Balance of Power : Austria 1.25 AAR

[mackwolfe]

1730-1740: Austrian Space Marines

I left off in the midst of a war with Great Britain. I had just landed an army in the New World, having snuck by the British fleets. This force then proceeds to occupy Colombia. Although badly outnumbered by the British colonials, the force under general Hatzfeldt (3/6/5/2) secures multiple victories including some big stackwipes:

(stackwipes against British CN forces)
Generally the CN forces were weaker because of not having taken any Military ideas. In contrast, Austria had Offensive, Defensive, and most of Quality filled already. And this qualitative advantage proved to be decisive, because my attempt at reinforcing the army with troops from Africa was defeated by the British Navy, who this time managed to catch my fleet in open waters:

(defeat of the Austria fleet en route to Africa to fetch reinforcements)

The force in America had to then depend on locally recruited mercenaries to keep up with losses. But it manages to capture both the colonial capitals of Colombia and Mexico:

(fighting in Central America, as we capture British Colonial Nation capitals)

THe fighting continues in the same vein a while longer, but now I clearly had the advantage in the New World. And when the ticking war score runs out to its maximum in 1732, it was time to make peace:

(peace with Britain)
In the peace I take the islands off Scotland's coast, like everybody suggested. This will be the future launchpad for a Britain invasion. I also release Norway out of Iceland . And I take 5, and only 5, cheap coreable province in Mexico. These will become Austrian Mexico, and allow me in a future war to ask for "Cede Colonial Region" in the peace treaty.

I was very pleased with the peace, since I managed to cut Britain's Dev ranking down to below that of Austria. Looking at the rankings, I could restore the Balance by feeding Russia and Portugal. And I thought I had the perfect target for that, the Ottomans. SO before the ink dries on the peace treaty with Britain, I declare on the Turks:

(DOW on Ottomans)

I had plans to feed Turkish allies Tunis and Kanem Bornu to Portugal and then feed Turkish land to Russia. But I should have checked first that Portugal actually desired land from Tunis and Kanem Bornu, before I declared. Because when it came time to peace, they refused to take anything I gave them. And even Russia, who joined the war with promise of land, did not want to take any provinces I gave them :

Initially Russia was occupying provinces near their border. But then they switch occupation to me, and refuse to annex the land when I give them occupation back:

(Russia refuses to take the land I wanted to give them )

So I end up releasing Georgia and Arminia out of Ottomans, in teh hope that Russia eventually either vassalizes or annexes one of them:

(peace ending pointless wars with Ottomans)

As proud as I was with the result of the British war, I was very disappointed in this war . It was a total waste of time and resources. I lost 283 DIP points on releasing Georgia, who ends up allying Russia's rival, the Timurids. I lost 10 out of 30 favors with PLC. I weakened the Russian and Portuguese armies. And I could not feed my allies anything. I should have been more careful and checked exactly how much land Portugal and Russia wanted (via Diplomacy tab map) before declaring.

And the worst part of that war is that Mamluks soon after declare on Tunis who was now guaranteed by Portugal, and allied to Ottomans:

(Portugal getting declared on by Mamluks via Tunis , Ottomans are helping Portugal)

On the bright side, the Austrian CN of Mexico is born in 1735 , and Quality ideas finish in 1736:

(Austrian Mexico is born, inset shows Quality ideas finishing)

The completion of Quality ideas boosts my discipline by 10%: 5% from the finisher, and 5% from activation of Economic-Quality policy. My total discipline now stands at 126% . And this activates another Age objective. Add to that an effective discipline of 9.5% from professionalism sitting in the upper 90s, a high military tradition ( upper 90s) , and bonus artillery power from a policy as well as idea group and Age Ability, and you have the makings of an elite military force.

It was time to try out this force, and I decide to target the Timurids, with the aim of feeding Russia land. And I do it without calling in PLC (to preserve favors for the future wars against France and Britain)

(DOW on TImurids, note that I do not call in Commonwealth )

The first action of the war is to knock out Georgia. Austrian troops fearlessly charge into the mountains, defeat the Georgians and take their capital:

(mountain battle at Tibilisi, exit of Georgia from the war )

I then pour the troops into Persia proper, sieging the fort at Qazvin. But Timur has now invaded the Russian steppes , and I feared an early exit by my ally. So I send a full stack back to Turkestan to help the Russians:

(battles in the Steppes)

