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Thanks Ygor.
After reading another thread in the EU4 forum, the 0/0/0 Sultan taking over in a regency is actually an Iqta-specific event: What are some Under-the-hood mechanics that players should know about? - and the usurper should be getting random stats in the next patch, thought it will be too late to help me.
After reading another thread in the EU4 forum, the 0/0/0 Sultan taking over in a regency is actually an Iqta-specific event: What are some Under-the-hood mechanics that players should know about? - and the usurper should be getting random stats in the next patch, thought it will be too late to help me.
Our new ruler is Sultan Timburghâ al-Said (0/0/0). His new-born heir, Muhammad al-Said (4/3/5), is destined to be something great for this Empire when he grows up, but I definitely can't afford another Regency Council and a loss of this child. So no leading the army for Timburghâ until little Muhammad comes of age. Legitimacy is also down to only 15.
The new nation of Funj emerges to the south of our Empire, though I care little for it. It would be an easy conquest, but the lands are pretty poor and our destiny lies to the north in Ottoman lands. Of course we're no longer under a regency council so we can declare war whenever we're ready. Unfortunately we're not ready. Our economy needs to recover and so sadly I disband the 12 mercenary regiments, leaving our army looking pitiful at just 7,000 men. Our 5 year truce with Qara Qoyunlu should keep us safe for a while though.
The Ottomans are still struggling - they've had another war with Serbia and lost two more provinces. And they've recently reformed their alliance with Qara Qoyunlu so I'm not willing to test them just yet.
Although the Ottomans have lost most of their land west of the Bosphorous, they're slowly regaining ground in Anatolia and they seek to solidify their position with the reconquest of Karaman. One of our allies, Aq Qoyunlu, is also drawn into the war.
Peasants revolt in Cairo. The rebellion is 13 regiments strong and we only have 8 regiments remaining. So I recruit 4 more infantry regiments, taking our manpower down to nothing again, and then attack. With superior leadership and much better discipline, we win the battle and keep Cairo safe. To increase safety even more, I hire a Theologian as an advisor, Jânbulât Ali (+1 admin power/month, -3 revolt risk).
Yemen, our vassal, is having rebel troubles as well and a pretender seizes the throne there. I'm not particularly concerned about their troubles - we're currently over our diplomatic relations limit and will want to annex them shortly.
With the Ottomans fighting against Aq Qoyunlu, Karaman survives for now, but then little Mentese declares a war of conquest against them. With Mentese occupying Karaman, the Ottomans have no interest in continuing the war. They settle for a province from Aq Qoyunlu, as well as ending the alliance between Aq Qoyunlu and Karaman.
By 1516 events have let us drive our piety back down to -94%. With Excellent Supplies our ship costs are reduced by 5%. Loans are still being paid off but with our increased naval force limits from our Naval ideas, I take the opportunity to build up a decent sized Red Sea trading fleet.
While biding my time, I see Mantese occupy Karaman, but Aq Qoyunlu won't settle a peace between them for some reason. In 1518 we research The Limber (military tech 7).
The key gain here is the first artillery unit. Once we have a number of Large Cast Bronze Mortars, I'll be a lot happier about our military's chances.
With the Blasphemy event, I choose to only publicly reprimand the blasphemer, and our piety finally reaches -100% (+20% tax, +20% manpower, -10% tech cost).
I take a mission to control the Spice. This requires 3 spice producing provinces and we already have 2. I begin the diplomatic annexation process of Yemen. As soon as that completes we'll have 4.
We complete the annexation in 1520 and complete our mission. Our new mission is to fabricate a claim on Qara Qoyunlu.
Mantese and Aq Qoyunlu finally agree to a white peace and so Karaman remains independent. To be honest I'd prefer if one of the Anatolian minors grows in strength even at the expense of the others.
Our Master Recruiter dies and since we've got military tech 7 now, I'm happy to rebalance the advisors. I hire Commandant Basir Bugha (+1 military power/month, +5% discipline) and Diplomat Nizar Ali (+1 diplomatic power/month, +30% better relations over time) who join our Theologian.
We complete the claim mission for some more military power and take a new mission to incorporate Hedjaz into our country. I begin the diplomatic annexation immediately. Aq Qoyunlu, battered by their war with the Ottomans, is willing to become our vassals now and so we accept their vassalage.
In 1522 we research Three Field Rotation (administrative tech 6). This boosts our production resulting in another small improvement in our economy.
And in 1523 we complete the annexation of Hedjaz, completing that mission. Our legitimacy has plummeted now to just 9.
Bedouin is now an accepted culture in our realm.
We now have a free diplomatic relations slot. I have this idea that I might be able to get an alliance with the Timurids - they've been growing like crazy and could be a strong ally. Even though I'm currently rivalling them, they're not rivalling me. So I initiate a royal marriage with them and am about to unrival them so I can make an alliance when they decide to rival me. There goes that plan and a waste of a diplomatic relations slot as I don't want to take the stability hit to break the royal marriage.
Qara Qoyunlu, with their horde imperative to always get into wars, attacks the Golden Horde who are allied with the Timurids. The Ottomans meanwhile are allied with Algiers which has dragged them into separate wars against Morocco (not a real problem for them as they can't really threaten the Ottomans from their position) and an alliance of Portugal, Castille and Aragon. They're already losing warscore in that second war and I see that the Iberians have established naval superiority and are occasionally dropping troops off in Anatolia. They're not really holding any territory there but they are hurting the Ottomans each time. The other Ottoman allies are Qara Qoyunlu, currently in a war with the Golden Horde and Timurids, and Crimea.
Thirty years have passed and I've made no inroads of my own against the Ottoman Empire. I might not get a better opportunity, so I declare war. I'm joined by my vassals Aq Qoyunlu and Tripoli, but unfortunately my ally Ramazan won't join the fight. The Ottoman's allies of Crimea and Qara Qoyunlu join as defenders.
So there is finally war between the Mamluks and the Ottomans. Although I figured I'd have naval domination, I hadn't counted on the Crimean fleet whose galleys pose an immediate threat to my Mediterranean trade fleet. I retreat the fleet back to port rather than risk them all.
