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It was well worth holding up against the Castillians... And the French don't seem much of a threat - unless they ally Castille in the next war.
Busy round here, isn't it?
gabor - Thanks for the vote of confidence!
The AI made three major errors:
a) Not organising its reinforcements into armies before sending them south (I picked off umpteen 1-3 regiment forces behing the front lines)
b) Getting its killer cavalry stack tied up in long sieges rather than using it to hunt down my armies
c) Not going all out to take my only remaining cores in the region (I raised at least 30 regiments in Benin and Bonny)
I doubt any of them are easy to fix from a programmer's point of view.
PrawnStar - A compliment from you is a compliment indeed. Tunnel vision is one of my problems in situations like that - I find it really easy to forget about an army or a fleet until the pop-up of doom hits.
JDMS - Hopefully, though they're all different-religion so having a CB isn't so critical. Nice to have though, even though they will trash my relations with all my big neighbours.
Storey - Venice got out of the war without losing anything. What more do you want?
Basileus444 - Castille had slightly higher land tech than me, better infantry (Reformed Tercio) and inferior cavalry (they're still using Latin Knights for some reason). The big difference was probably their leaders, especially Enrique VI with his <deleted> 5 Shock.
blsteen - More war to come, no doubt about that. Hopefully on my terms this time.
aldriq - The French indeed don't look like much of a threat - assuming I can pick off their island colonies without having to tangle with their 150,000-man army. They own a chunk of Spain, so hopefully they will remain on bad terms with the Castillians.
Enewald - <The elephant holds up a sign saying "Calm down"> It's going to be enough of a stretch to get Gondwanaland without triggering the BB wars, without asking for Laurasia as well.
Qorten - Thank-you. I got more than I expected - if Castille had offered white peace or something close to it in the first few years, I'd have grabbed it.
gabor - Thanks for the vote of confidence!
The AI made three major errors:
a) Not organising its reinforcements into armies before sending them south (I picked off umpteen 1-3 regiment forces behing the front lines)
b) Getting its killer cavalry stack tied up in long sieges rather than using it to hunt down my armies
c) Not going all out to take my only remaining cores in the region (I raised at least 30 regiments in Benin and Bonny)
I doubt any of them are easy to fix from a programmer's point of view.
PrawnStar - A compliment from you is a compliment indeed. Tunnel vision is one of my problems in situations like that - I find it really easy to forget about an army or a fleet until the pop-up of doom hits.
JDMS - Hopefully, though they're all different-religion so having a CB isn't so critical. Nice to have though, even though they will trash my relations with all my big neighbours.
Storey - Venice got out of the war without losing anything. What more do you want?
Basileus444 - Castille had slightly higher land tech than me, better infantry (Reformed Tercio) and inferior cavalry (they're still using Latin Knights for some reason). The big difference was probably their leaders, especially Enrique VI with his <deleted> 5 Shock.
blsteen - More war to come, no doubt about that. Hopefully on my terms this time.
aldriq - The French indeed don't look like much of a threat - assuming I can pick off their island colonies without having to tangle with their 150,000-man army. They own a chunk of Spain, so hopefully they will remain on bad terms with the Castillians.
Enewald - <The elephant holds up a sign saying "Calm down"> It's going to be enough of a stretch to get Gondwanaland without triggering the BB wars, without asking for Laurasia as well.
Qorten - Thank-you. I got more than I expected - if Castille had offered white peace or something close to it in the first few years, I'd have grabbed it.
A brief quiet interlude.
Off we go. The first thing I do with the outbreak of peace is build another couple of dozen ships (with naval losses and territorial gains, my tariff efficiency was down around 80%). Then I take stock <the elephant takes tea> I'm just about solvent, but I have a big backlog in development. With BB in the double digits, offensive action is off the menu for the moment – at least until WE comes down and manpower recovers.
Colonial Expansion decision is available, so I take it. I also have a slider push available, but I hold off. My plan is to go to Administrative Monarchy and centralise, but I want a couple of years at +3 stability first to build up cash.
Incidentally, although Portugal dropped out years ago, the France-GB war is still going. GB holds France's American possessions and France holds GB's continental European ones. Both sides are heavily war-exhausted, but both still have large armies and fleets. Hmmm. Any chance of a nice revolt in British South America?
