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Pigzhu275

Sergeant
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Apr 17, 2016
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  • Europa Universalis IV
  • Europa Universalis IV: Art of War
  • Europa Universalis IV: Conquest of Paradise
  • Europa Universalis IV: Wealth of Nations
  • Europa Universalis IV: El Dorado
  • Europa Universalis IV: Common Sense
  • Europa Universalis IV: Cossacks
  • Europa Universalis IV: Mare Nostrum
  • Europa Universalis IV: Rights of Man
  • Europa Universalis IV: Mandate of Heaven
  • Europa Universalis IV: Cradle of Civilization
  • Europa Universalis IV: Dharma
  • Imperator: Rome
Are you ready to go on a journey with me and visit a brave new world? A randomly generated map can be a fun and cool way to take a break from historical EU4…but I went and took things one step further this time around. And so, ladies and gentlemen, I welcome you all to a world with 36 uniquely designed custom nations, random other nations and a randomly generated new world…plus some tag swapping for good measure.

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Note: The above screenshot does not yet include the randomly generated nations that will fill in the rest of the world. This just shows the custom nations. Each nation that you can see above has its own unique ideas, strengths and weaknesses and no single one should be too overpowered compared to the others. It's gonna be fun seeing what other nations show up too!

There are of course rules to this game! Taking inspiration from some other EU4 AARs such as Michaelangelo's Around The World: A Tag-Swap AAR and CatKnight’s Random World Order, I will be changing nations every few years between the custom nations to try and explore all the various happenings of this world.

In following CatKnight's footsteps:
This will be a RANDOM AAR - meaning I will let the RNG determine my starting country. I will then play for a number of years determined by the chart below. When done, I will let the RNG pick another nation for me, and so on.

Number of Years: Every 5 years*, roll 1d6:

5 years: 2+ (83% chance)

10 years: 3+ (56% cumulative chance)

15 years: 4+ (28% cumulative chance)

20 years: 5+ (9% cumulative chance)

25+ years: 6+

*Turns with an odd number of years (1444-1450 for example) will be rounded to the nearest 5.

This way, I won't be quite sure when my turn is ending, so won't be as tempted to play towards an artificial deadline.

Selecting the in-game random nation button doesn’t seem to work with what I have in mind for only randomizing between the 36 custom nations, so I set up an excel file (yeah!) with a chart assigning a number to each nation and then using a function to randomly roll a number between 1 and 36 to choose a nation for me upon each time it's time to migrate nations…

But enough of that! Let us explore the world a little bit before choosing a nation to play with!

Note: I will be giving a brief overview so you have an idea what is the general situation for each region. I won’t go into an overbearing amount of depth.

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In this version of the world, there is no Ming Dynasty! Rather, we have a number of Chinese warring states fighting for supremacy. The northern Daxiao are actually Mongol, and have a slightly more cavalry focused idea set from the rest to differentiate them from the others. Ceyna is quite different, and is actually a republic; it has a trade focused idea set completely different from the inland countries. All the little empty locations between custom nations will be filled with small Chinese states. This region is fairly tame, so let’s move on to the next area.

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Ah the Middle East. This region has the highest concentration of different religions and will probably erupt into chaos at the slightest slight of conflict. Palirania stands the greatest chance at military expansion since its people follow a militaristic set of paganist faiths (modelled by Shintoism) and military traditions which should give them a leg up in early wars. The trading empire of Alandia is in a tenuous position as it must defend far flung ports but it actually surpasses Palirania in early development. All nations will have a tough time at diplomacy because of religious differences.

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Central Europe has long been united under an orthodox faith. However, the rise of a heretical branch of Christianity was championed by the rising Romanalia Empire and its influence spread rapidly. This heretical faith was Catholicism. Minor states were, one after another, absorbed into this empire and coalition attempts to stop Romanalia failed horrendously as Romanalia won battle after battle against the opposing coalitions. Horrible losses from the wars and following internal power struggles within the Vakeln Empire (Dark Purple in Russia) and Ebarania (Green in French region) have gotten so horrible that the two are teetering on the edge of societal collapse. Seeing the Orthodox empires falling to the Romanalia, many city states which refused to convert decided instead to unite as one, becoming the Central Union, and even the newly minted catholic city states feared the empires around them and united in a Holy Romanalian Empire (which was not part of the Romanalian Empire at all).

