Reason IX
There's too much graphics, too little content.
Issue Thirty-two
It's March, 1767 and I just got 'Liberté, Egalité, Fraternité' enacted for yet another 20 years. This means that I will have several breakthroughs next month but also that I will be fighting revolts for years to come. Yay. It also cost me quite a bit and I only have like 560 money, so I'll need to keep minting for the rest of the year at least, just in case. And my Magistrates are starting to pile up...
Things started to heat up shortly after, with Morocco attacking Trebizond, my ally, in association with the Ottomans. It was probably going to be a short war for Trebizond, but I was obliged to join in, so I did. (By the way, if I'm switching between gramatical tenses, that's because I'm writing my AARs 'live', ie. I'm not only taking notes but writing the actual thing while I'm playing the game. Things get a little confusing sometimes.)
The Ottomans were getting out of hand anyway. (Not that I did anything about that, mind you.)
Trebizond surrendered soon, but the war of course waged on for a while after that. The Ottomans having lots of ships thought they were badass and everything, but they were wrong.
Losing half your fleet in a single battle... I know what it feels like. Well, technically I lost my whole navy against England in a single battle on several occasions, so no, I don't really know how it feels like to lose only half of that at a time...
Now that's more like it!
Anyway, after beating Morocco's navy as well, I settled for a peace that removed several Moroccan cores around and the partial release of Georgia. (Several of their provinces were under Ottoman rule and I could only make one of them release the new country. No comment.)
In early 1769, my new University at Languedoc was finished, giving me a four stars Philosopher, fulfilling my latest mission. To noone's surprise, the next mission was the building of another University, which would be my 14th one. No, I don't really want to do that, but refusing the mission would probably result in an Fine Arts Academy request anyway, so I'll just let it stay there. April, 1769 brought me level 57 of Grovernment Tech, allowing me to turn into a Revolutionary Republic. I mean theoretically, because it was not actually available on the proper panel. Oh, well. It can't be that good anyway.
Things were rather dull until Austria has started an all out continental war in Europe in 1772. Well, they might not have been the ones who started the war, but I don't really care, the point is that half of Central Europe started fighting the other half and I decided it would be wise to get involved and throw a few punches while the iron is hot, if you know what I mean!
Austria is one of the few quasi-relevant powers in Europe. That should be taken care of.
I was considering waiting until October when my next National Idea becomes available, but I'm not sure I will use it for a military-related one anyway. I want Improved Foraging, but I can't get it yet, being three levels short on Trade, so I guess it will be Espirit de Corps (whatever that +25% Discipline does, it should be beneficial I guess). The other candidate was Smithian Economics, but that would be kinda hypocratic with my full-Mercantilist standing.
I guess they don't really stand a chance...
In the end I decided to merely humiliate them and destroy all their armies, but demand little more. The others will cut them to pieces.
Having nothing else to do, in 1773, I started building that new University in Massina (which is in Western Africa, for your information).
A little later, I recieved a Boundary Dispute event for Idah, a Spanish colony that has been under Particularist occupation for over a century now. That should be fun!
Venice also joined the party. (Note that Venice is in North America with a single colony in Venezia.)
I really hoped for something interesting, but oh well.
That 20 Infamy is a lot though.
In August of 1774, I annexed Salzburg diplomatically. Three years later I reached level 65 in Government Tech, getting my last National idea, which was Improved Foraging, like I mentioned earlier. And with that, I will no longer need to spend a penny on Government techs, since the last ten or so levels don't do anything. Then again, the rest does very little as well: Production and Trade give marginal bonuses to my income, Naval gives somewhat longer colony range and Land gives very, very minor bonuses to unit stats (that don't even show on the interface). So I guess I will be balanced from now on (and I will no longer use that 'Liberté, Egalité, Fraternité' bullcrap either).
After the University in Massina was finished, I recieved another similar request, which I declined, then I recieved a mission to build a Textile Manufactury, at which point I gave up. No, I won't build any more stupid manufacturies for no actual gain in the long run! Because screw you, that's why.
Anyone remember how I held a grudge against Siena? Neither did I. It all came back to me in 1779, when they suddenly decided to secede to me!
That's for you, Ulm-wannabe!
The tiny city-state was annexed by Naples a few decades ago, but they couldn't hold on to them and now I'm the rightful owner of a shiny new Italian city! Along with 8 regiments, no less. Excellent! And another University which won't actually do me any good now. Whatever. I wonder if there's any way of upgrading those inherited troops into something useful, 'cause they came as Gallop Cavalry and Grenzer Infantry instead of my proper Napoleonic standards...
Later on in 1781, I recieved another Boundary Dispute, this time against Naples, for Apulia, which I also went to war over.
Sardinia and Epirus joined forces with Naples against me. Bad move on their part.
I was considering the annexation of Sardinia, but that would have resulted in 28 Infamy, which alone would push me over the limit, and I already had 12 at the time. So instead I merely vassalized them for now. I also vassalized Epirus. Naples wasn't lucky enough:
I also took a Naplean colony on Madagascar.
And for the rest of the two years in this Reason, I decided to hoard up the two remaining provinces from Madagascar, which were under Papal control. Fortunatelly I still had the Liberation CB against the Pope, and the two lackeys he had weren't any threat either.
This Issue is getting a little picture-intensive, isn't it?...
Note to self: if I don't start the war specifically to reclaim a core, it won't have a reduced Infamy cost. Stupid but true.
So I made the Pope release Aquileia, which shouldn't last long of course, since the Pope simply must exist.
I was just considering to change one of my National Ideas when a wild event appeared:
The other option would give some prestige, but that's not relevant to my interest.
So I could replace Unam Scantum (which I only used for a short gig back in the day against the HRE) with Colonial Ventures (to get the most of Madagascar and possibly start exploring the rest of Indonesia as well) ASAP for almost free. And that's what I did during the final year of this Issue and this Reason.
Oh, and of course the Pope didn't really approve of not having a seat of power and came knocking on my door to give Rome back. Which I declined of course, because I'm
that awesome.
One more year of gathering Stability, but with no relevant tech to research yet, I don't really mind it that much. The rest of the penalties are even less interesting.