The Glory of France (MMG2)

[aldriq]

Good start, despite the deja-vu

I agree with Cordoban Inca, once you've dispatched the English back to their island you should keep Aragon in check and assert your power in Armagnac, Bearn and Navarra if you can.

 

[coz1]

Fb-fb:

stnylan - So true. So very true.

Storey - I think I may have figured this one out. It has not hit in this game yet but there is a defense event that I chose option C or D on the last game I played and it seemed to curb much of their peskiness. I don't know if there is a correlation, but when we hit that event, I'll be sure to spotlight it. Good to see you around again, Joe!

Cordoban Inca - I am worried about Aragon for many reasons, but yes one of them is their attack on navarre. However, if they should succeed and after the inheritance, I may be able to count on Castile doing some damage to their neighbor for me. I'd love to make an alliance with Castile, at any rate. Perhaps.

Enewald - Well, it's still early. I am playing really slow to start the game so it only seems like a long time. The war vs. the English should be over in short time. It's who else decides to get involved - there is the question. Besides - as France, I should probably just get used to being at war.

Myth - There is more than one noble, don't you know? I am not sure I am doing the right thing entering these marriages, but we'll have to see how it works out.

Zimfan - Indeed, so did I. Great to have you along.

Ladislav - Thanks and welcome to you as well.

comagoosie - What's wrong with Charlie? Now you are really going to depress him and as you can see, he doesn't need any more reason to worry. As for inflation, that is correct but it won't stay that way. I need to pay for the army while the war is going (and I need to raise war taxes...forgot about that one...doh!) I usually sit my inflation at about 18% rise during peacetime if not less.

aldriq - Thanks. And yes, seeing double there. Hopefully it won't be triple. And if past games are any guide, Aragon will likely help me out by sending me multiple warnings. I am more interested in the dutch provinces in the north, but I definitely don't want to lose ground in the south.


To all - Thanks so much for your great reception for this AAR. I do appreciate it! I hope to have another update this week taking us through the end of the year at least. I'd like to do an every other or every two days update schedule. We'll see how it works. I do want to take it a little slow here at the beginning, however, as they are patching MMG2 quite a lot and I don't want to get caught with another useless save game. Playing it by ear. Thanks again for your kind words. Until later...

 

[Capibara]

Glad you're starting a new AAR, this one looks great, good luck!

 

[unmerged(514)]

Excellent AAR. I am going to follow it!


... crossing my fingers you go slowly. There is a great batch of CTDs starting in the XVI century (but now we already have a specific idea abotu what is causing them).

We have now also a tool, developed by Berto, that help us immensely in debugging our code!

Without making promises, I don't think next patches will be incompatible..


Anyway, I am enjoying your story!



...and if any of the fellow readers want to ask any question pertaining to MMG2, I'll be glad to answer here.

 

[Bingo Brett]

*subscribed* I want to see the fun of MMG2 played out.

I might just have to buy NA sometime since I can't seem to find any copies on ebay... :wacko:

 

[dem61s]

I wish playing France will be as relaxing as you hoped. You certainly picked the right country. It is sometimes really good to play and think that the AI would do 100 times better than you. But you just don't care. Because you're playing France.

 

[merrick]

Not charlie's picture again, WHY?! :wacko:

He's got to be one of the ugliest Kings on record - and that's saying something.

But it's a coz1 AAR and an intro to the latest MMG. <pulls up chair and gets ready to enjoy>

 

[dharper]

Good to see another coz AAR! Let me know if you run into any bugs and I'll see what I can do to help keep your game running smooth.

I might just have to buy NA sometime since I can't seem to find any copies on ebay... :wacko:

Well...it's a download-only game, no physical copies for sale, so that probably explains it.

 

[Myth]

Myth - There is more than one noble, don't you know?

What?! Nonsense! Unless your king is a very prolific spawner of children then the actual royal line of nobles is probably fairly small, since that sort of thing is typically more exclusive than your average country club

 

[coz1]

Fb-fb:

Capibara - Thanks. I hope you'll continue to enjoy it.

ubik - Thanks for dropping by and that is indeed good news. I'm playing on a slow setting anyway and won't be updating but a couple of times a week at best as we get going. And please feel free to include your expertise in the comments to answer mine and others questions on the mod. From what I've seen so far, it looks awesome.

