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Hey congratulation Michaelangelo! You deserve it. I enjoyed yout AAR from the beggining so i know that you did.
- 2
Time to break out the party hats and non-alcoholic drinks (there might be children here, after all)! Thanks for the nomination.
Thanks you two. I guess this means I should put in extra effort to make the end of this AAR truly epic. The BBB won't know what hit it.
- 1
Congratulations, great news! I do hope the end of the AAR is epic
Well it's hard not to make things epic when France is involved. I suppose I should actually find out how to trigger a revolution for if that option wins the vote.
Also thanks to everyone who voted for me in the Q1 2015 ACAs. I tied for 2nd place thanks to you guys.
- 1
Some thoughts about Tag-Swapping
First of all, congrats to Michaelangelo on your award (though I confess I'm not familiar with all that forum stuff and don't know what it exactly is - but after 6 months reading your works I assume you deserve it anyway )
About this AAR, I've really enjoyed the Tag-Swap idea. Wanted to try it myself but to begin with, there is no random choice of countries in EUIII DW, so I had to find another way of choosing. And discipline myself because it's too tempting to stick to one country once you've helped them to become a bit more than what the AI would have done of them.
I've also started many different games with some medium-sized European countries ; provided you try something a bit audacious from the very start (e.g. Portugal guaranteeing Granada...), each one of them can actually do something to survive and become stronger before 1450. That makes a fine collection of national destinies and it would be fun to see them altogether in a single game, but unfortunately they all belong to separate realities which, like parallel lines, will never cross one another.
But I finally found a basic tag-swap kind of scenario that could bring some interesting stuff in the gameplay - and I invite everyone here who enjoyed this AAR (including the authAAR himself) to try it. I won't claim any royalties on the idea, I will simply play a game with it but I don't pretend to write an AAR or anything like that because I don't have time to do so. So whoever would find the idea interesting may feel free to appropriate it.
Let's call that the Adventures of Count of St. Germain, the wandering immortal.
If you have no idea about who he was or pretended to be, you'll find out some good information about him on Wikipedia for instance. I sum it up briefly : Count of St. Germain was an adventurer who appeared at the court of French King Louis XV around 1750. He was exceptionally brilliant, could talk many languages, and pretended having traveled all over the world and met many historical famous people, since he claimed to be immortal.
So let's take it for granted. It's 1399 (or 1444 if you play EU IV, that should work as well) and you're immortal. You are Count of St.Germain (or whichever name you like to be called at the moment) and you can start in any European country you like, since nobody knows exactly where you came from. You're just a smart young man with good skills as an adviser in service of the ruler of your country. You can work in a republic, but you have personal conviction and preference towards monarchy (it is said that Count of St. Germain predicted the French Revolution to young Queen Marie-Antoinette and wanted to prevent it at all costs).
Anyway, you will be the true ruler of the country, and make decisions only according to your own view, opinion and interest. You can make the country succeed or fail. Whatever happens, you know you will have to leave sooner or later ; either because the country is ruined by your fault and everyone there wants to kill you, or because on the contrary you succeeded to much and you're getting worried about the country becoming too strong and threatening its neighbors - while as a good diplomat, you know that the balance of powers should be preserved in the world and especially in Europe. You might also leave after a few years because there is simply nothing interesting to do in the country and you're getting bored ; but even if you feel very comfortable in the country, you will leave anyway, because people must not get to know that you're immortal - so that to avoid suspicion, you shall fake your death, leave and restart in another place pretending you're St. Germain's son. So this will be the first rule, the time one : you have to spend between 3 and 30 years in each country, no more, no less. Inside those limits you can feel free to leave whenever you think it advisable. Then save the game and reload it swapping to the next country you're going to play.
The second rule (and don't be afraid, there won't be much more rules than that) is the space one : you have the power of immortality, not teleportation. This is the Middle Age and there are no planes either. That means when you swap, you can only go from a country to a neighboring one... where you will necessarily stay for a while, because in this time it took so long to go from one place to another that is was really quite usual to spend several years wherever you happened to stop. That point is important : since you cannot flee too far away, it means you should wisely plan the wars you get the country you live involved in ; if things turn wrong, you might be able to change for the winning side, or to a neutral place. That's why if I start in France for instance, getting stupid King Charles VI to crush his dangerous rivals Castile and England, I plan to go to Switzerland for a few years once it is done, while Burgundy should no be a quiet place to go, for being obliged to struggle to survive a French neighbor gone too powerful.
So you have to spend at least 3 years ruling that next country, maybe trying to get it out of the chaos you will have created. Remember that when you're done, you cannot go backwards (all the people there think or want you dead) and have to keep driving straight ahead. Thus you'll travel slowly but surely, swapping from one country to another across the years. Once you reach deserts or oceans, you might be able to cross them though, assuming you're a tough traveler and you cannot die anyway. So the possibilities are quite infinite, depending on what you find and want to do on your way. A close look to the map and diplomatic situation of the neighborhood should be useful before leaving, like Michaelangelo did each time - and a global overview every 50 years would be welcome too. The next step should be opened to voting if someone decides to play and share it as an AAR.
The third rule (but I make it optional) would be to make St. Germain's route in your game match what he actually pretended to have done in our timeline. That means around 1750 Count of St. Germain should be back to France, or to whatever country holds Paris at this point. But before that he should have rambled all over the world, following Marco Polo's path in Asia, discovering Cape of Good Hope and the Americas... that's why he speaks so many languages and knows so many things. Whether he chooses to stay in Paris from this point and prevent any revolution to occur, or go to another country to spend the last years of the game, shall be at the discretion of the player.
Well, maybe someone else has already tried this sort of scenario, and it should be found somewhere deep in the forum's archive. Or maybe I'm the only one who gets amused by the idea and feels like actually trying a game like this. Maybe I've broken a forum rule writing this here - in this case that was not intentional and I apologize to Michaelangelo for taking so much place in his AAR. Anyway everyone, just let me know what you think about it.
