I'll take your money; kindly send it via post.
All of your guesses are wrong.I plan on updating here mid-week; you'll find out then!
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I'll take your money; kindly send it via post.
All of your guesses are wrong.I plan on updating here mid-week; you'll find out then!
Chapter 9: Look out world! Tremble before Japan!
November 3, 1874: My evil (??) plan is finally revealed. We shall do what the real-life Japanese never could.
Annex Hawaii.
I did this now for three reasons. First, the hadn't been done factor. Second, the USA is at war with Hawaii but completely unable to reach them by virtue of a war with the UK. Third, if I take it, I'll shut the USA out of colonizing the Pacific. It made too much sense not to do it.
November 14, 1874: Caught already.
Still, we're under the infamy limit. I'll take that.January 31, 1875: How hard is to find a bunch of plants? It's not like they can go anywhere.
April 1, 1875: CB speed drops. Don't think you'll get away that easily, my precious little high-literacy POPs!
April 8, 1875: A quick review of the diplomatic situation shows that nobody is seriously trying to sphere Hawaii. The leader in influence is, believe it or not, Russia.
May 24, 1875: Time to cut taxes on the poor a bit more.
I'm also going to unlock the secrets of educational efficiency with a helpful image. (Thanks again, nanomagnetic!)
Educational efficiency is what increases literacy. In this image, you can see that this particular POP is increasing pretty slowly. One of the only ways we can speed that up, apart from fully funding education (if it's less than 100%, we have a negative number instead of zero) is to find new techs and reforms to improve educational efficiency. We have schools and the base level of educational efficiency techs, but we've got more important matters to focus on at the moment. Still, it's nice to know how you can find out, isn't it?
June 28, 1875: Always expanding factories. Edo is the target at the moment, but I'm filling factories as fast as I can build them. That's a good thing.
July 22, 1875: CB generation kicks into high gear.
September 8, 1875: We've got our CB now! Before declaring war, of course, we'll have our fleet waiting. Seems oddly appropriate, don't you agree?
October 24, 1875: Poor Egypt. First, rebels throw out all of their reforms, then the Ottomans declare war.
November 21, 1875: It's time.
Can 11 brigades of Guards throw out 6 brigades of rebel infantry? The tension is practically palpable!
December 14, 1875: Yes. Yes they can.
January 1, 1876: We've got our first movement, which means I finally get to talk about them!
Movements
From a political standpoint, movements may be the biggest change to A House Divided. Movements represent spontaneous local support for an issue. This particular issue is a Suffrage Movement; that means they want voting in the lower house. If you hover your mouse pointer over the name of the movement, you'll find out exactly what they want. CON primarily drives people to join movements.
So what, I hear you asking? Well, movements do two important things. First, they pressure the upper house to grant reforms (unless it's a nationalist movement). Remember when we talked about what motivates certain parties to support reform? Movements also do that. If you look at the movement strength (the flaming fist), we have a 23.7. That means that 20% of the Conservatives will be spooked enough to vote for reform. That's not nearly enough in this case, but as the movement grows stronger, so will the proportions of Conservatives that will vote for the reform.
What can you do if you want to stop a movement? Suppress it. That helpful little button there explains everything. The rate at which you can gain suppression points is affected by your reforms, but once you squish a movement, it'll come back stronger (+10 to movement strength). Suppression is almost always only a temporary solution. So, since you're a budding dictator, you decide, "Pfft. I'll be damned if my people will tell me what to do! Let them whine and moan!" That's when the second thing movements do comes into play.
See, when a movement hits 100 strength (but not immediately), all of the people in the movement are so angry they become rebels. They'll defect to the most logical rebel faction or create their own, if need be. That's why you can't just ignore them, unless you want to disperse the rebellion the old fashioned way, by busting skulls. We aren't going to suppress them, because I actually do want to press this reform. I'll let the movement gain strength.
January 15, 1876: Maybe we're better at finding German plants.
April 6, 1876: This is a big day for us (and the world).
