This is meant to be just a simple AAR of my current game as the Papal States, played 1.03 normal/normal no mods. Expect no plot 
Why the Papal States. Well, coz1’s Holy Trinity made me realise this could be an interesting country, so after a trial game with the USA for get some idea of 1.03, I loaded up and went away. There will also be no screenies I’m afraid. I’m just incredibly bad at taking them. As for hosting, that is an unknown world.
1836
Well, let’s have a wee look around. The starting situation of the Papal States:
Prestige 3 (14th) Industrial 29 (23rd) Military 2 (40th) Overall: 25
4 States
Latium (Roma, Viterbo) 1 Inf-A (5000men) in Roma
Toscana (Grosseto)
Umbria (Perugia, Ancona,) Wine Factory
Romagna (Ferrara, Bologna, Rimini) Glass Factory
We have some clerks and craftsmen in both Latium and Toscana, but they are effectively useless since I won’t be getting Machine parts any time soon. I hope that some will migrate to Umbria since I only have 4 POPs to work in the Winery. The Glass factory is fully staffed.
A quick look at politics shows that I Rule be Decree, and that the reactionary party is in power. Well, if that can be said to be in power precisely. Let’s just say this the successors of Peter hold the same reactionary opinions. I have no social reforms, but do allow political parties, but since I don’t allow anyone to vote that one has me scratching by head slightly. Public meetings are allowed (I assume so that church services don’t get disrupted) but unions are not. There is a State press – I’ve got a feeling its called the Sunday Pastoral. I have a Traditional Academic set-up.
Time to set up the trading situation. I go to buy 10 in Furniture, Paper, Tobacco, and Regular clothes, and 5 in Luxury Furniture and Precious Metals. I fortuitously start with 20 luxury clothes, and I intend to sell 15 of them off to get me a little cash after the initial slide into debt has been halted. Otherwise I just go down the list, clicking to buy or sell as I think necessary. I don’t sell of any other stockpiles though.
For my tax rates I set poor at 75% and the other two at 49.22%, since I’ve heard that 50% and above makes them disappear. I max out Education and keep crime at about halfway. It will need some fine tuning once the initial free-fall stops. Finally I start to research Associationism. Unpause.
Naturally the bottom falls out of my treasury, but in the event I only get about £4000 in debt before things stabilise. Now I sell off my 15 luxury clothes, and this nets me about £2000. I turn the Defence slider down a bit, and soon I’m running a £3-4 profit. Time to slowly crawl my way out of debt.
Almost immediately Two Sicilies and Sardinia-Piedmont start improving relations. I just sit back and let that happen. The usual bits and bobs happen in Belgium and so on, and it looks like I’ve survived the first year.
1837-1842
This is mostly just slowly ticking along.
1837 opens with more messages of love from S-P and 2Sicilies. Tuscany and Modena follow suit. In May I get Associationism, I start to research Stock Exchange. Russia annexes Khiva and France removes Al-Djazir from the map. Queen Victoria inherits the throne, my screen is lost under the Hannover joining the various alliance pop-ups. As if to celebrate the UK annexes Punjab. I finally get out of debt as well.
1838 kicks off with the 2nd Oriental Crises right on schedule. El Salvador becomes the first nation to declare independence from the USCA, and the USA and UK conclude a diplomatic deal, though I’m too lazy to see what it is. S-P and 2Siciles send me nice things for the summer, and Texas joins the Union. As a side note it was only the second time I saw a white peace between Texas and Mexico in their starting war. In September I discover Stock Exchange, and start on Practical Steam Engine.
1839 The 2nd Oriental Crises ends in the white peace between Egypt and the OE. In March Defensive Structures random event happens, and a Lvl 1 fortress appears in Ferrara. I’m not complaining. Then what I call the 3rd Oriental crises happens. Russia declares war on the OE, and all hell breaks lose. Eventually the following war is being fought: Russia, Greece, and Denmark versus OE, UK, France, Austria, Serbia, Wallachia, and Moldavia. Nicaragua declares independence, and tensions rise between the UK and China, turning to war in July. In December Russia annexes Moldavia and my scientists discover Practical Steam Engine. I set them onto Positivism.
1840 Guatemala declares independence from the USCA. 2Siciles really want to be my friend, and in reply I make my first diplomatic deal. Stock Exchange in return for about £3000. Meanwhile I move my army from Roma to Ferrara, and create a general called Salerno. He’s a chicken-hearted ex-ranker, but he could be worse. I’ve noticed that, though Italy has lots of Defence Pacts, it is not a case of everyone has a pact with everyone else. In particular I’ve noted Modena doesn’t have a pact with anyone apart from Parma. I begin to scheme. Nothing much happens for the second half of the year.
