-
Crusader Kings III Available Now!
The realm rejoices as Paradox Interactive announces the launch of Crusader Kings III, the latest entry in the publisher’s grand strategy role-playing game franchise. Advisors may now jockey for positions of influence and adversaries should save their schemes for another day, because on this day Crusader Kings III can be purchased on Steam, the Paradox Store, and other major online retailers.
Neat, been a while since I played Vicky2; I'll be following along as I usually do.
Glad to have you along!
Excellent!
I finished the gameplay for the next update and edited the screenshots; it's just a matter of finding some time to write!
At least you've got some stuff to write. I've played a couple of years past the end of my update in my AAR and nothing noteworthy happened.
At least you've got some stuff to write. I've played a couple of years past the end of my update in my AAR and nothing noteworthy happened.
I've played two years and had to fight two wars (although the first was my fault). I'm hoping for a quiet period to work on my economy.
If you're short of things to write about, just declare war on someone with a Free People wargoal. It's what I'm going to do if I need a story hook.
At least you've got some stuff to write. I've played a couple of years past the end of my update in my AAR and nothing noteworthy happened.
Vicky 2 is definitely not primarily a war simulator; I often find myself not writing extensively on wars so I can get to the good stuff (economics, diplomacy, politics). So don't lose heart!
I'd utterly concur with this - from a writing perspective the interest is not in the combat but in the economy/social/diplomatic stuff.
I don't dispute that, but tamius23's point was predicated on there not being anything noteworthy to write about. It's far easier to manufacturer a war than an economic crash, and generally less disastrous for your country.
Too true
So, I've got some work to get done today, but I am hoping to get the update for this out soon!
Chapter 1: Give me back my land, you limeys!
We begin with a futile attempt to balance my budget.
It's futile because even if I taxed everybody at 100% with 100% tariffs, I'd still be losing money. This will at least slow the bleeding for now, which is good enough. Fortunately, I've got a nice bank, so I'm not too worried. The biggest culprit? Canned food, on which I'm spending nearly 1000 £ per day. Hopefully my capitalists figure this out and start building some canned food factories.
After much searching, I discovered the mighty country of Spain. Feast your eyes!
That's right, Spain is a two province minor in Germany. How awesome is that?
March 9, 1836 -- Our first (of many) gold provinces is discovered. Hot dog!
June 9, 1836 -- My old friend Switzerland wants to be allies again. Up until the very end of my last AAR, the Russians and Swiss were the best of friends, and if Switzerland wants to buddy up again, well, I'm not one to say no.
June 24, 1836 -- I'm closer to balancing the budget. I've started disbanding some of my superfluous armies and reducing the sizes of others to within the combat width parameters. My vast gold fortunes don't hurt either -- I'm pulling in 445.4 £ a day, which is more than the rich give me in taxes. Very nice.
Finally, I reach a successful solution. A minor positive balance!
Now, I completely forgot (at this point) that soldiers get their pay from military spending. Giving them nothing makes them starve, and while I don't need the soldier POPs at this point, it does make them awfully angry. I'm already at .15 MIL on average, and it's rising pretty quickly. Only, since I'm a dolt, I don't notice this.
August 22, 1836 -- This event never fails to make me chuckle.
I don't know about you, but this has been kind of boring so far. What do you say we spice it up?
I had hoped the British would be distracted with the independent Ireland. This region is a core of mine, so no infamy penalty.
This doesn't destroy my economy, as you might think. My capitalists have already started building some factories. Cement and glass are popular, as are wineries; next update, I'll give you a quick snapshot of my factories. Still, paying 2000 £ a day for military expenses is a little high.
September 26, 1836 -- Danzig pulls Poland out of my SOI. Since Poland is a three province minor, I'll survive. To be honest, I forgot they were even part of it.
