For God's Sake - A Castile AAR

[Enewald]

Anything you want to know, just say so.

Über-Persia?

[comagoosie]

I am sadden what you did to mecklenburg

oh well, I guess it is life.

[Enewald]

I am sadden what you did to mecklenburg

oh well, I guess it is life.

Comagoosieburg never survives when being attacked, mwuahahah!

[stnylan]

Cementing your hold on Western Europe is always good.

[Duke of Wellington]

I should like to see some stats on the occurrence of the phrases 'declares war' and 'accepts annexation' in this AAR

[Carinthium]

From the perspective purely of fullfilling the goals, I recommend the following.

1- Build up your armies considerably
2- Begin all-out wars of agression, ignoring BB, with the objective of preventing (vassalisation could help here) any new threat from Europe. (This prevents you having to focus on European wars)
3- Begin all-out war until you've practically conquered the world.

[PrawnStar]

Feedback time

First of all apologies to Count Lake sorry I didn't respond to your comment all the way back on page 4, hope you're still reading. I do try and respond to every post, after all I'm probably not going to write a 2 year spanning multi thousand post epic!

Enewald Ha, I spotted you sneaking a comment in between the last feedback and the last post!

At the point you asked just over 300 and now where I am in the game? You'll have to wait and see. I should add this to the occasional stat update shouldn't I.

robou A land route through Italy is on the to do list, if and when the Doge in Venice decides to party.

Japan, probably quite late in the game - I think Japan is a 5 war annexation possibly 6 unless they've made to the mainland. The main issue for me is naval bases in the area - I'm not good at managing naval attrition so I prefer to fight in 'home waters'.

Enewald Uber-Persia? Yes. They're big and they're Shiite (on the off chance anyone out there can appreciate this I have a Geordie accent).

Persia has expanded East, North enough to border the Crimea, most of Anatolia and lots of Arab lands - as far as I can tell. They have beaten the Mamluks rather badly. I have a land border with the Mamluks who have a core on one of my provinces and I haven't heard a thing - because they're too badly chewed up.

comagoosie They started it!

Enewald Put comagoosie down and play nicely!

stnylan This Century Europe, Next Century the World! Snappy don't you think, the marketing department came up with it.

Duke of Wellington That idea seems superficially attractive but the stats guys at Military Intelligence have suggested that the sample sizes are too small to allow definitive conclusions. Consequently, and purely in the name of Science, further investigation of the mechanisms leading to the phrases 'declares war' and 'accepts annexation' will be undertaken.

Carinthium Sensible suggestions as always

On force size I really should look into this as I haven't added any significant extra troops since the BB wars started 20 years ago. I currently have 231 regiments - another 70 or so might help out later on.

BB pretty much went out the window as a concern the day I annexed England. The neutralisation of European threats won't take more than a few more decades, vassels revolt, usually inconveniently so I don't bother. The next update does contain one period of complete unconcern for BB

This is meant to be all out war - with occasional breaks to reduce war exhaustion. I guess I'll have to ramp up the violence to keep you happy.

An update's worth of material has been played, hopefully I'll post later tonight.

[Enewald]

See, see, here I am sneaking again...

But if the bb wars begun coz of england annexation, how many provinces did they have?

sure they must have had many colonies to make your bb go so high...

I don't need violence to remain happy, I am happy when I see a happy update.

[PrawnStar]

England had 40 Provinces and my BB was around 15 when I pulled off the annexation.

They had 7 provinces in Europe - from leading wars where Burgundy conquered the lands and England vasselised the beaten enemy. There was also a dozen or so provinces in Colombia neighbouring the Incas and a few more in Australia.

[comagoosie]

comagoosie They started it!

Enewald Put comagoosie down and play nicely!

I don't care if they started, I'll end it!

Put me down!?
and no I will not play nicely

Comagoosieburg never survives when being attacked, mwuahahah!

Some guy on the forum found a Mecklenburg, NC and he told me I should be the mayor

[PrawnStar]

comagoosie, I suspect you'll find I'll end Mecklenburg

Mayor of Mecklenburg, NC. I've just read up on Mecklenburg, NC so why?

[PrawnStar]

Update 30

26/10/1576 With the failure of the Burgundian colony on Trinidad, the Reformed faith respawns, in French Avignon. This is excellent, the province is surrounded by Castilian territory, heresy will not prosper.

27/10/1576 Dauphine converts, nice response by the RNG

10/05/1577 Bosnia declares WAR

11/05/1577 Crete declares WAR on Castile in support of Bosnia

11/05/1577 The Knights declare WAR on Castile in support of Bosnia

This is an alliance of three OPMs. The only problem should be assembling a marine invasion force. War exhaustion had dropped to 3.50.

