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Jedrek

Chronicler of the Light
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Aug 21, 2006
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Serpents in Lombardian Paradise
Milan AGCEEP Succession Game

As promised, we're starting the third succession game. After our brilliant conquests as Finland, we're moving on to a slightly different part of Europe - Milan, to be more precise. Yup, we're tired of all that snow, orthdox church choirs and the completely abstract language (What the heck is perkele?!). Instead, we'd like to drink some good Italian wine, take a warm Christmas bath in the Mediterraean and have trully Gothic Christmas in huge Lombardian cathedrals!

Game settings:
Mod: AGCEEP 1,57
Country: MLO, aka Milan
Difficulty: hard/weakling
Specific AGCEEP settings on: KoI, KoG, crusader events

Rules
Basic SG rules are in this thread. Specific rules for this game are written below.

A) Roster
The current roster is as follows:
Jedrek
Olav
TheConqueror
Emperor_krk
The_Swert
Brian Roastbeef

Of course, the roster is open for everyone to join.

B) Every turn takes a maximum of 20 years of gameplay.

C) Deadlines
Just as in Fine Feats with Finland, you'll have 24h to report downloading the save and until Friday (as weekday player) or Sunday (as weekend player) to play the game and write your report. Don't forget to upload your save file on Rapidshare or Savefile. Of course, if something important pops up, you can either tell us that you skip the turn or inform us about a delay. Still, keep in mind that we want to end this game in reasonable future - if you won't be able to play this week, better skip the turn and wait for next chance.

D) Specific rules & goals for Milan:
- KoI is a must. Here you can find all the conditions required to form Kingdom of Italy.
- Once formed, we will convert to reformed.
- The goal is to create a stable sphere of Italian influence in Europe, capable of competing with the French, the Spanish and the Habsburgs.
- Converting the pope should be much easier now.
- Word "impossible" must not be used in this AAR. An acceptable ersatz is "quite difficult, but we'll do it".
- Badboy... Keep it as low as possible. Until we're weaker than our neighbours, keep it below 10.
- Do NOT forceannex fellow christians. Still, remember that when we go reformed, the counter-reformed catholics can no longer be reffered to as "fellow" and as such could be annexed. Same applies vice-versa.
- Sole Defender of Reformed Faith sounds nice, so it's not forbidden to grab the title. ;)
- We may colonise, but Europe is of top priority.
- Optimal DP settings have been described here
- Keep inflation below 15%.
- And my personal favourite; goals specified above may be changed, depending on the game's progress :)
 
Good Luck - count me as subscribed!
 
I
A snake among the Christians


In 1419, Milan was one of the most powerful duchies of Northern Italy. Spanning across Lombardia and Emilia Romania, and ruled by the dreadful Filippo Maria Visconti, it was a true serpent in Italian paradise. The prince, obsessed with thoughts of grabbing the Lombardian crown, pursued his dreams relentlessly, ready to defeat anyone standing in his way.

italia1419yq3.jpg

The Duchy of Milan and its neighbours

Still, he was kept in check by two other leading powers of the penisula; the papacy and Venice. Should Visconti try to move against one, the second block would surely move in, ready to restore the disturbed balance of powers. In order to sway it to his side, the Milanese duke attempted a series of bold diplomatical missions to Helvetia, hoping to bring the dreaded Swiss mercenaries into his service. Those efforts paid off in 1420, when the Tagsatzung agreed to enter a formal alliance with Milan. A simmilar pact with Siena was signed soon after.

sojuszwx0.jpg

Year 1421 brough additional good news, as the Genoese merchants, fearing the growing power of the Kingdom of Aragon, offered their submission to the Duchy of Milan. They hoped that with Milanese protection, their most precious island of Corsica would be safe from possible Aragonese invasion. It was a true blessing for Visconti; an access to Genoa's immense wealth meant that he could easily fund more mercenaries, possibly gaining enough advantage over Venice and the pope to challenge them openly.

genuage0.jpg

Meanwhile, as hostilities in France reached their peak, a group of craftsmen from Lyon reached the city, begging for shelter. The prince was more then happy to accept.

stolicaob7.jpg

Year 1422 brought an end to Hundered Years' War. The duke of Burgundy refused English claims to the throne of France, supporting the Dauphin instead. Young Charles was consecrated in Reims, and with great energy he started expelling the invaders out of the French mainland.

