Jihad in 1.8

[knoddy]

So I'm curious to get peoples thoughts and opinions on Jihad in 1.8.

The start seems to have been made easier, the mamalukes dont have a border and are much easier to ally. the larger collection of minors in Africa seems to lead to Hejaz Yemen etc getting called into more minor wars and leave you be more. In my couple of playthroughs, seems that the 2 minors you start next to, dont ally anyone early, I was able to fabricate and declare on both Al hasa, and the other guy (cant remember the name) and 100% both without either of them making allies.

While the basic strat probably stays the same, what I am most curious about is do people still think cutting off Russia is as big a deal as it used to be? with all the Extra provinces in Africa, India, SE Asia and China, is stopping Russia as important as it once was? I woulda suggest that even going exploration isnt as needed as it used to be. while free provinces are always nice, the sheer number of provinces in ROTW now suggests you probably dont need to.

So yea just curious on others thoughts on this.

 

[grisamentum]

While the basic strat probably stays the same, what I am most curious about is do people still think cutting off Russia is as big a deal as it used to be? with all the Extra provinces in Africa, India, SE Asia and China, is stopping Russia as important as it once was? I woulda suggest that even going exploration isnt as needed as it used to be. while free provinces are always nice, the sheer number of provinces in ROTW now suggests you probably dont need to.

So yea just curious on others thoughts on this.

Probably not as big of a deal to cut off Russia anymore since it's not like you even need those provinces, or to fight much of Russia. 500 is far easier to get with Asia + Africa now.

 

[knoddy]

yeah thats what I was thinking, Now its just about making inroads into india, SE asia and Africa, and being big enough and scary enough that none of the blobby AI wants to fight you

 

[shoki]

Tried this achievement in 1.8 for the first time and it was my first 1.8 game, so had to learn the new features the hard way. Also i'm not that much of an expert, but it was easy to blob as najd at the beginning.
As you mentioned take out Al Hasa and the other one north of you at the beginning, ally mamluks and take out hedjaz, oman and jemen with their help. After that you are big enough to do what you want.

As i mentioned my game wasn't that great and i still have 110years left and need 150more provinces (~70 should be easy to get with west africa). So if you are more experienced it should be a walk in the park.
http://www11.pic-upload.de/05.11.14/zwpj9mnov228.jpg

Dunno if i will make it in this playthrough, but in the next totaly, now that i understand the new mechanics

 

[cold warpgates]

I just finished my jihad run, I never had to fight Russia once and didn't even get colonization ideas. Although, I did get pretty lucky - Ming had so many rebels that all of their provinces were at 100% autonomy. They had a force limit of 5, and it took only 97% warscore to vassalize a fairly intact Ming. Also, the achievement fires when you have 500 provinces and 100% religious unity, so I hadn't actually converted everything to Sunni yet...

 

[knoddy]

all very interesting, the province warscore cost for LA must make large wars quite interesting. While I agree exploration isnt necessarily needed, I do think it makes the game slightly easier. after all they are virtually free provinces, and you can keep the colonizers out of India/SE Asia, which makes your life a little easier.

I also think that maybe stopping Russia isnt as big a deal as it used to be.