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Nicky the cavalry Pope
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:rofl:

I just love the survival wars in the beginning. That's when there's still a huge lot of suspense in the game. Looking forward to seeing you thrash Tuscany for revenge.

And hey, you didn't have to wait until your last post for me to comment again! :p :cool:
 
demokratickid - Good to hear from you! Internal stability until I get rid of my BB and stop being the Regional Designated Target (unless a CB on Siena or Tuscany comes up). At least, that was the plan...

Amric - It was ugly all right, and I made my usual mistake of getting stubborn at the wrong time.
Regarding War Taxes, I always take them at the start of a war, but not usually during it unless things get really tight. I suspect that's my EU2 experience, and I could afford to do so more, but when my only advantage in the warcapacity calculator is a lower war exhaustion, I'm not sure I want RR on top of everything else.

Murmandamus - Blood, gore and crazed Popes :)
Actually not too much blood since everyone was Land 0 and battles tended to end with one side running away after taking 100 casualties. Still, there's always next round...

coz1 - Sadly, the NA 2.2 diplomacy rules make it practically impossible to ally with someone outside your immediate neighbourhood. Plus they have two allies already, and I have three.

jwolf - Thank-you. Not sure how looting works in EU3 - does anyone know?

Stroph1 - 6,000 days may be too short for my plotting - and certainly too short for the traitors' suffering.

ProffessorEGADD - Glad you like the style. I'm having fun writing it.
Currently I an running a distinctly Renaissance Papacy - i.e. an Italian city-state that occasionally remembers its religious affiliation. This may change once the Reformation kicks off. For now, just call me Cesare.

Quorten - More suspense than you think. ;) And indeed it wasn't the last post, because there'll be another one shortly. :)
 
Venice, for once, hasn't been taken apart by Austria. Fortunately, they like me. I give them Mil Access before they change their minds. Nothing much to do except recover, and research, and design a new circle of Hell for Tuscany.

Ten years up. France is annexing its vassals. Hungary annexes Transylvania. Morea annexes Athens. Whole lotta annexing goin' on. I get a slider push and go for Plutocracy for the trade bonus.

War alert popup. Crimea against Genoa, bringing in Kazan and the Horde on one side and Tuscany and Siena on the other. Could be interesting...

My renowned Artist goes to join the choir eternal. Only things around to replace him are Diplomats so I hire a Diplomat. I may as well burn off the BB.

The Knights want an alliance. I don't want a war with the Ottomans.

No sign of Tatar hordes come to pillage Tuscany (pity), but Genoa does have to give up Kaffa. Couldn't have happened to a nicer bunch of pirates.

Ottomans go for Morea. Venice supports Morea. I wish them luck and send a warning to Tuscany.

Hungary DOWs Bosnia. Hungary is allied to Austria and Poland. Lucky Hungary.
Poland is eating up Silesia and the remains of Bohemia. Venice is losing against the Turk. I'm running short of money – nice research but the merchants cost and I'm barely breaking even cashwise.

Milan DOWs Switzerland. Fellow-Catholics or not, I support and take the chance to raise war taxes. Savoy's with us as well. There's no chance to steal a siege, so I sit and watch the war go by.

Milan makes a separate peace. Now there is the chance to steal a siege, so I rumble the army North. I get to Bern two days ahead of Savoy, storm and demand money – but Savoy gets the peace offer in first. I consider declaring Savoy anathema, but the new circle is getting crowded.

Venice loses Corfu & Crete to the Ottomans. Across the Alps, Bavaria inherits Wuttemburg. Might be interesting later. I finally hit Production 1. If I had money, it would be time to build workshops. As it is, it's time to edge up the treasury slider and wait.

Crimea is being clobbered by the Timurids – and then gets DOWed by Hungary/Austria/Poland. It could be worse. It could be me.

First workshop up in Rome. Reputation is back up to “honourable”, bwaha. I fire my Diplomat and hire a four-star Artist who was passing through the market. Crimea is getting overrun and Genoa decides to join the party. Bunch of pirates.

France DOWs Aragon and allies, including Sicily. I hit maximum stability and Ferrara revolts immediately. Venice sends an army to deal with it. Blessings be upon you, Venice.

