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Brandenburg III

A Smooth Operator
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Jun 22, 2007
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Nation: Desmond
Difficulty: Hard
Aggressiveness: Normal
Lucky Nations: Random
Mod: MMP
Style: Gameplay

My own personal rules: No reloads/cheating, those are the things that make playing a strategy game pointless.

Try to create Ireland.

Test various MMP events, decisions, etc. while trying to not get myself killed needlessly.

My RPG type rules: I can never sign an alliance with England, Scotland or anything else that may pop up on that evil island. I can make deals with them such as Military Access and the like but absolutely no alliances and no gifts.

I must always remain Catholic and be nice to the Papal States. If I see a country turning Protestant, to Calvinism or something else then they’ll be on my hit list. #1 on my hit list are the English because they’re English. #2 is Scotland because it borders England.

Destroy Scotland and England.

I have to always be nice to the Papal States and if they're annexed and request my land, no matter where it is, I must give it to them. So I’ll be trying to keep the Papal States from annexation.

Each update will cover either 10 or 20 years and a post will be released every day or every other day.

I’m going to keep this AAR brief (thus the 10 - 20 year updates per post) because I want to do a quick review of MM and the only way I can ever get through a game is if I do an AAR about it. So, obviously because of the 10 - 20 year updates this isn’t going to be too gameplay heavy; more than anything it’ll be a casual romp (for you, me? I’ll be fighting for my life.)

I played about half the game before I read the mm instruction book which is why I have random nations. Its also the reason why I took a blow torch to my computer at the start of 1455. (I did start on MM's recommended date.)

Update to come soon:

The Sons of Erin or My Attempt to Not Die is brought to you by the most steadily unpopular AAR writer around, Brandenburg III!
 
Playing a number of years with MM with Bosnia and Transylvania I noticed something right off. Every province has level 2 forts. There has to be a reason for this but I absolutely hate it. If you thought OPMs were tough in vanilla, just wait till you load an MM game.

Noting the difficulty I had with Bosnia and Transylvania in previous games I moved my slider defensive, knowing I was going to have to take on forts. Basically put, if you don’t have defensiveness then you’re going to lose the late game. At least that’s what I learned playing vanilla...

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Life is going to be hard with only 1 regiment. I also have two ships [1/0/0/1] which ought to come in handy when I decide to invade England. Actually I didn’t disband them like I had in my Japan AAR. I just might need them but more than that, ships are expensive construction when you’re an OPM. And I’m going to be needing something after I conquer the other Irish regions.

I changed one of my NI’s [National Trade Policy] to National Bank because I’m going to need cash.

My first mission is to create an army so that’s on my mind while England declared war on Scotland after the first day. Scotland v. England and Portugal. I’m hoping this war lasts a long time but I don’t see it working out that way.

And by June I received a new leader: Admin 8 Mil 8 Dip 5. That ought to go nice with my casus-belli on Connaught.

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Seven days later I made another NI change, swapping Church Attendance Duty for Grand Army. Since I’m such a tiny nation I’m going to have to get an army at the risk of receiving bad events. I think I’ll keep the naval one for a while.

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So here I am sitting at -3 with the magna mundi mod. What’s the worst that can happen? I could be annexed in 12 years like I was in CK; now that you know I’m not afraid to put out an annexation AAR it makes you wonder how many updates I’m going to provide, doesn’t it?

1454 and things are picking up now that the “Tempest Behind Us” Event has fired. We did our best, I guess, so it looks like a revolution won’t happen. A shame, I was kind of counting on that. It would’ve made invading the other powers so much easier.

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In 1455 I have a new National Idea slot open but I can’t pick it because I still have the reneging the past event going on. Maybe I’m not through it? I don’t know but I always get this at the start of every MMP game. I haven’t decided if its because I always swap my NI’s or if its standard.

By February I’m at + stability and I’ll try not to fall below 0 again because it will take years. When it comes to MM, if you go into the negative then you can kiss your game goodbye. You might as well restart and reload because you’re going to be thrown into a world of hurt. It’ll take years to recover your stability even as a minor. I don’t think you’re allowed any mistakes past the first ten years so keep that in mind.

