NewEU4 Dynasty – Who am I playing? - How About Butua? Lost!
 

Am I still in the mood to try a new dynasty? I just finished my Theodoro one after actually going womb to tomb from 11 No, 1444 – 3 Jan, 1821 – I’ve never finished an EU4 or EU3 Grand Campaign, I’ve only done it a few times with EU2, but I’ve been spending some time on what has been recent changes to the game since I had previously played in my Rise of the Pacific a few years ago in late 2020 where I played a nation I created in the Pacific in Micronesia on the island of Pohnpei ruled by the Saudeleur Dynasty. There have been tons of changes.

As you can see in my opening with Athens, there are a few that are generally considered the worst starting position – Athens, did on my 5th try got out since it always gets absorbed by Ottomans as a vassal of Byzantium, Sukhothai in SE Asia that’s a vassal of Ayutthaya that’s a tributary of Ming so they’ll protect them, so I timed my war of independence for when Ming was in a war, Pskov, a minor vassal of Muscovy where I allied with the Commonwealth and won a war of independence, and I am sure that my run with the minor tribe in the Indies and formed Inca and then reformed Maya in Central America with my minor one province holding or my run as Kamchatka’s Kamchadals and then colonized Siberia and North America and became a big boy was probably also a harder start. Also Theodoro is generally considered one of the hardest to run. I always figured I’d do Mzab next since many consider it just as hard as Athens or Theodoro.

Mzab- 2nd hardest on The Social Streamers; 6th hardest on AlzaboHD; 6th hardest on Darkfireslide; 10th hardest on Adrian Gaming.

It made all four Top Ten or Top Five Hardest nation YouTube channels, in this North African nation. Here are the reasons why:

1. It’s two inland provinces that have a total development of 6. There are one province nations better.
2. It’s next to Tunis and Tlemcen both of which can easily expand and pull off both of your holdings.
3. Berber new holdings take more ADM Power to core and that’s everything around you.
4. Here’s the worst – you are not Sunni but Ibadi. That means you start with a negative 10 neighbor heretic bonus, and cannot Royal Marry anyone nearby to build up relations or lead to an alliance. There are just three Ibadi nations Mzab, three province Oman in Arabia, and one province Pate in Africa. That’s it. That’s the only places you can go for a Royal Marriage. Nasty.
5. Your national Ideas and missions help develop navies and let you raid coasts, but you are landlocked and cannot do that.

Mzab has the same ideas and Missions as other Berber nations:




Those are the Missions that Mzab and the others have. It’s only five different from the generic Mission tree:



See how only the central five are different? Not that exiting. Missions are major things you try to do, and then you get either a 25 year boost or a permanent one.

There are a few ways you can make your nation your own in this game. We’ve just looked at Missions. The next are Ideas. You start with two, and then you unlock one Idea for each three Ideas you unlock in the game. Here are the Magreb Ideas:



And then we have the third way to make a nation unique – country specific Events. For example, Kilwa in real life was Sunni in South-east Africa and they were converted by merchants that were pretty Orthodox but the government and people interpreted the faith more liberally so there was a tension that can be seen on their country specific events. We might get some Berber events, not sure. There’s no event specific links on the Tunis or Tlemcen page to see.

Also, Mzab can form Algiers.

Is this me? Am I going down this path?

Who else attracts me?

The map and nations and things have been built up massively over time

There was a content pack called Lions of the North released a few months ago that added unique content for many Scandinavian nations and nearby one. You can see them here:

https://eu4.paradoxwikis.com/Lions_of_the_North

Most aren’t my thing, since they are for more powerful nations for my typical start. We have two I am eyeing.

What about Riga:

Issues:

1. Just one province, coastal, surrounded by the Livonian Order
2. Riga is a Theocracy, which I have never played, which means no Royal Marriages with anyone.
3. We are near the Teutonic Order and they are allies with the Livonian Order, so we cannot attack the first without taking out the second.
4. Poland usually expands this way.

Good Stuff:

1. It starts in a trade league with Lubeck and allied with it.
2. It is historical allied with the Livonian Order, and should be able to ally with them.
3. It’s on the Daugava estuary and gets trade boosts.
4. It can form into the Duchy of Kurland (which it did in real life), Livonia, Prussia or Germany.

