CHAPTER FIFTY-ONE: Absolutism & Coalitions (September 1633-December 1637)
CHAPTER FIFTY-ONE: Absolutism & Coalitions
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(September 1633-December 1637)
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(September 1633-December 1637)
In the last part, I wondered what Spain’s new Mexican holdings would mean for our alliance. And since this is a new play session, the Spanish AI has decided to reevaluate things.
Thankfully we’re still allies, for now.
(Our Philippines land is also in the mix. But I'm less concerned about that because Spain doesn't border us there).
Our common rivalries in GB as well as our longstanding friendship and consort ties have kept our alliance secure. But we’ll need to be careful we don’t do too much to upset the Spanish crown in the future.
As a side note, I didn’t realize you could gain Historical Friendship with a nation over the course of a campaign. I only thought they could be lost. Historical Friendships and Enemies are preset at the start of the game between certain nations. Good for us then that Spain got an event trigger for friendship.
A diplomat will be kept improving relations with Spain from here on out. We already have a second diplomat currying favors with them to increase Trust.
Emperor Jean will not let such a vital ally be lost.
To further prevent d’Elbene from overstepping their boundaries, we begin colonizing Kaskankahan. And we colonize Hunkpapha to cut off Henrika.
(The border between Henrika and Nevez Breizh is the thick, dark-blue line between Minnesota and Wisconsin, plus the one designating NB's northern exclave).
The Russo-Ottoman bloc continues their expansion, defeating Poland. Can anyone stop the eastern juggernaut?
As if the game is listening, that alliance breaks down a few months after the peace. The Russo-Turkish friction along the new border in Moldavia must’ve been too much.
The next Infrastructure slot is unlocked. This one just makes so our Stated provinces cost less governing capacity.
We’re spending most of our admin on our idea group, so will be a little late in taking admin tech 19 on time. That tech unlocks the upgrade to Temples, Cathedrals.
The diplo and mil techs, though, are taken on schedule. The diplo one unlocks new heavy and light ship upgrades and the upgrade to Docks. The mil tech gives more Tactics, new infantry units, and an upgrade to our forts.
Most of our treasury is spent upgrading our heavies. I see no reason to wait. We must maintain our naval advantage against the other Great Powers.
We’ve shipped some troops over to help Terre Austral in their native war. With our help, they win, annexing the troublesome tribe of Awngthim.
I revoke 2 privileges, one from the Clergy and one from the Nobility, right afterward. Now it is time to talk about Absolutism.
As soon as the game reaches the Age of Absolutism, the Absolutism mechanic unlocks and persists until the end of the game.
Every country has a different maximum value of Absolutism based on their form of government, Estate privileges, and so on. Absolutism gives 2 main benefits:
- Admin Efficiency: effects how much provinces cost for purposes of warscore, diplo-annexation, and overextension. Basically, everything is cheaper to take and annex.
- Discipline: the same modifier, like Morale and Tactics, that affects our armies. Basically, damage dealt.
Our Max Absolutism sits at 14, mostly because our handed out privileges are dragging the value down. Without any privileges assigned we’d gain 99 cap for a total of 113.
Some privileges we will of course want to keep due to their usefulness (the extra monarch points per month, for example). But I’d like to get rid of most of these with time. That’s why we’ve been slowly revoking them when we could.
How do we gain Absolutism?
One, as mentioned previously, Harsh Treatment. We can also increase Stability or Legitimacy or decrease Autonomy.
There’s even a Disaster around Absolutism. Fun!
Another colony is set up in Highveld, South Africa. I want to try and cut off the Spanish colonies there and link up with our East African land. Can we do it?
Another Infrastructure idea is picked up, this one just gives cheaper forts. Not that exciting. But we’re one slot away from finishing the group.
As our war against Portugal continues, the Papal situation deteriorates further. They lost a few provinces to the Ottomans some time ago. Now Savoy, with the help of France and Bohemia, declares their own invasion.
Portugal has allied the Pope, so even if we peace out, Portugal will still be stuck in an unwinnable war. Their intervention against us really wasn’t a smart move.
After Lisbon and their mainland falls, we sue for peace. We didn’t even have to fight their army this time.
We've taken a corridor of land to finally connect Nevez Breizh’s disconnected nation, as well as some extra provinces on the Great Plains. Some of that plains land goes to Henrika.
We took Bermuda, and the Portuguese provinces in Kongo and South Africa.
(The blue provinces are the colonies at Hunkpapha and Kaskankahan we've set up. Both will go to Nevez Briezh once complete. The solid yellow province is one of Nevez Breizh's half-cores).
Al Esperans a Anne is given some land too, including that disconnected bit because it’s in the Mexico Colonial Region, not California as I'd assumed. I think somewhere in what we took was the last of Portuguese Mexico’s gold mines.
Douar-font Dreux earned 2 provinces.
Here’s something about the peacedeal. Portugal, obviously, hates us. They get 66 Aggressive Expansion because of it. But France also gets 50 AE. Yikes!
We also get AE with other countries, but France and Portugal are the only ones going over the 50 AE threshold to join a Coalition.
Inspired by @Cora Giantkiller's comment a few weeks ago, why then am I not worried?
Simple. A Coalition requires at least 4 nations to actually form, France and Portugal only make 2.
Portugal actually can’t even join since they have a truce with us.
To join a Coalition, you need 4 things: at least 50 AE with the target, a negative opinion of the target, no truce with the target, and, in general, be at peace.
I also purposely signed this peacedeal in December. AE decays on the yearly January tick. After the tick, France doesn’t even have 50 AE anymore, for the brief amount of time that lasted.
One final thing about AE: religion matters.
Anglicans and Protestants, for example, don’t care as much about our aggressions against Catholic Portugal. The principle applies everywhere across the globe. So if you’re looking to expand rapidly, spreading your AE out over religious denominations can help.
Here’s an example:
If we were playing as the Ottomans, my expansion against the Hindus in India, the Catholics in Europe, and the Muslims in Africa would all count towards my total AE. But one group wouldn’t care as much about my expansion against another.
If I were to expand a lot in India, then Europe, and then Africa, by the time I get back to India after truces expire, the Indian AE will have burnt off. Then after India, I go back to Europe, then Africa, and repeat, adding in new religions like Protestant or Buddhist as I go.
Of course if you’re expanding really rapidly, a Coalition is inevitable. But these steps help manage it. And management strategies like this are necessary if you’re going for a world conquest or any of the difficult achievements.
After our war, we pick up the Harsh Treatment Age Ability I mentioned last time. My plan is to use Harsh Treatment as much as possible to suppress revolts and rapidly increase our Absolutism, while still keeping some mil points in reserve for tech and Development.
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