To be fair, Orlando had to face Salah ad-Din as a worthy foe. The AI does not really compare to you, wouldn't you agree?
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I think generals with high pips have more chance of dying.
AI got lot smarter since 1.13.2, that is for sure. I swear, the fight that ensued after these last screenshots was TENSE. The last comparable war I fought was versus France and their coalition, in the 1.9.2 Ryukyu AAR. The ai is lot smarter in troop movements and in general now, cause they don't have to siege every province.
I'll give small example.
Asian troops were walking into europe, and the valiant crusaders were in neighbourhood. I had sailed IN, and all off sudden ai occupies a few random provinces far from where I landed. They didn't before, they just went for forts. Why? because ai is likely programmed now to siege fortless provinces to retreat to IF your army is in vicinity, so they don't have to rout across half a continent IF they get defeated.
Mind you, this was before I started the defensive fights and before anything else. My fleet arrived, delivered troops and POOF the ai adapted so it seemed.
Might be confirmation bias of course
AI got lot smarter since 1.13.2, that is for sure. I swear, the fight that ensued after these last screenshots was TENSE. The last comparable war I fought was versus France and their coalition, in the 1.9.2 Ryukyu AAR. The ai is lot smarter in troop movements and in general now, cause they don't have to siege every province.
I'll give small example.
Asian troops were walking into europe, and the valiant crusaders were in neighbourhood. I had sailed IN, and all off sudden ai occupies a few random provinces far from where I landed. They didn't before, they just went for forts. Why? because ai is likely programmed now to siege fortless provinces to retreat to IF your army is in vicinity, so they don't have to rout across half a continent IF they get defeated.
Mind you, this was before I started the defensive fights and before anything else. My fleet arrived, delivered troops and POOF the ai adapted so it seemed.
Might be confirmation bias of course
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Finally some action in this AAR.
Oh sure, next chapter will have plenty of crusader action!
In other news: I have been nominated as AAR writer of the year 2015 with the AAR on RYUKYU and Yeren--->QING. Feel free to vote for me.
I finally figured out how to adapt the text in Phpbb code to show only my chosen words in the link. I am such a noob on that stuff..
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I always end up doing that usually, even if I wanted to keep the campaign small
But i'm not 100% sure yet tbh.
Chapter 5: We drive them back, or we die trying!
Ok, a couple of hundred thousand heathens are attacking Naxos.. Time for damage control.
Its a weird coalition that attacks. Castile on the west, Italy in the middle, and the heathens in the East.
But that has one advantage: they won't band together, and they can be picked off seperatly.
Austria does a good job of repelling coalition in Italy..
Erhm a VERY good job, they WIPED them. And that 7k Aragonese stack right after.
Ok, Austria just sent a raven... They will hold the West front. And then ENGLAND joined in as cobelligerent, cause they are ally of the coalition warleader Castile.
So now the coalition war consists of Castile, Aragon, England, Milan and Genoa in Europe; Persia, Timurids, Baluchistan and Multan in Asia; and Tunis, Touggourt and Songhai in West Africa.
I quickly concluded that the real fight would be against the heathens... My war versus Mamluks and Morocco continued, and our troops finished siege on Moroccan capital of Fez right before the coalition attacked. Ok, Morocco white peaced out.
I remember this moment quite well, as it was the moment I was thinking.
"Oh god, NOW what."
I paused for a good LONG while, and tried to theorycraft a defensive strategy.
I ferried those troops to Italy, to take over sieging there. That freed up the Austrian stacks to repel England, who attacked from the Northwest.. England owns Flanders, and invaded Austria there.
120 ships were Blockading my capital. A bit overkill, but it DID allow guerrilla naval warfare versus any stray fleets.
Part of my theorycrafted warplan versus the coalition is SUPERIORITY.
Coalition war is a superiority war, which means BATTLES matter for warscore. Even fleet battles. So, my overall goal was to win as many battles as fast as possible, to get ticking warscore. If you win 80+% of ALL battles (fleet+army) in a superiority war, you get ticking warscore, up to 25% over 5 years. That was my goal.
The crusaders never let go of a hard earned prize. They made sure The Mamluks were beaten completely before moving to the real front...