The Knights still want an alliance. I say no, Venice says yes, which is bad luck on Venice when the Ottomans DOW next month. I send Genoa a warning to pass the time.

The Knights die quickly, but Venice gets out with white peace. Now it's Ragusa who wants an alliance.

Past twenty years and not a lot to report. Apart from my conquest of Urbino & Ferrara, the map of Italy hasn't changed. Everyone's allied to everyone else, which makes decisive action somewhat risky.

Austria hasn't expanded either, which is unusual. Mundanity rules. It takes me two years just to save the money for a workshop. What to do, where to go, when to start a fight...

Milan/Savoy DOWs Venice/Sicily. It's two stability hits, but too good to pass up. Wartaxes and head South. Sicily only has one regiment visible and Abruzzi is my culture.

Venice rumbles 10,000 into Ferrara and assaults. Expected. I'm sieging Abruzzi, and chasing down that Sicilian regiment.

Which finds a friend. And another. And more. They're at war with France, fer cripes' sake! How do they have so much to spare? Clemens VII is his usual useless self. Eventually the siege of Abruzzi is broken with the walls breached and the counter at 100% and I'm left snarling at the screen as the Sicilians follow-up into Roma. Meanwhile the Venetians have rolled into Romagna, Savoy has recovered Ferrara for me (bless) and lost it again, and Milan has overrun half Venice but doesn't seem inclined to help me out.
Lose to Sicily in Roma, bounced to Ancona. Lose to Venice in Ancona, bounced to Romagna. This is so not good.

Sicily must have a pact with the Devil. How did the siege of Roma get to 75% in three months? Try to fight a relief force through the Venetians but the Doge turns up in person and my army ends up cowering in Modena with all my Italian provinces lost or under siege and Venice is recovering in the north as well.

I'm actually grateful when Milan makes a white peace with Sicily that at least gives me Roma back. The main Venetian army heads there at once, of course, but at least that lets me recover Romagna and Ferrara. It all ends in white peace shortly after. I'm down most of my cash, all my merchants in Venizia and my good relations with my strongest neighbour. Thanks Milan. Why did I let you talk me into this?

One of my Traders – not the six-star, thank the Lord – has died. I hire an Artist to replace him. I need stability, stability means money. I get a level back and immediately sacrifice it for another slider-push to Plutocracy. Nobody call me consistent.

Ferrara revolts. I don't blame them.

This time I have to settle it myself. I send in the army and Clemens caps his Military-8 career by getting himself killed. Next up is Hadrianus VI, who has the military skills of a doorstop but does at least know diplomacy.
 
Well that sucked. You're lucky to come out of that cluster.....erm...You got lucky, chum. That was even worse than the last time. I thought Murphy was sitting on my shoulder sometimes, but good lord, man....He's sneaking drinks out of your personal cup! I hope you get some better luck soon, or you'll end up stuck in the quagmire of central Italy with little to show for it a century from now. I have faith in you. Something must be done....
 
Could have been worse. At least you didn't lose any territory. That's a dangerous and volatile area. You are doing well just to stay alive. ;)
 
There were some really choice lines in that update, like this one ...

I consider declaring Savoy anathema, but the new circle [in Hell] is getting crowded.
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and this one...

Crimea is being clobbered by the Timurids – and then gets DOWed by Hungary/Austria/Poland. It could be worse. It could be me.
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Re the last war, I don't suppose Sicily is a lucky nation? Maybe that would explain their remarkable success and resilience.
 
Playing the pope is always fun.
And it shall be more fun in In Nomine. :)

Maybe post a picture about the world?
It would really help understanding how the world looks like in the game?
Pleaaase? :)
 
Amric - I was lucky, all right. Specifically, I was lucky that Milan was alliance leader, so they couldn't bail on me and leave me to the tender mercies of Venice and Sicily, which I'm sure they'd have done otherwise. And I was right about Milan & Savoy being able to handle Venice - where I was wrong was in thinking that Venice would put more importance on defending the Veneto than in stomping the Romagna.
And yup, Murphy is having himself a party. But I have plans...

coz1 -The real danger in the area, particularly early on, is the interlocking alliances which make it very hard to be sure in advance which side everyone will be on if you start a war - plus the risk of getting dogpiled if your allies do drop out on you.

jwolf - Glad you like it. No, I don't think Sicily is lucky - I think they'd just been wartaxing for years for the French war and then contriving not to lose the troops, probably because they couldn't get them out of Italy. And keeping them all in the south where I couldn't see them, the bastards.

