Europe is our dancefloor - let's waltz

Capibara - thanks. I'm glad I managed to get those provinces, and even more glad I cut Polish expansion on that side.

Sweboy - I know, Rome and Constantinople are both long overdue for Austria and Hungary.

VILenin - Hungary is looking a lot healthier now, but don't hold your breath, it would only take the AI getting silly and dragging the country to stab -3 for things to go back to square one.

Malurous - The Crimean provinces are not bad actually, once converted they should give a good yield.

It's been a busy July. Got a new machine as well -with Vista- but it's all now fully transferred and working. Next update shortly.

Austria 1585-91

The landgrabbing rampage the AI went during the last turn has taken its toll on BB, I think 9.24 is the highest I've had with Austria so far. The alliance with Burgundy is gone, I suspect this time it was Austria who dumped it. Let's hope for a few years of peace.


The previous war with Aragon made Cape Verde, Armagnac, half of Sicily and Malta part of the Austrian empire...


However, when I hover over America I discover in shock that some more land was taken from Portugal, lots of poor arctic provinces


I manage to sell Malta and Cape Verde to my ally Modena, as I'm doing now with any island holding, but I get nowhere trying to rid of the Canadian provinces.

When in 1586 I get another chance to go to war with Aragon and her allies I readily accept. The plan: take Rome and the other half of Sicily off Aragon and lose the unwanted North American provinces to Portugal.


The plan works well, but Palermo seems to take ages to fall. Portugal is now the alliance leader, so I need to sign peace peace with Aragon first if I want a separate peace with the Portuguese.


I give up and obtain just Roma, a nice price of its own.


Shorly afterwards I sign peace with Portugal. Having successfully taken all their old Canadian provinces they get what is rightfully theirs


It doesn't take long for the Pope to come asking for Rome back, but this time I don't entertain his demands. The Papacy has had three sees so far in the game, and they've lost them every time in stupid wars (Rome twice to Aragon, Riga to Lithuania and Rhodes to Burgundy). Rome will be a lot safer under Austrian rule

In the meantime Burgundy has got involved in another futile war with Lithuania, and then with Castille...


Conveniently both wars end up in white peace, despite Burgundy having conquered large parts of Scandinavia and south France in each case.

In 1590 I get to choose another national idea: I opt for Bureaucracy this time. You can never have too much money playing with Austria


Damaraland is the furthest in Africa I can get, so I start sending colonists there to eventually reach Cape.

Just when I was beginning to think that the turn was done and dusted I get another call to arms from Mali. Somehow I think Mali's guarantee has outlived its usefulness. Oh well, I'll have to let the AI handle this, will it be able to refrain from invading North America this time? I wouldn't bet on it.


Finally a quick report on military and economic status:


Austria has finally overtaken Burgundy on manpower. The last wars with Lithuania and Castille have left Burgundy with a rather small army for her size... Burgundy is starting to look ripe for the picking.


On the naval front I still have to build up the fleet. Surprising to see the Mamluks as second naval world power.


On wealth Castille is undisputed first, the surprise here is France still being in the top 12, it must be down to their CoT.

Capibara - Too late now, I already did, and actually it's no so bad once you learn about Vista "virtualization", it puts the savegames and screenshots in \User\AppData\Local\VirtualStore\Program Files\Paradox Interactive. I guess the only problem would be if I wanted to have two different installations of the game (NA and IN).

Qorten - Thanks for reading. The AI seems to be behaving a bit better with Hungary lately, we'll see.

Sweboy - I expect he is still lobbying some other European monarch into giving some land to the Church. I would have given him Malta if he had asked politely

Hungary 1592-98

The AI hasn't wrecked anything during last turn. Stability -2 is the only danger-zone stat, caused by either a war without CB or maybe Laslo V dying in battle. BB is still over 5, not helped by his son Laslo VI being a rather average 5/3/3 king.


Slider readjusting, hiring a 4-star artist and releasing Corfu as vassal again pull the date for Stability -1 from 1597 back to October 1593. I also have to take care of other small details that the AI doesn't consider a priority, like building a fort in Georgia, for example.

