1707 Country Updates - part 3 (click to expand)
hobbers
The last part of this update has some of the strongest countries, so it's fitting that we begin with @hobbers. hobbers is turning into a bit of a behemot, as @Walrus discovered to his detriment. He's got the single largest army in the world, and has a reasonably strong sidekick in @Tiber. He could probably attack anyone and have a pretty good chance at winning. He's even gotten started on a bit of colonialism, though the only way his colonial empire is going to grow is if he conquers someone else's. My previous prediction for hobbers was: "hobbers is going to fight Walrus and successfully claim Anatolia." Which is exactly what happened. Though he seems content to let Walrus keep at least a small part of it.
Prediction: he's going to attack @VeevaVee for his piece of the Balkans, which is going to bring him into renewed conflict with Veevavee's ally, @AnotherLondonManc.
P-Nut
From one Orthodox country to... another?! Yes, @P-Nut is still Orthodox, although young Libero P-Nut has grown up and now rules in his own right. Converting might seems like an odd choice, but it's brought P-Nut even closer to hobbers. And as I just mentioned, that might well lead to war with both of P-Nut's former allies in Italy. That could work out well. He also managed to grab @V.O. by force since the last update, installing King Libero on the throne there as well. Earlier I predicted that: "he's going to attack Switzerland", and that finally came true. Though he's also lost a few provinces to the likes of @RedSky and @AnotherLondonManc, he's still seen net growth. He's now taken both defensive, quality and quantity ideas, which makes his army pretty potent.
Prediction: he won't dare attack @RedSky, but @VeevaVee is going to have another visit from P-Nut soon.
Abizzz
@Abizzz is the undisputed champion of border gore, also known as the art of ugly borders. Just look at this shit. He's grown awfully strong in his awful borders, though. He's got a quite large army, though he should think about picking up quality or offensive ideas to make it even more impactful. He's also got allies that are sort of similar to himself in @altodevil and @Eboue. Like Abizzz, they have suffered defeats to rivals but have still managed to build up their strength. The obvious target here is going to be @adexkola, who is lacking any real allies. He might be able to fend off only Abizzz on his own, but not all three. This matches rather well up to my previous 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." The alliance has held.
Prediction: Abizzz is going to tag-team adexkola along with Eboue and maybe altodevil.
AnotherLondonManc
@AnotherLondonManc is one of the countries that managed to get to the New World just in time to grab something before @Organic Potatoes and @RedSky took it all. In ALM's case it's mostly about AnotherLondonManc Colombia, which OP was kind enough to help him conquer over several wars. It's been a bit of a charmed game so far for ALM, who I genuinely suspected was going to be one of the first to get smacked down, being so spread out in his starting position. Instead he's expanded in Italy, Northern Africa and now also Anatolia and the Levant. He's got a strong set of allies, though we'll see how allying both @altodevil and @Organic Potatoes is going to work out, given they're bitter rivals. My prediction was a miss: "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." That never happened, if I remember correctly.
Prediction: war with @hobbers is on the horizon, given his alliance with @VeevaVee and his own possessions in hobbers' Anatolian backyard.
Solius
On to the original monster, @Solius. His army is perhaps no longer large enough to win huge wars all on its own, but he's still got a massive army and a massive navy. He's also managed to turn @RedSky from just an ally into the junior partner in a personal union. Though to be fair it might not make much difference given RedSky never seemed reluctant to join Solius in his adventures either way. Since last time he's grown in Europe at @Eboue's cost, but he's also lost a chunk of West Africa to rebels (that were quickly devoured by @SilentWitness, ever hungry for more African lands). Recently he's been trying to establish a real foot-hold in the East Indies, but has like @Organic Potatoes struggled against the local power of Malacca. My prediction was close, but no cigar: "he's going to conquer all of West Africa, taking it from other Europeans if he has to."
Prediction: he's going to keep trying to conquer the East Indies, and at some point he's going to at least get his foot in the door.
Shakesey
Ah, @Shakesey. What is there to say about Shakesey? He's still sitting in St. Helena, with neither friend nor foe. Nobody has a bad opinion of him, and nobody has a good opinion of him. He just is. He's built two transport ships, as you can see in the image, though I'm not sure where he's planning to sail them. He's about three Institutions behind the rest of the world. Which isn't too surprising given how remote St. Helena is. My earlier prediction was: "he's going to outlive Dr. Dwayne, Crackers, PSV and Welsh Wonder." Three down, @PSV to go.
Prediction: Shakesey is eternal.
