A Venice Divine Wind 5.1 AAR

[diegoami]

Intermezzo : The rise of Netherlands (5) 1510-1518

In August 1510, this was the situation in Eastern Europe

In October 1511, the Netherlands had occupied Podolia and was colonizing it. The Golden Horde stacks were nowhere to be seen.

By September 1512, Podolia has become a Dutch province.

But on the mainland, the Dutch were having serious rebel problems.

Which by November 1514 had become unmanageable.

In fact, War Exhaustion was running very high, almost at 20%

But in the Eastern provinces, rebels were still manageable.

The Dutch had sent most of their troops to fight the Golden Horde. Spain and Poland were there too. Spain was involved because of the PU with Muscowy.

A bigger map in November 1514.

By October 1515, the rebel situation was desperate. The mainland was overrun with rebels.

While the expansion against the Golden Horde was continuing. Poltava and Bessarabia were being colonized at the moment.

But by May 1517, the rebels had crossed into Burgundy, allowing the Dutch to recover the lost provinces.

In fact, Burgundy was having even more bigger problems with rebels. They had been soundly beaten by the British several times.

In September 1518, this was the situation in Eastern Europe. Only the Netherlands, Novgorod and Smolensk are actually expanding into the Golden Horde territories. Poland was out of the race because of their war with Bohemia. Spain was never in the race because they had no direct borders. Smolensk and Novgorod are not very effective.

 

[diegoami]

Intermezzo : The rise of Netherlands (6) 1518-1533

But in September 1518, the Netherlands are also at war with Denmark, who wanted to reconquest Ösel. This time the TO is fighting on the same side as the Dutch.
Denmark has the biggest army, but it is useless without a navy, which has been probably destroyed by the Dutch.

In February 1520, the TO is out the war, and it is up to the Netherlands to occupy the Danish provinces on the continent.

In October 1520, the war score is at 29%.

In June 1521, there are no rebels left on the Mainland, also with some help from Oldenburg, ally in this war.

In December 1521, Poltava becomes a Dutch province.

The War Exhaustion is still very high, around 20%, and the Netherlands has to deal with rebels as well.

In May 1523, the Netherlands is occupying provinces from Bulgaria to Kursk.

In March 1524, the war is over. Kurland and Ostpreussen are now Dutch provinces.

But the dutch economy is very poor, they are minting like crazy and they have no merchants. They have very high infamy.

In March 1526, the rebel problem has not been tackled yet.

By November 1528, the inevitable happened. Brabant had seceded from the Netherlands.

But not all news were bad. Kharkov and Cherson had been successfully colonized and had become Dutch provinces.

Regrettably, the economy was still bad. Inflation was at 10% and War Exhaustion at 9 %.
These are The Netherlands' NIs.

By January 1531, the situation in the mainland had become dramatic. Oldenburg and Brabant were unchallenged.

The Dutch armies seemed undaunted and were fighting the Golden Horde. Bessarabia and Kursk had become Dutch provinces.

Danzig had declared independence and was lost.

By July 1532, the situation on the mainland had worsened.

But a major stack is now in Ostpreussen, maybe some troops will go back to the mainland.

In fact in January 1533, a 12k stack is in Zeeland. Will they manage to tackle the rebels and the invaders on their own ?

No other help can be expected in the near term. The other two armies are too enthusiastic about fighting the Golden Horde.

 

[diegoami]

Intermezzo : The rise of Netherlands (7) 1533-1547

Well, at least they have a good general, 6/4
War score is at -16%

By November 1533, another stack has popped up and the history tells us that there have been two battles. War score is at -9%

The Netherlands have decided to tackle the rebel problem before taking on the Golden Horde.

In July 1535, only the Dutch have troops in the Netherlands. There have been some battles, some won, some lost, but the end result is that the Netherlands have some troops and their enemies none.
War score is 40% .

The Netherlands can go back to the Horde territory and do what they like most. Meanhwile, Smolensk has colonized Voronezh.

Meanwhile, in December 1535, both Brabant and Oldenburg have been annexed.

