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Always glad to help
On being able to kill Europeans without Westernizing, watch this next update…
Yay, you listened to my reqeust
Great job. I'll be kind of sad when you finally put Ming to rest. I remember how anxious I was the first time you DOW'ed them, and it will be heartbreaking to see them go.
Heh heh, yeah will be the end of an era. I do plan to let them stick around for a while…I need someone to own all those poor provinces besides me
Poor Ming, I don't know what else I can say. From beginning of game all what they have known is endless, humiliating defeats and steady downfall of their once splendid and powerful state.
Good job
Thanks! Methinks the poor citizens of Ming are a rather depressed group these days…
yw!
You may be right. It is hard to know how much the AI cares about recovering cores, and whether that ranks above other things.
Yes! We get very close to QFTNW by the end of this next update.
AI accepts stupid peaces.
Good for you! :rofl:
They do seem much sillier in AI/AI deals than in AI/human deals.
Agreed. Cutting off expansion is sort of like a smoker trying to quit smoking
Will put in some numbers on stab recover rate in this next update for you.Looking good. The Koreans and Mongols are definitely in league... They're having cozy chats by the fire talking about how to wage silly wars and get absolutely nothing out of it.
I won't feel so sad once cores start popping on their territory.
Thanks! Maybe they have some crazy scheme to milk their people for war taxes…
Thanks, and welcome aboard!
Update – Brutally Beaten By Bihar?!?
8/1471 To start off the update, we are hanging out waiting for another war with Ming. They have signed up few more ally buddies, so odds are good I won’t have to wait until the truce is over.
1/1472 Japan DOWs Ming. A bunch of alliances are broken, most notably with Japan. Looks like an opportunity to DOW Manchu and get a war with Korea and Ming. Korea took a province I want from Ming a while ago, so this is double goodness. I start moving armies into position.
7/1472 DOW on Manchu. This brings in Ming, Korea, Mongol Khanate, and Tibet. Yes, strange as it may seem Mongol Khanate is now on the same side as Ming in a war. Wonder how those war planning sessions are going?
9/1472 8 cores gained this month! In the green circle, my stack has Korea on the run. However, Mongol Khanate defeated the small stack I had put up against them.
10/1472 Another great naval battle between Japan and Ming. Hopefully they will both lose lots of ships. /popcorn
5/1473 Ming and Mongol Khanate are mostly occupied. Korea is under siege. Haven’t yet started on Manchu or Tibet. Naturally, we have lots and lots of rebels, including some painfully large pops (red circles).
In the green circle, Japan and Ming continue their naval battle
10/1473 Peace with Mongol Khanate for 75 ducats. They are now allied with Ming
, so don’t want to vassalize them.Time to move a slider. One more step towards innovative and I am now done with that requirement for Westernization. Amazingly, I didn’t get a rebel pop for moving the slider…got a prestige hit instead.
12/1473 Trade Tech 6. One more level till QFTNW!
We now have temples built in every province, and the stab recovery rate is looking very good considering the size of the country. If I switched all investment from trade to stab, it would take 23 months to recover a stab point. However, if I also stopped minting and hired a couple decent stab advisors I could get the stab recovery rate down to 18 months. When you are looking at 25+ stab hits coming up real soon, this is a big deal.
Meanwhile, the huge sea battle between Japan and Ming has been going on for 14 months now. Ming has lost 34 galleys and 3 transports, while Japan has lost 19 galleys. It is great fun watching a cat fight.
3/1474 Peace with Ming for 1 province (their capital and COT location) plus giving up 33 cores. No luck on getting them to move their capital and got tired of waiting.
In the green box on the right we are working on a bunch more ships.
5/1474 White Peace with Manchu. They are allied with Ming, so don’t want them as a vassal just yet.
In the same month, peace with Korea for the 1 province I wanted. Sadly, it is not possible to get both that province and a new vassal.
6/1474 Peace with Tibet for 275 ducats and 2 cores. The happy kids’ club of vassals had managed to occupy 2 of Tibet’s territories with very little effort by me. Good job, guys!
I am now completely at peace. Looking around, I see that Bihar has 3 territories, good base tax, and a COT. Hmmmm….
12/1474 DOW on Ceylon, bringing in Bihar. As you can see in the green circle, Bihar was kind enough to give us military access to their country and we are taking full advantage. We didn’t park troops on top of theirs due to winter attrition levels.
With the DOW, three different rebel groups decide this is time to let me know how they feel about this latest war, and they are not happy.
1/1475 The glorious armies of Mighty Malacca march off to do war with Bihar’s puny stacks. This should be a complete pushover compared to Ming and Japan, right?
