Here I am again. Just like last time, I'll try to cover 2 years per chapter.
As I said on the fleet setup, my balance was pretty low due to the ships I have under construction at the start of the game. Raising the research budget to 10% actually made it drop into the red, though I'm not too worried about it (-10k is not critical, and in 4-5 months it will go away as my ships are completed. First things first, let's improve our shipyard capacity. If I'm lucky, I can get several dock improvement events as I go, but I don't want to rely on them if I decide to build a bigger ship at my dockyards on the lategame.
January, February, March, April, May... nothing happens. June comes, and with it the first completed ships. 4 DDs I had under construction are finally done. And the Spanish decide to get a bit too curious.
Usually, I just let them get away with it, but since this is the very early game and tensions with spain aren't that high, I'll just call them out to get that sweet budget increase... hopefully, since a (+) seems to indicate a chance for a change, but it is not certain.
Well, looks like i got 190k monthly out of it, not bad. I also realize that I seemingly set up more DDs building up than I thought I did, thought I'm not complaining, as the ration is easy to fit. I order another cruiser and a DD. Will be in the red for a couple of months, but one of the cruisers is coming out on the next three months, so there's no danger of emptying my coffers from this.
My scientists are baffled by hydrostatic valves. They were pretty solid last time, let's hope they don't get a case of incompetence this time.
Hmm... why does the top option raise tensions? In fact why does it have the exact same changes as the previous event? Well, either way, I'll make a gamble here. Bottom option it is, and I hope I get lucky.
Could have been better. Could have also been nothing at all, so I'm not to bothered about the results. What bothers me a bit however, is the next event.
I have a battleship? Where? Anyway, a gunboat will suffice. Spain got angry, unsurprisingly. At 5 tension with bother Spain and Italy, I make some espionage efforts to see if I get a feeling out of them.
*sigh* The bloodsucking commences. I'll pick the middle option to play it safe. Fortunately, the first CL that was building at the start is also complete, so my balance is back in the black.
1901 begins with the dock expansion complete, and not much else to talk about...
[EXPLETIVE DELETED] dich Willy! And the horse that rode you too!
... this kind of events seem to have an attraction to me or something. Again, middle option, since I have no interest in the others. Well, I do, but with Germany at 8 tension, I don't want to risk pissing them off further, no matter how much that prestige point would come in handy.
And my scientists come with a dead end in the research of Double Bottom... I'm afraid it's one of
those games...
August, another snag on research for Hydraulic Recoil. Yep, I got all the idiots this time!
I have no interest in the top option. The bottom option is the safe one, but mediating might trigger an event that gives me prestige instead of taking it away... I'm going to risk it...
No luck. The tension drop didn't affect Germany either, and in the past months tensions raised to 10. That Kaiser is an ******.
Reduce tensions now, it's a fair trade off for the budget hit. Tensions dropped to 8. Still too high, but at least I'm not risking a war in two months.
... dammit Willy, do my guys look like your cousin or something? Stop being a prick! Middle option can go both ways, bottom option will be bad for me.
The game is trying its hardest to screw me over this. Top option will raise my tensions, but it is the best option I have that doesn't involve having even more people wanting my head on a platter. At least I get some money out of it.
Finally some good news! And my scientists got their heads out of their arses and did something useful as well, though it wasn't enough for a new tech.
And with this, we reach 1902 and the end of this chapter. Here's how things are on my end:
Spain lost quite a bit of money there, for me to be that close to catching them. Still, a pair of battleships are a pair of battleships...
... no matter how flapping stupid they might be.
So this is it for now. Tune in next Tuesday to see if the Kaiser manages to keep confusing me with Great Britain and triggers the war I don't want.