Hehe being too aggressive in my opinion anyway try to surround the whole of the shore provinces in America that way they cant send more colonists in i think... anyway nice aar so far
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Zauberfloete: We'll concentrate first on France and hope that Castille won't bother to send any troops... wishful thinking, that is. Castilles troops have to move through France to get to us, so let's see if we can beat France before they arrive!
Toshan: Thanks, an update will follow in my lunch break!
The Legend: Also thanks for the encouraging words, I'm glad the aar seems a worthwhile read! I'm usually not a very aggressive player myself, but this time I decided the Papal States need to expand to be on the safe side. Too many enemies around! And the earlier France gets a sound thrashing, the less of a headache it will become...
Toshan: Thanks, an update will follow in my lunch break!
The Legend: Also thanks for the encouraging words, I'm glad the aar seems a worthwhile read! I'm usually not a very aggressive player myself, but this time I decided the Papal States need to expand to be on the safe side. Too many enemies around! And the earlier France gets a sound thrashing, the less of a headache it will become...
Chapter 7: The First French War: Initial Success
Our main fleet moves into to the Cote d'Azur, intercepting a large French fleet there. We are in luck, the fleet consists mainly of small ships, barques. Our own galleys should be able to deal with them. While our fleet isn't led by an admiral, only by God's will, the French admiral isn't especially good, either. Leadership will not impact this battle too much. Interestingly, the French have a ship called "l'Arrogant"
A few thoughts on naval action. As Morgon1988 mentioned in his very good and educating aar, galleys are very good in the Mediterranean. Also, they get better shock modifiers in the early games. Later on my pure gallery fleet will be decimated fighting a much smaller fleet containing big ships. I believe that a mix of ships is important to win naval battles. Include galleys if you are in the Mediterranean, don't do so if not. If your fleets only include big ships they will lose, if your fleet only include small ships, they will get slaughtered. My feeling is a roughly 1:1 mixture of big and small ships is a good fleet for the mid-to-late game. Your small ships will sink like lead, so build many replacements for them!
This is the situation after the first fights. Large armies consisting of cavalry and infantry march forward and leave a small infantry siege division in occupied territory. Note that in Languedoc France is counterattacking with a large force: 22,000 men against our 4,000. AI forces have increased tremendously in patch 1.3! We need to break off a siege to send our main army to relieve the forces of Languedoc.
The two provinces in Brasil colonised by Castille (Espirito Santo and Rio de Janeiro) are being attacked by our colonial forces. We seize the colonies. Excellent, now only the colonies of Burgundy and Mecklenburg are non-papal in Brasil. Note from the outliner that we have reinforced our armies in Languedoc and fighting the French on more even terms.
I used the spy action Bribe Defenders excessively in this war. At that time, I thought it was a good idea. It's cheap, easy and you get away with it often. It also speeds up the war. I am not as convinced any more of the usefulness of this action. It costs a spy that could be used to fabricate claims and if the war is going well, you have the extra time you need to siege provinces. If the war is going badly, you can't take the gains home in the peace treaty anyway.
Our troops are marching into French territory, meeting considerable resistance, but the war is going more or less well. Then, Switzerland decided it is the perfect time to DoW the Papal States! Oh dear...
At least we still have the Venetians to help us out. This calls for a redistribution of our armies. I decided that we need to take out the Swiss first, while trying to hold the French at bay. I still don't know if this was the right decision. Taking off pressure on the French allowed them to launch a counteroffensive and gave them enough time to consolidate their forces. On the other hand, had I continued to attack the French, the Swiss would have attacked our backs. That also is a very bad idea.
The first provinces have fallen and we have started to move armies into Swiss territory. The first batch of replacement ships have arrived in our Italian harbours. Our fleet is maintaining a blockade of the French Mediterranean coast and will soon move to blockade the French African coast.
The fleet intercepts a French transport fleet and sinks all French ships. Let's hope a few regiments were on board!
Always rotate damaged ships from your main force to friendly harbours. Have them repair there and then join up with your forces when fully repaired. Keep extra ships ready just for this rotation. Small ships will suffice, as these will take the brunt of the damage in your battles.
Southern France is a battlefield. Lots of fights there. Our fleets are moving in to blockade the African coast. Take a look a the French army in Africa: 22 regiments! 8 of which cavalry and the King is in command of them. Our fleet desperately needs to keep those troops in Africa. The moral loss of having their king in Africa will help us win the battles in France. Also, the first Castillian reinforcements have arrived on the battlefields. War prospects are getting grimer.
