[PON] Game of 'Victorian' Thrones

[Kensai]

March 1883

The colonization of Nyasaland is continuing at full pace. Our prospectors have found some really interesting and rare minerals, we have instructed the building of a mine to take advantage of them. We still need to figure out a trade and supply route with the Portuguese, otherwise our troops may be out of supply most of the time, albeit having built a depot and an anchorage for our fishermen on the shores of lake Nyasa. Moreover, a friendly route is needed for the export of resources to a port in the Indian Ocean for shipping to Japan.

We now have also a full understanding of the newest methods on how to accrue and finance a viable public debt. Next month there will be the first possibility for the Japanese Government to issue bonds, giving the public sector some more options to finance its military and colonial projects. This means Japan becomes even more competitive as a global player!



PS. This is a relatively peaceful time to block the progress of the campaign and dedicate to my Großdeutschland Mod as we wait for the release of v1.04.

[Kensai]

The game will be restarting some time next week when I plan to deliver v1 of the Großdeutschland mod. Since v1.04 is not coming anytime soon, there is no need to wait.

Some housekeeping changes coming (in the next game decade):

• Suez canal structure will be recreated for Germany. This way Germany will earn money each turn. Unfortunately, the canal itself is still bugged, there is probably a code issue.
• All non-national regions will be reverted to colonies, except for the regions that comply with the new, stricter, conversion rules. Only regions that I will keep/convert to national regions by force are the American territories that reached Statehood by 1883.
• Scripts to decrease the yield of certain mines according to their historical quantities.
• The world economy is supercharged, I should take over each major nation separately and see to dismantle certain generic buildings.
• Other minor fixes (contentment, militancy, etc) to make the whole map realistic. For example I need to fix the Görlitz population which somehow went above that of Berlin. I should start from Europe and move my way to the all continents.

Onward!

[Kensai]

April-June 1883

The attempts of the Japanese Empire to gain supply rights from Portugal continue to meet resistance. The Portuguese perhaps don't have or they don't want to supply our colonial troops. With the depot ready now at Nyasa and the huge lake in front of us, we have to attempt subsistence living. Our troops are too many, unfortunately. We might have to upgrade the depot structure. Although we can in theory afford a war with the Portuguese, changing the borders in Africa might move the other major powers join against us, in another escalating long war. The recent experience of war with France proved devastating. Our explorers have charted the last tile of African soil not yet known in the South of the continent. Unfortunately, it was made known to us that it was already claimed by Germany. We should stick with Nyasaland.

In other news, Japan's first automotive industry (and probably one of the first of the world, behind Benz that is under construction in... Kiel! ) is being set up in Hiroshima. Is the world ready for this new fancy product that could revolutionize transportation? Panhard and Levassor, two Japanophiles from France that decided to move to Nippon after the recent conflict are behind this latest private investment.








PS. Suez Canal structure reconstructed through script. Three months crunched in a row. Funny, after my modding work has taken place in 1850, I had forgotten how big the saved game files are becoming later on, together with the time needed to process a turn.

[Kensai]

Hmm, one possible way to abstract (and justify) the deletion of structures and money reserves is to wait for the next world financial crisis. Then it could be said that some companies of the era went bankrupt. This will slow down things.

It might be better NOT to touch the population, at least not in most places/cases.

[Kensai]

July-August 1883

The Americans in the State of Florida seized our Dragon Fruit Company, a legit Japanese business that was bringing "exotic" fruit to our people. Yet another insult by the Americans to our people. Demands for recompensation have not been answered, albeit the next month the Federal Government of the USA sent an official diplomatic mission which we accepted as we don't want further trouble. We can finally understand the workings of torpedo boat DESTROYERS. Every navy by now has torpedo boats, these new ships are capable of protecting our ships by hunting the enemy TBs down. The Osaka shipyards have started building the first four immediately. The new destroyers will be built with electric mounts for their main guns, a nice improvement over previous steam-powered mechanisms.

Two decorated Japanese Generals (one was our Commander in Chief in Africa) have retired and we instituted a new military medal to honor them. Japanese technology cannot match most Westerners, but it is ahead of that of Russia or Austria-Hungary. We are confident for the future!




PS. Passed a megafix that decreased the structures of all major nations (including the crazy situation of Sweden) and improved the contentment/militancy in certain others that had spiraled out of control. A few days hiatus now, cause I need to get back to my secret project which I will be presenting tomorrow!

[Kensai]

September-October 1883

Nyasa is under our firm control. It is time for the world community to understand it is under own protection. Only the Swedish might react, but we could crush them...



After the last war with France, the Japanese Navy is being seriously expanded, albeit we are not capable to provide always with the latest designs, especially for larger ships. These, however, will be wonderful ships in raiding mission.



Just before the end of the month I noticed that the Germans are accusing the Russian ambassador of inappropriate behavior (I want to think he made a remark over the situation in Sudan, where Egyptians are fighting the Mahdiyya movement) and a major crisis has erupted. I will know next turn (November) the results... suspense. Both nations are quite powerful and with a huge common border. It would be messy, but both nations will lose a lot in such a conflict...


PS. Another megafix for the faulty colonial penetration of (non-)national regions. This will bring back the lost VP of nations with historical colonial programs. I should have done it earlier, honestly.

[Kensai]

November-December 1883

What a brilliant finale for the crisis between Germany (Prussia) and Russia. Eventually, the small incident was resolved thanks to Russia's cunning in using legal justifications to gain dominance. Bismarck tried a policy of "delays" to diffuse the situation, but from the first move Russia gained and kept its dominance. From the cards played it is clear that both sides wanted to avoid an armed conflict. Nonetheless, Germany has been ridiculed by this crisis as the Russians not only passed their message, but also made sure the Germans were portrayed as cowards.

