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one thing I find nice about teching railroads is that if you somehow invested into cement, steel factories you surely know that their value fades over time and heavily and if you happen to get the new tech level for railroads and all those capitalists start to railroad everywhere you get some very nice boost to profitability of those factories.

Vicky 2 is a game of infinite subtlety, and you bring up a great point. :) That said, Cement and Steel really shouldn't be driving your economy this late in the game.
 
Vicky 2 is a game of infinite subtlety, and you bring up a great point. :) That said, Cement and Steel really shouldn't be driving your economy this late in the game.
that's totally true since you want to switch into electric gear factory, automobile's etc, but for sure you will still have couple of cement and steel and since you tech railroads through whole game they remain somewhat viable especially if you land big empire.

ah and kudos for being so lucky with Edison... I once waited for the EGF for like 10 years....and since EGF blocks automobiles...well I was very very angry.
 
Don't scoff at the culture branch. If you get to the final techs as soon as they're available, with some luck you can nail down 100-200 prestige points. You can only hope to become fully literate, if you start with a literacy of 30-40%, and that only if you have Darwinism. And don't underestimate the psychology technologies: Their modifiers mean that your battered armies can return to the front all the faster. Which will be crucial, when you face the hordes of China and/or Russia.

I personally feel nostalgia for the original Victoria research tree, where each technology had perquisites, mostly from the same branch, but sometimes from others, too - and where you had to choose your next goal out of a semi-random list of technologies. That being said, I think that A House Divided has done wonders in balancing the research tree. The exception is the navy branch, but this has as much to do with the naval aspect of the game, rather than with the technologies themselves.

PS: By the way, do you remember what your industrial score was at that point?
 
that's totally true since you want to switch into electric gear factory, automobile's etc, but for sure you will still have couple of cement and steel and since you tech railroads through whole game they remain somewhat viable especially if you land big empire.

ah and kudos for being so lucky with Edison... I once waited for the EGF for like 10 years....and since EGF blocks automobiles...well I was very very angry.

Don't worry, I'll get some really bad luck with inventions a bit later.

Don't scoff at the culture branch. If you get to the final techs as soon as they're available, with some luck you can nail down 100-200 prestige points. You can only hope to become fully literate, if you start with a literacy of 30-40%, and that only if you have Darwinism. And don't underestimate the psychology technologies: Their modifiers mean that your battered armies can return to the front all the faster. Which will be crucial, when you face the hordes of China and/or Russia.

I personally feel nostalgia for the original Victoria research tree, where each technology had perquisites, mostly from the same branch, but sometimes from others, too - and where you had to choose your next goal out of a semi-random list of technologies. That being said, I think that A House Divided has done wonders in balancing the research tree. The exception is the navy branch, but this has as much to do with the naval aspect of the game, rather than with the technologies themselves.

PS: By the way, do you remember what your industrial score was at that point?

I've honestly never had much problem getting prestige, so I've never focused on those. You're right about the educational efficiency techs, but there is a bit of diminishing returns: in many a game I race for biologism and then don't touch it again until the end of the game. The psych techs are really my Achilles heel; I consistently underestimate their worth. Agree 100% about naval combat, but maybe we'll get that in another DLC?

Industrial score is 635, good for #6 in the world.
 
Chapter 12: Behold the glory of the twentieth century and an update almost completely lacking in action!

November 9, 1897: A quick examination of our new budget window shows that we've gained significantly with Steam Turbine, as I expected we would. Our next tech is an oldie but goodie.

cheapiron.jpg


Techs like Cheap Iron, Cheap Coal, and Cheap Steel are doubly valuable at a stage in the game where there is little coal or iron to be had via conquest unless you go after a GP. That Cheap Iron also improves Gold Mine efficiency sweetens the pot.

July 12, 1898: Remember I said this update wouldn't have much action? This is literally the next screenshot I saved.

ironrailroad.jpg


September 17, 1898: With our new tech, we've got a huge surplus of cash (+£1000 a day, not too shabby). We spend it on another 46 Cruisers.