July comes and both Leinster and Connaught insult me. I guess they’re not big on helping neighbors. And October follows with a Leinster rebellion. Nine regiments rise and throw out the Leinster standard; this is good news because if the rebellion doesn’t last too long and Leinster chooses to disband all these units they’ll receive, I’ll be able to swoop in.

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In 1456 I’m abandoning my roots and reneging my past... but by August I’m back to +2 because I will not let myself fall into negative stability. I have yet to play more than 50 years of an MMP game because of the difficulties I’ve had.

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By October I’ve finished my mission, built my grand two regiment army [1/1/0] while December brought me +3 stability.

September 1457 and Leinster finally collapses. They also disband their entire 9 regiment army. I DoW Leinster on day one and raise war taxes while hoping Connaught doesn’t do anything intelligent like declare war on me. The declaration comes with -3 stab which will put me at 0 but it’ll be worth it. So I make my leader a general and off I go.

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October my peasants are “Cherishing Old Ways” which causes me to lost almost half a ducat (.48) while in November my leader dies in the siege. That’s another negative stability hit so now I’m at -1 and a new leader with stats: Admin 8 Mil 6 Dip 8. Not too bad but I don’t like being in the red.

I halve my sieging army and my cavalry unit returns to my capital in Desmond so I can make my leader a general and negate any attrition effects. At this stage of the game, every man matters.

1458 comes around the bend and in April I try assaulting the fortress. They have about 300 and I 1000 infantry. It doesn’t work. Eight days later Tyrone insults me. The Irish don’t like me much... I make another attempt to assault the walls later in the month and again, I fail.

It isn’t until one month later, in May, that Leinster falls. Leinster is annexed.

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The situation in Ireland has changed a bit. Connaught, who I was planning to DoW later is now guaranteed by Brittany who has a bigger army and enough transports to bring them to the shores of Desmond. I’m going to need to raise a bigger army but that’ll take some time... my manpower is merely trickling.

In 1459 my mission is to create a proper fleet of which I only need to build two more ships. Shouldn’t be too hard and it’ll be useful when protecting my beloved green, green shores against Brittany and Connaught.

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I’ll end this update here for now. Not really ten years but I’d like to see round numbers; 1450, '60, '70, etc.
 
MM is tough on small countries.

And I never had the guts to complete an Irish game myself. Good luck!
 
Another MMP AAR, great! Good luck; I'll be following.

P.S.: "Reneging the past" is due to the NI swap, yes. And you should have played earlier versions, when many provinces, including all the Irish ones, had level 4 or 5 forts. Magna Mundi is getting too easy these days.
 
well another opm MMP player, are we suicidal or what? ;) well you might have done that gamey trick, wait for the first NI and than change two ideas (that's what i did); the beginning can be hard, but with time big AIs will turn in and you can walk the ice while they're asleep; will keep my fingers crossed!
 
RGB: Thanks... My only experience with MM was in the 1.3 days when I played it almost exclusively. Playing a minor was much easier then but so were a lot of other things.

clblabin: I thought it was due to reneging the past, I was never sure but thanks for the info and for following.

They started with level 4 - 5 forts all over the place? I don’t think I would’ve even given MM a chance, that’s just too much.

gabor: I’ve seen some call it a gamey trick but I don’t consider it gamey, especially since you’re strung up with useless NI’s for your position. There is absolutely no reason I needed Church Attendance Duty or the Trade Policy NI because 1, I’m too poor to send merchants on a regular basis (after the first 50 ducats are used up) and 2. I’m small enough that I don’ t have to worry about the stability increase too much. I know the MM team did this to make countries different but if I’m picking NI’s for Ireland as opposed to Yaroslavl, I’m going to choose different NI’s anyway.

On the suicidal note, I think there may be something to that. :) I think knowing that its much harder to expand and to do things (especially in MM) as an OPM, it makes things (at least for those of us playing) more exciting.

And if I can eat up the Irish minors fairly quickly, as I’m hoping, I expect to be safe from annexation or becoming someone’s vassal.

aldriq: I’m playing an Irish minor, I’m allowed to moan.

It isn’t too bad. The American AAR I only update on the weekends so at most that’ll take me 5 hours between the writing, copying/pasting, searching for public domain pics and research. I’m ahead on my Algiers work again so I don’t have to worry too much about writing new updates every 2-3 days and this, the Irish gameplay, is very easy to write since I’m only writing about what happened in the game without wit, attempt at humor or anything else that takes thought.
 
