Chimu - the gutsy natives!- The conclusion
A large aspect of what we're going to want to do to optimize Chimu now is get the sliders in just the right place. Most sliders are already where I'd want them, but three could do with changing. In order of priority:
Serfdom - Free Subjects: we want this to be at full Free Subjects, because it gives us the greatest tech bonus.
Innovative - Narrowminded: we want to get this from +1 to -1 (slightly Innovative), to give us some tech bonus but not so much of a missionary penalty that we get no missionaries (or even start losing existing missionaries!) We don't want the supply of missionaries to dry up completely, just in case we capture the odd further province, and need to convert its religion.
Aristocracy - Plutocracy: this really is just a nice-to-have, but I'll tend to move this slider as far as possible toward Aristocracy if there's nothing else that really needs changing - at least, I will if I'm playing a nation that doesn't really care too much about the Plutocracy benefits of more merchants and merchant chance (ie. not a major trading nation), like Chimu in this game. This is because going toward Aristocracy is one of the only ways to get diplomats, and having a bunch of diplomats can on rare occasions be useful.
So we've done a lot of slider tinkering to get this far, but we're on the final stretch of getting the sliders perfect. The "final sliders" plan, then, is as follows: get to full Free Subjects, then get to -1 Innovative, then just keep moving toward Aristocracy. We'll go as far toward that end goal as we can, in that order of priority.
Febuary 1766 - Our current mission tells us to build a Fine Arts Academy in Huancavelica, so we figure we may as well do that.
In November 1766, Mexico declares independence from Great Britain. Not much of Britain left now, really. Its empire has truly fallen to pieces. They later cede Glamorgan to Wales, leaving them with London in the British isles and a few colonies dotted about.
Hot on Mexico's heels, the USA declares independence! So that's another of Britain's small chunks of land gone, then. LOL!
In June 1767, we start down the track of our "final sliders" plan by going toward Free Subjects. And that inflation reduction, ladies and gentlemen, is lucky.
In January 1769, the supreme republican dictatorship of Chimu decides that although Chanchan has been a great capital over the years and will remain a proud jewel in the crown of our nation, Chuquiabo with its bracing mountain air, world-famous delicious coffee, secure centralized location, and beautiful panoramic view of lake Titicaca, would make a better capital going forward. :laugh: The capital is thus relocated to Chuquiabo. The Tax Assessor is also swiftly relocated there.
May 1771 - Now that they've been converted to Animism, we start beefing up the forts in the provinces around the one land border with another nation - Castille, in Central America - that we have.
There's a curious development in March 1775. Castille were forced to release UPCA as a sovereign state in a war, and now our land border is with them instead. We immediately give them military access, making them less likely to attack us.
Just as a note, Manchu are now enormous by April 1775, having gotten even bigger by inheriting two thrones (I don't know how, but they replaced Ming some time ago). Their manpower is now far ahead of any other nation, at about 550,000. Good job they haven't shown any interest in attacking us.
June 1778 allows us another national idea with government level 41 - we put Superior Seamanship back in.
Later in November 1778, we get another slider change, and we move further toward Free Subjects in accordance with our "final sliders" plan.
September 1779: Maranhao is converted to Animism, and with that, all of our provinces are 100% Animist! They are all, of course, trading through our two centres of trade as well.
Interesting how a circular area around the Amazonas "wasteland" has developed that trades in Guayra, whereas the south and west of the country (including the capital) go through Tehuelmapu. Anyway, the rest of this game should be really rather serene. Revolt risk is pretty much low everywhere now.
This event happens in July 1780... as usual, our need for money (at this point to build expensive manufactories) outweighs our like of some degree of Aristocracy. We go for the cash and the Plutocracy gain. Later in March 1783, we build docks in the few remaining provinces that don't have them, completing our all-dock policy (assuming we stick with the provinces we have now).
An excellent event for us in July 1784. Now that we don't need any more missionaries (certainly not many of them), moving toward Innovative is good, good good.
After asking about a million times, the "very unlikely" happened in March 1787 - we actually managed to enter into an alliance with our Catholic neighbours, the UPCA.
After a further donation, we have a 200 relation with them.
April 1790 allows us our final slider change toward Free Subjects; we're now maxed out on that slider at +5.
Over these last few decades, we're using the trick of staying at war with small nations so we can keep war taxes raised, but taking no attrition so it doesn't become a revolt risk, and we don't have to fight at all either. We're making some progress at catching up technologically, but we're still struggling by even January 1794.
Government level 50 in December 1799 heralds our next national idea. We pick Quest For the New World, just so we can get rid of some of that ugly terra incognita.
In August 1801 we can make another slider change, and we're getting pretty close to the completion of our "final sliders" plan. Free Subjects is now maxed out, so we move to be move Innovative to get tech cost down even lower.
We have no need now for a master of the mint, as inflation is down to zero and we want minting quite low anyway so we invest a lot in tech, so we ditch our MotM and have our 3 advisers as: a level 6 Sheriff, a level 6 Alderman, and as good a Collector as we can get - level 4 aint bad, considering is also depends on your naval tradition; ours is around 40%. It's all about maxing out money from taxes, production, and trade at this point.
Now that we've gotten our infamy back down to zero, we switch out the Cabinet national idea for National Bank again in January 1804; we want to be able to mint more money to be able to afford those expensive manufactories, although they take years to build so at this point in the game they probably won't have too much impact.
In July 1812, we get ourselves involved in a war against Castille and allies based on an Alliance CB with UPCA - UPCA were getting crushed and we intervened to protect them.
It's August 1812, and Castille seem a bit overconfient about attacking us, given our land tech advantage. Maybe it's because when you get to a certain land tech unit level, the sprite reverts back to a pikeman guy? My bet is that the pike is just a camouflaged gun.
Meanwhile, in what will probably be our last slider change of the game in December 1828, we go more Innovative. No point in going more Aristocratic now; we might as well get that slight edge in speeding up tech more.
In July 1813, we core on the last of our provinces, Cayenne.
November 1813 - Seriously...... I didn't cheat to get this guy. Wow. What a way to round off a game.
We eventually white peace out with Castille, Bohemia, and the rest of their allies in January 1816. The UPCA is saved! And in July 1819, a government tech advance allows another national idea. What the heck... we go for Bureaucracy. Gives us a bit of extra tax for the couple of years until the end of the game.
Continued...