CAARolus Rex - A Swedish AAR

[Memento Mori]

About the Bailiff - remember that a lot of nobles will not think well of you if you execute one of them just because some unwashed peasants said that he likes to watch people who don't pay taxes dance on the gallows or get impaled a bit too often. And which social class was responsible for the PR of the monarch at that time?

I guess the opposite would be better (nobles cause stability loss if you execute and you get a reputation of a corrupt monarch otherwise) - but meh

[Cpl Wilding]

Alright, for some reason I took somewhere in the number of 52 screenshots for this update, but since Steam apparently hates me, I only have one measly screenshot from when I started the savegame. None of the other screenshots are working (maybe later I'll go back and see if I can get them).

For now, I can only offer this small look at Sweden when I stopped playing in 1467:

EDIT: The above can be ignored, screenshots started working midway through the post and I forgot to delete it



The story of how we got there...

In 1460, I managed to get an event that boosted money for a while, which I used to invest in another building.


I spammed Lubeck with merchants and got into a tiny merchant war with the Russians. (This took up so many screenshots I'm not even going to bother with them) In July 1461 the Order annexed Lithuania. Not unexpected, really. I took the advice of some on here and threw my slider to go straight into Land tech. If I wanted an advantage over the Russians and Danes I'd need it.

I noticed Denmark adopted Military Drill (dear god) and now corruption...


Meanwhile Italy got even more complex...


I felt confident enough to drop my monthly income to -2 ducats without running into deficits, but I'd have to spend my money very carefully...


Smugglers. I hate them.


Thankfully at least one of the disadvantages was offset by a trade station in Stockholm.


And increased tax! Wonderful!


Even though Novgorod had a higher tech, I had the bigger allies. I upped my military maintenance and declared war. Otsk, Poland and Moscow joined them, while I gain the Order and Scotland on my side.


And right when I declared war, this pops up. Since I couldn't afford another loss in stability, I had to gain the decentralization.


As I assaulted Kexholm, the Novgorodian Navy made their appearance. With the Teutons already engaging, I sent the Swedish Fleet to engage them.


It didn't end well for Novgorod.


My Sheriff died and I recruited a Scottish Theologen to take his place.


The Teutons were being assaulted by Polish and Otsk forces and sieging in Otsk and Poland proper. I was starting to wonder where the Scots were...


The Novgorods asked for white peace which I declined almost instantly.


Otsk took what was left of Lithuania...I was a bit worried, to be honest.


I took Neva and began to march towards Ingermanland, which should be rightfully Swedish!


Found the Scots!


The Polish were continuing to worry me. The Teutons need to get on their game if they want anything!


The Scots landed and....began to siege Estland. If they took it, my chances of getting it again were shot.


Later, the Muscovites took Pskov, and the Teutons took Polotsk proper and began to move against Otsk forces. The Muscovites retreated and Otsk asked for white peace, which I accepted. Novgorod had lost an ally now, this should easily weaken them. In 1467 I began to assault the Russian capital of Novgorod. The Poles offered a ridiculous peace offer which I declined instantly while I took Novgorod. Since my original goal for this war (Estland) was besieged by the Scots I settled for taking Neva and Ingermanland.

Like good little subjugated Russians, they accepted and I gained the two rich provinces of Neva and Ingermanland. Next I'll have to recover my economy so I can support missionaries to convert the heathens to Catholicism!


Portugal offered an alliance, but since they had the French take a province, I wasn't too keen on allying with them. The last thing I need at this point is a ridiculous colonial war...

The World, June 24th, 1467


Again, no war analysis because so little actual combat took place. The Teutons were a tad useless, and the Scots sieged the wrong province...and Otsk betrayed me, so now I need to find a new ally.

[dragonizer]

Fair gains with no long term Ill affects.
Geting inflation under control. I hate inflation myself.
Didn't seem like much of a bar fight, I have spent to much time as a bouncer.

[Legendary Bard]

Very nice. Always good to see gains.

[Cpl Wilding]

I really should add a slow internet warning for this AAR. 1468 began with this event popping up:


Since I wasn't worrying about the navy (wasn't exploring and had no need to at the moment) I took land focus. I was able to move a slider position and moved more towards my centralization limit, the tax penalty decrease was well worth the revolts.




After I defeated the rebels in Ingermanland, government tech increased to 9, allowing me another idea. Since I was heavily competing in Lubeck to stabilize my economy, Shrewd Commerce Practice seemed like an obvious choice.


Another event popped up asking for sale of titles. I needed the money badly to complete construction, so I went ahead and took the above option, adding somewhere in the range of 80+ ducats to my treasury.


Another boundary dispute. Perfect! And on Norway too!


Then insanity of monarch....great. Since I didn't really need any army tradition, I opted to lower my infamy, which was somewhere in the range of 4.7.


