The Turko-Polish wars: an extra mini WAAR and peace experiment.

[JaxomCA]

Like many others, I was becoming frustrated by the peace negociations in the latest version. Still I wanted to have fun with the game again so I started an Ottoman game in 1453 with the intention to spread war all over the place. As it turned out, some very interesting events took place and I thought I'd share the experiment with you.

There will be no pictures, it won't be a story driven AAR, it won't even be a proper AAR. Nonetheless, this short story might be entertaining to some, so without further ado I give you....

The Turko-Polish Wars
An experiment in war and peace.​

Part 1: The Sultan's dream.


The plan was to concentrate on capturing provinces in my culture group and religion in order to keep the stability cost manageable. The Turks have a rather large culture group, so there will be no shortage of provinces to capture. Anything not in the culture group or religion would be vassalized unless it provides a needed land connection. A few wrong religion provinces will be kept for conversion to the true faith.

I am hoping for a quick alliance with Crimea, partly for an eventual diplo-annex, but mostly to help them protect their Sunni holdings until the time I am ready to move eastward. But first, the Hungarians have to be dealt with.


Part 2: The first Ottoman-Hungarian war.


May 1453 is in the middle of the first Ottoman Hungarian war. To get going on the long term goals, we begin negotiation with Crimea. This led to many interesting situations, which will be covered in a later section. (Doh!)

The short term goals are:

• vassalise Serbia,
• vassalise Transylvania,
• get something, anything better than white peace from Hungary.

To get going on the short term goals, we recruit as many cavalry regiments as manpower allows, which gives us 6 more cavalry regiment but an empty manpower pool. It will remain that way for a very long time.

By December of 53, Serbia becomes the second Turkish vassal, the first being Wallachia of course. This action denied Hungarian troops access to Turkish lands, allowing a charge with full frontal assault, in true Paulus fashion.

( If you do not understand the previous reference, you owe it to yourself to read this brilliant story. )



Alas, the celebrations were interrupted in April 54 when a messenger brought back news that Mehmet II Fatih met is maker. He joins a long list of alternate Mehmet II Fatih who can't live past April 54.

Mehmet V becomes the new sultan, presumably after dispatching III and IV, as is customary in Turkish high nobility. He is not as brilliant as his predecessor, but the turkish people have seen far worst.The new Sultan jumps right into Banat's bloody rivers. Banat and Transylvania are quickly besieged by strong armies who will suffer many assaults by hungry hungarian troops. The Sultan's troops prevailed, filling the local rivers with the blood of both the fidels and the infidels. Transylvania surrenders in March 54, Banat follows in January 55. By this time, 6250 valiant Turks gave their life while inflicting 11850 casualties. That is from the battles alone, many more died or deserted in the harsh Transylvanian winters.

A diplomat makes his way to the gloomy castle of our defeated enemy, only to bring back dire news. It seems the ruler of Transylvania will not discuss any terms as long as his lord, the Hungry King, is still in the war. Thus begins the Hungarian campaign proper.


Man, this is a lot more work than I though. To be continued...

 

[Farquharson]

Heh, heh! I'm always amused by AARs that announce that they will be "short" or "mini" or some such. I'll not be surprised if this is still going strong 10 pages in. Well, better that than announcing your epic tale of Universe Conquest starting with CK in 1066 and continuing on through to GalCiv II, then abandoning after the second post... Anyway, this looks interesting - shame about the lack of pictures. I suppose that's because you didn't take any screenshots?

 

[JaxomCA]

Thanks for the encouragment Farquharson. I very much doubt it will reach anywhere near 10 pages, my posts tends to go unnoticed for the most part.

I won't have pictures for 2 reasons. First, I did not plan on turning this game into a report, but some of the events made me think "Wow! I have to tell someone about this!". Second, I don't have web hosting so I would have nowhere to put the pictures, had I taken any.

Now, let the the show go on!


Part 2: The Hungarian campaign.


Around the fall of Serbia, a sneaky admiral suggested making an amphibious assault on the only know hungarian port. The troops from the siege of Serbia assembled on the beaches of Salonica, joined by a few more infantry regiments made up of raw recruits. This small army made a short adriatic cruise and landed in Crotia, capturing it and moving on to Slavonika.

