Island Quest - 1.21 (all the islands and nothing but islands)

[atwix]

After the fall of Lothian, England is completely occupied and I can get a good peace out of them without having to fight their main army:

In the peace , I get enough provinces to get a land link to London, and also take their fort in Marches. I leave them their coastal provinces which can be raided by my fleet at will later.

oh dear. taking that land from a non co-belligerent? I would have done anull Alliance..

Beause I took "only" 3 provinces, I did not bother to check coalition numbers. I should have, because soon enough I see one form, starting in North Germany and spreading out. I prepare to make peace with Castile, but first I wanted to occupy Azores islands so I can ask them in the peace. But before I can do that, it is WAR! :

saw that coming

THe land grab is aggressive, and I add more countries to the coalition list. But I already had a coalition war going, so the new countries won't joint the old countries. Well kind of, because they don't join the old war, but they start a new WAR!:

well, i'm starting to suspect you want to have normandy as a vassal and feed them channel Mainland land..

right?

these are the idea groups they take when released as vassal:

Defensive, Trade, Religious, Diplomatic, Economic, Innovative, Maritime, Espionage

So releasing them at tech 10 is great to use them as channel node vassal. TRADE!

Then seize all their trade

But it seems you are bit reluctant to meddle in Europe too much, and rather go for spice isles... right?

 

[mackwolfe]

oh dear. taking that land from a non co-belligerent? I would have done anull Alliance..

yeah. That would have been better. see end of next chapter.

But it seems you are bit reluctant to meddle in Europe too much, and rather go for spice isles... right?

Correct. Once i have my islands, no point in meddling in Europe. I will build my economic power base in Asia.

 

[parats]

Independent Netherlands would net you more trade income as the vassal fee wouldnt be so much.

 

[mackwolfe]

1530's: A global reach

I ended the last chapter at war with 3 minors leading a coalition each. I let those wars simmer, while i focus on exploration. As soon as I unlock next diplo tech, I send my colonist to Mauritius. Once completed, this colony will give range all the way to modern Taiwan.

(colonization of Mauritius begins , note that France is winning the fight with Wurzburg's coalition)

Soon after, I get the call for peace from the first coalition war. I decide to take it , giving France a province for all their hard work, and keeping money and reparations for me:

This leaves 2 coalition wars going Those would be harder to peace out as I had no winning warscore on them . And so I spend the time raiding newly accessible coasts:

(Africa's Eastern shore raided thanks to our colony on Mauritius)

The third coalition war then takes a good turn, when Savoy lands a good size force in Britain. Two battles at Yorkshire and Lancashire result in the annihilation of the expedition, earning us enough WS to start the ticking timer:

I follow up that success by sending the fleet to blockade Roma and then the Pope sees the light and decides to make amends:

(screenshot of Papal coalition war ending, with Atlantis getting money. Inset shows Sweden declaring independence )

The Nuremberg coalition war ends a month later in a white peace. This allows me to reclaim the French alliance .

(screenshot of end of all coalition wars as we continue to colonize in the Pacific)

The other thing being at peace allows me to do, is to switch the home trade port from Caribean to London. Before the switch , I was making 15.3 per month:
http://i.imgur.com/rpZZWDT.png

After the switch this becomes :

16.56 ducats. we gained one ducat per month!
I do a few more adjustments with merchants (moving the Amazonas guy to North Sea) to improve collections a bit more to 18+. BUt basically, for now, the switch is not significant. BUt as I absorb the last English provinces in the future, I believe the new arrangement would lead to a better result.
With the issue of trade settled for the time being, I go back to expansion. THanks to the finisher on the Expansion idea group, I fabricate a claim on Maldives. As I prepare to invade them, Castile fabricates on my Caribean land ( using their Exploration finisher, as they had no more adjacent provinces). I respond to that by allying Tunis for protection, while I am busy in Asia .

(screenshot of alliance being concluded with Tunis. Inset shows fabrication on Maldives . Background is the coalition map in Europe. Except for Castile and England, everyone is under 50 now, most being at -43 or so ) .

