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Stildawn

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Clueless Habsburg's [Austria - Ironman][Updated 09/02]

Hello All and Welcome to my first ever EU AAR.

I've started this AAR as a response to this thread of mine over in the EUIV general forum: http://forum.paradoxplaza.com/forum...I-think-I-suck-at-this-game-after-all-Austria

Basically I have never tried a landlocked (well almost) HRE country before, and after two starts I realized that I'm not the player I thought I was (not that I thought I was great or anything), Austria was proving difficult for me. But hopefully thanks to the help and advise in that thread this start will be a better one.

So if you want to stick around and watch me make a fool of myself online, make fun of me, and critique a terrible game... Then welcome and I hope you have fun reading :)

Av5fku0.png










 
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ChapterOne_zpsfe01f6de.png


With a click of the mouse we spawn into 1444 Austria ruled by Friedrich III... Taking a look around the realm I do a few usual things...

The fleet goes, its pointless (I feel) and a waste of money. I then hire some advisors, due to money constraints I stick with lvl1. These two things result in a negative balance.


StartEcon_zps9f558c8a.png


This is remedied by dumping Army Maintenance, with a positive result to draw up some funds.

Econ1_zps6fb8aa9a.png


With the money ticking in, I spend the next few months securing what I believe to be essential alliances. In my previous attempts I was raped over by France and/or Hungry, so this time Burgundy is left to the wind as I ally up.

Allies1_zpse0db46d4.png


From here I sit back and relax, I have allied France, Hungry, Bohemia and Brandenburg (spelling?). This alliance block should prove useful in establishing Austria further, but for now I keep the peace to up the coin.

During this time I also up the stability to +1, happy with this level due to the advice given I'll be attempting to hunker down for some Admin Technologies.

But of course the game throws a curve.


StupidE1_zps9007d9dd.png


This is highly annoying as it was literally just after I upped to +1 Stability, cursing I took the monetary hit as I didn't want to lose what I just gained in stability.

I was looking a head by now as my slush fund was building, I improved relations with France first to secure our alliance, while my other diplomat I sent to work in Venice, fabricating claims hehe.


AweE1_zps2f676159.png


This one I was most pleased with, I was working for claims anyway, and this free be completed the set :)

With my economy coming along well, I was looking for some action, I was ready for Venice but France was still deep in the HYW, they had dominated but just hadn't sealed the deal yet, I certainly wanted them in on my Venice conquest so I had to wait. But then well Tuscany was naughty, giving me a easy ish war to test myself on (I had concerns over wars as my previous tries the army wasn't very effective or so it seemed to me at the time).


War1_zps861061d8.png


Off to war!! Fearing my manpower being destroyed as had happened in previous games I spend quite a bit of funds raising some Mercs (8 x Inf), I would use these to test the waters so to speak as their loss wouldn't compound later on.

EconWar1_zps263f62ce.png


Ouch! This war had to be quick, army at full with the Mercs, the money wouldn't last long even with extra taxes.

I waited in the alps for a few months, hoping that Tuscany would sally north and meet their doom climbing into my awaiting soldiers, but well I got impatient, so the army moved south... The Mercs in first with the four Brigades of 9,000 Regulars following behind.

It looked like I could have waited after all as the Mercs were engaged by Tuscany's forces in Mantua (poor Mantuains), I quickly poured the other forces in behind which quickly turned the tide of the battle. Unfortunately I forgot to take a screenshot of the result, but it was a victory followed by a quick pursuit.


Bat1_zpsb4a8177b.png


And that was that, their army destroyed with no allies coming to help them. It was simply a matter of cleaning up. My armies spread out over the three provinces to siege. Unfortunately however it had taken too long (and I wasn't paying attention

Loan1_zps4c044e06.png


Seeing that wasn't pleasant, breaking my record for never ever taking a loan. I willed my Merc forces to finish their siege.

Mercs1_zpsf6bd2c60.png


They were quickly out of a job straight after Ferenze fell, returning Austria once again to profit however small. The waiting set in, broken only by my first advance in technology.

Tech1_zps2a813ad0.png


VicL1_zps31052c89.png


Done... With the first armies already on their way home, the last soon followed.

