CAARolus Rex - A Swedish AAR

[Chief Ragusa]

Your Sweden is really struggling. You've finally got inflation tamed. It's not like you need to use soldiers in the near future, so your discipline 10 pt penalty ought not to be too serious. Msy take longer to beat rebels mind. A trader would help with your merchant placing problems. I suspect your rivals in the CoTs have all taken National Trade Policy which you have to counter, somehow.

[Cpl Wilding]

I suspect part of the problem too is the fact my stability keeps going between 1, 2 and 0 so often. I'm half-tempted to use the stability cheat but I hate cheating unless it's absolutely necessary...if I get to 1430 and this is still a problem, I may have to use it.

[Poulern]

Sweden gets more powerful later on, i would be disappointed if you started cheating now. Just eat the inflation and think ahead 50 years.

[Legendary Bard]

You're really gimped right now by the personal union. You're still in that, right? I think you are. Anyway, once you're out of it, you'll find yourself getting a huge boost.

Besides, cheating makes you feel empty inside. I can't tell you how many games I quit half way through because of cheating.

[Cpl Wilding]

Mhm. That PU is really holding me back. It doesn't help than Gryf isn't the best of the bunch in terms of rulers...I'm going to play somewhere to 1426-1430 before I update, doing these 5-year stints doesn't yield much fruit.

[DDRJake]

I made waves with Finland, you should be able to beat down anything as Sweden. I wouldn't waste all that money on merchants early game though if you're not a free trader/owning the CoT. They will cost you loads of minted money for hardly any returns of investment money at this point.

And don't cheat. Grin and bear it. Sometimes you just get a bad run of luck and it makes it all that much sweeter when you pull through it.

[MrQwerty]

Getting out of that personal union is the only way to go in bolstering your economy and power. Perhaps you should have let that pretender win, although the losses may not have been worth it.

So don't cheat. It's only been 10 years out of 420, and besides, you've already stabilized your inflation. Just keep at it, send merchants wisely, and get out of that PU. Good luck .

[Cpl Wilding]

We begin where we left off in 1417 by....doing nothing. Seriously, practically nothing happened for the rest of 1417. It wasn't until November of 1418 that I got an even mildly interesting event.


Nothing else happened in 1418. 1419 came up with these two:



It was about 1420-1421 (I forget which) when I got this:


By 1422, Bohemia oddly enough inherited the throne for Lorraine.


I noticed this is 1423. About a year later, the Order would give up Estland.


Finally, good news! Stability was now at +3!


And again in 1425 I got this again. Stupid nobles...


However, it was a blessing in disguise. Notice the Insult CB on Denmark? Near perfect, righ?

Wrong. They have big allies. Burgundy is practically unstoppable.

Or are they? Burgundy collapsed in 1426, splitting off into Flanders and Hainut!

A huge blow to a big Danish ally! But they still had themselves, with some war experience, and my neighbor, Norway, who no doubt has spent a larger amount on their military than I...


Reputation tarnished, blah, blah, blah...infamy goes down in a year, blah blah blah...

It seemed things were going perfectly well. Of course, we all know of Murphey's Law, right? If you don't, here it is in action:


With a great adviser's death still VERY fresh in my mind, I recrutied a slightly less useful, but useful nonetheless adviser.



I stopped there and decided to update the world map. See if you can spot the oddities! (Fun fact: Brabant is in a PU under Holland!) EDIT: Just noticed there's no image...

[Memento Mori]

Afaik, for some time Denmark has close to 0 chances of breaking the alliance with Norway. I think that you won't have a chance like this for quite a while, so if I were you, I'd lend some cash from Jews, raise a few regiments and go to battle!

Of course using a scorched earth tactic will ensure that the bigger the enemy is, the more damage they suffer. If they keep their armies in 1 stack, they will starve, and if they divide it, your army would kill off the smaller stacks. In my current game, I stopped 50 regiments of Tatars easily using this tactic. The Danes can't be much worse then the descendants of Genghis, can they?

