Hurricane Productions Presents: Anhalt, a Gameplay AAR!
I just can’t stand it anymore! I’ve had EU3 for a couple of months or so and have been waiting to finish my EU2 AAR. But since that has turned into the largest, and longest, story I’ve ever told I installed EU3 a few weeks ago. But I didn’t play it. Due to a domestic issue I separated from my wife for a couple of weeks. When I came back the manual and box were long gone. She’d thrown them away. So I finally get highspeed internet back and I patch to 1.3 and decide to play a German minor.
I do the tutorials. Every one of them. Why? Because without my manual I don’t know what I’m doing. I highly recommend them. It allows one to familiarize oneself with all the buttons and menus that the game has, and boy has it got a LOT of them! Now, I’m a vet of EU, and EU2, and I’ve played Victoria. So it is not all Greek to me. But there is a lot more that can be done than in good old EU2.
Now I’ve already played 30 years or so of the game. So these first parts are going to be from memory. I chose Anhalt because originally I had this concept of doing the whole Martin Luther and the Reformation, the religious wars that ensued and so forth. Which is a huge project. I already have one of those…So because this has been in my head and I HAD to write it or suffer more nights of sleep deprivation, this is going to be a game play AAR.
Since I generally tell stories, this is going to be a little bit different for me. Nalivayko told me a week or so ago that I am more of a writer than a gamer. Which is true, as far as it goes. But this can be a good learning experience for both you and me.
So here we go!
1453 is the starting year. I make sure the game is paused and take a look around. 1 k army. Check. Squat for manpower. Check. Saxony to my east and south east. Check. Brandenburg to my north. Pretty good sized, too. Got it. Hesse to my south. Okay. Hannover to my west. Check. My population seems to be a shade under 4500. Which I am hoping to God is the population of my capital. Or I am going to have a tougher time than I had anticipated.
Okay, time to look at my sliders. Government, Land, Naval, Trade, Production, etc. I push it far to the right for Government. I want my national idea, and I have to be Government level one to get it. Done with that. Go to my other sliders. You know the ones…Innovative-Narrowminded, stuff like that. Since I am small and will likely never have the manpower of larger nations I need an edge. What might that be? Quality, baby! I want it, and so I click it! I am now a hair more qualified for my troops than before. Well, one thing at a time.
I want a general. Why? Because I’ll take every advantage I can get to win battles. Am I looking for targets? Absolutely. Already have one picked out. Anyone who knows me knows I am an opportunist at heart. I am playing on the default normal settings. This IS my first game so I have no desire to be a masochist. Momma didn’t raise no fool!
Where was I? Oh, yeah. A general. I’m not all that rich, so it shouldn’t cost all that much. It doesn’t. Oddly enough, I got lucky. He has 1 star on shock. I’ll take it. Since my 1k is Latin Knights, this is a good thing. What to do next? I want more troops. But I don’t have 1,000 to make a new regiment. So I could do one of two things. Wait, or buy a mercenary unit of Latin Knights. Well I can’t.
Oops! It helps if I unpause the game. So I do. The days start winding past and I can buy a regiment. Which I do. I incorporate my two regiments into one army. Then I place my general in charge of them. Wow! I’ve got a lot of little dings going on and a whole pot load of little crowns appearing at the bottom of my screen. Let’s see what we have here?
A royal marriage with Saxony? You betcha! Brandenburg? Absolutely. Hesse? Not a chance. Hannover? Nope, not gonna do it. Mecklemburg? Of course I will. Geldre? Why not? Bavaria? Okay. Ah! An offer of alliance with Saxony! I’ll take it! I had planned on asking them to be my ally anyway, so this works out well for me. Mecklemburg asks me into an alliance as well. I can be in more than one alliance? Excellent! You couldn’t do that in EU2, so this is very good.
Now I can’t build any buildings yet. Nor can I do much of anything else until I gain more money and so forth. Oh! Advisors! I forgot about advisors! Let’s see what is available. Hm…..One for production. Another is a diplomat. Another is a diplomat. Another diplomat. Another diplomat. Getting the idea? Me too! I grab the production advisor. Why, when I don’t have any production to speak of? Because eventually I WILL, and I want that guy already in place. Plus it keeps anyone else from getting him. Diplomats seem to be a dime a dozen, but other than artists or trade advisors I haven’t seen any other production advisors. Granted I might have missed them in the early mad scramble for advisors of course. But I take the production guy.