October 3, 1898: Although AHD has less sphere micromanagement than vanilla (thanks to the whole 100 influence eats into other GP influence once you've sphered a country thing), you still need to pay attention. Those sneaky Russians are now Cordial in Korea, and since they've got a direct border, they'll gain influence much faster than I will. Our solution? Drop the Ban hammer on them. See you in 365 days, Russkies.

October 20, 1898: What I'm going to do in this next screenshot is suboptimal, but tutorials are useless if they don't, y'know, teach.

squishingthesuffragists.jpg


If you look at the numbers, the Suffragists are not the slightest threat to me. In another 20 years (thanks to abysmally low CON) they might be, but if we want elections before 1936, so I can at least try to explain them as best I can. By suppressing them now, I increase their radicality later.

March 4, 1899: My expedition to the North Pole has failed. How sad. I'll fork over more cash to keep trying (the payoff is a nice bucket of RPs).

April 13, 1899: We attend the Second Olympic Games.

April 20, 1899: Time to choose a new tech. The new five year plan is "research high tech industries and implement them", so we'll choose Combustion Engine.

combustionegniens.jpg


September 26, 1899: I think the event chain for the North Pole is slightly broken in AHD, because now it's essentially reset it back to "start again from square one." Oh well. Another £1000.

October 14, 1899: A nice rebellion in Korea, but sadly, they've got enough troops on the spot to deal with it. A shame, really.

November 12, 1899: Kutch declares bankruptcy. Can't I get a free CB I can actually use? Please?

February 1, 1900: More North Pole fail. I want to see Santa, dammit! And elves!

June 15, 1900: Bali is added to my sphere.

July 19, 1900: I am mystified -- mystified -- by the NGF's repeated attempts to attack France and fail miserably. I think the AI just looks at France and says, "Hey, they aren't so bad!" and forgets about the fact that half of Europe is allied to them.

thosekrautsnevelearn.jpg


October 13, 1900: Here's a fun event.

freerps.jpg


92 RPs isn't anything to brag about, but it's not like Jaisalmer, even at its angriest, could stop the 25k troops sitting on top of them.

December 14, 1900: Another failed attempt at the North Pole. Claus, you sneaky bastard, quit hiding!

December 19, 1900: If I love Cruisers (and I do), Dreadnoughts are even more awesome. The fact I'll be one of the first countries to have them temporarily overrides my tech plan.

steamturbineengine.jpg


April 1, 1901: Aeroplanes fires; Airplanes are an incredibly important late game trade good and are always profitable. To stimulate my Automotive Industry (Barrels, Automobiles, and Aeroplanes), I shift my NFs in Fukuoka and Edo to exactly that.

October 9, 1901: Tractors fires; we'll see why that's a good thing shortly.

February 7, 1902: Ooo! A Nobel Prize!

nobelprize.jpg


Also, Panjab wants an alliance. For the confrontation with China, a sneaky backdoor ally could be just the thing.

April 5, 1902: I have got to be more effective in Korea. Both Russia and the USA have become Friendly; Russia gets banned first.

August 9, 1902: My next tech is Electrical Power Generation; check out those tasty inventions!

electricalpowergenerati.jpg


December 8, 1902: The USA is now banned in Korea; nobody else is pushing me, so this should buy me enough time to start whittling down their influence.

January 1, 1903: Oh baby. Dreadnoughts!

dreadnoughts.jpg


Dreadnoughts are the kings of the ocean in Vicky 2; their major weakness, apart from their extreme cost, is their relative lack of speed compared to Cruisers. They're so awesome that they can make serious inroads into military score. I'll crank out 45 of them, because I can.

July 1, 1903: Automobiles fire.

September 6, 1903: You know the NGF is in a world of hurt when Denmark can jump on them. (The Germans actually have no army left).

September 29, 1903: First Tractor in Kobe!

farmingold.jpg


I'm pretty sure if you're trying to mine gold with a tractor, you're doing it wrong, but hey, it's still an increase to RGO efficiency.

October 8, 1903: We attend the Third Olympic Goals.

April 1, 1904: Both Dai Nam and Korea westernize. *sniff* My kids are growing up!

April 26, 1904: I get 5 more Reactionaries in the Upper House. Meh.

August 11, 1904: I ban the Russians again. Isn't this fun?