The Space Marines acquit themselves well. They stackwipe anything with equal numbers, and are only forced to withdraw when outnumbered 3:1 .
The diversion in the Steppes of Russia allows my main force to push deep into Persia and capture the mountain fort at Ardakan despite multiple attempts by the enemy at relieving it:

(fort battle in the mountains at Ardakan - we win )
The "Napoleonic Warfare" Age ability, allowing a +8 from artillery on sieges, proves to be a timely acquisition at this juncture. Despite heavy losses, I manage to push to Herat and I capture it with "Barrage" just before the decade ends:

(fall of Herat , late 1739) .
And thanks to having won many stack wipes in the steppes, the enemy are now numerically inferior and I am clearly on the offensive . I have to be careful, however, of Russia making another bone headed move and peacing out.

This is the current situation with rankings and truces:

This is the second decade in a row we are unbalanced. But I should be able to feed Russia some good land soon. And then I can see if I can help Portugal, before tackling Britain (truce expires 1742 ) . If I manage to bring Britain down a peg or two, I will then start to release land from Austria to bring my own rating down .

If all goes well, I hope to have a restored balance by 1750.

 

[mackwolfe]

And one more thing At the start of the Ottoman war, I finally got a chance to name an heir, and as promised he is Tom D Von Habsburg.

As of now he is 7 years old, with 5/5/3 rating. We shall see if he gets to rule.

 

[Tom D.]

And one more thing At the start of the Ottoman war, I finally got a chance to name an heir, and as promised he is Tom D Von Habsburg.
View attachment 382371
As of now he is 7 years old, with 5/5/3 rating. We shall see if he gets to rule.

Obviously the most important thing in this new update . But it's quite stupid actually that you can't rename your heirs if they spawn by event. Anyways, that war with Portugal and Russia was unfortunate indeed, Portugal was more or less understandable but calling in an ally with promise of land and them not wanting anything is just stupid. Hopefully you didn't lose much trust with them?

 

[stnylan]

One wonders how your space marines would stack up against the French.

But it is good to see a way to restore balance is once again in sight.

 

[Hootieleece]

Austrian Space Marines?...…..Blasphemy.

 

[atwix]

had plans to feed Turkish allies Tunis and Kanem Bornu to Portugal and then feed Turkish land to Russia. But I should have checked first that Portugal actually desired land from Tunis and Kanem Bornu, before I declared. Because when it came time to peace, they refused to take anything I gave them. And even Russia, who joined the war with promise of land, did not want to take any provinces I gave them :

never *ever* do promise land unless ally has claims. they *Always* accept claims. if their ruler personality shifts during war, you are doomed.

I should have been more careful and checked exactly how much land Portugal and Russia wanted (via Diplomacy tab map) before declaring.

they sometimes even deny vital territory.

the *only* things that are working *at all times* from my experience are 1. claims 2. provinces which ally has accepted as accepted culture.

The "Napoleonic Warfare" Age ability, allowing a +8 from artillery on sieges, proves to be a timely acquisition at this juncture. Despite heavy losses, I manage to push to Herat and I capture it with "Barrage" just before the decade ends:

it's great, if you watch your sieges

 

[Oldpara]

Excellent read. Keep it up!

 

[mackwolfe]

Obviously the most important thing in this new update .

I look forward to saying All Hail Emperor Tom. You still have to survive the RNG . As of now ( 1750) , Tom von Habsburg is alive and well, and has a positive first trait ( Lawgiver -0.05 autonomy)

but calling in an ally with promise of land and them not wanting anything is just stupid. Hopefully you didn't lose much trust with them?

I'm glad atwix clarified it below.

One wonders how your space marines would stack up against the French.

WE will find out soon. But not against the French.

But it is good to see a way to restore balance is once again in sight.

Um, yes, about that balance. See update coming up soon. Major issue comes up late in the decade.

Austrian Space Marines?...…..Blasphemy.

Isn't war the continuation of diplomacy by other means?. Austria is known for diplomacy . So, no blasphemy here.

never *ever* do promise land unless ally has claims. they *Always* accept claims. if their ruler personality shifts during war, you are doomed.

they sometimes even deny vital territory.

As always, thanks for the advice. It was timely too as the issue comes up again in the next chapter when feeding Portugal.

Excellent read. Keep it up!

Thank you. I am pretty sure I will finish this run. It was getting a bit repetitive, hitting same enemies again and again. But a big realignment may be coming up.

