germanpeon said:
Yarr, this is not looking good. I doubt you would be able to force France to peace before Poland so you may want to go after the Poles first.
I was really hoping to be able to knock France out, but she was being stubborn, so I had to do it your way!
grayghost said:
Gah! Poland, that's not good. Another enemy at your back, and after you got Mecklenburg and Portugal out of the war. You might have to settle for one province and try again later.
Perceptive, as it turns out!
grayghost said:
Oh my...that was a blast from the past. One of my favorite books when I was a kid. My daughters as well.
Re: Where the Wild Things Are. Yeah, it wasn't too many years ago I got that for my youngest son. And the Chronicles of Narnia, which I thought I was being clever by bringing a series out of the closet no one had ever heard of, and might never hear of again, but then came the movie...
Looking forward to the new one in May. I thought the first Narnia movie was most excellently done (the beginning especially -- with the bombings).
spl said:
Bah! If only it was 2.1, France would be your vassal faster than you can say "Want to be my vassal?"
Interestingly, I never played 2.1. I went straight from 1 to 3.
Evangelion said:
What worries me is that Poland is just the first domino to fall. That others will join the war as well. Lithuania and Austria comes to mind... At worst, this might become the war that bleeds Milan dry
.
And this was always on my mind, too. Fortunately, it didn't happen that way. I think there is a brake on the Badboy impulse which keeps countries from attacking as often if the other country is really way more powerful (Bavaria being the exception to the rule! But it always is!).
Tricky Lady said:
Just adding a quick comment to say that this AAR really got me into EU3. I really like your style, short but descriptive enough to be drawn into the story.
I guess your wars with France and Poland will end well - I can't imagine myself doing it (yet). I suppose such a war with me playing Milan would end in a huge disaster ...
I didn't really respond in full to this first time around, so let me just add that I'm happy that I helped get you involved in EU 3! And you might be surprised, taking on a country like Milan, or Saxony, etc. The trick is to be careful, and to have patience. And (since you have the Strategy Guide), to read the recommendations in the Strategy Guide!
I think you'll do fine, and maybe even can entertain us with an AAR of whatever country you pick.
tcnc said:
I feel that this war is a world war in its own unhistorical world. Heck, WWII was pratically a badboy war for Germany, except she had her allies. So good luck being the Axis, Renss, and kick some french butt
Yeah, it really was, especially considering the American front. Which, as you see, has opened up again! This new war is hardly a major war, though -- there will be plenty of excitement in America, but it's not like the Iberian powers have the ability to hurt me in the long run. They CAN keep me busy while someone else chooses to pummel me, though...
PrawnStar said:
Congratulations on 200,000 views!
This AAR is a lot more than your modest claims - it's the public's introduction to a complex and challenging game. I would hope and expect that you're helping people perserve with a game that might be too steep a learning curve without a helping hand.
I know that you feel that this isn't the literary gem of some other AARs, or even on a par with your own Fire Warms but be proud of what you're doing here.
Thank you, Sir! I'm flattered! I am definitely most proud of Fire Warms -- that was my artistic contribution to the games. In Fire Warms, I think I developed a similar concept of describing battles as I use here, though it was embellished with fiction scenes which I don't have time to do here. Still, this AAR is quite fun to do! And I thank you and everybody else for your readership!
Olaus Petrus said:
Now defeat those Frenchies and Poles, so that you can restore the peace for a (very short) moment.
Very short, indeed!
WhisperingDeath said:
I would not want to be the Minister of the Exchequer when all of your loans come due!!
Yes, well... I paid off the first two okay, but there are more coming. Since my economy is still in the doldrums, paying off each loan is something akin to having a baby (requiring 9 months of effort and planning!
).
grayghost said:
As to the writing, it is more of a play by play, although there are some fun little quips from time to time. Speaking for me, as someone who has yet to play this game, but now at least owns it, that the attraction is two fold. One, is the educational benefits. I have learned a great deal on how to play this game from following this AAR. The other, and probably the most drawing, for me and I suspect others, is that this AAR is just plain fun to follow. Watching Milan go from lightweight trading power to European dominance has just been really fun to watch, and I think in essence, was what AAR's were truly supposed to be about, the sharing of an exciting gameplay experience with others. And this coming from a guy who is writing his own version of the "Eastern Illiad" where you can't even tell if there is a game going on.
Thank you, Grayghost! This is very flattering, and I'm humbled! This, to be sure, is all of why I'm doing the AAR, so I'm glad it's coming across. I just stumbled upon, apparently, an attractive way to mix text/story with screenshots that seems to have been very popular in both Fire Warms and here.
GhostWriter said:
pardon my plain English, but that bites ! ! OH, how many men did you lose in that assault on the gates of Paris ? ?
Rensslaer: ...In Germany, the Poles had besieged four of Milan’s provinces from those German territories which had been stripped of defenders to supply the war against France.
and, that is probably why you received the DOW from Poland - you invited the DOW ! ! :: wags finger :: [ = i thought that i had mentioned this to you before...
Actually, you're probably right, regarding my "invitation" to the Poles to invade! I just needed those troops elsewhere, so I left the border open. It all turned out well, in the end.
