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LanMisa

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Jun 17, 2013
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Hello everyone,

In January 2015, shortly after finishing my last AAR, I announced my new campaign. Now, five months later, I still didn't start it due to various reasons. But now the time to slack off is over!

Like the title above states my campaign takes place in India, I'll play as Baluchistan trying to found the Mughal Empire and then do some other shenanigans. Like in my Saxony campaign (and unlike in my Carthage campaign) I have no set goal, no achievement that I want to get - besides founding the Mughal Empire. I have some stuff in mind that would make this AAR a very exciting run, but I can't promise too much right now. It all depends on whether I'll be able to actually pull off what I have in mind (and it would not be an easy task!). And of course I don't want to spoiler too much here. Actually, looking at my current save game and the overall political situation we might even get a restart like during Carthage...but I very much want to start right now, so please bear with it if it happens.

Like Saxony, this one is supposed to be a comedic AAR, but I'll change my style. Writing everything in dialogues is very tiring for someone who only learned English in school like myself and it took far too long to write (>4h per chapter at some points, this does not even include the time to prepare the pictures!). Instead I'll mostly go for a diary approach I already used in Carthage during a few chapters. I hope that this will get your approval.

Now with all things said and done, I hope that you will enjoy my AAR and that you will give me lots of feedback so that I can turn this AAR into an even better one over the time. Please enjoy the ride!
 
0) Prologue: The Lands of Baluchistan

Welcome, my friend. Welcome to the rich, vast and fertile lands of Baluchistan. ....Hm, who am I kidding here, stranger? I regret to meet you in such a desolate place I have to call home. Surely the Devils must have tricked you into coming here. Nobody wants to live here and nobody stays if he can flee the country. .... What? You don't believe me? In that case I need to show you, I guess.

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These are the lands we live in. Our territory looks enormous, but it is a vast desert, including some mountain ranges here and there. Food won't grow much, so the desolated lands are mostly uninhabited. To humour us even more we directly border the vast rich Persian lands and the even richer lands of India. It would be great if we had something to trade - to get us access to these goods - but all we have are stones and sand. Nobody needs sand. So the only goods that reach us are goods that merchants travelling from India towards Persia and backwards leave us as customs. Or the goods merchants leave behind that "get lost" in our deserts since they don't want to pay the guides.... Speaking of the area, the Hordes of Tamerlan are ruling over Persia and Afghanistan right now. There former Steppe nomads have an iron grip on the area and lustfully look at our own provinces. Only Allah knows why, there is nothing to gain from our lands. On the other hand, the Indian Sultans and Maharajas seem to be divided, but a strong leader might unify them and thus trap us between a rock and a hard place - oh well, this is our current situation already, so I guess nothing would change for us.


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We are not ruled by a King, but rather a Tribal leader who managed to make the other tribes acknowledge him enough. Unfortunately the current "ruler" is not a great man but rather someone the other Tribal rulers thought to be easy to control. To make matters worse, the other tribal lords swore to protect him until his death, and with him only being 20 years old he is bound to rule for many, many years to come. I really hope that we, the people of Baluchistan, won't come to regret this decision sooner or later.

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Our treasury is very, very small, it's basically just a chest inside the Emperor's palace. I mean, our country is so poor that literally nothing ever manages to reach the treasury in the first place! Most of the income comes from us farmers and villagers, working day-in, day-out to fight the sand and to grow at least something to eat. Something that we feed travelers like you with. ... Oh, no, you mustn't feel bad about this. Allah sees all and he will repay our kindness. At least this is what we hope. And if you really feel guilty: How about trading these silk clothes I saw there with these wonderful stone I have here? ... No? How about a jar filled with Baluchistan sand, then? .... No? Thought so...

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You see, living in this barren land is not very good for your brain. Nobody can read or write, nobody has any ambitions. There are not many educated people in our lands, and they sell their abilities for basically naught - since there is nobody in this realm who could ever pay them. I tell you, it is much better to be a farmer then to be an architect around here. The nothingness in our lives also keeps rebellions in check. Fighting against the nature costs us so much power that nobody has any energy left to rebel. Nobody has any special ideas or ambitions. Literally, nobody.

