The Forgotten Ones - A Livonian Order AAR (SRI for DW)

Chapter V: A New Order​

This update will focus on a longer period of time, until we will annex one of our Vassals. This time the contents are organized by argument instead of a strictly chronological order.

Back to Livonia: my current mission is to improve relations with Novgorod but that’s going to cost us too much money so I cancel the mission and I get a new one: have a greater army than Pommerania. The first time I check they have 7k troops, but they are involved in the Hanseatic War with England. When I get to my 8k forcelimit (3 Cavalry, 5 Infantry) they have got more troops... I decide to wait to see if their units are killed / disbanded.
In 1473 we have got 5 magistrates:

Later that year Muscovy annexes its Vassal, the Qasim Khanate. Worried about their expansionism, I guarantee Ryazan which is next on Ivan III’s path of conquest, confident that I can count on Poland-Lithuania support if we go to war.
In the meanwhile, the war with the Ottomans ends.

What was called Royal Prussia is now an independent country aligned with the Turks... Hopefully this won’t last for long!
Polonia the following year will recover some land by annexing its Vassal Moldavia, getting in the process a land border withe Ottomans...
Still on the topic of internal developments, in 1475 I get to Land Tech 10. In 1480 I move my sliders another step towards Quality (4).


The Emperor and I: in 1472 Bohemia had lost the war with Hungary and was forced to accept a PU under King Mathias Corvinus. Now Bohemia is too weak to be the Rival of the Emperor.

For a while the Electors of Bohemia and Cologne will be confused before finally aligning themselves with the current Emperor or Bavaria.
We finally get to say what we think about the new Imperial Court the Emperor proposed a while ago.

The first Institutions are very likely to pass with or without our help and we will benefit from them. However, things will get annoying when the Emperor will be capable of asking for Imperial Taxes...
During the following years, all the Benches will express their approval for the Emperor’s plan:

And the Reichkammersgericht will be born.

You can see that Bohemia has chosen to support Austria, while Cologne is supporting Bavaria.


Events (1472-1484):

In SRI sometimes relations with other countries are decided dynamically. This Event means Venice is getting friendlier towards our country.


This Event is awesome and I found out is not that uncommon. We now have funds which should last for a while.


I decided to spend some of the money just earned to avoid losing 2 Stab.

Not really an Event but still good for our poor economy. We accept and welcome the Genovese merchants.

It will take too long to become Plutocratic and at the moment I can use some extra Shock.

It will take five months to recover my lost Stab.


The Novgorod Question: rewinding time a bit, in 1474 I complete my mission, probably because Pommerania is taking quite a beating from England; therefore I get 5 Military Tradition and a new mission, which is to crush Novgorod. In fact, they are embroiled in the Hanseatic conflict, at war with England and their Scandinavian allies, therefore in a very bad spot.
I examine my current options:

DOWing Novgorod could be dangerous because I don’t know what Poland will do and certainly they won’t help us. DOWing Ryazan hoping Novgorod will intervene is even worse, because we are very likely to fight Muskowy as well who is granting Ryazan’s independence.
The deciding factor in the end is that I still don’t have Russian as an accepted Culture so the potential gain is not worth the risk. For now we wait and we aim instead to annex one of our Vassals first.
I later insult Novgorod to see if they have suicidal tendencies, but that’s not the case...
In 1478 Novgorod signs a peace treaty with Sweden giving them the finnish province of Keholm. Sweden is still in a PU under Denmark, but in DW they are quite free to manage their war because their war leader is England. Anyway, the diplomatic situation hasn’t changed so I keep waiting.


A New Ivan and the Crimean Aggression: 1476 sees a change in the rulers of our neighbours. Ivan III of Muscowy dies fighting the Ottomans (too bad for him), leaving a Regency Council for his young son Ivan IV. We also have a new polish king BTW, old enough to properly sit on his throne: Jan I.
In 1478 we receive a CtA from Muscowy to join their defensive war against Crimea. We accept, and our Vassals (Pskov and Tver) join the battle too automatically. We leave then the actual fight to Tver (which shares a land border with Muscowy). Although I would have preferred to leave my Vassals out and send some War Subsidies instead: the date when I can diplo-annex them is getting closer, but I can’t do that if they are at war.
In 1479 the Horde war between Muscowy and Kazan starts again. Now the Russians will certainly have their hands full.
In 1480 Muscowy and Tver have pushed back Crimea, but they are suffering versus Kazan. In June Muscowy wisely accepts peace with Kazan paying a tribute of 2.5 gold/month.
In 1481 Muscowy enacts Liberum Veto. Which is good for us because that’s a one-shot decision.
I am a bit annoyed by this war which is dragging on and preventing us from annexing one of our Vassals.
In 1483 Crimea is embargoing us with a slightly superior navy (thanks for ignoring Naval Attrition AI!) I took this chance to reasonably concede defeat. I now hope that at least Pskov will get out of the war.


