A Venice Divine Wind 5.1 AAR

[diegoami]

Considering that boundary disputes and conquest missions can't fire on the Papal State, it seems clear enough. I'm not sure about the vassalization mission though, that might possible?

Hrmm... I vassalized the Papal State with a mission. But ok, if I get a core on Siena, either through a border dispute or a mission, then forming Italy will become our top priority.

 

[diegoami]

1586-1588 : The vassalization of Moldavia and three other provinces

We check our todo list and we find this entry : Annex the Ottomans. Because of the Bosphorus Sound Toll and we call our ally to arms.

This is the diplomatic map after the war declaration. The treacherous Karaman, who was our ally, becomes our enemy.

Regrettably, our ally Candar starts the siege in Yazgod before us. We have to deal with Karaman as well.

We declare war on Deccan as well.

We defeat the Turks in Bursa, but somehow, it is very expensive. Meanwhile, we get the Crusade effect.

We gain some bonus in research because of the printing press. At last, we rout the Turks in Anatolia.

We peace the Karaman, and the Oman in the nick of time, just as they are about to destroy our stack in Mecca. Oman is now occupying almost all of the Arabian Peninsula and should be cut down to size.

We have to be content with Angora, in the next war I need to be much more brutal, and grab provinces in Anatolia like there is no tomorrow. We should declare war on Ottomans, Dulkadir, Karaman and Adana at the same time, annex them and this way connect Jerusalem to Venice.

The Dulkadir army is wiped out and soon after that we peace them as well.

Nootka is successfully colonized and we get the next mission - vassalize Moldavia. We are allied to them and we cannot cancel the alliance right now because they are at war with Gujarat - a war we dragged them into. They are allied to Novgorod, which is bad - we are in their trade league.
In June 1587, we get two provinces from Deccan and we connect at last our provinces in India. Our missionaries can get busy. We should probably quicken the pace, the EU clock is ticking and the year 1650 isn't that far away.

India and Europe in June 1587.

Scotland also breaks alliance with us. Will France do that too ?
We diploannex Morea - we had a core on Janina and Morea is not very useful as a vassal. Cores are gifts from God, you know...

The Spanish are colonizing in Asia now - they have taken Taiwan - oh well.

Well, we declare war on Moldavia then. And we get a boundary dispute on Burgas, which belongs to Spain. We know who we will fight in the next war, I guess.

In January 1588, Moldawia is vassalized and we lose 2 infamy.

Next mission will be colonize Chumash, on the Pacific coast.

Ouch, Moldavia was allied with Novgorod, and we were at war with them. They break the Trade League Compact, and I guess we will lose our Trade Stations. Well, the age of Merchants is over.

 

[vasziljevics]

Considering that boundary disputes and conquest missions can't fire on the Papal State, it seems clear enough. I'm not sure about the vassalization mission though, that might possible?

well once I've had a game when HRE Bohemia (which managed to get cores on Pisa and Siena from Milan) attacked the Pope with 'Conquest' CB every five years or so - I checked and they indeed had the 'Conquer Rome' mission so I'm not sure about this. though I've read somewhere that the Catholic (Christian?) AI is coded NOT to take Rome in peace deals so probably that's why Bohemia was stuck with continuously declaring war on the Pope yet gain nothing from the wars.

 

[Malurous]

That's one way to deal with the trade league issue re: Novgorod - just fight them and get it over with.

well once I've had a game when HRE Bohemia (which managed to get cores on Pisa and Siena from Milan) attacked the Pope with 'Conquest' CB every five years or so - I checked and they indeed had the 'Conquer Rome' mission so I'm not sure about this. though I've read somewhere that the Catholic (Christian?) AI is coded NOT to take Rome in peace deals so probably that's why Bohemia was stuck with continuously declaring war on the Pope yet gain nothing from the wars.

Hmm, interesting. Do you know/remember if they had a core on Rome already? I can't think of a conquest mission that can fire for a non-core Rome.