First of all, congrats to Michaelangelo on your award (though I confess I'm not familiar with all that forum stuff and don't know what it exactly is - but after 6 months reading your works I assume you deserve it anyway
)About this AAR, I've really enjoyed the Tag-Swap idea. Wanted to try it myself but to begin with, there is no random choice of countries in EUIII DW, so I had to find another way of choosing. And discipline myself because it's too tempting to stick to one country once you've helped them to become a bit more than what the AI would have done of them.
I've also started many different games with some medium-sized European countries ; provided you try something a bit audacious from the very start (e.g. Portugal guaranteeing Granada...), each one of them can actually do something to survive and become stronger before 1450. That makes a fine collection of national destinies and it would be fun to see them altogether in a single game, but unfortunately they all belong to separate realities which, like parallel lines, will never cross one another.
But I finally found a basic tag-swap kind of scenario that could bring some interesting stuff in the gameplay - and I invite everyone here who enjoyed this AAR (including the authAAR himself) to try it. I won't claim any royalties on the idea, I will simply play a game with it but I don't pretend to write an AAR or anything like that because I don't have time to do so. So whoever would find the idea interesting may feel free to appropriate it.
Let's call that the Adventures of Count of St. Germain, the wandering immortal.
If you have no idea about who he was or pretended to be, you'll find out some good information about him on Wikipedia for instance. I sum it up briefly : Count of St. Germain was an adventurer who appeared at the court of French King Louis XV around 1750. He was exceptionally brilliant, could talk many languages, and pretended having traveled all over the world and met many historical famous people, since he claimed to be immortal.
So let's take it for granted. It's 1399 (or 1444 if you play EU IV, that should work as well) and you're immortal. You are Count of St.Germain (or whichever name you like to be called at the moment) and you can start in any European country you like, since nobody knows exactly where you came from. You're just a smart young man with good skills as an adviser in service of the ruler of your country. You can work in a republic, but you have personal conviction and preference towards monarchy (it is said that Count of St. Germain predicted the French Revolution to young Queen Marie-Antoinette and wanted to prevent it at all costs).
Anyway, you will be the true ruler of the country, and make decisions only according to your own view, opinion and interest. You can make the country succeed or fail. Whatever happens, you know you will have to leave sooner or later ; either because the country is ruined by your fault and everyone there wants to kill you, or because on the contrary you succeeded to much and you're getting worried about the country becoming too strong and threatening its neighbors - while as a good diplomat, you know that the balance of powers should be preserved in the world and especially in Europe. You might also leave after a few years because there is simply nothing interesting to do in the country and you're getting bored ; but even if you feel very comfortable in the country, you will leave anyway, because people must not get to know that you're immortal - so that to avoid suspicion, you shall fake your death, leave and restart in another place pretending you're St. Germain's son. So this will be the first rule, the time one : you have to spend between 3 and 30 years in each country, no more, no less. Inside those limits you can feel free to leave whenever you think it advisable. Then save the game and reload it swapping to the next country you're going to play.
The second rule (and don't be afraid, there won't be much more rules than that) is the space one : you have the power of immortality, not teleportation. This is the Middle Age and there are no planes either. That means when you swap, you can only go from a country to a neighboring one... where you will necessarily stay for a while, because in this time it took so long to go from one place to another that is was really quite usual to spend several years wherever you happened to stop. That point is important : since you cannot flee too far away, it means you should wisely plan the wars you get the country you live involved in ; if things turn wrong, you might be able to change for the winning side, or to a neutral place. That's why if I start in France for instance, getting stupid King Charles VI to crush his dangerous rivals Castile and England, I plan to go to Switzerland for a few years once it is done, while Burgundy should no be a quiet place to go, for being obliged to struggle to survive a French neighbor gone too powerful.
So you have to spend at least 3 years ruling that next country, maybe trying to get it out of the chaos you will have created. Remember that when you're done, you cannot go backwards (all the people there think or want you dead) and have to keep driving straight ahead. Thus you'll travel slowly but surely, swapping from one country to another across the years. Once you reach deserts or oceans, you might be able to cross them though, assuming you're a tough traveler and you cannot die anyway. So the possibilities are quite infinite, depending on what you find and want to do on your way. A close look to the map and diplomatic situation of the neighborhood should be useful before leaving, like Michaelangelo did each time - and a global overview every 50 years would be welcome too. The next step should be opened to voting if someone decides to play and share it as an AAR.
The third rule (but I make it optional) would be to make St. Germain's route in your game match what he actually pretended to have done in our timeline. That means around 1750 Count of St. Germain should be back to France, or to whatever country holds Paris at this point. But before that he should have rambled all over the world, following Marco Polo's path in Asia, discovering Cape of Good Hope and the Americas... that's why he speaks so many languages and knows so many things. Whether he chooses to stay in Paris from this point and prevent any revolution to occur, or go to another country to spend the last years of the game, shall be at the discretion of the player.
Well, maybe someone else has already tried this sort of scenario, and it should be found somewhere deep in the forum's archive. Or maybe I'm the only one who gets amused by the idea and feels like actually trying a game like this. Maybe I've broken a forum rule writing this here - in this case that was not intentional and I apologize to Michaelangelo for taking so much place in his AAR. Anyway everyone, just let me know what you think about it.
- 5
Some thoughts about Tag-Swapping
First of all, congrats to Michaelangelo on your award (though I confess I'm not familiar with all that forum stuff and don't know what it exactly is - but after 6 months reading your works I assume you deserve it anyway
About this AAR, I've really enjoyed the Tag-Swap idea. Wanted to try it myself but to begin with, there is no random choice of countries in EUIII DW, so I had to find another way of choosing. And discipline myself because it's too tempting to stick to one country once you've helped them to become a bit more than what the AI would have done of them.
