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Doom due due do dincreasing dinfamy.
 
Geez Vijaya why are you attacking the nice people of Khandesh. They have enough problems on their own already.

Having to rely on a AI ally to save you... That sounds like a longshot but miracles happen. ;)
 
Thank you hugely for the replies!

dinofs - Thankfully I did! Delhi did her job and...uhm...I avoided combat whenever possible. Thus the perfect war; someone else doing my job for me!

Range - How very true! Utkarsh truly is a deadly weapon. Thankfully I didn't need to employ him in such a role this time, Delhi made things surprisingly easy.

RGB - A wonderful nugget of information! I must confess my own knowledge of Byzantine history is very lacking, beyond study of Justinian I's reign due to his compiliation of Roman law, which proved the foundation for Scottish law (what a surprise we Scots nicking the basis for our legal system from a far more civilized nation. I still think that without such guidance drunkenness would excuse punishment for any crime committed in Scotland).

loki100 - I wasn't, but thankfully Delhi was!

Macknull - Thankfully Delhi dealt with Vijaynagar, I would have struggled otherwise. I rather think the Scottish generals may be still in Deccan's employ actually, as the last screenshot seems to show...

Iain Wilson - Bwahahaha! This AAR continues! The AI seems to be plotting to keep me surviving long enough to reach your part!

Keinwyn - Shockingly enough, they did indeed perform admirably, and not merely in having their troops provide excellent fertiliser. I'm still surprised at how things panned out.

Johan11 - Dthankfully dI dwas dnot dbested dthis dtime. DI dam dsure dto dfail dsoon dhowever, das dinfamy das dincreased donce dmore!

sjones25 - Poor Delhi was not even an ally, simply a gaurantor. Thus kudos to them for aiding me to such an extent! I will of course never forget their actions, and ever remain their friend...until my forces grow large enough.

Donfodio - Indeed! Khandesh need suffer under incompetent fools such as Minister Taral and a ruler who is foolish enough to appoint said Minister. Even worse, they must suffer under my control. Woe is Khandesh, Vijaynagar should not make things worse! Thankfully, however, the miracle happened...

aldriq - Exactly so! The AI almost seems to be conspiring to have me continue surviving long enough to defile all of the great writers on my list.

Alas some horrendously bad news. I was unable to update for such a long period due not merely to my laziness, but because I was having some computer problems. For the past week I've been struggling to get my PC to boot correctly. Spending countless hours on this problem, I finally bit the bullet and decided to bring my tower into a repair shop, sure that said repair would cost me a hefty chunk of cash. The repair guy looked over my tower, listened to the many solutions I had attempted to no avail, and fixed the problem in, not mere minutes, but seconds. Apparently I'd knocked one of the internal power cables out of its socket.

*cough*

Yes, my ability with computers is as lacking as my ability with all Paradox titles and AAR writing. Anyway the bad news is that this AAR thus continues onwards, more of my dross ready to be served up!
 
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Scene VII​


Resting whilst on the road towards Burhanpur, Khandesh; Sandesh Damle discusses with his protege Pranjal Shimpi the recent negotiations they participated in with Gujarat and Deccan.

SANDESH That my boy, is a master diplomat at work. Note how I dazzled their parties with my sublime oratory. I befuddled them with my charm and wit. These are the skills of a diplomat, learn them well.
PRANJAL Yes master, truly it was quite a spectacle to behold. I do not think you could have been more subtle than when you told the Gujarati diplomat to, 'damned well accept the peace deal you have been offered, or expect even more of a whipping.'
SANDESH Exactly my boy. Subtly encouraging an opposing side into an acceptable peace is the best way. If you are too heavy handed, your opponent will simply seek revenge whenever they get the chance.
PRANJAL ah, then it becomes clear why you told the Deccan delegation that, 'we'll continue thrashing you from now until the end of time unless you accept this overly lenient peace deal.'
SANDESH Exactly! Anyway, ready the horses, we'll likely be travelling down to Vijaynagar sometime soon. Lets only hope we are arranging Vijaynagar's surrender, rather than begging for them to accept our own.

Pranjal saddles the horses.

UP5-1.jpg


Things have been going astoundingly well thus far in the war. The Vijaynagar force to the west must have rightfully reasoned that my risibly small army was not worth the bother of crushing. Instead they set back off to the east, desperately attempting to aid the other Vijaynagar force which was defeated by Delhi's large army. Therefore I took the choice to bravely assault barren Vijaynagar provinces, whilst leaving Delhi to enjoy all the fighting. Truly I am a model ally.

