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Wow, I went to check out what's new on this forum after being on vacation for a week and I just can't believe it how the Krakowians have managed to set the basis for their world domination meanwhile. 
I will be following this for sure.
I will be following this for sure.
Thx! I will surely need it, but fortunately not yet
Milestone no. 3: readiness for war with China. Deadline set: till 1865-12-31
A. Nature of the goal
The goal is a pretty obvious one, but on the other hand it’s difficult to say whether one is ready or not, unless you actually try and succeed. So even though I love fantasy stories and I remember having read once in one of Terry Pretchet’s books (Guards, Guards, I believe) a nice way of getting prepared for 1-in-a-million probability case, which reportedly always happens, I prefer an old-fashioned doing whatever possible to bring the odds closer. Such being the case I will assume that the day I declare the first war on China is the day that the readiness for the war has been accomplished, OK?
I plan to clear the odds in the following areas:
- diplomatic domination – singling out Chinese Empire is the key, as described earlier. The general plan is to keep on sphering all the countries and states of their domain, while keeping good relations with all the top8 countries, in particular the ones that shall try to improve their relations with China. If possible – I intend to clear Burma and Dai Nam and any other country, should Chinese Empire ally with anyone, earlier – if needed by peacing them out in a dedicated war. As for the top8 countries I don’t want anyone, and won’t ask anyone, to go for Chinese Empire with me, as I won’t be the leader of the negotiation pack. But I still like the thought of having allies here and there, as they are less likely to declare on me directly and shall discourage other countries from doing so. Of course – I will not obey any of the alliances when called for their wars – why shall I lose 0.07 badboy decrease per month without a sure return rate?;
- sea domination – to assure all blockade points possible. In order to dream of it I need at least 1 naval base in the region – this will limit my attrition costs and allow faster construction of war ships. I initially assume that some 8 wars ships would be needed + as many transport ships as land armies available;
- land army survival – I can’t even dream of beating the Chinese Empire down to 0, but I can and shall have at least 1 man standing to accept the final peace treaty. For the time being – let’s just assume that the sky is the limit – I will take to China all the armies I can gather.
B. Targeting manpower donors
Before actually taking any further steps, let’s analyze the badboy investment opportunities in 1845. Please note I’m not even considering annexations of any civilized countries nor taking off states of them – I don’t really need their pops, as their literacy rate is typically very low and will kill my research tempo.
To make it simpler I shall divide them into a few basic categories: annexation (cost of 22 max badboy), taking off colony from civilized (cost of 10 max badboy) and taking off state from uncivilized (cost of 5 max badboy). In order to keep things simple I shall not really focus on my ability to handle a particular job right now – just opportunities.
Annexation (top10 countries):
- Penjab – 2.8m (5 allies, including Persia, limited access) = 127/bb
- Hyderabad – 1.9m (puppet and ally of UK, no access) = 86/bb
- Dai Nam – 1.6m (allied with Chinese Empire, Burma and Camboda, their puppet) = 73/bb
- Ethiopia – 1.3m = 59/bb, additionally allows 2 colonies of 0.3m, so total upped to 73/bb
- Beroda – 1.4m (puppet and ally of UK) = 64/bb
- Sokoto – 1.4m (2 wars needed with 27 max bb) = 52/bb, additionally allows 1 colony of 0.2m, so total upped to 59/bb
- Awadh – 1.2m (puppet and ally of UK, no access) = 55/bb
- Siam – 1.2m (allied with Johor and Atjeh) = 55/bb
- Burma – 0.9m (sphered by UK + allies) = 41/bb
- Persia – 1.6m (3 allies, including Penjab, 2 wars needed with 47 max bb) = 34/bb
Ps. Please note – Egipt – 2.3m (2 wars needed with 92 max bb) = 25/bb only (!)
Taking off colony from civilized (top10 states), only smaller countries considered:
- Dutch Java – 2.1m (5 allies, including Russia, Austria and Spain) = 210/bb
- Spanish Luzon – 0.56m (3 allies, including US and Holland) = 56/bb
- Dutch Jambi – 0.53m (5 allies, including Russia, Austria and Spain) = 53/bb
- Dutch Ambon – 0.34m (5 allies, including Russia, Austria and Spain) = 34/bb
- Spanish Visayas – 0.27m (3 allies, including US and Holland) = 27/bb
- Spanish Cuba – 0.24m (3 allies, including US and Holland) = 24/bb
- Portuguese Lourenzo Marques – 0.18m (allied with Spain) = 18/bb
- Dutch Bali – 0.17m (5 allies, including Russia, Austria and Spain) = 17/bb
- Portuguese Mozambique – 0.14m (allied with Spain) = 14/bb
- Spanish Mindanao – 0.13m (3 allies, including US and Holland) = 13/bb
Taking off state from uncivilized (top10 states), excluding capital provinces:
- Ethiopian Negele – 0.57m = 114/bb, additionally allows 2 colonies of 0.3m, so total upped to 174/bb
- Sokotian Zaria – 0.59m = 118/bb, additionally allows 1 colony of 0.2m, so total upped to 158/bb
- Dai Nami Thanh Hoa – 0.59m (allied with Chinese Empire, Burma and Camboda, their puppet) = 118/bb
- Persian Tebriz – 0.45m (3 allies, including Penjab) = 90/bb
- Dai Nami Vien Long – 0.42m (allied with Chinese Empire, Burma and Camboda, their puppet) = 84/bb
- Ethiopian Werder – 0.31m = 62/bb, colonies not counted as already added to Ethiopian Negele
- Penjabi Srinagar – 0.31m (5 allies, including Persia, limited access) = 62/bb
- Hyderabadi Nagpur – 0.31m (puppet and ally of UK, no access) = 62/bb
- Birmanese Rangoon – 0.30m (sphered by UK + allies) = 60/bb
- Egiptian Chartum – 0.29m = 58/bb and Siamese Udon Thai – 0.29m = 58/bb
So a global top10 would be:
- Dutch Java – 2.1m (5 allies, including Russia, Austria and Spain) = 210/bb
- Ethiopian Negele – 0.57m = 114/bb, additionally allows 2 colonies of 0.3m, so total upped to 174/bb
- Sokotian Zaria – 0.59m = 118/bb, additionally allows 1 colony of 0.2m, so total upped to 158/bb
- Penjab – 2.8m (5 allies, including Persia, limited access) = 127/bb
- Dai Nami Thanh Hoa – 0.59m (allied with Chinese Empire, Burma and Camboda, their puppet) = 118/bb
- Persian Tebriz – 0.45m (3 allies, including Penjab) = 90/bb
- Dai Nami Vien Long – 0.42m (allied with Chinese Empire, Burma and Camboda, their puppet) = 84/bb
- Dai Nam – 1.6m (allied with Chinese Empire, Burma and Camboda, their puppet) = 73/bb
- Ethiopia – 1.3m = 59/bb, additionally allows 2 colonies of 0.3m, so total upped to 73/bb
- Beroda – 1.4m (puppet and ally of UK) = 64/bb
Well, with my 2 regulars and 2 locals I can’t even dream of scaring little girls in Holland or UK on a dark Halloween night, not to mention liberating any of their assets. Perso-Penjabi alliance also looks tight, furthermore the top populated provinces they have are deep inland, so I would need to either invest way more bb and grab the other small provinces or try to get military accesses – none of these options looks promising.