Bingo Brett - As do I sir, as do I. And you should go ahead and pick up NA. If anything, it speeds up the game a little as well as some other nice features.

dem61s - Indeed, France is a forgiving country to play which I figured I'd need. To be honest, I've just started playing EUIII again after some time off so I'm a bit rusty as it is, and that's before throwing the mod on top.

merrick - No, Charlie's not a pretty one, but I'm more concerned why he's so depressed. I'm doing a decent job to start. He should be happy. He's about to win the HYW for goodness sake. Thanks for jumping on board, sir.

dharper - Goodness, the whole MM team is stopping by. Thought you guys might like to see a few AARs showcase your work and I hope to do it justice. If I run into any setbacks, I'll let you guys know. Thanks.

Myth - OK...you got me. Charlie really is into multiple wives but it goes against church practices so I was trying to keep it under wraps...there goes that cover...blown!


To all - Not sure when we'll get the next update, but hopefully before the end of the week. Today I'll be working on tabulating the votes in the ACA. The voting ends this afternoon, so if you haven't yet voted, make sure to stop by the ACA thread and get your votes down before the deadline.

Thanks again for all your great comments, folks. Until next time...

 

[Lord Durham]

Nice start... er starts, Coz1. I've just downloaded MMG2 for a spin, so I'll be following your exploits closely.

 

[Director]

Good heavens! That whizzing sound was a new AAR zipping past my eyes!

Sorry to have been so long picking up on this one but I promise I will follow faithfully. As others have said, I'm interested in what the new MM brings to the table.

France? Yes... sooner or later every author must don the musketeer garb, wax les moustaches and saunter off against ze Engleesh. Best of luck to you!

 

[Amric]

Y'know, Director...you may have a point there....I did my Auvergne story and became France....I had originally thought that your statement was incorrect, but since I did the very same thing, I can't say that!

I'd heard of the Western Europe tech. It was something the team had been discussing some time ago. I don't know how it affects things compared to Latin tech group or if it is better, but since you really don't have a choice about it....Nice start, old chum...As I still don't have NA, I'll be checking on this as to whether I want to patch up to it whenever I finally get around to getting NA.... I've been trying out deconstructed Europe myself lately...

 

[unmerged(65154)]

You do NOT want to change those national ideas -- it's beyond brutal! Enjoying the AAR thus far... just be kind to poor old Brittany!

my humble riposte:
Not Fade Away -- A Breton AAR for Magna Mundi Gold 2

 

[coz1]

Fb-fb:

Lord Durham - Glad to have you along for the ride, LD. I think you'll like what MM does for the game. It adds a much better events structure that makes the game really come alive.

Director - You didn't miss much, my friend. And glad to have you on board, as well. As for France...indeed, we cannot hold out long against her siren song.

Amric - All the old hands are out today. Me likey. You should pick up NA and then definitely this mod. I've heard of the other you mention but don't know much about it yet. I'll have to research.

glengarry leads - Trust me, I won't be changing what I started with. I'm already at -1 stab and don't need any more help in that regard. Besides, I think France starts out pretty good. I'll mention that further along. As for Brittany, I'll be very nice to her once she's my vassal. Until then, watch out. I'm hoping to catch up on some newer AARs over the weekend so I'll be sure to give yours a look see. Thanks for reading.

And now, for another update...

* * *​

When we last left our plucky little Frenchmen, there was a siege on...comme ça:

Siege of Gascogne​

You'll note that Gascogne has a lvl 2 fortress there as does the rest of France. One of the things MMG2 does is up the level of fortresses everywhere making sieges that much more difficult. Avignon has a lvl 6 fortress (which will be a tough nut to crack when the time comes) and Paris is at lvl 5, IIRC.

While I waited for my troop strength to recover, I pulled the lone Paris garrison (1,000 inf) down to meet up with X and once combined, he marched off to Saintogne to take up battle with Richard once again. Of course, the little bastards are defeated but they prance right off to Perigord for yet another dance with the devil. I'm game but it is becoming tiresome. To make matters worse, I realize my fleet in the Gulf of Lyon is under attack and from a much larger flotilla. I am forced to retreat but I did not see any transports in that fleet and so I think I'm OK. I did lose a couple of ships in the battle.

Took 2 ships, the bastards...​

No matter. I'm still playing the chasing game...back and forth...back and forth...it's like pinball. I love the game but in a totally different context, you understand. Thankfully, we get good news...