Seven days into 1460 and Brittany declared war. There wasn’t much I could do other than decide on a defensive strategy while rejecting a Scotland alliance offer.

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As you can see I’m in a spot. Brittany can ship over twice the amount of men I have in one go which would spell the end of this little story rather quickly. However, exactly two weeks after the declaration light bulbs went off in my head. If the Brittany guarantee was the only thing holding me back from DoWing Connaught, then why not declare war? So, I did.

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Two weeks later my leader died, replaced by Admin 5 Mil 5 Dip 6. Nothing remarkable but at least he isn’t horrible.

Four days after the leader’s death, Brittany was in my capital; nine days later my navy would be destroyed by Brittany. My navy was out there in an attempt to delay the Brittany navy from reinforcing but it was a lost idea. I’m still in the mindset that every soldier, every day matters and if I can prevent Brittany from landing another set of troops, then that day may be all I need to turn the war.

The day would mean nothing, as it turned out because it’d be until the middle of June when I’d be able to siege Connaught without repetitious fighting while Connaught besieged Leinster. I have no hope of recovering my capital which is covered with 7 Brittany units and should I go after Leinster I might lose that battle which would be horrible considering my trickling manpower.

I got lucky in October when a defensive popup fired for my capital.

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6 February 1461 my capital fell to Brittany.

I wasn’t worried yet... I will mention something though. Something that irritates me especially in the MM early game. Why does it always take me forever and a day to win a siege? By 1 January 1462 I’ve been sieging the Connaught capital at 100% for more than a year. And now, by 1 January 1462, Connaught has just caught up to me in terms of percentage in spite of my sieging their province first.

Eleven days later Leinster fell to Connaught. My personal moral was destroyed, thinking I had made all these notes, took all these pics for no reason... until Brittany forced peace. I only had to pay 14 ducats!

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I dispatched my cav unit to my capital and scorched the earth. Sure its going to destroy my capital for a while but if I don’t do it then Connaught will likely catch up to me in terms of siege percentages again. I can’t have siege races in the early MM game... they’re too unpredictable for the player.

1 February I receive the Saint Performs Miracle event and my stability goes up by 1 (+2)... three weeks later my cav unit is in Leinster while Connaught moves to siege my capital.

On 1 March Connaught falls but now I have to fell Leinster. And by April I’m forced to take 1 ducat loans. Oh, this is going to be pretty.

April 4 I assault Leinster. And fail. June 1 I assault Leinster again... and fail. I’m also forced to take another 1 ducat loan.

By 5 July, Leinster falls and I demand Connaught’s annexation. Let’s not do that again. I now have my aim on Brittany so they might want to watch out.

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At the end of the month Scotland declares war against England (it seems they have a deathwish) and I have to take another loan 1 August 1462 for 7 ducats. It seems I’m moving up in the world.

30 June 1463 I choose a loss of a ducat (other option was to lose stability) and 11 July I move a slider toward defensive for obvious reasons.

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Meanwhile, in November, heretics pop up in England.

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I don’t know a whole lot about heretics, what they can do, if they defect or ignore borders. I guess we’ll find out and hope. England is still at war with Scotland and is, unfortunately, doing quite well.

1464 and my peasants still like the old ways; I’m not sure why because we’re making a lot more money... I lose 1.11 ducats in the event while in March I secure a RM with Tyrone. Our relations are now +106. I’m thinking of trying to vassalize them later.

28 January 1465 an uprising occurs within my nation. I chose to meet them on the field of battle because that’s the guy I am. Defend honor, justice and integrity to the last man! Unfortunately that’s what it looks like it’ll come down to.

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Fourteen months later the rebels have occupied both Connaught and Leinster. My nation collapses soon after and I receive a new leader. Admin 5 Mil 3 Dip 7. For being such a violent fellow he sure has a nice way with words. I’m sure we would’ve been friends in another life. You know, if he actually lived.

