A Venice Divine Wind 5.1 AAR

[diegoami]

1568-1569 : 6th war against Spain

I get involved in a naval battle with Portugal that I would then lose. So I decide to recruit an admiral.

Then I get revenge on the Spaniards.

The admiral enters in action in May 1468 and defeats the Spaniards.

We then get revenge on the Portuguese

Our doge advances in Egypt and beats the Spaniards, who would then be routed in Alexandria.

Through a boundary dispute we gain a core on Janina. In August 1568 we win the last major naval engagement in this war.

We are at war with the big V as well. I am tempted to take Kutch, just between the two British colonies...
But unlike the Spaniards, the British are actually keeping troops in the East Indies. Plenty of them. They are at war with the Timurids. Nice uniforms, by the way.

Meanwhile, we seize Portugal's colony in North America.

We engage the Spaniards in Thrace.

In Aegypt, we occupied the provinces that we want.

We then move on to seize the Spanish colonies.

The hidden Spanish colony will take a while to reach.
In January 1569 we peace Vijayanagar for two provinces. And we declare war on the Cherokee.

Last engagement of this war. Portugal is trying to break a blockade.

The Cherokee makes us an offer we cannot refuse. Meanwhile, Nav Tech 21 is researched.

I gathered some infamy. But I am losing it at a 1.95 rate.

Our last objective in this war, Labrador, is reached. Time to peace everybody.

Spain and cedes Sinai and Diamentia and 525 Ducats.

Right after that, Portugal is peaced too for 125 ducats. We are at peace.
Oh, Actually we are not. We are at war with the Golden Horde and Corfu occupied Bulgaria for us. Ok, we'll send colonists there.

 

[vasziljevics]

the British got a border with the Timmies? 'I have a baaad feeling about this'...

 

[Malurous]

Well, Judea certainly doesn't look lonely anymore!

 

[diegoami]

1570-1571 : The Reconquest on Ceuta and Bure

Situation in North America after the war.

Through border disputes we gain cores are on Bure, in Sokoto, and on Ceuta, in Fez. The Spaniards don't give up and found a colony in Natal.

Since cores are gifts from God, in April 1570 we declare war on Fez and Sokoto, using on both the Reconquest casus belli. And we end up being at war with a couple of countries more.

The war isn't really interesting, they are weak countries. We destroy their fleets and go start the siege in Ceuta.

We gain a border with the British in America and therefore a casus belli.

The CB on Sokoto was given to us because we founded a colony in Konian. Bure has gold, by the way.

We have also engaged the Ottomans in Antalya...

and we grab their colony in Gold Coast, which they seized from Savoy a while ago. The colony we had founded even before that was destroyed by natives.

We peace Algiers and the Ottomans. We discover Land Tech 21. The textile manufactory in Slavonia is built and we get the next mission - colonize Menabe.
We rout Fez's troops in Toubkhal.

We are also fighting in Ethiopia against the Mameluks.

But we forget a front and we lose a small army against Dulkadir in Mus.

Ceuta falls in September 1570 and Fez can be peaced. We peace then the Mameluks, who were leading their coalition.

Bure, Sokoto, has fallen as well...

And again, we get a crappy monetary reform and lose 2 stability.

In October 1570, we peace Sokoto and they cede Bure. Meanwhile, the British found other colonies in Africa. Are they provoking us ?

Regrettably, The Netherlands are the defenders of the Reformed Faith, and might intervene if I declared war on Great Britain. I could take on both, but I'd rather not. We therefore warn the Netherlands. If I fought the Netherlands and then truced, I think they would get a stab hit if they helped the British.

In October 1571, Menabe is colonized. And we get another manufactory mission - build a Textile Manufactory in Bosnia. I'll do some minting for that.

We become again the Papal Controller and we get other two cores through boundaries disputes - this time on Chur, Switzerland and on Maharastra, Deccan. Well, you know who I will attack next, I guess.

 

[Malurous]

Four Boundary Disputes in two years - I'd say that's the way to go.

In general you don't break a truce by joining a defensive war, only an offensive one. I'm not sure but I'd assume this is the same for DotF as well...

 

[Ricardo Rolo]

Hum .. does not Hungary border you ? You could take this chance to vassal it too if they decide to defend the Swiss. Ok, full blast infamy might not worth it, but it would tidy up your Balkan border.

BTW the Netherlands continue their relentless march east ,as I predicted ... if they decide to go against the timmies you might end with them in India via north . That would be ... interesting.

 

[Rendap]

Dismantling the HRE - 1 Boundary Dispute at a time. That is a time-honored tradition in EU3...

And take all other provinces by any means as well of course...

 

[diegoami]

Four Boundary Disputes in two years - I'd say that's the way to go.

In general you don't break a truce by joining a defensive war, only an offensive one. I'm not sure but I'd assume this is the same for DotF as well...

Hmmm... Right. That makes sense, I hadn't thought it through. What if I warned both the Netherlands and Great Britain, might I end up in a defensive war with Great Britain ?

 

[unmerged(58610)]

Looking at the Hudson Bay screenshot, it's not only the British who have colonies. It looks as though Portugal has one as well.Britian is now colonising. It's well and truly back.
They'll start colonising with a vengeance. You can beat GB and Netherlands. These colonial thieves. Don't they know the world outside Europe belongs to Venice?

 

[diegoami]

Hum .. does not Hungary border you ? You could take this chance to vassal it too if they decide to defend the Swiss. Ok, full blast infamy might not worth it, but it would tidy up your Balkan border.