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One more word about our Leader: As I said he is very young and inexperienced - and in fact, he only rules over his own tribal lands in Kalat, Zetta and Siwi. The other regions are more or less autonomous, ruled by local Tribal rulers which only send soldiers and money when they feel like it. By Allah, saying that Baluchistan is in any way unified is a blatant lie. And you know what the Prophet taught us about lying. It is a wonder that the country has been quite during the last few years, with no bigger Tribal feuds raging in our territory, Let us just hope that it will stay this way.
Oh, I see that you are tired. Your companions as well? I have already prepared a room for you, to flee the cold nights of the deserts. And rest assured, tomorrow I and the other villagers will guide you safely to the next town. ... Why yes, of course we need to cross the desert. Don't worry, I have travelled these ways so often that I can perfectly differentiate a trap from the normal road.....Rest assured, I would never lose myself in this deserts. And don't worry, I have already forgotten about our failed trade agreement. Have a good night's rest!
 
Nice AAR, like your writing style :D
My, thank you!

On an unrelated note, I feel a bit stupid that I started the AAR now when Baluchistan is going to get unique National Ideas next week...But I'll do it like this: If I succeed (that is: If I don't lose horribly during my first 50 years) I'll continue the current run, but if I fail the second one will have to wait until the patch comes out.
 
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1) We Want Sind No Tragedies


November 13th, 1444
We feel sick looking at my homeland. It is hot. It is an empty desert. It is full of rocks. And worst of all: There are no young princesses to marry at all! How shall We ever produce an offspring if I keep living here? This can't be what Allah has in mind for Us and Our country. Honestly, bring in the marriageable women already! The women here reek of poverty and dirt...
There is only one way to change the situation: We need more land! The only problem lies in Us leading a poor, poor Nation - even Us cannot make soldiers from clay and dirt! And the other tribes are too stubborn to help Us, they refuse to send their best-trained warriors, they do not pay Us the taxes We deserve (and claim that it is the economy. Fools!). If We ever plan to succeed We need allies. Allies that will win wars for Us, who will lend Us money to lead Us to glory. And thus We send our Diplomats to convince other leaders to follow Our cause.
Two Indian Sultans decided to ally Us. The Sultans of Gujarat and Malwa understand Us and our aim for some habitable lands. They, too, have it hard: Fellow Muslims, living in the lands of the Hindu...if We ever manage to unite the continent We swear to Allah to end this mockery of His name.
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December 17th, 1444
First the Sultan of Malwa, now the Sultan of Gujarat...all women they offer Us are laid-down Concubines of theirs. Most of them double Our age! If they help Us like this in times of need We should be better off without them...
We did find a job for them in the end, though. The younger ones were sent to the local Tribal lords in the outskirts of Our realm, as token of Our gratitude and in exchange for more soldiers for Our army. We managed to arm another 3000 men! The older ones were given to the Eunuchs...they both have no more worldly desires and thus are perfectly suited for each other. Nonetheless, the lack of a suitable wife for US is still disturbing.

November 13th, 1445
News from our Spies in Sind: Apparently their ally Dehli asked for their assistance in a hard war against Jaunpur. Since Dehli was shaken by a civil war only lately and since their Hindu subjects are still disloyal We have no doubt who is going to win this war.
On the other hand, this is quite an opportunity for Us. With Gujarat wanting to send us aid and Dehli neck-deep in trouble We shall be able to crush this puny country swift and efficiently. For that they may become but the first stepping stone on our way into India!
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November 24th, 1445
Glory be Ours! Today We declared war on their puny nation, standing in Our way to Glory and marriage! Our advisors finally managed to prove the world that We have a rightful claim on their Coastal province of Thatta and thus on their whole counry. Took them long enough, especially since they have nothing better to do!
To Our surprise, the Sultan of Sind was absent when We handed them the declaration. Apparently he led his army north towards the City of Dehli, leaving not only his country but also its Forts unprotected! What an opportunity: Once We seize the Forts for Ourselves We can start to besiege their capital. Sind will be Ours in no time.
Our glorious army is not led by myself (whatever could happen if I were to die on the battlefield - Baluchistan would be left behind leaderless!), but rather by Our new General, Mir Muhammed Nasser Mihrabanid. Since We cannot possibly remember such a long name We decided to call him Mimi instead. Mimi studied The Art of War in the lands of the Ottomans, learning much about cannons and sieging but unfortunately nothing about cavalry combat or unit manouvering. But he was the only one who agreed to work for basically nothing. So We could not be picky.
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January 27th, 1446

