The Shortest Road to Damascus

[aldriq]

18

Island roads and causeways
1612-25​

In the end I opt for Military Drill, if nothing else for the extra morale to help assualting forts. Not that I need it against Austria; Corfu falls in June 1612 but it doesn't grant me enough WS for both Palermo and Messina, so I take Palermo.

It's only later I realise I could have used the same Corfu-Sicily blockade tactics to occupy Venezia, but then that'd be probably too gamey. After losing so many wars the Austrians would have already built a causeway or bridge into Venice, like they did IRL in the 19th century Never mind, I'm sure I'll get the rest of Sicily in the next war.

But the peace with Austria was just one of the many things to happen in a rather eventful 1612. First Ethiopia DoWs me again, this time bringing in Poland. This worries me a bit because my ally Astrakhan has very high WE and rebels are becoming a problem for them.

Next my king dies and the first regency council of the entire game -I think- takes his place.

And my warning to Yemen finally triggers when they attack Hedjaz. Only Najd supports Yemen.

Unfortified Najd is quickly vassalised (I only take a province from them, to connect my Omani provinces). Yemen annexes Hedjaz, saving me the annexation. I eventually sign peace with them in 1614 for Mocha, Hadramut and Socotra.

I sign peace with Ethiopia for some ducats after achieving a couple of Polish provinces for Astrakhan. Poland collapses shortly afterwards letting Lithuania become independent.

A new policy change: I move towards defensive this time. In 1616 a new king ascends to the throne, al-Salih III (7a/6m/3d), following the long tradition of hopeless diplomats in this royal family

At least now I can DoW Castille when the truce expires in 1617. Needless to say Castille is very much a walk in the park now. In only a few months their forces in Iberia and Africa are destroyed, just as I reach land technology 23 (Muslim Musketeers).

With all the Iberian and North African provinces occupied I obtain a 76% WS peace deal. This time I start taking African provinces in case Fez or someone else might want to get opportunistic. I also take Beira to have full access to Portugal.

And to avoid being unpredictable Austria DoWs while I'm at war with Castille. Of course it ends predictably

In the far east the colony in the Andaman Islands becomes self-sustaining in 1618. My next colony is set up in Sulu, also producing spices. In 1621 I receive a call to arms from this area (I had warned Mahapahit a few years ago) but I end all in a white peace as my main ally in the area, Brunei, is reluctanct to disembark a single regiment in Mahapahit.

A more useful call to arms comes a few months later when Shaybanid attacks Kokkand, and all of Shaybanid's friends abandon the alliance...

Finally an opportunity to link-up Samarkand

During 1622-24 I send some cavalry north to help Astrakhan with their still endemic rebel problem. They can't collapse now, after coming all this way in one piece!

In 1625 the truce with Castille expires. My BB is still high and I have received quite a few warnings, I wonder whether I should rest for a few years before resuming hostilities...

Or keep on pushing into Iberia... Oh look! Lisbon is available

_________________

Syria in 1625

Provinces: 103
At peace.
Allied with Astrakhan, TE, Algiers, Tripoli, Adal, Najd, Kokkand. CB on France and Iraq. Guaranteeing Algiers, Tripoli Khorasan. Warned by Portugal, Yemen, Khorasan, Ethiopia and Swahili.
Vassals: Najd, Oman, Algiers, Tripoli, Adal, TE.
Stability: +3
BB: 15.12
Monarch: Caliph al-Salih III (7a/6m/3d)
Army: 130 (54/76/0)
Navy: 117 (73/7/4/33)
WE: 0

 

[aldriq]

Any hints???

All will be revealed... in due course... maybe

 

[Enewald]

You should start removing OPMs that are inside your borders.
And take Lisbon asap!

 

[Sweboy]

And those Castillian eyesores you have scattered all over the northern Africa and the south of the Iberian peninsular.

What goals do you have left before you reached the end of the game.


HINTS please!

 

[Malurous]

Just out of curiosity, are you going to grab all of Spain this time or leave the northeastern provinces (Asturias, Vizcaya, Navarra) alone? The latter option would follow the Caliphate map accurately but then again, you haven't been limited by those borders before

Great job!

 

[unmerged(90806)]

the Baleares! who doesn't want to go to Ibiza!?