BTW the Netherlands continue their relentless march east ,as I predicted ... if they decide to go against the timmies you might end with them in India via north . That would be ... interesting.

Yes, that would be interesting Hungary is not worth 4 infamy IMHO, I don't think there were many "pretty borders" at that time anyway - I like this map

 

[vasziljevics]

warning works only if the target attacked a neighbour, am I right? though looking at this game hardly any country exists without bordering Venice

 

[diegoami]

Looking at the Hudson Bay screenshot, it's not only the British who have colonies. It looks as though Portugal has one as well.Britian is now colonising. It's well and truly back.
They'll start colonising with a vengeance. You can beat GB and Netherlands. These colonial thieves. Don't they know the world outside Europe belongs to Venice?

They are probing us. Understandable. We cannote ignore these provocations.

 

[diegoami]

1572-1574: New provinces : Chur, Bulgaria and Maharastra

This is the diplomatic map right after declaring war on Switzerland.

At the same time we declare war on Deccan to conquer our core there.

And the conqueror we just recruited makes his first appearance.

We lured the Swiss into Lombardia...

Meanwhile, we keep colonizing in South America as well.

Bulgaria defects to us from the Golden Horde. This is a map in November 1572

Reenforcement come in time to Lombardia...

and the Swiss are defeated. They are then routed in Bern.

The war with Deccan is not interesting and ends with the conquest a new core province, Maharastra.

Chur falls in January 1573.

The Textile manufactory we need to build for the mission is queued in January 1573. Meanwhile, Savoy also joins the war against us. They are quickly dealt with.

After some walking around the Emperor's army pops up in Bern, but it is late. Schwyz has fallen as well.

In fact, Switzerland accepts our peace offer and cedes Chur. We then white peace Hesse and end the war.

This is our current balance sheet. We still haven't managed to pay back the loan, but this is more than offset by the tariffs.

In fact, 35% of our income comes from tariffs. Trade is a distant second.

The doge dies and another one is elected. Meanwhile Tunisia, as papal controller, excommunicates Spain.

Our conquestador discovers the English colonies.

What do we do when we are bored ? We declare war on Spain.
This time, Bursa and Delta are our objectives. Bursa will cost us 4 infamy, but it is strategically too important to be left to the Spaniards.

 

[vasziljevics]

"...Tunisia as papal controller..." :rofl: always fun to read things like this

considering your size you are doing well techwise. now you clean up Anatolia - that area is definitely worth to conquer - and with the Black Sea Trade your income will rise even higher - not to mention the much needed naval force limits those provinces will provide.

 

[unmerged(58610)]

More smooth expansion and your conquistador is discovering the northern provinces. In your war with Spain, don't forget Natal -assuming it is still a colony.

 

[diegoami]

1574-1576 : 7th war with Spain and Administrative Republic

Thank you for your feedback - let's see how it goes on

There are also a couple of colonies to grab in Africa.

And we have our first major naval engagement

We are also at war with a minor in India - Travanacore I think - we will grab their provinces since as ally they proved useless.

We spend culture to buy a master of mint. In Aegypt we push the Spaniards back.

And after some shuffling we defeat another army in Thracia, which we would then rout in Edirne

Bursa falls in November 1574

We grabbed their colonies, we occupied the provinces that interested us. It is time to make peace. Bursa and Delta belong to Venice.

Also in India we occupied the provinces that interested us.

Therefore, Travanacore is annexed. Infamy is now at 8.0, we have to keep an eye on that. First time ever my reputation is "tarnished" - we changed the house rules in 1560.

Conversions and Assimilations begin. The British get cockier by the day. Do they think they can defend that colony ?

And even in Africa... I can't believe that!

It is time to diplo-annex. We have cores on three vassals : Styria, Naples and Morea. We diplo-annex Styria because it is of a different religion and we will convert them. We also pass the decision "Colonial Expansion"

We have a core on Graz. Kärnten must leave the HRE. Steiermark is sold to Augsburg, because they have a core on it.

Being at peace and already investing on stability, we decide it is about time to change form of government as well. Venice becomes an Administrative Republic.

Our nemesis The Hansa is an Administrative Republic, Genua does not exist any more - the only Merchant Republic left is Novgorod. We join their trade league, so that we do not lose our Trade centers.

No Trade League. By now there are several COTs in Europe.

In South America there are no lone colonies left.

The Spaniards found colonies in the Philippines. We connect Cape to Zimbabwe as well.

In April 1577, an event makes us recover stability before the time.

 

[diegoami]

Venice wasn't what she used to be. She wasn't a small merchant republic any longer. She had become a state with many provinces, most of them overseas. The Merchants were still influential, but many other factions were born. People who had made their fortune in the colonies, people who owned manufactories in the old world. Even the merchants were busy trading and had no time for administration and politics.
Professional buraucrats had to be trained to take care of the complex matters of governing Venice, so that our tax, production and trade efficiency could be improved. In 1577, Venice became an Administrative Republic and gave up on her trade league.

 

[Ricardo Rolo]

And now, I assume that the new and shiny government has some plans regarding the perfid Albion , right ? They and the defender of their heretic faith need a proper beating

 

[Malurous]

Time to be quite attentive with the cascading alliances - you don't want to anger Novgorod without good reason and lose the trade stations.

The colonies are looking great. Apart from the vile British, that is!

 

[diegoami]

Yes, of course, war with Great Britain is inevitable. Thank you for reminding about Novgorod, but they are not allied to anybody significant.