LibAARte! Egalite! Fraternite! An Ironman French Domination Attempt

[unmerged(807733)]

This is my first AAR. When I look in preview post, the images seem too large. If anyone has a tip on how to make them more manageable, please share. Anyway, I've played a few ironman games to 1820, as both England and Austria->HRE. I always start with the goal of a WC and fall woefully short, but it's still usually pretty dominant. My goal for this game is a WC, but I'll be happy to only accomplish a completely BBB Europe because I haven't seen many good French Empires posted. In keeping with my initial goal of WC, I'm going to try to have Portugal, Castile and England landlocked or otherwise subjugated in order to prevent them from colonizing. Midterm goal is to play the HRE game, and pick up good vassals all over the world to feed cores. I have played this game 3/4 of the way through, and the result in 1700 is, I think, the most impressive France game I've seen posted, so it should be fun. The game started in 1.22, and 1.3 hit around ~1620.

Alright, so we are all familiar with how France starts. I'm in the 100 years war with England, and I'm trying to reclaim all of my mainland cores and also take a provice in England. Why? So I can cripple them before they can become a colonizing threat. The goal in this first war will be 2 cores and Kent. But first:

Austria still does not have an heir 2 years into the campaign. Might as well RM and see if I can get lucky. Did the same with Portugal with some success:

Sorry for the lack of screenshots from this far back. As you can see though, in addition to getting a de Valois on the throne in Portugal, I also signed my my first peace with England. I asked for Calais, Kent, and returned Labourd to Armagnac. After this, it was time to start working on preventing Castile from colonizing:

This led to:

As you can see, I took two provinces on their northern coast and released Galicia. After this I spent some time consolidating my gains, feeding those provinces to Foix, then it was time for war again:

Took some more northern provinces and fed to Foix:

My hope was to vassalize Granada while this war was going on and feed Murcia to them. By the time I got around to declaring on Granada, however, Castile had thrown a wrinkle in that plan:

Still though, I vassalized them. At this point, I've got vassals who I can feed Castile's coastal provinces to on both their northern and southern coasts. I have a de Valois on the throne of Portugal, which I will bide my time with before pouncing for the PU. I also have an alliance and RM with Aragon, hoping to thwart the Iberian Wedding by getting a de Valois there as well. This relationship with Aragon leads me into my first war that I didn't start:

Oops, if you look toward the top of that last screenshot, you can see that I have a vassalized Wales which I will be using to feed English provinces to. I released them in the 100 years war, and diplo-vassalized them.

Conclusion of Chapter 1

I've got Castile and Portugal where I want them. So far I've neglected the Canary Islands, which is not by design. I ended up forgetting about them until it was almost too late. It's no good landlocking Castile and leaving them the Canary Islands if the goal is to prevent colonization. But that's a tale for the next update. I had meant to attack England shortly after ending my last Castillan War, but the war against Burgundy has my attention for now. My goal is to get Castile landlocked by 1500 so that I don't have to deal with their colonizing. I have a little more time to wait before England starts looking to colonize. I'm not worried about Portugal colonizing because I expect to have them in a PU next time they have no heir, so the more they colonize, the better. I didn't take an SS of it, but my first idea is diplomatic. My second will be expansion. I am going to be way behind on diplo tech for a long time, but in my experience it is essential to have as many +relations as possible for as long as possible. Religious will be the third idea.

Here's my opening, for anyone who wants to know:

Move your fleet to Langeudoc, and queue up 6 cogs. Also queue up 6 cogs in Poitou. Take a loan. Siege your cores on the continent, while letting a vassal siege Calais. In the peace, you want to get Calais, because you don't want to rely on a navy or access from Burgundy to siege it in the next war. Eventually, Scotland will declare war on England. When this happens, they move the bulk of their fleet, letting you reconnect your Langeudoc ships with the cogs in Poitou. Move them to Caux, load up some troops, and try to sneak a landing in Kent. This requires a bit of luck to get them to move their fleet, and then just some careful attention to avoid wiping your tiny fleet. Eventually land in Kent, wipe whatever troops they have left, and take Kent and London. This was enough in my game to release Wales, take Kent, and retake 2 cores. I kept the other cores so that I had a ready-made causus belli, and took Kent so I could easier invade the island in the next war.

