The Never-Ending Sacrifice AAR Thread

[delian]

Brittany, heir to the Gauls. 1465-1490


In the early years of this period, we witness some peace. Well needed for that matter, even though stability was always an issue. Constantly struggling… But peace did not last for very long, , soon the Occtanian empire declared war on the Italian doge. The Iberian king decided to join into their defense! The Occtanian troops pillaged the west Italian domains and attrition took a beating on the AIs forces. A formal request was sent to the doge, to aid in his troubles. And soon after he agreed. Then the ball started to roll, the French units started sieging every province, slaughter any army they would encounter, from west to east. Not long after, the entire empire was under siege. It was just a matter of time before victory could be celebrated.

The Occtanian king was defeated, stripping away all of their land in favor to Brittany, Gasconge was ceded to the Asturian empire. Finally our empire started to take shape, after decades of struggles on the sea, a land empire emerges.


Not long after, a deal was been made with Asturian king. For long the burgundians had been a vassal under our rule. But now was the time to incorporate them. Our diplomats sent out a demand for annexation, they refused. Fools! So we attacked them, whipping out their armies, took all their provinces, except the capital. Making them a one province minor duchy. The deal with Asturians, was for them to annex this puny country, and in return we would declare war on the sultan of Morocco. This saved the kingdom a lot of bad boy, but in return. We suffered stability hit from the declaration of war on the sultan.


But all this came with a hefty cost. Unifying the Gaul land had enraged the feudal lords, they spread rumors around Europe, lowering opinions about us throughout the continent. Decentralization was forced upon us, and a big hit of 10 bad boy was added. And if that was not enough, each core we had in our possession, also added an extra bad boy. The bad boy given for these mere 15cores was roughly 25 bad boy. Making us an dishonorable scum, hated throughout the world.

There is a saying in the north of the continent, bättre ökänd än okänd. Wich roughly means. Better infamous than not. At least people will know your name


Straight after this victory, we was reminded about the scots, we was reminded of the last humiliating defeat. The Asturian king proposed another hit on Scotland. We didn’t hesitate to give it another go, despite the lack of naval forces. The initial idea was to sink Scottish navy with the superior Asturian one, reoccupied the lost lands of Ireland. And later on move into Britain with our superior cavalry. The first battles went back and forward, but the upper hand went to the Astuarian navy. After the Scottish navy Forces into docking, the armies was landing on Ireland, sieging started, we hired some superb fortress besiegers from the Far East, and soon fort after fort fell. For a moment all went well and dandy. Until the Hansa showed up, and interfered. With their naval support, Scotland managed to push back our navies, and supply lines was cutt. And land forces of Scotland landed onto Ireland mainland. The initial fights were victorious, but with the lack of reinforcements, the battles still favoured Scotland. It did not take long, to see that the initial plan had failed, and pushing on from this point would be too costly…

A few unlucky rolls, some bad turns lead to the defeat on the sea. Peace was signed, giving us the two provinces of Normandy, and Caux. Also signing a 20 year, long, none aggressive pact.


With some peace, once again, Brittany started to invest more and more into the heartland. Incorporating the newly gained provinces. Making sure they are paying their fair amount of taxes. Money was saved up, and for the first time we had a treasury. All the shiny gold makes the king even more ambitious about the future. And as we enter the 16th century, the king has some reforms in mind. Soon the centre of trade in Burgundy has to go away, a trade centre should be in the heartland, the capital. Easy accessible by sea.

And with the upcoming of great leaders, we shall explore the new world. Bringing fame and glory to the Gaul kingdom. The End

On time: -1infla
750 words: -1.5 infla

Total: -2.5 infla

 

[TC Pilot]

Hanseatic League: 1465-1490

Better late than never, reporting the events of two weeks past. The League entered this session determined to advance its trade technology level to such a point that merchants could start making monopolies. Due to Hansa's relatively small income level, the date of this happy occurrence was postponed longer than anticipated, but when it was finally achieved, merchants were duly sent to such centers of trade as Mecklenberg, Novgorod, and even Constantinople, where great gains had been made over the years. Of course, these monopolies were promptly bombed by various minor powers who have no good reason to be messing about with trades that will never benefit them anything, but the Hansa merchants must always endure such complications.

More significantly, and more interestingly for the reader, the League was involved in several wars, including some of Europe's great powers of the war. War erupted in the west, between Scotland and the combined forces of Brittany and Asturias. The League liked to pride itself on its good relations with all, but the thought of a renewed Breton ambition for the lands of Ireland was too much. Students of history could well recall the chaos and devastation wrought by the previous conflict, and what great harm it had inflicted upon Brittany and the overall prosperity of the French lands. It seemed that the combined Breton-Iberian navies would be sufficient to clear the waters around Britain and decide the issue, but so long as Brittany held lands in the British Isles, the League's leaders were certain there could be no peace, no stability, and no prosperity in that quarter. The League thus opted to intervene on Scotland's behalf, determined to prevent the Scots from suffering a devastating reversal to their fortunes while simultaneously working toward a mutually beneficial arrangement and a proper settlement of spheres of influence and control. Fortunately, having noticed the meteoric rise of the Asturian navy, the Hansa had taken some measures to expand the size of the League's galley force.

Under able leadership, the fleet proved its mettle in a series of clashes off the coast of Wales, in conjunction with the remnants of the Scottish fleet driving the allied forces southward, leaving their land armies vulnerable to be picked off by the Scots. With their invasion force crippled and any renewed attack promising to be more trouble than even Ireland was worth, negotiations commenced. Breton claims to Ireland were renounced, in exchange for which the Scots would give the lands of Normandy. All seemed, from the League's perspective, to have gone quite well. The monetary commitment to this fight had been relatively light; the Hansa had not committed its army, and its navy suffered only modest losses, which could easily be replaced without undue burden on the treasury. Diplomatically, it seemed both Scotland and Brittany had the lands they should have.

Unfortunately, the victory, such as it was, in Britain appears to have gone to the League's head. In an act of overconfidence, the League declared war upon Finland, hoping in one go to take a major step toward the grand goal of linking Novgorod and the capital by land. Sadly, the League's generals grossly underestimated the devastating effects of winter, as well as the stubborn resistance of the Finnish army. Thousands upon thousands of stalwart soldiers perished in the icy, frigid conditions, and only slowly were the forts and cities there reduced. The League embraced the sunken cost fallacy, believing that having spent so much already, they had to spend a bit more to ensure total victory. The final straw breaking that strategy came with the magical appearance of some fifteen thousand Finnish soldiers, the result of hearing news that some delusional old has-beens in the Teutonic Order got it in their heads to declare a crusade for Russia, even if they had no capability to carry it out. With actual fighting resumed, in a pique of frustration the League settled for three provinces instead of vassalization. In retrospect, this may actually have been for the best; in the next war, and there will be a next war, the Finnish armies will no doubt feel the urge to attempt to reclaim their lands, opening them up to the same devastating consequences the League had suffered so often in the war. In any event, the League is only four provinces away from achieving its long-term ambition. So close, and yet so far. One day, some day soon perhaps, the League will see a time when a man could walk from Mecklenberg to Novogorod, and not leave Hansa soil. They'll probably freeze to death or get trampled by a moose along the way, but they could walk. Might even get an Academy Award to act out the story.

Ontime: -1 inflation
750 words: -1.5 inflation

 

[TC Pilot]

Hanseatic League: 1490-1513

The League's history has known many great and glorious statesmen and generals in its long history, leaders whose endeavors have allowed a loose confederacy of city-states along the Baltic and North Sea coast to conquer a place for themselves amongst the powers of Europe. The first decade of the 16th Century, however, was to prove a truly remarkable and exceptional period in which the leadership of the League might very well be said to have reached its peak. This will be a tale of several leaders, but primus inter pares, first among equals, the history of the League during this time may be said to be the history of the glorious and triumphant career of General Wacker, better known by his moniker 'Five Star.'

But before delving into that story, it is best to return back to 1490. The Hansa League found itself initiated into a nefarious conspiracy, comprising most of the great powers of Europe, who had grown terrified by the ascendancy of Bavaria. Concerned in its own way, both by Bavaria's power but also the consequences of initiating hostilities while at such a stark power imbalance, the Hansa opted to 'go with the flow' of events rather than to dictate their course. War was determined, but as all plans often do, they quickly fell off the timetable. The League itself was still recovering from its grueling war in Finland when the Emperor of the Romans chose to initiate hostilities, having discovered the appalling smallness of the Bavarian army. Word reached Mecklenberg of great battles fought upon the Hungarian plains and the mountains of Croatia, all the while Asturias, Brittany, and the League prepared to deliver their own stroke. The combined alliance fleets moved into position, while Asturias' mighty host rumbling its way across France. The League itself could only afford to bring to bear seventy-five thousand soldiers, so its commitment to the war that soon broke out was relatively small. Asturian armies cut a bloody swath through the Bavarian garrisons of the Low Countries and Rhineland, while the Hansa army laid siege to Gelre and its cavalry moved across the north German plan, screening for any Bavarian forces. Several major battles were to be fought, but regardless their outcomes, the tied was invariably on the alliance's side, peace was concluded, with the League gaining control of both Gelre and Amsterdam.