The army is bolstered by artillery and mercenaries, and now consists of 34 regiments which is our land force limit. With our economy weakened by the withdrawal of our trade fleet, this is a big drain on our finances. I spend admin power to lower inflation from 3.66% to 1.66% and spend military power to raise war taxes, which stabilizes the economy somewhat.
That retreating fleet brings back reports of the Ottomans fighting against Aragon on Ottoman soil. Although the Ottomans will assuredly win that battle, I want to strike now before the Ottomans can recover. The bulk of the Mamluk army marches toward the Ottoman capital of Izmir. There 20,000 men under General Qasim Bugha (2/3/2/1) engage 14,000 Ottomans. 11,000 Mamluk reinforcements arrive shortly into the battle.
Despite our numerical advantage and better morale, the Ottomans have the advantage of terrain. The battle is a closely contested fight with an even number of casualties on both sides. Eventually though the Ottomans are forced to retreat.
Meanwhile the first Crimean army of 11,000 men has arrived. They've defeated the small force mustered by Aq Qoyunlu and is now besieging their lands. I decide to focus on completely destroying the Ottoman army before worrying about the Crimeans.
However the Crimenans abandon their siege of Aq Qoyunlu lands to help the demoralized Ottoman army. We engage the allied army in the mountainous terrain of Erzurum where our superior numbers don't help much and the Ottomans have a significant defensive terrain advantage. What we do have in our favour though is 8 regiments of cannons whose fire keeps the battle in our favour. With both armies very low on morale, news arrives of incoming enemy reinforcements from Qara Qoyunlu. The reinforcing army consists of 17,000 men and is due on 27 May 1525.
The battle is won on 26 May. The regiments immediately consolidate and now have the defensive advantage against the incoming Qara Qoyunlu. Meanwhile we recruit 9 more infantry regiments and another artillery regiment to bolster our depleted army. Despite their battered morale, this battle is never in any doubt and the Mamluks successfully hold their ground breaking the Qara Qoyunlu army.
There is yet another Iraqi nationalist revolt in Mosul (which is still under harsh treatment). I can't deal with it at the moment as I have to press the advantage in the Ottoman war while I can. The Ottoman-Crimean army has retreated to west Anatolia and the Qara Qoyunlu army has retreated off to the east somewhere, hopefully to be harassed by the Timurids. They'll never be more divided so the Mamluk army moves west to destroy the Ottomans.
The action culminates in the Battles of Izmir near the Ottoman's capital which sees the Mamluks aiding unlikely allies in Castille and Aragon. They are fighting their own war against Algiers who are protected by the Ottomans. The Crimeans refuse to get involved in the battle as they are neutral in the Algiers conflict. This allows us to defeat the two armies separately and relatively easily. First the Ottoman army and then the Crimean army are completely destroyed.
Qara Qoyunlu still has 23,000 men, but I move the armies to attain strategic dominance over Anatolia. If the Qara Qoyunlu army returns we'll try defend against it in the mountains again. For now we besiege a number of Ottoman provinces and strike immediately at any newly formed regiments.
Unfortunately we lose Mosul to the Iraqi nationlist rebels. This war is too important to worry overly much about them. We simply accept their demands and grant local autonomy for the province - we lose 25 prestige and they are no longer a contributing part of our empire (no taxes, manpower, etc.) for 20 years.
The eastern Ottoman provinces of Erzurum and Sivas (the war goal) have been occupied when we spy the Qara Qoyunlu army again. Aq Qoyunlu has occupied the Qara Qoyunlu province of Imereti but are wiped out by a 14,000-strong Qara Qoyunlu army.
The Ottomans agree to peace with Morocco. This isn't really a problem for us since that particular war has had little impact this far east. The Ottoman's war with Castille and Aragon continues.
We occupy the provinces of Izmit, Ankara and Kütahya, and Castille occupies the Ottoman capital of Izmir, while Qara Qoyunlu dawdles in the east. They deposit a small force to try reclaim some provinces while the bulk of the army has disappeared, presumably to take care of their other war with the Timurids.
Ramazan, our ally who didn't join us in this war, is taken down by religious rebels. They convert to the Ibadi branch of Islam, straining our relations with them. I suppose I can give up on them ever being a useful ally.
A peace is agreed between Castille-Aragon and Ottoman-Algiers. Portugal will fight on against Algiers but it looks like the Iberian assistance is effectively over.
As the Ottoman provinces fall to us, I reassemble a decently sized army to take on Qara Qoyunlu at Imereti. The 5,000-man Qara Qoyunlu army is quickly destroyed. Similarly the 5,000-man Crimean army defending in the mountainous terrain of Armenia is defeated, though after the battle they are able to safely retreat back to Crimea.
Qara Qoyunlu, who is still at war with the Timurids, are the only ones with any army to potentially concern us. We agree to a white peace with them and take that worry away.
With our advantage over the Ottomans now very clear, we want to extract the maximum possible from this war. This means we need to fully occupy their provinces. To accomplish this we're going to need to break through the Crimean fleet protecting the Bosphorus. I start building 8 more galleys. Together with our light ships and 3 galleys we've had from the start, we should be able to defeat the Crimean fleet. I even hire an Admiral for the fleet just to bolster it that little bit more.
By October 1528 all but one of the Anatolian provinces are under our control. Our bolstered fleet advances on the Crimean fleet and the Crimeans flee. With military access from the Byzantium Empire, our first troops cross into the Balkans. And now our light ships can resume their trade routes.
Ironically we get the mission now to take the province of Sivas. Since it's the war goal and long since occupied, I accept the mission without hesitation.
Orthodox zealots rebel in the Ottoman's Balkan provinces. It is slightly annoying as that's an additional 6,000 troops that we have to fight that the Ottomans didn't even pay for. But it hardly slows us down. The last Anatolian province is occupied and the two remaining Ottoman provinces are soon under siege.
Qara Qoyunlu and the Timurids settle for a white peace.
We've only fought in one naval battle so far and we retreated as soon as we could, yet somehow we seem to think our navy is the best in the Mediterranean. Must be those fancy new galleys we built. I expect to use up a lot of diplo power in the peace so new diplo tech is still going to be far off. I settle for +10% dip tech cost for 5 years.