Up north, terrible battles were happening in and around Szolnok. The hungarians were throwing everything they could to disrupt the siege of Szolnok and with our empty manpower pool, I was worried we may have to fallback. That is when Bosnia entered the war. Bosnia may not seem like much of a threat, but it proved to be the turning point of the war. Soon, all hungarians provinces were under siege either by turkish troops or Bosniac troops. The remaining Hungarian army was pushed back to Polish territory and although it was still a threat, the 5000 men army was boxed in by two equally strong Turkish armies.

After the last battle occured in May of 56, both countries armies were rather depleted. The Turkish death toll was now 10000 while Hungary lost 17000 men. The Sultan was worried Bosnia would disrupt the mopping up phase, he recruited 6000 mercenary infantry to help complete the sieges. Soon after, the Hungry King folded and offered the provinces of Croatia and Slavonica. Hmm, if we complete all sieges, we will be able to vassalise Hungary. On the other hand, those 2 provinces can form the country of Croatia, weakening Hungary considerably.

On August 19 of 1456, the Sultan accepted Hungary's surrender. The next day, the countries of Croatia and Transylvania joined the rank of the vassals, concluding the Hungarian campaign.



Part 3: The Northern Wars.


With the conclusion of the Hungarian campaign, our wise Sultan realized we had a reputation problem. Not that we had a bad reputation mind you, but that was the heart of the problem. Our reputation could be improving, if we had any bad deeds to our credit. Athens would make a worthy addition to to our provinces even though it is populated by orthodox greeks. The fact Athens is allied to Albania is a bonus. Their second ally is a little more of a worry, Burgundy is much too far to consider any military actions on them. Bah, we have a mighty fleet of 4 carracks, 15 galleys and 10 cogs, let them come at us!

As soon as the troops made their way back from Hungary, the Sultan ordered the annexation of Athens. Our Sultan lives on the edge, the manpower pool was still empty and we needed over 7000 troops to replenish our existing armies. The threat from Athens and Albania was inexistant so in December 56 the sieges of their respective capitals began.

July 57 saw the surrender and annexation of Athens. This offended the Cypriot, prompting them to declare war. They had 2 allies, one was Burgundy, who we are already at war with, the other was Sweden. Sheesh, that's even further away, and much colder too.

Albania surrendered in January 58, joining the growing vassals rank. King Phillipe of Burgundy was not satisfied with a white peace offer so I left that problem for later. Barely a month later, King Phillipe begged us to accept white peace. Ok, what made you change your mind? I look on the map and find some Candarian troops sieging Picardie! :rofl: That's right Phillipe, surrender now or I send more smelly sheeps to soil your land.

A parenthesis here, Candar was doing quite well. They annexed Trebizon and Morea and almost took a big chunk of Georgia before becoming my ally and vassal. That is all good, but I'd prefer if they turned their conquest dreams to closer lands.

Back to Cyprus, the island was captured in June 58, adding yet another vassal. King Johan of Sweden (well I don't know who was king of Sweden then, but Johan is a safe bet) wouldn't fall for the white peace offer and I had more pressing needs for my diplomats. There were many military accesses to negociate, embargoes to revoke, marriages to organize. When a messenger from Sweden came in August 59 with a white peace offer, I had forgotten about that war. So what's happening up north? Well, remember the Candarian troops in Picardie? It seems they found a way to land in Stockholm. King Johan doesn't like smelly sheeps either.

Concluding the Nordic wars, the Knights tried to get their own sheeps by declaring war on Candar in June 1460. The turkish troops quickly took control of their island, completing the vassalisation of the Balkans. At this point, only Bosnia, Ragusa, Hungary and Naxos (who rebelled away from Montenegro, who were annexed by Venice) are independant.

Bosnia has no allies but have vassalized Ragusa, Hungary and Naxos are allied to Poland, Candar and Karaman are my allies and vassals. Unfortunatly, the white sheep vassalised Dulkadir while I was busy in Hungary. This might prove to be a big problem later on.