... and the real front is the Black Sea. All the might of Persia, Ottomans and Timurids was invading Poland, Lithuania, and Hungary..
This Ottoman attack was very opportunistic, and I did a VERY opportunistic counter-move.
I naval invaded their capital, and blocked the Bosporus.
I hoped Ottomans would not come for me on their capital. Vain hope.
But my intent was never really to OCCUPY Constantinople..
I did it to get better peace terms.
Important tip: If an enemy capital is besieged and blockaded, then the AI will accept peace quicker, or settle for less!!
Hungary, Poland and Naxos ceded one province each, and the Ottomans were happy with that.
I was in fact quite lucky that Ottomans were fighting Shirvan when Castile declared coalition war... Now they declared seperatly, and they can be bargained with..
Meanwhile, England is on the move in the Northwest! Time to shift our focus completely to this coalition...
So far, my allies won all the bayttles, and the warscore versus the coalition is 23%. But that doesn't mean I can white peace out just like that. Coalition warleader has huge -30 'willingness to accept peace' if they declared coalition war.
A coalition war is really DO or DIE, as the AI *will* fight for 100% warscore AND will let the war drag on for 5 years if they struggle..
I may have 23% warcore, but the coalition is untouched yet on the eastern front.
I paused again, overlooking my options.
And I decided to move my ENTIRE might to the Black sea, and repel these heathens myself.
I wasn't very confident, as they outnumber me 2 to 1 easily... Most of their troops are still walking from Asia to Naxosian Crimea...
Time for guerrilla warfare!
Slight problem: all our troops are in Egypt area.. Yeah, apart from coalition ripping Poland to bits around Black sea and Teutonic order+ Muscovy that are also invading them, REBEL groups in Naxos decide its good time to revolt.
*SIGH*
I can safely use my cog fleet from Egypt to Black sea, as no enemy fleets are there. My galley fleet started the guerrilla warfare. The more small battles we win, the easier it will be to keep the ticking warscore from 80+% battles won going!
Milan is leading the fight around Italy, and they make a nice mess of things.. Austria had its hands full against them. A 15k stack sieged down their forts one by one, while Austria does the heavy lifting..
My 'search and destroy' fleet is picking off small fleets one at a time. The big fleets around Venice never budged....
Persia already sieged down 2-3 forts of Lithuania, and are advancing further. All of a sudden, the Naxian crusaders open up a front in their supply lines.
The valiant crusaders started 'hit and run' harassment of small stacks, and tried to outmanoever the big stacks that kept strolling in from Asia..
Let's retreat across the strait to Caffa, and wait until the next 15k troops arrive with the cog fleet!
ONE MISTAKE and I'll get roflstomped around here...
Enemy stacks everywhere!
I eyed the other fronts also, and wondered WHERE the castilian army was.. I haven't seen a single Castilian army yet! I saw they did a war around Bogota in South America before this coalition war... Maybe all their troops are in overseas territory...?
I hardly cared at that moment. But it does seem Naxos and their allies are getting the upper hand on the Western front..
Good, then I can start my manoeuver war around the Black sea.
And I can safely say beforehand, that what followed was comparable to the coalition war of Ryukyu versus France and Louis XIV, in the Ryukyu aar.
ONE mistake, and its over.
I took position around the old Crimea territory, and the 15 stack awaited the arrival of the cog fleet, who also brought 15k troops.
I carefully watched the stacks on the other side of the strait, and studied their arrival dates and destinations..
And then I made my move. The crusaders descended upon the army of Multan from the sea and by land on the same day, and the AI immediatly scrambled to reinforce the fight over the strait.
They will arrive in ten days...
But my cog fleet arrived in Sea of Azov BEFORE those ten days were over, and blocked the strait now!
Multan got routed, and the Ai armies decided to try and go around...
GOOD!
Naxos hired all the mercenaries they could on the former Crimean territory, and spent a good part of their ducat reserve on them and their reinforcements.
WE WILL NOT BEND THE KNEE TO THESE HEATHENS!
They all were trying to go round...When Persian army stack was movememnt locked, I crossed the strait again to destroy the small Genoese stack..
Only to run back across the strait right after, before the rest of the stacks backtracked.
