Manufacturing Italy (a PoN GC)

[loki100]

aye, I know what you mean. I was wondering if my balloons would do as a sort of martian-substitute and I could recast this as the War of the Worlds?

[Stuyvesant]

Good god, you're sending your troops to Wales?!? I mean, sure, you've been sending them to their death for ages, but Wales? That seems needlessly cruel... Oh wait, you're from urban Scotland. Wales must seem pretty idyllic by comparison.

Since the Royal Navy is not in attendance, any idea where the fleet is hiding? Are all those Man o' Wars holed up in Scapa Flow? Could you base your submarines out of Cardiff and start wreaking havoc?

Substantively speaking, it seems the British are done for - unless they catch your invasion in mid-disembark. With such a pitiful NM, I can't imagine they'll be able to dislodge you from the Welsh countryside once you're there.

Now, speaking of low NM, is there any risk that the Welsh might take this opportunity to throw off the English yoke and rise up whilst your peaceful Italian sightseers are still unpacking their raincoats? That would be unfortunate.

[Stuyvesant]

aye, I know what you mean. I was wondering if my balloons would do as a sort of martian-substitute and I could recast this as the War of the Worlds?

An invading alien life-form (the incomprehensible Italians), seemingly invincible but eventually brought low by the hostile native environment (i.e. British cuisine)? I could see that work...

[Jim-NC]

Good god, you're sending your troops to Wales?!? I mean, sure, you've been sending them to their death for ages, but Wales? That seems needlessly cruel... Oh wait, you're from urban Scotland. Wales must seem pretty idyllic by comparison.

Since the Royal Navy is not in attendance, any idea where the fleet is hiding? Are all those Man o' Wars holed up in Scapa Flow? Could you base your submarines out of Cardiff and start wreaking havoc?

Substantively speaking, it seems the British are done for - unless they catch your invasion in mid-disembark. With such a pitiful NM, I can't imagine they'll be able to dislodge you from the Welsh countryside once you're there.

Now, speaking of low NM, is there any risk that the Welsh might take this opportunity to throw off the English yoke and rise up whilst your peaceful Italian sightseers are still unpacking their raincoats? That would be unfortunate.

He had mentioned that he noticed they were all off raiding the sea lanes. From what I have seen, the AI seems to send it's entire fleet into the MTBs to hunt your merchant ships, allowing your fleet to sail/steam up to their capital, taking it by sea-borne invasion.

[loki100]

This AAR is starting to read like one of the late-19th/early 20th-century "invasion scare" books. First the dastardly Italians crush the Empire overseas, then the foreign hordes pour ashore to pillage unchecked.

Having grown up in South Wales, all I can say is that your invasion forces should pack their raincoats.

I've been struck a few times in this war how close its run to all those nightmare scenarios. In effect, a continental naval power able to challenge the RN at sea, ends up with an invasion and so on. They are (and you can include things like the War of the Worlds) a fascinating insight into the mindset of a portion of a country at the time. By any realistic measure, the British ruling class was secure, had access to most of the globe, could interfere as it wished in European affairs and yet they were clearly convinced that someone, somewhere, was unfairly out to get them.

The importance of books like the 'Riddle of the Sands' in creating the social framework to accept the naval build up pre-WW1 really can't be underestimated.

Good god, you're sending your troops to Wales?!? I mean, sure, you've been sending them to their death for ages, but Wales? That seems needlessly cruel... Oh wait, you're from urban Scotland. Wales must seem pretty idyllic by comparison.

Since the Royal Navy is not in attendance, any idea where the fleet is hiding? Are all those Man o' Wars holed up in Scapa Flow? Could you base your submarines out of Cardiff and start wreaking havoc?

Substantively speaking, it seems the British are done for - unless they catch your invasion in mid-disembark. With such a pitiful NM, I can't imagine they'll be able to dislodge you from the Welsh countryside once you're there.

Now, speaking of low NM, is there any risk that the Welsh might take this opportunity to throw off the English yoke and rise up whilst your peaceful Italian sightseers are still unpacking their raincoats? That would be unfortunate.

Well, lets put it this way, any rebels that rise up (and there are a few in India) are being given a helping hand by friendly Italian forces. Unlike with Austria, I really want not just to beat GB for a particular goal but to weaken them.

I think the forces now in Britain are in for a shock. 2 years of campaigning in Southern Africa or India is poor preparation for the horrors of British weather (or food). So big is the shock, that, as in the next update, most of my generals resign and demand to be sent somewhere more hospitable.

If you recall from our RuS bout, once the NM gap really opens, you need at least 2-1 to get a win, when using a good leader in open terrain. By the time I have around 7,000 power in Wales, it would take a massive British army to threaten me, and going on the military ratio there is no way do they have enough. The test is how fast can I break down from a few large armies to smaller forces to conduct a series of sieges.

He had mentioned that he noticed they were all off raiding the sea lanes. From what I have seen, the AI seems to send it's entire fleet into the MTBs to hunt your merchant ships, allowing your fleet to sail/steam up to their capital, taking it by sea-borne invasion.

This has been the big disappointment. The British have a decent modern fleet. I've seen fleets of 2-3000 power (my main fleet is around 7000) and from the shape of the counter I assume are some sort of steel battleship/cruiser. But they are all hunting my merchant ships. I've built some replacements but in the main they are not doing enough damage to hurt me - not least my key trades (with N America) are partly conducted using US shipping in the Med.

Clearly its easier for the AI to make a decent job of managing say Austria in war. It has a large decent army, the conflict is on land and over a defined border. In those wars, esp the second, it showed all its considerable talent for catching you off guard and being prepared to engage in manourver not just combat. This war, by its nature is harder for an AI, with all these dispersed war zones and I suspect not having the transport fleet I've steadily built up. But if there was one thing I'd change, it would be the fleet AI and its priorities. I think I would have won a direct major clash, but as it is, I've been able to move around with very little concern for the Royal Navy.

[loki100]

July-September 1892

So, we have a new front for the war.

Readers, meet Britain ... Britain meet Italy.

GB

By the end of July I had enough of a force landed to push an army into the Midlands as well as maintain my siege in Wales.



And Cardiff is taken, thus securing my landings and giving me a port.



Birmingham is taken soon afterwards.



Following this, I push on towards London. At which point, almost all my commanders in Britain decide its time to take a well earned rest, leaving my armies with no effective command.



I scramble to remove commanders from the armies in India to send to the UK to sort out this particular guddle.

In the meantime, unled, the Italian army still brings London under siege.



The problem with that victory is my high losses, not only do I have no command bonus but the force is operating with a 35% malus (ie can only fire once, less accurate etc). So till I sort out the command problem, I am going to avoid field battles if I can.

Even so, by the start of September, I've split Britain in two. Not really shown, but there are some powerful British armies garrisoning some of those southern cities so I am content to avoid battle.



For the record, I have been blowing things up. Any British factory that produces items widely available (textiles etc) is destroyed so as to harm their recovery but at the same time not reduce global production of key goods. For the moment, all those coal fields I have captured are usefully improving my coal stocks.

Elsewhere

In NW India, the situation is downright confusing. The British ran off to hide in the safety of Afghanistan, another bunch of Afghans are off besieging a Russian held town.



I think the best thing to do is to leave them all to sort it out between themselves.

In S Africa, Archibald was spotted trying to raid the tuck shop (ie grab the supplies at Durban), using the fleet I arrive before him



And then beat him up again



I'm sure as a product of a British Public School he is used to this sort of thing (actually he seems to have been a graduate of Glasgow University) but lets not let that stand in the way of a good allegation. That battle, and the retreat losses, completely destroyed his army.

