Grab your swords lads, we're going back!

[unmerged(126157)]

This will be my first AAR, inspired by reading countless AARs on this forum done by many, in particular the WC with Malacca and the Provence threads. I hope y'all won't find it too boring or lackluster. Ready? Off we go!

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The celtic people have a proud tradition. Their lands once covered western Europe and beyond. At their height, they even threatened the mighty Roman Empire.

Since the fall of the Guals, not much is heard from their small corner of the world, but lads that is going to change. We're going to take back what is ours, every last inch of it. Its high time to settle a few grudges with the latins, the germans, and whoever else we can think of. Grab your beer and swords lads, for nothing is getting in our way! Nothing will stop our mighty host from crushing our foes, eh what? What do you mean there is a problem?

Oh, we're who?

Nuts...

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I'm not a master at EU3, so I won't hold myself to Rastar's standards or even close. My set primary goal is to retake all formerly celtic lands, either directly or through vassals. Also, France and England are to be eliminated as they were responsible for much of the Celt's pain and suffering through history. That and I'll slap the italians around a little. I'll tinker with the goals as I go, as I'll try to keep some semblence of character to it, so grudges will be made and settled, etc.

House rules:
1. Royal Mariages are allowed, I've yet to inherit so much as a OPM, so I can't see it helping me much.
2. I won't do the save/reload trick when things go wrong that I do so often, so I see this AAR as a way to keep me honest. If I fail, I'll just start over.
3. I won't be doing too many tricks that take advantage of the AI, such as covering my foe in troops in peace time then DOW their vassal or something. Since this isn't a WC or anything, I'll try to reclaim my lost lands honorably. Sort of.
4. I've restored the time to go core back to 25 years from Vanilla EU3, as I think it actually gives the little guys a chance, as well as make the world a bit more fluid, which I like. Time to lose core is still 50 years.

Thoughts:
- I'm going to first focus on trading, as I'm going to need loads of money if I'm going to pull this off. England and Scotland are my primary fears at the early stage, so I need to make sure I don't get squashed before I can unite Ireland.
- The beginning will really need a spot of luck as I need England to get pulled into a lot of wars to distract them. Hopefully a weaker nation annexs a lot of the irish minors so I can hit them hard and take the lands, nixing the bad boy hit, but can't count on it. We'll see where this goes.

Well, off to get started, will update later tonight.

 

[coz1]

Strong goals and a proud one too. Warms me own Irish blood. Good luck and welcome to AAR writing!

 

[Urcules]

whale ... oil ... beef ... hooked


try saying that a bit faster without sounding Irish


(I nicked that joke somewhere cudos to you if you know where)

 

[phargle]

Difficult goals, but one should lead to the other. If you can make England fall, France may be defeatable. . . but France may be harder, too. Maybe go after then first.

Lads!

 

[volksmarschall]

Hurrah for Ireland! I shall follow this closely for family heritage reasons.

Looking forward to much more!

 

[unmerged(126157)]

Feedback:

coz1: yeah, my first EU3 game was with Leinster, it always will have a connection to me. I'm hoping this time to take it somewhere.

Urcules: when I said it out loud to myself I finally got it :rofl: No idea where it came from though.

Phargle - Yeah, my one concern is that once I kill England it will become too easy, but I suppose just surviving is a goal enough at the moment.

Volks - Yeah, I like playing as an Irish OPM as I'm ethnically Irish, though I can't track to where though.

Update to follow in a moment, took me several starts to get a decent go, shows just how touch and go it is to start as Leinster (England once had the conquer Ireland mission from the start, I knew I was screwed).

 

[unmerged(126157)]

Alrighty,

So here's who we have to work with: a crappy king (who at least is a 3 shock general) and a good Govt tech adviser, which I love govt tech. My first NI will probably be national trade policy for the extra compete chance and money.

ow sliders, can't do much for centrilization, as any revolt will kill me. I also will want to go free subjects for the reduction in research costs, but first and foremost for me is money money money.