 

[mackwolfe]

1740-1750: Continental Warfare

The last decade saw the conclusion of a successful war against Great Britain, earning Austria the islands off the coast of Scotland, and a foothold in Mexico. I followed that by upgrading the Army with Quality idea bonuses and policies, and used that army to invade Timurids in order to feed Russia some land. The decade ended with the fall of the Timurid capital at Herat.

I continue that war for another year, making steady progress. But it was taking a toll on Austrian manpower, now down to 30K from a pre-war high of 220K. And so when I reach the point of being able to give Russia enough land to get them back within balance, I go for peace:

(peace giving Russia plenty of land at the expense of Timurids)
Another reason I went for the peace now, is the concern of a Russian early peace like they did 2 decades ago in my first Timurid war. A third reason was that I wanted to fight Britain again, whose truce ran out in 1742. And I needed time to move the troops to Europe.

The purpose of the upcoming war with Britain was to return Mexican and American land to the Portuguese, for the dual aim of downsizing GB while improving Portugal's rating. I thought real hard about how to conduct that war. I had initially envisioned an attack by pre-positioning troops on the Hebrides and Orkney islands and then using them to invade Scotland (you know, the usual way one attacks England when having a weaker navy). But the supply limit in those islands was about 45K per province, maybe 60K if I build a "Depot " (the ability you unlock at 20 Professionalism). That meant at most 120-180K on the islands connected to main island. Those troops would have to sneak over the straits into Scotland while the Royal Navy was away and distracted. And then win their way to at least capturing one fort. I estimated they would face at least 300K Britons , which is half of Britain's force based on the ledger. The margin of error on such an invasion was too narrow, and the cost of failure too great. I decide to scrap this plan . Instead, I would win war-score in Africa and America like last time. And to avoid giving Britain easy warscore by letting them occupy the islands, I release the islands as the Client Nation of Hebrides:

(client nation of Hebrides created to deny Britain easy war score - inset shows I was correct in my estimate of a large British force on the main island)
The client nation is immediately put on Scutage . I then move 150K troops to Mexico, and declare war on Britain:

(DOW on Britain with starting situation in America)
I call in Portugal of course after checking they had marked all of colonial Mexicoa and Eastern America as vital . For war goal , I use a province in the Kongo again. I still had troops there from the last war and it is easily secured. But the main fighting will be in the Americas.

Great Britain had 6 Colonial Nations in the Americas versus one for Portugal. So my allies were quite outnumbered. But I had 150,000 crack Austrian troops in theater:

(opening phase of war in America, inset shows troops on both side, but most of the British troops proper and the PLC armies do not participate meaningfully in the fighting)

I first direct my armies south to Mexico, with the aim of capturing the 2 forts there, and holding a defensible line at the isthmus just north of the Yuctan peninsula.But I had to divert troops to Louisiana early on to prevent a collapse of the Portuguese, who were getting overwhelmed by the Britiish colonials:

(Battlse in Mexico and Louisiana)

As expected, the higher quality of the Austrian troops prevails. But I have to be careful with attrition. And without the ability to reinforce from Europe due to the British Navy, I have to depend on local mercs. I quickly fan out single regiment stacks to occupy the Mexican countryside and deny the enemy the ability to recruit fresh troops. I use freshly recruited merc infantry to do the carpet sieging, reserving the regular troops who benefit from the 95% Professionalism to fight the main battles. And I recruit more regular regiments - mostly cannons- from the 5 provinces of Austrian Mexico:

(war situation after one year of fighting - a good chunk of Mexico is already occupied, inset shows PLC alliance with Timurids which spells encirclement for Russia)

By mid 1745, I had cleared most of the Brits from Mexico and can now spare troops to defend a long front that ran mostly North-South along the Mississippi river:

(shifting front in the war, now focused along the Mississippi)

As you can tell form the screenshot, there is a lot of troop movement in this war, with practically no forts to impede it. In this way, this war feels very different from the typical slog in Europe, where sieges dictate the tempo. Historically, this is most akin to the American Revolutionary war, where (relatively) small armies covered large distances . So when I get the opportunity to unlock a new Age Ability , I pick free "Forced March" without hesitation. And this gives me a big advantage over the enemy, as I quickly shift troops to match changes in the front:

(the war front now becomes East-West as I carpet-siege the American Southeast , insets show defensive line in Southern Mexico , free Forced March ability unlocked)

Back in the Old World, I get some good news as Russia finally annexes Armenia ( who I had released from Ottomans last chapter).

This means Russia is now well within the balance of power range. Only Portugal was out of range, and I was working on that.


