Kongo : African Power First try !

[PanH]

So, after seeing the achievement, I decided to do the challenge, even though I'm not a great player. The goal is to control all of Africa, as Kongo.

For this first try, I decided to start at 1444, even though it's maybe not the optimal nor interesting start date (1575 starts with a portuguese colony right next to it, allowing for westernization, and it's your first neighbour !).

So :
Kongo, 4 provinces, religion shamanist, culture konguolese (Anziku is Aka though).
Tech group sub-saharan (200% cost, -2 monthly power), tech lvl 1.
Tribal despotism, +1 revolt risk, -100% provincial trade power modifier, -10% core cost. Incapable ruler can apply if more than 10 cities are controlled.
No neighbour, one coastal province.

So, what the hell I am gonna do ? Tech up, even if it's really slow. Admin is obviously my focus, to unlock ideas.
First, I have to reach admin lvl 4, and here I think I'll take the exploration idea, to be able to expand a bit (even though natives are really strong, I will maybe use some military power to tone them down a bit). Then, I hope to go for tech lvl 7, where I'll take innovative ideas, for 2 reason : help me tech up, and allow me to reform my government (you need either administrative, economic or innovative idea completed to reform).

Expected cost :
Admin : 6 lvl + 7 ideas = 10,000 ! Nice, a round number. As I have base 1 admin point, I hope to maintain an average of 5 admin points per month (3 ruler average + I can afford one advisor, so should be possible). Even like that, it would take me ~166 years (1610 !). I can reduce the cost of each idea by 5% with the advisor -10% (it's 10 percent of the base 600, so -5% for me), which would reduce the cost by 360. Stability shouldn't be a problem, as I have a neat little trick, so only core could slow me down. On the other hand, if I meet westerners before completing, I might or might not westernize first.
I won't spend my points (on tech levels) unless it's for unlocking an idea, or I'm at max power (1998), or I have an advisor which reduce the cost.
Diplo : I don't really need diplo tech, but I'll still get them. In the exploration group, I want the 4 first ideas, so a cost of 1600. Should be easily reachable.
Military : It's not my main concern, but important if I want to wage war on future neighbours (if I manage to expand to meet someone).

I'm going to get the ball rolling, but it's really slow, and the first updates will be really boring I guess.

 

[PanH]

First update :

So, half a century passed, I got to tech 4 in admin and military, and unlocked exploration, as well as the 3 first ideas. I'm only lvl 3 in diplo though. My stab is at +2 (without spending any admin point in it).
At this point, around 1500, I began to see some portuguese ships, and Africa became more and more known to me. At north, my first targets would be Haussa and Oyo, 2 small nations stuck together, one animist, and one sunni. I sent insults and warnings to both, in case it could provide me a casus belli. I had slowly built 4 cogs (max) over the years.
Sadly, I was in regency (the worst regency council ever, 1/0/1), so I couldn't declare war (I could have taken the stab hit), so I decided I might as well colonize during this time, using my whole army to fight the natives should they raid. I colonized Gabon, but was still in a regency.

I sent my colonist to Wydah, which is right next to Benin, a province of Oyo. Now I could fabricate a claim, but I got lucky and got a mission to do it. I then requested military access to Haussa, which accepted (they were reduced to Bonny, as Oyo conquered Calabar). I then put my 8k army there, and waited for the regency to end.
I then dow Oyo, and swiftly crushed their army. I only took Benin in the deal, but a lot of money and trade power too. I don't want to over expand too much before having a better religion.My colony in Wydah got burnt down when Oyo sent some troops to seize it and triggered a native uprising, but I'm now putting it back again, and colonizing it.

If I can colonize Gold coast and begin to attack Mali (though, Mali may be too strong for me atm) before the European comes, I'd have a rather good patch of land all alone, which would be great.

For now, I have cored nothing, because I'll use Loango for that, but later, I want to convert first.

 

[unmerged(54970)]

Best AAR in history

 

[MondoPotato]

Awesome, the Empire of the Kongo will reign supreme!