A conflict would have been messy and the only real winner would have been Great Britain which still leads by a big margin, thanks to its established colonies almost everywhere. Russia gained a lot and has closed the gap in Prestige with the other nations. Bismarck's first defeat in diplomacy? You can argue that it was the best thing he could do to defuse this crisis, given that a war would have meant trouble for Germany, albeit Russia already entangled in multiple conflicts in Asia...



Japan has passed a new law to allow strikes. This was imperative as a contentment fix was passed to improve realism and challenge and all regions had high militancy.


PS. I have fixed ALL colonial and contentment issues on the map with yet another megafix. No non-national regions remain, except for the American ones that are actually States in this alternate reality. This gives back the colonial VP lost by many nations in F8. Moreover, I have given contentment in small nations and got away some from the major ones that have been maintaining a huge surplus with very high taxes given the supercharged market. All is done by now!

[Kensai]

January-February 1884

Berlin-Congo Conference happen. The Congo one does not make entirely sense, as Portugal has already colonized "Belgian Congo". Nonetheless, given it has fired without territorial conditions and created some units in Congo for Belgium, I decided for challenge and gameplay reasons to degrade Zaire to Portuguese Protectorate and let the Belgians have a shot, to challenge Portugal which is already active in colonizing the place.

Maxim machine guns researched! Their story is this:

The „Hiram Maxim Gun“, named after its inventor Sir Hiram Stevens Maxim, was the first recoil-operated machine gun ever invented. Patents for single parts of this gun can be traced back to 1883 while the first prototype was introduced to the public in 1884. The Hiram Maxim Gun uses the energy of the recoil, instead of a locked bolt or a lever system, to automatically eject each bullet while inserting the next one. Thus, the machine gun was capable of firing 600 rounds per minute, equal to about 30 standard bolt-action rifles. Nonetheless the Hiram Maxim Gun required a fragile water cooling and could only by used by a team of men.

A prototype of the Hiram Maxim Gun was used during the Emin Pasha Relief Expedition in 1886. In fact, the gun was used on several occasions but most likely to scare off locals. The same prototype was later brought back to Africa by British soldiers to establish a protectorate in Buganda, demonstrating its own sturdiness and effectiveness. During the First Matabele War, four Hiram Maxim Guns were used by British colonial forces to fight a superiority of warriors. Needless to say that the invention of Sir Hiram Stevens Maxim changed military tactics. Or as Hilaire Belloc wrote: „Whatever happens, we have got the Maxim Gun and they have not!“

During World War I many European armies had moved from standard guns to improved coil-operated machine guns: The British „Vickers“ machine gun, the German „Maschienengewehr 08“ and even the Russian „Pulemyot Maxim“ are all more or less copies of the original Hiram Maxim Gun. The U.S. Army showed a heavy interest in the gun since its invention and after years of testing and improving the gun, it was finally adopted by the U.S. Army in 1904 as the „Maxim Machine Gun, Caliber .30, Model of 1904“. It actually was the first rifle caliber heavy machine gun that was approved by authorities as the standard service type. During World War I however the last models of the original Maxim Machine Gun were used as training devices for American soldiers and thus were not used during combat action.

Japan finally proclaimed Nyassaland as its protectorate! Also, some private investors bought back a lot of transport-merchant ship replenishments. Never seen that action before.





And another gold rush (of Chinese interests!!) in Canada!



PS. Fixed the US States according to real life history statehood by 1884. All the rest has been degraded to colony for more realism. This way the USA will again earn some VPs from its continental colonization.

[Kensai]

I will be restarting next week. I think the best course of action from now on is to play 6-month chunks (12 turns) in a row. Considering some 5-10 minutes per turn, it will take max 2 hours to complete per session, fortunately less. I think it will be better and keep the suspense high, as well as make it more interesting if someone joins. The different time zones might be a problem (I am in CET), but I think online appointments can be arranged. After all, it is not imperative for the player(s) to dedicate full-time in front of the PC. It could be a weekend while doing other stuff. I myself nowadays process turns while watching the news or other stuff.

The next turn will be until Early July and then I will put this into effect till 1920. 12 turns, even if you meet once per week, is more turns per-week than one-per-day.

[Kensai]

March-June 1884

The Portuguese still do not want to help us with our landlocked protectorate. However, Japan is not staying idle in its quest for technological prowess and glory. Our new advances in ship technology together with the new naval designs ordered means we do not fear anymore to antagonize a Western nation. Portugal is without allies but we can always find ourselves in trouble. If the Portuguese do not agree to mutual supply rights we shall consider going to war with them for Mozambique. Their apparent neutrality these last years and their potential issues with the Belgians might keep them occupied. There is a deal with the British over Congo river, but this is not of our concern, it is in Western Africa.

Ito Hirobumi has ordered the study of an operation to invade and occupy Mozambique for as long is needed for the Portuguese to release it. Operations can start in less than 6 months. The so called "African Navy", used in the initial landing for Nyasaland, will be dispatched. A division of Marines is getting ready in Osaka.

[Kensai]

The game is rather stable after all the fixes I have thrown in, recently, and I am quite pleased with it apart from the save files size. They have become rather huge after so much info accumulation. I can't imagine how large the files will be by 1910.

The world economy still goes very strong and I may look at another round of structure dismantling for all major nations, as well as some tweaking of the population and development around the globe. Some cities have already reached level 20 which apart from some capitals (London, Paris, etc) should not be the case.

I am very pleased with the health of it, however. Yes, most of the map has been discovered much earlier than the historical time, but still it is rather realistic and balanced.