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[LeeC]

Guten tag!
I mentioned in another thread about possibly making Super Germany in Victoria 2.  I redid everything last night and took some screenshots to share.

The year is 1836 and the Prussians have schemes long before Bismark takes office (Muahahahah!).  Prussia is the 4th major super power in the world.  If I want to do this right, its probably best to make a make a military alliance with the number 1 world power, the UK.  Our forever allies for our great German unification!

They will be playing an important role in making Super Germany.


Now historically the Franco-Prussian war happened in 1870. Not this time.  We're going to fabricate a reason for war right off the bat in 1836 and start off the war by 1837!  Gear up Brits we're going to war with France and Russia for Alsace-Lorraine!




90,000 troops charge France in the western front! The Brits and the Swiss will commit troops to this front as well!


Meanwhile another 90,000 troops play a defensive war against russia while we wait for the German States to get their shit together and help out.  France and Russia mobilize their lower class into conscripts to help out the war.  Not Prussia! We're going to rely on our highly trained professional army and our Allies!


We even made the news not long after!  Not sure why the war between Brazil and Paraguy made the headline though...


Thanks to the combines might of Prussia, Most of the North German States, the UK, and Switzerland, Russia negotiates an end to the war giving Prussia Alsace-Lorraine!




To add insult to injury, I think I'll rename these new regions...


Not bad for 5 months of war?  I got Luxemburg out of the deal too. Too bad the news came out practically a year later!  Still not a headliner. No, it has to be about Queen Victoria!  Too bad her coronation puts the Hanover German states into my hands.


Well now comes the tedious matter of diplomacy dueling with Austria for Saxony.  There has to be something more interesting to do in the mean time. Oh what up Denmark! You busy?


Denmark is kind of small, So I let UK and my smaller German State minions handle the war while I continue the duel with Austria.


The war is over in no time but the end result was a new country in my sphere.  Gave the UK some of Denmark's colonies near Africa too, because I know they like that sort of thing.




Come 1840 the king dies several months before he is suppose to.  I suspect foul play.



Not long after that, I was able to rip Saxony away from the Austria's clutches and form the North German Confederation!


Here is a before and after of the event!
Before:


After:


Mmm, look at all that delicious grey goodness!

It takes 8 more years for me to sway the south german states from Austria to my sphere of influence. All the while I built an enormous force and placed them on Austria's border.  Once I had sphered and allied the South German States I decided to declare war on Austria! I told my allies the Casus Belli would be "Humiliation."  The UK, Southern German States, Swiss, Danes, and even the Sweds were on board for this war!  Little did they know there was more up my sleeve.


The war lasts about a year.  I was able to get his Italian state allies to quit the war after 4-8 months of battle. The Brits and Sweds decided to invade Austria through Austria's Italian allies.  I am just surprised they put all their troops in transport ships and sailed all that way around rather than just walk through  my NGC to fight Austria. By the end of the year Austria is in such shambles that they risk losing their title as a world power.  After another year  (the game allows world powers a year to try and gain back their status before dropping them as a world power) they lose their status of being a world power and drop to the 22nd most powerful nation! 


I then add a war goal to put Austria in my sphere of influence too! Declare peace with them shortly there after.  Now the Southern German States and Austria are in my sphere of influence!


For now when I establish the German Empire...


Its is not the German Empire of the historical Victorian Era...


no no no... it is Über Deutschland! 


All by 1850!  The game doesn't even end until 1936!  I still have 86 years to go!  I wonder what we'll end up doing.  Invade Egypt and build the Suez canal?  Take Borneo? Grab most of Africa? Annex Haiti?
Any suggestions on where to take the empire?

Thank you for reading!
 

[de_la_Nae]

Well done, mate!

I have trouble getting into games like that in the long term, but they're sure fun to see come together!

As for what to do now.... well, I can't help but see poor little Serbia down there....... nothing can go wrong with invading the Balkans, right? :3

[GarandMarine]

Conquer France for the hell of it? Nice work dude.

[pwhodges]

Your paper describes George III as Victoria's father; he was, of course, her grandfather.

[LeeC]

Your paper describes George III as Victoria's father; he was, of course, her grandfather.

You are correct.  I blame the 60.6% Literacy rating of my people.

Conquer France for the hell of it? Nice work dude.

I seem to remember a certain 20th century dictator attempt that and the whole world turned on the Germans.  I know they will probably try to take Alsace-Lorraine back at some point so I'll fortify the region and stick a stack of troops on each county of the province.  That Doesn't mean I can't cripple them and take all their colonies and handicap them for the rest of the game.  I'll have to think on this some more.

As for what to do now.... well, I can't help but see poor little Serbia down there....... nothing can go wrong with invading the Balkans, right? :3

I have thought about it. But just like WW1 it'll erupt in a large war if I do. I could diplo-duel the Turks for them and then conquer them later.  Its rough conquering European powers outright as it causes a high amount of infamy.  Too high and all the powers in the world declare you evil and form a coalition to destroy you.  I want to be LeeC the Great, not Sauron 2.0 

You all have given me some ideas though.  I may pick it back up soon and hamstring the french and keep the USA on their side of the planet.

[Akima]

Your paper describes George III as Victoria's father; he was, of course, her grandfather.

Thanks for confirming that. I was all: "Didn't Victoria succeed William IV, and he George IV?", but I'm a bit fuzzy on the details of our monarchy's history.

[ChaoSera]

How well does the diplomacy work in this game and what kind of options do you have? I've been thinking about getting it.

[LeeC]

Wow I posted this here and in another forum and many people want me to conquer France.  That's original.

Honestly I can't because of Russia.  They are France's allies and one province is one thing, but annexing France will require me to subject all of both Russia and France's provinces.  If Maybe I can get China on board to placate Russia then maybe, but China is not up for talks with any of the western powers.  What made Austria easy pickings in comparison is they didn't have another super power as their Ally. Which is weird considering the last few times I played as Prussia they Allied with Spain or the UK.

How well does the diplomacy work in this game and what kind of options do you have? I've been thinking about getting it.

Honestly I like it.  Its a bit complicated because it can be affected by other aspects of the game or affect other systems in the game.