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A day after the coronation my new mission is a naval race with Brittany. I have 0 ships and they... well, they have more. At the same time the people decide to adapt to the new paradigm. I can’t say I blame them because I’m a genius, a regular forward thinker. I chose the Good News option which didn’t seem to have an effect although I’m sure it did somehow, somewhere.

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Over the next thee months I obtained MA through Norway and Brittany and offered MA to Brittany. Hopefully Brittany won’t come blasting my shores again.

The first half of 1467 is full of events that don’t matter much so I’ll go through and list them... we receive low productivity in January, another RM with Brittany, Tyrone insults me but I have no diplomats because I was securing Brittany and I was given a gift to the state. Let me pause here for a moment. Normally a Gift to the State event is a great thing. It’ll set you up for years and years. Not in this mod guys. In this mod I got a grand total of 2 ducats. So, that’s that.

England and Scotland ended their war with England sucking in a few provinces, I hired a three star stability and repaid my loans by August.

1 September 1467 I DoW Tyrone, scorch Connaught and go forth.

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See that army of mine?

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Now you don’t.

I don’t know what happened here or why Tyrone only got off with a 2 man loss. Our army make up was the same and -

oh, it probably had to do something with their four star shock general when I couldn’t get out of the way. Well, I’m not a quitter so let’s raise some mercs. I take four loans to do this in November. In unrelated war news I received this event which gets me closer to the Papal States, one of my goals.

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When my mercs are finished 11 February 1468 I secured MA through England so I wouldn’t have to fight Tyrone’s 4 star shock. That’s right, I’m using mercs to siege Tyrone. If Tyrone wins the Connaught siege, and I have no doubt they will at this point, then I’ll settle for turning them into my vassals. But they will HAVE to accept because I don’t have any spare diplomats and they’re likely to recover stability like breeding rabbits.

1 June and my reneging the past event finally goes away. My NI slot which was revealed some years before is now available to be filled. I choose Regimental System which gives me a 25% land forcelimit. As I’ve displayed, I really need that idea.

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When stability +2 is reached I chose to remove my stability advisor. Sixteen days later I receive an event where I could become Pope. I have no idea what this event does but it sounds nice. Should someone elbow me out of the way there’s nothing I can do, so I’m hoping my kind-hearted European friends won’t screw me.

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Near the end of 1468 Tyrone captures Connaught. Tyrone returns home and my mercs flee to Meath. Meanwhile...

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Near the end of January 1469 I returned to Tyrone only to discover that the fort hasn’t at all diminished. You’d think after so much sieging, walls cracking and such that there would be some problems with the fort, but no, there isn’t. This is one of the things I hope EU3 fixes for EU4, if I’m sieging a province for years, leave it for one day and return, its as if I’d never been there.

To make forming Ireland harder and the fort system more mysterious, England pops a level 3 fort in Meath. I can only assume this is by event but that doesn’t lessen the frustration. While I figured this out, Tyrone moved into my capital. I receive something of a saving grace though when (peasant) rebels rose in Connaught. A month later I’d be at +3 stability. How I’m at +3 with all this going on I’ll never know but that’s probably the point.

By August 26 the rebels won the siege in Connaught and I felled Ulster. Both the 4000 Peasant rebels and I was headed to Leinster, where Tyrone was now sieging.

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The Peasants are slaughtered by Tyrone and I find I can’t win. So I move into Connaught to lift the peasant occupied territory. And then I get confused... I get confused because in 5 January 1471 Tyrone must accept my offer or get a reduced stability point. They reject my offer yet don’t fall in stability. I don’t know why this is; whether it’s mod specific or vanilla I can’t say. Pending on whose thing it is, its broken. But that’s not the worst of it because by November Tyrone would go from 0 stability to +3. Maybe they’re lucky but even that seems to be a stretch.

In the intervening months Tyrone occupied Leinster and I scorched Connaught. I’d return to Leinster by June 1470 and wait until February 1471 to recapture it. Tyrone still won’t accept to become vassals and with the negative stab if they don’t accept thing not working, what’s the point? I signed a white peace on 7 February 1471, disband the mercs and vow to destroy Tyrone’s province, making it the weakest province in my empire when I’m big enough.

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Later in the year I’m able to repay all my loans so at least the war didn’t destroy me too badly. But now I have to rebuild my army... and navy.

