Khorasan into Mughals - "True Heir of Timur" (1527)

[WolframS67]

Even more Hindu Minors

Indian provinces: Mughals 90, Kutch 5, Multan 4, Tirhut 1 = in total 100/255 for THoT

Some new provinces in the east of Central India for the Mughals last time and our old nemesis Delhi got removed from the map.
Let's find the next victim: Baglana is allied to Vijayanagar plus Andhra and guaranteed by Bahmanis, no. Garjat is allied to Jaunpur, so it makes no sense to attack him either for now.

A peaceful time for me in recent months. I synchronized the annexation of two vassals. But I forgot to prepare the integration of my last vassal Kutch in time. Now I get -30 opinion twice by Kutch and I have to improve relations for several months with him first. His annexation will go slowly anyway, because of the -3 dip rep penalty for 10 years.
At least I inherited some infantry and I have cleared some of my relationship slots, so I welcome Uzbek as my new ally. I would have preferred to get Muscovy, but he is Christian and doesn't know about the Muslim Mughals. Allying an AI-horde is always a bit risky, but Uzbek has done well so far, his army is 29/51 and he is not bordering Ming. So I think, I can take him for now.

2PM Garjat attacked 4PM Jharkhand in Jun.97. The latter had no soldiers, because all died in our war before. But Jharkhand got guaranteed by Bengal, who honored his obligation. So no chance for Garjat and another disastrous war declaration by an AI. However Jharkhand has been so friendly to just take one of the two provinces out of Garjat and let him live on.

In the meantime: On 6.Dec.98 the reformation starts in Hamburg. Thus the Age of Discovery will end in Jan.09. For sure I will miss the "Feudal de Jure"-edict very much.

Time to visit East India once more. I can get all remaining four minors into this one war, declared on Sadiya. Setting Manipur and Tripura as co-belligerents doesn't bring any new nations into the war. Unfortunately I can't co-belli Assam, because we have a truce until Jun.02. But waiting more than three years from now is out of question for me, I will have a busy schedule then again.
Sadiya and Manipur have holdings in Burma, so I don't need to fully annex them. Altogether the minors can mobilize 39 regs, but Tripura's 6-stack and Assam's 10-stack, to be seen in the screenshot, will die quickly.

Sadiya's and Manipur's armies have run away to the southeast, to not share the fate of Assam's or Tripura's. Four minors, four level-1 capital forts to siege down. The first of them is done already.

And now the last one of the forts. But Sadiya doesn't want to give up, so I have to occupy the remaining provinces as well. Ava has given mil access to Tripura, so the remaining hostile troops are hidden somewhere over there.

One month later the war is over without another battle.
First I separately peaced out with Assam for his full annexation some days ago.
Now the deal with Sadiya. Full annexation of OPM Tripura, two provinces from Manipur and two provinces from Sadiya. Because an AE of -163, I don't want Hindu Sadiya to remain on the map. Therefore I demand, he has to return all his other provinces to Mong Yang. Costs me some Dip points, but well. Manipur is Animist, so my AE at him is fairly low and he will forgive me soon. Thus he may live on.
Other than that the AE-list contains some new members, but all are minors like Andhra or Kolathunad (Southwest India). So no problem for me and my alliance network.

The surviving Sadiyan army turns into rebels and Ava has the honor to fight them, a little present of mine for giving mil access to my enemies.
So East India is done with this war, until the inevitable confrontation with Bengal someday.

More than two years have passed until the next war, I don't like it.
But now the truce with Porbandar (violet) is over. I didn't want to disturb him and his mothballed fort in Girnar, the isolated province in the west. So I just started the transfer of my western army to his borders on the 1st of this month with my 10 transports from Thana, the former port of Bahmanis. In the east an 18-stack is waiting for Jharkhand to join.

In time, on 1.Jan.00, the institution Colonialism spawned in Lincolshire (England). I could develop it almost immediately in Sirhind. The question is: Do I continue this campaign beyond 1550? After some consideration I decide to answer this with a 'no'. So it is more efficent to take the penalities for a few Techs and ignore the development or spread of Colonialism.
In Nov.00 I started the integration of my last vassal Kutch and in in Dec.00 Muscovy declared war on Great Horde. Uzbek is helping his fellow Sunni tribe, so I can see, how my new ally can stand up against the Russians.

In Porbandar, my 9-stack in Khambhat went northwest for the siege of Jhalavad, his capital. He moved his 10-stack south from Ahmadabad to Khambhat. So I could catch him with returning my 9-stack and shiping another 10-stack over from Thana with my transports. Even my small fleet can be very useful.
In the east Jharkhand's main army is also dead once again. The small rest of 2 regs is dying in Mayurbhanj just now. Business as usual.

Jhalavad, Porbandar's capital, on 1.Feb.02 and today the level-1 fort of Jharkhand.
And that's it for this war, all hostile provinces are occupied. But I won't peace out for the moment for a reason. Since 1.Jan.02 my truce with Jaunpur is over and all my armies are free to attack him now.

So let's move into position a bit more and then declare the new important war.
More about it ... next time.

 

[DensleyBlair]

It’s sort of crept up on me how vast your empire is already. Still plenty to go, but good progress so far.

 

[generalis Julius Caesar]

Wow, I did not realize you were that big.

 

[WolframS67]

It’s sort of crept up on me how vast your empire is already. Still plenty to go, but good progress so far.

Wow, I did not realize you were that big.

Ummh, I didn't had a real look at Mughals' empire myself. But your comments gave me the idea to include a small outlook around the world, early in the next episode.
Yes, still a lot to do. More than half of the provinces in India are not mine, yet.
With the next chapter I have caught myself once more, so at the end it is the live status of the game. Thus I will have a playing period for a while again, before I can contiue to write more on this report.

 

[WolframS67]

Jaunpur (4th)

Indian provinces: Mughals 102, Kutch 5 = in total 107/255 for THoT

The Himalayan tentacle of the Mughals in its greatest extent. Porbandar is under full occupation, but not annexed yet.

At the turn of a new century a look at the known world with the Great Powers Map Mode. Ming is displayed with all his tributries, officially the Mughals are the #1 Great Power, because of the bonus from Renaissance. Top 3 by dev: Ming 1145, Mughals 898, Muscovy 711.
Top 3 by army size: Ming 92/177, Ottomans 85/110, Muscovy 75/97. With 66/68 Mughals are #6 about even with England, France and Mamluks.
Top 3 by income (ducats per month): Ming 86, Ottomans 75, Mughals 71. My trade income is not very good, because the trade power is divided into several unconnected nodes. Monthly deficit at times of war, so with full army maintenance and active forts: about 20 ducats/month. Total debt: about 4000 ducats, which is 9/50 loans. Comfortably stable.

Jaunpur again, but it is the first time I face him as primary participant. In addition I want to get rid of the Hindu OPM Garjat, who is guaranteed by Jharkhand. So to avoid to fight Jharkhand twice, I preferred the war on Porbandar/Jharkhand in the last episode and sit on it. Interestingly Jharkhand is displayed in the UI on the side of Jaunpur, although their relation is just indirectly via Garjat.
Funny the guarantee of Jharkhand on Garjat, as just a few years ago Garjat attacked his current protector. Moreover the only nations able to attack Garjat are Bengal and me, the mighty Mughals. What can a guarantee by the weakling Jharkhand achieve, besides trouble, I wonder.

Back to the new war with Jaunpur. Numbers: Mughals 66 (42/0/24) out of 68 regs, Jaunpur 25/43, Transox 17/20, Chagatai 13/21 and Garjat 8/10. The plan is to overrun Garjat and then Jaunpur. After that I will take care of Chagatai and Transoxiana. Long distances to march for my armies this time.

