A Pleasant Empire ( A Hawaiian AAR)

[Antiboyscout]

A little bit of history. Hawaii, like many pacific island was settled by Polynesians with earliest evidence of habitation dating to around 300 AD. It is Theorized that Hawaii proper was created when a wave of migration from Tahiti around 1000 AD brought with them a line of high chiefs and the Kapu system, the system that organizes all land and labor on the islands. The largest islands of the Island chain would form chiefdoms and a slow period of growth occurred. Some small European explorers have discovered Hawaii from the 16th century until the faithful arrival of James Cook in 1778. Despite the killing of the famous explorer, when his adventures were published more and more Europeans began to visit the island. With them came western illnesses. Like the North American Natives, the Polynesians would suffer greatly. The unification of all the islands would not occur until 1795 under the rule of King Kamehameha the Great. During his reign, Kamehameha embraced westernization and was known to reject traditional clothing in favor of western fashion and took up horse riding as a hobby. After his death, Kamehameha II took over in 1819, and soon after Protestant missionaries came. almost all Hawaiians would convert to Christianity and end most traditional practices. Kamehameha the III would take over in 1825. The Christian missionaries, whom have started consolidating land and power, are pressuring Kamehameha III to sign a constitution.

This will by my first AAR. I am not the best player but I have been wanting to do this for quite a while now. I have a soft spot in my heart for tiny island nations. Hawaii has the best shot for greatness and has many positives going for it. My goals are to Westernize and unite all Polynesian, Micronesian, and Melanesian Islands in the Pacific under the Hawaiian flag. Becoming a great power will be a nice bonus. I may not update regularly as my interests can wax and wane. I do want opinions on save scumming. Like I said, I am not the best player and I want some events that are particularly thematic, like western influences, that are random.

Let me know if you are interested

(for those in the know, yes I know Pleasant Island is the name of another Polynesian island but 'A Sandwich Empire' did not seem like a very good title)

 

[volksmarschall]

Shoot!

Will be great to see your first AAR attempt, and may it memorable and successful as all firsts should -- and give you a good and proper taste of the great community here in AARland and introduce you to the great world of AAR-ing!

 

[Idhrendur]

That's certainly an interesting scenario and set of goals. Hawaii doesn't exactly start off in a strong position.

 

[stnylan]

Welcome to AAR writing. Hope you enjoy the experience.

Hawaii is in an intriguing situation.

 

[Shinkuro Yukinari]

Something tells me USA will try to spread "freedom and democracy" to you. Count me in

 

[Antiboyscout]

1836 - Calm Surface Strong Undercurrents

Here we are in all our glory. Not too long ago Hawaii was simply the name of the largest island in the chain and not the united archipelago kingdom. Hawaii has many weaknesses, not the least of which is the very small size and a population of around 100,000. 1,000 of them are tied up in the military. Like most primitive nations, most of the population is currently working the RGO of the island . This is where game reality and reality reality differ greatly. Hawaii in real history became very wealthy do to it's advantageous position between America and Asia and the sale of sandal wood. Sandal wood was very popular in China at the time and Hawaii was a safe port to rest and restock. Unfortunately, Hawaii doesn't have tropical wood, it doesn't have regular wood, it doesn't even have fruit, and sugar apparently doesn't exist. We have fish. Hawaii will be very poor for a very long time. The one saving grace Hawaii has is the 80% Literacy rate. This will be used to its fullest to westernize quickly. This is gunna hurt but the budget must be green.

A lot of time will be spent simply siting around doing not much. In reality, Hawaii would be in massive turmoil. More and more land was slipping out of the hands of the Crown and into the hands of foreign settlers, mostly missionaries. Any attempt by the throne to retake control and increase taxes on the land owners. A preemptive response to this will be a massive focus on diplomacy toward the USA. (in HoD US can no longer decision annex Hawaii) If the US is our friend they are less likely to send in the marines right? My theory to make sure the foreigners do not take more power, it to take a page out of Kamehameha I's book. Offer them wives, and, like Thailand, make sure the native of the relationship owns the land. So Hawaii will sit and wait and try not to fall apart.

Most of the land that I wish to take over happens to be un-colonized and should be somewhat easy to take. The problems come with Spanish Micronesia and the Dutch East Indies. I may never become powerful enough to challenge the two nations or there inevitable powerful alliances, and in all the games I have ever played, the Spanish American war never happens, so piggybacking on that war seems unlikely. I may have to settle for just the colonial acquisitions.

 

[Shinkuro Yukinari]

Or civilize, ally US and munch off Korea and Japan

 

[stnylan]

Just staying independent will be no small achievement.