To be continued...

Edit: Ok, let's give this a try

 

[mlepkows]

my posts tends to go unnoticed for the most part.

This one didn't . This AAR looks quite interesting and I'm going to follow it, 10 pages or not.
I'm currently in the middle of an Ottoman campaign and we seem to follow similar strategies: vassalize the West, annex the East (except for the fact that you haven't done any annexing in the East yet...). In my game Hungary proved tougher and I had to wait for a few years before coming back for another try. Oh, and my Mehmed II also died somewhere in 1454. Must be some kind of curse...

Maciek

 

[JaxomCA]

Thanks Maciek. I did not ally with the eastern turk tribes despite their frequent offers, I wanted to keep my alliances slots open for Crimea. You'll get to see why soon.

Both Karaman and Candar have been my vassals for a while now. I could probably annex them, if I could be at peace long enough to do that.


Part 4: Crimea's tribulations.


One of the early goals was to obtain alliance with Crimea. The High chief remained unreceptive to our opening, but after declaring war on Moldovia in June 53, he did offer us an alliance. Well I would have liked to be invited to the Moldavian party, still the offer was accepted. Alas, the alliance was to be very short-lived. In August of the same year, Poland, along with its friend Lithuania, wanted in on the Moldavian party and declared war on Crimea. The brave Sultan turned to his advisor who said :


"Na-han! Our manpower doesn't allow a succesful war on Poland, Lithuania and Hungary at this time."



Let's hope they can at least keep their holdings. As it turned out, Crimea annexed Moldavia but was forced to cede Bessarabia, Cherson, Zaporozhia and Kharkov to the evil Poland-Lithuania behemoth. They managed to grab the province of Georgia in the great partition of Georgia of 1460. When they offered an alliance again, the Sultan accepted in case we should be ready to take part in the inevitable futur Polish aggression.

Sometime in 1460, a message popped-up that I wish I had taken a screenshot of. We received a warning from Venice not to attack any of our neighbors, my first ever warning!


Now the really interesting stuff is about to begin.


Part 5: The first Turko-Polish Wars.


October 4, 1460: The Ottoman empire was relatively quiet, despite a few ongoing minor skirkmishes. The manpower was finally recovering from the Hungarian onslaught, allowing to recruit a few more regiments here and there. The Sultan was busy establishing proper diplomatic relations with neighboring muslim states, pondering how he would proceed eastward once he had full manpower reserves. A messenger rushed in with news from the east:



"Sir! The Polish king declared war on Wallachia!"



Lithuania and Naxos join the Polish side. Fortunately, Hungary dishonored the alliance. Well ready or not we have to respond. It would hurt our sense of order to see a polish province in the middle of our vassals. Three mixed armies of 5000 men each were dispatched to protect Wallachia's provinces and our border province of Silistria. A 5000 men cavalry army was given the task of jumping in any battles that would occur. We hired a small detachment of mercenary infantry assigned to the capture of Naxos.


When Naxos surrendered, I hit a bug. Peace could not be negociated with Naxos because I was considered a junior partner. I thought, "what a waste of time". Then I remembered this from the patch log:

A lesser partner in a union or a vassalship will no longer accept nor offer peace if the "overlord" is still in the same war.

Seems to me that would lead to a never-ending war. Well I wanted to continue this game, so I edited the save game to make the Ottoman the war leader. Now back to to the story...


The Sultan was uncertain on what his goals were, besides protecting Wallachia. For the first few months, the troops remained in friendly territory, pushing back the seemingly endless flow of Polish and Lithuanian soldiers. During that period, 3000 Turks and Romanians died inflicting 7000 casualties. Land tradition spiked to an all time high and some decent Generals joined the Sultan on the field.

By the end of June 1461, the Sultan decided that Bessarabia and Cherson would make worthy additions. The problem was, how to get those provinces without having to capture all of Poland-Lithuania? After reading about a new theory in peacemaking, the Sultan gave the order every soldiers was waiting for:



"CHAAAARRRRGE!!!!!"

 

[stnylan]

Sounds like you could be in for an interesting time...

