Austria, Hungary and some others
Austria, Hungary and some others
France holds 105 provinces, BBB is done.
Moscov is cored, Berlin is owned for BtN.
All preparations for the next and last big war are underway. I have justed picked "Transfer Subject" as second age ability. This allows also "claims bordering claims". After filing a claim on Dalmatien (Austria), I can fabricate on Lika (Hungary) this way.
News from the court. Nice Queen. Well, EU4er only look at points, obviously.
So here we go.
I needed two days of peace, so I finished the old Scottish War from May.1477 and let him go for some money. Then I allied Milan and set Austria as new rival. As I want some help for this war, I declare on Hungary, so I can call the Ottomans in with the promise of land. The alliance with Milan is helpful, as I can use his territories as start base to attack Genoa. Milan is also a replacement for The Papal State, who will join the war on the other side. Austria is made a co-belligerent in this war, so the price for taking Wien is as small as possible (AE and warscore). However, it means having to fight five more nations.
Let's see the troop numbers:
Ottomans 79/92, France 62/62
Austria 52/78, Hungary 44/51, The Papal State 22/24, Genoa 20/22, Augsburg 12/12, Saxony 11/14, Moldavia 10/14, The Palatinate 10/11, Ravensburg 10/10
In total: 141 vs 191, something to do. Otoh Austria and Hungary try to help me as well. Five of their forts are mothballed. Yes, five! I have contemplated, if I can take two and hold them. But I haven't seen a way to do so. Thus I content myself with the fort in Dalmatien, which will also open the door to heartland Austria for the Ottomans. So I have a 20-stack in Kotor (Ottomans) on the way to Dubrovnik (Ragusa).
Other than that my general strategy will be to eliminate the minor hostile participants to isolate Austria/Hungary. Firstly the Italians, Genoa and The Papal State, for whom I can use my old alliance to stay on his provinces in advance.
Genoa out, The Papal State in.
One land battle, one small ship sinking and Genoa already goes his own ways.
Sometimes it takes months until allies of a co-belligerent get their CtA. Here The Papal State is already in and I have caught his army drilling in Avignon. But I misjudged the numbers. With 34 (incl. 16 Castilians) vs 22 I don't get enough casualties in the first 12 days of the battle to get a stackwipe.
So I need a guarding stack in Romagna to prevent the Papal troops from coming home. The siege in Avignon is not for real, all my efforts are for Roma. My best siege general (4 pips) and my fleet are already in position, the 10 cannons are just rolling over.
On the Balkans I have taken the fort in Dalmatien on 11.Jun.82. Because Ottomans dawdle around or play with Moldavia, I have temporarily retreated a bit.
Besides Espionage Idea #4 (-20% AE), I have also taken Defender of Catholic Faith this day.
As the fort in Roma has just surrendered, I can get rid of The Papal State.
The Ottomans seem to follow my instructions to march into Hungary. So I moved my Balkan 20-stack forward again to secure Lika, the war goal. Now I can ship over the troops from Italy to this port in Hungary.
That's what I call a cooperation. 9 siege pips by me, -66% on each siege phase for a total of 10 days by the Ottomans. For now me and my friend have concentrated all our troops in Hungary. Except for my "Spanish stack", 2k French + 16k Castilians. As subject regiments can't use my boats, I have sent this stack north to Calais, where nasty Saxons are trying to siege my fort.
I am Pope again. That was unexpected, chances were just 2 out of 7. But thanks for the additional -20% AE and the other stuff for being Curia Controller. At 100 prestige I have accumulated a total AE reduction of 60% for the moment. Not bad, I think.
Pest 22.Feb.83, Wien is already at +49%. After a small stop in Italy to liberate Bari, I have transferred a full 20k-stack home, as more nasty hostile small stacks show up in my provinces. Like Austria in the Provence and Augsburg in Chartres. But the battle with Moldavia in Narbonnais will be another failure, as I miss the stackwipe. Moldavia has also Mil Tech 7 and with Mil tactics on 1.25 now, the mutual casualties are way less than in earlier years. Thus the weakling escapes.