First things first, I went with a slider move towards free trade (get a 4% compete chance adviser, I'll hire him later). I plan on moving back later, but for now I need the compete chance abroad. Once my stability gets up, I'll send merchants to Antwerpen, as its the cheapest. Also, England has the mission to recover Normandy, so it should be occupied for a while and not get the dreaded "Conquer Ireland" mission.

From previous experience, I know I'm going to get a ton of trade agreement offers. Well, I reject all of them, as it lowers my trade efficiency, which I need more than good relations with random OPM that Burgundy will gobble up. One neat trick with all of the AI countries doing agreements is that their TE gets shot, making me look better in comparison, compete-wise.

On Oct 14 I grab a master of the mint for extra money purposes, as I'll need some way to turn the trade money into real money. It stings at first to pay them, but once I get 5 in a CoT they'll pay for themselves.

Fast forward several years, and I finally have 5 merchants in Antwerpen, thanks to some level of minting and National Trade Policy. Normally I hate minting that gains inflation, but I need to get a good foundation started. I've also started to research land tech, as I'll need to keep pace or be ahead of my neighbors if I'm to have a chance.

Now, you can notice something of interest in that picture, notably that Flanders was released/formed. I'm not too sure how, but Burgundy imploded and has lost most of their land. Strangely enough, Lorraine is now the bigger kid on the block. Also of note is that England was in a sequence of brief wars with Brittany, France and Co, and then Connaught, then Scotland, white peacing each in turn except giving France Saintonge.

England also has a nice level of RR from WE, up to 14% in Meath. Since I have the rescue Meath mission, I'll be happy if it falls into my hands from patriots. For now I'm going to watch and wait, as RR or no, they still have 30K to my 1K, so no war on the horizon. Right after I typed this, England became a junior partner in a union with Savoy. This might prove interesting...

More time passes and I get 5 merchants in Venice. By now my king has died and is replaced by a much better one, 8/8/5, so I am quite pleased and am taking advantage of the better compete chance he gives me. By now Scotland is losing their war horribly, Brittany has 2 large rebel armies overruning them, and I'm glad everyone is ignoring my little island.

After some more time, Scotland loses 2 provinces to England in the peace deal, I move the slider 1 more towards free trade, and I lower minting until I'm breaking even monthly yet still slowly reducing inflation. My next mercantile target is Lubek, but I'll fund it with end of the year proceeds. Also, England gets into a war with France, but by now has a Admin 8 king from the PU, so WE is slowly dropping. Curses! So far I've not seen many rebel pops, only some Welsh a few years ago. Hopefully France and England stalemate for a while do drive up the WE on both sides, as I'd prefer weaker giants near me, but we'll see I suppose.

A review of my finances:

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Thus ends the first update. Mostly it was working on getting the economy set up, although I don't like the inflation, however low it is. Hopefully I can continue to stay under the radar until I can get some tech advantage and the money to back a larger army. I'm not too sure how to approach uniting the island. Last time I did this I got lucky and Scotland took over Munster and Connaught, allowing me to build up, DOW them, and take the lands for little BB. Taking Tyrone and Meath finished it up (though England was hard). Now I'm not too sure, as I want to avoid a lot of BB, but I need to start taking land before too long, otherwise someone else will beat me to it that I can't fight.

Any opinions, tips, comments on the game or AAR? Thanks for reading

 

[Urcules]

A shame you don't have any spies to incite a revolt, or support it.
How's your relation with the other Irish minors? You could take out of them, recovering a stab hit as a minor is pretty easy...

 

[Teep]

Nice AAR, the first EU3 Ireland one I've seen. I'm subscribing.

 

[volksmarschall]

You appear to be in a tough situation in Europe and in Ireland.

I can't wait to see what you do. Great update.

 

[unmerged(126157)]

Urcules: Yeah, the one downside to having free trade is that I don't have any spies. The irony is if I didn't go free trade, I wouldn't have the money to afford them. Now that England has the better king, their WE is dropping rapidly, so thats a bit of a bummer. I'm thinking I'm going to have to bite the bullet and take out one of the neighboring minors, as I really need to expand my manpower and land force limits. A great research rate won't help me if someone like Portugal or heaven forbid England DOW me, so I better get started. Since my compete chances are in the 60's I think I can afford the BB for absorbing one minor, as I doubt anyone small enough for me to fight will do it for me. One other idea is to try and foment a war between the minors, hope they annex the other, and then DOW the winner (doubtful though). Anyone know if there's an extra bad boy if I declare war on them, and how much is it? I know you get some WE.