August 27, 1904: The NGF has lost Great Power status to... wait for it... Spain.

October 12, 1904: New Dreadnoughts demand new bases.

raidergroupdoctrine.jpg


With a mere 46 Dreadnoughts, my military score went from a modest 188, good for #13 in the world, to 1242, good for #2 in the world. (UK is ahead of me by about 100 points.)

December 16, 1904: NGF gives East Prussia to the Russians and Inner Mauritania to the French.

January 1, 1905: Of course, all of these lovely Dreadnoughts aren't cheap, so I have to cut some stockpile to keep the balance positive.

January 25, 1905: The continued obsession with plants has extended to a silly debate in the Upper House. All my Liberals get +3 MIL, which should help push along reforms nicely.

January 30, 1905: Sigh. Cut down to size CB on Egypt. Egypt is landlocked thanks to Italy, apart from Cairo, and the British probably won't let me use the Suez Canal. Jerks.

June 6, 1905: Another new tech!

navalogistics.jpg


I'm still under the impression that supply range also improves Colonial Range at this point, although I've got my doubts.

July 5, 1905: Cut down to size on Bukkhara. Also landlocked. Seriously, RNG, help me out here!

July 26, 1905: I spread lies about Russia in Korea; now they're down to Cordial.

July 29, 1905: Hawaii cores. In 1905. Somewhere, Harry Turtledove's head explodes.

December 14, 1905: The NGF has recovered (slightly) and bumps Italy out of GP status.

January 2, 1906: Our Japanese athletes did well, scoring us 5.5 prestige!

January 8, 1906: I almost always choose the Temperance League. It'll slowly make POPs mad, but it'll take a long time, and the benefits are really solid.

temperanceleague.jpg


March 7, 1906: Another debate on botany.

April 8, 1906: Since we can't find Santa Claus, we'll go look for penguins in the South Pole.

May 14, 1906: The final tech of this update, since the only thing better than Dreadnoughts is more Dreadnoughts built even faster. I'm hoping to overtake the British, at least in military score.

advancednavaldesign.jpg


September 1, 1906: Fascists now exist.

February 9, 1907: In raw numbers of ships, I'm 5th (the Russians have 551!), but all of mine are modern.

February 26, 1907: The Communists revolt in Denmark, saving Europe's punching bag. No, that's a bad analogy, because punching bags don't look for a fight. It's more like the 90 lb girl looking to fight Mike Tyson.

March 28, 1907: They're finally gotten cranky enough, so let's give the baby what it wants. The vote.

electionsfinally.jpg


I intend on making an awesome flow chart to show elections work next update, so I hope to see you there!
 
45 dreadnaughts in one go! That's like 900 points in the military score - and 4500 pounds on your national stockpile!

I'm pretty sure if you're trying to mine gold with a tractor, you're doing it wrong, but hey, it's still an increase to RGO efficiency.​


Wait till you see tractor applications on your fishing industry...​
 
45 dreadnaughts in one go! That's like 900 points in the military score - and 4500 pounds on your national stockpile!



Wait till you see tractor applications on your fishing industry...

Yeah, I'm a bit sceptical of your ability to finance all those DNs.

Dreadnoughts are pretty expensive, no doubt about that (and you ain't seen nothin' yet, as the song says), but I really can't afford not to have them, with my two biggest neighbors, China and Russia, outnumbering me in troops.

I should warn any truly new players: Dreadnoughts are, indeed, very expensive, and building them in large numbers will bankrupt you if you haven't taken the time to build a very strong industrial base.
 
Terrific tutorial. I started a Japan game as well, and am having the same ally-less GP status problems.



45 dreadnaughts in one go! That's like 900 points in the military score - and 4500 pounds on your national stockpile!



Wait till you see tractor applications on your fishing industry...

Do the nonsensical bonuses (e.g. nitroglycerine in fishing) really give a bonus? I always figured it was wasted.
 
Dreadnoughts are pretty expensive, no doubt about that (and you ain't seen nothin' yet, as the song says), but I really can't afford not to have them, with my two biggest neighbors, China and Russia, outnumbering me in troops.

