Chapter 5: There can be only one, part 1
Funny thing about fighting OPMs. It’s really a very dull war, most of the time. I declared war on 24 March 1496. Fast forward, and…
View my new domain!
The greyish color is Otomo – they are independent and allied with Manchu (if you remember the last update). Purple is Shimazu. Somehow, they broke free. Green is Hatakeyama, my vassal and ally. I also get a pretty cool CB “Annex Daimyo” on all of the Daimyos. In September, I get an event that lets me trade 30 ducats for a temple. Works for me. I choose “Reclaim Aki” (a Japanese core that presently belongs to Otomo) as my new mission. (Back in 1492, I had a mission and cancelled it.) As of April 1498, I have a mere four loans left. Progress! I get military tech 5 a few weeks later.
Early 1499 gives me diplo tech 5, but it’s kind of boring. Let’s end the boredom, shall we?
With my Korea and my vassal joining in, this is actually lopsided in my favor, even with Manchu helping out Otomo. At the end of the day, I want to beat up Otomo and have Korea simply keep Manchu occupied. Here’s an early shot of the war, in Korea.
Korea would probably be horrified to learn that I don’t care if they actually win or not. Nobody tell them! YOU’RE ALL SWORN TO SECRECY. 3 July 1499 is Financial Independence Day, as I have no loans! (If only it were a day later.) I use my impressive surplus to start hiring some advisors, starting with this guy:
I had one other choice, a guy who boosts reinforce speed. I think I made the right one. I also start building up my navy. If I’m going to properly be Japan, I must have a first class fleet, obviously. In March 1500 I hire another advisor.
I spend the rest of 1500 trading a siege with Otomo. I’m purposefully going slow, because the fortress they just took was some pretty good defensive territory. Soon, my friends, I shall strike. In the meantime, Manchu makes my day.
I only later realized that I had about 15 war score against Manchu – Korea did pretty well – and could have gotten some cash or a concession of defeat from them. Oh well, what can you do? In October, there’s a peasant uprising in one of my provinces. Otomo promptly goes and crushes it for me, despite the fact we’re at war. That is dedication to the Japanese culture, I guess. Even better, they split up their army (although it recombines before I get there). Time for a battle!
A few days, the army is destroyed. I use some of my diplo to get rid of my war exhaustion (because I forgot to retake the province Otomo captured). Of course, my Shogun decides now is the perfect time to die.
It turns out, if you destroy your opponent’s army, they won’t kill your rebels for you anymore. Talk about ingratitude! Korea signs a White Peace with Otomo (which I’m okay with – I can more than capably handle Otomo without them). Here’s the new Shogun, by the way.
I soon hire another advisor.
Sure, my Shogun is decidedly meh, but he’s got good advisors. Because the RNG has a sense of humor, it gives me a claim on Yamato, which, you know, I’ve already got a core on. Then my people start having a hissy fit about me destroying Otomo.
I realize I can’t annex them in one go anyhow, so I decide to go ahead and end the war, taking what I can get (which is rather a lot).
That free province for Hatakeyama will just make them all the tastier when I diplo-annex them. I make that my new mission. I have to spend some admin power to core Settsu, but everything else was a core. Next stop, annexation land!
Okay, at this point, I should probably share my biggest blunder thus far. Remember how being at war used to bring annexations to a screeching halt? They don’t any more. I did not know this at the time. That means we get years of nothing happening! (Okay, I did get an heir – 3/0/3 – but apart from that, it was getting stab hits for various reasons, then spending admin to recover, all the while seemingly dooming myself never to get admin tech 4.) To further ensure that nothing happened, my Shogun died.
I do get guns (military tech 6) a few weeks later.
That means a unit change!
I get diplomacy tech 6 a bit later on, which would let me build an Embassy if I had lots and lots of extra money (which I don’t). My army advisor dies, so I replace him with a +1/+5% discipline advisor. Finally, it’s 1519.
Still can’t do much – I get a +1/+5 rep diplo guy and +1/+.1 inflation burn admin guy. I do get a new general who’s +4 to shock (and nothing else). You know, right after we get firearms. Looking forward to years of even more nothing happening? Sorry to disappoint you, but…
We’ll pick up that war in the next update. See you then!
