More like Vidbyebye...
@nimic Where am I?
This is much harder than Where's WallyAh, I hoped someone would engage our first game of Where's Shakesey.
You're one one of the maps, I promise.
This is much harder than Where's Wally
Hope it's not too late but, having seen the updates, I'm no longer interested in war with @Solius
I'll even concede that paella is better than risotto, and jamón is superior to prosciutto (as much as it hurts).
Friends?
I'll give you a hint. It's a Saint.
YesSt Helena? Have they exiled him like Napoleon?
Will my “fine horse breeding” end up being the secret sauce that gets this thing done for me? Should we hang “help wanted” signs to get more bodies in uniform?1602 Country Updates - part 1 (click to expand)
We begin with @AnotherLondonManc, who is beginning to be a little bit afraid of @Solius. Perhaps he should be, since he no longer has @RedSky for an ally to calm the warmongering Iberian down. He's now effectively squeezed in between Solius and @Wing Attack Plan R, which might explain why he's started mimicking his friend @Organic Potatoes and is currently attacking some poor South Americans. King Ranerio AnotherLondonManc is calm, and inspiring leader and expansionist. Prediction: He's going to find himself in a war with Solius pretty soon, since they no longer have an ally in common to stop them.
Next up is someone who is on the up and up, @BootsyCollins. He did pretty much nothing of note for a hundred years, but since then he's been attacking in all directions, and usually winning. This time the Finns are the ones colonizing Sweden, as @Vidyoyo discovered to his great surprise. He's still supporting the independence of @PSV, but PSV doesn't appear interested in acting on it. Bootsy is in a war to mop up the actual Swedes right now. Queen Regent Helen Aminoff is tolerant. Prediction: Having finished with Vidyoyo, he's going to keep attacking @Salt Bailly and their Nogai eastern neighbour.
Fittingly, the next person is the one person who might help @Salt Bailly deflect the unwelcome advances of @BootsyCollins. @hobbers is still big, but he has slowed down a bit. He no longer has any very obvious targets, all his neighbours being either pretty strong or allied (Tiber, who is still in a personal union under him). He's actually started expanding east of Tiber, which feels like should be Tiber's thing. King Daniel Hobbers is an obsessive perfectionist (which genuinely means they try to avoid ugly borders), and a fierce negotiator. Prediction: hobbers is going to fight Walrus and successfully claim Anatolia.
For the next person I actually had to take a ludicrously zoomed out screenshot. And this is still only half the world, god help us if @Organic Potatoes ever decides to colonize Asia. Which he kinda already is, as you can very barely see by the green-coloured islands in the Pacific. He has actually lost a few wars, but nobody is really successfully invading his home islands, and nobody is really in any position to take his colonies. Some countries are trying to contest South America, but he's got an incredible head start, and he even took the colonies from a pretender earlier. High Queen Finneacht Eboue is fertile. Prediction: Organic Potatoes is going to snowball as long as they can stay out of a dumb war with Solius.
Next up we've got @PSV, who hasn't had much luck this game so far. They're still alive, which is more than we can say for 5 other people (and two more only have a single province). They have no allies, except for @Salt Bailly who still rule them in a personal union, but the purple on the map signifies someone who supports their independence, and would join a war to make them free. They should probably do something soon, because if @Salt Bailly gets stronger compared to PSV then there's a chance they could inherit the entirety of PSV on the death of a monarch. Prediction: At some point Salt Bailly is going to be weak enough for PSV to strike, but they might lose the war.
Speaking of the devil, it's @Salt Bailly next. He's reasonably big still, but lately he has been targeted by @Samid and @BootsyCollins to an unhealthy degree. He's got a powerful friend in hobbers, so it's unclear why he doesn't use that to strike back. Grand Kniaz Innokentiy I Hobbers is a craven and a naive enthusiast. Not great. Prediction: he's going to continue getting picked on by @Samid and @BootsyCollins, particularly the latter turning into something of a beast. BeastyCollins.
