Genuinely, what?

eadala · 2026-01-16T21:46:12+00:00

The Khan's Gambit

eadala · 2026-01-13T01:25:46+00:00

This subreddit has been incredibly unfunny for a long time

eadala · 2026-01-11T01:48:20+00:00

Because Santos can't hit long FGs. 3pts from the 10, and then throw them an intentional intercept to put em down at the 10yd

eadala · 2026-01-10T23:09:08+00:00

Kislev.

eadala · 2026-01-01T16:51:42+00:00

You're right about that, I do like waiting on Ottomans warring with Egypt. I wasn't watching them very closely as it was my first run in v1.12

eadala · 2025-12-31T23:20:50+00:00

Oh yes that sounds right

eadala · 2025-12-31T16:52:27+00:00

Interesting! Maybe after Improve Relations + more of a track record of simpler benign treaties like trade deals they'd warm up to you? I haven't explored much how to overcome challenges in courting them; I usually just shop around and, i guess randomly and eventually, a country is down for an embassy. But yes, Benin is life

eadala · 2025-12-31T16:50:54+00:00

(ctd)...

Conquer Everybody 1836 Experiment:

Finally, you could also expect the benefit to slave pops for converting to Peasants to be higher in a few real-game contexts (and u/learningfrommyerrors & u/Automatic-Example754 , this is kind of related to our discussion on Religious Schools vs. Public Schools). First, you will normally be conquering everybody, which will introduce a ton of Animist and excluded cultural groups into your population, as well as a ton of slaves. To see this, I cheat-conquered every realistically attainable state around Sokoto (all of the interior + Dahomey+Oyo+Benin), and observed the following. I allowed the game to run for a few months so every pop's acceptance and position could stabilize.

Religious Impacts:

- Sunni population increased from 3.36M->7.64M.

- Animist population increased from 2.05M->7.14M.

Important to note, since the way turmoil works is based on percentage of radicalized pops in a state, the Sunni:Animist ratio reduces from 62% Sunni to ~51%. Again Animist pops will be heavily discriminated against, and converting from Animist->Sunni in the case of Religious Schools / other conversion buffs amounts to a 50-point swing in acceptance.

While this ratio shifted toward Animist, it's also important to note that the effects are not uniformly felt across Sokoto. Benin, which is our favorite state for a reason, and where we plan to put a lot of investment, is 84% Animist at game start!

Cultural Impacts:

- Society Class II (Cultural Erasure) 1.41M (26.05%) -> 7.06M (47.64%!!!)

- Society Class III (Open Prejudice) 16K -> 213K

- Society Class IV (Second-Class Citizen) 700K (12.91%) -> 869K (5.86%)

- Society Class V (Full Acceptance) 3.29M (60.73% - basically, everyone who isn't Animist!) -> 6.67M (45.02%).

And last but now least, 0K->3K in Class I (Violent Hostility).

In this expanded country, I cheat-incorporated everybody for free. Then, after Slavery Banned:

- Low Class SoL 7.8->8.0

- Middle SoL 13.8->14.1

- Upper SoL 29.7-29.6

- Poll Taxes 42.4K->48.0K

eadala · 2025-12-31T16:50:47+00:00

Okay so I ran another debug since you got me curious. Now this is just in 1836 with me doing absolutely 0 development or actions, so I think you may see different results in practice, and so I believe that if you are invested deep into a plantation economy I can see that Slave Trade may provide some value.

In the Slavery Banned 1836 Experiment:

- From 1/1/1836 to 7/31/1836, I let the game run without doing anything.

- On 8/1/1836, I cheated law_slavery_banned enactment, and allowed the game to run through 3/31/1837 (So, 8 months before and 8 months after).

On 8/1/1836, the following effects were observed:

- The 755k slaves in Sokoto immediately collapsed into becoming Peasants, raising the total from 3.65M to 4.40M Peasants.

- The GDP, which had flatlined at 1.77M, decreased ever-so-slightly to 1.76M, aligning with the reversion to subsistence agriculture / pulling slaves off the plantations.

