Hi all, I wish I had a more detailed AAR (i.e. with actual precise DATES), but this was my first time playing the Grand Campaign, and I decided, of all things, to take the Swiss and see what would happen if I completely disregard the whole 'neutrality' thing and try to expand a bit.
Since this was my first time playing through the whole thing, I started on the wussy difficulty levels. Very Easy/Coward, with Random & Historical Events, along with Dynamic Missions, which I found all too easy later on.
As I said, since I was playing through it so much, I wasn't able to get any dates, but here's a summary of what I achieved.
My little empire, shown in the screenshot, is not much, but most of the time I was just fiddling around with the game interface. In any case, here are my provinces and how I got them.
(1) Wurtemburg - It was my first posession, and I did it at approx. 1530-50, after building up a big Swiss Army. I declared war, threw my money into stability, (Lost only 2 for lacking a Casus Beli) and overran the small state just like that. I did not request the help of any neighbors. With the annexation, I somehow become a part of the Holy Roman Empire, although my monarch never gets elected, as Austria always got picked.
(2) Franche Comte - At the time (approx. 1570), the Spanish STILL occupied the landlocked territory, and had a small regiment there. I laughed a bit. At the time, I had an alliance with France, the Pope, and Saxony (later to be annexed by France, more later). So, when my appetite was big, and I had a big enough army, I declared war on Spain. Portugal joined on the side of the Spain, but that didn't matter much. When the option came up to ask for help, I simply rejected. Yep, the Spaniard and Portugese could whine all they want, they can't stop me from taking over the territory since France was in their way, and they weren't involved. An easy picking for me, and I must say that it was the most amusing sight to see.
(3) Baden - After building my economy and sucking up to this puny state, I vassalized it at about 1579 and annexed it a decade later. Baden would later become my largest province, population wise, and really help my economy when I set up a refinery.
(4) Alsace - The Palatinate was also expanding, and while I was annexing Baden, they annexed the provinces of Lorraine. The Palatinate set up an alliance with the newly-formed Dutch, who would prove to be annoying in the years to come, as well as Kleves. My alliance with France (along with the Pope, Brittany, and Saxony) proved to be enough to tip the scales, though, and at about 1600, France declared war on the Dutch, which brought the two alliances into a war. My forces went to Alsace while France went after Lorraine. I succeeded in capturing the province, and, had I the chance, I would've went futher, but the huge number of Dutch forces coming on my border, I quickly offered a peace which they accepted, and Alsace was mine. The Palatinate couldn't survive the French, though, and later they would be annexed completely.
(5) Mainz - The French just COULDN'T hold stop there, would they? Anyway, at about 1650, a new alliance between me, France, Bavaria, and Poland-Lithuania gave us a potentially strong alliance. The Dutch, allied with Scotland, decided to taunt the French for some reason. Next thing I know, the French declare war, and Switzerland has once again been thrown into a French war. Nonetheless, I took the opportunity to get some tributes. So I stormed Pfalz quite easily. (Apparently the Dutch were busy fighting it in the Low Countries with France. Scotland was no help, it seems.) Bavarian and Polish troops helped me storm more of the provinces, but they go under different flags. I offered a separate peace and got Mainz, right before France offered peace, leaving Bavaria and Poland-Lithuania empty.
(6) Pfalz - At about 1670, the French alliance was still held, but this time the Dutch allied themselves with Kleves and Saxony. Ooooo! By now, I wasn't too afraid of either of them, and my military's tech level was MUCH higher than all the others. (I had bayonets while they still had muskets.) Nonetheless, when France once again threw us into the war, I found myself defending against a three-pronged attack by the Dutch alliance! Where are my reinforcements? Apparently the French wanted to visit Helvetia for a friendly chat. D'oh! Anyway, I was getting mad, and sent my WHOLE military to quash the attack, then I went to Pfalz and attacked it with all I got. I captured it, and offered a peace. They accepted, and France will have to get off my Helvetian lawns! Sheesh. By that time, I decided to have alliances with the Pope, Austria, and Bavaria.
(7) Bavaria, Ansbach, Thurigen - I eventually vassalized Bavaria in 1680, but had to wait about 40 years to annex them. The French didn't like it one bit, but I kept them happy with gifts.
I had a few colonies, but they weren't in until I got a random event with colonists rushing in. After that, I got some more enough to colonize the few spots available.
My most successful colony was the founding of New Wurtemburg in the island of Mahe just off the Horn of Africa. Its spice trade boosted my economy, and gave me a chance to have my own dinky navy! (About TWO transports! Ooooo!) My other city was New Helvetia in Mudugh, though I think it should've been a trading post, what with the weather and all. I had a trading post in Socotra as well, but Algiers, being greedy, declaring war on me and burned it to the ground before accepting peace. It's now THEIR trading post. Oy. My other colonies included Karabagaz (New Baden) near the Caspian Sea, Khmer (New Franche Comte) in Indochina, and Tange (New Alsace) in southeast Africa.