Oh and just to give me something to do, the Nejd are back and are still revolting.



Not for long.



Other Things

Another tech has fired (sorry not sure which one) that unlocks the level 3 coal mines. Despite wanting to ensure I have a decent stock of raw materials for the war, this one is important enough to justify an immediate investment – well apart from in Switzerland who are still on strike,



That will take a lot more machine parts as a result but the increased output is worth it.

Someone founds the PSI



Total waste of time, Italy now faces a century of radical talk (with no effective preparations or actions) and industrial quantities of corruption.

Overall



So in the last 3 months, my NM is up 3 (from 174 to 177) and theirs pretty much static (from 45 to 46). Since both sides are facing a shift per turn of 3 (towards 100) it is inevitable that this is no longer moving very much.

Losses for me were 40,000 (from 3.25m to 3.29m) and for the British, 140,000 (from 4.27m to 4.41m), reflecting the lack of pitched battles in that quarter.. Relative power is now 82.

At this stage, the war enters its third year. Total losses for Italy are around 700,000 (2.58m to 3.29m) and for Britain 1,630,000 (2.78m to 4.41m), and to this should be added another 3-400,000 in prisoners. This war has never felt as bloody as the first Austrian war but clearly its been a grim affair. I guess the lack of individual mass battles, such as that at Wien, rather masked the slow accretion of losses for both sides.

[Sir Garnet]

He had mentioned that he noticed they were all off raiding the sea lanes. From what I have seen, the AI seems to send it's entire fleet into the MTBs to hunt your merchant ships, allowing your fleet to sail/steam up to their capital, taking it by sea-borne invasion.

In which event doing so does not seem cricket.

Playing Britain in game there is a sense of diffuse anxiety regarding seaborne invasion by surprise at unknown points and the need to keep the fleet poised and set up to be ready to stop it at sea - which it should be able to chance against Germany, or against France, but not so easily both.

The landing could come anywhere - which psychologically and for contingency planning is a different kind of problem from that of the continental powers who face threats from well-defined directions against fortified borders.

The key questions are how much to fortify Britain - the issue not being expense so much as the pros and cons of fortifications that if captured provide an invader with a stronger lodgement - and the force strength to retain there to match or overmatch an invasion by one or possibly two full armies. If the transports make it home, more forces are available, and a safe landing can be made, two waves should be enough to permanently hold British territory.

[Stuyvesant]

For the record, I have been blowing things up.

Surely the most shocking revelation in almost fifty years of this game.

Must say that the British invasion is a bit anti-climactic (the biggest threat facing you is the fact that your generals sensibly decided not to die of pneumonia and retired to their Mediterranean villas en masse), but I guess that goes to show that the grinders in Africa and particularly India have already destroyed the British ability to resist. Truly, the attack on Albion seems more of a symbolic action ("Look, we're here, your armies are dead meat, let's be reasonable and call it quits."), a bit of mopping up, than a nail-biting gambit to tilt the balance in your favor.

Oh, and it's of course a nice example of capitalist economic competition taken to its [s]extreme[/s] logical-by-Karl-Marx's-definition's conclusion: laying waste to Britain's industrial base so as to improve the standing of Italy in the world. Oh well, perhaps Britain will be better off as a rural idyll anyway, without those nasty smoke stacks and slag heaps marring the bucolic nature of the countryside and good fun such as cricket on the village green and fox hunts in the forests.

[Gen. Monkey-Bear]

The high-ranking Italian generals almost unanimously thought the invasion of Britain unnecessary. They felt that Italy had achieved its war goals and that a further invasion would ruin Italy's reputation among nations and would be very dishonorable. They all felt so strongly that they threatened to resign when the Italian government refused to change their mind. So Francesco II di Borbone, who had previously been treated as an equal to the Italian king (in this alternate world), felt that his opinion was being overruled. He and all the former Sicilian generals (along with some Italian ones) decided to resign en masse, but the invasion continued.

[loki100]

In which event doing so does not seem cricket.

Playing Britain in game there is a sense of diffuse anxiety regarding seaborne invasion by surprise at unknown points and the need to keep the fleet poised and set up to be ready to stop it at sea - which it should be able to chance against Germany, or against France, but not so easily both.

The landing could come anywhere - which psychologically and for contingency planning is a different kind of problem from that of the continental powers who face threats from well-defined directions against fortified borders.

The key questions are how much to fortify Britain - the issue not being expense so much as the pros and cons of fortifications that if captured provide an invader with a stronger lodgement - and the force strength to retain there to match or overmatch an invasion by one or possibly two full armies. If the transports make it home, more forces are available, and a safe landing can be made, two waves should be enough to permanently hold British territory.

In a way its the same problem as with Italy – if you lose control of the seas it is very hard to prepare for a land invasion. The cost of fortifying everywhere is too much so you have to pick a few key sites and hope. Equally as you say, a level 3 fort that your opponent now holds merely gives them a very secure rear base.

But at the same time a European war with say Austria, has to be conducted in a pretty predictable range of provinces (at least at the start).

Surely the most shocking revelation in almost fifty years of this game.

Well best to fess up early, not least as in the next update, someone, not me I would stress, burns down Sandhurst. I mean who is now going to train generations of homicidal nutters to go home and maim their own population?

Must say that the British invasion is a bit anti-climactic (the biggest threat facing you is the fact that your generals sensibly decided not to die of pneumonia and retired to their Mediterranean villas en masse), but I guess that goes to show that the grinders in Africa and particularly India have already destroyed the British ability to resist. Truly, the attack on Albion seems more of a symbolic action ("Look, we're here, your armies are dead meat, let's be reasonable and call it quits."), a bit of mopping up, than a nail-biting gambit to tilt the balance in your favor.

The high-ranking Italian generals almost unanimously thought the invasion of Britain unnecessary. They felt that Italy had achieved its war goals and that a further invasion would ruin Italy's reputation among nations and would be very dishonorable. They all felt so strongly that they threatened to resign when the Italian government refused to change their mind. So Francesco II di Borbone, who had previously been treated as an equal to the Italian king (in this alternate world), felt that his opinion was being overruled. He and all the former Sicilian generals (along with some Italian ones) decided to resign en masse, but the invasion continued.

You could of course be both right. There is Francesco, since losing his crown he has loyally served the House of Savoy, fighting in the Balkans, the Dolomites, at Vienna and more recently Malta and Gibralter, and now someone has sent him to conquer Birmingham. Time indeed to call a halt to all this indignities, there is indeed only so much a man can be expected to put up with.

Actually, the next update contains two very costly defeats. Makes me glad I didn't do an early idea and lunge straight for Britain or I could have ended up unable to prosecute the war very effectively. Of course, given the progress of the wider war, an effective last ditch defense is as likely to change the overall course of events as France's very effective re-organisation to resist the German invasion after the British nipped home from Dunkirk.

Oh, and it's of course a nice example of capitalist economic competition taken to its [s]extreme[/s] logical-by-Karl-Marx's-definition's conclusion: laying waste to Britain's industrial base so as to improve the standing of Italy in the world. Oh well, perhaps Britain will be better off as a rural idyll anyway, without those nasty smoke stacks and slag heaps marring the bucolic nature of the countryside and good fun such as cricket on the village green and fox hunts in the forests.

Think your economic model is less that of Marx and more rather social darwinist to be honest. But yes, there is a bit of victor's justice being dispensed. I really need not just to be ahead of GB in terms of prestige but to reach 200% their score.

I am now very aware of how important industry is in driving baseline prestige so they will not be regaining a lot of their original stock. The stuff that was destroyed in India was, mostly, by accident. The shift from a CP up in the 60s to one at zero meant I couldn't maintain their buildings. Here I am selecting factories that I know produce goods in ready global supply for destruction. They can keep the steelworks and coal mines as I need that raw production feeding into the global economy.

