The Audacity of Hope - An Iroquois IN AAR

FEEDBACK​

demokratickid -

comagoosie - A single shade of green will be very soothing, very restful, very peaceful. What more could you want?

kossmikman - Ah! Welcome to the Leet Savings Bank as least as badly ran as any other bank on the planet.

Short update to follow - it's not very good but I've got a constant headache through house purchase related stress.

Chapter Sixty Six​

1st January 1799 – Iroquois declares war on two province Tver, seven province Ryazan and the Golden Horde honour their guarantees. Ryazan is war leader.



The Russian minors, all Sunni states, are tied together in a complex web of diplomatic arrangements. This war is the first step towards conquering them all.

A machine reboot before this session has caused a save / reload and the consequences of waking the AI are becoming apparent.

3rd January both Rajputana and the Oirat Horde (both OPMs) warn Iroquois against further war.

War with Gondwana - April 1799



The Timurid guarantee pretty much settled their fate, Rajputana and the Oirats both hand in their ‘Please annex me’ forms but they’ll need to join the queue outside the Foreign Office.

Peace with Tver – April 1799



This is the first stage of the Ryazan war over.

Peace with Castile – June 1799



Castile is now down to two provinces.

Peace with Milan – June 1799



The defeat of those Milanese stacks on the Dalmatian coast in the last update left Milan without any strong armies so I was able to march southward storming fortresses. Travel times in Italy are so short that badly damaged stacks can be walked back to Iroquois territory to recover.

I need Milan to start guaranteeing its smaller neighbours so that I can launch some more wars.

Six days later Milan guarantees Corsica, a part of the Empire

1st July 1799 – War exhaustion finally falls to zero!

The war in Russia is slow due to travel times while the war with the Timurids is slow because I don’t have enough troops available. Then again I have more than the Timurids.

1st September, Iroquois declare war on Corsica, Milan and Denmark come to the rescue.



At least Milan is war leader; hopefully this will simply consist of march and storm. Corsica will survive, Denmark should lose a province and I’d like the rest of the Milanese possessions in the Balkans.

Two days later OPM Mysore warns us

24th October OPM Polotsk warns us

18th December Gondwana buy peace for 512 ducats, as they’re freshly guaranteed by the Timurids they’ll be a useful route to reDOWs in the final years.

The World at 31/12/1799



Greater Iroquois Republic at 31/12/1799

Ceterum censeo Castile esse delendam​

Raaritsgozilla - I think you might have to face facts, it's not her it's you

Sweden is a nuisance - they won't guarantee their minor neighbours because Pskov keeps declaring war, protected by ally Manchu.

Enewald - Sounds good!

Chapter Sixty Seven​

I don’t see how I’ll be able to conquer all of this in the remaining time – I’m going to try and reduce all the surviving countries to OPM status.

Ceterum censeo Castile esse delendam​

FEEDBACK​

Lord Strange - If I'm a god it's no wonder the world's in the state it is :rofl:

demokratickid - Lack of diplomats, but if there's nothing left but OPMs it pretty much proves Iroquois WC is simply a matter of very slightly better resource management.

Enewald - Byzantium has formed in Athens, I knew someone would get excited

If it helps they're a Sunni Republican Dicatorship :rofl:

Falastur - But not for long, they've been guaranteed by the Ottomans.

comagoosie - Somehow I don't think we'll see it...

Afrofunk - Yes they're in Athens but I'm not sure how they formed. It's not me possibly just the result of the very long war with Milan.

Dylan305 - Don't worry, they are Kiwis it's probably just a bad reaction to the last Rugby World Cup

Rensslaer - I wasn't aware I had renounced Piedmont

AI Milan did pretty well before getting tagteamed by Bohemia and the Ottos. I'd guess that from a 1399 start if Burgundy can keep France occupied then Milan has a clear run at glory.

aldriq - Interesting world by 1800. Tibet is also Sunni as is Byzantium. However, Chagatai is Confucian!

The diplomat shortage is something I'll have to live with. If I'd have known how this was going to play out I could have tried going Aristocratic instead of working towards Narrowminded after I westernised. I'll kill a lot of the other countries just not all of them

Guarantees will play their part but I suppose I could try save/reloading every few months to see if the AI will do something silly (not really, I always feel that sort of thing misses the point of playing the game).

Chapter Sixty Eight​

Peace with Japan – January 1800



Potentially Japan could have been reduced to an OPM in this war – but I chose to save a diplomat and trust the Japanese AI to come back in five years time. I’ve never seen the Japanese AI do anything else once you’re in the Home Isles.

Oirat Horde accepts annexation – February 1800

Kurland warns Iroquois – March 1800

Peace with Korea – March 1800



Korea is now an OPM

Peace with the Golden Horde – May 1800



Again, this isn’t a particularly good deal but it saves a diplomat and I really need to get busy again in Europe. Bohemia has rebuilt and has the latest troop types, Mixed Order infantry and Latin Chasseurs. The war like those with Sweden and Milan will be a bloody mess.