Great Wars
Great Wars were added in the last pre-AHD beta. If you get a war with two Great Powers on each side, it'll turn golden on the wars screen. (I'll show you when/if one breaks out.) At that moment, any Great Power is free to choose either side. All CBs are about a third of their original cost in infamy within this war. One more thing: there's no wimpy white peace. The losers are inflicted with "Great War Capitulation", which is the equivalent of Humiliation and Cut Down to Size hitting somebody at the same time. As you can see, Great Wars are both high risk and high reward.
The second big thing? No more Hawaii.
I'll start building a naval base right away, and expand factories back in the Home Islands again. Finally, we're going to change ruling parties.
With an interventionist government, we'll no longer take a penalty to total output in every factory. See?
Much higher profits.
June 6, 1876: We send the navy back to Japan. Meanwhile, we discover Machine Guns. We'll continue along the road to colonization by picking up State & Government next.
August 14, 1876: Johore is now a Civilized Nation. Good for them, I guess, even if they're still staunch British allies.
November 13, 1876: Nine more brigades of Guards go into the queue.
January 14, 1877: Our first proper rebel movement!
Rebels
As you can see, the Hawaiians are, strangely enough, not terribly happy at being Japanese. In order for the Hawaiian nationalists to succeed, they'd need to hold Hawaii for 80 days. How close are they?
The first number is how many people are backing the movement. The second is how many brigades would rise up if the rebellion started today. (Obviously, zero, since there aren't even 3k people in the movement.) The guy with the gun is how many people are actually uprising at the moment. (Also zero.) The fist is how strong they are; this roughly tells you how much ORG they'd have. The flag is how close they are to actually rebelling, which is naturally zero, since Japan is awesome. Over time, rebels will tend to back off, especially if they enjoy high standards of living. Passing reforms also takes the starch out of rebel movements.
March 1, 1877: Now Jaipur is Civilized too.
March 18, 1877: This is a fascinating opportunity.
I'd love to get my hands on the Philippines, and unlike our earlier Dutch CB, I can do exactly that with this CB. However, there's a string attached: Spain is in France's sphere. And allied to Russia. And the Netherlands. That doesn't take into account France's buddies. Could I still win the war? Maybe, but my fleet is pretty small, and Hawaii is exposed. I'll have to give this some thought.
April 14, 1877: Oh. Snap.
We are officially the #7 power in the world, so we have become a Great Power!
Great Powers
For all of Vicky 2's charms, it's really designed for Great Powers. You can have a perfectly enjoyable game without being one, but once you hit the next level, life gets much more interesting. You can invest in any other civilized nation in the game, but more importantly, you can have a sphere. Spheres give you two things: access to a percentage of that nation's economy and a guaranteed ally.
How do you get influence? Here's an example.
I'm taking (or trying to take) Korea away from Sweden. I've got the influence set to High (you'll see what I mean in a minute). In addition to that, a few other things affect how quickly you gain influence. You get bonuses based on your nation's score (relative to the other guy), your relations, whether or not you've got a border, and how much you've invested. Your base influence is determined by how many countries you're trying to influence at once, as well as your technology. You get a penalty if you're on a different continent. If you're in a truce with a nation, you gain no influence. What do you do with influence? Let's take a look!
You can see here what I mean by levels of influence. One box is low influence, two is medium, and three is high. I'll show you all the countries I'm influencing in a second, but we need to discuss what you do with influence.
The right side of the actions box is all of the things you can do to somebody if you're a GP. (Specifically, you're doing them to another GP.) All of these actions will decrease your relations with the GP you're affecting, so be mindful of that.
Discredit: You target a GP's embassy in that particular country, reducing their influence gain. 25 influence. (So I'd be discrediting, say, France in Spain.)
Expel Influence: A GP loses all influence in a particular country. 50 influence.
Ban Embassy: A GP loses all influence in a particular country AND cannot gain more influence for 365 days. 65 influence.
Increase Opinion: Move your nation up one opinion status in a particular country. (Like from Neutral to Cordial, or from Hostile to Opposed.) 50 influence.
Decrease Opinion: Move another GP down one opinion status in a particular country. (From Friendly to Cordial, or from Opposed to Hostile.) 50 influence.
Add to Sphere: Adds a country to your sphere of influence. Must be Friendly with said country. 100 influence.
Remove from Sphere: Remove a country from another GP's sphere. Must be Friendly with said country. 100 influence.
