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reminds me of an unfinished VH world conquest timurids...

the right-click boats were patched i think? you used to be able to build boats that way
 
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This is my current Castillian playthrough, my first "real" one. (I used to have a England save too, but France happened.)
Since I'm a beginner, I do some dumb decisions, but this playthrough is pretty good for me.
My first mission was to vassalize Navarra, which I did, but Aragon declared war at them anyway and Sicily joined in. Navarra was lost, but I got Sicily in a PU with me and they are a faithfully ally now.
My second missions was to conquer Granada, which I also did. Then I offered England to be my ally, and they accepted and helped me to get Safi and Ifni from Morocco.
Since I did a lot of troops, my manpower is dead now, and it's bad because my next move is to make Aragon a vassal by brute force, since they like to refuse EVERYTHING I offer them, even if our relations is 150+.
I also wanted really bad to go into colonization, but since I got Safi and Ifni, instead of waiting 100+ years, I waited 6 months and Rio de Oro appeared at my borders and is immediatly colonized.
It's 1409 now, and I'm waiting to integrate Sicily into my empire, regain manpower, expand into Naples, do something about Aragon and maybe do a bit of colonizing in Africa if more provinces appear.
This isn't impressive, but as a beginner that doesn't play too much Paradox Games, I like to think that this game is good at least. Better than being absolutely destroyed by France.
[Any tips are welcome]
 
I suspect that AI would explode very fast with an empire like that.

Ah, you're probably right. Too bad, I'd've liked to see a scenario like that.
 
That looks pretty. Haven't played MEIOU before, may give it a go!

It's a very nice mod. I've never played Magna Mundi but I'm very happy with MEIOU. After all, MEIOU and Taxes would be the only mod I would consider playing after I've tried EU4 a little.
 
Greetings. I present you my current Genoa´s campaign. It is a country which I wish to play with since a lot of time ago. I love talasocratic powers (I don´t know if this is the correct word in English), to take the control of the most strategic places and the wealthiest provinces, instead of an agressive and expensive expansion.

For the moment, it has been quite similar than a former campaign which I played as Venice; becoming one of the top 3 naval powers of Mediterranean (behind Castille and a surprising Moroccan fleet), the enlargement of the Genovese Trade League (most by diplomacy but also by war) which has provided Genoa the wealthiest economy, a foreign policy looking for the defeat of the Ottomans ASAP, the conquer of the center trade of Alexandria (we are mercantilist for the moment), and a great cultural tradition which gives Genoa some of the best advisors of Europe. I am also encouraged to keep high the prestige and low the inflation. On domestic policy, I am turning from serfdom to free subject, and from aristocracy to plutocracy.

genoa politico.jpg


As you can see, I have taken Treviso and Crete from Venice, Alexandria from Mamlucs, and annex Sardinia (the yellow Peloponese is Acadia). My next targets are the greek possesions of the Ottomans (maybe the release of Bulgaria too) due to the Holy War casus belli, the total defeat of Venice and, as soon as I have a good casus belli, an expansion over Italy, especially Savoy to avoid France to take it. I have avoided wars against major powers for the moment and I will keep this way unless they are weak or there is a great coalition against them. France, and especially Castille, are the final boss of Mediterranean IMO. Of course, the amazing province of Thrace is a desirable target too.

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This is the real Genoese empire. Not territorial but economical. BTW, does somebody know how to attract countries which have signed a trade league compact with The Hansa or others. I have tried to send gifts and have relationships of 200, but they don´t break their pacts.
 
Greetings. I present you my current Genoa´s campaign. It is a country which I wish to play with since a lot of time ago. I love talasocratic powers (I don´t know if this is the correct word in English), to take the control of the most strategic places and the wealthiest provinces, instead of an agressive and expensive expansion.