In 1423 Visconti annouced his claim upon the duchy of Modena. An outright invasion, however, was not possible; the duchy was Visconti's ally, yet it acknowledged the pope as their formal sovereign. Unwilling to start a full scale war yet, the Visconti had to back down.

hegemonia1qb9.jpg

As the conflict over Naples started to escalate, Visconti observed the situation carefully. The fear of Aragon expansion brought Genoa into his alliance, and the prince hoped that, should the Trastamara dynasty seize Naples, the encircled pope would be an easy prey from his army. For that reason he decided not to support the Angevin claim on Naples.

hegemonia2it8.jpg

Increasing Milanese influence meant that the prince had to guard his back. There were many people in the duchy, ready to replace him as the hegemon of Italy. One of such was a condottieri, Carmagnola. Visconti realised that the easiest way to get rid of potential usurper - exile - would not only reduce the ducal army, but also give Venice or the pope a possibility to hire this most skilled mercenary of southern Europe. Instead, the prince made him a governor of Genoa. Occupied by constant factional struggles within the City Council, the mercenary has been literally put out of action.

carmagnolard4.jpg

Fearing the Milanese expansion, the disturbed duchies and republics of the penisula formed a League against the Visconti. Thanks to his skillful diplomatic counteraction, a formal declaration of war did not follow, and the Milanese continued with preparations to attack when the time is right.

ligamo2.jpg

In 1426 the duke of Savoy proposed a pact - perpetual peace in exchange for a number of disputed villages across the border. Needless to say, such proposition conflicted with Visconti's grand abmitions and had to be refused.

paktef2.jpg

In December 1428, the duke of Tirol invaded a number of Swiss cantons, hoping to strenghten his position in Austria. Milan and its alliance joined the war, sending their armies into high Alpine passes. In February 1429 a strong force, consisting of some 15 thousands of Tirol's finest troops attempted to center Lombaria through a mountain pass protected by Visconti's troops. A massacre resulted; the German force was annihilated completely, with only minor loses on Italian side.

This allowed the duchy of Bavaria to backstab the Tirolians. In March an army led by duke Ernst initiaten a siege of Innsbruck, while Visconti's forces retreated to Milan, unwilling to suffer too much loses. Ultimately, the peace was signed in October 1431, proceded by a brief invasion of Baden. Tirol paid 150$ and ceded Baden and Alsace to Switzerland.

Visconti then moved his forces southwards, and invaded Tuscany. The Florentine-Venetian alliance had expired and Filippo Maria wanted to use the oppoertunity to wrestle controll over the unprotected duchy. A series of mercenary battles occured and in October 1432, after a brief siege, the duchy became Milanese vassal.

najemnicypz6.jpg

Such an act of aggression should reawake the anti-Visconti league. But the prince's diplomatical mastermind prevented other Italian states from acting. More; in 1436 Visconti's mercenaries managed to capture the Aragonian king Alfonso and bring him to Milan. There, the two ambitious conquerors signed an alliance, hoping to force the Angevins out of Neapol once and for all.

This, however, infuriated the Genoese. The merchants quickly organised a plot to remove Carmagnola and broke every alliance they had with the "double faced" prince of Milan. For Visconti, this was not a big problem; who would think about small Genoa, while having a Mediterraean superpower among his allies?

italia1436dn6.jpg

Wars against Tirol and Florence served their purpose; Milanese alliance started to become the dominant power of the Italian penisula, ready to challenge anyone daring to oppose it. Still, the cost of mercenary armies was great and the strain put on Milanese economy was only barely bearable. Visconti realised that his final moves had to be planned carefully. His country was on the straightest path to become a hegemon; but should he run of of money, his hegemony would be among the shortest ones in history...

