German unification done the other way

[Q-Kee]

Other nations, no - nobody seems to compete for new colonies, all they do is develop the existing ones. From the tribes, that's hard to say - to gain MC, I have to declare war on them (I think), and naturally they resist, but I'd not call that active resistance against colonialisation.

[Kensai]

Well, in real life they had more or less decided upon the colonies as well. You could say that WW1 was in fact a result of Germany "trailing" in Prestige, so they started it to overcome GBR and others.
(I know it wasn't that simple, just tried to translate it in game terms)

If you don't win by 1920, you could script alliances and fight out an alternate reality WW1. Perhaps with different pairs. What I want to try in my game (Imperial Germany), for example, is what would happen if Italy actually stayed in the Triple Alliance of 1914, without breaking off with the Austrian-Hungarians...

[Q-Kee]

Actually I am quite far from winning. I am in 1871 (sorry, the promised war has not started yet since I am occupied with the colonies) and have 23% of prestige goal (2nd rank), while GB still has 35% (1st rank).

What I really lack is leaders. Both Bavarian leaders have retired, and I have nobody to lead those Bavarians now - is it the same when you play Prussia and unite Germany? I can only let them hang around and maybe guard some fort, as they have 35% command malus. Is there any way to script a new Bavarian leader, or give another leader the ability to lead those? There is a duplicate leader (Alexander, he was in my and in the Prussians' service) who has the "minor German states' troops" ability but it does not work - have tested with Bavarians and Hannoveranians so far. So, I will sooner or later have all kinds of German and Prussian troops which I cannot really use.

Also, I have much more land and population now, but I do not get the adequate troop and leader pool, I can still only build "my" Austrian units. F.ex. The worst thing is that if my Austrian generals and admirals retire, I do not get replacements for them because I have all those useless Germans and Prussians and so exceed the max of leaders obviously. There is a script that gives me more leaders at least for my own nation, I will go and try to find it.

And the colonial affairs are a pain. F.ex. in Zanzibar, there is definetly just 1 region. I have 100% MC and 53% CP, I have troops there, and the indigenes are not even hostile - still I cannot make it a formal colony. Just says "this building cannot be built here"...

[Jim-NC]

In regards to your question about more generals. Kensai had a script that would allow you to add to your generals pool. Apparently, the base game limits you to the same number of generals for either the entire game, or most of it. His mod added more generals to everyone's force pool every decade. Some of the minors actually end up with no generals once the starting generals retire/die.

As to the colonial issue, the only thing I can think of is you are somehow lacking the ability to place the colonial capital building? There isn't some hidden rebel unit or something? Sorry I can't help more.

[loki100]

to your colony problem, one answer maybe as Jim says a hidden rebel unit, try and deploy a very high detect unit to the province. The other maybe that another power has a presence in one province of that colony - that happened in my game in West Africa where control fragmented between Britain, France, Italy and Prussia and no matter how good my CP/MC I couldn't go beyond 'influenced'

as to the prestige game, watch out for the USA. Not sure if this happens in the 1880 scenario, but in my game post-1900 they ended up with around +200/+250 a month by that stage.

[Q-Kee]

I will try with a cav unit in Zanzibar, although I think it very unlikely that a. there are rebels and b. there is a hidden unit of those, since I have not seen anything of them in more than a year of continuous military presence in open terrain, and I even have a fort there (at least in ACW forts add to the detection value). Actually I start to believe it is a matter of PON limits - the game limits nearly everything, so I suppose it limits the number of colonies... wait! I will go and destroy the governor's residence in an old colony and see if I suddenly can make Zanzibar a colony then. If yes, this is a definite bug (unless it is the devs' intention to limit colonies???). I experienced the same with military outposts, 2 cards are there but cannot be played with the reason "cannot be built here" once I have a certain number of them, so I have been destroying older posts for the last 2 years already to be able to make new ones. I will update.

Update: works like a charm. Delete a gov.res. and make a new formal colony. Delete a consualte and make a new protectorate. Is this bothersome!