We would have to time the war of expansion into the Livonian Order with Poland’s against the Teutonic Order. We could also just ally with the Livonian Order and then begin to explore and colonize just like Portugal and Spain.

Riga has it’s own events, ideas, and missions:






And you can easily swap to Kurland and get their stuff Ideas:



Check out these more military ideas! Then you share a Mission with Livonia and Kurland:



As you can see they are military and colonial. In real life Kurland colonized the New World in Tobago and Africa in St. Andrews Island and other places along the Gambia River.

So moving to Kurland and then colonizing West Africa and then using it as a launching pad to the New World would be historical.

What about Gotland?

This Baltic island is also just updated for the Lions of the North. When you start you have three options:

1. Play as a normal Monarchy interesting fun thangs
2. Play as a normal Merchant Republic which means you’ll fight for trade members with Novgorod and Lubeck.
3. Play as a pirate republic raiding people, and then you can choose to raid the Baltic or relocate to the Caribbean.

You have fun powerful things as a pirate republic and relocating to the Caribbean would be fun.

The Monarchy wants to replace Denmark and has missions to help with that:




Here is the Monarchy Mission tree. As you can see it’s pretty military.

Here’s the Merchant Republic:



As you can see, you have the standard Merchant Republic style things like making a trade fleet and making the money.

Here’s the Pirate Republic Mission Tree:





As you can see here you are building up a Pirate Fleet, looting place like London and becoming the Terror of the Baltics.

Basically, this is a Choose Your Own One Province Island Adventure. Military? Trade? Piracy?

Another recently released content pack is Origins for Africa, and it added content for two nations I’ve already played (Kongo and Songhai). Check it out here:

https://eu4.paradoxwikis.com/Origins

I like a few.

Ajuuraan –

Multiprovince, coastal, not near anything, that will absorb it, is a power of the East African coast, wants to push trade in the Indian ocean –



It wants to build up an army to incorporate the Horn of Africa and then dominate trade abroad and recapture the Maldives that it used to own. I love what it wants to do, but it starts pretty strong with a theocracy, but dominating Indian Ocean and colonizing it while attacking should be a lot like my first EU4 dynasty with Oman. It’d be fun to see how far you could take it. I love what it wants to do though. It’s ideas include getting an extra missionary and better strength so you wouldn’t need to take Religious Ideas. It’s obviously exploration and trade ideas.

Mali -

Mali used to be a major power, and now seeks to reestablish itself as it’s former power house:

It does have two gold mines. You will get an early event with a massive rebellion event called “Decline of Mali” disaster you have to navigate… this is an ongoing event until you finish it with the “Restore Mali Authority” mission. Nasty.

Decline of Mali:

-1 Stability when it starts
-33% caravan power
+15% stability cost upgrade
+1 global unrest
Monthly chance of rebels.

Here’s the Mission tree by the by:



Deep stuff. You want to rebuild yourself by taking out nearby stuff and growing over time. Cool to see. This is not a colonial campaign but a military one although you could grab untaken African stuff later, we need to be focusing on military Ideas like quality or offensive. I like the hard rebellious event that hits you early and hard that we would have to survive for years. Mali’s Ideas include better production, vassal income, and military things like manpower and discipline increases. Mali is rough.

Mutapa –

A major power in South East Africa next to Kilwa the power of the area that often seeks to attack you. It’s behind technologically since it’s Central African tech not East Africa. It has not embraced Feudalism and starts with a 50% tech increase tax and tech level 2 to East’s 3. Has vassal Butua. Wants to reestablish the empire of Zimbabwe, which it controls. It’s pretty big.

Here are it’s missions as well as Zimbabwe:



As you can see it has lots of Zimbabwe missions and the Eclipse one makes you into Zimbabwe. It’s also next to unclaimed territory for colonial stuff when you get it but that’ll be a while starting at ADMIN tech 2 and with the 50% tech at the beginning and then over time with more institutions not coming. This would likely be a military campaign with you having worse troops but a strong economy to have more, and your 2nd Idea could be quality to make them better.