In the same year, the ruler of Ryazan dies with no Heir and that country enters a PU with Muscowy. Not a good development.


House of Pskov: in 1484 Pskov finally signs a white peace with Crimea. After having a look at my annexation chances I send my Diplomat Robin Offenberg to some mission somewhere and recruit an Ambassador in his stead. He costs us almost half of our 40% Cultural Tradition and he’s a Level 2 Advisor.

I try three times having no luck, spending some gold in the process.
In the same year, I send my forces to crush some Heretics in Tver (who has no troops at home) and later other Rebels in Pskov, who defeated the local army.

Probably because of our kind gesture, we get what we want in December.

We have finally the choice of granting them autonomy or not, and we do that of course. The penalties are steep, but we will get a precious core without having to wait years. Having cores prevent several annoying SRI events; however our Estates might (and will) complain about our policies. According to the latest SRI version notes, I should be able to disband the Estates of Pskov after 50 years, but that process is not painless at all IIRC.
Also note that buildings in SRI are more expensive but will survive annexation/conquest regardless that we have a core on the province or not.
So, in January 1485, we achieve an important result in our quest:

Now we can get some money out of the Russian provinces and also hope to convert them eventually to the True Faith!
And we’ll hopefully get to that in the next update... Stay tuned!


Appendix: The Rest of the World.

In 1472 Castille starts the reconquest of Granada and they get the province of Almeria (it’s only possible to annex one-province civilized countries in SRI).

In 1473 France surrenders to Burgundy and gives away Champagne + a bunch of claims with the peace treaty.
Probably taking advantage of its Liege’s weakness, Foix asks for a chunk of French lands where it has cores.

However France refuses.
Other Vassals of France’s choose another path:
Having a Good Government and same Culture is among the requirements / factors for a Vassal to join voluntarily their Liege’s country.
In 1482 Auvergne will follow into the same steps and will join France.
In this period, France also annexes manually Alencon (the voluntarily annexations won’t prevent that).

In 1476 Aragon wins the war against Provence, forcing it to a PU. In the same year, Hungary annexes its Vassal Transylvania.

In 1484 we have a new Pope: Paulus III.

From a RP prospective... Yes.
From a game-play POV... Maybe in time we will understand how much we have in common ;-)

Memento Mori said:

Anyway, looks like a really fun mod, although I consider -2 centralisation a bit too steep price, I guess a free core might be worth it. Wouldn't it be better to take the province w/o the core, sell it to another vassal - taking the -2 centralisation in exchange for 2 cores afterwards?

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Yes, it's expensive, I was already 4 steps toward Decentralization so for me it's not a big problem, but it's quite annoying if you don't know about it. Also, you get cores only on what used to be the cores of your vassal.

brokentoy said:

Thanks for this AAR. SRI is much my favourite mod and have played it since I got EU3 - IN, and subsequently HTTT. Really interesting to see how it plays in DW, and also a nice country to pick.
Along with the added complexity of vassal and union relationships, I think the best mechanics in it are the Admin Efficiency and variable-length core gain process. Hope you get a chance to talk about these in more detail. That you can't pick on a small country on the other side of Europe, or the world, annex them and guarantee a core in 50 years makes sense, and encourages sensible expansion without being as brutal as Magna Mundi (which I also enjoy). Personally I find them as much as brake on growth as the infamy penalties.

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Thank you. I already talked a bit about about the Administrative Efficiency; once I get to talk about National Ideas and when (if) I will lose the Good Government modifier I will come back to the subject.
Possibly in the next update I will get some chunks out of Novgorod and I will get a chance to talk about the core system.

brokentoy said:

And of course the HRE additions were so good they largely inspired what was added by Paradox in HTTT, it seems.

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I probably forgot to mention the fact that Imperial Reforms and Authority appeared in SRI before Vanilla, although in different fashions of course ^^ I still call Imperial Authority as Imperial Power, not sure what's the correct term now.

gabor said:

Great read. I tried SRI a few times and did like it yet I missed MM stuff. I missed pirates the most of course.
Not an easy task to expand when your rivals are your allies too. Sooner or later Muscovy and Poland will end up fighting and you'll have to side with one of them.

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Thanks. Of MM I miss the National Ideas and the Religious Minorities. Oh, and the AARs are usually very interesting. But in general I find SRI funnier.
If everything goes according to plans, I should weaken Novgorod and get a sensible land connection to Muscowite territories, in time to break my alliance with them and attack. In HTTT they used to wait a bit before going at each other's throat. But I haven't played in advance so I guess we shall see... For now I need Muscowy as an ally to fight the Novgorod-Poland alliance.

Urza said:

Interesting AAR, I like the goals and the setting. Having only played MM for a long time, I won't be able to tell what will happen beforehand here most of the time, which could be refreshing.
Hoping you will stay true to your mission, and please keep the narrative parts coming, they were very good.

I think the decision to grant autonomy to the Pskovian estates was entirely right, the culture acceptance could obviously become extremely valuable later on. Do you know how SRI's coring system differs from MM's? Is culture also important?

