Challenge game: (12)Fullfill the conditions of the "around the world in 80 years achievement

[Hessian Mercenary]

145 provinces and only 80 dev away from the Swedish Empire. If anyone beats this I'm going to cry because I had so much luck in this run I'll probably never come close to this number again anytime soon. Poland rejected PU over Lithuania so I could ally both. England had no interest in Scotland or Ireland so I could keep them as an ally after taking some provinces there. Of course no coalition ever formed against these odds. My 4-4-3 ruler lived till the end (72 years old now) and I got that consort event which gives -2 unrest, so I had that for almost the whole time. He also is an inspiring leader, giving 5% morale. But wait, there's more: Muscovy fell under PU with Ryazan, which had no allies. Together with Lithuania it was extremely easy to beat them. Too bad Great Horde allied Uzbek and movement times are so long in the steppes, otherwise I could've gotten some more provinces. Had to peace out at 66% war score to meet the deadline

Some notes
- Should have been more aggressive towards the end, there's still room for some more loans to hire mercs and hit some more targets (like that surviving Byzantium or Georgia or even Mamluks)
- only had one no-CB war the entire run (against Theodoro)
- Corruption is an awesome rebel control mechanism if the economy doesn't matter
- I'm still at admin and diplo tech 3 even though I developed the Renaissance. Mil tech is 8
- who needs a gold mine if you have Dalaskogen?
- after getting mil tech 4 ASAP with help from nobility (150 points) it's easier to harsh treat the first rebel stacks (probably norwegian and danish separatists from independence war) than fighting them, so you can concentrate on fighting the next series of wars
- It seems especially important to get as many provinces from Novgorod as possible before Muscovy becomes too strong
- I don't have Third Rome, so this could've made wars against Muscovy a bit easier
- Sweden is of course not OP

 

[pratik_maitra]

dat 88 corruption. You really like printing money

Yup, I was a bit unlucky with wars and had to desbase to prevent myself from getting bankrupt.

 

[Politic Revolutionnaire]

View attachment 293776

145 provinces and only 80 dev away from the Swedish Empire. If anyone beats this I'm going to cry because I had so much luck in this run I'll probably never come close to this number again anytime soon. Poland rejected PU over Lithuania so I could ally both. England had no interest in Scotland or Ireland so I could keep them as an ally after taking some provinces there. Of course no coalition ever formed against these odds. My 4-4-3 ruler lived till the end (72 years old now) and I got that consort event which gives -2 unrest, so I had that for almost the whole time. He also is an inspiring leader, giving 5% morale. But wait, there's more: Muscovy fell under PU with Ryazan, which had no allies. Together with Lithuania it was extremely easy to beat them. Too bad Great Horde allied Uzbek and movement times are so long in the steppes, otherwise I could've gotten some more provinces. Had to peace out at 66% war score to meet the deadline

Some notes
- Should have been more aggressive towards the end, there's still room for some more loans to hire mercs and hit some more targets (like that surviving Byzantium or Georgia or even Mamluks)
- only had one no-CB war the entire run (against Theodoro)
- Corruption is an awesome rebel control mechanism if the economy doesn't matter
- I'm still at admin and diplo tech 3 even though I developed the Renaissance. Mil tech is 8
- who needs a gold mine if you have Dalaskogen?
- after getting mil tech 4 ASAP with help from nobility (150 points) it's easier to harsh treat the first rebel stacks (probably norwegian and danish separatists from independence war) than fighting them, so you can concentrate on fighting the next series of wars
- It seems especially important to get as many provinces from Novgorod as possible before Muscovy becomes too strong
- I don't have Third Rome, so this could've made wars against Muscovy a bit easier
- Sweden is of course not OP

I'm sad, you beat me by 30 provinces, that said you didn't have third rome. :'(

That said here was my run:

I had to go for at least somewhat clean borders.

115 provinces as stated before, considering that less than a year ago I only barely managed BBB, this is great improvement

My allies were useless except for the independence war where England helped me defeat the Danes. I ended up losing most of my alliances due to not joining wars, but oh well.

