A Venice Divine Wind 5.1 AAR

[KillingMeSoftly]

I've never taken so many loans before. How do you manage it?

[diegoami]

I've never taken so many loans before. How do you manage it?

Well, I do repay them from time to time. Mostly using money from the natives.

[diegoami]

Since Army is at full maintenance, a campaign is started against the Maya, maybe they can give us something.

While in Bohemia we catch another stack in Silesia.

The stack is defeated and other provinces fall.


And in July 1497, peace is made. Bohemia releases Brandenburg.


A loan is repaid. Meanwhile our campaign against the Maya is going well.

Regrettably, I don't want to incorporate new provinces now, since I have no missionaries to convert them and some provinces to convert first. So they get away with little.

Castille makes peace with the Sokoto as well, so we are at peace again.

But it does not last long. Syria calls us to arms.

Meanwhile we send some troops to clear the Ivory Coast, since the natives makes colonization hard.


Castilla is expanding in Africa

We gain another 1 narrowminded...

And Ivory Coast is successfully colonized. Mission accomplished.

The next mission is colonize Gabon.

[diegoami]

Well, you know the routine. Clear the province, send the colonist.

Meanwhile another colony in the Caribbeans is founded, Saint Thomas.

Nav Tech 11 is researched and we are called to arms again by Castille.

Somehow we botch colonization in Gabon, we didn't kill all natives and then we came back to Gabon to kill the rest, but it was too late. Oh well.

Meanwhile we keep converting the heathens.

The second colonization attempt succeeds. Gabon is colonized and we gain one colonist. Next mission will be vassalize Urbino.

Of course we need some infamy first to burn, and we declare war on the excommunicated Hansa, calling all of our allies to arms.

We send our troops to the far North.

Meanwhile Castille makes peace with the Mameluks.

Success made us overconfident. We sent our troops to the north peacemeal and without preparation.

And we get ingloriously defeated in Lübeck.

What happened to Venice's high morale ? We discover in horror that the Hansa has a land technology of 14 and can build Landsknechte, while our land technology still lags at ten!
What a noob !

Meanwhile the strategic Bermuda island is also colonized.

The troops we sent to the north aren't enough to defeat the Hansa, so we send reinforcements by sea.

The Portuguese meanwhile are sieging Bremen and we make a landfall in Hamburg.

The second battle of Lübeck has the same result as the first. Another inglorious defeat. But at least we know the reason now.

Catastrophe is about to strike us. Our army is about to be routed in Lauenburg.

But thanks to our allies occupying some Hansa dominions, we still manage to get a peace from the Hansa. We are victors, although undeservedly.

We need to improve our land technology. That was a costly mistake. Venice isn't invincible after all.

[PrawnStar]

Interesting and enjoyable read - although I don't think I could bring myself to take that many loans!

The colonisation race will be interesting once mapspread kicks in.

[Ricardo Rolo]

The Hansa gave you a nice beating ... :/ That is the issue with fighting the german minors: they always have tech X+10 with X being our tech level

BTW, from some time ago you have the decent chance of integration button on. Who can you integrate ? Anyway, I suppose you are waiting for a mission about it to appear ...

[Poulern]

Might be a little too late, but neglecting minting will hurt you more than lagging a bit in tech. Shame how each colony counts as a full province making teching horrible as a colonizer, esp. with full narrowminded being very recommended. In my current Aachen game i have completely lost track after colonizing north america, and i don't i will change course until i move overseas.
On another note, whats up with keeping castille around as an ally? wouldn't abonining them making your life a bit more easier since they might be wanting a bite out of NA

[vasziljevics]

We are victors, although undeservedly.

there is nothing to apologize for, a very strong roleplaying perspective would be needed to accept defeat just because one 'deserved it' at least history is full of 'undeserved victories' and the like...

[Memento Mori]

This was quite fun to read, I have just one question, though...

Y U NO CONQUER JERUSALEM???

I mean, this is the first thing I ever do if I would need a few missionaries, perhaps the province is mediocre, but it does spare you all of these narrowminded technology lagg. It is also right there, on the coast, a part of your weakened long-time enemy. Actually, it's almost a miracle that Castille did not get it yet, and ignoring divine signs could not end well...

Other then that, did you edit out all the build manufactury x in province y missions? If not, once you reach sufficient technology, your vassal rush might be over

[diegoami]

Hi everybody, thank you for your feedback.

