Funny that China, the state which has had mega stacks of manpower for eternity, can be so easily beaten. 
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Just wanted to let y'all know that I'm trying to get an update in the works. My computer had some virus issues, and my game crashed a couple times, but everything seems to be in order again, and I should have something as soon as I get enough played to make an update. I've been having to do a lot of rebel smashing, which to be honest does not make for good reading material.
wuhu - rebels.
Remember to save your savegame of your HD then!!! We don't want this to share rastars fate.
Enewald: It seems to be true - the bigger they are, the harder they fall.
Kami: Yeah, rebels do get old after a while. I also have been saving copies of my save game off of my computer, just in case.
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The war I think has entered its end game. Ming has only 1 real stack left of 24K, but all its manpower is pouring into it, preventing any real attrition damage. I waited until they had just failed an assault, and threw 12K cavalry at it. My goal now is to just keep it moving, preventing it from taking any provinces back. Once I take the two coastal provinces I'll peace out for all those good provinces. My vassals have been very useful, I've outlined which theatres they've been acting in as of late. I had some Tibetan freedom fighters rise up in Ming owned Oirat lands (not sure why) and they've taken 3 provinces for me, go rebels! Unfortunately, Ming's guaruntee on Lan Xang wore off, so I'm going to have to go for as high a warscore as possible to get as much as I can, and to try to do as much damage to Ming as I can. I also peaced out with Japan for 50 ducats, mainly so I have one less thing to worry about. There's currently a lot of rebels, mostly peasants and Oirat nationalists, so I don't think I'll have too much to worry about Ming recovering too quickly. If anything I want to get what I want ASAP so I can get the truce timer counting down.
I finally take both of Makassar's provinces, so I force him to give me Mataram (one of Majapahit's old provinces) and 25 ducats. I also manage to snag all the provinces I wanted from Ming and get a 91% warscore, so I peace out for a bunch of juicy coastal provinces. This will give me a chance to finish up with Brunei and get rid of some WE in preparation for the next battle with Ming.
*cue the rebel theme song*
Well, once I get the rebels under control, here's our current situation. WE is down to 3.5, I'm only at war with Brunei (the siege of Bali-Lomboc is taking forever), the Oirat Horde has re-emerged, and Ming is still only at 25K troops. Fortunately, Ming has allied Lan Xang, so I might have an opportunity to get at them again. Since Korea is also allied to the target, I've sent 5K of cavalry to deal with them. Interestingly enough, it seems Austria is the head hog of Europe at the moment, and the Golden Horde is getting rather large. The latter is not so good, as I'd rather not have to fight a Sunni nation multiple times, but I figure once I westernize, I'll start the BB phase.
I finally win the siege of Bali, which lets me peace out with Brunei. Now I can redeploy my navy without worrying about those 16 carracks. Once I'm in position, I'll get back into the war with Ming, which this time should go much faster. You can see I have a slider move available, which I'll move towards innovative to get ready for westernization.
With the rebels taken care of, the nation innovated (got the loss of prestiege event, big whoop), now its time to get back to the war thing.
Here's an outline of my battle plan. I'm assuming Ming's 24K stack is busy fighting Oirat armies or peasants/sunni zealots, and thus isn't in a position to oppose me just yet. This will give me time to take some buffer provinces and keep him away from my new acquisitions.
I quickly move in and take Lan Xang's 3 unfortified provinces, which is enough to vassalize them. They had a lot of money...a lot of money, especially for a SE asian country. Not sure why they never used it for forts, but I'm not complaining; this definately helps my budget concerns with expanding the navy soon. I've got my sights on Japan, as I've got a score to settle with them, but I'll need a better navy first.
As expected, the war goes quite well, with no sign of Ming's stack. I've used some of the funds from Lan Xang to start building 6 carracks, as well as fund missionaries in my new chinese provinces. Due to Ming's reduced size, I won't get too many provinces from this war, so I'll focus on isolating Ming's capital, as I want that CoT.
Here we are after a year and a half of more sieging. Korea pushed us out of their country, but then got stuck trying to go around some rebels, so we got access through Oirat and looped back around. I have a warscore in the 60's without fighting Ming's stack, so this war has mostly been fighting rebels and taking land.
Well, I took a look at what warscore would be needed to vassalize Korea, and it would be 108%...so I just grab a few provinces to boost warscore and peace out with Ming for 4 provinces that surround their capital. Manchu entered into the war with Ming, occupying 1 province and having 1 defect to them from Manchurian patriots. I'm still trying to think on how to get at Japan, other than the obvious naval build up of course. I'm always trying to conquer the world on a budget.
My next move will most likely be to declare war on Japan to get back to war with Ming for more land. The question is whether to try and build up a navy capable of taking theirs on and invading Japan, or to simply defend from Japan's attacks and take more land from Ming. Something that I'll have to ponder on.
Kami: Yeah, rebels do get old after a while. I also have been saving copies of my save game off of my computer, just in case.
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The war I think has entered its end game. Ming has only 1 real stack left of 24K, but all its manpower is pouring into it, preventing any real attrition damage. I waited until they had just failed an assault, and threw 12K cavalry at it. My goal now is to just keep it moving, preventing it from taking any provinces back. Once I take the two coastal provinces I'll peace out for all those good provinces. My vassals have been very useful, I've outlined which theatres they've been acting in as of late. I had some Tibetan freedom fighters rise up in Ming owned Oirat lands (not sure why) and they've taken 3 provinces for me, go rebels! Unfortunately, Ming's guaruntee on Lan Xang wore off, so I'm going to have to go for as high a warscore as possible to get as much as I can, and to try to do as much damage to Ming as I can. I also peaced out with Japan for 50 ducats, mainly so I have one less thing to worry about. There's currently a lot of rebels, mostly peasants and Oirat nationalists, so I don't think I'll have too much to worry about Ming recovering too quickly. If anything I want to get what I want ASAP so I can get the truce timer counting down.
I finally take both of Makassar's provinces, so I force him to give me Mataram (one of Majapahit's old provinces) and 25 ducats. I also manage to snag all the provinces I wanted from Ming and get a 91% warscore, so I peace out for a bunch of juicy coastal provinces. This will give me a chance to finish up with Brunei and get rid of some WE in preparation for the next battle with Ming.
*cue the rebel theme song*
Well, once I get the rebels under control, here's our current situation. WE is down to 3.5, I'm only at war with Brunei (the siege of Bali-Lomboc is taking forever), the Oirat Horde has re-emerged, and Ming is still only at 25K troops. Fortunately, Ming has allied Lan Xang, so I might have an opportunity to get at them again. Since Korea is also allied to the target, I've sent 5K of cavalry to deal with them. Interestingly enough, it seems Austria is the head hog of Europe at the moment, and the Golden Horde is getting rather large. The latter is not so good, as I'd rather not have to fight a Sunni nation multiple times, but I figure once I westernize, I'll start the BB phase.
I finally win the siege of Bali, which lets me peace out with Brunei. Now I can redeploy my navy without worrying about those 16 carracks. Once I'm in position, I'll get back into the war with Ming, which this time should go much faster. You can see I have a slider move available, which I'll move towards innovative to get ready for westernization.
With the rebels taken care of, the nation innovated (got the loss of prestiege event, big whoop), now its time to get back to the war thing.
Here's an outline of my battle plan. I'm assuming Ming's 24K stack is busy fighting Oirat armies or peasants/sunni zealots, and thus isn't in a position to oppose me just yet. This will give me time to take some buffer provinces and keep him away from my new acquisitions.
I quickly move in and take Lan Xang's 3 unfortified provinces, which is enough to vassalize them. They had a lot of money...a lot of money, especially for a SE asian country. Not sure why they never used it for forts, but I'm not complaining; this definately helps my budget concerns with expanding the navy soon. I've got my sights on Japan, as I've got a score to settle with them, but I'll need a better navy first.
As expected, the war goes quite well, with no sign of Ming's stack. I've used some of the funds from Lan Xang to start building 6 carracks, as well as fund missionaries in my new chinese provinces. Due to Ming's reduced size, I won't get too many provinces from this war, so I'll focus on isolating Ming's capital, as I want that CoT.
Here we are after a year and a half of more sieging. Korea pushed us out of their country, but then got stuck trying to go around some rebels, so we got access through Oirat and looped back around. I have a warscore in the 60's without fighting Ming's stack, so this war has mostly been fighting rebels and taking land.
Well, I took a look at what warscore would be needed to vassalize Korea, and it would be 108%...so I just grab a few provinces to boost warscore and peace out with Ming for 4 provinces that surround their capital. Manchu entered into the war with Ming, occupying 1 province and having 1 defect to them from Manchurian patriots. I'm still trying to think on how to get at Japan, other than the obvious naval build up of course. I'm always trying to conquer the world on a budget.
My next move will most likely be to declare war on Japan to get back to war with Ming for more land. The question is whether to try and build up a navy capable of taking theirs on and invading Japan, or to simply defend from Japan's attacks and take more land from Ming. Something that I'll have to ponder on.
Congratulations on a couple of very succcessful wars!
I'd say ignore Japan. Once you've wiped out their allies on the mainland they'll probably just go to sleep until you are ready to invade - which you can do at your leisure.
Looks as if you've demonstrated that Rastar's strategy is repeatable - so we now have the Rastar Plan or how to take down Ming as a minor.
I'd say ignore Japan. Once you've wiped out their allies on the mainland they'll probably just go to sleep until you are ready to invade - which you can do at your leisure.
Looks as if you've demonstrated that Rastar's strategy is repeatable - so we now have the Rastar Plan or how to take down Ming as a minor.
Athomahawk: Thank you, I hope you enjoy reading.
Hitmanalex: Yeah, Ming goes down hard in this next update, I was somewhat surprised. I suppose it is as they say, "the bigger they are, the harder they fall."
PrawnStar: Thanks! Yeah, after I had thought about it, I decided you guys were right and that Japan can wait. Once I get a tech advantage from westernization, I plan on eating Japan and India first to kick off the BB wars, so I'll deal with them then.
As for Rastar's plan, it definately is a good way to take down a super power. I suppose in comparison to Undu's (I think that's how it's spelled) Mantuan WC plan with France, the big difference is using allied buffer vassals to provide the attrition pits, rather than your own provinces. This way your WE doesn't skyrocket either. I think the only contribution I made to Rastar's plan was that having Tibet as a vassal is HUGE when Ming's armies are in the area, as Tibet is a giant death trap that will suck the manpower out like nothing else. I'm fairly certain that is what made my first war so easy (relatively speaking).
LuKo: Yep, me too. Japan isn't worth it just yet.
Enewald: Thanks. As for where Ming's armies went, it seems once their RR skyrocketed to the point where the income penalty due to it broke 100% they stopped raising regiments. Thus once I broke that first mega-stack, they never really recovered. Add in taking out a few supplemental stacks, they were stuck at that one 25K stack for the rest of the wars. To give a quick tidbit from this update, they actually never recover from that.
Didaa: Thanks as well! I figure Ming was the big hurdle of the first phase of this plan, now I need to settle down to the next phase, which is consolidating, getting ready for westernization, and exploring. Its making me think I have a decent shot at actually doing a WC with this
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Now that wars are over for the short term, I decide that the best plan would be to consolidate and try to bring down my high stability cost in preparation for westernization. I build a batch of temples in my cored provinces, as well as 2 forts near my capital. I also am working to get the newer chinese territories converted, which should increase my income and decrease stability cost (I think that's how it works). Manchu ended its war with Ming after 2 provinces defected to them due to rebels. The Oirat Horde meanwhile seems to continue to take it to Ming, taking several provinces and not giving up.
*cue the rebel theme song...again...*
I've been rebel bashing for a few years, and I'm still not done, but I wanted to point out how Ming was fairing halfway through the truce timer. Peasants have taken a swath of provinces in the northern and western regions, and 3 stacks of Wu nationalists have sprung up together. I'm going to try to keep them off my lands and let Wu form, as thats one more country I can have on a truce timer. I'll try to get a few armies on my provinces that border the rebel provinces; I'm hoping that they'll sooner go take Wu lands held by the Oirat Horde before they go into a fight with me. I also start preparing to colonize a province near Majahapit's old lands, as I can use a base 5 tax province with my culture and religion. I also plan on colonizing Bone so I can get a province to border Makassar; my idea here is to let BB wars get the sunni islanders to declare war on me and free me from the stab hit. I hope.
After some time with rebels running amok in Ming's lands (and I think the Oirat Horde's) both Ming and the Horde break at the same time. This causes the two to come to peace, as well as create Wu, which for some reason has a ton of land they never had cores on originally. Ming consists now only of its capital, some northern provinces splitting up the Horde, and 3 provinces in the south. Since Wu has no allies, no army, I think its time I start smashing things other than rebels. At the very least, I can get my vassals doing something other than sitting on their rear ends. Plus Wu has some very nice provinces that I had my eyes on.
The war progress smoothly enough. Wu mobilizes a decent army rather quickly, although its still not enough. I think the biggest weapon they have is their -5- shock general. I luckily have a decent 4 shock general, but still it was surprising to face it. Another nice bit is that shortly after the war started, Ming moved its capital to their remaining north-western provinces, woohoo! You're next Ming.
Once I take enough territory to get a 97% peace, I take 3 provinces (all at least base 7) and remove a few cores. Due to the province values, it will take several wars to get Wu annexed, but I'm in no rush at the moment. This now gives me the opportunity to get started with Ming so I can have their juicy CoT.
They're allied with Korea...I half wonder who will the alliance leader be. My primary goal is their CoT and whatever provinces in the south I can get. I'll let them have their northern provinces, as they are rather crappy.
The war with Ming is easier and harder all at the same time. It is easier because Ming is bankrupt, which means their forts have jack for morale, meaning a basic assault of 2K+ troops can take it in a few days. Dai Viet is having a field day with their 5K inf stack. This right here is one of the main reasons why I still love having some infantry around, as I took Jiangsu in 5 days with 3K infantry. The war is harder because if I want to get a decent war score, I need to trek through Tibet to get to Ming. I'll try to get access through Wu, but understandibly, they're not really trusting of me right now. I plan on ignoring Korea, as I don't want their provinces, they have no money, and I can't vassalize them. By now I have trade tech 6, and I should get trade tech 7 in the late 1470's, so we should hopefully be exploring by then.
The war progresses well, with my main danger being the hordes of rebels I'm getting. When I get a clear window, I send 10K men north through Wu (who gave us access finally), although by the time I do this, my vassals get to work and send sizable forces of their own. I also eject some Qin rebels into Wu's land; I would find it deliciously ironic if Qin emerges in a revolution from Wu who did the same, but I doubt it will occur, as Wu isn't a wreck like Ming was. Speaking of which, Wu now guaruntee's Ming, so we have a means to get at Wu twice for the next war, although I think I'll stop after these wars, as my stability cost is somewhat high as it is. I got an event of the Sultan's insanity, which dropped me 1 stability point - it will take me about 2 years to get it back; not good. Final point of interest in this shot is how Manchu is making a move on the Oirat Horde. Seems Manchu is getting a little fiesty after getting those 2 nice provinces from Ming, so we'll see where they go. Its always interesting watching the expected progression go out the window.
I let Korea off with a white peace so I can increase my warscore on Ming, and then peace out for Jiangsu, and the 2 good provinces in the south, plus removing a few cores. I think this should be it for my territorial ambitions. I might do a few more wars to eliminate cores, but I don't want to expand anymore until after westernization. Now I plan on converting and building temples so I can bring my stability cost as low as possible. Oh boy, can you say rebels ahoy? Then we best get to it, arr matey!
Fast forward a few years of rebel smashing and converting, here's where we stand in our progress to convert the chinese provinces. I've made decent headway, and I have about 8 more provinces in progress. I'm hoping that by the time 1480 rolls around we'll have at least half of those provinces converted as well (the expected value is roughly in 8 years they all convert, but statistics never quite hit the expected value in my experience). I've also been doing some thinking regarding money. When I hit trade tech 7 in 1480 (stab hit from innovative slider move bumped it by 2 years) I have to ditch national bank, so I'll need to have a war chest before I go out into the unknown and pillage rich african pagans. So, what is a warmonger to do? How about we release Bihar as a vassal, beat the crap out of them, take their money, and re-vassalize them? Sounds like a plan to me. I'll give it a try closer to 1480 when I should have the chinese territories a little calmer. The last thing I need is a bunch of Confucian zealots reversing 10 years of hard work. As a final update for westernization progress, all I need to do now is one more move innovative, and I'm there (1483).
Hitmanalex: Yeah, Ming goes down hard in this next update, I was somewhat surprised. I suppose it is as they say, "the bigger they are, the harder they fall."
PrawnStar: Thanks! Yeah, after I had thought about it, I decided you guys were right and that Japan can wait. Once I get a tech advantage from westernization, I plan on eating Japan and India first to kick off the BB wars, so I'll deal with them then.
As for Rastar's plan, it definately is a good way to take down a super power. I suppose in comparison to Undu's (I think that's how it's spelled) Mantuan WC plan with France, the big difference is using allied buffer vassals to provide the attrition pits, rather than your own provinces. This way your WE doesn't skyrocket either. I think the only contribution I made to Rastar's plan was that having Tibet as a vassal is HUGE when Ming's armies are in the area, as Tibet is a giant death trap that will suck the manpower out like nothing else. I'm fairly certain that is what made my first war so easy (relatively speaking).
LuKo: Yep, me too. Japan isn't worth it just yet.
Enewald: Thanks. As for where Ming's armies went, it seems once their RR skyrocketed to the point where the income penalty due to it broke 100% they stopped raising regiments. Thus once I broke that first mega-stack, they never really recovered. Add in taking out a few supplemental stacks, they were stuck at that one 25K stack for the rest of the wars. To give a quick tidbit from this update, they actually never recover from that.
Didaa: Thanks as well! I figure Ming was the big hurdle of the first phase of this plan, now I need to settle down to the next phase, which is consolidating, getting ready for westernization, and exploring. Its making me think I have a decent shot at actually doing a WC with this
----------------------------------------------------------------------
Now that wars are over for the short term, I decide that the best plan would be to consolidate and try to bring down my high stability cost in preparation for westernization. I build a batch of temples in my cored provinces, as well as 2 forts near my capital. I also am working to get the newer chinese territories converted, which should increase my income and decrease stability cost (I think that's how it works). Manchu ended its war with Ming after 2 provinces defected to them due to rebels. The Oirat Horde meanwhile seems to continue to take it to Ming, taking several provinces and not giving up.
*cue the rebel theme song...again...*
I've been rebel bashing for a few years, and I'm still not done, but I wanted to point out how Ming was fairing halfway through the truce timer. Peasants have taken a swath of provinces in the northern and western regions, and 3 stacks of Wu nationalists have sprung up together. I'm going to try to keep them off my lands and let Wu form, as thats one more country I can have on a truce timer. I'll try to get a few armies on my provinces that border the rebel provinces; I'm hoping that they'll sooner go take Wu lands held by the Oirat Horde before they go into a fight with me. I also start preparing to colonize a province near Majahapit's old lands, as I can use a base 5 tax province with my culture and religion. I also plan on colonizing Bone so I can get a province to border Makassar; my idea here is to let BB wars get the sunni islanders to declare war on me and free me from the stab hit. I hope.
After some time with rebels running amok in Ming's lands (and I think the Oirat Horde's) both Ming and the Horde break at the same time. This causes the two to come to peace, as well as create Wu, which for some reason has a ton of land they never had cores on originally. Ming consists now only of its capital, some northern provinces splitting up the Horde, and 3 provinces in the south. Since Wu has no allies, no army, I think its time I start smashing things other than rebels. At the very least, I can get my vassals doing something other than sitting on their rear ends. Plus Wu has some very nice provinces that I had my eyes on.
The war progress smoothly enough. Wu mobilizes a decent army rather quickly, although its still not enough. I think the biggest weapon they have is their -5- shock general. I luckily have a decent 4 shock general, but still it was surprising to face it. Another nice bit is that shortly after the war started, Ming moved its capital to their remaining north-western provinces, woohoo! You're next Ming.
Once I take enough territory to get a 97% peace, I take 3 provinces (all at least base 7) and remove a few cores. Due to the province values, it will take several wars to get Wu annexed, but I'm in no rush at the moment. This now gives me the opportunity to get started with Ming so I can have their juicy CoT.
They're allied with Korea...I half wonder who will the alliance leader be. My primary goal is their CoT and whatever provinces in the south I can get. I'll let them have their northern provinces, as they are rather crappy.
The war with Ming is easier and harder all at the same time. It is easier because Ming is bankrupt, which means their forts have jack for morale, meaning a basic assault of 2K+ troops can take it in a few days. Dai Viet is having a field day with their 5K inf stack. This right here is one of the main reasons why I still love having some infantry around, as I took Jiangsu in 5 days with 3K infantry. The war is harder because if I want to get a decent war score, I need to trek through Tibet to get to Ming. I'll try to get access through Wu, but understandibly, they're not really trusting of me right now. I plan on ignoring Korea, as I don't want their provinces, they have no money, and I can't vassalize them. By now I have trade tech 6, and I should get trade tech 7 in the late 1470's, so we should hopefully be exploring by then.
The war progresses well, with my main danger being the hordes of rebels I'm getting. When I get a clear window, I send 10K men north through Wu (who gave us access finally), although by the time I do this, my vassals get to work and send sizable forces of their own. I also eject some Qin rebels into Wu's land; I would find it deliciously ironic if Qin emerges in a revolution from Wu who did the same, but I doubt it will occur, as Wu isn't a wreck like Ming was. Speaking of which, Wu now guaruntee's Ming, so we have a means to get at Wu twice for the next war, although I think I'll stop after these wars, as my stability cost is somewhat high as it is. I got an event of the Sultan's insanity, which dropped me 1 stability point - it will take me about 2 years to get it back; not good. Final point of interest in this shot is how Manchu is making a move on the Oirat Horde. Seems Manchu is getting a little fiesty after getting those 2 nice provinces from Ming, so we'll see where they go. Its always interesting watching the expected progression go out the window.
I let Korea off with a white peace so I can increase my warscore on Ming, and then peace out for Jiangsu, and the 2 good provinces in the south, plus removing a few cores. I think this should be it for my territorial ambitions. I might do a few more wars to eliminate cores, but I don't want to expand anymore until after westernization. Now I plan on converting and building temples so I can bring my stability cost as low as possible. Oh boy, can you say rebels ahoy? Then we best get to it, arr matey!
Fast forward a few years of rebel smashing and converting, here's where we stand in our progress to convert the chinese provinces. I've made decent headway, and I have about 8 more provinces in progress. I'm hoping that by the time 1480 rolls around we'll have at least half of those provinces converted as well (the expected value is roughly in 8 years they all convert, but statistics never quite hit the expected value in my experience). I've also been doing some thinking regarding money. When I hit trade tech 7 in 1480 (stab hit from innovative slider move bumped it by 2 years) I have to ditch national bank, so I'll need to have a war chest before I go out into the unknown and pillage rich african pagans. So, what is a warmonger to do? How about we release Bihar as a vassal, beat the crap out of them, take their money, and re-vassalize them? Sounds like a plan to me. I'll give it a try closer to 1480 when I should have the chinese territories a little calmer. The last thing I need is a bunch of Confucian zealots reversing 10 years of hard work. As a final update for westernization progress, all I need to do now is one more move innovative, and I'm there (1483).
I keep wondering about the unrealistic play style of China in eu3.
There were always huge armies sitting on the borders, governors revolting there and then, and 200 millions of population.:wacko:
There were always huge armies sitting on the borders, governors revolting there and then, and 200 millions of population.:wacko:
I tend to be annoyed over the huge overstacking of the AI.
Why siege a province with 60k regiments, when thats twice the enemy army? Its so easy to exploit.
Well done. Now you only need the land connection to Manchu, and then the capital!
Why siege a province with 60k regiments, when thats twice the enemy army? Its so easy to exploit.
Well done. Now you only need the land connection to Manchu, and then the capital!
Very good progress and that mess you've made out of China should be easy to exploit.
How many stab hits do you have to take for your westernisation plans? Temples everywhere are a must and the conversions are great.
How many stab hits do you have to take for your westernisation plans? Temples everywhere are a must and the conversions are great.
Enewald: I'm kind of liking how this game is going rather atypically. As a bit of a sneak peak into the rest of the world, Ryazan and Tver are the dominant Russian factions, Austria has created a huge blob (I think they inherited Poland), Castille is a rump state, and Great Britain has already formed. Yeah, this game is going to get interesting.
Kami: Yeah, the AI does tend to water down the sense of achievement somewhat when they are stupid, but considering the AI cheats, I figure it more than balances it out.
PrawnStar: Yeah, I pretty much have the chinese region under my thumb. The other powers exist because I don't want their land during westernization. As for how many stab hits... I figure I need to westernize 3 times, so thats 15 stab points right there. I'll probably change government types to Empire as well, so thats another 3. I'm debating whether or not I want to become a republic down the road, as I'd like to be able to favor admin monarchs for their WE reduction ability. The whole Padishah title though is rather tempting
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Skip ahead a few years of standing around killing rebels. I manage to get a few more provinces converted (not as many as I'd hoped), placed a colony next to Makassar, and started the war with Bihar for some money. I also get a boundary dispute with Wu, so next time I go to war with them I get a nice core, and its on a base tax 6 province to boot. Other notes of interest to catch up: Oirat moved their capital to their western provinces, after being slapped around by Wu and Manchu a lot. Ming lost their lone southern province to Wu rebels...and thats about it. To be honest, this part is relatively boring, though we should hit trade tech 7 in 2 years, so then it'll get interesting again.
The war with Bihar is quickly concluded, and I only seek 650 ducats and the return to the status quo. I'll nab their nice CoT later after westernization.
Once summer of 1479 rolls around, I finally get trade tech 7 and QftNW. I hire an explorer and start clearing the coast of eastern india while I gather an 8K cavalry exploration/exploitation force. With luck I should be able to find a suitable target for conquest so I can start westernizing (also assuming I have a capable ruler, current one is a 4/3/5 moron). You can see in the screen shot I'm still dealing with rebels, but thats always the case. I've finally got the last 5 or so provinces in china under conversion attempts, so once they convert I'll be set.
Well, it seems this game still surprises. Here I was, off minding my own business exploring the great unknown, finding a muslim port to repair in, when all of a sudden someone decides that what they have isn't good enough, they really, REALLY need their rear ends pounded hard. Whatever, I was going to let you live a little longer, but not anymore.
Why was this so stupid of Wu? For one thing, they only have about 50K men. Ming died with over twice that, so I'm not impressed. Secondly, I've still got a nice 4 shock general alive, and my forces are not completely out of position. The territories that are currently exposed, can stand to be occupied (I don't want to lose any province with active missionaries, as that nixes them). Thirdly, now I have no real reason to let them live, not if they are going to be a pain in the arse and run the risk of attacking me during westernization. My plans for this war are to let their stacks invade, and one by one crush and route them. Then I'll take a few more rich provinces and money to punish/weaken Wu.
Wu's largest stack tries to assault (as are all the others) and fails (as did the others). Unlike the others, I had 18K men ready to strike, and I push Wu's forces back towards the capital. I intend to give them no rest.
Not long after, cores pop on the original Ming peace treaty, which should definately help my budget situation, which is in the red after losing national bank.
I finally route Wu's 18 regiment stack in the north, and Korea starts to see that helping Wu doesn't help them. I'll see if they have any money before I respond to their offer. I also have my 2 reinforcing armies (totaling 15K) about to attack Wu's 10K stack in Guiyang. Another of Wu's stacks is wandering around in Tibet, and we all know what'll come of that. Seems the war is already off to a bad start for Wu.
After a few months, the war continues in our favor. The two stacks left in my area are on the run with pursuit following. Manchu smelled blood in the water and piled on. While I would rather they not get too many nice provinces from Wu, I somewhat doubt Manchu has the ability to do much, as the only gains they've ever made have been from defections. My vassals have been doing a nice job storming forts, and once Wu's armies are dead, I'll be able to get to sieging. You can also notice at the bottom I get a core from my war with Aceh, for a dinky base 1 tax island, bah.
At this point the war is just a case of mopping up and taking provinces (warscore is 56%). A few notes of interest - I gain a stability point (takes me about 2 years each) and I'm still continuing my sea exploration, reaching south Africa. Now that things are in hand in China, I'm sending the 8K cav force to hook up with some cogs and join the ships in Africa, where I can hopefully loot some natives for building more temples.
I peace out with Wu for 3 good provinces (base tax 6, 6, 9) and a bunch of cores. As an aside, one of those base 6 tax provinces I have a core from that boundary dispute. I waited until I had started a war with Kongo so I could keep war taxes until the end of the year. Normally I wouldn't run war taxes with such a poor admin ruler, but I figure I need the money to make a lot of temples and stuff. During the war I also had Dali defect to me (Wu's southwestern-most province). As it was a base 4 tax province, I figured might as well.
The war with Kongo ends as expected, with an awful lot of money. Time to build some temples methinks.
I finally sail around Africa, getting military access with sunni nations on the coast, until we come to some new horizons. To make it even better, Jiangsu converts. I made the final move towards innovative that is needed (costing me another stab point), now all we need is a latin tech neighbor and a competant king. Now its just time to choose who to pick as our target...
Kami: Yeah, the AI does tend to water down the sense of achievement somewhat when they are stupid, but considering the AI cheats, I figure it more than balances it out.
PrawnStar: Yeah, I pretty much have the chinese region under my thumb. The other powers exist because I don't want their land during westernization. As for how many stab hits... I figure I need to westernize 3 times, so thats 15 stab points right there. I'll probably change government types to Empire as well, so thats another 3. I'm debating whether or not I want to become a republic down the road, as I'd like to be able to favor admin monarchs for their WE reduction ability. The whole Padishah title though is rather tempting
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Skip ahead a few years of standing around killing rebels. I manage to get a few more provinces converted (not as many as I'd hoped), placed a colony next to Makassar, and started the war with Bihar for some money. I also get a boundary dispute with Wu, so next time I go to war with them I get a nice core, and its on a base tax 6 province to boot. Other notes of interest to catch up: Oirat moved their capital to their western provinces, after being slapped around by Wu and Manchu a lot. Ming lost their lone southern province to Wu rebels...and thats about it. To be honest, this part is relatively boring, though we should hit trade tech 7 in 2 years, so then it'll get interesting again.
The war with Bihar is quickly concluded, and I only seek 650 ducats and the return to the status quo. I'll nab their nice CoT later after westernization.
Once summer of 1479 rolls around, I finally get trade tech 7 and QftNW. I hire an explorer and start clearing the coast of eastern india while I gather an 8K cavalry exploration/exploitation force. With luck I should be able to find a suitable target for conquest so I can start westernizing (also assuming I have a capable ruler, current one is a 4/3/5 moron). You can see in the screen shot I'm still dealing with rebels, but thats always the case. I've finally got the last 5 or so provinces in china under conversion attempts, so once they convert I'll be set.
Well, it seems this game still surprises. Here I was, off minding my own business exploring the great unknown, finding a muslim port to repair in, when all of a sudden someone decides that what they have isn't good enough, they really, REALLY need their rear ends pounded hard. Whatever, I was going to let you live a little longer, but not anymore.
Why was this so stupid of Wu? For one thing, they only have about 50K men. Ming died with over twice that, so I'm not impressed. Secondly, I've still got a nice 4 shock general alive, and my forces are not completely out of position. The territories that are currently exposed, can stand to be occupied (I don't want to lose any province with active missionaries, as that nixes them). Thirdly, now I have no real reason to let them live, not if they are going to be a pain in the arse and run the risk of attacking me during westernization. My plans for this war are to let their stacks invade, and one by one crush and route them. Then I'll take a few more rich provinces and money to punish/weaken Wu.
Wu's largest stack tries to assault (as are all the others) and fails (as did the others). Unlike the others, I had 18K men ready to strike, and I push Wu's forces back towards the capital. I intend to give them no rest.
Not long after, cores pop on the original Ming peace treaty, which should definately help my budget situation, which is in the red after losing national bank.
I finally route Wu's 18 regiment stack in the north, and Korea starts to see that helping Wu doesn't help them. I'll see if they have any money before I respond to their offer. I also have my 2 reinforcing armies (totaling 15K) about to attack Wu's 10K stack in Guiyang. Another of Wu's stacks is wandering around in Tibet, and we all know what'll come of that. Seems the war is already off to a bad start for Wu.
After a few months, the war continues in our favor. The two stacks left in my area are on the run with pursuit following. Manchu smelled blood in the water and piled on. While I would rather they not get too many nice provinces from Wu, I somewhat doubt Manchu has the ability to do much, as the only gains they've ever made have been from defections. My vassals have been doing a nice job storming forts, and once Wu's armies are dead, I'll be able to get to sieging. You can also notice at the bottom I get a core from my war with Aceh, for a dinky base 1 tax island, bah.
At this point the war is just a case of mopping up and taking provinces (warscore is 56%). A few notes of interest - I gain a stability point (takes me about 2 years each) and I'm still continuing my sea exploration, reaching south Africa. Now that things are in hand in China, I'm sending the 8K cav force to hook up with some cogs and join the ships in Africa, where I can hopefully loot some natives for building more temples.
I peace out with Wu for 3 good provinces (base tax 6, 6, 9) and a bunch of cores. As an aside, one of those base 6 tax provinces I have a core from that boundary dispute. I waited until I had started a war with Kongo so I could keep war taxes until the end of the year. Normally I wouldn't run war taxes with such a poor admin ruler, but I figure I need the money to make a lot of temples and stuff. During the war I also had Dali defect to me (Wu's southwestern-most province). As it was a base 4 tax province, I figured might as well.
The war with Kongo ends as expected, with an awful lot of money. Time to build some temples methinks.
I finally sail around Africa, getting military access with sunni nations on the coast, until we come to some new horizons. To make it even better, Jiangsu converts. I made the final move towards innovative that is needed (costing me another stab point), now all we need is a latin tech neighbor and a competant king. Now its just time to choose who to pick as our target...
I see a Great Britian ship. Thats not good and Whos in Gibralter? It aint Spain or Great Britian.
Very good!
My only concern would be how long westernisation takes. 15 stab hits at 2 years a shot is a long time to keep a decent ruler.
My only concern would be how long westernisation takes. 15 stab hits at 2 years a shot is a long time to keep a decent ruler.
Wow, that's a tantalising glimpse of Iberia, it looks like there's up to 3 or 4 nations there!?
Hopefully the Popemeister will be weak and surrounded by minors still, then you can get a Latin border and the conquest of Rome bonus
Hopefully the Popemeister will be weak and surrounded by minors still, then you can get a Latin border and the conquest of Rome bonus
The Han soon better realise that the Mandate of Heaven has been bestowed upon you, and Allah shall lead them to a greater glory and serenity!
Why was Kongo your first native target??
Iberia seems like a good place to start a reqonqiusta - Divided and with loads of rebels - YIHAA! Maybe you can even have Granada help with the conversion of the peninsula ?
Iberia seems like a good place to start a reqonqiusta - Divided and with loads of rebels - YIHAA! Maybe you can even have Granada help with the conversion of the peninsula ?