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Vivian Darkbloom posted:I just can't figure out how not to get totally hosed by the Ottomans as Ethiopia. On this third run I expanded into Egypt very early and everything was working out great, except the Ottomans rivaled me and invaded and I couldn't do much to stop their gigantic stacks. I was able to win some battles with gamey tactics but couldn't stop the tide of doomstacks, and they'll probably make me release a bunch of countries from winning the war. Maybe I should have allied with a rival of theirs? What worked alright for me was to chokepoint them on a mountain fort, let them siege then send in your army to relieve the siege. You can probably win with a +2 bonus to rolls and some allies in Europe. Ottomans are definitely the major obstacle for Ethiopia runs. Exploit your bonuses to fort defense and get some big European allies (Austria, Poland/Commonwealth, maybe Muscovy/Russia) ASAP. You'll probably just bleed them out the first one or two wars. It's really hard to make advances on the Ottomans, especially if the fuckers take Quantity. But, you can hold your own very well. e: for Ethiopia I recommend Exploration, Defensive, and your pick of admin ideas for the first three. Economic, Religious, maybe Administrative, Humanist or Innovative are all great. Expansion is probably best saved for a fourth or later pick imo. e2: your goals starting as Ethiopia should be 1) consolidate the neighboring small states 2) beat up the Mamluks and secure a strong defensive position against the rear end in a top hat Ottomans 3) get Exploration ideas to block off trade in southern Africa, monopolize the Cape node Pellisworth fucked around with this message at 06:23 on Dec 19, 2016 |
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Dec 19, 2016 06:13
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Vivian Darkbloom posted:I just can't figure out how not to get totally hosed by the Ottomans as Ethiopia. On this third run I expanded into Egypt very early and everything was working out great, except the Ottomans rivaled me and invaded and I couldn't do much to stop their gigantic stacks. I was able to win some battles with gamey tactics but couldn't stop the tide of doomstacks, and they'll probably make me release a bunch of countries from winning the war. Maybe I should have allied with a rival of theirs? You should have allied with them while the Mamluks were still your rival. One of my top priorities as Ethiopia is discovering the Ottomans so I can ally them and build up to 80 trust.
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Dec 19, 2016 06:20
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Vivian Darkbloom posted:I just can't figure out how not to get totally hosed by the Ottomans as Ethiopia. On this third run I expanded into Egypt very early and everything was working out great, except the Ottomans rivaled me and invaded and I couldn't do much to stop their gigantic stacks. I was able to win some battles with gamey tactics but couldn't stop the tide of doomstacks, and they'll probably make me release a bunch of countries from winning the war. Maybe I should have allied with a rival of theirs?
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Dec 19, 2016 15:31
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Dec 19, 2016 20:28
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Dec 19, 2016 20:39
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Sweet, some speedy armies there. Should allow you to cut off your enemies at all turns!
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Dec 19, 2016 20:48
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You rolled two siege on one of those, you can't complain 
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Dec 19, 2016 20:48
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I once got a 4-6-4-3 general. My first and only 3 star general in over 250 hours with this game. That man could win wars all by himself.. But 90% of the time it's lovely 1-1-1-0 or so. How do I make gud generals
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Dec 19, 2016 21:00
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TorakFade posted:I once got a 4-6-4-3 general. My first and only 3 star general in over 250 hours with this game. That man could win wars all by himself.. Get your army tradition up. Or get lucky and get the event that gives you a 100 tradition general for free. I've managed exactly once to roll a 5 siege general. He made it very easy to win wars.
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Dec 19, 2016 21:01
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What's a fun start in SE Asia or Indonesia? DHEs and flavor a plus. I'm not going to get the new Age of Empires expansion but it's got me interested in the area.
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Dec 19, 2016 21:02
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TorakFade posted:I once got a 4-6-4-3 general. My first and only 3 star general in over 250 hours with this game. That man could win wars all by himself.. Grab a free general from the nobility every chance you get. They're good. Also take offensive.
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Dec 19, 2016 21:07
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MrBling posted:Get your army tradition up. Or get lucky and get the event that gives you a 100 tradition general for free. Yeah, like a hot knife through butter. I am glad high siege generals are rare. Makes it a special treat.
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Dec 19, 2016 21:12
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You can also tap the Noble estate for a 40 trad general. With some military ideas granting general bonuses they can be decent.
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Dec 19, 2016 21:15
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Fuligin posted:What's a fun start in SE Asia or Indonesia? DHEs and flavor a plus. I'm not going to get the new Age of Empires expansion but it's got me interested in the area.