I've also started many different games with some medium-sized European countries ; provided you try something a bit audacious from the very start (e.g. Portugal guaranteeing Granada...), each one of them can actually do something to survive and become stronger before 1450. That makes a fine collection of national destinies and it would be fun to see them altogether in a single game, but unfortunately they all belong to separate realities which, like parallel lines, will never cross one another.
But I finally found a basic tag-swap kind of scenario that could bring some interesting stuff in the gameplay - and I invite everyone here who enjoyed this AAR (including the authAAR himself) to try it. I won't claim any royalties on the idea, I will simply play a game with it but I don't pretend to write an AAR or anything like that because I don't have time to do so. So whoever would find the idea interesting may feel free to appropriate it.
Let's call that the Adventures of Count of St. Germain, the wandering immortal.
If you have no idea about who he was or pretended to be, you'll find out some good information about him on Wikipedia for instance. I sum it up briefly : Count of St. Germain was an adventurer who appeared at the court of French King Louis XV around 1750. He was exceptionally brilliant, could talk many languages, and pretended having traveled all over the world and met many historical famous people, since he claimed to be immortal.
So let's take it for granted. It's 1399 (or 1444 if you play EU IV, that should work as well) and you're immortal. You are Count of St.Germain (or whichever name you like to be called at the moment) and you can start in any European country you like, since nobody knows exactly where you came from. You're just a smart young man with good skills as an adviser in service of the ruler of your country. You can work in a republic, but you have personal conviction and preference towards monarchy (it is said that Count of St. Germain predicted the French Revolution to young Queen Marie-Antoinette and wanted to prevent it at all costs).
Anyway, you will be the true ruler of the country, and make decisions only according to your own view, opinion and interest. You can make the country succeed or fail. Whatever happens, you know you will have to leave sooner or later ; either because the country is ruined by your fault and everyone there wants to kill you, or because on the contrary you succeeded to much and you're getting worried about the country becoming too strong and threatening its neighbors - while as a good diplomat, you know that the balance of powers should be preserved in the world and especially in Europe. You might also leave after a few years because there is simply nothing interesting to do in the country and you're getting bored ; but even if you feel very comfortable in the country, you will leave anyway, because people must not get to know that you're immortal - so that to avoid suspicion, you shall fake your death, leave and restart in another place pretending you're St. Germain's son. So this will be the first rule, the time one : you have to spend between 3 and 30 years in each country, no more, no less. Inside those limits you can feel free to leave whenever you think it advisable. Then save the game and reload it swapping to the next country you're going to play.
The second rule (and don't be afraid, there won't be much more rules than that) is the space one : you have the power of immortality, not teleportation. This is the Middle Age and there are no planes either. That means when you swap, you can only go from a country to a neighboring one... where you will necessarily stay for a while, because in this time it took so long to go from one place to another that is was really quite usual to spend several years wherever you happened to stop. That point is important : since you cannot flee too far away, it means you should wisely plan the wars you get the country you live involved in ; if things turn wrong, you might be able to change for the winning side, or to a neutral place. That's why if I start in France for instance, getting stupid King Charles VI to crush his dangerous rivals Castile and England, I plan to go to Switzerland for a few years once it is done, while Burgundy should no be a quiet place to go, for being obliged to struggle to survive a French neighbor gone too powerful.
So you have to spend at least 3 years ruling that next country, maybe trying to get it out of the chaos you will have created. Remember that when you're done, you cannot go backwards (all the people there think or want you dead) and have to keep driving straight ahead. Thus you'll travel slowly but surely, swapping from one country to another across the years. Once you reach deserts or oceans, you might be able to cross them though, assuming you're a tough traveler and you cannot die anyway. So the possibilities are quite infinite, depending on what you find and want to do on your way. A close look to the map and diplomatic situation of the neighborhood should be useful before leaving, like Michaelangelo did each time - and a global overview every 50 years would be welcome too. The next step should be opened to voting if someone decides to play and share it as an AAR.
The third rule (but I make it optional) would be to make St. Germain's route in your game match what he actually pretended to have done in our timeline. That means around 1750 Count of St. Germain should be back to France, or to whatever country holds Paris at this point. But before that he should have rambled all over the world, following Marco Polo's path in Asia, discovering Cape of Good Hope and the Americas... that's why he speaks so many languages and knows so many things. Whether he chooses to stay in Paris from this point and prevent any revolution to occur, or go to another country to spend the last years of the game, shall be at the discretion of the player.
Well, maybe someone else has already tried this sort of scenario, and it should be found somewhere deep in the forum's archive. Or maybe I'm the only one who gets amused by the idea and feels like actually trying a game like this. Maybe I've broken a forum rule writing this here - in this case that was not intentional and I apologize to Michaelangelo for taking so much place in his AAR. Anyway everyone, just let me know what you think about it.
Holy cow, you've written a damn novel.
I have no problems with you posting these ideas here. If my AAR inspires people to try tag swap games, then I'm all for it. Your idea seems like an interesting one. The tricky part of a tag swap game is figuring out when to change nations and how. This idea goes a long way to solving those issues. You'd need to come up with a way to account for travel over water, since otherwise you couldn't reach island nations or you'd get stuck in an isolated location where you might only have one neighbour. I certainly wouldn't mind reading an AAR based around this, even though I don't really know anything about St. Germain. I doubt I'll attempt it myself, since one tag swap AAR in EUIV is enough for now.
Clash of the Titans
I’m hoping everyone remembers what happened last time. To recap, I’ve declared war on Russia and all my new allies are too cowardly to join in. The first thing I do after the war declaration is hire a new general. He’s okay, but nothing special. I also set my navy to patrol my coastline. My navy is bigger than my enemies’, so I should be able to prevent any surprise naval invasions. Fortunately for us, Persia has also just gotten involved in a war with the Timurids, Perm, and Kathiawar. That should keep them preoccupied for a while.
Inca, in a war with England, takes a province from them and then generously gives another to their ally Colombia. That’s what I like to see.
