Dharma sneak preview: Republics rule! - Hamburg AAR

[Pizzicato]

Hello everyone,

After my rather disgraceful elimination in the devclash as boxed-in Afghanistan, I decided to challenge myself...so I went back to play normal diffculty singleplayer.

I'm having so much fun with my current Hamburg run to get the Bunte Kuh achievement, that I thought I should share my journey to lead my hometown to fame and (a lot of) fortune.

To satisfy all those, who came here for the clickbait title about republics:

TL; DR: In Dharma republics no longer su*k. (IMHO of course)

(Yes I know technically they were ok..ish before but as minmax fan I could not abide by the low absolutism)

Disclaimer: If you guys are more interested about how it went so far, I will turn it more into a full AAR (It is 1645 right now). Otherwise I stick with the highlights of what's new and freaking amazing in Dharma.

Goals of my campaign:

• Maximize republican tradition gain
• Try to lower election terms
  
• Reelect any ruler of 40 years or younger if RT allows it
• Explore government reforms
  
• Play a tall...ish game focussed on making "buckets of ducats" with trade
• Use new trade flows & trade company development
• Once absolutism hits try to hit max absolutism
• Get the "Bunte Kuh" achievement for Hamburg
• Maybe get a few more secret achievements... (Jake will tell you more next week )
  

Early Strategy:

1. Attack Luneburg, wait until Lubeck declares, vassalize Luneburg, win defensive war to kill Lubeck asap
2. no-CB Irish minor & vassalize
   
3. Colonialism & Mexican gold
4. ...
5. Profit

Teaser #1 - Status Quo
Please note my max absolutism currently (1645): It is 105 (after court and country disaster)

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Here is my list of rulers.

Now this looks like a lucky chain of long living rulers. What is different? The election term length.
1444-1492 4 year term
1492-1611 3 year term
1611-Now 5 year term

Until absolutism hit I tried to minimize reelection term length. With the Tier 3 Reform I was able to lower the term length from 4 to 3 years for 8 RT per reelection. This gave me the option to quickly cycle through candidates until the next <40 years Syndic arrived to reelect until death. As you can see I usually have two duds for every good one. Sometimes I reelected if RT was near max even if the ruler was older.

This is the beautiful reform: Frequent Election: -1 year for -10 max Absolutism - who cares before 1610?

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Now the reason republics were deemed "uncool" was mostly due to the fact that they were not able to reach 100 absolutism. When the age of absolutism started my government was no longer optimal: With the -10, I had a max absolutism of only 65. No way to successfully complete the "Court and Country" disaster for that sweet +20 max absolutism.

Unacceptable!

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However, with Dharma I can be way more flexible and pick and choose...for a price. +10 instead of -10 max absolutism. Now we are at a healthy 85. Much better! And as a trading focused republic like Hamburg, ducats are easy. That 10 corruption is a small price to pay for that sweet absolutism.

Much more bitter: 5 year election terms. Then again, 5 adm advisor is not that expensive anymore if you own Mexico and Peru gold mines.

But who knows, maybe at the end of it all I will follow the example of the glorious peasant republic of Dithmarschen, led by our first comrade @KaiserJohan: Hamburg may yet slip back to a more totalitarian or even revolutionary government form. 200 years to go.
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As a final treat for today, here is my most recent reform in my game, Tier 6. It was another amazing windfall: It gave me an extra diplomat. I am still a duchy in the HRE (with a modest 2.2k dev), hence I only have two diplomats. I missed my chance at the religious wars and so the empire remains catholic. Until I get around to dismantle it I will remain a modest duchy with 2 diplomats.

( I decided to go for influence ideas instead of diplo to better manage AE as a peaceful & friendly republic slowly eating the channel trade node.)

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This is it for now. Next post I will show off more of the Hamburgian trade empire that reaches from the Americas to Malacca in our glorious quest to gain trade dominance for the vital strategic goods of gems and cows.

Feel free to ask questions and add suggestions.

