French AAR - my first

[Dale]

Hi everyone. Just want to start off by stating that I've been playing EU for a long time, just never posted here. I've read nearly all the AAR's here, and must say mine will never be to the writing standard of most here. I prefer to get the facts across as opposed to coming up with a story.

What follows will be my first AAR ever. I chose France because it's a lot of fun to play, and so many different strats can be formed around France.

Settings:
- France 1492 - 1792
- Normal/Normal settings
- Latest patch/IGC
- France the only major, no other IGC settings used
- Missions and random/historical events enabled

Objectives for game:
1. Limit the "colonisers" of Spain, Portugal & England
2. Claim the Americas
3. Use the Americas as the cash base to expand in Europe

So here goes:

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France: 1492 - 1497 - The Prelude to War!
1492:
- Set off a few tax collectors
- Analysed strategic position and determined southern front with Spain to be the best first expansion point (to achieve objective 1 I need to destroy Spain's income to stop settler movement. Portugal and England can come later). Will use Savoy/Helvetia to shore up eastern border, Papel States to help from Italy, and will defend the northern border myself. I'll try to use Scotland to tie up the Poms. I'll ignore the Lowlands totally till at least Dutch Nationalism.
- Diplomacy in 1942 makes the French alliance: France, Papel States, Savoy, Helvetica and Scotland (all diplo objectives achieved). Spain's alliance sits at: Spain, Naples, England, Milan and Lorraine.
- Turks DOW Marmalukes (no surprise).
- Research into trade/stability.
- Merchants to Ill de France, Flandres and Genoa.

1493:
- More tax collectors
- Diplomacy increasing relations with alliance members with small gifts.
- Start building of troops to have two armies (north and south) with aim of 35/15/100 in each.
- Research into trade/army (to get arty). Gain increase in stab and trade.
- Merchants to Ill de France, Flandres and Genoa.

1494:
- Even more tax collectors.
- Continuation of troop building.
- Research into army/trade. Gain increase in army. Arty woohoo!
- Merchants to around Europe.
- Turks annex Marms (no surprise).

1495:
- Yet more tax collectors.
- Building troops with aim of: North - 35/0/100, 10/15/0 (floater) & South - 35/0/100, 10/15/0 (floater), and 2 * 10/0/0 (coverers).
- Research into trade.
- Merchants around Europe. At this point, spreading out further from France as I gain as high as I can without monopolies in the close COTs.

1496:
- Tax collectors, tax collectors.
- Starting to finalise troop building for invading forces. Will create reserves next year.
- Research into trade.
- More merchants abroad.

1497:
- All money into finalising troops, building reserves and having 200 cash for emergency building.

- A look at the map shows:
North:
- 35/0/100 French army in Ill de France.
- 10/15/0 French army in Champagne.
- No Spanish armies in Lowlands.
- No English armies in Calais (all still trying to settle down Ireland).
- 10K army in Lorraine.

South:
- 37K Spanish army in Angulasia.
- 5K army in Cattalonia.
- 10K army in Savoie.
- 15K army in Helvetica.

Other:
- Various minor armies in Milan, Papel States and Naples.

World News 1492 - 1497:
The usual DOWS:
- Turks annex Marms.
- Russian alliance versus Kazan.
- Swedes throw off the Danes.
- German bickering.

 

[Morlac]

Interesting.

I've played a few GCs as France, as I thought they were a good country to learn with. (Haven't played IGC with them, though). I think your initial analysis is pretty consistent with what I usually did, particularly regarding Spain.

A couple of questions --

(1) Will you try to conquer your CB shield territories (like Calais and Franche Comte) or leave them in place to provide CBs? As France I always found this to be a limiting factor. To play "realistically" I should grab them, but in game, it's much more efficient to simply leave them alone and keep the CBs. As a would-be world conqueror I was often forced to draw nations into my alliance while keeping relations low, then call for allies until they dishonored the alliance, just to get a CB on them.

(2) Are you planning to use sieges or assaults in the early game?