Shout Out – Butua – Also Central African, two province vassal of Mutupa, will be dip annexed after ten years so you’ll need out break out by then. Only adjacent to Mutupa, would need to be supported by Kilwa to get out. It’s Ideas start with +10% morale which should help fights giant the higher tech stuff.

There are a few more that I want to talk about in new maps:

Australian Minor – Australia is now like North America with many provinces now controlled by a native Aboriginal tribe. For example you could do the one province Eora in the state of Illawara. Built up, take out militarily, colonize, and bring much of the continent under your control by the time the Europeans arrive. Some have unique ideas like Eora:

Traditions:
+15% Light ship combat ability
+1 Diplomatic reputation
________________________________________
Eora Lifestyle
+15% Morale of navies
________________________________________
Twenty-Nine Bands
−25% State maintenance
________________________________________
Enduring Culture
+1 Tolerance of heathens
+25% Religious unity
________________________________________
Protect the Ancestral Land
+10% Manpower recovery speed
+10% National sailors modifier
________________________________________
The Sacred Shore
+1 Naval combat bonus off owned coast
________________________________________
Pemulwuy
+15% Morale of armies
________________________________________
Berewaldal
+1 Merchant
+10% Trade power abroad
________________________________________
Ambition:
+2 Max promoted cultures


I’ve never done a USA or Canadian traditional North America dynasty, just Central and South America. This should play out similarly. They start tech 1, and have a 50% tech dev cost from no Feudalism. This would be a fun challenge.

Riga looks interesting...

Next up:

New Zealand Minor - There are seven minor Māori nations that have 6 in North Island and one in South. You can start as one, and the good thing here is that if you unit them you can form Aotearoa which is a pretty cool goal. According to the guide that should happen in around 50 years or so right when you can get exploration and start colonizing. However much of the Pacific Ocean is now controlled so you’ll have to colonize many places by force of arms not colonization. You start with tech 2 and can defeat the Australians.

Here are your missions:



Lots of stuff there. Here are the Ideas as well:

Iwi ideas
Please help with verifying or updating this infobox. It was last verified for version 1.33.

________________________________________
Notes:
For countries with Maori primary culture.
________________________________________
Traditions:
−10% Recruitment time
−20% Harsh treatment cost
________________________________________
Sons of Kupe
+10% National sailors modifier
+10% Colonial range
________________________________________
Kaitiakitanga
+1 Tolerance of the true faith
________________________________________
Kaumatua
−20% Stability cost modifier
________________________________________
Kapa Haka
+10% Morale of armies
________________________________________
Pa Defence
−10% Fort maintenance
________________________________________
Te Moko
+1 Land leader shock
________________________________________
The Maori King Movement
−10% Core-creation cost
+1 Yearly legitimacy
________________________________________
Ambition:
+1 Yearly prestige


I love the idea here of conquering and uniting New Zealand and then colonizing and conquesting the rest of the pacific. But how different will this be too my “Rise of the Pacific” dynasty, although the map is different and then how I got there is as well with uniting the islands of New Zealand. Good stuff.

Last One:

A Fiji Minor –

They divided up Fiji into three nations that are connected by straits and then if you control the other two, you can form Viti. Start with 2 techs. You have these ideas:


Fijian ideas
Please help with verifying or updating this infobox. It was last verified for version 1.33.

________________________________________
Notes:
For Lau, Viti Levu, Viti and Vanua Levu.
________________________________________
Traditions:
+10% Light ship combat ability
−10% Naval attrition
________________________________________
Crossroad of Cultures
+2 Max promoted cultures
________________________________________
Lutunasobasoba and Degel
+10% Colonial range
+10% Ship trade power
________________________________________
Conjoined Society
+2% Missionary strength
________________________________________
Waqa Drua
+100% Prestige from naval battles
+50% Naval tradition from battles
________________________________________
Fijian Warlords
+10% Morale of armies
+0.5 Yearly army tradition
________________________________________
Kai Colo
−25% Land attrition
________________________________________
Confederacy of Kingdoms
+5% National tax modifier
+5% Production efficiency
________________________________________
Ambition:
−20% Aggressive expansion impact

For example you could start as Lau. See how the Fiji have military boosts like Warlords and better navy and colonial range? It’s clearly pushing you to unite and then colonize.

