Don't touch the bull - A gameplay AAR

[Jaspume]

Hey there!

After a break from EUIII, I've decided to return to the addiction with a bang. This will be a gameplay AAR, no more, no less. Screenshots, and lots of them, are to be expected.

Nothing fancy here, no sir. Just pure and simple gaming.

Before we get into this, I will shamefully urge you to follow the madman that is Rastar and his fantastic AAR: WC with Malacca in IN 3.1 – Complete Insanity???

It takes a special kind of guy to annihalate Ming with Malacca. A crazy guy.

And as a final note of thanks, Rastar was the one who inspired me to get back onto the crazy bandwagon that's known as EUIII, so you can thank him for this.

And now, the AAR.

Mecklenburg - Don't touch the bull

Settings: All settings are set to normal. Land and Sea discoveries are set to 100 years to slow down the western gangbang that is QFTNW. In addition, lucky nations are set to random, just to stir things up.

Version: IN 3.1

House rules: There are none, for I am shameless. I probably won't use diplo-vassalisation much though, so I guess we can throw that in. Oh, and no reloads unless I do something incredibly stupid, like click the wrong button in a peace treaty.

Goals:

Finish the game - I've never fully completed a game before, so let's start now.
Unify Germany - Never done it before.
Eliminate France, England, Spain, Portugal and Austria - Just to see if I can.

[Jaspume]

Initial Setup

I trust most of you are familiar with Mecklenburg's holdings, as such I won't go into detail on them. They will be covered later, however, along with newly gained provinces.

To begin with, I head in straight with a national decision.



Hopefully, this will help me greatly with trading. With the introduction of auto-send in NA, neglecting trade as a small, powerful trading power is not an option!

I wasn't all that lucky with starting advisors, so I pick the ever useful stability guy and eventually decide on the increase in production tech.



These are our initial economy settings; full research in government tech to reach the ever important first idea and no minting. This prevents any gain in inflation, leading to a healthy and happy economy.



Here's our initial income with these settings:



And our initial recruitment; 2 cavalry regiments. In the early game, as I'm sure you're all aware, cavalry are far more useful than infantry in combat. We shall be seeing a lot of these guys in the years to come...

And finally, we move our policy slider toward free trade. With a larger power, the preceding event wouldn't be too bad, but for a small power like us, this is quite a hit.

[EUROO7]

Just what I was looking for!

A new Game-play AAR!

Too bad about those advisors, but with those rich provinces, you should be one of the first to reach your first national idea.

[Jaspume]

Rein in the HRE!

(Forgive the lack of detail in the next few updates. I didn't think everyone would find it partularly interesting watching me sweetalk the german minors, but alas, it has to be done. Once I become Emperor, things will be a little less skimmed over)



Following our initial setup, we send out the wenches and build up relations with the high flyers of HRE society, more commonly known as the electors. We focus on Saxony first, and easily steal their vote away from Anhalt. Entering an alliance with them solidifies our claim to their vote, and we ensure further support.



Here's a shot of the battlefield of the HRE: the Electors and their votes, and our new support from Saxony.



We agree on a royal marriage with Oldenburg in preperation for their support.



After such a promising reception, Oldenburg decides to decline our alliance offers.

Repeatedly.

There will be a reckoning!

With our diplomatic front currently taking on the spotlight, our merchants go along with their business quietly in the corner.



Gradually, as we take control over Lubeck and Antwerpen, we focus on higher stages.



Soon, we start to gain a healthy payback for our efforts, bringing Mecklenburg into the halls of giants.



It seems Mecklenburg is on the rise, both diplomatically and economically. Nothing could spoil this moment!



Pfft. Everyone knows they're a second rate power anyway.

Despite this little setback, our diplomats are set to work within the HRE, and with the extra money gained from our success in trade, we slowly begin to sway public opinion into our favour.

[Inner Circle]

My last game as mecklenburg was very enjoyable... I managed to form Prussia, and later Germany... I also was HRE for almost 250 years, which helped my expansion in europe and africa alot...