Spirits are high in the Malaccan high command at the thought of adding more juicy provinces and another COT to the ever-expanding empire. Off in the corner, one of the junior war planners worries a bit about tech differentials and unit upgrades, but the senior war planners really aren’t interested in listening to his story…
3/1475 I get utterly crushed by Bihar’s army. Whahuhhhh??? In the green box I have inflicted a lot more casualties, but in the red box I am getting owned on morale and am down to 1 regiment. In this battle Malacca had 11k of cavalry vs. Bihar’s 11k of cavalry plus 2k of infantry. I was defensive and have the better general by 3 shock points. The screenshot is of the day before I withdraw. Would certainly have been better to withdraw before the end of month in order to get the morale boost, but Someone did not notice it in time.
The general in charge blames the loss on bad luck. Of course, Someone was busy fighting rebels and wasn’t watching the dice rolls, so hard to tell if the general is telling the truth. Malacca’s senior war planners are most definitely not amused.
4/1475 After a nice long round of finger-pointing, one of the senior war planners remembers that a junior guy had raised questions about this war a few months ago. It seems that his comments had earned him a new posting on the Tibet frontier. Perhaps he should be retrieved and listened to more fully…
4/1475 Bihar’s troops move forward to attack. I have 2k of fresh troops headed north into the battlefield, 4k of fresh troops from a vassal, and will have 2 months of morale recovery by the time the enemy arrives. We should be in good shape, right? Will time my reserves to arrive on battlefield the same day as his troops, since don’t want him scared away.
5/1475 The battle starts. He will suffer a lot more casualties, but may win the battle since my guys are at 2/3 morale. He will also suffer a lot more attrition since we are on vassal land.
Bihar retreats after 5 days. This was unexpected, since he had lots of morale left. Naturally, the Malaccan generals are elated and claim that we won through superior tactics and leadership. Will now be chasing and trying to re-engage. Attrition will likely be the biggest killer of troops, so I switch generals to one that has low shock but much better maneuver.
8/1475 The junior war planner guy finally arrives at Malaccan war planning HQ. They escort him into a big conference room and give him a seat at the head of the table. It seems all the senior war planners are now quite interested in what he has to say.
Here we have the pride of the army, our Archer Cavalry. Loud cheers fill the room. Our brave men have skills in both offensive and defensive shock (1 and 1) plus skills in offensive morale (1).
And here we have Bihar’s main troops, the Hill Fighter Cavalry. Lots of boos this time. These heinous infidels do not have any offensive shock, but they have defensive shock of 2. They also have considerable morale strength, with offensive skill of 1 and defensive skill of 2. So unfortunately their cavalry has significant advantages in morale.
Land Tech is also a bit of an issue. As you know, the glorious land of Malacca has achieved Land Tech 3. Meanwhile, the worthless infidels of Bihar have somehow acquired (or stolen perhaps) Land Tech 5. We are not sure just how high of a Land Tech may exist in the world, but we do know that the nation of Kazakh has Land Tech 8. (Well actually I sneaked a peek by loading up as France, and the Europeans have Land Tech between 9 and 11 right now).
…Lots of silence among the senior war planners. The general in charge of the fighting immediately rises to give the junior war planner a standing ovation. It seems that there had been a lot of talk recently about heads on platters, and this particular general really likes his head the way it is.
3/1476 Meanwhile on the front lines, we danced around for quite a while and finally got a position we wanted for another battle. We are defending, have a good stack of troops with full morale, and are facing a seriously depleted Bihar army.
And once again we go down the tubes due to morale loss. My troops in the green circle will not arrive in time, so will be retreating before month-end. As you can see, the die rolls weren’t exactly favoring me either.
So, I’m getting schooled by a 3-province minor due to tech group differential. I have a bunch of troops headed to Bihar, so can eventually bury them under bodies. However, this little war will mark the end of my Indian adventures for now. Persia has been advancing steadily into Western India, and it would be a really bad idea for me to share a land border with them. As much as I would like a Delhi sandwich, will have to pass for now.
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Eh, nothing worse than a string of bad dice rolls. "What do you mean it was 0-9 five phases in a row?!"
Well that was certainly an educational war. Looks like it might be time to focus on other aspects of gettin your empire ready for war.
At least your sliders don't hurt you for westernisation - I've just westernised Maya - 5 decades with +6 RR due to policy restrictions was interesting.
At least your sliders don't hurt you for westernisation - I've just westernised Maya - 5 decades with +6 RR due to policy restrictions was interesting.
Oh, now that's priceless. :rofl:
Beating up Ming who had a massive advantage in terms of troops, land and manpower to you, and then many years later getting beaten up by the next upstart on the block! Oh, how the tables have turned. You sure one of your early advisors wasn't hired by Bihar? Or reincarnated perhaps? Maybe you should quit and restart as Bihar, facing the enormity of the Malaccan empire for your WC...
Good stuff, still enjoy reading this thoroughly. Am learning a lot about the game as I read, as I don't get to play an awful lot.