@Solius then. Our current beast. He's completely driven @Shakesey out of Northern Africa, with some help from @BD (and @AnotherLondonManc, inadvertently). Probably he's going to continue further down into West Africa, where he might clash with @Organic Potatoes and/or @SilentWitness. He's not much for colonizing, but he's giving it a go South America. He's got the largest army, the largest fleet and the most income. If he wasn't allied to @BD and @RedSky I would fear for their safety. King Gutierre Redsky (yes, Redsky) is not a very impressive ruler, but at least he's fertile. Prediction: he's going to conquer all of West Africa, taking it from other Europeans if he has to.
Next up we have @Walrus. He spoke earlier about having a buffer state between himself and the scary Timurids to his east, but now they're pretty much finishing up devouring that buffer state together. He's got some pretty intimidating neighbours in @hobbers and @Wing Attack Plan R, but at least unlike hobbers he hasn't really slowed down. It's also possible Wing Attack Plan R is going to be too busy in Africa to effectively deal with Walrus Sultan Ayaz von Walrus is a tactical genius and a conqueror, which fits pretty damn well with his 6 military skill. Prediction: Further wars with Wing Attack Plan R, pushing down into Arabia.
@Wing Attack Plan R is another person for whom I had to zoom out quite a lot. At least he has a very vertical empire, which makes it easier to capture. He has almost finished conquering Ethiopia, and the opponents don't get really get any more difficult the further south he goes. Despite his gargantuan empire he's not as strong as he looks, since he lacks strong allies and has bled out his armies. He currently only has 29 000 men under arms, as you can see to the left of his ideas in the screenshot. He has a "force limit" of 120, which means he could support 120 000, but he also has basically no manpower to turn into armies. And that takes a while to return. On top of that, he's falling dangerously far behind the Christians in technology. Sultan Bashar Wing Attack Plan R is fertile and midas touched. Prediction: He's going to carry on conquering his way down Africa, but might be in trouble with @Walrus and @AnotherLondonManc up north.
So as far as I can work out then, me, Solius and ALM are all enemies with each other?
I haven't played this sort of strategy games in decades (literally) and don't know this one at all, so apologies if this seems like a question of the 90s or early 2000s - but does this game generally end with some humongous states (like, at the end, there's just Solius, Organic Potatoes, BootsyCollins, and Wing Attack Plan R left, who've divided Europe and the colonized world between them), or is it rather more or less trying to emulate real history, and can we expect giant states to split up, leading to something similar to Europe's current map of (relatively) small and geographically unified countries?
Basically I'm wondering if this will lead to tasty giant showdowns or will just remain a confused mess until the end.
Great stuff. Thanks @nimic!
1602 Country Updates - part 2 (click to expand)
Let's begin the second part with someone who looked like they were in trouble, but have spectacularly rebounded: @Abizzz. They lost a war earlier to @adexkola (as you can tell by the green stripes, lost provinces), but after that they went very aggressive, particularly against poor @Dr. Dwayne (who is still hanging on). They have a really stupidly shaped country, but nobody's perfect. They're also one of the high profile Reformed countries, which could be interesting for a future Religious War in the Empire. Dutchess Leni de Abizzz has unimpressive stats but good traits: martial educator, well connected and architectural visionary. Prediction: they're going to continue expanding. If they can hang on to their allies they'll be successful, but if they lose @Eboue in particular they are going to get smacked down by @adexkola again.
@altodevil was another of the mostly inactive countries, but lately he seems to have gained some confidence. Isn't it nice to see the kids grow up? In this case he grew all the way into @Welsh Wonder's territory. He's also got some nascent attempts at colonization in the Americas, which we might see more of in the next update. altodevil is currently gathering a coalition of countries with dumb shapes. His pretty competent King Angus de Abizzz (yes, de Abizzz) is both midas touched and a tactical genius. Prediction: he's going to continue squeezing Welsh Wonder out of Britain.
@BD is our third country to pick the Exploration idea, and he's currently busy making his mark in Africa. In addition to the Cape colony he has established (no doubt to carry on into Asia), he's gradually conquering the African power of Kongo. And there is more to conquer after that. He's not really involving himself in any European conflicts, which is probably a good idea with his mostly peaceful idea set. Mathilda da Lencastre is a craven, but young Filipe BD is soon old enough to take the throne. Prediction: He's going to dominate Southern Africa and maybe even head to India once he's properly rounded the Horn.
