12. I am the state (1613 - 1630)
I am sorry for two weeks without an update as last two weeks were busy for me, but I am now back in the bussiness.
Time to use that 38 absolutism gained immediately after the age of absolutism started. Vinegar is attacked with a holy war CB as time to digest India has finally come.
The reason why I waited so long with India is that now with absolutism and administrative efficiency coming into play gobbling it up takes much less time like it can be seen on the screenshot as about 30% more land was taken when compared to no administrative efficiency.
In America new colonial nation of New Ottomans has been formed in the area around Chesapeke bay and the said CN is already in control of all important estuaries and trade centers along the coast.
Another quick war against few nations which managed to create a coalition has been declared. In the end Ethiopia peaces out for cash in order to make the war concluded as fast as possible.
Time to hit that 'Decrease autonomy' button more as we're nowhere near 50 absolutism which should be a priority for the first years of age of absolutism.
Other than that a religious center in Thatta can be seen converting provinces in the respective area which makes progress on the conversion of the world go a bit faster.
Global trade was embraced just after we've slapped Malwa for some more provinces on the Indian subcontinent.
The second reason why I've waited with India for so long is that I can immediately add land conquered there to trade company and decrease autonomy there as TC land no longer has an autonomy floor. And as separatists would rise anyway the extra 10 unrest does not matter. This way I am effectively gaining absolutism as fast as I am blobbing, increasing value of the recently conquered land and I don't have to deal with extra rebellions.
Absolutism has reached treshhold of 50 which mean we're now eligible for the Court and country disaster. Now only if we had some actual unrest in our lands...
As one of the requirements for the C&C disaster is to be at war a war which will be active for quite some time has been declared on Yemen which is only allied with Hormuz so we can be safely at war with them for about 3 years which it takes the C&C disaster to fully charge.
For this it's better to declare on OPM or no-CB someone in America so you have a safe war going which won't cause any harm to your realm.
The other part of requirements for C&C disaster to trigger is having at least one point of unrest which can be achieved easily by having negative stability as each point of negative stability means +2 unrest.
One way of lowering stability is e.g. breaking a royal marriage with your vassal.
Or you can switch your colonization policies as this also means one stability hit. Or you can just no CB Ternate...
Just make sure you declared all your wars prior lowering your stability as sometimes having positive unrest means that you'll have to sit at -3 stability for 3 years.
800 splendor has been reached which means first age ability can be purchased and it is +5% administrative efficiency.
As Court and Country disaster is about to be triggered which means that absolutism will skyrocket due to events which will pop up during that disaster it makes no sense picking anything else than extra administrative efficiency.
If you have troubles reaching 50 absolutism the extra yearly absolutism might be worth it in order to get you to C&C disaster faster, but if you have the disaster rolling by the time your first 800 splendor is available the +5% admin efficiency is nobrainer as it basically equals 12.5 ticks of yearly absolutism in terms of administrative efficiency.
In November 1619 the C&C disaster triggers which means it's safe to get the stability into more positive numbers as we've been sitting at -3 stability for 3 years which also prevented us declaring wars.
Yemen and Hormuz are both annexed
As for managing the disaster it's quite simple - pick whatever option which hurts you less, usually it's some rebels rising but beating couple of rebel stacks should not be problem as coming into age of absolutism you should definitely have at least 200k army standing.
What is revolt risk?
Only places where rebels are rising are recently conquered territories where autonomy was decreased.
The old rival is finally gone. Bit later than probably should have been, but for past ~80-100 years Mamluks have not been relevant so they were just overlooked.
Truce with Muscovy is over - come get some
Humanist idea group is picked in order to ease further conquest as it basically prevents uprisings in recently conquered territories, which lets your armies focus on acquiring new land instead of smashing rebels and also enables more benevolent passing of the 100% overextension barrier.
Usually I pick humanist idea group as 5th pick and only once I've triggered C&C disaster as it might prevent the positive unrest which is required for C&C to trigger.
5 absolutism as a reward for crushing some rebels? Gimme
Remember when I've talked about that 5% admin efficiency is better pick than yearly absolutism as C&C disaster will push your absolutism through the roof? Here's the proof...
Muscovy is denied an opportunity to colonize Siberia.
Also notice how the gains from wars are increasing due to rising absolutism.
Delhi is forced to remove its alliances as cost of getting out of war with Transoxiana. Which means Delhi is free to be attacked once truce is over and there'll be less allies interfering.
Remember when I've talked about 'Unite Islam' decision? Transoxiana just ceded last province needed for the decision when I've recalled that ALL of your provinces must be in Muslim religious group, not just the needed ones so I can say we can say goodbye to taking that decision as there's no way (mainly due to religious zeal) how to get all of our provinces to be Muslim till the absolute end of the game.
Khorasan is beaten and our new vassal Mazandaran is spawned in the recently conquered territory.
As we've ended the C&C disaster with more than 65 absolutism we're rewarded with permanent 20 max absolutism increase till the end of the campaign which will serve as buffer for occasional low legitimacy or lower religious unity.
The disaster ends after it has been active for 10 years (so write down when it started) and NONE of your provinces is occupied by rebels so if you're nearing 65 absolutism and the 10 years of disaster are about to pass just let rebels siege one of your provinces and get your absolutism past 65 (with all that events coming from the disaster that shouldn't be a problem, just don't be afraid to e.g. strengthen government so your absolutism cap is higher than 65 in case you have low legitimacy).
With absolutism cap of 100 we're now ready to unleash the true blobbing power of the Ottoblob, but more of that in next chaper