The Swiss are sieging our northern provinces and a Venetian one. Venetian soldiers are sieging Friuli, the Italian province the Swiss gained with our help in the last Papal-Venetian war! Ungrateful, cheese-eating bastards, these Swiss.
Our main fleet moves into to the Cote d'Azur, intercepting a large French fleet there. We are in luck, the fleet consists mainly of small ships, barques. Our own galleys should be able to deal with them. While our fleet isn't led by an admiral, only by God's will, the French admiral isn't especially good, either. Leadership will not impact this battle too much. Interestingly, the French have a ship called "l'Arrogant"
A few thoughts on naval action. As Morgon1988 mentioned in his very good and educating aar, galleys are very good in the Mediterranean. Also, they get better shock modifiers in the early games. Later on my pure gallery fleet will be decimated fighting a much smaller fleet containing big ships. I believe that a mix of ships is important to win naval battles. Include galleys if you are in the Mediterranean, don't do so if not. If your fleets only include big ships they will lose, if your fleet only include small ships, they will get slaughtered. My feeling is a roughly 1:1 mixture of big and small ships is a good fleet for the mid-to-late game. Your small ships will sink like lead, so build many replacements for them!
This is the situation after the first fights. Large armies consisting of cavalry and infantry march forward and leave a small infantry siege division in occupied territory. Note that in Languedoc France is counterattacking with a large force: 22,000 men against our 4,000. AI forces have increased tremendously in patch 1.3! We need to break off a siege to send our main army to relieve the forces of Languedoc.
The two provinces in Brasil colonised by Castille (Espirito Santo and Rio de Janeiro) are being attacked by our colonial forces. We seize the colonies. Excellent, now only the colonies of Burgundy and Mecklenburg are non-papal in Brasil. Note from the outliner that we have reinforced our armies in Languedoc and fighting the French on more even terms.
I used the spy action Bribe Defenders excessively in this war. At that time, I thought it was a good idea. It's cheap, easy and you get away with it often. It also speeds up the war. I am not as convinced any more of the usefulness of this action. It costs a spy that could be used to fabricate claims and if the war is going well, you have the extra time you need to siege provinces. If the war is going badly, you can't take the gains home in the peace treaty anyway.
Our troops are marching into French territory, meeting considerable resistance, but the war is going more or less well. Then, Switzerland decided it is the perfect time to DoW the Papal States! Oh dear...
At least we still have the Venetians to help us out. This calls for a redistribution of our armies. I decided that we need to take out the Swiss first, while trying to hold the French at bay. I still don't know if this was the right decision. Taking off pressure on the French allowed them to launch a counteroffensive and gave them enough time to consolidate their forces. On the other hand, had I continued to attack the French, the Swiss would have attacked our backs. That also is a very bad idea.
The first provinces have fallen and we have started to move armies into Swiss territory. The first batch of replacement ships have arrived in our Italian harbours. Our fleet is maintaining a blockade of the French Mediterranean coast and will soon move to blockade the French African coast.
The fleet intercepts a French transport fleet and sinks all French ships. Let's hope a few regiments were on board!
Always rotate damaged ships from your main force to friendly harbours. Have them repair there and then join up with your forces when fully repaired. Keep extra ships ready just for this rotation. Small ships will suffice, as these will take the brunt of the damage in your battles.
Southern France is a battlefield. Lots of fights there. Our fleets are moving in to blockade the African coast. Take a look a the French army in Africa: 22 regiments! 8 of which cavalry and the King is in command of them. Our fleet desperately needs to keep those troops in Africa. The moral loss of having their king in Africa will help us win the battles in France. Also, the first Castillian reinforcements have arrived on the battlefields. War prospects are getting grimer.
The Swiss are sieging our northern provinces and a Venetian one. Venetian soldiers are sieging Friuli, the Italian province the Swiss gained with our help in the last Papal-Venetian war! Ungrateful, cheese-eating bastards, these Swiss.
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Chapter 8: The First French War: Leo X Turns the Tide
Toulouse is the site of a major battle in this war. Papal troops are fighting leaderless against an evenly-matched French army. The Swiss are counterattacking in Switzerland and many of the sieges of southern France are about to end. Let's hope that gives the AI an idea that a peace treaty would be best for them.
Well, not if you lose the battle of Toulouse, they won't...
Our fleet intercepts a Castillian fleet in the Gulf of Lyon. I don't know if it was just luck or better leaders/ships, but the Castillians annihilated our main navy in this battle. Big ships are hard to sink. Given my recent experience, I'll always include some big ships in any main fighting fleets.
We are losing naval battles, the French can now transfer armies from Africa to their homelands, the French are counterattacking, we are losing battles and occupied provinces, the French have better leaders and Castillian reinforcements are arriving day after day. At least the Venetians are gaining ground against the Swiss.