The Ottoman's Balkan provinces fall to us and we reach 100% warscore. I go through quite a few possibilities to make sure I maximize the peace deal and weaken the Ottomans the most. Obviously I must include Sivas as the war goal and mission target, but other than that I just want to remove provinces from the Ottoman control and break their alliance with Qara Qoyunlu. In the end I arrange a peace deal worth 100% warscore exactly and release our once-ally Candar as a vassal from the annexed provinces.
Oh yeah! Weaken those Ottomans! *cheers and applause*
Nothing against the Ottomans, really, I just like to see the beautiful divergence-ness.
Also, get a load of that Byzantium. Serbia's looking pretty spiffy too.
No generic history this, no way.
Edit: Hey, do you know what Castille and Aragon were doing with the Ottomans anyway?
Nothing against the Ottomans, really, I just like to see the beautiful divergence-ness.
Also, get a load of that Byzantium. Serbia's looking pretty spiffy too.
No generic history this, no way.
Edit: Hey, do you know what Castille and Aragon were doing with the Ottomans anyway?
TSSL, I think the Ottomans are allied with Algiers, which Castille must have attacked to "continue the Reconquista".
And wow, what a great war! A little bit of luck in that Erzurum battle, but you needed some luck after that terrible Sultan takeover (interesting that it's an Iqta-specific event). Now the Ottomans will never be the same, their allies will be more threatening than their own armies.
And wow, what a great war! A little bit of luck in that Erzurum battle, but you needed some luck after that terrible Sultan takeover (interesting that it's an Iqta-specific event). Now the Ottomans will never be the same, their allies will be more threatening than their own armies.
Portugal declared war on Algiers. Portugal brought in its ally, Castille who have Aragon in a personal union. And Algiers brought in its ally, the Ottomans. Most of the action was around Algiers, but Castille and Aragon obviously had the resources to harass the Ottomans in Anatolia. Castille have settled for a peace with Algiers which just leaves Portugal in that war against Algiers and the Ottomans.
So the war against the Ottomans has been won. I begin coring and harsh treatment on Sivas. Our new mission is to fabricate a claim on the Ottoman province of Amasya which will ensure we can go to war with them once our truce timer is up after 5 years.
As soon as we start fabricating, the Ottomans start a coalition against us. Fortunately no one else joins.
Our power projection has rocketed up to 90% giving us +1/+1/+1 bonus monarch power each month for a very long time.
The Ottomans are now weak and battered, and Byzantium takes advantage of this by declaring a Holy War against them. Being the impious Muslim ruler that I am, I cheer the Byzantines on.
We hired 14 regiments of mercenaries during that war, but after disbanding the mercenary regiments our economy is actually decent and we can repay our last loans.
The claim on Amasya completes and we complete our mission. Our new mission is to protect our Sunni brethren in Massawa from the Coptic Ethiopians. Our economy's strong (+14 ducats/month at full maintenance) and our military is definitely stronger than theirs. The reward is negligible though (just prestige which we hardly need) but I take the mission anyway and hope to have it done before the Ottoman truce timer expires.
With all the money flowing in, I decide to invest some of it in Temples even knowing that I won't see their benefits during my stay here. I build 6 temples in our richest provinces.
Then I start the war against Ethiopia. Unfortunately this gains us piety. The Ethiopians have no allies and are backward in tech (only military tech 5 to our 7). Even attacking into the mountains of Ethiopia isn't a problem as their armies are easily crushed.
Meanwhile Bulgaria also declares war against the Ottomans, trying to carve out their own piece of the dwindling Empire.
Half a dozen battles destroys any Ethiopian resistance and then we settle for besieging Massawa. The siege lasts a year and the war is won in 1532. We take only Massawa for the Mamluk Empire to complete our mission.
I begin coring Massawa, and despite our liberation of the Sunni populace, we still have to worry about nationalism there and so I institute harsh treatment on the province. We get a mission now to forge another claim on one of Qara Qoyunlu's provinces so I start that.
As expected the Ottomans are struggling in their wars and I am informed that they are no longer considered a valid rival. Well in my mind they'll always be a rival until they're eliminated or vassalized. We have a choice of Austria, Muscovy or Poland as a new rival. I choose Poland. Qara Qoyunlu and Timurids remain our other two rivals.
I spend admin power to boost stability to +1 and introduce Jizya (+5% tax income) to further improve the economy and get our piety back down to -90%. Brigands strike at Pilgrims and we ignore it, costing us prestige of which we have plenty, and taking us back to -100% piety. I'm rebuilding our army now as normal (non-mercenary) regiments.
Qara Qoyunlu are in a war now with Persia which distracts them long enough for nationalists to rebel and form the nation of Najd along our border with Qara Qoyunlu.
Georgia, fighting as an ally in a war against the Ottomans, settle a peace deal with them where Ottomans cancel their alliance with Crimea. This is great as the Ottomans now have no allies!
Our fabrication mission completes giving us more military power. This allows us to complete the research of Pike and Shot (military tech 8).
We've been 1 over our diplomatic relations limit for a while now, so we start integrating Tripoli which completes in June 1534.
Then in July 1534 our truce with the Ottomans is over. They're still in two separate wars with Byzantium and Bulgaria respectively. I don't want to wait and so I declare war. Surprisingly the Ibadi Muslims of Ramazan are willing to join me in fighting the Ottomans this time - something about wanting to fight those Sunni heretics.
Ramazan deals with the last remnants of the Ottoman army in Hamid and we begin the sieges.
By May 1535 we've successfully occupied the 3 landlocked Ottoman provinces whilst Byzantium has occupied the 5 coastal Ottoman provinces. With nothing more to be won for Byzantium they agree to a peace with the Ottomans - they get the last Balkan province of Burgas, and the two provinces on the straits, Izmit and Hüdavendigar. Conveniently this leaves the warscore cost to vassalize the Ottomans at 98%.
The rest should be a formality, The last 2 Ottoman provinces are besieged and fall in short order. Unfortunately one of those, Hamid, is credited to Bulgaria as leaders of the siege. I'd actually forgotten they were still fighting their own war against the Ottomans. We're now at 91% warscore but have a ticking warscore for occupying Amasya, so we just need to be patient.
But just as the wascore is getting close to the 98% we require, Bulgaria and the Ottomans agree to a peace with only minor compensation given to Bulgaria. We besiege Hamid and it falls to us in March 1538 giving us full occupation and 100% warscore. The Ottomans have no choice now but to become our vassals.