europa1439na0.jpg

Summary:
- LT: 2 (Reached in VII 1426)
- NT: 1 (Reached in XII 1419)
- TL: 2 (Reached in II 1424)
- IL: 2 (Reached in VI 1425)
- BB: 2,6
- Inflation: 1,9%
- Loans: 1, expires in X 1441 (200$; 2,2$ interests)
- Income: 5,2$ per month
- Alliance: Milan-Switzerland-Siena-Mantua
- Vassal: Tuscany
- Possible enemies: Papal States-Modena-Neapol alliance, Tirol-Venice-Genua-Styria-Wirtemberg alliance and Savoy-Hesse alliance

Save: http://www.savefile.com/files/1941813 - let's kick their asses, Olav! :)
 
Last edited:
Very, very nice. Starting an alliance with Aragon was a very good idea. We may want to attack Genoa - they should have some nice cash reserves (vassalization won't be possible due to how far Kerch is), also the loot from Liguria may be a nice thing to speed up our research.

I'd rather we brought Tuscany into the alliance as soon as possible, we wouldn't lika e.g. Siena to attack them, dragging us into the war against our vassal.

A war against Naples isn't of much use for us currently, in my opinion. We should perhaps try to acquire Marche from the Pope, should a situation arise (any other province we would get would mean forceannexing a minor, and we don't want that).
 
The main problem is that Modena is a vassal to the Papaland - we can't vassalise them and taking Marche may be very toublesome if we fail to create a stable connection with the province.

I tried to bring Tuscany into the alliance, but didn't have the cash to improve relations. I've already wasted the first occasion to pay the loan and didn't want to make it impossible for Olav (as you can see, interests consume about 40% od our income).

Bringing Aragon to our alliance wasn't my idea at all; it was because of a strange event chain that first had vassalised Aragon (Oh yummy, I thought when I calculated the possible income) and then broke the vassalisation, bringing them into my alliance. Still, I guess they can keep the pope busy, should war in the South occur.

Olav, we're counting on you ;)
 
Badboy... Keep it as low as possible. Until we're weaker than our neighbours, keep it below 10.

Well if that's so, the late game will be pretty boring, but the trip getting there will be crazy enough to make up for it. :p


Good start. Very good start. Our position leaves a lot of options. Though, I agree that Tuscany ought to be brought into the alliance as soon as possible. Early game loans can be a real hindrance though, so I understand if you didn't want to spend the money.

By the way, will this be in 1.57 Base or Deluxe? Right now, I have Base for 1.57, so I want to know if I'll need to grab the Deluxe. I seem to remember from the Safavid SG that everybody needs to have the same version.
 
By the way, will this be in 1.57 Base or Deluxe? Right now, I have Base for 1.57, so I want to know if I'll need to grab the Deluxe. I seem to remember from the Safavid SG that everybody needs to have the same version.
No, there is no in-game difference between Base and Deluxe anymore. Only difference is about gfx and shields (vanilla for Base and EGUFSM for Deluxe) since 1.57.
 
We're off with a good start! Having Aragon in our alliance should make warfare pretty easy. Hopefully they won't bring us into useless wars in France or in the Iberian peninsula. Also nice to see that Tuscany is vassalized. I will try to bring them into our alliance ASAP. Like krk said, we don't want Siena or someone else to DoW them. I think I will start a war against the Pope and Modena once we get Sforza - helping Tuscany to forceannex Modena will be the goal. :) Depending on the size of their armies, I might invade Naples and Papal States as well. We have to vassalize the Pope sooner or later anyway. I don't know about Naples though, due to their events (breaking vassalizations quite often seems to be the case, maybe YodaMaster knows something about this?). A quick war against Genoa sounds nice. They seem to put the bulk of their army on Corsica, so an invasion of Liguria shouldn't be too hard. Going for their treasury sounds like the best goal.

Milan is one of my favourite nations to play, so I know them quite well. I don't want to spoil too much, but we should really try to form KoI before 1500. Take a look in the events if you don't trust me. ;)

I'm a bit ill now (haven't eaten for 24 hours), so I think I will take my turn tomorrow when/if I feel better.

What's up with the polish map? Why is Switzerland only one province? Isn't it possible to switch to the english version?
 
