Vij into Bharat Questions

[Kenny Kangaroo]

1. Where should I move my capital? The default Vij capital is drylands which is no bueno for the capital for a (eventually) united India

2. I'm assuming Bengal is the best place for my trade capital. Three feeding in and one or two feeing out iirc. Indochina and Indonesia are going to be conquered at some point anyways

3. Which idea groups should I go for? I'm going to do exploration at some point to colonise. I'm assuming quality or offensive for a starter.

4. How do I deal with institutions being so far away?

 

[Badesumofu]

1. Where should I move my capital? The default Vij capital is drylands which is no bueno for the capital for a (eventually) united India

2. I'm assuming Bengal is the best place for my trade capital. Three feeding in and one or two feeing out iirc. Indochina and Indonesia are going to be conquered at some point anyways

3. Which idea groups should I go for? I'm going to do exploration at some point to colonise. I'm assuming quality or offensive for a starter.

4. How do I deal with institutions being so far away?

I did this run a while back for Sun Never Sets on the Indian Empire and I enjoyed it a great deal.

1. I don't think I moved mine. May I ask why you want to move yours? Depending on how you want to approach the run you might well be best served moving it to Oceania in order to be eligible to form Trade Companies in India.

2. I'd say not. Bengal is upstream of most of India. Zanazibar is probably best long-term. Aim to colonize Cape before the Euros get there. If you have total control of Cape node which is very doable it turns Zanzibar into a pseudo-end node. All your Indian trade value will flow into Zanzibar naturally, too. Just need to get the CoTs in Aden. I will also note that conquering East may prove difficult due to Ming. Indochina and Indonesia tend to become full of Tributaries. You also won't be able to make Trade Companies there until you move capital. Going East will be much easier, will allow you to secure Zanzibar and Cape and make African Trade Companies.

3. Depends how confident you are in your ability to win militarily. Offensive would be a good first group if you want a mil group. You'll definitely want Exploration. Colonise Cape. Make temporary colonies on small islands to give fabricating range where you need it. You should also get some missions that will grant claims. Admin is great and will stack nicely with deity bonus and all the perma-claims to give you 60 effective CCR on all Indian clay once you form it. Influence if you want to use vassals but that may not be needed. Depends how you plan to play, really. I'd definitely advise Exploration and Admin. Offensive would be a great help to you if you want the military boost. It really all depends on your ultimate goals for the run and level of experience with the game. Humanist is fantastic as well. You'll very likely want that in the first 4 groups.

4. You can develop for Renaissance, plenty of good spots in India for that. Colonialism - well you can try to spawn it yourself but that's probably a no go from India. Someone who has tried it can chime in here. PP you will also want to develop most likely. The other three are easy to get normally. Prosperous State with edict plus farmlands/CoT/capital mean you can spawn an institution for around 1600 MP. You may even want to get Economic ideas for another 20% plus easier money. I wouldn't generally recommend them over the likes of Humanist and Admin. Turn off idea group limits at the set up. Maybe you can get all 3.

 

[balmung60]

The capital should stay where it is - after all, what better capital for a mighty empire than the City of Victory? Develop it until it surpasses Beijing, Paris, and Nanjing. Move your primary trade port to Zanzibar once you take control of the whole Cape node, but there is no gameplay need or compelling RP reason for the Vijayanagara Empire to not have its capital at Vijayanagar.

Besides, drylands is still a pretty good terrain type, and only farmlands and plains are better for developing.

 

[TenshiN]

1) Why? Vijayanagar is a decent capital spot and a generally good area for developing your future institutions.

2) Zanzibar, like people explained above, or Indus if you think you struggle with getting enough merchants/dont want to pick Trade

3) Quantity. Vijay has enough quality bonuses in its ideas, so getting more men for throwing into your endless wars is highly useful. Offensive or Defensive as a second mil. group. I prefer Offensive. Quality is not that good, actually.

4) Uhm... Just develop them after they appear? Pick a province for developing (your capital is good for that), develop it until the required institution appears there, embrace if you have enough money. For subsequent institutions, pick a province neighbouring the province you developed for the previous one. That way, once you develop the institutions in one of them, it quickly spread to the other one, since it is high-development, and institutions spread quickly between high-dev provinces.

 

[TenshiN]

Besides, drylands is still a pretty good terrain type, and only farmlands and plains are better for developing.

Actually, devcost-wise, Grasslands are better than Drylands, as it doesn't get the +5% devcost penalty that the Drylands get

 

[balmung60]

Actually, devcost-wise, Grasslands are better than Drylands, as it doesn't get the +5% devcost penalty that the Drylands get

That was kind of the point - it's a very small penalty and only two terrain types are (very slightly) better.

