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You should beat up on Novgorod. Maybe you can steal all their trade league members.
Novgorod's league includes... Novgorod. My biggest rival is Venice (which has trade rights for cloth in Bohemia, my spies are working on it). And I don't think you can get their members from a war. I don't think I did it this time, but in my test game, I forced Genoa to cancel some treaties, and it didn't change their league at all.
Thank you!
I've played the next update yesterday. Shouldn't be that long to write. Should be over tomorrow before supper.
I've played the next update yesterday. Shouldn't be that long to write. Should be over tomorrow before supper.
Before I start with the next update, I felt it would be good if you could have a look at some ledger pages. I only kept a few, as the rest is either not quite useful, redundant as I say it quite often anyway, or bound to change within the next month.
Listed by income. I’m first, and I have a vassal on the first page. That looks good. Notice my very high TE for this stage of the game. Also, all my antagonists but one (Lithuania, Bohemia, Bavaria and Burgundy are there, Sweden is not) are also on the first page, though not as rich as I am (and often, not as much as Holland is).
Listed by Trade level. I’m equal with Holland, which is good, as it is the no. 1 tech powerhouse in the game. The only field I’m late in are Land, with Denmark, and Government, with Milan at 13 (not seen), but both are late everywhere else.
Listed by Overall. Just for bragging rights. I have three leaders, all in the top 13. I rarely look closely at this page, I only search for precise enemy generals.
Listed by Total. I already have a large army, larger than many of my opponents. However, this is distorted by the recent Bohemian defeat. Lithuania and Burgundy are ahead of me, however.
Listed by Big ships. That’s very good news. The only nation capable of defeating me is overrun by rebels... Ming (not seen) also has many ships, but only galleys, and it kind of is in China, so it is of little concern for a century at least, and then, only if they messed with India.
As you can see, I’m a trading power. What a surprise! The income from vassals is quite a good addition, it is almost as much per province as in my own provinces, despite the fact that I only get 50% of their income. Obviously, the difficulty level modifier helps them, and therefore helps me.
A lot into Government because I suddenly remembered that the road network needs Gov. 12. My priority would be Land otherwise, but I have already spent enough on it to reach it when I don’t have early research penalty, on January 1st, or earlier if I feel better troops are needed. Naval, with this spending, would also be researched near the start date, within the first year or so. Government should also fall on the right day, if everything goes right.
Lovely, isn’t it? I will continue with Free Subjects, Plutocracy, Naval (+4, for Thalassocracy), Quality, and Defensive, in that order. Innovative will not move, at least for a while. That gives me 11 slider moves, so something like 110-120 years before I can celebrate. Maybe with a few Centralization thrown in, but only if I’m happy with my global RR, or maybe also a few moves toward Land after Thalassocracy. In any case, by the early 1600s, I probably won’t be moving sliders any more.
Back to the game. Obviously, Mecklenburg left my league, once more. There was a clear possibility of a large scale war against several opponents that could threaten Lübeck and Denmark, and certainly will attack my Brandenburgian territories and Prussia. My army was ready, I had troops in Lübeck ready to fall on Mecklenburg, mostly infantry for an assault, a stack with cavalry in Brandenburg, and a small diversionary force in Danzig. Of the first two stack, I would make two new ones, with a better balance between cavalry and infantry. I raised maintenance to maximum. I just had to wait a month or two, and war would start...
... But nothing actually happened in Germany. Sweden left my trade league. And as you might have noticed in the ending screenshot of the last update, it is allied with Mecklenburg. As my only reason for waging war on Mecklenburg was... to be at war with them, I thought it would be better if, instead of fighting them, and Sweden, and Bohemia, and Bavaria, I just attacked Sweden.
And it worked. Mecklenburg joined the war.
I had changed the setup of my army, of course. The infantry stack stayed in Lübeck (led by my ruler, Ergel), the cavalry went to Hamburg to attack Lüneburg (led by Muhl), and the diversion force was placed in Skane to start some fighting in Sweden (led by Adendorf). I won’t surprise you : the armies of both Lüneburg and Mecklenburg were destroyed. They all died. Die I say. Pommerania started a siege in Vorpommern, which is quite funny of them. After the initial victories, I assaulted Mecklenburg, and placed 3 regiments in Lüneburg, the rest of this army heading for Skane. They would be joined by troops from Magdeburg, which is still my ally after 80 years. Loyality, what could I do without it? In Pommerania, I pushed the ducal army until its timely destruction. Poor soldiers. Didn’t it come to the mind of their leaders that they might have started a siege in Danzig, which was farther from my army, and which is more valuable? I guess they like core provinces more than reason... or life, actually. In October, that part of the war ends.
I vassalized them because they have a high income (though mostly from trade, I guess), and too much fighting over them is... too much fighting over them. They have given trade rights to Genoa, and even in my league, they won’t cancel those rights unless . It isn’t exactly a very important part of my trade empire, but I won’t give away free money. A province with a trade value of 10 means, on average, 0.2 more tax in Lübeck, plus my modifiers. Free tax is always good. In addition, I get a part of their revenue. Also, it gives me the chance to get a mission to integrate them, and until then, it’s a free military access to Brandenburg, so I don’t have to put a large army in Vorpommern and a large army in Lübeck, and can send some troops in Skane instead. Some of this thinking is ex post facto, as I forgot that trade income doesn’t contribute to vassal income while playing. I would probably not change my decision, however: even with the difference in income, I prefer Mecklenburg over Pommerania, as the annexation of the former joins Vorpommern tomy capital, and would increase my naval force limits.
