This is the AAR thread for Where Our Bootheels Goed, the second part of the megacampaign The Widow's Party. The first part, Broke a King and Built a Road, may be found here.
-
We have updated our Community Code of Conduct. Please read through the new rules for the forum that are an integral part of Paradox Interactive’s User Agreement.
The first session saw the size restrictions of CKII lifted, and so nearly everyone rapidly expanded:
The world in 1444
The world in 1472
In Crusader Kings II, England was a strange monarchy; while it operated under Elective succession, there had long been a 'One Man, One Vote' system, where only the king held any duchies in England proper, allowing him to pick an arbitrary heir. An early king was a member of the Hermetic Society, and would make his chosen heir his apprentice, keeping up the tradition. As their direct children were often disappointing, this meant often distant relatives would take their turn as king, and the many descendants of Asa Picard would marry foreign geniuses in the hopes that their children would attract the royal eye and one day sit on the throne themselves. England became a global leader in technology, especially shipbuilding; the grand university in London was called Starfleet Academy, given the astronomical leanings of the kings and the importance of learned officers to the English navy.
In EU4, this is represented by a rebranded 'Dutch Republic', where the house of Picard puts forward candidates for the throne, instead of the house of Orange; the Fleetist candidates represent the career officers, administrators, and academics that are worthy to be Grand Consul. As this no longer means a 'game over' like it would in CKII, the House of Picard's grasp on England is likewise slipping; the current monarch is Savary Alfred. That said, the Picard bench is deep, and no doubt another Picard will soon be on the English throne again.
In CKII, England adopted the Waldensian heresy, and often went to war with its neighbors to carve out independent duchies free from the misguided Papal focus on acquisition of wealth, instead of simple Christianity (with the accompanying vows of poverty for the clergy taken seriously). This meant both three Picard states in Britain besides England itself, and traditions focused on war against religious enemies.
This first session saw massive conquests across all of Europe; in Britain, Wales and York (both minor independent Picard dukes in CKII) became vassals (diplomatically, of course!) of England, and then were handed land held by Catholics; Scotland and Lothian were both swallowed, as well as all the independent Irish lordships. The only foreign powers on British soil are Pomerania, a northern Baltic crusader state that inherited backwards, and France, which managed to acquire southern Ireland in CKII and then turn that into most of Ireland.
In other parts of the world, the main news of import was the war for Iberia being fairly decisively settled in Portugal's favor, the partition of Arles and Lotharingia, the partition of Carpathia, and the consolidation of Russia.
The world in 1444
The world in 1472
In Crusader Kings II, England was a strange monarchy; while it operated under Elective succession, there had long been a 'One Man, One Vote' system, where only the king held any duchies in England proper, allowing him to pick an arbitrary heir. An early king was a member of the Hermetic Society, and would make his chosen heir his apprentice, keeping up the tradition. As their direct children were often disappointing, this meant often distant relatives would take their turn as king, and the many descendants of Asa Picard would marry foreign geniuses in the hopes that their children would attract the royal eye and one day sit on the throne themselves. England became a global leader in technology, especially shipbuilding; the grand university in London was called Starfleet Academy, given the astronomical leanings of the kings and the importance of learned officers to the English navy.
In EU4, this is represented by a rebranded 'Dutch Republic', where the house of Picard puts forward candidates for the throne, instead of the house of Orange; the Fleetist candidates represent the career officers, administrators, and academics that are worthy to be Grand Consul. As this no longer means a 'game over' like it would in CKII, the House of Picard's grasp on England is likewise slipping; the current monarch is Savary Alfred. That said, the Picard bench is deep, and no doubt another Picard will soon be on the English throne again.
In CKII, England adopted the Waldensian heresy, and often went to war with its neighbors to carve out independent duchies free from the misguided Papal focus on acquisition of wealth, instead of simple Christianity (with the accompanying vows of poverty for the clergy taken seriously). This meant both three Picard states in Britain besides England itself, and traditions focused on war against religious enemies.
This first session saw massive conquests across all of Europe; in Britain, Wales and York (both minor independent Picard dukes in CKII) became vassals (diplomatically, of course!) of England, and then were handed land held by Catholics; Scotland and Lothian were both swallowed, as well as all the independent Irish lordships. The only foreign powers on British soil are Pomerania, a northern Baltic crusader state that inherited backwards, and France, which managed to acquire southern Ireland in CKII and then turn that into most of Ireland.
In other parts of the world, the main news of import was the war for Iberia being fairly decisively settled in Portugal's favor, the partition of Arles and Lotharingia, the partition of Carpathia, and the consolidation of Russia.
Last edited:
Hey, I didn't realize you were at it again @King of Men , I thought you said you was tired of these megacampaigns after the last one! Glad you're at it again! 
We have converted from Crusader Kings II and are now into our third week of Europa Universalis IV.
Hurray! And there was much rejoining. Rejoice! For your dream has come true.
The balance of power at the end of CK2 had been a strange one, with Ranger and Tazzzo with a “South Germany” (‘Bavaria’) and “North Germany” (‘Thuringia’) respectively; though with his wealth and retinues one wouldn’t be mistaken to assume Dragoon as the Netherlands might have been the most powerful of all.
The balance of power regarding the remaining nations does not warrant much notice. As they are increasingly unable to properly integrate into the politics of central Europe. If Bavaria, or the Neverlands chose to invade a neighbour, there was not much its neighbours could do as the diplomatic options of CK2 made coalition warfare too janky for any kind of ad hoc reaction to be effective, and in the case of pre-arranged alliances a badly timed civil war can render one member of an alliance out of commission.
Due to size limits and a focus on internal development, there was not much incentive to fight, though some last minute wars occurred to “straighten” the borders, as a courtesy of course. Such as when Yami in Southern Italy (Naples) went to war a few weeks before the last session to take his de jure duchies in Abruzzi and Romagna.
Originally Clone if I remember correctly was in Aragon, who had secured his position when he eliminated Hagbard, but eventually decided to leave the game leaving a large vacuum in Southeastern Europe. Likewise Sauron’s old position in North Africa, Mark and Dragoon who were in Egypt and the Middle East, had all very secure edge nations positions but had moved to open slots in Northern Europe in order to make the game more competitive and compact.
Vaniver is in England who basically just needs to sit pretty and absorb the surrounding AI, Sauron in Norway who, natch, needs to do likewise, while Mark rejoined in EU to take a Eastern European slot in Georgia as the presumptive head of the Holy Roman Empire; a loose confederacy of independent states in Eastern Europe bowing to a single throne, and from that throne, Mark watches over you.
Zirotron’s poor connection meant a vacuum appearing in Turkey, leaving King of Men in Thrace as the presumptive winner for the traditional “Byz” slot, with Graves in Yugoslavia/Bosnia to his West, and eventually, Mark to his east, quite far away at the other side of the Black Sea. King of Men’s main concerns going into EU is consolidating his base of power by absorbing the surrounding AI and keep the “Byz” AI (comprising of Persia) off of him.
Yugoslavia under Graves sits between Carpathia to his Northeast, North Italy/Draconia to his West across the Adriatic, and Bavaria to his Northwest, with King of Men to his East. With Carpathia to his North East and AI, his expansion was clear.
(Europe at the beginning of the first session)
France was at the end of CK2 comprised only of Mike, as Britanny, comprising of Western and Southern France. However at the Start of EU, a player slot was made in central France, played by Falador, which significantly changes everything about France.
