Welcome to my attempt to write an AAR for Victoria II (V2) with the A House Divided (AHD) addon. While I have played V2 a fair amount, I have just purchased and loaded AHD, therefore, you'll be following me through my first game with this addon. Hopefully it is enjoyable for all of us.
Before I start wth the actual story, I thought I would start with the layout of the land, so to speak.
First, for those of you who have played V2, but not AHD, there are a number of changes. China is no longer a large single country. It is a smaller country, with a number of Substates. These substates are indepentant countries, but are owned by China. They cannot be given their freedom. These Substates are Guangxi, Manchuria, Mongolia, Qinghai, Xinjiang, Yunnan. Per the manual, once China is Westerized, these substates should be annexed. Also, China has two satillites, Korea and Tibet.
Second, unlike vanilla V2, you do not need to research a number of techs and have 40 prestige points to Westerize. In fact, as an uncivilized country, you cannot research techs. Instead, you have a set of Political reforms that will allow you to build up Civilization points. This may actually make it easier to westerize, but we will see. However, there is a downside to these reforms, as your population may not react well to these changes. Once you westerize, you will receive some techs, based on the reforms you implemented. If your in a Sphere of Influence of a Great Power, you will get some of there techs.
Why China. A couple of reasons, first, I rememeber seeing a chart one time showing that in the early 1800's, China had the highest GDP of any country. Second, after watching Niall Fergusons Civilization show, I would like to see what would happen if China had westerized and not turned in on itself. I've played China a couple of times in V2 vanilla, so I'm excited to see how it plays with AHD.
My name is Yinli. Five months ago I was seventh in line to the Imperial Throne of China. My brother, Daoguang, was Emperor. Between myself and the throne were our two brothers, Mianxing and Xi, Daoguang's three children, and Mianxings two children. I never had any desire to sit on the throne. In fact, I had left China five years earlier to go to school in the United States, which I did in Boston. This was not a popular decision with my brothers, however, they finally decided this was something I wasn't going to give up on.
While in Boston, I studied Business and dabbled in some science, engineering, political science, and history. I also began to date an American girl named Rosemary Daley. Her parents were less than thrilled that their youngest daughter, was dating a Chinaman. In fact, it was very obvious when I arrived in Boston, and most of the other parts of the US that I had traveled to, that no one had seen someone from China. However, upon learning that I was so close to the throne, most couldn't wait to get to know me better.
Over the last couple of years though, Rose's father became a good friend. I think there are a few reasons for this, in no particular order. One, the more he tried to separate Rose and I, the more determined she was to see me. Second, once he allowed his prejudices to not get in the way, he finally got to know the person in front of him. And finally, neither of this other two children, both daughters, had married men that were the least bit interested in taking over the family business.
Roses father owned a number of small businesses, and two rather larger ones. He was both a shipbuilder and a steel mill owner. It was after he got to know me and found out how much I was truly interested in how his businesses worked, that we really started to get along well.
Seven months ago, I completed my schooling, and a few weeks later, Rose and I were married. I had decided to stay in the United States and help run my father-in-laws businesses. In fact, we were making plans to start a railroad.
None of my brothers were especially happy with this decision of mine. Infact, my brother Daoguang, ordered me home. It was with a heavy heart that I told him that I could not do that. While I was away at school, he had always seemed very interested in what I was learning, both in and out of school. Even though he never came straight out and said, I believe he wanted me to come back to China, and start teaching what I had learned.
However, five months ago, while hosting a diner with my wife's family, we were interrupted with a loud knock at the door. When I answered the door, was greeted by my brothers head of Board of Rites, Minister Qui. Along with him were members of each of the other five boards and fifty-one members of the Imperial Guard. To say I was shocked into speechlessness was an understatement. The only reason I gained my voice as quickly as I did, was that I realized that they were bowing, and were awaiting my command to return from the bow. I quickly invited the Board members into my home. Not invited, but whom invited themselves, were three members of the Imperial Guard. I was truly scared that my brother had not seen any humor in my refusal to return home, and had sent this group to drag me back. However, nothing in my wildest dreams could prepare me for what I was told.
