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Devin

Second Lieutenant
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May 24, 2000
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An easy solution to my isolation is complicated by the way alliance building works in EU. A nation may only belong to one alliance at a time, which prevents fluid realignments. To ally, say, Sweden, I would either have to catch Sweden outside an alliance when its current alliance expires and invite it into my own alliance, or I would have to disband my own alliance and ask to join the English-Dutch-Swedish alliance. A nation becomes unaligned when it refuses to support another member of its alliance that goes to war. Generally, I am impressed with the way the AI forms alliances but often this becomes frustrating when Europe is already locked into a rigid system of alliances that leaves aggressive powers unchecked.

The balance of power in North America had deteriorated slightly to England's advantage due to native attacks on French trading posts, so France opted to intervene militarily. In 1740, a two-year war broke out between England-Netherlands and France-Spain that once again delivered victory to France thanks to its dominance on land. But England was only forced to cede a relatively minor colony in Tennessee and managed to decimate the French navy. England will absolutely dominate the seas for the rest of the game.

At the start of the 1740's, I was somewhat concerned about the rising influence of Prussia in Germany and the possibility of an eventual Prusso-Russian partition of Poland. This changed dramatically in a five-year war pitting Poland-France against Prussia and its feeble allies. Berlin was forced to cede Munster to France and Poland gained East Prussia in 1751. Serves them right for leaving our alliance.

In the meantime, my frustration with Russia's intention to avoid conflict with Turkey and its Crimean vassal state led me to court Persia as a natural check to any Turkish ambition. In 1748, they joined my alliance. One year later, I attacked Turkey and finally gain a port at Illyria. Several of my German allies desert the coalition due to their disappointment with my southern orientation and Germany fractures into small two-nation alliances. In fact, I find that Sachsen, perhaps the strongest German state, has been vassalized by Sweden and Hessen has been vassalized by the Kurpfalz.
The situation in Italy is at an impasse due to my inability to lure Venice into an alliance. Spanish Milan is a tempting target with its 100,000 inhabitants, robust economy and lack of a Spanish standing army. Plus Spain is crippled by the secession of Granada in 1750 and staggering four-digit hyperinflation. In 1754, I gamble that Poland, still exhausted from its war with Prussia and bound to me by a royal marriage, will not intervene. I attack Spanish Milan. My gamble pays off, and Poland drops out of the Franco-Spanish alliance. For the first time, I find myself at war with France, but Savoy has dropped out of their coalition and we share no borders. Milan is easily subdued. But without a navy I am not able to pursue the war against Spain. Eventually, Madrid sues for peace with a large indemnity in 1758, but I realize that I will never be able to actually annex Milan until I can occupy more Spanish territory.

Now a Spanish lackey, Portugal closes all of its ports to me, which costs me the lucrative Macao commerce. By this point, about two thirds of my income is derived from trade. Fortunately, I have succeeded in establishing a monopoly in Dutch-dominated India, which more than makes up for this loss. Meanwhile, Russia has launched another offensive against Poland and gains two more provinces in 1758.

The Netherlands once again gambles on English support and attacks France in 1757. With Poland out of the alliance, a newly-rearmed Prussia senses an opportunity and declares war on France shortly afterwards. The war is over for the Dutch within six months. England's navy may be larger than all other navies combined, but France has nearly 600,000 men under arms! The Dutch AI in this game has been suicidal. France actually has a harder time of it against the Prussians. I discover that Prussia's heroism has won it a lot of support among the German states, and I am unable to renew several royal marriages. The war drags on into 1764, when France finally wrests control of East Pomerania but suffers horrendous losses. Prussia is effectively destroyed as a European power.

With both Poland and Prussia in a tailspin, I decide that it is high time that I confront the Russians. In 1760, I attack Istria, where Russia has maintained a standing army of some 50,000 men. The war is extremely bloody as Russian cavalry marauds back and forth across my territory. I lose nearly 75% of my forces, but my empire is well-fortified and the Russians are forced to cede Istria in 1762. Russia had used its access to the sea well, establishing trading posts in Brazil, Argentina and the west coast of North America. No more.

In 1765, England and its Granadan ally declare war on France and Spain, and this time the coalition is effective. English armies run amok in French North America. By 1768, France is forced to give back Tennessee and its once unrivalled army has been reduced by half thanks to the cumulative efforts of the Prussians and English! But Sweden has made a fatal mistake by leaving the coalition when England declares war. Russia and Denmark invade the now isolated Swedes almost immediately. I respond by pumping massive subsidies to Stockholm, but it is too little too late. Sweden loses two Baltic provinces and ends up paying much of my subsidy to Russia in indemnities in'68.

Turkey has been engaged in a series of inconclusive wars with Venice since 1745, which I have attempted to influence with generous subsidies. Thanks to the active participation of their north African vassals, however, they have dominated the Aegean for over 30 years. Their latest offensive in 1770 prompts me to step in to relieve the Venetians. The Turkish army had been built up in recent years, so my generals were eager to test their latest innovation in the field - the organization of the infantry into well-disciplined divisions. The Persians are also well-prepared for a fight and perform brilliantly. Within two years, we have absolutely annihilated the Turkish army and gain Kosovo and the key shipyards at Ragusa.

In 1875, Russia once again directs its might against the Swedes and I am forced to open my wallet to Stockholm. The Swedes are overrun and have to surrender three remote Finnish provinces. Evidently, I am not the only one concerned about the Russians, because the French take Poland back under their protection.

It appears that there will be no trouble from the American colonies, and England is finally becoming more confident. They attack France-Spain-Poland again in 1776 as the Granadans stir up trouble in Spain. The French are unable to engage the English, so they pound the Dutch and crack down on the Granadans on behalf of the helpless Spanish. The English used their mastery of the seas to strike at the French in the Caribbean, to occupy Spanish Naples and even to land an expeditionary force in Polish Latvia. The war concluded with France surrendering its key Caribbean sugar plantation of Grenada and paying a hefty indemnity in 1780.

My own activity in this period is devoted to two projects: piecing together a new central European alliance and establishing a presence in Thailand and Vietnam. Prussia had lost another futile war against the French and it was becoming clear that the country would be better off under my leadership. By 1782, I had vassalized the Hansa, finally drawn Venice into an alliance and added the powerful German states of Lorraine, Hanover, and Thuringia to the coalition.

Russia in the 1780s focuses all of its energies on alternating wars against Poland and Sweden. It invades Poland in 1783, which finally receives significant support from the French army. It is not enough, though, and Poland loses two more provinces. Meanwhile, Sweden has a trick up its sleeve. It gambles on a war with its fairly potent ally Holstein against the momentarily weakened Russians and their Danish allies in 1784. I am rather awash in cash, and my largesse to the two allies surpasses all my previous support. Holstein pounces on Denmark and quickly wins a huge indemnity and the province of Jylland. Denmark also has to trade one of its Norwegian provinces to Sweden for peace. Unfortunately, the Russians are not to be stopped and end up with almost all of Finland.

The endgame is upon me and I am superbly positioned. The German state of Baden makes the twin errors of being pro-French and leaving itself without an ally. In 1783, it finds itself on the receiving end of my powerful German coalition. Thuringia and Lorraine quickly secure large indemnities and I finish the matter with an annexation in 1785. In 1784, the Turks make the ludicrous mistake of declaring war on me, apparently emboldened by the Crimea's growing military might. The Crimeans provide amusing target practice for a time and the ensuing peace gives Bessarabia on the Black Sea coast to the Venetians and Bulgaria to me.

The Turks' stupidity is soon surpassed by the Prussians, who declare war on me with their Wuerttemburg allies in 1789. I am deserted by sated Thuringia and Lorraine, but no matter. I easily annex Wuerttemburg and Switzerland is cowed into becoming my vassal. This development is a breakthrough, because it opens a direct salient to French territory. Meanwhile, my allies from Hanover and the Hansa finish off the Prussians alone. The game ends in 1792 with Hanover in control of Magdeburg and Austrian forces besieging Berlin.

I emerge the winner on victory points followed closely by England and France, then Russia, Spain, Turkey and Oman (which has played a skilful diplomatic game in coordination with the Persians and Nubians on the Turk's southern flank).

