Things start off with a good sign - that's the first load of silver to reach Europe.
Sold for 420 pesos. Awwwww'right.
The total sales push me over 3000 pesos, enough that I could buy a Galleon. Not necessary at this point, so instead I hire a Master Blacksmith for Boatmurdered.
Remember when I said I didn't have a Tobacco planter? I do now!
Somehow, I just spotted a Dutch Galleon, half loaded with cargo. Galleons have more firepower than the cutters Privateers use, but all that cargo weighs them down. May have to increase the piracy budget.
On other foreign affairs, I've found the legendary Incas, but still no sign of the English they're killing.
And the French either have loads of Dragoons, or keep parading them around the same spot.
The Blacksmith finally arrives in Boatmurdered, but I can't make tools yet. First I need to hack down some trees for farmland, then steal the mining land from the Apaches (again, apparently). And without a skilled miner, the output will be limited, so for now he's helping summon Hernan Cortes.
In true dwarven fashion, inefficiency is rampant from poor labor allocation and hauling delays.
This message is a little bugged on when it appears, but basically, I've found the Northwest Passage. Ships can sail off west instead of east, and arrive in Europe a bit slower (without Magellan anyway). Useful if you somehow settle all the way over there.
I dropped several dozen each of silver, cigars, rum, and a whole 100 load of coats on Seville, knocking all the markets down but netting me thousands. I could buy a Frigate, but I hardly need one now. I think I'll get another Privateer, some artillery and hire a miner, because I hate the RNG.
Two things to mention there. One, I need another Privateer because the first was damaged. When a ship loses a fight, it might just get shot up, but it will have to go all the way back to Europe for repairs. Building a drydock lets you repair ships yourself, but I need tools first.
Second, artillery. Cannons have loads of combat power when attacking or defending settlements, but are useless when caught in the open. I can build them myself, but they're now cheaper than equipping another Dragoon.
I've gone ahead and stolen that Apache land, since I managed to somehow piss them off again anyway. I forgot to grab a screen of me telling them to fuck off their sacred ground, but their price for it jumped from 870 to 1200.
Whilst conducting our bi-decade meeting, the English demand money or they'll continue to claim they're at war with me. I refuse of course, and my Scout manages to evade that Dragoon.
Here's a nice view of New Various Nonsense and the surrounding lands. As should be obvious, the three towns all have too damn many people. I'm sending some people and firepower down to a narrow isthmus with a fishery and some cotton growing land, to get rid of excess specialists.
The new town, Re: - . The name is open to change. As you can see, it's strategically situated to form a canal between two major seas, brackets the Apaches in, and forces the French through a bottleneck. I already destroyed a Dragoon. Didn't plan too far ahead though, and food is razor thin.
Another load of goods was dumped in Europe, and I was left with a sticky decision - buy a boat, buy supplies, hire a Master Distiller (make more rum), or shell out the big bucks to hire a Master Gunsmith. I'm not hurting for cash and eager to start a war, so I hired the Gunsmith and bought some horses.
At last, piracy that actually nets some goods! It's from the Dutch, my on-again-off-again foes who I'm currently at peace with, but who cares. It was just some furs and ore, but at least it'll slow them down for now.
Hoo-fucking-ray, another assload of coats and smidgen of ore. At least it'll deny the French some cash - I don't see how they can be fielding all these Dragoons domestically. Though that soldier I captured was actually a Cotton Planter; I guess they're desperate, if the AI can be so.
That hardcore metal motherfucker is the great Hernan Cortes, arriving at last. I've got a new load of horses, a captured French soldier, and the first guns coming from Boatmurdered. The Apaches are on the warpath now, but as soon as the last disparate pieces come together, the Apaches' days are numbered.
My choices this time are:
Jan de Witt - Hardy har har.
Hernando de Soto - Though Spanish, his bonuses all relate to Lost City Rumors, and there's not many left now.
Francis Drake - Makes Privateers more badass. Privateers will be most useful very soon, and remain so for a while.
Pocahontas - To reiterate, hardy har har.
Jean de Brebeuf - Also useless, if not as much so.
Yeah, you know who I'm picking. Drink up me hearties.
True to form, the French talk a big game, but after I spent twenty years mopping the floor with every unit they sent at me, they're suing for peace. May as well accept, I can still pillage them.
I just had to take a picture of this.
Later I break my treaty with the French, because they keep sending Dragoons up to my area.
An inside look at New Amsterdam. That's a whole lot of Soldiers. And horses.
And I thought they were mad before. After killing a bunch of raiders, I was about to steal more Apache land and I got this. I really need more guns.
That's the other Dutch town, New Holland, built on the Spanish labor model apparently.
Another five Dutchmen are hiding somewhere. I've got three Privateers on the hunt now.
Current foreign affairs status. I'm clearly wining, but it's a tenuous situation. The computer usually keeps about a third of it's population under arms, while I have 4 Dragoons and a cannon guarding 30 settled people and some Pioneers.
Kick ass. That's two Merchantmen I've genuinely sunk; the other was French.
It always says this for some reason. I find it suspect, because the Apache chief greets me with a shield and warpaint. Anyway, I've been training up my new Dragoons using Apache braves for target practice.
You think they'd learn to give up eventually. If anybody wants to write a period account of the constant
ElvenApache sieges of Boatmurdered, you have my encouragement.
The English showed up, wanting 1800 to not continue not being attacked by them. Dolts.
What The F- Alright dammit, that's it.
Buying horses, artillery, and guns because I'm tired of waiting. That's a Master Distiller on the docks, paying his own passage to see the sugar plants of the Americas. If you study the numbers, you'll see I've nearly obliterated a couple markets. I also bought another Merchantman, and hired a Pioneer because it saved me money on tools.
Eventually, it all gets back home. I kill some more Apaches, demote and capture an English soldier (they always lose their experience), and I've now got two artillery pieces, and about four Dragoons ready to move. Then the program froze, so I'm calling it a Turn and playing FFVI (damn you chaoticjosh).