[loki100]

I had a problem in this period, which was, for no good reason, I was in a hurry to finish the war off. No logical reason, the population is content, replacements plentiful, but as often state of mind is as important as cold logic.


(as you can see militantism is high, but satisfaction remains high as well, with no adverse affects so far).

The result was a less than optimal set outcomes but at this stage of the war not exactly likely to change the final outcome.

Britain

In the last post, virtually all my generals in Britain decided that either (a) the weather and food was so awful they couldn't cope; or (b) had an attack of guilt at continuing a war that was already won.

Well my sensible response was to decide to go over to the defense till I moved fresh commanders to take over. However, maintaining such discipline was beyond me when I spotted the chance to break up the British forces on the S Coast.




By early October, Southampton was Italian and fresh units (with commanders) on the way.



Emboldened, I decided to force the pace and take out the South West too. This led to a rare, and serious, defeat, none of those units will be combat ready for some months now.



By early November, matters improve with the arrival of fresh units.



A second bloody battle in the South West follows, but at least this time, using veteran troops and well led, the result is an Italian victory.



Equally, the fresh forces had allowed me to start pushing northwards.



However, even after my armies were re-organised, the first attempt to capture London ended in another bloody failure. 47,000 Italians fell in the assualt and a complete army corps was wiped out.



I ease my frustration by clearing out the last British defences on the south coast.



With that, I launch another attempt to take London.



Grim stuff again, mainly as for once I am facing an enemy with a lot of (heavy) guns and well entrenched (the little 205 indicator on the lower rhs of the battle report).

London is no longer calling, and someone burns down Sandhurst. I am relieved to note it wasn't me.





The Rest

By early October, the war in India really was almost over.



The only remaining British force of any strength was holding on in the jungles and hills of the North East. I really couldn't find any reason to go and finish them off, but did take a few more of the provinces in the West.

In S Africa, a completely new British column turns up. I think it has marched down from W Africa.



Oh and the Nejd got all antsy again. They really rubbed me up the wrong way this time.



Other Issues

In late December, a new technology is discovered that may have some interesting implications.



Should stress, this tech is not directly linked to military aircraft but allows construction of the 'airplane' luxury good. Which of course is what I start to do.



Progress



That was a frustrating quarter with massive losses. On the plus side, I can rest damaged units till they have fully reinforced. Equally, apart from a small force in E Anglia, there are no British units left in in southern or central England.

On the bad side, I should have taken my time. The first defeat in SW England was unnecessary as was the first assault on London.

This is well reflected in the key indicators. My NM is down from 177 to 168 and they have gained from 46 to 50. Its not enough to make any difference but it reflects the damage done by 2 heavy defeats. Losses are bad on both sides, I lost 180,000 (from 3.29m to 3.47m) and them 210,000 (from 4.41m to 4.62m). Probably the most even of the war, but then I had very few easy wins.

One thing very much in my favour is their combat power has dropped from 82% to 78%.

Equally, I am winning the prestige war. I am now at 108,180 (up from 103,520) so a gain of around 4,500. They seem to have lost prestige (-1000) perhaps reflecting that I have captured almost all their industry as well as now holding London (they had 99,900 and are now at 98,900).

All I now want is to push the warscore to a level where I can claim enough to badly weaken the Evil Empire. Also, I want to set up a number of potential fronts that I can exploit if a second war proves necessary.

[Stuyvesant]

I thought Marx (or was it Lenin?) held that at the final stages of capitalism, when all the colonies were divvied up and resources became ever scarcer, the capitalist countries would turn on each other in a bloody struggle to ensure that they'd slice the economic pie into their own favor (and leave the rest with really petty slivers of slices, or even crumbs)? Seems to me you were doing a fine job at that, burning down factories left and right.

Of course, my grasp of political theory is only slightly firmer than, say, quantum mechanics, so I'm probably well wrong here. I guess you could also make a case that you're just conducting a very protectionist economic policy, albeit it one that is exceedingly aggressively prosecuted (that is to say: protecting your domestic production by going overseas and torching your competitors' industry).

Anyway, enough wittering. It's good to see Italy strengthening its stranglehold on Britain, while at the same time I'm glad to see a bit of rashness can still cause major pain for you, even this late in the war (hey, I'm not playing/suffering through those losses, so I can admire it in a coolly detached manner). Can understand the desire to wrap up the war, considering it's not very exciting anymore, but surely you can complete wreck the British if you practice patience and bring the whole of Britain under control? I can't imagine that they have the ability to contest your advance, if you take your time. I mean, if they can't even hold a heavily fortified London, I can't see the likes of York or Yarmouth stand up against you.

Perhaps the Scottish highlands, with their rough terrain and rougher populace, can serve as a last stand for the British Empire, but if you manage to push all the way up to Hadrian's Wall, I assume you can pretty much dictate any peace you'd like without having to disturb the natives.

PS: If those Arabian rebels are rubbing their Nejds all over you, I can fully understand you would take some very stern actions (I'd recommend grape or canister shot at said Nejds). Certain behavior is just beyond the pale, even from rebellious natives.

[Jim-NC]

Some serious losses on your part this time. There are actually battles where you lost many more men then them (South East Day 12, London Days 1 and 3). The fact that the combat power is still so near to even (78%) is I believe a testament to the size of the RN. They haven't really lost any ships, and it would seem that those ships represent a lot of Britain's power. I say that, as you have just about removed the entire British army from everywhere.

[Director]

This is indeed the British nightmare scenario: attacked abroad, fleet neutralized (although by their own faulty doctrine) and now invaded at home while the European powers watch and yawn. The Times is unlikely to opine that, 'with an enemy fleet in the Channel the Continent is cut off.' Given the long-lasting French political crisis after the Franco-Prussian War and the German political meltdown after WW1, I wonder how bad the convulsions of British politics and policy will be. My guess - given that the last successful invader was William in 1066 - is that it will be really bad. A hyper-revanchist, hyper-patriotic brew topped by sudden feelings of military inadequacy will make for a bitter, nasty potion.

If you want an explanation for the mass exodus of high commanders I would offer that the traditional good feelings of Italians toward Britain have led to the same sort of command crisis as affected the British Army and Navy in the American Revolution. The really talented commanders simply don't support the Italian government's policy (or belong to a different political faction) and won't participate.

I know that you are looking to free Scotland for reasons of prestige (and personal gloating) but could you take - or liberate - India instead?

You have pretty well proved the worth of the two dominant naval strategies. Commerce raiding is inherently defensive and causes economic pain but cannot force a decision. Control of the sea is inherently offensive and enables that power to use the waters for invasion, transport and supply - riskier than raiding but with a bigger potential payout.

Good luck with the rest of your campaign, as it appears that only London can resist you.

[loki100]

I thought Marx (or was it Lenin?) held that at the final stages of capitalism, when all the colonies were divvied up and resources became ever scarcer, the capitalist countries would turn on each other in a bloody struggle to ensure that they'd slice the economic pie into their own favor (and leave the rest with really petty slivers of slices, or even crumbs)? Seems to me you were doing a fine job at that, burning down factories left and right.

Of course, my grasp of political theory is only slightly firmer than, say, quantum mechanics, so I'm probably well wrong here. I guess you could also make a case that you're just conducting a very protectionist economic policy, albeit it one that is exceedingly aggressively prosecuted (that is to say: protecting your domestic production by going overseas and torching your competitors' industry).

