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Here's a link to CatKnight's inkwell, where you can find his Teutonic Order AARs. They are called 'Beyond Tannenberg' I to IV. Basically he has done an AAR for the TO in every EU game to date.
This AAR looks very interesting. With the new patch republics have more unique features, so you should have plenty of options to govern and expand.
This AAR looks very interesting. With the new patch republics have more unique features, so you should have plenty of options to govern and expand.
CHAPTER 1
1444-1467
FROM VARNA TO DANZIG
1444-1467
FROM VARNA TO DANZIG
The playthrough starts in a crucial moment for the history of Europe on 11th November 1444, one day after the disastrous battle of Varna.
We won't delve into details – what's important is that Władysław by God's grace king of Poland, Hungary, Dalmatia, Croatia and lands of Kraków, Sandomierz, Sieradz, Łęczyca Kuyavia, Supreme Prince of Lithuania, lord and heir of Pomerania and Ruthenia, died during the battle. The crusade failed, the fate of Byzantium was sealed and the Ottomans were now free to consolidate their power. But for our story more important are the consequences Władysław's death had for Poland.
Władysław III Jagiełło was son of Władysław II Jagiełło, one of the most important rulers in the history of Poland. Under his true name Jogaila he was the last pagan ruler in Europe and as a Grand Prince of Lithuania he understood that Lithuania can no longer be isolated. With Catholic Teutonic Knights and Poland in the West, Orthodox Russian
principalities in the East and Muslim Tatars in the South the conversion was inevitable – the only question was from whom the new faith should be accepted? Teutonic Knights as the main enemy of Lithuania were not an option – Jogaila feared that by doing this he would become dependent from them. In the end, in 1385 Union of Krewo was signed between Poland and Lithuania. This treaty without exaggeration is said to be absolutely crucial for history of Eastern Europe. Two nations, united by Christian faith and one ruler known henceforth as Władysław II Jagiellon, were to begin the centuries-long period of shared history.
CONTROVERSY said:
Rule of Władysław II Jagiellon was incredibly important for Poland's history (to mention only war with Teutonic Knights and battle of Grunwald in 1410) – by the way, today his face is on every 100 PLN banknote in Poland – but it's outside of the scope of our story. Jogaila died in 1434 and with his death personal union between Poland and Lithuanian ended. His successor – Władysław II Jagiełło – was only 16 years old when in 1440 he was offered the crown of Hungary, accepting which drawned Kingdom of Poland into later crusade for Varna. But he was not the only son of Jogaila – his brother Kazimieras (or Kazimierz in Polish) was proclaimed as Grand Duke of Lithuania in 1440 and after his brother's death on the battlefield he was seen as the obvious candidate for the future king of Poland.
Here ends history and begins chaos of Random Number God rule.
I start by taking missions to ally and RM with Lithuania. Why? Let's take a look at requirements to get a personal union and make Kazimieras Jogailaitis into Kazimierz IV Jagiellończyk:
[ ] Stability at least 1
[ ] Diplomatic Power at least 100
[x] Have regency council
[x] Has no heir
[x] Is not a subject nation
[x] At peace
[x] Lithuania: Ruler is Kazimierz; Ruling dynasty is Jagiellon; Is not a subject nation
As you can see, we desperately need every diplomatic MP we can get and through this incredibly easy missions you can get +50 dip. You really want to enact the special decision to create personal union as quickly as you can – RNG has no mercy and you can easily end up with Lithuania in war with Denmark, getting a heir or fail to fulfill the requirements otherwise. Which is pretty annoying. Thus, as soon as you can you have to-
Huh. See, that's what I'm talking about – all kind of weird things can happen! I don't have RM with Hungary but actually this is believable... kinda. Anyways, I focus on MP generation and basically sit quietly. Use this time to build up your army, save some gold and improve relations with Austria (yes, with Austria) or forge a claim on Danzig – not on Chełmno, there is a mission which will give you a claim on it for free. If everything goes well - as it did in my case - not after long you will see this:
In 1445 we get PU, decent although not astonishing ruler (no offence, Kazimierz IV) and we transform from rather weak country into a regional power. With powerful Lithuanian armies we will proceed to roflstomp the whole region during the next several decades – thanks fellas, you are the best! Oh, what is it? Why I allied Austria since we all know that Germans and Poles hate each other, WW2 and stuff? Well, Austria is the best ally you can get as Commonwealth – they will fight with you against Ottomans and Muscowy and they have no interest in going east because of France. Plus you basically make sure that HRE won't turn against you – a rather important thing if you ask me. What? Gameplay over history? Actually not really - this is a great occasion to clear one of the several popular misconceptions about Polish/Commonwealth history.
