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[Seamas]

Let's do this again! 
This time I promise I'll get to the finish, sooner or later.
Previous LP is here with a short introduction to the game in the OP: 

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http://www.bay12forums.com/smf/index.php?topic=111299.msg3362525#msg3362525

Let´s play Imperialism

Let´s forge a glorious industrializing nation in a magnificently randomly-generated world!  Who´s with me?
Feel free to join in with an RP spirit, a scrutinizing eye, a heckling attitude, or whatever it is you enjoy about contributing to an LP.
I´m happy to write anyone into our cultural lore as whatever they wish to be - be a merchantman captain, prime arch-chancellor of the exchequery, marshal of our armed forces, a people´s engineer, whatever.  Let´s make this rich and complicated.  Let´s bicker while the enemy pounds at our gates.

This time we'll be running the ambitious young nation-state of Armok, a lonely powder-blue nation surrounded by murderous, craven major powers of such repulsive colors as red, yellow, and orange.  Their customs are unfamiliar, their cooking is a horror, and their names are unpronounceable.  Let's make sure we conquer them before they conquer us.  The year is 1815.  Our tyrannical monarch of a predecessor is not yet cold in his grave, beheaded by a mob of upstart nationalists ready to cast off the shackles of conservative tradition to charge into the Industrial revolution.  Let us free ourselves from medieval ignorance and harness the power of steam and caffeine, so that we may better vanquish our enemies and ensure our legacy!  Our mountainous, bucolic land is an isle with expansive resources of timber, minerals, food and fiber upon which we must rely to project our power across the globe.
Rally around our banner, future countrymen!  Parliament ASSEMBLE!

Also, this time we're playing on Hard, so strap in for some punishment from this game's cruel mob AI.

First - the world as it appears on the atlas in 1815.  We're the blue one, western hemisphere.

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The political situation on our isle.  The small greyish countries are minor powers (likely fodder for our early conquests)

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A map of our lovely pastoral land.  Armok, land of my taciturn forebears.  In short time it will become a powerhouse of industrial infrastructure and soot will rain down from the persistent smog and blanket the green forests in black ash.  The bleating of the sheep will be drowned out beneath the cacaphony of engineering dynamite and grinding steel machinery.  Ahhh, progress.

Of note:  We're lucky to have some abundant fiber supplies near to the home city, cotton fields and those sheep grazing on the hillsides around Armok City.  As for the other essential early-game resources, lumber will have to be sourced immediately from the expansive scrub forests in our northwestern province of Kavya.  I propose we build a port forthwith to ship that timber in which is by far the fastest solution.  Meanwhile, the prospector is being dispatched as I write this to find precious minerals.  We'll be rolling the dice to see what we find, hopefully though there'll be some iron and coal in the mountains near the capitol to jump start our steel industry.

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Here are our trade, transport and industry screens, from which the levers of control are manipulated to steer our country's economic and military developments.

For the unfamiliar, the resources are from top to bottom: clothing, furniture, tools, armaments, canned food, textiles, lumber, paper, steel, cotton, wool, timber, coal, iron ore, and horses.
Clothing and furniture sound petty, but they are the consumer goods that allow us to raise laborers from the masses.  Tools are a great export for building relations with foreign countries and building up reserves of cash.  Canned food is a fallback for our people when fresh foods are not available. 
Paper is the resource that allows us to educate our menial laborers and turn them into skilled workers.  Skilled workers lend much more power to the workforce than unskilled.
Coal and iron ore together give us steel, but that's not exactly news around here.

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Here's the paper - according to this I have some new ministers to appoint.  Anyone interested?

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This is my fine pixelated mahogany desk, where I sip my Scotch and spin my atlas.

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Here's the to-do list:

• Establish a deepwater port in the northwest to open up our timber resources
• Find mineral deposits as quick as possible and develop them for mining
• Appoint ministers, write a national anthem, choose a national bird, name our mountains and forests, toast to our success, execute political enemies, refill the whale-oil lamps, you know, all that stuff.

[Khan Boyzitbig]

ptw, for now.

[pisskop]

heh, looks like a fun game.

[Khan Boyzitbig]

I would like to be the minister of the Interior. And as such wholeheartedly approve of the search for tasty raw materials to exploit.