Instead of being a race by Mike and Dragoon to eat the AI or carve AI bufferzones between them, they now have to deal with the unpredictable Falador.
The previous AI vacuum in Spain got replaced by two players with AI between them, Steif and Hagbard. Sadly there was not a lot of doubt as to how that would go, although only mitigated by Hagbard’s choices for a naval oriented build.
I believe a few other players ended up in Russia, Hadogei in Novogord although he forgot about the first week. Mitch and BCM are in two other slots, presumably the Muscovy and Kiev slots.
Including Graves and King of Men is six players in the Holy Roman Empire, an Empire that is neither Holy nor Roman.
The first session had an enforced truce between all players; albeit Oddman joined late as North Africa gaining an additional week of truce and protection, as did presumably Stief, who, having determined his position was untenable switched to Egypt. It is unclear to me if they fought directly or indirectly, but my understanding is Hagbard went all in on winning the war and hired mercenaries, taking loans to do so. A wise strategy against someone who didn’t yet was familiar with the new mercenary company mechanics.
(Europe at the beginning of the second session)
The largest territorial changes are as follows.
In France, the AI nations of Arles and Lotharangia were quickly partitioned between Mike, myself (Draconia/North Italy), Dragoon, Ranger, Falador and I think also Tazzzo. Everyone wanted a piece. I was able to expand my control of the Rome trade node by acquiring the false state of Anvignon, and acquired a chunk of the Alps trade node, where most of my trade is being directed into, with the state of Savoy.
France has consequently consolidated a viable slice of France and Dragoon successfully rounded out his borders and consolidated all of the Netherlands region. With Tazzzo and Ranger making modest expansion in the Rhine and Swiss Alps.
In central Italy me and Yami as is no secret have stepped up our brinkmanship, with Yami humiliating Rome to gain Age points, and when I went to March On Rome, he went and made sure to acquire a slice as well, additionally sniping Venice, a consider source of limited valuable development in the Italian region. Aside from my expansion in France, I mostly contented myself with allying a bunch of the minor OPM’s in the hopes in the event of a war their vassal swarm armies might be provide a much needed edge.
Vaniver and Sauron in England and Scandinavia made good progress consolidating their AI as expected. The largest changes though perhaps most impressive on the map, were to the East.
In the east, the changes were quite drastic visibly.
The Russian players sans Hadogei who was absent were all quick to consolidate against the AI expanding considerably, and bringing them all up against one another.
This upcoming session the truces are mostly over, and we will see how will light the match that sets Europe ablaze.
Hurray! And there was much rejoining. Rejoice! For your dream has come true.
The balance of power at the end of CK2 had been a strange one, with Ranger and Tazzzo with a “South Germany” (‘Bavaria’) and “North Germany” (‘Thuringia’) respectively; though with his wealth and retinues one wouldn’t be mistaken to assume Dragoon as the Netherlands might have been the most powerful of all.
The balance of power regarding the remaining nations does not warrant much notice. As they are increasingly unable to properly integrate into the politics of central Europe. If Bavaria, or the Neverlands chose to invade a neighbour, there was not much its neighbours could do as the diplomatic options of CK2 made coalition warfare too janky for any kind of ad hoc reaction to be effective, and in the case of pre-arranged alliances a badly timed civil war can render one member of an alliance out of commission.
Due to size limits and a focus on internal development, there was not much incentive to fight, though some last minute wars occurred to “straighten” the borders, as a courtesy of course. Such as when Yami in Southern Italy (Naples) went to war a few weeks before the last session to take his de jure duchies in Abruzzi and Romagna.
Originally Clone if I remember correctly was in Aragon, who had secured his position when he eliminated Hagbard, but eventually decided to leave the game leaving a large vacuum in Southeastern Europe. Likewise Sauron’s old position in North Africa, Mark and Dragoon who were in Egypt and the Middle East, had all very secure edge nations positions but had moved to open slots in Northern Europe in order to make the game more competitive and compact.
Vaniver is in England who basically just needs to sit pretty and absorb the surrounding AI, Sauron in Norway who, natch, needs to do likewise, while Mark rejoined in EU to take a Eastern European slot in Georgia as the presumptive head of the Holy Roman Empire; a loose confederacy of independent states in Eastern Europe bowing to a single throne, and from that throne, Mark watches over you.
Zirotron’s poor connection meant a vacuum appearing in Turkey, leaving King of Men in Thrace as the presumptive winner for the traditional “Byz” slot, with Graves in Yugoslavia/Bosnia to his West, and eventually, Mark to his east, quite far away at the other side of the Black Sea. King of Men’s main concerns going into EU is consolidating his base of power by absorbing the surrounding AI and keep the “Byz” AI (comprising of Persia) off of him.
Yugoslavia under Graves sits between Carpathia to his Northeast, North Italy/Draconia to his West across the Adriatic, and Bavaria to his Northwest, with King of Men to his East. With Carpathia to his North East and AI, his expansion was clear.
(Europe at the beginning of the first session)
France was at the end of CK2 comprised only of Mike, as Britanny, comprising of Western and Southern France. However at the Start of EU, a player slot was made in central France, played by Falador, which significantly changes everything about France.
Instead of being a race by Mike and Dragoon to eat the AI or carve AI bufferzones between them, they now have to deal with the unpredictable Falador.
The previous AI vacuum in Spain got replaced by two players with AI between them, Steif and Hagbard. Sadly there was not a lot of doubt as to how that would go, although only mitigated by Hagbard’s choices for a naval oriented build.
I believe a few other players ended up in Russia, Hadogei in Novogord although he forgot about the first week. Mitch and BCM are in two other slots, presumably the Muscovy and Kiev slots.
Including Graves and King of Men is six players in the Holy Roman Empire, an Empire that is neither Holy nor Roman.
The first session had an enforced truce between all players; albeit Oddman joined late as North Africa gaining an additional week of truce and protection, as did presumably Stief, who, having determined his position was untenable switched to Egypt. It is unclear to me if they fought directly or indirectly, but my understanding is Hagbard went all in on winning the war and hired mercenaries, taking loans to do so. A wise strategy against someone who didn’t yet was familiar with the new mercenary company mechanics.
(Europe at the beginning of the second session)
The largest territorial changes are as follows.
In France, the AI nations of Arles and Lotharangia were quickly partitioned between Mike, myself (Draconia/North Italy), Dragoon, Ranger, Falador and I think also Tazzzo. Everyone wanted a piece. I was able to expand my control of the Rome trade node by acquiring the false state of Anvignon, and acquired a chunk of the Alps trade node, where most of my trade is being directed into, with the state of Savoy.
France has consequently consolidated a viable slice of France and Dragoon successfully rounded out his borders and consolidated all of the Netherlands region. With Tazzzo and Ranger making modest expansion in the Rhine and Swiss Alps.
In central Italy me and Yami as is no secret have stepped up our brinkmanship, with Yami humiliating Rome to gain Age points, and when I went to March On Rome, he went and made sure to acquire a slice as well, additionally sniping Venice, a consider source of limited valuable development in the Italian region. Aside from my expansion in France, I mostly contented myself with allying a bunch of the minor OPM’s in the hopes in the event of a war their vassal swarm armies might be provide a much needed edge.
Vaniver and Sauron in England and Scandinavia made good progress consolidating their AI as expected. The largest changes though perhaps most impressive on the map, were to the East.
In the east, the changes were quite drastic visibly.
The Russian players sans Hadogei who was absent were all quick to consolidate against the AI expanding considerably, and bringing them all up against one another.
