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Bark like the barque I think...There were a couple of RN ships named that in the early 1500's so says my Ships of the Royal Navy.
Excellent update, good to see the progress of the mighty Milan. The Swahili will soon feel the wrath of the Milanese infantry. Again.
With new and improved tactics and sharp pointy bayonets

Oh, what I would give to have a "Ships of the Royal Navy" around the house! :D I have a Weber's Warships of the World (ca. 1984 or so) and a Jane's 1911 at my mom's house, but haven't had occasion to look at them in a while.

Thanks! Swahili won't last long. It's good to see some of these old pests going away. Only wish it were easier to gain more provinces at a time from Persia and/or Ottomans!

Another update in a few days I think. I've gotten distracted recently so I'm a little slower than I was for a while, there.

Thanks for reading! Anybody else out there still?

Rensslaer
 
Real life caught up with me for few years. Then I discovered this AAR among my old bookmarks. I was quite certain that it would be as dead as a Milanese emperor on a battlefield, but no! Still going strong!
 
Real life caught up with me for few years. Then I discovered this AAR among my old bookmarks. I was quite certain that it would be as dead as a Milanese emperor on a battlefield, but no! Still going strong!

Welcome back, Evangelion! I remember you because of the Neon Genesis connection. Great to have you reading again (you've got a lot of catching up to do -- I've been updating every 2-4 days on average since February or so! :D).

Another update coming this weekend, I expect. Thanks for reading!

Rensslaer
 
Oddly, this AAR is still averaging 500 views per day, and yet only 1 or 2 comments per week. Anyone out there lurking want to say hello, or are you all just reading from the beginning and haven't gotten here yet? :) Love to hear from anyone!

still looking forward to every update.

Thanks, Dragonizer! You've encouraged me to finish the last 3 screenshots of an update I had almost ready. So here it is...

_______________

You’ll recall that Milanese Imperial troops were busy capturing the last of Scotland when it became apparent that our allies in southern England – the Welsh and Cornish – were having difficulty with a number of rampaging British armies.

CornwallTookIt_zpsbf39be03.jpg


Eventually, the Cornish captured London. But they had lost two other provinces, and the British were in Lincoln, assaulting the walls of that long-held Welsh territory. Sigh. What a mess. Have to go show them what’s up. My troops have recovered to a strength of 10,000, even after devastating losses in the first Lithuanian-led assault upon the walls of Aberdeen (which I had no control over).

WeWantBermudaToo_zps16f6cd16.jpg


As 1750 dawns, the British come to the table, asking for peace. They’ll give up their remaining two provinces in Scotland. But we stall them – we want to take Bermuda before making peace.

We make peace with the Swahili, finally, and set them up for annexation in 5 years. They’ve been a thorn in our side for way too long.

SetupforAnnex_zps74e022a7.jpg


And in July, 1750, we finally get Bermuda. Now, because there were Castillians there before us, Castille actually takes the island for themselves. But that’s fine with us – we just wanted to rid the British of that pesky island that they’d held onto forever.

There was always a garrison there, and it was always a “project” to dislodge them and then take the island. And then it always got returned to the British after the war. No more of that! It’s ours (theirs – Castille) now.

SpanishBermuda_zps6370bac0.jpg


With Scotland fully lost to them, the British don’t have much left. It’s just London – I don’t think there are other territories now, but I can’t say with certainty that they’re a 1-province-minor yet.

There’s a province of Ireland that LOOKS British, but it’s not – it’s actually English. Don’t ask. :)

LondonAlone_zps8aa24d3a.jpg


It occurs to me that they may not even have a home port for a fleet anymore. Wonder where their remaining ships are, and where they will go.

The Makassari declare war upon us…

MakaWar_zps410bbe39.jpg


That will be a short war.

If you haven’t suspected before now, let me just tell you – Gian Galeazzo IV lacks patience. He believes it is time to take more of Burgundy, and reduce their influence on Europe, while also increasing our internal lines of communication. They’re in our way.

