Hi all,
I know none of you know me, which is logical because I've registered to the forum only a few days ago. I've been reading this forum for years though, as your AAR were what initially drove me into EU3, after a decade spent playing Civilization and Total War titles.
A few months ago, I've decided to take another step forward "intense EU3-isation" installing MEIOU. It was too much for my old machine so I bought a brand new one just to be able to play MEIOU. I took the chance to buy a new version of EU3 for it (cheaper for my mental health to buy a new version than to look for the old ones), and this time, to activate it right away on the forums, so here I am!
Anyway, I've spent some time understanding the game mechanics in MEIOU, and here I am, ready to start my first AAR, with my favorite nation: SAVOY.
A few questions you may ask before I start:
1) Why MEIOU ?
The challenge, to start with. With MEIOU I can play a European nation for two centuries and still risk to lose everything against another European nation, while with vanilla I'm just crashing pagan skulls by that time. Moreover, the map accuracy makes every game a unique one, with realistic boundaries mechanics, while vanilla tends to look "Risk"-y after so many years.
In addition, I just love all the "side enhancements" of MEIOU. (Come for the map, stay for the game).
2) Why Savoy ?
This is a good question, thanks for asking. First reason is my origins: my family is initially from Turin. They moved to France during WWII, before I moved myself to Texas a few years ago, but the Duchy of Savoy has a strong meaning for me. Second reason is that its historical importance is deeply underestimated by the EU3 community. County then Duchy of Savoy became the Kingdom of Piedmont-Sardinia, which eventually founded Italy. You can't be willing to play Castilla / England / Holland to form Spain / GB / Netherlands and not be willing to play Savoy to ultimately form Italy. Next reason is its challenge: Savoy is not an OPM, and is part of the Empire so can be protected and can become Emperor, so it has a nice safety net. However, Savoy is bounded by France, Burgundy and Milan, is entirely landlocked in MEIOU (since Nice is not in Savoy yet), so it has everything I want for a first AAR: something worth reading (not oh, look, I've crashed Bar with my France+Castille PU), eventually more for itself than for me (oh, look, I'm beating the Ming+Korea alliance with my Ryukyu OPM). Finally, it is the nation I've played the most with. So, I kinda know what to expect: Milan, Switzerland, Austria, the pope, France.... All of that I know. Holstein, Sverige, Livonian order... not that much.
3) As readers, what can we expect from this AAR?
Fun. At least, I hope. Let's face it: I'm not a very good EU3 player. I'm not going to have the old Roman Empire reformed by 1400. I'm probably not going to form an "Atlantic-to-Pacific" Russian-like Empire. And this is a chance, because it would become boring for me to play, and probably for you to read, as there are already 100's of AARs like that on this forum. Moreover, I will not focus too much to the details and IG mechanics, except when they are worth noticing. Research, financing, sliders moves, counselors, diplomacy... 90% of the time this has no noticeable impact on the long-term, and since I'm not skilled enough to teach anyone anything, let's just avoid the embarrassment. Yes, there will be times I will have to mint or take loans, sometimes I will have to hire mercenaries, highly reduce army maintenance, and most of the time it will not be very wise choices. But I am writing an AAR about the County of Savoy, not any merchant republic, so I will not bother about the economics so much (at least in my writings...)
Instead, I'll try to write something worth reading. To be honest, the AARs I've enjoyed the most lately as a reader are knul's double domination (I've tried to reproduce the concept with a Maya/Savoy game. It's a shame to constantly see your entire nation destroyed by the AI in just a few years) and the ongoing Pukovnik's Serbian AAR.
If you didn't like any of these two AARs, either because it is not "Serious enough", or because it lacks some "in-depth clicking strategies dialog", then just... not follow this one
4) Why calling this a Reality-Show?
Well... Because of the format.
Reality-shows (the less formatted ones, like Big Brother) have to follow strict format rules. No matter how interesting or uninteresting the day was, they have to provide a daily 1-h show. The show is commented by third-party narrators, not by the actors themselves, even if the actors are asked questions from time to time.
Then, these are the format rules I will follow:
5) Any in-house rules?
Sure...
I'll hope you'll have fun.
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
You can text your questions to Ray and George starting now!
SEASON PREMIERE OF "BIG RULER" IS STARTING NOW!
I know none of you know me, which is logical because I've registered to the forum only a few days ago. I've been reading this forum for years though, as your AAR were what initially drove me into EU3, after a decade spent playing Civilization and Total War titles.
A few months ago, I've decided to take another step forward "intense EU3-isation" installing MEIOU. It was too much for my old machine so I bought a brand new one just to be able to play MEIOU. I took the chance to buy a new version of EU3 for it (cheaper for my mental health to buy a new version than to look for the old ones), and this time, to activate it right away on the forums, so here I am!
Anyway, I've spent some time understanding the game mechanics in MEIOU, and here I am, ready to start my first AAR, with my favorite nation: SAVOY.
A few questions you may ask before I start:
1) Why MEIOU ?
The challenge, to start with. With MEIOU I can play a European nation for two centuries and still risk to lose everything against another European nation, while with vanilla I'm just crashing pagan skulls by that time. Moreover, the map accuracy makes every game a unique one, with realistic boundaries mechanics, while vanilla tends to look "Risk"-y after so many years.
In addition, I just love all the "side enhancements" of MEIOU. (Come for the map, stay for the game).
2) Why Savoy ?