I soon have my siege armies in place. I want to take as many Russian provinces as possible before the Russian army shows up from the west. The wargoal is fortunately in an easy-to-reach location that I can easily take with minimal interference. In a nice turn of events, Portugal is freed from whatever conflict it was involved in and is now willing to aid me. Sometimes old allies are the best allies.
I run into a small Russian fleet and smack it around, capturing two galleys for myself. Then the first Russian army makes its appearance. The army is only five regiments, but that’s not what worries me. The 5/5/5/1 general is much more terrifying. Please let him die soon. I can’t compete with that.
I repay my last loan and raise war taxes, which boosts my income by more than 20 ducats. Barguzin is the first province to fall, followed by Nukhtui. Another Russian army appears, this time with 19 regiments. The earlier one has moved into my territory and I’m sending my spare army to intercept. Then Kirenga falls, giving me my third Russian province. The new Russian army draws towards my siege army, but a quick reinforcement makes them back off towards their other army. An election then occurs, where I pick a new military candidate. Over in Europe, Tirol takes a chunk of Switzerland and their treasury.
The two Russian armies combine forces and march north. They skirt around my 28 regiment army in Irkutsk and keep heading north. Then a death stack appears on the horizon with yet another stellar three-star general. Seriously, a 5/4/5/3 general? Where is Russia finding these guys? This is just not fair.
Irkutsk falls as Ethiopia peaces out with Egypt for almost nothing. Then Jugjur goes. My admin advisor dies, so I replace him with a +2 one that boosts prestige by +1. Ming’s prestige is still pretty low, so this will be a huge help.
I combine three of my armies into a 42 regiment army as the larger army meets up with the one half its size and forms a death stack. Fortunately the death stack marches north around me. It’s clearly aiming for my sieges in the east. That’s fine by me. This gives me time to take the wargoal, Qaraqorum, as well as Tsetserleg.
With the death stack heading east, I move my freed up siege armies in the west to take out some tiny regiments. I also start consolidating the eastern siege armies and moving them south. The siege of Yakut is abandoned and that army sent to Maya. I also have another army in Stanovoy, so I have three 14-regiment armies in the east in total.
Saxony secures the imperial crown again as I wipe out a straggler army. I also take the chance to build earth ramparts in two provinces on the Russian border for good measure. Ngchow converts, so I move on to Jianchang for 16 months.
Just as the death stack reaches Yakuz, it promptly turns around and starts heading back west, which allows me to capture both Stanovoy and Maya. The war has taken its toll as less focus is placed on education. The stability hit is certainly not welcome.
I pay less attention than I should have as the death stack catches my army in Ust-Kurt before I can retreat from the province. I attempt to send reinforcements, but immediately send them back as the entire army is stackwiped. Holy sweet mother of Jesus! I just lost three entire armies there!
Recruitment is immediately started on some new units. That loss has also taught me a valuable lesson. Without the numbers or terrain on my side, I will surely lose any battle. I have to avoid that death stack at all costs. Fortunately for me, the death stack is ignoring my nearby armies and has decided to head east again. Then it changes its mind one province over and starts heading back. Be as indecisive as you want, just as long as you stay away from me.
I am able to catch two straggler armies while the death stack is distracted, but I quickly condense my armies as it returns. I try to maintain sieges in Altai and Tannu Tuva, but the army keeps coming and I certainly don’t want to fight them on their turf. I opt to retreat my western armies to Govi Altay, which is an excellent spot to go on the defense. It’s a one-province chokepoint with mountain terrain. I also have completed defensive ideas, so Russia would get +1 to attrition in my land too. Unfortunately, my army in Tannu Tuva isn’t fast enough and is attacked. I order a retreat when I’m able, since I know that with the numbers and that general, I’m destined to lose all my troops if I don’t.
My defeated army is fleeing all the way to the Chinese coastline, while the death stack decides to head back east again. Najd returns from the dead, but in the dying Aq Qoyunlu. As the death stack starts approaching my eastern siege armies, I make them force march south. Only two of them make it, while I’m forced to send the third north to circle around the death stack into Yakut. While the armies are on the move, I get curious as to what Portugal is doing. Turns out they’re also at war with France. Guess that means they won’t be helping me now. I make the decision to send my navy over to blockade Persia temporarily to build up warscore against them.
Russia signs an alliance with the Teutonic Order, much to my annoyance, just as I remember my earlier mission to insult France. I always forget about those missions. I complete that mission and make my new one to reclaim Yehe from Manchu. They have several Ming cores and no allies, an optimum target for Ming after Russia is dealt with.
The siege army that snuck north is sent around to the west to help take out stragglers along with some new recruits. The main enemy army is following my other two eastern siege armies down south, first through Urkan and then into Nercha. Before I leave Nercha, I remember that I can scorch the earth to really make the enemy suffer. With such a large army marching through my land over such a long distance, this will surely hurt them with every move. Thus Nercha is scorched. I do regret that I didn’t think of this while in Urkan first.
The Teutonic Order makes good on their alliance and joins in the war. I don’t see them providing much direct force against either me or Portugal, so I’m not too worried. As for the death stack, it continues to follow my army. I scorch Ude next, which is next on the path. Now that I’m certain that the enemy army is following me, I set the eastern siege army that escaped to siege Aldan.
After an intolerably long time, the coalition war between Sweden and Magdeburg comes to an end. The peace is not pretty. While Magdeburg does gain a new province, the chance of uniting Scandinavia is all but dashed for Sweden. Norway and Denmark have regained almost all their old territory. At least the borders look nice.
I catch the straggler army in Irkutsk with my main one as it passes through. Admin tech 24 is then unlocked as more units are recruited. Sweden then takes a chance to break their alliance with me. I’m not upset about it. They probably have more local concerns to focus on. At least this puts me back in my relations limit. The enemy death stack continues to follow me west as I succeed in taking Tannu Tuva. This frees up my siege army to join my retreating one in a march south into my territory. Once I arrive in my mountain chokepoint, I scorch the earth and keep moving. The province next door, Zasagt, is also a mountain province, so I will make my stand there. I’m sure marching through that one scorched province should deal them some serious attrition.
