Imperial Denmark (1553 - 1580)
At the end of the first 20 years of King Christian III's reign, Denmark stands with two unresolved ambitions - to retake the baltic lands deceitfully annexed by the perfidious French, and to humble the proud Spaniards, whose colonies have cut our colony of Jalisco off from land contact with the rest of our empire (see screenshots). To this purpose, a huge mobilization program is put into effect by the Danish King; 120 artillery is constructed in Europe and another 100 in North America, and thousands of young men 'volunteer' to join the colors. The Danish fleet, long having lived on subsistence income, begins receiving full pay again.
Why waste time? In April 1553, Denmark and its alliance (England, Russia, and Saxony) declare war on France (and Poland and the Papacy). Danish forces immediately march into E. Prussia, defeat the 40k man french army stationed there, and destroy the lvl 2 fortress by July (the effect of Daniel Rantzau rather than the huge numbers of troops and cannon). In the meantime the Danish Fleet under Herluf Trolle and Peder Skram sails off to terrorize the French coast. At the Sea of Stavanger, we catch a French fleet and sink 10 warships for the meager loss of 1 warship. However, when we coast along in the channel, we run into the combined French-Polish-Papacy - 109 ships, and our 30 warships quickly beat the retreat to Bremen.
The rest of 1553 and early 1554 sees mostly skirmishing between Danish-English fleet and the French, and some isolated raids by Danish forces in E. Prussia into Poland. However in the east, Russia, weakened by its recently finished war with Kazan is loosing province after province to the Polish army. In October of 1554 though, the faithless Poles agree to a separate status quo peace - no doubt shivering at the thought of the powerful (NOT) Danish Army invading their provinces. The french army in Russia, unsupported, soon surrenders, and Russia is saved in the nick of time from a terribly weakening defeat. 1554 also sees the Spanish alliance declaring war on the Papacy, effectively isolating France.
Without Polish or Papacy support, Herluf Trolle leads out the Danish fleet and trashes the French. He then shields the Danish transport, while Daniel Rantzau and a 35k expeditionary force land in France to assist the English invaders. Unfortunately, the English get trashed before Rantzau arrives, and then agree to a separate peace with the French when paid an indemnity. Through 1555, a series of sharp marches and countermarches ensue, where Rantzau first trashes the French, and then gets trashed in return. His once so powerful expeditionary force is reduced to 9k men. His retreat takes him past Ile de France. With the French temporarily occuppied elsewhere, Rantzau storms and takes the French capital in Jan 1556, and the French capitulate - ceeding E. Prussia to Denmark (Hooray), and paying an indemnity. We coud have taken more, but unfortunately we had not captured our rightful claims in Normandy yet.
The war also gained us the French maps (again), with the result that out 8 warship fleet in Finmark is finally able to sail south and join the main Danish fleet. The next years are spent on rebuilding up our army, Herluf Trolle and Peder Skram (they're stuck in the same fleet) transporting Rantzau and 20k men to the Americas. In Jan 1558, a new Center of Trade opens in Chesaspake - an irritation to the neighbouring English in Manhattan. We attempt to use auto-send trader, but is successfully messes up the game by sending traders to every COT except Chesaspake. Great. In January 1559, Fredrik II rises to the throne of Denmark, and we also receive our second Conquistador from a random event. This may be useful, since the newly stolen French maps provided us with hitherto unknown information about Africa, India, and China - 'The Danish East-India Company'... hmm, has a nice ring to it.
Short notes on foreign affairs: Spain attacks the Incas in Jan 1557 (unfortunately my forces are not ready), and takes two provinces from them after a year of fighting. The Polish-French alliance attacks the Teutonic Order in Feb 1557, but a 3-year war only gives them an indemnity. Austria, Wurtemburg Hungary attack Bohemia in November 1557, but Bohemia manages to force out its opponents one by one and finally take a province from Austria in September 1562.
In 1560, Calvinism makes it's appearance, precipitating a crisis throughout the Spanish Empire and the revolt risk in Holland jumps to 40%. Despite this, the Spanish (together with their allies - Genua, Neapel and Mailand) declare war on Denmark in early 1560. Our trusty allies (Russia, England and Saxony) all join us, but the DOW is actually untimely, since the main Danish American army is located in the far North, far from the Spanish borders.
