Ireland's Teardrop

[safferli]

Ooooh, lots of comments! It seems the nascent war against the English is stirring up patriotic sentiments!

damnt512

Yes! We will! With fire and sword! And... err... caution...

loki100

Yes, we'll have to be a wee more active... but we cannot afford to do so yet, from the state of the treasury. You'll see tomorrow...

Arakhor

Oh, yes, I crop all images because I think it's easier to see what happens then. Downside of course it that the dates get lost. The election of Jean II as HRE was 1424, the CtA was 1430. I usually play on fastest speed and things just rush on!

CivandEUIII

Oh, even the peasants get tapestries! In fact, a law was made forcing all tax payers to pay half of their taxes in tapestries to promote the Irish tapestry industry.

Hastu Neon

An excellent analysis of the situation -- without further landings, getting Meath off the English will be difficult. But at this point, anything that weakens the English is good for me. We're not fully ready yet for a war, so as long as our alliance "wins" the war, that's fine by me. Anything beyond that is just added bonus. I'd like to keep England's WE as high as possible.

tamius23

Thanks, we'll need it!

Monzon

And thanks to you as well, we need all the support we can get!

Avindian

Well, it's a good opportunity, but you forget one thing: our economy is still in shambles. We cannot afford mercenaries, or troops. With some more income, we could easily double our forces (currently 6k) and have options to actually fight the English. I do agree that the alliance is good, and I will do anything to keep Castille in an alliance.

Sweboy

Hm, I am no expert in spying. But I think it would have been possible to rebel Meath away from the English (svip would know more ). Two things make this impossible currently: a) we have no cash. Patriot-rebel spying is expensive. Without trading we can never afford it. b) we lack spies. We're going Free Trade and it's still a long way to go to Plutocracy. So even if we had money, we'd still need spies. This game will be played without spies, at least until the unification of Ireland.

Jstebby

Oh yes, I am willing to sacrifice anything to keep this alliance. It's the best chance I have of fighting the English short of an additional alliance with a stronger Scottish nation. I'm paying double attention to the CtA area bottom left, I usually miss the calls in my games. I wish the devs would make the CtA as a popup-and-pause message

EktorGomes

Thank you very much for your kind words and welcome!

Kerry

Nice idea, but I'm very bad at modding. Tapestries will hopefully soon become a luxury good, once we start trading proper

Concrete

Oh, you're right! I never really thought about this from that angle. But generally speaking, Castille is stronger than Aragon, especially because Aragon has already lost an earlier war against France, ceding two provinces.

[the_turtle]

Ooooh, lots of comments! It seems the nascent war against the English is stirring up patriotic sentiments!
Jstebby
Oh yes, I am willing to sacrifice anything to keep this alliance. It's the best chance I have of fighting the English short of an additional alliance with a stronger Scottish nation. I'm paying double attention to the CtA area bottom left, I usually miss the calls in my games. I wish the devs would make the CtA as a popup-and-pause message

Are you aware you can actually modify your messages to your hearts content (Menu, Message settings) and have the CtA's popup-and-pause?

(Subscribed. I *love* Ireland games.)

[CivandEUIII]

CivandEUIII

Oh, even the peasants get tapestries! In fact, a law was made forcing all tax payers to pay half of their taxes in tapestries to promote the Irish tapestry industry.

Allow them to keep some, or would that enable tax evasion?

[Kerry]

Ooooh, lots of comments! It seems the nascent war against the English is stirring up patriotic sentiments!

Ah well, there is nothing like a pre-breakfast bout against the English to start the day .
But I think this is a common European reflection, it certainly applies to the Irish, some Scots, the French (unless they start fighting their Eastern neighbour), the Dutch (well, they used to, back when they had a proper navy), the Germans (whom wouldn't the Germans fight if they had the chance?)... I could go on and on
Looking forward to the update!

[safferli]

the_turtle

Actually, no, I wasn't... I never checked the message settings... Thank you so much, this'll help me sooo much in all my games! Good to have on board!

CivandEUIII

In forcing tax payments to be in tapestries, we support the Irish tapestry industry. Tax evasion has nothing to do with it, it's a hidden subsidy.

Kerry

Hehe, plenty of targets then, I guess! Update is following... now!

[safferli]

So many comments, rooting for little Munster... I hope this update is not too much of a let-down for all of you! We're still too weak to be able to leave the island, the Royal Navy would crush us instantly.