I had to MOVE, before they sandwiched me from both sides! Persia occupied forts in Lithuania, and they are on the move to surround me...
But in comes a stack of Lithuania.. They try to resiege their fort while all those heathen stacks are near! Silly AI... The coalition stacks moved in to wipe the Lithuanians.
The crusaders marched to reinforce the fight!
The entire might of the Timurids was on way to reinforce the fight, we got to make a stand now...
The Lithuanian army cheered when the Naxian crusaders took defensive position!
HOLD THE LINE!
The Timurids charged across the plains, and mowed 14k infantry down so far!
A month and a total of 10k casualties later, it became clear the Crusaders were gaining ground. The Timurid army benefited of a few VERY good shock rolls, but now the RNG turns against them..
Ok Naxos has won the first big battle versus the heathens now... But it was only first blood.
To maker matters worse, Crimean rebels ambushed the retreating crusaders in Yedishkul!
Another 8k valiant crusaders died, and Francesco III started to worry a little bit. The enemy was still routing, but the Crimean front seems ready to collapse now..
"I will stay down HERE!" shouted the Queen mother from the bomb shelter..
Francesco decided to shift his attentio from the italian sieges to the Black Sea front.
When their king arrived in camp, a big round of cheering ensued.
Francesco had sent ravens to all mercenary companies, promising loads of ducats to whoever was willing to reinforce the battered Crusader armies in Crimea.
Ok, a couple of hundred thousand heathens are attacking Naxos.. Time for damage control.
Its a weird coalition that attacks. Castile on the west, Italy in the middle, and the heathens in the East.
But that has one advantage: they won't band together, and they can be picked off seperatly.
Austria does a good job of repelling coalition in Italy..
Erhm a VERY good job, they WIPED them. And that 7k Aragonese stack right after.
Ok, Austria just sent a raven... They will hold the West front. And then ENGLAND joined in as cobelligerent, cause they are ally of the coalition warleader Castile.
So now the coalition war consists of Castile, Aragon, England, Milan and Genoa in Europe; Persia, Timurids, Baluchistan and Multan in Asia; and Tunis, Touggourt and Songhai in West Africa.
I quickly concluded that the real fight would be against the heathens... My war versus Mamluks and Morocco continued, and our troops finished siege on Moroccan capital of Fez right before the coalition attacked. Ok, Morocco white peaced out.
I remember this moment quite well, as it was the moment I was thinking.
"Oh god, NOW what."
I paused for a good LONG while, and tried to theorycraft a defensive strategy.
I ferried those troops to Italy, to take over sieging there. That freed up the Austrian stacks to repel England, who attacked from the Northwest.. England owns Flanders, and invaded Austria there.
120 ships were Blockading my capital. A bit overkill, but it DID allow guerrilla naval warfare versus any stray fleets.
Part of my theorycrafted warplan versus the coalition is SUPERIORITY.
Coalition war is a superiority war, which means BATTLES matter for warscore. Even fleet battles. So, my overall goal was to win as many battles as fast as possible, to get ticking warscore. If you win 80+% of ALL battles (fleet+army) in a superiority war, you get ticking warscore, up to 25% over 5 years. That was my goal.
The crusaders never let go of a hard earned prize. They made sure The Mamluks were beaten completely before moving to the real front...
... and the real front is the Black Sea. All the might of Persia, Ottomans and Timurids was invading Poland, Lithuania, and Hungary..
This Ottoman attack was very opportunistic, and I did a VERY opportunistic counter-move.
I naval invaded their capital, and blocked the Bosporus.
I hoped Ottomans would not come for me on their capital. Vain hope.
But my intent was never really to OCCUPY Constantinople..
I did it to get better peace terms.
Important tip: If an enemy capital is besieged and blockaded, then the AI will accept peace quicker, or settle for less!!
Hungary, Poland and Naxos ceded one province each, and the Ottomans were happy with that.
I was in fact quite lucky that Ottomans were fighting Shirvan when Castile declared coalition war... Now they declared seperatly, and they can be bargained with..
Meanwhile, England is on the move in the Northwest! Time to shift our focus completely to this coalition...