 

[Brandenburg III]

Things seem to be rolling well for you these days. I doubt there’s anything that can stop you.

Although I must comment that if I were in your position, I’d stop worrying about Astrakhan falling apart. If they do fall apart and you remain allies, that ought to bring you into more wars with your neighbors. But if you’re keeping them around just for fun, do what you can.

I like your policy change to defensive, too. In my 1.3 days I went full offensive, these days, at least for my style, I go 75% defensive. Bringing down big forts later in the game is important and assaulting every single fort can quickly lead to manpower depletion.

 

[aldriq]

19

Safer roads from Lisbon to Moscow
1625-38​

With so many people warning me, the DoW, in November 1625, is irresistible All the alliances and warnings are honoured on both sides.

Castillian forts are swiftly assaulted and their forces dealt with by March 1626. The Portuguese stack is a bit more resilient but equally destroyed.

Khorasan surrenders in June, this should be my last war with them.

While the rest of Iberia falls I move sliders to defensive again, and Austria, following the time-honoured tradition DoWs me mid-war Austia brings in Tver, Aragon and Prussia.

Yemen surrenders in 1627, becoming a vassal. That's Arabia sorted.

However Portugal is not very willing to part with a single province, despite all of her Iberian and north African possessions being under my control. I guess that's the downside of Portugal having moved capital to Argentina, her European provinces are cheap (Lisboa is only worth 6%), but the damage you can cause without landing in America is limited

I don't think it's worth deploying my navy in South America and extending the war to scrap a few WS points, when I can just get the Portuguese provinces in the peace deal with Castille in August 1628. In a 67% WS deal I take Lisboa, Bragança, Ceuta, Algarve, Cáceres (to further isolate the Castillian capital in Toledo) and Safi (to keep Fez and the rest of the Portuguese coast of Africa in check).

I only continue the war with Austria so that Astrakhan can recover some of her provinces lost to Tver, but to no avail; they sign a white peace before I can secure a useful deal for them Rebels and high WE are still their biggest problem.

After that I sign peace with Austria and I can settle down for a bit, let BB go down and focus on peace-time activities. My colony in Sulu becomes a city at the end of 1630. I send new colonists to Bone.

After a couple of failed attempts I diplo-annex my first vassal, Tripoli, finally linking my North African lands to the rest of the empire.

In 1634 I get the first decent diplomat caliph: al-Ashraf III (4 adm/4 mil/8 dip), which should be helpful to burn BB faster and perform some more diplo-annexations.

Elsewhere the 17th century runs its natural course of consolidation. France turbo-annexes Chimu and Great Britain turbo-annexes the Iroquois, the last surviving native American nations.

Japan annexes Korea. Ming annexes Ayuttaya. In India Maharashtra becomes the dominant power - will it last this time?

And Astrakhan becomes Empire in 1635. At long last, no more pretender rebels!

In 1637 I lose 2 stability points in two unpleasant events: first Smugglers running rampant (the other choice is tax-crippling) and then Military Divided, which at least gives me a free move towards defensive. On top of that I lose 3 colonists trying to set up a colony in Bone, so I give up and send the forth one to Dongola; the upper Nile might not be as rich as Indonesia but I can't afford to waste my paltry 0.4 colonists a year like that.

At least my missionaries are much more successful than my colonists, re-converting north Africa and Iberia to the true faith

Time for another war with Castille... hold on, the Austrians DoW again in February 1638... will they ever learn

The usual suspects join (Prussia, Tver, Aragon). I hope this time Astrakhan can take something from Tver.


_________________

Syria in 1638

Provinces: 114
At war with Austria*, Tver, Aragon, Prussia.
Allied with Astrakhan, TE, Algiers, Adal, Najd, Kokkand, Kashmir, Yemen. CB on France, Prussia, Austria and Iraq. Guaranteeing OE, TE. Warned by the Mamluks. Warning Fez.
Vassals: Najd, Oman, Algiers, Adal, Yemen, TE.
Stability: +1
BB: 15.69
Monarch: Caliph al-Ashraf III (4a/4m/8d)
Army: 160 (59/101/0)
Navy: 135 (80/9/3/43)
WE: 0

 

[aldriq]

Enewald - As requested

Sweboy - Those Castillian eyesores are being dealt with, don't you worry.

