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Let’s see, where did I leave you? Like searching for Livingston I was quite lost myself, wanting the bb wars to end but not wanting to take the ultimatums I kept being offered. And surprisingly no wars struck me in those first few years of 1570 but I had managed to convert Jeolla! I did this through the old Monty Python method of weighing each heretic and party to opposition religion to see if they weighed as much as a duck! At least it made sense to me! And it bloody worked too!

A new missionary was sent to Okinawa where Confucianism reigned, sucking out my religious slider life-blood much in the way Gala squeezed the creations right out of Salvador Dali. I’m guessing it wasn’t a pretty sight with all the paints and easels nearby. And just like Gala, my ability to fend off the demons ended when my 3 star reputation adviser died leaving me at 26.67/20.50 bb. In his place I hired a 2 star missionary since there wasn’t much to choose.

One big step into 1572 Siak rejected conversion while Yakesa accepted! It was a great conversion because Yakesa follows a ‘Pagan’ religion which left me with fewer pagan provinces to convert! Not long after, Aceh DoW’d me with their ally, Maldives... no, I still couldn’t see Maldives unless I really wanted to look.

Four months later though, Aceh agreed to this peace: giving up all available cores and paying 50 ducats. Before I started writing AARs I never bothered with forcing other nations to give up their cores but once I started investigating and seeing other nations giving up lots of land to rebels, I changed my philosophy and if a nation only has two or three provinces left and I have extra war score to spare, I’ll make them give up some of their cores.

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And no, Okinawa didn’t convert but another one was sent.

Sometime while I was resting in 1573 another horrible pop-up appeared. I put down my book and hovered over each option, finally resting upon ‘Rethink policies’ of ‘Greater Social Rifts.’ I lost 1 stability, lost 2 prestige (which I never bother with anyway), a move toward plutocracy (another slider I don’t care about much unless it goes too far toward plutocracy) and 25 ducats which wasn’t much to me.

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I received a new leader too, later in that year which was to help me with my missionary placement, not so much bb: admin 7 mil 4 dip 5... and he wasn’t meant to keep Korea off my back either.

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Within that same month, Okinawa converted and I received this pop-up. I granted the Act of Grace and I’m thinking that if I didn’t, I might’ve started to see some fractures in my country. I lost 100 ducats which doesn’t mean much to me in this game.

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A year and a half into the war with Korea I was trying to break them as I broke them last time. Sneak in through their southern lands just far enough away from Ming. If Ming was meant to go north into Siberia then that had to be but I was not going to let Korea keep DoW’ing me. Here I occupied Korea’s capital and two neighboring provinces.

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Hm... I just checked the forum rules again and I found out that a joke I had here would likely be in violation. In its place, imagine something mildly funny, give a little chuckle and know that Aceh DoW’d me with their trusty Maldives ally. And Korea did another stupid thing. After my requests for a lower peace, days later they offered me the moon! I don’t understand this AI sometimes but I did receive Gangwon and Pyeongan, further disassembling Korea.

(Another pic that went missing... I'm going to have to look into this and see if its my computer or if I'm hitting some kind of F-lock before I try and save the pic.)

Since I was tied up (and not in a good way) with Korea, I agreed to a white peace with Aceh before the end of 1577. And Okinawa converted! Yes, the Ducks Plot has worked! BUT I am still at war with Ming, as seen here with some mercenaries. Every time I get into a war I keep telling myself that I need National Conscripts for my next NI.

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My desire to continue the war with Ming was equal to the will of the Olson twins’ desire to eat, and so, sometime in May 1578 I agreed to renounce my vassals of Pattani and Makassar, both of which were OPMs. My bb now rests at 26.67/21.50... its still going to take me a while to burn this down.

I wasn’t getting anywhere being over the bb limit. Especially since WE reduces your capacity to recruit manpower to your reserves in MM, not that I was receiving much anyway. So when the option came again, I signed the ultimatum which removed most of my reputation, removed some WE and gave me -40% tax and - 50% manpower for the next 15 years. I was feeling worse than a bulimic at an all-you-can-eat. I wanted to consume but I... just couldn't.

My reputation advisors were removed and replaced with a 1 star missionary and a 4 star stability... my manpower? It was at a max possible of 2800.
 
