Seven days into 1460 and Brittany declared war. There wasn’t much I could do other than decide on a defensive strategy while rejecting a Scotland alliance offer.
As you can see I’m in a spot. Brittany can ship over twice the amount of men I have in one go which would spell the end of this little story rather quickly. However, exactly two weeks after the declaration light bulbs went off in my head. If the Brittany guarantee was the only thing holding me back from DoWing Connaught, then why not declare war? So, I did.
Two weeks later my leader died, replaced by Admin 5 Mil 5 Dip 6. Nothing remarkable but at least he isn’t horrible.
Four days after the leader’s death, Brittany was in my capital; nine days later my navy would be destroyed by Brittany. My navy was out there in an attempt to delay the Brittany navy from reinforcing but it was a lost idea. I’m still in the mindset that every soldier, every day matters and if I can prevent Brittany from landing another set of troops, then that day may be all I need to turn the war.
The day would mean nothing, as it turned out because it’d be until the middle of June when I’d be able to siege Connaught without repetitious fighting while Connaught besieged Leinster. I have no hope of recovering my capital which is covered with 7 Brittany units and should I go after Leinster I might lose that battle which would be horrible considering my trickling manpower.
I got lucky in October when a defensive popup fired for my capital.
6 February 1461 my capital fell to Brittany.
I wasn’t worried yet... I will mention something though. Something that irritates me especially in the MM early game. Why does it always take me forever and a day to win a siege? By 1 January 1462 I’ve been sieging the Connaught capital at 100% for more than a year. And now, by 1 January 1462, Connaught has just caught up to me in terms of percentage in spite of my sieging their province first.
Eleven days later Leinster fell to Connaught. My personal moral was destroyed, thinking I had made all these notes, took all these pics for no reason... until Brittany forced peace. I only had to pay 14 ducats!
I dispatched my cav unit to my capital and scorched the earth. Sure its going to destroy my capital for a while but if I don’t do it then Connaught will likely catch up to me in terms of siege percentages again. I can’t have siege races in the early MM game... they’re too unpredictable for the player.
1 February I receive the Saint Performs Miracle event and my stability goes up by 1 (+2)... three weeks later my cav unit is in Leinster while Connaught moves to siege my capital.
On 1 March Connaught falls but now I have to fell Leinster. And by April I’m forced to take 1 ducat loans. Oh, this is going to be pretty.
April 4 I assault Leinster. And fail. June 1 I assault Leinster again... and fail. I’m also forced to take another 1 ducat loan.
By 5 July, Leinster falls and I demand Connaught’s annexation. Let’s not do that again. I now have my aim on Brittany so they might want to watch out.
At the end of the month Scotland declares war against England (it seems they have a deathwish) and I have to take another loan 1 August 1462 for 7 ducats. It seems I’m moving up in the world.
30 June 1463 I choose a loss of a ducat (other option was to lose stability) and 11 July I move a slider toward defensive for obvious reasons.
Meanwhile, in November, heretics pop up in England.
I don’t know a whole lot about heretics, what they can do, if they defect or ignore borders. I guess we’ll find out and hope. England is still at war with Scotland and is, unfortunately, doing quite well.
1464 and my peasants still like the old ways; I’m not sure why because we’re making a lot more money... I lose 1.11 ducats in the event while in March I secure a RM with Tyrone. Our relations are now +106. I’m thinking of trying to vassalize them later.
28 January 1465 an uprising occurs within my nation. I chose to meet them on the field of battle because that’s the guy I am. Defend honor, justice and integrity to the last man! Unfortunately that’s what it looks like it’ll come down to.
Fourteen months later the rebels have occupied both Connaught and Leinster. My nation collapses soon after and I receive a new leader. Admin 5 Mil 3 Dip 7. For being such a violent fellow he sure has a nice way with words. I’m sure we would’ve been friends in another life. You know, if he actually lived.
A day after the coronation my new mission is a naval race with Brittany. I have 0 ships and they... well, they have more. At the same time the people decide to adapt to the new paradigm. I can’t say I blame them because I’m a genius, a regular forward thinker. I chose the Good News option which didn’t seem to have an effect although I’m sure it did somehow, somewhere.
Over the next thee months I obtained MA through Norway and Brittany and offered MA to Brittany. Hopefully Brittany won’t come blasting my shores again.
The first half of 1467 is full of events that don’t matter much so I’ll go through and list them... we receive low productivity in January, another RM with Brittany, Tyrone insults me but I have no diplomats because I was securing Brittany and I was given a gift to the state. Let me pause here for a moment. Normally a Gift to the State event is a great thing. It’ll set you up for years and years. Not in this mod guys. In this mod I got a grand total of 2 ducats. So, that’s that.