1841: The UK makes a white peace with China, and concludes another deal with the USA. Again I’m too lazy to check, and more interested in what is happening in Europe. Greece made a bad move, and soon is forced to cede Naxos, Mesolongion and Lamia to the OE for peace. Russia is getting over-run by Austrians, and the Brits have landed in Crimea. I discover Positivism and start on Experimental Rail-road. I trade Practical Steam Engine to 2Siciles for about £4000, and convert a 35k Farmer POP in Grossena into soldiers, and recruit 3 Inf divisions, and improve my starting Inf-A upto full strength. I have to tweak the sliders to make the budge balance. Down a little in crime and education, getting perhaps £0.5 a day. France decides to punish Annam, Cambodia joins in against the Europeans. Bad move I feel. In August the OE makes a white peace with Russia, and that war ends entirely. In September I get my first Corruption in Ancona, but I’m not really concerned. In October Greece makes another alliance with russia, and the USA and UK conclude another deal. In November Honudruas lurches free of the USCA, and in December my three new divisions are ready.
1842-8
The War with Modena and Parma.
OK, there was nothing grand about this war. I plonked the new divisions with by Inf-A, and waiting for them to build up morale. Incidentally I got Clausewitzian at the beginning. I declare war on the 13th. AS hoped for Parma honours its alliance with Modena. Both have armies of 1 division. I March from Ferrara to Modena, and fight the Modenan army. The Parmese army joins in before the end. Both are destoyed. I make quick work of reducing all three provinces of both nations, and then annex them both at the end of August and beginning of September.
1842 While I was doing that Costa Rica declared independence from USCA, and I decided it was now wise to start sending gifts Austria’s way. I’ve seen others buy Italian land from Austria to good effect, and I hope to do the same myself at some future point.
My new conquests bring a new state into my Empire, Parma-Modena. They have a Canned Food factory that I load up. They have extra craftsmen/clerks, and touch wood some will still be around for when I get my first new factories built. Canned Food isn’t very profitable, but money is money. I lower army maintaince down to about three-quarters, and defence to about half, and shave more off crime and education. My expenses have gone up with the added territory it seems.
The UK declares war on Burma. And in November I discover Experimental Railway. I begin researching Medicine, but only because Mechanial Production isn’t an option, and I figure by removing alternatives I’ll get it quicker. Thanks to my deals I have enough money to build 4 railroads, so Roma, Parma, Modena, and Bologna get upgraded.
1843: Opens with Cambodia cededing Penonbang to France. I make a trio of deals, one with each of S-P, 2Sicilies, and Tuscany, mostly to get some cash for my plans when I get Mechanical Production. I re-adjust my trade orders to take into account my Canned Food factory in Parma-Modena, which I had forgotten to do at the time. In June the UK annexes Burma, and my budget has settled out to a £2 profit. I have crime about about a quarter, and now Bologna is also affected by corruption. My education is now about two-thirds, but I don’t want to tax my poorest at more than 75%. Waiting for Mechanical Produciton basically so I can get those 5 Machine Parts to build a factory or two. In August France makes peace with Annam, getting Saigon, Dongnai, Tekmao, and Hatien. In November Russia declares war on Bukkhara, and that’s that.
1844: My screen once more disppears under a load of pop-ups. This time it’s the Greek Constitution domino effect. That’s in June, nothing happens in the first half of the year. In August I get Medicine, and Mechanical Production finally appears. I chose it. Russia annexes Bukkhara, and the OE declares war on Egypt. France backs Egypt. Corruption hits Rimini and Grosseto. I build a rail-road in Perugia. Russia declares war on Kokand and Greece hitches up in a military alliance with the French.
1845 beings with the USA buying New Mexico and Arizona from Mexico. I made another couple of deals with 2Siciles and S-P (both have relations now +165 or more), getting about £9000 between them trading Steam Engine to S-P and Experimental RR to 2Sicilies. The OE makes peace with Egypt getting Dimashq and Amman. Russia made peace with Kokand, taking Tashkent and turning Kokand into a satellite. In December I get Mechinal Production, and start building a Lumber Mill and Steel Factory in Parma-Modena. I start on Idealism.