5 January 1473 Brittany guarantees me and six months later, Scotland declares war against England. Scotland* v. England and Portugal. I don’t know why but Scotland is very suicidal. This is going to make my game tougher since England isn’t likely to have a land-based opponent. Near the end of the year I moved a slider +1 defensive, again, for obvious reasons.

In ‘74 I RM Sweden. In ‘75 Scotland cedes two more provinces to England. Late in 1475 I receive Perfect Patchwork which will gift me +2 stab. Before I accept the event, I switch my government to Feudal Monarchy. Some people complain about making a move before accepting an event but I don’t listen to those people.

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19 months later I receive Perfect Hierarchy which gives me +1 stab and +20% to my production which places me soundly at +3 stability.

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By March 1477 I think I’m ready for Tyrone again and send an insult. They don’t bite.

1478 my leader resigns and I receive a Admin 8 Mil 3 Dip 8. Good enough.
 
Ugh, that's exactly my Irish experience.

Some last duchy is too tough to take on, while the threat of Brittany or Portugal hangs heavy.

Scotland is especially suicidal because MMP gives it major penalties when they're at war with England to achieve historic results. Funny that.
 
aldriq: They have those leader stats in the ledger? I ought to take a closer look. I usually get preoccupied staring at those pie charts and graphs.

RGB: The end came near. I really did think I was going to end up as someone’s vassal or losing all I had gained.

That’s unfortunate about Scotland. While I appreciate the efforts to make the game more historical, I don’t believe it should be completely by the book.

----------------------------------------

1482 August a few interesting things happened. One I received this event which put me closer to the Papal States and the second I noticed an interesting set of alliances. There was a three-way alliance between Tyrone, Scotland and Burgundy. Each nation was allied with the other and obviously I will not be able to take on Burgundy so I’ll have to watch myself.

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In late February 1483 I secured an alliance with Brittany so I won’t have to worry about them for now. At the same time I also beat Brittany in a naval race gaining 5.0 naval tradition. My next mission? Remove Tyrone from the map... funny.

A few months later, July, Brittany broke the alliance so I had no cover should Tyrone decide to bring Scotland and Burgundy to war.

I’ll be honest here. I was getting bored. When I get bored I sometimes do strange things and I didn’t want to sit and wait for the Tyrone alliances to break. So I secured MA through Lithuania, took 4 regiments to Lithuania and waited for the Livonian Order v. Poland, Lithuania and Novgorod war to end.

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24 January 1485 Poland and the LO make peace with LO paying 6 ducats. However LO is still at war with Novgorod and Lithuania. This was my opportunity to spring since a few provinces are now available to siege while the LO has to fight these other monster powers. On 24 January 1485 I declared war.

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I was hoping Mazovia would join in but they didn’t. Desmond* v. LO* and Lower Austria. Lower Austria can’t reach me so its just the LO. By February I started sieging LO’s capital for bonus WS points later. Unfortunately, the following month, Brittany canceled MA which told me they were preparing for another war.

1486 I stopped taking war taxes in January in case revolts should break out in Ireland because I wouldn’t be able to handle them with my troops in the Baltic.

By March the LO and Novgorod agreed to peace with Novgorod taking Estland and 9 ducats. Now its interesting because the Livonian Order cannot reach me. They don’t have MA through Novgorod, Lithuania or Riga. So this ought to make things easier.

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In May I moved another slider +1 defensive and Kurland fell. Off to more provinces! By August I’m in Wenden and the LO still hasn’t raised any troops. I assume they’ll begin building some at the start of the year when they get their yearly ducats.

Things weren’t very active in this war: 9 February 1487 I was able to secure a white peace with Lower Austria while the following month my leader died in the siege. New leader is Admin 4 Mil 3 Dip 4. We’ve got a real winner.

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That’s a good overview war shot, I think.

Late August Wenden fell. What I really want is Osel and for the LO to become vassals so I can annex them later. Islands seem to be a bad idea in this game, at least one province islands, because if you have troops there they could easily be pushed off by rebels. But I like them anyway.

October 26 and LO’s fleet refuses to let me cross into Osel. Since I couldn't get the one province I wanted, I settled for peace with the LO becoming vassals. Within the year LO would be a part of my alliance while I discovered the HRE didn't care for my occupation.