Here are the Missions for all three states and Fiji as well:



That’s pretty deep and has similarities to New Zealand. Both are Animist so that makes sense.

So…who am I doing?

Also a shout out to Hawaii that is now split into many islands each ruled by a tribe and has to be conquered and then turned into the Kingdom of Hawaii.

Also a shout out to Hawaii that is now split into many islands each ruled by a tribe and has to be conquered and then turned into the Kingdom of Hawaii.

Hawaii: Tech 2,

Ideas:

Hawaiian
Please help with verifying or updating this infobox. It was last verified for version 1.33.

________________________________________
Notes:
For Hawai'i, Kaua'i, Maui, O'ahu, and Hawai'i.
________________________________________
Traditions:
+20% Light ship combat ability
+0.5 Yearly navy tradition
________________________________________
Preserving the Kapu System
+1% Missionary strength
+2 Tolerance of the true faith
________________________________________
Repurposing the Ali'i Nui
+1 Yearly legitimacy
________________________________________
Hula
+1 Yearly prestige
________________________________________
Ohana
+1 Diplomatic relation
+2 Max promoted cultures
________________________________________
Kanawai Mamalahoe
+20% Manpower recovery speed
________________________________________
Naha Prophecy
−15% Core-creation cost
________________________________________
Legendary Voyagers
+40% Colonial range
+1 Naval leader maneuver
________________________________________
Ambition:
Can recruit explorers and conquistadors. Explorers may explore ocean provinces.
+20 Global settler increase

Also Animist. Pretty naval and colonial too after you unite. Here is the Mission for Hawaii after you unite:





Actually this is for all nations both pre and post forming. As you can see, this has more Animist forming stuff like Fiji and New Zealand.

So, in Summation here are my options:

1. Mzab - The consensus hard start one I always knew I'd do.
2. Riga - The one province bishopric that is surrounded by the Livonian Order and has just added new things too. Never done a bishopric either.
3. Gotland - This one province Norse Island has three options - military, merchant, pirating, whichever I want.
4. Ajuuraan - This powerful East African nation wants to dominate trade in the Indain Ocean and then unite the Horn of Africa, with some cool stuff.
5. Mali - This former powerhouse has to restore it's glory while also dealing with an ongoing rebellion and crisis. That's rough and tough.
6. Mutapa - This lower tech Central African nation is powerful, seeks to store Zimbabwe, but has to deal with the dominant powerhouse Kilwa to do so.
7. Butua - Two province vassal of Mutapa, has to get out of their shadow before getting annexed in ten years time. It has all of the issues of Mutapa but with a harder start.
8. Australian Minor like Eora - Many new one province nations, take others out militarily while colonizing areas here, try to have enough to deal with when European's arrive.
9. New Zealand Minor - Combine all seven into one, form new nations, then colonize and conquest the Pacific and Australia. Nice
10. Fiji Minor - Combine three into one, form Viti, colonize and conquer just like New Zealand.
11. Hawaii Minor - There are several islands with separate tribes. Conquer them and form the Kingdom of Hawaii, and then conquer and colonize just like New Zealand and Viti.

I kinda like Mali

All African nations have at least two provinces, none of the others do. I love the idea of an Australia or Oceania dynasty three of which you are conquering and then exploring, and then exploring and conquering outside of that state. Fun stuff!

I hear ya!

Got it!

Alright, I have 11, let's pull too.

1. Mutupa - Out. Reforming Zimbabwe is hard, you have lower tech for the region, you are next to the big bad of Kilwa, but at the end of the day, you are still are still a better nation with gold, ivory, loads of good stuff, and are about to get two stronger with the addition of Butua peacefully.

2. Fiji Minor - This is not that hard. get an alliance with one, build your army, DOW the other, take it first, grab it in peace, then use that money to build up more any, DOW the other after Rivalling it, you now have control of all of Viti and can change nation anytime

Those two are out. 9 left.

Two more out -

1. Ajuuraan - Bigger nation, I love what it's bringing to the table and a different way to play, but it's not as much of a challenge.