So I decide to focus on Ethiopia and Sokoto in the first place, while in case of Dai Nam I will wait, as any changes in their diplomatic relations will be only in my favor, and if nothing happens I will come back a bit stronger after previous wars.
C. Opportunity knocks on the door
To start with – I needed to tackle a few issues:
- get my real army from Krakow (now on Austrian coast) to Africa, possibly without much attrition to the transport ships;
- thus I need a naval base – Mombassa is the furthest up north, so it will suit the best – I just needed to collect funds;
- my bb is still rather high.
When I was just minding my own business 2 interesting things happened:
- I got a random CB on Portuguese Lourenzo Marques – a nice one and the return rate is infinity/bb
- before I actually decided whether to proceed with the invasion with all my troops Portugal declared on me for Krakowian Mozambique – still mad for Portuguese Sena, I presume.
This is nice, but a bit early – nice because Portugal came alone, without their Spanish ally, early because I’m still a military pariah.
Fortunately so was Portugal – my locals started taking over Lindi, Mozambique and LM provinces while Mendvi regiment got an assignment in Goa, Makau and Dili. Portugal tried to counter by sending a mighty 1 unit infantry to Mendvi, but my only regular slashed them on their way back from far east and the navy chased the transport ship down. They tried it once again a few months later, but with the same result.
In the next phase my locals took over Angolian provinces, while the regular was sent for Saint Thomas island. The navy did the rest by blocking Bissau and Cape Verde. As I had little chances off Portuguese coast I decided to pass and eventually got the peace treaty I deserved.
To be honest – I was so pleased with the development and I didn’t really want another war with Portugal out of nowhere to happen again that I forgot to press on breaks when I really should have. I claimed another colonial province (Portuguese Mozambique) and their state of Makau. The badboy was one bleeding wound. War started on 1845-10-24 by Portugal and finished on 1848-12-14.
Afterthought: while Portuguese Lourenzo Marques and Portuguese Mozambique were both on my list, I need to admit that I had quite a headache with Makau – it was a state, not a colony, so after taking over I will immediately loose my literacy level, thus my research speed will surely go down. On the other hand – there are only 5k men, so the influence will be minor, when compared to Krakow’s 100+. But if there are only 5k men my return rate is like 0.5/bb, so why bother?? And there was only 1 reason I decided to actually do it – immediate access to a province suitable for a naval base in the Far East. With Makau – I don’t need to rush for Dai Nam at least 3 years before the war with Chinese Empire and Dai Nam blockades will not cost me any attrition.
The other direct result of this war was that I go myself brand new allies – France, Belgium, Ottomans and Sicily. With French bases I was able to eventually fetch my home-sick artillery unit from Dubrovnik to Africa.
D. Back to business
So let’s not let this little Portuguese blip stop us from proceeding with the plan. In particular as I got the democracy shines event, which lowered my bb.
The first one goes Ethiopia – due to very high bb level I go for Ethiopian Negele only (0.57m = 114/bb, additionally allows 2 colonies of 0.3m, so total upped to 174/bb), instead of annexation (1.3m = 59/bb, additionally allows 2 colonies of 0.3m, so total upped to 73/bb) or Ethiopian Werder (0.31m = 62/bb, colonies not counted as already added to Ethiopian Negele).
This is an interesting example on how to fight the uncivilized, so I will say a few more words on the military tactics. I differentiate 2 types of war goals:
- full annexation;
- taking over one or more states.
In the first case – you basically need to conquer the whole country and in the meantime demolish all their armies. The good idea is to annihilate the enemy armies whenever possible, so typically you should look for encirclement possibilities and than a nice quick blow right in the center. It doesn’t really matter where you start with the occupations – you just need to have all the provinces at the end.
In the letter one – you just need to reach a certain level of conquest, which transfers to warscore. As shown in some earlier examples – you don’t really need to fight the enemy. Warscore is built off land and naval battles, naval blockades and land occupations. Land battles can grant a huge 25% of points needed, but they are capped, so the rest needs to be filled by occupations. Normally I would always consider going for the capital province first as it pays the most and add as many provinces of the desired state as possible as they not only improve warscore reached, but also lower the warscore needed.
In case of Ethiopia you get a sure 0 points for naval stuff, as they have no coast, so you need to focus on the battles and land occupations. I doubt I have any chances with my 2+2 troops against the Ethiopian 13-15 local regiments, so I have no chances for the battle score domination. Thus I need to work on the land occupations. The top points are always granted for the capital province, so 1 of my regulars needs to seize it. The minor issue is that it’s protected by some 9 local units. The other one is sent to Bonga in Ethiopian Negele. One of the locals is sent to Bonga as well, while the other gets another task.
I’m sure everybody noticed that there is a ‘fear factor’ that the uncivilized nations tend to obey – eg. my 1 regular will never be attacked by Ethiopian locals – not even if they all gather together. Yet they will be most happy to haste for my locals. Thus I’m sending the other local to Harer. This is driving the Ethiopians crazy – they abandon their capital province and chicken run for Harer. I of course leave this province to the coastal Zeyla (uncivs will not enter uncolonized province, so I’m save) – this unit will soon go around through Djibouti and join the regular one in the capital.
Gonder, the capital, and Bonga are still not enough to have the Ethiopians play my game, so I need some outmaneuvering – I use my local from Bonga occupation to play hide and seek with the enemy. I get to their province of Aselia and whenever I see they are after me – I run for life to Goba, the uncolonized province to the south. In the meantime I go for Asosa, leaving Bonga to Ethiopian occupation (another army has something to do) and Debre Tabor with regulars and Axum with locals. Eventually Ethiopians give up. War started on 1850-06-15 and finished on 1851-03-14.
Once my 3 artilleries are ready in Negele I declare on Sokoto. I demand Sokotian Zaria (0.59m = 118/bb, additionally allows 1 colony of 0.2m, so total upped to 158/bb), but as I get almost 0 bb I also add up Sokotian Benin – a bit off the top10 list, but it opens the back door to Nigerian coast and the biggest colonial province of post 1870s type – Warri.
This war is pretty boring – I got my troops ready on the border of Sokoto province, the capital, where their whole army was stationed. Once it got annihilated I went for the capital + as many Zaria’s provinces as possible, later on also both Benin provinces. Before their new troops arrived, they sued for peace. War started on 1852-03-06 and finished on 1853-01-09.
