Sunset Invasion (Xipe Totec Edition)

[CzokletMuss]

Sunset Invasion
(Xipe Totec Edition)

Welcome to my new AAR! This time I'm going to play as Aztec and try to get the Sunset Invasion achievement. What's up with "Xipe Totec Edition", you may ask. Well, Xipe Totec is known also as Our Lord the Flayed One and as such is an ideal patron deity for this run - because we are going to flay Europe. Hard. Like a slave atop the altar during spring equinox. We shall eradicate the paleskins, carve out their hearts with obsidian blades and wear their skins as our own to honor the Flayed God.

This AAR will be rather short and unlike the rest of my AARs it will be strictly limited to what AARs are supposed to be, that is my raport written after the "action" in the campaign.

So let's not waste anymore time - may the Sunset Invasion begin!

 

[TheAnguishedOne]

Given the skill you've demonstrated fighting against the Aztecs, I'm confident you'll be able to make Europe kneel to the Flayed One eventually. This might be shorter, but it'll still be entertaining...

 

[Ikiti]

Definitely subbed.

 

[ThetrueColt]

Subbed and looking forward to the campaign, even though I am starting to be confused if Pisans, Aztecs Xenoi, or Paleskins are more heretical...

 

[TheArrogantOne]

Me subs in as well.

 

[Attalus]

Count me as well despite the extra heresy

 

[Undead Martyr]

Bring the heresy.
Bring it.

 

[McGrey]

Welcome to my new AAR! This time I'm going to play as Aztec and try to get the Sunset Invasion achievement.

Sweet heresy. Let's see how you did it!

 

[kon_11]

Great, looking forward to it!

 

[InvisibleSandwi]

Well, this bodes! I guess you're getting in some quick 1.11 action before Common Sense changes everything. I hope to see plenty of Xipe Totec sundaes in this nation's future.

 

[CzokletMuss]

CHAPTER 1
SKIPPING THE BORING PART​

Because let's be honest, the first c. 150 years as primitives isn't that interesting. With the last patch the religious reforms are really easy so you should be able to complete them by year 1500. I suggest attacking Tarascan first and then going for gold mines – you'll eliminate the only real opposition from the begininng and with income from mines you'll be able to field enough mercs to wipe out your enemies. The best bonus from reforms is +5% discipline – this combined with advisor (if you are lucky) should allow you to blob easily so in the first 20 years you should achieve total domination in the region. Oh and don't be afraid to blob – you don't get Doom in quantity which can become a problem what with sacrificing your vassals and stuff. Also don't be afraid of AE – everyone is going to hate you anyways. As soon as the Maya is created – if you allow this to happen like me – DOW them and release all the cores.

So, the year is c.1500 and you should unlock your first idea group, which obviously should be Exploration. This will allow you to get conquistadors with whom you can go to South America to meet the superior white master race so that you can westernize. Later the CB on primitives will allow you to farm American tribes for gold, so there's that. As for the westernization, you can either be lucky (I wasn't) or use the stealing-almost-finish-colony-right-next-to-already-developed-one technique, which is what I suggest. Just don't be stupid like me and count the colonists carefully – first time I DOWed Great Britain their colony in South America turned into province before my army got there. Five days of difference and I had to wait a whole truce to try again. Then obviously the AI out of pure spite decided to burn their former colony after I sieged it down. But hey, in the end I succeded! You should westernize between 1520-1530.

I was also very, very lucky – the AI completely ignored Carribean and insted went for South America. After westernization I quickly colonized the whole region and you should do the same – the provinces on these islands are ridiculously rich with 5-6 basetax. This will change probably in „Common Sense” but still if you can get them, do this – a huge chunk of my income in middle and late game was from Carribean trade. After you finish colonizing Carribean you can either go south or noth. Since SA was already taken by lucky nations I decided to go north – remember to take the coast first to cutt of the AI from going deep into the interior! My next idea groups were Quantity (best military idea group there is) and Expansion, which with policies and +1 colonist from religious reforms give you 4 colonists. You need them – you'll spend the next 50-100 years slowly colonizing, developing your economy and catching up to the Western powers. BTW when even which gives you Adm ideas cost reduction as an option fires, go for it – the local autonomy reduction is negated by bonus from other event and you'll gonna need every ADM mana you can get. In the meantime do the usual, exterminate the natives and make sure minor countries like Britanny or Norway don't colonize next to you – their navy is pathetic so you should easily win wars with them and get some extra army tradition.