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Thanks and glad to have you on board! I will try to produce more narratives, now that I know somebody is reading them ^^
Yes, I don't remember how much, but culture is important. I never compared the actual scripts, but IIRC the two manuals (SRI's and MM's) looked very similar on the topic of cores, so I wouldn't be very surprised if the mechanics are basically the same.

I hope to get a new update ASAP. Because I don't want to reload after playing different scenarios, at the moment I am considering my options.
Basically, in 1485 the war between Novgorod and England has been going on for a looong time. Fow what I can see, Novgorod has been occupied, still no peace is signed. My diagnosis is: England has won, but they are not exploring the Terre Incognita although they could, so they cannot find Novgorod last provinces, win a total war and won't accept peace. This being a game-play AAR, I want to avoid "editing" the game.
I believe I will DOW Novgorod and then DOW England (no CB -.-) to be able to free and conquer Novgorod lands, peace out ASAP with Ingermanland and Kholm in my possession, then try to survive until I can Concede Defeat to England. The main problem is that England will call Denmark-Sweden-Norway to join the feast.
I will keep you up to date with my successes anyway! (I have to be optimistic)

After Novgorod entered the Hanseatic war to fight against England and their allies (Denmark-Sweden-Norway) many years have passed. Now a few months have passed since all visible provinces belonging to Novgorod have been conquered, yet no sign of peace in sight. I need to expand quickly and I am aware of the stubborn behaviour of the AI in DW… I cannot tolerate an "eternal" war in Novgorod. I also have a mission which will give me a juicy core if I take advantage of the situation.
So I prepare a war against the invaders from a distant shore who seem incapable to close a ten year war with the Heretics.


1485

January: I start recruiting 4 Infantry regiments and set minting to 25%. Military maintenance is at 100%.

February: in foreign news, Ivan IV comes of age and now sits on his throne in Moskva.

March: new troops are ready and deployed on the border with Novgorod.

April: finally...


Actually I DOW England first (-2 Stab, +2 BB yay) and CTA Poland. Obviously Poland will help us in the fight against the English, calling Lithuania and the Teutons to join the fray.This will also prevent them from supporting Novgorod against us. The following day I DOW Novgorod and CTA my loyal vassal Tver, although they are still fighting against Crimea so I don't think they will be that useful.
Denmark obviously helps England against us, together with Sweden and Norway, and so does Portugal. That's some Lucky Nations united against us!
Lubeck desert their alliance with Novgorod (so ungrateful!) and Muscowy ignore the guarantee they made. War would have been different if they had chosen otherwise. On the other hand, they are busy fighting Crimea and we are still their allies, so it makes sense to act in that way.
As a side effect, I complete my mission to crush Novgorod and get a core on Ingermanland. My new mission is to have more ships than the Teutons, I guess size after all does matter to Knightly Orders…
Another good news is that England is having problems keeping a consistent garrison in Novgorod and Ingermanland: only a few soldiers protect those provinces. I obviously need to take advantage of that.
Oh, I am now investing in Stab BTW.


These are the initial orders. The main force led by the Grandmaster (7k) will move to assault Ingermanland to then rendezvous with the 1k Infantry sent to assault Novgorod. 2k Infantry will put Kholm under siege, while 1k and 1k will stay in Estland and Pskov to scorch the land if some massive enemy stack will come from the North.
Before the end of the month, Ingermanland and Kholm have already been conquered:


May: the siege of Kholm begins a bit late on schedule because of a wrong click… I mean, logistical problem!
At the end of the month, we finally spot the first enemy army: 10k soldiers under the Swedish flag:


June: we are now under embargo by the English alliance and Portugal strikes where we cannot reach. 9k soldiers land on the shores of Osel:


Well, we can just wait for Kholm to fall while Grandmaster Johann is well supplied in Novgorod with 8k soldiers. Everybody else (allies and enemies) is busy instead deploying and moving their armies.

August: the Teutons try to break the enemy embargo (why???) losing their fleet in process. We complete our mission, get 5 Naval Tradition and a new mission: save Osel! I am afraid that province will have to save itself…

September:


Denmark and Norway armies in Olonets… The Danes are moving to Novgorod with superior numbers. The garrison is now 1000 men and the situation still very uncertain. The Grandmaster retreats to Kholm: if Denmark pursues, they will fight 10k Livonian men.

October: our Stability increases. The Grandmaster arrives in Kholm.

November: Lithuanian forces ambush the Danes in Novgorod!


Superior numbers and superior leadership should guarantee a victory. I assign Grandmaster Johann to the 2k soldiers sieging Kholm (he has a siege value of 2) and move the rest back to Novgorod

December:


We arrive too late to help winning the battle. We suffer from some attrition, but we control Novgorod and we are well supplied for winter. Losses for Denmark are massive, but for Lithuania as well, so they don't pursue the enemy. With the army from Norway still around and winter coming, no point for us in pursuing really.
Poland instead sent a massive army to break to swedish lines, with their King leading it! I can foresee another victory…
You can also see from the picture that England has now a reasonable 7k regiment sieging Riga: when the city falls, we risk having a bunch of enemies very close to our heart.


