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I'm not sure he's planning on acquiring anything. Just beating the Austrians and Russians so they can't interfere with the actual wars of conquest. Infamy wise the payback on uncivs is far more favourable.

Have to agree that Croatia looks a mess.
 
If you think the borders are ugly now...muhahahaha!

The only question is do I expand towards Italy and kill them, or take states northward to border Prussia and chew my way into Northern Europe against Prussia's lack of armies.

To give you an idea, in this war, I could take Transdanubia, Slovakia, Moravia, and Bohemia, which would give me a border with Prussia and Saxony. If I annex Wurttemburg, that gives me a border to start going north into the mirco-German states. I could then conquest my way in a pincer and meet up through southern Prussia. This would leave Austria in 3 parts (which I can take in future wars).

If I chew my way west, I can take a large chunk of Italy.
 
If you think the borders are ugly now...muhahahaha!

The only question is do I expand towards Italy and kill them, or take states northward to border Prussia and chew my way into Northern Europe against Prussia's lack of armies.

To give you an idea, in this war, I could take Transdanubia, Slovakia, Moravia, and Bohemia, which would give me a border with Prussia and Saxony. If I annex Wurttemburg, that gives me a border to start going north into the mirco-German states. I could then conquest my way in a pincer and meet up through southern Prussia. This would leave Austria in 3 parts (which I can take in future wars).

If I chew my way west, I can take a large chunk of Italy.

You're starting to sound like a chestburster from Alien. Consider me scared. ;)

Ultra-violence seems certain to ensue. I approve. :)
 
you should go to Italy and reassert yourself as the true Roman Emperor!
 
You should leave Vienna to Austria, so that you can steal it at a later date once they bring it up to 40 Liferating. I would mostly try to steal the largest factories of Austria, as it seems like in the late game, industry outweighs everything else. I guess this is reason to try to spread toward Prussia, in order to steal their huge factories and population.
 
You should leave Vienna to Austria, so that you can steal it at a later date once they bring it up to 40 Liferating. I would mostly try to steal the largest factories of Austria, as it seems like in the late game, industry outweighs everything else. I guess this is reason to try to spread toward Prussia, in order to steal their huge factories and population.

Seconded - blind me with your hideous borders!
 
Thirded! Although I'd like to add that crowning yourself Pope is an acceptable substitute. Even if the true Pope and his Popaphant will likely remain elusive, hehe!
Also, your life without parole comment last chapter made me grin. :)

Stuyvesant: Oi, me droogy malchikii i devotchkii! Let's give it a bit of the old ultra-violence while we sip on our milkplus!
 
Wow - looking forward to you ripping a hole out of Austria! I'd be tempted to go for the highest population areas, to deny Austria mobilization (but will those require too much score?) - Venice, Lombardia, Bohemia and Moravia would be my favorites.
 
Naggy,

Going to take out Austria, now? Wow.

Hey, for the benefit of yourself and others, I thought I'd post my judging comments on your AAR with you here:

Naggy's Ottoman Empire, ranked 4th, slightly ahead of Bukkhara and a little ways under the big three. This was truly a joy to read, not just because the story was well told and the screenshots well chosen, but also because it read like a strategy instructional manual -- something I appreciate as writer of the Strategy Guides, and which I've tried to do with my last 3 AARs. Again, I learned some things from Naggy's strategic analysis and/or understanding of the finer points of game mechanics -- things which will often tell the difference between a successful player and one who just gets by. My notes: "Good understanding of strategic situation at start, good use of understated humor, good strategic choices, a little gamey (just from long experience, though - not really a fault in this case)." I remember really enjoying the craft employed in executing wars against Russia, etc. I liked the inventive things he came up with to explain why alliances, etc., came and went the way they did. One final note -- this is an almost "archaic" style of AAR -- one you will see alot of in the old HOI 1 and EU 1 AARs, but not alot of in later years. A REAL gameplay AAR, not a "descriptive gameplay" like mine where I tell you in full paragraphs what happened at a particular point. This one's day by day, and while I actually don't like the style a whole lot, Naggy made me like his. A really well done AAR, deserving of the highest praise (just with some other really, really stiff competition in the upper ranks!).


Rensslaer
 
Naggy,

Going to take out Austria, now? Wow.