You can see in my 3rd image some of the actual actions you can do.  Usually you cannot "Declare War" unless you first "Justify War" which creates a Casus Belli (war cause).  Sometimes you can get free Casus Belli throughout the game from techs, events, or decisions. Otherwise you have to use "Justify War" and select a reason to go to war.  It generally depends on the type of nation in question, as far as what type of reasons you can have.  It also can generate an amount of "Infamy" depending on the Casus Belli and if you get caught trying to fabricate a Casus Belli.  If you ever get 25 or more Infamy, other nations will declare you evil and form a coalition to "Cut you down to Size" or "Humiliate."

If you are a Super Power you can "Influence" other nations that are not Super powers.  This can be important for special events (like creating Germany) or enable you to get extra allies for you wars (I call them "Minion States").  It can also be important for preventing other Nations from becoming more powerful (imagine if I was France or the UK and kept a required state in my "Sphere of Influence" prevent Prussia from creating the North German Confederation).  The "Diplomatic Dueling" was precisely this as Prussia for me.  I had to influence the smaller states and fight the influence of other nations by Discrediting, Expelling Advisors, or even Banning Embassies.  Other times they do it to you because the target nation is in another Super Power's "Sphere" which means only you can be Discredited, Banned, or Expelled until you remove the Target Nation as a Sphere.  For example Saxony was in Austria's Sphere so Austria can Discredit, Ban, or Expel other nation, but they cannot do that to him until they build up enough influence with Saxony to remove Saxony from Austria's Sphere.

What I like about the Diplomacy is I could have gone the faster route and declared War on Austria and just taken Saxony as my Sphere and create the NGC, but instead I did it through diplomatic means which prevented war and allowed me to continue my Countries production and trade unhindered.  Thus allowing me to prep for the actual war i wanted to fight Austria for later.

It may be one of those cases where you have to really play the game to get a grasp of diplomacy (hell I am still learning new things about the game every time I play!) or watch a youtube video (I recommend Shenryyr2 he does some crazy things in Vic 2!).  Honestly another Pro about this game is the music, its just amazing. HOI1 and VIC2 have the best music in any paradox grand strategy game I've played.  i also prefer the VIC 2 and HOI1 interface over that of Europa Universalis 4 or Crusader kings 2.

Do you have any specific questions about the Diplomacy?  Honestly i could write a 5 page paper on it, if not longer.

[SubaruStephen]

Get the rest of Denmark, then move onto Sweden OR if you can make Sweden your ally, have them attack Russia while you take France.

(If that's possible, I've never even heard of this game before)

[ChaoSera]

I guess I don't have any specific question but what you said so far sounds great! Just one thing, how difficult is it to find/fabricate a cause for war? Because I remember in Crusader Kings 2 I'd wait years to fabricate a claim because it was a percentage chance for that to work instead of, say, an amount of work that had to be done.

[LeeC]

Its super easy.  The time it takes depends on the Casus Belli you choose.  The fabrication on France for "Demand Concessions" so I could get Alsace-Lorraine took a little less than a year.  Basically it just loads a reason, however there is a random (though often) event that could happen that can increase/decrease the rate of the Casus Belli.  I was once able get a Casus Belli of "Establish Protectorate" (which is basically annex a country) in the span of 3 months.  It seems like the real reason for the "Justify War" is to randomly generate the amount of infamy you get from it. 

[LeeC]

Part 2: The 1850s


We start in late June of 1850.  After uniting  Über Deutschland I noticed some things.

1) Austria was illiterate like some shit. Our literacy before Über Deutschland was 60.6% and after unification it became 40%!  Literacy helps our nation's ability to research new technology and unlock new inventions. 

2)Austria and Southern Germany lacked any kind of industrialization.  Sure they had a couple of factories here and there but no railroads at all!  We need rails to transfer goods and materials around to our factories and our ports.

3)As the NGC we could only field 90 regiments and having a navy during unification was pointless.  Now we can field 145 and growing regiments and could use a Navy.

So the 1850s will be dedicated to these things...until I get bored and invade someone.

I set my national focus on Clergy (they increase literacy) for my top highly populated regions until the clergy pop is 4% before I then delegate them to the next region and so on and so forth until I get a decent literacy.  I then reinforce my armies that lost regiments in the war and place them on the boarders of France (where I am also increasing my fortifications) Russia and the Italian states.  I also start researching and building steam transport ships and early steam warships (called Commerce Raiders).  I then also open all closed factories in the new territories and have the government subsidize them so we make products and profit from the factories.

Next is the railroads.  Just look at all that blue. its just disgraceful!  Moving everything with horse and cart to and from the ports, cities, and factories? What are we, Russia?


That looks better. Once we increase our research in railroads we can then cover those red areas too.




While those trains tracks are building my subjects start an election.


Alright, lets see some of the issues on the people's minds are.


Yeah we're going to go with State Capitalism there.


I plan to do a lot of war in the Victorian Era, we're patriots.


Full citizenship might upset some of the other Germans but it'll make the non-Germans more likely to not revolt (I'm looking at you Serbs!)


Do not care. Religion is not a political thing in my Germany!

so lets see the results.



well looks like I cannot build factories and leave it up to the Kapitalists to do.  I swear if they screw me over I am throwing them out and establishing the National parti.

Well its 1852 what could go wrong?



Double f*ck!

Okay "Crisis" events are dangerous and annoying.  Its when a particular nation thinks it has claims on some territory that a Super Power has.  They then try to recruit other world powers to their cause.  The council would then meet and take sides.  If no resolution can be reached before tensions "boil over" all super powers that have taken sides will go to war over this issue.  Its how World Wars start in this game.  It can make or break your empire and they keep happening over and over again until the end of the game.  This is also how revolts start to establish new countries, like Poland.

Well lets see what all the fuss is about.


Looks like Greece wants some territories from the Ottoman Empire "returned" to them.  The Greeks have the backing of Russia and the Ottomans are backed by France.  Now what I normally do is sit back and wait for my ally to pick a side and then join their bandwagon.  This way I don't go to war with my ally.  So lets see what the UK ends up picking.



