This thread has taught me about Queen Amina. I just started playing elder scrolls online again, and i made a red guard dragon knight and named her Amina of Zazzua. Thank you this thread for giving me a history lesson!
Let's All Play Together - Community Nation Discovery
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Great thread (and great idea - may many threads like this be made in the future) 
. I know I'm late to the party, but will be taking Zazzau for a run later today .
. I know I'm late to the party, but will be taking Zazzau for a run later today .
Advanced the game another 50 years (see the previous post). In the last 50 years, I really started to push into Europe, but it's a slow-going affair due to my relatively small army and the high development of many of the provinces (North Italy mostly has >30 and the French region has >20). Obviously, this means I'm fighting a lot of wars against coalitions and to prevent coalitions from growing too large. But here's the current state of the Zazzau Empire (changed the rank an 1610 or so):
As you can see, I'm usually at war with most of Europe, except while I have truces with certain countries. This is manageable through a decisive naval superiority (25 heavies, about 60 light ships and transports each) and defensible territory in Europe. Apart from ripping apart Spain, I mostly focused on getting bases to be able to declare Holy Wars when truces end and before they can join a coalition. I also took some territory in Italy and am planning to take another base in Sjaelland from the war with GB.
I moved my main port to Valencia (in the Genoa node), where I now make about 70 ducats per month in trade income. I also took Genoa and Tarragona, and will soon take Provence as well to solidify my hold on the node, which is currently mostly maintained by light ships. If I get a period of peace at some point, I will have conquered Toulouse and be able to re-release them as a vassal. This will allow me to move my capital to Tangiers to make Spain non-overseas while keeping the rest of Europe overseas to keep coring it at 1 adm/dev. A "land connection" to Spain is important because you can only recruit mercenaries in non-overseas territory. Here is a slightly closer look on Europe
Other events of note include that most of the HRE princes became protestant, but failed to declare the league war against long-term emperor Bohemia. This led to Catholic becoming the official faith of the empire, only for Bohemia to convert shortly afterwards and lose the imperial crown to... Tirol (a 2pm, one of which is Venice and none of which is Tirol).
In the frozen North, Denmark formed Scandinavia, and in an unprecedented stroke of luck they proceeded to obtain a PU over Russia. Pretty amazing performance there, Denmark! Now nominally the strongest military power in the world, though their navy took quite the beating against mine. Unfortunately, I'll have to curtail their success soon, lest they become too bothersome. Already their sneaky fleets continue to dump small stacks in Africa, which annoys me greatly, as they are too small to even siege any of my coastal forts, yet I feel I should send some troops there from time to time. It's really much easier in South America, where a daring Papal invasion was beaten down ruthlessly by Zazzauan Peru.
There was a funny episode for a while when a few colonial nations declared independence from Portugal and France, and France was evicted from Europe to go into exile in Curacao by Guyenne and Champagne. I didn't want them to keep colonizing, so I destroyed them, only to have them pop back up in the old world a year later.
In the RotW, the situation remains pretty much unchanged. I still maintain a near monopoly on the Americas, and am now funneling a lot of its trade, along with all of Africas, into Genoa. Ming and Bahmanis remain strong, but did not expand any further. Did I mention Peru and Mexico send treasure fleets worth 400-500 ducats or so per year? The situation in Asia seems quite stable, apart from me taking my first colony and protectorate there. Obviously, my armies are too tied up in Europe to do anything in Asia or Africa, but I had the opportunity to conquer Mutapa at some point (to take their gold mines, mostly).
I am swimming in cash, but am running a slight deficit due to having replaced all my infantry and some part of my other troops with mercenaries to help my manpower-aches a little. Income is now 170-180 ducats per month (roughly, as it strongly depends on whether my light ships in Genoa are being harassed), making me about half again as large as Ming in that regard. This is not counting the additional approximately 40 ducats I get from treasure fleets, putting me at a total of a little over 200/month.
As for national ideas, in spite of my earlier deliberations I decided to take religious as my 4th slot instead of influence. The main reason for this were the absurd diplo point costs in Europe (3/dev amounts to a lot if you conquer provinces with >30 development). I unlocked the fifth slot for influence recently, with my tech level now being 17/17/18. I regret having taken offensive to mix things up a little (normally I'd take quantity). While the siege bonus is useful, and you can never have too many force limits, the leader pips are nearly useless. Sure, they occasionally save you a little military power when gambling leaders, and they make your monarchs better leaders, but that's it. Considering the life span of generals in general, I'd much rather roll the dice a few more times.