In early 1850s I got an interesting opportunity – early in the game Madagascar got only sphered by France, not annexed, as it normally happens. In some weird flow of action they were out of the sphere in 1840s and France declared on them to have them back. The war last quite long without any results and eventually ended with a white peace. This is I guess mainly due to the fact that France was losing badly to Prussian alliance in consecutive wars, some of which they started themselves, fortunately not asking me to join their cause, and they eventually needed to leave both E-L and Franche Comte.
I couldn’t really let such an opportunity slip my hands – I declared for Madagascar Ampanihy (0.22m and a nice return rate of 44/bb). War started on 1853-09-12 and finished on 1854-03-08.
The same year Ottomans decided to free Aleppo. I thought it would be a nice chance to have the last top10 uncivilized state taken over and declared for Egiptian Chartum adding also Egiptian Damietta, as I will need the canal badly later in the game.
Again – not really much happened – I occupied the capital, all of Chartum’s and Damietta’s provinces. The Egiptian army wanted to prove me wrong, but eventually had to remain silent. War started on 1854-09-17 and finished on 1856-01-03.
In 1850s UK were fighting Siam in order to free Cambodia’s Udon Thai – a random event, I guess. Additionally in some way Dai Nam was no longer allied with Chinese Empire and another badboy lowering event happened to me. Such being the case I could go for Dai Nam – both Thanh Hoa and Vien Long.
As I declared and went for the capital the major uprising blew up throughout the country. It only speeded up the whole war – the Cambodian troops and major Dai Namese army were down south while I made myself comfortable in capital states provinces. The key battle was fought in Hue – I beached 2 small troops to both neighboring provinces and annihilated their whole army with the central blow using my all remaining artilleries. War started on 1856-07-08 and finished on 1857-08-24.
The last episode was played back where we started – I declared on Ethiopia, which was in complete mess fighting rebels, and liberated Ethiopian Werder. War started on 1857-10-02 and finished on 1858-02-26.
E. The final touch
As the deadline was nearing I was really hoping for the miracles such as:
- a free CB on Dutch Java and possibly Holland without allies;
- a free CB on Spanish Luzon and possibly Spain without allies;
- somebody else, preferably UK, declares on China and disarms them;
- uprising and a general havoc in Chinese Empire.
Needless to say that none happened and I had to handle it all myself.
In the last couple of years I kept on boosting my cash reserves instead of paying for useless education. Maybe a better idea could have been investing in soldiers, but I felt I could need cash to support a massive and potentially long war – so I will never know.
There is little to be said about navy – I got the first naval base in Mombassa and the other in Makau – this pretty much allows transportation between Africa and Asia without much attrition. Mombassa also serves well for the transit to Suez. The war ships were being built in Makau constantly and simply stayed there waiting till Dai Nam war. The transport ships were built as they were needed with the missing rest being built in the harbors of Thanh Hoa and Vien Long in early 1860s.
On the diplomatic level – the only country that was really interested in Chinese Empire itself was Russia – fortunately in early 1860s they got involved in the most ridiculous war of our time when Spain declared for Scandinavian Ghana. Russia and Holland backed Spain while Austria defended the newly reborn Vikings. I wasn’t really following the whole war, but Russia got a serious beating from Austrians, who occupied vast parts of Ukraine.
As for me – I kept on sphering Chinese domain states and countries as planned. The first to join Krakowian sphere was Yunnan. I also had horrible time fighting for Guangxi with US, but eventually thx to France trying to get it as well and blocking US a number of times I managed to be on top. The rest was easy – without any diplo-fights nor particular interest of any country – and followed step by step with the last, Japan, joining the sphere on 1862-10-08.
As I was already waiting with a CB – the same day the war against Chinese Empire began.
A quick comparison tells it all:
- population: Krakow – 5.7m versus Chinese Empire – 62.9m – 11x more;
- troops: Krakow – 20 units (18 artilleries on the coast of China and 2 locals which stayed in Africa) versus Chinese Empire – 455 units – 25x more (excluding my locals in Africa);
- ships: Krakow – 7 war ships + 23 transport ships versus Chinese Empire – 21 units – a clear advantage of Krakow.
F. Summary
Krakow’s position against the master plan:
- milestone 3, status: accomplished
- milestone 3, deadline: accomplished, ahead of time (1862-10-08)
- buffer/delay: buffer of 3 years, 1 months, 23 days – buffer has been vastly reduced, let’s hope the additional time taken pays off
- assets: population passed 5.7m, 18 normal and 2 local regiments on the pay roll, all Chinese domain states and countries sphered, France and Ottomans as allies
- issues: clergy level is way too low, I dream of more troops…
Next update: downsizing of Chinese Empire to annexable 4 states! Get ready for the buckets full of blood!
Milestone no. 3: readiness for war with China. Deadline set: till 1865-12-31
A. Nature of the goal
The goal is a pretty obvious one, but on the other hand it’s difficult to say whether one is ready or not, unless you actually try and succeed. So even though I love fantasy stories and I remember having read once in one of Terry Pretchet’s books (Guards, Guards, I believe) a nice way of getting prepared for 1-in-a-million probability case, which reportedly always happens, I prefer an old-fashioned doing whatever possible to bring the odds closer. Such being the case I will assume that the day I declare the first war on China is the day that the readiness for the war has been accomplished, OK?
I plan to clear the odds in the following areas:
- diplomatic domination – singling out Chinese Empire is the key, as described earlier. The general plan is to keep on sphering all the countries and states of their domain, while keeping good relations with all the top8 countries, in particular the ones that shall try to improve their relations with China. If possible – I intend to clear Burma and Dai Nam and any other country, should Chinese Empire ally with anyone, earlier – if needed by peacing them out in a dedicated war. As for the top8 countries I don’t want anyone, and won’t ask anyone, to go for Chinese Empire with me, as I won’t be the leader of the negotiation pack. But I still like the thought of having allies here and there, as they are less likely to declare on me directly and shall discourage other countries from doing so. Of course – I will not obey any of the alliances when called for their wars – why shall I lose 0.07 badboy decrease per month without a sure return rate?;
- sea domination – to assure all blockade points possible. In order to dream of it I need at least 1 naval base in the region – this will limit my attrition costs and allow faster construction of war ships. I initially assume that some 8 wars ships would be needed + as many transport ships as land armies available;
- land army survival – I can’t even dream of beating the Chinese Empire down to 0, but I can and shall have at least 1 man standing to accept the final peace treaty. For the time being – let’s just assume that the sky is the limit – I will take to China all the armies I can gather.
B. Targeting manpower donors
Before actually taking any further steps, let’s analyze the badboy investment opportunities in 1845. Please note I’m not even considering annexations of any civilized countries nor taking off states of them – I don’t really need their pops, as their literacy rate is typically very low and will kill my research tempo.