2. Hawaii - Conquering nearby islands does require a navy to do so you'd have to build up that infrastructure, in addition to the military, but it's just four overall, not the biggest ever. If i am uniting and making a new nation in Oceania, it's New Zealand.

That leaves these 7 and why they are still here:

1. Mzab - The rough Ibadi start.
2. Riga - Never done a bishopric.
3. Gotland - Likely pirating, never done that before.
4. Mali - Rebellion and Crisis to solve.
5. Butua - Rough start, fast timeline.
6. Australian Minor like Eora - Never done anything like this
7. New Zealand Minor - Conquer six same sized states in the early game to create one mega state - strong.

Two more out::

1. Gotland - I'm just not feeling pirates.

2. Australian - Ditto an Australian minor.

Five left!!! That's three Africa, one Baltic Europe, one Oceania

From what's left, I think Riga probably.

With New Zealand second.

Let's pull two more, and these are tough!

1. Mzab - It's classically hard, but if i can get an alliance with Tunis or Tlemcen, I can likely play them off against each other, ideally Tunis against the weaker Tlemcen, and then grow north and east to the coast. Sure without a Royal Marriage, that will be harder, but with an alliance of one against the other, that's doable. I think I'll do this someday.

2. New Zealand Minor - Love this idea so much, but I just did a Pacific dynasty two dynasties against feeling it as much.

And then there were three....

The Glass Cannon of Mali
The rough vassal of Butua
The one province Bishopric of Riga.

I hear ya!

After spending some time last night early this morning starting with the three, Mali seems like an Ajuuraan or Mutapa since it has 14 provinces with more than 100 dev and two gold mines. Now that could wind up being bad, since your monthly rebellion could be months away from your main army, especially as you expand, giving them time to capture and then when you recapture it is has more rebel risk, but that's still bigger than other options. It feels like the African version of the Timurids or the Ming Dynasty China after it loses the Mandate of Heaven, strong economy, lots of rebels.

So I am pulling Mali from my options and looking at Riga or Butua.

Let's try Butua!

Here I’ve taken a screenshot showing one of my holdings, our history, and then our finances.

Here are my two holdings:

Shangwe – The low quality Livestock is raised here on a Savannah next to the unclaimed holding of Lenje and two Mutapan holdings, it’s our faith – Fetishist, our culture – Shona, and makes just 0.12 monthly.

Butua - Highlands, south of Shangwe, next to Mutapa, 7 dev, Gold is mined here, it makes for us 2.27 monthly and is where we get our stuff, north of the province of Zimbabwe, Shona and Fetishist,

We are both east of the Kalahari Wasteland where no one can go and nothing can be settled

Fetishist - +2 Tolerance of Heathens, +1 Dip reputation, so people won’t get upset at having another faith.

I can choose these three Cults:

Cweze - +20% Improve Relations
Mlira - +2 Tolerance of the True Faith
Mwari - +2.5% Army Discipline

Since I need to fight a successful war against our master in 10 years, I choose Mwari.

Our ruler;

Chief Dlembeu Torwa, 21 years old, no heir or wife, 3 ADMIN Skill, 2 Dip, 2 Mill, which I will abbreviate 3/2/2 moving forward.

I am making 6/5/5 Monarch Power, from his 3/2/2

Here’s a political map of the area zoomed out:



As you can see, we are next to nothing but our master. Kilwa are the big bad, and are masters of Sofala next to our master, soon they will annex diplomatically and then be near them. We have a smaller nations next to Lake Malawi on the southern and western shore that are fine targets after we’ve gained land from our master Mutapa.

I send one diplomat to make nice with Kilwa and the other to build a spy network in Mutapa. When I get independence from Mutapa, I need to grab as much land as possible, because with just freedom, what would I do?

Kilwa and Mutapa are rivals. Getting Kilwa’s aid for independence is key to surviving past the next ten years. I did the same with my 5th run as Athens, getting support from independence from the Ottoman Turks after destroying my navy and building up my army. Then if I win, Kilwa becomes my ally for future wars against our foes.

Army:

Us - 3000 infantry – forcelimit -3k

Mutapa – 8k total, 6k infantry and 2k artillery

Kilwa – 8k, same breakdowns

I order 1k cavalry built in Butua.