Looks like they are siding with the Ottomans here. So I will too.  Now I know what you're probably thinking.  "Why don't you just not pick a side and stay out of it?"  Well if you abstain from taking part and sit on the fence you lose prestige points.  Sit out of many crisis events and you'll lose a ton of them.  lose enough of them and you will no longer be a world power. So really you got to pick and chose your battles with these things.



Luckily this time Russia and France come to an agreement before war breaks out.





One way to stay out of the Crisis is to be too busy with another war. So lets invade Egypt!




We want Sinai so we can build the Suez Canal later (once we get all our techs).  This way when the land grab for Africa happens in the 1870s we have a staging area on East Africa and a faster way to the Indian and Pacific Ocean for later.

looks like our allies the UK and Denmark want in too.


The war is going a bit too well.  lets add some War Goals to get more Concessions.



Now when this is over we'll get Upper Egypt and Palestine too!

Time to take Jerusalem.




They call for peace.  Worked better than I expected.




I pretty much just consolidate my new territories and continue my original goals at the beginning of this part 2.  Near the end of the 50s I got bored again and decided to invade Johore.


I sent 2 fleets of transport ships with an army each to Conquer Johore and defeat their allies Atehj and Siam.






Muwhahaha Johore is mine!


Now again you must think me crazy traveling to the other side of the world and invading a small no name country near Singapore.  but the answer on why is really simple.  The gold!
Also the exotic lumber will help in making expensive furniture back in Germany.



 Not bad for 10 years. My literacy is up to 50 and growing.  Railroads and factories are springing up all over the place. I have 200 regiments and 4 navies with steam transport and war ships.  On top of all that I set up colonies in Egypt and Malaysia.  Now that Socialism is discovered, its only a matter of time before Socialist and Communist rebels start to pop up all over the world.  Thanks Denmark!

Thanks agin for reading and the comments. 

[de_la_Nae]

Oh Serbia~ It's like you know I want a Cassus belli.

[LeeC]

Oh Serbia~ It's like you know I want a Cassus belli.

Whats weird is we have good relations so high that I can't even try to set up a casus belli unless I deliberately spend a few months destroying the relations.  I'm just going to sphere them for now.

Part 3: The World's Aflame! The 1860s

Hallo everyone.  This installment will be a bit different in that I also will talk a little bit about some of the interesting things that has happened around the world from time to time too.  It has been a strange decade.  So what are the plans for this decade?  Well lets see where we are.


We are the Number 2 Super Power in the world.  We have a ton of cash.  About half of the population is literate.  We also have 180 out of a possible 229 regiments.  Those who are curious on how big my army is: 1 regiment = 3,000 men.  So right now I have 540,000 out of a possible 687,000 troops.  my navy is only 4 fleets.  2 fleets of 10 transport ships and 2 fleets of Commerce raiders (early steam ships).  It will round out to a score of 100 once the last Raider is built for my North fleet.

Last game I also invaded Egypt where, tech and inventions willing, I plan to build the Suez Canal.  I also took Johore.  One of the plans is to island hop from Johore to Brunei. Later in the game we want to colonize the unclaimed grey region.  Oil will eventually be discovered there and late game that will be essential, I marked it with a black spot.


Another plan is to take a chunk out of Sokoto in Africa.  We want to be close to the coastline so when Colonization begins in the 70s or 80s we can branch out and take the mineral rich central Africa for Super Germany.  The large expanse of grey in Africa is unclaimed territory which will be claimable when Europe carves up Africa in the 70s or 80s.



Being that we were busy with Egypt and Johore lets see whats going on in the world.

USA is in their civil war, right on schedule.

Sometimes the Super Powers will take notice and the UK would intervene to help permanently establish the CSA.  Wait what is Europe up to?





That tension bar is nearly 100%!  These are how nations fall!  Looks like a huge war between the Ottomans, UK, Belgium, Russia, and France for Greece again.  Only this time they're going to actually throw down. 


Yup called that. Glad Über Deutschland is staying out of this.

looks like Spain joined in too!




We'll just let themselves beat the living tar out of each other and watch from our new beachfront property in Johore.  Also start a Casus Belli to annex Brunei.


Whats this?!

Ha! Looks like Mexico is taking advantage of the ACW and declaring war on the USA while the USA is fighting the CSA!  Brilliant maneuver.  Hope it works out for you.

Lets finish our drinks its time for war!






Coming for the capital!


News is a bit late, I've conquered most of already




Lets see what the Newspaper has to say.


Wait what?! Sweden is a world power now and the Ottomans have fallen?  Remember earlier when I say those "Crisis Events" can topple empires? Where there you go.  Guess I'll sphere all my neighbors the Ottomans had in their pockets.  Could use some new minions.

Lets look at the pecking order:

Nice I made it to the #1 spot!  Congrats Sweden, welcome to the club.

Also thanks to some techs I can build some major national works!

The Kiel Canal!




and the Suez Canal




And yay we made the news!


Wow, looks like the USA won their war with Mexico and took some of their territories.  Guess that back fired on Mexico.

Looks like the socialists are starting to take hold in Germany...hmm...this may not be a good thing later.  I got a bad feeling about this.


So remember those dangerous Crisis Events that I have been trying to stay out of?  Well my finger Slipped and I unintentionally Lead one of them for a less than popular side.  With my old enemies on the opposing side.  Their combined military might is bigger than mine own and no one wants to back me up.  Sorry Ottomans but Greece can have West Macedonia (my girlfriend is not going to like this).


And to be a team player we will sign the Geneva Convention.


Such a peaceful thing to do.  I might loose some street cred for this.  Lets fix that.


Unfortunately Sokoto is not up against the coast.  I will have to drop the army straight into the jungle and they will have to navigate their way to Sokoto on their own.  Good Luck and enjoy the Safari.




Go gettem Lenny!


We made the main headline again for the first time in awhile!


Lenny was able to defeat their defending army in the Jungle and then capture the capital. I sat on Sokoto for awhile hoping the infamy score would drop enough for me to ask for more but alas I sat there for 2 years and it was going so slow so I asked just for the small southern portion so I can branch out towards the coast during colonization.  Who knows, after the truce period ends i may be able to take more from them.