Flush with these victories, campaigns were soon launch northward, both of which were to prove relatively disappointing. The fiends of Nordrige escaped destruction following Norway's decision to end its war, forcing the League to exit as well after gaining only one province. Likewise, the Hansa peace commissioner dispatched to dismember Finland briefly went insane, accepting a peace offer for a paltry 100 ducats when total victory was in sight. Unfortunately, these actions had wider consequences, as the commitments left Hansa unwilling and uneager to intervene in the foolish Breton-Asturian war to seize Ireland, an action which will no doubt have serious repercussions in future.

More promisingly, an enterprising Hansa merchant got it in his head to follows the Scots and Norwegians westward, using Iceland as a base to discover a whole new world of land ripe for exploration and colonization.... except for the fact no one in the League wants to go colonizing. The result of this five-year mission to explore strange new lands and seeking out new life and new civilizations, to boldly go where no one has gone before... was a couple trading posts that mostly burned down.

In the midst of this, perhaps rather to be expected, since the League refused an offer of non-aggression, Bavaria opted to declare war. Massive Bavarian forces stormed across the border, against which there was scant defense, save for the knowledge that the mass Bavarian army now lay exposed on the open plains of north Germany. Staring defeat in the face, knowing allies would soon be moving to assist, the League's leadership opted to throw all their resources into preserving the League's independence, nay, its very existence. This was when General Wacker emerged to truly meet his destiny. A first attempt to break the Bavarian army failed, but the Hansa forces could retreat to Copenhagen and never fear attack. Sadly, the Hansa capital fell, as did much of the southern frontier. The timely intervention of the Asturians tipped the balance back in the League's favor, however, and a series of key victories allowed Wrecker to drive the Bavarians back. Having drawn out the League armies, the Bavarians seemed determined to score a decisive victory, sending forth over forty thousand cavalry to deal with Wrecker once and for all, but it was not to be. In a miraculous turn of events, the entire Bavarian cavalry was annihilated at minimal cost to the League's army. The tide had truly turned, though the League would continue to suffer setbacks occasionally, and the Bavarians would prove themselves able to field many more armies, well beyond the League's ability to match alone, but the combined weight of a seeming endless string of victories drove the Bavarians into retreat. In the end, the Bavarians conceded defeat, surrendering Brabant to Asturias and Anhalt to the League.

What will come of all this? Who can say. The League's destiny lies westward and northward, not southward. The war was a hard blow to the League's budding trade, its plans for technology investment, and on the stability of the realm and its finances. Loans, mostly to pay for the massive improvements to Bremen, are also quite large in number. Many possibilities remain, but many dangers as well. The League always stands on the razor's edge, so long as there is a prospect for war with Bavaria.

Ontime: -1 inflation
Long AAR, written early: -1.5 and -.5 = -2 inflation
-3 inflation

 

[bluelotus]

The Most Serene Republic of Genoa​

1490-1513

„Well, that escalated quickly”​

In Genoa the 1490s were spent with preparations to take advantage of our high speed boats. The wise leaders of the Most Serene Republic were waiting for a man of high qualities and a strong sense for exploiting lucrative possibilities to take command of the most advanced vessels of the fleet to venture where no decent Catholic men has gone before. Sod the Vikings. Sure, sure, the Scots have also been building colonies across the Ocean, but a bunch of log cabins in the tundra didn’t seem to inviting to Genoa. As such, the years were spent with building up the Genoese trade presence in Europe and the Middle East. This was going fairly well, except for Novgorod, where Hansa, our kin republic, was running the business. It seems that the Nordic merchants are content with taking the profit off the city, without enforcing any kind of security measures. In the 1490s and early 1500s countless Genoese merchants disappeared without trail in the shady alleys of Novgorod, and God only knows what happened to them. RIP.

Apart from the merchant adventures there were only two things worth of note for the Republic itself. In 1494 Genoa allowed Brittany to take possession of Languedoc. This was done through a diploannexation manoeuvre, to avoid the Breton high chief accumulate too much BB for the swap. Funnily enough, the skilled Genoese politicians managed to forge an internationally accepted claim on Languedoc in the brief months of Genoese control as well as use the advances of the University of Montpellier to Genoa’s advantage. With the transfer of Languedoc done, and the breakthrough in trade methods that allowed Genoa to monopolise its own centre of trade, the Doge ordered the construction of additional warships as his gut feeling told him that some decent admiral with a taste for exploration must surely come soon. Before that could happen, however, Europe was woken from its pleasant slumber.

In 1496 Byzantium decided that it was time to contest the Bavarian supremacy and conducted a surprise attack from what Genoa could gather from glancing at the reports. The Emperor was demanding Western Hungary from the Bavarians. The following two years saw intense fighting and numerous bloody battles fought on the Hungarian plains. While the Imperials could capture a handful of castles on the Bavarian frontiers, their breakthrough never came. By next year October things took a huge turn, however, with Asturias (LT9), Brittany and Hansa attacking the occupied Bavarians.

A picture I took of my face after I looked at the diplomatic map.​

Despite the odds, the Bavarians did not give up and valiantly tried to defy the onslaught of the coalition. Naturally, the brave Polish Lion stepped forward and announced his intention to… join the anti-Bavarian coalition. After a few months of fighting Bavaria decided to cut its losses and gave in, losing the Lowlands, French Comté, 2/3 of Western Hungary and even Carpathia (to the brave Polaks) in the war. As an aftermath in 1501, the Western part (Asturias and Brittany) of the coalition decided to carry the war onwards, and invaded Scotland whose forces soon overwhelmed. Accounts of this war are sketchy in Genoa, but in the end the Scottish king had to part with Ireland and Cornwall.

For Genoa, however, a more important period arrived with news of the Scottish defeat. Cristobal Colon finally stepped up and was awarded with a five-year mandate to explore distant lands and bring riches back to the Republic. In late 1502 he set sail with 30 warships and transports from Liguria and about 15000 Genoese “armed settlers”. After hailing in Andalusia to acquire some additional supplies, Colon and his valiant expedition set sail to the West. Ultimately, on a scale of 10, the Doge gave a strong 8 for Colon’s feats. It was a success, as we manged to map out what later would become the Caribbean Sea. However, Colon only found an actual landing site in Antigua on his return trip for supplies. Had this occurred the second he arrived in the area, a forward base could have been set up sooner and more exploration could have been done in time. Nevertheless, despite only having 25% chance to raise a settlement on Antigua, the brave Genoese colonists succeeded (after the “armed settlers” reasoned with the extremely aggressive native population). Colon’s exploration also revealed the existence of the Mayan state, scattered over the Western Carib isles and on a smaller portion of the mainland. For his successes the Republic wanted to renew Colon’s license for another 10 years of exploration. He was promptly sent south along the African shore, but sadly fate took him away from us in 1507.

Without a proper explorer to lead further explorations for the Republic a change of tactic was needed and it was decided that Genoa should capitalize on the already explored opportunities. Maya was attacked in 1508 and in little less than 2 years they decided it was better to be part of the Republic than to be exterminated by Italians. That would be a shameful display, obviously. While the Republic’s Caribbean venture was in progress Bavaria decided to strike back in Europe. After successfully taking Western Hungary back from the Imperials, the Germans unleashed on Hansa. However, Asturias’ timely intervention led to another, albeit much lighter, defeat of the German state.

The almost 20 years of continual European warfare allowed Genoa to profit extremely and the Republic managed to achieve 97% of economic growth in the period. The aforementioned wars contributed a lot to Genoa’s success. As the Bavarian and Hansatic merchants began to disappear due to the war from the European scene, their places were taken up mostly by Genoese traders, even in the shady alleys of Novgorod. By 1513, Genoa had monopolies in 5 centre of trades and 5 merchants in every centre of trades it knew. While this is surely a good feat, it also casts some storm clouds over the Ligurian Bay. Just 20 years ago Bavaria was in the same situation but it was struck down by a coalition. What’s there to stop the same thing happening to Genoa?

Genoese colonies in 1513

​

Words: 1020
Rewards:
Ontime -1 inflation.
Long aar: Core on: Roma (399) (0.5 remains)
FAA: 30*23=690 into stab

 

[King John]

Asturius: 1490-1513

Preamble:

I expected this session to be very exciting, and it didn't disappoint. We all knew something had to be done about the Bavarian juggernaut, about their dominant position in trade, tech speed, and most importantly in military power. And after two weeks of discussion, we had a plan.

