Blobbing VS Playing Tall

[Badesumofu]

If you own the entire African Coast plus all of India then I'd call that very much wide. If you just plucked the CoTs to get merchants and control most of the trade that would be more tall, I guess.

Talking about blobbing isn't so helpful perhaps because I associate that more with just trying to get as much of your colour onto the map without regard for how it strengthens your empire or helps to achieve a goal like a WC or an achievement. In that sense conquering all of India isn't blobbing since it's done as part of a sound strategy. It is wide as opposed to tall, though.

Wide versus tall in a lot of these games is hard to really pin down since an optimal approach to most runs will involve elements of both. This is as opposed to say Civ V where it was more of a clear distinction and the 4 city tall strategy was a fairly clearly defined thing.

 

[Steel_atlas]

If you own the entire African Coast plus all of India then I'd call that very much wide. If you just plucked the CoTs to get merchants and control most of the trade that would be more tall, I guess.

Talking about blobbing isn't so helpful perhaps because I associate that more with just trying to get as much of your colour onto the map without regard for how it strengthens your empire or helps to achieve a goal like a WC or an achievement. In that sense conquering all of India isn't blobbing since it's done as part of a sound strategy. It is wide as opposed to tall, though.

Wide versus tall in a lot of these games is hard to really pin down since an optimal approach to most runs will involve elements of both. This is as opposed to say Civ V where it was more of a clear distinction and the 4 city tall strategy was a fairly clearly defined thing.

The problem is if your the sole European power in a trade company zone your going to need a lot of trade power and to reduce the natives trade power a lot to get a good trade flow going.

In theory as long as most of the nations pulling trade are doing it towards Europe you all help each other and then would use trade fleets to direct it towards your home nodes.

In reality your just best of controlling most of a trade company region because your competitors in the region are pulling it away from Europe or collecting it.

 

[Badesumofu]

The problem is if your the sole European power in a trade company zone your going to need a lot of trade power and to reduce the natives trade power a lot to get a good trade flow going.

In theory as long as most of the nations pulling trade are doing it towards Europe you all help each other and then would use trade fleets to direct it towards your home nodes.

In reality your just best of controlling most of a trade company region because your competitors in the region are pulling it away from Europe or collecting it.

Well yes, of course. Not just for the trade but the production income and forcelimit, and whatever tax and manpower you get from whatever buildings are there. It's very rich and very poorly defended land that you can get to 0 LA without making states or state cores. It's a no-brainer to conquer as much of it as you can as quickly as you can. It also works nicely in terms of AE - you start your run in Europe carving out your core empire and building up some AE in the area. Then you reach into Africa and India and mostly leave Europe alone for a while so that AE all cools off. Not to mention that the return on investment for conquering a nice chunk of India is far better than for conquering a similar chunk back home in Europe anyway.

Another useful thing here is that if you make some CNs then they will actually send some merchants to assist in pulling trade from India to Ivory Coast. They won't add much trade power but they will help to stack the multiple merchants bonus.

 

[Steel_atlas]

But even if you wanted to go tall now it’s not effective because of the other nations in Europe never getting past West Africa

 

[davej]

There is no right answer.

The game is undefined. It boils down to what you want to accomplish in a game.

 

[Dominion]

Who is Empress Kaori? Forumer or YouTuber? I'd like to see this run.

Oh boy, you've been missing out

 

[CMDR_HERNE]

Whether you are a min/maxer, a roleplayer, a megalomaniac or a Machiavellian manipulator this game has sandbox gameplay

So in effect Milk chocolate v plain chocolate?

 

[Ironside121]

Oh boy, you've been missing out

Jesus Christ, I'm moist.

 

[Atilla 'The Hun']

It really depends on the situation and what you have in mind.

I personally choose tall over blob because I like to play as efficient as possible and actually gain some real profit out of my provinces and buildings. Beside that I don't really like blobbing at all.

 

[Ironside121]

Oh boy, you've been missing out

Jesus Christ, I'm wet.

 

[Badesumofu]

It's worth reading her book, too. On Administration. There isn't really an earth-shattering secret to it, but full of solid information and advice. You need a reasonable handle on the game mechanics to understand it all fully because it's mostly written in a more literary style. Though she switches to direct reference to game mechanics in some sections, notably Trade.

 

[bbqftw]

Incorporating tall gameplay concepts is actually going to get you to the point where you are the militarily strongest country faster at least on higher difficulties.

Your alliances are more stable, you can actually run military idea groups, you're not tanking 10 techs in unbalanced research. You actually have spare cash to build buildings, etc. I think people don't give tall enough credit.

Incidentally, EUIVAlexander recently pulled this off on VH:

 

[Ironside121]

Incorporating tall gameplay concepts is actually going to get you to the point where you are the militarily strongest country faster at least on higher difficulties.

Your alliances are more stable, you can actually run military idea groups, you're not tanking 10 techs in unbalanced research. You actually have spare cash to build buildings, etc. I think people don't give tall enough credit.

Incidentally, EUIVAlexander recently pulled this off on VH:

Even you have to admit that it's not that hard to blob and keep up with tech and ideas - outside of horrific luck.

What was Ulms development in this though? I'm impressed keeping LD this low.