It's too bad the game ended where it did, because I was finally poised for some intriguing confrontations with France and Spain. Cementing the alliance with Venice opened possibilities in Italy, where the hostile Papal States had emerged as the dominant power after a successful 50-year power-struggle against Tuscany. And now that I had secured port facilities, I could have forced Spain to surrender Milan by taking the war to Naples. The corridor to France would be a double-edged sword and would force me to beef up my army considerably. With my dominance of Germany secure, I would also be able to turn to my attention to the Polish question. If only to deny Russia more territory, Poland would have to be annexed, perhaps in alliance with Sweden. As for the Turks, I am content with my gains. Any additional territory would require me to administer Muslim populations, which wouldn't be worth the trouble.

I hope you all enjoyed the AAR as much as I enjoyed writing it!
 
terrific job! i had a wonderful time reading your AAR, i am glad that you posted it. how long did it take you to write it, it looks like you put a lot of work into it.
 
Quote from Devin:
'I hope you all enjoyed the AAR as much as I enjoyed writing it!'

Yes, thanks.
However, now I have to add one more country, Austria, to the list of nations that I want play in my FIRST game. :)

EU just came out and you did a fine job of juggling all of EU's finer points - trade, diplomacy, economy, military - how many (if any)games did you play before this? And, have you gotten any sleep, eaten anything? :)

EU seems to be richly complex in its detail, but marvelously 'detailed' in its ease of play.
 
Thanks for the feedback. I've always been interested in diplomatic history, and it's fun to be able to make history and then to write about it. Plus as an American living in Germany, I always welcome the chance to use my native language.

I have some minor criticisms, but there are no game breakers. One of the things that can get tedious is managing a global empire in real time. There is no auto-explore feature for your fleets, so you have to constantly flip around the map to keep them moving. And if you leave a fleet out of port too long, you will soon lose it due to attrition. Then you will find yourself battling with pirates, who if left unchecked eliminate your revenues from trading posts in the areas where they operate. If you play as France, Russia or Spain where you are often engaged in European wars, the game can slow to a crawl as you constantly click around the world map. I find these aspects too 'real-timey' and they distract me from strategizing. But this is a minor problem in the grand scheme of things.

However, the depth of play and variety of strategies you can employ are the game's strength. The most prudent strategies for many countries will be fairly conventional (like needing to expand outside of Europe as quickly as possible), but there is always some kind of intrigue on the continent to get involved in as well.

As you saw in my AAR, the AI is inconsistent in its quality. Relative to their means, Sweden and the Netherlands played very poorly while Russia, Oman and France played very well. But what really impresses is that the AI creates the impression of a very dynamic European arena, even if it blunders from time to time. When I emerged as a major European power and swallowed Bavaria, the German states gravitated to Prussia. As Russia and I expanded, the Turks mobilized a coalition of vassal states for protection and focussed on Venice instead of picking a fight with bigger powers. After playing a few games, I am pleased to see that history unfolds very differently from game to game. This creates that just-one-more-year-and-I'll-go-to-bed feel. Even when I was occupied with the somewhat mundane aspects of managing a nation at peace, it was fun to watch a major English-French showdown or some such drama.

My next AAR will be a Grand Campaign as Portugal. I'll summarize the first 100 years shortly. Then I'll try one of the minor powers.
 
Devin said:

It's too bad the game ended where it did

Hmm, I wonder whether it is possible to extend the game somewhat by editing the files. Didn´t figure it out yet, though. I will post a question concerning that matter at the general forum.

Hartmann

[This message has been edited by Hartmann (edited 23-10-2000).]
 
Originally posted by Hartmann:
Hmm, I wonder whether it is possible to extend the game somewhat by editing the files. Didn´t figure it out yet, though. I will post a question concerning that matter at the general forum.(edited 23-10-2000).]

No, it's impossible. You guess that beta-testers have already asked the question but these two limits are hard-coded and seem to be used as references for calculations.
 
Well, that just puts my boring little AAR to shame. :)

Excellent job, Devin! I had a great time reading it. Makes me wonder what you could achieve with Austria in a Grand Campaign... Any plans to try that? Only if you let us in on the details, though!



------------------
'Therefore take heed how you impawn our person,
How you awake our sleeping sword of war.
We charge you in the name of God, take heed;
For never two such kingdoms did contend
Without much fall of blood...'
Henry V (a la Shakespeare)