By mid 1746, the mulitple stackwipes suffered by the enemy start to take their toll, as I find weaker and weaker opposition, and manage to push towards the enemy colonial capitals:

(war in 1746, almost 3 years after start)

IN late 1746, I make a small tactical mistake. I had noticed that the stacks facing my troops in South Mexico had suddenly gotten very small. THinking the enemy had withdrawn to attack the islands of Caraibas nearby, I order an attack. But it turns out the enemy was just 2 provinces away , and I suffer a defeat:

(defat at Xicallanco in SOuth Mexico).

This defeat destroys my defensive line and the British invade Mexico . But I manage to correct things by sneaking an army into Panama via Spanish New Granada, and by regrouping my troops in Mexico and picking off enemy stacks one by one. And then I retake the offensive and capture the colonial capitals of British Mexico and British Colombia:

(fall of two colonial capitals in Central America)

Meanwhile, I had been pushing the front in the North East, and end up capturing the colonial capitals of Lousiana, Thirteen Colonies and Newfoundland:

(fall of the last British Colonial capital in North America after a record 15 day siege)

With this, most of the potential gains from ticking war score and occpuation have been realized, and I start to finalize peace options. Here I find the clarification by atwix about enemy not being obligated to take "vital interest" land quite helpful. I basically transfer occupation of provinces one by one to Portugal, checking immediately after if they would take it in the peace. If the did not , I stopped transferring in that area and I moved to another area. This way I created an outline of everything Portugal would take:

This is the view of NOrth America immediately following the peace:

Portugal's new dev is now about 1350 ( but this would drop a bit once they re-create Portuguese Mexico and New Portugal). This puts them just at the threshold of the balance. All I had to do was to either drop Austria's development a bit ( e.g by releasing Mexico, or returning some land in Europe). Or I could help Portugal gain some more land. And I was considering either attacking Mali or Kilwa . I was debating which one to attack, and transporting troops back from America to Africa when I get this very important notice:

(CTA from RUssia, being attacked by PLC, inset shows accidental PU over Hungary who is an OPM now)

Carramba!

I was just about to restore the balance, and now PLC comes crashing things down. It is obvious from the screenshot what happened. Commonwealth had assembled a good offensive alliance against Russia, with Timurids probably promised some land. The AI calculates that PLC+Scandinavia+Spain+Brandenburg+Hamburg+Timurids >> Russia+Korea+Byzantium+Austria. I was worried about this all along, but never truly expected it as I thought PLC would consider Austria a sufficient deterrent.

At that point I took a break from the game to think things over. But really there was not much to think about as far as the CTA went. I had to decline. If I accepted, I would quickly be facing superior numbers in Europe with about 200K of my troops still in Africa and America. That was basically half my army. The forts in Europe can only hold so long , and then I still would have to deal with the Spanish navy while returning my troops from overseas. Furthermore, accepting was just a quick way to invite a pile-on from France , since I had no allies to defend me besides a debt-ridden Portugal .

No, what I really had to think about was what to do after I declined the CTA. And I come to the conclusion that I MUST fight the PLC somehow. If they completely destroy Russia, I would never be able to restore the balance. I had avoided the PLC problem long enough. Time to face it.

So my first action after declining the CTA is to work on some new defensive alliances. Palatinate is quickly allied. I drop Mamluk as a rival and start to improve relations with them ( although Trust is low because of me breaking the alliance decades ago). I start to bring troops back from the Americas. And I pay Portugal's big debt so they would agree to help if needed. And I start to build a spy network on the PLC :

(preparing for war with PLC )

I was ready to pull the trigger on the war in September 1749, but I hold off till January 1 , 1750 to catch up the narrative and solicit feedback at this juncture. First, the GP table rankings and army sizes from ledger:

We are in partial balance, with 6 Powers within the leader - who is Austria. As I said, I was very close to full balance, and could have done it by shedding Dev. Note that I can take MIL tech 28 if I want to spend the extra MIL points. But I would rather spend them on generals and earning professionalism to slacken manpower.

