MM Gold-Austrian Gameplay AAR

[Zimfan]

Hello all. with Magna Mundi Gold out, I thought that people might be interested in a gameplay AAR. With a Japanese one already in progress, I decided to try my hand at Austria, so that others (and I) can see some of the new HRE events, as well as laugh at my pathetic attempts to play a very challenging mod.

I'm playing on the recommended settings for the mod, and my goal will be to keep the Holy Roman Empire as powerful as possible, and try to prevent any member states being annexed [my wife also says to colonize South Africa, which may explain some odd(read: seemingly idotic) NI choices].

I hope to get my first update tomorrow.

[rcduggan]

always good to see a MM aar, and with Gold out this should be awesome.

[stnylan]

I will be especially interested in this, to see how the HRE events and Reformation events pan out.

[Zimfan]

Alright, after many hours of playing (maybe too many ), I'm ready to write.

I start my game in 1453. Austria starts with a pretty decent ruler(6/6/5), some 9,000 soldiers, high prestige and three National Ideas (all factions do in MM), Military Drill, Cabinet, and Guild Priveleges. Much nicer than my the 1 or 2 province minors I tended to play in vanilla. I secure alliances with nearby Bavaria and Bohemia, and set my investments with an eye towards getting workshops and gov 1.



In short order I receive my first MM Event, a trbute of 10 ducats to the Holy Roman Emperor, me, and greatly improved relations with most HRE members. Woohoo! his kind of event I could do with more of.



Very shortly afterward, I get a special event with a little intro to Magni Mundi.



Event after event come at me, including a nifty spy defense bonus one, the movement of the Imperial Court to Wien(provides a pop growth bonus to the Emperor's capital city, equal to the level of "Imperial Power", which affects a number of HRE events). Hussite tensions dog Wien, increasing the revolt risk.

I consider attacking Venice while they're busy with Milan, but then I'm dragged into a war with the Palatinate by my friends the Bohemians. I join in to avoid the big prestige loss from dishonoring alliances in MM (30 something or so penalty) and also to beat Bohemia to the punc and prevent their eating up a supplier of manpower and stability bonuses..er...valued member of the Holy Roman Empire.



I find that I wisely kept army maintenance at full ( I'm far too great a genius to have forgotten to lower it during peacetime. That's believable, right?), send my troops in, and have the Pallys vassalized in no time.

Thinking I have everything taken care of, I relax, only to realize that the Bohemians are sieging Oberfalz. Doh! I just assumed that between my emperor status and my being Austria, that I was the alliance leader. No harm done, since although Oberfalz is ceded to Bohemia, they decide to release it back in order to face the wrath of their emperor and fellows in the HRE. Very nice, no rapid gobbling up of small German factions in this mod.

With my first Empire affecting crisis under my belt, I feel pretty confident. When I'm dragged into another war, this time with Hesse(and this time as alliance leader) I vassalize Hesse to keep my "allies" from annexing them. I also manage to vassalize Bavaria, peacefully. All by 1456! This is one emperor that will stay on top of things and really rule the empire, or so I delude myself into thinking.

I can't stop Wurzburg from taking Anhalt in that last war, but I do get a chance to do something about it, with an event that lists out all my options for dealing with the situation. Knowing the harsher the penalty the more likely the compliance, I pick the "prepare for war" response, costing me 20 ducats, a diplomat and a spy(would be emperors, be prepared to spend money. It's worth it).



Not knowing that if I wait a bit they'll get a chance to give the province back, I declare war on Wurzburg to right their injustice. A few easy battles later, they and their allies Salzburg and Mainz are vassalized. Woot!

The Imperial court leaves Wien for a moment, but I haven't lost the emperorship(is that right?), My level of Imperial Power just changed. Moments later it comes back one level higher. I also get a pleaant surprised with a Balance of Power event detailing my rise to a major power, with all sorts of nifty bonuses.



It's only 1458 and so far my stint as protector of the Empire seems to be going well. I won't say what happens next, but suffice it to say it'll get a lot tougher by the end of the next update, and my delusions about my gameskills will very shortly be shattered.

[Treppe]

Till the last sentence of yours I was saying that you're doing a nice job but now I'm just curious about how you will be shattered.

Watchout for the east, especially polish-hungarian alliances in my games as austria they are always on my heels.

[aldriq]

Well done so far! I'll be watching this, MM adds a lot of flavour to the game. I should install it some day, but first I want to make the most of vanilla.

[ubik]

Excellent start!


Will follow this.

[isca]

Looking forward to your impending doo... I mean your victory over adversity!

Incidentally, who leads a siege is just about timing. If they get there first, they lead the attack. (Unless that changed?)

[stnylan]

Very interesting so far.

[kfijatass]

Dunno what to think of it yet. I shall say what i think of it when it will be at least 10 updates long:P

[VILenin]

Good stuff, I'll have to check out MM.