SANDESH Once more your master shows his great ability, we have secured our nation great gains.
PRANJAL As ever I am in awe master. I truly could not believe it when you threatened to have the Vijaynagar diplomat executed for his daring to suggest a slight ammendment to the treaty.
SANDESH Well you do need to be flexible my boy, but you cannot let the other side take advantage of you.
PRANJAL Indeed master. His motion for a spelling error to be corrected was clearly proposterous.
SANDESH Quite. Make sure to see to the horses.

Pranjal feeds and waters the horses.

UP5-2.jpg


Delhi managed to crush the routed eastern Vijanagar force before the western unit arrived. Her large army then routed the western force as well, and I ended up sending part of my army to help shatter the broken remnants of Vijaynagar's forces, happy to courageously aid in the fighting when against a broken and routing force. Beyond mopping up the fleeing Vijaynagar soldiers, all I then had to do was settle down to some siege warfare. I was, of course, hugely thankful to Delhi, they turned a nightmare war into a walk in the park. They were thus rightfully rewarded in the peace deals with...well...nothing. However Delhi's army was allowed to return back north to their homelands via my land, which is clearly ample recompense for their efforts.

The war itself has proven an expensive one in terms of its infamy cost. If I had declared war on Vijaynagar with the 'Holy War' casus belli, I would need only pay a mere one infamy per province. As it is, this considerably more expensive rate of three infamy per province is rather vexing, and will curb my future aggression to a certain extent. However the chance to weaken the mighty Vijaynagar from what has proven a ridiculously lucky war was too much to pass up.

SANDESH Now a key aspect of diplomacy is to always have every country believe your nation is all powerful. Never show yourself to be weak. Other nations are like vultures, just ready to prey on any weakness. Therefore if anyone asks about this Battle of Bastar, just tell them that we were the ones wearing red and black.
PRANJAL Of course master.

Pranjal exercises the horses.

UP5-3.jpg


Uhm yes, the small yet doughty Khandesh army, which has humbled powerful nations such as Deccan and Vijaynagar, was defeated by a pack of rebels. Those faux realistic swords must still be infesting the army. In rather better news, I gained a very useful mission to conquer one province minor, Mysore, some months ago, having cancelled a 'Create a Proper Fleet' mission.

SANDESH Now remember to be courteous when delivering a declaration of war to your enemy. Its either that or having your head lopped off by an irate ruler.
PRANJAL As ever, I follow your lead master.
SANDESH Good man, good man. Oh and a word of warning, for some reason nobody in Rajputana appreciates being called a lickspittle oaf, barely capable of being a serf for the mighty Khandesh.
PRANJAL I can't think why master.

Sandesh falls from his horse.

UP5-4.jpg


Both Bihar and Rajputana are of similar size to me in terms of army strength. The plan is to simply crush Bihar and then have them white peace out. Rajputana is the real prize, as their provinces are filled with citizens of the Rajput (surprise, surprise) culture, which is in the same culture group as Khandesh's Marathi culture. They should thus prove valuable provinces once cored.

Also worth noting is that Deccan succumbed to revolts, leading to a rebel taking the throne. Amusingly enough, the rebels have Vijaynagar sympathies, as the Deccan army is unable to do anything but sit by and watch as Vijaynagar occupies their country.



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Nice work surviving the war. Is Jharkhand Muslim, or merely Buddhist?
 
Nice conquesting there. As the man said, you gotta be flexible.
 
Why, words wannot wescribe what wI weel wabout wour waccomplishment.
 
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These Faux Realistic Swords sound dangerous! They could give you splinters... and you can get an infection from splinters! Or they could be set on fire; flaming weapons could terrify the enemy... well for as long as they retain a vague wood-like-non-ash form.
 
Thank you hugely for the replies!

dinofs - Every province I have capture thus far is Hindu. Its proving a bit of an annoyance, as I'd much rather be gaining some Islamic provinces!

blsteen - Indeed! I was flabbergasted, that the AI actually proved useful for once. Thankfully the AI has returned to its mercifully stupid default state in this update.

RGB - Exactly so! Flexibility to exploit any and all openings...

loki100 - I had completely forgotten about Delhi's gaurantee, without it I'd likely have had to cede some land to Vijaynagar. I am very doubtful I could have emerged from the war victorious without Delhi's aid, thus I'm hugely grateful to them. As their fitting reward in the peace deal showed!