So our overall goal is accomplished. We still have 6 more years to consolidate the Mamluk Empire.
Using our strong economy I build a March on the southern tip of the Arabian peninsula, plus a few military buildings around the Empire.
I try to vassalize Karaman. They would be willing based on size and military might, but I can't get up to +190 relations.
In 1539 we finally get our first diplomatic advance: we research Basic Financial Instruments (diplo tech 5). For comparison we researched this in 1463 with Wales. Later in the year we research Noble Republic (admin tech 7) which unlocks our second idea group. I choose Expansion, knowing that I won't be able to do anything with it in my turn though I have hopes that we might see some Mamluk colonies in the future.
Najd has grown in the last few years as Qara Qoyunlu has struggled with revolts. Now Najd consists of three disconnected provinces with their capital in Bahrain. They also have no allies and I get a claim on their original province of Jabal Shammar which is the only one adjacent to my territory. They have only 3,000 men to defend and the province is easily annexed.
We core the new province. Through an event we build a Great Palace (for 103 ducats we get +20 legitimacy, which is desperately needed, and +10 prestige).
We fight a brief war against Karaman who inexplicably declare war on our vassals, the Ottomans. I still have hopes of diplo-vassalizing them so I agree to annul my alliance with the heretic Ramazan in a peace deal with them. It doesn't help - they want our vassal's province, Hamid, which gives -98 to their relations with us and this is impossible to overcome with mere diplomacy.
And that concludes our time in the Mamluk Empire. Goal accomplished, though in truth the Christians did the lion's share of the work early on.
And note that Sultan Timburghâ al-Said (0/0/0) is still ruler. To summarize our rulers:
- 10 years - Sultan al-Hasan II al-Said (0/0/0)
- 4 years - Sultan Yûsuf al-Said (2/2/2)
- 4 years - Regency Council (1/0/1)
- 32 years - Sultan Timburghâ al-Said (0/0/0)
Elsewhere
Wales
Early on Wales got involved in the War of the Bavarian Succession. Denmark was claiming a personal union over Bavaria, with Scotland and Connacht contesting the succession. Poland (with Lithuania) and Wales sided with Denmark. So the war was quite lopsided and Scotland was pummeled. Unfortunately Wales got nothing out of the peace deal and Scotland's weakness was an opportunity for England to expand at their expense.
Through the rest of the 50 years they were often dragged into wars alongside their allies though they made little material difference as those wars were fought on the continent.
At the end of the 50 years Wales has neither gained nor lost any territory. But England is now a big concern for them though for now Wales remains ahead of England on technology.
What happened to Lithuania, the unpicked nation?
They've been a good little lesser partner in the personal union under Poland. They didn't acquire a single province but helped Poland expand at the expense of the Livonian Order. Poland has begun to integrate them into their nation.
Europe in 1544
Features to note:
We've missed the early excitement of the Reformation in Europe. England was the first nation to flip to Protestant. As we can see, Wales, Denmark and about half the HRE have also converted.
Scores
As before, I know scores are a bit wonky, but here they are anyway...
The Ottomans are just off that list in 31st.
My next choice
England
As per the rules, I reroll this result...
Mutapa
The biggest power in the region is actually Kilwa, Mutapa's only neighbour, who has expanded at the expense of the region's minor nations as well as Mutapa itself. Historically the Portuguese ended up dominating the coast of southeast Africa, and Mutapa traded their gold with the Europeans. The African interior proved impossible for the Portuguese to conquer due to local diseases and Mutapa remained independent until 1629.
Poland
Poland has Lithuania under a personal union and is busy integrating them into their nation (with progress at 66%). The combined territory of Poland and Lithuania is roughly the borders of the historic Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth. Historically the Union of Lublin of 1569 established the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth. It became an influential nation within Europe and fought for domination of Eastern Europe with Russia. Its decline in the 18th century saw all their land divided between Russia, Prussia and the Hapsburgs.
Wales
Early on Wales got involved in the War of the Bavarian Succession. Denmark was claiming a personal union over Bavaria, with Scotland and Connacht contesting the succession. Poland (with Lithuania) and Wales sided with Denmark. So the war was quite lopsided and Scotland was pummeled. Unfortunately Wales got nothing out of the peace deal and Scotland's weakness was an opportunity for England to expand at their expense.
Through the rest of the 50 years they were often dragged into wars alongside their allies though they made little material difference as those wars were fought on the continent.
At the end of the 50 years Wales has neither gained nor lost any territory. But England is now a big concern for them though for now Wales remains ahead of England on technology.
What happened to Lithuania, the unpicked nation?
They've been a good little lesser partner in the personal union under Poland. They didn't acquire a single province but helped Poland expand at the expense of the Livonian Order. Poland has begun to integrate them into their nation.
Europe in 1544
Features to note:
- Denmark has integrated both Norway and Sweden giving them control over Scandinavia.
- Austria has integrated Hungary, so despite not getting anything in the Burgundian inheritance, they are still the pre-eminent power in the HRE.
- Muscovy has eliminated the competing nations in Russia. The only thing stopping them from forming Russia now is that they are only at admin tech 9 - they need admin tech 10.
- Pomerania has formed Prussia.
We've missed the early excitement of the Reformation in Europe. England was the first nation to flip to Protestant. As we can see, Wales, Denmark and about half the HRE have also converted.
Scores
As before, I know scores are a bit wonky, but here they are anyway...
The Ottomans are just off that list in 31st.
My next choice
England
As per the rules, I reroll this result...
Mutapa
The biggest power in the region is actually Kilwa, Mutapa's only neighbour, who has expanded at the expense of the region's minor nations as well as Mutapa itself. Historically the Portuguese ended up dominating the coast of southeast Africa, and Mutapa traded their gold with the Europeans. The African interior proved impossible for the Portuguese to conquer due to local diseases and Mutapa remained independent until 1629.
Poland
Poland has Lithuania under a personal union and is busy integrating them into their nation (with progress at 66%). The combined territory of Poland and Lithuania is roughly the borders of the historic Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth. Historically the Union of Lublin of 1569 established the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth. It became an influential nation within Europe and fought for domination of Eastern Europe with Russia. Its decline in the 18th century saw all their land divided between Russia, Prussia and the Hapsburgs.
