It’s winter, 1735 and suddenly the European powers are starting to take an interest in India. Each turn I am being presented with “diplomacy” from Great Britain, France, Russia and Poland-Lithuania requesting a region in India for some tech and a handful of money. I’d like a ‘never, not gonna happen, stop asking’ button alongside the decline button. Why would I give away a region that I fought hard to claim in the first place? Crazy euros!
In other news, the Maratha Confederacy has set foot on the European Campaign map, although I’m not in Europe proper (yet). First the Mughal Empire fell, now Persia is on it’s knees awaiting the death blow. Persia (the region) is under my control as is all of mainland India. Bordering Persia, Mesopotania is Ottoman Territory – a friendly trading partner, and Azerbaijan is the last refuge of the Persian Empire. They are launching frequent forays into their old stomping ground and I have moved some smaller mobile forces up to contain them. The assault on Persian territories was probably too quick, and now my major armies are playing garrison to keep the newly conquered provinces from rising up and entering rebellion. As soon as they start to settle I will direct troops north and finish off the Persian ‘Empire’.
Goa was the only region on mainland India that was going to be a problem. I built an army and had them stationed nearby ready to move on the Portuguese colony, but I held off on launching them as the Portuguese held an alliance with the French (versus the Spanish) and in turn the French were giving me a decent amount of trading business. I didn’t want to ruin my relationship with the French by hitting the Portuguese. Seems it was a good thing I waited, because the very turn I moved my army to the border, Spain hit Lisbon and Portugal ceased to exist. Now I was facing Marathan Rebels, not a colonial army and the vistory was a simple one.
So these could be interesting times. The Euros will probably get tired of asking and just come and take, and I will hopefully not get dragged into another war like I was when Persia declared against me. I want some time to develop my Empire and the settlements she is made from. Also some time to research and develop new technologies – it was only about 5 turns ago that I realised I could research more than one thing at a time (dolt). Finally I have sent a fleet across to America. The New World beckons. It’ll be interesting to see what mischief I can get up to there.