In March 1539, War Exhaustion is back to 0.00

In February 1541, Zaporozhe becomes a dutch province.

In October 1542, it is Cherkassk who has been colonized.

The Netherlands own a COT in Breda - it looks like it is the only COT where they are trading.

But why isn't Novgorod in the race ? Oh, they have a truuuuuce.

Smolensk is still at war with the Horde, but their troops are nowhere to be seen

In April 1547, the Netherlands are colonizing most neighboring provinces and are getting 2.65 colonists a year....

They are reformed, and are busy converting the provinces who belong to other faiths.

They are allied to Bavaria and Würzburg.

Their military tradition is ok, and they have decent generals. The AI does not hoard military tradition and almost never sends an army into the field without a general. Not a bad strategy.

Technologically they are doing ok, but 13% inflation must hurt.

Their mission is "Colonize North America". Well, good luck with that !

 

[TonyJoe]

What a great history. I was wondering how they got so involved with the Russian Steppes. It'll be interesting to see how far they go.

 

[Rendap]

As long as they don't interfere in the workings of Venice, I'll be cheering them on!

 

[unmerged(58610)]

That was quite a rollercoaster ride for the Netherlands. Their mission could make them your rivals.

 

[Ricardo Rolo]

That is quite a bumpy ride for the Dutch, that even included Netherlands annexing Holland Quite epic, but also still not resolved at all: 13% inflation should really hurt and that corridor from the baltic to the Ukranian Netherland is highly prone to cuts from Bohemia or any of the Russian principates . Well they still have a lot of horde land to the east so they might end going up to the Ming border

Now let's resume the scheduled show

 

[diegoami]

Well, I hope you enjoyed the "intermezzo" Thank you everybody for the feedback.

Now back to Venice...

 

[diegoami]

1547-1549 : Meet the Big V

Now, Spain had been defeated several times. They lost a lot prestige, so they are unlikely to be able to claim the title of defender of the faith anytime soon.
First Savoy and then the Hansa claimed the title. We do then now. We get the Casus Belli against all Infidels.

We have turned the colonies we seized in the previous war to Lombard, now there are some more to assimilate. This is a cultural map of America.

Nav Tech 18 is researched. Meanwhile we accomplish another mission, colonize Patagonia Oriental.

We then have to build a level 2 fort in Pisa. We get a new doge, but we should have kept the previous one.

Great Britan breaks our long-standing Iron Trade Rights treaty.
Never mind, we are going to take it on the big V. That's the reason we got the tile of the Defender of the Faith in the first place.

At first we wanted just to declare war on Ceylon, but Vijayanagar is defender of the Hindu faith and we might as well try and grab some provinces from them too.
Their troops are nowhere to be seen. Probably because they are at war with the Timurids.

War is declared on Ceylon and on the big V. Allies are not called to arms, I don't need them to circumnavigate Africa on their galleys - they are much more useful in Europe.
V's fleet is conveniently lured outside of the port and we can engage and beat it.

A second engagement has the same result as the first and some other ships are sunk.
Our troops land in Ceylon. We'll annex the island first and then tackle the big V .

Meanwhile a fort 2 is built in Pisa and we get the next mission, to colonize Taqamkuk.
In October 1548, Ceylon is occupied and can be annexed for 2 infamy.

But for the East Indian Trade Route, which is not the same as the East Indian Trade Company, I need to hold either Dardra or Muscat.

Other troops land in India and they will work their way from South to North. V's troops are nowhere to be seen.

Meanwhile, Taqamkuk is successfully colonized and we can move on to the next mission, Vassalize Navarra. Do I have a border with them ?

Whatever. I declare war on them, the troops in Europe and the vassals should be able to deal with them.
We find out why we got that mission. We do have a border with Navarra, in Africa. Sierra Leone belongs to Navarra and they are about to grab our colony Grain Coast. Luckily our reinforcements should come in time.

Our troops number in the 230k now. and we have 230 ships. How fitting !
By September 1549, most of Southern India is occupied.