Just a few months into the turn the Ottomans decide to decalre war on the Burgundians now established in Rhodes. The Hungarian warning on the OE has to be honoured.


The troops march over Thrace and Bursa, starting the sieges. Burgundian reinforcements only come eventually in March 1593, just enough to distract the Ottomans in their southern provinces before they settle on white peace in June (they are of course alliance leader). Utter waste of time, they may as well give Rhodes back to the Knights, who would have held the fight for a bit longer!

To be fair to the Burgundians, they are involved again in a consuming war with Lithuania, so wasting resources in Turkey is probably not very high on their agenda.

Back to domestic duties, there are always workshops to build, provinces to convert and fleets to maintain.

October 1593, stabilty -1 is reached. April 1594, Government tech 5 is reached, for the first time with Hungary I get to choose a NI. I toy with the idea of Deus Vult but choose National Bank in the end, given the appalling inflation crippling the nation finances.


The Austro-Aragonese war ends the same year. Austria gets Girona and Pirineo from Aragon, and Rouergue, Porto and some Caribbean holdings from Portugal, not bad.


On the religious front Cherson and Crimea fail to convert...


But the missionaries succeed in Kaffa at least.


In the turn's final year the OE DoWs Burgundy again, straight after the truce. Once again Hungarian troops march over Thrace and Bursa...


Once again the Burgundians end hostilities with white peace


Next time I think I'll DoW the Ottomans myself, Burgundy is increasingly unreliable against them.

Although looking at the military build-up on both sides of the Timurid-Lithuanian border it seems more likely that next war will have a different shade of green.

Zimfan said:

Nice to see the AAR still going strong.

Come on Hungary, you can catch up to Austria! We need a Hungarian Thrace.

Click to expand...

Thanks! Constantinople shall be Hungarian!

Austria 1599-1605

The last war with Aragon and Portugal has brought in a varied collection of provinces. Despite this landgrabbing BB is only 3, it helps to have a decent monarch. Nevertheless, I sell Porto back to Portugal and Pirineo to Aragon, and release Genoa and Sardinia as usual. I decide to keep Girona, a rich province with a level-2 fort, to better protect southern France.


Instead of arctic provinces the AI was a bit more savvy this time, it went for a rich Caribbean island (two full-fledged cities, one of them Austrian, and a third soon-to-be). It also started colonising Bahamas and the Falklands. The latter province is of no interest to me, but unfortunately nobody -not even Modena- is willing to buy it


Damaraland must have been lost to natives, so I have to start sending colonists all over again. I'm not going to give up on the Eastern trade route so easily.

Back in Europe, three provinces await their inexorable destiny as part of the Austrian Empire: little Lorraine, Naples and Palermo. Considerable amounts of ducats are spent in diplomats and gifts, but attempts to fabricate claims/annex them fail repeatedly.

In early 1601 I get an alliance offer from Burgundy, which I decline.


In 1602 the newborn kingdom of Northumberland DoWs England, not very reasonable if you consider that they don't share border and don't even have a fleet to carry their only regiment to English soil On top of that they get defeated by their own rebels. Not much point in getting into another war with Portugal and losing stability for someone else's stupidity, I bail out.


That same month my useless spies finally manage to lay claims to Lorraine's lands. I quickly prepare to war when another mindless OPM gets adventurous... Crete DoWs the Ottomans Well at least this one is not too bad, I join in and put my shiny new fleet to good use against the OE's navy.

Lorraine is of course DoWed and besieged all the same, naval exercises are not going to distract me from my main goals


The Ottoman navy is wiped out as expected, and Crete is safe. I demand 25 ducats for the effort but not only the Ottomans refuse, they send their main army across Hungary leaded by the sultan in person (cheating again, no MA whatsover between OE and Hungary). How very dare they?! No mercy then, the sultan gets a very 'warm' welcome upon arrival in Austrian land.