Opachenya and the Kebeksian Horde in Eastern Europe, as well as all the Iberian countries in far Western Europe, did not intervene in the religious wars and as such are faring well. The british channel is host to a century long rivalry between two nations: Itria and Kaqria. The former holds much of the lowlands and has conquered southern England, giving it control over much of the lucrative channel trade. They also fared well against the Norse tribes in gaining control of parts of Scandinavia. Kaqria was once the richer of the two nations, but the loss of channel trade means that they have been forced to seek other roads to trade. They control much of Northern England, but have established control over a number of northern islands and have begun looking into the rumors that new trade opportunities exist overseas. Both nations will likely bring their rivalries into the new world as they follow the trade opportunities the new theatre brings.

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The new world has been sighted! Iberian States such as Cabrosenta and Mekra, as well as the Islamic North African State of Fahrabad, have all discovered new lands across the seas and now send fleets westwards in search greater riches and glories. The Mediterranean power of Zibertia remains a looming threat to all the small states around it, and they would do well to seek allies against this common foe. Though a strong maritime power with bases along the Mediterranean, Zibertia must be wary of the Rufja Desert Horde which holds superiority over the desert flats and could strike when Zibertia is vulnerable…

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The Rufja Desert Horde may be as far south as most Europeans would consider relevant, but perhaps the Iberians and Northern Africans would do wise to reconsider. In Western Africa the Johlaradi Kingdom is experiencing a golden age. The Johlaradi have heard of the rumors of far flung lands which lay overseas and hold great riches…

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Finally, looking back north even beyond the foothold that the Itrians have in Scandinavia, a number of Nordic tribes continue to adhere to their old gods and traditions. Orthodoxy nor Catholicism holds no sway up here; the Baltic tribes raid and loot the trade to the dismay of their neighbors. With the nearby and once mighty Vakeln Empire collapsing and a number of smaller states breaking out, it is a good time to be a man of the tribes, as chaos brings opportunity for plunder and easy conquest!

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Here is the distribution of religions before the random nations are added upon game start.

Now that we know what we are getting into…it’s the moment we’ve been waiting for!

*clicks button and watches intently as excel function spits forth a number*

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Looks like we’ll start by attempting to unite China!

Ceyna’s Traditions

-2.00 interest per annum

-10% accepted culture threshold

Ceyna’s National Ideas

+15% trade steering

+15% light ship combat ability

+40% embargo efficiency

+0.5 Yearly Republican Tradition

+10% trade efficiency

-1.00 national unrest

+10% global trade power

Ceyna’s Ambition

+30% naval force limit modifier [/QUOTE]
 
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Tag-swaps AAR can be a lot of fun. Will be following this :) A random-generated map can lead to odd outcomes and I am not a big fan of it myself. Nevertheless, I look forward to seeing more.
 
I am highly surprised to see you start yet another AAR. Interesting because it's something totally different.

Although I rather like the "normal" setup of the game, I'm going to follow this.
 
Tag-swaps AAR can be a lot of fun. Will be following this :) A random-generated map can lead to odd outcomes and I am not a big fan of it myself. Nevertheless, I look forward to seeing more.

I am attempting to provide some measure of control and setting in this world with the adding of 36 custom nations. Hopefully that makes things a bit more stable and keep things interesting for you. :) Glad to have you along delpiero.

I am highly surprised to see you start yet another AAR. Interesting because it's something totally different.

Although I rather like the "normal" setup of the game, I'm going to follow this.

I am actually done playing and taking screenshots for the Knights AAR and just need to write the last two or three chapters when I get a chance. I got excited for the premise of this AAR and decided to just go ahead and start it instead of waiting for other AARs to wrap up. Also...I like to think that ALL my AARs are 'something totally different' :oops:. Welcome aboard once again Tom :cool:
 
Are you going to start more AAR's when your Knights AAR is done? I just saw this on your profile page:

"-Khoshuud 1600s nomadic start AAR (game and screenshot partly collected)"
 
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Are you going to start more AAR's when your Knights AAR is done? I just saw this on your profile page:

"-Khoshuud 1600s nomadic start AAR (game and screenshot partly collected)"

I will most certainly release more AARs in the future, but not for a while since I have a few going on now. Maybe after the Tumbuka AAR finishes I will release what I have so far for the Khoshuud one.
 
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I will most certainly release more AARs in the future, but not for a while since I have a few going on now. Maybe after the Tumbuka AAR finishes I will release what I have so far for the Khoshuud one.
Thanks for the information, do you want to give some extra information around this "Khoshuud" AAR or must it stay in the misty clouds for some time ;)?
 
Thanks for the information, do you want to give some extra information around this "Khoshuud" AAR or must it stay in the misty clouds for some time ;)?