And shucks, what's wrong with perpetual war? (apart, of course, from defeating the object of the AAR...)

 

[JaxomCA]

Oh my! A legend visiting my poor little thread, I am honored. o

As you will see, there is a whole lot of one ingredient, and very little of the other.


Part 6: Incursions in Polish territory.


The generals looked around the field with puzzled looks. The Sultan, who was already charging ahead, stopped and looked back on his aides.



"What's wrong?" asked the Sultan.



"Well the men bravely pushed back the Polish troops and all, but their morale is a little low right now. We also suffered some casualties and need some time to resupply the armies."



"Pffft! Wimps. I will take a nap, wake me up when the men are ready."



In early September, the first battle of Bessarabia ended in victory. The Sultan wondered where were all the Polish and Lithuanian troops, as the opposition was relatively small and the surrounding provinces were empty. The siege of Bessarabia began while the cavalry army tentatively pushed ahead to gather intelligence. Yup, there were still some decent size armies both in Poland and Lithuania. A Lithuanian stack of doom, or SOD (tm), appeared in Kiev heading for Podolia. There were at least 6000 men in that SOD. The cavalry army wisely retreated back to Bessarabia. There happened the biggest battle of recorded Turkish history (well in this reality anyway). The Lithuanian army of 4000 cavalry, supported by 5000 infantry, faced our siege force of 8000 cavalry and 6000 infantry.

For the sake of brievety and clarity, further armies will be noted as 4.5 SOD for the enemy, and 8.6 army for our side.

The turkish army won the day and the Lithuanian fled with their tails between their legs. A Polish contingent appeared in Ruthenia but they did not seem eager to engage battle. Armies were deployed to siege Ruthenia, Podolia, Zaporozhia and Kharkov simultaneously.



"Sir! We have good news from Zaporozhia, they surrender!"



"What? So soon?"



"Well the town has no fortifications and the villagers kinda welcomed us in."



"Good! Tell the men to settle in and repel any incursion by the evil alliance."



Followed a long period of sieges, battles, counter-battles and counter-sieges. Some memorable dates include:

• 1461.12.02 : First capture of Zaporozhia.
• 1462.03.17 : First battle of Podolia. A 6.8 SOD defeated by our 5.4 army.
• 1462.04.02 : Naxos finally surrenders and becomes a vassal.
• 1462.05.17 : Second battle of Podolia. A 7.6 SOD broke our siege. Minimal losses, thanks to a tactical retreat.
• 1462.06.14 : Bessarabia surrenders.
• 1462.06.29 : Final capture of Zaporozhia.
• 1462.08.01 : Siege of Podolia begins again.
• 1462.09.19 : Cherson surrenders.
• 1462.12.02 : Yet another battle of Podolia. A 8.9 SOD is barely pushed back by our 8.1 army.
• 1463.04.14 : Siege of Podolia broken by a 8.3 SOD.
• 1463.04.20 : Kharkov surrenders.

At the end of April 1463, we came to a stalemate. Poland was showing signs of exhaustion but Lithuania seemed to have an endless supply of troops. Our own situation was not too bright, the manpower pool was empty and our armies were 13000 men short. Still the line Bessarabia-Kharkov was firmly in our control but any attempts to move toward Ruthenia/Podolia/Poltova failed miserably. Casualties up to this date are: 12000 turks died inflicting 24000 casualties. Thus begins the long process of negociating a peace agreement. If only Lithuania could be convinced to leave the war. But why should they, we can't make any gains on them.


Only now do I realize Lithuania was the war leader all along. So the game sets up the war correctly on the attacker's side. It doesn't on the defender's side.


In 1464, Poland began offering white peace on a regular basis, yet they refused any kind of settlement involving a change in ownership. After suffering a painful defeat in Podolia in late December of 1464, the Sultan took an important decision. The census of 1465 will be spent on hiring mercenary units. A loan will be taken and spent on even more mercenary units. The fresh mercenaries will be on a mission to capture the capitals of both our enemies. New year comes around and the plan is put into motion. On the morning of January 17, a petulant messenger wakes up a very depressed Sultan.



