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Korean Impressions
Session 12
Everyone wants to grow. The big powers want to grow bigger, the small weak guys want to be one of the big powers. Mediocrity is not a general goal. But it is mine.
I also don't want to take any action that would fatally weaken any of my fellow players.
This leads to an interesting problem: my goals are not very compatible with most everyone else's. I am being offered alliances that are completely in my interest by people I can totally work with, but either they want to beat up players that are already too small to my thinking, or they want to grow to great power size (with me along with them). No-one else wants to buy into my agenda of keeping lots of players in the game, because that will limit their own opportunities. I think a few players still doubt that my goals are actually what I say they are.
That in turn leads to a further problem: in pursuing my goals alone, I am forgoing expansion while everyone else is expanding. Or at least my competitors are expanding - those players who are expanded into are likely to drop out of being a competitor for world power.
My goals may not be very practical.
My other utopian project, the league of limited demands, is also falling well short of my hopes. People want the option to take more than 5 provinces in a war if they want, or people preferred slightly different rules to limit things (including a preference for unwritten rules among some).
For those who don't follow the diplomatic thread, here's the text I came up with:
Anyone out among the audience see any useful changes that can be made to it?
Though to be fair, I'm not sure making rules by in-game treaty is really a useful approach. To be effective, demand limitations have to be accepted by everyone, which means a GM deciding for everyone, or a cultural consensus. The league of limited demands is neither. I'm tempted to call this an interesting failure, and admit defeat.
fasquardon
Session 12
Everyone wants to grow. The big powers want to grow bigger, the small weak guys want to be one of the big powers. Mediocrity is not a general goal. But it is mine.
I also don't want to take any action that would fatally weaken any of my fellow players.
This leads to an interesting problem: my goals are not very compatible with most everyone else's. I am being offered alliances that are completely in my interest by people I can totally work with, but either they want to beat up players that are already too small to my thinking, or they want to grow to great power size (with me along with them). No-one else wants to buy into my agenda of keeping lots of players in the game, because that will limit their own opportunities. I think a few players still doubt that my goals are actually what I say they are.
That in turn leads to a further problem: in pursuing my goals alone, I am forgoing expansion while everyone else is expanding. Or at least my competitors are expanding - those players who are expanded into are likely to drop out of being a competitor for world power.
My goals may not be very practical.
My other utopian project, the league of limited demands, is also falling well short of my hopes. People want the option to take more than 5 provinces in a war if they want, or people preferred slightly different rules to limit things (including a preference for unwritten rules among some).
For those who don't follow the diplomatic thread, here's the text I came up with:
Anyone out among the audience see any useful changes that can be made to it?
Though to be fair, I'm not sure making rules by in-game treaty is really a useful approach. To be effective, demand limitations have to be accepted by everyone, which means a GM deciding for everyone, or a cultural consensus. The league of limited demands is neither. I'm tempted to call this an interesting failure, and admit defeat.
fasquardon
Blayne, I can't read your comic text even when I enlarge the comic. Maybe you could make the default size a bit bigger?
Did you click on the comic a second time? It should auto zoom.
Clicking on it once brings up the imgur link, then a second time on that page should zoom it.
Ok, now it works. Maybe I wasn't quite awake this morning. If I had been I wouldn't have DOWed the alliance with 50% more bigships than all of Europe.
World Diplomacy 1614
I thought it might be interesting to take a global look at the plethora of NAPs and DAs between the player powers, and see if any patterns emerge. I went through our public diplomacy thread, looking for still-active treaties, and put them into this graphic:
Dotted black lines indicate NAPs, solid blue ones indicate DAs. The dash-dotted red lines surround groups of nations that are traditionally (or in some cases formally) considered a bloc, as I'll explain below.
I must note that this plot is based on my knowledge of things, and may, obviously, be wrong! There can be secret treaties, schemes to attack alliance partners, or treaties that while technically still active have been forgotten by both parties. Also, for obvious reasons I've ignored the various "NAPs until 1650" that Tibet had with some Asian powers. Even if they weren't technically broken, they are likely inoperative at this point.
We see immediately that, while there are a few connections, the world divides somewhat neatly into Asia and Europe. If you start at, say, Qin, you can get to most Asian powers in a step or two, but the only way to get to Europe is to head for Malaya, follow the Naval NAP to Norway, and go through Russia, Hungary, Greece to the Spain-centric group in the lower right. Further, within Europe there's a clear division between the two naval powers, Eastern Europe consisting of Russia and Hungary, and "the rest", which tend to be loosely clustered through Spanish diplomacy. Asia, also, has a division into the Middle East (Byzantium and Persia) and the Far East (everyone else). You would think that Byzantium, at least, would have connections into Europe, but this does not appear to be the case - with, again, the caveat that this is public diplomacy, and anything can happen in PMs.
I mentioned the Spanish diplomacy in the lower right. It consists partly of the old "Adfunsid Apostasy" from CK days, when Italy was literally a vassal of the Spanish crown, and France and Bavaria were so closely under his thumb that they might as well have been. Although this alliance has been much loosened in EU3, it is not completely gone; if nothing else, Spain is so powerful that the relatively minor nations of Western Europe had better pay close attention to what it says! However, as far as I can determine only Bavaria still has a formal treaty with Spain. I've added Greece to the group because it has cooperated somewhat closely with Spain of late.
Within Europe, Russia is the opposite pole from Spain; in former times Byzantium was also considered a major European power, but it seems to have turned east and has in any case declined considerably, in relative terms, from the glory days when the retinue of fifty thousand kataphrakts made Europe quake. Russia uses Hungary as a buffer, and Hungary traditionally looks east if it wants Great-Power support. Russia also was part of the "NPA", the so-called "Northern Permanent Alliance", and I have shown it as being an outlying part of the bloc formed by Norway and England, because I get the impression that this is still the public perception. It is not, however, an accurate perception. More correct would be to show Norway and England as a separate bloc; I've tried to indicate this by setting Russia considerably apart from these two. But, evil to them that evil think, anyone who believes the NPA is still operative is unlikely to take my word that it's not.
The European naval powers have reached an accord with the Oceanian ones - we may suspect that EastAsia is about to always have been at war with Eurasia - which is, to my knowledge, the only formal diplomatic connection between the continents. That brings us into the Pan-Asian alliance, which is about to expire. I've shown connections within that bloc which have an expiration date past 1625, but did not show the Pan-Asian alliance itself; however, until 1625 everyone within the upper-right area is defensively allied - to Tibet's cost. If we ignore this and look forward to the 1625 situation, it does seem that there is still a strong Asian organisation, but its center has moved west with the loss of Korea and the addition of Persia.
The last bloc I've put in is the traditional alliance - since the twelfth century or so - of Persia and Byzantium. While the formal treaty is only a NAP, I expect that either one would come to the defense of the other quite quickly, and likely draw in the Asian bloc - so the Middle East diplomatically faces Asia rather than Europe.
The two continents of the Old World seem to have few connections with the New; the Aztecs, in particular, are completely isolated as far as I can tell. True, the Inca and the Oceanian powers came to their defense the last time Britain tried to attack them, but this seems to have been a one-off effort not leading to any further connection. Likewise the Inca are, publicly at least, quite isolated except for a defensive treaty with Spain, but then again, between those two Great Powers it seems a bit unlikely that anyone will try for further bites of South America.
Tibet is a bit in limbo at the moment, having, with Incan aid, tried and failed to subdue the Pan-Asian alliance in the Himalayan War. It is not being fully partitioned, but will be left, probably, the weakest player slot in the game. It will presumably have to form some alliance before attempting to recoup its losses. The coming breakup of the Pan-Asian alliance may be its chance, since both the Khanate and Korea seem to be left without treaty partners beyond 1625. Perhaps we'll see a classic twenty-years-after-Versailles scenario with some of the smackdown powers of 1614 changing sides and helping the would-be aggressor?