When your tech gets on par with theirs you should be ready to plan the attack. Unless you get something like this, that is:

Oh God why. Great Britain, the only nation which navy could help me defeat the Iberians, is under PU with Spain. This is bad, even more so since Spain is a monster in this campaign and already turned northern Africa into Big Yellow Blob. What is worse is that if Spain integrates GB they will inherit their colonies – or in other words the whole friggin' South America. But surely the PU will be broken before it happens, right?

Wrong.

Go to hell, RNG.

Still, as you can see the 17th is coming to an end and I'm officialy Number Four in world ranking of great powers – not bad. You may notice how I carefully cut off the Westernrs (Easterners?) from American interior. Only DAMNED IBERIANS managed to get through before I got to California and Alaska. BTW use the Religious CB – best 3rd idea group for Aztec IMHO – to DOW natives, take their gold and convert them before you get to share border with them. It makes life much easier considering you missionary strength is going to suck. You may also notice I'm at war with Spain and I'm winning.

Nope.

It was France which attacked Spain and as a good ally I did completely nothing to help them. Allying BBB is kinda like cheating but come on, GB integrated by Spain? Besides the war didn't really go that well.

Hordes of Spanish minions from South America would surely cause a lot of trouble if not for my superior navy which caused them to go through Panama. By this time I had both Offensive and Quality completed (Quality beacause discipline and bonuses to navy – you need the ships to invade Europe, duh), so it wasn't a problem. As you can see, I have a decent manpower but nothing crazy for middle game. My borders are ugly, inflation is killing me and I hate this stupid campaign, I wasted-

WAIT A MOMENT.

France won the war. France released Scotland. I immediately DOW Scotland and annex it, releasing – you guessed it – Great Britain, now as a proper Huitzilopochtli-worshipping march. The have cores everywhere on the British Isles (duh) which will be very helpful, just like their crazy naval ideas. You can also see me storming Portugal – they lost their alliance with Spain (thanks France!) and you need Lisboa anyways, so they are good as a first target. Did I mention you need a shitload of ships to pull it off?

You need a shitload of ships to pull it off. You need 50-90 transports to be able to, well, transport your armies comfortably. You need 100-200 light ships to protect your trade in Mexico, Panama, Carribean and in NA trade nodes. And finally you need 50 heavies plus 100-150 galleys to be able to rip Western fleets to pieces and blockade them all. On an unrelated note, just like in real life Portugal is a pathetic excuse for an empire and their colonies are usually much stronger then them. I suggest you support their independence like I did with Brasil – you gain an ally (mostly useless, but hey, beggars inferior non-white primitives can't be choosers) and you can very easily weaken them. Plus they can be your meatshield when colonial nations of lucky nations decide to siege your empty homeland while your >100,000 army puts down revolt in Portugal.

Also take Malta. Trust me on this.

The year is 1700 and it's about time to carve out some hearts for the Flayed God.

(Next part tomorrow. Probably.)

 

[TheAnguishedOne]

Spain and GB merging... that is unusually bad luck.

 

[Leandor]

So... TIM follows you everywhere, uh? I mean... that luck isn't normal.

 

[CzokletMuss]

Spain and GB merging... that is unusually bad luck.

So... TIM follows you everywhere, uh? I mean... that luck isn't normal.

What can I say, one must play the hand he's dealt. Plus it made the campaign much more challenging (at least initially), so there's that. In fact this particular campaign was one of my favorites, it really forced you to plan ahead and use all your knowledge of the game.

 

[Undead Martyr]

Spain and GB merging... that is unusually bad luck.

Funnily enough it almost happened in real life.. if Mary and Charles had had a kid, then the Habsburgs would have snagged England.

 

[Stuyvesant]

Ooh! Another AAR by Czokletmuss! Looks good: quick, dirty, and lots of death-dealing. Good luck in the next round with Spain (and at some point you'll have to take on the French: will be interesting to see how that fares).

 

[CzokletMuss]

CHAPTER 2
SUNSET INVASION​

What a weird, weird campaign.

Novgorod not only survived but managed to kill Muscowy and became Russia in 1744. Which is quite an achievement for an AI – well done, mindless scripts! You may be wondering why I'm talking about Russia instead of showing you my glorious conquest. Well, the reason for it is that I don't have really that many interesting screenshots of the initial phase of the Invasion.

