Cosmopoli-Taint; A Blue Within Blue World - France AAR

[unmerged(60155)]

You'd think that by 1583? that infantry would begin to supplant cavalry...

What's the ratio of cavalry to infantry now? 3 to 1?

 

[kebzero]

FEEDBACK​

Clash of the Empires is coming! World shall tremble!
Hey man, what do ya think, what land tech lvl is time to replace cavalry with infantry?

I sort of want to say 'never' - simply because greater mobility can be just as effective as actual fighting power.

That said, I've certainly felt the increasing power of infantry in the past couple of decades. There's a reason I've been fairly peaceful. Wouldn't want to fight Austria with them being far ahead in Land tech.

Nice AAR

*subscribe*

As a side note: I know you're not into diplo-annexing, but you can get 'as-many-as-you-like' annex "insert vassal" mission. I've had it happen with Northumberland, Bavaria, Tuscany, etc. playing as BBB.

Good luck!

Don't know whether you need cores for those though.

Thanks.

I know of the generic event, but as far as I recall, it doesn't add a -1 Centralization counter-move. That is far more important than getting a core on the province, in my opinion. You don't need cores for the mission, since that's the mission reward...

You'd think that by 1583? that infantry would begin to supplant cavalry...

What's the ratio of cavalry to infantry now? 3 to 1?

Oh, infantry has become much more deadly. Maurician infantry can be rather nasty against Latin knights.

I don't recall the ratio at this stage... I'll have an update on the army status once we reach 1599.

 

[kebzero]

Part 45 - Defending Pagans

Austria secures a little bit of Poland.

A former Hochmeister seeks the protection of France, resulting in a core.

As expected, Lancaster starts cleaning up their surroundings, seeking revenge on the Cornish pixies. However, England is allied with Cornwall... and England has two Protestant provinces both we and Lancaster might get, BadBoy-free.

Despite our hopes to reach the threshold for the Anti-Piracy Act, we opt to intervene, just in case Lancaster steamrolled the undefended, four hundred percent inflation England.

Mutapa, unusually large, it hit with a Tribal Succession Crisis. Bantu patriots loyal to Swahili begins taking over their territory, and Swahili jumps on them at the same time.

France must intervene. However, not to annex them... this time.

Independent Cornwall is once more removed from the map. All English lands are, however, sieged by France. To our chagrin, Lancaster peaces England immediately - and we cannot help but wonder if they would have done the same, had we not intervened. Ah, well - what's done is done, what BadBoy we gained, we have.

Swahili is making short work of Mutapa, seizing one province after another. This cannot be permitted - especially since we need to see those lands.

With the 'aid' of a One Province Minor in West Africa, we get into a brawl with Swahili. Attacking them directly is not recommended, since they have a good number of large allies in the Middle East.

Segu is overrun, and peaced.

Mutapa secures one peace... but their territory is now substantially reduced.

The Bank of Mali gives France another loan.

We curse Lithuania for forcing Ansbach's release some forty years ago... Attacking an alliance-less One Province Minor guaranteed by half of Europe was opted as too expensive. The core is lost.

Mutapa is asked to donate to French security forces. While this seems expensive, it will be a good deal for Mutapa, in the end...

We take two Protestant provinces and London from England. With just Wessex left, Lancaster should soon overwhelm them, removing the last big colonizer... again.

Another core on a French culture group province. Lorraine has only one province left that would cost us BadBoy.

Our goal with Swahili is simple - push their revolt risk to the absolute max, which we now have.

Given their fragile state, we take two provinces - their border province with big, nasty Persia, and the island of Zanzibar. Defecting rebels probably would not arise there, not for Mutapa, at least.

Deprived access through Poland, the Austrian-Lithuanian conflict is brought to a close.

Mantua has always belonged to France.

Bohemia suffers a loss.

Scotland seeks to secure Orkney.

And they succeed.

 

[L Lawliet]

A former Hochmeister seeks the protection of France, resulting in a core.

*Whistles and waits for Euro007's reaction*

 

[Enewald]

Why do you want to have BB less than 10?

 

[Vesimir]

Some giberrish about anti-piracy act...

We want war not peace!

 

[Macknull]

Mantua has always belonged to France.

XD I lol'd.
Big, bad Persia? I want to see them!

 

[GregoryTheBruce]

You must have fallen out of your seat when you got that 9 diplo Prince...BB is WAY down now.

You're know you're the BBB without much BB now, right?

 

[kebzero]

FEEDBACK​

*Whistles and waits for Euro007's reaction*

Iast I checked, he did take advantage of the Big Yellow Blob to nab bits of Granada...

Why do you want to have BB less than 10?

The Anti-Piracy Act, the Abolishment of Slavery Act, and to avoid certain diplomatic events, such as those that trash the relationship between a Union Senior and Junior partner. At the moment, it's the former that bugs me. The Anti-Piracy Act does entail a very slight yearly BadBoy reduction - one point every century, or so, plus 1% annual prestige - and the latter is useful if I end up with a lot of uncontested cores.

That said, I'd have to push my BadBoy down to a mere four points... and I don't see that happening until about 1700, after a couple decades with Cabinet.

Some giberrish about anti-piracy act...

We want war not peace!

Butbutbut... the whole point of this exercise is to see how much land France can eat without gaining hundreds of BadBoy points... That means a lot of biding one's time. Heck, I've been an impatient warmonger this far... I need to calm down, not speed up.

XD I lol'd.
Big, bad Persia? I want to see them!

Glad to hear it.

Persia holds much of the Middle East, much of Central Asia, and most of Eastern Africa - and they're hammering the Indians every now and then. They're also Sunni, so their relations with the Ottomans and the Golden Horde are good. I'm sort of waiting for a year where one of them inherits the other two.... only thing preventing that, is that Persia remains a theocracy... for now.

If I secure some footholds in India and China before 1650 and still have points to spare, Persia would definitely be my target of choice.

You must have fallen out of your seat when you got that 9 diplo Prince...BB is WAY down now.

You're know you're the BBB without much BB now, right?

It made my day. Too bad leaders like that doesn't last too long - or at least, don't seem to.

BBB without BB... *chuckle*
Hadn't thought of that.

 

[kebzero]

Part 46 - Austrian Seamanship

Rouergue goes Cosmopolitaine.

Suddenly, election time again. We're sad to see our Diplomatic 9 ruler leave us...

...but he leaves us a parting gift; Wurttemberg. The new bloke is due for replacement at the earliest possible time.

Upon receiving this news, forces are dispatched to Benin's borders, in case we have to intervene. Monitoring Austrian fleet movements become a priority.

...yes, Austria does have a fleet.

...however, though they figure out how to load men aboard their cogs - and off again, ad infinitum - they cannot figure out how to leave the Adriatic, much less the Mediterranean. The Africans are safe, for now.

Poland craves more Bohemian lands.

Bohemia has secured a good set of allies this time, though.

With our core on Halogaland about to expire, we try to find a way to fight them, and not their many Protestant allies. However, the archbishop of Avignon has a superb security force. Even at seventy percent success rates, it takes five costly attempts for our spies to succeed in landing a claim.

War is declared. Time to reclaim some cores.

I'd say this war is in the box.

Mecklenburg steps in.

A lack of war with Hungary ends our claim on Osijek.

Thanks to their allies, Bohemia manages to keep the Status Quo.

 

[Enewald]

Heh, sometimes the diplo guy is more of an mili or adm guy.

 

[kebzero]

FEEDBACK​

Heh, sometimes the diplo guy is more of an mili or adm guy.

It's a bit irking to get a ruler with a mere five in the selected field, and a nine in one of the others... but that's the luck of the draw.

 

[kebzero]

Part 47 - Wanted: Aragonese Monarch

News from the far east. Now, this might not seem like an important conflict, but having seen the situation in the still 'terra incognita' far east during game loading, I know that South East Asia is all but carved up between Champa and Majapahit, and Rajputana has conquered pretty much all of northern India. Ming, after the usual aggressive move, proceded to collapse and leave the scene in favor of these three.

At the cost of one BadBoy point, we take the Center of Trade in Skåne as well.

Mutapa, now beefed up in size by Religious and Patriot rebels carving large bits of Sunni Swahili away, starts a border squabble with France. Not a bright move.

Meklenburg expands.

Lancaster tidies their border.

After a siege that lasts forever, Avignon falls - and is vassalized.

Lorraine is cut down to one province. Sadly, vassalising them proves too expensive.

Of course, all of this boosts our BadBoy level.

And there goes England. Again.

Similarly...

Tuscany, take two, gone.

In Africa,the Mali province of Bonny defects to Pagan Benin.

Mutapa is thrown into another Tribal Succession Crisis. France decides to intervene now, before provinces defect to Swahili.

For the third time in two centuries, the Aragonese throw two powers together in a War of Succession. The result seems a foregone conclusion. Hungary alone, versus Austria and friends?

As a last 'gift' before we reach the 200-year-mark, we're hit with this fancy little event. Certainly, a small boost in inflation couldn't hurt, right? I'd say otherwise - and since France will very soon tank its stability anyway due to certain planned changes, the loss of inflation - and thus cheaper tech - seemed the better choice, for once.

 

[Macknull]

Vassalaging SUX
Champa declares war on Majahaping, hmm, truly INTERESTING

 

[unmerged(60155)]

On average, how many ducats do you get a year from income and peaces?

 

[kebzero]

FEEDBACK​

Vassalaging SUX
Champa declares war on Majahaping, hmm, truly INTERESTING

Mayhap, but I'm gathering some vassals for a purpose - my lasted harebrained scheme.

I'm sort of hoping Champa wins, because then Ming will actually have a neighbor of worthy contention.

On average, how many ducats do you get a year from income and peaces?

The next part should be a status update, which will reveal income.

As for peaces, they come few and far between. Since I haven't been raiding too many European OPMs, and have left the Pagans mostly alone, I'd say on average a hundred ducats a year, maybe. That's a wild-ass guess, though.

 

[kebzero]

Part 48 - 200 years of play - Overview Oct. 14th, 1599​

As we've reached October 14th, 1599 - time to give an overview of the situation.

Our BadBoy score is high, as is our relations with most big countries in Europe.

Our stability is at -1, and only slowly climbing. Our fleet is greater than our force limit, and we need even more ships in the near future to combat pirates and blockade enemies.

Our sliders are still a mess, but they are not likely to improve, with the new gameplan.

Exploration has given us some naval tradition, the occasional warmongering some land tradition. Our mission is still to annex Alsace, which we must soon turn our attention to.

an overview of Europe. Austria, Poland, Lituania and the Ottomans are the main contenders.

A religious overview of Europe. France is very Protestant indeed, and there are several smaller Protestant countries around as well. Brittany and Norway are the only Reformed countries left.

Nations sorted by income. Persia has grown quite enormous, securing much of the Middle East, Central Asia and Eastern Africa. Austria has built two Centers of Trade and is quite proficient at trading.

Castille is still the master of inflation.

Sorted by prestige, Foix climbs curiously high. They haven't done much, since they kickstarted the Reformation almost a century ago.

Tech sorted by Government tech. France has caught up in most fields.

The world's greatest armies. French infantry forces have increased considerably, though cavalry still dominates the field.

Note that the Ming are now remarkably weak - and Brabant has become quite the power in Europe. It's also worth knowing that the Golden Horde, Ottomans and Persia tend to guarantee many of the same small countries, and build alliances. Fighting one without fighting the other two might not be possible, for very long. At least we only share a significant border with Persia.

Nothing matches the French fleet.

Domestic pie charts. France is even more unified than half a century ago.

The world situation. Note that the Golden Horde and Persia have a remarkably similar color o nthe map.

The French slice of the world.


Now, for a quick mention of how things are going... As best as I can deduce the savegame-files, France has ownership of about 330 provinces. The game has 1281 (?) land provinces. A fair number of them are empty, and can be colonized. Another fair number have Pagan owners, which I've (a little too late) come to learn cost no BadBoy points at all to conquer. Even so, that leaves an awful lot of provinces I'd have to conquer.

To make matters worse - in 1650, the BadBoy cost of Heathen provinces will normalize, rather than remain at the half cost they currently have. Since I'm not to cross my BadBoy threshold at any time, I cannot hoard their lands now for a gain in the long term.

Now, with republics from here on out, we're guaranteed to get at least -0.5 BadBoy every year. Around 1650, we should reach Government tech 30, and get the Cabinet National Idea, for an annual -1 BadBoy.

That gives us (0.5 * 220 years) + (1 * 170 years) = 280 BadBoy points that we are certain to shed. Anything above that, due to a better ruler, is a bonus. Any diplomats we might get, is a bonus. In the absolutely ridiculous best case scenario, we'd lose with Superb rulers (0.9 * 220) + Cabinet (1 * 170) + 3 level six Diplomats at all time (0.9 * 220) = 566 BadBoy points. The Anti-Piracy Act and the Abolisment of Slavery Act could give further, minute reductions to BadBoy score.

I've already fumbled the ball on this game - barring extreme luck with cores, wars, rulers and advisors, it seems highly unlikely a complete world conquest without a catastrophic BadBoy level can occur.

I've noticed at least these points, where I've gone wrong:
* not helping Granada take over Iberia... and then turn on them.
* attacking in Europe early (other than against colonizers), rather than crusade against heathens.
* not attacking Pagans out of fear of BadBoy - ignorance of rule changes caused this one.
* Attacking French vassals for Centralization gain. Instead of spending all those moves picking up religious Decisions for more missionaries, I could have moved six times to Centralization.
* picking fights by starting them myself, rather than rely on random wars through guarantees.

So, what now? I could stay a Noble Republic and pray I'll inherit something like Austria, Poland or Lithuania, but that's so unlikely I don't think I'd bother.

The plan, then, is:
* to move to a Republic with a 4-year leader replacement cycle, and attempt to field an at least 8 Diplomatic ruler at all times, for increased frequency of the Boundary Dispute event and higher BadBoy reduction.
* to attack the entire Asian coastline, to secure provinces from which to perhaps get Boundary Disputes after 1650.
* to vassalise and diploannex any One Province Minors that are unlikely to be eaten by angry neighbors, and to do so in mass-annexation attempts (five at a time) to maybe limit Centralization loss.
* to guarantee nations everywhere, to save on BadBoy cost for declaring wars - as a republic, good relations for the lucky inheritance is no longer necessary.


As initially stated, the name of the game is still to conquer and convert as much land as at all possible without crossing the BadBoy threshold, but a complete World Conquest is probably out of the question. It might very well be possible with more careful management than I've shown. The Ottomans look like a better alternative for this endeavour, since they can eat rich Europe at low cost for the first 250 years. Maybe in another game, once this is concluded...

For the moment, this AAR is caught up with the game. With the release of Victoria VIP 0.3, it might take me a day or two to keep on with this game, in case any of you would like to tell me the flaws in my new gameplan for the remaining 220 years.

 

[Enewald]

Woah, Atlantic begins to look like an French lake!!!

 

[PrawnStar]

I'm really enjoying this - I'm sat here wondering if I should give this a go...

Is it worth pushing for Gov't 30 at the expense of the other techs to get a couple of extra decades of that -1BB each year.

Trying this (3.1 on VH - Lucky = Random).

Interesting, it's a lot more like EU2 in the intense focus on BB management. It's 1426 and I've tried a couple of different things. One is I took East Anglia, Oxford, Kent and Wessex from England (100 points of War Score) after letting them go bankrupt 5 times. Secondly I cancel Missions that aren't the Centralisation reward for annexing a vassal - two down so far with a third just arrived. Burgundy is an OPM, Portugal has lost three provinces and Castile four including Andalucia.

KUTGW - you never know it might just be on

 

[patham]

Interesting to see how much you can get while under the limit.

Would it be easier with a nation from a different religion group? Granted, they would not be latin, so getting to gov 30 would be harder, but you could gobble up the christians for cheap.