 

[Brynjar]

The issue with developing VIjyanagar isn't the terrain type, but the goods it produces. Grain is just so bad when you got cotton, gems, cloth, silk, spices, dyes, paper, sugar, coffee and iron nearby. If the point is to get the develpoment cost as low as possible, you should go for a cloth producing province. Raichur Doab produces cloth, and is farmlands as a bonus.

 

[Kenny Kangaroo]

Thanks for all the replies. I should've stated that i'm already about 20 years into my game. I have most of southern India under my control, missing only Mysore. Going west was an idea I toyed with due to the Gujarat ideas memtioning an exodus there so it fits my RP. One last question, though not specific to Vij, but what's the best way to deal with estates? I had the plutocratic coup disaster happen which sorta fucked things up for a hot minute. I can keep estates happy but I don't know how to keep influence down.

 

[Dominion]

1. Where should I move my capital? The default Vij capital is drylands which is no bueno for the capital for a (eventually) united India

2. I'm assuming Bengal is the best place for my trade capital. Three feeding in and one or two feeing out iirc. Indochina and Indonesia are going to be conquered at some point anyways

3. Which idea groups should I go for? I'm going to do exploration at some point to colonise. I'm assuming quality or offensive for a starter.

4. How do I deal with institutions being so far away?

I like your questions, I really do.
What's missing is your goal.

What'cha wanna do? If your only goal is to form Bharat you can play on Speed5. Barely anything is required to get it.
Learn AE managment and you're done. Your questions are way too detailed if your only goal is to click the decision to form Bharat.

As for #3 and #4, idea groups can be chosen at will as long as you avoid any group amongst 'six dead ends' and institutions get popped by developing a cloth grasslands province.
Not sure if moving your capital pays off, but feel free to take a quick look at it and calc it out.
Sidenote: Exploration as Bharat is RP

For everything else: Basics suffice.

 

[YuriiH]

A. Vij is very big and already strong at start.
B. Forming Bharat gives you a discount on other provinces.
C. You DO NOT form Bharat in line with your first idea group (well, you actually can, but need to jump out of your pants)
D. A+B+C ==>> you major military action starts AFTER forming Bharat, because you simply don't want to waste Admin points, do you?
E. Administrative Idea lvl 2 stacks with your discount from forming Bharat.
F. E+D ==>> you can fill Adm. Idea lvl 2 to have a discount on forming Bharat, and bigger discount thereafter; but no more, because you need next idea group.
G. When you form Bharat you are big enough to kill all your neighbours.
H. G ==>> Why do you even need military idea?
J. H ==>> Exploration and early colonisation of Cape is explained above; as well as moving your capital to Oceania.
K. A+B+C+D+E+F+G+H+J ==> Admin Tech 5 ==> Adm. Idea 2 ==>> Form Bharat ==>> Admin Tech 7 ==>> Dip Tech 7 ==>> Coloniz. Idea 3 ==>> WIN.

Sidenote: Exploration as Bharat is RP

Is an easier achievement (Sun Never Sets…)

 

[Dominion]

Is an easier achievement (Sun Never Sets…)

Isn't there a nation in India with a semi-WC achievement?

I faintly remember picking up Sun never Sets as part of a set where I was forced to blob out massively.
May be mistaken, could be that I waited for Imperialism to take it.

You very well may be right. Point taken.

 

[PhoenixG]

Thanks for all the replies. I should've stated that i'm already about 20 years into my game. I have most of southern India under my control, missing only Mysore. Going west was an idea I toyed with due to the Gujarat ideas memtioning an exodus there so it fits my RP. One last question, though not specific to Vij, but what's the best way to deal with estates? I had the plutocratic coup disaster happen which sorta fucked things up for a hot minute. I can keep estates happy but I don't know how to keep influence down.

for me the main thing is removing the estate from the provinces is the best way to keep the influence in balance. First you give them the bare minimum to keep them happy and give them an extra 5% land for buffer. Take all the things you need from the estates and remove the province to stay below 70% to avoid the bad events. Also when removing stay above 40 loyalty if possible.

Although when you're small or you play a country with high minimum base, be prepared to piss off your estates

 

[Badesumofu]

As mentioned above, Exploration is great for Sun Never Sets and also rushing Cape. Making Kannada cultured Canada is pure RP but totally worth it.

But indeed it depends so much on goals which is why my post was full of goal-contingent advice.