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I see youve made the top 11th in military power but.... you let a pagan beat you. Inca with 31k soldiers! Lol! 
EDIT: I know thats normal but its still funny.
EDIT: I know thats normal but its still funny.
I'm wondering about the 20k stack as well - looks like an attrition magnet and wouldn't two smaller stacks (but bigger than 11k) be more flexible?
Enewald: You aren't kidding. Now my luck isn't going so well, as I'm not getting many openings.
rexodia48: Heh, part of it is that I like money so I don't build anything beyond what I need to get by with.
Kami: Well, more of in the sense of a counter stack when Ming gets to my lands. I don't mean to do head on conflicts, more like how Rastar finished off weakened stacks. My concern with this is that I don't have huge force limits
PrawnStar: You probably have a point. After my Ireland AAR I avoided having one stack together; my later games with Byzantium and The Palatinate taught me to break stuff up when marching.
Didaa: Heh, I'll probably make Lan Xang a vassal, but that'll be the last one. Mainly I use vassals to boost my income and help me with Ming. Once Ming is down, I have less need of them.
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This update will be shorter than normal, as I've hit a crossroads and want people's input. Its not very exciting, so I apologize, but there's a big chance it might get very exciting very quickly.
First up, I get 2 new advisors, both of which are 5 stars. Now, I really don't need either of the two things they offer, but if I get the great man event, it would definately make it worthwhile to declare war on Brunei, as that would let me also get Aceh and Makassar in one go. I also get a new king, who while not as good as the last one, is still rather good. I'm somewhat nervous with continually getting good admin rulers now; I hope I get them when I need them for westernization. My short term plan is to be ready for a war with Ming if they go for Manchu, and if the event fires, go after the southern islands. You can see my attempts to get access to Makassar to avoid those guys' navies.
While I wait for that opportunity to arise, I decide to go ahead and go after Majapahit, as I like to look of the lands they have. You can see that I'm also finishing up cleaning up Orissa from some rebel troubles. I normally don't care, but they were Deccan nationalists, and I didn't want to risk a sunni nation to get larger/reappear.
While I wait for stuff to happen, Ayut cores and Central Thai becomes an accepted culture. I'm getting slightly antsy with my decision to go for Ming first, as they don't seem to be doing much, and I'd hate to sit on my hands for years on end. On the plus side, I'm accumulating a nice pile of cash for troops if it ever goes down, but we'll see.
After a rather long siege, I take Maja's last province and peace out for it and renouncing cores. Next war I'll annex them. You can barely make out that I'm still trying to get access to Makassar; hope springs eternal.
Finally, after years of trying, maybe a dozen or so diplomats, and 50 ducats or more in bribes, I finally get access to Makassar. While I want to him them now, it'll take 2 wars to take them all out, so I'll be patient and wait for a stab-friendly opening.
Good thing too, because when I got for centralized on my next slider move, I lose stability. I've thought about it, and unless Ming gets involved with someone else, I'm just going to have to sit on my hands waiting for QFTNW. The force distribution just doesn't favor a head-on fight with Ming. I'll keep an eye out for an opportunity to hit Japan, but there isn't many options available, as they share guaruntees on targets with Ming.
I finally get access to Manchu (just in case). I then get another destabilizing event where I choose to gain one defensive or offensive. I chose to go defensive, as I like winning sieges, and I'll need the help against Ming. I'm sending 3K cav to Manchu to keep an eye on things. I can see that old Horde territories are in revolt, but I doubt that low base tax provinces will do much good here.
So a few years pass. Nothing really happens; there was a war with Maja where I annexed them, but there was no point in recording it since the war was over so quickly I had to wait two weeks to get a diplomat in place to annex them. I start converting my mediorce provinces to help reduce the stability cost for when I westernize. I see over 40K of Ming's troops in the old Horde territory, with none on their borders. Now, normally I'd jump in here, but I can't. For one thing, if I DoW Ming, that brings in Japan. Ok, Lan Xang is guarunteed by Ming, I can take them; no dice, they're allied with Manchu, which I would like to use as a staging ground. As hard as it is, my only real option is to warn Ming and hope they go after Manchu or Chatagai. At this point I need some dissent in these east asian alliances; otherwise I'm going to be very bored while I wait for QFTNW. If thats the case, once I get the tech advantage I will make Ming pay dearly for boring me.
Well, here I have to stop, for there is a decision to make, and I'd like to get the readers' input. We have 3 options we can do:
1. We continue as is, and wait for someone else to make a move. This is the safest in the short term, but is rather boring.
2. We go after Ming by declaring war on Lan Xang. This keeps Japan out, but means we face Korea and Manchu. On one hand, they aren't that scary. On the other hand, I lose the ability to hit Ming from the rear.
3. We go after Ming by declareing war on Ming. This means we also face Japan, but we can hit Ming from Manchu's land. This also means that if we beat Ming, we can turn around and redeclare war by attacking Lan Xang.
I'm leaning between #2 and #3; 3 gives me the most options for facing Ming, which is the main player I'm worried about, but I don't like the idea of Japan's 33K army having access to my back door. With Ming itself, there's a good chance that the 40K in Horde country would go into Tibet, which is attrition central, especially in the winter. However, that still leaves 60K of Ming unaccounted for, which might come right at me with little time for me to take their provinces first. #2 means I face a mostly land based foe with little amphibious assaulting. It also means I'm facing them head on, which isn't very comforting. Since I can't make up my mind, tell me what is on yours.
edit: it is worth noting that Ming's current king is a moron in all things important (8 diplo, 4 admin, 3 mil). If we ever wanted to fight Ming with a kind with no WE reduction ability, and no super general king, this is it. If we were to go to war with Ming, I'd probably grab another 10-15K cav during the beginning. There's a good chance more guys are lurking in Horde territory, so we might have a better shot at gaining lands than I first thought. I'm seeing too troops on the borders to have 60K running around in the heartland.
rexodia48: Heh, part of it is that I like money so I don't build anything beyond what I need to get by with.
