Turn Zero: 1750
NPCs created and listed below, shown in the vaguely blueish color across the world. They're described first with a one-word summation of their foreign outlook, then their trait.
Minor NPCs(One Proivince):
-Mongolia(Isolationist, Industrial)
-Venezuela(Diplomatic, Covert)
-South Africa(Influential, Maritime)
Major NPCs(2 Provinces):
-Dixie(Mercantile, Industrial)
-Poland-Lithuania(Aggressive, Imperial)
Everyone has an income of 3IP this turn, except the NPCs who have less. Orders due by Sunday.
LH's Hints: To claim provinces, you must build troops and attack. Europe's pretty crowded so you people might want to work out what you're claiming ahead of time to avoid mistakes and accidental engagements. I have a system in place, but it can get ugly if more than one nation claims the same province without specifying how they'll deal with their competitors.
Investing in industry may seem like a waste compared to claiming new provinces, but there won't always be new territory you can easily claim. Once you've got a core of land-colonizers, it might be wise to develop the homeland's industrial base.
Navies similarly might be seen as a waste if you're a cloistered European power with lots of potentially angry neighbors, but just think about the success of Britain, historically. If you can win the colonization race and get overseas industry added to yours in the homeland, while everyone else is busy trying to unite Europe . . . .
Build Spies. They can protect you from the other side's agents, as well as inciting rebellions in other factions. Make sure to send a good number of spies when you incite rebels, because the rebellion is only as strong as the number of spies who triggered it.
Come the first REAL update, random events will be added. "Good" events are Industrial Boom(+1 Industry for this turn only), Recruitment Drive(+1 Irregular or Privateer), Exceptional Skill(+1 Spy, General or Admiral), Trade Boom(One Trade Route provides +1IP to both sides) and an NPC requesting Protectorate status from you.
"Bad" events are Industrial Accident(-1 Industry for this turn only), Desertion(-1 Irregular or Privateer), Reaper's Hand(-1 Spy, General or Admiral), Jolly Roger(1 Trade Route shut down for a turn, on both sides) or an NPC declaring hostility towards you, which is as close as NPCs can come to actively declaring war on someone they don't have a land border with. If you border an NPC, it's possible, but ridiculously unlikely that they MIGHT DOW you, but an overseas one simply isn't allowed to.
Just something to keep in mind. There will also be random rebellions, but they're rare and unusual. A rebellion is
probably foreign-influenced, but unless it has Regulars/Generals, you'll never know for sure.
-L