PSV
Speak of the devil. @PSV seems like he might be in a very bad position, but he's deceptively strong. He actually has a bigger army than @Samid, his longtime bully. Right now using that army to reclaim some lost territories seems unlikely given Samid's allies. At some point that might change, however, and then PSV could pounce. He's also definitely eyeing the small country of Wolgast on his western border, but for some reason Wolgast have managed to ally both @SilentWitness and @hobbers, so that war wouldn't go very well. Another worry is PSV's alliance with @Salt Bailly, who keeps finding himself attacked by his now-bigger neighbours. My previous prediction was: "At some point Salt Bailly is going to be weak enough for PSV to strike, but they might lose the war." I don't know how the personal union ended, but it wasn't due to war. He chose to keep being allied to Salt Bailly though, unwisely.
Prediction: PSV is going get involved in Salt Bailly's wars again, but this time hobbers is going to join too. That will be PSV's chance to punish Samid for his transgressions.
Eboue
Seemingly not content to just rule the French, @Eboue has been busy attacking @KirkDuyt in the Netherlands. Currently he actually rules over significantly more Dutch provinces than the Dutchman himself. The other side of the coin is that he was on the wrong side of the Religious War in the Holy Roman Empire, which cost him quite a lot in France. No doubt he's looking for a chance to strike back at @RedSky. While RedSky's daddy @Solius is still very strong, he's no longer so strong that he could deal with anyone all on his own. Eboue has built a very strong alliance with @altodevil, @Abizzz and @BootsyCollins. I didn't quite hit with my last prediction: "he's going to make life quite hard for @SilentWitness." SilentWitness is no worse for the wear.
Prediction: he's going to finish KirkDuyt, at least as far as Europe goes, and maybe start moving into Germany as Abizzz inevitably strikes @adexkola.
RedSky
Last up we've come to @RedSky. Though he now finds himself under @Solius in a personal union (which brought the Redsky dynasty back home, mind), he's still got a lot going for him. His colonies have come to dominate North America, and he should still be strong enough to keep them from slipping from his grasp. Particularly since Solius has his back in that regard. The one big issue with the personal union is that any further gains in Europe will go to Solius instead. As indeed they already have, with Solius taking four French provinces from @Eboue a bit earlier. My earlier prediction was spot on, but to be fair it was a very easy prediction to make: "he's going to be the premier power in North America." He's got some competition there with @adexkola and @Organic Potatoes (and New Eboue), but he's top dog.
Prediction: he's going to get into some colonial conflicts, and at some point Floride is going to make their bid for independence.
hobbers
The last part of this update has some of the strongest countries, so it's fitting that we begin with @hobbers. hobbers is turning into a bit of a behemot, as @Walrus discovered to his detriment. He's got the single largest army in the world, and has a reasonably strong sidekick in @Tiber. He could probably attack anyone and have a pretty good chance at winning. He's even gotten started on a bit of colonialism, though the only way his colonial empire is going to grow is if he conquers someone else's. My previous prediction for hobbers was: "hobbers is going to fight Walrus and successfully claim Anatolia." Which is exactly what happened. Though he seems content to let Walrus keep at least a small part of it.
Prediction: he's going to attack @VeevaVee for his piece of the Balkans, which is going to bring him into renewed conflict with Veevavee's ally, @AnotherLondonManc.
P-Nut
From one Orthodox country to... another?! Yes, @P-Nut is still Orthodox, although young Libero P-Nut has grown up and now rules in his own right. Converting might seems like an odd choice, but it's brought P-Nut even closer to hobbers. And as I just mentioned, that might well lead to war with both of P-Nut's former allies in Italy. That could work out well. He also managed to grab @V.O. by force since the last update, installing King Libero on the throne there as well. Earlier I predicted that: "he's going to attack Switzerland", and that finally came true. Though he's also lost a few provinces to the likes of @RedSky and @AnotherLondonManc, he's still seen net growth. He's now taken both defensive, quality and quantity ideas, which makes his army pretty potent.
Prediction: he won't dare attack @RedSky, but @VeevaVee is going to have another visit from P-Nut soon.
Abizzz
@Abizzz is the undisputed champion of border gore, also known as the art of ugly borders. Just look at this shit. He's grown awfully strong in his awful borders, though. He's got a quite large army, though he should think about picking up quality or offensive ideas to make it even more impactful. He's also got allies that are sort of similar to himself in @altodevil and @Eboue. Like Abizzz, they have suffered defeats to rivals but have still managed to build up their strength. The obvious target here is going to be @adexkola, who is lacking any real allies. He might be able to fend off only Abizzz on his own, but not all three. This matches rather well up to my previous 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." The alliance has held.
Prediction: Abizzz is going to tag-team adexkola along with Eboue and maybe altodevil.
