The Sublime Ottoman State
An Ottoman AAR using Magna Mundi Platinum
Verily you shall conquer Constantinople. What a wonderful leader will
her leader be, and what a wonderful army will that army be!
her leader be, and what a wonderful army will that army be!
Sovereigns and Monarchs of the Ottoman Empire:
Kanuni Sultan Mehmet II el-Fatih . . . . . . . . . (1451 - 1475)
The Young Conqueror, A Stirring Sight Indeed, The Guns of Urban, Mehmet's Gambit, Spring on the Volga, The First Lawgiver, The War of the Mad Prince, Krieger: The Dark Night (Part 1), Krieger: The Dark Night (Part 2), A New Rome, Of Pirates and Knights, The Turkish Crimean, The Battle of Lugansk, The Wedge Between Allies, Parley, The Fall of the Mad Prince, The Death of Mehmet el-Fatih
Sultan Giyasuddin I . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . (1475 - 1490)
Shadow of the Father, Born of Righteous Fury, The Final Crusade, The Apathy of Kings, The Gilded Wall
Sultan Bayezid II . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . (1490 - 1515)
The Battle for Rome, The Sacking of Rome, Imperium Romanum vacuus Roma, Krieger: The Hunt Begins, The Wealth of a Nation, Early Religious Conversions in Greece, Barbarossa the Corsair, Heretics and Hidden Heresies, Rebels, Foreign and Domestic
Sultan Abdulrahman I . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . (1515 - 1540)
A Builder of Empires, An Eye on the Future, Holy War, A Return to Normalcy, The Fall of the Mamelukes
Intermission
Sultan Ali I . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . (1540 - 1564)
The Poet Sultan, The Tsar Ascendant, A Rising Star, A Victory, a Loss, and a Return to the Status Quo
Sultan Suleiman I . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . (1564 - 1572)
Sultan Cihangir I . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . (1572 - 1578)
Interregnum . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . (1578 - 1581)
Sultan Abdülhamid I . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . (1581 - 1603)
A Monarchy Restored, A Matter of Logistics, The Battle of Crete, Securing the Arabian Peninsula, Pax Ottomana, Krieger: Polite Company, Krieger: Hospitality
Sultan Mahmud I Öfkeli . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . (1603 - 1605)
Sultan Suleiman II . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . (1605 - )
Author's Notes:
Well, here I am giving this whole "AAR" thing a go again. My last attempt was both a triumph (I got a shiny award!) but also a crushing disappointment (my laptop died on me only a short time into the game). I pray this time I don't suffer any hardware failures like last time.
I also think that I may have learned a little something from my last attempt in that I need to try and keep a regular update schedule, avoid getting bogged down writing imposing blocks of text, and keep a fair amount of screenshots handy. My fingers are crossed.
So; the Ottoman Empire! What drove me to choose the Ottomans, of all choices? The Ottomans have always fascinated me, and I love learning about them. I think because I am also fascinated with the history of the Byzantine Empire that secretly I am obsessed with the city of Constantinople/Istanbul itself. Personally I blame my AP history teacher for having They Might Be Giants' song "Istanbul (Not Constantinople)" playing during class. Curse him and his yuppie "in-denial-about-my-age" ponytail!
It could also be down to having finished Caroline Finkel's excellent book Osman's Dream: The History of the Ottoman Empire, which I highly recommend to anyone who is interested on the subject and likes to learn about history outside of computer games ("Can anyone tell me why the USSR beat Nazi Germany? Yes, Timmy?" "Because the Soviet Union had better gearing bonuses?").
I have done very minimal (see: none) research on the forums before I started this AAR, so I have no clue if my title has already been claimed a half-dozen times before and if Ottoman Empire AARs are like a plague of locusts o'er the land. If either is true, I offer you one, no two thousand pardons for my horrible transgressions.
I have slightly modified my copy of Magna Mundi Platinum v1.20, but these changes only really pertain to taxes and tax rates. I increased the global amount (I believe I reduced the base modifer from -40% to -20%) and reduced the 'aiglobal11/12/13' modifiers some to help prevent what I saw occuring in my last two games: the AI was loaded. Flush. Affluent. Rolling in the dough. It was downright Richie Rich-esque to see every one-nation minor, no matter how poor the province, able to build every building they could way before I even managed to place workshops in half of my lands.
Basically, I was jealous and incompetent. Not only that, but I also possessed the powers of a God over my little simulated world, and I quickly decided to change the fabric of digital reality itself into something far more pleasing to my tastes! Of course, it is difficult to feel divinely evil when all you are doing is editing a few .txt files, but I still managed a overly-dramatic pose and a hearty "Muahahahahaha!" when I clicked save. Scared the hell out of my dog.
I also tweaked the history files to make it so Istanbul (not Constantinople) became Turkish and Sunni within a few years of it falling to the Turks, something that I feel is reasonable considering historic realities about the city (it was already very depopulated even before the siege began). This date is, handily enough, where I chose to start my game. Coincidence? So enough of me prattling on about my own history and personal failings, I hope you will enjoy my AAR.
And no, don't worry: I will not try and turn it into a humorous AAR. I'm not funny enough to pull it off; I am no Prince Knud. Not even a Carrot Top or a (shudder) Gallagher.
Starting date: 30 December, 1458
Nation: Ottoman Empire
Version: IN 3.1 + MMP 1.26
Rules: All MMP defaults
EDIT: And before anyone gets too angry at me, just be aware that while some of the quotes I will be using will be genuine, others will be heavily edited or even (gasp) complete fabrications.
EDIT: If you want to know the style of the AAR, its a mix between the History Book and the narrative approach. Mostly the History Book, but I will also be exploring what is going on in Krieger's life while he is writing the book.
EDIT (Jan. 23): Wow, that was a long, long time between posts. I mean, I do have some convenient excuses (I was moving into a new apartment, school was starting back up again, etc. but to be honest, I was just being lazy. Hopefully a very interesting English teacher I have will help convince me to keep writing on a semi-regular basis.
EDIT (Feb. 13): Well, I updated to a newer version of MM again, but this time I was prepared with plenty of information to help make the transition easier. Namely I used a save game editor. So while it took me a while to make sure I got most of the details right, I think it was well worth it. Go try MM today, if you already havn't. And with the new version, any information above about changes to the game are pretty much nullified. No tax increases or the like from Giyasuddin onwards!
EDIT (Sept. 14): Dead? Hardly. There is still too much land not yet dominated by the Sultan of Sultans! Allāhu Akbar!
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