Other things:
Military and other wars not mentioned:
My military was numerically outnumbered, but technology superior to all other countries. Since I was in a mountainous country, calvary was not on my top priorities. I had at least one arty per regiment, and about 20k-40k infantry. In wars where my nation's borders were not involved I usually kept out, though I did honor my alliances and at times intervened. A few early wars with my France/Saxony/Pope alliance had me sack Venice not once, but twice. This allowed me to get some quick cash, which was really needed to rebuild my army. At one point, our alliance was threatened by a Turk invasion, but it was eventually repelled. An odd moment occurred when a retreating 3k Turk regiment went into Helvetia, got routed by my regiment there, retreated to Wurtemburg, was defeated there, and retreated back to Helvetia. The Turks went back and forth being roundly defeated until their numbers finally went to zero. Weird.
When I finally was the first nation to use muskets at approx. 1580, I was dragged into a major war between my French/Saxony/Pope alliance, Austria, Poland, all against Turkey. Turkey had claimed a few Austrian provinces earlier, and we all decided to jump in and push the Turks away. I myself sent a 30k strong infantry and managed to capture TWO Turk provinces, all while fending off three 10k Turk assaults and a 5k Tunisian assault (Tunisia was with Turkey. Figures.) I demanded several tributes, but the Turks denied. Just then, a huge peace treaty (i.e. a number of peace treaties) was signed, in which Poland, Austria, and France get some provinces, all except... you guessed it, me! What a gyp!
After annexing Bavaria, I had no wars until the end of the scenario, except that one war with Algiers in which they just stole Socatra from my defenseless number of colonies.
Rebellions happened many times when I initially annex a province, but then the revolt risk comes down, and they are forced to accept Swiss rule. Thankfully, none of the rebellions lasted long.
Economy and diplomacy:
My economy didn't REALLY boost until I annexed Baden. That province did a lot to give me some good revenue with its supply of sweet booze! Er, wine. Annexing Bavaria also gave me a good boost. My trade level was good, and I had several shareholdings in many European and Asian CoTs (thanks to good relations with the French, the map was enlarged so I could establish my colonies and get a piece of some Asian CoT jackpots).
Diplomacy wise, I took all the royal marriages I could get, except for any of the dinky German states that I didn't politically annex. I always kept a good relation with France, even when they had a Casus Belli against me. (Sheesh, they're probably touchy about Franche Comte.) I had good relations with the Pope, Saxony until it was annexed, Austria, and Brandenburg, which was probably the balance of power in the Holy Roman Empire between me and Austria.
Other countries: (used 'columbus' code near the end)
Austria:
Speaking of the HRE, Austria always got to be picked. What annoyance. At the end of the scenario, there was not much of the Austrians left, military or territory-wise! Ah well, maybe they just liked Austria more.
France:
These 'allies' drove me into wars I didn't want, even if I got territory for it. Their obsession for territory is even more annoying, as they took territories that *I* would've taken anyway, some from Venice, some from the Dutch, and even some from the lost Austrian territory, as far as Transylvania. I hate to think what Napoleon would do with a France THIS big in Europe at the time.
England:
Reduced to a small military and small territory as a result of Scotland's little crusades. Nonetheless, they managed to colonize North America and India without much difficulty.
Spain:
The winner of the scenario. Once they wiped out the Aztec and Inca empires, their colonial empire racked in the dough. They also captured a bit of Portugal's mainland and even had a foothold in Southern Italy! I gotta worry more about the Spanish next time. Also, their CoTs were unfair in that they placed trade embargoes on a lot of countries, including mines.
Russia:
Typical Russian expansion into Siberia, obliterating all the small countries along the way. La-di-da. They didn't do much after that.
Turkey:
At one point they got into modern-day Yugoslavia, had a brief foothold in Italy and also have some territories in Africa, but by the end of the scenario they were pretty much confined to their original borders.
Netherlands:
With all the French and Swiss wars they had, you'd think the Dutch would be worth diddily-squat. Hardly. Would you ever believe they politically annexed Scotland by the end of the scenario? It happened. They also had some good colonial empires. So I guess all was not lost over there.
Denmark-Norway and Sweden:
... Nothing. A few border wars, but they didn't do much.
Poland-Lithuania:
Against Russia they fared terribly, though they did annex a few Baltic provinces. They were big help in the major war with Turkey.