MYTH said:
Anyways, with 1.7 patch and Res Publica DLC active we get this tasty event:
Right. Apart from introducing wolna elekcja (free election) in 1445 rather than 1573 and effectively eliminating House Jagiełło from the game very quickly (seriously, wtf Paradox?) the flavor text for this even is mostly accurate. Anyways, we get elective monarchy in 15th century. How is it working? Well, it's rather... crude.
There is no interface to speak of and all I can do to influence the election is to spend 5 legitimacy to get 5 points of support (whatever this is supposed to be) for my Polish-Lithuanian candidate. Candidate stats are pretty good but we'll see how this works out – I'm not sure whether slightly better than average stats are going to beat low legitimacy. Oh well, we'll see about that. To celebrate the personal union and transformation into elective monarchy (y u get rid of Jagiellons, Paradox?) I decide to DOW Teutonic Knights.
Me, my puppets and Austria together have 85,000 troops while TO, Hungary and Livonian Order have 27,000. As you can easily imagine, the war is rather boring. Quick white peace with Hungary and several sieges later it's over.
New truce system ensures peace with the knights for a long, long time. Meh – it's of no concern, I can blob in other directions as well. You may notice that I took Danzig from Teutonic Knights despite it's high cost in ADM to core. Why? Well, I want to get Prussian as accepted culture as quickly as possible plus it will not only make my trade power in Baltic much bigger but also will separate Pomerania from Teutons – my clay, HRE! Both holy orders join coalition against me, which is a wise move. Not that it would matter of course.
Meanwhile I get awful event concerning elections when I can choose between -1 stability (arresting the plotters) or 50% chance of my heir dying. He dies obviously but that's not what's annoying me about that. The real problem is that assassination was basically non-existent in the Commonwealth. Tell me, have you ever heard of Michał Piekarski?
PERSON OF THE WEEK said:
Anyways,
Huh. I wonder how this will work out.
I get bored by waiting for truce to be over so I decide to change my capital.
Oh Warsaw, you are truly an important city for Polish history – not because I live here or because of tragic events in 20th century or not even because of the puppet created by Napoleon and called the Duchy of Warsaw. No, you are important because with moving the capital to Mazovia the seeds of Commonwealth destruction were planted. You see, Mazovia was a rather poor province, hence Polish nobility – szlachta – was rather poor too. However, being close to the place were the wolna elekcja was held, these fellas had completely unproportional influence on its outcome. Which led to disaster in the long term, but more about it in future chapters.
Coring is finally completed and, lo and behold, we accept Prussians now! Welcome to the glorious Commonwealth, where all cultures
Some of you may wonder how come Piasts be a rulers in Mazovia. Well, long story short, Kingdom of Poland suffered from a period of decentralization between 1138 when Bolesław III Wrymouth in his testament – Statute of Succession – divided the whole country between his sons (great idea, Bolek, what could possible go wrong, right?) and 1325 when Władysław I the Elbow-high (seriously, that's how they called him) ended this mess. It kinda reminds period of decentralization from which France recovered after HYW but with one crucial difference – all princes in Poland were members of House Piast. This obviously made reunification much easier. Speaking of which:
The sooner you integrate your vassals as Poland, the better. With bigger army and stronger economy I am now ready for war. I get Justified Demands event and since it would be a real shame to waste it, I quickly DOW Hungary.
Alas, Hungarian is no longer in the same cultural group as Western Slavs but it matters not – I'm not really that interested in conquering them. So why attack them, you may ask, to which answer is obvious – why not? Military tradition boost is worth it on itself and I'll get truce with them and thus safe southern border. But the true reason of this war is even more gamey than you may think.
Ta-dam! Hungary is weakened, glorious Poland is stronger and thanks to my and Austrian gains I know share border with the Emperor and because of that I get Western Arms Trade which gives me -10% technology cost. This plus The Jagiellonian University in Cracow – founded in 1364 by king Kazimierz the Great, the last Piast to rule Poland - with its -5% technology cost bonus means that as Eastern country I effectively have 125-15=110% technology cost. I don't have to explain how important this is for survival and prosperity of Polish-Lithuanian Union.
I also ally Novgorod which thanks to the new truce mechanic is still alive and kicking. I hope it's not to late – I won't have much time to stop Muscowy before they start to blob like crazy. Some time later the truce finally is over and in 1464 I can DOW Teutonic Order.
