game when it comes to manipulating my upper house however that is how I hope to be able to bring democracy to Argentina in this game.

politics36.jpg

The first move in my evil nefarious plan to dominate South America is the conquest of Uruguay. Its 50,000 people will be a significant increase of my population, and most of the population are Platineans. Eight years prior to the start date of the game, Argentina was made to recognise Uruguayan independence by the British and Brazilians, but there is no one around to protect them now, and within a week of starting war is declared.

Uruguay.jpg

18,000 Argentine troops pour across the border, with 3 cavalry brigades spreading out to occupy the country while 3 infantry brigades head to Montevideo where they engage and destroy the Uruguayan army. By this point I have been forced to reduce the national stockpile slider to 50% due to budget constraints, but I have such a numerical advantage that this doesn't really matter.

Montevideo.jpg

Four months later and the entirety of Uruguay has been occupied forcing them to acknowledge Buenos Aires as their rightful ruler. There is no rest for the wicked however, and no sooner has the ink dried on the peace treaty than the Argentine army is on the move again, marching to the border with Paraguay.
 
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Good luck Polar!! (PolAAR?)

*bookmarks*
 
*subscribes*
 
Hey there, nice to see a Argentinian AAR,
and even nicer to see one that uses my Map Improvement Package,
thank you for that!

Good luck for your goals for your nation, i shall follow this :)

You are not writing this for my AAR Contest tough?
Because if you do, you would need to formally report your AAR in the contest thread
(todays the last day to sign up tough).

-----------------------------------------------------
EDIT:
We almost posted at the same time ;)

Thank you for taking part in the contest and good luck!
I linked your thread in the contest list, and I will follow your AAR.

Mind that the contest ends on the 15th November and you will need to have 5 chapters for the contest till then,
so please update your AAR accordingly, because every missing chapter from the 5 necessary
will give you -20 points substracted from your total score.
I hope you will be able to get the chapters necessary in time.

Also thank you for your first chapter, a promising beginning! :)
 
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Chapter 2: Bolivians and Politicians

The 'liberation' of Uruguay reunited me with 50,000 of my national pops, but in the eyes of the international community was an act of agression earning me 20BB points. Since I have no wish (nor ability) to fight off a British intervention in South America I shall have to restrict myself to legitimate casus-bellis for the next couple of years. Luckily Argentina has just such a war available against Bolivia with Argentine cores to be reclaimed in the states of Juluy and Alto Paraguay.

Claims-1.jpg

Nine weeks after the surrender of Uruguay the Argentine army is in position on the border of Bolivia, ready to strike (I really need to get some railways, Argentina is far too big to have to walk everywhere). War is declared on the 27th of August as Argentine infantry and cavalry move to liberate Argentina's cores. Bartolomé Tajes, with nine thousand infantry under his command, is sent to hunt down the Bolivian army which, presumably due to budget issues, has been reduced to a single division.

BartolomeTajes.jpg

While he may be no military genius Tajes gets the job done, destroying first the standing Bolivian army and then two divisions that mobilise. With these battles done, the war is all but over and all that remains is to occupy enough of Bolivia to bring them to the negotiating table.

As January 1st rolls around, a slightly odd consequence of Argentina's political setup emerges. Argentina's Upper House operates under the Two per State system but because no voting of any form is allowed, each state duly returns two reactionary party members and my entire Upper House becomes reactionary.

Politics.jpg

The reactionaries will never agree to any reforms, so in order to advance I must first go back a step, repealing the Two per State rule in favour of an Appointed Upper House. At least my aristocrats are merely conservative, and might possibly be convinced to support reforms.

The war with Bolivia continues on, with the Bolivians proving remarkably unwilling to surrender for a people with no army. When the capital Chuquisaca falls they quickly change their tune however, and a peace treaty is signed. With 19+ BB points this peace treaty will mark the beginning of a prolonged period of peace for Argentina, Brazilian aggression and free Casus-Bellis notwithstanding. My ideal next target is Paraguay whose capital, Asuncion, is home to 100,000 people, many of them Platineans. As a two state country Paraguay would take two wars and a lot of BB to annex, however maybe I will get lucky and Brazil will claim their northern state (Brazil has cores there) leaving me with just one state to annex. That is still 20 BB though, so whatever happens Paraguay is safe from me for now.

Bolivia.jpg

At this point I also switch my single National Focus from promoting bureaucrats in Buenos Aires to promoting clergy. Even with my new 100% administrative efficiency I only get 1 clergy per month however. Hopefully as my economy gains strength I will see a larger number begin to promote.

Freedom of Trade is researched in September 1837, increasing RGO outputs across the nation by 50% (they were already at 116% however, so the total increase is more like 43% of what was already produced). Unfortunately a 43% increase of not very much is still not very much, and while it does help, my economy is still not in the shape I would like it to be in. Further research points are accumulated to research Idealism once it becomes available in 1840.

Politics2.jpg

January 1st comes around again, and my Upper House is rearranged according to the ideologies of my aristocrats and capitalists (all 35 of them). Now I just have to make it so the these pops are majority liberal. Should be easy right?
 
