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Chapter 16: Japan vs. Europe. Round 1: FIGHT!
So, I lied, and I’m going to update today instead of making you wait until Monday. That does mean no Monday update, but I’ll still update again next week. I hope we’re still cool.
One of the things I hoped to do with this AAR is not simply entertain you with feats of incredible incompetence, but maybe show you some cool stuff you might not have known about. This is one of those things:
The ability to build stuff from the ledger is simply genius, and another one of those little touches that make Paradox games continue to be brilliant. I use this opportunity and some spare cash to build up some provinces with naval facilities. I pick up MIL 17 (more cavalry shock… yay?) and get a free Galleon with an explorer… when most of the world is discovered. But, still, free Galleon! ADM 16 in July, good for Colleges and Mints. I will build neither. I think that’s enough preliminaries. You came here to see me fight Europe, and fight Europe I shall!
Burgundy should be a good test for me; they’re a respectable but definitively second rank European power at this point. (It’s kind of weird to type this in present tense, since I played this bit a few days ago, but work with me, eh?)
Here are the numbers:
Remember that those numbers are highly misleading; a healthy chunk of those Burgundian troops are in Europe, while a lot of mine are in Japan and Korea. French Canada is on the same continent as Alaska; California is between Alaska and Canada (yay weird geography!). Avignon and Toulouse will not matter at all. However, one thing that you don’t see in this screenshot is that Milan joins the war a couple of days later. They’ll, oddly enough, matter, which I did not anticipate.
My first real action in the war shows one of the best possible uses for 25 military power.
This at least assures I won’t leave the war with nothing. An excellent start, wouldn’t you say? I begin sieging Gubbi Gubbi and choose a new mission: to Rule the Seas (which means have the most Heavy Ships in the world). Of course, it’s not really an update until Japanese ships are sunk.
Gubbi Gubbi falls in June of 1703, which means a naval battle!
A quick glance at those numbers suggests a disadvantage in terms of morale, but an overwhelming advantage in terms of numbers. There’s just one tiny problem, as the result of the battle will demonstrate:
That, my friends, is the power of Twodeckers vs. Galleons, Carracks, and (sigh) Early Carracks. I just haven’t paid enough attention to my southern fleets. Those light ships came in later because they were patrolling around Australia and Malacca trade notes. The Burgundians even got more four Twodeckers. That I sank even one is a moral victory in my book. To add insult to injury, those same 9 ships go out and sink four more light ships. At this point, though, I’m still ahead because I have my war goal. Burgundy will not surrender, though, because I don’t have at least 10% war score. Still, I could just play the waiting game and, as long as Burgundy forgets about me, I’ll still win. I also look at my meager 17 naval tech and dream of the days when I get to DIP 22 and Twodeckers of my own. I think by then, Burgundy will have aircraft carriers.
Remember Milan? I didn’t.
This is not a good situation. Without my transports, I can’t shuttle troops around the South Pacific, which means there’s nothing to really stop them if they’re smart. With such a tiny army it will take them years to get through all my forts, but this does still change the equation. Yet, there’s one other theater here: North America.
When I began the war, I had visions of stripping a few Burgundian colonies, but counted on Alaska to not be entirely useless. The stack you see there is 6 Japanese regiments and 4 Alaskan. Did I mention Burgundy has 24 MIL and I have 17? I end up getting rebel support from somewhere, but Burgundy still attacks, and…
This screen shows some encouraging things and some not encouraging things. First, our morale is about the same, and I have better discipline. In terms of generals, we both have 1 pip on fire, but he has 2 on shock to my 1. He does have better tactics, which means he’ll take fewer casualties, and better quality troops. Yet, the most important number here seems to be 5000: the number of artillery he has. Here’s the result:
Now, I don’t where those rebels came from. They could well be native rebels (but then why would they help me?), in which case their troops would be nigh useless. I don’t actually know how indicative this is of poor planning on my part. I think a few lucky die rolls could have gone a long way to mitigating the damage, or at least not make the battle so one sided. I still have positive war score, but at this point, if the AI has any kind of smarts, it can rack up free war score at Alaska’s expenses, wreak havoc in the South Pacific, and there’s virtually nothing I can do. Time to exit gracefully, so I send a feeler out for peace.
