Episode Eleven – The End (1910-1936)
So I did manage to play it to the end, but never got around to do the last chapter of this AAR. It's been bugging me to see it in my signature….so I'll wrap it up and get closure. I don't have pictures and can't remember much details and the save game is long gone. Nevertheless here is what happened in the remaining decades:
1. Serbia decided to focus on the army as opposed to the navy. The maintenance cost was a massive drain on the economy. And the relative small size of the Serbian fleet covering water between Asia and Europe left it either divided and weakened or united but either in Europe or in Asia.
2. Without a fleet to protect overseas territories some of these colonies were given independence or ceded to other powers.
3. Despite frantic efforts trying to build an anti-Austrian coalition this never truly happened. Serbia remained sidelined diplomatically.
4. Two wars against the Ottoman Empire did lead to territorial gains in Europe and the Ottomans became everyone favorite victim and ended up being just a fraction of its former self by the end of the game.
5. In 1922 a quasi-global war broke out, where Austria-Hungaria was poised against Prussia and Russia. Serbia stayed neutral and waited for the right moment to strike. Unfortunately the Austrian's were quite successful in repelling the enemy and Serbia stayed out altogether.
6. By 1934 another large scale war broke out; France-Russia-China-Italy vs Britain-USA-Austria-Prussia. This time Serbia did not stay neutral and launched their own war against the northern neighbors. By 1936 little gains had been made in Europe, whereas all of the overseas territories had been occupied. This pretty much destroyed the Serbian economy, still very dependent on import/exports from her Asian lands. Militarily the Serbian army held its own against Austria, but was unable to really force a surrender. At the end of the game the British-led coalition had the upper hand (in war score%) but it was still too early to determine the victor.
And so there is stops. Little Serbia had a good run and did manage to get to the top 10 but had I played another 20 years I think the country would have been relegated to a more inferior status. I somehow never managed to get the industrial revolution going and the territories won from the Ottomans just seemed to be underdeveloped. Throughout the 100 years of gameplay it is clear that Serbia's economical miracle was largely based on what her Asian colonies (and later on provinces) provided her with.
I hope you enjoyed this first, and probably last, CK2 AAR from my part. Although an awesome game, I found it at times tedious and repetitive and never really embraced the political and population-specific side of the game. Instead I'm all over CK2