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Avindian

People's Commissar of the Navy
120 Badges
Jan 3, 2010
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Hello, dear readAARs! My name is Avindian, and this is my very first (hopefully of many) AAR here in EUIV AARland. EUIII was my first Paradox game, and in terms of total hours played, probably the one I've got the most experience with. Needless to say (but I'm saying it anyway), I was excited about EUIV. I eagerly anticipated many a sleepless night conquering the world.

Then, I got the news I received a long-awaited grant to go Russia for my dissertation research.

So, instead of writing multiple AARs in EUIV, I have written zero. That, my friends, changes right now!

My recently finished AAR "The Oldest God" ended with a poll to choose my next solo AAR (in addition to the two interactive AARs I'm running). So, my readAARs there decided, despite my repeated protests of nigh ignorance with EUIV, to not only saddle me with writing an AAR for EUIV, but doing so with a Japanese daimyo.

Whether this is because they love me or hate me, I'll let you decide. At least they let me pick the daimyo, and I chose Uesugi because it has three provinces. So, here we are!

The house rules:
1) No cheating.
2) No save scumming (although I'm not going to use Ironman).
3) Nothing excessively gamey, with the proviso that I'm not entirely sure what I'm doing, and thus may inadvertently do something gamey.

The goals:
1) Survive.
2) Unite Japan.
3) Westernize.
4) Colonize the New World.

I'm playing with Conquest of Paradise and the randomized new world. This AAR will be gameplay; my knowledge of Japanese history is far too limited to do a narrative AAR. I think more or less ten years for the time frame of each update. In about an hour, I'll post my prepause moves; my first full update will be Saturday, I'm thinking, and then we'll get on to a regular schedule of some sort. I generally like to post at least once a week, and internet permitting, that's what I'll try to do here.

In any case, this should be a lot of fun, and I'm glad to have you along for the ride!
 
Your nigh ignorance of EU IV was one of the top selling points. Means you'll make lots of mistakes, and I'll learn a lot at your expense, it'll be GLORIOUS I tell you! :happy:
 
Subbed! Can't wait for this! :D your first EU4 AAR! Interesting that you chose Uesugi, it is one of the biggest daimyo s.
 
Subbed for sure, though I voted for S-P. :)

It's okay, I won't hold it against you.

I actually prefer your gameplay AARs. Eagerly awaiting the first chapter.

I like writing them more, because they're easier, but a good meaty narrative is fun to write too.

Your nigh ignorance of EU IV was one of the top selling points. Means you'll make lots of mistakes, and I'll learn a lot at your expense, it'll be GLORIOUS I tell you! :happy:

That makes one of us. :)

Subbed! Can't wait for this! :D your first EU4 AAR! Interesting that you chose Uesugi, it is one of the biggest daimyo s.

It's almost as if I did so intentionally!

subscribed

Excellent!

I'm going to try a new (old) format for comments; I'll answer them all en bloc and include them as part of the update. I used to do this all the time, but drifted away from it. That is, of course, unless I have a question of some kind.

Let’s meet Uesugi!

So, here is Japan in 1444.

lf3n.jpg


Further evidence I went into this totally blind: I expected an EUIII like setup for Japan. I am pleasantly surprised that I was wrong. This should be much more dynamic and fun, I hope!

Let’s zoom in, so we can see our three provinces of glory.

680x.jpg


Tremble in fear, fellow daimyos! Your doom is nigh!

xqdr.jpg


Now that’s the kind of leader I like at game start. 4s in everything!

qdka.jpg


Not a huge surplus, but a surplus – I’ll take that for now.

oi1e.jpg


Tech could be better, but at least I’ve got the same tech as everyone around me.

1wy2.jpg


Not sure what idea group I’ll go for first, but I have the feeling it’ll take a while.

1te7.jpg


The mighty army! I don’t have any ships at the moment, but that’ll be a medium term priority, I think.

o2sc.jpg


Here’s my mission. My original choices are improve our prestige (+50 prestige = 1 stab), Watching the Cherry Blossoms (same = +15 prestige) and The Bushido Code, which I chose (25 army tradition for 5 prestige and 5 legitimacy).

As far as actual decisions to make before I unpause, there are three.

ll6b.jpg


In terms of challenging decisions, this isn’t one – one free merchant, one free trade node. Works for me.

hg9y.jpg


I also need to build up my army a bit – that’s two more regiments (infantry). Why, you ask?

w4eb.jpg


I’ve got a Date! (That would be the OPM directly north of me.) Of course, one thing I did not consider, but it would be good to know – if Date and I are both Japanese vassals, Japan can’t interfere, can they?

That’ll do for now. Join me Saturday for our first update!
 
They can't interfere. It's a very special system in Japan. ;) Also, you do know you can make alliances? (I hope you do...)
 
They can't interfere. It's a very special system in Japan. ;) Also, you do know you can make alliances? (I hope you do...)

I suspected as such. :) I will take a close look at my diplomatic surroundings before I make any further conquests.

I will be following! Should be interesting to see how this goes for you.

Thanks!

The only reason I'm responding to feedback early, BTW, is to announce that I'll be upgrading to the new patch once I get a chance to on Saturday. (Steam and Russia REALLY don't like one another.)
 
Good times! I also hope to learn from your mistakes, as I haven't done too many EU4 games.

Though I have made a few attempts at uniting Japan as Hosokawa. Ironman's slowness usually keeps me from getting far.
 
Subbed and great start!

Some notes on Japan. After you get sufficiently large, the Emperor might declare war to annex you. I'm not sure what the mechanisms exactly were, but in retrospect it would have been better for me to dethrone him before this happened as it would have made the rest of the unification roll more elegantly. I took exploration as my first idea, but note that to my dismay you can't get over to Alaska until a bit later in game. Despite this, I preferred this route to going to Africa for getting adjacent to the Europeans for westernization as you can ship the trade Back to Japan via California -> Mexico -> Nippon (edit my bad, I noticed you are using a random new world).
 
I have never given much consideration to playing as a Japanese faction, let alone one of the Asiatic nations in-game, except the Timurids for the sole purpose of founding the Mughals to whom I am very fond of. So watching you as Japan Avindian, and perhaps giving me ideas if I ever get around to starting a game with them, should be much interesting! :cool:

Cheers!
 
I'm glad to see that Japan won the vote. Well don't worry about making mistakes. That just makes things much more interesting. :p
 
Whether this is because they love me or hate me, I'll let you decide.

I think it's that we all "love to hate?" :p


BTW congrats on the grant
 
I voted S-P, because I don't like suffering. But, subbed.