No you are right in this description, Lenin (with the awful evidence of the First World War before his eyes) did indeed argue that (a) imperialism offered a short term relief to the problems facing capitalism within the advanced countries; but that (b) in turn led to a sharpening of competition. So yep, this may well be a classic application of that concept, tinged with a degree of old fashioned protectionism. As you say, how better to protect your own industries than to go and destroy those of your main rival (and all this without needing to call in the IMF or World Bank to do my dirty work for me).

In this, i'd argue that Lenin followed one of Marx's oversights in seeing Primitive Accumulation as a one off process in any particular geographic unit as opposed to an option that opens up time and time again - Luxemburg in the 'Accumulation of Capital' identifies this gap rather well.

Ahem ...

Anyway, enough wittering. It's good to see Italy strengthening its stranglehold on Britain, while at the same time I'm glad to see a bit of rashness can still cause major pain for you, even this late in the war (hey, I'm not playing/suffering through those losses, so I can admire it in a coolly detached manner). Can understand the desire to wrap up the war, considering it's not very exciting anymore, but surely you can complete wreck the British if you practice patience and bring the whole of Britain under control? I can't imagine that they have the ability to contest your advance, if you take your time. I mean, if they can't even hold a heavily fortified London, I can't see the likes of York or Yarmouth stand up against you.

Perhaps the Scottish highlands, with their rough terrain and rougher populace, can serve as a last stand for the British Empire, but if you manage to push all the way up to Hadrian's Wall, I assume you can pretty much dictate any peace you'd like without having to disturb the natives.

As with the second Austrian war, the AI can make you pay for your mistakes, even if it is no longer feasible that set backs will cost you the overall war. The final 3 months of the war was a bit of an anticlimax to be honest. I hadn't realised it, but those final battles destroyed the British army in the UK (incl a load of reserves they have just raised). So, its a case of getting the warscore I want.

As in the next post, what I'd decided I wanted was to confirm my colonial control in a few contested areas (modern day Qatar and Zimbabwe), damage even more the British industrial base (release Scotland), give me a toehold so that a fresh war means I can threaten even more of the Empire (Scotland and Australia) and to damage their fleet (why not).

PS: If those Arabian rebels are rubbing their Nejds all over you, I can fully understand you would take some very stern actions (I'd recommend grape or canister shot at said Nejds). Certain behavior is just beyond the pale, even from rebellious natives.

yep, irritating Najds is something that requires strong medicine. They must be the most consistently revolting of all my (somewhat unwilling) subjects, and the ones who hold the terrain of least interest to me.

Some serious losses on your part this time. There are actually battles where you lost many more men then them (South East Day 12, London Days 1 and 3). The fact that the combat power is still so near to even (78%) is I believe a testament to the size of the RN. They haven't really lost any ships, and it would seem that those ships represent a lot of Britain's power. I say that, as you have just about removed the entire British army from everywhere.

Think you are right, I now wonder if the RN was larger than my fleet. If so, its a genuine pity that the AI put so much effort into commerce raiding rather than, at least, defending the Home Islands.

With those losses in the UK, I am very glad I didn't carry out one of my early plans to make a lunge for GB as the opening gambit (I could have railed a large army across France). I think the risk would have been a stalemate, or very minimal gains, as I would have lacked forces elsewhere to make any gains.

This is indeed the British nightmare scenario: attacked abroad, fleet neutralized (although by their own faulty doctrine) and now invaded at home while the European powers watch and yawn. The Times is unlikely to opine that, 'with an enemy fleet in the Channel the Continent is cut off.' Given the long-lasting French political crisis after the Franco-Prussian War and the German political meltdown after WW1, I wonder how bad the convulsions of British politics and policy will be. My guess - given that the last successful invader was William in 1066 - is that it will be really bad. A hyper-revanchist, hyper-patriotic brew topped by sudden feelings of military inadequacy will make for a bitter, nasty potion.

Add to which, as part of the peace deal, they have to scuttle 10% of the fleet. I am hopeful I have left them a large enough domestic crisis to keep them busy while I consolidate.

But, in reality, I can see this victory setting off some interesting European dynamics. Countries will either be very keen to be very friendly with this new global power or very keen to cut it down to size.

All of which tends me to creating an Anglo-German (plus Austria) alliance and then playing around with the in-game WW1 event chain. Not least, as I indicate at the end of the next post, I think I am now on track to win (ie double the GB's prestige) by 1907-10 (depends a bit on if they recover). It may be earlier as I guess they have upcoming problems in Ireland and with the Boers which they are now ill-equipped to deal with.

If you want an explanation for the mass exodus of high commanders I would offer that the traditional good feelings of Italians toward Britain have led to the same sort of command crisis as affected the British Army and Navy in the American Revolution. The really talented commanders simply don't support the Italian government's policy (or belong to a different political faction) and won't participate.

I think General Monkey-Bear's explanation is a good one. I don't think it is good will as such, not least that historically Britain had played the role of protector of the Two Sicilies in the period 1790-1850 and was, at best, lukewarm about Italian unification. In this time line, a somewhat militaristic Italy has seen GB as its chief rival – probably even before GB took Italy at all seriously.

But the war was won, and the Italian army was committed to a new campaign. One that was to prove very costly in terms of lives, so its feasible that the command resigned en-masse in an attempt to influence the politicians in Rome.

I know that you are looking to free Scotland for reasons of prestige (and personal gloating) but could you take - or liberate - India instead?

India was too expensive. To force a transfer of one the larger colonial regions – say around Bombay would cost about 1500 War Score, even after all my gains I have less than 1000. At best, I think I could extract one of the key regions and little else.

The reason to identify Scotland was twofold. One is I am now convinced at the importance of industry as the bedrock to prestige. It varies by turn, but in the final period of the next update I gained 390 prestige of which 319 came from my industrial output. So pulling Scotland away will cost them another 6 or 7 factories, add that to the destruction in India and my deliberate torching operations in England, and I've put a large spanner into their prestige gain. Its looking like they have dropped from gaining 1400-1600 per six months down to around 1000.

Second, is if there is to be a second war, well having an army already located within the British Isles is no bad thing.

You have pretty well proved the worth of the two dominant naval strategies. Commerce raiding is inherently defensive and causes economic pain but cannot force a decision. Control of the sea is inherently offensive and enables that power to use the waters for invasion, transport and supply - riskier than raiding but with a bigger potential payout.

Good luck with the rest of your campaign, as it appears that only London can resist you.

Aye, it also confirms that commerce raiding is only a valid strategy for the weaker naval power. In this period, technology prevents an at sea blockade (ie blockading only works if you can physically control the entrances to ports), so you can do a lot of damage but not really interrupt the flow of goods. Not helped in that I could use neutral shipping (ie all those ships from other nations located in the Med) to keep key trades going.

The pity, as above, is it turned out the RN was probably my match in terms of power and modernisation. But producing an effective naval AI must be far harder than developing a competent land AI (and all the AGEOD games have that).

[loki100]

By the start of January, I occupy London, all the urban centres in India, all of Southern Africa (apart from a small mission station on the border with the Boer Republics). I re-organise my armies to leave the formations that bore the brunt of the November-December battles to the rear and press northwards into Scotland.

Yep, the Italian army is going to risk entering Glasgow [1]



Anyway, apart from Canada, Australia and Hong Kong, there is not much of the British Empire not flying the tricolore. I could sit on my gains and run up the warscore but I have enough to claim all I want.



So a perfectly reasonable peace deal is sent:



My logic to this is:

Bulawayo, Maswingo and Qatar will remove British colonial presence from regions I long have seen as mine (the first is basically modern day Zimbabwe, the second will push my hold on the East coast a bit further south). Victoria will give me an important holding in Australia (and 2 gold mines), invaluable in case of another war as I can make Australia a new front.