Well, that's all for my AAR. So, tell me what you think. Questions, comments, any idea on what to do the next time I try that? And a little challenge to see how veterans fared as the Swiss.
Until then,
Alex Gariepy
Since this was my first time playing through the whole thing, I started on the wussy difficulty levels. Very Easy/Coward, with Random & Historical Events, along with Dynamic Missions, which I found all too easy later on.
As I said, since I was playing through it so much, I wasn't able to get any dates, but here's a summary of what I achieved.
My little empire, shown in the screenshot, is not much, but most of the time I was just fiddling around with the game interface. In any case, here are my provinces and how I got them.
(1) Wurtemburg - It was my first posession, and I did it at approx. 1530-50, after building up a big Swiss Army. I declared war, threw my money into stability, (Lost only 2 for lacking a Casus Beli) and overran the small state just like that. I did not request the help of any neighbors. With the annexation, I somehow become a part of the Holy Roman Empire, although my monarch never gets elected, as Austria always got picked.
(2) Franche Comte - At the time (approx. 1570), the Spanish STILL occupied the landlocked territory, and had a small regiment there. I laughed a bit. At the time, I had an alliance with France, the Pope, and Saxony (later to be annexed by France, more later). So, when my appetite was big, and I had a big enough army, I declared war on Spain. Portugal joined on the side of the Spain, but that didn't matter much. When the option came up to ask for help, I simply rejected. Yep, the Spaniard and Portugese could whine all they want, they can't stop me from taking over the territory since France was in their way, and they weren't involved. An easy picking for me, and I must say that it was the most amusing sight to see.
(3) Baden - After building my economy and sucking up to this puny state, I vassalized it at about 1579 and annexed it a decade later. Baden would later become my largest province, population wise, and really help my economy when I set up a refinery.
(4) Alsace - The Palatinate was also expanding, and while I was annexing Baden, they annexed the provinces of Lorraine. The Palatinate set up an alliance with the newly-formed Dutch, who would prove to be annoying in the years to come, as well as Kleves. My alliance with France (along with the Pope, Brittany, and Saxony) proved to be enough to tip the scales, though, and at about 1600, France declared war on the Dutch, which brought the two alliances into a war. My forces went to Alsace while France went after Lorraine. I succeeded in capturing the province, and, had I the chance, I would've went futher, but the huge number of Dutch forces coming on my border, I quickly offered a peace which they accepted, and Alsace was mine. The Palatinate couldn't survive the French, though, and later they would be annexed completely.
(5) Mainz - The French just COULDN'T hold stop there, would they? Anyway, at about 1650, a new alliance between me, France, Bavaria, and Poland-Lithuania gave us a potentially strong alliance. The Dutch, allied with Scotland, decided to taunt the French for some reason. Next thing I know, the French declare war, and Switzerland has once again been thrown into a French war. Nonetheless, I took the opportunity to get some tributes. So I stormed Pfalz quite easily. (Apparently the Dutch were busy fighting it in the Low Countries with France. Scotland was no help, it seems.) Bavarian and Polish troops helped me storm more of the provinces, but they go under different flags. I offered a separate peace and got Mainz, right before France offered peace, leaving Bavaria and Poland-Lithuania empty.
(6) Pfalz - At about 1670, the French alliance was still held, but this time the Dutch allied themselves with Kleves and Saxony. Ooooo! By now, I wasn't too afraid of either of them, and my military's tech level was MUCH higher than all the others. (I had bayonets while they still had muskets.) Nonetheless, when France once again threw us into the war, I found myself defending against a three-pronged attack by the Dutch alliance! Where are my reinforcements? Apparently the French wanted to visit Helvetia for a friendly chat. D'oh! Anyway, I was getting mad, and sent my WHOLE military to quash the attack, then I went to Pfalz and attacked it with all I got. I captured it, and offered a peace. They accepted, and France will have to get off my Helvetian lawns! Sheesh. By that time, I decided to have alliances with the Pope, Austria, and Bavaria.
(7) Bavaria, Ansbach, Thurigen - I eventually vassalized Bavaria in 1680, but had to wait about 40 years to annex them. The French didn't like it one bit, but I kept them happy with gifts.
I had a few colonies, but they weren't in until I got a random event with colonists rushing in. After that, I got some more enough to colonize the few spots available.
My most successful colony was the founding of New Wurtemburg in the island of Mahe just off the Horn of Africa. Its spice trade boosted my economy, and gave me a chance to have my own dinky navy! (About TWO transports! Ooooo!
) My other city was New Helvetia in Mudugh, though I think it should've been a trading post, what with the weather and all. I had a trading post in Socotra as well, but Algiers, being greedy, declaring war on me and burned it to the ground before accepting peace. It's now THEIR trading post. Oy. My other colonies included Karabagaz (New Baden) near the Caspian Sea, Khmer (New Franche Comte) in Indochina, and Tange (New Alsace) in southeast Africa.Other things:
Military and other wars not mentioned:
My military was numerically outnumbered, but technology superior to all other countries. Since I was in a mountainous country, calvary was not on my top priorities. I had at least one arty per regiment, and about 20k-40k infantry. In wars where my nation's borders were not involved I usually kept out, though I did honor my alliances and at times intervened. A few early wars with my France/Saxony/Pope alliance had me sack Venice not once, but twice. This allowed me to get some quick cash, which was really needed to rebuild my army. At one point, our alliance was threatened by a Turk invasion, but it was eventually repelled. An odd moment occurred when a retreating 3k Turk regiment went into Helvetia, got routed by my regiment there, retreated to Wurtemburg, was defeated there, and retreated back to Helvetia. The Turks went back and forth being roundly defeated until their numbers finally went to zero. Weird.
When I finally was the first nation to use muskets at approx. 1580, I was dragged into a major war between my French/Saxony/Pope alliance, Austria, Poland, all against Turkey. Turkey had claimed a few Austrian provinces earlier, and we all decided to jump in and push the Turks away. I myself sent a 30k strong infantry and managed to capture TWO Turk provinces, all while fending off three 10k Turk assaults and a 5k Tunisian assault (Tunisia was with Turkey. Figures.) I demanded several tributes, but the Turks denied. Just then, a huge peace treaty (i.e. a number of peace treaties) was signed, in which Poland, Austria, and France get some provinces, all except... you guessed it, me! What a gyp!
After annexing Bavaria, I had no wars until the end of the scenario, except that one war with Algiers in which they just stole Socatra from my defenseless number of colonies.
Rebellions happened many times when I initially annex a province, but then the revolt risk comes down, and they are forced to accept Swiss rule. Thankfully, none of the rebellions lasted long.
Economy and diplomacy:
My economy didn't REALLY boost until I annexed Baden. That province did a lot to give me some good revenue with its supply of sweet booze! Er, wine.
Annexing Bavaria also gave me a good boost. My trade level was good, and I had several shareholdings in many European and Asian CoTs (thanks to good relations with the French, the map was enlarged so I could establish my colonies and get a piece of some Asian CoT jackpots).Diplomacy wise, I took all the royal marriages I could get, except for any of the dinky German states that I didn't politically annex. I always kept a good relation with France, even when they had a Casus Belli against me. (Sheesh, they're probably touchy about Franche Comte.) I had good relations with the Pope, Saxony until it was annexed, Austria, and Brandenburg, which was probably the balance of power in the Holy Roman Empire between me and Austria.
Other countries: (used 'columbus' code near the end)
Austria:
Speaking of the HRE, Austria always got to be picked. What annoyance. At the end of the scenario, there was not much of the Austrians left, military or territory-wise! Ah well, maybe they just liked Austria more.
France:
These 'allies' drove me into wars I didn't want, even if I got territory for it. Their obsession for territory is even more annoying, as they took territories that *I* would've taken anyway, some from Venice, some from the Dutch, and even some from the lost Austrian territory, as far as Transylvania. I hate to think what Napoleon would do with a France THIS big in Europe at the time.
England:
Reduced to a small military and small territory as a result of Scotland's little crusades. Nonetheless, they managed to colonize North America and India without much difficulty.
Spain:
The winner of the scenario. Once they wiped out the Aztec and Inca empires, their colonial empire racked in the dough. They also captured a bit of Portugal's mainland and even had a foothold in Southern Italy! I gotta worry more about the Spanish next time. Also, their CoTs were unfair in that they placed trade embargoes on a lot of countries, including mines.
Russia:
Typical Russian expansion into Siberia, obliterating all the small countries along the way. La-di-da. They didn't do much after that.
Turkey:
At one point they got into modern-day Yugoslavia, had a brief foothold in Italy and also have some territories in Africa, but by the end of the scenario they were pretty much confined to their original borders.
Netherlands:
With all the French and Swiss wars they had, you'd think the Dutch would be worth diddily-squat. Hardly. Would you ever believe they politically annexed Scotland by the end of the scenario? It happened. They also had some good colonial empires. So I guess all was not lost over there.
Denmark-Norway and Sweden:
... Nothing. A few border wars, but they didn't do much.
Poland-Lithuania:
Against Russia they fared terribly, though they did annex a few Baltic provinces. They were big help in the major war with Turkey.
Well, that's all for my AAR. So, tell me what you think. Questions, comments, any idea on what to do the next time I try that? And a little challenge to see how veterans fared as the Swiss.
Until then,
Alex Gariepy
