Cross, Quill and Swords : World at War(Sunday game) Aar-thread

[admiral drake]

this game wil give you several rewards all wich you can claim by posting a aar each week
deadline is always friday evening 9pm

Ontime reward :
​

show up ontime and you can claim one of the following rewards :
-1% inflation
+half a year income to your treasury
+1 core any location you currently control
1 slider move of choise
+2 all stats to your current king
+4 of a specific stat to your current king

Aar Bonus:
​

Post a Aar and claim 1 of the following rewards:
-1% inflation
+half a year income to your treasury
+1 core any location you currently control
1 slider move of choise
+2 all stats to your current king
+4 of a specific stat to your current king

note : you can only claim your ontime reward by also posting a Aar
no Aar is no benefits from showing up ontime

Slider rewards:
​

by going certain sliders you can claim a additional Reward
you dont have to post a aar for these rewards
but you do have to claim these rewards so dont forget



Quantity

at max quantity you gain all the following rewards

+2 random general or admiral
+3 fire to all leaders generated( or +2fire +1any stat you prefer)****

+ 3 times +2 base manpower to a province *
+ 1 CC/shipyard or weapon/naval manu **
+1 core on any province you control
+ your land/navy slider will be reset to 1 step higher then normal(if you go above)


at -2 quantity you gain(2steps from the center)

+2 fire for random leaders
+1 military rating to your current king
+1 random general or admiral


Defencive

at max defensive you gain all the following rewards

+2 random general or admiral
+3 shock to all leaders generated( or +2shock +1any stat you prefer)****

+ 4 times +2basetax and +1 fort level on any province you want***
+ 1 CC/shipyard or weapon/naval manu**
+1 core on any province you control
+ your land/navy slider will be reset to 1 step higher then normal(if you go above)

At -2defencive you gain

+2shock for random leaders
+1military rating to your current king
+1 random general or admiral

Decentralized

at max decentralized you wil gein all of the following rewards
+1 random leaders of choise
+2 maneuver to all leaders generated
+1 core on any province you currently control
+1 year income in any tech you want
+2admin rating to your current king

at -2 decentralized you gain (2steps from the center)
+1 max maneuver to leaders generated
+1admin rating to your current king

all boosts to kings wil be maxed out at 11


* you can only do 1manpower boost a province every 2weeks (that means you need to give me 4different provinces this week and 4other provinces next week before you can ask +2 in the same provinces again

** you cannot ask for a building type you already asked last week(so if you ask for a cc or shipyard you have to ask for a manu next week, and a shipyard/cc again week after that and so on)

- A barrack or shipyard cannot be build on the border of another player(to avoid others getting control of it to easy)
- does not count if you have both defencive + quantity but then you wil be allowed to ask for +1cc/shipyard a session instead (and a manu)

***you cannot build a fort over your current tech limit

**** max +3 any specific stats for any leader(you cannot go quan +3fire and defencive +1 extra)
- has to be the same stat for every leader so if you pick +3fire it wil be for all randoms that generation


due to the late year (almost 1700) you can now reset your sliders by 7 in any direction (qual/quan off/def or cen/decen) between session if you like

random leaders
​

everybody wil get the same basic leaders of

2admirals and 2generals
stats are :
min/avg/mag
2/3/4

life wil be min 10/avg 15/ max 20years for leaders to
with half that for explorers and conquistadors


for everything with half those values for siege
quantity/defencive/decentral bonusses wil ad up ontop of that

you can exchange 1general for 1conquistador and 1admiral for a explorer after 1550
but ask for that in your Aar post


so for example:
somebody with quality/offensive/central
can only go as high as 4442 wich would result ingame to 4551

and gets 2 generals and 2 admirals

somebody with quantity/defencive/decentral
would be able to get a 6662 ingame result 6551
but instead of 2 generals and 2admirals

they could choose to get 6generals and 2 admirals (or more admirals instead of generals if they wish)

edit
1 time in the game you can ask a + 5 or - 5 (both ways 1time)
for the sliders centralization, quality and offensive



EDIT TEMPLATE

example

· Bonusses you receive * Decentral(max) +quantity (-2) +aar+ontime
· Sliders * reset quality to 5
· Treasury * 6month aar = 5434/2 = 2717
· Inflation * -1% (ontime)
· Manpower * /
· King stats * +2adm +1mil (decen-quan)
. Core *
· Loans* 2loans deleted -400treasury
· Tech bonus/Stability bonus * 1year landtech (decen) = 5434
· Fine art stab bonus *840
· Diplo-annexations* kil john 73provs
· Provinces lost due ghost/ai* none


Base+fine art = 3/2
Sliderbonus = 3
Total 8
I want = 2/2/2/2

More info can be found on page 4 post 67-68

 

[TC Pilot]

Spain: 1419-1440

Spain began the session by immediately attacking the nefarious Moors of Granada, determined to liberate the last bits of Iberia from heathen ways in the name of the Reconquista. Regrettably, there was some delay in moving Spain's mighty armies south, allowing the enemy time to concentrate their forces at the capital, forcing the Spanish to make a number of repeated assaults on their mountain fortress before they eventually succumbed. Sadly, Spain's diplomats were tricked into a wicked ploy, and vassalized the Moors, meaning the next war will cost the Spanish some stability. This war was promptly followed up by an attack on the treacherous Aragonese, who no doubt harbored evil designs on the rest of Iberia. Though Spain's armies were victorious across all fronts thanks to the long-lived Alvaro de Luna, the bumbling Navarrens, being head of the alliance, brokered a peace for a measly few ducats. Frustrated by this turn, Spain turned next to Naples, which was promptly beaten in a glorious battle in Napoli. Further wars would see Aragon steadily reduced in size, until only Zaragoza, Malta, and Messina remained out of the glorious rule of Spain. Inroads were also made into central Italy. The republic of Florence accepted Spanish suzerainty, and Modena and Siena will not be far behind their neighbor.

Spain was regrettably bedeviled by stability issues. Fractious nobles constantly demanded new rights and privileges, and the king was prone to mistakes that often caused political crises, and many resented the influence of General de Luna, threatening rebellion in many parts of the country. Nevertheless, positive stability was largely maintained and some technological progress was made, promising the construction of many new manufacturies in the future, a promise made all the brighter by many surprise gifts to the state and monopoly companies formed.

Abroad, there was much activity that Spain was mightily concerned by during this period. The Austrians made a bold effort to thwart the expansionist dreams of the Ottoman Sultan. Given the land-hungry conquest of almost all of Hungary, this seems in retrospect to have been a reasonable fear. It is perhaps regrettable the King of Poland was so confused and bamboozled by Brandenburger aggression as to be unable to lend aid until the tide had turned too far against Austria. Much closer to home, however, the King watched with growing concern and annoyance at the unrestrained expansion of Portugal across the face of North Africa, coupled with many strange and potentially insulting messages emanating out of Lisbon. Though highly amused by the Portuguese army's difficulties in decisively subduing the Barbary coast, it was nevertheless highly distressing to see land rightfully within the Spanish sphere of influence fall to another power. With rumor of Portuguese sailors exploring new lands and new worlds, all of Madrid wonders if the menace on the Tajo will rest content with the most recent conquests.

Reward:
On-time bonus: 1 year infrastructure tech
AAR bonus: 1 year infrastructure tech
Decentralized bonus: 1/2 year infrastructure tech

 

[King John]

Brandenburg: 1419-1440


The bannermen of Brandenburg bore their brave, blessed elector across the bridge, yelling and screaming hysterically like young girls when a famous bard comes to town. "Hail our wonderful Margrave. We love you Albrecht! We love you!"

If that was his name. It is uncertain. It was a long time ago, and, though it is written down somewhere, contemporary writers would rather not spend the time looking that information up, since contemporary readers probably don't care anyway. What's the difference between an Albrecht and a Johan? It's just a name... But deeds! Deeds are what count, and deeds will be recounted in this tale.

The young Albrecht, if that's what his name was, addressed the crowd:

"Ye loyal bannermen. My dear brethren, who have been so loyal and good and true. You guys are the best. I couldn't have asked for a better band of supporters. But now I must ask a favor of you".

"What? We'll do anything! We love you!" They all cried out.

