-CHAPTER ONE: FOR WANT OF A NAIL-

As we take our first steps into the deep and wide world of Vicky 2, we need to take care of a variety of things first. I start by making sure each of my armies have at least two units of Cavalry each. As an Unciv, the only two units I can get before Westernization are Irregulars and Cavalry. In case the name didn't tip you off, Irregulars are utter and complete shit. They have a strong fascination with dying, and are all to happy to go ahead and get themselves killed on a moment's notice. My first objective will be to give these poor bastards proper equipment and training through the Unciv Reforms tab.I'll also need to organize my POPs into a manner in which I can work with. I probably should have mentioned this earlier, but in Vicky 2, your population isn't just a big fancy number that determines how many soldiers you can have. The entirety of your male population is organized into POP units, little collections of people ranging from ten to the tens of thousands of individuals. Each POP has a specific vocation, be it an Artisan or a Soldier. Balancing your POPs to the perfect degree is essential. Too many of one kind, and you'll find that not only are these POPs becoming increasingly unemployed, but your other POP types will be too few to do their jobs properly. You can manage your POP units in specific regions by setting your National Focus to a specific POP type in said region. It's complicated.As an Unciv Egypt, I want lots of Soldiers, Artisans and Craftsmen. The Soldiers are necessary to keep the Ottomans from taking too much territory from us until we can establish ourselves as a power on their level. We need Artisans to keep our economy going as an Uncivilized nation. A nice portion of my population as Artisans should keep the Pounds flowing until I can set up some actual infrastructure. The Craftsmen are less effective than Artisans, but they can operate factories. By having a sizable amount of Craftsmen POPs by the time the first factories show up, I'll be able to work them the moment they are set to run.Likely the most important thing to focus on in Victoria 2 is the Economy. The first thing you need to understand is that the Vicky 2 Economic mechanics are probably the singular, most complicated thing you've ever come across in Gaming. It works off of a strong supply/demand system that is determined by the amount of resources being produced and used across the globe. Simple, right? Wrong. There are a total of Fourty-Seven 'resources' availible in the global market, and you need to individually manage each and every single one of them. Every. Single. Damned. One. There are all kinds of resources, ranging from simple things like 'Fruit' and 'Coal', going all the way up to seemingly bizarre things like 'Machine Parts' and 'Fancy Clothes'. There is a whole supply chain, and most of them intersect. Making sure you have enough of everything is incredibly demanding, and when there's a global shortage of anything, it's a good reason to panic.With what little I have as Egypt, I still have to make sure I have enough money to properly run the nation. This means that I will have to tax my people into starvation. Normally, this would seem like a good idea, but it's either that or starvation. To save money and supplies, I'll be disbanding the Navy, reducing the Education and Administrative budgets, and implementing Tariffs. Egypt is a very large source of Fruit, Grain and Cotton, so I'll be making most of my money by selling those resources to the non-colonial European powers. There is a notable shortage of Coal and Iron, which is a problem that must be dealt with. By increasing subsidies on those two resources, I'll hopefully have enough to sustain a basic line of trade.With all this garbage out of the way, we unpause the game and get to business.The first order of the day is to increase our relations with Austria. After all, the enemy of my enemy is indeed your friend. I'll be fabricating cause for war against the Ethiopians, just to get them out of the way first. With my economy shifting into a stable position, I reduce taxes on the middle class and increase the Education budget. Trade is flowing, and the Ottomans appear to be leaving me alone for the time being. Things are looking good so far.Unfortunately, it turns out I was wrong, and those cock-mongrel sadists that call themselves the Ottoman Empire are quick to declare war. Taxes are back up, so say goodbye to your luxury mud-hut. Our armies are quickly on the move, with little to stop them. The general strategy will be to hold Syria as long as possible, and have our African troops close off North Africa. Best case scenario, we are granted white peace. Worst case, our armies are devastated and all of our Arabian Provinces are lost. Here's hoping it stays best-case. Initially, things are not looking good. The enemy is Occupying the Provinces in Ankara, and I can do little aside from watch. Re-enforcements are on their way, but likely won't make it in time. A series of fierce battles followed, but even as I won these fights, the Ottomans were still too numerous. I surrendered my Ankara provinces to them, but