The Historic Inevitabilty of Epic Failure

loki100

Field Marshal

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Jul 1, 2008

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• Mar 22, 2012

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• #241

exceptionally interesting post, your mastery of this game is really impressive ... no idea how to solve your problems other than a feeling that preserving the horde & getting at India are the best options ... which don't make them at all feasible

 

Taylor

Field Marshal

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Feb 17, 2006

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• Mar 22, 2012

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• #242

I agree, taking Budjak seems the best option in the short term.

You can get to India by going through Arabia and then using that straight in the East of Arabia to get you over the Red Sea. That way, you won't have to colonize so much.

 

sprites

Field Marshal

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May 1, 2008

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• Mar 22, 2012

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• #243

Before getting to India like this , you'd have to fight a lot the Timurids ...
I think it is thanks to imperial Bohemia the ottomans haven't been wiped yet by both hordes.

 

no7892142

Captain

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Oct 24, 2009

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• Mar 22, 2012

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• #244

On the problem of the hordes, here's my suggestion:
You take Budjak off the Ottomans, then occupy a line of Horde territoy up to the north (and maybe along the russian border) to prevent Bohemia et al to colonize all of their lands.
And then you hope they still deal with their armies so you basically just sit on that line of land, blocking any colonization. I don't know if that's too cheesy though.

 

pyroclastic

Captain

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Jan 30, 2007

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• Mar 22, 2012

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• #245

Correct me if I'm wrong, but isn't the ability to colonize hordes restricted if you don't have a land connection between their provinces and your capital? I vaguely remember only being able to send colonists to inland horde provinces if they were within my colonization range - which could be a problem with a capital in London and lagging naval tech.

 

Dewirix

Historically plausible

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Feb 6, 2010

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• Mar 22, 2012

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• #246

My first thought was that starting with England was going to prove too easy for you, but the breakneck pace suggests you're anticipating being pressed for time.

It looks like good progress so far, but I'll take the word of the more expert among us.

Sorry to hear that the job's proving a bit of a pain too, but if it's any consolation it looks like you ultimately won the exchange you chose to share with us.

 

gbuchold

Private

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Jan 27, 2012

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• Mar 22, 2012

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• #247

I've caught up, finally, on all your AARs. Thank you for making my workday a little more bearable for the past few weeks I've learned a lot of tricks in EU3 from your AARs, so thank you for making me a better player too! In looking over the Iroquois game I wondered, what indicator do you use to start the BB wars? Do you just keep an eye on troop counts in the ledger and look for a sizable advantage over, say your next three rivals before breaking the BB limit?

 

arosenberger14

Major

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Jun 22, 2011

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• Mar 22, 2012

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• #248

Fascinating situation it's great to see the inner workings of your strategy. I would almost focus on Bohemia instead of the Ottomans. Germany is a very wealthy right religion region which could give you a needed boost to tech and manpower, and if the Ottomans do move into GH territory you can always crusade them out later. I believe that Unum Sanctum gives you a HW CB on ALL infidels even those you don't border. If you take that you can invade India or Asia without going through the Horde or Timurids leaving them for after 1650.

 

JKNUBZ

First Lieutenant

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Sep 16, 2009

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• Mar 22, 2012

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• #249

no7892142 said:

On the problem of the hordes, here's my suggestion:
You take Budjak off the Ottomans, then occupy a line of Horde territoy up to the north (and maybe along the russian border) to prevent Bohemia et al to colonize all of their lands.
And then you hope they still deal with their armies so you basically just sit on that line of land, blocking any colonization. I don't know if that's too cheesy though.

Click to expand...

I think right now Prawnstar could get away with taking a line of provinces that reaches from Budjak to Grodno, because only Bohemia will have the strength to challenge the horde for a while yet (Sweden may become a problem later, but it looks like they'll be busy with their neighbors for quite some time). Once GH is free of Bohemian interference, they will be free to nibble away at Lithuania and the Russians. That will keep the size of this new front to a minimum, since defending a long snakey line of provinces from attack on both sides is less than ideal.