1486

January: Poland wins the battle versus Sweden and advances with 10k soldiers in Sweden. Brave, brave Polish. The rest of their armies pull back.

February: the polish vanguard is attacked by superior numbers of Danish, Swedish and Norwegian soldiers…
In better news, Kholm finally falls:


We have now achieved our goals for what Novgorod is concerned, but better wait until we reach Stability 3 before signing peace. We are about to gain two wrong religion provinces which will put up our Stability cost by A LOT.
You can also notice how winter and attrition are powerful: of the 9k Portuguese sieging Osel, only 4k remain, without any actual siege or assault having place.
I make my scattered armies a bit more compact, pulling them back to my core lands:


March: the siege of Osel is lifted by exhausted Portuguese troops and I complete my mission (another easy one), losing 0.25 WE. For now I don't get any new mission.
The remnants of the Polish vanguard lost in Sweden are being chased by around 25k enemies, but this is great, because that's 25k enemies who are not on the frontline.
My new target is the English contingent sieging Riga (I asked them military access a while ago).

April: my Stability gets back to +3. So I can finally make peace with Novgorod:


And these are the results of our war:


Low tax income, but good production. As you can see, I also enact the province decision to strengthen my claim on Kholm. In SRI getting a core on a province you own is not just a matter of waiting 50 years. First of all, your neighbours might challenge your claim, and, apart for that, the time to get a core is a variable, usually ranging between 25 and 150 years, depending on several factors such as: sharing culture and/or religion, infamy, relations with other nations who have a core, having advisors like Diplomats/Ambassadors, ruler's diplomacy, legitimacy, prestige, …
The decision I enacted in Kholm will accelerate the process. Notice that I don't have to worry about Ingermanland because I have a core in that province.
The economic value of our new lands is not lost to Venice, who promptly ask us for Fur trade rights, which we will grant to help our military interests.
Back to our war, I assemble a 10k army to deal swiftly with the English presence in Riga. Because King James I of England (a Shock 4 General) is leading the enemy expedition, I only see fit to put my Grandmaster in charge.

May: the Battle of Riga takes place.


While retreating, the English army is encircled and surrenders.

June: after the battle, 8k soldiers are sent to Pskov, while the remaining 2k are sent to Teutons lands. The fortress in Memel has fallen into Portuguese hands while the Teutonic Knights were busy helping us. We return the favour and we eventually lay siege to Memel with our contingent.
England sign peace with some HRE Hanseatic minors, but not with Novgorod.
The polish vanguard has been slaughtered up North, but we will always remember those brave soldiers. Before dying, they messed up Scandinavian borders, by conquering the colony of Osterbotten (Sweden) which they eventually lose to Denmark.

July: while the actual siege of Memel begins, we discover if our conquest of Kholm went unopposed. Of course it didn't.


Novgorod, despite their desperate situation, is still willing to challenge us. This is going to increase the time to get a core in Kholm. Sometimes actual wars can take place because of a contested claim. Other times countries who could oppose a claim choose not to do that.

August: Sweden is back in Neva threatening us.


I have still a 1k Army waiting to scorch the land if they make any move towards us.

December: we spend some months staring at each other. The enemy has around 25k soldiers moving around the northern occupied territories, and our allies have around the same amount of friendly troops in our lands. Our siege of Memel continues.
In other news, we get a Diplomatic Note (positive) from Austria and we are announced the ascension of the new Emperor: Johann I of Austria. Only Bohemia is currently supporting Bavaria against the Hapsburg.


1487

February: Emperor Johann I proposes immediately the 2nd Imperial Institution… An Imperial Code of Laws.

March: Memel surrenders and the Teutons can get it back… However it's still not possible to peace with England under decent terms.
However, Denmark lose their patience and march on Ingermanland with about 9k soldiers. I can see Poland coming to my help so I don't scorch the land and instead send my forces from Pskov as well. All is set for the Battle of Ingermanland:


Our 1k Army survives until reinforcements arrive (!) giving us the water advantage. It's a massacre of Danish troops, while Sweden and Norway look without doing anything. Actually, Sweden does somethings: they fund a revolt in Kholm (4k Russian Separatists), who will be dealt with in a second!
The battle of Ingermanland is too much for English HQ, who are happy to save their face and accept our admission of defeat in exchange for peace:


And so peace was achieved. Troops in excess to our Forcelimit (now 10) are disbanded.
In the meantime, the Third Bench approves the Emperor's proposal, while Muscowy signs peace with Crimea, getting the symbolic amount of 1 gold.

