Rex Germania - A Brandenburg to Prussia Strategy AAR

[Rensslaer]

Before I get to feedback, I want to give a preview of the upcoming war (which I haven't even identified the target yet, but it doesn't matter).

I think of the upcoming war as "The Barrel of Monkeys War." Friedrich II reached into the barrel, thinking to find a prize, but what did he find?

This war was my introduction to REAL EU IV warfare, and I was pretty shocked. I had no idea what to expect. I'd been beating up small neighbors. I'd felt confident to take on the Teutonic Order, a credible opponent, so long as I had Poland and Lithuania to do the heavy lifting. I'd never even considered hiring mercenaries, and hadn't seen any other power use them either (I probably just wasn't looking).

There's a movie scene which is the only thing that could approximate my bafflement at armies across the face of Europe marching this way and that in unexpected and inscrutible ways, and as Brandenburg's armies moved this way and that trying to avoid marauding mercenaries. The clip is from a 1987 Michael J. Fox movie called The Secret of My Success (apologies for the Russian subtitles and weird editing in this link -- couldn't find a better clip). Young Michael is a mailroom clerk trying to get ahead at the office, and pretty much everyone has secrets from everyone else.

Have patience as the scene gets set up in the first minute...

Anyway... I hope you enjoy the clip (and the music) as much as I did. And maybe it'll bring back some memories for those of us old enough to remember the movie.

Favors are useful. It's just that the rate of accumulation is based on your relative power to your ally. So, since Poland is much stronger than you currently, the favors grow more slowly than if you had allied an equal or lesser country. You need 10 favors to call a nation to war, but they can also be used in other ways (getting a lump sum of money/manpower, breaking your ally's alliance with a third party, placing someone of your dynasty on their throne). Favors accrue naturally, so I'd only use a diplomat to curry unless you really need something from your ally or your diplomats have nothing else to do.

Force vassalizing is still a lot of AE, just less than taking outright. Vassals also have the added benefit of being extra armies, manpower, forts that you don't pay for.

I would always prioritize tech first over developing. If you can't take tech and are hitting the points cap, that is the time for developing your land.

@jak7139 thank you for your studious advice. I think it'd be awesome if you would do an EU IV gameplay AAR to follow up on your success with Machinations of the Medici. I bet we'd learn a hell of a lot from your tutorial!

gamey?

My apologies @filcat -- I just mean that the approach of knowing this tag will do this, and you have to watch out for what this other tag will do is paying more attention to the game's black box than I prefer to do.

And I've started reading your AAR here and there, and from what you say there and what you said above it does seem like you don't generally use that approach when you play. You have fun, like I do, in seeing where the game goes. At its most basic level, the game is primarily mathematics and algorithms, but it's no fun acting like the computer when playing against the computer. If that makes any sense.

Poor Venice!

Is humbling the Hansa on Brandenburg's to-do list? They did declare a rivalry...

The loss of the Polish alliance isn't great, but allying with Hungary is likely a good move.

@HistoryDude I looked and no -- there is no Mission for Brandenburg related to the Hansa. Which is too bad. It'll be interesting seeing how the Huns lead us, as opposed to the Poles.

Oh boy, if Hungary isn’t at least allied to Austria, then bad things are about to happen. The Ottomans will want some of their lands next, and if they get trashed by the Ottomans, then Poland first, followed by Austria and Bohemia, are just going to keep kicking them while they’re down.

@Historywhiz yeah it's definitely got me watching to the south at this point in the game. Lots can happen -- lots of bad stuff!

I have to admit, I haven't the foggiest idea how trade works (never really have in the EU series.) That said, I never steer trade. I just collect and try to get some light ships to protect around where I am collecting. I am certain I am doing it wrong.

@coz1 I've been learning more about trade as I go. Some of it is too complicated for me to fully understand even when I read the "how-to's", or maybe they're just written for more cranial types (I've never been great at mathematics).

For your power projection in this screenshot, it can be a good idea to get it above 50 for an extra +1 of each point per month. You can embargo each of your rivals to help with this.

Hungary and Austria might've been allies, and then the alliance broke which caused the truce.

For me, the monarch points are always the more valuable option. Prestige is nice but also very easy to get.

Provinces in a state have a minimum autonomy of 0%. Non-states (called territories), have 90%. Half-states (something stated but not fully cored), have 50%. States take up more governing capacity (which you can see on the government screen, along with your stability, overextension, etc) and at this point shouldn't be an issue.

Autonomy affects the amount of money, manpower, and sailors you get from a province (with lower autonomy meaning higher numbers). Autonomy also effects how fast you get government reforms (with lower autonomy across all your provinces meaning faster growth).

You should try and state lands that are rich in development, but don't go over your governing capacity (a little bit is fine for a while, but not for long). Stated lands also build up prosperity over time, which further increases income and decreases development costs in the state.

I would've chosen Denmark over Hungary as an ally. Denmark is more powerful and aligns more with your goals, while Hungary is far away and will likely get attacked by either the Ottomans or Poland (which will isolate you from the protection of the HRE, since you were not directly attacked.

They may look more threatening. But their amount of troops/manpower probably went down overall. Vassals are great, especially small ones, because they still get the base 10,000 manpower and can field their own troops. Now Poland/Bohemia do not get those "free" troops and instead have to pay for them.

@jak7139 have I mentioned before that I think you should do a gameplay AAR for EU IV? I think I have! It would be brilliant!

Yep those screens all looked very EU4 like. You should definitely do the best things to do in this scenario. Sorry I can't be much more help than that, my knowledge of EU game mechanics cannot be under-stated.

I admit mostly I was wondering how Steering Trade works on a narrative level. I imagine it as a chap wandering about various markets telling the traders about all the great deals and customers elsewhere and how they should all start trading there instead. Possibly supported by some minions holding big signs saying "Great deals in Brandeburg!!!" Certainly this would explain why the mission was so unsuccessful.

@El Pip I think you're right! I'm that way with CK - I kind of understand what's going on, but I couldn't say enough to give advice. I do need to play CK one of these days.

That's a pretty accurate description of how I feel when playing EU4.

I'm glad I'm not the only one here with a general ignorance of all things EU4. Calling my game knowledge "limited" feels overly generous.

@Rensslaer It seems like Brandenburg is getting ready to move up to the next weight class. Here's hoping the Hungarian alliance proves an asset and not a liability, given the number of potentially expansionary powers the Magyars are bordering.

Thanks @VILenin! I agree. I'm starting to feel more comfortable. Or I will if I get through this next war okay.... It'll be fun to watch, anyway!

Now that I've caught up with @coz1's 'Magnus Opus', I figured it was time to inflict myself on you . Just finished page one, so give me a few days to catch up. I like what I'm seeing so far. Glad you're taking the AAR plunge again, I've always enjoyed your work.

@Lord Durham Honored to have you along! Welcome! I appreciate your praise. And it shouldn't take long for you to catch up here -- my updates have been slow lately.