Hey, for the benefit of yourself and others, I thought I'd post my judging comments on your AAR with you here:

Wow. Thank you very much, Rensslaer!
 

ah well, you should not have reloaded then, as your accusation is true! Good stuff, I too would rather like to see Austria dismembered, with her most wealthy provinces being taken. Gaining a land border with Prussia would be very interesting too.
 
Stuyvesant: If you see Austria flopping about on the table begging you to kill him, do it. :)

Duke of Awesome: I'll put them on the menu.

Surume: Vienna has to be last anyway, so at least 3 wars, I think.

Jape: Let there be ugly!

Communitarian: Maybe crown myself the Caliphopope of Romestambul?

AllmyJames: Bohemia and Moravia are on tap for this war, since they border Prussia.

morningSIDEr: There is the fact that I share a border with her, and I think she can mobilize even more than Russia.
 
Chapter 15: The Destruction of the Austrian Army

OK. Apologies in advance if I screw this update up - it will be split in half by a jaunt out over the glaciers to retrieve some milk, all because my wife won't give in and just buy a damn cow.

So, in the last update, I'm sure y'all noticed that I had abandoned Croatia and pulled back to southern Serbia before declaring war on Wurttemburg (drawing in Austria).

The reason for this is fourfold:

1.) Vision. Austria (post-mobilization) has 78 brigades. The AI is amazingly good at popping an army out of the fog of war at some inconvenient moment. By drawing back, I ensure that I'll have time to envelope and throttle any incoming armies.
2.) Space. I want the AI to split armies up so I can envelope them and kill them easily.
3.) Distraction. I've let Austria keep Dalmatia as a distraction - if I start an occupation there, I hope to draw an army in to die.
4.) Consonants. Serbia is my storehouse of extra consonants, and I can't let them fall into enemy hands.

Right on schedule, here come the Austrians. And true to form, they leave an army unprotected for me to beat down. That's 49 divisions there, assuming not too much attrition. The 8 divisions in Tuzla are vulnerable, but I can't risk an encirclement yet, as there are still 29 unaccounted for divisions that could sneak over and cause problems. I can't wipe it out, but I can beat it down enough to make it ineffectual. (Note: The second general is my +3 attack general, so he will arrive first. The first general always leads - if there are several arriving or defending at once, a random (read: crappiest) general is picked).

o15initialinvasion.jpg


May 10, 1866: Ahhh. Prestige, some WE inflicted, war score, and pain. They retreat to Pozega (with no help), so we follow and add more woe and misery.

o15boftuzla.jpg
o15bofpozega.jpg


June 12: After getting thrashed twice, Wagner's army retreats northwest to the safety of Bjelovar (screened by the eastern flank of the main Austrian front). The Austrians send a fresh army to Tuzla under Christian Haus, however, to keep me from getting bored. That army also retreats to Pozega (joining with 2 (I believe conscripted) divisions, where it's thrashed again, and also forced to retreat to Bjelovar.

o15boftuzla2.jpg
o15bofpozega2.jpg


4 battles, 39023 Austrians dead to 10001 Turks (3450 Turks or so lost to attrition as well). However, no brigades are wiped out that I know of.

July 22: The Austrians attack me in Pozega, with a good attack general to my 0 defense general. I manage to retreat before he loses my entire army. I got some lucky dice rolls, thankfully.

o15bofpozega3.jpg


With the armies pushed out of Tuzla, I realize that the Austrians never helped the 10 brigade army in Senj. I don't think Austria has another army coming, so I encircle it and wipe it out with an expectantly long battle in September. (I had 2 turns in a row where we both rolled 1)

o15bofsenj.jpg


While Austria doesn't do anything, Wurttemburg's army shows up to make things interesting (until 50000 Turks show up and crush them). Good news though: since the battle ended early in the month, I can split up and move armies without taking attrition!

October 14: Remember: it can always get worse. Thankfully this time, it's for them and not me. Their target: Emilia.

o15italydow.jpg


Here's the situation right after the Italian declaration. The army in Foca is doomed, and as you can see, the Austrian army moving southwest from Bihac to Zadar is being chanced and should be encircled easily - provided the 40,000 Austrians just north out of the shot don't meddle. The army I have sitting in Nis is reserves in case Russia gets frisky - there's no real reason to commit them yet.

o15encirclements.jpg


At this point, I have 3 considerations:
1.) I want to take out Austria's armies quickly so I can head off the Italians. Anything they occupy I can't, preventing me from racking up maximum war score so I can snag 4 regions.
2.) I want to try and leave one of Austria's armies unscathed, so that rebellions don't happen. Not sure if I can do this though.
3.) I want to get this war done ASAP in case Russia decides to get involved. If Britain cancels the alliance, I'll have war within a week.
 
