Help! South America game

[Democrito91]

Hi, i'm currently playing Vic2 : A House Divided in the earliest start (1836) with Argentina, i have been doing pretty well in the last almost 40 years of gameplay (currently 1870-ish) , but i have some really annoying problems that i can't same to solve, and i would really like some opinions or strategies!

- Population: My biggest problem in my opinion is the low low population of Argentina compared ot its size, you start with something like 300K adult males and after 40 years and with immigration i got to something like 500K, not even to get a second National Focus!

- Immigration: I don't get a lot of immigration even when every single RGO is undermanned and i have adopted several social policies to try to attract immigrants, i get completely overshadowed by the likes of Brasil, Mexico and lets not mention the USA.

- Politics: i'm currently in a sort of dictatorship i think (Presidential Dictatorship) with a conservative party in the Upper House, i try to encourage Liberalism, but any time the liberals gain some more people, in the next cabinet election or whatever they lose any gains and we are again in the status quo.
Mainly i want to become a democracy to see if that attracts more immigrants, i would be really pissed if it didn't work!
Currently theres a lone brigade of jacobin rebels running around holding provinces, but they are taking freaking forever to reach the capital!

- Industrialization: I'm just now trying to build an industry, its not going very well, ALMOST EVERY industry requires coal in some part of the production and theres none in all of South and Central America! i got my sights early on in Madagascar (which has coal) but the french took it, and no way i'm going to war with them.
So i tried to build a lumber mill (Argentina has lots of timber) and a furniture factory that feeds of both of them, they weren't very profitable and the subsides were killing me so i closed them.
I currently have two glass factories proposed by capitalist, they are profitable but not by much (i currently subside them) and worst of all, they require coal.

Any suggestions??

- Military: I'm not too shabby here, i won almost every war that i fought and Argentina its blobbing a bit (mostly to get mineral resources to the west), but i cant make many brigades because of my low POP. I'm currently trying to develop a navy, manly to attack the few unaligned uncivilized nations currently not sphered by anyone and get some resources and prestige.

So, those are my problems! All and all, Argentina is doing well, i'm currently a Secondary Power in rank #9, but its mostly prestige from victorious wars, expeditions and so on.

I would really appreciate any advice or tips! Thanks

 

[Jorlaan]

Literacy is key for making people want a better life, aka: democracy!
Make sure you're focusing on getting to that 2% clergy nationally ASAP as a good start. Encouraging liberals helps but with only 1 NF as you say it does not help enough.
Militancy is also key to reforms, it needs to be high.

 

[Ointagru]

Hi, i'm currently playing Vic2 : A House Divided in the earliest start (1836) with Argentina, i have been doing pretty well in the last almost 40 years of gameplay (currently 1870-ish) , but i have some really annoying problems that i can't same to solve, and i would really like some opinions or strategies!

- Population: My biggest problem in my opinion is the low low population of Argentina compared ot its size, you start with something like 300K adult males and after 40 years and with immigration i got to something like 500K, not even to get a second National Focus!

- Immigration: I don't get a lot of immigration even when every single RGO is undermanned and i have adopted several social policies to try to attract immigrants, i get completely overshadowed by the likes of Brasil, Mexico and lets not mention the USA.

- Politics: i'm currently in a sort of dictatorship i think (Presidential Dictatorship) with a conservative party in the Upper House, i try to encourage Liberalism, but any time the liberals gain some more people, in the next cabinet election or whatever they lose any gains and we are again in the status quo.
Mainly i want to become a democracy to see if that attracts more immigrants, i would be really pissed if it didn't work!
Currently theres a lone brigade of jacobin rebels running around holding provinces, but they are taking freaking forever to reach the capital!

- Industrialization: I'm just now trying to build an industry, its not going very well, ALMOST EVERY industry requires coal in some part of the production and theres none in all of South and Central America! i got my sights early on in Madagascar (which has coal) but the french took it, and no way i'm going to war with them.
So i tried to build a lumber mill (Argentina has lots of timber) and a furniture factory that feeds of both of them, they weren't very profitable and the subsides were killing me so i closed them.
I currently have two glass factories proposed by capitalist, they are profitable but not by much (i currently subside them) and worst of all, they require coal.

Any suggestions??

- Military: I'm not too shabby here, i won almost every war that i fought and Argentina its blobbing a bit (mostly to get mineral resources to the west), but i cant make many brigades because of my low POP. I'm currently trying to develop a navy, manly to attack the few unaligned uncivilized nations currently not sphered by anyone and get some resources and prestige.

So, those are my problems! All and all, Argentina is doing well, i'm currently a Secondary Power in rank #9, but its mostly prestige from victorious wars, expeditions and so on.

I would really appreciate any advice or tips! Thanks

Immigrations mechanics are weird, I can't help you there. For example, I recently discovered that too much colonization and conquests outside America completely impedes immigration to your country, regardless of other factors (reforms, militancy, unemployment etc.) What means too much colonization? I don't have a clue. Another weird thing: if your capital is in Africa, you don't have to worry about emigration, you'll have close to none even if your militancy is skyrocketing.

The best, albeit gamey thing to do for the population growth is to leave your enemy occupy most of your provinces in the very first war, the earliest possible in the game, and than use the militancy fuelled by the war exhaustion to pass health reforms. It will more than double the natural population growth. This militancy can also be used to pass political reforms and transform into democracy very quickly, though I doubt democracy would help you much with attracting immigrants, while it could make industrialization even harder. It is also important to discover medicine and electricity for their inventions that increase population growth. All this should be done early in the game, because the effect of the health reforms and discoveries amplifies with time.

