Chapter 2 take 2: Prussia rebooted
I thought a bit before restarting, and chose a new strategy. The opening moves are otherwise the same, except I delay picking Scientific Revolution a bit to make room for a DoW on Holstein before they can get allies.
Advisors: 3 star compete chance, 2 star reputation, 5 star stability. And for real fun, our opening mission is still to connect the Prussian lands. Because Poland is just a pushover, right?
May 23: Sweden asks for military access instead of the alliance they asked for last time.
June 12: Denmark asks for alliance.
June 21: RM with Bavaria and Saxony. An inheritance never hurt anyone.
June 25: Netherlands requests access. This should help keep them down if they guarantee a target.
July 4: Bavaria offers alliance. Our army has almost reached Holstein.
July 23: Holstein's army dies in Slesvig. 1/3/1 vs 2k inf wasn't quite fair.
September 1: Stability increases to -1.
December 4: Holstein is annexed. This will hurt my rep for now, but I won't have any other good targets early.
January 1, 1639: RM with Palatinate.
February 1: Stability increases to -0. Switch ideas from Glorious Arms to Smithian Economics drops us to -3.
July 1: Stab increases to -2.
November 1: Stability increases to -1.
April 1: Stability increases to 0. Naval tech 33 (Heavy Frigate). Idea swapped from Battlefield Commissions to Patron of the Arts.
May 1: Government tech 33 - new idea! We take Scientific Revolution.
March 1: France gets a PU with Mantua. Unddu shudders.
March 21: RM with Austria and France. Back, BWB and BBB! Back!
April 19: RM with Ansbach, Baden, and Wurtenburg. The goal is inheritances and to force potential enemies to eat stabhits.
June 1: Stab is finally back to 0. See why taking stabhits is better early than late?
May 14, 1692: After lots of doing nothing, an opportunity opens up! Mainz leaves the Holy Roman Empire, making it a tasty snack! Mainz is allied with Ansbach and Hesse, and is guaranteed by Switzerland. Some insults are necessary to get relations below 100, though.
Start things off with MA through Brunswick and Hesse.
July 20: War is declared on Mainz. Ansbach wisely bows out, but Hesse foolishly joins in the war while 12k infantry and 10k artillery are sitting in Kassel. Also in the screenshot: Spain and France (two most powerful nations in the world) are slugging it out.
October 13: Kassel falls to assault, giving me a base of operations.
November 1: Stability gets back to 0.
December 12: The Hessian army is kicked out of Hessen. 22k vs 8k isn't much of a match. No reason to follow - I don't need to kill off Hesse's army, and they can't get behind me.
March 8: Hessen falls to siege. I had time to send the infantry home to reinforce.
March 25: General von Hessen-Homburg dies in Hessen. Appropriate.
June 8: Venice declares war on Savoy, bringing France in on Venice's side, and Austria on Savoy's.
July 30: Hessians are kicked out of Nassau. Now it's time to hunt them down.
August 24: After kicking the Hessians and the army of Mainz out of Hessen, the Hessian army surrenders in Nassau.
September 9: The Palatinate declares war on Mainz. Nice try. On the bright side, I don't have to hunt down Mainz' armies - the Palatinate and Wurzburg take care of that.
March 1, 1694: Stability hits 3.
April 7: Mainz surrenders and is annexed.
June 11: Sweden offers alliance. To celebrate, we take Kessel and Nassau (16 base tax!) and 275 ducats from Hesse, leaving them to be annexed by the Palatinate.
June 12: MA is requested from Wurzburg, so our armies can march between Mainz and Kassel.
June 13: Switzerland peaces out for 50 ducats.
June 14: Now that we have a border with France, I give them military access. This will serve as our early warning system.
June 26: With the war finished...we are Prussia!