That's a nice start. Your strategy seems legit for Genoa. However if you turn your look Eastwards and feel tempted to expand into Crimea, be very careful. I tried this path once, spent all of my time & money to take 8-10 provinces there from the Horde - it was exhausting because it takes a long time for Genoa to have enough manpower for quick reinforcement in this kind of war. Then, as I was finally done with it, already dreaming of some kind of Western tech Catholic merchant republic in Ukraine, I got recklessly DoWed by a giant Poland without even a CB. So plan your expansion wisely... chi va piano va sano ;)
 
Genoa keeps expanding and accumulating an insane wealth due to trade and the provincial taxes (and trading) improves. The control of Liguria, Alexandria and Venice provides the genoese arks of more gold than they can stock. I have also invested to convert almost every province to catholicism (only Cherkaask and Alexandria are muslim).
genoa politico 3.jpg



I am advancing to the mediterranean state which I am looking for. A wild Crimea appeared but it fainted fast due to the multiple war fronts they had, and Genoa took the wealthy Crimea from them. Despite of Tartar culture is accepted, it is not on my target advance more on Ukraine, unless a war against Poland is unavoidable. Ottomans are a minor power, and I am beggining to advance on the core of Asia Minor to accept the Turkish culture and its wealthy provinces. I am at war against them at the moment with Holy War casus belli (actually, it was because they left the Trade League), and this is going to be a great expansion. I also hope to get Morocco's accession to the league.

I annexed Venice and gained more infamy than I would like. This was due to I had to attack Montenegro to have a war against Venice (No casus Belli). If I declared war on Venice using Trade League War, Poland and Lithuania enter at war on Venice´s side. Anyway, it was a great and profitable war; Genoa took Venice, and enforced trade league membership to Wallachia, and other countries which were formerly in it and abandoned the league at the start of the conflict. I also reduced byzantine power, giving freedom to Candar. Anyway, it would be good if byzantines change to Greek culture some bulgarian or turkish provinces.

Hungary was destroyed too, and I was able to subjugate Aquilea. It is a seductive idea annex them, but the descentralization, and the imperial penalties are not so. I had to liberate Modena (as a vassal) due to this.

Last but not least, the situation is quite complicated close to Liguria. France has come to Italy, and it is defeating the emperor war after war. They have a mission against me too (Annex Liguria) so...I am scared. I might improve relationship with them, but I prefer to ally with Castille (a hard mission) and kick their ass out of the beautiful Italy. I am thinking on declare war on Savoy to take Lombardy and ensure it doesn´t fall on french hands, despite of infamy and a war against emperor (it might even be interesting to expand over Austrian culture land, if we add the provinces of Aquileia to accept their culture). The king of Austria is also the ruler of Portugal and Pisa, so reducing his power is, in a certain way, necessary in case he inherits both thrones.

Genoa leads the way in commerce, naval and government technologies (we are the first with 2 ideas). I have decided to be a patron of the arts for the time being, as I needed counselors. Needless to say that the first one was National Trade Policy.
 
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Mid-sixteenth century, and I think we can talk about Genoese hegemony.

genoa politico 1556.jpg


Northern Italy is under my direct rule or vassals. Only Rome and Ancona are missing for the formation of Italy. I financed paramilitaries to take Piedmont, Nice and Cuneo from the French while they were bleeding in a war against Castile. Burgundy saw the opportunity and you can see the result. Lombardy, Brescia, Ferrara, Verona, Pisa, Siena and Mantua fell in the same way after a war in Genoa against Austria, in which I liberated Tirol and cut off access to quell the rebellion. The problem has been dealing with infamy; I removed the cores of Lombardy (because it was necessary to form Italy), Cremona (which already had a Genoese core), Liguria (which had it in Savoy) and Piedmont (in which it had built an embassy). I have been liberating everything else, and I will free Milan (Verona, Brescia) as soon as I can move the National Focus to Parma and take away the core.

In Turkey little to say. Expansion thanks to the casus belli of the Holy War or colonizing the Timurids. In Ukraine, after an inevitable war against Poland-Lithuania, I began to expand through the territories of Tartar culture, colonizing Golden Horde in the process. I also took Tambov from Muscovy in the first of the repeated wars we have had to prevent the formation of Russia. Burgundy attacked me and was beaten. Austria too, twice, and in the first lost its Portuguese heritage and in the following The Palatinate and other German possessions. In the next one, it will definitely stop being a major power.

I braked Castilla and the formation of Spain. I only took Andalucia. I forced them to liberate the Mexican natives. They have colonies in the Caribbean and in some parts of Africa (Mutapa).

