At the likely risk that this guide will be quite obsolete when the 1.23 patch remakes Persia, I thought I would jot down some ideas for anyone attempting this really challenging and fun achievement. The early game decisions are most important, and so that will be the focus below. Comments/questions welcome, of course! I might add it to the achievement wiki if people think it’s worthwhile, since there is currently no guide for Third Way.
Overview
The Third Way achievement calls for the player to start as a country following the Ibadi version of Islam and ensure the Sunni and Shia faiths are wiped out. There are very few options for starting Ibadi countries, and Oman is the strongest. (Sorry folks, you will have to look elsewhere for that Pate Third Way guide!)
While Oman may be best positioned to get the achievement, do not take that to mean we start in a strong position! Quite the contrary: We are a dirt poor country with very few useful bonuses, enemies everywhere, and virtually no friends. We will need to take down almost the entire Muslim world. The
Ottomans are near enough to be a threat, yet too far away to attempt an early game Otto-knockout gambit by befriending his enemies. Our overall position is what we call “weak as hell.”
We do have some bonuses that will help with trade and navy, and we will attempt to maximize them, but as you will see, the achievement requires us to mostly play Oman in a very non-synergistic way. With the exception of land captured and converted by Christians and others, we will need to capture and convert every Muslim province in the game.
Let’s get started!
Before unpausing
· Diplomacy: Rival Yemen, Najd and Hormuz, then immediately embargo all three. They are our first targets. Choose the mission to take Hormuz. You typically will have the option of allying Hassa with a little relations improvement, but the gain is minimal. They will generally join wars for land, but we don’t really want them sieging anything for themselves. Not unreasonable in certain situations though, like if Yemen and Najd ally. Your diplomats should be fabricating in Najd and Yemen, with the third available for an early war dec.
· Trade: Set your merchants to steer from Aden and collect in Hormuz. Later, when you have decent control of Hormuz, you can steer from Indus as well. Tell your light ships to patrol trade in Hormuz.
· Military: Build a cavalry in Qawasim, and one infantry each in Suhar and Nizwa. Group everyone (including your starting six units) in Qawasim. Position your transports where they can quickly block the Straits of Hormuz. Mothball (but don’t delete!) your fort in Masqat.
· Estates: Personally, I like to live very dangerously with estates and min-max the hell out of them. Very possible to get inconvenient events playing this way, but hey, you were forewarned. That said, definitely take a free general from the Amirs (pray for shock pips!), then call the diet, then take that sweet 150 mil points. Hold off on the Ulema until you can give them more influence. Their time will come. Ideally, wait on taking money from the Merchants until you can give them Hormuz and more influence.
· Court: I recommend focusing Military for a little while in an effort to beat your neighbors to mil tech 4 and 5. I would hold off on hiring any advisors until you rob Hormuz, but plan on both a level 1 admin advisor (theologian or inquisitor are ideal) and a level 1 military advisor (morale, discipline or manpower) as soon as you can.
First Blood: Destination Hormuz!
· On Feb 1, put your trade ships and your transports in the Straits of Hormuz. All army should be in Qawasim.
· Target date to war dec Hormuz is Mar 1. Wipe out their tiny navy, then march across the strait before they get a morale tick and stack-wipe their army. If your general has no siege pips, remove him from the siege. Once the province is fully looted, pull out all but 4 infantry. Manpower will be a problem for a long time and we want to min-max attrition, especially in the early game. You can also save money by reducing morale as soon as the battle ends. Put your trade ships back on patrol.
· With the siege over, take Hormuz and all their money, completing your mission. Core Hormuz and choose the mission to convert it to Ibadi. Note that we got 25 piety for attacking Hormuz since they are a different religion. Given our game-long need for missionary strength, we generally want to take the pious decision in nearly every case, and since basically every war will give us 25, it won’t be hard to stay at or near 100.
