The Habsburgs-an Improved Grand Campaign of 300 years

[Battle bunny]

1500:
See 1498, except that we readied our two generals, von Frundsberg and Ferdinand, to the borders of Venice, the 5000/1000 army for a defense in Tyrol, and prepared for the attack.
1501-1504: The Venetian War
-So tell me. What about the resistance?
-We've seen an army of about 8000 nearby, your Majesty. They're led by a man called Nicolo, forgot his family name. No others sighted.
-Great. Then capture Istria, and hold the capital to stress our point. Do NOT capture more provinces, I do NOT want to empire of constant warfare just because the other countries want to eat us alive. Any dangerous allies?
~He should have thought of this in the first place...~ -England is far-away, and the thought of them sailing into the Mediterranean, landing a decent army into Venice...
-OK OK, I understand, I'm not stupid. So the goals are clear, a port is needed...
Suddenly the emperor is interrupted by one of the guards:
-Sir, your cat's pissing on the map!
-WHAT THE HELL is this bloody ATTENDER DOING... uh... wait... is that this so-called Oman? Nevermind. But tell him his wages for this month are cut in quarter anyways, for the smell.
The war started. von Frundsberg clashed with Nicolo in the capital, almost losing, but boosting their moral (and ego) after a narrow victory. 10k new infantry recruits attack the 5000/1000 force in Tyrol twice, but fail both times. Later they join Nicolo and almost beat Frundsberg again, and narrowly get defeated again in 1502. After that, they haplessly watch as I slowly but surely get Venice then join up with Ferdinand and storm Istria. We don't demand much, our ambassador even told us: "Only that province, no money demand? Could've been worse." Other wars: Savoy took Ancona a long ago, but Istria will be a freshie on the screenie. Spain, Lorraine, Persia, Naples, Milan is attacked by France, Savoy, the Papal states, Navarra and Ireland, the new but already active little dust on the map. This after Ireland bribed the English to peace. Is this Money Game or what?

 

[Duke of Wellington]

That wasn't too hard. If EUI is the same as EUII then you will have got no BB for taking that province because it's a core.

 

[Lord E]

Nice work, this should give you any BB problem, it being a core and all. Nice work

 

[Battle bunny]

Actually, Istria was the only one of the Venice that the Habsburgs view as a Core province.
1505:
-The first of April is now celebrated-shouted the imperial speaker to the anxious Austrians-as Fool's Day, for this is the day when Bohemia was incorporated into the Empire, and it's Fool's Day because they were fools for accepting it!!-
A huge applause struck out among the people. It was indeed a grand time, as this was the first major goal Maximilian set for himself, and it was accomplished in a mere 10 years. Even the Emperor himself was so happy, he even let the cat-attender go away with no punishment when the kitty decided to eat his Imperial Majesty's bread 'n' butter.
Yes, you heard it right. It was a wee bit risky, but Bohemia got annexed in one of the shortest times possible, after a letter explaining the situation to them. The result was just a little general relation worsening but they are still increasing on a general basis. My current allies are Hungary and Wurtemberg. Which should I tackle next? Take a big chunk of non-core Hungarian provinces, or decide to be OK with Wurtemberg for now? It would also be good methinks to annex other states as well, like Saxony, but I am afraid a man called Luther will cause problems. We gave a personal gift to Portugal, RMed them and then exchanged maps (83 unknown gotten, 108 given). Why did I do this? I'm thinking of going and colonise Africa once I can get colonists-yearly 0 right now. (Counter-reformed can do the trick though, and it doesn't even "stab". But that's a wait until CoT...) Here's a screenie of a better-looking Habsburg empire in a moment.

 

[Duke of Wellington]

Looking nice but Bavaria would be a good place to head for I believe. Getting Northern Germany before the reformation would be good but, they will still become Protestant anyway so you may be better to wait for the countries to convert maknig the DOW cheaper.

 

[Battle bunny]

but Bavaria would be a good place to head for I believe.

For what? Diploannexation? An idea, though I'd have to get up relations a bit... but -40 is sky-high compared to some. Or did you mean a DoW? Fat chance, -3 stab is baaaaaaaaad.
So can you explain what did you mean? This confused me :wacko:

 

[Duke of Wellington]

Diplo-annexation preferably. Getting the relations up might take a few years but they're rich provinces and they provide a good buffer against enemies later.

 

[Battle bunny]

Indeed... and nobody's feelings get hurt by a 26+10k army either, or? Nice idea then, I'll try it.

 

[Lord E]

Diploannex of Bavaria sounds like a smart move indeed. Looking forward to read how well it works out

 

[Battle bunny]

Damn! Bavaria is in an alliance with Thuringen until 1514. It's 1509 right now. should I wait it out, or pass the time with vassalising then diploannexing Hungary? Cause I'd be doing the letter but Hungary only has 1 core province and it's gonna be BB... BTW can diploannexation give Nationalism?

 

[Duke of Wellington]

I would go about trying to get them vassalised since you wn't be able to annex them in tha time. Diplo-annexations give nationalism.

 

[Battle bunny]

And two more questions before continuation: 1. Does Hungary turn Protestant? 2. turning Counter-Reformed doesn't affect stab and relations when it comes to yourself, but does it throw up vassalage?

 

[Lord E]

No, Hungary doesn't turn Protestant, as for the second question I am not sure, but I fear it might be that it will affect vassalage...