This is a good question, thanks for asking. First reason is my origins: my family is initially from Turin. They moved to France during WWII, before I moved myself to Texas a few years ago, but the Duchy of Savoy has a strong meaning for me. Second reason is that its historical importance is deeply underestimated by the EU3 community. County then Duchy of Savoy became the Kingdom of Piedmont-Sardinia, which eventually founded Italy. You can't be willing to play Castilla / England / Holland to form Spain / GB / Netherlands and not be willing to play Savoy to ultimately form Italy. Next reason is its challenge: Savoy is not an OPM, and is part of the Empire so can be protected and can become Emperor, so it has a nice safety net. However, Savoy is bounded by France, Burgundy and Milan, is entirely landlocked in MEIOU (since Nice is not in Savoy yet), so it has everything I want for a first AAR: something worth reading (not oh, look, I've crashed Bar with my France+Castille PU), eventually more for itself than for me (oh, look, I'm beating the Ming+Korea alliance with my Ryukyu OPM). Finally, it is the nation I've played the most with. So, I kinda know what to expect: Milan, Switzerland, Austria, the pope, France.... All of that I know. Holstein, Sverige, Livonian order... not that much.
3) As readers, what can we expect from this AAR?
Fun. At least, I hope. Let's face it: I'm not a very good EU3 player. I'm not going to have the old Roman Empire reformed by 1400. I'm probably not going to form an "Atlantic-to-Pacific" Russian-like Empire. And this is a chance, because it would become boring for me to play, and probably for you to read, as there are already 100's of AARs like that on this forum. Moreover, I will not focus too much to the details and IG mechanics, except when they are worth noticing. Research, financing, sliders moves, counselors, diplomacy... 90% of the time this has no noticeable impact on the long-term, and since I'm not skilled enough to teach anyone anything, let's just avoid the embarrassment. Yes, there will be times I will have to mint or take loans, sometimes I will have to hire mercenaries, highly reduce army maintenance, and most of the time it will not be very wise choices. But I am writing an AAR about the County of Savoy, not any merchant republic, so I will not bother about the economics so much (at least in my writings...)
Instead, I'll try to write something worth reading. To be honest, the AARs I've enjoyed the most lately as a reader are knul's double domination (I've tried to reproduce the concept with a Maya/Savoy game. It's a shame to constantly see your entire nation destroyed by the AI in just a few years) and the ongoing Pukovnik's Serbian AAR.
If you didn't like any of these two AARs, either because it is not "Serious enough", or because it lacks some "in-depth clicking strategies dialog", then just... not follow this one
4) Why calling this a Reality-Show?
Well... Because of the format.
Reality-shows (the less formatted ones, like Big Brother) have to follow strict format rules. No matter how interesting or uninteresting the day was, they have to provide a daily 1-h show. The show is commented by third-party narrators, not by the actors themselves, even if the actors are asked questions from time to time.
Then, these are the format rules I will follow:
- Two commentators [war journalist Ray Porter and former Marines officer George Isaac Joe] will do the narration. They will be helped by top model B. Rene Daid for the interviews
- The reports will be devided by Rounds. A Round will be roughly a 10-years narration, to be ended at any time if the ruler dies. I will be playing a few years ahead to avoid short rounds (death in the 11th year is better than in the first year) or for consistency (12 or 13 years round to accommodate for a war or a regency council)
- press conferences will be held before every show. The ruler of Savoy will be interviewed by the commentators about their thoughts on the last round, their objectives for the next one, and will be asked some of the viewers' SMS questions. Interviews will be held at the end of a round, with brief "state of the nation" stage discussion, if needed, but no interview will be held during the round.
- state of the nation / state of the world special emissions will be held at a regular basis (most likely, at every ruler change)
- full RP: The rulers of Savoy are supposed to make the decisions, not myself. This means that I will have to do some choices which IG will be counter-productive but seems to be what the ruler would have done
5) Any in-house rules?
Sure...
- Nothing Cheesy: choices have to be Role Play, not Roll Play.
- No Exploration / QftNW National Idea / Exploration except if one of this is true:
- Another European nation already has at least one viable colony (Copy-cat Explorer)
- No territory could have been gained in this round nor the previous one (Land expansion Explorer)
- There is a strategical reason to do so (for instance: north African holdings being constantly raided by hostile nations through Sahara)
- No Mission cancellation without legitimacy loss. I consider that missions are given by the Savoyard Senate, which is constituted by the lower nobility and the higher local clergy. The only time a mission will be canceled is if it shouldn't have been given in the first place: a war mission (conquer, annex, vassalize) given under a Regency council while the heir will not reach the throne in the next 2-3 years.
- No DOW without a CB, no matter why. It might however be our choice not to strictly honor the CB when negociating the peace, if it is not too cheesy.
- No Truce/Alliance Break. The Truce rule is gold. An alliance may however be broken if there is a REAL reason for it (WE very high and MP very low, etc...)
- Minimum Illicit occupation of lands. If one vassal/PU has core on one of Savoy non-core land, this land should be given to him. Non-cores which are not attached to Savoy's mainland should be given to vassals/PUs [even if they do not have core on it] or vassals should be created over-there. Overseas holdings will be handled differently.
- No Reload. Once a round is started, it has to be terminated and will be posted. There are only two exceptions to this rule: if Savoy is annihilated during one round, the round will be replayed (rather than this AAR being terminated). The first round can be escaped/replayed so the basis for the AAR are stable enough. I probably shouldn't say that, but the first round (that I will post tonight or tomorrow) is my third attempt. I bankrupted after 9 years in my first test, and in my second one, while a Burgundy - Milan - Switzerland - Austria coalition was seizing all my lands, France stacked 25k troops near me. This was not very solid start for an entertaining AAR...
I'll hope you'll have fun.
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
You can text your questions to Ray and George starting now!
SEASON PREMIERE OF "BIG RULER" IS STARTING NOW!
Last edited: