Calanctus said:
<snipped the picture>
So, the map. Some notes...
Yellow is what's left of the Song dynasty.
Purple is an imperial Manchu state, kind of like the Jin Empire.
Those two countries get the highest number of provinces, with big tax values and huge manpower. Compared to small two provinces minor, they might be overwhelmingly powerful. Some adjustments might be needed, otherwise they'll be quick to gobble their neighbours.
Perhaps the decadency of them could be reflected by an exotic techgroup, in place of chinese ?
Calanctus said:
Brown is a Mongol successor state.
Large but poor. Yes, that's logical. One caveat : mongols in mountains ? :wacko:
Calanctus said:
Orange is a Manchu tribal state (tentative name: Northern Manchu) that views the imperials as having become soft and complacent under their imperial trappings. As such, they refuse to swear total loyalty to the imperials, so they are just vassals. This vassalization is to break later, and they'll probably end up in control of the Manchu provinces.
Great idea, that split of two manchus. But those northern provinces are poor, so it's perhaps needed to increase base tax values and manpower... especially if they're to take control of their southern neighbours later.
Calanctus said:
Grey is Korea, another vassal state of the Imperial Manchu. Granted near-total autonomy as a result of the weakness of the imperials. Also to break their vassalization later, and possibly to form an alliance with the Northern Manchu tribes against the Imperials.
What about making them a vassal of the Blue Traders instead (hmm, I'll expand this idea in their part) ? Manchu already have a vassal, and are powerful enough with their provinces' wealth. Also, with those vassals, Manchu have only to fear attacks on the south, and they only have three provinces to fortify. If Korea is not in the Manchu alliance & vassalship anymore, they'll have to keep a watch on their southeastern border too.
Or Korea might have the Blue Traders & Nippon as vassals (somewhat loose vassals).
Calanctus said:
Red is the Buddhist Han state. I was also considering making the noble family that rules it of non-Han origin, so that they get an additional culture. I guess we'll have to see how that balances out.
Maybe too weak too. They might be Tibetans originally displaced by the mongols, and they keep to mountains. Give them Guizhou province (taken from the Song), and Lanzhou & Xinjiang (taken from mongols, or maybe only Xinjiang, to allow for wars between the Song and the Mongols) ?
Calanctus said:
Green is the Confucianist state of Zhu Yuanzhang.
Same as Buddhists : they might be too weak. Perhaps giving them Guangzou, so that they have one mountain and two forest provinces might indicate how they kept (or became) independent : by retreating to the woods and hills. Another solution to help them might be to give them Taiwan instead of making an independent pirate state. The idea might still be that the island is a paradise for pirates, but they have a close alliance with the confucianists (how do you see them BTW ? religious extremists ? theocracy, democracy, aristocracy ?), so close that they can be made the same country. This would make annexing them harder (due to the necessity to take the island first).
And in the case they only own their capital (on mainland) and Taiwan, and they get in a war where they lose control of their capital, I see a nice event to change capital, and found a new country - a real pirate state.
Calanctus said:
Blue is the merchant state. Should have a CoT one of the two southern provinces.
IMHO, they should need two CoTs : one in Shandong, and one in Zhejiang (the two mountain provinces), and no other CoT should be made too close (at least, not on chinese shores).
About the relations with Korea and Nippon, the Traders might have been formerly vassals of Korea, Song and/or Nippon (at different time periods, shifting allegiances to better suit their interests), and now they're formally vassals of Korea, but a sequence of events later in the game might reverse that vassalization (breakvassalization in a first event, and Korea made a vassal in the second).
In later events, I see CoTs popping up in Shikoku (Nippon) and Hainan (Song island). In both cases, the Traders get the possibility to receive the province (perhaps a choice A for Hainan if held by the Songs, as they're becoming weaker, and choice B for Shikoku, as Nippon is quite reluctant to letting foreigners on the archipel), and a core shield (to incite them to fight for the CoTs). In that case, one of the two starting CoTs might disappear (perhaps the southern, at the moment Hainan gets one, which might start the first sequence as the Traders are eager to get back their control on trade).
Also, I see them as potential discoverer of America, across the Pacific. Perhaps a 'race' against Nippon and one other indonesian country ?
Calanctus said:
Black is a Taiwanese pirate state. Historically, the place was a haven for pirates, so I thought it would be fun to make some kind of Pirate Confederation or something...
We could just leave it uncolonized or give it to the Confucians if you think this is too fantastic. If we're planning on making Japan an expansionist naval country, though, Stopping the Pirate Raids might make an interesting event for their expansion... Japan could get a temporary core on the Pirates, then be given twenty years or so to annex them and keep the core.
See the part on the confucians for some of my comments.
Random events might be made, keyed to provinces Kowloon, Fujian, Zhejiang & Shangai, and perhaps Guangdong, Hainan, Shandong & Jiangsu. Those events would be a revolt in the province, and a CB on the Pirates. Those revolts would depict pirate raids on the shores.
Having the province covered by Terra Incognita seems a good idea, as pirates would be difficult to dislodge of their havens.
Calanctus said:
As for Nepal, it would be independent in 1419, but there is no Nepal in vanilla EU2, and I'm not entirely sure how viable it would be. Seems to me it would end up getting annexed by one of its neighbors more often than not.
Indeed, a one province minor with such a poor province is doomed. Possibilities include to make it a vassal of the Buddhists, or owned by the Buddhists (perhaps with an event to secede it to either Mongol or hindus, depending on circumstances).
Calanctus said:
You are aware that there is no "Cantonese" culture, right? I'm planning on changing the cultural setup to be more like the AGCEEP's, which is far more accurate. As such, anybody with Han culture is going to have the culture of the great majority of Chinese provinces.
Some ideas :
- different culture for the mongol-held provinces
- Traders would be korean and/or nippon in culture (due to close relations with them)
Calanctus said:
Well, there already
is a China in the setup I'm proposing, i.e. what remains of the Song/Sung dynasty. That said, it would be grossly ahistorical, IMO, to not allow China to be reformed... There are the periods of war and disunity, sure, but they never last. China always ended up reunited. Not to say that we should make it easy, in any case. Even if a player crushes all other states and controls every Chinese province, he should have to weather many years of revolts and instability to get his cores, culture(s), and flag.
Yes, that's how I see it : it's a reward in the case you succeed to conquer and keep all. Or at least a vassalization to other countries (in the model of the victory of Napoleon event, giving a ton of vp in addition to cores, stab, perhaps other things).
