Chapter 6: If you can't beat 'em, join 'em... then beat 'em
Remember, we're still at war with the Golden Horde.
October 1500: We run out of cash and take out a loan. This may be the most exciting thing that happens in 1500.
December 1500: The usual DoW by Nogai. I think the loan is still more exciting.
January 1501: Cherkassk defects.
June 1501: I repay an earlier loan.
July 1501: I'm not paying tribute, I'm buying peace!
Well, peace with the Nogai anyway.
October 1501: Okay, I'm committed to peace now. Except with the Horde.
My final slider move to Westernization -- Centralization -- also gives me a stab hit, so I have to wait a little longer.
February 1502: The Reformation begins in the Palatinate. I briefly consider changing to Protestant when I can to get rid of Orthodoxy's stability cost (+20 per province instead of +15), but decide that Russia just wouldn't be Russia without Orthodoxy. Plus, it's easy to be DotF (the only non-minor I'm competing with is Georgia), which gives me Holy Wars, and that makes me happy.
April 1502 -- Pommerania becomes Holy Roman Emperor...
September 1502 -- Which apparently scares Brandenburg, so they DoW (Reconquest).
December 1502 -- I recover the stability to Westernize, but I'm not quite ready yet. I want to wait until I can get Noble Republic (of course, skilled players will recognize a mistake here) at Government 10. First I claim Defender of the Faith.
March 1503: Sweden becomes a vassal of Prussia (not Brandenburg --> Prussia, but Prussia that declares independence from TO).
April 1503: Pommerania is defeated by Mazovia. Seems like becoming HRE is more trouble than it's worth.
October 1503: Brandenburg makes Pommerania end a bunch of treaties.
November 1503: Yeah right, I'm going to join this mess. Better luck next time, Denmark.
May 1504: Agricultural Revolution. Why yes, I'd love two more base tax in Kiev!
June 1504: The Mamluks collapse. I'm not sure why I cared, but I wrote it down, so there was probably a reason at the time.
September 1504: Core on Zaporozhie from a Boundary Dispute. Yes!
September 1505: Denmark wants to ally again. I honestly have no idea why. I say sure, why not?
October 1505: Benign Neglect fires again. As always, I'll take the 100 ducats. I repay the loan from the beginning of the update.
August 1506: Poor Denmark, I get a core on Finnmark through a Boundary Dispute. It turns out the province is nigh worthless, so I don't DoW.
September 1506: I hire a 1* Philosopher. I've had some prestige issues thanks to my long peace and dishonoring the alliance with Denmark.
December 1506: Bohemia warns us. New election time, I go administrative: Sergei Vorotinski, 6/3/5, is the new Knyaz. Yuck.
April 1507: My first protestant province is Kharkov.
October 1507: Government 10 and Noble Republic -- or it would be Noble Republic if you could go from a Merchant Republic to a Noble Republic. D'oh! Oh well, I guess I'll Westernize now:
May 1508: I think this event is new (or at least I never noticed it before). It's called Provinces resist Westernization. You usually have two choices: one of them is usually bad (stab hit, big revolt, etc.) and the other is -2 Revolt Risk but a loss of 2 prestige. I'll happily take the latter every time. It does prevent military modernization, but it'll be a long time before I can do that anyway, and I'd rather prevent rebellions.
August 1509: I gain one stability. This will be long and painful.
October 1509: Denmark tries to convince me to come to war with them; I tell them no. I'm still at negative stability and I want no part of WE.
October 1510: The Ukrainian provinces core (Kiev, Carpathia, Ruthenia). Really excited about Kiev, since it's one of my top five provinces tax wise (St. Petersburg, Novgorod, Moskva are the only more valuable).
December 1510: Artamon Dolgorukov becomes the new Knyaz. Thinking I could do better, I went admin again -- I get reward with a 5/3/5 ruler. I can't replace him fast enough.