In my other AAR I announced this, but I don't think I've done so here. I'm expecting I can probably do 2 updates per month for this AAR, and balanced with 1 update per month for Shining Stars. I'm working on the update for this one now.

Meanwhile, I hope you enjoy that movie clip and can imagine how it fits into EU IV.

Thank you ALL for your comments, and readership!

Rensslaer

 

[jak7139]

@jak7139 thank you for your studious advice. I think it'd be awesome if you would do an EU IV gameplay AAR to follow up on your success with Machinations of the Medici. I bet we'd learn a hell of a lot from your tutorial!

I've thought about it a lot. Especially with you, @coz1, and @Bullfilter all doing "first-time" or gameplay ones at the same time. It could be very helpful to newer players. I've just been too busy to start another AAR at the moment. I would like to though. Maybe during summer I'll have more of a chance.

 

[Bullfilter]

I've thought about it a lot. Especially with you, @coz1, and @Bullfilter all doing "first-time" or gameplay ones at the same time. It could be very helpful to newer players. I've just been too busy to start another AAR at the moment. I would like to though. Maybe during summer I'll have more of a chance.

Would love to see it!

PS: @Rensslaer I nodded along with all your questions in the last chapter, but am way too newbie at this game to offer any useful, knowledge based advice!

 

[Rensslaer]

In October 1465 Brandenburg declared war against Wolgast, figuring to complete the takeover of what started as a major northern rival.

As mentioned in my previous “feedback and look forward” post, this is the “Barrel of Monkeys” war… Friedrich II reaches into the barrel, looking f`or a prize, but what does he find instead??? If you want a laugh, please look back a few posts to see the clip from “The Secret of My Success.” That’s what it felt like, this whole war through, watching my allied and enemy armies marching this way and that across the face of Europe.

Now, at the first I’ll admit to a stupid mistake. I saw the checkboxes on the left of the Declaration screen showing Wolgast’s allies. It was my impression that if I didn’t check those boxes then I wasn’t ALSO declaring war on them, and as in most other Paradox games some of those allies would declare against me and others would break their treaties and I wouldn’t have to fight them. I figured it was a luck of the draw issue and I’d hope some of the more major allies would beg off.

I didn’t realize that the green checkboxes are actually telling me who is likely to abide by their treaties. This was a larger war than I’d really intended to pick. I should have known that going in. Naturally, there’s a temptation after such mistakes to reload and redo, but I hate doing that, and very rarely do. I decided to see how it all went.







And, looking at the above screenshot I just realized the chain of reaction for the alliances is apparent from each of the war declarations. Brunswick is declaring war due to its alliance with Wolgast (as you can see because Wolgast’s shield is on the left and Brunswick is on the right). Then Anhalt, Frankfurt, Saxony and Salzburg, they’re all entering the war as allies of Brunswick (Brunswick shield on the left, shield of the allied country on the right). And Thuringia is entering the war as an ally/vassal of Saxony (Saxon shield on the left, Thuringian on the right). Maybe everybody knew that, but I found it interesting.

Looking at the relative forces I see 23,000 infantry and 6,000 cavalry on our side (Brandenburg, Berg and Magdeburg) and 19,000 infantry and 8,000 cavalry on the other side. That doesn’t sound insurmountable. Our Tradition is higher than all the others by far, but no other stats seem to favor one side or the other. Wolgast’s 1,000 cavalry surrenders after only 2 days fighting, and by the end of the first week we have two enemy capitals (Wolgast and Braunschweig) under siege.

At sea we happily send our three barques against two Wolgastian barques, hoping that numbers will carry the day. In point of fact, not only do we win, but we capture one of the enemy barques. At this point I knew virtually nothing about naval combat in EU IV, but I was starting to really like it.







Our four barques were a little the worst for wear (the captured ship was at 86%, and two of mine were less damaged), but it seemed like they were still combat worthy. So we sent them to raise the blockade which had meanwhile been effected by two galleys and four cogs against the Pommeranian coast. My attention was drawn away for a couple of days while my troops invested Dresden and my allies sieged Leipzig, but my attention quickly returned to the naval war when I was informed that we’d had three of our four barques sunk by the measly Wolgastian fleet!!

It was at this point that I took a closer look at the stats of the little galleys vs the larger barques and realized that their fleet of cogs and galleys actually outgunned my fleet! At start a cog has 4 cannon and equivalent sturdiness (hullsize) to the barque, whereas a galley is actually stouter (60 hullsize, compared to the larger barque’s 50) and has more guns (12 vs. the barque’s 10). The hullsize I’m sure is really more “stoutness” since the barque is obviously larger and more expensive in game terms, but the barque is more of a swan vs. the galley’s alligator-like disposition. Wolgast had had 40 cannon against my 40 and I hadn’t fared very well against them (likely because they outnumbered me and we were already damaged). Gah!







I’d also placed Anhalt under siege, starting early in the war. Peering around, I realize that two of Berg’s widely separated provinces are being invested by the enemy – 7,000 troops at Berg and 11,000 at Ravensberg. It’s here I’m introduced to the idea of mercenaries, EU IV style. I hadn’t really given much thought to mercenaries, seeing as they’re (historically, and in EU III, at least) not very reliable and very costly. But Brunswick has spent some money to call upon some Condottieri from Verden (are these mercenaries, or are the condottieri something distinct in EU IV??). I mean, I know that yes they are “distinct”, historically and process-wise, but do they behave essentially the same?

I also watch, soon after, as 6,000 Salzbergers march near to Braunschweig, where my 10,000 soldiers are surrounding the city walls. They choose not to attack, but I watch them nervously. In fact, I realize there are entirely too many enemy armies moving this way and that, and know that I should watch very carefully to see where they are and where they appear to be going. This could mean won or lost battles, so I surmise. I watch the Salzburgers go on by, headed someplace else, and they are lost in the mists of unknown territory (traditionally, in Paradox games, “fog of war”).

The first major combat appears to have embroiled at Erfurt, in Thuringia, where 6,000 Bergers meet 6,000 Thuringers in January 1466. At first, our side seems to be winning, but then I see an army of 11,000 marching their direction. That’s 6,000 Brunswickers and 5,000 Frankfurters. They join the battle and suddenly it’s 4,300 Bergers vs. nearly 16,000 enemy!







By 21 January the battle is over and 3,100 Bergers escape to fight another day. But I watch as what seems like 32,000 enemy soldiers move away from the field of battle!!! Where did all those armies come from???!!! Did they mass everybody they had in one place? No – I see still other of their armies here and there. The game notified me of the Condottieri being hired, but I wonder if they don’t warn me if the enemy hires mercenaries. Which makes me think two things: 1) Maybe I’d better hire myself some mercenaries; and 2) If they hire all the mercenaries, will there be any left for me to hire??

I don’t know, and I’m feeling DEEPLY undercapitalized, as soldiers go. So I hire two 4,000 man armies right away (Reislaufer’s and Doppelsoldner). This is my first time hiring mercenaries, so lessons lay ahead to be learned, I’m sure.

