-
We have updated our Community Code of Conduct. Please read through the new rules for the forum that are an integral part of Paradox Interactive’s User Agreement.
Go Hungary! Hopefully they'll be able to get the Balkans eventually, pending the end of the PU.
etepetete - The Poles have tested me beyond any human patience limits 
mhusoy - Thanks for commenting. Yes, the Ottomans are history now, but the Mamluks seem to be keen to take their place.
Zimfan - the end of the PU... if ever, I've lost count of how many Polish kings I've had so far
mhusoy - Thanks for commenting. Yes, the Ottomans are history now, but the Mamluks seem to be keen to take their place.
Zimfan - the end of the PU... if ever, I've lost count of how many Polish kings I've had so far
Austria 1670-79
The AI has been up to a lot of mischief lately. Manpower drained, stability at -3, three wars going on... even a loan is due in 1672!
First the wars. Let's see, the war with Spain is the most advanced and should be easy to end, it started when they DoWed Portugal and Austria honoured a warning. I have no business fighting Spain from now on, so I take this opportunity to reclaim all Spanish cores on Austrian (and ally) lands.
Next, Modena. They DoWed Austria as the Mantuan king died without a clear successor. They should have known better. I get them to renounce to their claims on Ferrara and to release Provence. I feel a bit sorry for them later and sell them Sardinia, I'm such a soft emperor.
Finally, France. I'm not going to let France off the hook so easily, since they DoWed Austria they'll have to face the consequences. It takes a year but I finally get them to give Ile-de-France, a great trophy for the emperor!
With the wars out of the way I can settle for a bit and recover manpower and stability. I sell Ruppin, Mecklenburg and Slevig back to Mecklenburg and Brandenburg (the AI must have obtained them in a previous war). Most of the South African colonies are now consolidated, and Mahe becomes a city, so I can finally reach the East Indies. I establish the first colony in Java with no western competition.
Burgundy DoWs France, Spain DoWs England (I don't honour the warning on this one), Lithuania DoWs the Timurids (by the way Poland signed white peace with the TE six months into the new turn, as expected).
When stability reaches -1 and manpower is fully restored I start making preparations to go to war with Burgundy. I cancel their military access, and they immediately cancel the alliance, nice of them as it saves me diplomats.
After two failed attempts I eventually get my useless spies to forge claims on Konstanz...
With the casus belli sorted I'm almost ready to DoW Burgundy when something else comes up, a succession war. These French never cease to seek attention! They'd do anything...
Unfortunately the French capital is still in Vendee, so only Caux is up for grabs in the continent. My Swiss allies get there before me (they have access through Burgundy), which leaves me with Mauritius as only worthwhile target. Mauritius is the only non-Austrian colony east of Cape, if I can take it from French hands no one will have access to the East Indies
Not having any transports in South Africa, it takes a while to arrange a landing in Mauritius. At least it gives my allies some time to harass the French and get some other French colonies. I get Mauritius, Switzerland gets Caux, Mantua gets Fernando Po and Provence gets St Helena. France has only one province left in the continent, I hope they move their capital to Iceland or America soon so I can release Brittany.
England gets badly beaten by Spain, losing several provinces. In the east the Lithuanian-Timurid war is not going according to Timurid expectations. Maybe Hungary can still get Astrakhan after all
Right, after all these distractions I DoW the Burgundians at last.
I overrun their southern provinces easily enough, although they consolidate their troops in one big monster stack which manages to assault Ile-de-France. My Palatinate allies successfully besiege 3 provinces only to sign white peace, thanks for nothing. Brandenburg and Anhalt seem a bit more keen, Provence and Mantua send some vessels to help blockade. Switzerland tries to help but gets enough trouble handling rebels in Caux.
There is simply not enough time to besiege all their provinces, chase down their big stack or send troops to their American provinces before the end of the turn, so I try to stretch the warscore as much as I can through assaults. The AI doesn't seem very willing to give much...
