Yin, Yang and the ugly: a Divine Wind Ming AAR

[Frederic III]

Yes, the Great Central Republic is back! Although it is a pain in the neck with all those change of faction, we are democrats or we aren't.

[knul]

Intermezzo: on the brink of the Revolutionary War

So before I start the Revolutionary War, in this intemezzo I would like to give an overview of the current state of affairs. Hopefully you get a clear picture of the challenges and opportunities that lie ahead.

I won't show Asia or North America, as little has changed there of importance. Instead, I give you the first view of South America in this AAR since 1515:




As you can see, GB, France and the HRE have large holdings here. HRE has inherited the lands of Castille and Milan that had colonies here. The fourth colonial power is Venice.

A bit of a rarity, South America has no heretics:




Despite these colonies, most nations can't hold a candle to China's overwhelming size:



For a long time we vied with Great Britain for the first position, but with the guidance of Song, China became the undisputed largest empire. However, the rise of the Holy Roman Empire forms a great threat!




Economically, China is a superpower, whose economy is as large as the next three combined and much sounder, as China has no inflation while any other great power has high inflation. Except of course for my vassals, two of which have now entered the top 12 largest economic powers. However, the economic growth of the last decade is purely because of Eunuch rule, so don't expect this great economy to remain this strong. Still, the Chinese economy will remain by far the strongest for the rest of the game.




In military matters, things are not that one-sided. We have only the second largest army and no chance of enlarging it further due to the faction limitations. And due to my five decade focus on Government technology, I lost my Land tech lead: my Land tech is now equal to the other Great Powers,

Luckily, here too we can see Granada and England appearing on the first page, joining the league of Great Powers.




One thing I can count on, though, is naval supremacy. Even the second largest naval power, France, has only half my strength. Also, England has already become a major naval player, equalling Great Britain! During any war I can easily ship troops and blockade ports, which I will need to do a lot probably.




The current political landscape in Europe. Yellow borders indicate Chinese holdings. Most small nations have been swept away by the unification of the Empire. Norway has devoured most of Scandinavia. Bohemia's curbstomping of the Golden Horde saw the Empire's expansion in the east.After the last Chinese-Castillian war, the Castillian African empire has crumbled and most of it has been reclaimed by native nations.




Confucianism is now a significant minority religion in Europe. With most of the Far East, half India and North America united behind the teachings of the great master, Confucianism is surely the most widespread religion?

Religion	#provinces
--------------------------
catholic	530
confucianism	337
sunni		196
shinto		65
hinduism	53
animism		44
orthodox	28
buddhism	27
reformed	27
shamanism	23
shiite		21
protestant	5

(Thanks to the EU3 Statistics Generator)

So overall, the Central Republic is in very good shape economically but is certainly not a hegemon in military matters or in religion. The question is: will that change?


Next episode: The Revolutionary War begins

[Boris ze Spider]

Who will be the revolutionary?

[Nikolai]

A Song of course.

[Aliasing]

Hopefully another great Song comes along

[Michaelangelo]

I thinks it's time that those Catholics reformed... to Confucianism that is!

[knul]

Who will be the revolutionary?

A Song of course.

Hopefully another great Song comes along

That would be nice indeed However, in 1751 Menglin is still in power and I don't dare to remove him as I really need a high MIL leader now. So the revolution will be started by a Menglin.

I thinks it's time that those Catholics reformed... to Confucianism that is!

Purple would suit Europe much more than yellow

[knul]

Episode 25: The Revolutionary War begins

After I have reached Government Tech level 52, I gain access to the Revolution-Counterrevolution National Idea, which I of course select. I switch all investments to Land tech. At the moment the only Great Power with equal land tech is Austria at level 38.

So with the Revolution-Counterrevolution NI, I can now declare Revolutionary War upon any monarchy. So it's time to spread the virtues of the Central Republic and take down the Ancien Regime powers. Undoubtely the greatest of these are France and the newly formed Holy Roman Empire. France would be the obvious choice to attack, as in Iberia we share a large border and I can easily deploy many troops there.