 

[Natz]

Very hyped about the government changes
Now just tell me I have the same election cycle reduction and absolutism as an Ambrosian Republic and I'll be a happy man playing Milan! I mean, 2 year cycles OP!

 

[Bayes]

Thanks for sharing this!

What have you been doing with trade centers so far? What impact has it had on your campaign?

 

[TheDungen]

Cool. Speaking of Hamburg whoever runs the Facebook page said he/she liked the idea of a formable centralized hansa is that something that might actually happen? I know not likely in dharma but in the future?

I loved the hansa tag and I can accept it being broken up at the start of the game. But it would be nice if I could put it back togehter. Even if it's just as a "As lübeck Hamburg or Bremen, conquer lübeck Hamburg and bremen"
Oh and it should probably require you to be a republic too.

 

[Palando]

Cool. Speaking of Hamburg whoever runs the Facebook page said he/she liked the idea of a formable centralized hansa is that something that might actually happen? I know not likely in dharma but in the future?

I loved the hansa tag and I can accept it being broken up at the start of the game. But it would be nice if I could put it back togehter. Even if it's just as a "As lübeck Hamburg or Bremen, conquer lübeck Hamburg and bremen"
Oh and it should probably require you to be a republic too.

No Hansa tag!

 

[Dakka]

But it would be nice if I could put it back togehter.

If you own MN the trade League Lübeck controls at game start is the Hansa. Looks like you own it (judging from your forum icon), so you’re in luck!

 

[Tavior]

I was more interested in the tier 4 reform. Extra +5 state which is necessary in your case I guess.

The rest of the reform better be good like that. Although 10 corruption to pass a reform? Yikes I might just pick one and stick with it to the bitter end. Long-term planning and all that.

 

[Mouthwash]

Seems odd that 'consolidation of power' is both a reform and a reform tier.

 

[Tavior]

Seems odd that 'consolidation of power' is both a reform and a reform tier.

I missed that...

 

[Oldpara]

Great info thx!
Hamburg Bunte Kuh is my first to play after Dharma hits.

I wonder if I'll be able to do more "tall" run than you do with conquering only centers of trades in vital nodes, making trade cities, using vassals and marches without caring at all about absolutism.

I do not like the idea of conquering whole British Isles at all :/

 

[Pizzicato]

Thank you for the interest in this. A first disclaimer, I am in Cologne at Gamescom and will not be able to share more screenshots of the run until the end of the week. But I will strive to answer all the questions you have

Thanks for sharing this!

What have you been doing with trade centers so far? What impact has it had on your campaign?

I have been aiming for centers of trade, both in my homenode(s) and in the colonies & trade regions. There is now a difference as well. Sometimes there are oldschool estuaries, which give +5 trade power but they are not new centers of trade, which can be upgraded.

I was more interested in the tier 4 reform. Extra +5 state which is necessary in your case I guess.

The rest of the reform better be good like that. Although 10 corruption to pass a reform? Yikes I might just pick one and stick with it to the bitter end. Long-term planning and all that.

Yes, of course I took +5 extra states. Too good to pass up .
Switching is actually not much of a problem. 10 corruption was payed down decently quick. Thanks to sticking to trade company land to expand, I am still below the state limit and do not gain extra corruption

Great info thx!
Hamburg Bunte Kuh is my first to play after Dharma hits.

I wonder if I'll be able to do more "tall" run than you do with conquering only centers of trades in vital nodes, making trade cities, using vassals and marches without caring at all about absolutism.

I do not like the idea of conquering whole British Isles at all :/

Haha, yes you will be, I think. As I wrote it is a tall-ish campaign. Any playthrough of me ends in blobbing and somewhat of a WC attempt.

About staying small and dominating trade nodes: I do see AI busily upgrading their own trade ports as well, thus you probably should conquer a few of those as well if you want to protect your trade income.
But oh boy, those tier 3 trade ports are powerful. And the trade company investment do give some sweet bonuses as well. Right now it is 1675 in my campaign and I've founded 8 trade companies. One of the investments is +0.30 goods produced for the state - use that with manufactories in a trade node you dominate....lots of ducats for the burghers of Hamburg.

