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Another great update, as always. Your map of the world seems so much more logical than mine :)
 
Some useful gains via colonisation, hopefully you are able to claim most of North America for yourself. Good to see your industry score is already rocketing upwards, although seemingly not quickly enough for the many seeking work! You have a great deal of untapped resources, it seems clear Japan will be the dominant power if she can simply make use of them. To this end I think it could prove damaging if the Ito Cabinet was voted out, they have proven themselves to be competent thus far. Therefore it is perhaps in the field of politics, and the rise of the Restorationists, that Japan's main problem lies at present.
 
I like that these are large, dense updates... But the pacing of one a year might kill me with suspense. I'll survive, if it's working out well for you. :p

I don't know enough about the vanilla V2 event pool but... All this Scotland-funding will at some point give them enough leverage to eat up the rest of Britain—and, well, become Britain. I assume you know where that point is, so as to avoid re-birthing the thing. ;)

Good to see American colonisation proceeding apace. Is Aragon in the race, too, or are they too poor to do much but stand pat?

Your pro-military support is just barely edging out the anti-military issue... Will that affect your military posture if the balance swings the other way? Can I put in a bleg/request to see the disposition of forces mapped out by theatre, so we have some idea of what brigades/squadrons are usually stationed where?
 
I'll reply to everyone's post when there's a new update coming, but in the meantime, hope this helps.

The disposition of Imperial forces: January 1840

Home Theatre
hometheatre.jpg


There are no troops in Australia or New Zealand (aka New China and New Japan), nor do I have a garrison in far off Mauritius (not shown). The armies here are generally big enough for keeping order regionally, but if it came to a war with a GP I'd probably have to raise new formations.

Similarly, the navy is relatively small; about half the size of the fleet in Europe. Again, it's more than enough to handle a local conflict, but fairly weak in the grand scheme of things.

Japanese and Chinese forces
japanchina.jpg


Island garrisons
islandsi.jpg


Home seas command
homenavy.jpg


European reinforcements
reinforcements.jpg



European Theatre
europeuu.jpg


As you'll note from the image the Army of Italy is 21,000 men smaller than it used to be. The reinforcements coming from China will more than make up for that, but probably won't arrive for at least six months. Let's hope everything's quiet till then. Note the extremely poor state of repair the Second Fleet is in; that's damage taken during the blockade of Modena, and until the naval bases are completed I have no way of fixing that.


Great Eastlands Theatre
gteastlandstheatre.jpg


Not many troops here, but only one border with Mexico and our relations are good (as they should be considering I liberated them from the British). As we push eastwards and run into the British coming west then I'll have to reassess the situation and probably bring a lot more soldiers into play.
 
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Good stuff, this really helps clearly show what is going on. As you've stated yourself, Japan has a considerable army and navy but your having to keep it dispersed to defend land hundrds of miles apart is going to hamper you quite a bit when fighting any GP. As such I'm really looking forward to seeing what will happen in a war against one of the great powers.
 
That's exactly what I was looking for—thanks for taking the time to review your theatre OOBs. I'm shocked by the sizes of some of the armies (especially in the dreaded tropics), but that's mainly because I'm used to teeny tiny EU3 support limits. ;)

I'd be tempted to move the continental armies further inland toward the frontier, and use the island garrisons as your expeditionaries/QRFs, but if there's no immediate friction with the neighbours then that's probably unnecessary.
 
Hey, very nice AAR, so refreshing to see such a different political landscape in an AAR! Kudos for doing the transfer, do you plan to carry on to HOIII?

It seems that your situation is very similar to that of the historical British Empire, very powerful on your own but so spread out and having to defend so many places at once that you desperadly need a strong european land based ally.
 
You have so much power. Relatively low tax and so many savings along with incredible industry potential. You could build so many troops if needed. If next update you could give just a quick (one line) overview on things like soldier pops/max brigades and whether they are Japanese or local conscripts, etc.

Keep it up!
 
I for one like the format. It's very clear and structured this way. Sure, the AAR might take a while to finish, but I can't see how that's a bad thing. :D
 
Good stuff.

But why not Sakhalin?

Funnily enough, I can't colonise Sakhalin yet. To do that I'd need a naval base, and at present I've only got one in Seattle.

