The Suffering of Vinalnd - Part I
Alright so let's start this off, first here is a look at Belgium.
I start in an area roughly equivalent to New England.
Now let's take a look at the story decisions that will guide the early part of this playthorugh.
First decision is Integrating the Former-Slaves, it requires us to have either 40% Socialist or Liberal in the house or to have 25% of both Socialist and Liberal to do. Succeeding in this task will make Afro-Frankish an accepted culture. This decision will probably take me until socialism unlocks to accomplish. Also you will notice that I can build the Suez, Kiel and Andagoya Canals. The Andagoya Canal is equivalent to the Panama Canal in OTL.
Next is Destiny of the East. Basically I start with cores on regions bordering Plantagenia and Vinland. If I secure those territories and reserach Nationalism and Imperialism then I can take this decision and gain a Unite the Nation CB on Vinland and maybe Plantagenia. Plantagenia has the annoying habit of actually expanding and adding in territory which messes with the CB. I'll also gain cores on Athasia, a Venitian colony in Florida.
I'll actually be able to meet the requirement for this decision by about 1850 but I won't be able to fire it till 1860, when Nationalism and Imperialism unlocks.
A quick look at my starting reforms. I hope to have all reforms passed by the end of the game. The social ones will be fun to pass in PoD because they actually cost money and I can talk about balancing your economy around them.
Political party wise I start with the Moderate Party and they're ok for the most part.
This is my budget from a few days after I unpause. One thing I've noticed with PoD mod's economy is that it behaves really wonky right when you start a new game or load a save and you lose a ton of money at first, but then it fixes itself and you budget actually matters.
For my budget itself I max all spending except for naval spending which I leave at the bare minimum possible. If your ships aren't decaying piles of wood at first your doing it wrong. Poor tax is set to max while Middle and Upper class is pretty high with little or no tariffs. Low tariffs makes it easier for factories to operate in a Interventionist economy.
For my first tech I'm going to be researching Positivism. My tech strategy is going to go roughly in this order; education tech then military tech then industry tech then it repeats. This way I max out my education gains over time so I get more research points which translates into a overall increase in teching. Note that when I say education tech I mean techs that increase education, so I may research either commerce or culture techs to increase my education ability.
Quick look at my starting PoPs. The only thing worth pointing out is that I have a substantial Iroquois populace who I can integrate later on. Septimani is my main culture and is a sort of Dutch-Burgundian descendant if my understanding of the lore is correct. Afro-Frankish is the enslaved culture.
The starting GP's. The big four are the Dual Monarchy, Scandinavia, Bohemia and Burgundy. Barring unfortunate circumstances they should stay that way until about the 1860's when I really get going. Aragon has a decent chance of staying a GP unless something goes wrong in Italy. The three I circled, which includes Belgium, are not going to stay GP's for long. Spain, which in this timeline was formed by a union of Castille and Portugal, is embroiled in a war with Gran Colombia which usually breaks them. While, the Ottomans are embroiled in a huge civil war and usually collapse and flip between a few different government types. I'm not going to stay a GP for long because of a strat I take later on which hurts my prestige.
This is just over a month after I've unpaused. I've merged my armies into one great and terrible doomstack. And somewhat predictably, Plantagenia has declared war on VInland for a small piece of land out west. Plantagenia always declares war on Vinland first, I have never had a game where they did not. This is good for me, because it will exhaust the two of them so I can break them in two quick wars later on and become the dominant power in Arcadia.
Here's a world map view of Arcadia, the name for North America in this timeline. I am Belgium and sandwiched in between Vinland and Plantagenia for now, although I will eventually blob out and eat them. To my west lies Rohnst, Qingqiu and a Ainu colony in Alaska. Usually I eat Rohnst before I form Arcadia, but I know that there is a Arcadia decision which interacts with them so I'll be taking a wait and conquer stance this time. Qingqiu is a former Chinese colony and again I'll be waiting and conquering with them.
Gran Colombia is in war for independence with Spain, normally they lose it so we'll see what happens this time.
This is an important event because it determines what will happen with the Iroquois. Normally I pick the first option for the assimilation bonus, but that option results in the Iroquois fleeing west and then I can never make them an accepted culture. However in this playthrough I have found out that the third option lets me integrate them later on. I don't know what the second option does, never taken it.
This is just a quick overview of what I want to happen, Plantagenia and Vinland bleeding each other dry so I can kill them much more easily later on.
A look at the Colombian War of Indepence, which does not look so hot, and QIngqiu who I am trying to make like me so they will ally with me.
And now I declare war on Vinland, they're making gains on Plantagenia but are a bit more exhausted which makes them easier prey.
My overall plan for the campaign, go west then east. I won't take the province Plantagenia is fighting for because I won't be able to occupy enough land to get Vinland to give it up, But I'll get three out of the four cores Vinland has, ideally with a minimum amount of fighting and mostly me occupying territoy. Also as you can see, I had enough extra soldiers to make a second army of 18k, which is mostly infantry with two units of Iroquois cavalry.
I finish Positivism and start research on Muzzle-loaded Rifles.
Vinland has almost completely liberated the state Plantagenia wants so I start to plan for their attempted liberation of the states I have occupied.
I add another state into my wargoals. I use a pincer strategy to trap and destroy Vinland's only army, thus crushing their counterattack.
One thing you should keep in mind about playing in the New World as opposed to the Old World is that mobility is way more important. Often the AI will spend months running from me if I just try to attack them with one army because they're usually only one or two days faster than me. But, if I put two armies in position so they can move to all the provinces the AI can flee to, then the AI is stuck and I can damage or destroy their army.
I think I'll end this part here because I remember in an AAR I read that there is a 20 image per update rule. Is there still such a rule? I've read through the forum rules but I don't remember seeing that 20 image rule.