[Jaspume]

Things finally start to go along as expected. Trade slowly grows, each HRE minor we focus on falls into line, and Mecklenburg begins to prosper.

With all of the gold trade has slowly been injecting into the veins of the nation, research has been going at a fast pace. As a consequence, in 1404, we recieve some welcome news.



Which can only, in my opinion, mean:



If you didn't see this coming, you're wearing a blindfold.

With less inflation, we can mint. More minting means more money, and more money means we're one step closer to becoming a superpower.

Rawr.



With government tech up a level, we turn our attention to land. For the next few years, each tech will be taking the limelight in turn, based on their importance at the time. This way, none of the tech's get left behind and we stay ahead of the game.



We begin to see the benefits of the new idea instantly, with a large increase in income:



And it's not all been action on the research front either; the recruitment centres have been busy in preperation for the Emperorship:



Mmmm. Equiny goodness.

As 1407 nears it's end, we get some good news. Looks like the preperations were worth it.



Not only does the imperial title bring prestige, it brings other, more dangerous benefits too:






Hmm. That's strange.... I think I smell something.

Oh wait, nevermind. It's just the smell of utter conquest.

[Jaspume]

EUROO7: You were right. I hope you'll enjoy the AAR! We should be seeing some real action very soon.

Inner Circle: Wow, well I hope I'll enjoy as much success as you did! Hopefully you'll be able to give me some advice as I stumble my way through Germany.

Thanks for the comments guys!

[Inner Circle]

It´s quite simple: I went the diplomatic way and made a Vassall network which guarantee you a permanent leadership of the HRE, and the only wars i made were the ones where the HRE members attacked each other/ were attacked...

So make vassalls, annex them, make more vassals, and so on...

[phargle]

Delightful to watch!

[naggy]

Gee, I expected you to get Unum Sanctum...

[Demon1]

good

[EUROO7]

Now you have to recruit 119.000 more equiny goodness!

[PrawnStar]

*Subscribing*

This way I'll actually get to see what a high tech Latin nation is mean to look like! I've played Bremen for a few years, I tried taking National Trade Policy first and not worrying too much about a 'little' inflation.

And of course your location is Leicester, Jewel of the East Midlands (I live off Narborough Road )

EDIT - Ha! Got here before comagoosie!

[comagoosie]

You know that I would never let a mecklenburg AAR slip my grasp

Well done so far, even if you aren't going down my well worn path, I guess it is ok for a rookie

[Enewald]

Heh, a lot of mecklenburgeriaars around these forums.
I shall follow.

[Hatuke]

Gameplay AAR!

I'm in

[Sweboy]

Looks good.

[Demon1]

Hopefully you will form prussia soon P-dox gave meclenburg an horrible colour. (no offence Comagoosie)

[basharious]

Nice.

I personally don't like to play trading powers, but whatever floats your boat .

I like the layout of the AAR, nice!


I'll be following.

[Jaspume]

Feedback

Inner Circle: I'm unfortunately rubbish at diplo vassalising, I can't get a hang of it in IN... Looks like we'll have to gain vassals the hard way.

basharious: Thanks! I'm not a big trader either, although you'll likely be seeing more warfare than trading here, I can assure you.

Demon1: I actually quite like the colour, although you can't beat a nice Prussian grey.

Sweboy, Hatuke, Demon1, phargle: Thank you! I hope you'll enjoy the ride.

naggy:

EUROO7: A man can only dream...

PrawnStar: Well, we might see what a high tech latin nation looks like. Unfortunately warfare has other plans.

As for my location, Im glad to see a fellow brother on the forums! I live in the countryside, away from you rowdy city folk. You probably haven't heard of the village, but I live near Loughbrough if you've heard of the town.

Enewald: Good to see you here Enewald!

comagoosie: Hah, I'm glad the master approves.

There's an update or two coming up tonight.