The Great Race: Transvaal!

Thanks for all your interest thus far, I've always been impressed by the quality of posters on the paradox plaza (no 'u r teh gay' etc).

profxyz: I will most definitely be playing the GC, I think that'll be the only way to give Transvaal enough time to repel the British at the end of the century...

I'm going back to Michigan tonight and will be picking up the CD tonight, allowing me to boot the game. It's a long story as to -why- I chose to leave the CD in Michigan, but a boring one.

So, I hope to have the first update by the end of this weekend, if for nothing but the first few years. Hint: there will be three planned victims for the initial war of expansion, think you can guess?

Finally, as a test for posting pictures, I have the Transvaal flag...



You may be asking yourselves: Why did the Transvaal adopt the "new" Dutch colours (red-white-blue) whereas South Africa uses the "old" Dutch colours (orange-white-blue) for its flag?

"Even the earliest republics (Graaff-Reinet and Swellendam, which were set up in 1795) adopted the new Dutch flag. The reason was that they saw themselves as being Dutch, but no longer belonging to the Dutch East India Company (VOC) which still flew the old orange-white-blue flag. The Afrikaners (Boers) of the Great Trek who wished to escape the British colonial rule, adopted Dutch-inspired flag for their new republics for the same reason. When the new (now old) South African flag was created, it was to unite the whites of South Africa - those Afrikaners whose forefathers left the Colony and set up independent republics (the small Orange Free State and ZAR flag), the Afrikaners whose forefathers stayed at the Cape (the orange-white-blue "Van Riebeeck flag") and the British settlers (the small Union Jack)" (Thanks Carsten Linke!).

Transvaal is not the best country to play in Victoria. No vital resources, An extremely small population, no external cores, an offbeat national culture (though it's worse in VIP), no navy, one reserve-quality infantry unit, and land borders with the UK (with whom there is a hardcoded conflict) and portugal, whose independence is guaranteed like clockwork by the UK.

But, it does have some benefits. Transvaal starts out with two weak neighbors, Zululand and Oranje, who provide immediate opportunities for expansion. Natal is weak too, but it is a client state of the UK, who will intervene on their behalf (I confirmed this ). Transvaal starts out with a really good research rate for a country its size, about .65 a month, and when the initial war vs. oranje and the zulu is done it jumps to about .85 (i'll show this in pictures). Transvaal starts out as a democracy, with first-rate political reforms. Madagascar lies right across the channel, and all it takes is a single clipper transport to ship troops over.

So, let's see what I do with all of that, shall we?



So here is how Transvaal immediately starts out. You can see the specs; low revenue, small population, and so on. I'll be going with a rather standard budget; 49% taxes (laissez-faire doesn't allow for anything higher) tariffs up, army maintenance and defense spending are both up. and you'll see why....


I mentioned before the political reforms of Transvaal, and here they are.





Neither of the two parties are really good. Both have a mix of solid and not-so solid policy stances, so choosing which party to shoot for depends on one's goals. Early on I tend to prefer non-laissez faire economies, in order to have more control over tax rates. After my economy has become industrialized I tend to prefer laissez-faire economies for the discount they get on import costs. So, for that reason I prefer the Boeren party at this point in the game, and will manipulate event results to garner them. Beyond their economic stance the Boeren have a residence minority policy (preferable to slavery), and a pro-military stance vs. the voortreker's jingoism, allowing me to decrease the spending when I don't need it (min of 10% vs min of 30%).

Military speaking, this is it, one reserve-quality unit



6000 Commandos, eh? Would that mean 6000 of these guys?



Nah, probably too much to hope for.




For research, as I mentioned, Transvaal benefits from a solid point-accrual rate. Obviously, Transvaal needs to industrialize, but I decided to make my prioirity prestige-gaining culture research. Transvaal needs to flex diplomatic muscle in order to gain benefits from trading, and great powers get more dip points. So, let's work for the prestige.

Starting out, Transvaal has the opportunity to more than double it's population, gain a seaport, and gain access to iron and coal through a war of expansion. So, let's mobilize and bring our little brother the Oranje Free Republic into the fold.



And then the zulu.....



That's it for the moment, keeping up the game right now, and things look pretty good. I'm planning on gaining a good rapport with the Portugese, tech trading, and hopefully expanding a bit. Perhaps the Portugese could even give me the capital to claim some colonies and build some factories. We'll see.....

Take care everyone, and happy 230th-anniversary-of-freedom!