EDIT: OK, now I really turned off the building limits. It is to bothersome to hunt around the world for consulates and stuff to destroy. About the game and possible bug, it might be that the limit is not absolute, but time related, so maybe you get 1 consulate to be built per year - this would at least make some sense (that is, in the devs' way of thinking). Once you get a lot of colonies as war bounty, it hampers you for decades.

[Q-Kee]

I have not been playing for quite some time and probably won't get the chance to either in the immediate future. There is a question I wanted to ask though - should I go to war with Russia? I am atm at war with France, without difficulty (they had rebellions and such, so no match for the biggest army in the world) occupying eastern France already and marching on Paris. I got the idea form Herr Dan to declare war on Spain next, using the land connection through France. I was under the impression that sometime soon I should go to war with Russia, and it makes sense as a preemptive strike - but should I really? Can anyone tell me about game events around 1872? I do not want to interfere and maybe prohibit the freedom of the Balkans states by making war on Russia. Also, they are now at 35% of my military power - what has happened, did their armies desert by event?

[loki100]

I noticed that Russia varies a lot in military power. I think one reason is the various wars the AI stumbles into in Central Asia means it very often is fully mobilised (this is too cheap in PoN, I now think), so you get used to seeing their mobilised score. When those wars end, they can drop radically.

The other possible reason is the lack of clarity as to what is being counted towards the military score.

As to invading Russia, why not, it has always historically ended well.

As to the Balkans, the key event is the 1878 one. This is critical as it creates Bulgaria et al, but all the event does is to give the Russian AI a CB on Turkey (which it usually has anyway for Kars and Batum). So it tends not to fire. I'd amend the event to (assuming an AI Russia), test that Russia is at peace and if so give it a forced DOW to get the thing off the ground. I've a mound of notes on the WW1 chain that I need to try and write up in a sensible way at some stage soon.

[HerrDan]

I noticed that Russia varies a lot in military power. I think one reason is the various wars the AI stumbles into in Central Asia means it very often is fully mobilised (this is too cheap in PoN, I now think), so you get used to seeing their mobilised score. When those wars end, they can drop radically.

The other possible reason is the lack of clarity as to what is being counted towards the military score.

As to invading Russia, why not, it has always historically ended well.

As to the Balkans, the key event is the 1878 one. This is critical as it creates Bulgaria et al, but all the event does is to give the Russian AI a CB on Turkey (which it usually has anyway for Kars and Batum). So it tends not to fire. I'd amend the event to (assuming an AI Russia), test that Russia is at peace and if so give it a forced DOW to get the thing off the ground. I've a mound of notes on the WW1 chain that I need to try and write up in a sensible way at some stage soon.

I laughed a lot when I read the line "As to invading Russia, why not, it has always historically ended well." hahaha...well I'm planning to do that myself in my game, I intend to beat the russians using a clausewitzian strategy (in my opinion the best way to beat the russians, or maybe the only one).

It will be interesting to see this, I'm eager to see someone invading Russia, to get some ideas from the way the russians plan their war.

[Q-Kee]

His Apostolic Majesty has decided that an alliance with the Czar is beneficial, and so it shall be. The war in France is winding down, the Imperial armies slowly gaining control of Northern and North-Western France as well - France therefore exists only behind the Loire, which for Frenchmen seems quite a natural state as one court historian commented - only that the modern, industrial age so lacks virgins and divine interventions. Italy has been granted peace again, for the price of Nice which will be the new Imperial naval base for the western Mediterranean. The war on Italy was a necessity since French armies liked to seek refuge on Italian territory where the Imperial armies could not follow. The war on Belgium is about to start, with the express goal of liberating the Grand Duchy of Luxemburg.

[Q-Kee]

It is time for an extensive overview. This is our realm in the year 1874:

[ATTACH]27890[/ATTACH]

Military situation
The war with France, Italy and Belgium has ended, leaving us in posession of Nice (nicely seperating France and Italy for the future) and the regions with partly German population, Lorraine and Luxembourg. Our next goals are Alsace, over which a new war with France will have to be fought, Schleswig and Holstein over which war has just been declared on Denmark, and the eastern parts of Switzerland - on which we do not only have the claim of uniting all German speaking population under our rule but also the family of Habsburg's historical claim.