One other thing: for anything but Increase Opinion, you must be equal or higher to that GP's Opinion status. Therefore, I could Ban the American Embassy with enough influence, but not the Swedish, British, or French embassies, since I'm Neutral towards Spain.
You can have a maximum of 100 influence in a given country. However, in a brilliant move, AHD lets you decay another GP's influence with the "spillover" if a country is in your sphere. In other words, you'll keep gaining influence, but it will be used to counteract enemy influence while still giving you 100 influence. You still need to keep an eye on your competitors, since there's no guarantee that they still can't overcome your advantage, particularly if they border the nation in question and you don't. But it does greatly reduce micromanagement, and the AI is generally smarter about dropping out of races it can't win.
Okay, so I should be sphering everybody I can, right? Not necessarily. There's a big caveat to spheres: you can never, ever, declare war on the spheree. Now, if they become a Secondary Power, they can voluntarily leave your sphere, or if rebels take over, they'll cancel all diplomatic agreements. More subtly, if you take over a really robust economy, they might out-compete your factories, since for the Sphere Master, everybody in the sphere is domestic. You could also get dragged into wars you don't want to be a part of, which is no fun. Therefore, sphere countries carefully.
Here are my targets.
For Korea, Johore, Dai Nam, and Siam, it's as much about keeping the other GPs out as it is establishing the Sphere myself. I'm sphereing Guangxi because I want access to their economy and because it'll give me a potential staging ground for an assault on China later on.
And now we're totally caught up to where I've played in game. I haven't yet acted against Spain, because that's a nasty coalition I'd rather not face right now. I'll probably take it easy for a few years and conserve my strength, unless I get a great opportunity to jump on somebody. However, I'm always prepared to accept other ideas, and if you have suggestions, feel free to post them. I'll wait a few days to see what pops up, then probably play some more this weekend.
What a great thing seeing Japan annexed Hawai. And what a pitty seeing that Johore has got civilized.
As to the CB with Spain - This is anopportunity that shouldn´t be wasted. So are you able to ally with UK or the North German Federation? If so, I would definitelly go after such alliances, than declare war on the Spain and finally call my other GP ranked allies to assist me against France (and against Russia if necessary). Plus, are you allied with China?
As to the CB with Spain - This is anopportunity that shouldn´t be wasted. So are you able to ally with UK or the North German Federation? If so, I would definitelly go after such alliances, than declare war on the Spain and finally call my other GP ranked allies to assist me against France (and against Russia if necessary). Plus, are you allied with China?
Avindian this is an extremely helpful/interesting AAR. The influence game is one of my favourite elements in Victoria 2 and AHD, since I tend to play a conservative game and don't like ahistorical wars: Influencing other countries is a fun way to model the "Great Games" played by Great Powers throughout the 19th century. If anything, I’d like to see an increase in the available influence points, so as to better model the competition for influence in a number of countries happening in the period.
Since my biggest worry is factories failing because nobody is buying what they produce, I tend to focus on influencing uncivilised/less developed countries with a large population to function as buyers: Japan, Dai Nam, Siam, the Ottomans, Spain or Portugal. Most of these countries also have an abundance of goods that are not readily available, at least in the early game, like silk and tropical wood. In every game the AI focuses on neighbouring or strategic countries, leaving you a free reign on the rest. With a bit of foresight, research on commercial technologies and strategic investment (of which I hope to learn more from you), you can also take over more contested targets: Egypt, Colombia, some German and Italian minors (namely South German states and Piedmont).
Since my biggest worry is factories failing because nobody is buying what they produce, I tend to focus on influencing uncivilised/less developed countries with a large population to function as buyers: Japan, Dai Nam, Siam, the Ottomans, Spain or Portugal. Most of these countries also have an abundance of goods that are not readily available, at least in the early game, like silk and tropical wood. In every game the AI focuses on neighbouring or strategic countries, leaving you a free reign on the rest. With a bit of foresight, research on commercial technologies and strategic investment (of which I hope to learn more from you), you can also take over more contested targets: Egypt, Colombia, some German and Italian minors (namely South German states and Piedmont).
Can't be a Great War without somebody else on my side.
I currently have no allies. I am trying to get somebody to like me, but with no luck (probably because of my high infamy.