And for no reason whatsoever other than "because we can", Novgorod embargoed me. Not like I was sending merchants there anyway, but...


I think my Master of Mint died (again) so I recruited another one (again), judging by this screenshot.


More patriot rebels in Ingermanland. Not surprising.


Minus two points for this event. Minus two more points for yelling an expletive when I first saw it. Thankfully, he survived by prayer alone.


And minus four points for yelling another expletive when I saw this one too. I had barely overestimated how long I could lose monthly without taking out a loan and was literally one month short. I believe I payed this loan off quite fast.


But that didn't help me here. I couldn't possibly spare the ducats needed to support them, so I declined support. The hit in stability was necessary.


The Hansa offered an alliance, which I instantly accepted. They'd be very useful with their superstack of 15 in Lubeck alone.


And since I was still reeling from that stability hit, another one couldn't possibly be taken. Production tech would be delayed a bit, but I wasn't focused on it anyway, so it was fine. (all techs were at 9 when this screenshot was taken, for those of you playing along at home)


Fredrik I died, leaving his son Johan II....or brother, whoever he is really, to rule. Oskar, his son or brother or cousin three times removed was the new heir.


Compared to Johan, Oskar was very well-rounded. I expect a lot of good things to come from him.


Johan II was instantly made a general and I absolutely LOVE his stats. 5 fire, 2 shock and 2 maneuver!


I decided it was time to reclaim Jamtland for Sweden. The Knights of Sweden would ride once again to war!


As expected, the usual suspects honored their alliances.


Up next: the Swedish Reconquest of Jamtland!

[Cpl Wilding]

A few days into the war and Denmark's other allies caught up and declared war as well.


Good quality meant better soldiers...and more prestige for me.


I blitzed straight into Akershus with my army of 9,000 men (I had split my 12k force into the 9k army (with cavalry) which was at Stockholm. The other 4k were in Finland to prevent any rebels.), the Norwegian army stood no chance whatsoever.


Rather than let them rest, I chased them down and annihilated their army.



The Hansa swiftly took Luneburg, which I offered peace with - to be my vassal. They accepted and Luneburg wouldn't opposes Swedish actions for a long time.


Holstein too asked for peace, but I did not vassalize them. That would have been cruel. So I settled for white peace and that was that.


Akershus fell and the Scots had taken Orkney and were landing on Norwegian shores soon enough. Norway had nowhere to go, and with not much else to do, the Order assaulted their navy and took Denmark proper.


It was actually quite brilliant. The Teutonics and the Hansa had managed to completely occupy Denmark at the end of the war, and I didn't see a need to humiliate them further. I asked for Jamtland back and for Norway to give up Eidsiva, which was accepted with no complaints. Sweden had once again reigned supreme!


The World, 5th Otober 1479


War Analysis - Swedish Reconquest of Jamtland
This war could not have gone better. Sweden now has all of her core lands back, and took a Norwegian one too. Scotland reigns supreme over Orkney, and Luneburg is a Swedish vassal. But, like any other war, there were problems...

PROBLEM(S)

#1 - I didn't get everything I wanted
My original goal was to beat down Denmark as much as possible and prevent them from challenging me again, but to do that would mean to give power to the Teutonic Order, who I'll have to backstab some day. I couldn't give them Danish lands knowing it'd give them more to work with.

#2 - I didn't get Bohuslan
I really wanted Bohuslan to knock down Norwegian ship production by a lot (they were fielding carracks in contrast to Denmark fielding galleys) but since the Hansa took it, I would have had to give it to them and not me. I couldn't possibly backstab another ally.

#3 - AI allies are completely indifferent to what I want
I think we all know what this means. If not: They seiged provinces I wanted and it didn't go to my control. Selfish jerks.

VICTORIES

#1 - Luneburg is a Vassal
Sweden gains her first vassal with Luneburg, and not even trying to! I knew annexing them would have pissed the Emperor (I'll need to check who that is - probably Blobhemia) majorly, so vassalization was the next best thing. Plus - they were MY vassal, and not the Hansa's!

#2 - Sweden is Unified
Sweden now has every core land she requires, plus a bit more. I love it. I just can't get over it. I've run out of words to say. Ein, zwei, drei.

[dragonizer]

If you want certain provinces. You have start the seige yourself.
Set game to pause 1st of month and adj mint amount. So you don't have to take a loan.:sad:
Keep pluging away :D

[Cpl Wilding]

For some reason, I lost half of this post when I went back to fix the image. I'm going to try to reconstruct it to the best of my abilities.

Compared to others, this one will be relatively short given the timeframe. We begin again in 1479 with myself moving my slider more towards centralization, and with that a pretender comes up and thinks he can take my crown from me. We already went through this with Denmark, bro. Don't even try.


