Need advice for my Inca Empire GC

[FrosT37]

I'm currently playing a game with AGCEEP as the Inca Empire. I'm now in 1572.

Thanks to a special AGCEEP event, I got an explorer in 1470. It allowed me to find the Aztecs. I then tried to reach Europe with my explorer by building a serie of colonies around South America. Unfortunately, the explorer died just before reaching Cape Verde island (Portugal), so I wasn't able to make contact with Europeans.

I colonized central America and by 1500 I was neighbour to the Aztecs. I then launched an attack against both the Aztecs and Zapotek, it took me 3 or 4 years to annex them...

In the first decade of the 16th century (I don't remember the exact year), Portugal made a colony in Brazil just next to one of my existing colonies (those who served as seaports to reach Europe). I made contact with them, sent them some gifts and finally got their map. I had finally broken the isolation penalty. I then sent merchants in european CoTs to break the whiteman penalty. I also allied myself with Portugal (they were the leader of their alliance and they loved me) and Spain for ~20 years.

The alliance was just about the expire, I declared war upon the nation south of Songhai (I don't remember the name) just to extend the alliance. It didn't work well, Spain left the alliance and declared war on me. I asked Portugal for help and they agreed, but they were crippled by Spain. My alliance finally made peace with Spain in exchange for all portuguese territories in Europe except Tago.

Five years later, Spain declared war again on me, but this time Portugal left my alliance so I was alone against the strongest nation on Earth (France never emerged as an european power to counter-balance the Spaniards). The war took 20 years, and I had to cede two level 1 colonies (Tierra del Fuego and another one in Brazil).

Five years later, Spain declared war on me. This time I managed to hold off and captured all spanish south american colonies (not that much seriously). I had a +15% in peace score, so I kept asking for a colony in Argentina (2%) but Spain never accepted and kept trying to take back their occupied colonies. Finally, some rebellions occured in Mexico (because of war exhaustion), the stubborness of Spain forced me to offer a white peace (which they accepted).

Five years later, Spain declared war on me. It is now 1572 and the war is going nowhere, as always and I'm tired of this. They have land technology level 13 and I'm only 2, it's very hard. I was just wondering if anyone had an idea to keep Spain quiet for a while I try to consolidate and expand my power in North & South America? Any advice is more than welcome.

 

[BurningEGO]

I cant really help you, but you really gotta get that whiteman thingy gone. It makes your country backward in tech terms. You gotta discover a lot of European countries (10 iirc). Trading, somehow also helps. There are some real good WC AArs out there, be sure to check them. People conquering the whole world as Xhosa or Chimú. Won't be hard to do it with Incas. Just gotta get your tech up.

 

[Uggh]

I once played the Incas (in Vanilla) and got really successfull, owning all of both Americas at the end and holding my stand against every european power.
The main trick regarding military strategy was to use the various islands on the american coast (one or two Carribbean islands, Capverdes, even Tahiti, Flalklands, etc.) to lure away any invading fleet.
Heavily fortified with fortresses and infantry, every approaching fleet, be it spanish, french or dutch, tried to amphibious invade these islands and failed regularly with minimal losses for me. Only in very few cases (say, 1-2 times in a hundred years) did the dutch (and only those) manage to avoid my island traps and land on mainland South America. But those were small detachments, easily destroyed.

 

[Underhand]

Won't be hard to do it with Incas.

WC with the Incas is hard. Easier than with the Chimu, perhaps, but still very hard.

 

[kolmy]

Declare war to the Chimús and loot his provinces to get a boost by 13 months on tecnology

 

[Amric]

Since you are so backward you have to have massive superiority in sheer manpower. Swamp them in the Americas with manpower and take everything they own there. It wouldn't hurt to have England as an ally, if you can get them. That could help. Perhaps even Venice would help, if you know them. Or Morroco even. Anyone relatively close to Spain that could be a counter to them in Europe. Since you have traders in at least one area in Europe you SHOULD know about England and Venice and perhaps even Morocco. Try raising your status with them and invite them or join their alliance. I'd go for England more than the others....The English would be the best for you since France isn't available to you. Portugal being crippled doesn't help you. But if you can get them BOTH, you might see Portugal resurge if England proves to be good for you.

 

[FrosT37]

Since you are so backward you have to have massive superiority in sheer manpower. Swamp them in the Americas with manpower and take everything they own there. It wouldn't hurt to have England as an ally, if you can get them. That could help. Perhaps even Venice would help, if you know them. Or Morroco even. Anyone relatively close to Spain that could be a counter to them in Europe. Since you have traders in at least one area in Europe you SHOULD know about England and Venice and perhaps even Morocco. Try raising your status with them and invite them or join their alliance. I'd go for England more than the others....The English would be the best for you since France isn't available to you. Portugal being crippled doesn't help you. But if you can get them BOTH, you might see Portugal resurge if England proves to be good for you.

An alliance with England? Interesting. When I started my game, I considered France as my best potential ally since it is usually far more powerful than Spain (and also closer). But England may be a nice choice too. In fact, they still own a good part of France and control all the British isles.

