The Historic Inevitabilty of Epic Failure

[Barsoom]

He doesn't know the passage around Africa. He's discovering as little as possible to contain map spread and subsequent colonization. His Indian Ocean navy was built on the Red Sea coast, if I'm not mistaken. He's said a couple of times that it's too small to take on Hindustan's navy. It should be big enough to take an army to Socotra, though.

[Merrick Chance']

I just realized that this empire is similar to the British Empire in the Bartimaeus trilogy, up to having the Bohemians as their major enemy and being a Noble republic

Look out for those Bohemians, you don't know when they'll discover Golems!

[Memento Mori]

I just realized that this empire is similar to the British Empire in the Bartimaeus trilogy, up to having the Bohemians as their major enemy and being a Noble republic

Look out for those Bohemians, you don't know when they'll discover Golems!

Prawnstar should make sure that during the final assault of Prague, his general is named Gladstone - his fire stat would surely be 6

[Chief Ragusa]

Doesn't he just need "precious" to lure the golems away? I think the Hindustani navy is of equal tech. England has neglected the navy to stay on a par with tech on land. Something has to give going for a WC as England.

[PrawnStar]

FEEDBACK

Duke of Britain - 100% tariffs sounds unlikely I'm hopeless at remembering to build the ships needed.

dragonizer - I don't actually know how many provinces there are Not that it matterrs that much, one ring to rule them and all that world conquerer type stuff

Barsoom - You're right about that line being too conservative. I intend to try and convert the one province minors into two province minors but other than Mali I'm not expecting significant expansion anywhere other than Holy Warring towards China and Brunei. I would like to kill off the minors though. You can only settle a nomad province if you share a land border so blocking Anatolia was more important than sealing the mediterranean coastline.

Floodturka - Exactly, that's why I worry about Bohemia!

timmy827 - The diplo advisor doesn't affect the ruler's diplo score for Infamy reduction.

Zozo - I don't know if Milan would go for Rome but things play out differently...

Merrick Chance' - Nice to see someone appreciate really bad humour Yes I should build more light ships to ramp up tariffs.

Memento Mori - I'm going to try the Eastern Timmie thing you'll see how it pans out in the next update. I also intend to try and rework India to give an extra province to any surviving OPMs. There's a HRE screenie coming up...

The Arch Mede - I don't seem to have too many problems keeping cardinals even when my BB spikes At a guess it comes down quickly enough that I can recruit more to last through the short high BB periods.

Angry_Norway - Sounds right, good point.

Selenimar - Perilously close to RL there; the General Survey of India was an incredible undertaking.

Malurous - Thanks for confirming.

BootOnFace - Dear me that's defeatist talk! Remember, in the words of WWII poster that is now a national icon 'Keep Calm and Carry On'.

Edlar89 - Painting the town red, seen that one and I can't see myself as Clint Eastwood. I'm more a talkative version of Silent Bob

Chief Ragusa - I'm converting about as fast as I get new missionaries so that's OK. No idea how far I'll get with that but babysitting missionaries gives the rear area security units something constructive to do. Interesting idea about the Order but they are still part of the Empire and that means Bohemia.

Comrade Kalle - Ther's a lot to be said for doing it but I don't have the troops. Interesting screenie coming up.

Duke of Britain - I'm heading republican so Emperor isn't on the cards.

Displacement - Congrats on the WC - once you've done it you'll either decide all games must end up painting the map or decide never again far too fiddly!

Tudyboss - Only as long as I don't actually fight anyone LOL my fleet is old with lagging tech.

Beelz - Cheers

Yammka - I remember the PM, you should be able to catch up this time since I'm playing much more slowly.

aldriq - Settling nomad provinces doesn't change either culture or religion

rustic - I've only had three culture flips so far - then again that pie chart has always felt prblematic I don't really know what it represents. My test game rocked as Paris converted in the 1440's and I had most of Northern France English cultured by 1820.

Displacement, Floodturka & Hakomar - Culture flips are a weird and wonderful part of the game I've not got to grips with in detail. kebzero's Chinese Cheese AAR covers the topic in some depth...