However, at the moment the HRE is Defender of the Catholic faith and in this campaign the Defender of the Faith has almost always interfered if I attack a Catholic. If I attack France there is a very large chance that the HRE will join on France's side. So the hnour of being the first Revolutionary target goes to the HRE.

The best place to attack the HRE is north Italy. It is a rich and valuable region, I can access it through Tuscany and, last but certainly not least, obtaining such central territory extends my borders with the HRE and France an gives me a border with Austria. This will be importannt for future wars. So I bring 190.000 troops to Tuscany: I would have stationed more but for two reasons I don't.

First, I can't station more troops in Tuscany and Roma without having attrition and thus war exhaustion. Some leaders ask in crises where the legions are, others ask where the carriers are. Myself, in a crisis I ask what our infamy and our war exhaustion is. These two numbers will be the main limitations on my rate of conquest. War exhaustion increase my nation's revolt risk and I can take about +5% revolt risk without problems when at full stability. However, any more than that and I will get revolutions here and there. As I only have 20.000 troops in mainland China and 40.000 in all of the Americas, I can only combat a few rebellions at a time. A war exhaustion of 7 or higher will be disastrious to me, so I will do everything I can to avoid that.

Second, I can only reach the HRE through Italy via the province Parma and even after that I only have a frontline of a few provinces. That makes it imposisble to apply all of my forces at once. I need a second front somwhere. Let's take a look at the prospective battlefield: North Italy/ South Germany:




As you can see, due to Mantua and Venice, acess to North Italy is quite limited. But the HRE also has limited acces to North Italy: only via Breisgau and Tirol can the HRE bring in more troops. I cannot reach Breisgau but I have signed a Military Access treaty with Austria (the fools!) and thus can reach Tirol. The plan is to station troops in Tirol, blocking the way to the battlefield for most of the HRE armies. As Tirol is mountainous, I should be able to defend it even against large forces. So before the war I station 80.000 troops in Austria near Tirol.


(Recommended background music for this part of the AAR: Frank Klepacki's Hell March)




On 1 January 1752 I declare war on the Holy Roman Empire and call all allies to arms. Immediately 160.000 Chinese march across the borders. I lay siege to many provinces at once, not daring many assaults as most provinces are protected by level 4 forts and because I expect heavy resistence from the HRE armies.




After three months, not a single battle has been fought yet, as I send reinforcement to any army that is to be attacked by an HRE army, which causes the HRE commanders to break off their attack. Through assaults with 30-40 infantry regiments I have taken control over Parma and Liguria, the other sieges are still ongoing. I have broken off one siege in South Italy and send the troops to the north as reinforcements.




Finally in April the first battle takes place, in Salzburg. With its mountains Salzburg. is quite easy to defend and thus I achieve a sound victory here. The plan of creating a barrier in Tirol seems to pay off: I estimate that about 50.000 HRE troops would have reached North Italy without the barrier by now.




A week later a combined China/Tuscany force lead by an Italian general annihilates a 22,000-strong force. For most nations, such a defeat would be devastating and causing lots of war exhaustion. For the HRE, it's only about 5% of their forces. Still, while the HRE losses only form a small part of their total army, it is a significant part of their local forces. I intend to win this war so quickly that the HRE cannot use most of its forces against me.



I follow the defeated enemy army and achieve yet another great victory, but I want that army destroyed! So I assault Brescia, take if over and pursue the fleeing enemies with a battle corp.s



Unfortunately, while I manage to inflict some losses, I can't annihilate the enemy army and I am forced to flee.






Meanwhile, over the course of a the month I have three battles in Tirol. The HRE and I fight desperately for control over this strategic point, but at the end of the month control is still contested.

Meanwhile, two assault corps, 20 and 30 infantry corps strong, have been busy assaulting forts in the western part of North Italy. Because of the battles of Brescia and Trent, the Imperial forces remaining in North Italy are all out of morale and unable to contest my conquests there. Without reinforcements coming through Tirol, the HRE has little chance to retake North Italy.