Beating up Ming who had a massive advantage in terms of troops, land and manpower to you, and then many years later getting beaten up by the next upstart on the block! Oh, how the tables have turned. You sure one of your early advisors wasn't hired by Bihar? Or reincarnated perhaps? Maybe you should quit and restart as Bihar, facing the enormity of the Malaccan empire for your WC...
Good stuff, still enjoy reading this thoroughly. Am learning a lot about the game as I read, as I don't get to play an awful lot.
Quick Question: What is your plan wit the vassals later in the game, when you want to devour them? Will you take the stab hit, let someone else annex them and then take them back, or what?
Anyways, absolutely awesome job, going from a minor with one fort to disolving the mighty Ming empirre in 100 years is absolutely amazing.
Anyways, absolutely awesome job, going from a minor with one fort to disolving the mighty Ming empirre in 100 years is absolutely amazing.
You're doing very well despite your few recent setbacks. So you just keep on that (steam)rolling.
Wow, more great progress. Poor Ming
Can't believe the size of those Ming-Japan naval battles. I've never had a fleet that big Though have seen an English fleet 90+ strong!
Anyways, looking forward to next update
Can't believe the size of those Ming-Japan naval battles. I've never had a fleet that big
Though have seen an English fleet 90+ strong!Anyways, looking forward to next update
... An omen of the difficulties to come against the might of Europe.
Can't help to think about BrandenburgIII's Japan, and it difficulties with Spain.
But remember, Bihar has some good land and a COT to pay for their army. So it is not a weak minor. And they never faced the might of the Mallaccan army (or got into a humiliating offenseive... ).
P.s. How about Ceylon? Do you have a new naval base?
Can't help to think about BrandenburgIII's Japan, and it difficulties with Spain.
But remember, Bihar has some good land and a COT to pay for their army. So it is not a weak minor. And they never faced the might of the Mallaccan army (or got into a humiliating offenseive... ).
P.s. How about Ceylon? Do you have a new naval base?
For Westernization it might be a good idea to establish an island base (the island west of Bali-Lombok) and colonize all the provinces except for one. Wait until a European moves in and work on Westernization. This way, in case things go sour you won’t be trampled like a girl celebrating her Sweet Sixteen at a boy band concert.
If you’re not above doing anything gamey you could give away a completed colony on some island. Unless if you’re not going to colonize too much then it might be best to wait and see where Europeans land.
As for Bihar, we all have our Wellington.
If you’re not above doing anything gamey you could give away a completed colony on some island. Unless if you’re not going to colonize too much then it might be best to wait and see where Europeans land.
As for Bihar, we all have our Wellington.
LOL Truly spoken.
Love the Maya story. Thanks for answering my “couple” questions
Westernization is still far away. But still closer.
Again a nice round with Ming.
Thanks! Yes Westernization creeps ever closer. The race to Trade Tech 7 when in Chinese Tech group is painfully slow.
Oh, now that's priceless. :rofl:
Beating up Ming who had a massive advantage in terms of troops, land and manpower to you, and then many years later getting beaten up by the next upstart on the block! Oh, how the tables have turned. You sure one of your early advisors wasn't hired by Bihar? Or reincarnated perhaps? Maybe you should quit and restart as Bihar, facing the enormity of the Malaccan empire for your WC...
Good stuff, still enjoy reading this thoroughly. Am learning a lot about the game as I read, as I don't get to play an awful lot.
Glad you liked it! Starting over with Bihar is a crazy fun idea, but not sure I’m ready for that just yet
The Big Asian Blue Blob of Death grows and grows and grows...
Thanks, and love the GIFs!!!
Welcome aboard! The vassal plan is to let them stay as is for quite a while. Their land is poor, none of them are Sunni, and I am close to the BB cap. All this means that I am not in a rush to eliminate them right now. The other issue is that I will take a lot of prestige hits for dropping vassal and ally, and pretty soon I will need all the prestige I can get in order to receive the maximum number of diplomats per year.
So the general plan is that I will slowly drop them and DOW/annex when we get close to the end and prestige is capped. By that point I will have very high BB, and the odds of someone else taking them out will probably be low.
Yeah, there comes a point in Land Tech disadvantage where it really becomes a problem…and looks like we have just found that point for this game.
Thanks! Perhaps I should steamroll a few African natives on my way to Europe…their tech shouldn’t be too much of a problem
Yup! It is going to be interesting fighting all those Sunni’s in Muslim tech group…
Wow, more great progress. Poor Ming
Can't believe the size of those Ming-Japan naval battles. I've never had a fleet that big
Anyways, looking forward to next update
Yes I loved seeing that battle. Was very worried about handling pirate patrols with 2 huge fleets lurking around.
Yes it reminded me of Brandenburg’s adventures as well.