I also look to get a royal marriage with Portugal and Austria, who both start the game with no heir. Getting a de Valois in Austria will be unlikely because of their bonus to getting an heir, but it's still worth the shot, and, in my experience, they can be a good ally early game anyway, especially if the burgundian succession doesn't fire. In my case I restarted the game until I got a de Valois on Portugal's throne. Bit gamey, but there you are. It only took 2 restarts.

Hope you enjoy! I should be updating pretty regularly over the holidays, but I have a take-home exam to do now, so there will probably be nothing more until Thanksgiving.

 

[Avalen]

It's nice to finally see a France AAR, they seem to be in fairly short supply. I eagerly await what a player can get done in the reigns of the dreaded BBB! Looking forward to the next update.

 

[unmerged(807733)]

The war with Burgundy was a slog, so I accepted a concession of defeat. This gave ole Charlie some extra time with the mrs., and voila!

While the peasants were celebrating the genius heir, Charlie was scheming. He noticed Portugal had no heir, and claimed what was rightfully his!

The war was so uneventful that the historians only bothered to record the end result, a personal union with Portugal:

Here's France and her holdings in 1501:

The English front is quiet, but with the addition of Portugal and one of Granada's old cores, the Iberian coast is nearly mine. Castile is pretty mad though, and started up a coalition against me. My next few wars with them were started by declaring war on their ally, Burgundy.

This battle was the turning point in a pretty evenly matched war:

And really went to town on Castile:

Alicante is a core of Aragon, my most loyal friend. I haven't decided if I want to reward that loyalty by keeping them small to diplo-vassalize them sooner and then returning the core or returning their core next war to make them happy and landlock Castile sooner.

Charlie's not the only schemer. While I've been busy in Iberia, Austria's been doing Austria things.

Take that, von Hapsburgs!

A new opportunity!

What's this? Another opportunity?

The Golden Horde has converted to orthodoxy. A new candidate for diplo-vassalizing? One who's down a few cores and primed to be fed Russia? That's what Charlie sees anyway.

I got a little ambitious and took some Berber lands, thinking I could feed them to Portugal and Granada. I was right about Portugal, but Granada didn't want them, even though they shared a sea zone. I guess they need to be connected by land unless there's a claim/core.

Here's a diplo map of France in 1530:

I'm a little behind the pace I wanted to be. I've really been putting England off for too long, but that's because there are so many opportunities sprouting up everywhere. Next update should see some action in the English theatre. I've learned from the Russian Cheese AAR that a junior partner Austria can form the HRE, so I feel comfortable sitting on my HRE plans while Austria is rolling and ruled by a de Valois. Look for another update either tonight or tomorrow to wrap up Charlie's reign. Happy Holidays!

 

[unmerged(807733)]

Here's where we left off:

http://i.imgur.com/3myEfE8.jpg

My longtime ally Scotland and my vassal Wales control most of what used to be England. I should be taking London from them soon. Down south, Castille is landlocked. I finally remembered to take the Canaries from them, but have no SS. In the bottom left of the screen, you can see them blue. Anyway, there's a lot of work to be done for a WC, and a paucity of screenshots, so apologies for the rapid jumps in time.

Here's the result of a war with England and Castille 18 years later:

Sometime between 1531 and 1547, I annexed Granada for some of that sweet, sweet, Sevilla trade. Also took London and another Castillan province.

Another good Louie happened in 1552:

In 1553, I decided to release Byzantium and start feeding it its cores before they started disappearing in 1594 (the game was still 1.2.2 at this point).

You can also see from this ss that I started colonizing western Africa. This was to get range into South America and then the Caribbean and also to use a cb on Morroco to feed Portugal some berber lands to core.

Austria and I are winning the war handily, and I also learn that if Poland's king dies, a de Valois will be taking the throne:

http://i.imgur.com/QPggpVz.jpg

Remember how the Golden Horde converted to Orthodox? I had hoped that I'd be able to diplo-vassalize them, but they were too far away. Crimea has a lot of their cores though, so while my troops are so far east anyway, I take the stab hit to force-vassalize them without a cb:

http://i.imgur.com/1STDFCU.jpg

Russia and Crimea have some GH cores, so they should prove a very useful vassal.

I can make the Ottomans release a lot of Byzantium, but with the distance penalties and them being orthodox, I won't be able to diplo-vassalize them for awhile. Instead, I decide to take some byzantium cores and just release them, while also getting the Ottomans to release a bunch of nations.

