Nec Temere, Nec Timide - Danzig/Gdańsk MMP Xmass Edition

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tuore: welcome!

Rabid: normally (check my other aars), i go for 'balanced policies' and in Danzig's case especially the inflation reduction is tempting; but i do want to preserve the spirit of Hansa/ Hanseatic town: plutocracy, rather free subjects, decentralised, free market, innovative and naval - that's the way the sliders are now, but you're right radical policies penalties will haunt me, so maybe i'll change my mind

JDMS: i did, England with its fleet is too important an ally; i find writing this aar much easier than my previous ones, so you can expect more frequent updates

 

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1469-1474​

I don’t want to lose England as an ally so I join this war although there’s nothing in it for me. Initially, I ignore it focusing on internal matters: provincial accountant on Ősel and local collectors in Danzig – these with the aim of battling inflation.

It’s election time, you know we are sort of democratic, and as Wilhelm Jordan has done a great job so far I decide to keep him. In MMP election comes with a number of random consequences. I got lucky this time: people - grateful for burgomaster’s illustrious leadership - donated some money! I shudder to think what would’ve happened if I’d got 9k noble rebels in Danzig instead!

I check what’s going on in the war. I intend to end it possibly quickly due to my war exhaustion problems. But ever an opportunist, seeing England making mincemeat of Brittany’s navy, I join in the fun, if only to steal some prestige. My four galleys did a great job! A jump from 7 to 12 prestige for free, and for a trader prestige is very important. After this victory my ships blockade Armour and Finistere for a while but without a naval NI I have to manoeuvre my ships and England (Grr...! AI suffers no naval attrition) takes over the blockade soon. Brittany still says no to white peace.

They tried a sneaky attack on my lone galley in the Channel, but my other galleys made there for time and my powerful ally showed up too. This netted me another 5 prestige. This war isn’t that bad.

Meanwhile I exchange military access with Venice which gives me 169 relations. Now if I guarantee them it’ll be only 179 and I need 180 to complete my mission. Instead I sent them a gift of 12d and it does the trick. Now, the kontor pbly weakens me short-term but strengthens Hansa as a league – that’s what I like about Helius’ concept. As this mission was costly and severely cripples my tax income, from now on my economy’s going to rely almost entirely on trade – a true Hanseatean! Anyway, the more reliant on trade I become the more beneficial this 5% to TE will be. Taxes have become practically irrelevant.

January 1470 and the new mission is Trade with Novgorod. I’m going to be assigned that sort of missions for the years to come. Realising this I ask for trade agreements from England ('yes' – first try) and Novgorod ('yes' – second try). I cancel my embargo imposed on TO, with their NIs they’re no competition anyway. As they have a core on Danzig so they have casus belli anyway and embargo gave me -1 to trade technology research. I get few diplomats so I can’t do much more throughout the year, save checking if Brittany is ready for peace. My delighted commercial faction went down to content again; I was considering asking for money from them (you can do that in MMP or call/hire an advisor) but decided against it; which paid of as later, in October 1471, they turned delighted again.

England annexed Tyrone in April. More or less about that time so did France to Bourbonnais and Poland to Masovia; and Denmark to Holstein. In May I get a peace offer from Brittany and I immediately accept. My war exhaustion was almost at 8. Interestingly, England seems to be serious about the war with Brittany.

Internationally, a few interesting things happen. Apparently, Urbino broke vassalisation with the Pope and immediately attracted vultures. Genoa dows so it’s Genoa and Venice against Urbino (no allies). And soon Savoy follows but this time Tuscany and the Pope go to Urbino’s defence. Venice took Urbino shortly. Georgia attacked Cyprus (one-to-one war); they did it a bit too late though, in February 1471 OE (allied with the Memeluks!) annexed the island, which was followed by February 1473 annexation of the Knights. In June the Knights reappear in the Baleares. Now, at times the conditions AI imposes on its defeated enemies seem really generous.

Novgorod goes on the offensive and attacks Pskov. At times AI is truly suicidal. I’m not going to tab-intervene as I think Muscovy needs all the help it can get as Muslim khanates quickly form a durable tough-to-beat alliance most times guaranteed by OE. Funnily enough it’s Tver who is the alliance leader. And of course all its allies abandoned Novgorod, so it falls quickly. In September 1473 Muscovy leaves the war with Olonets and 19d. The others fight on. Novgorod enters the spiral of doom with recurring bankruptcies.

Portugal opted for ‘Follow the sunset’ in its Cape Bojador’ event. In November 1472 Thuringia inherited Saxony. I’m glad because I hope for more dynamic rivalry for Emperorship (btw we have an Empress now); before the inheritance Saxony always voted Thuringia and the other electors’ votes were spread evenly.

The two wars Austria is waging seem never-ending. Briesgau has been occupied three times by Burgundy and each time it was recaptured. I believe Austria's war exhaustion has zero effect anyway, no province revolt risk; whereas Burgundy starts feeling the problems - rr slowly goes up: +5 in some provs. Denmark(?) blockades Austria, not that it hurts the Archduchess. And Austria finally sent some men to Holstein, so far each time these have been routed. Oldenburg, Denmark’s ally, has been occupied by Hesse, freed, and now it’s occupied by Munster (Cologne will join in the fun).

Meanwhile in September I reach stability 2. I build artisan workshop in Danzig. In October I finish my mission – in the pic you can see the members of the league and countries with Hanseatic cities, I guess there must be 5 kontors: mine in Venice, the other four: Novgorod, London, Antwerp and Bergen. My next mission is to Establish trade in Stockholm: reward 50d. Completed in March 1472. Next mission: trade in kontor in London. In July 1472 my stability is back to 3 but war exhaustion is still high, I hope England won’t go to another war too soon. Ősel gets uncontrolled piracy – I do nothing about it, it’s dirt poor anyway. April 1473 truce with LIV expires… and nothing. I start sending alliance offers to Brandenburg despite it being ‘very unlikely’ to forge an alliance. So far no success. In August I swap a 4-star banker for a 6-star alderman; pity there are no naval advisors, save a privateer, I can’t upgrade my port. December 1473 and it’s election time again. I take the candidate with the best plan. Apparently it wasn’t quite honest and democratic campaign but I surely won’t be complaining.

 

[aldriq]

Lucky escape from Poland and Pommerania, I guess the AI isn't aware it can long-wait you And nice prestige piggybacking off England's navy :rofl: It would be nice if you managed to get a solid ally in the mainland, like Brandenburg or Thuringia...

 

[JDMS]

Great update. Your last elected official has great stats.

 

[blsteen]

A mainland ally would be helpful, but may also draw more trouble depending on who it is.

 

[Urza]

Good updates, easy and entertaining to read. I still wonder what your long-term goals are, when you will finally have some peace and prosperity going.

 

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aldriq:

AI isn't aware it can long-wait you

it does sometimes manage to 'long-wait', but i don't think there's any strategy or planning in it

It would be nice if you managed to get a solid ally in the mainland, like Brandenburg or Thuringia...

funny you mentioned that...

JDMS: indeed! he's god-sent his 9DIP will prove useful

blsteen: i know i have to be picky about allies, that's why i insulted Irish minors and Scotland to avoid suffering stab hits when England goes on the offensive

Urza: at first i had no ambitious plans, intended to recreate the spirit of Hansa and maybe slow down/prevent its decline, but you'll see in the next updates there are new opportunities...

 

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1475-1479​

My new burgomaster completes the London mission, Kaffa is next. Trade agreement with Genoa follows. Thanks to trade agreements I get ‘Friends in the Empire’ events (one with Lűbeck and got another one with Genoa in 1478). There’s a revolt in Ősel in September, followed by ‘Estonian revolt’ in April next year and one more revolt in June 1476 – nothing serious. 1475 brings good news: merchant cooperation, which made this year a really good year.

Kaffa mission finished, I get one to protect Novgorod – I’ll give it a miss. My truces are due to expire in 1476 and 1477. So I keep focusing not only on getting rich… but also putting my great DIP burgomaster to use and spamming Brandenburg with alliance offers, got it on the third try with ‘unlikely’. (Stubborness is a virtue. AI knows a thing or two about it.) Tightly controlled piracy in Danzig crowns the bliss.

In June 1477 I lose delighted commercial faction for good. Novgorod whitepeacing deletes my former mission and I get to establish trade in Andalusia. I’m planning to fulfil it but my merchants begin to be spread out and my competence chance is decreasing. Andalusian COT taken, I get ‘Protect against Livonian Order’ mission. 1478 brings a seemingly remote yet very important war:

I sent new 1k infantry army that way… meanwhile France, pbly tempted by its high war exhaustion – I could see it coming - attacks Burgundy. (Below you'll see the screenshot of how it got guided to doing so; pbly Ad Infinitum at work.) My merchants start being kicked off from some places, luckily poor Stockholm is first to go, and it’s a trickle. The coring process on Ősel is progressing. Dynamic cores is one of my favourites in this mod. Sadly, it often weakens OE as they take a long time to core their Syrian and Egyptian lands, which stops their aggression.

Talking about OE, I see Ottoman ships in the Baltic?! And Ottoman soldiers landing in Livonian lands?! Naval attrition for AI is badly needed. I get military access from Leinster and park my 1k army there, watching carefully the sieges across the border. In February 1478 England shows the same symptoms France revealed a while back…

Internationally,
1474
Novgorod got a peace with Pskov for 4d.
Muscovy and LIV is in war with Crimea and half of the Muslim world (The Mamluks are the allance leader - another thing that needs to be righted in the game imo).
Bosnia dowed Montenegro
1475
Savoy – Papal States: white peace.
1476
Savoy – Tuscany: white peace. Venice, which annexed Urbino, is the winner here.
Bosnia – Montenegro: white peace.
Denmark&allies(Swe, Nor, Old) – Austria (but Trier is the leader?!) war is going on in earnest with puzzling episodes.

It’s of course short-lived. But the thing is I do wish naval attrition and maintenance meant sth to AI. The Scandinavians have been blockading Adriatic ports throughout the whole conflict! I do hope MMtheGame will do sth about it.
1477
Novgorod – Tver: white peace; despite Tver occupying half of Novgorod?!
France dows Burgundy; as a result, almost momentarily ->
Burgundy – Austria: white peace (AI often peaces out when it finds itself in anothr conflict.) The pic shows how the mod pushes AI to attack. It's an interesting mechanism although i've seen strange results e.g. Lorraine attacking high war exhaustion Naples (Lorraine has cores) with no chance of actually getting to Naples

I also observe religious events as I’m interested how the reform will play out. In 1477 Castile, the Papal Controller, ‘Imposes stringent rules to stop the practice’ in ‘Church Reform of Simony’ event; will this mean weaker Protestantism?

 

[aldriq]

Brandenburg finally accepted Could you give us a map of northern Germany/southern Baltic to see the regional situation?

The lack of naval attrition is very annoying. I understand it would be a massive drag to implement, but at least transport of troops and blockading could be restricted to within naval range without curtailing game speed.

...it does sometimes manage to 'long-wait', but i don't think there's any strategy or planning in it...

I guess it's all down to size - larger nations can afford longer wars and are more likely to long-wait...

 

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aldriq:

Could you give us a map of northern Germany/southern Baltic to see the regional situation?

Here you go. Not that much has changed so far.

The oddest thing is the Ottomans in Livonia, so i can't agree with you more on this:

The lack of naval attrition is very annoying. I understand it would be a massive drag to implement, but at least transport of troops and blockading could be restricted to within naval range without curtailing game speed.

i believe any new incarnation of EU will need ath along these lines

 

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1479-1481​

Tales of Valour follow and in March England dows Connacht. I join in and the strange war begins. Brittany sieges Connacht, Connacht – Munster and my 1k men plus hoards of English troops eye the situation across the border. I hope Munster falls first and gets annexed to let me step in. Not even a year later Connacht sends a cheeky peace offer my way. No thank you!

I didn’t have to lift a finger to get protected against LIV. It’s because they’re being shattered by OE. Next mission 'protect against Pommerania'. With their thousands of man? No thank you! My fellow Hansa City, Hanseastadt Hamburg collapsed due to antijudaists, there’a a pogrom there now. And as you can see Austria is stubbornly trying to free Holstein. Another interesting thing: Poland guarantees me. Am I on their to-do list?

The war in Ireland seems to reach a critical point. Both forts fall almost at the same time. I slow down the game and await the resolution of this conflict.

It didn’t take long. And my 1k brave men move on the offensive. I’ll be one day ahead of the Connachtians. Well, I wouldn’t be so brave if I didn’t have the support of English troops; which, naturally, are going to be a tad too late. You can call me the biggest opportunist on these boards. But I say the end justifies the means.

The battle won I decide to storm the castle as the walls haven’t been yet repaired from the previous hostile siege. The English do the donkey work, I take the spoils.

Ok, the badboy might be an issue, but don’t forget I have a DIP genius burgomaster so it shouldn’t take too long to tone it down. If my trade income suffers for a while – I can live with that. Now I seriously start thinking of my chances of becoming a coloniser. This will also give Hansa an opportunity to avoid its decline (a possible New World COT) I even somewhat regret taking Shrewd Commerce Practice instead of another idea, one leading to ME&C (Naval Provision for example). But no, I’m not going to swap ideas or cheat now, so what’s my option? Patience.

Not everything is good about this conquest. I got one more dirt-poor wrong-culture pbly revolt-prone province, which will increase my stability costs and slow down tech research. I also lose +5%TE Civic Consensus modifier and my Administrative Efficiency moves down from Capable to Competent Government; one prov too many apparently. And if me and England happen to fall out…


Internationally:
1479
Venice dows Mantua supported by host of Italian states (led by the Papal States) and Austrian Emperor; normally it would be a suicide, but the latter is irrelevant as Austrian troops are up north repeatedly and fruitlessly trying to recapture Holstein and Austria’s war exhaustion exceeds 22 (not that it hurts them much: 0% revolt risk! )
France – Burgundy, France wins and takes Combray and Picardie + 41d
Muscovy – Kazan, Muscovy pays 104d
1480
Hungary (+Austria) dows Bosnia (+Serbia), soon Austria, which had marched its troops south and started the siege of Istria peaces out with Venice; AI doesn’t like waging multiple wars.
Finally one of my favourite oddities: Russians revolted against Crimea in Crimean but Muscovy-occupied Tula

 

[Urza]

Excellent strategies, you seem to be swimming in money and prestige.. But that's going to be a gamble if the Irish province will core soon enough, very interesting. Maybe sell Ösel back to get better modifiers? Or are you planing more expansion?

 

[aldriq]

Well, that Irish province can be a nice colonial launchpad, although I don't see you holding it long-term - will not England get a core on it when it forms GB?

aldriq:
Here you go. Not that much has changed so far.

I was actually expecting a bigger map, to see more of Germany (Brandenburg, Thuringia, Poland...)

 

[JDMS]

Good work. Though are you worried that Poland will DoW you again?

 

[blsteen]

Well done, a little province kind of out of the way that can act as a forward base or ultimate rebdoubt.

 

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Urza: money, yes i'm well-off: about 1700d in the coffers, prestige, hmm... hoovers around 20; i'd gladly get rid of my two far-flung provs but i need them now for strategic reasons, so i'll stick with maintaining them for a while, as for expansion, dunno, i don't want more wrong-culture provs, so i intend to wait until i'm able to try my luck with colonisation

aldriq: dunno about England getting core on Connacht, but surely i'll be watching; as for the map wait a while, i'll post one when colours change a bit (two updates or so)

JDMS: i do worry about Poland, but as you'll see, for now they're more interested in TO (Poland is generally rather active with this date start, unlike with the recommended MMP date)

blsteen: that's exactly how i see it: Ősel: my insurance policy, Connacht: window of opportunity

 

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1481-1485​

So it seems I’m forging an empire(-let)! Now, obviously, the alliance with England becomes even more important as they might easily turn from my ally into a foe. I invest in provincial account in Connacht, I’m not planning to develop this prov beyond this. I hope to use it only as a springboard to my exploration adventure in the future. Not much else happens in 1481. Next year my 6-star alderman dies so I re-recruit my 4-star banker. Luckily, I paid for seasonal markets before – I want to keep my merchants happy. I also see Sweden gets a different monasticism option than other countries I’ve played so far. I believe their Bridgettines is flavour stuff.

Peace is illusive. In January 1473 England attacks Leinster, I duly follow. It’ll take some time to regain stab, but I’m not going to invest in it. I was planning to opportunistically grab some prestige in this war, like in the previous one. But somehow I mis-coordinated everything: my troops came too late to the battle, my ships brought me no profit from blockade (is it because - due to my third province - my abhorrence got abbrorrencer?) and I even let Lensterians loot Connacht. Can anyone beat me in mismanaging a war?

Leinster is going down quickly, yet its diplomats managed to voice their displeasure with our conquest of Connacht, Hmm… In August Brittany, the protector of all the Irish (how plausible is that?) offers white peace and I accept. More disruptive than this war turned out to be a trade crisis. And the stir down there in Poland, but to my relief they attack TO + LIV.

In March 1484 England annexes Leinster and continues its campaign in Brittany, again they seem to be serious about intending to grab some land. In December I get to choose my next NI and with distant, I admit, yet existing colonisation prospects I decide to combine the two a naval idea and a shot for ME&C. It’s not optimal naval idea for the Hanseatic Danzig but if I want to reach beyond the Baltic and beyond being a small trading nation Naval Provisioning is the only option. Soon we say goodbye to various abhorrences and we welcome… ‘lack of naval interest’. ‘Bless’ you Ubik!

My newly-discovered naval focus, prompts me to use another feature of MM: hiring fair. I want a naval advisor. I choose Ősel as it gives me 0 taxes anyway. First to offer his services is a naval reformer and I take him on. Expended anchorage is built immediately. All in all, it was quite an expensive operation, but in line with Danzinger spirit. For the sake of balance and in fear I might attract Poland’s attention as soon as it’s done with TO, I hire 1k cavalry; I have 5k troops altogether.

In June England offers Brittany an extremely generous peace; practically leaving it at the (no) mercy of France. I don’t know what to make of it. Clearly, England AI proved stupid here: it sent huge armies, suffered attrition, maintained troops, wasted time and manpower to siege/assault towns and all for nothing. But from my point of view: fewer English holdings on the continent, fewer chances to clash with France. Well, there’s Calais of course and its just a matter of time…

By September Poland is at peace again. Again I’m a bit mystified by its peace treaties too. Hopefully, this means Poland and TO will have to have another go at it. In November I regain stability and in December it’s election time again. Of course I keep Ferdinand Feber. It seems to me I got -1 reputation this time as it fell from around 2.5 to 1.5.

Internationally:
1482
Hungary takes Budjak and vassalises Moldavia, apparently Moldavia got dragged into the Balkan conflict. Later on Hungary vassalises Bosnia.
France annexes Armagnac.
Muscovy – Crimea: white peace.
Castile dows Granada; there are still quite many scripted things in MM, this is one of them; not that I’m complaining, from experience I know that even though it’s scripted the reconquista at times fails/drags on/has unexpected or undesired results. This war is short; Granada loses Gibraltar.

1483
Muscovy – Mameluks: white peace
1484
Poland dows TO
Naples dows the Papal States
Austria – Denmark, a highlight from this war with no end, Austrian army evaporated; btw see poor Oldenburg it was taken by Cologne, retaken, and now Munster holds it

1485
France (& its vassals) attacks Navarre( + Brittany + Aragon); very clever I have to say; this will make the situation in Brittany interesting. Aragon gets ‘we are vicious fighters’ troops spawns but I doubt they’ll stop le Blob.
Cologne / Hesse – Denmark: white peace

On religious front ‘Renaissance Ideas’ started firing. Sadly, all countries save Wűrtemburg went for ‘Church must come first’. Burgundy first chose ‘Secular Humanism’ but later the event fired for them again and church won. Can anyone explain it to me why the ‘Ideas’ fire more than once for some nations? The religious system is very complex. Does the Catholic world need to get corrupt Popes to strengthen the future reformation?

 

[JDMS]

Good update, though it looks like England's going to end up dragging you into a war with France. Does France have any meaningful allies?

 

[aldriq]

I choose Ősel as it gives me 0 taxes anyway.

You should open a consultancy for Magna Mundi tax/penalty avoidance

Castile dows Granada; there are still quite many scripted things in MM, this is one of them; not that I’m complaining, from experience I know that even though it’s scripted the reconquista at times fails/drags on/has unexpected or undesired results.

Tell me about it, in my game Granada is still there, despite all the missions and free CBs...

 

[axzhang]

Have the exploration decisions been taken by the AI yet? Northwest passage has pretty high naval tech requirements so you may have time to core Connaught and launch the decision. That means you wouldn't have to waste NIs on getting ME&C. Taking Connaught is certainly a good move - I would have done the same. These days with any small-sized power I play with an eye towards colonization, I'd take either Munster or Gibraltar at the beginning of the game. Munster allows you to enact all exploration decisions apart from Spice Route and Gibraltar allows all except Northwest passage.

I miss Hiring Fair and MMP2 . MMU is currently ridiculously imbalanced with the new advisors system. You can easily get three 6-star MoMs within a few decades of the game as a trading nation. Ridiculous.