Sforza!!! - A Milan AAR

[Steckie]

Just give him some time
I'm guessing he doesn't annex Siena because it would make it possible for the Italian Unification event to fire, wich as he said before he didn't want to do.
Provence is probably allied to France, so getting them would be hard as well since France has probably recovered from their earlier losses to Milan and has expanded in the north.
Venice i gues is a buffer between him and the Austrian menace.
And Algeria, well he's working on that little problem at this very moment.
He has to get the former Moroccan provinces first before he can annex the Algerian capital wich is just sitting there making his borders look ugly.

 

[Rensslaer]

Just give him some time
I'm guessing he doesn't annex Siena because it would make it possible for the Italian Unification event to fire, wich as he said before he didn't want to do.
Provence is probably allied to France, so getting them would be hard as well since France has probably recovered from their earlier losses to Milan and has expanded in the north.
Venice i gues is a buffer between him and the Austrian menace.
And Algeria, well he's working on that little problem at this very moment.
He has to get the former Moroccan provinces first before he can annex the Algerian capital wich is just sitting there making his borders look ugly.

An excellent analysis! I'm worried about that Italy event, so, yes, I'm avoiding Siena. Also I'm not seeking to pick a fight with a non-hostile country (I'm NOT a warmonger, remember! ), so I'll leave them alone until much later. Provence is as you say -- a victim for the next war with France, but one which isn't important enough to me to invade France to get. In time... Venice IS a buffer, but not so much from Austria as from the Ottomans -- it would give me my first land border with them. I'll leave them alone until my backside is secure. Algeria and Morocco will come... In time!

More feedback later, but I wanted to say Welcome!

Rensslaer

 

[unmerged(58610)]

Excellent Steckle, very thoughtful. I shall give him time. Conquering north africa despite not being a warmonger. On the evidence of coz1 germany event, it took forever to happen so Italy forming is not exactly a high probability for about 200 years.

 

[Rensslaer]

More feedback...

Holding Algerian cores does make them eager to reclaim them, doesn't it? I think you'll be relieved to see the back of this bey. Conversion is always a good thing. You should finish off Algeria soon enough.

I'll be glad when I have the opportunity to hire more missionaries. It's been tough recently, as I've been distracted by wars. One victory coming up, though!

You should finish of Algiers for good. Otherwise they just keep declaring war you everytime you fight against someone else.

Olaus! You became a Prussian while I wasn't looking! Good job!

*Yawn*, go conquer something

Yes, yes... But I have to wait for another country to DOW me, because (as you know) I'm not a warmonger!

So you are at war again, well I guess we can say it is clear that the AI and especially the Algerian one never learns what is best for it. It really shouldn’t start all this wars against, ok this time it actually did fight well and had a good leader. But in the long run it should know that the warriors from Milan will win, after all Milan sure has A LOT of experience at being at war

Yup. All those aggressive neighbors keep us in practice! lol

So... who will be the next victim of Milanese aggress- er, I mean, beneficiary of Milanese hegemony?

Welcome, Sr. Toledo! Well, the war should be coming right up, and it's an interesting one. Not exactly what I'd have expected, but...

I take it your colonizing plan is just to grab areas that produce high-trade value stuff? Keep up the good work emperor! TheExecuter

Actually, my thought pattern with choosing colonies is this -- high value trade goods, and few or passive natives. I don't want to go in and have a bunch of native revolts. Oh, btw, I've been reading your AAR -- The Last Mission. It's a very intriguing story! Very interesting. I'll leave feedback once I get to the end (I'm a slow reader!).

Yes the trading system is rather broken. The problem to me is not that its impossible to become a huge trading power but that its impossible to become a moderate trading power so you have to choose between only trade and no trade at all. Informative update, very nice job taking western africa, your control of the western Mediterranean us tightening.

Thank you! I think you're right. If I totally concentrated on trade (which I considered, early on, but I'm too fond of comb... oops! I mean I was surrounded by too many aggressive neighbors! ), I could probably hold my own. But I'm no longer convinced that even if I did that I'd be able to make a long-term profit AND survive neighboring predation.