PrawnStar: heh, when I first read your comment I thought you meant the hat I placed on Japan in the last pic. :eek:o The 1.3 version was one of the reasons I came up with as to low counts but my chances of getting my hands on the newer, ‘cooler’ expansions may have to wait a few more months. It depends on how things go... and if I want Ricky first, CK or IN.

On conversions, and I have no doubt you’re an expert, I simply hate building forts bigger than lvl 1 in places they’re not needed. I’m sure it’d be more cost effective and would save missionaries but I often like to cut out the middleman when possible... even if that middle man is on my side. As a side note, I don’t remember having this much trouble with conversions in my Yaroslavl aar so it might be due to my religion.

Ever since reading your Castille AAR I’ve developed a taste for wanting to convert all my lands. I don’t know if that’s a good thing or a bad thing but its some-thing. If anything it gives me a reason to play until the very last day.

C’est Moi: I don’t often travel to the HoI 2 world but I could say the same before I started lurking in the CK forums. I’ll be sure to check out your AAR within the next week and I’ll likely leave an ignorant comment. ;)

Davisx3m: Thanks for your support!

Demon1: Oh! I completely forgot to list the pros and cons of my government! I couldn’t recall off the top of my head so I loaded up my game and here are the results... they’re not pretty:

Feudal Shogunate:
Years between policy changes: 20 (which is fine because I haven’t moved sliders too much as Japan anyway.)

negative 75% manpower (this coupled with my cavalry specialty, located on page 1 post #12, lowers my abilities to build an army considerably... that’s probably why I started with the NI National Conscripts but I changed that for a more... peaceful route.)

+25% stability costs (this is another reason why you haven’t seen me move sliders too often.)

I have yet to be able to change my government. I think I’m stuck with this until the end of the game and I’ll give you a hint into the future and say that it makes things very interesting. Just because I’m a nice size now, don’t believe for an instant that the rest of the game is a cakewalk. Its going to be tough, even with my micromanagement of handling battles. I’ll go one further and add that there’s one huge, major thing that happens that has never happened in any of my EU 3 games!

To all: I’ll mention here, as a transition, that I only need one or two more marathon plays before the game is ended and therefore, so will the offer of the savegame. I should be through playing sometime this week and maybe even as early as tonight if I find myself suffering from insomnia.

As for my first lines of the 2-11-2008 update, it really was only a joke. It can’t be denied that this isn’t popular for any number of reasons and to tell the truth, it doesn’t matter to me if it is or if it isn’t. I’d continue to write anyway. Coupled with my Algiers AAR I have been doing something I’ve not been doing in years, and that’s writing every day with poor punctuation. I have a number of new ideas for AARs in the future which ought to keep me occupied for months after this one is through.
 
It looks like Ming really overshadows the whole game, I've always expected/known that about East Asian games but it's interesting to see in practice.

Cores are basically the change in the peace deal. You trade war score for provinces and they give yo some cores to make up the difference.
 
Brandenburg III said:
I have yet to be able to change my government. I think I’m stuck with this until the end of the game

Wow, that government stinks. What are the requirements to change it in MM?

Finally got caught up. Love the humor!
 
You know, I kind of like these 20 year updates. They’re faster, shorter (overall) and they really help me eliminate all the fluff... or at least as much fluff as I find. Okay, so I actually left you in 1580 so I’ll take you straight to 1600 but I won’t include the 1600 update today. I’ll save that for tomorrow or the next day.

Because I sliced Korea in two like a magician with a piece of... eye candy, Korea begged for military access and since I had my fill of war - for the moment! - I agreed to give them military access. I suspect this will keep Korea at bay for a while, thus giving me the ability to declare war against Korea and Ming whenever I choose.

But another advisor died - they’re like flies they are - and a 2 star colony replaced him. I soon discovered that the peasants weren’t happy. I guess they’re getting tired of working all their lives for nothing but hey, ducats aren’t meant to be made on my back! I lost 1 prestige (who cares) and took a step toward plutocracy... I was fairly aristocratic before this but now I’m starting to worry with all these plutocratic popups.

