The Tiny East - A DW Civilization Universalis AAR

[gela1212]

Well hello there, dear reader. It's been quite some time, hasn't it? You know I've missed you. Yes, yes, it's my fault for not writing so much. But let's not dwell on that.

What could this AAR possibly be about? Well, it's with a Divine Wind port of an NA/IN mod I used to absolutely adore, Civilization Universalis. This mod is basically Fantasia. If you don't know what that is, strewn about on the map are countries, and all of them are one province. (Though in CU the Vikings are given two so that they also get Iceland as they're rather cornered by Norway.) They colonize nearby provinces to choose their borders, then must engage other nations on the field of battle. Or diplomacy. But as I've said far too many times, diplomacy is incredibly boring. I'd rather torch a capital or three.

I won't go into detail about what nations there are, though there are some that are in much better positions than others (for example, Athens can easily out colonize Sparta and Thracia due their central positioning in Greece.) We start off as the nation of Novgorod, a country whose history I've been fascinated with for some time now. I tried several times to play Athens just for old times' sake, but it didn't work out.

This is a gameplay AAR, as several people have informed me that my gameplay writing is better than my narrative. Also, gameplay is much easier for me since it doesn't require near as much time and less work, meaning I'm less likely to get lazy! (Also, I've been quite busy lately, so I think writing a narrative might take up too much time).

Lastly, please remember that it has been a bit of time since I have played this game in more than a casual multiplayer campaign I sub for some Saturdays. I'm a bit rusty, though recovering quickly. This mod also changes more than just the map and provinces, so there's some things I'm not used to. As such, I am probably playing badly. Before you know it I'll forget how to sue for peace and have to wait for AI peace offers.

Anyway, without further adieu, I'll end this introduction post. First update below.

 

[gela1212]

One - A Tale of a Little Chair

The people of Novgorod, unsurprisingly, start off in Novgorod! I immediately expand to Pskov (where, surprisingly, Pskov is not.)

Our neighbors are Muscowy and Yaroslavl to the east, Riga to the west, Lithuania to the southwest, and Finland to the Northwest. Why I bothered telling you their names I'm not quite sure. Obviously it won't be long till they're all renamed "Novgorod" and painted green.

Despite being very decentralized, I'm not going to take the free centralization move. Why? Because.. um.. FREE THE SERFS.

In this mod, government tech 1 is where you get your first idea, not 4. (This is because you start at tech 0, I presume). It isn't long before the great empire of The Chair hits this government tech level and chooses our first idea.

Classic choice, of course. I debate in my head whether or not to take what is most likely the best course of action, but then I think, well, I probably won't be involved in so many wars, and not many of the AI nations grab Military Drill. Therefore, I decide I'm actually playing In Nomine instead and take a different national idea first.

On March 3rd, 1002, the great Bank of the Chair is formed, magically reducing the inflation I get. This allows me to maintain more colonies, meaning I can expand more than my neighbors without losing money.

Another interesting thing about Civilization Universalis is that all nations begin the game as atheist. Random events cause the formation of religions in different provinces, where they then spread to other provinces. Eventually nations are forced to convert or deal with a zealot-spawning event, just to keep a kind of bad religion. Atheism has a few bad modifiers, though it does have incredible base tolerance.

As such, we learn that Russia is actually Japanese, and all is right in the world:

Though I didn't bother showing them to you, something happened before this that is a great help to me. I was allied with Riga and once I did so, I noticed they only had 2,000 soldiers. I assume they took the rebel spawning option and had lost most of their army, or maybe there had been a war I didn't notice. Either way, they were allied with I believe Kazan, so they were technically in a far away war. This stops cancelling the alliance. Now, when you get the religion event, changing religion breaks all alliances. This is why I converted immediately instead of waiting a bit so as to not anger my still-Atheist neighbors. I instantly declare war upon Riga, who have a completely irrelevant ally:

I rush my soldiers in quickly, seize the colony on my border, then attempt to siege them but their mercenaries are hired faster than my manpower can replenish my regular soldiers. Of course, knowing this would cripple my rival to the west, I decided enough was enough and to attend to the rest of their country later. I white peace out, having take one colony that now gives me a border with Lithuania.