To make it simpler I shall divide them into a few basic categories: annexation (cost of 22 max badboy), taking off colony from civilized (cost of 10 max badboy) and taking off state from uncivilized (cost of 5 max badboy). In order to keep things simple I shall not really focus on my ability to handle a particular job right now – just opportunities.
Annexation (top10 countries):
- Penjab – 2.8m (5 allies, including Persia, limited access) = 127/bb
- Hyderabad – 1.9m (puppet and ally of UK, no access) = 86/bb
- Dai Nam – 1.6m (allied with Chinese Empire, Burma and Camboda, their puppet) = 73/bb
- Ethiopia – 1.3m = 59/bb, additionally allows 2 colonies of 0.3m, so total upped to 73/bb
- Beroda – 1.4m (puppet and ally of UK) = 64/bb
- Sokoto – 1.4m (2 wars needed with 27 max bb) = 52/bb, additionally allows 1 colony of 0.2m, so total upped to 59/bb
- Awadh – 1.2m (puppet and ally of UK, no access) = 55/bb
- Siam – 1.2m (allied with Johor and Atjeh) = 55/bb
- Burma – 0.9m (sphered by UK + allies) = 41/bb
- Persia – 1.6m (3 allies, including Penjab, 2 wars needed with 47 max bb) = 34/bb
Ps. Please note – Egipt – 2.3m (2 wars needed with 92 max bb) = 25/bb only (!)
Taking off colony from civilized (top10 states), only smaller countries considered:
- Dutch Java – 2.1m (5 allies, including Russia, Austria and Spain) = 210/bb
- Spanish Luzon – 0.56m (3 allies, including US and Holland) = 56/bb
- Dutch Jambi – 0.53m (5 allies, including Russia, Austria and Spain) = 53/bb
- Dutch Ambon – 0.34m (5 allies, including Russia, Austria and Spain) = 34/bb
- Spanish Visayas – 0.27m (3 allies, including US and Holland) = 27/bb
- Spanish Cuba – 0.24m (3 allies, including US and Holland) = 24/bb
- Portuguese Lourenzo Marques – 0.18m (allied with Spain) = 18/bb
- Dutch Bali – 0.17m (5 allies, including Russia, Austria and Spain) = 17/bb
- Portuguese Mozambique – 0.14m (allied with Spain) = 14/bb
- Spanish Mindanao – 0.13m (3 allies, including US and Holland) = 13/bb
Taking off state from uncivilized (top10 states), excluding capital provinces:
- Ethiopian Negele – 0.57m = 114/bb, additionally allows 2 colonies of 0.3m, so total upped to 174/bb
- Sokotian Zaria – 0.59m = 118/bb, additionally allows 1 colony of 0.2m, so total upped to 158/bb
- Dai Nami Thanh Hoa – 0.59m (allied with Chinese Empire, Burma and Camboda, their puppet) = 118/bb
- Persian Tebriz – 0.45m (3 allies, including Penjab) = 90/bb
- Dai Nami Vien Long – 0.42m (allied with Chinese Empire, Burma and Camboda, their puppet) = 84/bb
- Ethiopian Werder – 0.31m = 62/bb, colonies not counted as already added to Ethiopian Negele
- Penjabi Srinagar – 0.31m (5 allies, including Persia, limited access) = 62/bb
- Hyderabadi Nagpur – 0.31m (puppet and ally of UK, no access) = 62/bb
- Birmanese Rangoon – 0.30m (sphered by UK + allies) = 60/bb
- Egiptian Chartum – 0.29m = 58/bb and Siamese Udon Thai – 0.29m = 58/bb
So a global top10 would be:
- Dutch Java – 2.1m (5 allies, including Russia, Austria and Spain) = 210/bb
- Ethiopian Negele – 0.57m = 114/bb, additionally allows 2 colonies of 0.3m, so total upped to 174/bb
- Sokotian Zaria – 0.59m = 118/bb, additionally allows 1 colony of 0.2m, so total upped to 158/bb
- Penjab – 2.8m (5 allies, including Persia, limited access) = 127/bb
- Dai Nami Thanh Hoa – 0.59m (allied with Chinese Empire, Burma and Camboda, their puppet) = 118/bb
- Persian Tebriz – 0.45m (3 allies, including Penjab) = 90/bb
- Dai Nami Vien Long – 0.42m (allied with Chinese Empire, Burma and Camboda, their puppet) = 84/bb
- Dai Nam – 1.6m (allied with Chinese Empire, Burma and Camboda, their puppet) = 73/bb
- Ethiopia – 1.3m = 59/bb, additionally allows 2 colonies of 0.3m, so total upped to 73/bb
- Beroda – 1.4m (puppet and ally of UK) = 64/bb
Well, with my 2 regulars and 2 locals I can’t even dream of scaring little girls in Holland or UK on a dark Halloween night, not to mention liberating any of their assets. Perso-Penjabi alliance also looks tight, furthermore the top populated provinces they have are deep inland, so I would need to either invest way more bb and grab the other small provinces or try to get military accesses – none of these options looks promising.
So I decide to focus on Ethiopia and Sokoto in the first place, while in case of Dai Nam I will wait, as any changes in their diplomatic relations will be only in my favor, and if nothing happens I will come back a bit stronger after previous wars.
C. Opportunity knocks on the door
To start with – I needed to tackle a few issues:
- get my real army from Krakow (now on Austrian coast) to Africa, possibly without much attrition to the transport ships;
- thus I need a naval base – Mombassa is the furthest up north, so it will suit the best – I just needed to collect funds;
- my bb is still rather high.
When I was just minding my own business 2 interesting things happened:
- I got a random CB on Portuguese Lourenzo Marques – a nice one and the return rate is infinity/bb
- before I actually decided whether to proceed with the invasion with all my troops Portugal declared on me for Krakowian Mozambique – still mad for Portuguese Sena, I presume.
This is nice, but a bit early – nice because Portugal came alone, without their Spanish ally, early because I’m still a military pariah.
Fortunately so was Portugal – my locals started taking over Lindi, Mozambique and LM provinces while Mendvi regiment got an assignment in Goa, Makau and Dili. Portugal tried to counter by sending a mighty 1 unit infantry to Mendvi, but my only regular slashed them on their way back from far east and the navy chased the transport ship down. They tried it once again a few months later, but with the same result.
In the next phase my locals took over Angolian provinces, while the regular was sent for Saint Thomas island. The navy did the rest by blocking Bissau and Cape Verde. As I had little chances off Portuguese coast I decided to pass and eventually got the peace treaty I deserved.
To be honest – I was so pleased with the development and I didn’t really want another war with Portugal out of nowhere to happen again that I forgot to press on breaks when I really should have. I claimed another colonial province (Portuguese Mozambique) and their state of Makau. The badboy was one bleeding wound. War started on 1845-10-24 by Portugal and finished on 1848-12-14.