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With my saved money, I started building a university in, where else, Taiwan! It’s the perfect place since the AI is so horrible at invading, not only that, Taiwan is a glass province and the pop boost will be a huge welcome to my low manpower. As time went on, in 1583 I began sending gifts to Castille at 60 ducats a pop. It was a big price but I wanted to Westernize, or at least to get the Western Arms Trade. These gifts weren’t sent all at once, rather I sent only one a year whether it added +30 relations or 0. Castille and I were going to be buddies! But... I need to border them too. Bah, I’ll worry about that later!

Again Aceh Dow’d me with Maldives and I didn’t want to annex them for their poor province. So before the year ended I overran their only province, their capital, and had them pay me 50 ducats. More than anything I didn’t want to war and if I don’t feel like warring, I don’t do it.

In 1586 I finally recovered my stability to +3 status and I got rid of my stability advisor. No use in wasting money! I did invest heavily in my stability to get it up but it was so worth it, especially since Japan - I thought - didn’t have too many negative stability popups. And exactly 5 years and a day after I made peace with Aceh, I DoW’d them and took 50 ducats within three months of the declaration. Call it gamey if you want, but I wanted to keep the truce going.

By 1590 nothing much had changed. I took a screenshot of my CoT which had lost a ton of money to some other CoT I had yet to discover. Instantly I thought that Castille formed one somewhere in TI Mexico or France or England developed one along North America’s eastern coast.

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By 1591 my relations with Castille were at +111 so it was time to establish a colony nearby. I chose the only one I knew of, Nicaragua. That’s right, Japan is in Nicaragua! This is dangerous just like its dangerous to border Ming. With my colony so close to Castille its like I’m playing with fire but the benefits will far outweigh the costs! In hopes of signing an alliance with Castille (they had two allies but alliances almost never last forever) I dissolved my current alliances: Pattani and Makassar. I did hold on to Brunei though for her ships... I still haven’t built much of a Navy.

The next year my relations with Castille reached +153! Sweet, the Western Arms Trade would start up the following month! Its like my own little factory plus, Castille likely won’t mess around with my colonies... and an advisor slot was open for a while so I picked up a 2 star missionary. I go through advisors like a tourist goes through the Grand Canyon, discovering how lame it really is.

Oh, and a new leader with Admin 5 Mil 6 Dip 6... good enough... I guess.


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It wasn’t looking like I was going to get a decent admin king so I sent missionaries off to Palembang and Minangkabau, both in/near Aceh, I believe. I also DoW’d Aceh, deciding they weren’t worth the trouble of keeping around and duly annexed them within a month or two. This was nice because I took some territory but also because I was able to fire my 2 star government advisor and hire a much younger (20 years) 2 star government advisor.

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Since everyone knows how atrocious my manpower is, I decided to bulk it up by building a regimental camp in Settsu, the only province I have which is worth building a reg. camp. A 9th Army [0/3/0] was created for Pomo (in North America/California) and was attached with a conquistador. I wanted to see how far Castille stretched but more importantly, I also wanted to cut them off... or at least show them what I expected to be mine. I just hate it when another empire colonizes in my sphere of influence! And they often do that while exploring/colonizing with their ships, those no-attrition taking ****!

A lot of the provinces I took I’m also starting to receive the ‘Misgiving in Foreign Courts’ event which gives you +1 bb every time it shows. It isn’t pretty especially with all the land I took. Because of this, I had to fire my 2 star colony advisor and hired a 4 star reputation. This would give me a higher bb resistance number and would help lower my bb considerably in a short time. I was not looking to go over the limit again so soon.

Before 1600 hit my missionaries around Aceh landed; Palembang converted while Minangkabau didn’t. Figures it would be the one that has the longest name and is the hardest to spell!
 
PrawnStar said:
It looks like Ming really overshadows the whole game, I've always expected/known that about East Asian games but it's interesting to see in practice.

Cores are basically the change in the peace deal. You trade war score for provinces and they give yo some cores to make up the difference.

With Ming being the big game in town there are only a few options. First one must do something with Korea, whether its through brute force, as I chose, or as you suggested earlier, trying to make them vassals if you’re lucky enough to ally with them near the start. I can’t imagine many Asian countries taking on Ming directly before 1600 but I’m sure it can be done with a more skilled player. As an Asian nation you’re almost forced to expand in the islands, in areas Ming rarely travels, or head to the Americas.

Rastar said:
Wow, that government stinks. What are the requirements to change it in MM?

Finally got caught up. Love the humor!

