Adal Strategy

[currylambchop]

I keep almost bankrupting as Adal. How do I break the cycle?

Oddly the only successful Adal game I had was Ibadi Adal but I abandoned it since Rassids died, and I couldn't access the Zaidi scholar anymore.

 

[beaver79]

I haven't played Adal in a while, but I would start off by taking out Ethiopia. They have I think 2 gold mines and will be the only strong nation in that region until you border the Mamluks. After that work your way down to Kilwa and the Gold mines in Mutapa. The Zanzibar trade node is one of the best in the game as you can funnel Africa and India and Malaysia into it.

I bet your main problem though is not lowering autonomy once you conquer something. Do it. You get rebels for doing it, but nothing helps your nation more than having low autonomy. It determines how much money, troops, manpower, etc. It is also how you get government reform progress.

 

[st360]

Focus on getting gold mines and controlling at least 5-10 provinces around the trade center in the horn of Africa. The trade income you get from it is huge.

And remember, developing a province if you can afford it can help really early game, especially if its done in tandem with spawning renaissance (and then offering to share knowledge with Mamulks for like 15 gold a month).

 

[iClipse]

I haven't played Adal in a while, but I would start off by taking out Ethiopia. They have I think 2 gold mines and will be the only strong nation in that region until you border the Mamluks. After that work your way down to Kilwa and the Gold mines in Mutapa. The Zanzibar trade node is one of the best in the game as you can funnel Africa and India and Malaysia into it.

I bet your main problem though is not lowering autonomy once you conquer something. Do it. You get rebels for doing it, but nothing helps your nation more than having low autonomy. It determines how much money, troops, manpower, etc. It is also how you get government reform progress.

I agree with your advice, but Zanzibar received a big nerf where Indonesia doesn't flow into it anymore. You can still get it there through India though, but that requires quite a bit of conquering.

I find Hormuz to be the better node these days. As Adal you can make center africa, ethiopia, gulf of Aden and India all to one node where you can completely control the outflow. Conquering Zanzibar and Alexandria can help in retaining trade from Gulf of Aden. Don't make these territories states then though.

And if you're quick enough most nations are easy to conquer to get there. Timurids being the only strong one. It requires a decent navy to get over the straights.

 

[Bouchart]

Or get Exploration and take Cape. Exploration also gets you into Indonesia.