Wien 11.Jun.83. Now I can bring my two armies with the cannons via Bohemia to Germany. The Spanish stack has already sneaked through from France to Ravensburg. I will concentrate to siege down the four German countries to get them out of the war. Their sieges on my forts in Northern France are very slow as usual.
My remaining 20-stack is on the way back from South France by ship to the Adriatic to support the Ottomans. Unfortunately, after the successful siege of Nándorfehérvár (Serbia) on 27.Feb.83, AI-Ottomans lost completely the line. Running here and there. Partly heading for the fort in Besarabia (Moldavia), which he desires, partly returning to Hungary, to defend occupied territory. Resulting in such silly moves like seen above. The 21k-stack in Varasd runs into 70k enemies, while his nearest troops are 5 or more provinces away.
The battle in Sopron got lost in July, as all reinforcements came too late, as predicted. Now we have a small revenge battle in Somogy.
In Germany Ravensburg is on +42% and Augsburg already taken down, after my artillery arrived. So I can peace out Augsburg, lifting their siege of Chartres.
Ravensburg is done and will leave the war the next day. The sieger of Augsburg have moved on to Oberpfalz, to work on the level-3 fort of The Palatinate.
In Hungary, the Ottomans are in trouble again. After the swift victory in Somogy, one stack reoccupied Sopron, while the others went ... somewhere. I try to help again with my 20 infantry and my general I. de Luynes (4/4/6/2).
A few days later we will lose this battle. Most important are my sieges in Germany. So if such disadvantageous battles help to keep Austria/Hungary busy, I can get over a few thousand lost soldiers.
I always protect my sieges to avoid some unpleasant surprises with so many hostile forces running around. But the enemies seem to be content with liberating some of their home provinces. So The Palatinate is the next to go out of the war. The siege stack with the 10 cannons can roll over to Saxony, to crack the next level-3 fort in Sachsen.
Although the campaign isn't far from completion I invest several hundred Adm points to take the first two ideas of the Administrative Idea Group. "Adaptability" (-25% Core Creation Costs) also reduces the time to create cores, which saves some months for BtN. As a side effect I unlock the French Nat Idea #2. The famous "Elan!", giving +20% land morale.
The job in Sachsen is done already, so the last secondary participant Saxony is eliminated. My other armies are already in or around Wien again. First some cheeky Moldavians will be kicked away. Again no stackwipe.
As I want to take a lot of lands from Hungary, I need around 90% warscore. The Ottomans have just sieged down the fort in Temes (South Hungary), good.
Trencsén in the Slovakian mountains is my next target. The Austrian 35.9k-stack is moving away, maybe to Moldavia. AI-Ottomans has splitted up his armies once more. Again I am rushing to help him in Dalmatien. 20k infantry, led by R. de Saint-Esprit (3/5/5/1) are on the way from Sopron down to the coast.
Oh yeah, Bohemia. After finishing his Polish War recently, he has signaled his interest to join my war against his rivals. As I control all key provinces, I have called him in now.
The Ottomans' army hold out long enough in Dalmatien, so my reinforcement could arrive in time to turn the battle around into our favor. Trencsén has surrendered, but I need at least one more fort. Thus I will work on Kärnten, as well as on Zemplén, here with the cannons from Trencsén soon to arrive.
Zemplén 5.Nov.84. The Castilians got caught by the Austrians in Szabolcs. A consequence of two problems in the game. The UI showed no battle to be expected and the asynchronicity with my stack, the Castilians were attached to. My stack arrived one day earlier in Zemplén and escaped the battle, my poor subject not. But, as I only negotiate with Hungary, this doesn't matter anymore. The "battle in progress" modifier is for Austria, not for Hungary.
Ottomans are not so happy with the deal, because they think they have a war parcitipation of about 50%. Well. I give them one province in Visoki. That will still cost me some trust, but it will be enough to keep the alliance alive.
The AE-list looks fine. All nations are on a truce with me, except Muscovy.
Deal signed. Wien is mine. For a coastal connection I had to take the provinces Lika, Zagreb, Varasd and Sopron.
The reasons, why I have taken Pozsony in addition, as well as the next war target to prevent the call for "unlawful" ... next time.
