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Europe on the day the Treaty of Tordesillas is ratified (Feb 1512):

hel1512.jpg


Major Swiss holdings overseas:

helamer1512.jpg


helindon1512.jpg


Helvetia also owns 13 provinces outside these areas, and about 125 provinces in total.

Statistics:

Army: approaching 1 million men
Navy: ~ 200 ships

Key events:

4 Jun 1493: After half a century of being passed around various minor princes, the title of Holy Roman Emperor is bestowed upon Ferdinand of Spain, with Isabella as Empress.

1498: Most Indonesian trade relocates from Tahiti to Sunda on the island of Java. The new centre of trade completely eclipses nearby Malacca.

14 Nov 1498: After 'negotiating' <cough> military access through English-controlled Holstein, Helvetia finally succeeds in capturing Copenhagen and securing for the Confederation control of the lucrative Sund.

15 Nov 1498: Buoyed by its conquest of the resilient Danes, the President starts a war to capture Rome, annexing it nine months later. However soon both France and Spain are drawn in, pledging to defend the Pope and the Catholic faith against the Swiss menace.

France joins the war severely weakened by its recent costly failure to take the Massif Central from Auvergne, which had long ceased to be a vassal in anything but name. The Spanish are slightly better-placed to stem the Swiss tide, having recently united under one kingdom, including Aragon's Italian posessions. However, Spain gambles - and loses - by sending the greater part of its forces into a woefully mistimed counter-attack across the Seine. Unable to coordinate with nearby French reinforcements, the army is utterly routed.

Although most of the fighting takes place in France, it is Spain that pays the price of peace on 1 Apr 1500. Every island previously belonging to Spain is transferred to Helvetia, except for Sicily, which successfully obtains independence from Spain in 1503, and Antigua, which in the turmoil of the period is briefly claimed by England before Spain re-establishes control. In addition, Spain must cede three provinces in northern Iberia to the Confederation.

Meanwhile, the Pope leaves Rome and re-establishes himself in Toledo. In response to the annexation of Rome, he declares the President of Switzerland to be the Antichrist and calls on all Catholics to fight the Confederation in any way possible. He is soon disappointed to find out that the only uprisings against Swiss rule are in predominately Orthodox Albania.

1500-01: England tries unsuccessfully to defend Pommern from the Swiss. The English navy fights valiantly, but soon Swiss forces start landing all over England as the country's defences are overwhelmed by the sheer number of Swiss fleets. Thankfully for England, Helvetia limits its demands to Pommern itself, but its inability to defeat the Swiss at sea does not bode well for the island's future.

17 Nov 1501: Burgundy rallies to the defence of its vassal, Hessen, in a desperate attempt to hold off the Swiss. The war is a complete disaster for the duchy - Hessen is annexed and Burgundy's feeble army is trapped in Brussels and destroyed. When the war ends in 1504, Burgundy must relinquish control of six provinces, including all of its holdings in Germany.

27 Jul 1503: Constantinople, the last remnant of the Roman Empire, falls to the Ottomans. This represents the first significant victory for many years for the Ottomans, who have lost most of their European land to the Knights and Venice, and have failed to complete their conquest of Asia Minor itself.

1504: Muscovy suffers a horrific defeat at the hands of the Swedes and Teutonic knights, losing almost everything north and west of Moscow. The war demonstrates the massive inferiority of Russian equipment, compared to that of Catholic Europe. The victors' glory is short-lived, however.

1504-07: Switzerland is at war with Sweden and their Teutonic vassals, after they unexpectedly rallied to the defence of Navarra. As well as conquering the Basque kingdom, Helvetia gains 4 provinces off the knights, but at the cost of countless Swiss lives lost in the region's harsh winters.

May 1505: The Neapolitan rebellion marks the end of Iberian rule in Italy. After a brief period of nominal vassalage to Spain, the city is annexed by Helvetia in 1508.

1 Feb 1512: Spain and Portugal sign the Treaty of Tordesillas. In it, Pope Julius II declares that "only the Kingdoms of Spain and Portugal are capable of bringing good Christian rulership to the newly-discovered lands, after the atrocities committed by the Swiss" and that "it is the duty of all good Catholics to aid the progress of this sacred mission."
 
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Since I was bored this afternoon, I quickly hacked togethe approximately the same settings (tried ferocious at first, found it caused the AI to choke when trying to take out Genoa early on without sufficient seapower, so removed it) and let my game run up to about the same time - I think I'm at 1514 now.