· I recommend using the 70-90 ducat windfall to hire an admin and mil advisor, and recruit 2 or 3 galleys.
Second War Options: Najd or Yemen?
· An important note on early diplomacy and a possible reason to restart: At this point, you should know who Najd and Yemen have allied. Sometimes they remain friendless (great), sometimes they ally other weak powers (probably fine), sometimes they ally each other (risky, but potentially good), and sometimes Najd allies Mamluks and no one else. If the latter happens, you may want to consider a restart at this point. An opportunity will likely present itself eventually (Mamluks war QQ and get bogged down, unwilling to honor alliance with Najd?), but you also may wait far too long for that opportunity with few other expansion options after Yemen. You are on the clock here and cannot afford long periods without expansion. However, if Najd allies Mamluks and someone else (like Shammar or Yemen), you can attack their ally, even with no CB if necessary. In my winning run, Najd and Yemen allied each other.
· By now you should have one claim each on Najd and Yemen. In the case of Yemen, you only need one, but keep building the spy network for siege value. For Najd, fabricate all you can until war breaks out, then keep building for siege value. The goals at this point are to take all of Najd and vassalize Yemen. It may seem tempting to conquer Yemen for their relatively developed land and the Aden trade province, but you won’t reliably be able to convert much of the land and it will produce revolts that will drain your manpower unacceptably. Better to make them a rebellious vassal! They will come to appreciate your benevolent overlordship in time...
· Assuming Najd is not in a solo alliance with Mamluks, the options are now as follows: 1) Najd has no allies. Attack them and take all their land. Core and convert ASAP, handing out land to the Ulema occasionally to control unrest; 2) Yemen has no allies or has allied Ajuraan or some other East Africans. Attack them and vassalize; or 3) Najd and Yemen are allied to each other. Declare on one, making the other a co-belligerent. Focus on knocking out Najd first.
· Najd is pretty easy to take down. Try to stack wipe their tiny army early on, then carpet-siege. Yemen is tougher and will likely have plenty of manpower to rebuild their army. They will often attempt to siege your capital, which can occupy them for a long time if your fort is at strength. You will need your entire army to siege San’a, Yemen’s capital, and since it is in the mountains you will be vulnerable while doing so. I recommend sieging most of their land first to drain them and prevent recruitment. You can likely pick apart their fleet but beware of their heavy ship, and don’t let your fleet take naval attrition in the red sea. Unlike the vast majority of countries, sailors are a limiting factor for Oman early on and if you run out, you will stop repairing ships. If they have an ally like Ajuraan, the naval game will be much trickier, but winnable if you pay attention.
Post-Najd/Yemen Wars and Diplomacy
· With Najd inside your glorious nation and Yemen under your rule, it’s time to consider further expansion and diplomatic options.
· Rivaling countries like Timurids, QQ and Adal (or Ethiopia), should align your diplomacy properly for the medium-term. However, always rival small countries if you still have the option. Even if you don’t end up attacking them soon, you will easily outgrow them for free power projection. Always use embargoes, insults and any other means to keep PP high. You will likely be starved for monarch points for much of the game and you want that extra 3 for being over 50 PP.
· I recommend seeking a short-term alliance with Mamluks, while also keeping relations as high as possible with Ottos and trading up to an Ottoman alliance as soon as possible. Ideally, you will break alliance with the Mamluks before they are attacked by the Ottos, but if not, definitely betray them. 25 prestige is a small price to pay.
· Unless they have problematic alliances, Shammar and Hassa are easy land grabs.
· Though it may be tempting, I recommend postponing expansion into the smaller East African countries. The land is very rebellious until you can quickly and reliably convert it.
· QQ presents a much more inviting target for several reasons. 1) Ottos and Mamluks hate them, and regularly attack them, creating opportunities, but also necessitating speed on your part so they don’t grab all the good land before you; 2) their land is full of constant rebellion, weakening them; and 3) it has a few key provinces that you really need for this strat to work.