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Dec 19, 2016 21:34
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Play Malacca, make all the money. They've got some flavor events towards the start of the game about the king being assassinated but that's about it.
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Dec 19, 2016 21:39
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Tor-+akFade posted:I once got a 4-6-4-3 general. My first and only 3 star general in over 250 hours with this game. That man could win wars all by himself.. I rolled a 0-5-2-3 in my Big Blue Blob run today. In 1460 
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Dec 19, 2016 21:47
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Thanks for the Ethiopia tips, everyone. I'll see if I can do a little better on my 4th run.Pellisworth posted:What worked alright for me was to chokepoint them on a mountain fort, let them siege then send in your army to relieve the siege. You can probably win with a +2 bonus to rolls and some allies in Europe. Yeah, that's basically what I was working on for my last run, though I took Religious ideas first for the reduced badboy. Unfortunately I wasn't able to get in with the Ottomans' European enemies because I was their only rival at the time. My dramatic expansion and the need for monarch points for development (to get institutions) have been making it tough to stay up in tech as well, so I've been finidng the Ottomans have an idea group more than I do when we fight. Fister Roboto posted:You should have allied with them while the Mamluks were still your rival. One of my top priorities as Ethiopia is discovering the Ottomans so I can ally them and build up to 80 trust. I haven't found this to be real effective, unfortunately, because the Ottoman AI will just break the alliance if it determines that you're now a good rival. Does having high trust discourage that? AAAAA! Real Muenster posted:When I did a Prester John run a couple months ago I avoided the Ottomans and conquered Africa plus bits of Indonesia and India. With Cape colonized and monopolized, I sent all of India and Indonesia's trade wealth to Zanzibar where I hoovered it up. I went something like Exploration, Economic, Defensive, Offensive, Quality. Eventually by being patient, I caught the Ottomans with their pants down and my turbo military ideas helped level the playing field and I won two successive wars vs them in the early 1700s I think, and got the achievement. This was before the expansion of central Africa so I imagine you can get quite a bit more powerful now since there is more to conquer than just Kilwa and Mutapa. I've tried this to some extent and it's obviously a good way of making money. The central African states require you to colonize a little to get there, but would probably be easy for Ethiopia to roll over. Did you avoid invading Egypt entirely? That's tempting but I've been finding the development in Egypt and the possibility of getting institutions there are really valuable -- if only I could avoid getting smashed by the Ottomans while I'm there!
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Dec 19, 2016 22:09
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Vivian Darkbloom posted:I've tried this to some extent and it's obviously a good way of making money. The central African states require you to colonize a little to get there, but would probably be easy for Ethiopia to roll over. I cant promise that it will work but its an idea if going through Egypt and pissing off the Ottos has been painful.
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Dec 19, 2016 22:26
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I think Exploration is the best possible first idea pick for Ethiopia; it lets you block European expansion, it gives you a bunch of no-autonomy development, it gives you a chance of spawning Colonialism first if you hot-foot it over the south america with an explorer, and it lets you eventually get a foothold in Malacca for some insane trade income. Religious sounds good because of the abundance of heretics around you, but the AE honestly isn't a big deal since everyone around you is weaker than you and you should be declaring close to truce timers anyway (a nation can't join a coalition against you if it has a truce with you). Get in the practice of finding territory that you can Reconquest with a vassal; after 50+ years a fair number of the smaller nations in Africa get hoovered, and all it takes is conquering one of their cores and then releasing them as a vassal to get the all-powerful Reconquest CB Keeping up in Institutions is very important, even if it's expensive; it makes it a lot easier to maintain Great Power status, which is important because the Break Alliance is a hugely useful tool. If you have enough income then you can do some really crazy gimmicky things as a GP, like buying a shitload of favors from one of the really powerful countries that has just barely fallen short of being GP (by paying off their loans near the end of a war). Being a Great Power also makes it easier to embrace institutions, which is ironic since staying on top of institutions is so important to being a GP QuarkJets fucked around with this message at 22:37 on Dec 19, 2016 |
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Dec 19, 2016 22:31