It's mine​

Gascogne falls to me and now I can bring two armies to set at the wily Richard and his band of merry men. This last through the new year. Some time around January 5th, I see the English have landed 1,000 men in Normandie. As it holds a lvl 4 fortress, I'm not too worried and so I keep my focus on the white rose. I'm also able to pull my 6,000 troops from Lyonnais after that falls soon after the turn of the calender. I'm just about to look at what victory will require when I get another event message:

He's a lying, cheating son of a...​

I don't know who the guy is but anyone that fakes their own death (or even hints at it) in times of war is a coward, thus Genoa will have to deal with my obstinate ways. I'm far more interested in making peace with England now that I have what I wanted. Problem is, I'll need likely one of two things - either a decent fleet to ferry men to England proper or access through Burgundy to get at Calais. I note the English want peace from me, offering a white peace once more, but I turn them down. Just for giggles, however, I test them...how's about Gascogne at 28% for peace with a war score of only 12%? They must really want out because shock of all shocks...

Peace in our times.​

Holy Mother Mary and her twelve sisters, who'd a thunk it? They really wanted out of that war. I am thankful and immediately begin to tend house. A little refiguring of forces here, marching them off to their stations there and it's done. As I'm thinking on it now, I forgot to check and see if they were at peace with Brittany (though I think they might be.) I have plans of my own for the western duchy but I'll need to wait until June of 1454 before I reach Govt tech 1 and I need to up my stability. I have a CB on Brittany but I'll still lose 1 stab for being co-religionists and I would like to stay out of negative stab.

Bourbonnais accepts my invitation into my alliance and I note that Provence is already proving to be a bother with their armies. They cause attrition to my armies that already have a hard time staying under the support limit since I keep heavy stacks. I move X north to stay out of their way while I wait for my manpower to refill the regiments and begin growing again. While I wait, I get a nifty bit of news:

Love me some 6 star advisors​

While I'd like to keep my govt tech fellow, I'll hopefully get another in good time and I am almost to that next level anyway. I want to start trading soon so I hire the new man and continue waiting (now for some merchants as well.) I have three, so I decide to send two off to Ile-de-France and one makes it in. I now have two total out there and bringing in money, the other in Vlaandaren (I have no idea how to spell this. )

By May, I can reduce army maint. to 50% and I adjust sliders accordingly. I'd like to be at about 18% inflation rise but I can't afford it right now. We'll keep tinkering there. Two events quickly pop up as I am dickering with sliders. The first,

What to do when there is no war?​

Since I have the money and I don't feel like dealing with revolts or the possibility of such, I pay the men and hope they'll be handy in the event I need them. The other event doesn't really say much but I say what the hell...

"Very well"​

I don't know what it is yet, but surely I can handle it. I also receive a nice bonus on trading thanks to all the wonderful French wine:

Just keep drinking, monsieur​

So all in all, the post war months are treating me well. It's now June and I reach Govt. tech 1 and it's time to fill another slot. After doing some reading today, it seems that if you have a group of ideas, then you'll get an event which adds another more special idea. Perhaps our resident MM folks can give us a bit more info on this. Since I've already got two of the land force ideas, I figure why not head in that direction and pick another? While Grand Armee seems the logical choice for the time period (and historically), there is also Military Drill and Battlefield commissions. I figured I'd let you guys decide. Which way should we go, or should we wait on those ideas and pick another outside of land tech?

While you answer, let's leave with a shot of post war France and her surroundings,

France, 1454​

 

[stnylan]

A very nice advisor there!

Some interesting events.

 

[TreizeV]

Bah! those cursed English! OH well, when you get more ports and unite all of France they will surely tremble

Great AAR! The early scenario with france is one of my favs because you're both in a position of strength because of your location and potential wealth, yet you must play politics and diplomacy with so many powerful neighbors and enemies around you.

 

[unmerged(82931)]

Cool events. I can relate to the lost naval battle, I don't have much luck with them, partly because I have to skimp on naval tech to keep with the AI up in land. :wacko:

Can't give a preference for the NI, I don't really know what they do in MM2. o

 

[dem61s]

We get to choose the next idea? Great!
When playing France (or Burgundy) the one great thing is that all your neighbours fear you. Don't mess it up and go on with another land force idea.

 

[Lord Durham]

Another nice update. The pop-up concerning Giovanni Giustiniani Longo brought back memories of my AAR Book IV: The Free Company and the Last Bastion of Empire. My character 'Captain' filled in for Giovanni (who was still a yungin', considering the timeline of my AAR when Constantinople fell), and ended up leading the defense of Constantinople from the Turk.

It's sad how Giovanni was vilified by the Greeks and Venetians, considering all he did for the city, especially when so few answered the call to defend it. They felt he should have stayed and died. As it is, he died a couple days later on the island of Chios from his wounds.

MMG2 is proving to be interesting and challenging. Lots going on, that's for sure.