Here I am. Busy as always (just bought a new flat - my first one!!! - and done some "homeworks" these weeks) but with some time to play EU2 (plus a new entry, American Conquest) ... I'm seriously committed with my Apulian AAR and even if really slowly, let's go on with a new half-century of information.
A great part of the first half of the XVII century passed by under the government of the extravagant duke Raimondo III the Handsome (1604-1641), succeeded by his only son Carlo II. Quite disinterested in warfare and administration, the duke patronised arts and sciences notwithstanding the heavy control exercised over Italy by the Counter-Reformation. The growing revenues of fur trade (Apulia had become #1 worldwide in the industry) funded furhter colonisation and overseas activities, even if at a lower pace compared to the past decades, as well as a higher standard of life on the mainland territories.
Exploration of the North American continent was facilitated by the access through the Spanish territories and led to the uncovering of the extreme Pacific coast. Anyway, colonisation of that area didn't happen because of its remoteness. Instead, Nova Apulia (on the Atlantic side) had grown due to both increasing colonisation and some interesting gains from England and Denmark.
Commercial activities had been booming, with Apulian merchants representing in some way the "Dutch" of Catholic Europe, extremely involved in the centres of trade of Venice, Seville and Lisbon, with monopolistic positions gained from time to time in those strategic business hubs.
Apart from the cited colonial wars in America, warfare was limited to a brief conflict with France and Netherlands (1607-1608). Supported by Portugal and Spain (which would suffered heavy losses against the French), Raimondo III managed to gain Ancona and the surrounding province of Marche from France. In some way, Adriatic Sea could be considered an Apulian lake…
New military support to the colonies came from the young duke Carlo II, which had a much more warring character. In 1641 he promoted the building of a weapons manufactory (actually it was a blissful "unexpected invention" event) and personally directed a successful campaign against the fierce Hurons. Two years later their four provinces had been absorbed in the Nova Apulia region.
The following charts show the overall situation at the landmark year 1650:
In Europe.
In North America.
And the classic power chart, showing some new entries (Russia, Mughals), re-entries (Portugal), and - absent - fallen-angels (England, China).
That's the tale… moving to personal feelings, I'm enough satisfied of my game. My nation is doing extremely well in America, perhaps too much when compared to a sort of "rachitism" in Europe (just 3 provinces after 150+ years of campaign), and is becoming more and more technologically advanced and economically significant (28% of the income of the biggest nation, Spain). My problem is that my thin duchy is quite packed among France, Spain and Ottoman Empire, with no room for easy expansion in the peninsula or surrounding areas (don't forget I'm sticking with in-house rules that prevent me to grab easy – but illogical – preys in farther regions, apart my precious colony on the other side of the Atlantic Ocean). Thus, I'm still here, a minor European power with an interesting overseas empire…
Facts & Stats 1650
A great part of the first half of the XVII century passed by under the government of the extravagant duke Raimondo III the Handsome (1604-1641), succeeded by his only son Carlo II. Quite disinterested in warfare and administration, the duke patronised arts and sciences notwithstanding the heavy control exercised over Italy by the Counter-Reformation. The growing revenues of fur trade (Apulia had become #1 worldwide in the industry) funded furhter colonisation and overseas activities, even if at a lower pace compared to the past decades, as well as a higher standard of life on the mainland territories.
Exploration of the North American continent was facilitated by the access through the Spanish territories and led to the uncovering of the extreme Pacific coast. Anyway, colonisation of that area didn't happen because of its remoteness. Instead, Nova Apulia (on the Atlantic side) had grown due to both increasing colonisation and some interesting gains from England and Denmark.
Commercial activities had been booming, with Apulian merchants representing in some way the "Dutch" of Catholic Europe, extremely involved in the centres of trade of Venice, Seville and Lisbon, with monopolistic positions gained from time to time in those strategic business hubs.
Apart from the cited colonial wars in America, warfare was limited to a brief conflict with France and Netherlands (1607-1608). Supported by Portugal and Spain (which would suffered heavy losses against the French), Raimondo III managed to gain Ancona and the surrounding province of Marche from France. In some way, Adriatic Sea could be considered an Apulian lake…
New military support to the colonies came from the young duke Carlo II, which had a much more warring character. In 1641 he promoted the building of a weapons manufactory (actually it was a blissful "unexpected invention" event) and personally directed a successful campaign against the fierce Hurons. Two years later their four provinces had been absorbed in the Nova Apulia region.
The following charts show the overall situation at the landmark year 1650:
In Europe.
In North America.
And the classic power chart, showing some new entries (Russia, Mughals), re-entries (Portugal), and - absent - fallen-angels (England, China).
That's the tale… moving to personal feelings, I'm enough satisfied of my game. My nation is doing extremely well in America, perhaps too much when compared to a sort of "rachitism" in Europe (just 3 provinces after 150+ years of campaign), and is becoming more and more technologically advanced and economically significant (28% of the income of the biggest nation, Spain). My problem is that my thin duchy is quite packed among France, Spain and Ottoman Empire, with no room for easy expansion in the peninsula or surrounding areas (don't forget I'm sticking with in-house rules that prevent me to grab easy – but illogical – preys in farther regions, apart my precious colony on the other side of the Atlantic Ocean). Thus, I'm still here, a minor European power with an interesting overseas empire…
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Looking very impressive as always Hastu. Maybe some expansion into the med. islands is possible? From what I can see it looks like most of the greek island are owned by the OE? Fleets can do wonders against the AI sometimes and then there is always the Knights to grap land from. 