Conquering QQ and Creating Your Next Vassals
· Apart from the Mamluk/Najd alliance, not seizing certain land from QQ in time is probably the most likely run-killer in this strat. Your goal during this phase of expansion is to get as much land as possible while also 1) preventing a direct border with Ottomans, avoiding an extra -20 relations for neighboring heretics; 2) not taking land that Ottos consider vital interest (at least not while they have militarist rulers); and 3) taking specific provinces you can release to form your next two vassals – Persia and Syria.
· Iraq’s cores may be tempting to release as a vassal, but resist the urge. This land will be helpful once autonomy comes down and you need to be able to fabricate along its borders.
· Instead, focus on seizing Ilam (Persian core) and Rahba (Syrian core). In my experience with 1.22, Persian rebels are extremely active in Timurid land and will sometimes force their release very early on. Release Ilam as your Persian vassal at the earliest opportunity to avoid missing your chance. Your vassal will now grow for free as Persian rebels devastate the Timurids. This will of course make them super rebellious! Don’t worry. In the long run they will be a loyal vassal, even if you have to crush a rebellion or two. Ideally, Ottomans are your ally by then and can help crush them.
· Your other target vassal is Syria. Rahba may be in the hands of the Mamluks by the time you can get to it, but that’s OK. Take QQ land in a direct line for Rahba if necessary. Getting to those Syrian cores is more important. This will allow you to take this valuable Levant land from the Mamluks and avoid major confrontation with the Ottos over it.
The Mid-Game: The Ottoman Alliance and your Inevitable Betrayal
· The centerpiece of your mid-game diplomatic strategy is an alliance with the now-mighty Ottoman Empire. Once you betray the Mamluks and rival them, the Ottos usually get real friendly. However, managing this alliance while expanding into Syria and QQ can be very tricky!
· Keep relations improved to 100 at all times. Avoid a direct border at all times. Join any war they ask you to and siege stuff to maximize favors. If they attack Mamluks or QQ, rush in to siege everything you can so the Ottos can’t take it. If they attack Mamluks or QQ without calling you, declare your own war and do the same! Set any land as vital interest that they don’t claim, and avoid conflicting vital interests especially when Ottos are ruled by militarists. Watch their vital interests and missions like a hawk, and spend favors on building trust whenever necessary. It can sometimes salvage the alliance when Ottos threaten to break it. Preserve this alliance pretty much as long as possible! You have lots of other expansion opportunities…
· Mid-game expansion: The Mamluks will likely be diplomatically isolated at this point, with Ethiopian enemies to the south and the Ottos to the north. Their wars should generate opportunities to grab their land. If the Ottos are in the war (either called in on your favors or otherwise), rush to siege the land they want for themselves. Feed Syria its cores and take the rest for yourself. Mecca and Jerusalem will give you much-needed missionaries and prestige.
· Indian adventures: Western India is likely ripe for the plucking as you gain strength. The land is really valuable and contains lots of up-stream trade provinces. Moreover, many Indian nations have Muslim national religion while ruling Hindu land. Mostly, they don’t convert because of high tolerance, but there will always be some land that becomes Sunni or Shia, which you will need to take sooner or later anyway.
Idea Groups
At this point, it’s worth discussing idea groups and my reasoning for taking the ones I did. The circumstances of the achievement we are after force some counterintuitive choices that I would never make if playing a standard game.
· Idea 1 – Religious: I absolutely hate taking an admin idea first, when you are most desperate for those precious admin points to core new lands. However, this is an achievement about conversion after all, and these ideas will pay dividends throughout. You don’t want to be stuck in 1810 with 200 provinces still to convert. By this point I had switched to focus admin points and kept it there almost the rest of the game. Religious ideas were greatly diminished by moving Deus Vult to the end, but still a stellar idea group.
· Idea 2 – Influence: As is now likely apparent, I used vassals a great deal in this run. This group has plenty to help manage them, as well as reduce AE impact.