That corruption really helps with rebels, I didn't start really using lots of corruption until I got the last military tech, then I just replaced loans with corruption.

Golden era about 2 years before the campaign ended, because why not.

I totally could have optimized this run a bit more (and now I am a bit sad I didn't because I am behind Hessian), nonetheless it was fun and rather layed back, I was astounded by how many stackwipes I was able to get and how many wars I was able to win with 3:1 or 2:1 kill:death ratios including the Muscovite wars. It seems Sweden really is the best candidate for this achievement due to the way they can expand into the steppes without restraint, plus then you can claim to be the true big blue blob. Spambuca, you should definitely try more variations of this concept though, maybe including development in one as they are so very fun to try, and not especially time consuming, this run took me under 3 hours.

 

[bbqftw]

Something I thought would be clever would be money accumulation from an OPM start - e.g. fastest to 30k ducats (no loans of course, maybe 0 corruption as well?) wins.

 

[TheMeInTeam]

In what sense "hard"? Most of the eligible nations aren't in any danger so one could simply do nothing and still produce some sort of a result I am pretty sure AE needs to be actively managed to get a decent result - you definitely don't want to fight any coalition wars.


I think if "exploit" is reasonably well defined that's fine. For example, one could define "exploit" as anything done outside of the game (for example, save game editing, editing the game files, altering memory content etc...)

If you define it stringently then it's not a general/blanket term...and your suggestions sound a lot like things that should be defined as cheating outright.

As for AE, I think the ideal is to manage it initially, then go "all in" and take way more AE and OE than you ever would in a sane game just before the 1500 deadline. The nation would be an unsustainable hellhole bound for massed rebels of a size that only your entire-Europe coalition could kill in the process of dismembering you, but as of 1500 that will likely produce the most provinces owned...however briefly .

 

[SPAMbuca]

Something I thought would be clever would be money accumulation from an OPM start - e.g. fastest to 30k ducats (no loans of course, maybe 0 corruption as well?) wins.

Definately possible. I would like some more variation in challenges. I was thinking about having the largest trade league by 1500 or something as well. Maybe that's the next one. What do you guys think?

Really impressive runs so far people!

 

[SPAMbuca]

In what sense "hard"? Most of the eligible nations aren't in any danger so one could simply do nothing and still produce some sort of a result I am pretty sure AE needs to be actively managed to get a decent result - you definitely don't want to fight any coalition wars.


I think if "exploit" is reasonably well defined that's fine. For example, one could define "exploit" as anything done outside of the game (for example, save game editing, editing the game files, altering memory content etc...)

Well, it's the first time I hear about people having nations collapse and getting coalitioned. To me it's a good sign that people are taken out of their comfort zone a bit and challenged.

 

[SPAMbuca]

I've taken a look at Sweden, but I ran into some issues myself.
- The game lies to you. At the start, some nations say they will support independence only to decline it after all. Game puts in modifiers after you send the offer.
- AI Denmark always seems to ally Muscovy within a month if you play Sweden. Doesn't always happen if you play something else.
- AI ignores your forts and walks right through them.


Especially the last one makes it hard to prevent enemies from linking up and reinforcing where you do not expect it.

 

[Dominion]

Is there even a chance for Hungary to not rival Bohemia?

I really want to make Bohemia work

 

[Tobias Schwarz]

Is the option "No Limit on Idea Groups" on yes allowed, so that you can pick two ideas from the same group?

 

[SPAMbuca]

you need to be on ironman mode. there are specific rules for each challenge. if it's not mentioned, it's allowed.

 

[Gratak]

you need to be on ironman mode. there are specific rules for each challenge. if it's not mentioned, it's allowed.

You previously said achievements must be active. They are not active with "no limit on idea groups"

 

[puddingkip]

You previously said achievements must be active. They are not active with "no limit on idea groups"

That is not true for the last few patches

 

[SPAMbuca]

You previously said achievements must be active. They are not active with "no limit on idea groups"

My point exactly. If ironman mode does not allow it, the run is not valid.

 

[Hessian Mercenary]

Definately possible. I would like some more variation in challenges. I was thinking about having the largest trade league by 1500 or something as well. Maybe that's the next one. What do you guys think?