Kami: Well, more of in the sense of a counter stack when Ming gets to my lands. I don't mean to do head on conflicts, more like how Rastar finished off weakened stacks. My concern with this is that I don't have huge force limits
PrawnStar: You probably have a point. After my Ireland AAR I avoided having one stack together; my later games with Byzantium and The Palatinate taught me to break stuff up when marching.
Didaa: Heh, I'll probably make Lan Xang a vassal, but that'll be the last one. Mainly I use vassals to boost my income and help me with Ming. Once Ming is down, I have less need of them.
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This update will be shorter than normal, as I've hit a crossroads and want people's input. Its not very exciting, so I apologize, but there's a big chance it might get very exciting very quickly.
First up, I get 2 new advisors, both of which are 5 stars. Now, I really don't need either of the two things they offer, but if I get the great man event, it would definately make it worthwhile to declare war on Brunei, as that would let me also get Aceh and Makassar in one go. I also get a new king, who while not as good as the last one, is still rather good. I'm somewhat nervous with continually getting good admin rulers now; I hope I get them when I need them for westernization. My short term plan is to be ready for a war with Ming if they go for Manchu, and if the event fires, go after the southern islands. You can see my attempts to get access to Makassar to avoid those guys' navies.
While I wait for that opportunity to arise, I decide to go ahead and go after Majapahit, as I like to look of the lands they have. You can see that I'm also finishing up cleaning up Orissa from some rebel troubles. I normally don't care, but they were Deccan nationalists, and I didn't want to risk a sunni nation to get larger/reappear.
While I wait for stuff to happen, Ayut cores and Central Thai becomes an accepted culture. I'm getting slightly antsy with my decision to go for Ming first, as they don't seem to be doing much, and I'd hate to sit on my hands for years on end. On the plus side, I'm accumulating a nice pile of cash for troops if it ever goes down, but we'll see.
After a rather long siege, I take Maja's last province and peace out for it and renouncing cores. Next war I'll annex them. You can barely make out that I'm still trying to get access to Makassar; hope springs eternal.
Finally, after years of trying, maybe a dozen or so diplomats, and 50 ducats or more in bribes, I finally get access to Makassar. While I want to him them now, it'll take 2 wars to take them all out, so I'll be patient and wait for a stab-friendly opening.
Good thing too, because when I got for centralized on my next slider move, I lose stability. I've thought about it, and unless Ming gets involved with someone else, I'm just going to have to sit on my hands waiting for QFTNW. The force distribution just doesn't favor a head-on fight with Ming. I'll keep an eye out for an opportunity to hit Japan, but there isn't many options available, as they share guaruntees on targets with Ming.
I finally get access to Manchu (just in case). I then get another destabilizing event where I choose to gain one defensive or offensive. I chose to go defensive, as I like winning sieges, and I'll need the help against Ming. I'm sending 3K cav to Manchu to keep an eye on things. I can see that old Horde territories are in revolt, but I doubt that low base tax provinces will do much good here.
So a few years pass. Nothing really happens; there was a war with Maja where I annexed them, but there was no point in recording it since the war was over so quickly I had to wait two weeks to get a diplomat in place to annex them. I start converting my mediorce provinces to help reduce the stability cost for when I westernize. I see over 40K of Ming's troops in the old Horde territory, with none on their borders. Now, normally I'd jump in here, but I can't. For one thing, if I DoW Ming, that brings in Japan. Ok, Lan Xang is guarunteed by Ming, I can take them; no dice, they're allied with Manchu, which I would like to use as a staging ground. As hard as it is, my only real option is to warn Ming and hope they go after Manchu or Chatagai. At this point I need some dissent in these east asian alliances; otherwise I'm going to be very bored while I wait for QFTNW. If thats the case, once I get the tech advantage I will make Ming pay dearly for boring me.
Well, here I have to stop, for there is a decision to make, and I'd like to get the readers' input. We have 3 options we can do:
1. We continue as is, and wait for someone else to make a move. This is the safest in the short term, but is rather boring.
2. We go after Ming by declaring war on Lan Xang. This keeps Japan out, but means we face Korea and Manchu. On one hand, they aren't that scary. On the other hand, I lose the ability to hit Ming from the rear.
3. We go after Ming by declareing war on Ming. This means we also face Japan, but we can hit Ming from Manchu's land. This also means that if we beat Ming, we can turn around and redeclare war by attacking Lan Xang.
I'm leaning between #2 and #3; 3 gives me the most options for facing Ming, which is the main player I'm worried about, but I don't like the idea of Japan's 33K army having access to my back door. With Ming itself, there's a good chance that the 40K in Horde country would go into Tibet, which is attrition central, especially in the winter. However, that still leaves 60K of Ming unaccounted for, which might come right at me with little time for me to take their provinces first. #2 means I face a mostly land based foe with little amphibious assaulting. It also means I'm facing them head on, which isn't very comforting. Since I can't make up my mind, tell me what is on yours.
edit: it is worth noting that Ming's current king is a moron in all things important (8 diplo, 4 admin, 3 mil). If we ever wanted to fight Ming with a kind with no WE reduction ability, and no super general king, this is it. If we were to go to war with Ming, I'd probably grab another 10-15K cav during the beginning. There's a good chance more guys are lurking in Horde territory, so we might have a better shot at gaining lands than I first thought. I'm seeing too troops on the borders to have 60K running around in the heartland.
5. Expand into India. Being at war with a country allows you to explore their PTI. Grab lands on their borders and eventually you will see the lands next to those you just grabbed. Do this enough times and you'll be in India.