I thought it might be interesting to take a global look at the plethora of NAPs and DAs between the player powers, and see if any patterns emerge. I went through our public diplomacy thread, looking for still-active treaties, and put them into this graphic:
Dotted black lines indicate NAPs, solid blue ones indicate DAs. The dash-dotted red lines surround groups of nations that are traditionally (or in some cases formally) considered a bloc, as I'll explain below.
I must note that this plot is based on my knowledge of things, and may, obviously, be wrong! There can be secret treaties, schemes to attack alliance partners, or treaties that while technically still active have been forgotten by both parties. Also, for obvious reasons I've ignored the various "NAPs until 1650" that Tibet had with some Asian powers. Even if they weren't technically broken, they are likely inoperative at this point.
We see immediately that, while there are a few connections, the world divides somewhat neatly into Asia and Europe. If you start at, say, Qin, you can get to most Asian powers in a step or two, but the only way to get to Europe is to head for Malaya, follow the Naval NAP to Norway, and go through Russia, Hungary, Greece to the Spain-centric group in the lower right. Further, within Europe there's a clear division between the two naval powers, Eastern Europe consisting of Russia and Hungary, and "the rest", which tend to be loosely clustered through Spanish diplomacy. Asia, also, has a division into the Middle East (Byzantium and Persia) and the Far East (everyone else). You would think that Byzantium, at least, would have connections into Europe, but this does not appear to be the case - with, again, the caveat that this is public diplomacy, and anything can happen in PMs.
I mentioned the Spanish diplomacy in the lower right. It consists partly of the old "Adfunsid Apostasy" from CK days, when Italy was literally a vassal of the Spanish crown, and France and Bavaria were so closely under his thumb that they might as well have been. Although this alliance has been much loosened in EU3, it is not completely gone; if nothing else, Spain is so powerful that the relatively minor nations of Western Europe had better pay close attention to what it says! However, as far as I can determine only Bavaria still has a formal treaty with Spain. I've added Greece to the group because it has cooperated somewhat closely with Spain of late.
Within Europe, Russia is the opposite pole from Spain; in former times Byzantium was also considered a major European power, but it seems to have turned east and has in any case declined considerably, in relative terms, from the glory days when the retinue of fifty thousand kataphrakts made Europe quake. Russia uses Hungary as a buffer, and Hungary traditionally looks east if it wants Great-Power support. Russia also was part of the "NPA", the so-called "Northern Permanent Alliance", and I have shown it as being an outlying part of the bloc formed by Norway and England, because I get the impression that this is still the public perception. It is not, however, an accurate perception. More correct would be to show Norway and England as a separate bloc; I've tried to indicate this by setting Russia considerably apart from these two. But, evil to them that evil think, anyone who believes the NPA is still operative is unlikely to take my word that it's not.
The European naval powers have reached an accord with the Oceanian ones - we may suspect that EastAsia is about to always have been at war with Eurasia - which is, to my knowledge, the only formal diplomatic connection between the continents. That brings us into the Pan-Asian alliance, which is about to expire. I've shown connections within that bloc which have an expiration date past 1625, but did not show the Pan-Asian alliance itself; however, until 1625 everyone within the upper-right area is defensively allied - to Tibet's cost. If we ignore this and look forward to the 1625 situation, it does seem that there is still a strong Asian organisation, but its center has moved west with the loss of Korea and the addition of Persia.
The last bloc I've put in is the traditional alliance - since the twelfth century or so - of Persia and Byzantium. While the formal treaty is only a NAP, I expect that either one would come to the defense of the other quite quickly, and likely draw in the Asian bloc - so the Middle East diplomatically faces Asia rather than Europe.
The two continents of the Old World seem to have few connections with the New; the Aztecs, in particular, are completely isolated as far as I can tell. True, the Inca and the Oceanian powers came to their defense the last time Britain tried to attack them, but this seems to have been a one-off effort not leading to any further connection. Likewise the Inca are, publicly at least, quite isolated except for a defensive treaty with Spain, but then again, between those two Great Powers it seems a bit unlikely that anyone will try for further bites of South America.
Tibet is a bit in limbo at the moment, having, with Incan aid, tried and failed to subdue the Pan-Asian alliance in the Himalayan War. It is not being fully partitioned, but will be left, probably, the weakest player slot in the game. It will presumably have to form some alliance before attempting to recoup its losses. The coming breakup of the Pan-Asian alliance may be its chance, since both the Khanate and Korea seem to be left without treaty partners beyond 1625. Perhaps we'll see a classic twenty-years-after-Versailles scenario with some of the smackdown powers of 1614 changing sides and helping the would-be aggressor?
French musings
Europe has been in peace for about 3/4 sessions and so inspiration for a decent AAR is lacking, thus I'll just write about my views on the current geo-political stage.
I'll start off by talking about last session's main event - the great Asian war. It was, in my opinion, a very ambitious decision to attack a whole continent, especially as his main source of income was trade. However, it seemed fairly successful at first, with Tibetan troops pushing several provinces into both Qin and Hindustan. But even with the help of Britain, Scandinavia and Inca he could not resist against the unrelenting determination and force of the Asian alliance. Why he didn't wait the 20 years until the Asian alliance was over, I do not know. In that instance he could have picked off his neighbours one by one, perhaps even allying with someone who was an enemy in this war.
The intervention of Britain, Greece and Scandinavia on Tibet's side of the war was curious. I do not think they supported the idea of a Tibet super-power, but this was their best opportunity to strike at their Asian naval rivals, Japan, Malaya and Korea, as well as snatching a few African colonies from the other desperate Asians. As with other naval wars, not a lot happened. European navies sat in African ports waiting. Asian navies sat in Asian ports waiting. The Europeans tried to encourage an amphibious invasion of Japan by Spain and myself. I was reluctant at first to help my close ally Britain, though after a promise of money and land, I sent 40 thousand troops to South Africa. However, being friendly with the Asian naval powers, I gave them the opportunity to outbid Britain, which they did, and I returned to France. Spain, who had always been an enemy of the Asian naval powers, on the other hand, quickly sent off a similar amount of troops to Madagascar. Though in the end no amphibious attack was made.
The Naval Cold War is interesting and so far it seems that the Asians hold dominance of the seas. This could all change though, as Greece and Spain are beginning to build their own substantial navies, and, as the Asian Alliance comes to an end, Asian in-fighting could divide the three Asian naval powers and shift the balance of power to Europe.
Now about Europe, for that is what I know best about. It is clear that there are two great powers, Spain and Russia. For years European politics has been dominated by these two nations and each country was usually aligned to each of them. However now, with the rise of mid-powers such as myself and Romania, it looks like the dominance of these two giants is to be questioned.
In Central Europe are two of the weakest countries in the game. Bavaria, although being quite rich, has a very small army and must rely on Spanish protection. Hungary, although having a larger army than Bavaria, is lagging behind quite drastically in tech, due to its high inflation and otherwise weak economy. It too must rely on a great power, frequently swapping between Spain and Russia, to protect it from Italy hungry its cores, or Scandinavia wanting the Baltic Coast.
The situation in Tibet is reminiscent of that in Italy. Curiously enough both events involved Clonefusion. However in Asia they seem to be starting off with harsh demands, whereas in Europe they were lenient but came back for more after 10 years. Nonetheless it is a close parallel. In the Italian case, Italy came back later with the help of several of it's former enemies. The same could easily be feasible for Tibet, especially since there will be probably be a lot of tensions that were bottled up by the Asian Alliance.
Now onto America. The two native nations are fairly isolated. The future looks dim for the Aztecs. With Britain and its European allies pressing in on one side, and the Incas on the other, the Aztecs have been made very weak. They have no serious allies, but if they work diplomacy right, they could make a good comeback against Britain, just like Italy against Spain. Successfully attacking Inca, however, would be much harder, since it has a land army of about 400 thousand, more than almost any other nation at this point.
Anyway, hopefully this week will be more interesting.
