PON-In for the Long Haul

[Thandros]

70 Years Of incompetence In Japan

Ok Then trying to do 70 years of 15 day turns isn't easy. 1680 turns means that I'm in for a very long haul. Well don't expect anything special from this (except lessons on what not to do maybe.) Anyway I'll give a brief Preview update on what I'm up against playing as Japan soon.​

 

[Thandros]

Prelude: What Have I let myself in for?
Chapter One: One Down Sixty Nine To Go.
Chapter Two: The Journey of a Thousand Miles begins with a single step.
Chapter Three: Dawn of a New Age
Chapter Four: The Beginning of Militarism
Chapter Five: The Revolution is Here
Chapter Six: The First Factories
Chapter Seven: It's all Mine
Chapter Eight: Modernisation here We Come.
Chapter Nine: A Change in Leadership.

 

[Narwhal]

I can only say : Good luck .

I found PoN too complicated for me, so if you make it pedagogical you might get me in the game.

 

[Thandros]

Narwhal: Yeh I'm going to need some good luck.

Prelude: What Have I let myself In for?

Yes Doing a Pride of Nations AAR and fully intending to finish it is not something you do everyday is it now. Right Let's look at what I'm working with.

Position isn't too bad nice and far away from the other major powers or in the Case of Russia on the other End of a very long march which I'm thinking may not be what their troops want to do any time soon or at least until Russia builds a railway out this far. Being an Island is also helpful as it means enemies have to ship their troops over the sea to attack me rather than just walking in.

The Army is to put it lightly rubbish. The Best troops don't even have guns. They fight with swords. The Levies and Cavalry have guns but only highly outdated Small arms. The Artillery is reasonable but still highly outdated. We're using smooth bores which stopped being used some time ago. The Navy, Umm don't mention the Navy all we have are some War Junks. The same ships the Chinese tried to use against the British during the First Opium war and took heavy losses doing so. In terms of building their isn't much good news on that front either. I can only build outdated or support units on land and at sea some ships that are reasonably up to date but nothing designed for heavy combat.

With My military too weak to expand by conquest. That leaves trying to establish colonies as the best way of expanding for now. But true to current form I'm not going to get very far that way either. Four options and unable to go above 50% CP with them either. Not a good Sign. I place a Force Local Chief to cede land Option on the southern Half of Sakhalin for now.

Objectives, Hmm better news on this front all my objectives are either already under my control or just a hop across the surrounding seas. But just to give an Idea how outclassed my military is Sardinia-Piedmont has almost twice the combat power of me. Not a good sign considering there the weakest other Great power by a sizeable margin.

Now the Economy. Not too bad here surpluses right across the board and no major deficits in the most important products. Though I'm horribly under industrialised it will be some time perhaps before I can build any factories. Right now developing agriculture and Mining are the primary objectives.

Perhaps as a sign of the League I'm in my first two missions are to Produce the most Fish and Rice. A Sign that the Primary sector is going to be my main focus for at least 10 years of even more.​

 

[DuffyZeEmu]

What Narwhal said. You're going to need a hell of a lot of luck to pull this off there. I've no idea what's going on but I'll be following this with interest, my friend.

 

[Stuyvesant]

One turn down, 1679 to go...

I admire your willingness to eve try a full-on campaign, let alone attemping to finish it and write about it. I wish you the best of luck and an interesting game. The only other PON AAR that went for quite a while was the China one, and that one hasn't been updated for a while, so it's nice to get another fix of things.

 

[unmerged(305389)]

If you manage to post one update a day you should be finished in less than 5 years.

Good luck conquering the world with your samurai! - Wait that is what one should wish a EU III player. In PoN it's good luck saving enough ressources for your first merchant ship!

In all seriousness, I am very much looking forward to this. PoN is quite intimidating. But it's also incredibly rich in details. I am sure it will make for a great story. And like Stuyvesant said, you are filling a void in the AGEOD AAR library.

 

[Thandros]

DuffyZeEmu: Are you sure that's enough Luck? I was thinking several Galaxies worth of Luck to make this work.

Stuyvesant: Well In my Experience If I don't do it as an AAR it'll never get Finished.

Bornego: Fortunately I'm doing it a bit quicker than that. As For resources right now it's ok I get roughly 100+ private capital a turn profit due to National market sales. Getting a Merchant Ship is nice but not needed the only thing I need the maritime boxes for is to ship supplies up to Sakhalin.

Chapter One: One Down Sixty Nine To Go.