This is also when I call two more of my allies into the conflict – Wurttemburg and Ansbach, which brings Beyreuth with it.

At this point in January my 9,000 soldiers in Braunschweig are at -14% with the siege (not bad), and I have 8,000 at Anhalt. The siege at Wolgast is at -57% chance of surrender because my coastline is blockaded, and theirs is not – they’re still receiving a reasonable flow of supplies by unmolested sea traffic. That was going to take a while to reduce. At the end of the month I watch 4,500 Frankfurters mugging 1,000 Beyreuthians, which I can do nothing about.

During the first part of the year we have 2 mercenary armies forming to help. Reislaufer is forming at Altmark and Doppelsoldner will appear in Potsdam. Soon, I see 18,000 enemy troops marching through Leipzig with the apparent intent of freeing Wittenberg from our control. Or… Could be a lot of things. Could be headed for Berlin for that matter. There’s another huge 19,000 man army heading for Gottingen (part of Brunswick) just south of our 10,000 man siege army.







We get scared and take more loans to hire a much larger mercenary army – the Schwartze Garde, which will form in Brandenburg (sorry the arrow is pointing to Berlin but that’s not correct).

By 6 February I realize the goal of the eastern enemy army may well to be to annihilate the mercenaries before they can properly form up. What they do after that is anyone’s guess, but that’s what happens – they storm right into the Doppelsoldner and in a couple of days they no longer exist, and are disbanded.

Gosh, that sucks. What a waste! I realized, at this point, that any mercenary army would have to have about 3-4 months away from combat to come to full combat strength, just like any newly recruited army. I really have to choose between playing, writing the AAR, and reading the manual, and reading the manual has (obviously) come last. It shows.

I had some thought that if the enemy were going to continue north I could hit their tail or train, where a laggard column of 1,000 Anhalters was moseying along. Gen. Cisielsky attacked with 5,000 Brandenburgers, but of course with Doppelsoldner melting away so quickly the enemy’s 17,500 remaining soldiers have nothing better to do, and come charging back to rescue the Anhalters!







What had seemed like an easy victory for Cisielsky turns into a massive battle at Wittenberg. The Schwartze Garde arrived at Brandenburg on 15 February, but I know (now) not to throw them straight into combat. He breaks contact on 22 February, having lost only 2,000 soldiers to the enemy’s losing 1400. It’s not a terrible result, considering the mismatch of strength, but we’re not going to win the war this way.

After our defeat the massive enemy army divides into four columns and heads off in different directions. I couldn’t have been happier to see that, as I had visions of them raising my siege at Anhalt, or going back for Berlin, or somesuch. This is a reprieve, and I take it as such, building strength for the next wave.







By the beginning of March the Anhalt siege has a 7% chance of surrender next round, and there’s a water shortage at Braunschweig, which increases the surrender chance there to 14%. That’s how we’ll win the war, if we can keep these up. The enemy has taken Ravensberg, but we still hold Wittenberg (inexplicably).

It turns out part of the enemy columns settled in for a siege at unlucky Beyreuth. At least that’s 15,000 of the enemy we don’t have to worry about, for now.

Time moves on… In the first week of April we see defenders desert from both Braunschweig and Anhalt, raising those surrender likelihoods yet again!







And right about then an event occurs which makes even our busy soldiers and rulers stop and contemplate. Novgorod, which had been a fairly large and successful Baltic/Arctic state between Sweden and Muscovy surrendered and ceased to exist! Muscovy looms as a possible very big problem in the not-so-near future. Hmm….

Anyway…

So, it’s not just the enemy armies that are crisscrossing Europe in often inscrutable ways. At the end of April a small Magdeburger army attacked a smaller Thuringer army at Weimar. They looked about to destroy their enemy, except, predictably, the nearby swarms of enemy troops reacted and headed back to the fight.







What had almost been a significant victory turned into another defeat. Though, thankfully, it was not lopsided – much like the previous battle at Wittenberg (and unlike the one before that at Potsdam!). The enemy lost 2,000 soldiers and the Magdeburgers lost only 1,800. Moreover, the siege at Beyreuth had been forgone to contribute to the battle, so they would need to start over.

Meanwhile, we had decided that the Schwarze Garde could gain morale just as easily sitting around the city walls of Dresden, the Saxon capital. So they invested that city, and set up for a long, long siege.

This war was killing Brandenburg’s treasury, slowly strangling it with new loans and monthly expenses for maintaining far beyond Brandenburg’s reasonable capacity to support armies. Our forcelimit was 20, and we now had 31 regiments recruited or under hire. That was costing us almost 10 ducats a month, just by itself. My forts, of course, cost more, and there’s a monthly stipend for mercenaries…





I believe I consolidated some understrength regiments. That’s a give-and-take – it saves me money, but means that I’m permanently reducing my total number of full-strength units (i.e. those units that were at 500 or 700 men might have otherwise recovered to 1000). I decided the savings was worth it, as I had started to feel a little more confident in these months of spring. I sent the KronPrinz Friedrich von Hohenzollern to lead the 700-man remainder to Wolgast, where he would take command. It turns out that the KronPrinz is quite a military leader – better, in fact, than our existing generals Buhler and Cisielsky. Young Friedrich has 2 Fire, 2 Shock and 3 Maneuver pips.

Meanwhile, the Stettiner Separatists have risen to 80% restiveness, so we have to spend some military monarch points to give them “harsh treatment” that reduces their restiveness to 50%. Might buy me a few months more peace. And, speaking of restive peasants, the residents of Berlin rose up in anger against the Elector Friedrich’s proposed new palace in Berlin – it wasn’t a violent protest, but seemed like it could become so if we didn’t react properly to it. So, in light of the sentiments and the ongoing war which had us greatly distracted anyway, we gave in to the “Berliner Unwille” and let the building project languish for a time.

The Warscore is still negative (-7%), largely due to the Baltic Sea blockade which I invited by not knowing the naval rules. Each side still occupies one opposing province, but I feel like my investments of fully FOUR enemy capitals leaves me in a better position, long term.







The small principality of Anhalt fell on 8 June 1466, and the fall of Braunschweig showed more signs of being imminent (42% chance of surrender in a month).

The Warscore finally showed positive. Another of our armies has moved into Leipzig, leaving now-conquered Anhalt behind the lines.

Despite the enemy still having a large number of sneaky armies, lurking some within my sight, and others probably hiding just around the corner, I was guardedly optimistic of my prospects in this war.

That said, I will warn you in advance that this war had another year yet to go…

 

[El Pip]

Given the number of new mechanics and surprise you had thrown at you, that seemed to go fairly well? Financially a disaster of course, but otherwise not so bad. And given how it could have gone that seems a decent outcome.

 

[jak7139]

Naturally, there’s a temptation after such mistakes to reload and redo, but I hate doing that, and very rarely do. I decided to see how it all went.

Same. Mistakes are part of the fun, especially for AAR's.

