Beginning Strategy for Castile World Conquest + True Faith

[Lordkaiser]

I just began an Attempt for a Castilian World Conquest + True Faith Run.
(Link )

What would you suggest to do in the very beginning with Portugal?
Try to destroy/vasalize them asap or
use them as an ally to win against Morocco+Granada+Tlemcen more quickly?

(in the long run most likely Castile should vasalize Portugal and then let them colonize, right.
But short term in the very beginning?)

 

[PhoenixG]

Well you don't want to vassalize him before he even picks exploration. A vassal never picks exploration, unless you full annex him and release him as a vassal.

 

[Dominion]

Well you don't want to vassalize him before he even picks exploration. A vassal never picks exploration, unless you full annex him and release him as a vassal.

True, but you can't vassalize them in a single war anyways.

I'd take away Algarve and Beja, wait until they pick Explo, then vassalize them.

You should also make sure you get a jumpseat on Ireland, Scotland or England rather soon to have access to her majesty.
England loves to switch to Protestantism and they're better off being your vassal so you can enforce religion.
Doesn't create much AE either since Europe doesn't care about the British Isles.

 

[SuperstarPolitoed]

Yeah you should declare on Loubard/Bourdeaux before the French get surrender of Maine. Use that war with Portugal to break their alliance with England, peace them out and then sit on warscore increase until you can take Pale + Calais if you want H.R.E stuff.

 

[Virupaksha]

Portugal is largely irrelevant. You can vassalise them or annex them any time you want. With the extra colonist from National ideas Castille colonises quickly enough anyway. Portugal will remain your ally until it suits you to break the alliance.

Vassalise Navarre so you have access to Labourd. Ally france. Fabricate on Labourd and declare as soon as you have a claim. Take Pale in the peace. Then annex Grenada and if possible take Thubaqt off Tunis so you can fabricate on Mamluks. Then take down France before they get elan. Burgundy is probably the best ally for this.

 

[Dominion]

Portugal is largely irrelevant. You can vassalise them or annex them any time you want. With the extra colonist from National ideas Castille colonises quickly enough anyway. Portugal will remain your ally until it suits you to break the alliance.

Portugal gives you immediate access to England without its allies, you have 0AE at the start so not having that tick down is always a waste, they are utterly useless as an ally, you can grab their CoTs right from the start thereby increasing your trade income and there really is nothing else to do during these early years.

I don't see any reason not to attack them.

 

[Dominion]

Grabbing the centres of trade yes but taking Beja/Algarve is pointless.

Could be a mistake on my part. I haven't gotten to them that early in a while and since African provinces increase their WS I always have to take a bit more.

Just checked, they start with 168% WS. Pretty sure taking only Porto won't suffice.

 

[Virupaksha]

Portugal gives you immediate access to England without its allies, you have 0AE at the start so not having that tick down is always a waste, they are utterly useless as an ally, you can grab their CoTs right from the start thereby increasing your trade income and there really is nothing else to do during these early years.

I don't see any reason not to attack them.

Grabbing the centres of trade yes but taking Beja and Algarve is pointless. Also if you take Lisbon as well as Porto chances are Portugal will never colonise (though this is also ok).

There is plenty to do early game. Takes a while to get to Egypt. Also takes a while to conquer France.

 

[Virupaksha]

Could be a mistake on my part. I haven't gotten to them that early in a while and since African provinces increase their WS I always have to take a bit more.

Just checked, they start with 168% WS. Pretty sure taking only Porto won't suffice.

You need to take almost 100% warscore in the first war to vassilise them in two wars, 80% at least. They will get extra provinces quickly and may take from Morocco so better safe than sorry.

 

[Dominion]

Well, what is it now. Is taking Beja and Agarve worthless or necessary

 

[Virupaksha]

Well, what is it now. Is taking Beja and Agarve worthless or necessary

I don't bother attacking Portugal early as I prefer to let them colonise happily and freely til 1550 or so, I'm more concerned with France and Mamluks, but taking the centres of trade is another way to play it.

 

[Big Bad France]

Definitely marry Burgundy for the inheritance chance. If you are attacking Portugal early, rival England so you can humiliate and get the extra monarch points.

 

[Horn and Ivory]

If you don't care to attack them on day 1 (which may well be the wisest course tbh) you could also go for the PU. You can get your first royal marriage going on day one and Portugal seems to get their heirs and rulers killed all the time. Imho Portugal is one of the handiest PUs to have (certainly a PU Portugal will get more and more effective colonisation done than a tiny broken vassal Portugal, and that will draw more trade money to Iberia). I admit that this will leave you a little bit at the mercy of rng, but if you're on the ball it should be fine.

 

[Big Bad France]

Attacking Portugal can be tricky if they are allied to Aragon.

 

[Virupaksha]

Well, what is it now. Is taking Beja and Agarve worthless or necessary

Point is whatever you do with Portugal matters little.