Our uncle, Yonglin, had decided he could do a better job as Emperor, and had assassinated all three of my brothers and their children. He had thought with me being out of the country, and not planning on returning, that by taking out the rest of the Imperial family, he would inherit the throne with not opposition. However, he had initially missed my nephew, the crown prince. By the time he had been tracked down, the Imperial Guard had was rallying to the defense. There were not quick enough though to save my nephew. It seems that a significant number of the Imperial Guard had forsaken their personnel oaths to my brother, and assisted my uncle in killing my family.
Minister Qui, who headed up what I had dubbed the Retrieval Group, had wanted to start our return home within a few days. I, however, wasn't even sure I wanted to return. I tried to get out of Qui why none of the other members of the family, while further down the line, could take the throne, and allow me to abstain. Qui argued that it would appear that they had usurped be from the throne, and besides, none of the others were near as ready or capable as he, and the other Ministers, believed me to be.
Rose said she would abide by whatever I decided. This was no help at all at deciding what to do. My mind new I had to return and take the throne, but my heart didn't want to give up what I had started to build for a life here in Boston. After eight long days of trying to decide what to do, it was my father-in-law who came to me and convinced me to return to China. He told me he had no desire to see either Rose or I leave, but he believed it was God's plan for me to not only to return to China and become Emperor, but to lead China from a country that was quickly falling behind the leading nations of the world, but to make it one of the beacons of all that is good in the world.
Three days later, Rose, myself, and the Retrieval Group boarded one of my father-in-laws newest clippers, and set sail for Vera Cruz, Mexico. From there, we would make our way over land to the port of Acapulco, Mexico, where we could find another ship to take us to China.
Yesterday, at the age of 22, I was crowned Emperor of China. Today, I start the incredible task of changing China's course from turing inward on itself and trying to ignore the world, to being a leader in that same world. Today is January 1st, 1836.
Wow! This could make for an interesting Alt-History story.
1 Jan 1837
The first year of my reign has been very quiet. We were able to balance the budget, which meant we are not able to put as much into education development as I would like. Our research is much too slow. In order to conduct any of the reforms that I wish, it will take at least a decade and a half. We are training and recruiting as many clergy as we can to help with providing better education and to raise the literacy, but this will take years.
There were two bright spots this first year. A gold rush in Caozhou, which my ministers think will last another couple of years. This will have some limited help to the treasury.
The other, is the announcement that Rose is pregnant with an heir to the throne. This is good on both a personal level and as the Emperor. My child is due sometime this summer. The only thing that has me worried, is that Minister Qui is hearing rumbles of that discontent among the more conservative members of the nobility not being happy that I have chosen to not only maintain my marriage to Rose, but to not take another wife. This will have to be watched very carefully.
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thanks for doing this
great read so far
brilliant - thanks for this
I am looking forward to following this, keep up the great work!
Thanks guys. This is proving to be quite a bit different than vanilla V2. Normally by not, 1837, I would be at war with Korea with the goal of annexing them. However, they are already a Satellite. I would also look at going to war against Dai Nam. However, with the changes to getting China westerized, I do not the prestige points, so I don't think there is a point in going and gaining a lot of infamy for little gain at this time, or perhaps attracting the attention of others that I don't want at this time.
With that being said, I had thought I would do at least a yearly update, however, since there is not much going on, I'll probably go for a couple of years before an update, or something significant happens.
Thanks for your support, and I hope you all continue to enjoy!
Oh, and one more note, I'm no where near an expert of Chinese history, so no nitpicking. :)
1 Jan 1839
The last couple of years have been very quiet. Trying to gain support for the reforms that I know we need to make is taking longer than I ever thought. The recruitment and training of Clergy continues to be a big help in this matter, but it will take at least another 10 years at this rate before I can make any big move.
Last year, Rose gave not only me, but the Empire with a son. Even though Kangxi shows the mixed features of his parents very different heritages, the people seemed to be genuinely overjoyed by the his birth. I think this may be a result of what happened to the Emperor and other heirs. However, I think what is even a bigger influence is Rose herself. I'm not sure how she is doing it, but she has been winning the hearts of everyone she comes in contact with. I think what has surprised everyone about this, is that she reaches out to everyone one, from the highest ranked nobles, to the poorest of the people.
