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Silverbow

Major
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Aug 4, 2012
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Hello and welcome to my attempt at an EU4 AAR!

Inspired by my loathing of the prevalence of RCC modifiers, I've decided to play a game based entirely on avoding the despicable 'Core Province' button like a plague.

The goal:
- attempt to unite as much of Europe and get as high development as possible while playing as France, whilst observing...

...The rules:
- France can't core provinces. Clicking the button is forbidden at all costs.
- France can't force-vassalize countries or conquer&release vassals outside of the French culture group (i.e. I can subjugate Brittany or conquer&release Hainaut, but I can't touch Navarra or Flanders)
- France can peace-vassalize freely
- France can claim thrones and declare PUing wars
- subjects can only be fed provinces of their primary and accepted cultures (however, NOT the culture groups, unless they specifically accept it - i.e. it's green for them)
- subjects can't be willfully integrated until they own all provinces of their primary culture (unless already owned by France/other subject of France) and border France either via land or a sea zone. Inheritance of PUs is an exception as it's not willful.
- France is friendly, and as such won't no-CB or betray their allies, and will indeed fight to the death to protect them


That's about it. Update incoming later today/tomorrow (I've already played the game a bit before posting this, but don't have the screenshots at hand), hope you'll enjoy it.
 
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Seems interesting.

Almost like playing EU2 when cores were set and could not be changed (except via event).
 
Welcome to AARland, those are some hard rules you got there, I'm very intrigued how much you'll be able to expand this way. Subbed.
 
1444-1450: Kicking the English back into the sea


France. France in 1444 is the second strongest country in Europe, second only to the villainous Habsburgs themselves. It's poised to dominate Europe - and dominate it it shall, even with its hands tied behind its back.

Now the Habsburgs prove their villainy right off the bat by rivaling France. England is a no-brainer, as is (for extremely inexplicable reasons) Denmark. Of course, France rivals them right back.
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France guarantees Byzantium first and foremost. Unifying Europe would get much harder if the Sunni Ottomans are allowed to get a real foothold.
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Alliances are established with Castille, Burgundy, Bohemia & Leinster. A royal marriage with Scotland follows.
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The intent here is obvious - a gamble on Castille disinheriting Enrique the Mentally Deficient, Bohemia getting a Valois, a future vassal in Ireland and preventing the Burgundian Inheritance (as the BI is really undesirable, particularly if it should lead to Castille inheriting). No sense in allying Scotland, last thing France needs is being called in against England in a Scotland-led war.

On 11th of December, France decides to take whats rightfully theirs, declares the English to be a particularly loathsome species of fish and proceeds with their forcible relocation out of France and into the ocean. Declaring the war ASAP was of particular importance, otherwise an unholy alliance of the Habsburgs & the English was looming on the horizon.
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On the diplomatic front, marriages follow with the allies & the Byzantines. You never know who decides to die at an opportune time, after all...
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France recruits enough troops to form two armies of 4k cavalry & 16k infantry each, the northern one led by Jean Bureau and the southern one led by Jean Dunois. Bureau moves on to siege Normandy, while Dunois lays siege to the Aquitanian lands. The Portugues lay siege to Narbonne... and the English decide to land on both fronts - with predictable results.
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That's 26k English who now sleep with their ocean brethren.

Meanwhile in Europe, Poland surprisingly decides not to go full retard...
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Provence gets unsurprisingly excommunicated, but France being the good guy in Europe decides to lend them a well-armed hand...
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Oh, and Burgundy decides it wants in on the re-purposing of the English as fish food.

Normandy lasts a fairly long time, but eventually it falls - followed by Labourd in less than a month's time.
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The French armies converge in time to prevent the fall of Narbonne - and to reunite the Portuguese with their English friends.
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With Burgundian armies running amok in France & Iberia and wiping out any forces the English or Portuguese can muster, France can lay siege to Portugal in peace. Evora falls first - and at the sight of that, even Provence decides that the English really can't be allowed to stink up the mainland any longer.
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Meanwhile in Aragon, a potential opportunity appears...
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Lisboa falls in September of 1447.
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Portugal follows suit, having already previously decided when Provence declared that England really ain't worth it. Having no quarrel with Portugal, France agrees to fairly lenient terms.
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This apparently cements Charles VII's reputation as a tactical genius.
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Word of his genius gets even deep into Africa, and ambassadors from the unknown lands of Kaffa arrive, seeking his aid. Charles obliges, even though France is already in quite a bit of debt - after all, he's the good guy. One that greedily eyes the situation on Byzantine throne... all in defense of Christianity, rest be sure.
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England's situation at this point proves so catastrophic that even Scotland decides it wants a piece of the fish pie.
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Dismayed, the English agree to all French territorial demands. The Hundred Years War is finally over.
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1450 rolls around and Renaissance starts in Ferrara - while the French finally learn how to build proper churches and pikes.
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And with Renaissance in, I think it's a good point to break off for now. I think I'll try to separate the AAR based on decades. BTW should I ease up on the quantity of the screenshots? Not sure if it's not too much. Thanks for reading & see you with next chapter tomorrow.
 
Beating up England is clearly the cool thing to do :D
 
What are your thoughts on colonisation? Feels like an obvious route to take given your constraints, especially eventually being able to take whole colonial regions.
 