Obviously, Navarra has a level 2 fort, so taking it will take a while. Regrettably we are taking attrition there.

 

[diegoami]

1549-1551 : New provinces in India and Navarra is vassalized

In March 1550 we occupy Sierra Leone.

The Hansa has been winning wars lately and getting prestige. Something has to be done about that. We excommunicate them, to make sure they don't get too cocky and steal our title of DoTF.
Actually, we even declare war on them. Also to distract our vassals, who otherwise dogpile on Navarra and are already taking a lot of attrition there in the capital.

We have an Asian battle fleet and an European battle fleet. The European fleet, led by our other admiral, engages the Hansa's fleet. Our transport fleets will help if needed. A "battle fleet" is a 30 caravel fleet, a "transport fleet" has 6/7 caravels and 6/7 flytes, and a "patrol fleet" (for blockade, pirates and luring) has 1-3 barques (or carracks, that I might get rid of).

What I feared happens. Great Britain declares war on the big V. Are they aware of what this is going to lead to eventually ?

Anyway, a first Hansa fleet is sunk.

Hansa's ports are blockaded and they are in dire straits. They lost some battles and some prestige. Our allies have landed some troops, but we are not planning an invasion.
I let them get away with 700 ducats, which is not too shabby. They should not be able to claim the title of DoTF for a while.

Meanwhile, after founding a couple of colonies, North America is connected to South America.

In South America some colonies have yet to be founded till you can walk from Argentina to Canada always treading on Venetian soil.

The situation in India in January 1551. I am about to take Dadra, who is my main war goal.

In February 1551, Navarra has fallen. Dadra is also occupied.
It is time to peace everything. First we expand our sphere, and then we peace the big V. We could have gotten more, but we are curious to find out whether they can hold their own against the British. They do have some stacks left.

Navarra is also peaced and becomes a vassal, alongs with a 775 dowry. And we lose 2 infamy.

Next mission will be to establish Venice in the Spice Islands, that is Indonesia.

And the East Indian Trade Route is opened. We get a 20% Trade Income Bonus.

So this is how it looks like in India after our first holy war against the Hindu.

 

[diegoami]

1551-1552 : A test run in Spain

Meanwhile, the situation in Europe has hardly changed. Only the Netherlands have expanded further east.

I have scuttled some carracks and cogs, and all of the galleys, but I am still over the force limit.

In August 1551, our ally Syria calls us to arms. It will be a phony war for us.

Since we are at war anyway, we decide to start a "test" war against Spain. There is no objective, just to test out whether we can harass the Spaniards using Granada and Navarra as springboard.

We have probably too few troops in Navarra.

We really would like the Ottomans to get Bursa back. Our long term, of course, is achieving the Bosphorus sound toll. In fact, the Ottomans declare war against Spain as well.

We get another doge, but he is even worse than the old one.

On sea, we are unrivalled, but on the Spanish mainland we are outnumbered.

Our troops may just be enough to hold the ground in Navarra.

Still, we are not going anywhere, and we just make a quick peace. It is obvious that an invasion requires a much bigger effort. But for five years Spain cannot declare war and our hands are free.

Meanwhile, South America is becoming more connected. It is now possible to walk from Brazil and Peru to Canada. We need just three or four more colonies to reach Terra del Fuego.

Most of the cores we got are on our vassals. I am actually planning to diplo-annex Byzantium, since their armies are more a liability than a help. They are in the Eastern group, so their technology will never be great. And we have a core on Macedonia, while Morea (the province) can be ceded to Morea (the country)

But we have a core on Mozambique as well. Cores are gifts from God, and should not be ignored. That's why we declare war on Yemen, calling our allies to arms. Syria, our allies, is protecting them, but they will have to choose. We assume most of the Muslim countries won't actually join the war, they are already at war with Spain.

But we were wrong. We didn't expect all these countries to actually enter the war. Never mind, Venice can handle that. And Syria is at our side, so it's all good.

 

[diegoami]

1552 : The conquest of Mozambique

We invade Mozambique.