With my back in Europe covered by the French and Tunisian alliances, I send entire army and transport fleet to the East and declare on poor Maldives:

A year later, they are occupied. But I have to sit on the war until Mauritius colony completes, to give coring range.This happens in 1539, and Maldives is added to our Indian Ocean holdings:

(view of Indian Ocean on annexation of Maldives . I highlited coasts accessible to Viking raids now. )
Between Maldives and the growing colony at Daru ( reached via Pacific), I will soon have all of the Asian coast within coring range. And I need a few strategically placed islands to get raiding range on some of the richest provinces in the game. These islands include Socotra ( held by Oman), Andaman ( colonizable), any colony near Malacca strait, and the northern tip of Taiwan ( Kelang province).

Back in Europe, my truce with England expires soon after Sweden, supported by England, gains independence from Denmark.

This means that when I go to declare on England, I see this:

England now has an additional ally. While France, exhausted from my last coalition war, is not yet able to join.

I have one of two choices: pass for now, and wait till France can join. Or do a limited war , get enough WS on England to annul treaties and then come back in 7 years.

Finally, I will bring up the next decision to come. The third idea group:

(screenshot of Technology panel, with New World in background. On the map I marked areas that are inaccessible for raiding from any island. As the New World gets filled, we get more raiding targets)

I will soon get the third idea group. I will be taking Maritime. Simply put, I need more ships. And no other group gives that option. My fleet currently performs the following duties:
1) transport between the various islands
2)privateer to earn money
3)fight during wars
4) raid other coasts for money

Maritime will help those by boosting Force Limit by 50% ( idea #4), by boosting blockade efficiency ( idea #7, blockade efficiency is used to calculate raiding ability), and by allowing ship repair in coastal zones ( finisher).
In addition, Maritime enables the following:

*Maritime-Expansion policy : +33% naval force limits .
*Enlist privateers decision : +25% privateer efficiency . needs ruler with mil 3, 50% force limits filled

Offensive is also interesting for me. Obviously for the land military value. But also for the potential Offensive-Exploration policy: +50% privateer efficiency. Combine that with Espionage later on, and Enlist Privateers decision , and I could be looking at sucking everyone else's trade by privateering.

 

[parats]

Maritime seems the better short term solution while offensive hits in long term.
As you just taking islands i would go with maritime.

Try to pummel denmark for their CoTs with a CB over Norway.

 

[stnylan]

The War of the Three Coalitions - sounds like fun.

Clearly going to have to ditch France at some point, but can certainly get plenty of milage out of the blue blob before that moment comes.

 

[atwix]

an island quest run without maritime?

it is your strength

don't forget blockades can net you 25% warscore also if you fully blockade any nation.

should help vs vijay.

 

[parats]

Or hormuz.

 

[Thorfindel]

About stacking privateer efficiency. Short bit of math, mackwolfe.

Privateers give you 40% of the trade they take away from other nations, i.e. trade value going to the pirates. This trade value is based on their trade power. So if their trade power nets them 10G, you'll be getting 4G. Now, about that trade power. An example using numbers:
* 20G is total trade value in node.
* Your privateers have 100 trade power, which is 50% of the total 200 trade power in the node.
* The pirates get 10G. You get 4G.
You now stack privateer bonuses, boom, +200% more trade power:
* Your privateers have 300 trade power, which is 75% of the new total of 400 trade power in the node.
* The pirates get 15G. You get 6G.

Conclusion: stacking privateer power is a lot less lucrative than you might hope. You're indeed stealing more, but less than you think.

Bottom line: go Maritime, rule the waves. Don't go Offensive for a policy.

Of course, feel free to choose for other reasons. But that policy should be ignored, in my humble opinion.

 

[mackwolfe]

THank you for bringing this up. I agree that as a money-making proposition, privateering is not that lucrative. But I think it is on par with using ships to protect trade income wise, and is certainly more effective as an offensive weapon than anything else your ships can do, especially for distant countries.

This trade value is based on their trade power.

Yes, but privateers get an extra 50% boost to their trade power compared to then they are protecting trade. So you can hurt an enemy more by privateering than by protecting trade and collecting ( assuming you cannot steer effectively).

