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Remember, I'm GMT +4.
I am working on the update as we speak, though, and it should be up within the hour.
Chapter 6: There can be only one, part 2
We’ll open here with something a bit unexpected: a victorious naval battle!
I really need to remember to pull in my trade fleets when I’m at war, but this time it worked out fine. Most of that fleet is Korean. Oh, and this war is rather bigger than the last update may have indicated (as I myself only realized when I edited the picture):
Unfortunately, I don’t have any screenshots of the Korean/Chinese theater this time. I do have one of Japan, though, after I efficiently destroyed Otomo’s army.
Soon, Otomo is 100% occupied, but as Korea is war leader, I can’t annex them. Korea does make a somewhat surprising peace, however, which both benefits and irritates me.
To give you a visual idea of precisely what that peace means, here’s a shot of the parts of Japan that aren’t already mine.
Ouchi (the tannish OPM) is my vassal now, but it means I now have to worry about three daimyos left instead of two. (If I annex all the daimyos, I get a pretty cool decision. You’ll see it later.) I choose the “Accumulate Money” mission, because I’m an idiot. Soon, my regency council ends.
I’ve certainly seen worse rulers, but is it too much to ask for at least a 4 in something? I guess it is. The important thing is that he can declare war, so I set about doing just that.
Okay, I feel bad about this one now. Otomo gets dragged into war with me AGAIN. Fortunately, I can’t do anything to them, or I won’t be able to annex Shimazu. I’ll put Otomo out of their misery soon enough. I have to pick up a new Military Advisor (the old one died): the new one is +25% defensiveness. (Assume all advisors are +1 unless I say otherwise.) Korea makes still more progress against their remaining enemies (who are still technically mine, too, as I am still embroiled there).
Admittedly, this is a bit weird. Ming surrendered to Zhou right before Zhou surrendered to Korea. Korea did not get their war goal (some province of Manchu’s, if memory serves), but at least it’s over. A few days later, I annex Shimazu. Two daimyos left! I get some new tech along the way.
This tech, however, is far more important.
As I alluded to earlier, I’m taking the Colonization group. My long term vision is to become a major player in the New World (wherever that might be), and to pick up the other islands in the South Pacific. Essentially, I’m going to be Great Britain East, in other words. A conservative strategy, perhaps, but I tend to be conservative when I’m learning a new game. Or mastering a new game. Or playing an old game. Pretty much all the time, actually.
Here’s my first target.
Hokkaido is closer, but Taiwan is base 4 tax, and those provinces don’t grow on trees. It’s also easy enough to defense with a decent navy (which is ever so slowly growing!) and a good garrison. I send 4000 troops for the latter (as well as to work on the natives).
An heir is born!
Mediocre legitimacy makes mediocre rulers, I guess. In 1531, I realize Accumulate Money is boring for a minimal benefit (+10 prestige), so I cancel it.
At least Otomo can rely on the backing of their mighty coalition to protect them. If not for sieging, they wouldn’t have lasted a year (as they did). That leaves a single daimyo.
In foreign policy, I get a sneaking suspicion that another friend is a good idea, in case the mainland turns their covetous eyes to the east. So I find one.
Taiwan will produce cloth, or so I’m told. Are trade goods relatively fixed in EUIV, as they were in EUIII, or not? As in, if I played 100 games of EUIV and colonized Taiwan, how often would Taiwan end up with cloth?
I add a general to the Taiwan garrison – I know -1 MIL isn’t great, but I’ve got a pretty good lead in MIL tech anyway, and it lets me keep a smaller army there. (He’s 1/1/0/0.) I’m forced to take out a loan in 1536 when “Colonial Company goes bankrupt fires” – I either lose half my colony or pay 50 ducats, and since I’ve been building up my navy, I’ve only 10 ducats at the moment. Still, it’s just one loan, and my first one in a long time. I also get to choose a new mission (finally), wherein I remember there’s one place I haven’t considered yet.
Poor Ryukyu. I lose my DIP and ADM advisors in a few days of each other. I take the new ADM one first (good for +1 prestige a year!) Okinawa is annexed in May 1537. My new mission is to make Taiwan a full city, for which I get +1 base tax and an insignificant amount of manpower. In early 1538, I hire the new DIP guy, who gives me +10% to global trade. Taiwan becomes a city in mid-1538, and I start on Hokkaido. The new mission is to give Taiwan a fort, for a boost in manpower and tradition. I was going to do that anyway. I do this in mid-1538 too.
I don’t plan on exploring in a big way yet, but it’s not like I have anything else to do with my diplomatic points. Plus, one more idea and I get my first national idea, which is good for a +25% to local trade power. Not bad at all! The Korean alliance ends in 1539, because they designated me a rival. I start converting Okinawa shortly afterwards. Ouchi is annexed in 1539 and, finally, Japan is whole!
I finish my fort in Taiwan, and choose “Enforce Religious Unity” for the next mission (good for 10 prestige, 25 ADM, and 25 DIP.) It is 6 October 1540; almost 100 years have passed! Here’s a map of southern Asia.
For those who don’t mind a spoiler, clicking below will give you the entire Old World (I can really only see the Mediterranean and its immediate environs in-game).