Oh, how We hate those fools! Today the Tribal leaders asked Us about an audience that, according to them, was supposed to be about the current war. But then these...Desert Rats!...demanded their right to rule their lands independent from Us! In short, they demanded total autonomy in their provinces, the right to keep all their taxes and to build private armies instead of sending their recruits to Us! Of course, We had no choice and refused to negotiate...their death penalties. This might have shaken up a tribe or two, but in the end it will do Us, no, the country of Baluchistan, a great favour. And once We possess vast lands in India We will not care about them any longer!

March 21st, 1446
The battle is won! We won the deciding battle against the army of Sind! But it was closer than We would have imagined. 4000 of Our most trustworthy soldiers died today while Our outnumbered foe only lost 3300 men.
In the end We were a fool to have Mimi lead the troops. For some reason he wanted to attack from behind the river. "We can pound them with our cannons!" he claimed after We and Our soldiers arrived - only to notice later that We do not have a single battallion of Canoneers in Our army. Thus We had to cross the river first. And here We lost half of the men that died today. Our allies in Gujarat refused to help Us as well, thery were apparently too busy to siege Thatta. We will not forget this!
At least both Forts are in Our hands, the army of Sind has nowhere to run. We are certain that they will disband themselves in the near future. The War is thus won, it is but a matter of time until Sind is Ours!
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June 6th, 1446
There is but one thing to say about Our people: They are persistent. No heat, no cold, no enemy, no friend will ever stop them from doing what needs to be done. We are like cockroaches, only that We can survive in this barren land where even they die due to heatstrokes.
Our Diplomats returned from Malwa this day. A Muslim country like Ours, only situated in a better location, with the same beliefs and enemies. It was shocking to hear that they saw Us, of all the countries in the world, as an hostility! But the years of sending Diplomats over there (and mostly getting dismembered bodies sent back in return) finally payed off: Now they see Us with different eyes, their hostility gone for good. We expect their Diplomats during the next few days, offering Us an alliance. We will accept, of course, and send them back with the signed document. But maybe We will keep a few arms and legs here...one never knows for what one might need them, after all.
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July 6th, 1446
Oh, Allah, You work in mysterious ways! All these years We were longing for a suitable First wife, and now You gave her to Us - a Malwanese? But We are not one to complain.
After sending back the Alliance documents Malwa sent Us a young and beautiful princess. She is perfect, albeit her big belly does look a bit strange to Us. After We had a wonderful evening talking about her homeland We had an even more wonderful night. And only two days later she gave birth to Our first child! Is it a boy, a girl? I do not know, caring for the babies is not a job for Us, the mighty leader of Baluchistan.
What We do not understand, though, is all the giggling around Us regarding the child. Some of the people in our court claim that this child is not Ours, that someone else is the father. Nonsense! We did kiss her that night so the Child has to be Ours and is to succeed Us once we die! Such is the will of the ruler.
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October 24th, 1446
Seeing his capital city surrender the Sultan of Sind finally recognized his defeat - he had been in Our possession since his army had deserted him in August. The victory is a decisive one, and thus Our terms had to be accepted unconditionally.
In short, the Sultan had to accept Our overlordship over his provinces. As a result he was degraded to a mere Wesir - a very humiliating act for him, of course, but a clear sign of Ours to show the world (or at least India) who is going to become their new overlord.
On the other hand We were much more lenient towards the former Sind territories. They were given some autonomy to pay for the damages that Our soldiers had done there during the war; to rebuild houses, to regrow platations, to repopulate empty areas. There are still some people around who do not acknowledge Our overlordship but they will be caught and imprisoned...oh, who are We kidding, they are sent towards Baluchistan to live there! What greater punishment could there ever be?
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March 17th, 1447
News from Chabahar reached Us this morning. Apparently an Influenza broke out in one of their coastal cities. Fortunately this province is ruled by a tribe refusing to acknowledge Our Divine rule, thus We do not care about their well-being. Thus we ordered the town to be quarantined - and the local Tribe leaders to oversee the situation from inside the city telling Us if the influenza is still raging or not. Just to make sure We decided to keep the port closed for one month after they will tell us about the influenza being over...