Thanks. I’m not sure I’ll make another attempt at humor as it’s the toughest form to write... and I’m not the type for writing about high spirits and gaiety. I do have another idea for a comedy but I’ll probably spend more time on it whereas with this AAR, I only had an idea for the first two posts. Everything else is rough draft, write it as I think it. Sometimes its good, sometimes it isn’t.

As for changing my government, I’m not sure. I haven’t read the MM manual partly as a reason to expand my ignorance to give the AI a chance and part due to my laziness about reading things online. Every time I do discover a ‘new government’ I look to see if there isn’t a single one greyed out but they all are. Still no luck with it but I think it’s a government Japan needs or else it’d be way too easy for the player to do as they like.
 
Cheap Trick’s I Want You To Want Me won’t get out of my head. And to make matters worse, it’s the Dwight Yoakam version! I don’t know all the words either so all I keep hearing is ‘I want you to want me... I need you to need me... blah blah blah blah blah blah (but in tune)’ And then all the ‘Didn’t I’ lines. It could be worse I guess... I could have Spinal Tap on repeat. Did I ever mention I saw them in concert back in ‘82? Who else was I supposed to see? Aerosmith promoting their awful Rock and a Hard Place album WITHOUT Joe Perry? That’s like watching a Guns N Roses concert without Slash! So in the spirit of Rock and Aerosmith, break out your favorite big ten inch... record and let’s get on with the show!

Kicking off the new hundred year mark my reputation advisor disappeared faster than a singer in Van Halen and just like the band, I couldn’t find a replacement for the longest time. Later I did find a wanna-be but it couldn’t replace the original... yeah, Sammy, er, I mean a 1 star rep. just couldn’t fill the shoes of the previous frontman. I also started getting the new land claimed event which gives you either +1 tax base in a random province or about 100 manpower plus. Two times in the same year I received the event and both I opted for the better manpower for clear reasons.

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Colonization went slow, especially in Buru where twice in three years natives rose up in the province. By the end of 1601 they killed off all of my colonists and I swore the place off. Buru wasn’t even violent... I thought someone might be screwing with me through spy missions (I always turn off the popup because I receive them so often) so that could’ve been an option but if that’s the case, they were only concentrating on Buru. I don’t want that stupid province anyway.

I did move a slider in 1602 although I’m not sure why. Maybe I thought I needed something to do. But the move went +1 toward innovative. Then missionaries were sent in 1605 and 1606 to Gangwon and Pyeongan but both would end up failing like that horrible, horrible grunge music. And in early 1607 a conquistador was promoted to explore areas where I suspected Sibir and Muscovy to lie. I still wasn’t sure of Muscovy’s position but it looked like they were partying hard and early so their ultimate survival was circumspect. I wasn’t sure what I was going to do when I found them other than to try and create a Japanese corridor from the coast to Sibir/Muscovite lands.

It seemed like a good idea... I mean, how can bordering Ming, Muscovy, Castille and possibly the Timurids be a bad thing? It can’t be any worse than going on tour with the original members of Steelheart. What? Too obscure? :D

Okay, so its 1608 and I haven’t taken a pic all decade! Here’s one.

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I probably should explain that... I discovered Korea was allied to the Golden Horde. I’m not sure why or how but they were. Needless to say, I declared war on G.H. and all my lucky stars started working when Korea honored the alliance! With the pic I don’t think I have to comment too much on what happened.

After about a year, this happened!

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Korea was being dismantled and Ming was sitting by, watching the action. I can’t blame them, I’m pretty awed by what I’m able to do, too. And a few months later...

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Until...

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Hm. This is not going to be good for my reputation, not that it wasn’t unearned especially with all of my backstage antics. Slip behind the scenes and you’ll see what being hardcore is all about while you hear guys on the other side of security saying, “But my girlfriend’s back there!”
 
Kami said:
Love the Humor and the constant playing with ming fire :)

Thanks... I think I mentioned before that I’m not much of a ‘humor’ writer, because its hard for me to get into the mood. I'm still not sure what to say to that when I see comments or pms that say such things. As for Ming, it isn’t an AAR without Ming. When battling with them I often felt like a flounder nibbling on the tail of a great white. I do love challenges

Jambor said:
Wow 14k manpower. How long did it take to get that?

