Hungary 1536-42
Not one, not two... three wars! Playing with Austria I thought Sicily and Aragon were somehow allied to France, now I realise it was a completely separate affair.
And all of this on top of the still active Peasants' War and crippling inflation. Oh well, let's be positive, at least I can't blame the poor Hungarian AI for all this mess, none of it was of its making, and sure enough stability is 0, for the first time in decades! And Hungary is finally part of the HRE.
Back to the wars, a quick summary:
War 1 - Hungary, Lithuania, Bohemia and Poland against the OE and Karaman, warscore 0%. Poland started it and Lithuania is probably the alliance leader, so not much decision-making to do here other than kick Ottomans out of my lands.
War 2 - Hungary, Bulgaria and Austria against France and Cyprus, warscore -2%. Pathetic. Plus I'm pretty sure I never joined the war as Austria, the computer must have enrolled her on the first second of New Year's Day. I leave them to it.
War 3 - Hungary against Aragon and Sicily, warscore -11%. Now this one is more worrying. I check the details in the ledger and find the culprit: "6th War of Sicilian Aggression". So the Sicilians started it, a three province minor! How very dare they?!
My armies are in good shape though, so I waste no time in getting them busy chasing Ottomans, Sicilians and Aragonese. The Ottomans are dealt with quick enough, the Aragon-Sicilian alliance is a harder nut to crack. The NA 2.2 military AI is quite good, they open several fronts, even disembarking troops in the Black Sea coast
I win most battles but I get a hard time trying to recover Corfu. Of course it is blockaded by Aragonese (and sometimes French) fleets, so I have to sit in Janina waiting for an opportunity to cross into the island when no enemy fleet is around the coast. In the end I have to sacrifice my paltry 3-ship fleet in the Greek coast as a bait to lure the Aragonese fleet out.
While I recover Corfu my Polish friends have made the most of their war against the Ottomans, the OE is truly a shadow of its former glory. No gains for me but it's one less war to worry about. I don't think Poland will manage to hold such an improbable mix of lands for long (I hope, anyway).
In 1537 I get cores on 3 ex-Venetian Adriatic provinces, which gives a bit of a boost.
The rest of 1537 is unremarkable as I keep on chasing hostile troops up and down the land. Aragon continues to pour new 3k to 5k armies every now and then, it starts to get annoying.
The war with France goes nowhere, I only see their fleets blockading the Adriatic on occasion. Then they have the cheek to ask me for a separate peace on fairly punitive conditions. With 0% warscore I send them back to Paris with a kick in their backsides.
Just for fun I reply back asking for 25 ducats and they accept
The king of France has clearly lost it, not that I mind, I count my ducats and run -only one war left.
By the end of 1538 I finally realise that my stubbornness is getting me nowhere, manpower is running low and the Aragonese seem to have double the armies and a nice fleet to move them around whenever they please. I stop asking for compensation and start asking for white peace, to no avail.
In early 1539 I get Sicily out, but they hardly had any troops involved anyway.
After some more unsuccessful peace requests on my part it is finally the Aragonese who, bizarrely, ask me for a white peace, at last!
What an utter waste of time! Sicily will pay for this... some day. First I'll need Modena to disappear or to get access through them so I can invade Sicily by land, there is not a chance I can develop a navy to match the Aragonese ever.
Left with 0 manpower and minting for survival I keep a very very low profile for the rest of the turn to recover.
Meanwhile France is getting aggressive with Austria in the stupid war of Cypriot succession, Kaffa and Pisa are occupied
What on earth is Austria doing? They eventually agree a white peace, I'm not the only one wasting my time in useless wars.
At home the peasants don't get any happier, but the middle classes are a bit more grateful now that stability is not negative.
Then Austria, probably feeling sorry for us poor Hungarians, guarantees Hungary's independence. The AI really knows how to humiliate you.
On the diplomatic front I boost relations with Bulgaria and Lithuania, and warn Serbia and Wallachia.
We reach Land Technology 7 and the end of the turn.
But it is Government Technology that I crave for now, with 29% inflation I really need tax assessors soon. Hungary is 7th in prestige, but prestige alone doesn't pay the bills at the end of the month.
2nd in inflation (after the Papal State, who by the way have gone bankrupt three times during the turn) is not something I feel very proud of.
Castille must be doing very well off the colonies, they are way ahead of Burgundy and Austria.