We engage the Algerian fleet in the Coast of Morocco.

As the Ottomans also to have to fight our Turkish vassals and Candar, they are the first to chicken out.

It turns out we underestimated Oman's navy. We don't have enough ships in the Indian Ocean. We will have to send reinforcements.

Meanwhile, we white peace Algeria. We destroy Fez's navy in the Mediterranean. We are fighting Fez's land troops in Morocco in Ceuta.

We white peace Fez too. In the Coast of Pepper, we scrap together some reenforcements out of the patrols we had there and they come on time. Oman's fleet is defeated.

The Mameluks are at war too, but they won't white peace, so we try and raise the war score with them in Judea.

Meanwhile, in May 1552, Mozambique falls.

The Mecca is attacked as well. Luckily we had reenforced our garrison there, we were expecting an attack there.

The Mameluks accept a white peace. The Oman offers one too, but we refuse, we take the back to their countries as well. It is only way to reach Yemen's mainland, who has no access to the sea.

Nav Tech 19 is researched. Meanwhile, a nice event hits us. We gain 1285 ducats.

Anyway, in October 1552, at last Yemen is ready to negotiate and cedes Mozambique.

We are fixated on Oman's stack and followed it all the way to Aden, in Adal. Meanwhile, we white peace Iraq, who was actually fighting Syria.

Why are we staying in this war ? I don't know actually. The war leader, Sokoto, offers us a white peace and we accept. In November 1552 the war is over.

It is about time we fulfill our mission. We set our sights on Sumatra, namely on Champa, who is Buddhist and will not prompt intervention by Syria, defender of the Sunni faith.

In December 1552, we declare war on Champas.

 

[vasziljevics]

being a trader nation Oman always has surprisingly large navies (with surprisingly good tech level too) good thing you have reinforcements in the region!

though I am not familiar with that mission I get that it requires to own a province in Indonesia, right? are there any other requirements?

 

[diegoami]

being a trader nation Oman always has surprisingly large navies (with surprisingly good tech level too) good thing you have reinforcements in the region!

though I am not familiar with that mission I get that it requires to own a province in Indonesia, right? are there any other requirements?

No, you just need to own a province in Indonesia.

 

[diegoami]

1553-1555 : A province in the Spice islands

One advisor dies and we replace it with another 4-star one. We cannot afford spending magistrates on culture at the moment.

Just as we are about to reach Sumatra, Malacca kicks Champas out of the island. Well, we will soon declare war on Malacca then, even if they are Sunni. Syria will be at our side, I guess.
Meanwhile, in May 1553, all of South America is connected. You can walk from Canada to Argentina treading on Venetian soil.

We therefore peace the Champas. The Netherlands keep on expanding to the East.

In July 1553, we declare war on Malacca.

Regrettably, the dumb Syrians join Malacca's side instead of our side.
That puts some strain on our enclave in Judea. We will have to solidify our position there sooner or later.
Anyway, Syria's army cannot match Venice's army.

After Syria's army is wiped out, we then occupy some provinces to keep them out of the war. Now that they are our enemies, they will be dealt with in a separate war.

Meanwhile, we make a landfall in Aceh and take it.

We would like to fulfill our mission as soon as possible. After adding Navarra to our sphere of influence, Malacca has to cede Aceh in October 1553.

We therefore gain 10 prestige and fulfill our mission. We are then told to colonize Flores.

Another Syrian stack is wiped out in Damascus.

We occupy some provinces, that regrettably have an high infamy cost. So Syria is peaced.

In July 1554, we diplo-annex Byzantium. We have a core on Macedonia. As I wrote, we are working our way towards the Bosphorus Sound Toll.
Then we cede Morea to ....Morea.

In August 1554, we decree a "Commedia dell'Arte" performance.
While a colonist is travelling to Flores, we find out that Adal is the biggest slave trader in the world. For our huge colonial empire, we need more slaves, and the global tariffs bonus.

In December 1554, Flores is successfully colonized. We get then another mission, conquer Bosnia.