Diplomatically, the French, Russians, and Americans have been trying to gain favor in Guangxi, southern China. So far, they seem to be working harder to keep the others from gaining any ground than actually making friends. But I'm very happy with that.
We were able to lower the tax rates across the board by 1%. This seems to of had no impact on our finances, as we continue to maintain a balance of between 600 and 800 Pounds. We also lowered our military spending some, and placed the savings into Education. It was not a great impact, but every little bit helps.
Finally, the retraining of our bureaucrats has had a big payoff. Even though their effectiveness is only around 16%, that is up at least three full points from when I took the throne. This is having a positive impact on the treasury. I'm really hoping this trend continues.
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18 March 1839
Spain has managed to gain a diplomatic foot hold in Qinghai, raising Qinghai's view of Spain to cordial. This is most unwelcomed news.
14 Oct 1839
Word reached us today that the British declared war on Siam, with the goal of helping Cambodia gain Siamese Cambodia. It shames me that we could not help Siam, but I cannot risk bringing the British wrath down on China at this time. While I know we outnumber the greatly, our military is nowhere near ready to take them on. This race that I am running is a marathon, not a sprint.
1 Dec 1839
The US has managed to gain a cordial relationship with Yunnan. Like with Spain's friendship with Qinghai, this is not welcomed at all, but there is little we can do.
28 Oct 1840
Our geologists have discovered a rich ore deposit in Wuchang. The bad news is that it will be very difficult for us to extract. However, we need the ore, and so some sacrifices will have to be made.
1 Jan 1841
Progress continues on trying to move China into the modern era. As my father-in-law points out in a continuing correspondence, trying to change the direction of a country can by like trying to change a wife's mind. If you try to do it to quickly, she'll blowup in your face, thus you must change her in small increments.
Progress is better than I may feel at times. Literacy has grown from 5.5% to 6.0%. This may not seem like a lot given how much effort we're put into expanding our education, but then you have to realize that our population has also grown almost 1.5 million people, or close to 3%. Our research continues to grow, having moved to a value of 1.94 from a starting point of 1.75.
The best news is still in our retraining of our bureaucrats. Our administrative effectiveness is now 20.8%. This has a positive effect on both tax revenues and crime fighting.
Kangxi continues to grow in size. He tries to carry himself as a crown princess, but his little sister, Lilly, does not make it easy, with her constantly wanting him to play with her. Perhaps that puppy he got her will keep her distracted for a while.
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Absolutely facinating - keep it coming please!
Quote from: bob48 on August 12, 2012, 02:33:12 PM
Absolutely facinating - keep it coming please!
+1 This is good stuff!
12 Oct 1841
Korea has increased it's opinion of Mexico to cordial, after a very determined effort by Mexico. This is a situation we will have to keep an eye on.
15 Dec 1841
Mexico continues it's diplomatic push into Asia, now gaining a cordial relationship with Manchuria.
25 April 1842
The Americans have gotten Yunnan to raise its opinion of them to friendly. It will not take the Americans much to place Yunnan in their Sphere of Influence.
19 July 1843
Quighai opinion of the US is now cordial.
5 Dec 1843
Manchura's is now friendly with Mexico.
17 Dec 1843
Korea and Mexico are now consider each other friends.
1 Jan 1844
I continue to gently guide China down the road of modernization. It's slow, but each year I'm starting to feel better.
Our literacy is upto 6.3% and we're getting about 2.10 research points a day. The population has grown to 53.71 million strong.
The biggest area of concern is all of the areas of diplomatic encroachment into our puppet and satellite states. Hopefully we do not lose our influence over them.
I had always thought that Rose was half joking when she said she wanted a large family. She's now buttering me up for to start working on having another child, even though our fourth is just 11 months old.
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3 Feb 1844
Guangxi is now on cordial terms with the Americans
15 Dec 1845
The relationship between the United States and Qinghai are now friendly.