So you did it, you vassalized the Ottomans as the Mamluks! That's as ahistorical as it could ever get, congratulations!
The next choice is a tough one. On the one hand, Mutapa will certainly be boring because it's too small and backwards and poor and its only neighbour is way more powerful. Though of course, if you manage to do anything surprising, it'll be a great historical divergence. On the other hand, Poland is very powerful, ridiculously so, and was indeed historically powerful at that time. There'll be plenty of opportunities to kick some enemies around, but it might feel too easy. Unless Austria and Muscovy are allied, of course...
The next choice is a tough one. On the one hand, Mutapa will certainly be boring because it's too small and backwards and poor and its only neighbour is way more powerful. Though of course, if you manage to do anything surprising, it'll be a great historical divergence. On the other hand, Poland is very powerful, ridiculously so, and was indeed historically powerful at that time. There'll be plenty of opportunities to kick some enemies around, but it might feel too easy. Unless Austria and Muscovy are allied, of course...
Is it too late to block muscovite colonisation? Might be neat to do that as Poland. Whatever the case though, definitely not Mutapa. That'll be very dull.
Hmm. I'd think that Mutapa would be most interesting only if you think you'd be in a position to accomplish anything, or at least have a decent chance. That looks a little dubious, though, so Poland may well be the best world-shaking choice.
As much as I have a soft spot for the Sub-Saharans, I don't think I'd be able to salvage anything decent out of the Mutapa position in a single turn. So Poland it is. Muscovy's started their trans-Ural expansion and their formation of Russia is imminent, but I'll see what I can do to change the course of Eastern Europe.
I'm playing this turn with the 1.6.2 patch. Besides bug fixes, the faster decay of aggressive expansion in 1.6.1 has been reverted.
Poland and Lithuania had mostly been together under a personal union since 1385. The Union of Lublin in 1569 united the two nations into the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth. This was primarily brought about by Lithuania's need to protect itself against expansion by the Tsardom of Russia which formed from the Tsardom of Muscovy in 1547. Poland and then the Commonwealth were ruled by a monarch elected by the nobles. The Commonwealth expanded to its greatest extent by 1619, incorporating the Prussian and Livonian lands as well as winning territory off Russia.
My main goal for the 50 year turn is to stop Muscovy from forming Russia which is likely to be quite tough - they have all the territory that they need, and are at admin tech 9, needing admin tech 10. Austria having integrated Hungary will also be in our sights.
To avoid the historical path, I am not going to try form the Commonwealth. As the turn begins we're already 66% of the way to integrating Lithuania so I'll let that complete. The process requires 450 more diplo points to be spent (we start at -5) which is 90 more months (7.5 years) at the current rate.
Our rivals are Austria (HRE emperor and happy to rival them), Crimea (currently at war with them) and Bohemia (waste of a rival slot). I'd like to switch out Bohemia for Muscovy as a rival, but we can't afford the 100 diplo points that it requires while we're still integrating Lithuania. Hopefully I'll remember to do this later.
We currently have an alliance (and royal marriage) with Milan who are probably too far away to care about the threat of Muscovy; and a royal marriage with Denmark but no alliance. Denmark are looking pretty strong since they've integrated Norway and Sweden. I definitely want Denmark as an ally before taking on Muscovy. Unfortunately they won't accept an alliance at the moment because they want provinces in the Latvia and Estonia region (our Polish provinces north of Lithuania). I dispatch a diplomat to Improve Relations with them and hope they drop their hostility soon. Muscovy meanwhile is allied with Prussia and Byzantium.
Poland is ruled by King Stefan I Jagiellon (3/1/3) and his heir is Wladyslaw Jagiellon (6/4/6). Fortunately Poland's Elective Monarchy isn't modelled in the game (though apparently will be in Res Publica), so we're certain to have the god-like Wladyslaw become king when Stefan dies. Our king is 54 years old so hopefully that will be sooner rather than later. We also make him a general (-/1/1/-) just to increase those chances. We have 1 other general, Kazimierz Dunin (2/1/1/1), but we have low army tradition at 12.9 so I'll wait on more tradition before recruiting another general.
We have 5 loans out which is a debt of about 400 ducats. We're making 4 ducats per month but only have 1 advisor, a diplo advisor which is desperately needed considering our king's poor diplomatic skill and the need to integrate Lithuania. To improve the economy somewhat I'll juggle our merchants to collect in Krakow and the Baltic Sea, and have our 4 light ships patrolling the Baltic. I'll eventually also get round to disbanding our Black Sea fleet (2 galleys, 2 cogs) once I'm happy that they aren't needed.
Our technology starts at admin tech 10, diplo tech 8, military tech 10. Admin and military tech are on a par with our neighbours, while diplo tech is unsurprisingly lagging behind.
The ideas we're starting with are Diplomatic ideas (4 taken), Aristocratic ideas (3 taken), and Economic ideas (3 taken). This has given us 3 Polish Ideas so far: Promote the Folwark System (+10% production efficiency); Nihil Novi (-10% stability cost); and Piechota Wybraniecka (+25% manpower, +10% infantry combat ability). The next national idea greatly improves our cavalry ability and, considering that a large proportion of our army is cavalry, will be something to shoot for as quickly as we can.
Poland accommodates a great diversity of Christian faiths. We're currently at 71% religious unity and I'm not sure that I'll stay Catholic. We'll get a lot of Orthodox provinces from Lithuania plus more reformation events are likely. I'll put off the religious question until after the integration completes. In the meanwhile I cancel our missionary efforts (which also saves us some money).
As for our cultures, only Polish is accepted. We have Saxon, Ruthenian, Romanian, Latvian, Estonian and Prussian hogging up minority spots ensuring none of them end up as accepted cultures.
As the turn begins, we are currently thrashing our rivals, Crimea, in a war of conquest. With the threat of Muscovy forming Russia soon, I don't want this to be a distraction. As the new year arrives, we complete the siege of another Crimean province and they agree to a peace in which we get Yedisan.
The conclusion of that war brings our power projection up to 61 giving us bonus monarch points each month (and slightly speeding up the integration of Lithuania). I institute harsh treatment and begin coring Yedisan. And then I realize I've just made the cultural situation worse as we've added Tartar culture into the mix.