· Idea 3 – Defensive: By your third idea, you will be starving for any kind of military bonus to improve your army, which seems to be made of tissue paper. There are a lot of attractive options here. I chose defensive because 1) you get the big morale boost early and can wait on others, and 2) the attrition ideas are helpful for fighting in your garbage desert land. I could see going Offensive or Quality as well, but at the time I was strapped for mil points and wanted something that gave good bonuses early.
· Idea 4 – Exploration: A lot of these ideas are kind of useless, but you need at least one colonist to get a few provinces that are Sunni even when uncolonized, and to get a base in the Spice Islands from which to eventually conquer the wealthy Muslim land there. I had wanted to use Expansion ideas, but I was too starved for admin points at the time to justify it.
· Idea 5 – Aristocratic: I tend to think aristocratic ideas are under-rated generally, and worked particularly well here, even if they don’t actually improve your army much. Cavalry bonuses, manpower bonuses, autonomy reduction, extra diplomat, mil tech cost, leader siege? Yes, please!
· Idea 6 – Administrative: I only opened the first two, for reduced coring cost
· Idea 7 – Trade: I’m sure many people will be tempted to take this earlier, as you spend much of the game unable to fully take advantage of Oman’s trade bonuses and the wealth of the East, but there are just more important options until slot 7. That said, the money is still very useful, even in the late-game, allowing level 3 advisors at all times.
· Idea 8 – Offensive: A great idea group in almost any circumstance, but I only opened a few of them by the end (1810). Quality would be fine as well, maybe even preferable in hindsight.
Later Mid-Game and Beyond: Deus Vult!
· When the time comes, betray the Ottomans and begin the arduous process of taking them apart piece by piece. If you’ve followed the strat laid out above, then you have largely contained the Ottos’ southern and eastern expansion. They still likely have gained in Europe and have frighteningly huge armies, but hopefully you are now strong enough to give them a good fight. Look for anti-Otto allies in Russia, Austria (if Emperor), and Poland (best if they have Lithuania in PU). Attack when they are in a major fight on another front. Ignore the Mediterranean naval situation until you have significantly reduced the Ottos’ strength.
· Once you have Constantinople and the means to dominate its trade node, move your trade port here and re-order your merchants to steer everything here.
· Integrate Yemen as soon as possible and do the same with Syria once they have all their cores. I recommend creating a Somali vassal in E. Africa that can absorb that land easily. Persia is likely still quite rebellious at this point, but integrate them in the late game when they have all their cores.
· Most of N. Africa is probably best left to the later game when you have the admin efficiency to make the coring costs reasonable, but don’t delay too much. At the very least, you need avenues into the large swathes of Muslim land in W. Africa.
· You may want to ally one of the stronger players in India until you can conquer the rest of the neighborhood.
· Ming can present a significant challenge, as they tend to turn all of the steppe countries into tributaries. I was able to call the Ottos (and later the Russians and Delhi) into several wars with them. It’s really helpful to have some allied cannon fodder to absorb some of the bottomless armies Ming will field (and to hobble your allies as well, of course). Focus on getting a border with Ming as soon as possible to cripple their Mandate. (I learned the hard way that this is the key to wrecking Ming. I haven’t played much since Mandate of Heaven came out and so I probably could have sped up my time on this run a lot had I figured that out sooner.)
· Non-Muslim countries with religious ideas will generally convert Muslim land reliably. I let Russia have some steppe land for example, knowing that Sunni provinces becoming Orthodox was just as good as making them Ibadi for my purposes. Countries with Humanist ideas on the other hand…
· There are a few countries (namely Ottos and Delhi) that are Muslim but tolerate other religions. They mostly don’t convert but occasionally they do, either intentionally or via event. This can create the need for some awkward wars, but even more importantly, it gives provinces a -100% missionary strength for religious zeal, which last for 20 years. That’s fine early on, just be sure you don’t get caught in the end-game with land that is impossible to convert on time.