I took a province from Naples so I could keep using a cb on the Ottomans and feeding Byzantium:

Returned some cores:

A new Louis in 1582:

Here's the state of the world in 1583:

I've been answering every call to arms to build up trust so that I can start diplo-vassalizing nations. The goal is Aragon first, and maybe Georgia. So far, I'm way behind schedule. Austria is passing lots of reforms, so as long as they keep a de Valois, it looks like I might be able to claim the throne of an HRE. What a land war that would be. Next update tomorrow, and I should have more comprehensive screenshots.

 

[MiniaAr]

Hello there, nice AAR. I appreciate how you're unleashing all the French potential.

What did you chose as NIs? Are you planning on changing religion?

 

[unmerged(807733)]

Hello there, nice AAR. I appreciate how you're unleashing all the French potential.

What did you chose as NIs? Are you planning on changing religion?

NIs at this point in the game are: Diplomatic; Expansion; Religious. Diplo and Expansion are both filled out far enough to get the +4 relations, and I'm filling out Religious as fast as I can for the relations boost. I took offensive as my fourth idea, because I can't stand fighting wars on three continents without forced march and I was drowning in military points. Actually had to take a few techs 3-4 years in advance, despite having training fields in every continental province I own. I'm pretty securely controlling the Curia so I'm not going to swap religion. In my last France WC attempt I went protestant, and those cheap ideas and french technology were really impressive, but it prevents you from diplo-vassalizing large catholic countries even with 40 trust. Should be a big update tonight, maybe a 2-parter. I want to get to the point where I started taking frequent enough screenshots to really do this right. I think that's early in the 17th century.

 

[unmerged(807733)]

Things came up, so next update pushed back til tonight.

 

[unmerged(807733)]

Really sorry everyone. The wireless where I'm staying is not working tonight and I don't want to try to do this on my phone. I'll update as soon as I have steady Internet.

 

[unmerged(807733)]

Ok, finally some time for an update. We left the world in 1583. I'm ramping up the colonization, and working on diplo-vassalizing the good catholics of the world. Aragon first:

As you can see, even with 40 trust I'm not there. I need to hire a statesman and get to the +3 dip rep from expansion, and then I'd still be at a draw. I either need to widen our base tax difference (pretty difficult because of the exponential scaling) or get that lucky + dip rep event that fires from having diplomatic ideas. I'll have to get back to diplomacy later, because now it's time to hurry up and return cores to Byzantium. It's still 1.22 and the cores will be disappearing in 1594.

Here's where things stand in 1588:

I've taken Wessex and cored it myself because of an abundance of admin points. Fed Wales some more provinces, fed Portugal one, returned some Golden Horde cores from Crimea and returned a bunch of Byzanitium's cores. Anyway, gotta run, but internet is working, so I should finally be able to do that big update tonight.

 

[unmerged(807733)]

Ok, time for a real update. You can see from the 1588 diplo map in the last post that I've secured royal marriages with Poland and Lithuania. It's a long shot since they both have 15 year old kings, but between me and Austria, there is always a de Valois at the top of the list to inherit when their succession is in trouble. Hopefully this will pay off. My base tax was a little too low for vassalizing Scotland and Aragon, so I try integrating Portugal to see if it makes a difference:

Portugal officially joined the French Empire in 1595:

I also plan to re-release Portugal after they're integrated, because vassals are much more stable than lesser partners, at least if you field an unbeatable army. It doesn't change the base tax disparity enough, so I re-released them immediately.

Remember England? Unfortunately I never thought to take screenshots in the new world, so let me give you some background. England has started colonizing Canada and the northern 13 colonies. Portugal is busy in the Virgin Islands and Brazil. I've starting to colonize in New England so I can keep England's colonization efforts under control. I don't have pictures of it, but England has moved its capital to Manhattan. This is the result of a war I fought with them:

My goal is to eventually vassalize them, letting them help Portugal to colonize the world for me.They're not quite vassal size yet though.

I've been defender of the Catholic Faith since the Reformation. I use this to get morale and many calls to arms to keep my trust high. Hesse is a big evangelical, at least when Burgundy is backing them up, so most of my wars around this time are against those two. They don't really stand a chance. Here's a typical battle:

Here's a snapshot of how prolific the de Valois dynasty is at spreading by 1597:

http://i.imgur.com/anO7sqf.jpg

Also shows how high prestige and legitimacy isn't enough to get Austria in a union, even if their king dies heirless. the +1 stability I guess? Speaking of the dynasty!

http://i.imgur.com/B7oL4ci.jpg

Sweden is pretty powerful and protestant. I was never going to be able to diplo-vassalize them, so this is a real stroke of luck. I don't remember what the occasion was, but here I am fighting 3 wars:

Uh oh, what's this? It seems that Sweden's new de Valois heir has died somehow:

http://i.imgur.com/Ge2aPfG.jpg

Oh well, at least we're still set to take over.