We immediately declare war on them. They are allied with Austria and Wallachia. Our vassals should be able to handle that. Wallachia is one ally of ours and is "likely" to join a war.

Wallachia, in fact, joins our side. We have no troops in Europe, that's something that might happen when you are involved in wars all over the world. The Austrian stack is unchallenged, but that will prompt my Austrian vassals to retreat their troops who are chilling in the Balkans. Austria is the war leader. Transylvania joins the war as well, but they are attacked by Hungary soon after that.

In February 1555, Bavaria joins the war as well. They have a 20k stack. That is annoying, I will need to scrap together some troops from all over the world. I am not worried, I have level 2 forts in Italy. Bavaria becomes the war leader.

In the Balkans, my allies are taking care of seiging Bosnia.

But in March 1555, the Netherlands honour their alliance with Bavaria and join the war. They are now the war leader.

Oh.

 

[vasziljevics]

good old cascading alliances it seems you will actually have to do something in this war though I bet the Dutch are busy on the Steppes - they might have some WE already. well, we will see about that soon enough!

 

[unmerged(58610)]

You found a way to fight the Netherlands rather quickly. I think you jumped rather too soon over Bosnia. It'll be a while before you get troops back there -from Judea. On the plus side you get to fight the Dutch fleet. Annexing Byzantim and selling Mores-I don't know. What's next, a move of Capital?

Shame about Burgas defecting to or being taken by Spain. I'm sure you'll annex Bosnia.

 

[diegoami]

You found a way to fight the Netherlands rather quickly. I think you jumped rather too soon over Bosnia. It'll be a while before you get troops back there -from Judea. On the plus side you get to fight the Dutch fleet. Annexing Byzantim and selling Mores-I don't know. What's next, a move of Capital?

Shame about Burgas defecting to or being taken by Spain. I'm sure you'll annex Bosnia.

No, i am trying to get the Black Sea Trade bonus and Morea had a core on Morea. I know I wasn't that smart there with Bosnia.

 

[diegoami]

1555 : The conquest of Bosnia

At least on paper, it does not look bad, but I have very few troops in Italy.

In April 1555, we became the papal controller. That comes at a good time, but both the Netherlands and Bavaria aren't catholic any longer. So we excommunicate Austria.

One fleet of ours was patroling the Straits of Gibraltar and was waiting for reinforcement. We win a naval battle against the Netherlands, probably because of our kick-ass admiral.

Meanwhile, in the Alps, we are outnumbered.

At least we can take Transylvania out of the war, which our vassals had invaded.

The Netherlands have two big stacks, which they have sent into Transylvania and Moldavia. Moldavia is our ally in this war, but he may ended up vassalized or annexed by the Netherlands.

Meanwhile Bosnia has fallen and can be annexed. Mission Accomplished.

Meanwhile, in Salzburg, we have challenged the Bavarian stack, getting a terrain malus though

Our next mission is blockade Kouban, who belongs to the Netherlands. Actually, a full blockade on the Netherlands is a good idea, maybe they will negotiate.

We had sent a battle fleet to the Netherlands and now we will send another into the Black sea.

The battle of Salzburg is won, but with high losses.

Big Bad Netherlands.

In September 1555, we are blockading the Dutch ports in the Black Sea and we accomplish the mission.

Our next mission will be to vassalize Transylvania. That will have to wait some years, since we have a truce with them.

In September 1555, the inevitable happens. Wallachia capitulates and becomes a vassal of the Netherlands, ceding also a province in the process, Budjak.

Our new doge is half-decent, anyway better than the previous one.

Because of the election, our army in Bavaria is leaderless and is defeated in Niederbayern.

This is the wrong war, at the wrong time, against the wrong enemy. I have enough.
We white peace the Netherlands. The war is over.

We conquered Bosnia, but the Netherlands have gotten stronger as well. They conquered Budjak and vassalized Moldawia. That might come back to haunt us.

 

[blsteen]

That is some honkin' big Netherlands...
Venice seems to have the America's locked up and well on its way to dominance in the South and East Asia.