Okay... Well, the question I posed to you was whether or not I would go to war with the Netherlands, for their East Indian colonies, which I greatly covet.
The answer, as many of you guessed, is -- I'm not ready yet!
The timing is good, on one level -- you can see below how they're at war (not with UK, but with Belgium -- a smaller war). But they're winning that war -- who knows how long it might last, or not. I obviously can't stand with them militarily, especially considering you must assume they're ahead of me in military technology (land and naval, presumably). If not them, then surely some of their allies are -- Russia, Portugal, Spain... Which of these would be my executioner?
I decided not to find out.
The Burmese, for some reason (maybe my growing strength? Or a need for a check against UK?), are befriending me. Better an ally than an enemy, they seem to be saying.
But, desire for expansion aside, I also have pressing internal matters to resolve. My Militancy has been rising steadily since I took that step of aiming toward Westernization, opening my doors to European contacts and influences. It adds an automatic +10% Militancy gain to every POP. It's stressful, dealing with these Europeans!
Part of the problem, of course, is the POPs getting their needs -- not everybody is, and those who are aren't getting the really satisfying stuff.
Sorry the Budget (1857) is so small -- picture editing problem. Tariffs are zero, spending is down, taxes are down. It's time to be conservative with our budget for a while, and let our POPs rest.
By 1857 I've achieved the fourth of five Technologies which are required for becoming Westernized. The cement factory is useless -- I can't build anything until I Westernize. But the Tax Efficiency helps.
So the next Tech in line is Publishing Industry... But you know what? I'm not going to research it. Not yet. Why? Because look at the other requirements -- Prestige 40 I can do relatively soon, given a good war. Military Score 50 I can't -- not right away. Need to work at that, and partly this requires researching MORE Techs, in different fields, and strengthening my economy.
So my next Tech to Research is Military Staff System. It's a first-level Tech -- easy to Research in a short amount of time -- and it improves my Organization by +5 (an IMPORTANT result!). More key to my strategy is the Cavalry that it allows me to recruit. If I'm going to raise dozens more armies, I want at least some of them to be Cavalry, not all Infantry. Infantry is boring... Well, not just that, but I need combined arms and different capabilities to round out my military forces. This Tech will improve our army in more ways than one.
And there I go rabble-rousing again! I need the Research bonuses from this Event -- Western Education -- and I MOST CERTAINLY do NOT want to undo the good result I got from Western Influences, even if it is causing much unrest and consternation among my Population. I must accept the Western Education.
The Consciousness increase doesn't hurt either, so long as I don't mean to anger my POPs so that they mobilize. So.... How do I work on not angering my POPs?
There are/were other options, of course, but I chose to make one of my changes the admission of a Liberal Party into government for the first time. I didn't have to do this, but since my most Militant POPs are Liberals (Farmers, mostly), this gives me a switch against their not liking the government party (i.e. the Conservatives I had in power). I'm hoping this would help enough....
It didn't.
As time went on, my Poor POPs (especially) -- i.e. the Farmers again, who comprise 75% of my Population -- are still not getting their Needs met, and they're not happy about it, no matter WHO is in the Prime Minister's throne (in the Siamese absolute monarchy, this was usually a Prince and close brother to the king).
The Liberals limit me to a maximum of 50% Tax on any class, but I want my taxes lower than that anyway. They also limit me to about 50% Military Spending, and although I DO need to increase the strength of my Military, I have plenty of room to do that with existing Soldier populations. Not a problem.
As time went on, and as we measured the results of our Reform and Tax Reduction, I discovered it was still not enough. The new government helped with my most Militant POPs, though not with all of my POPs -- no matter, it's the Militant ones I'm concerned about. I lowered Poor Taxes to 35%... And then later to 25%, 20% and even as low as 15%, but they still were having trouble meeting their Needs. Argh.
All right, well, I was forced to undertake the action I really didn't want to -- I enacted a Landed Vote reform. This disappeared my Militancy problem instantly.
One might wonder why I didn't do something else, like free the Slaves... The main reason (and I may have mentioned this already) is that my Farmers were the most pro-slavery POPs, and so I didn't figure it would help so much.
Now, this doesn't mean Farmers are voting -- they don't actually own the land, they just work it. But they have some reason to be happy that their owner/Aristocrats can vote. This will also help the Capitalists once we Westernize.
My Reform causes me to become a Prussian Constitutionalist government. Interesting -- and well enough! You'll notice my Military Score is rising slowly.
Now... Where to go from here. Now that my Militancy problem is solved, it's time for me to at least look around for something new to do.
As others have suggested, I'm eyeing Johore as an easy possibility for expansion. In the Diplo messages I've not shown, I've allied with Atjeh, and Atjeh has broken their alliance with Johore. It's free to take when I'm ready....
The only question is when I should be ready.
