A Venice Divine Wind 5.1 AAR

[Malurous]

But I think the missions are pretty standard, Venice has very few country-specific missions (Friuli, Verona and Brescia) and then you keep getting the standard missions "subjugate / conquer your neighbor" as long as there are neighbors to subjugate / conquer.

Pretty standard? Standard is "Naval race with X" and "Improve relations with Y" alternating until your tech levels are high enough to get manufactory construction missions 90% of the time until game end. With a vassalize/conquer mission thrown in once every couple of decades. Maybe your navy is strong enough that you avoid all the garbage missions related to that?

[diegoami]

Pretty standard? Standard is "Naval race with X" and "Improve relations with Y" alternating until your tech levels are high enough to get manufactory construction missions 90% of the time until game end. With a vassalize/conquer mission thrown in once every couple of decades. Maybe your navy is strong enough that you avoid all the garbage missions related to that?

Yeah my navy is strong, I got some missions "Improve relations with Y" as well.

[diegoami]

The vassalization of Milan will have to wait a while, because I will soon change national ideas. But I am still at war with Austria.
Prod tech 7 is researched. We engage Austrian troops in Kärnten.

Gov tech 9 is researched. I can now choose "Quest for the new world". Meanwhile Castille conquers Alexandria.

Austria won't peace, so I call Croatia and Hungary to arms. Tirol, Styria and Augsburg aren't allied yet.
A conquistador and an explorer are created.

I am trying to finish the war with Austria as soon as possible, but the fools won't white peace. I call Styria to arms and offer an alliance to Augsburg.
Austria is covered by our troops.

On the 6th of May 1457, The Canarias are discovered! They are in a strategic position, so they will be colonized.

We engage the Austrians in Sopron.

Meanwhile we go on to discover Madeira. Graz falls and we win the battle of Sopron.

While we discover Madeira, we make Austria pay some ducats for peace.

We want to discover and colonize the Azores as well. Meanwhile Tangiers, and most importantly, Ifni, are cored. I will be able to colonize Brazil.

And the Canarias are colonized !

The Azores are discovered, and it is good to claim them as well.

And in December we hire an artist, to prepare for the change of the national idea.

[vasziljevics]

I love the way AI Castille expands through North Africa. it's so... charmingly frustrating...

are the Azores in range too? I often have problem with them because of the winds or whatever those red arrows on the Colony Map represent... (and I learnt cartography in university... shame for me...)

[Malurous]

Pretty cool to have Ifni et al. cored at this point. I also like how the islands fit nicely with your Moroccan holdings - much like your lands in Italy and Greece, they're starting to look good.

[diegoami]

I love the way AI Castille expands through North Africa. it's so... charmingly frustrating...

are the Azores in range too? I often have problem with them because of the winds or whatever those red arrows on the Colony Map represent... (and I learnt cartography in university... shame for me...)

Are the North African provinces even worth it ? Most of them are pretty poor. I know you are playing as Tripoli, that seems very challenging.

Here it says that the Azores are at an effective distance of 89 from Ifni

[diegoami]

Pretty cool to have Ifni et al. cored at this point. I also like how the islands fit nicely with your Moroccan holdings - much like your lands in Italy and Greece, they're starting to look good.

Yeah it is interesting how many things are affected by facts which happened decades or centuries before. In Europa Universalis and in the real world.
Without Ifni and Morocco it would be a totally different game.

[diegoami]

Burgundy is sieging my new vassal, Parma. They were at war before.


In January 1458, I change national ideas - I choose Press Gangs instead of Shrewd Merchants. I want to colonize, and I will need LOTs of ships.
And I will just trade in my COTs, Lübeck and Novgorod are embargoing us anyway.


Luckily, Burgundy makes peace with Austria and therefore with Parma as well.
Regrettably we lose 1 stability again. We discover Arguin.

A loan is taken and a banker created. A trade station is created in Athens.
Meanwhile we try to find Brasil.

I lower army maintenance and this makes defeating rebels hard.
We even lose a battle with rebels because of that.
We discover at last some territories in Brasil.

Meanwhile, Hungary has problems with the Horde - they are back and they burnt Hungary's colonies in Crimea and beyond.

Castille annexes Aragon at last.

Toulouse is excommunicated, as Castille is the papal controller.
Before annexing Milan we need to gather some infamy, and the Ottomans seem a good target.
At last, in March 1460 stability is back to 3. We replace the artist with a statesman.