Chapter 6: War against the English


Well, as I said, it's nice to be poor, and small. Other countries ignore you when your badboy scum. Also, they shower you with gifts when you're actually fighting a war! Thank you Castille, that is actually very welcome!

Our income rises considerably, we now have a yearly gain of nearly 60, at full army maintenance even!

Our plan is to siege Meath, and otherwise stay low. If England lands troops, we will quickly raise mercenaries and fight them. There is no point in leaving our island, as our four zero-maintenance cogs would be instantly shredded to bits by the Royal Navy of over 40 big ships. Plus, with four cogs, we cannot hope to ferry enough troops over to England to make a difference in the fight. Not that we even have enough troops to make a difference! Note that from the last update, an attentive reader might have already seen that England has picked National Bank as first NI, not Military Drill. That is going to save our hides! (Scotland did pick Military Drill as their first NI).

As usual, the Irish will follow their alliance doctrine of doing nothing outside of their own island. It's a tried, tested, and very successful doctrine so far!

This is a event you do not want to get... A choice between losing lots of cash, or two stability. We pick the cash option, losing all of our nice, hard-fought-for war subsidies. With hindsight, picking the stability option might have been better to not lose the inflation-free war subsidies cash. Or well, you live and learn.

The war drags on, and we have good news. Our BB is 9.3, which is about enough to be able to trade profitably. A 42% chance against Holland is good enough for me. Merchants are sent out to the most valuable CoTs in reach.

Scotland was also busy fighting the English, in the typical AI-dogpile fashion. In fact, I think it was Scotland that was attacked by England, somehow pulling in Castille. But who knows in this European web of alliances and guarantees that us Irish cannot hope to understand? Scotland peaces out and wins one of their home provinces back. Good news!

Scotland offers us an alliance afterwards, which we eagerly accept. We now have the two countries that can be a threat to England as allies. Castille will provide the navy, and Scotland the army to fight the English.

And, as many posters here might have feared, Castille peaces out on England giving Ireland nothing. Nothing but the first victory against England that is! Many more are still needed, to rid of the red menace to the East...

With peace arrived, trading becomes ever more lucrative. We switch our NI to National Trade Policy, increasing our income by a large amount. Easily over 80% of our income is from trade by now.

An overview of Europe, and France especially. We won't be able to count on France to help us against England! At least we now have Scotland to help us fight land wars.

Castille needs our (obviously immensely valuable, otherwise they wouldn't keep asking for it) help against Croatia. We naturally accept, and follow our doctrine of doing nothing.

Europe without France. Brittany took over the Normandy provinces, and is now pretty strong. We sill have our RM up with them, and are on good terms with them.

Another heir falls ill. This time we could afford a medicus, but we're too thrifty to do so.

Also, now that trade income is filling our coffers, we can afford a 4-star diplomat advisor to help us burn our BB, and ultimately trade more efficiently.

But before you all despair and complain that the Irish are not their usual aggressive self, have no fear. A Scottish diplomat knocks at the door and requests help against the English. Onwards, we have a province to conquer!

Will Munster finally conquer Meath? The income situation is more favourable, but we still don't have any navy to ferry troops across. Be sure to check back for the next update, to find out!

[Arakhor]

Chalk me up as one of those who didn't realise you can modify the CtA settings.

Nice update, Safferli. I'm not really surprised that Donnchad died of a fever in wet, windy Ireland - reaching the age of 46 without ever being King would rather take it out of you!

[tamius23]

I was just looking at the map and I noticed that the Channel Islands aren't French like in vanilla. Phew.

[Malurous]

Ah, the trading game has started. That makes such a difference with these smaller countries.

Also, good to see that England's current allies are pretty useless.

[Avindian]

I've never meddled much with trade in DW -- I usually just build massive Empires and trade in my own COTs. You've actually shown me it can be kind of exciting to be poor, though, and the power of infamy vis a vis trade is something I've never considered. As with all AARs, I've learned something!

[EktorGomes]

You shoudln't occupy Meath, you should put rebels there while the english are away, yo'ull never get the warscore needed if you just sit around in Irelad.

[Qorten]

I'm happy that Ireland survived it's first war with England unscathed. Had a lot to do with them being too busy to turn their attention to that small, insignificant island west of them of course.

