Ricky Nooblar

[fbaker4]

Hiya. Long time paradox player (date stamp) and dedicated HoI player. A while back I picked up the strategy six disk, and tried them all. Really couldn't get into Ricky the first two times I tried; but after about another year since the last time, I can say I've been bitten by the Rickybug.

So now I'm crazy about Ricky; and have some questions. I hope you can bear with me; yes, i've read the wiki files, forum posts, etc.; and yes, I'm a mac version player, but I hope you'll forgive me.

I'm playing Spain in an 'Easy/Normal' game, and I'm kicking major butt. 1880; I have rail all over, a bunch of african holdings, #6 in factories, #7 overall. I have 10 divisions, 8 raiders, and 8 in the mobilize pool. Literacy is at 55%, and my relations are good with everyone who matters except the US.

Spain: where to go from here?

Capitalists: how do I get more?

Population: how do I attract immigration to...anywhere?

POP splitting: what's the secret?

 

[unmerged(46730)]

you might find the information your looking in here

also check out the FAQs

 

[fbaker4]

Hmmm. Not as helpful as I would hope. Any others?

 

[Pal]

Gotta say he's right

Well, you obviously get more capitalists by converting more of them. Look for any sizeable clerk pops (that was my problem, I didn't know it had to be clerks) and save up 10k in cash plus a buttload of luxury goods to have a new capitalist pop. If you really have Ricky (as opposed to regular Vicky), then those Caps will industrialize Spain all on their own...

I have to say that 10 divisions don't look too impressive to me. If I were you I'd aim for something like 30-50 divisions by now. Also the literacy rate is pretty low. My Japan has 95% in 1890... This is not to criticize you, but to hint at room for improvement...

This takes me back to my initial proposition of re-reading the Wiki, especially this section: http://www.paradoxian.org/vickywiki/index.php/Assorted_Guides

Have fun!

 

[fbaker4]

I didn't see that clerks could be converted! That's a piece that I was missing. Do Capitalists only embark on projects in their states? Or across the whole country?

Re: education: I've been at nearly 100% funding since game start...what otehr ways can education increase? I know that some tech will increase education also, but with limited education, there's only so fast that one can develop...

Re: Army size: most other major powers have 10-50 divisions, but I'm only spain...allied with France, what do i need 40 divisions for? I mean that really - I am a noob, is there something that I need 40 D for? Wouldn't a major Navy be better?

 

[Pal]

I didn't see that clerks could be converted! That's a piece that I was missing. Do Capitalists only embark on projects in their states? Or across the whole country?

They build railroads everywhere, but factories only in their region.

Re: education: I've been at nearly 100% funding since game start...what otehr ways can education increase? I know that some tech will increase education also, but with limited education, there's only so fast that one can develop...

Well granting "state" status to colonies will hurt your literacy generation (in that it costs much more) and many cultural techs provide great boosts to "education modifier", which makes your clerks and clergymen produce more research points which in turn pump out techs faster which will increase literacy generation. Several events can grant literacy boosts, too, and I think those events are tied to certain tech levels in culture.

Re: Army size: most other major powers have 10-50 divisions, but I'm only spain...allied with France, what do i need 40 divisions for? I mean that really - I am a noob, is there something that I need 40 D for? Wouldn't a major Navy be better?

A navy isn't really needed. Do you mean 10 divisions or a military rating of ten? As Japan I had deployed 40 divisions of regular infantry and was only #11 in military score. Germany, UK, USA, Russia and France tend to go well above 50 divisions by the unification wars (late 1860s - 1880). You need at least one division per colony to quell revolts (which will be very frequent in the late game due to errors you made in the early game ) and then some stacks to strike at misbehaving neighbours...

Also remember to set army and navy maintenance to minimum during peacetime!

 

[fbaker4]

ok, so that's good info. I'll converts some labor to clerks to capitalists in my lame-o states.