I should warn any truly new players: Dreadnoughts are, indeed, very expensive, and building them in large numbers will bankrupt you if you haven't taken the time to build a very strong industrial base.

You could destroy the chinese navy with Man o' Wars, while Russia rarely seems to massproduce beyond Commerce Raiders. I know you're likely doing this to show off some of the features of the game, but Cruisers can handle the job.
Now to wait until people complain about how tanks are worse than artillery
 
You could destroy the chinese navy with Man o' Wars, while Russia rarely seems to massproduce beyond Commerce Raiders. I know you're likely doing this to show off some of the features of the game, but Cruisers can handle the job.
Now to wait until people complain about how tanks are worse than artillery

well tanks being worse then artillery up to 1936 is kind of ok. There is a bit problem with sending both units in the same category though, especially in the 1900-1936 era where they weren't exactly artillery since they were mostly about MG's (well the early 1930's ones had 37'' guns, but no where near true artillery guns of 88'' which were used later).
The role of tank on battlefield changed eventually into fighting another armored vehicles, but that is WW 2.

@avindian
what are your thoughts off using dreadnaughts as another way of stimulating economy? I have to admit I still am a bit lost on V2 eco and do things intuitively.
You up the stockpile cost, but change the supply/demand of some less useful things (artillery factory came to mind first)
 
Do the nonsensical bonuses (e.g. nitroglycerine in fishing) really give a bonus? I always figured it was wasted.

Since "fishing" is considered a "farming" activity, tractors [but not Nitroglycerin nor Mechanised Mining, which give mining bonuses] give it a 50% bonus. Tractors are also apparently very useful in wood-cutting!

You could destroy the chinese navy with Man o' Wars, while Russia rarely seems to massproduce beyond Commerce Raiders.

In my games the Russians always end with more ships than the UK, almost all of them cruisers. Problem is, in late game naval battles, where hundreds of ships face each other numbers count greatly, as victory or defeat always depends on organisation.
 
You could destroy the chinese navy with Man o' Wars, while Russia rarely seems to massproduce beyond Commerce Raiders. I know you're likely doing this to show off some of the features of the game, but Cruisers can handle the job.
Now to wait until people complain about how tanks are worse than artillery

I suspect what Avindian is about to demonstrate here is the effect of the military power calculation. Basically, Russia will be less willing to interfere in his Chinese ambitions if he has a high military score, even if that military score is tied up in Dreadnoughts rather than troops.
 
Terrific tutorial. I started a Japan game as well, and am having the same ally-less GP status problems.





Do the nonsensical bonuses (e.g. nitroglycerine in fishing) really give a bonus? I always figured it was wasted.

I'm pretty sure they still do, but I'd have to check.

You could destroy the chinese navy with Man o' Wars, while Russia rarely seems to massproduce beyond Commerce Raiders. I know you're likely doing this to show off some of the features of the game, but Cruisers can handle the job.
Now to wait until people complain about how tanks are worse than artillery

A sufficient number of Commerce raiders will chew up Men O' War.

well tanks being worse then artillery up to 1936 is kind of ok. There is a bit problem with sending both units in the same category though, especially in the 1900-1936 era where they weren't exactly artillery since they were mostly about MG's (well the early 1930's ones had 37'' guns, but no where near true artillery guns of 88'' which were used later).
The role of tank on battlefield changed eventually into fighting another armored vehicles, but that is WW 2.

@avindian
what are your thoughts off using dreadnaughts as another way of stimulating economy? I have to admit I still am a bit lost on V2 eco and do things intuitively.
You up the stockpile cost, but change the supply/demand of some less useful things (artillery factory came to mind first)

When we get to tanks, I'll offer my specific opinion on this debate. :) As for your economic question, dreadnoughts are really for a mature economy, in my way of thinking, not for a growing one. The industries it stimulates are either minor (artillery) or already doing very well (telephones, fuel). It could help out certain POPs, but on the whole, I'm not sure it would boost industry much.

Since "fishing" is considered a "farming" activity, tractors [but not Nitroglycerin nor Mechanised Mining, which give mining bonuses] give it a 50% bonus. Tractors are also apparently very useful in wood-cutting!