France holds 105 provinces, BBB is done.
Moscov is cored, Berlin is owned for BtN.
All preparations for the next and last big war are underway. I have justed picked "Transfer Subject" as second age ability. This allows also "claims bordering claims". After filing a claim on Dalmatien (Austria), I can fabricate on Lika (Hungary) this way.
News from the court. Nice Queen. Well, EU4er only look at points, obviously.
So here we go.
I needed two days of peace, so I finished the old Scottish War from May.1477 and let him go for some money. Then I allied Milan and set Austria as new rival. As I want some help for this war, I declare on Hungary, so I can call the Ottomans in with the promise of land. The alliance with Milan is helpful, as I can use his territories as start base to attack Genoa. Milan is also a replacement for The Papal State, who will join the war on the other side. Austria is made a co-belligerent in this war, so the price for taking Wien is as small as possible (AE and warscore). However, it means having to fight five more nations.
Let's see the troop numbers:
Ottomans 79/92, France 62/62
Austria 52/78, Hungary 44/51, The Papal State 22/24, Genoa 20/22, Augsburg 12/12, Saxony 11/14, Moldavia 10/14, The Palatinate 10/11, Ravensburg 10/10
In total: 141 vs 191, something to do. Otoh Austria and Hungary try to help me as well. Five of their forts are mothballed. Yes, five! I have contemplated, if I can take two and hold them. But I haven't seen a way to do so. Thus I content myself with the fort in Dalmatien, which will also open the door to heartland Austria for the Ottomans. So I have a 20-stack in Kotor (Ottomans) on the way to Dubrovnik (Ragusa).
Other than that my general strategy will be to eliminate the minor hostile participants to isolate Austria/Hungary. Firstly the Italians, Genoa and The Papal State, for whom I can use my old alliance to stay on his provinces in advance.
Genoa out, The Papal State in.
One land battle, one small ship sinking and Genoa already goes his own ways.
Sometimes it takes months until allies of a co-belligerent get their CtA. Here The Papal State is already in and I have caught his army drilling in Avignon. But I misjudged the numbers. With 34 (incl. 16 Castilians) vs 22 I don't get enough casualties in the first 12 days of the battle to get a stackwipe.
So I need a guarding stack in Romagna to prevent the Papal troops from coming home. The siege in Avignon is not for real, all my efforts are for Roma. My best siege general (4 pips) and my fleet are already in position, the 10 cannons are just rolling over.
On the Balkans I have taken the fort in Dalmatien on 11.Jun.82. Because Ottomans dawdle around or play with Moldavia, I have temporarily retreated a bit.
Besides Espionage Idea #4 (-20% AE), I have also taken Defender of Catholic Faith this day.
As the fort in Roma has just surrendered, I can get rid of The Papal State.
The Ottomans seem to follow my instructions to march into Hungary. So I moved my Balkan 20-stack forward again to secure Lika, the war goal. Now I can ship over the troops from Italy to this port in Hungary.
That's what I call a cooperation. 9 siege pips by me, -66% on each siege phase for a total of 10 days by the Ottomans. For now me and my friend have concentrated all our troops in Hungary. Except for my "Spanish stack", 2k French + 16k Castilians. As subject regiments can't use my boats, I have sent this stack north to Calais, where nasty Saxons are trying to siege my fort.
I am Pope again. That was unexpected, chances were just 2 out of 7. But thanks for the additional -20% AE and the other stuff for being Curia Controller. At 100 prestige I have accumulated a total AE reduction of 60% for the moment. Not bad, I think.
Pest 22.Feb.83, Wien is already at +49%. After a small stop in Italy to liberate Bari, I have transferred a full 20k-stack home, as more nasty hostile small stacks show up in my provinces. Like Austria in the Provence and Augsburg in Chartres. But the battle with Moldavia in Narbonnais will be another failure, as I miss the stackwipe. Moldavia has also Mil Tech 7 and with Mil tactics on 1.25 now, the mutual casualties are way less than in earlier years. Thus the weakling escapes.
