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Great to see all the new little toys we can play with later. 
A few questions/notions/issues though.
But I think I have to bring you down a bit. Maybe there have been a little to much back patting here as of lately. The weeping song event.. I have to say it's beautiful written, but as far as I see it. It doesn't make any sense at all.. The heir asks his father why the women are crying and that lowers the war exhaustion? Can you please explain how that works?
Oddity: It seems you have made a very strange change to the battles.. In IN shock (and a little fire) was (almost) all that mattered in a war. Now morale is the only thing that matters.. Strange way to go I would say..
We haven't seen all of this so it's perhaps not so strange as it looks, but it seems to be very easy to get you opponent to agree to peace deals now. Is that only how it looks from here or has that changed? For example the Chagatai war, you only had to take those 4 provinces and they ceeded them. That would never have worked in IN.
And both last and least. The description for Unam Sanctam is a bit strange now, it still says you don't need a CB.
And even more last. Just like everyone else I have to say I love the new choices for the comet event.
A few questions/notions/issues though.But I think I have to bring you down a bit. Maybe there have been a little to much back patting here as of lately.
The weeping song event.. I have to say it's beautiful written, but as far as I see it. It doesn't make any sense at all.. The heir asks his father why the women are crying and that lowers the war exhaustion? Can you please explain how that works? Oddity: It seems you have made a very strange change to the battles.. In IN shock (and a little fire) was (almost) all that mattered in a war. Now morale is the only thing that matters.. Strange way to go I would say..
We haven't seen all of this so it's perhaps not so strange as it looks, but it seems to be very easy to get you opponent to agree to peace deals now. Is that only how it looks from here or has that changed? For example the Chagatai war, you only had to take those 4 provinces and they ceeded them. That would never have worked in IN.
And both last and least. The description for Unam Sanctam is a bit strange now, it still says you don't need a CB.
And even more last.
Just like everyone else I have to say I love the new choices for the comet event.
Are you trying to end the AAR or why the sudden lack of comments between pictures?
A picture is worth 1000 words -_-
That, and there is probably nothing else interesting to tell us about (especially with the demo out).
That, and there is probably nothing else interesting to tell us about (especially with the demo out).
Speaking of waiting for Infamy to decline..
3.3 Infamy lost in 2 months = 1.65 per month
2.4 Infamy lost in 20 month = 0.12 per month
Lots of Infamy lost in just a couple of months in the fist pair of screenies?
Is the Infamy loss fluctuating, or what has been happening behind the scenes to alter reduce it?
(Especially the first one - 3.3 in two months is a rapid loss..)
3.3 Infamy lost in 2 months = 1.65 per month
2.4 Infamy lost in 20 month = 0.12 per month
Lots of Infamy lost in just a couple of months in the fist pair of screenies?
Is the Infamy loss fluctuating, or what has been happening behind the scenes to alter reduce it?
(Especially the first one - 3.3 in two months is a rapid loss..)
There's a decision and, I think, an event which have a chance of decreasing your infamy. He could also have had some diplomat advisors for the first set and lost them later.
Heck, maybe he lost a war and had to give up stuff
Heck, maybe he lost a war and had to give up stuff
The text for the 'heir falls ill' should read 'lying in bed', instead of 'laying', as 'laying' implies he has got out of bed subsequently
He brought some decision that increases his BB decline, no doubt used the new advisor generator to generate some nice diplomats during this time and maybe even got lucky and got some cute events.
Heck, maybe he lost a war and had to give up stuff
This was my suspicion. A cover-up!
Ability to grow from from one province minor into that monster in less than 100 years? Don't think I'll like vanilla...
In spite of its dire situation at the start of the game, you can hardly call Byzantium a one province minor. Firstly, because it has two provinces
. Secondly, because its capital is one of the best provinces in the area, giving Byzantium far more power than the number of provinces would suggest.
In spite of its dire situation at the start of the game, you can hardly call Byzantium a one province minor. Firstly, because it has two provinces
Not to mention many cores that allow the reconquest casus belli, and the ability to block the straits. Brother Bean got lucky with the English wiping out the Ottoman navy at the start, too.
Plus beating the AI in a war is not hard. The hard part is usually justifying it. The starting cores made this easier.
End Game
This is the Byzantine Empire as it looked after the conquests of Justinian and Belisarius.
And this is the Byzantine Empire as it looked after the conquests of Zoe.
