• We have updated our Community Code of Conduct. Please read through the new rules for the forum that are an integral part of Paradox Interactive’s User Agreement.
My first 1.13 (beta) game! Turned into a Prester John run too, 'cause why not.

sl2lwo.jpg


And religion map too, because Christian supremacy:

2nsqk3n.jpg


This run was so much more fun than I was anticipating. I was able to subjugate the entire Horn of Africa before 1500, which was great. Then the Ottomans attack the Mamluks, and while they still had more guys than I, I took a gamble - and within thirty years or so, I had all of Egypt.

And so began a 200 year cold war between myself and the Ottomans.

I played restrictively, so I only expanded a little into Arabia at the time. I was able to finally beat the Ottomans through an alliance with the Commonwealth and Austria, who both became my friends for the rest of the game. They were also allied with each other (and Croatia) for the entire game, so the entire Balkans region was fairly peaceful. I didn't start moving into Africa until the 1700s. Didn't even have a colonist until my sixth idea group, and I only used it in the Sahara.

My last war ended in 1814, and as a result France can be seen sliding into a pit of despair at the end here, as all of their neighbours took the opportunity to pounce. I own every piece of Africa (including all the stray islands), all of the Middle East up to the Persian regions, the southern Caucasus, Anatolia, and modern Greece. Because pretty borders.

I ended the game at level 29 Admin tech, having only completed one Admin Idea Group. Coring costs are a pain, but definitely reasonable... the fact that I was able to core an entire continent says a lot, I think.

2zojb6h.jpg


Some things of note include: (1) Austria is a Bureaucratic republic, (2) Ten provinces within the HRE have > 50 development, (3) Nearly every colonial nation achieved independence, (4) that itty bitty Papal State can field 150,000 soldiers, and (5) yes, that is Mexican Korea. Mexico and Louisiana became obsessed with Imperialism wars against Japan for the last fifty years or so. I was really surprised when one succeeded.

Oh, and I nearly forgot to include a map of Europe, so here:

6hhzpw.jpg
 
  • 2
Reactions:
Milan game so far - I have almost all of Italy: integrating Savoy-vassal at the moment & will soon feed my Switzerland-march from Austria. France has been my loyal ally since November 12th, 1444 - however, they just got the 'Incorporate Savoy' mission, so they desire my provinces pretty bad.
4542267CB2038A4DDBC5A77E5BF87E10D29CBDF1

I refuse to form Italy, because monarchy is bad & the colour is inferior to this glorious pink. I'm #2 in development with 760ish, while the Ottomans have just passed 1000. I will try to protect the Papal States as a benevolent neighbour (I'm a humanist Catholic state, whatever that means).

Ideas are: Plutocratic - Humanist - Trade - Economic - and soon I will take Defensive. I'll try to fit Innovative in there, as I'm RPing as a decedent, advanced state without focus.
 
I refuse to form Italy, because monarchy is bad & the colour is inferior to this glorious pink. I'm #2 in development with 760ish, while the Ottomans have just passed 1000. I will try to protect the Papal States as a benevolent neighbour (I'm a humanist Catholic state, whatever that means).
But you're Italian! Annex that pathetic excuse for a religious leader and embrace reformed!

Ah well. Each to their own.

I was unaware that governments changed on TAG switches........
 
But you're Italian! Annex that pathetic excuse for a religious leader and embrace reformed!

Ah well. Each to their own.

I was unaware that governments changed on TAG switches........
My original plan was to go reformed, but I was at war the for almost 30 years straight when reformed popped up. 2 of the reformed CoRs are in the north (Lowlands & Hansa-area), 1 popped up in Baden and was almost immediately force-convert by Austria declaring on them. I just didn't have the patience to convert once I missed out on all those.

RE: Government change - the decision to form Italy turns you into a monarchy if you're a republic. I'm quite enjoying Milan's Ambrosian Republic.
 
