Last post on my Victoria game, I swear. I'll make it more forgivable by posting more about Vicky 2 afterward.
I restarted the Texas game because no matter what I did, the US would declare war and completely mop the floor with me. Was too aggressive against Mexico, was seen as a potential threat. I took a different avenue this time. Instead of aggressively expanding into Mexico, I waited until the Texas Panhandle was conceded to Texas by the Cherokee, before declaring war and taking Albuquerque, Mexico's holdings in New Mexico. Mexico wouldn't concede them, so I pushed them harder, occupied more territory, and allied with the US.
Faced with a war against the US, Mexico conceded New Mexico and Arizona. But somehow, the Mexican Army managed against all odds to keep the US army from succeeding at all at their invasion. Peace is declared with the status quo in tact between The US and Mexico. Mexico holding all of modern Mexico, along with western Nevada and California. Texas, however, thanks to the Rhetoric of President Lamar's Destiny Party, lays claim to all of the south west.
Fast forward to the turn of the century, 1890's. Texas is ranked ninth in the world in terms of industrial capacity, military might, and prestige. Texas is facing a shortage however. Tropical hardwoods are not being produced fast enough globally to satisfy the demands of Texas' factories. Texas invades Venezuela, ostensibly to secure a portion of the northern Amazon Jungle, a rich source of such wood. Venezuela puts up a spirited defense, and quickly brings light to Texas' outdated navy, but soon collapses as more and more Texan soldiers make landfall. Venezuela offers nearly half of the nation in exchange for peace, and Texas accepts.
Twenty years later, the nation is rolling in money, and the population expands by roughly a thousand people every day due to immigration to the rich gold and silver mines in New Mexico. The first Tank factory in the world is built in New Mexico. Soon, an army of 100,000 men and 20,000 tanks is fielded in Arizona. Texas launches a gambit, the Californian Blitz. The massive army pours over the border, and secures the entire state in a matter of days. Mexico, stunned by the military might demonstrated, folds rapidly, unwilling to see such weapons brought south. They sign away all of their territory north of San Diego, as well as Baja California, and Buena Vista, despite the two massive gold mines in the areas signed away.
Texas eventually grows to have a population of over 90,000,000, and had higher industrial capacity than the United States, and secured a position for itself as a Great Power, surpassing the might and influence of Austria.
All this has got me thinking of Doing an LP. Perhaps, as Tibet.
On to Victoria 2.
New comments from the developers have indicated that my predictions were correct, they are drawing a lot of inspiration from their more recent games. In particular, the Heir to the Throne expansion for EU3. In Victoria, war was a little abstract. The benefits and costs of going to war were always the same, but in Victoria 2, they are implementing a system whereby the reasons you go to war are clearly defined and announced in all declarations of war. This means you no longer have to sit and wonder why the AI declared war on you, and will make the AI offer things consistent with your reasons for going to war in exchange for peace.
In a way, it's sort of reversing the old way. Instead of declaring war and then later defining what it will take to reestablish peace, you define your terms for peace at the same time you declare war, and the AI accepts the terms when it feels defeated enough.