20/05/1577 Tuskegee converts

26/05/1577 Castile declares WAR on Hamburg

27/05/1577 Cyprus joins Hamburg at WAR with Castile

01/06/1577 Trade 9

28/07/1577 Crete is annexed

16/10/1577 The Knights are annexed

17/10/1577 Bosnia is annexed

06/11/1577 Conversion of Quito fails

10/11/1577 Cyprus is annexed

11/11/1577 Hamburg is annexed

5 OPMs, 5 Provinces, 1 Protestant, 4 Orthodox. Badboy, am I bovvered?

01/02/1578 Checking the Advisor pool I swap out my 46 year 3* Theologian for a 45 year 6* Theologian.

07/03/1578 Venice declares WAR

01/04/1578 Trade 10

01/05/1578 Conversion of Wurzburg fails

06/10/1578 Janina converts

The war is going very well, Venice’s colony in Canada has been seized, Bermuda occupied and mainland Italy under siege except in Liguria where the remains of 30 regiments are holed up under a superb general. I have 3 armies of 13 regiments taking it in turns to attack this force – bloody, costly but Venetian morale is falling and when this army eventually breaks they should be easy to destroy.

Elsewhere Mecklenburg has gone Protestant, now I just need them to pick up some allies before the truce is up and I can reDOW.

The Teutonic Order has seized most of Maya along with bits of Aztec and Zapotec, I’m interested to see whether the TO will convert any of these provinces – they haven’t converted either their Protestant or Reformed provinces. This is probably a strategic error.

Peace with Venice



This is a 100 point peace deal. Venice is not a short term annexable target; they hold Azow on the shores of the Black Sea bordering Persia. Long term strategy involves leaving Persia well alone until I’m ready for them, that’s a couple of decades away.

01/02/1579 Trade 11

05/02/1579 Conversion of Sieradz fails

10/05/1579 Inca Empire declares WAR

29/05/1579 Lothringen converts

01/06/1579 Trade 12

05/06/1579 Lithuania declares WAR

05/06/1579 Bavaria joins Lithuania at WAR with Castile

06/06/1579 Denmark joins Lithuania at WAR with Castile

Oh well guess it’s time to march East or will it be a fast White Peace. Tune in next time…

[comagoosie]

I was wondering when you were going to connect Italy to your other provinces.

And mecklenburg switched religions

I wanted you to lose a stab point when you declared war.

[Enewald]

aaaaannnnnnnnnnnneeeeexxxxx....
everyone...

Venice must be getting new techs fastly!

Some uber provinces!

[stnylan]

If Lithuania is still converting I'd be tempted to white peace.

[robou]

can you submit to Lithuania, just start taking the odd chunk off them if you can... or money... money is always good

[Duke of Wellington]

7 instances of 'declares war' and only 5 instances of annexed. This shows some discrepancy. I do hope that those two numbers become more similar at a future date.

[merrick]

I haven't heard any mention of rebels - are they not happening (lucky man) or are they just too much of a low-grade hassle to mention?

In the long run, it might be the rebels who decide your success. Certainly the AI nations can no longer stop you militarily.

[PrawnStar]

Feedback time

comagoosie I was pleased about connecting Italy to the rest of the Empire in Europe. The money helps but it also improves strategic options - I don't need to station an army in the Italian peninsula, a garrison force in Central Europe can always be deployed if needed.

I've been thinking about the Mecklenburg, North Carolina thing (only at work, 'cos I've go to pass the time somehow LOL) and I now have a mental picture of you as Boss Hogg

Losing Stab for DOWs - no thanks, I avoid that like the plague - I don't think I've lost any stab to DOWs and with +3 currently costing near 130,000 I won't be doing it. There is plenty of time and you'll notice I don't attack Catholics. That's the point of trying to convert Burgundy and France to Protestantism by stripping away Catholic provinces.

Enewald Annex everyone? Very probably!

Yes Venice is seriously powerful for a 4 province minor - I suspect if I started with those provinces (Venice, Genoa, Milan and Azow) I'd be catching up with where I am now even without DVs.

stnylan I've tried that two or three times now for exactly that reason but they keep DOWing, my approach may change...

robou Lithuania is big and there are a lot of provinces to take so any war fought for gains will have to deliver.

Duke of Wellington See, the problem is the sample size isn't big enough, perhaps I need more DOWs and more annexations then we can reconsider the analysis

merrick Rebels have not been great problem so far but I'm very aware that can change. Enough rebels will impact on my manpower and tax take, ultimately untimely declarations of independance could really ruin attempts to control war exhaustion.