This upcoming session the truces are mostly over, and we will see how will light the match that sets Europe ablaze.
Last edited:
The World in 1500
In our game, we have an "out of bounds" modifier that is used to discourage player expansion outside of particular limits for a particular time; central Africa, for example, is off limits for the entire game so there's something to colonize in Victoria II, whereas the St. Lawrence trade node is only off limits until 1492. You can see that I've widened the player map out to show the beginnings of colonization; Portugal has a scattering of islands, Flanders is beginning to snake its way around Africa, France is beginning to colonize Quebec, and England is starting on Greenland.
After the first session truce, this session saw significant player wars. Denmark and Novgorod, both absent last session and this session, lost their protection and were basically wiped from the map, with only small remnants remaining. Portugal continues to swallow Aragon. France declared war on Brittany, ending in a white peace when no aid was forthcoming and Brittany had several defenders; this led to claims of treachery, as France claimed Flanders had agreed to allow France to attack Brittany unimpeded. Draconia (northern Italy) invaded Naples (southern Italy), pushing the border south by a hundred and fifty miles, replacing Naples on the Great Power list. Georgia took the Pontic coast from Thrace, and created a client state out of the Thracian coast; at present a major war (Thrace, Bavaria, and Egypt against Yugoslavia (GP #7), Georgia, and Zamazon) is raging where Thrace seeks to return its territory, and the defenders now likely seek to reduce Thrace further.
Savary Alfred, at 2-2-6, came from a prominent officer family; while not quite the best person for the times (as I was constantly hoping for more adm or dip mana and full up on mil mana), he nevertheless won the war with Pomerania, seizing the last of their territory on the British isles and putting them into a Peasant's War, which then led to Thuringia reducing them significantly. While this gave him a reputation as a conqueror, the rest of his reign so far has been peaceful. He oversaw the assimilation of York into England proper, the introduction of cannons into the English military, and the adoption of the presidential system and is now known as President Alfred.
We're also playing with modded ideas, so this won't make a lot of sense if you're only used to vanilla. I began with Aristocratic ideas, as while England doesn't have a traditional nobility it seemed to line up with what England was in CKII; my all heavy-cav retinue as Norman England now reflected in the early bonus to cav cost and power. The real clincher was the reduction in military tech cost.
After this was Innovative ideas; again, all tech cost reduction and administrative cost reduction were huge draws, as was -35% advisor cost; given that advisors are about as large a line-item as army maintenance, this is a big deal for England. Both of these have been finished by 1500. In part because of the cost reduction, I've started upgrading my advisors; the inquisitor Laurence Beornflæd, at level 5, is the most skilled advisor in the world, and costs only 8d a month because of two distinct 50% cost reductions (my ideas reduce advisor cost by 50%, and he's a mission reward that gives another 50% cost reduction; sadly those multiply instead of add).
Finally was Exploration ideas. Since all colonization (even of the Azores!) was locked until 1492, and I got access to the third idea set around 1489, it didn't make sense to grab it early, and it's now 4 out of 7 complete, with the second colonist eagerly awaited.
That's why we call it the Holy Russian Empire. Although at the moment it is not much of an empire, either: The alleged emperor sits his broken throne in Isengorod and does not protect his vassals even from each other; in mere self-defense they turn warlord and strive for supremacy.
As sighs of relief can be heard the shattering of expensive chinaware can be heard elsewhere, as the waxing of fortunes destinies gives way to the waning of fortunes as embittered brawlers wake from the dream, for the dream must come to an end.
It is 1500, and sunlight shines on the Western half of Europe, and the moon reigns in the East.
During last session, two great wars had erupted. The fate of Italy hangs in the balance in one, and the fate of all the Russia’s hangs in the other.
First off, let us discuss the political situation in the West. France is divided between North and South, although there are those who would presume it is divided thrice, North, the Middle and the South.
In typical fashion many of the surrounding powers prefer not to see France united, and thus a complex web of alliances were established to prevent France from uniting. With the Netherlands under Dragoon, Ranger in charge of Bavaria, being the primary architects of France’s current fate. Although there are some points of contention, as France under Falador attacked Brittany, provoking the web and its attending spiders into action.
In Spain Aragon was crushed and Hagbard as “Portugal” in charge of a unified Iberia. Hopefully his gaze is affixed firmly to the west beyond the endless seas.
Further to the north, twas’ England. Vaniver has successfully unified much of the Island although France holds much of Ireland, it is currently unknown to the Ministers of the Republic of Tyrannia if this is merely an temporary state of affairs.
To the even further ridiculousness that is the northern most northiness of the world, is Sauron’s pirate republic, it is unknown to me if he’s done much with his raiding and piracy. He’s successfully unified the Scandinavian landmass, with Russia divided his position is rather secure.
Tazzzo big.
The Wars of the Italian Unification were turbulent. War is a path to safety or to ruin. And frankly it has nearly ruined me despite prevailing. The first war I went in alone without requesting either Mike or Dragoon, both of whom had pledged their support, to position their troops, as I overconfident in my nation’s strengths, overlooked its and my own weaknesses and bungled the war.
I should have dowed immediately instead of waiting, or if choosing to wait, should have requested Mike or Dragoon, probably Dragoon into positioning his troops in order to aid me more immediately and crush the combined Egyptian-Syracusian forces before they could reach full effectiveness.
I also ended up wasting military points which resulted in me falling behind in mil tech which Yami had prepared to pull one over me. The narrow terrain made maneuver difficult which I thought would favour my forces and superior morale and discipline but the tech advantage appeared to negate it entirely.
Additionally by calling Mike into the war first and then Dragoon, resulted in Ranger/Bavaria intervening. A state of affairs that almost certainly would have led to disaster, but Yami offered me a peace treaty which while not what I entered the war hoping to gain, was at that point in the war a “win”. Offering me Venice, Spleto, and Bologna. The development of these lands narrowed the gap between Draconia and Syracuse considerably which had been growing considerably; and allowed me to extricate myself from what was frankly a disastrous situation for me. Yami is a little too kind, if it were Dragoon I would not have been given such a second chance.
Taking the breathing room that Yami’s Peace granted, I aimed to recover and prepared myself for the next war. This time I insured I was the one who was a mil tech ahead, made sure Mike had prepositioned his troops and did my best to make sure all of my ducks were in a row. Confirming with Ranger what circumstances he wouldn’t intervene a second time, and verifying things with Dragoon. I got distracted slightly by the France war but luckily it resolved in a way that was only minimally exhausting and thus didn’t distract from my preparations.
Most importantly, I finally was able to select my Guns of Urban bonus as breaking through Yami’s forts seemed impossibly difficult the first war.
The second war things were much more smooth, Yami and I quickly agreed to leave it a 1v1 affair and I moved to siege Yami’s forts, this time barring through them much more quickly. I had a slight screw up as I didn’t siege Abruzzi as Dragoon suggested and instead sieged in the north in Ancona for the wargoal. However it ended up fine in the end as Abruzzi fell before Yami could attempt to push me off of it, and since I took it, he losted the terrain bonus, and lost most of his forces in the immediate battles. I chased down Yami’s forces and secured the boot of Italy. He had retreated to Sicily so I crossed over, taking a gamble, and by accident learned a game mechanic, if you own two sides of a strait you can’t block troops from crossing it with boats, as Yami had neglected to keep it blocked. I was able to take the Island and with it ended the war; I made a risky peace treaty which angered Ranger and baffled Dragoon in the aftermath, as I was honestly not expecting Ranger to take particular umbrage with me as he didn’t tell me to not kill Yami or demand too much, or not directly anyways. However my alliances with Mike and Dragoon ultimately restrained Ranger and soon Ranger was distracted by larger matters, a war in the east.