May: we get a new mission, which is (again) to Crush Novgorod, this time in exchange for a core in Neva. However truces last longer in SRI, so this will have to wait for a while. We deal with the rebels in Kholm (now 8k thanks to an extra random revolt) and we send a Missionary to Ingermanland. No point in sending one to Kholm until the Loyalty to the Old Regime has decreased.

June: I enact "Concerted Missionary Effort" in Ingermanland, which will give us +5% conversion chance in exchange for one Missionary and less Missionary/year for a while. It wasn't really necessary, but I am a bit concerned about the cost of this conversion effort.

August: a snapshot of our current situation (diplomatic map mode):


I can set military maintenance to 0.
The conversion in Ingermanland will be successful before the end of the year.


1488

I can go back to minting 0% and I make roughly a net of 10 gold/year. My Inflation is 0.9%
The Second Bench says "yes" to an Imperial Code of Laws.
Ivan IV of Muscowy dies (a cold?) and his son Ivan V is too young to sit on the Throne…
Novgorod signs a white peace with Portugal, Sweden, Denmark and Norway… However the war with England still continues…

Sorry for the anti-climax, but I haven't played past this date. I have to say the strategic AI behaved quite realistically providing an interesting experience in this war. However, diplomatic AI has been atrocious: England has been at war with the Hansa since game start in 1470 and hasn't signed peace yet despite winning the war!

For the next years my goals will be: annex Tver and finally get some of those tasty Muscowite provinces after breaking our, useful but far from desirable, alliance with the Russians. Later!


Appendix: The Rest of the World

France has diplo-annexed Foix in the old fashioned way.
Castille has completed the reconquest of Granada. However, in attacking the Muslims, they started a war against the Ottomans, calling Hungary to their help. So far Hungary has drawn the shortest straw, getting beaten by the Ottomans and losing Banat and Transylvania during the peace treaty. If Castille can't, soon the Emperor might have to deal with the Green Blob.

brokentoy said:

Great progress from a cunning playing of allies and interventions in war.

I've heard others say the tactical / military AI is better in DW too. I just bought it but unfortunately it seems REALLY slow when the map is at all zoomed in. Tech support time...

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Well, sometimes the way AI armies continuously escape from combat or, when two AI nations go to war, avoid it entirely is annoying.
But in eastern/northern Europe it makes quite sense to have a cautious approach to war, plus AI is more likely to hunt down your forces if they are in net advantage or spreading its armies instead of sieging for ages one fort.

Memento Mori said:

Nice expansion, I wonder why would you consider breaking the alliance with Muscovy if you are not even bordering each other...? (slaps himself in the head after realising the reason) Oh, that's true. I forgot that they were heretics

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Hopefully I will annex Tver first ha ha.

gabor said:

Congrats on this successful and delightfully devious military operation! You apper to have made the most of AI's weaknesses both diplomatical and in the field of combat (attrition, lack of coordination).

You seem to be forming a rather coherent northern power.

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Yes, plus the fact that my allies behaved quite well. Otherwise I would have been forced to lose ground and scorch the land much more!

Thx for the feedback, a couple of updates should be ready in the next day or two. One mainly administrative, which will explore a couple of features of SRI. The other one instead a war report… We'll try to bring the Russians to their knees!

Chapter VII: Sons of the Empire​

1489

I get the following event:


For RP reason I go with the second option. At the moment it takes 9 months to get back to Stability +3 when I invest everything in that.
I get to Land Tech 11 and I can upgrade my infantry to Galloglaigh Infantry.
The Baltic situation changes when Castille defeats Ottoman's ally Prussia:


Danzig is a sort of (quite wealthy) Free City, although in game it's represented as an Imperial City, a form a government used in SRI to represent countries like Nuremberg, Frankfurt, etc.
Peace is also (finally!) signed between Novgorod and England:


The English get a foothold on Russian lands and we get a weird neighbour: Finland is released as a Pagan Kingdom thanks to the fact that the province of Karelia is Animist, although their capital is Orthodox. You can see that the Holy War CB is less powerful in SRI than in Vanilla. I will leave Finland for now, hoping to get a mission/core which will help me integrate their lands. But now that the capital of Novgorod is isolated, it can be conquered in a war. The reward for my mission to Crush Novgorod has also changed from a core in Neva to a core in Novgorod! Just to make sure that the Muscovite don't have the same idea, I guarantee Novgorod.


1490


We say yes and our relations with the HRE improve. All the Three Benches have agreed to the latest proposal:


The Criminal Code also should make easier to appeal to the Emperor to have their rights recognised in case of a contested province.
We move the last step towards Quality (5) and we get a temporary loss of manpower as a consequence.
Novgorod signs a peace with the Horde of Kazan simply by conceding defeat.
A new Count rules Tver: Boris I. Hopefully he will accept our imminent proposal of annexation!


1492

A new Pope: Iulius II.
We get to Trade Tech 12 and we can build a Canal, but at the moment we don't have money to spend in infrastructure.