A little later, Lithuania crushes Riga in a war and takes some of their land. Strengthening Lithuania was not my intention, but now I have a have a rival right on my doorstep. I think about attacking Riga once the truce is over, but I notice that Riga almost immediately allied Lithuania after their war.

There was no vassalization.

wat.

 

[unmerged(603871)]

This seems really interesting, subbed.

 

[TonyJoe]

I'm liking this.

 

[gela1212]

Two - To Greater Heights

You see, I know why I took those free subjects moves now. Quite clearly it is our destiny to conquer the enemies. And if we're freeing their subjects, it seems like we have ourselves a terribly good excuse for the history books! Then again, we have to get into the history books first. So I suppose we need to attend to that before worrying about how they view us.

In the great north, those who go on their own will surely perish. Even our own flag reflects this, the great Chair itself being carried by two bears, not one. As such, we request that Yaroslavl ally us several times, before they finally do.

The price I pay for entering this kinship is a war with Finland. By which I mean the great benefit, as the Russian hordes combined with our Shinto brothers in the north, Sapmi, crush them easily. I grab a province quickly before the war leader peaces out.

The borders look ugly, but hey, that's just a reason to clean up the area in the future, yes?

Speaking of being together, here is a quick map of the religions of Europe. Of course, the greatest land on earth, the East (which is only so great due to its proximity to Novgorod, of course) is almost uniformly Shinto. After killing our Russian brethren, at least we can all go to a shrine together and have ourselves a good ol' spiritual time. Hm. My game's medieval Russia is seeming even more eerily similar to medieval Japan.

Western Europe is mainly pagan. Lithuania, Riga, and the Teutonic Order mark the great homeland of the Confucian faith. While painting this green, we will also most likely paint this red. They are merely heretics, not heathens, so they are slightly more tolerable. It's also possible to use Force Religion on them, which is the best peace option in the game. Converting is so much easier done at gunpoint.

Somewhere in here I decided that Lithuania needs to die, not exactly sure when, so I declare war on them with no casus belli. The stab hit is terrible but, of course, the Chair cares not for reasons. Mere mortals do not question the Chair's causes for war.

Initially, Lithuania and I are on fairly even terms. They begin to send armies towards Russia but I sneak my stacks around and capture their unfortified provinces.

However, with help from my allies, Lithuania is quickly subdued. Their only friends are Finland, who was just cowed into submission a few years back, and Bosporus, which is too busy being entirely irrelevant to anything I actually care about.

By this time, it is just a matter of waiting for the AI to hand over provinces. However, despite being late to the party, the Yaroslavlian war machine is quite impressive.

Finally we pry some provinces from the fingers of the unfortunately not cold and dead Lithuanian king.

I leave you with a quick glance at the incomes of the world. Switzerland is a monster, likely due to the fact that they get one of the strongest centers of trade in Europe at Zurich and have the ability to back it up with force. Karaman is slowly becoming king of Asia minor, and the rest of the world merely attempts consolidate so that their respective peoples can catch up.

Of course, in reality, we know it looks like this.

 

[humancalculator]

Subscribed!

 

[liltrogdor]

Good AAR going to have to try civilization universalis mod.

 

[loki100]

rather intriguing start, nicely presented and looks like an interesting mod

 

[Dovahkiing]

I've been curious about this mod, and although I generally dislike gameplay AARs, I'll follow.

 

[Seelmeister]

I've never tried a scenario like this since fantasia years ago, very interesting start!

 

[gela1212]

This seems really interesting, subbed.

I'm liking this.

Subscribed!

Thanks, glad to have you all along.

rather intriguing start, nicely presented and looks like an interesting mod

Yup, I like the scenarios this mod presents.

I've been curious about this mod, and although I generally dislike gameplay AARs, I'll follow.

I thought about narrative simply because it's what I always do but I decided against it in the interest of being easier.

I've never tried a scenario like this since fantasia years ago, very interesting start!

Yeah, despite getting it's own sub-forum this mod wasn't played much before, I presume because before DW like a HUGE portion of the player base used Magna Mundi, and probably weren't looking for other mods.

 

[gela1212]

Three - Crushing Horses and Papal Sticks

Yaroslavl is being expansionist and pushing deep into the east. They go to war with Sibir. I like this since I get a free accept, which means I get free trust from Yaroslavl. Trust is always nice.

