[size=+1]Election 40. 1518 League of Cambrei crisis[/size]
We seem to have entered what is called bb wars (not BB wars). We have made ourselves a tempting target by our size/armies high ratio, our lack of allies and our high BB rating. The high level of agression that we set at the beginning helps also. All our big neighbors seem to be taking turns at attacking us, and they could very well start attacking us simultaneously. How are we going to face it?
1) Alliance:
A. Enter an alliance
B. Form our own alliance (right now only Switzerland and Moldavia are available)
2) If 1A is decided choose your favourite alliance:
A. The Iberians (Spain, Portugal, Palatinate, Bavaria and Berg). Advantages: already fair relationship to leader (Spain), and opens a second front to France. Should be relatively tough and dissuasory. Disadvantages: Not very useful in Central Europe and useless in Eastern Europe.
B. Burgundy (leader) and France. Advantages: If you cannot defeat your enemy, join him. Very strong and takes care of the Iberians and Central Europe. Disadvantages: terrible reputation and always fighting.
C. The Austrian alliance (Savoy [leader], Denmark, Scotland, Austria, Meissen and Brandenburg). Advantages: Well positioned and with a probable great future. Disadvantages: Not very strong and too diverse, with wars all over Europe.
D. The Hungarian alliance (Hungary [leader], Poland, Livonian Order, Bohemia and Sweden). Advantages: Quite strong and takes care of the European Turks and most of the Austrian alliance. Disadvantages: Uncertain future, constant wars with Russia and also too diverse.
I am purposely not proposing the Turks as allies as it appears to have only disadvantages excep for deterring their agression, and is seen as unholy by most senators, as indicated by our long term goals. Nevertheless you are welcome to indicate them if you want them.
3) The Veneto-Turkish war part 1.
I recommend you read all the parts before you start answering.
The situation is as follows:
They hold control of Kerch. We hold control of Bosnia, Serbia, Bulgaria, Rumelia, Dobrudja, and Bujak. The warscore is favorable to us by +21%. We have been at war for 2 years and 3 months. Their army in Smyrna is 106,000 men. They also have 7,000 men in Kerch. We have about 60,000 men, of them 45,000 cavalry. We have two military choices, choose one of the following:
A. Continue fighting to improve the warscore. This might cost quite a lot of money that should be obtained through more minting (now at 9.3% inflation), but this is the only way to get what we want. More on that later. Consider that some other nation might DoW us in the meantime.
B. Call it quits. Sue for peace by holding pretty and trying to get what our warscore entitles us. More on that later.
4) The Veneto-Turkish war part 2.
Right now our warscore probably entitles us to one province or some money, although we could be offered more.If we continue fighting there are several things that could constitute our goal, choose your favourite:
A. Recover Kerch to significantly improve our warscore. Sochi could also be conquered. Estimations: Difficulty: medium. Expense: low. Time: medium to long.
B. Destroy the Turkish armies and conquer enough to reach a 99% warscore. Estimations: Difficulty: hard. Expense: high. Time: very long.
5) The Veneto-Turkish war part 3.
What do we want to get from this war. The Ottoman empire holds two provinces of greek culture, orthodox Trabzon and Sunni Smyrna. All the rest are wrong religion-wrong culture. Together with the previous decisions, this will decide how to procede. Pick your choice:
A. Get some cash and nothing else.
B. Request or accept some of the provinces we hold and release as a vassal. The possibilities are:
Kingdom of Bosnia: Bosnia
Kingdom of Serbia: Serbia (Kosovo, Banat)
Kingdom of Bulgaria: Bulgaria + Rumelia (Dobrudja, Macedonia)
C. Request or accept the following provinces we hold to keep for ourselves (specify province/s if Yes)
D. This is a good oportunity to liberate the Greeks. Conquer and request Trabzon and Smyrna.
E. At a reduced BB cost grab as much land as possible. Accept the best Ottoman offer.
[size=+1]Election 41. 1519-1529 International Situation[/size]
This election is to orient the work of our diplomats and advance our goals. State as many countries as you want that we should befriend or attack according to the following categories.
Election 40 will decide if we enter an alliance, but that does not preclude to expend money on dear friends to make them stop attacking us.
1. Dear Friends. Countries that we should try to ally (or keep in the alliance), marry and get military access with. Look in the report for CBs and current relationships.
2. Friends. Countries that we want to keep good relationships and marry, but we don't want in our alliance.
3. Adversaries. Countries that we would like to hit if the conditions are right, but are not currently direct targets. Military access is not out of the question since we don't plan to DoW them but could find at war with them.
4. Enemies. Countries that we should get at war with, if the conditions are right. This should include countries that are not strictely enemies, but that we could take a province or vassalize to pursue long term goals.
5. Warmonger clause. Enter (War) if you believe we should declare war under the right circumstances in this period to advance our goals. Enter (Peace) if you believe we should remain at peace during this period, unless attacked. Voting War does not mean we will go to war, it means we will not let a good oportunity of declaring war to a ripe target escape. Such opportunity may not present itself.
Remember that this is an important election, since events are possible that could grant us a CB depending on our choice, or a temporary CB could come along and your choices will let me know what the senate wants. As a general rule I will not DoW without a CB, and I will not DoW countries outside 3) or 4) even if CB, and I will not DoW if 5) Peace. As always, special circumstancies will be brought to the senate for discussion.
[size=+1]Election 42. 1519-1549 Economic and research priorities[/size]
1. Treasure expenditure
Order the following items according to your priorities for 1519-1549 Venice. We will be more inclined to save or mint for the top choices. Obviously other factors affect, and no conversions will be attempted unless reasonable ADM value of monarch.
-Merchants
-Conversions
-Manufactories
-Promotion of Chief judges (TCs are automatic as soon as we get the money)
-Diplomatic gifts
2. Military research.
I have reworked this election to produce more consistent results. We are now at land level 6 and naval level 6. Indicate:
A. Percentage of total investment that we should dedicate to military research in the next 30 years.
B. Percentage of total investment that we should dedicate to land military research (naval is the rest).
For example:
This indicates that of the total research budget, 15% goes to land and 10% goes to naval.
3. Civilian research.
We are now at Trade level 5.06 (decimal indicates percentage of next level) and Infrastructure level 3.88. We are investing it all in Infra. After we reach Infra 4, indicate the next two levels that we should pursue in order.
For example:
This indicates that after reaching Infra 4 we should proceed to Infra 5, and after reaching Infra 5 we should proceed to Trade 6.