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

Government tech level 32 permits the Versailles decision. We max Aristocracy - useful for diplomats.


Almost as expected, Finland saves us the need to declare war on them - one of the expiring cores is on Stockholm. Unfortunately, their ally of Lancaster does not come to their aid.


Bavaria does, and signs their own doom.


It starts as a vassalage.


Finland removes Novgorod, and good riddens.


At first, France viewed this with amusement... but it would turn particularly disastrous.


Once more, we get to push towards Defensive.


Wurttemberg rebels from Austria, and remains free.


A war with Hungary becomes a possibility.


Another core on the Ottomans will come in handy.


Tibet is gone... but their allies in the east are not.


Four cores on the Ottomans now... and still a decade until the first expires.


Finland is trimmed down, and a coastline for Novgorod is secured.


Our BadBoy score remains high, but we must push the issue. Our core on Toledo is a month away from expiry.


We make our move.


This shouldn't be too difficult.


Castille gives us what we want.


Finally, we get to see the hidden world.


The Pope is made a vassal - and that's the last thing we do before we reach 1700. Time for an overview.

...rather than wait until tomorrow, I'll put it up now. I've enough bits to post fairly regularly for a few days anyway.


Overview time. BadBoy rating, ruler and advisors.


Budget and armed forces - way over the naval forcelimit, and we still don't have enough ships to get 100% tariffs...


Our sliders aren't too bad, and from this stage on, only the Centralization slider will be moved... twice a century, roughly.


We have a fair bit of tradition, and a mission where we still await an Army Reformer to complete it.


Mecklenburg and Foix, my one province minor vassals, are growing fast in income from trade.


No surprise to see them tech ahead, either. Being tiny states with Centers of Trade helps.


There are Diplomats out there in the world... too bad only one has sought employment at the French court.


At least we have the best two leaders in the world.


Not that many superpowers left.


The Lancastrian fleet is perhaps the only one that could give us a small headache - the others are behind in tech.


France is still well unified religiously.


Colonization is progressing without much trouble. South America is done, and we've secured a foothold in Siberia.


France grows steadily, now at approximately 770 provinces.

Now, for a summary of our cores in foreign lands that have a timer (cores on vassals and same culture group are not lost), with the month we have to attack them at the latest, to keep the core:

February 1703 - Lancaster
November 1710 - Bohemia
August 1711 - Norway
August 1711 - Ottoman Empire
June 1713 - Oman
November 1716 - Saxony
July 1726 - Tirol
September 1735 - Manipur
February 1736 - Aragon
September 1737 - Persia
March 1742 - Maharasthra
August 1745 - Bosnia
January 1749 - Hungary
October 1749 - Castille

We hope to squeeze in a diploannexation attempt before 1710, so Lancaster will most likely get off easy. At least, this was the plan at this stage...

budseligsucks said:

Great posts! I'm always thrilled to see so many updates. As this will be over soon, I hope you have another project or two in mind...

It's too bad you'll miss out on the WC. I feel like, barring that, there should be some central goal or purpose to what you do, like only leave OPMs or capture some historically important broad swath of land (India and China? All of the Islamic world? Every piece of coastal territory, ensuring France has the world's only navy?). Any ideas from anyone else?

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I'll finish this one before I'll consider other projects. As I've mentioned in another feedback section, I've contemplating a similar attempt with Castille, the Ottoman Empire or Ming - all of which have different 'bonuses' towards a BadBoy-free World Conquest, albeit very different approaches. Don't know if I'll have the patience, though.

As for the goals... bit late. I've played until 1750, and my actions towards the end are pretty much locked according to the boundary dispute cores I have at that stage. 'All of the Islamic world' would be a problem, since the Golden Horde, Ottoman Empire and Persia pretty much holds what's left of the world... And for all Coastal provinces, I'd have to dismantle Persia and Ming, since both their capitals are coastal provinces - so, no go.

elbasto said:

The amount of primary culture provinces is astonishing.

Is this due to your massive colonization or does having high diplomatic rating kings help with the "cultural assimilation" event?

Keep it up, awesome AAR!

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Primary culture is definitely from colonizing. High Diplomacy rating does nothing for the assimilation event - in fact, my settings are all wrong for that event. You need max narrowminded, max serfdom, Divine Supremacy and Church Attendance Duty to speed it up. My max Free Subjects, max Innovative actually reduces its frequency considerably.

