@Sgt Optimus: Wow, some praise! Thank you, although I really believe there a much better ones out there.
Anyway...
Part XIII - Emperor and Maharadja (1553-1561)
Now we have adopted the Quest for the New World, we won't make it a secret were our ambitions lie! We long to spread our realm eastwards, towards paradise, eternal awesomeness and cities of gold!
We expect to meet friends and foes on the way. Mostly foes though. But Orissa is an exception.
You see, the chief of this petty kingdom has decided to allow our fleet to regroup and resupply in his port. He does not know what consequences this will have! We do.
We explore the unknown seas, but feel safe knowing that thousands of miles in the unknown, there is a safe haven where we can refresh ourselves. We even know how to find it over the unmapped seas, around uncharted coasts. Nice, eh?
On a side note, here's our current core situation. Circles indicate our valuable Indian Ocean ports, and vassals and allies are indicated with letters.
In 1554 we are allowed to reshape our policies a bit, and by becoming a bit more innovative we fulfill the requirements for Westernization! Unfortunately, we are still under the reign of the Idiot King, Skantarios II (ADM: 3...) so we'll have to wait a while. We lose some prestige but it doesn't matter.
The exploration of the Indian coastline is coming along just fine. Also, we reach the first in a group of crucial land techs, with considerable boosts to morale. This will greatly increase our military advantage against the indian and chinese nations.
Then, totally unexpected, all of East Asia suddenly becomes explored. Wtf?
I still don't know why this happened, I thought this usually happened much later than the mid 16th century. Is it because I'm Eastern? Because I have muslim vassals? Because some muslim nation westernized? Who knows! Either way this makes expansion in this direction a lot easier
Our Paradise fleet is still rather small because big ships take like 2 years to build in Sinai and Basra, and we haven't discovered a route around Africa. Therefore we decide to pick the Indian target with the smallest fleet.
Come on, they even call themselves "Assam"! This crude corruption of Awesome is an affront to our senses. We
have to teach them a lesson!
They have one rebelling seaside province separate from the rest of their land. It appears they cannot reach it. Perfect. They are allied with two landlocked nations we don't expect to see, plus distant Korea. I misjudged their eagerness to send help though, as you will soon see.
Their navy is eliminated immediately. We even capture their Carrack, but it sinks before we can get it to safety.
And then..! Skantarios the Fool got lost some day on his daily walk, and nobody went looking for him. It's another victoglorious day for the Empire as a really awesome leader ascends the throne. Hail David II!
ADM 8 will allow us to westernize, extra reason for celebration!
YAY!
This s the first time I ever Westernize any nation in this game so it really feels pretty awesome.
Just don't expect us to learn the vernaculars of the west now. They'll just have to adapt and learn Greek.
Then there's a problem in Majerthing, eh, Somalia. Unexpectedly and unseen, while we were happily sieging the not-so-awesomes, vile Koreans sneak up to our colony and steal our Some Aliens!
As you can imagine, it simply left us
flabbergasting for weeks!
But we recover and take it back, of course. The Easternmost point of Africa is in this province, by the way. It's a neat little peninsula with a town called Hafun, or, in Somali,
Xaafuun. Say it a couple of times. Xaafuun Xaafuun Xaafuun Xaafuun Xaafuun Xaafuun.
Cool, huh?
The Assamese succumb to our superior awesomeness.
It's
Chittagong!
Now we can found an Indian Trading Company! Yes please. It's good! It gives multiple useful bonuses. I'll probably forget to use the free shipyard though.
Spaniards in Mutapa! Soon after this, they annex them. This is rather early... I hope they stay there and leave the Indies alone for a while.
Look at the awesome effect of westernization.. Neighbour bonus used to be something like +4!
Still there's a lot of catching up to do.
We discover the Cape of Good Hope, coming from the east side! Charming!
Then what was next? Ah, yeah. In between all the warring and stealing of aliens, we still manage to regain some stability (-5 for Westernizing).
Next target please! As I vowed a century ago, the Maldives are a top priority.
The fact that southern India is currently caught in a Big War only makes the choice even more logical. We are going to declare war on Mysore, who own the Maldives and are in big trouble. So are their landlocked allies.
Remember, pick your battles. That phrase might actually describe this game pretty well, compared to other strategy games.
The Trebizond Marine Corps rushes in....
And the Jayalarids decide to send a regiment too! Just for laughs, I guess.
Other news, 1561. Some aliens become self-sufficient.
Then the scary Timurids release their boundless aggression upon some Indians, and they call on us for help. Since they are now no longer shrouded in TI, we think we should be able to fight them better this time, and we accept.
The other war is quickly brought to an end because I prefer concentrating on as few fronts as possible. We gain two useful provinces nevertheless! Victoglory over Maldives! In the Maldive capital a big statue is built in honor of
Martman.
The Mahasomethings destroy the Timurid fleet. We thank them kindly and swiftly take the opportunity to blockade the buggers.
As if we hadn't enough on our minds, another war starts on the other side of our empire. With most of Asia involved in one of these wars, the risk of overstretching is lurking..
New war on the western front. Note how the Poles are being beaten badly by the Russians.
The central theater with the huge Timurid empire.
And finally the indian theater.
So, to recap, we explored, got a cool new king, we westernized, took several provinces in India, then got ourselves into trouble.
It soon proves to be a tough fight. Will we once again arise victoglorious? Will Trebizond fulfill it's dreams or bite the dust? Check back soon!