Three blessedly uneventful years of recovery follow. GB is picking off the French islands in the Caribbean. Despite 18 WE, they still manage to ship in an army to put down revolts in Brazil. France has stopped supporting its colonies – sadly the rules don't allow Tierra del Fuego and the Falklands to vanish altogether. Portugal is colonising California. <The elephant is bored.>
Persia has colonised the Andamans. We learn about Samoa, then Kiribati and Fiji. A random check reveals that the northernmost Australian province is in range from India, so a colonist is sent. We hit Naval 22 and can build Galleons.
Another couple years of peace and prosperity. I colonise the southern Andes and take a boundary dispute with GB for a core on Chaco Austral. GB has seized Tierra del Fuego and the Falklands. GB appears revolt-proof. BB is still above 5. I concentrate on happy thoughts. <The elephant is re-reading back issues of Knitting Monthly.>
South America. There's more of it than you thought.
1623 and I'm out of happy thoughts. I declare the Administrative Monarchy and discover (a) that it has the same Centralisation limit as Empire & (b) that doing so resets the slider-push counter. <The elephant pointedly turns its back.> On the other hand, Administrative Monarchy, with the Production bonus, somehow means a 500d boost to my yearly income. I slap myself for not switching sooner. <The elephant offers to help.> I decide a little war might cheer things up, so I bring the army to full readiness.
Castille warns us immediately. I smile. <The elephant looks nervous.>
That was not a smart move by Castille. <The elephant edges away slowly.> If they want to fight me as minor allies to Mali or Swahili, I can pretty much guarantee that they'll regret it. I DOW Oyo anyway, just to clean up before the main event. Castille's warning duly fails to trigger, and only Kanem Bornu dares to honour out of Oyo's various African friends. I overrun Oyo, take 450d and a province (it's getting close to the time where I will have to clean up the pagans, or start taking BB for them) and send my cavalry on a tour of Kanem Bornu while wondering how best to set up for a war with Castille.
Castille doesn't wait. Castille DOWs. Supported by Portugal (no sign of Poland or Venice). Maybe the AI is smarter than I thought.
Here we go again
Off we go. The first thing I do with the outbreak of peace is build another couple of dozen ships (with naval losses and territorial gains, my tariff efficiency was down around 80%). Then I take stock <the elephant takes tea> I'm just about solvent, but I have a big backlog in development. With BB in the double digits, offensive action is off the menu for the moment – at least until WE comes down and manpower recovers.
Colonial Expansion decision is available, so I take it. I also have a slider push available, but I hold off. My plan is to go to Administrative Monarchy and centralise, but I want a couple of years at +3 stability first to build up cash.
Incidentally, although Portugal dropped out years ago, the France-GB war is still going. GB holds France's American possessions and France holds GB's continental European ones. Both sides are heavily war-exhausted, but both still have large armies and fleets. Hmmm. Any chance of a nice revolt in British South America?
Three blessedly uneventful years of recovery follow. GB is picking off the French islands in the Caribbean. Despite 18 WE, they still manage to ship in an army to put down revolts in Brazil. France has stopped supporting its colonies – sadly the rules don't allow Tierra del Fuego and the Falklands to vanish altogether. Portugal is colonising California. <The elephant is bored.>
Persia has colonised the Andamans. We learn about Samoa, then Kiribati and Fiji. A random check reveals that the northernmost Australian province is in range from India, so a colonist is sent. We hit Naval 22 and can build Galleons.
Another couple years of peace and prosperity. I colonise the southern Andes and take a boundary dispute with GB for a core on Chaco Austral. GB has seized Tierra del Fuego and the Falklands. GB appears revolt-proof. BB is still above 5. I concentrate on happy thoughts. <The elephant is re-reading back issues of Knitting Monthly.>
South America. There's more of it than you thought.
1623 and I'm out of happy thoughts. I declare the Administrative Monarchy and discover (a) that it has the same Centralisation limit as Empire & (b) that doing so resets the slider-push counter. <The elephant pointedly turns its back.> On the other hand, Administrative Monarchy, with the Production bonus, somehow means a 500d boost to my yearly income. I slap myself for not switching sooner. <The elephant offers to help.> I decide a little war might cheer things up, so I bring the army to full readiness.
Castille warns us immediately. I smile. <The elephant looks nervous.>
That was not a smart move by Castille. <The elephant edges away slowly.> If they want to fight me as minor allies to Mali or Swahili, I can pretty much guarantee that they'll regret it. I DOW Oyo anyway, just to clean up before the main event. Castille's warning duly fails to trigger, and only Kanem Bornu dares to honour out of Oyo's various African friends. I overrun Oyo, take 450d and a province (it's getting close to the time where I will have to clean up the pagans, or start taking BB for them) and send my cavalry on a tour of Kanem Bornu while wondering how best to set up for a war with Castille.
