Burgundian WC AAR

[nalivayko]

As I learned of Victoria coming out next month I decided to settle some unfinished business with EU2. I was able to finish GC (finally). Now, if I wish to call myself a veteran player (which I'd do anyway), I feel I have to conquer the world.

It was always my dream, but fighting rebels was never my idea of fun... Until now, that is.

Version: started with 1.07, changed to beta around 1444.
Difficulty: normal
Aggressiveness: high
Goal: conquer the known world. No colonization necessary.
The aar will be written in one of my most favorite styles: - history log - brief and to the point.
Installments will come after each 10 years of gameplay. Each one will have at least one screenshot.

If you have anymore questions, fire away. If I forgot anything, I will edit the post later.

[nalivayko]

1419-1429

Offensive wars:

Attacked Lorraine and Strassburg (1422). Annexed both (1423)
Attacked Friesen (1424). Annexed (1425).
Attacked French alliance (1427). Results pending.

Defensive wars:

First war with France ended in 1422. Gained Champagne.
Was attacked bY the Palatinat, Hessen, Kleves, Cologne and Münster (1427).
The Palatinat annexed in 1428. The rest of the alliance refuses to make peace.
Was attacked bY Luxembourgh, Hungary, Croatia and Siebenbürgen (1427). Results pending.
Was attacked bY Portugal and Castile (1427). Results pending (the enemy overan the Burgundian Netherlands. However, his reinforcements are cut off by English navy).

Notes:

As one can see, my bb wars started rather earlier (1427). However, I am full of hope. Phillip the Good is a capable leader when it comes to sieges and while my enemies are numerous they are still not united. I'll eliminate them one by one, provided the rebels will not overan the country in the meantime.



1429-1439

Offensive wars:

None. No suprise here.

Defensive wars:

Luxembourgh paid its way out of the war (1430). Their control of Artois insured the Duchy's independence.
Bremen, Mecklenburg, Pommern, Holstein, Prussia and Teutons declared war in 1430. The foe gained nothing, had to pay 36 ducats in war indemnities.
Bourbonnais ceded Orleans (captured earlier from England) and Limousin (1431). France parted with Picardie and Nivernais a month later.
Portugal accepted peace for 100 ducats.
The Palatinate declares independence in 1436. Annexed in 1437.
Cologne annexed in 1437.
Kleves annexed in 1438.
The people of Guyenne declared independence from England (1437). Alliance is broken and then revived with Burgundy as a leader.
Bosnia makes peace in 1437 (former Palatinate alliance).
The latter is annexed for the second time.
Limousin defects to Bourbonnais in 1438.

Notes:

Brabant decided to be a part of Burgundy in 1430.
In 1432 massive revolts threatened to break the country. Spanish offers of peace did nothing but to force the country into the long period of instability.

[Amric]

Yippee! Although you said some about the French Huegonots in your other thread. I shall be glad to see you succeed in your WC attempt. You realize that of all four of us LNLC people only LordLeto hasn't started a WC attempt? Good luck, my friend!

[nalivayko]

Amric, do you realize that you were the one to motivate me?

Anyway, Huguenots' AAR is still a go... It'd take more time to write a scenario, re-assign leaders and monarchs and I wanted to have some fun right away. And I do already

[Machiavellian]

Your doing fairly well for yourself in this attempt at WC. Though I am really interested in this possible Huguenot AAR? I didn't even know that their was a Huguenot country playable in EU II.

[nalivayko]

Machiavellian, the tag for Huguenots is FPR (French Protestants). It is a revolter (mid 16th century). Can't stay independent past 1589 - At the Walls of Paris event kills it and hands over all the lands to France.

Now, the part that all of you have been waiting for - how do I actually plan to conquer the damn thing and do I have a plan anyway?

I actually do. I haven't followed much of the WC aars, except for Amric's. In his case, the initial goal was clear - become France and only then wipe the floor with the rest of Europe. I do have an advantage starting with a medium-sized nation, but I have nothing of that sort to look forward to. I won't become France and I won't have cool leaders.

This is the part when I break down and cry... or not.