I moved my main port to Valencia (in the Genoa node), where I now make about 70 ducats per month in trade income. I also took Genoa and Tarragona, and will soon take Provence as well to solidify my hold on the node, which is currently mostly maintained by light ships. If I get a period of peace at some point, I will have conquered Toulouse and be able to re-release them as a vassal. This will allow me to move my capital to Tangiers to make Spain non-overseas while keeping the rest of Europe overseas to keep coring it at 1 adm/dev. A "land connection" to Spain is important because you can only recruit mercenaries in non-overseas territory. Here is a slightly closer look on Europe
Other events of note include that most of the HRE princes became protestant, but failed to declare the league war against long-term emperor Bohemia. This led to Catholic becoming the official faith of the empire, only for Bohemia to convert shortly afterwards and lose the imperial crown to... Tirol (a 2pm, one of which is Venice and none of which is Tirol).
In the frozen North, Denmark formed Scandinavia, and in an unprecedented stroke of luck they proceeded to obtain a PU over Russia. Pretty amazing performance there, Denmark! Now nominally the strongest military power in the world, though their navy took quite the beating against mine. Unfortunately, I'll have to curtail their success soon, lest they become too bothersome. Already their sneaky fleets continue to dump small stacks in Africa, which annoys me greatly, as they are too small to even siege any of my coastal forts, yet I feel I should send some troops there from time to time. It's really much easier in South America, where a daring Papal invasion was beaten down ruthlessly by Zazzauan Peru.
There was a funny episode for a while when a few colonial nations declared independence from Portugal and France, and France was evicted from Europe to go into exile in Curacao by Guyenne and Champagne. I didn't want them to keep colonizing, so I destroyed them, only to have them pop back up in the old world a year later.
In the RotW, the situation remains pretty much unchanged. I still maintain a near monopoly on the Americas, and am now funneling a lot of its trade, along with all of Africas, into Genoa. Ming and Bahmanis remain strong, but did not expand any further. Did I mention Peru and Mexico send treasure fleets worth 400-500 ducats or so per year? The situation in Asia seems quite stable, apart from me taking my first colony and protectorate there. Obviously, my armies are too tied up in Europe to do anything in Asia or Africa, but I had the opportunity to conquer Mutapa at some point (to take their gold mines, mostly).
I am swimming in cash, but am running a slight deficit due to having replaced all my infantry and some part of my other troops with mercenaries to help my manpower-aches a little. Income is now 170-180 ducats per month (roughly, as it strongly depends on whether my light ships in Genoa are being harassed), making me about half again as large as Ming in that regard. This is not counting the additional approximately 40 ducats I get from treasure fleets, putting me at a total of a little over 200/month.
As for national ideas, in spite of my earlier deliberations I decided to take religious as my 4th slot instead of influence. The main reason for this were the absurd diplo point costs in Europe (3/dev amounts to a lot if you conquer provinces with >30 development). I unlocked the fifth slot for influence recently, with my tech level now being 17/17/18. I regret having taken offensive to mix things up a little (normally I'd take quantity). While the siege bonus is useful, and you can never have too many force limits, the leader pips are nearly useless. Sure, they occasionally save you a little military power when gambling leaders, and they make your monarchs better leaders, but that's it. Considering the life span of generals in general, I'd much rather roll the dice a few more times.
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Zazzau's a fun little nation to play as. Some nervous moments early - I allied Mossi, Benin, Bonoman and Dagbon, but then within the first year Mossi had a go against Songhai (which was allied with Kano, Katsina and Kanem Borno), so the first decade or so (can't remember exactly) was running around making sure Mossi didn't get spanked. The Angry Animist's prevailed, (although not without Macina, supported by Air, also having a go at Mossi), Mossi took a province or two and then Queen Amina got to fight for Zazzau. While I'd sieged down a few capitals and got involved in some key battles, I'd managed to keep my manpower reasonably high (for early Zazzau ), so had a go at Oyo, which was only allied with a now exhausted Kano, and vassalised one (Kano) and annexed the other, before declaring war on Nupe (allied with Katsina and Kanem Borno, both involved in another war - Katsina didn't even join in) which also got annexed, with Kano picking up another couple of provinces from Kanem Borno. Katsina was next on the hit list, but alas it was not to be, with Amina passing beyond this mortal veil.
