expand or develop?

[lord of the mark]

Originally posted by chegitz guevara
So don't RP.

perhaps at some point I'll try different approaches to this game. For now, I prefer to RP. (See the Whither Spain thread here)

[Spiffor]

Originally posted by lord of the mark
Its still not clear to me how the French Wars of Religion play out in game terms.

IIRC (It's been a few weeks already, so my memory is cloudy), there are some provinces that convert, and a historical choice about massacring the heretics or not. There is quite some unrest. I don't remember if the relationship to the neighbours are affected.

[CerberusIV]

Originally posted by lord of the mark
perhaps at some point I'll try different approaches to this game. For now, I prefer to RP. (See the Whither Spain thread here)

The main thing you should do, if you haven't already is convert the pagans - spreading the word of God.

Expand slowly, send one or two colonists a year. Get existing colonies up to full provinces so you can put in tax collectors. Try and link up your possessions by colonising empty provinces in between. Grab any colonies started by catholic countries in your ToT provinces. War in the New World to keep the heretics out.

You need governors - infra 5. Concentrate your research on this and promote them in all provinces. Then you can mint some of your monthly income whilst slowly reducing inflation. Consolidate now and look to crush your European rivals towards the end of the game having taken their colonial possessions as opportunity allows.

[lord of the mark]

Originally posted by CerberusIV


The main thing you should do, if you haven't already is convert the pagans - spreading the word of God.

Expand slowly, send one or two colonists a year. Get existing colonies up to full provinces so you can put in tax collectors. Try and link up your possessions by colonising empty provinces in between. Grab any colonies started by catholic countries in your ToT provinces. War in the New World to keep the heretics out.

You need governors - infra 5. Concentrate your research on this and promote them in all provinces. Then you can mint some of your monthly income whilst slowly reducing inflation. Consolidate now and look to crush your European rivals towards the end of the game having taken their colonial possessions as opportunity allows.

this is pretty much what ive been doing. Ive been sending out a missionary every couple of years, so that i have two or three active at any one time. Two failed in a row, in Talahasee, but I finally got a success, in Tennesee. Ive now got missionaries at work in Alabama and Talahassee again.

Ive continued to expand tax collectors in South America.
about one a year.

im sending out Colonists to existing colonies or TPs. Ive got Mobile up to 9 (where I will leave it, let pop growth do the rest) and im getting several hits in Tortuga, which has natives.

I just got infra 5, and am building my first Governor in castille. Ive shifted research to trade (so i can get embargoes) and naval. When i get the trade tech I will shift all research to military, both naval and land, to catch up to England and Austria and France. I hope to have many governors by the time i catch up, so i can start minting monthly revenues.

Ive just vassalized Portugal (via events- 1580) and the Netherlands (see thread on that)

I almost went to war in Italy (pope, verona and Austria were at war with Genoa and Venice) but i wasnt ready, and in time it took to get ready, the Austrian alliance made peace.


If I drop my alliance with Portugal, will that affect their status as my vassal?

[Micha]

Originally posted by lord of the mark
If I drop my alliance with Portugal, will that affect their status as my vassal?

No. If you let it expire, it has no effects, if you fire Portugal from the pact, you´ll get a relation hit and they get a CB on you.

Is it for roleplay reasons that you are researching several things at a time? If not, I strongly advise to always put 100% of your budget into one single research, since the technologies don´t count as fractionals, so having two techs half researched is worth nothing. Also start with the techs that increase revenues (infra, trade) and then research military tech (land!!!), switching between those every now and then.

[CerberusIV]

Originally posted by lord of the mark
If I drop my alliance with Portugal, will that affect their status as my vassal?

Not if you simply let it expire. However, if you have any intention of diploannexing Portugal later on it is best to keep them in alliance as it tends to prevent them getting involved elsewhere and losing territory, etc. to other European powers.