Scotland will cost the British dear in terms of lost Industrial capacity. The alternatives were Cyprus (no reason to take this, not least it is already overrun by rebels), Ireland (now why should I voluntarily deprive the British of all their troubles with Ireland?) or one of the Indian sub-kingdoms (valid, but I have already trashed the region). Each cost 250 warscore, so I picked the one that will cause the most long term damage – and that will allow the deployment of Italian troops into mainland Britain [2].

Forcing them to sink a chunk of the Navy is just malice ... but it is fun.

So this is the last prestige chart for the war years. I strongly suspect most of Britain's remaining combat power is their fleet. Total losses for this war have been high. Italy has lost just under 1 million (from 2.58m 3.51m) and the British almost 2 million (from to 2.78m 4.69m). A bit later on, when I was sorting out my prisoners of war (ie doing scripts to return them) I found I had around 500,000 British prisoners.



I have to confess that sorting out the chaos of this war took some additional scripts. Due to the mix of colonial control and military control, all sorts of provinces went to the wrong side. In particular, the British regained modern day Zambia (N of Zimbabwe) and I retained a chunk of NE India.

Once I resolved this, the world looked rather different.

First, the entire Arabian coast of the Persian Gulf is now Italian.



Second, in Africa, I now occupy Ulundi, giving me a new front line with British South Africa.



I start building this up in terms of a depot and port facilities.

Melbourne, too, is hastily developed so I can land troops, and base a small fleet, there.



Finally Scotland is independent, and has no army.



I think I can help them out.

The British react by threatening to declare war on Ruthenia. Aye, well impressive if you can find it.



As discussed, during the war I was a bit cautious at upgrading all my facilities. With the return of peace, I spend heavily on upgrading my chemical plants and other upgrades.



This will cost me most of my stockpiles of manufactured goods and steel.

In addition, I start to exploit my new gains.



I also seem to have retained Warri in the resulting chaos. Well if no one notices, I'll hang on to what could be quite a valuable refuelling station.



Of course, being at peace, doesn't actually mean not being at war with someone.



So to prestige.



This is a little bit misleading. When peace was declared I lost almost 2000 prestige with structures being returned to the British. I really need to review this after a couple of years of peace to work out if I have done sufficient damage.

In the six months from December 1892, I have gained nearly 3,000 (from 108.180 to 111,068) and the British 1,600 (from 98,900 to 100,430). This is probably not enough as I think I need 3 times their six-monthly score (I need to be double and of course, first I need to gain a lot to even come close to that score). But, for reasons of the final stage of the war and the post-war re-adjustments, this is not a good period on which to base any long term estimates [3].

OOB

My main army returns to Italy and is re-organised. The main combat formations are:



I have a pretty decent command capacity (all those promotions) but still cannot effectively command my entire army. I've blocked in red the elite (over 30%) line formations, worth noting I have never managed to regain the exceptionally experienced army I had at the end of the first Austrian war.

The fleet is divided into:



In addition, especially in the final battles, I have captured a lot of British artillery. Since this will not upgrade, and was given to me badly scratched, I dispatch it to reinforce my key fortifications, not least I lack the command capacity to make use of it in the field armies.


[1] I have to confess this is downright wierd. Not only have I lived in various places that have already been captured (esp the South West where my father was often based when he was in the Royal Navy) but my parentage, on the other side of my family, is Scots-Italian. This is not that unusual in Glasgow where there has been a large Italian community for some time (certainly since after WW1).

[2] – Project Fear (aka the pro-Union campaign) has been known to raise the likelihood of an independent Scotland being captured by passing Koreans – it seems as if they are more right than perhaps appears the case at first sight.

[3] – To put this in context, I am now up to July 1894 (ie one year ahead). In one year I will gain 10,000 (to 121,000) and they will gain 2,000 (to 102,500). I guess they will improve as they replace some of what I have destroyed, but on this trend I will have double their prestige in 14 years as at that stage I will have around 262,000 and the British 130,000. I don't think the gap will really close this quickly and I'll do a more considered analysis in a couple of updates.

But this does support a quick analysis that I have done enough damage to really harm the British Empire in that last war. The critical date looks to be around 1908-1910.

[Stuyvesant]

Tell the British to sail those 9% of their fleet to Scapa Flow (it's foreign territory now anyway) and scuttle them there.

Britain's been humiliated and left wrecked. A fine job, I imagine the challenge has basically gone out of the game - hence your plans for a cataclysmic WWI.

Will be interesting to see what your new territories contribute to your empire, besides the obvious strategic implications if you go back to beating up old and weary John Bull.

[Director]

I was basing my opinion on what I remember reading about the Italian entry into WWII - that the high command was very upset and dismayed since they had always looked to Britain as an ally. The Navy High Command was appalled since they had a very high opinion of the Royal navy and were dependent on British companies for oil fuel stocks.

Then again it just could be that the rumor got around that the King intended to send troops into Scotland.

A very 19th-century peace. One wonders who the Scots will nominate to fill their now-vacant throne. THe King of Italy might have a relative or two who would be interested... Nah, it's Scotland. Time to rattle the bushes and see if a spare Prince falls out!

That kind of defeat is simply hard to get your head around. It's the sort of debacle the French suffered in the Franco-Prussian War with the added insult of having the colonies overrun. A human (ruler or player) would not rest until the insult was avenged... the AI is, as you say, more likely to go play in Ruthenia.

[Sir Garnet]

That kind of defeat is simply hard to get your head around. It's the sort of debacle the French suffered in the Franco-Prussian War with the added insult of having the colonies overrun. A human (ruler or player) would not rest until the insult was avenged... the AI is, as you say, more likely to go play in Ruthenia.

Well, as it happens, in 2 massive MP games player-run France and Germany in each case patched things up post FPW without a ripple of unrest from the population as a result. I suspect the AI would not do so. Even autocracies had to consider the feelings of their nobility and general population.



Maybe it is time for heady success to lead to dreams of reconstituting the Roman Empire and overweeningly ambitious plans against those in the way of this grand design.

[loki100]

Tell the British to sail those 9% of their fleet to Scapa Flow (it's foreign territory now anyway) and scuttle them there.

Britain's been humiliated and left wrecked. A fine job, I imagine the challenge has basically gone out of the game - hence your plans for a cataclysmic WWI.

Will be interesting to see what your new territories contribute to your empire, besides the obvious strategic implications if you go back to beating up old and weary John Bull.

This is a good point (about what now) and I've been thinking it over. At the moment (and I've just started 1895), I'm engaged in colonial exploration in the Niger region, a small colonial war (the Zulus, at the risk of this reading like 1066 and all that) and fine tuning the economy in an attempt to keep domestic militancy under control.

Its interesting enough to play, not least in that I want to see what the late game leads to, but I doubt makes a compelling narrative to read. So after the next post, I think I will shift to each update covering a year and just sketch out the most important events. That will reduce the frequency of updates (to one a week I'd guess) but hopefully be enough to remain interesting and to fill out the key issues in this period.

Australia is valuable - 2 gold mines plus my old one in Scotland really gives me a decent supply. Gems are more available now I own Qatar so I am fully meeting demand for luxury goods. Oddly it is food I am struggling with and again the new gains contain hard to find items such as Tropical fruits. So all in all, a good haul, in addition to threatening Britain if a new war breaks out.

I was basing my opinion on what I remember reading about the Italian entry into WWII - that the high command was very upset and dismayed since they had always looked to Britain as an ally. The Navy High Command was appalled since they had a very high opinion of the Royal navy and were dependent on British companies for oil fuel stocks.

