loki100: I’m hoping that’s the case and the AI will have just as much trouble cracking that. Of course that will change if Kandesh collapses at any point, so I need to keep an eye on them and pounce if necessary.
Enewald: I paid my entire treasury, so I couldn’t have paid them off without losing some land somewhere.
dinofs: Yeah, it was basically the fleet which caught me off guard. Usually I have Galleons by the time I mess around in India, but when both sides of Carracks they actually can fight back.
Boris ze Spider: Indeed. It’ll take lot of effort to attack Kandesh but I’m concerned that it will make the AI refuse to attack it at all.
Frozen Predator: All the Indian culture groups have their own Hindustan-type decision in Miscmods. Kandesh still needs a lot of territory from Rajputana for theirs so it’ll be a while.
morningSIDEr: Ironically the Kandeshi king died shortly after the war started, but I guess Miran could be part of the Regency Council.
Thanks for all the replies!
The Pharaohs Return: An Alexandrian AAR
Chapter Twenty Three: The Battle for Italy
One advantage to the defeat the Empire had received from Kandesh was that it reassured many in the world that Alexandria wasn’t invincible and so they gave it less scrutiny. This was the chance to deal with some of the annoyances that had built up while Alexandria had been aiming overseas.
Oman was easily crushed and stripped of most of its Gulf territory. It would be a while before the Muslims could be removed from the peninsula entirely but for now Theodoros considered it a good start.
Persia remained in the war, once again intent on conquering Iraq. Theodoros personally led the attempt to drive them from the Empire’s borders, but their superior cavalry forced him to retreat. This was far from a setback however.
It was the perfect time for the Emperor to deploy new cavalrymen based on the Cossacks used by Muscowy. With updated training and equipment, the battle turned in Alexandria’s favour and the Persians were soon begging for a ceasefire.
Alexandrian diplomats in Europe had not been quiet while the Empire focused eastwards. They had managed to manipulate the Pope into excommunicating the King of Spain, resulting in a miniature crusade as Burgundy and several other Catholic nations marched on the ‘heretic’. They urged Theodoros to take the chance to seize dominance of Italy from Spain, but the Emperor was busy overseeing the conversion of the new lands in Arabia.
That would be the last thing Theodoros did, as he fell ill and died while traversing the wastelands of the region. His son Ioannes I became Emperor and was far more willing to listen to this advice.
A constant shipbuilding program had been in place since the loss of Kutch, and it was paying off as Alexandria now had one of the largest navies in the world, even comparable to Spain. While half of the navy was in the Far East territories, the same could be said of Spain and its colonies in the Americas so for once the two sides were evenly matched.
War was declared. Milan refused to assist the excommunicated king, and Burgundy was already at war with Spain. This left the Spanish with Tunisia as the only non-union ally at their side. Ioannes did not call any of his allies. For the moment.
Almost immediately the Spanish sought peace with the Catholic alliance, ironically making the Empire’s job easier as they released control of Pisa amongst other concessions.
Spain’s Italian territory quickly fell to Alexandrian forces, but wherever the two sides met on the sea the Empire was forced to withdraw. However these were few and far between as Spain deliberately avoided the Alexandrian navy where it could as they did not want to take the risk of defeat. The result was not quite free reign for the Empire to transport troops around, but it was close enough.
The common people were overjoyed by the resumption of hostilities with the Catholics. When Tunisia offered to surrender and pay reparations, the money was spent on canal networks to boost the economy and thank the people for their support of the war effort.
Meanwhile, Brunei apparently thought it was still relevant as it vainly attempted to reclaim its territory. Spanish forces had made no appearance in the East Indies, meaning that all Alexandrian forces there were free to do whatever they pleased.
Ioannes’ plan to force Spain to a settlement was to enter Spain itself and march straight for Madrid. The initial attempt at this was to use the long-standing access treaty with England to cross the Pyrenees, but the Spanish had anticipated this and acquired their own treaty; The invasion was forced to retreat to Navarra and would not be able to leave unless something distracted the Spanish army.
It only took the occupation of a small piece of land and the blockade of their capital to get Brunei to give up their intentions on the Alexandrian East Indies.
Now it was time to call on the Portuguese. An army had been snuck into their lands and would be used to conquer Madrid while the Spanish were distracted with their newly hostile neighbour.
The plan proceeded smoothly, although it was the army in Navarra that attacked the Spanish capital instead as the main Spanish force blocked the advance from Portugal.
With the Spanish king at sword point Ioannes was able to dictate terms. Spain would give up Sardinia and all of its other Italian lands. Italy was now firmly within the Alexandrian sphere of influence. He also revoked Spanish claims to Portuguese lands as thanks for their invaluable help.
Through all of this, Persia had been busy. Having suffered repeated defeats at Alexandrian hands they were now looking elsewhere to expand. The primitive natives of Africa were conquered and Baluchistan was forced to submit. The intention was clear; Persia wanted to become strong enough to achieve the same thing that Kandesh did.
As if to provide closure to his father’s reign Ioannes found himself at war with Oman again thanks to Portugal. The lands Theodoros III conquered were fully secured with the removal of Omani claims. With Persia on the rise, perhaps he had the right idea and the continued crushing of the Muslims was the task the Empire should be focusing on.
