Trek Wars: The Final Frontier Strikes Back

diskoerekto · Apr 29, 2018

-----Trek Wars: The Final Frontier Strikes Back-----

by diskoerekto

Country: Transvaal (will become South Africa later, more information below)
Start date: 1836 (the Grand Campaign)
Patch lineup: Victoria II HoD up to 3.04 patch (latest) with a self made mini mod. The mod includes Boer republics to Americas and Oceania as a preferred migration spot for POPs and adds a decision to form South African Republic.

Introduction:

This is my first AAR as far as I remember, and will mostly be an alternate history gameplay AAR with some narrative in between and of course some screenshots and some other images for fun. I will be an in game character ordering the president, ministers, generals etc around. They will probably believe I am a sort of a time traveler / semi benevolent demigod. I played Victoria 1 with Transvaal and it was a fun run. Let's see if some of that experience translates into Victoria 2.

All comments are welcome, well I can only hope people show interest, sign up and comment. I really want to make here an inclusive place and try to take every voice into account. I aim to make a couple updates per week but of course it will depend on how much motivation and time I have. Also, my girlfriend doesn't really like it if I spend a lot of time playing computer games, but that is another topic

My in-game goal is to keep as much of Africa from the western powers as I can. This means aggressively expanding (well, as aggressive as my puny military and economy allows me) early game for securing a good starting position when the Scramble for Africa begins.

So we will be trying to stop these guys

In the meanwhile I need to tech up at the correct places to be one of the first ones to start colonizing. Also, the nation needs to be industrialized ASAP to be able to produce stuff necessary for colonization (steamer ships, maxim guns, quinine tablets and others). Lastly, for sustainable industry, we need a lot of immigrants.

"Whatever happens we have got
The Maxim Gun, and they have not"

Luckily, even though we are much weaker than the Great Powers, at least we are colonizing our own garden. I expect this proximity to help us during the colonization process. Also, there will be some discovery of diamond mines so that should help the economy. To stockpile on some important stuff while the diamond mines are not operating yet, I plan to bankrupt once early game. I hope that doesn't come back to bite me.

Lastly, if I can figure out how it is done, I will try to make this first post a threadmark thingy where you can see all the chapters and jump to them etc. Also, I'd like to thank Bullfilter for encouraging me to start this. He has some nice AARs going and I recommend you to take a look at them. Even more lastly, I have to say that English is my secondary language so I am sorry in advance in case I write something stupid.

De Vierkleur

Table of Contents:

diskoerekto · Apr 29, 2018

-----Chapter 1, Section 1: Here we go-----

Prologue:

The Beauty of a Pretoria Sunrise by someone's blog

It was sunny and dry summer mediterranean weather on new years day on the wrong side of the equator. The farmers who left their new British overlords for their own reasons made a long walk north and probably after committing some atrocities settled in those fertile and virgin lands. All they wanted was to be left alone with their own language and rules and they seemed to get it at this moment in history. Suddenly a strange figure appeared out of thin air. He had somewhat slanted eyes, or maybe an eyelid fold; pronounced cheek bones, long curly black hair and a small pot belly. He oriented himself and went on his way unlike Arnold as T800 because he had his clothes on. He found teleporting/timetravelling without clothes somewhat passé. He had to find the president of this ad-hoc country called Transvaal because they were on a tight schedule, the game called Victoria II did not start any earlier, and even if it did, there was no ad-hoc country like Transvaal before this date. One had nothing but to admire this young fella (late 30s is the new 20s in the 2010s, right?) who discovered this intricate technology to beam himself into computer games. He learnt some rudimentary Dutch by living in the country but that was not enough and was in the wrong millennium anyway. All problems can be solved somehow and this is his desperate story to try to stop imperialism.

--- Current Situation---

This is what a fresh start looks like:

This is also what getting Victoria 2 to run on Linux looks like. Wasn't rocket science but wasn't easy either. Playing windowed for easier screenshots

So here we are landlocked behind the Zulu Empire and Portuguese Mozambique. On our south is the Vrijstaat Oranje (Free State Orange, Dutch really is a lot like English), another Boer Republic like us although we have our differences. For example as far as I know they are ok with slavery and we are not (yay for us). We will have to conquer them ASAP. South of them is the new overlords of the Cape Colony: the mighty British. I am not sure if there will come a day we will have the strength to claim all of it. North of Portuguese Africa, there is Zanzibar, the trade colony of Oman where Freddie Mercury will be born 110 years later. Our northwest is rolling plains and unexplored jungles of Central Africa until Portuguese Angola.

In this second map is the Sokoto Empire between the outskirts of West Africa and the Sahara on further northwest. There is also the breakaway Egyptian state from the Ottomans in way northeast and the ancient empire of Ethiopia just south of it. Lastly, off the coast of Mozambique there is Madagascar which I'd really like to conquer (has tropical timber which is expensive resource, and also coal which is a strategic resource for industry) but it will be really difficult since France has a lot of time to put the island state under its sphere of influence before I conquer a port province and build some transports.

A huge continent

---

Here is the first 2 expansion targets. First will be the 3 province Oranje on the left with a brigade (same as us) and 3 province Zulu on the right. Zulu seems to have a huge army but it is irregulars and as an uncivilized nation they have worse supply so I expect to let them attrit themselves into oblivion while I besiege their provinces and maybe finish them off when they're weak.

We have to be as quick as our meager status allows us since the British can also take some nations under their sphere of influence. It will be like a race to pick up the goodies.

The map really looks better when zoomed out but this is with more details

---

We have no generals, no leadership points to create one, no brigades to mobilize and no manpower to build more brigades. I nevertheless turn off auto-create leaders to stop the game from wasting leadership points. I am not sure what else you can spend them on but I'd like to keep control of what's going on.We have more than enough officer POPs so I expect to have more than enough generals in the future. In fact it would be better if some of those officers were soldiers so we could've built another brigade or so.

Crickets......

---

This is how declaring wars work in Victoria II. Depending on the circumstance you choose a CB and justify it. If you are lucky (I am sure there are some variables that affect this) you can create the CB without getting caught which means you basically have a badboy (called infamy here) free war. If you get caught on the first day it is 22 badboy points. It is expected to take 308 days so it will be some tense waiting. Wiki says infamy over 25 is not nice and the decay is not a lot (0.1 decay in a month, which is like 120 infamy for the entire game span) but luckily against colonial possessions and uncivilized nations this is smaller.

Cabin Crew – Arm sliding doors and cross check

---

Normally it is probably the best to leave the trading to AI, but our small and unindustrialized country lacks a lot of things and they might not be available on the world market when we need it so I went ahead and put in buy orders for creating some infantry divisions, some transport ships, and a factory. This probably means bankruptcy in the following years but that's a risk I will take now. I hope it is not a stupid move.

So many things to buy

---

I thought slavery was banned in Transvaal but it seems it is not. Well that's something to do when we have the chance to push some reforms. The screen says we cannot enact social or political reforms but in a test game to see if everything was working ok under Linux, I was somehow able to enact reforms. I am not sure how exactly it works. Now it seems impossible but I expect something to change in the near future.

Quite a backwards society

---

Here you can see the decision I modded in the game. I based it off the event from HPM mod but changed a little bit. I also wanted to add the condition to own Cape Town to be necessary as well but I was not sure if I could ever get that province so that's just an OR instead of an AND. If this decision is taken it gives some cores and prestige and does some other stuff. We will discuss about it when that time comes.

Decisions, decisions

---

Muzzle-loaded rifles seems to be a no-brainer here. It is on the way to the very important for colonization Machine Guns, and also it gives instant free stat upgrade to our single infantry brigade.

Technology, or lack thereof

---

I am taxing the poor and the middle as low as possible because they don't have much anyway and there are some POP types that are really important to me at this stage of game (laborers for diamond mines, soldiers for new brigades, clergy for research points, diplomats for some important business...) and the rich as much as I can because they have some to give and there aren't any capitalists yet (they will be useful from mid game on, I guess?). The tariffs are also low because the artisans will probably need to import everything to build stuff. All the spending is at 100% because we will bankrupt anyway and they are all necessary at this point in time. I hope the diamond mines appear quickly.