Then again it just could be that the rumor got around that the King intended to send troops into Scotland.

A very 19th-century peace. One wonders who the Scots will nominate to fill their now-vacant throne. THe King of Italy might have a relative or two who would be interested... Nah, it's Scotland. Time to rattle the bushes and see if a spare Prince falls out!

That kind of defeat is simply hard to get your head around. It's the sort of debacle the French suffered in the Franco-Prussian War with the added insult of having the colonies overrun. A human (ruler or player) would not rest until the insult was avenged... the AI is, as you say, more likely to go play in Ruthenia.

Anglo-Italian relations had some odd dynamics. Post-risorgimento, there was relatively little intersection which made for easy relations. Britain actually encouraged Italy to grab the horn of Africa so as to ensure someone more hostile (ie France or Germany) didn't do so. Also, in a reminder that little really changes, they hoped that Italian control would suppress piracy in that region.

From my understanding, few Italians were keen on entry to WW2 (even including many fascists). In particular, there was an acknowledgement that even if France surrendered, the British fleet remained a real threat to Italy, and a clear understanding that Italy was a major, seaborne, importer of key goods like oil and coal.

On the other hand, the pre-risorgimento period (and this influenced the views of the various political parties that reflected all those debates and dominated Italian politics in the pre-WW1 era), had seen Britain cast with Russia and Austria as the power that had done most to keep Italy disunited. In particular, Britain was seen by the liberal and leftist elements as guilty, above all else, of shoring up the deeply reactionary Kingdom of the Two Sicilies. But then, just to confuse matters, British ships had helped Garibaldi to land in Sicily.

My feeling was it was a relationship of little practical importance to either side in our world - so in effect it became one that was pragmatic and friendly as there was no particular reason why not. I guess in this world, Italy is the Germany, keen to be noted as the new dominant power and thus, very directly, seeing itself as in competition with the British Empire. An attitude probably made worse by, for a long time, being largely igonred by the British.

As to the impact on British domestic politics. I'd suggest explosive, this was, in many ways, worse than the loss of the American colonies in terms of scale of damage. To be beaten on the battlefields of 3 continents, to lose key colonial regions and be forced to scuttle 10% of the fleet. I reckon, a desire for revenge will be high on the list, but also a need to recuperate and recover - as is clear I have inflicted some deep wounds.

In reality, even more than before, they need allies. America has no interest, if anything it is very chummy with Italy. So only the German speaking nations have the capacity (I really do not want to tangle with the German army) and desire (Austria would want the Sud-Tirol and Trieste back, even if it could accept the loss of the Po valley).

I doubt, unprompted, the British diplomatic AI will grasp that, so I may well start to give it a bit of a hand.

Well, as it happens, in 2 massive MP games player-run France and Germany in each case patched things up post FPW without a ripple of unrest from the population as a result. I suspect the AI would not do so. Even autocracies had to consider the feelings of their nobility and general population.


Maybe it is time for heady success to lead to dreams of reconstituting the Roman Empire and overweeningly ambitious plans against those in the way of this grand design.

I think the British elite will be plotting revenge - this, as above, is worst than the loss of the N American colonies in terms of a humiliation.

Oddly, a new Roman Empire is just where I was thinking of going. Not against France or Spain, but there are regions still held in the Ottoman grip that really would benefit from a visit by the Italian army. But first, I need peace, to let things calm down and try and cheer up my very ungrateful population.

[loki100]

This is a relatively short update that covers the second half of 1893.

As discussed above, I've been thinking about how to organise updates for the next period. I've played to the end of 1894 and am doing some industrial development and colonial expansion. But, in truth not much of either. I don't really need to expand my industrial base (global coal stocks are ok, but could start to run short) and there is little else I really want to take in colonial terms.

So unless something dramatic happens, I'll switch to updates that cover a year and not in all that much detail. This means that updates will be less often (I guess one a week/10 days).

I'll start with the prestige charts and a discussion as this, above all else, frames my approach at the moment.



This is the first six monthly period not distorted by the end of war process. In it I gained 5,000 (from 111,068 to 116,067) and the British 950 (100,430 to 101,380). By June 1894, the relative scores are 121,813 and 102,544 and by December 1894, 127,397 and 103,542.

This is enough to make some assumptions. I'm gaining roughly 5,500 per six months and Britain is gaining around 1,000. On that basis, my earlier rough guess that I will have double their score by 1907-08 looks correct:



What I've done here is to take 18 months since the end of the war and try and use that to predict the longer term. I guess we will both make some improvement on our regular prestige production but its hard to see the GB regaining its old score of 1600-1700 per six months, never mind going over 2000 (which is what they would need to keep me from moving closer to double).

Again, can't stress too much how important industry is to this. In that last 2 week period I gained 360 and 310 of that came from industry produced prestige.

So lets quickly sketch in the main events.

The economy is booming, I'm running a small balance of payments surplus but this shifts around depending on the availability of coal. I also start importing more food in an attempt to meet population demand.



I carry on upgrading a substantial number of structures and this temporarily runs down my stocks of manufactured goods and steel.

The tooltip gives some idea how much this is costing me:


(here I had a lot of coal as I'd been taking all the production from Britain for my own stockpiles)

To help out, I do decide on another manufactured goods plant. I am not going to build a lot more as global coal stocks represent a limit that I can't really ignore. There is scope to build more coal mines, especially in the USA, but I am aware of the risk of setting off a global shortage if I over-expand (should add that the Swiss are still on strike).



In general, my economy is settling down after the war and my sustained burst of industrial (and agricultural) investments.



Some of the earlier shortage goods such as steel and chemicals are now easy to obtain (and my domestic production is substantial). The only immediate problems are coal and minerals (the latter I improve by upgrading my domestic mines, buying more and some new production in my colonies).

My small African war (this is in an area I gained at the end of the war) continues but by late November, I have secured the disputed territories.



This larger map shows the broad spread of my holdings in southern and eastern Africa:



I've indicated the area I need to explore and occupy as they are part of the gains I made from Britain in the war.

And I slowly expand my exploration of the west coast along the River Niger.



Population militancy remains a problem.



Its not leading to any serious consequences in terms of unrest but is a worry. Worse, there is little I can do, but I am not meeting their food needs so I adjust my trade patterns to see if that solves some of the problem. I am playing the various cards as much as I can, but this is basically related to my rather autocratic form of government.

This is typical of the post-war period. A small colonial campaign, that takes planning and time, as the art is to bring the locals to battle. Adjust my trade patterns to meet particular needs, some, relatively limited investment.

A few general comments about the late war economy. State cash is far too easy to obtain, even with minimal tax rates. In the war I ran this down (you use quite a lot raising replacement chits) but its increasing steadily again.

Equally supply and ammunition is too easy. At no stage, in a major war, did I need to resort to additional production and, at times, actually increased the amount I was trading away.

Private Capital at least has the balancing of the 'businessmen have bought' event, this now takes 2-3,000 PC per turn away (but as you can see my PC is still steadily increasing).

[loki100]

This is the first of my attempts at fitting a year into a single update. I think it will work as there is relatively little going on. A sequence of niggly colonial wars in southern Africa, exploration of the west coast and some industrial expansion (actually mostly agricultural and mines). In effect, trying to exploit my gains and consolidate my overall position.

A nice feature of PoN is the extent that it is often a problem solving exercise, and, if like me, you enjoy dealing with complex systems with uncertain feedback loops, this can be engaging.

At this stage, if I have a real problem it is that high militancy in the population. At the moment, its not affecting anything else but its a worry. I think a large part is a complaint against my rather reactionary, elitist, political system.