MightAsWell_zpsae9d5393.jpg


The French help, too, of course. We just blitz on in there, assaulting city walls and besieging others. The Burgundians, for some reason, have low morale (like really low), and so they retreat before we can have any decisive victories. I wonder if maybe they’d just instituted a new type of infantry, or something, like we recently did, and killed the morale while the soldiers adjusted.

We quickly capture a goodly number of their provinces, including their capital (we kept the French away from it this time). It’d be great if we could claim a whole lot of these to fill in the map with purple, but we know the AI would never agree to lose more than 3 provinces or so per war.

Overwhelming_zpsbb28f45f.jpg


We decided that the only way to kill the Burgundian armies was to catch small forces with overwhelming force – to reduce them to less than 10% of our strength before they had a chance to retreat, in which case game mechanics forces a surrender of their entire force.

Before long, we have another of those pesky wars with Brit…. No! NO!! It’s ENGLAND!!! And they’re bringing their Irish neighbors with them – it figures the Irish would stand side by side with the English! <<grumps without irony>> This is, of course, the England that’s cropped up on the southeast corner of Ireland, no current relation with Great Britain (kind of like how Genoa keeps reappearing in the Black Sea).

Eire_zps44b2353e.jpg


There you’ll notice the Makassaris actually proved rather squirrelly – we had to chase them around the island. And they’re not doing too shabbily in combat either. Makes me wonder if they didn’t have anything better to research than combat techs.

In closing, I’ll show you our latest advance in naval tech (probably ridiculously low/late – naval tech 27 in 1750). It only makes sense that we would start building East Indiamen, now that we’ve been warring in India.

EastIndiaman_zps97c956a0.jpg


On a more serious note, this is actually quite a help. The East Indiaman, as I recall, is the first transport clipper that has some decent combat values. We could use that, considering the haphazard way we’ve been employing our navy. No comment! :p
 
Wow just got done reading all 207 pages, DARN Milan is huge... and so realistic too. :D Great AAR

Seriously??!! You just read 207 pages? Wow. Thanks for your determination -- glad you enjoyed it! I'll get another update up in the next couple of days hopefully. Sorry I'm slow lately.

Welcome, Danking!

Rensslaer
 
I'm still following, and as a request I'd love to see you conquer the Netherlands and the British Isles before the end of the game. And then perhaps take France too.
 
I'm still following, and as a request I'd love to see you conquer the Netherlands and the British Isles before the end of the game. And then perhaps take France too.

France is Milan's faithful ally. Milan has other places to take like the remaining Ottoman provinces and lots of Persia. MIstake letting Castille have any overseas territory. It'll only come back and bite youo. Milan hasa navy? Stop the presses. An amred transport ship - I know you know how to use those after your HOI AAR.

Burgundy is on its way to becoming part of Milan. This new Emperor must firmly believe in neat borders.
 
I'm still following, and as a request I'd love to see you conquer the Netherlands and the British Isles before the end of the game. And then perhaps take France too.

Ahh, well... You might see some (or all) of this. There are more wars in Europe to come!

Welcome, Redmess! Glad to have another new follower!

France is Milan's faithful ally. Milan has other places to take like the remaining Ottoman provinces and lots of Persia. MIstake letting Castille have any overseas territory. It'll only come back and bite youo. Milan hasa navy? Stop the presses. An amred transport ship - I know you know how to use those after your HOI AAR.

Burgundy is on its way to becoming part of Milan. This new Emperor must firmly believe in neat borders.

Yeah, France has stuck with me practically from the beginning. Quite amazing, actually! And yes, I will continue to work on Persia and the Turks. I'm not sure I had much option with Castille -- they had much of that land when we first made peace/alliance, and they've gotten quite a bit more since.

lol Yes! A navy! ;)

I'll see if I can get another update sometime this week. Sorry I've slowed down again. Lots going on.

Thanks for your comments!

Rensslaer
 
Sorry it's been 3 weeks since the last update. Been too much going on! I'll try to pick up the pace.

