been slowly catching up on this (around writing a god-awful report on corporate governance). Its a really engaging read and I like the RP element, and limits you've set yourself. Even so thats a mightily impressive Brunswick you've forged.
Thank you for the praise, good to have you here! I do like these house rules/RP, they've added some challenge and, just as importantly, created a pretty fun storytelling environment.
Gentlemanly as ever!
Is such a thing even possible in DW?
I heard Conquest CBs (as one way to get cores) were disabled in the HRE.
So it would be an awfully slow start there.
It would certainly be uglier and slower, especially since there are way less boundary disputes (which are the main method of expansion here of course) - the default MTTH is the same, but many of the modifiers that can make it more frequent have been removed. Also if I read it correctly it can't fire for capitals at all, so the map would look disgusting. I haven't played enough DW to have a feel for how it would work out, but considering these changes I'm pretty sure I'm way better off here than I'd be in DW.
Antwerpen fell. Those boundary disputes mount up for gentleman. Bohemia looks a sorry mess compared to the state before its crossed Brunswick. More cores and you'll be creating the link to the Baltric
The Baltic link is something I'm really hoping for, but Bohemia has to lose some more land for that to happen. Antwerpen is a very nice place to have.
Wait... Ukraine a HRE state?! I have this mental image of cossacs sitting in the Reichstag and pledging allegiance to bat'ko imperator...
:rofl: It's a funny one, isn't it? Like I've mentioned before, Bohemia has been pretty enthusiastic as far as adding provinces to the Empire goes.
Can you post a screenshot of the empire, please?
Sorry, but, currently, not really. I've been on the road for nearly three weeks and will be for nearly a month still, and I don't have any saves for this game on my laptop. So for this AAR, I can only post whatever screenshots I happen to have. I do have some suitable pictures some years down the line though, so I'll post later.
Borders fully cleaned up!
Indeed! Some very good boundary disputes lately as far as getting a visually pleasing map goes.
I think it's time Bavaria just gave up. How many times have they been reduced to their stating provinces?
They're quite resilient, aren't they? Considering that and the monster they once were, they'd probably be having a great game if the human player didn't happen to start so close to them.
I see you stripped GB of their Northumberland core. Serves them right for not using Reconquest ages ago. But I thought same-culture-group cores were permanent?
They've been annoying enough that hurting them a bit back home seemed like a good idea. Yeah, they're permanent in the sense that you don't lose them the natural way (i.e. when failing to reconquer or fight the owner before fifty years has passed), but they can still be removed in a peace deal.
I think you did Bohemia a favor by taking Poznan off their hands.
And they really did add a lot of provinces to the Empire if Ukraine is an Imperial state!
Probably, but it being a disconnected, rebel-infested mess of a province in the first place might have something to do with me too.
I think they added everything they could.
Any more chance of those Lithuanian rebels now you've wrecked the Bohemian army again?
Of course the chance is always better when they're in trouble, but no such luck yet unfortunately.
Speaking of the Empire, while you don't have an Imperial Ban CB on France since you're not the Emperor (or would you not have one anyway since they're in the Empire?), do you think you could give yourself a role-playing reason to go to war without an in-game CB and release those handful of Imperial states they've eaten? It would be infamy-free aside from the DoW hit. It would give a comfortable cushion to the Imperial Integrity bonus as well as keep France from regaining too much strength.
No, I wouldn't go to war without a CB, but I would if I have one. By now I am actively looking for wars where I can force releases in the HRE - the first target isn't France though...
And yeah, France is in the Empire now so their HRE land is "rightful" in that sense.
And isn't it time you diplo-annexed Ansbach? You'll be bordering a bunch more provinces if you do and get a third Franken border.
I don't have the core unfortunately. But the timing of your question is very good...
I like how you cited "securing the French border region" as a reason for taking Antwerp. It's good to think of reasons for annexation in your narrative other than "the King (or Syndic) convinced them Brunswick was awesome".
Heh yeah, there are only so many ways to say "we can rightfully take this province, and we're really gentlemanly too while doing it since the population loves us!" and it happens a lot.
Another excellent update!
Thank you!
I was waiting for you to get Antwerpen. You must have more cash than you know what to do with now. Does the Syndic take his morning swim in a huge swimming pool filled with gold? Or would that be ungentlemanly?
Yeah money isn't exactly an issue anymore, as always we're superb traders and the nation is compact and rich enough. It was a bit tighter than you'd expect for a while since I needed regimental camps everywhere and was typically over the force limits, but I suppose I'm rich enough now that those morning swims would be perfectly fine.
So...not that I'm biased but..
The French smack around "your" Imperial integrity so...you smack the British around.
Hmmm very continental.
Oh trust me I'd have taken it out on the French if I had a just cause. It is kind of funny, I'm working for Imperial integrity to be able to eat the Empire faster. I suppose there's some sort of integrity in that...
Excellent update, nice to see that Brunswick is so well proportioned. Now for the Polish Corridor.
Oh and Franken too.
Thanks! Let's see where the random number generator tells me to expand next.
You should smack those Frenchies...
Rest assured, I eventually will...
Now you should move South. There's hope a core will pop up conveniently enough to justifie this move -> towards unified Germany.
Certainly hoping for that. For some reason we've been expanding east and west for the most part rather than south.
Well... Hm... hm... As in the West France is fragmented, and in the East there's no united Rssia, and you can beat England at sea; I can hardly see anyone who could oppose you. Unless China has crossed the Urals. Were you playing without your gentlemanly rules, you'd pbly go after Europe conquest out of sheer boredom or 'because-I-can' factor.
And that's exactly why the rules and RP are there.