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.