However, some may be due to not meeting their demands for food, even if I am producing enough common and luxury goods.


(this is from late 1894 but is indicative of the usual position).

Some I think can only be solved by gaining substantial access to food goods I can't supply in regular amounts (sugar, tropical fruits) but it maybe that I can intervene to resolve some of the problem. Here I find the 'B' screen incredibly useful.



First the tooltip from the top rhs gives you an idea what you need more of (this is not so clear from the F4 screen as that tends to tell you how your stocks are varying, but with no judgement about relative scarcity or surplus).

Equally, you can use it to check if the goods you need are available from other countries.



In combination you can use that information to plan a response. Here, it is clear that neither cattle nor fish are available for import, so my first response is to upgrade a number of production sites and to re-open some that were closed.



If that fails to solve the issue, I need to think of building some more. There is, however, a problem to this solution. The modernised production needs more capital (which I have plenty of), chemicals (not currently a problem) and coal (the global shortage good).

My alternative is to stop playing the development cards as often as I am (in effect slow the rate of population growth). For the moment, and this will continue into 1895 and possibly beyond, I am going to see if I can manage to feed a fast growing population without hitting any of the major resource barriers (most usually coal).

I realise this focus on agriculture is strange, given I have ignored it since the 1860s. It reflects the rapid population growth I have managed to set off.

The rest of this report looks at the main trends and major decisions.

Production

Manufactures



Overall, I am just about keeping my coal stocks static (849 to 851) but note that my usage – domestic production - domestic industrial use (2nd row) - has worsened substantially (from -432 to -526). The balance is in importing more, and this varies significantly by turn as other areas put surplus up for sale and then run out.

The other main change is that oil is now becoming a shortage good too. Here my production – usage is positive (and grew from 13 to 23) but it is now harder to import. As more automobile and the first aircraft factories open, global demand is increasing (the tooltip shows my production of aircraft, the factories opened in late November)

Worth noting that chemicals and manufactures, two goods I have struggled with in the past, are now easy to acquire. Manufactures were low in the opening period as I had upgraded a lot of production sites.

Non-Manufactures



The main issue here is while my stocks are mostly ok, I don't have enough when it comes to sales to the population (they can only buy 80% of the stock). As it indicates, my changes discussed above did lead to an increase in cows (from 50 to 86 from domestic production but no imports) and fish (93 to 172 and a small number of imports). So the one off boost of re-opening and upgrading sites has had some benefit. However, in 1895 I am going to have to try to find locations where I can actually build some more production.

Expansion and changes.

As part of trying to exploit my empire and maximise output of key goods, I built quite a lot of new production sites in this year.



I'm being cautious about adding more industry, despite the gain in terms of prestige. The logic to the mechanical plant is that recent upgrades to my mines has increased demand for mechanical parts (and, as below, I want to build more coal mines). The textile thing in Australia is a bit of role-playing to show the locals how lucky there are under Italian rule (unlike in India, the British AI built nothing but agricultural sites in Australia).



This shows 4 new agricultural sites in Africa. The coffee replaces something burnt by the British, the tropical fruits at Entebbe have been uncovered by my prospectors. In addition, a new 'fruits farm' is under construction in Southern Italy.

Mindful of the global coal problem, I decide to build some more production in the USA (in truth I have become very dependent on this source, another reason to make sure I retain good relations with the Americans).



I have also been sending out the prospectors, to see if my new gains contain any hidden goodies. Much to my delight, I find another gold field and a source of tobacco. The railroads are added to increase the production of some rather valuable goods.



Diplomacy and unrest.

The main diplomatic event of the year is Spain declaring war on Morocco, domestically Sicily has a high level of unrest


[1]

To add to my military problems, my experienced generals start to resign. I already am struggling to properly command my army and this makes it much worse.



Research

Several useful techs are ready for research. Given my problem in terms of food production, Ammonia fertilizer will be very welcome.



Prestige.

At the end of June, I am up to 121,813 against a target of 205.088. By the end of December,



Overall in 1894, this means I have gained just over 11,000 (from 116,067 to 127,397) and Britain just 2,000 (from 101,381 to 103,542). In terms of reaching my goal I am now at 62% compared to
57%. As discussed before, its pretty clear that the war wrecked the British economy (assisted by some judiciously careless use of matches) and, so far, they don't seem to be recovering.

With the return of peace (well apart from the usual quota of colonial wars) my NM has dropped steadily from 143 to 125 as it reverts towards 100. Despite the relative peace, I've still managed to lose 30,000 men (from 3.52m to 3.55m), as the battles in southern Africa have been fairly large.


Hopefully this is enough to give an overview of the main developments. I suspect this phase of the game is more interesting to play than to read about.

[1] – this was a legacy of the unfinished business at the end of the Risorgimento. Land ownership was left unchanged in the south (in fact it was not addressed till after WW2 when the PCI organised a series of occupations to force the break up of the latifundi). The peasants wanted land and the failure of this period of unrest led to the radical growth of anarcho-syndicalist ideas in southern Italy (in much the same way as they took root in southern Spain).

[Stuyvesant]

Apologies for not commenting earlier: out of town for a few days and family stuff (boring, rather than dramatic).

Anyway, I see peace becomes Italy, even if it does take a certain frisson from the AAR. Interesting observation that you are able to keep your populace in the rum and opium, but struggle to give them hamburgers. I didn't think the Italians would be very big on hamburgers to begin with. Or that they would mind much, considering they're getting all the alcoholic and opium-based intoxication their little hearts desire.

Seems that there is always some kind of bottleneck holding you down, no matter how successful your industry or how much you're willing to trade with the rest of the world. I don't know how I'd like that, playing the game: on the one hand, it's realistic, on the other, it must get a little old to be the pre-eminent military superpower in the world and still have a bunch of nobodies refuse to sell their fish or cows to you. Is there anything you can do to boost your trade efficiency, apart from paying the 25 % premium?

From the last screenshot, it is obvious that Belgium and the Netherlands are having morale issues. Are they at war or something?

[Jim-NC]

You can put more ships in the trade boxes to try to gain a competative advantage (the larger your trade fleet in the box, the better your chances to get the goods).

[loki100]

Seems that there is always some kind of bottleneck holding you down, no matter how successful your industry or how much you're willing to trade with the rest of the world. I don't know how I'd like that, playing the game: on the one hand, it's realistic, on the other, it must get a little old to be the pre-eminent military superpower in the world and still have a bunch of nobodies refuse to sell their fish or cows to you. Is there anything you can do to boost your trade efficiency, apart from paying the 25 % premium?

I'll do the usual full feedback with the next update but I think this leads to a response that indicates one of the ways in which, in my experience, PoN is unique. The advice to players, esp in SP games, is not to do autarky or mercantalism but to oil the international economy. This is well meant, as if you wreck the world economy you wreck your own - the exceptions maybe Britain and Russia but even then I am not sure. The economic model, more than that in Victoria (probably the only comparable game) is one of trade is good (ok better for one side or the other and definitely bad for some).

So even now, I need people to buy my goods (or I'd have to shut down 30-50% of my factories). If I drive their economies to the brink, then social unrest will reduce their ability to import, equally if I only export then sooner of later they run out of the cash to buy my goods. I tend to have a balance of payments that is +/- 1000 private capital. I can absorb the deficit by seliing the goods on my domestic market and a surplus of that level (at this stage in the game) is not going to destabilise anything.

Which is a long way to answering the question. I could just jump into every market, pay the premium and scoop the pot. I do this when I really need to (such as previous coal/steel crises) but if I did it all the time, and for all goods, then sooner or later other states would get into a real mess with contentment.

