User:Mjo625

I'm back at my parents place for the holidays, and I'm bored out of my mind so I thought I'd give an AAR a try. I'm still fairly new to the game and I figure the best way to learn is to let people see what I'm doing and comment/criticize it. So by all means, feel free to do so throughout.

I'll be playing as Sweden in vanilla Vic: Revolutions v. 2.01 (I actually don't know if this is the most up to date patch, it's what I got when I bought the game about 6 months ago), Hard/Aggressive.

Goals: -#1 nation, not just overall but individually in each of Prestige, Industry and Military -Making one of my dominions into the #2 nation, this will not be the UK.

What I will not do:

-Unify Scandinavia. Sweden has much better political parties than Scandinavia. Besides, Denmark is more valuable as a tech trading partner than as part of my nation.

-Major land trading. There are 6 provinces I will trade to obtain, 1 from Russia, 1 from France, 3 from the UK. After that, no more trading to obtain land. I will trade for colonial buildings though, although hopefully not too much. I may (haven't really decided yet) trade away land for cash, techs, simply to get rid of provinces I don't want, or to strengthen my allies.

-Other major exploits. One exploit I will use is the mild version of "Immigration Plan C," which is where I conquer pieces of China, convert POPs into craftsmen so they migrate to my major industrial centres. But I really don't consider that an exploit. They're my POPs, my soldiers died to get them, I can do what I want with them. There will be a little sneakiness regarding colonial buildings, but its not a known exploit, so I prefer to think of it as "creative." I'll let you guys decide how exploity it is.

So, Let's Begin:

Table of Contents:

Jan 1, 1836:

I set voting rights to suffrage and research Practical Steam Engine, and give my military their marching orders.

Budget: P Tax 20% M Tax 50% R Tax 100%

Education: Max Crime: 50% +$0.1 Social: Min for state capitalism Defence: Max

Army: Max Navy: Min

Tariffs: Max for Protectionism

Trade: Buy

Feb 18: My army has arrived off the coast of Haiti, and war is declared. I also have the goods to promote the large farmer pop in Stockholm to Clerks. This causes all the smaller craftsmen and clerk pops to merge with each other, So I can keep the Steel factory full of the biggest groups, 5 small groups in the Ammo factory and the gun factory sits open but empty.

Later, the large farmer pop in Goteborg is also promoted to Clerks, triggering merging there. and the large farmer pop in Malmo to Clergy. I'm now getting 1.18 RP per month, but I'm $7900 in debt.

June 16: Haiti is annexed and my troops are loaded back on the boats to head for the coast of Johor. A farmer pop in Christiana is split, with the smaller group becoming Soldiers. $9,500 in debt, losing $3.5 per day.

Aug. 15, My troops arrive off the coast of Johor and war is declared.

Around Dec. 1, by defecit is gone, somehow. I'm earning about $1 per day.

Jan 1, 1837: Practical Steam Engine is finsihed and I begin Mechanical Production.

Jan 2: Johor is annexed. Army Maintenance is reduced to min for a day to bring my troop levels down, then maxed out again to speed up the manpower gain. The Dra is split off to guard Johor against rebels, and the Inf and Inf-G brought back to Haiti.

Mar. 9: I have the manpower to recruit 4 Cav-Hs. $11,700 in debt.

Jul. 25: War is declared on Venezuela. I was very careful about the timing, this allows my Infs to arrive in Maracaibo on Aug. 9, the same day my Cav-Hs will be ready, so they can immediately be loaded onto my limited Clipper Transports. On Jul. 26, Clausewitzian theory takes effect, and really hurts my income with my now fully re-inforced Infs. This will get much worse when I get my Cav-Hs. Hopefully I can recover before I'm bankrupt.

Aug 9: My Cav-Hs arrive and my defecit is $10.

Sept 26: No battles yet, but soon.

• • • Screenshot0002

When that Cav attacks my Infs, it has 15% to my Infs 82%. The battle is won on Oct. 24. They're sending an Inf to attack the same province, and I have Cav-Hs in an undefended Caracas. The Venezuelan Cav attempts to go back to Caracas, but its avoidng my units in Valencia so it has 2 provinces to get through first, and I attempt to cut them off.

