1552-1562
In January 1552 England converts to Reformed, an event which has rather severe consequences for the Republic. I didn't noticed the revolt in the trade post of Roanoke. The Roanoke rebels take the Chesapeake trade post and then march on Delaware - my colony. I realize this a little two late. I have two armies, about 3,000 infantry in Barbados (defending against any Tordesillas assaults) and 3,000/1,000 in Genoa. Carrara, the explorer heads to Barbados to pick up that army, while the entire Genoa army is embarked on a squadron of 5 ships led by Andrea Doria (who comes aling to keep attrition down). In May Delaware falls to the rebels, followed by Manhattan in June. In the mean time Carrara is defeated twice by the pirates in the windward islands, so I'm unable to embark the Barbados army. In April 1553 d'Este with 2,695/763, finally reaches Delaware, recapturing it, and I set maintenance to 100%. In May 1553 the rebels attack d'Este who is defeated and retreats to Manhattan. In June the rebels chase d'Este there, and as his troops have not had time to recover their morale, they win again. They retreat to Delaware, where the rebels catch and beat them at the end of July. This time I decide to retreat d'Este to Doria's ships, where they stay until their morale has recovered. In October 8 they land for the second time, in Manhattan this time, and await the response of the rebels. The rebels arrive in Manhattan and are finally defeated, and at the end of December d?Este, Genoa's own Washington, wins by losing and finally recovers the COT of Delaware for the Republic. In the middle of all of this Carravagio dies in Barbados - I never had the chance to get Doria's squadron down there to defeat the pirates and use his army. All in all a pretty sorry sequence of events.
I'm a little more aggressive in trade in this decade. I can't exclude the Iroquois from Delaware, but no-one else is sending merchants there just yet. In September 1554 I reach trade level 7 and switch my research to naval (to get a shipyard), and decide to try to use my new technology to muscle in on several other COTs. I add 3 more merchants in Thrace by 1556, and then start working on Isle de France. In November 27 I get one, In December another, and a third in January 1557. However, my plan of putting them in one at a time still gets me banned (France hadn't lost one merchant either!). So these merchants don't earn me anything for the rest of the decade, but France lifts the ban on Christmas day 1561. A nice gift to find under the tree. I also add to my presence in Mecklenburg adding two merchants. I lose no merchants this decade. In the meanwhile I'm able to advance through naval levels pretty quickly, helped by the random event that gives me a second naval manufactory in Corsica (very good timing too!). I reach level 9 in June 1557 level 10 in January 1558, level 11 in November 1558, level 12 in June 1559, level 13 in April 1560, and 14 in September 1561.
Diplomatically I begin by adding Milan to my alliance in 1554, followed by Cleves in 1556. When the alliance expires in 1558 it contains in addition to Baden, Bavaria and Cologne (BBC) Savoy, Wurtemburg, Cleves and Milan. I re-ally with BBC, but Cleves refuses dropping relations from -8 to -18. I immediately send a letter to Wurtemburg with the hope that I will be able to add them to my alliance, and I do so one month later (relations to 41). In 1561 my marriage with Austria expires and I decide that it's time to improve my relations with them. After two letters it goes from 2 to 15, not enough to marry just yet.
In 1556 Ferdinand I of Austria is elected emperor. The relations are as follows:
Code:
_________________HAB_____GEN
GERMANY
Pommerania______ __4____-125
Brandenburg________7____-149
Hanse_____________-4____-187
Hanover____________1____-147
Saxony_____________5____-147
Hesse_____________77_______0
Cleves_____________0_____-41
Cologne___________66_____146
Palatinate________12_____-76
Thuringia__________9____-183
Baden_____________21_____176
Wurtemburg________17_______2
Bavaria___________47_____165
Austria_________-134_______2
TOTAL____________128____-558
ITALY
Savoy_____________18______56
Milan_____________91______-6
Modena____________17______50
Tuscany____________0_______4
Genoa______________2_______0
TOTAL____________128_____104
GRAND TOTAL:_____256____-454
At this point I'm not even in second place. The moral of the story is pretty clear - I'm competitive, and probably win with the Catholics, but the Protestants and Calvinist hate me MUCH more than they do Austria. After the edict of tolerance I may be able to address this (I think RMs freeze relations) but until then I just have to hope that Austria antagonizes the Protestants and hopefully annexes some of them.
In other news I get the Agricultural Revolution event again, and still wish it worked correctly. Seven years after the Calvin event the Netherlands declares independence from Austria in May 1554 with all 5 provinces, and makes peace paying 10d one month later. Austria kept them down for that long, and then rolled over when they declared war! Quite disappointing. It's almost like they want to stay emperor.
In May 1558 Scotland (and Austria and assorted allies) goes to war with England and Poland. England is fully intact at this point in the game and despite the recent conversion is looking reasonably strong. In May 1561 she makes peace ceding Lancashire, Yorkshire and the Marches to Scotland, who was also holding Midlands, Lincoln, Anglia and Bristol at this point. England had been doing as well as ever seen, and now it simply collapses. We'll see what the Scots can do from there.
Evaluation: Another screw up with rebels was largely averted. My decision was pretty much made for me as I got a freebie manufactory on Corsica. I decided I'd rather have the shipyard than go CRC - CRC gives you CBs on all the protestants, which means that relations with them deteriorate, and the last thing I need is for them to hate me more. I really would have preferred to keep Cleves over Wurtemburg, but they were snatched up, and I really wanted a fourth ally. Their vote will help, and France has plenty of other CB shields to obsess over. Overall acceptable progress, but I'm a long way behind Austria in the election.
1562 status: stability +3, treasury 684, inflation 14%. Annual income 17d, monthly 54.5
19 RMs, ally BBC+ Wurtemburg (196, 185, 166, 36)
VP Battle -11, Diplomacy 320, Discoveries 59, Economic 159, Establishments 2, Mission -105, Peace 0
Goals:
1) Build shipyard
2) Work on relations (a bit)
3) Wait and hope