Something strange down south:

This is the first game I've ever seen Sardinia-Piedmont form. Pretty hard to miss if it does though -- what a color.

To the east, Austria is blobbing:

I'm starting to think I might need to claim their throne sooner than later. At some point, I vassalized Brittany. Integrated them in 1603:

Here's an insight into what motivated France's native policy of the day:

Shockingly, the Iriquois were attacked shortly after France learned of their wealth. You can also see that England is still hanging around. Now that they've moved their capital over to New England, they can colonize faster than I can take provinces from them. At this rate, I will never be able to vassalize them. I'm worried I will have to truce-break.

In 1605, with a lucky diplo event, a statesman, and having filled out enough of diplomacy and expansion ideas, I can diplo-vassalize Aragon. Unfortunately, Castile declared war on them before I could get my relations back up to 190, but there's some good news with the bad:

I'm way over my diplomatic relations limit and actually struggling just to have enough points for peace deals, but this Netherlands development is too good to pass up. They have cores on most of the lowlands, owned by the impotent but irritating Burgundy, and will also be a good colonizing vassal if I can get them. I integrate Wales now that they have all of England's old possessions, freeing up a diplo slot.

France hasn't expanded much on the continent lately, so I claimed the throne of Sardinia-Piedmont. This pits me against my longtime-ally Austria. It's actually our first war of the game. I bait them to the mountains, and eventually enforce the union:

I don't have time for one-front wars though, so when the truce with England expired, I started making war in the Americas too. By burning/seizing colonies, I was able to get the warscore cost for vassalizing them below 100%, with this result:

 

[unmerged(807733)]

The Sardinia-Piedmont union got me a good chunk of AE, leading to a coalition:

A great French event for my diplo-vassalizing and integrating goals:

And the result:

Louis has reigned for almost 50 years now:

You can also see how many royal marriages I'm working with at the moment. A pretty big strain, but worth it for spreading the dynasty. Louis' great stats for so long have really been essential for building admin buildings to run the economy and keeping stability at +1. Those admin buildings have increased my base tax for vassalizing, but they're also great for manpower and giving me the ability to hire +3 advisors. Louis dies, and his replacement is so unremarkable that I didn't take a screenshot, but his grandson Louis is pretty good:

Ended up taking the Creek and annexing them:

I decided that the cheap coring for being pagan and overseas would be worth it with my good admin, because diplo points were more precious to me. Vassalizing them costs me 120 points before I can annex them. It ended up being less than 200 admin to core, so it's a tradeoff I'm happy with.

Here's the world in 1634:

I diplo-vassalized Georgia at some point. The base tax penalty was almost nil, which compensated for the distance penalty. I've also fed the Golden Horde some more of its old cores. I'm in position to start dismantling the Ottomans by feeding their provinces to Byzantium and Georgia. I'll annex Aragon as soon as I'm able, because I still need my diplo points. Austria is still plugging along passing reforms with a de Valois at the helm, so I'm content to wait on them for a little longer, but that seems like it will be the next big move. England, Portugal, and the Netherlands should be all set to colonize everything that's colonizable for me.

Not pictured: all the times Poland or Lithuania had no heir and were set to fall under me in a union on monarch death. I always called them into wars when this was the case, and they always pop out an heir.

Sorry again for the lack of updates over vacation. We're still not caught up to as far as I've played, but things are moving finally. Hope you enjoy.

 

[unmerged(807733)]

I'm home now, so I'll be playing as well as updating. That brings me to my question for the readers: If I form Rev France, does anyone know if I will lose my PUs or HRE emperor status? I last formed Rev France in 1.1, and if I remember correctly, my PU with Hungary continued, but my claims on thrones disappeared. And I've never formed Rev France as HRE emperor before. Does it make a difference if I am hereditary emperor? If anyone knows these answers, they'd be much appreciated. I'm not quite there, but I'm expecting that event to fire soon.

