Chapter One, Ryukyu
Start Date: 1399
Note: Just to make it clear, I’m not trying to get myself killed in this AAR. This is more an excersise in illustrating what its like to play really minor, hard nations when your not as good at EU3 as a certain Prawnish AAR author.
Inevitably, Ryukyu had to be my first choice. It’s perhaps the most infamous of all EU3 nations, known as the most being terrible to play of all EU3 nations, because it is nearly always being conquered by one of its much bigger neighbours.
For those of you who don’t know, this is Ryukyu.
A little archipelago off the coast of Japan, it IRL had a long and rich history - lasting until the 1870s due to a rather convoluted situation where Japan had vassalised it but couldn’t openly tell anyone it had vassalised, or properly annex it either, because Qing China next door had claimed it as a vassal/tributary state for the last couple of centuries and was likely to invade should they find out Japan had a century earlier conquered Ryukyu and made it an autonomous
han of Japan. Talk about confusing.
Ryukyu begins the game with a grand total of 1 cog and 1,000 armed men - It actually has reasonable income, and technologically it advances well if you can get it to survive, but the killer is that it sits next to a batch of different religious majors (Ryukyu being animist) and no one will sign up for an alliance to protect us.
We begin with Emperor Brunei (Why we call him an Emperor puzzles me, he rules over like three islands!), who is A/D/M 3/6/4 - not the best but not tragic either.
I find that no Great Men of the Court are available to hire, and that I’m despotic monarchy - That’s one thing at least, no tribal government problems. And I also get a mission to ‘Build a Proper Fleet’, something I just can’t afford to do or maintain once I’ve built it.
By November, our stability has increased and I’m looking at how I can survive. Conquering someone else is perhaps my only chance to survive, but the pickings are slim - It’s either Makassar, who is the only other OPM around, or Khmer - who is actually easier because they have no forts.
I opt for Khmer in the end.
Four province Khmer.
Their only ally, Lan Na, is a land bound OMP further up Indochina.
Meanwhile the only Great Man who pops up in this time is a -0.25 reputation fellow, who I snatch up just so that I have at least once advisor.
I load up the troops, all 1 regiment of them, and sail them to Khmer on all 1 boats that Ryukyu possesses. The only chance I have is by using some sneaky tactics, grabbing as many of the unfortified provinces as possible in the short time I have and going for a quick peace.
5/2/1400, the ships arrive in Khmerian waters, and offload while battling a Khmer fleet four times their size.
15/2/1400, I grab Prey Nokor and flee for Siem Reap as three thousand Khmer soldiers bear down on me.
1/3/1400, my fleet loses to Khmer’s but miraculously survives intact to retreat to safer waters.
13/3/1400, My forces are ambushed in Prey Nokor, before I can exit the province, and the end nears for me.
23/4/1400, I manage to acquire Siem Reap upon retreating, but Khmer won’t give me a dime for it back. I’m attempting to reach Khorat now, to rack up some more warscore so I can get out of there with my acquisitions.
9/5/1400, my forgotten fleet is discovered and beaten up some more. I attempt to send it fleeing back to the Ryukyu isles, but the ship gets ambushed in the next sea-zone.
21/5/1400, I lose a battle in Siem Reap, lose that said province and flee into a dead end in Khorat. It’s almost time for me to bail, I think.
Korea declares war in June, as if things couldn’t get worse. And Khmer won’t even take a white peace, nevermind give
me something.
19th of June, the fleet and the soldiers are both lost and Khmer refuses even tribute of my entire meagre treasury in exchange for peace. Manchu declares war, and I’m surprised Japan and Ming doesn’t copy them.
Well, I’m stuffed so I decide to donate my money to the Ming via diplomatic gifts - all 50 ducats of it. I’m not letting Korea or Manchu get their hands on it.
By April 30th, Manchu forces arrive in the Ryukyu isles and say siege. And to literally add insult to injury, Ming insults me.
I hop out of their immediately, moving on to the next poor minor.
Reply With Quote
It's been a really long time since I've played EU3 complete, so it might take a while to catch up, but this is a great idea, and I look forward to seeing how you'll do!
!