23 Oct 1846
The Americans and Guangxi are now on friendly terms
2 Apr 1847
Yunnan has now been included in the US's Sphere of Influence. (Just a note, Yunnan is still listed as a substate. I believe that means that they will be annexed by China when it becomes westernized).
8 May 1848
Today I was finally able to implement Land Reforms. This will give more land ownership rights to farmers and the common man. With this ownership by individuals, it is believed that production from the land will be greatly increased. This step is also moves us closer to being westernized.
Our treasury continues to improve, and we're using these new funds to help improve our education. These added funds, along with a continued recruitment and training of new clergy, has moved our literacy rate to 7% and allowing us to generate about 2.34 research points each day.
I am now the proud father of seven children, three boys and four girls. Rose has told me that she is quite content with stopping at this point and not have any more. Very quietly, we've brought in a number of teachers from Britain and America. I've very happy that my children seem to be embracing the ideas of moving China to a great nation of the world through westernization, especially by Kiangxi, my heir apparent.
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Nice. Makes me want to play this again.
Thanks for the words of encouragement folks. I'll have a new installment later tonight.
Westernising China isn't going to be as quick or easy as I thought, or as it was in vanilla. It sounds like it will be the 1880's before I can get there.
However, with the next update, I'll start building on a new thread to the story line. Hope you like, and don't be afraid to provide any feedback, critism included.
25 Dec 1849
Why did the fools do this on this day of all days. This, a day of rejoicing, peace and giving. As Rose has done every Christmas, she was working at one of the many orphanages that see makes sure are well financed. The Christmas meal was just being served when a group of soldiers burst into the compound killing the first few members of the Imperial Guard that were there for the Empresses visit. While she was on a visit to one of her charities, she insisted on the Guard staying out of sight as much as possible. This meant that only a couple of her personal guard were close at hand. The fourteen assassins made straight for the dining hall, there intelligence was very good and seemed to know right where to find Rose at that time. Her personal guards killed three before they could make it across the courtyard and come crashing through the main door. Before they fell, her guards killed four more in the confined entry way. A fifth was killed by Rose, who had reloaded one of her guards pistols. Just has the assassins thought they had her, they were taken from behind by a number of older boys, killing another assassin. So enraged were the assassins, they turned their fury on not just those boys, but any child that got in their way. The head mistress of the orphanage and one of the teachers managed to drag Rose away before the assassins could turn back to finish the business they had come to conduct. However, a rescue party come from an unexpected source. When the fighting first started, it alerted the neighbors. Fearing the children of the orphanage were in trouble, they had come rushing. When they saw the murdered members of the Imperial Guard and the screams of the children, they did not hesitate to come to their aid, heedless of the danger to themselves. While very badly beaten, two of the assassins were captured alive, the rest were mutilated beyond recognition.
23 Feb 1850
The Imperial Intelligence Agency was able to convince the two surviving assassins to reveal who had hired them. IIA was able to find those individuals, and eventually trace the money and individuals back to the government of Johore (present day Malaysia). A clipper was sent with my own Foreign Minister. The clipper returned almost as soon as it got there, with the decapitated head of my Minister and his personal secretary and their two guards.
I cannot even begin to imagine what kind of madness has possessed Johore, but I will put an end to it. Today I declared a formal state of war between our two countries. The newly built ships of the Imperial Chinese Navy, 10 clippers and 3 frigates took on board the 10 brigades of the 6th, 7th, and 8th Green Standard Armies. Their orders are simple, bring me the head of the Sultan of Johore and annex the entire country.
April 25 1850
Our fleet arrived in the Straits of Johore and landed all three armies in Kuantan. Seventh army was left to take control of the providence while 6th and 8th armies moved on the capital in Johore Bahru. The Johore army's only three brigades of nine thousand troops were quickly destroyed. Sixth army was left there to occupy Johore Bahru while eighth moved to Kuala Lumpur. Armies from Manchuria and Guangxi were occupying Johore's fourth providence of Ipoh.
21 July 1850
The Americans have included Qinghai into their Sphere of Influence.
