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howlling

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Jun 17, 2022
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Victoria 3 Screenshot 2025.07.22 - 11.39.58.81.png
Victoria 3 Screenshot 2025.07.22 - 11.40.04.82.png

The process was quite complicated, but for now, I'll just share the key points.

  1. Request Britain and its allies to ban opium from global trade, thereby delaying the Opium War.
  2. Seize Japan’s treaty ports, and in exchange for returning them, instigate a conflict between Japan and the Qing by encouraging them to declare rivalry—then immediately surrender.
  3. Sign a treaty with the Qing to sell them goods, including a special clause to be activated 5 years later.
  4. After the 5-year ceasefire ends, lift the opium ban.
  5. Hit the Qing all at once with: Forced regime change (25), Japan's humiliation (25), British market opening (25), and loss in the Opium War (25), stripping Beijing and multiple treaty ports in one go.
  6. Right before the end of the war with the Qing, declare war on Indonesia to intentionally break the special clause, triggering “Treaty Breach (25).”
  7. This drives the Qing’s total prestige down to “-125%”, dropping their prestige to zero.
  8. But that’s still not enough—so demand the enactment of “Local Police” in exchange for returning treaty ports. This enrages the Qing intellectuals, adding another prestige debuff (“Unrest –10”).
  9. Now Qing’s prestige is –135%.
  10. Remember the exact date when the treaty was breached. Since the game system has a 1-year protection period from demotion, 80 days before Qing's scheduled demotion, declare war on a pro-Qing Indonesian nation with all your troops deleted. This makes the Qing underestimate you and join the war on the opposing side.
  11. Call in Britain, conscript cavalry and line infantry in a 1:1 ratio, flood your generals, force Qing to split forces by launching naval invasions—and pray that Qing surrenders before they can recover prestige.

※ In Brazil’s case, make sure to pre-enact Oligarchy. The default law is Wealth Voting, but if you force regime change on the Qing, they’ll adopt that law instead, and the intellectuals love it.
 
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Wow, that is awesome! I imagine amount of effort it took.
Could you clarify how you encourage Japan to rival Qing?
Towards Japan
  1. Forced regime change (by intellectuals) toward Japan
  2. Open the market with Britain.
  3. Demand the Nagasaki treaty port and win.

Then, declare war on China using a reasonably humiliating pretext.
After that, send a message to Japan saying, “I’ll return the Nagasaki treaty port to you, so join the war.”
This way, you instigate a conflict between them (since the Intellectuals and the Landowners are also politically opposed).
Once they declare each other as rivals and go to war, I immediately surrender after checking the rival status, keeping the truce period short.


※ This video is actually from my own gameplay. If you can understand Korean, it will be helpful.
 
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Remember the exact date when the treaty was breached. Since the game system has a 1-year protection period from demotion, 80 days before Qing's scheduled demotion, declare war on a pro-Qing Indonesian nation with all your troops deleted. This makes the Qing underestimate you and join the war on the opposing side.
So you did find a way. Awesome!
 
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Towards Japan
  1. Forced regime change (by intellectuals) toward Japan
  2. Open the market with Britain.
  3. Demand the Nagasaki treaty port and win.

Then, declare war on China using a reasonably humiliating pretext.
After that, send a message to Japan saying, “I’ll return the Nagasaki treaty port to you, so join the war.”
This way, you instigate a conflict between them (since the Intellectuals and the Landowners are also politically opposed).
Once they declare each other as rivals and go to war, I immediately surrender after checking the rival status, keeping the truce period short.


※ This video is actually from my own gameplay. If you can understand Korean, it will be helpful.
Awesome, I learned a lot! YouTube auto-translate subtitles are quite decent; I understood most of it.
 
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Victoria 3 Screenshot 2025.07.23 - 18.23.47.69.png

Victoria 3 Screenshot 2025.07.23 - 18.23.53.81.png

Victoria 3 Screenshot 2025.07.23 - 18.24.14.75.png

Victoria 3 Screenshot 2025.07.23 - 18.24.47.08.png
LOL
At this point, shouldn't the Han be added as a primary culture?
Come on, Paradox—give Brazil an achievement for making Qing a puppet and an event to add them as a primary culture! LOL
 
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I see, but I don't understand how declaring war to indonesia reduce their prestige with the obligation
So basically, at the start of the game, as Brazil, I secured an Obligation from Qing through a diplomatic treaty.
Then, after declaring a war, I shamelessly demanded Qing to honor the Obligation and join the war on my side.

Naturally, having just gone through the Opium War, Qing gets furious and refuses, like,
"What kind of nonsense is this?"

But here’s the thing: according to game mechanics,
if a nation refuses to honor an Obligation, they receive a prestige penalty and a malus to their infamy decay rate.
So...
  1. Forced regime change: -25%
  2. Britain's forced market opening against Qing: -25%
  3. Defeat in the Opium War: -25%
  4. Humiliation by Japan: -25%
  5. Refusing a call to arms via Obligation: -25%
All of these are additive, so Qing gets hit with a brutal -125% prestige modifier.
Their prestige hits rock bottom and they get demoted in rank.
Now, technically those penalties decay over time—but to slow that recovery, I throw in some clever internal destabilization.
By demanding treaty ports in exchange, and policies like "Local Police" or "Ethnocentric Nationalism", the Intelligentsia becomes angry, applying another -10% prestige debuff.


So in total, Qing’s prestige sits at -135%.


Sure, prestige recovers over time, but with some clever diplomatic pressure and timing, it becomes just barely possible to force Qing into becoming a protectorate.
 
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So basically, at the start of the game, as Brazil, I secured an Obligation from Qing through a diplomatic treaty.
Then, after declaring a war, I shamelessly demanded Qing to honor the Obligation and join the war on my side.

Naturally, having just gone through the Opium War, Qing gets furious and refuses, like,
"What kind of nonsense is this?"

But here’s the thing: according to game mechanics,
if a nation refuses to honor an Obligation, they receive a prestige penalty and a malus to their infamy decay rate.
So...
  1. Forced regime change: -25%
  2. Britain's forced market opening against Qing: -25%
  3. Defeat in the Opium War: -25%
  4. Humiliation by Japan: -25%
  5. Refusing a call to arms via Obligation: -25%
All of these are additive, so Qing gets hit with a brutal -125% prestige modifier.
Their prestige hits rock bottom and they get demoted in rank.
Now, technically those penalties decay over time—but to slow that recovery, I throw in some clever internal destabilization.
By demanding treaty ports in exchange, and policies like "Local Police" or "Ethnocentric Nationalism", the Intelligentsia becomes angry, applying another -10% prestige debuff.


So in total, Qing’s prestige sits at -135%.


Sure, prestige recovers over time, but with some clever diplomatic pressure and timing, it becomes just barely possible to force Qing into becoming a protectorate.
Thanks, I understand
 
This is awesome! It seems like Chinese gamers are often on another level with exploits. I always appreciate when they make the effort to showcase them to English audiences.
Haha, that's right. I'm Korean.
It's not surprising at all that you misunderstood.

But what you said is kind of like calling an Irish person English,
or a Polish person Russian.
I'm okay with it, but some people might get a little upset!