We're like broke

---

Now is the time to hit unpause. Let's see what this game has in it for us. A quick next chapter is coming today as well. The time and reality travelling Tatar boy in the Netherlands needs to eat.

diskoerekto · Apr 29, 2018

-----Chapter 1, Section 2: Here we go, this time for reals-----

This will be a short one, I actually planned to make this a part of the previous section but it ran too long so I separated from here. The rest of the game I haven't played yet so we will see what happens together.

The first event of the game is a very happy one. Although, if I were that dried up old traveler I would have kept it to myself. This will be useful for our economy, but still we are so behind in every technology including mining technologies that we cannot make enough money with this. In time, this will hopefully be very good for our economy.

Diamond ruuuussshhhh

---

Then, on the same day, two inverse events happened within hours of each other. So, having the good one of those is beneficial in two ways. Firstly, you get your CB sooner, and secondly, since I guess there is a MTTH for the getting caught while fabricating CB event, it indirectly causes less badboy hit.

What comes around, goes around

---

Only a few months later (June 30th), the expected thing happens. It is not really nice but that was bound to happen anyway. I see the glass half full and say we dodged half of that badboy.

I am an infamous naughty boy, punish me oh mighty Berlin conference

---

A few more months pass (November 6th) and oh boy, are we ready for action or what? I get that we are sibling nations and whatever, but I know that Great Britain will gobble you in an instant if I let you roam around longer. Sorry, Oranje, you were a good neighbor for the better part for a year, oh and I just see that you disbanded your only brigade. That was a really bad idea. This is the age where social darwinism was at its peak. It seems you are not really fit to survive, my dear sibling Oranje.

Here begins our first war

diskoerekto · May 8, 2018

-----Chapter 1, Section 3: Musings of a trekker-----

So this guy called diskoerekto showed up out of nowhere. He was running around like a madman and I was sure he was one but decided I could still hear what he has to say anyway. Also, whenever I decided to not talk to him and send him away, or get him locked up somewhere, or get him executed (believe me people, I tried everything) I found myself the next day I was living the same day over and over. That January 1st of 1836, I think I lived it 20 times over at least. When I finally gave up and granted this crazy dude a hearing, days started to pass normally. When I told him this one day over brandies after dinner, he laughed and babbled something about something called a movie and a day of groundhogs or whatever. He really is like a madman, but also is like a wise man. I think I will become a madman if I keep on listening to him but it seems like there is no other way to get out of this time loop. Maybe I should have stayed under the British. We came and settled here to be left alone, but ever since that day strange things happened.

So after this strange guy who speaks a funny English with some invented words as if it ramblings of a mad hatter and a funnier broken half Dutch somehow convinced me to make some decisions regarding how we run our little farmer state, and got me to declare war on our only good neighbors, Oranje! Unthinkable! And they disbanded their only brigade, probably they thought they were safe with us as the enemies but we pounced on our only brothers like a backstabbing jackal. I do not know how I got myself in this but believe me, he has this animal magnetism or something that captivates one. I just cannot resist or else it is the hedgehog day or whatever that is called all over again. He mumbles about Great Britain taking them before we do, about France entering the picture, about Portugal, about everybody and their uncles wanting their place under the sun, about something called the industrial revolution, having to colonize before the others and blocking their ways; dear God what are you testing me with?

Sadly, our brothers in Oranje tried to muster a force to defend themselves from us, and they tried to muster it right were we were besieging so they were taken prisoners the day they got their rifles distributed to them.

TO AARRRMSSSS... oh sorry officer I didn't know this was not allowed? Are you taking us? #resistoranje

---

The siege seems like it'll take quite some time. It's already been 10 months and the end isn't anywhere in sight. This diskoerekto dude goes on with his crazy ramblings saying we're already too late. We need to take this country, we need to take that country, we need to invent this, we need to stockpile that, it will never be in time... I swear to god I will go crazy just like him. Maybe I can disrupt myself with the newspaper.

Damn the British and their dye producing colonies. No hussars for us.

---

The siege is finally over. It's taken more than a year. Disko is whining non stop. It is strange his clothing and facial hair etc never changes. It's as if this past year was but a few minutes for him, but he keeps on whining. He says if it was possible to do so he would bring something called a Kalashnikov here. Or someone? Might this madman also be Russian? Is he a spy? Well, at least there is some gossip about the British royal family. The madman says the universe I live in exists only because of this Queen Victoria. I say I am for republics and do not care much for nobles. He laughs.

Quite some time for 3000 guys to knock the doors of some farmers and say "hey guys your capital's just changed"

She'll also get married soon

---

The siege in Bloemfontain seems it will take even longer. At least we've got our newspapers.

Machine parts will be a problem going forward with industrialization

---

The madman said we have enough of something called leadership points and I should create... err... promote 2 of my officers into generals. He says we have enough points for 2 and not 3. I am not sure what he is talking about but there are only 2 officers that I could've promoted anyway. Well, both seem to be good generals and amiable people, but that crazy idiot says Danie is our guy and Rudolf is a complete waste of leadership points and an excuse of a soldier. I just got to go with whatever drivel he is spouting out. Danie is now leading our only brigade and Rudolf is counting how many boot laces we are purchasing each year.

I am in love with my de Heer van Rensburg

---

Some more boring months pass. In Mosega there is a trouble that needs my attention and a few days later a nation wide social issue. The traveler tells me to solve both of the problems with common sense and with a just approach. I mean in the second issue, I did not have the choice to stop that dreary system but even just acknowledging it as so was enough to increase productivity at the farms and also at the mines which we don't have any. He says we will have some mines soon, and some very good mines. I think he is talking about the coal mines of Oranje but I am not sure why he is so excited. Maybe he is not that mad after all but just confused.

Consciousness is good for us I guess?

I sure as hell wouldn't want to be in that prison

---

The neverending siege of a farming village continues. Our knowledgeable persons tinkering with better rifles just came to us saying now we have better rifles and an invention about this new technology can also happen any time soon. The deranged guy is acting like always babbling about minimum liferating of provinces and its importance in colonization and orders the persons to go try to find new things about medicines. In the end it is a good thing to have medicines, I guess.

The knowledgeable persons heralding the news of an upcoming invention tied to the new rifle technology were proved true in only a little more than a month. Now our troops would fire better.

So many things to discover and so little people who knows how to read and write, another day at the savanna

Go knowledgeable per... scientists!!!

---

While waiting for the the siege of Bloemfontein to end, there is the new issue of the newspaper. Diskoerekto says newspapers are supposed to be out every day. He really is one confused guy.

This is the date of my girlfriend's birthday, I should've given her the province of Lucca

---

The siege of Bloemfontein is finally over. It took even longer than the first siege. The madman orders me to order our troops to the next province. That would be the last province of our Oranjean brothers. After giving the orders, we wait for months and have the chance to read many newspapers.

I wonder what those soldiers REALLY did all those months

Welcome to 20th century when everybody is inventing stuff and everything is getting more expensive

---

During the 3rd long siege of this neverending war, there is some good news from the province of Klerksdorp. That crazy guy called diskoerekto says it was damn high time that event fired and there should be one more. I do not understand a thing from that. We now have a diamond mine which should help our economy. Our poor economy hobbled by that deranged idiot who ordered us to stockpile a shitload of expensive stuff.

Money money money, must be funny, in the rich man's world

---

There is another decision to be made. My reasoning would be to take the books to knowledgeable persons and the faster assimilating of locals but the mad hatter did some calculations on a piece of paper and told the research points is not anywhere near we will be losing and consciousness is probably something good for us and made me choose to not enforce the curriculum. I am pretty sure this is the wrong thing to do but I cannot help but do whatever this dude tells me to do.

No dark sarcasm in the classroom, teachers leave them kids alone!

---

It's been some years, but finally the final siege is over. I was reluctant at first but uniting all our Boer brothers under one banner feels kinda gezellig. In the meanwhile, for some reason we are able to pass some reforms. We are not supposed to be doing that but I guess rising militancy of our peoples caused this? I do something that I am doing the first time, and ask the crazy idiot about this. He is as clueless as I am. We choose to ban slavery. That is what should be anyway. Also, we extend this ban to our newly conquered provinces as well.

Then the mad hatter starts hitting his head saying he forgot to manifacture a CB (whatever that is) and we will lose some months because of this. He also says last time he played this war he did that in time. I am not sure what he means but I sure as hell felt some déja vu in the last years to be honest. I think spending too much time with an eccentric madman has this effect, I am going slightly mad.