So I wait for awhile. My manpower rises ever so slowly. Finally! I reach government level one! First national idea time! I go with the one that is mandatory conscription. Everyone must serve. Why? Because it increases my manpower base pool. Which again, I am tiny and since I went with quality this is going to help me.
Hey! I can recruit a regiment! So I do. Men at arms this time. It takes what seems forever to get them. But I do, finally. I incorporate them into what I am lovingly calling my 1st Army. Even though that is the default name for them I like to think I will have many more armies in time. What to do? Let me see……Oh, I know, Declare war!
Wait! On whom? Hannover! Why? Believe it or not, they have no allies! How this is, I don’t know. I don’t care. I had thought to go after Hesse, but they have an alliance with Burgundy. I do NOT want to be involved there. Nope. Not gonna do it. You can’t make me. So I declare war on Hannover. Yes, I take a stability hit. But I am a one province nation. I’ll get it back soon enough. Saxony and Mecklenburg join. Apparently there is no mechanism to decline asking your allies for help. Oh well.
I move my 3k troops into Hannover. A fierce battle ensues. Which seems to take days. Saxony had apparently sent their troops a split second after I did, for their army arrives moments<or so it seems> after I do. Hannover’s paltry forces are crushed. They had no general. More fools, they! I settle in for a siege. As it progresses there are some interesting little things that happen. They experience a food shortage. Then a water shortage. Of course this takes quite a while to happen. But there is no point to blathering on about a boring siege.
Finally the city falls. Hannover has been asking for a white peace numerous times. They asked for peace in exchange for about 10 ducats. I don’t think so. What do I do? I annex them of course. Yippee! Now I am a measly two province minor! Fantastic! I’ve taken Anhalt and I have doubled it’s size. Well, on the map Hannover is bigger. It has a higher population as well. So in reality I have nearly tripled it, at least in terms of population. For it shows Hannover at almost 15k to my nearly 4500. So all in all, this is a good thing. So I will get a little bit more in tax revenue. Of course it is a different culture and there is the revolt risk so I won’t be getting as much as I’d like, but it is definitely more than just what I was getting with Anhalt. All in all, I am pleased with my results.
I just can’t stand it anymore! I’ve had EU3 for a couple of months or so and have been waiting to finish my EU2 AAR. But since that has turned into the largest, and longest, story I’ve ever told I installed EU3 a few weeks ago. But I didn’t play it. Due to a domestic issue I separated from my wife for a couple of weeks. When I came back the manual and box were long gone. She’d thrown them away. So I finally get highspeed internet back and I patch to 1.3 and decide to play a German minor.
I do the tutorials. Every one of them. Why? Because without my manual I don’t know what I’m doing. I highly recommend them. It allows one to familiarize oneself with all the buttons and menus that the game has, and boy has it got a LOT of them! Now, I’m a vet of EU, and EU2, and I’ve played Victoria. So it is not all Greek to me. But there is a lot more that can be done than in good old EU2.
Now I’ve already played 30 years or so of the game. So these first parts are going to be from memory. I chose Anhalt because originally I had this concept of doing the whole Martin Luther and the Reformation, the religious wars that ensued and so forth. Which is a huge project. I already have one of those…So because this has been in my head and I HAD to write it or suffer more nights of sleep deprivation, this is going to be a game play AAR.
Since I generally tell stories, this is going to be a little bit different for me. Nalivayko told me a week or so ago that I am more of a writer than a gamer. Which is true, as far as it goes. But this can be a good learning experience for both you and me.
So here we go!
1453 is the starting year. I make sure the game is paused and take a look around. 1 k army. Check. Squat for manpower. Check. Saxony to my east and south east. Check. Brandenburg to my north. Pretty good sized, too. Got it. Hesse to my south. Okay. Hannover to my west. Check. My population seems to be a shade under 4500. Which I am hoping to God is the population of my capital. Or I am going to have a tougher time than I had anticipated.
Okay, time to look at my sliders. Government, Land, Naval, Trade, Production, etc. I push it far to the right for Government. I want my national idea, and I have to be Government level one to get it. Done with that. Go to my other sliders. You know the ones…Innovative-Narrowminded, stuff like that. Since I am small and will likely never have the manpower of larger nations I need an edge. What might that be? Quality, baby! I want it, and so I click it! I am now a hair more qualified for my troops than before. Well, one thing at a time.