Enewald - Ask and ye shall receive :)
 
It takes three tries to take the rebels out and my cash position is now critical. Genoa annexes Siena. Genoa is going to join Tuscany.

France wants military access. Easy choice. They've been holding all mainland Aragon for ages, but can't finish them off.
Sicily wants military access. Optimists. They've actually taken a French province, don't ask me how.

Pap_1476.JPG

My merchants fill up Venizia. I start on Lisboa. It's rich. Portugal has been colonising.

I stop and take stock, which is unusual for me. Savoy is allied to Milan. Milan is allied to me. Modena and Mantua are allied to me only. Genoa and Tuscany are allied to each other only. Venice is allied to Sicily (and Ragusa). I have a CB on Savoy (they never got round to ending the embargo from the first war) and Sicily, which might actually be useful if Sicily wasn't allied to Aragon as well as Venice. What I want is a CB on Genoa or Tuscany. I've warned them both, but they're sitting tight.

What in Heaven? I stare at the popup, unable to take it in. Persia has honoured their alliance with Genoa? How, where, why? I check the log and discover that Genoa is somehow at war with the Timurids, Chagatai(!) and Delhi, though there's no announcement in the log of the war actually starting.

I find something else in the log, though. Tuscany has dishonoured the alliance. Tuscany has no allies. I put on my best evil smile and double-check to make sure.

Rats! Toads! Tuscans! Other unclean creatures! Tuscany has been guaranteed by Austria. I weigh the odds in a war against the HRE. They don't look good.

Savoy annexes Switzerland. We're at -46 relations and they refuse my Mil Access offer.

The Teutonic Knights want an alliance. I am not amused.
Corsica is independent. Genoa has also lost Azov and the Timurid war appears to be over. Strange that there was nothing in the log about it starting or ending. If I could get to Liguria, I'd DOW right now.

Then I remember I can get to Genoa (Milan gave me Mil Access in the last war). I make Hadrianus a general (predictably worthless), and DOW.

Modena supports. Milan dishonours (natch). Mantua dishonours (natch). Anathema on the both of them. But just a moment? Mantua just gave me a CB and they have no allies? Genoa goes on temporary hold.

My stability is trashed, Mantua is besieging Ferrara and Genoa is besieging Roma. But I have more troops than the pair of them. I chase Genoa around until I can get a siege force into Siena, then march north, retake Ferrara, chase Mantua's army into Milan and settle down to the siege.

In the middle of all this, I miscalculate my money and get hit with an auto-loan. Doesn't matter. Mantua is going down.

Burgundy DOWs Savoy. Good for Burgundy. Last thing I want is Savoy coming over all opportunistic. I note that France has finally made peace with Aragon, taking two provinces.

Siena falls. Mantua falls. I force-vassalise and take 50 ducats for my trouble.

I march into Liguria, defeat the Genoese army and siege. Somehow, my stability is back up to +2. Savoy loses to Burgundy, giving up two provinces and the Canaries, which I never knew they had. Milan dishonoured on them too, I notice. Typical.

Liguria goes down. Vassalising Genoa takes 82 warscore, so I can't do it and take Siena. I settle for Siena and money.

Pap_1483.JPG

Amazingly, my reputation is still respectable, and my prestige is up to the dizzy heights of -2. My relations with my neighbours, on the other hand...
I check the prospects for alliance: Milan – impossible; Savoy – impossible; Venice – impossible; Austria – impossible, Burgundy – impossible. Guess I won't be disbanding any troops, then.

Utrecht wants an alliance. Why?

Trade 3 is reached. I switch research to Land 2. I feel I may need it.
I spend the money from the peace settlements on two more workshops.

Now it's Naxos wanting an alliance. And Ragusa.

Siena revolts. 12,000 maniacs swat aside my garrison. This could get tricky.