I'm considering to start over but focus more on centralization and innovativeness, and try to reach Europe as primary objective with my explorer to break both the isolation penalty and the whiteman penalty the fastest way possible. Of course, that would mean I could colonize less in the first part of the game, but I could use my money to build more manufactories (particularly breweries), which would both help me get more money and discover faster. In 1580, there is an event in the AGCEEP that is called "European Influences", it triggers if I own Cuzco, Lima and Cali, if my religion is pagan and my domestic policies are at least 5 in Innovativeness. The event switches my religion to catholic and changes my techgroup to china. That could get me 2 colonists a year for being catholic + 1 for being a frontier country and + 1 if I then move my sliders towards free trade (-1 for being full land though).

Of course, there would still be a period of time between ~1520 and ~1580 where I would need to ally to the strongest power in Europe to counter-balance Spain (which will most probably try to smack me down). But I think my plan is very feasible. What do you guys think?

And, what about the strategic looting kolmy is proposing? Do you think it would be worthwhile? If it is, how long should I do it before finally annexing them?

 

[Amric]

My strategy is NEVER to leave enemies around. I am surprised you didn't conquer them immediately. In EUII between the Chimu, Inca, and Aztecs you have a LOT of gold and money to play with. Colonization is nice and all, but having manufacturies and enhancing the numerous provinces you would already have is prettyimportant. If you DO colonize, doing so in Brazil will get you close to Portugal, obviously. Spain is hard...I would prefer to KEEP them out of the Americas if at all possible.

Something to consider....You could always 'buy' pirates in certain coastal waters...EVEN near Spain if you can see them, that is...Nothing like providing irritation value if nothing else....Plus if you put them along the South American coast where YOU don't own anything they will help block the Spanish from getting really going there. But because of TOT you have to keep EVERY one of the provinces you own with at least a few troops. IF not they get to automatically TAKE your province. WITHOUT even declaring war on you! It's a feature that can be quite irksome for a player who is controlling a nation in the Western Hemisphere, at least in Central and South America.

I though England could help you because her navy would be useful against the Spanish and since France never formed for your game that they would be quite powerful on the continent as well, giving Spain a LOT to think about if they go to war with you and England.

 

[unmerged(6826)]

Just recently played an Inca GC in AGCEEP. Used the explorer to discover zapotec and Aztec of course, but also to get a land connection to them. When fighting Spain, I occasionally gave up land, and never burned tps-if you rush them quickly, get +15 or +20, they might give you a colony. I believe I got maps ion a crazy way: alliance with portugal and china turned into war with chagatai. Chagatai as muslims had no penalty on trading maps with me at first. Then traded with Ottomans. Gotta love those gold mines.

I eventually got a few conquistadors, and started taking over the East Coast of North America. Annexed Inca and Cherokee, beat the English a few times. Converted to Protestant by event, and converted nearly every province. Only once did I send an army to Europe: ot Sweden, to assist in a war. I beleive I finished 9th? I enjoyed it.


Just give Spain gold, since the mines haven't closed yet. And maybe a colony or two that don't have land connection.

 

[orimazd]

My strategy is NEVER to leave enemies around.

That hurts your tech levels when you don't know any other nations around. Plus your trade centers in Cuzco and Zapotecas tend to disappear after a long period of time with only one kingdom's merchants in it.

But because of TOT you have to keep EVERY one of the provinces you own with at least a few troops. IF not they get to automatically TAKE your province. WITHOUT even declaring war on you! It's a feature that can be quite irksome for a player who is controlling a nation in the Western Hemisphere, at least in Central and South America.

It doesn't work that way if you are not catholic.

 

[CatKnight]

I'm with Amric. Never leave the enemy behind. He has no whiteman penalty anymore - when he got Portugal's map he learned about a lot more than ten European countries. Those provinces are just too valuable to ignore - the wealth there is your ONLY advantage.

Amric's giving you some good advice: With no France worth mentioning, ally with England. Depending on how Spain's doing, Austria might also be a worthwhile irritant to come charging across the continent. Be sure to trade maps with England on the off chance they haven't explored your way yet - given Spain's obstinancy, an English colony they're willing to fight over is good.

Pirates are also your friend. It ties down Spanish fleets and invasion forces. They may even get lucky and win.

I'm going to disagree with an earlier poster: Burn all the bloody Spanish TPs you find. He is right - if you don't burn them they become part of your war score, but as you've noted you're going to have a lot of trouble getting territory off of them in a peace deal. Best do just what the Native AI does - burn their TPs. It completely messes up their invasion cohesion, it frees the province if you happen to have any colonists, and even if you don't now the AI's guaranteed to spend valuable resources rebuilding the TP that it could have used preparing to fight you.

You're not doing that badly. The reason the Spanish AI is so eager to kill you is 1) you're in the way, but more importantly 2) they think you're weak. Go join a powerful European Alliance and the AI might think twice.