I generally prefer to role-play rather than 'paint the world', so unless I get some fairly improbably mission chains, I can't see me pushing into Europe. The plan from here on in is a Zazzau that dominates sub-saharan Africa, and focuses on rivals, trade and development once Africa is secured, and see where that leads. Great thread and idea @net.split. Not sure whether I'll westernise or not. Definitely won't early, as it would have been pretty implausible historically (so as a role-playing playthrough wouldn't make a whole lot of sense), but if I can create a powerful enough trading state by the late 1600s the implied trading connections with Europe would make it a far more sensible proposition.
), so had a go at Oyo, which was only allied with a now exhausted Kano, and vassalised one (Kano) and annexed the other, before declaring war on Nupe (allied with Katsina and Kanem Borno, both involved in another war - Katsina didn't even join in) which also got annexed, with Kano picking up another couple of provinces from Kanem Borno. Katsina was next on the hit list, but alas it was not to be, with Amina passing beyond this mortal veil.
I generally prefer to role-play rather than 'paint the world', so unless I get some fairly improbably mission chains, I can't see me pushing into Europe. The plan from here on in is a Zazzau that dominates sub-saharan Africa, and focuses on rivals, trade and development once Africa is secured, and see where that leads. Great thread and idea @net.split
. Not sure whether I'll westernise or not. Definitely won't early, as it would have been pretty implausible historically (so as a role-playing playthrough wouldn't make a whole lot of sense), but if I can create a powerful enough trading state by the late 1600s the implied trading connections with Europe would make it a far more sensible proposition.
Just finished off my Zazzau run, it was a lot fun, cheers for the idea @net.split .
Not too long after my last post, my sub-saharan African neighbours starting westernising, so I thought I'd better join the party. I don't mind being behind Europeans, but it could have been tough with a westernised Mali and Fulo throwing their weight around. As part of the process, I had an event that gave me the option of going Catholic, which I took for the lols, then there was a few decades of religious conversion, unrest management and filling up that westernisation meter. My mission (which I originally took when I was Animist) was for religious unit, so that pretty much required Religious Ideas as the first group, to convert those Sunni provinces in Katsina (and also Nupe in this game). And then I had the event to translate the bible, and for the lols switched from Catholic to Protestant, at which point it was possible, to become defender of the Protestant faith.
Portugal played a very strong game in the playthrough, so after this it was more just a case of slowly consolidating in west Africa, while allying with a strong Ethiopia (that had taken pretty much the entire east coast) in East Africa, going for an 'Africa for the (Protestant) Africans' aim. Then I got a mission to get three provinces producing spices. I already had the Expansion idea group for the easy colonist, and had settled Bonny/Calabar/Cameroon/Gabon, parts of South Africa (not the Cape though, the Engilsh beat me to it) and Antananarivo, which was just the launching point needed for colonising parts of the East Indies when I got a mission to get three provinces producing spices. As luck would have it, though, I just unded up with coffee, cloth and naval supplies, but I was neighbouring a Castilan province producing spices..... (and Castile wasn't having near as strong a game as Portugal).
After that, the missions were far more standard, and didn't lead to anything particularly interesting, so it was a case of consolidating and waiting for Portugal to stumble, and when it did, strike. By the end of the game, the only parts of Africa still in non-African hands were five French provinces (the French were just too tough, 260K plus manpower and a 280K army) and some English provinces at the cape (as I was allied with the English).
Right at the end, I had about ten years spare, and could go for Tunis/Tlemcen or the French colonies. Tunis/Tlemcen would have been a walk in the part, so went with France, and they were anything but (although I wouldn't have been that silly if the game wasn't about to end anyways). Zazzau at its peak probably wouldn't have lasted too much beyond 1821.
.Not too long after my last post, my sub-saharan African neighbours starting westernising, so I thought I'd better join the party. I don't mind being behind Europeans, but it could have been tough with a westernised Mali and Fulo throwing their weight around. As part of the process, I had an event that gave me the option of going Catholic, which I took for the lols, then there was a few decades of religious conversion, unrest management and filling up that westernisation meter. My mission (which I originally took when I was Animist) was for religious unit, so that pretty much required Religious Ideas as the first group, to convert those Sunni provinces in Katsina (and also Nupe in this game). And then I had the event to translate the bible, and for the lols switched from Catholic to Protestant, at which point it was possible, to become defender of the Protestant faith
.