AnotherLondonManc
@AnotherLondonManc is one of the countries that managed to get to the New World just in time to grab something before @Organic Potatoes and @RedSky took it all. In ALM's case it's mostly about AnotherLondonManc Colombia, which OP was kind enough to help him conquer over several wars. It's been a bit of a charmed game so far for ALM, who I genuinely suspected was going to be one of the first to get smacked down, being so spread out in his starting position. Instead he's expanded in Italy, Northern Africa and now also Anatolia and the Levant. He's got a strong set of allies, though we'll see how allying both @altodevil and @Organic Potatoes is going to work out, given they're bitter rivals. My prediction was a miss: "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." That never happened, if I remember correctly.
Prediction: war with @hobbers is on the horizon, given his alliance with @VeevaVee and his own possessions in hobbers' Anatolian backyard.
Solius
On to the original monster, @Solius. His army is perhaps no longer large enough to win huge wars all on its own, but he's still got a massive army and a massive navy. He's also managed to turn @RedSky from just an ally into the junior partner in a personal union. Though to be fair it might not make much difference given RedSky never seemed reluctant to join Solius in his adventures either way. Since last time he's grown in Europe at @Eboue's cost, but he's also lost a chunk of West Africa to rebels (that were quickly devoured by @SilentWitness, ever hungry for more African lands). Recently he's been trying to establish a real foot-hold in the East Indies, but has like @Organic Potatoes struggled against the local power of Malacca. My prediction was close, but no cigar: "he's going to conquer all of West Africa, taking it from other Europeans if he has to."
Prediction: he's going to keep trying to conquer the East Indies, and at some point he's going to at least get his foot in the door.
Shakesey
Ah, @Shakesey. What is there to say about Shakesey? He's still sitting in St. Helena, with neither friend nor foe. Nobody has a bad opinion of him, and nobody has a good opinion of him. He just is. He's built two transport ships, as you can see in the image, though I'm not sure where he's planning to sail them. He's about three Institutions behind the rest of the world. Which isn't too surprising given how remote St. Helena is. My earlier prediction was: "he's going to outlive Dr. Dwayne, Crackers, PSV and Welsh Wonder." Three down, @PSV to go.
Prediction: Shakesey is eternal.
PSV
Speak of the devil. @PSV seems like he might be in a very bad position, but he's deceptively strong. He actually has a bigger army than @Samid, his longtime bully. Right now using that army to reclaim some lost territories seems unlikely given Samid's allies. At some point that might change, however, and then PSV could pounce. He's also definitely eyeing the small country of Wolgast on his western border, but for some reason Wolgast have managed to ally both @SilentWitness and @hobbers, so that war wouldn't go very well. Another worry is PSV's alliance with @Salt Bailly, who keeps finding himself attacked by his now-bigger neighbours. My previous prediction was: "At some point Salt Bailly is going to be weak enough for PSV to strike, but they might lose the war." I don't know how the personal union ended, but it wasn't due to war. He chose to keep being allied to Salt Bailly though, unwisely.
Prediction: PSV is going get involved in Salt Bailly's wars again, but this time hobbers is going to join too. That will be PSV's chance to punish Samid for his transgressions.
Eboue
Seemingly not content to just rule the French, @Eboue has been busy attacking @KirkDuyt in the Netherlands. Currently he actually rules over significantly more Dutch provinces than the Dutchman himself. The other side of the coin is that he was on the wrong side of the Religious War in the Holy Roman Empire, which cost him quite a lot in France. No doubt he's looking for a chance to strike back at @RedSky. While RedSky's daddy @Solius is still very strong, he's no longer so strong that he could deal with anyone all on his own. Eboue has built a very strong alliance with @altodevil, @Abizzz and @BootsyCollins. I didn't quite hit with my last prediction: "he's going to make life quite hard for @SilentWitness." SilentWitness is no worse for the wear.
Prediction: he's going to finish KirkDuyt, at least as far as Europe goes, and maybe start moving into Germany as Abizzz inevitably strikes @adexkola.
RedSky
Last up we've come to @RedSky. Though he now finds himself under @Solius in a personal union (which brought the Redsky dynasty back home, mind), he's still got a lot going for him. His colonies have come to dominate North America, and he should still be strong enough to keep them from slipping from his grasp. Particularly since Solius has his back in that regard. The one big issue with the personal union is that any further gains in Europe will go to Solius instead. As indeed they already have, with Solius taking four French provinces from @Eboue a bit earlier. My earlier prediction was spot on, but to be fair it was a very easy prediction to make: "he's going to be the premier power in North America." He's got some competition there with @adexkola and @Organic Potatoes (and New Eboue), but he's top dog.
Prediction: he's going to get into some colonial conflicts, and at some point Floride is going to make their bid for independence.