 

[Battle bunny]

Ok ,I'm gonna post a whole bunch of years now.
1506:
At a hospital:
-So, my problem is, I am the emperor's right hand, and I should care about him too.
-Get to the news.
-So, I have suspicions that the emperor's gone insane. He's been yelling quite stupid things lately and tried to eat soup with a fork.
-Really? That's a hard case, let me see him.
With that, the regent and the doctor set out to the court.
Temporary insanity...blergh! Dunno how much, but he still has crap statistics in 1515. Whether he is bad by default or the insanity is buggy, I dunno... Royal Marriage with Bavaria. All the provinces have tax collectors now, and the stability and religion ensure that there would be no trouble. France has recaptured Franche Comté from the Spanish.

1507-1512:
There haven't been a lot of stuff happening at this period of time... The Teuton Order is raped first by Sweden, second by the Polish. No provinces lost though, only money taken. We exchanged maps with the Spanish and Portuguese again, each of them knowing more now. A random event caused Styria to boost from 2 to 3, grand! Now our gold mine would definitely not be taken! With the spare money, we started upgrading forts to Small.

1513:
-So what is this new weapon called?- The colonel Kircher asked a technology freak, who was holding a straight stick-like device ending in a pipe.
-This is an arquebus. To use it, hold it like this-he stuffed it into the colonel's hands-then pull the trigger, and-AAGH! YOU IDIOT!
Kircher accidentally shot the inventor in the arm. He was taken away in short order, before bandaged and cured.
-This needs perfection.- Kircher thought, not even realising it was mostly his fault.
Land tech 5. Ok, no big thing but we're going. We had 200 spare gold so we put it into land tech. We're eagerly awaiting for Thuringien to abandon Bavaria.
1514-15:
(Maximilian should thereotically be sane now so I'll play him like that.)
-So, have you secured an alliance?
-Yes sir, they're in our pack with the Hungarians and Wurtemberg-
-Great. Offer them vassalage for protection. I'm sure our diplomats are fine enough. If not, then get other ones. If they refuse, send them gifts to prove our trustworthiness. Well, to them it seems...-the Emperor let himself a malicious grin.
-Right your Majesty, I'll get on it.
Infrastructure level...3 was it? We started appointing judges, especially to the provinces that converted Protestant... that's it, for some reason Protestantism is here in 1514. Bavaria is vassalised on the second try, after a gift has been sent to "prove our trustworthiness". Some minor wars, like a Persia-Mogul or a Spanish-Aztec have happened, the former netting 97D for Persia but no more. I'm thinking of assembling a "fearsome" navy in Istria mainly of transports, to get ready for any possible colonisation, because if a random event surprises me, I'll send them straight to Africa and make the Habsburg sslave market.

 

[Battle bunny]

1517:

A Poland vs. Russia war broke out. Nothing has happened this year, but up to 1519, Tula has been ceded to Moldavia (!), and Poland has annexed Pskov. We've made a RM with Lorraine, and allied them, for possible vassalisation. But it hasn't been done yet...***

1518:

Emperor Maximilian wasn't in his room. On the table, though, was a piece of paper. It was his will, written because the emperor was quite sick lately. In this paper stood this:
"I leave all my possessions, including but not limited to my country, my army, my imperial palace, my servants and my cat to my son, Karl." and a whole other lot of nonsense. It turned out to be necessary, as on Christmas day, the Emperor has finally passed away. After a big mourning, the new emperor was coronated though on New Year Day.
New emperor: Karl V. He seems to have inherited the diplomatic skills of his father and has really good stats... all 5 except War IIRC. He didn't become HRE though, the Spanish King beat him to it. Pity.

1519:

Karl's reign started out well. First relations with Spain (one of the best possible) rose by +25, random event. Then as the Steel demand in Salzburg rose, we got +501 outta the business. Now almost all of our forts are small, and almost all have Chief Judges. If we can hold out for a bit more than 5 years, Bavaria might be annexed... pray he doesn't turn Protestant, damn Luther. We traded a lot of maps with Portugal and Spain. Now our knowledge of Africa is this:

***Does Vassalisation give BB?

 

[Lord E]

Seems like the new Emperor is doing pretty well, and him not making Emperor is probably due to that Spain has better relations with some of the electors than you have. Also very nice to see that you know more about the world

 

[Duke of Wellington]

Bavaria shouldn't turn Protestant. I've never seen it happen. Getting vassalisation gives no BB.

 

[Battle bunny]

Indeed, I'm currently playing till 1792 and then am going to post it in parts AFTER so you will not get more posts until then (or maybe a few). And by now, everyone and their dog but Bavaria, Lorraine and Hungary has turned Prot (my current allies). I allied w/ Lorraine because in my "spectator" game Habsburgs did it and I'm stealing ideas And Bavaria has refused annexation up to 1531, how the hellish long will they refuse??????????

 

[SirCliveWolfe]

Very nice to see a new EUI AAR and good to se the Habsburgs doing so well in this era (I'm very pro-Habsburg btw)

I must ask what is EUI like... I'm afraid I've never been able to get the game and play it... looks interesting though...

Anyway enought of my rambaling... on with the show!

 

[unmerged(8545)]

Bavaria was a traditional austrian ally in history, and it shouldnt be to difficult to foster good relations with it. Annexation is another, they remained independant a long, long time.

As for colonies, Africa looks like an interesting approach. I have always shunned it, as population growth remains very low - with the exception of the cape. It does provide a good starting point for any colonization of the Indian subcontinent.