I'm not sure why I chose this option. Either I'm forgetting which way my sliders are going or I'm getting confused over the difference between "Innovative" and "Narrowminded". Or maybe I'm trying to increase my papal influence. I'm not sure which.


Another rebellion, more target practice for the Swedish Army.


Right before the battle began, I found out Holland inherited their PU in Brabant. I'm guessing this is going to basically give them free reign over the Netherlands, and I won't be surprised if it forms Holland.


Johan died, but I don't think I like Oskar's heir...Oskar had very good military stats though, so that was a plus.




Another boundary dispute on Norway. Perfect.


Since I couldn't afford a increase in inflation, I went with the stability loss.


The Order declared war on Otsk. I was planning on staying out of the war...


...but the Order had other plans.


The English soon came around and started sieging Estland. Why do the Islanders love taking provinces I want?


Stability going up was always a good thing.


Otsk peaced out by becoming a vassal and converting to Catholicism.


More rebels. Unsurprising.


New master of mint. Surprising. I hired him instantly.

[dragonizer]

Nice steady expansion! keep it up.
Inflation likely around 9.5% I guess?

[Legendary Bard]

Awwww yeah, gettin' dat Norway.

[Cpl Wilding]

A few quick notes:

1: My computer is offline for a while because of one of two reasons: A) my hard drive is failing or B) my motherboard is failing. Either way, no updates for a while until I get this sorted out.
2: Inflation is still in the 10s, but it's going down steadily.
3: I was wrong in the last few updates, my techs are not all at 9. only govmt tech is at 9, everything else except trade is at 8. trade is at 10 for some reason.

thanks for your patience!

[trf45z9]

Great AAR!!! Hope your computer problems will be solved soon.

[Legendary Bard]

I shall be here waiting for the next installment. Hope you get your computer problems figured out.

[Cpl Wilding]

Computer's fixed and looking stable, once I get my internet problems sorted out I should update within the next few days. Thanks again for your patience!

[Avindian]

Finally had a chance to sit down and read this; great stuff! Keep it up!

[Yelnoc]

This is an excellent AAR; keep up the good work!

[Cpl Wilding]

1485 ends with the Order declaring war on Poland...again. Since I didn't fancy the idea of another war with Novgorod that wasn't on my terms, I decided to not honor their call for war, breaking the alliance and giving me a reason to declare war on them next. I just hope I have the strength to take them on...


More rebels. I think for this one I waited until my yearly income came in to pay it. Or maybe I didn't and it made me take a loan. I really can't remember.


Stability going up is always positive. (See what I did there?)


This is the only rebellion I bothered to screenshot. There were so many it's not really worth it anymore to keep documenting them.


And once again, Murphey's Law strikes again. I predicted this silently in my last AAR, who wants to bet my theologian is next?


I can't remember if I recruited this guy or if he just popped out of nowhere. I'm guessing he popped out of nowhere.


Now this one I know made me take out a loan. Have I mentioned I hate loans?



Got a gain to government technology and an overview of the tech screen. Most of Sweden's neighbors are somewhere in the 9 or 10 plus range.


Also got a boost to trade, but with no active merchants in any CoT I didn't get any benefits.


World map coming soon with next update!

[MarkusH]

Kola, Karelia, Estonia, Ösel, Gotland and Bohuslän must belong to you!

And while you're at it conque all of Norway and Denmark as well.

[Cpl Wilding]

Another split update because of the number of screenshots I took (42!). As promised, a look at the world when I loaded the game up:


Look odd? It gets stranger. Brandenburg had been a French vassal, and they later annexed it. It surprised me greatly...Frenchies in Berlin?!?


Novgorod signed a peace with the Teutons, releasing Finland, among other things. Their provinces of Kola and Estland were now isolated.


Oddly enough, even with next to no budget going into it, trade tech went up to 11. I'm still greatly behind all of my neighbors in all other aspects though, so I invested all of my budget into land and government techs.



And the French get another vassal...in England?


The Teutons received their hard-coded (I'm assuming - correct me if I'm wrong) event, killing their stability.


This event keeps popping up every month since I started the game again, even though I have no merchants in Ile-de-France. Bug maybe?


With another opportunity to move a slider, I moved more towards free trade. Even though I got a negative event, with no merchants anywhere I didn't feel the effects.


Over in Turkey, the once-mighty Byzantine empire is right back to their start nearly a hundred years previous. A shame, really, I was looking forward to seeing a successful Byzantine Empire.


Back home, improvements in naval tech...no more inflation for me, no sir!


By saving up my yearly incomes, I was able to pay back my loan.


I now felt it was time to take Estland for Sweden. But it may not turn out as planned...


Next post - The 2nd Swedish Conquest of Estland! (which you will have to wait for, as I am now departing for a project of mine. Schones wochenende!) (pardon my German, it's been a while)

[Ashantai]

Great update! I like how this AAR shows a natural progression, not instant success for you.