Hm... I don't think anything I'll say will spoil things so why not?:rolleyes:
Khoshuud is a Horde in the Tibet area and the AAR starts in the 1600s when the Qing are wiping out the Ming Dynasty and chinese successor states are fighting for survival. It's a tenuous start so I figured I'd dive into it. It's a little similar to the AAR i just did (the Knights one in that its a late start date game) so i figured i'd do a different style AAR first though.
 
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Hm... I don't think anything I'll say will spoil things so why not?:rolleyes:
Khoshuud is a Horde in the Tibet area and the AAR starts in the 1600s when the Qing are wiping out the Ming Dynasty and chinese successor states are fighting for survival. It's a tenuous start so I figured I'd dive into it. It's a little similar to the AAR i just did (the Knights one in that its a late start date game) so i figured i'd do a different style AAR first though.
That sounds very interesting and promising :)! Thanks for the extra information.
 
Looks interesting. :)

So you went with historical random nations, too. Though I do wonder how the exclave-rich nations are going to fare when they cannot reach rebellious provinces.o_O
 
Certainly interested as to how the world will play out.
I haven't taken a peek behind the terra incognita so I'm as blind as you guys. Fingers crossed things go well :confused:
Looks interesting. :)

So you went with historical random nations, too. Though I do wonder how the exclave-rich nations are going to fare when they cannot reach rebellious provinces.o_O
weeeell...some of the exclave heavy nations are not supposed to do well early game and will lose land but get good late ideas if they can survive. To reveal a bit, the Vakeln Empire (purple nation in Russia) happens to have 0/0/0 ruler to start and some other maluses that make me hope i dont roll it (although it could be fun recapturing their old lands :p)
Tag-Swap AAR? Never read one, so this will be interesting! :)
glad I got you guys along for the ride! ;)
Will keep an eye on this, I remember Mike's and that was good.
Who's Mike??:eek:
(also welcome aboard)

Next chapter should be coming out in two or three days guys, so get ready for alt-world china shenanigans:)
 
Chapter 1: The Middle Republic
1444-1450

Our journey begins in the far east. We have no knowledge of much of the world; Europe, Africa, and the randomly generated new world lie cloaked in fog. Time will tell what empires will rise and fall, but for now we must make Ceyna great and unite the fractured middle kingdom once more.

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Ceyna is a fairly economically powerful nation compared to its neighbors, with control over many of the valuable coastal regions as well as a number of far flung and strategically important trade colonies in Japan, Korea and Vietnam. Being a merchant republic means that only 20 of our provinces can be full cores or we suffer a -0.1 yearly republican tradition penalty for each province over that limit; right out of the gate our republic is fairly overextended and is only gaining 0.4 yearly republican tradition. We lack the military boosting national ideas of neighboring warring states. Additionally, we have vulnerable borders to protect against Cyprus in the Korean Penninsula, the Bijapur Shogunate in Japan. Realistically there is nothing we can do to prevent the Shogunate from taking our outposts in Japan (they have far too many ships and vassal stacks), so we can only hope he is too embroiled in fighting the Daimyo of his realm to come after us.

I do not know how long I will be entrusted to carry the fate of this republic on my shoulders, but I shall make it my goal to secure strong allies and vassals and look to crush other neighboring states before they get too powerful.

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Cyprus is a bit envious of our holdings in the Korean peninsula, but they are willing to look past this and agree to an alliance since they are similarly rivaled to the Bijapur Sultanate. This secures one vulnerable border.

Next, we decentralize our holdings in Japan, Okinawa, Taiwan and Vietnam so that we will only can get rid of most the penalties to republican tradition. Notice that a number of nearby regions in other nations are stripped green, indicating that if we conquer and core them, we will have to create full cores and take penalties to tradition. We will have to work around that...

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There are many minor Chinese Kingdoms and Princedoms along our borders which promise easy conquests. However, I am far more concerned with knocking down the larger warring state custom nations before they can secure strong alliances. I guarantee both the princedoms of Pima and Powhatan and begin improving relations with them with the goal of eventual peaceful subjugation. Despite being economically powerful, Pima and Powhatan are the only nations remotely interested in vassalization because our nation of Ceyna is both a merchant republic and a Duchy rank nation, both of which substantially penalize willingness to accept our offers.

When the first month ends I actually lose one of my three diplomats. This is likely because I am a Duchy rank nation and the game was adjusting to eliminate the extra agent that only Kingdom or Empire rank nations receive, but I like to think the diplomat was really a spy we discovered and he got what was coming to him. No matter! Our remaining diplomats will bear his burden and work overtime! No thoughts of dissent! *whipping ensues*
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We have one remaining diplomatic relations slot, so we seek an alliance with the far northern Chinese Empire of Benin. While we may both aim to unite the middle kingdom, we both have the Chinese Kingdom of Gaifeng as an enemy so a temporary strategic friendship is agreed upon.