No problem: Daniel Rantzau is able to march south to Mexico, where he promptly dies in his first battle with the Spanish in October 1560. All that trouble with transporting him there, for this!!! Controlling war in two theaters at a time is rather troublesome, and the Spanish are able to capture Oldenburg in March 1561 without me noticing until it is too late. However, revolt in Netherlands soon embroil the Spanish army, and with our Saxon allies, we soon recapture the province.
After multiple defeats (despite Spanish leaders, we are able to outmaneuvre and defeat the Spanish due to superiority in numbers), the Spanish retreat into the Northwest to lick their wounds, and we can undisturbed conquor Zacatecas and Michoagan, the only two Spanish fortresses, and with a population of 100,000 and 5,000 respectively; both are situated on gold mines, and Zacatecas is the Centre of Trade for the Mexico region. In addition, we have conquored all of the 6 colonies the Spanish have in North America, and burnt 17 trading posts. In September 1563, Saxony pays an indemnity to Spain (fools - they had not been threatened at any time, being sheltered by the Danish kingdom). In April 1563, the Danish agree to peace in return for Michoagan and Zacatecas. Denmark gains the 300 points lost by Spain (cutting down their lead by 600 points), and have single-handedly (the English where no help) destroyed the might of Spain (see screenshots).
As usual, peace is a time for rebuilding and peaceful expansion. We have established a colony at the Cape of Good Hope, and in March 1565, we send an expedition of 31 thousand men and 31 warships (the entire Danish fleet - though we soon build new ships) to the East in a grand throw of the dice. We are fortunate to get yet another Conquistador in the same year, who takes over the reforming Danish artillery corps. Trolle dies enroute to the East, but in March 1567, we 16,000 men land in Conchin - just to find the English and French have arrived there before us. Wars with the native population soon clears out a patch of land, and despite a couple of stranded attempts, the first Danish colony in the east stands ready by 1569. 12 ships make it back to Denmark under the leadership of Peder Skram.
Foreign affairs: In May 1563, just out of one war, and with Holland still in flames, Spain attacks the French, taking Picardie in 1567 (France is turning into the favorite whipping boy of the Spain). Portugal tries to retake Algarve from Sweden but instead loose Cape Verde in 1565. Russia finally annexes Kazan in January 1566. In March 1566, the Dutch declare independence (much helped by the Spanish distraction elsewhere). They immediately putting into effect an aggressive colonization strategy to fill out the void left by the Spanish in North America, which I have been unable to fill using my 1 lone settler per year. The English get embroiled in a war with Scotland, and loose badly - ceeding Lancashire and York in July 1568. Bad show!
In Jun 1568 (5 years after the end of the last war), Denmark declares war on Spain, burn 4 tradespost and annexes Saltillo and Savannah.The Northwest is now finally entirely in Danish hands. In 1569, Austria, Hungary go at it with Bohemia again - this time Hungary takes two provinces from Bohemia. Spain, constantly in war, fights first Bohemia and then the Incas (who loose another province).
In March 1572, I decide the time has come to bid the Iroquois nation goodbye, and we declare war. We loose 2 stability, an event that puzzles King Fredrik - why should anyone care about us fighting some savage heathen nation at the very edge of the world? A bad mistake at the start of the war costs us thousands of troops, and suddenly we are forced on the defensive against the heathens. This problem is compounded by our discovery that we do not have any technological advantage over the Iroquois - in fact, even with 2-1 in our favor, we are likely to loose (regardless of the presence of cavalry or not). Fortunately, after burning 1 trading post, the Iroquois turn out to be loathe to attack, and we finally settle into a war of attrition, that ends in us annexing the Iroquois nation in April 1578. It is ironic, that the most exhausting and toughest war we have been involved in to date has been against a bunch of heathens. Our entire American artillery corps was destroyed in the fighting and sieges. The war adds another 6 (small) cities to our American Empire.