My original plan was to go reformed, but I was at war the for almost 30 years straight when reformed popped up. 2 of the reformed CoRs are in the north (Lowlands & Hansa-area), 1 popped up in Baden and was almost immediately force-convert by Austria declaring on them. I just didn't have the patience to convert once I missed out on all those.
Unusual. Usually Switzerland gets one. That's how I converted in my Italian game. That and defender of the faith sweet +1 missionary.
RE-RE: Government change - Well, that sucks. I wasn't aware of that. I knew some did it. That Ambrosian republic does look nice, I can see why you don't want to lose it.
 
Unusual. Usually Switzerland gets one. That's how I converted in my Italian game. That and defender of the faith sweet +1 missionary.
RE-RE: Government change - Well, that sucks. I wasn't aware of that. I knew some did it. That Ambrosian republic does look nice, I can see why you don't want to lose it.
Apparently you can drop your republican tradition low enough to fall into a despotic monarchy before taking the decision, whereby the decision won't change your government, and then work your way back to republic once you've clicked the button. I haven't tried it though.
 
Apparently you can drop your republican tradition low enough to fall into a despotic monarchy before taking the decision, whereby the decision won't change your government, and then work your way back to republic once you've clicked the button. I haven't tried it though.
At least with Res Publica, you only become a despotic monarchy once the ruler of a dictatorship does with republican tradition below 50. If your republic has become a despotic monarchy the proccess should already be irreversible. A dictatorship is also a type of republic for the game files, so even if you let it fall into a dictatorship your government form would change either way.
 
The great Ternate empire!
rgN9dOA.png
 
  • 8
Reactions:
l8Aef0w.jpg

My humble white elephant/land of eastern jade Ayutthaya. I could have grown a lot larger if Ming collapsed but of course in the one game I play in east-asia they become really strong, and they lacked the 10% discipline malus that I was stuck with the entire game. I could eventually ally Russia and together we managed to take down Ming and I got the provinces I needed for white elephant

My colonial empire:
A89NwJK.jpg
 
  • 4
Reactions:
Update on the mighty Ternate empire:
aLcNGVj.png
 
  • 2
  • 1
Reactions:
So I hear you like border gore.

pmH0ynP.jpg


Political map:

hpTICu6.jpg


The reason military ideas are somewhat redundant even with modest blobbing.

5ySghLx.jpg


This was meant to be a Holland -> Netherlands colonization game, but I grew predictably bored and blobbed a bit. Sadly, despite my best efforts, only a handful tags have westernized so far.
 
Last edited:
  • 5
Reactions:
My first finished Ironman game: Brandenburg -> Prussia -> Germany

637070B85AB4A7877D5684F7534DBCE35EEB8BD1


Misjudged not one, but two wars against the Hansa early game, slowing down my start.

Got to be Emperor after the league war. Dismantled the HRE as Germany later on.

CD947B76CB963763869B0B74C037B0E2F37DAC2A



Next game is going to be far from europe. Maybe India.
 
  • 1
Reactions:
My two empires, both on 1.12. Also my two campaings despite having played abour 400 hours already.
First is my custom nation. Jews from Sumatra. Non-ironman, focus on colonization and trade.
F6lxc89.jpg

c6BARS5.jpg

Second is Spain. Guyenne and Provence are my vassals( I never had a will to annex them, they were useful in european wars), Wu is my protectorate. It was achievement run, especially for Master of India,Rising Sun, and achievement for 500 heavy ships. Also some minor, about 7. Failed world discoverer. Only wastelands remained not discovered, but I may have missed something(and probably did)
ldt51W4.jpg

8m3Iy59.jpg
 
My two empires, both on 1.12. Also my two campaings despite having played abour 400 hours already.
First is my custom nation. Jews from Sumatra. Non-ironman, focus on colonization and trade.
F6lxc89.jpg

c6BARS5.jpg

Second is Spain. Guyenne and Provence are my vassals( I never had a will to annex them, they were useful in european wars), Wu is my protectorate. It was achievement run, especially for Master of India,Rising Sun, and achievement for 500 heavy ships. Also some minor, about 7. Failed world discoverer. Only wastelands remained not discovered, but I may have missed something(and probably did)
ldt51W4.jpg

8m3Iy59.jpg
not 100% sure, but I think wastelands count

EDIT: That is kinda silly though ;|
 
Last edited:
  • 1
  • 1
Reactions:
Should've been Thirteen Jews and Perjew.
 
