Is 1001 provinces actually within reach

[cuendillar]

I'm heading towards the end of a fairly successful achievement run (Riga into Reformed Prussia) and noticed that I might have a shot at an achievement that I thought completely infeasible. That is,"Over a thousand" provinces held. Currently I have 484, spread all over the place.

Problem is, I'm pretty sure that going after it fully would put others at risk so won't do it unless chances to succeed are good enough.

The alliances with Ottomans and Ming were specifically to take down Russia, Persia is for help in the eventual battle against the Ottomans and might come in handy elsewhere too. BB has been with me almost from the start, really invaluable help that I have reciprocated.
Ideas picked are Diplomatic, Quality, Humanist, Defensive, Admin and Expansion. The first 4 groups are finished, I have the RCC from Admin.

The achievements I'm focusing on now:
Master of India: Control all of India (97/150 secured, my forces should be able to take Malwa and Baluchistan easily; I'm fabricating on Ming subjects to threaten war for the final few)
All your trade are belong to us: 300 trade income, majority in the 3 end nodes (3/4, still needs the Venetian node)
Double the love (Have one out of two needed PUs)
Fanatic Collectivist: Hold the institution spawning provinces (10/12, needs Lucca (Papal State, renaissance) and Baku (Russia, enlightenment)
Guarantor of Peace (I'm big enough to guarantee France, but need to cut Russia and Ottomans down to size first)
Georgia on my mind: Own Georgia (USA), Georgia (Caucasus) and South Georgia (Hold nothing there, but if I'm attacking the Ottomans anyway...)
Grand Armada (387/500 heavies built. Don't need them, but had cash to spare)
World Discoverer (2648/2706 provinces discovered)
Silk Road (all silk provinces, Ottomans, Russia, Persia and Ming all hold at least one each)
Live long and prosper: 30 states with prosperity and 70 year old ruler. (I have the prosperity, ruler is 33)

Already picked up 17(!) others during the run, Terra Mariana and taking Japan probably being the toughest ones.

To recap, the one I'm hesitant about trying for is the 1001 provinces achievement - going for it would require taking much more land against other targets than the more targeted wars the above ones asks for.

Is it feasible and, if so, how?

 

[Sfan]

That's extremely easy from your point and with your diplo situation. There are like 2-300 provinces to be had in Africa from what I see, and a mere 80k men can invade all of Africa in the time you have left. The rest of them you will get naturally by eating Russia, finishing India, and with your final wars for Silk Road.

 

[Brynjar]

Absolutely. Post 1700 expansion is a lot quicker than earlier in the game due to Imperialism cb (dip tech 23), admin efficiency from admin tech, and high absolutism (you should aim to keep it as high as possible).

 

[cuendillar]

Absolutely. Post 1700 expansion is a lot quicker than earlier in the game due to Imperialism cb (dip tech 23), admin efficiency from admin tech, and high absolutism (you should aim to keep it as high as possible).

Absolutism has been stable at 100 for a long while, I upped it by conquering TC areas (Ivory coast primarily), lowering autonomy and spamming half-cost harsh treatment. 13 mil/1 absolutism just couldn't be bad. The attempt to get the revolt risk for C&C via overextension failed pretty spectacularly though.

That's extremely easy from your point and with your diplo situation. There are like 2-300 provinces to be had in Africa from what I see, and a mere 80k men can invade all of Africa in the time you have left. The rest of them you will get naturally by eating Russia, finishing India, and with your final wars for Silk Road.

The diplo solution will get worse once Ming actually breaks alliance (they're domineering and have announced it for years) and I turn on the Ottomans. Combined, that's more than half a million men that no longer looks crosswise at anyone who thinks about coalitioning me.

Overextension limits what I can take still, much more than warscore or AE. Noone stays long in a coalition against the top3 GPs, much less declares. Coring costs matter too, I no longer bother coring things that doesn't give OE. Africa should be a possibility, I could easily reinforce my 18k (east) plus 24k (west) there with some of my Indian forces (~120k, now that the Japanese have relocated there) and start attacking. The achievement requires direct control, so I cannot hold it via vassals to ease the burden on OE/admin. Being 2 over relation limit as-is limits those options further. England will be first priority though in that aspect however, by taking their provinces in the Channel node I could feasibly get 30+ ducats/month extra through trade. I just wasn't sure I had the time to do so. Unless weak low-dev provinces means I can get more for the same price...


Genuinely worried about a war with the Ottomans though. I have superiority in numbers 1v1 and could probably remove some of their allies in advance, but with so many fronts to keep in mind (Europe, India, Africa, maybe Caucasus) the AI is just superior at keeping an eye on all fronts at once. No idea about army quality, I have neither CoC nor the accompanying patch. Every time I've tried to war in multiple places at once I've gotten stackwiped or lost sieges where I didn't even know there were enemies - occasionally right next to my main armies. I'm just getting too focused at a single battle that I completely lose any semblance of overview of the war. Allies are awesome to cover for that though, lets me siege with all armies within view while they handle stuff outside. I've never blobbed to this extent before, so I'm rather unfamiliar with the challenges.

 

[Sfan]

If you have humanist, you can frequently go over 100% OE without any trouble. Just avoid doing so in the middle of a war. And don't go for the Ottomans until 1780, you need them to deter coalitions before you break Ming.
With Diplo ideas and last level of adm efficiency which you unlock in a few years, you can conquer insane amounts of land.

As for coalitions, that's also why Africa is your best bet. Full annex Kongo, noone cares, full annex Mali, barely anyone cares, and so on.

 

[Bodi]

I found trade to be the easiest to get while at war, you can get shares in node you normally couldn't without need for a ton of conquest.

 

[Brynjar]

Vassal feeding is the best (only) solution to solve any serious problems with overextension. Immidiatly after a war, before coring, pause the game and take a look at which countries that doesn't exist that have cores in your newly conquered provinces. The go to the diplomacy tab for your nation, and click the Create subject. Select a nation to release as your vassal, but be aware that they will recieve any provinces you hold that they have a core on. Once you have a vassal, you can feed them provinces they neighbour by going to the subjects tab, click the vassal you want to feed, and then grant province. With several vassals it's perfectly possible to make peacedeals that would take you to 250%+ overextension, and still not pass 100% yourself after feeding them. Your overextension number will require you to proceed one day to update after feeding a vassal.

As for the number of fronts, parts your huge fleet of heavies should be set to block the Gulf of Aden, Strait of Hormuz and Gibraltar when fighting the Ottomans. Leave enough in the Mediterranean to fight the Ottoman navy, and they'll end up either fighting you in Europe, or spend half the war walking to India, and siege down a few provinces that doesn't really affect the war score. The safest way to fight the Ottomans is to keep your forces fairly gathered, but it will be slower than spreading out on several fronts. Your army quality should be superior this late as Prussia, and with the ideas you have picked, but rng is still a huge factor in battles.