The Eastern War is Mark’s Great Gambit, similar to mine for Italy and Falador’s for France. He invaded King of Men, with the forces of Imperium not far behind, by destroying King of Men, he would secure himself as a relevant power in the region and a leading member of the Empire. However things were not to be. He was betrayed by Kiev (BCM?) who declined to enter the war, though was unable to come to King of Men’s defence. Ranger intervened, marching through Northern Yugoslavia laying waste to the countryside to come to King of Men’s aid. Likewise Egypt sent troops as well. However Tazzzo, fielding a mighty and skilled General sent troops as mercenaries to Mark’s side, making the ending of the war uncertain.
The gods throw their dice, and the world waits with baited breath.
It is 1500, and sunlight shines on the Western half of Europe, and the moon reigns in the East.
During last session, two great wars had erupted. The fate of Italy hangs in the balance in one, and the fate of all the Russia’s hangs in the other.
First off, let us discuss the political situation in the West. France is divided between North and South, although there are those who would presume it is divided thrice, North, the Middle and the South.
In typical fashion many of the surrounding powers prefer not to see France united, and thus a complex web of alliances were established to prevent France from uniting. With the Netherlands under Dragoon, Ranger in charge of Bavaria, being the primary architects of France’s current fate. Although there are some points of contention, as France under Falador attacked Brittany, provoking the web and its attending spiders into action.
In Spain Aragon was crushed and Hagbard as “Portugal” in charge of a unified Iberia. Hopefully his gaze is affixed firmly to the west beyond the endless seas.
Further to the north, twas’ England. Vaniver has successfully unified much of the Island although France holds much of Ireland, it is currently unknown to the Ministers of the Republic of Tyrannia if this is merely an temporary state of affairs.
To the even further ridiculousness that is the northern most northiness of the world, is Sauron’s pirate republic, it is unknown to me if he’s done much with his raiding and piracy. He’s successfully unified the Scandinavian landmass, with Russia divided his position is rather secure.
Tazzzo big.
The Wars of the Italian Unification were turbulent. War is a path to safety or to ruin. And frankly it has nearly ruined me despite prevailing. The first war I went in alone without requesting either Mike or Dragoon, both of whom had pledged their support, to position their troops, as I overconfident in my nation’s strengths, overlooked its and my own weaknesses and bungled the war.
I should have dowed immediately instead of waiting, or if choosing to wait, should have requested Mike or Dragoon, probably Dragoon into positioning his troops in order to aid me more immediately and crush the combined Egyptian-Syracusian forces before they could reach full effectiveness.
I also ended up wasting military points which resulted in me falling behind in mil tech which Yami had prepared to pull one over me. The narrow terrain made maneuver difficult which I thought would favour my forces and superior morale and discipline but the tech advantage appeared to negate it entirely.
Additionally by calling Mike into the war first and then Dragoon, resulted in Ranger/Bavaria intervening. A state of affairs that almost certainly would have led to disaster, but Yami offered me a peace treaty which while not what I entered the war hoping to gain, was at that point in the war a “win”. Offering me Venice, Spleto, and Bologna. The development of these lands narrowed the gap between Draconia and Syracuse considerably which had been growing considerably; and allowed me to extricate myself from what was frankly a disastrous situation for me. Yami is a little too kind, if it were Dragoon I would not have been given such a second chance.
Taking the breathing room that Yami’s Peace granted, I aimed to recover and prepared myself for the next war. This time I insured I was the one who was a mil tech ahead, made sure Mike had prepositioned his troops and did my best to make sure all of my ducks were in a row. Confirming with Ranger what circumstances he wouldn’t intervene a second time, and verifying things with Dragoon. I got distracted slightly by the France war but luckily it resolved in a way that was only minimally exhausting and thus didn’t distract from my preparations.
Most importantly, I finally was able to select my Guns of Urban bonus as breaking through Yami’s forts seemed impossibly difficult the first war.
The second war things were much more smooth, Yami and I quickly agreed to leave it a 1v1 affair and I moved to siege Yami’s forts, this time barring through them much more quickly. I had a slight screw up as I didn’t siege Abruzzi as Dragoon suggested and instead sieged in the north in Ancona for the wargoal. However it ended up fine in the end as Abruzzi fell before Yami could attempt to push me off of it, and since I took it, he losted the terrain bonus, and lost most of his forces in the immediate battles. I chased down Yami’s forces and secured the boot of Italy. He had retreated to Sicily so I crossed over, taking a gamble, and by accident learned a game mechanic, if you own two sides of a strait you can’t block troops from crossing it with boats, as Yami had neglected to keep it blocked. I was able to take the Island and with it ended the war; I made a risky peace treaty which angered Ranger and baffled Dragoon in the aftermath, as I was honestly not expecting Ranger to take particular umbrage with me as he didn’t tell me to not kill Yami or demand too much, or not directly anyways. However my alliances with Mike and Dragoon ultimately restrained Ranger and soon Ranger was distracted by larger matters, a war in the east.
The Eastern War is Mark’s Great Gambit, similar to mine for Italy and Falador’s for France. He invaded King of Men, with the forces of Imperium not far behind, by destroying King of Men, he would secure himself as a relevant power in the region and a leading member of the Empire. However things were not to be. He was betrayed by Kiev (BCM?) who declined to enter the war, though was unable to come to King of Men’s defence. Ranger intervened, marching through Northern Yugoslavia laying waste to the countryside to come to King of Men’s aid. Likewise Egypt sent troops as well. However Tazzzo, fielding a mighty and skilled General sent troops as mercenaries to Mark’s side, making the ending of the war uncertain.
The gods throw their dice, and the world waits with baited breath.
You're mixing up two different wars here. In the first war, Mark invaded me with Yugoslavia and Kiev as allies - Kiev betrayed me, not him. I was too slow - I had just started to type "help help I'm being oppressed" because Kiev broke its alliance with me, when the DOW came. With three on one it was naturally a rather quick war.
This second war that's currently being fought was declared by me, not Mark; I'm attempting to reclaim my lost territory. I suppose Kiev did in some sense betray Mark by breaking the alliance before I DOWed, but it wasn't, so to speak, an offensive breach - he didn't turn down an offer to join a war Mark had declared.
"So we sang the chorus from Ankara to the sea / while we were marching through Georgia!"
Additionally:
The expression is "bated breath", from 'abated' - lessened, so as to make no sound and not alert one's quarry. I don't know what it would even mean to put bait on the breath.
The Played World in 1531
Another feature of our game, common to multiplayer Paradox games, is AI protection; an absent player is not to be interfered with, so that the work of months is not undone in missing a single week. This is nevertheless was especially awkward for me, as Falador in France was absent; his AI would not respect the pretty colonial borders we drew up, and there couldn't be any shift in the French Question. [As France began the session 7,500 ducats in debt and with no truces, it seemed like there was an obvious way for it to go.] However, when a player departs after an absence (as with Atlas, the Moroccan nation), there is no protection, and they're free to be consumed.
The session began with the Reconquest of Bolu underway, the aforementioned war by Thrace and allies (the South) to retake land taken by Georgia (the North). Over the week, Bavaria was convinced to peace out separately, in exchange for Thuringian condotierri hired by the North also returning home. English troops, having drilled for decades with no wars to fight, were eager to join the conflict, and I solicited bids.