The water surrounding Ceylon is all TI to me, so unfortunately am unable to do anything with them.
You always have the most interesting metaphors
On Westernizing, my hope is to take the fight to them rather than waiting. That will be another way to keep me safe, as losing all the ships and armies I send to Europe wouldn’t hurt me in the homelands.
Update – Bihar, Ming, Aceh, and QFTNW At Last!
5/1476 To start us off, we are about to have another round in the great war with Bihar. Once again, I have good position. Their army is more than half gone and looks like their manpower is exhausted, so not sure even great rolls can save them this time.
5/1476 They retreat in 5 days and I chase. I should be able to overrrun soon, so this #*@!#% war will finally be finished.
Back at HQ, the junior war planner guy got a great promotion out of the deal, and a couple of the senior war planners were put out to pasture.
7/1476 A while ago, I mentioned changing my advisor strategy. About 20 years ago I starting hiring 5-star and 6-star advisors in whatever was available in hopes of getting a Great Man event. Great Man events are random, but the MTTH is low enough that you can use them as part of a stability strategy.
Well anyway, I finally get my first Great Man event. This is a great opportunity to get rid of OPM Aceh. They haven’t allied or guaranteed anyone since our last war many years ago, and since they don’t share land borders with anyone besides me it is reasonably likely that they never will. Therefore, the easiest way to get rid of this Sunni nation is to DOW them and take the stab hits.
I DOW Aceh (3 stab hits) and then accept the Great Man event, which gives me 2 of the stab points back. You can only get a Great Man event once per type of advisor, so I will now be looking to trade out my Alderman for another type of advisor.
1/1477 Peace with Bihar for 2 provinces, 225 ducats, and 1 core. As usual, we wanted this peace treaty after the year-end census taxes in order to get maximum cash from them. Bihar is now an OPM.
In the green box, we are building a new batch of ships. Will be needing lots of ships soon, both for exploring and for pirate patrols. Pirates hit Latin Tech countries right around 1475. They wait a few years longer before hitting Chinese Tech countries, but I don’t remember exactly how long it is. Definitely do not want to be caught unprepared and spend years trying to unblockade my ports.
7/1477 DOW on Shan, bringing in their ally Ming. Shan gets the alliance lead again
4/1478 Peace with Shan/Ming for 2 provinces and 2 cores. Not a whole lot to tell about this war, as the only real battles were with rebels. I now have all the provinces I want from Ming until after Westernizing. Ming only has 1 province left with 5+ base tax, and it is their new capital (green circle).
6/1478 Annex Aceh. We are now “dishonorable scum” and slightly over the BB limit (red box).
I decide against finishing off Bihar for now. First off, annexing them would put me way over the BB limit. My biggest goal is to find a Latin Tech neighbor so I can Westernize. Being over the BB limit wouldn’t help that at all. Second, Bihar just became a vassal of Rajputana. Will hope for them to diplo-annex Bihar, so I can later take that lovely COT without the huge BB hit.
Therefore, time for some turbo-speed until QFTNW, rebels permitting
9/1481 Trade Tech 7!!! I swap out NIs to QFTNW, taking 3 stab hits. Am now at –1, since still hadn’t recovered the 3rd point from DOWing Aceh. Will switch all investment to stab, and after that is back up will be working on my sad situation in Land Tech. Yes, I am still at level 3 in that.
In the notes at the bottom, Annam has appeared as an OPM in one of Ming’s former provinces.
9/1481 In the red circle, we have a shot of the stability situation. Recovery rate is 25 months per point, so at this pace will need 8.3 years till am back at +3 and can Westernize. I think I can shave a bit off this, as cores should be popping and RR will be going down in recently conquered provinces. Will also grab a stab advisor if I see a decent one, although the market has been very thin on them lately.
You can also see that I have decreased minting to 0, so inflation will be decreasing. I had planned this a while back, so have been minting a bit for quite a few years to build up inflation level a little.
In the green circles, Qin has just appeared as a 4-province minor out of the wreckage of Ming. Will have to DOW them at some point to get rid of a zillion Qin cores on my provinces.
9/1481 And to finish off this update, here is the land of the Holy Grail. Things don’t look good for finding a nice Latin Tech neighbor. Portugul has been wiped from the map. No one is in the Americas yet. Most surprising, there are no Europeans in North Africa. I would like to do something crazy like take out Rome to help my missionary situation, but Papal States often has a lot of big friends.
The realistic options look like A) someone in Italy, B) someone in North Europe (although likely have HRE issues), and C) OPM Athens, which borders Venice through the land bridge at Naxos.
Coming up next: Speedy exploration, and beating up natives for fun and profit
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In the seventh pic, is there a jalaryaids (spelling?) seizeing one of Ming's provinces?
I presume it's Kashmir, but if it is, they've still travelled a ways to get there.