So far, my allies won all the bayttles, and the warscore versus the coalition is 23%. But that doesn't mean I can white peace out just like that. Coalition warleader has huge -30 'willingness to accept peace' if they declared coalition war.
A coalition war is really DO or DIE, as the AI *will* fight for 100% warscore AND will let the war drag on for 5 years if they struggle..
I may have 23% warcore, but the coalition is untouched yet on the eastern front.
I paused again, overlooking my options.
And I decided to move my ENTIRE might to the Black sea, and repel these heathens myself.
I wasn't very confident, as they outnumber me 2 to 1 easily... Most of their troops are still walking from Asia to Naxosian Crimea...
Time for guerrilla warfare!
Slight problem: all our troops are in Egypt area.. Yeah, apart from coalition ripping Poland to bits around Black sea and Teutonic order+ Muscovy that are also invading them, REBEL groups in Naxos decide its good time to revolt.
*SIGH*
I can safely use my cog fleet from Egypt to Black sea, as no enemy fleets are there. My galley fleet started the guerrilla warfare. The more small battles we win, the easier it will be to keep the ticking warscore from 80+% battles won going!
Milan is leading the fight around Italy, and they make a nice mess of things.. Austria had its hands full against them. A 15k stack sieged down their forts one by one, while Austria does the heavy lifting..
My 'search and destroy' fleet is picking off small fleets one at a time. The big fleets around Venice never budged....
Persia already sieged down 2-3 forts of Lithuania, and are advancing further. All of a sudden, the Naxian crusaders open up a front in their supply lines.
The valiant crusaders started 'hit and run' harassment of small stacks, and tried to outmanoever the big stacks that kept strolling in from Asia..
Let's retreat across the strait to Caffa, and wait until the next 15k troops arrive with the cog fleet!
ONE MISTAKE and I'll get roflstomped around here...
Enemy stacks everywhere!
I eyed the other fronts also, and wondered WHERE the castilian army was.. I haven't seen a single Castilian army yet! I saw they did a war around Bogota in South America before this coalition war... Maybe all their troops are in overseas territory...?
I hardly cared at that moment. But it does seem Naxos and their allies are getting the upper hand on the Western front..
Good, then I can start my manoeuver war around the Black sea.
And I can safely say beforehand, that what followed was comparable to the coalition war of Ryukyu versus France and Louis XIV, in the Ryukyu aar.
ONE mistake, and its over.
I took position around the old Crimea territory, and the 15 stack awaited the arrival of the cog fleet, who also brought 15k troops.
I carefully watched the stacks on the other side of the strait, and studied their arrival dates and destinations..
And then I made my move. The crusaders descended upon the army of Multan from the sea and by land on the same day, and the AI immediatly scrambled to reinforce the fight over the strait.
They will arrive in ten days...
But my cog fleet arrived in Sea of Azov BEFORE those ten days were over, and blocked the strait now!
Multan got routed, and the Ai armies decided to try and go around...
GOOD!
Naxos hired all the mercenaries they could on the former Crimean territory, and spent a good part of their ducat reserve on them and their reinforcements.
WE WILL NOT BEND THE KNEE TO THESE HEATHENS!
They all were trying to go round...When Persian army stack was movememnt locked, I crossed the strait again to destroy the small Genoese stack..
Only to run back across the strait right after, before the rest of the stacks backtracked.
I had to MOVE, before they sandwiched me from both sides! Persia occupied forts in Lithuania, and they are on the move to surround me...
But in comes a stack of Lithuania.. They try to resiege their fort while all those heathen stacks are near! Silly AI... The coalition stacks moved in to wipe the Lithuanians.
The crusaders marched to reinforce the fight!
The entire might of the Timurids was on way to reinforce the fight, we got to make a stand now...
The Lithuanian army cheered when the Naxian crusaders took defensive position!
HOLD THE LINE!
The Timurids charged across the plains, and mowed 14k infantry down so far!
A month and a total of 10k casualties later, it became clear the Crusaders were gaining ground. The Timurid army benefited of a few VERY good shock rolls, but now the RNG turns against them..
Ok Naxos has won the first big battle versus the heathens now... But it was only first blood.
To maker matters worse, Crimean rebels ambushed the retreating crusaders in Yedishkul!