Interesting! Are you going to dismantle the HRE for easier vassalizing?
Subbed!
This a really good idea! Unfortunately, I'm fairly sure it shall not come to pass.

What are your thoughts on colonisation? Feels like an obvious route to take given your constraints, especially eventually being able to take whole colonial regions.
I don't plan to colonize at all. First of all, I wouldn't be able to take Exploration until 5th idea group (1st has to be Diplomatic & 3rd has to be Influence). Besides, if I somehow wanted to upgrade territorial cores, I'd have to click the unholy button - which is a no go. Plus the focus will be on uniting Europe.
 
1450-1460: THE lucky break


With the reconquest of Normandy complete, Leinster decides to throw its lot in with France for good.
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Burgundy completes the de-anglification of the continent.
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Alas, the Scots are nowhere near as successful.
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But then, this actually ends up benefiting France more than just a little bit.
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France now has a strong presence on the British isles, and unification of the Irish & re-unification of the Scots is just the matter of time now. The momentous occasion has been amply celebrated, though it unfortunately cost France the life of its best general.
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The influence of the clergy waxed and waned in this decade, though all in all it benefited the French crown more than just a little bit.
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Meanwhile on the technological field, improved pike design and strong focus on diplomacy led the way.
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With the death of Jean de Dunois, the last of the great French generals of the Hundred Years War passed on.
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The crown strengthened yet again with seizure of control of the guilds, the monetary benefits being particularly welcome due to the massive debt French crown was in at this point.
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The windfall continued when a French cardinal has been elected as the Pope Hadrianus VI.
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More diplomatic and military progress followed suit.
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Late in the decade, Provence finally gave up on its phony war with England, realizing that neither could land on the other's land without ending up wiped out... and with France holding the wargoal, Maine the war was basically pointless.
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And speaking of France, luck truly shined on the House de Valois as the decade wound down in 1460...
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And on this VERY high note, we leave the decade.



This was the thing I wanted to happen early by far the most - it meant an effective stop to the Ottomenace's progress into Europe. Otherwise they certainly would've declared on BYZ when I'd be busy elsewhere. Now, that'd bring in all my allies - and thus be a suicide for them.
 
*blink* Well that is an interesting turn of events. PU with Constantinople. Outremer lives on indeed.
 
Meanwhile in Aragon, a potential opportunity appears...
f19.jpg
I do want to note that your dynasty might spread to Aragon, as long as they have their own PU (Naples) they can not get into a PU under you. And that is if IW doesn't fire, but you can only try of course. And that PU with Byzantium is GOLD!
 
I do want to note that your dynasty might spread to Aragon, as long as they have their own PU (Naples) they can not get into a PU under you. And that is if IW doesn't fire, but you can only try of course. And that PU with Byzantium is GOLD!
Yeah I know they can't be PU'd peacefully... but they can be PU'd along with Naples in one go if they get my dynasty... ;)
 
1460-1470: The Phoenix rises & Unification of the Emerald Isle - Part I


The decade starts off with French Valois-filled diplomatic corps acquiring a reputation for incompetence...
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...or maybe for virility?
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These two events happened within days of each other to boot.

Meanwhile elsewhere in Europe, Burgundy goes full retard and doesn't call France in. This can't end well...
f47.jpg


Some local nobles in Constantinople resent French rule - and are swiftly dealt with.
f48.jpg


Charles VII uses the long journey to official coronation in Constantinople to become an European Sun Tzu.
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And since all the army is already in Constantinople, it's time to kick the Ottomans' teeth in. Especially since they're busy with Venice.
f50.jpg


Alas, the Venetian distraction doesn't last long.
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Even while at war, French diplomats work overtime to establish dynastic ties with everyone worth it.
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Once Edirne fell, Charles VII had an epiphany and finally had a crusade declared against the Turks.
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The Burgundian Idiocy ended the only way it really could have...
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Shaking his head, Charles VII decided that his son couldn't afford being so diplomatically useless as to repeat the Burgundian mistakes, and paid through his nose for the best education for his heir he could get.
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Selanik didn't last long. With Ottoman armies half-stuck somewhere in Tunis/Venice and sieging Morea, it has been a rather bloodless war so far.
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Alas, there STILL were some fools in Constantinople discontent with the French... even as the latter attempted to reclaim the glory of the Eastern Roman Empire.
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The rebels defeated, Queen Marie d'Anjou implemented administrative reforms in Constantinople that ensured no further uprising would come.
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So long as France held the Papacy in its hand, attempting to spread the dynasty everywhere faced no potential obstructions (actually news to me!).
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Midway through the decade, France embraced renaissance.
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Athens has been liberated, and the development of arquebuses scared the hell out of the English and Danes. Not the Ottomans, though.
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From time to time, the numerous royal connections actually paid off (or, rather, paid a portion of what they cost us back).
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In 1466, Charles VII died, and Louis XI took the throne.
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After a horrid two-year siege, the final Ottoman stronghold in Europe fell.
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That was the final nail in the Ottomans' coffin, and they surrendered to the French demands. The Phoenix has arisen!
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While there has been industrial progress in France in the wake of the war, diplomatic front suffered a partial setback with the loss of control of the papacy.
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