Rule Britannia... (1492 - 1545)
Britannia rules the World! Well, at least that was intended to be the result when I started this game. In another thread, someone mentioned that taking over the world is plainly impossible and that if anyone did achieve this, we would know he had been cheating. I disagree. On the contrary, I believe it is quite possible, given the right player nation.
Spain is the obvious candidate for such a project, but I feel somehow this would be all too easy (strongest start in the colonies and huge empire in Europe). The same goes for Portugal (too great a headstart in the new world) and France (their central position is too powerful, IMO). I actually had two games (as Venice and England) where I believe I was in a position to take over the world (I had reached about 1560 in both games in a strong european position), but decided to instead start a completely new game.
Game settings - Highest Difficulty with Aggressive AI. I have not reloaded at any point in this game (other than after the 2 crashes I experienced
- I have learnt to save frequently, though). I will not exploot any of the game bugs that can be used for cheating (some of which I discovered during the game). I will however play unmercifully directed towards my strategic goal - namely the domination of the entire world. I am the only nation with major power status, since annexations would otherwise be impossible - the only major effect (as I understand) that this has though is just that the other nations do not get missions.
Oh yes - and I will be playing England. They are not the strongest nation (and don't start in a particularly good position), but do have quite good default leaders (2/2/0), and except for the period 1545-1590 have at least one historical general available for most of the game. Leaders are IMO the key to domination. Englands starts with a small 19,000 man army (compared to 25,000 in Scotland), and a moderately sized fleet. We also start off being in alliance with Spain, Naples and Mailand.
1492 - The Opening Moves
I start the game by taking my first and (hopefully) only loan in May, which I use to recruit 21,000 men.
Research strategy - except for an initial research in Land to get cannons, the huge bulk of my research goes alternatively into trade and infrastructure - except for the frequent times I need to boost my stability back to +3. I usually take a few ducats in monthly income, but generally attempt to keep inflation down. I also turn ship maintenance down to 50% (I always do this: ships are primarily for transport, not combat, in my game doctrine - it is the easiest way to save money on your budget).
In Jan 1493, I declare war on Scotland. Norfolk (a good leader that England starts with) promptly defeats the main Scottish army and captures Lothian (their capital) that very same month. He the proceeds to tear through their minimal fortresses (with +4 shock, he is capable of instant assaults) and by May 1493, Scotland is annexed.
A promising start to our ambitions. We now devote ourselves to the pursuit of fortifying our country (7 English provinces start out with no fortresses), and building up our army. Almost the entire English army is transported to Calais in preparation for the inevitable clash with France.
In April 1494, France (Savoy, Papacy, Poland, Tunis) declares war on Spain (Mailand, Neapel, Persia, England) precipitating a war of the grand alliances. We gleefully invade France, but in June, the French and Spanish make peace. Seems we shall not have our megalomaniac ambitions fulfilled this time. Instead Poland attacks and annexes Kurland. In August 1495, Granada pays off Spain - the first time I have seen them survive past 1495.
In January 1497, I get involved in a war with Iraq together with Persia and Spain, but I ignore the conflict. Instead I send the newly appointed explorer, J. Cabot to the new world. He sails into the Carribean and discovers the Aztecs (Tuxpan province) and Tampico province in 1499. He dies a year later, but not before helping to guide a grand expedition of 10,000 infantry and 5,000 cavalry to the new world. We also dutifully paid of our loan.
In November of 1500, we declare war on the Aztecs. Small task forces capture all their undefended cities, and finally we meet and defeat their main army. The big horses of our english cavalry seems to scare them, and we annex their entire empire in January 1501. At the same time, our first colony of Havanna is created.
In October 1502, we have a deflation (-33% inflation). Not very useful, since our inflation was only at 3%, and we did not have money to exploit the lower prices on troops and ships. At new year, inflation returns to 0%.
In 1503, Spain finally annexes Granada.
In November 1505, France (Savoy, Papacy, Poland, Lotharingen, Sqiss, Navarra) declares war on Spain (England, Persia, Cologne) again. I quickly make peace with the Poles (who I'm in any case not interested in). By September 1506, the war ends in a status quo peace, except that I am still at war with the entire alliance due to my seperate peace... Muahaha (this was the entire point of concluding a seperate peace). The entire alliance is however unable to make any headway against me or prevent me from conquoring 2 provinces and Ile de France. In May 1507, I take Caux, Picardia and 250d from France.
I now have the foothold on the European continent that I need to be able to carry out my plans of European domination. Having at least 3 land-bound provinces is a must for efficient conquest, since otherwise two enemy sieges would effectively cut off my European armies from reinforcements. Seaborne reinforcements are never sufficient. I immediately begin building up for the main event.
In January 1508, Simon Cabot arrives. He is sent off to discover the Incas, which he promptly does in November 1511 (with some help from the French maps we stole during the war). He dies in 1512. In November 1508, we get an agricultural revolution, which improves the tax bases of all English home provinces by +1. Nice. I am somewhat unhappy though, that for the first time in 3-4 games as England, I have not seen even 1 conquistador, explorer or colonial dynamism event. In fact, in ALL other games I've played, I've had one of these events in the first 10-15 years, and I had rather counted on getting it. However, we shall survive...
In June 1509, Henry VIII rises to the throne of England. He immediately puts into effect a a research program to get Optics (Naval 13), which will allow our ships to do the exploration that it seems no conquistadors are willing to come forward and do. We get this tech in January 1515. To achieve this goal the faster, we had built a ship manufactory in 1513, but it burned down in December 1515....bad luck and a waste of money.
In October 1515, our troops debark from their troops transports in an admirable timed and rehearsed maneuver and invade the Inca empire. The Incas are as unable to withstand our assaults as the Aztecs where, and in June 1516, they are overrun by the English. Later that year, Spanish conquistadors try to 'explore' - we actually managed to annex both the Aztecs and the Incas before the Spanish discovered their existence.
Britannia rules the World! Well, at least that was intended to be the result when I started this game. In another thread, someone mentioned that taking over the world is plainly impossible and that if anyone did achieve this, we would know he had been cheating. I disagree. On the contrary, I believe it is quite possible, given the right player nation.
Spain is the obvious candidate for such a project, but I feel somehow this would be all too easy (strongest start in the colonies and huge empire in Europe). The same goes for Portugal (too great a headstart in the new world) and France (their central position is too powerful, IMO). I actually had two games (as Venice and England) where I believe I was in a position to take over the world (I had reached about 1560 in both games in a strong european position), but decided to instead start a completely new game.
Game settings - Highest Difficulty with Aggressive AI. I have not reloaded at any point in this game (other than after the 2 crashes I experienced
- I have learnt to save frequently, though). I will not exploot any of the game bugs that can be used for cheating (some of which I discovered during the game). I will however play unmercifully directed towards my strategic goal - namely the domination of the entire world. I am the only nation with major power status, since annexations would otherwise be impossible - the only major effect (as I understand) that this has though is just that the other nations do not get missions.Oh yes - and I will be playing England. They are not the strongest nation (and don't start in a particularly good position), but do have quite good default leaders (2/2/0), and except for the period 1545-1590 have at least one historical general available for most of the game. Leaders are IMO the key to domination. Englands starts with a small 19,000 man army (compared to 25,000 in Scotland), and a moderately sized fleet. We also start off being in alliance with Spain, Naples and Mailand.
1492 - The Opening Moves
I start the game by taking my first and (hopefully) only loan in May, which I use to recruit 21,000 men.
Research strategy - except for an initial research in Land to get cannons, the huge bulk of my research goes alternatively into trade and infrastructure - except for the frequent times I need to boost my stability back to +3. I usually take a few ducats in monthly income, but generally attempt to keep inflation down. I also turn ship maintenance down to 50% (I always do this: ships are primarily for transport, not combat, in my game doctrine - it is the easiest way to save money on your budget).
