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

[Najs]

It's a shame you won't succeed. Now go get those injuns!

 

[unmerged(75462)]

Being papal controller is another BB reduction, that's why you may want to stay Catholic. Additionally doing europe last, will mean more countries in your tech group which will mean more advisors, and a better chance at diplo advisors. You'll also have more large blobs you have a chance to inherit. If you try this again, try Castille, you get a -35 BB from missions, you are closer to the heathens, and the biggest factor is you can let france form a megablob, so no burning annexation BB on german minors. Of course Ming would probably be much easier but that's no fun.

 

[dem61s]

If you try this again, try Castille, you get a -35 BB from missions

There is a nice BB reduction mission with France too. But he will to form the USA first. And then let the mission pop over and over again.

 

[sprites]

in my version , that one only gives prestige , and few

 

[Vesimir]

Well, I just hope you will UNIFY France before the game ends.....

I have no interests in strategy on world level but EU only gives you that one so...

I want Europe to be blue. That'll be good enough.

 

[kebzero]

FEEDBACK​

I have played on quite a bit, but it'll take some time to arrange and edit the screenshots. I expect to have more updates to post regularly starting sometime on Monday.

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

Still quite a bit of work left before that... Lancaster, Scotland, Norway and Holland has to go, for starters.

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

I wonder if there are any differences in BadBoy accumulation between 3.1 and 3.2b. As it is, I'm wondering whether the 0 BB for dealing with Pagans started in 3.1 or 3.2b - because that one helped immensely.

Sounds like you're off to a good start. It'll be tough for England to recover, if they still have a large navy.

....so, are you going to AAR yours?

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.

That's why I think the Ottomans would have a much easier time doing this, despite lacking early use of the Curia, and that sort of thing. They have their Ottoman Tolerance decision which would help here, and westernizing shouldn't be too hard. By the time Govt 30 comes into play, the Ottomans should own much of Europe, and be westernized.

I do wonder how much I'll manage to take by 1820. As long as I can maintain Diplomatic 9 ratings on my leaders, the Boundary Dispute event triggers ridiculously often - and that makes conquest just a little bit easier.

It's a shame you won't succeed. Now go get those injuns!

I'm working on it... At least I've learned that the Pagans are BadBoy-free - but they're a rowdy crowd until nationalism dies down.

Being papal controller is another BB reduction, that's why you may want to stay Catholic. Additionally doing europe last, will mean more countries in your tech group which will mean more advisors, and a better chance at diplo advisors. You'll also have more large blobs you have a chance to inherit. If you try this again, try Castille, you get a -35 BB from missions, you are closer to the heathens, and the biggest factor is you can let france form a megablob, so no burning annexation BB on german minors. Of course Ming would probably be much easier but that's no fun.

I'm aware of those things - that was part of the challenge; going Protestant so to not have the Curia Crutch to lean on all game, and playing France to avoid any guaranteed BadBoy-reducing missions. Castille would certainly have it easier - did start one Catholic Castille game, and by 1500, western Europe and most of Africa was already firmly Spanish...and the BadBoy threshold still far away.

Both Castille and Ming can exploit their BadBoy-reducing missions to continuously blank their score. For Castille, it'd be darn easy, just keep a one prov Sunni Granada alive; conquer and release, conquer and release. Ming would have a slightly harder time with theirs, as Oirat Relations requires a lot of diplomats, something Ming does not have....

There is a nice BB reduction mission with France too. But he will to form the USA first. And then let the mission pop over and over again.

Whichever mission that is, I think the reward has changed for 3.2b. I didn't see any BadBoy-reducing France-specific missions when I skimmed the data files earlier.

in my version , that one only gives prestige , and few

Yeah, 4 Prestige or thereabout... I'm at 100 Prestige almost all the time now, so no need for such a ludicrous mission.

Well, I just hope you will UNIFY France before the game ends.....

I have no interests in strategy on world level but EU only gives you that one so...

I want Europe to be blue. That'll be good enough.

I'm working on it... I've deliberately let Foix, Avignon, Lorraine, Brittany, etc. off the hook simply because cores I get there aren't lost due to same culture group. That's why they can wait until after 1650, at least. Rest assured, they'll be gone by 1820.