February 1511: Corruption hits. The last thing I need is a stab hit, so I'll take the 3.00 inflation. This tells me how hopeless restoring the currency will be, so I cancel the mission.
March 1511: New mission: Wipe Zaporozhie off the map in exchange for a core on Azow. Sounds good to me!
June 1511: Oh Burgundy, what is your fascination with my forbidden cabinet of mystery? [Simpsons reference FTW!]
July 1511: Up to stab 0. We're slowly but surely making progress!
August 1511: All they got out of Finland was a concede defeat. Good! Stay out of Scandinavia, Burgundy!
February 1512: Expulsion of merchants. 50 ducats convinces them to look the other way.
November 1512: Uh-oh, Bohemia is HRE.
February 1513: Ulm starts the second wave of the reformation.
I also get Land Tech 10, which means the March and new cavalry (Stradioti). I can't afford the March yet.
March 1513: Moldavia gets Border Friction CB on me. This fires four times in the next five years. Shockingly, Moldavia sits there quietly.
October 1513: Since stab is so vulnerable, I believe my thinkers when they say my naval research is wrong.
November 1513: I get excited when I see that Burgundy got religious disorder -- then I saw it chose "tolerant society." Drat.
July 1514: Trade 11. I love the huge neighbor bonuses from Westernization.
November 1514: Bohemia DoWs for the 3rd time with no CB. What have I done to deserve your hatred, Bohemia?
We're almost dead even -- I've got more infantry, but they're still ahead in tech, for now.
Moldavia chickens out and dishonors, but at least loyal Pskov stands by my side.
Apparently, Sibir has a death wish and DoWs (Holy War). Do they not see the giant army I have in the East?
December 1514: A bright spot as a new leader is elected: Semyon Skopin, 7/5/6. Not great, but I'll take it.
June 1515: With Carpathia, Podolia, Kiev, and Ruthenia occupied, Bohemia asks if I want to release Ukraine, Polotsk, and Nizhny-Novgorod, and pay them off besides. I say no, because I'm busy scorching provinces and planning counterattacks.
August 1515: They're siegeing three more provinces (Polesia, Poltava, and Chernigov), and decide to slightly lower their offer -- now they only want Ukraine, Polotsk, and Murom freed and no money. I think you can do better, Bohemia.
September 1515: Since Bohemia just likes causing trouble, Brandenburg is now HRE. I've begun my counterattack on Bohemian armies in Polesia and Chernigov -- I outnumber them in both provinces, but I'm taking massive casualties.
October 1515: Now at +2 stability. Saxony is called in by Bohemia. Probably to help cart out the dead Bohemians!
Despite the huge chunks of new fertilizer in Ukraine, Bohemia reverts to her old demands. I'm now outnumbered and lose in Chernigov, thanks to plenty of dead Russians, but I win in Polesia.
December 1515: White peace from Sibir. I haven't talked much about this war because I pretty much killed their entire army on the first day. I don't have enough troops in theater to take territory, so I accept.
The more important peace happens later on that month.
June 1516: Agricultural revolution in Rzhev, another +2 base tax (and 50 ducats).
April 1517: Zaporozhia defects to us -- for once, a free province! With my core and a tribal succession crisis for the Golden Horde, Russian patriots arose and gave me more sweet, sweet land. I wish I'd thought of using spies to do this sooner.
June 1517: Couldn't happen to a nicer country. Also, back to full stability!
October 1517: Land tech 11 and a new infantry unit, Eastern Militia.
April 1518: Polesia cores.
December 1518: New elections! Pavel Gagarin is an awesome administrator and diplomat, but probably doesn't know which end of the sword to hold (8/3/8). I'll take that for now. I throw my new Knyaz a party in the form of Mongolian barbecue ::evil grin::
I use my CB for conquering Zaporozhie to draw in their overlord, Golden Horde. The GH's army is so tiny it's adorable.
