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Poh

Seasoned Tile Wizard
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Aug 6, 2006
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A Pope's Tale

valarge.gif

The Way, Why the Pope and Whats the Reason?

This is my first ”real” Victoria II game. I have played some test games before, however i have never played beyond 1880 and have not been indulged in large wars as I mostly like researching non combat techs. This will of course affect the AAR but I will try and keep it interesting anyway. I will play a mix of what I think would be the best way and what the Pope would want to do.

So why the Pope or should i say The Papal States? When I was looking for a nation to play I first thought I would try out the Swiss however I deemed it would be a bit boring if I had no wars in a whole AAR and because of that I choose The Papal States. Another reason is I thought it would make for a fun AAR and the one AAR I remember the best is EURO007's The Papal State:A Mission AAR for EUIII (In Nomine)

I have always wanted to write an AAR but never got so far as to do it. I then saw Alexspeed's competition and thought now was a good time to give it a go.
So this is my first AAR and I hope you will find it to your liking.


Table of Contents​
 
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Chapter 1: Once Upon a Pope (1836-1840)


Once upon a Pope in a country close close to god. The country closest to the only real god if you asked the Pope and he has a lot to say in these matters around here, or so i have heard. The people however believed a whole lot less than they used to and the Pope found this troubling.

country.jpg


He had to make the world recognize the greatness of the Pope and thereby make them respect and believe in god, but how?
In a vision the Pope had seen that a new age was at hand, an age of industry. This was his chance to once again gain the honor and prestige that the country of god deserved and thereby place it among the greatest countries.

To achieve this he knew he had to make an inspection of his country. First he looked at the RGOs and goods that was produced in his country. Almost everything produced came from RGOs and over half of the total production was fruit. Something had to be done about this but what remained unsolved for now.

production1836.jpg


His country was not large with nearly 700.000 workers where most were farmers. Something had to change and it could not go fast enough.

population1836.jpg


The Pope knew where he had to start, the budget.

budget36.jpg


Taxes for the rich were lowered to 25% to stimulate them to help the people. Administration was lowered to 35% and the Education was raised to 95% as the Pope wanted his people to be able to read the bible and write confessions. Military Spending was also raised to 60% for the Pope wanted to strike fear in the hearts of his neighbors. To help the industry the tariffs were set to -20%.

The Pope then started to make his move. He allied the fierce Greek to make him seem more powerful to his neighbors. To improve his status even more the Pope then declared war on his small neighbor Modena on the 1st January 1836.

80warmodena.jpg


After six months and three not so bloody battles the country was subdued and the Pope victoriously declared: “They got Poped!”

As the war was over it was time to get the industry started. Loans were taken and four factories built. The factories produced Glass and Wine as the Pope wanted a steady supply of Altar wine, and Cement and Lumber to make basic building materials more available. In the summer 1837 the first two factories stood ready.

firstfactory.jpg


In the beginning of 1838 the last two were completed and the dept repaid. The foundation was now complete.

Later that year disaster struck as a Cholera infection spread over the country.

80cholera.jpg


The Pope knew he had to act and while he sent his best doctors to help his people, he himself and his cardinals started praying. Six months and many prayers later the infection had disappeared. It was now time once again to focus on the wellbeing of the country.

In the beginning of 1839 the Pope ordered the construction of the first Papal fleet. Every ship was to be constructed from the shipyards in Rome.

90ships.jpg


None knew what the new fleet should be used to but the Pope wanted something that could increase the national pride of his people and he thought this new fleet of transport ships would do exactly this and might also come in handy some day.

April 15th 1839 Romanticism was discovered and the research department was disbanded as the Pope got a new vision. During the next five months the world recognized the Popes cultural achievements in Romanticist Art and Music granting 30 prestige.

80romanrisme.jpg


On January 1st the Pope ordered the research department reopened and began researching Idealism.