[Tjena Med Laxen]

Yeah, just scorch the earth in Småland, take care of the norwegians, Helogaland, Jämtland and Trondheim are unfortified. Mop up the norwegian army and any danish splinter troops that you can handle. When Norway is fully occupied the danish army might be diminished from starvation and you'll have a shot at taking it out. Time is on your side.

[Cpl Wilding]

Ugh, I'm going to hate making this next update but it has to be done. It's a short one in terms of time, but it has lots of action...and a surprise.

[Tallfellow]

Looking forward to it then

[Cpl Wilding]

In 1428 this event popped up.


I decided it was ripe to declare war on Denmark after reading over some comments on here. I moved my army to Småland, increased minting and prepared for war by raising an army 10,000 strong. On August 5th, 1429, Sweden declared war on Denmark, and King Erik XIII Sparre took the throne of Sweden.




On August 6th, Norwar, Burgundy, Trier, Aquileia and Luneburg declared war as well.


Novgorod offered an alliance shortly after Sweden declared herself independent.


In February 1430, the Norwegian Army attempted to attack Sweden. The attack was repelled and the Norwegian army annihilated. The earth was scorched in Smaland and Vastergotland as well as Varmland.


A new heir to the throne was born as the Norwegian armies were destroyed.


Oddly enough, scorching the earth didn't hinder the Danish war machine any! They captured Vastergotland and were working on Smaland!

An attack was ordered, and the two armies, equally matched in terms of leaders but with Sweden slightly behind in tech, fought on for months. In the middle of the battle, researchers found late land research was useless!

I was so close to getting the next level, I couldn't possibly afford a loss now! I opted to take the hit in stability rather than be left in the dust.

The Battle of Smaland ended in January 1431, ending in a very disappointing Swedish loss.


One crisis after another. The national bank was failing. The options were between paying 200 ducats (which I didn't have) or have inflation kicked up by 5. I couldn't possibly take the hit in ducats, so I grinned and beared the extreme inflation.


The Danish army chased me to Ostergotland, where I was once again defeated. Oddly enough, rather than chase me down, they resigned themselves back to Vastergotland. I still don't know the reason behind this. I needed to destroy someone to cheer me up, and the tiny Norwegian army next to me looked like the perfect target.



Then, in May 1431, Burgundy offered white peace. I instantly accepted.


In August, 1431, the war didn't move very much. I was recovering losses while Denmark and Norway kept assaulting forts. The Teutonic Order proposed an alliance in the same month, which I accepted as well. Neither wanted to help me for some odd reason...
When September 1431 rolled around, Swedish Peasants revolted in Stockholm! Danish forces abandoned their assault long enough to fight them, and I threw my forces in when they had defeated the rebels to add pressure.


This proved to be a bold move, but a very costly one. My army did not beat the already weakened Danish forces. If I retreated, they surely would have followed. The entire army was then destroyed while trying to rout. 13,000 men, my entire forcelimit, gone. I had no manpower to rebuild the losses. Waiting would have meant Danish and Norwegian forces would have overrun Sweden and ended in annexation. To make matters worse, another rebel army popped up in Lappland.



The war was over. I could not have possibly fought the Danes with a meager force of 1k soldiers. As much as I hated it, in February 1432 I conceded to Danish demands and accepted Denmark's personal union once more.


But, make no mistake. Sweden will rise against the Danish oppressors once more, and this time we will win. We will have the better army, the better tactics, the better will to win. Sweden will fight once more.

[Cpl Wilding]

Analysis of the Swedish War of Independence
Welcome to the first War Analysis! I will do these following every major war Sweden is involved in, and what better to start with than her first war for independence?

THE BELLIGERENTS
Sweden

vs

Denmark
Norway
Trier
Burgundy
Luneburg
Aquileia

THE PROBLEM(S)
#1 - Sweden was not prepared for war
I will admit, I jumped the gun on this one. I had barely assembled my armies before I clicked on the DoW button. I hadn't built a large number of buildings that would have helped me (I'm looking at you, armories) and the positioning to begin with was....problematic, at best.