VicWS1_zpsef4dde85.png

Vic1_zpse1c4ad06.png


Victory was complete, I went with releasing both potential states, I hope that was the right choice as I also could have vassalized them.

With peace in the Nation, so money returned.


Econ2_zpsb4f2f87b.png

AweE2_zps8319cc96.png


The King celebrated by building a Great Palace... The rewards seemed rather low to me, but I paid out the coin regardless as I assume there might be some unique events attached further along?

And thus ends Chapter One, Austria is taking it slow, winning its first war although a minor one, I have concentrated of securing electors votes, resulting in alliances with Tier and Cologne (spelling?). The nation has recovered from the minor war and is ready to move again...

Friedrich has a few options this time, he called a grand court to debate the matter and direct the nation forward.


War Option 1 - Venice - Straight up conquest of claims
WarOpt1_zps72855ad6.png

Venice is currently getting raped by the Maluku's who are occupying their lands, would probably have to wait to declare war so that the foreign troops have left. This might give time for France to finally finish of the HYW making their forces available (I hope). Obviously this war would be the most beneficial directly.

War Option 2 - Barvia - Liberation War
WarOpt2_zps3e88f464.png

Giving them a beating might serve to hold them in check? Plus would be good for my IA.

War Option 3 - Hesse - Liberation War
WarOpt3_zps8134b350.png

Quite far away, might not be worth it, but its a potential option.

Thanks for reading if you got this far... I am open to mocking lol so feel free, and I would love your opinions of the war options. I am leaning towards one but will wait a bit for everyone's input before making a decision.
 
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tnick0225

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Well the war with Hesse would probably be easiest I would think looking at their current alliances. But I'm one that likes to only declare wars of conquest for border territories so I'd lean on declaring against Bavaria. But with their allies in Poland that may prove to be a very nasty war.

However France would help you against Bavaria which would probably make it easier. I don't know how long your French alliance will last though as I'm sure its only a matter of time before they name you a rival. They'll probably break the alliance soon after the Bavarian war, and they may not be much help if they don't have MAs. But if they can get there to help I'd DoW Bavaria and use the French before they tell you to shove it where the sun doesn't shine.

I've never played Austria, played against them as Milan, so not sure what the best strategy for Austria is. But, I'd imagine anything that weakens Bavaria is a good bet. That way you can focus on grabbing land from Venice as well down the road. And I don't know maybe park a diplomat in Hungary to improve relations so that they'll be a better ally in the future.
 

bbqftw

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Some (possibly) helpful observations from my own Austrian campaign -

-Milan and Switzerland are both vassalizable in one war from 1444 but you have to declare fast because Milan in particular will quickly get out of 100% warscore range by building improvements. The Ambrosian republic event will often fire for Milan giving Austria a free CB to restore the monarchy. Forging claim on Switzerland is doable from the outset. Naples is vassalizable in two and they have some nice cores on Sicily (not quite certain on how vassalizing nations under PU works but Aragons prestige tends to get tanked to the point where the PU breaks). If Castile PUs Aragon, then you have a nice war on your hands - Austria + France + friends should be able to take on all of Iberia.

-Burgundy is all too happy to lend their manpower to die in wars you start if they're your ally. Let them. It's less trouble if/when they start eyeing HRE states to eat up. Same goes with France.

-By lowering army maintenance in peacetime you can easily hit 1k+ ducats in the bank by admin level 5, which will allow you to loan ~100d and get free dishonored loan CBs on people. Trading 100d for 2 stability is a very nice deal.

-Something to be wary about is that once a monarch-led elector (Saxony / Brandenburg / Bohemia / Palatinate) gets to around ~6-7 provinces they will always vote for themselves, if you only have 3 electors lined up for you this can be a problem.

-If you're ever in a position where Bohemia might get elected, and you are allied / can ally Bohemia, then call-to-arms them into a war where they will refuse to join. This is a -25 prestige hit and a -5 distrust hit, which will damage their prospects for the emperorship quite a bit.