About industrialization, I think you don't have to worry about having coal or other resources, as long as:
- you are able to maintain tariffs at zero, at least in peacetime, thus enabling your factories to buy what they need at the world market.
- the said resources are available at the world market.

 

[Kovax]

If you can manage to work into #8 spot, you become a Great Power. That allows you to bring less prestigious countries into your own Sphere of Influence, so you don't need to conquer them to gain access to their resources.

As pointed out, Literacy makes a HUGE difference, as I've discovered over the last campaign-and-a-half. My first attempt at playing Hungary (I started as Austria, released Hungary, then saved and reloaded as HUN), I was up to around 30% literacy (from 13%) by 1880, and doing "so-so". After learning a few more details, I restarted, and got well over 40% Literacy by that same point. It now stands at 65% by around 1890 despite the hit from having conquered the vast majority of Egypt and converted the first couple of regions to states. As #7 GP, I've got Ottomans, Spain, Argentina, several major Italian states, and a handful of uncivs in my Sphere, and at least 4 regions colonized in Africa, which means access to virtually any resource I need (at least until I unlocked Cruisers, and now can't get Oil for them).

 

[Democrito91]

Thanks for the replies

Anyway updating in my game

- Population and immigration : I have almost completely given up on immigration, my people are actuallly emmigrant in really small numbers sometimes! i will try a more...organic approach like you said and go for health reforms and technologies that promote growth. Actually the conquest route sames the most easy, i conquered a region of Chile early only for its iron deposits and my population almost doubled!

- Politics: i decided to crush the jacobin rebels, i have been letting them hold provinces for years now but the freaking rebels look like they want to hold every freaking province in the mainlad before going for the capital, that could take like a decade and seized provinces dont produce any income, besides i have given up on immigration and therefore on democracy. Dictatorship 4 life, baby!
I will try to increase the militancy and pass social and political reforms if i can, but i dont have any hopes that that would help me change to another party.


- Literacy: The funny thing about literacy its that i conquered a region of chile and my population almost doubled and the literacy went up like 3 or 4 points at the same time hahaha. Still i have 2% national clergy but the change in literacy is really slow, by 1878 i have something like 21%.

- Industrialization and budget: Industry still eludes me, the subsides cripple my economy and the factories arent profitable, i decided to stop all subsides, focus on my infrastructure for a while and RGO efficiency technologies and then go for industry, still i found a small region on the african coast with coal underneath Sokoto, i declared war on them just to able to take a small chunk of Sokoto near the coal and colonize the region, so i'm rushing liferating technologies to start that ASAP (my population also increased a lot with just to sokotian provinces and i didnt notice a change in literacy)
I simply cant put tariffs at 0% (even then my industries just die out without subsides), i decided to put them really high while i dont have any industries and tax the beejesus of the lower and middle strata for now (not so much for the money, mostly to see if that increases militancy)


Even so, i reached #8 and became a Great Power with almost only prestige hahaha. I'm doing well, but the industry and mostly POPULATION problem is REEEEALLLLLy annoying me!

 

[Democrito91]

Sorry if my english is bad, not my first language and i wrote this in a rush.

 

[Ointagru]

Thanks for the replies
- Literacy: The funny thing about literacy its that i conquered a region of chile and my population almost doubled and the literacy went up like 3 or 4 points at the same time hahaha. Still i have 2% national clergy but the change in literacy is really slow, by 1878 i have something like 21%.

With 4% national clergy your literacy would go up twice as fast.

- still i found a small region on the african coast with coal underneath Sokoto, i declared war on them just to able to take a small chunk of Sokoto near the coal and colonize the region, so i'm rushing liferating technologies to start that ASAP (my population also increased a lot with just to sokotian provinces and i didnt notice a change in literacy)

You should also try to colonize the region south of that province, it will have lots of rubber later on. Also, colonies are not taken into account for calculating literacy, only states are.

 

[Nirmara]

Population: Immigration is the key for any American nation and you will never be able to get a decent population without it. Becoming a democracy (see politic) and enact as many reforms as you can. Researching Medecine should always be your first priority. As Argentina, you can also get an easy 50k accepted pop by conquering Uruguay.

Literacy: Researching the Biologism tech as soon as possible and spending 100% on the education budget really help increasing literacy quickly if you have enough clergy (4% is required in the case of Argentina). Immigrants tend to help too since their literacy is higher.

Politic: Letting the jacobins win is key since to reform quickly since it will give you many "free" political reforms. After that, you need to increase CON as much as possible by getting a high literacy and researching any tech increasing CON or political awareness. Concerning social reforms, it will be hard without a decent number of capitalist (if appointed) or Craftsman (per state/proportional). The union reforms can help and won't be roll back if the jacobins take power so you can enact them to enrage the jacobins.

Industrialization: Argentina is not really suited for large scale industrialization due to their small population and overall bad RGO. You have some timber that can be used to get a wood-type industry and some Iron that I would use to produce canned food (on average it is profitable). When glass is available, you can start producing Liquor and Wine.

On a side note, I would recommend playing as Brazil for an easier experience in SA, they have a much better situation overall.