PiriReis - I don't have more than a few ships in the Indian Ocean for pirate suppression. Hindustan had a huge fleet some years ago although warring with Brunei seems to have trimmed it. Nonetheless I'd still be sending my transports to their doom.

diegoami - I don't have a good navy but what is this talk of sailing around Africa? I haven't taken QftNW.

Barsoom - That's pretty much it.

Merrick Chance' - Don't know that series Not sure about Golems but doesn't Robot have Czech root?

Memento Mori - English generals at Prague don't have such a good track record in RL - White Mountain.

Chief Ragusa - It's interesting that what gives for an English WC is the navy... Guess they got it wrong in RL, perhaps as a land focused power we could have had an Empire in India

[PrawnStar]

CHAPTER TWENTY SIX

My truce with Hindustan runs out in March 1550 but I don’t DOW immediately as Hindustan have attacked OPM Bihar. I’d rather take the province from Hindustan for 1BB than annex an OPM and gain the same province for 2BB so I’ll wait that war out. Mid summer and Bohemia DOWs Deva Bengal, map spread FTW! Bihar finally falls in June 1551, to Deva Bengal not Hindustan, time to stop hoping someone else will fix my problems and go kill things. Bihar eventually ends up as a Hindustani vassal so can be taken for 1BB if I claim the province from their overlord in a Holy War peace deal - shame it‘ll cost so much as a Capital COT.

The first war is Punjab



There’s a new plan I’m going to leave the Timurid heartland alone and hope they have the resources left to finish off these minors once the western provinces fall. I will cut this area off from Hindustan since the Timmies can’t play in that league any more. The second war is of course Hindustan.



Think of the tea. Also, there’s a lot of Hindustan still out there.

Peace with Punjab - August 1551



Aragonese colonisation - March 1552



No idea how they found that province but it won’t do. Spies!

Early summer brings another boundary dispute…



I guess the twenty thousand strong garrison shows what Bohemia thinks of that!

After a very dull war it’s peace with Hindustan in April 1553



BB shoots back up to 12.19 / 24.00 falling at 2.40.

June 1554 sees two DOWs; Castile for the now defected core and Yemen to annex. They both have friends.



Castile hands over the province a month later while armies are busy assaulting Yemen’s forts. Yemen’s annexed early in September.



Now I just need to get out of these wars, something achieved with two white peaces in December.

February 1555 Peace with the Timurids.



I’ve left the Timurid heartland alone in the hope they’ll go after their small neighbours for me. Near the end of the year I get a boundary dispute giving me a core on Timurid Dash-I-Lut. I’ll take it next time around.

September 1556 brings opportunity. Rome has revolted free as OPM Urbino - which plays straight into the hands of my mission. 2 BB to annex but 3 lost through the mission is a nice result.



November, job done.



BB is pretty low to be going into a war with Hindustan but I have a problem I need to solve. Aragon is repeatedly colonising Cameroon. The long term answer is to colonise it myself but with 8000 Aggression 9 natives I don’t see a colony surviving unless I can get troops there. Tricky when it’s surrounded by TI…



Looks like I need to invade Mali again, unfortunate. As my operations against the Steppe Nomads are quiet at the moment I am throwing colonists at West Africa with the intention of sealing the coast. I DOW Mali in February 1557, no one else joins in. May sees peace with Steppe Nomad Nogai, I took two provinces as I had colonists spare.



April 1558 - Peace with Mali.



As soon as I can get some troops over there I’ll clear the natives from Cameroon and start a colony. No great hurry with that so I’ll let it grow naturally at +40 colonists a year (It’s tropical). Late 1558 brings another boundary dispute with nomads; this time with the Horde over Ufa. By the start of 1559 I’ve ran out of patience in India I’ll have to attack even without the defection I was looking for. But before that a couple of interesting screenshots.

The Nomad gambit fails…



One way of resolving the problem of Europe’s minors.



Not saying it’s a good way of doing it just that it’s a way…

[Tallfellow]

Let Bohemia form the HRE... Hmmm, would be a good end game "boss" otherwise things are looking okay in the east.. Well except the inept Timurids ofcourse

[Arakhor]

A Bohemian HRE would be awesome. Great gains in the East!

