So. I thought that starting as York would have been a pain...but it wasn't. That much. All a matter of timing. First obvious problem: England. Big, bad, first target. I spread out merchants, getting monopolies in Antwerpen and Lubeck (with the sliders and NTP as an idea, it is a decent trading power), and waited. Waited for the inevitable French war for Calais, of course: there was no chance in hell I could pass behind the Royal Navy as a TPM, and even if I did France knocking for its cores would have been a bad thing. Meanwhile I got some money in the piggybank, to pay for mercs, and shot for LT 18, for god army. SO! Imperialism CB, to keep the cores in England and later annexing it for 0 BB.
Just a couple of minor battles before this - France trounced their armies quite thoroughly. So far, so good. Notice Scotland attacking Lancaster - making this screenshot made me notice it and i DoWed myself.
So, annexed the spare province of Lancaster, waiting for London to fall...and somewhat Scotland decides it has to intervene and DoWs me.
Luckily, Henry York is a 4-shock general: I recruit some mercenary cavalry more (all the while thanking France for giving me 25 ducats per month in war funds) and manage to chase them from York and to, in the end, claim some provinces.
Things have started looking up - now I just had to wait for the truce with England to expire (5.2b made truces last 10 years instead of 5). I took the chance to move things around a bit. Took Gilded Iconography and swapped out CAD for Press Gangs, reached GT 17 and took Shrewd Commerce Practice (to help trade live through BB) and started moving towards Free Subjects, Plutocracy and Free Market.
Then, just as England loses Calais to France, I DoW. The war is quick and painless, but its effects are immediate.
I cancel my current mission and Conquer Ireland comes up. I oblige, and Cornwall foolishly follows Ireland in the war. Both get eaten.
Then, with a new king (RIP Henry! You will be missed) a new mission: Vassalise Scotland. I think you know how hard this is going to be.
Oh, right. As an aside: luck.
So, back to the war with Scotland...
...done. Also we discover that we apparently hate the Pope - so very much that we strip him of power in England first AND we convert immediately after that. Hah.
(This admittedly ruins me a bit - recovering from that stab hit takes a lot of time that doesn't go in research.)
Now rises another problem: the colonies rightfully being
YorkEnglish are in Spanish hands! This cannot stand. An expedition is outfitted and a small army falls on the colonies. Sadly Portugal, allied with Castille, takes some back, and one (Connecticut) becomes a city before the saving expedition comes back. I have to blockade Portugal and sink their navy before they give up that single province.
But when Portugal falls, Castille does so as well is short order.
This is were I stand, for now. Scotland is going to be diploannexed soon, and that will cement my hold on the Isles. Then I'll need to rip the Barbados from Spanish hands as well, finish colonization of the East Coast and club France in the head for Normandy and Calais. All in all, things are good.