Another 8k valiant crusaders died, and Francesco III started to worry a little bit. The enemy was still routing, but the Crimean front seems ready to collapse now..
"I will stay down HERE!" shouted the Queen mother from the bomb shelter..
Francesco decided to shift his attentio from the italian sieges to the Black Sea front.
When their king arrived in camp, a big round of cheering ensued.
Francesco had sent ravens to all mercenary companies, promising loads of ducats to whoever was willing to reinforce the battered Crusader armies in Crimea.
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Francesco ordered the fresh mercenaries to start harassing stray stacks again.
A small stack got wiped before the big enemy doomstack could interfere...
Francesco watched 40+k heathens advancing on his position, and decided to retreat to Kaffa and the Krim again.
Stray 1k stacks of Naxos liberated the provinces of Golden horde that were occupied and still coring... In the end, all the land east of the Black sea finished coring, and Naxos could finally make peace with The Mamluks and Naples..
Algiers got the desert coastline, and blocked Ethiopia from attacking the leftovers from the Mamluks. Only NAXOS can attack the remainder of the Mamluks now!
Naples got full annexed.
Francesco crossed the strait with his entire army to deal with heathen REBELS now. For a change.
The pursuing armies got cog blocked again, and had to go around once more... That bought me a little time to deal with these rebels..
Persia moved in, but when I moved my army, the Genoan army stopped..
..And Persia had to fight the crusaders on their own.. They got routed.
The Genoese army got baited by that 1k, and they got stomped right after.. Francesco had to consolidate the merc regiments, they were at half morale, but they still managed to disperse the stray stacks.
A raven informed him the Italian front was secured, and the final armies there wiped in Cremona..
Warscore kept ticking, and all the battles give us loads of warscore also..
The Timurids had to face invasions and rebels, hence I never saw them again after the first battle.. Persia is VERY stubborn though, and kept attacking me..
They got routed.
Francesco looked at his wartable, and saw that ALL the heathens had been dispersed.. No siege stacks remained in Lithuania, and everyone was routed or destroyed or busy elsewhere..
Then he noticed something. His eyebrows rose, and he ordered a part of the crusader army to move to port and embark the cogs. The entire Naxian fleet sailed westwards..
Ah, you are going to invade Castile now huh! Get more warscore from their capital eh?
... NO.
Portugal is allied to Castile and England, and they are both fighting me... Hence Portugal is fruit for the picking.
Naxos invades PORTUGAL during the coalition war... Francesco wanted to get 25% warscore as soon as possible.. After that, Portugal can't call in Castile and England if the coalition war ends!
Yeah, you can't call in allies once the enemy has 25% warscore or more. Francesco saw that opportunity on the wartable, and took it...
And Castile? Vanished. Never saw them. Knowing the ai, I bet their entire army is trapped overseas.
The remainder of the army moved the front to the Timurids. The sunni zealot stack moved in on them, after they wiped another stray stack...
Naxos turned the war around, and is making gains now!
The timurids were having their hands full with rebel stacks. I saw that they were going for a rebel stack near me... You can guess what comes next, right?
CHAAAAAARGE!
The 27k Timurid stack got reduced to a 9k routing stack... And Persia seems bled dry also. All they send now is a meager 10k stack..
On the western front things went ok also. Algarve got sieged, and the leftover troops from Italian sieges got ferried to the new front in Portugal..
No Castilian troops to be seen. They must be black flagged in terra incognita somewhere...
Somehow the Ai decides its a good idea to move to Alentejo, right after I finished the siege of Algarve.
*ROLLSEYES*
Naxos went in for the kill, and advanced on Lisboa!
I left the battered regiments on Lisboa, and the rest of the army used the cogs to catch the routed and battered Portuguese army..
And that, as they say, is that.
Our ally Poland got defeated by Teutonic order and Muscovy. Badly. The AI is as opportunistic as Francesco now!
The coalition regrouped, and started sieging Lithuania again. Now its Genoa and Aragon that are invading them..
And the crusaders? They continued their guerrilla warfare...
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Yay, another stack wiped!
Persia is stubborn as hell, and keeps sending more and more troops...