May 3rd, 1447
Diplomats from Yemen reached Us this morning. They request Our alliance in their Purge of the Omani Ibadi Heretics. We accept since We spite them as well. And certainly not because we desire Musquat to become a part of Our Empire sooner or later. The chances for Us to seize the city right now is slim, though, since Yemen already made plans on what to take from Our Arabian rival. But We can, and will, strike once the time has come.
At the same time, some advisors want Us to attack the small nation of Jaisalmer. They are only allied to Dhundar and Kathiawar, both countries that pose no threat to us individually. We are more and more inclined to follow their advise. The question is: Is this the right time to strike? Or shall We wait a bit longer?
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June 3rd, 1447
The time for war has come! We stand void of any ally to help Us in Our endeavour, but the time is right! Our troops need more practice and practice they shall become!
The armies of Kathiawar are away, fighting in some pointless war their allies had dragged them into. Our army is standing near the borders of Jaisalmer, ready to crush their puny forces of 5000 men. The armies of Dhundhar are too far away to interfere right now. We are itching to redeem Ourselves after the Battle of Sehwan. For this We hired Kumbar Khokhar (or Kuko, this is how We call him) to lead our troops. Mimi will only be ordered to besiege any provinces fielding forts.
This is the plan: We want to defeat the armies of Jailsamer first, thern attack Dhundhar. Once Dhundhar is out of the war (a lenient truce shall be enough to persuade them) We plan to occupy Kathiawar, vassalize them and move on towards Jailsamer to finish the war! A plan of utter brilliance if We may say so. Nothing could ever go wrong there! Absolutely nothing! Ever!
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You best not disappoint me... :p;)

It's nice to see Baluchistan got a few more provinces with the new patches and dlc's from the last time I played as them (since I'm almost exclusively stuck in Europe, I don't notice changes east of the Euphrates...:eek:
 
You best not disappoint me... :p;)

It's nice to see Baluchistan got a few more provinces with the new patches and dlc's from the last time I played as them (since I'm almost exclusively stuck in Europe, I don't notice changes east of the Euphrates...:eek:

Hm, I don't know your expectations in the first place. So I can't promise you much. But what I can say is that I'm trying hard to create an interesting AAR for every reader. And especially for the person who asked me to write it in the first place.
Baluchistan got a few provinces, indeed, but starts with a hostile Timur. And unlike during my trial run two DLCs earlier a shattered Timurid Empire is not necessarily in your favour...But you'll see. And then there is this thing with autonomy: Since most of your land is high autonomy right from the start I don't think that your overall start is much better since the map patch, and conquering new provinces will get you even more revolting, high-autonomy provinces. But the thing I dread the most is that I am a Tribe - and thanks to Wiz pushing the first idea tech to 5 it will take me longer to change that. Nonetheless, it is definitely possible (and for a very good player most likely too easy) to succeed with them.

Baluchistan getting unique NIs very soon. I hope you'll be able to use them!

I don't know. One, I'd like to become the Mughal Empire before the Beta patch comes out. Two, I am not sure I'll upgrade to the Beta patch. For one reason: My Saxony AAR was killed by a patch that made my save game CTD again and again. And I don't want this two happen yet again. So I might wait until 1.13 becomes the official version before I upgrade. And then there is the thing that Baluchistans traditions are not better than the Generic Ni ones...Morale +10% is useful, but at this point I'll be close to the Mughal ideas anyways. If everything works out, that is.
 
Hm, I don't know your expectations in the first place. So I can't promise you much. But what I can say is that I'm trying hard to create an interesting AAR for every reader. And especially for the person who asked me to write it in the first place.
Baluchistan got a few provinces, indeed, but starts with a hostile Timur. And unlike during my trial run two DLCs earlier a shattered Timurid Empire is not necessarily in your favour...But you'll see. And then there is this thing with autonomy: Since most of your land is high autonomy right from the start I don't think that your overall start is much better since the map patch, and conquering new provinces will get you even more revolting, high-autonomy provinces. But the thing I dread the most is that I am a Tribe - and thanks to Wiz pushing the first idea tech to 5 it will take me longer to change that. Nonetheless, it is definitely possible (and for a very good player most likely too easy) to succeed with them.

