Good evening, everyone. Before we start, could everyone just give me a hand arranging all the chairs in a circle? ... There, thanks. I find it easier for everyone to communicate with each other when they're forced to look everyone in the eye. Now everyone feel free to help themselves to the baklava and coffee in the back of the room. ... OK, let's all take a seat in the circle.
Now, for those of you who don't yet know me, my name is Chester Kisscookies. I am here for the same reason you are; I, like you, am a recovering megalomaniac. This horrid disease afflicted me for several months before I realized that I needed help. It started off innocently enough ... I'd purchased a copy of EU2 and naturally became absorbed with the game's myriad possibilities. As I played, I quickly built my skill to point at which only playing the game at Very Hard provided a real challenge. I also liked playing on Very Hard because it forced me to limit my empire's size to avoid instigating badboy wars. But then, I started reading some AAR's on the EU2 message board, some of which were attempts by the authAARs to conquer the world on Very Hard. And they were succeeding! Some of the players were using relatively "easy" nations, like France and Spain, but some more adventurous souls were using nations like Saxony and Trebizond.
I decided I would try my hand at this craft. I started off easy, conquering the world with Spain. It was barely a challenge, and wouldn't have been any challenge at all if I'd realized before trying just how "revolting" war exhaustion can be. Gradually, I moved into more challenging nations, like Denmark and the Mamelukes, and then into minor German states. I couldn't stop myself. I was totally addicted to that feeling of superiority one gets when subjugating whole nations of simulated people. I see many of you nodding, so I know you know what I'm talking about. Every game I played was nothing more than an ongoing question: Where was I going to get my next province? I finally hit rock bottom when I got the idea to try conquering the world with Brunei. As I started the game and selected Brunei and saw my starting position, I realized just how sick I'd become. And that's why I'm here.
Now, the bad news is that one is never cured of megalomania. The good news? There's a way fight it. And that's what I'm going to show you in this twelve-step program. We'll all go through the twelve steps over the course of our meetings. But that's not enough to deal with megalomania. You must convince yourselves that you can enjoy EU2 just as much as you do now without conquering the world. To help you in this endeavor, I shall play a game on Very Hard and not trigger a single badboy war over the 400 years of simulated history. By the end of the game you will see that one can not only build a respectable empire without BB wars, but one can build quite an impressive empire without BB wars. OK ... I know what you're thinking: "He's gonna use Spain or the Ottomans or Byzantium, so he can conquer or colonize half the world without other nations caring." Wrong. Dead wrong. No, I'm going to use Siena. Why? Well, they have decent culture, are close to lots of co-religionists, are European, and most importantly are a nice color on the political map. It may not be easy, but neither is overcoming megalomania.
Speaking of which, it's time to introduce Step 1: Admitting you've got a problem. We're going to break for tonight, but before our next session, I'd like everyone to go home and think about their megalomania. Look yourself in the mirror and say, "I am a megalomaniac." Then say it to someone else, like a spouse or a really close friend. Next session, we'll continue with our discussion, and I'll show you how the first 25 years of my game as Siena went. See you all next time!
OOC: First, let me assure those of you following my Granada AAR that I am not going to leave it unfinished. This AAR will probably only be updated once a week or so, and I don't expect it to encroach on the time I spend on PtP&C25. The reason I started this AAR was that, given the numerous WC AAR's on the board lately, I felt the sanity-ruled game was unheralded. I started getting an idea for an AAR to this effect, and I was deep into a very enjoyable Siena game, and here we are.
This is not to say that WC AAR's are boring by definition. I've read several (and commented in a few) that I've found most enjoyable. MrT's France AAR that I can't spell the title of and PE's "WC for Dummies" come to mind. Rather, it is to say that IMO writing a WC AAR that is not boring is a big challenge, mainly because once you conquer Europe the outcome of the game is pretty much a given. That's also why I don't wish to attempt a WC AAR ... I doubt I could keep readers' interest. My point here is not to criticize the WC AARs ... I just want to remind some folks that building an empire to stand the test of time from a rump state without triggering a BB war is not only possible, but fun. Oh, and I think we can poke a little fun at the Stuart Smally genre of 12-step programs along the way.
As I said, posting will be infrequent. Everyone should feel free to spam this thread as much as they want. Feel free to ask questions of Mr. Kisscookies as well, since he's your therapy group leader. After all, communication with fellow sufferers is the key to recovery.
Now, for those of you who don't yet know me, my name is Chester Kisscookies. I am here for the same reason you are; I, like you, am a recovering megalomaniac. This horrid disease afflicted me for several months before I realized that I needed help. It started off innocently enough ... I'd purchased a copy of EU2 and naturally became absorbed with the game's myriad possibilities. As I played, I quickly built my skill to point at which only playing the game at Very Hard provided a real challenge. I also liked playing on Very Hard because it forced me to limit my empire's size to avoid instigating badboy wars. But then, I started reading some AAR's on the EU2 message board, some of which were attempts by the authAARs to conquer the world on Very Hard. And they were succeeding! Some of the players were using relatively "easy" nations, like France and Spain, but some more adventurous souls were using nations like Saxony and Trebizond.
I decided I would try my hand at this craft. I started off easy, conquering the world with Spain. It was barely a challenge, and wouldn't have been any challenge at all if I'd realized before trying just how "revolting" war exhaustion can be. Gradually, I moved into more challenging nations, like Denmark and the Mamelukes, and then into minor German states. I couldn't stop myself. I was totally addicted to that feeling of superiority one gets when subjugating whole nations of simulated people. I see many of you nodding, so I know you know what I'm talking about. Every game I played was nothing more than an ongoing question: Where was I going to get my next province? I finally hit rock bottom when I got the idea to try conquering the world with Brunei. As I started the game and selected Brunei and saw my starting position, I realized just how sick I'd become. And that's why I'm here.
Now, the bad news is that one is never cured of megalomania. The good news? There's a way fight it. And that's what I'm going to show you in this twelve-step program. We'll all go through the twelve steps over the course of our meetings. But that's not enough to deal with megalomania. You must convince yourselves that you can enjoy EU2 just as much as you do now without conquering the world. To help you in this endeavor, I shall play a game on Very Hard and not trigger a single badboy war over the 400 years of simulated history. By the end of the game you will see that one can not only build a respectable empire without BB wars, but one can build quite an impressive empire without BB wars. OK ... I know what you're thinking: "He's gonna use Spain or the Ottomans or Byzantium, so he can conquer or colonize half the world without other nations caring." Wrong. Dead wrong. No, I'm going to use Siena. Why? Well, they have decent culture, are close to lots of co-religionists, are European, and most importantly are a nice color on the political map. It may not be easy, but neither is overcoming megalomania.
Speaking of which, it's time to introduce Step 1: Admitting you've got a problem. We're going to break for tonight, but before our next session, I'd like everyone to go home and think about their megalomania. Look yourself in the mirror and say, "I am a megalomaniac." Then say it to someone else, like a spouse or a really close friend. Next session, we'll continue with our discussion, and I'll show you how the first 25 years of my game as Siena went. See you all next time!
OOC: First, let me assure those of you following my Granada AAR that I am not going to leave it unfinished. This AAR will probably only be updated once a week or so, and I don't expect it to encroach on the time I spend on PtP&C25. The reason I started this AAR was that, given the numerous WC AAR's on the board lately, I felt the sanity-ruled game was unheralded. I started getting an idea for an AAR to this effect, and I was deep into a very enjoyable Siena game, and here we are.
This is not to say that WC AAR's are boring by definition. I've read several (and commented in a few) that I've found most enjoyable. MrT's France AAR that I can't spell the title of and PE's "WC for Dummies" come to mind. Rather, it is to say that IMO writing a WC AAR that is not boring is a big challenge, mainly because once you conquer Europe the outcome of the game is pretty much a given. That's also why I don't wish to attempt a WC AAR ... I doubt I could keep readers' interest. My point here is not to criticize the WC AARs ... I just want to remind some folks that building an empire to stand the test of time from a rump state without triggering a BB war is not only possible, but fun. Oh, and I think we can poke a little fun at the Stuart Smally genre of 12-step programs along the way.
As I said, posting will be infrequent. Everyone should feel free to spam this thread as much as they want. Feel free to ask questions of Mr. Kisscookies as well, since he's your therapy group leader. After all, communication with fellow sufferers is the key to recovery.