As for the rest of Europe, that remains to be seen. Europe - even if you set the eastern border to the Ural mountains - should be feasible, if I focus all efforts there. We'll see...

 

[elbasto]

Castille would certainly have it easier - did start one Catholic Castille game, and by 1500, western Europe and most of Africa was already firmly Spanish...and the BadBoy threshold still far away.

I'd like to see an AAR about that.

 

[dem61s]

in my version , that one only gives prestige , and few

Whichever mission that is, I think the reward has changed for 3.2b. I didn't see any BadBoy-reducing France-specific missions when I skimmed the data files earlier.

Not that I didn't trust you guys, but I definitely remembered getting this mission several times as France in a previous game, so I checked it out. It turns out you're right. The reward for this mission used to be -5bb in v3.0.
It will only make your challenge more interesting, kebzero

 

[kebzero]

FEEDBACK​

I'd like to see an AAR about that.

Well... I'd have to start from scratch, since I've no screenshots from that game - and there's no guarantee I'd be as blissfully lucky as I was in that game. A string of good monarchs and a six star Diplomat made conquest easy.

Not that I didn't trust you guys, but I definitely remembered getting this mission several times as France in a previous game, so I checked it out. It turns out you're right. The reward for this mission used to be -5bb in v3.0.
It will only make your challenge more interesting, kebzero

One less thing for me to exploit, if nothing else.

 

[kebzero]

Part 49 - Government Shuffle

Our Prince dies, but his replacement is certainly an improvement.

We make a push for the Popery Act, pushing our annual missionaries to +3.90. If we can get to max innovative, we'll still have nearly three missionaries a year. Due to BadBoy limitations, we'll likely have far more missionaries than we'll ever need - unless we convert back to Catholisism, or something.

Too bad someone took that as a serious suggestion. A little hush-money ends the risk of losing stability.

In Africa, our first concluded Pagan war ends. Sokoto becomes French for no BadBoy points at all.

Their ally, Mutapa, follows suit. Fort construction commences while the cavalry regiments are scattered out to quell or at least delay any uprisings before the forts are completed.

The Aragonese secure themselves their third foreign master. However, due to Austria's abysmal prestige at this stage, the union won't survive for too long.

The new African forts complete, without even a single uprising occuring - a minor miracle if there ever was one.

Armor, overwhelmed by vacationers from Paris, turns Cosmopolitaine.

Our high-rated Navigator comes through for us, pushing our stability to acceptable levels. As a reward, he's immediately fired, since the possibility for this event is the only reason we hired him in the first place.

Mecklenburg seeks to expand their territory, and unfortunately we didn't Guarantee Denmark in time.

Our next slider move comes around, as does Government tech level 25. This is the optimal time for some shuffling of our nation. Since we've entered the 1600s, it is time to abandon Ecumenism. We no longer need its protection from the Religious Turmoil event. In its place we pick Patron of the Arts. The prestige could come in handy as we attempt to gather up Boundary Disputes events, but more important are the two random events tied to this idea. Architectural Development should help us push towards Innovative, and provided we keep an Artist in the court and a fair positive cash balance, there's a chance for a cheap manufactory.

As a completely new idea, we pick Espionage. We certainly have the funds to play around with spies now, though the more important part is that the Espionage idea apparently increases the chance of generating a Diplomat advisor. That alone makes it worth an idea slot.

We push our Centralization to the max, resulting in a revolt. Now, we are prepared to attempt mass diploannexations... if only we can get our BadBoy rating down enough for them to be more than 'unlikely'. This probably won't happen until after 1650, as we'll need every point in the limit until then for eating as much Heathen land as we can.

Finally, we swap for a better Republic. The faster leader changes should make it a little easier to maintain a high-rated Diplomatic ruler. Anything less than a rating of eight is due for replacement at the earliest opportunity, to at least double the rate of Boundary Disputes.

...and here is the result of our configurations.

Denmark suffers a defeat. In some ten years, they're likely to vanish entirely.

The Horde seeks to attack Tver... their Union master, Poland, answers the call for war, but ultimately can do little to defend them.

...and in our first ruler raffle, we end up drawing more of the same, all things considered.