The Hansa ceased to be a mercantile republic, so now I earn more if possible. I guarantee the independence of all the neighbors of the countries that can be strong again. The Romans already said it, DIVIDE ET IMPERA. Only Austria, Castile (in the colonies) and a renewed England can get to bother.

Genoa carries an insulting technological advantage in all fields; I am working to get more magistrates per year, since such a large empire needs a lot of investments to avoid stagnation. We already have possessions in America (Cuba, Antillean islands, East Coast of the USA), Africa (The Cape, to ensure the Asian route). The Arab culture of Al Misr was accepted (I do not know how, since I only had Alexandria), so I decided to move forward and take Cairo (Judea and Delta too). Besides being a very rich province, with a university, it will give me direct access to Asia and colonize from there as soon as the core is generated. Also to build fleets. Another related objective will be to attack Goa for the creation of the Genoese Company of the East Indies, and perhaps an assault on China to take some of its centers and monopolize some of its products such as porcelain.

For the rest, I do not plan a big expansion; only take the richest and most strategic provinces and keep an eye on the other powers.
 
View attachment 401758


This is my current Castillian playthrough, my first "real" one. (I used to have a England save too, but France happened.)
Since I'm a beginner, I do some dumb decisions, but this playthrough is pretty good for me.
…...
[Any tips are welcome]
I note that your Infamy is up to over 10 points. You might consider waiting a while and letting your manpower recover, and your Infamy to bleed off a bit, before taking anything else. Infamy is a "brake" to rapid expansion in the game, so you probably want to find ways of expanding with the least amount of Infamy. This is a "long haul" game, and pacing your expansion to what you can safely digest is an important part of that. Too many non-core provinces and you'll be facing revolt after revolt, especially at times of low stability or high Infamy. The provinces of Granada and Morocco will also require time (and expense) to convert.

As for vassalizing Aragon, you're probably not going to be able to do that in a single shot, because the combined values of their provinces are likely to be too high. Basically, you'll need to fight two or three wars with a 5 year truce between them, taking a couple of provinces at a time, before you can vassalize the remainder. It gets even harder if they manage to pick up a couple more provinces in the mean time. You're not going to be able to do all of that with just 300 or so replacement troops. Pace yourself, assist allies to boost their opinion of you (not just easily purchased Relations, but the long-term level of trust), and you can count on their support when you need it, rather than have them leave you hanging at the worst possible moment.

I started up a new Hungary campaign (a large but dirt-poor country at the start) after my previous one got wiped in a hard drive crash. Now up to 1460, and I've joined the HRE by cozying up to Bohemia until they gained more provinces than me, then petitioning to admit a couple of provinces, (including my capital), and become Emperor after Bohemia's Infamy went totally ballistic and both Austria's and Burgundy's were moderately high. Hungary now has around 25 provinces (compared to 12 at the start), while never going over 8 Infamy and rarely exceeding 4 (0-1 Infamy during most of that wait for the Bohemian Emperor to pass away). I've cultivated my relations with Austria, joined 3 of their wars and put down several of their revolts, and they've got "utter trust" in my country, which was critical when I unexpectedly ended up at war with the Ottomans. After 2 wars in the Balkans, I now own the 4 formerly Ottoman provinces of Bulgaria, and spun off their Bosnian and Serbia vassals as independent states, which I can "collect" later. Bohemia tried an unjustified backstab to grab provinces from me during another war, and Austria came to the rescue, leaving Bohemia severely battered and missing a few pieces, as several other countries piled onto the weakened state. I've released a couple of HRE provinces as vassals, and even sold one back to its original owner, most of which were gained through being Emperor, rather than keep them and build Infamy. I've also supported Burgundy in a couple of wars in order to keep France in check, and their trust is now in the "implicit" range, as well as defended or liberated a number of provinces which were illegally grabbed by Bavaria, Venice, and the Hansa (and Hansa just annexed Hannover, so I'll need to deal with that). The trick is to play Politician as well as General, build support via allies and vassals, and try to avoid actions which antagonize a lot of other countries, while picking up a select few of the juicier provinces along the way. Too many low-value provinces just drags down your research speed and increases stability cost without enough compensating income to cover it; the high-value ones more than pay for themselves.
 