)Very good points.
I'll take your money; kindly send it via post.
I plan on updating here mid-week; you'll find out then!
The nation of Delimeat567 has declared bankruptcy. You gain a Casus Belli: "Repay Debts"
In your screenshot it says Spain is #8. So if they do keep that up for a few months and replace Sweden can't you declare war without worrying about France intervening?
That's true, but they'll still be allied to France. I also don't know how long Spain has been at #8; the CB could very well expire before that happens.
As a heads up, if anybody has any last pearls of wisdom, let me know: I intend to play the next 10-20 years tomorrow night.
One thing, if you intend to attack China, every substate you sphere will not join against you.
Interesting. Are you certain? If you are, that could be a way to thin the Chinese numbers.
Yup, 100 %! Take a look at this AAR if you need more info about wars in China
Thanks for pointing that AAR out; it's some pretty awesome stuff.
For the good of the AAR (and my sanity) I'm going to have to break one of my house rules: no reloading. I'm currently in 1881 and am in a never ending war. France, Spain, the Netherlands, Russia (and the Ottoman Empire, because the AI is a jerk) are demanding significant chunks of the Home Islands. They've got me mostly blockaded and have taken everything except the Home Islands. However, they refuse to invade, because I'd beat even a European army in Japan. If I surrender, Japan is toast, but since I've got no reason to surrender (I'm still making money), this war would essentially last into eternity, since there's no auto white peace in Vicky 2.
Therefore, I'm going to reload as of the last update and not declare war on Spain. It had to be done.
(For laughs, I'm going to link to a current save; if somebody wants to take a stab at winning this war, by all means, go for it.)
Therefore, I'm going to reload as of the last update and not declare war on Spain. It had to be done.
(For laughs, I'm going to link to a current save; if somebody wants to take a stab at winning this war, by all means, go for it.)
While you wait for me to update (I went a little crazy and played through 1911, so I'll just finish the game tonight) o, why not check out the ACAs? Even if you choose not to vote for me (and I hope you do!), it's a great way to support AARland.
o, why not check out the ACAs? Even if you choose not to vote for me (and I hope you do!), it's a great way to support AARland.
I've finished playing. I'm going to start updating again soon (today ), so thanks for your patience!
), so thanks for your patience!
Chapter 10: Painting the world RED! With paint, not blood. Okay, maybe a little blood.
If you remember our last update, Japan had achieved Great Power status (yee haw!) Now, it's time to start throwing our weight around. Not against Spain, though.
October 2, 1877: We finish State & Government and start our next tech.
November 18, 1877: Our new NF (which I just now remembered) is promoting Clergy in Osaka.
June 26, 1878: Those crazy Americans and Confederates are at it again.
January 19, 1879: Poor NGF. They keep attacking France, forgetting that France is allied to half the planet. Maybe this time it'll work out for them.
July 21, 1879: Nationalism and Imperialism is done. First, we'll choose our next tech.
If I'm going to compete on the world stage, I really need a better navy. A navy made of wooden ships just doesn't cut it in 1879, so my next short term priority is trying to get Cruisers (or at least Commerce Raiders). You know what else you can get by competing on the world stage?
Colonies!
Colonies
Any unclaimed province in the game can, with the proper technologies, be colonized. All you need is enough tech, a spare NF, and a close enough naval base.
Here's one example of a colony in progress. Three main things affect how quickly a state is colonized: the colony's life rating, the colony's size (in provinces), and the presence or absence of your troops. That's right, AHD restored the troop colonization speed bonus.
What's so great about colonies? First of all, free land. Second, you get control of all applicable RGOs. Third, they mean more soldiers. Now, colonies aren't perfect. Colonists can't vote, you can't build factories there, and they don't affect literacy (which might be good). To change a colony into a proper state, you need 1% of the population to be accepted culture Bureaucrat POPs.
I've chosen to colonize several Pacific island groups, partially because that's what Japan would have done historically, and partially to give ourselves naval bases. We'll colonize Kiribati (part of the Gilbert Islands), the rest of the Hawaiian Islands (Midway, primarily), Tahiti, and Tonga (listed above).
