@Enewald: I'm contemplating Pskov, actually... and yeah, I hope we see more of some good OPM action in this game.
@Avalen: Why thank you, and welcome aboard! I am very glad to hear you enjoy it.
@GreatUberGeek: Indeed they can be - especially ones targeted at you. And about blocking; really? In my games the AI seems to always be notoriously incapable to block straits. I recall a war with Sweden in a game as Burgundy where my massive armies had done besieging Denmark and were moving towards Skåne without the AI bothering to block the access although they held naval supremacy (I had more big ships than any other nation back then, and would stand undefeated on the high-seas, but the Swedes had a massive reserve of galleys that get a bonus within the Baltic Sea).
@videonfan: Contemplating that possibility as well! There's a bunch of potentially interesting choices within that area of Europe, as you will come to notice at the end of Avignon's period.
@Kaiser Ludwig: Perhaps not, but the country does have a big "stamp on" written over it.
It didn't take long for the Venetian lands to fall under my control, until suddenly out of nowhere a whole army of Venetians reappeared. I had to cut back some of my sieges in Ferrara and Genoa to reinforce my armies in Venice, but their forces were soon annihilated.
Thus I marched my men back to Central Italy and defeated a Ferraran army of fresh recruits, proceeding to besiege their provinces.
Meanwhile, the French came into contact with a force mightier than the Austrians - Hainautian nationalists. This was the only defeat the French had to endure during all of the war. Also, as you can see, the Archduchy is filled to the brim with dissatisfied subjects.
Once my men had occupied Treviso it was time to peace out the Venetians. I could have taken Treviso on top of Brescia and Verona in the deal, but I wanted to avoid too much AE and the risk of large rebellions so I decided to force them to hand Crete back to the ERE instead, along with taking some cash. As a side note, Cyprus and Rhodes seem to have revolted back to their hands as well, giving the ERE a bit more security in the future.
I used these spoils of war to pay off some of the debts I had accumulated. I also started fabricating a claim on Pisa.
I also built a navy for myself in order to assault Genoese holdings in Corsica and Kaffa. Considering that all my armies bear the names of saints, I decided to follow suite in naming my fleets as well, since "1st Fleet" sounds so very... un-bishopric..ish?
Anyway, speaking of matters of faith, il Papa had this brilliant idea of attacking Ferrara - a small country soon to be completely under enemy occupation and allied with the two most powerful kingdoms in Italy.
Under an illusion that Genoa possessed no navy, or at least none interested of guarding their shores I naively sailed St. Mary's Fleet into Sea of Liguria to begin my amphibious assault of Corsica. Of course, at this very moment their trade "fleet" came back home and decided to teach me a lesson. Luckily I didn't lose any ships (heh), but this means I need to actually spend money on a "proper" navy. Hence more loans were taken.
The situation in Europe on 8th of October 1471. England is struggling with the War of the Roses, Austria is under heavy occupation from everyone and Mazovia and Pskov are advancing well in Lithuania, while the Livonian Order is no match for the Danes military might, who soon afterwards demanded Ösel and Kurland in a peace. Those yellowish stripes in Austrian Netherlands belonged either to Utrecht or Friesland, one of them having declared war on the Emperor.
Or should I say, ex-Emperor?
Not everyone fancied their new title, though.
In Iberia, the Portuguese are being rather successful in their rerereconquista.
And the Hainautians keep teasing the French.
Back in Italy, the Pope found himself - unsurprisingly, in a rather troublesome situation. The war was largely not in his favour.
Why of course, as long as they have the money!
In June 1472 my enemies on the Italian mainland were under complete occupation and my newly-built navy of two galleys and a cog set sail towards Liguria - it was time to launch a new era of Avignonese naval supremacy.
Or something along those lines...