The League of Holland
I had not much to gain from a war against the German alliance, but I didn't want to appear rude, so I joined in. The enemy was already in a war against the Habsburgs, so not much opposition was expected. However, while my allies were busy fighting in Germany, Burgundy declared war on Lorraine. Burgundy never grows tired of fighting us, it seems! Instead of going after Lorraine, Burgundy besieged Artois, while I besieged Brabant with 30 new cannons. When Saxony offered 48 ducats for peace, I accepted the offer, as my allies could focus on Burgundy instead of the Protestants. The war against Burgundy did thus quickly get more bloody, when thousands of Germans entered the battlefield.
After four years of warfare, Burgundy had lost too many provinces, and deciced to accept my offer of giving Bourgogne to Cleves and Luxemburg to Lorraine. As the year was 1532, I wondered if perhaps Burgundy's ally England (still in war against them) had made any interesting discoveries. Perhaps a capture of London would be possible? I sent the Frisian fleet outside Anglia:
No chance of getting that army out of the way...(England was in a war against Dauphiné; I guess that was the reason why England guarded their capital so well). Instead the Frisian fleet was sent out on a "seek and destroy" mission. After enough warscore was collected, peace was concluded for 75 ducats. Trade level 4 was researched while the war was raging.
That was the last action for a while for Friesland. Since I had all the provinces I needed for the creation of the Netherlands, I just wanted to wait for the event to trigger. So my plan was to keep out of wars for the time being. Instead I focused on improving income through maintaining the Frisian monopoly in Flandern, and expanding the navy. The navy counted 60 ships in 1534; the fourth biggest in the world. Not bad for a nation of that size, I would say.
To further strenghten the navy, I invested quite a lot of money in naval techs, and thus reaching NT 11 in 1534.
Meanwhile, a lot of nations converted to Protestantism, like England, Denmark and Sweden. Friesland had some provinces converted too, Holland to Protestant and Oldenburg to Reformed. Meanwhile, Dauphiné was evidently tired of watching Burgundy's provinces getting eaten up by Lorraine and Cleves, so another war was started in 1539. After only two years of war, Dauphiné managed to get a nice deal: Normandie, Caux and Ile de France to them. Rats, now I have Dauphine on my border. Could get interesting.
And it indeed became interesting. After having annexed their alliance leader Savoy in 1544, Dauphiné declared war on Cleves. I was a bit tired of fighting wars in France that no longer benefited me. In addition to that, I would sooner or later convert to Protestantism, so I decided to turn down Cleves' offer to join the war. Hopefully Cleves and their allies would manage to handle Dauphiné without Frisian help. Anyway, one month later Friesland officialy became Protestant, with only one Protestant province. Income will suffer from this, but it shouldn't be a problem to get the wheels go around.
I didn't pay much attention, but it seemed that the Germans managed to hold Dauphiné back. However, when Burgundy once again went to war against Lorraine, they couldn't hold the French back anymore. Cleves had to give Bourgogne and Franche-Comté to Dauphiné and 42 ducats to Burgundy. On the other hand, Palatinate got Orléanais from Burgundy. Strange region Friesland is living in...
Four years had passed where Friesland had to live without an alliance. It ended in 1548 when I found my former enemy Saxony with room for another alliance member. Denmark and Hesse were already in it, and all were protestants. The alliance was currently in war against Sweden, a war I had no interest to fight in. When the war against Sweden finally ended, the Protestant alliance stopped being, uh, 100% Protestant, as Friesland became Reformed (I had to rejoin the alliance). The 10% extra Trade Effeciency is really nice! Also, during the war Friesland got Infra level 4 (1555), and legal judges were promoted all over the country. Not long after that a new CoT opened in London, where Frisian merchants immediately secured a monopoly.
The years passed, even past 1559, but no creation event triggered. Finally, in 1566, I saved and reloaded to get the message I had waited for so long to arrive:
You may now kiss my Pinky Ring.
Alright! Some of the conditions are a bit tough (like the 10% inflation), but it's nice to finally have created the Netherlands. I also got a core on Brabant, so I will do my best to get Burgundy down to 1 province, and get that diploannexed when I get the chance. Also, Friesen, Zeeland and Flandern converted to Reformed. One good thing leads to another!
Regarding Brabant and Burgundy: Burgundy is still a vassal of England, and they are allied. So it isn't possible to forcevassalize them. Moreover, Brabant is Reformed. Is it possible to forceconvert Burgundy then? Finally, I checked if it was possible to release vassals, and, indeed, it was possible to release French Catholics in Calais. If I take Champagne from Burgundy (their last province except Brabant), will the French Catholics get that province too? And maybe it would be possible to release France if I own Champagne? If so, who do you think I should release - France or French C.?
Lastly, it won't take long before the first explorer arrives. Where do you think I should send him first? I'm no expert on Dutch history, but they went east first, to Indonesia? Do you have any other general hints when it comes to playing the Netherlands?
Doesn't it look nice?