I hit max stability and throw an Artist into the gutter to save 0.3 ducats a month. Yes, I am that cheap.

Good ol' Hadrianus leads the massed armies of the Papacy (all 9,000 of them) into battle with the rebels and is duly killed, becoming the third consecutive Pope to die in battle. Maybe I should remember them as martyrs, but the real person getting martyred was me, to Shock 0 Siege 0 “generals”.

Next up is Clemens VIII. Decent administrator, not so hot elsewhere.

Stability hit, of course. Maybe I shouldn't have fired that Artist.

I tentatively put Clemens junior in charge of the army and he turns out to be Shock 2. Shortly afterwards, the rebels cease to be an issue.

What's this on the popup? Alliance offer from Castile? I can live with that, thanks.

My six-star Trader is renowned throughout the nation. Didn't need the Artist after all.

Now it's Ferrara that's revolting. Clemens deals with it, but the mobilisation costs money and I have to mint briefly so I can pay my loan.

Up to 25 merchants placed (Venizia, Liguria, Thrace, Ile-de-France, Lisboa). You'd think I'd be a tech leader, but I'm just plugging along in the middle.
 
That alliance with Castile will either come in very handy orbe a total pain in the ass. Nice work navigating the alliances to get an upper hand on Genoa. Now see what you can do about Tuscany. That guarantee from Austria can't last forever.
 
Superb writing. You keep it simple yet intriguing and fun. Though I am getting a headache trying to visualise all the alliances and diplomatic ties everywhere. There's something to be said for being a juggernaut and able to steamroll everyone and thus not worry about such intricate matters.
 
Playing this game seems like working in a sweatshop... :p Though it's fun to read... :D
 
You've been one of my favorite fellow readAARs for some time now, so I was thrilled to see you've started writing. Great start. Had me chuckling a couple of times already.

Vann
 
Enewald - :D

coz1 - It depends on what Castile plans to do. If they insist on DOW-ing France (or if they insist on butting into my wars and takeing the gains for themselves), yes it could backfire. But OTOH there's nothing like a big ally to keep the jackals off.
The plan for Tuscany is to DOW their ally when they find one. The guarantee system isn't very sophisticated.

jwolf - Castile likes me a bit more than they like Aragon, but probably not enough to risk a no-CB DOW. Besides, I don't want to fight Aragon yet. If I want to fight Sicily I can always DOW Venice, which will avoid the problem of having to make peace with Aragon to get anything from Sicily.

Duke of Wellington - I'm glad you like the writing, particularly as it's just a roughly-edited stream-of-consciousness. And I'm quite enjoying actually having to take risks and figure things out, rather than just going splat - splat - splat. Of course, once I get to be a big boy I'm going to have to dance with France/Burgundy/Spain/Austria....

Murmandamus - Actually this is much less of a slog than previous AARs where I was taking detailed notes and then trying to work them up into a coherent narrative and actually write decent English.

Vann the Red - Flattery is always gratefully received, but I do actually have previous form. See links in sig. :)
 
I hit Land 2 and upgrade my infantry to Longbows. Back to Trade research. I need a solid TE by the time my trader snuffs it.

I get a slider push and keep going Plutocratic. I finally have enough money to build my last Workshop. Have I turned the corner at last?

Castille DOWs Tunisia. They been doing their usual splurge through North Africa. Tunis has a single tempting province, just across the sea from Sicily – but I have no transports. I decide this would be a good time to collect wartaxes and cheer from the sidelines.

Tunisia's existence is brief. I get to +3 stability but my troops apparently dislike their uniforms. What's wrong with orange and purple stripes?
SwissGuard.jpg
Up to 30 active merchants as I flood Andulacia. I'm making 15 ducats a month from trade, less than 12 from tax and production combined.

Now this could be interesting. The Mittleuropan alliance has broken and Austria/Hungary are at war with Poland/Lithuania. But Austria is still HRE. I still have that CB on Savoy (3 provs and allied to Milan), but none on Genoa/Tuscany. Would Castile support me? Hmmm....

I decide to annex Modena before committing myself. Modena decides not to be annexed. Drat.
I'm still getting random alliance offers from strange places like Utrecht, the Teutons and Corsica. OK, I'll take Corsica. Hopefully they'll get into a fight with Genoa.

