Turn 13. July 1793 (will be datestamping my turns from now on).
Trade and economy.
Trades for luxuries with Sweden continue to fall through. We have a thread up in Tech support asking for assistance as to why this is failing as both of us have our settings checked correctly for the trades to go through. We also have numerous trades involving money for other commodities, so its a weird one.
I spend a little time this turn carefully removing labor from various areas to use the minimum amount of labor in any given province to maintain the same level of productivity, and move the excess labor into development so that my banks, farms, roads, factories, etc. will be built as quickly as possible.
Things are going very well and I will soon have bank developments completed in several provinces. I make a hasty judgement that when those banks are finished the increase in income will make up for the slight dip from cutting my tax rate from 15% to 10% so I do so immediately. According to the economic screen I will be 36 money in the red per turn, but as I said banking developments are soon to finish with more to follow and I have a 3000 money rainy day fund. Soon I will grow my income to the point I will be making good money again at 10% and will try to cut again to 5%.
Cutting taxes below 15% starts to have tangible benefits when it comes to morale and also has minor increases in the production of raw materials.
Diplomacy.
Had some off turn talk with Turkey and Spain regarding strengthened relations between all three nations. Got fairly receptive replies. Will see if/how it develops further. One thing I really DONT want to see is Spain and Turkey fighting each other over North Africa. They are both my trading partners and I would prefer that Great Britain, Spain and Turkey all develop positive trade and diplomatic relationships.
Spain is currently invading Tripoli and Turkey has sent a treaty to Spain requesting that both parties sign an enforced peace and respect the Neutrality of Tripoli. If that arrangement doesnt work I hope they can come to some other agreement, and soon.
Military.
Started production of a light cavalry in Anglia. Will build another light cav, a heavy cav, a horse artillery, 2 heavy artillery and 2 rifle infantry as resources permit. That will leave me 3 mobilization points. I might build a couple standard infantry to help round out my armies, leaving 1 mob point to build ships with. Have decided not to build Guards this game for sure, might get Light infantry doctrine and build a couple of those, but probably not. Im leaning towards them not being worth it for a country with such a small military. Heavy Artillery, Rifle infantry, etc seem like more bang for the buck for Great Britain. Plus the 75 experience for the LI doct. could be spent elsewhere, either on doctrinal upgrades or unit upgrades for my very small but elite military. Unit upgrades have known and fairly significant effects on quick and instant combat from my research so I am experimenting more with them this game.
I remove my Corps of British troops from 2nd Army on the Continent as it of around 5 morale. I intend to march 2nd Army around, giving the men experience in maneuvers and the rigors of life on the march until the Danish and Hanover Corps are of a more seasoned nature. Some would say this is a "gamey" move on my part. I completely disagree. It is one of the only ways to simulate what Great Britain really did with its smaller land forces, which is train and drill more than its contemporaries.
In Naval News... (THIS IS THE BIGGIE THIS TURN):
Had two big victories against the Dutch Navy as expected! These were about as one sided as sea battles get in quick/instant combat, particularly considering the very good quality of the Dutch fleets (5.5 morale, one of the best in the game). I got 40+ glory for the battles this turn and 40+ naval experience as well.
In case you somehow missed it earlier in my AAR, it was a major concern to me that this very high quality fleet would fall into the hands of another power and be a potential game changer as far as the balance of naval power in the game goes.
That threat is now removed, with some minor mop-up to follow.
The experience earned allows me to purchase the Naval Repairs upgrade for my fleets, which the 2 fleets involved in my victory could use right away. This gives my navy much greater staying power, so Im really please to be able to add this ability. I can now perform repairs at a decent rate while underway.
[:D]
I lost about 8 ships and had several ships damaged. 1 Dutch fleet was almost completely annihilated and another one less so but still sustains very severe damage. 2 undamaged fleets are ordered in to intercept the remains of the Dutch Navy, while the victorious fleets from this turn will stay in place and try to repair their damaged ships. No sense risking losing any of the damaged ships, each fleet contains several ships down to 30-60% strength. Once they are done repairing I will shift a few ships out of my blockade and patrol squadrons and the Fleet Reserve (new production will fill the gaps in 2nd echelon formations as available) to make good the losses in my frontline fleets, bringing them back to their desired 30 ship OOBs.
With any luck I can wipe out the Dutch fleets next turn, earning some more glory and naval experience, and at this point they are so outnumbered I hope to only suffer damage and no ships lost while doing it.
My next naval upgrade will be Naval Guns, which will give my ships a +1 attack rating in quick/instant combat, which doesnt sound like much, but in PBEM every slight tilt to the playing field helps.
Heres a screenshot showing the battle results from this turn:
