[U][SIZE=6]Chimu - the gutsy natives![/SIZE][SIZE=3]- Ethnic uniformity (continued...)[/SIZE][/U] December 1667 - Well we won this fight, but ouch ouch ouch. Lost huge numbers of men. We really must focus on going towards quality from quantity in the next slider changes... it seems to be making a big difference. We have now gone up to Mosquito, occupied that, and moved our troops back down to the slightly safer Chorotega again. [IMG]http://game-point.net/misc/eu3/chimu/take2/149.png[/IMG] As we've seized the Sardinia-Piedmont colonies we need, we want to get that last Genoa colony to the north before it becomes self-sustaining, so despite the fact that we're bruised and battered from this war, we need to declare a war of aggression on Genoa and nab that colony quickly. We sue for peace with Castille and concede defeat, which is all they will accept (even though we have a positive warscore). We're losing 277 ducats annually if we mint a small enough amount to keep inflation level. Good job we have some money in the kitty from those previous gifts to the state, but at this rate it won't last long! [IMG]http://game-point.net/misc/eu3/chimu/take2/150.png[/IMG] I don't like to keep conceding defeat, but our revolt risk situation is bad and we [i]really[/i] need to declare on Genoa soon because that colony in Magdalena is nearly at 900 now. We get a peace out of The Hansa in June 1668 by conceding defeat, then, as usual. In February 1669, our colonists succeed, and flip the religion/culture over to ours in Cartagena and Antioquia. We'll focus on getting Antioquia up to being self-sustaining, and then we can send colonists to the landlocked Chiancon and Bogota to flip them too. [IMG]http://game-point.net/misc/eu3/chimu/take2/151.png[/IMG] In March 1669, we declare a war of aggression against Genoa. The good thing about them is that they have their capital in Cayenne, so we should be able to land there and occupy it quickly (it only has a fort 1), hopefully making them more willing to talk white peace after we've seized their colony. That's the plan, anyway. Sure enough, in June 1669, we seize Magdalena and send a colonist there. Shortly after, we sue Genoa for peace. Having occupied a couple of their provinces including the capital, we're even able to demand a bit of tribute from them: [IMG]http://game-point.net/misc/eu3/chimu/take2/152.png[/IMG] Our "ring" around the inland northern South America provinces that are still uncolonized is now complete. Only we can colonize them, and we can do so at our leisure (assuming we hold on to the "ring" territories). Some of it's still Terra Incognita, of course. At no point since meeting the Europeans have I even considered the Quest for the New World national idea - been too busy with other matters. All the Terra Incognita has been discovered just by having provinces next to it, and that method seems fine for colonizing the remaining bits of South America too, so that's how we'll do it, slowly and steadily. For now, however, it's definitely time for a long period of consolidation. We have a high revolt risk, a bunch of colonies that need to become self-sustaining, not to mention a manpower at rock bottom that needs to fully replenish, and we need to core on quite a few provinces just to get our core province percentage back over 50% to stand a chance of losing the overextension penalty! [IMG]http://game-point.net/misc/eu3/chimu/take2/153.png[/IMG] It's October 1669, and stability is taking quite a while to get back up to +3. Here's a rather stark reminder of which of our provinces share our religion and culture, and which don't... [IMG]http://game-point.net/misc/eu3/chimu/take2/154.png[/IMG] In May 1670, Chaco Austral becomes self-sustaining. We build a fort there. Also in January 1671, Antioquia becomes becomes self-sustaining and we build a fort there - we can now send our next 2 colonists to Chiancon and Bogota to flip their religion/culture, and we'll have gotten all of the colonies done. Another slider change becomes available in March 1671 and we begin our movement towards quality. This gives us a level 4 commandant, which I think we're going to hire given the casualties our lack of discipline seemed to cause in the war against Castille. After hiring him, our troop discipline is up to 100%. [IMG]http://game-point.net/misc/eu3/chimu/take2/155.png[/IMG] By September 1671, we've successfully sent a colonist to Bogota. It's now Animist and Incan. April 1672 - We core on Atacama. Well, we're... um... getting there? [IMG]http://game-point.net/misc/eu3/chimu/take2/156.png[/IMG] Aaaaaand finally we get a colonist to Chiancon successfully by August 1672. Now, we've pretty much done as much as we can to ensure the fullest extent of Animist/Incan ethnic uniformity across South America. Further consolidation and colonization are needed, but we've minimized the amount of land that the Europeans could turn to their culture: [IMG]http://game-point.net/misc/eu3/chimu/take2/157.png[/IMG] The extent of Chimu is now quite large, but our land force limits (66) are still smaller than our armies (84) - even [i]with[/i] "Grand Army" - so defending it is difficult and expensive. Every now and then, European nations will declare war on us even though we can defend ourselves. It's always a struggle to be pagan! [IMG]http://game-point.net/misc/eu3/chimu/take2/158.png[/IMG] So, next up is a lot of consolidation, coring on provinces, colonization, and then eventually taking the fight to the Europeans that have colonized the north-east South America. We may even want to push Castille back in Central America because they are so aggressive I have a feeling they will keep DoWing on us and that will be a nuisance. They probably need weakening a lot. We also want to really start pushing money into tech. Once we get the Republican Dictatorship government type, we'll have the imperialism CB, and that's when we'll go for the European provinces. We won't have to be losing stability through wars of aggression anymore, so we can start concentrating our investments in tech and hopefully become one of the leading tech nations in the world. Until the next instalment, then...