Garjat has joined in the defense of Jaunpur, so I can finish the other war. Because guarantee is an "one day action", like DoF. Meaning, the protector has to join exactly the day of the attack on his protégé. Unlike a defensive CtA in an alliance, which can be send and honored any time post the start of the war.
The peace deals: Jharkhand got out for the minimum. A white peace, to have the shortest time for a truce, 5 years. Now finally the full annexation of Hindu minor Porbandar.

In the new war Garjat's army is in its last days and my other army in the north is on its way to the province Jaunpur, to siege the level-3 fort once again.

"Times of Need", some extra Dip points from Bengal, very well. Jaunpur's army is running away, what a surprise. I have started the sieges of Jaunpur (-28%) and Central Doab (0%). Both are missing some cannons for the full siege bonus, but more artillery is on the way already.

Khurda, Garjat's province, 25.Apr.02, in just 33 days. Too early for Garjat to accept his full annexation for whatever reasons.
Chagatai has come down for a visit of my fort in Sirhind (-35%). Jaunpur has splitted his armies, with the main army running around in the Himalaya once more. After the fall of Central Doab, I can try to stop this army now.
The event "Broken Promises" happened, so Bengal refused me to help in "Times of Need". Giving both of us a severe malus of mutual opinions. Is he maybe already on the way to break up our alliance?

The fort in Jaunpur surrendered on 18.Jul.02 and Garjat accepted his downfall on 14.Aug.02. Coring of Khurda has started.
I caught the southern army of Jaunpur in the hills of Baisi Rajya. He is on the same Tech 8 as I am and he even has +15% morale from Defensive ideas. But it is of little help, when having little prestige, PP and AT. Meanwhile my manpower generation is quite reasonable, so that I can take casualities of 3k from a battle like here occasionally. Now let's move north to toast some more enemies.

The other Jaunpuri army got trampled down. Chagatai run away in time and Transoxiana is happy sieging down Khorasan island.

First a 7-stack of Chagatai died in the hills of Kashmir some weeks before. Now his 10-stack can't escape a battle in the mountains of Badakhshan. Two of my armies will arrive on the same day to have a 24 vs 10 superiority. Somehow hordes don't fight well in non-flat terrain.
A siege stack of mine with 6 cannons is on the way to Kashgar, the level-2 fort in Chagatai. Transox has given the occupations of my unattended Persian provinces to Jaunpur. So the latter can breed out some new single Mercs. After the battle in Badakhshan I will split that army again. One stack will go northwest to the forts of Transoxiana, the other southwest to chase away the troops, that are sieging my unfortified provinces in West Afghanistan.

Some months later and Transoxiana's capital in Samarkand is the first fort to fall. As the hostile troops in the west have retreated again, I could also start the siege of Merv (-21%) in South Transoxiana. In Chagatai, Kashgar is on +42% already. He has no reasonable army anymore, so my 14-stack is safe.

Chagatai is out, after I sieged down Kashgar on 6.Jun.03. I have demanded the annulation of his two alliances with Nogai plus Jaunpur and a little bit of money.
Now, following the surrender of Bukhara, it is time to peace out Transoxiana too. I want him to break his alliances with Malwa plus Jaunpur and war reps plus some more ducats. I don't care much anymore for some little stacks of Jaunpur moving through Timmy's lands. I am just waiting for the last coring in Khurda (Garjat) to be done on 14.Oct.03, to finish this war entirely.

Here is what I really want, 100% OE for 100% warscore. A perfect peace deal, I think. Ten provinces, including the big fat one in Central Doab (24 dev) with a fort. All remaining three CoT, so I control all in my home node Doab. Also I finally get a connection from Central India to my Himalayan provinces, well appreciated.
The max AE of -116 is hefty, but natural after such a grab. Officially it is now five for a possible coalition: Baglana, Timurids, Andhra, Guge and Tibet. But just one bigger power with Timmy, so this should be good. With Ming it is -23 AE, something I must have an eye on, or two.

Bahmanis is on a truce until May.05. I can't wait for this date.
For sure we will see new wars ... next time.

 

[generalis Julius Caesar]

Make sure to Mings AE low. Seeing any AE on Ming is concerning imo.

 

[DensleyBlair]

Good work consolidating the trade nodes. That will help you out a lot I imagine.

 

[WolframS67]

Make sure to Mings AE low. Seeing any AE on Ming is concerning imo.

Not much I can do specifically with Ming. I am sending a spy temporarily for the individual AE reduction by the spy network. But he has an diplomat on "counter-espionage" against me, slowing my spy down. But good news: At the end of the next episode AE at Ming has decayed form -23 to -15.

Good work consolidating the trade nodes. That will help you out a lot I imagine.

Unfortunately less than I expected. Trade income increases by about 3 ducats per month. Not so much with about 5000 ducats of debt. But good news: My credit line at the bank of Paradox has increased by another 1000 ducats to about 28k in total, because of this little improvement in trade. So the economy keeps to be comfortably stable. I don't know how to play with a healthy balance anyway.

 

[WolframS67]

Bahmanis (2nd), Baglana and Jaunpur (5th)

Indian provinces: Mughals 116, Kutch 5 = in total 121/255 for THoT

Last time Jaunpur got notably shrunk and the minors Porbandar plus Garjat have been removed from the map.

The Mughals don't even own half of the provinces in India, but I would like to take a look form the end of the campaign, backwards.
The province score costs of the big Indian nations:
Jaunpur 132%
Bengal 262% (plus 1 prov in Burma for 14%)
Bahmanis 279%
Vijayanagar 344%

A note: Ingame this is referred to "province war score cost", but the term "war score" is ambigous, imho. Because "war score" also refers to the score achieved in a war, like occupying provinces or winning battles. This war score can be exchanged in the peace deal for war reps, breaking alliances, provinces etc. So I would like to term this score as "peace deal score", e.g. war reps have 10%. In specific for provinces as "province score" in short.

So what are the consequences from the list above?
I can take up to 100% in one war, thus for Vijy I need 4 wars to take everything. After a 100% grab the time for a truce is 15 years. 4 wars vs Vijy means 3 truces and the years of conducting the wars, which comes to 3 * 15 years + 5 years = 50 years, about. As it is 1504 already, I don't have 50 years anymore until 1550.

What can I do?
Province score reduction: I have already taken Diplo Idea #6 for -20% score, which is included in the information ingame and thus in the list above. With the Age of Reformation I can go for the ability "Religious Wars" giving -25% score vs other religions, thus helpful against Bahmanis and Vijayangar. But the new age will start not until 1509 and then I need some time to earn the required 800 splendors.
"A Viceroy for the Deccan" is an event giving +10% Adm efficiency, also very helpful. But I can trigger it only by fulfilling the requirements of several of the Mughal missions. So this will come very late.

Truce breaking: Costs -3 stab, +3 WE and about -50 AE as a base. Just for starting the war. Hefty, thus this will be my ultima ratio.
Truce resetting: Yes, that is it. I have done this already with Jaunpur in 1496, when I intentionally included him in the final war with Delhi. Just to white peace him out asap, to get the minimal truce of 5 years. Which reduced the former existing truce by 10 years.
The problem is, truce resetting is a bit out of my hand. I need a constellation, I can use. Guarantees are best for it. At the moment e.g. Jharkhand is guaranteed by Jaunpur, Bengal and Bahmanis. The truce with Bahmanis is up soon in May.05, so it makes no sense to attack Jharkhand, just to reset the truce with Jaunpur. For now. But for later this is an interesting option. So in the future I have to balance conquests with truce resetting chances. Tough decisions will come in the following years.