Castille doesn't wait. Castille DOWs. Supported by Portugal (no sign of Poland or Venice). Maybe the AI is smarter than I thought.
Here we go again
It'll certainly be much easier this time as you won't have problems in South America.
Already another war with the Iberians; too bad you weren't able to provoke a war just with Castile and some random African minors. Hopefully the African front will go a lot better from the start this time. Do you plan on grabbing Caribbean islands this time? And how does Europe itself look?
Knitting Monthly you say, any good? 
I guess as you were just preparing for them coming round anyway, your guests will find you ready... to deal with them
Do you hope for Tierra del Fuego to be taken by the Brits?
I guess as you were just preparing for them coming round anyway, your guests will find you ready... to deal with them
Do you hope for Tierra del Fuego to be taken by the Brits?
France was everything I expected of them and less, it's always reassuring when your stereotypes are confirmed.
I wonder how the coming war will go, is there anything else you need from either Portugal or Castille or is enough to just knock them down then prepare for the probably inevitable war with GB?
I wonder how the coming war will go, is there anything else you need from either Portugal or Castille or is enough to just knock them down then prepare for the probably inevitable war with GB?
Good use of the peace years (apart from forgetting that a change of govt resets the policy counter, I've done that as well ). I take your elephant cavalry is now more than ready to receive the Castillians in Africa?
). I take your elephant cavalry is now more than ready to receive the Castillians in Africa?
At least the Venice AI is.
Looks like Portugal is about to lose whatever overseas possessions it has left and Castille might not be far behind. Joe
Well, at least you're ready this time. This war should go much better than the last,
Krokerik - Given that I don't get the reference myself even after watching your link, I'll have to go with "unintentional". Though I suppose the elephant may be a closet Python fanatic...
Johan11 - Indeed, and hopefully they will get the same result, preferably quicker.
Qorten - It'll be easier to play, since I won't be trying to watch two continents at the same time. Whether it will be any easier to win depends on what sort of army Castille sends to North Africa, and what they do with it once it's there.
Basileus - I don't plan on taking Caribbean islands long-term, as they're not part of Gondwanaland. Raiding them for cheap warscore, on the other hand.... Oh, and sorry but no screenshot of Europe in the upcoming update - I'll try and remember it for next time.
gabor - The elephant was fairly desperate for distraction at that point.
"Ready" is stretching things - my fleets weren't in position, and my main strike army is currently buried in Kanem Bornu.
Tierra del Fuego has been taken by the Brits, which makes things simpler in one way (no reason to fight France) and harder in another (GB has a much better navy).
El Pip - I don't think I need anything more from Portugal. In Castille's case, I only need the rest of North Africa, which is likely to take more than one or two wars. Ideally I'd like to finish with Castille before I start tangling with GB, so I can garrison the south side of the Gibraltar straits and not have to worry about 50,000 hi-tech troops jumping on my back just when I have my hands full with the Royal Navy.
aldriq - Thanks for the sympathy. My elephant cavalry is currently frolicking in the wilds of Kanem Bornu, due to those rude Castillians starting a new war before I'd finished the last one. But when it finds its way back I expect stompage to ensue.
Storey - Yes, Venice seems to be officially sitting this one out. Castille's African possessions amount to most of Morocco, Algeria and Tunisia, so I'm unlikely to be evicting them in this war. Portugal still has Guatemala, Cuba and a chunk of North America (Castille has Labrador and a bunch of Caribbean islands) - but since none of it is in Gondwanaland, they're welcome to keep it.
JDMS - Here's hoping.
Enewald - I've no need to conquer Castille, merely to send them home (or to Labrador, their choice). What they do in Laurasia is their business. What happens in Gondwanaland, they will find out, is mine.
Johan11 - Indeed, and hopefully they will get the same result, preferably quicker.
Qorten - It'll be easier to play, since I won't be trying to watch two continents at the same time. Whether it will be any easier to win depends on what sort of army Castille sends to North Africa, and what they do with it once it's there.
Basileus - I don't plan on taking Caribbean islands long-term, as they're not part of Gondwanaland. Raiding them for cheap warscore, on the other hand.... Oh, and sorry but no screenshot of Europe in the upcoming update - I'll try and remember it for next time.
gabor - The elephant was fairly desperate for distraction at that point.
"Ready" is stretching things - my fleets weren't in position, and my main strike army is currently buried in Kanem Bornu.
Tierra del Fuego has been taken by the Brits, which makes things simpler in one way (no reason to fight France) and harder in another (GB has a much better navy).
