Cosmopoli-Taint; A Blue Within Blue World - France AAR

Enewald said:

I had once two diplomatic advisors, giving +12 diplo boost for my 9 diplo monarch.

Everyone who just I wanted to vassalize accepted it and annexing was 'very likely'. :rofl:

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Since an Ambassador can only add +3 diplomatic skill, how did you manage +12?

Macknull said:

You asked about tank cat...

XD :rofl: Bathtub fleet is better than none!

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Nice kitty, niiiice kitty... *backs away slowly*

As for the bathtub fleet - perhaps you're right. It's awfully hard to hit with ship-to-ship cannon.

Najs said:

I vote for a replacement of alla artillery units with tank cat!

Also, it's kind of fun that you haven't blobbed half as much in Netherlands as France usually does.

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That's in part because I waited for cores, and part because Brabant was doing such a nice job of blobbing the region. I had hopes they'd eat it all, making my nibbling off of them later cheaper in terms of BadBoy. Alas, they've grown content with their borders.

phargle said:

Badboy down quite a ways, well done. How's the end-game math looking? We gonna make it?

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For this particular game, complete world conquest is out of the question, unless I breach the BadBoy limit. Barring a string of six-star Diplomats and a few hundred Boundary Disputes, I simply won't have enough score to go on. Even declaring war costs two points now, and I have to do that for some of the European minors.

I do believe it is possible to conquer the world - for one, staying Catholic and in control of the Curia would help. Smarter tactics than I used (rely far more on guarantees, diploannex OPMs, attack the heathen world first) should make it possible. Castille should not have a problem doing all these, especially with their BadBoy-reducing missions.

Once this game is finished, maybe I'll try to do a peaceful conquest with Castille, or the Ottomans, or Ming. They all have great potential for this, although their approaches would be very different.

Persia seeks to extend their empire into India.


Oman might have to give up some land within five decades.


Persia grows.


In a stunning show of common sense, the electorate votes to keep the Stadtholder.


With our BadBoy score lowering rapidly, we seek to expand our Asian holdings.


Fortune favors us - Vientiane leads the alliance.


Shan is trimmed down again.


Why, of course our border is disputed - we're at war!


Twenty tech levels does make a slight difference.


Majapahit seeks to secure one of their few weak neighbors.


Saxony is urged to join the French fold of vassals.


Vientiane graciously awards France large swaths of Ming lands - twelve provinces worth!


Minus one core province, that results in eleven BadBoy points.


Majapahit succeeds.


We complete the university in Cambray, but we have no need for the philosopher.


Our new mission is a difficult one. Building a regimental camp is easy, gaining an army reformer is pure chance.


Following Majapahit's example, Champa preys on Vientiane.


Our grand ruler dies. His replacement leaves much to be desired.


Having expanded south, north and east, Persia now seeks to expand west. However, the Ottoman Empire, though smaller, has a fairly large and several tech levels more modern army.


Smugglers are ignored, the -1 stability alternative would probably cost even more.


Champa also succeeds.


Persia does not. After several battles on the borders of Asia Minor, they cut their losses for a white peace.


With a temporary Sheriff at court, we get to pass the Mining Act.

phargle said:

I wonder if there's a way you can get some of those OPMs to get gobbled up by someone else.

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That was sort of what I was trying to do early on - my original hope was Burgundy, but they died. Denmark did well, but became a target with the Reformation. Brabant blobbed nicely, but then stopped. Austria and Bohemia both proved reluctant to enter the HRE.

At this stage, I'll have to deal with the OPMs myself.

dem61s said:

Ouch. That's gonna hurt.

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It did slow us down for a bit, yes.

elbasto said:

He could ally them, DOW Austria, wait till she annexes them, the cat tank over the Haspburgs.

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Trouble with that is allying them. They aren't likely to go for that as long as I'm allied to half a dozen vassals, and the alternative would be to 'guide' Austria to my vassals and let Austria eat them. Effectively, that would result in a BadBoy cost equal to or higher than diploannexing, thanks to the DoW costs.

Mind you, I try to do this with the guaranteed nations, though...

GregoryTheBruce said:

One does not simply cat tank over the Hapsburgs!

Unless one is the BB-free BBB, I guess...

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Pfft. The BBB sans BB is as friendly as can B.

Enewald said:

I think I played then with MEIOU.
Could also be that I modded them myself. o

A third of China is yours, well done!

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The third of China I explored, even. Vientiane saved me the trouble of scouting through lots of steppe.

Demon1 said:

How about converting to absolute monarchy at the end game and recreating the french revolution? It surely would be interesting. Oh and great AAR.

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We'll see... the French revolution is beside the point in this AAR, in my opinion.

And thanks.