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I'd also go with Majapahit as an SE Asian island nation. Malacca's too easy - they start with a really rich trade node sewn up. Hindu's probably the most interesting religion available in the region and once you absorb your neighbor you'll be reasonably strong.Vivian Darkbloom posted:Thanks for the Ethiopia tips, everyone. I'll see if I can do a little better on my 4th run. You definitely want Exploration first, and Expansion second is a really strong contender. I don't find Religious especially useful as Ethiopia - other than the special case of absorbing the Mamluks you aren't really AE limited very often and you're in the semi-unique position of being able to easily hold two or three holy sites, meaning you can usually keep up with conversions through quantity of missionaries alone, particularly given that all Christians get bonkers missionary strength through decisions as the game continues. You shouldn't fight the Ottomans early unless you have a really, really good reason to, like "Poland wants to be my ally" sorts of reasons. In my experience you can take Suez, Gaza, and Jerusalem in the first war with the Mamluks to cut the Ottomans off and then basically absorb all of Egypt over time without making an immediate hell-war inevitable; if you are expanding as fast as possible while still having an army that isn't in tatters, the Ottomans shouldn't feel superior enough to declare war on you early. This means you need to have Adal as a vassal and devour the Somali lands in their name as fast as you can, find some way into the Arabian peninsula and build a big vassal there, etc. Basically your goal is to look so tough by the time you share a border with the Ottomans that they won't mess with you. 99% of the time they're going to eventually have a sea of manpower, but in the early years they can be bluffed. Also, it really helps to declare war on the Mamluks at the same time as the Ottomans and occupy their big provinces like Cairo and Alexandria to limit the war score the Ottomans can achieve; if you can make the Ottomans slowly crawl through the Mamluks towards you instead of just instantly being there, it makes a big difference in how much time you have to get strong. Once you've done that you can start worrying about things like a European alliance. Ethiopia is actually crazy strong once you thoroughly understand the opening strategy - every time I play as them I can get more land faster than the previous time. The only real practical limits on your expansion speed are your skill at minimizing casualties in war and your ability to spot opportunities when they arise. Jazerus fucked around with this message at 23:12 on Dec 19, 2016 |
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Dec 19, 2016 22:38
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QuarkJets posted:Get in the practice of finding territory that you can Reconquest with a vassal; after 50+ years a fair number of the smaller nations in Africa get hoovered, and all it takes is conquering one of their cores and then releasing them as a vassal to get the all-powerful Reconquest CB I *think* that protectorate status is still guided by tech cost, which interacts with both institutions and with protectorate status itself - I had a situation with korea where it was ineligible for vassalisation due to being too advanced, until I protectorated it, at which point it would immediately stop being a protectorate and go back to being unallied/unvassalized/unprotectorated. Similar things happened in central africa. In the end I dealt with them the old-fashioned way and it was much simpler.
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Dec 19, 2016 22:48
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None of the SE Asian nations have much in the way of historical events, Ayutthaya has a few but they aren't terribly interesting imo. Majapahit is a good recommendation I think, Hinduism is a great religion and has a lot of associated events (plus permanent ruler stat increases woop). They'll probably give you the most flavor, that or start out as Ternate/Tidore and convert to Hindu.
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Dec 19, 2016 22:49
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ayutthaya has a cool flag and an achievement
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Dec 19, 2016 22:56
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Jazerus posted:Also, it really helps to declare war on the Mamluks at the same time as the Ottomans and occupy their big provinces like Cairo and Alexandria to limit the war score the Ottomans can achieve; if you can make the Ottomans slowly crawl through the Mamluks towards you instead of just instantly being there, it makes a big difference in how much time you have to get strong. Once you've done that you can start worrying about things like a European alliance. This. In my run I actually did a really gimmicky thing and took Innovative for the war exhaustion reduction and made it a habit of declaring on Mamluks as soon as Ottomans declared and then bumrushing their forts. The WE reduction canceled out the Call for Peace WE ticks and allowed me to outlast the Ottomans a couple of times, although probably I could have just eaten the high WE and been fine. Anyway, the point is that you're preventing the Ottomans from taking much Mamluks territory, which is invariably a good thing
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Dec 19, 2016 23:03
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I'm still not 100% on how trade works. Say I'm playing Japan (I just had a Japan run going but I lost access to my computer). I want to colonize SE Asia and make mondo cash. But my home trade node sucks rear end because there's no trade coming in from California yet and those sweet delicious Spice Islands are downstream from me so I can't take full advantage of its benefits. A) am I thinking about this correctly, and B) what do I do about it? Move my hub down there? What should my merchants be doing? None of this poo poo makes sense to me. Also I'm aware Japan sucks and I shouldn't play as them. The situation just really highlighted how little I know about trade. disjoe fucked around with this message at 23:12 on Dec 19, 2016 |
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Dec 19, 2016 23:07
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disjoe posted:I'm still not 100% on how trade works. You're understanding it correctly, yes you probably will want to move your home trade node down to Malacca once you've got good control over it. Your merchants should be steering trade in nodes that aren't already steering toward your home, or you can use them to collect in non-home nodes where you have a lot of power. Nothing wrong with Japan other than iirc the Daimyo/Shogun mechanics are a bit hosed right now.
