Chapter 3: Reform at home, boredom abroad
January 4, 1845 -- The upper house remains overwhelmingly liberal, nearly achieving 50% control all by themselves. They'll slowly increase their proportion in the upper house throughout this update.
January 27, 1845 -- We turn a slight deficit into a slight surplus. It's time, I think, to investigate why there's so much red in my pies as well.
The poor and middle class probably need a tax cut; since it's not a significant part of any one region or class, this should go away as the economy improves. The capitalists are both suffering disproportionately (about 45% of them); this is partly because some Factories just aren't profitable or finished yet. This also helps illustrate one of my long-held principles in Vicky 2: Tariffs are
always more destructive to the economy than taxes.
Taxes come out of the capitalist pockets, but don't really affect growth. Because high tariffs make some input goods more expensive, however, they do affect growth. One thing you, the Vicky 2 player, want is growth. Big factories and RGOs mean more profits long-term; tariffs are (and should be) a strictly short-term solution. If not for my party, I would have increased taxes instead of tariffs. Don't worry, people of Russia -- help is on the way!
May 20, 1845 -- Let's take a look at the Great Powers, shall we?
Nobody is seriously threatening me as #1, nor shall they, if I have anything to say about it. The last spot will trade hands a LOT; prestige (from techs) is the big driver, it seems. My military score lead is quite comfortable, although the UK has expanded a lot and has been particularly militaristic, mostly in areas I'm not concerned about.
I take this opportunity to start influencing Hungary; I'm just not too concerned with the whole sphere of influence thing in this game, because I've got pretty much everything I could want here in Russia. Hungary is more an afterthought than anything else.
June 15, 1845 -- Oh no! Atjeh is harassing my merchants! I'd declare war on them if I could be bothered to find them on a map.
July 6, 1845 -- Saskatchewan now belongs to the Russian people. Huzzah!
It's kind of depressing that the vast majority of my people live in China. Oh well. Still waiting for Prophylaxis against Malaria to fire, so I can use NFs to colonize instead of build up the clergy. I'm at the max invention rate for it (5%); this must be the Victoria II gods punishing me for being so awesome. Sorry, but I can't help it! :angry:
October 8, 1845 -- The salvation of my economy; a new technology begins!
These are among the most underrated ways to boost the economy. I notice a lot of players jump on modernizing railways as quickly as possible; however, a flat (and massive!) boost to all RGOs far exceeds any bonus railways give. Whenever I need to hugely grow the economy, I turn to one of these techs.
October 18, 1845 -- Yeah, it took me ten in-game days to realize I had a new NF to assign from State & Government. Whoops!
Fun fact: in my timeline, northern Siberia has more people than Moscow or St. Petersburg. I have no idea why. (I've skipped over a couple of regions in India that have more people but already have 3.5% clergy, which means they're doing fine on their own).
February 15, 1846 -- I get a new event I've never seen -- Flying University. It makes me think of a huge flying university, like the Castle in the Sky from Final Fantasy I, only a university and presumably with fewer War Mechs.
The practical effects are a provincial +2.0% research points modifier coupled with an increase in both MIL and CON; not a bad deal.
March 17, 1846 -- With nearly 5% clergy in my largest region (Zhongding), I shift the NF to another Siberian state.
Also, Switzerland beats Austria and takes South Tirol. I find it fascinating that Switzerland won't call me into wars, but then again, they seem to be doing well enough on their own.
March 30, 1846 -- Pff. Like I'm going to let a bunch of should-be-Spaniards stop me from finding new plants.
May 28, 1846 -- One long term goal is border cleanup around Manchukuo; to this end, I'm still expanding my army in the Far East. Another 18 divisions (it
is divisions, right?) I will do this until every province has a massive army in it. Fair play is for chumps; I prefer overwhelming firepower.
June 3, 1846 -- My first border incident. Yes! Which country shall suffer Russia's wrath?
Norway. It's not worth it. They pretty much have the edge of the Scandinavian Coast and a small chunk of Africa they somehow got, despite not being anywhere near a port. Yeah. If only fjords were an RGO, I could corner the market!
However, we do get a marginally useful addition to the Republic of Russia.
That's Hungary, by the way. Thus ends my desires to expand my sphere of influence. The only country worth sphere-ing, in all honesty, is Manchukuo, and I intend my expansion there to be more... direct.
September 29, 1846 -- All hail the new Great Power -- Crimea, encompassing Foix and Pau on the French-Spanish border.
October 5, 1846 -- By taking Leinster-Connacht from Schleswig, the British have united the British Isles. I respond by shrugging.
February 22, 1847 -- A new reform, remaining careful not to expand the electorate.
I want people to want social reform, so this is a good place to reform.
June 6, 1847 -- Another invention that isn't Prophylaxis against Malaria fires. ::sigh::
If you care, it's Clericalism vs. Anticlericalism, which is a nice bonus to Plurality, but not exactly earth-shatteringly awesome.
August 10, 1847 -- Anhalt declares war on the USA. Patriotism for my native land forces me to examine the situation.
That's Anhalt in the pinkish between the two parts of the USA. If the Civil War fires, it would probably be the least interesting Civil War in history.
September 1, 1847 -- I get practical steam engine, and move on to the invention-riffic Mechanical Production. The tech itself is nice, but the inventions can work wonders on your factories and RGOs.
I also ban Mecklenburg in Hanover. Stay out of my sphere, Mecklenburg!
September 11, 1847 -- See what I mean about how awesome the Practical Steam Engine tech would be?
I cut tariffs to zero; I considered also cutting taxes, but decided to use my surplus to make my ridiculously huge army even more huge. Possibly even more ridiculous.
January 1, 1848 -- Russia -- where the working man can freely express himself. Who needs the Bolsheviks?
January 4, 1848 -- Our first revolution! Ukraine is a 2PM in the middle of Germany.
Somehow, I don't think Taras Shevchenko will have the same impact in German. It's hard to devote your life to popularizing a language that's already incredibly popular and prevalent.
March 29, 1848 -- The UK takes a bite out of Ethiopia; that's actually kind of irritating, to be honest. The British better watch their steps.
Crimea is bumped by Brazil, which is in Africa.
May 6, 1848 -- Chartists rally, demanding universal suffrage. I'll take the prestige for now, but you'll get your universal suffrage when I'm damn good and ready to give it to you.
August 15, 1848 -- Poor USA; Manitoba now belongs to Anhalt.
October 25, 1848 -- Switzerland signs a Status Quo peace with Czechoslovakia -- the first Great War in my game worthy of the name goes entirely without me noticing. That's kind of depressing. I wonder why the Swiss didn't call me?
January 1, 1849 -- My upper house is 54.69% Liberal, so it's time for another reform. We're going to work on making ballots more private.
The bonus to immigration is more than worth a minor decrease in support for the ruling party, who will probably win every election anyway, since in Russia, all political parties are Pro-Military (for now).
May 30, 1849 -- Time for another new tech.
This was a really hard decision. I seriously thought about banking RPs for Nationalism and Imperialism. However, I have a feeling that Machine Parts will be lucrative (since I'll have, by default, as much of the market as I want) and the other inventions are nice too. N&I will be my pick once this is done.
June 28, 1849 -- Our elections return 77% of the electorate in favor of my ruling party. This is why I don't want the poor to vote; the last thing I want is the Slavophiles (or, ugh, Panslavs) in power.
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Next update will be next week.