Now I have a few options for starting a war with PLC. Most direct is break alliance, truce-break and declare on them directly. Obviously this is worst option as it brings in all their allies , and tanks my stability. And it precludes a renewal of the alliance with them after the war. A better choice is an indirect declaration, via one of their allies. Specifically, either via Hamburg , or Timurids:

(Austrian troops ready to invade PLC, with two options to declare on PLC)

I think a DOW via Timurids is the better choice.
Declaring on Hamburg. Pros: a war goal I can actually reach. I can call in allies. Cons: brings in NEtherlands on their side, will have to divert troops from Poland to Germany , my allies could cost me warscore

Declaring on Timurids: Pros: I can focus on PLC mano-a-mano, as Yemen will take long time to arrive, keeps my allies on standby to protect me from a French declaration, may force Timurids to drop out of other war with Russia, Cons: difficult to reach war goal, cannot call in allies to help.

Unless I hear strong suggestions otherwise, I am going to DOW the Timurids, then invade and occupy Poland . If successful, I will wait till they peace Russia, then force them to return cores to Russia in a separate peace.

 

[Tom D.]

I estimated they would face at least 300K Britons , which is half of Britain's force based on the ledger. The margin of error on such an invasion was too narrow, and the cost of failure too great.

I feared for that initially, but you solved it pretty good. The numbers we're seeing are just getting crazy!

By mid 1746, the mulitple stackwipes suffered by the enemy start to take their toll, as I find weaker and weaker opposition, and manage to push towards the enemy colonial capitals:

Oh my, even Ming made it to Mexico ! Would you like to share their idea groups and general health they're in currently ?

(CTA from RUssia, being attacked by PLC, inset shows accidental PU over Hungary who is an OPM now)

Carramba!

I think a DOW via Timurids is the better choice.

It was to be expected, you'll have to curbstomp them hard to get them to calm down. I think the Timurid though is better, even if it means your allies won't be able to help and the war goal is far away, in the end the real goal is to aid Russia and boggle them down. I find your low manpower reserves worrying though, even with slacken manpower ability.

 

[stnylan]

Timurids does indeed sound the better option.

In some respects though this makes me more worried. We have been waiting for the PLC show to drop for, literally, centuries. So I am not immediately thinking will France decide to play with everyone else so distracted? And when does your truce with Britain run out?

 

[mackwolfe]

The numbers we're seeing are just getting crazy!

I know. A combination of difficulty setting and having a large AI flourishing in late game . I didn't comment on it, but you can spot a Panama Canal built by the british in the screenshots above. I've never seen AIs build one before. Mamluks have not dug the Suez, though.

Oh my, even Ming made it to Mexico ! Would you like to share their idea groups and general health they're in currently ?

They conquered Baja California from Japan. I will check their ideas when I reload the game . They have been generally stable, with no immediate GP threats to them ( Russia being occupied and all).

So I am not immediately thinking will France decide to play with everyone else so distracted? And when does your truce with Britain run out?

Britain should be about 8 years away ( estimating from WS of last peace) . For France, I am just hoping that Portugal, Palatinate and Brandenburg would answer call if France thinks about declaring. If I do not suffer losses in the PLC war, I don't think France will attack. If they do, I will need to peace out PLC pronto to repel them . My mountain forts should buy me enough time to do that.

 

[mackwolfe]

1750-1760: The Generals' War

I left off preparing for a war on PLC. Just before I declare, I complete preparations by concluding an alliance with Byzantium, as an additional defensive alliance to deter French interference . Then I declare on PLC via their ally Timurids in January 1750:

Aim of the war it to distract the PLC from their war with Russia, and then to force them to return land to Russia. Strategy is simple: occupy PLC land, keeping my stacks close for mutual support, and depend on the fort line to defend the homeland.

Numbers-wise , we are badly outnumbered. But I count on the quality of Austria's troops, including the generals, as well as the fact that PLC's armies are currently busy deep in Russia. So my initial invasion into Poland is unopposed, and I quickly capture their capital after a brief 19 day siege :

(Fall of Warsaw early in the war , insets show troops numbers - we are outnumbered 2:1 , and Polish ideas (only one MIL idea group) )

I have to say that Poland must have the worst position of a capital among the majors, as it can be captured without sieging any forts . Their other forts fall relatively quickly as well, including 8 level forts, thanks to my artillery numbers and having several generals with +3 or even +4 siege pips:

(fall of Krakow, insets show the quality of my generals where a 3-star is the rule rather than the exception thanks to 99 Army Tradition and ideas, low cost of generals (43 MIL points) thanks to Golden Age and innovativeness- note that I can see a lot of the PLC armies in Russia because of my ally Brandenburg giving me vision ).

Because my ruler has a +4 MIL rating, and I have focus on MIL , I am flush with points and hitting the limit quite often, and end up recruiting over a dozen generals in this war , which will allow me to slacken recruitment without dropping my professionalism under 90 .