Afterthought: while Portuguese Lourenzo Marques and Portuguese Mozambique were both on my list, I need to admit that I had quite a headache with Makau – it was a state, not a colony, so after taking over I will immediately loose my literacy level, thus my research speed will surely go down. On the other hand – there are only 5k men, so the influence will be minor, when compared to Krakow’s 100+. But if there are only 5k men my return rate is like 0.5/bb, so why bother?? And there was only 1 reason I decided to actually do it – immediate access to a province suitable for a naval base in the Far East. With Makau – I don’t need to rush for Dai Nam at least 3 years before the war with Chinese Empire and Dai Nam blockades will not cost me any attrition.
The other direct result of this war was that I go myself brand new allies – France, Belgium, Ottomans and Sicily. With French bases I was able to eventually fetch my home-sick artillery unit from Dubrovnik to Africa.
D. Back to business
So let’s not let this little Portuguese blip stop us from proceeding with the plan. In particular as I got the democracy shines event, which lowered my bb.
The first one goes Ethiopia – due to very high bb level I go for Ethiopian Negele only (0.57m = 114/bb, additionally allows 2 colonies of 0.3m, so total upped to 174/bb), instead of annexation (1.3m = 59/bb, additionally allows 2 colonies of 0.3m, so total upped to 73/bb) or Ethiopian Werder (0.31m = 62/bb, colonies not counted as already added to Ethiopian Negele).
This is an interesting example on how to fight the uncivilized, so I will say a few more words on the military tactics. I differentiate 2 types of war goals:
- full annexation;
- taking over one or more states.
In the first case – you basically need to conquer the whole country and in the meantime demolish all their armies. The good idea is to annihilate the enemy armies whenever possible, so typically you should look for encirclement possibilities and than a nice quick blow right in the center. It doesn’t really matter where you start with the occupations – you just need to have all the provinces at the end.
In the letter one – you just need to reach a certain level of conquest, which transfers to warscore. As shown in some earlier examples – you don’t really need to fight the enemy. Warscore is built off land and naval battles, naval blockades and land occupations. Land battles can grant a huge 25% of points needed, but they are capped, so the rest needs to be filled by occupations. Normally I would always consider going for the capital province first as it pays the most and add as many provinces of the desired state as possible as they not only improve warscore reached, but also lower the warscore needed.
In case of Ethiopia you get a sure 0 points for naval stuff, as they have no coast, so you need to focus on the battles and land occupations. I doubt I have any chances with my 2+2 troops against the Ethiopian 13-15 local regiments, so I have no chances for the battle score domination. Thus I need to work on the land occupations. The top points are always granted for the capital province, so 1 of my regulars needs to seize it. The minor issue is that it’s protected by some 9 local units. The other one is sent to Bonga in Ethiopian Negele. One of the locals is sent to Bonga as well, while the other gets another task.
I’m sure everybody noticed that there is a ‘fear factor’ that the uncivilized nations tend to obey – eg. my 1 regular will never be attacked by Ethiopian locals – not even if they all gather together. Yet they will be most happy to haste for my locals. Thus I’m sending the other local to Harer. This is driving the Ethiopians crazy – they abandon their capital province and chicken run for Harer. I of course leave this province to the coastal Zeyla (uncivs will not enter uncolonized province, so I’m save) – this unit will soon go around through Djibouti and join the regular one in the capital.
Gonder, the capital, and Bonga are still not enough to have the Ethiopians play my game, so I need some outmaneuvering – I use my local from Bonga occupation to play hide and seek with the enemy. I get to their province of Aselia and whenever I see they are after me – I run for life to Goba, the uncolonized province to the south. In the meantime I go for Asosa, leaving Bonga to Ethiopian occupation (another army has something to do) and Debre Tabor with regulars and Axum with locals. Eventually Ethiopians give up. War started on 1850-06-15 and finished on 1851-03-14.
Once my 3 artilleries are ready in Negele I declare on Sokoto. I demand Sokotian Zaria (0.59m = 118/bb, additionally allows 1 colony of 0.2m, so total upped to 158/bb), but as I get almost 0 bb I also add up Sokotian Benin – a bit off the top10 list, but it opens the back door to Nigerian coast and the biggest colonial province of post 1870s type – Warri.
This war is pretty boring – I got my troops ready on the border of Sokoto province, the capital, where their whole army was stationed. Once it got annihilated I went for the capital + as many Zaria’s provinces as possible, later on also both Benin provinces. Before their new troops arrived, they sued for peace. War started on 1852-03-06 and finished on 1853-01-09.
In early 1850s I got an interesting opportunity – early in the game Madagascar got only sphered by France, not annexed, as it normally happens. In some weird flow of action they were out of the sphere in 1840s and France declared on them to have them back. The war last quite long without any results and eventually ended with a white peace. This is I guess mainly due to the fact that France was losing badly to Prussian alliance in consecutive wars, some of which they started themselves, fortunately not asking me to join their cause, and they eventually needed to leave both E-L and Franche Comte.
I couldn’t really let such an opportunity slip my hands – I declared for Madagascar Ampanihy (0.22m and a nice return rate of 44/bb). War started on 1853-09-12 and finished on 1854-03-08.
The same year Ottomans decided to free Aleppo. I thought it would be a nice chance to have the last top10 uncivilized state taken over and declared for Egiptian Chartum adding also Egiptian Damietta, as I will need the canal badly later in the game.
Again – not really much happened – I occupied the capital, all of Chartum’s and Damietta’s provinces. The Egiptian army wanted to prove me wrong, but eventually had to remain silent. War started on 1854-09-17 and finished on 1856-01-03.
In 1850s UK were fighting Siam in order to free Cambodia’s Udon Thai – a random event, I guess. Additionally in some way Dai Nam was no longer allied with Chinese Empire and another badboy lowering event happened to me. Such being the case I could go for Dai Nam – both Thanh Hoa and Vien Long.
As I declared and went for the capital the major uprising blew up throughout the country. It only speeded up the whole war – the Cambodian troops and major Dai Namese army were down south while I made myself comfortable in capital states provinces. The key battle was fought in Hue – I beached 2 small troops to both neighboring provinces and annihilated their whole army with the central blow using my all remaining artilleries. War started on 1856-07-08 and finished on 1857-08-24.
The last episode was played back where we started – I declared on Ethiopia, which was in complete mess fighting rebels, and liberated Ethiopian Werder. War started on 1857-10-02 and finished on 1858-02-26.
E. The final touch
As the deadline was nearing I was really hoping for the miracles such as:
- a free CB on Dutch Java and possibly Holland without allies;
- a free CB on Spanish Luzon and possibly Spain without allies;
- somebody else, preferably UK, declares on China and disarms them;
- uprising and a general havoc in Chinese Empire.
Needless to say that none happened and I had to handle it all myself.
In the last couple of years I kept on boosting my cash reserves instead of paying for useless education. Maybe a better idea could have been investing in soldiers, but I felt I could need cash to support a massive and potentially long war – so I will never know.