[Avindian]

I've never seen the AI form the HRE; I say go for it!

[PiriReis]

Well the pope must be proud of you Not to forget that an English king broke with the Catholic church, in order to allow himself to divorce his wife The pope must allow you to become the papal controller --> excommunicate --> CB's

BTW from the screenshot I saw that you can form Britain

I join the others in favor of Bohemia forming the HRE. It will be a challenge for you at least.

Keep up the good work!

[homy_dog34]

Well, fighting the HRE would be challenge, but I'm sure that you could handle it. Also, that's too bad about Khorasan. Maybe if you force Chagatai to release them from vassalship? I suppose just Declare war on Khorasan and Chagatai will join in.

[Barsoom]

Wow, Bohemia has gone pretty far already. Just 3 more reforms and it's hello, behemoth. Interesting that the Pope is an elector. I wonder where the Papal State will find a new home if the HRE ever unifies.

I'd love to know what Bohemia thought to get out of war with Deva Bengal.

Also good to see you got 2/3 of your 1600 target line already. In 1553! Hurrah for being right! Hurrah for English speed! Glad it's the same thing in this case. And thanks for your answers. I find your readiness to take all comments seriously one of your AARs' strongest selling points. Even from people who have no idea what you're hinting at when you ask if we notice anything. You're building stuff all over the place, is that it?

Shame about the Timurid gambit, it was an interesting idea. If I'm not mistaken all north Indian states can be reduced to TPM (instead of OPM) before annexation, that should save you some BB. Vassalized Bihar may be warscore expensive, but BB-wise it's OK, right? Maybe Hindustan will take care of Nagpur and Nepal too.

Now before this turns into (more of) an exam paper, one final question. Wouldn't you be better off just eliminating Aragon? They're asking for it.

[MrQwerty]

I too say Bohemia should consolidate the HRE. Not only may it solve the problem of the several German minors, as you have said, but should Bohemia suddenly freeze her armies and refuse to fight the rebels, you will find a greatly weakened Slavic state . However, Bohemia is tied with Burgundy for the imperial throne, which is interesting to say the least.

Otherwise, I enjoy your massive expansions into Hindustan, and am waiting for your first war with Ming .

[Floodturka]

So, what are you planning to do when other HRE minors decide to give colonization a shot? Sooner or later, you'll have to fight Bohemia (read: Entire HRE) to kill off the second wave colonizers..

Prawnstar's reply, in my imagination (first 5 seconds):

[Doug Dimmadome]

I noticed earlier you were forcing a whole bunch of claim revocations on your territory. Is there any reason for this? Wouldn't all the unclaimed territories force the nation in question to lose a large amount of prestige and as a result have slightly less troop morale allowing for easier victories in future?

The only reason I can think of revoking cores is if you're anal about this sort of thing or you are trying to keep a nation out of another nation it has a core on for whatever reason.

[no7892142]

I think a Bohemian Renovatio would be your game winner.

Doug:
It's so Nationalist Rebels don't appear and the provinces aren't in immediate danger to defect.

[Shirohi]

A wonderful AAR, but reading it makes one painfully aware just how easy the game is when you know it thoroughly. Not that I mean to belittle the feats on display here ; ), but I wish there was some setting which would send ai into mad (yet sustainable) rampage. You know, the way human players do it...

[vasziljevics]

A wonderful AAR, but reading it makes one painfully aware just how easy the game is when you know it thoroughly. Not that I mean to belittle the feats on display here ; ), but I wish there was some setting which would send ai into mad (yet sustainable) rampage. You know, the way human players do it...

you can make house rules for yourself anytime (like PrawnStar does) - all you need is enough willpower not to break them

[sprites]

It seems you'll have to colonize the african coast too ! :d
If you trim Khorasan , maybe the Timurids will attack them if they can't pay up.

[dragonizer]

you can make house rules for yourself anytime (like PrawnStar does) - all you need is enough willpower not to break them

Very very true and sometimes very hard