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The Beninese Empire soon declares war on the Kingdom of Gaifeng in 1445! As it is lacking allies or any other way to overcome the numerical superiority of the Beninese, there is no doubt that the Gaifeng will fall. Our ally does not call us into the war (most likely because they don't want to owe us any favors). This is not much of a concern since we had been planning on declaring war on the Gaifeng soon anyways since they were lacking allies; we decide to push up our invasion schedule and take what we can from the soon to be extinct Kingdom.

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Some criticize our decision to jump on the Gaifeng:
"Your ally is doing all the fighting while you are just taking the spoils"
"So dishonorable!"
"This isn't how a future emperor of China would act! (insert Mandate of Heaven discussion here)"

Obviously we don't care (we're merchants; as long profit is involved the gold justifies the means), but we make public attempts to justify the conflict to the public and our neighbors. Somehow everyone believes our blatant lies and we get a +60 relations boost with all nations nearby.

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Looks like some people weren't convinced! Time for a state sanctioned purge!

Things may be getting out of hand in our country...

Luckily our army doesn't seem to be too hindered by republican politics, and we are informed that the Gaifeng have been defeated.

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Truly our greatest day of glory.

We grab as much land as possible in the treaty. The Unify China Casus Belli gives a substancial 50% reduction as well as eliminates the DIP cost to demanding unclaimed provinces, so even after grabbing over 100% overextension worth of provinces we should be able to get through without any substantial opposition until we can finish bringing Pima and Powhatan into the fold so we can grant some of the land to them.

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two weeks later, strongly worded letters in regards to our never ending wars are received.

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Within a few months of the end of the Ceyna-Gaifeng war of Chinese Hegemony, Powhatan and Pima have accepted our might and joined our empire as vassals. We reward them with lands gained from the last war that would have required us to full core and keep for ourselves only what can be left as territorial cores after being integrated.

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The funds gained from our defeated rivals as well as our comfortable trade surplus allows us to build a fort in our grand capital city of Ningbo, which at 30 development is one of the grandest in the the Orient. We also used our other funds to enhance our navy with the construction of galleys and transports in case of a future war with the Bijapur Shogunate.

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The end of the first term of office for the Ceyna republican ruler, Zhen Shaybanid, had come to a close. One rival (and custom nation) had been destroyed under his rule, and two strong Princedoms had sworn in their allegiance to the Republic. Taking a wide view of the Asia-Pacific region, Zhen noted the powerful Tibetan Empire of Liang embroiled in a conflict with the Chinese Kingdom of Guangdu to the West. Additionally, the Daxiao Mongol-Chinese Kingdom was falling to multiple invaders, and perhaps indicated that a second (custom) nation was about to perish. Far into Manchuria, the nation of Theodoro had lost much of its lands to Moldavia.

Overall Zhen had been successful. Perhaps he would unite China. Perhaps...

Do we continue playing as the Republic of Ceyna?
We need a 2 or higher on our 6 sided dice to continue playing.
*rolls digital dice since I don't have real ones*

Dice roll = 3 ; Continue = YES

 
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It seems like your first years seemed very lucrative. A bit weird though that you have to choose another country after 5 years, sounds like you can't achieve much with one nation, but I guess that's the goal of a tag-swapping AAR :).
 
It seems like your first years seemed very lucrative. A bit weird though that you have to choose another country after 5 years, sounds like you can't achieve much with one nation, but I guess that's the goal of a tag-swapping AAR :).
Oh perhaps I did not explain adequately. I am rolling a dice to see if I am continuing to play the same nation or if I must switch nations. For the first roll I need a 2 or higher to be able to keep playing as Ceyna, which I succeeded at so Zhen get's another term, but after each 5 years it gets progressively more likely that I need to switch nations (i.e. I need a 3 or higher next time, and a 4 or higher the time after that). There is no guarantee at any time that I will be switching or staying as a nation and that makes things more fun :)
 
Oh perhaps I did not explain adequately. I am rolling a dice to see if I am continuing to play the same nation or if I must switch nations. For the first roll I need a 2 or higher to be able to keep playing as Ceyna, which I succeeded at so Zhen get's another term, but after each 5 years it gets progressively more likely that I need to switch nations (i.e. I need a 3 or higher next time, and a 4 or higher the time after that). There is no guarantee at any time that I will be switching or staying as a nation and that makes things more fun :)
My fault, must have misinterpreted your introduction. Thanks for the clarification.