With all the western European nations there are two questions. Most importantly how are you going to deal with France? Second to this how are you going to take Egypt before the Ottomans do? It's these two questions which need focussing on. Getting distracted by detail over insignificant nations like Portugal is a failure to see the wood for the trees.

 

[Dominion]

For the Ottoman Empire you can always use the standard opener of vassalizing Byz. As Castille you're even big enough to keep them loyal.

Another path ist West Africa. Or feeding North Africa to a vassal. Or all three at once. Dealing with France isn't necessary per se.

As long as you make sure you always have a certain level of standing armies they won't attack. They're also catholicy so them colonizing isn't an issue.

I agree that they become slightly more painful after Elan, but Castille gets its morale bonus earlier, so if you feel like France becomes a problem for you after a while you can always take them out before Elan is unlocked.

Though usually getting the Iberian wedding means you're already stronger and having control over both access provinces means you can let them run knto the mountains until they are drained.

 

[Virupaksha]

For the Ottoman Empire you can always use the standard opener of vassalizing Byz. As Castille you're even big enough to keep them loyal.

Another path ist West Africa. Or feeding North Africa to a vassal. Or all three at once. Dealing with France isn't necessary per se.

As long as you make sure you always have a certain level of standing armies they won't attack. They're also catholicy so them colonizing isn't an issue.

I agree that they become slightly more painful after Elan, but Castille gets its morale bonus earlier, so if you feel like France becomes a problem for you after a while you can always take them out before Elan is unlocked.

Though usually getting the Iberian wedding means you're already stronger and having control over both access provinces means you can let them run knto the mountains until they are drained.

Agree with most of this.

Dealing with France before elan is the priority. It's not being afraid of them. Their land is so rich. There is a window after the IW and before elan when Castile/Aragon especially allied to Burgundy will crush them.

I prefer Morocco/Mali gold mines to Portuguese centres of trade. Laying down colonies in the new wrld seems such a waste when Portugal will do it for you. Wait til they have five (or ten) Caribbean colonies then take them in one war. Meanwhile you are in Indonesia. In Africa/asia one colony (with war) is five or six provinces. In the Caribbean it's one. Leave Portugal alone until they have plenty of colonies to take. Though as Castile with the extra colonist it's ok not to be 100% efficient. More I think about it more leaving Portugal alone at the beginning has to be right. They are never a threat and the longer you leave them the more you get.

I don't do no CB wars myself but that's another valid way to stop Ottomans. Many ways to get Egypt before them but has to be done one way or another. Otherwise you have to sail around Africa for each Asian war?! As if....

 

[Dominion]

The issue is that @Lordkaiser showed in his second thread (Link) that he also wants to become emperor and enact all reforms, which is why France doesn't have a high priority in his run imo.

The AE you get in the HRE is annoying and means you can only take a few provinces at best before ruining your relations with electors.

Better to take out England instead. Gives you enough AE anyways, land isn't poor either and you hurt a protestant/reformed colonizer instead of a catholic one, which also supports his OF better.

And declaring on Portugal means you can get a foothold without having to deal with England's allies, so going for Portugal first is recommended.

At least in this situation and this kind of achievement setup.

 

[otaats]

I've had a very good opener as Aragon against Ottomans. It requires that they get in war on the Balkans and NOT have access through Caucasus. You wait for them to transport troops there, blockade them with your fleets and no CB if necessary. The rest of it is almost a cakewalk. But you need a superior fleet/good admiral.

 

[gia257]

I just began an Attempt for a Castilian World Conquest + True Faith Run.
(Link )

What would you suggest to do in the very beginning with Portugal?
Try to destroy/vasalize them asap or
use them as an ally to win against Morocco+Granada+Tlemcen more quickly?

(in the long run most likely Castile should vasalize Portugal and then let them colonize, right.
But short term in the very beginning?)

You only want the trade centers, let them live until much later when you can steal entire colonial nations by fully annexing

Aim for a war with aragon to get one province on the venetian sea from naples, and a province on sardinia area to cover all the genoan coast. You need these to be able to conquer excommunicated italian provinces After that leave them alone since they should be yours soon.

Ally the pope and make sure they do not ally your rivals, hope you get a chance for excommunication of your rivals.

Aim to get all the trade centers on the carbbean, then get the trade centers/provinces next to them on Ivory coast, then declare war on the africans to get the remaining trade centers. Only get trade company provinces, you dont need the rest.

Build your trade company way all the way to china, in europe vassalize somebody (I vassalize granada since I go early, but portugal would be fine I guess if you wait for explo, best would be an early aragon PU) and grab the entire berber coast and work towards your extra missionaries on mecca and jerusalem. This will make some colonists faster, as they travel by land if the land is yours.


On europe, try to eat england or france, pick your poison, if you leave france you have an event that will give you a habsburg king, which you can use to get austria+hungary and possibly the comonwealth