-I generally don't find a strong Bavaria to be a big deal. If they start expanding northward too northward they tend to get slapped down by Palatinate and Bohemia. I prefer a strong Bavaria to a strong Palatinate/Bohemia anyways, as electors are your main competition to the emperor position.

An Austria campaign is as easy or as difficult as you want it to be, you have lots of flexibility so long as you have 2+ electors allied. The high diplomatic relations count allows Austria to have numerical superiority in any war (you can have 2 of 3 of Castile, France, Burgundy, as well as Poland if you really want). A claimed Burgundian inheritance puts you on the level of France in terms of wealth and available military power (so maybe don't claim unless you feel like declaring on all of Europe?), AND you have the Alps which can easily be worth 100k+ men on their own.

If you want to get really cheesy, enforcing peace on ANY non-HRE nation and forcing a concede defeat gives you 20 Imperial Authority even if its two non-HRE nations at war. I can't overstate how broken this is, you can get incredibly fast HRE unifications this way, this is a far more resource-efficient way of getting IA than liberation wars. Force release Croatia from Venice, release Montenegro from Serbia if you can, and you will have tons of wars going on between the Balkans states which you can enforce peace on (to get to required +100 relations, you can use gift + minimal war subsidies + guarantee + rival of rival, along with improved relations) so long as the Ottomans don't roll in and annex everything.
 
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GreatUberGeek

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Subbed! Good job; I wish you good luck in Ostereich!
 

Taranli Maren

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If you haven't already, fully improving your reputation with France may help them join your war against Venice.

You might also consider spending some of your extra diplo slots on royal marraiges with other major powers. I managed to score a PU with Russia at around 1600, after keeping 11 royal marraiges for most of the game.

It looks like you have a good start. I think you were right on with the releasing of the princes, instead of vassalizing them.
 

Wolfeson

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Good start imo. Certainly you have the ability to vassalize a lot of people if you want to, but I like the fast IA/don't piss off the HRE strat myself, and you've made a good start on that. I'd recommend the Hansa war next, and then maybe take a look at Bavaria. The Hansa's an easier target, obviously, so you won't have to burn as much manpower or keep army maintenance at full for as long. Plus, you might get your PU with Hungary in the meantime, which would let you bring them into a war with Bavaria later, as opposed to now when they won't join.

My one other bit of advice: don't grab anymore diplo techs for the moment if you plan to take a diplo idea first. Diplo techs won't help you at all right now, whereas being able to grab 1-2 ideas immediately will be useful.
 

Stildawn

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If you want to get really cheesy, enforcing peace on ANY non-HRE nation and forcing a concede defeat gives you 20 Imperial Authority even if its two non-HRE nations at war. I can't overstate how broken this is, you can get incredibly fast HRE unifications this way, this is a far more resource-efficient way of getting IA than liberation wars. Force release Croatia from Venice, release Montenegro from Serbia if you can, and you will have tons of wars going on between the Balkans states which you can enforce peace on (to get to required +100 relations, you can use gift + minimal war subsidies + guarantee + rival of rival, along with improved relations) so long as the Ottomans don't roll in and annex everything.

Whats this "Enforce Peace" thing you talk about? Is this a HRE mechanic? This is my first HRE game so I really dont have much idea about the mechanics other than I know if you pass all the reforms you turn into a super HRE lol.

If you haven't already, fully improving your reputation with France may help them join your war against Venice.

You might also consider spending some of your extra diplo slots on royal marraiges with other major powers. I managed to score a PU with Russia at around 1600, after keeping 11 royal marraiges for most of the game.

It looks like you have a good start. I think you were right on with the releasing of the princes, instead of vassalizing them.

Yeah just before I signed off last night my diplomat returned from france, so we are at max relations at the moment. I think they dont want to join some wars cause they are still in the HYW, even though England is beat and their French provinces are all seiged.

In saying that I find it odd that France will join against Bravia but not the other two?

Good start imo. Certainly you have the ability to vassalize a lot of people if you want to, but I like the fast IA/don't piss off the HRE strat myself, and you've made a good start on that. I'd recommend the Hansa war next, and then maybe take a look at Bavaria. The Hansa's an easier target, obviously, so you won't have to burn as much manpower or keep army maintenance at full for as long. Plus, you might get your PU with Hungary in the meantime, which would let you bring them into a war with Bavaria later, as opposed to now when they won't join.