It's very interesting. My HelvNet only holds about a third of Germany and none of France, but it has all of Iberia (once it got a foothold in Aragon it went for Spain and Portugal like a pit bull), the western part of North Africa, all of the Mediterranean islands except for Rhodes, Crete, and Cyprus, half of Hungary, most of Scandanavia (Sweden's become a new favorite target) half of Poland, all of Italy, and most of the Baltic coast..

Unfortunately, it didn't seem to know hwo to deal with revolts in North Africa, so the Amorads (misspelled) revolted away, and now hold max technology too. Fortunately they're isolated by HelvNet territory, so will hopefully just stay passive until Helvnet gets back around to taking them out.
 
Europe, 1550:

hel1550.jpg


The new religious divide:

helrel1550.jpg


Swiss territory in the Americas:

helamer1550.jpg


Switzerland now has about 150 provinces.

Stats:

Army: 869k infantry, 227k cavalry, 940 artillery, 19 conscription centres
Navy: 159 warships, 89 transports, 16 shipyards
Manpower: 206k
Badboy: 180.5

Key events:

1510s: Spain and Portugal seize several Swiss trading posts in Central and South America. However, the Iberians fail to make any progress in the Caribbean.

1512-16: Helvetia invades Sweden. As with previous campaigns, poor leadership and insufficient preparation for winter hamper Swiss efforts more than the opposing army. Still, the war ends with Sweden ceding the entire coast of Finland and a large swath of Sweden proper. Over the next few decades, the Swiss attempt to finish their conquest but make little headway.

1524: A new religious movement sweeps across Northern Europe in what is called 'the Reformation' by its supporters. Soon England, Sweden and the Teutonic Order become officially Protestant states. However, the Swiss government sticks to its own variety of Catholicism as the state religion, headed by the Pope in Rome. However, this Pope enjoys little support outside the Swiss empire compared to his rival in Toledo.

14 Dec 1426: Helvetia invades Friesland, the last independent state in the HRE. Eire, Hungary and Auvergne join in, only to each be conquered in turn. Hungary's involvement is especially perverse, given that the kingdom was already at war with the Turks and losing heavily. Over the next four years, Swiss and Turkish forces engage in a mad scramble for land in Hungary, but eventually the Sultan satisfies himself with Serbia and Kosovo, and Hungary becomes a vassal to the Confederation.

1546: The teachings of Jean Calvin spread to many different areas of Europe, even enjoying a revival in the heart of Switzerland. But the Calvinists do not form a majority in any independent country, so the prospects of their beliefs being propagated further are limited.
 
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Excellent!

So how did you stop those awkward wars against those insignificant little RotW minors in the end? I take it if the Swiss took chunks of Indonesia you didn't just remove them from the kill list.
 
Evil Capitalist said:
Excellent!

So how did you stop those awkward wars against those insignificant little RotW minors in the end? I take it if the Swiss took chunks of Indonesia you didn't just remove them from the kill list.

Actually I did remove several countries from the kill list. In my experience it's the Pagan countries that cause the AI most grief, so I've left them off, along with Ethiopia and one or two other difficult-to-invade places.
 
Ottoman decline, 1549-71

Anatolia and surrounding regions, 1571:

helconst1571.jpg


26 Feb 1549: The Doge of Venice declares war on the Turks, seeing that that Constantinople is ripe for the taking. Unlike previous Veneto-Turkish conflicts, this crusade attracts widespread support, uniting Catholic, Protestant and Orthodox Christians against the Muslims.

Although the Venetians supply the bulk of the troops, glory goes to the previously uncelebrated Albrecht, the first Duke of Prussia (this guy had stats of 2/1/2/0!). Leading an army of barely 10000 men, the Duke succeeds in humbling Suleyman, once thought to be one of the finest military minds of his time, and the Sultan is forced to grant the great city of Constantinople to the duchy in a humiliating treaty. Frustrated at their prize being snatched from them, the Venetians settle for military access through what is left of the Ottoman Empire.

The war is a terrible blow to Suleyman's authority over his subjects, and widespread rebellions break out. The Sultan succeeds in holding onto power in Anatolia until his death, but by then all of his remaining European posessions have broken away. His only consolation is that one of the separatist leaders, who becomes King Postek of Bulgaria in 1557, is a convert to Islam.