• • • Screenshot0003

The enemy Cav gets to the province first, but they only have 4 morale so they're quickly forced to retreat to Barinas. The Venezuelan Inf is also retreating to Barinas. Both have very low morale. My Infs have finished liberating Merida and head to Barinas to keep them from going anywhere else.

Success! The enemy is retreating to soon to be encircled Barquisimeto.

Jan 1, 1838: Mechaical Production researched, Idealism begun.

Also:

• • • Screenshot0004

Feb 1: The Venezuelan military is no more. I liberate the two provinces my units are in, and offer terms. Maracaibo and Venezuela becomes my sattelite. They accpet on Feb 19. Also I finally have positive prestige again, so I trade Mechanical Production to Denamark for Experimental Railroad and $900. Debt is $12,400. Army Maintenance minned for a day, then maxed again.

My Infs are left in Venezuela to let attrition bring down their maintenance costs even further, while my Cavs are brought 2 at a time to Johor as the staging area for the next war. Hopefully I'll be able to comission a new transport soon.

Sep. 23: My troops are finally in position and I declare war on China. My first Cav-H unit is deployed to Guangzhou. I pick up the next from Johor and drop it in Taiwan. After Guangzhou and the adjacent Shaozhou are liberated the 1st unit is back on the boats and dropped 4 provinces over in Fuzhou. When Taiwan is liberated, the 2nd group is picked up and dropped way up north in Jinan.

Meanwhile, Idealism is finsihed and I begin Medicine.

Guangzhou and Shaozhou have both already taken up arms against me. But I'm nowhere near them.

• • • Screenshot0005

After the next province in the south is liberated, my 2nd Cav unit is brought up north to Tangshan (The province with a Chinese unit in it in the screenshot. That unit has moved on now though). Jinan is liberated and the unit there is moved to Tianjin, attacking a lone Chinese irregular there. I begin to see the Chinese hordes arrive near the provinces I liberated in the south, and Guangzhou is retaken. Of course, I'm in the north now, and have very little resistance.

As Tangshan and Tianjin are liberated, I send both units to attack Beijing. It's only defended by one Cav regular and one irregular. As the battle is won, Shaozhou is lost. When Beijing is liberated, I offer peace. Humiliation, War Idemnities, Jinan and Fuzhou. This costs 180-something% to demand, while I have 30-something% war score. They accept.

Has anyone else noticed that China tends to accept peace way too easily? Anyway, these two new provinces are filled with aristocrats, making aristocrats the 2nd largest demographic in Sweden. Of course, they'll be taxed to death, giving me a $50 surplus. Both RGOs are expanded as well. Right after, I get a "Farmers demand compensation" event, and I pay them off, bringing my total debt to $20,500 on May 23.

My Cavs are brought one by one back to Haiti.

July 13: Neokantian Idealism gives me 150 prestige, total 170. I'm now 2nd, only 5 behind USA.

Disaster strikes on Oct 1, as my Cavs has been parked in Jinan awaiting pickup by my transports, when 3 aristocrat groups there rebelled one after another. With nowhere to retreat, my Cavs were annihilated. Oh well, these things happen. I commission 4 new ones to replace the 2 I lost. I'm finally able to get more transports as well.

Jan 1, 1840: Medicine is finished, Associationism begun.

June 20: My new units are all ready and USA is at war with Mexico. I see an opportunity. I also trade Mechanized Mining and Practical Steam Engine to Venezuela for Strategic Mobility.

July 19: I'm in position and I declare colonial war on Liberia. USA joins in and immediately mobilizes. Poor Mexico, I'll be long gone before they can use their reserves against me. Anyway, I deploy one Cav unit to Liberia's non-capital province, and the others to some of USA's claims buildings along the Pacific coast.

Oct 16: Liberia is annexed, and I've got 4 of the 7 USA claims buildings I have access to. I've been sending a few diplomats to the UK to improve relations with them as well.

Nov. 6: Chinese war indemnities have been very erratic, anywhere between $50 and $5000, but I'm finally out of debt.

Nov. 12: I trade the 2 claims in BC to the UK for the Spokane claim and $1100. I claim Washington, UK claims BC

Dec. 2: I steal the last of the USA's claim buildings, I offer the now claimed Spokane back to the UK for 5 claims buildings in Idaho, Oregon and Northwest Territories and $20,600. I claim Idaho and Oregon, and order the goods to build a claim in the last province without a claim in NWT (UK still has one claim there).