Another great update, as always. Your map of the world seems so much more logical than mine :)

It's a bit more logical in Europe, but mainly because I haven't done anything there. South America is a bit of a disappointment, with only Columbia and Argentina having broken free of their colonial masters. Venezeula's knocking about too, but on Hispanola rather than the mainland.

Some useful gains via colonisation, hopefully you are able to claim most of North America for yourself. Good to see your industry score is already rocketing upwards, although seemingly not quickly enough for the many seeking work! You have a great deal of untapped resources, it seems clear Japan will be the dominant power if she can simply make use of them. To this end I think it could prove damaging if the Ito Cabinet was voted out, they have proven themselves to be competent thus far. Therefore it is perhaps in the field of politics, and the rise of the Restorationists, that Japan's main problem lies at present.

Industry is a problem, as you'll see in the next update. The Restorationists are a worry for now, but in the long term the Court might lose out to the Liberals (at least, I hope they will: one hundred years of unbroken cautious conservatism could prove somewhat dull).

I like that these are large, dense updates... But the pacing of one a year might kill me with suspense. I'll survive, if it's working out well for you. :p

I don't know enough about the vanilla V2 event pool but... All this Scotland-funding will at some point give them enough leverage to eat up the rest of Britain—and, well, become Britain. I assume you know where that point is, so as to avoid re-birthing the thing. ;)

Good to see American colonisation proceeding apace. Is Aragon in the race, too, or are they too poor to do much but stand pat?

Your pro-military support is just barely edging out the anti-military issue... Will that affect your military posture if the balance swings the other way? Can I put in a bleg/request to see the disposition of forces mapped out by theatre, so we have some idea of what brigades/squadrons are usually stationed where?

Scotland can't form Britain while Britain while Britain exists, and in this game the UK is actually a North American state that happens to have substantial holdings in the British Isles. The government fled to Boston when the Papal States conquered London (which would have been awesome to watch, but so much of my focus was on Japan that I missed most of it).

Not sure if Aragon are a secondary power or not. If not, then they'll be unable to colonise. Britain and Castile are definitely in the running.

If a majority of my POPs are anti-military it doesn't have any immediate effects, but it will increase support for the Liberals (which is good in my book).

thats a really informative overview, as with the other EU conversions I'm struggling a bit to stop thinking of the usual V2 geography

Yeah, it's easy for me to forget that you can't see the game like I can. I'm planning to do 10 year progress updates, so unless someone asks for more details beforehand I'll put the info there.

Yes, of all the EU3 to Vicky 2 conversion, I prefer this one because it's still accurate as far as naming is concerned compared to the others.

There are a couple of errors I keep noticing (Burma should be Taugu for instance), but for the most part it's fine. Actually, I think names matter less than countries doing more or less sane things (or at least 'in character' things), for which reason I'm glad that Milan went after Modena again: it gave a nice continuity.

Very interesting AAR Dewirix, I'll follow this.
I like this alternate reality with a very big France and a rapidly growing Austria. :)

We're good friends with France and they seem to have been pretty quite (unless you were Lorraine, who they annexed in short order). Austria on the other hand is quite the worry. I hadn't foreseen that Austria would get the Liberation CB on German-cultured states held by Bohemia, but they did and they hoovered them all up in a single war. Containing Austria is priority number one for Japan, but fighting Austria is much less of an appealing prospect.

That's exactly what I was looking for—thanks for taking the time to review your theatre OOBs. I'm shocked by the sizes of some of the armies (especially in the dreaded tropics), but that's mainly because I'm used to teeny tiny EU3 support limits. ;)

I'd be tempted to move the continental armies further inland toward the frontier, and use the island garrisons as your expeditionaries/QRFs, but if there's no immediate friction with the neighbours then that's probably unnecessary.

For the most part the army sizes are a match for what they were at the end of the EU3 game. By 1821 you can support quite considerable army sizes (although this is just silly):

monsterstack.jpg


I can respond to any attack by my neighbours in a timely fashion; there's no assaulting like in EU3, so they have to siege every province. Keeping most of my forces close to the coast enables me to use the navy to transport troops where they're needed. In addition, all my neighbours bar Gelre are uncivs, so I have a (slight) military tech advantage.