· And that’s basically it! Conquer, core, convert, until Sunni and Shia are in the dustbin of history. Good luck!
Overview
The Third Way achievement calls for the player to start as a country following the Ibadi version of Islam and ensure the Sunni and Shia faiths are wiped out. There are very few options for starting Ibadi countries, and Oman is the strongest. (Sorry folks, you will have to look elsewhere for that Pate Third Way guide!)
While Oman may be best positioned to get the achievement, do not take that to mean we start in a strong position! Quite the contrary: We are a dirt poor country with very few useful bonuses, enemies everywhere, and virtually no friends. We will need to take down almost the entire Muslim world. The
Ottomans are near enough to be a threat, yet too far away to attempt an early game Otto-knockout gambit by befriending his enemies. Our overall position is what we call “weak as hell.”
We do have some bonuses that will help with trade and navy, and we will attempt to maximize them, but as you will see, the achievement requires us to mostly play Oman in a very non-synergistic way. With the exception of land captured and converted by Christians and others, we will need to capture and convert every Muslim province in the game.
Let’s get started!
Before unpausing
· Diplomacy: Rival Yemen, Najd and Hormuz, then immediately embargo all three. They are our first targets. Choose the mission to take Hormuz. You typically will have the option of allying Hassa with a little relations improvement, but the gain is minimal. They will generally join wars for land, but we don’t really want them sieging anything for themselves. Not unreasonable in certain situations though, like if Yemen and Najd ally. Your diplomats should be fabricating in Najd and Yemen, with the third available for an early war dec.
· Trade: Set your merchants to steer from Aden and collect in Hormuz. Later, when you have decent control of Hormuz, you can steer from Indus as well. Tell your light ships to patrol trade in Hormuz.
· Military: Build a cavalry in Qawasim, and one infantry each in Suhar and Nizwa. Group everyone (including your starting six units) in Qawasim. Position your transports where they can quickly block the Straits of Hormuz. Mothball (but don’t delete!) your fort in Masqat.
· Estates: Personally, I like to live very dangerously with estates and min-max the hell out of them. Very possible to get inconvenient events playing this way, but hey, you were forewarned. That said, definitely take a free general from the Amirs (pray for shock pips!), then call the diet, then take that sweet 150 mil points. Hold off on the Ulema until you can give them more influence. Their time will come. Ideally, wait on taking money from the Merchants until you can give them Hormuz and more influence.
· Court: I recommend focusing Military for a little while in an effort to beat your neighbors to mil tech 4 and 5. I would hold off on hiring any advisors until you rob Hormuz, but plan on both a level 1 admin advisor (theologian or inquisitor are ideal) and a level 1 military advisor (morale, discipline or manpower) as soon as you can.
First Blood: Destination Hormuz!
· On Feb 1, put your trade ships and your transports in the Straits of Hormuz. All army should be in Qawasim.
· Target date to war dec Hormuz is Mar 1. Wipe out their tiny navy, then march across the strait before they get a morale tick and stack-wipe their army. If your general has no siege pips, remove him from the siege. Once the province is fully looted, pull out all but 4 infantry. Manpower will be a problem for a long time and we want to min-max attrition, especially in the early game. You can also save money by reducing morale as soon as the battle ends. Put your trade ships back on patrol.
· With the siege over, take Hormuz and all their money, completing your mission. Core Hormuz and choose the mission to convert it to Ibadi. Note that we got 25 piety for attacking Hormuz since they are a different religion. Given our game-long need for missionary strength, we generally want to take the pious decision in nearly every case, and since basically every war will give us 25, it won’t be hard to stay at or near 100.
· I recommend using the 70-90 ducat windfall to hire an admin and mil advisor, and recruit 2 or 3 galleys.
Second War Options: Najd or Yemen?