September 1, 1879: For the first time in this game, we're going to let the Liberals run the show. Laissez-Faire can be both very potent and crippling to your economy; the across-the-board production bonus is very nice, but you'll have no control over your economy and lower tax rates.
September 12, 1879: We hit a short term dip as a result of L-F. Not a big surprise; we'll cut the national stockpile to compensate.
September 25, 1879: For the first of approximately eleventy billion times, the UK bans us from Johore. We don't want your stinky old Jo-whore anyway!
November 29, 1879: We are Friendly in Korea, however.
December 4, 1879: We get our first non-starting core, which is pretty neat.
Cores in Vicky 2/AHD aren't like cores in EU3, for example. You do get higher supply limits in core territory, but for the most part, the primary purpose of cores is to give free CBs. Still, they're nice to have.
January 1, 1880: This event, on the other hand, is much more useful.
Assimilation rate affects POP conversions to accepted culture, so in colonies, it dictates how quickly colonies become states. Unless you're doing something different for RP purposes, it's almost always a good idea to say "yes."
April 20, 1880: Steamers are done, so let's choose one of my favorite sleeper techs in the game: Clean Coal.
Some killer techs are really obvious. Everybody wants Machine Guns, Nationalism and Imperialism, and Medicine. Everybody wants Airplanes and Automobiles. Clean Coal is a much more subtle tech because, for most nations, Coal isn't a game breaker. However, look at Japan's number one import. That's right: Coal. One of the (many) excellent things that PDS did with Vicky 2 is emphasize how critical coal is, and you can't industrialize without it. We have some native Coal, but not much, and this tech will help us get more.
June 12, 1880: France wins. Poor NGF. Austria gets Schlesien, while France picks up Mauritanian Coast.
August 13, 1880: The US reabsorbs the CSA.
August 21, 1880: Our first successful colony! (Why? Because I already had troops in Hawaii.)
Nice prestige boost, right? I'll convert the NF to encouraging shipping in Fukuoka; if we're going to expand our navy, we need lots of steamer convoys.
January 8, 1881: Clean Coal is done. Back to more navy stuff!
October 15, 1881: The Japanese sphere just got two new members!
In a perfect world, I'd attack Korea instead and claim it for my own, since they have Coal and Iron. However, with the substate system, I'd be at war with the Chinese Empire, and with my crappy wooden ships, I'd be stuck in a world of hurt. At least by sphering Korea, I can effectively add their goods to my market.
November 1, 1881: The unsung heroes of a navy are the transports; we finally get steam powered ones!
They aren't that different from Clipper Transports, but they can take more of a beating (which means more time to get troops off) and they're faster, too. We'll build 45, because why not?
December 6, 1881: With a nice big bank account at the moment, I'm going to build up the naval bases in the Home Islands; they'll repair ships faster, have longer colonial range, and build new ships more quickly.
April 29, 1882: Chalk up another successful tech.
Cruisers are a huge deal. You'll see how huge later, but they're my main objective, at least in the short term.
June 29, 1882: Welcome to the family, Guangxi!
October 20, 1882: Kiribati is now colonized. The NF will go to promote Clergy in Nagoya. Osaka's at over 4% clergy, so they'll shift to promoting the shipping industry.
December 5, 1882: Tahiti and Tonga are colonized. More Clergy promotion with the NFs.
January 1, 1883: We get Ironclads, which is not what I was hoping for. Ironclads are faster than Men O'War, with a much stronger Hull value, but only slightly higher attack. If you're far ahead of the curve (like the UK), Ironclads are nice, but for most countries, they're too expensive and get phased out too quickly. I'll disband my old Clipper Transports, with my Steamer Transports done.
February 22, 1883: Are these man-eating plants or what?
August 10, 1883: Bintulu cores.
November 9, 1883: The downside of all these shiny new boats is that they're much more expensive; I'm going to cut Defense Spending to 30%, since I really don't need that many troops. I also stop buying Canned Food to build up the treasury.
February 22, 1884: We get a Cut Down to Size CB! ... On Bukkhara. Which is landlocked. Gee, thanks, AI!
March 1, 1884: Steel Steamers done! I can practically taste the Cruisers (eventually).
