Military Control

[glennbob]

I have recently come back to the world of PoN after a long time not playing it, I quickly installed the newest patch and began a grand campaign as GB. I set to work trying to keep Rangoon from the burmese forces and then simultaneously sought to take borneo for myself by conquering the sarawaks. I declared war on the sarawak after gaining 35% in all colonial regions of it and sent a force to the capital, but once they arrived they have been unopposed and appear to have taken it for themselves although the military control shows only an 8% stake for me at the minute, it has been this way for the last 9 or 10 turns now. Is this a new feature of the game since i last played it in about november?

[Sgt Bash]

Have you declared the Sarawaks a Protecterate? Why did you declare war on the Sarawaks? With 1.02 vers, it is not necessary to declare war to achieve MC. Once you have declared the region a Protecterate, your MC is set at 5% and increases by 5% until you have control and can start constructing outposts and anchorages which will get you to Colony CP. Is the 35% that you mention CP or MC?

[glennbob]

It is colonial penetration the 35% is. Thanks man, the system has changed a bit, i was unaware of it. So to clarify, I can declare a region a protectorate even if i dont own the capital region? and then this will slowly implement my over a period of time? do you know how long that is btw? thanks very much

[glennbob]

Oh Grand. I tried what you said, i got all the regions up to 35% and then declared a protectorate, after 10 turns my MC has reached 50% and I now own all of the sarawakian land and a couple of regions to the north. Thanks very much for the advice, must say i really do believe this new system for gaining MC is much more accessible than it has been. Now its Burma's turn!

[Sgt Bash]

Go for it. I think that you will find Burma much much easier to colonise than before. Going to war in the Burmese juungle is a real pain. Now you can colonise it just by taking Rangoon.

[glennbob]

Yeah you're absolutely right, and britain starts with rangoon under control anyways so all you need to do is maintain that control. I took it before the end of 1852

[Sgt Bash]

Well done. I guess that it will be Gold Coast next?

[glennbob]

Well i decided to go for falaba first, i have extended soi's on, as its right behind seirra leone and had 2 gold in it. I used a prospector unit and discovered two more gold, so i quickly took that and made a railraod and 4 gold fields. Im going for gold coast now as its the end of 1857 and i have just put down the indian mutiny. i would have made this an aar but i just dont think im the kind of person who could make one and keep it interesting :P

[Sgt Bash]

I mentioned gold coast only because I also am playing GBR. I went for the Gold Coast before Falaba, but I doubt that it makes any difference. You neglected to mention Malaya. Have you colonised this region yet?

I did get a second Indian Mutiny event. This is a bug, but happily there was no third mutiny.

[glennbob]

Oh awesome, i've noticed that not many people appear to play as GBR, but ah well :P patriotism is not a bad thing. No i doubt it does make a difference, i just went for falaba as it seemed easier to access and colonise, and also there was double the amount of gold there than there is in kumasi. I have not tried to colonise malaya as i reckon there will be problems with the dutch owning the upper left region of it, also for some reason the french own the region directly above singapore on mine, why they would conquer this and not improve thier CP is beyond me :S I only had one mutiny and they offered peace giving me meerut but not delhi, but this didnt matter as it gave me delhi anyway, how far in are you?

[Sgt Bash]

Yes, the Dutch owning Penang is an annoying bug. After you colonise Malaya, you get Penang after 5 or so years. I did not have the French in Malaya, but I assume you could still colonise the region. In my game I am in the year 1875. The one piece if advice i can give you is to develop your economy carefully and slowly. Once you get to level 2 economic structures, the desire is to build a whole bunch of them as these produce double of the level 1 structures. However, level 2 structures require manufactured good, mechanical parts and/or chemicals.

In Africa, I have colonised Nigeria, Kenya and Tanganyka as well as Gold Coast and Falaba that we have already spoken about.

[glennbob]

Oh yeah i remember that event from a previous file with GBR, the whole french thing could become arkward, i hate that whole situation, could that create an unwanted crisis? only thing i would wanted malaya for is the future presence of rubber that appears. Also, another off-topic question, but have you colonised afghanistan? i know its an objective, but i really dont want to, seems like unnecessary hassle for a huge area with so few resources. :S

[Ebbingford]

You get a lot of Afghan troops to help defend your borders if you do it right.
(Sign a defensive treaty with them when it comes, then just change the CP and then declare protectorate and then colony. Bingo.

[glennbob]

I see where you're coming from ebb, but in all honesty you just end up using those troops to put down rebels in afghanistan itself. I dont need those extra troops right now really as i have the leftover armys from putting down the indian mutiny. its just cotton/wool in afghan, i already have australia and new zealand for that :P