Not long. I think since I started (after I removed my National Conscript NI) its only gone up about 5,000 although I could be wrong. The Shogunate government really takes you down a notch. Whenever I see a province producing more than 0 manpower, I get a little excited. There are so many that don’t produce a single one, like all of my provinces in South Asia. One of these days I’ll take National Conscripts again.
 
Hm. This is not going to be good for my reputation, not that it wasn’t unearned especially with all of my backstage antics. Slip behind the scenes and you’ll see what being hardcore is all about while you hear guys on the other side of security saying, “But my girlfriend’s back there!”



:rofl:

Awesome - Just plain awesome.

For me the humor is the best part of this AAR. The anecdotes i will bear in my heart forever :D :D :D
 
Once upon a time I was a huge Van Halen fan, but the whole Sammy thing was just....sad. In a weak moment I picked up the 5150 album, to my endless regret.

And now for a comment actually linked to the gaming content...nice to see that Ming got into a war w/Timurids :D
 
Great AAR read so far. thoroughly enjoyed it. Can't wait to see you play around with NA and IN like you play around with fish and Ming. ;)

Hmm, perhaps a Whitesnake reference is in order? Or perhaps Poison ("Open up and say Ah..." did have an excellent cover)?
 
Its been a few days since I posted an update. Not so much for your average writer guy but for me, its like forever. I probably should’ve spent some time working on the update but, well, I’m not that kind of writer. I should pick at it over a couple of days like I suppose others do but I strictly sit down and hope for the best. I won’t say how good or bad I think I am but from now on, I will be capitalizing the word, ‘I.’

My very first action was building a new university in Tlingit. That’s my CoT near Alaska. So, yeah, the Japanese won’t have to invade the Aleutians when the US cuts my oil in a few hundred years. But if expansions keep going well then that may not be something I’ll have to worry about. My biggest worries will soon be whether I ought to polish off the evening with three fingers of Brandy or Bourbon... truth be told I’d probably go whiskey. No whiskey? Rum. No rum? Lighter fluid.

Within the same year [1611] I’d receive an event that’d make me want that drink. I was framed (if you’re keeping count at home, that’s now twice.) My badboy is now at 21.59/21.50. It isn’t too bad. I could recover in a few months as long as some nations leave me alone. At this point I was more annoyed than a man who was conned into watching a Jerry Lewis routine. The “comedian” not the singer... Elvis who?

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So I got rid of my 2 star missionary hoping that a new reputation advisor would come along while my bb went down .04 a month. It wasn’t too bad but I sure could do a lot better. A few years later I’d put in a 2 star stability.

I probably should mention here that I allowed military access for Ming. I took a picture but I have a far more interesting picture coming up. You know what would be cruel? If I just sat here rambling and rambling without giving you any more information than I already have. But I’m not cruel. Do you know what’s cruel? Being forced to spend the afternoon with your blind great-grandfather every Saturday listening to golf on the radio. Why?!? I have a whole lot more Saturdays left than he does, let me pick something! Like skydiving! It isn’t like he’ll know he’s skydiving. I’ll just tell him we’re re-enacting the tornado scene from The Wizard of Oz. (Its okay to laugh, he’s hard of hearing too!)

Just when I thought I was out of the bb forest, my leader died. I don’t know why the people take it so hard, don’t they realize I’m their omnipotent guidance counselor for 400 years? So I ended up with a 3 Admin 4 Dip and 3 Mil. Yeah, my bb changed now. I was back in the bad side of town with 19.84/19.50. Again, not too bad. Lucky for me, on 1 May a 1 star reputation advisor showed up and I hired him in place of my 1 star land. New bb was 19.84/20.00.

And then, in 1617, my reputation advisor died faster than a rising star in West Hollywood... I wept... inbetween sobs I heard my girl from the other room, “Are you playing that stupid game again?!” So after I slapped on some Old Spice, ate a roast-pork sub two feet long, spent the afternoon downing bitter beer and working on the engine of my pick-up truck - because we all have to remind ourselves we’re men - I loaded the game again and hid the tissues.

Advances were made in 1618 as I planned for the far future. Here you can see a little more of the New World, albeit in reverse, but still. I signed an agreement with England where they gave me military access. Yes! I rule!

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England is that little red spot on the eastern side. I suppose they extend to the eastern seaboard which will really help me out but I’m wondering how many colonies they have? See, that one province I spot is only a level 1 colony.