Our armed forces are unparalleled. All our armies are now equipped with large trains of heaviest artillery which has proven its worth in field battles, not only in sieges, again and again wreaking havoc in the enemies' ranks long before the infantry clash. Our officers and troops are veterans. Our navy is now solely composed of ironclad frigates and corvettes - we have also built a few "light cruisers" which are our first real steel ships, and some torpedoe boats. The second strongest military in the world has about a third of our total combat power.

The only thing we regret is that we have practically no use for the Bavarian army, since there is nobody left to lead them. Them and the Prussian corps we use as simple garrisons, but real garrisons would come cheaper. We have an all-Prussian army in the field as a disposable force (in the negative meaning of the word) which is currently deployed in Tunis to be ready to strike into French Algeria in the next war - they did fare well in the last there already.

Colonial affairs
In the Carribean there were no further additions, but our influence in Africa has risen beyond our hopes. The Ivory Coast and the Gold Coast are now formal colonies, Togo is a protectorate and will soon become another formal colony. Those 3 are forming one big colonial area and will be further enlarged in eastern direction into Nigeria. On the eastern seaboard Zanzibar has become a formal colony as well, and we have taken over La Reunion from France. Both are production sites as well as stepping stones to the Middle East, where Dubai is a colony now and Kuweit a protectorate to be turned into a colony soon. An expedition has just arrived in Samoa which will not add much to our production but will complete the netowrk of stepping stones around the world, so if Seiner Majestät ships should ever have to sail around the world there will always be a place to rest and refuel for them, no farther apart than 2 weeks travel.

Production in the colonies secures a basic supply of sugar, coffee and tropical fuits. We are mining more gold and gems now than any other nation, although the poplace of course always demands more. Only with tobacco we still have to rely on trade, however, we keep buying the other commodities as well to meet thje demands of our domestic market.

Economy
Our domestic market and our domestic industry are booming. Factories and food production are being upgraded, which means that the demand for coal is rising by the hour. Fortunately lots of coal can be minded within our borders so coal mines are being upgraded as well to keep up with the ever rising usage. We are mostly self sufficient by now, even if international trade broke down completely we could make do.

Diplomacy
We have once again firmly established our alliance with Russia, forming a strong block against the so-called democratic regimes in the west. Relations with the USA are quite good, the rest of the world just hates our guts.

[loki100]

Austria is well on its way to being the world power

Once you've finished cleaning up Europe's borders do you intend to deal with Britain (I'm sure that S Africa would fit in well with your other gains)?

[Q-Kee]

Actually I don't, for the moment - I am pretty sure they are no threat to me either militarily, colonial or prestige wise (since I play now with extended building availability and their economy cannot possibly support industrialisation on the same scale as mine, with Austria-Hungary's and Germany's combined market strength), and neither do I have a quarrel with them nor is there much to gain for me besides some minor colonies. The best ones are dominions and cannot be claimed, and I am not interested in India really. Once my colonial empire reaches South Africa, I might re-evaluate, as you say it would fit in - and, to mollify Kensai, now that I am not only Austria but also Germany, so to say, I even have historical reason to aquire a colonial empire just as the Germans would have liked to do. It's just alternate history, one in which Germany has the head start in the race for Africa, and they sure did not lack the raw appetite for as much of it as possible.

The long term goal now is more to preserve my realm in Europe and make it prosper. Should the Czar fall in 1917, I will most likely then start the 3 fronts war against the communists, the French and the Italians, more or less just to see if I can do it (with the reason for press consumption that the red menace has to be quelled). If not, I have no reason to go to war with Russia either, unless the game bores me unbearably.