#2 - Scorched Earth did not stop Denmark
This surprised me. Denmark's army was below the supply limit for the provinces it attacked, even with scorched earth. They weren't starving like I expected, and so instead of starving men, I went up against fully prepared soldiers ready to fight. I made several attempts to catch them after assaulting forts, but they always regained morale before I could get to them.

#3 - Sweden stood alone
Neither Novgorod or the Order would have answered calls for war. Both were listed as "Impossible" and not wanting to risk breaking the alliance, I never asked. I don't know if the alliances are still in effect (probably not with the PU) but the Novgorodian and Teutonic armies would have helped immensely. EDIT: The alliances didn't hold when peace was declared. But, on the plus side, I wasn't forced to ally to Denmark either, plus relations are down so far that I can take my sweet time and if Eric dies, the PU dies with him.

#4 - Lack of manpower
It took me months to get manpower and to reinforce my army. I blame this on the fact I didn't wait for it to regenerate before I declared war. It was a stupid mistake, plain and simple.

#5 - Denmark outmatched Sweden in land technology
I noticed that Norway was building Men at Arms while I had Latin Medieval Infantry. Then I noticed I was a level behind Denmark in land tech. While Sweden licks her wounds and tries to recover, I'll be investing heavily into land tech, and ensure I'm either at or above Denmark before the war for independence starts anew.

Overall, I'm disappointed. I didn't want to end the war like this, certainly not by going back to that damned PU, but I had no choice. It was either accept it or be destroyed. Maybe next time...

[MrQwerty]

I am glad you've decided to learn from your mistakes rather than quit in a rage . Don't worry, your time will come. Just make sure to avoid being inherited, develop your economy, and find some more faithful allies next time . Good luck.

[ve3609]

wait a few years, gain your strength and tech levels. They may have also had Military Drill. Get that as your next idea.

[Memento Mori]

Ouch... now I feel bad for suggesting going to war. Still, at least your provinces were left intact, so I am not sure about your economy but after a few years rebuilding the army will be completed and you'll just be back in square 1. I think the worst consequence of the war was the 5 inflation, which can possibly take decades to clear.

And next time, try to lure the Danes into your heartland. If they manage to assault a fort, they loose some men. When they move out of the province, you can assault the fort with much less causalities, as it's garrison is diminished. Then they do not have a supply line any more and are as good as dead. And try not to attack an enemy doomstack (heh, rhymed ) but rather allow it to come to you. The difference between having terrain penalties and your enemies having terrain penalties can give a lot of extra shock.

[Cpl Wilding]

Oddly enough, I noticed I was able to kick my minting down to practically nothing (but that may be because I no longer had an army to worry about paying for). I may just build another bare minimum of forces, try to clear the inflation at least a little and up my land tech. The worst part is Erik XIII was a great leader, Eric Gryf only outmatched him in maneuver.

[Afaslizo]

Inspired by this I tried Sweden with the newest beta patch again and was able to get to considerable results even without my less then mediocre skills at warfare. I planned to stay inside the union for 50 years but it resolved after 37 because of the weak claim of Denmark's heir which led to me and Norway both getting new kings while still being allied with Denmark(200 relations). I took two advisors(4 star politician; 4 star artist) and minted away. Colonized Lappland and moved my national focus to Osterbotton. I took National Bank as first idea, then colonized Kola. I stopped minting and waited for inflation to get down. Both advisors were booted out and a philosopher was bought. At that time I still got a plus at money although I had to be cautious which building to get. Without inflation I changed the idea to Military Drill and started building up the army.
The fallout of the Union neted me Novgorod and Norway as allies. Now I am allied with Scotland instead of Norway, got all cores except Gotland - and Finmark from Norway. Playing low got me a running economy, a good army and nice friends. Thus I advice for patience. Not all is well though Prussia is allied with Bohemia and nearly unstopable, Scotland got the ill notion of vassalizing Denmark so blocking me from Scandinavia. So still plenty left to do

[Cpl Wilding]

New update coming tomorrow, only need to get the screenshots in order and uploaded. I guarantee another surprise! /GLaDOS