Hello

Thought I´d share my Milan game. After a long period of starting my games with minor nations, decided to go for a bigger and easier game for once and so far can say it has been fun and interesting (I´m in no means a pro EU3 player).

Playing with the HRE v10.0 mod for DW
Starting year 1356 , All normal, lucky nations off

Early game is easy in terms of expansion for Milan, you get several vassalization missions (Mantua/Verona/Modena etc.) which for me also gave many other Northern Italian vassals through my targets being allied to them. In a few wars I had Vassals from Switzerland to Siena/Firenze. One war gave me Wurttemberg and Wurzburg as vassals. Later on after 1400s, I´ve gained a few more vassals, most notably Tarantino(in Naples), the Knights and Ansbach. Also already prior to 1400s but mainly after 1400 territorial gains have been made through Italy as well as Caucasus in the East( took Kaffa from Genoa, later wars with Astrakhan and Ottomans) and the latest addition of the Balearic islands of Mallorca and Minorca from Aragon. And ofcourse the massive PU gained with Hungary


Milan is the technology leader (Along with its vassals Firenze and Siena. Currently have 3 National Ideas (in order of taking) : Military Drill / Bureaucracy / Ecumenism

Although I´ve had only one king who could be called terrible in terms of stats, I haven´t had a superb leader either. Current and the previous ruler were excellent in Administratvie but horrible in Diplo and Military which has been good for technology but not so much for expansion. My two best rulers however were ruling for long periods of time (25-30 years)

Very soon we are entering the time of exploration and colonization as well as age of reformation so interesting times are ahead.

Currently Milan is the 3rd strongest (strength determined by income on the ledger, not military) nation (known) and Milan´s subordinate Hungary is 4th. The biggest threats are Castille and France who are significantly stronger than Milan. Also, though defeated a couple of times in various wars (Milan hasn´t taken part of those) Bohemia is still strong and Serbia has risen through the weakness of Ottomans. Austria´s only achievment is gaining land in Poland and are not considered a threat.
Additionally Milan is threatened by the Islamic Nations of Persia, Mamluks, Ottomans and Astrakhan. ( Persia has recently rose to become a major power, Astrakhan replaced Golden Horde very early and has stayed around since then but technological inferiority is making them lose territory slowly, Ottomans have struggled since the beginning and Mamluks recently lost a major war (releasing of Syria)


Europe and Milan in screenshots from 1400 to 1475 [NB! Enjoy the borders :D]
Notable things:
Early Scandinavia - Don´t know how that happened
Struggle for British Isles - For a short while Munster became a dominant nation in Ireland(~1390 - ~1420), also taking some land from Scotland but was soon destroyed by Scotland, England and Norway. In 1475 Southern Ireland is controlled by Norway and northern half is divided by England and Irish minors
Poland got rekt through several wars around year 1420-30
Same happened with Teutons around year 1460-70 (Teutons are now only in East-Prussia (The grey in Estonia is Osel-Wiek [a vassal of Teutons in 1356 start])
Brandenburg has seemingly been silent throughout the game, but taking territory here and there, also gaining some lands in the Baltics after the collapse of Teutons
Political Situation of Europe 1400
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Kingdom of Milan ~1400
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Political Situation of Europe ~1450
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Kingdom of Milan ~1450
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Political Situation of Europe ~1475
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Kingdom of Milan ~1475
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Miscellaneous Screenshots ( Rulers/Emperors/Nations) for those interested
Kings of Milan 1356-1477
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HRE Emperors 1356-1477
In 1448, the King of Austria died and the heir of Austria was elected as the new emperor, however that heir also died the same year, leaving Austria rulerless and giving the Imperial throne to Brandenburg. Habsburgs dissapeared very early (before 1400s) and the Austrian emperors were of some other dynasty (can´t remember the name). Austria is now ruled by Merckatz dynasty.
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Strongest Nations 1477
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Another 50 years have passed an oh boy what has happened.

In 1488 Milan secured a PU with England and inherited it in ~1518
Brandenburg, with its recent aquirings of land took even more and is growing to be a major nation in Europe.
Castille and Portugal are in full motion colonizing South and Central Americas, meanwhile Milan has colonized several islands off the coast of Africa.