Part of the earlygame fun of Baluchistan is that they have (IIRC) Muslim tech while being surrounded by inferior tech countries. As a human player, you should be able to keep up while investing in idea groups.
 
2) Another One Bites the Dust


June 18th, 1447
The army of Jailsamer is no more. It was a wise move to have Our troops take the declaration of war with them and not let Our diplomats do the job. The enemy soldiers obviously didn't realize Our intentions until Our men had taken their weapons away and advised them to become farmers instead. Only a handful of Our soldiers died during that process, most of them falling down while carrying the weapons of the Jailsamer Ex-soldiers. How clumsy!
Alas, there is no time for Us to idle. There are other armies to beat before the enemy nations manage to merge their troops. So We leave the province of Jailsamer and turn our attention towards Dhundar. Only after making them surrender We will force the Sultan of Jailsamer to surrender as well.

July 15th, 1447
The Battle of Gorwar against the Dhundaris didn't quite end like We hoped it would. Kuko is obviously not the wonder-General he promised Us to be - his opponent was a fairly good match for him. Even though the enemy General is a Hindu!
Fortunately Our brilliance managed to win the battle in the end. Shocked by the green grass, the ripe fruits on the trees and the non-lethal temperatures Our soldiers had nearly forgotten why We ordered them here. But once We reminded them that such a life only awaits them - and Us - after Our realm expands more, their vigour increased and went over 9000! Thus the soldiers from Dhundhar stood no chance, after all.
We follow them north and hope to disarm them just as easy as We had the Jailsamers disarmed - but this time We threaten them to not kill them, but take them towards Baluchistan as prisoners of war. Methinks that this is a brilliant strategy.
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September 10th, 1447
News reach Us from Yemen. Our ally - if one might call them that, since they didn't even join Us in Our just and noble war against Jailsamer - seems to have ended their war against the Oman. They took two provinces and Omanis treasury with them, it seems. At the same time, the diplomats assured Us that Yemen still has not the slightest intention of aiding Us in Our struggle for control over India. They will surely regret this decision one day...
...But not today. We left 3000 of our men with Mimi. Their goal is to siege down the fortifications of Dhundhar, behind which the Sultan of Dhundari seems to hide, ignoring Our demands for unconditional surrender. Our remaining army, led my Kuko and Us, is heading south towards Kathiawar. Once We crush their army We should have won the war for good.

November 17th, 1447
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What else is there to say? Third battle, third victory. It was a hard-fought battle, that one is certain. Against a superior leader nonetheless! It might have been Our idea to actually pay our men and to allow them to eat for the first time since we left Baluchistan. Or it might have been the superior weapons we took from Dhundhar and Jailsamer - we no longer fight with sticks and stones, but with metal swords! But in the end only the results matter, so We are content either way.
On an unrelated news: According to Our wife We apparently got a son, not a daughter! Interesting to know. We will teach him the art of swordfighting, riding horses and camels and kicking around peasants, then.

January 24th, 1448
No time to rest! According to Mimi who sent Us an urgent notice Dhundhar has two, not one province - and is currently recruiting soldiers there. This is not what We want and thus We have to make a detour. Surely the fleeing soldiers from Kathiawar won't hurt Us in the long run. A small unit was left to occupy the provinces of Kathiawar in the south.
A small battallion of troops from Jailsamer crossed Our border and went towards Bhakkar. There is nothing to gain there - if there was, why would We want to escape from there that much? - and the soldiers will surely be taken care of by Our fort in the nearby province of Kalat.
Speaking of Forts, according to our military a great expert on fortifications or such asked Us to return home to his homelands. We agreed wholeheartedly. Our officers obviously were not in favour of Our decision, but in the end it is Us who needs to decide. And thus Our opinion is irreversible.

February 23rd, 1448
The new army of Dhundhar was crushed. Apparently the other province is called Shekhawati by the locals. We surely never heard about it before.
Disturbing news come from Kathiawar. We lost contact with our regiment we left behind there to occupy the lands. There might be an enemy army left We were not informed of. I guess Our spy network is not as useful as We hoped it would be.