Now, at the first I’ll admit to a stupid mistake. I saw the checkboxes on the left of the Declaration screen showing Wolgast’s allies. It was my impression that if I didn’t check those boxes then I wasn’t ALSO declaring war on them,

EU4 helpfully tells you exactly if someone will join (green check means yes, red x means no). You can also click on the checkboxes of your enemy's allies. This calls them in as a co-belligerent. Their land becomes cheaper to take (taking land from a secondary participant would normally be more expensive), but they also get to call their own allies.

Wolgast had had 40 cannon against my 40 and I hadn’t fared very well against them (likely because they outnumbered me and we were already damaged). Gah!

Galleys also excel at combat in inland seas and coasts (like the Baltic) giving them a combat boost. If you have a fleet of galleys in the Baltic or Med you can dominate the seas in that region.

(are these mercenaries, or are the condottieri something distinct in EU IV??)

Mercenariess and condottieri are two distinct things gameplay-wise, but yes are essentially the same. It's just a nation sending its own troops to help instead of the countryless mercenary companies.

The game notified me of the Condottieri being hired, but I wonder if they don’t warn me if the enemy hires mercenaries. Which makes me think two things: 1) Maybe I’d better hire myself some mercenaries; and 2) If they hire all the mercenaries, will there be any left for me to hire??

Yes, the game doesn't warn you about that. Although you can check in the ledger if they have any hired. Hiring mercs if you're outnumbered/out of manpower is definitely a good idea. I wouldn't worry about the AI hiring every mercenary before you, there are plenty.

and reading the manual has (obviously) come last. It shows

Does the EU4 manual even mention that mercenaries are now companies? For many years after release up until a few years ago, mercenaries were 1000-strength units that you could "build" just like normal troops. They were just more expensive and didn't use manpower.

It turns out part of the enemy columns settled in for a siege at unlucky Beyreuth. At least that’s 15,000 of the enemy we don’t have to worry about, for now.

And Bayreuth is a level 3 fort. Those are a pain to take early in the game before artillery.

Young Friedrich has 2 Fire, 2 Shock and 3 Maneuver pips.

Buhler and Cisielsky do both have siege pips though. Does Friedrich have one too?

That said, I will warn you in advance that this war had another year yet to go…

The sieges have been won, but there are still battles to be fought.

 

[HistoryDude]

I don't think Muscovy (probably soon to become Russia) will become an issue for countries in the HRE for a while as long as there's no alliances with German states or with Poland or Lithuania. I'd imagine they would focus on their east, the Ottomans, Sweden, or Lithuania (but I could be wrong).

This war seems rather large. Let's hope Brandenburg survives. What territory are you thinking of annexing? And are you considering demanding war reparations to help repay those loans?

 

[Rensslaer]

Given the number of new mechanics and surprise you had thrown at you, that seemed to go fairly well? Financially a disaster of course, but otherwise not so bad. And given how it could have gone that seems a decent outcome.

@El Pip I agree I think it went well. I was baffled at how armies seemed to have popped out of nowhere, and undone the calculus I'd done of comparing forces before I declared. But yes, mistakes aside, it's turned into a more advantageous situation. I just hate the loans I had to take. Gah!

Galleys also excel at combat in inland seas and coasts (like the Baltic) giving them a combat boost. If you have a fleet of galleys in the Baltic or Med you can dominate the seas in that region.

Does the EU4 manual even mention that mercenaries are now companies? For many years after release up until a few years ago, mercenaries were 1000-strength units that you could "build" just like normal troops. They were just more expensive and didn't use manpower.

Buhler and Cisielsky do both have siege pips though. Does Friedrich have one too?

@jak7139 Good to know about the naval stuff. I do remember galleys had that kind of advantage in EU III also, but I'd forgotten.

I also haven't fully acknowledged how far this game has developed since the manual was written. I did start an EU IV game when it first came out, which seems like an age ago (2013!!), but never had time to actually play. And so I've now come to start my very first game with a much more polished version 11 years later.

You are correct -- Buhler and Cisielsky would have been better chosen for siege work, as the KronPrinz does not have a siege rating. But Buhler and Cisielsky, I figured, were better tasked leading armies in the field, rather than being tied down in the far north away from all the combat. That same situation is partly what commends this task to the heir, so that he's not lost in combat or something.

I don't think Muscovy (probably soon to become Russia) will become an issue for countries in the HRE for a while as long as there's no alliances with German states or with Poland or Lithuania. I'd imagine they would focus on their east, the Ottomans, Sweden, or Lithuania (but I could be wrong).

This war seems rather large. Let's hope Brandenburg survives. What territory are you thinking of annexing? And are you considering demanding war reparations to help repay those loans?

Oh, Gosh - yeah, later in the AAR you'll see how Muscovy comes to be a real consideration for Brandenburg. It's like The Blob -- it keeps getting more powerful the more stuff it consumes, and it's moving slowly in my direction!!

I will be very happy if I can come out of this war with Wolgast conquered, and Brunswick humiliated, if not worse. Brunswick is a rival, so I can get those points for besting them even if I don't take anything.

Thanks everybody for reading and commenting! Especially for commenting! I love those comments, and appreciate the time and thought you put into them.

The next update is drafted but not assembled (i.e. I've got notes written, but need to go create screenshots and finish the text. I also should probably update my other AAR first, as it's been a while since I did that. That Shining Stars update is in the same status -- drafted but not assembled. I have hopes that the time I put into sketching out those two updates will make it go faster, and then I/we can move on into the peace after this war, and other important stuff as we move inexorably toward the end of the 15th Century.s

Anyone else out there lurking??

Rensslaer

 

[TheButterflyComposer]

Anyone else out there lurking??

No

 

[Rensslaer]

I lied. I'm going to see if I can get this update out tomorrow, or by the weekend at the latest.

I'm having fun playing, so it doesn't make any sense to slow down my update progress here.

Rensslaer

 

[Rensslaer]

At the end of the last update I mentioned 3 things – Anhalt fell, Braunschweig seemed about ready to fall, and there were marauding (“sneaky”) armies all over.

Those sneaky armies included 7,200 Brunswickers who passed through neutral Bohemia and somehow ended up in combat at Dolni Luzice with 3,000 Ansbachers who also happened to be passing through neutral Bohemia. I don’t think I realized until this war that if either side has military access through anywhere, it allows either side to pass (VERY different from Victoria 1, for instance, where the exclusive military access rule was the hinge upon which the survival of the Prussian state depended).

By the end of June another 5,000 Wurttemburgers (who just happened to be passing through neutral Bohemia) joined the battle, and then 8,000 more Bergers and Magdeburgers.







Approximately 3,000 of the Brunswickers had fallen, by the end of the battle in mid-July, and the rest retreated toward Dresden, where they bypassed our siege lines and slunk toward home. The week before, their capital at Braunschweig finally surrendered, as did the Saxon city of Leipzig. Wolgast was still holding on, at -21%, and Dresden at -35%. The warscore had hit 14%.