1846 UK and USA accept 49th degree. I start paying serious attentin to improving my relations with Austria. The UK declared war on, and quickly annexed, Jahore, before declaring war on Annam (via event). Cambodia joins in the fun against the UK again. At the end of the year my two new factories are built, and I close the canned food operation, and transfer everyone to the other 2. I filled up the Steel factory, and there are 4 small craftsmen POPs suriving that I put into the Lumber Mill. I turn the largest into Clerks. All in all a quiet year. I re-jig my sliders now I have more money coming in. Eduation goes back up to 100%, and I nudge Crime up slightly.
1847 January is a month to be remembered, for a Great War began on the 13th. Basically a whole load of DoWs popped up on the screen. The end result was two interconnected wars that revolved around the Slesvig events. The two wars were:
France, Denmark, Russia, Holstein, Greece and Kokand versus Prussia, Mecklenburg and Hannover.
Russia, Denmark, Kokand, Holstein and Greece versus Austria.
France dishonoured the alliance in the second war that actually occurred a few days later on the 2nd February.
In March I get Idealism, and begin looking for the wonders of Functionalism. In August the UK annexes Cambodia, and in October the UK forces Annam to give up Touran and become a satellite. On the last day of October France makes peace with Hannover, getting Osnabrück, Lingen, Lüneburg, Stade, and Emden. I take a look. Austria and Prussia have forced into Russia, but France has steamrollered over western Prussia and is pushing further on eastward. In November on the 4th attempt the USA forces Mexico to stop colonising the the Americas. What good that does I do not know. Meanwhile I’e built Exp RR in Rimini and Ancona.
1848 Tibet concludes a deal with China. There are a bunch of minor peace treaties in the Great War. Various white peaces. In May Prussia annexes Holstein. In June I discover Functionalism and opt for Market Structure. Austria makes peace with Denmark, gaining Aarhus, Reykjavik, Gothab, and the Virgin Islands. I can’t work out what was going on there. This however really screws Prussia as she is now effecitely alone, as opposed with a de facto ally. Although she is on the offensive in Russia France encroaches more and more, and shown by the French annexation of Mecklenburg. And that is how the year ends.
Situation as of 1st January 1849
Prestige 40 (11th) Industrial 57 (11th) Military 5 (26th) Overall: 15
Not bad. Though I’ve noticed my prestige dropped by 10 points for no apparent reason in 1847. I don’t know when it dropped, I only noticed in passing. Anyone have any ideas on why that might have happened?
Why the Papal States. Well, coz1’s Holy Trinity made me realise this could be an interesting country, so after a trial game with the USA for get some idea of 1.03, I loaded up and went away. There will also be no screenies I’m afraid. I’m just incredibly bad at taking them. As for hosting, that is an unknown world.
1836
Well, let’s have a wee look around. The starting situation of the Papal States:
Prestige 3 (14th) Industrial 29 (23rd) Military 2 (40th) Overall: 25
4 States
Latium (Roma, Viterbo) 1 Inf-A (5000men) in Roma
Toscana (Grosseto)
Umbria (Perugia, Ancona,) Wine Factory
Romagna (Ferrara, Bologna, Rimini) Glass Factory
We have some clerks and craftsmen in both Latium and Toscana, but they are effectively useless since I won’t be getting Machine parts any time soon. I hope that some will migrate to Umbria since I only have 4 POPs to work in the Winery. The Glass factory is fully staffed.
A quick look at politics shows that I Rule be Decree, and that the reactionary party is in power. Well, if that can be said to be in power precisely. Let’s just say this the successors of Peter hold the same reactionary opinions. I have no social reforms, but do allow political parties, but since I don’t allow anyone to vote that one has me scratching by head slightly. Public meetings are allowed (I assume so that church services don’t get disrupted) but unions are not. There is a State press – I’ve got a feeling its called the Sunday Pastoral. I have a Traditional Academic set-up.
Time to set up the trading situation. I go to buy 10 in Furniture, Paper, Tobacco, and Regular clothes, and 5 in Luxury Furniture and Precious Metals. I fortuitously start with 20 luxury clothes, and I intend to sell 15 of them off to get me a little cash after the initial slide into debt has been halted. Otherwise I just go down the list, clicking to buy or sell as I think necessary. I don’t sell of any other stockpiles though.
For my tax rates I set poor at 75% and the other two at 49.22%, since I’ve heard that 50% and above makes them disappear. I max out Education and keep crime at about halfway. It will need some fine tuning once the initial free-fall stops. Finally I start to research Associationism. Unpause.