Jan 1, 1841: Associationism is finished, Empiricism begun. I also give Seattle and Murray to France for $1000.

Jan 9: Boise, Pocatello and Strategic Mobility to France for Libreville (West Africa) and $1100. I build a naval base in Libreville. All of Oregon plus Freedom of Trade, Mech. Production and Strategic Mobility to Russia for Tornio and $800 (I had a "traitor executed" event a while ago giving me a hit on my relations with Russia, which I had been otherwise ignoring, that's why that one province was so expensive). I offer a white peace to USA but they reject it. That's fine, they won't come after me while Mexico is keeping them busy, I know the odds of them accepting a white peace will go way up given enough time without any hostilities. But good luck getting all your cores, USA:

• • • • Screenshot0006

The one I gave to the UK will probably go back to USA in the 49th parallel treaty. Russia will probably give their chunk up to somebody else in the Crimean. I bet the USA will eventually declare war on whoever has those. It'll be interesting to see how this plays out. Anyway, with all this money I grant good healthcare and low unemployment subsidies.

Elsewhere, the UK is STILL at war with Panjab, and that'll go one for a while longer as Panjab has three UK provinces occupied and all its own are secure. Due to this, the opium war hasn't started yet.

Egypt has made a decent sized push into the Ottoman Empire, but of course that won't last.

I have to wait a while for another diplomatic action, but on Apr. 13, I declare war on Morocco. So much for my high prestige. I also notice I have enough money to grant low pension funds, and do so.

Aug 15: USA offers me a white peace, and I accept. I also grant the last 2 reforms I'll make for a long time, Free Press and Socialist Only unions, and build a forts in Stockholm and Tornio to eventually garrison against Russia. Of course I have no troops in either province right now.

Jan 1, 1842: Empiricism finished, Positivism begun.

During April, I build a few railroads, and with bad timing, my war indemnities from China stop on Apr. 30. I just notice that even funding my social reforms at minimum is putting me in a defecit. It's small, but I do have a $200 debt that I can't pay off right away, and my social reforms don't count when I have a debt. Can't be helped for now.

May 13: I finish liberating all of Morocco's provinces. The war was boring, with their low morale irregulars quickly fleeing from my Cav-Hs. I ask for all their provinces, except their capital. They reject the first 2 offers, but accept on May 27. Lowering my army maintenance takes care of my defecit. A quick trade with the UK of Tafersit for their remaining colony in the Northwest Territories and $600 elminates my debt as well.

Another trade giving me Singapore, Malacca, Yeh, Battleship Column Doctrine and some cash in exchange for Taza, Tetuan, Oujda and El-Rarbi finishes off any trading I'll do to acquire claimed land, eliminates my border with France, and makes the revolters in Oujda not my problem.

Aug. 6: I declare war on Annam, and of course Cambodia joins in.

Jan 1, 1843: Positivism finished (now 1.3 RP per month), Phenomenalism begun.

Mar. 23: Another boring war over, I ask for everything except for the capitals, Cambodia and Hue, and Kiansin. Kiansin is a landlocked province, now surrounded by me, Luang Prabang and China. This is so that when France comes knocking on Annam's door, they won't be able to occupy it, and won't be able to take any territory.

On May 1, its Burma's turn. They're taken down to their capital on Dec. 21. Because I acquired Yeh, no one except Siam and I are able to get into their capital. I notice that the opium war has begun. I didn't get an announcement that Panjab had been annexed, so checking it out, they held out long enough to get a white peace with the UK. Good for them.

Jan 1, 1845: Phenomenalism finished, Romanticism begun.

Jan 10: My trade post in the Northwest Territories is finished, and I claim the colony. The UK has buildings under construction or completed in every province in Alberta and Manitoba, but Saskatechewan is vacant and I start a building in its northern province.

Apr. 30: My peace treaty with China expires, but the UK has occupied a province I want, so I wait and watch.

May 14: 5 of the UK's colonial buildings in Alberta are complete, so I trade 3 of the provicnces in NWT for 4 of the buildings, Steamers and $2600.