England and Scotland ended their war with England sucking in a few provinces, I hired a three star stability and repaid my loans by August.
1 September 1467 I DoW Tyrone, scorch Connaught and go forth.
See that army of mine?
Now you don’t.
I don’t know what happened here or why Tyrone only got off with a 2 man loss. Our army make up was the same and -
oh, it probably had to do something with their four star shock general when I couldn’t get out of the way. Well, I’m not a quitter so let’s raise some mercs. I take four loans to do this in November. In unrelated war news I received this event which gets me closer to the Papal States, one of my goals.
When my mercs are finished 11 February 1468 I secured MA through England so I wouldn’t have to fight Tyrone’s 4 star shock. That’s right, I’m using mercs to siege Tyrone. If Tyrone wins the Connaught siege, and I have no doubt they will at this point, then I’ll settle for turning them into my vassals. But they will HAVE to accept because I don’t have any spare diplomats and they’re likely to recover stability like breeding rabbits.
1 June and my reneging the past event finally goes away. My NI slot which was revealed some years before is now available to be filled. I choose Regimental System which gives me a 25% land forcelimit. As I’ve displayed, I really need that idea.
When stability +2 is reached I chose to remove my stability advisor. Sixteen days later I receive an event where I could become Pope. I have no idea what this event does but it sounds nice. Should someone elbow me out of the way there’s nothing I can do, so I’m hoping my kind-hearted European friends won’t screw me.
Near the end of 1468 Tyrone captures Connaught. Tyrone returns home and my mercs flee to Meath. Meanwhile...
Near the end of January 1469 I returned to Tyrone only to discover that the fort hasn’t at all diminished. You’d think after so much sieging, walls cracking and such that there would be some problems with the fort, but no, there isn’t. This is one of the things I hope EU3 fixes for EU4, if I’m sieging a province for years, leave it for one day and return, its as if I’d never been there.
To make forming Ireland harder and the fort system more mysterious, England pops a level 3 fort in Meath. I can only assume this is by event but that doesn’t lessen the frustration. While I figured this out, Tyrone moved into my capital. I receive something of a saving grace though when (peasant) rebels rose in Connaught. A month later I’d be at +3 stability. How I’m at +3 with all this going on I’ll never know but that’s probably the point.
By August 26 the rebels won the siege in Connaught and I felled Ulster. Both the 4000 Peasant rebels and I was headed to Leinster, where Tyrone was now sieging.
The Peasants are slaughtered by Tyrone and I find I can’t win. So I move into Connaught to lift the peasant occupied territory. And then I get confused... I get confused because in 5 January 1471 Tyrone must accept my offer or get a reduced stability point. They reject my offer yet don’t fall in stability. I don’t know why this is; whether it’s mod specific or vanilla I can’t say. Pending on whose thing it is, its broken. But that’s not the worst of it because by November Tyrone would go from 0 stability to +3. Maybe they’re lucky but even that seems to be a stretch.
In the intervening months Tyrone occupied Leinster and I scorched Connaught. I’d return to Leinster by June 1470 and wait until February 1471 to recapture it. Tyrone still won’t accept to become vassals and with the negative stab if they don’t accept thing not working, what’s the point? I signed a white peace on 7 February 1471, disband the mercs and vow to destroy Tyrone’s province, making it the weakest province in my empire when I’m big enough.
Later in the year I’m able to repay all my loans so at least the war didn’t destroy me too badly. But now I have to rebuild my army... and navy.
5 January 1473 Brittany guarantees me and six months later, Scotland declares war against England. Scotland* v. England and Portugal. I don’t know why but Scotland is very suicidal. This is going to make my game tougher since England isn’t likely to have a land-based opponent. Near the end of the year I moved a slider +1 defensive, again, for obvious reasons.
In ‘74 I RM Sweden. In ‘75 Scotland cedes two more provinces to England. Late in 1475 I receive Perfect Patchwork which will gift me +2 stab. Before I accept the event, I switch my government to Feudal Monarchy. Some people complain about making a move before accepting an event but I don’t listen to those people.
19 months later I receive Perfect Hierarchy which gives me +1 stab and +20% to my production which places me soundly at +3 stability.
By March 1477 I think I’m ready for Tyrone again and send an insult. They don’t bite.
1478 my leader resigns and I receive a Admin 8 Mil 3 Dip 8. Good enough.