It was my intention to start a Gelre, form the Netherlands, and continue on to create a major European power. My first goal after achieving this was to become Holy Roman Emperor.
As things turned out, all did not go according to plan. But that story is for later.
I am using MM Gold as well as the ToT map.
Let us begin in 1453.
Please forgive me, I originally didn’t plan on making an AAR of this, but found the events to be of sufficient interest to me to warrant it later on. As such, the first few posts will be of a more sketchy nature as I don’t have as many screenshots or notes as I would have knowing that I will be writing about it.
I began with a few first steps. I directed all taxes to go toward government in hopes of obtaining my fourth idea quickly. I also sacked all of my advisors. There were no ones available for hire, and the ones that were currently in my employ would only help me convert heathens. This would be of little use in Catholic Europe. I thus found myself in a far better fiscal state. I also focused on trading. Being as small as I was, hoping to compete on taxes or production would be folly, and so I setup the most prosperous centers of trade as my aims.
The first objective was to obtain an alliance with Munster, so that I may use their power to assist me in gaining vassals among the HRE electors.
I succeeded in this, and knowing that it was but a matter of time before Munster would declare war on their southern neighbor Cologne since they had a core there. I was not disappointed, and they soon declared war. Munster took it upon themselves to go after the eastern province of Lippe, and I took Koln.
Fortunately, I managed to take the province before Munster was able to take theirs and I declared a separate peace gaining Cologne as my vassal.
Alas, they were also at war with Burgandy and soon thereafter Burgandy launched an attack upon Koln. Somehow they managed to pull them away as my vassal, how exactly, I’m not sure as I thought one was unable to sign any peace treaty with a vassal. I could see already that Burgandy would pose some real issues in the time to come.
I put this setback aside for the time being, as I had already begun a war with another elector Trier. This was a quick battle, and I simply turned the speed up to maximum in hopes of hurrying things along.
Thanks to my very small size, I was suffering no real lasting penalties for declaring war without a casus belli as my ruler, without any additional funding, was keeping me at +3 stability. I thus found myself in a position of gaining yet another elector as my vassal.
The Palatinate looked to be my best option, but it was already under the protection of the Holy Roman Emperor in Austria. Luckily, The Palatinate was in possession of an alliance with another small German state which was not under Austrian protection. I declared war on this small state in hopes of dragging the elector in of its own accord, bypassing the protection offered by Austria.
I succeeded and thus was at war with both The Palatinate and Baden. I took the western province of The Palatinate first but found myself unable to procure a peace which was pleasing to me, and so I took the fight to their ally, storming the city and gaining them as a vassal. Still, that stubborn elector would not agree to become my vassal. I obtained some permissions to move my troops about the neighboring countries and began sieging their eastern province. Thankfully, they acquiesced to my demands halfway through the siege, and I was able to cut the war short.
With all my troops down south, I found myself right next to another juicy target, Mainz.
They were likewise protected by Austria, but they also had an alliance which did not share the Emperor’s protection. I followed the same strategy to get them into a conflict which that great power could not intervene. Something of some interest happened this time, Friesland, my ally up to this point was in a major conflict with Denmark and its partner in Crime, Norway. As such, they didn’t think it a terribly fantastic idea to join me in my crusade to get as many electors under my umbrella as possible, and so dishonored our alliance. This presented me with a fantastic opportunity to add their territory to my own. I paid for a few mercenary legions in my home town, declared war, and made quick work of their defenses. Soon, they were added to my territory.
I now had quite the set of vassals for such a short time, especially in MM gold.
But this is just the beginning, there are far more interesting bits to come.
As things turned out, all did not go according to plan. But that story is for later.
I am using MM Gold as well as the ToT map.
Let us begin in 1453.
Please forgive me, I originally didn’t plan on making an AAR of this, but found the events to be of sufficient interest to me to warrant it later on. As such, the first few posts will be of a more sketchy nature as I don’t have as many screenshots or notes as I would have knowing that I will be writing about it.
I began with a few first steps. I directed all taxes to go toward government in hopes of obtaining my fourth idea quickly. I also sacked all of my advisors. There were no ones available for hire, and the ones that were currently in my employ would only help me convert heathens. This would be of little use in Catholic Europe. I thus found myself in a far better fiscal state. I also focused on trading. Being as small as I was, hoping to compete on taxes or production would be folly, and so I setup the most prosperous centers of trade as my aims.
The first objective was to obtain an alliance with Munster, so that I may use their power to assist me in gaining vassals among the HRE electors.
I succeeded in this, and knowing that it was but a matter of time before Munster would declare war on their southern neighbor Cologne since they had a core there. I was not disappointed, and they soon declared war. Munster took it upon themselves to go after the eastern province of Lippe, and I took Koln.
Fortunately, I managed to take the province before Munster was able to take theirs and I declared a separate peace gaining Cologne as my vassal.
Alas, they were also at war with Burgandy and soon thereafter Burgandy launched an attack upon Koln. Somehow they managed to pull them away as my vassal, how exactly, I’m not sure as I thought one was unable to sign any peace treaty with a vassal. I could see already that Burgandy would pose some real issues in the time to come.
I put this setback aside for the time being, as I had already begun a war with another elector Trier. This was a quick battle, and I simply turned the speed up to maximum in hopes of hurrying things along.
Thanks to my very small size, I was suffering no real lasting penalties for declaring war without a casus belli as my ruler, without any additional funding, was keeping me at +3 stability. I thus found myself in a position of gaining yet another elector as my vassal.
The Palatinate looked to be my best option, but it was already under the protection of the Holy Roman Emperor in Austria. Luckily, The Palatinate was in possession of an alliance with another small German state which was not under Austrian protection. I declared war on this small state in hopes of dragging the elector in of its own accord, bypassing the protection offered by Austria.
I succeeded and thus was at war with both The Palatinate and Baden. I took the western province of The Palatinate first but found myself unable to procure a peace which was pleasing to me, and so I took the fight to their ally, storming the city and gaining them as a vassal. Still, that stubborn elector would not agree to become my vassal. I obtained some permissions to move my troops about the neighboring countries and began sieging their eastern province. Thankfully, they acquiesced to my demands halfway through the siege, and I was able to cut the war short.
With all my troops down south, I found myself right next to another juicy target, Mainz.
They were likewise protected by Austria, but they also had an alliance which did not share the Emperor’s protection. I followed the same strategy to get them into a conflict which that great power could not intervene. Something of some interest happened this time, Friesland, my ally up to this point was in a major conflict with Denmark and its partner in Crime, Norway. As such, they didn’t think it a terribly fantastic idea to join me in my crusade to get as many electors under my umbrella as possible, and so dishonored our alliance. This presented me with a fantastic opportunity to add their territory to my own. I paid for a few mercenary legions in my home town, declared war, and made quick work of their defenses. Soon, they were added to my territory.
I now had quite the set of vassals for such a short time, especially in MM gold.
But this is just the beginning, there are far more interesting bits to come.
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