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Good going I hope you do well

I have two reasons while Bolivia had just one division

1) They have already had a war with Brazil ( they have cores on one Bolivian region)

2) The AI does what it always seems to do for me and reduced army size in peace time

A third thing, please don't attack Paraguay or else in my game as Paraguay I'll destroy Argentina
 
Very nice 2nd chapter, thank you for that, was a interresting read :)
3 more for the contest to go!

Do you allready have experimental railroads to build them?
 
Thanks for the comments all, it is good to know people are following this.

Bolivia hadn't been in a war with Brazil by the time I attacked, so I guess it was a purely financial decision. Brazil did attack Bolivia shortly after my war with them however.

I don't have the experimental railroads technology to build infrastructure yet. I also don't have any money to build them, but it is something I want to do sooner rather than later for both economic and military purposes.
 
Chapter 3: Economy, economy, economy​

By the beginning of 1838 it has become apparent that I shall have to dedicate at least some attention to my economy. My artisans in particular seem to be struggling and tax incomes from them have fallen significantly.

Econ.png

My population has increased over the last two years through conquest and a small amount of growth, but I have seen no immigration. Possibly this is to be expected, two years not being long enough either for European pops to get angry enough to emigrate or for technology to advance enough to make them unemployed, but I'd still rather increase my chances. My cunning master-plan is to build a factory making me a potential migration target for craftsmen and even clerks. The factory in question will be a cement factory in the Buenos Aires region which has the advantages that;

a) Cement is in high demand
b) The coal input has plentiful supply
c) I will need cement to develop any further industrial base
d) Most importantly, I can actually afford it

cement.png

The order is placed and over the next three months building materials trickle in with the national stockpile slider set to 3% so as to avoid the ignominy of bankruptcy. Once construction begins I switch my national focus to encouraging craftsmen so that my Platinean pops will form small craftsmen pops in each province. By doing this I hope to ensure that immigrating pops will rapidly assimilate into my pre-existing Platinean pops rather than forming large pops of their own culture, which wont count towards my second national focus (I may be getting somewhat ahead of myself here, 2 million Platinean pops is a long way off no matter what I do). My immigrant attracting plan works, and I begin to see craftsmen and even the odd clerk arrive from the UK. By the time the factory gates open I have some 1,500 craftsmen available and I switch my national focus back to promoting clergy.

craftsmen.png

Not much happens over the next couple of years, so the pace of the AAR will speed up somewhat now.

Research into Idealism is begun as soon as it becomes available in 1840, and completes a year later in January 1841, followed with research into Idealogical Thought. The plurality boost from the inventions attached to Idealogical Thought will give my research output a further boost, and I'm hoping that plurality still has the effect it had in Victoria 1 of driving up demand for reforms (I have no idea if it really does though).

Once side effect of building my first factory has been the development of a Capitalist pop in Buenos Aires. Quite what makes them feel they have any right to profits from the factory that I built, I do not know, but they have been taking these profits and using them to invest in another factory, so I shall forgive them. Since Capitalists have a say in who is appointed to the Upper House, and since they tend towards liberalism, boosting their numbers might prove useful in pushing through reforms.

fabric.png

Factory workers continue to trickle in to Argentina at a rate of about 30 craftsmen a month, almost all of them British. Its not much, but my population only grows by around 150 a month naturally, so it helps. Idealogical thought is complete and I follow with Basic Chemistry and then Medicine, chasing after the increased population growth. The next couple of years are entirely uneventful, aside from the publishing of the book Facundo.

Facundo.png

I'm afraid don't know much of the significance of the book in historical terms, but for my purposes, it should be good for boosting liberalism in Argentina.
 
Thank you for your chapter 3 Polar! :)
2 more and you are set for the contest.

Interresting update, i am really curious... how will you be able to get to a new political setup that is more democratic?
The only way i see at the moment would be rebels taking over the capital enforcing their demands.
Or is there another way that i am not aware of?
 
My hope is that I will be able to pass reforms allowing political parties and voting, even if they are harassed and only landed voting is allowed. Doing so should trigger a peaceful transition to a democracy. I just need to get the reforms passed in the first place.
 
My hope is that I will be able to pass reforms allowing political parties and voting, even if they are harassed and only landed voting is allowed. Doing so should trigger a peaceful transition to a democracy. I just need to get the reforms passed in the first place.

Well thats the thing... the reactionaries will never pass any reform, they only roll them back. As far as i know that is.
Maybe there is some event that will allow you to pass such reforms?
 
That's why I went with appointed Upper House in chapter 2, it gives me a mix of conservatives, liberals and reactionaries. Now I just need to alter that mix or raise militancy enough to push through the reforms.
 
That's why I went with appointed Upper House in chapter 2, it gives me a mix of conservatives, liberals and reactionaries. Now I just need to alter that mix or raise militancy enough to push through the reforms.

mhmm... i seee... well, in every AAR i read i learn something new, thank you for explaining it :)
Hope to read your next chapter soon!
 
I hope to see an update soon, only 4 more days till the end of the contest :)