Back from theoretical considerations to the reality. Concrete plan: The next war will be on Bahmanis, then I will tackle on Bengal. Vijayanagar comes later, partly because he is the biggest power and partly because he is Hindu, which will be best for a possibly necessary truce break in the end.

In the meantime: In Jan.05 I take Adm and Mil Tech 9 on time, giving +0.25 mil tactics and new infantry units, with 7 pips instead of 4. Most of the southern Indian nations are still on Mil Tech 7, due to not having the Renaissance. In addition I have collected enough splendors to get -10% AE from the age ability "Justified Wars", for the few years the Age of Discovery is still active.

My goal is a complete victory, foremost I want eight provinces in the north for "Across the Vindhyas", one of the Mughal missions. So I can call in Vijy for favors to help me a bit in the south. Bengal would like to join, but I don't want him.
Numbers: Mughals 75 (45/0/30) out of 82 regiments, Vijy 36/63 and Venad 6/6. The other side: Bahmanis 44/49 and Andhra 13/14.

The northwest is already mine, one stack has laid siege on Bidar (0%), Bahmanis' capital with a level-3 fort. A hostile 17-stack is in Adavani (North Vijy), the others are moving north east, the entire 13 Andhran regs at the top. Two Bahmani armies (17 and 10 regs) are following, atm invisiable by the fog of war. Seems they have spotted some weakness in my territory. I move two 20-stacks a bit to the east to have an eye on the enemies.

Aha, almost all hostile troops are on my three unfortified provinces Khurda, Sambalpur and Surguja. So I can box them in now. With my forts in Mandla plus Rohtasgarh and my two armies, a 21-reg already in Mandla and a 20-reg moving north to Ratanpur. Thus either the enemies have to go to my jungle fort in Rohtasgarh, attack my armies or simply sit in the three provinces and take attrition for nothing. Or my vassal Kutch asks Bengal for mil access and lets my nice setup collapse.
But for now, me and Vijy can siege forts and every other province, we can reach, without disturbance.

The enemies have left Surguja, I moved in. So 55 hostile regs have only two provinces to shuffle back and forth. Attacking my 45 regs? Not an option for the coward AI.
Our sieges are progressing, I have sent a 3 siege pip general for the support of Vijy to Mudgal (+42%).

Mudgal on 12.Feb.06, Bidar on 6.Mar.06 and Warangal on 24.Mar.06. Three forts have fallen, two new in Khamammet (-21%) and Kondavidu (-42% by Vijy) are work in progress. For the moment I am blocked by forts and can't reach the isolated 6k in Konaseema, the capital of Andhra.
No news in the east, the enemy troops are moving up and down.

Kondavidu on 16.Jun.06, after I supported Vijy, now Khamammet the last real fort. So I can remove the small hostile 6-stack next and start the last siege, that of the level-1 fort in Konaseema.

This war could have been a nice display of how to win a war for 100% without unnecessary battles and casulties. Unfortunately I need this war going and my armies for other jobs. So I can't box in the enemies forever and I decide to go for the kill of the 55 regs.
I could have asked Bengal for mil access, hoping the hostile forces would split and I can get easy stackwipes. Somewhere and after some chasing. As I am confident in my army, I go for a mass battle, even in the jungle. Bahmanis and Andhra are both on Mil Tech 8, but have little artillery. I have concentrated all my units in the area, with the exception of 5 cannons, sieging Andhra's capital. I just need to win the first battle, because a shattered retreat far away is not possible anymore, as I got enough control on all the hostile provinces.
Actually I go to the battle in Khurda with exactly one line of infantry and one line of artillery, filling the combat width (CW) of 25 each. Not one regiment more, not one less. This way I ensure to get the optimal unit deployment. The effective setup of the enemies is 15/10/11, so I have 14 more cannons in the battle. The rest of the hostile inf/cav are displayed useless in the back row or reserve. So in reality it is not 50 vs 55, but 50 vs 36.

A big advantage in morale, discipline, mil tactics and a 5/6 vs a 4/1 general. Result: 7.5k vs 19.5k casualties, a clear victory.
I have moved some troops into the neighboring province of Sambalpur, where the rest of the hostile armies will find their grave on 11.Nov.06. Important that the enemies don't get a monthly tick of morale between the two battles. So I should have optimized the first battle by starting it on the 21st, not on the 17th.
Now I can move my armies in position for the next war.

Baglana, the Hindu 3PM in dark red/brown in West India. Guaranteed by Bahmanis and allied to Vijayanagar, Jaunpur plus Andhra. I could use him as a truce resetter for Bahmanis and a possibility to attack my ally Vijy later.
But, if I conquer him now and soon after Malwa, I can complete the Mughal mission "Secure the Hajj Ports". Giving me perma claims on the eight provinces, I want from Bahmanis. And I need all of these to get the next mission "Across the Vindhyas" done, which in return will give me perma claims on the amazing number of nine new areas. On lands held by Bahmanis, Andhra and Vijy.
So this somewhat complex and interleaved war construction saves me a lot of Adm plus Dip points and a bit of time.
Baglana is a longtime thorn in my side. Unbelieveable, but it was way back in 1470 when I was the last and only time at war this minor. He refused to help Mewar in 1486 because of loans and soon after was protected by Vijy. Three of his friends can't help him now, obviously. A chance, I have waited long for.

Military wise this war is no problem. One army (23 regs) in the west to deal with Baglana, two armies (21 and 25 regs) to deal with Jaunpur, whose 19-stack is drilling.

On 3.Nov.06 the war Muscovy vs Great Horde and Uzbek ended in a white peace. Thus my friend Uzbek did well against one of the Great Powers, I like it.

The entire Jaunpuri army survived exactly one day. AIs should be forbidden to drill, it just weakens the economy and in the end shortens the lifetime of the troops.

Baglana is done and my navy gets something to do, a rare picture in this campaign.
Jaunpur: I could white peace him out for the truce resetting. But I decide to go for more and thus siege his capital Jaunpur (-7%) and occupy the rest.
Meanwhile Konaseema in Andhra has fallen on 23.Jan.07, the leftover from the other war.

This time the level-3 fort resisted about half a year until 10.Jul.07, but now I can peace out. Two reasons for a 100% deal: For one Jaunpur's alliance with Timurids, which I break. Second, I want to press Jaunpur below 100% peace deal score, which I can achieve by grabbing four provinces. As seen in the peace treaty UI the score for Jaunpur becoming my vassal is 193%. But this is double costs, because atm Jaunpur is a secondary participant, so his new province score will be 96.5%.

One day later, Jaunpur accepts and my Padishah Bahadur Shah dies. He was ok with his (5/3/1), but I am glad his trait -20% improve relations is gone. The new Padishah is Rafi' (2/4/5), aged 22. But he drops the legitimacy to 66, the minimum for a strong claim. The new heir is Shah Sujah, aged 21. Probably a younger brother, very mediocore with his (2/3/4) plus a strong claim. Both royal brothers are "strict", giving +5% discipline, nice.

Full annexation of Baglana.
Coalition list: Jharkhand, Baluchistan, Timurids, Guge, Kolathunad and Tibet. Six nations, but as usual only Timmy with a respectable army. So I should be good.

On 28.Jul.07 I can also peace out Andhra, for just his annulation of the alliance with Bahmanis. The truce date is set to Sep.13.

Still no peace with Bahmanis. First I need some provinces from Malwa and this truce will be up very soon, in Sep.07.
Let's see this new war ... next time.

 

[generalis Julius Caesar]

Oh god. Not a true break, I hate truce breaks.

 

[WolframS67]

Oh god. Not a true break, I hate truce breaks.

As long as I have a regular war in sight, no problem.
Why don't you like truce breaks? Too unrealistic?