 

[macd21]

Watching with interest.

 

[PanH]

Part 2 :

So, I decided to colonize a bit south of Kongo first, then I colonized the Gold coast (trade center), and then the Cameroon, which made the cost from Loango to Gold coast inhabited. I also colonized Fernando Po, a little island that is usually colonized by Portugal. At this point, I reached the critical number of provinces, 10, which gave me the incapable ruler malus. To fix this, I created a vassal, Loango, with the province Loango. Loango has konguolese as primary culture too, so I sold it Gabon and Cameroon to core. My vassal is coring for me !

I also started a war with Mali, which was seemingly invaded by France soon before. I tried to do some kind line to reach France (but westernization requires core). While I was relatively easily killing the Mali army (I have mil tech 5, which gives me better units, even if they're not great), Portugal declared war on me out of nowhere ! Hell, I didn't even know about Portugal before. They landed an army in Ovimbdu, and then proceeded to siege some provinces, which they did rather fast, since I have a -50% defense from shamanist, at best a lvl 2 fort, and they had artillery. Fortunately, they didn't annexed me or took provinces, but only took my lunch money (200 ducats, accumulated in a long time).
There lies my big issue, in that they used the colonial expansion cb, which is the cb you gain by completing the exploration ideas, against pagans. And as a shamanist, I am pagan. I wish I could change, but I discovered that shamanist can't convert. I hope there is a way to convert (maybe events, or contact with western nations), because else, that'll be really harsh (does anyone know if it's the case ? I know that Kongo start as a catholic nation on later dates, so I guess there's a way).

In the end, I got 3 provinces from Mali, one of which I released as vassal (Ashanti), even though it's a gold province. The overextension and incapable ruler were simply too much to handle right now, even though I sold Fernando Po to Loango. Plus, I know that the inflation can slowly kill my economy, and my economy goes relatively well. I don't need a big army, since anyway, western nations can beat me, and I have a bigger army than other african nations.
Later I also invaded Hausa, which I annexed then vassalized (to change their religion), so the coast is now owned by me or my vassals.

I'm not really sure what to do from now on, since I've reached some kind of critical mass, with over-extension that can be a pain (I'm saving my admin points for tech and ideas), incapable ruler just close. I'll try to kill Mali and release it, and maybe go south, one at a time (colonizing, selling it to Loango, and repeating). I would like to westernize as soon as possible, of course, as well as changing religion, but that's not entirely dependent on me.


Also, thanks for the comments !

 

[unmerged(220237)]

Awesome! By the way, there is a way to convert. When they are westernized, pagans are given an event to convert to Christianity, and therefore remove the colonial conquest cb

 

[PanH]

Ah, thank you, I'll see if I get it.

 

[unmerged(193246)]

You need to be westernizing and have a Catholic/Protestant/Reformed western tech neighbor for it to fire.

 

[macd21]

Don't forget that westernising will cost you all your monarch points (and then some), so make sure you spend any you've been saving for tech!

 

[PanH]

Welp, I didn't get the converting event, despite my efforts (lowering stab so that there's more time for the event to pop, colonizing near catholics provinces, etc). I'm westernized, but I seriously consider restarting (maybe at a later date than 1444), I had a really good start, but being shamanist till the end just screw me totally, since I can't convert anything, and have terrible defense.

I'm looking at the later start where you start as catholic, even though it would be a worse start in tech and colonization (I did a pretty good job in this try).

 

[zapapala]

Welp, I didn't get the converting event, despite my efforts (lowering stab so that there's more time for the event to pop, colonizing near catholics provinces, etc). I'm westernized, but I seriously consider restarting (maybe at a later date than 1444), I had a really good start, but being shamanist till the end just screw me totally, since I can't convert anything, and have terrible defense.

I'm looking at the later start where you start as catholic, even though it would be a worse start in tech and colonization (I did a pretty good job in this try).

You do know that if you start in a later date you can't get the achievement right?

 

[PanH]

It's only with the 1444 start date ? Welp, back to it, and with better luck then I hope.