Macknull said:

China OWNED

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Only a wee bit of it.

Vesimir said:

Seconded.

And it would be cool if you would turn into Absolute Monarchy so we could Viva la Revolucion! everywhere so that people of Europe would be under a proper government.

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I've never seen any such revolution happen in-game, myself... and I'm not exactly eager to try for it, either. We'll see.

Austria looks to lose their Imperial throne, if temporary, but their king outlasts our claims in Germany. We cannot wait any longer, and war is declared.


Brabant becomes the alliance leader, unfortunately.


French forces are initially successful, since the bulk of the Austrian army is guarding against the Horde. However, once their regiments return, a massive clash commences in occupied Tirol. Both sides march in reinforcements as fast as possible.


Anhalt gains the first peace, rendering them a French vassal.


The battle for Tirol ends in disaster for France. Our forces are in full retreat as Austria groups their army into a true, 150 regiments strong megastack. They soon start liberating all occupied lands.


After that, they target Schwyz. All French regiments in the area are sent in to reinforce our defenders.


The excitement is too much for our Stadtholder. A replacement is called in.


At long last, the Austrian forces back off. Now that they are broken, it becomes a matter of chasing them into oblivion.


Hungary has noticed Austria's momentous defeat, and seeks to profit from their misfortunes.


We catch up with the retreating Austrians in Tirol.


Again, we are victorious, and the Austrians are pursued.


Koln does not bother waiting for a formal peace, and joins France early.


In Konstanz, the Austrian megastack is at last routed.


They still have some forces left, but nowhere near enough to be more than a bother.


The Horde is not above seeking revenge on Austria - and her allies.


Crimea is reduced.


After very lengthy sieges, the forts of Mecklenburg falls. Pruned to a One Province Minor, they become a French vassal.


Prussia receives a similar treatment.


The Horde secures a piece of the Baltic coastline.


It is time to settle things with Austria. We claim their Center of Trade in Trent, a corridor towards Salzburg, but also their lands bordering the Horde. We hope to protect Austria from the Horde henceforth.


Our BadBoy score is still acceptable.


Pommerania is pruned to vassalage.


Brabant is also reduced considerably. Our core in Liege is free, but the rest costs us.


...though perhaps not so much.

sprites said:

still expanding quickly
in europe this time ^^

there were low losses for two megastacks like this

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At this stage, I've nothing to lose by expanding in Europe. The BadBoy cost is prohibitive everywhere.

Macknull said:

In >150 regiment stacks, yer don't call em "megastack"
You call them MEGA FRIGGIN HELL OF A DOOMSTAX

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Whatever we called it, it's gone now.

Enewald said:

I thinks you might be a bit late for an WC... hurry!

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As I've mentioned before, WC probably won't happen. I've played up until 1716 so far, and progress is slow. It's not the ability to conquer that's holding me back, it's the BadBoy threshold.

PrawnStar said:

Good work!

I'm having the same problem with OPMs in the Netherlands/Germany - no one is interested in consolidating them for a nice simple low BB conquest spree

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Usually, Denmark, Burgundy or France would give it a go. Maybe Poland, Austria or even Bavaria - but mostly, they stay out of it. A pity... for us.

We gain a reason for war on Ming.


To save the Venice Center of Trade from stagnation, we destroy the useless Center of Trade the Austrians built in Trent.


Naples opened a Center of Trade in Napoli. Its value is just above 400 ducats, and so we split it to gain more colonists.


Austria isn't doing too well. Hungary in the south, the Horde in the west, Lithuania to the north.


Sadly, Hungary is more interested in creating new One Province Minors than take territory.


Election time. We keep our current guy.


...great. Just.. great. Why couldn't we get this while the land still belonged to Austria, and was cheap?


France curses the Horde.


We take our frustration out on Shan.


Tibet leads the alliance this time. However, they are reasonably large, and mostly 'terra incognita' for us.


Shan is removed entirely.


What land we can see, is quickly secured.


Ming are let off 'easy'.


Tibet is properly reduced.


Our BadBoy score remains manageable, since wars in terra incognita takes time, which reduces BadBoy we already had to nothing.


Another re-election.


Stability is costly, but here we'd lose a point regardless. Defensive trumps offensive. Free fort events abound.


France claims a chunk of Persian real estate in the Middle East.


It is with great sadness the French court receives word of WyHat's passing. We might indeed never see his like again. For that matter, we might never see another Diplomat again, short of the two-star still in service.


Africa becomes a little more French.


Our next batch of mass-annexation attempts meets a fair success; two of five isn't bad.


As we prepare to fight the Ottomans, since our core on their vassal Bosnia is expiring, Persia throws a wrench in the works by attacking their neighbor...