 

[unmerged(58610)]

France probably will break its alliance with you. If you DoW GB first, they'll join you, so try to grab some colonies. France will probably back you against Spain, too.

If you can use Holy War against Algiers and Bulgaria,you could do so next time you square off against the Ottomans and add in the Karamon as well. Candar is proving more of a hindrance than a help. If it's a christianvassal look to diploannex. If an ally, release so you can holy war them. Same goes for Teke and Mentese. You can always "lose" a war with Oman to end vassalage with all three. Triploi, too, if it's muslim.

When you've grabbed the Spanish colonies and that portuguese one in Canada, you could take Alexandria off Spain in peace. I don't think you'll be able to take Andalucia as well.

Shame about the lost trade stations with Novgorod and you're making good progress in India.

 

[diegoami]

1589-1590 : The 8th (I think) war with Spain

Thanks for the feedback Chief Ragusa, there is definitely no shortage of targets.

In fact, after a while, we get notified that the trade stations are closed. Good riddance!
As a compensation, we get a bountiful harvest and 2487 ducats.

Nazca is greatest COT in the game, worth around 1800 ducats. The national focus is moved to Itamarac, to create a COT there. The Falklands have just been reached by the spread of discovery and belong to Spain and are a city.

Chumas is succesfully colonized, and the next mission is build a refinery in Antigua. It is immediately queued.

By April 1589, we close the technological gap with Spain and have Naval and Land Tech 22. We can now build Caracole Cavalry, which are marginally better than our Muslim cavalry.
Münster defects to the Papal state and Finistere to Brittany.

In May 1589, we declare war on Spain with the Reconquest Casus Belli (Burgas). We declare war on Gukwar (Surat), in India, and on the Huron.
Not all allies are called to arms, notably France and Navarra are kept out of the war.

We win some naval battles, otherwise the war is without surprises. We have an additional border with Spain, in Ethiopia.

The first major naval engagement is on the Zanzibar Strait. Soon after that Portugal is peaced and they pay 225 ducats.

We challenge and beat the Spaniards in Delta. For some reason battles with Spain always end up with bloodbaths.

We punish their fleet for that.

We reelected our doge. Meanwhile, we go on a seizing spree in Asia. We expand in the Philippines and seize Taiwan.

In December 1589, Gukwar is annexed. Short after that, we peace Deccan who were allied with them in this war.

In March 1590, we peace the Huron as well for four provinces. Our missionaries will be busy.

Like in the previous wars, we blockade Spain but we don't try invading - they have almost 80k troops in the mainland and we know how tough the Spaniards can be.

Anyway, after some pingponging, their stack in Egypt is wiped out.

By July 1590, there are no colonies left to grab in Asia. What little is left are cities.
Spain is peaced. Our CB allows us only to demand Burgas.

This is the situation in Asia after the 8th (I think) war with Spain.

 

[PrawnStar]

Releasing Ryukyu made me laugh

 

[vasziljevics]

We challenge and beat the Spaniards in Delta. For some reason battles with Spain always end up with bloodbaths.

maybe the number of cavalry on their side has something to do with that? though it's just my guess...

 

[diegoami]

maybe the number of cavalry on their side has something to do with that? though it's just my guess...

Yeah, I suspect that too. I have too little cavalry, because I recruited it only in the Muslim provinces. But now that there is Caracole Cavalry it will have to change

 

[diegoami]

1590-1591 : Second war with Great Britain (1)

So, what next ? War with Britain, I guess. But before that, let's try and get a border with their colonies in Asia. We declare war on Vijanagar.

We sure fought a lot of wars in the last years - here is my truce list. This is only going to get worse.
I have reached a point where I can be at full maintenance without minting and without war taxes - so there is no justification for being at peace.

In October 1590, we declare war on Great Britain. The Netherlands don't join this time because they haven't solved their problems yet. This will be easy. All allies are called to arms, including France.

