Really enjoying this nation - it shows one of the strengths of EU4, as there can be a fair bit of a variety in terms of how it plays out, even from the same start. How do I know? I'm onto my fifth run now
. My second run (first was a bit of a disaster) was going well until I had a lapse in attention and dow'd Hsenwi not realising that they'd just allied with my ally Ava, so in one silly mistake I've lost an ally, and bit off more than I could chew. The second mistake was being stubborn, and instead of peacing out and losing a few provinces, the late stage of the war looked like this:
I was left with four provinces (original three and the one under Pu'er), -2 stability and no manpower or troops (after going bankrupt), and no allies - I can't recall where my prestige was, but it wasn't pretty either. Given it was pretty much only a matter of time before I was finished off, I started over, and the next two games didn't end well. The third start was just unlucky, I wasn't able to ally anyone particularly helpful (I think Ava and Arakan, but not Dai Viet, who was been a regular and helpful starting ally in most of these games) and got stomped by Ayyuthaya and their mates early. The fourth I got a little further, but again fell in a whole, it was over pretty quickly, but I think two of my allies self-destructed, leaving me unable to withstand Ayyuthaya again.
And then there was start the fifth. What I've liked about all these starts is that they've all been different, and it's stayed interesting all the way through (well, up until now, at least). This game kicked off with allying Arakan, Ava, Dai Viet and Mong Yang but everyone else wasn't interested due to how the rivalries had lined up. The 'tough start, so it takes a few goes to get established (well, if you're an average player like me - I'm sure TMIT wouldn't have had the same trouble
) shows how different it is each time, and that there are interesting and different decisions to be made. At no point are you 'going through the motions'.
It started off poorly, as I was Ava's only ally, and Ava attacked Taungu (allied with Pegu, Ayyuthaya and Hsenwi - so about twice our combined troops - this qualifies as 'silly' in my book, so while I usually help out my allies when they ask, if it's a ridiculously poor judgement, I leave them to it). Poor old Ava then got eaten up by Taungu and Bengal, and I was feeling a bit weak, and had to wait and bide my time for Pegu to be isolated to take a bite from them. After that, though, I was able, with my allies, to chip away at Lan Xang and Pegu/Taungu/Ava and Hsenwi, and got established.
Ming allied Ayuthayya at one stage, but I attacked one of Ayuthayya's allies that wasn't allied to Ming and used that war to bring them down a notch. Then Ming politely went and disintegrated, and I was able to ally Dali and vassalise Shan.
In the screenie below, Khmer, Dali and Arakan are my allies (I try and always support my allies, and will only turn on them if they rival me - Dai Viet made that mistake
), Taungu and Shan my vassals and Ming is no longer allied with Ayuthayya (and even if they were, wouldn't be that much of a threat). Biggest challenge going forward is likely to be Bengal and Bahmanis, which are allied and have both rivalled me, but am hoping through consolidation towards Malacca and up the Chinese coast will give me the strength to take them on.
As an aside, check out where Hsenwi ended up
.