Political Situation of Europe 1504
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Kingdom of Milan 1504
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Political Situation of Europe 1525
h0XSbMN.jpg


Kingdom of Milan 1525
egorla8.jpg

Religions of Europe 1500 and 1525 (Protestantism started in Teutonic Order, Reformation in Holstein)
qF4tdiS.jpg


VRBXpf7.jpg


Miscellaneous info about Milan and other Nations 1525
9oeKtpA.jpg

nvebmxV.jpg

uvMEGAt.jpg
 
Continuing the Hungarian campaign into the 1520s, I recently forced a PU on the 4 remaining provinces of Bohemia, and finally integrated the two provinces of Bosnia and 4 of Bulgaria, after annexing the last two remaining Ottoman provinces in Europe. Thanks (in a sarcastic way) to Austria annexing illegal territory, stripping away the existing cores, and then releasing it on demand, I've gotten a couple of coreless provinces from Austria that I can't release or sell (and one taken back forcibly from England as a core), plus one which I had a random border dispute core on, which were all formerly provinces of Aquileia, and should FINALLY gain cores on the two Austrian ones shortly; they've been killing my Infamy reduction capacity for 40+ years. Bohemia had grabbed a couple of Polish provinces early on while Emperor, and added them to the HRE. Much later, after I became Emperor, they annexed Thuringia, but lost the two Polish provinces to revolts, then turned over the Thuringian provinces to me on demand. I took the pair from Poland in a couple of Imperial Ban wars (one per war, so I got cores on each of them as a reward for their recovery), as well as one other Polish province that I had a Border Dispute core on, and then released Thuringia as a vassal to lower both my current Infamy level and the slow gain from holding too many illegal HRE provinces. I've also been releasing (as vassals) the provinces handed over by Burgundy in order to lower Infamy from the provinces taken forcibly from Bosnia, Serbia, Ottomans, and Poland, USUALLY sitting at 0-2 points, but only burning off +0.12 to -0.38 per year due to a couple of illegal provinces still being held while I wait to gain cores.

At this point, I've got the entire Balkan peninsula (including Thrace) annexed, except for the long strip of OPMs along the western edge: Ragusa, Montenegro, Albania, Janina, Athens, and Moria, which I haven't gotten a valid claim or mission for except while under a truce, and aren't worth 8 Infamy each to take without a suitable CB. I also have Franken and Oberbayern (formerly of the Palatinate and Bavaria, and released by other conquerors), which are too valuable to pass up, and can't be released to burn infamy. I also unexpectedly inherited OPM Ferrara in Italy during the height of the Reformation. Treviso was taken from Venice by me in an early war, and I just barely managed to vassalize the rest of 3-province Venice (the vassalization cost was exactly 100 points) during the last war against their ally Poland. I'm now one province short of stretching from the Mediterranean on both sides of the Balkan Peninsula all the way to the Baltic Sea, and have an Imperial Ban CB to declare war on newly renamed and reorganized Prussia, which would enable me to also take that province if I'm willing to pay the full 4 points of Infamy for it. Not yet, but it will happen.

Westernization is coming up shortly, after I do the last necessary slider move in another 2-3 years AND my current ruler passes on the crown to his heir who has the Administrative skill to carry out the changes. As Emperor or the HRE, I get a stability regain boost for each member state, which adds up to a massive bonus, making the -5 point Stability hit and +100% Stability Cost penalty for Western Influences significantly less painful. While the current borders are anything but pretty, they're very functional, with either owned territory or loyal vassal states connecting all of the pieces. More importantly, it's all easily reachable in order to defend it or put down revolts. All but 2 provinces are legal to the HRE, and there are only 2-3 non-core provinces aside from that. I should be in good shape for the devastating Stability hits and resulting Revolt Risk due to westernizing. Another year or so until the legal heir is old enough, and I can convert the present ruler to a General to hasten the royal succession process. Until then, I need to keep the Austrian relationship on solid ground, because I can't take on more than one of the far more advanced major Western countries' armies at a time, and dealing with even one is painful enough.