make no mistake: We will get them back.My military had taken some serious casualties, and needed some time to recover. I would wait out the peace and prepare for the next Ottoman incursion. My attentions would now turn to Ethiopia, which was in dire need of some Egyptian enlightenment. While waiting for our military to recover, I notice that our economy is doing very well. A strong 50,000 Pounds is sitting in our treasury, something otherwise unheard of from Uncivs. With this, our wealth can only grow from here. I implement the Advanced Constructions reform, and we are now set to take on Ethiopia.With the Ottoman threat gone for now, we declare war on our heathen Ethiopian neighbors. Since we now have the proper military and conquest reforms, conquering them should be a piece of cake. Two fairly uneventful battles pass, and the rabble is quickly dispersed. I consolidate our forces, enslave some of the locals, and force them into the army. Not long after, and our forces are almost back to their original strength. I then went on to turn all of the conquered Ethiopian provinces into Slave States, because those stick-wielding Coptic bush monkeys deserve nothing less.Once my Populations Consciousness' hit 2.1, I instituted Mohammed Ali's reforms, allowing me to Westernize even faster. Hopefully, these backwards peasants will stop complaining about being repressed, and realize that the fact that they all live in holes filled with human waste is their fault, not mine. In the meantime, we wait out the timer and hope that the Ottomans are nice enough to let us do what we want for the time being. I institute an Education Reform, increase the military size, and hit speed 5. To my great pleasure, England is trying to get the Ottomans to release Iraq as a free state. This is great for me, as Iraq would make a large and powerful ally. The Ottomans eventually fold under English pressure, and the now liberated Iraq accepts my offer of an alliance.My next target is the large and otherwise mighty Nejd, as they have no formidable allies. Good news strikes, as Russia is now trying to cut up the Ottomans by forcing them to cede Thessalia to Greece. It should be noted that I have been trying to ally with Greece for a long time, perhaps this is the correct opportunity to do so?Over the course of the next few years, not much happens. Denmark and Sweden unify to form Scandinavia, becoming a great power in the process. I help Iraq build up their armed forces, with the hope that they can hold out against a possible Ottoman invasion. Greece has instigated another crises to return the Aegean Islands to Greece, and nations are yet again flocking to the anti-Ottoman banner. With luck, this will instigate a war, and I can use the opportunity to invade Nejd. In the meantime, I institute and Officer Reform, making my officer corps significantly more capable.The Greek Crisis boils over into conflict, and the first Crisis-based conflict had begun. It was Russia, Scandinavia, France and Austria against Prussia, England, Spain and the Ottomans in a brawl that would last years at the least. I'm cheering for the Russian side, as this would weaken the Ottoman Empire significantly. If the Giant Green Blob of Doom is the worse for wear, then I benefit. I capitalize on this by beginning to fabricate a conquest Casus Beli against Nejd.The following war with Nejd was quick and clean, their army of 9,000 men never stood a chance. Once enough of their territory had been occupied, a peace was signed, and those crazy Saudis were now under our banner of Egyptian awesomeness. This was also a strategically smart move, because under those sands is a black sea of a conveniently placed oil that will make me rich when some poor sod in the USA invents the combustion engine. In the meantime, it will serve as a fresh supply of troops and slaves. After all, enslaving your neighbors is the best way to make friends (And raise your national Consciousness so you can Westernize faster).And then it hits me; Now that the Ottomans are getting curb-stomped, I can take back my lost provinces! A declaration of war is swift and vengeful, as my (as of yet) victorious armies march over the filthy Turkish garrisons! I met little to no resistance, occupying my way up the Ankaran shaft. After a several months, I gathered enough warscore to force my victory upon the enemy. To my utter delight, in my war to reclaim my lost cores from the Ottomans, I received the entirety of Ankara and Adana! Eat that, you shit-faced green invertebrates. With the Reform Points gained from a successful conquest, I institute a Transport Reform, allowing me to build railroads! Railroads not only increase the movement speed of your units, but also increases the Supply Limit of individual provinces, allowing me to move my troops through otherwise impassable terrain.And on this glorious note, chapter one of our great adventure comes to an end. We are well on the way to Westernizing and becoming a Civilized nation, and not at all far from founding Greater Arabia. With luck and speed, Egypt will be a Great Power in no time at all. And as we all know, the world is a greater place because of it.