 

[MiniaAr]

I'm home now, so I'll be playing as well as updating. That brings me to my question for the readers: If I form Rev France, does anyone know if I will lose my PUs or HRE emperor status? I last formed Rev France in 1.1, and if I remember correctly, my PU with Hungary continued, but my claims on thrones disappeared. And I've never formed Rev France as HRE emperor before. Does it make a difference if I am hereditary emperor? If anyone knows these answers, they'd be much appreciated. I'm not quite there, but I'm expecting that event to fire soon.

Rev. France and HRE emperor is a no go situation for me. A true Revolutionnary France would dismantle the abomination, not reform it into a centralised state...

Wait, actually I rescind my objection, that's exactly what Revolutionnary France would have done, after being sure that the French will be in command.

 

[unmerged(807733)]

Rev. France and HRE emperor is a no go situation for me. A true Revolutionnary France would dismantle the abomination, not reform it into a centralised state...

Wait, actually I rescind my objection, that's exactly what Revolutionnary France would have done, after being sure that the French will be in command.

You'll see what happens, but I don't think you'll be disappointed. Time for an update. Today's update is about Austria, and naturally it starts with . . . WAR!

But not against Austria yet.

You can see my manual coring going on in the New World, and also that Burgundy and Hesse are trying to pick on the weak Catholics again. I of course answer their call for a chance to return some Netherlands cores and build trust. My old punching bag Castile is in this war too.

I fed a little more of Castile to Portugal and returned a core to Aragon and some, not pictured, to the Netherlands.

In 1640, I notice that Austria doesn't have an heir.

I wait on it for a little bit, get dragged into a war with Russia for some reason that ends in a white peace, and then in 1644:

Still no heir, and being carpet sieged by Burgundy. I decide now's the time to claim the throne for a couple reasons. Austria has passed 5 reforms, and I think they'll be able to form a strong HRE; they're weak from a war with Burgundy; I don't want Burgundy to take much land from my future junior partner, so hopefully if I go to war Austria will try to buy Burgundy off.

I outnumber them handily.

During the war, Aragon joins the realm:

It's all carpet sieging from here, until:

Victory! Now I have a junior partner who is well on their way to forming the HRE for me! I know this because I saw in the Russian Cheese AAR that after the hereditary emperor reform, the junior partner stays on as emperor. Austria is as good a junior emperor as it comes, with its plus to IA and dip rep. I only overlooked one little detail: they didn't pass the hereditary emperor reform yet, and lesser partners are not eligible for election.

I'm an idiot. This adds a lot more work than was necessary. Brunswick is the new emperor, and I have a lot of AE from enforcing that union. Now I'll have to end up becoming emperor on my own and do this the old fashioned way. Anyway, here's where things stand in 1648, after the PU:

Here's a look at the coalition against me:

A potential future de Valois:

Here's a look from the loading screen:

I should be updating ~4 times a week until we're caught up to gametime, which is 1770 now.

Takeaways from today's update:

Never subjugate your dynasty sharing Austria until they're hereditary emperor. This probably slows me down by 20 years. I had been expecting to be in a really great position, with Austria forming a large HRE as my junior partner. Instead, I'm going to have to eventually repeal the erkbaitsum reform when Brunswick passes it, vassalize Brunswick, and then do the HRE game on my own. This will mean tons of vassalizing, because I refuse to form the HRE. I will eventually revoke the privelegia and adopt a constitutional monarchy (for the legitimacy), so that I can keep the world France Blue instead of HRE gray.

 

[unmerged(807733)]

The next order of business is consolidation and joining the HRE. As always though, there's more going on than what I plan for. To the East, Kazan has lost much of its land, and is primed for force-vassalization and feeding.

To the north, Scotland has a 36 year old king with no heir. If their king should die, a de Valois would take the throne.

The annexation of my Golden Horde vassal allows me to use a cb on Kazan.

You can also see in this screen that I've diplo-vassalized Tuscany, who only have 3 provinces. My trust is high enough with countries I haven't been warring with that I can diplo-vassalize some quite large countries now, such as Hungary:

Kazan, shortly before becoming my vassal:

And a marriage pays off:

Naples owns the boot of Italy, all the way up to Tuscany, so between the two of them, I own all of Italy but what Milan and Venice hold.

I can't quite diplo-vassalize everyone I want to yet though. Scotland is holding out. I either need to eclipse them even more in base tax or get the lucky +5 diplo rep event to fire:

Saxony is ready to join the fold, assuring me another vote in the next election for HRE:

Tuscany is annexed to free up a relation slot and raise the base tax:

As you can see, no effect on the tax disparity with Scotland.