Europe has been in peace for about 3/4 sessions and so inspiration for a decent AAR is lacking, thus I'll just write about my views on the current geo-political stage.
I'll start off by talking about last session's main event - the great Asian war. It was, in my opinion, a very ambitious decision to attack a whole continent, especially as his main source of income was trade. However, it seemed fairly successful at first, with Tibetan troops pushing several provinces into both Qin and Hindustan. But even with the help of Britain, Scandinavia and Inca he could not resist against the unrelenting determination and force of the Asian alliance. Why he didn't wait the 20 years until the Asian alliance was over, I do not know. In that instance he could have picked off his neighbours one by one, perhaps even allying with someone who was an enemy in this war.
The intervention of Britain, Greece and Scandinavia on Tibet's side of the war was curious. I do not think they supported the idea of a Tibet super-power, but this was their best opportunity to strike at their Asian naval rivals, Japan, Malaya and Korea, as well as snatching a few African colonies from the other desperate Asians. As with other naval wars, not a lot happened. European navies sat in African ports waiting. Asian navies sat in Asian ports waiting. The Europeans tried to encourage an amphibious invasion of Japan by Spain and myself. I was reluctant at first to help my close ally Britain, though after a promise of money and land, I sent 40 thousand troops to South Africa. However, being friendly with the Asian naval powers, I gave them the opportunity to outbid Britain, which they did, and I returned to France. Spain, who had always been an enemy of the Asian naval powers, on the other hand, quickly sent off a similar amount of troops to Madagascar. Though in the end no amphibious attack was made.
The Naval Cold War is interesting and so far it seems that the Asians hold dominance of the seas. This could all change though, as Greece and Spain are beginning to build their own substantial navies, and, as the Asian Alliance comes to an end, Asian in-fighting could divide the three Asian naval powers and shift the balance of power to Europe.
Now about Europe, for that is what I know best about. It is clear that there are two great powers, Spain and Russia. For years European politics has been dominated by these two nations and each country was usually aligned to each of them. However now, with the rise of mid-powers such as myself and Romania, it looks like the dominance of these two giants is to be questioned.
In Central Europe are two of the weakest countries in the game. Bavaria, although being quite rich, has a very small army and must rely on Spanish protection. Hungary, although having a larger army than Bavaria, is lagging behind quite drastically in tech, due to its high inflation and otherwise weak economy. It too must rely on a great power, frequently swapping between Spain and Russia, to protect it from Italy hungry its cores, or Scandinavia wanting the Baltic Coast.
The situation in Tibet is reminiscent of that in Italy. Curiously enough both events involved Clonefusion. However in Asia they seem to be starting off with harsh demands, whereas in Europe they were lenient but came back for more after 10 years. Nonetheless it is a close parallel. In the Italian case, Italy came back later with the help of several of it's former enemies. The same could easily be feasible for Tibet, especially since there will be probably be a lot of tensions that were bottled up by the Asian Alliance.
Now onto America. The two native nations are fairly isolated. The future looks dim for the Aztecs. With Britain and its European allies pressing in on one side, and the Incas on the other, the Aztecs have been made very weak. They have no serious allies, but if they work diplomacy right, they could make a good comeback against Britain, just like Italy against Spain. Successfully attacking Inca, however, would be much harder, since it has a land army of about 400 thousand, more than almost any other nation at this point.
Anyway, hopefully this week will be more interesting.
Korean Impressions
Session 13
Session 13, appropriately, was the session of the Great Himalayan War. Tibet exited the Pan-Asian Alliance and launched an aggressive war against Hindustan. All the rest of Asia, plus Najd, joined the war against him, Inca joined the war for him. At sea, the European naval powers (Greece, Scandinavia and Britain) launched a war ostensibly to gain Greece land in Africa, but mainly to support Tibet.
Long story short, Tibet didn't have the manpower to beat all of Asia combined against him. The Europeans didn't have the naval range to engage with the Asian fleets for a decisive battle (though they did have more ships). And the Inca only got 100k troops over to Tibet before naval blockade by Malaya cut him off. The war isn't over yet, but in the absence of Pan-Asia doing anything stupid, we are winning.
What is more interesting is the peace. At 14 provinces, 1800 ducats and 6 cores renounced, it is a pretty heavy peace. Compare this with the Inca peace with the Aztecs, which, despite being a crushing defeat, resulted in the Aztecs only losing 5 provinces. More alarmingly, the architects of the peace have justified it with a rather thorough campaign to dehumanize Clone. If he is a monster, not a man, it is OK to take 14 provinces from him. This has happened before, and what happens is that the whole game devolves into a slagging match between different blocs of permanently allied players screaming at their opponents that they are sub-human expansionist cheaters.
Take for example this, from Juan's AAR:
"In fact, I remember very clearly that Clone was openly saying to me “First I will attack Qin and take provinces off him, then Sind, and then, eehh... [hesitating] well then Juan I will attack you and take provinces off Hindustan”."
I was there during that discussion between Juan and Clone, and my memory of the discussion is very different. I remember Clone saying how he was limited in terms of potential avenues of expansion. He could attack Qin, or Sind or... eehhh... Well, there's Hindustan too.
Note how a discussion of potential avenues of expansion has metastasized into Clone saying he would actually attack Hindustan.
And then there is Anders. I can tell that guy exactly what I am doing and why, and he just tells me that I am really out to get him.
Probably this just means he is out to get me and is trying to justify it to himself. We'll see.
Also interesting, is that Spain admitted to me that he has been plotting against me since the start of the game and it seems that I got framed for leaking France's war plans to Spain. At least I know where I am with Baron. Shame that my relations with France got screwed up.
fasquardon
Session 13
Session 13, appropriately, was the session of the Great Himalayan War. Tibet exited the Pan-Asian Alliance and launched an aggressive war against Hindustan. All the rest of Asia, plus Najd, joined the war against him, Inca joined the war for him. At sea, the European naval powers (Greece, Scandinavia and Britain) launched a war ostensibly to gain Greece land in Africa, but mainly to support Tibet.
Long story short, Tibet didn't have the manpower to beat all of Asia combined against him. The Europeans didn't have the naval range to engage with the Asian fleets for a decisive battle (though they did have more ships). And the Inca only got 100k troops over to Tibet before naval blockade by Malaya cut him off. The war isn't over yet, but in the absence of Pan-Asia doing anything stupid, we are winning.
What is more interesting is the peace. At 14 provinces, 1800 ducats and 6 cores renounced, it is a pretty heavy peace. Compare this with the Inca peace with the Aztecs, which, despite being a crushing defeat, resulted in the Aztecs only losing 5 provinces. More alarmingly, the architects of the peace have justified it with a rather thorough campaign to dehumanize Clone. If he is a monster, not a man, it is OK to take 14 provinces from him. This has happened before, and what happens is that the whole game devolves into a slagging match between different blocs of permanently allied players screaming at their opponents that they are sub-human expansionist cheaters.
Take for example this, from Juan's AAR:
"In fact, I remember very clearly that Clone was openly saying to me “First I will attack Qin and take provinces off him, then Sind, and then, eehh... [hesitating] well then Juan I will attack you and take provinces off Hindustan”."
I was there during that discussion between Juan and Clone, and my memory of the discussion is very different. I remember Clone saying how he was limited in terms of potential avenues of expansion. He could attack Qin, or Sind or... eehhh... Well, there's Hindustan too.
Note how a discussion of potential avenues of expansion has metastasized into Clone saying he would actually attack Hindustan.
And then there is Anders. I can tell that guy exactly what I am doing and why, and he just tells me that I am really out to get him.
Probably this just means he is out to get me and is trying to justify it to himself. We'll see.
Also interesting, is that Spain admitted to me that he has been plotting against me since the start of the game and it seems that I got framed for leaking France's war plans to Spain. At least I know where I am with Baron. Shame that my relations with France got screwed up.
fasquardon
It is of course entirely up to you where you post, but I think the audience here is somewhat larger, if disappointingly quiet this time around. I believe most of us are cross-posting.