Pope Leo X decides that this can't go on like this, or the war will be lost. He takes command of an army waiting in Avignon. An ass-kicking Shock 5 leader-general!
Will it be enough to turn the tide? Can Leo X encourage his soldiers to fight on and send fear into the ranks of the enemies? Wait for tomorrow's update to find out!
Toulouse is the site of a major battle in this war. Papal troops are fighting leaderless against an evenly-matched French army. The Swiss are counterattacking in Switzerland and many of the sieges of southern France are about to end. Let's hope that gives the AI an idea that a peace treaty would be best for them.
Well, not if you lose the battle of Toulouse, they won't...
Our fleet intercepts a Castillian fleet in the Gulf of Lyon. I don't know if it was just luck or better leaders/ships, but the Castillians annihilated our main navy in this battle. Big ships are hard to sink. Given my recent experience, I'll always include some big ships in any main fighting fleets.
We are losing naval battles, the French can now transfer armies from Africa to their homelands, the French are counterattacking, we are losing battles and occupied provinces, the French have better leaders and Castillian reinforcements are arriving day after day. At least the Venetians are gaining ground against the Swiss.
Pope Leo X decides that this can't go on like this, or the war will be lost. He takes command of an army waiting in Avignon. An ass-kicking Shock 5 leader-general!
Will it be enough to turn the tide? Can Leo X encourage his soldiers to fight on and send fear into the ranks of the enemies? Wait for tomorrow's update to find out!
Oh, I only just now noticed: look at the last screenshot. Land-locked Switzerland has sent a navy to blockade Venice! What are these Swiss up to? Not suffering naval attrition helps, keeping a navy afloat, I guess...
Not suffering naval attrition helps, keeping a navy afloat, I guess...
Suspense! No castillian armys moving through France? Are they concentrating on the navy?
Wow thats a lot of ships. the highest i ever had was 8 i think anyway the swiss seem to be doing well btw how bigs there army
anyway the swiss seem to be doing well btw how bigs there army
Castille's armies need some time to march to the front. You'll see them in today's update!Toshan said:
If you are playing on 1.3, 8 ships is nothing. The AI will regularly have navy stacks of 40-50 ships. In this game, Austria had only a single coastal province, but at the time of these updates well over 40 ships.The Legend said:Wow thats a lot of ships. the highest i ever had was 8 i think
The Swiss had very large armies. Their main army was something like 12-15k (4,000 cavalry) and two smaller armies of about 4-5k each. The Swiss started out well, with their large armies. By now, they have lost ground to the Venetians and Papal troops are sieging their provinces. Coming up: the resulting peace treaty!
Chapter 9: The First French War: Temperance is a Virtue
Leo X immediately marched his army to Dauphiné, where the French King Jacques I was supposedly leading the French army. The Papal troops arrived and Leo X maneuvered his forces to meet the French king in open battle.
A bad idea. Ten days after the battle had started, the two leaders met on the battlefield and Jacques I, although not as skilled as the pope in matters military, fell Leo X with a single blow of his sword. It must have been those treacherous Swiss again. The Papal Swiss Guard suddenly deserted the pope during his now famous charge. We should have known the Swiss better by now...
An outcry went through the troops, reducing the stability of the whole country. Argh. The new pope, Paulus II wisely decided to stay behind closed walls in Rome and didn't let a single Swiss Guard near him. Instead, he ordered a newly appointed general, Giambattista Belluno, with additional reinforcements to Dauphiné.
Some comments on this. This is exactly the reason I don't use my ruler as a general. They die like flies. Leo X was exceptionally unlucky, but what can one do? I was desperate and losing the war, using such a highly skilled ruler seemed like a risky, but worthwhile deal. It wasn't. Belluno is a 4-4-4 general, so very good in his own right. I didn't take a screenshot of the new pope, I was in agony... Paulus II is, again, a very good leader: DIP 7, ADM and MIL 5. I'm not going to use my popes as generals again!
Belluno arrives in Dauphiné and can turn the tide of the battle.
Word come to Belluno that a new French king is attacking Avignon. Jacques I must have died during the retreat from Dauphiné, at least that is good news... or isn't it? Louis XII is even better a leader than Jacques I was! Don't you just hate lucky kings... Shock 5 and Siege 1!
Matters go from bad to worse to catastrophical as our best general, the saviour of Dauphiné, Belluno dies. He is given a state funeral and buried next to Leo X, whose body Belluno rescued from the battle of Dauphiné.
