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1

The shortest road is always the steepest
1425-33

The epic journey of Syria starts with very unepic domestic tasks... adjusting investment, sending a missionary to Mosul and dropping a redundant forcelimit advisor. With that sorted there is the issue of who to keep as friend and who to target for expansion. Reader's advice was mostly divided between attacking Persia or a Mamluk ally. I personally perfer the second option, Mamluk lands will be easier to absorb right now.

However Qara Qoyunlu is also guaranteed by Persia, and Swahili has a decent army they could move freely through Mamluk territory. Luckily for me I don't have to ponder for long about this - Yemen breaks our alliance a couple of weeks into the game. Yemen is conveniently guaranteed by Morocco and the Mamluks, a perfect target :)

Enemy decided, all effort goes now to keep the backyard safe, that is, make friends with the Ottomans. They do have one of my provinces, but since it is of my culture the core can't be lost, so I figure that with a bit of luck some Syrian rebels might help in the future to hand the province back to me. Royal marriage, military access and an embassy in Mosul bring relations to over 140. Safe enough for now.

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The DoW will cost 3 stab points but that shouldn't be an issue at this point. I recruit another cavalry regiment, put my king in charge of the army (2-shock, not bad) and in April 1426 I DoW Yemen. Tripoli doesn't honour the alliance, oh well. Morocco does honour the guarantee, and annoyingly becomes alliance leader. Adal joins in the fun as well.

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The balance doesn't look very fair, but everything seem to be going well all through 1426. No Mamluk forces show up and I get some false sense of security, until a big stack appears. Najd holds well against Yemen, until Hedjaz DoWs them :( Fortunately Hedjaz is happy to sign a white peace only a few months after starting the war, I believe the Ottomans have something to do with this sudden decision.

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A 16K Mamluk stack pushes my army back to Beirut, but my king is a much more effective at hurting than the Mamluk malik. They lose the next battle in Beirut and I chase them up and down the Sinai until they are routed. A good king and more cavalry make all the difference.

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Time to settle down and do some besieging. Unfortunately that was only half of the Mamluk forces. The other half eventually regroups in Cairo. They attack, leaderless, and lose miserably. Same hunting/ping-pong operation is performed.

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Only this time I can't really afford to do it leisurely; after ignoring the war for more than 4 years Moroccan forces start disembarking in Beirut. And in the east things haven't been going very well for my ally Najd, the Yemenis have occupied half their lands. War exhaustion is taking its toll as Iraqi rebels ravage my eastern provinces, and though Ottoman units wipe most of them they still cause some damage. On top of that Oman DoWs Nadj in 1431 :(

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Again, Oman strangely offers white peace after a few months. The last Mamluk stack is destroyed in Kargah and I focus on the siege of Cairo to gain as much WS as I can while the rest of the army goes back north to neutralise increasing Moroccan landings and rebels.

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Al-Adil dies on rebel duty after 7 glorious years, his successor is not that legendary.

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Cairo finally falls in October 1432, and with 54% war score I get a fair 58% value peace out of the Mamluks. The war has been a lot longer than I expected, I hope Jerusalem is worth the effort.

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Yemeni troops are chased away from Syrian lands and Morocco accepts white peace eventually in April 1433. WE wasn't very carefully managed, stands sky-high at 17.92 :eek:

The other downside of giving the Ottomans access: they got involved in a war with Hedjaz, reduced them to an OPM :eek:

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Amazingly both Najd and Syria have preserved their territorial integrity all through the war. Although as you can see there is Syrian peasants and Iraqi patriots to deal with while WE cools down. On the good side Mosul converted during the war, and a 'People feel safe' event made for the stab hit caused by the king dying in battle.


_____________

Syria in 1433

Provinces: 11
At peace.
Allied with Nadj.
Stability: +2
BB: 2.60
Monarch: Sultan al-Afdal III (5/5/8)
Army: 13 (6/7/0)
Navy: 7 (0/0/6/1)
WE: 17.92

Neighbours

Mamluks: Allied with Tunisia, Qara Qoyunly, Swahili. CB on Syria. Guaranteeing Yemen, Oman, Nadj, Hedjaz.

OE: Allied with Bosnia, Serbia, Golden Horde, Karaman. CB on Novgorod. Guaranteeing Nadj, Syria. At war with Novgorod. At war with Oman.

Persia: Allied with Delhi, Chagatai. CB on Khorasan, Qara Qoyunlu and TE. Guaranteeing Khorasan and Qara Qoyunlu and Khiva.

Najd: Allied with Syria, Tripoli. CB on the Mamluks. Guaranteeing Candar. Guaranteed by OE, Algiers and the Mamluks.

Hedjaz: Allied with Oman and Adal. Guaranteed by Yemen, Mamluks and Morocco.
 
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Duke of Wellington - Thanks. I'm sure you'll find a chance to advise in the future :)

Teep - My ex-king was quite good, the incumbent is only decent at diplomacy.

CSK - Thanks. Too late to go for Hedjaz now, apart form annexing them to get Mecca :(

birdboy2000 - My forcelimit was 13 at the start, 15 now, I'm stuck in Despotic monarchy at the moment. Arabia shall be mine!

Azugal - I think I'll leave Persia fighting the TE for now. Mosul converted, two provinces to go :)
 
Well that was a hard fought war but some good gains. I am surprised you came out intact actually as the Mamluks often have a large army running around. At this point I think Najd looks like the most tempting target but the OE guarantee puts them out of the question. So really it leaves east or west, Persia or the Mamluks. Is there any chance you could decisively beat the Mamluks and seize Alexandria? What is Persia's army like? Certainly there alliance situation is the weakest of your neighbours.
 