Shortly after that, we peace Vijanagar for Malwa and Baroda - and we get a border with GB in India as well.

The British haven't recovered from their last war. This is their navy - nothing else.

Of course, we march into their colonies in North America - that's the Casus Belli, by the way. They aren't protecting their (heretic) churches from the savages, we can't tolerate that, you know.

A border with the other British colonies would not be bad, for that, we need to invade the country of Rajputana. We declare war on them too.

The British main stack is in Ireland, as they recently crushed the Irish rebels. But that means that England is defenceless and we invade it using Wales as a springboard - we still have military access, even if they broke the alliance with us.

Meanwhile, have a look at our colonies on the Pacific in North America.

The few possessions the British have in continental Europe are taken care of. Armor by this time has defected to Brittany as well.

By September 1591, we have dealt with Rajputana and we peace them for four provinces : Jaisalmea, Jodapur, Thai and Udaipur. Our missionaries will do some overtime.

Our infamy is now 9.7 and I am losing 2 infamy a year - I have six (!) cardinals and a 7 Diplomacy doge.

I also got a border with the Timurids and the Chagatai, But Persia and Baluchistan seem to be having all the fun.

This is Europe in October 1591. England is being seiged, and the Netherlands haven't solved their Brabant problem yet.

They seem to care only about the Far East.

 

[diegoami]

1591-1592 : Second war with Great Britain (2)

We whitepeace Finland. As the enemy of our enemies are our friends, we finance the Brabant with generous war subsidies. We finance Brittany as well, who is also at war with the Netherlands.

Because of an event, we lose 1 stability and gain 1 offensive.
Meanwhile, our conquestador explores China - Marco Polo would be proud of him !

We deal with the British stack in Sweden as well.

Meanwhile England is all occupied, and we try and deal with the British stack in Ireland as well.

In September 1592, France peaces Britain for Cambrai. They also got Toulouse in another war, and seem keen on getting Provence. Hrmmmm....

Meanwhile, we have managed to occupy a couple of bordering nomad provinces.

The battles in Ireland are inconclusive and costly.

In North America, we advanced and the colony we are interested in has been successfully assaulted a while ago.

In December 1592, we make peace with Great Britain. They relase Tyrone, Lothian and give up some cores, the usual stuff. And they cede three colonies. They have been kicked out of Asia. Their main army is stuck in Ireland, they have no navy, they have high war exhaustion. They will struggle not to collapse in the next years.

We have a missionaries bottleneck. But luckily, we can pass the "Act of Uniformity" edict, to get some more. There is also a "De Heretico Contribuendo" edict, but it would cost 5% stability for 0.5 missionaries. I am not sure about that.

So this is India after the war.

And this is Europe

 

[unmerged(58610)]

Another good set of wars against Spain and Great Britain. You gave yourself a few more targets, too. You've now time to tidy up the Med before the next rounds with Spain and GB

 

[diegoami]

1592-1594 : Bosphorus Sound Toll

Great Britain disbands their army in Ireland, since it cannot be transported to their mainland.
They have no army and no navy now.
France calls us to arms against Provence. The war ends quickly with the release of Avignon

We pass the "De Heretico Contribuendo Act" for 0.50 missionaries and -5 stability.
We have some serious conquering to do. In fact, in April 1593, we declare war on the Ottomans, Karaman, Dulkadir and Ramazan at thes same time, calling our allies to arms. We make sure we arrive first in the provinces that interest us.

Persia, as a defender of the Sunni faith, joins the war as well.
It is a lot of enemies, but compared to us, they are very weak by now.
The war goes as planned, apart from a lost minor naval engagement with Oman.

Actually, our only real constraint is infamy. Our economy is so good we don't even need to mint or raise war taxes to have a positive monthly balance. We can afford using all our magistrates for improvements. Our armies and navies are huge. Our manpower is not infinite, though.
Meanwhile, Scotland and Wales have declared war on Great Britain. We finance them with generous war subsidies.