Hey, very nice AAR, so refreshing to see such a different political landscape in an AAR! Kudos for doing the transfer, do you plan to carry on to HOIII?

It seems that your situation is very similar to that of the historical British Empire, very powerful on your own but so spread out and having to defend so many places at once that you desperadly need a strong european land based ally.

Converting to HoI3 is actually something I'd consider, but it would depend on how the game looks in 1936. If there's no obvious three-way power struggle then I'll probably give it a miss.

I agree about the British Empire analogy, although it does break down somewhat in that Britain viewed India as the jewel in the crown, whereas for Japan that would be China. While India was thousands of miles away, China's close enough that I'm much more confident about keeping it even if I lost naval supremacy. However, you're absolutely right in saying that for Japan to exert influence in Europe it requires either allies or a massive and time-consuming expedition from the Imperial heartlands.

You have so much power. Relatively low tax and so many savings along with incredible industry potential. You could build so many troops if needed. If next update you could give just a quick (one line) overview on things like soldier pops/max brigades and whether they are Japanese or local conscripts, etc.

Keep it up!

I'll go into more detail later, but my support limit is something like 400 brigades, with another 70 or so from the mobilisation pool. The resources are probably there to support an army that size, but I figure the taxpayers of Japan wouldn't be too happy with any government that built up the military 'just because'. As to the provenance of the army, most have been assigned home provinces randomly (as a result of how I converted the game), but the new reinforcements raise for Europe all come from China. Japan has been using Chinese troops for years now, so it's not seen as a problem at the moment.

I for one like the format. It's very clear and structured this way. Sure, the AAR might take a while to finish, but I can't see how that's a bad thing. :D

Thanks. I went into the last AAR thinking it would be over in a few weeks, and it took months. This time I'm preparing for a longer haul. I'm currently reading through Director's excellent 'A Special Providence' and it's taken him four years so far, so I'm not feeling too rushed.
 
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1840: The Court goes to the country

It could not be denied that Peers used some influence in elections, but they paid this much respect to the resolution of that House, that they did not openly and personally interfere at them He was not aware of any instance in which a Peer presented himself openly on the hustings in favour of any particular candidate, or directly canvassed. And if such an occurrence were to take place, the House ought to notice it immediately and with severity.


State opening and Emperor's speech

The new year heralded fresh elections to the privy council, from which the new Cabinet was to be selected. For the present administration under Prime Minister Ito, the state opening of the Diet in January was to be the last such occasion before the voters delivered their verdict.

budgetp.jpg


With this in mind, the Budget had been crafted to appeal to the electorate, but also to a wider class of citizens and subjects whose opinions - though individually insignificant - could taken together shape the views of voters. Thus, the Finance Minister brought forward plans to cut taxes on the nobility to half of the level they had been at the time of the last election, while substantial reductions were also made to the tax burden on commoners.

To pay for this largesse, a new import tax of 25% would be introduced. The Finance Minister explained to the Diet that the flourishing of Japanese industry meant that finished goods could be obtained domestically, while increasing the cost of raw materials would mean that more attention would be paid to developing internal sources, hopefully to the benefit of the growing numbers of unemployed labourers.


The 1840 election

The Court party entered the election in high spirits. The war scares of the mid-30s had seen Japan's territory expanded and had given way to a period of impressive industrial growth. The evidence appeared to confirm the Court's conviction that a strong Empire depended on military power and moral rectitude.

courtpolicies.jpg


The Isolationists in the Diet - who would have seen Japan withdraw from Europe - looked increasingly irrelevant, while the Restorationists were united by little save a dislike of the current government.

The Cabinet's industrial policy was a point of contention however. Since its introduction the government had reserved to itself the right to expand factories. Investors were free to begin new enterprises, but any premises seeking to employ more than 10,000 workers required a licence. While this gave the state a degree of fine control over local economies, some believed it had a stifling effect on entrepreneurs.

1stelection.jpg


The debate began in earnest in Nagoya. The state was one of Japan's most prosperous cities and home to almost a fifth of the electorate. While the traditional landed gentry could be relied upon to support the Court, the rising class of merchants and industrialists had other ideas and began a whispering campaign in the clubs and salons aimed at securing greater freedom from government intervention. The Court did all it could to condemn such novel ideas, but despite fierce resistance the liberal policies had some appeal.