Francesco had another look at his wartable, and saw yet ANOTHER opportunistic chance on the map.
Remember Portugal? The enemies Castile and England can't protect them because they fighting against me in the coalition war.
Then it dawned upon Francesco...
THAT WORKS TWO WAYS: the allies of my allies can be attacked now, and my allies can't interfere!
And Savoy was in debt, and wouldn't lift a finger if I attacked Florence also..
France and the POPE attacked Florence before this, which led to this chance to jump on Florence...
France occupied the fort on Lucca, and Naxos managed to start siege the rest of Florence.. France frowned, snorted, and left.
I got 55% warscore versus Portugal, so I can safely peace out England.. Portugal can't call England in anymore, as I have more then 25% warscore versus them..
I gave France a core back, and annulled their treaties with Castile.. Austria wasn't amused, and lost 10 trust because I didn't reward them for occupying all those English forts...
Next month, I smiled ear to ear for this. Annulling alliances can have this as result.. England removed Poland as rival, and RIVALS Castile now.. Yeah, annulling alliances can lead to that.
Castile broke royal marriage, and they started at each other angrily now.
"YOU lost the coalition war!" "Well, YOU wanted to join us!" "Yeah, but I was expecting your HELP! Where the heck was the Castilian army...?"...............
"SHUT UP YOU TWO!" shouted the Queen mother from the bomb shelter. Then she scooped the map for Francesco, and found him in Florence..
"You *WILL* bring me a present right?" The Queen mother looked at her soaked clothes and shouted "A new DRESS 'd be nice! You ruined this one!"
Francesco sighed, and obliged. He took the army to Genoa, looked for a nice dress, and made peace with the coalition leader Castile.
When the shopkeepers from Genoa realised that NAXOS owns Genoa, Parma, Modena and Ferrara now, they were quick enough to sell their finest wares to the King of Naxos..
Naxos took ALL THAT for 36,4 agressive expansion... Asking for land in defensive coalition war gives lot LESS AE then conquest wars...
Coalition war gives 10% AE on taken provinces, and 75% warscore cost for all provinces taken.
Francesco grinned, when he took an enormous heap of Italian land for a fraction of AE.. Noone in the HRE even cared, and Franced got pleased with returning cores...
Once more, the Naxian diplomats did their job very well. Naxos keeps expanding while keeping opinion with everyone positive!
I'll repeat it again, but as long as you keep opinion with nations positive, they can NEVER join a coalition. Even if they have 100+ AE with you..
Anyways.. Naxos is coring more and more of the Italian region!
But not enough by far. Savoy would join coalition now, but Castile is invading them now..
The real target is their ally though.
And that ally is Brittany. They got overrun.
Spain formed, and Naxos made peace with Portugal (already before the Savoy invasion, but I forgot to screenshot it).
Portugal got reduced to three provinces in Iberia. Naxos asked the Azores and the rest. Naxos has 2 centers of trade now in the Sevilla trade node! And they started stealing trade away from Spain..
Francesco secured the front in Savoy. He took his presents home, and went in search of the Queen Mother.
And what he found... he did not expect.
"Why do you think I stayed in that bomb shelter for so long?" asked the Queen mother..
She slowly turned, and Francesco stared at the small bundle the Queen was holding.
"A daughter," the Queen announced, "You have a healthy, sturdy daughter, my King."
Francesco wept with joy, when Ariadne of Habsburg looked at him with innocent eyes.
It secured the succession once more.. The sons of Francesco III all became priests thanks to the clergy estate influence.. And forfeited their rights to the crown.
"The clergy thought they could sweep our family aside completely.. This daughter shall once rule the mighty kingdom of Naxos!"
Orlando Gavalas Junior had grown into manhood by now, and accepted the honour of leading the Kingsguard. He moved from the military academy to the Royal palace, and he would safeguard Ariadne until she came of age..
Florence, Savoy and Brittany are all cooking in the steamcooker now, while the Portuguese territory was coring..
Rebels in the Levant made Hejaz and Yemen independent during the coalition war... A swift campaign put them back inside Naxos.
Naxos kept attacking ANYONE that could possibly start another coalition..
That was needed, as Naxos is on a coring spree In Italian region! Florence got full annexed!