This costs 25 gold. And before they arrive I am making 2.13 monthly.

Here are my Missions:

Link breakdown of what they require to pass:

https://eu4.paradoxwikis.com/East_%2...rican_missions




They are generic East and South African Missions. I cannot build a trade fleet until I have a port. And probably a few, but Kilwa is in my way there.

Tech – Central Africa: 2/2/2, I get +50% tech improvement penalty because we have not embraced the Feudalism. Starting in 1450 and every 50 years thereafter there will be a new institution that debuts that also has increasing penalties the longer I don’t embrace it. You only get it by being next to places that have embraced it, or by a cost with someone who has that sharing it with you, and Kilwa could share it after we become allies and build up our relations and our money infrastructure by taking a few things from Mutupa. We fight worse than the 3/3/3 starting Kilwa and other East Africa Tech groups who also have Feudalism

I send a Merchant to collect in the Congo Trade Center.

As a reminder, we have these ideas:

Butua ideas
________________________________________
Traditions:
+10% Morale of armies
−10% Infantry cost
________________________________________
Legacy of Zimbabwe
−10% Construction cost
________________________________________
Strict Gold Trade Regulations
+0.10 Yearly inflation reduction
________________________________________
Empowering the Rozwi
+10% Infantry combat ability
________________________________________
Hierarchical Tax Organization
+10% National tax modifier
________________________________________
Regular Training
+5% Discipline
________________________________________
Monotheistic Worship
−1 National unrest
________________________________________
Vashambadzi
+10% Trade efficiency
________________________________________
Ambition:
−10% Shock damage received


We start with better morale and lowered infantry buy cost. Each of those will trigger when we gain three Ideas, quite a long time with our tech delays.

Also as a reminder, Butua can form the Rozwi Empire -

Same Ideas, we gain the Mutapan and Zimbabwe Missions shown earlier in this thread, here - 427 Unknown Error

The details on how to form and what it does are here:



And then Rozwi can form Zimbabwe later if I want the same way Mutapa does, but I have to form this first.

My Goals for Butua:

1. Get Kilwa to support my independence
2. Build up my army
3. Declare war on Mutapa for my independence. Take as many Mutapa holdings as possible.
4. Take out all of Mutapa in future wars.
5. Form Rozwi Empire
6. Take out the Lake Malawi minors
7. Rival and Begin Warring Successfully Against Kilwa who is my way out of this area.
8. Grab Coastal Provinces and begin my naval Missions.
9. Take Exploration Ideas and Begin to explore and expand into nearby open holdings.
10. Eventually take out the big bad Kilwa
11. Keep expanding militarily and colonially.

The Historical Hegemon Series
Volume 13 - Butua
Prelude

Ready to get started?

21 Nov – Our merchant sets up in Kongo, we are making just 0.01

22 Dec – I decline a Royal Marriage offer with Mutapa as I don’t want to lose more stability from a war with them than I will.

I turn my ruler into a General and hand him my army. He’s just one star.

9 Feb, 1445 – My cavalry are built and my army maintenance is now 1.87 and I am making 0.89 monthly, not enough for another cavalry. I order another 1k infantry. 9 more gold.

1 May – It’s built and I now am losing 0.29 monthly.

I am almost able to get freedom support

I keep building relations, maybe that will help

12 July – We have enough:



I pull my spy diplomat from Mupata and I agree and Kilwa is in!

I send this diplomat once it returns in ten days back to building spy infrastructure in Mutapa. Does our master have another rival to court?

Yes, Maravi, I pull my making nice diplomat in Kilwa and send it to south Lake Malawi.

22 July – Actually, they’ll support without making nice:



I accept and now have both rivals helping.

Maravi: 8k troops, 7k infantry, 1k cavalry

I cannot keep my army upgrades for too long without increasing my cash and forcelimits.

23 Aug - I declare war for independence.

I don’t want to get Maravi and Kilwa bogged down in wars either.

The Historical Hegemon Series
Volume 13 - Butua
Chapter 1 - The Butuan War for Independence

I lose 3 stability and it’s -3 spend ADM power to raise it one to -2. In order to win, I cannot lose my capital of Butua. I’ll keep my Chief and his army at home for now. Our warscore will tick up over time the longer I have my capital.

Mutapa’s ally of Tumbuka joined them Sofala joins Kilwa. Lundu joins us.

I raise war taxes and am now making 2.11 monthly

26 Aug – Royal Marriage with Maravi. I was hoping for a wife, nope

2 Oct – The 8k army of Mutapa has begun a siege in Sofala’s capital, I order my army to grab Nearby Mutapa minors.

25 Nov – I capture a minor and Mutapa calls off its siege and is returning to it’s space

I order another 1k in Butua my capital, and my army to head back and then breakoff 1k to capture a minor next door.

We have a +6 warscore

11 Jan, 1446 – That minor falls, 11 warscore – I order that 1k to another minor

16 Feb – Mutapan army loses to Kilwa

Our 1k is built

1 Mar – That minor falls

Warscore 26%

22 Mar -I order another 1k infantry in my capital

25 April – Kilwa captures a minor, warscore of 37%

6 May - Kilwa captures another - warscore of 455

22 May – I capture a minor, 52%

4 June – My army is built

10 June – I order my main army to continue the siege of Zimbabwe

26 June – Kilwa captures another minor, warscore of 60

Maravi is besieging the capital of Tummbuka

4 Dec – Zimbabwe falls, and we now have every holding of Mutupa and a warscore of 86%.

What can I get?

Independence is 23%, I can get that for sure.

Massapa – Gold mines, next to both of my stuff, 6 badboy and warscore. Check

Buhera – Next to us and Massapa, 4.5 badboy and 5 warscore, Check

Zumbo – Next to us and Lundu, 9 badboy and 8 warscore, yes.

Tete – Ditto, 6 and 8 – yes

That’s the four I captured.

Peace:



We get 25.7 badboy and there are four holdings in Mutapa for future wars.

I move my army to Massapa to be next to all four for rebels. I spend 110 ADM to core everything but Tete, which requires another 30.

I claim Zimbabwe

Massapa – Gold mines, next to both of my stuff – 6 dev, Highlands, Shona, Fetishist, 0.18 made here,

Buhera – Next to us and South of Massapa – Highlands, Ivory traded, 4 dev, Shona, Fetishist, next to Mutapa and Zimbabwe, 0.06 made here.

Zumbo – Next to us and Lundu – 8 dev, Savannah, Ivory traded here, 0.13, Shona and Fetishist

Tete – - Next to Mutapa, Lundu, us – Savannah, 6 dev, Ivory trade, Center of Trade, Emporium, 0.01 made here, also Fetishist and Shona, tropical, our only tropical holding.

We are now independent and likely one war from taking out our former master!

The Historical Hegemon Series
Volume 13 - Butua
Chapter 2 - Integrating Mutapa


This peace ends in…uh oh…January 1472, so that’s decades from now, I don’t know if they’ll be alive then.

17 Dec – Royal Marriage with Kilwa, still no wife

Lundu is Maravi’s vassal so I cannot make them my next target of expansion, I’ll have to go elsewhere

1 Jan, 1447 – I choose Mutapa as our rival

Kilwa took Sena next to us and Mutua to use them as a target of expansion, so I couldn’t take it in the war, so I cannot core those in war and take them, which means that I cannot expand into Lundu while they are a vassal of Maravi unless I end that alliance.

One way to end it would be to declare Maravi my other rival, and then grab Lundu in a future as my other rival.

Royal Marriage with Tumbuka

We now have a new consort – Nyangu, 3/3/0. Age 31. A bit old, but hopefully we’ll get an heir.

I choose Maravi as my other rival, and lose my alliance with them

They reciprocate

1 Feb – I order a core for Tete

1 May - I claim Mutapa’s Sena

28 Aug – I begin to build a spy network in Maravi

1 Jan, 1448 – I upgrade my stability from -2 to -1

Mutapa is at war with Kilwa and Sofala

Makua too

11 June - Cores finished in everything but Tete

2 July – Tete finished

I now have a forcelimit of 7k, my army size, and then I am making 3.07 – I order another 1k cavalry in Massapa

1 October – I claim:

Mutapa’s Manyika and Lundu’s capital of lundu

My cavalry is built and I am now making 1.95, I order another 1k infantry built in Tete and I order my army there.