With 46% warscore I try asking for a province and the release of two nations (68%) but they refuse.
In December with 50% warscore I lower my demands to match it to just one province and the release of one nation, which they accept on Christmas Eve. Dismantling Burgundy is going to be a long process.
I opt for Vermandois in the end as it achieves a neat double goal -it links Ile-de-France to the rest of the empire while splitting Burgundy in two. Hopefully next time I can force the release of Normandy and isolate the Burgundian capital from the sea.
And the release of Scotland... well, it's as much as I could get for 26% WS (Normandy was 52% WS, some Dutch nations were 270% WS to release!). Plus I bet you've never seen a Britain this colourful
I just cant believe how lucky you are in your AAR. All normally major nations are dead, you have no real opponents, all what to ally you although you are massive in size, France is gone...
Zimfan - the end of the PU... if ever, I've lost count of how many Polish kings I've had so far
In IN you can get a PU to end by getting relations with the other country low enough. I'm not sure that works in NA, though...
Looks like Austria may be spending much of the rest of the game working on Burgundy. It does take a while to dismantle the big countries, but it's very satisfying when completed.
What on earth is going on in GB? Wales is a free nation as is Northumbria and Cornwall. What is the mustard yellow country next to Wales. It looks like they have imploded.
Delex - with Austria? Not really, at normal difficulty Austria is a really easy country to play with. You have money, access to rich Italian provinces, and -once you get the HRE crown- plenty of manpower to do whatever you want. Although a fully formed France would have presented a bit more challenge, I agree.
Zimfan - I know, I've been insulting them for decades! Unfortunately the only occasion when their king died during my turn with Hungary I thought you only had to take relations below 100, not below 0 From then on the AI wised up and only killed the king while I was playing with Austria, and of course it improves relations back to 200 as soon as it gets control of Hungary. Spooky or what?
Sweboy - Britain is a big party with 8 nations - England, Cornwall, Wales, Burgundy, Northumberland, Scotland, Lithuania and Spain (they got Gloucestershire and Marches in a war with England last turn).
Zimfan - I know, I've been insulting them for decades! Unfortunately the only occasion when their king died during my turn with Hungary I thought you only had to take relations below 100, not below 0
From then on the AI wised up and only killed the king while I was playing with Austria, and of course it improves relations back to 200 as soon as it gets control of Hungary. Spooky or what?
Sweboy - Britain is a big party with 8 nations - England, Cornwall, Wales, Burgundy, Northumberland, Scotland, Lithuania and Spain (they got Gloucestershire and Marches in a war with England last turn).
Hungary 1680-89
New turn with Hungary, same old PU with Poland still in place. At least the PU has some benefits, namely keeping the AI out of trouble. Positive stability, healthy income, army, navy and manpower intact, thriving trade in Thrace and St Kitts... none of this would be possible if the Hungary AI could DoW.
The Lithuanian-Timurid war ends with yet more land changing hands. The Lithuanians were kind enough to spare me a border with Ming. I expect Ming will face a much tougher job breaking this new border at the Urals than previous easy advances against the Timurids.
More of the same in the first two years... traders trading, missionaries preaching, diplomats insulting Poland... The Timurids are already warned, the Mamluks don't seem keen to attack without a CB.
In 1681 Austria gets the East India Trade Company event, all that slow colonisation effort finally started paying off.
Then in October 1682 the king dies... with relations at -49 the PU dissolves and Hungary gets her own king! I jump and scream and dance and make some undiplomatic gestures towards Poland.
I get a stability hit, I imagine the Poles must have been using the king as general to fight rebels. The new king is not a great statesman but it's mine, all mine!
As you can see it's been 68 years of Polish dynasty, a total of 10 Polish kings, and all but two died in Austrian turns.
Having your own king makes your country more appealing to foreign powers. In less than a month a military alliance offer from Spain is received. I accept -since Spain shares border with the Mamluks in North Africa this alliance could be very useful.