Wow.... That was very very very enjoying....I have been reading what you have written over the past 3 days... I have to say that I liked it so much that Im dying to buy this game... I signed up just now to join the thread. Now I need to get a better graphics card to play this game.... ahhh... Might be awhile. Good Luck

Thank you very much! And welcome, GavinVaxx! Yes, be careful... I purchased the game as a gift for a friend of mine, and his computer wouldn't run it! doh! But it's a really fun game. I've been playing it since August (betatest) and I'm still not tired of it! I also was thinking to myself today that it's stable enough I don't worry so much about saving all the time, as I know it's not likely to crash like so many other games are.

What's your badboy?

After the Algerian War, I think it was back up to 19.

How much longer before the Mediterranean is a Milanese lake? Joe

I'm thinking my first crusade is a couple decades off, yet. So lakification might take a while.

The diplovasselisation / diploannexation of Portugal would round out your empire very nicely.:

Yes... The next time we go at it over there, that's certainly going to be on my consideration list.

I must say, I am impressed with your trading status. I gave up on it myself with the 1.01 patch and even though it has been fixed somewhat with 1.03, there was still a moment when all my merchants finally disappeared (so too in MM.) Just too tedious so I've not really spent much more time on it but you are showing it is possible and that extra income surely comes in handy. Nice work in the war and with your colonies.

Not meaning to mislead, I might point out that the only reason I was able to achieve anything is because of the East India Company event. You'll see soon that I lose everything once I lose the 99% bonus.

I've finished reading through the hole AAR and i must say it's one of the best (if not the best) AARs i've ever read! Keep up the good work! Btw now that your war with Algiers is over what's next?

Thank you, Toshan, and welcome! I very much appreciate that. I'm hoping PEACE is next, but don't count on it.

Dear Rensslaer,It's time to annex Siena! Rome must be our capital! Later, you can release Pope in your colonies (no CB on you)!!

I'm going to avoid that for now, for reasons another of our readers understood. But one day, maybe...

Thank you to WhisperingDeath, Chief Ragusa, GhostWriter, GermanPeon, Dhimmi, Kfijtass, Olaus Petrus, Lord E, Rhynoclemmis, VILenin, Sr. Toledo, TheExecuter, TheyCallMeTight, RedBaron, Terraferma, Storey, PrawnStar, Coz1, Toshan, M4Emperor & Steckie for your kind comments!

Thanks to all the other readers out there, but I wish you'd say hello. I enjoy seeing who's reading!

More to come. I'll see if I can post tomorrow.

Rensslaer

 

[Olaus Petrus]

Good to see that you are in peace once again. But you should do something for your technological developement.

Olaus! You became a Prussian while I wasn't looking! Good job!

Although it might be just a temporary change. [EDIT: And it was]

 

[Tem_Probe]

You do know that even if you trigger the Italy event, you can refuse to change tag, right? Of course that would push you... 2 pts towards decentralisation, and you would lose 1 pt of base tax in a random province. Hardly too much of a problem, unless you're afraid of being decentralised.

 

[Snake IV]

Ok.

Hello.

 

[unmerged(81390)]

I discoverd you started in 1473!

If you'd started just a little later, no Burgundy!

 

[stnylan]

You know, there is something of a passing resemblance between your borders and those of the Roman Republic circa 200 BC. Only passing, but it's there - an inspiration perhaps?

 

[Rensslaer]

Although it might be just a temporary change. [EDIT: And it was]

Ahh... That's too bad!

Actually, on that subject, I now have way more than 3,000 posts. I've just never had time to look into getting a custom avatar. Anyone know what the process is to get one?

I'd actually like to have an Imperial German Naval ensign as my avatar -- something simple, and easy to make. I'm sure it exists, actually. I don't recall seeing anyone else using it. That would be very cool. Advice?

You do know that even if you trigger the Italy event, you can refuse to change tag, right? Of course that would push you... 2 pts towards decentralisation, and you would lose 1 pt of base tax in a random province. Hardly too much of a problem, unless you're afraid of being decentralised.

Well, I never actually bothered to look it up. I suppose that wouldn't be all that bad. But remember -- I'm the guy who left some vestige of the South German Federation extant in Munich for about four or five decades before finally crushing what had appeared on maps to be the navel of Germany! :rofl: I'll get to Siena one of these days, when I'm not otherwise occupied.

