1630': Two versus One
I left the last chapter with Atlantis waging war on Ottomans and Russia. The opening phase of that war saw several naval battles around the Aegean that ended with the Ottoman fleet dispersed and in hiding. With the sea lanes secured, I decided to take the offensive by transferring the army from Greece to the Batlic. I manage to land in INgermanland and amazingly I am not challenged until I take Pskov :
The Ottomans threaten my northern army, but mysteriously withdraw. Maybe the offensive I started on one of their "tentacles" drew them away :
(screenshot of my armies attacking on either side of the Red sea. When Ottomans attack either side, we will shift troops to the other side using transports)
The purpose of occupying Ottoman land was to drive up their war exhaustion and push the WS even higher.
Back on the Northern front, I manage to take Novgorod. And still unchallenged, push to Moskva:
Again, for unknown reasons, the Russians and Ottomans do not relieve the siege of the RUssian city , and Moskva falls in 1633 ( in case they decided to attack, I was ready to peace out the Russians at short notice). Just 10 years after Gyldenpalm's death, my lesser generals have now scored an important success on land.
WIth Moscow's fall, I conclude a separate peace , exiling the Ottoman stacks in the process
:
IN the peace I get reparations and break the alliance between the Turks and the Russians. Hopefully they will end up at war soon.
As for the Ottomans, I am waging a war of war exhaustion with them . I blockade as much of their coast as possible, and keep up the occupation and looting pressure by occupying their eastern tentacels ( Ethiopia, Arabia, Persia) , where movement by sea allows my troops to stay ahead of them .
(war strategy against the Ottomans - I manage to occupy provinces despite inferior numbers thanks to mobility conferred by sea transports)
My intention was to keep up the war with Ottomans until the truce with Japan expired in 1635 , with the aim of driving their WE as high as possible. I know by that point that they have taken several loans, and the war was hurting them. But when suddenly their treasury jumps from 1.2 K to 2.1 K , I knew they had just taken a fresh loan, and I decide to take that money for myself in the peace:
(Peace with Ottomans. Not a crushing defeat, but they still end up weaker for next time - inset shows their debt ballooning to 9000 ducats as they borrow to embrace Global Trade)
This war marks a milestone, as I took on a big land opponent and won. I didn't gain much land, but more importantly , I prevented the rival great powers from further growth.
Soon after the long truce in Japan is out, and I declare on Ando:
(DOW on Ando. Ando was beating Hosokawa in a japanese civil war )
Smashing the low tech Japanese is a piece of cake. My 2/1/2 king is made a general and he smashes the Japanese with ease:
To maximize the WS against ANdo, I declare on Hosokawa as well:
This allows a harsh peace to be imposed on the north Japanese:
In the peace, I try as much as possible to take entire Areas to be stated up later .
Then it is peace with the Southern Japanese, followed by release of one new vassal and feeding of an existing vassal:
Again I use state boundaries to guide the distribution of provinces. I stay away from Kyushu island which has a different culture.
With Japan conquered, I move the armies slightly south and overrun Ternate, who had colonized the South part of the Philippines:
(quick war against animist Ternate)
Because Ternate's land is all colonies, I do not suffer over-extension and so annexing them is straightforward. This brings us to 1640, and my army is poised to declare on another animist nation in Moluccas:
(imminent targets of expansion in INdonesia - plan is to start with animists, then Hindus, and finish with Sunnis who would likely put Ottomans in Coalition )
While I eye expansion in INdonesia, I am also laying groundwork for resumption of war in Europe:
Screenshot shows potential vassalization options in the Baltic that can allow me to achieve For Odin without breaking the Islands-only rule except at the very end. Once I take Gotland from Sweden, I can fabricate on Livonian order and vassalize them in one war (have to beat their PLC ally first, but that is doable). Or I can force Lubeck to spit out Denmark from Shleswig, then DOW them in 5 years and vassalize them. Once force converted, I can reconquer their cores from Sweden and Norway with low AE . My only concern is they would convert away from Norse once they have a lot of CHristian land ( or do vassals never convert away from their overlord's religion?) Or I can revive the Teutonic Order. Again, because I cannot annex-convert-release , will need to force vassalize and force convert .
I think Denmark is the best way to go. Although at the moment I am building spy network in Livonian.
As for the Islands in the Pacific, I have colonized Hawai and good chunks of Australia and New Zealand already.
This is the current political world map with GP standings:
Of the goals I set out at the beginning of the run, this is the order I think they will end up getting achieved:
Become #1 GP
Finish the island quest
Become unrivalled power
Complete FOr Odin