The pope got peaced out, and all the enemies closed in on Naxos, after they occupied the capital..
Naxos stomped the Swiss and Corsican armies before Mantua could interfere... The last Portuguese provinces finished coring...
And as if it was nothing, Naxos was an EMPIRE now!
Italy bent the knee for naxos, and saw Naxos as the main Italian nation now..
1000+ development, and Naxos accepts all Italian cultures now!
Francesco was checking the disputed successions around Europe, when he saw that MUSCOVY was heirless with a 54 year old King.. And Austria also! Francesco did a quick royal marriage with Muscovy... But he didn't consider forcing a PU on Austria.. They are integrating Hungary now, and I am ALLIED to Austria. I would have to wait 5 year truce first after breaking alliance, and by then Austria will likely have had the time to produce 10 more Habsburg heirs..
Muscovy looks promising though, as they have VERY few natural RM partners. All their 'normal' orthodox RM partners around Black sea got wiped, and noone else likes them..
Francesco was still contemplating the foreign marriage policies, when Orlando Gavalas Junior bursted in...
"My liege! The Ottomans! They are attacking us again! Alone!"
Francesco looked up from his wartable, gave a grim nod to his spymaster..
"Their arrogance knows no bounds... They think they can defeat us even without Persian help?!"
The king donned his battle armor, took up his sword, and joined the Queen Mother on the palace balcony. He raised his sword in the air, and shouted:
"This time, the crusader EMPIRE will crush them!"
The cheers that followed could be heard all the way to Constantinople...
Hope you enjoyed this chapter!
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just checked at school if there was a post here by chance... 10 seconds ago posted.. (will read it at home, no time to read it atm)
Ottomans pressing the suicide button towards the end, how wonderful.
Coalition wars really are the most memorable. Really nicely done.
Coalition wars really are the most memorable. Really nicely done.
I simply didn't get why they attacked. I suppose the AI looks at my empty manpower pool. Do they take ally strength into account now also? Austria and Poland are also low on military might, but even THEN we still outnumber them..
Maybe the AI expected Persia/Tunis to join, and they didn't because they had truce with me?
It would be funny/sad that AI would forget to take truces into account when calling their allies versus me.. But it must be something like that..
I suspect certain historically expansionist countries like Ottomans and Russia are just hard-coded to play more aggro than usual in terms of declaring risky wars.
Here's an old game (I think 1.13). Not quite as skewed, and France was at war with GBR, but still, they DOW'd into Spain, Russia, and France:
That said, with Janissary bonuses, Ottomans can declare into 2:1 outnumbering alliances and win. I remember a Moldova game when Ottomans easily trashed Austria + Hungary + Spain (if my memory is correct)
Here's an old game (I think 1.13). Not quite as skewed, and France was at war with GBR, but still, they DOW'd into Spain, Russia, and France:
That said, with Janissary bonuses, Ottomans can declare into 2:1 outnumbering alliances and win. I remember a Moldova game when Ottomans easily trashed Austria + Hungary + Spain (if my memory is correct)
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I suspect certain historically expansionist countries like Ottomans and Russia are just hard-coded to play more aggro than usual in terms of declaring risky wars.
Here's an old game (I think 1.13). Not quite as skewed, and France was at war with GBR, but still, they DOW'd into Spain, Russia, and France:
That said, with Janissary bonuses, Ottomans can declare into 2:1 outnumbering alliances and win. I remember a Moldova game when Ottomans easily trashed
Yeah well, they DO have full manpower pool... Let's see!
you should read the other AAR then too, in my signature..
Plenty of epic coalition wars
It all went exactly as planned here... If I had made one mistake in my manoeuvres, the big heathen stacks would have wiped me around Black Sea.
To be honest, since they removed the need to siege all provinces for warscore, the AI became lot better at manoeuvring also. In 1.9.2 and Ryukyu aar, the AI would sometimes siege random provinces that don't matter during a coalition war..
Now they marched straight into Lithuania, until I landed troops by sea.
You could literally SEE the adaption the AI did to my move. Random occupations to rout to, and abandoning sieges to reinforce fights or 'attempt' to attack weakened stacks..
All in all, it felt very rewarding.
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