Wien 11.Jun.83. Now I can bring my two armies with the cannons via Bohemia to Germany. The Spanish stack has already sneaked through from France to Ravensburg. I will concentrate to siege down the four German countries to get them out of the war. Their sieges on my forts in Northern France are very slow as usual.
My remaining 20-stack is on the way back from South France by ship to the Adriatic to support the Ottomans. Unfortunately, after the successful siege of Nándorfehérvár (Serbia) on 27.Feb.83, AI-Ottomans lost completely the line. Running here and there. Partly heading for the fort in Besarabia (Moldavia), which he desires, partly returning to Hungary, to defend occupied territory. Resulting in such silly moves like seen above. The 21k-stack in Varasd runs into 70k enemies, while his nearest troops are 5 or more provinces away.
The battle in Sopron got lost in July, as all reinforcements came too late, as predicted. Now we have a small revenge battle in Somogy.
In Germany Ravensburg is on +42% and Augsburg already taken down, after my artillery arrived. So I can peace out Augsburg, lifting their siege of Chartres.
Ravensburg is done and will leave the war the next day. The sieger of Augsburg have moved on to Oberpfalz, to work on the level-3 fort of The Palatinate.
In Hungary, the Ottomans are in trouble again. After the swift victory in Somogy, one stack reoccupied Sopron, while the others went ... somewhere. I try to help again with my 20 infantry and my general I. de Luynes (4/4/6/2).
A few days later we will lose this battle. Most important are my sieges in Germany. So if such disadvantageous battles help to keep Austria/Hungary busy, I can get over a few thousand lost soldiers.
I always protect my sieges to avoid some unpleasant surprises with so many hostile forces running around. But the enemies seem to be content with liberating some of their home provinces. So The Palatinate is the next to go out of the war. The siege stack with the 10 cannons can roll over to Saxony, to crack the next level-3 fort in Sachsen.
Although the campaign isn't far from completion I invest several hundred Adm points to take the first two ideas of the Administrative Idea Group. "Adaptability" (-25% Core Creation Costs) also reduces the time to create cores, which saves some months for BtN. As a side effect I unlock the French Nat Idea #2. The famous "Elan!", giving +20% land morale.
The job in Sachsen is done already, so the last secondary participant Saxony is eliminated. My other armies are already in or around Wien again. First some cheeky Moldavians will be kicked away. Again no stackwipe.
As I want to take a lot of lands from Hungary, I need around 90% warscore. The Ottomans have just sieged down the fort in Temes (South Hungary), good.
Trencsén in the Slovakian mountains is my next target. The Austrian 35.9k-stack is moving away, maybe to Moldavia. AI-Ottomans has splitted up his armies once more. Again I am rushing to help him in Dalmatien. 20k infantry, led by R. de Saint-Esprit (3/5/5/1) are on the way from Sopron down to the coast.
Oh yeah, Bohemia. After finishing his Polish War recently, he has signaled his interest to join my war against his rivals. As I control all key provinces, I have called him in now.
The Ottomans' army hold out long enough in Dalmatien, so my reinforcement could arrive in time to turn the battle around into our favor. Trencsén has surrendered, but I need at least one more fort. Thus I will work on Kärnten, as well as on Zemplén, here with the cannons from Trencsén soon to arrive.
Zemplén 5.Nov.84. The Castilians got caught by the Austrians in Szabolcs. A consequence of two problems in the game. The UI showed no battle to be expected and the asynchronicity with my stack, the Castilians were attached to. My stack arrived one day earlier in Zemplén and escaped the battle, my poor subject not. But, as I only negotiate with Hungary, this doesn't matter anymore. The "battle in progress" modifier is for Austria, not for Hungary.
Ottomans are not so happy with the deal, because they think they have a war parcitipation of about 50%. Well. I give them one province in Visoki. That will still cost me some trust, but it will be enough to keep the alliance alive.
The AE-list looks fine. All nations are on a truce with me, except Muscovy.
Deal signed. Wien is mine. For a coastal connection I had to take the provinces Lika, Zagreb, Varasd and Sopron.
The reasons, why I have taken Pozsony in addition, as well as the next war target to prevent the call for "unlawful" ... next time.
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