My one other bit of advice: don't grab anymore diplo techs for the moment if you plan to take a diplo idea first. Diplo techs won't help you at all right now, whereas being able to grab 1-2 ideas immediately will be useful.

I'll take your advice and go diplo for my first idea, will hold off on spending more then unless I reach the cap lol.

Hansa lol opps I thought it was Hesse lol. Always getting the names mixed up. So go for that easy war first you reckon? It seems quite far away to me but they do appear to be a push over even without my allies. Funny story but I only just found out last night that it doesnt take free diplomats to Call to Arms, so I think I wont click the tick box and do it after the fact so I can see why they dont want to join... I wish the war screen would have this info available though, cause with Ironman I can't save / declare find out why and then reload before declaration.

So no one likes the Venice war? Is it harder than it looks? If I time it right they should be shattered from their defeat against the Maulukes (man spelling lol).
 

cholliman

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I think the Venice war sounds very tempting. While these wars to break up elements of the HRE generate IA and keep any of the princes from blobbing too hard, you might not get lucky with the Burgundian inheritance or other succession events. Hence, grabbing some Venetian provinces might be quite prudent. If the Mameluks are sieging Venice's Italian lands, I'd go for war before they make peace - assuming one of the provinces that you have a claim is still unoccupied.

Also, good job on the AAR!
 
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Stildawn

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I have built up a claim on all their lands near me, other than the capital of course. I like to do this with smaller places so I have the maximum options come peace time and coring.

Question, is AE from taking lots of Venice (here's hoping all their continental lands) going to cause the same cluster of Coalitions amoung my HRE friends? Or since its not in the empire will they not care as much?
 

bbqftw

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Whats this "Enforce Peace" thing you talk about? Is this a HRE mechanic? This is my first HRE game so I really dont have much idea about the mechanics other than I know if you pass all the reforms you turn into a super HRE lol.
you can do this as any country. Basically if X attacks Y, if you have +100 relations on Y and you can declare war on X, then you can use the enforce peace on X (under "influence actions"), if they reject it then you enter the war on defender side. You also get the same amount of trust as if you honored a call to arms this way.
 

Stildawn

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Oh wow totally missed that one. Will totally see if I cant find that when it happens. Under Influence you say... Excellent.

So I think I'll go with a quick Hanza war, hoping that during that war France will finally finish off the HYW and then be willing to join my other harder endeavours.
 

cholliman

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Question, is AE from taking lots of Venice (here's hoping all their continental lands) going to cause the same cluster of Coalitions amoung my HRE friends? Or since its not in the empire will they not care as much?

AE has been really nerfed in 1.4. That and it is localized, so for example what you do in Italy gives more AE to say Milan than Bohemia. If you take a few provinces, you should be fine. If you see any people start to join coalitions, calm down in that direction and send your diplomat to improve relation (plus if Mantua joins a coalition against you, I don't think you should worry too much!!). I forget the precise rules, but it works something like: the AI only joins coalitions if its opinion hits outraged after your AE gets applied to them after you apply the peace deal (something like this), so if you are worried about someone, just be proactive and keep them at a high opinion. Especially after the nerf, they shouldn't join one.
 

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So in this situation and a war with Venice, I have claims on all their continental HRE provinces, If I took all of them in one war would the resultant AE be terrible? Or manageable?
 

Taranli Maren

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It should be manegable. Venice might start a coalition against you, but I doubt anyone else would join it. Even if they do, they will probably leave quickly. You get +100% improved relations over time at 100 prestige. As Austria, you will basically be pegged at 100 prestige. This means that the negative relations like aggressive expansion will decay at double speed. As a very aggressive Ottoman Empire, only the Mamlukes and their ally the Golden Horde joined a coalition against me, and only after two wars against them where I basically took as much land as possible.
 

Yenzen

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If you vassalize Milan first you can take back their one core on Bresica from Venice as a condition, lowering the overall AE cost. The goal should be to chip away at Venice with ~2 provinces at time until you can vassalize them - vassalizing Milan first would just make it much cheaper overall (and Milano itself is rich as hell).

