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Well, despite not gaining as much from the Burgundian peace as you might have hoped it seems that no one has yet managed to halt the French momentum. Most of the 'core' is already in your hands, where will you focus your expansion from now?

See the question below :D

That's good to know. It does make sense. Oh well, what's an extra war with Burgundy in the great scheme of things? :)

I would really like to completely break up Burgundy: get its French holdings for myself. I'm not sure about the rest. Holland is a hugely rich province, but apparently it is a pain to keep hold of. The Brabant provinces could be released and diplo-vassalised.

After that, I am thinking to either go visit Italy or connect with Galicia. I haven't decided.
 
After that, I am thinking to either go visit Italy or connect with Galicia. I haven't decided.

I would suggest going for Italy, it is richer than Spain and there can be some interesting events for France.
 
I would suggest going for the Italian line, it is richer than Spain and there can be some interesting events for France.

Probably this. Might as well make the most of my Polish alliance while it lasts.
 
I would really like to completely break up Burgundy: get its French holdings for myself. I'm not sure about the rest. Holland is a hugely rich province, but apparently it is a pain to keep hold of. The Brabant provinces could be released and diplo-vassalised.

After that, I am thinking to either go visit Italy or connect with Galicia. I haven't decided.

as for Holland being a pain: it's mostly when you don't have acces to it (but that is for almost any province). The main thing that makes it a bit more difficult (that I know of) is the dutch revolt, which spawns (large stacks) nationalists in dutch and flemish provinces. If you are big enough and don't screw up completely in a war, you can beat them. The rebels can be avoided by culture converting the provinces, but there's a high base tax, so that's a pain of it's own...
 
I have written the next chapter, but photoshop elements is refusing to cooperate. I will try again tomorrow.
 
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Chapter 11: Trouble In Paradise.


France may seem, at times, like a force of nature to its enemies, but there is one thing that can, potentially, bring down even the most powerful.
What is that, you ask?
Religion.

No, it doesn’t bring me down, but at times it felt like it.


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The reformation continues its advance, like an avalanche of doom. Several provinces are converting to protestants, and, as we all know, for the first several years, there is really nothing you can do about it.
Nothing new there, and since I have a truce with all of my enemies anyway, I decide to lower Army Maintenance and save some money.


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Things go from bad to worse and I get Religious Disorder. Great fun. Deciding between a meagre 7-stack of rebels and a -1 stab hit is a pretty straightforward choice, isn’t it?
If you look closely, you might pick out the rebels sieging Bourgogne. At least I am not alone in this.


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I have to get my maintenace back up first, so it takes me 2 weeks before I can get the troops in place to crush them. Religious rebels are quite a bit tougher than your ordinary peasant uprising, after all.
England leaving the coalition does make my day. One less worry for now.


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I crush another rebellion, this time in Antwerpen. I don’t have the Admin to increase stability anyway.
In other news, my relations with Hainaut are at +200, and my tax base has increased enough since the annexation of Flanders, that I could diplo-vassalise them. Unfortunately, they are at war with Mainz and a couple of other HRE minors.
And I really hate that pink/purple colour that Aachen has. Rethel would look so much better in royal blue, don’t you think?
(don’t be fooled by the flag on this and following pictures about being able to convert provinces; it’s just 1 province and it would take 1111 months to do it.)

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The new Burgundian duke might be more suited to diplomacy than military matters, but I don’t mind. Did you notice that rebel stack in Bourgogne? It’s actually the very same one from before. They have sieged the province and now they just sit there. Waiting, no doubt, to slip across the border and start harassing French people.


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As if protestants are not giving me enough problems, now Castile starts stirring the waters. I can barely restrain myself from doing the same thing to Navarra, but I don’t want the AE for getting caught.


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Navarran nationalists? It seems like Castile has been spending money where they shouldn’t. The rebels are easily crushed, but it does serve as a warning. If enough nations start doing that, life could get hard.


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Burgundy uses its new lease on existence to end Gelre’s existence. Fine, it won’t matter. They will still fall in the end.
Hainaut, surprisingly, is still at war. What is taking them so long? Finish it already, so I can vassalise you.