In my games the Russians always end with more ships than the UK, almost all of them cruisers. Problem is, in late game naval battles, where hundreds of ships face each other numbers count greatly, as victory or defeat always depends on organisation.

That wasn't my experience in this game, but I confirm I've seen it in others.

I suspect what Avindian is about to demonstrate here is the effect of the military power calculation. Basically, Russia will be less willing to interfere in his Chinese ambitions if he has a high military score, even if that military score is tied up in Dreadnoughts rather than troops.

Hey, that would have been a really good idea! :D

Chilango2 is right, more often than not the AI looks at comparative military score when deciding whether or not to intervene, but there are other factors as well, specifically the fact that the Chinese Empire is in Russia's sphere. That makes it less of a pure military calculation.
 
They can be, - after all, you got to haul a fairly heavy load with no roads to get your felled trees anyplace useful, - a job any tractor worth the name should be quite good at.

A good thought!

I should have an update up this weekend; I've been without internet for a few days, so that's made it much more difficult to update.
 
Chapter 13: Elections, flow charts, and the joys of petty revenge

April 19, 1907: If you have significant colonial populations, you'll get this very nice event from time to time.

gurkhas.jpg


Granted, Pago Pago is hardly a crucial colony for Japan, but I'll not object to free prestige.

August 21, 1907: It's official; we're a Prussian Constitutionalist Government!

prussiantime.jpg


While there are many types of governments in AHD, I'm going to reduce them to five types.

Single party dictatorships: Only caused by revolutions or assigned at game start, there is one government for every party. (Proletarian Dictatorship, Presidential Dictatorship, etc.) There are no elections; to get out of it, add any kind of voting.
Absolute monarchy: No elections. Ruling parties can be Liberal, Conservative, or Reactionary. To get out, add any kind of voting.
Prussian Constitutionalism: Elections. You can switch Ruling Parties even after the election, but with a penalty to MIL. Ruling parties can be Liberal, Conservative, Reactionary, or Socialist. To go up a step, add Non-Secret Ballots.
HM's Government: Elections. I think the penalty to MIL is heftier for switching RPs, but I'm not certain. All parties can be ruling parties.
Democracy: Elections. Cannot switch ruling parties. Only caused by Jacobin revolutions or assigned at game start (or transition from Presidential Dictatorship).

The player can move freely, with some restrictions, between Absolute Monarchy, Prussian Constitutionalism, and HM's Government, as you can tell. I usually try to work towards HM's Government, in case I want to put Anarcho-Liberals in power.

August 27, 1907: Elections are officially announced! Let's take a look at our country as a whole to try to get a rough gauge of how they'll vote.

settingupelection.jpg


Remember, look at Voters' Ideologies, not Peoples' Ideologies, since not everyone can vote.

It's time for the section of this tutorial you've probably been waiting for: how to predict elections.

Elections

Before you can even start to worry about who is voting how, you have to get some critical information. First, you have to know your ruling party's Citizenship Policy. Under Residency, only Primary Culture POPs can vote. Under Limited Citizenship, Primary and Accepted Culture POPs can vote. Under Full Citizenship, everyone can vote (unless you're in a colony.) We're Limited Citizenship, so Japanese and Ainu can vote. Second, you have to know your Vote Franchise. We're Only Landed, so only Aristocrats and Capitalists get to vote. Third, you have to know your Voting System; since we're Jefferson Method, we'll have more than two significant parties, but probably no more than four or five. Got all that?

Good. Now, let's take a look at how the engine thinks my people will vote.

ahandylittleguide.jpg


If the election ended today (and it won't), this is how they'd vote. If everybody could vote, that is, since I have all POPs selected. But you need more than that, since election events will occur and people's minds can change over the six months. How, exactly do POPs vote? Let me show you, through the glory of a flow chart!


If you want a copy of the flow chart, click on the image. It's in .docx format.