Your navy is not entirely useless. You can use light ships to increase power in the Venetian node and transfer trade to Wien.

Edit: Sorry, faulty memory: Venice is an end node, you can send ships and merchant there to collect some of the trade.

But going for Venice is a good idea. The sooner you expand into Italy, the sooner Lombard will become an accepted culture (need 20% base tax).
 
Last edited:

Stildawn

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ChapterTwo_zps1e850f24.png


The great council ended and it was decided, the nation should look to the empire first and thus The Hanza was a simple and easy target for directing Imperial Authority.

1WarStart_zps5b195aa6.png


For some reason, this time the French were willing to join, along with the other allies of Austria, it would be simpler than previously thought after all.

2WarScreen_zps63009c73.png


The stage was set and the Emperors armies set off north to tame the Hanza. During the march news came from Iberia, a wedding between the two prominent powers.

3IberianWedding_zps46ced9a1.png


4WarEcon_zpsd94ed82f.png


With extra taxes raised the economy also looked in good shape for this quick conflict.

5WarEcon_zps48586824.png


But as soon as the nations armies left Austria the true situation of war presented itself as the army maintenance skyrocketed. Hopefully the war will be over before exhausting the nations reserves.

6Battle1_zpsb9abf2df.png


The Hanza were previously involved in a war with Denmark and its allies, the Hanza armies were already all but defeated when the Austria forces arrives, only a few small battles before the sieging began in earnest.

And with the sieging so did the return to profit as the armies kept up with attrition.


7WarEcon_zpsa411f68d.png


8AlliesMap_zpse71b4e6a.png


It was then I noticed that despite the declaration of war indicating that they would come, both Hungry and Bohemia had somehow managed not to join the party?

9Battle2_zpsf191efe8.png


The last battle of the war saw the enemy forces in complete disarray.

10Event1_zps4283bc05.png


The Emperor was convinced by an advisor to change some policies, despite the affront to the Emperors authority it seemed like a good idea.

The war was going well, what could go wrong now?


11CtA1_zps2ff3e21f.png


"Damn!!"

Not wanting to over extend, especially against a powerful nation, Austria declined the Call to Arms, starting off a downfall in Imperial politics.


12IADown1_zps7b6085f3.png


The good news was that the war was progressing on schedule.

13Lol_zpse7dc94c8.png


Out of nowhere the Gods decided that all should be put in jeopardy, this God however quickly discovered that his wife had decided to start downloading a lot of junk on the HTPC, with this put in order attention was back on the tasks at hand.

14Peace1_zps13056357.png


Luneburg was peaced out, mainly to take some extra coin to pay for the war.

15Vic1_zps70ef185f.png


The Hanza fell soon after, in total defeat. Luckily the Danish troops moved off the provinces so I could siege them all myself.

16Vic2_zpsf377a0a3.png


And so a quick and successful war was concluded, some Imperial Authority was restored in the process as well.

17Tech1_zpsc8676321.png


National Ideas was finally researched the following month. But this was marred by disappointing but expected results from Burgandy.

18IADown2_zps4eb86dd0.png


19Loan1_zps8bf03225.png

20PeaceEcon_zps002dfce9.png


The loan was repaid with the spoils of war, and the economy was set in order.

An extra diplomat was employed and immediately set to use improving relations across the Empire.


21Ideas1_zps6b79fbf7.png


The nation flourished for but a few months before disaster stuck again.

22CtA2_zps9a897738.png


Not wanting to angry a major local power right on our borders, the Emperor all but had to agree, joining the war the following day.

The economy once again entered war mode only just scraping by.


23WarEcon_zps7a8a84d2.png


24WarScreen_zpsc26aa2dd.png


Looking at the forces arrayed against us, god this is going to be a scrap, the first real challenge.

Some good news came in from Bohemia, it seems the Habsburgs were spreading.


25Event_zps48a175df.png


I don't actually know what this event does? I assume its good however and maybe leading to a union in the future?

The armies were eventually ready for war, looking at reports from the front, the situation didn't look great. The enemy was rolling in force along the borders of the Empire, a decisive battle needed to be fought, hopefully on favorable terms.