In Jan 1493, I declare war on Scotland. Norfolk (a good leader that England starts with) promptly defeats the main Scottish army and captures Lothian (their capital) that very same month. He the proceeds to tear through their minimal fortresses (with +4 shock, he is capable of instant assaults) and by May 1493, Scotland is annexed.
A promising start to our ambitions. We now devote ourselves to the pursuit of fortifying our country (7 English provinces start out with no fortresses), and building up our army. Almost the entire English army is transported to Calais in preparation for the inevitable clash with France.
In April 1494, France (Savoy, Papacy, Poland, Tunis) declares war on Spain (Mailand, Neapel, Persia, England) precipitating a war of the grand alliances. We gleefully invade France, but in June, the French and Spanish make peace.
Seems we shall not have our megalomaniac ambitions fulfilled this time. Instead Poland attacks and annexes Kurland. In August 1495, Granada pays off Spain - the first time I have seen them survive past 1495. In January 1497, I get involved in a war with Iraq together with Persia and Spain, but I ignore the conflict. Instead I send the newly appointed explorer, J. Cabot to the new world. He sails into the Carribean and discovers the Aztecs (Tuxpan province) and Tampico province in 1499. He dies a year later, but not before helping to guide a grand expedition of 10,000 infantry and 5,000 cavalry to the new world. We also dutifully paid of our loan.
In November of 1500, we declare war on the Aztecs. Small task forces capture all their undefended cities, and finally we meet and defeat their main army. The big horses of our english cavalry seems to scare them, and we annex their entire empire in January 1501. At the same time, our first colony of Havanna is created.
In October 1502, we have a deflation (-33% inflation). Not very useful, since our inflation was only at 3%, and we did not have money to exploit the lower prices on troops and ships. At new year, inflation returns to 0%.
In 1503, Spain finally annexes Granada.
In November 1505, France (Savoy, Papacy, Poland, Lotharingen, Sqiss, Navarra) declares war on Spain (England, Persia, Cologne) again. I quickly make peace with the Poles (who I'm in any case not interested in). By September 1506, the war ends in a status quo peace, except that I am still at war with the entire alliance due to my seperate peace... Muahaha (this was the entire point of concluding a seperate peace). The entire alliance is however unable to make any headway against me or prevent me from conquoring 2 provinces and Ile de France. In May 1507, I take Caux, Picardia and 250d from France.
I now have the foothold on the European continent that I need to be able to carry out my plans of European domination. Having at least 3 land-bound provinces is a must for efficient conquest, since otherwise two enemy sieges would effectively cut off my European armies from reinforcements. Seaborne reinforcements are never sufficient. I immediately begin building up for the main event.
In January 1508, Simon Cabot arrives. He is sent off to discover the Incas, which he promptly does in November 1511 (with some help from the French maps we stole during the war). He dies in 1512. In November 1508, we get an agricultural revolution, which improves the tax bases of all English home provinces by +1. Nice. I am somewhat unhappy though, that for the first time in 3-4 games as England, I have not seen even 1 conquistador, explorer or colonial dynamism event. In fact, in ALL other games I've played, I've had one of these events in the first 10-15 years, and I had rather counted on getting it.
However, we shall survive...In June 1509, Henry VIII rises to the throne of England. He immediately puts into effect a a research program to get Optics (Naval 13), which will allow our ships to do the exploration that it seems no conquistadors are willing to come forward and do. We get this tech in January 1515. To achieve this goal the faster, we had built a ship manufactory in 1513, but it burned down in December 1515....bad luck and a waste of money.
In October 1515, our troops debark from their troops transports in an admirable timed and rehearsed maneuver and invade the Inca empire. The Incas are as unable to withstand our assaults as the Aztecs where, and in June 1516, they are overrun by the English. Later that year, Spanish conquistadors try to 'explore' - we actually managed to annex both the Aztecs and the Incas before the Spanish discovered their existence.