They should be a fairly easy DA once 30 years have elapsed and you have a monarch with a reasonable diplomatic rating on the throne. It is a two edged sword however as their "empire" is usually a mess of half finished colonies and scattered TP's and you will acquire BB points. AFAIK it also finishes the ToT immediately (in the later betas). I tend to wait until later in the 1600s to do this if I feel inclined to do so at all.

[lord of the mark]

Originally posted by Micha


No. If you let it expire, it has no effects, if you fire Portugal from the pact, you´ll get a relation hit and they get a CB on you.

Is it for roleplay reasons that you are researching several things at a time? If not, I strongly advise to always put 100% of your budget into one single research, since the technologies don´t count as fractionals, so having two techs half researched is worth nothing. Also start with the techs that increase revenues (infra, trade) and then research military tech (land!!!), switching between those every now and then.

ISTR reading somewhere that if you put any one tech slider all the way over to the right, that there was declining return your investment. Not sure where I saw that.

[lord of the mark]

Originally posted by CerberusIV


Not if you simply let it expire. However, if you have any intention of diploannexing Portugal later on it is best to keep them in alliance as it tends to prevent them getting involved elsewhere and losing territory, etc. to other European powers.

They should be a fairly easy DA once 30 years have elapsed and you have a monarch with a reasonable diplomatic rating on the throne. It is a two edged sword however as their "empire" is usually a mess of half finished colonies and scattered TP's and you will acquire BB points. AFAIK it also finishes the ToT immediately (in the later betas). I tend to wait until later in the 1600s to do this if I feel inclined to do so at all.

In RL (OTL) Spain lost Portugal in the 1640's. Will I not lose Portugal by then ingame?

I have Phillip II now. My impression is that my monarchs will be declining in quality for quite some while.

[CerberusIV]

Originally posted by lord of the mark
In RL (OTL) Spain lost Portugal in the 1640's. Will I not lose Portugal by then ingame?

No, there is no event that breaks the vassalisation, you will only lose it if relations decline. As long as relations are +125 they will remain vassals, particularly if in a military alliance with you.

I have Phillip II now. My impression is that my monarchs will be declining in quality for quite some while.

Yes, they will decline but not so much it is a problem. If you get an "excellent minister" event that boosts your monarch's rating then throw some money at Portugal to improve relations and you should be able to annex them without any problem. Last time I played Spain I annexed Portugal in around 1670 without any problem this way (I did save the game so I could reload if the annexation failed but it worked anyway).

[lord of the mark]

the missionizing has been going much better. After two failures in a row, ive now had three successes, in Tennessee, Savannah, and Talahassee. Alabama is the last ex-Cherokee province thats still pagan. After that I will work on South America.

[lord of the mark]

Originally posted by BeBro
Ok it should not reveal too much when I say that money for a manufactory may be spent wiser after several events of the late 16th/early 17th century. OTOH later things may be much more expensive when you have a higher inflation, since Spain seems not be good in reducing it (mildly expressed).

is after 1628 safe for Spain to build manufactories - are there MORE bankruptcy events?

[Qilue]

There are only two state bankruptcy events. Haven't you looked through the event files?

[lord of the mark]

Originally posted by Qilue
There are only two state bankruptcy events. Haven't you looked through the event files?

Not lately, no.

[Qilue]

The ones in England's concerning the Netherlands are quite interesting.

[lord of the mark]

Originally posted by CerberusIV


No, there is no event that breaks the vassalisation, you will only lose it if relations decline. As long as relations are +125 they will remain vassals, particularly if in a military alliance with you.

It turns out there IS an event that breaks vassalization. Its "Portugal Revolts!" First comes, in 1640, "Catalonia Revolts!" (History on rails, or is it triggered by the war and war exhaustion I had - though i was fighting different folks than in OTL) I took the crush em option (didnt want a jump in aristo) and then got Portugal Revolts and Italy Revolts. Not sure if my choice in the first event was a trigger, or if there was a random element.

Portugal remained my ally, and remained at war with England. I quickly did a royal marriage with them, so relations arent too bad (about +90).