Yet this will go onward the same: the Yamato Destiny

[Tanzhang (譚張)]

You sir, have managed to make those damned electon popups somewhat interesting to read. Good show! I've rarely seen Reactionaries win elections unless I've appointed them beforehand, and given their poor showing in 1840, I'd say that result was something of a miracle! How did you manage to do that?

Not being very familiar with Japanese history, are you using historical names/figures for your updates?

Apart from Engerusu? No I don't think he is. Kuroda Hirobumi for example looks like a combination of the names Ito Hirobumi and Kuroda Ryosuke.

[loki100]

sad to see the end of Ito ... a little bit like the end of Bismarck with the possibility of major change of direction

[Alfredian]

I have just caught up with this. Really excellent stuff.

I like the way you give us non-Japanese events as well (e.g. Anglo-Scottish competition to gain control of Ireland).

[Dewirix]

Party popularity having such huge swings doesn't feel very natural, but an interesting political change nonetheless.

"If Japan cares about Austria at all"? Interesting... Not caring would leave Milan in a pretty dangerous situation.

I'm not sure what happened with the election really. I know that in former versions of V2 there was a bug that could cause odd election results, but I think that benefitted the ruling party. Still, it does make for an interesting change.

Milan should be OK for now. They've got a truce with Modena for five years, and Austria actually hasn't done anything against them since 1836.

Time will tell if Kuroda is the right man or not indeed. Worrying news with regards to both Magdeburg's great weakening and Britain continuing her aggressive expansion. Good though that you stopped Austria from further hurting Magdeburg. I found it quite amusing that despite Japan's intervention she is still -100 in relations with Magdeburg, such gratitude!

Well, to be fair to Magdeburg it was pretty clear they were a pretext that allowed Japan to limit Austria's ambitions. For both sides it was an alliance of convenience - it just turned out to be a lot less convenient for Magdeburg than for the Empire.

Britain on the other hand will soon share a border with Japan, which makes it a much greater threat that no party can ignore (well, maybe the pacifists, but we don't have any of those yet).

Then I guess Japan will need to make another one.

The ideal solution would be military access, so I could station troops in Magdeburg and use them to put down any uprisings. That's not really a priority for Kuroda's mob though.

that Austrian war was worrying, not just the loss of an ally but being fought to a standstill implies the Imperial armies may well be at their limits for now (at least in Europe?)

From a player point of view I was pleased with the outcome of the Austrian war (save for the impact on Magdeburg). I was outnumbered, but only lost one battle and 3,000 troops, whereas I wiped out a good few Austrian brigades.

Not being very familiar with Japanese history, are you using historical names/figures for your updates?

Apart from Engerusu? No I don't think he is. Kuroda Hirobumi for example looks like a combination of the names Ito Hirobumi and Kuroda Ryosuke.

Tanzhang's got it spot on. Engerusu is just the Japanese transliteration of Engels. I was quite proud of that as I used my very limited knowledge of Japanese to come up with it and happened to get it right. Kuroda Hirobumi is indeed a mix of the first two Japanese PMs, just as Ito took his surname from the first.

A fantastic update! You sure beat the tar out of those Austrians. Poor Ireland seems doomed to more fighting as well!

I certainly wouldn't want to be in Munster's shoes right now. Scotland expanding in Ireland is seen as in the interests of Japan as it reduces British targets while strengthening a rival.

So what line of policy are the restorationists going to follow? I must admit its hard keeping up with these parties when I only see them once a week.

Also, does this mean that you as the player will change your gameplay style to one of non-intervention (or whatever this party does)?

I'll start the next update with an overview of the new party (now called the Loyalists). They're reactionary and much less wedded to maintaining the European status quo than than the Court Party (conservatives) were. This will make for gameplay changes, but they're Pro Military, so it's not going to be all peace and flowers.