Portugal played a very strong game in the playthrough, so after this it was more just a case of slowly consolidating in west Africa, while allying with a strong Ethiopia (that had taken pretty much the entire east coast) in East Africa, going for an 'Africa for the (Protestant) Africans' aim. Then I got a mission to get three provinces producing spices. I already had the Expansion idea group for the easy colonist, and had settled Bonny/Calabar/Cameroon/Gabon, parts of South Africa (not the Cape though, the Engilsh beat me to it) and Antananarivo, which was just the launching point needed for colonising parts of the East Indies when I got a mission to get three provinces producing spices. As luck would have it, though, I just unded up with coffee, cloth and naval supplies, but I was neighbouring a Castilan province producing spices..... (and Castile wasn't having near as strong a game as Portugal).
After that, the missions were far more standard, and didn't lead to anything particularly interesting, so it was a case of consolidating and waiting for Portugal to stumble, and when it did, strike. By the end of the game, the only parts of Africa still in non-African hands were five French provinces (the French were just too tough, 260K plus manpower and a 280K army) and some English provinces at the cape (as I was allied with the English).
Right at the end, I had about ten years spare, and could go for Tunis/Tlemcen or the French colonies. Tunis/Tlemcen would have been a walk in the part, so went with France, and they were anything but (although I wouldn't have been that silly if the game wasn't about to end anyways). Zazzau at its peak probably wouldn't have lasted too much beyond 1821
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Aw, you guys used Zazzau and even mentioned the LP and I didn't even notice.
Here was the final screen from the LP:
I knew I could have went into Asia and the Americas and build a monster empire, but it seemed more fun (and much better for an LP) to take on Europe. And when I say take on Europe, I mean the last 100 years looked like this pretty much throughout:
It's a bit disappointing though seeing the screenshots here. No one else seems to have the Portugal pre-1500 migration to Africa like I dealt with back then:
Here was the final screen from the LP:
I knew I could have went into Asia and the Americas and build a monster empire, but it seemed more fun (and much better for an LP) to take on Europe. And when I say take on Europe, I mean the last 100 years looked like this pretty much throughout:
It's a bit disappointing though seeing the screenshots here. No one else seems to have the Portugal pre-1500 migration to Africa like I dealt with back then:
In my case, I blew all my ADM points on coring ASAP so I wound up having a chunk of the Jolof/Mali area already . Your Portugal presence is indeed really early though. If I could see that reliably I'd alter my opening to become a republic I think.
. Your Portugal presence is indeed really early though. If I could see that reliably I'd alter my opening to become a republic I think.
In 1.11 I did see it rather reliably, but from the screenshots here it doesn't look as common today. Of course at the time I had no idea it was going to happen like that, and was definitely not expecting it that early so I had to adjust.In my case, I blew all my ADM points on coring ASAP so I wound up having a chunk of the Jolof/Mali area already
We even took a group photo for the archives:
In 1.11 I did see it rather reliably, but from the screenshots here it doesn't look as common today. Of course at the time I had no idea it was going to happen like that, and was definitely not expecting it that early so I had to adjust.
We even took a group photo for the archives:
It's probably due to the ADM 4 --> ADM 5 for first idea change. 1st colony in Sierra Leone (and thus ability to put claims) is going to be delayed a number of years due to that rule change alone...even more for POR if they conquer North Africa with the new coring cost rules.
This one's only been running for just over two weeks now. I'm in the latter half of the 1500s in my own game, so I'm sure lots of people are still pretty early on their runs as well
I'm thinking maybe a new one every month or so? I'll probably start the next thread in another two weeks (and link it here).- 1
Looking forward to the next nation, good luck to those still running through their games (I didn't expect to finish mine near as quick as I did, but got crook and EU4's a good pain distractor ).
That's a very impressive Zazzaun empire. I had a fairly early Portugese run - when Dahomey started westernising in 1501, Portugal had from Whydah over to the Ivory coast, and the Gabu/Cayor region as well and a bit inland. They were monsters in my game - also took all of Mexico, most of Brazil, California, Australia and Columbia.