"My Lord! My Lord! We did it! WE WON!"



"Huh? Our fresh (and very expensive) troops can't have reached and captured the capitals already."



"The Polish king folded! He got scared, or bored, and agrees to cede Bessarabia and Cherson."



"Great news! Recall all our troops and let's have a celebration! And tell the mercenaries we don't need them anymore."



"Are you sure? We are still at war with Lithuania, their king scoffed at our white peace offer."



"Ok then, assemble the armies and mercenaries in our new provinces. Let the Lithuanian come and get it!"


That was actually a 54% peace offer on a 48% war score. It was done to firmly set in my mind what was the minimum I would take. What a surprize (and a relief) it was! I am still not sure if the new batch of troops did it or the better matched offer/war score was the cause. I did ask both these provinces from Lithuania many times, but since they were the war leader, the war score with them was over 75%. I never asked Poland for those provinces before, I was only asking for Bessarabia. Both countries were at -3 stability since later 1464, so that could be a factor too.


With Poland out of the war, it was only a matter of time before Lithuania would listen to reason. The cost for that small gain was steep indeed. Another 15000 turks died since the last tally, taking 17000 enemies with them. Aside the casualties mentionned previously, the loan and one year census tax spent on useless troops, the countless ducats spent on maintenance and the interest for the next 5 years. In the Sultan's eye, the price was very much worth it as it opened the door to the east.


For those of you who lost track of the numbers, that is 30000 dead turks for 49000 dead enemies! When you add attrition to that, it is a very bloody story.

Some economists would say that running a war economy for almost 5 years to gain 2 poor provinces was absolutly not worth it. They would be right. Some statesmen would say that having revolt risk in accepted culture, right religion, core provinces caused by the record high war exhaustion, war exhaustion that will take over 10 years to absorb, made the whole venture totally useless. They would be right. Some military advisors would say that cutting off sea access to the Poland-Lithuania behemoth was a worthy goal, but our inability to stop them from acquiring Baltic ports made the whole war pointless. They would be right. But not one of them would say that to the Sultan's face. Not if they hoped to live another day.

The maintenance cost for the huge mercenary army was draining the monthly budget to almost nothing. Since we could do all the fighting in our own provinces from now on, the Sultan demanded that all mercenary units be disbanded.


What a clever move that prove to be...

The story is almost caught up with the save game, the next chapter should have pretty pictures.

 

[stnylan]

Ahh, but if you were to say that victory in foreign war enchanced the prestige of the Empire, not to mention the pride of the Sultan, you would also be right.

And get to tell him.

And possibly get to live another day!

 

[Farquharson]

Well I'm enjoying this view of things "from the other side" as it were! Good work against Poland/Lithuania. Personally I'm a hopelessly addicted province-grabber - no province is too poor to see your country's borders gloriously extended! And I look forward to the promised pictures.

 

[JaxomCA]

Stnylan: Keep this up and you may just get a job as a special advisor to the Sultan.

Farquharson: Nothing wrong with being a "province-grabber". I am sort of an artist. The most important question when deciding if I want a province or not is: how good will my country look with that province?

Now, on with the show.


Part 7: Poland just can't catch a break.


February 24, 1465, in the field headquarter of the Polish campaign. Mehmet V, who is still alive and kicking, consult his advisors about the current situation.



"We achieved peace with Poland a month ago but we are still at war with Lithuania. We have 17 infantry regiments including 5 mercenary units, and 28 cavalry regiments, including 10 mercenary units. Most of our regiments are well below 50% strength, only the mercenary units are close to full strength. We train 640 new soldiers every month, which means we'll need at least 2 years to get our regiments to full strength again. Our monthly budget is spent almost entirely on maintenance, mostly to cover the mercenary salaries."



"Get Rid of the mercenary units, we can handle the Lithuanian with our regular troops since we will wait for them here. Wake me up when the Lithuanian king is ready to discuss his surrender."



The next morning, a messenger darts in the Sultan's tent, blabbering about war. Hungary found us to be a soft target and wants their share of Bessarabia. We could have done without this extra war, but Hungary can only reach us via Bessarabia, where the bulk of our armies is waiting for the Lithuanian attack, so it's only a minor annoyance.