Otherwise I'd probably go #2 if you're set on one of those three options. Vassalise Korea and Manchu quickly and you'll have access to Ming lands through his erstwhile allies.
Otherwise I'd probably go #2 if you're set on one of those three options. Vassalise Korea and Manchu quickly and you'll have access to Ming lands through his erstwhile allies.
6. Unally your vassals along Ming's border. Get Press Gangs and a navy. Declare on Lan Xang and use your fleet to trap Ming's army in Hainan and Macao (using cav landings to lure their big stacks there). While they quietly attrite to death, land your main forces and eat them. Once you win, DOW Japan and sink their fleet before they can land on your territory, then take their valuable provinces while repeating the previous war with Ming.
Didaa: I didn't mention it in the updates, but I tried that about 10 years ago. Ever since Ming conquered the Oirat Horde, the east asian political scene has not changed one bit (aside from my conquests ). I lumped the "wait for Ming to declare war on someone" in option #1.
Azugal: I've expanded into India as much as I can. Any nation I currently can see I have vassalized, so until QFTNW comes in, my target options are Korea, Manchu, Ming, and Japan (excluding the weak Sunni islanders). I could drop a vassal and take some of their lands, but I don't particularly like the value of the Indian provinces, at least not the eastern ones.
I like your thought on dealing with Korea and Manchu; however, my main concern is that I would have to siege their provinces, and to take out their armies, I'd need at least 15K to do so; however, these guys would be cut off from the rest of my empire. Not exactly a pleasant thought. Also, I'm not sure I could vassalize Manchu in one war.
Parcae: An interesting idea. I lucked out and managed something like this in my Ireland game against France when they were in Venice. The main problem with that is Japan and Ming have the largest navies, so it would take an awful lot of ships to take them out, and I have doubts that I could trap enough of Ming's forces to make a difference. I doubt he'll send all 100K at one landing.
Enewald: I considered that. Unfortunately, Ming and Japan are best buds, sharing everything. There is no way to get Japan into a war without Ming, and only 1 way to get Ming in a war without Japan (Lan Xang)
Keep the ideas coming, I certainly appreciate them. One thought that keeps coming to me is the idea to try to get access to Japan, land 15-20K men there, and take them out when I declare on Ming; once Japan is neutralized, try to get 10K back in the warzone. However, considering how I've been trying to years to get access to no avail (chance is "unlikely") I'm not too optimistic.
I'm somewhat leaning towards option #3. While Japan might be tough, they only have around 10 cogs, and naval invasion AI isn't as good as land invasion AI. So I'd probably see more troops from Manchu/Korea than Japan. Plus my vassals might do some damage to Japan's transport navy if I'm lucky. Also, I like the idea of hitting Ming from multiple sides. The only island holdings that are vulnerable are Brunei's and Maja's old lands, the latter of which I'm not too concerned with, especially if they are unknown to Japan. I'm still pondering the options though.
). I lumped the "wait for Ming to declare war on someone" in option #1.Azugal: I've expanded into India as much as I can. Any nation I currently can see I have vassalized, so until QFTNW comes in, my target options are Korea, Manchu, Ming, and Japan (excluding the weak Sunni islanders). I could drop a vassal and take some of their lands, but I don't particularly like the value of the Indian provinces, at least not the eastern ones.
I like your thought on dealing with Korea and Manchu; however, my main concern is that I would have to siege their provinces, and to take out their armies, I'd need at least 15K to do so; however, these guys would be cut off from the rest of my empire. Not exactly a pleasant thought. Also, I'm not sure I could vassalize Manchu in one war.
Parcae: An interesting idea. I lucked out and managed something like this in my Ireland game against France when they were in Venice. The main problem with that is Japan and Ming have the largest navies, so it would take an awful lot of ships to take them out, and I have doubts that I could trap enough of Ming's forces to make a difference. I doubt he'll send all 100K at one landing.
Enewald: I considered that. Unfortunately, Ming and Japan are best buds, sharing everything. There is no way to get Japan into a war without Ming, and only 1 way to get Ming in a war without Japan (Lan Xang)
Keep the ideas coming, I certainly appreciate them. One thought that keeps coming to me is the idea to try to get access to Japan, land 15-20K men there, and take them out when I declare on Ming; once Japan is neutralized, try to get 10K back in the warzone. However, considering how I've been trying to years to get access to no avail (chance is "unlikely") I'm not too optimistic.
I'm somewhat leaning towards option #3. While Japan might be tough, they only have around 10 cogs, and naval invasion AI isn't as good as land invasion AI. So I'd probably see more troops from Manchu/Korea than Japan. Plus my vassals might do some damage to Japan's transport navy if I'm lucky. Also, I like the idea of hitting Ming from multiple sides. The only island holdings that are vulnerable are Brunei's and Maja's old lands, the latter of which I'm not too concerned with, especially if they are unknown to Japan. I'm still pondering the options though.
Ah, I didn't realise that you had vassalised everything visible in India. That's a shame as that does rule out that option, unless as you said you dropped them and took their lands. I'd be tempted, there's a lot of 5+ base tax provinces on the subcontinent itself, your call though.
Question - is there a way to get war with Manchu and/or Korea without dragging Ming and/or Japan into things?
Question - is there a way to get war with Manchu and/or Korea without dragging Ming and/or Japan into things?
I wasn't proposing fighting Ming and Japan at once until you've sunk the Ming navy. They normally have 60ish galleys, so 25-30 large ships should be plenty - easy enough with so many coastal provinces and press gangs.