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I’ll stop here at January 1488 and polish up the last 12 years of the century tomorrow. I’ll admit that things get interesting.
 
I like your happy go lucky playstyle... :D


Some misconceptions that I'll try to make clear:


You should NOT play at difficulty HARD. The mod is supposed to be played on NORMAL. More broadly, you should not change the starting options.

Changing NIs in MMP is a dangerous gamble. You were able to did well, however.

Defensiveness helps winning sieges both inside or outside the walls. Offensive helps winning land battles.

You were very lucky with "Perfect Patchwork" and "Perfect Hierarchy". You have 20% of chance to get each one of them and 80% to get negative events due to radical policies. This is modified by ADM ratings, but the overall chance is never very good.

There is no event to give Meath a level 3 Fortress. England build it or was given by a decision not coded in MM.

Scotland would own england 90% of th time if a significant penalty was not imposed on it. Admittedly, we have now more tools to shape the AI better.
 
Scotland would own england 90% of th time if a significant penalty was not imposed on it. Admittedly, we have now more tools to shape the AI better.
Why would that be? Due to events that hurt England in MMP? Cos not having played MMP at all, in Vanilla, 95% of the time it's England owning Scotland.

Looks like a fun AAR, consider me subscribed.
 
See that army of mine?

Now you don’t.


:rofl: I love such jokes in the morning :D

Anyway, you're playing a VEEERY risky game. Changing NI's so early, I wouldn't even think about it. Also, you should do something about the decentralization, I have no idea where you're getting enough money to sustain your military :)
 
Ubik: If I played on Normal I feel it’d be too easy. Are you only supposed to play on normal because its easier to get around? Besides this and the random nations I didn’t touch anything although I didn’t discover this until later in the game when I finally read the manual. :) While in future games I’ll be sure to leave the random nations option alone, I’ll probably still play on hard unless there’s a really good reason not to.

In my vanilla games I’d always find these huge forts at the end of the games and could never win them no matter how long I sat on them. In 1.3 I went offensive, these days I prefer defensive.

On changing NI’s: This is what eventually made me break down and read the manual. I kept wondering why bad things were happening but I understand it now.

Right now I’m trying to write about how I’m feeling at the time I played, showing my frustration and wonderment. I’m going to try to be more clear as time goes on since I’ll be understanding the mod better.

PS. I like to play with fire
FlamingShot.gif


:D

demokratickid: As mentioned with aldriq, I’m ahead on my Algiers updates again and ought to be fine until this finishes and the American update only takes a few hours on the weekend. Adding on to that, gameplays are extremely easy to write; the longest part is uploading the pics.

Azugal: As long as the pace isn’t too fast for you ;)

Winner: Early in games I always take a lot of risks. My reason behind this is that I can always start over. When I loaded up Desmond, because I’ve been having poor luck with MM, I decided that if I was annexed or whatever happened, that I would write about it. I was tired of having unlucky things happening to me but as you’ve seen and as Ubik pointed out, I’m a little lucky in this game so far. My luck doesn’t always hold out, but its good to have at the game’s start.

In answer to your question, I am minting a little (very little) but I also micromanage my economic screen. When stability goes up or goes down, I go to the screen. When I take war taxes in a war I usually take them in December and end them in January. Originally I was saving my game every ten years and I was going to put the save at the bottom of every post in case people wanted to play where I left off, but also so those interested could review my game for flaws.

In the end I decided against this because I don’t think there’s a big group out there who’d want to take the save and after my Japan AAR, where I was accused of cheating twice in spite of providing proof and offering the save, I decided it wasn’t worth it. Because of that Japan AAR and the way it was treated with neglect by my accusers, I decided that if people wanted to be irresponsible and ruin my credibility on these forums (which I think is the reason a lot of people left my earlier AARs) then that’s what they’re going to do. In short, I can’t stop people from making irresponsible claims because its been proven to me that they won’t accept proof.

Since then I’ve removed the saves because I hate clutter on my computer. Even for my vanilla games I only use one save.

I’m not saying you’re a part of this group :) but I like to be detailed in my answers when someone asks a specific question. I’ll add that in my 50 year updates you’ll likely see pie charts, world map, a Desmond map, sliders and whatever else I thought to be of interest so early in the game.