Outside my immediate sphere, Burgundy is getting just plain scary, has taken nearly a dozen HRE provinces (most but not all of them legally), and has all but annihilated France, which is down to 3 provinces. England has annexed virtually all of Aragon over the last two decades, is one province short of conquering Scotland, and is one short of getting Ireland, plus it grabbed a few isolated provinces in various parts of Europe as a toe-hold for future campaigns. Portugal now has about half of Castile, and another quarter of Castile was lost to a revolt by previously conquered Grenada. I'm hoping for some kind of major Burgundy/Portugal/England confrontation where their interests clearly overlap, but it hasn't happened yet. Ottomans are down to a single province, and the Golden Horde exists only deep in eastern Asia, but the Mamluks are a serious force to be reckoned with, inching into Asia Minor and eastward toward India. I see it as a golden opportunity lying in wait, once I've got my armies Westernized.
 
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This screenshot took waaaaaaaay more time to make happen than I wanted.
It is 1667, GBR owns 935 provinces, 24 vassals and 100 non-colonized provinces to go.
Trying to determine is if it is mathematically possible for world conquest based on current infamy burn.
Need some advise on how to inherit the holy roman empire for zero infamy, I control about half of the remaining members and have a lock on being emperor.
Does relations of +200 help when the nation votes on Renovatio Imperii?
I think I can get the enough imperial influence simply by adding provinces to the empire one magistrate at time.
Getting some or all for zero infamy would put me over the top.
 
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My Poland --> Russia game as of 1600.





The strategy:

Poland is Catholic, adjacent to the HRE, and in the Eastern Europe Tech Group. They have a PU with Lithuania, and Moldavia as a vassal. The goal? To meddle in eastern affairs, guaranteeing the various Russian minors to get an excuse to expand eastwards.

In my game, Austria becomes emperor, allowing me to enact a crucial decision: adding Poland's capital province to the HRE, and thus making Poland a member state of the empire. Doing so reduces your tech cost, gives you greater protection, and gives you a better chance at being elected emperor. In my case, I force-vassalized a few electors to guarantee my election, and set about using the Imperial resources to push into Russia and against the Golden Horde.

I also forced a well-performing Hungary into PU with me. I inherited it, but not Lithuania, which was perfect, as Hungarian and Polish are in the same culture group, but Lithuanian and Polish are not.

Importantly, I changed cultures to Russian BEFORE inheriting Lithuania. Most of the Lithuanian provinces are in the Eastern Slavic group, which means I get instant cores on all that land, plus I can fulfill one of the Russian nation formation requirements by owning and having a core in Smolensk/Chernigov.

Once officially transformed into Russia, I could enact the decision to move the capital (from Novogorod, in my case), to St. Petersburg and thus out of the Empire. Being emperor but not an Imperial member gives you a great opportunity to annex Imperial land with the Imperial liberation cassus belli that would normally be illegal without the infamy malus or the event to demand its release.
 
Another 50 years have passed an oh boy what has happened.

In 1488 Milan secured a PU with England and inherited it in ~1518
Brandenburg, with its recent aquirings of land took even more and is growing to be a major nation in Europe.
Castille and Portugal are in full motion colonizing South and Central Americas, meanwhile Milan has colonized several islands off the coast of Africa.

Political Situation of Europe 1504
Ncp58Hg.jpg


Kingdom of Milan 1504
fkwutHQ.jpg


Political Situation of Europe 1525
h0XSbMN.jpg


Kingdom of Milan 1525
egorla8.jpg

Religions of Europe 1500 and 1525 (Protestantism started in Teutonic Order, Reformation in Holstein)
qF4tdiS.jpg


VRBXpf7.jpg


Miscellaneous info about Milan and other Nations 1525
9oeKtpA.jpg

nvebmxV.jpg

uvMEGAt.jpg
What map mod are you using? it looks beautiful
 
My Poland --> Russia game as of 1600.





The strategy:

Poland is Catholic, adjacent to the HRE, and in the Eastern Europe Tech Group. They have a PU with Lithuania, and Moldavia as a vassal. The goal? To meddle in eastern affairs, guaranteeing the various Russian minors to get an excuse to expand eastwards.