Muscowy is all like "Sup mah republic, don't fight any of my neighbors or you'll see what hereditary rule can do."

This scares me, and I get my second idea. It's time to adopt Military Drill! Now, this mod keeps ideas usually along the same lines, but modifies a few of them so that some of the weaker ones are more viable. (Glorious Arms is actually not completely terrible!) Military Drill gets additional bonuses besides army morale, and the morale is unfortunately reduced to .5. Though to be honest, the vanilla MD makes wars against people without the idea easy if you're on equal footing.

While we're on the subject of national ideas, playing this like it's IN may not have been the best idea:

The first of my colonies begin to core. Soon my income will spike. Unfortunately, so will everyone else's.

I lied earlier. In Nomine National Bank rush is still the best strategy to play the game. No lie.

Finally, the Chair's glorious armies have assembled. We will head to war! The weakened Lithuania has most of its allies in the Balkans. I have Yaroslavl, Crimea, and Sapmi on my side. Crimea is a monster, I forgot to take a screenshot. They should have no trouble distracting the Balkan states. I'm a little worried about TO, but they're getting hit from the other side at the same time so I think we'll be okay.

Yup, I was right. We're perfectly fine. I chase the Lithuanian armies around and obliterate them while my allies take care of some sieges. I then settle down to siege provinces of my own. Riga is in the war also, so I take the opportunity to go for them.

Peace with both Lithuania (I forgot to take the screenshot so you get a lovely map instead. I like maps. Don't you? Maps are quite nice, you know.) and Riga is reached shortly. I don't really care about TO, so I keep in the war just in case I can get a Force Religion out of them, but Poland has most of the potential warscore.

Finland was being a thorn in my side during the war. I sic my vicious beast Sapmi on them though, and all is fine.

That puts at about 50 years after game start, and Novgorod has expanded quite well. However, so have a lot of my neighbors. Me and Yaroslavl are tight, so I'm not worried about that. However, both Ukraine and Muscowy are very powerful and scary, and I'm not sure if the two of us could take either one in a war. Possibly with Crimea's help, but they're too busy constantly fighting off the Central Asian and Middle Eastern nations that are pushing to the west and north, respectively.

Crimea: The Defenders of Shinto, coming to a theater near you 2013.

 

[liltrogdor]

Are you going to form Russia?

 

[gela1212]

Are you going to form Russia?

If I have the opportunity, yes. But I'm not in any rush to do so.

 

[gela1212]

Four - Onward, To Paint in Green!

First off, Mogilev's trade good changes via an event to Copper.

While we do all of this, the domain of Yaroslav the Wise continues to expand into the Great North, declaring war on Sibir. The man on their flag will likely need some more clothes for the journey, though. I hear it's just a little bit chilly there this time of year.

My master of mint sets off an event. I choose the tax option because money. I also have no loans out.

Wow, that was all quite boring, wasn't it? Fortunately my jingoistic warmongering self is here to save the day. in 1061 I declare war on Riga. TO, of course, continues to be allied to whoever it is I want to go to war with. Why? Don't ask me.

I didn't even take any screenshots of the war because of how boring and easy it was. I wanted to annex them but the cost was too high, so I decided to vassalize instead. This was probably a bad idea, as it means it might be some time before I can paint them in green.

Meanwhile, Ukraine, which has grown terrifying because of how OP of a province Kiev is, has locked itself into a war with several other nations. I immediately decide it's time to intervene.

After killing an army or two I retreat as the rest of Ukraine's nation is cannibalized by those it was at war with. Good enough for me!

Sorry for the rather boring and non-comedic update. I'm not very good at this whole funny business, y'know.

 

[Fynstov]

Nice AAR. I will follow you maybe i notice some bugs.

 

[gela1212]

Just posting this in my AARs since I got a request to do so.

​

 

[yequr]

While we do all of this, the domain of Yaroslav the Wise continues to expand into the Great North, declaring war on Sibir. The man on their flag will likely need some more clothes for the journey, though. I hear it's just a little bit chilly there this time of year.

The man on their flag

man

What? I always thought it was a bear...

 

[gela1212]

What? I always thought it was a bear...

Only Novgorod is truly worthy of a glorious bear.

 

[Rendap]

Will be following..