Allying a Competing Great Power

[ComaPrison]

lol I can stand ugly borders but misplaced tags drive me nuts!

Fixed it by war-vassalizing Manchu and feeding its own provinces back to it.

http://i.imgur.com/odvbCgm.jpg

Also have every province of Japan carpet-sieged as of this screenshot as well. Still tied for lead mil tech at lvl 19, unwesternized. Roughly 7-8 levels above the rest of the Asian, Central Asian, Middle Eastern, and Eastern European countries, 5 above Persia, and 1 above Ottomans.. And obviously Iron Ming is the only way to play. Also major bro-hugs for my pals in France.

 

[unmerged(465279)]

Looks much better! Planning to conquer Brunei, Aceh, Shan and Dai Viet too I assume (and after that into India)? Would make a damn nice Ming I think.

 

[ComaPrison]

Looks much better! Planning to conquer Brunei, Aceh, Shan and Dai Viet too I assume (and after that into India)? Would make a damn nice Ming I think.

Yup. My ambition also includes Eastern Europe (Muscovy and its neighbors, Denmark [Not Eastern Europe, I know], Lithuania, Crimea, etc. already proclaimed guarantee on Crimea to prevent Muscovy from eating it), Central Asia (Kazakh, Timurids, etc.), Middle East (Oman, Najd, Ottomans), South Asia (all of it), and Africa (F-ing all of it). 190 years should be more than enough time, now that I've gotten 100% better relations over time from maxing the religious IG. Some provinces are starting to flip to Buddhism but I can convert them back faster than they can flip, so it's all good. Been fighting a 3-front war at times. In Central Asia, South East Asia, and South Asia all at the same time. Almost never any peace time anymore, so no time for westernizing just yet.

I have no use for a navy, so I'm considering culture-purging with my spare diplo points (anything not used up in peace deals) for the remainder of the game. Quickest way to raise my tax income and manpower now that Siberia and South East Asia's potential colonies are already mine. Already blew all my diplo points so far on Exploration, Expansion, and Diplomacy IGs. Now that I've maxed religious IG, next is Defensive, Offensive, Quality, and Quantity in that order. Optionally considering Innovation instead of Quantity, but the -stab random events are putting me off.

 

[m4recky]

What do you need France for, then? It's not like Spain is going to ship their whole army over.

It reminds me of my Japan game.. I went to war with Spain and they happened to be allied with decent-size Papal States.
Imagine how surprised I was when I noticed Papal stack marching all the way through Eurasia to occupy some coastal province in Manchuria. That's the spirit!

Spain is smart enough to send their troops by ships (fair enough) but non-colonial nations like aforementioned Papal States or PLC / HRE tend to send their armies on a several-thousand-miles-long march just to get to the player. In the very same game Spain kept DOWing me every five years. It was annoying because I would sink all the ships they sent to me and then the war will drag for years without nothing special happening (occupying 23423529384 colonies for 0.6 war score doesn't count). They stopped doing that when I allied Great Britain.
So a good European ally can be useful both as distraction for AI armies in case of war with other European country or as a discouragement preventing AI from actually DOWing you.

 

[ComaPrison]

It reminds me of my Japan game.. I went to war with Spain and they happened to be allied with decent-size Papal States.
Imagine how surprised I was when I noticed Papal stack marching all the way through Eurasia to occupy some coastal province in Manchuria. That's the spirit!

Spain is smart enough to send their troops by ships (fair enough) but non-colonial nations like aforementioned Papal States or PLC / HRE tend to send their armies on a several-thousand-miles-long march just to get to the player. In the very same game Spain kept DOWing me every five years. It was annoying because I would sink all the ships they sent to me and then the war will drag for years without nothing special happening (occupying 23423529384 colonies for 0.6 war score doesn't count). They stopped doing that when I allied Great Britain.
So a good European ally can be useful both as distraction for AI armies in case of war with other European country or as a discouragement preventing AI from actually DOWing you.

Coincidentally, after I allied France, they warred Spain and gave them a bloody nose. Took a couple of provinces, forced them to break all their treaties, made them pay up big moneys, etc. The best way for a non-westernized power to keep itself relatively safe is to have a Western great power as an ally. France is usually the best choice because it seems to leave Asia alone. GB has the habit of knocking on South Asia's door, and Spain on South East Asia.