Naturally the bottom falls out of my treasury, but in the event I only get about £4000 in debt before things stabilise. Now I sell off my 15 luxury clothes, and this nets me about £2000. I turn the Defence slider down a bit, and soon I’m running a £3-4 profit. Time to slowly crawl my way out of debt.
Almost immediately Two Sicilies and Sardinia-Piedmont start improving relations. I just sit back and let that happen. The usual bits and bobs happen in Belgium and so on, and it looks like I’ve survived the first year.
1837-1842
This is mostly just slowly ticking along.
1837 opens with more messages of love from S-P and 2Sicilies. Tuscany and Modena follow suit. In May I get Associationism, I start to research Stock Exchange. Russia annexes Khiva and France removes Al-Djazir from the map. Queen Victoria inherits the throne, my screen is lost under the Hannover joining the various alliance pop-ups. As if to celebrate the UK annexes Punjab. I finally get out of debt as well.
1838 kicks off with the 2nd Oriental Crises right on schedule. El Salvador becomes the first nation to declare independence from the USCA, and the USA and UK conclude a diplomatic deal, though I’m too lazy to see what it is. S-P and 2Siciles send me nice things for the summer, and Texas joins the Union. As a side note it was only the second time I saw a white peace between Texas and Mexico in their starting war. In September I discover Stock Exchange, and start on Practical Steam Engine.
1839 The 2nd Oriental Crises ends in the white peace between Egypt and the OE. In March Defensive Structures random event happens, and a Lvl 1 fortress appears in Ferrara. I’m not complaining. Then what I call the 3rd Oriental crises happens. Russia declares war on the OE, and all hell breaks lose. Eventually the following war is being fought: Russia, Greece, and Denmark versus OE, UK, France, Austria, Serbia, Wallachia, and Moldavia. Nicaragua declares independence, and tensions rise between the UK and China, turning to war in July. In December Russia annexes Moldavia and my scientists discover Practical Steam Engine. I set them onto Positivism.
1840 Guatemala declares independence from the USCA. 2Siciles really want to be my friend, and in reply I make my first diplomatic deal. Stock Exchange in return for about £3000. Meanwhile I move my army from Roma to Ferrara, and create a general called Salerno. He’s a chicken-hearted ex-ranker, but he could be worse. I’ve noticed that, though Italy has lots of Defence Pacts, it is not a case of everyone has a pact with everyone else. In particular I’ve noted Modena doesn’t have a pact with anyone apart from Parma. I begin to scheme. Nothing much happens for the second half of the year.
1841: The UK makes a white peace with China, and concludes another deal with the USA. Again I’m too lazy to check, and more interested in what is happening in Europe. Greece made a bad move, and soon is forced to cede Naxos, Mesolongion and Lamia to the OE for peace. Russia is getting over-run by Austrians, and the Brits have landed in Crimea. I discover Positivism and start on Experimental Rail-road. I trade Practical Steam Engine to 2Siciles for about £4000, and convert a 35k Farmer POP in Grossena into soldiers, and recruit 3 Inf divisions, and improve my starting Inf-A upto full strength. I have to tweak the sliders to make the budge balance. Down a little in crime and education, getting perhaps £0.5 a day. France decides to punish Annam, Cambodia joins in against the Europeans. Bad move I feel. In August the OE makes a white peace with Russia, and that war ends entirely. In September I get my first Corruption in Ancona, but I’m not really concerned. In October Greece makes another alliance with russia, and the USA and UK conclude another deal. In November Honudruas lurches free of the USCA, and in December my three new divisions are ready.
1842-8
The War with Modena and Parma.
OK, there was nothing grand about this war. I plonked the new divisions with by Inf-A, and waiting for them to build up morale. Incidentally I got Clausewitzian at the beginning. I declare war on the 13th. AS hoped for Parma honours its alliance with Modena. Both have armies of 1 division. I March from Ferrara to Modena, and fight the Modenan army. The Parmese army joins in before the end. Both are destoyed. I make quick work of reducing all three provinces of both nations, and then annex them both at the end of August and beginning of September.
1842 While I was doing that Costa Rica declared independence from USCA, and I decided it was now wise to start sending gifts Austria’s way. I’ve seen others buy Italian land from Austria to good effect, and I hope to do the same myself at some future point.
My new conquests bring a new state into my Empire, Parma-Modena. They have a Canned Food factory that I load up. They have extra craftsmen/clerks, and touch wood some will still be around for when I get my first new factories built. Canned Food isn’t very profitable, but money is money. I lower army maintaince down to about three-quarters, and defence to about half, and shave more off crime and education. My expenses have gone up with the added territory it seems.