Our armies at Braunschweig divided, single regiments heading for neighboring Hanover and Gottingen, and Gen. von Buhler moved his siege army to Erfurt, a Thuringer fort to the south. Meanwhile, the Reislaufer mercenaries advanced upon Weimar where they engaged a smaller army of Thuringers. Buhler sent some of his surplus soldiers from Erfurt to assist. Of course, 7,300 Salzburgers couldn’t resist the opportunity, and they raised their siege of Beyreuth to join in. Unfortunately the 13,000 allied victors from the Battle of Dolni Luzice didn’t see fit to redirect.







The 2nd Battle of Weimar ended with our retreat, but with approximately equal casualties.

When I check war progress it appears that we have 43,000 soldiers to the enemy’s 28,000. We should be doing really well, I think! But, as just witnessed, sometimes those 17,000 strong stacks of allied armies pass by where they might be most useful. Grr… And I have a lot of my troops tied down in sieges, so they can’t wander the countryside like my enemy seems free to do. I take solace in the fact that unless they get their act together, the enemy isn’t going to be raising my sieges anytime soon – my armies are too strong. We’ve also had three major battles so far (lost 2, won one) but casualties have generally been equal.

By mid-August the warscore increases again as more unfortified provinces fall under our sway. Hoya – the last of Brunswick’s provinces – falls a month later. Then we start working on freeing Berg’s province of Ravensberg.







The Schwarze Garde are apparently brutalizing peasants in their siege of Dresden. This may or may not be a problem to us, but Friedrich II, not wanting to unduly antagonize the Saxons, who he sees as likely future citizens, curbs their enthusiasm. We gain a +2 Army Professionalism by curtailing the mercenaries. It unfortunately increases their cost, as we must supply them better so they don’t rely upon pillage so frequently.

In mid-September the walls at Wolgast are finally breached.

In October Gen. Buhler moved south to Vogtland, where he destroyed a small Thuringer detachment, and once that province fell moved to Weimar.

Wolgast finally surrendered on 21 November, but this auspicious news was tempered by Ansbach’s fall to the Verdenese condottieri hired by Brunswick on 6 December. This dropped our newfound 27% warscore to 19%.







Then, later in November, a large battle against the Saxons developed at Beyreuth, and new Saxon armies arrived to reinforce them. Nearby Ansbach and Brandenburger armies moved to join, and ultimately by mid-December it resulted in a significant victory for our side. The Saxons lost twice what the allied armies had.

With our two primary conquest goals in the war having fallen, I started looking for peace options. But our Warscore was being held down by that pesky blockade of several coastal provinces which I could do nothing about. I might be able to make a separate peace with Wolgast to end the blockade, except that would actually end the war since we’d declared against them initially. So no separate peace. Argh!

Later in December a rather interesting thing occurred, and I caught it on screenshots. The commander of the Reislaufer mercenary company, Gen. Leonhard von Hesen, died in combat with Thuringers at Bamberg! He was replaced by Dietrich von Schmidtburg, who actually had better stats in any case. FIVE fire! AND 3 shock. And a siege pip. Nice. Wish I could keep him. I suppose I could, but mercs are expensive.







By the end of 1466, the Battle of Bamberg was also decided in our favor, costing our side only 373 dead (including the general!) but costing the enemy 2,200.

And then the Reislaufer company continued on to Ansbach to free it from occupation.







In the bottom left of the above shot you may notice that they have Stuttgart (part of Wurttemburg) under siege, and it’s at +21%. That’s a worry.

The walls at Erfurt have been breached, but it has not yet fallen. Ansbach is at -7%, Dresden +7%. The enemy has already taken Wurttemburg’s Urach province.

By April Dresden, the Saxon capital, had fallen. Warscore is up to 37%, Dresden having added 15%. Stuttgart is still holding out, at +42%.







I feel like that warscore will go down significantly if Stuttgart falls. Coburg falls, but Erfurt is still holding out. Stuttgart, by the beginning of May, is still holding out at 49%, by some miracle. Erfurt finally falls toward the end of May.

It’s time to put an end to this. I would love to take Anhalt, but it’s too “expensive” in warscore terms. Instead I opt to conquer Wolgast, once and for all, and we also take the Brunswickian capital of Braunschweig, which is a nice prize, knocking one of our rivals down two or three notches in terms of being able to realistically threaten us ever again.







This peace cuts our rival Brunswick in two, substantially undercutting her economy by removing her largest city, and they must also pay 10% of their income to us for 10 years. Wolgast gives us an uninterrupted string of coastal provinces finally. They also pay us 16 more ducats, which is a drop in the bucket, but it helps a little.

I know some might fault me for choosing to conquer instead of vassalize Wolgast. Granted, I might have liked to keep their navy. And if this war had been later, after my becoming more familiar with the game, and getting more commentary from readers, I might well have made a different choice. At this point in the gameplay I was more focused on gaining more provinces for Brandenburg proper.

Curious to hear any thoughts you might have on the course of the war, or gameplay mistakes I made.

 

[coz1]

I would agree that making Wolgast a vassal might have been the better choice, but core and move on.

These wars can get very tedious very quickly, especially in larger Germany. Well done getting through it even with the roving bands of enemies.

 

[Rensslaer]

Oh! OH!! I just realized it's possible to tell your allied armies what to do!! That would have been very good to know! <stomps>

Rensslaer

.... well, vassal armies anyway. Not allied I assume??

 

[jak7139]

I don’t think I realized until this war that if either side has military access through anywhere, it allows either side to pass (VERY different from Victoria 1, for instance, where the exclusive military access rule was the hinge upon which the survival of the Prussian state depended).

Yes. I mentioned this not too long ago in Dreams of Frisian Freedom, but I'll repeat it here. The mil-access system for EU4 used to work like every other Paradox game. However, this would create annoying situations when facing an AI opponent. The AI would get access through many nations, go siege down a distant corner of your country, and you send your army to deal with it. But as soon as you get close, the AI runs away and the player can't follow. And as soon as your army leaves, the AI comes back.

In the bottom left of the above shot you may notice that they have Stuttgart (part of Wurttemburg) under siege, and it’s at +21%. That’s a worry

Stuttgart is a level one capital fort (indicated by the little crown-fort icon on the province). It's easy for the enemy to take. But also easy for you to take back once it falls.

Instead I opt to conquer Wolgast, once and for all, and we also take the Brunswickian capital of Braunschweig

Did you separate peace out the other participants first? Saxony, Frankfurt, and the rest? It can be a great source of extra money and prestige to pay of those loans.

Curious to hear any thoughts you might have on the course of the war, or gameplay mistakes I made.

For your first major war I'd say it went well. I probably would've kept the war going until 100% warscore is reached and made separate peaces with the enemy's other allies. As long as you're winning, and unless your war exhaustion is getting high or you need to declare another war, there is no downside to keeping the war going and taking every last coin from every last participant.

.... well, vassal armies anyway. Not allied I assume??

It depends on which screen you're using. You can tell vassals what to do on the vassal screen (located in the same area as your economy, stability, and diplomacy tabs). The other way, which includes allies, is to click on an enemy or occupied province while at war and set an objective for your ally/vassal to occupy the province. It usually works, but you never know with the AI.

