Mali

Primary culture

Mali (Mande)

Capital province

Joma (1124)

Government

Musa Rule

State religion

Sunni

Technology group

West African

Malian ideas

Traditions:

−10% Land attrition

+2 Tolerance of heathens

Restore Malian Suzerainty

+20% Income from vassals

Gold of Bure

+10% Goods produced modifier

Reclamation of Land

+10% National manpower modifier

Mandinka Warrior Spirit

+5% Discipline

Lost Fleet of Abubakari II

+0.5 Yearly navy tradition

Seek New Markets for Salt

+1 Merchant

West African Slave Trade

+10% Trade efficiency

Ambition:

+10% Infantry combat ability

Mali is a Sunni monarchy of the Maliki school in Northern Africa, neighboring Jolof to the Northwest, Macina and Jenné to the north and Mossi and Kong to the east.

Events[edit | edit source]

Main article: Malian events

Malian events focus on the fall of the Mali Empire and separatist movements.

Reformation[edit | edit source]

id

Take the Mantle of Mali

The powerful and prosperous Mali Empire fell many years ago due to jealous neighbors and squabbling chieftains. Despite that, the spirit of Mali can not be destroyed, it will always survive inside its people. Now the lands around Manding are united again, it is time for a new Mansa to rise up and bring the empire back to its former glory.

Potential requirements

The country:

was never an end-game nation.
is not the Holy Roman Empire, The Papal State, or Mali.
has not yet enacted this decision.
is not a colonial nation.
has Mali primary culture

If the country is AI-controlled then it:

is not a custom nation
is not a former colonial nation.
has at least 3 cities
Mali does not exist

Playing with normal or historical nations

Allow

Mali does not exist
The country:

is not a subject nation other than a tributary state.
is not at war
is not a nomad nation.
is Sunni
owns the core provinces:
- Futa Jallon area
- Manding area
- Massina area
- Baghena area
- Niger Bend area
- Jenne area

Effects

The country:

becomes Mali.
gains 25 prestige.
gets new missions if 'Origins' DLC is active
becomes an Empire
moves the capital to Joma (1124)
gets the event ‘New Traditions & Ambitions’, unless it has custom or Malian ideas
removes all provinces from the Holy Roman Empire, if it is a member and not an elector or the emperor.
gets “Increased Centralization” for 20 years, giving:
- −0.05 monthly autonomy change,
- +1 national unrest.

AI will always take this decision.

AI gives "high priority" (400) to this decision

Decision[edit | edit source]

id

Purchase Trade Colony

While the Europeans are not very trusting towards our kind, our gold will allow us to convince them anyway to sell one of their provinces to us.
We should however make sure that our relation with the target country is somewhat good though.

Potential requirements

Has completed the "Connection to Maghreb" mission

Allow

Mali:

Has at least 2 000 ducats
Is not at war

Effects

Trigger the event “The many options of European Trade Outposts”

AI will always take this decision.

AI gives "small priority" (50) to this decision.

Strategy[edit | edit source]

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

Mali in 1444 is an empire on the decline, having once stretched to Timbuktu and Gao and now consisting of just the empire's heartland around the capital and the twin gold mines of Bure and Bambuk. With Origins active, Mali will immediately experience the Decline of Mali disaster, which can completely overwhelm Mali with rebels if not carefully managed.

Surviving the disaster[edit | edit source]

The disaster itself causes some negative modifiers while active, but the most dangerous aspect of it are the frequent rebel-triggering events. Fortunately, Mali can prevent some of these events from firing by completing missions while working towards fully ending the disaster.

Opening moves[edit | edit source]

The following actions will allow you to complete two missions before unpausing the game, preventing pretender- and estate-linked rebels. Give all estates (except Ulema, as you will not be able to sell provinces later) their + monarch power privileges. Disinherit your terrible starting heir. Call a diet - take the 'recover prestige' mission if possible. Hire a level 2+ admin, diplomatic and military advisors (taking out loans as needed; you can replace them with cheaper advisors later). You now are earning 6 points per month in all categories, letting you complete the 'A Competent Court' mission, preventing pretender rebels. Increase development in Gabu once (building towards the requirement for the 'Handle the Kaabu people' mission). Sell titles (possible since we have 10% of crownland). Since estates will have high loyalty, you can immediately complete 'Gain Estate Favors', blocking estate rebels. Now, confiscate land to recover some crown land. Optionally, give estates + loyalty privileges. Hire a small mercenary company to reach force limit, since manpower will be tight.

Expansion[edit | edit source]

You need 350 development to fully end the disaster. Once your mercenaries are hired, you can complete 'Mansa to Arms', giving you claims and a 'Subjugation' CB on Jolof. Get an ally or two - it's probably best to get no more than 1 of Timbuktu, Jenné or Songhai as allies, as you will need to conquer all three to end the disaster. Jolof (and whoever they may ally) should be your first target. You should conquer, not vassalize them, as a) an event will give you a malus to Liberty desire in any vassal you take, making them difficult to annex and useless in wars b) the 350 development required to end the disaster requires land to be held directly and c) Jolof's Senegambian culture-land is needed to accept that culture, a requirement for the next mission.

Once Jolof is conquered and cored, make the land a state and accept Senegambian culture. Develop Gabu to 15 development (try not to use points so you won't fall behind in military tech), letting you complete 'Handle the Kaabu People'. This prevents disaster separatist events - you will now only have to deal with occasional peasant revolts and stability hits from the disaster.

Developing Segu and increasing autonomy there will let you complete 'Appease the Bambara', giving you some more claims.

Further steps will depend on how the diplomatic map develops, but here are some general guidelines:

Use typical strategies to break up alliances and pick off targets - for example, if you want to conquer Timbuktu but they're allied to Songhai, try allying Songhai yourself, calling Songhai into a war with some third party, then declaring on Timbuktu while Songhai is busy with the first war.
Conquering Jenné and completing the mission will immediately raise the monument there to level 2, giving you an extra missionary - this is hugely helpful for converting your Fetishist territory.
You will likely need to develop both Feudalism and Renaissance fairly early on. Feudalism can be boosted in your capital - which gets a small passive growth to the institution automatically - while Renaissance is best boosted in either of your gold provinces, as the extra money will be hugely useful.
You gain stability from completing intermediate missions, but lose it from occasional disaster events. This means that speed is relatively important, as you want to ensure your stability remains high - consider leaving provinces as territorial cores if it lets you reach the 350 threshold faster.
Keep up in military tech to compete with your neighbors, but admin and diplomatic points can be spent on coring and institution developing. You don't need to get this technology higher than your starting level until you've ended the disaster and have your institutions present.

Once the disaster finally ends, you'll be the unquestioned dominant power in the region, have several rich gold mines, and can freely decide on future goals. In particular, Mali is in a great position to colonize South America (and you can get an achievement for it).