I think I fully understand your pain now having to deal with the post unification unrully mob. Just completed unification in my game you would think people would show a little gratitude
I think my main problem in Ethipoia has been trying to do war on the cheap basically with a pathetic conscript rate and having to keep my main focus on Europe it has taken forever to build up the forces I really need. The other issue is that native armies seem to have an inexhaustible supply of replacements. You have got to kill unit elements or they simply appear next turn as good as new. This is a problem when native forces 9 times out of 10 seem able to retreat out of your grasp whenever they are confronted by a superior force. I'm still experimenting with my force makeup so hopefully I will be able to get the balance right. Oh and don't get me started on mountainous terrain
I think the Ottomans are in 6th by the way as they have 10496 points compared to your 10211. I'm guessing you will be climbing the leader board really soon! As I think I said before AGEOD really need to simplify the score screen and expand its scope to include at least the top 20 nations.
I'm guessing it's not too much longer before we see your peace loving Italians have a crack at the evil Ottomans!
yes, the ungrateful wretches really do not appreciate how hard you have to work to unify them.
I'll leave Ethiopia till I have read your solution. I think what I'll do is a line of forts/depots on the border, stack this with regulars and a single offensive column (native cavalry for detection, colonial and mountain units for robustness), take a province, advance one of the regular forces, set up a supply wagon chain. Repeat. In theory any battles should bring in the supporting forces so your advance element is pretty secure. Thats a theory anyway.
And yes, the Ottomans will not be more prestigious than me ... well unless of course they win this terrifying war I'm about to start.
Gary's performance, coupled with your remark about sending in the school teachers, makes me wonder if Mr. Baldy wouldn't be better suited to the scholarly pursuits? After all, you know the saying: those who can't, teach. Maybe his methods of indiscriminate slaughter are more suited to the classroom (where everyone besides himself will be a valid target)?
I couldn't help but laugh when I saw your screenshot of the nasty rebels, the Innocent Italians and the Aggressive-looking Ottomans. Yes, verily, those empty, barren stretches of desert look very menacingly and aggressive. I can just picture all those Ottoman grains of sand disregarding your international border and sweeping right into Italian Yemen. You should really consider a pre-emptive strike to make sure such an outrage does not come to pass.
That screenshot put me in mind of Dino Buzzati's Il Deserto dei Tartari (not sure of the English translated title but I'd guess the Tartar Desert). Its a wierd book where this young officer is sent to serve in the garrison of a remote mountain fort overlooking a desert. You know there is potential tension but for 150 pages not much happens except they watch this road slowly being built across the desert. The final 5 pages it is clear that there will be a war. But our 'hero' by now is old and infirm so is sent to rear. The effect is very odd, at times you want a war (for the reasons he does - to make sense of being there), but equally you know its something to fear (the book was written in 1943/4) and at the end he is humiliated by all these people who don't appreciate his 20 years spent guarding this fort.
Excellent stuff, cracking updates.
Was an aroma of charred peacock detected perchance?
Not too surprising for your Italian residents, they are likely glad Gari has been stationed so far from them!
Wonderful that you are making such good progress with regards to colonisation because, as you say, seventh rank in the world for prestige is nowhere near acceptable for so magnificent a nation.
The volcano event was indeed well timed. There is another natural disaster coming up in a couple of years, and yes, I'm sure Italy is so much happier with gari-the-psycho safely tucked away on another continent
If you want extra detail on ranking try hovering over the flags on the F10 screen, this shows rankings for several different measures.
It would be nice to have this as a sensibly laid out table.
Of all the visual aids in PoN, that table is one of the worst. And, notionally so important to gauging your performance. Not helped in that it doesn't show your own position (at least not directly)