What's up with the polish map? Why is Switzerland only one province? Isn't it possible to switch to the english version?
Strange... It could be a real problem when savefile will be used on an English map.

I can provide the "old" Deluxe map that can replace this "weird" map (just PM me). There will be no difference with vanilla English map but provinces will be the right ones for Jedrek.

I wasn't aware of such map difference in the Polish version of the game... We can see the second Swiss city on the map but I'm not sure corresponding province is really active and reachable.
Could Jedrek start a new game with Switzerland and see what happens when moving armies?
 
Well, the map did not cause any problems in Fine Feats with Finland, so we'll see if Olav manages to play the game now. As for Switzerland - don't worry, it's only graphics problem - a leftover from EU1 I guess. Border between the provinces is just invisible, but Switzerland consists of two provinces for sure. Compare these screens:

ligamo2.jpg

najemnicypz6.jpg


In the first screen, an army in Switzerland is located in eastern part of Helvetia, while in the second picture we have an army in the West. I think Emperor_krk can confirm my words.

@ Yoda - I'd be most grateful for the map :)
 
Wow, this makes me miss EU 2 :(

Awesome chain of events btw.
 
Would be more awesome if I had those 75$ during mercenary wars... >_<
 
In the first screen, an army in Switzerland is located in eastern part of Helvetia, while in the second picture we have an army in the West. I think Emperor_krk can confirm my words.
Aye.

The Polish map was very badly remade by CDProjekt, the Polish publisher of EU2, in order to have Polish names of provinces on it. It looks horrible, and it was the reason I had asked you of sending me the map file a month ago Yoda :).
I'm sending you the map folder via PM, Jedrek - though I think I have a different colorscale in it, so you may want to replace it. And, just in case anything f***s up, don't forget to have a backup copy of your original Map folder.
 
Bloody Milan, trampling lovely Savoy. Still, you navigated the alliance problems rather delicately and set things up nicely with that Aragonese pact to thump some Italians. If they can get help to you past a Venetian blockade, that is. Aragon is a useful ally in Italian affairs imo, because they seize land, lose it in rebellions, call you to help put down the rebellion, and you can handily pick up the provinces.
 
Milan 1439-1459

The diplomatic situation on the Italian peninsula in 1439 was rather complex. Three large alliances kept the region in balance. Two of the alliances had more members than the limit, Milan's and Genoa's. Genoa's was arguably the mightiest, with Tyrol, Wirtemberg, Styria, Venice and lastly Tuscany, Milan's vassal, on their side. It was clear that an aggressive war against Genoa wouldn't be very clever at that point. Further south was the alliance of Modena, Papal States and Naples. Even if Milan had CB against two of them, I decided to let it wait. Instead I tried to vassalize Mantua (+200), and it was an instant success. A few years later the tensions in the area would easy off with the Treaty of Cremona:

m1mb6.jpg

Notice the nation in the background!​

The following years were spent at mainly watching Milan's neighbours, and expanding trade in Liguria. However diplomatic actions would soon change this. First of all, Naples became vassals of Aragon. They were forced into Aragon's alliance by event (YodaMaster, I don't like this. :p), thus making Milan's alliance more powerful. This made Papal States and Modena much more vulnerable to an attack, but sadly I didn't have a CB at the moment. Second of all, both Milan's, Papal States' and Genoa's alliances expired in 1446. Of course, this caused me some headaches; who should I invite? Aragon and Naples were out of the question, as they're too distant. So were Papal States, as they are impossible to vassalize diplomatically. So the choice fell on Mantua, Genoa, Tuscany and Siena. I was a bit unlucky, since I wanted Switzerland in the alliance, but I had renewed a RM with them recently, so no diplomat was available. They were invited to an alliance with some German minors, so Siena took Switzerland's place.