When I saw your post, I did a quick experiment on my current setup to see if my logic holds. Currently I have my fleet privateering in Genoa. This is my income and inset shows Genoa node:

COunting privateering income with trade, I make 21.42 ducats from merchants and light ships .

Now when I switch to having those light ships protect in Genoa, and move a merchant to collect there, this is the situation:

We make 20.47 in trade. BUt now my enemy Aragon makes more in trade than they did when I privateered. Note the raw power of this ships protecting is less than privateering.

Now , granted, I should have used the merchant from Panama and not the North sea . And maybe if I protect trade in Caribbean or CHannel I may earn more ducats. But privateering certainly is more effective in hurting Aragon, and it does not use a merchant.

Now imagine if I have more ships and more privateering efficiency. I should be able to choke off trade income for the Ottomans at Constantinople , Ming at Beijing, Russia at Novgorod and so on as needed. I used that technique ( massive privateering in enemy home node) in my USA run to cripple a mega-Ottoman.

Bottom line: go Maritime, rule the waves. Don't go Offensive for a policy.

I will need to take a military policy at some point. And my favorites are usually Quantity or Offensive. The policy tips it in favor of Offensive.

 

[mackwolfe]

The 1540's: Die England Die

The last decade saw Atlantis pretty much explore the entire world, and starting colonies in the Indian ocean and South East Asia. I ended ready to declare on England , but hesitating to do so because of their alliances with Castile, Portugal and Sweden, while my one ally France was deep in debt and unavailable.

Well, I decide to take the plunge figuring that I can occupy England on my own, and then wait out the 5 years till the Iberians start to tire out. And so it is DOW time, without France:

(DOW on England, and first easy battle at their capital )
I quickly carpet occupy their provinces and I almost have complete control of the Island, when 21K English rebels pop up in the middle of the country. I hurry up and complete the siege of Gloucestershire using barrage to get my siege stack out of the way of the rebels:

(screenshot of first 6 months of the war. I am pulling out my carpet-sieging stacks North, away from the big rebel stack. Insets shows I had recruited an Admiral to lead the fleet, taking no chances on the water, and obtained victories against the Swedish and Aragonese navies around the British isles)

Once Lothian falls, I gather up the entire army, add a few mercs and take on the rebels in Marches:

(costly suppression of the English separatist rebellion . Inset shows raiding of VIjay's coast funding the war effort)

With the rebels put down , I am now in complete control of Britain, which helps my trade income. I then load up the army and head west to relieve Bermuda's siege and liberate Cuba:

(screenshot of battle at Bermuda destroying the Neapolitan army , inset shows we started working on the Maritime idea group)

Meanwhile, back in Asia, I am raiding in Indonesia and starting new colonies. But when I try to send a colonist to Andamans so I can get raiding range on Bengal, I find someone else already got there first:

(screenshot of Ottoman power expansind over Arabia, as they colonize Islands in Asia)

I am now glad I allied France and not Ottomans. I think I will be clashing with the green blob sooner rather than later. Still, their presence in Andaman presents me an opportunity to get a CB on them and I start to fabricate.

The war with ENgland and Castile now enters the usual naval power vs land power stalemate. I cannot land in Iberia and they cannot attack my navy. While I wait for the "duration of war" to tick down, I complete the annextaion of Northumbria. It is interesting that I am using so little in vassal feeding in this run so far.

(Northumberland is annexed as Ottomans officially make us rivals)

Back in Asia, Daru colony completes, giving me my first spice province. ANd I soon send the free colonist to modern Taiwan to obtain raiding range on the rich provinces of Japan, Korea and China. I have to be patient, however, as it takes 608 days for him to get there

(screenshot of beginning of Kelang colony , a raider lair that would devastate the prosperous provinces of the Ming Emperor)

The war in the west sees one last significant action, the loss and subsequent recovery of our capital Bermuda:

(screenshot of battle of Bermuda - I had recruited an expensive level 2 Morale advisor just for this battle)

It is obvious from the loss of Bermuda that my fleet is not large enough to guard the entire Atlantic, without splitting into vulnerable squadrons. But this will be remedied soon, once I unlock the 4th idea in Maritime.
The war is now in its waning years. But before I can conclude it, I am interrupted by a CTA from Tunis:

(Atlantis declining the CTA from Tunis- Tunis was being killed by Ottomans, and Morocco decided to intervene)

I debated whether to help TUnis. I was going to use them as an ally against Ottomans. But they were unlikely to survive as a major power with Morocco dogpiling them . And so I decline and break the alliance. And that alliance will never come back , because I promptly send my raiding fleet to grab any loot still found in Tunisia .