Where else are you posting? Would like to read about the endgame in Crusader Kings. I got the impression you never got around to post the last AARs.
At the Ederon forum - can't link, sorry. But I believe all our CK AARs were indeed posted; my CK ends with "A Nation Once Again" and then the two installments of The Lords Temporal. The last couple of sessions just weren't that interesting, unfortunately; that may be why you have the impression of tapering out.
Just googled the Ederon forum... Although a link might be impossible, a hint and a nudge in the right direction might be possible?
What subforum and whitch thread, if I migher be so bold?
Émilie sat under a tree on the orange, Autumn leaves. She was reading an old Latin book, which had been in her father's family for several generations. She stopped. She heard leaves crunching behind her. She looked around. Nothing. She turned back to her book. Suddenly, someone leaped out from behind her and grabbed her by the shoulders. She screamed.
"It's me, don't worry," said the man as he held Émilie on the floor. She turned over so she was lying on her front and looked up. She laughed in relief, sat up and threw a handful of crispy leaves at the man's face.
"For God's sake, Luc, I thought you were a murderer! Don't ever do that again! How did you even get across the border?" Émilie said.
"Oh yes, because Poitou is notorious for crime and poverty," Luc replied sarcastically, "They don't care about people crossing the border, France and Spain are allies and good friends, they don't care about people crossing over. Anyway, what are you reading?" not waiting for a reply before picking up her book off the ground, "Ah! Sumus stupidus languageus!" he mocked pompously. Émilie laughed.
"It's a respected language, unlike German or English!" She replied, mocking the languages Luc spoke.
"The English are a rising power, Ém, I talked to a man while I was in London. He told me about the New World. He said how there were huge farms and so much more land waiting to be developed. Soon English will be a very important language. I agree German isn't dry important, but I needed to speak to the locals while I was travelling through Allemagne. But Latin! Latin is a dead language, spoken only by nobles who think they're important." Luc said.
"You know," Émilie said, pondering, "one day I'd like to go to the new world. To see these beautiful lands I've heard so much about."
"Yes, but the journey is quite dangerous, especially in French ships." said Luc.
"It can't be as dangerous as a journey through Allemagne," laughed Émilie, referring to Luc's journey to Mecklenburg when he was attacked and left for dead by Germans.
"In their defence, Allemagne is very poor and the king never invests any money into it, most people barely earn enough to feed their families," Luc said.
"I'm sorry but I've got to go now Luc, my father must be worried sick."
"Before you go," Luc whispered. He put his hands around Émilie's head and leaned in to kiss her. She lay back, onto the ground, and let him take her.
Knock. Knock. Knock.
"Don't open the door, Luc! Don't let them take you!" His mother whispered.
"Mother, there's no risk! The main fighting has been done. The Spanish armies were destroyed in the first months of battle!"
"Well then why do they need more men to fight?"
"It is simply a matter of waiting in the mountains until Spain is starved by the Norse blockade. Also the Italians are still throwing men at our armies, but there is no risk there! The Italians lack proper muskets and training."
Luc went to the door and greeted the conscription officer.
After a few weeks of intense training, Luc was ready to serve. He had charmed the officers and generals so that his regiment would pass Émilie's estate on their journey to the Pyrenees.
Luc could see the small castle that belonged to Émilie's father in the distance. He had not seen her since the war started. He believed that her family would be safe from the French armies, since her mother was French herself.
The regiment arrived at the estate. It had been transformed into a base for 10,000 men. What used to be a beautiful garden, had been covered in tents. Luc entered the castle, expecting to find Émilie and her family. However, the castle was full of maps and plans, and housed the officers and generals. Luc asked someone what had happened to the estate's former owners. He was told that when the troops arrived, its only inhabitants were the servants who were still now at the estate cleaning the castle and serving the troops. Luc found one of the servants and asked what had happened to Émilie's family. He was told they had fled to their summer palace in the mountains where they thought they would be safe.
Thus, Luc influenced certain officers and managed to get himself transferred to the front line where he hoped to find Émilie. It was Spring, and the French were still advancing through the snowy mountains. Luc was wrapped in a great coat and scarf, with his musket in his hand and sword in his hilt, he marched along the hard mountain trail. He was walking with a skirmish group of 200 men, to find a base for some of the 25,000 French soldiers who were operating in the area. He believed and hoped that fate would deliver him to Émilie.
Finally they came across a large and ornate house. Luc knew it was Émilie's. It had to be. The soldiers set up camp, while some of ther officers approached the house. Luc went with them. They knocked on the door. It opened. A large-waisted man came out. It was Émilie's father. Luc smiled and his heart began to beat. The officers began to talk to her father hostilely. Luc stopped them and explained that their family used to live in France, and would have French sympathies. Eventually, after some negotiation, Émilie's father agreed to share his food supplies with a number of soldiers, and provide a guide to make their further journey across the mountains easier.
Émilie was out foraging for berries, so Luc sat outside the palace, waiting. The sun was beginning to go down, and soldiers gathered round fires to shelter from the bitter, mountain cold. Luc picked up his musket and grabbed a torch. He was getting worried, he was told she would be back well before sunset.
He finally found her footprints in the snow and followed them into a pine forest. He saw a basket lying on its side, with berries spilt out. He was worried now. His breathing intensified. He continued following the foot prints. He saw a pole standing up, several meters from him. He moved closer to it. His face widened in horror.
"Émilie!" he shouted in despair, when he realised the pole was a spear in Émilie's chest. He ran up to her. He moved the hair out of her eyes. "Émilie?" he shook her body. Her face was pale. Luc's eyes were watering. Tears trickled down his cheeks. A single tear dropped onto Émilie's face. Her eyes opened slowly.
"Luc?" she whispered, barely able to move his lips.
"It's me Émilie. What happened?" He asked, still crying.
"Incans" she rasped.
A look of hate and anger crossed Luc's face.
"Luc, it hurts so much."
"Don't worry I'll take you back, we've got French doctors here"
"Luc please, it's agony"
"I'll take you back! It's not far." He said desperately.
"Your musket. If you love me you will"
"No!" He screamed
"Luc this is hell"
Luc was scared. He didn't know if he could do it.
"Please"
He leant over and kissed her lips.
He picked up his musket. He put it against her forehead.
He shot.
He lay down, held her body and cried. Soon he drifted into sleep. He dreamt of sadness, of anger and of grief.
The next morning he woke up. He walked away into the mountains forest, into the mountains.
When he had walked several meters away from her, he turned back and said, "You know, I started learning Latin." He smiled. But soon the smile disappeared, and then he himself disappeared into the wild.
"It's me, don't worry," said the man as he held Émilie on the floor. She turned over so she was lying on her front and looked up. She laughed in relief, sat up and threw a handful of crispy leaves at the man's face.
"For God's sake, Luc, I thought you were a murderer! Don't ever do that again! How did you even get across the border?" Émilie said.
"Oh yes, because Poitou is notorious for crime and poverty," Luc replied sarcastically, "They don't care about people crossing the border, France and Spain are allies and good friends, they don't care about people crossing over. Anyway, what are you reading?" not waiting for a reply before picking up her book off the ground, "Ah! Sumus stupidus languageus!" he mocked pompously. Émilie laughed.
"It's a respected language, unlike German or English!" She replied, mocking the languages Luc spoke.
"The English are a rising power, Ém, I talked to a man while I was in London. He told me about the New World. He said how there were huge farms and so much more land waiting to be developed. Soon English will be a very important language. I agree German isn't dry important, but I needed to speak to the locals while I was travelling through Allemagne. But Latin! Latin is a dead language, spoken only by nobles who think they're important." Luc said.
"You know," Émilie said, pondering, "one day I'd like to go to the new world. To see these beautiful lands I've heard so much about."
"Yes, but the journey is quite dangerous, especially in French ships." said Luc.
"It can't be as dangerous as a journey through Allemagne," laughed Émilie, referring to Luc's journey to Mecklenburg when he was attacked and left for dead by Germans.
