Alright, I tried to play as Arakan, and here are the results:
Attempt 1: Annexed soon after DoW's from Pegu and Taungu.
Attempt 2: Same as above.
Attempt 3: Same as above.
Attempt 4: Same as above.
Attempt 5: Only attacked by Taungu, and occupied a couple provinces. Would not accept a peace offer, though. Army was killed. Annexed.
Attempt 6: Same as the first.
Attempt 7: Attacked by Taungu. They spammed troops, and slaughtered me.
Attempt 8: Same as the first.
Attempt 9: Same as the first.
Attempt 10: Attacked by Taungu. Occupied 3 of their 5 provinces(4 have no forts). But, lost army. Annexed.
Attempt 11: Same as the first.
Before I go into attempt 12, let's go over my strategy for every single attempt I made.
Step 1. Buy 3 division of infantry mercenaries.
Step 2. Send an alliance offer to Malacca.
Step 3. Change ruler to a leader. Make him general of my 1000 infantry army.
Step 4. Unpause the game. This is where things split into 2 different paths.
*Malacca always accepted the alliance offer.
4a. Pegu and Taungu both attack me. I am annexed shortly after.
4b. Only Taungu attacks. I try and somehow find a way to beat them.
Anyways, on to attempt 12:
Taungu attacks me, Pegu leaves me alone.
They start to move towards my province, but stop once I get all 4 of my mercs completed.
I send my entire army into the province they own immediately to the northeast.
I occupy that, and the province behind it as well. Then, I try to get peace, since their army is incoming towards me.
This is what happens next:
I am shocked right now, but I continue playing.
After that, I wait around for a while, using my magistrates to build up my cultural tradition. Once I have 100%-ish tradition, I recruit a Master of Mint. I don't bring him to my court, I just let him go, turning in a profit of around 15 ducats.
Eventually, someone else puts their eye on me.
I somehow manage to take over one of their forts while my ally Bengal destroys their army in a ping-pong game.
I then concede defeat. I had to get out while I still could.
Soon after that, I get enough money to build a fort in Arakan, my capital. I hoped that I would eventually build another in my other province as well.
That's when I got this event.
+100 ducats, straight to the treasury. Am I good, or what?
After that, I build the second fort. Then, I use my allies in Brunei and Malacca to attack the nations around me with the alliance casus belli.
After a little while, my position looks like this:
I have 3 provinces, and 4 vassals. Things are looking up!
For some reason I can't really turn a yearly profit, but that's what advisers are for, right?
Anyways, I don't know if I'll keep playing this. It's a real struggle, lemme tell you.
Fun, but a struggle.