The UK declares war on Burma. And in November I discover Experimental Railway. I begin researching Medicine, but only because Mechanial Production isn’t an option, and I figure by removing alternatives I’ll get it quicker. Thanks to my deals I have enough money to build 4 railroads, so Roma, Parma, Modena, and Bologna get upgraded.
1843: Opens with Cambodia cededing Penonbang to France. I make a trio of deals, one with each of S-P, 2Sicilies, and Tuscany, mostly to get some cash for my plans when I get Mechanical Production. I re-adjust my trade orders to take into account my Canned Food factory in Parma-Modena, which I had forgotten to do at the time. In June the UK annexes Burma, and my budget has settled out to a £2 profit. I have crime about about a quarter, and now Bologna is also affected by corruption. My education is now about two-thirds, but I don’t want to tax my poorest at more than 75%. Waiting for Mechanical Produciton basically so I can get those 5 Machine Parts to build a factory or two. In August France makes peace with Annam, getting Saigon, Dongnai, Tekmao, and Hatien. In November Russia declares war on Bukkhara, and that’s that.
1844: My screen once more disppears under a load of pop-ups. This time it’s the Greek Constitution domino effect. That’s in June, nothing happens in the first half of the year. In August I get Medicine, and Mechanical Production finally appears. I chose it. Russia annexes Bukkhara, and the OE declares war on Egypt. France backs Egypt. Corruption hits Rimini and Grosseto. I build a rail-road in Perugia. Russia declares war on Kokand and Greece hitches up in a military alliance with the French.
1845 beings with the USA buying New Mexico and Arizona from Mexico. I made another couple of deals with 2Siciles and S-P (both have relations now +165 or more), getting about £9000 between them trading Steam Engine to S-P and Experimental RR to 2Sicilies. The OE makes peace with Egypt getting Dimashq and Amman. Russia made peace with Kokand, taking Tashkent and turning Kokand into a satellite. In December I get Mechinal Production, and start building a Lumber Mill and Steel Factory in Parma-Modena. I start on Idealism.
1846 UK and USA accept 49th degree. I start paying serious attentin to improving my relations with Austria. The UK declared war on, and quickly annexed, Jahore, before declaring war on Annam (via event). Cambodia joins in the fun against the UK again. At the end of the year my two new factories are built, and I close the canned food operation, and transfer everyone to the other 2. I filled up the Steel factory, and there are 4 small craftsmen POPs suriving that I put into the Lumber Mill. I turn the largest into Clerks. All in all a quiet year. I re-jig my sliders now I have more money coming in. Eduation goes back up to 100%, and I nudge Crime up slightly.
1847 January is a month to be remembered, for a Great War began on the 13th. Basically a whole load of DoWs popped up on the screen. The end result was two interconnected wars that revolved around the Slesvig events. The two wars were:
France, Denmark, Russia, Holstein, Greece and Kokand versus Prussia, Mecklenburg and Hannover.
Russia, Denmark, Kokand, Holstein and Greece versus Austria.
France dishonoured the alliance in the second war that actually occurred a few days later on the 2nd February.
In March I get Idealism, and begin looking for the wonders of Functionalism. In August the UK annexes Cambodia, and in October the UK forces Annam to give up Touran and become a satellite. On the last day of October France makes peace with Hannover, getting Osnabrück, Lingen, Lüneburg, Stade, and Emden. I take a look. Austria and Prussia have forced into Russia, but France has steamrollered over western Prussia and is pushing further on eastward. In November on the 4th attempt the USA forces Mexico to stop colonising the the Americas. What good that does I do not know. Meanwhile I’e built Exp RR in Rimini and Ancona.
1848 Tibet concludes a deal with China. There are a bunch of minor peace treaties in the Great War. Various white peaces. In May Prussia annexes Holstein. In June I discover Functionalism and opt for Market Structure. Austria makes peace with Denmark, gaining Aarhus, Reykjavik, Gothab, and the Virgin Islands. I can’t work out what was going on there. This however really screws Prussia as she is now effecitely alone, as opposed with a de facto ally. Although she is on the offensive in Russia France encroaches more and more, and shown by the French annexation of Mecklenburg. And that is how the year ends.
Situation as of 1st January 1849
Prestige 40 (11th) Industrial 57 (11th) Military 5 (26th) Overall: 15
Not bad. Though I’ve noticed my prestige dropped by 10 points for no apparent reason in 1847. I don’t know when it dropped, I only noticed in passing. Anyone have any ideas on why that might have happened?