28 Sept 1850
Today, General Tiemei delivered the Sultan of Johore's head and announced that the entire country had been occupied. I have no joy in this, but I could never allow such an action to pass unchallenged.
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1 Jan 1851
In the beginning of September of last year, there was a massive rebellion of reactionaries opposing my reforms and attempts to lead China into the modern era. The rebellion would have lasted a lot longer if it had not been for the swift assistance of the other Chinese states, as the Imperial Army was caught totally unprepared and was struggling to contain the outbreak. After interrogating the few leaders of the rebellion that were captured, and tracing back previously overlooked evidence, it was found that this rebellion was supported in large part by Japan. My Ministers and I believe that Japan was hoping to greatly weaken China and then move to conquer Korea. Since this time, we have ended our alliance with them, and our relationship is deteriorating. Many in China are calling for war with Japan to end their threat to us once and for all. While it is something that I do not embrace, I find myself not being able to say they are wrong.
Our home front efforts to bring China into the 19th century continue to show progress. Literacy is up to 7.9% and we're generating 2.56 research points a day. Our bureaucrats continue to improve with an empire wide effectiveness of 49.8%. This is down some due to the state of the administration effectiveness of Chinese Singapore.
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17 Jan 1851
Guangxi has joined the Sphere of Influence offered by the Americans.
14 Jan 1853
While it was something I did not wish to do, but Japan has forced me to declare a state of war. IIA discovered direct Japanese involvement in trying to incite rebellion with the reactionary elements here in China. As punishment, we have set a goal of taking Yamaguchi region from them.
Our navy quickly moved the 2nd and 11th Green Standard Armies to the Setto Island Sea and landed them in the regions of Tokushima and Kochi. Our navy stays in the Setto Island Sea to prevent Japanese army units from trying to oppose the conquest of those regions.
30 May 1853
After 119 days, 11th GSA gained control of Kochi and is not moving on Matsuyama. Second GSA will have control of Tokushima in a few more days.
8 Oct 1853
Eleventh GSA has taken control of Matsuyama.
10 Oct 1853
The Netherlands has declared war on China. They wish to take away Chinese Singapore from us. While they have quite a presence in the islands of Indonesia, I believe they have bitten off more than they can handle. We out number them almost twenty to one. In brigades. I know they have bette training and technology than China, but I am very confident that they will fail.
8 May 1854
The war against Japan goes slow. Most of our focus is on our war with the Netherlands, which is going well at the moment.
In Japan, the Japanese navy has been unable to beat the ICN at sea, thus meaning they have not been able to take back the island providences that we have taken. This is allowing us to use 10th GSA to land in Hakodate unopposed . Once Hakodate is taken, Ishikara and Nemuru will fall unopposed to the 10th.
In the Dutch East Indies, the 6th attacked the Straits of Johore to land on the island of Tanjungpinang. However, they were driven back by a Dutch artillery brigade. The 6th was followed up by the 8th, which destroyed the Dutch unit and captured the island.
Recently, a Dutch cavalry unit landed in Kuala Lumpur. The 6th and 7th GSA's countered attacked, and were able to force the Dutch to flee. They are currently heading for Kuantan, where the 8th army will engage them.
Our fellow Chinese states are making good progress on capturing Dutch possessions. My only fear is that the Dutch are able to concentrate their strength and their technology advantage will overwhelm our numerical superiority .
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Some interesting developments. Looking forward to how this plays out.
Wow! You have been a very bad boy. Just wondering what will happen if all Western nations decide to spank you.
If you permanently hang on to Japan WW2 will play out very differently.
It makes for compulsive reading, that's for sure.
Thanks for the words of encouragement guys. I had hoped to get more done this week since the wife and kids were out of town, but work got in the way. Hang in there, I'll be back wiht more.
1 Jan 1856
War is improving in Japan. With most of their army now trapped, we are better able to take the rest of Japan. They still have a sizable army that can get at us, but we are now able to move more troops into the main island. I am hopeful that our allies will be able to start landing troops and assisting us this year. If there are no surprises, we should be victories in this war by years end.
Our literacy has improved to over 9.1% and we're now getting almost 3 research points a day. The treasury is staying balanced. Overall I am very pleased with the progress that we are making.