Growing stronger

And forbidden it shall be

A neater map, a still landlocked nation

---

While we are waiting for our agents to convince the concert of nations that it is only prudent that Zulu lands would be better looked after under our supervision, it is time to make another decision and just after that it turns out our agents weren't really very subtle about how they work. The crazed guy starts swearing in a language I never heard and throws stuff around. He says things like last time he played he had much less bad boys. Might his craziness be something sexual?

The beer hall opening sounds like good news to me, but diskoerekto says he has to choose between higher militancy and crappier mines but after all decides mines are more important than anything else at this point, and militancy might be helpful in the future for pushing new reforms so we shut down the nice beer house like some bigots. Dammit I was really in the mood for a beer.

No beer for you, poor masses who should work the mines

They got caught only 20% of the way, well better than nothing

---

A look at what we are doing with our trade seems like we are somewhat going near our stockpile goals set by diskoerekto. The diamond mine of Klerksdorp is really helping a lot with the economy, without that we probably would've gone bankrupt already. Although it seems like if we go like this in the future bankruptcy might be inevitable. Our crazy overlord says there is a price to be paid for colonization and that is industrialization. Also there is a price to be paid for industrialization and that is, if you are not colonized already, bankruptcy. It really sounds crazy but if you listen to how he describes it, it makes sense. I cannot believe I find some sense in what he has to describe.

Industrialization is expensive

---

While waiting for our clumsy agents to clumsily convince other nations about how we should have Zulu, I receive yet another newspaper.

Even the Montenegrin are inventing stuff

---

Finally our agents convinced everybody about the Zulu question. I am not sure what this new war will bring to us. As far as our scouts see from the border, they have a massive army nearly 10 times ours although they lack disciplined western style military. Still, the numbers are very stacked against us. The crazy bastard diskoerekto says this way or that way we need to beat them as soon as possible, we need coastal provinces, we need to form a big republic, we need to build harbors for better colonization, they have manpower to recruit and stuff. His big plan includes something called attrition. I am really worried about our people. God save us from his antics.

Warmongering Transvaal Republic

---

I do not know if anybody will read my diaries but if you do, please tell everybody me, Andries Pretorius is not responsible for all the craziness that has been going on. We just wanted some peaceful farms away from the British. Now I find us in the middle of something much bigger. Difficult days are upon us. Godspeed and good luck.

Looking quite somber

diskoerekto · Jun 3, 2018

-----Chapter 1, Section 4: It's me, again-----

I think me teleporting and time travelling myself through layers of realities into this Paradox grand strategy game called Victoria 2 was just too much for poor Andries. He may be the president / tribe leader of a small unconventional band of people that can be called a nation, but he was sure as hell not ready for somebody that was yet to be born until around 150 years later. Well I hope he pulls his stuff together, and so do I. I had some problems with my girlfriend, then with my job, then had my parents come visit me from a different continent, then had some more problems with my girlfriend. My therapist says she sure is crazy but I need her nonetheless. Sometimes I wish I was only as crazy and troubled as Andries, then I think the cholera and dysenteria of 1800s would kill me in an explosively horrid torrent of crap and I change my mind. Now let's try to steer this small civilized African nation to relative power and try to slow the powers from colonizing. This uncharted territory is the final frontier and we will strike back with fury.

Now, after this pep talk, why don't we check where we left it the last time:

On second thought, was it really wise attacking a country with 9 times the army?

---

God I wrote the part above yesterday. Suddenly my gf dropped by unannounced, we made peace, then had a fight, then made peace, then went to sleep, then had breakfast in the morning, then had a fight, then made peace, then went out for coffee, then she went home and I came home to eat something and now here I am sipping my tea writing this before a friend of mine who had a fight with his wife come at my place to discuss about life and stuff. I really sometimes hope my life was only as crazy as Andries. Take a look at the newspapers from Transvaal while I have some tea with my friend over his marital problems.

The bigs are getting bigger, the developed are getting more techs, the Germans are composing songs

---

My friend has just left and it's been over 5-6 hours since I wrote the previous paragraph. I will not go into other details but he had sex once in the last four years. Pretty descriptive of his situation. We understandably switched to Rakı instead of the tea. Andries has it so easy. So, what happened in the time period when those newspapers were published? Well we won a siege but in the meanwhile the Zulu army won 4 sieges including our capital and was besieging the 5th province. They lost half their army to attrition though.

I have a missing screenshot of the siege where we lost our capital. I think I was too distraught to take a screenshot.

---

So it took the better part of a year to complete the siege. Let's see what else happened in our lovely little nation when I was keeping our army besieging Ladysmith and the Zulu army going crazy in our provinces and Andries was sending telegrams and messenger pigeons and human messengers and everything in his power to convince me to break the siege and bring the army back to defend the motherland. I couldn't convince him this was the only way we get out of this war alive. He came himself swearing and kicking but in the end I hold the absolute power. I can even delete the save file and his universe will vanish from existence. So he returned to keep an eye on what we have left as a nation and run my orders about the affairs of the state. For example, our brilliant scientists discovered the practice of medicine. Should be pretty useful, now we can work on steam engines.

I am an idiot to have forgotten to keep current on the tech line that affects research speed. It gives huge bonuses (bonii?) and I forgotten about it for years. Andries told me but I didn't listen.

---

Now is also a nice time to have a look at the budget. Victoria 2 is the Paradox grand strategy game most geared towards economic concepts. Here you can see the direct effect of gold to our coffers is only 1,2 pounds per day whereas the tax from the poor classes are a lot. This is because the laborers in the gold and diamond mines make good money (they are profitable businesses) thus pay more taxes. Also, since they make a lot of money and buy a lot of stuff, and that stuff mostly is imported, we make some tariff money. Normally I'd keep tariff as low as my economy allows (which can even go to negative meaning you are subsidizing imports, all sliders have min and max limits depending on the stances of the ruling party of the country) because rising this slows down the economy if you are not producing ALL of the resources that your industries (including artisans) might be using. When tariffs are higher inputs for your industries are more expensive thus the industries are less profitable which keeps the workers unhappy and the production low which in turn causes poorer workers to buy the outputs of other industries thus making them less profitable etc. But for now I will keep it 30%, and you will see I will even increase that temporarily in the future. There are strategic materiel to be stockpiled and things that needs to be done ASAP so that is why.

Oh the great cycle of economics

---

In the second screenshot you can see the stockpile. Most items (except for machine parts which we still only managed to buy 73.87 units and timber which I only recently added to manually stockpile) are stockpiled as much as we ordered. That is the reason for the thousands of pounds of debt we amassed (machine parts is around 50 pounds per unit!) and we'll even borrow more to fill our stockpiles. That might see us go bankrupt but I think that would be worth the risk. One small thing that got my attention is the small steel icon in the top trade section. It shows we are selling wool, precious metals and steel while we are buying furniture, clothes and booze. Now, one can ask how we can export steel without any industry at all?

The prices a risin

---

In the last screenshot the answer to that stands. Artisans, which are the traditional way of production can decide to produce any item. They choose by their own free will, they can buy their input materiel from the world market as well, and will produce whatever they like and sell it. You can see here (small icons next to the artisan icons) they are producing steel, explosives, canned food etc which are all industrial goods that normally require a factory. Early game, without a good raw material production base and some techs making factories more efficient, artisans are actually a more efficient way to produce stuff than factories. You cannot control them though. How nice would it be if one could control EVERYTHING.

Come on artisans, build artillery and machine parts and luxury clothes and all

---

My real life stuff really tired me, I'm already halfway through this episode but I'm finished. I will continue with the rest of the Zulu war and more soon. Now is the time for sleep. Andries and others can have their peace of mind too. See you soon.

diskoerekto · Jun 3, 2018

-----Chapter 1, Section 5: Sunday morning-----

So I'm up and had breakfast and I think I have a little time until I will need to do something. So here goes. Normally, in a presidential dictatorship one is not supposed to be able to push reforms. I am guessing, since enemy occupation shoots war exhaustion up, and war exhaustion shoots militancy up, the parliament is letting some reforms be passed. Only political reforms though, no social ones. I am reluctant to move away from being a dictatorship, not yet. I intend to rule through Andries until the ship that is our weird country can steer itself. Now what I will allow is public meetings because I had some of the best few weeks in my life during one.