Made the news.  as you look through all the papers I've been posting, there are a ton of revolutions going on. Ergo "The world is aflame!" title.


Somehow I lost the UK as my ally and they don't want to re-establish it.  the only ones who do is the USA and Belgium.  going to go with the USA here.  Also look at Belgium's flag! Looks like a revolution happened there too and they formed a new Belgium.


Lets just see how the USA has been doing what with that war with Mexico and the ACW.


Wow-wee!  Good job USA!

Getting closer to the end of the decade.  Then the famous (or infamous) Taiping Rebellion breaks out in China!


There's the Heavenly Kingdom .  Wonder how long they will last.  Its currently Aug 1868.

I didn't bother posting a picture but they lasted until November of 1868 before China squashed them.  Could have sworn it lasted longer in real life.  Easy come easy go I guess.

So in Summary lets see what we did.  We took Brunei and south Sokoto to prep for colonization.  I upgraded my military ports so I can make a larger navy and colonize later.  I also built 2 major Canals.  I am the number 1 super power, raised the literacy to 60% and raised my standing professional military to 280 regiments (840,000 troops!).  I took my new armies and posted them all along the Russian boarder and made some special divisions that specialize in assaults.  Just in case the Russians get rowdy.



thank you for reading!

[de_la_Nae]

I don't know if the 'Heavenly Kingdom' lasted very long, but didn't it take something like twenty years for China to put down all the rebellions that all that sparked? If I recall properly this is what led to them inviting the UK and some others in (which of course ended up being *such* a good idea).

[Akima]

The Heavenly Kingdom existed from 1851-1864, essentially collapsing with Hong Xiuquan's death. It took roughly another seven years after that to put down the continuing rebellions. Nobody really knows how many lives it cost;

And you do not recall properly. Far from being the cause of China "inviting in" the British, the Taiping Rebellion was substantially the result of the British smashing their way into China uninvited in the First Opium War (1839–1842), and other foreign imperialists from Europe and America riding in on their coat-tails in search of loot, souls to save, and a slice of the drug trade. Hong's variant Christianity was the product of the wave of evangelism that followed from Britain forcing China to admit foreign missionaries at gunpoint, and the conquests of the Heavenly Kingdom were widely praised in missionary circles at the time for their "blitz Christianisation" of China. That the Taipings routinely murdered everyone in the territory they controlled who refused to convert, didn't seem to bother anyone.

The nominally Christian imperialist powers eventually allied themselves with the non-Christian Qing, to put down the nominally Christian Heavenly Kingdom, mainly because the disruption of trade was hurting their profits, and they were afraid that if the Taipings succeeded in toppling the Qing government, they might repudiate the Unequal Treaties.

[de_la_Nae]

Thank you for the correction. I had it in my head that at one point a weakened Qing government gave in to pressure and handed the British an unfortunate opportunity.

[Masterpiece]

Yay Christian imperialism!

[GarandMarine]

Just for the record, I directly credit Akima for passing a couple questions on Chinese culture and history on one of the practice exams for the Foreign Service Officer's Test. If I actually end up as a U.S. diplomat by some cruel twist of fate by a clearly insane god, I'll be even more in her debt.

[cesium133]

This sounds like an interesting game. What's the learning curve like on it? I keep finding games like this that sound really interesting, getting crushed on the first attempt, then never finding the time to actually learn to play the game correctly...

[LeeC]

Yeah I did a lot of research on the Taiping Rebellion way back when.  It was fascinating.  Hong even invited an American priest (if I remember correctly) to the Heavenly Kingdom in an attempt for the Westerner to endorse, legitimize their new brand of Christianity.  The priest was more horrified at how they treated their "flock" than anything.

This sounds like an interesting game. What's the learning curve like on it? I keep finding games like this that sound really interesting, getting crushed on the first attempt, then never finding the time to actually learn to play the game correctly...

Its fairly easy to get into IMHO.  I feel like Europa Universalis 4 and Crusader Kings 2 was too complicated in comparison and I couldn't get into them the way I did with Vic 2.  Honestly I feel like if you pick a fun or interesting country to play as to learn you will learn a ton.  The first country I played as was USA, somehow totally forgetting about the ACW until 20years into playing.  Japan is fun to learn because you have to westernize so basically you are starting from scratch.  China is a bit slow to westernize but when you do you can jump to the top of the global pecking order like a boss.  France is another great one to start because you have a decent military, colonial prospects, and a budding industry.

[Akima]

Heh... Perhaps I should give it a try and see what Empress Akima can do with a modernising regime in China. It would be pretty ahistorical, however.

One of the catastrophes of 19th century China was that there was no figure like the Meiji Emperor around which reforming forces could coalesce. The ethnic division between rulers and ruled in China at the time did not help either. Short of a violent revolution, the only feasible candidates would have been Manchu, and a substantial reason why the Qing court was so profoundly conservative is that they knew that the great mass of the Chinese people still hated them as barbarian foreign invaders. Industrialisation and military modernisation would necessarily have placed much greater power in the hands of the huge Han majority, and probably brought down the Qing Dynasty, as it eventually did in 1911.

[cesium133]

Looking at the game on Steam, is the expansion pack collection worth the extra $20, or should I just get the game itself?

[LeeC]

Looking at the game on Steam, is the expansion pack collection worth the extra $20, or should I just get the game itself?

Vanilla I feel is more complicated or ties your hands a bit.  The one I am using is with all the DLC (House divided and heart of darkness, heart of darkness being super amazing thus far).  There is also multiplayer if you wish to team up with some friends and carve up the world.

It would be pretty ahistorical, however.

Honestly that's the fun with this game, being ahistorical!  Hell I am playing as Germany and I own Jerusalem.  If I tech properly I can get an event to open Jerusalem back to the displaced Jews that live in Germany.

One of the catastrophes of 19th century China was that there was no figure like the Meiji Emperor around which reforming forces could coalesce.

Too true and it is actually part of this game too.  Its why the Japanese can westernize a bit faster than China, but if you know what you are doing you can westernize China quite earlier.