As it is the case with any sensetive WC conquest attempt (provided you start in Europe), my goal is to eliminate all the colonial nations early on. France is first on my list with Iberians following her lead. France and Spain I shall forcefully annex, Portugal - vassalize and then annex. England will remain my ally, until I outgrow it three times or more and, you guessed it, it will be then vassalized and annexed. Then I turn my attention east and the rest is the matter of time.

Tell me if this is a sound plan or is it a bit naive? I figured if I spent first 100 years bringing W. Europe under my control, I should be ok, timewise.

[Amric]

nalivayko, I didn't realize I was your motivation for a WC attempt. Nice to know....as for your goals, it sounds reasonable. Should work. Just be sure to keep your merchants going or you just might run out of money...

[nalivayko]

1439-1449

Offensive wars:

War on Gelre (1439). Annexed in 1442. Gelre allies settle for white peace in 1443.

Defensive wars:

Castille and Portugal declare war in 1439. Settle for 48 ducats in 1440.
France declared war in 1440.
Bourbonnais ceded Limousin in 1442.
France plead for peace in 1444. Paid 567 ducats and ceded Dauphine, Vendee, Languedoc and Lyonnais.
Aragon declared war in 1444. Results pending.
Hansa declared war in 1445. Settled for white peace in 1449.
Aragon's ally, Auvergne, made peace with Burgundy in 1449, ceding Cévennes and paying 41 ducats.

Notes:

Auvergne's army performance was outstanding. However, numerous victories against Burgundy did not help against superior numbers. Then enters Phillip the Good. Having overan all of Aragon's provinces in Iberia, he did well in the north as well.

Hansa attack (mostly Mecklenburg and Holstein) in Vendee was somewhat unexpected, but fruitless.



1449-1459

Offensive wars:

Attacked French alliance in 1451. France annexed Provence couple of months later. Had to cede it to Burgundy in 1454, month after Burgundy annexed Bourbonnais.

Attacked Aragon in 1456. Won Aragon for Burgundy and Meath for England. Received 75 ducats.

Defensive wars:

In 1451 England lost Meath to Aragon. Burgundy gained Valencia, Roussillon and Gerona.

Alliance news:

Navarra became part of our alliance. England did not waste any time in vassalizing the small country.

Notes:

Luxembourg joined my glorious realm in 1451. Same year the Duke took Balears and Aragon was forced to accept peace. French annexation of Provence delayed my plans to conquer Paris by at least 5 years.

On the bright side, annexation of Gelre gave me my first navy. 1 warship and 2 transports. Soon it grew to 12 warships and 2 transports, but only after exhausting battles with France and Savoy off the shores of Languedoc. Capture of Valencia and Provence gave me much needed ports in the Med.

While last decade's hero award goes to Auverge, this decade's hero was clearly Savoy. If it was not for a well-timed peace offer, Burgundy's expansion in the west could have been considerably delayed.

During 50's Burgundy's decision to expand trade was met with silent fear by the rest of Europe. First come the merchants, then the army - this was the thought on everybody's mind.

[Amric]

Most impressive, grasshopper! You are expanding quite nicely and your enemies are being scythed down like ripened wheat in the field. Keep up the great work and I am truly enjoying this tale.

[nalivayko]

Thanks You're right, I am hopping all over the place!

I do promise to update it regularly and, maybe, change a format a bit to make it easier to read.

[Anibal]

Nice one, Vladimir!

I like your early-WC with log style. Amric also is doing an early-WC approach, but mine is a late-WC strategy.

The LNLC is unbeatable even when it comes to world-conquering!

[Machiavellian]

Impressive. The frequent updates are very nice. I do have a few suggestions that may prove useful. The next step I think would be to bring Aragon to its knees (after you finish off france obviously) and so I suggest expanding your alliance. England does have a powerful fleet, but I am unsure how well it will do in its attempts to take Malta, Sardinia and Sicily. Perhaps making deals with and introducing Venice to your alliance might aid you. If not Savoy, the Papal states or Naples could be useful tools.

