I blame low literacy rates, you can't hold it against the peasants if they don't know León from Lyon
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Great, getting rebels to fight your battles for you what are you? England?, only kidding, i am very jealous that you seem to get so much land for so little effort, Le'monde cest moi is i belive the term you need (though my french is very bad)
wow, i dont think ive ever used your tactics for gaining land, ive just taken the BB points and got them all in a peace deal
I've actually been trying to do this since 1.3 so it will be interesting to see. I tried with France several times in 3.2 and no luck. My current game w/ Castille I have a chance if things keep going well.
Just a few things I've learned in my many attempts. After 1650, the BB costs of non euro provinces jump up to normal, so I think europe first is a bad idea. (You also get more shots at good advisors if you keep more euro nations longer). Inheritance would be great. Try to monopolize colonization. Try to encourage blobbing in europe especially germany/italy. Avoid declaring war it's wasted BB.
Just a few things I've learned in my many attempts. After 1650, the BB costs of non euro provinces jump up to normal, so I think europe first is a bad idea. (You also get more shots at good advisors if you keep more euro nations longer). Inheritance would be great. Try to monopolize colonization. Try to encourage blobbing in europe especially germany/italy. Avoid declaring war it's wasted BB.
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I modded that Boundary dispute event to happen very often in all of my games.
It has some nice consequences for everyone nation in the game.
But that one was very useful!
Hah, Province is Occitan...
It has some nice consequences for everyone nation in the game.
But that one was very useful!
Hah, Province is Occitan...
You have 100% war score, don't you? So why won't you just sue for peace, gain some land and come back 5 years later ? Is it some WC tactic to wait for provinces to defect? =)
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León, Lyons, what does it matter anyway? It'll all be French soon enough.
Getting provinces through rebels like this is actually a first for me. Usually, I play a little more aggressive, securing same culture provs or core provs ASAP, rendering rebel defections largely moot. Still, it's fun to see happen, since it saves me a couple of BadBoy points.
The rebels were pure luck, this game. Using spies to provoke patriots or possibly heretics for defections your way might be doable, but only if the target is preoccupied or under-strength. The AI tends to be fairly good at removing rebels and taking back land - and in the early game, spies and the funds to use them isn't plentiful.
As for the defection event, you'd still get the same BadBoy point from accepting the defection - if it's a core province of yours defecting, you've in effect gained an extra BadBoy point. The main use for the event is to quickly weaken a multicultural empire, by securing several provinces ahead of the first peace. The target the most vulnerable for this seems to be to actually be France... Any non-Cosmopolitaine province, which the Big Blue Blob is quick to gather some of, might eventually defect.
If you're in a hurry, successive wars is probably still the way to go.
I'm presuming by 'this', you mean WC with no BB.
Castille can do this easily, if you're not above exploiting the nice Reconquista mission. As long as you annex and then release a Sunni Granada, you'll get that nice -20 BB mission over and over again. Even at only one go, you can still get much of France for 'free' with the event - I did that in a recent Castille game.
As for the 1650 limit... I'd forgotten about that, thanks. Guess I need to alter my timetables a little bit. Still, I feel the need to ensure the other big expansive/colonial powers (Castille, England, Portugal) are properly mauled before I head to Heathen lands.
Inheritances and/or Senior Personal Unions are indeed what I'm hoping for, but I don't have much luck in that regard. I'm wondering whether there are some hidden modifiers related to the number of vassals you already have. That would certainly put France at a disadvantage at game start.
I was hoping to keep Burgundy as a 'shield' into the HRE, so that Burgundy would get all the BB points from eating nearby OPMs... That obviously fell through, but Denmark is doing well enough to give me hopes.
I modded that Boundary dispute event to happen very often in all of my games.
It has some nice consequences for everyone nation in the game.
But that one was very useful!
Hah, Province is Occitan...
Tempting as it is to mod the Boundary Dispute, I won't.
Provence is indeed Occitain - but I do believe they accept Cosmopolitaine culture. Still, not complaining about the rebels in Anjou.
I have 100% warscore, yes. If I merely meant to seize their lands ASAP, a series of successive wars would be the better approach - but that is not my current goal. Instead, I want to gain some land 'for free', as in without the extra BadBoy needed to declare war. The gains by defections are minimal here, but still...
