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General_Grant - Thanks! You are right that the flag is a bit plain. I take that flag is Saladin's eagle? Doing some research I found that caliphs of Córdoba used a white eagle on a green field (before Saladin), I might try to scale it to flag-size.

calipheagle.png

Didaa - They'll think twice before warning me again :D

enkhuush - As soon as those pesky Ottos stop guaranteeing everyone in Arabia.

stnylan - Still hoping for Austria to DoW them sooner or later.

PrawnStar - At my current land tech the only foraging my troops are used to is the take-away around the corner :rolleyes:

gabor - To be fair, in this game it's been the Ottomans who forced Venice to release Crete. Better in my hands than in theirs :D

Enewald - I can't stop now :)

Sweboy - Both will be dealt with, eventually.

Hitmanalex - They just keep blobbing, faster than me :(

Storey - Persia was already hating me beyond repair, and I didn't have any money to soften them. My only OE containment for now is my alliance with Golden Horde.

demokratickid - Mamluks next!

Kami - Haasa is guaranteed by the OE :(

Delex, matt12th, humancalculator - Thanks and welcome!
 
6

Coastal road to Alexandria, desert road to oblivion
1461-70

With the Ottomans having Egypt as target of their mission I have no choice but to attack The Mamluks before they do. Luckily the core I had in Hawran lets me Dow in October 1461 at only 1 stability loss. All of the Mamluks' allies and guarantors join, Golden Horde and Khiva desert me. That's me and Khorasan against Mamluks, Oman, Najd, Swahili and Tunisia, nothing to worry about since neither of them bothered to turn up in the last war. In fact it offers me the chance to settle old scores with Najd for free. The Golden Horde renews our alliance shortly afterwards.

syr1461a-1.jpg

The war is pretty unremarkable. I take unfortified Najd in a separate peace in February 1462 and destroy the last 6K Mamluk force in Cairo in March. After that it's just a case of careful deployment of small siege armies across Egypt and patience.

syr1462a.jpg

While I wait for the sieges I get an unfortunate call to arms from the Golden Horde in early 1463. They've DoWed Qara Qoyunlu, which would have been fine had I not built up my relations with them in preparation for my war with Persia. Too late to insult/cancel RM and MA, so I have to dishonour the alliance, losing an ally, prestige and a great opportunity to take Haasa outside their OE guarantee :( It is annoying that with so many Christians on the west and Ming already on the east the GH decided to attack QQ just now.

syr1463a.jpg

The only positive side to this is that now I have nothing to lose by attacking Crete (still only guaranteed by Georgia) :D The island nation is DoWed and swiftly annexed in June 1464. The final sieges in deep southern Egypt are won and peace with the Mamluks obtained: their four northernmost provinces. The corridor to Alexandria is now open! And WE was carefully controlled this time, stands at only 1.60 :)

syr1464a.jpg

Libya secures the route to expand west. No other Egyptian province is of particular interest to me now, with the exception of Cairo perhaps, for which I'd need to obtain the rest of Egypt.

After this expansion/annexation spree BB has shot up over 10, a few years of peace and trade are in order. High BB and lack of powerful allies predictably bring the OE knocking with an insult soon enough. Luckily a renewed royal marriage with GH makes the willing to accept a new alliance, directing the wolves' attention elsewhere.

In 1467 all my Iraqi provinces become cores, and Iraqi culture is accepted. With two cores in the gulf now I could start building an Indian Ocean fleet if I wanted to, but there is no immediate need at the moment.

syr1467a.jpg

I also notice with surprise that Fars is a CoT. These pesky Persians didn't have enough with Hormuz it seems! Oh well, it's not as wealthy as Alexandria but my mercantilistic policy gives me easy access... and money. For the first time I can stop relying on minting to maintain a decent army, although the already too high 11% inflation will hurt for many years.

syr1467b.jpg

In the meantime my former enemies are on full downward spiral. Persia has lost her eastern possessions to a Khorasan and secessionist Durrani...

syr1468a.jpg

... and the Mamluks are beaten up by Tripoli for money (I missed a good chance there to warn Tripoli, plus I had forgotten to cancel the MA they still had through my lands), and later by rebels. Funj eventually secedes in 1469.

syr1470a.jpg

What I wasn't expecting is Funj turbo-annexing the Mamluks 14 months later :eek: :eek: :eek:

syr1470b.jpg

I thought non-pagan turbo-annexation wasn't allowed any more. In any case, it's the most ignominious end for the Mamluks I've seen, and it highlights how devastating recruitment time proportionally increased by WE can be.

This has also two positive implications: Cairo is now easier to obtain as non-capital province, and the OE utterly failed in their mission (they quickly switch to a harmless 'Accumulate money') :D

Time to think about the next target...


_________________

Syria in 1470

Provinces: 24
At peace.
Allied with Korashan, Golden Horde. CB on OE.
Stability: +2
BB: 6.60
Monarch: Sultan al-Mu'azzam II (7a/4m/6d)
Army: 26 (12/14/0)
Navy: 14 (0/0/6/8)
WE: 0

Neighbours

Mamluks: 1250-1470 R.I.P.

Funj: No allies. Guaranteed by Swahili.

