The first thing to do is to be clear who my friends and enemies are. I choose Portugal, Castile and Algiers as my rivals, with the last being labelled as my enemy by the game already. On the other hand I have brokered an alliance with Granada and after just few days into the game I received an offer from Tunisia as well, which I gladly accepted as they might prove useful against Algiers.
On the Iberian peninsula there lies three powerful kingdoms, but only two of them are of immediate concern to me. Portugal owns Ceuta, which should obviously belong to Morocco, but poses no direct threat at this point, whereas Castile is both powerful and has its eyes set on Granada and will DOW them at any moment. That in mind I will be concentrating my efforts against Castile at this point.
Then there's Aragon. I don't share a border with them and neither are they too keen to attack me or my allies at this point, while at the same time we have a common enemy - Castile. This might prove to be fertile ground for a future alliance, and I send my diplomat to improve our relations.
First and foremost I must now concentrate on building an army though. I have quite a low income - just over 5 ducats a month, which is comparable to that of
Georgia. Considering the fact that it is essential for me to recruit and rely on cavalry at this point, since superior numbers are an unrealistic goal, it is going to be a lengthy and costly venture and I hope I will be able to pull it off before Castile goes after Granada. I also begin hauling my troops to Iberia in preparation for the future. I'm quite confident that Aragon won't dare to attack me unless I am beaten down already by someone else, and can safely leave my home unguarded.
Barely a month into the game I receive some good news.
A heir! And what a heir! Well, he's no Frederick, but I sure am happy about those stats.
As I was speaking of income earlier on, lets take a closer look at that.
This was actually taken a few years into the game but it is basically same as at the beginning, apart from having more costly army after my recruitment spree was finished. As you can see Morocco is a poor poor country despite its size, and the inflation is rocketing thanks to my gold mines. Finding new and more reliable sources of income is crucial for Morocco's future survival as the current situation is far from sustainable.
Trade could be a viable option, especially since I am close to Sevilla trade node which is bound to become very rich very soon once colonialism kicks off. I am also sitting on Safi trade node, which is dirt poor and can be ignored at this point, but might become more prosperous once somebody gets trade going from around the Cape. Right now my merchants will concentrate on collecting income from Seville and transferring trade from Tunis.
About a year into the game I hire another advisor, Yusuf the natural scientist, who provides me with -10% admin tech cost which will come in handy since I want to reach and pick the first idea group before it is time to bid farewell to Morocco.
Elsewhere in the world the Ottomans annex Albania and move on to harassing poor Dulkadir. Right after an Ottoman army begins besieging their only province, Aq Qoyunlu (AQ) thinks it would be a brilliant idea to DOW them as well... Their neighbour and Shiite namesake Qara Qoyunlu (QQ) on the other hand has Georgia on their mind, which is soon flooded by angry nomads.
My attempt to forge an alliance with Aragon is proceeding rather well. They still view me as a baggage and a burden, but I hope that a near-200 relation and my future army will convince them otherwise.
I also get to give to the poor. At this point I am trying to achieve as high a piousness as possible, as it grants me extra morale for armies, extra missionary strength and a nice bonus to fort defense which will all come handy in the un-reconquista. Impiety on the other hand would grant me extra manpower, extra taxes and a neat 10% tech boost, which is where I would lead Morocco after establishing myself in Iberia but I doubt I will have the time for it.
Meanwhile the Timurids go to war with their Azeri neighbours, the Pope annexes Urbino and the Ottomans move on from Dulkadir to Candahar. It is essential that I keep a close eye on what's going on elsewhere in the world and also to keep you informed since all of these events will influence what nation I should play next. Morocco is in a perfect position for this since I am able to see nearly all of Europe, the Middle East as well as all the way down to Swahili and South-East Asia, including a full view of things on the Indian peninsula.
On 1st of January 1448 I am finally done with my recruitments, with my whole army based in Gibraltar. I was aiming to have an army of 20 000 men but it would have become way too costly as I am already way over my land forcelimits. The current stack consists of 10 000 infantry and 7000 cavalry and right now I will start saving money for a nice war chest from which I can recruit mercenaries to patch up the numbers as soon as we are hit by the inevitable war.
It seems that Ayutthaya is doing just fine without me in the East, while Georgia is forced to cede Circassia to QQ, who immediately ends up being DOW'd by AQ, hoping to do some cherry-picking while the Timurids are grinding down the armies of QQ. Back in Europe the HRE is engulfed in the usual petty wars, and Scotland suddenly declares war on England while they are busy losing the Hundred Years' War.
Obviously I will pick the pious option again. It also gives me a nice prestige boost, bringing me up on the positive side.
My current piety has reached a neat 90%, with the bonuses stacking up nicely. That +0.90% to army morale will hopefully tip the balance in my favour in future wars, not to mention the extra missionary strength which I will desperately need if I am to convert all the rich Iberian provinces in the future.
Poor QQ has had it for good, I am sure of it. I wonder whether there'll be anything left of them after this rampage. Even the Mamluks joined in on the fun on the side of their Timurid allies.
A bit further south we have Ethiopia struggling to overcome Adal, while Yemen is being hammered down by Hedjaz and Oman.
But let's get back to Morocco. I am sorry that there's been an unfortunate lack of action from my side, but now it is time to get on with our business with Castile.
Why of course Andalucía should be Moroccan! We might not be the Almohads, but I'm sure we can still lay a proper claim to Al-Andalus. Still, it seems that Castile won't be idly waiting for me to attack.