Much to my dismay, condotierri can only be transported on ships owned by the hiring nation, and cannot be split. So out of 25k troops I could have offered (and easily carried on my own fleet), only 10k could be moved at once, as the largest transport fleet was 10 cogs; I split it into stacks of 9, 8, and 8, hoping to hire them out separately, and then discovered that I could only offer a single army to a single client, and a second client couldn't use the first client's fleet. So my dreams of hiring out an army as mercs were mostly dashed, tho 9k English troops (a tech level above the participants, meaning 5 pips on my infantry instead of 3) were attached to a Thracian army, and my general, Laurence Emma, at 3-3-3-3 turned out the be the best general on the side of the South, and so commanded most of the major battles. This was not exactly a mark of distinction, as the North won most of those battles, and the war overall.
For the session, most of my attention was on the colonial game. There are three nations I would describe as major colonial players; England (mostly in North America), Portugal (mostly in the Caribbean), and Flanders (mostly in Africa). Then the minor colonizers have set their sights on smaller prospects: Thuringia is going for the 9 provinces of Hispaniola and the Turks to round it out for a single large CN; Scandinavia is colonizing the northern tip of Canada, as well as some pirate bases in the Caribbean; France is colonizing Quebec; Naples is colonizing patches in Africa and the Caribbean. The first colonial nation in the world was New Salamanca, formed out of the Portuguese Antilles; then New England, then French Canada, then New Scotland, then Thuringian West Indies, then (Portuguese) Cuba.
English explorers have mapped out most of the Americas, by now, though the myths they investigated have been mostly disappointing.
The Great Power list, rather than stabilizing, sees constant turnover; several players are nearly tied for the 8th slot, and so which is in or out constantly shifts. England, once secure at #2, has slipped down to #4, mostly because while others could expand (Thuringia stretching both further north and east, Portugal taking the Atlassian coast) England's obvious avenues were blocked for now. (France, from AI protection, and Wales, from a desperate need for dip mana for idea sets and techs.) Now that I have the useful ideas and techs out of the way, Wales is being annexed, and is about 30% done. Thuringia and Portugal have both reached the Empire government rank, noteworthy mostly because it grants additional governing cap, the limiter to effective dev.
Also, I somehow haven't mentioned this yet (mostly because I've had enough material talking about England to not have to describe much of the other countries), but in CKII two different monarchs managed to obtain the secrets of immortality, and then converted to EU4 with 15 and 14 total stats. Both countries have underperformed expectations, however; Bavaria, the Waldensian crusader state in the Alps, has barely expanded from its original position, and Naples has been dramatically reduced, with only a few holdings left in Italy proper. Of note is the death of Filippo, the immortal Neapolitan king; he was serving as a general, and while immune to disease, his immortality was not proof against accidents. While his 6-6-6 successor is an improvement for now, the future seems likely to be worse, and Burchard of Bavaria, long the second oldest man in the world, is now alone as the oldest. Some say Filippo disappeared, retiring from public life to live simply for the rest of eternity, but at least in England this is considered wishful thinking at best, especially given the disappointing Fountain of Youth in the Americas.
Last edited:
Untrue; the glorious Thracian Legions were also at miltech 9 a few months into the game, and before any battles were fought this session or any Englishman set foot in the Balkans. Indeed this was the primary cause of the successful First Relief of Gumulcine, when we killed the Slavs in their thousands and drove their remnants back weeping to Belgrade.
This week not much happens.
Truly, a scandal.
The Georgian-Thrace war ended with a Georgian victory with Mark killing his only main rival and avenging himself on Kiev who had previously betrayed him during that war. King of Men left for Arabia and while Kiev under BCM fought bravely and was able to for a time hold off Zamazon/Muscovy he was not able to sustain such a ruinous war; he could kill enemies troops at a rate of 2:1 but needed it to have been 5:1 or even 10:1 to win and in the end he did not.
Not much happened in Italy. Ranger decided that he’d rather feel like a top ranked GP now then *stay* a top ranked GP and so he’s decided to guarantee what remains of Yami’s Italian holdings and prevent me from finishing him off. This to many observers has been seen as a “bad idea”, as at some point Ranger will presumably be distracted by something somewhere else. Being a landlocked power this rules out colonial distractions and commitments but still the Matters of France and the Matters of the Balkans which typically have historically concerns Ranger’s Bavaria remain to be seen. Ranger is powerful and can challenge any nation on the field of battle, but can he truly face two fronts at once? Remains to be seen if a peaceful solution isn’t worked out, as the mainland of Italy being divided is a situation that is, in the words of a great old sage, intolerable, and cannot stand.
Nothing has really happened in France. Falador has dropped off the planet (again) and France was protected that week.
I believe oversees some of the Atlantic bordering players have begun colonizing. France appropriately appears to be in Quebec, Dragoon/Flanders seems to be poking around in Florida and South America, Hagbard/Portugal in the Bahamas/Caribbean and Vaniver is also aiming for Canada and the US. Sauron also appears to have settled on Newfoundland and Jamaica because of course.
Georgia towards the end of the session got subbed by Sven who with King of Men in Arabia expanded a bit into “Persia”, but humans eating AI now is just stuff that happens and doesn’t merit much notice. I believe BCM who was Kiev and KoM, for reasons that I don’t really get the decision making process of, are moving further East to Asia. I’m assuming its because its “now or never” in order to get viable regional Asian powers capable of holding off Europe?
Other then that, currently we’ve finally reached a state such that none of the AI nations are competitors for the Great Power slots. Tazzzo in Thuringia, Hagbard in Portugal, Steif in Egypt, Vaniver in England, Dragoon in Flanders, Ranger in Bavaria, and then me and Graves (Balkans) bringing up the rear.
The difference between first and last is considerable, about 500 development. But the difference between last and say, second is actually considerably less large, merely 300, and rapidly shrinks. There is much room for movement among the lower ranks, but those on the very top are unlikely to come down anytime soon; but who among the bottom, will join them?
Truly, a scandal.
The Georgian-Thrace war ended with a Georgian victory with Mark killing his only main rival and avenging himself on Kiev who had previously betrayed him during that war. King of Men left for Arabia and while Kiev under BCM fought bravely and was able to for a time hold off Zamazon/Muscovy he was not able to sustain such a ruinous war; he could kill enemies troops at a rate of 2:1 but needed it to have been 5:1 or even 10:1 to win and in the end he did not.
Not much happened in Italy. Ranger decided that he’d rather feel like a top ranked GP now then *stay* a top ranked GP and so he’s decided to guarantee what remains of Yami’s Italian holdings and prevent me from finishing him off. This to many observers has been seen as a “bad idea”, as at some point Ranger will presumably be distracted by something somewhere else. Being a landlocked power this rules out colonial distractions and commitments but still the Matters of France and the Matters of the Balkans which typically have historically concerns Ranger’s Bavaria remain to be seen. Ranger is powerful and can challenge any nation on the field of battle, but can he truly face two fronts at once? Remains to be seen if a peaceful solution isn’t worked out, as the mainland of Italy being divided is a situation that is, in the words of a great old sage, intolerable, and cannot stand.
Nothing has really happened in France. Falador has dropped off the planet (again) and France was protected that week.
I believe oversees some of the Atlantic bordering players have begun colonizing. France appropriately appears to be in Quebec, Dragoon/Flanders seems to be poking around in Florida and South America, Hagbard/Portugal in the Bahamas/Caribbean and Vaniver is also aiming for Canada and the US. Sauron also appears to have settled on Newfoundland and Jamaica because of course.