BTW, Kensai, you would not maybe give me a hand and script for me peace settlements with the Swiss and the Danes, giving me Schleswig, Holstein, Eastern and German Switzerland? Otherwise I will have to wait like 10 years for enough war score

[Kensai]

Sure I can do this.
But it is better to learn it doing it yourself, trust me, it will empower you hugely. Here is the general template:

Code: Select all

SelectFaction = $AUS
SelectRegion = $Oesterreich

Actions

SelectFaction = $AUS
  SettleWhitePeace = ALL
SelectRegion = $Holstein
  ChangeRgnOwner = DAN

EndEvent

This will stop all your wars, settle white peaces, and change ownerships of said regions (added Holstein, you need to repeat these two commands for every other region you are interested: look at the Areas file). You need to add the correct previous owner (in this case: Denmark).

Good to see you going well! And yes, we want to see another global war soon.

[Q-Kee]

OK, will do - just please tell me before where exactly I will put these lines? In the AUS events? Anywhere there, or behind the last event I think has fired recently?

[Kensai]

Subfolder Plugin_1850GC in the Events folder.

In order to run you need to add one more line after the first initial lines (before Actions), sorry I forgot:

Code: Select all

StartEvent = evt_nam_AUS_QKees_Event|1|1|NULL|NULL|$Oesterreich|NULL

Change the name of the event to what you prefer. It will run only once, do not worry, as long as you keep it with that name in the folder. So no need to delete it afterwards.

[Q-Kee]

Thanks! Will try some time this week when I get the next chance to play.

I have changed "ALL" to "DAN", hope that is correct - the Spanish were foolish enough to play hard in a crisis, so now we are fighting around Madrid which I do not want to stop prematurely.

[Jim-NC]

Changing to "DAN" will only stop the war with that faction. You will have to stop any other wars by adding another line for each faction you make peace with.

[Q-Kee]

Kensai, any suggestions concerning this global war? I will not start it soon, I am now playing the colonial game which is very slow, especially lack of supplies is - on top of colonial decisions being slow anyways - hemming me in. I just cannot put enough forces in the field for quick expansion in many directions, and I do not even want to think about how to wage a colonial war with GB should the AI decide to fight in the colonies as well. But when the time comes, should I just declare war on everybody, or would you have some elaborate suggestion mimicking historical events? I mean, just declaring war seems so... unhistorical Do you know if the Entente will form by event? But even if it does, the AI will not honor the defensive treaties as far as I have seen.

Concerning fleets, my PON does not give me the option to take over for AI, so I cannot order the other nations to build fleets. Maybe HerrDan will come up with some simple script I can use, because a World War should be fought on the seas as well.

[Kensai]

If I were you I would consider a scenario. OK, you have a very powerful Germany that has to be "restrained" somehow. Great Britain, France, Spain, Italy, USA, Russia... most of them if not all of them would plot against you, trying to bring the balance back to the world. So if the colonial game bores you I would script some alliances to portray a coalition. War is not necessary, it will be up to you.

I would have scripted defensive alliances between all major nations bar you and let it play out. If you find yourself in a crisis and push it too hard you might want to declare war but then face the consequences of potentially triggering DOWs by all others. If you are restless to fight I could prepare such a script for you with the war erupting immediately... the last arrangement in Denmark could have meant that it was the last drop in the glass... While we are at it, I could also drop a couple of lines for shipbuilding for your major rivals (GBR, FRA, USA, JAP, etc).

The Emperor threatens the entire world with his antiques.

[Q-Kee]

That would be highly appreciated! I'll continue the colonial game for a bit and see if any Balkan wars erupt.

[Kensai]

Do you have any ideas of the blocks of powers you want to see? Any alliances you want to keep/have, even with a remote nation? Given the size of your "Groß" Germany I guess only a few major nations would NOT be antagonizing it...

[Q-Kee]

I will absolutely need to keep the alliance with Brasil, since I buy my coffee and tobacco there. Also my colonies do not store enough supplies so I have to send units to Brasil ín case of supply emergencies - especially given the possibility of an overseas colonial war or war with the USA. It might not be historic since in the end they joined the other side, but this was afaik more due to reasons of trade. Me being their premier trade partner I don't see reasons for them to have any grievances. Also, I do not plan to disturb trade or commit outrages.

I have tried and failed to form an alliance with the USA even though relations are good. As ruler of the HRE I think it wise to be on good terms with them or at least encourage them to stay neutral which conforms to their usual policies anyways, but since it will be your scenario it is up to you how you wish to set it up.