As to the number of men I lost at Paris... Anytime you assault, in EU 3, you either break through and succeed, or you basically exhaust yourself on the walls. If you exhaust yourself, then you suddenly have a dozen or a half-dozen "empty" infantry regiments, having lost all of those men! I think I probably lost a good 6,000 men on that assault, which sounds like alot, but it weakened the Paris garrison enough that I could come back and try again later. When a country is as flush (relatively) with manpower as Milan is, it's often worth spending the men (sounding unfortunately like a WW I general, here!) to get it done quickly, rather than having to wait the whole time. I think the Polish frontier opening up made me see this, more urgently. In my early days, I would never waste men in this way, as I knew I might need them very soon. But now I'm feeling more confident about my manpower, and don't worry so much about losing 2,000 in an assault, or 6,000. Sad, but these are the politics of war (and, historically, it was not uncommon in the 1700s and 1800s, and probably 1600s to lose this many men in a major battle).
Mettermrck said:
Man will the French never go down? It's like the Ali-Holmes fight when Larry just kept bludgeoning away and his opponent just wouldn't fall. And now Gaston's on the scene! I still have hope you'll break him. And good news being able to contend with the Poles. The last thing you want is a serious threat on two fronts.
Yeah -- Fighting France in EU 3 is not unlike fighting the UK in Victoria! It's tough to drag the beast down!
FlorisDeVijfde said:
Your troop surge seems to be working in France. Your economy however might well be facing an enormous crisis.
France will fall but now your manpower does seem to get precariously low. Poland will be dealt with but I hope england still remains out of this war.
By the end of the war, I was quite concerned about both, my manpower (response to Ghostwriter notwithstanding), and the economy. I realized the economy was a long-term problem, though, and I couldn't deal with it except on the long term. I was quite fortunate to have mostly kept enemy armies out of my provinces, which could have dealt a more crippling blow to me. As it was, I just hung on, and will have to recover economically as time heals those wounds.
ScouseJedi said:
Anyway, no pressure Rens but I hope you get this AAR finished in time to devote complete attention to your forthcoming Rome one. (wishful thinking?)
Responded to you earlier, but I just wanted to thank you, again, for dropping by! As well as for having pushed through all of Fire Warms! You know I'm very proud of that work! And, I'll repeat that I will have a Rome AAR coming, when that comes along. It looks to be a fascinating game!
Lord E said:
Peace with France at long last, great news. You have won a great victory, but it was a bloody war and you will need many years to rebuild your forces. But there is no time for that now as the bastards in Poland are still fighting on, you must destroy them also as quickly as possible and then get back to peace before anyone else decided to declare war on you…
Manpower recovered amazingly quickly. It was many years, but my manpower recovery each month is pretty impressive.
Dearnen said:
Now that was a long, dragged-out, dirty war. COOL! Now, for the 3 months of peace that the bad boys (you're not the bad boy, THEY are! ), I recommend paying off all loans, rebuilding your military, improving your economy, and...er...nevermind. That might take more than three months.
Indeed! I actually had a little time off. Not long enough to fully recover, but I'm not terribly stressed by this new war.
Lord Strange said:
this is my first post on this AAR, however i have followed this for a long time, not sure how long however. All i can really say is nice empire! Hmmmm shame you can't convert into vicky.
Welcome, Lord Strange! Thanks for dropping by to say hello! There is a converter, I think ,for Napoleon to Vicky, but I don't know if I can get this into Napoleon. I think I'll be done with this by the 1700s anyway. Time to move on to other things.
FlorisDeVijfde said:
Those are large gains you've made. France is weakened as a result and will in a next war pose less of a threat to the German corridor which by now is growing to sizeable holdings instead of just a corridor.
Your manpower of 5k at the end was to close for comfort. Surely the French had to have these problems too, but after the time at which it seemed France was collapsing they continued to put up quite a fight with large armies.
Just for interest, what is your financial situation now? How much are your monthly expenses on loan-interest?What is your warexhaustion after this long long war?
Yeah -- Bremen's not so isolated anymore, eh?! I think I explained the financial situation in the AAR, more or less, after you posted this. But just for recap, I was only getting about 250 at the end of the year (250-350 before my stability went up), and loans were costing me something like 170 a year at their worst! That meant I had to mint money monthly to spend anything (or pay off debt!), which meant inflation. That's improving now, but still.
Riptide said:
Excellent news on the Badboy! ...do you have Deus Vult as a National Idea, when time comes to 'liberate' the Holy Land? I cannot remember if that NI inhibits BB from provinces ripped from other religions, or if you have it. If both on yes, then let's buildbuilbuild! And then it's off to see the Dead Sea! Assuming, of course, that France gets sufficiently spanked by Burgundy and yet doesn't grow too strong itself. Wee hee!
No Deus Vult, yet, though I may get that at some point. Or I might try to get Defender of the Faith, instead. I'm close to this mission point, though!
Terraferma said:
Excellent news on ending the war versus France on a high note. I wouldnt be too thrilled with France suffering badboy just yet.. though it will keep her busy I wouldn't expect much of a change in territory.
That's kind of what I was expecting, but Burgundy was plainly stupid in choosing war at that time, because she sure didn't do too well! Burgundy is hard to defend, anyway, as sprawling as it is.
GhostWriter said:
Rensslaer:[/B] ...Why a 1-province minor would choose to declare war upon the largest empire in the world, one will never know...In Bavaria…. CHOMP!!!
as mentioned, they could not see any other way to join your glorious empire ! !
Funny!
Skinner_Empire said:
Great update
hope you crush the castillens
Welcome, Skinner Empire! Thanks for dropping by!
There are more comments to respond to, but I cannot at this time. I think I did get one comment, at least, from everybody, so...
Thanks again, everybody, for reading! I will try to do another update today. We'll see (kind of busy today). Onward into war with Portugal!
Chief Ragusa -- You're getting close to that 3,000 post threshold! What are you planning as your new custom avatar???
Rensslaer