On military policy the Cabinet believed it was on surer ground, although once again their support for industry had created controversy. In early February a retired brigadier from Shumshu petitioned the Diet complaining about the standard of food supplied to the army.

2ndelection.jpg


The incident had the potential to severely embarrass the Cabinet as it was revealed that the War Office had been ordered to purchase tinned food from government-sponsored factories. In its haste to head off a controversy the Cabinet agreed to increase soldiers’ food rations, but in so doing were thought to have disparaged the products of Japanese industry, to the outrage of many.

The new tariff was less of an election issue than might have been expected. Receipts from the 1840 Budget had been predicted to return a surplus to the treasury of around £30,000 per annum, but in the event the substantial tax cuts that accompanied it raised imports to such a level that the Finance Minister was now anticipating a net return of £140,000.

3rdelection.jpg


The election campaign in Luzon saw some liberal electors raise objections to the Budget, but in the face of its unquestionable success the government had little trouble winning over all but the most committed of dissidents.

Two incidents in March demonstrated the tricky balancing act the Cabinet was attempting. In Zhaoqing a colonel serving in the Army of Southern China struck the son of a prominent local magistrate. The colonel claimed the lad had made disparaging remarks about the Emperor, while the boy alleged that the colonel had been drunk and attacked without provocation.

officerincident.jpg


True to form, General Kuroki dismissed calls for the officer to be tried in the local civil courts and refused to countenance summoning a court martial for what he described as a trivial matter. The case became something of a cause celebre in both pro- and anti-military camps and tensions were heightened further when the War Office chose to take the army's side in the matter: the honour of an officer was unimpeachable, the War Minister told the Diet, and given that the boy had insulted the Emperor, Colonel Lee had only done what any father would have.

On 4th March news arrived of the British Empire's annexation of Leinster. Though not formally allied, the Empire had extended generous financial support to the Irish kingdom and its capitulation was seen as a worrying sign of British revival.

britwarmar40.jpg


Despite this, the situation was difficult for enemies of the government to profit from. Few in the Empire wanted another war with Britain, and since the latter's ejection from Asia in the last century it seemed that no vital interests were at stake.
In Shumshu, the population responded to all the talk of war by questioning the very basis on which Japan approached such conflicts: instead of trying to solve problems by force of arms, surely civilised men could settle their differences amicably.

4thelection.jpg


The Court would hear none of this, and the Interior Minister had to be persuaded against prosecuting some of the leading proponents of this argument for sedition. The Cabinet pointed to a history of unprovoked European aggression against the Empire as all the reason they needed to maintain a strong deterrent.

The campaign in Fukuoka revolved around the government’s industrial policy. The need for large factories to hold government licences was questioned by some voters, who agreed that the state had a right to intervene, but thought that it should not have a monopoly on large manufactories.

5thelection.jpg


Sensing in this the hand of the Isolationists deputies – who were known to advocate such policies – the Finance Minister came down strongly in favour of his party’s line. While the state could make use of private enterprise, at a time of industrial turmoil it was folly to allow markets to dictate who could eat and who should starve, he thundered. Such a damning verdict was quite contrary to his normal reserve and while he won over many, others were incensed by the implication that they were fools.

Luzon saw a repeat of the debate over the standard of army rations.

6thelection.jpg


Once again, the government was quick to reassure voters of its support for the military; and once again a somewhat heavy-handed approach left others furious.

In Daming, the chief priest of Kaishan Temple’s complaints about Christian missionary activity caught the imagination of Restorationists, who accused the government of turning its back on Japan’s traditional faiths in favour of Western superstitions.

7thelection.jpg


Although the Empire had established a reputation for religious tolerance in previous centuries, the nineteenth had seen something of a moralist revival buoyed up by Japan’s conception of itself as clearly superior to its neighbours or its European rivals. Dissenters within the Court took small comfort in the knowledge that religion was not an issue that excited many voters.

In the last days of the campaign a major report on military readiness threatened to land the government with a large bill to replace obsolete and broken equipment. Isolationist deputies seized on this to argue for cuts to the military budget.

