From west to east
Ajam is co-belligerent because their WS is <100%. They fully annex Fars before we even arrive and increase their WS to 103%.
We wipe them in return and grab as much as possible.
Afghanistan and Khorosan have similar flags. Almost missed someone trying to slip through.
Russia gets called in because Transoxiania is quite a lot of land to siege down.
Here's the minor gimmick I mentioned earlier in action.
Called in Russia with promise of land instead of using favors despite them not having a land connection to Transoxiania.
Possible to do because they have claims on their provinces.
Sieges are as cooperative as ever, but that's the only thing worth mentioning during this war.
As soon as they're finished, Ajam gets peaced out for everything except Savah.
Usually you don't want to take a capital since it has its WS increased, but it doesn't matter since we're reducing them to an OPM.
Slight delay because rebels unsiege northern provinces.
All provinces marked as vital interest have to be controlled by Russia in order for them to understand that they don't want any of the land they control.
We break our promise to give them land without losing trust.
Would have loved to show the trick in a dire situation like a difficult opening, but now was as good a time as ever.
Diplomatic mapmode is probably the most important of all of them.
If anyone has a claim they can't reach. Ally, invite with promise of land, hand over control, give nothing.
It's like playing without favors. Really nice to keep in the back of your head for difficult openings.
Aftermath,
Genoa embraces printing press. We fabricate on them and threaten war to get a province where it's embraced later on.
Ming is losing its mandate with -0.17 per month.
Truce with Mamluks is up in 1583. Yemen is co-belligerent. More thasn 100% WS sadly.
Quick defeat, followed by a wipe. Apparently we built 30 light ships out of boredom at some point during our war against Transoxiania.
They're set to protect trade and proceed to win eight battles total while doing so.
Naval warfare is truly an immersive experience.
Ottos declare on a whole trade league and keep themselves busy.
I swear it wasn't my fault. Not even sure where that stack was coming from.
Mamluks are running around with 5k cavalry or 10k cannons and almost no infantry accompanying those stacks. Easy wipes.
Yemen, Morocco and Mamluks decide their troops deserve a holiday and send them to the Black Sea. Cue Benny Hill theme.
Some good 'sniping' for once.
They all want to move through Ghazzah into Sayla into our North. Troops wait in Damascus and are set to run in circles. Yes, the AI will run into them. Over and over again.
The rest is pretty much this.
Yemen already got peaced out. One province left.
Meanwhile Austria loses a war to Ulster. Don't ask.
Astrakhan gets integrated, Mamluks get peaced out. Waiting for truces to run out on speed5. Nothing to show here except for a few rebels and events.
Could put the pedal to the metal if we wanted to. Not a single true GP in the whole world. Absolutely nobody over 1k dev. Russia almost fully annexes Kazan and creeps up to #2 with a lousy 851 dev.
On top of that they're all hating each other
Would be one of the easiest WCs you've ever seen. I can keep Vassals of GP size loyal since ~1550.
Ming's mandate dropped down to 17.
Preparations to invade Hormuz and Haasa. No clue where Haasa came from, but oh well.
4 heavies suffice, but before that can happen
another war against the Ottoman Empire.
I say war, but it really isn't a war.
Austria and Bohemia declare on them independent of each other.
We only need Greece and Anatolia.
Riveting.
Admittedly they do have a 50k stack, but their morale is 3.6 vs our 5.0
Over in under 2 years. Konstantiniyye can be taken because the AI moves their capital if its isolated.
Reduced WS. A neat trick if you want to take a high dev province at a reduced price.
Did it intuitively in earlier wars. Not like it's needed anymore.
Haasa falls before I can make a screenshot, Hormuz is next.
4 heavies suffice.
One more war is required. We realize we don't even need their provinces. Oh well, borders will look prettier.
Sure. Why not.
They're the only nation entering a coalition. No one else follows.
We embrace Printing press, grab four techs and move on.
Spain declares on Mamluks and loses once again. They're forced to release Sardinia.
We declare on Transoxiania again for a lack of something else to do.
*giggle*
Ajam got fully annexed, Ming loses a war to Bengal and starts imploding.
Still need all of Egypt. Another war against Mamluks who are 2 techs behind.
Almost every battle is a stackwipe.
Another OPM disappears.
Morocco gets a white peace. Don't need their provinces. Mamluks get decimated and we check the region mapmode.
Ethiopia has provinces we need. Truce with Turks is up in 2 years.
Wars against Sunni shoved us into Mysticism and everything got converted quickly. Ottos get declared on again.
That's all they have left. Carpet siege, chase, peace out.
England calls for a crusade against them again. 2 months before we peace out without any European nation having declared on them.
Truly amazing timing. How do they keep getting elected? Third time this run they're doing this.
The idea was to release Serbia only to realize that somehow Serbia got released as an OPM north of Bosnia.
How? No clue. 2 years of 150% OE gives events for -1 stab, -15 army tradition and a tiny bit of unrest.
Nothing else happens. Rebels barely have any moreale compared to us.
Our generals start sucking despite 80AT. 10 rolls for a general, not a single one with more than 10 pips in total.
Ridiculous, but thankfully it doesn't matter anymore.
As you can see in the upper right corner, we're now playing on speed5 permanently even while fighting rebels.
THAT'S AN ESSENTIAL ADVISOR. NO ONE DARE SAY OTHERWISE.
<3
Spain takes a few provinces from Mamluks. We only need their provinces up until Sirt and Spain got none of them.
Started fabricating on Hormuz a while ago and kept rejecting missions until we get one for a free claim.
Thank god. With counterespionage and all that stuff we were growing at 0.32 per month.
Could've hired an advisor, but it's easier to do it by mission.
That chapter is closed as well.
Ottos ally Bosnia, we embrace global trade, Netherlands declare independence.
Another fierce war against Mamluks. We remember that Ethiopia still has provinces we need.
And that's it for now. Spain can't take any provinces we would need. Mamluks have 2 provinces left.
Ottos will get cleaned up soon. Ethiopia and Makuria need to be taken out and Khorasan is almost integrated.
Picked up Influence earlier.
All provinces needed to form Persia are under our control. Have been for a long time. Most of the wars east were unnecessary.
Technically we could rival Russia, but PP is maxed for a while and tbh it's fun to have our vassals help them grow.
Next Session may be longer depending on whatever happens, but it should be the last one.
Really need to clean up those borders though