World Conquest for Dummies 2.0

[SKOTy]

So the changes from the former save is: Spain and Russia formed, no exploration&colonization as the slot is replaced by offensive to combat AI boni.

I took admin earlier (at admin 10 instead of 14) and on 14 I took offensive, mainly for siege ability as in conjunction with siege ability from professionalism I am sitting at 40% SA which makes wars much faster and easier.

Also just asking, at game start did you rival byzantium? It seems to me that you can do it on VH at the start.

Yep, on very hard you can rival Byzantium and this is what I did.

 

[SKOTy]

16. Tackling big boys​

During world (or basically any greater conquest) it's important to have something to eat between attempting to take on the big boys. Kilwa is going to be annexed in this war and with our great monarch admin power to core stuff is not an issue, the combo of disinheritance and Ottoman government is quite potent when it comes to strong monarchs.

Russia is busy in a huge war against Poland and Spain, no better way to say "come to take my land ".
According to a war screen, the numbers are on our side.

And casualties say that army quality is also on our side, 120% discipline vs. 101% discipline.

WIPE

Our subject Andhra spanning almost over one third of Indian subcontinent gets integrated, the area without trade companies shows the size of our former subject.

Superiority has been achieved.

Russia is cut of Siberia completely which means eating Russia will require a lot lower investment in the future compared to a situation where they would colonize entire Siberia.

Remember, small stack here and there is healthy

Soo, you're saying to me, that Ming is embroiled in a war against Japan, which is a stalemate, does not have manpower and has 0 mandate (which means zero mercs)? Looks like an invitation to their land

Troops, we're going to vacation

Actually, attacking Ming without checking their military technology level was a small mistake as they've managed to reach tech 21 which provides military tactics sooner than us (look at the tactics difference).
Even with +50% damage taken, Ming is capable of punching hard, especially with tactics advantage. Luckily for us military tech 21 was unlocked quite soon into war so the Ming advantage was almost immediately gone.

Sure, Ming, send your troops to wander steppes while I am besieging your forts

In the end the war resulted in complete victory, but the combat casualties show that Ming is not to be underestimated even when sitting on zero mandate (and especially on higher mil tech).
All of the Ming's fortifications are gone (although they were just level 2 forts, as with boosted force limit coming from very hard, the AI's priority is to reach force limit and after that it upgrades forts).

 

[Tom D.]

That's definitely the beginning of the end for the Ming.

 

[EquilinT]

So sieges are actually faster on VH due to lv2 forts? enemy stacks will be wandering aimlessly in our blob anyway it doesn't matter as much.

 

[SKOTy]

Well for example Spain or Russia is full of level 6 forts, and these actually fought well and hard (well the war in Russia was won due to 120% vs 101% discipline, but the AI was pretty relentless in chasing my lone siege stacks).
But as for Ming, the AI thought that besieging capital of my vassal with 100k stack is way to go.

 

[atwix]

So sieges are actually faster on VH due to lv2 forts? enemy stacks will be wandering aimlessly in our blob anyway it doesn't matter as much.

its been a problem for many patches, and bug reported aplenty by me.

Basically a militarist led AI never upgrades forts, due to AI being forced to spend its dosh on AI scripted amount of FL of navy, army. They also hire mercs aplenty, and AI goes into debt.

The result is that AI never upgrades forts, and in extreme cases doesn't even build the normal buildings (they fixed that on the classic example of ottomans though). Ottomans without trade or economic almost never upgrade forts either, for example. No money for it due to other ai scripts.

You can sometimes see Spain por anyone lategame have level 2 forts, and then all of sudden they get level 8 forts when they are at peace for a long time. It should be the other way around, but oh well

 

[Hootieleece]

Been reading and trying to emulate this to up my skills. I am in 1600's and haven't even conquered the Mamelukes. (have Cairo and Alexandria though) I have about 1250 Dev

and will probably restart to get off to a better start....figuring out when and where to create vassals is a major problem.

 

[stnylan]

Very nice of Ming to gift you that opportunity.

 

[SKOTy]

Been reading and trying to emulate this to up my skills. I am in 1600's and haven't even conquered the Mamelukes. (have Cairo and Alexandria though) I have about 1250 Dev

and will probably restart to get off to a better start....figuring out when and where to create vassals is a major problem.

If you're going to restart, feel free to PM me and we can discuss your game and things you could improve.

Very nice of Ming to gift you that opportunity.

Part of my success is that I am constantly looking for countries that are embroiled in a war or lost their allies, it's much simpler to fight weakened countries like Ming (which was in addition totally stupid) than a coalition of mega Spain, France + Prussia.

 

[botho]

I have been following as well, and started a game as well, but there are certain mechanics I am unsure about.
IE,

You add to TC land but can't convert then. You mention something about CoT of Muslim Nations, is that one of the things you can choose from the trade menu if you are the superior power? IE TC provinces would get converted to Sunni even if you don't bother with it?
The Unity isnt a problem because you are so big, the dev of tc land would be low compared?