Then a few months later like a drinking party when you’re the first one to pass out, only bad things happened. This next screenshot is the equivalent of me with my eyebrows shaved and my hand in warm water. Yup, a rebellion with a ton of rebels while I had limited manpower on mainland Japan. Still, the minor Japan ‘countries’ hadn’t gained cores. But as said, that’s something I’m trying to prevent.

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Later in October, (1618 was a busy year!) my 9th Army was wiped out due to attrition. Ah well. They should’ve known better. When a place is called ‘Death Valley’, you should be smart enough to not go there! They should’ve rebelled or something, at least I could’ve respected them. But now, they can write their names in the sand for all I care, but they can’t... because they’re dead.

And on 29 October of that year, I received the same rebellion event. I think it might’ve been a bug or something because I ended up with the exact same amount of rebels in the exact same province with the exact same consequences. With so many troops, they destroyed their short-lived careers faster than David Blaine had in his latest trick, ‘The Dive of Death.’

Oh... and here’s a close-up. I don’t know why I took it but if I don’t use it I’ll lose your interest with so much text. 4th Army is so big because I merged my three armies on the island. I ended up losing about 800, they about 6500. A nice trade-off but the rebels still stand. It would take me a long time to get rid of those guys.

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In one of those battles my leader died. It was what I hoped for even though I did drop a spot in stability. New leader? 3 Admin 6 Mil 7 Dip. At least I’m not getting screwed in the diplomacy area. And no, I’m still not trying to convert.

In my final year of this update I spotted the French. And you may notice, I did give Buru a second try and finally succeeded in making it a city only after I blitzed the colony with - wait for it - colonists. Honestly, is there a better sound than when a colonist lands? I also dissolved my alliance with Brunei hoping for some kind of alliance with the English... or Castille. I was sure it was unlikely but hey, I gotta try.

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Kami: I’m glad you like it, and I hope I can keep putting out good lines. Its always hard to tell what’s funny and what isn’t, especially over a written medium where tone is omitted.

Rastar: It took a while for me to get into music and Van Halen, so by the time I spent money Hagar was already the new man. I tried out OU812, and hoping for something better, picked up 5150... I’m not baseball, I don’t give three strikes.

Ming and TE have been in wars on and off throughout the game. I eventually stopped mentioning it because it happened so often. :D Chagatai would DoW Ming and TE would join them. Land rarely ever traded hands and I doubt a battle was ever fought between the behemoths. But WE matters.

Azugal: While I would’ve loved to incorporate more bands, I, like the ‘80s, only had a chance to cover 10 years. Besides, Tawny is having enough trouble showing up on that Celebrity Rehab show and as for Poison, well, there is only so much you can do with that title without getting banned.

Thanks for the compliment. I do have a number of ideas for more AARs and I imagine NA and IN will implant more ideas. I do wonder how my tactics would differ in IN compared with 1.3. Maybe I’ll have to do a trial by fire and play my first IN game in AAR form.
 
"Later in October, (1618 was a busy year!) my 9th Army was wiped out due to attrition. Ah well. They should’ve known better. When a place is called ‘Death Valley’, you should be smart enough to not go there! They should’ve rebelled or something, at least I could’ve respected them. But now, they can write their names in the sand for all I care, but they can’t... because they’re dead."

No worries - Still highly entertained :rofl:
 
Still reading I just seem to have a bit of a mental block on writing much in the way of sensible commentary - enjoying very much!

All the Van Halen stuff left me kinda cold but now you're talking Poison that's better. What we need now is Motley Crue, Ratt and Vixen.
 
I wept... inbetween sobs I heard my girl from the other room, “Are you playing that stupid game again?!” So after I slapped on some Old Spice, ate a roast-pork sub two feet long, spent the afternoon downing bitter beer and working on the engine of my pick-up truck - because we all have to remind ourselves we’re men - I loaded the game again and hid the tissues.
:rofl:

Now that's funny. :D

I know what Prawnstar means about sensible commentary. I find it hard myself to convey something meaningful after an update. What are your long term colonisation (yes, we spell it with an "s" Down Under) goals? Aimed more at Siberia, Oceania or North America? I know you will want to keep a colony close to a European power to further westernise, but beyond that?