 

[HistoryDude]

Congrats on your annexations!

Hopefully the tribute you get from Brunswick will allow you to recoup gold that you lost paying mercenaries...

Where are you planning to expand next?

Is Austria still the emperor? Did they demand that you return unlawful territory?

 

[Rensslaer]

I would agree that making Wolgast a vassal might have been the better choice, but core and move on.

These wars can get very tedious very quickly, especially in larger Germany. Well done getting through it even with the roving bands of enemies.

Thank you! I see what you mean now with vassals. They're difficult to effectively control, but they do appear to offer various benefits that I don't experience if I simply annex. But the ultimate goal is to annex eventually, once one has other vassals, presumably.

Yes. I mentioned this not too long ago in Dreams of Frisian Freedom, but I'll repeat it here. The mil-access system for EU4 used to work like every other Paradox game. However, this would create annoying situations when facing an AI opponent. The AI would get access through many nations, go siege down a distant corner of your country, and you send your army to deal with it. But as soon as you get close, the AI runs away and the player can't follow. And as soon as your army leaves, the AI comes back.

Did you separate peace out the other participants first? Saxony, Frankfurt, and the rest? It can be a great source of extra money and prestige to pay of those loans.

For your first major war I'd say it went well. I probably would've kept the war going until 100% warscore is reached and made separate peaces with the enemy's other allies. As long as you're winning, and unless your war exhaustion is getting high or you need to declare another war, there is no downside to keeping the war going and taking every last coin from every last participant.

It depends on which screen you're using. You can tell vassals what to do on the vassal screen (located in the same area as your economy, stability, and diplomacy tabs). The other way, which includes allies, is to click on an enemy or occupied province while at war and set an objective for your ally/vassal to occupy the province. It usually works, but you never know with the AI.

Very good to know on the vassals issue, and how to control them. I've experimented some with this. At times they've obeyed effectively. Other times they have their own priorities. I do like how allies will sometimes make their armies follow the movements of your own armies, so you effectively have a bigger army to command. That's a nice touch that makes the game more realistic.

The new military access system does seem to solve some problems with armies getting "stuck" where they can't get home. As well as the scenario you mention. But the new military access system has its own drawbacks, like that your rivals, for instance, will helpfully allow you to cross their countries and fight battles there, and the enemy can take advantage of any military access you have negotiated to attack you instead. I also think military access is too freely given. The AI seems to spam mil access requests, so if you have 2-3 allies there's a likelihood the whole of Europe (practically) has military access for everyone. Even the Ottomans. lol

Thanks for your assessment of how the war turned out. I didn't dare hold on until the warscore was higher because I was suffering from the extra costs of the war. I think you're saying that if I'd continued and made separate peaces I would have (maybe) made the money back in monetary damages from the treaties. I might try playing around with that in the future.

Congrats on your annexations!

Hopefully the tribute you get from Brunswick will allow you to recoup gold that you lost paying mercenaries...

Where are you planning to expand next?

Is Austria still the emperor? Did they demand that you return unlawful territory?

Yes, Austria is Emperor. They appear to regularly send out unlawful territory cease & desist orders, but 90% of the time these seem to be ignored.

I dug quite an economic hole by hiring mercenaries. They helped me gain the upper hand, but it was costly and will take a while to recoup from.

My next war is forced upon me, more or less, by hostile neighbors.

So following this war is a time of peace, and I'll describe that in a few days hopefully. I'll try to keep the tempo of this AAR going.

Thanks, everybody, for watching and reading and for your comments! It's good to know there are some people lurking, even if @TheButterflyComposer denies it.

Rensslaer

 

[jak7139]

I also think military access is too freely given.

I agree. This has been many peoples' main complaint about the new system. The AI will get access across half the world just to attack you. It's a combination of AI behavior and game mechanics intersecting to make things annoying for the player. It's one of those annoying things that I don't think will be fixed given how old EU4 is.

I think you're saying that if I'd continued and made separate peaces I would have (maybe) made the money back in monetary damages from the treaties.

Yes. It's difficult for me to judge since I don't know how much you were losing each month, or how much each country was willing to give you (gold plus war reparations). But it probably would have paid off most of your loans, maybe even all of them.

Separate peaces also have the benefit of keeping the enemy and their allies weak, which increases the chance other AI will attack them and make your next war easier.

 

[Rensslaer]

@jak7139 denial of military access is a wall that prevents movement of both yourself and your enemies (or once passage is arranged allows you but NOT your enemy, ideally).

The military access rules, and the new rules for EU IV, remind me of one of my favorite lines from my favorite play.

William Roper: “So, now you give the Devil the benefit of law!”

Sir Thomas More: “Yes! What would you do? Cut a great road through the law to get after the Devil?”

William Roper: “Yes, I'd cut down every law in England to do that!”

Sir Thomas More: “Oh? And when the last law was down, and the Devil turned 'round on you, where would you hide, Roper, the laws all being flat? This country is planted thick with laws, from coast to coast, Man's laws, not God's! And if you cut them down, and you're just the man to do it, do you really think you could stand upright in the winds that would blow then? Yes, I'd give the Devil benefit of law, for my own safety's sake!”

― Robert Bolt, A Man for All Seasons: A Play in Two Acts

 

[Rensslaer]

All right… My gameplay has hit 30 years past where I've so far told about in the AAR, so I need to play some catch-up.


At the end of the war with Brunswick & Wolgast, in May 1467, Brandenburg stood at 29 Prestige and 35 Power Projection, 3 Stability. The “primary indicators” were that Brandenburg was doing pretty good.

The mitigating factors were that much of Europe hated or feared Brandenburg, due to its repeated gobbling up of neighboring land, and also that Brandenburg had significant debt after having hired so many mercenaries to enable supremacy in the war with so many German states.

As such, Prince-Elector Friedrich II spent several years attempting to set Brandenburg on a better footing with his neighbors and its economy. The mercenary armies were released, but more had to be done. How to increase income, reduce expenses, and acquire the ability to pay off the loans?





With regard to the rest of the world, Brandenburg was doing pretty well overall. In terms of Development (for those who don’t know, basically a measure of the size and productivity of your combined cities/provinces), Brandenburg ranked 13the in the known world, actually ahead of Austria, and just behind Burgundy and Poland and Lithuania and Hungary. The Ottomans, Muscovy, France, England, the Mamluks and Castile and Aragon headed up the top of the list. Brandenburg ranked 6th in the known world in Prestige.

But it didn’t help the economy that several of Brandenburg’s largest cities (especially after having just conquered some of those largest cities) were devastated by the war. To get expenses down we mothballed our forts and reduced army maintenance. Eventually I worked it out so I was netting 1 ducat every month, to start to dig out of our hole. Then it was 3 ducats a month by dropping fleet maintenance, until I realized it affected the benefits of having barques protect trade, and it was a relatively slimmer line item anyway.





