Teutonic order: uniting the German cultures

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Nation: Teutonic Order
Start date: 1399
Game version: In Nomine

Strategic goal: I would like to try to unite the germanic cultures into a united Germany that will eventually probably be protestant.

Ok, this is what happened so far:

When starting in 1399 I immediatly DOW'd Mazovia and the single province nation to the east (which name seems to slip my mind at this time). I annexed both of them. I did not DOW Riga because they are protected by the HRE.

I also immediatly signed an alliance with Bohemia and offered one to Muscowy. At first Muscowy declined, but later they offered me an alliance and I accepted. So far I've supported them in all their wars. Muscowy attacked some regional minors and Bohemia had its first struggle with Hungary.

After annexing both nations I focused on getting my stab back up to +3 and after that I set my sliders to full Government. My current plan is to get my first national idea (probably military drill) as fast as possible. I also made sure that all my provinces joined the HRE to make sure I'm protected if the two big badboys (Denmark in union with Sweden and Norway, and the Polish-Lithuanian monster) surrounding me decide they no longer want me around. I'm also hoping to become an elector through good relations with Bohemia although I think that might be vain hope.

The current year is 1406 and I'm currently sitting around a bit, getting my badboy and war exhaustion down, while waiting for the first national idea, or some war to break out. I would really like to see Poland-Lithuania crash and burn.

A weird thing happened. The rather large Novgorod got decimated by some rebellion or an inheritance or something. Nearly all of their land is now owned by Pskov! What the hell...

Their coastal provinces and their COT now seem very tempting to me, but unfortunatly, they are allied with Poland and being guaranteed by Muscowy or Lithuania, not sure.

So, what do you guys think of the situation so far, and what would your next steps be? In my previous games I always ended up with a big BB score and Denmark giving me the hammer when I was weak after wars or involved in big ones.

I'm curious

 

[unmerged(65010)]

Allright, time for an update.

After a couple of years something interesting happens. Denmark (one of the monsters looming on my borders), which is in union with Norway and Sweden, offers me an alliance! Of course I accept, this alliance means my northern flank is secure (for now).



I get a mission to convert Pskov, which I recently annexed. Apparently they were Orthodox. I haven't really played any eastern campaigns before, so this will be something I'll have to take into consideration. The conversion went smoothly though. I don't know if I was just lucky or if converting from orthodox to catholic isn't all that great a leap.



In 1410 something weird happened! A war of succesion between Pommeria and Mecklenburg has Mecklenburg as the loser. Big nations like Denmark and Bohemia were opposing eachother but apparently they weren't all to eager to push it through and the whole thing happened with Mecklenburg ceding Mecklenburg to Pommeria falling under a union with Bohemia.



WAR! Poland declares war on Bohemia (my ally). This was exactly what I was waiting for and it couldn't have come at a worse time!!

Poland is allied with Lithuania and Austria, military giants to say the least, and Bohemia is no longer the Emperor. In other words. they are majorly f*cked!! I decline their call for help. This is a war that can't be won.

A little later Hungary decides to kick Bohemia while they're down and joins the fray. Bohemia is getting mashed, mauled and pummeled. If you ask me, they're done for. After the victors are done taking what they can, my once mighty ally will be a mere ghost.



On the bright side: I just got my first national idea, military drill, which should give me an edge in future wars.



And trust me, war is on the horizon. I've been eyeballing Novgorod's provinces and COT + I have a mission to gain a province from Pskov. Fortunatly, they are allied .



My ally Muscowy was engaged in a war with the Golden Horde, but that's been settled and they share a nice long border with Pskov. Looks like the time is right to kick down Novvie's door while Muscowy and Pskov have a tête a tête.

 

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I am surprised to see that Genoa offers me an alliance. I accept.

Thanks to the help of Muscowy, I defeat both Pskov and Novgorod. Novgorod cedes all its provinces except ther capital and COT. Pskov, for some
reason kept all its troops in the province I want. Perhaps the AI was aware of my mission? I can't force them to cede it because 'm on the edge of my capabilities, but I can push them to give up on some cores and to give me a pile of cash.





I use the cash to send missionaries to my newly gained provinces. My BB is rather high now, so this might be a good time to sit back for a while.

 

[Steckie]

Nice start, but could you perhaps post larger images?
It's kinda annoying having to open imageshack every time to view them in detail.

