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Ah, the fight for the Mediterranean is on. Expansion in Italy is slow with all those limitations placed on you. Luckily, the Ottomans will likely be a nice buffer against the Omega.
Well Egypt is now under Omega control 
It will be interesting to see the fighting between the Omega and the Ottomans in Syria. (don't they have lucky status ?)
It will be interesting to see the fighting between the Omega and the Ottomans in Syria. (don't they have lucky status ?)
Better to wrestle with the Bear than the Omega, I suppose. Muscovy is doing fairly well this game; that doesn't always happen.
I was hoping for that, you know? Unfortunately they had to bite off more than they could chew and they drew the wrath of Austria. More on that in the episode.
Well Egypt is now under Omega control
It will be interesting to see the fighting between the Omega and the Ottomans in Syria. (don't they have lucky status ?)
I believe the Ottomans have lucky status. I try to keep that option on "random", but it doesn't always happen.
As the author of the mod, I recommend it! It's not being developed as actively as it used to be, but if there's enough interest I might be able to push out some good revisions even before 1.12 rolls around and changes everything.
Episode 5: Milan Probably Submits
So the audacity of the Omega has recently been impressed on us (although, like me, I think they prefer REAPER). Savoyard expansion, in comparison, has been far more limited in geographical area... and wealth, as well. I'm sure we'll come up with something, though, but another Omegan drone rebellion could render merely surviving nigh on impossible.
Last time, we were building artillery in order to have artillery in our army and waiting for the margrave of Mantua to core. While we wait for that, our heir (whom I've forgotten the name of) is replaced with someone decently competent.
Only he mourns for his lost brother.
Milan is on their way to being devoured, but only once I've gotten my finances in order. To that end, I accept 'participation' in a random Brandenburgian war (The reconquest of Neumark, which in the hands of a player, is usually a year 1 war) so that I can raise war taxes, burning some excess military power, and inflating my reserves while I refabricate claims on Milan.
Brunswick was probably the war's MVP.
Amadeo forces this course of action by dying.
Even his regency is better than him.
So more waiting! I decide to forcibly reduce the autonomy in Provence, with the understanding that I risk it becoming a hotbed of rebellion in the process, but the extra ducats can certainly be handy.
Did I say ducats? At best this gets me about 2-3 ducats more a year.
Giovanni comes of age in 1496 and immediately goes after Milan at the last request of his regents. Ferrara tries to help them, but it clearly isn't doing anything for them. Since France helps us, this is another one of those trivial wars.
No Ferraris for Ferrara.
Aren't you just AMAZED by how original my peace treaties are? The bit where Ferrara has an unusually large amount of ducats in their treasury is pretty cool, though. Milan gets the hammer, although I sense this will probably lead to the return of the coalition.
A crucial milestone.
I enter a third war because the AI has, for some reason, accumulated enough aggressive expansion to form a coalition. I hope Austria likes me more for this, but trying to take on the Ottomans during their early military supremacy period is probably going to bleed off their military might quite badly.
As hinted in my responses, this would have serious consequences later on.
Sure enough, a few scattered nations try to ruin it for me, but my net of alliances is pretty handy. So is the concept of a 'marcher lord', which allows me to abuse the vassals' forcelimits for my own. With all the money in my treasury, I can actually build up to my forcelimit, you know?
I could always build up to my forcelimit, but now I'm also building my forcelimit up, if you know what I mean.
While I'm certainly not helping the Austrians, they seem to be handling the Ottomans and their Maghreb allies pretty well, and then I notice that the Omega is participating in the punitive war.
It isn't as bad as it seems; in fact, it's worse. One small note of consolation is that the Turks are actually doing fairly well in their battles with the Omega.
Anyone get the feeling the Omega should keep the unit group it starts with?
Most likely, this is because when the Omega forms, they get western tech units, which actually aren't too great until later in the game. Still, if the Omega appears anywhere particularly far outside the Western tech group, they're going to rapidly outtech and outnumber their neighbors, so it arguably balances out.