(3) I notice that your fixed armies are all infantry while your reserves are a mix of cavalry and infantry, heavy on the cav. If deploying the reserves, will you bother to split off the cavalry so they get there sooner, or will you just move the stack as a whole?

(4) If you want to limit Spanish expansion, you really ought to take the shipyards in Andalusia -- they give Spain an extra colonist per year, which is quite an advantage (not to mention the wealth of the province itself). Will we be seeing an attempt to take it from the sea, or will you slowly carve your way across the peninsula?

(5) In your objective of Claiming the Americas, does this mean that you want to be the sole power there, or that you want to physically occupy each and every province (and if so, will a TP suffice or do you plan on a colony)?

(6) Pursuant to your aims, will you be abandoning Catholicism at the earliest opportunity? (Extra colonists and defends you from the effects of Torsedillas)

(7) Will you be making any particular attempts to limit your BB rating?

Just curious -- most experienced EU players don't seem to play the majors and if they do, they don't talk about it. Nice to see someone besides myself who still finds it interesting!

 

[Dale]

1497 - 1500: First French-Spanish War!

July - Dec 1497:
- France declares war on Spain.
- French alliance all joins no questions asked.
- Spanish alliance all joins EXCEPT ENGLAND! They only had Norfolk with about 4K men in Ireland. They didn't have any luck with the Irish rebellions.
- Immediately move coverers into Spain leaving covering forces in Gerona, Valencia, Cattalonia, Aragon and put the French flag up in Murcia.
- Immediately move the southern floater army to intercept Spains 33K army path (heads straight to Toledo).
- Move sieger army into Rousallon.
- Northern army braces.
- Lorraine moves 10K south towards Helvetica.
- Milan moves 10K towards Papel States.
- Naples and Papel States exchange blows.
- Spain moves 33K army from Andul towards Toledo, then breaks into two armies, one of 13K heads towards Castille. Spain builds 3K army in Luxemburg and moves south towards Helvetica (and continues to do so for the entire war).

1498:
- Rousallon falls to France.
- Spain tries to engage coverer armies which are quicker (no arty and Spain has some in hers).
- Northern sieger moved to Lorraine to head-off reinforcements for Helv siege.
- Lorraine falls to France in Dec '98. Seperate peace, we annex Lorraine.
- Southern floater + coverers destroy Spanish armies in the south of Spain, all she has left is a few 4-10K armies up the north of Iberian penn.
- Southern floater starts siege of Castille in April.
- Helv almost falls and pays for seperate peace.

1499:
- Gerona falls to France in Jan.
- Southern sieger moves to Castille.
- Castille falls in August, maps stolen. We have discovered the New World!
- Spain offers: Rousallon, Gerona & Murcia for peace. We accept.

Aug - Dec 1499:
- Southern troops regroup in Murcia and Gerona (3% nationalism).
- Send a few more merchants out.

Other news:
- no loans needed to wage the war.
- Usual foreign wars.
- Spain colonising the Carribean.
- England finally gets the rebels out of Ireland.

Major Alliances:
- France, Savoy, Papel States, Helvetica.
- Spain, Naples, Milan.
- Russian, Pskov, Denmark, Ryazzan.
- Austrian alliance (usual suspects).

 

[Dale]

Morlac:

I find France is the "funnest" Major to play. I also enjoy playing Papel States with a goal of "Control HRE". That's pretty hard to do! Can you imagine a Catholic Papel States turning protestant?

Oh, and I've also been following your AAR with interest. What is Michael up to eh?

1. I'll end up leaving a couple of CB shields in the lowlands, simply for a CB on England and Spain. Also, Spain should just about loose all her lowlands provinces to the Dutch when they come (will have to be quick to beat the Dutch).

2. I usually like a mix of siege/assult. Depends on the particular province. If it's a minimal fort, I'll wait till the walls get to -3 or lower, then assault. Anything higher and I'll wait till -5 and a breach. why waste my men? Also, if I can do it, I like to keep my siegers low in numbers to limit attrition in the provinces.