"In their defence, Allemagne is very poor and the king never invests any money into it, most people barely earn enough to feed their families," Luc said.
"I'm sorry but I've got to go now Luc, my father must be worried sick."
"Before you go," Luc whispered. He put his hands around Émilie's head and leaned in to kiss her. She lay back, onto the ground, and let him take her.
Knock. Knock. Knock.
"Don't open the door, Luc! Don't let them take you!" His mother whispered.
"Mother, there's no risk! The main fighting has been done. The Spanish armies were destroyed in the first months of battle!"
"Well then why do they need more men to fight?"
"It is simply a matter of waiting in the mountains until Spain is starved by the Norse blockade. Also the Italians are still throwing men at our armies, but there is no risk there! The Italians lack proper muskets and training."
Luc went to the door and greeted the conscription officer.
After a few weeks of intense training, Luc was ready to serve. He had charmed the officers and generals so that his regiment would pass Émilie's estate on their journey to the Pyrenees.
Luc could see the small castle that belonged to Émilie's father in the distance. He had not seen her since the war started. He believed that her family would be safe from the French armies, since her mother was French herself.
The regiment arrived at the estate. It had been transformed into a base for 10,000 men. What used to be a beautiful garden, had been covered in tents. Luc entered the castle, expecting to find Émilie and her family. However, the castle was full of maps and plans, and housed the officers and generals. Luc asked someone what had happened to the estate's former owners. He was told that when the troops arrived, its only inhabitants were the servants who were still now at the estate cleaning the castle and serving the troops. Luc found one of the servants and asked what had happened to Émilie's family. He was told they had fled to their summer palace in the mountains where they thought they would be safe.
Thus, Luc influenced certain officers and managed to get himself transferred to the front line where he hoped to find Émilie. It was Spring, and the French were still advancing through the snowy mountains. Luc was wrapped in a great coat and scarf, with his musket in his hand and sword in his hilt, he marched along the hard mountain trail. He was walking with a skirmish group of 200 men, to find a base for some of the 25,000 French soldiers who were operating in the area. He believed and hoped that fate would deliver him to Émilie.
Finally they came across a large and ornate house. Luc knew it was Émilie's. It had to be. The soldiers set up camp, while some of ther officers approached the house. Luc went with them. They knocked on the door. It opened. A large-waisted man came out. It was Émilie's father. Luc smiled and his heart began to beat. The officers began to talk to her father hostilely. Luc stopped them and explained that their family used to live in France, and would have French sympathies. Eventually, after some negotiation, Émilie's father agreed to share his food supplies with a number of soldiers, and provide a guide to make their further journey across the mountains easier.
Émilie was out foraging for berries, so Luc sat outside the palace, waiting. The sun was beginning to go down, and soldiers gathered round fires to shelter from the bitter, mountain cold. Luc picked up his musket and grabbed a torch. He was getting worried, he was told she would be back well before sunset.
He finally found her footprints in the snow and followed them into a pine forest. He saw a basket lying on its side, with berries spilt out. He was worried now. His breathing intensified. He continued following the foot prints. He saw a pole standing up, several meters from him. He moved closer to it. His face widened in horror.
"Émilie!" he shouted in despair, when he realised the pole was a spear in Émilie's chest. He ran up to her. He moved the hair out of her eyes. "Émilie?" he shook her body. Her face was pale. Luc's eyes were watering. Tears trickled down his cheeks. A single tear dropped onto Émilie's face. Her eyes opened slowly.
"Luc?" she whispered, barely able to move his lips.
"It's me Émilie. What happened?" He asked, still crying.
"Incans" she rasped.
A look of hate and anger crossed Luc's face.
"Luc, it hurts so much."
"Don't worry I'll take you back, we've got French doctors here"
"Luc please, it's agony"
"I'll take you back! It's not far." He said desperately.
"Your musket. If you love me you will"
"No!" He screamed
"Luc this is hell"
Luc was scared. He didn't know if he could do it.
"Please"
He leant over and kissed her lips.
He picked up his musket. He put it against her forehead.
He shot.
He lay down, held her body and cried. Soon he drifted into sleep. He dreamt of sadness, of anger and of grief.
The next morning he woke up. He walked away into the mountains forest, into the mountains.
When he had walked several meters away from her, he turned back and said, "You know, I started learning Latin." He smiled. But soon the smile disappeared, and then he himself disappeared into the wild.
Ships of War at Sea
Although the Indian Ocean Standoff was so named because the antagonists' fleets mainly just glared at each other, it was not completely without incident in the early stages. We had some skirmishes like this one:
in which the entire Scottish fleet would surprise Malayan scouting detachments. (I guess? Maybe they were antipirate patrols.) There was also the invasion of Malta, where Malaya had stationed about 20 ships, whom I forced out of port by taking the fort, defeated soundly - and then watched helplessly as the "retreat-to-friendly-port" function kicked in and they sailed around all of bloody Africa in a state of complete immunity to attack, right past the 500 ships of the Royal Navy. Not Paradox's finest moment, perhaps; how about a max-province-retreat parameter?
At any rate. Although I didn't take a screenshot, there was one battle in which my entire fleet, 450 bigships, fought exactly one Malayan frigate. Allowing for the usual factor 10 in EU3's army and fleet sizes, this comes to roughly 50 ships against one. So you have to wonder, what on Earth are the guys aboard the one ship thinking?
Aboard the KD Dendam
Off Mauritius, in the Indian Ocean
Noon
"Sir." Ahmad saluted and waited for his captain's nod, then continued. "All our sick list is on board."
"Very good." Najib kept his sigh of relief internal; when he'd said he wouldn't leave any man behind for the round-eye butchers, he hadn't expected that getting them aboard would take all the morning. If those idiot New Guineans hadn't got in a tangle over whose cousins should go first, with blows struck and the launch out of commission for an hour while the hole was repaired... well, done was done and flogged was flogged. "We'll be off, then." He felt the wind for a moment; it was out of the west, and freshening. No need to laboriously tow the ship out to sea. "Haul in the launch, set sail - we'll go straight before the wind at first." They could rejoin the rest of the fleet in Ceylon, if necessary; the priority now was to get away.
"Aye, sir." His exec saluted again and turned to give the necessary orders, leaving his captain to contemplate strategy again. Najib looked south. The white sails with tiny splashes of red at the top were still far distant. Men of war did not travel fast in this wind, especially when they were far from home and their bottoms were foul. And the more so when they're crewed by filthy Europeans, he thought with some contempt; the Scots were especially notorious for the dreadful conditions aboard their ships, not to mention the backward way they built them. Some of their hulls were said to be fifty years old! Najib didn't really believe that, but he felt a flash of contrasting pride nonetheless as he looked at his own trim ship, three years out of the vast Palembang shipyards; seventy guns in two decks, clinker-built in ironwood, three masts - he could run rings around any clumsy European ship that he couldn't blast out of the water. And it was crewed by Malay sailors at that, men who'd been in and out of small craft since birth and had learned fighting at sea in tribal fighting; none of your pressed fishermen whose most martial exploit was to gut netted fish.
The feel of the ship under him changed as the anchord was heaved aboard and the sails went up; Najib smiled at the way it responded even to this light breeze. Even with the unexpected delays they'd be well away before the Europeans could come up, and none of his men left for the savages to torture.
Aboard the KD Dendam
Ten miles east of Mauritius, in the Indian Ocean
Dog watch, four bells
"Sails ho!"
"Where away?"
"Two points off the starboard bow!"
Najib squinted in the direction indicated, but couldn't make out any sails on the horizon; that was, of course, exactly why they had a lookup at the top of a mast, to see further.
"What colours?" he shouted.
"Red and gold!"