My biggest issue playing as China was fulfilling enough jobs after industrialization, and the extremely low literacy of China.  But that was back in Vanilla, I have not played them in Heart of Darkness much.  They split China up in 4-5 Puppet states that act like huge minions to China.

[LeeC]

*Bonus-Old Footage*
This is from an old saved game from a year or so ago just to show you how ahistorically fun it can be.  I was playing the USA. There was a communist rebellion and I learned that day that if rebels take your capital they change your government.  Even though I would have won with the USA troops!  This is the very next day after the revolution.  You'll notice the United States of America is now the American People's Republic.  So that's a thing.

Not only do I have the normal Continental States, but I also have Haiti.


A little more than the historical Alaska too.


Then there was this little side project with Africa.


Our government


An army division in Africa.


A flotilla near Norfolk Va.

[LeeC]

Part 4: Colonizations Galore!  1870-1882

Hallo again everyone!

This session is going to be focusing on Colonization (if the title didn't give it away).  This was a huge fad of old timey times and we are going to take full advantage of it! Colonization helps bring in raw materials for your industry to convert to products and war materials.  They also supply populations to add to your war machine by raising colonial troops to help fight in wars.  To colonize you must have the 3 required inventions (which randomly spawn after you research the techs) and the final tech usually doesn't unlock until the early 1870s.  Once it does its a large land grab.  You'll notice in the picture below I have a red circle on the left near the top.  That is your colony points which are required to claim territories.  The higher it is, the more claims you can make.  It is also important for when you and another nation (or nations) try to claim the same place.  You can then try to outbid them for the territory.  Usually you make a claim and if some one else does as well, you add another claim on top of it.  If they keep matching you point for point it can last a very long time and tie up your points which may be useful elsewhere.  Now how do you get points?  The circle on the right is your navy score.  Opening and upgrading military ports and having tons of warships affect your colony points.  The more you have, the more colony points you will have.  There are also some techs that help too.  During this playthrough I will be building war ships a plenty and opening/upgrading ports all over.  You can only build 1 port per region so you do have a limited amount of military ports you can build.



The Plan:
So this session we are going to build up our navy and when colonization unlocks we are going to go for Borneo and Africa.

We're going after these 2 regions in Borneo.  The lower region has oil (black spot) later and we will need that in late game.


As for Afrika, we are going to make a German "belt" connecting east and west Afrika and also head north to try and get close to our middle eastern territories.  Central Afrika has plenty of cotton (for textile industries) iron and coal (metal and war industries), fruit-grain-livestock (food and drink industry), and a high population to recruit troops from.


So lets get started!


We start with a proposition from the Royal Geography Society asking for us to send explorers up the Nile.  Sure why not.  Its a shot at prestige and prestige is everything in this game.


We may be the #1 great power in the world but our prestige is pretty shit (4th place!).  So we'll go in with the UK on this upcoming crisis.  If we can scare the opposition enough to avoid the war we can gain another 30 prestige.


Which after Germany and Spain join the UK, France gives up the crisis.

An interesting newspaper clipping to start off with in 1871.




While we wait for this invention to kick off colonization Ill take some time to go over my 2 army composition.
Below is an example of one of my Assault Divisions.

The Red Box= Cavalry which has reconnaissance and high maneuverability.  The maneuverability will help outflank enemy infantry in an even fight.  Recon helps with conquering territories faster.
The Yellow Box=Artillery.  with the right technologies these things can support your infantry giving them a huge attack bonus and damaging enemy infantry as well.
The Blue Box=Guards.  These elite troops are just upgraded versions of infantry in vanilla game, but in our DLC (Heart of Darkness) they have less defense capabilities than normal infantry but better attacking stats.  they are pretty much storm trooper regiments.
The Green Box=Engineers.  These troops help negate fortifications in a territory that provides bonuses to defenders.  If the army it is attached to find themselves in a defensive battle they provide a bonus.
The Purple Box=Infantry.  The standard troop type with a bonus to defense.  Excellent for holding territories.


My assault divisions have Guards to help attack enemy infantry.  My normal armies do without the guards as guards are expensive and can only be recruited from my north and south German populations (all other cultures cannot become guards). In late game guards and cavalry get replaced by more advanced units so they will get replaced eventually.

An example of my standard defensive army.


January 1st 1873 rolls by and we finally get our last invention to start colonization!




Here's a look at how many points I have and how much it costs to claim a territory.  The little houses symbol shows colonization and the number next to it is the amount of claims one has to that territory.




While we are messing with Borneo, the USA seems to have their own brand of imperialism...


Netherlands quit Borneo rather quickly.  Usually they put up a big fight.


It is still 1873.  Now that Borneo is taken care of, lets focus on Africa.  We branched out from our tiny spot we took from Sokoto and was able to colonize the shore.  Now we are going to spread out in all directions (red), build some military ports (yellow), and if we can, declare war on Sokoto for more territories and spread out from there too (purple).


About a year later we have branched out of Benin and are still spreading out.  We also took a tiny province in East Afrika (orange) and tried to simultaneously take Somalia but Italy keeps matching us bid for bid, tying up our colony points.  Spain is starting to colonize toward the south and we are coming to meet them (dark red).


Near the end of the year we also declare war on Sokoto!


We have too much infamy to risk an out and out conquest of it so we are demanding 2 regions instead.

A month goes by and we now have an interesting event!


Hope the circus has clowns.


Eventually Sokoto submits to our demands.


Time to spread out again.  Still tied up with Italy in the east and now getting caught up with Spain in the center.  Spreading out every other direction I can.


Another year goes by and we do expand.  Still caught up with Italy and Spain, but now France is trying to claim north of Sokoto (Blue) and France and Uk are duking it out for west of my territories (purple). Meanwhile we march eastward.


Another year goes by and we finally outbid Italy for Somalia.  Its a stalemate with France and Spain still but we start to close the gap with Spain in the east.


A closer look at the bidding war.


During 1877 another historical event happens in China.


If they are not careful, this revolt can give a Casus Belli to the top 8 world powers to annex bits of China!