· An important note on early diplomacy and a possible reason to restart: At this point, you should know who Najd and Yemen have allied. Sometimes they remain friendless (great), sometimes they ally other weak powers (probably fine), sometimes they ally each other (risky, but potentially good), and sometimes Najd allies Mamluks and no one else. If the latter happens, you may want to consider a restart at this point. An opportunity will likely present itself eventually (Mamluks war QQ and get bogged down, unwilling to honor alliance with Najd?), but you also may wait far too long for that opportunity with few other expansion options after Yemen. You are on the clock here and cannot afford long periods without expansion. However, if Najd allies Mamluks and someone else (like Shammar or Yemen), you can attack their ally, even with no CB if necessary. In my winning run, Najd and Yemen allied each other.
· By now you should have one claim each on Najd and Yemen. In the case of Yemen, you only need one, but keep building the spy network for siege value. For Najd, fabricate all you can until war breaks out, then keep building for siege value. The goals at this point are to take all of Najd and vassalize Yemen. It may seem tempting to conquer Yemen for their relatively developed land and the Aden trade province, but you won’t reliably be able to convert much of the land and it will produce revolts that will drain your manpower unacceptably. Better to make them a rebellious vassal! They will come to appreciate your benevolent overlordship in time...
· Assuming Najd is not in a solo alliance with Mamluks, the options are now as follows: 1) Najd has no allies. Attack them and take all their land. Core and convert ASAP, handing out land to the Ulema occasionally to control unrest; 2) Yemen has no allies or has allied Ajuraan or some other East Africans. Attack them and vassalize; or 3) Najd and Yemen are allied to each other. Declare on one, making the other a co-belligerent. Focus on knocking out Najd first.
· Najd is pretty easy to take down. Try to stack wipe their tiny army early on, then carpet-siege. Yemen is tougher and will likely have plenty of manpower to rebuild their army. They will often attempt to siege your capital, which can occupy them for a long time if your fort is at strength. You will need your entire army to siege San’a, Yemen’s capital, and since it is in the mountains you will be vulnerable while doing so. I recommend sieging most of their land first to drain them and prevent recruitment. You can likely pick apart their fleet but beware of their heavy ship, and don’t let your fleet take naval attrition in the red sea. Unlike the vast majority of countries, sailors are a limiting factor for Oman early on and if you run out, you will stop repairing ships. If they have an ally like Ajuraan, the naval game will be much trickier, but winnable if you pay attention.
Post-Najd/Yemen Wars and Diplomacy
· With Najd inside your glorious nation and Yemen under your rule, it’s time to consider further expansion and diplomatic options.
· Rivaling countries like Timurids, QQ and Adal (or Ethiopia), should align your diplomacy properly for the medium-term. However, always rival small countries if you still have the option. Even if you don’t end up attacking them soon, you will easily outgrow them for free power projection. Always use embargoes, insults and any other means to keep PP high. You will likely be starved for monarch points for much of the game and you want that extra 3 for being over 50 PP.
· I recommend seeking a short-term alliance with Mamluks, while also keeping relations as high as possible with Ottos and trading up to an Ottoman alliance as soon as possible. Ideally, you will break alliance with the Mamluks before they are attacked by the Ottos, but if not, definitely betray them. 25 prestige is a small price to pay.
· Unless they have problematic alliances, Shammar and Hassa are easy land grabs.
· Though it may be tempting, I recommend postponing expansion into the smaller East African countries. The land is very rebellious until you can quickly and reliably convert it.
· QQ presents a much more inviting target for several reasons. 1) Ottos and Mamluks hate them, and regularly attack them, creating opportunities, but also necessitating speed on your part so they don’t grab all the good land before you; 2) their land is full of constant rebellion, weakening them; and 3) it has a few key provinces that you really need for this strat to work.