During the first half of 1840 the Administration and Military Spending was raised slightly and on the 11th July the Pope had positioned the country of god among the eight Great Powers of the World.

greatpower.jpg
 
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Most interesting project, personally I like the underdog nations and try to bring them to power. Will be interesting to keep an eye on this one. Do you plan to unite Italy?
 
Thank you for taking part in the contest and good luck!
I linked your thread in the contest list and will follow your AAR :)
 
Most interesting project, personally I like the underdog nations and try to bring them to power. Will be interesting to keep an eye on this one. Do you plan to unite Italy?

Well the Pope is a little afraid of his neighbors and he doesnt really care much for army tech so going up against France or Austria might pose a problem. At the same time creating Italy isnt really something the Pope wants to do if it can be avoided, The Papal State is a much more appropriate name he thinks. Despite these obstacles the honor, prestige aswell as the power bound to the conquest of Italy does tempt the Pope.
You got Poped!

AAAAAAAAAAAGGGGGGGGGGHHHHHHHHHHHH I just got Poped

Exactly ^^
 
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Well done so far, nice first chapter :)

Do you have any allies? Whats the status of the rest of Italy?
 
Well done so far, nice first chapter :)

Do you have any allies? Whats the status of the rest of Italy?

The Pope is only allied to greece though its not likely they will ever provide any assistance whatsoever. Its only an alliance for cosmetic reasons.
S-P looks strong the Pope thinks and is at the same time under french influence. Two Sicilies are alone but also allied to Greece and they got a larger army than the Pope. The rest of Italy is looking rather weak and ripe for the picking however the Pope has noted that the population and strategic improtance of these countries arent as attractive besides that they are under the influence of Austria.
The Italian nations except the Pope have been rather passive these first 4 years. I dont even think they have been in any wars.

On a side note: I expect to post chapter 2 this evening. Its nearly done but I did not have the time yesterday to finish it yesterday.
 
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Hellz yeah- Er, heavens yeah? Hrmn. Hard to think of a appropriate - apopriate? choice of words here. But I'm totally interested in this! And think that some Mediterranean expansion might be in order - perhaps a North African villa, or some Ionian Island getaways?
 
Hellz yeah- Er, heavens yeah? Hrmn. Hard to think of a appropriate - apopriate? choice of words here. But I'm totally interested in this! And think that some Mediterranean expansion might be in order - perhaps a North African villa, or some Ionian Island getaways?

The Pope has something a little different in mind though i think you can call it an African villa.
 
Cool you built them up so fast. On my playthrough as them, two sicilies got me with tons of irregulars, which is way more than your inital army. The papal states is definitly not one for warfare.
 
Chapter 2: I'd like to Pope it! (1840-1848)

In Europe little has changed from 1836 to 1840 other than the Pope achieving Great Power status.

1940europe.jpg


To celebrate this new position the Pope declared a week of celebration. There were rivers of wine, oceans of fruit and all sorts of entertainment, but then the unlikely happened. A puppet show!
It was a puppet show about a country at the end of the world where a lion, a zebra and some funny animals were singing "I like to move it."

The song burned itself onto the Pope's mind and became an obsession. As the year of 1941 dawned the Pope woke up from his sleep and suddenly declared "I'd like to Pope it, Pope it." It would make as a great expansion as well as an opportunity to convert some heathens to the one true faith, he thought to himself. An expedition was equipped and now the newly constructed transport fleet came in handy as the Pope had hoped.

madagascars.jpg


The 5th February the expedition landed on an empty beach on the island at the end of the world known as Madagascar. As the expedition traveled further inland they were met with a fierce resistance which was knocked down in two bloody battles.

madagascarbattles.jpg


Soon after on the 3rd of August 1841 the southern half of Madagascar got Poped. The Influence of the Pope had begun to spread across the world and brought Korea and Sokota into the Papal Sphere.

soir.jpg


These two new markets provided large quantities of coal, iron, grain and cattle while also providing a large export market compared to The Papal State. However the State of Romagna did not benefit from this as it had not industrialized as fast as the other two states so the Pope built a Paper factory.