______________________

The Burgundian war went quickly – declared in September, we had already so weakened them by the end of the year that they presented acceptable terms on December 15, 1750.

The Empire added Brandenburg, in the east, and connected Vlaanderen to the northern Dutch territories by acquiring Zeeland. At least this would aid in internal communications, though technically it did not yet connect this region to the rest of the Empire.

DidntKillNavyYet_zps110865d0.jpg


The war against England and Connaught continued – we were at war with the whole island of Eire – with fewer forces than were employed in Europe against Burgundy. An Imperial army was involved in the midst of an assault against Ulster, which of course saps all their Morale, when it was noticed the Connaughters and English were both marching to the rescue.

Who would complete their task first? Would the city fall, or the siege-lifters arrive?

NowVouldBeAGoodTime_zps29cab474.jpg


Alas, they were not able to complete the assault before the attack came. Nearly 300 English soldiers died, and only half that many Imperials, but Milan had to yield and remove themselves from the field. They’d have to come back around after regaining strength. That didn’t happen until July, when forces were landed by sea.

In June, Makassar surrendered, giving up Sulu and Tagoloan. But war continued with their stronger allies, Brunei

Sulu_zpsf09a4241.jpg


It was somewhat amazing, with all the conflict Milan had engaged in, even in the East Indies, that Borneo had gone untouched, all those centuries.

A force was landed at Pattani, on the Siamese Isthmus, and another sent to the island of Borneo, at Banjarmasin.

Banjar_zps8748e21f.jpg


The Brunese had hardly an army, so it wasn’t expected to be a long or difficult war, except that Milan would have to reduce their fortresses – several, on Borneo.

Gen. Ottaviano Caetani arrived, in August 1851, to reduce the city of Meath, where the English had, ironically, formed their new country. He assaulted the walls, and the city fell.

Caetani-1_zps4793433c.jpg


That placed the English at Milan’s mercy. They were incorporated into the Empire, and it was expected that they would have company – more Milanese neighbors – in the near future.

A partial assault was made upon the walls of Connaught, but the Irish opposition was strong, and rather than lose the army, they were halted, marched away, and allowed to recover. Subsequent battles, at Connaught, and Ulster, killed another 1,000 Irish – their army was nearly gone.

KashWar_zps60cc493f.jpg


In Novemember, Milan declared war on one of the few small remaining Muslim countries of Central Asia. Kashmir didn’t last long.

By January, 1752, they had surrendered and were annexed by Milan. Missionaries were readied, immediately.

CathProt_zps118f3dac.jpg


The Poles, ultimately, completed the siege at Connaught. They surrendered in March, 1752, pledging to become officially Protestant, and giving up Ulster to Milan.

And then, in May, Leinster befell the same fate. They ceded Munster to Milan, and promised to become a Protestant country, in their little enclave, alone, now, next to Connaught.

2ndProt_zps153140cb.jpg


Much of this while, there had been a brushfire war underway in Central Asia, where Kashmir’s ally, the last of the Timurids, were holding out. They had even managed to seize one of Milan’s newly settled colonies.

But all was turned out correctly in September, when the colony was retaken, and the Timurid Empire was annexed to Milan’s Empire.

TimuridsGone_zps4aabcde2.jpg


Various things happened, in the remainder of the early 1750s, including advancement to Hussar Cavalry, and the Archipelago Frigate, and then the Threedecker. That’s 2 new Naval advancements in one update, and a third at the end of the last update. :)

By 1755, Milan’s income was continuing to increase. Milan had colonized more gold-producing provinces. Her new conquests were also bringing in more tax income. She had a new manufactory, which helped the income somewhat. Production was up, compared to 1745.