We could potentially take some of China but that would take away some colony points to manage the new property.  Back in Africa my Colony Points are stretched to the limit.  I have to pull out my colonials that are trying to out maneuver the french (red X) and re-allocate them to deal with the Spanish (red circles).  This will give that northern region to France but the ones I'm fighting Spain over are more valuable.  Meanwhile Spain tries to out flank and grab territories towards its east.


After another year of biding I was able to get 1 of the 2 regions Spain was challenging me for.  Now with an increase of colony points from finishing that claim and building a large navy and ports I start to grab what I can in the east and head north.  I am thinking at some point of taking the last of Egypt from the Egyptians (blue) but that will have to wait until my infamy goes down.  Still biding with Spain for the last one in the center.


It'll take until late 1881 until I finally wrestle that region from Spain and close up the gaps!


I also grabbed a few Pacific island chains while I waited this one out.  That was tough and required a lot of focus.


Lets see how China did after that Boxer Rebellion.

Looks like Russia busted down the door and took up residence.

Well we were able to hit each of our goals!  Just to show you the difference in the world:
Before (1870):


Now (1882)


I hope you all enjoyed this installment.  Thank you for reading.

[LeeC]

Part 5: Walk like an Egyptian.  1882-1885

Today's episode is only going to be 3 years time span.  I took screenshots of up to 1890 but just too many things happened that I've decided to split them up into 2 parts.  I even had to delete some for this time span (penal colonies, Russia burning down The Summer Palace, and newspaper clippings and war correspondences from around the world, etc).  I hope you all enjoy these 3 years! 

Where we are so far:
So far we made first superpower status by having an awesome military score and great industry.



We also gobbled up a huge chunk of Africa with a few annexation wars thrown in.  I also started building African armies, and increasing Africa's literacy.  Need to close those gaps by finishing off Sokoto and putting Egypt out of their misery.


Germany was able to colonize most of Borneo to get some sweet sweet oil in the 1880s when it gets discovered.


Germany has a ton of scripted events if you can meet the requirements.  Other than expansionism we also want to pass these reforms through decisions.  They will help us with prestige and in this game prestige is everything.


So there are our goals for the 1880s.  Close up the gaps in Africa, get decisions, and gain as much prestige as we can!  Let us begin!

1882:
Hardly a month goes by before a new decision shows up out of no-where!


Archeology in the Valley of the Kings? Lets do it!


Speaking of Egypt, its been awhile since we talked to them.  Lets invite ourselves over for a visit.




Sorry, not today Beni.

Leading the charge in the south with his Egyptian Colonial Army is the Venerable General Jurgen von Richthofen (why does Richthofen sound familiar?).


Meanwhile in the north the Suez Colonial Security Force crashes into Cairo, Commanded by General Erich Krohn


The Suez Navy blockades Alexandria waiting for the under-equipped Egyptian Navy to come out!  The war lasts a few short months before Egypt surrenders!




Near the end of the year I finish my research on Steel Steamers, unlocking a new Naval Decision.




In the Navy!


1883:
We open the new year with some performing arts development for the German people.


We also make the news about our war with Egypt, several months after the war ended.  Also some interesting snippets.


No rest for us, lets start a Cassus Belli for the rest of Sokoto!


Some more news:


Just a snippet but back then this was a huge deal.  people were talking about it for months and for many in the pacific the sun was plotted out for a time.  Totally worth looking up.  For posterity sake lets see a before and after of this island:




Back to more German concerns...




The war lasts several months.  Not because the Sokotans gave me trouble, but because I couldn't find their last province.  Its hard to tell what area you've conquered when your color is grey and so is the enemy.  Eventually I find the blank space but not before the new year.

1884:


We got a pretty nice looking German Africa.


In no time at all we change our education system thanks to the Krupp Decision.




It's going to be awhile until the next decision but what am I suppose to do in the meantime?


You know...Ethiopia seems pretty big for itself...


Splendid!  I hope they put up a fight.


Unfortunately they peaked early and I steam rolled them in less than a month.




Ah, everything coming up Germany...

...Shit




Ah well.

By the end of 1884 I have unlocked another decision.




That's it for this episode but stay tuned next time for another war.  Here is a teaser for you history buffs...


Thank you for reading!
 

[de_la_Nae]

Still following, thanks for the update!

[Masterpiece]

Great read, as always.

[KingOfIreland]

Nice!

This is infinitely better than my attempt at a pacific Japanese empire.

I started by annexing the entirety of Korea and took over half of China before Russia started beating the shit out of me in wars of containment, after which those dastardly British took half of Japan.

[LeeC]

Part 6: Rise of Polandball  1885-1890.

Hallo ladies and gentlemen.  Thought I forgot about this didn't ya?  Work has been rough the pass few weeks but it's time to put up part 2 of the 1880s.  The amount of stuff in this episode combined with last ones will show why I had to split the decade.  As we left off I was reorganizing my navy, expanding like crazy, decisions and reforms thrown everywhere, and got an Egyptian curse!  Well its time for the curse to come to fruition.  I got roped into a crisis so I wouldn't lose my prestige as I'm trying to get top spot as super power.  I threw my lot in with the UK as they stood up for Polish Independence. Italy threw their lot in with Russia, defending Russia's claim on the region.  If Poland comes into existence, I will have a smaller front with Russia, making things easier to defend, and able to throw my armies elsewhere.  So the heat is on.  Meanwhile Über Deutschland is #1 in military and industry in the world!



I was hoping to scare the Russians and Italians into a peace, but come June of 1885 the Neutral Swiss decided to throw their lot in with them, increasing tensions.





Tensions grow and by early September the glorious Dutch side with us.  So much for trying to avoid war and just scaring the Russians to submit.  They really want to hold onto Poland.



Sept 26 1885: The war of Polish Liberation begins!
Though our military score is exceptionally higher than theirs, Russia's will skyrocket once they mobilize their peasants.  And the Swiss mountains gives a huge negative modifier for invaders.


To war!


One of my first moves is to request military access through the Ottoman Empire so my African troops can invade Italian Africa.


Due to the under-developed-ness of Italian Africa it takes a long time for them to invade, UK pretty much beats me there.