Who were "we"? The members of the coalition were, besides Asturius, Byzantium- the strongest of the bunch, Brittany- a potentially powerful but currently very backwardly lumbering beast of a country, and the Hansa- a plucky little country with enough of a David vs Goliath mentality to go down the dangerous road against a neighbor that outmatched it considerably.

We four planned how we would take on the Bavarian giant, and try to reduce it to a level that would be manageable afterward. To a level where it would no longer be necessary for such an assemblage of force to come together to confront it, and Asturius would not need to send forth its young men to bleed and die in defense of faraway lands.

The plan was straightforward: I was getting LT 9 before Bavaria, and therefore the attack was set to begin in 98, or whenever I actually reached it. Other countries were to join in at that time, and we would fight firstly to take the Low Countries from them, in order to deprive them of their trade outlet. If these demands were refused and we were successful enough afterward, then we would try to gain a scattering of other lands to generally even out the MP and tax disparity as much as we could.

The Session:

First, I had to take care of a few things. The peace with Morocco, and then the conquest of Mali. So, first, I made a peace with Morocco and its allies, taking military access through Morocco and three of its low population provs leading to Mali(with one stuck between them, which I hope will someday revolt to me).

Then I made war on Mali, which went a little less smoothly than in SP, but was still relatively easy and straightforward. The gold provs immediately began to enrich me upon capture, and the rest of the war proceeded in a leisurely way, with a little war taxing toward the end, and then finally I took Goa, Bure, Bambuk, another prov, and the coastal pagan prov of Guinea.

Meanwhile, to slow Bavaria's land teching speed a little, I participated alongside the other coalition members in trading aggressively where Bavaria had a strong presence, which resulted in a slight weakening of their trade. We were not able to lower it very much, but it did keep their progress down to the pace we were counting on.

Somebody at some time pointed out Bavaria's small standing army. It looked very small in the ledger, and it seemed like something we could take advantage of. Byzantium was in a good position to launch an early attack, and took it upon themselves to open up the conflict two years ahead of schedule, bursting through Hungary with a massive army and making speedy initial progress through Austria.

However, the Bavarian mobilization was quick, and it wasn't long before their gathered levies pushed them back. But as they were about to carry their counter-attack into Hungary, the second front was about to be opened.

The War of the Coalition:

I was ahead of schedule, set to reach LT 9 in mid-97. So my troops moved into position, predominantly composed of infantry, so as to best take advantage of their ability to assault through forts like butter. My nearby allies, Brittany and Hansa, were accounting for the bulk of our cavalry, since their shock phases were still just as good as anyone's.

I came with my 90k(15k over my support limit) on ship. Hansa and Brittany were invited to the alliance, and the DOW was sent. The first engagement occurred off the coast of Holland, against the a brand new fleet of 100 Bavarian galleys. I was assisted in time by the Hansas 120 ships, and together our forces sent them back to port. Then, the army disembarked and began its triumphant string of assaults, starting with Antwerp, and then fanning out and overcoming all the forts leading up to the Rhine. The Bavarians dispatched forces to the North against the lower tech Hansa, but they held their line, and meanwhile, whatever forces stood in the way of Southwest front were brushed aside by Asturius and the weight of Brittanic support following behind, ready to support in need.

Bavaria was in trouble. Its manpower was very taxed already from its emergency levees against Byzantium, and its finances were undoubtedly stretched. There was little choice but to accept a peace, and our terms weren't light. Two provs to Byzantium, two provs to Brittany, Holland and Geldre to Hansa, and Zeeland and Flanders to Asturius. Also, Poland jumped in at the last minute and took Carpathia.

What does a loss of nine provinces mean to a country like Bavaria? Assuming that these provinces are, on average, worth about a quarter of Bavaria's strength, it would mean that we had roughly accomplished our goal of weakening them in a way that would make a difference to the balance in Central Europe. It seemed to mean that Byzantium, Hansa, Poland, and Brittany might be able to take care of themselves from this point on, and Asturius would be able to attend to its own affairs.

Now, before moving further, I just want to comment on what I feared happening. Dane could have caught wind of what was coming. Had Dane raised a full army earlier on, and then attacked Hansa in, say, 94 or 95, I don't think anything could have been done to save them. We wouldn't have been ready to do anything about it at that time, and he would've had an easy enough time with it because of the LT 5 advantage.

By the same token, an early attack on Brittany or Poland would've resulted in easy victory. Byzantium, as the only country in a position at this time to respond, would have had a difficult time affecting these areas, though they could have drawn off some of the Bavarian force by attacking through Hungary.

Another fear was that Bavaria would make a generous offer to somebody, to buy them off. The lack of, Say, Brittany, or Hansa, combined with a fully armed and ready to go Bavaria, might not have led to our defeat, but then it's hard to say what margin would've divided the line between failure and success?

In any case, it worked out, and I could think of other things. To celebrate, I decided to invade Scotland.

The Liberation of Ireland:

The Scots were woefully unprepared. I'd already buffed up my fleet some in anticipation of the taking on the Bavarian fleet. I had feared, at that time, that Scotland might throw in their lot with them, and Hansa and I would be faced with over 200 ships. That never came to pass, and I was left with about 140 ships that were now, after the war, very convenient for what I had in mind. I increased this to about 170 ships, and then got my army ready to go.

The Bretons were kept in the loop, and they were certainly still interested in taking back their beloved lands. To that in, they made a hearty fleet building effort, bringing their own up to about 100 ships by the time of the DOW. On those ships they loaded a mighty cavalry force, and came shortly behind my fleet to set foot again on that lovely emerald isle.

But when my fleet sailed up the coast of Ireland, the Scots were nowhere to be seen. Their fleet was hiding somewhere, so my 170 ships comfortably set anchor and, with my DOW, I began unloading troops into Ireland. These forts fell easily, and by the time Brittany arrived, I had control of most of it.

I also had dropped 15k into Wales, which fell to an assault. Following this, a Scottish army tried to dislodge my army there, and failed against my CRT. My forces, slightly banged up, were reinforced in time to deflect a second Scottish army before retreating back to the fleet, to be redeployed further North, into Scotland proper.

Up in Scotland, more castles fell to my brave assault troops. Soon the Bretonic cavalry came in as well, galloping to the south where the Scots had gathered. A great battle took place, pitting two giant cavalry armies against one another. I sent my much smaller cav force to join them, but by the time they arrived, the battle was over. The Scots were in retreat, and my infantry moved in to assault York.

In the ensuing chase, another titantic battle occurred, and was so bloody that out of 50k in total, a mere 10k emerged from the fight, between Brittany, Scotland, and Asturius(My part of that was about 1k at this point).

With its army utterly broken, the Scots sued for peace. They fought valiantly, and we could respect our foes for having bravely fought it out. But now it was time to exact our terms, which eluded us in the two previous wars. Ireland was to be at last liberated from their yoke, and the Bretonic peoples of Cornwall would as well be reunited with the kingdom of their countrymen.

By this time, however, the truce with Bavaria had expired. Bavaria had gained its CRT. I was still the only other country with a CRT, and I was finishing up with Scotland. Brittany was also heavily engaged. We all wondered where the blow would fall, until at last we saw "Bavaria declared war upon Byzantium". We feared the worst, but remained hopeful.

Byzantium was at risk of being blitzed, and stabhit into peace quickly. If they failed to parry the assault, or slow its advance long enough to get their own CRT, then defeated seemed inevitable. Their country is too large to sustain stabhits this early.

Still, of the four exposed powers, it seemed best able to handle an attack. They had the most MP, the most census, and advanced AI allies with hordes large enough to matter(if they threw them in the right places). They were, as said, not that far from their own CRT. It was just a matter of not losing ground too quickly. To help them a little, I sent some money, and encouraged others to do the same. It wasn't a fortune, but I hoped that between us we might enable them to keep the kind of cav army in the field they needed to have any hope.
It was, however, not enough, and with the coming of stabhits, they accepted a peace.

The war had taken about two years, but it was still not long enough for Hansa to get its CRT. It was getting closer, but before clearing the danger, the Bavarians were at their door. The attack unleashed quickly tore through their territory, and the initial sally of the Hansa cavalry failed to drive them out. Fort after fort fell, and one wondered how long it would be before the stabhits started coming.

My army, fresh from victory, was gathered in Northern France. It was obviously necessary to join the fight as soon as possible. If Hansa lost, then Brittany, still far behind in LT, would be the next logical target. And in any case, to fail to act, and let Bavaria return to its former strength would've meant living again in the shadow of its power.