The year is now 1614.
To be continued…
Enewald: I paid my entire treasury, so I couldn’t have paid them off without losing some land somewhere.
dinofs: Yeah, it was basically the fleet which caught me off guard. Usually I have Galleons by the time I mess around in India, but when both sides of Carracks they actually can fight back.
Boris ze Spider: Indeed. It’ll take lot of effort to attack Kandesh but I’m concerned that it will make the AI refuse to attack it at all.
Frozen Predator: All the Indian culture groups have their own Hindustan-type decision in Miscmods. Kandesh still needs a lot of territory from Rajputana for theirs so it’ll be a while.
morningSIDEr: Ironically the Kandeshi king died shortly after the war started, but I guess Miran could be part of the Regency Council.
Thanks for all the replies!
The Pharaohs Return: An Alexandrian AAR
Chapter Twenty Three: The Battle for Italy
One advantage to the defeat the Empire had received from Kandesh was that it reassured many in the world that Alexandria wasn’t invincible and so they gave it less scrutiny. This was the chance to deal with some of the annoyances that had built up while Alexandria had been aiming overseas.
Oman was easily crushed and stripped of most of its Gulf territory. It would be a while before the Muslims could be removed from the peninsula entirely but for now Theodoros considered it a good start.
Persia remained in the war, once again intent on conquering Iraq. Theodoros personally led the attempt to drive them from the Empire’s borders, but their superior cavalry forced him to retreat. This was far from a setback however.
It was the perfect time for the Emperor to deploy new cavalrymen based on the Cossacks used by Muscowy. With updated training and equipment, the battle turned in Alexandria’s favour and the Persians were soon begging for a ceasefire.
Alexandrian diplomats in Europe had not been quiet while the Empire focused eastwards. They had managed to manipulate the Pope into excommunicating the King of Spain, resulting in a miniature crusade as Burgundy and several other Catholic nations marched on the ‘heretic’. They urged Theodoros to take the chance to seize dominance of Italy from Spain, but the Emperor was busy overseeing the conversion of the new lands in Arabia.
That would be the last thing Theodoros did, as he fell ill and died while traversing the wastelands of the region. His son Ioannes I became Emperor and was far more willing to listen to this advice.
A constant shipbuilding program had been in place since the loss of Kutch, and it was paying off as Alexandria now had one of the largest navies in the world, even comparable to Spain. While half of the navy was in the Far East territories, the same could be said of Spain and its colonies in the Americas so for once the two sides were evenly matched.
War was declared. Milan refused to assist the excommunicated king, and Burgundy was already at war with Spain. This left the Spanish with Tunisia as the only non-union ally at their side. Ioannes did not call any of his allies. For the moment.
Almost immediately the Spanish sought peace with the Catholic alliance, ironically making the Empire’s job easier as they released control of Pisa amongst other concessions.
Spain’s Italian territory quickly fell to Alexandrian forces, but wherever the two sides met on the sea the Empire was forced to withdraw. However these were few and far between as Spain deliberately avoided the Alexandrian navy where it could as they did not want to take the risk of defeat. The result was not quite free reign for the Empire to transport troops around, but it was close enough.
The common people were overjoyed by the resumption of hostilities with the Catholics. When Tunisia offered to surrender and pay reparations, the money was spent on canal networks to boost the economy and thank the people for their support of the war effort.
Meanwhile, Brunei apparently thought it was still relevant as it vainly attempted to reclaim its territory. Spanish forces had made no appearance in the East Indies, meaning that all Alexandrian forces there were free to do whatever they pleased.
Ioannes’ plan to force Spain to a settlement was to enter Spain itself and march straight for Madrid. The initial attempt at this was to use the long-standing access treaty with England to cross the Pyrenees, but the Spanish had anticipated this and acquired their own treaty; The invasion was forced to retreat to Navarra and would not be able to leave unless something distracted the Spanish army.
It only took the occupation of a small piece of land and the blockade of their capital to get Brunei to give up their intentions on the Alexandrian East Indies.
Now it was time to call on the Portuguese. An army had been snuck into their lands and would be used to conquer Madrid while the Spanish were distracted with their newly hostile neighbour.
The plan proceeded smoothly, although it was the army in Navarra that attacked the Spanish capital instead as the main Spanish force blocked the advance from Portugal.
With the Spanish king at sword point Ioannes was able to dictate terms. Spain would give up Sardinia and all of its other Italian lands. Italy was now firmly within the Alexandrian sphere of influence. He also revoked Spanish claims to Portuguese lands as thanks for their invaluable help.
Through all of this, Persia had been busy. Having suffered repeated defeats at Alexandrian hands they were now looking elsewhere to expand. The primitive natives of Africa were conquered and Baluchistan was forced to submit. The intention was clear; Persia wanted to become strong enough to achieve the same thing that Kandesh did.
As if to provide closure to his father’s reign Ioannes found himself at war with Oman again thanks to Portugal. The lands Theodoros III conquered were fully secured with the removal of Omani claims. With Persia on the rise, perhaps he had the right idea and the continued crushing of the Muslims was the task the Empire should be focusing on.
The year is now 1614.
To be continued…