Magdeburg might not be good counterweight anymore, but at least it survived. Whether that outcome was worth the expenditure of Japanese blood and treasure is something imperial historians will be debating for a while, one presumes. Geopolitically it made sense, but like others in the thread, I am wondering if the poorer-than-expected military showing might herald something unpleasant for the long term.

And yes, poor Ireland! I expect it will remain a battleground until either Scotland or Britain comes out on top.

From a Japanese standpoint the war was relatively cheap and while Austria mobilised Japan didn't so it's more a matter of caution rather than a poor showing. Oyama understood that Europe is at the end of a very long supply line so had to take care not to incur losses that couldn't be replaced. That said, I could have been more aggressive than I was.

I'm getting update fever. I check back everyday looking for more. Hope its not too long away.

+1

Not now it's not!

You sir, have managed to make those damned electon popups somewhat interesting to read. Good show! I've rarely seen Reactionaries win elections unless I've appointed them beforehand, and given their poor showing in 1840, I'd say that result was something of a miracle! How did you manage to do that?

I'm not sure. They're Pro Military, so being at war helps them, but so is the Court so it should balance out. I've intentionally split the conservatives between pro- and anti-military factions, so that split their support somewhat. The first past the post system also favours a winner take all approach.

sad to see the end of Ito ... a little bit like the end of Bismarck with the possibility of major change of direction

I don't think Ito was as accomplished as Bismarck, but he did well and his ejection from office was not entirely fair. However, as Enoch Powell said, all political careers end in failure, and this was Ito's.

I have just caught up with this. Really excellent stuff.

I like the way you give us non-Japanese events as well (e.g. Anglo-Scottish competition to gain control of Ireland).

Welcome aboard! I'm not recording all non-Japanese events, but the ones I'm concentrating on are those that are of importance to the geopolitical arena in which Japan operates. France have had a number of wars (including one against the Ottomans which they WP'd out of when they should have won), but we're friendly with them so don't care about their warmongering.

The coming update is for 1845, after which the next will be a survey of the first decade.

[Dewirix]

1845: The new order

I rejoice that I am enabled, on again meeting you in Parliament, to congratulate you on the improved Condition of the Country.

Increased Activity pervades almost every Branch of Manufacture; Trade and Commerce have been extended at home and abroad; and among all Classes of My People there is generally prevalent a Spirit of Loyalty and cheerful Obedience to the Law.

I continue to receive from all Foreign Powers and States Assurances of their friendly Disposition.

State opening and Emperor's speech

Although the Loyalists had convincingly won the 1844 election, it was fair to say that this had been more due to the unpopularity of the Ito government and the division of the conservatives rather than a genuine groundswell in favour of Kuroda and his party.



Ideologically, the differences between the Loyalists and the outgoing administration were more questions of emphasis rather than of ideals. For the conservatives the model citizen - pious, obedient and Japanese (in outlook if not in ethnicity) - was an example to be aspired to. For the Loyalists, it was a mould into which subjects would be forced into regardless of their wishes.

In economic outlook the Loyalists were even more dirigiste than their predecessors. As stifling as the licensing regime had been, one of Kuroda's first acts as prime minister was to suspend all new factory building not expressly licensed by the state. In the minds of the Cabinet, runaway industrialisation had led to chaos and unemployment: from now on progress would take place in a more considered fashion.

In contrast to the Emperor's speech at the opening of the 1844 Diet, Sakuramachi was visibly more relaxed as he set out his new government's aims for the year. Despite the Emperor's backing, Kuroda and his associates had still been caught somewhat unawares by their victory, with the result that the 1845 programme was pulled together in something of a rush.



The truth of this was visible in the Budget. Mindful that the Exchequer had seen its reserves fall by £150,000 over the course of 1844, the Finance Minister raised the consumption tax to 50% for all classes, but otherwise left spending as it was.

The increased revenue would help to pay for a new naval squadron. Ten ships of the line would be raised to defend the Great Eastlands and ensure that Japan's maritime dominance continued. The Ministry of War also gave notice that it was considering an expansion of the army to put the Empire on an equal footing with its rivals, but a final decision on this would not be taken in 1845.


Charity begins at home

The close of 1844 had seen Lohajaya II Yamato, the leader of Lan Xang and kinsman of the Emperor, declared war on neighbouring Malacca amid accusations of piracy against ships trading between the Gulf of Siam and India. Although the outgoing Court-led government had tried to soothe tempers, Sakuramachi had made it plain he favoured Lohajaya in the dispute and had in effect made guarantees that the Empire would support whatever course of action Lan Xang settled upon.



Sakuramachi's assurance of Japanese aid had predictable results. Lan Xang declared war on Malacca despite having an army little more than half the size of its opponent. The opening stages of the war saw both sides avoid direct conflict, instead preferring to capture territory rather than risk battle.

By summer the Malaccan's had overcome their reluctance to fight and were even willing to launch an attack in the difficult terrain of the Chao Phraya valley. In a series of battles they all but destroyed Lan Xang's army.

Unfortunately for Malacca, this merely hastened Japan's entry into the war. Even had it wanted to, the Cabinet was in no position to refuse Sakuramachi's demand that the Empire intervene on his cousin's behalf. Despite the Minister of War's reluctance to get involved in jungle fighting through the summer, five brigades of the Army of Southern China were dispatched to the war.



Although General Arisugawa's close connections with the Ito government might have counted against his being selected to lead the Malaccan intervention, his reputation as an attack-minded commander ensured that the Loyalists would not leave themselves open to the same charges of timidity that had so damaged the Court.

True to form, Arisugawa engaged the Malaccan army at the Battle of Lopburi in late July. The Malaccan forces were already worn out from seven months' campaigning and their fight with Lan Xang's army. Now they faced superior Japanese forces supported by field artillery to which they had no answer.



Lopburi sealed Malacca's fate. Of the 21,000 troops it had begun the war with less than a tenth of that number remained under arms. Japanese forces would continue the fight into 1846, but from Lopburi onwards they would never face serious resistance.

By November Malacca had realised the futility of resisting when it no longer had the means to do so. Moulmein province was ceded to Lan Xang, and while the war technically continued it was more a matter of putting Japanese demands into a form the Malaccan government could accept.



For its part, the Cabinet had decided that the only acceptable outcome of the war would be to have Malacca become in effect a satellite of Japan. This reflected the Loyalists' wider aims of strengthening the Empire's hold over the border states: a policy formulated in reaction the Court's excessive focus on distant European matters.


Foreign affairs

The beginning of the year saw Burma complete its conquest of Shan to leave Handabayin's kingdom further enlarged. In 1836 Burma had been a small land-locked state trapped between Shan and Ayutthaya: now it was a regional power.



Later in the year Handabayin attempted to make the most of the Malaccan war by invading Moulmein for himself, but the intervention of Japan convinced him that discretion was the better part of valour in this case. There were, it seemed, limit's to even Burma's audacity.

Of greater concern was the conclusion of the Russo-Manchu war. Launched at a time when Japan was still locked in conflict with Austria, the Empire had found no suitable pretext to intervene on Manchukuo's behalf.



Russian gains in Asia would always be of concern to Japan, but the extent of the territorial cessions forced on Manchukuo had not been anticipated in Kyoto. When peace was finally agreed in May the Empire found itself with a new neighbour.

The Cabinet immediately approved the strengthening of fortifications along the new border. More hot-headed Loyalists called for a war against Russia aimed at reversing their gains. For now, such calls were resisted, but Kuroda privately believed that a clash between Japan and Russia was inevitable.


Domestic affairs

Perhaps the greatest impact of the change of administration was felt in the Interior Ministry. While the Court had taken a firm line with protesters and anti-imperial sentiment it had always been careful to keep its responses within the boundaries of the constitution. For the Loyalists, the constitution was a controversial document that had been forced upon the young Kashiwabara before he had had time to consolidate his position.