3. When I reach the enemy provinces, the infantry can be left as coverers, or I keep them on the cav army as a screen (cannon fodder basically). Though if the enemy army has arty, you'll still move quicker with the infantry anyways.

4. Keep reading.

5. By "Claim the Americas", at the least be the MAJOR player in the area.

6. Leave the FAITH? How could you say THAT?

7. At the start, I'll take it slow. But once Spain and England are "damaged", I should be able to handle it fairly easily.

 

[Dale]

1500 - 1510: Recovery/Second French-Spanish war!

The period 1500 - 1506 was dominated by peace for the French alliance.

- Continued upgrading of infrastructure. This includes tax collectors to almost all current provinces, and a "Magniot Line of Defense" (upgrade forts) from Picardie across to Lorraine, and down to Dauphine. Also built fort in Murcia.
- Continued sending of merchants around Europe and Isfahan (thanks to the Spaniard's map).
- Carefull watching of the Spaniards.
- Rebuilding of troops to pre-war levels (North: 35/0/100 & 10/15/0; South: 35/0/100 & 10/15/0) plus rebel stompers in Murcia and Gerona (10K each).
- Diplomatic overtures to allies to reassure and increase relations.
- Continued research into army/naval/trade.
- Saving of money for next Spanish war.
- Spain diplo-annexes Naples.

1506: The buildup for war!
- Started getting itchy fingers and thinking of Spanish expansion again.
- Spent all money on reserves (27/0/0) and coverer armies (2 * 10/0/0)

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1507 - 1510: Second Spanish - French War!

1507:
- January: Watched 6 settlers depart Castille.
- Feb 1st: France declares war on Spain.
- All French allies join, all Spanish allies join.
- France moves southern coverers into Spanish territory to stop enemy production.
- France moves southern floater directly at Spanish main army 22K.
- France braces in the north.
- Savoy and Helvetica invade Milan.
- Spain invades Papel States.
- Papel States end up retreating.
- By Sept most of Spain in the south covered by coverers. Spain's main army camped in Castille (learnt from last time ).
- Main sieger in the south captures in Dec Cattalonia.

1508:
- Savoy captures Sardinia, signs seperate peace for Sardinia.
- Spain building units in Lowlands since can't build much down south. When built, they are 3-7K in size, and most flow south to Helvetica to help the siege.
- Feb: Sends in the reserves to Castille (27K infantry). Might as well start on the walls now eh?
- By Dec Helvetica dangerously close to capture. Sends in the northern siegers to help out our ally.
- Nov: Papel States signs over everything but Rome to Spain (gutless wonders).
- We capture Valencia, off to Aragorn.

1509:
- Mar: Northern siegers destroys Spainish/Milan troops in Helvetica.
- Helv pays for seperate peace.
- We capture Aragon in June. Southern siegers move to Castille where reserves are.
- Floater army fights off last Spanish attempt in April (13K Fre vs 11K Spa) leaving them with 4K army in the south.
- Northern armies fight off Spanish invasions into Picardie, Ill de France and Lorraine.
- Castille falls in Sept after assaulting walls (I think that one was actually a fluke). We yoink the Spanish maps again.
- Spain offers Cattalonia, Aragorn and Valencia. We humbly accept.

Sept - Dec 1509:
- Assignment of garrisons across rebellious new provinces.
- Redeployment of northern troops to correct bases (Ill de France and Lorraine).

 

[unmerged(8545)]

hi Dale, welcome!

One thing I was wondering about was the worth of tax collectors. They cause -3 on stability, which is only partly compensated for by judges.
I still do promote taxcollectors, but I was wondering if investing the money in expansion abroad wasnt a better deal. What's your opinion, and why?

 

[Morlac]

Mind if I give my 2 ducats?

Originally posted by CitizenPaul
hi Dale, welcome!

One thing I was wondering about was the worth of tax collectors. They cause -3 on stability, which is only partly compensated for by judges.
I still do promote taxcollectors, but I was wondering if investing the money in expansion abroad wasnt a better deal. What's your opinion, and why?

hi CitizenPaul --

Mind if I give my two ducats?