[vasziljevics]

Are the North African provinces even worth it ? Most of them are pretty poor. I know you are playing as Tripoli, that seems very challenging.

well, I guess no: apart from the capitals they have 1 or 2 base tax and mostly grain and wool as resources - but for some reason the AI does not care. and yes, the first hundred years or so is a bit tricky being in Muslim tech.group and having 10 (ten!) ducats as yearly census tax, not to mention horrible manpower. but if you finally manage to get some money (I use trade - it took 7 slider moves though) things are starting to become a bit easier to handle.

Press Gangs is a pretty good NI by the way which I didn't realize for some time - it really helps you rebuild your ships when England sinks 20 of them in a single battle...

[diegoami]

We prepare for the war against the Ottomans. This is going to be our fourth war with them. Meanwhile Hungary is dealing with huge rebel stacks in Wallachia - serves them right for outright annexing Moldavia.
This time we dispose the troops in Thrace, Rhodes, Kozani and Albania, and the fleet in Sea of Marmara and of Creta. This time we are ambitious and want to attack their mainland as well.

Administration is infiltrated. We declare war, calling all our allies to arms.



They are at war with Timurids. We get an admiral through an event while we engage the Ottoman navy.

Ah yes, we end up being at war with Algeria as well, and the Pope (Castille) has called a crusade against them.

We take control of the Ottoman Territory while the Ottoman fleet is sunk - another time. But they always rebuild it, they are stubborn. I like them.

Ottomans troop converge on Bursa while the Algerian fleet blocked the Sea of Marmara. That took us somewhat by surprise.
We use the galley fleet to challenge the Algerian fleet while the carrack fleet will transport reenforcements to Bursa.
We keep the candidate Simone Moro as doge.
Troops are about to engage in Bursa.



Somehow we manage to win in Bursa, even with no leader. I am not very proud of this. We pursue in Anatolia.



Now we have a leader and we rout them. There are also some Oman troops to kill.


We white peace Algiers, we don't want anything from them. The blanket of death spreads over the Ottoman empire. We got some help from Castille, but the other allies are not helping this time because they are confused by the huge rebel stack in Hungary.

[diegoami]

well, I guess no: apart from the capitals they have 1 or 2 base tax and mostly grain and wool as resources - but for some reason the AI does not care. and yes, the first hundred years or so is a bit tricky being in Muslim tech.group and having 10 (ten!) ducats as yearly census tax, not to mention horrible manpower. but if you finally manage to get some money (I use trade - it took 7 slider moves though) things are starting to become a bit easier to handle.

That is interesting, can you meet Tripoli merchants in Novgorod then ?

[diegoami]

The Oman stack is routed.

At last we engage in Konya. Antalya falls. Kamaran has given us military access and is fighting the Turks as well.

A stack we did not know about pops up in Sivas. Serves me right, it seemed too easy.


Ottomans and Castille engage in Sinope.

My allies are still confused by the Romanian rebels.

We rout the Ottoman stack. The Castillians beat the demoralized Turks so I will intercept the other stack in Sivas.

While Edirne falls, we reengage them and they retreat.

Castilla has brought his ally Portugal into the fray.

Several provinces have fallen, but an Ottoman stack still lives.


Time to cut the war short. I don't want to weaken the Ottomans too much and I should be able to get what I want.

We help the hapless Hungarians with their rebel problem.

Macedonia is given to Byzantium.
The Byzantines don't want Smyrna and Antalya though - even if they are their cores, they are now Turk and Sunni. So I send missionaries there and release them as vassals. They will be our catholic Turkish vassals.
I notice later that so I lose my casus belli against the Ottomans - I have no more borders with them. It isn't necessarily a bad thing, my main focus will be soon the new world.


My infamy is back to 0, but I will soon find a way to get some before the mission is fulfilled.

[diegoami]

In 1462 troops are returning home and preparing for the war against Milan
We will have to fight Naples, Savoy, Sicily and Switzerland and as well. Shouldn't be too hard.


On the 1st May 1462, war is declared on Lombardia. All allies are called to arms, since they are all very likely to join


An army is sent to Liguria, to deal with the troops from Savoy. The Savoyans troops pop out.


Switzerland won't be a problem, since it is ravaged by rebels. Some even crossed over to us.

And a great news - Larissa is converted. All of Venice is catholic. And trade tech 8 is researched.
We gain 1 offensive after an event.
We engage the rebels from Switzerland in Brescia, while Savoyan troops engage us in Liguria.

We rout the zealots in Milan. Meanwhile, our explorer is doubling as admiral and fighting a Sicilian fleet in the Tyrrenean.