My original plan for this game was to sneak the Byzantine Empire into the HRE, convert the electors to Orthodoxy, become Emperor, and unite the Holy Roman Empire into, well, the Roman Empire, quite simply. I was, thus, planning to end the AAR by talking a bit about the HRE reforms. We haven't accomplished that (And after making the critical mistake of revealing this cunning plan of mine to Doomdark, Doomdark has now stopped the -- admittedly gamey -- tactic of moving the capital into the Empire.) But what we have accomplished is fairly close to the short-lived Empire of Justinian, and that's always something.
Apart from fixing the HRE exploit, another change we've made -- on account of this game, more or less -- is to nerf the universities so that they no longer provide a boost to magistrate gain. The reason I was able to get my reputation down so ridiculously fast was that I hired two five-star and one six-star diplomat to go work on my rep. I could do this because the universities provided both static gains in cultural tradition, and magistrates that could be used to further boost it up to 100%. Combine that with Zoe's 8 DIP, one event that took three off Infamy, one glorious monument, and a whole bunch of festivals (They cost a magistrate each, and have a 5% chance of reducing BB by one.) I would really like to have universities giving a few extra magistrates, and for universities that a player actually builds it would make sense, since they cost a small fortune each, but since Northern Italy is littered with these at the start, every strategy will eventually come to depend upon taking Italy, which isn't the way it should be.
Northern Italy during the Renaissance was an extremely dynamic place, however, a lot of the dynamism depended on institutional, political and economic competition between the various Italian states, characteristics Italy would obviously have lacked in a unified Empire. The University bonuses here made sense as long as they applied to OPMs, but when you hold all of Italy, and the universities still tick on as if nothing had happened, that does break the game. Thus, while I have mixed feelings about it personally, the universities will remain as they were before HtTT. Don't worry though, there are still a bunch of national focus decisions to increase magistrate gain, although at a more reasonable rate. We haven't even begun working on the Road Network yet!
To be fair, the computer gave me a good run for my money. I was hard pressed in several of the wars -- and I triggered a lot of them -- and the only thing that has kept me going is the M&Ms of minting and mercenaries. War exhaustion is about to hit two digits, inflation is at 12%, and revolts are popping up both here and there. The problem is my infamy, which has dropped way too low, way too fast. While I can still reliably beat it, the AI sometimes amazes me. The Timurids managed to destroy one of my main armies in the last war, which I don't think I've ever had happen to me before.
Also, we've made some changes to the initial start-up of the game, adding in The Despotate of Epirus, moving Albania to Venetian control, and letting the Knights start the game guaranteed by France, Aragon, Castile and Venice, Cyprus guaranteed by France and Venice, Achaea guaranteed by Venice, and in its Sphere of influence, and Naxos (The Duchy of The Archipelago) an allied vassal of Venice. Uniting Byzantium should now be a lot more of an accomplishment than it was for me in this game.
With the Demo now out, and the game itself due any day, the purpose of this AAR is more or less fulfilled. Some closing thoughts:
Heir to The Throne adds a dynamic to the EUIII experience that I would never play without. I've been playing some good old "Complete" at home, and I constantly find myself lacking the pushy AI, the CBs, the national focus and the advisors. Getting luck based advisors especially feels like being back in a dark stone age. -- Decision A requires advisor B. Please hold for a hundred years while the game rolls dice. -- Interestingly enough the Heirs and Dynasties are probably the aspect that I personally am least interested in. I'm guessing that's because I actually had to script them all, which is a lot of fun when you're doing a major country like Castile or England -- but less fun when you're trying to dig up information on the thousand of small nations in south-east Asia, sparking civil wars, having palace coups, collapsing and reforming, every third month or so. I've personally had enough of Heirs, though the game mechanic itself is great. (As Muscovy, inheriting Georgia in one of our Multiplayer games led to a quick and bitter end for the Golden Horde.)
In short: I'm extremely happy about what we've done with HtTT, and it's been quite an experience working on it, and watching it take form. I hope you will all enjoy it as well. If you haven't already done so, go play the Demo. I myself have the privilege of playing the full version, and I've heard rumors that The Hanseatic League needs to shut down Novgorodian competition for good, not to mention following the trade winds down to the Americas.
I'll leave you with a screenshot of the new Byzantine setup.
Yeah. They think they're strong now. First player made AAR for Byzantium using HtTT gets my never ending moral support, and a Lord Bean Cookie of Swedish Fantabulousness.
Thank you all for reading and commenting. It's been fun writing, and I hope to write another one in a less official capacity at some point.
This is the Byzantine Empire as it looked after the conquests of Justinian and Belisarius.
And this is the Byzantine Empire as it looked after the conquests of Zoe.