Teep: Welcome aboard! Hopefully it doesn't get squashed, but even so if at first you don't succeed, try again!

volksmarschall: Yeah, I was really hoping Scotland or Brittany would enter in Ireland and eat up some of the minors. Last time I did Leinster Scotland did that and I gained 2 provinces for little BB by hitting a weak Scotland. Before I knew it I united Ireland and was thinking "I wish I did an AAR of this" but now I guess I have to use more than luck. Flanders being released is actually promising, as thats a moderate term target for expansion after I unite Ireland (or get most of it). However, I guess a more pressing concern is to take more of the Emerald Isle before England does. Thankfully the PU means England won't DOW me, although they're stabilizing rather well due to Savoy's king. It would be very strange if Savoy inherits England, though at least that means no more "Conquer Ireland" missions and probably more open war with France *fingers crossed*.

edit: I just remembered one rule I forgot to add, I've added it to the first post.

Also, I did some thinking. How does a nation breaking work? I'm noticing Brittany is still dealing with a lot of rebels that occupy half of their land, including their capitol. I'm thinking I see a bit of an opportunity here to grab not just an irish minor but also some Breton lands. If I DOW Brittany and occupy some of their land, what happens? Is it if over half of their lands are occupied by rebels they break and whatever I occupy I keep?

 

[Didaa]

Great, and Irish minor AAR, good luck

 

[naggy]

Good luck! Good start.

Nation breaking only occurs if the nation is at peace and either do not control their capital or control less than half their provinces.

 

[urdh]

Great start, good luck.
You should check England's mission, you might be a little safer if they have the annex Scotland or reclaim Normandy missions.

 

[Coinneach]

I ask you to liberate the Gaels of Scotland, so we may kill those filthy german lowlanders

 

[unmerged(126157)]

Didaa: Thanks for reading, and welcome aboard!

naggy: Thanks for the info, I'm guessing that happens to Brittany in this update as they get a boost to their army, matching the size of the rebels.

urdh: Yep, thats what I've been doing. Most of the time now they have a mission to improve prestige, though I'm not sure what that will mean.

Coinneach: Heh, I think I'll try to get Scotland released as a nation, though not until after I get all their good land first

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Continuing, one of the first things to pop up is actually a good event that gives me money, yay more money! You can also notice that I've placed 5 merchants in Lubeck. That will probably be the last of the merchants I place for now, as I need the money for troop expansions, and I don't want to over-extend myself too much, as each merchant lowers my compete chance. Unfortuneatly, my great king died and I got a regency council that is utter bollocks (3/4/3) which is a shame as I was looking at invading Brittany. Oh well, guess we wait now.

England gets a new king but is still under Savoy, which is good as it still prevents them from starting any wars. Also, their mission of late has been to get more prestiege, which I'm not sure what that will mean for their behavior. At least its not to invade me, which they can't any way without Savoy starting it. Also, I catch a great break: I get a core on Munster, my usual target for expansion. This means I will get a greatly reduced BB hit for DOW and annexing them, so as soon as I can get a war started I will.

While waiting, I lose a merchant at Venice and fail to retake that spot. Since my regency council worthless, and the competition looks somewhat stiff, I'm going to instead turn my attention to Novgorod, which has gained in value and is really cheap to place merchants. I know this is a bit of a flip-flop on my previous statement, but I see the writing on the wall that I'm going to lose Venice in the future, and I'd rather have a back-up in place. Also I gain Land tech 5 and more govt. I'd like to grab National Bank as soon as possible, as my master of the mint isn't that great and might die at any moment.

Disturbingly, England has left the PU with Savoy with the rise of Elizabeth, and has canceled military access I gave them. Thats always a bad sign. I'll now have to focus on getting good relations with them and France to buy me some time. Hopefully I can get an alliance with France or some other power to help me out. Their mission is to still improve prestiege, so I hope that doesn't mean making an easy win out of Ireland.