"Well", said Albrecht. "I need you to help me double the size of our fair Mark. I have decided that it is too small. So we are going to invade Hannover and Saxony. Their lands will become our lands".

"Hurray!!!!", they all said.

And then the army set out and conquered 2/3 of Hannover, and 4/5 of Saxony. It was a glorious day, when the Margrave Albrecht, or whatever, addressed the throng again.

"Ye brave and loyal troops. You have done so well, and I could not be more proud".

To this came many shouts.

"Marry my daughter!!"

"No, marry mine!"

"You can marry both my daughters", and so on and so forth.

"I shall marry all of your daughters, in turn", said the Margrave. "But first, we must double our Mark again. It is, alas, not big enough."

One might have asked at this point "not big enough for what?", but nobody did ask, for they were so distracted by their love for their Margrave. Instead they all cried out "Huzzah!" and went forth to conquer more lands.

Bremen was seized, and the Danes were smacked around a bit, and a Bohemian province was procured from Austria. But then... Trouble! The Poles! And... A dilemma.

Poland had begun an invasion of Prussia, Pommerania, and Mecklenburg. The Margrave wisely allowed these developments to carry on for a while, allowing the Polish king and his minions to draw further west, until they were in the very heart of Mecklenburg, right in his sights, perfectly vulnerable to a sudden and irresistible attack by the glorious armies of the Mark.

"Charge!", said Albrecht, sending his brave army into battle. The alternative, of course, was to not do this, but what sort of alternative is that? The men of the mark marched martially into the midst of the marauding minions of the mighty Pole, yelling loudly and brandishing their shiny weapons.

Unfortunately, they were so intimidating that the Poles ran away as quickly as they could, vaulting over every obstacle, just like... pole vaulters...and escaped the iron jaws of Albrechts' ardent warriors.

"Everything is happening as I have planned", said Albrecht reassuringly to his stalwarts, as they plunged Eastward, continuing to frighten the Poles across the marshes, toward their frontier.

And then with a resounding voice which rose above the heavens, he ordered another "attaaaaaaack". And the battle was as glorious as a battle can be, until... suddenly, Albrecht had a heart attack in the middle of the battle, and fell from his horse. "Johan will lead you", he said to his men standing around him. He was about to add to that "if, that is, I actually die from this heart attack", but this last part was drowned out in the usual clamorous "huzzah" that always followed his decrees, and then they all rushed to greet their new king.

Johan was not as good at battling as Albrecht was. But what he lacked in conventional skill, he made up for in luck. He won two battles, somehow, and then managed to make a peace with Poland involving the Mark giving away the worthless Neumark province, and gaining the glorious province of Vorpommern, plus 250D. A testament to Johan's intrepid skills at the negotiation table.

"And now", he said, addressing his ardent followers, "shall I not carry out the wishes of my father, and continue his sacred mission of doubling the size of the Mark? What say you, my loyal bannermen?", and they all made clanking noises with their weapons. Which means yes.

After that, the rest is history. The rest of Saxony and Hannover were annexed, along with Oldenburg, part of the Netherlands, and Mecklenburg. Partly through arms, partly through diplomacy. Johan was a rennaissance man, you could say, capable of doing more than one thing. And he succeeded in his fathers sacred mission of doubling the realm.

And then, so happy with his accomplishments, Johan died of joy. And he was succeeded by Albrecht II... probably. One of those, anyway. And his deeds will follow next week.

Ontime reward: 1/2 years income into treasury
AAR reward: 1 DP movement toward offensive
Full decentralized bonus:
+2 random leaders of choise (Both generals, please)
+2 max maneuver to all leaders generated
+1 avg maneuver on leaders generated
+0.5 avg to all other stats for leaders generated
+1year income in any single tech or stab of choise (infrastructure, please)

 

[Barca]

Austria 1419 - 1440
Reign of Albert V, Duke of Austria, Styria, Carinthia, Carniola; Margrave of Moravia;
Lord of the Wendish March, Pordenone;
Count of Habsburg, Tyrol, Ferrette, Kyburg; Margrave of Burgau

The session started with some confusion, I didn't know I was going to play Austria until after the session started so I wasn't really familiar with their starting situation. In retrospect I probably should have allied Bohemia and Poland to secure the Meissen mine and keep BB small, I'm sure HAL would've been up for it, but instead I went after my only core (Wurtemburg) in Germany and basically wasted the first two years. After that I woke up a little and gobbled most of Bohemia then turned to Bavaria.

It was 1424, and I knew Pepsi would be eyeing Hungary since there was no Muscovy to contest Crimea. I offered to divide Hungary with HAL if he'd help me when the OE came knocking. He was a little pissed because OE had taken two of his Lithuanian culture cores from Moltava, so he agreed. He had a 3shocker with 9 offensive and 8 land, so I thought between the two of us we could hold off Murâd. In preparation I wartaxed while looting Bohemia and Bavaria and built up a 70k cav army for the coming war, but Pepsi was faster than I expected. The OE DOWed Hungary in November 1424, only a few months after I attacked Bavaria. I knew I had some time because I wanted to surprise and catch Murâd on the Austrian/Hungarian border and hopefully have Poland cut off his retreat through Hungary, so I pressed on in Bavaria rather than peacing.
By Spring of 1426 Pepsi had taken about half of Hungary, but it had 50k in it's capital so I still had some time left. This is where I made a big mistake. I got too hasty and made a separate peace with Bavaria, leaving me at war with Mainz, Kleves and some other german minors. At the same time HAL got greedy in Germany, taking Vorpommern and demanding Neumark from Brandenburg. Why he thought this was a good idea right before our planned war with the OE I have no idea, but John dowed him literally five days after I peaced Bavaria and started moving troops to fight in Hungary.

I knew this was going to be a hard war, but I had 65k cav ready to swoop in on Murâd's 25k + reinforcements in Pozsony, so I went for it and won the battle. Pepsi can confirm or correct me, but I think Murâd was down to about 5k. Here's where I made another big mistake. I pursued to Eger without leaving a covering force in Pozsony so I fought the next battle out of supply and although I won I lost a lot of irreplaceable cavalry to attrition. Then I pursued out of supply AGAIN into Varad and lost. By the time I got back to Austria I only had 7k left and not much money. Vienna was put under siege as was the remainder of Hungary.

It was around 1427 and Poland/BB were still putzing around, arguing over 50D for a tax collector. Additionally, those german minors which I didn't alliance peace earlier were actually making inroads because I'd focused all my troops in Hungary. Another AI alliance also DOWed after my army got knocked down to 7k in the retreat from Hungary. Pepsi was getting really close to 100% WS against Hungary. Poland finally made peace with BB in 1428 as Vienna was about to fall and joined the war against the OE. However, my army had only recovered to about 40k, with 30k cavalry. HAL's army, although large, had a lot of infantry. We miscommunicated on an attempt to relieve Vienna, which led to my 40k fighting 44k + 11k reinforcing Turks before HAL's 19k could arrive. This was another blunder on my part, Vienna fell just before my army arrived; I should have stopped and waited for all of HAL's men. The result of the battle was another disaster, Murâd wiped out most of the combined Christian army.

Vienna was occupied. Hungary was occupied. Fortunately, Pepsi agreed to a white peace. Unfortunately, it meant that all of Hungary went to Turkey. Really unfortunately, I was still at war with 3 alliances of AI minors with a combined 100k. Really, really unfortunately, my census was 20D due to looting, occupied provinces and high war exhaustion, so it took about five years to finally clear them out. This was only possible thanks to some timely funding from Castile and a gift & loan from Brandenburg (200D, due in 1441 by the way Joohoo). I did have some really good events throughout the session though, especially after the war so your Austria's tech is in reasonably good shape. Infra3 will be finished in 1442 and you have 1700D to build a few refineries if you feel like it. Drake has promised to stay out of Brescia/Mantova so I'd suggest DOWing the Venetian Alliance and snagging those, or the Mainz alliance and vassalizing them. Overall, a pretty bad first session, but it could have been a lot worse considering how poorly I played.

Ontime bonus:

6 month income into treasury

AAR bonus:

+1 offensive

2 Quantity and 2 Centralized bonus:

+1 max maneuver to leaders generated
+0.5 avg maneuver value on leaders generated
+6 months income in any single tech or stab of choice (infra)

at -2 quantity you gain(2steps from the center)
+1 max fire to all leaders generated
+0.5 avg fire value on leaders generated

MISC edits: Livonia (282) from Sweden to Muscovy, Ampo please confirm

 

[Urko]

By 1419, England had achieves great victories on the French soil, regarding the claim on Aquitaine disdained by the king of such nation.

