Pride of Nations

[Drakken]

Finally got a hold of things on the F4 screen, especially left and right-clicking on the fourth row.

Now Japan's domestic market is secured, even affording to export some goods to the Barbarians through Dutch intermidiaries in Dejima.

Stopped converting crops to Preserved Food because the price being offered was abysmally low (2 pounds a piece, no way!). Instead I sell the food outputs on the domestic market, but keep offering my huge Produced Food stock in case I find a passing buyer. Make slightly more money that way, which for Japan can never come too soon.

[Caliga]

As the United States I have so far enjoyed running out of machine parts and attacking the Sioux in Nebraska for no reason.   The combat system seems much more refined than in AGEOD's Civil War.  Not sure what they did exactly but I am enjoying it.

[Grallon]

Finally got a hold of things on the F4 screen, especially left and right-clicking on the fourth row.

Then explain it to me.  I've been trying to do purchases with the B screen only so far.  I'm pretty sure I did not order the purchase of coal - yet every turn coal was bought from the US and Britain.  Nobody is selling machine parts so I can't run my 2 manufacturing goods factories and thus I can't build anything other than logging camps, rice paddies and fisheries.  I have a surplus of iron but nobody is buying that either.  I sell cotton and rice - but the AI keeps buying those 2.




G.

[MadImmortalMan]

Finally got a hold of things on the F4 screen, especially left and right-clicking on the fourth row.

Now Japan's domestic market is secured, even affording to export some goods to the Barbarians through Dutch intermidiaries in Dejima.

Stopped converting crops to Preserved Food because the price being offered was abysmally low (2 pounds a piece, no way!). Instead I sell the food outputs on the domestic market, but keep offering my huge Produced Food stock in case I find a passing buyer. Make slightly more money that way, which for Japan can never come too soon.

I find it wonderfully helpful when playing Japan to send the trade fleet you start with over to Europe. Especially in the very early game--there will be manufactured goods for sale out of North Germany and Holland.

[Grallon]

I find it wonderfully helpful when playing Japan to send the trade fleet you start with over to Europe. Especially in the very early game--there will be manufactured goods for sale out of North Germany and Holland.

I thought japan was limited to the two adjacent trade naval zones?  The one next to China and the East pacific one?



G.

[Drakken]

I find it wonderfully helpful when playing Japan to send the trade fleet you start with over to Europe. Especially in the very early game--there will be manufactured goods for sale out of North Germany and Holland.

What trade fleet? The only fleet Japan has from start is a fleet of war junks. 

Besides, Grallon is right - Japan should be limited to Asia until Sakoku is revoked. Otherwise it defeats the purpose of the whole regime, and besides Japanese people leaving the shores without a Red Seal would be condemned to death - them and their whole family left behind. And there's no way the Shogun would grant a Red Seal to sailors going to trade with Westerners.

[Grallon]

I just installed patch 1.1g and restarted a new Japan game.  I can confirm that the Chesapeake trade zone and the England trade zone are accessible - meaning you can choose to buy there.  Coincidentally there are British and American fleets in the sea trade zone Japan does have access to - the Chinese one next door.  I'm guessing when this is devoid of either British or American fleets their local trade zones won't be accessible.

Anyhow I put an order for all the manufacturing goods and machine parts available (14/10 respectively).  But with my low prestige I'm likely to bit the dust.  We shall see.



G.

[Drakken]

I just installed patch 1.1g and restarted a new Japan game.  I can confirm that the Chesapeake trade zone and the England trade zone are accessible - meaning you can choose to buy there.

Got told it was a bug, and it lasts only for the first turn. Reported it to AGEOD over the PI forum.

I have no shortage of manufactured goods from domestic production, and only one Japanese industry needs machine parts so it's not very useful to buy them at the start of the game. Just make sure to decrease the % of production of MG allocated to domestic market to 5% and you're good to go.

[Grallon]

Well after the 1st turn they have become unavailable.  Yet the manufactured goods went from 15 to 36 - and I produce only 1 per turn.  No mechanical parts sadly.  So I don't know how he did it.

Oh and for once the map, when in geographical mode, is gorgeous!  Wasn't made by Paradox and it shows 




G.

[Drakken]

Well after the 1st turn they have become unavailable.  Yet the manufactured goods went from 15 to 36 - and I produce only 1 per turn.  No mechanical parts sadly.  So I don't know how he did it.

Did you successfully buy MGs from either London or Chesapeake? Did you use the "Subsidize good imports" trade decision?

[Grallon]

Did you successfully buy MGs from either London or Chesapeake? Did you use the "Subsidize good imports" trade decision?

This must be a bug since I did not subsidized until after the 4-5th turn.  Yet after the 1st turn was processed I got a report saying my orders for MG in Britain and the US were withdrawn since there was no supplies available.

The private sector seem to be transforming some of the national production into MG - on its own - from .. other sources I guess? 



G.

[Drakken]

Beats me. You can't convert goods into manufactured goods in the F4 screen. Did you turn off conversions for Supply and/or Ammunition at the upper-right part of the F4 screen? That might be a reason why.

As Japan, I only subsidize when I need Coal, as my first priority is to produce enough Minerals to at least maintain current production. As the Northern provinces are stuck in Winter at least until March, so I cannot build there, I must build it somewhere with an Mineral 1 output. It's the lesser of the two evils.

Wood and Coal come second. I am not afraid to incur a +1% in Inflation if I spend Private Capital too soon, because subsidizing imports lowers Inflation by 1%.

[The Minsky Moment]

Merchant ships make money from what they carry, no matter what the nationality of the goods' owners are.

Merchant ships in game perform a couple of different game functions.  One is shipping supply to overseas assets.  The other is to allow simulation of a guerre de course.  The merchant shipping mechanic is an elegant way to do both of those.

In theory you could just use the merchant ships for supply overseas and use e.g. the sum of all port capacities as a hard limit for total import volume.  But then only Britain and France would have a strong incentive to build significant quantities of merchant shipping and the game would be further complicated by the addition of another mechanic. 

One side effect though is that a close blockade seems to serve only for the purpose of blocking supply or intra-nation transfers of goods from overseas possession and not actually blocking imports into the port.  I say "seems" because I haven't experienced a naval war yet in game and while the manual refers to a chapter on "Convoys and Blockades" the chapter doesn't seem to be there.

[The Minsky Moment]

As the United States I have so far enjoyed running out of machine parts

You should have sufficient resources to build a machine part shop on the first turn.
Although doing so delays building out mineral or iron mines to facilitate import substitution.

[The Minsky Moment]

There are global prices but no global market.  You set orders to buy from individual trade zones and you can only buy from zones adjacent to you by land or with a port in a sea zone where you have a merchant fleet. 

it is a PITA to calibrate your international trade orders in their interface, but the system is intuitive enough.

I do my buy trades mostly on the B screen.  It takes into account where you have fleets, and is easier if less precise.

The B screen is set to buy "10" though - and i haven't figured out how to change that.
Also for imports where there is competition I try to target area with good relations or where I have a competitive advantage in merchant shipping points.