Re: Military - I don't know about the military score - is that the relative strength of a division compared to other divisions? For example a unit of hoplites is a 100 if they're the most advanced unit in the game, but they're a 2 is the best unit in the game is the US Navy Seals? Or doyou mean in an over game rank basis? So my 1880 Spain with 10 divisions and 8 steam ship raiders is the #14 military overall?

Otherwise, I know enough history to know that in 1898 or so, there's likely to be a conflict with the US, and that Spain will need a navy...

Also - I'm having trouble colonizing places; the life score is too low for me; I seem to be missing a tech (which I think is machine guns) to get down to the 15% I need. I do have a bunch of annexed lands in africa - Morocco, Madagascar, and some land I took from Portugal in the Congo area. But that's not a 'Colony', and so there's no prestige in it.

Interestingly, I don't seem to need more than 1 cav. division to quell revolts in each of those three areas, and I've never seen a revolt in Cuba, Puerto Rico or the Philippines...

Lastly, doesn't setting the military maint. to the minimum cause problems with the military?

 

[Pal]

Re: Military - I don't know about the military score - is that the relative strength of a division compared to other divisions? For example a unit of hoplites is a 100 if they're the most advanced unit in the game, but they're a 2 is the best unit in the game is the US Navy Seals? Or doyou mean in an over game rank basis? So my 1880 Spain with 10 divisions and 8 steam ship raiders is the #14 military overall?

Well I meant the value displayed right beside "#14 in military score". I thought you might have a mil. score of ten but actually have more divisions... Doesn't seem to be the case. I started a Spain game last night (on VIP, so it's not 100% comparable) and they really start with a very low literacy, so I pull back my comment about that. You might want to educate the maximum number of clerks (2 per level of factory) as they provide massive research point boosts.

Otherwise, I know enough history to know that in 1898 or so, there's likely to be a conflict with the US, and that Spain will need a navy...

And that's where Vicky and history depart. In Vicky, the navy is simply a means to deliver your troops to overseas territories. If you do that before the war, you don't need a navy.

Also - I'm having trouble colonizing places; the life score is too low for me; I seem to be missing a tech (which I think is machine guns) to get down to the 15% I need. I do have a bunch of annexed lands in africa - Morocco, Madagascar, and some land I took from Portugal in the Congo area. But that's not a 'Colony', and so there's no prestige in it.

AFAIK, all the colonizing techs are in the cultural tree (not sure where "medicine" is located, that is also important). I have never heard of machine guns being good for that, but I'm not that Vicky-savvy

Interestingly, I don't seem to need more than 1 cav. division to quell revolts in each of those three areas, and I've never seen a revolt in Cuba, Puerto Rico or the Philippines...

Well, that will change later on...

Lastly, doesn't setting the military maint. to the minimum cause problems with the military?

Nope. Of course in a war it will be desastrous...

 

[unmerged(75409)]

And that's where Vicky and history depart. In Vicky, the navy is simply a means to deliver your troops to overseas territories. If you do that before the war, you don't need a navy.

not to mention that the US will, by that time, probably have a navy of 100s of ships which will sink yours in the first engagement. Much better to hide the navy and hope that your ground troops can hold out.

fortresses and divisions with engineers are a much better investment than ships if you want to win the 1898 war.

 

[fbaker4]

Ok, 1893 now; I have a few Native divisions holding my fairly extensive (if i do say so myself) African Colonies, and the the Philippines, and I have some 16 divisions in the mobilize pool, and some 12 divisions at home. I have not built any more ships, but I have the MP to build 20+ infantry divisions; I think that I can set a few up, build some forts, and deploy them. I kinda want to have a naval face-off, though. I have the $, and could easily build some 40 ironclads, but I don't want to check the screens to see how many units the USA has, and so that probably means i'll get smashed...

 

[gamer42_au]

See if you can ally with the UK - the RN is always handy to have on your side.

IIRC AI USA will declare war on you by event, and attack Cuba and the Phillipines.

 

[unmerged(75409)]

You should have at least two divisions in every Cuban and Philippine province, if you want to be mostly safe from invasion. And they should be dug-in to the maximum when the Americans try to land.