We are fighting in Cremona, Liguria and Roma.

We win in Cremona and Liguria.


And in Roma, where our conquistador was doubling as general.

Milanese troops are finally routed in Parma.

Neapolitan troops are finally routed in Ancona.


Portugal is allied with Castille and also enthusiastically fighting in this war. Always keep allies busy.

[diegoami]

Savoy's troops are routed in Piedmont.

And soon a blanket of doom extends over Savoy, Naples and Milan.




We accept white peace with Switzerland and Brandenburg.
While Savoy's an Naples's provinces fall, troops are sent to Sicily into the single province which is still resisting.

So the blanket of death extends over Sicily as well.

By May 1463, most of Naples, Savoy and Milan belongs to us.



The big master plan was to vassalize Naples, get 4 infamy and burn it vassalizing Milan. But since Naples is proving stubborn, I choose to vassalize Sicily first and then Milan. Somehow I lost the screenshot where Sicily accepts the peace offer, but the end result is that both Sicily and Milan are now our vassals. Now I have 2 infamy



Next mission seems easy enough.

While the war goes on (our infamy budget allows us to vassalize Naples as well, as soon as their capital falls) I fulfill it.

Next mission : improve relations with Tuscany.
I had forgotten allying with Tuscany (who is my vassal as well), that is why relations were not that high.

A gift does the job. What next ?

Colonize Itamaraca. That's great, I was doing to do that anyway and I get a free colonist.
In April 1464, Itamaraca is colonized.

Next mission will be to vassalize Serbia. But we have a truce with them, they were Ottoman vassals and we made the Turks release them in our last war.




Meanwhile I send a colonist to another province in Brazil, Rio grande, so that Itamaraca isn't isolated and can grow quicker.

We gain 556 ducat , so that we can pay a loan !
I keep Simone Moro as a Doge.
At last the siege of Napoli is over and we can vassalize it. So we will have infamy to burn when subjugating Serbia. My infamy burns pretty quickly, since my Doge is a good diplomat as well. He just sucks as a general.



And the colony in Rio Grande is founded.

[Monzon]

Good progress so far.

Subscribed.

[Rabid]

Which states in Italy are still not your vassals? I think just Pisa, Siena and Savoy?

[vasziljevics]

I admit you have won the "Vassalize Italy"-race against my Tripoli... damn it! - but considering you've pretty much made it via missions I will not consider this as a humiliating defeat.

[diegoami]

Monzon : welcome

Rabid : Pisa, Siena, Savoy and Urbino.

vasziljevics : But in my game, I just have 5 African provinces and never set foot in Tripoli. Well, that is what my yellow ally is for.

[diegoami]

Peace with Savoy is also made. No vassalization - just some ducats and the usual stuff (annul treaties and so on). Forgot to make a screenshot.
Both because we are hoping to get a mission to vassalize them ( we have a border with them) and because it would take our infamy to "tarnished" (this is against my house rules).
So now this is the diplomatic map in November 1464



I decide to explore America. I create two small carracks fleet with my two explorers, while the rest of the carracks + cogs will take the conqueror around. I choose not to worry about "exploring too much", as some say. I guess I am bored since I have to wait till the truce with Serbia ends.



In May 1465 we discover the Maya.

I explore the Caribics and decide to build a colony in Santa Lucia. I


Meanwhile, I get called to arms from Hungary to a low-intensity war. Why not ?


Meanwhile Bohemia annects.... Brandenburg !The monster is back ! But the new emperor is Austria.



Our colony in the Canarias is meanwhile self-sufficient and we build a fort there.

Nav tech 8 is researched. Bosnia and Moldavia are taken care of by our allies and we don't need to worry about this war. But Hungary has a Horde problem.



And on the 15th November 1465, the first colony in the Caribics is founded. Saint Lucia

Meanwhile, we got a peace offer, and since we don't care about this war we accept. Luckily we are the alliance leader.

But unexpectedly, our ally Hungary gets excommunicated. Then maybe it is about time to dump them.
Right after that, we learn that Hungary is at war with Burgundy and Bavaria.

They call us to arms, we hesitate and Hungary breaks their alliance with us.

We are tempted to attack them as well, but their provinces are very poor and don't really interest us.
What we want to do is vassalize Serbia - as the mission says.
So we position troops for the coming war. Serbia is still allied with the Ottomans, but we have no casus belli against the Ottomans now, since we have no border with them.


On the 10th September 1466 we declare war on Serbia, calling all allies to arms.

[blsteen]

Interesting progress, nice to see Venice colonizing.