Thank GOD, I finally got to diplo-annex somebody!

[fr8train316]

Wow. I've been playing my Saxony-turned-Germany game forever now, it's 1767, and FINALLY, after 150 years of having no king with BETTER than 3 stars at diplomacy (which makes taking care of BB one MAD problem) I finally managed to get a good enough diplomacy rating to finally get a 2 province minor which was completely landlocked by my nation, in my culture group, and a part of my religion, having been a vassal of mine since 1480, to agree to let me diplo-annex them.

...yes, that's right, I actually had to wait until I got a FREAKING REGENCY COUNCIL to get the 5 star diplomacy necessary to even convince FLIPPING Wuerttemberg, no bigger than the day the game started, to join the Greater Reich.

Of course, my 6 different trips to a 200 relation with Sweden and their King having a lack of a SINGLE star of diplomacy still can't convince them to be annexed, although that's more of a land than a wealth grab.

Either way, I FINALLY don't have any "spots" in the core of my Reich! FINALLY! I haven't had complete internal security since 1515!

Of course, now that I've made Burgundy irrelevant, have France on the ropes (since my King died, it sparked a succession war, I sided w/ Aragon (now only 12 provinces, only 2 in Europe) against France, and basically smote France while I was cleaning up the rest of my core provinces in Poland.

Which finally means I have all but 1 of my cores in Europe, that being the core of my own-creation (by making Burgundy do it) Netherlands, with whom going to war would mean war against France, Denmark (3 islands) Burgundy, and of course the Dutch themselves...aka my game's equivalent of the Axis of Evil (Lucky) Powers. Blast!

...which, of course, hinges on my ability to get OUT of this Regency council, which has lasted a decade and counting. Hopefully I'll get to do something more than "Sim Empire" with my last decade+ in this game...

[orange12]

I feel what your saying, diplo-annexing is tricky business. I find that there are three major factors which contribute to the likelihood of being able to diplo-annex someone: your BB, your leader's diplomacy score, and their stability. The first two are self-explanatory but I didn't find out about the last bit until my recent game as France. I had fought with Burgundy long and hard enough to vassalize them and sometime down the line, I got a unique message indicating that Burgundy was begging me to annex them. I've never seen this message before. After scratching my head a bit, I figured out that it was because they were going through some insane religion changes and their stability was -3.

[fr8train316]

Originally Posted by orange12

I feel what your saying, diplo-annexing is tricky business. I find that there are three major factors which contribute to the likelihood of being able to diplo-annex someone: your BB, your leader's diplomacy score, and their stability. The first two are self-explanatory but I didn't find out about the last bit until my recent game as France. I had fought with Burgundy long and hard enough to vassalize them and sometime down the line, I got a unique message indicating that Burgundy was begging me to annex them. I've never seen this message before. After scratching my head a bit, I figured out that it was because they were going through some insane religion changes and their stability was -3.

Figures...my like whole European continent practically in unison converted to Reformed, except for Portugal and Castille. Protestants are a light mix in the group, but Austria's the only Protestant nation on my game that I know of, and they only have 6 provinces left, thanks to me =)

[pdubz]

What about prestige, doesn't that also have a significant effect on the chances of annexation?

[pjcrowe]

Originally Posted by pdubz

What about prestige, doesn't that also have a significant effect on the chances of annexation?

Things which have been mentioned as influencing the odds:
relative size
relative wealth
relative military strength (actual and also potential)
relative DIP ratings
duration of vassalization (maxed at 30 years?)
(relative?) prestige
master's reputation
master's military on border
(relative?) stability (mentioned for the first time I know of above)

-Pat

[fr8train316]

Originally Posted by pjcrowe

Things which have been mentioned as influencing the odds:
relative size
relative wealth
relative military strength (actual and also potential)
relative DIP ratings
duration of vassalization (maxed at 30 years?)
(relative?) prestige
master's reputation
master's military on border
(relative?) stability (mentioned for the first time I know of above)

-Pat

Well I didn't know the "military on border" bit, since basically I've ignored central-northern europe militarily for years now because, well, they're all my vassals. I just post my fleet there to prevent "end around" invasions.

All my vassals in Europe, save newly-vassalized Burgundy, have been my vassals since literally about 1500. I've vassalized much of Asia since then, but I've been in the reclaiming-cores business, not the vassalizing Europe biz, since then.

My stability's a +1, that I think Hamburg at least has an edge on me on (+2) although Sweden's is -2. I have a history of horrible diplomatic rulers, and a BB of about 10 on a 33ish scale.

Hamburg doesn't even keep an army in peace time, and mine numbers over 300,000 troopers. They're not even in my ballpark in any way, shape, or form economically, being a 1 province that even with their position never has founded a colony.

I'm unsure of their prestige, but mine is 100, maxed out. My relations with Hamburg are 195, having bought them back up from the LAST time they turned down my diplo-annex.

I have over 160 provinces directly ruled by me, with 8 allies and about 10-15 vassals.

They seemingly always have a 5 star diplo ruler, whereas I'd pay any amount of money in the game to "train" a future ruler to at least even have consistent FOUR stars! I haven't had a 5 star, other than 1 regency council, in centuries.

The whole thing is utterly frustrating. I mean hey, Sweden's a big country with a nice fleet, and they've helped me a lot, if they want to say no, sure. But I've had Hamburg as a vassal since 14flippin85! And it's SOMEHOW 1791 in my game now (how did THAT happen anyway? The manual says the game ends in 1789!)

[pjcrowe]

Originally Posted by fr8train316

And it's SOMEHOW 1791 in my game now (how did THAT happen anyway? The manual says the game ends in 1789!)

The game can be started as late as 1789, I think, but goes for a little longer than that.

-Pat

[SimuLord]

Game ends December 31, 1792. Latest allowable start date is July 14, 1789 (vive la France!)

[fr8train316]

Originally Posted by SimuLord

Game ends December 31, 1792. Latest allowable start date is July 14, 1789 (vive la France!)

Well then the manual's got a typo, fyi. But then, the page numbers are off in the english version too, so who knows. The manual's very helpful though if you don't have a clue what you're doing.

Side note-my game technically said Jan 1, 1793 when the end game thing came up...so ha, beat ya by a day.

And in Dog years, that's a week =)

[Kerry]

It might be just me, but did anyone else notice that vasallising and diploannexing is much harder after upgrading to version 1.2?
I started two games with Saxony, one with 1.1, where I vasallised and diploannexed Brandenburg and Anhalt within the first 20 years. The other one was with 1.2, playing with identical tactic and here after 50 years I finally managed to vasallise Brunswick after pumping immense amounts of money and diplomats into Anhalt before it was force-vasallised by England. and in my second game I didn't have worse monarchs or lower stability or whatever.

Bad luck or results of the patching?