There was no time to contemplate any of this, though. The army moved to Zeeland, and then attacked. In Geldre, we fought our first engagement, and won. It was to be the first of a string of uncanny victories. Uncanny, because my morale was lower than Bavaria's, and my leaders were inferior, and my LT now a level behind his. I won this battle, and then assaulted back the fort. The Bavarians moved east to push the Hansa harder, and I moved up to Frisia, which was assaulted back. My cav support then rushed past the infantry lines to assist the Hansa, who were hard pressed. But then news of the miralce came, news of the great victory of General Wacker, and the destruction of the Bavarian horse.

At first, reports were vague and it was hard to know exactly what had happened, though. My armies simply continued to make steady progress along the Rhine, grappling with Bavarian troops as they went, painstakingly fighting over every bit of land. I kept winning battles. I don't know how. Had the dice been reversed, I don't think I would have made it past Luxenbourg. Certainly, had the dice of both Asturius and Hansa been reversed, then Bavaria would have sent stabhits to Hansa, and the war would've wound up in Flanders, and on Bretonic soil. As it was, my armies must have won 3/4 of their pitched battles, and the steady stream of reinforcements passing through France kept the momentum going.

Then, a few years later, Brittany expressed its readiness to join, and was invited to the war. I had 64 warscore myself. It looked like victory was upon us, but the Hansa were in a separate alliance, so concluding a peace was still a delicate thing. I did not, however, want to get into all the messiness of grinding away until Bavaria was drained white. I think that, in general, to let any country get to that point runs a major risk of destabilization of the region, of a total collapse of central authority, leading to a power vacuum(in other words, if a player becomes demoralized enough to leave the game, then we're left with a major problem).

So I sent a stabhit for three provs, two of which were refineries. They would've made nice gains for Asturius, but it functioned sufficiently as an attention getter. It was time to bring the war to a close. I of course didn't want to leave the Hansa out to dry, but they had their CRT now, and the Byz were lurking around, so if they accepted, oh well. Bavarian counter offer of a white peace, pointing out the separate alliances, was rejected. Hansas counter was peace for Berlin, a nice 5MP prov with a refinery. Bavaria balked. I offered a two prov peace for Brabant and Anhalt instead, which were, together, worth less than Berlin, and this was accepted. It let me still gain a prov out of it, which was nice. A bit like getting a "good job" ribbon, and my armies at last went home, after 15 years of fighting.

Unfortunately, trouble was already brewing in the South. The subjects of Africa had taken advantage of the crisis and rose in rebellion in the Sub Sahara. My veterans are at this time once again off to settle another crisis.

I may do the country breakdown again, later on.

AAR: Long, plus early(I started it on Tuesday, and most of it was finished before Wednesday started. Hopefully that still qualifies it for the early bonus). 1 + .5 + .5 = 2 deflation.

FAA bonus(TBD)

 

[admiral drake]

Aar 1490-1513


Considering Byzantium knew that Bavaria would be attacking me when he got the crt on me plans where made between session to stop this evil empire, at first we planned to wait for john to get his crt but in the end due to Dane being such a greedy bastard, he kept a minimal army to maximize profit and when we found that out I decided to just go ahead and dow him 1on 1.


Despite Bavaria having only 30k or so standing army at the time and Byzantium close to 200k invasion force I expected to get at least all the way to Austria before he could stop me, but it seemed he saved up enough money to cause significant losses in my ranks and in a fairly short war managed to start pushing me back already, I couldn’t really afford to mint as my tech speed is already so slow it would have caused major issues later if I did so in the end I blew everything I had on him xept for 30k army or so to smash rebels if they spawned.


Despite all this Bavaria had a huge cavalry army up in no time and crushed mine in several battles in Hungary up to the point I had to slowly rebuild it completely for a while after the others joined in. despite my superior sliders the byzantine army failed in several battles in the mountains to up the point I wonder who was leading my army’s J

Either way I suspect I would have lost eventually had the rest not dowed him at the time and forced his surrender with john his new crt. Forcing Bavaria to loose the coastline, his cot and some other provinces everybody ended up with something even Poland who didn’t really fight at all they just joined after he already surrendered essentially, something Byzantium did not really appreciate but I supported his claim for 1province either way. And I hope Poland will be there faster next time


Not that it mattered much for Byzantium really, I was in it to prevent the loss of Hungary and slow Bavaria down mostly, shortly after the truce ended dane offered a nap if I sold the 2provinces, I agreed on condition he would not dow hansa but this was rejected by him and a month or 2 later Bavaria declared war on the byzantine empire

using his crt to blitz trough Hungary in a fairly quick attack, while I was at land tech 7 at the time I didn’t really think it was worth risking stab hits over the 2provinces I took from him last war and facing fairly high war score against me it was a matter of time before he would have send me some, so offers where made and peace was accepted shortly after

This however showed how insane Bavaria was either way, after losing his entire coast, a huge dump in his income and he still managed to rush for land tech 9 well before I was, and I still believe Bavaria is very strong after this day.

Especially considering after the war with me he turned around and dowed hansa which had no change to win at all outside of some absurd luck and considerable help from Asturias.

as it looks like now Bavaria might be vacant soon and one can only wonder who will benefit from this the most some new major powers will rise from this and Byzantium might be best of cowering in his little corner trying to convert those irritating provinces forever.

As Byzantium has no religion in Germany and no culture to convert it I for one feel very little interest in taking land there . though if Bavaria is divided I feel it would be pretty unfair to be the only nation that is unable to convert those lands far far away from me


On a side note, Byzantium has no quarrel with any nation outside people threatening me over Crimea or Hungary or taking Indian trade and is moving to a fairly uncertain future where my tech speed is ever so slow but my army will be top quality if they at least get modern weapons.

Conversions tend to fail over and over again so it is a difficult choice in what direction to go for at this point. and I have to admit it’s sad not being able to convert Hungary to orthodox, I sure like that eu4 feature right now


inflation aar(long)
inflation ontime

 

[TC Pilot]

Hanseatic League: 1513-1530

In the wake of the events of the previous two decades, the Hanseatic League's strategic situation had markedly changed. The collapse of the Bavarian monarchy fundamentally altered the state of League's security concerns, replacing the constant fear of the threat of Bavarian attack upon the North German city-states with a profound sense of hope for future expansion. Likewise, the collapse of Scotland offered the League the prospect of not only reclaiming the City of London, but expanding further throughout the British Isles as well. North, south, and west, it seemed in every direction there were not possibilities and horizons opening up. But so too the damage of the previous war had been substantial, and there were voices which cautioned against overextending, lest the League suffer the same fate Brittany experienced a century earlier, and Bavaria within so recent memory.

In any event, the first few years were spent rebuilding and regaining some measure of stability. Restoring the League's trade position to a level it had enjoyed before the war with Bavaria proved to be frustratingly elusive. Countless merchants disappeared amidst the dark and frigid streets of Novgorod, their fates lost to the living. While this was underway, General Wacker also prepared a new army to restore order in England in the wake of the disappearance of the last king of Scotland. With the army readied and the fleet in position, war was declared upon this 'northern alliance' of Scotland and Norway. The Scottish army foolishly chose to do battle with Wacker's cavalry force in the plains of England, resulting in yet another historic triumph for the hero of Anhalt. With the bulk of the British forces in utter ruins, it was only a matter of time before London and its environs were liberated. The English countryside from Kent to the gates of York were handed over to the League, while the war's focus turned to the shores of Norway. With a small army and a seeming refusal to use it on the offensive, the Norwegians were only saved from thorough destruction by the Nordrige kingdom's decision to attack, blocking the League from scoring a total victory. Nevertheless, in this corner as well, land was gained, and the League was one step closer to its dream of a land connection between the capital and Novgorod.

Despite the relative ease of these military adventures, this would prove to be the last Hanseatic military expansion in the period. Abroad, new voyages of exploration and expeditions onto the vast North American continent resulted in the successful expansion of the Manhattan trading post into a collection of coastal towns and colonies from the Chesapeake up to Massachusetts. Changes in Hanseatic trade policy promised that these would not be the last colonial endeavors, and the rate of the flow of colonists across the Atlantic would no doubt only increase over time. Armies were also constantly being diverted to intervene in the anarchy which had beset the Polish realm in the wake of the death of their king.