Then you can do the following:
1. Using your navy to keep them out, siege and occupy Macao
2. Leave as many troops there as you can support without attrition (c. 12-15k with your best general) and enough cogs to remove them in a hurry
3. The AI will either send a roughly comparable force (in which case you have a good chance of wiping out as much as 20k in one battle, since you're using cavalry and can use your navy to prevent a retreat) or (more probably) a vastly superior one, in which case you evacuate your army and trap them
4. Repeat with Hainan
Either way, as soon as you sink Ming's fleet, the AI is screwed. They either lose 40k soldiers between the two provinces (at which point they still will try to retake them from you, probably losing even more) or have 60-80k trapped. They will also have massive WE from attrition or losing troops, not to mention losing their navy. Either way, it should be easy enough to take care of the remnant of their forces, given the human tactical advantage.
Then you can do the following:
1. Using your navy to keep them out, siege and occupy Macao
2. Leave as many troops there as you can support without attrition (c. 12-15k with your best general) and enough cogs to remove them in a hurry
3. The AI will either send a roughly comparable force (in which case you have a good chance of wiping out as much as 20k in one battle, since you're using cavalry and can use your navy to prevent a retreat) or (more probably) a vastly superior one, in which case you evacuate your army and trap them
4. Repeat with Hainan
Either way, as soon as you sink Ming's fleet, the AI is screwed. They either lose 40k soldiers between the two provinces (at which point they still will try to retake them from you, probably losing even more) or have 60-80k trapped. They will also have massive WE from attrition or losing troops, not to mention losing their navy. Either way, it should be easy enough to take care of the remnant of their forces, given the human tactical advantage.
Azugal: Yeah, its possible to do that, but I think the effort it would take wouldn't equal the payoff. As for trying to take Korea or Manchu alone, they are both guarunteed by both Japan and Ming, so no dice.
Parcae: Its an interesting idea, but it just doesn't seem to ring with me; I guess it might seem a bit gamey I suppose. It just wouldn't be a Malacca WC AAR without a titanic conflict with Ming. That and I don't want to take the stab hit just to get press gangs, only to swap out again.
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This update will be somewhat short, as I played most of it on slow speed setting. I also probably won't be able to update until Sunday, so I didn't want to leave you guys hanging too much.
I finally decide to go with option #3. I really want that flank raiding capability, as well as the option for the second DoW on Ming after the first round. I decide that I want a full out match in honor of Rastar's feat, so lets see if I can do as decent a job. The first task is to recruit another 9K or so cavalry. My plan is to keep a force on Brunei and in my back to watch out for rebels and Japan. The rest of my army will move in and try to siege Ming. I will gather my strength until November, so that Ming gets a full season of winter as they invade Tibet. I also need time to finish the fort in Maja's land.
Once November, I decide I like to live life dangerously and go to war with Ming. Some of his forces had shifted eastwards to fight some rebels, and while I would want to give them time to return west, I don't want to miss the winter in Tibet. Luckily Ming seems to be going for the bait. I pull my 1K infantry out, since I don't need their scouting anymore. I send 17K cav into southern Ming to get some sieges done, including a 1 siege general, so I hope he pulls his weight. I have 6K cav on the east coast, 4K by Malacca, and 5K on Brunei for Japan patroling. I will also send my 3K in Manchu south after a month to give Ming a chance to get started south.
Four months into the war, and things are looking mixed. On one hand, my sieges haven't progressed as quickly as I would have liked, and Ming already has troops on the edges of my campaign area. Japan has also taken the seas and landed troops in my eastern territory. On the other hand, 47K of Ming's troops were tied up in Tibet for 3 months on 1 province, and is now marching even deeper into Tibet, go attrition! I also have little activity in the north, so hopefully my 3 regiments can take a few provinces. I also have 5K of cav running with a general for sniping 1K regiments, with a second forming north of Dai Viet's territory. 6K of Ming's troops are moving at Tibet's forces, with more marching into Tibet. As mean as it sounds, Tibet is a great vassal to have simply for attracting Ming's troops into an attrition death trap.
9 months into the war and things aren't looking too peachy. I've only taken 2 provinces, and Tibet is mostly overrun. Ming's forces are closing in, so its time to pull my plan B out, where I pull back and let their forces siege my allies and my own provinces. This is where I'll compact my forces into a large doom stack, as I'll take less attrition damage in my own provinces; however, I'll only attack when attrition has done its work on the enemy. As it is, Ming's troop count despite recruiting has dropped by about 8K. This has been almost all attrition damage, so the sooner his manpower pool is depleted, the better. Japan has done as expected and only lands a few small detachments at a time, but its still somewhat annoying.
A year and one month into the war, and things are starting to look up. I now have 5 provinces taken, with a 6th really close to finishing. The good part about it is it now gives Ming something to siege back; this is compounded by the fact that Ming's super stack in Tibet has dropped to 20K men, all through attrition. Ming's total army count has dropped to 80K, and his WE has risen to 8.4 (an increase of 7 in one year). I'm hoping his manpower has been destroyed, but I have room to manuever if so. I lost one of my northern regiments to a 20K man stack that ambushed me. It annoys me that I almost had 2 provinces up there, but each time the sieging unit was chased off at 100% progress. Grrrr... Currently in this image you can see me engaging some Japanese units that are trying to help Ming. My main goal here is to cause some damage on Ming and Japan, but mostly give my vassals time to consolidate and let the garrisons of the taken provinces regen.
To give you an idea of why the north campaign is being rather lack-luster, here's Ming's large stack that seems to be continuously prowling around; just when I think it has left, its still around, so I doubt I'll achieve much up here. At least I can keep them away from the rest of the war. In other news, Ming has lost another 10K in army count, and the 50 regiment mega-stack in Tibet is down to 10K men. I'm gathering my reserve regiments to try and catch him before he can escape to his lands. If I can kill those regiments off that should...do something; at the very least it will be a huge ego boost.
Hell yeah, suck it Ming! I lost a province to one of Ming's stacks, but I'll gladly trade a province for 56 regiments getting canned. RR in the old Horde provinces is up to 20-25%, and Ming's WE is over 11. Ming still has sizeable forces in the area and in general, but this is looking like I just might win this.