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And one month later, they decide to start a new coalition against France. Can’t say I blame them, given how it saved them last time. Only problem for them is that England, so far, is unwilling or unable to play ball.


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And yet another province flips. This time it’s Berry, but I am still a more than 50% catholic nation. Even if I wanted to convert, that would only make things worse. More RR, less taxes, and in 2 years I am expected to repay 4 large loans. Courtesy of an event a few years ago.


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Military debate. Defense or Offense? If you were France, what would you take?
And Hainaut ended its war with Mainz while I wasn’t looking and immediately got embroiled in another one.


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By the time they end that second war, I have gotten careless enough that our relation has dropped dramatically. I start improving it immediately and rival their enemy, Utrecht. Apparently, in Wealth of Nations, that will be harder to pull of, but I can still use it to make some inroads with my ally.
By this time, I have managed to improve my stability to +2 again, dramatically cutting down on rebellions.

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Venice has offered me an alliance, but it’s a good thing I try to check these things before accepting. Poland has rivaled them, and even though Venice has grown somewhat, I choose my big friend in the east over them.

My truce with Burgundy, however, is now 5 years old, and there is nobody else in the coalition. Time to break some bones!
 
Good update. Burgundy don't look to be many conflicts away from being snuffed out of existence, and the more you gain for France the better. Consolidating control of the Low Countries can prove incredibly lucrative in the long run.

If the reformation remains just a financial thorn in your side then it will be manageable, what would it take to make you consider converting?
 
Good update. Burgundy don't look to be many conflicts away from being snuffed out of existence, and the more you gain for France the better. Consolidating control of the Low Countries can prove incredibly lucrative in the long run.

If the reformation remains just a financial thorn in your side then it will be manageable, what would it take to make you consider converting?

I suppose if 75% or so of my provinces flips, then I might as well flip as a nation. Much easier to covert 25% of your provinces than 75%. So far, it's mostly the northern half of France that is the problem. I don't even know if I will ever be able to turn Ile De France back to catholic.
 
How on earth did burgundy survive this long? EVERY game I have had, Austria and myself inherited half each...
 
Given those (heavy) missionary strength modifiers, it is not entirely correct that the majority of the nation has to convert for a nation conversion to be viable. The catholic porvinces will convert a lot easier because they lack that brutal -8% modifier. I'm not certain whether it is viable without religioug ideas though (which I pick in the majority of games for the better relations over time alone).
 
How on earth did burgundy survive this long? EVERY game I have had, Austria and myself inherited half each...

Austria got in a PU under Poland, so they won't be inheriting a whole lot any time soon :)
 
Given those (heavy) missionary strength modifiers, it is not entirely correct that the majority of the nation has to convert for a nation conversion to be viable. The catholic porvinces will convert a lot easier because they lack that brutal -8% modifier. I'm not certain whether it is viable without religioug ideas though (which I pick in the majority of games for the better relations over time alone).

And if it wasn't an Iron Man game, I could test it, but I don't feel certain enough to risk making things worse.
 
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Chapter 12: Impresssions of Europe.

Since it has been a full week since I last played, I wanted to just keep myself back up to speed, and I thought it would be nice to share these impressions. So I never once unpaused here. I just took a couple of snapshots.


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The Holy Roman Empire is looking its usual chaotic self. A few things I did notice, however.

Milan is no more. I don’t see that very often. Usually, they are the ones who manage to hold on to their 6 or 7 provinces for most of the game. Here, their holdings have been divided between Switzerland and Venice. Kind of an odd thought: Switzerland only needs 1 province and they can start building a navy.
Venice is creeping closer. Savoy and Venice don’t particularly like each other, so I expect them to come to blows at some point.

Another thing is the continued existence of the Teutons. They too have grown beyond their usual self. More on the Order later, though.


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And here is the emperor, king Philip von hessen. Why my interest in the emperor’s alliances? Mostly because of Aachen. You remember Aachen, don’t you? They’re the little runts who stole Rethel from me. Well, technically from Burgundy, but still…


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And here is the pic I know you have all been waiting for. The religious mess that is France.
I took a look at my religion tab. I have 66% unity. So I am trying to decide where I want to go. Becoming protestant would solve one nasty little issue: Paris.
Due to its tax base, there is a -8 penalty to conversion attempts. Oops. And they still have their zeal going, for another -8. Double oops.
My buddy Burgundy is suffering as well, but in reverse: they are protestant, but their capital is catholic.
Hey, wouldn’t it be funny if I force-converted them back to the catholic faith and then turn protestant myself? Just for giggles.


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And the religions all over Europe. England seems to be doing fairly historically accurate. Is Cromwell in the game? If they get into a civil war, that would be awesome.


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My most dangerous neighbour at the moment, obviously, is Castile. It looks like just a matter of time before they become Spain, complete with a couple of Italian holdings.
Aragon still hates me for breaking the RM, but I don’t even remember right now when exactly I did that. In retrospect I think I would have liked getting Barcelona back peacefully. Oh, well, it’s not too late yet.
Castille doesn’t like me either. Rivals, competing great powers, claims, yada yada yada. More importantly, though, I don’t have any AE against them or England, unlike most of the HRE, where I score an average of -15 due to AE. And I have been so careful not to mess with them. Is this the thanks I get? Maybe they should remember who holds the most power here?


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And, to be honest, that’s not France. The honour of currently being heavy weight champion of Europe goes to Poland. Just take a moment to look at that. Austria, Bohemia, Lithuania, Sweden and little old me.
And they look to be in a bit of a dispute with the Ottomans at the moment.


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And here is another contender for the world championship. Muscovy, allied with both Livonian Order and Teutonic Order no less. No wonder the Teutons have grown. Whatever happened here? Usually they hate each other’s guts. I love the way this game manages to surprise you like this from time to time.


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And we’re almost back home, after a quick stop at my favorite punching bag. Their alliances are not really going to scare anybody right now. Two OPMs.
As I sit here, staring at the picture, I am trying to decide what to ask for after my next war.
Releasing Holland (with Zeeland) costs 90% WS. Brabant+Breda costs 60% WS.
Taking them for myself and releasing them as a vassal would work, I guess. It would put me in Hessen’s imperial crosshairs, though. Besides, I am working on getting Hainaut to give up their independence.
And there is Gelre, who could be cut loose. I don’t know how much WS that would cost, though.

Nevers and Charolais look nice too.
So many possibilities. What would benefit France the most and hurt Burgundy the most at the same time?


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I knew I had a shot of it. Île De France. Very unlikely they will ever be converted.

See you next time!
 
Well, if you don't have complete control of the curia going protestant does give you more modifiers in the long run.
Another thing you may want to consider: Take the religion that is as smallest(probably reformed) and then take religious ideas. Free cb on every neighbour :)
 
Well, if you don't have complete control of the curia going protestant does give you more modifiers in the long run.
Another thing you may want to consider: Take the religion that is as smallest(probably reformed) and then take religious ideas. Free cb on every neighbour :)

I have control of 3 or 4 (from memory here) actual cardinals and 2 potential ones. I have not seen reformed yet, so it may be too soon for that. But it's something to keep in mind. Too bad I can't become a heathen. France going Sunni would definitely shake Europe to its core :laugh:
 
If I remeber correctly Cromwell and the civil war are modeled in the game, yes.
 
I have control of 3 or 4 (from memory here) actual cardinals and 2 potential ones. I have not seen reformed yet, so it may be too soon for that. But it's something to keep in mind. Too bad I can't become a heathen. France going Sunni would definitely shake Europe to its core :laugh:

I think that would be a brilliant goal: conquer the ottomans (or some other muslim with land connection, maybe you can use granada if it isn't christianized already), let religious rebels take over everything (probably in stages) and then, when they are a mojority, let them enforce demands. Muslim france(read: europe). I'm not certain whether this is good for the wine industry though :D
 
If I remeber correctly Cromwell and the civil war are modeled in the game, yes.

So with a bit of luck, they might find themselves in too much trouble back home to be able to interfere on the continent. Of course, we're about a century too early for the RL Cromwell, but we can always hope.
 
I have played some more today, and it was eventful enough to warrant a double chapter. My question: would you like them back-to-back or with a day between them?
 
For me it does not matter.