2 Dec - Army built, now I am making 1.00. I order another 1k

The Historical Hegemon Series
Volume 13 - Butua
Chapter 3 - Kilwa Ending Her Alliance


31 Jan, 1449 – army built, now losing -0.06.

1 Feb - Another Stability rise from -1 to 0

1 May – Event – Good Monarch Power -I get 50 in each type, that’s enough for another Stability rise to +1

31 July – Event – Royal Fires – I choose to let them opt out, for ten years we get -1 national unrest but +0.03 monthly autonomy gain.

17 Oct- I create two states with my new land, spend some Adm, and then I am now making 1.79 monthly.

22 Nov – I claim Nsenga in Lundu’s other holding

27 May, 1450 – Event – There Should be a Stable Government - I lose 50 ADM power

20 June – I reject a Tumbuka alliance proposal

25 July – Kilwa annexes the rest of Mutapa

Uh oh

Makua is off the board as well.

I cannot declare war on Lundu’s capital, since we are at peace until 1452

1 Dec - Uh oh –




Kilwa have broken their alliance with us. We have peace until January 1456

The Historical Hegemon Series
Volume 13 - Butua
Chapter 4 - A Fast Five Years


1 Mar, 1451 – Alliance with Tumbuka. I need to prepare for a future war with the big bad.

2 Jan, 1452 – Stability rise to +2

2 Feb – Truce with Maravi and Lundu up, I have 10k to their total 14k and then my ally has 3k after they lost their army in war with Kilwa, and then their ally has 8k.

Nope

21 Dec – 1452 – A new heir – Dlembeu, with 3/3/5 stats, nice

1 Jan, 1454 – Quiet year in 1453 – our ruler gains the Careful trait which reduces badboy by 10%

7 April – Stability rises to 3

1 Feb, 1455 – Kilwa claims Butua

16 Nov - Maravi annexes Lundu

The Historical Hegemon Series
Volume 13 - Butua
Chapter 5 - The War of Kilwan Aggression


1 Jan, 1456 – Our peace is up with Kilwa after breaking our alliance, they can now declare war against us.

28 May – Kilwa declares war on us

I order my army to Zimbabwe from Butua

23 July - They arrive in Tete and begin taking it

31 July- Zimbabwe is ours. I order my army to Tete

15 Aug – MIL TECH 3 – We get Late Medieval Military and +0.50 morale.

18 Aug – Tete is theirs

13 Oct –We win the battle of Masappa against Solafa and they flee, we lost a few thousand soldiers

7 Nov – Kilwa defeats our damaged army in Tete

8 Mar- 1457 – They begin sieging Tumbuka’s captial

11 June – Sofala arrives in Buhera

23 July – Buhera falls

3 Aug – They begin to besiege my capital

4 Sept – Massapa falls

21 Sept – Tumbuka’s capital falls

18 Oct – Peace with Tumbuka

Zumbo falls

30 Nov – They capture Butua.

22 Jan, 1458 – They recapture Zimbabwe

28 Jan – I lose:




No longer an EU4 Whisperer right?

Hmmm...I figured that after I had taken half of Mutapa in War #1 and then allied with both Kilwa and Maravi each with 8k, each with a local vassal, and then just one ally for Mutapa that I was made. I did al of my first few goals, but then before 15 years passed, the big bad broke our alliance, and then took me out. Nasty. I thought that was hard!

And the preamble is that you cannot expand militarily without going through Kilwa. Remember my Athens dynasty where I allied with the Turks to get out from Byzantium? I was next to the Turks in Greece. There I was free to head to the adjacent Mediterranean Sea and hit anyone. In my Pskov Vassal of Muscovy dynasty after getting the Commonwealth, I went north and south into places like Novgorod and got enough land to survive in case they turned on me. Right? In my Sukhothai Dynasty I could go anywhere in South East Asia and i became a Tributary of Ming to prevent being attacked until i built up a large nation.

That cannot happen here. You have to expand militarily through the Kilwa coast. That's why this is hard, Kilwa are in their Golden Age. But hey, at least I died a free man.