Where we stand now:
Ming still has about 60K troops running around, although I think all are in view (20K in the north, 40K in the south). Japan still is only doing minor raiding parties - their net effect cancels out Dai Viet, which is kinda sad considering everything. I'm going to try to get my stack snipers back into Ming to hit new regiments as they form, but if I can't or Ming push south hard, I'll pull back. I'd expect Ming to go on the offensive soon, so I'll let him resiege his lands, get attrition, then trash his armies. My main goal still is to increase WE so revolts start popping up. While this will make sieging harder, it increases the chance for other nations to spring up, which will make things easier for me.
Parcae: Its an interesting idea, but it just doesn't seem to ring with me; I guess it might seem a bit gamey I suppose. It just wouldn't be a Malacca WC AAR without a titanic conflict with Ming. That and I don't want to take the stab hit just to get press gangs, only to swap out again.
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This update will be somewhat short, as I played most of it on slow speed setting. I also probably won't be able to update until Sunday, so I didn't want to leave you guys hanging too much.
I finally decide to go with option #3. I really want that flank raiding capability, as well as the option for the second DoW on Ming after the first round. I decide that I want a full out match in honor of Rastar's feat, so lets see if I can do as decent a job. The first task is to recruit another 9K or so cavalry. My plan is to keep a force on Brunei and in my back to watch out for rebels and Japan. The rest of my army will move in and try to siege Ming. I will gather my strength until November, so that Ming gets a full season of winter as they invade Tibet. I also need time to finish the fort in Maja's land.
Once November, I decide I like to live life dangerously and go to war with Ming. Some of his forces had shifted eastwards to fight some rebels, and while I would want to give them time to return west, I don't want to miss the winter in Tibet. Luckily Ming seems to be going for the bait. I pull my 1K infantry out, since I don't need their scouting anymore. I send 17K cav into southern Ming to get some sieges done, including a 1 siege general, so I hope he pulls his weight. I have 6K cav on the east coast, 4K by Malacca, and 5K on Brunei for Japan patroling. I will also send my 3K in Manchu south after a month to give Ming a chance to get started south.
Four months into the war, and things are looking mixed. On one hand, my sieges haven't progressed as quickly as I would have liked, and Ming already has troops on the edges of my campaign area. Japan has also taken the seas and landed troops in my eastern territory. On the other hand, 47K of Ming's troops were tied up in Tibet for 3 months on 1 province, and is now marching even deeper into Tibet, go attrition! I also have little activity in the north, so hopefully my 3 regiments can take a few provinces. I also have 5K of cav running with a general for sniping 1K regiments, with a second forming north of Dai Viet's territory. 6K of Ming's troops are moving at Tibet's forces, with more marching into Tibet. As mean as it sounds, Tibet is a great vassal to have simply for attracting Ming's troops into an attrition death trap.
9 months into the war and things aren't looking too peachy. I've only taken 2 provinces, and Tibet is mostly overrun. Ming's forces are closing in, so its time to pull my plan B out, where I pull back and let their forces siege my allies and my own provinces. This is where I'll compact my forces into a large doom stack, as I'll take less attrition damage in my own provinces; however, I'll only attack when attrition has done its work on the enemy. As it is, Ming's troop count despite recruiting has dropped by about 8K. This has been almost all attrition damage, so the sooner his manpower pool is depleted, the better. Japan has done as expected and only lands a few small detachments at a time, but its still somewhat annoying.
A year and one month into the war, and things are starting to look up. I now have 5 provinces taken, with a 6th really close to finishing. The good part about it is it now gives Ming something to siege back; this is compounded by the fact that Ming's super stack in Tibet has dropped to 20K men, all through attrition. Ming's total army count has dropped to 80K, and his WE has risen to 8.4 (an increase of 7 in one year). I'm hoping his manpower has been destroyed, but I have room to manuever if so. I lost one of my northern regiments to a 20K man stack that ambushed me. It annoys me that I almost had 2 provinces up there, but each time the sieging unit was chased off at 100% progress. Grrrr... Currently in this image you can see me engaging some Japanese units that are trying to help Ming. My main goal here is to cause some damage on Ming and Japan, but mostly give my vassals time to consolidate and let the garrisons of the taken provinces regen.
To give you an idea of why the north campaign is being rather lack-luster, here's Ming's large stack that seems to be continuously prowling around; just when I think it has left, its still around, so I doubt I'll achieve much up here. At least I can keep them away from the rest of the war. In other news, Ming has lost another 10K in army count, and the 50 regiment mega-stack in Tibet is down to 10K men. I'm gathering my reserve regiments to try and catch him before he can escape to his lands. If I can kill those regiments off that should...do something; at the very least it will be a huge ego boost.
Hell yeah, suck it Ming! I lost a province to one of Ming's stacks, but I'll gladly trade a province for 56 regiments getting canned. RR in the old Horde provinces is up to 20-25%, and Ming's WE is over 11. Ming still has sizeable forces in the area and in general, but this is looking like I just might win this.
Where we stand now:
Ming still has about 60K troops running around, although I think all are in view (20K in the north, 40K in the south). Japan still is only doing minor raiding parties - their net effect cancels out Dai Viet, which is kinda sad considering everything. I'm going to try to get my stack snipers back into Ming to hit new regiments as they form, but if I can't or Ming push south hard, I'll pull back. I'd expect Ming to go on the offensive soon, so I'll let him resiege his lands, get attrition, then trash his armies. My main goal still is to increase WE so revolts start popping up. While this will make sieging harder, it increases the chance for other nations to spring up, which will make things easier for me.