I agree with others that beating up Bohemia a little might be prudent--it's unfortunate to expend resources in a war that won't net any new provinces (considering the ultimate goal of this game, i mean), but if left to blob up more, the Czechs might become difficult to manage, especially if they decide to get uppity while the bulk of your forces are tied down elsewhere.

 

aldriq

Part Time Warp

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May 30, 2007

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• Mar 22, 2012

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• #250

Alternatively, if the GH manages to keep hold of those Romanian provinces, how about attacking Bohemia on their Baltic coast? A bit more expensive on BB but it saves you debilitating the Horde unnecessarily and removes the danger of Bohemia developing a navy...

 

I

isansom

Second Lieutenant

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May 16, 2010

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• Mar 22, 2012

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• #251

Seems to me, every time I've had a border with a horde, you generally need to either crush them or pay tribute to get away from war, and it all just starts again in 5 years. If you were to commit to operation "dividing line" as no7892142 suggests, you would have to commit significant effort to keep things under control there! Particularly if you were to challenge both hordes at once

Do vassals still mess with the horde mechanics? It used to be that if your vassal was bordering the horde, no war would result (them not having their own diplomatic options and you as their overlord technically not having a border with said horde) - perhaps you could vassalize Lithuania and expand their lands to hem in Bohemia?

I would also suspect that all this aside, you'll very soon be dealing with the Timmes whether you like it or not, given how weak the Mamluks are now.

 

morningSIDEr

General

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Mar 31, 2008

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• Mar 22, 2012

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• #252

Interesting plans, I'm not at all surprised you had everything planned out before starting this game. I'm eager to see how everything plays out.

 

Nordhus

Sergeant

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Mar 2, 2004

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• Mar 23, 2012

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• #253

pyroclastic said:

Correct me if I'm wrong, but isn't the ability to colonize hordes restricted if you don't have a land connection between their provinces and your capital? I vaguely remember only being able to send colonists to inland horde provinces if they were within my colonization range - which could be a problem with a capital in London and lagging naval tech.

Click to expand...

I believe you are correct.

Note that thanks to a lucky border dispute Osijek is a french core. That doesn't help. As you can see Ragusa and Zeta are within range, but since they are not adjacent to a french province they cant be colonized either.

 

Taylor

Field Marshal

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Feb 17, 2006

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• Mar 23, 2012

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• #254

Hm, so he either has to move his capital (which is a bit gamey), or wait until a nearby province cores so it comes into range?

 

stnikolauswagne

Lt. General

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Mar 16, 2011

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• Mar 23, 2012

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• #255

There is however a strange bug that allows colonization in territories outside of your colonisation range. When playing Spain for a WC I was able to colonize most of the GH Land while my capital was still in Madrid, after moving it to the flourishing province of Wallachia i suddenly lost the ability to send colonists to siberia. Dunno what causes it though.

 

vasziljevics

Colonel

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Jun 9, 2011

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• Mar 23, 2012

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• #256

Taylor said:

Hm, so he either has to move his capital (which is a bit gamey), or wait until a nearby province cores so it comes into range?

Click to expand...

Earlier PrawnStar said that the capital should remain in London - according to him moving it would be indeed "cheesy"

 

sprites

Field Marshal

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May 1, 2008

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• Mar 23, 2012

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• #257

In 5.2 , I can colonize hordes non-adjacetn from my capital ... dunno if range plays a role here.

 

unmerged(316631)

Corporal

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• Mar 23, 2012

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• #258

Can't wait to see the British Raj 300 years premature.

 

Franconian

Lt. General

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Oct 4, 2009

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• Mar 23, 2012

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• #259

Personally, I'd prefer murdering the Peep... Bohemians. Let the ongoing GH war and (hopefully) weekness wars do the rest

 

Taylor

Field Marshal

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• Mar 23, 2012

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• #260

Franconian said:

Personally, I'd prefer murdering the Peep... Bohemians. Let the ongoing GH war and (hopefully) weekness wars do the rest

Click to expand...

That's a pretty good idea... just kill off their armies and see them be overrun by hordes. Do the same with the other (powerful) enemies (e.g. Austria). This way Prawnstar could help the GH conquer the whole of Europe up till his own border in France... Only problem is how does he get into a war with the Bohemians? (he needs a CB)