Also, In July I get a examining the examinations, in which I choose to go Narrowminded, as I want the Templar faction to be as strong as possible from now on. No more balance!




After two months of rest to regain morale, my northern troops attack Tirol with success. I send in heavy reinforcements and assault Tirol. I want this war to be over, as my war exhaustion rises.




In October, I control Imperial North Italy and have local superiority. I negotiate peace with the Emperor and gain 15 provinces. Infamy is at 15 and war exhaustion is 5.




The situation after the war. As you can see, Parma is now a bottleneck for me. I decide that Mantua must be mine, but first I let War exhaustion drop.




In the meantime, I get military access to the HRE and send some armies into HRE territory to help combat rebels. I don't want any republic secceeding from The HRE. All republics must be Confucian and under my control and it's hard to conquer republics, as the Revolutionary Casus Belli doesn't apply to them.

Research progresses nicely. In July 1754 I reach land level 44, gaining quite a tech lead over my rivals. I choose Whitecoats as my infantry, as the rival nations have ridiculous amounts of cavalry. In August I declare war on Mantua, with Venice taking leadership and Norway and Sweden joining the fun. The next month I annex Mantua: infamy is now 13,4 and war exhaustion is 2,6.



Then Venice makes a surprise move: they invade China! The first European troops on Chinese soil! Luckily this doesn't help their cause that much as I control all their Italian provinces. In December I force Venice to give me Verona.

Next episode: vive la révolution!

[Aliasing]

Excellent, I NOW PROCLAIM CHINA RULER OF ALL OF EVERYTHING

[Boris ze Spider]

Man, that was last true threat, world domination iminent.

[BootOnFace]

I like how you helped the HRE fight rebels. Looks like they won't be collapsing anytime soon, what with their regime being propped up by the Republic.

[knul]

Excellent, I NOW PROCLAIM CHINA RULER OF ALL OF EVERYTHING

Does that means I don't have to continue this AAR anymore?

Man, that was last true threat, world domination iminent.

Well, the HRE still has its armies and its economy, so this war hasn't yet decided everything. Still, it was essential to gain North Italy for my plans, so this war was certainly a success.

I like how you helped the HRE fight rebels. Looks like they won't be collapsing anytime soon, what with their regime being propped up by the Republic.

Well, I only really have to help them in South Italy. There are only a rebel army or two in the rest of European HRE and these are quickly dealt with by the HRE itself. The Empire doesn't seem to be on the brink of collapse to me, honestly.

[Aliasing]

No you still do: BUT WE HAVE HIGHER EXPECTATIONS!

Including force-converting all of Africa,Asia, and Europe

[Yammka]

I just read this entire AAR, effectively, in one day (only a page or two the day before) and I am bloody impressed with your complete mastery of the faction system. And on top of that, you fought the unified HRE and won. If you manage to bring down the entire thing . . . your actions will be beyond words.

Thanks to this AAR, I'm definitely going to have to go back and give Ming another shot. This AAR is a public service to all of those too intimidated to play as Ming. I thank you for that, knul.

[knul]

No you still do: BUT WE HAVE HIGHER EXPECTATIONS!

Including force-converting all of Africa,Asia, and Europe

Hahaha, that is maybe too much ambition at this stage. I only have 70 years left, I wouldn't get enough missionaries to convert that much territory. But I will do my best.

I just read this entire AAR, effectively, in one day (only a page or two the day before) and I am bloody impressed with your complete mastery of the faction system. And on top of that, you fought the unified HRE and won. If you manage to bring down the entire thing . . . your actions will be beyond words.

Thanks to this AAR, I'm definitely going to have to go back and give Ming another shot. This AAR is a public service to all of those too intimidated to play as Ming. I thank you for that, knul.