When POPs are voting for a particular ruling party, they ALWAYS base their decision on their most important issue, either directly or indirectly. The flow chart introduces a new concept in AHD: Party Loyalty. If a POP votes for the same party over and over again, it will tend to keep a POP voting for said party. If they feel really strongly about an issue, they'll ignore loyalty, but in most cases they won't. So, let's run an example through the flowchart.

insideapopspolitics.jpg


It looks like this POP has two dominant issues, but Free Trade comes first (both alphabetically and because the GUI only gives you one decimal place). There are parties with Free Trade as a policy, so they have legitimate options. Both the Liberals and Radicals have Free Trade, and the POP has no particular loyalty to one party or another, since we haven't voted before. Therefore, he'll vote for the party with Free Trade who has the closest ideology to his, i.e. the Liberal Faction. Make sense? Let's try another.

thebiggestpopisliberal.jpg


Normally, these guys couldn't vote, since they're Laborers, but it'll give us practice. It'll be the exact same vote -- for the Liberals -- because Laissez Faire is the biggest concern for this POP. It's the same two parties, so it'll go by ideology.

Got all that? If you want to know how a POP will vote at any given time, grab the flow chart and run through it. If you want to be super anal-retentive, you could theoretically do this for every POP and get an accurate idea of how your voting will turn out. After all the votes are counted, the "ruling party" bonus is added to the ruling party (via the Political Parties reform) and you get your election results. Of course, it's very rare that 100% of a POP will vote for one party, so you have to do this for each issue to get a more exact understanding. POPs aren't homogeneous, after all, but it's still a good rule of thumb to find out, in general, how an election will go.

There's one more related matter I'd like to address: ideological drift. As you can tell, most POPs end up voting for the lower house based on ideology. Every POP starts with a base ideology or ideologies, grouped as follows:

Conservatives: Aristocrats (factor 10), Officers (factor 10), Soldiers (factor 10) Farmers (factor 5)
Conservative, Fascist, Reactionary: Artisans (factor 5)
Conservative, Liberal, Socialist: Bureaucrats (factor 1.5)
Liberal: Clerks (factor 10)
No particular ideology: Capitalists, Clergy, Craftsmen, Laborers

Certain things can cause a POP's preferred ideology to shift over time, though. Let's say I want Capitalists to favor Socialism. If you check under Victoria II\poptypes\capitalists and scroll down a bit, here's what you find for Socialists.

Code:
socialist = {
		factor = 1
		modifier = {
			factor = 2
			NOT = { life_needs = 0.7 }
		}
		modifier = {
			factor = 1.1
			nationalvalue = nv_equality
			NOT = { ruling_party_ideology = communist }
		}
		modifier = {
			factor = 5
			NOT = {militancy = 6 }
			social_reform_want = 0.05
		}
		modifier = {
			factor = 5	
			NOT = {militancy = 6 }
			social_reform_want = 0.10
		}
		modifier = {
			factor = 5	
			NOT = {militancy = 6 }
			social_reform_want = 0.15
		}
		modifier = {
			factor = 5
			NOT = {militancy = 6 }
			social_reform_want = 0.20
		}
		modifier = {
			factor = 5
			NOT = {militancy = 6 }
			social_reform_want = 0.25
		}
		modifier = {
			factor = 5
			NOT = {militancy = 6 }
			social_reform_want = 0.30
		}
		modifier = {
			factor = 5
			NOT = {militancy = 6 }
			social_reform_want = 0.35
		}
		modifier = {
			factor = 5
			NOT = {militancy = 6 }
			social_reform_want = 0.40
		}
		modifier = {
			factor = 5
			NOT = {militancy = 6 }
			social_reform_want = 0.45
		}
		modifier = {
			factor = 5
			NOT = {militancy = 6 }
			social_reform_want = 0.50
		}
		modifier = {
			factor = 3
			poor_strata_militancy = 5
			middle_strata_militancy = 5
		}
		modifier = {
			factor = 3
			poor_strata_militancy = 6
			middle_strata_militancy = 6
		}
		modifier = {
			factor = 3
			poor_strata_militancy = 7
			middle_strata_militancy = 7
		}
		modifier = {
			factor = 3
			poor_strata_militancy = 8
			middle_strata_militancy = 8
		}
	}

We can increase the Capitalist drift to Socialism by increasing their desire for social reforms, having a very angry poor and middle class (but not angry capitalists), starving them, not being Communist, and having a national value of Equality. Now, this just increases the factor of the shift, and these same things could also pull them in different directions as well. For now, be aware of it, but don't worry too much about it.