It depends a lot on how you are planning to play. If you are going to conquer the world or generally have high revolt risks, then it is likely not worth promoting tax collectors (or fortifying beyond level 1 or 2, for that matter).

I believe that the tax collector adds 1 to your tax base, which counts once for the yearly income and once towards your monthly income, plus he adds one to your production, which also counts towards monthly income--for a total contribution of 3 ducats/year to the economy. At that rate, you make back your initial investment in just under 17 years, more if the revolt risk is actually going to cost you soldiers or looting.

In my opinion, that's an excellent return on investment, assuming of course that your overall state policies and situation can afford to absorb the extra revolt risk. (I would not, for example, recommend them for Persia!)

Whether or not you can do better by expansion abroad also depends on your circumstances. If we are talking about using the money to send colonists to establish TPs it's may be worth it if the provinces are richer than average or your trade is better than average.

Say that 50 will buy you about 5 colonist TP attempts, of which maybe 3 will succeed. If each TP generates 9 ducats to its COT, that's 27/year. If it's still the early game when all this would make a difference, your trade percentage is still probably at or lower than 33%. That means if you have a monopoly share at an otherwise full COT, you'd get about 6/20 * 33% * 27, or about 2 and two thirds ducats--less than you'd get from the taxman.

Sending colonists to establish a colony might be worthwhile, depending on how rich and/or strategic the province is, and what your chances are.

Just using the money to buy soldiers will, I think, rarely be worth it. (As Spain, I think 50 ducats will buy me 3k infantry or perhaps 1.4 cavalry at the outset...) About the only time I can see that being a worthwhile purchase would be if you can get those soldiers into position to grab otherwise unfortified cities (ex. in the Americas).

Sorry -- had to butt in...

 

[King of Men]

(Tries to resist the urge to go OT... oh, what the heck.)

I think tax collectors in your national provinces, where you can rely on low war exhaustion and friendly religions, are quite worthwhile. Otherwise it kind of depends on your situation. For England, which will be getting a lot of money from colonies and is in the latin tech group, they are probably more trouble than they are worth unless you're going to have a good long time of peace to recoup your investment without revolt risk. After the first century or so, I don't bother with them - too much hassle. But then, I've got a tendency to run up the BB.

 

[Dale]

CitizenPaul, Morlac & King of Men:

It also helps a lot when you remember that France's infantry costs 9 ducats too. 3 tax collectors pays for another infantry, which to me can earn more than the 50 ducats to build.

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As to the AAR, I mistook/ommited a couple of things. I didn't have my notes with me at work when I wrote it up.

- 1509: Helv makes seperate peace. WRONG. They surrendered to Spain.
- Portugal picked up Navarra sometime in the second France-Spain war (Spain declared war on Navarra, annexed them, then Navarra's ally came and yoinked it off them. All in the space of 2 years).

Here's a piccy:

 

[unmerged(9191)]

Nice AAR-straight to the point. Your going to need a Navy to fight off Spain and England, that would be something I do. Also be careful not to make enemies with all the German states. Getting a nice line of them between you and Austria might be nice in the future. Kleves, The Palatinat, Hessen would be a huge boost right now as they can take out the low lands for you in a war with spain. Just a thought.

 

[Dale]

Imperial Army:

Thanks. I have no delusions as to my writing abilities, but I can get straight info across.

As to your suggestions: *whispers* The Third French-Spanish War netted me Andul, a big naval bonus eh? And a colonist. Oh, and I'm sitting waiting patiently for the Dutch up north.

 

[Dale]

1510 – 1518: Third French - Spanish War!

The period 1510-1515 was marked by peaceful advancement for France and our loyal Allies the Papel States, Scotland and Savoy. Having lost Helvetica to Spain, it opened an unopposed path for Milan, but we hope that Savoy can hold out against the Milanese troops and the increased Spanish presence in the area. To help out our allies, we determine to increase French military presence on the eastern front.