My initial intentions were to attack the Timurids to get Astrakhan, but this CoT has really declined lately (worth just 82 ducats), while Alexandria is looking healthy at more than 800 ducats. Plus there is Jerusalem as game goal. The alliance with Spain makes the decision a no-brainer.
I quickly make preparations for war, claims on Mus are readily fabricated...
...and 10 regiments are convoyed to the African coast ready to open a third front in the Nile delta.
In April I DoW, but Spain lets me down...
So much for the new Spanish friends
My traditional allies will have to make do this time. The Bohemians come fairly quickly this time, and some easy victories are won in the first few months. The land tech differential is more pronounced than with the Timurids, which means huge losses for Mamluk infantry compared to Hungarian-Bohemian losses.
It looks like I didn't need Spanish help after all. The Poles eventually come and disembark 8,000 men in Mamluk Tunis. On the other hand the Bohemians -in a true crusader spirit- cross by land all the way to Tripoli. My allies being useful... could this be true?!
Mus, Aleppo, Alexandria, Cairo, Delta fall. Another big battle is won in Judea with little loss on the European side. The Mamluks try to make for the tech differential in sheer manpower, but it's not enough.
In September 1685 Tripoli is out of the war as OPM vassal, her two other provinces go to Bohemia.
Lithuania gatecrashes the party and DoWs the Mamluks, quickly going for Iraqi provinces. Definitely not a good year for the Mamluks. In January 1686 Judea falls. The Egyptians retreat to Sinai and northern Arabia.
Later that year Poland quits the war forcing the Mamluks to release Hedjaz and Yemen. I focus in north Egypt, Bohemia advances in the south.
In a few months there no other accessible provinces to occupy. There is more Mamluk land in Somalia but my navy is not strong enough to go around Africa and confront the main Mamluk navy in the Red Sea (50 vessels). I hasten assaults and start offering peace deals before Lithuania obtains a big chunk and increases the WS cost of the remaining Mamluk provinces.
In May 1687 -at 73% war score- the Mamluks finally accept a 98% WS peace offer: all the Levant provinces down to Judea.
The main goal was Jerusalem, Alexandria can wait
The Lithuanians end the war a year later, walking away with four Iraqi provinces. Earlier in the turn they had annexed Sibir and Korashan. There is no stopping Lithuania now...
...or maybe there is...
Ming inheriting Japan is one of those events where you can clearly see that the AI is evil.
I end the turn without any further disturbing news. I build more temples, a level 2 fort in Judea, get 4 merchants in Thrace and 4 in St Kitts. I push the slider towards centralisation. Thrace becomes core, although sadly it rejects my conversion attempts. As soon as it becomes christian I'll move my capital there, the city of Constantine shall be the centre of the new empire!
Who is it that is lurking in the Balkans. Countries you haven't been able to take, Austian lands or Vassals. If you want to be the new Rome I think you need to clean up the balkans.
I just started reading this week and noticed that it was started in 2007, so i thought that you were done. But when coming to this part i notice that it's not done yet. I'm not accusing you for being slow, but why have this taken so long.
Btw; the world i really split into greatpowers after only aprox 200 years, kind of spooky, don't you think?
Btw; the world i really split into greatpowers after only aprox 200 years, kind of spooky, don't you think?
Sweboy - Poland, Bohemia and Lithuania. I'll have to deal with Poland one of these days, but I just left them at -3 stability, so with a bit of luck they might implode.
Olchardwell - Thanks for commenting. Yes, I'm generally slow, I only play when I'm in the mood and know I have at least two hours of uninterrupted time. I'm accelerating the updates to finish soon, as I've achieved most goals and I want to switch to IN. The AI has been very blobby in this game, that's for sure
Olchardwell - Thanks for commenting. Yes, I'm generally slow, I only play when I'm in the mood and know I have at least two hours of uninterrupted time. I'm accelerating the updates to finish soon, as I've achieved most goals and I want to switch to IN. The AI has been very blobby in this game, that's for sure
thats a pretty evil litunia in your game
could you make a screenshot of it in your next update? i would like to see how big it really is
mfg
could you make a screenshot of it in your next update? i would like to see how big it really is
mfg
You can only hope that Lithuania and Ming have many fruitless wars about central Asia. I doubt Hungarians could stop Lithuanian attack right now.
etepetete - Lithuania is massive, and still growing. I'll post a "state of the world" after the next turn with Austria.