More importantly, by occupying their entire nation, I'm denying them income and taking the money for myself. If they have a large fleet (as Castille does), maintenance costs will soon push them into bankruptcy, over and over. After a few rounds of that, peaceing them is fine. They'll have a nice +18 WE, no cash, a huge deficit and bloated construction and research costs. A non-unified nation might soon succumb to rebels under such conditions. Indeed, once this war ends, Castille will not have a single land regiment in service before two decades pass. In short - you don't have to annex a nation to completely ruin it.
In a pure WC with no regards to BadBoy, provoking the defection event is still a nice way to steal more than 100% of provinces with just one war. As long as you can spare a small force as 'rebel smashers', a fully occupied nation can cause you little harm and a fair additional income. If you start a war on another front, the occupied nation won't stab you in the back in the middle of the new offensive, either. As most strategies, it's all circumstantial - but occasionally useful.
Part 05 - Castille cut short
Again, the English challenge our right to the Curia. Cardinals Drake and Blake stubbornly resist French invites, but Cardinal Benbow of Cumbria has procured many faults over the years, including a wont for cash. We oblige him.
It was at this point we began to wonder. The defection event had hit for Vizcaya and Galicia, but the many Andalucian provinces in southern Castille remained undaunted. And then it dawns on us - Andalucian is an accepted culture, not merely part of the Iberian culture group. As such, they seem to be protected from the defection event. Dismayed at this, the French regency council can find no reason to prolong the conflict.
Yes, clearly you can only do the event once or it would be cheating.FEEDBACKCastille can do this easily, if you're not above exploiting the nice Reconquista mission. As long as you annex and then release a Sunni Granada, you'll get that nice -20 BB mission over and over again. Even at only one go, you can still get much of France for 'free' with the event - I did that in a recent Castille game.
As far as inheritance/PU's, I get RM's w/ everyone large in europe, maintain them the entire game as a top priority. And keep my prestige maxed, and my BB as low as possible and I've found I average about 3 a game.
You get so many defections, i will definitely need to try this out. Awesome AAR.
Btw, how did you get two defections?
Because they are not castillan culture but are catholic?
Because they are not castillan culture but are catholic?
Good stuff. Am kinda surprised that England didn't DoW you after the embargo, but, c'est la guerre!
Still, some nice defections to speed you along your way, and some nice new lands in Iberia. And good points about keeping Castille down for so long through bankruptcies. Being relatively new to the game (owned it for ages, just haven't played much) I wouldn't have thought of that.
Shame about staying below the BB limit though, cos defensive wars save you BB points, something the BB wars would have sped along a bit. And once you get strong enough, pretty much nobody will attack you. Well, unless you spread a lot of guarantees around.
Still, some nice defections to speed you along your way, and some nice new lands in Iberia. And good points about keeping Castille down for so long through bankruptcies. Being relatively new to the game (owned it for ages, just haven't played much) I wouldn't have thought of that.
Shame about staying below the BB limit though, cos defensive wars save you BB points, something the BB wars would have sped along a bit. And once you get strong enough, pretty much nobody will attack you. Well, unless you spread a lot of guarantees around.
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Three a game sounds about right. Here's to hoping my three are huge empires at the far end of Europe.
The rebels of Burgundy would never have worked without the country being mauled in previous wars, and left unwilling to rebuild their forces - but the rebels of Anjou might just have worked if spy-induced. As for the at-war-defections, those aren't as random - they just take a lot of time.
And thanks.
Thanks. Hope it'll be worth following.
Vizcaya is Basque culture, and Galicia is Galician culture. Neither of those are 'accepted' cultures of Castille, and so they eventually will defect. The owner's exact same culture provinces and any accepted cultures will never defect, as far as I know.
This tends to be a fun way to pick apart large blob nations like France. Not many cultures in the blob are Cosmopolitaine or additional accepted cultures. Mind, the only effect is to get "more" than 100% warscore in a single war, and the cost is time.
I honestly did expect them to attack right away, but war comes soon enough.Good stuff. Am kinda surprised that England didn't DoW you after the embargo, but, c'est la guerre!
Still, some nice defections to speed you along your way, and some nice new lands in Iberia. And good points about keeping Castille down for so long through bankruptcies. Being relatively new to the game (owned it for ages, just haven't played much) I wouldn't have thought of that.
Shame about staying below the BB limit though, cos defensive wars save you BB points, something the BB wars would have sped along a bit. And once you get strong enough, pretty much nobody will attack you. Well, unless you spread a lot of guarantees around.
Fifty years into the game, Castille has yet to bother me again...
