In this post: Part II of my demo AAR! For Part I, a couple screenshots, and some gameplay comments, see page 1 of the thread
When I left off in Part I, it was 1497 in my Milan, and my truce with Venice was up. What to do? In case Venice decided to attack - I noticed their relations with me were now -7 (the scale, as in EUII, is from 200 to -200) - I built a new regiment of troops with a funny long German name, due to their superior morale. You can now see, on the recruitment screen, different types of regiments and their fire, shock, and morale values; in this early part of the game, the only troops with fire values were Hussite cannoneers. I didn't create any of those, even with my nostalgia for Hussites...
An event popped up saying France had influenced an Archbishop successfully and had become Papal Controller [which gives some bonuses in stability and tech, though not as much as Holy Roman Emperor]. On a whim I clicked the Papacy button. This lists the current Papal Controller, as well as the different european Archbishops, and which countries they support - the country with the most supporting Archbishops (often just two!) becomes Papal Controller.
I noticed something: one of the Archbishops supported me! This was odd, because a few years before he hadn't. It turns out that when one of the eminent men dies, another takes his place from another nation (I think my guy replaced a Castilian). I quickly looked at the options on the screen: for 50d, I could try to "influence" one of the other Eminences to support Milan. My odds of success ranged from 20% to 30%, but impulsively I clicked one of them.
Well by golly!
A little window popped up telling me that I was now Papal Controller and entitled to all the bonuses therein. My prestige, of course, went up appropriately too; I was now ranked 9th in the world! I sat happily for a few minutes, sending off merchants, clicking on my nation's shield every 30 seconds or so to admire the big Papal Controller logo next to my monarch's name, and generally feeling like a force to be reckoned with. Finally I decided it was time to overcome my paralyzing fear of war and fight somebody and beat them down.
I clicked Venice and pressed "declare war". It told me that I would take a stability hit for sharing a religion and not having a casus belli. I paused to think. I didn't have a casus belli against anyone, so I'd have to take a stability hit somehow - but why not attack someone from another religion?
A month later, my troops began to unload from ships off the coast of Tunisia. Tunisia was chosen for two reasons: 1. I just wanted to see what war was like in EUIII, and it was close nearby, 2. Two of its three provinces didn't have fortresses. I easily captured those two provinces, but then Tunisia's allies Tripoli and Algeria moved in, and after a few sad battles my army reembarked, defeated. My navy, though, was a smashing success. I beat the stuffing out of each foe, capturing three ships (total) and destroying many more. It's too bad my army didn't have such success. Sailing back to Genoa, I began to consider adopting an altered strategy with the second wave. More transports were built so I could carry a larger army.
I was mildly disappointed with my old friends, meanwhile, because Modena, Mantua, and Sicily had seen fit to jump out of their alliances with me. Even so, I had somewhat miraculously ascended to #8 with nearly 30 prestige points.
Then, as my ships were reloading, I was called away to dinner ... as you know, demos don't allow savegames.
This story, then, sadly, has come to a close.
There it went ... my mini-AAR, in which I learned that I am a total wimp when it comes to warfare, but not so bad at everything else. It almost goes without saying, then, that I should try to conquer as much as possible for my next tale, perhaps triggering landslide BB wars. Sounds like fun
Thanks for reading! Comments appreciated, I especially enjoyed reading from you guys who also played Milan and did things completely differently ~ oh, and only two days and a few hours until EUIII's release!! Huzzah!!!!!
When I left off in Part I, it was 1497 in my Milan, and my truce with Venice was up. What to do? In case Venice decided to attack - I noticed their relations with me were now -7 (the scale, as in EUII, is from 200 to -200) - I built a new regiment of troops with a funny long German name, due to their superior morale. You can now see, on the recruitment screen, different types of regiments and their fire, shock, and morale values; in this early part of the game, the only troops with fire values were Hussite cannoneers. I didn't create any of those, even with my nostalgia for Hussites...
An event popped up saying France had influenced an Archbishop successfully and had become Papal Controller [which gives some bonuses in stability and tech, though not as much as Holy Roman Emperor]. On a whim I clicked the Papacy button. This lists the current Papal Controller, as well as the different european Archbishops, and which countries they support - the country with the most supporting Archbishops (often just two!) becomes Papal Controller.
I noticed something: one of the Archbishops supported me! This was odd, because a few years before he hadn't. It turns out that when one of the eminent men dies, another takes his place from another nation (I think my guy replaced a Castilian). I quickly looked at the options on the screen: for 50d, I could try to "influence" one of the other Eminences to support Milan. My odds of success ranged from 20% to 30%, but impulsively I clicked one of them.
Well by golly!
A little window popped up telling me that I was now Papal Controller and entitled to all the bonuses therein. My prestige, of course, went up appropriately too; I was now ranked 9th in the world! I sat happily for a few minutes, sending off merchants, clicking on my nation's shield every 30 seconds or so to admire the big Papal Controller logo next to my monarch's name, and generally feeling like a force to be reckoned with. Finally I decided it was time to overcome my paralyzing fear of war and fight somebody and beat them down.
I clicked Venice and pressed "declare war". It told me that I would take a stability hit for sharing a religion and not having a casus belli. I paused to think. I didn't have a casus belli against anyone, so I'd have to take a stability hit somehow - but why not attack someone from another religion?
A month later, my troops began to unload from ships off the coast of Tunisia. Tunisia was chosen for two reasons: 1. I just wanted to see what war was like in EUIII, and it was close nearby, 2. Two of its three provinces didn't have fortresses. I easily captured those two provinces, but then Tunisia's allies Tripoli and Algeria moved in, and after a few sad battles my army reembarked, defeated. My navy, though, was a smashing success. I beat the stuffing out of each foe, capturing three ships (total) and destroying many more. It's too bad my army didn't have such success. Sailing back to Genoa, I began to consider adopting an altered strategy with the second wave. More transports were built so I could carry a larger army.
I was mildly disappointed with my old friends, meanwhile, because Modena, Mantua, and Sicily had seen fit to jump out of their alliances with me. Even so, I had somewhat miraculously ascended to #8 with nearly 30 prestige points.
Then, as my ships were reloading, I was called away to dinner ... as you know, demos don't allow savegames.
This story, then, sadly, has come to a close.There it went ... my mini-AAR, in which I learned that I am a total wimp when it comes to warfare, but not so bad at everything else. It almost goes without saying, then, that I should try to conquer as much as possible for my next tale, perhaps triggering landslide BB wars. Sounds like fun
Thanks for reading! Comments appreciated, I especially enjoyed reading from you guys who also played Milan and did things completely differently ~ oh, and only two days and a few hours until EUIII's release!! Huzzah!!!!!