Soon after, I unlock the key 4th Maritime idea for +50% naval FL, along with a nice 7.5% discipline national idea. This coincides with Portugal dropping out of the war once I blockade Lisboa:

A couple of month later, Castile drops out and then I can take a big chunk of England:

In the peace, I go for maximum land and obtain 98% in over-extension. I am really tired of England's continued presence on "my" islands. All the provinces I take are in States already, so the coring cost will be a staggering 982. The AE is quite high of course, but I don't care because a careful reading of the list shows no major naval powers ( Hamburg and Venice are the biggest two)

The land annexation catapults us into 5th place world power, and brings on a coalition war right away ( this time, I saw that coming , to quote atwix):

Again, France takes the brunt of the fighting as I sit on my comfy islands. ANd this time, thanks to my much higher naval force limit now, I have enough ships to prevent anyone from landing in America.

(diplo map of coalition war lead by the Pope. Note my treasury at 395 )

While the war rages on, I go on a big raiding run using mulitple squadrons. WHile one squadron raids Japan->Korea->China->Sumatra, another goes on Brazil->La Plata->Peruvian , and pacific Mexico run. . A 3rd fleet does the Norway->Germany->Holland-Galicia->Lisboa coast run. My main fleet stays in the Genoa node on the privateering mission, where it also interecepts any Genoese or Venetian fleets that dare venture out, and makes sure to raid the Tunisian and Italian coasts as often as possible. These actions easily boost my treasury over 1000 ducats with minimal effort.

Meanwhile, I try to see if I can get peace with the coalition by forcing France to release nations. Unfortunately, I am only given the option to release Catalonia, and that was not enough:

(attempt at sacrificing France to the coalition - no luck. note treasury at 1200)

Back in Asia, colonization is proceeding apace, and I send a colonist to Kuril islands to gain raiding range on North Japan:

(screenshot of anticipated new raiding targets once Kuril colony starts. Note treasury at 1300+)

The last event before the end of the decade is France peacing out with the coalition:

(screenshot of France peacing out. Note that they do NOT break alliance with me. Note my treasury at 1857, thanks to raiding)

And this brings us to 1550. Printing press fired off on January 1st, in Nurnberg. I am still in the coalition war. I cannot white peace yet. But I actually do not want to just white peace this time. Venice is in the coalition. And they hold Crete. This is an opportunity. Too bad they are not the leader. But I think I can pull off the annexation of Crete. I need to get some victories to trigger ticking war score. THen capture crete itself. Then maybe even Venice or Rome if WS is not enough to take Crete.

Crete can be an easy stepping stone to shutting down the Knights ( who keep beating me to raid the Muslim lands in the eastern med), and obtaining raiding range on most of the Ottoman coast.

 

[firezatswill9]

Too bad about the french minors, their cores must have expired after the first 100 years of the game, or something like that.

Or maybe I'm completely wrong about how you could release the minors in the first place, it's been a while since I've played in Europe.

I definitely do like the whole "AE, schmay-e" strategy, it's something that really only works this early BECAUSE of the island only strategy.

And peacing out the coalition as a victory may be a real challenge, since you need to get 50+ WS to get them to concede any land iirc, and naval battles are much more scarce than land battles.

 

[atwix]

Back in Asia, Daru colony completes, giving me my first spice province. ANd I soon send the free colonist to modern Taiwan to obtain raiding range on the rich provinces of Japan, Korea and China. I have to be patient, however, as it takes 608 days for him to get there

(screenshot of beginning of Kelang colony , a raider lair that would devastate the prosperous provinces of the Ming Emperor)

heh, how does this range for raiding get calculated? is it x sea zones away?