Malurous - Thanks. I want to take all of Iberia, including the Pyrenees -if I can- from France.

gabor - France for desserts

Brandenburg III - Now that I have so much morale to spare moving to defensive is a no-brainer. I want Astrakhan to succeed just as another game goal, I don't really need them for protection any more.

 

[Sweboy]

I assume we can wave goodbye to Aragon this time around.

Your missionaries seems to bet better than mine at doing their job. They just cause rebellions in my game.

 

[unmerged(10971)]

Astrakhan an empire... no kidding, from the looks of it.

And when do you plan on getting rid of Granada? And retaking the Pillars of Hercules... Iberia still looks too much a mess for my taste.

 

[unmerged(90806)]

Austria's working like a clock
there are so many eyesores there (granada!) which i hope you'll deal with soonish, but you know what i really will waiting for is the dessert

 

[humancalculator]

Good Job.

I hope that you can soon take over all of Iberia.

 

[Enewald]

Drive Austria out from South-Italy this time?

 

[unmerged(111870)]

Your rise to supremacy has been swift, but no surprise.

Anything, that could break your back ?

 

[Capibara]

At this pace you could conquer all of Europe, perhaps even a WC But I have to agree, this turns should be relatively easy.

 

[aldriq]

20

Roadkill prevention for janissaries
1638-50​

We left it at the start of new war with Austria and friends. Usual technique applies: Aragon neutralised, Austrian coast blockaded, Tver invaded by Astrakhan. This time I can successfully exact a decent deal for my ally: Tver is reduced to two provinces. Now that Astrakhan has a proper government I'm confident that the new border with Sweden won't be a problem.

From Aragon I take their only overseas province left, Sierra Leone. Austria gives up with a white peace in 1640, after I wipe out their new 35-galley fleet

I immediately sell Sierra Leone to Mali; given that it's now their only province with a fort I hope they can hold on to it. I'm not really interested in keeping an isolated province in Sub-Saharan Africa, or sharing a colonial border with France for that matter.

In 1642 I push the slider to centralised, to make up for my last diplo-annexation. And of course in 1643, when I was due for the next annexation, my only high-dip king in centuries dies You can guess the new king's diplomatic skill...

No point sitting doing nothing when you can't even burn BB off properly. There is only one thing to do with an 8-mil/5-shock king-general

All parts involved on both sides join. Castille has ferried quite a few regiments from America, but interestingly the AI has assembled the main force in Tangiers, with double the size of the troops in Iberia. Odd, but it makes things easier for me, as attrition and my king determine the fate of the Castillians in Ceuta.

In August 1645 Austria DoWs again (plus Tver, Prussia and Aragón). Déjà vu would be an understatement... Ethiopia and the Mamluks are dealt with by the end of the year, Ethiopia for money, the Mamluks finally becoming a vassal OPM. Cairo and Samarkand are top on my list of diplo-annexations, while Oman, Najd and Algiers I'm not that bothered about if they stay as vassals at the end of the game.

The sieges in Iberia and North Africa continue through 1646. The Prussians even dare send their Baltic fleet to pay a visit

In the north Astrakhan was not doing badly against Sweden, even if I hadn't sent 10 cavalry regiments to help out. They had managed to push the Swedes into Finland, but probably because of high WE they settled for a white peace with Castille. To avoid the same happening with Tver I sign peace as soon as Astrakhan occupies the capital. Tver is pretty much history, let's hope Astrakhan keeps pushing into Novgorod and gets a Baltic port soon

Then at the very end of 1646 someone really unexpected comes for dinner uninvited...

I didn't check at the time, but I imagine they might have got the 'Conquer Kaffa' mission, or maybe it was just my BB and being involved in 2 other wars. Not that it matters, if I had sold Kaffa to Astrakhan I would have ended in the same war, but not as alliance leader. The Ottomans are supported by Bosnia, Riga, Sibir, Shaybanid and Swahili - nothing too threatening. Astrakhan of course backs me, although they are not in their best shape.

