Operation Exodus: Saving NavARRa

[Sincleric]

Table of Contents
Chapter 1: 1399-1405 (this post)
Chapter 2: 1406-1426
Chapter 3: 1429-1439
Chapter 4: 1441-1476
Chapter 5: 1490-1513
Chapter 6: 1514-1540
Chapter 7: 1547-1616
Chapter 8: 1616-1622
Chapter 9: 1669

I have this strange obsession with small, mostly forgotten cultures that have been stomped out by the greater powers of the world, in particular the basque peoples. That being said, it is no small surprise that I wanted to have my first serious attempt at an OPM be Navarra. To begin, I should tell you just what game I am playing. The latest DW 5.2 beta patch is installed (Nov. 29 update), and I have a few house rules of my own that I included. They are as follows:

common/religion.txt
-removed free colonists from all christian faiths

common/ideas.txt
-Colonial ventures reduced to 0.2 colonists/yr

common/buildings.txt
-Added 0.05 colonists/yr to dock
-Added 0.01 colonists/yr to all other naval buildings
(avoiding this monstrosity)

decisions/cultural.txt
-removed national focus and magistrate requirements to promote_cultural_unity, AI will do factor=1
(annoyance at major nations collapsing into a pile of minors)

history/countries/boh - bohemia.txt
common/countries/bohemia.txt
-Changed Bohemia to eastern tech group
-Changed Bohemia to eastern culture gfx
(tired of Bohemia persisting into 1822 and conquering vast swaths of Russia every game)

common/cultures.txt
-Added japanese_group, including Yamato (old japanese), Ryukyuan, and Ainu
(to further isolate Japan from the rest of Asia)

localisation/text.csv
history/provinces/...1031 1852 1847 1032 1033
history/countries/ryu - ryukyu.txt
-Discovered by FUJ
-Changed Ryukyu/Okinawa to Ryukyuan culture
-Changed Hokkaido, Sakhalin, and the Kurils to Ainu culture
(to encourage Japan to colonize Hokkaido before the Europeans can)

I have decided that my goal will be to move my capital to the new world, and then return to Europe to conquer the two basque provinces that Navarra does not start out with. One is controlled by Spain, the other by England. We stand in a precarious position, sandwitched between all of the most powerful western European nations; England, Spain, France, and Aragon.

Game Options. Aggression set to low, because I hate seeing the AI go to war without a CB or against friends, and I am under the impression that they do not do that in low aggression. Lucky nations are off because of how stupid that is; why do Castille, France, England, and the others need a buff when they already start out so powerful?

Just to recap,
Rules: no cheating (obviously), no war without cassus belli, and no colonists without docks.
Goals: move capital to America, obtain Vizcaya and Labour.


Chapter 1

Now to begin. Navarra starts out with fairly decent sliders, and I took one more move towards free trade, maxing it out.

Like I care? Pft. Fixed within a year.

Armies? Where we're going, we don't need armies.

Hopefully, a royal marriage will keep the tougher opponents at bay. With aggression at the lowest setting, it is my understanding that the AI will be unlikely to take stability hits to go to war. Unfortunately, Castille won't bite. Neither did France or Aragon. Portugal, or rather, poor-tugal did. That won't help.

And thus, the innevitable war strikes. Aragon is all up in my face about vassalization, and so long as they do not annex I will be just fine with that. Unfortunately, they will likely also demand ALL of my coin, which will leave me forty years out of funds lest I wish to raise inflation. Which I don't.

I found an ingenious method of saving that money from squandering in war. Merchants! With max free trade Europe is my oyster, with lots and lots of pearls. Uh... wait... I only have two merchants. Damnations! Besides, merchants do not cost much to place. Guess I will have to get creative in how to squander that cash; the siege is going quickly.

They arrive en masse. I cannot figure out any way besides building units to waste the money, so I do that. I set up a few cogs in Navarra, but once the siege is lost so will the building process (and the money). But who cares? If I can not have it, nobody can!

Well, that's that. After the war we had to take a tiny inflation hit to keep from taking a disproportionately massive loan automatically. I found out here that centralization lowers inflation, so really, I did not lose anything. Fancy that. I never noticed. Is that a new feature? Moving on then...