There's one other way you can affect the progress of elections. Election events. We'll get to those in a bit; let's resume the AAR for now.

September 12, 1907: Here's our first election event.

electionevent1.jpg


We can learn some useful things here, even though the ultimate choice here is all but meaningless.

1. How important is this state to our election? It's 21.09% of the population, so the way Edo votes will be extremely important how the rest of our populace votes.
2. Which option is preferred? Free trade, obviously.
3. Which party is favored at the moment? The Marxists, surprisingly. There must be some other issue that's driving that, since the Marxists are Protectionist.

Here's what it doesn't tell us: how important Free Trade or Protectionism is as an issue; my conclusion is not very. If 100% of people in Edo want free trade but are still voting socialist, that's a red flag (pun intended) that something else is at hand here. I don't know what, but it's something. I chose the last option, which will make the Protectionists more militant (and thus more likely to make Protectionism their #1 issue).

(If you want to know why, it's because the dominant issue for Capitalists in Edo is the 14 hour workday, and so they're voting Socialist as the party most likely to give them that. They're balanced out by Interventionist aristocrats.)

October 3, 1907: Our second election event (and the last I'll talk about).

electionevent2.jpg


Liberalism is winning the day here, yet only .01% of people in Aomori care about Laissez-Faire. I'll boost that by pushing for the first idea; it'll make people who want Planned Economy more militant, but at a 30% boost (that affects all POPs, so it won't quite be that big a boost). Of course, again, there's something more subtle here -- of that .01% who want Laissez Faire, 99% of them are aristocrats, who can vote.

November 3, 1907: We finish Advanced Naval Design and start Interchangeable Parts; I'm doing this largely for the Machine Parts invention, since a surprising number of countries don't make them yet.

December 13, 1907: Colonial Incident on Portugal, who is allied to France, Russia, the Ottoman Empire, and the Netherlands. Pass.

January 1, 1908: This is unusual; a reform in the middle of an election. I really want to make elections as interesting as possible, so let's increase political reform awareness.

politicalawareness.jpg


I'm not sure how much of an effect we'll have on this particular election, but it'll matter for future elections.

February 22, 1908: Here are our election results.

electionover.jpg


If you're confused (after all, the most recent check of the electorate vote says it should be 61.4% liberal), remember: only the rich can vote. In other words, Capitalists and Aristocrats. The liberals are still the biggest party (by far), so they'll win. We need to talk about one more election related thing: coalitions. The following groups will join coalitions with one another.

Liberals and Anarcho-Liberals
Conservatives and Reactionaries
Socialists and Communists

Fascists will never join a coalition.

According to the manual, if MIL is really high, you won't get any coalitions, but I've never seen an election end with no coalitions.

May 9, 1908: Next tech is Steel Railroad. By not buying Steamer Convoys, I'm maintaining a positive balance, but if somebody declared war on me tomorrow, I'd be in a lot of trouble.

December 18, 1908: We go to the Fourth Olympic Games.

January 1, 1909: In the interest of scientific accuracy, I'm going to introduce Harassment (rather than Only Underground) so that the magical ruling party support is lessened.

harassmenth.jpg


March 28, 1909: What's this, UK? Not paying attention to Siam? Good! I'll take them out of your sphere.

May 13, 1909: To improve our naval bases, I start researching Blue and Brown Water Schools.

July 22, 1909: I start influencing the Chinese Empire (very belatedly) to try to kick out the Russians, so that if I fight China, I fight them alone.

September 9, 1909: Sweden is a great power! (Sorry, Spain.)

April 13, 1910: I've been focusing a lot on the navy; it's time to show the army some love. My next five year plan (if it's been five years) is to work towards Tanks. We start with Strategic Mobility.

August 25, 1910: Next is Point Defense System.

September 1, 1910: Colonial Incident on France. This game really hates me.

October 17, 1910: The Chinese and I are now Cordial. Maybe I should try to add them to my sphere...