April 1st, 1448
WHY WEREN'T WE INFORMED??? IS THIS A CONSPIRACY???
The military expert was, apparently, the commander of Our fort in Kalat. Which has now fallen under enemy occupation since nobody was hired to replace him - leaving the fort without command and in the hands of farmers! Which means that our lands now lie defenseless against the attacks of Our enemies. Why did nobody inform Us that we need to hire a new commander?
Speaking of our enemies: They obviously managed to unite their armies - just like we feared they would. 5000 men stand united in our lands, others will follow shortly. Our spy network never informed Us about their movements and numbers until they crossed Our borders. Just magnificent.
We ordered our army from Dhundhar to walk towards them. We might not be enough men to beat them, but We must try at least, or else Our homeland will be completely in enemy hands. At the same time We began to ask mercenary bands to aid Us in our just cause. Especially since Our "allies" still refuse to help Us out.
But incompetence needs to be punished. Our military advisors were demoted to mere soldiers and will fight in the frontline during the next battle. At the same time Our enemies got lists with names of Our spies working in their countries. We hope that this will teach the fools in our country to stay out of Our path. Thus this day shall be remembered evermore as Fool's Day in Baluchistan.

July 6th, 1448
Good news from Mimi. Dhundhar finally surrendered. Once their castle fell their Sultan finally was willing to talk. We had already ordered Miri what We demand, thus the negotiations were quick. Dhundhar is now without allies, without money and without income - they will pay Us for staying in this war for so long! Mimi was ordered to return to Us as fast as he can.
And it is high time he does so! Like We expected We lost the first battle against Jailsamer and Kathiawar. Even with Our reinforcements and the Mercenaries Our 7,000 men were no match against their 9,000 ones and their General. Barely 3,000 men left to tell the tale - if they were allowed to, since talking about this battle is now officially forbidden under thread of execution [In short: I forgot to take a screenshot of it]. But Our enemies were hit hard as well, they lost well over 3,000 men themselves. Once Mimi returns from Dhundhar We will start a second attempt. This time it should work out fine.
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September 8th, 1448
By Allah, We managed to turn the war over once again! After defeating Our army in July a dispute seems to have broken out between Kathiawar and Jailsamer. For reasons unknown to us they split up their armies, both beginning to siege our lands in different areas of Our realm. Just in time for Mimi to arrive and to unite his army with Ours. After beating the Kathiawarian army in Gwadar We turned north and beat the army of Jailsamer in Siwi, just south of Our Residence. It was a brutal battle - for Our enemies, that is, since all of them were slain in the desert sands.
Our new strategy is this: Our main army follows Kathiawar south and occupies their lands. A single battallion will guard the area of Jailsamer - they are not enough men to storm the Royal Palace, but they will be enough to keep the Jailsamer peasants from wanting to join the army. Once Kathiawar falls we will take back control of our Fort in Kalat before we finally beat Jailsamer to end the campaign.

October 19th, 1449
Has it been one year already? This year was quite uneventful, so it might very well be the truth. Everything went according to plan this time. Kathiawar is under Our control. We want to vassalize them soon, but they are too stubborn to listen. Maybe they will know their place once We drag their last soldiers our of our fort. This might still take some time though...
At the same time we regrettably lost our alliance to Multan. They just lost their war against Delhi that they were dragged into by their ally Jaunpur. The result was the loss of their capital in...well..Multan. Yet they still have 5,000 men left to fight - why did they refuse to join our noble cause against Jailsamer? This was one insubordination too much against us and thus our alliance is no more!
Our other ally, Gujarat, is in a terrible condition as well. Somehow he ended up at war with the Devils of the South, Viyajanagar. Since they are allied to Kathiawar as well Viyajanagar gave Kathiawar the control of some of Gujarats provinces. This might or might not benefit us, depending on how their war is going to end.
Our army in Jailsamer is making progress at well. It's currently a race between Jailsamer and Kalat which province is going to fall first - with Jailsamer being in the lead quite a bit even though Mimi is stationed in Kalat. Why did We hire him, again?
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January 26th, 1450
Those stubborn Kathiawarians! Their war against Gujarat ended - and Viyajanagar gave them half of Gujarat! Now they refuse to become Our new vassal, since they feel too mighty now. What a disappointment.
We were informed, as well, that our ally Malwa declared war on Kathiawar as well - or rather, one of their allies . Now it is a race between us who will get the better provinces out of them. Our army from Jailsamer went south, they just finished their siege of the Royal palace. Yet the Sultan managed to escape! With him still on the move negotiations are a bit tricky.