Oh... why, Aragon, are you bipolar? War then friendship? (I know it's just how vassals work!)

I can see where this is headed... I sent a few insults to keep relations below 150, for good measure. I don't want Navarra being diplo-annexed.

Spend nothing for something? Sounds like a great deal. The capital just... improves itself!

I love that my income is almost entirely based upon trade. I have never invested in trade unless the CoT was within my own nation. I should definitely do this more often.

Eh, oi what? We are at war? Alas, poor vassal. I can only hope we win. I still have no army.

Took me a while to find out where my money was going. I was supposed to be making a ducat or two per year, turns out I have been losing quite a few to Aragon for no reason. Why is this not shown in the tally for when I hover the mouse over my ducats? It makes it quite difficult to determine whether or not I will run out of cash soon. Oh well.

By the end of Navarra's first five years, we have ten active merchants. Five in Liguria, five in Andalucia. they took a while to save up for, so a war with either of those guys would be a nightmare.

 

[homy_dog34]

Well, let's see where this goes. Have fun just sitting there for a hundred years!

 

[Sincleric]

OPERATION EXODUS: Chapter 2

You know what I just realized? The title says NavARRa. It was supposed to be NavAARa. It was a pun. And I failed.
Or... maybe... After Reaction Report? Yes. I meant to do that. Exactly that.
Besides, how can I bring myself to deface the name of the soon-to-be-greatest nation on earth?

A little inflation won't hurt, and that is a lot of money. I can regret this decision later. Besides, I really need to speed up trade tech to get the Quest for the New World idea. Only then can we escape.

Oh nooooooooooooooo. If they annex me it's all ov- oh hey Aragon's still here. I forgot that I don't have to care.

Heir dies, obtain free goods. Sounds like a good deal to me.

Uh... France was involved... I guess. Well it's over now. I think. I really don't care about war.

Now we have invaded France with our legion of merchants. Income is on the rise!

So much so that a single month of stability investments will launch us up to about one and a third levels.

Weak? Really? You don't say. An OPM looking weak. I am so shocked.

Baby's first idea. This will get us way up the income charts now.

Minting it up for...

The dock! With this magnifiscent structure, we can finally begin our colonial empire. At this rate we should have a single colonist in about twenty years. Huzzah!

Go go catalan rangers!

I don't remember joining, but I want to trade in Venice now, so... bye bye. Aragon rapidly follows suit for some reason, ditching Genoa for Venice.

This opens up trade opportunities in venice, and we rapidly dominate the market there.

Plutocracy good. I might start going that way on the sliders. At the moment, I am focussing on free subjects and innovative. Navarra starts out at -6 revolt risk because of it's wrong sliders, and I am just pushing it even worse.

I want that next idea quickly, and then this guy shows up out of the blue. Naturally, he is hired immediately.

Oh. Hell. Yes.

Up in the 300's club, right alongside Aragon, Lithuania, and Hungary, thus proving that landmass does not equal wealth.

Then this gem happened. The war ended in stalemate, but it was fun to watch them storm at eachother through Navarra. I figured that Spain was more threatening than France, so I sided against them.

And here comes the next king! Which reminds me, I should probably work on getting converted to a republic soon...

 

[Avindian]

Interesting stuff!

 

[Sincleric]

OPERATION EXODUS: Chapter 3

Navarra continues to dominate trade across the continent. Very few of our merchants have been removed, and in general, it seems that our source of power is invulnerable.

And finally our prestige goes above zero. I would be happier, if I knew exactly what that entailed. I have never really cared about prestige or it's effects due to the extremely temporary nature of it.

Finally, we have eclipsed our masters so far as income goes.

Movin' on up. We are now the ninth major money making state.

More stats while we wait for the world to be less boring. Here we see the technology of Europe, as all of those poor souls finally fall behind glorious Navarra.

The time is near. I swap ideas for QFTNW, and hire a guy, quickly swapping back to National Trade Policy. Stability is practically free. And then, luck from heaven, within the tiny window of time in which we had QFTNW, Navarra receives a "Rush of Colonists" that gives me a handful of free colonists. Now we can start off with those islands as soon as we find them, rather than waiting another twenty years.