All the messing around with diplomatic actions had to lead to a war. :D The long peaceful state ended in 1449 when Mantua went to war against the lone Modena. Modena's army was beaten, and they retreated into Sforza's (a very good Milanese leader) lap. That secured us some valuable warscore. More on that later. Even if this was a "walkover war", it broke the balance in the region. That caused Theodoros (+Venice, Albania and Tyrol) to DoW Genoa. Tyrol went straight for Lombardia, but they were killed there by Sforza (I love that man). However a siege of Tyrol was thwarted by massive attrition losses and an aggressive Albanian army. Sforza went instead after Veneto, which were captured surprisingly fast.

m2fb4.jpg

~80 000 men and winter... ouch. Milan had only 2000 men there though.​

As the Venetian fleet lacked a port to stay in, they blockaded the straits at Veneto, effectively trapping Sforza and his men. I therefore accepted a peaceoffer of 400 ducats. Genoa didn't get anything of the share, as they tapped out of the war earlier, giving Kerch to Theodoros! Should make it easier to vassalize Genoa down the line. As for Modena, they had been captured by Mantua. I signed a separate peace gaining 50 ducats(!) due to the WS. That was the green light for Mantua to annex them, which they promptly did. I tried to diploannex both Mantua and Tuscany when the war ended, but both refused. That was the third time Tuscany refused, by the way. On the other hand, one year later Siena accepted to become our vassals.

Around 1454 Savoy (+ Berg and Hesse) got into a nasty war against Burgundy and France, where the latter annexed both of Savoy's allies. That caused many nations to DoW France later on. However I wasn't interested in France - Savoy's weak position was more interesting. I didn't have any CB, but BB was at 0 and relations were >100, so I DoW'ed them in autumn 1454 (no allies involved). Since all of their men were busy in France, their capital was captured without interruption by Sforza. However a peacedeal between the French states caused an Savoian invasion of Lombardia. Sforza was sent back to deal with it:

m3ql9.jpg

Even if it seems like Sforza is winning, he lost quite badly. I think it was due to poorly synchronized arrivals for the two Milanese armies. Anyway, Savoy did fortunately not manage to capture the capital within the next few months, so Sforza had time to regain morale. In the ensuing battle it was clear that Sforza was the best leader, and so the Savoian army was wiped out. Piemonte was captured shortly after, and 100% WS was secured. However before I could sign a peace treaty, Genoa DoW'ed the beliggerent France. Since they already were at war with half of Europe, the war wasn't so serious as feared. Lyonnais was captured by Milan, while Provence was captured by Mantua. It was time to sign peace: France had to give the Italians 125 ducats, and MA to Milan. Savoy had to cede Piemonte and 150 ducats to Milan, and they also became our vassals. Two successful wars, without breaking too much sweat.

With peace restored, I tried once again to annex Tuscany, but it was once again a fail. However, if one tries long enough, one will succeed. :)

m4rr4.jpg
Woho!

That was the last happening worth mention during my turn. Both my slider moves were towards centralization. We also got some random and scripted events that changed our sliders - I remember +2 centralization and +1 offensive. Both are good. I also got a Exceptional Year event, but we only got 100 ducats from it.

I invested in Infra 3 until it was reached in the 1450's, then I invested in Trade 3. It is due in 1483. We have only active merchants in Liguria by the way.

It shouldn't be too hard to annex Tuscany now. We're not in a hurry though, as we have enough provinces to fulfill the KoI trigger. Tuscany got a large army too - it would be nice to exploit it some more. Sforza is still around too, so an offensive war or two shouldn't do much harm, even if our BB is 4.2.

Allies and vassals: Genoa (not vassal), Savoy, Siena and Tuscany

LT 3, NT 2, Trade 2, Infra 3

We need a Tax Collector in Romagna. Inflation is at 0.2%

m5xm9.jpg

Granada's still going strong. OE as well.​

The Save: http://www.savefile.com/files/1945759

phargle and demokratickid: Nice to know that you're following! :)
 
Remember that the KoI triggers requires good relations with either HAB or PAP... Since PAP is out of question, I suggest befriending the Habsburg scum ;p

Your turn, TheConqueror!
 
First of all, Naples became vassals of Aragon. They were forced into Aragon's alliance by event (YodaMaster, I don't like this. :p)
Well, check Naples' ruler and you will understand why Naples is not an independent country anymore. ;)