Nice raiding - I'm not sure it really helps you that much to kill of that megastack. It was already impotent as hell, and it was a MP drain for Ming. Now they will recruit regiments as insane - Which will probably be combined into smaller stacks, who are less attrition prone.
But overall it is very neetly done
But overall it is very neetly done
wow first I watched Rastar do it, now I'm watching you take it to Ming, Impressive.
Look forward to reading this to the finish.
Look forward to reading this to the finish.
You're doing quite well against the Ming. You could do with some troops in the north, a couple of 5k stacks to play tag with the 20k Ming. Once you catch the stack with low morale you'll be able to annihilate it. Infantry to re-storm Tibet, to set up the Ming to send their main army back in again. They've got to have the conquer Tibet mission. Watch out for the Japanese landing 20k, or trying to, using all their transports, in your homeland. That's when having a good navy comes in handy.
It's a tremendous tribute to Rastar's AAR and as enjoyable to read!
It's a tremendous tribute to Rastar's AAR and as enjoyable to read!
Enewald: Things always seem to turn on you just when you think you've got it handled, doesn't it?
Kami: Ming's reaction was not as I expected. Their recruitment rate was less than I would have predicted, and their armies didn't follow what we saw with Rastar's war; my guess is there is some AI change in 3.2b. That being said, killing the megastack was a good call in retrospect.
slokiller: Thank you, I've promised myself that I would go all the way with this one, be it victory or defeat.
Parcae: Not as many as I would have wanted, but it does the job well enough.
Chief Ragusa: Yeah, the northern theatre of war never really amounted to much. Not enough troops, poor provinces (and thus poor WS contribution) bah. And yes, Japan does go a little crazy with their naval landings, but never consolidated enough to be a huge danger. Thanks for your vote of support, and I hope you continue to enjoy.
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This phase of the war consists of me dancing around Ming's larger stacks where possible and trying to snipe new regiments or small ones by themselves. My vassals are still being somewhat useful, which is surprising. There are 4 main areas of interest: The first is the province Wenshan, where Ming's 13K stack just tried to storm the walls, to little avail. I'm sending in my nearby stack, as I outnumber his cav over 2:1, and I don't want fresh troops to show up for Ming to upset the scale. I'm also trying to keep warscore up until I can stab hit Ming to help rebel pops, so I want to avoid losing what provinces I have taken. The second area is Dai Viet, where they are pushing at Japan's task force in the area; Ming seems to have ignored them, so they might be able to do more afterwards. The third area is the province of Liangshan, where I currently have a siege of 75% progress. Ming has 11K men headed towards it, so normally I would run, but my vassals are pulling together 12K men into the province, and I would really like to add another successful siege to the total - hence I'll stay. The last region is in central China, where I have a stack of 7K cav sniping new regiments and worn regiments fleeing the front lines. Killing the 56 regiment stack did increase troop recruitment, but due to high WE its slow and not as numerous as I would have expected.
Seems that stand worked, as Ming's forces avoided Liangshan, allowing me to take it. I likewise finally took a province in the north; seems that most of Ming's forces are now in the southern theatre. I managed to push Ming's stack away from Wenshan, and ganged up on it when it came back; I'm now pushing it into the next province with the goal of crushing it. Another one of Ming's stacks is wandering near Tibet, and two others are just waiting. Japan has been very proactive with naval landings in the south, but at 3K a pop, my reserve forces are more than enough. Rebels are also starting to pop up in Ming, with 2 stacks of peasants, and a 5K stack of Cantonese patriots in Hainan island. With the current force distribution, I think I can continue my offensive actions and keep pushing Ming. I'm not sure if I want to let the Cantonese rebels succeed, as they're in the lands I want; hopefully I can push them north.
Seeing how Ming is struggling with this, I decide to push it some more, and I recruit another 8K men, including some infantry for sieging provinces that Ming retakes or something. Japan continues to land 3K stacks in my southern lands, stupidly getting in the middle of my troop recruitment, guarded by 2 5K stacks. Tibet and Arakan have been busy and have liberated 2 of Tibet's provinces; too bad I've yet to see any patriot revolts from Tibet or any of the Mongols. I'm going to try and start going for sieges of provinces I want. If I can get a decent war score, I'll peace out and restart using Lan Xang.
I finally get the chance to stab hit Ming with favorable peace deals that they will refuse, so I take it. Once they're down to -3 stab, I hope that they'll break up for the most part, though I plan to repress most revolts in the south east, as I want that land for myself. This will also decrease their income and hopefully choke off some of his replacement regiments.
Soon after I win a battle against one of Ming's stacks. These battles aren't uncommon now, as my tactic is to beat Ming's existing stacks down and route them. My thought here is that now that Ming has depleted manpower (regiment-wise and reinforcement-pool-wise) I can press my advantage and try to push him back. Since I've not been running war taxes, I can afford some attrition induced WE, whereas Ming cannot. I have a stack watching a battle between Ming and the rebels, ready to jump on the Ming stack when it retreats (~33 regiments, down to 1.5K) The 20K stack from the north is moving south along the coast, trying to chase a small stack of Shan's. Once I clean up in the south west, I'll cover my vassals as they siege and snipe new regiments. Hopefully in a few years I'll have enough provinces to make a peace so I can hit Lan Xang and go at it again.
After a few months, the situation hasn't changed too much in the way I want. I have taken a few more provinces, but Japan landed about 5 raiding parties in the south, delaying my reinforcements north. I've finally slaughtered most of them, so I can send 5K cavalry to head to the front, in addition to the 6K infantry I sent. Once I clear up some Pegu nationalists, I'll send another 5K stack of cav north. Ming has been reduced to 2 main stacks after I killed a 14 regiment infantry stack in the west. The larger of Ming's stacks is heading towards recently conquered territory, with my vassals trying to stop him; while I'd love to help, my 13K men don't stand a good chance of stopping him, and I don't want to risk the losses. I'll let Ming start sieging, and once he assaults I'll storm his army and hopefully break it. I have a stack of 7K running around central China sniping and looting, while Nepal sent 3K men up to the Manchurian border to help me out, so thoughtful.
The next few months saw the war turn in an interesting direction. Due to high RR in every province, Ming gets zero tax income, so new regiment formations have all stopped. Ming's larger stack of about 20K (out of 25) is pursuing Dai Viet's 7 regiment stack into southern territory, without even stopping to siege or assault. This means Ming might get into my backyard, but I hope he ends up ping poning in Dai Viet's jungles. Meanwhile, I caught the smaller stack of 9K (out of 20 regiments) by itself and bushwhacked it with 2 cav stacks. Once I get the overrun, Ming will have no forces in the Chinese coastal regions that I want. My stack sniper stack has already run out of targets and is sieging 3 provinces near and including Ming's capital. You can see that Japan is still making a nuisance of itself in my back yard, but I'm not too concerned, as I can see the end of the war in sight.
I wipe out the Ming stack I just beat, and then I spend the next few months sieging the chinese coast while Ming's other stack runs around Dai Viet. He finally kills Viet's stack, storms a province, then moves back north. I'm going to see what I can do here. On one hand, I can abandon the sieges, gang up, and probably wipe out the stack. I could then siege in peace, but as was found in Rastar's game, I don't know if I want Ming to get plastered by other nations. However, considering how lame the AI can be, that might be ok. On the other hand, I can dance around the stack, try to win some more sieges, and keep Ming hanging on a thread. My gut is to win what sieges I can, then wipe out the stack. If Ming get's overwhelmed, so be it, it'll make my time easier. I also get an event where one of Ming's provinces defects to me. I take it, as its a base 4 tax province, eh, I'll take it.
Ming's stack moves quickly to engage my sieging units, so as my 3K stack of infantry retreats to a nearby province, I decide to go all out and collect about 17K cav and 2.5K infantry to face off against Ming. I should have a good shot at beating him, as their king sucks as a general. You can also see how Manchu and Korea have declared war on Ming, so the previous questions and concerns are moot. Time to butcher me some Ming.
Oirat nationalists are also abounding in their old territory, with most of the provinces either taken (marked with an 'o') or being sieged (marked with an 'x')
I lose the battle with Ming's stack, and then I start to get ping-ponged (at one point losing 4K of cavalry). Not good, so best I avoid him for a while. Like a moron, I didn't lead him into my territory where I could get more men and he could get attrition, so I'll have to remember that for later. At least my warscore with Ming is at 53%. I get the great man event to fire, so I hastily scrape up some men into position to go to war with the Sunni islanders in the south.
The war seems to be going well, but the battles certainly don't. I lose another 2K stack due to carelessness (I didn't see one of Ming's stack on the move until it was too late). I'm thinking if I can just get those two coastal provinces with the blue circles, I'll peace out with Ming (current warscore is 61%), gather my forces again, and re-declare through Lan Xang.I need a few months or a year to restore manpower, cut WE, etc. I'm figuring the many rebels will keep Ming occupied until I attack again. By the way, Manchu ducked out of course with a white peace; what a bugger. The war against our souther kin go well, and I should have their extra provinces stripped away soon hopefully. With the sieges I have close to completion, plus the two target provinces to add, I should have a decent enough warscore to make this all worthwhile.
Kami: Ming's reaction was not as I expected. Their recruitment rate was less than I would have predicted, and their armies didn't follow what we saw with Rastar's war; my guess is there is some AI change in 3.2b. That being said, killing the megastack was a good call in retrospect.
slokiller: Thank you, I've promised myself that I would go all the way with this one, be it victory or defeat.
Parcae: Not as many as I would have wanted, but it does the job well enough.
Chief Ragusa: Yeah, the northern theatre of war never really amounted to much. Not enough troops, poor provinces (and thus poor WS contribution) bah. And yes, Japan does go a little crazy with their naval landings, but never consolidated enough to be a huge danger. Thanks for your vote of support, and I hope you continue to enjoy.
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This phase of the war consists of me dancing around Ming's larger stacks where possible and trying to snipe new regiments or small ones by themselves. My vassals are still being somewhat useful, which is surprising. There are 4 main areas of interest: The first is the province Wenshan, where Ming's 13K stack just tried to storm the walls, to little avail. I'm sending in my nearby stack, as I outnumber his cav over 2:1, and I don't want fresh troops to show up for Ming to upset the scale. I'm also trying to keep warscore up until I can stab hit Ming to help rebel pops, so I want to avoid losing what provinces I have taken. The second area is Dai Viet, where they are pushing at Japan's task force in the area; Ming seems to have ignored them, so they might be able to do more afterwards. The third area is the province of Liangshan, where I currently have a siege of 75% progress. Ming has 11K men headed towards it, so normally I would run, but my vassals are pulling together 12K men into the province, and I would really like to add another successful siege to the total - hence I'll stay. The last region is in central China, where I have a stack of 7K cav sniping new regiments and worn regiments fleeing the front lines. Killing the 56 regiment stack did increase troop recruitment, but due to high WE its slow and not as numerous as I would have expected.
Seems that stand worked, as Ming's forces avoided Liangshan, allowing me to take it. I likewise finally took a province in the north; seems that most of Ming's forces are now in the southern theatre. I managed to push Ming's stack away from Wenshan, and ganged up on it when it came back; I'm now pushing it into the next province with the goal of crushing it. Another one of Ming's stacks is wandering near Tibet, and two others are just waiting. Japan has been very proactive with naval landings in the south, but at 3K a pop, my reserve forces are more than enough. Rebels are also starting to pop up in Ming, with 2 stacks of peasants, and a 5K stack of Cantonese patriots in Hainan island. With the current force distribution, I think I can continue my offensive actions and keep pushing Ming. I'm not sure if I want to let the Cantonese rebels succeed, as they're in the lands I want; hopefully I can push them north.