November 20, 1836 -- Austria loses GP status to Moldavia. (Moldavia is most of Italy except Rome (which I own) south of Tuscany. One of the big winners in the factory sweepstakes early on. Austria and Moldavia will trade this three or four times in this update alone. [For those who care, Moldavia was formerly Naples; must not be a Naples in Vicky 2 because I can't find another country that got the tag.]
January 1, 1837 -- Liberals have a slight (3%) majority in the upper house. I'm at .29 MIL.
February 2, 1837 -- Oh no! Lithuania has declared war on France!
Wait, Lithuania is a two province minor just south of Paris, and France an OPM consisting only of Paris. Yeah, not worried too much about the consequences of that.
March 8, 1837 -- With Ireland gone, Great Britain can focus all of its energy on me. I decide to mobilize -- that gives me another 330,000 troops I really don't need. I'm hoping some will spawn on the Pacific Coast of the modern day USA; no such luck.
That doesn't stop me from adding another war goal.
It's not a core, but this is the only other British territory I'm all that interested in. After this war, I intend to leave the British alone.
May 1, 1837 -- The British invade my South Pacific colonies. I respond with deadly force.
This is easily the most significant victory I'll have for a while. See, I missed something important -- the British have a massive navy. Even though mine is technically bigger, it's also all over the world and I don't have many transports. Thus, the British can land pretty much wherever they want. My hundreds of thousands of soldiers can but flail wildly in frustration. It does give me enough prestige for this decision.
It's a Russian-specific decision -- renames some provinces in the Far East and gives me a little prestige (5.50). What the game designers didn't anticipate was that I will have Vladivostok AND the Suez Canal. Mwahahahahahahahaha!
June 10, 1837 -- The first of many humiliating defeats at the hands of the Royal Navy occurs at the Battle of Southern Baltic Sea. See, the British have another unfair advantage -- they have Admirals. My leadership points have been spent on my enormous army, and oh, that's another thing hurt by my lack of defense spending. I lose seven transports.
July 25, 1837 -- 38,000 British troops land in Menado. Two can play at this game!
Well, I will play later. For right now, I have nobody available to challenge them except for a paltry 6,000 infantry that mobilized.
August 12, 1837 -- Sitka falls to the British. I didn't really think this whole invasion thing through, did I? :blush:
January 30, 1838 -- A glorious victory! I defeat the British at Yakutat, slightly slowing them down at the cost of 2028 soldiers of the 8826 I had available.
March 3, 1838 -- A fun little event.
March 16, 1838 -- Not nearly as much fun
December 21, 1838 -- Time for a new technology, with the discovery of Medicine. I choose the highly underrated Clean Coal. I want to get a sizable surplus, then I'll focus on some of the culture techs later on.
February 6, 1839 -- In awe of the tremendous learning of Russian citizens, the British have no choice but to capitulate, despite me losing nearly every single battle I fought.
Seriously, I did capture important British territories; they had some in Northern Italy and the Turkish ones, which were more valuable to them then a few provinces in Alaska or the South Pacific were to me. Lesson learned: no more fighting non-neighbors without a major investment in my navy.
March 3, 1839 -- To celebrate my victory, I start three new colonies.
August 25, 1839 -- Thanks to the advent of peace, I realize how mad people are (now 1.00 average MIL). I quickly recalibrate my budget to one that should make the soldiers happy again.
September 9, 1839 -- Lieppe-Detmold (formerly known as Castille) takes British New England. That'll learn you, Great Britain!
October 31, 1839 -- I adopt my tech school; Military Industrial Complex.
I seriously thought about staying with traditional academia, but with a low literacy rate (that won't climb very quickly, even with new techs), I need to find some way of keeping up with the Joneses. Industry and Army techs will be my bread and butter for most of the game.
November 6, 1839 -- Pushkin dies, which for some reason brings me prestige.
December 28, 1839 -- Oh boy! Our first election will be completed on June 28, 1840. I'm on pins and needles.
June 15, 1840 -- The Swiss demand Russian participation in another war. How can I deny my friends?