Thus the Kuroda Cabinet was as intolerant of dissent as its predecessor, but felt itself much less restrained in its response. During its first year in office it upheld rules barring the army from buying supplies from any but Japanese merchants and ordered local authorities to suppress an unsanctioned society in Yongzhou that was suspected of anti-Imperial activities.

More disturbing still was the government's indifference to an incident in Nanchang province which saw police clash with protesters leading to at least one death, and the Cabinet's rumoured collusion in the unexplained death of a young Chinese poet who had just had his latest work banned by the censors.

The Loyalists' legislative agenda moved away from the Court's focus on ideology. To the Kuroda Cabinet such concerns were at best self-indulgent and at worse actively dangerous, unleashing as they had a flood of ideas that risked undermining the state.



Instead, the Ministry of War announced it would be introducing legislation establishing a formal academic training system for army officers. Although some of the more traditionalist members of the government were uneasy about replacing the system of purchased commissions, most agreed that Japan needed to ensure its army was as efficient as possible, particularly given the tensions with Russia.

As if to underline the dangers of dabbling with ideology, the Cabinet was forced to intervene in a debate that had begun at the University of Kyoto but had grown to encompass much of the political class. On the one side, traditionalists argued that society was best conceived as a hierarchy in which those at the bottom depended upon those above for guidance, from provincial magistrates all the way up to the Emperor in a divinely-ordered reflection of the human body itself: workers were the limbs; the nobility the organs; and Sakuramachi himself was the head.



More radical members of the faculty had put forward the idea of egalitarianism - that all men were essentially equal and that status was merely the product of accidents of birth. To bolster their arguments they pointed out that able men had bettered themselves regardless of their background and even used the Loyalists' army reforms as an example of the benefits of a meritocratic approach.

The Cabinet 'resolved' the debate by ordering the egalitarians to back down or lose their jobs. While this was enough to bring most into line it could not be said that the government had settled the matter, much less won the argument.

By the autumn Japan had successfully established a further two settlements in the Great Eastlands and began work on two more, extending the Empire's claim to the interior.



The British had by now woken up to the challenge posed by Japan's activities, but had been slower off the mark. It seemed that the wide flood plains of the Mississippi and its tributaries would be hotly-contested and the possibility of war could not be ruled out. By 1845 the British had expanded their forces to 60 brigades and as many ships. By contrast, Japanese troops in the Great Eastlands numbered only 12,000 and the only ships in the eastern Pacific were the ones currently being built.


End of year

The end of 1845 underscored the divisive nature of the Loyalists' first year in power. Although the new year elections saw the Court and Isolationists suffer the greatest loss of support, the Liberals were the only ones to benefit and now threatened to become the third largest party in the Diet.



Furthermore, the Loyalists' harsh policies had increased tensions at home, while pressure to take firm action against Russia continued to build.

[Tanzhang (譚張)]

I can't say I'm very fond of the repressive Mr. Kuroda or his party. If Japan is making £4k a day, surely there's no need for a 75% tariff?

Furthermore, the Loyalists' harsh policies had increased tensions at home, while pressure to take firm action against Russia continued to build.

I suppose Kuroda could redeem himself in the eyes of the electorate by taking the Tsar down a peg or two sometime before the next election...

[Blxz]

Excellent stuff Mr Kuroda. Your governace style is much like my own. Those people will assimilate or die trying! I commend your efficient administration.

[Ashantai]

Excellent progress Dewirix! This story has a great flow to it. I can clearly see the differences in policy resulting from the change of governments. That's a sign of a player actually playing to the narrative, which is great! Well done.

[Malurous]

The Loyalist party doesn't seem to have very pleasant policies.

The foreign situation appears to be getting quite dangerous, what with the Russian border and the imminent one between your colonies and the British Empire.