We get a core on Tennessee through a Boundary Dispute. We reelect our doge. We declare war on Baluchistan as well, since they are occupying two Timurid provinces we are also interested in, and they have a COT, Kutch.

We peace the Haasa and the Mameluks. We destroy the Persian fleet while the Oman fleet is cowering in Muscat.

Algiers and Irak white peace as well. In December 1593, the Ottomans are annexed.

Soon after that, we are informed that the Bosphorus Sound Toll happened to us. 15% Trade Bonus are not to scoffed at.

Regrettably, we are at over 10 infamy and we cannot annex immediately the other countries. We want to annex Dulkadir, Ramazan and Karaman as well. We might have to get used at being at war all the time.
We are losing 2.0 infamy a year and ideally we could annex around 110 provinces through the Holy War CB till 1650, not including the provinces we could colonize. It might be a good idea to try and make the Netherlands and Persia collapse, so that the Hordes might come back in their territories.
Persia is whitepaced.

We come too late for Kohistan - by the time we are there, they have defected to Baluchistan and cannot be colonized.

Even fighting all the time, our war exhaustion stays low - 0.68 in January 1594

Having 3 nomad provinces at our borders gives us a nice colonists bonus - We get 3.39 colonists a year.

Situation in February 1594 in the war theatres.

Adal is whitepeaced. In March 1594, the refinery in Antigua has been built. The next mission will be colonize Priangan, in Indonesia.

 

[Ricardo Rolo]

110 provinces up to 1650 ... May I suggest munching :

- India
- Southeast Asia ( not all of it , just the juiciest parts )
- China ( OFC the war score will be sky high in some areas, but it is worth it )

Anyway, against the Netherlands ( atleast the Kiev area is worth grabbing ) it is indeed advisable to try to collapse them ( unfortunately they seem too weak for stab hits ( if you could occupy their mainland things would be different ), but some cash spent in rebels should work as well ). But then again you will have other CBs grabbing those provinces even if you can't get the hordes up again ( they are still reformed, right ? ) .Anyway , munching Ak horde is mandatory ... before they do

P.S You shuld consider giving Wales and Scotland a hand when you can. They don't seem to be winning that war with GB ...

 

[vasziljevics]

agreed, the AI isn't that competent in waging war (I bet they let the British rebuild their armies) so helping the Scots and the Welsh would be a good idea.

on the other hand the Dutch seem to be locked in that war with Brabant for ever - did Brabant revolted from the Dutch? if so then they probably want to annex each other (for 0 infamy) and I think the Dutch cannot transport back an army large enough to take back their homeland. anyway I would not worry about the Dutch though cutting them into half (somewhere around Azow) is always a good strategy to cause great disorder in AI countries.

steady progress so far in the East too - now with an economy strong enough (and maybe without loans ) you can steamroll through the Heretics quite easily.

 

[diegoami]

110 provinces up to 1650 ... May I suggest munching :

- India
- Southeast Asia ( not all of it , just the juiciest parts )
- China ( OFC the war score will be sky high in some areas, but it is worth it )

Anyway, against the Netherlands ( atleast the Kiev area is worth grabbing ) it is indeed advisable to try to collapse them ( unfortunately they seem too weak for stab hits ( if you could occupy their mainland things would be different ), but some cash spent in rebels should work as well ). But then again you will have other CBs grabbing those provinces even if you can't get the hordes up again ( they are still reformed, right ? ) .Anyway , munching Ak horde is mandatory ... before they do

P.S You shuld consider giving Wales and Scotland a hand when you can. They don't seem to be winning that war with GB ...