Nevertheless, it was the religious upheavals in Europe that would prove the decisive factor in preventing further Hanseatic growth and expansion. The heretic Martin Luther, discontented by the increasing tolerance and humanism of the reform-minded Catholic Church, at last rose in open defiance of Rome's theological supremacy and inaugurated a revolutionary Reformation. At first, the League's merchant families proved contemptuous of and resistance to the teachings of these new heterodox ideas, but the great masses were far less resilient. Badly misjudging the desires of the population, the Hansa merchants opted to punish and suppress any signs of heresy amongst the people, resulting in a general collapse in stability and increasing threats of rebellion and revolt. Finally, with much of England, North Germany, and Scandinavia having majority Protestant populations, the Hansa merchants at last bowed to the inevitable and converted to the new teachings of Luther. It was a momentous decision, and the League is still coping with the implications of these changes. Instability is rife, and it very much remains to be seen whether or not the League's leaders have the charisma to convince the remaining Catholic believers to abandon their old ways, to say nothing of the people of Finland and Russia who have no allegiance to either Rome or Luther. Nevertheless, there are a number of possibilities that have opened up. It seems as though from this point on, it will be remarkably easier to expand in either Britain or Germany, any such war now being able to be presented in the guise of a religious struggle against kingdoms with competing religions. But, as in the case of all the League's plans, we shall see if they come of anything.

 

[King John]

Asturius 1513-1530 A Peaceful Session

Following their defeats in the previous session, the kings of Bavaria and Scotland had abdicated their thrones, leaving both kingdom's in total chaos. With no legitimate authority, it was left to their neighbors to restore order, dividing responsibility for maintaining order in the lands now led by brutal AI tyrants.

But that was something to be addressed later. Firstly, Asturius needed to quell the rebellion in Africa. The gold mines had been closed down, dropping my income by about 15 MI. Even worse, things had been spiraling for some time in the previous session, during the late stages of the war with Bavaria, and there was a real risk that some of those provinces would revolt back to the Mali. Given my high badboy, standing at about 22, this could not be tolerated, since it would necessity taking on a further 3 badboy(DOW + taking back a prov) to regain even a single prov.

Religious tension was considered to be at the root of the unrest. Most of sub Saharan Africa remains muslim. I've converted the pagan provinces down there, and the most sparsely populated provs, but the main population centers remain staunchly Muslim, and will likely remain so forever, unless by some miracle I get a few random conversions. But it's worth it because of the mines...

Anyway, the armies marched south and squashed the rebellion. They suffered a few casualties, but the mines were reopened, and the bottom line restored to where it should be, and my attention could turn again to other things(however, this time a larger garrison was left in Africa just in case).

With a few remaining years for my 7 admin monarch, I tried again to convert the last Muslim holdouts in Castille, and managed to get two more of the three. Aragon resisted this last attempt though, and with the coronation of the new monarch, it seems that it will get to stay Muslim for a while longer.

I ended up spending a lot of gold on stability in this session because of all the conversion events. First in Southern France, and then in the Low Countries, with each conversion costing me a stab point. Even after my badboy went below half capacity, my stab costs were still about 1300D.

To help combat this, I used my second DP click to go one further toward narrowmindedness. I think this allows me to get the random conversion events now, which I could really use. And given all the money I'm spending on stab, I think it may have saved some money, at least in the short run. In any case, the extra colonists should help.

Speaking of, a map deal was concluded with Genoa, and colonization began in the New World with a base in Panama. Perhaps not the best place to begin a colony, since the port, it turned out, faced the wrong way. But oh well. It gets me in line to attack the Peruvian pagans later on.

Trade expanded handsomely in Europe, and by the end of the session, accounted for about 50 MI, making Asturius the second strongest trade power.

Also, a few more provs were taken from Bavaria, which got into a war with me when it attacked my ally, Brittany. In this war, I gained two refineries and a FAA. Unfortunately, I made a mistake in the peace which prevented Brittany from gaining one of the provinces it wanted. A pity, but I think Bavaria will just keep DOWing them, since Brittany has such high BB. So there'll probably be many more opportunities to take that prov and other provs at the cheap rate of 1 bb per prov.

In general, the diplomatic landscape is a little hard to make sense of with the collapse of Scotland and Bavaria. With so much land now to be taken from the AI, the situation is a little like the beginning of a game, where players focus on expanding vs the AI rather than vs each other, and the points of conflict are still unclear. What will prompt the next crisis? It's hard to say.

I could make some guesses, though. On the one hand, you have this vast territory in Bavaria that Poland, Hansa, Brittany, and to a lesser extent, Asturius and Byzantium must have an interest in. Whoever can take the most from the AI will emerge with a major advantage, and I think most will consider them to have the strongest claim on whatever they take from the AI.

In Scotland, you have the same situation, between Asturius, Brittany, and the Hansa. Though it may be harder, since we all have high BB already, and the Scots are less likely to DOW than Bavaria is, so there won't be the opportunities to expand there for only 1 BB per prov.

I think my holdings in the Low Countries could also provide fuel for a fire. They're awkwardly placed, far away from my recruitment centers. They're also very wealthy. The original strategic justification for them is gone, now that Bavaria's collapsed. Of course, I still have a full right to them, as compensation for my part in taking on Bavaria, but that's no assurance against opportunism. Wars are often begun when one side perceives an advantage, whether real or imagined, and I won't be surprised if this stuff at some point looks like easy pickings to someone.

And then you have Italy. Byzantium still needs to hold Naples for a while to get latin tech, right? So that's kind of an interesting little tension there. Do its neighbors want it to get latin tech, and be more competitive with them?

And there may be more, lurking underneath the surface. Perhaps next session will be more exciting than this one was.

Ontime + long AAR: 2.5 deflation
2 FAAs = 60 *17 = 960 into stab.

 

[bluelotus]

Genoa

Not sure if I can write an AAr up before TC gets around for edits, so for now just 17*30 = 510 into stab.

P.s: 60*17 = 1020, John.

 

[admiral drake]

Byz aar 1513-1530


Wel to be fair in the aftermath of the previous session byzantine situation changed fairly drastic, where before dane quit i was in constant danger of being attacked or atleast had the impression from that side now i feel much more secure, though this could change when hal consolidates his holdings in the north properly


Byzantine has been spending some effort to get better economic tech this session but so far with little success, I stil have no idea what this idea called monopoly is and further study is needed into this matter.

At the same time the empire has suffered a recent change in dynasty after a very incompetent emperor rose to the throne in 1514 only to die 10years later, while his stats where pretty much catasctrophic (1-1-1) this was fortunately offset for a while thanks to capable ministers guiding the idiot king for the duration of his reign. The bonus was that it gave me +2 land for much of the session which I could use to offset any morale loss from the king being such a pussy by nature cowering behind his walls while the generals where leading the armys(a bad sign in roman culture).

When the emperor died 10 years later it was desided to go with the b option in the event granting us a minor slider change and a line of kings that we expect some good things from, while nobody is certain alexios the first of his line a dynasty I cannot pronounce already managed to successfully lead the empire for the rest of the session and I head his son has shown remarkable skill so we only hope he will lead the people as well or better as his father next session.

During the session Byzantium fought 2 main conflicts and one of them is stil ongoing at this point. The first was the Bulgarians being idiots war, they where reckless little vassals always dowing Poland and because Poland was ai right now I desided to dishonor the alliance thinking I would be able to bring them back later without to much trouble, I never expected to be so wrong.

When they finally peaced Poland they declared war on hungary, and since Byzantium just reformed the entire alliance I could not really dishonor it would possible serious issues like hungary and Georgia in a sep alliance for potentially ages. Therefore I homered hoping it would not break the vassalage but sadly it did, this caused me to loose 3stability and on top of that I was essentially forced to annex them to get rid of those bastards finally causing me to suffer a lot of bad boy on top of that, letting Hungary annex it was no real option either since I didn’t want them to convert the orthodox prov in Bulgaria.


As for the next conflict me and Genoa had a plan to go after the maps of the sindh and some land of course. Unfortunately it appeared that after dowing sindh they somehow allied both Bagdad and the western Egyptian guy causing both of them to join the war. Now to be fair both where pretty much pushovers but even so the empire had to spend considerable effort in putting down the Arabians from Bagdad after which I covered all of his provinces and let Georgia siege everything it could, with the idea that I would let him annex and hopefully convert as much as possible from it before annexing Georgia eventually. As far as I remember the sindh where tough but the worst problems were essentially the fact that most of central and eastern Persia had very low forts or support limits causing significant attrition to reach the east. Unfortunately for them byzantine has now control of both the capitol and Kutch at the end of the session and the war will probably end soon. Just a matter of getting Bagdad to accept terms and Sindh to, and fortunately It appeared somehow the Egyptians are alliance leader so should have no risk of alliance peacing the former 2.