That was the Lion Rampant, the banner of the Scottish kingdom. Najib frowned; he was reluctant to lose the speed of sailing straight before the wind. The Scots were plainly out in force; who knew what squadrons they might have just north, ready to entangle him after a fancy maneuver? No, simplicity was best, and trusting the speed of the Dendam. Besides, in a passing engagement he might easily come off the better, and the enemy were far from their bases; any losses he inflicted would be magnified, while he was headed for home and repairs. And after all, they were only Scots; he'd never turned his back on a foreign devil before, and had no mind to start now.
"We'll go straight through them," he decided, "and give them something to remember us by."
Aboard the KD Dendam
Fifteen miles east of Mauritius, in the Indian Ocean
Dog watch, seven bells
The Dendam's broadside thundered again, and Najib grinned nastily at the sound of breaking wood and screaming that drifted across the water. "My compliments to Encik Musa; tell him, good shooting, and he should give his crews an extra ration of grog once we're clear." The midshipman doing runner duty sped off for the gundecks, and Najib returned his attention to the Scots ship lying half a mile to the Dendam's starboard, wreathed in powder smoke. Muzzle flashes glinted; the Scots were still fighting - but their stubby old-fashioned guns, deadly enough at close range, were doing well to get one hit in ten at this distance. The other ships of the enemy squadron were maneuvering, trying to angle themselves so that the Dendam would be unable to avoid getting close, where numbers would count; but Najib could see they were too late, he was about to show them what the clean heels of a real sailing ship looked like. "Lubberly beasts," he sneered, then turned to order his helmsman to turn a point to port; that would allow him to avoid the wallowing European caravels while still exchanging another two or three broadsides.
In the vast noise of a battle at sea, the crack sound was almost lost; it wasn't until later, thinking back over the battle, that Najib realised he'd actually heard the disaster happening. He felt the shudder under his feet as the handling of the ship changed, and looked about for the cause; it was as though the wind had, literally, been taken from his sails and the mast was no longer pushing the ship - but the wind was as fresh as ever, and there was no ship behind him to shadow his. Not until the top half of the mainmast was fifteen degrees out of true and well on its way to the deck, spilling screaming topsmen, did he realise what had happened. A lucky shot at the weak spot, the join where two tree trunks were spliced into a single tall mast; the iron bands cracked open under the force, and the sails pulling the upper half of the mast forward, unconnected to the rest of the ship except by rigging. Disaster.
There was nothing to be done about it, would have been nothing even if he'd actually seen the shot strike. The ship could sail, could even fight, without the mainmast; it would take him an additional week to limp into a Ceylon harbour, and a few days to raise a new mast, that was all. That was why the Tentera Laut DiRaja aimed low, to kill men and dismount guns, not high to foul sails. But first he had to fight his way clear of the Scots squadron, without half his sails and with the rest hopelessly tangled in the fallen rigging. It can't be done, he thought, knowing that he looked at his own death and the death of all the fevered sailors in the hold, that he'd tried to save.
"Encik Hisyam!" he shouted. The Dendam was doomed, but that was no reason to stop doing what they could. "Get a party with axes, chop free the mast, heave it overboard. Ahmad! Break out the boarding pikes, we'll have visitors before long. You!" This last to a midshipman too new to have earned the honour of being addressed as 'Encik', much less being called by only his name. "Tell Encik Musa to keep firing, but prepare chain and grapeshot. Our friends think they like to fight at close range. We'll change their minds for them."
Aboard the KD Dendam
Sixteen miles east of Mauritius, in the Indian Ocean
First watch, four bells
Four hours of musketry and screams had left Najib nearly deaf, but the crackle of breaking planks as the European ship majestically collided with the Dendam still had the power to make him wince. Fresh waves bullets slammed into the deck from the other ship's masts, and a screaming mob of enormous ogres poured down onto his empty aftcastle; they were stripped to the waist, exposing their vast hairiness, and even through the choking powdersmoke Najib fancied he could smell their stench. He gritted his teeth as they chopped at the ropes holding his War Ensign, and it fluttered down. Nobody would take it for surrender, there was no danger of anyone accusing him of striking falsely, but it galled him to see the flag that had been presented to him personally when his ship was commissioned taken down.
He had a remedy for that, though. He shouted, and his sailors fired their muskets in a single volley; their two murdering pieces, mounted for the occasion on what was left of the mainmast, spewed iron nails from their two-inch mouths, and his officers added pistol bullets to give a touch of class to the carnage. "Kill them!" he shouted, leaping forward with his sword at the ready; his men followed - he devoutly hoped - with boarding pikes. The confused mass of Europeans on the aftcastle, all cohesion gone in the deadly musket volley, fled before them, back onto their own ship - which was pulling away with its bow shattered by the ironwood of Dendam's timbers. Najib grinned fiercely as the last European jumped and barely caught himself on a piece of rigging hanging from the enemy ship's bowsprit. That for their boarding party!
His triumph faded slightly as he gave orders to jury-rig the War Ensign to the mainmast. He was still master of his ship - dismasted and battered though it was - but two more Europeans were coming up, one on either side, and the stubborn bastard at his bow was still firing, though his guns must have been red-hot. He bared his teeth. At least he'd taught them better than to try boarding; they would have to batter him to pieces.
Aboard the KD Dendam
Sixteen miles east of Mauritius, in the Indian Ocean
First watch, six bells
Najib gritted his teeth against the agony in his elbow and torso, and forced himself to stand straight. "Fight on," he said. "If they were Japanese, or even Koreans, yes; if we could expect to be treated in a civilised way. But these dogs of Europeans? No. No surrender. We'll blow the ship, and die clean in the ocean, not begging for mercy in torture chambers."
His officers looked at each other, gray-faced in the dark. Their unspoken consent elected Ahmad spokesman; he swallowed, but it was clearly his task, and he faced it manfully. "Sir. I believe you are distraught. The Scots have offered their word for our good treatment."
"The word of a foreign devil?" he intended to sneer, but it came out as a gasp; the grayness in his vision wasn't all because the sun had set, he realised - then he was falling. "Fight on," he said, or thought he did, but he knew it was futile; Ahmad would take command now, and Ahmad had a wife and children. Ahmad would not give the order to blow the gunpowder. The darkness came up to claim him.
The KD Dendam was taken prize, but was not taken into the Kongelige Leidang, being too badly battered for economical repair. The KL St Olaf and KL Lejonen, both damaged by the Dendam's heavy broadsides, collided in the storm that blew up after the action, and sank with both hands. True to their word, the Scots treated their prisoners according to the laws of war, though many of them still died of the fever that had ravaged Admiral Yang's squadron. The captain of the Dendam, Najib bin Tun Abdul, died of his wounds two days after the surrender. His first officer, Ahmad bin Haji Razak, survived until the end of the war, and returned home to be given the honorary title 'Tun' for his part in the action off Mauritius; several other officers were also honoured, and Najib was posthumously given the title 'Dato'. The stubborn effectiveness of the Dendam's last fight was instrumental in persuading the Scots admiral, Johann MacRanvale, not to seek a decisive battle with the joint Malayan-Korean-Japanese fleet.
Although the Indian Ocean Standoff was so named because the antagonists' fleets mainly just glared at each other, it was not completely without incident in the early stages. We had some skirmishes like this one:
in which the entire Scottish fleet would surprise Malayan scouting detachments. (I guess? Maybe they were antipirate patrols.) There was also the invasion of Malta, where Malaya had stationed about 20 ships, whom I forced out of port by taking the fort, defeated soundly - and then watched helplessly as the "retreat-to-friendly-port" function kicked in and they sailed around all of bloody Africa in a state of complete immunity to attack, right past the 500 ships of the Royal Navy. Not Paradox's finest moment, perhaps; how about a max-province-retreat parameter?
At any rate. Although I didn't take a screenshot, there was one battle in which my entire fleet, 450 bigships, fought exactly one Malayan frigate. Allowing for the usual factor 10 in EU3's army and fleet sizes, this comes to roughly 50 ships against one. So you have to wonder, what on Earth are the guys aboard the one ship thinking?