 

[cristofolmc]

About staying small and dominating trade nodes: I do see AI busily upgrading their own trade ports as well

I was afraid something like this would happen. Whats the point of upgradable ports if everyone upgrades them. The trade situation in the nodes will remain the same as if they were all the regular trade centers we have now.

Also, this seems a nerf to tall play, since before, with a trade center you could dominate the trade node or at least get a very good chunk of it. Now it seems like you gotta blubb to have some trade power in the trade node.

 

[Gratak]

Thanks for the information. Good thing I waited with my republic games that I was planning to do but hoped for improvements in Dharma. Strange there is not a single new achievement with regard to any republic though (unless I missed it).

 

[frolix42]

Thanks for the AAR.

After my rather disgraceful elimination in the devclash as boxed-in Afghanistan, I decided to challenge myself...so I went back to play normal diffculty singleplayer.

I'm having so much fun with my current Hamburg run to get the Bunte Kuh achievement, that I thought I should share my journey to lead my hometown to fame and (a lot of) fortune.

To satisfy all those, who came here for the clickbait title about republics:

TL; DR: In Dharma republics no longer su*k. (IMHO of course)

(Yes I know technically they were ok..ish before but as minmax fan I could not abide by the low absolutism)

Never let getting eliminated in MP as a hard nation get you down. Playing nations that don't start top-tier against other players keeps the game fresh.

I am happy to see Republics getting balance tweaks. I haven't played one for years

Colonialism & Mexican gold

I am hoping the colonial game also gets some balance tweaks in the future.

 

[Tavior]

Switching is actually not much of a problem. 10 corruption was payed down decently quick. Thanks to sticking to trade company land to expand, I am still below the state limit and do not gain extra corruption

Quickly? As far I am aware it take at least one year to pay off 1 corruption at max slider. 10 years is not quick at least to me anyway.

There are certain mechanic that let you eliminate more corruption but I don't think a typical Catholic Hamburg has access to any of them. But of course I am including other catholic denomination when I say typical catholic.

Wait a minute. I just realize that your advisers are split between Reformist and Protestant which is very unlikely if you stay catholic. Which meant you are likely have Humanist Idea Group unlocked. That is a safe bet since you have very few religious rebels aside from one fetish zealot and one catholic zealot and have 5+ for absolutism from religious unity 100%.

Without knowing your state/provinces religious and idea group breakdown of course I could easily be wrong on few points.

 

[Nyrael]

Quickly? As far I am aware it take at least one year to pay off 1 corruption at max slider. 10 years is not quick at least to me anyway.

There are certain mechanic that let you eliminate more corruption but I don't think a typical Catholic Hamburg has access to any of them. But of course I am including other catholic denomination when I say typical catholic.

Wait a minute. I just realize that your advisers are split between Reformist and Protestant which is very unlikely if you stay catholic. Which meant you are likely have Humanist Idea Group unlocked. That is a safe bet since you have very few religious rebels aside from one fetish zealot and one catholic zealot and have 5+ for absolutism from religious unity 100%.

Without knowing your state/provinces religious and idea group breakdown of course I could easily be wrong on few points.

Seeing as the Catholic became the Official Religion of the HRE, and that this is getting in Hamburg's way, I don't think that Hamburg is Catholic.

 

[FleetingRain]

But oh boy, those tier 3 trade ports are powerful. And the trade company investment do give some sweet bonuses as well. Right now it is 1675 in my campaign and I've founded 8 trade companies. One of the investments is +0.30 goods produced for the state - use that with manufactories in a trade node you dominate....lots of ducats for the burghers of Hamburg.

Do they even have any downsides?

 

[EquilinT]

Now that new achievement lists are revealed, what are your side objectives on them?

 

[Reman]

I've always been a fan of republics. I look forward to playing them in the expansion with their buffs.

 

[Pizzicato]

Greetings from Gamescom.
Again, sorry for the silence and some spelling mistakes - this post was created on mobile devices in the minutes between meetings. Screenshots on Sunday night.