Next session byz is hoping for some peace so we can finally figure out what monopolizing is and does and how to do it ourselves and after that only time will tell but I suspect we will need to vassalize Sicily to trigger the event so Byzantium can finally join the Latin group and enjoy a slight boost in tech speed (which is horrible right now) and we only pray that many conversions will succeed

ontime
deflation
aar long
core = 489

 

[bluelotus]

The Most Serene Republic of Genoa

1530 – 1561​

Thing continued where they were left off in the previous session (of which the accounts were sadly lost) for Genoa. I focused on two areas of colonisation, the South African area appeared as a secondary place for colonists alongside the Caribbean main effort. In the opening few years this took most of my attention, as I already had 5 or 6 merchants in each CoTs I knew, a courtesy from last session’s trading. This position was already providing me with a hefty sum of 1000 ducats a year which I promptly invested in getting infrastructure 5. Progress could have been faster, but since I am maxed out towards free trade on the mercantile slider, I had to occasionally shift some money into the treasury to send out new merchants. After remembering that I had a conquistador waiting, I also remembered that discovering Zanzibar was an easy step, and it should have been done last week. I quickly sent my warships around Africa and during their journey I bribed Kilwa (the AI who owns the CoT) and acquired an MA through their territory. This enabled me to sail into Port Zanzibar which in turn allowed me to set up my merchants in that wealthy trade hub.

A few years into the session my earlier deal with Byzantine Drake activated and he moved to siege Messina, while I loaded off an army to siege Constantinople. My first assault failed miserably but the second one was a slow, but ultimately successful attempt. Drake asked me to loan Messina to him for an event, which I agreed to in exchange for the Byzantine maps that were on steroid due to Imperials acquiring Asian maps from Super-Sindh. Originally I thought this would let me trade in the other two Indian CoTs and maybe in Malacca as well. However, after my assault was done I was astonished to find the maps reaching as far as Japan. This provided me a unique opportunity and for the next years I focused in monopolizing these CoTs. The results were spectacular, my income started to increase really fast. This happened just in time, as infrastructure 5 was finished in 1541-42, and I needed a good amount of money to promote mayors in most of my provinces. By the end of the decade I also managed to reach trade 5.

However, while I was immersed in my economics I suddenly realised that something was amiss. Before session John sought me out for a 20-year long nap to which I naturally agreed. In 1548 I offered to extend the nap with another 20 years or at least to the end of the session. After a while John got back to me and counter-offered a nap to 1558 which, albeit was shorter than I wanted, I happily accepted. This meant two things: first, I could finish trade 5 without needing to postpone it; second, the vacuum that was created by the lack of Bavaria put an end to my cooperation with John. I started to amass a new fleet while also teching to LT14. I was able to churn out 80 galleys a year in Liguria which I decided was somewhat lacking, so I constructed an additional shipyard in Firenze. While my capacity doubled with this move, I still find it less than adequate, but I had to invest my spice profit into other things as well. One of these major investments was a fortification effort in the Alps. I am really happy that I started the Ligurian medium fort before anything else, as after I finished it an event popped up that raised Liguria up to large (it was supposed to give +2, raising it to mighty, as far as I’m aware, but only 1 happened).

Along my navy, I also raised my army putting myself over the maintenance limit in both fields. Thankfully, the trade riches are still enough at this stage to maintain such an excess amount of troops. Normally I wouldn’t have done this, but Asturias won’t be coming alone against me for sure, Brittany is also built up. Maybe I should have taken a few CoTs in India that I could throw in to appease my Western neighbours, but I figured I am getting enough trade income without actually owning the CoTs. I must admit I was sort of expecting a conflict with John, despite the earlier cooperation we did. This is not an issue though, it’s only natural that after our mutual concern was removed, that is, Bavaria, John would reshuffle his political stance. I already inquired the terms that Asturias-Brittany would be seeking and I must say they are pretty reasonable. Delian is also able to use his 6 fire 6 shock general for three more years to back up their demands. However, losing those assets wouldn’t put a dent in my income as about 58% of my 5000YI is coming from trade. To catch up on my economy, they’d need to find the way to Asia, which is now guarded by a large fort in Liguria.

I am pretty rusty when it comes to war in Eu2 so I don’t want to go into predictions about the outcome. Nevermind the outcome, I expect to lose some of my income next Sunday as people will surely reach the Asian CoTs and will find a way to reduce my omnipotent presence in the Asian trade market. But fear not, I am not burying Genoese supremacy with these lines. John’s navy hasn’t yet broken though my 800 galleys and nor have the Astu-Breton armies managed to throw the Republican forces off their Alpian forts.

Words: 938

Ontime rewards:
-1 inflation

AAr reward:
-1.5 inflation and -0.5 inflation from 2 weeks ago's leftover rewards

Also, I seem to have forgotten to ask for ontime reward for last week, could I ask for that? If yes yay, if no boo.

FAA: 31*30 = 930 into stab.
+1 fort on Liguria (403) - event was bugged, posted in skype

 

[admiral drake]

Aar byzantium 1530-1561​

The byzantine empire during the session spend much of his focus on trade and infra tech to improve the economy a little further with my main enemy gone and Poland in disarray up to now I was able to pretty much spend the session dowing 1 ai after another and repeat


Each time Bavaria was downed when the ai was fighting somebody else to grab some land for the Hungarian vassals and usually this did not take to much effort to do.
During each truce with bavaria war was declared on Baghdad to push further into Egypt, Arabia and Persia all of which allied each other for my convenience most of the gains were usually made by my vassals but some exceptionally rich lands where taken for the empire personally such as the cot Kutch or the lands nears Isfahan in western Persia


In the mean time I allowed my vassal Georgia to expand a lot in Arabia in a effort to reduce Bagdad to a single province, something I have not succeeded yet but someday I will (I hope) and the alliance they have with Egypt allowed me to grab delta a rich province along the Nile that serves as a base for future expansion in that region

During all the warfare with ai I did manage to save up some gold and mint some more to build 6 refineries, this on top of a event to bring back my weapon Manu and my free fine art in Jerusalem put me back at a nice number by now
In total the empire has spend at the very least 2 wars against Bavaria last session, both of which was designed to have Hungary siege as many provinces as possible around Vienna and to grant them the former Austrian lands in the end

In the middle east there was a bit of a confusion as times and I fought at least 3wars last session against the combined ai of Egypt, Bagdad, Persia and north Africa and keep doing it until Bagdad will be reduced to ashes or belong to the empire, same as Alexandria some day, Byzantium has no real designs to push further east however other then perhaps some cots but I guess we can see what happens. Bad boy and conversions make expansion painful either way.

In the current war the byzantine empire is actually unsure what to demand, as there is only 1 province left in Persia that I want, Bagdad only has 2 shitty African provinces left, Cairo is occupied by Persia but they do not peace because another province in the Congo is holding out in defense against them. Perhaps some lands in Egypt but they would be disconnected and in a ugly spot, so I guess Sunday will tell where to go from here, but I suspect my days of warring ai constantly are almost over, by this point all lands I wanted to take from Bavaria have been captured and Bavaria is down to 2 thanks to a insanely greedy Poland taking most of interior Germany, but in the end I could care less about Germany itself.

only 1 alliance left to dow after this war and that will be Bagdad again and again until they die and that wont happened until Egypt is part of the empire to most likely.

As for the rest byzantine empire has finally discovered the art of monopolizing and what it does so I would appreciate if people stop messing around with them now
A attempt might be made to incooperate the Hungarians in the empire soon as the empire has his best longterm king right now it might be the best time to try and convert it all afterall (king is about 1adm/mil weaker then doukas but lives 50+years vs doukas 15)


Other then that I think Byzantine has not much else to say other then we wish peace with our neighbors

As a policy I’m kind of curious what will happened in Italy next week, will people attack the wealthy Italians ? who knows but we are a bit concerned about other people stealing byzantine maps from Genoa so we will be watching that development closely.

As for the rest very few people bother to visit the byzantine court lately so I can only wonder what my neighbors are plotting, but if people would actually bother to ask they would find I can be reasonable if they make a effort to do the same.



im assuming bb rewards are doubled now tc ?
ontime
bb
aar 750+words
core 1.5 1532

 

[TC Pilot]

Hanseatic League: 1530-1561

This AAR ought probably to have been written several days ago, so the events of these three decades would be clearer in my mind. As you may recall, last session, the issue of stability was the paramount issue, owing to all the problems that arose as a consequences of the Reformation, and a dogged adherence to Catholicism for longer, perhaps, than I ought to have. Stability, however, was not the greatest concern this time around, and it could be said that warfare and AI bashing was once again the name of the game. Before going into greater detail on that, however, I can report on some small progress toward establishing a degree of religious unity. Both the capital and Frisia, two provinces where I actually have an accepted religion, were successfully converted. Most of my remaining provinces have, at best, 25-30% chances of conversion. We shall see how that unfolds over the coming years.