Not a great guy, but a guy none the less. This man will discover the new world.

But first, this island. I need that first. I have no false ambitions of stopping Portugal from getting to the new world and, indeed, these islands are not necessary for her to do so. But, I need them. All of them. No exceptions.

What.

Apparently, this is the real problem. The little nomads thing shows up, for some reason, as the default and only explanation when you are a vassal, even if that is not the true reason that you cannot colonize. QFTNW will give me the range, so I quickly switch back. And yet... the Azores are still too far away. So, naturally, I change targets.

It kinda defies logic. The Canarias look to be a lot farther away than the Azores, but alas, here we are. Maybe those red arrows have something to do with it. Our national focus is moved to the new colony, and our "finances" (minting) are adjusted accordingly to fund the endeavor. In any case, phase one of Operation Exodus is a go. I am not terribly certain how many phases there are, or what each of them contains, but this is definitely part of phase one. Probably.

Then, suddenly...

Christ preserve us.

 

[Avindian]

You do have a bigger navy; that should count for something! (What, I don't know.)

 

[sprites]

Aragon can still sell you off ... but as you are TPM now , they can't unless you lose your colony.

 

[unmerged(283286)]

Also, as Aragon probably cannot SEE the canaries (terra incognita), you can declare war on them and break free - and then never sign a peace treaty. At worst - they will longwait your capital, making the Canaries your new capital. At best - "there can be no war without violence", and you'll get free white peace (and a 10 year truce). If the other nations dogpile you - they STILL can't see the canaries, so you're safe.
Castille and portugal may be able to see the canaries, so consider getting another in africa if you can. NOT in the province that borders Morocco.

 

[Sincleric]

OPERATION EXODUS: Chapter 4

We still have no armies, but fortunately, no other nation has discovered the Canarias. If we wait long enough, this will end in our favor.

Unfortunately, our only (and rather expensive) ship, along with it's explorer, is at Navarra. I need to find safe haven, and Portugal provides.

Ahahahahaha.

So France demands very little that affects Navarra, and the prophetic game tip that Roussillon will be French comes to pass.

UNFORTUNATELY Aragon peaces out with some Russian state at about the same time, and releases Navarra as an independent state so that they could maintain their Ukraine holdings. I did not mind at all paying a tiny fee to Aragon for protection. They really should have chosen better terms.

Being on good terms with Aragon already, we enter into royal marriage and then an alliance. England guarantees us as well.

It sure is a good thing that the Mayans have all the supplies and provisions needed to repair and outfit a European cog.

Going back to Paris after they expelled our merchants during the war. Also, Novgorod and Alexandria have opened up for us to trade in, and our merchants have also expanded into Lubeck during the war.

Our next idea. Compete chances were bothering me, always hanging around about 60%. Now we will be certain to waste less and profit more.

About time. Now, in forty years or so, a core will be there. With that, we can expand into the Carribean. Portugal already has colonies in Trinidad and Brazil.

Basque naming conventions rail against all forms of creativity.

Alas poor Aragon, we hardly knew thee. This is where I must sadly depart my long time protector and find a more realistic approach to survival. War with Castille is a big no-no.

Finally, with QFTNW our colony range will be far enough to reach the Azores. Quickly swap back to Shrewd Commerce after the colony is set up.

For some reason, every European minor suddenly starts offering alliances. I accept one with Portugal, and another with Pisa. The former to ward off Castille, the latter because they are guaranteed for fifty different nations, including Austria.

And here we have Aragon, being crushed into oblivion, while Austria and England dish out punishment to the pretentious French. Navarra is in the eye of the storm.

I wanted that island. Bah!

Just a quick look at Europe, rapidly falling behind glorious Navarra.

Exactly what I need at a time like this. I wish Castille was in on it though. This brings about a few new royal marriages, which will (hopefully) protect the state for a bit longer.

And now Navarra is the sixth wealthiest known state.

Our third idea. I kept swapping my trade policies with QFTNW. Once we have a Carribean colony I will drop that for something more permanent.

Portugal gets involved in one too many wars. I back them up against the Russians, being that I know they can not have knowledge of the Canarias or Azores, but when Castille shows up I ditch my new allies and once more find myself alone.