#occupybloemfontein

---

Now back to the juicy parts. War is juicy right? With all that blood and stuff. The Zulu army was not really very happy to see us win that siege so they seem like they're coming for us.

Everybody hold tight and pray to a deity of your choosing

---

The war breaks off and we start with clear superiority in skills and tactics and they are attrited away. Let's see if that is enough.

That dice roll though

Well we can roll a 9 too.

That was a close one.

We won but lost a lot of good men. Good thing they're only bits on my computer.

---

All that fighting and hostile occupation seems to raise militancy so it's time to pass another reform.

Now socialist trade unions are allowed as well. Stand up all victims of oppression, for the tyrants fear your might

---

Now things started to go our way. We besieged and took the Zulu capital of Ulundi as well while their army is in a stupor just north of us. After this we go besieging the last province left to finish this war once and for all.

It's been a difficult run so far but all seems better now.

---

Well but of course things took a turn and with their huge army the Zulu came to Ladysmith and finished the siege when we still have some work in Durban. They're off to Winburg to continue what they began. The good thing is, since they are not on occupied territory anymore they will start receiving attrition, and since their capital has fallen too they are having trouble getting supplies so I expect faster attrition.

This will never end

---

I'll finish the siege here and wait for them to lose more men to attrition. I hope we can pull it before Winburg falls as well but well that really needs some luck. In the meanwhile, some inventions had fired in the past months and we finally finished researching steam engines. Now onto market structure. We need some economics science as well.

hi tech powerhouse

I REALLY should have remembered to research the faster research techs before anything else. That was dumb.

---

I also realized the militancy was again high enough to push another reform. The reforms are really important because they all increase immigrant draw. For a nation that's trying to industrialize, it is one of the most important things to be able to draw immigrants. On the other hand, having so much war exhaustion means our economy can crash any time. War exhaustion slowly decreases the efficiency of mines (among other things) and the mines are what is keeping our economy afloat. So even though I like all this reforming, I should wrap this war real quick.

No elections but the grip on parties are loosened. I am guessing house parties?

---

After Ladysmith, the Zulu took back Ulundi as well and moved on to Winburg. I'm still besieging Durban. They're still receiving attrition. Now we have a small positive event. I went with the one that also gives prestige, the amount of research points is not that much.

We need a lot of prestige, if you're not top 16 nation you are not allowed to colonize

---

Finally the siege of Durban is over. We seem to lose a handful of provinces everytime we win one. But now is the time to look fate in the face. We march to Winburg ASAP.

They lost a lot of guys to harsh conditions. We need to win this. Maybe we can even make it before Winburg falls.

---

The armies hit each other and we seem to have the momentum. Barely lost any men while they dropped from 10k down to 2k. If we win this one the war would be practically over.

c'mon guys just hold on

---

Well, life is but a series of broken dreams, isn't it?

to be continued...

diskoerekto · Jun 7, 2018

-----Chapter 1, Section 6: Let's finish this-----

I thought this Zulu war would be one section but it is apparently longer than expected and every time I sat down to write I had less time than I thought, so what was to be section 4 is now sections 4, 5 and 6. I intend to complete this beast now. Where we left was an unexpectedly long war of attrition with Zulu with us losing half of our provinces to them including the capital with war exhaustion through the roof and militancy climbing while only managing to briefly control 2 provinces while keeping most of the army intact. On the other hand, Zulu army has attrited (I know this is not a real word but conveys the meaning anyway so I will keep it even though it is underlined red by spell checker) away to more or less our numbers. We will try to finish their army off before it finds the chance to reinforce or die trying. If that works it's only one more province to control and this would be over.

Our last loss probably made a spike in the unhappiness of our populace, the parliament is asking for more reforms to pass to poor Andries, he's been chewing his hat for the past few years and a lot of greys appeared in his beard. The situation must be really dire, because for the first time they are willing to pass social reforms as well. Most of them cost money directly, or at least require more administration so cost money indirectly. Most of them have more or less similar immigrant attraction bonus, so I go with the one that helps with education. That is for roleplay purposes as well as trying to increase our horrible literacy rate thus research speed. Also, I am an idiot for forgetting to research the research speeding techs for this many years, that probably costed me like 3 less techs researched in total or something.

Population couldn't have cared less about having a school system. Being better educated would change that too.

---

After waiting briefly to resupply we attack the remnants of the Zulu army that had just won a (hopefully pyrrhic) victory against us last time we met, our brave men once again are on the offensive. This time the battle is swift (too swift for an excited diskoerekto to take a screenshot) and victory is concrete. Zulu army is no more.

I hope this is the last time we face a Zulu army

---

Something must be going bad, because normally one wouldn't expect neither a reactionary party nor a conservative parliament to allow so many reforms to be passed. Again, social allowed too. Again, schools it is.

So the school system is now acceptable, as if any teenager will accept any kind of school

---

It is also time for the newspaper bunch:

Nobody afraid of the Prussians, and no new German songs composed. There must be a connection somewhere.

---

Most of the excitement is over, Zulu seem to have started to build new units in 2 provinces but hopefully we'll get both of them before they are ready. They might be also waiting to stockpile things to be able to start building the units. I hope this is the case. The first province is here. Every siege takes nearly 1 year this is really taking long.

One more siege left

---

While waiting for the last province to fall, we finish researching market structures. Also, there were some inventions that fired after the last time we finished our research so I put all of them together in one screenshot. Like a stupid, I researched something other than the faster research technology. I couldn't have passed the holy face of Karl Marx. Also, I did not understand why chemotheraphy gives -5% army attrition. It's not like the soldiers are dying of cancer in the jungle battling against the Zulu?

I. Should. Have. Researched. Idealism. Instead.

---

But the parliament is insisting we make reforms. Well this is something we'd like anyway.

So now we have like the best school system in the world, immigrants of the world; come here!

---

Our economy seems like it is starting to fluctuate. War exhaustion is finally taking its toll on our economy. RGO means resource gathering operation which stands for all the farms and mines (all non industrial raw material extraction). There is one RGO in every province and except for our small contingent of artisans producing what they please, this is our only way to earn money. If the RGOs don't work there is no gold income. If the RGOs don't work the people working there don't make money. If the people working there don't make money they do not pay taxes. If they cannot afford to buy stuff to consume, they do not pay tariffs. If there is no gold, tax or tariff income we cannot pay the civil servant POPs (soldiers, officers, clergy, bureaucrats) so everybody starves. See the effects of war exhaustion.

War is hell

---

It feels like this is becoming more and more frequent. Since we have the best school system in the world, it is time to work on our hospitals. We'd use some population growth.

Low quality public healthcare, so we're already better than 2018 USA or just getting there?

---

I think due to rising unhappiness among the populace, we received an unrest event. So militancy would rise either for Boer POPs or non-Boer POPs. Since our primary culture of Boer is a minority, it is better to choose Boer POPs to have elevated militancy.

For readers not very familiar with Victoria series, POPs are short for units of population. Each POP has an ethnicity, a religion, a class, status of needs met, saved money in their pocket, literacy rate, ideology, political issues, and lastly the big 3. The big 3 is plurality, consciousness and militancy. They are so tightly coupled to each other, they are always mentioned together. So what are they? Are they things? Let's find out:

Plurality is demand for democracy and rights. External effects are more research points created but more consumption. Internal effect is rising consciousness (together with literacy). Some inventions and many reforms increase plurality, and it rises with time. I don't know how/if it drops.
Consciousness is demand for a POP's own needs. An unconscious POP votes for ideology and not for its issues. External effect is more consumption. Increased by plurality, literacy, met luxury needs and decreased by clergyman (a class of POP) and enacting reforms. So when you enact reforms the POP thinks you are doing good by them and their consciousness drops a little. On the other hand many reforms increase plurality so in the long run consciousness rises too.
Militancy is basically militancy. When a POP has high militancy it has higher chance of revolt. A revolting POP also does not partake in economic activity which can have a cascading effect (worse economy, more unmet needs, more militant POPs, more revolts...). It is increased by basically negative things (war exhaustion in our case, unmet needs, disliked ruling party, being non accepted culture etc) and decreased by having needs met, liking the ruling party, being conservative or being suppressed by a nearby army.

So plurality increases consciousness through literacy, and consciousness causes wanting reforms and voting for more progressive parties which increase plurality. While these 2 are directly and indirectly increasing each other, the material needs of the POP rises which if unmet causes elevated militancy. Also, as consciousness increase, POPs become less conservative which makes them prone to militancy as well.

