Dahomey

Primary culture

Fon (West African)

Capital province

Abomey (1140)

Government

Tribal Despotism

State religion

Fetishist

Technology group

West African

Dahomey ideas

Please help with verifying or updating this infobox. It was last verified for version 1.34.

Traditions:

−10% Advisor cost

+10% Fort defense

Children of the Panther

+1 Yearly legitimacy

Slave Hunts

+15% National manpower modifier

Migan and Mehu

−10% Stability cost modifier

Lagredis

+30% Foreign spy detection

The Amazons

+5% Discipline

The Yovogan

+10% Institution spread

Palaces of Abomey

+1 Yearly prestige

Ambition:

+10% Production efficiency

Dahomey is a landlocked one province minor in Niger that borders Dagbon to the North as well as Oyo and Benin to the East. Its only province has a development of 3 and produces slaves.

Strategy[edit | edit source]

The below is one of many player suggested strategies for Dahomey. Bear in mind, due to the dynamic nature of the game, it may unfold differently for other players.

Dahomey starts in a very bad position surrounded by stronger nations and needs to sign alliances to survive. Mossi is a good ally since it boast being the strongest fetishist nation in the area; Zazzau is a good choice too since it starts with a three star general; Benin could also be a strong ally if doesn't start with a hostile attitude towards the player. Because Dahomey starts with a 3 dev province the economy is painful: thus the player should focus on the conquest and development of the nearby gold provinces in Kong and Mali. It is advisable the player take out some loans or debase currency to fund these early expansion routes.

Where the heart is[edit | edit source]

If the player is going for the Where the heart is achievement the first targets are Dagbon and Oyo, they usually ally each other so both can be beaten in the same war. The player should fully annex Dagbon to open a western route of conquest and also take some Oyo's provinces in order to border with Nupe, that will be a future target.

The first war with Mali is the hardest one: the player should attack before Mali has expanded too much, and maybe when it is engaged in another war. A good ally against Mali is Fulo, this nation doesn't exist at the start of the campaign but appears in 1470 in the provinces of Brakna, Tekrur, Galam and Tagant and has some cores on Mali and Macina.

If Dahomey wins against Mali, the rest of the campaign until 1500 will be a race against time. The player will need to feed Fetishist allies with Sunni lands and maybe take a vassal or two: Kanem Bornu is the best one since it has some cores on Air and Yao and can be fed with their lands, on the other hand Kanem Bornu is Sunni so the player has to manually force religion.

The player must pay attention to the possible conversion of Kano to Islam.

To avoid too much AE the player should: hire the improve relations minister given by the nobility interaction, set the Establish Communities trade policy in both trade nodes and take the Justified wars ability in the Age of Discovery tab.

If the player is struggling with rebels, they should increase autonomy on not-gold-producing provinces and hire the Theologian minister in the clergy interaction tab.

To avoid economic problems the player should develop gold provinces, hire the Inflation reduction minister from the Merchant Guilds and take the Improved war taxes age bonus for the Age of Discovery.

Since Dahomey starts without Feudalism the player must not spend Admin and Diplo points on technologies but keep up with MIL tech.

Ideas[edit | edit source]

Since you aren't spending MIL points except on tech, the Ideas that pair well with Dahomey and its rapid conquest are Innovative and Espionage, State Propaganda gives -20% AE and Efficient Spies the 10% siege ability making the run a little less painful and completing both and extra Diplomat & -25% Stability cost.

Note: Due to the changes in 1.34 and Lions of the North this paragraph was added by a mediocre writer wanting this run to be more bearable to Achievement runners or Casual play. Please update as soon as possible.