My initial worry is that my navy is devoted to protect Sicily from Austria and the bulk of my armies is in the west, so I might not be able to ferry them back quickly enough. It turns out that the main Ottoman forces are in the north and go first for Astrakhan and Kaffa, leaving me plenty of time to finish the last couple of sieges in Portuguese North Africa by assault. Once again, a 76% WS worth peace deal is signed with Castille in February 1647. I can't get Tangiers, Salamanca and Madrid in the same deal, so I opt for Castilla La Vieja instead to make sure I land-lock Toledo this time. Salamanca is a must because it has a university. The rest is the remaining Portuguese possessions in Africa, plus Madeira. Since they are low WS value and cost me only 0.5BB (until 1650) I may as well get rid of Portugal for good now.

Land-locking Toledo has the desired effect, one month later the Castillians finally give up on Iberia and move their capital to America The rest of their provinces in Europe will now be of much lower WS value, but I'll probably have to hurt them in America in order to get something out of them. It'll also be interesting to see if New Castille is happy having such strong British presence next door to the new homelands...

With that war out of the way I can look back east. Apart from my 10 cavalry regiments stationed in Astrakhan getting overrun in Crimea (miscalculation: retreating to the wrong province after fighting Ukrainian rebels), Ottoman troops south of the Caucasus and east of the Bosphorus fail to present any meaningful threat, despite the tech differential (OE is at land tech 29, I'm at 23). I'm surprised at their high number of casualties, I presume it's because the fire phase is starting to matter a lot more at this point of the game.

And their fleet, well, ex-fleet, is nothing to worry about either Great, because I don't want to let Austria go just yet.

Astrakhan is forced to sign white peace as the main Ottoman stack storms through their Ukrainian provinces, but I'm in no rush to besiege Anatolia while said stack ends up sitting in Kaffa. The Swahili give up renouncing their last core on my lands and 350 ducats. From Shaybanid I take one province and some cores as well.

Finally in September 1648, with 37% WS, I can obtain a comfortable peace deal from the Ottomans, having them renounce to their ancient cores in Dayr Az Zor and Arabia and making my northern border with them much nicer. I hope they learn the lesson this time: don't mess with the Caliph

The war with Austria continues (all her allies have signed peace). By 1650 their WE is over 18 but they still refuse peace. I'm only after their core in Messina, so they leave me alone once for all, but even though it's worth only 1% and my current WS is 11% I can't get them to yield (or lose stability ). I'll sit on the blockade for a while longer as I have done in the past.

The last misfortune of 1650 is getting my king killed fighting rebels in Sicily... and of course the new king's diplomatic skill is still 3 That's why I'm sceptical at PrawnStar reliance on the law of averages regarding monarchs, it may work with French ones but definitely not with Syrian ones

On a final note, I was surprised to find that Manchu somehow managed to take over Ming, and in roughly the same date they did IRL, the first time I've seen it happen in vanilla. Within its weird and ahistorical madness the game is developing nicely.

_________________

Syria in 1650

Provinces: 126
At war with Austria.
Allied with Astrakhan, TE, Algiers, Adal, Najd, Kashmir. CB on GB, France and Iraq. Guaranteeing Granada, Najd, Iraq, TE and Mali. Warned by Rajputana. Warning Fez.
Vassals: Najd, Oman, Algiers, Adal, the Mamluks, TE.
Stability: +3
BB: 17.56
Monarch: Caliph al-Kamil III (7a/6m/3d)
Army: 166 (60/106/0)
Navy: 141 (83/8/5/45)
WE: 0.82

 

[aldriq]

Sweboy - Level 2 forts help missionaries, as does the Caliph title

Judas Maccabeus - Granada... no-one wants to ally her or take her so I'll have DoW at some point.

gabor - I think it's their remaining core in Messina that has made them DoW single-mindedly every 5 years, that's why I want to get rid of it.

humancalculator - Thanks, I'm on it

Enewald - have you seen Austria's army count?

Kami - Only France, we'll see

Capibara - I won't take any land beyond the Pyrenees, that'll be the end of the AAR.

 

[Didaa]

You should open diplomat school.

 

[PrawnStar]

That's why I'm sceptical at PrawnStar reliance on the law of averages regarding monarchs

That's why you need cunning plans

And Diplomats and Cabinet and the NIs that offer one off BB reductions and smalll annual reductions and the temp insanity event and...

Great work, got to love pushing Castile to the Americas!