Manchurian candidate strategy

[anomalacaris]

Didn't find any thread discussing the strategy for this achievement. Anyway now that the Qing cores/nation forming are fixed I quickly attempted this.

I used Haixi but others should be easily doable too. I believe in letting AI do the work for me, and the real advantage in Haixi is diplomacy: I allied Korea and vassalized Jianzhou day 1. Now with vassal army I vassalized Korchin and took the required provinces from Yeren.

In the meantime I allied Ming, started war with Oirat. Oirat army cut through Ming like butter but Ming do have a lot of men. So after they fought to exhaustion I took the other required province and also vassalized Buryatia(sp) who is Oirat ally.

Now Ming army is dead, Jianzhou should be diplo annexed and you should be tech 4 while Ming with shit tier emperor is at best 3. I simply set Ming as rival and after alliance dissolve I declared war and man it was too easy with inward perfection and horde super units. Took the provinces and also get vassal Shun.

 

[Dreadheart]

I did a handful of runs at it - Manchu/Qing is soo stronk now - to figure out a good long-term strategy, and I think I've got one. Now remember, this is a very specialized strategy forged around forming Qing as soon and effectively as possible, and not about just getting the achievement (I mean really, you have 377 years to conquer North-East Asia as one of the best nations in the game, it's not that hard).

1. Play as Jianzhou (strongest and imo best starting pos), rival Haixi, Korea and Yeren, set National Focus to Military (and never, ever take it off). Beat up and vassalize Haixi. Rival Korchin, then use Haixi Tribal Feud CB to beat up and vassalize Korchin (I swear, Paradox will nerf this because it's so abuseable it's not even funny).

2. Now turn your eye to Oirat. Mongolia should still exist - and this is important. Make judgement call if you can beat up Oirat flat-out (their allies can be devastating). If not, pray to Confucius that they end up in a war soon so you can beat them and move to 3. If you can, beat up Oirat and vassalize Mongolia while taking Xilin Gol for yourself (need it to form Qing).

3. Use Haixi CB to beat up and take provinces from Yeren, make sure Haixi gets the province needed to form Manchu. I don't recommend vassalizing because Yeren's AI is egotistic and rarely helps. Turn south and beat up Korea; take as many Korean provinces as you're comfortable with. If 2 was not achieved before this, keep eye out on Oirat and Mongolia. No matter what, Oirat must not be allowed to annex Mongolia.

4. Once you've vassalized Mongolia, it's time Haixi became a goner. Once Haixi is gobbled, form Manchu. You should be able to rival Ming by now, do so, then forge a claim on Beijing. The rival thing doesn't matter that much, but it's a really nice boost to PP. Once your claim's done, use Mongolia's Tribal Feud CB to beat up Ming and take the provinces you need to form Qing, return cores to Mongolia, and as many Shun provinces as you're comfortable with. Form Qing, release Shun, enjoy conquering Asia in under a century by abusing Mongolia's Tribal Feud CB. You could use Korchin's, but their positioning makes it imho too much effort and they're better off as cannon fodder.

Things that can break the strategy:

Haixi can ally Korea. If so, just do yourself a service and restart; it's not worth it.

Ming can go hostile towards you and Warn you. Unless you think your 1 Mil advantage can beat up Ming, just restart.

Oirat can annex Mongolia. Sure, you can still form Qing no prob (Ming may not be as weak as they used to be, but they're still pretty pathetic), but that Tribal Feud CB is way too good to give up on.

Oirat can ally Ming. Cry a river, then restart. You're good, but you're sure as hell not that good.

 

[rayyuri]

Not a very difficult game.

1. Play as Jianzhou. Haixi and Korchin will DoW Yeren very soon. DoW Yeren too and vassalize it. Try to ally Ming.
2. Attack Haixi, make it return cores to Yeren and vassalize Haixi as well.
3. You should be able to ally Ming. Ming will not help you in most aggresive wars but this is enough for less AE.
4. Attack Korea. Get as much land as you can so that Korea can be vassalized in the next game. Core these lands and Korean will be an accepted culture. This will greatly power you up.

All these above should be the easy step. Do it quickly to prevent the alliances you don't want to see, such as Korchin-Oriat, or Ming-Korea.

5. Take exploration idea and go to block the Russians from colonizing Siberia (this is optional, do this if you want a full Qing game including westernization and dominate Asia)
6. Once Oriat annexed Mongolia, you can attack Oriat, bring Ming in as well. Ming is pretty much tend to join the war with Oriat. It doesn't matter if you can win this war or not -- white peace is enough. The key thing is, let the Oriat forces crush Ming's army, as much as possible.
7. Break the alliance with Ming, attack them to get the provinces you need. Usually Ming will move capital to Nanjing so you only need 1 war.
8. Don't form Manchu before you form Qing. Forming Manchu will turn your government to Despotic Monarchy but will not change your unit type. So you lose the benefit or Nomad government but keep the never-changed units, weakening you overall. Only form Manchu when you can form Qing.

This is how I did it. Done it in approximately 1520. I didn't continue, but if you want to continue you can keep colonizing Siberia so that you can block the Russians. Release Shun to eat Ming gradually. Colonize Alaska and North America so that you can westernize. You should be able to finish westernization bewteen 1600-1650. Then you are a superpower.

Playing small nations needs you to be patient. Even you see the worst case such as Oriat allying Ming, just be patient. As long as you can hold your own ground, you have the chance. You can colonize, westernize, take lands from weak targets, and power yourself up gradually. Defeating Ming is just a matter of time.

Good luck!