To be honest in the first year not a lot happened. There were two Crisis, the first between France and Spain ended up with Spain winning, the Second between Britain and Belgium ended up with Britain Winning.

Apart from that I again forced the Chief's of Sakhalin to cede land and sent a force to enable me to pacify the region. As I was having supply difficulties up there I sent my Junk Fleet to the Nearest maritime Box to redistribute supplies to keep the force supplied and began Building a Depot to help with supplies. If I ever get into a war with Russia it might be helpful to supply forces in the area.

In Other Building news I built a Wood logging in Niigata to cover my only deficit in terms of production and built three fisherman's ports in Edo to help with completing one of my Missions.

Apart from that I got a new Objective, Shanghai, and passed the Road Network act and began Building a road network in Hokkaido.

Yeh Not a Lot happened this year but hopefully thing'll get a bit more lively soon. There are a few Historical Events in the near future which should make for more interesting Reading.​

 

[Stuyvesant]

Concise summary of a game year - and you've taken away some of the concerns of how long the AAR might take: (Bornego's simple math of 'one update per turn, one update per day -> 5 years' worth of AARing' is a bit scary to ponder.

Looking forward to learning how PON models the Americans arriving in a few years.

 

[loki100]

great to see this, admire your dedication. I keep on loading it, looking at it, failing to grasp even the basics of the economic models and returning to another AGEOD game. Think you are wise to go for a high degree of aggregation in your reporting approach. 1 year a turn is only ... an awful lot of posts :ninja:

 

[Dewirix]

Definitely looking forward to seeing how you get along with this. To say that the game is daunting doesn't really begin to get across what I feel about it.

great to see this, admire your dedication. I keep on loading it, looking at it, failing to grasp even the basics of the economic models and returning to another AGEOD game.

So it's not just me then? To be fair, I had the same reaction when I first loaded EUIII up.

 

[Stuyvesant]

So it's not just me then? To be fair, I had the same reaction when I first loaded EUIII up.

Guilty as charged - I've gone through the tutorials, agonized over which country to choose (i.e. wreck utterly and completely), waited for the first turn to open up... And then just sit there staring with a vacant look of silent horror as I realize there's so much to do and I don't understand a thing of it and I'm gonna irreparably destroy my country out of sheer ignorance in the very first turn. <Ahem>

Considering it's just a game, I guess I should just forge ahead and enjoy some educational failure - but in the meantime, with limited computer time, I'll just have another go at Byzantium in CKII.

Anyway, glad to see that Thandros is made of sterner stuff.

 

[Soulstrider]

Good luck, we seriously need more PoN AAR's

 

[Thandros]

Stuyvesant: Well At a year a week It'll still take 70 weeks to do it. But I may be able to put out more than one update a week at some points.

Loki100: I really Don't have a clue what I'm doing. I following the saying if it looks like your doing something right keep doing it.

Dewirix: Oh It's daunting to me even though I understand some of the most basic ideas on what to do. Most of the time though I'm just doing something and hopeing for the best.

Stuyvesant (Again): Sterner Stuff Perhaps. Any better at it, perhaps not.

Soulstrider: That's the reason I'm doing this.

Chapter Two: The Journey of a Thousand Miles Begins with a Single step.

Well Still not much is happening. I continuing to try and Pacify Sakhalin. I also get two more objectives, Kuching a province held by a native nation in northern Borneo and Seoul ( I don't have to insult your intelligence and tell you where that is do I).

I have also built some Merchant Shipping which I sent to the Northern Asia Maritime Trade area while bringing the Junks home. I also Trained Provincial Force. Brigade size unit of two feudal levey elements, One element of Samurai and two elements of Samurai Cavalry to garrison Nagasaki which as I moved the old garrison up to Sakhalin last year to enable me to Pacify Sakhalin.

I also built a Wood logging in Hiroshima, A Tea Field in Nagoga, Wool farming in Yamagata and a Tobacco field in Maysuyama. I also found Coal in Sakhalin. If any of the spelling of regions is wrong It's beacause I'm struggling to read my own horrible handwriting when I made a note of these Events.

A Few Interesting things happen overseas. There's a Gold rush in Victoria ( The State in the southern Part of Mainland Australia). Denmark attacks Holstein and swiftly beats them up. And In China the Taiping revolt has begun.

But at Home there is also a problem. Loyalty is dropping in several regions. Some to rebels but a similar amount to the Turks. I think this may be that Loyalty bug I've heard about. Right now I don't think it'll be a problem But I need to keep an Eye on it.