-----------------------
Aboard the KD Dendam
Off Mauritius, in the Indian Ocean
Noon
"Sir." Ahmad saluted and waited for his captain's nod, then continued. "All our sick list is on board."
"Very good." Najib kept his sigh of relief internal; when he'd said he wouldn't leave any man behind for the round-eye butchers, he hadn't expected that getting them aboard would take all the morning. If those idiot New Guineans hadn't got in a tangle over whose cousins should go first, with blows struck and the launch out of commission for an hour while the hole was repaired... well, done was done and flogged was flogged. "We'll be off, then." He felt the wind for a moment; it was out of the west, and freshening. No need to laboriously tow the ship out to sea. "Haul in the launch, set sail - we'll go straight before the wind at first." They could rejoin the rest of the fleet in Ceylon, if necessary; the priority now was to get away.
"Aye, sir." His exec saluted again and turned to give the necessary orders, leaving his captain to contemplate strategy again. Najib looked south. The white sails with tiny splashes of red at the top were still far distant. Men of war did not travel fast in this wind, especially when they were far from home and their bottoms were foul. And the more so when they're crewed by filthy Europeans, he thought with some contempt; the Scots were especially notorious for the dreadful conditions aboard their ships, not to mention the backward way they built them. Some of their hulls were said to be fifty years old! Najib didn't really believe that, but he felt a flash of contrasting pride nonetheless as he looked at his own trim ship, three years out of the vast Palembang shipyards; seventy guns in two decks, clinker-built in ironwood, three masts - he could run rings around any clumsy European ship that he couldn't blast out of the water. And it was crewed by Malay sailors at that, men who'd been in and out of small craft since birth and had learned fighting at sea in tribal fighting; none of your pressed fishermen whose most martial exploit was to gut netted fish.
The feel of the ship under him changed as the anchord was heaved aboard and the sails went up; Najib smiled at the way it responded even to this light breeze. Even with the unexpected delays they'd be well away before the Europeans could come up, and none of his men left for the savages to torture.
-----------------------
Aboard the KD Dendam
Ten miles east of Mauritius, in the Indian Ocean
Dog watch, four bells
"Sails ho!"
"Where away?"
"Two points off the starboard bow!"
Najib squinted in the direction indicated, but couldn't make out any sails on the horizon; that was, of course, exactly why they had a lookup at the top of a mast, to see further.
"What colours?" he shouted.
"Red and gold!"
That was the Lion Rampant, the banner of the Scottish kingdom. Najib frowned; he was reluctant to lose the speed of sailing straight before the wind. The Scots were plainly out in force; who knew what squadrons they might have just north, ready to entangle him after a fancy maneuver? No, simplicity was best, and trusting the speed of the Dendam. Besides, in a passing engagement he might easily come off the better, and the enemy were far from their bases; any losses he inflicted would be magnified, while he was headed for home and repairs. And after all, they were only Scots; he'd never turned his back on a foreign devil before, and had no mind to start now.
"We'll go straight through them," he decided, "and give them something to remember us by."
-----------------------
Aboard the KD Dendam
Fifteen miles east of Mauritius, in the Indian Ocean
Dog watch, seven bells
The Dendam's broadside thundered again, and Najib grinned nastily at the sound of breaking wood and screaming that drifted across the water. "My compliments to Encik Musa; tell him, good shooting, and he should give his crews an extra ration of grog once we're clear." The midshipman doing runner duty sped off for the gundecks, and Najib returned his attention to the Scots ship lying half a mile to the Dendam's starboard, wreathed in powder smoke. Muzzle flashes glinted; the Scots were still fighting - but their stubby old-fashioned guns, deadly enough at close range, were doing well to get one hit in ten at this distance. The other ships of the enemy squadron were maneuvering, trying to angle themselves so that the Dendam would be unable to avoid getting close, where numbers would count; but Najib could see they were too late, he was about to show them what the clean heels of a real sailing ship looked like. "Lubberly beasts," he sneered, then turned to order his helmsman to turn a point to port; that would allow him to avoid the wallowing European caravels while still exchanging another two or three broadsides.
In the vast noise of a battle at sea, the crack sound was almost lost; it wasn't until later, thinking back over the battle, that Najib realised he'd actually heard the disaster happening. He felt the shudder under his feet as the handling of the ship changed, and looked about for the cause; it was as though the wind had, literally, been taken from his sails and the mast was no longer pushing the ship - but the wind was as fresh as ever, and there was no ship behind him to shadow his. Not until the top half of the mainmast was fifteen degrees out of true and well on its way to the deck, spilling screaming topsmen, did he realise what had happened. A lucky shot at the weak spot, the join where two tree trunks were spliced into a single tall mast; the iron bands cracked open under the force, and the sails pulling the upper half of the mast forward, unconnected to the rest of the ship except by rigging. Disaster.
There was nothing to be done about it, would have been nothing even if he'd actually seen the shot strike. The ship could sail, could even fight, without the mainmast; it would take him an additional week to limp into a Ceylon harbour, and a few days to raise a new mast, that was all. That was why the Tentera Laut DiRaja aimed low, to kill men and dismount guns, not high to foul sails. But first he had to fight his way clear of the Scots squadron, without half his sails and with the rest hopelessly tangled in the fallen rigging. It can't be done, he thought, knowing that he looked at his own death and the death of all the fevered sailors in the hold, that he'd tried to save.
"Encik Hisyam!" he shouted. The Dendam was doomed, but that was no reason to stop doing what they could. "Get a party with axes, chop free the mast, heave it overboard. Ahmad! Break out the boarding pikes, we'll have visitors before long. You!" This last to a midshipman too new to have earned the honour of being addressed as 'Encik', much less being called by only his name. "Tell Encik Musa to keep firing, but prepare chain and grapeshot. Our friends think they like to fight at close range. We'll change their minds for them."
-----------------------
Aboard the KD Dendam
Sixteen miles east of Mauritius, in the Indian Ocean
First watch, four bells
Four hours of musketry and screams had left Najib nearly deaf, but the crackle of breaking planks as the European ship majestically collided with the Dendam still had the power to make him wince. Fresh waves bullets slammed into the deck from the other ship's masts, and a screaming mob of enormous ogres poured down onto his empty aftcastle; they were stripped to the waist, exposing their vast hairiness, and even through the choking powdersmoke Najib fancied he could smell their stench. He gritted his teeth as they chopped at the ropes holding his War Ensign, and it fluttered down. Nobody would take it for surrender, there was no danger of anyone accusing him of striking falsely, but it galled him to see the flag that had been presented to him personally when his ship was commissioned taken down.
He had a remedy for that, though. He shouted, and his sailors fired their muskets in a single volley; their two murdering pieces, mounted for the occasion on what was left of the mainmast, spewed iron nails from their two-inch mouths, and his officers added pistol bullets to give a touch of class to the carnage. "Kill them!" he shouted, leaping forward with his sword at the ready; his men followed - he devoutly hoped - with boarding pikes. The confused mass of Europeans on the aftcastle, all cohesion gone in the deadly musket volley, fled before them, back onto their own ship - which was pulling away with its bow shattered by the ironwood of Dendam's timbers. Najib grinned fiercely as the last European jumped and barely caught himself on a piece of rigging hanging from the enemy ship's bowsprit. That for their boarding party!
His triumph faded slightly as he gave orders to jury-rig the War Ensign to the mainmast. He was still master of his ship - dismasted and battered though it was - but two more Europeans were coming up, one on either side, and the stubborn bastard at his bow was still firing, though his guns must have been red-hot. He bared his teeth. At least he'd taught them better than to try boarding; they would have to batter him to pieces.
-----------------------
Aboard the KD Dendam
Sixteen miles east of Mauritius, in the Indian Ocean
First watch, six bells
Najib gritted his teeth against the agony in his elbow and torso, and forced himself to stand straight. "Fight on," he said. "If they were Japanese, or even Koreans, yes; if we could expect to be treated in a civilised way. But these dogs of Europeans? No. No surrender. We'll blow the ship, and die clean in the ocean, not begging for mercy in torture chambers."