After 1 year of fighting, Poland proper is itself occupied:

(Occupation of Osterode, inset shows France declaring on Mamluks which removes the biggest threat of a 3rd party intervention and I can now breathe easily)

In addition to being outnumbered, I had one concern when starting the war, which was the quality of the Swedish troops . This concern is allayed when I find that they, too , can be blown apart by the Austrian army:

(Austria relieving siege of Avignon with a stackwipe) .

The incursion by the Scandinavians into Provence turns out to be the only attempt by the enemy to harass Austrian territory in the war. The bulk of the fighting will happen in Polish territory. And there I make steady advances, sieging the enemy one fort at a time. But while my generals were successfully waging war, my heir Tom decides to go hunting and suffers an early demise :

(death of heir Tom by event . Emperor Tom seems not meant to happen)

The war continues to go well, with Austria's generals wiping out stack after stack of PLC troops, largest one happening at Volhynia where 70K Poles meet their maker:

(war situation two years after start, showing Austria's military tab - note army tradition at 100 , note total enemy losses are about 2.5 x our losses)

Facing mounting losses, PLC decides to stop its war of aggression on Russia. But not before they manage to annex almost 150 worth of development, turning Moskva itself into an isolated exclave:

(peace between Russia and PLC)

Now I will have to face the PLC army without Russia distracting them. But on the plus side, the end of that war allows me to call my own ally Brandenburg into the fight. Their troops will take some time to travel from Russia to Berlin to deflag , but they will be a welcome help when they do that. Together with the losses the PLC has sustained so far, the ratio of forces is not as bad anymore:

(situation in mid 1752 , after I used infiltrate administration to spy on their troops - note enemy losses tracking close to 2.5x ours still)

My progress stalls for a bit at this time , as the arrival of about 200K Timurid troops helps the PLC push the front back. I have to slacken recruitment to keep up with manpower losses:

(slacken recruitment giving a big 60K boost to manpower, note how many generals I have at this time - even tiny stacks get their own generals)
A few victories and stackwipes later, the enemy numerical advantage is whittled down and I resume the advance:

(situation as the 4th year of fighting draws to a close - note we have numerical advantage now)

THe 5th - and last - year of the war has Austrian troops finishing off the last remaining forts of the PLC, despite Brandenburg peacing out and leaving us alone:

(Brandenburg out, Riga falls - most of PLC is occupied now)

All along in the last 2 years, I have been eyeing peace options. And eventually, I get PLC to give up a decent amount of land, about 115 Dev worth:

(peace with PLC, note losses of over 1 million, inset shows new GP table after peace )

In the peace, I reconnect Moskva to RUssia's other provinces, and therefore disconnect some of PLC lands from their main holdings. If I am lucky, separatist rebels would succeed there and eventually Russia will take the land back. I really wanted to give Russia more land, but PLC provinces cost double because they were not main belligerent.

The war took a big toll on the PLC who soon after declares bankruptcy:

(PLC Is bankrupt, as I officially conclude the war by signing a peace with Timurids)

Believe it or not, the poor PLC still has a very good opinion of Austria and I am able to renew the alliance with them right away:

(Austria renewing alliance with PLC)

I alluded to this possibility in the previous chapter, and had it in the back of my mind all along. In eu4, it is very easy for former allies who broke an alliance as secondary belligerents to renew said alliance, since there are no "declared war on us" and "broke alliance" maluses. And I take advantage of that here, to avoid PLC deciding to rival us, or ally France instead . An enmity with PLC would be problematic, both because I would be encircled by rivals and because I worry they would collapse if I fight them too much .

After that successful war, I look at the balance of power. Portugal was not on the table, but adding their CN's they were about 1320 Dev. I needed to help them grow. While I fought PLC, they were in a war with Kilwa+Mamluks. They had successfully invaded Mamluks when the latter were also fighting France, but once France peaced out with Mamluks, the Portuguese were on the defensive:

(POrtuguese troops occupy Egypt as part of the Portuguese-Kilwan imperialist war . But Mamluks will soon push them back)
I carefully look at the warscore of the Portugal-Kilwa war. Portugal was losing -25 from not capturing the Kilwa capital on Madagascar island. I look around to see if they had any stacks nearby that could land on the islands, and it appeared they did not . So in order to help my beleaguered ally, I declare a separate war on Kilwa:

(DOW on Kilwa, with Austrian troops landing on the Kilwan capital)
I quickly capture the enemy capital, erasing 25 points from Portugal's negative warscore. I then proceed to siege the only fort on Madagascar, and hunt any enemy stacks that popped up. But I do not occupy any provinces in the hope that Portugal ends up landing a stack there. And lo and behold, they do land a might force of .... 1 regiment:

(single portuguese regiment landed on Madagascar, inset shows my stack helping it capture land)

I then help the portuguese 0.9 regiment to capture land by following it and assisting on the sieges ( this is the reverse of the trick where the human player sends singleton regiments to carpet siege and have the AI support them in a another war, a trick I read about in one of @atwix posts) . With that trick, I help Portugal occupy the rest of the island. This leads to a winning peace for Portugal , who annexes Inhambane from Kilwa. I follow this by ending my own war with Kilwa:

(end of wars between Portugal and Kilwa, and Austria and Kilwa)

The gain by portugal is very little, and they are still below the threshold of restoring full balance. I will need to help Portugal soon climb back up the rankings, just like I helped Russia. The best way to do this is by declaring on Mali:

(power rankings at end of chapter, with possible declaration of war on Mali- I have NOT declared that war yet, note PLC is back in deep debt)

Mali is protected by France. But I have 3 Europeans allies who can help me, plus my army should be able to handle them. I think it was @stnylan who asked how the Austrian army stacks up against France. Unless something happens unexpectedly in the next couple of months, we are soon going to find out.

 

[Hootieleece]

All those Generals...…...how do you keep them alive?

 

[mackwolfe]

All those Generals...…...how do you keep them alive?

like this:

Even with 9 generals over limit, I was still positive on the MIL generation.
ANd thanks to having taken 4 MIL ideas already , MIL tech is very cheap:

As you can see, I already took tech 28. It cost like 350 points or so.

 

[stnylan]

What a lovely war against PLC.

I do look forward to seeing how you fair against France. And I love the General-spam.

 

[Tom D.]

But while my generals were successfully waging war, my heir Tom decides to go hunting and suffers an early demise :

(death of heir Tom by event . Emperor Tom seems not meant to happen)

It was to be expected, the AI knew what kind of doom awaited Europe when I would take the Austrian throne - and it's just 1 year behind my real age too! Maybe a sign I'll have to stay away from forests this summer... It's funny how the PLC bankrupted themselves fighting you and still decided to ally you again, hopefully it will weaken them or as you suggested might make their provinces separated by Russia revolt and go back to Russia.

 

[mackwolfe]

1760-1770: All About Africa

The last decade saw the long-awaited war against the PLC. That helped restore Russia's power. Only Portugal was now below the balance threshold. And when I left off, I hinted at my plan to grow them at the expense of Mali. And I go ahead and do that at the beginning of this chapter:

(DOW on Mali+France, insets show force numbers at war start, and Portugal's coveted lands in West Africa as well as age of their king ( 38) and personality ( Malevolent))

I did check to see if Portugal had claims, and they did on only one province. So there was a (small) chance they would not end up taking much land at the end, but with their king being young, I doubted there will be a change in personality .

The harder part of that war was of course defeating France. My first action is to infiltrate their administration , which allows me to execute a careful invasion from my base in South East France:

(invasion of France, and total visibility thanks to Infiltrate Administration - France also infiltrates our administration at the same time)

The mutual infiltrations are an illustration of the ongoing covert activity between me and my 2 rivals (GB and France). We have been slandering each other's merchants, and sabotaging recruitment and reputations for decades now . And this this nudges me towards taking Espionage when the time comes.

The fighting with France allows me to answer this question:

I do look forward to seeing how you fair against France.

(Battle of Labourd, as France gets occupied. note our ridiculously high discipline of 137% - inspirational leader is from an advisor event I think)
As you can see from the screenshot, Austrian troops are better quality than French ones, and I am able to defeat them with equal numbers. That +20% fire ability from Musketeers in the age of absolutism is no longer helping France.

Combined with my allies, I eventually manage to capture Paris itself, forcing France to make a separate peace, while I completely overrun the Malian provinces:

(Mali occupied as France peaces out)

In the peace, I take mostly money from France. I do not take land from them to avoid Austria getting too large. I also do not release any French minors from them to avoid Britain and/or Spain over-powering them .