Well This year was a little more interesting. Let's hope next year is even better.​

 

[loki100]

keep at this, one good thing (it seems) about Japan is you don't have masses going on (being silly I keep on trying to start as Russia or the Ottomans .. well it works in V2!), so its a bit more clear what you are focussing on.

on which subject ... Maritime Trade Areas .. do you just turn up in one and grab a share of the trade going into/out that region, or is it more deliberative than that?

Borneo sounds good, an early start on a East Asia Co-Prosperity Sphere? esp with China falling into chaos next door.

 

[Dewirix]

Seems like you've got a long way to go if you want to match historical Japan's progress. How do you rate your chances against Russia and China before the game's out?

 

[Stuyvesant]

Seems like you've got a long way to go if you want to match historical Japan's progress. How do you rate your chances against Russia and China before the game's out?

Don't forget, this is Japan pre-American-Gunboats-Forcibly-Opening-Up-The-Country-To-Outside-Influences (god, that's an unwieldy sentence). I don't know if PON has any events related to that historical happening, and if they give a boost to Japan to put the nation on its rightful path to East Asian imperialistic aggression.

As far as the year in review goes, it seems like there is slow but steady progress. How soon until you take on the Koreans? Seoul must be yours, after all - the game wills it.

 

[unmerged(305389)]

Yes, this game needs a nice little war. With China bogged down in the Taiping Rebellion, it may be time to fullfill Toyotomi Hideyoshi's great design.

 

[Thandros]

Loki100: As to trade I have the ability to export products I place for sale in a Control panel you can bring up by double clicking on a resource Icon that comes up while in economic mode which allows you to have a chance to sell your goods to nations with merchant ships in the same boxes as yours, as for imports I think being a closed country means that I can't import products yet. As for a East Asia Co-Prosperity Sphere it sounds good and I'll work on it as soon as I get more colonial options.

Dewirix: By the time the game ends probably rather good. China's troops may not be the most modern and Russia's will be tied from having to walk across an entire continent to get to me. But right now my troops are just a little (7 to 1 In the case of Russia no idea on China) outnumbered. Perhaps once I have some modern troops.

Stuyvesant: It most certainly has events relating to the opening up of Japan I've seen the first of them. As for the Koreans Right now China controls them which is not good as even with the Taiping roaming in the south and rebels in other places I'm rather outclassed against them.

Bornego: Like I said it's not a good idea to fight nations with plenty of division size formations with a handful of brigade size formations and a few more regiment size formations.

Chapter Three: Dawn of a New Age

A new age will begin very very soon. I get a commercial agreement from the USA and I choose to accept it. It's probably a scripted proposal to mark a beginning of the opening up of Japan. And what do you know the very next turn I get an choice do I accept the demands of the Barbarians or do I refuse them. Accepting damages stability and morale but speeds up the opening up of Japan which would be useful for expanding and creating a powerful Japanese Empire. Refusing means that Morale and Stability imporve but the Western Power may decide to attack and potentially destroy Japan and also slows down the opening up of Japan. On balance I decide that the faster I open up the better so go with accepting there demands.

Hmm it appears that the bulk of the Daimyos didn't want to open up to the west but it also seems some did. Regardless the choice is made and Now I only have to hope that this will all go well. Regardless of what Choice I made my defences around Edo are strengthened to protect against attack.

I also do a Goods import subsidy as that both lowers inflation making everything cheaper (Never a bad thing) while giving me a sizeable amount of manufactured goods to help with the building up of the economy all for a sum of state funds of which I have plenty right now.

I build a New silk Orchard as I'm short of the Populations demands for luxury goods and expanding other sectors by building a cattle farm, a Coal extraction, a Tobacco field and a wood logging. Another Thing is that I have two new objectives Guangzhou and Canton. Both in China. Seems China is where the Game is pointing me. Maybe once I get Percussion caps for muskets. That adds a lot of New units to my build pool. Maybe even units that are bigger than Brigade size and can help me take over China. Perhaps.

A Final Note is that the Taiping Rebellion is tearing up sizeable sections of southern China. Maybe China will just collapse fighting the Taiping rebels. Unlikely but possible.

The area surrounded by Red Borders in the South is the area controlled by the Taiping. Or at least the Regions where the Taiping control the Regional Cities.​

 

[loki100]

fascinating stuff, its impressive to see the very different event chains and interactions that PoN uses

hopefully China may end needing you to graciously restore stability at some stage soon