Defensive wars doesn't save you much, all things considered. One BadBoy point for declaring war? That only adds up if you're going to gobble up dozens of minors, and I'm trying to avoid that, short of missions.
Guarantees could work, but they have a way of drawing you into wars you don't want to fight - like with a nation you have a Royal Marriage and Military Access through.
Part 06 - Preparations towards English aggression
With our first rival mauled, time for an overview. Our BadBoy rating is still low, but our Regency Council prevents further active warmongering at the moment. Our mission is to absorb Provence, something made substantially easier with the defection of Anjou.
1. Can you present the army size of yours and England (those in the ledger)? =)
2. What are your destinated land gains in the english-french war?
3. Who is allied with the England?
And BTW, you're doing good
2. What are your destinated land gains in the english-french war?
3. Who is allied with the England?
And BTW, you're doing good
Seems to all quiet on the western front at the moment, with Castile having no forces, you do like to let your enemies suffer for a while before you finish the war.
Nice work, I'm gradually beginning to feel more and more sorry for Castille as I keep seeing them kicked repeatedly in the AARs that I read
I'm now just wondering if that kind of continental success is normal for England when France leaves them alone for two minutes
I'm now just wondering if that kind of continental success is normal for England when France leaves them alone for two minutes
Guess I was thinking mainly of the HRE as it tends to add up very quickly if they're not all gobbled up by one of the majors nearby. Good points though, and I am curious to see how you will gobble up the HRE with staying under the BB limit.Defensive wars doesn't save you much, all things considered. One BadBoy point for declaring war? That only adds up if you're going to gobble up dozens of minors, and I'm trying to avoid that, short of missions.
Guarantees could work, but they have a way of drawing you into wars you don't want to fight - like with a nation you have a Royal Marriage and Military Access through.
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1. I do believe I listed the army sizes in post #34, composed screenshot #2. Those were accurate as of in-game date February 18th, 1413. As I'm playing the game far ahead of the AAR at present, the numbers in the ledger 'now' are... somewhat different. I do have a screenshot from the onset of the war in a later part, though.1. Can you present the army size of yours and England (those in the ledger)? =)
2. What are your destinated land gains in the english-french war?
3. Who is allied with the England?
And BTW, you're doing good
2. My hopes for the English-French war were to gain as much land as possible through the generic defection event. Saintonge, Morbihan, Calais, Vlaandern, Antwerpen, Cornwall, Wales and their Irish holdings were all eligible for that event. Gascogne would not defect as 'Gascon' was an accepted culture for England. Beyond that, securing as much 'rich' land as possible to ensure their fleet would cripple them, as happened for Castille.
3. At this point, England was allied to Portugal and to Connaught - their vassal.
What's the point of war if not to cripple your enemies permanently? Mind, we stopped short of plowing salt into the Castillian fields, since we hope to own the land eventually.
Nice work, I'm gradually beginning to feel more and more sorry for Castille as I keep seeing them kicked repeatedly in the AARs that I read
I'm now just wondering if that kind of continental success is normal for England when France leaves them alone for two minutes
Don't feel sorry for Castille; consider the honor of being so feared they're always targetted...
England's natural rival is France. Scotland, they can crush if allowed to do so. Same for the Irish minors and Brittany. Few of the continental powers have navies with which to land forces in England early on, much less the usual landlocked emperors (Bohemia, Hesse, Cleves, Palatinate, Austria). As long as their island fortress is safe, England can wreck havoc in the lowland region.
...provided France lets them, of course.
Guess I was thinking mainly of the HRE as it tends to add up very quickly if they're not all gobbled up by one of the majors nearby. Good points though, and I am curious to see how you will gobble up the HRE with staying under the BB limit.
My original plan for the HRE was to exploit Burgundy's aggressive nature to let them eat most nearby One Province Minors and then 'shave off' Burgundy's landmass every so often. That plan crumbled along with Burgundy.
Now, my hopes are for other usual aggressors - Denmark, Poland, Bohemia, Bavaria and Austria. Maybe Greater Lorraine, if they opt for an unlikely rampage. At this stage in the game, the first two were making a fair bit of headway, since their Personal Unions were supporting them.
For a while, I considered letting England be the 'eating machine', but I didn't want to let a colonial nation remain that strong. If nothing else, I won't waste BadBoy points on taking colonies - I'll build them myself.
It certainly feels that way. On those occasions when I've seen an 8-8-8 monarch, I always expect him or her to die by the next day.The good ones die swiftly.