@Igor Drefljak is pretty much just historical Norway at this point. His German possessions were first to go, and his Danish possessions were taken from him by the @adexkola-led vultures. He's got a decent relationship with @BootsyCollins, who has even guaranteed his independence. Maybe with views to take Igor for himself later, one suspects. Igor is a bit behind in ideas, but has barely dipped his toe into the colonialism-water. If BootsyCollins turns on him he's not going to last for long, though he has a pretty good ally in @altodevil. Queen Ulfhildr is righteous, kind hearted and a free thinker. Pretty strong! Prediction: @BootsyCollins is going to make him one of the next 3-4 to leave us.
@P-Nut is just happy to be here. He's not one for conquest or colonization yet, though as technology advances he'll find it easier to reach the New World. What he does have is a very solid set of ideas, and a very solid set of allies. King Enrico is strict, and has the militarist AI personality (the axe), so if I were him I would aim myself at @V.O. if brave, maybe Switzerland/Geneva if not. Prediction: he's going to attack Switzerland.
Look at @RedSky and his ridiculous colonial empire, forcing me to center the screenshot in the middle of the Atlantic. That blue-green colour you can see in America means it's part of one of his colonial nations. So far he's the only one other than @Organic Potatoes who has any. He's still allied to @Solius, but it seems like @AnotherLondonManc was dropped (or dropped him) at some point. In any case RedSky should be happy to see that he's well caught up with his ideas. It probably helps that King Alain Redsky is a 3-5-6 ruler, with the lawgiver and tactical genius traits. As you can tell by the map he has lots of claims on @Eboue, but he might want to ignore those and just keep building a colonial empire. Prediction: he's going to be the premier power in North America.
@Samid looks sort of samey to what he looked like at the beginning, but he has actually expanded. He found a successful relationship with @BootsyCollins, which has so far been particularly effective at taking small chunks off @PSV and @Salt Bailly. He might also feel tempted to expand west into Germany, after @Dr. Dwayne has been beaten to within an inch of his life and is no longer a protector of Prussia (formerly Teutons). Margarita Kesgaila is a pretty poor regent, but the 4-4-6 Girdenis Samid is just a year or two from taking over. Prediction: he's going to continue nibbling on PSV and Salt Bailly, and maybe finish PSV completely.
@SilentWitness still has his strip of European land after @Eboue came visiting, but at this point he's almost more of a West African nation. At least in pure size, though it bears remembering that he's put quite an effort into expanding the development of his home provinces. He's wisely allied @Solius, particularly given the fact that Solius is currently conquering his way down into West Africa. It would be best for SilentWitness to avoid any conflict there. If he does, he can build quite a nice empire. Queen Evertonia I is a conqueror, but also an embezzler. Which seems to scan. Prediction: If he can stay allied with @Solius and @altodevil he'll be safe against @Eboue. If the alliances break, he's done.
Finally for the batch (and probably for tonight; sorry to the remainder!), we're rounding out our Italians with @VeevaVee. He's hit a bit of a wall as far as European conquest goes. Allying @hobbers was probably a wise decision, but that means if he wants to expand further he has to target @Andycoleno9. That might not be such a bad idea, particularly considering that trio of Italian provinces that Andy took from VeevaVee some years back. The one problem here is that Andy is allied to @P-Nut, one of the Italian triumvirs. King Francesco Theodoli is pretty competent, and is both incorruptible and a bold fighter. Prediction: if P-Nut stays allied to Andy, we're going to see another war between Italians. Hopefully VeevaVee brings some allies this time.
Brilliant updates - Redsky very sneaky
OK, thanks! You're doing a great job narrating and explaining this btw.It's trying to push it in the way of history (although that doesn't work when we've replaced all the actual countries with custom ones), but it also ends at 1821 so the big empires sort of make sense. Our divided Europe is more of a result of WW1/WW2, so it's not really trying to model the fall of empires as a whole. There are mechanics that could lead to colonies taking their independence, though (like the USA and almost all Spanish America managed within the timeframe of the game.
The next Paradox game chronologically is Victoria 3, which covers 1836 to 1936. Then there's Hearts of Iron 4 which is much more of a war game, going from 1936 and through World War 2.
OK, thanks! You're doing a great job narrating and explaining this btw.
King Redsky, the rightful ruler of Solius.
Have you seen the size of my army.