- Continued infrastructure building, concentrating on upgrading forts on the eastern front, and upgrading our core provinces.
- Lots of merchants sent out across Europe and the middle east. France now has a dominant presence in nearly every COT. Also concentrated on gaining a monopoly in Ill de France and maintaining it by flushing out competitors.
- Research continues in army/navy/trade/infrastructure, with increases in army and navy by 1515.
- On the diplomatic front, hundreds of ducats are sent to Savoy, Scotland and Papel States to increase regard over 170 again. Maybe one day we can look at diplo-annexing Savoy (and maybe even Scotland after we start beating up the Poms!)
- The French military machine is re-oiled and re-juvinated. We now have 3 main armies of 35/0/100 sited in Ill de France, Valencia and Lyonnaise. We also setup support groups of 10/15/0 in neighbouring provinces. Also on the Iberian peninsula we setup 2 rebel stomping armies of 20/0/0 in Murcia and Aragorn. The idea is to extend their usage to covering armies once hostilities return.

World News!

- The German minors still bicker between themselves with a couple of short wars ending in payments.
- Turkey and Hungary decide to beat heads near the end of 1514, and this war still rages in 1518 with no country really in front.
- As for usually aggressive eastern nations such as Poland, Austria, Venice, Russia and the Scandinavian nations, things are scarily quiet and peaceful. However, most of these nations are quietly building troops and Eastern Europe looks on the verge of exploding massively! Poland has the central eastern states in alliance, the Scandinavian-Russian alliance is already alive and well, and Austria holds the central European states, things are at the edge, and only the Western European nations and the Turks can get any gains out of this.

Third French-Spanish War!

- Jan 1515: Spain sends a string of settlers to the Carribean.
- Feb: France and her allies declare war on Spain and her allies. Everyone joins their respective sides.
- Immediately, a flood of infantry invades Spain, setting up covering armies in every province on the Iberian peninsula except Andulasia and Castille. The roaming army of inf/cav moves towards Castille to try to head off Spain’s army of 27K in Andulasia. The siegers move into Toledo to begin the siege.
- The northern army braces, and the eastern army holds as well. Spain and Milan invade Savoie, but with 3 times as many Savoy troops, I don’t see that happening too well. Spain also moves troops into Rome, the last bastion of the Papel States.
- Surprisingly, Scotland moves its fleets southwards and engages and damages the Spanish fleet stationed out of Zeeland! Yay for the Scots! Their first involvement in any Franco-Spanish war.
- Not surprisingly, Savoy defends brilliantly against Spain and Milan, and then heads for Milan itself. Rome is besieged after the Papel States remaining army is destroyed to the man.
- Aug 1515: We engage the Spanish army on the outskirts of Estradamus, and soundly defeat it with the loss of only 4K French to 17K Spanish. We pusue them to Andulasia. In Dec, the Spanish army is destroyed in Andulasia, and not being able to build any troops on the Iberian penn, we have complete run over Spanish lands. Toledo falls to our troops, and we head to Andulasia.
- Jan 1516: The siege of Andulasia is begun.
- Mar 1516: Rome falls to the Spaniards, and is quickly annexed eliminating the Papel States completely.
- Savoy sieges Milan, and defends against Spain in Savoie again.
- Our northern and eastern armies defend against pointless 3-5K incursions by Spanish patrols. We defeat them completely, but still make no move against Spanish lands in the area.
- Jul 1516: Andulasian authorities surrender to our army’s captain, and the French flag is raised over the shipyards.
- Jul 1516: Milan holds out to Savoy, but an army of 43K Spaniards from the Italian penn, push Savoy back to it’s capital. The army then marches on Savoie. At present Savoy has enough troops to defend against the invasion, so we refrain from sending our troops in and losing to attrition.
- Feb 1517: Castille falls to our forces. We send one of our esteemed diplomats to the Spanish court, and peace is settled to the tune of Estradamus, the gold province of Toledo, and our ultimate Iberian Penn goal of Andulasia!!!! The shipyards are ours! The rich Spanish COT is now ours! And once again, our exploration is furthered with the addition of the Spanish maps of the New World.

