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Taranli Maren

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That was a very bittersweet session. I have noticed the same issue with respect to the willing allies not actually joining the war. I don't know if it is a bug, or if they added some uncertainty.

One thing to consider (and I'm not saying that this would have necessarily worked out well) is that if you had accepted the call from Liege you would have become war leader. Then you could issue a call to arms to your own allies (France in particular). France would probably be hard-pressed to fight Castile and Burgundy by herself, but they are certainly a better ally than Hungary. Also, it is unclear if Castile even joined that first war. There is of course the possibility that France would have rejected the call, but as a rival of Burgundy, I think that would have been unlikely.

In any case, you did end with a stronger position than you started. Unfortunately you have to worry about a stronger French rival now. I would probably buddy up to Castile as bbqftw suggested, and expect a war sooner rather than later.
 

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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.

Is that in regards to the Bohemia child event? Lol not as good as I had hoped but still good. If I claim the throne though everyone else will hate me.

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.

I was mainly hoping to remain allies with Hungry until I had the chance to pick them apart myself. But yeah since the dishonored alliance thing will take so long to cool down, I might start pushing for an alliance with Castile. With the Iberian Wedding event how long till Spain is formed? As I'm assuming that is the first part of it.

Will look into Moscovy to, as the Swedes and Danes were an issue in one of my other attempts, would love to stop them before they reach me.

That was a very bittersweet session. I have noticed the same issue with respect to the willing allies not actually joining the war. I don't know if it is a bug, or if they added some uncertainty.

One thing to consider (and I'm not saying that this would have necessarily worked out well) is that if you had accepted the call from Liege you would have become war leader. Then you could issue a call to arms to your own allies (France in particular). France would probably be hard-pressed to fight Castile and Burgundy by herself, but they are certainly a better ally than Hungary. Also, it is unclear if Castile even joined that first war. There is of course the possibility that France would have rejected the call, but as a rival of Burgundy, I think that would have been unlikely.

In any case, you did end with a stronger position than you started. Unfortunately you have to worry about a stronger French rival now. I would probably buddy up to Castile as bbqftw suggested, and expect a war sooner rather than later.

Yeah hindsight is a bitch, I fully would have taken the first war against Burgandy if I knew it was going to happen anyway, then my IA would be much higher also.
 

bbqftw

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With the Iberian Wedding event how long till Spain is formed? As I'm assuming that is the first part of it.
they need 50 years to even begin integrating, so probably around 60-70 years, unless they get really lucky with inheriting right after 50 years.

that said, Castile is still strong with its starting provinces. and if Aragon didn't get its prestige tanked early, Castile should get PUs over both Naples and Aragon when Iberian Wedding fires

As long as you don't share a border with Ottomans they might also be a viable ally. They do tend to be twitchy, so if you ever neighbor them expect them to go hostile and break alliance.
 

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Ah so quite a wait, was hoping Spain was closer to give France a run for its money. Will still look into the Castilian alliance however and Moscovy. Sadly I'm far from being the papal controller so I cant get rid of those Royal Marriages to France/Saxony etc to free up some diplo slots, going to have to run over the limit.

I'm thinking of a quick war with Milan next again to break them up? Although I could vassalize maybe? Maybe not though as they are bigger now.

My claims on Venice just got a lot harder as I noticed they have signed an alliance with France, and I now have to defend my low country provinces right next to France. Even if I manage to get another alliance with France, doesnt the AI usually always join on the defenders side?
 

bbqftw

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yes, they will generally join defender. Does Venice have an ally that is not allied to France, that France will join a war against? If so, and if Venice has no chance of becoming war leader (if you want to be perfectly safe, use a warleader locking CB like revoke electorate or cleansing of heresy), then declaring war against that country will generally cause France to join your side against Venice, breaking the alliance.
 

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Dont think so, that I can remember. Plus dont have either of the CB's anyway.