There is little to be said about navy – I got the first naval base in Mombassa and the other in Makau – this pretty much allows transportation between Africa and Asia without much attrition. Mombassa also serves well for the transit to Suez. The war ships were being built in Makau constantly and simply stayed there waiting till Dai Nam war. The transport ships were built as they were needed with the missing rest being built in the harbors of Thanh Hoa and Vien Long in early 1860s.
On the diplomatic level – the only country that was really interested in Chinese Empire itself was Russia – fortunately in early 1860s they got involved in the most ridiculous war of our time when Spain declared for Scandinavian Ghana. Russia and Holland backed Spain while Austria defended the newly reborn Vikings. I wasn’t really following the whole war, but Russia got a serious beating from Austrians, who occupied vast parts of Ukraine.
As for me – I kept on sphering Chinese domain states and countries as planned. The first to join Krakowian sphere was Yunnan. I also had horrible time fighting for Guangxi with US, but eventually thx to France trying to get it as well and blocking US a number of times I managed to be on top. The rest was easy – without any diplo-fights nor particular interest of any country – and followed step by step with the last, Japan, joining the sphere on 1862-10-08.
As I was already waiting with a CB – the same day the war against Chinese Empire began.
A quick comparison tells it all:
- population: Krakow – 5.7m versus Chinese Empire – 62.9m – 11x more;
- troops: Krakow – 20 units (18 artilleries on the coast of China and 2 locals which stayed in Africa) versus Chinese Empire – 455 units – 25x more (excluding my locals in Africa);
- ships: Krakow – 7 war ships + 23 transport ships versus Chinese Empire – 21 units – a clear advantage of Krakow.
F. Summary
Krakow’s position against the master plan:
- milestone 3, status: accomplished
- milestone 3, deadline: accomplished, ahead of time (1862-10-08)
- buffer/delay: buffer of 3 years, 1 months, 23 days – buffer has been vastly reduced, let’s hope the additional time taken pays off
- assets: population passed 5.7m, 18 normal and 2 local regiments on the pay roll, all Chinese domain states and countries sphered, France and Ottomans as allies
- issues: clergy level is way too low, I dream of more troops…
Next update: downsizing of Chinese Empire to annexable 4 states! Get ready for the buckets full of blood!
Really astonishing what you are presenting here. Or to say it in other words, I can't get enought of following the development of this AAR. And it got even better after I have eventually noticed, that you are playing a Polish mutation of the game.
I'm really impressed. I didn't thing it was possible, but clearly I was vastly mistaken. I also like your very clear and informative style.
Gonna be really weird seeing Krakow spelled out across the globe in block capitals.
The decision needs to be ‘bring it on’!
Milestone no. 4: downsizing of Chinese Empire to annexable 4 states. Deadline set: till 1875-12-31
A. Nature of the goal
In order to be able to claim annexation of the uncivilized country you need to have it 4 or less states strong. Once Chinese Empire is down to 4 or less states I will be able to claim the annexation in the next war. Once the Empire is down all the substates will become free. Free from Chinese Empire of course only, because I will remain their master Once it’s done I shall be able to have the Chinese substates and puppets as my allies and use them for whatever I fancy.
B. Cutting out the best pieces
So as mentioned – I declared Krakow’s first war on Chinese Empire on 1862-10-08 – let’s witness this great moment in the history of every Viki 2 country together:
As you can see Chinese Empire constitutes of 14 states – 13 I can claim + Zhengding, the capital state, which I cannot claim.
Out of this whole pack I decide to ask for Suzu. There are a few reasons for this:
- it’s the most populated state in Chinese Empire available for claiming – no. 4 on the original ‘top10 states worldwide in 1836’ list;
- it’s a coastal state, so it will be easier to occupy their provinces and in this way reduce warscore needed for a peace deal;
- it’s a coastal state, so after the war I will be able to use the newly formed army for another tasks, if needed.
As mentioned earlier – I’m not asking France nor Ottomans, my allies, to support me, even though their positive response would have been almost sure. I simply don’t need them in this war, as it would have been France to lead my alliance. Neither would I like them to sign peace before I reach my goals nor would I like to see them grab some states for free despite not even sending a single transport ship to the Far East.
My intentions are the following:
- get highest possible warscore for land battles (max is 25);
- get highest possible warscore for land occupations (capital brings 8.6 and there are some 70 provinces in Chinese Empire, each bringing 1.4 warscore);
- get highest possible warscore for naval blockades (there are 25 coastal provinces in Chinese Empire, each bringing 0.35 warscore, thus total of 8.75);
- get highest possible warscore for naval battles (this depends greatly on the number of ships the enemy will send on me – as this is random I’m initially assuming 0).
This said and done it’s clear that if I manage to get the land battles, naval blockades and at least the capital I shall be able to have over 42 points to start with. This is more than I need to have my claim for Suzu work, so I start claiming another state.
On the day 1 Krakow proceeds with the following:
- 1 regiment in Hong Kong – starts occupation;
- 1 regiment in Taipei – starts occupation;
- 1 regiment in Port Arthur – starts occupation;
- 8 regiments in Tainan (to remove Chinese 10 regiments there), once the enemy is annihilated – 1 starts occupation, while the rest returns on board;
- Remaining 7 regiments in Tianjin (closest port to Beijing, the capital), once the battle is won – immediately proceed to Beijing and start occupation. Beijing is the only province with fortifications, so the occupation will take the longest and I need to start outright.
So what will happen – I think you remember the first Ethiopian war – I was mentioning about a so called ‘fear factor’. It’s hard to believe, but it will work in China as well – my 8 regiments in Beijing will never be attacked, even if there are like 10 regiments in each of the 5 adjacent provinces! Instead Chinese Empire will try to catch my _empty_ provinces that they can access – so be ready for blood shed in Makau and former Dai Namese provinces.
As I need the warscore for battles – this is all I’m waiting for – once the Chinese troops arrive to eg. Makau, typically some 7-10 regiments – I dock my ship and my 7 regiments slaughter the enemy for a hand full of battle points. As this is a never-ending-story – I keep on repeating the assaults and cannot really leave them for long alone, as any loss to the warscore due to my occupied provinces is irreplaceable.
Thus I need to pay attention to details:
- first – once all the occupations in Hong Kong, Port Arthur and Formosa/Taiwan are finished – I need to collect all these troops;
- second – I divide my now 11 regiments strong army into 2 units – of 4 and 7, both land in the coastal province in Suzu, the 4 regiment strong starts occupation, while the stronger unit goes inland (not to another coastal province, as I will lose naval blockade points) and starts occupation.
Once all the 3 provinces are under my control – I calculate the points:
- 25 for land battles;
- 8.6 for occupied capital;
- 1.4 x 6 for other occupied provinces;
- 20 x 0.35 for naval blockades (5 coastal provinces already occupied);
It brings the total of 49 points – more than enough to secure Suzu.
