I been doing alot of studying for west Africa and I've found out that this is one area in the game where the EU2 crew got alot of things wrong, especially with Kongo. Well here are my proposals for setup changes.
Bambuk, Timbuktu, Gao, and Accra need their manpower increased to 6.
Bambuk, Timbuktu, Gao, Say, and Accra need their tax increased to 8.
Ivoria should have it's tax decreased to 3
Bambuk and Say need their pops increased to 15,000.
Accra needs it's pop increased to 18,000.
All these places were heavily populated, had large agricultural regions, and contributed large amounts of men to their respective nations armies.
Timbuktu needs it's tax lowered to 8. I have no idea why it has 14. As far as I know it's not a bigger contributor in these categories than the cities above mentioned. It should be about on par with them though. It currently has 10,000 pop. and I would reccommend leaving it like this because with the COT will make it grow faster and the event giving it a manu will help alot there too.
Accra should be switched from slaves to spice. Benin traded very large amounts of malugueta pepper for probably all the game time. Finding an exact location where it was grown has been elusive to me so far. But I did find 1 site that said it was gathered in Benin city(Accra in the game). Here it is=
http://www.greatestcities.com/Africa/Nigeria/Benin_City.html
The major port for trade of Benin was Gwato and it was very near the capital and this was where the pepper was sent to. Gwato falls within Accra as well. So I'm about 90% sure this is the province most deserving of being spice(pepper). Also currently Benin has 2 slave provinces but actually Benin closed itslelf off to the slave trade for much of the game time. So slaves shouldn't be prefered over spice.
In addition to this I've made 3 events for Benin. Here they are=
#Portuguese offer of christianity#
event = {
id = 127000
trigger = {
OR = { owned = { province = 798 data = POR }
owned = { province = 797 data = POR }
owned = { province = 796 data = POR }
owned = { province = 795 data = POR }
owned = { province = 816 data = POR }
owned = { province = 790 data = POR }
owned = { province = 789 data = POR }
owned = { province = 788 data = POR } }
exists = POR
}
random = no
country = BEN
name = "The portuguese embassy to the king of Benin"
desc = "In 1486 Joham Affom da Aviero made contact with the king of Benin. The king of Benin then sent an ambassador to the king of Portugal because he desired to learn about Portugal. He was entertained and shown many good things of the kingdom of Portugal. The king of Portugal then sent him back to Benin with some catholic priests, who were to rebuke the idolatries of the negroes, and a few merchants along with some gifts for the king Benin."
style = 2
date = { year = 1486 }
offset = 60
deathdate = { year = 1514 }
action_a = {
name = "Accept their gifts but do not enforce Christianity"
command = { type = relation which = POR value = 150 }
command = { type = trade value = 100 }
command = { type = cash value = 10 }
command = { type = domestic = innovative value = 1 }
}
action_b ={
name = "Convert to Christianity"
command = { type = relation which = POR value = 200 }
command = { type = trade value = 100 }
command = { type = cash value = 10 }
command = { type = missionaries value = 1 }
command = { type = religion which = catholic }
command = { type = sleepevent which = 127001 }
}
}
#2nd Portuguese offer of christianity#
event = {
id = 127001
trigger = {
OR = { owned = { province = 798 data = POR }
owned = { province = 797 data = POR }
owned = { province = 796 data = POR }
owned = { province = 795 data = POR }
owned = { province = 816 data = POR }
owned = { province = 790 data = POR }
owned = { province = 789 data = POR }
owned = { province = 788 data = POR } }
exists = POR
}
random = no
country = BEN
name = "The 2nd portuguese embassy to the king of Benin"
desc = "In 1514 the king of Portugal sent priests again to the king of Benin. When the priests arrived they brought gifts and desired to explain christianity to the king of Benin, but he replied that he was too busy with war to consider the mystery of Christianity. However his son and many nobles did convert and were even taught to read. The portuguese also began giving military aid to the king fo Benin."
style = 2
date = { day = 1 month = january year = 1515 }
offset = 60
deathdate = { year = 1660 }
action_a = {
name = "Accept their gifts but do not enforce Christianity"
command = { type = relation which = POR value = 150 }
command = { type = land value = 100 }
command = { type = cash value = 10 }
}
action_b ={
name = "Convert to Christianity"
command = { type = relation which = POR value = 200 }
command = { type = land value = 100 }
command = { type = cash value = 10 }
command = { type = missionaries value = 1 }
command = { type = religion which = catholic }
command = { type = provincereligion which = 792 value = catholic }
}
}
#Political reforms of Ewuare#
event = {
id = 127002
random = no
country = BEN
style = 1
date = { year = 1445 }
offset = 120
deathdate = { year = 1452 }
name = "Ewuare centralizes the power of the oba"
desc = "Oba Ewuare reduced the influence of the uzama, a body of hereditary chiefs who participated in the selection of the oba, by instituting primogeniture. He also created new categories of chiefs that he appointed himself."