Thank you Yammka for your praise. I do indeed hope that this AAR will give people insight into the faction system and that it is very much playable. Too bad that a lot of the strategies used in this AAR are already hopelessly outdated. For example you cannot ever leave the Celestial Empire government, so the strategy of becoming the Central Republic and change leadership quickly is sadly dead and buried. Still, the basic strategy of "balance the sliders, get a balanced leader, switch when appropriate" will hold regardless.

[knul]

Episode 26: Vive la révolution!

France has become the New Defender of Catholicism, so they become the next target. In 1756 I reach Land tech level 47, giving me Royal Mortars, an important thing as almost half my army consists of artillery. As France is at tech level 42, their troops are much weaker in quality.

So in March 1757 I declare war on France. Fighting France is much easier than the HRE in the previous war because of the much bigger frontline and because France is covered mostly by level 1 forts while the HRE has almost all provinces protected by level 4 forts.



In November France and I negotiate peace and we agree that I get 14 provinces, as you can see above. My infamy is now 25 and with an infamy limit of 22 I am now in a dangerous position. Luckily, I can release Scotland and with its 6 provinces lose 6 infamy. Or so I thought. Instead, I lose 12 infamy, 2 per province! I don't know if this is a bug or a change in recent patches, but I don't complain. As the war with the French was still quite brutal, war exhaustion is now almost 6, so I need some peaceful time to recover.




A couple of years pass without incident. In 1761, Paraquay declares independence from the HRE. To make matters worse for the Emperor, I declare war on the HRE. As for "Chinese South America", it is Tuscany territory. I have no idea how they got it, I assume they seized the formerly Imperial colonies from the HRE during the war of 1752.

The war with the HRE goes surprisingly easy. Their war exhaustion is still around 12, mostly because since our last war with the Empire the HRE has continued waging war with Lithuania and Norway, so they are still exhausted. Also, their land tech like France is now significantly behind mine, unlike in our first revolutionary war. I freely assault with 30 or 40 infantry regiments at a time, taking down level 4 forts quite quickly: only in a few cases does the fort stand after the first assault.



After six months, in February 1762, I sign a peace treaty with the Emperor in which I get 9 provinces. South Germany is now under Chinese control.

In 1764 I reach Land tech 52, giving me access to Latin Cuirassiers, which are an immense improvement over Arme Blanche cavalry: 9 offensive shock versus 5 offensive shock, for example! I almost pity the poor Europeans.




In 1765 Lousianna seccedes from Great Britain. It's a little bit more south than I would have expected, but if they want to call it Lousianna, who am I to argue?

In January 1766 I declare war on Austria, as I want to tidy my borders. However, France has guaranteed Austria and honours it, becoming the alliance leader. Lithuania and seven smaller nations are allied with Austria, which make it a bit of a random thing in Europe, a big nation with allies! Oh, and Venice has become Defender of the Faith and also joins. I'm scared now.



The above picture gives a high level overview of the war. While the French are initially able to invade Chinese territory, as soon as I have broken the back of Austrian resistance I turn my armies westward and push the French way back over their borders. The French land, as it is their tradition, quite an army in the Americas and manage to take over Florida, but this will have little impact on the war in Europe.

After a year I have defeated the Austria thoroughly enough to demand a harsh peace, giving up 12 provinces. France surrenders after that, removing Brittany and Fox from their SoI and annulling their treaties with Austria. Infamy is now 16,4 and War Exhaustion 4,9, so some rest is needed once again.




The next year I reach Land tech 53 and I get Espirit de Corps, infusing the troops with revolutionary zeal! However, colonial assembly takes place. I can either choose to get a stab hit roughly once per year for eternity or reduce both oversee income and tariffs with 25%. I choose the latter, with bitterness. It's a good thing that I will turn most of my European conquest over to vassals, as I don't get that much income from them anymore. Tradelane efficiency is now at 70-80% and I can expand trade, so the economy is steadily growing worse and worse.



Still, I have little reason to complain. Although my postion relative to the other powers has worsened, I still have a significantly larger economy than even the HRE. Note that four of my European vassals are now on the first page. Oh how quickly do those little rascals grow up!