Saxony, who've grown surprisingly large, declares war on Austria (the current HRE emperor). Austria is now at war with an alliance of Saxony, Hesse and the Palatinate, as well as France who are seeking to conquer Friesland. Austria has allies on their side but they look like they may be in trouble.
So with Milan as my only ally, and the Danish alliance not coming together, I start looking for another ally. I get an alliance and royal marriage with Byzantium. Only problem with this - they're allied with Muscovy. That's good if Muscovy attacks me since the Byzantines will side with the defender, but not so good if I want to be the aggressor (which I almost certainly will have to be). Meanwhile Byzantium completes the conquest and complete annexation of Bulgaria, cementing themselves as a regional power.
With our economy somewhat better (though still trying to pay off those loans), I hire advisors to fill out the empty slots - Commander Andrzej Jagiellon (+1 military point per month, +5% discipline); and Master of the Mint Jan Zygmunt (+1 admin point per month, 0.1 annual inflation reduction).
Just under a year has passed when I see Muscovy reach admin tech 10. That's unfortunate as I was hoping for at least a few years to prepare. I know the formation of Russia is imminent, but I don't have a Cassus Belli yet - our 2 diplomats have been tied up with the integration of Lithuania and improving relations with Denmark. Declaring on one of their allies instead (e.g. Prussia) will surely change Muscovy to warleader and give me too many enemies. I recall the Danish diplomat and get him to work fabricating a claim on a Muscovite province using our shared border in Latvia.
Just a month later though and Muscovy forms Russia. So I've failed the original goal in the span of 392 days. Now I just want to weaken Russia as much as I can in the 49 years I have left.
With the death of the Austrian archduke, the Prussian King Eryk II is elected emperor. Prussia is already allied with Russia and now it allies the quickly growing Saxony (who are currently at war with Austria).
I get the idea Debt and Loans (Economic idea 4 - 1% lower interest rate on loans) which could be useful if we need lots of loans for upcoming wars. More importantly this brings us just 1 idea away from getting our cavalry national idea.
Denmark finally offers us an alliance 4 months too late. We begrudgingly accept.
The plan now is to get into a war with Russia's ally Prussia without pulling Russia into a war and then have them break off their Russian alliance in the peace deal. Austria is still at war with France and the Saxony-led alliance, and have only Trier as an ally and Brunswick as a vassal. I have a claim on the Austrian province of Marmarosch and so I declare war on Austria. I expect Prussia to be called in as the HRE emperor and we can break his alliance in any peace treaty.
With Prussia and Prussia's vassal, Saxe-Lauenburg, the Polish-Danish alliance outnumbers the Austrian defence 3 to 1.
But I've made a severe miscalculation! When the HRE emperor is called in to a war to defend the HRE, he always becomes warleader. So despite Prussia being quite a bit smaller and weaker than Austria, Prussia becomes the new warleader. This means Prussia can still call in all his allies - well he only has one that's not in the war already - Russia.
So Russia joins the war and, since they are much larger than Prussia, they become the new warleader and call in their allies - Byzantium (and Byzantium's vassal, Georgia).
We are now outnumbered 110,911 to 91,921. This is going to be a hard war.
Poland and Lithuania had mostly been together under a personal union since 1385. The Union of Lublin in 1569 united the two nations into the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth. This was primarily brought about by Lithuania's need to protect itself against expansion by the Tsardom of Russia which formed from the Tsardom of Muscovy in 1547. Poland and then the Commonwealth were ruled by a monarch elected by the nobles. The Commonwealth expanded to its greatest extent by 1619, incorporating the Prussian and Livonian lands as well as winning territory off Russia.
My main goal for the 50 year turn is to stop Muscovy from forming Russia which is likely to be quite tough - they have all the territory that they need, and are at admin tech 9, needing admin tech 10. Austria having integrated Hungary will also be in our sights.
To avoid the historical path, I am not going to try form the Commonwealth. As the turn begins we're already 66% of the way to integrating Lithuania so I'll let that complete. The process requires 450 more diplo points to be spent (we start at -5) which is 90 more months (7.5 years) at the current rate.
Our rivals are Austria (HRE emperor and happy to rival them), Crimea (currently at war with them) and Bohemia (waste of a rival slot). I'd like to switch out Bohemia for Muscovy as a rival, but we can't afford the 100 diplo points that it requires while we're still integrating Lithuania. Hopefully I'll remember to do this later.
We currently have an alliance (and royal marriage) with Milan who are probably too far away to care about the threat of Muscovy; and a royal marriage with Denmark but no alliance. Denmark are looking pretty strong since they've integrated Norway and Sweden. I definitely want Denmark as an ally before taking on Muscovy. Unfortunately they won't accept an alliance at the moment because they want provinces in the Latvia and Estonia region (our Polish provinces north of Lithuania). I dispatch a diplomat to Improve Relations with them and hope they drop their hostility soon. Muscovy meanwhile is allied with Prussia and Byzantium.
Poland is ruled by King Stefan I Jagiellon (3/1/3) and his heir is Wladyslaw Jagiellon (6/4/6). Fortunately Poland's Elective Monarchy isn't modelled in the game (though apparently will be in Res Publica), so we're certain to have the god-like Wladyslaw become king when Stefan dies. Our king is 54 years old so hopefully that will be sooner rather than later. We also make him a general (-/1/1/-) just to increase those chances. We have 1 other general, Kazimierz Dunin (2/1/1/1), but we have low army tradition at 12.9 so I'll wait on more tradition before recruiting another general.
We have 5 loans out which is a debt of about 400 ducats. We're making 4 ducats per month but only have 1 advisor, a diplo advisor which is desperately needed considering our king's poor diplomatic skill and the need to integrate Lithuania. To improve the economy somewhat I'll juggle our merchants to collect in Krakow and the Baltic Sea, and have our 4 light ships patrolling the Baltic. I'll eventually also get round to disbanding our Black Sea fleet (2 galleys, 2 cogs) once I'm happy that they aren't needed.
Our technology starts at admin tech 10, diplo tech 8, military tech 10. Admin and military tech are on a par with our neighbours, while diplo tech is unsurprisingly lagging behind.
