Standard Communitas_79 on Immortal Netherlands. DV on 421.
Was a tough opener. I had a jungle start and got pinched by Brazil, Polynesia, and the Inca. Fortunately Brazil wanted to play peace, which is understandable because he took off like a shot in score. Meanwhile Inca and I danced the war dance a number of times.
Ultimately the key was that water area south of Amsterdam. I got my Sea Beggars online and made a push. I was actually solidly repelled the first time, too many ranged units and cannon on the beach kept me at bay. So I peaced out and waited for frigates. Now with a proper full navy I was able to push into Incans eastern islands, moved south to liberate Panama City (giving me a nice XP boost), and then started to work on the main cities. It was a long hard fight, and Inca and I peaced out two more times due to war weariness. But eventually I made it happen. Meanwhile Brazil and I joined forces against Incan in the west. The Incans were exhausted and we started gobbling the cities. Japan also thought I was pretty cool, and just submitted to me (hehe I already let Recursive know the vassal threshold needs a little work
Happy with our partnership, Brazil and I took on polynesia as well, smashing them down to a small fraction of their former glory.
Meanwhile I was a leach on Brazil, my TRs grabbing me 18 SPT and 12 CPT (which on Immortal is pretty darn high). With Scholars in Residence, TRs, and World Science Initiative, I slowly bridged my science gap (my spies were useless this game, got killed early). Taking autocracy I prepared for the final wars.
For all of brazil's original splendor, he was no match for the power of the DUTCH WAR MACHINE!! I battered him down with thunder from the skies and bullets from on far! Then due to my impatience I then nuked his capital to speed along matters (what can I say, Furor da Orange is a ****).
With 3 vassals under my belt, the game was in the bag, but I decided to have some fun. I then demanded that the Maya submit to my rule. They did not.... so a sent a small "ambassador force". And then.... they did
I purchased some hegemony votes from a vassal to shore things up, with an easy cruise to DV.
Notes:
1) I have been playing Enhanced Naval Warfare modmod recently. While I think the changes should mostly remain as a modmod (they are cool changes but I don't think they are needed for the core mod), I do want to make a case for their guided missile changes. There are two missiles now:
Rocket Missile :
Rocketry 120
8 400
Oil -1 . Bonus Vs City (50)
Guided Missile :
Advanced Ballistics 180
12 1200
Oil -1 . Bonus Vs City (50)
And for the first time I have really been using missiles to good effect. These missiles are actually cheap and strong enough to be worth building. So I used the new -20% stock exchange hurry and started mass buying of missiles, while using my hammers for forces I wanted good promotions with.
While its not efficient play in long wars, it is really nice to be able to transform a big gold income into a strong military hammer (and its fun!).
This change is something I think worthy of being considered for main mod inclusion.
2) The AI is skittish about building AA guns right now, I'm guessing due to their weaker state. So the AI is having trouble against large air forces, its neither building the planes nor the AA guns necessary....and so is getting clobbered by air assaults. So that's a tactical issue that needs to be addressed.
3) I normally play the Netherlands peacefully, but I tell you what they are solid warmongers. The Sea Begger is amazing, imperalism gives them a major boost to all of the monopolies they can get, and autocracy's military industry complex really makes the Polder a solid science provider. I've been having a lot of fun with Furor da Orange!
4) I built more towns than I normally do, and really didn't notice the new GM scaling.