8thelection.jpg


Fortunately for the Court, the success of the tariff policy left the government in a stronger than anticipated economic position. While condemning the War Office for not intervening sooner, Prime Minister Ito gave a personal guarantee that he would see to it that the soldiers would receive whatever they needed.

The final results from the vote exceeded the Court’s expectations. The success of the tariff policy and the Cabinet’s ability to campaign on a strong military record had produced a spectacular return at the ballot box.

electionresults.jpg


While some churlishly grumbled that it was patronage – not policies – that had granted victory to the government, Prime Minister Ito was content to contemplate another five years of stable and prudent rule.


Domestic affairs

At the opening of the 1840s Japan’s naval pre-eminence looked more assured than ever. France, the Power with the next largest navy, had a fleet that was smaller than Japan’s forces on station in Europe. To further cement this dominance, the newly re-elected Cabinet approved plans to bring the number of ships of the line up to 60.

worldrankings.jpg


On land the picture was different. The 64 brigades of the Imperial Army were a match for any in the world, but in numbers it was France that held the decisive advantage. However, given the two countries’ close relations the French Army was not regarded as an existential threat.

For all Austria’s expansionism during the 1830s its regular army was a mere 19 brigades: soon to be equalled by Japan’s European deployments. The transport fleet had arrived in China in June, and although many of its ships had taken a battering rounding Cape Horn enough were deemed seaworthy to begin the long voyage back to the Mediterranean. By 1841 Japan would be in a position to oppose further Austrian aggression.

Industrially, 1840 saw a continuation of the soaring unemployment of the late 30s, but with a difference. The government’s policy of expanding factories to address oversupplies of labour had run into a crucial bottleneck: a lack of machine parts.

machinepart.jpg


While some were quick to put the blame on the new tariff, the Cabinet retorted that Japan produced more parts than any other nation. The truth was that demand could not be met by local or even global supply; and as long as factories could not be enlarged the problem of unemployment would only grow.


Foreign affairs

Further afield, 1840 saw Burma conduct yet another successful war, this time against Assam.

burmesewar.jpg


Although there was little love lost between the Empire and King Zalahtinyan, the Foreign Minister persuaded his colleagues to finance the war effort. A few large states on the Empire’s borders were more easily controlled than a multitude of smaller ones, and there was no possibility that tiny Burma could ever present a threat to Japan.

More worrying was the continuance of British aggression, although in this case the target was far from what Japan considered its natural sphere of interests. In November, a dispute over rights to a silver mine in Potosí state escalated into an all-out war between Britain and Aragon.

britarawarnov1840.jpg


Determining formal ownership of the land was complex, but Japan did not hesitate to give Aragon its full support. As was now usual practice a series of long-maturity loans were offered to the Catalans, although the disparity of forces meant that the outcome would mostly depend on British competence, or lack thereof.


End of year

The end of 1840 saw the Court party secure in its leadership of the Empire for further five years. Soon Japanese forces in Europe would be brought up to a level where they could challenge any hostile power, while the expansion of the navy and the completion of new bases would secure control of the seas. The only cloud on the horizon was the slowing pace of industrial expansion and the unemployment which this would bring.

endofyear.jpg
 
Read through your EU3 AAR and now loving the Vicky2 conversion. A great style of play and writing. A little RP and a little play descriptive. Excellent as always. What plans for the future? Eat up some uncivs for natural resources and soldier pops or Civilized nations for literacy and industry? WC or will you continue to pace yourself so to move to HOI3 and still have a challenge?
 
You could call that a landslide. :D

Nice to hear that the Japanese troops in Europe are getting so strong.
 
Good news in most spheres apart from the halt in industrial expansion, which is rather vexing. Not much that can be done about a lack of machine parts at this time though I'd imagine. The coverage of the election campaign was very good, pleasing that the Court faction has returned with such a strong majority but considering the many issues which cropped up during the campaign, they may find things rather more difficult a decade or two down the line. I'm glad that the European contingent of the Japanese army looks strong enough to handle most situations there now, barring war with numerous GPs.

Everything is looking rather promising. Well, apart from Britain continuing to expand.
 
Been thinking, you could manually set your stockpile to buy max (2000?) machine parts so that you have them whenever you need them in future and as the largest by far worldwide producer you will deny industrialization capacity to the rest of the world. Useful.