Suggestions needed going forward as Inca

[Astrocreep]

I need some thoughts on strategy on this campaign as I enter the age of absolutism. I am attaching screen shots

After rage quitting an earlier run, I asked the Paradox Oracle to select a tag for me for a brand new run. They selected a North American tribe. Because of the upcoming patch changes for those tags, I re-rolled, but PDX was insistent I stay in the New World They selected Ichma, a South American Inti OPM surrounded from all sides by bigger nations, included Daddy Cuzco, historically the founder of the Inca empire. Managed diplomacy really well to survive and eventually grow. Within a hundred years, there were two Inti major tags left and the Portuguese had colonized Argentina. By 1545, I conquered all the clay needed to form the Inca Empire and switched tags. By 1583, the French were in Colombia and I had fought three wars (two with the French and one with Castille) where I fought them without giving up any territory but had to offer massive amounts of money. This is where I reformed the Inti religion and did a major tech jump, with everything up to the Printing Press embraced. By 1598, I had paid off using my ridiculous levels of debt to pay off Europeans, using my gold mines and lower army maintenance. I am also about to take Mil tech 16, which will put me on level with France and Portugal. My goal is to own most of South America. I may leave alone the English in Brazil, and expand into Central America instead, but my primary goal is to be a New World giant. No African or Southeast Asia TCs, as I already have a ton of gold. My question are as follows:

1. What is the best direction to expand in? I am thinking Portugal because my permanent claims from my mission tree are in that direction, and also Portugal is weaker.

2. Idea group ideas? I have exploration and expansion for the extra colonists to fill out empty provinces in South America. I am thinking economic for the inflation control because I have multiple gold mines. (already have the Burghers privilege that gives me that buff but I may need more, as I will dev push and conquer more gold provinces)

3. Do I stay Inti or go Catholic? Diplomacy may become easier as a Christian but I already want to kill the Europeans and my Force limit is currently 90% of that of all France, which they are unlikely to only send my way considering their european engagements. I also have a ton of money for mercs. Also, Inti gives me +10% morale recovery, manpower recovery buffs and an extra colonist. If I stay Inti should I go humanist or religious in this patch once I start taking christian provinces. Thanks everyone. I welcome your thoughts.

 

[grotaclas]

Are you aware of the fact that you can attack colonial nations without their overlord getting involved?
I think it is best to stay Inti, because the bonuses are so good.

 

[Astrocreep]

No I didn't. Is that likely when Portugal holds adjacent provinces to me in their own right, not their colonial subjects? And since Portugal's entire game is colonial possessions?

According to the ledger, Portugal and I have the same force limit. Their Argentine and Peruvian subjects bring another 8k troops combined, which I can more than match when I merc up.

 

[grotaclas]

No I didn't. Is that likely when Portugal holds adjacent provinces to me in their own right, not their colonial subjects? And since Portugal's entire game is colonial possessions?

I'm not sure that I understand what you are trying to say here. If you declare war for the provinces that Portugal holds directly, you declare war on Portugal and you have to deal with them and their colonial nations. But if you declare war on a colonial nation, you will only be at war with that colonial nation(this is true for all countries that have their capital in a colonial region). The only way how Portugal can get involved is if they enforce peace on you. My experience is that it happens in less than 10% of the wars which I have fought against CNs. But it is possible that there are circumstances which make it more likely.

 

[Astrocreep]

I'm not sure that I understand what you are trying to say here. If you declare war for the provinces that Portugal holds directly, you declare war on Portugal and you have to deal with them and their colonial nations. But if you declare war on a colonial nation, you will only be at war with that colonial nation(this is true for all countries that have their capital in a colonial region). The only way how Portugal can get involved is if they enforce peace on you. My experience is that it happens in less than 10% of the wars which I have fought against CNs. But it is possible that there are circumstances which make it more likely.

I see what you are saying. I will definitely declare on the CNs and be prepared to take on Portugal as well. Worst comes to worse, they join the war and it's what I expected, but maybe I get pleasantly surprised.

 

[Siptah]

Stick with Reformed Inti, it‘s fun, something different, and powerful.
If you grab the CN‘s land, which should be possible with a few wars with the CNs directly, you‘ll be a top 3 great power and can take on whoever you want and go for a hegemony. In my two Inca games, the overlords never entered the CN wars, which made the whole run much easier than expected.
In case you want to get the Inca achievement, be sure to plan ahead for getting Galapagos, South Georgia, and the Falklands which are always held by the Europeans directly.