What are the prospects? Only a divine intervention can turn the war now. At least the Venetians had made steady progress against the Swiss and our own Papal troops had occupied all of the Swiss alps. A peace treaty was forced on the Swiss in August, 1516.
Venice gains two provinces, and the Papal States another one. Switzerland is reduced to it's original size of two provinces. That should teach them a lesson. We can also now use those armies in France.
Two new generals are recruited, brothers. Marzio and Aldo Barilla. Aldo, being the older brother, was the more able leader. All the fighting of the last years had trained and schooled the Papal generals. The Barilla brothers scraped together the best and last regiments and marched on to Toulouse, site of former grand battles for a last stand. If they can't stop the French attacks there, the road into Italy will be wide open.
Castillian reinforcements arrive on the battle and the Barilla brothers have to admit defeat and retreat. 8,000 frech men from Castille decided the battle in the last second, literally.
Paulus II admits defeat as he realises that he cannot win this war, only engage in damage control. With fresh troops from Castille arriving every day and the military genius of Louis XII, it is only a matter of time before the French tread on Papal soil. A white peace offered by France is accepted, grudgingly.
This is the situation in Europe after the first Papal-French war.
At east we gained something from the Swiss, Venice helped us out a great deal in that respect. A white peace with France is the best we could do in that respect. Now, we'll need to build up our forces and navy to be able to attack France later on. We are allied with the Teutonic Order. I felt that I needed some friends after this defeat...
The lessons I learned: fighting lucky, manpower-rich countries (i.e. France) is hard. I believe this war was lost because of three things:
The AI will only concede in peace treaties if it's armies are dead. For this, you will need a lot of cavalry (in the early states of the game at least) and high skill shock generals. Decimate the AI's armies and peace will come easily!
The tactics derived from the First Papal-French war was a primitive version of the Powell Doctrine, called the "Leo X Doctrine" to honour the fallen pope. Attack with overwhelming force and good leaders to annihilate the enemy's armies. Then, proceed to siege provinces and chase the enemy with your main armies.
The next war will be the first test of this new doctrine of Papal warfare. Oh, and we disbanded the Papal Swiss Guard. Just to be sure.
Leo X immediately marched his army to Dauphiné, where the French King Jacques I was supposedly leading the French army. The Papal troops arrived and Leo X maneuvered his forces to meet the French king in open battle.
A bad idea. Ten days after the battle had started, the two leaders met on the battlefield and Jacques I, although not as skilled as the pope in matters military, fell Leo X with a single blow of his sword. It must have been those treacherous Swiss again. The Papal Swiss Guard suddenly deserted the pope during his now famous charge. We should have known the Swiss better by now...
An outcry went through the troops, reducing the stability of the whole country. Argh. The new pope, Paulus II wisely decided to stay behind closed walls in Rome and didn't let a single Swiss Guard near him. Instead, he ordered a newly appointed general, Giambattista Belluno, with additional reinforcements to Dauphiné.
Some comments on this. This is exactly the reason I don't use my ruler as a general. They die like flies. Leo X was exceptionally unlucky, but what can one do? I was desperate and losing the war, using such a highly skilled ruler seemed like a risky, but worthwhile deal. It wasn't. Belluno is a 4-4-4 general, so very good in his own right. I didn't take a screenshot of the new pope, I was in agony... Paulus II is, again, a very good leader: DIP 7, ADM and MIL 5. I'm not going to use my popes as generals again!
Belluno arrives in Dauphiné and can turn the tide of the battle.
Word come to Belluno that a new French king is attacking Avignon. Jacques I must have died during the retreat from Dauphiné, at least that is good news... or isn't it? Louis XII is even better a leader than Jacques I was! Don't you just hate lucky kings... Shock 5 and Siege 1!
Matters go from bad to worse to catastrophical as our best general, the saviour of Dauphiné, Belluno dies. He is given a state funeral and buried next to Leo X, whose body Belluno rescued from the battle of Dauphiné.
What are the prospects? Only a divine intervention can turn the war now. At least the Venetians had made steady progress against the Swiss and our own Papal troops had occupied all of the Swiss alps. A peace treaty was forced on the Swiss in August, 1516.
Venice gains two provinces, and the Papal States another one. Switzerland is reduced to it's original size of two provinces. That should teach them a lesson. We can also now use those armies in France.
Two new generals are recruited, brothers. Marzio and Aldo Barilla. Aldo, being the older brother, was the more able leader. All the fighting of the last years had trained and schooled the Papal generals. The Barilla brothers scraped together the best and last regiments and marched on to Toulouse, site of former grand battles for a last stand. If they can't stop the French attacks there, the road into Italy will be wide open.
Castillian reinforcements arrive on the battle and the Barilla brothers have to admit defeat and retreat. 8,000 frech men from Castille decided the battle in the last second, literally.
Paulus II admits defeat as he realises that he cannot win this war, only engage in damage control. With fresh troops from Castille arriving every day and the military genius of Louis XII, it is only a matter of time before the French tread on Papal soil. A white peace offered by France is accepted, grudgingly.
This is the situation in Europe after the first Papal-French war.
At east we gained something from the Swiss, Venice helped us out a great deal in that respect. A white peace with France is the best we could do in that respect. Now, we'll need to build up our forces and navy to be able to attack France later on. We are allied with the Teutonic Order. I felt that I needed some friends after this defeat...
The lessons I learned: fighting lucky, manpower-rich countries (i.e. France) is hard. I believe this war was lost because of three things:
- The Swiss backstab. As mentioned before, the AI is very good at gangbanging. Assume that you will be backstabbed by neighbours that don't like you if you are in a large-scale war. Always be prepared for that.
- Not enough regiments. I didn't have enough men to fight all of the armies France (and later on, Castille) fielded against me.
- No leaders. I stated the war with no leaders to speak of and only slowly could recruit good leaders. Now, after the war our tradition is high and we have a few moderately good leaders (shock 3-5).
The AI will only concede in peace treaties if it's armies are dead. For this, you will need a lot of cavalry (in the early states of the game at least) and high skill shock generals. Decimate the AI's armies and peace will come easily!
The tactics derived from the First Papal-French war was a primitive version of the Powell Doctrine, called the "Leo X Doctrine" to honour the fallen pope. Attack with overwhelming force and good leaders to annihilate the enemy's armies. Then, proceed to siege provinces and chase the enemy with your main armies.
The next war will be the first test of this new doctrine of Papal warfare. Oh, and we disbanded the Papal Swiss Guard. Just to be sure.
Very good AAR, one of the best for EU3 and for AARland! I haven't seen one like this in a while, not since Operation: Liberation, and I will definitely keep an eye on it.
Who'll replace the Swiss Guard now that you can't trust them? The Venetians?
Who'll replace the Swiss Guard now that you can't trust them? The Venetians?
Thanks! No, the Papal States cannot form Italy, they have Umbrian as primary culture. You need Lombard as primary culture to be able to form Italy. From events/italiannation.txt:Nehekara said:
Code:
trigger = {
NOT = { exists = ITA }
NOT = { has_country_flag = italian_nation_declined }
primary_culture = lombard
owns = 116 # Firenze
owns = 117 # Siena
owns = 118 # Roma
owns = 119 # Ancona
war = no
}Why, thank you! I can't say that I'm not pleased to hear your words!chefportnen said:
In all modesty, there are by far better aars out there than mine. Perhaps I can direct you to America: Largest of the British Isles, by Moquel. He's playing England and is following a simple, but intriguing goal: all provinces in America have to be of British culture. This means he has to wage many wars with the colonial powers to prevent them from establishing themselves in the New World. A very good read! The current Pope, Paulus II, has decided to recruit his bodyguards from his two allies: Teutonic Knights (can't beat German efficiency!) and Venetians (can't put a price on loyalty). We'll see how this works out!chefportnen said:
Chapter 10: Those "Neutral" Swiss, Again
We thought that the Swiss would leave us alone after they lost the war. But, far from the truth! They keep harassing the Papal States with spies, inciting the natives of Brasil.
Some more things to learn from the screenshot. Our naval buildup is progressing nicely. The Castillian navy nearly eradicated our navy, so new ships were ordered. Lots of them. We are pouring money into stability, we have arrived at stability -2 already. This is beginning to hurt, as it is very costly, but we are ahead of most research so we can afford to spend some years on stability investment. More regiments are also being trained. Our manpower reserves are thus very low (just under 4,000 men left in the pool). All this is to be prepared for the next wars to come. Burgundy is about to gain the brasilian Mecklenburgundian province. We'll "only" need to attack Burgundy to gain all non-Papal provinces in Brasil...
The Swiss again...
Our ally, the Teutonic Order, asks us for help in a war against Muscowy and Bosnia. Sure, why not? We won't lose stability from fighting those orthodox countries. Pope Paulus II just makes sure that he takes control of the peace negotiations, so that the gains of this war are fairly distributed. Fair for the pope, of course.
That brown colour arriving in the East, in Nijni-Novgorod to be precise, is Ming! They arrived in Europe, as early as 1522! Now, Ming usually is all over the place, but so far West, so early in the game? Wow!
The Swiss decide it's a good idea to sting us again.
That did it. Pope Paulus II was sent into a raging fit and cursed every single Swiss man or woman, alive or dead. He went storming into the war room and sent his generals and the European armies to the border with Switzerland. The Swiss had overlooked that they were of the Protestant faith and thus were easy prey for the Papal States following the Deus Vult doctrine. If only they had kept their heads low!
Battles are few and short. Superiour leadership, numbers and will make this war short and easy. Not using any Swiss men the army any more, battles were a breeze.
Soon, Switzerland is forced to sign a peace deal reducing them to their capital province, putting them under our command and extorting war indemnities. Paulus II's rage was only barely contained when signing the treaty.
Note that Papal troops are laying siege to Bosnia. Soon after the peace treaty with Switzerland, Papal diplomats secure a separate peace treaty with the Bosnians.
Now, all we need to do is wait for the Teutonic Order to complete their conquests far up North and then offer a peace deal to Muscowy. Yep, German efficiency. The following peace deal is signed:
We thought that the Swiss would leave us alone after they lost the war. But, far from the truth! They keep harassing the Papal States with spies, inciting the natives of Brasil.
Some more things to learn from the screenshot. Our naval buildup is progressing nicely. The Castillian navy nearly eradicated our navy, so new ships were ordered. Lots of them. We are pouring money into stability, we have arrived at stability -2 already. This is beginning to hurt, as it is very costly, but we are ahead of most research so we can afford to spend some years on stability investment. More regiments are also being trained. Our manpower reserves are thus very low (just under 4,000 men left in the pool). All this is to be prepared for the next wars to come. Burgundy is about to gain the brasilian Mecklenburgundian province. We'll "only" need to attack Burgundy to gain all non-Papal provinces in Brasil...
The Swiss again...
Our ally, the Teutonic Order, asks us for help in a war against Muscowy and Bosnia. Sure, why not? We won't lose stability from fighting those orthodox countries. Pope Paulus II just makes sure that he takes control of the peace negotiations, so that the gains of this war are fairly distributed. Fair for the pope, of course.
That brown colour arriving in the East, in Nijni-Novgorod to be precise, is Ming! They arrived in Europe, as early as 1522! Now, Ming usually is all over the place, but so far West, so early in the game? Wow!
The Swiss decide it's a good idea to sting us again.
That did it. Pope Paulus II was sent into a raging fit and cursed every single Swiss man or woman, alive or dead. He went storming into the war room and sent his generals and the European armies to the border with Switzerland. The Swiss had overlooked that they were of the Protestant faith and thus were easy prey for the Papal States following the Deus Vult doctrine. If only they had kept their heads low!
Battles are few and short. Superiour leadership, numbers and will make this war short and easy. Not using any Swiss men the army any more, battles were a breeze.
Soon, Switzerland is forced to sign a peace deal reducing them to their capital province, putting them under our command and extorting war indemnities. Paulus II's rage was only barely contained when signing the treaty.
Note that Papal troops are laying siege to Bosnia. Soon after the peace treaty with Switzerland, Papal diplomats secure a separate peace treaty with the Bosnians.
Now, all we need to do is wait for the Teutonic Order to complete their conquests far up North and then offer a peace deal to Muscowy. Yep, German efficiency. The following peace deal is signed:
Postscriptum: In Unrelated News...
Not much action in the last chapter, so I'll give you a little teaser for tomorrow (or Thursday, don't know when I'll have time to update). First off, it's been a quarter of a century since we brought peace and prosperity to the Congolese. To honour this day, great festivities are planned.
A core on these lands will net us a lot more taxes, especially census taxes, which is inflation-free money at the beginning of the year! More good news, we can now recruit regiments and ships of our accustomed Papal quality in these provinces, thus broadening our strategic options.
Our explorers have found their way to modern-day Argentinia. There are some insanely rich provinces in the Pampas. Take Salinas Grande for example, base tax 8(!) plus very hospitable natives. There are 3 or 4 provinces of comparable riches to be found in South America, get them before the AI does!
The last screenshot of the day and the promised teaser. What can we learn from this picture?
Not much action in the last chapter, so I'll give you a little teaser for tomorrow (or Thursday, don't know when I'll have time to update). First off, it's been a quarter of a century since we brought peace and prosperity to the Congolese. To honour this day, great festivities are planned.
A core on these lands will net us a lot more taxes, especially census taxes, which is inflation-free money at the beginning of the year! More good news, we can now recruit regiments and ships of our accustomed Papal quality in these provinces, thus broadening our strategic options.
Our explorers have found their way to modern-day Argentinia. There are some insanely rich provinces in the Pampas. Take Salinas Grande for example, base tax 8(!) plus very hospitable natives. There are 3 or 4 provinces of comparable riches to be found in South America, get them before the AI does!
The last screenshot of the day and the promised teaser. What can we learn from this picture?
I spy with my little eye, a France about to get owned.
What was the extent of the Reformation in this game?
What was the extent of the Reformation in this game?
Correct!chefportnen said:
Let's see... I loaded a savegame and took some pages out of the ledger. All this is a substitute for tomorrow's update -- I'll get sizeably drunk tonight, so I'd better not use a computer tomorrow First, this is the state of the reformation in Europe in 1524. Our National Idea of Deus Vult prevents its spread in our countries. Otherwise we would have been a prime target: Sicily and Switzerland both are Protestand and have Protestant as their state religion. The reformation will spread much further, covering nearly all of the HRE in a few years time...
Income is good. We are the number one moneymaker in the world! Burgundy is in second place. We'll have to deal with them sooner, rather than later. Our lead isn't comfortable, but we have few cores in our holdings. Income should rise once we gain these cores.
Some pie charts... hm... pie!
And a tech overview. We're not first place in land technology, but France/Castille (our current enemies) aren't even on the first page! Burgundy is pretty scary overall. The Papal States have neglected Trade (we don't trade) and Naval (no large naval enemies, yet). We'll need to start to invest in Naval, otherwise our shiny, new fleet will be sent to the bottom of the seas! We are also uncomfortably lacking in Production technology. All these wars, especially the First Papal-French war were costly...
What a treacherous backstab! I'd add an item #4 to that list: Burgundy's cowardice in dishonouring its alliance with you. All too soon will come the day of reckoning for that pathetic act.
We'll see, we'll see...Corbett said:
Let's just say that the pope does not forget, and that the Papal Archives are fully staffed and record even the slightest misdeed!
Chapter 11: The Second Papal-French War: The Papal States Strike Back!
Well, we just increased our land tech level, giving us a nice morale boost of 25% and a considerable lead over Frances land tech 3. France is engaged in many wars all over the Mediterranean, it's stability is low, it already has high war exhaustion (revolt risk in Auvergne, a core province is 8.4%!) and it's navy is laughable. A lot of fighting is going on in North Africa, so quite a few regiments are probably tied up there. And it's been over seven years since the First Papal-French war...
It's time to show the French what the Papal armies without the help of the Swiss and the Burgundians can accomplish! Venice and the Teutonic Order join us in the war. Good for them.
The first move of the war is to gain control of the Mediterranean Sea, as before. Our main battle fleet is sent to the French coast to find the remains of the French navy. It's not an even battle.
Our main battle armies move to engage the French in battles. Following the new Leo X Doctrine, we use our leaders, a lot of cavalry and never fight battles with less than a 2-to-1 numerical advantage. As soon as the battle is won, our armies move to different provinces to keep attrition low. The only advantage of fighting in France is that the provinces are to insanely rich, the supply limit is high, even if you don't own the provinces.
Supply limit is multiplied x3 (I think) for besieging a province. If you are having trouble with attrition, leave a small army to siege the province and the provincial supply limit will go up! First battle results are promising:
Once the enemy is routed, move your all cavalry army after the beaten army (you can see where they are headed to by hovering with your cursor over the unit). You all cavalry army will be faster, arriving even before the enemy unit. A new 4-day shock phase (or is it 5?) against an enemy with no morale will kill even more soldiers, especially as you will be the defending unit, so the terrain modifiers will be subtracted from the enemy! Then repeat. If you attack with a 10-to-1 advantage, the enemy army will be completely destroyed, as happened with the battle of Provence in the above screenshot.
Lucky kings again...
Be prepared to fight insane leaders when fighting lucky nations. Charles VIII is shock 5, Barilla is shock 4, so it's a more or less even battle. We have more cavalry and more overall troops, though! Also note that our navies are moving in to keep the French armies in Africa.
The war is going well, much better than last time. The French offer only a token resistance. We moved an army all the way up to Ile-de-France to besiege the capital province of France. Ile-de-France has such a high support limit, you can leave an 8,000 man strong army there, even after the war!
Venice is helping us out and doing well. We moved all the way through southern France with little to no resistance and are now attacking Castillian territory in Navarra. The Spanish have large armies (unlike the French), but their leadership is terrible (again, unlike the French). Our cavalry army tries to butcher the Castillians.
We lost the battle. But look at the casualties -- a few more of those "lost" battles, and we'll have won the war!
Meanwhile, we move small armies into northern Canada. Dirt-poor provinces, we burn the colonies we find to the ground. No use in keeping them.
