Papal States: Part 17: 1620-1625: Mission to China

As I could finally attack Ayutthaya, I did so without waiting, vassalized Yue, and that got me into the first war in China, finally!

As there was going to be a lot of coring to do, I setup 4 vassals there - Khmer, Dai Viet, Yue, and Ming. Nearly the whole territory of my ally emperor of China Chu is either Ming or Yue core, so if I wait long enough, I'll be able to consume them from within.

I'm running out of space to build new manufactories, but there's still a few decades worth of trade company investments to do. After that I'm not even sure what I could do with the money.

I got to 95% max absolutism (current 88% and changing 3% per year). It cost me Strong Duchies privilege, but if I get Pegu monument, just beyond the border, it's basically Strong Duchies for free. I'm not sure what's the best way to get that last 5% but it will do.

Anyway, there's alot of cleanup I could do, like actually conquering China, but it feels like a formality. None of the Europeans cares enough to coalition me, even France got over losing Paris and 2/3 of their land to me. Sunni alliance network is broken, Delhi and Bengal who would be a hassle just don't care, so I can crush the remaining ones region by region without much trouble. Even for China, I can get nearly all with core returns, so zero coalition risk. There's a lot of map painting to do, but it's really just a formality.

Overall it was a decent campaign. The game is in somewhat better state than previous few patches. I'm not saying the game is balanced, but they toned down the broken parts a lot.

Here's list of monument bonuses I have, with pretty much all that aren't max tier being in process of being upgraded:

• Advisor Costs: -0.45 (Parthenon 2, Pyramid of Cheops 3, Santa Maria del Fiore 3)
• Appoint Cardinal cost: -0.1 (Saint Peter's Basilica 2)
• Average Monarch Lifespan: 0.05 (Mausoleum at Halicarnassus 2)
• Caravan Power: 0.33 (Aït Benhaddou 3)
• Church Power Modifier: 0.3 (Duomo di Milano 2, Holy City of Jerusalem 3, Notre-Dame Cathedral 1)
• Clergy Loyalty Equilibrium: 0.4 (Duomo di Milano 2, Hagia Sophia 2, Pyramid of Cheops 3, Sankore Madrasah 1)
• Culture Conversion Cost: -0.05 (Borobudur Temple 1)
• Curia Powers cost: -0.1 (Saint Peter's Basilica 2)
• Diplomatic Relations: 1 (Petra 3)
• Diplomatic Reputation: 2 (Petra 3)
• Envoy Travel Time: -0.33 (Petra 3)
• Fabricate Claims Cost: -0.2 (Petra 3)
• Global Trade Power: 0.05 (Aït Benhaddou 3)
• Governing Capacity: 100 (Royal Palace of Caserta 3)
• Idea Cost: -0.1 (Pyramid of Cheops 3, Saint Peter's Basilica 2)
• Improve Relations: 0.1 (Versailles 2)
• Income from Vassals: 0.1 (Versailles 2)
• Institution Spread: 0.15 (Sankore Madrasah 1)
• Missionaries: 1 (Holy City of Jerusalem 3)
• Missionary Strength vs Heretics: 0.03 (Holy City of Jerusalem 3)
• Monthly Fervor: 1.75 (Duomo di Milano 2, Holy City of Jerusalem 3, Notre-Dame Cathedral 1)
• Monthly Piety Accelerator: 0.001 (Hagia Sophia 2)
• Monthly Splendor: 3 (Mausoleum at Halicarnassus 2, Santa Maria del Fiore 3)
• National Tax Modifier: 0.15 (Versailles 2)
• Nobility Influence: 0.1 (Versailles 2)
• Nobility Loyalty Equilibrium: 0.1 (Versailles 2)
• Papal Influence: 3.0 (Duomo di Milano 2, Hagia Sophia 2, Holy City of Jerusalem 3, Notre-Dame Cathedral 1)
• Possible Advisors: 1 (Parthenon 2)
• Prestige: 3.0 (Doge's Palace 3, Holy City of Jerusalem 3, Mausoleum at Halicarnassus 2, Royal Palace of Caserta 3)
• Prestige Decay: -0.01 (Santa Maria del Fiore 3)
• Reform Progress Growth: 0.45 (Doge's Palace 3, Royal Palace of Caserta 3)
• Republican Tradition: 0.5 (Doge's Palace 3)
• Resistance to Reformation: 0.3 (Duomo di Milano 2)
• Tolerance of Heretics: 0.5 (Hagia Sophia 2)
• Tolerance of the True Faith: 1.0 (Hagia Sophia 2, Notre-Dame Cathedral 1)
• Trade Efficiency: 0.1 (Aït Benhaddou 3)
• Yearly Patriarch Authority: 0.002 (Hagia Sophia 2)

Once all finish upgrading, and I get a few more, the list will be about twice as strong. And I avoided fighting Spain for their stupidly good monuments like Alhambra and Malta. So monuments are still stupidly overpowered.

I really like tech changes from the latest Fun and Balance mod. It feels like EU3 again, with decent but not overwhelming degree of European tech advantage, but nothing too crazy, and a lot more room for variance between countries (Delhi and Bahmanis are both 1 tech ahead of Spain or Commonwealth, even though they're facing more difficult situation).

My vassals here are tiny Ming next to Beijing, tiny Khmer, and a bit bigger Vijayanagar, Yue, and Dai Viet. About the most serious issue is that I want to take some monuments from Bengal, and that risks Sunni coalition, but there's no rush, and number of Sunnis worldwide has been plummeting.

Overall political map, a lot of cleanup to do in Africa, Middle East, Indonesia, and then conquest of China to do, but really no serious challenge left. All I need to do is make sure Delhi and Bengal don't join any coalitions, and I could even get so many troops they wouldn't think of it.

It feels like the Pope should get some anti-heretic tools but you get absolutely none. HRE emperor gets some, but doesn't really use them, on the contrary - he gives heretics Free City status like candy.

I also really hate that Orthodox privilege from the latest patch, the result is that AI never ever converts Orthodox, even after the schism is healed, and there are 0 Orthodox countries, Orthodox is still 6th biggest religion by provinces, and soon it would be in top 3 as other religions get wrecked.

This tech map is beautiful. This is how it was supposed to look like, before institutions broke everything.

It's not quite as impactful as it looks, as 2 mil tech difference is only noticeable for some specific techs, and AI often takes mil ideas so it balances out.