 

[RMS Oceanic]

You need to go shopping for friends. If you can, send ships to explore the Mediterranean, and find a nice isolated target to No-CB vassalize. This should put you in diplomatic range for the Ottomans and/or Russia, so colonists should hopefully leave you alone until you're ready to go out a-conquering.

And definitely stay Inti, that's part of the fun.

 

[Tue_p3]

Id say to colonize Panama for the trade node. Try to steal maps if you can

 

[Howl]

When you do declare on the colonial nations be sure to not full annex them. Leave them at least one province and keep a path for the overlord to plop down more colonies. This way they will comolonize more. Every finished colony will immediately be transfered to your punching bag. And you can harvest provinces and money every fifteen years or so.

 

[John_DeVries]

Damn, would have been cool to see you stay as a Theocracy: they have some interesting reforms for Pagans.
Anyways, AI kinda sucks at inter-continental invasions, so 90% of France force limit should be fine. When looking at those kinds of wars, don't bother with their force limit: check how many transports they have in the ledger, that's how many troops you actually have to defeat on any given battle, if you do this right.

Since your capital is in a colonial region, you can fight colonial nations without calling in their overlord, so all those European colonies are basically free real-estate, until they become big enough to field decent armies. Just don't full annex them until the colonial region is full, or completely unaccessible to Europeans, that way any newly colonized province from their overlord will go to them.
Take over those Portuguese on your borders, then take over Panama and that trade node, and eventually the Caribbean: total control over it means lots of trade money.
Exploration will not allow you to make claims at will in South America (not overseas), but you will be able to do so in North America and the Caribbean.

Economic is a good idea group for your gold mines, it will also make you filthy rich. I would go with quantity for military ideas.

Staying Inti is cool, it gives you some very good bonuses, although you might wanna pick religious ideas to convert all of those European colonies. Humanist and the Burghers privilege will not be enough to get +3 Tolerance of Heathens and full religious unity. Going Catholic would make for easier expansion and diplomacy, but no-one will ally you anyways, either because of distance to borders, or because they are colonizers who want your stuff, so why lose those bonuses?

 

[Astrocreep]

Damn, would have been cool to see you stay as a Theocracy: they have some interesting reforms for Pagans.

Just an FYI, when I reformed the Inti religion, it transferred automatically from Theocracy to Monarchy. There was no option to stay a theocracy. Wanted to give you a brief update in the screen shots. South America is almost 100% filled out in terms of empty provinces. Portuguese Argentina is one war from being fully annexed. I have one of my four diplomats constantly in English Brazil to keep positive relations. I made a mistake to colonize a couple of provinces in the Brazil region because that's causing frictions between us but we are still at +50 relations or so. After Portugal, next up is French Colombia and then the Portuguese again up in Mexico for those gold mines. Then Caribbean, but I will have to beat down the English before end of game to go for the Sun God Achievement. Also, I did finally enter Great Power Status in 1648

Has 1.30 changed anything regarding strats for client states. I am two techs away from admin 23 and I plan to use it to help me conquer and core the land before diplo annexing them. I am about to take the Econ idea group and I am gonna need my admin mana.

Thank you for all your great suggestions

 

[John_DeVries]

Just an FYI, when I reformed the Inti religion, it transferred automatically from Theocracy to Monarchy. There was no option to stay a theocracy.

That's disappointing, I thought it would just give you institutions, remove primitive, etc. I only ever played Inca starting with Cuzco though, so I was already a monarchy. I guess you can always reform into a Theocracy at the last government reform, if you want to be the Inti pope.

Remember that for the sun god achievement you are gonna need the Galapagos, Falklands and South Georgia as well. You don't need to colonize all of South America, but you must be the only one there. If you cut off the colonial nations from the interior, the Europeans will no longer be able to colonize it, so you'll have less to conquer.

Edit: judging by your screenshots, it looks like it's a bit too late for that last advice.

 

[Astrocreep]

Remember that for the sun god achievement you are gonna need the Galapagos, Falklands and South Georgia as well. You don't need to colonize all of South America, but you must be the only one there. If you cut off the colonial nations from the interior, the Europeans will no longer be able to colonize it, so you'll have less to conquer.

Edit: judging by your screenshots, it looks like it's a bit too late for that last advice.

Indeed but that's no worries. I actually took expansion / exploration ideas with the intent to fill it all out. All those coffee, cocoa and sugar provinces with plantations are now making me as much money as the gold mines. It's how I just beat back France AND their CN. Without mercing up, I would have been toast.