Osman can also rely on Serbs, Romanians, and the occasional tunafish to defend his enlightened realm.
Brandenburg makes another landgrab, this time aiming for the Pomeranian coast, and that means we've been at war for over 7 years. Technically. I continue to be a helpful ally, and this eventually means bad things happen to Brandenburg. I feel like I can't do much in general because Austria is too busy punishing the Ottomans, so in 1501, Giovanni dies of boredom. His successor, though, is nearly on the way and actually pretty great in his own right.
The privy council's more stable. This is really important.
A sickening feeling as the inevitable Omegan drone cluster rises in Ottomania.
Okay, so maybe the local Syrian population might have some reservations about being called Ottomans, but is jamming Omegan hardware into your head really going to solve anything?
When I said this was going to end badly, I meant it, but at least they're on the Asian side of the empire... do the Ottomans have the sense to keep the Bosphorous blockaded? It's pretty much their only hope.
In 1504, I tire of acknowledging the Ottoman disaster and peace out with them. I have better fish to fry, and a willing slave in the French!
Until the Habsburgs find their way to Spain, Venice will not enjoy the protection of an emperor.
Venice gets to collapse... but France decides to let Castille smoosh their backside, and then decides to beat up on Burgundy, who also has managed to get a terrible coalition against them. Defending southern France is a decent way to pass the time.
In 1505, the Protestant Reformation begins. I'm going to have to keep an eye on that; for now I'm staying Catholic for the diplomatic fiat and in the hopes of becoming Emperor.
Random Ottoman provinces begin defecting to the Golden Horde, which makes a hell of a lot of sense and actually means I'll need to modify the Omegan drone habits. Better them than the Omega, at the least.
Defections can get weird in the Clausewitz engine games.
Eventually, the Austrian punitive war winds down, and the Ottoman state no longer makes any sense at all.
Spain decides to chase me down once, and I hide in the mountains of Switzerland, but generally they focus on fighting the French, and losing.
Hey, I have to help my friends sometimes, otherwise they'll get suspicious!
Finally, in 1507, I end the war with Venice by feeding half their terrafirma to Milan. Modena is getting diploannexed, the Ottomans are probably never going to recover from this madness, and for all my ups and downs I'm at least expanding, albeit probably not in the most optimal of fashions.
The 4th track off Magma's 2012 album Félicité Thösz is entitled "Nums". An accurate sentiment? That album's tracks all fade into each other anyways, so I'm not sure why the band broke them up.
Are we going to see Omegan colonies in the Americas? ...probably.
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Interesting, I guess EU3 isn't the only one to have weird defections. The collapse of the Ottomans happened rather early. The Omegas don't play around when they declared war. Maybe the Omega hope to expand through North Africa so they could swing up north through Iberia. That might not be what you need right now.
Is the omega AI actually competent at expanding over coastline?
Iberia bros seem to have no problem trashing North Africa in most ironmans, but that requires heavy scripting via missions IIRC.
Iberia bros seem to have no problem trashing North Africa in most ironmans, but that requires heavy scripting via missions IIRC.
EU4 generally has better defection logic than EU3, but unmodded it doesn't have to deal with the crazy Omegan expansion waves. I don't know how the Omega is planning to focus, but for reasons you'll see in today's update, they have enemies/opportunities in all directions, and a ton of cores from rebels.
In my experience, once an AI gets a land foothold somewhere in the world, it has a lot less trouble making further gains. I don't know if the minor AI changes I've made will help that, but if the Omega gets a border with the Iberians, they might eventually come to blows. As it is, the Omega is already a major power with its extensive land and ridiculous ideas...
Episode 6: Savoyards Seize The Good Parts Of Italy
So I guess the Omega's going to have a massive presence in Africa and Asia Minor no matter what. It's likely they'll expand into Europe at some point, and that point might be VERY soon, due to what's happening to the Ottomans.