).That's a very impressive Zazzaun empire
. I had a fairly early Portugese run - when Dahomey started westernising in 1501, Portugal had from Whydah over to the Ivory coast, and the Gabu/Cayor region as well and a bit inland. They were monsters in my game - also took all of Mexico, most of Brazil, California, Australia and Columbia.
Thanks. I was a bit disappointed with it at the end though. I fell short of Mare Nostrum (I could have taken the French lands but opted to go a different route when I realized it was unreachable) and I also only got about half of GB. Some annoying late regencies and long coalition truce timers didn't help.That's a very impressive Zazzaun empire
Of course, that game did give me one thing... That war screenshot above is one of my favorite EU4 (maybe any game) screenshots of all time.
Actually I had a lot of fun with that game, it wasn't just the screenshot!
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Zazzau, 1652
The rise of Zazzau continued unabated for two hundred years, culminating in the uniting of West Africa (minus small colony holdouts from Brittany and England), expansion north through Fezzan to obtain a Mediterranean border, and east through Ethiopia to claim territory in the Gulf of Aden region. The colonies of Zazzombia and Brazzau were established in South America. Through an alliance with Castile, the Africans demolished the Portuguese invaders and rose to international prominence, maintaining the fifth largest army in the world.
In the mid-1600s, however, the empire entered a period of crisis. While it had successfully Westernized, it had yet to modernize its governmental structure. The empire's only legitimate heir died of illness, forcing the king to legitimize a bastard infant. Shortly thereafter, the king died as well, leaving a regency ruling in the name of a two-year-old bastard. All this happened immediately following the conquest of Kongo and expansion into Ethiopia, plunging the empire into Internal Conflicts. The empire was in dire straits.
All signs point to collapse. However, even should this occur, successor states will carry on the legacy of the Zazzau Empire. The region has been modernized, largely united behind a single religious faith, and has a taste of wielding power on an international level. West Africa, regardless of its form, will have a major role to play in determining the future of this world.
Wow, what a crazy place to end that game! It's suitable, though; endless rebel-stomping for another decade while stuck in a regency isn't something I can get too excited about jumping into any more. The future is pretty clear anyway; by the mid-1700s Africa would be united under one tag, with zazzy colonies all over South America and Indonesia. I never built a navy, but that was next on the agenda (after catching up in Diplo tech; almost got there). In all, it was an exciting first run in the region.
And with that, it's time for the a new thread. Next stop: Southeast Asia!
(edit: next thread is up. https://forum.paradoxplaza.com/foru...her-lan-na-community-nation-discovery.877458/)
The rise of Zazzau continued unabated for two hundred years, culminating in the uniting of West Africa (minus small colony holdouts from Brittany and England), expansion north through Fezzan to obtain a Mediterranean border, and east through Ethiopia to claim territory in the Gulf of Aden region. The colonies of Zazzombia and Brazzau were established in South America. Through an alliance with Castile, the Africans demolished the Portuguese invaders and rose to international prominence, maintaining the fifth largest army in the world.
In the mid-1600s, however, the empire entered a period of crisis. While it had successfully Westernized, it had yet to modernize its governmental structure. The empire's only legitimate heir died of illness, forcing the king to legitimize a bastard infant. Shortly thereafter, the king died as well, leaving a regency ruling in the name of a two-year-old bastard. All this happened immediately following the conquest of Kongo and expansion into Ethiopia, plunging the empire into Internal Conflicts. The empire was in dire straits.
All signs point to collapse. However, even should this occur, successor states will carry on the legacy of the Zazzau Empire. The region has been modernized, largely united behind a single religious faith, and has a taste of wielding power on an international level. West Africa, regardless of its form, will have a major role to play in determining the future of this world.
Wow, what a crazy place to end that game! It's suitable, though; endless rebel-stomping for another decade while stuck in a regency isn't something I can get too excited about jumping into any more. The future is pretty clear anyway; by the mid-1700s Africa would be united under one tag, with zazzy colonies all over South America and Indonesia. I never built a navy, but that was next on the agenda (after catching up in Diplo tech; almost got there). In all, it was an exciting first run in the region.
And with that, it's time for the a new thread. Next stop: Southeast Asia!
(edit: next thread is up. https://forum.paradoxplaza.com/foru...her-lan-na-community-nation-discovery.877458/)
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