If people become conscious and economy cannot support it you have Russia of 1916. If people become militant and ruler rides the wave you have Germany of 1936. If people become conscious and find themselves ran by progressive parties you have Scandinavia of today. Those might be crude analogies but I guess you get the point.

So here is our event which rises militancy of Boer POPs which was already high to begin with. Also see in top dock economy is flailing crazy and fluctuating. This is probably the fibrillating before the flatlining so Marx help us.

Please don't revolt

---

You know what they say, it is darkest before dawn or something like that. Ulundi finally falls before they manage to build a unit there and war is over. Our economy and society is in ruins but we are landlocked no more!

Finally

---

Just hours after Ulundi falls, I send a disheveled Andries to go sit down on a table in front of the Zulus and sign the annexation. He is slowly losing it but I saw some light in his eyes when Ulundi finally fell.

Andries is in tears

---

Within the first hours of the annexation, with the new manpower, building of a good cavalry unit (dragoon) is ordered. The best we cannot build since they need luxury clothes to build which needs fabric which needs dye which is dominated by UK and the Netherlands. At least we do not have to settle for the worse options. The best unit late game is airplanes and before that artillery but those need to be in the back row so at most half of your army (you can have success with all airplane armies supposedly, but that's gamey). The front line should be made up of infantry (there is the unit called guards which are elite infantry but doesn't seem like it is worth the extra cost) and you should have at least 1 cavalry of sorts per 10 brigades for the recon bonus. Having more is not bad but the bonus caps at 1/10 so it seems like a sweet spot. When we research some techs and have some technology going we should have an army with 1 dragoon (hussar if we can find some luxury clothes somewhere), 4 infantry and 5 artillery. There is some concerns about frontage as well but I do not remember what that was and we don't have the manpower or the industry to build that many units anyway so that's something for the future.

I wonder how many times will this light cavalry charge

---

I just realized I forgot cropping many of the screenshots. I did for the rest of the screenshots for this section, albeit not many left anyway. Here is the budget of our economy in tatters. All tax from all strata, tariffs etc are all set at maximum and we can barely turning in a profit. According to the tooltip for maximum administrative efficiency we need 1.4% bureaucrats which we already have so I halved it. I am guessing this might have other implications but there isn't any as far as I know. There are 2 reasons the economy is in this state. War exhaustion is through the roof crippling the production, and the newly incorporated Zulu economy is small however Zulu population is not. They have so many clergyman, bureaucrats and soldiers that the spending for education, administration and military suddenly skyrocketed. So I am starting to compromise the spending starting with administration. Good thing is, most of the strategical stockpile that I wanted to make is mostly stocked.

At least the POPs are getting most of their needs, except for the artisans that are stubbornly producing unnecessary stuff

---

I'm not sure if due to war exhaustion, militancy, reform desire or whatever else, the parliament is saying we can push more reforms. Even social reforms. So our school system was already perfect, I am pushing for healthcare reforms.

Low healthcare today, single payer tomorrow

---

Andries finally took a deep breath and relaxed first time for years on a sofa. So I figured this would be the perfect time for me to break him the news:

What the #@*& is an Oman? Oh, a country? Then where the #@*& is it? And why the bloody #@*& do we want to fight them for?

---

Yet another social reform is being passed. Now we have acceptable healthcare. No Transvaali should experience lack of hospitals.

Yes we can

---

And of course, as always, we are caught before expectations with the fabrication.

Expected was 2.5 but I like to whine

---

We better get going. Our economy is not very good and I didn't want to spend a lot on primitive ships (I might have to in the future) that didn't give any colonization points so our glorious army improved by new brigades from Zulu soldier POPs will walk all the way to the Omani colonies that we set our eyes on.

This is where Mao Zedong had the idea of a long walk

---

And the expected reform. This time it only lets political ones, and all the ones not related to elections are already at max. So, while not letting any elections, I am letting political parties with the caveat that I will be doing gerrymandering. Not that I'm holding any elections but still. I am confused about this, just imagine how Andries is doing.

Stupid or not, immigration attraction is immigration attraction

---

Ideological Thought is researched. Only +1 max national focus seems not important, especially for a nation like us with very few POPs of their primary culture. Even if we have +99 max, we probably wouldn't have much national focii to use even after decades. Good thing is that I did not start to research something else and let research points pool (one can store 1 years worth of research points), probably the fact that I was forgetting something was bugging me from the back of my mind. Next session, I will start by researching the faster research tech.

I will research Idealism next... I will research Idealism next... I will research Idealism next... Must... not... forget...

---

Finally the stockpiles are full. I have some other things in mind now which I will increase next session, but the most difficult and expensive part was the machine parts, and that is over. After saving enough money to build a naval base for the future colonial points, I can start to normalize the economy.

400 machine parts, 55 pounds each, 22000 pounds only the machine parts

---

I know you all missed the newspapers. Without further ado, this year's papers:

I think we should first have 4 Omani, 2 Sokoti and an Ethiopian war; then we will have around 5-6 Portuguese wars

---

CB is finally ready. We can go for the Omani war.

Andries asks: "Why exactly?"

---

Well we need to seal as much of the coast as possible before the scramble for Africa begins. Since the CB that we can use against Oman only takes one province at a time we have to begin ASAP. Now I have to choose which state of Oman I will choose to attack. On the south is a poorer and less populous 2 province state and on the north is a bigger 4 province state. Choosing the 4 province one seems to be no brainer, and for the next war it will make Omani defense more spread out. On the other hand, taking the state on the border might mean we are blocking Portugal. They can always hop on a ship for the next state, but taking the one on their border might be a strategic move. I am leaning towards the 4 province one but am undecided.

I would've loved to go after Madagascar, too; alas France took them in their sphere of influence in the very beginning of the game and colonized the provinces northwest of it.

---

There are only a few provinces that can be colonized with the technology before 1870, and those islands northwest of Madagascar were among those. The French gobbled them up immediately. One day we will strike back and take them all.

Now, a decision lies ahead.

diskoerekto · Jun 23, 2018

-----Chapter 1, Section 7: My Dear Sirs-----

Hello and greetings my dear sirs, and madams I guess; I heard his excellency diskoerekto saying in the future, mere ladies would be more or less the same with the gentle men. My humble self has trouble grasping such a time, but it is never my kind of behavior to go out of line and tell something like that to anybody. There are some things I hate. I hate to say no, I hate to not please, and I hate to be bold and make uncalculated moves. My dear sirs, you might say there is no such word as uncalculated, and if you said so I shall find a better word for you and not argue otherwise even if I disagree in this humble head of mine. I can say I hate to make audacious moves. Words are wind, I can find words to please you, my dear sirs, err.. and madams; and I will find the best of those words for my master Andries, or his radiancy diskoerekto.

Danie van Regensburg, that great general exalted among many, was my classmate in the military academy. Actually we graduated together. His brilliancy, diskoerekto, put him in command of all the armies of our glorious nation while I was in the safety of the rec hall of the military academy. Yes, I was a graduate, but I was not in charge of any troops, and I beg you to not think that I am complaining about that, it is perfectly okay for me to just sit inside the stout and strong walls of the academy and sip my rooibos tea with a hint of wild flower honey in it. What I was telling to my lords? Ah, yes I was enjoying myself in the rec hall instead of going back to my family home, because in my family home there are less strong walls. It is always better to be safe, right? I told my ma and pa to come there to the rec hall to be safer, but they told me I had no guts. My dear sirs, I think it is always better to have no rhetorical guts than to have no actual guts. So rec hall it was for some years.

However, after my good friend Danie, the great general, took our main army with all the new brigades north to fight Oman; and a new infantry brigade to keep our mainland safe was finished training, his gorgeousness the great diskoerekto ordered my humble self to be in charge of this force, named the 1st Army. Oh my gentle sirs, how perilous and difficult was the way from our beautiful capital Pretoria through the mountains of Lydenburg and to the savage plains of Ulundi with its foul weather. Everywhere was danger, the locals, the lack of mountains, the wretched Portuguese and their huge army...