Well, it seems it does involving clubbing baby seals, as England went to war with Scotland and Tyrone, quickly annexing Tyrone and will almost assuredly eat up Scotland to a OPM. Still stuck in a regency council, I'm not sure how to take Munster, as they are protected by a now rebel free Brittany (or rather one where the rebels one) and they have a much larger army. Nuts.

Alright then, now that I have a king again, its time to work out how to use him. Brittany still has too large of an army or navy to take Munster down now, but perhaps I can wait for a while and hope that they will get dragged into a war, or something. Either way I can't do anything now, not with 1K of troops against 12K of Brittany. Well, there is one option - Brittany only has 3 cogs, so if I get enough troops, I can try to squash them as they try to land. However, that is a bit of a stretch, as buying that many troops (4K at minimum) would surely bankrupt me before Brittany would peace out, so its the waiting game.

Now it seems while I wait that England gets dragged into a succession war with Hesse. Hopefully this means that England will have a long time to spend fighting a war with no fighting, but with war taxes on. If I'm lucky (which I'm not so far this game) England might be stuck this way for a while.

In the meantime, I've thought of a long shot to get into a war with Munster without Brittany getting in the way. Brittany doesn't have an alliance with them, so I need to try and convince Munster to declare war on me first. So, I break my alliance with them, send my troops to Oarkney to party with the Norwegians and their halibut and beer, and insult them, hoping the free CB will make them invade me. My king is a 4 shock general, so I should win in a head on head fight. Also, England gets a core on French lands near Calais, so here's to hoping for an expanded Anglo-French war.

Ok, so I got tired of waiting so I bit the bullet and started the first war of Irish unification. Prior to starting, I raised a unit of Latin Knights. Oddly enough, Brittany never even so much as sailed by with a glare, so Munster became a tasty member of the Irish nation... or at least Leinster's holdings; plus I get Munster's 4 star master of the mint, yay more money. For some reason Brittany won't white peace out after I annexed their friend, but likewise they won't invade... so I'll just wait and let them stew. The big thing is that now my new land force limit can encompass more troops, so that means I can look for larger prey, though I'm not sure what. For now here's to hoping England leaves me alone for a while or Meath revolts to me. You can see some rebels in the image, but they're not the friendly kind

Here's an overview of my finances after taking Munster. Nicely, I can start chewing away at my inflation and get rid of it in 16 years maybe while still making some good money. Below that I show the financial rankings. We're rich, but still nothing but a tasty snack to some power hungry neighbor.

Next up is figuring out how to take the lands under England. Once I snag those two provinces, I can gobble Connaught and form Ireland! Yeah, just that beating up England part thats in my way... have to think on it.

 

[Kanzler]

Wow great AAR so far. Awesome to see Leinster having more income then Austria or England. Keep up the great work.

BTW how come your only using the terrain map.

 

[Cyrus_The_Great]

I'm really enjoying this AAR so far. Quite an ambitious goal but you seem to have a plan, which is always a good sign. Also nice to see your taking your time and not being too rash.

 

[unmerged(82276)]

I think there was an AAR for vanilla that was an WC with leinister. It was an interesting read.

 

[unmerged(126157)]

Kanzler: Thanks for reading, and for liking the AAR! Yeah, its always satisfying to see my little Irish country have more income than the huge giants. However, I have to make sure I stay careful, as England is still very dangerous. As for using the terrain map, it appeals to me visually for some reason. I'll try to use different overlays next update.

Cyrus_The_Great: Thanks for joining; yeah, Leinster really needs a careful approach. In 1.3 you could bum rush your neighbors with a loan or something, but in 3.2 there's not enough resources to do it, and England will come up and eat you anyway due to the BB.

Enkid: If its the one I'm thinking of, that was Tyrone, and he did a lot of conquest in the HRE. Interesting strategy, but won't work in IN due to the HRE defending each OPM. Guess we're stuck doing it the hard way.

Hope to have an update later today!

edit: As a milestone, I'm hoping to unite Ireland by 1450, but that all depends on taking the 2 English provinces. I'm saving Connaught for last.