Hello.

Snake! Hello! Did I miss feedback to your comment, by chance? I had like 30 people to respond to. Sorry! If that's what it was... Otherwise... Hello!

I discoverd you started in 1473! If you'd started just a little later, no Burgundy!

You know, I'd not realized that. Not that it would have mattered. All through the Beta, I would basically just spin the wheels on the chronometer until it hit a likely date to start my game. I picked 1473 entirely by random. Might have made an interestingly different game, though!

You know, there is something of a passing resemblance between your borders and those of the Roman Republic circa 200 BC. Only passing, but it's there - an inspiration perhaps?

I've been noticing that... You know, due to your absence, you might have missed my spiel, though:

Poor Milan has been nipped on the heels by every second-rate empire of Europe and Africa, and while there has been no overt intent to spread Milanese control over half the globe, Milan is powerless to prevent its happening as a result of the bloodthirst of our neighbors!

"Et tu, Algeria?" CHOMP!!!

Great to see you back, Stnylan!


Thank you, everybody, for reading. Sorry I've been slow this week. Lots of stuff to do. I'll put up another update soon, describing our war with.... with that next country I'm at war with!

Rensslaer

 

[unmerged(71654)]

Real life got in the way of my keeping up with your epic AAR for a couple months. Fortunately your break was in that same period, so it only took me 2 sittings to get caught up!

I was able to find a Collector's Edition in stock finally last week and bought it. The waiting to get a CE worked out well, because if I had bought the game before, I wouldn't have had time to play it anyway.

Anyway, your AAR along with a couple of others have provided me the inspiration to start my first effort, with very modest goals, as Savoy. Frankly, the idea of starting off with a more powerful, and larger, state, doesn't appeal to me. And I think after reading a handful of excellent AARs, including yours, I have enough of a grip on the game theory to enjoy the challege.

Thanks for the inspiration and lessons

 

[unmerged(58610)]

These peaceful protests that Milan is not a warmongerer will turn violent as your listeners refuse to believe you.

There is some talk that the Milanese are secretly allied with the Ottomans and have a secret pact to partion Europe between them. Surely, Milan would not deal with the Devil? Why else has Milan not gone to war in defence of Christendom? Are they cowards?

 

[unmerged(62343)]

Okay...all caught up again. Wars in Germany, wars in North Africa, all ending well for you. And another isolated german province for you. How weird. Nice job finally connecting your two African enclaves. It was finally nice, during your brief 3 years of peace to see some of the economic side of the game. Also, this was the first time I was introduced to building things, i.e. forts, shipyards, constabularies...it was interesting to see. Nice to see you spend some time on the colonies as well. All in all, a well rounded set of updates.

 

[coz1]

Re: Your custom avatar, Renss - the first thing to do is find one and it should have a style like a flag or a shield. They are pretty strict about that these days (some were grandfathered in.) It also needs to be a certain dimension - 44 X 70 I think. If you want the fancy waves and whatever else, you'll need to have that worked out as well.

Once done, send that to an admin (I have always gone to Castellon, but BiB and Havard will also take care of that) and ask if they wouldn't mind setting that up for you. They may need you to change this or that, but given your post count, the fact that you've done some beta testing, etc. you should have little problem.

Send me a PM if you have any other question and good luck.

 

[Snake IV]

Snake! Hello! Did I miss feedback to your comment, by chance? I had like 30 people to respond to. Sorry! If that's what it was... Otherwise... Hello!

No, I replied to your last post. I figured i had not commented in a while.

About avatar, remember that all the cool kids have custom shield avatars ;p

 

[Kyle10]

Hey Rensslaer, you could use this avatar I just made. Though, in return I demand an update

 

[VILenin]

I think I've got one laying around somewhere on my HD, though I'm sure you could find one if you sifted thru the flag request thread.

 

[Nehekara]

I really like your AAR, and I must say I'm impressed by your incredible progress as Milan!
I'm looking forward to the next update!

 

[rhynoclemmis]

Hey Rensslaer, you could use this avatar I just made. Though, in return I demand an update

Look very nice, and what a nice thing to do!

 

[unmerged(76311)]

Nice updates there !
I actually only today found out you're back from that two month slumber o

Made my day