(Yes, this is Persia)

The plan was easy:

1. DOW Portugal when it's weak (no alliance with Yellow Blob)
2. Annex as much as you can.
3. Make yourself comfortable in Europe (killing rebels, blah blah blah)
4. Take Malta (trust me on this)
5. Finish Portugal → acquire Lisboa
6. DOW Papacy → acquire Rome
7. DOW Castile → force to give cores back to my GB Nahuatl march
8. Repeat previous step until British Isles are controlled by my puppet
9. DOW Castile → acquire London
10. France no longer needed as ally → SUDDEN YET INEVITABLE BETRAYAL
11. DOW France

So what went wrong, you ask?

Nothing.

By 1770 I had Granada and Leon as my marches and was ready to take on France. Of course BBB being BBB is a pain in the arse. It was good to have them on my side but now I need to face the French on their land and let me tell you it takes a long time to ship 50,000 men from Mexico to Europe. Unless you ally with someone even more OP than France, that is.

„Lol l2p Czoklet you stupid hack” – you'll surely say – „there's nothing more powerful than France, you noob.”

How about Prussia?

Good ol'Prussians transformed into a real monster after PLC imploded and they took a huge chunk of the Commonwealth. I allied them and gained their trust by helping them conquer Hansa, which increased their income and made them even bigger monster. Than I turned them against my true target – France. Their help and some vassal feeding meant that the BBB was done.

„But Czoklet, you damn fraud” - you'll surely say - „allying Prussia is basically cheating!”

Oh I'm sorry, I can't hear you over the sound of screams of the sacrificed to the Flayed God.

I present you Eastern Territories, formerly known as Western Europe!

Wait, have I said „screams”? What I meant was obviously the joyous chanting, because I DID IT!

Look on my works ye mighty, and despair! Skins for the Flayed One! Blood for the Blood God!​

Honestly it was easier than I expected. However I still got 24 years left, so I thought to myself – why not Constantinople?

Ottoman blob was still better than me in terms of overall points acquired during the campaign. The Turks had to be punished.

The City of Konstantinos fell in 1806 but the war went on. In the meantime I DOWed some smaller nations like Cyprus to get range for my galleys and Austria. Why Austria? Well, why not? Plus I wanted to take some land from them in Hungary and Croatia so that I could put all 400,000 of my troops there in preparation for the invastion on the Ottomans. It was kinda an end game boss, you know, you need to make ready for them.

Of course this being pre-patch 1.12 EU4 I actually had to declare war on Ottomans twice – first to get all the provinces adjacent to Constantinople and second to actually get the damn city.

Oh and in the meantime Castile got revolution. Aren't they adorable? One tiny province trying to carry the flame of the Great Revolution to the whole continent. Not a chance buddy - you're gonna get Nahuatled. In the last 10 years or so I decided to finish the Sunset Invasion by completely removing Castile and France from Europe.

And so I did.

In 1817 the second war with Ottomans ended. And so besides the usual Sunset Invasion combo – Rome, London, Paris, Madrid, Lisboa – I had some more cool cities in my collection, namely Constantinople, Jerusalem, Antioch, Alexandria, Cairo and Baghdad. I also released Mamluks to mess up with the Ottomans because why the hell not?

As for the lucky nation removal:

In 1819 Castile was forced to leave the Iberian Peninsula once and for all just like France left, well, France one year before that.

Here we can see Nahuatl Great Britain in its natural habitat – Nahuatl Europe.

Unfortunately Byzantine cores were long gone, otherwise I would have them resurected on my side. Still, I took the Balkans, Croatia and some pieces of Hungary.

THE AGE OF THE AZTECAH BEGINS​

Tomorrow I'll upload some additionaly screenshots showing the state of this poor world.

 

[ThetrueColt]

Oh I'm sorry, I can't hear you over the sound of screams of the sacrificed to the Flayed God.

I will quote this for several reasons in a certain AAR I happen to know...

Great job on the campaign!

 

[TheAnguishedOne]

One of the most difficult achievements... and you made it look easy. Well done, CzokletMuss. I look forward to seeing how the rest of the world did against the mighty Aztecs.

 

[Blogman66]

Gotta love those 200k rebels in Sicily in this last screenshot.