All my armies make it to Zasagt unopposed and the death stack follows. Russia even takes the time to retake Tannu Tuva in a two-day assault. After renewing war taxes and Finland signing an alliance with Russia, the ultimate battle begins. We’re matched numbers-wise, although I have the terrain bonus and Russia does have a much better general. The battle does tie up the enemy to allow me to take Aldan in the east and move onto Yakut. A trial occurs during all of this and I withdraw from public life, just as Finland decides to jump on me too. This is another blow dealt as I lose the Battle of Zasagt. At least this time the Russians had as many casualties as I did. If I can lure them into another trap like that with greater numbers, I might be able to win next time.
Mewar takes a huge bite out of Kathiawar, reuniting some of their coastal provinces. This is followed by them beating up the Timurids. This could be bad for me because this may have been the war Persia was distracted by. I manage to convert Jianchang and move onto Hkamti Long for 18 months. War exhaustion is also lowered. Mongol Nationalists take this opportunity to rebel, but fortunately I already have a fresh army nearby that handles both armies. As for the enemy death stack, they’ve decided to travel back up north. I suspect they intend to attack my eastern siege army, but that will take time to reach.
I start recruiting more units to fill up my force limit and give me a numerical advantage against Russia. The eastern siege army is ordered to abandon its current siege and retreat back into Ming territory as the death stack draws near. I also take the opportunity to construct three more earth ramparts in provinces up north. Most likely these would be the ones targeted by Russia and ones I can’t defend easily.
Shan patriots have the audacity to rebel next. Of course this means rebels way down south to deal with. At least most of my retreated armies have recovered and are already half way down there. I can spare one to deal with the rebels for now. My diplo advisor then dies and is replaced with a +2 one boosting diplomatic reputation. I was hoping this would woo some allies into my war, but no such luck.
My eastern siege army scorches Urkan as it passes through, since I missed the provinces last time. Unfortunately they don’t escape the wrath of the death stack and are wiped out. That’s too bad. Wang Zhenyi, an academic genius, is honoured by the state, improving our tech research. Bless her for that lovely boost.
I must have been correct about Persia having been distracted by Mewar’s war because their armies suddenly appear on my borders. They’re as helpful as the natives in one of Ming’s rare colonies. Persia’s southern army seems to be circling down south, as though it knows I have one army dealing with rebels there. The rebels are dealt with and I catch the Persian army with my replenished armies that had faced the Russians. Unlike the battle with Russia, Persia gets wrecked. About time. Also I forgot to mention that I was forced to send my navy back home due to attrition. I’m not immune to naval attrition like the cheating AI.
Persia makes the mistake of also sending their larger army deep into my territory, right at my stack of armies. Not as impressive a victory, but Persia is shown the way out. They’re certainly no Russia.
Spain attempts to reclaim its former glory by regaining lost territory. Catalunya is first on the list and their short existence comes to an end. Then they declare me a rival. Bring it, Spain. I ain’t no pansy. You may also notice that Portugal is starting to get occupied by France. I guess they definitely won’t be helping me now. At least my army is going strong, having learned how to reduce attrition for a time.
The death stack has apparently been preoccupied lifting sieges as Kirenga is returned to Russian control, followed by Nukhtui. I start recruiting even more forces as I march up towards the northwest. The Russian army is still focused on the east, so maybe I can take a few more provinces before the death stack returns and I can lure it into the same trap.
Diplo tech 26 is unlocked as Hkamti Long converts. Sibsongbanna (say that ten times fast) is the next conversion target for 19 months. One of the Persian armies teams up with a small Russian force and starts heading west towards me. The death stack also appears to be circling back around the north.
I catch a small Russian army in Kuznetsk and wipe it out before the enemy can send reinforcements. I also catch the second Persian army in Himalayas and send it running. There’s a larger Persian army right on my border that I can’t touch yet. I consider waiting for it, but decide I’d rather have my army there helping against the Russians instead. I thus opt to scorch Qarqan, since Persia has to cross the province anyway, and sent the army north.
France must be quite busy as they beat both Utrecht and Inca. They’re taking on both Portugal and Spain at the moment. It would seem that the Spanish war is actually an independence war for Nova Hispania and Castilian Canada. Good luck to them.
The death stack appears in Irkutsk and I immediately send my armies running south back through the mountain chokepoint. My entire army is gathered in Zasagt, while Russia decides to stop in Govi Altay and not take the bait. I must be too intimidating for them this time. Too bad. Hopefully the AI can take advantage of this situation. I am still technically winning and do have numbers on my side. Plus most of Russia’s allies besides Persia are unlikely to help directly, but the same could be said for Portugal.
Looking at how Ming is faring at the moment, I did make some improvements. My diplomatic relations are completely different and changed multiple times over the decade. Out of all my allies, only Portugal has been there since the beginning. The new additions are Lithuania, Italy, and Georgia. The economy is strong with all loans paid off, even with a full set of advisors. Rebels could still pose a problem with over +3 revolt risk. Too bad raising stability is so expensive. I’m sure the 87% religious unity doesn’t help either. As for the army, it has almost recovered most of its losses. The navy has been mostly unchanged and has been ignored for the most part.
It’s too bad I didn’t have time to finish the war with Russia, but it will most likely drag on for a long time. I’m a bit worried that the AI cannot pull it off. One wrong move and the entire Ming army could be wiped out by that death stack and godlike general. I wish them all the best luck pulling it off. At least I did polish off Zhou for them. I don’t know why they let Zhou survive for so long when it held all their cores and had no allies. Silly AI. Now if only they would take care of Manchu. Do your job better, AI!