The Eastern Front.


My navy of 10 Commerce raiders engages Russia's in the Baltic.  It's pretty even fight.  The UK and Dutch forces, though late, show up to help with the invasion of Russia.  If I take the contested area (where Poland would be) our war score will skyrocket.  Same with the enemy Capital regions.

Also woo hoo #1 in everything!

The Southern Front:


I moved all of my armies guarding the French borders to engage the Swiss and try to crush their army.  I take heavy loses, but I must crush their army and take their capital.  My navy comes out of the woodwork all over the world to defeat the Italian Navy and blockade all their ports.  I am the only Nation in the world with modern battleships and smack their navy into oblivion.

I invade Italy with my border armies but they find gaps in my line and make it into Germany.  I mobilize my citizens and institute a draft.  Having the muster point in Bozen as the citizenry trains and prepares for war.  They will crush any Italians that made it into Germany, while my professional forces take Italy.  This will be the bloodiest theater in the war.


The War as of December 1885.




The battleships and cruisers I want to build take fuel made from oil, but unfortunately I have to import them as I have none...


Until now.  My Borneo Colony discovers oil in one of their provinces!  During the war I will begin building refineries to convert the oil to fuel.

This news reminded me that Russia has bits of China under their thumb.  I decide then to take my Borneo Army and send them to mess with it and destabilize the region.


This will end disastrously as my fleet of 10 transport ships get annihilated by Russia's, stranding and starving the army in China.

1886 rolls in and I initiate phase 2 of my war plan. 

Southern Front:
The Swiss Divisions crumble under my forces and retreat.  I have to chase them down and end them before they get re-enforced.  My conscripts crush the invading Italian forces but take heavy loses in the Alps.  They take back what the Italians conquered and move into Italy to crush them.  The rest of my forces will sweep in and move down the boot of Italy toward the Capital.


Eastern Front:
The Russians buckle underneath my forces.  Their conscripts are mustering closer to the interior while my coalition forces move in and take the Polish region.  The next idea is to sweep inward conquering the highly populated regions, thus cutting off his supply of conscripts.  I also need to sweep upwards toward St. Petersburg and southwards to the Crimea, cutting off their trade routes. Meanwhile one of my Divisions double backs and crushes the Russian army that suck through a gap in my lines.



I am pretty much marching into Russia unopposed at this point.



And more oil, this time its in Austria! It is also the largest area with oil at this time.


After approaching the outskirts of Rome and St. Petersburg, as well as crushing the Swiss, the war leaders UK and Russia declare peace!







Now with the war over, its time to send the conscripts home and replace lost regiments in my divisions.  And now with my own oil boom, rework the navy (again) with each fleet being 5 battleships, 10 cruisers, 5 commerce raiders, and 10 steam transports.  I will not have the transports left out in the open again like in the Sea of Japan.

The state of the world powers at this point.


Not only am I top dog in everything, I have a major amount of points that the closest competitor is 500 points way from me.  That's a huge lead!


More oil in the Borneo colony!


And the colonies are being very profitable!


Here is a look at the only battleships in the world.  I love that the game names all the ships too!


Meanwhile around the world:
Russia somehow was able to colonize a bit of Canada! Oh those sneaky Russians!


The Dutch and UK keep messing with my influence over Atjeh.  Its become so annoying that I decide to establish a cassus belli to take it.



More revolution in China!




We are just flying through 1887 and 1888!



You're going down Atjeh!




The war lasts less than a month!


More grey in the Malaysian area!


Dat German Asia!


Poland is getting a bit greedy and started a war with Russia!


I somehow lost my ally again so I decide to ally again with the UK.


Never know when their navy will come in handy.

It is time to sign a new decision/declaration!




Yes I made it so the Jewish population in all of Germany can move back to their ancestral home.  It has been a thousand plus years since their exile from Rome!

Hell if I decide to I could release Israel as a state!


If my prestige gets bad or if I want to on a whim I can release them and be their older brother and protect them from their neighbors.  Bet you were not expecting this from Germany.  This is Über Deutschland!  Where all my subjects (yes even the colonial natives) are considered German!

The state of the world as of 1890:


Still a glorious lead as the most powerful nation in the world!

I hope you all enjoyed this installment.  Any suggestion on whether to release Israel or how I should move forward?  We are closing into late game territory where world wars can break out and literally bring down empires, worse than you've seen thus far!

Thanks again for reading!

[maxusy3k]

Thanks for these. I'm really enjoying following them even though I don't have much interest in these types of games myself (combination of laziness and ignorance prohibits accessibility).

[Zebediah]

This actually inspired me to download Vic2 and start playing it myself. I've played most Paradox games but I didn't pick up V2 because I didn't find V1 that enjoyable. But V2 is much improved. My first game I took Spain and ran it into the ground. Doing much better in my second game as China - once you get China westernized, Great Power status is all but assured.

[LeeC]

Part 7: Revolution and Women's Suffrage: The Gay 1890s

Hallo ladies and gentleman. I know its been some time since my last update.  I took the footage nearly a month ago but things got so busy!  Now we're back with part 7! More war, decisions, events, and crisis!  As soon as I start 1890 a new game changer happened!



Great Wars occur whenever 2 Super Powers are at war with 2 others.  Once this happens anyone in the war can make demands for land, money, humiliation, etc.  If you thought the crisis stuff was bad, it was just the tip of the iceberg.  If I get in a Great War with the UK I can demand Welsh independence, or with France I could demand Normandy, or with Spain their colonies in the Philippines!  Of course with large requests like those you have to be A) the war leader to make that happen in the peace talks, and B) Annihilate and conquer 100% of the enemy.  In doing so you make the enemy weak after the war, making them easy targets for revolutions to pop up and take over the country.  Especially Communist and later Fascist revolts.

So to better prepare for an inevitable Great War, I aim to take more territory, recruit more colonial troops, and modernizing the navy with better military ports and several powerful fleets.  Crisis will pop up and could initiate a GW easily, so its best to pay attention to them when they crop up, as well strengthening my military with tech, inventions, and better units when they become available. Its also getting to the point where revolts will start springing up for nearly any reasons.  Whether its the Communists, Serbian nationalists, or better healthcare, I cannot leave my borders unattended nor my military small.  With large nations come large militaries, as well as large revolts!