Right. It's obviously more complicated than Paradox puts it but we'll focus on this in the next chapter. Knights obviously stood no chance – just like their allies.
I don't care about AE at this moment. With Lithuania, Austria and Brandenburg on my side there's really nothing to be worried about. So without hesitation I take as much of Livonian Order as I can and I completely swallow Riga, which I promptly release as my vassal – come on, I won't be coring 8 basetax province with no claim. This costs me a lot of diplomatic points but I couldn't care less about DIP technology.
Soon after they are crushed, the war is over.
Suck it, Krzyżacy. Or should I say Teutonic Knights?
In next chapter we will explore the history of Polish-Tetonic relations and start what I like to call Preemptive Partitions by waging first of the many wars to come – but this time with much more worthy opponent...
Finally it's released! Sorry for the delay, I had unexpected problems with laptop and generally less time than I thought I would have. Since this is the first chapter in this AAR and I'm still working on its formula, please let me know in comments how do you like and what would you like to see changed/added/expanded on.
I would like to say, I am truly impressed, it seems your skill extends past just the Romans, and makes me confident on how great the next part of your other AAR will be.
@Edit: I really enjoyed the pieces of real history in it, like the Polish/German thingy.
@Edit: I really enjoyed the pieces of real history in it, like the Polish/German thingy.
I'll second Enlil and say that the history bits were pretty neat. Here's hoping you keep them coming as the AAR progresses.
the truth is that Hapsburg dynasty was so influential that they were always trying to impose their member onto the PLC throne. they were pushing so hard, that this in turn led the PLC aristocracy never actually choosing any of the Hapsburgs over almost 300 years of elected kings history of the Commonwealth.
so there might have been no hate, but certaily no love between the parties either.
Not quite. Austria was more interested in gaining lands from Hungary, but PLC got rights to the Hungarian throne, which was bone of contention in Aus/Plc relations. However Maximilian II was chosen for polish king by clergy and high class aristocracy,while low class choose prince of Transylvania Stefan Batory, but before any civil war started to solve this problem, Maximilian II died.
Congrats on so-far painless expansion.
On the other hand when I see how this new 1.7 Respublica Noble Republic works for Poland/Commowealth (which was supposedly aimed to improve) I do not know should I be crying or laughing. I do not see much improvement over reelections every (fixed) 8 years.
Noble Republic should be phased in gradually, and of course you should keep your current king. IMO during first 5-10 generations inheritance should be done as in true monarchy (with regents - e.g. Poland was ruled in fact by regent after death of Władysław at Varna in 1444, which is shown in game), while some "republican" tradition keeps ticking up. Some events/conditions/... would change that republican tradition as well (especially war taxes should push it up). It is only when you pass some threshold of "republican" tradition or monarch dies without heir then second phase with elections starts. Additionally it would be nice if you could bactrack - especially during first phase and go toward feudal/other monarchy - risking even civil war and blanketing country with noble rebels, depending on your tradition.
This "foreign heir" feature is ridiculous as well. Kings (especially from foreign dynasties) which had their own children tried to guarantee reelection within their family (especially Vasa dynasty - 3 kings, and Wettins -2 kings). The same is true for the "original" Jagiellon family, which had hereditary rights in Lithuania, but in fact they were reelected in Poland since 1430-ties (paying in priviliges). Old dynasty and week candidates were preferred most of the time - as know and less threatening factor (and allowing to squeeze extra priviliges) than candidates which could draw resources from neigbouring country. And candidates which had too much foreign/absoluticist support never stood much chance as long as Commonwealth was strong (Habsburgs, Hohenzollerns, but also Tsars) while in the late phase of Commonwealth it was Russia who dealt cards and they preferred weak candidates as well.
On the other hand when I see how this new 1.7 Respublica Noble Republic works for Poland/Commowealth (which was supposedly aimed to improve) I do not know should I be crying or laughing. I do not see much improvement over reelections every (fixed) 8 years.
Noble Republic should be phased in gradually, and of course you should keep your current king. IMO during first 5-10 generations inheritance should be done as in true monarchy (with regents - e.g. Poland was ruled in fact by regent after death of Władysław at Varna in 1444, which is shown in game), while some "republican" tradition keeps ticking up. Some events/conditions/... would change that republican tradition as well (especially war taxes should push it up). It is only when you pass some threshold of "republican" tradition or monarch dies without heir then second phase with elections starts. Additionally it would be nice if you could bactrack - especially during first phase and go toward feudal/other monarchy - risking even civil war and blanketing country with noble rebels, depending on your tradition.