Georgia towards the end of the session got subbed by Sven who with King of Men in Arabia expanded a bit into “Persia”, but humans eating AI now is just stuff that happens and doesn’t merit much notice. I believe BCM who was Kiev and KoM, for reasons that I don’t really get the decision making process of, are moving further East to Asia. I’m assuming its because its “now or never” in order to get viable regional Asian powers capable of holding off Europe?
Other then that, currently we’ve finally reached a state such that none of the AI nations are competitors for the Great Power slots. Tazzzo in Thuringia, Hagbard in Portugal, Steif in Egypt, Vaniver in England, Dragoon in Flanders, Ranger in Bavaria, and then me and Graves (Balkans) bringing up the rear.
The difference between first and last is considerable, about 500 development. But the difference between last and say, second is actually considerably less large, merely 300, and rapidly shrinks. There is much room for movement among the lower ranks, but those on the very top are unlikely to come down anytime soon; but who among the bottom, will join them?
The world in 1565
When Filippo reappeared in Palermo, some rejoiced, others doubted; "it's just an actor," or "it's his ghost." His heir Edit, however, knew that it was him and handed over the throne immediately, though she privately raged; she was more able than him in some ways, and while never really expecting to take the throne herself, had been glad to have the responsibility handed to her. And now he was back, with little explanation for his disappearance and little change in the fundamentals of the Neapolitan situation, a small country wedged between two great powers and a country that spends as much time 8th on the list as 9th off it. The news was not widely believed in England until it was eventually confirmed by Burchard of Bavaria, the other immortal.
This session saw a definite answer to the French Question; England swallowed Ireland and the islands in the North Atlantic, Benelux (once known as Flanders) took Caux, Bavaria a few provinces near Dijon, and Brittany much of the remainder. France lives on as little more than the duchy of Paris, likely to be swallowed by Brittany as soon as it has the governing capacity to effectively manage those lands.
This session also saw the opening of Asia as a home for defeated players (and newcomers, if you're interested!). BCM, formerly of Kievan Rus, is now the Tokugawa Shogunate, having unified the rest of Japan and starting to build an island empire. King of Men, formerly of Thrace, is now Yue, the southern Chinese warlord. Sven, a new permanent player (and much-appreciated sub beforehand) has taken on the Edron trading company, spreading throughout the Indonesian islands.
The Ming have lost the Mandate of Heaven to Korea, an expansionist AI nation, which now is likely going to misgovern itself unless rescued by a player. Lan Xang in Indochina also seems to be expanding well.
Europe continues to grow more compact and solid; the Atlantic coast is down to England, Brittany, and Portugal. Naples, Draconia, Egypt, and the Balkan Federation fill out the rest of the Med. Georgia and Zamazon have split the East between them, and Ar-Adunaim holds all of Scandinavia. Thuringia spans Denmark, Germany, and Poland, one of the richest nations in the world with one of the most impressive armies. Benelux is wedged between land powers and naval powers, and Bavaria, hemmed in by many neighbors, has not been able to translate its mighty army into significant expansion.
Kievan Rus, like France, lingers as a shadow of its former self, most of the land taken by Zamazon, some by Thuringia. The two massive land powers of Europe now border each other, the broader diplomatic situation one of vertical alliances and horizontal rivalries. The peasants who once called themselves Kievan do not wonder whether there will be a war; they only wonder when.
Last edited:
The world in 1587
The main event of this session for Britain, as seen by the distant future, will be the adoption of the printing press. It originated in Bregenz, a small Bavarian city around Lake Constance, north of the capital; smaller than the other cities in the region, it was noteworthy mostly because of the Papermaker's Guild.
While the Royal Society of Britain quickly obtained a press, the potential was not immediately seen. After all, the various universities of England had long employed armies of scribes and had massive libraries of books; while it could create cheap copies, what was needed were new works of high quality.
It was the secondary cities of Northern England that first saw the possibilities of widely spread pamphlets; originally they were libelous, comedic, advertisements, pornographic, or otherwise distasteful, and the government felt secure enough to ignore them. What truly caught their attention was that while published in Northern England, they spread to the neighboring Anglo-Saxon lowlands, where people would learn English to read them. The British government had long been engaged in the project of not merely accepting many different cultures, but unifying them into a single English culture, and this was a new opportunity in that war for the culture; thus the President banned the use of printing presses to print anything besides English, while not banning the content of what could be printed in English.
As English had long been the sole language spoken in the major educational institutions, the Fleet, and the Army, this was not the beginning of the Anglicization of Britain, but it was the second major phase; the Norman and Norse influence is relegated to minor islands, Irish and Scottish are down to a single province, and Welsh and Anglo-Saxon are on the way out.
The main events for Britain this session, as seen by the people of the time, were the colossal wars. First, a note on diplomacy: at the end of the session, it seems that there are three great blocs. The Eastern bloc is Zamazon (red, northern Russia), Georgia (pink, southern Russia), and the Balkan Federation (dark blue) all allied to each other; Egypt, while not allied with Zamazon, likely deserves to be counted as well. The Southern bloc is Brittany (dark red in France), Bavaria (light grey north of the Alps), and Draconia (cream in Italy) all allied to each other; Naples (pink in north Africa), not allied to Brittany and also allied to Egypt, also should likely be counted. The Northern bloc is Thuringia (light blue in Germany), Ar Adunaim (dark red in Scandinavia), and Benelux (yellow in Flanders); while according to the British press they stand above Europe alone, outside observers would likely place them in the Northern bloc, despite only being allied to Thuringia. Portugal (in green) mostly stands alone, although it began the session allied to Brittany.
It began with the Thuringian Conquest of Stuttgart in August of 1568. The two German powers had been allies for much of CKII, but had not been allied in EU4; with their victory cards landing on each other, it seemed both inevitable and like a sudden betrayal at the same time. Allies of both parties stayed out, allowing the fight to be 1 on 1. Britain, which began the session allied to both attacker and defender, opted for neutrality, accepting a white peace to prevent the battles of overeager colonial nations from doing too much damage.
Sensing the opportunity, in February of 1570 the Balkan Federation, along with its allies in Georgia and Egypt, declared war on Thuringia with the Conquest of Zips. According to Thuringia, this was a betrayal; the Thuringians had made known their plan to declare war on Bavaria, in the hopes that others might join them, and was of the sense the Balkans would join in. Now allies joined in for real, including Zamazon once a truce timer was up. This was the first major opportunity for British troops to show their mettle, as I could move them with my own transports. While they fared well against the Zamazonian troops, they were hardly the pride of the North, tho Godfrey Judith, Britain's best general, was often the North's best general as well.
By 1571, it was clear the North could not fight two wars at once, and a peace with Bavaria was signed, ceding the victory card in Austria. The Eastern front went back and forth; at one point all of Riga was occupied, and then the northern front was pushed back to Finland. The North's troops laid siege to Temes, and then were pushed back to the Thuringian border.
In 1574, while the war in the East was still raging, Portugal declared war on Naples, hoping to take his victory card; when Naples had formidable defenders, and Brittany betrayed Portugal, the war only took a year to conclude. Naples took significant American holdings, and Brittany extended south into Catalonia, collecting his victory card.
As the 1570s came to a close, both North and East courted the southern powers. All sides had spent tremendous amounts of manpower to push the line back and forth without decisive victories; Britain, having exhausted 150k of reserves, was ready to pull back entirely. Bavaria, with a victory card in Yugoslavia, was also the main country that could get territorial gains from the war if it joined the North, but also having recently been attacked by Thuringia, that offer felt incomplete. The Bavarian Purge of Thuringian Heresy was declared in 1580, with Brittany, Draconia, and Naples all joining in.