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Well it's Wednesday, so time to tally up those votes. Here are the results:
Revolutionary: 7
Insane: 2
Looks like Revolutionary France won by a long shot. Since it won by so much, I don't think I need to bother to have another vote on the two versions of Napoleonic France. No one seems to want me to use the console. Good thing I figured out how to trigger a revolution yesterday. I'll get started right away. I'm hoping to be done with France before the new patch and Common Sense releases. Don't need their release screwing up my save like Patch 1.8 did.
I’m hoping everyone remembers what happened last time. To recap, I’ve declared war on Russia and all my new allies are too cowardly to join in. The first thing I do after the war declaration is hire a new general. He’s okay, but nothing special. I also set my navy to patrol my coastline. My navy is bigger than my enemies’, so I should be able to prevent any surprise naval invasions. Fortunately for us, Persia has also just gotten involved in a war with the Timurids, Perm, and Kathiawar. That should keep them preoccupied for a while.
Inca, in a war with England, takes a province from them and then generously gives another to their ally Colombia. That’s what I like to see.
I soon have my siege armies in place. I want to take as many Russian provinces as possible before the Russian army shows up from the west. The wargoal is fortunately in an easy-to-reach location that I can easily take with minimal interference. In a nice turn of events, Portugal is freed from whatever conflict it was involved in and is now willing to aid me. Sometimes old allies are the best allies.
I run into a small Russian fleet and smack it around, capturing two galleys for myself. Then the first Russian army makes its appearance. The army is only five regiments, but that’s not what worries me. The 5/5/5/1 general is much more terrifying. Please let him die soon. I can’t compete with that.
I repay my last loan and raise war taxes, which boosts my income by more than 20 ducats. Barguzin is the first province to fall, followed by Nukhtui. Another Russian army appears, this time with 19 regiments. The earlier one has moved into my territory and I’m sending my spare army to intercept. Then Kirenga falls, giving me my third Russian province. The new Russian army draws towards my siege army, but a quick reinforcement makes them back off towards their other army. An election then occurs, where I pick a new military candidate. Over in Europe, Tirol takes a chunk of Switzerland and their treasury.
The two Russian armies combine forces and march north. They skirt around my 28 regiment army in Irkutsk and keep heading north. Then a death stack appears on the horizon with yet another stellar three-star general. Seriously, a 5/4/5/3 general? Where is Russia finding these guys? This is just not fair.
Irkutsk falls as Ethiopia peaces out with Egypt for almost nothing. Then Jugjur goes. My admin advisor dies, so I replace him with a +2 one that boosts prestige by +1. Ming’s prestige is still pretty low, so this will be a huge help.
I combine three of my armies into a 42 regiment army as the larger army meets up with the one half its size and forms a death stack. Fortunately the death stack marches north around me. It’s clearly aiming for my sieges in the east. That’s fine by me. This gives me time to take the wargoal, Qaraqorum, as well as Tsetserleg.
With the death stack heading east, I move my freed up siege armies in the west to take out some tiny regiments. I also start consolidating the eastern siege armies and moving them south. The siege of Yakut is abandoned and that army sent to Maya. I also have another army in Stanovoy, so I have three 14-regiment armies in the east in total.
Saxony secures the imperial crown again as I wipe out a straggler army. I also take the chance to build earth ramparts in two provinces on the Russian border for good measure. Ngchow converts, so I move on to Jianchang for 16 months.
Just as the death stack reaches Yakuz, it promptly turns around and starts heading back west, which allows me to capture both Stanovoy and Maya. The war has taken its toll as less focus is placed on education. The stability hit is certainly not welcome.
I pay less attention than I should have as the death stack catches my army in Ust-Kurt before I can retreat from the province. I attempt to send reinforcements, but immediately send them back as the entire army is stackwiped. Holy sweet mother of Jesus! I just lost three entire armies there!
Recruitment is immediately started on some new units. That loss has also taught me a valuable lesson. Without the numbers or terrain on my side, I will surely lose any battle. I have to avoid that death stack at all costs. Fortunately for me, the death stack is ignoring my nearby armies and has decided to head east again. Then it changes its mind one province over and starts heading back. Be as indecisive as you want, just as long as you stay away from me.
I am able to catch two straggler armies while the death stack is distracted, but I quickly condense my armies as it returns. I try to maintain sieges in Altai and Tannu Tuva, but the army keeps coming and I certainly don’t want to fight them on their turf. I opt to retreat my western armies to Govi Altay, which is an excellent spot to go on the defense. It’s a one-province chokepoint with mountain terrain. I also have completed defensive ideas, so Russia would get +1 to attrition in my land too. Unfortunately, my army in Tannu Tuva isn’t fast enough and is attacked. I order a retreat when I’m able, since I know that with the numbers and that general, I’m destined to lose all my troops if I don’t.
My defeated army is fleeing all the way to the Chinese coastline, while the death stack decides to head back east again. Najd returns from the dead, but in the dying Aq Qoyunlu. As the death stack starts approaching my eastern siege armies, I make them force march south. Only two of them make it, while I’m forced to send the third north to circle around the death stack into Yakut. While the armies are on the move, I get curious as to what Portugal is doing. Turns out they’re also at war with France. Guess that means they won’t be helping me now. I make the decision to send my navy over to blockade Persia temporarily to build up warscore against them.
Russia signs an alliance with the Teutonic Order, much to my annoyance, just as I remember my earlier mission to insult France. I always forget about those missions. I complete that mission and make my new one to reclaim Yehe from Manchu. They have several Ming cores and no allies, an optimum target for Ming after Russia is dealt with.
The siege army that snuck north is sent around to the west to help take out stragglers along with some new recruits. The main enemy army is following my other two eastern siege armies down south, first through Urkan and then into Nercha. Before I leave Nercha, I remember that I can scorch the earth to really make the enemy suffer. With such a large army marching through my land over such a long distance, this will surely hurt them with every move. Thus Nercha is scorched. I do regret that I didn’t think of this while in Urkan first.
