Malaya

Primary culture

Malayan (Malay)

Capital province

Malacca (596)

Government

Autocracy

State religion

Sunni

Technology group

Chinese

Malayan ideas

Traditions:

+15% Global trade power

+10% Morale of armies

Settle the Islands

+20 Global settler increase

Advanced Galley Warfare

+25% Galley combat ability

Expert Hagglers

+15% Trade efficiency

Chart the Isles

+15% Morale of navies

+1 Naval combat bonus off owned coast

Malay Merchants in Every Port

+1 Merchant

+20% Ship tradepower propagation

Agreements with the Sea Nomads

+25% Trade steering

Spice Kings

+10% Goods produced modifier

Ambition:

+10% Ship durability

For the region, see Malaya (region).

Malaya is a formable country that does not exist in 1444. It can be formed by any country in the Malay culture group.

Formation[edit | edit source]

id

Form Malaya

Unify all Malayan provinces in the region under one strong ruler.

Potential requirements

Malaya does not exist.
The country:

was never an end-game nation.
has not yet enacted this decision.
is not a colonial nation.
has not enacted the ‘Steppe Nomads’ government reform.
is in the Malay culture group

If the country is AI-controlled then it:

is not a custom nation
is not a former colonial nation.
has at least 12 cities

Playing with normal or historical nations

Allow

The country:

is not a subject nation other than a tributary state.
is not at war.
is not a nomad nation.
if is Muslim, then owns provinces:
- Kutaraja (627)
- Melaka (596)
- Brunei (636)
- Makassar (641)
- Demak (629).
else, owns provinces:
- Palembang (622)
- Pakuan (2687)
- Surabaya (628)
- Kutai (638)
- Chaiya (2390).
owns at least 40 provinces in:
- Malaya region
- Indonesia region

Effects

The country:

becomes Malaya.
gains 25 prestige.
gets the event ‘New Traditions & Ambitions’, unless it is a custom nation.
gets the event 'A Maritime State'
increases rank to kingdom, if it is a duchy
removes all provinces from the Holy Roman Empire, if it is a member and not an elector or the emperor.
gets a permanent claim on all unowned provinces in:
- Malaya region
- Indonesia region
gets “Increased Centralization” for 10 years, giving:
- −0.05 monthly autonomy change,
- +1 national unrest.

The AI will always take this decision.

To form Malaya, a Muslim country must own all light and dark green provinces and a non-Muslim country must own all purple provinces. Furthermore 40 of the dark green, purple and yellow provinces are needed and forming Malaya gives claims on the others.

Strategy[edit | edit source]

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

Forming Malaya[edit | edit source]

To form Malaya, the player's nation must own five target provinces, depending on their state religion.

Muslim nations of Malayan culture must own Kutaraja (617), Melaka (596), Brunei province (636), Makassar province (641), and Demak (629). These are held by the nations of Aceh, Malacca, Brunei, Makassar, and Majapahit, respectively.

A Malayan-culture nation with any other state religion must own Palembang (622), Pakuan (2687), Surabaya (628), Kutai (638) and Chaiya (2390). These are likewise held by Palembang, Sunda, Majapahit, Kutai and Ligor, respectively.

Any of the nations listed have a head start on forming Malaya, however, some nations are better choices than others. Of the Muslim nations, Brunei starts with the most development and has the easiest start, with Malacca being close behind. Makassar, being Animist, is not eligible for the Muslim decision unless you convert religion. If you wish to form Malaya as a non-Muslim nation, Sunda is by far the easiest option of the above. Majapahit starts the game in a disaster, Palembang starts as a (weak) tributary of said nation, Kutai must contend with the powerful Brunei, and Ligor starts as a vassal of Ayutthaya.

The player must also own forty total provinces in the area, though this will likely happen by default, as a result of your ongoing conquests.

Philippines Strategy[edit | edit source]

If the player wants to begin in the Philippines, they may build a good trade-based economy that, while it would take longer to form Malaya (as the player begins in a region not required to form Malaya), could be coupled with the Philippine Tiger achievement as Cebu. Starting as a nation in the Philippines, depending on the player, could be perceived as harder or easier taking into account that Cebu starts as a Hindu nation (this being dependent on whether or not the player has the Wealth of Nations DLC, which provides powerful deities), as opposed to the majority of the powerhouses of the region, the Sunni countries of Brunei and Malacca. However, there is also one Hindu powerhouse of the region as well, either Sunda or a lucky Majapahit, who could prove to be an valuable ally, or another rival to conquer. If the player doesn't have the Wealth of Nations DLC then they might see it as more viable to convert Sikh, which gives powerful military bonuses and some arguably decent events. Should the player so choose to play as Cebu, Kutai could make a very useful ally during the conquest of the Philippines, and perhaps against Brunei as well.

Colonization[edit | edit source]

Regardless of your start, a colonization-heavy strategy is a natural choice for most nations in this area. Note that with the recent changes, only a few nations in the area receive colonization bonuses in their national ideas. Majapahit, notably, gets a colonist at idea 4, while nations such as Aceh or Brunei get some settler growth in their ideas later on. With this in mind, it would be good to acquire exploration or expansion ideas as soon as possible.

Ternate and Tidore can colonize through their missions, and these can be done as vassals too. Their first colonization mission requires the other not to exist or to own both of the main spice islands; you can create this situation twice by conquering one, and immediately attacking the other after they've started their first colony. Vassalize them and take their capital, then release the first spice island nation and grant it both spice islands. Now both Ternate and Tidore will be going through their colonization missions for you; you might need to subsidize them a little at first though.

One direction for exploration after forming Malaya is west into Africa. The quickest way of gaining land in Africa without the help of other countries is to colonize Cocos Island (which is in the sea space south of the Cocos Island sea space), Diego Garcia, and either Mauritius or Bourbon. From there, Africa proper can be colonized directly via Madagascar. Alternatively, Malaya can gain land in Africa by landing a conquistador, e.g., by invading Kilwa and its vassal Sofala. Furthermore, a conquistador can be ferried around the Cape of Good Hope to conquer Kongo.

There are few things to watch out for. Provinces cannot be cored unless they are within colonial range. Annexing Mutapa may thus be tricky unless an adjacent colony is conquered first. At least one friendly port in Africa is required to reliably send transports around the Cape of Good Hope. This will entail either fleet basing rights from Kilwa or Sofala, or a cored coastal province somewhere on the east coast of Africa. Note however that fleet basing rights do not extend colonial range.

Distances are much further in the Pacific Ocean than the Indian or Atlantic Ocean, though you may be able to get fleet basing rights from the Pacific island nations. However, usually the fastest way to the Americas is actually via Africa. This also allows an earlier meeting of Western powers and thus faster institution spread.

If Malaya must go the Pacific route, the far north (via Kamchatka and Alaska) requires less colonial range than the southern Pacific route, but is further from the New World nations. This meshes well with colonizing in Asia too.

Conquering Asia[edit | edit source]

Even if focusing on colonization early, conquering the Malay Archipelago can be done while waiting to unlock Exploration Ideas. Ayutthaya is the predominant power in Southeast Asia at the start of the game and begins as a tributary of Ming. It can therefore be risky to conquer Malacca too early. The Indian subcontinent is less predictable than East Asia. It is usually not as attractive a target for conquest as East Asia since you cannot divert Indian trade into Malacca. But it should be noted that directly taking the Bengal node decreases the amount of money leaving it.