My original plan for this game was to sneak the Byzantine Empire into the HRE, convert the electors to Orthodoxy, become Emperor, and unite the Holy Roman Empire into, well, the Roman Empire, quite simply. I was, thus, planning to end the AAR by talking a bit about the HRE reforms. We haven't accomplished that (And after making the critical mistake of revealing this cunning plan of mine to Doomdark, Doomdark has now stopped the -- admittedly gamey -- tactic of moving the capital into the Empire.) But what we have accomplished is fairly close to the short-lived Empire of Justinian, and that's always something.
Apart from fixing the HRE exploit, another change we've made -- on account of this game, more or less -- is to nerf the universities so that they no longer provide a boost to magistrate gain. The reason I was able to get my reputation down so ridiculously fast was that I hired two five-star and one six-star diplomat to go work on my rep. I could do this because the universities provided both static gains in cultural tradition, and magistrates that could be used to further boost it up to 100%. Combine that with Zoe's 8 DIP, one event that took three off Infamy, one glorious monument, and a whole bunch of festivals (They cost a magistrate each, and have a 5% chance of reducing BB by one.) I would really like to have universities giving a few extra magistrates, and for universities that a player actually builds it would make sense, since they cost a small fortune each, but since Northern Italy is littered with these at the start, every strategy will eventually come to depend upon taking Italy, which isn't the way it should be.
Northern Italy during the Renaissance was an extremely dynamic place, however, a lot of the dynamism depended on institutional, political and economic competition between the various Italian states, characteristics Italy would obviously have lacked in a unified Empire. The University bonuses here made sense as long as they applied to OPMs, but when you hold all of Italy, and the universities still tick on as if nothing had happened, that does break the game. Thus, while I have mixed feelings about it personally, the universities will remain as they were before HtTT. Don't worry though, there are still a bunch of national focus decisions to increase magistrate gain, although at a more reasonable rate. We haven't even begun working on the Road Network yet!
To be fair, the computer gave me a good run for my money. I was hard pressed in several of the wars -- and I triggered a lot of them -- and the only thing that has kept me going is the M&Ms of minting and mercenaries. War exhaustion is about to hit two digits, inflation is at 12%, and revolts are popping up both here and there. The problem is my infamy, which has dropped way too low, way too fast. While I can still reliably beat it, the AI sometimes amazes me. The Timurids managed to destroy one of my main armies in the last war, which I don't think I've ever had happen to me before.
Also, we've made some changes to the initial start-up of the game, adding in The Despotate of Epirus, moving Albania to Venetian control, and letting the Knights start the game guaranteed by France, Aragon, Castile and Venice, Cyprus guaranteed by France and Venice, Achaea guaranteed by Venice, and in its Sphere of influence, and Naxos (The Duchy of The Archipelago) an allied vassal of Venice. Uniting Byzantium should now be a lot more of an accomplishment than it was for me in this game.
With the Demo now out, and the game itself due any day, the purpose of this AAR is more or less fulfilled. Some closing thoughts:
Heir to The Throne adds a dynamic to the EUIII experience that I would never play without. I've been playing some good old "Complete" at home, and I constantly find myself lacking the pushy AI, the CBs, the national focus and the advisors. Getting luck based advisors especially feels like being back in a dark stone age. -- Decision A requires advisor B. Please hold for a hundred years while the game rolls dice. -- Interestingly enough the Heirs and Dynasties are probably the aspect that I personally am least interested in. I'm guessing that's because I actually had to script them all, which is a lot of fun when you're doing a major country like Castile or England -- but less fun when you're trying to dig up information on the thousand of small nations in south-east Asia, sparking civil wars, having palace coups, collapsing and reforming, every third month or so. I've personally had enough of Heirs, though the game mechanic itself is great. (As Muscovy, inheriting Georgia in one of our Multiplayer games led to a quick and bitter end for the Golden Horde.)
In short: I'm extremely happy about what we've done with HtTT, and it's been quite an experience working on it, and watching it take form. I hope you will all enjoy it as well. If you haven't already done so, go play the Demo. I myself have the privilege of playing the full version, and I've heard rumors that The Hanseatic League needs to shut down Novgorodian competition for good, not to mention following the trade winds down to the Americas.
I'll leave you with a screenshot of the new Byzantine setup.
Yeah. They think they're strong now. First player made AAR for Byzantium using HtTT gets my never ending moral support, and a Lord Bean Cookie of Swedish Fantabulousness.
Thank you all for reading and commenting. It's been fun writing, and I hope to write another one in a less official capacity at some point.
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