Funnily enough, the first game where I decide to not westernize is the first game where everyone westernizes! This is my first 1.8 - actually started in 1.8 and finished in 1.9.2 (or whatever the latest patch is).
So, premise of the game:
1. Start an Indian/Hindu minor, preferably one in a miserable position. One with somewhat decent ideas and a nice color.
2. Dominate India with it ASAP.
3. Don't westernize.
4. Blob as much as possible, maybe even get some achievements along the way.
I present the end result, proudly entitled "Spreading the Black Plague":
I also found an awesome map mode - this shows the whole area covered by me and my subjects:
(such nice, big letters )
I made quite a few big mistakes along the way. One of them was not getting a coast myself until very late. This, coupled with my piss poor provinces in Central India, meant that my income was very low and I couldn't afford more than 1/1/1 advisors until 1650 or so. An alliance web between Jaunpur, Bengal, Bahmanis (which somehow managed to out-tech me in military tech!), Sind, Afghanistan, coupled with an early Ottoman Defender of the Faith (~1630), meant that I didn't blob as much as I liked.
To top everything off Russia "infiltrated" China and allied Prussia. Yes, AI Brandenburg formed Prussia. Still, not usually a problem, but in this game this happened:
Yes, Prussia sitting on top of 400+ base tax and a great trade node. They had the largest army in the world at some point.
Definitely the scariest thing I've seen since Austria uniting the HRE in 1550 in my Wallachia game a long time ago.
After a huge war against Russia + Prussia (ouch!), my Ottoman ally got turned to this:
After noticing I wouldn't have time to pretty up the borders and get the Silk Road achievement I started fooling around and made a "Malaysia" client-state:
And this is the end game screenie:
Mistakes were made... yet my tech was decent (considering I didn't Westernize, didn't become anyone's protectorate, had Western Arms Trade only for ~20 years in 1700s, had 3/3/3 advisors only for about 20 years or so, and couldn't get Power Projection from anywhere ...).
So, premise of the game:
1. Start an Indian/Hindu minor, preferably one in a miserable position. One with somewhat decent ideas and a nice color.
2. Dominate India with it ASAP.
3. Don't westernize.
4. Blob as much as possible, maybe even get some achievements along the way.
I present the end result, proudly entitled "Spreading the Black Plague":
I also found an awesome map mode - this shows the whole area covered by me and my subjects:
(such nice, big letters )
I made quite a few big mistakes along the way. One of them was not getting a coast myself until very late. This, coupled with my piss poor provinces in Central India, meant that my income was very low and I couldn't afford more than 1/1/1 advisors until 1650 or so. An alliance web between Jaunpur, Bengal, Bahmanis (which somehow managed to out-tech me in military tech!), Sind, Afghanistan, coupled with an early Ottoman Defender of the Faith (~1630), meant that I didn't blob as much as I liked.
To top everything off Russia "infiltrated" China and allied Prussia. Yes, AI Brandenburg formed Prussia. Still, not usually a problem, but in this game this happened:
Yes, Prussia sitting on top of 400+ base tax and a great trade node. They had the largest army in the world at some point.
Definitely the scariest thing I've seen since Austria uniting the HRE in 1550 in my Wallachia game a long time ago.
After a huge war against Russia + Prussia (ouch!), my Ottoman ally got turned to this:
After noticing I wouldn't have time to pretty up the borders and get the Silk Road achievement I started fooling around and made a "Malaysia" client-state:
And this is the end game screenie:
Mistakes were made... yet my tech was decent (considering I didn't Westernize, didn't become anyone's protectorate, had Western Arms Trade only for ~20 years in 1700s, had 3/3/3 advisors only for about 20 years or so, and couldn't get Power Projection from anywhere ...).