Btw, German culture is in the other direction. It seems your GPS is a bit off

 

[unmerged(65010)]

Hehe yes indeed. I was trying to get myself some elbowspace there. Poland Lithuania still looms big, but Muscowy is quite a nice power atm. Should I try to jump them?

 

[Steckie]

Well Novgorod itself is too juicy a target to just ignore. The CoT there will give you more economic breathing room if you capture it.After that northern Germany is easily captured, especially with Denmark as an ally.

Or you could go for a nice Russian winter

 

[unmerged(65010)]

atm Novgorod is a vassal. Perhaps I can diplo-annex them once my badboy turns normal. After that, I'll be looking to expand into northern Germany but I wouldn't count on the Danes. They have ratted out of every conflict so far.

 

[Vharzul]

Id recommend having your own CoT and that in Königsberg, due to being at the cost you get higher incoing boost as well and a pop bonus to your capitol as well which is nice, also aless likely youd loss it threw rebels at all in the future.

Keep Novogrod as a vassel until you get enough money to get a CoT, maybe mint until you can get, slight inflation wont hurt try geting national bank as first idea its a godsend imo.

Also try to look if Poland has given any Indepedance Garuntee's out to any one that hasent got a strong alliance and that might be far away, or Lithuania if they have broken thier Union with Poland, always keep an eye for such things because they can pass quick, then if its a good garuntee that dosnt get Lithuania or other invloded together agaisnt you then you take it

Your doing good though, at least you get a better base to enter Russia in the future, once you taken out Poland and lithuania and if Muscowy isnt any stronger they should be easy enough to take out oh but do try to take out if you can Golden Horde with Muscowy's help thats what thier good for so you dont go against them alone, unless they broke up hehe. Eitherway you can take land without geting much BB for the mean time.

 

[Xennik]

Interesting start, especially so since I am currently playing the TO in a MP game and thus am always looking for some good inspiration Will follow it.

 

[unmerged(65010)]

Allright, time for an overview of the situation:

The year is 1437. The Teutonic Order is a Theoracy, listed #38 among nations and has a badboy of 6.50 with the current ruler diminishing it by -0.30 each year. No Philosophers are available at the time .

Hochmeister Wolfgang I has an administrative skill of 7, a diplomatic skill of 3 (damnit!) and a military skill of 8. In other words, he's a Teutonic warrior that has to rely on his prowess in battle and the sharpness of his sword, because his tongue is rather dull.

The Teutons have a -2 stance towards mercantilism and are completely outpowered in competing in COT's. Hence, I'm just keeping my merchants home at the moment because they are just money down the drain. Through various wars and low income, my inflation has already risen up to the disgracefully high 5.2%. National bank will indeed have to be my next national idea.

The situation surrounding the lands I currently occupy is as follows:

To the east: Novgorod is my vassal. Pskov and Archelangsk are 1 province minors but they are being guaranteed by large nations. My ally Muscowy is quite stabile and powerful and is a nice buffer between mee and the Golden Horde that seems to be waving the scepter in Asia as far as I can see.

To the south: Poland and Lithuania are still in personal union and still looming strong.

In the North: Denmark, Norway and Sweden have ended their personal union. Norway has become my ally, and Sweden, which is squished between me and the Norwegians is allied with Norway, Poland, Georgia and Pskov.

So far, the situation in the north and in the east is looking pretty stabile. The south looks to be stabile too, but previous games have shown me that the Polish can jump you at any time.



In Europe, the situation is quite interesting. The HRE is in its usual checkerboard shape and Mecklenburg has become a 4 province trading power. Baden is the current ruler, so if I look around a bit, I might find myself a tasty weak alliance within the empire to jump on to nudge my way in there.

Portugal has 2 provinces around tangiers and has totally annexed croatia! France is strenghtening itself from within and the English still own Gascogne and Calais.

Burgundy has not desintegrated so far! They have eaten up almost all of Lorraine and are allied with Aragon, Hainaut and Milan, so I guess they'll be around for a while.


So in short, what is my plan at this time:

1) try to keep my relationships with my immediate (and powerful) neighbours 'cool'

2) Get my BB down

3) Keep my inflation in check.

4) Try to nudge my way into the German heartland.

 

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I click around for a bit until I suddenly go "well well well, what do we have here" and feel a smirk growing on my face.