90paper.jpg


This was done because the Pope wanted to flood his new colony in brand new Bibles. An ingenious way to convert the population, he thought to himself. To hand out all these Bibles the Pope needed some sort of workforce. He got an idea, why not use the people who had sinned, they could be shipped to the new colony on Madagascar and hand out Bibles to repent.

80penalcolony.jpg


At the same time this would also increase the standing of the Pope over time and was therefore a very beneficial arrangement and thus the Papal Penal Colony was established.

Parallel to the Madagascan expedition the Pope launched a Botanic expedition as he saw it as a great way to gain prestige and as an opportunity to get a plant, a flower or some sort of vegetation named after him.

botanicexpedition.jpg


Unfortunately the expedition did not live up to the Pope's expectations. After some time he stopped receiving letters from the expedition and four years after their departure from Rome it was discovered that they had been eaten my cannibals. (fået den cruel fate)

During spring 1842 Idealism was completed and the Pope ordered the research department to continue on Experimental Railroads. After a little more than a year the department was done and began studying Ideological Thought. During this research The Papal State was hit by a potato blight causing the Pope to order the examination of possible Medicine, to cure this, when the development team could find space in their schedule.

80blight.jpg


After the blight had been knocked down the Pope looked to new expansion and found that a group of islands off the coast of Madagascar was belonging to the newly conquered state of Madagascar.

8080colony.jpg


“We can not let anyone claim these islands our country would lose face!” the pope exclaimed. Because of this a naval base was constructed in Toliara, and in September 1846 the Comoros islands were colonized.
The conquest of the northern part of Madagascar soon followed and the Pope's obsession faded as the rest of Madagascar was subdued and got Poped on January 30th 1948.

80madagascartaken.jpg


The Papal States had established a place in the sun and with this new land the population under Papal rule was now 1.4 million an increase of over 70%. It also led to the expansion of the armed forces by including an African army. The time for peace had come.
 
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Surely the prime goal of the Pope must be the liberation of the holy land. Seizing Palestine from the evil Egyptians should be well within the power of the Pope.
 
Surely the prime goal of the Pope must be the liberation of the holy land. Seizing Palestine from the evil Egyptians should be well within the power of the Pope.

The Pope had not thought about that and sometime in the future (where im now in my game) it is not possible however the Pope actually did have a slight intention of liberating the state of Israel in the future however the idea of conquest will be analysed by the Pope.
 
The Pope had not thought about that and sometime in the future (where im now in my game) it is not possible however the Pope actually did have a slight intention of liberating the state of Israel in the future however the idea of conquest will be analysed by the Pope.

Well, declaring war on uncivilized countries like the evil egyptians does not cause that much uneasy within the other european powers, juts 4 infamy I believe.
 
Thank you for the second chapter! :)

Now... Madagascar... i wouldnt ever have thought of that, interresting :D
 
Well, declaring war on uncivilized countries like the evil egyptians does not cause that much uneasy within the other european powers, juts 4 infamy I believe.

Yeah thats true however im in 1886 game wise at the moment and 2 years past the Pope got Egypt in his Papal Sphere which in hindsight was a really bad move expansion wise. So i have been wondering about redoing my latest years of play however i have not seen where the last save is :)

You just got poped:rofl:
This is the best catch phrase I have ever heard:p

I kinda like it myself too

Yo're poping rather well.

the first years went pretty smooth and better than i had hoped. Too bad the Pope has to wait for his infamy to go down.

Thank you for the second chapter! :)

Now... Madagascar... i wouldnt ever have thought of that, interresting :D

Actually they are quite nice, nearly 600.000 in population for only 12 infamy though quite far away as ships have to sail back just after they have unloaded the troops to survive.