110 is of course the unrealistic best-case scenario. India and China are of course my priorities, but I would like to sweep through Persia as well.
Of course there are other CBs on the Netherlands later on, but Holy war is very cheap - 1 infamy per province. Colonization in a Horde is 0 infamy.
Regrettably in my game Ak turns out not to be a horde, not sure why...
I wouldn't know what to do other than giving war subsidies to Wales and Scotland - we have a truce with Great Britain.

agreed, the AI isn't that competent in waging war (I bet they let the British rebuild their armies) so helping the Scots and the Welsh would be a good idea.

on the other hand the Dutch seem to be locked in that war with Brabant for ever - did Brabant revolted from the Dutch? if so then they probably want to annex each other (for 0 infamy) and I think the Dutch cannot transport back an army large enough to take back their homeland. anyway I would not worry about the Dutch though cutting them into half (somewhere around Azow) is always a good strategy to cause great disorder in AI countries.

steady progress so far in the East too - now with an economy strong enough (and maybe without loans ) you can steamroll through the Heretics quite easily.

The Brabant revolted and I am not worrying about the Netherlands - I would just like a infamy-free territory there - not sure if the Golden Horde would come back after a collapse.
Luckily, there are no loans left to pay

 

[diegoami]

1594-1595 : The annexation of Dulkadir

I forgot about showing North America after the war with the British.

Great Britain loses the war with Scotland and Wales, they have to cede a province to Scotland. That's ok with us. Great Britain has to be contained, not destroyed. This also mean I won't have to pay war subsidies to Scotland and Wales any more.

I am pretty proud of my economy. No inflation increase (I have a master of mint, though) and still a monthly positive balance. You can buy anything with money - but love.

Situation in India in June 1594.

We renew our subsidies to Brabant and Brittany - they are still at war with the Netherlands.

Oman is leader in the war we are fighting against Karaman, and as we are not sure what to do about that, we try and weaken them.

The battle ends with the destruction of the Oman army. After infiltrating Oman's administration we decide to occupy them and maybe make then release some country, but grabbing provinces will not be possible since we have not declared war on them.

Netherlands is struggling in the Baltics as well. Their provinces are occupied by Brittany. They have high war exhaustion. Maybe this would be a good time to attack them, but we still have no CB.

Maps of Asia and Europe in September 1594

We can spare some troops for a "real" war. My first idea is to attack Spain. Therefore, we ship some troops to France, who would help us in this war. After all, we need to find some outlet for France's aggressiveness. But as we are about to declare war, we find out we still have a truce - till July 1595.

Nevertheless, we declare war on the Cherokee to claim our core in Tennessee.

In January 1595, I assume our infamy is low enough and I annex Dulkadir. One of their provinces is Georgia, which has a direct border with the Netherlands. Therefore we get a casus Belli on the Netherlands. That's too bad, Netherlands.

Turns out 11.3 infamy is too much. Venice has a bad reputation. I broke my house rule, but I guess it can be forgiven because I didn't know the exact number.

I expected Ak Koyunlu to be a horde, instead I get just a Tribal Conquest CB on them - along with the Holy war. We put off this war until we have a border on Persia, defender of the Sunni faith.

Meanwhile, we conquer Tennessee and peace the Cherokee.
As the Karaman provinces are low priority and I want to finish the war with Oman, leader in the war, I make Karaman release ... the Ottomans, who occupy the same provinces. These provinces are not going anywhere and we gained another (short-term) ally.

Regrettably, there are no countries to release in Oman. We will get next to little peacing them. It is a pity, since we are about to take their capital.

By April 1595, we have switched priorities. War is declared on the Netherlands - calling all our allies to arms.

I have a doubt. Will I still have a Colonialism Casus Belli on the provinces in Egypt if I get a land connection from Venice to Egypt ? Or a colonialism CB on the Netherlands if I have a land connection from Venice to Georgia ?

 

[diegoami]

1595-1596 : War with Netherlands and Spain (1)

We are at war with the Netherlands. The war with Oman goes on, though. After taking Muscat the Oman fleet is destroyed.