The Teutonic Order makes good on their alliance and joins in the war. I don’t see them providing much direct force against either me or Portugal, so I’m not too worried. As for the death stack, it continues to follow my army. I scorch Ude next, which is next on the path. Now that I’m certain that the enemy army is following me, I set the eastern siege army that escaped to siege Aldan.
After an intolerably long time, the coalition war between Sweden and Magdeburg comes to an end. The peace is not pretty. While Magdeburg does gain a new province, the chance of uniting Scandinavia is all but dashed for Sweden. Norway and Denmark have regained almost all their old territory. At least the borders look nice.
I catch the straggler army in Irkutsk with my main one as it passes through. Admin tech 24 is then unlocked as more units are recruited. Sweden then takes a chance to break their alliance with me. I’m not upset about it. They probably have more local concerns to focus on. At least this puts me back in my relations limit. The enemy death stack continues to follow me west as I succeed in taking Tannu Tuva. This frees up my siege army to join my retreating one in a march south into my territory. Once I arrive in my mountain chokepoint, I scorch the earth and keep moving. The province next door, Zasagt, is also a mountain province, so I will make my stand there. I’m sure marching through that one scorched province should deal them some serious attrition.
All my armies make it to Zasagt unopposed and the death stack follows. Russia even takes the time to retake Tannu Tuva in a two-day assault. After renewing war taxes and Finland signing an alliance with Russia, the ultimate battle begins. We’re matched numbers-wise, although I have the terrain bonus and Russia does have a much better general. The battle does tie up the enemy to allow me to take Aldan in the east and move onto Yakut. A trial occurs during all of this and I withdraw from public life, just as Finland decides to jump on me too. This is another blow dealt as I lose the Battle of Zasagt. At least this time the Russians had as many casualties as I did. If I can lure them into another trap like that with greater numbers, I might be able to win next time.
Mewar takes a huge bite out of Kathiawar, reuniting some of their coastal provinces. This is followed by them beating up the Timurids. This could be bad for me because this may have been the war Persia was distracted by. I manage to convert Jianchang and move onto Hkamti Long for 18 months. War exhaustion is also lowered. Mongol Nationalists take this opportunity to rebel, but fortunately I already have a fresh army nearby that handles both armies. As for the enemy death stack, they’ve decided to travel back up north. I suspect they intend to attack my eastern siege army, but that will take time to reach.
I start recruiting more units to fill up my force limit and give me a numerical advantage against Russia. The eastern siege army is ordered to abandon its current siege and retreat back into Ming territory as the death stack draws near. I also take the opportunity to construct three more earth ramparts in provinces up north. Most likely these would be the ones targeted by Russia and ones I can’t defend easily.
Shan patriots have the audacity to rebel next. Of course this means rebels way down south to deal with. At least most of my retreated armies have recovered and are already half way down there. I can spare one to deal with the rebels for now. My diplo advisor then dies and is replaced with a +2 one boosting diplomatic reputation. I was hoping this would woo some allies into my war, but no such luck.
My eastern siege army scorches Urkan as it passes through, since I missed the provinces last time. Unfortunately they don’t escape the wrath of the death stack and are wiped out. That’s too bad. Wang Zhenyi, an academic genius, is honoured by the state, improving our tech research. Bless her for that lovely boost.
I must have been correct about Persia having been distracted by Mewar’s war because their armies suddenly appear on my borders. They’re as helpful as the natives in one of Ming’s rare colonies. Persia’s southern army seems to be circling down south, as though it knows I have one army dealing with rebels there. The rebels are dealt with and I catch the Persian army with my replenished armies that had faced the Russians. Unlike the battle with Russia, Persia gets wrecked. About time. Also I forgot to mention that I was forced to send my navy back home due to attrition. I’m not immune to naval attrition like the cheating AI.
Persia makes the mistake of also sending their larger army deep into my territory, right at my stack of armies. Not as impressive a victory, but Persia is shown the way out. They’re certainly no Russia.
Spain attempts to reclaim its former glory by regaining lost territory. Catalunya is first on the list and their short existence comes to an end. Then they declare me a rival. Bring it, Spain. I ain’t no pansy.
You may also notice that Portugal is starting to get occupied by France. I guess they definitely won’t be helping me now. At least my army is going strong, having learned how to reduce attrition for a time.The death stack has apparently been preoccupied lifting sieges as Kirenga is returned to Russian control, followed by Nukhtui. I start recruiting even more forces as I march up towards the northwest. The Russian army is still focused on the east, so maybe I can take a few more provinces before the death stack returns and I can lure it into the same trap.
Diplo tech 26 is unlocked as Hkamti Long converts. Sibsongbanna (say that ten times fast) is the next conversion target for 19 months. One of the Persian armies teams up with a small Russian force and starts heading west towards me. The death stack also appears to be circling back around the north.
I catch a small Russian army in Kuznetsk and wipe it out before the enemy can send reinforcements. I also catch the second Persian army in Himalayas and send it running. There’s a larger Persian army right on my border that I can’t touch yet. I consider waiting for it, but decide I’d rather have my army there helping against the Russians instead. I thus opt to scorch Qarqan, since Persia has to cross the province anyway, and sent the army north.
France must be quite busy as they beat both Utrecht and Inca. They’re taking on both Portugal and Spain at the moment. It would seem that the Spanish war is actually an independence war for Nova Hispania and Castilian Canada. Good luck to them.
The death stack appears in Irkutsk and I immediately send my armies running south back through the mountain chokepoint. My entire army is gathered in Zasagt, while Russia decides to stop in Govi Altay and not take the bait. I must be too intimidating for them this time. Too bad. Hopefully the AI can take advantage of this situation. I am still technically winning and do have numbers on my side. Plus most of Russia’s allies besides Persia are unlikely to help directly, but the same could be said for Portugal.