This would be an unmitigated loss of a peace. Not the money, or the failure to take the war goal, but releasing Majapahit, which is very high in base tax and Hindu, so I’ll be able to convert them eventually. I decide to see how successful I can get based solely on ticking war score. In the meantime, I do pick up a key naval idea:
Burgundy attacks my stack in Alaska again, inflicting even more damage for less damage to themselves. I don’t want a stackwipe in Alaska; they can’t be trusted not to muck things up on their own. I realize that any hopes of my first defeat being bad luck are completely gone. I do save 5 ducats from the original offer!
There’s now a stack of Japanese rebels in Australia, though, who flipped the Burgundy province to Shinto for me, but still threaten to rampage. I give the garrison some reinforcements, then promptly forget there’s a rebellion going on there. I take out a bunch of loans so I can build up my fleet: 22 new Galleons, so that if the Europeans do come a-calling again, I have at least a slight chance of victory. I get a new admin advisor (+5% National Tax) to help me pay back those loans that much faster. I also get a new Heir.
I have (and will see) much worse rulers. A couple of lucky events give me about 800 ducats, so I pay off two of the loans. I finish my mission in 1706.
I exceed the #2 naval power (in terms of purely big ships) by 1. That power? Denmark! I’m third overall in total size, 8 ships behind Denmark and 38 behind the Ottomans. The big difference is in light ships, though. My new mission is to defeat the Rebels I forgot about. I do that a year later and get 5 prestige for my trouble. My new mission is to turn my Burgundian colony into a city. I get ADM 17 and a new set of ideas in 1707. I take almost no time at all to decide here:
This group will pay dividends, although here’s the funny thing: I thought “Offensive” had Military Drill, but it turns out it was “Defensive.” Offensive is still the better choice for me right now, as the boost to Force Limits will let me supplement my existing armies with artillery without reducing the huge numbers of infantry I need to cover the Pacific. The Burgundian colony is finished in May 1708. New mission is to culture flip it; it ends up being a 16 diplo power culture flip (as opposed to 26). I’d do it anyways, since I right now I get 0 tax from it. I’ve been expanding on the empty continent – you’ll get a shot of that next update. I pay off another loan, get the next naval idea (+1 to Yearly Naval Tradition), build some temples (because I forgot there’s no income effect from them, I built them in high base tax areas in Japan – you know, where they’re worthless).
Manchu rivals me in 1710, ending that alliance. Russia really doesn’t like me at this point. They’re actively hostile and have Prussia and GB as allies. I’ve been trying to get France to like me but have thus far failed. I get another bunch of cash to pay off more loans with. I spend some admin to increase the tariffs I get from Alaska. In hindsight, this is a pretty dumb decision – I’m not rolling in admin, and 25 for 2.5% is a bad deal – but every ducat counts.
So, you ask, why did you just do this?
Now, Brunei is rich and I’ve had little trouble hanging on to it. However, there are a couple of negatives. First, every province I own is one I have to garrison. Brunei is rich enough to defend itself. Second, they’re Sunni, so I’ll never convert them without Religious Ideas, and I’ve already decided I’ll almost certainly not take those. I want the benefits of religious unity and as a protectorate, Brunei will give me half of their trade power, so I’ll still get a bunch of cash out of them, if indirectly. They also have the sole low tax province in my empire, bringing in a shade less than 5 ducats a month.
Yet, for all of that, we need to consider the future. An empire that isn’t expanding in EUIV is dying. I need to get away from the Europeans, as I simply can’t handle them yet. So, I will act contrary to the common wisdom.
I will start a land war in Asia.
Against whom, you ask? I shall tell you… next update!
Well, at least you're starting one from the east. That seems to work better (at least for the limited number of historical cases I can think of).
Well at least you got that one colony out of it. Your sacrifice of Japanese ships has brought you some good fortune. 
I'm guessing you're going after Korea next. May as well expand the part of the empire on the mainland.
I'm guessing you're going after Korea next. May as well expand the part of the empire on the mainland.
Probably not Russia. Manchu? Xi? Zhou? Or maybe you want to branch out into India...
By the way, what is the history of that huge Nepal in India? Shan and south-eastern Asia might be his targets?
As long as the AI has transport ships, they'll eventually come and drop their troops. Remember, that the AI gives shit about naval attrition (afaik they get no on ship army attrition as well).
Just let me count:
A quick glance at those numbers suggests a disadvantage in terms of morale, but an overwhelming advantage in terms of numbers.
Six Burgundian heavy ships, against nine Japanese heavy ships and one Japanese light ship. Burgundy got more morale, more firepower and more health. While transports (especially steam transports) are excellent at sucking up damage in Vic2, they're almost as useless in EU4 as they are in HoI3 (in combat, obviously).
Annex Korea and move on to Manchu. Then steamroll Russia - your troops are actually better than theirs considering you've westernised early.
Dear god, man, I spend all this time catching up just to find you committing one of the classic blunders? Hang your head in shame, Avi, and thank Ameterasu or some other relevant kami that you aren't going up against Sicilians as well.
That said, this has been an entertaining read from the start, and it's a shame it'll be ending so soon. Subbed!
That said, this has been an entertaining read from the start, and it's a shame it'll be ending so soon. Subbed!
The chapter's title said "round 1". This leads me to believe he's going for that Portugese colony in Siberia.
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Totally saw your crushing defeat in your naval battle coming! This is exactly what happened to me against portugal - twice. They sunk my entire fleet both times - with me having a 2 on 1 advantage both times! But fortunately they were too stupid to send any troops, so I could White peace out.
I do fear that Russia has been wiping the floor with you at some point, though. They look pretty troublesome.
I do fear that Russia has been wiping the floor with you at some point, though. They look pretty troublesome.
and this is, kids, why we spent so much time last page talking about artillery .
But to be honest I think there had to be going on some more shenanigans with the infantry quality, since they shouldn't stomp you this way if the morale etc was on par.
I thought he will tank a bit the artillery too when I saw the numbers on both sides.
.But to be honest I think there had to be going on some more shenanigans with the infantry quality, since they shouldn't stomp you this way if the morale etc was on par.
I thought he will tank a bit the artillery too when I saw the numbers on both sides.
There are worse ways to finish an AAR than a land war with Russia... you could even send your glorious galleons to the Neva as a distraction
That much is very true.
:rofl:
Well at least you got that one colony out of it. Your sacrifice of Japanese ships has brought you some good fortune.
I'm guessing you're going after Korea next. May as well expand the part of the empire on the mainland.
It's good to know they went for a noble cause!
It is indeed a mystery!
In all honesty, I've ignored Central Asia, so I can't really give you much about Nepal or Vijayanagar for that matter. Normally in my AARs I have regular reviews of the world, but not in this one, and I'm not sure why.
See, comments like this are why I write AARs; I always learn something. Even if it was a certain poster who also told me how robust they are in Vicky 2, thus giving me misapprehensions for EUIV. Sadly, I have since forgotten their names.
Some of these things will come to pass. Some of them will not!
Welcome aboard, my robotic magic using friend! Hopefully you catch the new one sooner (and there will always be a new one).
Ooo, good catch on the title! (People do read them! My cleverness is validated!) As to whether your prediction is accurate or not...
Wow, I guess you WEREN'T ready to take on the Europeans yet.
I'm hoping you'll end this AAR with a final spectacular defeat: attack Russia and gloriously ignore both of Montgomery's maxims at the same time.
I'm hoping you'll end this AAR with a final spectacular defeat: attack Russia and gloriously ignore both of Montgomery's maxims at the same time.
The only successful invasion of Russia did come from the east. That is after the Rus invasion.
Wow, I guess you WEREN'T ready to take on the Europeans yet.
I'm hoping you'll end this AAR with a final spectacular defeat: attack Russia and gloriously ignore both of Montgomery's maxims at the same time.
It was certainly a humbling experience, that's for certain!
I'll be waiting, Mr. Avindian.
I am shockingly unsurprised that Cyborg Mage is an anime (although I did not know that until just now.
)1) The Rus didn't really invade. Depending on whose story you believe, they were either invited or just kind of took over. Certainly not an invasion in the classical sense in either case.
2) Poland and Sweden would like to have a word with you. Yes, the circumstances were exceptional, but they are the only truly successful conquerors of Russia post-Mongols.