Now Britain is the only exception to all this. Since it was clear that to win, I had to build up my own economy and wreck theirs, I did just that during the war. Sort of an Italian Morgenthal plan. Even then, I left their coal and steel plants intact as I need that production in the world trading system. In the wars with Austria and the Ottomans, very little was damaged as I didn't want to permanently harm their chances.

All this is a long way to say that PoN is one of very fews (and the only one I have played) where you can't just pull every lever to wreck your opponents all the time. Todays enemy is tomorrows trading partner. This, the thing about defensive alliances, the inabilty to take provinces you have no title all, all build up to create the constraints of 19C diplomacy. Its noticeable, that for all the lunacy of Versailles, the peace in most regions was about small transfers (Alsace-Lorraine), reparations and releasing nations. Where, as with Sevres, it got more ambitious (giving the Greeks a chunk of Asia Minor) it also unravelled spectacularly quickly. Keynes of course argued that by trying to wreck the German economy, the entire peace deal was fundamentally flawed.

On the other hand, there are times when I fancy the wild ride of taking say Persia on a power trip to global dominance - which is why i still play some V2 when I have time

[Jonathan Pollard]

Is there anything you can do to boost your trade efficiency, apart from paying the 25 % premium?

It's actually a 50% premium, even though when you place the orders the button says 25%.

[loki100]

Just a quick update.

The shift to 1 year reporting means I am no longer really able to play a little ahead (ie always have the material for at least one more update). This is not helped by being busy (=income so its not all bad). Worse though I have a persistent hang up in the turn processing in late October 1895. This persists at the same turn despite going back a few turns, despite a fresh download and also loading PoN on a more powerful PC than my laptop (so its not a simple processing capacity issue).

I've reported this but till I can find a solution, I am stuck.

Roger

[loki100]

Just to keep this ticking over, here's an early draft of an article I've written for the Wargamer. Trying to sell the merits of PoN and giving an insight into the late game world:


[ATTACH]24760[/ATTACH]

I have images etc up to December 1895 (but not the year end), so I can do a pretty full report for the year - just would rather keep to my usual time blocks

[loki100]

Apologies for not commenting earlier: out of town for a few days and family stuff (boring, rather than dramatic).

Anyway, I see peace becomes Italy, even if it does take a certain frisson from the AAR. Interesting observation that you are able to keep your populace in the rum and opium, but struggle to give them hamburgers. I didn't think the Italians would be very big on hamburgers to begin with. Or that they would mind much, considering they're getting all the alcoholic and opium-based intoxication their little hearts desire.

Seems that there is always some kind of bottleneck holding you down, no matter how successful your industry or how much you're willing to trade with the rest of the world. I don't know how I'd like that, playing the game: on the one hand, it's realistic, on the other, it must get a little old to be the pre-eminent military superpower in the world and still have a bunch of nobodies refuse to sell their fish or cows to you. Is there anything you can do to boost your trade efficiency, apart from paying the 25 % premium?

From the last screenshot, it is obvious that Belgium and the Netherlands are having morale issues. Are they at war or something?

Both are involved in colonial wars - the Netherlands with Aceh and Belgium in the Congo. From the little I have seen, neither are doing that well and loss of structures can impact on NM.

But overall, yep, luxuries are no challenge, regular goods fine, but food is a problem. If they weren't such picky eaters, they could eat all the fish I am exporting - but the ungrateful wretches want meat instead.

You can put more ships in the trade boxes to try to gain a competative advantage (the larger your trade fleet in the box, the better your chances to get the goods).

As in my earlier response, in a way I am trying not to clean up too completely, so as to ensure the wider world economy still functions. However, I have been building quite a lot of merchant ships so as to give me a better buffer if I end up in another war with a power obsessed with merchant raiding.

It's actually a 50% premium, even though when you place the orders the button says 25%.

Quite right, though to be honest I am awash in both state and private capital so it really makes no difference (unlike early game when taking this option meant a lot of careful consideration of the consequences)

[loki100]

So at last, we can cover 1895. Not the easiest update to write as I have rather forgotten what I was trying to do in the early stages. But before I begin, thanks to all who helped with my recent problems and Pocus for taking the time to load up the saves and spot what was going wrong. Very much appreciated, especially with ACW2 demanding all the development time.

On balance another year of stabilisation after the recent gains rather than dramatic actions. As in 1894, oddly it was agriculture, not industry or colonial affairs that dominated my actions.

Economic Development

Cattle was the starting point and as it was clear that there were no more to import, I set about building more Italy and fully exploiting my own colonies.



I also decided on building a lot more extraction sites in the US for a variety of items:



In combination, that should improve the global supply, and my share, of a lot of key goods.

In general, my earlier interventions seem to be paying off as the deficit in terms of food consumption has come down a lot (I've selected cattle from the F4 just as an example, what matters is the overall demand for 651 units and that I am supplying 630). By the end of December, demand is up to 692 and supply to 659. With this, I decide I need to slow down a little in playing the regional development cards, as, ideally, I'd like to see if I can meet demand with the recent additions.



Colonial Affairs

The Americans got a bit antsy about Europeans playing around in their region – I do hope they don't complain that I now own a large chunk of American industry.



For me, the main colonial events are an ongoing war in Southern Africa and my slow exploration of West Africa.



Here I pushed north towards Lake Chad. I also have built and sent a river flottila. Visions of Humph in the African Queen appear ...



Just to add to the regional chaos, the navy decides to restart its training programme of shelling passing Continents.


[1}

In checking things over I did a comparison as to the military effectiveness of the 1890s as opposed to 1880s battleships. The difference is more than appeared to be the case at first sight:



In effect a counter (remember this is 4 actual ships) has an overall power almost 150 more than its 1880 predecessor. So it is more of an upgrade than I originally suspected.

Feeding the people

The two Ammonia techs fire. The gunpowder one allows me to upgrade my ammunition factories



But the other is more useful at the moment, as it triggers a large number of agricultural upgrade options. That, plus my new builds, should really help to meet the growing food demands of the Italian population.



I concentrate on upgrading those agricultural sites that are of most value.

Equally importantly, I gain a number of new options around social and industrial rights. Both will help reduce my militancy problem.



This plus the improved food supply seems to help me contain the militancy problem. In general, satisfaction remains high at 99% and militancy is slowly falling back to 66%. So far, there has been no obvious disruption caused by the militancy problem.



Prestige



In a way, the most important part of the update.

The key numbers are I have gained 11,000 (from 127,397 to 138,434) and Britain has gained 2,000 (from 103,542 to 105,644). This has moved me from 62% to 66% of the required target.

It does seem as if I have really wrecked the British Empire as there is no sign they are recovering. On this basis, it now seems as if the end date may be 1902-04 rather than 1907-08.

I am gaining a small amount some turns to reflect my new production sites, but overall, as usual, it is my manufacturing industry that is driving my prestige.

The ongoing skirmishes in Southern Africa have cost me around 10,000 men (from 3.55m to 3.56m).

Economy



Rather than show the F4 screens, thought it would be useful to show the summary trade flow information for the end of December. I currently have a balance of payments surplus of 3000 PC (in part as I am struggling to buy what I need). Domestic sales yield almost 10,000 PC and sales to the colonies almost 1,200 (compare to the 8 or 9 in the late 1860s).

For state money, I am relying on a small tariff tax and the excise duty.

My average colonial prestige gain is up to 9 as slowly some of my early gains fall into my accepted Sphere of Influence.


[1] – this is, of course, the superb opening scene of Conrad's Heart of Darkness where a Battleship is shelling a continent for no reason (or at least none that is presented in the story). More of you have probably seen the novel on screen - its the book on which Apocalypse Now was based