Here's a shot of the Timurids, who have become a bit of a blob:

They have all of Persia's cores, so I'll plan to take a province, release Persia, and then start feeding it its cores. I can also return many Kazan cores and hopefully whittle the Timurids down enough to vassalize them.

Here you can see that I've successfully taken the first step and created Persia, when I receive a troubling call to arms:

I haven't refused a call to arms yet, but this one looks tough. I have to accept it though, because it will build trust with Lithuania and Poland, which should allow me to vassalize them eventually, provided they don't take on any base tax. I didn't take any screenshots of the war though, so it must have been pretty uneventful.

Later, I get into a war with Scotland by answering some calls to arms. This is a pain because it will hurt my trust with Scotland, but it will also allow me to make them return some of England's cores, lowering their base tax:

This same war pitted me against Bosnia, and I forced them to return some lands Hungary had cored:

I have the opportunity to go into debt to build Versailles, which I do. Later on, this will provide +1 legitimacy a year, which will be a necessity, along with a constitutional monarchy, if I'm going to be diplo-annexing the world.

Hungary joins the empire proper in 1693. Also pictured is an occupation of the Timurid Empire. Throughout this time I've been returning 5-6 cores per war to Persia and Kazan through the overseas expansion cb.

So far I've made some progress consolidating, but little progress joining the HRE. Saxony and Austria support me, but Brunswick is still emperor and has some allies I'd rather not fight, namely Poland and Scotland. I'm very close to diplo-vassalizing both, and going to war with them just hurts my trust. I was biding my time waiting to get into a war Poland and Scotland would join me in before declaring on Brunswick, but it just wasn't happening fast enough:

And that's how you handle an uppity emperor. Vassalize and force convert it. Brunswick is also an elector, but even though they're not ready to vote for me yet, their subjugation leads to my election:

Now that I don't need to worry about being elected for much longer, it's time to integrate Austria:

Here's a shot of the world and my royal marriages as we move into the 18th century:

The next century will be about restoring cores and feeding vassals. Kazan is a great candidate to eat the steppes. I should be able to diplo-vassalize Poland and Lithuania soon. The elephant on the map is Russia, who I don't have a great plan for. It seems like I'll have to feed the orthodox provinces to Lithuania, the Tartar cultured provinces to Kazan. Now that I am HRE, I'm hopeful that I'll have enough trust with everyone to diplo-vassalize Europe.

 

[Lamahorse]

I have to say Sardinia-Piedmont has definitely done the daz-white challenge.

 

[unmerged(807733)]

I have to say Sardinia-Piedmont has definitely done the daz-white challenge.

I see that's a detergent, but I've never heard the expression. Is it not a very good bleach?

Anyway, today's update should see France almost getting back on schedule.

Let's start in the HRE, where France is about to become hereditary emperor:

All in good order. And there's this:

Lithuania is 3 dip rep from voluntarily becoming my vassal. Vassalizing them would obviously be good in a vacuum, since they've expanded a bit and would bring a lot of provinces to the realm, but it's also good because they border Russia and could eat Russian provinces.

I obviously join their war. I'm always happy to take some Ottoman provinces for Byzantium, and I can't afford to lose trust. During the war, the + 5 dip rep event fires, which would allow me to peacefully vassalize Lithuania if they were at peace:

Now I need to end this war in such a way that they don't gain too much, if any, base tax. I also need to end it fast enough so that I don't lose the +5 dip rep event.

The war is still going on in 1702, when Austria is integrated:

I end the war in time and vassalize Lithuania:

Scotland is also ripe for vassalization, which I do just as soon as our relations hit +190.

Burgundy is heirless for the millionth time with a de Valois set to take over:

PUs are always a funny business. Burgundy would be the likeliest PU in a vacuum. They have a 50% malus to their chance to produce an heir, and yet here we are 250 years in and they still have a Bourgone on the throne.

Here's the empire after I vassalize Lithuania and Scotland:

Europe is finally starting to shape up. I wasn't quite able to get Poland during this dip rep event - my trust was only +34. I'll have to hope it fires again if I'm going to be able to diplo-vassalize them.

Here's the whole world:

My colonizers are doing good work in the New World, but it looks like there's just too much left to do for a WC to be realistic. That overseas expansion cb in asia is good stuff though, so I should still be able to paint most of the world blue.