The supply limit increase is nice, but as is often the case, this tech is about the inventions. Nitroglycerin triggers some pretty nice events, and Artificial Fertilizers increases every RGO's efficiency. More importantly, it leads to Organic Chemistry, which we'll get to next update. It's time to super-charge our tech level, don't you agree?
Technology Schools
When a civilized nation advances far enough in specific areas, it can choose to follow a particular technology school via decision. (Some countries start with these schools.) Each school offers a bonus to some techs, a penalty to others, and leaves some alone. The price is 10 years of slightly decreased research, so it's not to be taken lightly. All changes require 45 prestige. You can also "Restore the Academia", which eliminates your tech school. Here are the schools:
Military Industrial Complex
Requirements: 5% of Population have Jingoism/Pro-Military as their main issue. 100 Military Score. Conservative, Fascist, or Reactionary ruling party.
Tech adjustments: Army +15% (as in, research costs are 15% cheaper), Industry +10%, Commerce no change, Navy -5% (as in, research costs are 5% more expensive), Culture -10%
This school is probably the most popular, and with good reason. The two most important tech areas, for most players, are the Army and Industry. Culture techs are probably underrated, but if there's an area an advanced nation can normally afford to ignore, it's this one.
Sea Power and the Merchant Marine
Requirements: 5% of the Population have Laissez-Faire/Pro-Military as their main issue. 100 Military Score. 30 Ships. Conservative, Liberal, or Anarcho-Liberal ruling party.
Tech adjustments: Navy +15%, Commerce +10%, Industry no change, Army -5%, Culture -10%
Got a country that needs a big navy? This is it. It's tailor made for a country that likes a powerful economy as well.
Business Schools and Tycoon Capitalism
Requirements: 5% of the Population have Laissez-Faire/Free Trade as their main issue. 100 Industrial Score. Liberal or Anarcho-Liberal ruling party.
Tech adjustments: Commerce and Culture +10%, Industry +5%, Army and Navy -10%
It's hard to find a good reason to have this school unless you're ultra-pacifist. The US starts with it (unfortunately). Vicky 2 is a game about the power of technology, and all the money in the world is no good if somebody can just steal it from you at gunpoint. It does have a big culture boost, but at the cost of a decent army.
Avant-Garde Intelligentsia
Requirements: 5% of the Population have Secularism or Pacifism as their main issue. Average CON of 4. Liberal, Fascist, or Communist ruling party.
Tech adjustments: Culture +5%, Army and Commerce no change, Industry -5%, Navy -25% (!!)
This one looks pretty stupid, but it's the only generally available school that improves Culture without horrendous negatives (except the navy). Culture is a good way for a country behind the curve to get caught up (with the educational efficiency techs and research point boosters). It's a good choice if you're pretty backward and want to catch up fast.
Corporative Industrialism
Requirements: 5% of the Population have Interventionism or Protectionism as their main issue. 100 Industrial Score. Conservative, Socialist, or Communist ruling party.
Tech adjustments: Industry +15%, Commerce +5%, Culture no change, Army -5%, Navy -10%
A watered down version of Business Schools and Tycoon Capitalism, except for the biggest boost to Industry in the game. It's actually a pretty decent little school if either army quality doesn't matter or if you're just going to outproduce the rest of the world.
There's also the really awesome Prussian tech school, but you have to be Prussia, NGF, or Germany to use it. Look it up sometime!
You can probably guess which one I chose.
The Navy and enough money to power said Navy are the two most important things to me at present. I'm not going to be doing huge amounts of fighting with technological equals at present.
May 21, 1884: Now, technological inferiors? That's another story.
June 10, 1884: Caught! 8.6 infamy is no fun.
October 11, 1884: I'll just have to take it out on Sindh: I've got my CB (although I need to get into position first).
October 27, 1884: I've played a LOT of EU3; this one always makes me smile.
November 18, 1884: Prepare to die!
March 16, 1885: I've already wiped out their army, it's just a matter of waiting for my troops to occupy. In the meantime, we try to use our new Tech School to best effect.
June 23, 1885: Sindh is finished and so is this update.
I should be back to a more consistent update schedule over the next few days; stay tuned for more wacky hijinks!
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You probably meant 1% of the population to be accepted culture Bureocrats (or however it is spelled
).