El Pip - I don't think I need anything more from Portugal. In Castille's case, I only need the rest of North Africa, which is likely to take more than one or two wars. Ideally I'd like to finish with Castille before I start tangling with GB, so I can garrison the south side of the Gibraltar straits and not have to worry about 50,000 hi-tech troops jumping on my back just when I have my hands full with the Royal Navy.
aldriq - Thanks for the sympathy. My elephant cavalry is currently frolicking in the wilds of Kanem Bornu, due to those rude Castillians starting a new war before I'd finished the last one. But when it finds its way back I expect stompage to ensue.
Storey - Yes, Venice seems to be officially sitting this one out. Castille's African possessions amount to most of Morocco, Algeria and Tunisia, so I'm unlikely to be evicting them in this war. Portugal still has Guatemala, Cuba and a chunk of North America (Castille has Labrador and a bunch of Caribbean islands) - but since none of it is in Gondwanaland, they're welcome to keep it.
JDMS - Here's hoping.
Enewald - I've no need to conquer Castille, merely to send them home (or to Labrador, their choice). What they do in Laurasia is their business. What happens in Gondwanaland, they will find out, is mine.
Castigating Castille
Did anyone tell you lot you post too fast?
Anyway, on with the motley:
The war at sea starts with a bang. I win off Guyana, where my main fleet is stationed, and sink a dozen or so ships for the loss of half as many barques, but lose off Africa where one of my biggest patrol squadrons is jumped and wiped out. Portugal has a squadron with large ships on the west coast of America. That has the potential to be annoying, but fortunately it sinks one patrol and then goes home. <The elephant is not impressed – with anyone.>
The war on land starts with a fizzle, as Castille has one whole regiment on my border. One of my armies jumps in and kills it, then leaves in a hurry (well, as big a hurry as the Sahara will permit) at the sight of multiple 20-regiment doomstacks coming the other way. I finish up Kanem Bornu, taking Gobir and 375d. Poland appears to have joined Castille.
Who invited them?
The doomstacks eventually trundle up to the front and wade into Timbuktu, which I have evacuated and scorched in advance. The fort is stormed, and the doomstacks split east and west. My forces having concentrated, I then make a big mistake by jumping both the Castillian big armies at about 20,000 men to 18,000 or so. One battle is merely a painful defeat, the other a complete disaster as Castille's Shock-6 king cuts my men down like so much wheat.
This was not the plan.
I withdraw the remnants and start work on Plan B. <The elephant holds up a sign “Next time, B first!”>
Acting on good advice, I send spies to infiltrate Lisboa and Toledo. Portugal has a considerable force in Central America; fortunately they do not have military access from France. Castille has a third big stack inbound in West Africa. Fun.
The Castillian AI plays it smarter than last time, not charging its big stacks headlong into the wilds of Africa. I pick off small forces, and grab provinces back when the big stacks withdraw to replenish. The cavalry-heavy Castillian stack is in Dendi, where it can't assault and has to siege. I manage to concentrate 35,000 men against 15,000 and win a battle. <The elephant is relieved.>
At sea, I have some success luring Castillians out of port with bait squadrons deployed ahead of my big fleets. In the Caribbean, I start landing troops in the islands, where the AI has thoughtfully left a bunch of 1-regiment garrisons for me to kill.
The AI's newfound intelligence only goes so far. It can't resist snatching the colony in Yatenga, allowing me to get behind its big army and cut it off. As attrition wears down the Castillian regiments they become easier to face – the decisive battle comes when 23,000 of my troops stop 23,000 Castillians from breaking out of Yatenga via Timbuktu.
Plan B worked rather better.
I pursue them to destruction and, with numbers on my side, crush the remaining Castillian stacks with massed forces.
<The elephant relaxes, and wanders off to explore the Kongo.>
The triumph of Plan B.
At sea, I draw out and sink small Castillian fleets in the Antilles and the Mauretanian Sea while picking off the islands. With North Africa virtually empty of Castillian troops, I start to siege my way across the Sahara.
GB, in case you were wondering, is still fighting France, still wildly war-exhausted, and still not suffering from serious revolts. It shows in odd ways, like Reformed Zealots periodically wandering across the border to seize my colonies.
The last part of the war is a slow grind of sieges (of the level-2 forts), storms (of the level-1 forts) and slaughters (of the Castillian regiments the AI was still trying to raise in North Africa). Eventually I persuade Poland to take white peace and Portugal to give up its cores in South America (a giddy 0% on the victory screen!). Castille is now desperate enough to start offering white peace (and to take a good deal less), but I keep pushing until I reach the Mediterranean.