Really impressive runs so far people!

Trade Leagues are a Mare Nostrum DLC feature. I think we should keep challenges independent from DLCs. I like bbqs money accumulation suggestion though (maybe 30k is a bit excessive)

I've taken a look at Sweden, but I ran into some issues myself.
- The game lies to you. At the start, some nations say they will support independence only to decline it after all. Game puts in modifiers after you send the offer.
- AI Denmark always seems to ally Muscovy within a month if you play Sweden. Doesn't always happen if you play something else.
- AI ignores your forts and walks right through them.


Especially the last one makes it hard to prevent enemies from linking up and reinforcing where you do not expect it.

- Yeah I also encountered that weird support independence behavior
- Denmark doesn't always ally Muscovy but very frequently. That said in my handful of openings I found Denmark allying Teutonic Order to be more painful because they have a large fleet and will start naval invasions, preventing you from occupying the danish heartlands. Finally I got an opening where both England and Lithuania supported my independence. Lithuania kept Muscovy in check till I was able to White Peace them*
- Delete Forts. Problem solved. Use money to hire more troops, go over FL. I took loans on day 1 to build 10 galleys and up to 20k troops to match danish numbers (then found out I didn't need that many men because I could trap half of the danish army on Gotland)

*Does anybody know if the Poland-Lithuania PU event can fire when Lithuania or Poland are at war (not necessarily with each other)?

 

[Gratak]

That is not true for the last few patches

My point exactly. If ironman mode does not allow it, the run is not valid.

Achievements enabled and ironman are no longer equivalent! You can even use mods in ironman?!

 

[Tobias Schwarz]

Is there even a chance for Hungary to not rival Bohemia?

I really want to make Bohemia work

I did restart 15 times as Bohemia and Hungary chose the following rivals:

1. Bohemia 15x
2. Venice 10x
3. Poland 6x
4. Lithuania 5x
5. Ottomans 4x
6. Aragon 3x
7. Denmark 2x

You previously said achievements must be active. They are not active with "no limit on idea groups"

My point exactly. If ironman mode does not allow it, the run is not valid.

At current patch the option to have two ideas out of the same group, it doesn't disable the achievements.

*Does anybody know if the Poland-Lithuania PU event can fire when Lithuania or Poland are at war (not necessarily with each other)?

Fires even with both nations at war against each other. The trick is to declare war on Lithuania for throne with Poland as Co-belligerent. After union event the war-leader switches to Poland. If you have Lithuania as Ally in an Independence War as Sweden, Lithuania leaves the war as soon as the event triggers and Poland chooses the union.


An extreme RNG-dependent Strategy would be starting as Bohemia.

1. Get a good Jagellion with DipRep +1 Trait.
2. Force union with Poland and Lithuania before 1450.
3. Pick Diplomatic and Influence Ideas for DipRep
4. Enforce Culture on Lithuania
5. Blob like crazy eastwards of Lithuania
6. Get Burgundian Inheritance (min 13 Provinces)
7. Inherit Poland and Lithuania before 1500

Max Diplomatic Reputation +9:

• Legitimacy +1
• Papal Legate +1
• Advisor +1
• Rulertrait +1
• Ideas +4 (2x +2)
• HRE-Meber or second Imperial Reform as Emporer +1

Inheritance Formular:
5% * Diplomatic Reputation + Stability % + 5% for same culture group - Count of Provinces %

max Inheritance for Lithuania: 45% + 3% (Stability +3) + 5% (enforce culture see step 5) - 38% = 15%
max Inheritance for Poland: 45% + 3% (Stability +3) + 5% (same culture group) - 21% = 32%

=> Inheritance of Poland, Lithuania and Burgundy gives about 72 free provinces.

 

[Hessian Mercenary]

Thanks, good to know. Well Poland rejected so I was lucky. But event only fired after my independence war, that's why I thought it might be blocked

Your strategy seems too RNG dependent for this challenge. You need to wait for the interregnum to end, claim throne and win that war against Poland and Lithuania. Then you need a ruler/heir combo which lets you abdictate in 1499 and pray for the best (you can't even save scum inheritances since they're decided not by ruler death but some other point in time, see atwix' thread). If it doesn't work you wasted a lot of effort for nothing. It is a nice long term strategy though

People seem a bit too concerned about AE accumulation. Well the good thing about Sweden is that you can spread AE in all three religious groups and different regions
1st war: independence, take as many low dev provinces from Denmark and Norway as possible. Nobody cares because of distance
2nd war: Novgorod, only orthodox countries will care and Muscovy is on your list of targets anyway
3rd war: Scotland and Ireland. Again nobody cares because of distance
4rd war: no-CB Theodoro (they were allied with Circassia, which I force vassalized and seized their coastal province). Actually don't take Theodoro, just peace out for money and fabricate claim for a second war
5th war: Crimea, you won't be able to take all of their provinces or you get in trouble with Ottomans. Even feared Horde units are a joke against swedish steel
Now it's somewhere around 1460-1465 and your truce with Denmark should come to an end, so back to the north. Also time to finish Novgorod and a first war against Muscovy and the Livonian and Teuton Orders. In 1485 I had only 100 provinces but a setup which allowed me to attack multiple nations in the last years and get that additional 45 provinces while no longer caring for AE by last second peace deals. I saved some diplo points to buy down WE from calls for peace for the last 5 years. If I'd continue that game I would get piled by a coalition of half the HRE, the Hordes and Ottomans

 

[Politic Revolutionnaire]

A bit of an alternate opener to Hessian's you could probably combine them for optimal performance

• Delete forts
• Hire 4 regular infantry
• Send a diplomat to Poland to improve relations
• Send a diplomat to any possible coalition members so basically northern Germans
• Get clergy and nobility to >75 influence and get 150 monarch points from each
• Set focus to admin
• Hire military adviser
• Ally England asap
• If Denmark allies Muscovy you can either continue and declare war, the AI will usually not get military access, the only thing Muscovy will do is force you to extend the war or restart.
• If Denmark allies Teutonic Order or any minors continue on.
• When the war is declared, avoid any pitched engagements where you are fighting 10 or more troops, even though you win, it is inefficient and drains your manpower, just use your stack to hunt and destroy enemy armies the entire war and let England do the sieging. You probably will need to ask the nobility for manpower, thankfully at 75+ influence they give about 5k
• Once Denmark is willing to accept peace you come at a choice. If Muscovy is allied to them obviously annul their alliance, if not I would take the provinces south of you, your core and Orkney which totals 95 war score
• Once the cores are done make states and lower autonomy to boost your economy
• Rivals would probably be Muscovy. Denmark and Scotland->England
• Once you annex Scotland England will probably become hostile, just rival them and ally France
• You can easily defeat Muscovy with 35 troops, or less troops and Poland-Lithuania as an ally, either way just make a path to the hordes
• From there you are an unopposed master of your fate

 

[Hessian Mercenary]

A bit of an alternate opener to Hessian's you could probably combine them for optimal performance

• If Denmark allies Muscovy you can either continue and declare war, the AI will usually not get military access, the only thing Muscovy will do is force you to extend the war or restart.
• If Denmark allies Teutonic Order or any minors continue on.

first one is a gamble. Novgorod might give access to Denmark or Muscovy declares their own war against Novgorod and will be able to reach you (happened in my game even though they were already at war with me. Quite confident for an AI )

have you tried second one? I found Denmark allying TO to be hugely problematic because of their combined fleet strength and England seems very reluctant to enter the Baltic Sea with their fleet, at best they keep Norways fleet busy in the North Sea. I wasn't able to prevent Teutons from landing troops in Sweden, meaning I had to constantly keep an eye on my coast and not being able to fully commit to bring down Norway so I abandoned that attempt

The rest is solid of course. I was able to keep England as an ally by setting Scotland and Ireland as vital interest before they could, so it didn't bother them when I took it. I also hired level 2 Theologian and Diplomat from estates, running a deficit throughout the whole game. It's also hugely helpful to take that goddamn Trondelag mountain fort in the first war so it doesn't bother you again