 

[WolframS67]

Malwa (3rd) and Bengal

Indian provinces: Mughals 123, Kutch 5 = in total 128/255 for THoT

A little addition in Jaunpur and on the west coast by eliminating Baglana are the results from recent years. Bahmanis is under full occupation, so some more provinces are waiting to be integrated into the Mughal Empire.

The goal is to get rid of Malwa (78% province score) and to attack the one but last big Indian power, my ally Bengal. I did a lot in recent years to keep this alliance alive until now, so I can set Bengal as co-belligerent.
The troop count: Mughals 75 (45/0/30) out of 87, Bengal 44/50 and Malwa 14/19 regiments.
The alert flag for the truces always noted Sep.07 as the end-date. But it is 7.Aug.07, I got a news pop-up and you see by the UI, I can declare the war right now. One of the desynchronisations I love so much about this game. Indeed my armies are already in position. A 40-stack sits on a leaderless Bengal 22-stack, to abuse our alliance for an instant kill of half of Bengal's army. The small Malwani armies will soon be covered too by appropriate stacks of mine.

Malwa is cleared from hostile troops, the capital Jhansi with a level-3 fort is under siege (+21%). The Bengali 22-stack was dead after 4 days, costing me just 900 infantry. That army wasn't drilling, but Bengal is still on Mil Tech 7, two Techs behind. My battle winning army moved forward to the coastal fort of Balasore (-7%). I can't match Bengal's navy with 55 ships, so my fleet stays at home and I have to siege a bit longer here to overcome the -2 siege malus.

Jharkhand seems to hate me and rented his 10-stack out to Bengal, for free. I tried to catch it with my 19-stack, but came late a day or two. Now all remaining hostile forces are on my fort in Morang (Nepal -28%) or are moving over to there.

News from other nations: On 10.Aug.07 Vijayanagar entered an alliance with Jharkhand. Probably as a replacement for Baglana, interesting.

Three months later, everyone is sieging forts and then ...
Jharkhand declares on Jaunpur! Jaunpur is still about double in size of Jharkhand and has a helping OPM ally Ferghana, who can mobilize up to 10 regs. Most significant: Jharkhand has no army at the moment. His 10-stack is under Condottieri contract for at least 15 more months.
This makes it into the Top 5 of the most stupid AI war declarations I have ever seen in EU4. And I have seen some, I think.

Balasore 12.Jan.08, Jhansi 17.Jan.08, these sieges took some time. But now already the next fort in the south has surrendered, Satgaon.
The siege on my fort in Morang was on +7%, so I have decided to kick the enemies off. Not sure, if this is the best move, as I have only 10 artillery in the battle. I am far away from getting a stackwipe, as with 35 vs 34 I can't get the 2:1 superiority. Plus this time a shattered retreat to somewhere in Bengal will be possible for the enemies.
At least a proof, I am not getting lucky all the time, a 0 vs 9 roll in the first phase. Actually I think, rolls in battles and sieges are somewhat overrated and are occasionally used as an excuse for some pure handling.

I won the battle clearly, with 5k vs 9.2k losses. But the fort in Chakla blocks me and the enemies can hide in Chittagong, the province most southeast. At least I can siege now the level-3 fort of Bengal's capital Gouda (0%) unhuriedly.

Following the fairly quick fall of Gouda on 15.Jun.08, after 80 days, I decide to sign the separate peace with Bengal already now. For a change I don't demand anything for myself, but return one province (Danin) to Jharkhand, one province (Kalingandhra) to Andhra and release Hindu Orissa with six provinces from Bengal. In effect I transfer 59% province score from Sunni Bengal to three Hindu nations. Orissa loves me, but unfortunately he is too big to become my diplo-vassal.

Originally I planned to take at least three coastal provinces from Bengal for myself. However I am still digesting the provinces from Baglana for an OE of 27% and next I want to annex Sunni Malwa. Then, also the war with Bahmanis is pending, where I want to make a big grab once more. So I need some scope for more AE and OE to come. I think this deal is well worth the 179 Dip points, I have to pay. Although this will freeze the integration of Kutch for several months. Just in a moment I got rid of the ten-year penalty of -3 dip rep.

Full annexation of Malwa. The coalition list is the same as last time after the war with Baglana, with six members (Jharkhand, Baluchistan, Timurids, Guge, Kolathunad and Tibet). So I should be good again.
Now I have to wait until 5.Nov.09 for all of the new coring to be done. Then I can peace out with Bahmanis for the next chunk of provinces.

First to the situation in the west. Two provinces in Bahmanis are now yellow stripped instead of green. While I was busy in Bengal, some Bahmani particularist rebels broke out. Vijy took care of them, he had nothing to do anyway. But when he reoccupied the provinces from the rebels, he kept the control of the provinces of his vital interest for himself. No problem, as I don't want these two provinces anyway.
My armies are now on guard at the border, should some more Bahmani rebels occur.

I could reap in the rewards of the two missions "Secure the Hajj Ports" and "Subdue Rajputana", giving me extra 500 ducats besides the well wanted perma claims. I got the event "Political Crisis", where I choose to take -25 legitimacy. To stabilize a bit I invested 100 mil points for +10 legi. Besides Mil Tech and rolling generals, I don't use Mil points anyway.

Now Jharkhand has resigned in his stupid war on Jaunpur. Losing three provinces, including Danin, which is in the hands of a Sunni nation again. Most interesting is the appearance of the Hindu OPM Keonhjar (yellow). I will hurry to file a claim on him, I smell new options.

One year has passed and I can peace out, while my friend Vijy has some unnecessary trouble with Bahmani noble rebels. Maybe it is not a good idea to stand around in longtime occupied territory, Vijy.
Besides the eight provinces in the north, I want the coastal province in Dabhol and three provinces in the southeast, of which two have a fort. For these four provinces I can get the corresponding claims, but only after the peace deal. By the rewards from the mission "Across the Vindhyas". Thus I have to pay some Dip points and Kutch will stay with me for some more months.

Vijy is close to breaking our alliance. I have already arranged a RM, Meenakshi (4/6/5) becomes our new Padishah Begum. Again a very good Queen, while I have a way weaker adult heir. To further please Vijy, I demand from Bahmanis to revoke one of Vijy's cores.
No new members on the AE-list. As long as I can keep out Sunni nations in Arabia like Hormuz or Yemen, I seem to have no problem with coalitions.

Currently I have way more unrest and rebel factions (40+) than in the 30 years before. Even a province like Doti in the Himalayan hills has some remaining unrest, although I conquered it 25 years ago. Because of fairly low legitimacy, some WE, OE and the loss of my beloved "Feudal de Jure"-edict at the beginning of the last year.

On 1.Jan.09 the Age of Reformation has started. However, I have prepared for the new age. Very long ago, in 1457, I force converted Kashmir in our peace deal and over the time I converted eleven provinces to Sunni. Just the smallest and cheapest. So I start with two objectives fulfilled and I am close to get a third, by receiving the trade bonus in silk. Thus in about 10-13 years I should have earned enough splendors to take the first ability of the new age.

At the end of the last year I signed a new alliance, with Dawasir in Arabia. He is not very big (41 dev) and his army is just 11/14. But he is Sunni, following the Hanbali school. By inviting a scholar from Dawasir I get -10% AE for 20 years now. My diplomats have worked a long time to get this, but I should have started the preparations several years earlier.

Vijy has turned hostile to me and this instantly breaks our RM. He doesn't like my -123 AE after the grab from Bahmanis and he is a bit worried about my many new claims on his lands, originating from "Across the Vindhyas". So I spend 5 prestige for a scornful insult on Bahmanis and 392 ducats for the use of "Influence Nation". I absolutely want to keep him in line, for the moment.