Things weren't looking great at last update, but that was only 5 game years ago. In the last 5 years, I've added Lithuania and Scotland, integrated Austria. It's not pictured well, but my economy is becoming a juggernaut. I probably have 40 stock exchanges at this point, which I built in a desperate attempt to vassalize Poland before the event wore off. They're really pumping up my manpower, so that now I regain manpower faster than I lose it in most wars. I'm starting to feel comfortable about the idea of a land war in Russia. I also have more manufactories than I've ever made in a game. I think my production income was around 125 a month at this point in the game. It will eventually top 300. All of these buildings take a TON of monarch points, which is why I usually don't build them even when I have the funds. France really overflows with monarch points. I think I've had some good monarchs, but even if I hadn't, France gets 10% cheaper tech from its ideas, I get 5% from innovative, more percentages from decisions, 6% from always controlling the curia, and whatever the bonus is for being in the HRE. Later on, there are some great French events. I don't want to spoil anything, but look out for it in ~4 updates.

We have ~3 more updates worth of screenshots before I reach 1738, which is when I initially decided I wanted to make this AAR. That's when I think this play-through really got interesting, and the frequency of my screenshots will increase drastically the closer we get to that point, as it dawned on me that I might want to make an AAR. I'm going to do one more update right now, and then go back to studying. The goal is to hit 1738 by the end of the weekend. Stay tuned.

 

[unmerged(807733)]

Loose Ends and Destiny

Not pictured because I can only cram 32 images in here: subjugating the Inca and taking 2 more provinces from Castile. I use my shiny new Imperial Ban cb on Burgundy, since it seems like I'll never take their throne. This is a nice cb. The cost is 75% I believe, and you automatically receive a claim on the imperial provinces you retake. They're allied with Poland unfortunately, so I make them annul that treaty as part of our peace deal:

More loose ends: I don't need electors anymore.

Poland has an heirless 48 year-old king, which gives me a decent shot at the Polish throne:

Nothing comes of it.

In the east, I still can't quite vassalize the Timurids. I'll have to just take more provinces and feed Kazan/Persia.

Here's a great opportunity to build a lot of trust with Poland:

I don't know this for sure, but from my in-game observation, it seems like you get 2 trust for every enemy they're fighting when you accept a call to arms. This gets me a lot closer to being able to vassalize them.

Sweden really got screwed here:

Russia saw it besieged by 400k on the west and decided to move its 400k from the east.

In 1721, I'm ready to annex some big vassals:

I get into another war with the Ottomans, and finally return Constantinople to Byzantium. I also snag Judea, so I can release the Mameluks.

Unfortunately, even with the 1.3 changes, their cores that spanned most of northern Africa and the middle east have disappeared except for four in Egypt/Sinai.

In 1725, Russia and a host of smaller countries leave the coalition against me.

Russia is important, because they are really the only nation I fear in a coalition. The massive amount of troops they contribute always makes me worry that the AI will feel bold enough to launch an offensive coalition war. When Russia's numbers aren't in the coalition, they never dare, and I can always sneak around a defensive coalition war.

In 1727, Scotland and Lithuania are annexed:

In 1728, I get to choose my 7th idea. I am torn between Aristocratic for the diplomat and economic for the build cost, french decisions, and the generally solid economic benefits. I end up choosing economic which makes my economy absurd by end-game, but if I could do it again I would pick aristocratic. That 7th diplomat is essential for a WC attempt, and stockpiling 100k+ gold and having a 500+ a month income just doesn't matter for a WC. Economic hindrances have not been holding back my expansion since the early 16th century, so this was a really silly choice in hindsight.

1728 also sees a tragic event:

My heir has died, and my king is old. There is something interesting here though: a Rurikovich will take the throne if my king dies heirless. If that happened I'd simply have to wait for Russia to be heirless, and then launch a land war against a fully formed Russia until I achieve an 84% warscore!

While I'm pondering the possibilities, I'm harassing the Timurids some more. You can also see a breakdown of my monthly income before taking economic ideas, (see how stupid that choice was?)

I decided I wanted a Rurikovich, so I made my geriatric monarch into a general. And what a general he is!

Right when I decide to kill my monarch, the game gives me an event I've never had before:

Apparently, the name I choose will determine his stats. I decide that Johan is a good, strong name. If only they'd always let me name my heir:

So, my grand Russian plans have been thwarted, but at least I'll be led by my first ever 6/6/6 heir.