I want a general. Why? Because I’ll take every advantage I can get to win battles. Am I looking for targets? Absolutely. Already have one picked out. Anyone who knows me knows I am an opportunist at heart. I am playing on the default normal settings. This IS my first game so I have no desire to be a masochist. Momma didn’t raise no fool!
Where was I? Oh, yeah. A general. I’m not all that rich, so it shouldn’t cost all that much. It doesn’t. Oddly enough, I got lucky. He has 1 star on shock. I’ll take it. Since my 1k is Latin Knights, this is a good thing. What to do next? I want more troops. But I don’t have 1,000 to make a new regiment. So I could do one of two things. Wait, or buy a mercenary unit of Latin Knights. Well I can’t.
Oops! It helps if I unpause the game. So I do. The days start winding past and I can buy a regiment. Which I do. I incorporate my two regiments into one army. Then I place my general in charge of them. Wow! I’ve got a lot of little dings going on and a whole pot load of little crowns appearing at the bottom of my screen. Let’s see what we have here?
A royal marriage with Saxony? You betcha! Brandenburg? Absolutely. Hesse? Not a chance. Hannover? Nope, not gonna do it. Mecklemburg? Of course I will. Geldre? Why not? Bavaria? Okay. Ah! An offer of alliance with Saxony! I’ll take it! I had planned on asking them to be my ally anyway, so this works out well for me. Mecklemburg asks me into an alliance as well. I can be in more than one alliance? Excellent! You couldn’t do that in EU2, so this is very good.
Now I can’t build any buildings yet. Nor can I do much of anything else until I gain more money and so forth. Oh! Advisors! I forgot about advisors! Let’s see what is available. Hm…..One for production. Another is a diplomat. Another is a diplomat. Another diplomat. Another diplomat. Getting the idea? Me too! I grab the production advisor. Why, when I don’t have any production to speak of? Because eventually I WILL, and I want that guy already in place. Plus it keeps anyone else from getting him. Diplomats seem to be a dime a dozen, but other than artists or trade advisors I haven’t seen any other production advisors. Granted I might have missed them in the early mad scramble for advisors of course. But I take the production guy.
So I wait for awhile. My manpower rises ever so slowly. Finally! I reach government level one! First national idea time! I go with the one that is mandatory conscription. Everyone must serve. Why? Because it increases my manpower base pool. Which again, I am tiny and since I went with quality this is going to help me.
Hey! I can recruit a regiment! So I do. Men at arms this time. It takes what seems forever to get them. But I do, finally. I incorporate them into what I am lovingly calling my 1st Army. Even though that is the default name for them I like to think I will have many more armies in time. What to do? Let me see……Oh, I know, Declare war!
Wait! On whom? Hannover! Why? Believe it or not, they have no allies! How this is, I don’t know. I don’t care. I had thought to go after Hesse, but they have an alliance with Burgundy. I do NOT want to be involved there. Nope. Not gonna do it. You can’t make me. So I declare war on Hannover. Yes, I take a stability hit. But I am a one province nation. I’ll get it back soon enough. Saxony and Mecklenburg join. Apparently there is no mechanism to decline asking your allies for help. Oh well.
I move my 3k troops into Hannover. A fierce battle ensues. Which seems to take days. Saxony had apparently sent their troops a split second after I did, for their army arrives moments<or so it seems> after I do. Hannover’s paltry forces are crushed. They had no general. More fools, they! I settle in for a siege. As it progresses there are some interesting little things that happen. They experience a food shortage. Then a water shortage. Of course this takes quite a while to happen. But there is no point to blathering on about a boring siege.
Finally the city falls. Hannover has been asking for a white peace numerous times. They asked for peace in exchange for about 10 ducats. I don’t think so. What do I do? I annex them of course. Yippee! Now I am a measly two province minor! Fantastic! I’ve taken Anhalt and I have doubled it’s size. Well, on the map Hannover is bigger. It has a higher population as well. So in reality I have nearly tripled it, at least in terms of population. For it shows Hannover at almost 15k to my nearly 4500. So all in all, this is a good thing. So I will get a little bit more in tax revenue. Of course it is a different culture and there is the revolt risk so I won’t be getting as much as I’d like, but it is definitely more than just what I was getting with Anhalt. All in all, I am pleased with my results.