Bear in mind that all Pagans, once converted, becomes your primary culture, so all those provinces add to the tally. America has many provinces, and since I'm "going slow" in the Old World, it has an impact on that particular graph. Lombard is my 'second' culture, and there aren't that many Italian provinces...

1700 means this decision activates - and we pick it to max our Mercantilism slider.


The Stadtholder is re-elected.


The Scottish fleet is forced to sea, and is blown to bits.


Scotland is forced to give up some land - we take the Highlands in the hopes of more Boundary Disputes.


Poland is trimmed down - of our core in Plock, and Ratibor, to prevent Silesia from being reborn.


This does push our reputation up, which is unfortunate. We're trying to force it down still.


In retrospect, picking Scientific Revolution as our next National Idea was a bad move. Still, at the time, cheaper tech sounded good.


Persia returns the favor with Japan after their invasion in Africa - only, they bite hard enough to take land. Japan is also plenty busy with rowdy peasants.


Persia is flattening Ming as well.


A level 5 stateman? He's instantly hired, to fulfill one of the most difficult decisions there is.


The Education Act - unfortunately, our current ruler is not up to the task.


Xia is put on the map.


Korea and the Mongol Khanate are brought back. Japan retains some holdings on the mainland, but eventually loses them in a collapse.


Africa, slightly more French.


Champa seeks to reclaim lost ground.


Rajputana is forced to release Kashmir and Delhi.


Time to claim the Marches from Lancaster.


Their fleet could cause problems, if only they could leave port - something a great blockade fleet ensures won't happen.


The Palatinate, completely devoid of forts, is overrun in a heartbeat. We take their two 'remote' provinces, even at cost. Better to make sure Meissen won't return to the map now, than pay the extra BadBoy cost later.


The Horde seeks to expand, something France cannot permit. We scramble to Pskov's "defence"... if only they would be so kind as to die under the Horde first.

The Horde is not to be underestimated - they have great numbers, albeit they are some ten tech levels behind...


Champa expands, apparently successful... for now.


As expected, Lancaster is let off easy. We need to focus on the Horde for BadBoy gains now.


A large battle in the defence of Lithuania marks the start of a chase deep into Horde lands.


With their big neighbor busy, Crimea takes advantage.


The Horde is fast being pushed back.


Greece vanishes.


This progress is not without cost. Our armies are depleting rapidly.


No, this is not an error. We need a master Bureaucrat to pass the Education Act.


...as luck would have it, not only is the new Stadtholder sufficient to pass the act, but he's a fair diplomat also.


More knowledge to the people!


Holland's future is now uncertain. Or dead certain, from the French viewpoint.


At high BadBoy cost, we secure tendrils deep into Russia, in the hopes of sparking Boundary Disputes.


...and here would be just how high a cost. Eeew.


With the help of a Naval Reformer, we establish a Convoy System. The additional overseas income will help.


Champa is forced to surrender much land to Khmer's ally, and this marks the start of a long downward spiral for Champa.


Shortly after, Champa collapses.


Time to get rid of the Bureaucrat.


We get a diplomat... and he's not good for much more.


A claim on the Horde marks the next conflict to start in some fifty years.


The truce is up, and Champa is still in chaos. Majapahit returns for another bite.


Finland gets uppity. We 'defend' Pskov again, hoping Finland will do what the Horde failed to - eat Pskov.


Rajputana wishes to absorb Manipur, and France does not object. Unfortunately, we do not have the forces to 'contain' Rajputana, and their ally Majapahit borders several unfinished colonies. We opt to stay out of the whole affair.


Go, Finland! Soon after, we white peace amicably.


We've reached our time limit, and despite our BadBoy still being fairly high, we make an attempt. Pommerania is absorbed, the rest denies us.

Our core in Bohemia is expiring, and it is time to claim it for our own. We've delayed for as long as we could, since the Austrian Holy Roman Emperor is about to lose the title - if only he would die. Sadly, after more than thirty years on the throne, the bugger refuses to die. French plots involving sparking rebellions in the province he guards fails. We have to tackle him head-on.


Large, modern forces - but no navies, thank goodness.


The Palatinate is reduced to a French vassal.


Taking down Castille, one Boundary Dispute at a time...


...and then, mere months into the war, the Austrian king finally dies, passing the crown to Brabant. A pity, because a war with Brabant would have been welcome. We'll get to that in a bit...


Bohemia is trimmed down. We take Moravia, and this way we learn that after 1650, the 'of your religion but not theirs' 0 BadBoy cost is normalized... Oh, well... This was the last province that fell into that category, anyway.