My Hosokawa -> Japan, my last leftover from 1.11. Not as impressive as other empire here, but I tend to be conservative in my expansion. My original plan was to just get the Chrysanthemuim Throne achievement, but then I figured, I might get Korea, and Manchuria too, maybe.... in the end, I owned almost as much land as the complete East Asian Co-Prosperity Sphere in 1942... you know how one thing leads to another in this game.

Took me a few games to figure out how to not get stomped by the Shogun and everybody else in Japan when expanding as a Daimyo. Ming failed early again, as it is wont to do in 1.11 and every patch before. Manchu got very powerful, but I managed to defeat them over the course of several wars. I never fought any European power. I was afraid to do so, even though I would've loved to fight Russia for this nook they put into my country (you can see the claims I put on the offending provinces). But I'm just too afraid to fight Russia and its infinite manpower. I've done it before as other nations, and while you might win eventually, it's as much fun as pulling teeth...

eu4_239.jpg


Shun, Yi, Yue, and Brunei are my Vassals, Khmer is a protectorate. I picked up Shun in the 18th century because they were a vassal of Kara Del (which subsequently got eaten by me and (mostly) Russia), and never got around to annex them. Yue and Brunei were Vassals mostly for reasons of color: I wanted to prevent the ugly color clash with Lan Xang and Pasai, so I picked up those two as color buffer. Both of them hate me, and wouldn't stop until at least the turn of the 20th century: I simply annexed too many of their provinces before I decided to vassalize them. Yue, specifically, was, at one point, the power house of souther China, and by the time I annexed them, they had almost -700 opinion from AE towards me... ouch.

There's one province separated from my mainland by Shun. I had fought a far to give it to Yi, but then messed up the peace talks and gave it to me instead of Yi. Sadly, they never got around to core another province, so I got stuck with it. Even at 0 gold, they rejected the trade because of -1000 "Yi is overextended". A bit silly, if you ask me, but oh well.

eu4_238.jpg


Nankoku is my colonial nation in Australia. One lessen I learned in this game is that, if you want to colonist, you might as well make sure you uncover zones like Australia. Spain (which collapsed really badly this game after about 1700-1750, losing all its colonial nations) and Portugal arrived in the Moluccas around 1650. I had figured they continued towards Australia and never bothered to uncover until it auto-discovered in the late 1700s, only to reveal that none of the provinces where claimed. I really should've gone for Australia sooner, making it all mine. Oh well. I only picked up colonization for Siberia, Taiwan, and the Philippines in the the first place, but a province or two to hug a western nation and westernize. Speaking of which, it's the first time I westernized a nation, and it felt almost anticlimactic. I heard horror stories about westernization before, but it was mostly a smooth ride. Maybe it got changed in a patch some time ago...

What annoyed me a bit was that I again didn't manage to get the World Explorer Achievement. I even sent an army with a Conquistador around half the world to uncover the very last missing area around Lake Malawi, but for some reason, I wasn't able to enter it, neither from Ethiopia nor from Mutapa. Not sure what that was about... oh well, I guess I can try again next time.

Here's a picture of the western hemisphere. Most countries are independent by 1821.
eu4_240.jpg

I made sure to spread Shinto wherever I went. Also, Catholicism lost many European states, but, thanks to Spain and Portugal, still is the majority religion in the New World; except for where Holland (which never formed the Netherlands, and eventually collapsed, and Brittany colonized.

eu4_241.jpg

eu4_242.jpg


Finally, the overview picture. I managed to become the fifth-powerful nation in the world, behind France, Portugal, Austria, and Great Britain. I didn't manage to finish all ideas, mostly because of a few imbecile rulers. But I made it to 32 in all technologies, which is what counts for me. Japan is a hyper-modernized nation!
eu4_244.jpg

Now I guess I might finally get to patch 1.12 or even 1.13. Maybe play a tall nation for a change.
 
Last edited: