Inca Guide

[Lord Hoosier]

So currently I am in a course on Pre Columbian South America, and as such I have finally decided to do a play through as an Inti nation, most likely Cusco. My goal would be to fist unite the Andes and then conquer Mexico, basically recreate the borders of New Spain. This will be my first serious attempt at playing a New World Native, so what would good ways to go about doing this be?

 

[atwix]

develop the gold. all of the mines to 10 production or so.

Reform your religion.

I don't remember, but I *think* you can spynetwork and steal maps from Mexico from tribes like Carib. Then just no-cb.

Develop mexican gold.

To repel the europeans you either need to build LOADS of heavies and micro, or fight on land with troops backed by idea groups.

 

[TheMeInTeam]

^ You need colonial range to core in Mexico. You can start conquest there early using subjects, though you probably have the range soon if you can steal maps since that requires diplo tech.

Tribes won't trade away maps once they take the native reform that gives them a colonist, but if you manage an alliance with them prior to that you might be able to prestige buy the maps you need instead.

 

[sinisalo]

Cusco is a good choice. I recently did a run for Sun God.

Speed is the key early, taking over as much of the nearby lands as possible. It's not easy, as the terrain is brutal, and prosecuting offensive wars while hoping to fight defensive battles is a juggling act. Bait-and-reinforce battles were common for me, and micromanaging my armies to arrive in a province a day before the enemy stack so that I get defensive status was key. Eliminating your neighbors by hook or by crook quickly is needed to build authority and get the reforms passed. You are also in a race against the European colonisation, so turning as many coastal provinces as possible is important.

In my run I was bordering a colony by the early 1500s, so there isn't much time to grab as much as you can.

Wars against colonies are now much easier than they used to be, since you can declare war without the overlord being involved. You can take huge parts of the continent in these wars.

For tech I just tried to keep up with MIL as best as I could. The tech costs are so high until you reform religion that it just isn't worth trying to keep up, and you'll get a massive tech boost once you reform so don't spend your points trying to keep up with ADM or DIP. You'll need the ADM points to buy up Stability anyway when you pass each reform. Your saved points cap will be high and may as well horde them if you can. I suggest staying Inti.

The gold provinces won't be much help until you reform. but once you do the value gets a massive boost and the economy takes off. You will become a republic, since that's what colonies are but that's easy to get out of if you want by tanking RT.

I took Expansion first, since Exploration no longer gets a second colonist. But shared discovery was painfully slow so eventually I had to take Exploration too in order to reveal South America.

Be sure you are properly prepared when you flip the switch to pass each reform. Each of these pops rebels, which are stronger and with high morale. It is essential to have full manpower in order to clear these rebels and pass the reform. If you go in unprepared you won't succeed and then it will snowball away. If you run out of manpower before you've dealt with the reform rebels you'll be in a bad spot. It's vital to win these and quickly. By necessity, your nation will be long and lean at this point, and when you enact a reform three rebel stacks will spawn, and can be anywhere within your realm, meaning it will take time to run around playing whack a mole, giving them time to siege down a number of provinces while you try to knock them out. Attacking in to this terrain is dangerous, so it's difficult to succeed while preserving your manpower.

Once you reform religion the run opens up, and now you can take on the colonial nations, build a powerful navy and scoop up the ducats by the canoe-full, while preparing for the showdown with one or more of the Europeans who will eventually have designs on your digs.

A Cusco in to Inca run is really fun, and you need to be ruthless in the early going. Full war-monger mode until you can reform religion.

 

[TheMeInTeam]

Last time I played Inca I just stole maps I needed after reform. I wouldn't recommend either exploration or expansion, you have a colonist you can drop for CBs from Inti reforms. Inti is hot garbage for converting but 1.30 estates let you stack humanist + heathen tolerance to mostly ignore that issue as long as you can manage enough absolutism.

 

[Cancerofthehead]

For contact with Europeans, I would concede the first few wars, don’t even try to fight until you have parity in technology. Occupy a few provinces before they start arriving in numbers to reduce their demands but surrender before suffering losses.

You can expand fast enough to offset any losses and once you get an adjacent core to reform you have a bottomless pit of money (since your gold mines will produce far more) to quickly catch up. Once you can catch up, retake your land from weak colonial nations and you will quickly be more powerful than the Europeans.

I also recommend expansion if not both exploration and expansion as you have the money to spend on colonists so build yourself up as fast as possible to counter the Europeans.

 

[RMS Oceanic]

When in the new world, I find it important to go shopping for a European ally as soon as you reform your religion. To this end, take Exploration (and if you're early enough try and snag the Ivory Coast and Cape, they feed into the Carribean which would probably be your most optimal Trade note). Explore the Mediterranean, and see if there's an isolated target you can no-CB vassalize. This will give you the diplomatic range needed to butter up to the Ottomans and/or Russia, which is usually enough to keep colonists off your back until you're ready to go a conquering.

 

[TheMeInTeam]

Most optimal trade node is English channel . Might take a moment to get there, but Caribbean has a lot of pull so it's a rough spot to base trade long-term. Iberia's easier than channel too usually.

You don't need exploration to pick up African coast if you want to do that, DIP tech 7 and a colony in Brazil does that job.

You can vassal for alliance range regardless of exploration too, via stealing maps. In terms of getting colonies done you can just take them off CNs.

Cuzco is the easiest start but tribal government starts can go horde, so it depends what you want your late game to look like.