• We have updated our Community Code of Conduct. Please read through the new rules for the forum that are an integral part of Paradox Interactive’s User Agreement.

Rovsea

Captain of Dragons
58 Badges
Jan 5, 2014
513
96
  • Divine Wind
  • Victoria 2: A House Divided
  • Victoria 2: Heart of Darkness
  • Magicka 2
  • Europa Universalis IV: Mare Nostrum
  • Europa Universalis IV: Cossacks
  • Hearts of Iron IV: Expansion Pass
  • Europa Universalis IV: Cradle of Civilization
  • Europa Universalis III: Collection
  • Crusader Kings II: Way of Life
  • Pillars of Eternity
  • Hearts of Iron IV: Death or Dishonor
  • Europa Universalis IV: Common Sense
  • Crusader Kings II: Horse Lords
  • Crusader Kings II: Monks and Mystics
  • Crusader Kings II: Conclave
  • Europa Universalis IV: Mandate of Heaven
  • Victoria 2
  • Stellaris
  • Hearts of Iron IV: Cadet
  • Crusader Kings II: Reapers Due
  • Europa Universalis IV: Rights of Man
  • Hearts of Iron IV: Together for Victory
  • Europa Universalis IV
  • Europa Universalis IV: Rule Britannia
  • Crusader Kings II: Holy Fury
  • Hearts of Iron IV: Expansion Pass
  • Hearts of Iron IV: La Resistance
  • Battle for Bosporus
  • Hearts of Iron IV: By Blood Alone
  • Hearts of Iron IV: No Step Back
  • Crusader Kings II: Jade Dragon
  • Europa Universalis IV: Third Rome
  • Europa Universalis IV: El Dorado
  • Rome: Vae Victis
  • Europa Universalis III
  • Darkest Hour
  • Crusader Kings II: Sword of Islam
  • Crusader Kings II: Sunset Invasion
  • Crusader Kings II: Sons of Abraham
  • Crusader Kings II: The Republic
  • Crusader Kings II: Rajas of India
  • Crusader Kings II: The Old Gods
  • Crusader Kings II: Legacy of Rome
  • Crusader Kings II: Charlemagne
  • Cities in Motion 2
  • Europa Universalis IV: Art of War
  • Heir to the Throne
  • Semper Fi
  • Rome Gold
The Southern Eagle: A Mexico AAR

yomx2fN.jpg

Hello everyone, this is my very first AAR, where I will be playing as Mexico. I have a fairly solid game plan in mind here, with the end goal being Mexico triumphing over the United States in score. But make no mistake, this will be a long road. Especially since the mod I am using, POPs of Darkness, adds several events that make the Mexican start a lot more... interesting.

Mexico's road starts bleak. Our Native population is large, and it often disagrees with the Hispanic majority. As well, war with the United States is all but inevitable. And none of this even mentions the weak economy, low literacy, and lack of starting industry. However, by the end of this campaign, my hope is to make Mexico into the Great Power it deserves to be. Or at least outdo those imperialist Americans, anyway.
 
Last edited:
Mexico can be hard, but very rewarding. Good luck! :)
 
You know, I said that the first update would be tomorrow, didn't I? Hmmm. I think I may have lied. ;)
 
No problem. Gives me the time to subscribe before the first chapter.
 
Good luck with the Mexican American War and the insane amount of rebels in the first decade assuming you're playing PDM.

Subscribed, because Latin America AARs are fun.
 
Prologue: Mexico's Starting Situation; The Domestic Report Part 1

2bP9s8U.jpg

As we can see, our starting economy, mostly agrarian and artisan in makeup, is actually more than sufficient for sustaining our nation. This is the first screen I visited upon loading up, and I will always keep these sliders at max (aside from funding the soldiers there at the bottom), unless I am in the red. As usual, even in this mod, artisans suffer somewhat right out of the gate. However, this will hopefully improve with tariffs at 0%.

yNaCyTZ.jpg

Moving on to technology, it is clear that we are behind our neighbor, the United States, in technology. Our military tech is actually suffering because we are lacking one of the starting techs. The military technologies have been rebalanced, and I find myself researching more than just a rush for machine-guns in that tab. As well, culture technologies and some industrial techs have been reworked (including railroads). I won't get into the specifics unless it becomes relevant to the game, but if you do want to browse the tech changes, I would suggest looking up Pops of Darkness in the Mod Sub-Forum. Anyways, researching Basic Chemistry and Medicine is very important for Mexico, as they are basically required in order to keep up with the United States in Population. All of the other differences aside, a late-game Population advantage is one of the biggest deciding factors in an eventual war between ourselves and the Yankees. as well, it helps with supply limits in a country covered with Jungles and Mountains.

ePId9Vq.jpg

Here we have our starting political situation. What is important and should be noted is the fact that we are a Presidential Dictatorship. This means that we will need to pass some reforms before we can get voting, or fair elections. The decision is one of several unique to PoD that can be implemented after researching further Culture techs. I will be focusing on Culture Techs later in the mid-game, as late-game literacy is very important. As you can see, it increases consciousness, not necessarily a bad thing, as I am aiming for socialists and liberals to get some reforms passed later on. As well, it offers a small prestige bonus.

z2mgXLT.jpg

This modifier sucks. A lot. Not being able to mobilize means that I can only rely on the troops that I build for my military. Speaking of the military, it will be addressed later (I'm going to try and limit the number of pictures in my updates for now). It also makes rebels a lot likelier, and just generally hurts my military performance with a -20% Land Organization modifier.