[Sweboy]

You shoudln't occupy Meath, you should put rebels there while the english are away, yo'ull never get the warscore needed if you just sit around in Irelad.

It seems like my cunning suggestion wasn't that bad after all.

[safferli]

Arakhor

It must be the good whiskey that kept him alive all those years!

tamius23

Yes, the DAO lite map is very neat. I think it's based off the V2 map. I have a nagging feeling that the Mamluk/Ottoman provinces are too rich for my taste, but that's the price you pay if you play a mod called "Delvet i-Ali Osman"...

Malurous

Oh yes, even for larger countries trading is essential. I love trading Good thing about the allies, as we're going to need the best allies we can get to beat England!

Avindian

Nice! As you can see (or will see later on), trading is pretty much essential. Especially for smaller countries, trade income will eclipse all other income by several orders of magnitudes, at least until you colonise. And even then, it's still at least one order of magnitude.

EktorGomes

Yes, rebels are the best idea, but I have neither the spies, nor the money to fund them

Qorten

Oh yes, and I am hoping that it will stay that way for quite a while longer!

Sweboy

Oh, it was an excellent suggestion! It just occurred to be, I could have NI-switched Espionage to get some spies, and planted the rebels in Meath. That would actually be quite feasible, as stability is dirt-cheap still.

[Sweboy]

Call me Baldrick

[safferli]

Chapter 7: A sense of déjà-vu


So, our second war against England. We're still a little weak to land invasions on the English shores proper. So, first let's see how England looks. WE is relatively high, they have no military advsors nor NIs. So, for now we'll stick to the Irish Alliance Doctrine: We move our army into Meath, siege the province and then... do nothing.

Our fleet is ready, and we reap the benefits of the overly powerful mission. That reminds me, I have to re-do that mod...

Don't get your hopes too high, though. Our grand Irish fleet consists of four (4), hastily constructed and ramshackled cogs.

Meanwhile, Conchobhar III dies while accidentally brutally combing his hair. He is thrown into a cask of whiskey and buried the tradional way of all Irish kings since Turlough III.

Celebrating the coronation, Scotlands sends over casks of whisky themselves. We sell them to Germans and cash in.

During the war, we get another chance to shape our nation. Mathghamhain I continues the policies of his predecessors. Free Trade is still the order of the day.

Scotland accepts a peace offer from England, and decide not to press the war further. Given that they do not have a valid Reconquest CB, perhaps not such a bad move.

An overview of England with Scotland now out of the war. The Lincoln enclave is part of a Scottish strategic masterplan, so cunning that no-one (not even the Scots) understand it. I'm sure.

One of my most hated events, especially since it fires so often. And you can chose between stabbing yourself in the eye, or cutting your right arm off. We chose the eye-stabbing part, as eyes grow back quickly as long as we're small.

With Scotland out of the war, we extend our Irish Alliance Doctrine a bit: Our fleet sees an easy prey, two English cogs. We sortie, and put the admiral we got from the mission to good use. Two freshly constructed carracks and four cogs intercept the two English ships. Our first naval victory! Hastily, the shot down and badly raked Munster fleet flees into the nearest port. Before the English Royal Navy arrives...

Shocked from the naval defeat, England offers a White Peace. We eagerly accept, as we don't want to fight the English alone. Without the Scots, there is no-one who distracts the English hordes. They might get restless and land in Ireland...

The Irish populace (and the forum populace no doubt as well!) are enraged. Two wars against the English, no defeat, and we still haven't conquered Meath. An angry mob gathers before the castle, wades through piles of tapestries, and voices their concerns. King Mathghamhain accepts, and assures everyone that he will conquer Meath in the next war.

Another war, and still no Meath. But this is about to change... the Irish nationalism movement is stronger than never. Can king Mathghamhain I finally unite the island and proclaim himself Ard Rí na hÉireann?

[Ashantai]

Great update! Playing an Irish minor is all about balancing off against the might of England.

[BootOnFace]

Remember in DW you can call allies. After Scotland called you into the war, you could have called Castille.

[loki100]

very very impressed you managed a naval victory ... somewhat disturbed to see Scotland in East Anglia -I'm sure it made sense when the negotiators were on the bevvy but in the cold light of day?

[Malurous]

The great part is that England keeps losing land in a situation where they'd typically be expected to gain it.