Owen said:
You're not sure why you want to leave? In that case, don't leave.
*shrugs again*
I know/knew why, I just need(ed) to make sure that I formulated it as I wanted, and I think I have succeeded in that.
======================================================
Now, as to the reason I told Hive I planned to quit:
It was mostly frustration, caused mainly by the following:
1) Portugal.
Aragon's obvious ally, prime target of Aragon's foreign office (funding, coordination, colonial sharing). Lost it's one main advantage, early exploration to gain an economic base. In fact, they were one of the last countries to gain maps to ANY colonial region, which made them quite weak. After that, the subbing start, making preparations for ANYTHING as an alliance quite hard. And it got even worse, eventually, Portugal was even AI'ed. Now, I had two options, the first being the diplomatic way, the second being the military way.
Obviously, at some +200 relations, RM, alliance, MA, the diplomatic way makes the most sense. Imagine my frustration when they time and again refused vasalisation. Add to that that England got a (in effect) FREE vasalisation of Portugal soon afterwards, and you'll understand my frustration.
2) Events and DP's.
Now, this was something I could/should have known. But to be honest, I had not imagined the effect (or perceived effect) this would have. Historical events, even for the Ottoman Empire, overall are POSITIVE in nature, and certainly help in reaching "ideal" DP's (almost all extreme DP's are better than moderate DP's). Aragon, however, had all of one historical event. And even now, halfway through the 18th century, Aragon's DP's are far from ideal.
While not anyone's fault, it did add to my frustration.
3) England.
Not going into the "über" discussion. Whether or not England is/was über, it certainly LOOKED über, and Aragon certainly would NOT be able to do something if England did not want it to happen (Africa is like 80% coastline, in Italy, all provinces border the sea, and both my Capital and CoT are on the coast). Additionally, England held, and still holds (I'll admit this was because I attacked him- after he built a colony in Africa..) one of the most important provinces in Africa, namely Ivoria, not only that, it also meant that my entire "African plan" that is, holding all african ports to prevent exploration of the Indian ocean and Indonesia, was a failure.
4) Random Leaders.
While the idea of random leaders is excellent, and I support it as such, in my oppinion the way it was implemented in THIS campaign was a failure.
Both Aragon and Portugal basically missed the New World campaign, for lack of explorers and conquistadors, meaning that while others were building vast colonial empires, while Aragon and Portugal could do nothing, except colonising a few scraps here and there. IMO the way this was done in Ryoken's 5prov scenario, was better, everyone got the same amount of leaders, and while not exactly at the same time, everyone would get an explorer in a relatively short timespan, not giving anyone the chance to explore and claim a large piece of the new world before someone else would show up.
5) Organisational.
While more of a general problem, than one specific of this campaign, the late starts almost every time, are a source of frustration. Additionally, the end time is not my preferred end time..
6) My neighbours.
Aragon has three neighbours in Europe, Portugal ( see 1) ) France, and Venice. This in effect meant that I had NO chance to expand in Europe, while expectable, it was no fun. France has the clear upper hand in MP, morale and technology, Venice, OTOH, was so much smaller/weaker, that an attack on them would certainly trigger responses from other countries, that would most likely tear my apart.
7) Pushing and bickering.
Two last things that caused my frustration. Firstly, the continueing pushing for Aragon to "do something" and/or to make itself useful. Now, I know that my income looked pretty decent for a long time, but I experienced first hand that Africa, while giving a decent income, costs even more. What frustrated me is that, even after repeatedly making this known, the pushing continued. Secondly, the bickering, while not unique for this campaign, to me was especially frustrating in this particular game.
Now, I hope that I have made clear why I felt the need to tell Hive that I didn't feel like continueing anymore.
However, despite losing a navy of over 17000 ducats (would've been some 12000 if I had had ideal DP's ) last session was an improvement on most fronts, and I will continue this campaign, hoping that it won't drop back down.
Thank you for your attention.