As of 1571, the Ottoman Empire is a primitive backwater, with inferior weaponry and training to both its Catholic enemies to the west and the Muslim countries to the east.
 
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I actually left every country on HelvNet's hitlist (except Nippon, since I was playing it) and it hasn't really hurt them. It took a couple abortive white peaces before they were able to take territory from the Huron, but once they did they annexed all of the coastal NA indians inside of twenty years. I suspect the same will happen with the other pagans.
 
Sindai said:
I actually left every country on HelvNet's hitlist (except Nippon, since I was playing it) and it hasn't really hurt them. It took a couple abortive white peaces before they were able to take territory from the Huron, but once they did they annexed all of the coastal NA indians inside of twenty years. I suspect the same will happen with the other pagans.

I suspect that part of the difference might be that this is being played with mac 1.07. Certainly, I remember watching some of the earlier versions of this and the AI would start wars it could easily win against pagans, but just sit around and do nothing.
 
1550-71: The conquest of Sweden and the fall of France

Key events:

1553-60: Helvetia finally shows its potential in the North, completing its conquest of Scandinavia in two wars. The final siege of Stockholm claims the lives of both Gustav Vasa and his son Erik. The Teutonic Order is also made to pay dearly for its support of Sweden.

13 Jun 1562: A breakdown in relations causes Helvetia to renege on its treaty of military access through France and invade. France is deserted by its allies, but with over 100000 troops in North-Eastern France alone and several distinguished generals, the French ought to be able to put up some resistance. Unfortunately King Charles's coordination of his forces is abominable, and the fighting consists mostly of small French forces being isolated and cut down one by one, after having trudged aimlessly all over the country.

Two episodes sum up France's 18-month war:
- Montmorency makes a valiant stand in Maine, surviving for several months against superior Swiss forces in the area. Unfortunately his calls for reinforcement fall on deaf ears, while more and more Swiss piling onto him. Montmorency and his men fight to the last man, buying valuable time for the French army, but the opportunity is wasted.
- A force of around 30 000 Frenchmen break through the Swiss lines in the South, and at one point appear to be threatening the Swiss capital. However once again the French are ineffective through lack of reinforcement; their numbers are insufficent to breach the huge fortifications in the area and they are forced to retreat.

The war ends with King Charles of France as a vassal to the Confederation.

28 Feb 1569: Unsatisfied at the level of 'reparations' received in the period of French vassalage, the Swiss declare war again. This time neither side is prepared for war, but such a situation favours the Confederation with its massive German manpower. By the time the Swiss invasion comes, France has mustered barely 20 000 men.

The King of France uses the time before invasion to relocate his court to Pau, planning to mount some kind of limited resistance to the Swiss from there. But disaster strikes: as Ultracatholic rebellions in the North are put down by the Swiss occupation, Huguenots seize control of Pau and capture the King. The King manages to escape in 1571 with the help of loyalists in the town, but with nowhere else to turn he must throw himself upon the mercy of the Swiss.

The President's verdict on King Charles is blunt:
"AS YOU HAVE DEMONSTRATED OVER THE LAST DECADE, YOU HAVE NEITHER THE WILL, THE APTITUDE NOR THE RESOURCES TO SERVE THE CONFEDERATION AS A VASSAL. YOU SHALL RETURN TO PARIS AND MAINTAIN THE FACADE OF AN INDEPENDENT FRANCE FOR DIPLOMATIC PURPOSES. HOWEVER, THE REST OF THE COUNTRY WILL BE PLACED UNDER DIRECT FEDERAL ADMINISTRATION."

And so it is done - with the exception of Paris, the tiny new Huguenot kingdom of Gaspard de Coligny, and a few isolated fur trappers on the shores of the Great Lakes who continue to swear loyalty to the King, the Kingdom of France is no more.

Europe after the Fall of France (Aug 1571):

hel1571.jpg


North America:

helamer1571.jpg
 
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jwolf said:
I am very pleasantly surprised that the Swiss AI is able to stay focused so well. My congratulations to the Federation President on France's humiliation! So who is next on the hit list? :cool:

I'll give you a clue: in my last update I made a prophetic choice of maps. ;)
 
This is a good an refreshing AAR i think, and very funny with describing the AI.

My guess is that Helvetia will attack england BTW.