His officers looked at each other, gray-faced in the dark. Their unspoken consent elected Ahmad spokesman; he swallowed, but it was clearly his task, and he faced it manfully. "Sir. I believe you are distraught. The Scots have offered their word for our good treatment."
"The word of a foreign devil?" he intended to sneer, but it came out as a gasp; the grayness in his vision wasn't all because the sun had set, he realised - then he was falling. "Fight on," he said, or thought he did, but he knew it was futile; Ahmad would take command now, and Ahmad had a wife and children. Ahmad would not give the order to blow the gunpowder. The darkness came up to claim him.
-----------------------
The KD Dendam was taken prize, but was not taken into the Kongelige Leidang, being too badly battered for economical repair. The KL St Olaf and KL Lejonen, both damaged by the Dendam's heavy broadsides, collided in the storm that blew up after the action, and sank with both hands. True to their word, the Scots treated their prisoners according to the laws of war, though many of them still died of the fever that had ravaged Admiral Yang's squadron. The captain of the Dendam, Najib bin Tun Abdul, died of his wounds two days after the surrender. His first officer, Ahmad bin Haji Razak, survived until the end of the war, and returned home to be given the honorary title 'Tun' for his part in the action off Mauritius; several other officers were also honoured, and Najib was posthumously given the title 'Dato'. The stubborn effectiveness of the Dendam's last fight was instrumental in persuading the Scots admiral, Johann MacRanvale, not to seek a decisive battle with the joint Malayan-Korean-Japanese fleet.
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Korean Impressions
Session 14
So, this session also turned out to be a session full of the Great Himalayan War. This despite winning the war quite handsomely by the end of last session. Tibet refused any peace treaty, so demands had to be enforced by full occupation. Since the harsh terms of the treaty against him were more than 100 warscore, the allies sequentially went about fully occupying and force peacing Tibet. During this, Qin, Hindustan and Malaya were spawning rebels in Tibet, to try and make countries revolt out of Tibet. This was after the GM instructed the Asian Alliance to force peace as quickly as possible.
Fivoin had to tell us a second time, some years later, to peace again.
Or at least that is the sequence of events as they seemed to me.
Here is Juan (the Hindustan player's) account of how things unfolded.
About the only agreement between his memory and my memory is that Hindustan only funded rebels before Fivoin told us to peace the first time, that Fivoin asked us all to peace twice and that peace was eventually made with Tibet.
Of course, having raised this matter to the GM at the end of the week, rather predictable and tedious accusations of ulterior motives were leveled at me. Rather interesting was the source.
To their credit, most of the other Asians haven't taken the issue personally. Particularly given that I had included Falador and Juan among those whose actions were particularly naughty, both of them responded constructively and thoughtfully. Only Anders accused me of raising the issue as part of my "conspiracy" against him.
More surprisingly, BaronBowden, the Spain player, also accused me of raising a rules issue to achieve in-game goals. Which is rather interesting, since it rather calls into question what his goals toward me are. I had thought we had improved our relations last session after we'd talked over why he wanted to sabotage my country.
The hoopla has also rather obscured what I consider to be the far greater sin - that the way CloneFusion was treated last session, not as a defeated country, but as a fellow player - was approaching bullying. The guy started the war for sure. He was defeated. He had a harsh peace forced on him as punishment. The way the peace was enforced and the way the man himself was spoken about and spoken to I think really crossed a line.
I spoke last week about the perils of dehumanization, and of course, it would be easy to dehumanize the guys who I think have treated their fellow players badly. That would be a mistake. Most of the time, the guys in this game are a pretty cool bunch to hang out with. And besides which, getting het up about revenge and virtue would only make the game more stressful and more divided into blocs. That makes the game less fun for everyone.
However, my foreign policy in Asia has been diverted from the path of interests, to the path I consider morally right.
fasquardon
Session 14
So, this session also turned out to be a session full of the Great Himalayan War. This despite winning the war quite handsomely by the end of last session. Tibet refused any peace treaty, so demands had to be enforced by full occupation. Since the harsh terms of the treaty against him were more than 100 warscore, the allies sequentially went about fully occupying and force peacing Tibet. During this, Qin, Hindustan and Malaya were spawning rebels in Tibet, to try and make countries revolt out of Tibet. This was after the GM instructed the Asian Alliance to force peace as quickly as possible.
Fivoin had to tell us a second time, some years later, to peace again.
Or at least that is the sequence of events as they seemed to me.
Here is Juan (the Hindustan player's) account of how things unfolded.
Juan_de_Marco said:
About the only agreement between his memory and my memory is that Hindustan only funded rebels before Fivoin told us to peace the first time, that Fivoin asked us all to peace twice and that peace was eventually made with Tibet.
Of course, having raised this matter to the GM at the end of the week, rather predictable and tedious accusations of ulterior motives were leveled at me. Rather interesting was the source.
To their credit, most of the other Asians haven't taken the issue personally. Particularly given that I had included Falador and Juan among those whose actions were particularly naughty, both of them responded constructively and thoughtfully. Only Anders accused me of raising the issue as part of my "conspiracy" against him.
More surprisingly, BaronBowden, the Spain player, also accused me of raising a rules issue to achieve in-game goals. Which is rather interesting, since it rather calls into question what his goals toward me are. I had thought we had improved our relations last session after we'd talked over why he wanted to sabotage my country.
The hoopla has also rather obscured what I consider to be the far greater sin - that the way CloneFusion was treated last session, not as a defeated country, but as a fellow player - was approaching bullying. The guy started the war for sure. He was defeated. He had a harsh peace forced on him as punishment. The way the peace was enforced and the way the man himself was spoken about and spoken to I think really crossed a line.
I spoke last week about the perils of dehumanization, and of course, it would be easy to dehumanize the guys who I think have treated their fellow players badly. That would be a mistake. Most of the time, the guys in this game are a pretty cool bunch to hang out with. And besides which, getting het up about revenge and virtue would only make the game more stressful and more divided into blocs. That makes the game less fun for everyone.
However, my foreign policy in Asia has been diverted from the path of interests, to the path I consider morally right.
fasquardon
Click to Enlarge.
Commentary: Did something more similar to sketch humour this time. Japan is waiting in line to use the computer, the usage is left ambiguous but the facial expressions of Rome and Scandinavia should make a certain interpretation likely.
Korea is scared off by Taira's/Japan's vague threat of mutilation, and generally the comic serves as a metaphor for Japan's surpassing Korea solidly as a major naval power.
As Fivoin's England still posts a 600 ship naval (same as mine) it makes sense for him to be 'ahead' of me in terms of naval power, and looking sufficiently freaked out with a non verbal "Oh Crap".
A second one tonight, Baron requested it off of me, (btw that will be 1000 ducates), click to enlarge.
Commentary:
Baron wanted a comic about "Spain and Bavaria walking romantically together", I decided since I left this to the last minute to crib from lines from The Order of the Stick and make it more like Baron confessinghisher love to Bavaria, and making then like it.
I felt this was more in character of Baron.
Commentary: Did something more similar to sketch humour this time. Japan is waiting in line to use the computer, the usage is left ambiguous but the facial expressions of Rome and Scandinavia should make a certain interpretation likely.
Korea is scared off by Taira's/Japan's vague threat of mutilation, and generally the comic serves as a metaphor for Japan's surpassing Korea solidly as a major naval power.
As Fivoin's England still posts a 600 ship naval (same as mine) it makes sense for him to be 'ahead' of me in terms of naval power, and looking sufficiently freaked out with a non verbal "Oh Crap".
A second one tonight, Baron requested it off of me, (btw that will be 1000 ducates), click to enlarge.
Commentary:
Baron wanted a comic about "Spain and Bavaria walking romantically together", I decided since I left this to the last minute to crib from lines from The Order of the Stick and make it more like Baron confessing
I felt this was more in character of Baron.
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