Dai Viet

Primary culture

Vietnamese (Chinese)

Capital province

Dong Kinh (613)

Government

Confucian Bureaucracy

State religion

Mahayana

Technology group

Chinese

Dai Viet ideas

Notes:

For Dai Viet, Annam and Tonkin.

Traditions:

+1 Attrition for enemies

−15% Culture conversion cost

The Great Proclamation

+10% Infantry combat ability

Confucian Revival

+1 Yearly prestige

Autonomous Villages

+20% Fort defense

Village Militia

+25% National manpower modifier

Don Dien

−10% Core-creation cost

Thuan Thiên

+1 Yearly legitimacy

+0.05 Mandate growth modifier

Literary Reform

−5% Technology cost

Ambition:

+10% Morale of armies

Dai Viet is a mid-sized country in Southeast Asia. In 1444, they border Ming, Champa, Muan Phuang (who they are guaranteeing at start) and Lan Xang (who also guarantees Muan Phuang). If they can maintain their independence from Ming they have the potential to expand greatly in the region and colonize the rich islands around them.

Vietnamese minor states[edit]

The kingdoms of Annam and Tonkin break off from Dai Viet in later historical starts, starting from 1527.

Events[edit]

Main article: Vietnamese events

Missions[edit]

Main article: Vietnamese missions

Strategy[edit]

Starting position[edit]

Dai Viet revolves around two major strategies: The first, annexing neighbours while improving its military quality; and the other, colonizing and expanding into the Pacific islands while slowly doing it in the mainland. Despite starting with less development than any of the other Big Four (Itself, Lan Xang, Khmer and Ayutthaya), Dai Viet's unique geographical position on the edge of Indochina lets it pinch Lan Xang and Khmer between itself and the strongest power, Ayutthaya, allowing the player to succeed in taking out those two nations and dealing with Ayutthaya next.

Diplomacy[edit]

Picking rivals at this point is pretty straight forward. Champa, in the south, should always be the first objective, as it is the weakest and most isolated nation in the region. The other two most likely should be rivalling back enemies. Allying with some of the stronger powers in Burma, such as Ava or Pegu can be a good idea depending on what rivals Ayutthaya picks, although it is not necessary since Dai Viet is strong enough on its own to dissuade AI attackers on traditional difficulties. Malacca is one of the best potential allies as they can be used to block in and flank Ayutthaya, the strongest nation in the region who you will have to eventually face.

Early Game[edit]

Dai Viet begins with two forts, but it is recommended to destroy the fort in Thanh Hoa to save money. The fort on the capital should not be destroyed because having a Level 3 fort can be somewhat useful against AI.

In 1.31 update, Dai Viet cannot attack in the first 10 years of the game due to regency: Nguyen Thi Anh (4/4/3). Players can wait till the regency end but the not recommended because Le Bang Co (1/1/2) has a mediocre stat. Meanwhile, Dai Viet has event "A Moment of Splendor" to make Nguyen Thi Anh with her stat changes to 6/4/5 become the queen of the country. To activate this event, the stability of Dai Viet have to be +1 and the year should be before 1459.

Immediately begin fabricating claims on Champa, as they are the easiest route of expansion for Dai Viet. Declare war on Champa as soon as the claim is finished since Khmer will likely also attack Champa as soon as they can. During the war with Champa, you can use your starting navy to blockade the Level 3 fort on their capital to quicken the siege. It is also recommended to hire the cheap Free Company mercenaries, as they cost less than normal troops and do not use your manpower. Focus on stackwiping Champa's army first, as you then want to siege all of their provinces to prevent Khmer from taking land for themselves. Use your starting transport ships to move troops past Champa's fort. Once Champa is annexed, it is recommended to simply culture convert Cham culture once it is possible, as the culture is too small to justify taking up an entire culture slot that could be better used on large cultures in Burma and Maritime Southeast Asia. If player has Leviathan DLC, this is a must to finish the mission and get free claims in Khmer. Dai Viet's starting idea is very useful for this, as well as exploiting tax development from Cham provinces. Remember that adjacency is important for making culture conversion cheap.

The next target is most likely Khmer, who is usually attacked by Ayutthaya, and Lan Xang, who often suffers the same fate.

Early on, Dai Viet will likely obtain the event Confucian Heritage which will give the player the option to convert to Confucian or stay Mahayana. Although it may seem sensible to become Confucian, as most of China is as well, Confucian is one of the worst religions in the game in a normal playthrough. This is because Confucian and Harmonization bonuses are mediocre at best and Confucians are unable to convert the religion of provinces properly without tanking a large amount of Harmony, causing unrest in the early game, the part of the game where rebels are most dangerous. Although harmonizing religions is a way around this, not only is it very long, but you will then discover that you cannot convert the culture of provinces with a harmonized religion, essentially locking you out of doing so and ironically creating more unrest. But this is not the case in 1.31, Dai Viet can still convert culture Cham after harmonized Hindu religion. And with additions of Confucian monuments in Hue and China, Confucian choice in 1.31 Leviathan is better for conquer Ming mission route.

Culture and Religious Routes[edit]

Although the Southeast Asian culture group is alright, converting to Chinese or Malayan culture can be much more profitable as it gives larger cultural unions. If the primary culture is swapped to Malayan (most likely with Cham or Filipino), then all of Maritime Southeast Asia becomes extremely profitable to take, allowing the player to easily become stronger than Ming and stomp them. Converting to Chinese does not need an explanation on why it is powerful, especially with the more reliable Ming destabilization introduced in 1.29, which can allow a player to stomp Ming and force them to explode.

Religiously, Mahayana is one of the weakest religions in the game. -5.0% Idea Cost is a very mediocre modifier, so it is really like this religion only has +5.0% Discipline and +2.00 Diplomatic Reputation. Therefore, swapping religions is a great idea that will strengthen your Vietnam.

Dai Viet can immediately swap to Vajrayana at the beginning of the game for the cost of -100 Prestige and 1 Stability. This will give Vajrayana's base bonus of +5.0% Morale of Armies, which is great, unlike Mahayana's base Idea Cost. Theravada can also be swapped into, but its base modifier, -10.0% Advisor Cost, is not that good compared to Vajrayana's Morale of Armies, especially since every nation can already gain cheap advisors with the estate privileges. In addition, swapping to Theravada will remove one of Mahayana's perks which is preserved with Vajrayana: its religious isolation, allowing you to utilize the Deus Vult Casus Belli from Religious Ideas as well as the Clergy privilege Expansionist Zealotry, which gives another +5.0% Morale of Armies.

Another great religion to swap to is Hindu, although this will lock you out of using the Mandate CBs on Ming. Hindu is quite a bit stronger than Vajrayana since it has many good modifiers and versatility, especially with States General or Republic government. However, Sunni, accessible in Borneo or the Malaya peninsula, is much stronger and by far, the best religion to access disregarding the Mandate CB.

As mentioned, Dai Viet gets an event early on that gives the option of converting to Confucian with Mahayana already harmonized. Since Confucian is trash unless the player is playing a mass blobbing game (WC, or similar) the primary reason players would convert to Confucianism is so the conquest of China is easier. However, it is more worth it to simply convert China to another religion long term, outside of big blobbing games, of which Confucian is not even the best religion. Sunni is easily accessible and allows you to tolerate all heathens instantly while providing far stronger bonuses.