Rebellions do occur but there hasnt been any serious problem - most rebellions don't last long enough to even capture the first province. I'll quite happily take small prestige and tax hits to buy off rebels.

I have kept the empire at +3 Stab and I intend to keep it that way - hence no slider changes and no DOWs on Catholics. I also worry constantly about war exhaustion, I take periods of peace whenever I can. It's unlikely I'll start any wars unless I'm already at war and peace is far away.

An update is developing... but I'm having problems finding a natural break!

[PrawnStar]

Update 31

Peace with Inca



The last three non capital territories have been seized and with a 99% war score a 93 point peace is made – the Inca pay 2375 ducats

30/09/1579 Conversion of Chichas fails

01/11/1579 Trade 13

A long series of battles follows against the Lithuanians, their casualties are heavy as they lag in military technology. Depending on how these battles go I may push much further east. Danish forces are fairly quickly being shattered in occupied Jutland. My fleet controls the Sound; Denmark is likely to suffer rather badly in this war. Bavaria is close to falling.

09/02/1580 Crete converts

14/02/1580 Peace with Bavaria, they surrender Ruppin and 50 ducats to become an OPM.

07/06/1580 Wurzburg converts

September 1580 – I’ve forced Lithuania onto the back foot – but they still have 85 regiments in the field – I’ve destroyed at least 30 already and seized the capital, always an effective technique to damage the AI. The Danes have ran out of troops and southern Sweden is steadily being stormed – ideally I’ll be able to peace them out before the winter kicks in and the manpower drain gets even worse. I’ve lost at least 50,000 manpower even if no units have been destroyed.

04/10/1580 Hum converts

01/01/1581 Trade 14

29/01/1581 Bern converts

Peace with Denmark



This is a 70 war score peace at 59% victory – I want the troops back south of the Baltic. I have also taken the Danish colonies of Falklands, Suriname and Beothuk.

The greatest battle of the AAR to date



This is what I’ve been working towards for months, a huge series of running battles that end in the total destruction of the Lithuanian forces. I want to achieve a high scoring peace – some border provinces ideally including Kiev, this will require that Lithuania’s army is destroyed. I don’t want to have to march all the way to Siberia to enforce a worthwhile peace.

The surviving Russian countries have all declared war on Lithuania, both Novgorod and Muscovy might be big enough to inflict some series damage.

03/06/1581 Conversion of Hamburg fails

15/07/1581 Corsica declares WAR

16/07/1581 Saxony declares WAR in support of Corsica

This is good, Corsica are a Catholic OPM so can be eliminated in this war, Saxony has stayed Catholic and neutral so far, with a mix of Catholic and Protestant provinces I’ll try and take the Catholic lands and hope Saxony converts.

07/10/1581 Athens converts

23/11/1581 Corsica accepts annexation

12/02/1582 Scotland declares WAR

13/02/1582 France declare WAR in support of Scotland

The Diplomatic Situation



This isn’t too bad, fingers crossed. With the near total destruction of Lithuanian armies I’m starting to march troops back towards France via Saxony.

06/06/1582 Cuenca converts

The war situation has been suboptimal – however France doesn’t have huge numbers of troops so all is not lost. Saxony is virtually defeated, as is Scotland although getting to the Scottish colonies still looks difficult due to the large French fleets.

I only have two 13,000 strong armies operating against France, I’m chewing up small French forces and ignoring the stacks they’ve thrown into northern Germany.

10/06/1582 Conversion of Rhodes fails

01/07/1582 Trade 15 – I am now three years ahead across all techs except Gov’t where I am 28 years ahead.

Occupied Lithuania



Peace with Saxony



October 1582 – Lithuania short of troops and facing a 64% war score refuse 92 point peace deals. Edinburgh has fallen; a sneak attack is being prepared in the Caribbean. The French colony of Arguin has been seized.

War Exhaustion has reached 4.89.

11/01/1583

Peace with Scotland and Lithuania



The Scottish colony of St Martin was also seized – the other Scottish colony in the Caribbean was too heavily defended and my transport fleet starting to look ragged. I did also grab the French colony of St Kitts.

11/01/1583 Castile declares WAR on Burgundy

War exhaustion at 5.01 is an issue but I’m a long way from peace with France and Burgundy looks pretty defenceless.

12/01/1583 Poland honours its alliance with Burgundy and joins the WAR against Castile

12/01/1583 Mecklenburg honours its alliance with Burgundy and joins the WAR against Castile

The Diplomatic Situation



War aims are to annex comagoosieburg and strip away some more provinces from Burgundy. Poland is slightly different - as a two province nation where the other province is rebel controlled and a revolter it will be ignored - no turbos even though this wouldn't actually help me in this case.