June 28, 1840 -- To nobody's surprise, the Slavophiles stay in power.
However, this was a surprisingly close election. I didn't get a chance for much electioneering. My goal is to get the Westernizer or Panslavic parties in power; I either want it to be easier for capitalists to build factories or to be able to build them myself. One or the other.
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------
What did you think? Any questions, comments, or feedback? I'm leaving out some common events in the interest of moving things along -- I'll only talk about Russian specific ones or others that really drive my interest.
NRI gets updated next; maybe another update for this AAR this weekend, but I wouldn't hold my breath.
love the reversal of the comet event from EU3 ... I've not seen that in my V2 games yet
as to content, its your usual well written exceptionally easy to follow stuff --- but I am still trying to grasp the rather different world you exist in to the normal vickyverse
as to content, its your usual well written exceptionally easy to follow stuff --- but I am still trying to grasp the rather different world you exist in to the normal vickyverse
I'm guessing that the UK's navy techs are substantially better than yours given your focus on other areas in EU3. That should keep them ahead for the foreseeable future.
Your tech path seems to be pretty much the inverse of mine. You're going for all the good techs I'd like to get, but instead I'm focusing on literacy and plurality. It will be interesting to see which approach works best, although I suspect they'll both work pretty well.
How well placed are you to intervene on behalf of the Swiss? They seem to have provoked quite an alliance against them, although all of those countries might be OPMs. In my game, Mecklenburg is one of the major German powers.
Naples is the capital of the Two Sicilies in Victoria 2, being the product of the union of the Kingdom of Naples (whose ruler claimed the title King of Sicily) and the actual Kingdom of Sicily.
Your tech path seems to be pretty much the inverse of mine. You're going for all the good techs I'd like to get, but instead I'm focusing on literacy and plurality. It will be interesting to see which approach works best, although I suspect they'll both work pretty well.
How well placed are you to intervene on behalf of the Swiss? They seem to have provoked quite an alliance against them, although all of those countries might be OPMs. In my game, Mecklenburg is one of the major German powers.
Naples is the capital of the Two Sicilies in Victoria 2, being the product of the union of the Kingdom of Naples (whose ruler claimed the title King of Sicily) and the actual Kingdom of Sicily.
I'm with loki. I like your updates, but I need to look back at the map to follow what's happening.
Yeah, I often do a double take myself (that war of France vs. Lithuania, for example).
Thanks for the info on Naples; I suspected there was no independent tag but couldn't be sure. I wonder if it's still possible for Italy to form?
I can get to Mecklenburg and Hamburg pretty easily; the others less so. I'm basically doing this for prestige, as I have no desire to get involved in Germany (although some border cleanup down the road would be nice).
EDIT: Missed the tech part. I would guess I've got substantially more population than you, which is why I'm loathe to jump into the literacy techs. After clean coal, if I can't rush towards Nationalism and Imperialism, I'll probably try to sneak towards Biologism.
Thanks for the kind words!
It should be, provided there's at least one Italian-cultured country out there. They'll need to be a GP, but if they are they'll get a Liberation CB on all the Italian cores held by non-Italian-cultured states (which I'm guessing would include Moldavia). For any other Italian-cultured state they'll just need to sphere them as in vanilla. Looking at the map of Europe it does seem that Italy's not going to form unless someone takes Moldavia down a peg or two, or you could just edit the save game to make Moldavia's primary culture South Italian.
If you work out a quick way of cleaning up borders let me know!
Actually, you've got about 44 million to my 102 million. You've got way more *land* than I do though, just that all my provinces are stacked full of people. Nationalism and Imperialism will get you some plurality inventions I think. Judging from your screenshots you're not eligible for any of the plurality raising inventions from Ideological Thought, which suggests you've already got them, but haven't had the plurality boosts. I'd be tempted to either un-invent them via the savegame or give yourself the boost they would have brought (50% plurality). Otherwise it's going to take ages to get plurality up to useful levels.