Then you can always vassalize and annex them later, much as England has done with Navarra. Going after Castile, Portugal and Aragon early on is definately a good idea. That will leave you only with Austria, Poland/Lithuania and Perhaps one of the Scandanavian countries as a threat later. (besides the Ottomans)

[General Guisan]

Whoa.....really good...i tried some similar thing with Austria until 1450, then I just had 30 BB Points but was at war with everybody so I lost everything....I see you're better than me

[nalivayko]

Anibal, I did not know you made CK beta tester, congratulations! And thanks, glad you're liking it, LNLC forever

Machiavellian, Aragonese fleet is almost non-existant (last time I checked). In my previous wars I made it as far as Sicily before peace was made. I'd rather make Castile my priority before it manages to annex Aragon. But you're right - I have to take those islands as early as possible or it will become a nightmare later on. Maybe I should have gone for defensive vs offensive, but battles are no less important than sieges.

General Guisan, the trick is to survive first couple of bb wars and soundly defeat your enemies. No white peaces or pay outs, you have to gain enough territory and raise enough armies for AI to "fear" you. Then bb wars seize to exist. I have played up to 1469 by now and my biggest problem is that everyone is afraid to declare war on me

Again, thank you all for your comments, I think I've done enough for the day. Come back tomorrow for more.

[kucing]

Well of course, if you want to you can start the saved game in very hard difficulty and trigger the BB war.

May I ask, what is your BB? And does everyone have -200 relations to you already?

[Stroph1]

The world for a horse! Good luck taking out the East with your non-French Burgundy!

[nalivayko]

kicing, I think my bb was at least 75 last time I checked. And yes, everyone hates me except for England.

Questions about very hard difficulty (which I do like to play at, but have no idea about how it works):

1. Why would AI attack you more often at very hard? Isn't it aggressiveness that makes AI more... eh, aggressive? If that, my aggressiveness is hard, but I can raise it to furious.

2. Money. I know you will start off with less money. But does it also effect your overall income as well? If it does, I am going to chicken out, declare myself the Defender of the Faith and wait for those cbs.

Stroph1, thank you, I might need some

[nalivayko]

1459-1469

The conquest of Aragon province connected Valencia to my realm and gave me a good base for attack on Castile. Since the kingdom was currently not allied to anyone, the invasion was launched as planned - before 1460. The campaign in Iberia had to be fought with larger number of infantry due to the mountaneous terrain. The ratio of infantry to cavalry in my army increased to 1:1. Needless to say, I tried to attack smaller armies and provoke bigger enemy armies into attacking me.

I got very lucky in capturing the Canary islands. The enemy had only 6,000 men, mostly new recrouits and no fortress. My two thousand cavalry slaughtered them to the last man. In 1465 Castile agreed to cede Toledo, Leon, Murcia, Asturias and Galicia. Couple more wars like that and Castile is done.

A month later England annexed Navarra.

In 1468 I declared war on France and annexed it in February of 1469.

Provinces gained this decade:

Ile-de-France, Toldeo, Murcia, Leon, Asturias, Galicia (total count: 6)

Provinces gained during last 40 years:

1st decade: Alsace, Lorraine, Friesen, Champagne, Pfalz (5)
2nd decade: Nivernais, Orleans, Picardie, Koln, Kleves (5)
3rd decade: Geldre, Vendee, Lyonnais, Cevennes, Languedoc, Dauphine, Limousin (7)
4th decade: Provence, Rousillon, Gerona, Aragon, Valencia (5)

Notes:

I am gaining 5 provinces a decade on average. If I am to conquer the world, I need to speed up this process and start fighting on several fronts at the same time. The problem is that I wish to reach at least level 7 in land tech and start getting better average leaders before that happens. In any case, once Iberia is subjugated, I will launch simultaneous invasions of Germany and Italy.

[Amric]

nalivayko- Like any game,the higher the difficulty level the tougher the game...Nicely done with Castile, although you should have taken the Canary Islands...they'll build a fortress on it now...

[nalivayko]

I totally agree - it was a serious mistake, I should've remembered all the hard times you had with them in your aar. I hope though that five years won't be enough for Castile to do it and since I have left my 2k cavalry there, as soon as the war starts the province is mine