Recovery! 1517 – 1518

- Mar 1517: After much researching of the newly acquired Spanish maps, we begin our colonisation attempts in the new world. We have decided to establish a colony in the North American province of Kebec for two reasons: 1. It has the ability to have a dock, and 2. There are 1500 very friendly natives. They’ll make a great addition to our colony in later years.
- Our mercantile efforts are begun again (we lost our monopoly, and a couple of other merchants), and diplomats are sent to our allies with gifts to celebrate our recent victory over Spain, and lament the loss of our brother ally, the Papel States. We need to extend our hand of influence to other nations, and bring them into our fold if we are to ensure a France that can withstand the powerful eastern European alliances.
- By Jan 1518, we have established France in the New World in Kebec, and sent another colonist.
- Our alliance is solid once more, and our merchants are plying their trade across Europe.

We stand strong to begin preparing for our biggest test yet! A full invasion of Spanish lands, including the Lowlands, the Midlands, Italy, the Iberian Penn, and the New World. If we succeed, I am sure all of Europe will despise us, and may even raise up in defiance of us. (Bad boy)

 

[unmerged(9191)]

Nice.....................although I think Spain is stil growing despite you taking its provinces, by getting papal states (of course that not as rich as what you took). I nice strategy might be to knock them out of italy and take naples+rome.

 

[Morlac]

Originally posted by Imperial Army
Nice.....................although I think Spain is stil growing despite you taking its provinces, by getting papal states (of course that not as rich as what you took). I nice strategy might be to knock them out of italy and take naples+rome.

IA

it never fails to amaze me how differently we approach things

In this case (hard to tell for certain w/o a screenshot) I think I would only go for Italy if there were a stylistic reason for doing so. yes those territories are fairly prosperous and Catholic, but it would mean trying to establish a beachhead separated from the rest of his holdings. It also means having even more neighbors to attack him if he becomes a badboy. (Similarly, leaving it there means that Spain has to fight nationalism revolts and keep troops there just in case...)

Personally, I would continue to absorb Spain's core holdings in Iberia as quickly as possible. Get some strength adjacent to their capital so you can run in and capture it every war--a fast 4 stars and a map update! In a few decades you can take all of her core holdings which are wealthy and not prone to revolts, leaving them with the powder keg in the netherlands, and a bunch of unconnected holdings in the New World and Italy (and wherever else they've adventured).

In my own games as France I have followed that strategy, and took their Italian holdings only when my own conquests and diplomacy had brought me right up to their Italian borders...

 

[Dale]

Imperial Army:

I'm with Morlac on this one. they may have gained Papel States, but every Catholic nation gets a Cassus Belli on Spain for them holding Rome (I believe this is true, is it true someone?). Also, they have the powderkeg nations of Venice and Austria on their doorstep (which neither of them like Spain at this point).

Another thing, if they take rebellious provinces from my allies, they're only increasing their own BB. But with me taking their core provinces, and more importantly Toledo and Andulasia, they're only hurting themselves. My rebel stompers in the new lands instantly become invaders on a DOW, but Spain has a long stomp from Italy to France/Savoy.

So I'll leave them with Italy for the time being.

Anyways, here's a short update: (only had time to play 4 years last night before the missus got toey)

BTW, I've setup a webpage with the whole story flowing without comments, and all the screenshots here....

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1518 – 1522: European Mayhem!

Though only a short period, 4 years, these years saw lots of interesting things happen on the European mainland. Including a couple I’ve never seen in EU before!

- 1518: Hessen DOWs Kleves and their allies Palatient and Cologne.

- 1519: Hessen annexes Cologne.

- 1521: Hessen annexes Kleves, pays off Palatient for peace.

- 1520: Poland-Lithuania leaves it’s powerful alliance and opts to bunk with the sinking ship Spain! Why they did this is anyone’s guess, but that’s how it goes.

- 1518-1520: We buildup Kebeq to the point that it becomes a city and integrates the 1500 natives (useful!). We also start establishing trade posts around Kebeq.

- 1519 & 1520: We gain two explorers in Andulasia.