Austria beats Poland and forces the release of Riga. I don't think I want to fight Austria.
And now Burgundy wants an alliance. Bwhahaha. You are going to regret that embargo, Savoy.

Modena stills doesn't want to be annexed. Forget them. And now a “Land Traditions Scorned” event. Listen, while I might technically have the slider on the Naval side, I have three whole ships that I haven't even bothered to repair after their last bashing by Genoa. Not that I can afford the 44 ducats for a general anyway.

Slide up the Treasury slider, raise another regiment, army maintenance to full and DOW Savoy.
Siena revolts on the spot, but Castile is in, Burgundy is in, Corsica dishonours. I can live with that. And Milan has chosen the wrong time to finally honour an alliance.

My 10,000 beat Milan's 8,000 and I lay siege to Parma. Burgundy is all over Savoy, they throw Milan out of Lombardy – Milan's army gets punted around a bit and ends up sieging Ferrara, but Burgundy has sent some troops to boost my siege in Parma. Assault, secure, demand Parma and vassalisation and money.

Milan refuses. And then refuses again. And then Castile and Burgundy make separate peaces with Savoy for Nice and Schwyz, and I'm left to win the war again by myself.

I chase Milan back to Lombardy, beat them there and assault the fort before Milan can get to Parma and make trouble there. Fire up the diplomat, Parma, vassal and money. This time they accept, and I only have to face one-province Savoy and what's left of their army. Meanwhile Hungary loses to Poland and has to give up Transylvania and Croatia. And Venice is at war with the Ottomans again.

Savoy makes life really easy by sending their army to Avignon rather than trying to fight. I storm Turin, vassalise and take money.

I spend the money on a Workshop in Parma. Parma has a University – the third one I've captured. Looks like I won't be investing in Gov tech for a bit.

Last little detail is seeing off the rebels (remember them?) who have taken Siena and are now preparing to sack Rome.

Clemens clobbers them in Ancona and goes on to take back Roma and Siena. No doubt he was happy to be away with the army.

I try to annex Mantua on the off-chance but they say no. Typical.

Pirates in the Adriatic. Neither Venice nor the Ottomans seem interested in dealing with them. Two gifts to Modena raise relations by a whole 10. If I didn't know better I'd swear I was unpopular.

Since I have merchants to spare I start sending them to Vlaanderen. It works better than I'd expected. I'm actually third in the income list, behind France and Persia.

Modena refuses annexation again. This is getting tedious.

Venice loses to the Ottomans and gives up Albania and Dalmatia. I'm up to Naval 2, Prod 2, Gov 3.

Next gift to Modena raises relations by 0.00. If I wasn't about to annex them, I'd declare them anathema.

Venice DOWs Savoy. Sicily supports. Rats. I count troops – 12,000 for Venice, 8,000 for Sicily, 10,000 for me – grit my teeth and let it go.

Savoy asks for military access. Sure. Genoa gives us a warning. Giggle.

1492 ticks by. Judging by the provinces trading through Lisboa and Andulacia, Columbus has been pre-empted.

Venice makes white peace with Savoy. Guess they couldn't find anyone to let their army through.

Genoa is spying on me. They really are asking for it.

All I want to round out the session is to annex Modena so I can link up Parma and ally Milan. They say no. Again. Humph.

Pap_1494.JPG

Italy in 1494​
 
If you don't have a royal marriage with them....you're screwed...and I don't know that the Pope can do royal marriages. I am uncertain if you can diploannex without having a royal marriage, alliance, and vassalization. At least that was true in EU2...wait....I forget...If you have a royal marriage and then an alliance and get a personal union you might be a peaceful vassilization. I haven't even tried the regular way....<sigh> But I still don't think the Pope can do royal marriages, can he?
 
Nice Burgundy, good Burgundy. I sure hope they can keep France down and manageable. I also hope they don't get any ideas about assimila... I mean taking over all around them. So I repeat nice Burgundy. Stay on their good side. I really can't believe how well you're doing with trading. I never get that good. I wish I got Trader advisors like you do.
 
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