Mecklenburg, which has quite aggressively been 'assuring' its place as a regional power, is duking it out with Pmmeria and Riga. If you ask me they're going to win (and going to be pretty tired hehehe). They are merely allied with Bremen, brunswick and Meisen with baden protecting them as emperor. Those tiny states can put out quite some power if they need to, so I decide to sit back for just a bit longer.

I'll assure my military acces towards their territories and if Mecklenburg wins and they still haven't allied with a big badboy, I think I'll step in for some good old fashioned bullying and landgrabbing.

In the meanwhile, Muscowy declares war on Pskov, which is allied with Sweden. This war would not serve my interests at all and I'm forced to decline. I hope I can reestablish my alliance with them later.

Blasted! I've waited too long and Maximillian of Austria has been elected emperor. The Teutonic monster has to lurk in its lair for a while longer.

January 1440. I diplo annex Novgorod, send missionaries and flood the COT with my merchants. In the meanwhile, I use my money to build temples in my provinces.

1443: Leopold Wilhelm I (8 , 6, 6) rises to the Throne.

1446: Philip I of Hesse is elected Emperor. My manpwoer is down a bit from some rebellions (Mazovia, Mazovia, grrr) but this might be the time to go after Mecklenburg! Hesse is at war with the Burgundian alliance and Gotland is now also a target for me. I'll do it.

While waiting for my manpower to be restored. The Danes declare war on Mecklenburg. I can no longer wait. I have to join the fray immediatly.

Feburary 1447: Bremen Annexed by me. The Burgundians annex Alsace and what is left over from Lorraine.

May 1447: Gotland is annexed by me.

June: White peace with Hesse. BB is at 'very bad' because of the annexations.

July: I annex Hannover. BB is now extremely bad. No more annexing for now. I demand Altmark and 75 ducats from mecklenburg and Meisen and they accept. BB is now at 24 of 28. Time to sit back, wait for the rebellions, and pray I don't get a DOWstorm.

 

[unmerged(65010)]

1450: Muscowy, Sweden and Bosnia declare war on me :wacko:

Norway and Hesse join my side, but it's fair to say that I am majorly fucked. Hell. I shoul congratulate the bastards. My forces are overstretched, my manpower is drained, they have me wedged and are set on taking some of my land. I managed to 'support rebels' twice in Muscowy's territory though.

All I can do right now is watch them roar across my lands and hope I won't have to cede too much


The war ends with me ceding Pskov, releasing Gotland as a sovereign nation and me paying 25 ducats. quite ok. But I'm weak and I'm expecting more DOW's from predators.

1451: Austria is emperor again. Pfiew! What a relief! Maybe now I'm a bit safer with them guarding my back. I break my alliance with Genoa when they decide to attack Crimea (they are doomed there anyway) and Bohemia offers an alliance. With Bohemia, Austria and Norway on my side, I can sleep again at night.

 

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20 Years of relative peace ensues. The Teutons get to catch their breath again and slowly but surely, the world is beginning to forgive and forget their agressive actions of the past. A war of succesion forces Sweden to release Finland as a nation and Burgundy, Castille and England wrestle like interlocked bulls. Rebellions and provinces switching sides keep Europe the way it has always been. A buzzing unstable den of angry hornets with grudges going back for hundreds of years.

But this peaceful time of hunting and horseriding on the baltic coast while joyfully smacking down a nationalist uprising now and then is at an end for the Teutons.

In February 1470. The war that everyone has been expecting for a hundred years is finally there. The Lithuanian monster declares war on the Teutonic Order!

Norway backs out, but The Austrians, emburdoned with the responsibility of protecting the members of the empire, and the Bohemians, rise to arms to aid their German allies.


The omens are bad though. Austria, Bohemia and The Order field a mere 6000 cavalry and 26000 infantry against a staggering 19000 cavalry and 39000 infantry of the combined armies of Muscowy and Lithuania.

Disaster strikes. Sweden, georgia and Poland see their chances fit and join the fray. Still, Austria and Bohemia refuse to abandon me.

As if that isn't enough, Luneburg DOW's me too. I decide to go after the minor, because there is no way I can stop the larger attacks. As in the first wars, I hope to be able to squeeze some juice out of the minors while hoping for a reasonable settlement with the majors.

------

February 1447

Northern Germany and the Baltic region have seen 4 years of brutal slaughter on an epic scale. What first looked as the demise of the Teutons, has ended up making them stronger. As the war dragged on many 'partners' of the warmongers quickly settled for white peace, far from eager to pursue the interests of the warmongers with the blood of their sons.

At one point, Riga, Lithuania and Brandenburg had occupied huge swathes of Teuton real estate, but the Teutons refused to be distracted and concentrated their forces in Northern Germany where they fought a bloody struggle with some German minors and constant rebellions.

In the end the Teutons end up seizing: Bremen, Hannover, Lüneberg, Altmark, Potsdam, Ruppin and Mecklenburg. Riga is totally defeated and annexed with force. Lüneberg, owning Brunswick, is forced to become a vassal and an ally.



On the eastern front, the Teutons are forced to cede Olonets to Muscowy and Wenden to Lithuania while making large payments to the agressors. Noone knows why they decided to sue for peace, as they could have pushed on and made greater demands. In all likeliness, their coffers and manpowerreserve were drained. The Teutons had also tried to incite rebellions in their hinterland.

All in all, the Teutons have put up a hard and stubborn fight. They are now hated like a piece of meat that is too stringy to swallow, no matter how long and hard you chew on it.



But not all is well though. The Teutons had to take several loans and their inflation has risen to 7.7%. With their BB at 13, they have a bad reputation among nations and they are well behind on their techinvestments.

Elsewhere, There English have taken control over Flanders and Artois, giving them a good Flemish Bridgehead on the continent. They have also swallowed most of Scotland and all of Ireland.

Burgundy has suffered and Hainaut has taken advantage. All in all, france doesn't seem to be going as strong as we're used to from them and the Francophone Burgundians and Hainaut are forming a strong buffer between them and the germanic world.

Castille has eaten Portugal and Portugal is left with its capital, Croatia and Tangiers.

The Ottomans have been keeping a stable realm going in Turky and the Balkan since the start of the game.



The way things are going, everyone is on edge, but the strategic balance is - if you ask me - still quite allright. Things have not been blown out of proportion (yet).

 

[unddu]

That's some update speed right there! But please can you use larger images? These thumbnails are very hard to "read"

 

[unmerged(65010)]

Yeah, I've been playing today. You can click those thumbnails to see the larger ones. I have to annoy you guys with imageschack atm since I don't have photoshop installed here at this time. I'll try to make the images more enjoyable in the future.

 

[Rabid]

You should consider war with Poland, if they have a nice mid-sized power they're allied with so you can avoid war with Lithuania at the same time. You need to cut off the Russian-Lithuanian alliance, otherwise they'll most likely take out Poland theirselves and leave your baltic holdings totally surrounded.

 

[unddu]

Yeah, I've been playing today. You can click those thumbnails to see the larger ones. I have to annoy you guys with imageschack atm since I don't have photoshop installed here at this time. I'll try to make the images more enjoyable in the future.

Just use photobucket, It works like a charm!

 

[unmerged(65010)]

Poland has some major alliances, for example Sweden. + I have a constant manpowershortage. my max manpower is 9000something and constantly refilling from rebellion. To make things worse, Orthodox Novgorod has defected to the equally allied Muscowy. Getting scared here.

 

[unmerged(65010)]

1499 Muscowy declares war on Lithuania. Two majors are going to war. Lithuania is allied with hamburg and Pommeria. An excellent opportunity for me to be a rat! I step in and DOW Lithuania.

Immediatly after I do, Brandenburg, allied with Denmark and Poland DOW's me. Austria and Bohemia join me. This is going to be tight!

By the way, the protestant reformation has started on Gotland!
Weird place to start.

1503. Brandenburg and Vorpommeren are gained while Pommeria is forced to become a vassal and is doomed to be diplo-annexed withing one or two decades. Hamburg is annexed. Lithuania is completely Pummeled from several sides and is forced to cede provinces to Muscowy, Poland and I even get some cheap ones bordering my baltic ones. One among them is Wenden, which I was forced to give away in a previous war.

The Teutons have grown strong and no longer want to be hamstrung by being a monastic order. Being German and pragmatic, they decide that the time has come to become a secular state. 1503 will be remembered as the year when the Teutonic order became PRUSSIA!!

 

[Gottskalk]

awesome aar i like the style you write in, cant wait for more updates !