action_a = {
name = "Make the reforms"
command = { type = ADM which = 2 value = 240 }
command = { type = stability value = 1 }
command = { type = domestic = aristocracy value = -3 }
command = { type = domestic = centralization value = 3 }
}
action_b ={
name = "Leave things as they are"
command = { type = vp value = -1 }
}
}
And yes I realize that I made 2 events where option B allows them to convert to Christianity. They had 2 very distinct opportunities to do this and they were very tolorant of catholic evangelism. That Benin gets a 10% chance over all instead of a 5% chance to convert to Christianity is in light of the sources I've read pretty realistic I think. I'll probably switch the triggers to 792(Accra) discovered unless Isaac or someone else can prove I've got the discovered trigger wrong as I've found that it does indeed work the way it is supposed to. Currently if Portugal places even 1 TP on the west African coast nearby the events will trigger at the historical time. Also I have not playtested these events yet so I may have to modify them slightly.
In addition to this I think I've come up with a solution for Songay's being too weak problem. Besides the big adjustments to their 2 beginning provinces, they should start off with land 10. Currently I think it's 3. Why the heck they would be geared towards naval in 1419 I have no idea. Some other West African countries get land 10 at the beginning. The poor unfortunate Songhay have to pay 7 ducats for each 1,000 infantry. No wonder they can't take their historic objectives!
Kongo is biggest example of lousy research I've have seen so far by the EU2 crew for EU2. They got almost everything wrong here. First of all the provinces Kongo starts with are wrong. Currently Kongo starts with Teke, Ngoyo, Mdongo, and Congo. But I could find no maps nor any information at all that says that Kongo ever reached beyond the Ougawe river. The river was it's furthest border. The Ougawe river for those of you who don't know is the river that cuts through the middle of Kongo in the game. Surprise! That river is not actually the Congo and it isn't in the game either. The Congo river in the game is that little slip of river just above Zaire. Why the heck the province of Congo doesn't even border the Congo river I have no idea.
The provinces that Kongo owned in the game at it's peak were: Congo, Mdongo, Mayumba, Cabinda, and Zaire. The capital was in Zaire and should be called "Sao Salvador do Congo." Most of the game time Kongo really didn't own more than Zaire of course. The empire of Kongo was centered more toward the east of the province of Zaire in the game.
here is the setup for Kongo=
# Kongo #
country = {
tag = KON
policy = {
aristocracy = 9
centralization = 0
innovative = 3
mercantilism = 5
offensive = 5
land = 7
quality = 1
serfdom = 9
}
colonialattempts = 0
colonialnation = no
major = no
colonists = 0
cancelledloans = 0
extendedloans = 0
treasury = 200
inflation = 0
merchants = 0
religion = { type = pagan }
culture = { type = kongolese }
diplomacy = {
}
knownprovinces = {
785 786 787 1505 1506 }
ownedprovinces = {
785 786 787 1505 1506 }
controlledprovinces = {
785 786 787 1505 1506 }
nationalprovinces = {
785 786 787 1505 1506 }
city = { fortress = { level = 1 }
population = 15000
location = 1506
}
city = { fortress = { level = 1 }
population = 15000
location = 1505
}
city = { fortress = { level = 1 }
population = 15000
location = 786
}
city = { fortress = { level = 1 }
population = 15000
location = 787
}
city = { fortress = { level = 1 }
population = 18000
location = 785
capital = yes
name = "Mbanza Kongo"
}
technology = {
stability = { level = 3 value = 42 }
infra = { level = 0 value = 0 }
trade = { level = 0 value = 0 }
land = { level = 0 value = 0 }
naval = { level = 0 value = 0 }
}
}
In addition to this the following provinces need some of their stats changed.
Kongo should be switched from chinagoods to slaves and have it's tax switched from 10 to 5.
Zaire needs to be switched from slaves to copper. Copper was one of the major commodities the Kongolese traded to Portugal and the province of Zaire had a large copper mine.
Zaire should have it's tax increased to 6.
Ndongo, Cabinda, and Mayumba need their tax increased to 5.
Zaire, Cabinda, Ndongo, and Mayumba need their manpower increased to 5.
Don't let the manpower increases scare you. Kongo was heavily populated and could field large armies. Besides I am going to make a series of Kongo events and one of them will hit their provinces manpower hard due to the unwanted increase in slave trafficing. it will also lower tax by 1 and lower pop a little too.
In addition to this Iwould like to point out that Kongo traded large amounts of Ivory as well. But none of it's begining provinces, real or the ones at present, have ivory as a commodity. I have been unable to locate the primary source of this. If anybody knows or can find out please let me know, as it seems fair to me that one of their starting provinces should be ivory. Perhaps Congo? And than maybe Rio Muni can be swicthed from ivory to slaves. As the coast below Benin to Kongo was a big slave producing region and no doubt more so than Ivory anyways.
The name "Mbanza Kongo" will have to be removed from the cityname of province csv. file.