 

[Antiboyscout]

For those that are interested:

Extra Credits did an Extra History two part video on Kamehameha the Great.

 

[Shinkuro Yukinari]

*Insert Dragon Ball joke here*

 

[Antiboyscout]

1836-1846 If you're In Oceania Is it Westernization or Easternization?

Now comes the long slog. In order to save money I disbanded the military and I won't be building any transport ships. It's not like I could import the clippers required, so reforms will come solely from research. Courting the USA will go a long way to speeding up westernization thanks to its Business Schools & Tycoon Capitalism

nations in its sphere get a 25% reduction in economic reforms

but a lot of stockpiling of research points and improving relations with the US will have to happen first.

Not too long after starting this event pops up. Taking the more extreme option is the better one as we have plenty of time to burn off the militancy.

About a year later this this event pops up. I actually want more militancy as it will help me pass reforms later on .

I have enough points to enact a reform, but I want to wait at least until I can pass the education reform.

Second helping? Yes please.

Ass kissing does pay off.

Now comes the 40's depression. It always seems around this time that economic problems start popping up.

Time for a budget cut. 91% is good enough.

A little taste of the slowly moving political climate. Push those extremes.

Please don't do it.

Eww, why?

We are half way in

Money problems are getting worse. The population is not growing but the bureaucratic class is, and they don't produce anything. Nothing monetary at least.

Now for a funny little event

Notice the choice between angering Aristocrats or Capitalists.

The obvious problem is I don't have any capitalists, so this event is just a choice between raising or lowering militancy. I did chose to raise it, again to push reforms later.

I can finally start improving relations with the UK.

Super tempting but I must wait for the discount.

Finally we are in. Now I can start the reforms.

I'll start with land reform for the money. Now all that is slowing me down is the enforced wait period between reforms.

An interesting side effect of becoming a US sphereling is that I am now broke, but my people are living it up despite the high taxes.

Oh no! 758 mildly disgruntled people.

I need the money...

One more election to end the decade. The pushing of the extremes is getting more extreme.

 

[stnylan]

Ugh US borders.

 

[Shinkuro Yukinari]

May I propose using full images instead of thumbnails? It hurts my eyes reading this on my phone

 

[Antiboyscout]

1846 - 1849 How can I be in an SOI with multiple reforms and not have Western Influences?

Things are going to start picking up pace as reforms come faster.

First will be Transportation system in order to boost RGO output even more. Next will come industrial construction. Industrial construction is mostly just a throwaway reform as the cement factory it gives you is not free and, for a country this small, will not be profitable. After that, Administrative reform will be the last before Westernization.

Why is it not free? Why is it so expensive?

Not as fast as I would like, and this will bite me in the butt very quickly. For the moment, We can celebrate the fact we westernized faster than Japan.

Thanks to the dog brain AI, having an alliance with the US will allow us to go to war without actually having an army for a very long time. I've found that if you declare conquest on a single state country, the larger partner in the war will give you the state as long as they have no allies.

This is the only second level technology that I got, and it's mostly useless as my pop is too low to have more than one national focus.

I'm going to need all the money I can get. Thankfully this tech boosts Farming more than mining as fish is technically a farming RGO

Now comes the part where my tardiness bites me in the ass. Notice the red lines all over Johore. I am now too late to take over the easiest gold deposits in the game. This is really the only places that Hawaii can take over, and my options are now greatly limited thanks also to the dutch expansion. This leaves only two options in Bali and Brunei. Brunei is interesting, as in most of my games and tests, the USA may not help you take it over.
I have one more very stupid option. The US and Mexico are having their war with Columbia getting involved. I may be able to declare war on Columbia and take Panama with the help of USA. None of these seem like a great idea.

 

[stnylan]

Sometimes you only have the least bad choice rather than a good choice.

 

[Antiboyscout]

It seems more and more like I'm going to have to settle for what I get as opposed to what I want. Some day, when I feel like doing a little RP, I'll come back and save scum the hell out of the game to make things perfect.

 

[Shinkuro Yukinari]

Attack Japan and/or Korea. Especially Japan

 

[Specialist290]

I've always dreamed about bringing Hawaii to greatness in Victoria II, but I've never been good enough at the game to manage it myself. Therefore I'll be living vicariously through your AAR

 

[Antiboyscout]

Guys I have some bad news. I've run multiple scenarios, and none of them pan out. The road to victory for Hawaii is a narrow one and starts very early. I may have to call critical failure and give up. If you guys want me to run out the clock while floundering around, let me know. Hawaii is in a unique position where, if the player is Hawaii, no one will come after you. Any war you are involved in are of your own making. Anyone want to watch 100 years of not much?

 

[stnylan]

I'm up for anything myself