To all: I want to add that I am not participating in the ACA’s so don’t waste your votes on this, or my other AARs. I know I probably didn’t need to tell you to not vote for me but I wouldn’t want you to waste your effort even if you thought about voting.
 
1 June 1488 I was looking over the alliance sects again and noticed that Tyrone was no longer allied with Burgundy and with Scotland taking repeated beatings from England, I decided to declare war. Desmond* and Livonian Order v. Scotland* and Tyrone. I should mention that Scotland is still offering me an alliance every now and again. Some people don’t get the hint.

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My plans for this war are simple. Hope Tyrone doesn’t give me a hard time, then annex. Then I want Scotland’s Western Isles if I can sneak around their ships and any troops they may have stationed there.

By July I’m in Ulster while Tyrone is in Connaught. We’re off to the races again.

Not much has changed with the war six months later. The sieges continue.

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Again luck strikes when Ulster falls before Connaught although I did have a head start by more than two weeks. I annex Tyrone and make plans to slip into the Western Isles.

Another event during the war shifts me +2 free subjects.

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And by August I’m in the Western Isles. More good news is that the LO actually helps by depositing 3 infantry regiments in the Western Isles. That ought to speed things up. After a short while W. Isles falls and Scotland wants peace.

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1490 comes and Desmond becomes a small power, which is always nice... except when you border England.

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This change in name wouldn’t convince Brittany for they declared war in late August 1490. Desmond* and LO v. Brittany* and Trier.

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I’m not going to go on the offensive at all during this war. I now have about 5 regiments that I haven’t disbanded and a manpower reserve pool of 494 men. Perhaps Brittany ought to invest in some transports.

A number of other popups come my way...

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White peace with Trier in 1492 while Irish patriots pop up in Meath in January 1493. England is currently at war with Burgundy, Lorraine and Friesland so I’m hoping England leaves these guys alone.

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And later in the year Brittany agrees to a white peace without even sending ships to blockade my ports.

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In early 1494 France annexed Auvergne which freed up a 2 star inflation advisor. This would do nothing for my leader who would die later in the year, Admin 5 Dip 7 Mil 3. Being at the head of Desmond seems to be a dangerous job. Because of this change, my relations with England are now +129. It seems I don’t have to do anything because they’re set on being the best of friends.

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1496 Poland inherited Lithuania which, of course, made Poland huge. We’ll see if she can keep it together. But here’s an odd thing I noticed. Granada is allied with Castile. I’m not complaining because I think it’s pretty cool... I do find it odd that Granada considers Haasa a natural rival rather than, say Morocco or Castile. Lastly, for the year of ‘96, the LO recovered her Estland province from Novogord probably because it’s a part of the HRE. Annexation will have to wait.

Another one of my bad habits in these games is that I like quality even when I should go for manpower. I moved a slider +1 quality (without effect) and I put in the Church Attendance Duty as an NI. I know, I don’t think ahead very well but after seeing some of these stability drops I thought it might be a good idea for later down the road. I will note that I wanted QftNW but couldn’t take it. :(

Later in January 1497 I received MA through the now massive Poland who I hope to keep on good terms, followed by a Meath defection in February. Not only do I gain the province but also an army consisting of 1/6/0 with General 1/0/1/1

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I guess you’ll have to wait for that showdown with England.

On the same day I created Ireland. My relations with England plummeted to +39. :)

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In the last year (February 1499) Poland DoW’d Muscovy. Here’s a quick shot.

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If you’re wondering, those are pretender rebels trampling all over Muscovy. But this war would prove uneventful with a white peace signed in November. Poland could’ve really expanded there, it’s too bad they backed down.
 
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Agree with you about taking risks, and taking risks in MM is even more thrilling than in vanilla :D And anyway, if we wanted a by-the-book MMP AAR we wouldn't be reading yours, would we?

I agree with ubik about the difficulty settings though, they make it tougher for the player but they distort the game too much, even in vanilla. For me a genuine difficulty setting for a game is that one which makes the AI think harder, not one that simply handicaps the player/flushes the AI with more resources.

Nice to see you continue on a lucky roll with that defection of Meath and grabbing the Western Isles. We do want a showdown with England :D
 
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