26Adv1_zps090977d5.png


The orders were given, the army was to advance to the enemy, but keeping the mountains to their backs and the high ground in their arsenal.

The march along the alps went as planned, the army still operating in Brigades of nine thousand, in the hope to lure in the enemy to a confrontation on our terms.

Success!


27BattleSet_zpse7f377f4.png


As the majority of the Austrian forces lay in wait, the main Burgandian army made the costly mistake of seeking battle with "the weaker force".

The stage was set, as the lone Austrian Brigade held their superior position against the enemy tide. The remaining army marched towards victory.


28Reinforce_zps76e71dfc.png


29HoldOut_zpsbc727b4d.png


Ulrich just had to hold out for a few more days... Help was coming...

30TideTurns_zpsd6e329fa.png


And thus the real battle began, the other Austrian Brigades arriving in time, their numbers and superior position quickly turned the tide against the attackers.

31Battle_zps8b5bed3f.png


To be continued...
 
Last edited:

Stildawn

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Continued...

As the enemy fled, reports of the victory were sent back to the capital. The Generals quickly noticing that the victory was not as complete as hoped.

But the enemy was shattered, now was the time to press the victory.


32Chase_zps7711da54.png


The capital of Burgandy lay only a few days march of the battle field. It was assumed the shattered remains were fleeing to their capital to regroup, thus the chase began, this force contained the vast majority of the enemies regiments, if they could be taken to the sword it would set Burgandy back years, and advance our alliance significantly.

Weeks wore on, unfortunately the shattered retreat did not end in the capital, no it went further north deep into enemy territory. The pursing Austrian forces flanked east to avoid battle with rebels roaming the province of Rethel. How the retreating Burgandian forces avoided them is unknown, but the pursuit continued, despite the growing concern among the Generals.

33Chase_zpscbfa2895.png


Losing sight of the target deep in Burgandian Low Countries, the army moved west again in the hope of re-sighting the enemy while avoiding more rebels.

34Chase_zps4da5ff91.png

35Chase_zps7768a724.png


The enemy in sight, the army pursued, the battle looking to be fought in Ghent.

36Waiting_zpsa11cf409.png


With the shattered enemy engaged with rebels, the Austrians prepared for the final battle after the rebels had taken their toll. The Generals were pleased with no doubt that Austrian forces would prevail after the rebels took what wind remained in the enemies moral.

37Crap_zpsc1bfefca.png


"Crap!"

And with the sight of overwhelming enemy forces to the east, the hopes of swift Austrian victory were dashed.


38Doom_zps24feaf7e.png


Caught between the recovering Burgandians and now their allies, the Austrians were locked in battle, a battle they were on their way to losing.

39Worse_zps5cbc964b.png


Adding salt to the wound, more enemy forces arrived a few days into the battle, all hope was lost, it was now a matter of how many would survive.

40Battle_zpsaaa05837.png


None!!

The battle of Ghent would go down in history as the day the war was lost. The army completely destroyed, the alliances main contributor was wiped from the competition.

Back in Austria the nation was open, the entire army was lost and the rebuilt would take years, decades perhaps. Despite this one spot of good news occurred.


41StabLvl2_zpsa013aadb.png


I'm loving the relations missions by the way, easy stability :)

With the new alliances the Foreign Ministry was overstretched unfortunately.

42Diplo_zpse2788632.png


While the enemy mauled the remaining forces of the alliance, England sent news that they too were in trouble.

43WarofRoses_zps7518f162.png


44Lost_zps44cffa84.png


The first loss occurred shortly after the armies defeat, there was nothing I could do to stop them, the enemy was steamrolling my land, I contemplated building regiments and hiring mercs, but they would get wiped before grouping.

I did manage to recruit one Brigade before being swamped, but despite my best efforts to hide this newly paid for army, it was tracked down and shattered.


45HidingLoss_zps5a81eda7.png


After its shattered retreat, it spent the remainder of the war hiding in eastern Hungry, out of reach of the roaming enemy forces.