I was afraid something like this would happen. Whats the point of upgradable ports if everyone upgrades them. The trade situation in the nodes will remain the same as if they were all the regular trade centers we have now.

Also, this seems a nerf to tall play, since before, with a trade center you could dominate the trade node or at least get a very good chunk of it. Now it seems like you gotta blubb to have some trade power in the trade node.

It is not so dark a scenario at all. It is 1675 and by far not all trade ports are tier 3. I do see most upgraded to tier 2 if they have never switched hands (which downgrades them one tier). Tier 2 gives somewhat similar benefits as the old ones like +10 trade power so it is actually pretty similar a distribution. So far only one new tier 3 ports have been upgraded I believe: four province Pomerania has one T2 and one T3 port in the Lubeck trade node. They make about 40 ducats from trade. As you can see tall works very well. And AI doesnt have 1000 ducats that easily. I didn't see Genoa or Milan go crazy on upgrades.
I think it really strengthened tall play. The additional 10% Dev cost reduction is strong and makes those low country cloth provinces even better. Wait and see. Just because I am a notorious blobber doesn't mean tall is less viable. I would say it is more viable now.

Thanks for the AAR.

Never let getting eliminated in MP as a hard nation get you down. Playing nations that don't start top-tier against other players keeps the game fresh.

I am happy to see Republics getting balance tweaks. I haven't played one for years



I am hoping the colonial game also gets some balance tweaks in the future.

Don't worry, I will be back. My first run as Persia supporting my allies to first and third rank was great.

Republics are indeed very good now. Had a lot of monarch points while waiting for AE to drop so I developed a lot and filled Admin ideas second. Probably will tackle Netherlands next.
Hope you enjoy republics as much as I do now.

Quickly? As far I am aware it take at least one year to pay off 1 corruption at max slider. 10 years is not quick at least to me anyway.

There are certain mechanic that let you eliminate more corruption but I don't think a typical Catholic Hamburg has access to any of them. But of course I am including other catholic denomination when I say typical catholic.

Wait a minute. I just realize that your advisers are split between Reformist and Protestant which is very unlikely if you stay catholic. Which meant you are likely have Humanist Idea Group unlocked. That is a safe bet since you have very few religious rebels aside from one fetish zealot and one catholic zealot and have 5+ for absolutism from religious unity 100%.

Without knowing your state/provinces religious and idea group breakdown of course I could easily be wrong on few points.

You are absolutely right. For roleplay and minimax reasons I picked protestant: you get an additional 0.1 yearly republican tradition as a protestant perk. Plus Hamburg cannot be Catholic.
And you are spot on with Humanist ideas as well. Religious is now even less useful as I can only convert full cores. So tolerance is the way to go for expanding.

About corruption: yes it took 10 years but i honestly did not notice. My innovativeness is quite high as tall(ish) nation to offset cost and i have ducats enough to pay it down. As protestant duchy there is no option like Shia government have.

Do they even have any downsides?

No they don't, except ducats you pay. Same as manufactories - great to snowball if you invest early.

Now that new achievement lists are revealed, what are your side objectives on them?

I aim for a few additional new achievements:
- the Pirate Bay one is fun and not difficult as I own both nodes up and downstream.
- the one with eight tier 3 centers of trade is easy as well. My current merchant cap is 18, so I could build more than double.
- The hehe haha lolland achievement is still missing. Did my real last WC before they were introduced.
- white company I might be able to do
- trustworthy - I usually have troubles keeping allies as they are too angry due to AE or get eaten by me eventually


About my idea groups:

1. Colonialism (beeline to Caribbean and jump golden Mexicans early)
   
2. Admin (666 ruler forever - good to put admin points here then)
3. Influence (AE too high trying to kill England and secure channel trade node)
4. Quantity (too much war and little manpower plus I needed the additional force limit to discourage coalitions who I couldn't truce juggle. now i could switch with my 100% merc frontlines)
5. Humanist (we are all friends now i cant convert those heathens in my vast empire)
6. Offensive (started in 1670, two ideas filled only in 1675)

Hope this is helping - please keep the questions coming