So lets spin the wheel and get the gay 90s into gear!




Other than this bit of news, 1890 was pretty quiet. 1891 on the other hand...whats that I hear?


The women suffrage movement is starting in Germany!


If only my government had more liberals (or socialists) in Parliament, then I could. I believe one of those 2 factions need to make up at least 30% of the government.  Lets look shall we.


Close but no cigar.  And whats this?! The German Communists have 283 regiments trained?!  I am just around 330 myself.  If they break into a revolt its going to be bloody! I don't get it, taxes are low and I've been instituting worker regulations and safety but damn if that's not a lot of discontented people!

Lets continue our dissection of Ethiopia and wait for this to blow over.


Time to charge in!


We're going to come in from all sides and do as much damage as we can to their armies.  That way the next time we declare war on Ethiopia, we can annex the rest (they are considered too big to annex at this point).






Its not long before Ethiopia's ally, Hedjaz, also joins the fight.  I send my navy to set up a blockade to prevent ships from dropping off his troops.  in the meantime my Suez Canal force will strike southward from Israel.


Hedjaz was able to land a dozen regiments on Djibuti before the blockade was in place (I smashed the ships right after the troops landed).  I recalled the 3rd Colonial Afrika Crops to crush his army.


With their armies crushed, Ethiopia and Hedjaz plead for peace and submit to my demands.




After the war I decided to check on those communists.


I have 360 regiments to his 399!?!


and to fuel the discontent another rally for suffrage.


The New Years Eve Revolution, 1892




The Red/Black flags are the rebels.


My armies are better equipped and battle hardened.  I set all of them to auto-stomp out rebellion.  Leaving only The Old Guard to defend the capital (once they but down the rebels there).  This rebellions swings the upper house of government to 36% Liberal.  While the nation is embroiled in a communist revolution, HM government signs into law, that women have the right to vote!





The rebellion lasts from Dec 31st 1892 until April 1st 1893.  4 of my Regiments are destroyed.  I set out on replenishing my existing armies and building more.


Even with the rebellion we are still holding a commanding lead over the other nations in prestige, industry, and military.


Italy starts a crisis wanting Poland to establish Ukraine. UK, France, and Germany disagree.  I doubt Italy could stand our combined might.


Meanwhile, in better news, an Olympic committee is forming!  I gladly send some funds to help finance this idea and join the committee.  Perhaps one day in the future we can host it too, bringing more prestige!


By October the Russians join in the crisis on the side of Italy! We may very well get our Great War!


It looks like the only reason Russia did is because they want to also humiliate UK.  Italy, the Crisis leader, adds up the military of his and Russia, along with UK, France, Germany, and the Netherlands.  After this simple arithmetic he chooses to back down. Ah well, would have been for an interesting war.  Lord knows I'd have request Sicily as a war goal if it did.


1894 was quite exciting too. We invented not only the automobile but the automobile factory as well!  Also our colonies start to become very popular and many people start to immigrate to them for work and fortune.  We even discover some rubber in the colonies to assist with the budding automobile industry.






Our lead is nearly 1 thousand ahead of the number 2 world power!


I am still trying to figure out how to expand the accepted culture in my country to more then Northern and Southern German.  It may help with keeping down the rebellions.


Oh shit I said the "R" word!


This one is not nearly as numerous as the New Year Eve Revolution and only lasts about a month before being quashed.


And of course Greece is making demands again!




They get nothing! Haha!


After all these wars, rebellions, and politics.  Its time for some R&R. Anybody for tennis, running a marathon, swimming, or jumping high?




We apparently did well too!


We even discover flight and develop the airplane and the Areoplane factory!




No wonder we're number one in industry, we're the only ones making the most technologically advanced equipment and materials!


Well play time is over.  Its about time we finished eating Ethiopia!




In just under a month its mine!


The rest of the century plays out peacefully with Greece trying to demand more land but getting nothing.  We also discover a mummy and the North Pole (after 3 expeditions!).




And we end this part with the beginning of our research into bolt action rifles.  When ever 1900 rolls around I immediately begin researching it.  Not only for the unit benefits, but your army gets an appearance change too (I know, its a stupid thing to care about but dammit its pretty cool when all your units look different after staring at the same ones for 64 years!).


Well I hoped you enjoyed the 1890s and thanks again for reading!

[LeeC]

Lately I've been wondering if I should record a session or 2 with commentary to finish this series. The pro is I can finish faster, the con is the highlights blogs I've been doing are easier for people to go through quickly and not have to watch a 30min video.
 

[Masterpiece]

[de_la_Nae]

Does it live?

[LeeC]

Sorry, been busy what with the engagement and planning and stuff.  I havn't had the time to sit down and start the 20th century yet.    But I wll have time this week so expect it by this weekend sometime. 

[LeeC]

About a month ago I recorded a very rough draft.

3 Things:
1)I need to figure out how to get the cursor to show up in the recording

2)Need to figure out why it took so long to become HD.  When I first uploaded it was only in SD even though I recorded it in HD.

3)Need to continue messing with my microphone and practice my cadence and slow down.

Again a very rough draft but its something to at least get some feedback.

[de_la_Nae]

No worries, mate.

One thing that I learned doing politicking over the phone was that, yeah, it's pretty easy to talk faster than you think you are over the phone/mike. I just took some samples from your video, though, and you didn't do badly at all.

[LeeC]

I made a second recording to just work some things out, like file format for better uploads and getting the damn cursor to show up in game.  I may not sound very enthusiastic as I've spent all day with food poisoning. 

If I don't hear any feedback I'll just stick with the old screenshot format. 

[de_la_Nae]

 

[Tea For The Tillerman]

This thread is amazing.

Some feedback: I can't really say if I'll like the new format, as you're not really showing any progress - the Gün thing about this thread is the entire process of "I have a plan-this is how I'll do it-this is how they react-oh, weird random thing here-more reactionary stuff here-witty image caption-repeat". If you manage to pull that stuff off in video format, go ahead...