Conquering QQ and Creating Your Next Vassals
· Apart from the Mamluk/Najd alliance, not seizing certain land from QQ in time is probably the most likely run-killer in this strat. Your goal during this phase of expansion is to get as much land as possible while also 1) preventing a direct border with Ottomans, avoiding an extra -20 relations for neighboring heretics; 2) not taking land that Ottos consider vital interest (at least not while they have militarist rulers); and 3) taking specific provinces you can release to form your next two vassals – Persia and Syria.
· Iraq’s cores may be tempting to release as a vassal, but resist the urge. This land will be helpful once autonomy comes down and you need to be able to fabricate along its borders.
· Instead, focus on seizing Ilam (Persian core) and Rahba (Syrian core). In my experience with 1.22, Persian rebels are extremely active in Timurid land and will sometimes force their release very early on. Release Ilam as your Persian vassal at the earliest opportunity to avoid missing your chance. Your vassal will now grow for free as Persian rebels devastate the Timurids. This will of course make them super rebellious! Don’t worry. In the long run they will be a loyal vassal, even if you have to crush a rebellion or two. Ideally, Ottomans are your ally by then and can help crush them.
· Your other target vassal is Syria. Rahba may be in the hands of the Mamluks by the time you can get to it, but that’s OK. Take QQ land in a direct line for Rahba if necessary. Getting to those Syrian cores is more important. This will allow you to take this valuable Levant land from the Mamluks and avoid major confrontation with the Ottos over it.
The Mid-Game: The Ottoman Alliance and your Inevitable Betrayal
· The centerpiece of your mid-game diplomatic strategy is an alliance with the now-mighty Ottoman Empire. Once you betray the Mamluks and rival them, the Ottos usually get real friendly. However, managing this alliance while expanding into Syria and QQ can be very tricky!
· Keep relations improved to 100 at all times. Avoid a direct border at all times. Join any war they ask you to and siege stuff to maximize favors. If they attack Mamluks or QQ, rush in to siege everything you can so the Ottos can’t take it. If they attack Mamluks or QQ without calling you, declare your own war and do the same! Set any land as vital interest that they don’t claim, and avoid conflicting vital interests especially when Ottos are ruled by militarists. Watch their vital interests and missions like a hawk, and spend favors on building trust whenever necessary. It can sometimes salvage the alliance when Ottos threaten to break it. Preserve this alliance pretty much as long as possible! You have lots of other expansion opportunities…
· Mid-game expansion: The Mamluks will likely be diplomatically isolated at this point, with Ethiopian enemies to the south and the Ottos to the north. Their wars should generate opportunities to grab their land. If the Ottos are in the war (either called in on your favors or otherwise), rush to siege the land they want for themselves. Feed Syria its cores and take the rest for yourself. Mecca and Jerusalem will give you much-needed missionaries and prestige.
· Indian adventures: Western India is likely ripe for the plucking as you gain strength. The land is really valuable and contains lots of up-stream trade provinces. Moreover, many Indian nations have Muslim national religion while ruling Hindu land. Mostly, they don’t convert because of high tolerance, but there will always be some land that becomes Sunni or Shia, which you will need to take sooner or later anyway.
Idea Groups
At this point, it’s worth discussing idea groups and my reasoning for taking the ones I did. The circumstances of the achievement we are after force some counterintuitive choices that I would never make if playing a standard game.
· Idea 1 – Religious: I absolutely hate taking an admin idea first, when you are most desperate for those precious admin points to core new lands. However, this is an achievement about conversion after all, and these ideas will pay dividends throughout. You don’t want to be stuck in 1810 with 200 provinces still to convert. By this point I had switched to focus admin points and kept it there almost the rest of the game. Religious ideas were greatly diminished by moving Deus Vult to the end, but still a stellar idea group.
· Idea 2 – Influence: As is now likely apparent, I used vassals a great deal in this run. This group has plenty to help manage them, as well as reduce AE impact.