I close the year by invading and annexing Baden. Although Baden is within Austria's SoI, Austria does not interfere. They are getting wise.

Meanwhile, conversion to the Confucian faith goes on quite well. I am greatly helped by the new missionary mapmode:



This mapmode is extremely useful if you convert large amounts of provinces. The blue provinces have an active missionary working, the green provinces indicate that they can be converted, the darker the green the higher the chance.

In January 1771 I declare war on the HRE. In June I can already get a favourable peace: another 15 provinces for me. I once again pass the infamy limit, so I release Bavaria:



Infamy is now 18,8, with war exhaustion at 2,6. The wars go so fast now with so little problems that war exhaustion becomes less and less of an issue.

In March 1772 I invade France, which is joined by Catholic Defender Lithuania.




As the Chinese army by now has manuals on how to invade France, the war goes quickly and painlessly.




In October the war is over and I get 10 provinces. Yet again I pass the infamy limit and again I release a vassal to combat this, Toulouse this time:




Like Europe, the revolutionary cause is spreading in South America, although not by Chinese arms:



La Plata has declared independence from Tuscany and the HRE. Also, the kingdom of Brazil has formed in the meantime.

In April 1774 I invade Foix. Great Britain was allied to Foix and France guarenteed it, so they join the war with France becoming the leader. All for naught, as in May I force Great Britain to release Canada, in December I annex Foix and force France to sign a peace. A harsh peace in which they have to release four non-European nations, pay 1800 ducats and annul all treaties with Nevers.



The location of newly formed Canada is, to say the least, quite more to the south then expected. Hopefully this will appease the colonists within Chinese America that wanted to found Canada themselves.

I end this episode by invading Nevers, who has no more friends after France was forced to abandon them. The current situation in Europe:




Stats

					change during decade		change since 1399	
			1760	1770	absolute	relative	absolute	relative
No. of provinces	278	289	11		4%		235		435%
Yearly income		12.928	11.493	-1.435		-11%		10.655		1271%
Yearly income/province	46,5	39,8	-6,7		-14%		24,2		156%
Inflation		0,4	0,5	0,1		N/A		0,5		N/A
Manpower (x1.000)	572	577	5		1%		492		579%
Army Size		390	390	0		0%		351		900%
Navy size		227	227	0		0%		178		363%

					change during decade		change since 1399	
			1750	1760	absolute	relative	absolute	relative
No. of provinces	258	278	20		8%		224		415%
Yearly income		15978	12.928	-3.050		-19%		12.090		1443%
Yearly income/province	61,9	46,5	-15,4		-25%		31,0		200%
Inflation		0,6	0,4	-0,2		N/A		0,4		N/A
Manpower (x1.000)	557	572	15		3%		487		573%
Army Size		390	390	0		0%		351		900%
Navy size		227	227	0		0%		178		363%

Episode 27: The revolution keeps spreading

[Michaelangelo]

Woot, Canada! ...lol, Peter Canuck is the leader.
Does Great Britain only have one province left in the British Isles? If you're lucky, maybe they'll move their capital and you can claim the entire island.
The giant words "Chinese Europe" look epic.

[Aliasing]

Make England the new Great Britain

[sad king billy]

only 45 years to convert all of Europe ;-).

This is one of the most bizarre alternate history games I've read - well done.

[Yammka]

Thank you Yammka for your praise. I do indeed hope that this AAR will give people insight into the faction system and that it is very much playable. Too bad that a lot of the strategies used in this AAR are already hopelessly outdated. For example you cannot ever leave the Celestial Empire government, so the strategy of becoming the Central Republic and change leadership quickly is sadly dead and buried. Still, the basic strategy of "balance the sliders, get a balanced leader, switch when appropriate" will hold regardless.

Well, that ruins my plans. >.>

Anyway, where did Papal forces flee to? I'm not seeing them in your screenshots . . . or maybe they're just blending in somewhere . . .