The ideas we're starting with are Diplomatic ideas (4 taken), Aristocratic ideas (3 taken), and Economic ideas (3 taken). This has given us 3 Polish Ideas so far: Promote the Folwark System (+10% production efficiency); Nihil Novi (-10% stability cost); and Piechota Wybraniecka (+25% manpower, +10% infantry combat ability). The next national idea greatly improves our cavalry ability and, considering that a large proportion of our army is cavalry, will be something to shoot for as quickly as we can.
Poland accommodates a great diversity of Christian faiths. We're currently at 71% religious unity and I'm not sure that I'll stay Catholic. We'll get a lot of Orthodox provinces from Lithuania plus more reformation events are likely. I'll put off the religious question until after the integration completes. In the meanwhile I cancel our missionary efforts (which also saves us some money).
As for our cultures, only Polish is accepted. We have Saxon, Ruthenian, Romanian, Latvian, Estonian and Prussian hogging up minority spots ensuring none of them end up as accepted cultures.
As the turn begins, we are currently thrashing our rivals, Crimea, in a war of conquest. With the threat of Muscovy forming Russia soon, I don't want this to be a distraction. As the new year arrives, we complete the siege of another Crimean province and they agree to a peace in which we get Yedisan.
The conclusion of that war brings our power projection up to 61 giving us bonus monarch points each month (and slightly speeding up the integration of Lithuania). I institute harsh treatment and begin coring Yedisan. And then I realize I've just made the cultural situation worse as we've added Tartar culture into the mix.
Saxony, who've grown surprisingly large, declares war on Austria (the current HRE emperor). Austria is now at war with an alliance of Saxony, Hesse and the Palatinate, as well as France who are seeking to conquer Friesland. Austria has allies on their side but they look like they may be in trouble.
So with Milan as my only ally, and the Danish alliance not coming together, I start looking for another ally. I get an alliance and royal marriage with Byzantium. Only problem with this - they're allied with Muscovy. That's good if Muscovy attacks me since the Byzantines will side with the defender, but not so good if I want to be the aggressor (which I almost certainly will have to be). Meanwhile Byzantium completes the conquest and complete annexation of Bulgaria, cementing themselves as a regional power.
With our economy somewhat better (though still trying to pay off those loans), I hire advisors to fill out the empty slots - Commander Andrzej Jagiellon (+1 military point per month, +5% discipline); and Master of the Mint Jan Zygmunt (+1 admin point per month, 0.1 annual inflation reduction).
Just under a year has passed when I see Muscovy reach admin tech 10. That's unfortunate as I was hoping for at least a few years to prepare. I know the formation of Russia is imminent, but I don't have a Cassus Belli yet - our 2 diplomats have been tied up with the integration of Lithuania and improving relations with Denmark. Declaring on one of their allies instead (e.g. Prussia) will surely change Muscovy to warleader and give me too many enemies. I recall the Danish diplomat and get him to work fabricating a claim on a Muscovite province using our shared border in Latvia.
Just a month later though and Muscovy forms Russia. So I've failed the original goal in the span of 392 days. Now I just want to weaken Russia as much as I can in the 49 years I have left.
With the death of the Austrian archduke, the Prussian King Eryk II is elected emperor. Prussia is already allied with Russia and now it allies the quickly growing Saxony (who are currently at war with Austria).
I get the idea Debt and Loans (Economic idea 4 - 1% lower interest rate on loans) which could be useful if we need lots of loans for upcoming wars. More importantly this brings us just 1 idea away from getting our cavalry national idea.
Denmark finally offers us an alliance 4 months too late. We begrudgingly accept.
The plan now is to get into a war with Russia's ally Prussia without pulling Russia into a war and then have them break off their Russian alliance in the peace deal. Austria is still at war with France and the Saxony-led alliance, and have only Trier as an ally and Brunswick as a vassal. I have a claim on the Austrian province of Marmarosch and so I declare war on Austria. I expect Prussia to be called in as the HRE emperor and we can break his alliance in any peace treaty.
With Prussia and Prussia's vassal, Saxe-Lauenburg, the Polish-Danish alliance outnumbers the Austrian defence 3 to 1.
But I've made a severe miscalculation! When the HRE emperor is called in to a war to defend the HRE, he always becomes warleader. So despite Prussia being quite a bit smaller and weaker than Austria, Prussia becomes the new warleader. This means Prussia can still call in all his allies - well he only has one that's not in the war already - Russia.
So Russia joins the war and, since they are much larger than Prussia, they become the new warleader and call in their allies - Byzantium (and Byzantium's vassal, Georgia).
We are now outnumbered 110,911 to 91,921. This is going to be a hard war.
holy cow. i except this to be a war of epic proportions that you hopefully will win.
That's trouble... It will no doubt take some careful maneuvering to win this war.And yeah, this is one of the most unfortunate ways to start a war with Russia, you're surrounded by enemies!
This is a great read! Especially with the graphics, it shows the time you've put into this!
Thanks all for the comments and encouraging words. I should have another update posted by the weekend. Meanwhile I've been wondering if I could have done things differently and successfully stopped Muscovy from forming Russia...
Accepting that I'm not strong enough to beat Muscovy by myself, I had to get Denmark as ally. Taking out a loan to give it as a gift to Denmark was an option that might have got relations high enough for an alliance within the first year. I still didn't have a spare diplomat beyond the ones in Lithuania and Denmark, so I'd have had to declare a no-CB war on Muscovy on the day he reached admin tech 10. Hopefully Denmark would've joined that war.
Oh well, it's in the past now and hopefully I can redeem myself against Russia. War update coming soon...
Accepting that I'm not strong enough to beat Muscovy by myself, I had to get Denmark as ally. Taking out a loan to give it as a gift to Denmark was an option that might have got relations high enough for an alliance within the first year. I still didn't have a spare diplomat beyond the ones in Lithuania and Denmark, so I'd have had to declare a no-CB war on Muscovy on the day he reached admin tech 10. Hopefully Denmark would've joined that war.
Oh well, it's in the past now and hopefully I can redeem myself against Russia. War update coming soon...
From a gameplay PoV it's not really an issue if Muscovy forms Russia. I suppose the claims might be a problem for you, but you were planning on war anyway. I suppose the important thing to do now is to block their siberian expansion, grab the colonies and eastern land etc. Good luck!