[Seamas]

1821
Armok the Defenseless and Dysfunctional


Okay, so let me begin by reminding everyone that the first five years are always pretty dysfunctional.  There's a lot to do, you know: construct your infrastructure, set up diplomatic relations, prospect for minerals, try to afford to hire professionals (miners, engineers, etc) while staying solvent.  Frequently a resource or labor bottleneck holds up critical processes and make your economy feel like a bumbling joke.

 Armok has not exactly been “quick out of the gate” since 1815.  However by statistics we are pretty much right in the middle of the international rankings, thoroughly average, nothing to be embarrassed about just yet.  In particular our industry ranking isn't bad:

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A recap of the past five years:

I considered hiring a second engineer corps right off the bat to accelerate the development of our resources.  That's a tricky move early on, because it's hard to keep them funded when your cash flow is so limited in the early years, and soon you've got an engineer who you can't keep busy.  So I decided not to.

I do have a soft spot for maritime trade and sailing ships in general, so I doubled the size of our miniscule merchant marine by constructing new trade ships.  They were cheap, and I figured we'd need them soon enough.

The first problem we've encountered as a nation is a shortage of food supplies for the capital.  The internal transport network can only move so much right now, and in order to keep everyone from starving I have had to import canned food from abroad while we develop everything. 

Also we've established trade consulates with four minor nations around the globe, and set them up with 10% subsidies on our goods to curry favor.  (This part I find really hard to do well; I just try to imitate the AI's actions on this and hope for the best.)  Our neighboring minor nation just south of us I chose to overlook; I expect we'll probably invade them at the first opportunity anyway and save on the cost of diplomatic overtures.

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The first priority for us, after not starving, was to develop our scrub forests in the Northwest as fast as possible.  I built one, then a second deepwater port which rapidly increased our timber supplies to 8 per season – not bad for this early in the game.  This timber is the cornerstone of our economy until we can get more established.

By 1819 our most critical problem became a chronic labor shortage.  I've been raising more population and training them into the middle class to keep ahead of the problem.  There's just so much that needs to be done it's overwhelming, and if we could only get them to work seven days a week!  A day of rest?  That's a slippery slope, I say.  Soon they'll be demanding whole weekends!

Now it's the winter of 1821.  Hunger is a looming threat in our capital city – raising population on one hand to address labor shortages leads to an increasing demand for food supplies, and it's all I can do to build enough railcars to stay one step ahead of the problem while still bringing in industrial resources.

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Some things we've been buying and selling:

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Currently we have a few thousand in cash on hand.

Our military is a joke, of course.  I haven't been able to spare a sou on them, it's just inconceivable right now with resources being so tight.

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Where's the gold?  And the minerals? demanded our pragmatic and cogent minister of the Interior, Khan Boyzitbig, thumping his fist on the conference table.  That we might thoroughly explore our mountains in search of precious ores, five years of prospecting have uncovered a handful of coal mines in the country and one single iron deposit.  Sheesh.  Also one gold deposit near the capital, but that's a ways off before we can tap it.  The iron and coal are most concentrated in the extensive mountains of our north country.  I was able to situate a deepwater port in the Sumo province, near Korlokhovi town, which is now providing our sole source of iron and shall be the bedrock of our steel industry... some day. 

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A view of the south country, the capitol region:

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Priorities for the next five years:

• Secure a food supply for the capitol.
• Develop rail infrastructure across the nation to access available resources and integrate our towns.
• Establish embassies abroad.
• Begin to develop an army capable of seizing the nation neighboring our southern border (aiming for an 1825 campaign)

Oh, and the cotton gin's been invented.  Marvelous what they're doing with bits of wood and nails these days.

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[EuchreJack]

I'll captain the 1st Regulars.  We'll just train to infinity!

[Akura]

By the way, if you hold control while placing a subsidy on a minor nation w/trade consulate, it will automatically set the lowest subsidy that's guaranteed to give you favored trading status with that nation. I don't know if it takes other nations' attempts with subsidies to gain favored status into account, but it almost always succeeds for me.

I also see you're buying steel directly. That's... generally bad, as the base cost(at the start of the game) of steel is $300 while the raw materials are $200 total. Usually, you ought to buy the raw materials. That's what minor nations are for. I do see you have some pretty good coal sources in one of those screenshots, so you may (eventually) be self-sufficient and only need to import iron ore. Plus, steel is one of the most critical resources throughout the game - securing your own supply is pretty important.