My spy in Keonhjar has done his job and has constructed the claim. So, what does a war on the OPM give me? Current truce dates: Jaunpur Sep.22, Orissa Aug.23 and Andhra Sep.13. Meaning a truce resetting with Jaunpur by several years is possible. Very well, so let's go to war immediately.
Orissa guaranteed Keonhjar, then rivaled him. Thus he isn't willing to meet his obligation anymore, too bad. Eventually for Andhra it will be a slight truce extension.

On 6.Feb.10 Bengal declared war on Bahmanis. Both lost their entire armies not so long ago, both have no allies and both have provinces cut off from their main territory, all because of my doings. I will keep an eye on what happens in this war.

So here we go!
I am neither talking about the usual insta kill battles on all hostile forces, nor the 26-stack of Gujarati separatists on the west coast. But about, Tibet opening a coalition on the Mughals!
Check, if I have overlooked someone eligible to join: No. As before it is Timurids, Baluchistan, Guge, Tibet, Jharkhand and Kolathunad.
Check, if my allies are in trouble or otherwise unwilling to defend: No. The Ottomans are fighting for Bohemia in Europe vs Austria, Hungary and Castile. But they are winning and just have a WE of 2. Qara has 1 loan, Uzbek and Dawasir no problems at all. Vijy views Mughals as "valuable ally" again after my fixes some months ago.
Numbers: Timurids 57/61, Tibet 14/20 and the four others about 10 regs each.
My side: Mughals 80/97, Ottomans 94/123, Vijy 42/63, Qara 35/57, Uzbek 30/52 and Dawasir 11/14 regs.
Even if I am a bit wrong about one of my allies. Where in the nine hells is this "could pose a threat"? I don't see it. Ok, the Tibetan ruler is a militarist and a coalition is more likely to form when the target is at war. Possibly adding the troop numbers of my current enemies to that of the coalition members. But ...

Just to be sure, I use "Influence Nation" on Tibet and OPM Kolathunad for some ducats.
Six days later Tibet announces, he has left the coalition. Which is thus disbanded.
A strange incident and not good, as I might face more of this in the future.

Back to the presence: 33 days and the war is over with a white peace. Next I can go west to do some rebel killing. The new truce date with Jaunpur is Jul.15.

The cores on the former Bahmani provinces will be created on 7.Mar.11. Is this the date for the next war, maybe on Jharkhand?
We will see it ... next time.

 

[DensleyBlair]

Some very dextrous handling of events required as the clock ticks down. Fascinating to see you juggle everything. Breaking up Bengal into various states of differing religions seems especially canny. Good bit of planning ahead hopefully.

 

[generalis Julius Caesar]

A coalition, even if disbanded so quickly is still concerning.

 

[HistoryDude]

The Mughals are doing very well...

It looks like they will have a large confrontation with Vijayanagar will come soon...

 

[WolframS67]

Some very dextrous handling of events required as the clock ticks down. Fascinating to see you juggle everything. Breaking up Bengal into various states of differing religions seems especially canny. Good bit of planning ahead hopefully.

I hope so, too. If it won't work, I am sure, I find a more brutal way, to let my Mughals deal with new problems.

A coalition, even if disbanded so quickly is still concerning.

Yes, definitely.

The Mughals are doing very well...

It looks like they will have a large confrontation with Vijayanagar will come soon...

... which is a nice preface for the next episode.

 

[WolframS67]

Vijayanagar

Indian provinces: Mughals 141, Kutch 5 = in total 146/255 for THoT

Twelve provinces from Bahmanis and all six from Malwa last time, a big step forward in Central India.

The province scores of the big four:
Jaunpur 121%
Bengal 203% (plus 1 prov in Burma for 15%)
Bahmanis 192%
Vijayanagar 349%

Some changes since the last look at these numbers seven years before. Vijy increased by +5%. Not by gaining provinces, probably by development or lesser autonomy. Jaunpur is beyond the 100% mark again, courtesy of AI-Jharkhand with his stupid war in 1508. Bengal and Bahmanis lost 59% and 87% respectively.

My economy: Comfortably stable, as before.
If I compare my 6.5k ducats total debt to my total credit line of about 33k, it is about 20%. I can estimate this max credit quickly by multiplying my income (110 ducats) with 300.

For those, who like it, a little excurse about economy:
Forced bankruptcy is, if the monthly interest exceeds the monthly base income. Assuming the standard of 4% interest yearly for a 5-year loan, the total interest of a loan is 20% = 1/5 of the credit. The monthly interest is 1/(5 years * 12 months) = 1/60 of the total interest for the credit. So: max monthly interest * 5 * 60 = max credit.
Base income is all income displayed in the first six rows in the UI (tax to vassals). So for the correct number I have to subtract the 0.88 ducats war reps I get from Transox. From some event I got a temporary interest reduction of -0.25% yearly. So my interest is 3.75% instead of 4% and thus my true total credit line is: 34,633 ducats. Or as the game displays it: "You can have up to 55 loans" of the current size of 641 ducats.
My current 11 loans in relation to the max of 55 loans also gives the ratio of 20% for my momentary credit, figured out at the beginning. So for a quick estimation the "multiply by 300" is quite good, I think.

Expenses: My army is cannon heavy, as always. At this stage of the game it is constantly on full maintenance. Either I am at war, prepare for a war, do some rebel suppression or I am waiting for a rebel break out. Fleet is a hobby, I have even built a flagship. Forts, I have activated most of them, because I plan something. "Root out corruption" is quite big. It scales with the relative development of my empire, so it is groving with every expansion. I have never teched up in Dip, so I have to pay for +0.4 corr yearly "unbalanced research" and also for +0.47 corr yearly by OE atm.
Inflation: 20.55%, yes. This campaign I have the 'problem' of -65% core cost reduction. So it is way more attractive to upgrade territorial cores to full cores, if I have Adm points available. Result: No points to decrease inflation. But high inflation is not a problem, indeed it seems to be "just a number". Unlike high corruption, because of bad and really bad events.

Income: The numbers for tax and production look good. My only gold mine in Mewar is at 10 dev in production, fine too. Trade is some problem. I have good control in the four nodes Doab, Lahore, Deccan and Gujarat. But my home node is Doab, so a lot of my trade flows into the wrong direction. From Doab to either Lahore or Deccan and then to Gujarat.
Should I have 200 Dip points at hand, I can check, if a transfer of the trading port to the Gujarat node will increase the income significantly. But where to take Dip points from? I pay a lot for unjustified demands, too many dip relations and the integration of Kutch.

From a practical point of view, the reason why I consider my economy as comfortably stable is, that I have about 10 loans for many decades now. I increase my income by expansion and on the other side the loan size increases too. So I simply carry my loans forward, replacing old loans with newer ones of a bigger size. But I neither come closer to a bankruptcy, nor a credit-free situation.

Time to tackle Vijayanagar. A few days ago, I added a new ally: Ayutthaya (304 dev, 40/61 regs), even a bit bigger than Qara or Uzbek. I couldn't do so before, because Vijy and Ayutthaya hate each other. Moreover I wanted to keep the alliance with Vijy up to this moment, so I can set him as co-belligerent now, when I declare on Jharkhand.
Besides his vassal Venad, Vijy just brings in Hindu OPM Kolathunad (red, in Southwest India). The other idea of this war is of course to reset the truces of both Bengal and Bahmanis. So my first goals are to get these two out with white peaces.
Numbers: Mughals 90 (50/0/40) out of 99, Vijy 47/63, Venad 6/6, Kolathunad 9/10, Bengal 35/40, Bahmanis 22/36 and Jharkhand 9/10 regiments. I am on Tech 9, the major enemies are on Tech 8. So I enjoy +0.25 mil tactics and a more advanced infantry. That is a big war to come and it will be interesting, because Bengal and Bahmanis are in the war against each other, that started about a year ago.