This "foreign heir" feature is ridiculous as well. Kings (especially from foreign dynasties) which had their own children tried to guarantee reelection within their family (especially Vasa dynasty - 3 kings, and Wettins -2 kings). The same is true for the "original" Jagiellon family, which had hereditary rights in Lithuania, but in fact they were reelected in Poland since 1430-ties (paying in priviliges). Old dynasty and week candidates were preferred most of the time - as know and less threatening factor (and allowing to squeeze extra priviliges) than candidates which could draw resources from neigbouring country. And candidates which had too much foreign/absoluticist support never stood much chance as long as Commonwealth was strong (Habsburgs, Hohenzollerns, but also Tsars) while in the late phase of Commonwealth it was Russia who dealt cards and they preferred weak candidates as well.
The history part is very cool. However the mechanics seem incredibility strange and clunky. Also good opening moves you might want to declare war against the ottomans here before too long and Muscovy as well.
Huzzah! It's here at last! And it's excellent just as expected.
Two things though:
1)The "delve into details" link at the very beginning is broken.
2)Could you put date snippets in your images? Or at least mention date (much) more often. I find it hard to put it all into a cohesive narrative in my head if I don't know how much time went by between each screenshot/paragraph. Having timestamps of some sorts would help a lot.
Two things though:
1)The "delve into details" link at the very beginning is broken.
2)Could you put date snippets in your images? Or at least mention date (much) more often. I find it hard to put it all into a cohesive narrative in my head if I don't know how much time went by between each screenshot/paragraph. Having timestamps of some sorts would help a lot.
It has begun... Great start for the Commonwealth. I hope it has a more peaceful, less Warhammer 40K level of hopelessness existence than your other AAR. What is the goal for the Commonwealth? Is it world conquest?
Thank you very much
"Pro Fide" is a sort of a testing ground for me since I never wrote EU4 AAR, so I'm glad you like it.And it's just the first of many unpronounceable Polish words to come!
Great to hear that
I'll try to include 2-4 historical snippets every chapter - there's A LOT of Commonwealth history to cover. I'll also try to use primarily Polish and Lithuanian names of people and places to both improve immersion and let you know how we really called things back in the times of I Rzeczpospolita Commonwealth didn't really hate Austria nor did it love the House Hapsburg but obviously a safe border with HRE was very important considering constant wars with other neighbours. And since you brought Max II - yes, he did lose the election (and good riddance: Stefan Batory who was elected king is considered to be one of the best kings PLC ever had) but it doesn't mean it stopped House Hapsburg:
More info on wiki: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/War_of_the_Polish_Succession_(1587–88)
Yes it is!
Thanks and rest assured there will be moar.Well, what can I say? I'm dissapointed by how Paradox implemented Elective Monarchy too. It got better in 1.7.3 but still it doesn't really reflect how govermenet of PLC really worked. I agree with all that you said and I can only hope that Paradox will patch it up some time soon - though I wouldn't expect this honestly. Maybe if they release some kind of a Eastern Eurupe GFX DLC but I seriously doubt that they will fix this considering that even despite Elective Monarchy being really introduced in $5 "Res Publica" DLC they did a rather lazy job with it.
Yes, KingJerkera, I most certainly will
Thank you!Huzzah! It's here at last! And it's excellent just as expected.
Two things though:
1)The "delve into details" link at the very beginning is broken.
2)Could you put date snippets in your images? Or at least mention date (much) more often. I find it hard to put it all into a cohesive narrative in my head if I don't know how much time went by between each screenshot/paragraph. Having timestamps of some sorts would help a lot.
Thanks
Next chapter is coming this week hopefully; if you have any questions regarding Polish/Commonwealth history I'll try to answer them, though remember that history is just my hobby, not profession, so keep this in mind while asking them please
Great start!
I will second the others and say that I like too the historical snippets, I'm glad they will stay!
As a french we have (or had...) a special relationship with Poland, and I know a few things about that country's history but it's always nice to learn more or differently
I have great memories of Krakow, a wonderful city, and it's kinda sad to see that it already lost the capital thing thought. Gameplay command!
I will second the others and say that I like too the historical snippets, I'm glad they will stay!
As a french we have (or had...) a special relationship with Poland, and I know a few things about that country's history but it's always nice to learn more or differently
I have great memories of Krakow, a wonderful city, and it's kinda sad to see that it already lost the capital thing thought. Gameplay command!