I’m Gonna Be IN PictAARs: An Algiers AAR

Hey guys, before I put out my first post (in the next 30 - 90 minutes) and respond to comments I want to remind you that the ACA’s aka AARland Choice AwAARds are here: AARland Choice AwAARds 2008 Q4

Below is a sample copy of the voting form and its fairly straight forward. All you have to do is post a reply to the link above and cast your vote! Or if you want to vote privately then send your vote to phargle

To make links out of words like this all you have to do is...
- Open a reply box
- Write in the title of your vote and who its by
-Highlight the title
-Click on the ‘world’ button just above your white box - it’s the 7th button from the right.
-Paste the url and hit okay
(if someone has an easier way then feel free to say it, I certainly could learn.)

I put a sample of what it’ll look like below *Shameless Plug Alert* You can’t vote for yourself though.
Go and vote for me now because if you don’t, you’re a Communist... and if you’re a Communist and don’t vote for me, then you’re a Capitalist.

So go ahead, stop by and watch me get beat by Alfred Packer and Canonized!

Favorite AAR, Rome
Favorite Narrative AAR, Rome
Favorite Comedy AAR, Rome
Favorite History-Book AAR, Rome
Favorite Gameplay AAR, Rome

Favorite AAR, EU3 Japan Rulez!!! - Yes, with a ‘Z’ by Brandenburg III
Favorite Narrative AAR, EU3 Algiers - Who Am I? by Brandenburg III
Favorite Comedy AAR, EU3 Japan Rulez!!! - Yes, with a ‘Z’ by Brandenburg III
Favorite History-Book AAR, EU3
Favorite Gameplay AAR, EU3

Favorite AAR, HOI1/2
Favorite Narrative AAR, HOI1/2
Favorite Comedy AAR, HOI1/2 Would you like Fry with that? A terribly British MDS AAR by C'est Moi
Favorite History-Book AAR, HOI1/2
Favorite Gameplay AAR, HOI1/2

Favorite AAR, CK
Favorite Narrative AAR, CK
Favorite Comedy AAR, CK
Favorite History-Book AAR, CK
Favorite Gameplay AAR, CK

Favorite AAR, Vicky
Favorite Narrative AAR, Vicky
Favorite Comedy AAR, Vicky
Favorite History-Book AAR, Vicky
Favorite Gameplay AAR, Vicky

Favorite AAR, EU1/2
Favorite Narrative AAR, EU1/2
Favorite Comedy AAR, EU1/2
Favorite History-Book AAR, EU1/2
Favorite Gameplay AAR, EU1/2

Favorite Graphics, Overall
Favorite New Writer, Overall

Chapter 1: SMILE and StAARt​

Its medium-sized, its tan, its Algiers... oh, wait, that was the opening for my Japan AAR...

How about this?

There, that’s somewhat different. AND I was able to use my own pics!

I did take a bunch of starting pictures but if you’re that curious, the IN start up is only a button or two away. But I will tell you this: ‘I’ is my favorite letter and word! I don’t care if it has nothing to do with this AAR. Those Roman Numerals after ‘Brandenburg’ in my name aren’t Roman Numerals, they’re the letter ‘I’!



Before I pushed the ‘Start’ button, or ‘unpaused’ the game these were my opening moves, praying like a Grandmaster that these choices wouldn’t get me beat in three moves: alliance offers were sent to Tunisia and Tripoli, no advisors were hired so I could conserve money, I used the 50 ducats to buy military units because in my 5 years as practice for IN, Morocco declared war on me quickly. I also changed my NI to Grand Army due to a likely war with Morocco. I had more anticipation wrapped up in that moment than a lonely bachelor on his wedding night... or a young maiden dreading it.

After some thinking about slider moves (I really like how slider moves changed to chance) I decided to move +1 toward Quality and I received this:



I hired him in part because I ‘won’ him like a big pink bear at the Ye Olde Countye Faire. The other part was because I had no idea what discipline did and it sounded important. More important than when a doctor comes back to the waiting area after operating on a crash victim and says, “I’m sorry but we did all we could *pause* she has a concussion.” The family almost never gets the joke.

Anticipating the Moroccan fight (which I expect to lose as I had during my practice years) I moved my troops to the Moroccan border in hopes of persuading them to look elsewhere. It was my own failed Maginot Line except I knew my weaknesses.

After I started the game I received my first mission and confirmation on my alliances. Both Tunisia and Tripoli accepted. My mission was to declare war on Morocco... oh the computer is SO * FUNNY



A bit later in the year, because beds get cold, Tripoli agreed to a royal marriage. Usually I’d try a diplo-annex attempt later but after hearing about some kind of Centralization or some other slider hit, I decide I’ll only vassalize them... at least until I



Things were going fine as my new troops were being built and moved. Eventually I had Morocco agree to a royal marriage because two is never enough.



Things ought to be fine, right?

n.y.o: Glad to have you around. Taking the spot of the ‘first post’ is a big step; are you sure you can fulfill its responsibilities?

Azugal: It was Prussia. After finding IN I didn’t want to go through another 1.3 AAR. And I was itching to try my old 1.3 Algiers strategy in 3.1. For those who’ve read my Algiers narrative AAR they probably already know my opening moves but I can guarantee that things won’t turn out the same.

Again, its good to have you.

aldriq: haha, I wasn’t even thinking! Yes, hopefully it’ll do something for me

PrawnStar: I can’t believe how much faster these expansions move. Now there’s no time to read while I play.

I’ll bring back Janet only if one of two things happens: I run out of ideas or I get... distracted. Talking about that band so much caused me to go out and buy their ‘Rev It Up’ cd.

demokratickid: Nice to see you here. This type of AAR is way easier to write and will not be left unchecked.