Might just go for Milan, while working on a Castilian alliance, I assume they are PU'd with Aragon which means its pretty much the whole of Spain anyway. Then see if I can pick Venice appart with a France being occupied by Castile.

Still hoping that Bavaria decides to give me another liberation CB against them so I can break them up.
 

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guKS2mD.png


The date is the 3rd of October 1458, the Emperor is focusing on rebuilding the army from the loss against Burgandy before the integration.

Three Brigades have been recruited, with a fourth on the way.


rytfyRY.png


The economy is healthy with while we wait for funds and manpower to climb before a new Brigade is recruited. Its then I notice that the liberation CB with Milan is expiring in September next year, thus the nation begins to prepare for war.

t6xfRWc.png


While army moral climbs after funding is restored, the three Brigades are moved into defensive positions along the Alps.

UVL0XCU.png


Staring down the large Milanese force in the plains below. I always try to force the enemy to attack me while I hold better positions.

jlOBZBz.png


War is declared and the enemy advances, while a new Austrian Brigade is marched closer to support.

oKtVndv.png


The battle is met, the other Brigades being to move in to support, the lone army must hold out until reinforcements arrive.

WL07nmo.png

x1GFmtg.png


The battle ends in Victory, although I can never seem to get great victories, as you can see I lose almost double what Milan loses even though it was fought on my terms.

lxYNegg.png


The pursuit beings as the armies race down from the Alps, the shattered enemy is heading for Liguria.

Here is gets a bit weird... I don't know if its a bug or is WAD, but my army arrives in Liguria but does not engage in battle, nor does it siege the province even though the shattered Milan force is sitting on the same region? I notice for some reason my armies have the "exile" black flag they usually get when they are in foreign territory, well they are but we are at war??

I test by sending one Brigade back to Trent, the black flag disappears so I send the rest back also. This is highly annoying as I had the advantage but during this time the Milan force regroups and matches forward again.


glf6Or9.png


Racing back to Austrian territory to clear the black flag, my armies are hurrying to reinforce a one sided battle.

CeIaAOy.png


They make it in the nick of time, turning the battle in my favor once again, here deja vu sets in.

aBTJIr8.png


During the battle the accountants propose reforms, to avoid a stability hit of the change, I put them on hold for now, taking the inflation.

ODK2HdU.png

ifudO0A.png


The battle ends in victory just as it did the first time, the pursuit follows... Again identical to the first time.

8rjsCjj.png

uJ4w1js.png


Again Liguria see's a battle, but this time I am trumped... I don't know how that happened, the enemy was coming off a shattered march and everything.

My shattered Brigades retreat to Wien, I spread them out to recover. But unfortunately the Milanese are pressing their advantage, I hurriedly send all forces to back up the Brigade defending on the eastern end of the Alps.


9EeiqTh.png

0G4WZiG.png


The battle is turning into another disaster, when I notice a small group of allies are on the way.

Htvwzjd.png


Together we manage to scrape in a victory.

H3MytuE.png


I finally reach Admin Tech 5, looking forward to some peace to start constructing temples and constables.

UWLsP7k.png


When my Brigades were shattered, fearing the worse I spend considerable coin up in the Low Countries recruiting a band of mercs, having arrived to the front after the narrow victory in Austria, I send them to finish of the Milan forces once and for all.

yAudLmo.png

UYMVYgL.png


One battle to shatter them, another to smash them completely.

With Milan beaten, the recovering Brigades set in for the long siege. During this time I advance in diplo ideas.


MWSOEzS.png


Which opens the first national idea. +10% Imperial Authority, I'm not to sure exactly what that does?

HGOe3DT.png


Using diplomats and a policy of rivaling France, I finally manage to secure my western flank by an alliance with Castile, who as we know also control Aragon. Hopefully they can deter France for the while.

bSideDT.png


The sieges over, peace is signed. I don't know why I didn't get some IA for Genoa, since they were released as well. But either way good win after a bit of weirdness. The money was used to pay off a loan caused by a stupid event.

Peace at last, the manpower was low at around nine thousand, but the Brigades were almost finished recovering. I kept the mercs for the meantime sending them up into the Low Countries as my sole force up north.

With the nation recovered almost, I was looking to my next move... Deciding on a liberation war against Hesse, since they were also allied with Bavaria, meaning I could wipe Bavaria and peace them out by forcing them to release their minors. But... It was not to be...


0itdx50.png


To be continued...
 
Last edited:

Stildawn

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Continued...

My ally Cologne bet me to it, by literally a few seconds. I had hoped I would get war leader but no, we entered the war without the ability to seek demands from Bavaria.

ve9BZRn.png


Of course this war caught me with my maintenance down, unfortunately Bavaria attacked before my Brigades were up to speed, luckily their position along the Alps as well as coming together for the battle, ensured me a quick early victory and pursuit of Bavaria sole shattered army.

cEe6L94.png

SzaWeU4.png

x5r2IAy.png


With Bavaria essentially out of the picture, and my forces in the south setting in for the siege of their territory. I looked to the north just as my Merc Brigade was arriving in Hessen, only to be attacked by Hesse forces a day later.

v7YqtOF.png

pv9LzIP.png


My allies stood by while the battle turned sour, my mercs forced into a shattered retreat to Wien.

The sieging was going as planned in Bavaria, but after the defeat, the Hessian forces decided it was prudent to march south to help their allies. Unfortunately for them I was still strong here, although they caught a depleted Brigade alone, it wasn't long before my other forces including the recovered mercs marched to join the fray.


7UxUI5F.png

JtJ8J8u.png


My allies also joined in and the victory was secured.

5r7HVHT.png


Cologne peaced out Bavaria shortly after they wiped the remaining Hessian forces. Of course I did all the work against Bavaria but got nothing.

The war returned to the north, I sent the mercs up to siege the capital, while I retired my regular Brigades back into their Austrian bases.

After Hessen fell to my mercs, and Cologne forces were in control of the situation, my mercs Brigade retired back to the Low Countries also.


RFYjeWv.png


I took this opportunity to earn some coin, using War Taxes but not involving myself in the war, I turned a healthy profit while Cologne sieged Hesse.

CoGHj8J.png


V0qZBRk.png

BVPSjtI.png


Finally brought Bohemia back into the fold and offered Vassalization to Wurttemberg.

The peace war was not totally uneventful, many temples were built from war profit, and sadly Vlaanderen was hit with Influenza.


9T2Re0w.png


tzMDIwS.png


The war came to an end, with Cologne taking what they wanted from a defeated Hesse.

rVoiWF5.png


A shuffle of trade made profits even better, as I continued to build Temples when I could.

28th of February 1466


And so another Chapter ends, successful even despite some weird events in Milan, I am still rebuilding however as the two wars have taken their toll on manpower.

Here's a quick look at some of my base resources.

pf58tjI.png

Four regular Brigades, and the Foreign Brigade of mercs, I'm hoping to get rid of the mercs as soon as possible, but my manpower at 10k needs to climb before I'm comfortable with recruiting more regular Brigades. Eventually I'll be looking at around seven Brigades of eight thousand (56,000 total standing army), with four in Austria and three up in the Low Countries. This is below my force limits, but I still want to get the economy going better before building up too much of a standing army.

jP2d3yt.png

During this chapter I also completed my dominance of the Empire, all electors are for me except Bohemia who still back themselves.

This leaves me with visions for the next chapter. Austria is looking strong especially if I can get in a few years of peace to rebuild my manpower. Unfortunately all my CB's have expired except Venice.

ILDZsR7.png

Castile will join as will the rest (except Bohemia), hopefully France doesn't defend Venice, but if they do hopefully they are distracted enough from Castile that I can concentrate on finishing off Venice before they gain to much advantage against me in the Low Countries.

Question, in this scenario, will France become the war leader?

Anyway. Thanks for reading if you got this far.

Side note I have changed my hosting to Imgur as photobucket has maxed out again, it seems odd cause I haven't used my photobucket account in ages yet its maxed out 10gb of bandwidth since starting this AAR. Anyway they have lost my "free" business lol. I'll get round to swapping the previous chapters images over to Imgur at some point.

Cheers :)
 
Last edited:

CatKnight

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Hey, Stildawn:

One of the reasons photobucket maxed out so quickly is you're using .png format files. I'd strongly suggest you convert those to .jpg format. They're much smaller, the resolution is almost as good, and should do away with your bandwidth issues. It'll also make it easier for your readers' computers.

You might also want to review the AARland Rules - specifically rule 4. It appears you're going way over on maximum images per post. This might be an opportunity to take a close look at what screenshots you want to share and only use those most effective at helping tell your story.

Good luck! Austria's a fun nation to play, though more challenging than one might think at first glance.
 

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Yeah that's a good point regarding PNG, will save as JPG from now on.

Can I ask why there is a rule 4? Lol this is going to be hard cause I'm already cutting down images, I have 84 for this chapter but culled a lot cause it would take too many posts? Just seems odd, I've written many AARs before some with over a hundred images in each post.
 

GreatUberGeek

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Nice strategy for battles! Either these Habsburgs are not so clueless, or they have clever assistants.

For my English AAR, had almost 300 screenshots for William the Conqueror, with a 13-year reign. And I used only one. :p
 

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That was mainly a play on how useless my other earlier attempts at Austria were. I'm getting a hang of the Austria strategy now though so yeah improving.

Still dont know how to get a decent victory though, almost all my battles are close to pyrrhic.
 

Taranli Maren

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+10% Imperial Authority means that any time your IA increases, you get an extra 10%.

I would expect that France would become the war leader if Venice calls them in. Perhaps you could attack Switzerland instead, and hope Venice joins the war in their defense. Switzerland might be large enough for Venice not to become the war leader.

I have a theory on why you suffered so many losses early in your Milan war. If your reinforcing armies got to the battle just in the nick of time, the first brigade might have suffered significant losses. Particularly if that brigade didn't have the general. There look like other factors also, like their having better discipline and military tech.
 

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Stildawn

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+10% Imperial Authority means that any time your IA increases, you get an extra 10%.

I would expect that France would become the war leader if Venice calls them in. Perhaps you could attack Switzerland instead, and hope Venice joins the war in their defense. Switzerland might be large enough for Venice not to become the war leader.

I have a theory on why you suffered so many losses early in your Milan war. If your reinforcing armies got to the battle just in the nick of time, the first brigade might have suffered significant losses. Particularly if that brigade didn't have the general. There look like other factors also, like their having better discipline and military tech.

Yeah I checked and I'm behind in Military, two whole levels from the leaders unfortunately. Hopefully I can build this up at some point again, I cant remember what I've spent them all on, probably war taxes.

Your main problem was that your general had no shock and Milans general had 4 pips. Shock is way more important than fire until tech 12 where units get fire pips.

I can never seem to get good generals. I played a bit last night and made a new general, hes ok at 3 2 1 1 but still not as good as all the other generals I see around the place. My other generals are terrible averaging around 0 1 0 0 etc.

I was going to do another update last night but wife wanted to go to bed instead. Im embroiled in a massive war with France, its fairly intense, hopefully i have something good to report tonight if I get round to it.
 
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Taranli Maren

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I can never seem to get good generals. I played a bit last night and made a new general, hes ok at 3 2 1 1 but still not as good as all the other generals I see around the place. My other generals are terrible averaging around 0 1 0 0 etc.

Your general's stats are heavily influenced by your army tradition when you recruited him, as your admirals are by naval tradition. You gain army tradition by fighting (not necessarily winning) battles, but it decays over time.
 

Stildawn

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29th of February 1466

We left off in rebuilding mode, and thus I continued in the begining on this chapter, as manpower and funds increased a fifth Brigade was recruited and marched north to join the Foreign Brigade in the Low Countries.

The peace was going well, Temples were being built and I was trying to focus on Military tech, reaching lvl 4 shortly after starting. I also finally broke Englands hold on the College of Cardinals.


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Seeing as my only options forward was Venice I was looking to see how I could pull this off with them being allied to France. I strengthen all my alliances most importantly Castile, and I saved funds and manpower in preparation for war.

I then noticed that France had already been involved in a long running war with Savoy, Switzerland, Venice, Providence etc. Their armies were weakened so I switched to full Military funding in prepartion for a declaration of war.


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France became war leader unfortunately, but all my allies joined in (a few I had to invite manually, which they were happy to do).

The war started well, as usual I waited in my defensive positions along the Alps. The enemy went straight for me as I pulled in the four Brigades (32,000 men) in Austria into the fight, but as the enemy poured in from all corners of their alliance, the battle was swinging against me despite the bonuses. This would become a theme of this war, the sheer amount of reinforcements able to join any given battle anywhere in the entire western Europe region.

Thinking about this, I feel it might be something that the game should change, I understand and support a strategy of supporting armies operating independently but within support range of one another (you'll notice I do this alot), but this wars theme was massive long distance reinforcement. There were numerous battles where entire nations forces would travel the length of the western europe to join battles started months ago. Battles should be quicker to prevent this I think, so you actually have to have armies within a reasonable supporting range.

Anyway where was I... Yes the battle of Tirol.


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Despite fighting hard in a defensive position, and all my eastern allies joining in, the enemys reinforcements overwhelmed my forces, who as a result of the defeat all retreated in a shattered march north to the Low Countries. Austria proper was empty of friendly forces, with a few large French & Co armies settling in.

Taking some time to recover in the Low Countries, I decided to abandon Austria for the moment and try and get a few quick seiges in on the French homelands, while their forces were all in the east.


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But of course this didnt last, and began what I call the desperate battle of northern France. The French marched forces north, I pulled my seiging forces together in repel them.

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The first battle was a loss, but more followed as northern France became a playground of large whole alliance block sized battles.

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Meanwhile in Austria, the enemy was left unchecked. Bohemia, Hungry and Brandenburg fought as hard as they could, the enemy was concentrating in that area and my allies were being overwhelmed.

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As the result of one of the battles of Nemours, I had an advantage after a French defeat, I thought I would try my luck at wiping their armies as they tried to recover. But unfortunately it was not to be, despite their depleted moral, French General Benolts was just too good.

However despite the losses, the war in Northern France was going our way, Castile and Aragon had finally joined in, and even the combined armies of my small vassals and Imperial Princes were formidable. The majority of French forces were shattered up north, and with Castile/Aragon/Imperial Princes armies seemingly in control of the situation. The armies of Austria marched south to relieve their homeland.


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Trent was relieved and the remaining Swiss/Venice forces were dealt with, and the army was spread out for seiging.

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Hungry first and then shortly after Bohemia exited the war with white peace, it was annoying but theirs forces were depleted so it wasnt a great loss in military capacity.

Success followed the victories in the south, The Swiss were pressured out of the war, Milan too after a final decisive victory, Naples also took my offered provinces (of Aragon) which also made the map look pretty.

This situation had reversed however, success in the south had shifted Frances focus, the north was void of friendly forces as Castile had focused on seiging (and taking a few) French provinces on their borders.

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The Venice situation wrapped up, the armies marched north again. The war had raged for 6 years by this point, both sides were operating on less than a 1000 manpower. I had disbanded four of my five regular brigades cause they had absolutely no troops left in them. The economy was in ruins I had taken multiple loans and was operating with around 40,000 mercs, with only one brigade of around 5000 regulars.


With the south secured, and my focus returned to the north, the desparate battle of northern France continued and heated up. The reason I call this one battle, is that despite my focus shifting there was continual battles raging almost constantly around Nemours/Paris/Cambray and the Low Countries. It was never ending destruction.

With the return of my armies, my minors came out to join in in greater numbers, the Castilians also moved north and the battles heated up to a pitched fury.


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Battles raged back and forth, my alliance had numbers by now and the war was shifting back into our advantage (after hanging around -30% for most of the war).

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I was pleased, the war was drawing close to a decisive victory that would cement French defeat, their armies were being shattered, and if we just held on a little longer we could wipe theirs forces and being the victory seiges.

But it was not to be...


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Castile, having made gains on their borders, while the French fought on in the north, took the advantage they had and met French diplomats at the peace table. Upon hearing news of their demands being met, the war swifted quickly back into the French favour. Seeing no end in sight alone, with multiple loans (even loans coming due soon) I quickly took a white peace before the tide turned completely and more damaging demands were inforced.

Shattered, down to 12,000 mercs and 2,000 regulars Austria weeped in its defeat. Even though it was a white peace, nothing was directly gained in the war except that both France and Austria were shattered. In the late stages of the war my only goal (as it was realistic at that point) was for France to cancel its alliance with Venice, but even that was out of reach and Austria returned to peace completely worse off than before the war.

Money was tight, although I was back to a profit, I had multiple loans coming due every year, thankfully some rich family wanted to be come a Bishop, despite annoying the church Austria needed the money.


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During the late stages of the war, Denmark also attacked the northern Empire, I had to decline the call to defend, further damaging Imperial Authority and relations, although I could fix the relations, I took the opportunity of a quick liberation war to try gain back some authority.

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It was quick and bloodless, the rouge Prince out matched and for the first time in over a decade Austria had something to celebrate, two new vassals and a decisive victory.

But Austria was still shattered, its manpower in ruins, loans that needed to be paid and no end in sight. It would be a long road to recovery this time.


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A good healthy profit, but it couldnt keep up with the loans coming due, I'm managing to pay off a few but most are being extended. There is no room for development, manpower is still recoving and the army still stands at 20,000 mostly mercs. At least Military tech increased again, but I'm still a whole level behind France.

8th of Decemeber 1478

And so another chapter comes to a close, a sad chapter. I was soooooo close and then Castile took it all away lol. Fair enough though for them as I probably would have done the same, by the end of the war everyone was on "low", we all had massive manpower issues to the extent that I stopped using regulars altogether and was almost exclusively mercs. I think this is by far the most intense war I have ever been in, in EUIV.

It doesn't look like much but I had to cull a great bunch of the screen shots, the desparate battle of northern France raged the entire war, with many many more battles than what is displayed here, there were probably around 50 or so, many of them massive in size with allies on both sides pouring in all available forces. It was quite ridiculous to be honest, often times the battles raged so long that entire armies would travel from one theater to the other to join in, in a few instances even shattered armies that just lost, would retreat, recover and then march north again and catch the next battle (that start just after they lost) in time. I'm a bit raw lol cause more often than not I was on the bad side of this, usually I would operate my armies in support of each other, and would be engaged and have massive superiority cause all my close by support armies would join. Only for the battle to rage on so long that the numbers would eventually turn against me.

Anyway it was exciting on the edge of the seat action, France is a beast! We were only just hanging on for most of the war, and I never knew that the Swiss/Milianese/Venice etc could raise such massive armies, they were usually rolling around with 20+ which seems extreme cause my manpower as Emperor with the Low Countries is only around 57 ish max I think.

I think I'm just going to avoid outside Empire wars now, I cant get my IA up cause I'm always caught in a massive war when I get my defend the empire call. I might just focus on diplo annexing the minors, I have Wurtemburg, Cleves, Friesland, and Gelre, I'm also working on Baden and Alace.

Any tips and ideas for the future, the next update might be boring cause Austria is too shattered to do much.

Thanks for reading this far if you have :)

Cheers
 
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