You've got a point -- a lot of Siberia is mostly empty. Good to see that I might still see an Italy -- hoping for a Germany too, but that's probably not going to happen.
Wow! Way to make us look bad
Chapter 2: Our first new country
Note: I promised you guys a factory update in this one, but here's the problem -- I have 60+ states and it would have taken 15 screenshots or one mind-blowingly huge one to cover them all (and those are the ones with factories!). I'll find some alternative way of getting them for you next update -- there's a great page in the ledger that lists the most profitable.
July 8, 1840 --We start off this update by destroying the pathetic Danzig army.
Now there is surely nobody who can stop me. NOBODY! (Danzig is the former Teutonic Order, for those who care.)
September 11, 1840 -- Oh, right. It's not just Danzig. It's Mecklenburg (ex-Brandenburg) too.
They've also invaded Oregon. Note to self -- put troops in North America.
October 1, 1840 -- With a new General and some reinforcements, I send Ludendorff running home in the glorious Second Battle of Danzig.
October 9, 1840 -- I decided to find out why Switzerland actually started this war; it turns out Mecklenburg has a hefty chunk of South Africa. The Russian Republic does not desert its allies; if the Swiss want South Africa, South Africa is what they shall have.
October 16, 1840 -- Another glorious victory.
You are all being deprived of my comedic gold by not seeing the brilliant filenames for these JPGs. I called this one "Two-chel" because it's the second time I've fought there. See? Genius!
On second thought, maybe you're better off not seeing them.
November 21, 1840 -- The fall of Portland drives me into a rage. I decide to mobilize the Russian peasantry, not realizing that the reason I'm so outnumbered in Mecklenburg is that they did it on day one. A temporary setback, nothing more.
November 24, 1840 -- I force a bunch of Bulgarians to learn Russian -- the upshot is a short term gain to RPs, a long term loss of 2.0% in RPs, but a long term increase in assimilation rate (5%). If only I could get this event in my Chinese provinces...
December 10, 1840 -- Oh, Rozhestvensky. You should stick to ships.
For those who don't know, Rozhestvensky is the name of a Russian Admiral during the Russo-Japanese war, but his first name isn't Nikita. Obscure history jokes FTW!
January 1, 1841 -- I'm in a position to enact my first political reform.
Now, were I only interested in making Russia the purest democracy on Earth, I'd expand the franchise in some way. But that's not my goal. I want social reforms too.
Compare the two pies; if I expand the electorate, I'll lose liberals in the upper house (most likely). That means no more reforms unless people are really mad. They've evened out at a nice 1.12 MIL -- a simmering boil. I decide to outlaw slavery this time; it increases productivity while simultaneously making some people mad. Oh well, can't win them all.
January 4, 1841 -- Maybe the slaveowners were all in the army; in any event, I lose an entire army (not sure which one) at Stettin.
January 29, 1841 -- Revenge at Deutsch Krone!
February 4, 1841 -- Java annexes Azerbaijan. I love the bizarreness of this world, don't you? (Azerbaijan is somewhere in SE Asia; the real Azerbaijan is it where it belongs; under Russian control).
I also sign a peace with Mecklenburg. The hilarious thing is that my war score hasn't changed this entire update; it's been at 14 for most of the war because Switzerland took the territories from the get-go. The irritating thing is that Mecklenburg never once offered me peace. Oh well. I earn valuable experience, and that's what matters.
July 1, 1841 -- Hungary loses GP status to Latvia. I'm actually surprised Hungary became a GP, since they were my satellite. Can satellites break free by becoming GPs in unconverted Vicky 2? I can't imagine that happens very often.
We are allies though, so that's neat. I also discover something interesting; there will never be an NGF unless somebody takes the NGF cores I hold in East Prussia. So yeah, no Germany in this game, because I'm not about to let that happen. Same thing for Italy, since I control Rome.
