Re: Plutocracy Crack Pirates Bay
Phillipp Schneeberger
Starting Position: Starting as Gotland an event fires at the start with a choice between being a Monarchy or a Republic? If choosing to become a Republic a new event will fire offering a choice between a Plutocracy or a Pirate Republic where each route provides a unique set of missions. Accordingly there are three sets of different missions to be decided upon at the start of the game. Note that each choice of route cannot be undone in any particular run.
Start as a Plutocracy Gotland, form a trade league, get good relations with the HRE emperor and join the HRE. No-CB war on Novgorod and take Neva and perhaps Novogord early, since Muscovy won't dare to attack a HRE memeber, so you should be safe. Hire two mercenary companies and build 10 light ships, get claims on Denmark and declare war and take Sjlland. Slowly take over more trade provinces around the baltic and Lbeck trade node. Eliminate Lbeck, and take Hamburg and Bremen to dominiate trade in Lbeck. Build a great trade fleet to dominate trade in English channel. When no more Gutnish missions are left to complete form the Hanseatic League and continue on with those great trade related missions.
Pirate Gotland can be played in a number of different ways like most nations in EU4. One way is to build up power by colonizing heavily, an other is to stay a small island bound nation and plunder the Europeans a lot, the third is to conquer Scandinavia fast and play just like Sweden/Denmark before forming Scandinavia. Become change religion to Totemism or Protestantism?
The mission tree wants Gotland to take a large number of provinces through permanent claims and/or rewards. These provinces are: Lubeck, Danzig, Riga, London and a few cloth producing provinces in the Netherlands, all of Denmark, every trade province in the Baltic sea trade node and all the German trade provinces in the Lbeck trade node and all islands in the Mediterranean Sea. Gotland also has missions for owning Bermuda, Tortuga and at least four other Caribbean provinces through colonization presumably. Gotland is also rewarded for having a certain privateering percentage in different trade nodes and/or raided their coast. Controlling Roma or Venice during a war will yield great rewards too.
Pirate Gotland has a choice to make in the beginning of the campaign: where will Gotland's power base be? In the old world (Europe) or in the New world (America)? Gotland starts in the old world, with one province in the Baltic sea trade node, but can get a new start in the new world, in the Caribbean trade node early on. Gotland's missions are tailored for both regions, but time is of the essence! The Caribbean node will close fast once the Iberians get there and the Baltic sea node will close once Poland and Muscovy becomes big and scary and grabs the lands of the Teutonic order, Riga, the Livonian Order and Novgorod. Once the HQ is chosen Gotland should at least have a presence in the other area (for raiding range and the possibility to privateer) while spreading to adjacent nodes. Pirates generally wants to spread out on the globe, by owning an island here and there close to every major trade node and rich coastline.
The new world route offers lots of wealthy provinces to colonize if Gotland can get there early. Gotland might hit the gov cap fast when the whole strategy is to colonize everything and take the natives lands by force. Also much of the trade will go to Europe from Caribbean, Chesapeake Bay and gulf on St. Lawrence, even if Gotland owns every province in the node. The old world route offers better raiding since Europe is packed with high dev provinces. The old world route can still colonize, but doing so in the new world, colonial nations will form, which is great if you can't get allies AND the Naval force limit bonus that Private enterprise offers is very nice. But bad to hand over control over the nice monuments located in the new world to colonial nations.
Staying catholic is a good option in the early colonial era for Gotland because of the Treaty of Tordesillas. If Gotland is the first to have five cities in Caribbean, Portugal and Spain will colonize Brazil and Argentina instead. That means the Caribbeans is Gotland's without competition until Anglican England arrives.
A pirate Gotland republic is in a unique position to benefit greatly from Totemism. This because Totemism only exists amoung the natives in North America which is very close to Bermuda that Gotland can get early on. Also, with elections as often as every 3 years Gotland can get many ancestors to choose from in a very short period of time. The downside is the relation penalty with every other christian European nation, relations that is frosty to begin with because ot all the raiding and privateering...
Totemist nations can (at a cost of 400 diplo points each) pick 10 ancestors traits from thier past leaders of the 32 traits that leaders can have. Here are the 16 best traits for a pirate Totemist Gotland, five are super great, the rest can be great too but are more situational.
Colonies: Gotland is in the position to form a few great colonial nations early. Colonial Canada and Colonial Eastern America are the first two that comes to mind if going totemist and already have som provinces in thiese regions it will be easy. Much later colonial Australia could be formed.