I think you’re catching on. AAR titles that have the ‘AAR’ in them always annoyed me so it makes perfect sense that I’d do it. It’ll grow on me, I’m sure... and probably in some inconvenient place. I never saw the allure but apparently it does something to people so when they see ‘I’m StAARring in my first AAR’ it drives em nuts. Really, it does. Go downtown and try doing something AAR-like, people will freak out faster than those who paid full price for Eu3 complete.

I do have a question for those of you who write AARs. Why is it that you play better when you’re writing an AAR? I just thought about that because of another game I’m playing... anyway you probably want to know about Morocco (and if you’re new to my AARs there’s always a paragraph or two worth of waste. If you want to get to the meat of the matter, always skip those first few paragraphs.



Near 1401 I found an inflation advisor and picked him up because I wasn’t going to have National Bank. And he squealed and squealed, yelling at me to let him down until I put him in his little box... and drew a moustache on him...



A few months later I found Aladdin bouncing around the fringes of that strange snow in my desert (asbestos) and I said, “Show me something I’ve never seen before.” And he did this:



I love colonies almost as much as I love drunk groupies.

Right! Important stuff, important stuff!



That’s a 7000 difference for all you mathematicians out there. Now put away your scales, that half-circle thing and check this out



Notice I added another regiment before the declaration.

And here’s the war score. On my own I wouldn’t look at this because if you don’t know your enemy then that’s your fault but its nice to have for AARs.



My planning doesn’t go as deep as other writers on this site. The only time I give myself to plan is while I’m writing things down so I always go for the obvious choice... hitting Tunisia first. Why didn’t they join my side? And what happened to Tripoli? Its frustrating when your allies don’t come when you need them. Its kind of like when you’re playing a FPS co-op and you’re stuck on the team with the moron who shoots everyone in the back because he’s too busy mixing vodka with pickle juice.

So while I’m merrily marching along (as I’m sure my soldiers are in that heat) I’m hoping Castile, Aragon or Portugal get a mission to attack Morocco because I’m going to need a miracle to come out of this so I don’t end up eating my food through a straw. I should mention that I was planning on attacking Aragon, wouldn’t that have been exciting? Yeah, blame Morocco because it ain’t happening... at least not now.

By the way, I want all the Med. Islands.

In Tlemcen I enacted ‘The March’ Off hand I can’t remember specifically what it does but I do know it helps with fort defense which I’ll need while I’m off in Tunisia world. Its like Disney but the complete opposite.



A little more than two weeks into the war and my peasants sight a meteor. Yes, apparently every single one of them saw the freaking meteor. Now I remember why I don’t play vanilla. What’s wrong with sighting Venus or Jupiter in the sky? Why don’t they go nuts over that? I think sighting a God would be freakier than a lame meteor. And yes, its always an ‘omen’ because my peasants are morons.

After I occupied Gafsa and Gabes in early September the Tunisians accepted peace. Its almost like they didn’t know I was going to go after their unfortified provinces. Their rulers must come from my peasant stock. “Moo.” That’s right, my peasants moo.



At the very least if Morocco beats me down worse than a parent battling for this year’s Got-To-Get Christmas toy, I’ll come away with crumbs. “Moo.” Quiet!

“What do you want us to do?”

“I don’t care, do whatever you want... But don’t look at the #$*#’*(&%^% sky!”

And here’s the updated war score pic



Morocco went after Tlemcen, the only province I was able to do anything in before I left for Tunisia. They could’ve gone anywhere else but they chose that one province. Once they chose that province they kept trying to assault it (beginning in December) and failed miserably. This was my opportunity... I once remember thinking the exact same thing behind a 7/11 eight years ago.

At the beginning of 1403 I decided to hire 1 merc company and have it run around like an evil chicken. I was curious to see if it’d work as a distraction while I tried tangoing with the Moroccans in Tlemcen less than two weeks after their failed assault.



As you can see on the side scroll, between their failed assault and my enacting the March, the siege has held up pretty well... unless if they briefly left the siege when I wasn’t looking and came back to it which is entirely possible. Also, in the pic above, our ships are going at it...

After a few months the battle for Tlemcen ended. What a horrible mess. The tricky part was deciding whether or not to follow with low moral... I thought about buying them a hooker but that isn’t an in-game option



Here’s the end of the naval battle

Azugal: I’m thinking Morocco completed a mission between their acceptance of the royal marriage and their insult. Either that or they wanted to claim my throne but I don’t think the AI is that smart.

On Algiers - Who Am I? I wouldn’t recommend reading it. It only goes up to 33k words and isn’t finished by a long shot. However I do have a title page which I updated sometime in December. Every month I wrote out a log of what I did. I think it only goes up to 1458 (1466 at the latest.)

C’est Moi: Oops o sorry about that. Always in a hurry. As a way to make it up, check the sample voting post again. I should really start commenting in the HoI forums and I’ll get around to answering your AAR question.

As for the drawing, if you think that’s in depth wait until I put down other ideas I’ve got rolling around.

Aldriq: More At the start of each war and every six months I’m going to try to remember to post a war score update and once a year on 1 January I’ll post an overview of the war to show occupied territories and such.

demokratickid: In my practice years I was rolled over by Morocco. I’ve put my prayers in the Europeans...

Puritan: Algiers has been the only Muslim country I’ve played so far. I would’ve tried Morocco but I wanted to have a fighting chance. And I’m going to do my best to curtail the Castile/Spain advance.

joshau-k: That’s good to know, thanks! I’ll keep that in mind for future missions.