Malaya

Primary culture

Malayan (Malay)

Capital province

Malacca (596)

Government

Despotic Monarchy

State religion

Sunni

Technology group

Chinese

Malayan Sultanate ideas

Notes:

For Muslim countries in the Malay culture group.

Traditions:

−10% Ship costs

+10% Trade steering

Indian Ocean Trade

+1 Merchant

Sufi Legacy

+2 Tolerance of heathens

Spice Islands

+10% Production efficiency

Classical Malay

−5% Idea cost

Trading Fleets

−20% Naval maintenance modifier

−10% Sailor maintenance

Heirs of Pasai

+1 Yearly prestige

Settle the Islands

+20 Global settler increase

Ambition:

+50% Naval tradition from battles

For the region, see Malaya (region).

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

Formation[edit]

Form Malaya

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


Potential requirements Playing with normal or historical nations Malaya does not exist. The country: has a culture of the Malay culture group. is not steppe nomads. is not a colonial nation. has not enacted this decision before. If the country is AI-controlled, then it: can not be a custom nation. can not be a former colonial nation. must have at least 12 cities.	Allow The country: is not a subject nation other than a tributary state. is not at war. is not a nomad nation. owns Banten (624), Pakuan (2687), Demak (629) and Kalapa (630). owns all provinces in two out of the following groups of areas: Malaya and Malacca, Kalimantan, Brunei and Kutai, Aceh, Batak, Riau, Minangkabau and Lampung.

Effects The country: changes to Malaya. gains 25 prestige. gets a permanent claim on the areas: Kutai, Brunei, Kalimantan, Aceh, Riau, Batak, Minangkabau, Lampung, Malaya, and Malacca. gets the modifier “Increased Centralization” for 10 years with the following effects: −0.05 Monthly autonomy change, +1 National unrest. If the country: is a member of the Holy Roman Empire but not an elector or the emperor then all its provinces are removed from the HRE. is a duchy then it becomes a kingdom.

To form Malaya, the player must own all the green provinces shown, and own all of two of the orange, purple, and blue regions.

Strategy[edit]

Forming Malaya[edit]

To form Malaya, the player's nation must belong to the Malay culture group and the player must own all the provinces in any two of the following regions: Borneo, Malay Peninsula, Sumatra. Unlike many formable nations, it doesn't require Administrative technology 10. The provinces of Banten, Demak, Kalapa and Pakuan on the island of Java are also required. At the start of the game Brunei, Kutai, Sunda, Majapahit, Pasai, Pagarruyung, Siak, and Malacca all own parts of this territory and therefore have a head start on forming Malaya. Of these, Malacca is an optimal choice as it starts out owning all of the Malay Peninsula and has easy access to Sumatra and easy early conquests in Kedah and Pattani.

Alternative Strategy[edit]

While the player must still own Banten, Demak, Kalapa and Pakuan in addition to all the provinces in 2 of the following regions: Borneo, Malay Peninsula, and Sumatra, the player could alternatively begin in the Philippines and 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, as opposed to the majority of the powerhouses of the region, the Sunni countries of Brunei, Pasai, and Malacca. However, there is also one Hindu powerhouse of the region as well, Majapahit, of whom could prove to be an invaluable ally, or a rival to conquer. In addition, if the player has the Wealth of Nations DLC then the Hindu religion can give powerful bonuses with its deities. Alternatively, if the player doesn't have this DLC then they could convert to Sikh should they so choose, 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]

Since Borneo and Sumatra both start the game with some uncolonized provinces the player will need to do some colonization to form Malaya. This makes continuing into a colonization-heavy strategy a natural choice afterwards. Note that although several of Malaya's potential starting nations (Malacca, Brunei, Kedah, and Ligor) get a colonist as one of their national ideas, it is their last (seventh) idea so it would be quicker to acquire Exploration Ideas to get started sooner. Note that the colonies in Sumatra or Borneo do not need to be finished to take the formation decision.

The best 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 and 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.

Distances are much further in the Pacific Ocean than the Indian or Atlantic Ocean, and there are no countries to get fleet basing rights from. Therefore, the fastest way to the Americas is actually via Africa. This also allows an earlier meeting of Western powers and thus faster institution spread. Once Kongo is conquered, fleet basing rights from them and Mali will allow reaching the east coast of South America even with only level 3 Diplomatic Technology, provided Western colonies have not already blocked off the coast there.

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]

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. 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 there is often no one nation holding a massive number of cores.