Vassals: If the general strategy is to only have easily defended islands, then vassals with Scutage enabled lets vassals stay out of all wars that Gotland is part of AND must pay more to the overlord Gotland.
Trade companies are a great tool for pirate Gotland to earn more money and to stay under the dev cap, but that is for later in the game. A trade company offers less dev cost than a core province but have higher trade power, plus +1 merchant if over 50% in the trade region. The trade company buildings are not that great for Gotland: +5 naval force limit for 1000 ducats seems too much. Early game Gotland will be low on dev and needs every port. So don't start any trade company, core everything instead (and convert religion), unless you can get the +1 mechant.
Ramparts are a manufactory not seen much. But it is a great building to have in provinces with straits that you are baiting the enemy to siege in order to suround them with ships, send in the army and stackwipe them. Workes well in provinces like Sjlland, sel, Rugen and land.
Coastal defence(5) or Naval battery (12) are the kryptonite to pirates. It makes that province safe from any coastal raids forever. It also takes more ships to blockade that province during wartime. Naval battery adds +5 attrition for any hostile fleet. Gotland could take the province and then sell the building if needed. It would be bad to suffer +5 attrition in seazones where Gotland will have ships on no end to block of enemy armies to cross a strait.
There are some great monuments for pirates, especially pagan pirates. The two best monuments for pirates are located in Gotland and Tortuga. Gotland starts with the one in Gotland (duh) and can easily colonize Tortuga. The monuments in the new world will be handed over to the colonial nations if one is created in that region. So make sure to move the capital to the new world or never get more than 4 provinces in the region where the monumet is to keep it for your self. The monument in Ahiarmiut (Canada) can be transported to Gotland (for 1600 ducats) even if it is in a colonial nations possession, do so midgame. Take the province Benin in the Ivory trade node and convert it to totemist to get the bonuses. The monument in Malta is good for a totemist Gotland because almoust all future enemies are of a different religion than totemism.
At start Novogorod is the best trade node to privateer since it is a medium rich trade node but with low domestic tradepower and very few light ships. Later the goal is to park a huge privateer fleet in the Seville trade node and reap at least 75% of the trade. This is the best place for privateering, since it is a very rich trade node because both portugal and spain are heavily pulling trade there from Ivory coast and the caribbean AND for the rich treachery fleets heading there. Seville also only usually have medium+ trade power with just a few countries having tradeships there and the landbased tradepower is nog huge. By mid 1500s the node could have 50 ducats per month and privateering could yeild 30 ducats per month plus the treachery fleets. One per colonial nation that produce gold. Usually one from Mexico and from from Peru, that can yeild 150+80 ducats for the privateers. When Seville is well covered, start an other privateer fleet in Genua, Malacca or English chanel.
Gotland can get lots of privateer bonuses from ideas, events and missions, try to get most of them early. Remember to also get any +% to ship tradepower too, since that is the base that the privateering bonuses multipies with (Doctrine and monument in Cartagena for instance).
Attack and take the Maldives for great raiding range around india. Coloinze The Andamans (for raiding india and malacca) and Taiwan (for raiding china and Japan), colonize the falklands or South Georgia (for rading argentina). The berber nations in north africa raid the european coast regualry. But if Gotland (or other none berber nation) can take allt the coastal provinces in north africa from Morocco to Egypt then Gotland will have monopoly on raiding the rich mediterranean coastline.
There are a lot of different idea groups that are intreresting for Gotland (the rare Maritime and Naval picks are on the table now). Should Gotland pick ideas based on maximizing what they already are good at or try to minimizing what they struggle with?
Religious ideas could be good for a totemist Gotland that wants to convert every colonized or claimed province. Also if going totemist it will be hard to get a second missionary outside of this idea group.
Naval offers mainly better ship battle capabilities. Galley and heavy ship combat ability, morale, better admirals and so on. The two best bonuses is perhaps +1 yearly navy tradition and free naval barrage cost. Policy with Maritime +50% blockade effiency and +1 blockade impact on siege. Policy with trade: +40% ship trade power (great for privateering) and -10% light ship cost. This group of ideas is not bad for pirates, there are just so many that are so much better. A strategy based around lots of naval battles with a smaller navy or choosing the pirate king gov reform and maximasing admiral pips could be interessting with Naval.
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