06AXLqW.jpg

And last but not least for our domestic report, we have the pops. These guys are very important, and so is this screen. From it we can garner that we do not have an electoral vote (Presidential Dictatorship in action), we can tell that Mexico, Zacatecas, and Morelia are the most important states of our fledgling nation. We can see that we have no craftsmen, clerks, capitalists, or, and this one is actually beneficial, slaves. Later on we will use this screen to help us decide where to put our national foci. Until then, thank you for reading! In the next update I'll discuss our starting situation a little more, as well as the military.
 
Last edited:
Good luck Rov, and have fun! Subbed.
 
Good luck Rov, and have fun! Subbed.
Thank you, and I hope to be the one supplying the fun, although this campaign has already been quite interesting, especially in how it's differed from my test game.
 
In my occasional tests with Mexico in PDM, I've found that you actually can get a LOT of immigrants earlygame due to your gold rushes despite being a dictatorship. I'm not quite sure why this is the case.

Anyways, I will be interested to see how you handle yourself. AI Mexico often seems to become a respectable secondary power despite everything, so I wouldn't be surprised if you did better.
 
In my occasional tests with Mexico in PDM, I've found that you actually can get a LOT of immigrants earlygame due to your gold rushes despite being a dictatorship. I'm not quite sure why this is the case.

Anyways, I will be interested to see how you handle yourself. AI Mexico often seems to become a respectable secondary power despite everything, so I wouldn't be surprised if you did better.
Yes, the gold rushes are actually quite powerful province modifiers, that turn desert cities into metropolises.
 
a good start, subbed, i can't wait to see how this advances, i recommend reclaiming Central America! when you deal with the yankees, of course
 
a good start, subbed, i can't wait to see how this advances, i recommend reclaiming Central America! when you deal with the yankees, of course
Thanks for subbing! I don't like to give away spoilers, but I definitely feel like there will be conflict in Central America at some point.
Hopefully I'll get out another update today, as well. :)
 
If you have all of Mexico's starting land plus Central America (or at least El Salvador), I'm pretty sure you have all the resources in the game somewhere in your territory besides silk, which you'll have so much oil you can spare a bit to build a synthetic silk factory late game.

But you need immigrants (because Mexico is empty), and those gold rushes really help.

Good luck against Texas (and the other Mexican rebels), and be sure to edit the save file to rename the Houston province after Santa Anna instead of that dirty traitor Sam Houston.
 
Prologue: National Foci and the Military; The Domestic Report Part 2

sK0s8kU.jpg
As we can see, Mexico starts with only 2 National Foci to place, and both of ours will be used to encourage Immigration. Immigrants are the lifeblood of large, sparsely populated New World countries like ours. Immigrants quite simply will not come to our country without at least one National Focus for immigration. I have both of mine focusing immigrants to hopefully gain an edge on the US.

ZgEXyHr.jpg
Obviously, we start at war with Texas, who has declared independence from our glorious sovereignty. In order to make them agree to my demands, I need to occupy their country. Should be pretty easy if they only have 9k troops, right? Let's move on to the glorious armed forces! :)

m2jfOyc.jpg
My entire armed forces is present in the picture. As you can see, my armies are marching north to fight te Texan Rebels, and my pitiful two-ship navy is sitting in port. My troops are lead by one bad general, and by a lack of a general. Let's examine the armies a little bit more in-depth.

lPYS5lo.jpg
qb40yP3.jpg
As we can clearly see, the composition, and troop quality could use some work. We do have one cavalry, a Hussar, but in this mod Hussars are really second Tier Horsemen at best. In addition, half of our infantry force is composed of infantry brigades, a level below the front-line Regular brigades. Preferably, I wouldn't have any Infantry brigades, I would just have Regulars and Artillery, but I'll make do.

M38dXMU.jpg
In order to make myself feel better about my army, and in order to make my army actually better, I order the construction of Artillery, Dragoons, and Regulars. These three will make up the basis of my army composition until otherwise noted.

hgS2T1j.jpg
My Navy is unlikely to be important at all until the 70s, at the earliest, so I decide to disband my frigate and clipper transport. They're cheap enough to build quickly if I ever need them, and expensive enough to pay for to justify disbanding them, so I do so.

YhGgpdN.jpg
The last thing I do before unpausing the game is increase relations with Great Britain. They would be a valuable ally, especially against the US. This is even more true in the early game. If nothing else, military access with Great Britain provides your navies with stopping points all around the globe, so I'm also aiming for that.

And then...

I unpause.

In the next update: The Texan War of Independence and Immigrants! Thank you for reading.
 
Last edited:
woo! crush those texan rebels!
 
Subbed