October 6th, 1450
Let the muezzin tell the people in the whole country: Today We married a woman from Malwa, our ally. In exchange one of Our sistert (or rather, a woman who is supposed to pose as Our sister!) was married to the Sultan of Malwa. Thank Allah that We are allowed to have more than one woman!
But in reality, the marriage was only made to hide the treaties between Malwa and Us. With both of us in a war against Kathiawar we needed to talk about who can claim what from them. In the end, we decided that Malwa can take their treasury and their future income and in exchange renounces claims on Kathiawars territory. It is up to Us to decide what to do with Katiawars territory then.
Unfortunately words about our conversation reached the Sultan of Gujarat - his spies, at least, seem not to be worthless. He threatened Us to end Our alliance with him if We take even a single province and not return his former territories to Gujarat. Of course We only laughed at that threat - We fear no country that got beaten up that badly. If they decide to anger us, then so be it.
We also got a note from Multan - they declared War on Jailsamer as well. This is quite pointless since we already control their capital - but it gave us an idea. We split up our army - 2,000 men remained in Kathiawar to overtake the provinces from Malwa once they end their war, the rest went towards Jailsamer.
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May 15th, 1451
The war is over - long live the war! Kathiawar and Jailsamer finally surrendered, but now We fight Multan instead. This is the will of Allah and this is how it shall be!
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Quite a bit of land was taken from Kathiawar. They lot their important harbors: Kutch, Kathiawar, Navanagar and Girnar. As expected Gujarat broke out alliance but We never cared about weaklings. They are now on our Death list as well, right after Bill - the spy who told Gujarat about Our secret meeting with Malwa!
Jailsamers King was, to our suprise, hidden in a hole in the ground near to his palace. His followers had cared for him for weeks and only per chance did one of Our soldiers find his hideout. Such vigour from his underlings impressed Us and We decided to not annex their country, but to keep him as a loyal vassal instead.
Unfortunately this angered our former ally Multan. Furious about our vassalization - they wanted to conquer Jailsamer themselves - their Sultan came to Our palace one night, drunken like..well, like what? Doesn't the Koran forbid drugs, especially alcohol? In any case, the Sultan complained for hours, robbing Us of Our precious sleep, before declaring war on us. To his horror we not only outnumbered his army, we were also able to strike right away. Thus his army was gone faster than he could grab a camel to flee back to his palace.

January 29th, 1452
By Allah, We were proclaimed a "living Saint"! Our pious actions - protecting the pilgrims, supporting the Muezzins, spending money - made us the most pious person in the whole islamic world! We are a role model for every other Muslim out there. We follow everything the Prophet said exactly as it was written in the Quran. But it is certainly strange that We weren't invited to any parties or festivities by Our neighbours and our competing tribal rulers lately...Maybe it is just Our imagination playing tricks on Us.

September 4th, 1452
The war against Multan was much shorter than the previous one. And it was much more decisive. Multan is no more. And there are not to come back!
For insulting Us while drinking, not joining Our noble wars and not inviting Us to any birthday partie the Sultan of Multan was executed. Yet their lands are too big for Us to rule alone. Thus we re-created the Sultanate of Punjab out of Multans Western provinces. And to ease the tensions with the people living there We even allowed the Sultan to be a Hindu as well. Aren't We thoughtful? We sure are!
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All in all, We managed to win two vassals and five provinces during this long war. We thus think that this was a most successful campaign for Us, even though many hardships appeared before Us. Baluchistan is on its way to greatness and there is no Sultan, no Doge, no Tribal lord, no Horde, no Peasant, no Slave, no Dog, no Cat, no Mouse, no Flea left in the world to stop Us. We will rule surpreme!
 
Don't overextend yourself too early!

On a side note, you're expanding the wrong way! :p
 
Don't overextend yourself too early!

