Alright, I got a bit head of my AAR (went through three turns) so I'm going to try to catch up right now.
Alright, it's 1463 and time to leave Novgorod for the perhaps inaptly named "Serene Republic" of Venice. The first thing I notice is that Venice has more people than all the terriorites of Novgorod put together. Hmmm...this might be a more uneven pair tha I thought.
The next thing I notice is that the AI actually did a pretty good job. Stability is positive at +1. Inflation is low, and although no gains were made from that beginning war with Milan, they did manage to conquer Bosnia and Corfu. The AI chose Church Attendance Day for its first NI. Not exactly my first choice, but the greatly reduce stab costs will help in a campaign in which I'll have to be aggressive and start a fair amount of wars.
I'm impressed by 2.1 so far, especially after the horror stories of Storey's multi-faction campaign, where the AI tended to make a mess of things.
Since an early war put Novgorod so far ahead, I figure it will do for Venice as well. I DOW Mantua, conveniently dragging their larger and more strategically important neighbor Modena into the war. My ally Switzerland bails on me and cancels our alliance, but Sicily stays in, contributing a grand total of 0 troops to the campaign.
The first, and as it turns out most decisive, battle takes place in Verona, where Mantua ends up losing some 2300 troops to my 40 thanks to the efforts of General Carlo Zustiani. The rest is just mopping up.
Mantua is annexed, and Modena forced to cede Ferrara, pay a 50 Ducat indemnity, and to become a vassal of Venice.
Venice is catching up!
At this point I take a look at my advisors, and notice that I am paying about 1.0 ducats per month for Theologians. I guess some things don't change. I sack them and hire some better advisors, mostly stab increasing ones since pickings are slim.
There's not much to do after this but invest in productions for workshops and get my stability up, so I take a look at some other countries on the map. I'm a bit worried when I see that Novgorod is at war with Pskov and the Teutonic Order, and after I spent so much money bribing better relations with the latter. However, it appears that the Order was weakened in wars with Poland and Lithuania, and they fold quickly, alowing AI Novgorod to annex Pskov.
Austria fights an indcisive war against the Ottomans, and does a pretty good job at keeping them from being a worry for me. This is especially nice as Hungary pretty much rolled over when he Ottomans attacked them. When 1473 comes long, Venice is looking stronger than ever and is constructing workshops in all provinces.
Alright, it's 1463 and time to leave Novgorod for the perhaps inaptly named "Serene Republic" of Venice. The first thing I notice is that Venice has more people than all the terriorites of Novgorod put together. Hmmm...this might be a more uneven pair tha I thought.
The next thing I notice is that the AI actually did a pretty good job. Stability is positive at +1. Inflation is low, and although no gains were made from that beginning war with Milan, they did manage to conquer Bosnia and Corfu. The AI chose Church Attendance Day for its first NI. Not exactly my first choice, but the greatly reduce stab costs will help in a campaign in which I'll have to be aggressive and start a fair amount of wars.
I'm impressed by 2.1 so far, especially after the horror stories of Storey's multi-faction campaign, where the AI tended to make a mess of things.
Since an early war put Novgorod so far ahead, I figure it will do for Venice as well. I DOW Mantua, conveniently dragging their larger and more strategically important neighbor Modena into the war. My ally Switzerland bails on me and cancels our alliance, but Sicily stays in, contributing a grand total of 0 troops to the campaign.
The first, and as it turns out most decisive, battle takes place in Verona, where Mantua ends up losing some 2300 troops to my 40 thanks to the efforts of General Carlo Zustiani. The rest is just mopping up.
Mantua is annexed, and Modena forced to cede Ferrara, pay a 50 Ducat indemnity, and to become a vassal of Venice.
Venice is catching up!
At this point I take a look at my advisors, and notice that I am paying about 1.0 ducats per month for Theologians. I guess some things don't change. I sack them and hire some better advisors, mostly stab increasing ones since pickings are slim.
There's not much to do after this but invest in productions for workshops and get my stability up, so I take a look at some other countries on the map. I'm a bit worried when I see that Novgorod is at war with Pskov and the Teutonic Order, and after I spent so much money bribing better relations with the latter. However, it appears that the Order was weakened in wars with Poland and Lithuania, and they fold quickly, alowing AI Novgorod to annex Pskov.
Austria fights an indcisive war against the Ottomans, and does a pretty good job at keeping them from being a worry for me. This is especially nice as Hungary pretty much rolled over when he Ottomans attacked them. When 1473 comes long, Venice is looking stronger than ever and is constructing workshops in all provinces.