Originally posted by G. K. Zhukov
Last night I started a GC as Russia. I declared war on Kazan, the Golden Horde, and Astrakhan. Conquered and annexed them all by 1500. At the end, my Badboy was 15.
Obviously, it's not just "European" countries that affect BB. I don't see why this was considered so bad/aggressive - in fact, this was a war of national liberation! If the Europeans are all bent out of shape, where were they when the Mongols took those territories from me?
It's kind of badly implemented. What it's supposed to do is simulate the kind of reaction you'd get if someone had tried to conquer the world, or refused to behave with any civility.
You get BB points for DoW'ing on European countries, for eating European provinces in wars of aggression, and for eating entire countries in one bite elsewhere.
You are allowed to eat provinces if a European attacks you, but you get BB for annexing them entirely. Outside of Europe, wars of aggression are alright as long as they aren't too successful.
As for the argument that they're mad that I'm increasing my power, for whatever reason I'm doing it, I can see why countries like Poland, Sweden, and Turkey would be mad, but why would (say) France, Spain, and England give a damn what I do to this rabble in my back yard?
In some games, if you can do it, it's right. In EU, being able to do it doesn't make it right. And a criticism of EU is that it's not always easy to know if it's right or wrong. EU is something like SimCity in that regard. SimCity is a game where you can't succeed unless you spend time trying to figure out what the game's view of reality is.
Historically, Russia ate those Khanates but it took a long time. When a human plays Russia, it is possible to play with great tactical competence, and eat all of those Khanates and a big chunk of Poland and/or Sweden in a few years. The game attempts to punish you for this.
In games like Civilization, more provinces equals more power, very directly. This does not seem to be the case with EU. Your tech level will not go up twice as fast if you have twice as many provinces, for instance.
The GC is extremely long, and unless you are trying to conquer the world, it behooves you go be patient and go slow.
What I am thinking is that the BB should be adjusted in some way based on *who* you're attacking (or annexing). Conquering one province in Belgium, for example, should be considered much more "bad" than conquering an entire nation of misbegotten infidels in the Urals.
I agree with this, but then it shouldn't be as easy to conquer them. Russia should be slowed down a bit by
something.
Anyway, at this point I can't tell whether I should sit back and build up trade/infrastructure for a while until my BB declines, or whether I should go after Ingermanland to get a port (and thus some colonists). If some other countries attack me, of course, the point will be moot. But this does lead to some other questions -
Put about a zillion guys next to that territory, DoW on the Teutons, smash that territory with an assault, then hit the other two the same way. Once you have four or six stars, ask for just the one province. Use the settlers to build up your northern colonies, then consolidate, unless you want to play a very war-filled game.
(1) If I am attacked, I win, and I annex some land, does that increase my BB? If so, you can never get out of the spiral (except I guess by losing a war). If I win, should I ask for money instead of land, in order to keep the BB down?
No, not unless you annex a whole country. But my bet is that they won't attack you if you just sit there.
(2) How bad is 15? Am I guaranteed to be attacked now?
Relations with your allies will slowly drop, is my guess, and you will probably be at -200 with most everyone soon.
You can probably just sit there for fifty years and colonize and build up your army and your provinces. If you have a good army, the wars shouldn't be a problem. The big problem is Turks and Swedes. The Poles have so much border with you that the computer's tactic of one big siege won't work very well. You can respond by besieging everything.
bruce