Jan 1, 1845: Romanticism finished, Functionalism begun. I see that China has 15 units in Dibrugath, the UK province that borders them in the southwest. This includes 6 of their regular units. They could be cut off by occupying Dali, which is defended by a single irregular, so I put one of my Cavs next to it and send it to the UK as an expeditionary force on Jan 19.

I've done this before, and I can still give orders to the unit. The UK may try to give it other orders, but this can be prevented by repeteadly giving it the orders I want. Dali is liberated by the UK thanks to my unit, but China stil has a massive force in Dibrugath. The UK tries to order my unit to attack it, but I cancel that order. Most of China's force appears to be marching further west. A single unit attacks me in Dali, but it's sent back.

May 2: All but a single irregular has left Dibrugath, and must be in Gauhati. Finally I attack Dibrugath.

Dibrugath is retaken by the UK, but even with my unit there I can't see the units in Gauhati to determine numbers and morale because I don't have a land border with it. But Gauhati is yellow.

But it's a moot point as on June 26, the opium war ends, and my own war with China begins. I take back my unit and send it to Dali again. I can't reinforce it, but thankfully it has a -attrition general and is nearly at full strength. Meanwhile one of my other units is sent to Guangzhou, the other to take China's colonial buildings.

Dali is liberated, and the Chinese units are trapped in UK land. They seem unwilling to advance into my Burmese land, but that's nearly completely rebel controlled anyway. I can't attack the units in the UK, and they're spread out in the UK, not willing to move. So we're at an impasse there. Guangzhou is liberated and the unit shipped up to Andong.

The 2nd colonial building is stolen, and my unit is sailed to take Tangshan. Rebels have nearly cut off any retreat possibility I had in Dali, so I move my unit back into my own land there to attack the rebels.

I can only get 25% efficiency on the rebels, and I see some Chinese troops moving towards Dali so I retreat and send the unit northeast, to Yunnanfu. Andong and Tangshan have been liberated and I'm in the process of liberating Mukden and Beijing.

I reach Yunnanfu before I'm attacked in Dali. The Chinese unit reaches Dali, but it's a single irregular with only 6470 men, and not bothering to stop and occupy Dali. Another 5 units, including 3 Cavs, are on their way to Dali.

Dec 20: Beijing is liberated, and as tempting as it is to try and kill those regulars, my own unit is at risk so I offer terms. Guangzhou, Andong, Mukden and war indemnities. They accept.

Dec. 27: I trade Strategic Mobility and $700 to Denmark for H&L Pressure Steam Engines.

Jan 1, 1846: Functionalism finished (bringing me to 1.43 RP per month), Realism begun.

My fledgling empire after 10 years:

Europe and my budget. No change in territory except that one province I got from Russia. Also note that the Ottoman Empire is still struggling to deal with Egypt.

• • • • Screenshot0007

America and my Pop overview. To the north are just UK controlled provinces. To the south, Argentina's dealing with rebels but nothing else interesting. * for completed claims, ? for under construction claims, colour coded for your convenience. I hadn't even noticed that the USA/Mexico war had ended, but skimming through the history, the Hidalgo treaty was on Sep 23, 1845.

• • • Screenshot0008

Africa and my Tech screen. I've really been neglecting commerce, not that it matter with my Chinese war indemnities based economy. The claim in the west is mine, stolen from Morocco, the ones in the east are still Oman's. Nothing atypical to the south.

• • • • Screenshot0009

Finally, Asia and my overview. Red dots in Annam's provinces, the green dot is China's rebel controlled province. The other rebel provinces are mine. Also note still independent Panjab. Hooray for Panjab! Their peace treaty with the UK expires Dec. 10, 1848. I'm considering giving them some cash and army techs.

• • • • Screenshot0010

Other stuff to note, I've been in the liberal revolution for a while now, but only 4 of my European provinces have a revoltrisk, and it's very low.

Ranks and Relations:

1 UK, +137 2 France +35 3 USA -17 4 Prussia +72 5 Russia +66 7 Austria -12 8 Bavaria +90 12 Denmark +183 48 Venezuela +194

I have the 6th biggest population in the world. The nation with the 2nd highest manpower is Mysore with 32. To my 1065. Yet I'm tied with Egypt for 12th highest number of divisions.