Foreign affairs: Russians annex a province from their new opponents, the Golden Horde in 1573. In December 1577. Spain attacks France again. France takes Champagne back from Koln, but finally have to bow out by ceeding Navarra to Spain in 1578. The Counter-reformation has now taken root, and Spain becomes counter-reformed in 1578. Poland and France engage in a short war with Sweden which quickly fizzles out. 1579 sees a most strange sight: the Mamelukes, Spain, and Netherlands declaring war against Iraq in a most unholy Alliance: Muslims, Calvinists and Counter-Reformed Catholics on the same side in a war...???
In September 1572, we receive the Trade company event (nice: 200d, +500 trade research and other bonuses), but despite this, our Indian colonies are languishing with growth rates of -4% and -7%. In addition, our armed forces have been worn during the exploration and fighting (often against 5-10k natives), so that there is now nothing left and unless we can somehow turn the tide and make our provinces prosper, the Indian venture seems headed for a quiet death. We can not afford to spend 10-12 colonist (only 67% chance of success) in order to build up a city that will slowly die.
In America, the story is quite different. In June 1578 we attack the Spanish possessions again (they are powerless to stop us now) and annex two more Mexican cities. Denmark is now the unchallenged master of North America, with more cities (and space in which to expand) than any other nation (see screenshots). The Dutch have colonized strongly in the hole left by the Spanish in the east; for this same reason I refrained from destroying Spanish trade posts in this war, to avoid strengthening our Dutch rivals.
As a generation draws to its close, with Danish forces rampant on all fronts, the Danish coffers overflowing with money ('Gold! Gold!! Gold!!!', King Fredrik is once heard chortling to himself), our ingenious Generals, turn their thoughts to new achievements. We could (of course) decide to use all of the nice money to build up the infrastructure of Denmark (we do use a little on building new fortresses), but why waste all that good money?
King Fredrik II has a dream. The Danish Empire - all of Lutheran Scandinavia and the Baltic under one King (or better yet: Emperor). A Northern Superpower that will make the entire World tremble at the mere mention of it's Monarch's Name.
Die, Sweden!!!
Current victory points:
Denmark 1861
Spain 1797
Turkey 676
Russia 642
Portugal 552
We tie with Portugal in colonization, but are still far behind the Spanish (whose massive South American and Carribean empire is untouched).
[This message has been edited by strategy (edited 18-11-2000).]
At the end of the first 20 years of King Christian III's reign, Denmark stands with two unresolved ambitions - to retake the baltic lands deceitfully annexed by the perfidious French, and to humble the proud Spaniards, whose colonies have cut our colony of Jalisco off from land contact with the rest of our empire (see screenshots). To this purpose, a huge mobilization program is put into effect by the Danish King; 120 artillery is constructed in Europe and another 100 in North America, and thousands of young men 'volunteer' to join the colors. The Danish fleet, long having lived on subsistence income, begins receiving full pay again.
Why waste time? In April 1553, Denmark and its alliance (England, Russia, and Saxony) declare war on France (and Poland and the Papacy). Danish forces immediately march into E. Prussia, defeat the 40k man french army stationed there, and destroy the lvl 2 fortress by July (the effect of Daniel Rantzau rather than the huge numbers of troops and cannon). In the meantime the Danish Fleet under Herluf Trolle and Peder Skram sails off to terrorize the French coast. At the Sea of Stavanger, we catch a French fleet and sink 10 warships for the meager loss of 1 warship. However, when we coast along in the channel, we run into the combined French-Polish-Papacy - 109 ships, and our 30 warships quickly beat the retreat to Bremen.
The rest of 1553 and early 1554 sees mostly skirmishing between Danish-English fleet and the French, and some isolated raids by Danish forces in E. Prussia into Poland. However in the east, Russia, weakened by its recently finished war with Kazan is loosing province after province to the Polish army. In October of 1554 though, the faithless Poles agree to a separate status quo peace - no doubt shivering at the thought of the powerful (NOT) Danish Army invading their provinces. The french army in Russia, unsupported, soon surrenders, and Russia is saved in the nick of time from a terribly weakening defeat. 1554 also sees the Spanish alliance declaring war on the Papacy, effectively isolating France.