"Who are Hungary's allies? Anybody we want to send troops to?"



"They are allied with Mazovia and Poland, Sir. They have honored the call to arms."



The Sultan's face lightens up with a strange, diabolical smile.



"This is a great opportunity, make sure our troops take control of Zaporozhia and Kharkov as soon as possible."



The waves of Lithuanian soldiers assaulting Bessarabia and Cherson delayed the Sultan's plan for a while. The turkish armies had to kill another 7000 Lithuanian soldiers, loosing 3000 of their own, before white peace with Lithuania was achieved in March of 66.

After taking control of Zaporozhia and Kharkov, the Polish king refused to cede them. Some battles took place in Bessarabia, Ruthenia and Podolia, but Poland was clearly unable to come up with an effective defense. After many defeats in Bessarabia, Hungarian troops assembled in Carpathia and remained on the defensive. The sultan ordered the troops to dig in and wait for resupply. He figured we should be able to marche on Krakov in a couple of months and get Poland to accept our demands. After seeing their only army nearly destroyed in early August of 66, Mazovia offered white peace which was promptly accepted. Here is the tactical situation, as of August 24, 1466:

"Sir! Sir! Our ally Crimea requests our assistance to fight the Lithuanian infidels!"



The Sultan's rubs his hands, showing is biggest smile since he took power.



"Lithuania is allied to Poland, right? Tell the Crimean diplomat to wait in the lobby for a while. Tell the polish king we will end this pointless war if he gives us Zaporozhia. After all, there is nothing but a few worthless horses over there."



"Sir, Michael I Koribut, king of Poland, agrees to our terms. He also asks if we could, maybe, warn their allies, so you know, they might get a little peace."



"Request denied. Tell the High Chief we will gladly help him fight the infidels! Once Kharkov surrenders once again, tell the Polish king we will end this foolish war if he cedes Kharkov to us."



The armies stayed mostly in place, resuming battles with the polish troops and pushing back Hungarian troops a few times. Crimea and Kazan send some very decent armies in Lithuanian territory. As seen on the map, Kazan was already busy carving up Muscovy with their ally Sibir, so they had numerous troops on the Lithuanian border already. No Lithuanian troops set foot on turkish lands. By December of 66, Poland cedes Kharkov and Hungary accepts white peace, freeing up out troops to really take care of Lithuania.

The turkish troops met very little opposition in Lithuania, only fighting a few battles against Teuton soldiers near the capital. By the end of June 1467, Jonas I Albertas, king of Lithuania, agrees to our terms, ceding Poltava to us and Kursk to Crimea. Our Sultan Mehmet V the proud, was finally enjoying a period of peace. So many things had to be done, building workshops, converting the orthodoxes to the one true faith, convincing the kings of Karaman and Candar that only the Ottoman Empire really mattered. A new map was ordered for the Sultan's pleasure. Relaxing in the Zaporozhia headquarters, he was proudly admiring his new possessions, but suddenly grumbled and pointed to the province of Podolia:

"This looks very ugly, we need to do something about it. Teach the peasants of this poor province to ride horses, it may become useful in the futur. And please, somebody do something about those ugly buildings, they look sich!"



Kazan eventually made peace with Muscovy, taking Tula and Nijni-Novgorod, and freeing the Qasim Khanate, our long lost cousins. The eastern plan is shaping up nicely, it is only a matter of time for the line Podolia-Zavolochye forms the north-western border of the ever groving Ottoman Empire. Then we will be able to grab the real prize, the Siberian Corridor.


Some late-breaking stories from IRONN (Istambul Rumors and Oral News Network). Many reputed economists, statesmen and military advisors were hanged on the public place today, by Sultan's orders. Their replacements have nothing but praises for the tactical genious of our beloved Sultan.

Ahh, peace at last. But for how long?

 

[Farquharson]

Bah! I'll not hear a word against the glories of Zaporozhian architecture - famed for some of the most impressive pig-sties in the world! Anyway, you seem to be making good progress - good luck with Siberia!