[Kensai]

Copy that. I take all your wishes seriously and will create an appropriate challenge for you.

[Christophe.Barot]

As to the Balkans, the key event is the 1878 one. This is critical as it creates Bulgaria et al, but all the event does is to give the Russian AI a CB on Turkey (which it usually has anyway for Kars and Batum). So it tends not to fire. I'd amend the event to (assuming an AI Russia), test that Russia is at peace and if so give it a forced DOW to get the thing off the ground. I've a mound of notes on the WW1 chain that I need to try and write up in a sensible way at some stage soon.

Loki, I think we should make war automatic - at least for AI Russia, provided ratio is favourable

it needs also :

check a congress of berlin/San Stefano -like happens whatever causes war (historically was in 1878, but independance will of balkan people and panslavic feeling did not begin then and did not end there either (feasible by script)

ditto implement recurrent revolts, all source of potential Russo-Ottoman war (feasible by script)

and of course it needs checking :

adressing conditions of peace - a premature white peace is like no war (needs a look on code)

adressing AI Russian troop localisation management - too much spreading and/ or an excessive concentration in Petersburg won't do - we need Russia be reactive to central asia, far east, west/northwest, and balkan (southwest) + caucasus political conditions and rebalance concentration of armies accordingly - but I'm less familiar with that (military) part of coding

Russia can be very successful - but ...human-played

for victory conditions, i experienced in my two games(one Russian one german) that in present state, operating a powerful industry win the game alone - which must be rebalanced

edit : footnote : recovering from a cosly war (in terms of destruction of national military) is an important point of attention too

[HerrDan]

Loki, I think we should make war automatic - at least for AI Russia, provided ratio is favourable

it needs also :

check a congress of berlin/San Stefano -like happens whatever causes war (historically was in 1878, but independance will of balkan people and panslavic feeling did not begin then and did not end there either (feasible by script)

ditto implement recurrent revolts, all source of potential Russo-Ottoman war (feasible by script)

and of course it needs checking :

adressing conditions of peace - a premature white peace is like no war (needs a look on code)

adressing AI Russian troop localisation management - too much spreading and/ or an excessive concentration in Petersburg won't do - we need Russia be reactive to central asia, far east, west/northwest, and balkan (southwest) + caucasus political conditions and rebalance concentration of armies accordingly - but I'm less familiar with that (military) part of coding

Russia can be very successful - but ...human-played

for victory conditions, i experienced in my two games(one Russian one german) that in present state, operating a powerful industry win the game alone - which must be rebalanced

edit : footnote : recovering from a cosly war (in terms of destruction of national military) is an important point of attention too

I agree with the automatic wars as it solves many problems when talking about the AI (it seems the AI is very reluctant to go to war here, so most of the times a CB doesn't mean much), one thing I disagree soundly though is Russia not being sucessful, I've never seen AI Russia lose a single conflict in PON, in my AAR they managed crush China easily, conquering most of China with their troops reaching even Canton. One thing I think should be adressed is maybe the AI agressiveness, it's rare to see the AI declares war on a player when it's able to defeat him, but again Russia AI seem to be even too powerful I'd say, as in real life they wouldn't conquer most of China so easily as they did in my game.

[Q-Kee]

edit : footnote : recovering from a cosly war (in terms of destruction of national military) is an important point of attention too

I second that. It seems once beaten, AI nations have dificulties to rise again. The problem is, as player, I have to eliminate the AI nation's military to gain the war score I need to achieve my war goals, and take most or all cities which means killing everything inside.

And yes, some wars should be automatic, and deployment of the AI's military needs a lot of improvement.

[Kensai]

Q-Kee, what year are you now in the game? I am producing some ad hoc trigger events that will fire according to dates. They will lead to the challenging alliance blocks I have promised.

[Q-Kee]

I am pretty sure it is July, but what year? 1874 maybe, but I can only tell for sure next time I get to play which hopefully will be some time this week. Sorry, I just play along, simcitying and colonising ever so sloooowly...

[Q-Kee]

Sorry, it is 1877 already