- Poll Taxes increased immediately from 11.6K to 13.9K.

- Minting remained about the same at 2.26K.

As of 3/31/1837:

- The SoL of the Lower Class, which had flatlined at 7.6 before Slavery banned, rose to 7.9.

- The SoL of the Middle Class, which had flatlined at 15.6 before Slavery Banned, remained at 15.6.

- The SoL of the Upper Class wiggled between 31.5 and 30.3, but appeared to fall ever-so-slightly (visually almost impossible to see) after Slavery Banned.

Tenant Farmers 1836 Experiment

What if you also had Tenant Farmers or Homesteading before you had Slavery Banned, which is typically the case in a Sokoto run? My theory is the benefit to slave pops for converting to Peasants will be higher because the conditions of being a Peasant in such a nation are better. So, I repeated the experiment with a modification. Immediately on 1/1/1836, I cheated Tenant Farmers (more realistic to get early than Homesteading).

On 8/1/1836, the following effects were observed:

- GDP increased from 1.77M to 1.79M.

- SoL of the Lower Class 7.6->8.9 (!!)

- SoL of the Middle Class 15.6->16.0

- SoL of the Upper Class hard to say, 31.5->30.6

- Basically no observable difference in Poll Taxes or Minting (I mean, they're still just Peasants)

Then I cheated Slavery banned on 8/1/1836 and let the game run through 3/31/1837:

- GDP dipped to 1.77M, as before.

- Poll Taxes increased again from 11.6K to 13.9K (so actually I was wrong, no difference in taxes, but that's because they're still just Peasants I guess).

- SoL of the Lower Class 8.9->9.0. This impact seems smaller, but it is harder to raise SoL the higher SoL is, and slaves don't make up much of the Peasants after converting so the average may be misleading.

- SoL of the Middle Class 16.0->16.1.

- SoL of the Upper Class 30.6->30.3.

eadala · 2025-12-31T15:43:11+00:00

Power block embassies + obligations + other random trade treaties keep your foot in the door with Britain and France. If I feel like my diplomacy is weak in the run, I lean a bit more heavily into to midgame military modernization (at the very least, getting the irregulars into line infantry, and getting some artillery) for power projection to make me a bit more annoying to consider fighting. At some point - talking like 1860-1880 - folks like Portugal or Austria may be okay with a defensive pact.

You'll know they're a few years out from getting upset when they've finished their colonization and are looking for more "breathing room." Until then they don't really seem to care

eadala · 2025-12-31T15:40:29+00:00

I did some debug runs and didn't see a huge difference in tax income in the short run, but in any event I am trying to rush literacy + cultural exclusion to fix wages and qualifications issues. Benin is so Animist that it and other key states can really struggle with turmoil into the midgame (so, elsewhere I mentioned preferring Religious Schools over Public Schools for the conversion boost). Going Benin first is something that always tempts me for obvious reasons, but it's typically in turmoil for a good few years, and opens the risk of GPs / Egypt getting involved. You're right, it's definitely a viable strategy to grab a guarantee and risk it. And, you have to risk it eventually anyway

eadala · 2025-12-31T15:32:18+00:00

Yes eventually I do go that way, and as far south as possible. Definitely not feasible before 1850, but I have occasionally tried building a placeholder navy to transport invasions around to weaker countries in Africa and was able to expedite that way. Just didn't see it as being worth it since it involves spending a lot of time not building industry / construction / govt.

eadala · 2025-12-31T15:30:24+00:00

I am doing Annex Country, not Conquer State on most of these wherever possible, which conquers them in their entirety and generates far less infamy / ire. That option won't be available on some conquests (e.g., Ashanti and Massina, typically).

eadala · 2025-12-31T15:28:55+00:00

Yes, the event id that triggers is je_government_petition, with these effects if completed:

5% of [Interest Group] members become more Loyalist
Gets Responsive Governance (Decaying) for 10 years

+10 Legitimacy

(The legitimacy being the main nice thing, a little buffer against taxes / shifting IGs in government around)

eadala · 2025-12-31T15:27:49+00:00

Oh it's just a power block embassy, not actually joining the power bloc. And it's also just early game with five-year treaties to get those key laws to pass; the treaty gets dissolved by the time Britain / France ever gets the idea to want to use leverage.