Our core on Norway comes due. If the Austrian emperor had died sooner, Brabant would have gotten into that first war, as well as their Union junior partner, Norway. Bleh.

Now we get more BadBoy for declaring a second war, as well as a new enemy, Wurttemberg.


The same month, our core in the Ottoman Empire is expiring. Attacking them directly would be folly, as they are guaranteed by Persia. Fighting them both would be too much of a war at this time, so we take the stability hit.


The problem here? See the War Exhaustion?


And here from the Ottoman perspective. Three wars at the same time now, and our ruler is dreadful at administrative tasks, like reducing war exhaustion.


Manipur is removed. Our core there ensures future conflict with Rajputana.


Deva Bengal is reduced.


See anything funny with this picture?


Lithuania is well versed in the art of 'kick someone when they're down'. Of course, them not sharing a border, and owning a whole of one cog doesn't deter them. The brunt of the fight - that is, all of it - will be done by their ally, Hungary.


Maharasthra is trimmed down to size, and Khandesh returns once more.


Wurttemberg is vassalized, and stripped of their cores.


Brabant receives a similar treatment, and the Imperial crown passes on to Saxony. Soon after, more than twenty regiments guard Leipzig.


Norway is also put in the fold of French vassals.


A core in Xia is interesting - if only it weren't on the capitol, which is no good for anything but One Province Minors.


Despite being a good diplomat, our monarch is disastrous in terms of war exhaustion reduction. We gamble on a new Diplomat candidate, and we're content with the compromise candidate.


Styria, after a very lengthy siege, is reduced to a single province. With a little luck, Austria will feast on them later.


Our BadBoy is now ridiculously high. Any wars we have going, are extended for as long as possible. That way, we get to work down just enough points to stay under the limit.


This timely event helps. A lost core for one lost BadBoy point? We'll take that.


...then the month rolls over, and the core is back. Perhaps this event doesn't quite work as it should, no?

PrawnStar said:

Bizarre event in Genoa there, maybe they changed their minds?

More good progress, any view yet on who will survive in 1821? (I normally find Crete incredibly annoying, they never have any diplomatic complications. I simply have no option but to DOW, invade, annex)

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I'm not sure what the Genoa event is about. I know there's a similar one for Venice too.

As of 1762, I think at least two dozen nations will survive. Golden Horde, Lithuania, Persia, Ming, Rajputana, Majapahit, Austria, Finland, Lancaster, Japan almost for certain, since they're all simply too big to be nibbled to death at this point, barring major luck. Probably Sardinia and Crete also. Ryukyu if neither Ming nor Japan manages a successful invasion at some point. We'll see. I've begun eating cored OPMs, and that takes more points than a 'nibbled' province.

Macknull said:

-3 stab for declaring
23 BB
Holy smokes that's some bad

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Yeah... it'll take a while to get rid of the after-effects.

Since a new war - especially with Persia, who guarantees Oman, we opt to let the core slip away.


With a slight buffer, we can peace Austria, pushing them out of Italy.


Not much to spare. Time is needed to work this down for the next peace.


Six months later, we can take four core provinces and one non-core from the Ottomans and Bosnia.


Back right on the threshold...


Peace is needed soon, as we've accumulated a considerable amount of war exhaustion.


To prevent Hungary from gaining anyhting, Lithuania peaces the Ottomans - but look, Serbia is still-


...ah. Yes, Lithuania loves their friends.


So does the Horde.


Austria seeks to reclaim Tirol, but they'll find it a challenge. France, however, opts not to intervene. We need to reduce BadBoy and War Exhaustion.


I'm sure Bohemia, Hungary and the Emperor in Saxony will curb Austrian ambitions just fine.


Austria is too busy fighting rebels to repel the invasion.


In the end, Bohemia is victorious.


Shortly after, Austria diploannexes Aragon. That should make reclaiming our core easier.


Qin is doomed, and France opts not to help.


The same can be said for Tver.


After crushing Persia in all of Central Asia... the Horde oddly enough accepts a white peace. If they didn't want any land, why did they fight in the first place?


Tver disappears, and that marks the end of the Russian minors.


Qin is also removed.


Stadtholder change means our loss.


At long last, an Army Reformer. He's immediately hired.


This pushes us up to 100 Army tradition with ease.


Our new mission - easy enough, since a level four fort is two months away from completion in that very province.

PrawnStar said:

That new leader is rubbish!