Without Polish or Papacy support, Herluf Trolle leads out the Danish fleet and trashes the French. He then shields the Danish transport, while Daniel Rantzau and a 35k expeditionary force land in France to assist the English invaders. Unfortunately, the English get trashed before Rantzau arrives, and then agree to a separate peace with the French when paid an indemnity. Through 1555, a series of sharp marches and countermarches ensue, where Rantzau first trashes the French, and then gets trashed in return. His once so powerful expeditionary force is reduced to 9k men. His retreat takes him past Ile de France. With the French temporarily occuppied elsewhere, Rantzau storms and takes the French capital in Jan 1556, and the French capitulate - ceeding E. Prussia to Denmark (Hooray), and paying an indemnity. We coud have taken more, but unfortunately we had not captured our rightful claims in Normandy yet.
The war also gained us the French maps (again), with the result that out 8 warship fleet in Finmark is finally able to sail south and join the main Danish fleet. The next years are spent on rebuilding up our army, Herluf Trolle and Peder Skram (they're stuck in the same fleet) transporting Rantzau and 20k men to the Americas. In Jan 1558, a new Center of Trade opens in Chesaspake - an irritation to the neighbouring English in Manhattan. We attempt to use auto-send trader, but is successfully messes up the game by sending traders to every COT except Chesaspake. Great. In January 1559, Fredrik II rises to the throne of Denmark, and we also receive our second Conquistador from a random event. This may be useful, since the newly stolen French maps provided us with hitherto unknown information about Africa, India, and China - 'The Danish East-India Company'... hmm, has a nice ring to it.
Short notes on foreign affairs: Spain attacks the Incas in Jan 1557 (unfortunately my forces are not ready), and takes two provinces from them after a year of fighting. The Polish-French alliance attacks the Teutonic Order in Feb 1557, but a 3-year war only gives them an indemnity. Austria, Wurtemburg Hungary attack Bohemia in November 1557, but Bohemia manages to force out its opponents one by one and finally take a province from Austria in September 1562.
In 1560, Calvinism makes it's appearance, precipitating a crisis throughout the Spanish Empire and the revolt risk in Holland jumps to 40%. Despite this, the Spanish (together with their allies - Genua, Neapel and Mailand) declare war on Denmark in early 1560. Our trusty allies (Russia, England and Saxony) all join us, but the DOW is actually untimely, since the main Danish American army is located in the far North, far from the Spanish borders.
No problem: Daniel Rantzau is able to march south to Mexico, where he promptly dies in his first battle with the Spanish in October 1560. All that trouble with transporting him there, for this!!! Controlling war in two theaters at a time is rather troublesome, and the Spanish are able to capture Oldenburg in March 1561 without me noticing until it is too late. However, revolt in Netherlands soon embroil the Spanish army, and with our Saxon allies, we soon recapture the province.
After multiple defeats (despite Spanish leaders, we are able to outmaneuvre and defeat the Spanish due to superiority in numbers), the Spanish retreat into the Northwest to lick their wounds, and we can undisturbed conquor Zacatecas and Michoagan, the only two Spanish fortresses, and with a population of 100,000 and 5,000 respectively; both are situated on gold mines, and Zacatecas is the Centre of Trade for the Mexico region. In addition, we have conquored all of the 6 colonies the Spanish have in North America, and burnt 17 trading posts. In September 1563, Saxony pays an indemnity to Spain (fools - they had not been threatened at any time, being sheltered by the Danish kingdom). In April 1563, the Danish agree to peace in return for Michoagan and Zacatecas. Denmark gains the 300 points lost by Spain (cutting down their lead by 600 points), and have single-handedly (the English where no help) destroyed the might of Spain (see screenshots).
As usual, peace is a time for rebuilding and peaceful expansion. We have established a colony at the Cape of Good Hope, and in March 1565, we send an expedition of 31 thousand men and 31 warships (the entire Danish fleet - though we soon build new ships) to the East in a grand throw of the dice. We are fortunate to get yet another Conquistador in the same year, who takes over the reforming Danish artillery corps. Trolle dies enroute to the East, but in March 1567, we 16,000 men land in Conchin - just to find the English and French have arrived there before us. Wars with the native population soon clears out a patch of land, and despite a couple of stranded attempts, the first Danish colony in the east stands ready by 1569. 12 ships make it back to Denmark under the leadership of Peder Skram.