One switch made, in an attempt to improve Brandenburg’s portion of trade, was to move the merchant from Lubeck to the Baltic Sea. Due to Brandenburg’s growing coastline, more of its trade originated in the Baltic Sea Center of Trade (CoT). And, besides, it was “upstream” from Lubeck, and afforded more opportunities to collect than did Lubeck, and also wasn’t in as tight a competition as was Lubeck, where the Hanseatic League controlled things more firmly than Brandenburg could. This move increased Brandenburg’s share of trade by .33 over the next couple of years, up to 3.12 (which still seemed dismal – ugh!).

That’s how I understand the trade, anyway. The trade flow originates somewhere in Russia (or beyond), and flows through the Baltic Sea to Lubeck and then out into the North Sea to England. I did make another adjustment later to improve the trade yet again. But what thoughts do you have on how I could improve trade more? Is there any possibility of Brandenburg joining the Hanseatic League? I cannot find any controls suggesting I could. I need to read up on trade more than I have.

We also made Lubeck our new rival and started spying on them, since we’d shrunk Brunswick to the point she wasn’t a valid rival any longer.

We did have to call a Diet. An easy way to gain cash is to sell titles to Crownland. But your economy and legitimacy suffers if you go below 30% Crownland (Crown controlled property, as opposed to property owned by the Nobles, Church/Clergy or Burghers). So I would sell to get money, but then I had to get the other lands back through seizures, or build more development (expensive in terms of Monarch points), to build my Crown owned property back to where I could sell titles again. Of course when you take land from the Estates they get upset, and you build back loyalty by selling titles. But the numbers are never in your favor (like you can sell 10% of the property at a time, but can only seize 5% at a time, and you never build loyalty as easily as you lose it). So it’s a long game of balancing, and to do it right takes years.

At the Diet we chose the proposal of the Nobility to build our Manpower back to 50% of maximum – something we needed desperately to do anyway. So I chose that. It would gain me 10% loyalty from the Nobles, which would be good.





In more Estate conflict, there was a dispute between the Clergy and Nobility over a different part of land. We chose to support the Nobility, because otherwise they were likely to revolt, and we absolutely could not afford that. The Pope could be a little angry at us. But the Clergy were lowered to 30% Loyalty, below which could be very costly to us.

And then there was a Revolt anyway (from different causes) in December 1469.

I don’t recall if I was particularly inattentive, and let the Revolt Risk in Stargard (a conquest from Wolgast from a previous war) get too high or if I was merely administratively inattentive and did not reserve the appropriate amount of Military Monarch points to spend on “Harsh Treatment” (which sets the progress of revoltrisk back 30%) because I spent it on something else.

But the ingrateful Stargardians revolted and soon overwhelmed the rag-tag army of underfunded (low maintenance) conscripts who were stationed there. I raised army maintenance to maximum to build our Morale back up and came back at the rebels, but not before they had taken control of Stargard for a short period of time.

By March of 1470 everything was back to normal, aside from a slightly devastated province and a slightly edgier garrison.

Also in March of 1470, our not-quite neighbor bear Muscovy began stomping around Europe again, and we cast nervous glances in her direction.





Her assault upon Catholic Livonian Order was worrisome, as it suggested they might be willing to continue to attack other Catholic lands to the east of her, including, perhaps one day, Brandenburg. Perhaps spurred by this same concern, Riga and the Teutonic Order Knights responded to the call of Riga and joined this war.

Naturally, since the Teutonic Order is Brandenburg’s rival, we considered backstabbing them at this time. But should we do that when they’re acting as a bulwark against Musco-bear? More importantly, to our current considerations, should we do that while we’re still recovering from a long and costly war of our own? The answer to that was clearly no.

The Teutonic Order was definitely on our target list, still, but this decade or the next? Or the one after…. Hard to say.





Our trade, over the course of a year and a half with a merchant competing in the Baltic Sea CoT, has increased our trade there from .62 to .86 (up .24). Overall trade income is up .64 from the end of the war in mid-1467.

Unfortunately there are raiders hitting our coast (it doesn’t say who – Gotland??), and this reduces our income from some of our coastal provinces.

And the Teutonic Order continues to fix themselves at the forefront of our consciousness. They are conniving against us with spies, claiming portions of our Wolgastian conquests…

And in July of 1471 they actually promulgated the outrageous proposal to enter the Holy Roman Empire!!! Gah!! They can’t do that! We were hoping to be able to take their provinces without the Emperor being all angry at us for taking Imperial territory as our own! This could ruin everything!

To war now, while we barely still had the chance (and while Muscovy kept them busy)? Or just let things take their course?

Unfortunately, Brandenburg was not in any position to war with them yet. Still more economic recovery underway. We passed.





A second of our storied generals also passed – Gen. von Buhler and Gen. Cisielsky have both passed beyond the rim. They will be missed – we had a lot of fun with them!

We continue to be confounded by our targets… err, enemies. Mecklenburg marries a daughter off to the Habsburgs, and soon after concluded an alliance with Austria. Would I want to face both the Teutonic Knights and Austria to take on Mecklenburg? Probably not. Certainly not now. <sighs>

The Teutonic Order was voted into the Holy Roman Empire against the objections of her rival, Brandenburg, under the condition that they would lose their member status if they attacked any other HRE members. Hmph. Well…

In any case, it didn’t protect them from their immediate foe. Riga fell quickly. Muscovy was proving quite a match for two relatively major Baltic countries. I didn’t want to see Russian soldiers on my border. Nope, not liking that!

And I can imagine that quite a few of you would view it as an embarrassment to still be at Tech Level 4 across the board in 1472. Yes, I’m behind. Because of my rapid early expansion I hadn’t prepared the economy or tech or anything properly before getting into the fights, and now it was time to pay the piper because I had various things always tugging at my monarch points so they didn’t build up enough to pass the tech levels. Not good.

Oh, and look at Sweden and those rebellions… Sheesh.

Then our attention is drawn northward instead of eastward. It's 1473 and the Hanseatic League has Embargoed us!! That’s a big deal. I don’t know how much, really, because I believe it’s hard to see in practice (advice? – what do I look for?). But I must assume this is preventing me from getting certain trade deals and maintaining my higher trade levels.





The countries circled in red, above, are in the League – Lubeck leads, Bremen, Hamburg, Oldenburg, Rugen and Anhalt also belong to the League. Grr!!! Naturally, this is an aggressive, hostile action that I yearn to be able to respond to. Am I ready?

So these are small countries. Not necessarily weak. Definitely not poor. Would this be an easier war than my previous, against all those countries? Or worse? Hard to tell.

Definitely not ready. Not yet.

We completed our Manpower buildup (for the Estate Agenda) in May 1473, and we earn the goodwill of the Nobility, which is good to have. But I also get an unexpected related opportunity – a level 2 Military Advisor for 1/2 the price!

I had been paying off loans (down to only 14 loans, from a high of 21!) but here I take a loan to hire this advisor – Karl von Seel (military reinforce speed +33%), who will replace my Level 1 advisor for just twice as much per month, as opposed to the usual 4 times as much. This is an improvement I can afford.