Income1755_zps4fc536f4.jpg


The tolls through various chokepoints were bringing in more revenue. Trade was up, as were trade tariffs. The only category showing a reduction was in payments from vassals…

And I’m not entirely sure why that is. I don’t think any of the countries I went to war with or annexed were vassals, and with my Badboy you can be assured I can’t diplo-annex anyone. Dunno. But anyway, Milan surges forward into the latter half of the 1750s… :)
 
((Author’s Note: This is where I had stopped playing the game for a period of months, and then came back to it))

Hmm…. Not sure what’s going on. Can’t load the standard EU 3 game, and I’m not sure which version that was. However, inside the “Sforzabackup” folder I have a version of EU 3 which does load, and appears to be v2.2 of Napoleon’s Ambition. It loads the old Sforza savegames, of which the most recent appears to be 1755, so I’ll continue building from here, with screenshots saved to the Sforzabackup folder.

The first thing I did on coming back into the game was do a survey of my highest tax-producing provinces and doublechecking that they all had proper facilities. I started a building project of about 600 ducats for Constables, Custom Houses, a Marketplace, even a Workshop in some forsaken place which didn’t know how to build anything.

The next thing I do is spend another about 1200 ducats ordering new military units of European high-tech styles (Caroline Infantry, Latin Hussars, Cohorn Mortars) in areas likely to be near areas of tension. This is generally in Russia and the Balkans & Middle East, because anything in Central Asia or India is unable to complete modern military units. We achieve Land 29 and begin building a War College.

I have 531 Badboy in December 1755. :D

ConversionsIndia_zpsfcb2069b.jpg


As always, I’m concentrating on conversions to the Christian faith, particularly in Muslim provinces, but not exclusively.

In 1756, we get two brushfire wars starting – one against the Swahili, and another against Brunei. They happen to be allied with Lan Xang, a landlocked country in the middle of SE Asia. We can’t get there… Until the Ming allow us military access. THAT could get interesting! :)

Brushfire_zps0c2d3925.jpg


To continue the trend, the Emperor figures we might as well open up another war – the 23rd War of Milanese Aggression! – against the Turks.

The Ottoman Empire doesn’t have much left to it. Only 8 provinces, including their capital. What’s that? Two wars? Three? Four at most, I suppose. Getting there…. Persia is allied with the Turks, and they become the alliance leader, which just allows us to go after them, too.

23rdWarAggression_zps020b723b.jpg


With only 23% of Ottoman war capacity available, this will be a short war – only a matter of how much I can take in the peace, once everything is occupied. They’ve mostly lost the ability to resist, which means an era is about to end!

In January, 1757, the Swahili are defeated, and their last province is ceded to us – Swahili cease to exist, independent of the Empire!

SwahiliOurs_zps300267fd.jpg


Milan’s allies are extremely effective in this 23rd war with the Turks (maybe they’ve just had lots of practice!). Austria and Lithuania each capture one of those few remaining Ottoman provinces.

Lan Xang makes peace in May, ceding four provinces to Milan, which separates their two remaining provinces from each other. Such happens when weak countries ally with other weak countries against Milan!

Vientiane_zps8c6292c8.jpg


To the south, as part of the Brunei war, Makassar has been entirely occupied, and they yield their last province and become part of the Milanese World Empire.

Brunei, by July, has also accepted defeat. They retain the northern coast, while Milan takes 2 of their southern provinces.

Makassar_zps52db3659.jpg


Milan is traditionally very helpful to its allies, and this war is no exception. When the Ottomans accept our peace demands in October, 1757, Austria gets to keep Banat, and Lithuania annexes Carpathia.

Two of the provinces Milan took – Hum (in Bosnia) and Silistria (along the Black Sea coast, just north of the Turkish capital) become part of Milan’s Empire.

OttoRump_zpsf2ef53c6.jpg


There’s not much left to the Ottoman “Empire” – just Thrace, and 3 interior provinces in Asia Minor. Two more wars, I think, should finish them off for good (I’m assuming the rules in Napoleon’s Ambition still didn’t allow more than 3-4 provinces to be ceded per war).

Milan begins building a Textiles Manufactory in Ancona, back in the home country. I’ve been so focused on war, and so beset by Inflation, that we haven’t had the money to invest in many manufactories at all – this will help a great deal, I think.

TurkeyChristian_zps85798e1a.jpg


By 1758, the majority of Asia Minor has converted to Protestant Christianity. Islam is actually having a hard time even reaching the sea, except at Thrace!

Also that year, the last independent province in all of Africa ceases to be independent. Mutapa is annexed.

LastAfrican_zpsdc03dbba.jpg


Portugal and France also have colonies in Africa. The rest of the continent is Milan’s.

At Kandahar, in March of 1759, we destroy most of one of the few remaining Persian armies. They lose 10,000, and escape with fewer than 600 troops to retreat into Sistan. You’ll notice we’re also at war with Baluchistan, and in April 1759, we annex them.

KandaharAmazing_zps31b79bc9.jpg


In May of 1759, Milan declares war upon Lan Xang again, and they surrender one of their two remaining provinces.

The remaining capital of Luang Prabang becomes a Vassal.

Luang_zpsfc0b6fa6.jpg


In explanation, Milan (as you may have seen) isn’t really desperately interested in conquering the world. We’re interested more in ensuring that peace will eventually reign. And so when stupid countries attack us, we bear the responsibility of taking their power and land away. Just so. <<nods>> As a vassal, Lan Xang won’t bother us again.

Another ally of the Ottomans was Astrakhan. In August 1759, they cede two provinces to Milan – north of the Caspian Sea – in return for another restless peace.

BertasiaUfa_zpsa428b1c7.jpg


By the end of 1759, our final war comes to an end with victory for Milan.

Persia, having been entirely occupied during the process of war, and pretty much disarmed of almost all of its troops, gives up 5 provinces, mostly on the Persian Gulf, but some in Russia.

PeacePersia_zps2eef48b7.jpg


The peace, combined with the treaty with Astrakhan, connects several of the far-flung portions of the Empire, plus gets Persia mostly out of Arabia (except Aden), and even gave Norway a prize (Bahrain) for having participated as an ally. The conquest of Baluchistan also connects more territory.
 
NA should speed up the process just need 100% occupation.
paint the world purple :cool:
 
NA should speed up the process just need 100% occupation.
paint the world purple :cool:

You know, I feel a little stupid. Looking back, I realize that I switched to NA back in the 1650s, which is why my savegames wouldn't load with Vanilla. :)

But I've not foun it speeds things up very much. A little maybe -- instead of 3 provinces I get 5 or 6 sometimes.

Thanks for commenting!

Another update on the way.

Rensslaer
 
what is the biggest bad boy you have had that you remember?
(i tend to lurk as you can see by the few post i have made sence when i started comming here ;) that does not mean i dont read the thread :) )
 
Astrakhan and Persia are the same colour.Discraceful. Trying to confuse the poor old milanese into taking fewer provinces at peace time.

Actually Astrakhan is blue. You might have thought Astrakhan was those beige possessions up north, but those are actually some of the far-flung provinces Persia grabbed from Muscovy long before I inherited them.

Good to see you back, Chief! :)

what is the biggest bad boy you have had that you remember?
(i tend to lurk as you can see by the few post i have made sence when i started comming here ;) that does not mean i dont read the thread :) )

No problem, Merak! Great to have you posting again! :) You've posted 16 times before, according to records (which is quite impressive), so it's not like I didn't know you were here! :D

My Badboy.... Wow. I haven't actually looked in a long time, but many centuries ago I stopped paying attention to trying to keep it low, so I think it's been between 200 and 250 for much of that time. Maybe higher. I'm not really sure.

Thanks for the comments! I'll be back with an update in a few days I think. It's already partly done. But I'm being laid off from work, and so my mind is elsewhere. I'm going to try to go into professional writing - like NOT writing as an employee for a change (might mean more strategy guides, for Paradox or someone else, or even fan-fiction for games -- suggestions are welcome!).

Rensslaer
 
Some things never end. :)

:D

Well.... As you can see, I'm getting close! :) I'm about 60 years from the end of the game, and I covered about 5 years just in that last update, so.... ;)

Thanks for stopping in again! Good to see you.

Rensslaer