He really is a piece of work, isn't he? At least keeps the troops happy but no way in hell I'll attack with him (not that he'll want to attack anyway)

Look at that huge ocean with all its possibilities for horror. Who knows what might come from the deep? Who knows who might sail their ships and land their armies? Have you ever seen such a dreadful and monstrous view my gentle lords... err and my lovely ladies.

Alkanstrand-Beach-Richards-Bay-1.jpg-crop.jpg

oh the horror

---

His radiancy diskoerekto was cursing himself over a simple matter for a few months now. He was saying all our brilliant minds were researching things in the wrong order and it was all his fault. He is such a brilliant mind himself and I am sure it was just nothing, but he is blaming himself for nothing. In fact, a few months ago, he ordered us that until he knew better what to do, our brilliant minds would be researching nothing and just collecting their research points (how is this possible, it is over my humble understanding). Today he also figured out what our scientists need to study about: Enlightenment Philosophy!

Idealism it is, finally. Next one is Empiricism to be unlocked in 1860, and we will start saving research points from 1859. If I do not forget.

---

His omnisciency diskoerekto also was very excited some years ago reading a news about artillery prices in the paper. He decided, even without an operating industry of our own, he would create artillery brigades with imported artillery. Before, he was worried about the costs but newspaper says the costs are going down. Artillery is the most powerful kind of brigade that can exist, so adding them will make our army doubly more glorious. I admire his decision making abilities my wise lords.

It didn't become so much cheaper, but I expect our economy to get stronger.

---

Finally, my excellent sirs, I am sure you are as radiant and brilliant as himself; the great mastermind of all times, the lord of the now and the future, the great tactician diskoerekto laid out his plans of invasion and several options on the map. The rules of something called colonization that is due to start in 2 decades or so; according to our master diskoerekto, requires that if a province in a region is held by a power, the entire region can be turned into a state by that power. Or at least, another power cannot turn that region into a state. The first would be an excellent case, and the second one is acceptable as well. The brilliancy here is, if we can add to our domain all the African holdings of Oman, and the uncivilized nation of Ethiopia, European powers will have no way of colonizing the east coast of Africa whatsoever and we can focus on slowing their advance in South, and especially West.

I hope an acquired colony is regarded the same as a colony created as a result of an expedition.

---

After all this, my wise master diskoerekto decided to demand the state with the biggest population from Oman, leaving alone the state in the Portuguese border. That would be the next to be gobbled, he says, but in the meanwhile we needed as much population as we can get for sorely needed new brigades.

Here we go

---

While my dear friend and the great general Danie was in the north besieging an African Omani province called Kilwa, his excellency diskoerekto also oversaw the starting of the construction of a new port in Durban. He says this will bring something called colonization points when we manage to become something called a secondary power. It is an expensive investment for us, but this shows we are becoming mighty and powerful. In addition to the cash upfront, all the materials that will be used from the stockpile will be replaced so more money will be spent in the end.

All the things I do for colonization points

---

Shortly thereafter, my handsome sirs and gentle ladies, the exalted general Danie, whom I have the honor to be a friend of, triumphantly conquers Kilwa. He immediately moves on to Dar Es Salaam.

Much quicker with the Dragoon and extra infantry

---

Oh my god the horror, oh God Almighty, Jupiter, Poseidon, Odin, whichever is the correct one, please mercy me. Today a scout report came with the news of an Omani fleet. It can carry 2 brigades. TWO. Yes the Omani being an uncivilized nation can only build irregulars, but that is still 2 brigades. I have only 1 brigade. I think my life will end here. They have been sailing up and down, and spying on us. They do not land because we are holding the coast, but what if they change their minds? We will maybe win, but what if a bullet finds me? Oh, my sweet mother with her cotton hands, will your precious son die in this hellhole called Ulundi? My dear sirs, it was a privilege getting to know you. This is probably my last words. Farewell.

Horror from Indian Ocean

---

I cannot believe this, but my dear sirs, I am still alive and breathing and the damn Omani are still not landing anywhere. Later months, the excellent general and my beloved friend finished 2 sieges and moved on to the 4th province of this war.

Lightning sieges

---

The government of Greece, after spending all the money they had and being unable to even pay the interest of their debts, defaulted. Our hardworking people's savings lent to them are just gone. We have the right to invade them to get our money one way or the other now, but I am against any wars. What is gone is gone. No more wars, I do not want to die. The Omani fleet is still lurking my gentle sirs.

Deja vu

---

The Omani are haunting me, up and down, north and south, like a goddamn puppy but no neither do land nor go away to their home. Oh my dear lords my nerves are broken. I am not who I used to be. I fortified one of the scout towers and I am living there day and night always looking through the binoculars to that haunted fleet. It is like the legends of the old, like ghost pirates they are lurking there, driving me crazy from day to day, but never getting close or never getting away. While I am losing myself here, there are 3 good news from the north front and also new edition of the newspaper. The first good news gave a good chuckle to his brilliancy, but I did not understand why that was so.

omg roflmao an erotic pun

If we had luxury clothes, sieges would have been even faster than this

He doesn't know that war is over, I paid some fishermen to sport Omani flags in place of the Omani fleet to keep him up that stupid tower

Making America Great the First Time Now

---

My wise masters, the Omani fleet seems shabbier than it already was the last weeks, but I cannot tell what is wrong with it. I will just keep looking. I have other things to tell you though, today his excellency showed up furious with some news. The sly Portuguese didn't miss the chance that the Omani state next to them are left alone it seems.

Just as they accepted our peace offer. This means one more war with Portuguese, one less with Omani. Except the peace, there's one more thing I am keeping from Rudolf.

---

Our glorious nation, even though now not under occupation, still have people that are asking for new rights and getting restless. Thus, the parliament lets our great leader Andries pass one reform, and some months later another after that. Just as his excellency diskoerekto would do, he is letting more kinds of political parties but elections are still banned.

A real democracy

Immigrants will come in handy when we have an industry, to diamond mines for now.

---

I was not able to eat or sleep or do anything for fear of my life, for fear of that horrendous Omani fleet, but our glorious leader, his radiancy diskoerekto came today and told me the war was over and also there was one other thing he was keeping from me. I do not wonder to know anything else, the more one knows the more one suffers. We mere mortals should know less to be content more, but if my excellent sirs want to know what that was, his brilliance diskoerekto will write in detail later. In the meanwhile if I can ever find the courage in me to pass the mountains again, I will travel to the capital, to that peaceful rec hall and my rooibos tea. Until I can collect myself, I will stay here in my fortified little hut on the coast of the horrorful Indian Ocean. I am Rudolf Uys, your humble servant, and I bid you good morrow my dear sirs and gentle ladies. So long.

Unfortunately, my dear sirs, there are no larger pictures of me

diskoerekto · Jul 13, 2018

---Chapter 1, Section 8: (First) Passage through the Heart of Darkness---

Hi everybody, this is me again. I knew real life would be a big obstacle in this AAR's way, but I didn't anticipate this much. In addition to the usual combination of drama and procrastination, now I have to study for a language exam to switch nationalities. The thing is, I don't really enjoy Dutch language very much, so it is going slow and I don't have much time. So I spend most of my free time trying to motivate myself into studying Dutch. I left the AAR to Rudolf the scared sycophant but one cannot leave it to other people all the time, right? So here's the real me writing this. Let's get on with the stuff I did last time but kept a secret from Rudolf the lily livered general.

He'd LOVE another war

Very shortly thereafter we are caught. I will replace all the staff of the consulates.

---

Oh and he didn't know the war is over until recently, so he didn't tell you the bold move to build 2 artillery brigades. They're the most powerful unit in the game, yet without a functioning industry thus constant expensive supplies they can easily turn into white elephants. Based on the fact that its price is briefly falling, I took a chance and built 2. Let's hope it all turns out well in the end.

Fire and Blood

---

While the war between Oman and the Opportunist Portuguese goes on, Oman's ally Abu Dhabi asks for land access since the place is sandwiched between us and Portugal. On the other hand, Portugal asks for access as well presumably to attack other provinces of those via my territory. Of course I let the Omani side and reject the Portuguese. I am hoping here the Portuguese not being able to siege some extra provinces to bump up the warscore to get the 2 provinces that they have as wargoal.