By the way, the Omega is allied with Austria. You know about the Holy Alliance? Well, this is the Unholy Alliance.
The demoniacs masquerading as the empire of Prester John, and the inbreds masquerading as the house of Habsburg. A match made in hell! They both seem to like turkey carving.
But as long as we're allied with Austria, nothing bad can happen to Savoy, right? I receive a mission that reminds me of my crucial need to fortify the French border, and I go way overboard on that because Savoy is kind of rich (if only from plunder).
Combine that with both Savoy and Italy's 20% fort defense boosts, and the boosts from defensive ideas, and... well, France gets a 30% fort defense boost, so now I just feel silly.
Because of Savoy's overwhelming (if not Omegan) diplomatic reputation, Modena is rapidly integrated into the realm, chewing up 7 diplomatic points a month.
But not for long, since I got to their little state before they went all "Italian Aristocracy" on me.
While I wait, I take a look at the map - The Ottomans and Tunisia continue to collapse, but are not immediately and completely incorporated into the Omega yet. Looking at the Ottomans, I'm beginning to think I like this glitchy defection behavior better than the intended full integrations, even though it's totally nonsensical. After all, the way the hives seem to work doesn't give a damn about culture or religion or anything, so when they let go of a population it might end up very far from home.
Aragon and Burgundy are probably on the decline, and Genoa is having some... internal issues.
AI can't even Genorussia. What a bunch of nurblets.
Anyways, it's time to really triumph! Tuscany's days as an independent country are numbered.
There is nothing innately funny about subjugating Tuscans. It's all about context!
Because I'm feeling so creative, I pick up Diplomatic tech 9 while I fabricate a claim on Pisa, and therefore wait another eight months. I feel like I've spent more time simply waiting than is strictly necessary, but as a former minor-to-medium power in the HRE who's accumulated immense amounts of ill will from aggressive expansion, waiting for people to forget the terrifying things I've done is just the strategy I need!
This is gonna be a good war.
At some point, the Omega's attitude adjustment kicked in (i.e their income rose over 75 ducats a month). When the Omega becomes "Overwhelming", they throw all diplomacy to the wind and simply seek to destroy all other nations.
If I were more of an artist, the 'domineering' fist would raise its middle finger.
Bad if for some reason you were trying to use the Omega as your personal bodyguard... and to be honest, it's just terrible.
Speaking of personal bodyguards... it's already time to use the power of France to devour the Tuscan state and enforce their fealty. I've got enough manpower that I feel like occasionally taking the initiative, which isn't good for Siena, to say the least.
No, my manpower levels are still not great, but you never know. Maybe the 0.2 prestige this battle gives me will help me burn off my aggressive expansion a little faster?
The AI promptly shows its dominance by merging into a huge stack for no good reason.
Is this Woodstock?
It hasn't escaped my notice that Tuscany is trying to expand into Naples... which is a pretty common move on their part, really. Normally, I might try to press those claims in a war, but given the Tuscans' ridiculous liberty desire (Well above 100% until a few years of improving relations went off), I don't see that happening just yet. Too many vassals can be a bad thing.
The ice cream men and their gelato brethren will bow to Italian unity someday.
Too much aggressive expansion from your vassals can be a bad thing as well, since it delays their annexation at your hands!
I've decided, based on everything that's happening, that I'm going to take Humanist ideas. I might've preferred religious ones at any given point, but the reduced revolt risk, better relations over time, and toleration of Protestants might be just what Savoy needed!
And then, in December 1511, the game crashes. This only loses me one year of gameplay, but it was shaping up to be a decent year of improving relations all around.
Once I make up the lost progress, I decide to "quickly" annex Milan. It isn't actually going to be that quick with my reputation penalty for annexing subjects, but I have enough from my sources to offset it, and it should help lower everyone's liberty desire. My forcelimit will suffer, but there's not a great deal I can do about that.