Foreign affairs: In May 1563, just out of one war, and with Holland still in flames, Spain attacks the French, taking Picardie in 1567 (France is turning into the favorite whipping boy of the Spain). Portugal tries to retake Algarve from Sweden but instead loose Cape Verde in 1565. Russia finally annexes Kazan in January 1566. In March 1566, the Dutch declare independence (much helped by the Spanish distraction elsewhere). They immediately putting into effect an aggressive colonization strategy to fill out the void left by the Spanish in North America, which I have been unable to fill using my 1 lone settler per year. The English get embroiled in a war with Scotland, and loose badly - ceeding Lancashire and York in July 1568. Bad show!
In Jun 1568 (5 years after the end of the last war), Denmark declares war on Spain, burn 4 tradespost and annexes Saltillo and Savannah.The Northwest is now finally entirely in Danish hands. In 1569, Austria, Hungary go at it with Bohemia again - this time Hungary takes two provinces from Bohemia. Spain, constantly in war, fights first Bohemia and then the Incas (who loose another province).
In March 1572, I decide the time has come to bid the Iroquois nation goodbye, and we declare war. We loose 2 stability, an event that puzzles King Fredrik - why should anyone care about us fighting some savage heathen nation at the very edge of the world? A bad mistake at the start of the war costs us thousands of troops, and suddenly we are forced on the defensive against the heathens. This problem is compounded by our discovery that we do not have any technological advantage over the Iroquois - in fact, even with 2-1 in our favor, we are likely to loose (regardless of the presence of cavalry or not). Fortunately, after burning 1 trading post, the Iroquois turn out to be loathe to attack, and we finally settle into a war of attrition, that ends in us annexing the Iroquois nation in April 1578. It is ironic, that the most exhausting and toughest war we have been involved in to date has been against a bunch of heathens. Our entire American artillery corps was destroyed in the fighting and sieges. The war adds another 6 (small) cities to our American Empire.
Foreign affairs: Russians annex a province from their new opponents, the Golden Horde in 1573. In December 1577. Spain attacks France again. France takes Champagne back from Koln, but finally have to bow out by ceeding Navarra to Spain in 1578. The Counter-reformation has now taken root, and Spain becomes counter-reformed in 1578. Poland and France engage in a short war with Sweden which quickly fizzles out. 1579 sees a most strange sight: the Mamelukes, Spain, and Netherlands declaring war against Iraq in a most unholy Alliance: Muslims, Calvinists and Counter-Reformed Catholics on the same side in a war...???
In September 1572, we receive the Trade company event (nice: 200d, +500 trade research and other bonuses), but despite this, our Indian colonies are languishing with growth rates of -4% and -7%. In addition, our armed forces have been worn during the exploration and fighting (often against 5-10k natives), so that there is now nothing left and unless we can somehow turn the tide and make our provinces prosper, the Indian venture seems headed for a quiet death. We can not afford to spend 10-12 colonist (only 67% chance of success) in order to build up a city that will slowly die.
In America, the story is quite different. In June 1578 we attack the Spanish possessions again (they are powerless to stop us now) and annex two more Mexican cities. Denmark is now the unchallenged master of North America, with more cities (and space in which to expand) than any other nation (see screenshots). The Dutch have colonized strongly in the hole left by the Spanish in the east; for this same reason I refrained from destroying Spanish trade posts in this war, to avoid strengthening our Dutch rivals.
As a generation draws to its close, with Danish forces rampant on all fronts, the Danish coffers overflowing with money ('Gold! Gold!! Gold!!!', King Fredrik is once heard chortling to himself), our ingenious Generals, turn their thoughts to new achievements. We could (of course) decide to use all of the nice money to build up the infrastructure of Denmark (we do use a little on building new fortresses), but why waste all that good money?
King Fredrik II has a dream. The Danish Empire - all of Lutheran Scandinavia and the Baltic under one King (or better yet: Emperor). A Northern Superpower that will make the entire World tremble at the mere mention of it's Monarch's Name.
Die, Sweden!!!
Current victory points:
Denmark 1861
Spain 1797
Turkey 676
Russia 642
Portugal 552
We tie with Portugal in colonization, but are still far behind the Spanish (whose massive South American and Carribean empire is untouched).
[This message has been edited by strategy (edited 18-11-2000).]