· Idea 3 – Defensive: By your third idea, you will be starving for any kind of military bonus to improve your army, which seems to be made of tissue paper. There are a lot of attractive options here. I chose defensive because 1) you get the big morale boost early and can wait on others, and 2) the attrition ideas are helpful for fighting in your garbage desert land. I could see going Offensive or Quality as well, but at the time I was strapped for mil points and wanted something that gave good bonuses early.
· Idea 4 – Exploration: A lot of these ideas are kind of useless, but you need at least one colonist to get a few provinces that are Sunni even when uncolonized, and to get a base in the Spice Islands from which to eventually conquer the wealthy Muslim land there. I had wanted to use Expansion ideas, but I was too starved for admin points at the time to justify it.
· Idea 5 – Aristocratic: I tend to think aristocratic ideas are under-rated generally, and worked particularly well here, even if they don’t actually improve your army much. Cavalry bonuses, manpower bonuses, autonomy reduction, extra diplomat, mil tech cost, leader siege? Yes, please!
· Idea 6 – Administrative: I only opened the first two, for reduced coring cost
· Idea 7 – Trade: I’m sure many people will be tempted to take this earlier, as you spend much of the game unable to fully take advantage of Oman’s trade bonuses and the wealth of the East, but there are just more important options until slot 7. That said, the money is still very useful, even in the late-game, allowing level 3 advisors at all times.
· Idea 8 – Offensive: A great idea group in almost any circumstance, but I only opened a few of them by the end (1810). Quality would be fine as well, maybe even preferable in hindsight.
Later Mid-Game and Beyond: Deus Vult!
· When the time comes, betray the Ottomans and begin the arduous process of taking them apart piece by piece. If you’ve followed the strat laid out above, then you have largely contained the Ottos’ southern and eastern expansion. They still likely have gained in Europe and have frighteningly huge armies, but hopefully you are now strong enough to give them a good fight. Look for anti-Otto allies in Russia, Austria (if Emperor), and Poland (best if they have Lithuania in PU). Attack when they are in a major fight on another front. Ignore the Mediterranean naval situation until you have significantly reduced the Ottos’ strength.
· Once you have Constantinople and the means to dominate its trade node, move your trade port here and re-order your merchants to steer everything here.
· Integrate Yemen as soon as possible and do the same with Syria once they have all their cores. I recommend creating a Somali vassal in E. Africa that can absorb that land easily. Persia is likely still quite rebellious at this point, but integrate them in the late game when they have all their cores.
· Most of N. Africa is probably best left to the later game when you have the admin efficiency to make the coring costs reasonable, but don’t delay too much. At the very least, you need avenues into the large swathes of Muslim land in W. Africa.
· You may want to ally one of the stronger players in India until you can conquer the rest of the neighborhood.
· Ming can present a significant challenge, as they tend to turn all of the steppe countries into tributaries. I was able to call the Ottos (and later the Russians and Delhi) into several wars with them. It’s really helpful to have some allied cannon fodder to absorb some of the bottomless armies Ming will field (and to hobble your allies as well, of course). Focus on getting a border with Ming as soon as possible to cripple their Mandate. (I learned the hard way that this is the key to wrecking Ming. I haven’t played much since Mandate of Heaven came out and so I probably could have sped up my time on this run a lot had I figured that out sooner.)
· Non-Muslim countries with religious ideas will generally convert Muslim land reliably. I let Russia have some steppe land for example, knowing that Sunni provinces becoming Orthodox was just as good as making them Ibadi for my purposes. Countries with Humanist ideas on the other hand…
· There are a few countries (namely Ottos and Delhi) that are Muslim but tolerate other religions. They mostly don’t convert but occasionally they do, either intentionally or via event. This can create the need for some awkward wars, but even more importantly, it gives provinces a -100% missionary strength for religious zeal, which last for 20 years. That’s fine early on, just be sure you don’t get caught in the end-game with land that is impossible to convert on time.
· And that’s basically it! Conquer, core, convert, until Sunni and Shia are in the dustbin of history. Good luck!