Edzako - I hope so, although I've been improving relations with the Lithuanians in the last turn, aiming to ditch Poland.
Edzako - I hope so, although I've been improving relations with the Lithuanians in the last turn, aiming to ditch Poland.
Austria 1690-99
The AI fought another war with Burgundy during last turn, gaining Konstanz and Orleanais. The only downside is the negative stability and high BB -by my standards. I release Switzerland and Orleanais.
The colonies in Java are growing steadily, and the East Indies Trade Company giving its nice bonuses.
However, I discover that I'm not alone in the far east... the Portuguese have reached these shores from their American colonies in the Pacific
And even Ming is sending colonists to Papua :wacko:
In June 1690, while nursing stability and BB, government technology 25 is reached, opening the slot for a new national idea. I choose Grand Army, the +33% force limit bonus helpful now that I was getting close to the threshold of 250 regiments, plus it's also consistent with my other land NIs.
In 1691 my ally Provence gets a bit restless and asks for help in an African war. Some South African regiments are sent to give a hand.
A few months later Burgundy DoWs France, triggering my warning and saving me the effort. Not that I'm happy to fight along the French, but since it is for a good cause...
The war is a walk in the park. France eventually quits empty-handed, despite occupying 3 provinces, and Burgundy tries the same tricks with me sending white peaces until 1694, when they finally start offering something... I guess it's difficult to be humble when you are the aggressor.
Needless to say I reject all this silly deals. By December I reach 99% war score and obtain a 100% WS peace in time for Christmas -Normandy, Franche-Comté and the release of Luxembourg and Gelre.
I noticed that for some reason Normandy cost 22% WS as a province but 56% WS to release, even though Burgundy only had a single province with Norman cores, while Luxembourg and Gelre cost the same
Anyway, I release Normandy myself, with her two rightful provinces, and sell her Armor a year later.
In 1698 Provence attacks France. In fact I was hoping they would DoW Burgundy, who owns the Provençal cores of Anjou and Maine, but for some reason even the AI hates France in this game
All the same, I join the war. By now it is clear that France is not willing to move her capital out of Europe, so the only way to get rid of her is going to be vassalisation-annexation.
I get a good bunch of French provinces in the peace deal, I take the South American ones, Provence gets the African colonies. France is reduced to 6-7 provinces and colonies scattered thorughout the globe, hopefully ripe to become a vassal next time.
And to end the turn, in November 1699 I receive an unexpected call to arms -one of the nations I released in the previous war in Africa DoWs Burgundy, giving me yet another chance to go for the Burgundians with only the same-religion stab hit.
I gladly accept, now confident that the AI is perfectly capable to continue and finish this war without any problem.
The World in 1700
The Great Empires
Spain, Portugal and England have fairly consolidated colonial empires in the Americas.
_____
Burgundy and Austria were rather more selective with their colonies. Sweden is remarkable for surviving Lithuania.
_____
The Mamluk and Timurid empires are on the wane, giving way to Hungary and Lithuania.
_____
One emperor to rule them all... Ming-Japan is ready to take all Asia.
The Great Empires
Spain, Portugal and England have fairly consolidated colonial empires in the Americas.
_____
Burgundy and Austria were rather more selective with their colonies. Sweden is remarkable for surviving Lithuania.
_____
The Mamluk and Timurid empires are on the wane, giving way to Hungary and Lithuania.
_____
One emperor to rule them all... Ming-Japan is ready to take all Asia.