- We start focusing on our navy. With the shipyards in Andulasia, we have moved our entire navy there. We added 3 warships, 4 galleys and 4 transports by 1522 to bring our navy to 15/15/5.

- 1518-1520: Turkey finally gets the upper hand in their war with Hungary, and get some land from it.

- With the emergence of Hessen, we have started directing our diplomatic efforts towards them as their current alliance dies in 1529. We hope to pick them up as a buffer in the north. Though of course, we don’t hold much faith in it happening. However, we’ve got our relations from -200 to -84 in 4 years.

The time is ripe now to take another chunk out of Spain. The peace treaty has expired, and I should be able to have another 4 wars (12 provinces) before the Dutch start firing up. At that point, a full-scale invasion of the Lowlands would be beneficial. At the moment, I’ll concentrate on taking the last 6 provinces (excluding Castille) on the Iberian peninsula, Canary Islands, the Med islands and a couple of provinces on the Italian boot.

And some screenies:

Note Hessen's growth in the Rhineland.

Is it me, or does it seem like Spain hasn't grown much? They haven't even found the Incas!!

 

[Morlac]

Dale:

I'll check on whether holding Rome gives everyone a BB against Spain and let you know...

My advice would be to avoid an alliance with Hessen! Right now they are at least at 13 BB (1 for the initial DOW and 6 for each annexation). And since they seem frisky and ready to play, I wouldn't be too sure that they'll stay at peace for long. All their neighbors will be looking for an excuse to take down this mini-badboy, and you will get dragged into additional wars on their behalf. On the other hand, now that they've taken all the BB penalties for annexing, it might be a good time to strip them of their new holdings...

Galleys? You're building galleys as France? Watch out -- they lose their usefulness very quickly (and don't have much to begin with outside the Med). Their morale starts low and never increases, and they have very little power compared to the midgame warships.

 

[Dale]

Morlac:

Thanks for checking about Rome for me.

On galleys:
I find them very usefull as cannon fodder against naval powers (especially nations like Turkey, Venice and England). They get the morale down a bit on the enemy warships (maybe two pips if you're lucky), and by that time my "strong" warships have entered the fray.

If I do get an alliance with Hessen, it could only work to my advantage. If the other German minors DOW them, I get to step in for my little alliance brother Hessen and annex the aggressor. I don't lose relation hits for DOWing, I'm seen more as a "defender" than an "aggressor", and I get free land!

If no one DOW's them, then all I gain is a buffer for the north.

 

[Morlac]

Okay --

(1) There seemed to be no effect on CBs of controlling Rome. I checked a save game from just a few months after annexing them, and no Catholics had CBs on me who shouldn't have had. (Kinda hard to tell, actually -- not that many Catholics had escaped my land grabs at that point...)

However, I have heard of the CB thing but I think it's only implemented in EU2.

(2) Re: Hessen-- Just a difference in playing styles. I like to know exactly when my wards are going to be -- as a badboy I'll preposition everything and then kick off the cycle (and of course, only that first declaration will be offensive, all the rest will be defensive, cuz I'm such a bad boy...) If I were allied with another badboy, the choice of timing isn't always going to be mine.

(3) Re: Galleys -- as a major exploring power I am usually absolutely paranoid about other nations winning a naval battle against me and being able to steal my maps. Often, if that happens, my previously incredibly valuable monopolies suddenly get flooded by competition and even if I hang onto the monopoly, I'm constantly trying to kick people out of my CoTs...

 

[Morlac]

Inline pics not working?

By the way, I can't see your inline images -- they appear as a little crosswinds logo. I can't even right-click them to get the link so I can paste it into my browser. I did go to the site you created for the AAR, though, so I've seen them. Nice work!

 

[Dale]

Morlac:

Yeah I noticed that with the images. Totally wierd. Sometimes they show, sometimes they don't. *shrug* Must be something to do with crosswinds.

It's obvious there's a lot of different styles of play. I don't mind an ally starting a BB war. I usually have a larger army than I'd normally need, and that seems to be enough for those surprise DOWs.