I don't even need to explain to the AI how stupid is to take your main army to the other side of Europe to fight a nation much more powerful than you -the schizophrenic AI itself does it for me, as Hungary takes advantage of the situation and DoWs the OE


The sultan is chased across Italy and his troops eventually routed. Hungarian troops find that nobody is home in the Ottoman provinces. Lorraine falls and accepts annexation.


And so the Hungarians march over Anatolia unchallenged...


And get four provinces without much sweat


And Burgundy -at war again with Lithuania for most of the turn- loses land for the first time: Highlands and Hamburg. First blood has been drawn, this is a sure sign that Burgundy is weak and exhausted.


A new attempt to annex Sicily fails before the end of 1605, I think next turn I will just DoW Castille or Burgundy, they'll be easier to handle than stubborn OPMs

Sweboy said:

Will they also claim the Byzantian Crown too and become Emperors of Rome???

Click to expand...

They'll certainly claim the crown, but I think they will have to leave Rome to the Austrians for the time being.

Zimfan - Lithuania is quite big, but not as rich as Burgundy or Castille. What surprises me is that Lithuania is managing to maintain stability +3 all along, while Burgundy has been at -3 for the last 40 years. Still looking forward to seeing the French moving their capital to Buenos Aires

Sweboy - I didn't misunderstand you, I thought Charlemagne claimed the title of Emperor of Rome, so in effect HREs and emperors of Byzantium "shared" the title for 500 years. A bit like the kings of England claiming to be also king of France long after England had lost all French possessions.

Laszlo VI the Useless is still in power, inflation at 45%, BB at 4.85 and stability at -2 again due to to DoWing the Ottomans without CB, but the prize worthwhile: the demise of the OE and a foothold in Asia, after all these years!

Nothing much can be done for now other than sit down the BB, invest in stability and send more missionaries. For once the AI has chosen the right ministers.


And of course, the other royal pastime in quiet times: watch the neighbours fight Qara Qoyunlu are being seriously thrashed by the Mamluks.


And so after the thrashing the Mamluks assert their dominance in the middle east...


Meanwhile in the west the AI has the guts to do what I had been procrastinating...


How ungrateful of Chimu! Never mind, Burgundy has no allies and Austria should be strong enough by now to handle this. In fact I needn't worry, they are strong enough to dress Burgundy in few white stripes


Stability reaches -1 and the truce with the OE is close to expire. I start saving some ducats to try to get a CB.

The Austro-Burgundian war rages through 1608 and 1609... Castille DoWs Aragon...


Finally in 1610, for the first time in more than a century, Hungarian spies succeed fabricating claims!


No time is wasted, the Ottomans are duly DoWed. Just as I DoW, Austria and Burgundy end hostilities. The Austrian AI has not only handled the war flawlessly, it also gets sensible, connected provinces in the peace treaty.


The Burgundian AI is not that sensible, just a few months after the peace with Austria, it gets entangled in another war with Lithuania. Aragon is eventually reduced to just Valencia and Palermo.


The Ottomans are easily overrun. In a year Karaman is vassalised. In September 1611 peace is finally signed with the OE, leaving them just the capital and Sivas as a buffer between Hungary and the Mamluks.


As you can see, Lithuania doesn't treat Qara Qoyunly very kindly. They are eventually reduced to minor power, losing 7 provinces. So much for the scary new neighbour -not scary any more, not even a neighbour


Most of Asia is now visible to Hungary, and it is a pretty daunting place. Qara Qoyunly looks definitely doomed, sandwiched between Lithuanians, Mamluks and Timurids. Ming stretches from Hainan to the Urals India and the south east are also quite consolidated. No place for small players. On the other hand, plenty of space to expand


At home missionaries are successful and 3 more provinces embrace the Catholic faith this turn.

But just when I was beginning to think that the turn was turning out too perfect... Laszlo VI dies and Hungary becomes the lesser partner of a union under the king of Poland Maybe it's not too bad right now, at least the AI won't be DoWing without CBs for the foreseeable future.