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Dec 19, 2016 23:22
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Vivian Darkbloom posted:
Yes, and having over 80 trust completely prevents an ally from rivaling you. Here's what I do. As soon as I can get an alliance with them, I call them into war against the Mamluks promising territory. I humiliate the Mamluks and give the Ottos as much land as the rest of the warscore will permit. Repeat this as soon as the truce expires until you have enough favors to gain 80 trust. Then you can start taking Egyptian land for yourself without having to worry about them getting angry. Fister Roboto fucked around with this message at 23:54 on Dec 19, 2016 |
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Dec 19, 2016 23:50
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I found Ethopia pretty random. When I declared at the same time as the Ottos the Mamelukes hid all their armies to the west and I had quite a fight on my hands before I got to sieging provinces. Then the Ottos finished their war before me and were now so close that taking Cairo made them insta join a coalition.
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Dec 19, 2016 23:52
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Does having the DLC Miaphysite mechanics change those calculations? Gaining Alexandria gets you an extra blessing now, after all.
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Dec 19, 2016 23:54
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Quorum posted:Does having the DLC Miaphysite mechanics change those calculations? Gaining Alexandria gets you an extra blessing now, after all. Yes, as well as Antioch and Yerevan, which usually go to the Ottos. You can easily take Alexandria for yourself for three out of five blessings (with Aksum and Qasr Ibrim). Personally I think that three out of five is good enough. Manpower recovery, discipline, and core creation cost are all really great while yearly legitimacy and missionary strength are kind of meh. But if you're going for achievements or you want all five anyway, you can just wait until you're more powerful than the Ottomans to break the alliance.
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Dec 20, 2016 00:00
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Keep in mind, if you're willing to draw out the war with the Ottos to high warscore to you can take Antioch, Constantinople + release Armenia (who is probably Coptic, since Ottomans won't convert the land) all in one go. You get the blessing (and achievement) as long as a Coptic nation holds it, you don't need to own it yourself.
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Dec 20, 2016 00:12
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Fister Roboto posted:Yes, and having over 80 trust completely prevents an ally from rivaling you. When did they add this? I love the idea. Having longstanding allies decide to rival you because there aren't any other options was always a huge loving pain in the rear end. This wasn't part of the new Trust system from the getgo, was it?
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Dec 20, 2016 01:16
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Bold Robot posted:When did they add this? I love the idea. Having longstanding allies decide to rival you because there aren't any other options was always a huge loving pain in the rear end. This wasn't part of the new Trust system from the getgo, was it? No, I don't believe so. I've had someone rival me with 100 trust before. No idea about any recent changes though.
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Dec 20, 2016 01:21
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That achievement for having 5 allies with 100 trust each seems like a pain in the rear end. Maybe if you're Austria and you just ally 5 electors and chill for 200 years as you slowly pass reforms.
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Dec 20, 2016 01:39
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Elman posted:That achievement for having 5 allies with 100 trust each seems like a pain in the rear end. It is, really the best way to do it is a pick a couple smallish countries around you, declare war on their neighbours, do all the heavy lifting, and then hand over all the provinces to your allies without taking any yourself, which will send their trust through the roof. Annoying, but easy enough to pound out at the end of an otherwise productive campaign.
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Dec 20, 2016 01:46
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Yes, it's like a lava lamp.
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Trust was added with 1.14 but it wasn't until the next patch, Mare Nostrum, they added quote:AI will no longer rival countries with 80+ trust under any circumstances, and less likely to rival countries with high (but still below 80) trust. If they get an event or mission to take land from you though they might still break the alliance over it, and then all hell breaks loose. Elman posted:That achievement for having 5 allies with 100 trust each seems like a pain in the rear end. You have to pretty much pick five people near you and hand them a ton of land, if you try to let it build naturally someones going to pull you into a war that breaks at least one alliance.
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Dec 20, 2016 01:48
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is this what you were looking for 
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Dec 20, 2016 01:56
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I still love:
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Dec 20, 2016 02:04
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AAAAA! Real Muenster posted:I still love: He's ahead of the curve
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Dec 20, 2016 02:41
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I really wish leaders just wouln't roll fire skill before you have any units that do fire damage.
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Dec 20, 2016 05:43
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