Seeing how Ming is struggling with this, I decide to push it some more, and I recruit another 8K men, including some infantry for sieging provinces that Ming retakes or something. Japan continues to land 3K stacks in my southern lands, stupidly getting in the middle of my troop recruitment, guarded by 2 5K stacks. Tibet and Arakan have been busy and have liberated 2 of Tibet's provinces; too bad I've yet to see any patriot revolts from Tibet or any of the Mongols. I'm going to try and start going for sieges of provinces I want. If I can get a decent war score, I'll peace out and restart using Lan Xang.
I finally get the chance to stab hit Ming with favorable peace deals that they will refuse, so I take it. Once they're down to -3 stab, I hope that they'll break up for the most part, though I plan to repress most revolts in the south east, as I want that land for myself. This will also decrease their income and hopefully choke off some of his replacement regiments.
Soon after I win a battle against one of Ming's stacks. These battles aren't uncommon now, as my tactic is to beat Ming's existing stacks down and route them. My thought here is that now that Ming has depleted manpower (regiment-wise and reinforcement-pool-wise) I can press my advantage and try to push him back. Since I've not been running war taxes, I can afford some attrition induced WE, whereas Ming cannot. I have a stack watching a battle between Ming and the rebels, ready to jump on the Ming stack when it retreats (~33 regiments, down to 1.5K) The 20K stack from the north is moving south along the coast, trying to chase a small stack of Shan's. Once I clean up in the south west, I'll cover my vassals as they siege and snipe new regiments. Hopefully in a few years I'll have enough provinces to make a peace so I can hit Lan Xang and go at it again.
After a few months, the situation hasn't changed too much in the way I want. I have taken a few more provinces, but Japan landed about 5 raiding parties in the south, delaying my reinforcements north. I've finally slaughtered most of them, so I can send 5K cavalry to head to the front, in addition to the 6K infantry I sent. Once I clear up some Pegu nationalists, I'll send another 5K stack of cav north. Ming has been reduced to 2 main stacks after I killed a 14 regiment infantry stack in the west. The larger of Ming's stacks is heading towards recently conquered territory, with my vassals trying to stop him; while I'd love to help, my 13K men don't stand a good chance of stopping him, and I don't want to risk the losses. I'll let Ming start sieging, and once he assaults I'll storm his army and hopefully break it. I have a stack of 7K running around central China sniping and looting, while Nepal sent 3K men up to the Manchurian border to help me out, so thoughtful.
The next few months saw the war turn in an interesting direction. Due to high RR in every province, Ming gets zero tax income, so new regiment formations have all stopped. Ming's larger stack of about 20K (out of 25) is pursuing Dai Viet's 7 regiment stack into southern territory, without even stopping to siege or assault. This means Ming might get into my backyard, but I hope he ends up ping poning in Dai Viet's jungles. Meanwhile, I caught the smaller stack of 9K (out of 20 regiments) by itself and bushwhacked it with 2 cav stacks. Once I get the overrun, Ming will have no forces in the Chinese coastal regions that I want. My stack sniper stack has already run out of targets and is sieging 3 provinces near and including Ming's capital. You can see that Japan is still making a nuisance of itself in my back yard, but I'm not too concerned, as I can see the end of the war in sight.
I wipe out the Ming stack I just beat, and then I spend the next few months sieging the chinese coast while Ming's other stack runs around Dai Viet. He finally kills Viet's stack, storms a province, then moves back north. I'm going to see what I can do here. On one hand, I can abandon the sieges, gang up, and probably wipe out the stack. I could then siege in peace, but as was found in Rastar's game, I don't know if I want Ming to get plastered by other nations. However, considering how lame the AI can be, that might be ok. On the other hand, I can dance around the stack, try to win some more sieges, and keep Ming hanging on a thread. My gut is to win what sieges I can, then wipe out the stack. If Ming get's overwhelmed, so be it, it'll make my time easier. I also get an event where one of Ming's provinces defects to me. I take it, as its a base 4 tax province, eh, I'll take it.
Ming's stack moves quickly to engage my sieging units, so as my 3K stack of infantry retreats to a nearby province, I decide to go all out and collect about 17K cav and 2.5K infantry to face off against Ming. I should have a good shot at beating him, as their king sucks as a general. You can also see how Manchu and Korea have declared war on Ming, so the previous questions and concerns are moot. Time to butcher me some Ming.
Oirat nationalists are also abounding in their old territory, with most of the provinces either taken (marked with an 'o') or being sieged (marked with an 'x')
I lose the battle with Ming's stack, and then I start to get ping-ponged (at one point losing 4K of cavalry). Not good, so best I avoid him for a while. Like a moron, I didn't lead him into my territory where I could get more men and he could get attrition, so I'll have to remember that for later. At least my warscore with Ming is at 53%. I get the great man event to fire, so I hastily scrape up some men into position to go to war with the Sunni islanders in the south.
The war seems to be going well, but the battles certainly don't. I lose another 2K stack due to carelessness (I didn't see one of Ming's stack on the move until it was too late). I'm thinking if I can just get those two coastal provinces with the blue circles, I'll peace out with Ming (current warscore is 61%), gather my forces again, and re-declare through Lan Xang.I need a few months or a year to restore manpower, cut WE, etc. I'm figuring the many rebels will keep Ming occupied until I attack again. By the way, Manchu ducked out of course with a white peace; what a bugger. The war against our souther kin go well, and I should have their extra provinces stripped away soon hopefully. With the sieges I have close to completion, plus the two target provinces to add, I should have a decent enough warscore to make this all worthwhile.