Mameluks lost.:p And: Allah'u Akhbar!;)
 
Well, the war against the Mamluks is won but the next round, which will come sooner or later, will be less to our liking, with the high war exhaustion you have to burn for now and the far worse king. It stays exciting for the next few years, that is for certain.
 
Great job beating the Mameluks! I'd suggest getting Mecca anyway, once you can afford an all-out war with Mameluks et al again - your Sultan's high diplo will help get the badboy down, though you'll probs need quite a while to recover from the war, and the Ottomans may get there before you... :S

I'd just sit quiet for a few years, hope for a better Sultan and an end to WE...

(Great concept, by the way! ;) )
 
Goodbye Mameluks, for the time being at least. Great work!

As-Salamu Alaykum.
 
Nice job with the Mamluks. I didn't think you'd be able to win judging by the first post of the thread. But now that you have I'd sit on my WE and reputation, let both burn down and go to war with the Mamluks again when the truce expires. That ought to allow you to clean up your borders (if you're into that) or make an attempt to cut off their capital. Dissolving Maluks power also ensures that you'll no longer be trapped between the OE and Mamluks.
 
birdboy2000 - I agree, the Mamluks must be annihilated, there is only room for one sand-coloured nation in the Middle East! :D

Teep - It was quite decent, 1/2/3/0, the Mamluk king had 3-fire but no shock.

Duke of Wellington - I was also surprised when I saw the kind of losses the Mamluk stack got against my king, I thought I would have to play a much more defensive war. Then again the Mamluks were already in a poor state, given that Morocco got the alliance leadership. Persia has 24 regiments, nothing too scary, but finishing off the Mamluks first seems safer. Alexandria was worth 56% WS, not sure I'd be able to get it in the next war if I want to keep my lands connected.

gabor - no rest, after war, rebels to fight :(

Azugal - I know, it's very annoying, it happened in my previous game as well with Poland sneakily taking the Balkans :mad:

Enewald - not quite mine yet, but it's a first step :D

Nikolai - Absolutely!

demokratickid - Damascus is the true capital of the Caliphate, Cairo was only a bad pretender :D

CSK - Indeed, and don't forget rebel-fighting.

OxfordNik - Thanks! Mecca would be nice, but I suspect someone else will beat me to it.

volksmarschall - Thanks! I'll need peace for a while.

Brandenburg III - I guess I've been quite lucky that Persia didn't DoW me when I was busy with the Mamluks. The Ottomans were relatively easy to befriend because they are fellow Sunnis. Luckily Persia has plenty to worry about in the east, so I can hopefully keep my focus on dismantling Egypt :)
 
2

The road to Mecca is closed
1433-38

Now at peace after an 8-year war with the Mamluks, there are only two pressing concerns for the fledgeling Syrian nation: WE and rebels. Land technology 5 is reached. I push the slider towards centralisation, getting a stab hit. I recruit a new cavalry regiment and a general since I will not be using the current sultan for fighting. With 38% Land Tradition I only get a 2/1/2/0 general, but that will have to do.

Armed with the new general I start chasing rebels. They come in all sizes and flavours: Syrian peasants, Iraqi patriots, Egyptian patriots, Shiite zealots, Heretic zealots, Catholic zealots (I forgot Beirut is still Christian!)... The WE certainly stirs things up.

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I manage just fine to keep them at bay, although I'm minting a bit too much for my liking to maintain the army at a decent fighting level (I found 45% to be the optimal level). I have very few cores and some provinces to convert yet, so the economy won't be improving much in a while. My 2 merchants in the Indian CoT didn't last long and I can't afford the gamble of sending more just now.

Unfortunately my ally Najd is not effective enough fighting rebels, with half the provinces unfortified the country is torn apart. Iraq takes Karbala and Haasa takes 3 provinces :(

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On the other hand, these new countries bring some interesting expansion possibilities. I send both of them warnings, and renew my warning to the Mamluks.

Other options close though, as the Ottomans finish off and annex Hedjaz. That's a no for Mecca then.

Years pass in peace, rebels get squashed, royal marriages are arranged, some alliance proposals from distant nations are rejected (Korashan, Golden Horde, Khiva) as I don't want to get involved in useless wars. Mosul resists conversion.

Then things take a very nasty turn... after several years at 180 relations the Ottomans decide I might be better dinner than friend :eek:

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I quickly offer them a royal marriage, which they accept. That improves things a bit, but two months later they send another insult. I'm starting to get very worried as I see an 18K Ottoman stack crossing to their Arabian lands. A month later the Golden Horde gives me another chance to ally them, this time I'm in no position to refuse.

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Getting a relatively powerful ally seems to refrain the OE from sending more insults, but I remain very very uneasy.

Two more years of fear and rebel bashing follow. It's 1438 and WE stands at 7.81. The Ottomans are still unchallenged in Europe and Persia has just gained 3 provinces in the east. At this point I'm seeking your advice guys, I start feeling that doing nothing might be just as dangerous as attacking someone. The OE has 40K men, Persia has 22K, the Mamluks 14K.

Should I...

Option A: Attack Iraq? An easy, annexable target that would bring in the Mamluks and other unwelcome friends.

syr1438a.jpg

Option B: Attack Haasa? Similar to A without Morocco.

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Option C: Attack Tripoli? The easiest. I can always cancel the royal marriage.

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Option D: Wait a bit longer until WE is lower? (currently it drops at 0.16 per month).
 
Option C might make u lose your best ally (for the time being) For his distance to your lands Najd. I would go with option b, but for some reason for me, those pesky Algerians manage to come by and always bring their whole army with them when i expand and fight on the African theatre :S


Great job so far just started to read :D