Colonization, too, grew by a certain level. Cities were finally established in Manhattan and bordering provinces, and colonies were established basically from Maine southward into Georgia, effectively replicating England's "Thirteen Colonies" from the OT. This was helped in great part by a random conquistador/explorer combination I received via event, and I used this conquistador to explore far inland, including most of the Iroquois lands and as far west as the Mississippi lands, which allowed me to establish trading posts in Illinois. There is obviously much of the world left to be explored, and there will be a pressing need for that in the future; when the Hansa merchants look to the profits the traders of the other countries are earning every year, it is clear that greater efforts need to be made to uncover the secrets of the distant and mysterious east. Trade as-is has essentially hit a plateau for the Hansa, with no real prospect of major growth within the current centers of trade available to us. Some internal development also occurred, with the promotion of chief judges in a variety of provinces, helping to alleviate some of the stability and revolt risk, as well as providing a modest income boost. For the Hansa, any extra scrap of income will be most welcome.

The Hansa also engaged in several wars, though thanks to our religion and a series of timely events, they were fought without major stability losses. Two wars were fought against the Scotland-Norway alliance, reducing Norway to a single province around Oslo, while taking some more territory from the Scottish. Nordrige, in contrast, did the Hansa League a favor by declaring war on us, rather than forcing us to find an excuse to do it instead. The Hansa, of course, took maximum advantage of this slip-up, and the Nordrige state, too was reduced down to a single province. A series of wars were also fought in central Germany. The League came to a deal with the princes of Asturias, who consented to sell the provinces of Hessen and Kleves for a lump sum of gold. This had the effect of straightening out the border along the Rhine, for overall improvement to cartographer's aesthetic pleasure. Wars were also fought against Bavaria, resulting in the acquisition of Anhalt, which had originally been slotted for annexation before the disappearance of the Bavarian monarch. The walls of Munich were also brought down and intrepid Hansa explorers seized the Bavarian maps, giving the League knowledge of lands as far east as the Indian subcontinent. Finally, after many decades of peace, war was renewed against the savage tribes of Finland. Under the command of another skilled general, it was hoped the war might be prosecuted more effectively than last time. Those hopes were obviously a bit premature, as victories against numerically inferior Finnish armies were elusive, and the snows in Artic winter took their toll on the armies of whoever strayed outside their own provinces. War still rages on in 1561, with Hansa reinforcements on their way. It will be only a matter of time now before Finland is crushed once and for all, and the road connection between Novgorod and the capital and last secured after so many years of that ambition deferred.

The next few years will prove interesting for the League. Will it be able to explore in earnest? Will colonization continue smoothly? Will the war with Finland be concluded without undue pain? And, perhaps most interesting of all, how will the balance of power develop in the Mediterranean? Rumors of war, reflected by the massive build-up in forces and the naval arms race between Genoa and Asturias, leaves the merchants of the League convinced that they are about to witness the very beginnings of a titanic struggle. A pity Protestants can't do royal marriages with Catholics.

 

[King John]

Asturius 1530-1561

I conquered a bunch of South American minors, improved trade, and had an arms race with Genoa. I don't ask for a reward for this AAR, though...Just thought I'd claim an ontime reward, and FAA bonus(though technically it may be too late. I guess maybe it depends on whether edits were done today, or will be tomorrow before session?)

Worth a try, anyway. If I can still claim these:

Ontime: -1 inflation
AAR: 30*31 = 930

 

[King John]

Asturius 1561-1586

I wasn't really sure whether Brittany and Asturius would be better off going to war with Genoa or not. In the end, we ended up signing a NAP, and then spent the next couple decades making sidelong glances at each others' military tech levels, and occasionally battling it out in the neutral Asian cots.

There were a number of pros and cons that had to be considered before arriving at this point

Pro:
Brittany had a 566 guy for a few years.
Con:
He was going to die 3 years earlier than the Genoese uber(364. Maybe not quite "uber" but still pretty good)
Pro:
We were going to have more ships, when our fleets combined, and Brittany had an uber admiral
Con:
Brittany was behind a naval CRT, and my admirals were all junk
Pro:
We had more manpower
Con:
Genoa had more money than us both combined, and lots of big forts
Pro:
It seemed like fun.
Con:
That might have been blinding our judgment slightly.

Also, reasons. For one, the prospect of profiting from a war against Genoa looked a little unlikely. The main thing we lacked was maps, and though they had gotten very good maps from Byzantium, their capital was now all but impenetrable because of a +2 fort event(on top of a medium). We could have maybe taken a few provs, but who knows what that would have set in motion some years down the road?

The other option was to try to get them directly from Byzantium. Since their tech was too horrible, that might've been a real possibility. A war vs Genoa, and then a lightning raid on Constantinople? That would've been neat. Or a sneaky attack right on Sicily? I don't know. (Or we could've just taken them from Bavaria. That's what Brittany ended up doing for its maps. Not as cool as taking them from a player, though).

In the end, I resorted to negotiations because, I hadn't mentioned this, but I had some uncertainty about being able to play the whole session because of a work shift that somehow bypassed the availability update I turned in earlier. That got me thinking that maybe a diplomatic approach would bear better fruit in the end. When I realized I was able to get it covered, I tried to tighten the terms a little bit to my favor, hoping on some level that negotiations would break off and we'd end up having the fun war we planned before. But in the end, it felt like kind of a dicky thing to spend all this time haggling, and then break it off. I also had not yet realized Bavaria had good maps.

And, with the huge distraction that fulfilling this deal entailed, and the effect a delay would have on our chances in war, I ended up also negotiating a 20 year NAP with Genoa for me and Brittany.

The decisive issues in that decision, which Genoa was fortunately still amenable to a year in the session, were: Genoa reaching LT 18 in the near future, and us having a leader gap between 67-71, where we'd have to wait for the next randoms while Genoa would still have some historical ones to fall back on.

Plus, after all the haggling, it was nice be able to just sign a NAP and make a clean break from international politics for a while, to focus on SP type stuff, such as capitalizing on the new maps I was soon getting from Drake, which showed all the Asian cots. It was slow going getting established in there, but my merchants made some progress. Meanwhile, I was losing merchants in other places, since with my limited yearly merchants(7.8 when I have both my cots mono'd), there isn't enough to expand and retain what I've already got very effectively.

So, I did that, and I took advantage of a cb event against an AI in Peru to take 2kD from them. And I also DOW'd one of the alliances there, annexing another minor, and vassalizing another. The two AI that I've converted in the area have done a good job of converting their provs so far, and hopefully by the end of next session, they'll be able to wrap that up. I also made progress with my conversions down there, and have gotten most of them finished.

In the old world, things are different. I've got four religions to manage, so things can get a little revolty when WE goes up. I should try to stomp out one of the protestant sects.

With my explorer, I found a route around Africa, so that I could send a fleet to Asia. And then decided to try to get the Sri Lankan cot. DOW'd them, and with Brittany's help we plan to have them annexed soon. That's where things leave off. Oh, and the Genoese NAP has expired...

Ontime + Early AAR + long AAR = 2.1 deflation (Since that's all I have)
FAA: 25 *30 = 750

 

[TC Pilot]

Hanseatic League: 1561-1586

The events of this session have put the Hanseatic League into an interesting position, one I am not quite sure how to change or solve. Perhaps the most notable event of the session was the rise of Jean Calvin and his newfangled religion. Regrettably, a number of Hansa provinces found his theological arguments persuasive, and converted. The League can thus say that it currently rules over provinces with four separate major religions. This had the unfortunate effect to pushing my religion sliders to the breaking point. Reformed and Muslim had been set to full intolerance since the 15th Century, and the stability costs of the this situation will be problematic for certain in the coming years. This is especially the case when you consider my "monarch," which happens to be the Hansa Parliament. I had originally intended to take the route whereby the Hanseatic executive names himself king and establishes a dynasty that is eventually overthrown in the 17th Century. Unfortunately, due to my low centralization sliders, I had no choice but to pick the Parliament, meaning that the League is now stuck with a monarch that lives for decades and decades, with steadily-decreasing stats to reflect the increasing incompetent, corruption, and decadence of the Parliament. Consequently, conversion of the wrong-culture provinces of the League (so, just about everything) is very slow and painful. There is about a 1 in 4 chance of conversion in most provinces, a ratio that was reflected in the actual conversions I could afford to attempt during this quarter century.

Militarily, the League enjoyed some successes with the reduction of Finland to a one-province minor. At long last, Novgorod and the other League provinces of Russia now have a land connection with the capital. It has taken many wars, a great deal more effort than it ultimately should have, but finally my armies can march from one end of the realm to the other... except for England, but oh well, I'm manage with that. Other than concluding the war with Finland, the League did not truly engage in any military action during the session. I did have plans to quickly annex the Iroquois confederacy on the border of my colonial realm, but my random conquistador suddenly and prematurely expired, apparently killed in battle with natives while attempting to settle colonies on the Appalachians in order to connect Illinois with the East Coast colonies. Worse, the Iroquios chose to adopt the Protestant faith, meaning any declaration of war will cost stability the League can ill afford at this point in time. The League did, however, engage in a spur of the moment war with the remains of Bavaria, which was making itself a perennial nuisance by bombing my monopolies in Holstein, with the intent on seizing Dresden and the trading post the Bavarians had somehow established in Maine. But that war was hardly of much consequence, and was more a matter of assaulting and sieging down small forts in two provinces than any sort of battle.