In my game, Austria becomes emperor, allowing me to enact a crucial decision: adding Poland's capital province to the HRE, and thus making Poland a member state of the empire. Doing so reduces your tech cost, gives you greater protection, and gives you a better chance at being elected emperor. In my case, I force-vassalized a few electors to guarantee my election, and set about using the Imperial resources to push into Russia and against the Golden Horde.

I also forced a well-performing Hungary into PU with me. I inherited it, but not Lithuania, which was perfect, as Hungarian and Polish are in the same culture group, but Lithuanian and Polish are not.

Importantly, I changed cultures to Russian BEFORE inheriting Lithuania. Most of the Lithuanian provinces are in the Eastern Slavic group, which means I get instant cores on all that land, plus I can fulfill one of the Russian nation formation requirements by owning and having a core in Smolensk/Chernigov.

Once officially transformed into Russia, I could enact the decision to move the capital (from Novogorod, in my case), to St. Petersburg and thus out of the Empire. Being emperor but not an Imperial member gives you a great opportunity to annex Imperial land with the Imperial liberation cassus belli that would normally be illegal without the infamy malus or the event to demand its release.
What mod is that to where you have the vic2 style map folds? It looks nice
 
Europe and Middle-East in 1550
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Kingdom of Milan in 1550
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Europe and Middle-East in 1578
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Kingdom of Milan 1578
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Another 50 years
Milan is actively gaining territories in lands further away from the Italian homeland. The Visconti family in Milan died out and was succeeded by von Oldenburgs ( a 3/3/3 ruler....)
In Europe another Personal union was formed with a weak Poland and additionally a few vassals vere acquired with a war with Bohemia.
Milan also went to war with France 2 times, the first time weakening the French in their southern areas and the second war weaking it even more. During the second war, most of the colonial territories held by France in Northern America were taken by a Milanese expeditionary force there.
Various colonies on Atlantic Islands were established, from the original Canaries to St. Helena and Falkland Islands. A war with Oman lead to creating the Milanese South African Colonial territory as well and at 1549 Milan declared war on Ceylon taking Milan´s first territory in the East Indian Ocean, thus also forming the East India Trade Company.
In the Middle East, Milan pushed the Persians back as well as after a turmoil in Crimea annexed those territories as well. In one of the latest wars Milan also vassalized Astrakhan, one of the old major powers in the area.

Milan is by far the most powerful nation in the world by wealth, however many nations still remain a threat. Currently there are two definite Rivals, Castille and France and several other nations whose strength against Milan is unknown as there have been no conflicts with them. Those nations are: Scandinavia, Brandenburg, Novgorod and the state of the major powers in the East ( Delhi, Joseon, Dahan, Vijaynagar) is also unknown. Additonally Most colonial territories are quite weak due to weaker forces being deployed there in comparison with the neighbours.

Around year 1545-1560 Milan was facing very difficult times in terms of economy, The increasing Colonial focus as well as wars with France lead to increasing numbers of men being enlisted and that lead to even taking out a huge loan to cover costs. The economic struggle ended however when the English and Irish territories were officially recognized as Milanese, bringing in more taxes and wealth. This economic chaos lead to most of the land being rather undeveloped as well as a growth in piracy in the colonies which is still an issue as finances are divided between colonies, developing existing territories and armies, leaving less money for the Navy to be built. The money was finally gathered for a navy in the last 3 years and Milan currently has a navy of about 10 warships and 21 transport ships of older type( one transport captured from the Ceylon war)
 
I present my most recent game: Oirats --> Mughals.

India is a wealthy, populated region full of good trade commodities. It has the potential to form a base that can rival China or any European power. To unite the subcontinent in EU3 there are typically two paths: either as one of the local Indian nations you can form Hindustan, or an altaic or iranian cultured nation (except Persia) can invade the region and form the Mughal dynasty.

Of all the playable nations in 1399 who can form the Mughals, I chose the Oirats for one major reason: they are not muslim. Being muslim would require me to convert all of India to islam, which is both expensive and time-consuming, and while conversions are in process I can't develop my province's buildings.

