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First off, thanks a ton to everyone for following and posting comments. I really and truly appreciate all of you stopping by and visiting, and letting me know that. I have another update ready to go when I get home from work (trying to post once a day now.) But for now, let's respond to some feedback.
BBBD - Thank you sir. Hope the floor was clean.
Storey - Well, truth be told I didn't know what either Mantua or Milan had in Lombardia. I was going to sail over there and see and decided, well why not take de Luna with some troops in case it isn't heavily defended. Turns out Mantua was but Romagna was not. However once I had landed safely, I was then aware of 30,000 soldiers from Milan heading my way. I tried to retreat on to my waiting ships before they arrived but they still had a pretty good go at me, as did a Venetian force.
CatKnight - Well, I am pinning all of my mistakes on him, right now. Poor guy.
Hajji - William Jennings Bryan? Was he into gold?
SirCliveWolfe - He might say others would be getting theirs.
Stuyvesant - Just wait. Not sure about the laser torture table (just yet at least) but we will be seeing more of Italia, I can assure you.
MAlexander06 - I can't help it. My life's goal is to make sure everyone else does as bad in college as I did.
Deus - I am working on the gold. Before I begin exploration, or even annexing of it, I need to build a solid country that can withstand some setbacks when I am actively working on procuring the gold. Stay tuned, as Jackie might say.
Wolfhound - Some might say "spine" but not me. I put him in that situation. Let's call it a whim...a very costly whim.
Ciçatrix - Tim will wake eventually. But that certainly would do it.
J. Passepartout - I am glad everyone liked my nick for de Luna. It just seemed to fit given what seems his ineffective self in my game.
Duke of Wellington - Yes, Springer gets a little in the mix from time to time. Doing my best to spoof a lot of different types of talk shows and game shows. Not even sure why this thing is on ESPN. As for the pics - they are kind of important. Not sure why they won't show for you.
Is anyone else having this problem? They show just fine for me. However, there is usually a little commentary after each, so that gives you the idea of what I am showing. You don't have another computer you can try it on, do you?
Snake IV - I've considered Scrooge McDuck. We may see him yet.
jwolf - Very true about Italy. I really had not intended to do much for this war, considering it Aragon's problem while I dealt with matters closer to home. But it persisted and Aragon made peace leaving me to deal with a coalition that had not bothered me yet. You'll find over the course of the next few updates that Italy takes up a decent amount of my time during these years. It ends a little better than what has transpired so far.
As for war exhaustion, yes - it was getting up there by this point so I could not wait for a white peace to be signed after enough time had passed. That's why I got active in Italy. There are occasional revolts at home, but most are snuffed out without too much trouble.
Lurken (and Welllington again) - McDuck and Burns both might make it. Good suggestions.
I think I got everybody. Like I said - expect another update in about six hours or so. Until then, thanks so much for reading, enjoying and commenting!