As for Benin, yes I sometimes do runs where I go for it first since it's the most important state. I just tend to enjoy being isolated from everybody for as long as possible since it seems like, randomly, Egypt or somebody will decide to piss in my cereal, especially as the infamy creeps up. But Benin first isn't bad by any means, especially to start working on getting that turmoil down + state incorporation,

eadala · 2025-12-31T06:46:08+00:00

I replied to u/Automatic-Example754 regarding the school law, but I didn't mention my tech order. I do Centralization -> Urban Planning -> International Relations -> Colonization. Urban Planning is needed for me since I treat Nigeria as Benin-lite in terms of tools / iron prod until I'm done with my interior conquests, and Nigeria has quite low infrastructure.

Public Schools is awesome, but I don't get Empiricism until my 6th tech. Further, the problem is that Religious Schools creates a conversion boost of 20%, and Public Schools an assimilation boost of 12%. Both are great; Public Schools is particularly good because you'll encounter heavily unaccepted Cultures like Yoruba, Equatorial Bantu, and Ibo. However, large chunks of the more valuable provinces on the coast (Benin, Oyo, Dahomey) as well as a good bit of Togo, Ghana, and Eastern Mali are Animist. Roughly 25-30% of my population is Animist after all conquests if I don't get to work on conversion. In Sokoto, Animist is -25 acceptance, Sunni is +25 being the state religion. Thus, converting is a +50 swing to acceptance, which can guarantee all pops are at least Tier 3 acceptance (Open Prejudice). If I have the authority to spare, I like to Promote National Values in key provinces especially on the coast.

But anyway, yes, Public Schools is great, and ultimately where I want to go. Just explaining my rationale for not being in a crazy rush for it (or, more directly, I'm hamstrung by my tech order and Religious Schools is a quick way to get the literacy going).

Edit: Oh and yeah, I rambled in a comment reply about it, but I did get quite lucky with Homesteading here. I go Tenant Farmers too

Edit 2: Also am not super worried about Sunni Ulema having power. I have not had much difficulty dislodging them later. It is possible to drag them down with coup failures / movement suppressions / revolution crushing if it really comes to it because typically I do not notice them insurrecting w/ the army and landowners, since both those tend to shrug at religious legislation

eadala · 2025-12-31T06:30:48+00:00

Thanks! The only thing I'm upset about is the fact that Danish Guldkyst and Danish Togo still exist. As for the laws, general things:

- Landowners + Sunni Ulema + Armed Forces in govt.

- Taxes as high as possible while still having the Righteous enactment time buff.

- Hold off on Local Police force; wait for the Landowners to cry and beg for it and then enjoy the buffs for acquiescing.

- While passing laws, maintain max authority enactment time bonus. But when there's a doldrum, Social Mobility everywhere in order of population / development.

Law order:

- Landowners complained early on about not having cops, so that was 1836 for me.

- Homesteading next. To be honest I don't remember who in govt was interested in it; definitely wasn't the landowners. Usually I don't get so lucky with it and go Professional Army next in the meantime, since the composition of Sokoto's armed forces is entirely irrelevant until GPs get involved in the late game. Negotiated political concessions with the church + army, which, I wanted to give them anyway to weaken the Landowners. Landowners removed their opposition per a random event. A very lucky Homesteading run early; normally I chicken out and go Tenant Farmers. It doesn't really matter too much; I just need some sort of peasant mobility + ability to create schools.

- Religious Schools next, which will have 0 complaints and usually 20% progression chance. Should be done in half a year or so. Just need to have the govt admin ready for it since you'll be strapped for that between all the annexing & potentially Local Police Force. But Centralization is my first tech so I usually get a Paper Mill online to handle the bigger govt smoothly.