Here's a snapshot of the HRE. Not many are supporting Revoke the Privilegia right now.

All is good in the realm. I have a 6/6/6 heir, I'm consolidating my holdings, my economy cannot be stopped. Yeah, it's a bummer that I'll have to try to take Russia the hard way, but oh well. Long live Johan!

Oh. Wait, not Johan . . . his birth was ordained in the stars! Maybe by God! I'll just pray for his life, because he is, after all, predestined to rule. We don't need to pay that medicus.

Doh!

The Rurikovichs are first in line again. Probably going to be some crappy stat monarch. The game dangles that 6/6/6 ruler in front of me, and now watch, some eastern tech cast-off son not even fit to rule in Russia is going to try to rule from Paris.

Not bad at all. And best of all, the Russian invasion is on again!

Here's the world:

Note how large Russia is, and how pretty it would be if it were blue.

Next update: massive land war, led by Louis "Don't-Call-Him-Napoleon" Rurikovich! Now we can talk world domination again.

I'm really enjoying writing this now that I have enough pictures to remember what was going on. Hope you guys are enjoying France's rapid progress. I think things are looking up.

 

[Lamahorse]

The clock is really ticking now. Once Russia is apart of your union, you can probably fight everyone at once! I hope you can do it!

 

[unmerged(807733)]

The clock is really ticking now. Once Russia is apart of your union, you can probably fight everyone at once! I hope you can do it!

Thanks! Today's update is short and sweet, and I think you all know what to expect. Louis Rurikovich surveyed the landscape and noticed that by claiming his family's ancestral throne, he could stretch the French empire to the Pacific.

Before resorting to force, we checked to see if Russia would peacefully pass to us if the monarch died heirless.

I already outnumber the Russians, and my troops are superior, but you can't be too careful fighting a land war in Russia. I recruit two 80k doomstacks: 40/8/32.

While I'm mobilizing on the continent, I subjugate the Iroquois.

A second doomstack three months later:

With the preparations complete, I claim the throne and declare war.

Here's the overview of the war. Russia is vastly outnumbered:

The best general I've ever seen will be leading my troops to Moscow:

He's not the general to rout the Russian king though:

I rushed straight to Moscow to get the ticking war score, sieging with stacks of 40. With defensive ideas and my mil tech, I'm not taking much attrition. Now that I have the war goal and have wiped the enemy army, I'll split a 40 stack in two and force march them across Russia to destroy the fresh recruits.

Another major Russian army arrived from the east, and as I was crushing it, another quality heir was born.

With some of their high base tax provinces occupied, the wargoal, and most of their army wiped out, I was only at 59% war score:

66% still wasn't enough:

Just a matter of letting warscore tick and sieging a few more provinces.

At 77%, they'd had enough:

Apparently Russia had Bosnia in a union, which passed to me when I enforced our union. Good things come to those who conquer.

The only member of my dynasty I am not ruling directly is now Wallachia.

Here's the world in 1739:

Don't let the -21% warscore with Bohemia concern you. Just a little something I inherited along with Russia. I end up giving some cores back to Poland in that peace deal, but this hurts my effort to vassalize them:

Still, with 6 more trust and the dip rep event, they can be vassalized. I could maybe do it without the lucky event by allowing someone else to take provinces from them. We'll see. Maybe integrating Russia will be enough to offset the base tax penalty.

Here's the state of the HRE:

I could revoke the privelegia now, but I'm going to wait and get as many of the countries to accept as I can. I have a decent bit of AE, and as it wears off, some of the princes will be more willing to vote yes.

Here's the diplomatic map of the world:

France now stretches all the way to Kamchatka. A WC is still realistically not doable. I neglected North Africa for too long, and really have no interest in it now. I have the overseas expansion cb for asia, and some good vassals/lesser partners to feed, so Asia will be the focus. I also intend to eliminate the Ottomans. The new goal for the campaign is to own everything but Africa, which is probably still unrealistically ambitious. It will be a fun attempt though.

The next update will be delayed for a few days. I need to upload the rest of the images to imgur, which I can't do until I have access to my desktop. The game is played up to 1807. I think I'm going to leave it there until this update reaches that point, because I want to take some suggestions on how to finish the last 14 years. Hope you all enjoy. Your comments/criticisms/suggestions are always appreciated.