My faith lies in game mechanics

---

Now, let's have a small break from military affairs and focus on science and technology. Our brightest minds, and I am guessing by now you appreciated how flexible they are in their branches of studies, just finished working on Idealism. I'll use this stop to choose the next tech to explain our general strategy for now. As I said before, there are some certain techs that are absolutely necessary to be able to colonize, and there are some techs that are greatly helpful one way or the other to be considered as no brainers. Here I'll go through all the tech branches to comment on what is what and what I intend to do in the near future (that is, until 1870 when the great colonization discovery unlocks).

This includes all the discoveries that happened since we researched the previous tech. Note that how powerful Idealism is, +50% research points mean 1.5 times faster research.

Before the next one, let me tell you about something called liferating. All provinces have an attribute called liferating. Developed parts of the world is around 30-35, a handful of metropolitan areas are 40, London is 45 and Manhattan is 50. I guess it does not affect anything if the province is already settled, but for unsettled provinces it basically tells you how liveable that province is. By default at the start of the game with 1836 techs, each nation can only colonize provinces with a minimum liferating of 35 while only a handful of provinces are 35 and uncolonized (most of those are away from us, there is an island close to us but France colonized that on day 1, there are a few behind the Portuguese provinces but I guess they do not have the colonial points to go for those, and the final relevant ones we'll see later this episode). With the medicine for malaria discovery we had earlier we gain 5 minimum liferating so have the ability of colonizing 30 liferating provinces (a smaller handful with the closest ones bordering Ethiopia and Sudan). An even more smaller handful of provinces are 20 or 25 liferating, with the closest ones being near Portuguese provinces on the west side of the continent. The penultimate discovery here is under a culture tech, State & Government. In addition to some nice plurality bonus (well unless one's endgame is to be a dictatorship, plurality is a bonus otherwise it's a penalty) here we have 10 more minimum liferating.

Here we also see the other research point bonuses that we can have until 1870. The first one in 1860 gives a further 50% bonus doubling our rate and the 1870 one gives a 100% bonus tripling it compared to now. For those, I'll just collect research points for up to a year in order to be able to research them quickly. So when a tech finishes in 1859 and 1869, I just won't research anything until new year turns and then I will be able to pour all that research points into those quick. These also give some prestige bonuses which is helpful to put us in the league of secondary powers, which is another necessity for colonization.

The final one here, Nationalism & Imperialism is a double edged sword. Nice war exhaustion, plurality, migration and military morale bonuses, and is one of the key techs for that penultimate colonization discovery. I know it's a bit confusing but here's the deal: State & Government has the discovery unlocked but the discovery has a chance of 0% to get discovered. There are 3 techs that give 25% chance each. One of those is irrelevant to us, the other we'll discuss later and the third one is Nationalism & Imperalism. So we've got to research this. On the other hand, it gives 50% more seperatism and 33% more nationalist rebel organization gain. We'll have to bite the consequences and just research them all. So, 4 techs from culture branch.

We'll be some cultured bushmen I guess

Next up, 2 army techs that are unlocked in 1850 and 1870 respectively, together enable a discovery that gives 10 more minimum liferating (in addition to some neat combat bonuses) so there's that. 2 techs to research from the army tree for colonization. Note that there are other very important military techs here but everything is delayed until we get to start colonizing. The final discovery for colonization: Colonial Negotiations, is unlocked (but just like the previous one has 0% chance of happening) under Breech-loaded rifles, and has a 25% chance to fire when one discovers Machine Guns. I think you get what kind of negotiations are colonial negotiations.

That infamous maxim gun that we've got, and they've not

In Commerce techs we have 3 in line. The first one gives some cool mining bonus that'll come in handy in those diamond mines, and the other 2, though their bonuses seem to be modest, give 25% chance each to the 2 colonization discoveries that we've been talking about. So without market regulations backing up nationalism & imperialism there's smaller chance of a mission to civilize, and without economic responsibilty backing up maxim guns there's a smaller chance of colonial "negotiations". 3 more techs to research before 1870, that is.

Greedy capitalism

Finally, there's industrial techs. I'm just skipping on Navy techs for now, there are at least 4 that are important to us but our first priority is making it to 1870 with a head start on colonization, so there's that. While not directly related to colonization, this industry tech gives such a nice 50% mining bonus that we absolutely need it to boost our economy. There are a lot of very important techs here, but the priority is on enabling colonization until 1870.

We still don't know what a railroad is

---

By the way, our CB is ready for Sokoto. In the second screenshot here, on the map, you'll see why Sokoto is so important. The 2 uncolonized provinces I marked have a liferating of 35, which means any country who is at least a secondary power and has a neighboring province can colonize those as long as they have some colonial power. All the provinces north of these 2 are Saharan Desert provinces with a liferating of a rat's ass. So, getting a piece of Sokoto, colonizing these 2 provinces (when we become a secondary power, hopefully before 1870), and when it's 1870 colonizing just one more state south of Sokoto will block everybody who's not already south of there from reaching the innards of Africa south of the equator. That leaves Portugal who is not a secondary power thus cannot colonize, and UK. UK is the strongest country by far, but I am hoping they'll have other places to focus while we are enveloping the provinces around them to contain them.

You can see the Portuguese sieging the Omani province with their huge stack. I hope they cannot make it to northern provinces to drive up warscore.

Plugging the ways of colonizers one uncivilized country at a time

We chose this state because this is the largest state with a coal province and bordering those 35 liferating provinces. The brick red colored state in the previous screenshot.

---

The Portuguese and Omani seem to be in a deadlock. I hope it stays that way. In the meanwhile, on the upper right hand side you can see our armies were getting into place to make it all the way across the continent through the deep weakly charted jungles of Congo to attack Sokoto. Since the supply limits of those provinces were quite low, I had to send the army piecemeal. Guess who's commanding one of those.

My dear sir, his excellency, what is the order again? Oh my, will I have to leave the rec hall? Take the 1st Army? Where? Nooooooooooo.........................

---

Gotta go now, a lot of stuff to do. Will be back with new adventures!

diskoerekto · Jul 27, 2018

---Chapter 1, Section 9: Back through the Heart of Darkness---

This is not one of those usual clowns that talk here. This is the venerable general Danie van Rensburg, pride of the Boers speaking. Not that weird dude that usually writes these, nor that shell of a man who we call a president, nor that craven idiot with brown pants. This is Danie van Rensburg but you can call me de Heer van Rensburg for short. If you find it too long that's your problem.

There was probably supposed to be some documents to show you there was a war declaration and stuff, but paperwork is sissy's work. This is a real man speaking, I wanted to remind you because maybe you never saw one. So this backwards hellhole of a tribe that calls itself a nation needs a little spanking. I got my army, and gained control of the first province even before those uncivilized idiots show up. Losing time is for losers. I. am. Danie. van. Rensburg for f.s sake. I move immediately to siege the next province.

He will not like what's coming next

---

What? What does that cable say? How come we lost Hadeija back? I just left there. Incompetent idiots! Do I have to do everything myself? What are you good for? Where is that lilylivered Rudolf? What do you mean hiding on top of a tree? Where did the uncivilized idiots go after taking back the city? On the way back to their capitals? Those cowards. Dammit wait for me to finish this siege. I will go crash the doors of their tribal capital and seize everything on my way. FASTER! SHOOT! ARTILLERY BATTERIES! That f.kers.

A huge army of irregulars is still a huge army and finishes sieges fast

He's relentless I give him that

He keeps asking for a military band with the "velvety smoothness of brass instruments" to complement his "panache"

Worse numbers but better units, worse roll but a better (albeit annoying) general, and a river crossing that that general would never care about

The inevitable end. He's annoying, but he's good. Starts sieging the capital right away while I check the diplomatic channels

Generous terms indeed, and Sokoto is down to 4 states which means they can be annexed in one war

---

Hi again, that was lightning fast. Rudolf barely found the time to get off that tree and he will be on the way back in command of his detachment. In the meanwhile I immediately put our newly conquered population to good use. Also, we spent a lot of money for this superficial luxury clothes laden with silk and other fancy stuff, but that was necessary for the good kind of cavalry so totally worth it. Lastly let's have a look at what's on the paper lately.

Doubling back on the artillery gambit, economy is still afloat, spare parts are still available

Bankrupting our already fragile economy, one capricious purchase at a time

DIRT CHEAP MACHINE PARTS, ANYONE?