First surprise: Bengal joined, Bahmanis didn't. Trilateral (or threeway) wars are possible. If it comes to a battle, the first two arriving armies in a province fight. The third army waits and then fights with the winner. I had this sometimes with native uprisings in colonizable provinces, like in Africa, while chasing a weaker hostile stack.
I assume, probably Bengal was asked first, because of the tag order and joined. Then the possible trilateral war prevented Bahmanis from joining. I don't think, I could have anticipated that. But this way my two armies (20 and 25 regs) in the west, ready to run into Bahmanis to siege his capital, were misplaced and I have moved them east. Keeping an eye on the Bengali armies.
Jharkhand's army is eliminated and his capital with a level-1 fort Sonpur is under siege, at +14% progress. My fourth army is in Bengal for the siege of his level-3 fort in the capital Gauda (0%).

That again! Chagatai opens a coaltion! He came out of our truce in Oct.10, so it is exactly four possible members, with Timurids, Baluchistan, Guge and Chagatai.
Timurids and Baluchistan indeed join this coalition a few days later. So now I am sure, the current war enemies are somehow counted in favor of the coalition. But is this really a threat to me and my alliance network? I decide to do nothing about it for the moment.

I have trampled over both Bengali armies. The first stackwipe in Patna of 14.7k cost me 1.3k casualties, now I got a second stackwipe on 18.7k for a loss of 2k. Although I am just going for a white peace, I decided for the battles, because I want Shia Bahmanis to win against Sunni Bengal. So I invested about 3.3k manpower, not so much.
My sieges made some progress: Sonpur is on +35% with a wall breach and Gauda is on +14%. Vijy and his friends are moving up the west coast, soon they will ran into one of my forts.

White peace with Bengal, the new truce date is Sep.16. I didn't win the siege in Gauda, but the occupation of several unfortified provinces was enough to persuade Bengal to this agreement.

I got the fort in Sonpur on 28.May.11, so Jharkhand is done. Vijy is sieging my fort in Daulatabad (-28%). I try to catch him, moving more armies over to the west. But currently army movement is slowed down, because we are in the monsoon season. Provinces with severe monsoon get -50% movement speed, regardless if controlled or hostile.

On 1.Jun.11 I could attain the trading bonus in silk, fulfilling the third age objective for more splendors. On 3.Jun.11 Timurids left the coalition, which thereby collapsed. Again very quickly.

Unlucky. Well, not that I have lost the naval battle against Vijy's 9 heavies. But the ruler of Kutch died and some pretender rebels turned up. Accidentally in Porbandar, exactly in the province where I docked my fleet, to be safe from Vijy's. As I couldn't stop the occupation of the province, my fleet had to leave the port and I have to suffer the loss of 1 heavy and several sailors.
Vijy has given up the siege of Daulatabad and moved to the southwest, before I could accumulate enough troops for the 2:1 superiority. But now it seems both yellow (=Vijayanagari) armies move away to the south, leaving alone the armies of Venad and Kolathunad in the siege of Daman (-64%). I will also send a delegation of 12 regs to deal with the pretenders in Kutch.

15.Sep.11, battle of Daman and Vijy's friends have to note 15 dead regiments. The rebels are eliminated too and my vassal is not even trying to liberate his province. He is useless as usual. The two yellow armies seem to head east now for my double forts in Warangal and Khamammet. Beside these forces, the enemies have just 5k more, but probably they will order new units. I have also started to recruit 5 more infantry and my 25-stack is returning from Bengal along the east coast.

Now it is my time on the west coast. Vijy has some nasty fort defense modifiers for about +25% to +50% in every province, so everything takes its time. I have started the siege of the level-1 fort in the capital province of Vijayanagar (+14%). One yellow army (13.5k) has indeed moved to my fort in Warangal (-35%). The other (29.1k) turned north, but is now moving south again. For whatever reason Vijy splitted off some small stacks and I caught the first one in Golconda, west of Warangal. By the hand of the 25-stack, after finishing its return from Bengal. Two more small stacks are designated to be toasted very soon.

The yellow 2-stack in Andhra. As the UI says, Vijy gets conditional mil access by Bengal as his war ally. But Bengal is out for several months and I don't enjoy the right to move to Andhra. One of these asymmetries in the game, I don't understand. But this is just a side note, not very important here.

In the south I have started the siege of Malenadu (-14%) too, not with the full cannon bonus yet. Three of my armies are busy in the north east. I killed the two small stacks and Vijy decided to go north once more from Chanda with his bigger army (29.2k), while keeping the siege with the smaller army (13.9k). The moment the big army was locked in, I started to move form Golconda to Warangal, so I will get the hill terrain bonus from my fort in the upcoming battle.

11.Dec.11: Stackwipe on Vijy for a loss of just 1.4k.

Now I put the 30-stack to battle in Mahur, with the proven 25/0/25 setup. I just move 10k more into the province, to get the 2:1 superiority.

Eight days later this battle ends in another stackwipe, costing me 7.5k infantry. As a consolation for Vijy his manpower pool increases by about 10k, about 1/3 of the lost troops. So I have eliminated all 65k hostile forces in the north. Vijy and friends will rebuild some regiments, but I should be able to concentrate on sieges now.

Four months later. The enemies hold a lot of forts. Six level-2 and three level-1 forts. I got that of the province Vijayanagar on 1.Jan.12 already, but just today the fort of Malenadu in the west. All newly recruited enemy troops are moving north along the west coast again. I let them, as I don't have a good superiority in this area. Instead I will move forward south to the next fort in Seringapatam.
In the east I am busy with two sieges on Penukonda (+42%) and Udayagiri (+35%). 10 cannons for the full bonus and a 3 siege pip general everywhere, that's what I have hired all these people for.
30 regs stay at home to deal with upcoming rebels. I might call them back to this war as a reinforcement anytime, if needed.

I have cracked three more of the forts. Penukonda on 12.Jun.12, Udayagiri on 27.Jul.12 and today, just one day later, Seringapatam in the west. So I can move forward on both sides. Cannanore, Kolathunad's capital, has just a level-1 fort, thus I can reach the last two yellow forts in Dindigul (south) and Gingee (east) now.
The enemies are not doing anything substantial on my west coast, more moving here and there.

The war Bahmanis - Bengal is very exhausting for both sides. Currently Bahmanis holds one hostile fort and seems to have the upper hand somewhat. Could be, nothing much will come out of this war, fine for me.

Vijy and friends have marched from the west coast back to the northern yellow lands. Two of my armies are just watching them for the moment. In the south, I am sieging Dindigul (0%) and Gingee (+28%), as planned. Cannanore has surrendered. I could even sneak in with my fleet for this day to the Malabar Coast, to overcome the -2 siege malus. My ships will dock now quickly to avoid the naval battle with Vijy, of course.
Since I want to annex the nasty minor Kolathunad, next I will go for the elimination of his army in Adavani, the 9-stack in the north. As it seems, Vijy's army (24k) lets down his friends once more, running away northern.

Nation and armies of Kolathunad are removed from the map, the coring of Cannanore is in progress. The last two forts of Vijy are sieged down, three days ago Gingee, today Dindigul.
As I want the two provinces from Venad, I have to continue and siege the capital of Vijy's vassal too.
If Vijy's army would go and sit on one of my forts, I would let it. But as Vijy moves around, apparently headless, it is too tempting and easy to catch him somewhere. Like here again in Bijapur, where at the start of the battle it has been 41 vs 24 regs.