In these dark times, I'm glad to see Brandenburg retains some aggression, so I "help" them again, this time in their conquest of Altmark. They promptly get smashed by their local minors - Magdeburg and Thuringia. It's perhaps for the better that the AI in this game doesn't get the hint.
At least they weren't declaring war on nations markedly larger than us combined. That's happened to me before.
Humanism unlocks in 1515, Milan is annexed in 1516, and few mourn the growing irrelevance of the Occitain people. In the interests of advancing Savoyard power, I've decided to make a relatively gigantic and questionable investment in diplomacy and take out about a dozen loans for an embassy. The extra diplomat might save us from extinction, at least at the hands of our terrestrial neighbors.
The Genoese were not amused.
We've made some good progress and will probably not be dispatched in a single war. Our basetax (144) isn't far behind France (212) or Austria (179), although those countries began the game with much larger homelands to draw on and we're still working on getting our autonomy down.
Next time: More Italians get Tuscany'd.
A map of the world follows, since people seem to be into that sort of thing.
Note that the Maghreb and Near East are disaster areas. The Omega, on the other hand, is really stable, and I expect them to consolidate over time. Other interesting things are the existence of Poland-Hungary, the death throes of the Timurids, and the rise of Serbia.
It's occurred to me that with the upcoming release of Common Sense and how the Omega is spiraling out of control, I need to consider how to end this AAR a lot earlier than I usually do. I am considering, in the last 2-3 weeks or so before that DLC's release, doing a rapid (perhaps even daily) update blitz that will take me to 1820, but that will be a great deal of work and therefore I can't confirm I will.
I also need to decide on a reasonable 'victory' condition, since I highly doubt completely occupying the Omega, much less conquering it is going to be possible, especially once their colonial efforts spread around. My current idea is to, at some point, launch an expedition to raze the capital of the Omega (which is Gonder), since I feel that in itself will be fairly challenging. However, I don't have enough information to determine how strong the Omega will be in, let's say a century or so. I believe that when the time comes, I will get permission for a vote on the matter.
Until next time!
Fun stuff.
I would suggest victory is cutting off the Omega's connections to Asia, rendering their Asian holdings overseas and hurting them significantly (sort of, their tax bonuses will still make the provinces useful).
I would suggest victory is cutting off the Omega's connections to Asia, rendering their Asian holdings overseas and hurting them significantly (sort of, their tax bonuses will still make the provinces useful).
Let's just hope the Austrians don't get any ideas or this might be an even shorter AAR. Razing the Omega capital will be tough since I assume they have massive naval advantage with their buffs. I'd say you should just set a goal for the number of Omega soldiers you kill. Once you reach that number, you can consider yourself a powerful nation since winning just isn't possible against such a behemoth, especially late game.
Just fired up a Mantua game with strengthened Omega. Though Omega started as Kham and they seem to have a little bit of trouble getting going (they've annexed Sour Yogurt but they seem very reluctant to pull the trigger on Chagatai). It's just the first 20 years though.
Anything that might help diagnose the aggression problems? They don't seem to go domineering on anyone...
Anything that might help diagnose the aggression problems? They don't seem to go domineering on anyone...
They only get that attitude when they have an income of 50 ducats a month.
This will require a great deal of victorious combat and/or sieges (although in the end I only need to take the Suez provinces) and has been recorded for the inevitable time.
The Omegan flag is literally flipping you (the player) off; it's not just looks.
It'll have to be a large number. Even with their discipline and army tradition bonuses, the Omega won't be so far ahead of me that I can't even dent their armies. However, I'm not sure how to efficiently track casualties.
I should also mention that I feel like I'm now strong enough to take on Austria, at least with the help of France. It might be a bit harder without them.
Omegan aggression has consistently been a difficult thing to figure out. Keep in mind that if they end up at war with someone gigantic like Ming China, it might lead to massive drone rebellions (especially with the +5 unrest the Omega's enemies get during wartime), and you might regret it immensely if the Omega usurps Ming in one go.