---

One moment I think all is becoming better and we're prospering and the craziness is ending, and the next one this crazy diskoerekto with his weird clothes show up from nowhere to make me do stuff that I do not want to do at all. How many wars have we had lately? I'm an old man now, and he doesn't change at all. Is this the thing that the old wives call vampires in Kostantiniyye? They say they're from Wallachia and they never age and they drink blood! Maybe he drinks blood? Now he wants me to work on another war. When will he finally die? When will I finally die and get released of this crazy ride? Oh gods please forgive me. Godspeed you all, I have to hide somewhere, souls of my ancestors are there to get me.

They're already 4 states, bad for them: a direct annexation is possible

Good news for once, we'll have less badboy

---

I figured you missed our dear and unfortunately unstable friend and the president of our cute Boer republic, Andries. While all those was happening, we also had some discoveries and finally researched State & Government. As explained recently, we go on with Nationalism & Imperialism, an important but somewhat dangerous tech.

Not really rooting for that Seperatism discovery to get discovered

---

So we start our long way back through the heart of darkness again, and again for supply limit purposes divide our army to 3 parts. The smallest part will wait in the back and take the new divisions as well. Since our army is growing, maybe we can have a look at the next class of the military academy.

Well at the time of the screenshot it was 2 parts but it will become 3 right after

Seems like a good guy with good stats

---

The war justification attempt once again was discovered but at least not until the very end, so not a lot of badboy from this one. Shortly thereafter, the casus belli is ready. Still, the armies are on their ways so we wait a little. Finally, another declaration.

God we just had another pointless hourlong argument with my girlfriend. I'm pissed as hell. The armies are moving as can be seen.

She is spiteful without a good reason and I do not know how we end up not breaking up every time

we're coming for the coffee, staying for the annexation

---

God I was quite content with my life just an hour ago, writing my little AAR. I hope she does not stalk me all the way here, this is one of my last remaining strongholds of emotional outlet. See you all!

diskoerekto · Aug 8, 2018

---Chapter 1, Section 10: In Pursuit of 3rd Wave Coffee---

This is de Heer van Rensburg again. The idiot that calls himself diskoerekto, by the way he forgot the birthday of his girlfriend and got into trouble for that -what a loser, decided to buy a Hussar brigade. I want it for my army. This Louis boy, he's good; I mean at least not an ass licking craven like that Rudolf, but of course the better cavalry will be in my army and this Dragoons that I command, while good for me now, should be more than enough for him.

As I said before, bankrupting an already fragile economy one capricious purchase at a time

---

Before the war we had 9 brigades available. I told that diskoerekto fool I'm good with 4 and he can give 5 to the rookie. After all I'm the most skillful general ever. In fact, I would be good with less but I wouldn't want that new boy think he is entitled to a lot more than I do. I took half of the artillery, the dragoon and one more infantry brigade. That left little Louis with 2 artillery and 3 infantry brigades. Fair enough.

We start the sieges together. He is done a month before I am and he already moved to the next province because he has more man to besiege. I was about to regret my decision about the numbers but I never regret. I am Danie van Regensburg. That v is pronounced like an f if you are uncivilized enough to not know that. There is more glory to be had than just sitting on your ass waiting for that thousands of soldiers to finish occupying the province. Like going and attacking an enemy army twice your size headlong.

Little Louie moving on to the next province while big Dan fumes on his ass

2 provinces down, a lot more to go

---

Those damn uncivilized idiots move on to the next province before I could get to them so I reroute my men there. They leave some of it to retake the province the boy occupied, and sent the rest to retake the one I just finished. I'll go get the big one first. We'll see the other later.

The annoying bastard is in for a good surprise

---

What the hell? Where did they run to before I got to them? The moment those coward barbarians -and how low does one have to be to be both a coward and a barbarian? Duh- heard that I'm coming for them, they turned their backs and ran away. Luckily the other detachment is still there for me to punch my anger out.

He's not going to take any prisoners

Told you so

---

Is that a brigade from the earlier detachment that ran away? I'll go butcher them. Oh wait the rest is here as well. I'm going for the big one, little boy come for the other one when you're done sitting on your ass sieging, will you?

Will he catch them this time?

It seems like Dan was drinking all the coffee in the world while Louie was munching on beef. I was at this view to see that, not for which resources I will be exploiting after the inevitable annexation

---

Mwahahaha I got the uncivs this time. Boy, did you catch your small prey? See it's like this, the real men hunt boars and small boys go after rabbits. Watch me disregard a so called river crossing mountain assaulting penalty.

The wars are like a blur when he's attacking, I give him that

Double trouble

---

Hey it's me again. I figured out why my girlfriend was mad at me, I forgot her birthday and I'm a total idiot. This was the second time in 3 years so yes I'm really an idiot with dates. Luckily her heart softened back. Another good news is, it is not yet official but I passed my Dutch exams. Cross your fingers everybody. Ok that's enough about me let's go back to the game: After that decisive synchronized battles their paths were clear and it was a siegefest and map painting for the rest of the war. Louie moves to Ankober after his battle, sieges there off and moves to Harer while Dan finishes the siege of the province he won the war in. They won 5 sieges each, and the 11th one they were together there although Louie arrived at the province first. I'm sure Dan went nuts about that.

A sosa, a nkober, reebok now, Asosa???

I wonder why Ethiopia stayed away from the sea when founding their nation

Did you know that the majority of Ethiopia practices one of the most ancient versions of Christianity?

I once went to an Ethiopian restaurant, the food was good but I didn't like the pancakes that is used in place of flatbreads

Probably due to the altitude and the physical characteristics of its people, Ethiopia has the best long distance runners

I'm slowly running out of stuff to say about Ethiopia, but so is Ethiopia running out of provinces so that's a wash I guess?

I mistakenly closed the notification that said Gonder was also finished

Already annexation time! woohooo!

---

Does anybody miss Rudolf? While all this was happening, I sent him to command the lone Hussar brigade which had its training began in the beginning of the episode. That means he had to cross the jungles and stuff without a literal army to protect him. I though about sending him alone but that would be cruel to him, and even a lily livered general like him is better than no generals at all so I need him alive and not ran away somewhere. So he went with a few guards and guides. I am happy I am not one of those guys.

Rudolf Uys the yellow sycophant: defending the coastline of Africa with a single brigade since time immemorial

---

Also, let's have a look at the newspapers lately. They are all talking about our glorious victories against the mighty Ethiopian army with bronze age spears and opiumed lions. This is no joke though, the Italians couldn't handle the same army nearly 100 years later.

Everybody is afraid of the Prussians, and they didn't even compose a symphony this time. Weird times.

---

After this, there's the status of arts and sciences. The double edged knife Nationalism & Imperialism is researched now. On to the economics reserach. Necessary for the colonization techs, and also some bonus for mines. We have some diamond mines, so should have a good impact on our economy.

Somber men in melon hats regulating businesses

---

Speaking of colonization, one of the prerequisites (except for the convoluted discoveries) is that one should at least be a secondary power (top 16 nation). I was thinking all the army growing and annexation prestige gaining and industry building would propel us there by the time we get the discoveries. Now it seems like prestige wise we're doing good, but the armies we've been building hasn't made us a military powerhouse yet, and we did not find the chance to build a single factory or whatever. It seems like this needs to be looked at soon. In the meanwhile, we also did this:

To be fair, the previous justification was really smooth

---

But this was already some months ago, and Ethiopia already annexed. The economy is getting better slowly and the armies are already taking position. You can also see the status of the new justification. 4.4 badboy for only a 2 province state. I hope I do not regret this later. I still have to annex Sokoto and have to wait a lot on the burning of infamy or go over the limit. I wonder if everybody will declare on me or just ignore and let me be.

I forgot to give marching orders to Rudolf, will do first thing next session. It's always fun to give marching orders to him

---

I hope I can find a solution to becoming a top 16 nation while waiting for the casus belli to be created. This has been a short one, I hope it was not too boring just to siege and wait. Once again, thanks to all who read, who comment and who nominate for various awards. I enjoy being in this community.

Search

Trek Wars: The Final Frontier Strikes Back

Recent threadmarks

diskoerekto

ferocious native

diskoerekto

ferocious native

diskoerekto

ferocious native

diskoerekto

ferocious native

diskoerekto

ferocious native

diskoerekto

ferocious native

diskoerekto

ferocious native

diskoerekto

ferocious native

diskoerekto

ferocious native

diskoerekto

ferocious native

diskoerekto

ferocious native

Recent threadmarks