France needs more Cuckoo clocks, and claims Bern to corner the market.

Tver must be pretty frustrated with their choice of Union masters at this point.

 

[kebzero]

Part 50 - Pope on the move

Our core on Rome is about to expire. Time to show the Pope that this time we mean business. Unlike his dozens of wars with Naples, he won't bribe his way free now.

Cavalry armies arriving in unfortified provinces ensures a quick settlement with one Papal ally.

....and it apparently took them two hundred years, revolutionary rebels and yet another war with France to make them realize they were in trouble.

Austria seeks to meddle in the conflict. To capitalize on this, a lone cavalry regiment rushes to Romagna to claim the siege. French commanders then sends thousands of young Austrians to die in an assault. After Romagna flies a French flag, Austria backs off, for a time.

Castille is forced to surrender our core province.

The Pope is given an eviction notice and a week to leave his humble residence. Our Prince needs a new vacation home.

With that, our collection of holy cities is complete.

The war with Naples continues, but it is time to secure a stepping stone to India. Ceylon is weakly defended and has no major allies or guarantors.

By removing Naples' northern provinces, we ensure that Austria cannot force them to release any One Province Minors, and that Austria has no land route to reach them.

The invasion and assault on Ceylon went smoothly. Deva Bengal now proves itself an interesting target.

With an Indian trade port secured, we get to enact the Indian Trade Company.

Austria manages to land forces in Naples, and secures a peace settlement.

Not content with so little gains, Austria takes out their frustration on Poland.

The conflict is brought to a quick end, with Austrian gains.

With the Pope removed, the good people of Rome are shown the true path.

The Pope relocates to Trier - and is beset by Heresy.

 

[dem61s]

Armor, overwhelmed by vacationers from Paris, turns Cosmopolitaine.

These guys seriously need to think again about their destination for vacations.

 

[unmerged(60155)]

Oh, how I never tire of seeing or creating a Protestant Rome.

 

[kebzero]

FEEDBACK​

These guys seriously need to think again about their destination for vacations.

As long as they infest the place with our primary culture, they can go wherever they like, for what I care.

Oh, how I never tire of seeing or creating a Protestant Rome.

It is a very gratifying move, if you're Protestant or Reformed. A Hindi Rome is also fun. Wish I had the guts to work for a Shamanist or Animist Rome sometime...

 

[kebzero]

Part 51 - Ottoman issues

Time to cleanse away some One Province Minor heathens - they cost two BadBoy a piece now, but they might cost more after 1650. Better be on the safe side.

The Ottomans represent the bulk of their power - and conveniently, Najd leads the alliance....

Tunisia is the first victim.

After four years, it's another ruler raffle. This time, we draw a bad lot.

Worse is the devastating loss we suffer to the Turk in the holy land. Quick to pursue, we lead the invaders into Egypt before we start a counter-attack. Eventually, we manage to push back their forces.

Yemen is reduced.

As is Deva Bengal, granting us a coastline on the Asian mainland.

The once-off event for the Administrative Republic triggers. I read the -3 BadBoy as +6 heathen provinces.

Morocco is removed from the map.

In another war, so is Ryazan. The Horde stands ready to torment Europe once more.

Austria has noticed the steadily diminishing numbers of armed forces in the Ottoman Empire, and intervenes. This certainly relieves the pressure on our Middle Eastern front, and we slowly push into Asia Minor.

Novgorod is protected behind Lithuanian lands. For now, their loss is limited to just one province.

More concerned about protecting their European vassals than their eastern lands, the Ottomans extends an open invite to French forces, and they come in droves.

Austria overruns the Balkans.

It is oh, so convenient when the leader of an alliance is a tiny nation. Najd gracefully gives up far more Ottoman lands than the Turk would ever have agreed to by themselves.

All of this does push our BadBoy score rather high.

Four years pass, a new leader is elected. This guy would be re-elected... but when has such a distinguished diplomat ever survived until re-election?

The Ottomans abandon their allies, and awards Austria some new lands.

Serbia is reduced to a One Province Minor.

Bosnia, not sharing a border with Austria, is let off the hook.

 

[kebzero]

Part 52 - Establishing new CoTs

Spotting an opportunity for creating new coastal Centers of Trade, we jump at it. First, one in Chittagong...

...and another in Quatar. That's + 0.20 colonists a year, very useful indeed.

A reason to secure East Africa emerges.

A mass annexation attempt meets with success. Since they happen simultaneously, we only get one decentralization hit.

A big boon of this is that Vendee is not only a French core, but it also has a coastal Center of Trade. Thank you, Brittany.

The Adriatic takes one step closer to French control.

True to fashion, high-rated leaders die young. The replacement is a step down.

With our core about to expire, it's time to pester Connaught.

We toss them into our group of vassals, hoping to diploannex them eventually.

Time to secure some Pagans, lest other Europeans find their way across the Atlantic thanks to the map spread.

Poland ends up with a capricious Union leader. Insults are immediately dispatched.

Africa needs to be tidied up a bit. We start with Swahili and friends.

The main problem is in their dispersal, not their forces.

The Mamelukian One Province Minor is forced to surrender all their cores - which should help them regain some Prestige.

We paddled the Creek.

Swahili is reduced to a roadblock.

A new One Province Minor is formed on Persia's border.

I get the impression that Espionage does have a slight effect on the frequency of Diplomat advisors. If only they were a little better at their job. Still, even -0.05 BadBoy is helpful.

Sind, relocated all the way to Indonesia by Persia in an earlier war, is annexed.

Mali is cut down to size.

Sus goes cosmopolitaine.

As does Franche-Comte.

And Artois.

Election time sees a better replacement.

 

[Enewald]

Gotta love those diplomatic rulers.
But I wonder what the common Frenchmen think of their politicians who rule for the good of the republic with concentration on external matters instead of domestic matters.

 

[Macknull]

I'd like to see some funny pic comments

 

[kebzero]

FEEDBACK​

Gotta love those diplomatic rulers.
But I wonder what the common Frenchmen think of their politicians who rule for the good of the republic with concentration on external matters instead of domestic matters.

...but, as long as they are great diplomats, they work tirelessly to make foreign matters into domestic ones...

I'd like to see some funny pic comments

...well, there is only so much fun you can make of the 73rd 'Boundary Dispute' event without it getting old... Apologies, I'm not that much of a fiction writer.

 

[kebzero]

Part 53 - Defending Austria

Time to pick another fight - but not because of core expiration.

Having annexed Denmark, we note that Mecklenburg is attempting to convert the Protestants there. This cannot be allowed. France moves to their rescue.

We're hit with this lovely event, but losing stability is not a pleasant option at this point. More inflation it is.

To balance this, we encourage one of our merchants to die prematurely, just after his heirs.

After chasing away the three hundred angry peasants keeping the Holy Roman Emperor under guard, we offer him a less prestigious role.

This time, however, the electors pick an Emperor that actually has the power to defend them. Austria's army starts to grow almost immediately.

Our Hungarian campaign was turning especially bloody. Their monarch put up a nasty fight.

Brandenburg is trimmed of one Protestant and two Catholic provinces.

Gotland is added to our growing number of vassals.

Mecklenburg contributes Danish lands. Two Protestant provinces for free, and two more provinces for the same amount of BadBoy points.

From Hungary, we take our core, and one more province, to prevent the return of Montenegro.

Our BadBoy score is now frightfully high. Time to lay low for a while.

Traders from Venice are complaining about being surrounded by Austrians. As a result, they forge claims that the people of Ferrara is actually a lost French tribe that must be united with the motherland.

Our Stadtholder dies, and needs a replacement. Fortunately, the new guy is still a good diplomat.

Pagans don't generate BadBoy, so to mess with them is fine. Songhai has a nice alliance.

We permit them to live a little longer, since the other Europeans can't reach them.

Kongo, however, is incorporated into France.

In Europe, Austria and Lithuania starts a brawl over Brandenburg.

We guarantee Austria, however, and we're then pulled into the war. Lithuania's allies abandon her.

Some brief assaults ensure that we gain Riga, a French core.

The Aztecs are attacked and annexed.

As neither party can walk through Poland, the Brandenburgian Succession war ends in a tie.

Another ruler dead, and a step down in leadership abilities.

The Maya do not put up much of a fight, and are absorbed into France.