I'm still trying this - up to 1539 and I keep getting distracted in Europe instead of driving ever deeper into the Middle East

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He's one point above the absolute minimum I can get as a Republic - and sadly you do get a few of them. Just notice the twats more easily than the great rulers.

And in the early 1500s, the Reformation and 'cheap prey' should keep you busy in Europe for a bit. Did you manage to grab som cheap land once the Reformation hit?

Vesimir said:

You should call it "Push it to the limit", that way you would have a nice theme song.

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If this thing is to have a theme song, it'll be something out of Dune (i.e. where 'blue within blue' comes from).

Our endeavor to be at peace means Saxony is let off the hook, also.


The fort is finished, but the new mission isn't particularly interesting. We cancel it, and get another fortress construction task.


Xia is trimmed down.


The fort is completed, and we're tasked with building a University. Since Bamberg produces Wine, we start building a Refinery instead.


Styria finds a way to protect itself from Austria.


Champa never learns, and seeks lost land. Their neighbors tramples them for their trouble.


We gain a core on our northernmost vassal.


Cosmopolitaine culture spreads in South East Asia.


Another quick replacement. A diplomat with Military 9? Perfectly French.


I was wondering why Ming was doing so much better all of a sudden. Apparently, they've reverted to Confucianism, discarding Buddhism. Wise move.


Saxony's position is very secure. Not too surprising - there are only a handful of monarchies left in the Holy Roman Empire.


Africa, going French a province at a time.


At last, another idea slot. We use it for Unam Sanctum... if only we had done this two hundred years ago. I failed to notice that the -1 stability hit you get when declaring on heretics also adds an extra BadBoy point... Meaning we've squandered dozens of points in DoWs over the past many years.


Europe is looking fairly Protestant.


...Austria needs to be disciplined. More importantly, we need our core province, Aragon.

Scotland and Crimea answers the call. Their loss.


Majapahit seeks to claim lands which revolted away from Champa years previous.


The Refinery in Bamberg completes, and cancels the university misison. Our next one is to hammer Lorraine into vassalage - but this is not part of France's long-term plans.


We gain a core in Persia.


Malacca is seriously reduced.


In a baffling move, Majapahit celebrates by relocating their capitol. This opens up an interesting possibility - securing all of Java rapidly can be done now.


Sadly, Austria does not manage to annex Styria, courtesy of their Personal Union.


How the tables have turned. Before French intervention, Japan held a great swath of land on the continent. Now, Ming invades their islands.


A Diplomacy candidate that excels in any field but. Yay...


Austria tries to get out of the war.


Crimea is OPM'ed.


Same with Scotland.


Austria is merely pruned down a bit.


Immediately, Lancaster seeks to exploit the situation. If only they thought to divide their army so that more than a single regiment would siege Scotland... for decades.


Our BadBoy score has gone up considerably. This'll take some time to get rid of.


Since we'll be at peace for a long time, we ditch the Lorraine mission... and get another warmonger mission.


Sunday Schools are stablished. Reduced revolt risk is worth it.


Lithuania annexes Poland - but with no land connection, that cannot last for long.


Asia aspires to be as French as Paris.

Mattabesta said:

Nice update. I can see the ocean tide closing in on the world

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Well... we'll get a fair chunk of it, but not all.

Our core on Tirol is coming due... and we opt to intervene. We must take some BadBoy chances to make Europe all French by 1820.


Good, they all join. Time to claim some core provinces.


The Emperor is allowed his freedom, for a price.


Tirol is incorporated into France.


Persia seeks to intervene in China once more.


Hawks at the French court takes this opportunity to claim Karbala as reparations for Persian aggression.


Castills is trimmed down. We would have taken their coastal province, if not Lancaster occupied it with all of their army, but the one regiment sieging the Level 2 fort in Scotland...


Hungary is OPM'ed.


This'll take a few years to shed.


Xia, Persia's faithful ally, is destroyed... for now.


Polish nationalists object to Lithuanian rule.


Our colonial subjects lack the proper refinement. We build a cheap Fine Arts Academy, courtesy of this lovely event.


Another day, another Stadtholder.


More Frenchified Berbers.


Persia invades China.


Poland returns.


As does Xia. Our claim on Sichuan Pendi seems as unattainable as ever.


A new core on our vassal.


We claim what is left of Hungary, as well.


We toss out one Stadtholder, and get a better Diplomat. Good.


Ryukyu is again the powderkeg that sets off East Asia. France moves to intervene.