October 28, 1910: Crap.

uhohr.jpg


If I were going to play this game again, I would have been much aggressive at trying to throw the Russians out of China. I have no excuse; I just completely forgot. This does get the Russians out of China, but a westernized China will be more tricky than one that isn't. Oh well. Guangxi is eaten by China, but Korea remains my loyal sphereling.

April 5, 1911: On to Deep Defense System.

May 11, 1911: The Chinese want to be allies! I'll sign for now, perhaps build a coalition to take down the Russians!

August 8, 1911: Gran Colombia "forms" by revolting from Venezuela.

September 11, 1911: What a shame: UK and Siam aren't friendly any more.

October 8, 1911: I go to the Fifth Olympic Games; we'd better win this time!

October 13, 1911: I begin manufacturing a CB against Siam. Where's your precious friends now, Siam?

October 23, 1911: In anticipation for war, I start buying Steamer Convoys again. I go from +£1922.3 a day to -£147.4 a day.

December 11, 1911: Siam and the UK are now neutral. Serves 'em right.

February 26, 1912: Our second election begins.

March 2, 1912: This maximum work hours movement would be much scarier if, you know, more than 22,000 people supported it. They are making 14 hour workday the biggest issue among voters.

March 15, 1912: Osaka, my largest state, is solidly Free Trade, ensuring their liberalness. Very reassuring.

April 4, 1912: "Place in the Sun" fires again; free prestige FTW!

April 7, 1912: We begin the last tech for Tanks: Infiltration.

May 3, 1912: China and I are Friendly now. They're a Secondary Power (#15 in the world).

May 17, 1912: Russia declares war on NGF. I could easily have declared war on them now, except I won't remember Japan has a free CB on Russia until much later. :rolleyes:

May 28, 1912: A lockout?! In Tonga?! I'd be terrified if Tonga had any factories or could vote, but they can't, since, you know, they're still colonies.

May 31, 1912: The Boxers revolt!

boxerrebellion.jpg


All Great Powers get this CB on China; it's Cut Down to Size, essentially. I'm going to cautiously wait and see who, if anybody, takes advantage of this.

June 7, 1912: Korea just now offers me an Alliance. At least I have one friend in the fight against China!

August 11, 1912: I'm seriously thinking of war with China at this point, although the other GPs have been disturbingly silent. I throw another 23 guards into the queue.

August 20, 1912: I declare war on Siam.

sweetrevenge.jpg


To be honest, this would have been my best opportunity to grab some chunks out of China, but getting 50 war score against China is hardly easy. If somebody like France or Russia jumped on China, I would have too. Don't worry, though: I'll be at war with China soon enough. You'll have to settle for Siam at the moment. :D
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Before I formally close this update, I'd like to address a very common question about elections: how do I engineer them to get what I want? The short answer is, you can't. You can "undo" the mistakes of your people by appointing a new RP, unless you're a democracy. You'll get a MIL hit (the longer you wait after the election, the less it will be), but it'll go away. You do have a few options to at least influence your people.

1. Use the Party Loyalty NF. It takes a long time to work right, but it's the only sure fire way of getting people to ignore their ideologies. Remember, it almost never comes down strictly to issue.
2. Choose your electoral events wisely. Sometimes this means choosing the opposite of the policy you want, because MIL will push that particular issue higher in the POP's minds.
3. If you're really desperate, tear apart the poptypes files and find out how to shift their ideology in the direction you want. It's not easy, and you have to take a lot of things into account, but it can be done.
4. Use political reforms to get the part of the electorate you want voting. If you want a liberal RP, you generally want the most excitable people in charge, which means keeping the poor from voting. Farmers and Soldiers are almost invariably Conservative. Capitalists change their ideologies at the drop of a hat, on the other hand.
5. If you want to be really subtle (and you don't want Conservatives in charge), you have to get Farmers to promote to a POP other than Soldiers, so do everything you can to make them Craftsmen. That means increasing literacy, first and foremost.
6. Suppress movements to make people that support them more militant, so they'll ignore ideology and vote for issues instead. Remember, people that want a political reform always vote Liberal; people that want a social reform always vote Socialist.

Those are just a few suggestions; perhaps your fellow readers have more. Until next time!