Once again, two fronts was likely more than the North could manage, but with Brittany, Britain's long-time rival (and target of my second victory card) in the war, I decided to slacken recruiting standards and fight on.
Four years later, the Eastern front was lost. All told, the war between East and North lasted for 14 years, and buried 3.4 million men; a bit less than 1.5M for the East and a bit less than 2M for the North. A client state was carved out of the Krakow, eroding Thuringia's defense of its southeastern corner, and Vyborg lost to the Zamazonians. Most importantly to the Balkan Federation, Crete was ceded to Athens, removing the central base of piracy in the Med.
With one front, and additional mercenaries, the war between North and South took six years, ending with the northern coast of Brittany completely sieged down. Paris passed into Dutch hands, and bits of a Thuringian victory card in western Bavaria, and most importantly, the island of Malta, within range of the Aegean, now flies a pirate flag. (Britain, as all its demands were on the highly developed part of a secondary participant in the war, didn't get any territory in this war, but has favors banked for the likely repeat.)
Thuringia here. We were winning the war in the east (it was a slog though) and I was stab hitting the Balkan Feds for land but then bavaria attacked me and their alliance drove into the netherlands so the northern block abandoned the eastern front allowing the HRE+Egypt to win their war.
I am sad to report that even one who has passed the third-level examinations at the first sitting finds these barbarian machinations somewhat difficult to follow, with their repeated attacks and retreats, unpronounceable grunts of place-names, and apparent utter lack of any feeling of honour or dignity between nations. It is fortunate, then, that events so far away from the center of the world can hardly affect us, and may safely be ignored.
Cannons roar out across the countryside,
The dead lay unburied,
The golden dragon sleeps on its throne.
Last week saw one of the greatest conflicts thus far this campaign. And perhaps one of the most diplomatically dynamic that has ever been for nearly any previous campaign.
It all began behind closed curtains, with cloak and dagger. Graves now ruling over the Balkan Federation, no longer seeing fit to be merely Croatia, went to Tazzzo with a scheme.
However this scheme was a in of itself a plot, and this plot was within a gambit, which in turn was secreted away within ruse, a ploy in fact by any other name. Drafted with destructive discipline, this design devised by devious devils, determined to devote their dangerous and dastardly wills to their derived ends most deprived in which they dutifully demanded a dragon’s due. They had urged Tazzzo, the player of what is essentially Germany (Thuringia), pressed him into an assault on Ranger (Bavaria/South Germany) promising to follow along posthaste!
However here turns the gears within this ambitiously oiled mechanism, they then turned their backs on Tazzzo. Instead of aiding Tazzzo in this cruel venture, they betrayed them! The betrayers betrayed the betrayer! Enough irony to feed the beleaguered war orphans left alone in this world by the ensuing conflict.
Graves, Mark (Georgia), Mich (Zamazon), and Steif (Egypt), invaded Tazzzo seeking their pound of flesh. As it turns out however, it is, with much difficulty, the process of invading the largest power in the game. The morale values were quite unhinged, with Ranger and Tazzzo more or less reaching between 7 and 8 morale that session depending on events.
The war dragged on, month after month, year after year. Battles were waged and several times the Holy Roman Empire’s forces were dashed by the rocks that composed the fortresses of the Thuringian Empire and scatted across the winds and the steppe, only to reforge themselves again, as though risen again from the very graves they had been just recently buried within; this is what happens so it seems, when you bury your foes in graves a tad too shallow.
In the west, with Thuringia seemingly fully committed and invested in the titanic struggle with the multiheaded Hydra that was the Eastern Coalition, Ranger was convinced after being cajoled by the HRE to enter the War. Ranger had been heavily lobbied by both sides in the conflict, Tazzzo offering a NAP and sweeteners but in the end Ranger was convinced to join against Tazzzo, perhaps the memory of Tazzzo’s own surprise attack on Ranger was still too fresh, and Ranger not yet fully availed himself to the knowledge of Graves’ duplicity.
Ranger, followed by the Draconians of Italia (me) and Yami of the Neapolitans, along with France headed by Mike’s sub entered the conflict expected a moderate fight but a ultimately victorious one.
We were mistaken.
Tazzzo after a brief period to muster his strength and Dragoon (Flanders, who had been in the war the whole time as well) who hired mercenaries, focused on the West on Mike/(Subbed by CL), and ultimately seemed to despite their exhaustion and prior commitment, all too able to flesh their muscles and crush us.
It seemed the gunpowder revolution had fully arrived in Europe and most of our armies were woefully underprepared for such a conflict, the gap in cannons was as large as 60,000; in addition to a general lack of preparation.
Ranger and Mike lost some provinces although last I heard Mike has fixed this through diplomacy; how Europe proceeds from here we will have to wait and see.
The dead lay unburied,
The golden dragon sleeps on its throne.
Last week saw one of the greatest conflicts thus far this campaign. And perhaps one of the most diplomatically dynamic that has ever been for nearly any previous campaign.
It all began behind closed curtains, with cloak and dagger. Graves now ruling over the Balkan Federation, no longer seeing fit to be merely Croatia, went to Tazzzo with a scheme.
However this scheme was a in of itself a plot, and this plot was within a gambit, which in turn was secreted away within ruse, a ploy in fact by any other name. Drafted with destructive discipline, this design devised by devious devils, determined to devote their dangerous and dastardly wills to their derived ends most deprived in which they dutifully demanded a dragon’s due. They had urged Tazzzo, the player of what is essentially Germany (Thuringia), pressed him into an assault on Ranger (Bavaria/South Germany) promising to follow along posthaste!
However here turns the gears within this ambitiously oiled mechanism, they then turned their backs on Tazzzo. Instead of aiding Tazzzo in this cruel venture, they betrayed them! The betrayers betrayed the betrayer! Enough irony to feed the beleaguered war orphans left alone in this world by the ensuing conflict.
Graves, Mark (Georgia), Mich (Zamazon), and Steif (Egypt), invaded Tazzzo seeking their pound of flesh. As it turns out however, it is, with much difficulty, the process of invading the largest power in the game. The morale values were quite unhinged, with Ranger and Tazzzo more or less reaching between 7 and 8 morale that session depending on events.
The war dragged on, month after month, year after year. Battles were waged and several times the Holy Roman Empire’s forces were dashed by the rocks that composed the fortresses of the Thuringian Empire and scatted across the winds and the steppe, only to reforge themselves again, as though risen again from the very graves they had been just recently buried within; this is what happens so it seems, when you bury your foes in graves a tad too shallow.
In the west, with Thuringia seemingly fully committed and invested in the titanic struggle with the multiheaded Hydra that was the Eastern Coalition, Ranger was convinced after being cajoled by the HRE to enter the War. Ranger had been heavily lobbied by both sides in the conflict, Tazzzo offering a NAP and sweeteners but in the end Ranger was convinced to join against Tazzzo, perhaps the memory of Tazzzo’s own surprise attack on Ranger was still too fresh, and Ranger not yet fully availed himself to the knowledge of Graves’ duplicity.
Ranger, followed by the Draconians of Italia (me) and Yami of the Neapolitans, along with France headed by Mike’s sub entered the conflict expected a moderate fight but a ultimately victorious one.
We were mistaken.