Tripoli: Allied with Yemen, Najd, Algiers and Qara Qoyunlu. CB on Tunisia. Guaranteeing Tunisia.

OE: Allied with Bosnia, Serbia, Golden Horde, Nogai. CB on Hungary. Guaranteeing Yemen, Haasa, Oman, Hedjaz and Iraq. At war with Lithuania*, Hungary and Bavaria.

Najd: Allied with Iraq, Tripoli. CB on Syria, Oman. Guaranteeing Iraq. Guaranteed by Algiers, Oman, Yemen and Fez.

Iraq: Allied with Najd. CB on the OE, Syria. Guaranteed by OE, Yemen, Hedjaz, Oman, Najd, Algiers, Fez. Warned by Syria.

Haasa: Allied with Persia, Oman and Qara Qoyunlu. CB on Syria. Guaranteed by OE, Oman, Algiers, Fez, Persia and Tunisia. Guaranteeing Iraq, Tunisia. Warned by Syria.

Hedjaz: Allied with Oman. CB on OE and Yemen. Guaranteed by OE, Algiers, Fez. Guaranteeing Iraq.

Khorashan: Allied with Syria, Kazakh, Durrani and Kashmir. CB on Persia and Delhi.

Qara Qoyunlu: Allied with Tripoli, Haasa and Khiva. CB on OE, Georgia, GH, Persia and TE. Guaranteed by Persia and GH. Warned by Syria.

Persia: Allied with Haasa. CB on OE, Syria, Khorasan, Qara Qoyunlu and Khiva. Guaranteeing Haasa and Qara Qoyunlu. Guaranteed by Durrani. Warned by Syria.
 
Let's hope you crush Funj quickly :)
 
Next target? No brainer!

Funj, Cairo is a beautiful prize and if you do build an Indian Ocean fleet what about taking Zanzibar from Swahili? The non core COT penalty will hurt your external trade but it might be worth having.
 
Funj eventually secedes in 1469.

What I wasn't expecting is Funj turbo-annexing the Mamluks 14 months later :eek: :eek: :eek:

I thought non-pagan turbo-annexation wasn't allowed any more.
From memory (and I am sure someone will correct me here), if a nation rebels from it's masters (not released as part of a peace treaty), they start at war. If either of the two nations manages to completely occupy the other, they can annex them entirely in one shot.
 
If you want to reform the old Caliphate, shouldn't you aim at taking Cairo and the rest of Egypt and then head West towards Tripoli or who is your closest western neighbour. I am guessing that the east can wait a while since Aragon, Castille and Portugal might start heading to northern Africa.

Or is the Easter neighbours much more dangerous to you?
 
There seems to be a drumbeat from the readers for Cairo being the next target. It makes sense but it is a bit pedestrian. How about walking on the wild side and making an amphibious attack on someone in India? Can’t say I have a good reason for it other than it would be a challenge. ;)

Joe
 
How does your sliders, research and economy look like ? Are you about ready to westernize?

If so Italy could be a promising target.

BTW i think you can improve faith among you and your golden horde allies by attacking Georgia - A nation which have no stab hit and GH has an interest in fighting... Allies are much more prone to accept call to arms against heathens.

Edit: and IMO production value (tech) isn't high enough to conquer India just yet..
 
If so Italy could be a promising target.

According to the opening statement Italy is not on the cards yet. Overall aim was to conquer the land from Spain to India via Northern Africa (I assume). Still a caliphate with it seat in Rome would be pretty cool!
 
demokratickid, humancalculator, PrawnStar - Looks like the girls just wanna have Funj :rofl: Sorry, couldn't resist :eek:o Seriously though, is Cairo worth 3 stab points? After all they are not going anywhere, better to warn them and wait until they DoW Ethiopia, which I imagine they'll do sooner or later. On the other hand Najd is currently not being guaranteed by the OE, and attacking them would get me Iraq and Tripoli in the same war...

Didaa - Najd has moved capital to Qatar :rolleyes:

Azugal - OK, that makes sense, I guess it models a different dynasty/faction of the country taking over the whole nation. It explains why Funj has now cores in all their provinces.

Enewald - No tears for them, Egypt belongs in the true Caliphate, mine :D

Rabid - You meant Swahili? Actually Zanzibar is not a CoT in this game, for some reason Mozambique is the regional CoT. I don't think I want to go so far south.

gabor - It seems Funj did hold a sultanate in Sudanese lands. The Mamluks have gone 60 years earlier than IRL :D

Duke of Wellington - collapse is not on my agenda, I'm trying to maintain good stability, it's expensive enough and I can't afford temples yet.

Sweboy - Cairo is definitely a must, the rest of Egypt is optional. Expansion west depends on how soon do I want to face Castille/Portugal -they already are in North Africa.

Storey - I agree, Funj is too obvious. But India is far too exotic right now :eek: There is a lot of consolidation to do before that: Iraq, Arabia, rest of Persia...

Kami - The OE is still too big (and allied to the GH). I haven't thought of westernization yet. What Latin nation could I befriend? Portugal while I fight Spain? Unlikely. Italy is half Austrian! Maybe I should go for an Irish minor :D I'll try to put a sliders/tech overview in next update. Georgia is an OPM, I guess attacking them for the GH to annex them is better than the OE annexing them.