So far, the mitary genious Henry the V, and his comrades as fellow genious such as Bedford (later Talbot) or minor ones as Salisbury and others were following his plans closely.

This time, the plan would be even more clever than usual, as coming from Henry the V: The 'Auld' alliance between France and Scotland would be sewered, by promising lands to France (which were not to be given really, it was a revenge from Henry after all the French lies) while Scotland was brutally punished.

This worked better than usual, with soome help from Irish mercenaries the Scottish lands -low and high- were soon under siege, as the Scottish army fled to the safety of France across England and the channel. Yet soon France would notice that, unchecked, they could take all the English lands, including Calais, specially now as they counted with Spanish neutrality, Germans were in trouble and the Scottish were there to provide cannonfodder under their leadership.

This worked partially to them, as Scottish leadership would not easily give up every achievement, and the fall of Gascogne was followed by a Scottish flag. England, which had taken mainland Scotland, would need to come and retake it in order to force the Scottish submission, which soon followed.

All of Henry's plan would have worked smoothly by following the landing with an invasion of the continent... Except... Henry died of old age. His son and heir, Henry the VI, was just a guy known for staring for weeks to anybody speaking to him, unable to grasp a word. Such insanity, in a country under Norman - despotic -monarchy - tradition, would mean the total inaction of the English forces. War came to a halt, and the Chancellors did consider just following the original treaty from Henry the V under such circunstances was the most profitable, considering French had to pay a lump sum in exchange for the British lands in the continente.

Peace was signed, and England did begin to enjoy stability. Soon after this, a deal to help the Swedish break free from the opressive Danish -as English had done centuries before- was signed. England did get the Oarkney islands as a legitimate English speaking posession in exchange.

Scotland would prove treacherous to French even after some insults had led to a formal declaration of war from Britain to France, which was not followed by any actual combat. Then, Scotland began to raise a 50k men army, eager to recover all the lost lands, and England was forced -this time with French blessing, due to the end of the Auld alliance thanks to Scottish treason- to pacify the remaining lands of Edinburgh.

For a long time, peace and stability -and thus, prosperity- followed. The finest artists of Europe fled their lands -war ravaged- into the island peace safety, forming the first Fine Arts Academy of the continent.

The treasure was the main winner, yet again, of Henry the VI's inaction on everything, by just hoarding tax money without any real practical use, to much criticism from the army, navy, merchants...

Sweden would soon request our help against Denmark again, plus they desired the English myth to show their neighbours they shoulded not take advantage of Sweden in their times of weakness or a foreign power would intervene. As a reward, Sweden decided the Danish lands of Iceland and Greenland shoulded be considered a legitimate posession of England and nobody else's as a reward for this. England did agree, and Henry was tricked to signing the war declaration again in exchange for letting him stare at the birds a bit more. (We all thanks Warwick, who had just arriven, for taking care of the nation under such a stupid leadership).

Rewards:
Ontime: + 1 year investment into infraestructure
AAR: + 1 Innovativiness

Thanks for editing this and for reading .

 

[Ampoliros]

A Phoenix from the Ashes - Sweden 1419 - 1440​

In the illustrious lands of the erstwhile Vikings of auld, there was nought to be seen in that vile year of our lord, 1419. 1419. It sounded awful. It sounded like something the cat brought in. Chilling. It was a sinister time. Sweden was a non entity. A pathetically small realm in the midst of nowhere. Worse still, it wasn't even fully sovereign, being a vassal of the fiendish, pockriddled Danes.

Something had to be done. As King Nationalrad surmised, a war might just be the right kind of thing to rally the flag and get Sweden's juices flowing. Only whom to attack? The Danes themself seemed too strong, for the time being. So it was decided to venture eastwards and try to acquire some of the bustling grain ports of the Baltic. This manouver itself caused some friction with the excentric king of Poland, who - moodily - decided to make a fuss about the whole affair.

Polish protests notwithstanding, war was coolly declared and Swedish stormtroopers dispatched to invest Riga and all the other towns and cities of that sweet, juicy plum called 'The Teutonic Knights'. Within a couple of relatively uneventful years, said Knights caved and agreed to cede several provinces of their realm to Sweden. So with great jubilation the King and his entourage toured Sweden's new possessions, impregnating wenches left right and center, in an altruistic attempt to improve the native stock of the Baltics.

Some years later (the King having lost track of time on account of his severe drunken stupor) the Danish King - that old gouty whoremaster - foolishly decided to increase taxes on Sweden. We took this as a pretext to cancel vassalization to which Denmark responded by declaring war.

Luckily, Denmark decided to wage war in a rather abysmal fashion and sent *all* its forces to besiege *one* province which was winter most of the year. As Sweden watched in amazement and growing amusement, most Danish troops withered and died ere long. We simply marched our army in, come spring, and slaughtered the enfeebled remainders. After that - the Danish army haven been crushed - most Danish lands were conquered and Sweden substantially expanded in Norway.

Later on we did the same merry little operation yet another time. We also managed to make some diplomatic inroads, befriending Russia, Brandenburg and England. What cometh next.....noone can know.

AAR - Reward : -1% inflation
-2 Cent. Reward: 6 months investment into infrastructure

Edit request:

Livonia to Muscowy

 

[Joohoo]

The rediscovered tale of Albrecht V of the Duke of Austria and many other titles.

26st December 1418
Me and my envoy arrived at the docks of Rotterdam. With a chariot they were transported to the inner part of the lowlands where baron Boudewijn van Tockenhogten, also called baron with a terrible grin, had his estate and stood ready to greet his guests.
-Welcome! Welcome dear Duke. May I say Albrecht?
-Ofcourse ofcourse dear Boudewijm. We should not have to be so formal after so many years of friendship.
-Please, come in! Alsjeblieft.

The feast was prepared and the formalities swept away just like the wine poured into the mouths that evening.
Many days of feasts continued but as the days went by, Albrecht had to move on, he wanted to see the canals of Amsterdam before he had to make his journey home.
It could be a nice place to celebrate New Year's eve there. He travelled there, lived for some days in a nice place only worthy of a Duke. New Year came and he was invited to a feast by some local nobles. Not to be dishonouring the nobles, he accpeted the invite and came there.

1st January 1419
Albrecht woke up on New Year's Day and did not know where he was. His head was in pain, his stomache in revolt. What had happened? he thought.
As he come into sense he realized he had been fooled. It was a trap, he should have returned to his friend Boudewijn instead of staying at the local nobles.
-Damn Vlaamse frites, they were so tasty but I should have known that the sauce was poionsed! he thought.

As he became more aware, he realized he was in a barrel, and it was waving. He had been moved to a ship.
This ship was on its way to the north. The cold lands of the Northmen.
But not any cold land but the Svalbards.

Here he spent 20 years trying to get home, which he did finally manage to do. It took some convincing to manage to make someone come and get him. Everyone thought he was dead.
Meeting his wife, old but not too old and manage to impregnant her with a child.
A child which was to be called Ladislaus.

He was briefed of the harsh years in which he was gone. How Baron Barca von Sommerhausen had taken command and defended the realm against the infidels which threatened the Christian world. With a great admire for the harsh years Austria suffered, he gave the baron many gifts and lands.

Albrecht, weak of his years in the cold lands. Wrote a letter to his son which he would be given the day he was old enough to rule Austria.
The letter said; "Find me the ones who took me away from your mother. Find them and have revenge on them. If they are not living any more, let their successors feel the revenge of the ghost of Albrecht V of Austria. No one is to be left alone."

Albert died 1439, and Ladislaus was given the throne.

AAR bonus:
-1 inflation

2 Central:
6 months investment into infrastructure

 

[T- Longo]

Prequel-1419

After the birth of the Portuguese nation in the reconquest process against the Moors. The country will extend its borders south to the Algarve.
Portuguese-Castillian rivalry was a constant throughout the centuries, but always with Portugal to make it clear that never would bow to the King of Castile and Leon.

With the Battle of Aljubarrota born a new dynasty, an alliance with the English crown and the borders of the kingdom are ensured.
Remaining only the bastion of Granada in the peninsula, Portugal motivated by the spirit of reconquest and the commercial interest, brings together a huge fleet and invades Ceuta in northern Africa, marking the beginning of the Portuguese expansionism / Portuguese Discoveries.



Sequel-1419

The conquest of Ceuta(Tangier) had several objectives:

- Check the Input and Output Ships coming from the Atlantic to the Mediterranean and vice versa

- Nobility wanted to get new land, clergy expand the Christian faith and the bourgeoisie get new products and markets.

-Portugal Suffered from the lack of various products such as wheat, gold, silver, and spices. The conquest of Ceuta mean for the kingdom control over a city where the East flocked goods from India by caravaneiras routes that brought gold, spices, etc. It is also worth mentioning that the city was a fertile area suitable for the production of cereals.

-the Portuguese kingdom search to increase its importance in the context of the Iberian monarchies through the establishment of Ceuta as the easternmost point of the Christian reconquest to be made by Portugal in North Africa.


But the reality was quite different, infidels quickly diverted the trade routes, and the siege was constant to the city, making it an expense without profit in the realm of expenses.
A few years was followed by discussion on the continued expansion in North Africa or the exploration of the African coast.

Again Portugal decides to try the north of Africa, more of this in Algiers territories. Intended in this manner subjugate the vast provinces of North Africa to use as a base against Morocco and free Ceuta from insulation.
Occurs the landing in Moorish coast line, following the fall of the provinces to the Portuguese crown, the operation takes longer than expected for the loss of some cities in the rear, they end up falling back to the Christian faith.
Algiers accepts give all areas except capital and by this Portugal finally have a solid foundation for expansion.
Some exploration of the African coast It follows, with the discovery of the Cape Verde islands and some African kingdoms rich in slaves, but something of low commercial value.

The war began against Morocco, and this have Tunisia as an ally.
Portugal have in this manner to fight on two fronts, something not desired by the king.
It was decided to try to get Tunisia first out of the war, managing to win two of the three provinces, though it is made incursion into Morocco will not find a defense capable of stopping the advance. However in Tunisia happens a setback with lost battles, having to do morocco troops deviations of and therefore make even more extensive war in time.
Finally Tunisia is subdued and gives everything except the capital, Morocco has the same fate.

As a consequence of the war weariness and long-lasting fighting, Tripoli (AI) declares war on the Portuguese crown, with great difficulty able to be achieved control of the capital, leaving only one territory in order to submit a bid for peace.


It is intended in the following years to achieve peace so that can relaunch peace and prosperity throughout the Portuguese kingdom, now twice the size.

(dont know how this works, so im asking too much or not.. your criterion)
Ontime reward :
+1year investment in any tech of choise or stability (land tech)
Aar Bonus:
+1year investment in any tech of choise or stability (land tech)

Slider rewards:
Quantity

at max quantity you gain all the following rewards
+1 random general or admiral
+2 max fire to all leaders generated
+1 avg fire value on leaders generated
+50% of your ingame total manpower add to your pool (+25 if you end the session atwar with a player)

 

[Pepsi_max]

Ottoman Empire : Session 1 (1419-1440)


As always in my first session, i don't do any agreements/territory shares to keep my options open.

That's something doable as OE since you can basically 1vX until mid 1500. I've had some openings with others countries but i'll see later about their propositions on how they behave towards my country.

For OE, the first move is usually to go annex Byzantium.
However, this is not possible with this scenario since BYZ is my vassal and i can't send any diplomat there until 1450.
There was no russia this session since the player accepted to sub austria for the first one, so getting the disputed land between us (usually crimea/astrakhan) would be pretty unfair to him.

The first move was to create a peaceful relation between me and the orthodox states in caucasia (trabzon, georgia, armenia, ak konyulu) by integrating them into the ottoman empire.
Our special envoys reported, that after the annexation of trabzon and armenia, the population agreed onto being incorporated inside the great ottoman empire with a 100% YES (after we exclude the people who said no). Imeretia was also taken from georgia and Taurus from Ak konyulu. Karaman was also vassalised. Bunjak and Jedisan were also promptly conquered from Moldavia, irritating the kingdom of Poland in the way, since it almost deny them any access to the black sea.

After this great diplomatic victory time was coming, for serious business.
The kingdom of hungary who was trying to annhiliate the serbian heresy received helped from the Ottoman Empire and especially King Mürad, who took over the siege in the provinces, which allowed us to annex the 2 provinces from serbia.
The Ottoman empire, in it's all mightness saw that the hungarian people, opressed by the cathalcoholic kings launched the liberation of hungary in the fall 1424.

After some months, their ally siegenburgen was white peaced so we could continue our liberation in hungarian lands. Their army was beaten and their remaning provinces were being besieged.

But the austrian archduke, in a shameful agreement with polish king attacked both hungary and the ottoman empire in early 1426 in an attempt to kick me out of these lands. After an initial push towards hungary, austria quickly had to withdrawn their troops after only some months. Thanks to the use of full cavalry, the siege of Vienna started in 1427.
The polish king decided to fullfill his part of agreement right after the siege of vienna started. In a last attempt to break the siege of Vienna from me, their armies got defeated one after another.

After Viennan occupation, the country of hungary was integrated into the Ottoman empire.
However, those christians were a bit different than the greek ones and were a bit less happy of our visit, even if our special envoys still reported a "#ERROR can't divide by 0" acceptance rate of ottoman occupation.

The second part of the session was more calm. Some conversions to sunnite islam were launched in greece and hungary (55-60% success rate) and most of money was put into tax collectors and more troops.

Towards the end of the session, a war who is still occuring is happening between the Ottoman empire and the Mamluks, Qara Konyulu and Golden Horde. The first and second one being already beaten and on the verge of being completely occupied. The third one is untouched yet.

The first war might have been won, but there is no doubt they will be a lot of other rounds.



aar+ontime reward = 2 years into infra tech

 

[admiral drake]

France 1419-1440​

France spend most of this session fighting 1 ai alliance after another to the point that i'm at a fairly high war exaustion at this point and i look forward to spend next session at peace(i hope) though obviously france will be ready for anything and richemont is a great insurance policy.

before the session even began england and france came to a agreement to end the Hundred year war, allowing france to take out britany and burgundy right at the start, while the english would receive a certain amount of cash over the course of this session.

in general the war was going fairly good however schotland desided at some point to leave schotland undefended and move his entire army into france even going as far as stealing my siege in gascogne.
all in all the war ended after a few years with burgundy and brittany both becoming a vassal and personal bitch of the kingdom, both have been a vassal since 1421 and seem to be loyal so far.

before the war ended i already declared war on savoy in 1422 wich invited aragon and a few other allys in fortunatly most of my allys had very little to do so where able to help me out.
unfortunatly for them even without richemont savoy got crushed fairly fast and aragon was stil fighting castilie so didnt really do much against me.
by the time i moved against aragon it was already at peace with castilie and it decided to guard his capitol very well it took me some time to get them out of aragon due to the river+mountains.
by 1425 savoy became a vassal and nice was now a port of france, this left aragon stil in the war and fighting on however in march 1426 aragon finaly surrendert Roussillon only leaving tuscany,
modena and baden in this war however except for some minor action i didnt really try to defeat those,
at some point i did invade tuscany to get some warscore and finaly managed to peace later on, hoever before this war ended i was already declaring war on the next ai alliance.

my next victim would be Lorraine wich i declared war on octover 1428 using my core on one of his provinces as casus belli to avoid to much badboy,
fortunatly for me lorraine was allyd to several ai along the rhine river allowing me to vassalize or take all provinces west of the rhine except for koln,
i also used this war to vassalize Helvetia without to much effort.

during the entire session efforts where focussed on keeping stability high and when that was done all efforts where made into infra tech allowing us to reach infra 3 fairly early on,
efforts are now focused on gaining trade 3 as fast as possible.

as soon as the ai along the rhine and helvetia became under control i declared war on venice using my casus belli against them to draw in milan and genoa, unfortunatly while the war is going fairly well and milan is now already a vassal, genoa is about to fall and venice is under occupation
but i found out that i wil not be able to vassalize genoa, they have 38 000 men sitting in corsica wich is to much of a risk to deal with, therefor i wil probably use the warscore for some other purpose.
france is looking forward to end this war so i can spend some time at peace, havng crushed every ai i wanted except for koln there is not much to do next week besides annexing vassals. richemont wil probably spend is last 15years sitting in peace in paris

 

[TC Pilot]

Spain: 1440-1470

Spain spent a great deal of this session in a state of instability. Political crises coupled with a decision to take the hit necessary to break Granadan vassalage, along with a decision to attack Albania, all combined to make it so that stability was, easily, the most-heavily invested goal of the three decades. The wars against Granada and Albania offer rather interesting counterpoints. Why was Spain at war with Albania? Why, to get control of the 1400 ducats in its treasury, of course! The invasion went rather poorly, actually. Albania is all mountain provinces, and supply limits are quite low. Though I could win battles at crucial moments, I could never follow-through. My surviving armies would be too badly depleted in the next few months, meaning the war dragged on for at least a year or two. But, in the end, Spain won 1500 ducats off the Albanian king Skandenberg, who was promptly blitzed by the Ottomans afterwards. Sad, that. By contrast, the Granadans were crushed in a single battle and annexed with a minimum of effort.

To make the stability issue even more tedious, Florence and Modena, my vassals, declared war on Siena, my vassal. As it turned out, this proved rather handy in at least one case, as Siena used the vassal-break to ally with the Pope, bringing the Papal States into the war. Thus, Spain gained control of most of Central Italy, and a direct land connection to my Italian vassals. Surprisingly, Aragon largely escaped my wrath in this session. Yet, it still managed to lose quite a bit to rebels. Malta went to the Knights, while Sicily declared independence, and was promptly attacked by yours truly and vassalized.

Perhaps the central focus of this session, however, was the great war that erupted between Austrian and Russia versus the Ottoman Empire. International opinion as to Austria's declaration of war was that this two-on-one war was rather fair, given the disparity in power involved and the threat Ottoman occupation of Hungary posed. Thus, Spain, France, and Poland remained uninvolved, establishing something of a wary equilibrium in not wanting to escalate the war into something more global in scope. Yet, it would seem the Ottomans were stronger than many anticipated, as Austria was resoundingly defeated in early battles, saved only by the indefatigable Russians who battled their way across Anatolia.

Spain, however, had in the meantime committed its forces elsewhere. Portugal, in a surprise move, reneged on its agreement to sell Algeria and Tunisia early in the session, promising to at least refrain from further expansion. Yet, due to badboy levels accumulated in past conquests, Tunis and Algiers both attacked Portugal, leading to their annexation, which I found to be a violation of both the spirit and letter of the earlier promise. Similarly, the power-disparity between our two countries, hardly anything of a surprise, was such that I believed a quick war would teach the Portuguese the error of their ways. War was declared and Spanish armies stormed across the border in Europe, while the navy maintained a close watch on the Strait of Gibraltar, since the bulk of the Portuguese navy was in Algeria.

Shockingly, Portugal appeared committed to fully fighting the war, even raising armies in Portugal that were promptly blanket-sieged with obvious results. The Portuguese navy also fought a running battle from the Gulf of Almeria westward into the Atlantic. The main Portuguese army amassed at Tangiers, boarding the remnants of the navy to be ferried back to the homeland. Lisbon fell before they could arrive, and the army was relatively quickly hunted down, swarmed, and destroyed completely. A second crossing went even more poorly, the Portuguese navy being intercepted off the Morroccan coast and destroyed with all hands. The Spanish armies thus stormed over the Straits and took the fight to North Africa, where the last Portuguese armies perished fighting to the last. Peace was finally agreed to, with Portugal ceding control of Morocco to Spain, a rather pleasing outcome, as it allows direct access to West Africa, and will be quite easy to convert in the coming decades once a monarch worthy of the Spanish crown emerges. A second war was fought later, once it was revealed there was no longer a player present, resulting in the acquisition of Cape Verde and Oran.

Before this, however, Spain was also charged with acting as a police force within the lawless and anarchic territories of the Austrian Archduke, a commitment which strained the Spanish military's reach. Years of instability, war, and nationalist resentment in Morocco all combined to ensure a very rebellious time, though the rebels were eventually put down without too much strain. In any event, with peace reigning once more, stability back, and King Enrique el Impotente on the verge of death, it seems there may yet be a brighter, greater future for Spain in store. New worlds, revealed on the margins of maps looted from Lisbon, perhaps await us. The riches of the West and South await Spain!

On-time reward:
-1 year income into land tech
AAR reward
-1 year income into land tech
Decentralized reward:
-1/2 year income into land tech
+1 admin for monarch
Free-slider move
-move Spain 2 toward quantity, please.

 

[Barca]

Muscovy 1440-1470
Suggested musical accompaniment
​

Reign of Vasily II Temny (the blind)
Lord of all Russia,
of Moscow, Vladimir, Novgorod [the Great];
Czar of Kazan, Astrakhan, Siberia;
Lord of Pskov;
Grand Prince of Smolensk,
Prince of Livonia, Karelia, Tver, Ugra, Perm, Viatka;
Lord & Grand Prince of Novgorod of the Lower Lands, of Chernigov, Ryazan, Rostov [the Great], Yaroslavl, Beloozero, Udor, Obdoria, Conda;
Dominator of all the Northern Country;

Europe 1470​

Chapter II, defending Christendom 1440-1462​

Although he had annexed Novgorod and the minor Russian principalities, Vasily knew Muscovy needed to expand more. He was gravely concerned about the Ottoman menace expanding into Europe, and sought an alliance with Austria and Poland to contain it. Poland had invaded Mongol lands in 1434, and though this rankled Vasily, he allowed it knowing that he would need Polish help, or at least neutrality, in the coming war. It took the Poles more than 10 years, but they finally managed to subdue the Crimea and peace for three provinces. Before the ink was dry, Muscovite armies invaded, liberating 10 provinces by 1447--with some Swedish assistance. Another province was conquered from a splinter horde in 1452. Muscovite infrastructure technology improved rapidly and Vasily hoped to build many Vodka refineries with the large treasury he built up (about 3000 ducats), but it was not to be. War was brewing in the west as Austria sought to reclaim Hungary from the Turk, and Vasily would not ignore the call of his Christian brother.

Austria declared war in spring of 1454, and invaded Hungary. Vasily honored the call, but Poland was kept out of the war by threats from the French king. This was doubly unfortunate: It left Austria alone to fight the might of the Turk in Hungary, and it ensured the Ottomans would fight tenaciously rather than accepting a small loss in the face of overwhelming odds. What should have been a short war for one or two provinces turned into a nearly decade long bloodbath with almost one million men going to their graves and more than a dozen provinces changing hands. Muscovy was lucky to have a cadre of capable leaders for this war, the best generation of leaders it would see in its history.

Austria initially blitzed into Hungary, but was soon crushed by Ottoman cavalry armies under Mehmed. They fought on tenaciously, but would be on the defensive for the remainder of the war. However, with the Ottomans so heavily focused in Hungary Muscovite troops were easily able to overrun the east, though they were slowed considerably due to a lack of maps of the area. I couldn't see if he had any men hidden in terra incognita, so I advanced a lot slower than I could have -- I really didn't expect Pepsi to leave his eastern frontier so undefended. Eventually Imeretia, Erzincan, Taurus, Trabzon, Azerbeidjan and the Armenian goldmine were besieged and captured. As Trabzon was under siege an Ottoman relief force finally arrived to defend the east, but Mehmed and the bulk of the Ottoman army remained in the west.

In Mesopotamia, the a 10k Turkish cavalry army under an obscure captain Ali attacked from terra incognita, defeating the besiegers of Kirkuk then moving to lay siege to Taurus. Fedor Basenok (4-2-5) attacked with around 30k, and both sides took equal losses until Ali was left with only 257 men, beginning the campaign of "Ali's Immortal 300." Despite being outnumbered 80-1, Ali was able to stalemate Basenok then force him to retreat in a weeklong campaign--without losing a man. He didn't have the numbers to maintain the siege of Tuarus and retreated to Kirkuk where he routed another 6000 Muscovites, again without losing a man (see picture). It was enough to convince Basenok that God was on Ali's side and he converted to Islam on the spot, though he continued to serve Vasily faithfully. With Basenok approaching Ali wisely chose not to face 80-1 odds on the plains of Kirkuk, but disbanded his army into small raiding parties. He continued to harass Muscovite supply lines until captured in 1462. He spent the remainder of the war in Basenok's custody, but was released following the war and lived out the remainder of his days in a quiet retirement in Smyrna.

Ali's Immortal 300​

Throughout the war the Turkish navy had complete control of the Black Sea and enough ships to embark a 50k army, so I kept around 10k in Imeretia (mountain), 25k in Donetsk (to prevent looting raids) and 30k in Georgia under Cetta (4-3-5) as a reserve force. The Turks, opening a third front, landed around 20k cavalry in Kouban, and had another 20k or 25k in reserve on their fleet. However, Cetta, reinforced by the Donetsk army, drove them out almost immediately--only about 5,000 men made it back to their ships. Ivan Obolenski-Striga (3-1-5) held Erzincan, but was unable to attack into the mountains of Sivas and unwilling to risk defending Trabzon for fear of another large embarked army.

Meanwhile in the south, a route through the desert had finally been discovered (I explored all the TI) and a cavalry army under Basenok invaded Mesopotamia. Although he initially set up sieges all the way to Damascus (Syria), a strong Turkish response under Hamza Bey forced him all the way back to the hills of Azerbeidjan. This was the situation in 1459 (see picture). Obolenski-Striga was cut off, but safe for the moment and Cetta was moving to reinforce Basenok to evict Bey in the south. It took several battles with the Muscovites suffering considerably more losses (I should have used infantry here, I lost a lot of cavalry unnecessarily), but Hamza Bey was finally defeated and killed in battle and Mesopotamia undefended. One by one the provinces of Mesopotamia and the Levant fell to Muscovite armies and Basenok bathed in the Mediterranean Sea.

The situation in 1459
​

At the same time rebels in Sivas defeated the Ottoman army there, giving Obolenski-Striga the chance to recapture Trabzon and advance to Sivas. The offensives continued, and MA was purchased at great expense through Karaman to allow Cetta (now commanding in the Levant) and Obolenski-Striga in Anatolia to reinforce each other. However, Muscovite success had not caused the Sultan to send troops east. In fact, it only encouraged him to push farther into Germany. Austria was finally forced out of the war for Styria and Slavonia. As Mehmed and his victorious Hungarian armies came east fighting raged in central and western Anatolia. Teke, Sivas, Sinope, Germyan and the Ottoman capital all fell. Vasily the Blind died in that year, but his armies would press on under the leadership of Ivan III, known to history as Ivan the Great.

Reign of Ivan III Veliky (the Great) 1462-1470 - The Ottoman War
Lord of all Russia,
of Moscow, Vladimir, Novgorod [the Great];
Czar of Kazan, Astrakhan, Siberia;
Lord of Pskov;
Grand Prince of Smolensk,
Prince of Livonia, Karelia, Tver, Ugra, Perm, Viatka;
Lord & Grand Prince of Novgorod of the Lower Lands, of Chernigov, Ryazan, Rostov [the Great], Yaroslavl, Beloozero, Udor, Obdoria, Conda;
Dominator of all the Northern Country;
Lord of the Land of Iberia, of the Georgian & Kartlian Czars, of the Land of Kabarda, & the Mountaineers

Chapter I, The Ottoman War 1462-1470
​

With the exception of three provinces, Muscovy occupied everything west of the Bosporus. Mehmed had some successes in Anatolia as Vasily hadn't kept up reinforcing his armies sufficiently, but nearly all of the Ottoman Empire was in revolt. Bunjak, and Quena had thrown off the Ottoman yoke, joining neighboring countries and Montenegro declared independence. Multiple provinces throughout the empire were under rebel control despite French assistance. Worse yet (for the Ottomans), the Poles had taken the opportunity of Ottoman weakness to vassalize Moldavia and annex two provinces in Romania. And still Mehmed refused peace. Only when warscore reached +99 did he lay down his arms, ceding 7 provinces.

Muscovy was ascendant, powerful beyond the wildest dreams of older generations who knew only snow and hardship. Some advisors counseled renewed war to advance on Constantinople to secure the Patriarchate, but Ivan knew that the recent success was fragile. The Ottomans had only been defeated because of the leadership of a uniquely great generation of commanders, whose talents were irreplacable and unlikely to be matched by their successors. Most of these men were already enjoying well-earned retirements or in their graves. Additionally, success was only possible because the vast majority of Ottoman men, materiel and leadership had been focused in the west against Austria. After Austria made peace, Muscovite armies were unable to press further into Anatolia and even suffered serious reverses in the Levant. It wasn't enough to turn the tide, but if an exhausted Ottoman Empire could fight Muscovy's best generation to a standstill, what would happen in a fresh 1v1 war? Muscovy certainly couldn't count on continued Austrian help given the state it is in. Even more worryingly, the war had cost enormous sums of money which set back indefinitely the Vodka project planned by Vasily. Colonization of new lands to the east hadn't even begun. The new lands were peopled by unruly Turkic Muslims whom would be difficult to convert. No, the situation does not meet with Ivan's approval at all.

Therefore, Ivan proposes the following land swap to the Ottoman Sultan and Archduke of Austria: Austria will receive Steirmark, Veszprem, Slavonia and Pozsony from the Ottoman Sultan (four provinces, of which one is a gold mine). The Ottoman Empire will receive Teke, Trabzon, Taurus, Armenia, Azerbeidjan and Erzincan from Muscovy (six provinces, of which one is a gold mine). In the spirit of peace, all parties will sign a NAP for twenty years.

Edits:
-1 centralization (free slider move)
Reset land slider to 5 (event moved it)
Sweden and Russia wish to swap Estonia (276) and Livonia (282) (again). Ampo, please confirm.
Delete 2nd capital in Novgorod,

AAR/Ontime reward: +2 years into LT.

Quantity reward: +1 fire, +1 military rating for Ivan

Decentralized reward: +1 maneuver, +6 months into LT, +1 admin rating for Ivan

 

[Urko]

By 1440, England was a prosperous Nation, yet many challenges still were were awaiting.

First, the international Politics: Spain and France looked stronger than ever, and England had to be seen as a kingdom at least as worthy as any of those. That would awaken the 'warmonger' spirit among the formerly peaceful Court.

The war in the far far North was settled with the Danish (after raiding their capital) in exchange for a coverage of islands they unrightfully had stolen from the king of Sweden, a wise NationalRegenter who soon decided the sovereignity of those islands shoulded reside in our hands. What a great friendship to bring order and prosperity to the North! What a mighty Combined Navy could now march across the Baltic!

Soon after, England achieved new knowledge in the art of crafting the wines who came from South and other liquours, so we could improve our trade margin by buying the raw materials instead of the manufactured product. Next, a wave of refineries swept across the island, bringing further prosperity to the provinces they were located at. What a joyful progress!

This would not stop England, who was betrayed in the defensive alliance with Ireland and Portugal once the allies decided to atacck the muslims without consultations and instigation. England left, in outrage, and used the battle between Swedes and Portuguese as a nice change for revenge: Portugal would be raided, its coolonies claimed while Ireland was to be fully annexed and organized from London in the future.

Regardless of these efforts, all the other lead nations seemed to advance more, with the exception of Austria, who nonelesss did at least stop the advance of the muslims into Christian lands.

Meanwhile, the big Empires of Europe (Muscowy, Poland, France) look in pride to the world, shall England be able to match such glory in the next centuries to come? Should naval supremacy or diplomacy be the key? Only time will tell.



Rewards for ENG:

Ontime reward:
+ 1 year investment into infraestructure.
AAR reward:
+ 1 year investment into infraestructure.

Thanks for editing.

 

[Ampoliros]

The Awakening (1440-1470)

By the year of our lord 1440 Sweden had grown to a bustling regional power. Evidently, it wasn´t as yet a great power but the potential to become one was clearly present. Thus enjoying amicable relations with its neighbours the great Norse Empire was content to develop itself peacefully for now, reclining in the blessed bosom of Mother Scandinavia, biding its time, waiting for better and more glorious years.

The Desecration of the Swedish Nobleman

Even still not all was serene in Stockholm. From early interactions with the King of Poland it became clear that here was a troublesomely bizarre gentleman. Early polite overtures were met with grim (and drunk) rebuttals and outright threats and, it seemed in Stockholm, things just went downhill from there. When an esteemed Swedish nobleman was sent to Warsaw as an envoy, to foster peace and amicable coexistence and smooth any ruffled feathers, the same was received in a most vile and unchristian fashion.

Mistreated and thoroughly debauched the poor envoy fled back to Sweden and brought grave, somber words of Polish misdeeds. He spoke of strange and outlandish rituals of the flesh, of sin of the most sinister sort, bewailing his profaned and desecrated soul, he cursed the Polish King of madness! Black messes were being celebrated in Warsaw, he claimed, and the King of Poland himself, a certain Kazimierez IV, seemed altogether ghoulish, more beast than man, with great lumps on his visage and 3 hairy teats, drinking wyvern´s blood while screeching unintelligible gibberish and foaming from the mouth.

It was thus decided in Stockholm that - for now at least - Sweden´s interests were better served by pursuing ties with other powers, powers more levelheaded than the fiendish Polish golem. Accordingly numerous talks were held with numerous civilized nations in Europe and consequent pacts signed. In the mean time, Denmark was vassalized after a fierce war. Unfortunately, however, the Danes unwisely decided to reject annexation ten years later and even had the gall to cancel vassalization! This prompted Stockholm to redeclare war once and again bring the Danes to reason by the sword.

Russia - Protector of Austrian Virginity

While Sweden was thus preoccupied by its own small wars of unification, it was shocked when suddenly - out of the blue - a great cataclysm engulfed the southern periphery of Europe. Austria and Russia decided to wage a crusade against the Ottoman Empire and consequently declared war. It was a gamble that almost worked. However, Sultan Murad of the Ottoman Empire rallied his forces and struck back robustly against Austria. Indeed, so savage was the pummeling Austria received that many in Europe feared for its very existence! For, its armies defeated and its virginity shattered, Austria lay prostrate and terrified before the great throbbing, circumsized member of Murad. But just as he was about to consummate his rapine of Austria, he was himself in turn savagely arrested by the liberating onslaught of the noble Russians storming over the Caucasus!

Two and fro the great meaty monster munch went, and in this maelstrom of malevolence it was, at times, difficult to derive, who in fact was hammer and who was anvil. Who was pummeling and who was getting pummeled. Eventually, as these affairs are want to do, both wars were concluded due to general exhaustion of all parties. Austria lost 2 provinces and, it would seem, its innocence yet - luckily and just barely - managed to retain its independence. And the OE, too, eventually succumbed to fatigue, ceding several provinces to Russia.

Where things will go from here noone can know. These then, truly, are trying times. Many a good christian - who once was strapping and prosperous - now lies cold and forever silent on the bloodsoaked battlefields of the Balkans. Many a wench in these unfortunate lands, who once was a maiden, now is a woman. Many a woman who erstwhile enjoyed a state of blissful innocence now finds herself in most unfortunate circumstances, vilely deflowered with the seed of evilness growing inside her!

Where is the beacon of hope in these dark times? Where is the savior of Europe at its dark hour of peril? Whence goeth the goodness of the world? Wither will we venture when the whithering veneer of vapid nothingness is unmasked for all to see? For hark my words: the mask is slipping, cracks are forming. The greatest conflagration of all times be at hand!

Ontime bonus: 1 year investment into landtech
AAR bonus: 1 year investment into landtech

-2 decentralized (2steps from the center):
+1 max maneuver to leaders generated
+6 months investment into landtech
+1admin rating to my current king

​

 

[T- Longo]

Fall of Portugal(1440-1470)

Conversations have been initiated with the Spanish crown on the sale of much of northern Africa. These have failed because they have conflicting demands with the interests of the Portuguese crown, such as:
- Access to the kingdom Shongai and their gold provinces of the Senegal River area.
- No more expansion of Portuguese rule in North Africa.
- Reservation of the Aztecs and Incas areas rich in gold to Spain.
- Cession to colonize the Cape of Good Hope area.

Continued the fighting in Tripoli area between the Portuguese forces and the Moors of Tripoli, with difficulty the Portuguese flag is raised in the provinces and the enemy accepts to reach an agreement, transfer of his province to the south and become a vassal of the king of Portugal.

Following a few years of peace, with the improvement of Portuguese treasury bills quite weak in the African campaign and the colonization of the New World.
An alliance with the British and Irish crown to ensure some caution in Spain plans against Portugal is made.


Without expecting anything, the Vassal Kingdom of Tripoli cuts all ties and declares war on the Portuguese. It is made a request for assistance to the English and Irish.
Again, Portugal is surprised by the dishonor of the alliance on the part of the English crown, with only the Irish to the request for assistance.
Several letters are sent to the English king asking to honor commitments made, but without the expected response.


Soon the remaining weakened enemies of Algiers and Tunisia along declare war against the Lusitanian crown, trying to take advantage of the war on several fronts.

Portugal doing justice to overcome the difficulties of which is worthy, able subvert all these enemies and finally annexed mercilessly.


Instead of a period of peace and prosperity, Portugal was dragged into new African campaigns and the dishonor of England, Spain was prepared by the that both expected.

Having little but brave army mostly in Africa, Spain declares war without mercy against the Portuguese interests, wanting to get their hands on Lusitanian efforts of centuries.
The provinces of Porto, Lisbon, Alentejo and Algarve quickly fall into the hands of the Spanish in Morocco is battling even some wars with short success against the Spanish vast number.


The Kingdom of Portugal capitulates with the transfer of all morocco zone, with treasure in poverty, stagnant colonization and with no future in sight, the nation falls into disgrace, the various European neighbors enjoy and declare war with the target on Portuguese maps of the world.

Ontime bonus: 1 year investment into infratech
AAR bonus: 1 year investment into infratech

 

[King John]

Brandenburg: 1440-1470

Frederich II, a swarthy, swashbuckling sack of superlatively sublime substance, stepped out the door of his modest sized castle, breathed the thick, misty fresh autumn air of the Brandenburg marshland, and belched the belch of the blessed.

"Oh, excuse me, my hearties. I appear to have had too much mead", and with that, he got on his horse and rode off. He had just finished vassalizing the lands of the Rhine, and those who watched him go all thought to themselves "now that is a man".

His was to be a jolly reign, a jolly one indeed. With the completion of three refineries started under his father, the countryside was soon flowing in boundless quantities of the best brews in all of Germany. Intoxication was the craze, and Frederich II set the standard throughout the land.

"Hear ye, hear ye", he cried to a herd of cattle, for his eyesight was poor and he was much in his cups. He had just arrived at the estate of a noble, where gathered many of his bannermen. "I have rode my horse many a league to speak to you all, my fine friends".

There were a number of "moos".

"Are you really mooing me?"

One of his noblemen whispered something in his ear.

"Ah, I see", and then he turned around, toward the direction of where his loyal bannermen were gathered.

"My bosom friends! How good it is to be today with you here. And now, let me say something that will delight you", to which they all went practically ecstatic, and he had to wait five minutes before he could get another word in.

"Alright, my happy chaps. Here it is. Just one word", and then he put a bed sheet over his head and started flapping around going "oooooooooooohhhhh". They stood there, silent and confused.

"I'm going to become a ghost! If I'm a ghost, then I can't die, and I'll be able to rule this land forever and ever."

One of the noblemen began a slow clap, and the rest soon joined him.

"And this is the style in which I shall rule the land henceforth", and so it was. From that day forth, in 1450 until his actual death in 1470, the Margraf ruled dressed as a ghost. It was one ghost stereotype after another, from talking in a wobbly voice, to frequently greeting his subjects by jumping out and going "boo!", and often walking the hallways at night and opening peoples doors and saying "I am the ghost of Albrecht the 2nd", which would initiate an exchange that would go something like this:

"I am the ghost of Frederich the 2nd".

"I know who you are, milord".

"I have come to warn you".

"Warn me of what, milord?"

"I lay with your mom".

"But that's a statement, not a warning".

And then he would back out, going "beware, beware..."

Strangely, it ended up being one of the most fiscally responsible reigns in Brandenburg's history, for every time one of his advisers came to suggest a project to him, he would say "what would a ghost do with such a thing?", and that would be the end of it, so that by the end of his reign, the treasury had amassed over 4000 ducats.

Finally, January 1 of 1470, he fell off his horse, and was mortally injured. As he lay in bed, his doctors told him he hd little time to live, and a priest was called in.

"It seems that I have been deluding myself for many a year".

"I'm sorry, my son. But you have had a good reign. You should be happy".

"But I wasn't a ghost. I was never a ghost. Just a man. Just a foolhardy man".

"The Lord God blesses the sage and the jester alike, and none will ever say that he did not bless your reign".

"Aye. I guess that's true".

"And now, when you depart this temporal world, you will have the prayers of all your subjects to commend you to the lord in Heaven".

"No", the elector coughed out.

"I'm sorry"?

"No... I will not go there".

"Not go... but where else would you go?"

"I'm staying here. I mean, I wasn't a ghost before, but now, when at last my body dies, then I will finally become a ghost".

"But, milord"

"No buts! I shall become a ghost, and I shall haunt, and that is all".

And then he went into a fit of warbly laughter, until at last the life suddenly went out of him, and his body lay still. Even then, as the priest closed his eyes and placed the coins, those there swore that they could faintly hear the sound of their elector, wobbly crying out into the night "Iiiiiii laaaaaaay with your moooooooooooms".

(BTW, since my monarch dies a month after the start, could the monarch boosts be applied to the next one?)
Ontime: 1 year tech in land. Or gold if we're not doing tech anymore.
AAR: +4 monarch military skill

Decentralized Bonus:
+2 random leaders of choise (Generals)
+2 max maneuver to all leaders generated
+1 avg maneuver on leaders generated
+0.5 avg to all other stats for leaders generated
+1year income in any single tech or stab of choise (To LT)
+1 core on any province you currently control ( 347 "Wurzburg").
+2 admin rating for your current king

Sorry I'm a little late...

 

[Joohoo]

As soon as Ladislaus took the throne, he throw his country against Venice, because the perpetrator had been found there. He got away and hid in Croatia as well and war efforts pushed on there too as well.
Either you are with us or against us, he said in public at the Habsburgian palace balcony in Vienna.
The kidnapper was found in Zagreb. In chains moved to Vienna and were publicly executed there by axe.
http://imgur.com/LIzNmBp
Then when the wars were over. Plans were made to try to take on the empire on the eastern border.
The Turks were a hindrance, they had taken the Hungarian lands, rightfully belonging to his father Albrecht V. Ladislaus was involved with planning with the great Russian Tsar and soon the sounds of horns were made and the armies of Habsburg moved into the plains of Hungary.

And it was over in... 3 weeks?
The generals had been played too many simulations without realizing the real effort it takes in a war and suddenly Habsburg were pushed back, into its lands. The Turks once again was sieging Vienna and many, many other cities.
The Russians fought hard in the east and because of instability in OE itself, Habsburg managed to continue on, always in the edge of surrender. So close for many, many years.

Habsburg only claim 1-2 provinces, shitty ones, but the Sultan rather let his citizens suffer than being reasonable.
Austria fought for its life and sovereignty.

But the day came when the suffer for the nation was too big and warscore was ridiculous low, the Archduke, now Frederick. peaced out. Giving away Slavonia and Steiermark. Oh Steiermark, you will be missed.
http://imgur.com/Ldw44GO

The war was costly for everyone.

Edits
Ontime -1 inflation
AAR 1 year tech into military

Decentralized
+2 random generals
+2 maneuver to all leaders generated
+1year income in any single tech or stab of choise - military
+1 core on any province you currently control - don't know where to find core ids
+2 admin rating for your current king

 

[admiral drake]

France 1440-1470​

France started this session finishing off the war over north italy, vassalizing venice and milan in the process
after that it was time to recover a little bit at i was at 9we and fairly exausted from the previous session wich saw one ai war after another.

all my effort was spend slowly annexing my vassals one by one and i was keeping a eye out on genoa to be able to ally them as soon as his alliance would expire.
while i had planned to annex savoy in 1465 and burgundy in 1467 only things where going a little faster as planned, mostly because of a random event boosting the diplomatic rating of my current king, allowing me to have a reasonable succes annexing both of those

however i got very lucky for a moment because my first attempt to annex burgundy was refused but they did not break the vassalage, so i was able to annex them on try2
other then burgundy there was not a no single ai that refused my offers to annex the entire session allowing me to annex and unite france in a fairly fluent motion.
genoa did refuse to become my vassal arround 5times in a row then accepted when my king was back to normal(figures)

since france has no bad intentions towards my neigbors at this point the majority of the session was spend at peace avoiding wars and saving money and teching towards trade 3 and saving some cash.

I kept a close eye out on the war between pepsi and austria/russia and i would have considered joining if poland joined but fortunatly i managed to keep him out with threats.
dowing at that point would have been a bad idea eitherway as it was guarenteed to escalate with atleast poland and possible brandenburg/spain joining and i had no intrest in that
especially since i'm pretty sure pepsi was to stubborn in his efforts wich is the only reason he lost so many provinces.

i reckon france has a nice current border in europe (outside koln) and i look forward to be able to colonise soon so future is looking bright
with trade 3 reached i'm the first that is able to trade somewhat reliable and french trade is now more then everybody else combined at a wooping 9gold ^^

atm france stil has 3 vassals, helvetia wil probably keep his semi-independence as a bufferstate, milan wil be annexed eventually before 1500 (with brescia/mantova probably handed over to austria in some way after i decide wat to do with venice)
but i'm stil undecided what to do with venice so time wil tell at that regard.

edit just realized i got -2 central myself
changing rewards for france to

ontime -1inflation
aar 1year landtech

+1admin from decentral
+6months landtech

 

[Ampoliros]

Oh and yes I confirm the edit requested by Dane. Sorry for the late reply. I was rather busy yesterday. So if possible edit Livonia to Sweden and Estonia to Russia, and change the respective religions: Livonia changed to Catholicism and Estonia changed to Orthodox.

 

[Joohoo]

Austria is on its feet again! - 1470- 1496

After two wars who raged on Austrian soil, much of the lands were in ruins and the goldmine was gone. The Habsburg Archduke was embarrased in front of the Europeans lords and Kings.
Plans with Russia were to try to swap provinces with OE as they had lost so much on its Anatolian side. The Sultan refused to his last breath. When that breath ended, a new Sultan succeded the throne and reconsidered the deal.
This was a big step for the Archduke as he now would gain 4 provinces for all the bloodshed he did take in the past. The provinces that was gained were Steiermark, the golden province, Slavonia, the heart of Great Slavonia, the old lands of the nomads, then came the difficult prounciation ones, Veszprem and Pozsony. Two secluded provinces in the lands of the Magyars, the lands our forefathers tried to claim but were swindled off.

Then the slow expansion of the enclaves inside our own land would begin. First victim was Bohemia, this former great nation was now a one province minor. Discussions by the Archduke and its nobility were long, would we take it by erosion or by force. Profit was promised and then annexion. So it was, so it ended. Prague is now our, ours only.

Then fell Salzburg and with it a free manu.
After came Baden with two provinces.
And then Bavaria which we first separated with force. And then peacefully promised gold and green forests(instead of black forests...) and to join us.
Same with Zagreb.
Left is Bosnia, will it go the same fate, no one knows. It could serve a purpose as a buffer.

Inflation
The only regrets the Archduke had was that the minting went on too much for some years without the Bundesministerium für Finanzen forgot to address the Archduke about the high inflation.
That will be a challenge. Not a catastrophe.

*Picture of the Austrian dukedom*

Look at this body, isn't it beautiful!?! This is almost true perfection. Some tweaks and this is a nation to be feared of.
The Archduke can now rest easier, the border is pushed away from Vienna. Some peasants will surely take the first hard blows but it will be easier to prepare the nation now of enemy movements into the heartland. If that will happen again?

Not much else was done for these years, the nation did not want to suffer more from outsiders so it was better to work in its domestic interest sphere instead and so it was. This is Habsburg, we do not surrender so easily!

Edits
Ontime bonus
-1 inflation

AAR bonus
+Province core 348

Decentral max
+2 random generals
+2 maneuver to all leaders generated
+1year income in any single tech or stab of choise(deleted?)
+2 admin rating for your current king
+Province core 349