A few days later: For a change Vijy survives this battle, but has to stop his shattered retreat in the next province to the south, in Savanur. Here another yellow army finds its grave on 27.Jan.13.

After more than twelve years: The integration of Kutch is completed. In 1477, my 3PM ally Kutch helped me in wars and against rebels with 10 regs. Now, more than 35 years later the 5PM vassal has passed on just 3 infantry to me. And one of it is a Merc. Sigh.
I might have expressed my displeasure to play with vassals/subjects one time or the other already before. I won't forget, that Kutch became my vassal for free by diplomacy. But I am glad this chapter of babysitting should be over for this campaign. So many disadvantages.
In the very south I fight down the last flames of resistance by a freshly recruited 8-stack of Vijy. Occupation of some unfortified provinces and waiting for my siege in Venad (0%) is all, what is left.

About three months later the level-1 fort has fallen. In the separate peace deal with Vijayanagar I want all provinces on the west coast. Because there are no claims on the areas Kanara and Malabar in the mission tree, I have to pay a lot of Dip points in some moment anyway. So I do it now. Additionally I grab the inland province Seringapatam with a fort.
The AE-list contains the same four eligible members for a coalition as before: Baluchistan, Timurids, Chagatai and Guge.

A few days later, I agree to a white peace with Jharkhand. Therefore I can (ab)use him in five years again.
A lot of casualties in this war. My manpower regains by about 800 monthly and I have three "slacken standards" in reserve, for about 19.5k each. So I think, I can recover from this war better than Vijy.

What is next? Important truces ran out in Jul.15 with Jaunpur and in Sep.16 with Bengal.
Besides fighting some rebels, like the already erupted Telinganan separatists (15k) in Warangal, I could use the next two years, to pay a visit to my old friend Timurids.
More about it ... next time.

 

[WolframS67]

Timurids (2nd), Jaunpur (6th) and Bengal (2nd)

Indian provinces: Mughals 159/255 for THoT

Last time I attacked the remaining biggest power in India, Vijayanagar. After two years of war I could add thirteen new provinces, all on the west coast. So the Mughal Empire has gotten another tentacle, to the south. An alternative would have been to take two more forts inland and keep OPM Kolathunad alive. Anyway, my reasoning of last time to possibly save some Dip points, isn't very convincing. As it is, I have no fort in the very south and thus I will have more work to do with rebels, as well as in the next war with Vijy.
Speaking of new wars: My schedule says I have the next dates with Jaunpur in Jul.15 and with Bengal in Sep.16.

Timurids again for a change. Not a mandatory war, but a helpful one to make use of the next two years. Twice in recent years coalitions flamed up, when I started wars against bigger nations. So going for a huge victory against Timmy will give me a long truce afterwards. Which should vastly reduce the chance of future coalitions. I have no territorial ambitions in this war, instead I want to give as much land as possible to my friends Uzbek and Qara.

And then there is the "Ferghana access problem". Ferghana is the blue OPM in the northeast of Timmy and he is allied to Jaunpur. The experience from the horrible war Jharkhand vs Jaunpur plus Ferghana in 1508 revealed, the OPM does nothing to get mil access to come over to his ally. When I have to fight him in a few years, Timmy and Chagatai both hate me endlessly and will never give access to me.
I could solve this problem with a blackflag trick, like asking Mushasha for fleet access only. Then let my troops walk to Khorasan island, my old four provinces at the Caspian Sea, to activate them again. Next ask Transox, Uzbek and Oirat for land access and finally reach Ferghana. A long way, complicated and time consuming. This war vs Timmy will help me to overcome the Ferghana access problem.

Numbers check: Mughals 96 (56/0/40) out of 102, Qara 35/61 and Uzbek 25/52 regiments. Enemies: Timurids 57/62, Medina 14/14, Yas 10/10, Bashkiria 9/10 and Guge 7/11. Both my allies should arm themselves a little more. Firstly I will take care of my neighbor Guge (darkblue, in the Himalaya), while Uzbek should overrun his tributary Bashkiria, the green OPM in his west. Timmy will for sure move west, flooding Khorasan island once more and giving pressure to Qara. The Arabs Medina and Yas (both in a somewhat lightred/pink) will go after Qara too, I think.

So far everything according to plan. My 20-reg army in Guge has removed the hostile army in the first month of the war and my cannons are sieging the level-1 fort in Ngari (+14%). I have moved 50k to Timmy's lands, the siege of his capital level-3 fort in Herat (0%) is already in progress, while 10 cannons are close to start a second siege on Kish in the north. Timmy won't attack me, I am pretty sure, some of his troops can already been seen in the west.
My remaining 26 regs stay at home, they have killed the Telinganan separatists (15k) recently and several more rebels are about to come. Uzbek is doing his job on Bashkiria, while I am not sure what the idea of Qara is. Hopefully he isn't doing too stupid things.

Guge is out. Following the fall of Ngari on 9.Nov.13 I peaced him out for alot of little stuff to have him on a truce for the next 15 years. Most noteably he lost all his alliances, with Timmy and Tibet. The army, I used for Guge, stays at home now as well. Several rebel factions are on 80-90% progress. The most annoying will be the Delhian separatits, announcing they will break out with 35k. I have a total of 45 regs delegated for them.

My sieges on Timurids take some time, exceptionally. Herat (+71%) is unwilling to surrender, while I got at least one disease outbreak in Kish (+7%). Uzbek sits on Chelyaba (Bashkiria) with +7% progress as well. He has vital interest in the two northern provinces of Timmy, but as he shows reluctance to go for their occupation, I try to direct him over.

Qara is indeed under pressure. Medina in the west and Timmy in the northeast have come to his territories. My friend has moved his two armies to safety into the south.

17.Jan.14, Herat. I moved a stack of infantry to protect my siege in Kish (+35%). The rest is on Bam (+7%) or next to it. Since 11.Mar.14 Bashkiria is peaced out. Waiting for his willingness to accept his annexation would have taken years, so he can go for some small concessions. A few days later he becomes a tributary of Nogai, I am so sorry, Uzbek.

Qara is battling Yas. Timmy has removed his troops from sieging Qara's fort and is rushing over to help in this battle. Currently hidden in the fog of war. Some other stacks of Timmy are on the way to Uzbek through Transox, it seems. My men will stay where they are and do their jobs with the sieges.
The Delhian separatists (35k) have appeared in Upper Doab, my two home guard armies are coordinating to take them on.

Bam on 10.Apr.14, Kish on 27.Apr.14.
In May.14 I killed the rebels, costing me 5.1k. In addition I got a bad event, where I lost 13.7k manpower. One "slacken standards" to refill this, so my loss over the last months has been 5% army professionalism.

The land battle in Hormuz with the Yasi troops is an easy stackwipe on the other hand. They have been demoralized and wounded after their defeat against Qara. But first I had to use my navy (7/0/0/11) to remove some Timurid transports, to enable the passage of my land forces across the strait. Now my army can freely move on to the Arabian peninsula.

In the south I occupied Yas and 20 regs are on the way to Medina, currently passing through Dawasir. In the north I have liberated Khorasan island and the main army (21 regs) is going west for the last fort of Timmy, Kashan.
At home more rebels have erupted, this time Garhi separatists. After defeating an 8-stack in Mandla, the 22-stack in Mahakoshal will be next. I have six more rebel factions to break out soon. But after that the situation should get somewhat better, as coring of the recent conquests from Vijy is almost completed.

On 14.Jul.14, after more than four years, the war Bahmanis vs Bengal ended. Bengal lost his two isolated provinces in the Garjat area. I would have preferred a white peace, but a small victory of Shia Bahmanis is way better, than Sunni Bengal winning.