[morningSIDEr]

A very good update. I still have to smile at the cheek of Lan Xang, forever dragging Japan into her wars. If only V2 had a 'Royal Marriage' option, I'm quite sure near every nation in the world would be begging Japan for a bride!

The colonisation of North America seems to be continuing smoothly, I'm rather looking forward to when the colonies finally reach the borders of Britain, war then seems very possible! Russia's gaining Mongolia also seems to promise war at some point, Japan has her work cut out for her.

As for the new government, I rather hope the next elections see a reversal in fortune for the Loyalists. You've written about them and their actions far too well, showing them to be as repressive as would be expected. The campaign should now begin to bring back Ito!

[Chris Taylor]

Terrific update, Dewirix. As Ashantai says, the change in policies is clear to the reader, and your event choices reflect Loyalist preferences, not necessarily what is beneficial or expedient for the player. Two enthusiastic thumbs up for that!

It seems the Loyalists are all but guaranteed to goad liberal sentiments (if not sedition and rebellion) out of the non-Japanese cultures. It will be a fascinating ride and I can't wait to read more.

[loki100]

excellent update, does seen as Mr Kuroda is playing with (nationalist) fire and concentrating the attention of the empire East Asia

[Alfredian]

How many settlers do you have in the Great Eastlands now? Do the Loyalists have a particular view on the merits of colonisation there?

[Dewirix]

I can't say I'm very fond of the repressive Mr. Kuroda or his party. If Japan is making £4k a day, surely there's no need for a 75% tariff?

I suppose Kuroda could redeem himself in the eyes of the electorate by taking the Tsar down a peg or two sometime before the next election...

The tariff is there because Kuroda's a protectionist with big plans for the military. From a gameplay perspective there's not much point in it at the moment.

The idea of war with Russia is interesting. The thinking goes that a border with Russia makes it a greater threat, so we need to go to war to remove that threat. Thus the border being a threat becomes a self-fulfilling prophecy.

Excellent stuff Mr Kuroda. Your governace style is much like my own. Those people will assimilate or die trying! I commend your efficient administration.

Well said! You'll go far in the New Japan we're building!

Excellent progress Dewirix! This story has a great flow to it. I can clearly see the differences in policy resulting from the change of governments. That's a sign of a player actually playing to the narrative, which is great! Well done.

Thanks. I had a bit of a crisis when the reactionaries got in as I wasn't sure how to play them in a way that was sufficiently distinctive from the conservatives.

The Loyalist party doesn't seem to have very pleasant policies.

The foreign situation appears to be getting quite dangerous, what with the Russian border and the imminent one between your colonies and the British Empire.

It helps that we've got a paranoid Cabinet in post at the moment. In reality, I don't think there's much appetite in Russia or Britain for war with Japan.

A very good update. I still have to smile at the cheek of Lan Xang, forever dragging Japan into her wars. If only V2 had a 'Royal Marriage' option, I'm quite sure near every nation in the world would be begging Japan for a bride!

The colonisation of North America seems to be continuing smoothly, I'm rather looking forward to when the colonies finally reach the borders of Britain, war then seems very possible! Russia's gaining Mongolia also seems to promise war at some point, Japan has her work cut out for her.

As for the new government, I rather hope the next elections see a reversal in fortune for the Loyalists. You've written about them and their actions far too well, showing them to be as repressive as would be expected. The campaign should now begin to bring back Ito!

The Court were loyal to a fault, but even the Loyalists can't be expected to allow a Yamato to be thrown to the wolves. If Milan try something again they may be in for a shock.

Ito won't be coming back as he's retired, but the conservatives aren't finished yet.

Terrific update, Dewirix. As Ashantai says, the change in policies is clear to the reader, and your event choices reflect Loyalist preferences, not necessarily what is beneficial or expedient for the player. Two enthusiastic thumbs up for that!

It seems the Loyalists are all but guaranteed to goad liberal sentiments (if not sedition and rebellion) out of the non-Japanese cultures. It will be a fascinating ride and I can't wait to read more.

