Very Sus Celestial Andalusia: Part 01: 1444-1449: Very Sus Independence War

Mod Setup

I just wrote two posts about rebalancing idea groups (first, second), but actually I wanted to try something else -what if idea groups took no slots, so you can mix and match whichever ideas you wanted?

At first I tried to unlock 18 groups at tech 0 - but that meant all countries start with 7 tech groups already picked and pre-filled (why 7 and not 8 or 18? no idea), so that's awful. Then I tried to unlock all 18 at tech 4 - that worked for all starting countries, but then every released country started with 7 tech groups already picked and pre-filled, giving them huge headstart against everyone else. So as a good enough compromise I made idea groups unlock one by one for every tech from admin tech 4 onwards. Not quite what I wanted, but it seems to work.

To prevent stacking tech cost discount from ideas too high, I reduced the discount from 2% per idea to 1% per idea, all other costs are the same.

I wasn't happy with how China evolves. In 1.30 the only outcome is super stable Ming. In 1.29 there was second possibility was Ming collapsing and total chaos resulting, but the patch broke that. After a lot of tries, and a lot of AI only observe games I got combination of effects that make not just stable Ming, and total chaos possible, but also new AI China emerging. I never got it to pull the whole Qing, but I've seen stable new China with over 600dev, a bit over half of what Ming starts with.

Other changes I'm trying out for potentially including in future Fun and Balance releases:

• I removed building limit
• I massively buffed Support Rebels, and removed tech requirements from Infiltrate Administration and Agitate for Liberty.
• I tried to remove all straits to make naval combat matter a bit, and discovered that EU4 crashes unless there's at least 1 strait somewhere on the map, so I left one between Gent and Zeeland, as it seemed fairly irrelevant, bypassing just one province.
• I wanted to remove attrition cap, but old formula (which was quite brutal, and only saved by the cap) was at some point replaced by new formula which is about 10x more lenient, and cap really doesn't matter anyway, attrition is not a thing anymore.
• I unlocked unlimited number of estate privileges, as I'm interested in trying out some new builds, while still maxing out mercantilism. I was actually possible 1.30.0 to 1.30.3 except UI didn't show it. Only 1.30.4 actually banned this.

Campaign Goals

I couldn't decide if I wanted to play Iberia region and experience fun new missions there, or play someone like Ayutthaya or Oda in East Asia and have fun with the new Mingsplosions. But why not both!

• starting as Moroccan vassal Sus - a theocracy
• I need to get independent
• then form Morocco for first set of new missions, this will flip me into monarchy
• then form Andalusia for one of the best idea groups in the game
• then become Emperor of China - by the time I arrive that region might be super interesting
• and for extra difficulty I want to take Mandate of Heaven as soon as I can, not wait with it - that's suicidal in vanilla, but I think it should be fine in the mod
• and switch to some fun new religion - Ibadi is the most obvious as there's one Ibadi province in North Africa, and it was really high in the ranking
• I'll have to briefly switch to some Eastern religion for get China, but they're all terrible (except maybe Shinto) so I'll probably just go back to Ibadi
• maybe I'll Unify Islam as Ibadi on my way?
• and obviously I'd like to get trade end node like maybe Genoa

Opening Moves

Sus on bottom left of the map is a very recent addition to the game.

Morocco has full cores on all 3 of its vassals, so usually they all disappear by 1454

Morocco starts with 3 unruly vassals - 23dev tribal Tafilat with gold mine but without feudalism, 20dev emirate of Marrakesh, and our 28dev theocracy of Sus.

I got my diplomats working overtime to get Castile, Portugal, and Aragon/Naples all support my independence. 79k total.

On Morocco's side, it was Tunis, Grenada, and the other two vassals. 32k total.

My modding already backfired massively, as in vanilla there's a strait giving Iberians easy access to Maghreb, and this time they need to do the slow invasion by the sea.

I got 100% occupied, 20 war exhaustion, my whole army stack wiped twice, but I somehow managed to turn it around with battered remnants of free company, and I took 100% worth of warscore out of Morocco.

Now Morocco is just 53dev plus 20dev Marrakesh and 13dev Tafilat, and I have 73dev and the gold mine.

Of course my country is about to get overran by the rebels, I'm in a bit of debt, and Aragon and Castile have no love for each other, so things aren't great just yet.

Independence is the first step on the path to greatness