With France out, Mali is forced to give lots of land to Portugal. Here the limiting factor was my estimate of Portuguese over-extension:

(peace with Mali feeding lots of clay to Portugal)

I give Portugal about 200 worth of Development. THis brings them to 1209. Add in their CNs and they are over 1500. Well withing the balance. Unless, Great Britain grows again. And that is exactly what GB does next , when they declare on Kazembe . At first, I do not intervene, as Kazembe holds its own , and I thougth I could always fix things by growing Portugal and Russia. But I have a change of heart 3 years into that war, and decide the best course of action is to intervene on Kazembe's side:

(DOW of GB on Kazembe, followed by events leading to entry of Austria into the war)

I ally Kazembe, wait for their defensive CTA and then join them .

I end up fighting Britain in two theatres. First theatre is in Mexico where I still had some left over troops:

(example of the fighting in Mexico - despite stackwipe victories, we have to yield ground due to enemy numbers)
Out troops are heavily outnumbered by the British colonials. But I manage to win several battles thanks to higher quality , and manage to keep my Mexican stacks alive for the duration of the war.
The second theatre is in Africa. Here I am able to achieve numerical superiority by transporting a large stack from Italy to Lybia , then marching it overland across the Sahara. It reaches the Kongo just in time to relieve the siege of the Kazemban capital:

(victory at the Kazembe capital of Luapula)

During this war, I start to hit the ADM point cap repeatedly. Normally I would spend these points on inflation then development. But my inflation was zero already. And I did not want to develop Austria to avoid it breaking the balance even more . So I decide to take the next ADM tech 8 years early, as it would unlock my next idea group:

(taking ADM tech 28 early to unlock idea group - note our troops helping Kazembe liberate its land)
I debated this idea group a bit. It was between naval and espionage. Naval would have given me a fighting chance against the British Navy. But I was already having success pushing back Britain without it. In contrast, Espionage had more applications. In particular, I saw good uses in the improved spying ability to get to the 90% threshold to Agitate for Liberty . And its finisher of +50% rebel efficiency together with the Espionage-Economic policy adding another +50% meant I could almost guarantee spawning any rebel I wanted ( by my math this meant I should be able to get a +20% rebel progress chance for 5 years. 5 years * 12 months/year * 0.2 progress chance /month * 10% per progress= 120% ).

As for the war, I continue liberating Kazembe land and I transfer the occupation of any British land I take to them. And soon after, Kazembe concludes as victorious peace with Britain, forcing Britain to cede 2 provinces:

(peace between Kazembe and Britain showing GP rankings afterwards)

The loss of land by Britain was obviously welcome news as far as the Balance of Power is concerned. And I decide to keep the Kazembe alliance to avoid them getting attacked by Britain again , even though they cost me an extra diplomatic relation slot.

In the last year of the decade, I get another chance to help shore up the balance. Portugal has decided to attack Brunei, who is allied to Mamluks. And Portugal calls me in:

I accept of course, and decide to actually help Portugal win this. A portuguese defeat would be very bad for the balance now.

This war is ongoing and my troops are currently sieging Mamlukean Aleppo :

I will likely send some troops to Indonesia as well.

As for GP table and ranking, this is Europe:

I have restored the balance thanks to helping Portugal and Russia, and preventing Britain from expanding.

I do not foresee any major challenges right now. I have figured out how to contain Britain. France has been humbled. Spain has no big expansion outlet ( they actually lost some land to AJuuraan, but then gained land from Burundi). Probably biggest concern is PLC attacking Russia again. The PLC has paid off their debts, has recovered their manpower to 200K, and have about 300K troops at their disposal. Russia is currently defending Korea from Ming agression, and so is tied up in a war. If PLC declares on Russia, they will likely call me in . I will likely decline, breaking the PLC alliance for good. But that is all speculation. For now, I am enjoying the restoration of the balance.

 

[atwix]

seems you really enjoy the custom goal campaign to the very end @mackwolfe

 

[Tom D.]

I debated this idea group a bit. It was between naval and espionage. Naval would have given me a fighting chance against the British Navy. But I was already having success pushing back Britain without it. In contrast, Espionage had more applications. In particular, I saw good uses in the improved spying ability to get to the 90% threshold to Agitate for Liberty . And its finisher of +50% rebel efficiency together with the Espionage-Economic policy adding another +50% meant I could almost guarantee spawning any rebel I wanted ( by my math this meant I should be able to get a +20% rebel progress chance for 5 years. 5 years * 12 months/year * 0.2 progress chance /month * 10% per progress= 120% ).

Well, you know it's a very different run than usual when you take Espionage . But that makes it just that little bit more fun too.