The land annexation catapults us into 5th place world power, and brings on a coalition war right away ( this time, I saw that coming , to quote atwix):

don't get salty on me

Meanwhile, I try to see if I can get peace with the coalition by forcing France to release nations. Unfortunately, I am only given the option to release Catalonia, and that was not enough:

this option only unlocks if coalition occupies ALL cores of a dead nation. you can also offer to return cores to coalition members.

And peacing out the coalition as a victory may be a real challenge, since you need to get 50+ WS to get them to concede any land iirc, and naval battles are much more scarce than land battles.

when you pass 50% warscore in a coalition war, the nations involved lose their horrible -30 (or is it 50) bonus to war enthousiasm.

you don't need 50% to ask for anything, just 10% warscore.

the problem is getting that without ticking warscore from battles.

idoubt he can get that with just boats.

@mackwolfe blockade pope completely, and occupy crete, and who knows. Pope might agree to cede crete.

 

[mackwolfe]

I definitely do like the whole "AE, schmay-e" strategy, it's something that really only works this early BECAUSE of the island only strategy.

Absolutely. When I started the Islands-only rule, I meant it as a limitation to make the game harder. It turns out that strict adherence to the rule has made the run easier in a certain way.

heh, how does this range for raiding get calculated? is it x sea zones away?

Yes, 3 sea tiles . Any tile touching a province you own counts as first tile . You can move two more tiles and raid anything touching the third tile. The tiles can be ocean tiles, which is why I was able to reach Galicia and Lisboa from Ireland. There are several parts of the world that cannot be raided from islands, and these include Beijing, the Cape and Ayutthaya. In Europe, only Bordeaux and nearby provinces are safe.

the problem is getting that without ticking warscore from battles.

Naval battles can give score. WHen the fleet is on privateer it tends to "bump" into enemy squadrons more often than if I try to chase them. Also, the enemy tends to land stacks in Bermuda and those can be easily wiped. I actually got the ticking score to start moving ..Now waiting on Pope to agree to give up Crete. I will definitely blockade him to 100%.

 

[atwix]

Naval battles can give score.

well yes, the old rule for ticking warzscores in superiority cb wars was winning 80 of the battles.

with the change to x warscore needed for ticking warscore, it became a bit harder.

but not impossible.

good to hear it 'll work as planned

 

[Thorfindel]

So you can hurt an enemy more by privateering

I shall be honest and admit I forgot about hurting your enemies. That's certaintly true and makes privateering a lot more interesting.

I just wanted an excuse to do math. I'm nerdy like that.

 

[stnylan]

One gets the feeling that you have reached a significant milestone.

 

[mackwolfe]

One gets the feeling that you have reached a significant milestone.

yes. The game feels easier. But also different.

I feel like a super-power who fears no one, but I actually have a relatively small army. I still have my main force in just one 30K stack. And I still worry about big rebel stacks
I rule the waves. But have to keep ahead of the competition. In a usual run, you dominate the sea by annexing the other guy's coastal provinces. In this run, France, Castile, Ottomans will always have coastal provinces and therefore a fleet.
I have a huge treasury despite running a negative monthly deficit, thanks to raiding. I'm at a loss at how to invest the money.
Everyone hates me ( due to raiding), but I don't fear coalitions.


Like I said, feels very different from your typical run.

 

[stnylan]

yes. The game feels easier. But also different.

I feel like a super-power who fears no one, but I actually have a relatively small army. I still have my main force in just one 30K stack. And I still worry about big rebel stacks
I rule the waves. But have to keep ahead of the competition. In a usual run, you dominate the sea by annexing the other guy's coastal provinces. In this run, France, Castile, Ottomans will always have coastal provinces and therefore a fleet.
I have a huge treasury despite running a negative monthly deficit, thanks to raiding. I'm at a loss at how to invest the money.
Everyone hates me ( due to raiding), but I don't fear coalitions.


Like I said, feels very different from your typical run.

In other words you feel like Britain did for most of the 19th century

 

[firezatswill9]

In other words you feel like Britain did for most of the 19th century

He annexed most of England... so he has become the new England (not the eastern USA, but a brand new England, that is also competent).

It's the balance of powers! And it rules us all!