PrawnStar: I am glad that you like it. Taking too many loans is probably a flaw in my game, I am not exactly proud of that. I should set some hard limits on myself to fight that.
Ricardo Rolo: Exactly, I am not keen on annexing without a mission or a core. That would not be a problem anyway, since I have a very high diplomatic score.
Poulern : About Castille : so many people keep telling me that I should let Castille go... that I am convinced! I guess Venice and Castille will each have to fight their own wars.
vasziljevics: I am actually annoyed at myself for forgetting to check my enemy's technology level and assuming I would crush them easily.
Memento Mori: Thank you for your tip about Jerusalem, I'll try and conquer it. But I am not editing out the "build manufactory" missions, that would be cheating

[diegoami]

Meanwhile, our colony in Ilheus becomes a city. We duly queue a fort.

And Porto Rico is successfully colonized.

An event makes us lose 200 ducats and we have to take another loan!

Cremona becomes a core. Barbados has also meanwhile been colonized.
And in October 1500 we dissolve the alliance with Castille at last. Castilla and Venice will go each their own way.

We still need some infamy. The truce with Inca has run out. War is declared on them.

And the -5 inflation event hits us when we have a little over 4% inflation. Not the best of time, but now we have 0 inflation.

Our allied Würzburg is attacked by Bavaria and we help them.

Zero inflation. I notice I need more ships for tariffs. Barques will do.

We attack Bavaria's main stack in Augsburg.


Not sure why, but I can actually annect Inca's capital - but not other provinces. The Inca cede Cuzco.



Meanwhile we advance in Bavaria.


And we help Würzburg get rid of the Bavarians in their territory.

We are not interested in prolonging this war and we white peace.

But before August 1501 is over, news reaches us that the Protestant Reformation has begun. Things will never be the same.

No, the month is not over yet, and another ally - Syria - calls us to arms. I STILL have too many allies.

[Memento Mori]

Let me guess... the first province you clicked on was Cuzco, right? If the capital is not bordering any other province or having water access to it, you can either ask for just the capital or everything except the capital.

[Malurous]

Cuzco, nooooooo!!!

Pretty nice to have zero inflation considering how worrying it was at one point. Hopefully you can keep minting and loans under control now so you can start catching up on tech. Of course, the colonies might delay things but that's inevitable.

[diegoami]

Let me guess... the first province you clicked on was Cuzco, right? If the capital is not bordering any other province or having water access to it, you can either ask for just the capital or everything except the capital.

Nice, i didn't know that. It actually suits me, since Cuzco was their only gold province left.

Pretty nice to have zero inflation considering how worrying it was at one point. Hopefully you can keep minting and loans under control now so you can start catching up on tech. Of course, the colonies might delay things but that's inevitable.

I hope so, I will have to restrain myself though...

[videonfan]

Venice is my favorite nation to play in italy

[diegoami]

We declare a holy war on Congo instead of answering Syria's call to arms. By 1502 troops arrive there
and advance into Congo.

In May 1502 we can move a slider. We go naval.

Which allows us to become a Thalassocracy. 0.5 colonists more a year and cheaper ships.

Meanwhile another army discovers the Huron.

We declare war on them as well, we may get some money from them.

And we keep advancing into Congo as well.

But their provinces are not that interesting and this time we just ask for some money and prestige.

We declare war on the Maya as well.
We peace the Hurons for a little money.


Prod tech 11 is resarched. Two stacks clear the Maya territory.

We don't annex all of their provinces, because of several constraints (missionaries, infamy).

Regrettably my addiction to loans is hard to kick. I take a loan so that I can start build forts in the new provinces. I can then pay two small outstading loans, from the time before the "National Bank" event.
And we move on to fulfill our mission - vassalize Urbino.

The war is uninteresting and Urbino is soon vassalized. 2 infamy is lost.

Next mission will be incorporate Croatia. Not the mission I hoped for, they are a different culture group than Venice and I would prefer them as a vassal, but ok.

Provinces meanwhile keep getting converted. But since I hate revolts with a passion, I hire a judge.

But I find out another decision is available, the Conventicle act. That will get me more missionaries. I am still planning to conquer Judea as well, as soon as the truce with the Mameluks runs out.
The Conventicle act is passed.

[vasziljevics]

it seems the natives are not as rich as they used to be a some time ago

question: how is your trade league going? I imagine with all these wars there is a significant fluctuation among the members.

[gremlok]

How did you go from 192 gold to over 1847 between July and August 1505?

[diegoami]

How did you go from 192 gold to over 1847 between July and August 1505?

I am afraid I took a loan, I was in a hurry to build forts in the newly conquered provinces. My loans are now big because of the -5 inflation event. That's an habit which is hard to kick for me

[diegoami]

it seems the natives are not as rich as they used to be a some time ago

question: how is your trade league going? I imagine with all these wars there is a significant fluctuation among the members.

I will show you in the next update