Since 12.Oct.14 Yas is out and he has no friends no more. I try to isolate all the secondary war participants, hoping someone will eat them up. The fewer nations on the map, the fewer potential members for a coalition.

In Medina I have both forts under siege, Madinah with a level-1 fort on +35% and Yanbu' al-Bahr with a coastal level-2 fort on -28%. Kashan in Persia is on +28% for me, the main Uzbek army arrived in the region and Timmy is trying to liberate some less important provinces. Medina's troops sit on Mosul in the west of Qara (-14%), making progress over time, but little.
In Mughals India meanwhile 50k are in the home defense and constantly busy with rebels. I have to pay my acquisation costs in form of manpower for annexing the many provinces in earlier years.

On 23.Jan.15 Timmy's last ally Medina left the war, after the fall of his capital four days before. No opportunity for the real hajj to Mecca, held by Mamluks, but at least the Muslim Mughals visted (and conquered) Madinah once in their life.
I may not forget my date with Jaunpur and Ferghana in July this year. So after sieging down Kashan on 21.Feb.15 my troops in Persia are moving east. Except 3 regs in the very west, trying to occupy some unfortified provinces for Qara.

Jaunpur is on 125% province score, so I can't fully annex him in one go, but it is time to become "Emperors of Hindustan" and unify the Hindustani culture. Means taking the five isolated provinces in the west will give me the rewards for an important mission, another age objective and the culture group bonus of -10% coring cost, because of the Mughal Diwan.
The main Jaunpuri 11-stack must be hidden in the east. My 21-reg army in Rohtasgarh will going to meet it, before I take care of the smaller stacks and the level-3 fort in the capital Jaunpur. Because I am still in the war with Timmy, I can simply march over to Ferghana with my 22-stack, currently four provinces away, in a south-westerly direction.

Interesting news from South India: On 05.May.15 Andhra declared war on Orissa. As no one has friends to help this should be an about balanced war.

My army has arrived in Uzkend, the province of Ferghana. Thus I can dictate my conditions for the peace with Timurids. I give as much as I can to my friends. Three provinces for Qara and two for Uzbek. Highly unfortunately they don't want more, modest AIs. Sigh. I give back Bam with the fort in the south to Baluchistan and Kish with another fort plus Kulob to Transoxiana. Despite several confrontations in the past, Transox is on highly friendly terms with me, so I might use him for mil access in the future.
I had way more warscore to distribute more provinces of Timmy to other nations, but Qara and Uzbek signaled their displeasure towards such ideas. So I fill up with money for everyone and get a truce until Sep.1530.

A very easy war vs Jaunpur. After eliminating Ferghana's army and winning the siege of Uzkend, the OPM accepted peace on 16.Sep.15. No more allies for Ferghana either. In Jaunpur everything is done, except sieging the level-3 fort in the capital. I have shortly interrupted the siege to finish the next phase with the full cannon bonus of +5.
Rebels everywhere. Maratha separatists are on 100%, that is on the west coast. My 40-regs home guard, possibly supported by 11 transports will be the fire brigade.

Jaunpur's fort has fallen already on 12.Dec.15, but I intentionally waited to get a year's tick on the AE-reduction on all nations, before this is temporarily decreased by my upcoming overextension.
Besides the five Hindustani provinces I take the four provinces in the east, which I need to fulfill the next mission "Bengal Campaign". I return Danim to Jharkhand once more. After Bengal lost the two provinces to Bahmanis, he wasn't neighboring Jharkhand anymore, so his guarantee on the minor expired. I take care he has a chance to renew this guarantee.
Coalition list: Andhra, Baluchistan and Chagatai. Just three, no more Timurids or Guge.

Some months later, the day to start the next war has come.
Bengal is on 207% province score, his army is 30/37, no match for the Mughals with 95 (55/0/40) out of 110 regs. But his fleet is 37 (12/24/0/1), better than mine with 21 (9/0/0/12) ships. He has three forts and some problems with pretender rebels. All in all a fairly easy war. The question will be, how much can I take from him AE-wise. As a minimum I want six provinces in the areas Gaur and North Bengal, the second half of the mission "Bengal Campaign". That is why I set the capital Gauda as the wargoal.

As hoped on 5.May.16 Bengal indeed guaranteed Jharkhand, thus I will not destroy this border by taking Lakhnor. But there is a new problem in the region. Jaunpur upgraded his guarantee on Keonhjar to an alliance. But then ... the yellow OPM rivaled Jaunpur! Because I reduced Jaunpur too much. So atm I have no angle to finish off the 2PM Jaunpur quickly. However let's think about this later.

I have found one Bengali army in Rangpur. Eliminating the pretender rebels in Gauda will be very useful, as I can take over their siege progress. My remaining 17-stack is moving east to look out for the other Bengali army. As usual, 25 regs are set aside for home defense somewhere in the wide lands of Mughals India.

Just three days later both battles end with stackwipes and Gouda's fort surrenders to me, thanks to the preliminary work of the rebels.

All reachable unfortified provinces are under my control, the sieges in Chakla (east, +35%) and Satgaon (west, +42%) are on good progress. I could march a long way around the fort in Chakla to kill the remaining Bengali troops, but I don't need to, as they are pretty harmless.
For Satgaon I would like to get the coastal siege bonus from my navy. But after letting his weaker fleet losing, Bengal decides to come out of port with his main fleet (11/11/0/0). I could win such navy encounters against the AI, but only at the cost of serious losses. Which makes no sense in this situation, so I will send my 9 heavies to dock again.

Nothing special about the final part of this war. On 11.Jan.17 Satgaon and on 16.Feb.17 Chakla came under my occupation.
Besides the six provinces in the west, I want to take three provinces in the east, giving me another fort, an east-west connection to the Tripura area and a port in the Bengal Delta. 99 new development, almost the maximum.

The AE-list looks scary, as some nations appear for the first time. Yet the situation is better than it looks on first sight. Eligible members are: Andhra, Baluchistan, Chagatai, Hormuz, Keonhjar, Sulu and Tunis. Nations like Ajuuraan or Malinda don't know about the Mughals, so they can't flip to "outraged", one of the mandatory conditions to join a coalition. My diplomats worked very hard, to prevent nations like Mamluks, Morocco or Pasai to join. Soon they will have persuaded Sulu and Tunis to abandon their negative opinion of me as well. Which leaves just five minor nations.

The deal is signed. Coring will take 9 to 13 months. The mission "Bengal Campaign" is completed, thus I get claims on the rest of Bengal.

News from other nations: Timmy attacked Ferghana, already in Dec.15. Uzbek transferred the two provinces, he got from Timmy, to his tributary subject Transoxiana. Chagatai declared on Guge and just a few days ago Oirat declared on Chagatai, who will be helped in his defense by my friend Uzbek. So my policy of isolating former war enemies set things in motion. My big friend Ottoman is close to a complete victory against Mamluks. Andhra is leading vs Orissa, but he has to take the fort in the hills of Balasore, if he wants to make gains. So two from the coaltion list are busy with wars, I should be fine.

I have no truces with Andhra and Keonhjar and in Jul.18 I could also attack Jharkhand again.
For sure I will somehow make use of these options ... next time.

 

[DensleyBlair]

Wondered why I hadn’t seen an update here in a little while; turns out I completely missed the previous one and stopped getting notifications. All caught up now.

Good work against Vijay and a worthwhile strategic diversion into the Middle East. Bengal opening up now is a positive. Still a race to the finish, I sense, but lots of things falling together alright.

 

[generalis Julius Caesar]

Things are coming together quite well.