INTERLUDE X: Halftime!
Hello everyone.
Before we find out where our next adventure is going to be, I thought this would be a good chance to sit back, have something to drink (preferably strong), and see what kind of world we're creating. We're a little more than half way done with the game.
Leaderboard
First, a few goodies from our ledger:
Nothing in the top half of this list should be a surprise: As we go forward you'll usually see the Ottomans, Russia and Spain topping this list. They are our big winners. The Mughals benefitted from our leadership, and Great Britain rounds out the top five.
Down the list we have a few minor surprises: Kilwa, who's been lucky enough to have been left alone all game, and Persia who's really an also ran crushed between the Ottos and Mughals.
Technology doesn't tell us as much as you might think. All European, mostly Germanic and Italian minors. Probably those who stayed out of trouble enough to be able to funnel their monarch power into tech. I have to admit Sweden and the Teutons are surprises considering how much trouble they've had.
It all comes together in score which, while I don't think is a good indicator of current strength, is at least much more reliable than past versions of EU measuring performance over the course of the game.
Ottos/Spain/Russia - no surprise. Portugal and Britain benefit from their colonies, Austria from a few HRE elections, and Burgundy almost succeeded in eating France. The only real surprise on here is Venice: They just don't seem to have done much this game.
Note here I focused on force limit rather than current strength, since manpower and even regiments can be recovered with relative ease.
Russia/Ottos/Spain. The Mughals and Britain also put in strong performances, while Austria benefitted from chewing up a good chunk of the Empire. Mali has the potential to field the 13th largest army in the world - Wow.
Lastly, our navy list is topped by Spain and the Ottos - no Russia alas for obvious reasons. Netherlands and Britain take up the challenge though.
What's a little more surprising here is how far below force limits so many countries are: Spain at less than half, Morocco at 2 of 82, the Papacy and Norway at 4 of 40 and 39 respectively. C'mon guys!
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Cat's World Tour
First, North America:
No significant change in 15 years, except notice that Brittany's reappeared. Spain diploannexed Brittany awhile back and this was one of their colonies. Now it's their capital. They aren't at war, so Spain either lost to the rebels or (more probably) didn't care.
No land border means the Iroquouis and Shawnee are safe unless Florida or Spain continues expanding.
Central America:
One could be forgiven for finding this a little confusing, as Britain, Spain, Portugal and the Netherlands have colonized the entire Caribbean.
The Aztecs stand strong: All four European powers know about them, none care to do anything about it. Of course the DWI and Caraibas are at war.
South America:
Not much going on here really, with Portugal and Spain slowly exploring. Once more, both know about the Inca (and the Straits of Magellan for that matter), but none care to do anything about it.
Incidentally, it doesn't look like anyone's circumnavigated the globe.
Let's cross the Atlantic and see Southern Africa:
Portugal executed a quite respectable campaign to get around the Horn, including bases at St. Helena and Reunion. Portugal fought a war with Kongo and gained some land, but for now they're still independent. Kilwa, as I've said, has done well simply by being left alone.
No real surprises here after our runs in Mali and Morocco. Portugal and Mali have a troubled history after the former took away their holdings near Oyo, and Mali/Kanem Bornu have had CBs on each other pretty much since we left them 200 years ago.
Perhaps the only thing worth noting is Funj's survival - as a protectorate of Yemen.
On to the Middle East!
Yemen is no joke in this game. Nor are the Ottomans, who've we discussed extensively above and have holdings in Europe and the Crimea as well.
As you can see, Oman lost her war pretty quickly, then the Ottos/Persia avenged us pretty handily. Qara Qoyunlu is an Ottoman Protectorate.
Let's see how our favorite ex-Horde is doing:
The Mughals continue to dominate: Their allies include the Ottos, Yemen, Chagatai (I suppose easier than conquering them), and Jaunpur. They're at war with Assam, who's made some significant gains in the last 50 years or so including kicking Orissa out of what used to be our Bengal.
Other than that, Delhi is STILL alove, and Orissa continues to grow within India. Speaking of which:
India's minor powers are out of the game (except for Ahmednagar.) Now that Marathas is free again, it's them, Carnatic and Orissa. Portugal conquered Ceylon and the southern coast as well as that bit on the Mughal border, but strangely they've been distracted lately.
On to Indochina:
Well. Portugal's here as well. (south of Ayutthaya) Isn't that the bee's knees?
Now that Ayutthaya's conquest spree has petered itself out things are pretty calm in what will be Indonesia. They're still under a PU with Orissa, which could be somewhat frightening if they ever actually merge.
The Ming have woken up a little. They're currently finishing off Zhou, who will probably fall within the year. Also, recall Shan and Dai Viet actually had a border briefly which served to pen Ayutthaya in. Ming (or rebels) must have done something about that.
Moving up the coast...
The Ming haven't recovered in the north, and with the Oirats under Russian protection they aren't going to. Korea is Ming's ally, just to make sure Japan doesn't try anything too cute.
I know you're curious about Europe though, so let's head in that direction.
Nothing to see here, moving on...
Wow, where to begin.
Sweden is still toast, though gaining that province in Ingria is a nice touch. Norway and Denmark are currently fighting over, of all things, the Shetladnd Islands.
Munster, who does have a province on the Dutch border, has their capital in Iceland which I find amusing. Britain is strong, while Spain and the Ottomans are simply crazy.
During our run with the DWI, Hungary forceannexed Ukraine which should answer for any ambitions Poland had about holding Moldavia. A Spanish/Lithuanian union is scary, as their unifying would put the three strongest world powers (them, Russia, Ottos) on each other's border.
Notice our Teuton buddies are holding on as an added bonus.
For the rest, we need to zoom in a bit.
'France' never recovered after Burgundy exploded, though the Burgundians held their core territory together fairly well. Armagnac and Orleans are still alive. Normandy's 95% of the way to being integrated into Spain.
Our old haunt Savoy is doing fair, though as you can see they're currently losing a war against all sorts of people and Switzerland's back on the board.
Moving into 'Germany', we see that Austria made some vast gains as emperor, a position now held by the Palatinate. Bohemia's still a major player: No surprise, but Mainz and Hansa are also doing very well.
In 'Italy', Tuscany humbled the Papacy early in our run as Hungary, but certainly didn't break them. Probably the only thing preventing a thorough reconquest is the Emperor's displeasure. You can also see my confusion at Venice having a high score.
Where to?
Unfortunately, this question will be answered next time. Johan and the RNG have decided this is a good time to troll me with painful nations, and I need to decide how much pain I really want to be in.