46Event_zps63388c30.png


True to form, the nobles decided to kick me when I was down also, I took the tax reduction to save my stability, good move I don't know.

Somehow the scientists and thinkers still managed to work however. Along with my diplomats.


47Ideas_zps7d19e0a1.png

48Mission_zps4186e678.png


Enough was enough, the war was going nowhere but down, Hungry was on its own, I wanted out.

49Defeat_zpscf339862.png


50CtADecline_zps6775d836.png


But of course as soon as the costly peace was signed, I would be forced into another bad decision.

51IADown_zps8072322b.png


To weak to do anything either way.

And again the people kicked me when I was down. I took the money hit to save the stability.


52Event_zps88ddfc52.png


A few months of rebuilding and peace was welcomed, I was slowly trying to rebuild the army, I had two Brigades of eight thousand built and was waiting for manpower and funds to rise again when things started to look up? Maybe?

53Interesting_zps005e3800.png


Interesting... The war still waged between the remaining of my allies and the unstoppable enemy alliance, I wonder what this ment though.

54Yes_zps6716915c.png


Awesome... This is great, although I wish it happened when I was stronger, as its consequences were fairly bad.

55WarAgain_zpsa0dca611.png


So somehow I took over Burgundy's war, well that had to stop, luckily I had their war score also. Sadly though Stability fell by two, ruining all my hard work in keeping it high ish. So this next event was very welcoming.

56StabLvl1_zps8368c0a7.png


57Vic_zps5f11f09e.png


Peace was quickly signed, even making a small profit. But I don't know what happened but somehow I managed to lose pretty much all my alliances, well all the alliances that matter anyway.

58LostAllies_zps2f2409a9.png

59Culture_zps4b827ba7.png


On the upside a new culture was accepted. But that didn't stop the rebels forcing me to meet their demands cause my army was in no shape to deal with them.

60Event_zps9333528b.png


61AllyBack_zpsc8ba18b6.png


I managed to quickly get back Hungry, so at least my eastern borders were secure for now. And I managed to con my new vassals to like me more.

62Event_zpsb929e911.png




And so I sign off on another chapter, it was a more intense one that had me a bit annoyed at points. If it wasn't for the integrating of Burgandy it would have been a complete loss chapter.

I made a few mistakes as well sadly.

Anyway I hope you enjoyed reading if you go this far, for the future I think I need to get the realm in order for a bit, I only have 16 thousand troops and now an even greater area to protect. I managed to get back Brandenburg as an ally also, but Bohemia and France not yet cause I hate them too much, they are willing but I have to wait out the dishonored call negative against them. Hopefully I can re-ally soon ish.

In regards to future wars, I can have a go at Milan for Imperial Liberation, as well as Venice (well I can technically attack all my previous allies to but I don't want that). I have lost the chance to bring Bavaria down a peg as their liberation CB wore off during the Burgandy wars, they have now grown a bit in size to, hopefully I get the chance soon before they get out of control.

Cheers
 
Last edited:

Yenzen

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Yeah, go for some smaller countries after losing so much of your army - though rebuilding it tends to be faster than you'd expect.

In regards to sharing a dynasty:

- I increases relations.
- It does carry a chance of a personal union, if their king dies with no heir.
- If their monarch has no heir, you can claim the throne, which will put a PU in case of his death, unless he does have an heir later.
- If their monarch has no heir or one with a weak claim, claiming the throne also gives you a CB to force a personal union through war.
 

bbqftw

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Hungary is just...not a very good ally for Austria. Their army is weak (they field huge armies early but their economy just can't sustain it because their provinces are so poor - most are 2-3 base tax AND some are Ruthenian / Orthodox which means tons of patriot / zealot rebels) and they tend to pick some weird allies that often get targeted by other majors, which means you getting dragged in.

Things will get better for you, as the Dutch provinces are insanely rich. If you hold onto the Emperor position, you should be fine. Might want to look to Castile as an ally as I doubt France is going to be very happy sharing a border with you. Poland / Lithuania are decent allies to hold the east side, Muscovy I think is the best though, as they have the potential to wreck the Kalmar Union if the Danes start picking at the northern edges of the HRE, and they are generally really happy to do so.