I would check the screens to see the US Navy if I were you. Or sail a navy up to the east coast and see for yourself what ships they have. As long as you are not at war, you can see what ships other powers have in their ports by hovering the mouse over the round port icon on the province.

 

[fbaker4]

Heh heh. 1897; I have my overseas possessions mostly empty. A native guards division here and there for show of imperial power. San Juan, Havanna, Manila are all level 3 forts. I have 20 raiders, 12 ironclads, and a new fleet of 6 pre-dreadnaughts with destroyers, and 6 protected cruisers with torpedo boats.

I take a tour of the world with my new fleet; the USA has a lot of raiders -about 60, but they're spread out all over, and they don't seem to have any transports...

I spend diplomacy points like crazy, and though I have no chance to get nice with the brits, the germans & french love me; I make, just before 1898, two defensive alliances - France & Germany.

1989; Maine blows up; USA DoW's me; I crush their fleet(s) in a few successive attacks in the Florida straights; land 5 divisions in Tampa - enough to take it, then Sue for Peace (since I can see 25 divisions heading towards me), and they take it.

Crisis averted. To be fair, I'm playing on easy. It is my first game in 18 months, and my second game ever, though. Anyway:


A new question:

Do does one 'get rid' of slavery? As Spain, I still have slaves running around, even in 1900. I gave full sufferage...my political party is 'Full Citizenship'...what do I have to do?

 

[unmerged(75409)]

congratulations!! Yeah sometimes the AI forgets to build new ships, that's probably what happened to the USA and let you sink their wooden fleet. In this case you really didn't need much ground troops. A good navy capable of stopping an invasion fleet is most of the time cheaper than an army capable of repelling the same invasion, so kudos on a smart investment

As for slavery... you get rid of it through events. Spain should have one but it probably should have triggered 50 years ago for you. o So you missed out on that one... I have no idea which event you would need to trigger manually, but you can edit it in the save game, just find your country entry (easiest way to find it is to look for strings " ai = { " and keep searching forward until you see one below a line saying "tag = SPA") and then change the line slavery = yes to slavery = no.

 

[fbaker4]

huh. Ok, after years of paradox gaming, I can certainly edit a savefile...

But what happens to the slaves? Do they become farmers/laborers? What happens to their 'consiousness/excitability' or what ever that's called? And what about their political bent? One would think that it would skew to who freed them, but...does it?

 

[fbaker4]

Also also - I've been tinkering with Siam - a la 'The King and I' for an different kinda game - with a goal of merely becoming civilized and staying independent...

What does it take, though, to be civilized under Ricky? I managed, just now, a #22; with a strong prestige (~50) and industrialization (~70) but a crap military - (~3). I had a solid 6 divisions, but any one division made no difference to the final.

Thoughts?

 

[unmerged(75409)]

You need a mil score of 10 AFAIK and that means spamming a load of irregulars. Or alternatively building major warships but I guess the irregulars would be cheaper for you...

 

[Dysken]

You need a mil score of 10 AFAIK and that means spamming a load of irregulars. Or alternatively building major warships but I guess the irregulars would be cheaper for you...

that only works for china, you need ridiculous amounts of soldiers for that. AFAIK apart from warships the most mil score for your MP is cavalry-hussars.

 

[unmerged(94521)]

You need a mil score of 10 AFAIK and that means spamming a load of irregulars. Or alternatively building major warships but I guess the irregulars would be cheaper for you...

I always found that requirement ridiculous, it's only China that stand a real chance of getting that many soldier. Small uncivs could convert all their POPs to soldiers and still not have enough!

 

[fbaker4]

ah-ha. Good call - Cav/Hus. But Warships are better?

Also - does anyone know the event code for the end of slavery?

Also Also - what's the connection between tarriffs and the discontent of the wealthy classes? Anyone run numbers on this?

Lastly (for now) - I take an unruly laborer (a communist with a high revolt risk) and I promote him to a Capitalist. So now I have an unhappy Communist Capitalist. Does that make him Sean Penn? Or will he change to being conservative and placid after I make him rich?