It has been pretty quiet in the residential suite of the palace. Rose took the five youngest children home to spend Christmas with her parents. Especially her mother, who has not been well most of the year, and it is very possible she will not live to see the end of year. Kangxi is away at the academy. He has grown and matured so much in the last several years. Not only will he make an excellent successor to me, but a strong partner while I live. He truly believes in what I am trying to do. I think only his mother is stronger in trying to complete what I have started.
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15 Oct 1857
Massive IJA forces numbering over 65,000 troops landed on their north island to try a retake it. I had left it undefended in hopes of them sending some troops there. We are now moving 11th army to Aomori to support the ships that will keep the IJN forces trapped on their north army.
In the south, 3 army of the ICA moved to occupy Yamaguci. They were joined by the 9th army of Guangxi. Guangxi's 24th army also began the occupation of Hiroshima. The 2nd ICA army is moving to occupy Matsue.
Japan is also having massive issues with reactionary rebels occupying some of their providences.
All of this good news is of course a harbinger of terrible news. My mother-in-law has been taken by her illness. Rose and the children were still there. By the time I had received word, they would have started from home. She was a wonderful woman, and the world will be a little worse off without her.
5 April 1858
Japans days are numbered, but they still refuse to surrender. And because of this, we will now demand the Fukuoka region. This will give us all of southern Japan.
Our own reactionaries have gone into revolt, mostly in southern China today. With most of our armies in Japan, we have to rely heavily on our sister states to come to our aid.
24 Apr 1858
A flu pandemic is sweeping the country. We have had to go into debt to fight it, but every life saved is worth id.
5 Feb 1859
Finally, Japan has accepted the end and accepted our peace terms. Kangxi, having graduated from the War College, had been assigned to 2nd army. As my heir, he acted as my personal representative for the surrender. Hopefully we can keep any issues of rebellion incheck.
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1 Jan 1863
The last few years have been ones of peace. There have been no rebellions in our Japanese territories or anywhere else for that matter.
Our literacy is over 12.1% and we're getting over 3.58 research points a day. This has allowed us to implement a new policy to import flintlock rifles. This will allow us to better train and equip our units.
The only real concern is that Civil war has ripped the USA apart. Three sons of Rose's sisters have gone to war, and her father is the Secretary of the Navy. I do hope that President Lincoln is able to reunite the country and end that terrible institution of slavery once and for all in their great land.
We are no longer concentrating on hiring clergymen, but are now focused on hiring bureaucrats in our conquered lands. Overall, our administrative effectiveness is just shy of 75%. This is providing the treasury with the funds it needs to fund things like education and our military.
Speaking of our military, our navy acquired two new Man-of-War ships. There are no other known ships like them in Asia, that we know of.
Kangxi has stayed in Japan serving in the function of Imperial Governor. This has worked out extremely well. In fact, I give him all the credit for keeping peace there. Though he does need to return home this spring to get married.
The Palace is not only filled with activity over his wedding, but that of his sisters also. In fact, Lilly has been personally making sure that her brothers wedding happens on time, as I've told her she cannot get married until after her brother. Of course, according to Rose, I'm not better with my constant dropping of hints about lacking grandchildren. I tell her I do no such thing, and since I'm the Emperor, I cannot be wrong about that. With that, she just rolls her eyes at me. I'm tempted to ask her if there is a problem with her eyes or if it is just old age, but frankly, I'm just too scared of her.
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1 Sept 1864
Massive revolts have broken out throughout the empire. These seemed to be fueled by those that oppose the ongoing trade with European and American countries. This is not helped by the belief that these foreigners are helping to spread the use of opium among our people.
I suspect that those same reactions are the ones behind the secret formation of a Socialist party here in China. Of course, those that embrace socialism while denouncing foreign trade and presence in China don't realize that their ideology originated in Europe. I have read the writing of these socialists, and while they tell of great utopia, they seem to rely on force of arms to get what they cannot get with words of persuasion. Time will tell how this plays out.