1493

We improve our relations with Tver from 100 to 200.
Our generals don't like our Defensive focus but they will have to live with that:



1494

A new Emperor: Maximilian I of Austria.
Our Nobles keep challenging us:


This time I get the CB, but, after careful consideration, I decide not to use it. I prefer to wait for a core on Riga to annex it and maintaining a Vassal within the HRE has complications in SRI that at the moment I don't want. Also, for 4 BB I can get instead 2 provinces out of the Heretics which seems a better deal to me.


1495

I get Government Tech 11 and I choose my next NI: Battlefield Commissions, a very powerful Military Idea (+1 Military Tradition / year). But let's have a look on how some Ideas work differently in SRI:


The strategy related to State Ideas is very different from Vanilla's. National Bank, which I would consider as one of the first NIs to get, is available only at Production Tech 40, for historical reasons. Smithian Economics is available from the start as Guild Privileges and could be my next Idea. Bureaucracy is another nice Idea, especially after the boost in DW, but requires Production Tech 20.
You can see that all of this Ideas also improve the Administrative Capability of a Country. A 5% change is enough to move up one category in the Administrative Efficiency tiers. Because I will be locked as a Monastic State for while and I will eventually need Administrative Capability, my Next NIs will probably be Guild Privileges and Bureaucracy, especially if I expand as I plan to.
Later that year I get the following (appropriate) Event:


Soon Novgorod will tremble…
I can finally try to annex Tver after the "cool-down" period has expired. The probability to do that is Unlikely but I am lucky and get successful at the first tentative (+2 BB, +5 Prestige):


There is something weird about this extra Infamy now that I think about it, but we'll live with that...
Again I prefer to grant them autonomy to lower my Administrative Needs and avoid problems with Rebels / hostile nations / etc. I quickly expand my army bringing it to 8 Infantry and 4 Cavalry Regiments.
The country is anyway bigger and we move down one tier in the Administrative ladder:


I am now considering dealing with Muscowy (truces last 12 years in SRI so I can't DOW Novgorod right now) and I break my alliance with them. Unfortunately I soon realise that Poland won't help us because of their excellent relations and royal marriage (!) with the Heretics. Better wait until Muscowy is busy in another war with Kazan.
Most of my diplomacy done (at least for a while), I sack my Diplomat and employ a Level 2 Theologian from the Advisor common pool:


As you can see, he will provide us with some more Missionaries.
The new Emperor continues the road to reform and proposes the third Institution: Imperial Circuits. The Empire being quite peaceful in this game, Austria was able to cultivate its Imperial Power and being a Lucky Nation has probably helped matching the requisites to propose the various reforms. This is very interesting because with the Reformation Imperial Power will drop dramatically so it's good for this AAR to see the various Institutions already in place. Soon the Third Bench approves this proposal.


1496

We get a Diplomatic Note (positive) from France.
The Second Bench approves the creation of Imperial Circuits.


1497

The Horde War between Muscowy and Kazan starts again.
We say Yes to a strengthened administration:


And the First Bench approves. So…


From the region map-mode it is possible to recognise the Circuits (now I am recycling a map originally posted by Helius in the SRI section of the forum):


No Circuit for the Livonian lands, but its' ok, that's only us and Riga anyway…
Within its Circuit, every Convener gets a CB for illegal occupation in a manner similar to the Emperor. A Country can propose itself as a Convener to the Emperor via a National Decision which the Emperor can accept or reject via Event.
During the following months the following Conveners are elected:

Oldenburg for the Lower Rhenanian Circuit
The Palatinate for the Upper Rhenanian C.
Thuringia for the Upper Saxon C.
Trier for the Middle Rhenanian C.
Brunswick for the Lower Saxon C. (they might be able to reform in Hannover if they match other prerequisites)
Friesland for the Burgundian C.
Wurzburg for the Franconian C.
Milan for the Italian C.

Still vacant Bavarian and Bohemian Circuits (probably because of their low relation with the Emperor), plus Austrian and Swabian ones.


1498

Muscowy seems to have big problems in the war with Kazan, their armies are losing men to attrition in some Tartar province. The time to strike is close… I set minting to 15%, Military Maintenance to max and start recruiting 2 more Infantry Regiments.
In April the truce with Novgorod ends. They are still guaranteed by Muscowy so the plan is to DOW Muscowy first, end the conflict and DOW Novgorod before signing peace, to avoid fighting another war with Muscowy. I could bring Poland in the conflict versus Muscowy DOWing Ryazan (Poland has a Very Likely chance to join that war) which is in a PU with Muscowy. However, I wouldn't be able to use my Cleansing of Heresy CB to sign peace with Muscowy and I would pay 4 BB / province instead of 2. Because the Russians seem to be losing against the Horde, I choose to DOW Muscowy directly…
But, for the real war, you need to wait for the next update which will be coming very very soon!