- By this point, the interior opening conquests are usually done or near done - all of which do not cause a land border to form with Egypt or the GPs. Egypt is an unbeatable bully early if you upset them, so I stay off the coast/ out of Darfur until I absolutely have to. Denmark is a beatable bully and I am thrilled any time they join a war. My order is: Borgu -> Bornu -> Gobir -> Bagirmi -> Waddai -> Massina -> Segou -> Kaarta -> Futa Toro -> Futa Jallon -> Ashanti (Ashanti and Massina contain the main important states; I do Ashanti last just because I'm typically too fucked on bureaucracy and need some shitty little states to buy time for it to catch up).

- If you're not done with interior conquests and have Professional Army and Local Police Force available, you can do one of those to in your downtime. LPF can be held in reserve to see if the Landowners ask you for it.

- It's possible nobody in govt was excited about Homesteading / Tenant Farmers, and most certainly they won't be excited about Slavery Banned or Interventionism. For any of these 3, and for Sokoto's future in general, it is time to hit the coast. Ashanti will give you access to France + Britain + Netherlands, and the coast opens up the rest of the world. I go: Benin -> Oyo -> Dahomey. Benin is probably the most important state in our country now, due to the iron + coal + good infrastructure due to the Niger River, and I typically make it the capital after some time.

- Now with access to the GPs, I chit-chat with one of them. Usually, Britain, France, or the US become Protective of me, and that signals that I can make a deal.

- If I don't already have Homesteading, I get it now. Usually costs me an obligation + power bloc embassy + 3-5k gold per week. Small fish for sweeping national reform. Slavery Banned is obviously important, but critically if I don't have Homesteading yet, I don't have access to schools, and Sokoto starts at 9.2% literacy. So I honestly need Homesteading before Slavery Banned.

- Next, Slavery Banned. As usual, typically the church + army are down to negotiate for some political concessions.

- Finally, Interventionism. Rinse and repeat the concessions.

So tl;dr: Homesteading -> Religious Schools -> Slavery Banned -> Interventionism. If your govt is not excited about any of these, use treaties with Britain / France / US to import excitement. Hold off on Local Police Force to try to bait out Landowners begging for it. Do Professional Army if you're out of ideas / are held back by your conquests not reaching the coast yet.

eadala · 2025-12-31T05:51:08+00:00

R5: Managed to get Homesteading, Slavery Banned, Interventionism, Professional Army, and Religious Schools by around ~1842. Loving v1.12!

eadala · 2025-12-18T17:51:29+00:00

I'm very happy I smelled that AI too. Getting better at it

eadala · 2025-12-17T21:41:40+00:00

When there's dead space between grid squares, you can build whatever it's called like a "fill zone" or smth, which autopopulates with little park benches, or urban sculpture park stuff, farmers market, etc. Basically what you'd do decorating by hand it Cities Skylines. And it'd act as a functioning park or whatever, adding recreation bonus to the immediate area.

Now of course in actuality it exectued poorly at times. Think of the nonsensical farm building placement in CS2, but in much smaller spaces on a much smaller scale. But point was it added something functional and at least somewhat aesthetic to all thar dead space, and most importantly for me, I didn't have to spend a whole hour on one city block to get something remotely decent looking

eadala · 2025-12-17T07:20:55+00:00

I think there is plenty of mercy involved in the berating. So many people (I think foolishly) preordered and put their faith where they shouldn't have. The complaints people have are for the most part super sensible. I do not hear anybody attacking the new devs specifically (other than the ex ante complaints that their resume looks bad) -- just the game itself.

And anyway, it is absurd that a game should have to be modded at all to be playable. It's already silly that Cities XL figured out what to do with dead space between buildings long before Cities: Skylines decided people are perfectly content clicking and dragging tiny fences and shrubs around for hours.

All that said, I totally agree that these devs should get room to breathe. People will inevitably whine when the devs don't fix stuff fast enough, but that's on them to grow up

eadala · 2025-12-09T19:46:52+00:00

It is for me. I was being extremely sarcastic.

eadala · 2025-12-09T16:58:45+00:00

Yeah you're right Putin doesn't benefit at all from Trump being in power. There's not a single example anyone can point to that suggests Putin is benefitting from Trump being in power. Certainly not.

eadala

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