9 Dec 1865
Japan's government has fallen to reactionary forces. They have stopped the country cold in its move to join the modern world. They have also told the Americans that they will not hold influence of them. I do not know what the US's response will be, but I cannot allow reactionaries here to gain encouragement from their Japanese brethren. Therefore I have given the order to prepare to go to war. We will speed up the modernization of our armies in Japan, and add a couple of more ships to our fleet.
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1 July 1866
Our original plan was to wait and get our armies upgraded before invading Japan. However, it was decided that their armies may be a lot weaker than ours because of the recent rebellion. Therefore, we have decided to invade now. The new units will have to follow on when they are ready.
4 June 1868
Kangxi has sent word today that victory is ours. Most of Japan has been seeded to the China. Hopefully, this will keep any bad influences from Japan ever again interfering in Chinese internal affairs again.
The war went pretty much as Kangxi and the War College had planned it. The Japanese was just a shadow of itself from the rebellion. While they put up a bit of a fight at the beginning, they were no much for our armies. And once the other Chinese states joined us, there was no way Japan could recover. They did try to raise additional units, but most were butchered as soon as they tried to take the field by our awaiting armies.
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Quote from: OJsDad on August 17, 2012, 04:32:13 PM
The Palace is not only filled with activity over his wedding, but that of his sisters also. In fact, Lilly has been personally making sure that her brothers wedding happens on time, as I've told her she cannot get married until after her brother. Of course, according to Rose, I'm not better with my constant dropping of hints about lacking grandchildren. I tell her I do no such thing, and since I'm the Emperor, I cannot be wrong about that. With that, she just rolls her eyes at me. I'm tempted to ask her if there is a problem with her eyes or if it is just old age, but frankly, I'm just too scared of her.
Great stuff
OJsDad! I especially love the little personal touches like the above paragraph; they definitely add some nice flavor to the story. :D
Thanks for the thumbs up Martok.
Sorry I haven't done an update for awhile, but life has been very busy. Aution at my grandparents, birthday parties, school board, school open house, start of school, soccer practice, etc. I should be able to post an update tomorrow night. I would tonight, but its the start of high school football here.
As a side note. I was playing some last weekend, when I ran into a problem. There are two events that fire when Russia makes Manchuria a member of its Sphere of Influence. The one says that the allies have burned the summer palace in Peking and the second one gives Russia a number of territores of Manchuria. I would not have a problem with that, except that I was not at war with anyone, little lone losing one. So I had to made a modification that kept the game from firing those events. If I knew how to modifiy them so they would only fire if I was at war, I would, but not sure. In fact, the one looked like it should only fire if I'm at war.
30 Jun 1890
I stand at top of the steps leading up to the Hall of Supreme Harmony watching the endless moving mass of people moving along the path way leading first from the Meridian Gate, and then through the Gate of Supreme Harmony. This is the fourth and final night of this endless parade. Except for commanding a force awaiting to ambush an enemy in the field, I have never heard such a large group of people gathered in one place be so quite. My mind begins to drift back to the last few years. It feels like it was such a blur, but yet it is crystal clear.
It started on 1 Oct 1883, when the Netherlands declared war, with the goal of taking Chinese Singapore away from us. Our so called allies, Luang Prabang, Da Nam, and Burma, our so called allies, all turned their backs on us. Our fellow Chinese states and our satellites of Korea and Tibet though stood strong with us. The Dutch quickly knew they had made a mistake, as they mobilized their reserves. The war was not very intensive, but long lasting. The Russian Empire intervened on our behalf, though we did not ask for nor need their help. It took a while, but the Dutch agreed to a peace treaty in May of 1855. Of course, by then, the Dutch were in three or four other wars with others smelling blood in the water.
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Our formal allies were quick to try and regain the alliances with us that they had failed to honor. We could not allow their dishonor to stand. Thus on 21 Aug 1887, we declared war on Da Nam. Their army was almost nonexistent and thus it was just a matter of taking control of their providences. With so much jungle, it took a while, even with our fellow Chinese states assisting. But on 28 Nov 188, we had annexed Da Nam.