 

[stnylan]

That is a moderately ugly pan-handle - but even now marvel at the wisdom of the Sultan for clearly all nations would understand that the pursuit of cartographical beauty is a most worthy reason to go war, a casus belli par excellance that cannot be denied.

 

[JaxomCA]

Time for a recap of the Turko-Polish conflicts.

• 1460.10.04 : War 1, Poland declares war on Wallachia, Lithuania honors the attacker, Ottoman honors the defender.
• 1465.01.17 : After rejecting all kind of offers for the past 4 years, Poland cedes Bessarabia and Cherson.
• 1465.02.25 : War 2, Hungary declares war on Ottoman, Poland honors the attacker, Crimea honors the defender.
• 1466.03.03 : White peace with Lithuania, ending war 1.
• 1466.08.24 : War 3, Crimea declares war on Lithuania, Ottoman delays honoring, Poland Honors the defender.
• 1466.09.02 : Poland cedes Zaporozhia to Ottoman, getting out of war 2
• 1466.09.05 : Ottoman honors Crimea in war 3, resuming war with Poland.
• 1466.12.02 : Poland cedes Kharkov to Ottoman, getting out of war 3.
• 1466.12.14 : White Peace with Hungary, ending war 2.
• 1467.06.19 : Lithuania cedes Poltova to Ottoman, Kursk to Crimea, ending war 3.

It can take a long time to "break" a country. The country will not cede territory until it is broken. At the end of the first war, Poland still had over 10000 manpower but had very few standing armies, they had plenty of provinces to raise troops, but they had almost no income due to the high revolt risk in all its provinces. The revolt risk was partly due to stability -3 and war exhaustion above 10. The lack of income is probably what prompted Poland to cede territory. In the last peace treaty, my alliance controlled no other provinces than those ceded. Lithuania was suffering the same revolt risks woes as Poland, so it was "broken" too event though they had over 15000 manpower available.

Once a country "breaks", it can take some time for it to recover. Any wars during that time will end quickly, territory will be given up easily.

When the game doesn't cooperate with your plans, it can be quite frustrating. When the game does cooperate, it becomes a walk in the park. Note that I did not start one of these wars, it was all the AI's fault. Thus concludes the Turko-Polish wars. Hey, I told you it was an extra-mini AAR. The "wow" factor was how AI Poland got screwed by other AIs. I couldn't have planned this better, even if I tried.

I have continued the game a bit because I was curious to see how the Hundred Years War would end, it is still alive and very active at the end of 1467. If you follow the strange screenshot thread, you have seen how and when it does conclude. I can tell that story if there is interest. Otherwise I am done here, I doubt the story of the Ottoman colonization of Siberia would be of much interest. Specially given the lack of storytelling skills of the author, compounded by his limited mastery of the english language.

Thanks for tuning in, I hope you learned a thing or two.

Edit: For the sake of completness, I should add the whole game was played with version 1.2.1

 

[Farquharson]

It really was mini! Well, you're a man of your word, obviously. That was an interesting account, and clearly presented. I think you are being over-modest to deny having story-telling skills and claiming to have a limited mastery of English. I'd say your English is better than the average native speaker (which I assume you're not, but only because of your own comment!) I would encourage you to write another AAR if you feel inspired and have another interesting tale to tell. Well done!

 

[unmerged(59077)]

It was good and rather enjoyable. It's not the size that matters, right?

 

[stnylan]

A mini AAR, exactly as advertised.

 

[Gothmog]

Nice Mini-AAR about the subject in question, thanks for indeed, thanks again for the link.

 

[unmerged(40278)]

a very interesting read indeed acually makes me want to write an aar myself! now i just need an interesting topic *scratching head*

 

[unmerged(76711)]

Crush the infidels!

Good progress with the campaign.

It made me want to write my own one.

Keep up with the good work.

"They could'nt shoot an elephant at this dis..."

 

[Grundius]

A good read!
You should not batter yourself about your English and story writing skills. I for one would like to read about how you hacked your way through the Russian steppes to the Siberian corridor.