[Zimfan]

Treppe-Well, Poland and Hungary won't be a problem, but that just means someone else fills the void.

aldriq- I'd reccommend it. MM makes a wold of difference!

ubik- Thanks!

isca- You'll get to see my impending doo...victory over adversity.

stnylan- Thanks!

kfijatass- I hope I can convert you, but I tend towards big updates rather than many so ten might be tough!

VILenin- MM makes a big difference. I'd say it was worth trying out.

[Zimfan]

Ok, on to the next few decades.

Here is a dplomatic pic in 1459. As you can see I've vassalized a big chunk of Germany, although not yet all, my goal.


At this point I'm feeling on top of the world. My prestige is through the roof, I have a ton of money from settlements in wars (about 50 per war), nd none of my neighbors have eliminated HRE members. I even become the papal controller in 1458. Then Bohemia goes to war with Hungary. I decide to join in since none of Hungary's provinces are in the HRE, A short war later I have Sopron and Croatia and 50 more ducats. I call this mistake #1, although the reason won't be apparent for while. Bohemia vassalizes the rest of Hungary. Fine with me. Meanwhile, Berg becomes part of the imperial Demesne, vassals that belong to whoever is emperor at the time.

Around here things begin to go downhill. I join Bohemia in a war against the OE(although they're not allies of mine anymore, but I figure I have to decide with Christendom against the Turks, or I'd be a lousy emperor). The end the war early with a white peace and I'm stuck paying them 50 ducats after they kick my butt.

I play defensively for a while, gaining more power as emperor(up to seven or so out of ten) d gohrough a couple of kings. I get caught in two wars, one iwth Burgundy in which I barely escape giving up Breisgau and 25 Ducats(Burgundy is part of the empireand gives Breisgau back. woohoo!), and sucessfully vassalize Venice, taking a poor province that I give back to them from the generosity in my heart (yeah, right).

I release Croatia to improve my BB(limit's much lower in MM), then get stuck in another nowhere war with Burgundy in which I start to win,only to be crushed and give up (temporarily) Breisgau again. In 1478 I get a chance to weaken Bohemia, but fail and they gain several Saxon provinces and vassalize them before I get to interfere.

I try to stomp them but I get stuck with a regency council and can't do much for a while. I manage to vassalize Nuremburg(and make them release Wurzburg), gaining 5 ducats in the process.



At this point I start to realize this game won't go as smoothly as I thought, but I think the ral shattering will come next update, in which the consequences of grabbing chunks of Hungary becomes clear.

Edit: on a side note, I'm thinking of starting a multi faction aar, concurrent with this one, a la Storey and aldriq. I was thinking of taking Venice and Denmark in a race to get the most provinces, with maybe one more eastern midlevel power. If anyone has any votes of who the third faction(or a better idea for the fishoud be, I'd appreciate it.

[stnylan]

Regencies are never fun, even in vanilla. I would imagine they are even less fun in MM.

[PrawnStar]

I hope that this works out better than your first AAR did - although that was a very entertaining read

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[Zimfan]

I hope that this works out better than your first AAR did - although that was a very entertaining read

Subscribed

Do you mean the Moldavia one? If so it'd be hard to do worse.
Thanks for the subscription!

stnylan : they are indeed less pleasant in MM, although the unpleasantness is boring enough to warrant relatively few sentences in the next installment, that doesn't make it any less aggravating.

[Zimfan]

So, many years of annoying rebellions later(many, many rebellions) I finally get a king again, and not a terrible one.



So, I end up in yet another war with the Ottomans, as they declare war on Bavaria. I think that they might be in a bb war, as their reputation is atrocious and all their neighbors attack them. I join in but end up with nothing more than extra inflation and more ducats lost.


Bohemia, like the girly men they are, sign another truce, and I leave the war many ducats poorer and no provinces richer. Another king later (5/6/3), I end up the emperor again, for all the good it does me.


I still have "major noble opposition", so I spend most of my session putting down rebels and cursing the Barbary pirates. Finally, I gain a new NI (improved foraging, to prevent attrition and bring me closer to the four exploration NI requirement for QFTNW). Now I am yet again the HRE emperor and get a King of the Romans event where the pope crowns me(for plenty of ducats, of course). I finally get Landsknechten infantry, but suffer another regency council, so it does me little good.

[stnylan]

It definitely sounds a case of two steps forward one step back.

Still, progress of a sort.

[germanpeon]

At least you held your ground. Diplo-annexes are always fun!

[Zimfan]

At least you held your ground. Diplo-annexes are always fun!

I forgot to mention it in the last post, but for as many attempts as that took me, it was about time I got a diploannexation. Some two dozen tries at "maybe" of neighboring vassals. I had to give them one province back, but it was a poorer one.