Castille is starting to regret its DOW.
The warning that I might be overreaching comes when one of my rear-area armies is annihilated by rebels in Mali. I haven't quite got to Tangier, but Castille's ambition ends up costing them eight provinces and I now have a port in Morocco.
North Africa, 1628. Note (top right) that Algiers and Tunisia are independent - I think they revolted in the aftermath of the last war - but there's still a lot of Castille out there. The green to the left of Algiers is the Ottomans(!) Also one Portuguese colony, which I missed.
Take that!
Did anyone tell you lot you post too fast?
Anyway, on with the motley:
The war at sea starts with a bang. I win off Guyana, where my main fleet is stationed, and sink a dozen or so ships for the loss of half as many barques, but lose off Africa where one of my biggest patrol squadrons is jumped and wiped out. Portugal has a squadron with large ships on the west coast of America. That has the potential to be annoying, but fortunately it sinks one patrol and then goes home. <The elephant is not impressed – with anyone.>
The war on land starts with a fizzle, as Castille has one whole regiment on my border. One of my armies jumps in and kills it, then leaves in a hurry (well, as big a hurry as the Sahara will permit) at the sight of multiple 20-regiment doomstacks coming the other way. I finish up Kanem Bornu, taking Gobir and 375d. Poland appears to have joined Castille.
Who invited them?
The doomstacks eventually trundle up to the front and wade into Timbuktu, which I have evacuated and scorched in advance. The fort is stormed, and the doomstacks split east and west. My forces having concentrated, I then make a big mistake by jumping both the Castillian big armies at about 20,000 men to 18,000 or so. One battle is merely a painful defeat, the other a complete disaster as Castille's Shock-6 king cuts my men down like so much wheat.
This was not the plan.
I withdraw the remnants and start work on Plan B. <The elephant holds up a sign “Next time, B first!”>
Acting on good advice, I send spies to infiltrate Lisboa and Toledo. Portugal has a considerable force in Central America; fortunately they do not have military access from France. Castille has a third big stack inbound in West Africa. Fun.
The Castillian AI plays it smarter than last time, not charging its big stacks headlong into the wilds of Africa. I pick off small forces, and grab provinces back when the big stacks withdraw to replenish. The cavalry-heavy Castillian stack is in Dendi, where it can't assault and has to siege. I manage to concentrate 35,000 men against 15,000 and win a battle. <The elephant is relieved.>
At sea, I have some success luring Castillians out of port with bait squadrons deployed ahead of my big fleets. In the Caribbean, I start landing troops in the islands, where the AI has thoughtfully left a bunch of 1-regiment garrisons for me to kill.
The AI's newfound intelligence only goes so far. It can't resist snatching the colony in Yatenga, allowing me to get behind its big army and cut it off. As attrition wears down the Castillian regiments they become easier to face – the decisive battle comes when 23,000 of my troops stop 23,000 Castillians from breaking out of Yatenga via Timbuktu.
Plan B worked rather better.
I pursue them to destruction and, with numbers on my side, crush the remaining Castillian stacks with massed forces.
<The elephant relaxes, and wanders off to explore the Kongo.>
The triumph of Plan B.
At sea, I draw out and sink small Castillian fleets in the Antilles and the Mauretanian Sea while picking off the islands. With North Africa virtually empty of Castillian troops, I start to siege my way across the Sahara.
GB, in case you were wondering, is still fighting France, still wildly war-exhausted, and still not suffering from serious revolts. It shows in odd ways, like Reformed Zealots periodically wandering across the border to seize my colonies.
The last part of the war is a slow grind of sieges (of the level-2 forts), storms (of the level-1 forts) and slaughters (of the Castillian regiments the AI was still trying to raise in North Africa). Eventually I persuade Poland to take white peace and Portugal to give up its cores in South America (a giddy 0% on the victory screen!). Castille is now desperate enough to start offering white peace (and to take a good deal less), but I keep pushing until I reach the Mediterranean.
Castille is starting to regret its DOW.
The warning that I might be overreaching comes when one of my rear-area armies is annihilated by rebels in Mali. I haven't quite got to Tangier, but Castille's ambition ends up costing them eight provinces and I now have a port in Morocco.
North Africa, 1628. Note (top right) that Algiers and Tunisia are independent - I think they revolted in the aftermath of the last war - but there's still a lot of Castille out there. The green to the left of Algiers is the Ottomans(!) Also one Portuguese colony, which I missed.
Take that!
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