January 1519: Upon a commenter's advice (I think Eber -- if it was somebody else let me know and I'll give you the proper credit), my next NI is Land of Opportunity. I'm hoping that will help now with annexing GH lands.
November 1521: I reclaim Defender of the Faith.
March 1522: Tambow joins the Russian Republic.
December 1522: We like Gagarin, so we re-elect him.
March 1523: The Clergy is unhappy with me. I decide to go Narrowminded for now. Saratow defects.
May 1524: Quality Wool gets me 25 ducats.
July 1524: Bolgar defects to the winning (i.e. Russian) side. I peace out now, because I've got all my cores.
October 1525: I move to max land, which costs me naval tradition. At this point in the game, I've fought precisely zero naval battles (except the odd pirate here and there), so I'm not too heartbroken.
March 1526 -- Bohemia declares war again!!!
You're making it really hard to ignore Europe and go East.
October 1526: That'll learn you. Not so weak, eh, Bohemia?
Still really high casualty rates. It must be the militia act and the better units (for now), since we're about even in tech.
They agree to white peace, but I seriously thought about invading them and punishing their insolence.
That's only two relatively small armies left -- I could probably put 80,000+ troops into the field. I think it shows remarkable restraint on my part.
September 1527: I pass the Act of Uniformity, one of the few entirely positive religious decisions (+.40 missionaries per year and + 8.0% missionary chance). I can start converting again, if I'm so inclined.
June 1528: I have to elect a new leader, go military, and get Mikhail Kurbski (6/7/4). That's reasonably acceptable.
August 1529: I DoW Zaporozhie again (this time it's alone) and the nomads of the Golden Horde get restless again. The war with Zaporozhie lasts all of two weeks.
God now wants a proper fleet. I've got money lying around, why not?
November 1531: Samara defects. Also, the March is finished (in Podolia) around this time.
October 1532: Brandenburg is HRE again.
November 1532: Kouban defects.
May 1533: My first Reformed province is in Carpathia.
September 1533: I declare the Statute of Monopolies (shift towards free trade, +3% trade and production efficiency, +5% stability cost modifier).
October 1533: Kalmykia defects. I'm really impressed with how much Land of Opportunity has sped things up.
November 1533: Another permanent +50% defensiveness, this time in Ingermanland from event.
February 1535: Another Agricultural Revolution in Kiev!
Honestly, if I moved my capital there, I think it would be the best province in the entire Empire.
September 1535: Sarai defects. Only two provinces left for the Golden Horde!
I also wanted to use this picture to show you my defensive strategy. The red line is my first line of Western defense. I've got level two forts there (or I will, can't remember at the moment), but I usually can't scorch in time. The blue line is the last line of defense; I scorch here, and with the March in Podolia and level two fort, it can take years for them to siege the province, so I can sit right next to it and strike them when attrition has eaten most of the army. It's a perfect choke point, and it's my unofficial line in the sand where I won't expand further west.
That's Moldavia in Cherson and the Ottomans in Crimea. I'm playing the waiting game now, counting on the fact neither one has the time or resources to settle their new provinces.
June 1536: Bogdan Tottleben becomes the new Knyaz -- I wanted administration, and that's all I got (7/3/3).
July 1536: I take Grand Army for the land forcelimits boost.
September 1537: I finish the fleet, and God now wants a University in Nizhni-Novgorod. I've got the cash, so I build one.
February 1538: Denmark collapses. Without my help, it appears she was doomed. What a tragedy. You dishonoring jerk.
May 1538: Anti-Piracy Act (-.05 infamy a month, -3.00 infamy to the infamy limit). Another interesting about horde provinces -- they're infamy free!
June 1539: Crimea defects and Cherson is occupied. It's just a matter of time.
September 1539: And time, for the Golden Horde, has run out.
That's it for today's update! I've got a shorter one planned for either tonight or tomorrow, then a State of the Republic for 1550. I've played up to 1580, and will probably play more this weekend.