I have to confess that I actually picked the +RP options on a couple of School Curricula popups that didn't get shown when the Loyalists would probably be more likely to crush dissent regardless of the cost. I'm too tech-obsessed to do this properly I suppose, but I don't mind driving up the militancy. As you say, it makes life interesting.

excellent update, does seen as Mr Kuroda is playing with (nationalist) fire and concentrating the attention of the empire East Asia

Yes, Japan's focus is now much closer to home than was the case under the Ito Cabinet. Of course, it's unfortunate that this coincides with a major European power sharing a border with the Empire.

How many settlers do you have in the Great Eastlands now? Do the Loyalists have a particular view on the merits of colonisation there?

I don't have the figures to hand, but I'll check and get back to you. The Loyalists like the prestige and power colonies bring and see them as a useful dumping ground for malcontents. They also subscribe to the idea that a colony in the Empire is a colony denied to a rival.

[Dewirix]

1836-1846: State of the Nation

Well, that's the first decade down, and so in keeping with the tradition started in the EU3 portion of this AAR it's stats time!

Unlike the rest of this work, these sections will be written from a gameplay perspective, giving me a chance to reflect on how well I've been doing and hopefully giving everyone else a bit more insight into what's going on in areas not covered by the normal updates.

As this is the first overview it's going to run from 1836 to 1846, 11 periods, but only ten years of gameplay. Future updates will run from 1847 to 1856, etc.


The competition in 1846

First off, let's have a look what the other members of the top eight have been up to. I'll get to the military statistics for Japan later, but it's worth pointing out that I've got 109 ships and 68 brigades by January 1846.



First thing to note is that France has more ships than I do. I'm currently building more on the US West Coast, but if France are still churning out ships I'll have to work hard to keep up. Brigade-wise only Russia has more troops than I do, but I'd probably beat them hands down if we mobilise. However, for the moment I'm trying to keep mobilisation as something rare and desperate.

In terms of prestige, France and the UK are performing strongly given that they started on zero at the beginning of the game. I expect them to overtake me in the coming decade as I don't really have the research to spare to go after the aesthetic techs I need to keep up.

Industrially Japan is quite the powerhouse, despite the shortage of machine parts which is still biting even a decade in to the game. As far as industrial score is concerned Japan outmatches all the other GPs combined.

Wurzburg in eighth place shows how volatile the last GP slot is. I hadn't even realised Magdeburg had fallen out of position until I took the shot for this update. I don't expect Wurzburg to stay there for long though: it's the typical story of a literate German minor racing ahead with prestige techs, but without the industry or military to sustain itself in the longer term.

The table below is organised by number of provinces, with the largest state at the top. As you can see, Japan is third despite all my progress with colonisation.



Regardless of what's been going on in-character, I'm not too worried about Russia. They have abysmal literacy (worse even than mine) and would have to march troops pretty much the length of their country to get to Japan's territory. France could be a greater threat if we weren't already good friends. The UK is the current bête noire, but that’s mostly a naval issue until we actually share a land border.


Vital statistics

In this section I'm going to look at how Japan's been performing over the decade from a statistical perspective. First up is prestige score.

Overall score


You'll note that industry has shot up from zero in 1836 to by far the largest component of my score ten years later. Prestige has been rising steadily, driven mostly by colonisation, while military score has fluctuated depending upon whether or not I'm at war when I record the figures.

The province count is mainly rising due to colonisation, although I did take territory from Morocco and Modena. Sitting on Sardinia means Italy can't form except through revolution, which isn't ideal, but with France and Austria holding cores in northern Italy it's not a major concern.

Factory count is rising nicely, but since I've been doing a lot of expansion of existing factories it's only loosely coupled to industrial score.

Economics


I've got into the habit of setting a budget in January and then not varying it for the rest of the year. A massive deficit due to war would probably allow for an emergency budget, but despite the restriction I'm making more than enough - especially with the 50% minimum tax rate.

Subsidies are higher than I'd like, but nothing too disastrous at the moment. Education and Admin spending are stubbornly low as no-one wants to promote to clergy or bureaucrats - more on that later.

Society


Socially, the big story is my declining population, down almost two million since the start of the game and even more from its 1840 peak. The main reason is rising consciousness driving emigration. Not sure where everyone's going yet, but I'll try to find out.

Consciousness is driven by a number of factors, including plurality (which I need for research) and infamy. Militancy has taken a sharp turn for the worst after Kuroda's mob came to power.

Military


Perhaps someone can explain to me why my potential brigade count has risen so sharply of late. From around 400 as late as 1843 it currently stands at nearly 1000.

Despite that, I haven't actually built many brigades. That may change if the Loyalists decided to confront Russia. The mobilisation pool has grown in a satisfactory manner and will get bigger still with improved technology. The navy I'm fairly happy with: all but a few of the ships are transports and man o wars, so its as good as present technology will allow.

Research


On the subject of technology, I made a mistake in not going for Ideological Thought from day one. The increased literacy gain hasn't exactly been noticeable, but the plurality boosts for IT have added to research points in a big way.

That said, I'm happy that RP are above 10 at this stage in the game. I'm less thrilled about my low levels of clergy, but at least it's trending in the right direction. Bureaucrat population, on the other hand, has remained at 0.1% since 1836 and shows little sign of improvement. By contrast, I've got a small but growing number of clerks, which will eventually boost research further.

My near-term research goals are Steamers and Medicine, although if the Loyalists weren't in power I'd be going for Biologism for the literacy boost. At least I'm teching more quickly than at the beginning of the game.


Politics and society

Not a great deal to see here really, except to note that the voters aren't exactly diehard Loyalists.



There have been no reforms of any type except the 'Only Landed' voting that I started the game with. However, the liberals have been making steady gains in the Upper House, and if I'm lucky might manage a majority before the socialists turn up to wreck things.

The first thing to note from these two sets of tables is the dominance of the Loyalists in the electorate vote. At 38.9% they looked firmly ensconced, although I have some ideas about that. The pro/anti-military divide really seems to be a major part of Japanese politics at the moment, far more so than in 1836.

1836


1846


The pro-Japanese policies of successive administrations seems to be bearing fruit, with the proportion of the Imperial population self-identifying as Japanese rising to 11.2% after a decade. Shinto has also more than doubled its representation among the Empire's faiths.

From a standing start, craftsmen now make up 2.8% of the population, while the proportion of soldiers has also grown quickly.


The wider world

Finally, here's a look at what's going on beyond the Empire's borders. As you'll note, Australia is still up for grabs, but I don't have the life rating to colonise any of it yet

Eurasia and Africa


The African coast is completely colonised or occupied by indigenous powers such as Zanzibar. I had toyed with the idea of taking out one of the uncivs for access to the interior, but I don't think I'll be doing that for the foreseeable future.

I thought I'd also include a shot of South America as it hasn't had much attention to date.

South America


As you'll note it's mostly divided between Austria, France, the UK and Aragon, but the exceptions are revolters Argentina and Colombia and everyone's favourite coloniser Trebizond. The Amazon basin is still open for colonisation.

Finally, here's a shot of the whole world.

The world in 1846

[tamius23]

Ah! The Spaniards are occupying the rightful Japanese land of Sakhalin! Reclaim it at once!




(in a recent MDS game of mine Japan took Sakhalin off the Russians in 2017.)

[Avindian]

Interesting stuff -- it's mindboggling to me that you have such a large amount of people and so few brigades!

[vasziljevics]

as I am a huge fan of statistics and maps - You made my day, Sire!

[Malurous]

Interesting stuff and a very thorough presentation, kudos for that. Kind of a "behind the scenes" look into the game behind the story.

[Ashantai]

Great update showing the world, especially the graphs! Wonderful work, Dewirix!