I didnt check when absolutism hit, but I had 3750 dev by 1607 or 1612, I forgot. However I was not far down enough to Africa for TC-land, and I had just reached the border of India (between Gujarat/Delhi and Timurids).

I field around 210 regiments atm while sitting at 140k manpower and 40 ducats profit. However I think your colonization in the first run actually helped. (and if I hung around Europe less) - because there was no way to have Constantinople as highest trade node.
I was attacking Castille and Portugal a bit late I think, They had already colonized quite a bit (Portugal at least) - Castille is completely gone, I own all of Iberia except 2 Portugal provinces, Gibralter(UK) and 2 Aragon provinces (actually rebelled out of 2 remaining Aragon provinces).

I had a big problem taking over Portuguese islands in the caribeans but not be able to see there, send ships to beat peasants who had risen etc. This is fixed now.

I did join league wars, it was a joke. All of Europe is reformed by now. There are not prots around. Russia has been divided between Novgorod(vassal), Perm(vassal) and Lith (not in a PU!) Nogai land has been taken, Mamluks has Egypt and 2-3 Arabian provinces left, Ethiopia is nearly gone, Tlemcen (vassal) has reconquered its cores and is about to gain some more. Yemen was attacked and border with Malindi was secured. All in all things are going well I'd say. I did something stupid, enfored religion on perm and novgorod after i started feeding them. Wont be able to annex them for a bit I think. Last war with Russia I took a mainland random province from GB.
Took influence, religious, admin, offensive, quality(ongoing) - but my morale isnt nearly high enough, although I can OP all armies that come my way I'm often sitting at -0.7 compared to them.

I did take absolutism decision, not adm efficiency, because I wasnt sure how I could get it up fast enough anyway.

However, here are my questions: Is C&C really needed? +20 max absolutism is sweet, sure, but how big a handicap would it be? There are enough theaters of war to expand into.

Anyway first real Otto sunni run (i cheated with otto to get mare nostrum) - thanks for this thread it's been really helpful

 

[SKOTy]

You add to TC land but can't convert then. You mention something about CoT of Muslim Nations, is that one of the things you can choose from the trade menu if you are the superior power? IE TC provinces would get converted to Sunni even if you don't bother with it?
The Unity isnt a problem because you are so big, the dev of tc land would be low compared?

Actually I am converting provinces prior to adding them to a TC, with religious ideas and 5 missionaries and vassals converting it's going pretty fast.

I field around 210 regiments atm while sitting at 140k manpower and 40 ducats profit. However I think your colonization in the first run actually helped. (and if I hung around Europe less) - because there was no way to have Constantinople as highest trade node.

During my 2nd run on very hard I've managed to spawn global trade as well without colonization. This was achieved by delving into India as fast as I could, ignoring the west.
Around 1600 I was able to field about 400 regiments, and at the moment at 1670 I am fielding 700 regiments with 200 ducats profit. Manpower is not an issue as the frontlines consist of mercscum entirely.

I was attacking Castille and Portugal a bit late I think, They had already colonized quite a bit (Portugal at least) - Castille is completely gone, I own all of Iberia except 2 Portugal provinces, Gibralter(UK) and 2 Aragon provinces (actually rebelled out of 2 remaining Aragon provinces).

Actually, killing colonizers is not so important as if you fully annex colonial overlord you'll inherit their colonies. This is going to be shown.

I did join league wars, it was a joke. All of Europe is reformed by now.

Unless you're wanting to become Emperor joining league wars are just wasted resources.

I did take absolutism decision, not adm efficiency, because I wasnt sure how I could get it up fast enough anyway.

5% admin efficiency perk equals 12.5 absolutism (thus 12.5 ticks of the +1 yearly absolutism).
As in most of the games I am able to hit the cap for C&C disaster in about 10 years and after that the ticking absolutism is no longer providing any benefits, while admin efficiency affects you even if you're sitting at your absolutism cap.

However, here are my questions: Is C&C really needed? +20 max absolutism is sweet, sure, but how big a handicap would it be? There are enough theaters of war to expand into.

There are some benefits to +20 max absolutism from C&C.
Without C&C disaster you'll be sitting at 95 absolutism max (1.25% admin efficiency less than max) without your golden age. And as admin efficiency gets stronger more you have it you're losing some potential.
Additionally C&C is needed if you want to go revolutionary.
As my absolutism cap is 115 at the moment I can freely use debase currency + Muslim legalism interaction to remove 2 corruption to quickly gain some cash without it having affect on my absolutism.

 

[botho]

In your first run, you werent converting TC land before adding ? Maybe i read wrong.
And I did rev France without C&C

 

[Premu]

In your first run, you werent converting TC land before adding ? Maybe i read wrong.
And I did rev France without C&C

You don't really need to.

As Muslim, you can use your traders to convert the provinces in the TC land once you have at least 50% trade power in the node. That saves a lot of missionaries.

 

[botho]

I've never used that before, but I will try. It would help get unrest up for C&C though