July-December 1868: Its all quiet, too quiet
So 1868 proceeds. On the surface all is peaceful (well except for where ever Gari-the-Terminator is), but beneath it plans are laid. Italy will seek to establish its place among the great European powers with war. Let the Austrians keep Milan, the new Italy would be forged in the Eastern Mediterranean.
But first, there were a few things to do.
Manufactures.
Main thing here is the juggling of the number of open sites. In effect I have all the industrial and most of the agricultural stuff open and am experimenting with how much I can sell, meet domestic demand (easy apart from the luxuries) and hold stocks steady.
Non-Manufactures.
Here I’m content to let some stocks fluctuate (I can always restore the fish stock for example just by re-opening some fishing fleets). Wood is building up again and I’ve probably re-opened too many vinyards. Overall I am paying little regular attention to the F4 (this info) and the F11 (the structure listing) screens compared to my focus at the start of the game.
Happiness
The obvious thing here is that I no longer have any unrest and actually have one or two happy provinces (the single mask in column 4).
Maybe an idea to relate some of that information to my actions. I have been playing the telecommunications card and the sewer card a lot. In addition to reducing outright revolt risk (the sixth column with the Kalashnikov), which is meaningless as this is 0, they do two other things. Improve the ‘development level’ (col 7 with the river/bridge symbol) and the overall population (the two people).
So if we look at Savoie and Sicily you can see the improvement in development from 96 and 93 respectively to 99 and 96 (this also will reflect the recently completed rail lines).
Population increases both organically and as a result of these cards. In addition, by event, your population is moved from the country to the urban areas (this info is not shown in the screenshot), but obviously that creates more of a demand for urban (industrial) jobs over rural (agriculture/mining).
Oddly education has fallen back (the column with the mortar board) but then I didn’t have the chance to play the relevant card in this six month period.
The Army
Didn’t build very much that was new in this period but wanted to ensure I had a good stock of reserve companies. The Garrison units are of course for the colonies or to secure my rear, and, as I find, I will need an awful lot of supply wagons.
Events
The latest minor revolt in Aden-Yemen carries on for a few months. The new native units, especially the cavalry are invaluable in detecting the rebels and setting up ambushes for when they try to flee.
Unfortunately, Gari-the-teminator brings his special skills to the problem
Still nothing a few more teachers won’t solve
And on the peaceful side of the Red Sea the Ethiopians deploy in a very aggressive manner [1]
And Gari finally manages to force the rebels into an isolated corner
I’ll leave them for the moment as I have nothing to lose there and they just might wander over the border and annoy the Ottomans.
At much this time the idea of having a war catches on. Cuba and Spain start a set to that will last some time.
With all this war mongering going on I feel it is time to protect poor isolated Somalia. I mean someone has to.
And build my first colonial railroad, this one in Djibuti. This will improve the efficiency of my opium fields as well as speed troop movements.
Just to add to my global commercial empire, oil is discovered in Texas. As you would expect, Italy is there first, creating the famous Italian dominated culture in Dallas that became so well known in the 1970s.
The idea of universal suffrage is raised. As with a few similar techs it has the effect that any latent militantism becomes more serious more quickly (or at least that is how I interpret the information). However, it brings with another political card that you can play that helps drive down such unrest.
And overall there is a decent growth in prestige
For some reason Britain and China remain completely pleased with themselves. I have no idea who #6 on the prestige list is as the tooltip doesn’t show it (China I guess?) and Prussia drops to #9 (an early manifestation of what later political scientists would call the ‘Merkel’ effect as Germany drops behind the Mediterranean powers in terms of influence and prestige).
And now to lay my plans for expansion in the proper Imperial manner, I mean #7 is no place for a state with my ambitions.
[1] – A bit later I reckon they have about 1500 power in a couple of large units. Given Powloon’s trouble in Ethiopia, I will wait a while before I deal with them.