If I want to have Chinese Empire down to 4 states by the end of 1875 – I will need to take over 10 states in total before going for annexation. As I have no chances to win this war with 100% warscore, I think I shall focus on just getting as much as possible and just finish the rest in the subsequent war.
So I basically have 2 options:
- claim as many small states as possible – that typically means – Suzu + eg. Hong Kong, Port Arthur (Chinese Manzhouli) or Formosa/Taiwan. The total warscore needed shall be around 30 and can be easily forced on Chinese Empire. This strategy will bring them down to 10 states, so in the second war you would only need to claim 6 further states;
- claim as big states as possible – that typically means – Suzu + one of the other top10s – Huizhou, Nanyang, Daming or Suzhou. Huizhou and Suzhou are neighboring Suzu, which is a nice asset, Nanyang is deep inland, thus I’m excluding it immediately, and Daming, even though it’s not neighboring Suzu, is also interesting as it has the only province that produces precious metals (Caozhou).
After quite a long thinking I eventually decide to go for Daming – mostly because I know what to do with spare cash – boost army recruitments and education. Additionally – the total population difference between the largest Huizhou and Daming is acceptably low (around 1 mln only).
War started on 1862-10-08 and finished on 1863-11-13.
Once the war is over I’m already 19+ mln people strong country, no. 5 worldwide, while Chinese Empire loses it’s leadership to UK. Krakow’s allies are now UK, France and Ottomans.
C. Final countdown
Now I could potentially think of some new targets – declaring for free on Russia, Austria or Prussia is quite tempting, but without the Suez channel the shipping costs and time from Far East to Europe are outrageously high that I’m too bored to bother. Instead I’m boosting the recruitments and eventually reach over 80 supportable units and once my cash reserves also touch a secure level counted in millions – I max up the education.
In late 1860s I’m quite disappointed with this decision – Prussia, after a hard lesson to have been beaten by France in early 1860s, once again decided they need to work on the trigger to form the North German Alliance and declared on Scandinavia, which was backed by Austria and Ottomans. The military scores of both Prussia and Austria plummeted. Their war ended with nothing, but if only I had an army in the neighborhood I could have speeded up the PLC unification process…
Eventually after 6 years of waiting I go for Chinese Empire for the second time. Yet this time I’m ready to rumble!
Please note that Guangxi was out of my sphere at that moment – they got removed by US during the first war and I kept on thinking it might be a good chance not to sphere them this time and let them join the war on Chinese Empire side, eventually squeezing them off 2 states to annexable 4 and in this way prepare them for the upcoming annexation. Yet I eventually decided to limit myself to Chinese Empire only. The main reason for this was my biggest enemy – the badboy limit.
Furthermore in order to give myself a bit more room I decided the following:
- to free Kutch – 5 badboy points reduction;
- to sign the Geneva treaty – 1 badboy point less;
- to ask my allies to join me in war – France, UK and Ottomans were sure not to join, but the other of my allies – Japan (sphered) and Transwal (proposed alliance on their own and had quite high level of relations) decided to go with me.
In the meantime I also maxed my diplo relations with top8 countries, including European neighbors and refocused sphering to all South American countries. I also built up naval bases in Damietta, Lourenzo Marques, Southern Dai Nam and Suzu – this was meant to cover me after a planned liberation of Zanzibar, but at the end I decided not to, due to a potential havoc someone could bring by annexing it later.
Out of post-1870 techs I first went for research and only later machine guns and artillery boosting tech. The colonization of Warri, the biggest post-1870 state available, started in 1872 with Mombassa locals military assistance.
D. Action please
The second war with Chinese Empire itself was without any history – I came and slaughtered all the units on the mainland and occupied all the provinces there. As Japan was already civilized they were also eager to get their part of the cake, so I left Chinese Manzhouli, Hong Kong and Formosa/Taiwan for them to occupy and claim. Unfortunately they wanted only the first two, so I needed to claim further 6 states myself. As I didn’t want the war to last too long I just claimed 4 in a standard way and added the remaining 2 for full price. War started on 1870-05-08 and finished on 1872-02-17.
E. Summary
Krakow’s position against the master plan:
- milestone 4, status: accomplished
- milestone 4, deadline: accomplished, ahead of time (1872-02-17)
- buffer/delay: buffer of 3 years, 10 months, 14 days – buffer slightly increased
- assets: population passed 52.8m, 83 regiments on the pay roll and further 80+ supportable, all Chinese domain states and countries sphered, UK, Italy, Japan and Transwal as allies
- issues: clergy level is way too low (1.40) and my only national focus is redirected to colonization
Next update: annexations of at least half of Chinese states! The land of the free is waiting for you!
Milestone no. 4: downsizing of Chinese Empire to annexable 4 states. Deadline set: till 1875-12-31
A. Nature of the goal
In order to be able to claim annexation of the uncivilized country you need to have it 4 or less states strong. Once Chinese Empire is down to 4 or less states I will be able to claim the annexation in the next war. Once the Empire is down all the substates will become free. Free from Chinese Empire of course only, because I will remain their master
Once it’s done I shall be able to have the Chinese substates and puppets as my allies and use them for whatever I fancy.B. Cutting out the best pieces
So as mentioned – I declared Krakow’s first war on Chinese Empire on 1862-10-08 – let’s witness this great moment in the history of every Viki 2 country together:
As you can see Chinese Empire constitutes of 14 states – 13 I can claim + Zhengding, the capital state, which I cannot claim.
Out of this whole pack I decide to ask for Suzu. There are a few reasons for this:
- it’s the most populated state in Chinese Empire available for claiming – no. 4 on the original ‘top10 states worldwide in 1836’ list;
- it’s a coastal state, so it will be easier to occupy their provinces and in this way reduce warscore needed for a peace deal;
- it’s a coastal state, so after the war I will be able to use the newly formed army for another tasks, if needed.
As mentioned earlier – I’m not asking France nor Ottomans, my allies, to support me, even though their positive response would have been almost sure. I simply don’t need them in this war, as it would have been France to lead my alliance. Neither would I like them to sign peace before I reach my goals nor would I like to see them grab some states for free despite not even sending a single transport ship to the Far East.
My intentions are the following:
- get highest possible warscore for land battles (max is 25);
- get highest possible warscore for land occupations (capital brings 8.6 and there are some 70 provinces in Chinese Empire, each bringing 1.4 warscore);
- get highest possible warscore for naval blockades (there are 25 coastal provinces in Chinese Empire, each bringing 0.35 warscore, thus total of 8.75);
- get highest possible warscore for naval battles (this depends greatly on the number of ships the enemy will send on me – as this is random I’m initially assuming 0).
This said and done it’s clear that if I manage to get the land battles, naval blockades and at least the capital I shall be able to have over 42 points to start with. This is more than I need to have my claim for Suzu work, so I start claiming another state.
On the day 1 Krakow proceeds with the following:
- 1 regiment in Hong Kong – starts occupation;
- 1 regiment in Taipei – starts occupation;
- 1 regiment in Port Arthur – starts occupation;
- 8 regiments in Tainan (to remove Chinese 10 regiments there), once the enemy is annihilated – 1 starts occupation, while the rest returns on board;
- Remaining 7 regiments in Tianjin (closest port to Beijing, the capital), once the battle is won – immediately proceed to Beijing and start occupation. Beijing is the only province with fortifications, so the occupation will take the longest and I need to start outright.
So what will happen – I think you remember the first Ethiopian war – I was mentioning about a so called ‘fear factor’. It’s hard to believe, but it will work in China as well – my 8 regiments in Beijing will never be attacked, even if there are like 10 regiments in each of the 5 adjacent provinces! Instead Chinese Empire will try to catch my _empty_ provinces that they can access – so be ready for blood shed in Makau and former Dai Namese provinces.
As I need the warscore for battles – this is all I’m waiting for – once the Chinese troops arrive to eg. Makau, typically some 7-10 regiments – I dock my ship and my 7 regiments slaughter the enemy for a hand full of battle points. As this is a never-ending-story – I keep on repeating the assaults and cannot really leave them for long alone, as any loss to the warscore due to my occupied provinces is irreplaceable.
Thus I need to pay attention to details:
- first – once all the occupations in Hong Kong, Port Arthur and Formosa/Taiwan are finished – I need to collect all these troops;
- second – I divide my now 11 regiments strong army into 2 units – of 4 and 7, both land in the coastal province in Suzu, the 4 regiment strong starts occupation, while the stronger unit goes inland (not to another coastal province, as I will lose naval blockade points) and starts occupation.
Once all the 3 provinces are under my control – I calculate the points:
- 25 for land battles;
- 8.6 for occupied capital;
- 1.4 x 6 for other occupied provinces;
- 20 x 0.35 for naval blockades (5 coastal provinces already occupied);
It brings the total of 49 points – more than enough to secure Suzu.
If I want to have Chinese Empire down to 4 states by the end of 1875 – I will need to take over 10 states in total before going for annexation. As I have no chances to win this war with 100% warscore, I think I shall focus on just getting as much as possible and just finish the rest in the subsequent war.
So I basically have 2 options:
- claim as many small states as possible – that typically means – Suzu + eg. Hong Kong, Port Arthur (Chinese Manzhouli) or Formosa/Taiwan. The total warscore needed shall be around 30 and can be easily forced on Chinese Empire. This strategy will bring them down to 10 states, so in the second war you would only need to claim 6 further states;
- claim as big states as possible – that typically means – Suzu + one of the other top10s – Huizhou, Nanyang, Daming or Suzhou. Huizhou and Suzhou are neighboring Suzu, which is a nice asset, Nanyang is deep inland, thus I’m excluding it immediately, and Daming, even though it’s not neighboring Suzu, is also interesting as it has the only province that produces precious metals (Caozhou).
After quite a long thinking I eventually decide to go for Daming – mostly because I know what to do with spare cash – boost army recruitments and education. Additionally – the total population difference between the largest Huizhou and Daming is acceptably low (around 1 mln only).
War started on 1862-10-08 and finished on 1863-11-13.
Once the war is over I’m already 19+ mln people strong country, no. 5 worldwide, while Chinese Empire loses it’s leadership to UK. Krakow’s allies are now UK, France and Ottomans.
C. Final countdown
Now I could potentially think of some new targets – declaring for free on Russia, Austria or Prussia is quite tempting, but without the Suez channel the shipping costs and time from Far East to Europe are outrageously high that I’m too bored to bother. Instead I’m boosting the recruitments and eventually reach over 80 supportable units and once my cash reserves also touch a secure level counted in millions – I max up the education.
In late 1860s I’m quite disappointed with this decision – Prussia, after a hard lesson to have been beaten by France in early 1860s, once again decided they need to work on the trigger to form the North German Alliance and declared on Scandinavia, which was backed by Austria and Ottomans. The military scores of both Prussia and Austria plummeted. Their war ended with nothing, but if only I had an army in the neighborhood I could have speeded up the PLC unification process…
Eventually after 6 years of waiting I go for Chinese Empire for the second time. Yet this time I’m ready to rumble!
Please note that Guangxi was out of my sphere at that moment – they got removed by US during the first war and I kept on thinking it might be a good chance not to sphere them this time and let them join the war on Chinese Empire side, eventually squeezing them off 2 states to annexable 4 and in this way prepare them for the upcoming annexation. Yet I eventually decided to limit myself to Chinese Empire only. The main reason for this was my biggest enemy – the badboy limit.
Furthermore in order to give myself a bit more room I decided the following:
- to free Kutch – 5 badboy points reduction;
- to sign the Geneva treaty – 1 badboy point less;
- to ask my allies to join me in war – France, UK and Ottomans were sure not to join, but the other of my allies – Japan (sphered) and Transwal (proposed alliance on their own and had quite high level of relations) decided to go with me.
In the meantime I also maxed my diplo relations with top8 countries, including European neighbors and refocused sphering to all South American countries. I also built up naval bases in Damietta, Lourenzo Marques, Southern Dai Nam and Suzu – this was meant to cover me after a planned liberation of Zanzibar, but at the end I decided not to, due to a potential havoc someone could bring by annexing it later.
Out of post-1870 techs I first went for research and only later machine guns and artillery boosting tech. The colonization of Warri, the biggest post-1870 state available, started in 1872 with Mombassa locals military assistance.
D. Action please
The second war with Chinese Empire itself was without any history – I came and slaughtered all the units on the mainland and occupied all the provinces there. As Japan was already civilized they were also eager to get their part of the cake, so I left Chinese Manzhouli, Hong Kong and Formosa/Taiwan for them to occupy and claim. Unfortunately they wanted only the first two, so I needed to claim further 6 states myself. As I didn’t want the war to last too long I just claimed 4 in a standard way and added the remaining 2 for full price. War started on 1870-05-08 and finished on 1872-02-17.
E. Summary
Krakow’s position against the master plan:
- milestone 4, status: accomplished
- milestone 4, deadline: accomplished, ahead of time (1872-02-17)
- buffer/delay: buffer of 3 years, 10 months, 14 days – buffer slightly increased
- assets: population passed 52.8m, 83 regiments on the pay roll and further 80+ supportable, all Chinese domain states and countries sphered, UK, Italy, Japan and Transwal as allies
- issues: clergy level is way too low (1.40) and my only national focus is redirected to colonization
Next update: annexations of at least half of Chinese states! The land of the free is waiting for you!
Great progress once again. But still it is a pity, that you have not been able to benefit from the clash between Prussia and Austria (though I have no doubts that you will somehow manage it to reach the goal of creating PLC as scheduled).
This was pointed out to me by a reader of my own AAR; you've certainly shown some pretty impressive strategy!