Appendix: The Rest of the World

Aragon DOWs Naples using the Conquest CB (mission) bringing the Pope with them. Naples is defeated: the Pope gets Abruzzi, while Aragon gets Calabria.
France is having a difficult time. They get beaten by England and have to end the vassallization of Armagnac and Bourbonnais. Later, their King gets excommunicated. In trying to save their pride, they DOW Provence, getting in a war versus a bunch of other countries. They end up releasing Foix and losing Roussillon to Aragon.
Finally, the best (read "funniest") development:


The Ottomans actually managed a land invasion in Iberia. The De-conquista has started! Soon after that, the same Ottomans DOW and annex Albania… Dreadful.

Anyway, thanks for reading and see you soon!

Leviathan07 said:

Exciting!!

I'm playing a game of SRI right now, too, although with HTTT and as Pommerania. I'm only in the 1430s so far, though. Interested to see how the imperial institutions work out in your game

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Hey, glad to have a fellow SRI-fan around! The HTTT version was great, but I have the sensation this new version is even better. I know that AI in DW has a serious problem with buildings and inflation, but hopefully it won't be too bad with my start date and Level 2 buildings in every province.
Are you going to (try to) form Germany in your game? This won't be covered here, but it's a very interesting challenge in SRI.

Avindian said:

Interesting that you took Battlefield Commissions; I've never bothered with it much, but I can see why you would, particularly since National Bank and Bureaucracy are right out.

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I love Battlefield Commissions, especially when you end-up fighting insane Shock 6 Generals by the AI. For some reason I often call it Glorious Arms because that name sounds better -_-

sprites said:

hmm ... Burgundy isn't part of the HRE in SRI ?

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No, it's not. As a country at least. IIRC historically Burgundy as whole was never part of the HRE. In game terms it means that it's more difficult for Burgundy to expand within the HRE which I personally like.

Chapter VIII: Milites Christi​

Let's get down to work.

1498

May: our troops are ready.


In the end I decide to DOW Ryazan (who is in a PU with Muscowy) as well, leaving the war to my allies Poland (+Lithuania, Teutons, etc.). I plan to convert them in part for RP and in part I am trying to weaken their PU.
These are the initial orders:


I spread my forces keeping 5k as reserve in Rzhev.

June: a quick look at the enemy forces shows me that Muscowy has lost even more troops in their war with Kazan. It appears this war is going to be a bit anti-climatic, considered they already spent the Liberum Veto a while ago. However, Muscowy can field lot of troops in a short time and their Duke is a Shock 6 leader. Better not to take any chances.
The rear advances and I can split a 2/1 army to hunt for fresh enemy troops:


I won't bore you with all the 1k enemy units I kill…

October: Yaroslav is the first enemy fortress to fall.

December: Muscowy signs peace with Kazan by accepting to pay a 3.4 gold/month tribute. However their army is almost destroyed and their capital falls too to the Grandmaster. He advances to Ryazan which at the moment has more forces than Muscowy. The other province of Ryazan (Tula) is already besieged by Lithuanian forces.


1499

January: Tula falls to Lithuania and there is no need to continue the war with Ryazan. Peace can be signed (I can do that because I DOWed them separately from Muscowy):


Now that even the stack of Ryazan doesn't pose a problem anymore I can definitely spread my forces: soon Kostroma, Vladimir, Murom and Kasimov are under siege by the Order.

March: Smolensk falls and 2k can advance on Vyazma. Beloozero falls and I can advance on Nizhny Novgorod too. Soon all Muscowite provinces are under siege.

August: Vyazma falls and I have achieved my goals. I prepare my forces for the attack against Novgorod:


I build a line of defence from the eastern provinces (still Russian) in Vladimir and Kostroma. I have this obsession to end the war quickly, but probably in this case I could have just conquered all the Russian provinces before withdrawing my troops.
Oh, my fans in Teutonia are encouraged by our victories:



1500

January: a new Land Tech Advisor arrives in Livonia. He can replace our veteran (but old) Minucci:


I also pay for my haste when Ivan V assembles a 1/1 Army and attack our forces. I retreat to Moskva where we are engaged and retreat again to avoid destruction:


The AI chooses wisely to chase again our little stack.

February: well, my forces are now positioned to strike against Novgorod and I would rather NOT to lose my 2k men chased by Ivan, so better hurry:


I'm going to fight an homogeneous alliance of merchants and free-folk… Maybe the by-product of the Ad Infinitum sub-mod included in SRI? It should create plausible alliances between AI countries. Anyway, whoever is friendly with the heretics is just another enemy!
I complete my mission to Crush Novgorod (again) and I get a core in Novgorod. My new mission is to keep my Capital safe, which will lower my WE by 3 at the end of the conflict.
Now let's sign peace with Muscowy:


I know I could have been more gamey in setting my goals and perhaps take Vladimir to isolate Moskva. But I like to go for nice borders and gradual expansion: I also find this often rewarding in logistical terms. Because of the low BB threshold / enemy claims I couldn't really take any more from Muscowy, considering I am going to pay 2 BB for Novgorod even if it's my core.
War begins again:


We are soon under embargo from Lubeck, but the battle in Novgorod is a piece of cake.