The Muscovite conquest of the Livonian Order was over in July 1473. They annexed it all, giving them prime real estate along the Baltic Coast and essentially making Muscovy a Baltic Sea power. I didn’t need that. Not at all.





And… WHAT IN HELL!!!?? Muscovy just guaranteed the Teutonic Order after having just defeated them. So if I EVER declare war on the Teutonic Knights…. AAAaaargh!!!

Sweden’s government collapsed, due to the revolts we saw earlier, and soon after King Alfred announced that Brandenburg was considered their rival. Well…. Just great, again. And a couple years later they also signed an alliance with Austria. Great. Just great.

We paid off another loan, bringing us back down to 14.

By the end of 1473 Friedrich II’s nervous energy was manifesting itself again, and he began casting about for who would be Brandenburg’s next target. Anhalt had Brunswick as its ally, and they still had their own allies, and that seemed like it would be a repeat of the previous war. Actually, worse than that, they also had ties to the Hanseatic League, and I think they might have joined also. Mecklenburg would be his preference, all things considered, but it was allied to Scotland and Poland and Austria. No thanks.

Magdeburg, actually, was one of the countries he believed should be a vassal, at least, but they were still an ally, and it was too messy to try to fix that right now. One might point out that I didn’t have to attack Magdeburg to make them a Vassal. Yes, normally, but remember we’ve angered everyone, and now no one is interested in being our vassal voluntarily. Our economy is also not as strong as it could be, and relative size of economy is another consideration for diplomatic vassal relationships.

The Teutonic Order was guaranteed by Muscovy and allied with both Denmark and Bohemia. That would be a big war. Nope. Bohemia was a good target, and Friedrich really wanted to knock her down a step or two, but they were allied to the Teutonic Knights, Switzerland, and other smaller countries, and had a decent military and economy as well. Not ready for that yet.

We held a new Diet, and I’ll tell you about that another time. We advanced to Miltech 5. We decided to build a couple “early carrack” ships (they might be the first in the Baltic!). The Mecklenburgers assumed the throne of Poland, which just sucked… But then…





And then, in January of 1476 – after Brandenburg had taken 9 years to recover – Poland got into a big war with Hungary!

Was this our chance?? Hungary didn’t call us as an ally. That was just as well. We could pounce when we felt the time was right. Friedrich II seriously considered as to whether this, or a time soon, might be the time to actually take on our former ally – a behemoth in her own right – at this time. Austria hadn’t joined against Hungary – would it be possible to get our war with Mecklenburg at the same time as Poland and NOT go to war with Austria. Plus there was the Personal Union with Lithuania – to win against Poland might we have to conquer all that territory too? Especially if Hungary made peace early. Friedrich pondered. Many a night he did.

The Ottomans declared a Golden Era in June of 1476. This would mean they would be far more powerful in battle. And two of the “bulwarks” against Mohammedanism were currently at war. Three, really, considering the Personal Union between Poland and Lithuania.

Something to worry about.

But we had something more to worry about, really. We were noticing how our trade had increased so promisingly over time, but then had settled into a sort of doldrum in the years since the Hanseatic League had declared its Embargoes.

In July 1476 we made our choice.





We carefully checked the alliance structures of each of the League members.

Strategy Quiz: Who do you pick, and why?

 

[jak7139]

How to increase income, reduce expenses, and acquire the ability to pay off the loans?

Mothball forts and decrease army maintenance like you've already done. Decrease autonomy in your territories so they give you more income. Find some good buildings to build in your provinces by looking at the macrobuilder. Temples and workshops are both good. Marketplaces too, but they require understanding EU4's trade system. Anything that makes you 0.10+ gold a month is worth building.

Once your current knowledge-sharing agreement is up, you could see if anyone else would be willing to pay you. You can also use the favors you've built up with your allies to ask for money from them.

Then it was 3 ducats a month by dropping fleet maintenance, until I realized it affected the benefits of having barques protect trade, and it was a relatively slimmer line item anyway.

Probably better to mothball the non-trade ships (puts them at 0 maintenance and hull strength) and keep overall naval maintenance at 100 for your trade ships.

But what thoughts do you have on how I could improve trade more? Is there any possibility of Brandenburg joining the Hanseatic League? I cannot find any controls suggesting I could. I need to read up on trade more than I have.

Your merchant placement right now looks to be the best that it can be without further conquest. So, the only way to increase your income peacefully is to build more light ships for trade (a very good investment).

You're too large to join the league. It's only for city-states (except for the leader, Lubeck, who can grow as big as it likes).

and you never build loyalty as easily as you lose it). So it’s a long game of balancing, and to do it right takes years.

Giving out some of the privileges to the estates could help with their loyalty. The ones that decrease advisor costs would be good for your economy. You can also take 5, 1% interest loans from the burghers to help pay off your normal 5% loans.

and did not reserve the appropriate amount of Military Monarch points to spend on “Harsh Treatment” (which sets the progress of revoltrisk back 30%) because I spent it on something else.

I would ABSOLUTELY NOT be spending mil points on harsh treatment right now. It's much better to just fight the rebellion when it pops up. The exception to this rule is when something happens later in the game, but for now, do not do this.

Unfortunately there are raiders hitting our coast (it doesn’t say who – Gotland??), and this reduces our income from some of our coastal provinces.

If you click on Gotland, you can see if their government is a pirate republic (this lets them raid you) or a normal republic. Building a few galleys and giving them the mission to "hunt pirates" can protect your coasts from raiding.

We were hoping to be able to take their provinces without the Emperor being all angry at us for taking Imperial territory as our own! This could ruin everything!

That's unfortunate. But at least Poland is also locked out of Prussia. And you can take it whenever, while Poland would have to attack the Empire to get it.

I don’t know how much, really, because I believe it’s hard to see in practice (advice? – what do I look for?).

Basically, an embargo hurts your trade power in the nodes you share with Luceck and its league. It also has some other effects (from the wiki).

And… WHAT IN HELL!!!?? Muscovy just guaranteed the Teutonic Order after having just defeated them. So if I EVER declare war on the Teutonic Knights…. AAAaaargh!!!

The AI loves to to guarantee other nations . You'll have to find some way to isolate the Prussians by attacking a third party.

Was this our chance??

I don't know what the troop numbers are, but this seems like a poor move by Hungary. Better to wait and see if they weaken Poland first before moving in.

Strategy Quiz: Who do you pick, and why?

I pick the top right screenshot to declare on Lubeck. However, I would use the Humiliate Rival CB instead because there is an age bonus for humiliating a rival.

The reasons why: The enemy alliance has the fewest amount of troops in that screenshot. Most of your allies are willing to jon to help you (just in case). And, as you've already said, you can't take any land right now without angering everybody.

A humiliate war prevents taking land, but you don't want to do that anyway. You want to weaken Lubeck, stop their embargo, and pay back your loans with a quick and easy war. You can separate peace out all of Lubeck's allies individually for money, war reps, and prestige to help with your loans.