And finally, the king is dead. Which reminds me again of the republic. I should switch soon.

 

[Memento Mori]

You should switch to a republic once you sell of the province of Navara. In roleplaying terms, you can justify that the old man just doesn't want to make the trip

 

[Sincleric]

OPERATION EXODUS: Chapter 5

I accidentally deleted the latest update, but it was boring as all hell so here is what happened in short. We gained a core in the Canarias, established a colony in Barahonas (Haiti), and discovered the Creek peoples, whom I intend on conquering. Also, an expedition is just about to embark eastward for China.

I always go for the extra taxes. It makes more sense in the long run, although I really sghould work on getting my capital to the new world if those extra taxes are going to mean anything.

Here we are, about to get over a thousand ducats income. And all from a nation of four provinces.

Money just keeps coming my way. This is the third such event that Navarra has recieved in the past decade.

Tobacco is introduced to the Euros. This map shows the extent of our knowledge on the new world, and our future posessions in Creek lands.

We've GOT to have... money!

About time. I can only work on one colony at a time without ruining my inflation rates or seriously digging into my savings, neither of which I am prepared to do. Plus, I have recieved three events lowering centralization, removing my ability to mint without inflation.

Fars was a bit dissapointing; I was under the impression that this exotic location was worth much, much more than this.

My scheme for discovering land provinces: discover the nation, ask for right of way, then land at every port.

With a little bit of cash, anybody is willing to open their markets to me. I even bribed the Japanese, of all people!

Speaking of Japan, it seems that we are the first to discover it. Fancy that. Leonel de Yanguas, to be precise, discovered it, and although he has not returned to Europe yet, the news has.

Oh my. I did not notice that. From discovering new nations, no doubt. I have no idea where that +1% is coming from. Such is the fault of a beta patch, I am guessing.

I had better set up two of my future ideas as Humanist Tolerance and the other heretic bonus. At full innovative, I do not have the missionaries to convert anybody, nor do I have the armies to suppress them.

The next colony goes up in St. Helena, to reach out towards the eastern markets (eventually).

Since centralization has been lowered - and I intend on lowering it one more notch to get out of the red - I decided that our next idea should be the National Bank. I also swapped over to Despotic Monarchy, and then Noble Republic, while the cost for stability is still under a month of investment.

Now, on to the invasion. Creek is allied with Cherokee and Shawnee, so I intend on bringing more soldiers than I need. Our force limit is nine regiments, so eight will probably be enough. Four new flytes were put under construction for the invasion as well.

Meanwhile, trade continues to do us well. Ming, probably due to discovery, has made it to the top of the charts.

And the invasion begins. It takes very little to convince them to surrender.

Annexation is demanded. Natives in nearby provinces are slaughtered, since I can not afford to waste colonists at this point in the game on chance. With a rush of colonists I get several new provinces up the coast, and another one in Florida. With the national Bank, I can finally mint enough to support more than one colony at a time.

And our empire as it stands.

 

[unmerged(283286)]

If you want to turn pagan, I think now's the time! Ready to move your capital?

 

[Sincleric]

If you want to turn pagan, I think now's the time! Ready to move your capital?

I briefly considered turning pagan, but decided against it. Firstly, America is far too close to Europe, and I would likely be attacked. Second, I am hoping to turn reformed for the trade efficiency bonus. Third, I am not all that fond of having to lose my non-pagan province at a time like this. I can afford the capital move, but I want it on the continent, not an island, so I need to wait for the cores.

I have looked into the option, and I think that I will start another (simultaneous, or perhaps later) AAR in which I take the Papal State and set up in Okinawa as an Ryukyuan animist.

 

[Tallfellow]

Following this, things are looking pretty good for little Navarra. Are you planning on selling Navarra when you've moved your capital? Would make it a bit harder for the other nations to attack you!

 

[Derahan]

This is quiet interesting, i will follow this indeed! Good luck!

 

[unmerged(283286)]

I briefly considered turning pagan, but decided against it. Firstly, America is far too close to Europe, and I would likely be attacked. Second, I am hoping to turn reformed for the trade efficiency bonus. Third, I am not all that fond of having to lose my non-pagan province at a time like this. I can afford the capital move, but I want it on the continent, not an island, so I need to wait for the cores.