As the Oirats are located in Mongolia, I would need to conquer a path to Delhi and northern India. Also, I border Ming, which routinely steamrolls over my country every 5 years. To add to the misery, both Chagatai and Kazakh, which have a religious casus belli against me, are fond of attacking. I have no forts in several of my provinces (both a blessing and a curse), and poor leadership, tribal successions, high war exhaustion (due to attrition in the Himalayan provinces), low legitimacy (due to having to concede to Ming regularly), means I also have to deal with an endless parade of revolts.

By 1425, I had a single army stack of 10k under command of my capable Khan-general to handle rebels and enemies in the conquered part of Bihar. The homeland was abandoned to be pillaged by the Kazakh, Chagatai, and Manchu:


Fortunately, money was not an issue. In addition to prioritizing the conquest of the trading centre at Bihar, while the Oirats were strong I had forced the smaller neighbours (Assam, Taungu etc.) to pay me tribute. The tribute kept their armies at bay and provided a steady income to support my own troops, many of whom were mercs because I didn't have access to my core provinces.

Having secured a base in India, I then set forth to conquer a very weak Delhi. A strong Rajputana provided more of a challenge, but they too were subdued, and I captured the second Indian trading centre at Kutch, cementing my trading dominance.

Having met all the requirements to form the Mughals, the Oirats officially abandoned the past and became the new Indian power, instantly getting cores (and a way to recruit reliable steppe troops) in Northern India. With the Indian powers I was still at war with, I offered to be force-converted to Hinduism.

The Mughals were in a great position. The Mughal decision moves you to the Muslim tech group, which is far better than the eastern group the other Indian nations are in. The Mughals also get to take a special religious decision: Din-I Illahi, which reduces tech cost by an additional 6%. With the right slider moves you can then modernize the military to muslim units (I prefer this to western units for roleplaying purposes, and also because the modernization requirements for muslim units is far easier than for western units).

By 1435, the Mughals had a firm position in the world:


The Mughal grand strategy was to fatally weaken the regional threats. Ming was dealt with by declaring war and letting their 50k stacks waste away to attrition in the mountainous border provinces. This had the welcome consequence of letting a major series of mongol revolts in the homeland create a resurgent Khanate, whom I offered tribute to aid their efforts.

Muscovy was a far scarier threat, being more technologically advanced than the Mughals. But they too would be paralyzed by war exhaustion after a frustrating war of attrition with the Mughals.

I also started some colonial efforts. My first colony, Zanzibar, gave me a toe-hold in East Africa. My second, Bahrain, presaged my expansion and meddling in middle-eastern affairs.

By 1598, Mughal overseas expansions included Egypt, Somalia, and Java. The Khanate was on the back foot:


In the next century, Mughal internal policy was focused on developing infrastructure in the wealthy core Indian provinces. In foreign policy, the Mughals had to newly contend with European powers in Asia. Portugal arrived first, followed by an aggressive France and the Dutch. No sign of the British, oddly enough.The Mughals fully westernized in this time. In the North, the Khanate had been fully occupied by Muscovy and the Manchu. In a bold new move, the Mughals invaded, still having cores in the Altaic-cultured provinces despite losing the homeland centuries ago. This territory was then reorganized into a new non-nomadic Khanate. The Khanate was fed all the underdeveloped northern territory, to act as a buffer state and a brake on Russian or Chinese expansion.

As part of the policy of weakening and playing rivals off against each other, the Mughals conquered Beijing from Ming and then sold the province to Manchu. The Manchu could then enact the Qing Dynasty decision to have cores on all of Ming China and a permanent reason to go to war with them.

By 1750, the Mughal empire's vassals accounted for half the territory:


In the next couple decades, the Manchu usurp the Ming, only to fall into massive revolts. Muscovy too faces total collapse. The Mughals continue the colonial expansion in the Pacific region, spreading Mongol culture in India, and integrating vassals.

Other maps below:

Culture mapmode. Russian has spread in the former altaic provinces up north, but Mongol culture has spread in the south.


Religion mapmode. The Hindu Mughals have forced Tibet and the Khanate to adopt hinduism, although conversions in India have not been a priority.


Diplomacy mapmode. All my allies except Persia are vassals. I am not usually allies with Persia either, but I have maintained warnings and protections with all the major powers in the area so that the Mughals always have the option of interfering.