1st January 1419-1st September 1436
The plan here is rather simple, what I am really bad at is balancing the books. By far the most expensive thing in the game is wars. So I am going to go for Portugal and play colonial. All I need to do is keep my head down until the colonial empire can supply enough money to do something in Europe. Bonus points will be awarded for an inflation figure of less than 50%.
Portugal starts out in not bad shape, a bit of money in the bank and a not bad army. On the down side I also start out at war with Fez and Algeria. So plan Asi real simple I need a quick end to the war. On the other hand though I also start with an army in Tangier as well, so am I tempted to pick up something out of our war? Hell yeah. Not only are all donations gratefully received but the it will kill some of my men reducing my monthly costs, win/win perhaps.
So our army in Tangier start sieging that province and the rest of our troops are shipped over from Portugal to join the fun. By May I have Fez under siege as well. Now it looks like the war is as good as won so I start promoting bailiffs at home. November brings both good news and bad news, I take Tangier and Oporto gets sieged by an Algerian army, I have no troops in Portugal so I need to just let that one take care of itself. I start trying to convince Fez to hand over Tangier but they are having none of it. The war drags on. By July of 1420 I looking at a very poor financial position so my army goes on half maintenance (I told you I couldn't balance the books). Thank God no one decided to attack my army sieging Fez it would of not of been pretty (for me). In November Fez falls and peace is signed for Tangier plus 75 bucks. Portugal now has 75 bucks in the treasury.
So we can go back to original plan, but with one minor technicality. With no explorers we have no where to colonise. So I sit and a wait and run up a bit of inflation so as to clock up a wee bit of money every year. The odd event comes along, meteors etc. etc., but nothing too bad, too often. Life is dull, apart from the odd crash, but hey it's multiplayer. I make only one major decision, which I think is worth mentioning at this time, I focus my research mainly into the Navy. I hope that by the time my major explorers come along I might just have better ships for them.
January 1425 thing pick up again with the arrival of Diego de Senill our first explorer. Time to make a colonisation decision. Well there is really no choice, our ships are just too crap to survive long far away from Portugal, so West Africa is the target. I get military access from Spain so I can use the Canaries as a base. It takes 6 months for Diego to find anything to colonise, but by Diego's death though I have all of the coast explored as far as Guinea. I also have the explorer Gil Eans to replace him. At the same time I start colonising, as the goal is money I go for Trading Posts to begin with. (colonies are too expensive and the chances of success too low to make it worth the gamble). Also I focus my colonising efforts on a single province get that one up to level 6 and then move on. I just start at Tasserat and work my way down the coast. By the time I come to type this up I have 4 provinces at level 6 and I trying to get a trading post established in Senegal. Just a matter of killing time and hoping for a few nice events that give you money (none so far I have to say). I leave it to my partner in crime to give you a more interesting story.