I thought you can move your capital to a non-core province? Either way, suite yourself.

I have looked into the option, and I think that I will start another (simultaneous, or perhaps later) AAR in which I take the Papal State and set up in Okinawa as an Ryukyuan animist.

I think there's an event that turns a non-catholic (or non-papacy) papal-state into Italy.

 

[trekfan]

This is rapidly becoming my favorite AAR.

 

[Sincleric]

OPERATION EXODUS: Chapter 6

To open up new markets in the far east, I needed trade range. Ryukyu was animist, so colonial conquest works on them. I rushed over and pressed my oportunity, gaining two shiny new boats in the process.

They surrender, and I quickly send basque merchants into China and Japan.

At the top of the world, and still rising. China remains 300/yr income behind us now.

With Ecumenism, the heretics are no longer a threat and I can be the faith I need to be: reformed. Ten percent bonus to trade efficiency. And there is a religious map of Europe just before the conversion. Ironically enough, because of Ecumenism and my innovative sliders, it is very likely that no provinces in the empire will stay reformed for long, due to an event that transforms them to a "heretic" faith.

I totally forgot about monopolies, and had been staying at five merchants per CoT. This mission set me straight, and now I am capable of earning far more. We now have merchants placed in nearly every single CoT on Earth. The only one that remains closed to us (and out of reach) is Astrakhan, in Golden Horde territory.

Oh hell yes. Recognize my power, and basque in the glory that is our birthright. Castille came to me, not the other way around. I like to think that this is their way of begging us for mercy before the fighting even begins.

Trade is king. Really, I bet I could make the people happy by just dropping general taxes altogether.

Time to boost our efficiency a bit by breaking all trade agreements holding us back. Venice might be upset, but the world will be better for it.

Felipe Palafox came out of nowhere, and I am certainly happy that he did. Daniel Middleton is helping me make up the difference from losing QFTNW. Without him, I can not send colonists to North America.

Well that sucks. The other option was to leave Venice. Fars is nearly worthless, so I picked them instead.

Ecumenism, as I said, replaced QFTNW. Also, we switched over to Administrative Republic. Our current ruler sucked, and I really did not have the patience to wait him out another eight years.

Clearly, we made the right choice.

The new model navy. I need the barques for when we move the capital to America. I will have five overseas provinces in Euraisofrica that I would like to receive tariffs for.

The Hansa is making life tough. They are the only CoT owners actively vying for monopoly status, and they refuse to let anybody hold more than one slot in their CoT. Prussia only held that position for five days, before plummeting to the bottom again. I will have to deal with them later, as at the moment my high priority in Lubeck is making the other centers suffer for lack of merchants. In other news, I only just discovered this page in my notebook, and it has become handy for finding those CoT's that escape my notice. Also, I started atuo-sending them since 4k ducats is more than enough to make sure I don't go bankrupt.

Fortunately, nothing came of this war. Spain wa- er, I mean, Castille was also at war with France, but did not call me in. I wish they would just annex Aragon already; having to correct myself every time I call them "Spain" is getting annoying.

The state of the empire when the capital was moved to Haiti. I gave up the idea of having it inland and on the continent when I realized how much money I was losing to taxes due to my tiny fleet not taking in the tariffs. We have well over six thousand ducats in savings, and are minting enough to make 100/yr while still lowering inflation regularly. Trade efficiency is nearly at 100%. Humanist Tolerance, for the native Americans we are ruling over. Income is getting out of hand; Castille barely shines a light on us now. The five overseas provinces are Pamplona (Formerly called "Navarra"), The Canarias, The Azores, St. Helena (Ascension Island), and Okinawa.

Oh yeah, and you may notice that we have a bit of Cherokee land now. Those pictures were deleted because Imgur is horrible, but the war lasted four years and we were nearly overrun. The natives have built forts, complicating things a great deal, and it took five years to rebuild all the manpower we lost during the fighting. Only two provinces were gained. I am building up level two forts on the border to make things easier for the next time we strike.

 

[AwesomeSauce123]

Loving the AAR! What do you plan to do next?

 

[blsteen]

Ah the great move is on...
Excellent