It was actually boosted to 75 ducats a month a while back. I figure an Omega of that level of wealth will be able to field a respectable army and not have to rely on allies to defeat anyone; before then I'm okay with them scheming with whatever allies they can get.
They make the transition from doomed to annexed during today's episode.
Episode 7: The Embassy Pays For Itself
It looks like I won't be colonizing much this game.
Italy isn't particularly optimal for trade in the New World, since I'd have to either send a merchant to collect at an efficiency penalty in the Caribbean or the Gulf of Saint Lawrence (or such), or move my entire trade port there, thus losing out on a decent swathe of valuable Mediterranean trade. I would usually make a bid for the Indian Ocean and beyond, but the Omega is in a really prime position to snag all of it before Europeans even know there's spicy food in the Spice islands.
My best path to power is probably taking over the Holy Roman Empire and making good use of the implied vassal swarm. One reason I took Humanism is that I want to be on the winning side of the religious wars no matter which side is dominant, which might just mean an emergency conversion to Protestantism if the League is mind-blowingly strong and I am still Catholic by 1600 or so. On the other hand, I could just... win the war, but flat out lowered revolt risk in a religiously unstable part of the map against an enemy who can turn all potential revolts into game-ending ones is pretty good, too.
I am getting the idea that with sufficient juggling skill, I might be able to use a war against the Omega to flush out particularly unpleasant nationalist or religious rebels, but that's always a gamble, especially given the massive warmachine that I've scripted the Omega to be.
But enough thinking about the game! Savoyards do or do not, because pontification is for the pope. And people who build bridges.
Oh, by the way, Savoyard is a modern and centralized state not defined solely by its religious loyalties. We'll be fine.
When we left off last time, Ferrara didn't like me very much. They shall pay for this! Eventually. I don't know.
I feign ignorance knowing that I add captions once I start inserting images in expectation of publication, and by then I've long since finished a session's gameplay.
It's getting increasingly difficult to secure the loyalty of Austria, but our army is gradually reaching parity... albeit at significant expense to our treasury. Furthermore, we took out a bunch of loans at some point (remember how we built the embassy?) and we ought to be getting rid of them at some point.
Due to our chummy relations with France, England no longer likes us and decides to become our rival. France apparently thinks this is an insult, so again, it's time to give them a hand in their blobbing. I don't think France is going to have any trouble winning this war, but I'll have to keep an eye on it.
Haha! When we are done, it will be somewhat more difficult for you to project power in the Mediterranean!
The Papal State interferes in this war, and I learn an interesting lesson - disloyal vassals will attempt to defend their own territory, even if they don't help you in any other ways.
The Tuscans would not sacrifice their cities merely to show their hatred for Savoy.
Because the Pope hates me so much, all my papal influence (I have 7 cardinals!) is going to waste, but when we inevitably form Italy, this should stop being a problem.
In the south, the Omega is using its new cores to consolidate the random provinces it gained in Tunisia.
Africa rises, greater and more terrible than before.
Since I'm rather unwilling to do much in this war, I'm making a point of buttering up the electors again. My shiny new diplomatic relation slot from the embassy's completion goes to Oldenburg, who picked up an electoral title at some point.
I prefer the taste and texture of butter to that of margarine. If you want to cut your fat, you should use olive oil or something.
Meanwhile, I'm rekindling our love for Brandenburg for much the same reason.
Castile, for whatever reason, parks a bunch of troops in Chambery. This probably isn't going to do them much good due to the strength of our fortresses and the fact that if they're busy squat-sieging, they're losing crucial opportunities to survive the upcoming battles.
A city can reassemble its walls in one day flat so long as nobody's watching.
Another problem arises when the Calvinists make Florence their home base. I'm sure glad I took those humanist ideas! I might need them to stay Catholic.
The Reformed faith is not very compatible with a bid for the crown of the Holy Roman Emperor, but it's nice for other parts of Christendom.
