1623-1633 King Sebastiao I, Part 4
We’ve had four good years of peace following our war
against the Yemen/Brunei/Makassar coalition, and have cored our new provinces.
Religious conversion is taking some time though, especially in Brunei, where
the Sunni religion imposes a 2% reduction in our missionary power. This doesn’t
sound much, but it takes the time to convert out from around 3-4 years to 7-8
years. We’ll not finish converting Brunei for most of this decade.
In the middle of 1623 we get two Call to Arms
notices from our allies. First, Austria calls us into a European-wide war in
which Anhalt is being attacked by Brandenburg, Prussia, Hungary, Sweden and
some others. We reluctantly accept the Call. Our aim is to avoid getting
involved if possible.
Almost immediately afterwards, Morocco decides that
the Canary Islands should actually be Moroccan, so attacks Castile. This war,
unlike the other, we gleefully accept. Our aim in this war is to take Murcia,
and block Castile from access to a Mediterranean port.
It doesn’t take long for a Castilian siege force to
arrive in Galicia. Marching north, General Machado hammers them hard
Unfortunately, one of our trade fleets is caught
napping by a well-led Swedish fleet in May 1624, and annihilated off the
Canaries. I hadn’t expected the Swedes to be this far south with their ships,
and adjust my naval dispositions accordingly
Two months later, in July 1624, one of our battle
fleets catches up with the Swedes, sinking them near the Cape Verde Islands
In August, the Castilian province next to our South
African holdings falls to our troops
And the same month Murcia falls and the Castilian
fleet is caught by our combined battle fleet
We finally put paid to Swedish naval power later on
in August off the coast of Cadiz
In October 1624 we take diplo tech 16
And around the same time two of our colonies in
Indonesia become self-sustaining
A year later, Cameroon falls
And by August 1626 Toledo, Badajoz and Leon have
fallen to our troops
Our final battle of the war is fought against
rebels!
The hiatus in waiting for the warscore to rack up
allows us the chance to take admin tech 17, unlocking our fifth Idea group. We
take Trade Ideas, to give us more merchants
By December 1627, Asturias in northern Castile is
occupied, and for some reason this prompts our priests to start giving Sunday
school lessons...
By May 1629, the Austrian war has ended
inconclusively, and our warscore is high enough that Morocco won’t lose if I
sign an early peace treaty with Castile. I force them to relinquish their
control over their province down by South Africa, as well as Murcia, and also
give up their claims on the previously won territories of Jaen and Cordoba.
Murcia is expensive to core
Lesser Namaqualand is not!
Later in 1629 we are able to increase our military
and diplomatic technology levels
By September 1629 we have managed to transfer a
significant amount of our military power to Ceylon. Some 48,000 troops are
ready to invade India (I know it’s not strictly called India yet, but I’m
buggered if I’m going to write Vijayanagar every time!)
In March 1630, with the war already 6 months old, we
are laying siege to 4 provinces. It is at this point that we realise that our
enemy is already at war with France, and all of their land forces are tied down
against the French in the north. This could be a much easier war than we
anticipated. We destroy an Indian fleet off Malabar
Later in the month another, much larger fleet
appears and we decide to engage
Our battle fleet wins convincingly, even capturing
an enemy vessel
The Indian army doesn’t make an appearance until
July 1630
They are roundly defeated
In August, a rebellion breaks out in Murcia, but is
swiftly put down by our home force
By the end of August, we have occupied 4 provinces
and another small force is defeated in Kochin
In September 1630 we finally convert the Bruneians
to Catholicism... and achieve our mission to achieve religious unity throughout
our Empire
Another large battle goes our way in Jaunpur in
October. The remnants of the army will be destroyed by General Machado’s force
in November
By the end of 1630 we have occupied 6 provinces, and
the warscore is up to 45%
August 1631 rolls around, and one of our East Indies
colonies join the Empire
Hedjaz enters an alliance with us in May 1632
And with more colonists arriving in the area, by
July 1632 our grip on the East Indies tightens even further
I am the Inquisitor!
By February 1633, we have occupied most of India,
and the warscore creeps up to 99%. The French have occupied some territory, but
their warscore is only about 18%
We are now faced with a dilemma. Should we:
a) Make Vijayanagar a protectorate; or
b) Annex 3 or 4 provinces and release some small
nations to turn India back into a patchwork quilt?
If we choose b, the map will look like this, with us
taking the green bits at the bottom (including Kochin, which is an important
centre of trade), the red bits being Vijayanagar, and the other colours being
the released nations
Option a has the bonus of giving us no
overextension, and 50% of India’s trade power, which is a considerable amount.
However, it will automatically put us at war with France.
Option b gives us 56% overextension, requiring admin
power to core provinces, and about the same trade power as we would get in
Option a. It also removes Vijayanagar as a significant player, by reintroducing
about 10 small states into the mix.
The big question for me though, is about the Mughal
Empire. The Mughals have already warred with Vijayanagar in the past, and so it
is possible that they will want more territory in the sub-continent. Given
this, do I want a weakened sub-continent covered in a patchwork quilt of nations,
or a strong Vijayanagar protected by me?
Well, I already know the answer as to what I did in
the peace treaty, but what would you have done?
Oh, and by the way, we are now almost exactly halfway through the game!
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