Latvia, by the way, is SW France along the Pyrenees. Guyenne, maybe, in EU 3? Auvergne? Something like that.
September 21, 1841 -- A new tech must be chosen, having acquiring Clean Coal.
It's kind of irritating that I don't have the liferating invention from Medicine yet; I could be colonizing Africa right now! Still, I want Nationalism and Imperialism ASAP so I can lock the other powers out of Africa; I've already lost some of the American Midwest and the Canadian Interior to Great Britain and Bizarro Spain (or Liepe-Detmold in this universe).
January 30, 1842 -- A great day in diplomatic history. Poland finally gives me military access so my troops from the Mecklenburg war can go home.
March 6, 1842 -- And they brought the flu with them. Jerks. :angry:
I take the "pay 2000 £" option so it lasts for a shorter time.
May 2, 1842 -- I have two new colonies in Alberta and Idaho; unfortunately, there's only one more place I can colonize, so I start working on literacy by promoting clergy in my largest province.
May 12, 1842 -- My next political reform is Censored Press; this won't affect the electorate at all, but still increases immigrant attraction. Win-win!
August 10, 1842 -- My other Canadian colony is done, so my second biggest province gets the Clergy NF.
I start building forts on my border with Manchukuo; I eventually want to clean up my borders in Asia, and that will only happen if they cooperate, I suspect forcibly. I also finish my ultimate Chinese Army I started a while ago. It's 54 divisions of awesome; 25 infantry, 2 cavalry, and 27 artillery. Sure, it bleeds attrition like it's going out of style, but it's more advanced and powerful than anything they can throw at me.
November 23, 1842 -- I don't like how badly I did against Mecklenburg. It's time to pick on somebody my own size (by which I mean somebody much, much smaller) -- sorry, Egypt, but you're keeping me from having nice neat borders.
I can take everything but Giza and Cairo in this war as colonial concessions. They have too many states to take them as a protectorate, even under N&I rules, so there's no reason to wait.
December 23, 1842 -- Ending the Egyptian army in two easy battles.
My allies show up and help by occupying. How nice of them! Also, Bohemia-Moravia declares war on Poland. Poor Poles.
May 8, 1843 -- This war is boring; it's all occupation. In international news, Great Britain declares war on Scotland (the tip of Ireland in my game), Austria declares war on Bavaria, and Parma loses its place as a GP (in my EU 3 game, they colonized a LOT) to Austria.
October 21, 1843 -- Poland is absorbed by Bohemia-Moravia. In response, I build another super army of 54 divisions that will be stationed on the border with them.
October 24, 1843 -- Our first cultural union! The new Czechoslovakia is actually the #2 GP, so they are worthy of respect.
December 20, 1843 -- Finally, I take out Egypt.
December 30, 1843 -- We now have a Free Press in Russia. :blink: Yeah, nothing at all like the real timeline.
April 3, 1844 -- Switzerland declares war on Austria but doesn't call me; works for me. As a result, Austria is replaced by Parma as a GP.
June 28, 1844 -- New elections are a-coming. I'm virtually assured a Westernizers victory (Liberals) even if I do nothing, since the Jingoism the population once had for my untaken cores has degenerated into Pro-Military sentiment, which is the single biggest issue among voters. (Yes, in Russia, even the liberals are pro-military).
July 13, 1844 -- Latvia loses GP status to Austria.
July 20, 1844 -- Belgium declares war on Spain. Poor Spain.
December 28, 1844 -- By boosting Free Trade, L-F, and Pro Military at every turn, I achieve the desired result, and another update draws to a close.
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------
If there's a WWI, I think it will be me and Czechoslovakia, so I intend on building more super armies along our border to deter them, or, if need be, beat them into a bloody pulp. I also want to take more land from Manchukuo at some point. Other than that, my intentions are almost entirely peaceful. Almost.
STOP! COOKIE TIME