That concludes the update. I’m going to play some tomorrow, I’m thinking, or maybe even tonight, but it’ll be a couple of days before the next one. Thanks for reading!
Japan looks beautiful all in red. Now let the divine winds blow east and beat the Europeans to the New World!
What made you decide to ally Manchu when they kept getting into wars with Korea? I guess it doesn't matter anymore now that Korea has declared you a rival and ditched you. It's incredibly annoying when an ally does that.
What made you decide to ally Manchu when they kept getting into wars with Korea? I guess it doesn't matter anymore now that Korea has declared you a rival and ditched you. It's incredibly annoying when an ally does that.
Taiwan doesn't always produce cloth. I know this because in my Japan game it produced tea. I'm not sure about the percentages though, other than the fact that I got about 8 fur provinces in a row in NW North America.
A united and centralized Japan in the 16th Century...the East's worst nightmare!
Great job in united Japan and now it looks like you can start a Pacific expansion...
Great job in united Japan and now it looks like you can start a Pacific expansion...
Ming is apparently pretty crippled with that large Zhou to its south...and looks like Zhou is intent on spreading into Southeast Asia if they can take on that big ole mean looking Ayyuthaya.
And Vijay looks like it's bound to form Hindustan if they can win a few wars against Orissa. You definitely have quite the interesting Asian world forming at the moment, and with Japan about to embark upon colonizing things are probably about to get even more interesting.
And Vijay looks like it's bound to form Hindustan if they can win a few wars against Orissa. You definitely have quite the interesting Asian world forming at the moment, and with Japan about to embark upon colonizing things are probably about to get even more interesting.
Red Dawn in the East
Asia awaits at its feet
The crimson glow spreads
Asia awaits at its feet
The crimson glow spreads
I think Taiwan changes products once you research microprocessors.
Avindian, you are this weeks WritAAR of the week! I know this isn't your first time being nominated, so you know what to do next
Japan looks beautiful all in red. Now let the divine winds blow east and beat the Europeans to the New World!
What made you decide to ally Manchu when they kept getting into wars with Korea? I guess it doesn't matter anymore now that Korea has declared you a rival and ditched you. It's incredibly annoying when an ally does that.
I needed a partner, predicted (rightly, as it turned out) that Korea would probably end our alliance, and Ming/Zhou both had me as rivals.
Good to know; thanks!
A united and centralized Japan in the 16th Century...the East's worst nightmare!
Great job in united Japan and now it looks like you can start a Pacific expansion...
It should be, at any rate.
I really do need to start paying attention to the mainland more.
That's the tricky part!
shierholzer answered you below; also, Hokkaido has a strait to the rest of Japan, so it wouldn't do to let it fall into the clutches of another colonizer.
The first Red Dawn movie was awesome. To puppet? Maybe. I designated Korea as a rival as soon as they did to me. I don't want to get dragged into a bunch of wars fighting over China. If I westernize, there's a chance I could get more active there.
Precisely.
Avindian, you are this weeks WritAAR of the week! I know this isn't your first time being nominated, so you know what to do next
Thanks very much!
Avindian AAR I didn't know about, shame on me.
Well, caught up and subbed.
...if you sail through the pacific to get to the Americas and attack theAztecDragons, is it that the Land of the Rising Sun is Sunset Invading the Sunset Invaders?
Well, caught up and subbed.
...if you sail through the pacific to get to the Americas and attack the
Until you find the New World, I'd focus on getting colonies in the Phillipens. Lots of good stuff can come from having them.
The north is the best route to the New World. From Mutsu, colonise Shiribeshi->Tokachi->Kamikawa->Sakhalin->Deren->Udskoye->Jugjur->Okhotsk->Taurina(sp.?)->Gizhiga->Kamchatka. From there, it's only a few non-open seas to Aleut. Out of those, Kamchatka is the only one that needs an army on it when colonising.
This is a CoP game, so 21st century knowledge about the Americas isn't valid.
Just finished catching up, great AAR! You had a lot of bad luck but in the end managed to succesfully unite Japan. Time to go for an early Greater East Asia Co-Prosperity Sphere
Interesting Asia. With a naval base on Taiwan and a proper navy, you could probably go after Ming at some point. Their 'Inward Perfection' modifier gives them terrible military penalties to the point where you can fairly easily defeat a much bigger army with only a slight advantage in tech (as I had to find out the hard way when I played them ).
Interesting Asia. With a naval base on Taiwan and a proper navy, you could probably go after Ming at some point. Their 'Inward Perfection' modifier gives them terrible military penalties to the point where you can fairly easily defeat a much bigger army with only a slight advantage in tech (as I had to find out the hard way when I played them
).
I'm glad you're pursuing a colonial strategy - that combined with the randomised new world will make for a very interesting game. Looking at the screenshot, which you've posted in spoilers;
It seems as though you have left a very thing wedge of the random new world uncovered - there appears to be a large super continent spanning much of the north, and with one native tribe in sight in the very heart of this land mass. That tells us that there is at least some of the random new world close to you, and importantly it may be difficult for the Europeans to access so hopefully this will lessen the impact of your technology disadvantage!
I assume this also means that printing the world map ruins the surprise of the random new world for you - which is a bit of a shame.
I assume this also means that printing the world map ruins the surprise of the random new world for you - which is a bit of a shame.