After losing the Battle of Navarra, a second army is sent to battle. This time we win the battle. Take a look at the outliner, the sieges in southern France are going well. This war is won already, and nearly over.
France realises this and a peace treaty is forced upon them. Venice had occupied the Canaries with a naval taskforce, so I decided to honour an AI than can actually pull this off, they can keep the Canaries.
This is the situation in France after the war in 1526. The war exhaustion of France was probably the main reason we were able to win so easily. France was essentially already broken. And we were able to keep large armies bottled up in Africa were the attrition killed them off. We didn't take Nice int he peace deal to keep the casus belli against France. Also note the ships that are returning from blockading the Castillian coasts. Blockagind enemy provinces is an easy way to get warscore!
In hindsight, we could have extracted a lot more from the French. I didn't do so because, to be honest, I was overwhelmed with how easy it was to beat the French and decided to be on the safe side and propose a deal that was very moderate. There's still plenty of time left for the Papal armies to march into France!
Well, we just increased our land tech level, giving us a nice morale boost of 25% and a considerable lead over Frances land tech 3. France is engaged in many wars all over the Mediterranean, it's stability is low, it already has high war exhaustion (revolt risk in Auvergne, a core province is 8.4%!) and it's navy is laughable. A lot of fighting is going on in North Africa, so quite a few regiments are probably tied up there. And it's been over seven years since the First Papal-French war...
It's time to show the French what the Papal armies without the help of the Swiss and the Burgundians can accomplish! Venice and the Teutonic Order join us in the war. Good for them.
The first move of the war is to gain control of the Mediterranean Sea, as before. Our main battle fleet is sent to the French coast to find the remains of the French navy. It's not an even battle.
Our main battle armies move to engage the French in battles. Following the new Leo X Doctrine, we use our leaders, a lot of cavalry and never fight battles with less than a 2-to-1 numerical advantage. As soon as the battle is won, our armies move to different provinces to keep attrition low. The only advantage of fighting in France is that the provinces are to insanely rich, the supply limit is high, even if you don't own the provinces.
Supply limit is multiplied x3 (I think) for besieging a province. If you are having trouble with attrition, leave a small army to siege the province and the provincial supply limit will go up! First battle results are promising:
Once the enemy is routed, move your all cavalry army after the beaten army (you can see where they are headed to by hovering with your cursor over the unit). You all cavalry army will be faster, arriving even before the enemy unit. A new 4-day shock phase (or is it 5?) against an enemy with no morale will kill even more soldiers, especially as you will be the defending unit, so the terrain modifiers will be subtracted from the enemy! Then repeat. If you attack with a 10-to-1 advantage, the enemy army will be completely destroyed, as happened with the battle of Provence in the above screenshot.
Lucky kings again...
Be prepared to fight insane leaders when fighting lucky nations. Charles VIII is shock 5, Barilla is shock 4, so it's a more or less even battle. We have more cavalry and more overall troops, though! Also note that our navies are moving in to keep the French armies in Africa.
The war is going well, much better than last time. The French offer only a token resistance. We moved an army all the way up to Ile-de-France to besiege the capital province of France. Ile-de-France has such a high support limit, you can leave an 8,000 man strong army there, even after the war!
Venice is helping us out and doing well. We moved all the way through southern France with little to no resistance and are now attacking Castillian territory in Navarra. The Spanish have large armies (unlike the French), but their leadership is terrible (again, unlike the French). Our cavalry army tries to butcher the Castillians.
We lost the battle. But look at the casualties -- a few more of those "lost" battles, and we'll have won the war!
Meanwhile, we move small armies into northern Canada. Dirt-poor provinces, we burn the colonies we find to the ground. No use in keeping them.
After losing the Battle of Navarra, a second army is sent to battle. This time we win the battle. Take a look at the outliner, the sieges in southern France are going well. This war is won already, and nearly over.
France realises this and a peace treaty is forced upon them. Venice had occupied the Canaries with a naval taskforce, so I decided to honour an AI than can actually pull this off, they can keep the Canaries.
This is the situation in France after the war in 1526. The war exhaustion of France was probably the main reason we were able to win so easily. France was essentially already broken. And we were able to keep large armies bottled up in Africa were the attrition killed them off. We didn't take Nice int he peace deal to keep the casus belli against France. Also note the ships that are returning from blockading the Castillian coasts. Blockagind enemy provinces is an easy way to get warscore!
In hindsight, we could have extracted a lot more from the French. I didn't do so because, to be honest, I was overwhelmed with how easy it was to beat the French and decided to be on the safe side and propose a deal that was very moderate. There's still plenty of time left for the Papal armies to march into France!