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During this time, we continued making the reforms and changes to move China into what the rest of the world refers to as Civilized nation. We, as a country, knew were doing the right thing, even though those that belong to a group known as The Righteous Society of Harmonious Fists and some other smaller groups of reactionaries tried to stop us, even with the force of arms.
Yesterday, I was able to push the last of those reforms through. This would normally have been cause for great celebration, except for the death of my father two days earlier. The one thing he wanted to accomplish in this life, and he missed seeing it by two days. There are those, my mother included, that believe we were only able to get the last set of reforms through at this time because of his death. The resistance that those opposed to this direction crumbled. By the time they may be able to reassembly their allies, it will be much too late.
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There is still much work to do. The armies we inherited from the other Chinese states will be worthless rabble. They will be disbanded and reformed as regular units. We will also be forming cavalry, artillery, engineering, and dragoon units to join both the new and existing armies. The navy will also need to be expanded and naval bases constructed to support them.
We will also need to start getting our people to invest in the construction of new factories and railroads to grow our economy. I know once the ball gets rolling, we will climb to the top of the world economies. Our researchers are concentrating on improving our educational institutions.
Tonight is the fourth night of morning. In the morning, we bury father. The next day, I will assume the throne. I've trained my whole life to prepare myself for becoming emperor, but it is something that I wish I could delay. But that is a choice I no longer have. Mother says that I'm ready. And if I should doubt myself, well, then I just need to suck it up buttercup. I'm not sure what a buttercup is, but if it's coming from mother, I'm guessing it is something weak. She also says not to worry, that she will be around for years to come, and she will be happy to give me words of encouragement whenever I need them. On second thought, as Emperor, I could always have her sent to some monastery in, say, Mongolia. That would work, except for the little fact that she is the most popular member of the family, so there is no telling how the people would react, not to mention my own wife and children. I don't think I would ever sleep again.
Another well-done entry. Keep up the good work!
Having not played Vicky 2, I have to ask: Do rulers, in fact, die during the game? Or was that part added by you to enhance the AAR's story aspect?
Quote from: Martok on August 26, 2012, 02:35:29 AM
Another well-done entry. Keep up the good work!
Having not played Vicky 2, I have to ask: Do rulers, in fact, die during the game? Or was that part added by you to enhance the AAR's story aspect?
There are no actual rulers in V2, it is just part of my AAR to enhance the story.
Very interesting AAR, keep up the good work!
Fabulous entry. Though you were inconsistent with the "years" (i.e. Dutch peace at 1855, annex Da Nam at 188?) in your recent post but the general flow is easily understood.
Hey guys. I finally had time/energy to fire up this game again. I played through several years, and to be hones't, it's pretty much at a stalemate. China is the #2 Great Power in the world (GB is #1). China is #1 in military and #2 in military. With all of the interlocking alliances, there isn't much chance of any real wars anymore.
So, I'm calling it quits. I think I would like to try Prusssia now.
A few thoughts on the new A House Divided expansion;
I like the new way for uncivializations can become civilized. The old way relied to much on prestige, which you could really only get with military victory.
The new war justification system is great. This gives a lot of variety in the Infamy points you can get for declaring war. I wish more games would put more variables into their game play, ie, not everyone gets the same benefits when they develop tanks, education advances, etc.
OJD, this was a fine AAR, and thank you for carrying it so far forward. I enjoyed it a lot.
If you decide on a new one, Prussia would be interesting, but so could Austria and Russia.
Each one has different strengths and weaknesses, although Prussia's strength is obviously her military.
Best of luck whenever you decide to try another.
Quote from: besilarius on November 07, 2012, 06:53:45 PM
OJD, this was a fine AAR, and thank you for carrying it so far forward. I enjoyed it a lot.
If you decide on a new one, Prussia would be interesting, but so could Austria and Russia.
Each one has different strengths and weaknesses, although Prussia's strength is obviously her military.
Best of luck whenever you decide to try another.
Thanks Besilarius. I'm goint to try Prussia and see if I can form Germany. I also plan on trying Austria and Russia at some point. I haven't tried it with A House Divided yet, but I want to give Mexico a shot also.
Great AAR, man. If you wind up doing one for Prussia, I'll definitely read it!