Looking at how Ming is faring at the moment, I did make some improvements. My diplomatic relations are completely different and changed multiple times over the decade. Out of all my allies, only Portugal has been there since the beginning. The new additions are Lithuania, Italy, and Georgia. The economy is strong with all loans paid off, even with a full set of advisors. Rebels could still pose a problem with over +3 revolt risk. Too bad raising stability is so expensive. I’m sure the 87% religious unity doesn’t help either. As for the army, it has almost recovered most of its losses. The navy has been mostly unchanged and has been ignored for the most part.
It’s too bad I didn’t have time to finish the war with Russia, but it will most likely drag on for a long time. I’m a bit worried that the AI cannot pull it off. One wrong move and the entire Ming army could be wiped out by that death stack and godlike general. I wish them all the best luck pulling it off. At least I did polish off Zhou for them. I don’t know why they let Zhou survive for so long when it held all their cores and had no allies. Silly AI. Now if only they would take care of Manchu. Do your job better, AI!
* * * * *
Well it's Wednesday, so time to tally up those votes. Here are the results:
Revolutionary: 7
Insane: 2
Looks like Revolutionary France won by a long shot. Since it won by so much, I don't think I need to bother to have another vote on the two versions of Napoleonic France. No one seems to want me to use the console. Good thing I figured out how to trigger a revolution yesterday. I'll get started right away. I'm hoping to be done with France before the new patch and Common Sense releases. Don't need their release screwing up my save like Patch 1.8 did.
Ah, that update was basically a guide on how to deal with a death stack army. If I get EU IV, I would certainly use it against a more powerful enemy. You must admit it's quite funny with so little accomplished. Knowing the Ming AI, it will charge the Russian death stack head on and lose everything.
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I think I handled those battles fairly well. I wouldn't be surprised if Ming screws themselves over too. If only the Russians had taken that final bait.
I think those battles were handled quite well too, especially using the burnt land to bleed the Russian manpower pool dry. Looks like it's working too - by the end of the war Russia was down on troops and not at even numbers, so good chance their manpower was low!
I think those battles were handled quite well too, especially using the burnt land to bleed the Russian manpower pool dry. Looks like it's working too - by the end of the war Russia was down on troops and not at even numbers, so good chance their manpower was low!
The problem is I'd need to bleed them a lot more to really hurt Russia. It doesn't help that they have such godly generals and a tech advantage. If only the AI had my expertise.
If you want to see bleeding manpower, just wait until the France update. I just played the first decade and there's nothing that makes rampaging across Europe more difficult than starting with no manpower. Thank god for the revolutionary government and mercenaries.
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I guess it's that war with Portugal? They've had trouble in the past with Portugal, so I guess to take over the Portugese land it must have been quite intense.
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Keep in mind that I'm playing a bit ahead, so the war between France and Portugal occurred in the 1780s, while I'm playing France at 1800. It's more that my manpower gets drained from being in constant war. I said I wouldn't disappoint for France and I meant it. I just finished playing it and I have over 1000 screenshots to go through. With that many, I wouldn't be surprised if my two decades with France takes half a dozen updates.
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I expect lots of client states through all of Europe !
Confederation of the Rhine, Batavian Republic (Kingdom of Holland if you go ala Napoleon), Transalpine Republic (well French decided to balkanize at first so you have historical client states for each region of Italy ), Grand-Duchy of Warsaw ...
All in the name of the Revolution !
Confederation of the Rhine, Batavian Republic (Kingdom of Holland if you go ala Napoleon), Transalpine Republic (well French decided to balkanize at first so you have historical client states for each region of Italy
), Grand-Duchy of Warsaw ... All in the name of the Revolution !
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Good job handling those death stacks. Although I would do it in a diffrent way. I also hope for a lot of client states. I now cant't wait for the big ending.
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I expect lots of client states through all of Europe !
Confederation of the Rhine, Batavian Republic (Kingdom of Holland if you go ala Napoleon), Transalpine Republic (well French decided to balkanize at first so you have historical client states for each region of Italy
All in the name of the Revolution !
Admittedly I focused more on helping existing nations blob than creating new ones. It's much easier to just hand them the provinces directly than take them and release my own nations. I did create at least one of those nations somewhat, although the name is a bit more modern.
I wish I'd known that people wanted a bunch of client states since I would have played a bit differently. I can always just create them from the loading screen over top of other nations if I had too. A few nations are France's puppets in all but name.
Just a random update and a request for a little assistance. Nothing big mind you, but I'd appreciate the help nonetheless. I've started on the France update and I've made it slightly more narrative than usual, like I did with some of my insane updates. I'm crafting a story geared around the revolutionary government now in charge. The problem is I'm having trouble coming up with party names at the moment. So far I have two: the Loyalists and the Revolutionaries. The Loyalists believe in cooperating with France's old allies to consolidate the smaller countries into larger nations to make a more homogeneous Europe. The Revolutionaries believe that France can reshape Europe on its own and alliances will merely get in the way. I'm somewhat content with Loyalists, although it makes me think of those who may be loyal to the old monarchy, but Revolutionaries is a stupid name. I will gladly take any suggestions at the moment. If you can think of any other names for the parties, feel free to suggest them. You can even suggest other parties that don't fit either group. Hell, you can even go so far as to suggest notable figures who can serve as party leaders or prominent politicians, historical or otherwise. I just want to make the France update more engaging by crafting a story.
Not sure if it's a great idea, but I feel like the current Revolutionaries would be the type of party that would be fiercly proud of their country and put down others, so Nationalists? This era was the start of true nationalism, and I can see them naming themselves that, not sure if you like it though
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Not sure if it's a great idea, but I feel like the current Revolutionaries would be the type of party that would be fiercly proud of their country and put down others, so Nationalists? This era was the start of true nationalism, and I can see them naming themselves that, not sure if you like it though
That certainly sounds better than Revolutionaries. They do view the French people as better and of course desire to redraw Europe along ethnic lines, so Nationalists works fine. I'll start using that unless someone has an even better name. God, I'm still astounded I tried to use Revolutionaries. Maybe I'll make the Revolutionaries a crazy fringe party who want to topple all monarchies and install a reign of terror.
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