The League's random explorer has had greater luck. After gaining military access from Genoa, the explorer rounded the Cape of Good Hope and discovered Zanzibar and the East Africa coast. From there, the explorer proceeded past the Arabian peninsula and into India. After a slow discovery of the Sri Lanka and Bengal centers of trade, he explored southward and located the Mallacca center, promising a number of new trade opportunities. Progress in establishing a Hansa commercial presence there was slow, owing in part to how much it cost to sent merchants to those locales, but trade income to the treasury has been slowly expanding past its plateau from last session. The prospect of further exploration of the Far East, and perhaps even some conquest and colonization, suggest there is room for further growth ahead.

But perhaps the most important prospect for the future is the eventual completion of Infra 5. When the session ended, the League was within sight of completing it, having dedicated most of its treasury investment to the project. With governors eventually installed, the League can start to slowly chip away at the inflation the years of minting have allowed to build up. With that accomplished, it may perhaps also be possible to accomplish a slow, but steady conversion of the non-Protestant provinces. The years to come will require the League to step carefully, or else risk sinking into instability and chaos, and risk falling from the first ranks of the nations of the world.

 

[TC Pilot]

On an unrelated note, I'm tripling the BB reduction bonus if you pick it.

 

[admiral drake]

Aar 15672-1586


The Byzantine empire Marks this era with the fall of the caliphate and the liberation of Egypt, during the session both Alexandria and Bagdad where annexed by the combined forces of Imperial troops, Hungarians and Georgians, and we had some help from the Asturians to in the final days of the war.

While the both Muslims nations where finally crushed to pieces the empire can now rest fairly secure, knowing that all the Muslim nations that remain are unable to challenge the empire to any serious degree, what is left are the split up remains of a once powerful nation to the east called the Sindh, a nation that stil occupies many areas in Persia and near the western lands of India but has been split in 2 by the empire and its great Asian ally the Chagatai khanate, the Sindh now pay tribute to the empire and have all but surrendered in the last war. With both access the richest provinces and the cot they once possessed now in hands of the empire.

In the south we have a alliance left of some pitiful Muslim states in Arabia barely worth my attention outside of 1 potential detail, the evil bastards stool a rich port from my vassal in Georgia which may need to be retaken at some point.

In the west we have a good friend in Genoa and we hope to keep that friendship going but Byzantium is in favor of peace along my European borders in general as we are kind of afraid of the giant polish behemoth rising in the north there.

Along the African coastline we have a few minor Muslims left that cause us no issues so far and probably not worth the effort to conquer.

As of this moment the byzantine Empire has no real territorial claims on the current borders of the empire outside 1 province near Baghdad that the Arabians stole from my vassal, it’s a major and important harbor of the region, probably one of the best along the Persian gulf (I’d call it Arabian but don’t want to upset my Persian vassal)

But other than that we look forward to colonize a bit peacefully and explore some more, as of right now the empire is setting up a base in brazil and plan to turn the area Greek and orthodox and I hope others will respect the empire his claim on the region just like we plan to respect other people claims in other areas. The empire has no desire or claim on any other region in the new world.

And of course in Asia the empire will stop any attempt to expand for a long time after finishing my little affair in Ganges. The entire country is currently under siege, the army has been destroyed and it is only a matter of time before the north east Indian trade will flow through a imperial center of trade. While we invite all people to trade in imperial centers of trade we hope they will respect our request to not send merchants in my centers of trade until I have 5 there myself (and don’t break monopolies )

So far we seem to have good to reasonable relations with most of our neighbors, though I think part of is has to do that with the disappearance of the Bavarian duke many people had plenty of room to expand further and on top of that with the rise of some protesting religious groups in the catholic side of christianity it appears that many people have been struck by religious unrest and stab and bad boy issues in Europe, however is does appear the silly Catholics brought their issues with them to Hungary right before they were re-united with the empire, which caused a number of problems for the empire, as we have now a few reformed and protestant provinces that I need to get rid of fairly fast. But I have confidence in my good and capable emperor his ability to convince all the protestants, reformed and Catholics of the error of their ways and join the orthodox faith like true believers do. Muslims on the other should just die but sadly I cannot destroy Baghdad myself in game so I will just have to pray to god for a random event to convert that city and many others

Byzantine empire plans for next session at this are mostly around colonize brazil, be peaceful and catch up in tech and convert all those evil heathens

ontime reward
bb (if possible)

aar big (756words i think)
badboy

fine art
1500 (25*60)

 

[bluelotus]

No AAr from me this time but

ontime: -inflation
FAA: 25*30 = 750

 

[TC Pilot]

Hanseatic League: 1586-1616

This session may be roughly described as a disaster for the League's fortunes. Instability, rebellion, stagnation, and decay characterized much of this period, and the people of the League could look to little to brighten their spirits. And yet, somewhat ironically, the period began with reason for high hopes. A series of fortuitous events allowed for the League's stability to grow to the maximum amount, stabilizing an otherwise tenuous situation given the perilous religious demographics of the League. Furthermore, technological improvements in infrastructure allowed for the promotion of governors in all the League's European provinces. After several years, during which the League's printing presses worked around the clock and at record speeds, the League could look forward to a steady reduction in inflation. The League's inflation rate only grew by approximately 1 percent this session. The fact that I was minting for several years straight should offer testament, then, to just how useful those governors have been already.

Unfortunately, the good times rapidly came to an end. The Hansetag continued its steady decline into mediocrity, incompetence, and corruption. Any hope of initiating a program of conversion died with it. In many provinces, the odds of successfully convincing the population to give up there ways was ranked as low as 9%. This was no basis for the creation of a uniform religious settlement, but so long as stability was maintained, the situation was manageable. Naturally, stability was not maintained. Events struck in rapid succession, reducing the League to negative stability. Consequently, it was increasingly difficult to maintain the position the League's merchants had established in the trade war. Across the globe, in centers of trade from India to America, Hansa merchants were driven out of business, destroying the country's trade, the very basis of its original existence. Trade continued to collapse to almost unprecedented lows, exacerbating an increasingly desperate situation.

Part of the effort to arrest this decline was the decision to employ the main Hansa fleet of warships and transports in an attack upon the tyrants of Mallaca, who had unjustly banned Hansa merchants from their markets many years earlier. A major army was prepared and sent on the long, arduous journey around Africa and into the Indian Ocean. Eventually, with the Hansa fleet now off the Malaya coast, war was declared. Immediately, the war began to go poorly. Somehow, the numerically inferior Mallaccan navy crushed the Hansa forces in a quick battle. The enemy fleet quickly fled to Singapore, however, allowing the invaders to land at the capital. What followed was an arduous and ludicrously long siege. The capital held out for a grand total of 6 years. During this time, they launched repeated and determined attacks on the sieging army, only to be crushed at every turn.

It was the Polish decision to overturn centuries of friendship and mutual hospitality and attack the League which prevented us from bringing the war to a successful conclusion. Polish forces swarmed across the Oder River. The bulk of the Hansa army made its stand at Munster, hoping to repeat the miraculous victories it had earlier achieved against Bavaria. Sadly, this was not so, and the Hansa cavalry suffered a punishing defeat. The survivors, fortunately, were able to slip away as the Poles proceeded to lay siege to northern Germany, and regrouped at Copenhagen, where money and men were being gathered to fight to the bitter end, as it had been many years earlier. Fortuitously, the League found support from neighboring states, particularly Brittany, which offered to intervene on our behalf. Meanwhile, the League had amassed an army of approximately 90,000 in Copenhagen, and proceeded to march south to repel the Polish invaders. Breton troops were marching across the border as well, and a great battle was fought at Magdeburg. Breton assistance proved invaluable. Though the League would probably have won the day in any case, the arrival of the Breton troops minimized the losses, allowing us to capitalize on our victory. Berlin was taken by assault, as was Silesia. Finally, the Polish army was thrown back at the gates of Krakow, and the decadent Polish capital fell to our combined assault. A white peace was thereby signed, but the cost had been high. The League's manpower reserves had been completely stripped bare, and war exhaustion was reaching massive levels. Worse, the war with Malacca was still underway. Efforts were made to finish the war to our benefit, the country would have been swamped with rebels by the time reinforcements reached Malaya.