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Ah well, forget what I said about not wanting to take territory in Europe. I'd go for gobbling up German minors for the nice bonuses to literacy rather than hanging around in the Balkans. How's your infamy looking?

Hey, for the benefit of yourself and others, I thought I'd post my judging comments on your AAR with you here:

{snip}

One final note -- this is an almost "archaic" style of AAR -- one you will see alot of in the old HOI 1 and EU 1 AARs, but not alot of in later years. A REAL gameplay AAR, not a "descriptive gameplay" like mine where I tell you in full paragraphs what happened at a particular point. This one's day by day, and while I actually don't like the style a whole lot, Naggy made me like his. A really well done AAR, deserving of the highest praise (just with some other really, really stiff competition in the upper ranks!).


Rensslaer

I can see where you're comming from, but I think writing a good gameplay AAR is just as much an achievement as writing a good narrative AAR. I find that whether I like a narrative AAR very much comes down to personal preference for writing styles, while my opinion on a good gameplay AAR is based on different criteria. Having said that, I'm in no way going to second guess the outcome of the AAR contest and agree that competition was indeed stiff.
 
Having said that, I'm in no way going to second guess the outcome of the AAR contest and agree that competition was indeed stiff.

Historically, in the forums, well done narrative and history book AARs generally beat gameplay AARs in voting. In views and replies, they are about even.
 
I can see where you're comming from, but I think writing a good gameplay AAR is just as much an achievement as writing a good narrative AAR. I find that whether I like a narrative AAR very much comes down to personal preference for writing styles, while my opinion on a good gameplay AAR is based on different criteria. Having said that, I'm in no way going to second guess the outcome of the AAR contest and agree that competition was indeed stiff.

Oh, believe me, just to clarify, I didn't grade Naggy or anyone down for being Gameplay. Since I've written 3 or 4 of them now, I have quite an appreciation for the style. I was referring to the old "on this date x happened" style, which has gone out of favor, people these days preferring a more descriptive explanation of what the player did. Naggy has done very well with the older format, though, which I notice Tangzhang used to a degree also.

Historically, in the forums, well done narrative and history book AARs generally beat gameplay AARs in voting. In views and replies, they are about even.

When I started Sforza as a gameplay style, I was actually shocked at how popular it was. Seemingly, many of the MOST popular AARs these days are one style of gameplay or another, whereas there may also be a lot of gameplay AARs which don't get much notice, maybe because they're not so original. Don't know. The narrative AARs tend to capture a certain audience -- a regular following -- but that audience remains more or less the same, whereas a gameplay AAR has broader general appeal (and Historybook too, being somewhat similar to gameplay in ways).

Rensslaer
 
One of the pictures is gone. What did you do with it to get it removed for violence of terms of use? :p

Whoops. I had removed it and replaced it with a fixed version. I thought I fixed the link, but apparently not. I'll fix it tonight.
 
all those dead austrians and not an alien in sight ... hope the bovine situation is resolved as well

When I started Sforza as a gameplay style, I was actually shocked at how popular it was. Seemingly, many of the MOST popular AARs these days are one style of gameplay or another, whereas there may also be a lot of gameplay AARs which don't get much notice, maybe because they're not so original. Don't know. The narrative AARs tend to capture a certain audience -- a regular following -- but that audience remains more or less the same, whereas a gameplay AAR has broader general appeal (and Historybook too, being somewhat similar to gameplay in ways).Rensslaer

I wonder if its also to do with the maturity (ie how long since published) of the game? At the start readers often look for gameplay, esp from someone as good as naggy (at both the writing & the play tips) to get a handle on the game. Later on, once the game is more established it maybe allows a more abstract style to start to evolve? You can sort of see this in the HOI3 forum. A year back almost everything was gameplay, there is now a slow emergence of history book styles, but not yet much in terms of narrative (though I don't thnk the period or the game really lends itself to that approach). On the other hand in CK, there are very few conventional gameplay and a number where whatever is happening in-game is almost irrelevant to the rythym of the aar.
 
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