Tazzzo after a brief period to muster his strength and Dragoon (Flanders, who had been in the war the whole time as well) who hired mercenaries, focused on the West on Mike/(Subbed by CL), and ultimately seemed to despite their exhaustion and prior commitment, all too able to flesh their muscles and crush us.
It seemed the gunpowder revolution had fully arrived in Europe and most of our armies were woefully underprepared for such a conflict, the gap in cannons was as large as 60,000; in addition to a general lack of preparation.
Ranger and Mike lost some provinces although last I heard Mike has fixed this through diplomacy; how Europe proceeds from here we will have to wait and see.
The world in 1619
At the beginning of the session, the British people, energized by the lost wars and wounded pride, searched hard for ways to improve and meet the new challenges of the era. The armies could not find enough men to refill their musters, and while once it had been easy to find an able-bodied man willing to work, they were now scarce, many having been buried in the forests of Russia or hills of Carpathia. By 1599, enough countries had rebuilt that the North attacked the East, and basically reclaimed their previous territory, with some adjustments. The major development was an alignment between Thuringia and Bavaria; without Bavaria to open up a second front, the East quickly lost hope. With the victory in the Reconquest of Memel, and other major reforms complete, the British declared themselves vindicated, once again sure of their place in the world, and swore off meddling in the East until their own neighborhood had been brought to order.
Finistere, the crown jewel of Brittany, was once the gateway to the British Isles, with trade from the rest of the world stopping there first; the city also puts the cities of Britain to shame, with its 52 dev in a class above the British cities. Ayrshire, the main British metropolis at 41, is the same as Vannetais, the secondary city of Brittany. Currently under the sway of a brutal military dictatorship, the people long for enlightened British rule--at least, that's what the crews of trading ships whose lives would be made much simpler by a conquest say. [The state of Brittany is both the country's capital state and my 2,000 point VC.] The situation of Brittany is complicated, however; on the map you see them expanding into Portugal, but this happened under a sub last session and the AI this session. The permanent player claims that upon their return all will be restored; what happens will remain to be seen.
Much as the printing press was how the future would view the last session, universities were how the future would view this session. While Britain had long had universities--Starfleet Academy in the capital is nearly five hundred years old--they were reserved for the most elite individuals, through birth or scholastic achievements. As population growth continued and prosperity accumulated, other regional universities sprang up. But now, with a growing artisan class, more widespread literacy, a focus on the rights of the citizenry, and a demand for continued British competitiveness, the construction of universities not just for regions for but every province in the country became one of the government's top priorities, and a massive spending project. This in turn led to additional ability to govern, and invest in, every corner of the Isles.
Since time immemorial, nobility in England had sole right to hunt on the great forests; in order to encourage more longbowmen, this right was modified (and somewhat curtailed); while any man could feed himself and his family with the meat of an animal he killed, he couldn't sell it without a granted license from the local nobility. Thus the 'greater beasts' were effectively reserved for them and those rich enough to pay the extra tax, for while a man and his family might eat a deer, a steer is nearly ten times as large, and would definitely go bad. Butchers could still freely sell the meat of the 'lesser beasts,' like chicken or sheep, and Britain's booming wool industry also created ample supplies of mutton, making this policy less unpopular than one might expect (especially as many of the officers in Starfleet, and many of the administrators associated with the Academy, had access to licensed beef).
When the privilege was first granted, Oxford and Dorset were the only major producers of livestock, and this was seen as a cheap concession to the nobility, and thus well worth it to keep the peace. But as England expanded and gradually became Britain, this moved from a minor factor to a major one; nearly half of Ireland is ranches, as is nearly a third of Texas. And Ireland, rather than a secondary property to be milked and otherwise ignored, had fully anglicized, and as an underdeveloped growth area, was blanketed with universities before much of the rest of Britain.
The monopoly's duration was 10 years, but had been renewed without incident since 1445; but in 1615 the government's answer was a clear "No longer," and it was removed. The 16th of January became a minor holiday, at least for a few years after, where eating beef in celebration became common. Of course, as many nobles were themselves ranchers, this was only seen as a minor setback, but many began to ask just where this road would go.
Last edited:
The world in 1648
Bavaria, in particular, with its solid army, mountain fortresses, and oceans of manpower, proved to be a recalictrant foe, declaring three wars against Brittany over the course of the session (and, as each ended with simply a transfer of cash from Bavaria to the defenders, meant a short truce allowing it to declare again). It seemed unsporting to take advantage of the situation with Brittany, and Portugal was AI-protected, so any continental adventures were put on hold. And so instead there were some colonial adventures; a major colonial war was fought to defend an AI that had been slated for British domination by treaty but came under attack by AI Ar Adunaim, but it was (mostly) resolved by separate white peaces. During the course of the war, Kentucky was seized by the British, allowing them to hem in New Leipzig and prevent further expansion into the American heartlands. After the other major entrants had left, Scandinavian Canada was still occupied by the OPM AI; eventually Huron was released, and then conquered that OPM, and then it was released again by Britain, and is now securely a British vassal. South America is a patchwork of colors, with Naples beginning to make a substantial empire for itself; the only major British colonial nation is Brazil, with others mostly sitting atop valuable trade ports.
My absolutism is now well above 60; however, it is less obviously worth pursuing further. The Court and Country disaster, an obvious path to follow if I seek to maintain a high level, involves significantly reducing stability and increasing unrest, which seems quite bothersome; governing capacity, which is a much harsher constraint in our game, trades off against maximum absolutism through several estate privileges which were recently revoked. In general, this has caused some reflection on Britain's situation in the world; overall, my goal for the EU4 leg has been more 'roleplaying' and less 'dominance', and this shows in the statistics. While Britain is the #3 GP, narrowly behind Portugal and ahead of Egypt, this is mostly because of the American colonies (which, while well able to handle themselves in colonial wars, will not be very helpful in any European conflicts). In terms of real development, Britain is #6, 73% of the top player, and in terms of income, Britain is again #6, this time 54% of the top player. (In my view, this is mostly because of the mod we're using that moves the end trade nodes to be inland; Thuringia, the top player in terms of dev and income, straddles two of the end nodes.)
Where Britain does shine is Innovativeness (88, with the distant second of 60 held by the only Anglican nation, and all others at 50 or below) and generally tech as well, altho given EU4's 'ahead of time' system this is much harder to reliably measure. (11 player nations are currently 20-20-20, for example.) Britain's heavy fleet is largest at 125, but Edron Trading Company in southeast Asia is close with 120, and has naval ideas to boot; given that the two countries are about as far as can be from each other, it seems unlikely that they will come to conflict, but possible that they will both race for Naval Hegemon. While my absolutism is also currently highest of the player nations, that seems a small boast compared to overall army morale, or discipline, or size.
These little barbarian conflicts, with their casualties of half a million to a side, certainly do give rise to a lot of complaining. Of course that is to be expected from men outside the guidance of the Emperor of All Under Heaven. When we fight in China, we expect to lose that many men merely in marching from one battle to the next.
But what do I know? I am but the unworthy scion of a fallen dynasty. Still, though the Mandate of Heaven be passed from my line, let it not be said that I exaggerated the numbers ranged against me, or that of the fallen in the conflict. This, at least, I need not add to the scroll of my self-accusations.
But what do I know? I am but the unworthy scion of a fallen dynasty. Still, though the Mandate of Heaven be passed from my line, let it not be said that I exaggerated the numbers ranged against me, or that of the fallen in the conflict. This, at least, I need not add to the scroll of my self-accusations.