Chapter 10: Rebels and Muslims and Italians, oh my!
June 4, 1437: France declared war on England. Shocking.
September 1: Another 3 star navigator shows up. The main reason to take QFTNW early is so that you spread out colony costs and get cores earlier. I give up my 5 star reputation adviser, on the theory that I need minting and range more.
November 2: In a show of my prowess at naval administration, I forget completely about my explorer (I lost one already during the interlude due to forgetfulness) and lose 1 carrack. My remaining carrack is at an awe inspiring 2%, but can make it back OK. I've lost 5 of my starting carracks now to idiocy. Good job, me!
June 10, 1428: Burgundy declares war on Hainaut, and I realize I forgot to warn them again. Here comes the smack down!
August 1: More forgetfulness - this time I end up taking a loan because I forgot to watch my ducats. 519 ducats worth of loan will be fun to pay back. I quickly invest in more forts in what used to be a very large Creek.
A quick side explanation about how I deal with the American nations. The simplest method is to crush them with 12K-16K cavalry and annex them once you've taken their money. Then, I split into stacks of 4K, so that every province I've taken is within 1 province of a cavalry stack. I then build forts underneath the cavalry (where they can keep from losing the forts), and move the cavalry every year as I add more forts. Once the garrisons in the new forts hits 1000, I start missionaries.
September 15: Holland declares war on a 1 province Flanders that broke away from Burgundy. Holland is all but guaranteed to win, giving them 2 CoTs (Antwerpen and Holland).
November 2: Novrogod declares war on England. Yes, you read that right. I have
never seen that before.
January 1439: A quick look at the progress of the wars between France and England and Burgundy and Everyone. If you look carefully at Liege, you can see my 1K infantry army hiding away, waiting for rebels. Where's Waldo, the Army Edition. (this makes me want to make a special Waldo sprite)
Feb 11: Wolof (in West Africa) converts.
March 1: Madeira becomes the first colony in the game to become self sufficient. Yay!
May 24: Flanders is annexed by Holland.
June 9: The truce with Mali is up, so it's time to grab the 2 gold producing provinces (Bambuk and Bure). I'm only taking a few provinces at a time for several reasons: I'm short armies to babysit rebels, I'm short missionaries to convert, and I keep taking money.
June 26: Algiers declares war. Tripoli and Tunisia join in. This is really amusing, because Mellila (which borders Ceuta and is the 3rd province required to defeat the Barbary Pirates) defected to Tunisia, and is currently rebel controlled. Hand it over on a platter, why don't you.
July 10: Cayor (West Africa) converts.
July 30: Aquileia declares war, bringing Venice in. Aquileia still has 2 gold provinces. Tasty snack. Venice has Crete and Achaea, neither of which I want.
November 1: Stability increase to +2. I can now start researching again. It's been quite a while...
December 9: Tripoli offers white peace. I take it, since I have more than enough on my plate. Tunisia offers WP as well, but I want Mellila. Currently, I have rebels in America, Rebels and Mali in West Africa (and enough troops to deal with it), Portuguese rebels, Aragonese rebels, Algierian and Tunisian armies invading, Venetian and Aquileian armies invading, and some Sicilan rebels, Lombard rebels. I do not have that many armies, so I'll have to just take down one at a time. With rebels, you can build 1K infantry stacks to follow and retake sieges - I'll do this a lot.
Jan 1, 1440: The Canarias and Taqamkuk (Newfoundland) become self-sustaining.
Jan 2: Venice asks for peace. They have nothing we want (at the moment), and it slows down Aquileia, so we accept.
Jan 15: Mali gives up Bambuk and Bure and 250 ducats. Wars in countries with no forts are simple: use a large cav stack to chase around their main army, and a small one to run around occupying everything.
Feb 1: An Algierian army dies in Fez.
April 1: Land 5! We upgrade to Longbows.
May 1: The Pope takes Modena from Ferrara, and Hungary declares war on Aquileia, bringing in Austria. I am powerless to go grab the provinces I want, so I have to pray for AI stupidity.
May 17: Tunisia's Navy dies outside the Straits of Gibraltar. The battle must have taken place on the western side (in Ocean) rather than the eastern side (Inland Seas), because their galleys got creamed.
May 29: Parma falls to rebels. This will start a long running problem in this war, where I can't keep my Italian holdings free of rebels. I can, however, follow them around and taking stuff back.
September 1: Barcelona falls to a 14K stack of Aragonese rebels.
November 1: Futa Jallon (West Africa) converts.
April 4, 1441: Aquileia begs for white peace. No. The downside - we still haven't occupied a single province in either remaining war.
April 18: We become Papal Controller and immediately declare a crusade on Tunisia and excommunicate Genoa.
June 1: Tennessee converts.
July 23: Mellila finally falls to siege, and Tunisia cedes it along with 25 ducats. The Barbary Pirates are defeated!