On a side note, you're expanding the wrong way! :p

Don't worry, all of the land I took is quite worthless. All but Kathiawar's lands, that is. And don't forget that I need that one province from Tamerlans children as well - Punjab is the first step towards the Mughal Empire.

By the way, I still wait for your expectations. How else shall I know how to break them all, one after the next, in the most cruel way I can imagine? :p
 
Don't worry, all of the land I took is quite worthless. All but Kathiawar's lands, that is. And don't forget that I need that one province from Tamerlans children as well - Punjab is the first step towards the Mughal Empire.

By the way, I still wait for your expectations. How else shall I know how to break them all, one after the next, in the most cruel way I can imagine? :p

I fully expect to see the Mughal Empire, at a minimum, stretch from Baghdad to the Bangladesh! ;)
 
Don't worry, all of the land I took is quite worthless. All but Kathiawar's lands, that is. And don't forget that I need that one province from Tamerlans children as well - Punjab is the first step towards the Mughal Empire.

By the way, I still wait for your expectations. How else shall I know how to break them all, one after the next, in the most cruel way I can imagine? :p

Well, you'll be chewing your way toward the Gangetic plain for a while, but once you have your tag (and hopefully Admin ideas for the excellent, synergetic core cost reduction), your power and influence should shoot through the roof.
 
I fully expect to see the Mughal Empire, at a minimum, stretch from Baghdad to the Bangladesh! ;)

This shall be done, most likely. The interesting stuff will be what happens afterwards - as long as I manage to pull off what I have in mind.

Well, you'll be chewing your way toward the Gangetic plain for a while, but once you have your tag (and hopefully Admin ideas for the excellent, synergetic core cost reduction), your power and influence should shoot through the roof.

Yeah, this is most likely what I take, since I most likely need many mercenaries in the near future as well. Baluchistan is just so barren...otherwise I'd most likely have taken glorious Economic ideas. And I am still waiting for Admin Tech 4 at this point - my 1/1/1 just won't die, unfortunately. But this is a story to be told in the future.



By the way, most of you already know that the current Beta patch is incompatible with Steam Cloud Ironman games. This AAR is a Steam Cloud Ironman save. So there will be no version upgrade until the final 1.13 version comes out with (hopefully) fixed savegame conversions. Baluchistan shall not end like Saxony!!
 
Actually there is a way to make Ironman could saves compatible:

Even though I can't solve your problem, but maybe that will help.
Look for the local copy of your cloud saves in [C:\Program Files (x86)\Steam\userdata\<YOUR STEAM ID>\236850\remote\save games]. Then just copy-paste it into your local save storage and it's gonna be playable!

Since Balûchistân gets national ideas instead of generic in the BETA patch, I find it's worth mentionning. ;)

edit: apparently, this is not sure to work, you should probably refrain from doing this. :(
 
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I'll follow with interest how this poor land develops :).

For the NIs, I think they wouldn't change if you upgrade anyway. And the glorious formation of the Mughals will make that point useless.
 
I'm glad I caught this AAR in its early stages. I've enjoyed what I've read so far. :)

Baluchistan must rule all the sand! :p
 
Actually there is a way to make Ironman could saves compatible.

Since Balûchistân gets national ideas instead of generic in the BETA patch, I find it's worth mentionning. ;)

edit: apparently, this is not sure to work, you should probably refrain from doing this. :(

I'll follow with interest how this poor land develops :).

For the NIs, I think they wouldn't change if you upgrade anyway. And the glorious formation of the Mughals will make that point useless.

Thank you both, especially MiniaAr for posting his idea of upgrading the game without killing the save file. I will not upgrade, though. One reason is that I think that Baluchistans ideas are worse then generic ones until +Discipline, which I will get only shortly before I can found the Mughal Empire anyways. The second reason is that I definitely don't want to take any risks here, especially since the game is actually running better than I expected at some point. You'll see, but it will take me a few more updates to get there.

I'm glad I caught this AAR in its early stages. I've enjoyed what I've read so far. :)

Baluchistan must rule all the sand! :p

Thank you very much. I hope that you'll also like what comes after the first few chapters.

One idea for a different campaign could indeed be to only conquer desert/arid lands. Like Frank Herberts Dune saga taught you: Give your Desert Supersoldiers some actually habitable lands and they get all weak and accomodated!