I notice, then, that England has decided to attack me instead of France... guess it's time to test out these mountains, but England has a general who ages in reverse, so they'll have more troops at the beginning of the battle than when it's over, and... whatever. Just start the accursed thing!
Flawless logictory. Alternative caption - PORTUGAL: "I'm helping!"
... It goes poorly. Most of my army is forced to retreat to unreasonably flat Modena in order ensure that they become disorganized. The Iberians follow me and immediately stackwipe it, representing about 2/3rds of my forces.
What a bunch of meanies! Guess we needed more artillery or something.
The rest manages to escape to the Basque country where most of the actual fighting is taking place. While this is certainly a massive setback for my army strength, it does improve my finances markedly.
Also, the Omegan artisans are selling evil cloth now or something. And the Ottomans finally collapsed.
Oh, sure, it's made by the spawn of Satan themselves, and it's trying to strangle me as we speak, but it's got that nice 'Five Mountains' design on it.
The Omega promptly labels Austria its new rival. Someday, I hope to be strong enough to also be considered a worthy rival.
I don't have time to waste on this war. For the first time in the game, I have a real chance of getting the title of Holy Roman Emperor! Then I'll be able to do whatever the heck I want.
Prestige factors into the elections, but not all that much.
Now we just need the current emperor to die.
Remember that part where I said Savoy was modern and innovative?
"Sir, asking people nicely to not join the Tuscan church isn't working!" "Ain't give a damn."
Combine my 'declaration of indulgence' with ecumenical thought, and even the spread of the Reformation into Modena doesn't bother me.
In 1524, I am distracted from my need to rebuild my army and juggle the residual loans by the accession of Carlo I to the throne. He is so good that the Omega will probably declare war on me in order to have him killed.
And I just noticed two of my advisors are named 'Carlo' as well.
By 1525, I've repaid a few loans, but also have enough money and manpower to rebuild a good bit of my army, this time with extra artillery. It's becoming feasible to diplomatically vassalize Sardinia, and I thusly begin a diplomatic blitz that has them under my control by the end of the year. While merely vassalizing them is not enough to turn me into Sardinia-Piedmont, it certainly helps!
Carlo surprises by not only surviving two years, but offering me a military reform. I'm going to focus on the army; I hope you're okay with that. This allows me to unlock the last defensive idea, turning every single Savoyard province into a death trap for our large and powerful neighbors.
Hey, I like naval warfare just as much as the next guy, but I need more land for harbors.
To celebrate, we declare war on Ferrara. France promptly rallies from the beating they took in our last war (since why else would the Anglo-Iberian alliance lose interest and try to attack us instead?) to smoosh their main ally in Aragon, while the rest of my buddies give about the same to Naples. Unfortunately, they picked up the "Italian Aristocracy" idea while we were recovering from the last war, so coring them is going to take slightly more admin power than otherwise.
While we siege, Austria decides to desecrate the Bohemian electorate, and I show more nominal support. It'll keep them from complaining about Ferrara, anyways.
Realistically, I feel like Austria should be more antagonistic to our consolidation of Italy, but they're not too concerned with the national integrity of the various prince and electors themselves. Also, this is a game.
The conquest of Ferrara also puts the Po River under my control, so I move a merchant into the Venice node, allowing me a few more ducats a month. Needless to say, Austria gets the union, rather predictably, which technically gives them one elector and definitely strengthens their military, but desecrates all the others. Hope their emperor drops dead soon!
Anyways, it's a dangerous world out there. I sort of hope the Omega is content to leave Christendom alone, although I wouldn't be surprised if my readers prefer otherwise.
Next time: Carlo imitates, if not Charlemagne, at least Charles Martel.
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Damn those lazy Ottomans! They're always lounging about in their comfy chairs...!
I'm just curious how long your op ruler survives. Those are some insane stats and one would think he couldn't to take the throne with his retarded brother taking his place.