March: a clear sign Denmark doesn't like our expansionism, they warn us.
From Novgorod I move my main army North to engage and siege what's left of the enemy. The remaining 4 regiments gather to siege Novgorod (Level 3 fort in SRI).
However, Danzig and Lubeck land their forces on our shore:


We'll deal with them later.

April: we are much bigger (and lot of non-cores) so our country is more difficult to manage:


I enact the decision to strengthen my claims on all of our new provinces (four).

May: the enemy tries to run away in the North, but they are soon engaged and surrender after the Battle of Ustyug:


I leave 2k+2k to siege Ustyug and Vologda (Archangelsk was not fortified and quickly fell) while the Grandmaster comes back to our lands with the remaining forces to deal with the invaders.
The siege of Novgorod has begun.

October: I win the battle of Kurland where the Grandmaster defeats 2k soldiers from Danzig. I try to cross the Gulf of Riga to battle with Lubeck, but Danzig navy prevents us. I sign peace with Danzig and Concede Defeat.

November: Lubeck navy is probably getting some fresh troops from home right now, so I can cross the Gulf and engage their 4/1 army. I have some penalties from crossing and I lose the battle, but the losses for both sides are heavy. I check my diplomatic options and I see that now Lubeck will accept peace… In exchange for our admission of defeat. I Concede Defeat again (my 6 regiment army is at risk of annihilation). One day perhaps we will have a navy and that day we will get revenge.


1501

January: Vologda falls.

March: I move my sliders towards Centralization (now my sliders are 4 steps decentralized). Somebody doesn't like it:


I start to put together a 8k army to deal with them.

June: Novgorod falls and peace can be signed:


The war with the Russians is over! (for now) These wars were easy, but I would like to stress the importance of managing BB and picking your wars carefully to be truly successful. If I had wasted my time with Riga, I wouldn't have been able to get this much when my enemies were at their weakest.
My mission is accomplished and I get a new one: a naval race versus Denmark… I'll worry about this in the next update. I can set my minting back to zero and my Inflation is still a manageable 1.5%
Soon after that we defeat that Koskull guy who challenges us:


During the rest of the year, I move my National Focus to Tver where it can cover several of our (actual and future) provinces. I get the diplomatic consequences of my conquest of Smolensk and Beloozero:


Tentative Acquiescence means no nasty consequences and in this case it's due to the fact that Smolensk doesn't border any hostile country.
A bit of miscellaneous developments after the war:


I can pass the Advancement of True Religion Act which will be helpful in our conversion efforts. Thanks to NF and Accepted Culture, Revolt Risk is still very manageable in our new possessions.
I also support the Knights of Saint John, in part because I like the idea of helping another Knightly order, in part because it will give me access to Spies and more Missionaries. From a pure gameplay POV I'm not sure it's the best option however.
I send a Missionary to Novgorod, but I will have to wait for the other provinces, at the moment the conversion chance is negative…
I can finally send my merchants to my new COT where I have a very good chance of competing. The value of Novgorod is so low because Venice and Genoa have plenty of trade rights granted in the area. I begin to cancel the trade rights we gave them and soon after that our COT grows to a value of about 270.
You also can see that our Army Tradition has grown to a nice 55%. I recruit new regiments getting to my new Forcelimit of 16, dividing them in 2 armies of 5 Infantry and 3 Cavalry Regiments each.
At the moment we make around 20 gold/year net.
In foreign politics, I refuse an alliance offer from our old enemy and new neighbour England, I don't see the point in that.

The last screenshot is an overview province by province of our country (sorted by Tax):


Tax values are generally lower in SRI. Hopefully this will be better when our conversion efforts are successful and revolt risk has decreased.

In the rest of the world, Aragon starts a Holy Trade War against Granada, using a CB introduced in SRI that allows countries controlling key-points (like Sicily) in the Mediterranean to DOW each other. This CB has better conditions for peace than the regular Holy War CB (SRI) and IIRC doesn't expire in 1650. The Ottomans join the war to defend Granada and they are already in a conflict with England, we'll see what happens… Speaking of which, England invades Ottomans' ally Prussia and annexes them, getting an outpost in the Baltic sea. Together with Olonets, their presence in Eastern Europe is becoming relevant.
Judging from the news I receive, Castille and Portugal are busy colonising. Colonisation by the AI (lack of) was the weakest point IMHO of SRI for HTTT, but it seems to have vastly improved in the DW version. Hope to confirm that very soon!

This is all for now. In the next years I will be busy consolidating the recent conquests. At the moment we are lagging in technology as it was to be expected (poor starting provinces, wrong religion provinces, no trade, conservative sliders), but we need to progress especially in Military and Government Tech. Eventually we will have to finish Muscowy, but before that we will assist to the Reformation (which should be quite nasty in this latest version of SRI) and possibly the first religious war within the Empire. Later!