As for your goal of improving food income, definitely need to improve grain supplies, then fruit as well. Nothing worse than an angry mob of starving peasants(seriously, it's not enough they have food, they have to have the food thay want. Bah!) Looking at your big map in the first post, the spot east of Glamovsk/NW of Yesunkimu(?) looks ideal for food production. Put a depot on the SE fruit tile, and you'd get three fruit tiles, two grain, and one dense lumber, all of which can eventually be upgraded. A depot directly NW of Glamovsk will also net you 3 tiles of dense trees, two beef, and one grain.

I'd say ignore the Cotton Gin tech for now, you don't have the transport capacity or workforce to utilize more cotton yet.

[Seamas]

By the way, if you hold control while placing a subsidy on a minor nation w/trade consulate, it will automatically set the lowest subsidy that's guaranteed to give you favored trading status with that nation. I don't know if it takes other nations' attempts with subsidies to gain favored status into account, but it almost always succeeds for me.

I also see you're buying steel directly. That's... generally bad, as the base cost(at the start of the game) of steel is $300 while the raw materials are $200 total. Usually, you ought to buy the raw materials. That's what minor nations are for. I do see you have some pretty good coal sources in one of those screenshots, so you may (eventually) be self-sufficient and only need to import iron ore. Plus, steel is one of the most critical resources throughout the game - securing your own supply is pretty important.

As for your goal of improving food income, definitely need to improve grain supplies, then fruit as well. Nothing worse than an angry mob of starving peasants(seriously, it's not enough they have food, they have to have the food thay want. Bah!) Looking at your big map in the first post, the spot east of Glamovsk/NW of Yesunkimu(?) looks ideal for food production. Put a depot on the SE fruit tile, and you'd get three fruit tiles, two grain, and one dense lumber, all of which can eventually be upgraded. A depot directly NW of Glamovsk will also net you 3 tiles of dense trees, two beef, and one grain.

I'd say ignore the Cotton Gin tech for now, you don't have the transport capacity or workforce to utilize more cotton yet.

Thanks for the tip about the CTRL button trick for setting trade subsidies.  That's news to me.  I also just found out about using the CTRL button+clicking the globe to create a random map based on a seed word of your choice, which is pretty fun.

You're absolutely right of course about trading for steel; the reason at the time was that we desperately needed steel to expand our interior transport capacity, and without a working iron ore mine, had no domestic source.  Trading abroad for iron ore was not supplying quite enough.  Additionally I'm angling to trade as much as possible with everyone in order to start developing some positive political relationships.  Good suggestion for a depot outside of Glamovsk... must put that on the to-do list.

Stand by for an update coming tomorrow!

[Karlito]

I hereby appoint myself First Lord of the Navy. Armokia Rules the Wa- eh, what's that? We don't have any ships? A frigate costs HOW MUCH??

Well, perhaps our naval build-up can be delayed until after the conquest of As Sha'ashoh and its nice hardwood forests.

[EuchreJack]

I hereby appoint myself First Lord of the Navy. Armokia Rules the Wa- eh, what's that? We don't have any ships? A frigate costs HOW MUCH??

Well, perhaps our naval build-up can be delayed until after the conquest of As Sha'ashoh and its nice hardwood forests.

Of course we have ships.  What else are we using to import/export goods?

[pisskop]

Ahh, the privateers are all disguised as simple cargo freighters, you say?

[Karlito]

Of course we have ships.  What else are we using to import/export goods?

While I don't mean to disparage the fine sailors of our merchant marine, without warships of our own to protect them, they will be at the mercy of any number of pirates or marauders.

[Seamas]

1830
Under the Banner of Mediocrity


In 1821 construction of a depot east of Glamovsk was begun to secure food supplies for the capitol.  The area is a natural breadbasket. 

Just north of that depot by a couple tiles, at the foot of those mountains, I placed another depot to access iron ore, gold and additional timber.  In this picture you'll see all the mineral deposits of the north, all tiles having been prospected at this time.  We have been fairly well-endowed by Providence.

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I established an embassy in Makajas for a staggering $5k in cash.  Its a huge expense, but getting in on the diplomatic game takes a price.  In 1822 I extended a non-aggression pact to butter up to them even more.  That country has a huge mountain range which is surely full of gold and jewels, and I want it to be in our pocket.

Akura's tip about setting trade subsidies by CTRL+clicking was a revelation.  Gracious trade subsidies worked like a charm. The implications have been that our high subsidies (sometimes up to 75%), while earning us favored trading status with four minor nations, has made it really hard to make any substantial cash on our exports.  I've had a lot of trouble with the moneylenders these past few years, often being beyond our credit limit, paying astronomical loan-shark interest (up to 24%!) at times.  Frequent cash shortages meant I couldn't finish the last segment of our new rail line from Armok City to the farm country of our new depots for some time.

In 1823 I accepted an alliance offer from Woudmary (the yellow nation).  In 1824 our first clipper ship was launched, which I am excited about because I'm a total pushover for big beautiful sailing ships.  Our merchant marine is currently about adequate for our volume of trade. 

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That same year we actually defaulted on our loans (oops) and had to take a bank-auction of our trade goods.  We've been on the banker's bad side ever since.

in 1825 the first Council of Governors convened.

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In 1827 a war was started between Iprikoy (purple nation) and Makajas, our friendly neighbor and diplomatic point of interest.  With our non-aggression pact, we were invited to take up their cause and defend them, and I almost went for it.  However, that would have got us into a war with at least three other major nations that we are utterly unprepared to fight; if this game has anything like a game-killing flaw, it's the way that other nations gang up on you without the slightest provocation and crush you early on.

Karlito has been installed as our First Lord of the Navy.  His domain is small yet, but consists of a single ship of the line that I named on impulse.  Would the Lord kindly supply a list of names for newly launched ships?

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A naval build-up is actually a great move for us because a) it doesn't require cash (which we are chronically short of), only war material and b) if this game has taught me anything, naval supremacy can save your ass from invasion and gives you a jugular neck-pinch to apply to foreign powers who mess with you (by blockading their capitol).  As much as I long to storm As' Shashoh and seize their bountiful forests, our army is still about as dangerous as a troop of boy scouts with slingshots.  (Although I understand they are training diligently...)

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In the mid 1820's we could at least be proud of being average-plus in most categories.  Our industry was ranked 3rd for some time.  Unfortunately, we now seem to be slipping into the average-average bracket in all categories, despite the most rapid expansion of our economy that I can manage.  Other nations are just catching up to us faster than we can outgrow them right now.  Every effort has been made to expand our economy but... it seems we cant quite get it together fast enough.

An overview of our infrastructural development in the center of Armok.  Note the new rail line running east, through those provincial towns.  Soon I'll have depots established out there, in the hopes of getting those towns to develop into production centers.

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Since 1825 I've been trying a new angle with industry: expanding the textile mills, I seek to buy as much raw fiber abroad as we can get our hands on.  It turns out that the nations we've been courting export fiber predominantly, and we can have as much as we can afford to ship.  It also grows our trade relations.  Timber is virtually impossible for us to buy on the international market, we're last in line on all the bids, and so all of our timber will have to be produced domestically for the foreseeable future (or until we invade As Sha'ashoh).  We should have all the iron and coal we need on our own shores once it's developed.

Here's some vitals - transport ledger, diplomatic maps.

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Of course we have ships.  What else are we using to import/export goods?

While I don't mean to disparage the fine sailors of our merchant marine, without warships of our own to protect them, they will be at the mercy of any number of pirates or marauders.

This is a good point.  A fleet of raider ships would be a nice thing to have to protect our merchant marine.  Typically I just go for Ships of the Line to exclusion and it works well enough, but perhaps the Lord of the Navy has an opinion.

A proposed five-year plan:

• Court minor nations, obtain the Developer unit, start making real money on overseas profits.  Anybody have tips on how to do this quickly?
• Develop the navy.
• Also, I really want to invade As Sha'ashoh before somebody else comes along and colonizes them.  Think the regulars can handle it? 

[EuchreJack]

Its been a while since I've played this game, but I recall that invading a minor country early on is kinda like invading Vietnam or Afghanistan.  It seems simple enough, but then your forces aren't quite strong enough to take the capital, then you end up at war until your growth is so weak that the other majors crush you.

[Karlito]

Those forces will be able to take the outlying villages, but you'll need more men to take the capital yes. Even 2 or 3 more skirmishers will do it. There's a trick to it, which is to split your forces, rushing a handful of soldiers forward, right up to the wall, so they can shoot the opposing cannon. Everyone else stays out of artillery range. Once your vanguard makes their cannon retreat, the enemy will charge forward out of their fortifications into range of your own cannon, where they can be mopped up by your reserves (ideally your skirmishers retreat after completing their mission).

I don't think there's much cost to staying at war for a prolonged period, so if seizing those noncapital territories gives needed resources, I say go for it.


The Admirality will of course produce that list of ship names forthwith.