29th May, Rajputana is annexed and Burgundy warns us.

Peace with the Timurids – June 1800



This is another chunk of Indian provinces and a connection through the Himalayas; the Timurid Empire really does feel endless.

Peace with Ryazan – August 1800



Great Britain declares war – September 1800



This is probably a cunning plan to get me to clear an English nationalist rising in London.

Peace with Chagatai – October 1800



This was a very long wait – a couple of years but they’ve finally reduced themselves to OPM status.

A couple of other interesting things have happened, the Mongol Khanate has become a Timurid vassal and Sweden, newly at peace, has guaranteed Gotland. Also I’ve just seen Ryazan have a royal marriage with Tibet – which I expect is fairly unusual.

Battle of Khandesh



That’s virtually everything GB has. No idea why the outcome was as one-sided as the troop types and tech levels are approximately the same. Blue Coats vs Red Coats (It appears the key military breakthrough of the Napoleonic era was to give soldiers weapons as well as coats).

November 1800



Gelre are a perfect target for a DOW, they’ll bring in Bohemia their overlord and all those minors who’ve warned me. I can’t annex Gelre but that’s OK because Bohemia will DA them soon Denmark as Emperor is already at war (and 100% occupied) so won’t get involved in this war.

Note: I've subsequently learned you can annex an OPM vassal in a peace deal with their overlord but I wasn't aware of it at this time.

The various minors are widely scattered so this is basically Iroquois against Bohemia.

War!



Everyone joins the party, fortunately Bohemia are war leader. I’ve a few OPMs to annex here.

Battle of Pecs



Bohemian units are roughly twice as good as mine. Well lead and with adequate numbers they will win. Fortunately that is the only large stack they have and it’s trying to take a level 6 fortress. When you take this sort of damage to a stack retreat into our own territory the faster reinforcement rate will have those troops back as effectives far faster than leaving them to recover wherever they retreated to.

January 1801 Mysore accepts annexation

Iroquois declares war on Gotland - January 1801



Gotland will be completely ignored in this war; I’ll keep them alive for a reDOW opportunity on Sweden somewhere down the line. The objectives are just to grab another bunch of Swedish provinces as quickly as I can.

Jamaica converts – 27/03/1801

By April 1801 defenceless Great Britain as been completely occupied, I’m hoping for a peace offer that will reduce GB to an OPM in London. Elsewhere Polotsk, Kurland and Burgundy are all occupied and simply need diplomats to annex.

The war against Milan has stalled near Rome, all but one assault stack has moved against Bohemia. Unfortunately the assaults on Bohemian fortresses have generally failed badly and much time will be needed to repair those troops. The Bohemians have consolidated all their troops into a single powerful army in Pecs.

Peace with Denmark - April 1801



Denmark is once again reduced to an OPM. The screenie also gives a reasonable oversight of the Scandinavian theatre. However, Sweden’s armies have not been defeated.

Peace with Milan – April 1801



Milan loses most of its Balkan possessions and I get an extra route to attack the Ottomans, their time is soon.

July sees an offer of white peace accepted from Gotland while Milan has guaranteed Switzerland and the Papal States. As soon as troops can be spared from Bohemia there will be another war with Milan.

Second Battle of Pecs



I broke off after five days, at least I’ll manage to inflict some attrition casualties but the fortress walls are starting to crumble.

The critical battlefield against Sweden



Sweden’s armies based in Novgorod and Finland are marching all the way around the Gulf of Bothnia. Intercepting them here is bloody hopefully the block force can recover fast enough to hurt the various waves of Swedish troops heading my way.

September 1801 Kurland accepts annexation

Second Battle of Vasterbotten



With the defeated Swedish stack running to lightly held Lappland I have a second Killstack on intercept course. Ideally I’ll hit a strong Swedish force while it has very low morale and possibly get an overrun.

Battle of Lappland



This going to be nasty for attrition but defeating the Swedish forces in the west is very worthwhile.

Third battle of Pecs



It’s entirely possible I’ll have to peace out soon to avoid losing the province. I have 90%+ war score but I haven’t had enough diplomats to annex all the OPMs. Up in the corner you can see Ottoman forces besieging Vienna, a successful revolter Styria.

December 1801 – Burgundy accepts annexation



I decide to peace out without annexing Polotsk, they have a couple of useful guarantees…

Peace with Bohemia – January 1802



Great Britain is completely occupied and I’m simply awaiting a peace offer while war score against Sweden is in the forties and should improve towards a 100 point peace over the next year.

I intend to DOW Switzerland to bring in Milan and once we have peace there do the same against the Papal States. Elsewhere I plan another war against the Golden Horde via the Russian minors and once again war with the Timurids.

Ceterum censeo Castile esse delendam​