Johan11 - Wrhere wis wno wneed wfor wwords, wI wknow wthat wyou ware whighly wimpressed wby wDelhi's wprowess wand wmy wcowardice!

Keinwyn - A very good idea! Except if set on fire, they would definetly need be kept far from Utkarsh. Instead of them being weapons he is equipped with to save his fellow soldiers from wounds, they'd cause yet more mayhem within the ranks...

aldriq - Yes, I do apologise, this part of the AAR has gone on for a bit longer than I had envisioned. A few things have conspired against me; the ruler surviving such a long time despite my using him in every battle. My wish to employ your format of four screenshots per update despite having alot of action to report on, and so forth. Nonetheless this part is now drawing to an end, and I shall no longer defile your work but instead soon begin sullying dinofs good reputation!
 
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Scene VIII


In the army camp at Orissa, Khandesh; Both doctor Manish Shahane and his fellow doctor Rujul Jaykar are readying their implements and medicines for the promised battle.

MANISH I can only hope that the coming battle against Bihar proves an easy victory for us.
RUJUL I'm surprised at that.
MANISH What? Why?
RUJUL You are far behind me with your patients recovery rates.
MANISH Once again, this is no competition! Stop being so callous, man. Anyway if that Utkarsh Kolte was in my battalion, I'd have no problems.

Rujul studies his medical books.

UP5-5.jpg


I kept my forces to the east, waiting for an attack by Bihar into my land. Said attack was finally made, and thankfully I was able to easily repel it, surprisingly inflicting a considerable amount of casualties. The Bihar army was then crushed after a number of ping-pong battles.

MANISH Enough casualties for you then? You brute.
RUJUL Come now, you know it was meant in jest. Indeed, I was very sorry to hear your battalion suffered the worst casualties.
Sorry as they have you as their doctor...
MANISH Oh? We did? I mean of course we did. My courageous battalion is the only thing which keeps this army going. So...uh...how many men did you save anyway?
RUJUL I've no idea why you would ask. Its not as if we have a competition running at present.

Manish studies his medical books.

UP5-6.jpg


In yet another hugely baffling move by the AI, Rajputana marched her full army from Surat, which had been close to falling, over to Gondwana...and then marched them back again. Frankly I am at a loss to explain this incompetence. I can only imagine that Deccan's Scottish general went looking for work in Rajputana once Deccan collapsed.

RUJUL What the devil are you up to?
MANISH My herb supplies are low.
RUJUL Well, okay, some herbs make great medicines...but that doesn't explain these other items.
MANISH Well...uhm...some of my other traditional, and very well tested I hasten to add, remedies require other ingredients too.
RUJUL Such as vinegar, some rope, what appears to be a jar of mud, some large stones, a box of nails...and what is this?!
MANISH Uh...well that is not used often.
RUJUL I should hope not! A lump of butter with a curtain wrapped around it! For crying out loud, adopt modern practices you fool. Bloodletting, use of leeches and fustigation, that is the way to go!

Both men study their medical books.

UP5-7.jpg


Mopping up Bihar's newly recruited regiments, I notice Rajputana's army is now assaulting Surat following their inexplicable jaunt to Gondwana. Their morale has dropped invitingly low as a result...

RUJUL Thank goodness our casulties were so low. We'll be busy enough as it is helping to tend to the Rajputana wounded.
MANISH I see you have changed your tune. No longer wanting large casualties as I am now well ahead.
RUJUL Shutup Dr. Curtains!
MANISH At least my remedies work!

Rujul burns his medical books.

UP5-8.jpg


Racing my army over to Surat as soon as I noticed Rajputana's failed assault, allowed for an easy victory for Khandesh. Rajputana's still demoralised soldiers quickly routed, causing few Khandesh casualties. The war looks as good as finished. I simply have to finish off the routing Rajputana army, and then I can begin the exciting process of siege warfare.



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Looking good. Soon you will be the big kid in India no longer needing allies to save the day for you. And all your neighbors help you by doing mighty strange things. They clearly want you in charge. ;)
 
Oh, onother occomplishment oby othe okandeshi ormy.

Shall I stop speaking like that?
 
Haha, those medicine books face the scholar's wrath!

Butter-soaked curtains are the way of the medical future!

(I love your battlefield medicine).