The Netherlands have a few stacks wandering around...

The biggest stacks are in the North though, trying to recover the provinces occupied by Brittany.

Meanwhile, Priangan is successfully colonized and I get the next mission - Improve relations with Hungary. Then I get the mission to colonize Huilimapu.

We declare war also on Deccan, but it will be a phony war, since they have no army and we cannot annex them right now.

In the first stages of the war, I land some little stacks in Southern Ukraine. There are no real stacks there who can challenge us.

Deccan towns fall easily - I guess they were bankrupt.
After Azow falls in September 1595, we can take care of the Dutch fleet.

Meanwhile, we have a very good military tradition(90%) and we can recruit good generals.
In Cherson, we have our first engagement, while our vassals slowly come to support us.

By December 1595, we are seiging most of Southern Ukraine.

We peace Oman - for very little, they have no countries we can release. As we have infiltrated Spain's administration, we notice that Spain have very few troops. I wonder what happened. In the ledger I check and they have just 14k troops.

So, we declare war on Spain as well. This is the diplomatic map in January 1596

The stack in Madrid, 14k troops, is the only troops the Spaniards have. I have no idea what happened to them, they have also 0 stability.

By January 1596, already many Dutch towns have fallen.

A Dutch army comes south, but it is intercepted by our vassals.

In Spain, we will mostly rely on France and Navarre for help. France has about 50k troops, enough to kick Spain's ass.
We take one for the team and get defeated by the Spaniards in Foix - France's stack is unchallenged in Girona and another is coming south.

By March 1596, most of southern Ukraine is in our hands.

We fulfill our mission - colonize Huilimapu. Our next mission will be vassalize Austria.

We detect a Spanish colony that can be seized - Mahe.

As France brings its other army into the theatre, things look grim for Spain.

 

[diegoami]

1596-1597 : War with Netherlands and Spain (2)

Of course, we also take care of Spanish colonies in the Philippines

The situation in India is unchanged, apart from the fact that we claimed more Chagatai territory and Baluchistan is fully occupied.

Regrettably, both Borbon and Mauritius belong to Spain and have become towns and are "untouchable". We recruited a conquistador to discover them.

By May 1596, the first mainland province in Spain has fallen. Foix is peaced.

The road is clear for an invasion of Spain from the south as well. We still have military access to Granada.

In July 1596, this is the situation in Spain...

and in the Netherlands.

Egypt hasn't been forgotten. We have some troops there too.

Diego Garcia also belongs to Spain, but it is still a colony and can be seized.

In August 1596 we take care of the biggest stack the Dutch have in the south.

Another Dutch stack coming south, though, defeats our multinational army. We will have to take care of that.

We rout the Dutch stack in the south, but our other stack is routed in the North. It was a depleted 2/4/0 stack. Well, they took one for the team, what should I say.

Situation in Spain in September 1596. Granada also declares war on Spain.

In November 1596, at last, a Timurid province defects to us, Multan. Baluchistan meanhwile is fully occupied.

The situations in Spain in November 1596 ...

and Netherlands, where we are taking our armies through Polotsk to meet the main Dutch stacks in the north.

By December 1596, all of Spain is under siege....

and our stacks have reached Vilna and Grodno.

By January 1597, The Philippines are occupied.

 

[unmerged(58610)]

You haven't forgotten Tajura. have you? I think the overseas requirement is the target country, not yours - but I haven't checked the event. I note the provinces taken in Spain are French blue and that's worrying. Watch they don't make a separate peace deal. I think you want the two Dutch provinces, 4 spanish colonies, maybe two or three other provinces off Spain that you border and annex Baluchistan - estimated 15 BB. Knock a couple of BB off that for vassilizing Austria; add in the 8.6 current level and that is 21.6. You have a self imposed limit of 10 - that's 6 more years of war. I think I'd go for Baluchistan first. All good progress for Venice.