So the first great war against Russia has (inadvertently) begun. On our side is Lithuania, who we have in a personal union, and our ally Denmark who have a personal union over Bavaria. Until we complete the integration of Lithuania, we only control about a third of the forces in the alliance.
As for our opponents... you know they say you should never fight a war on two fronts; well we've ended up fighting a war on four fronts. Austria, the war target, is to the west; Prussia, the Holy Roman Emperor, is to the north; Russia, the warleader, is to the east; and our erstwhile ally Byzantium is to the south. We are outnumbered and Russia haven't even built up to their land force limits yet, but their manpower is very low.
Austria is being beat up in its other wars (against France and an alliance led by Saxony) and Russia's forces are taking a while to arrive. Prussian and Byzantine armies have crossed our borders, attacking from the north and south. Denmark and Lithuania converge with us to take on the Prussian invaders.
And we get an easy victory. We begin chasing after this northern Prussian army and meanwhile we get the mission to Take Marmarosch, which is our war target.
The Byzantium army of 16,000 heads north to try help out the Prussians. They meet our 18,000 in the Battle of Neumark. The Polish army is on the defence and only loses 3,000 men to Byzantium's losses of 8,000. This has barely slowed our army which is quickly into Prussia to take on Prussia's shattered army. Their army is mostly artillery and so easily set to retreating again. With these early victories we should have levelled the army numbers, right?
The numbers disparity has only grown worse as we're now outnumbered 127,380 to 79,052, presumably mostly from Russia ramping up to full war mobilization. The Austria-France war ends with Austria losing territory to Croatia. Although they're still at war with the Saxony alliance, they too will start to contribute numbers against us in the war.
The plan now is to peace out with Prussia and Byzantium as soon as is feasible - obviously we can't separate peace with Austria as war target or Russia as warleader. Hopefully Denmark and Lithuania continue to co-operate with us and don't waste their forces with needless escapades into Russia.
The remaining part of the northern Prussian army is caught and destroyed in Ostpreussen. Meanwhile Byzantium have lost most of the rest of their army to Denmark and Lithuania, and I want to negotiate a peace with them quickly - I want them as allies in any future war against Russia and want to give them as long as possible to rebuild. We don't hold any of their territory and they know their alliance is ahead on numbers, so I have to make some concessions to get Byzantium out of the war.
I release Riga and give Byzantium some ducats. Riga's a nice city and, assuming it's left alone, I'll want to reclaim it once our truce is over. But for now Byzantium (and their vassals, Georgia) are out of the war. I now have to start taking out loans to finance the war.
Our main army is led by General Kazimierz Dunin (2/1/1/1) and our secondary, smaller, army is being led by King Stefan I Jagiellon (-/1/1/-) who is trying to pick off any stragglers. A single Prussian regiment is in Plock in Polsih territory. Our king leads his 7 regiments to take them out.
Our brave king dies leading his troops. And fortunately his heir is great! Our new king is Wladyslaw II Jagiellon (6/4/6). (So nice to have a strong ruler after that Mamluk turn. Long may he live!) With a full set of level 1 advisors plus ongoing power projection, Poland is getting 11/9/11 points per month. The timeline for integrating Lithuania has been moved up and will now take only about 30 more months. I re-establish the royal marriage with Byzantium and then get a royal marriage with France, hoping to get an alliance with them after the war. I also recruit a new general for this secondary army: Patryk Ozarowski (2/-/3/-).
Meanwhile the Russian armies have been advancing into Lithuania and have successfully besieged their first province, Bryansk.
The battle of Zips in Austria sees some temporary co-operation between the Saxon-alliance and Polish-alliance with 45,000 troops beating Austria's 10,000. With Byzantium out of the war, our recent victories and Russia suffering attrition in Lithuania, for the first time in the war we have almost equalized the overall numbers - just down by 5,000 men.
Our government's lack of co-operation in these times of war isn't appreciated. I'm hoping King Wladyslaw will live a long time, so has to go behind their backs (stability down to +0). I take another loan and now have a debt of 640 ducats.
Yedisan, our Sunni Crimean province, completes coring.
We're hit by more events - Successful Bureaucracy gives us 100 admin pts; and our Trader, Ferdynand Premyslid, introduces some controversial protectionist policies for +2 mercantilism and -5 legitimacy.
While most of the Polish-Danish armies are in Austria, 12 Danish regiments and 11 Lithuanian regiments are caught by the Russian army in northern Lithuania.
The Danish and Lithuanians lose half their number and retreat separately. Russia and Prussia now have strategic control over Lithuania. We have strategic control over Austria and are besieging the war goal, Marmarosch, while picking off Austrians and any nearby allies.
An heir is born - Wladyslaw Jr (3/5/2).
We complete the siege of Marmarosch while Russia occupies Lithuanian Mogilev. War score is now +11% in our favour. With Marmarosch giving us ticking war score, I start bringing forces east to challenge Russian control in Lithuania, especially as the Lithuanian army is engaged by Prussian forces there.
We get an event for Cessation of Church Functions. I'm not sure that we'll be staying Catholic long-term but accepting gives us an infusion of cash to stave off more loans. However 20 years of reduced taxes really hurts and so this was probably an economic mistake.
Before engaging Russians in Lithuania, we get our next idea, Noble Officers (Aristocratic idea 4 - new generals get +1 shock), which importantly gets us our fourth national idea, Winged Hussars (+33% cavalry combat ability). This is very strong considering almost half of our army is cavalry at the moment (since I kept the proportion this high precisely because of this idea).
We reinforce our Lithuanian partners to drive off the Prussians in the Battle of Kiev. Russia is willing to discuss a white peace at this point, but of course I'm not going to stop here while we have the advantage (overall numbers are 79,000 to 45,000). I start trying to retake the Lithuanian provinces back with one army while our other army looks for any weaker armies in Lithuania to pick off.
The Prussians have been beaten back but I want them out of the war so I can focus on Russia. I have to give concessions to get them out and am willing to do so with a single (unaccepted culture) province...
To my surprise the peace resolves with Denmark releasing Finland and Poland losing nothing. This kind of peace deal feels wrong and imminently abusable. I'll chalk this one up as a learning experience but don't intend to do something like that again.
As it is, the Russian-Austrian alliance is now on the ropes: we outnumber them more than 2 to 1, Austria is still defending in a separate war against Saxony, and Russia's manpower is exhausted.