I also assaulted the fortress in Hinterpommern. With all my most important part of the war, obviously, was Sweden, but it was, from the start, an obvious victory. Of course, full blockade, including the Öresund. Because I had forgotten that Pommerania had a fleet, or simply that it existed, I sent only one galley in the Southern Baltic, so it was attacked. I didn’t destroy their fleet when I sent my own galleys from Öresund to deal with it, but I did capture one galley. When the moment I start a new fleet building project, it will be disbanded, so it isn’t much of a gain. I sent 3 regiments to start a siege in Smaland, the rest going to Västergötland, with a planned siege on Bohuslan that never happened, as I was attacked. The first battle was a complete success against a superior opponent, the next, a moral victory: I lost the battlefield, but no pursuit followed, and the enemy suffered more than I did in men and exhaustion. I had, however, to order a strategic retreat to recover morale. Help was, and would arrive soon.
I left a small siege force under Abendorth in Smaland. With the joined forces of Muhl’s cavalry and Ergel’s infantry, going through allied Denmark, I attack the Swedish army in Västergötland. In absolute numbers, it was a difficult fight, but it greatly reduced enemy resistance. I leave a sizeable force to start sieges, and follow the army of Sweden, which is finally defeated in Bergslagen, in January 1484. I separate my troops and start sieges. The army in Skane was already on its way to Stockholm. I won’t go into the details of every siege. Southern Sweden fell first. I took Stockholm in May. I sign peace a bit later, when Poznan is taken by Silesia.
I had already signed peace with Lüneburg in March, but it didn’t blend into the description very wel...
For the next year, nothing much. Elections are held, and I choose to try to get someone else. He turns out to be mediocre, at 6-5-3. I recruit a new general to counter the loss of Ergel, my previous ruler, and it was a good choice, as he has a +5 modifier to shock. In June 1485, only a year after the last war...
That’s a real setback. I lose loads of disposition with my league members and people granting me trade rights. I don’t fear the CB to everyone else, I can fend off anybody, but yeah... I start sending gifts to the nations most needed by my league. Soon after, I learn that Lithuania has meddled with my SoI. As a reflex, I go look at their army, and it is, at the present moment, smaller than mine, for reasons I know nothing about. Then, I remember that they embargo me, so I have the Trade Dispute CB, which is better than Violated Sphere. They build up their forces however, but it doesn’t discourage my stronger, better organized, better led, and more disciplined troops.
I don’t have much of an objective. Forcing Lithuania back in my league would seem a major one, as I can’t take territory from them right now, for BB reasons. Also, it would be fun to get a few ducats. Releasing countries would be fun. In any case, if they join my league, I will get a new CB in five years.
My plan called for two thrusts: one, under Obers, my latest general, would go south from Mazovia, then head for Minsk; the other, with Muhl, was to go north, and then southeast, and start a siege in Vilna. Both would have for pupose to destroy all enemy armies that could be seen. All this while, a smaller group, under Abendorth, would set up sieges in Byelorussia, lending troops to the other groups if need be. This last one, of course, didn’t have as much strength as the other, and acts mostly as a kind of strategic reserve actually doing something in the mean time. As both offensives were completely separate for most of the war, I will describe the opening actions separately.
The Lithuanian army seems to have put most of its effort on the Baltic coast. Sending cavalry doomstacks one over the other, it won the opening battle at Samogitia through force of number alone, but at a heavy cost: more than 6000 losses against less than 2500, even with equal leadership. It forced me to postpone this offensive for a moment. However, I was not followed in my retreat to Ostpreussen: the enemy went to Vilna, and disappeared into Minsk. With later information from my Sourthen Army, I can guess they had to fight rebels. In April, I go back to Samogitia, with more success, ending with an annihilation battle in Riga, and I start sieges.
The South had more immediate success. I leave a few regiments in Podlasia for a siege, and attrition reduction. At the first battle, in Grodno, I annihilate 6 regiments. Podlasia is attacked, but I end up on the right side, with help from Abendorth’s corps. There is a major battle in Minsk going on too, and success is considerable:
This was the first of several battles which will lead to the ultimate victory, one slaughter at a time. The follow up battle in Grodno is a success, and the enemy is destroyed at Trakai. Abendorth starts sieges in several places. Meanwhile, Obers is fighting in Vilna, and it is another rout:
During this period, I sank the allied Norwegian fleet (7 carracks), and the 10 galleys of Lithuania. Nothing was captured. I was already blockading all of Lithuania, but it made my life easier. I also sent a few ships to blockade Norway, too.
Then, I start pursuits. However, the task is difficult, as the enemy continuously pours in fresh troops, and attacks my own position. My losses are heavy, and I have to send reinforcements from my sieges forces to continue the fight with Obers. My siege force in Vilna is attacked by a large force, and I send many troops from neighbouring sieges, but still lose. The enemy follows my shattered army, and I risk the annihilation of more than a dozen regiments. I had taken Podlasia, and my score from blockades and battles was high, so I decide it was enough for now.
I didn’t have much time to rebuild and repair my wounds, as very soon, Bohemia leaves my league. It does need to be in my league, right? I declare war. I have two main armies, one under Muhl in Brandenburg, the other under Obers in Mazovia. Abendorth has the troops required to besiege Poland, and nothing else. I plan to destroy the Bohemian army with my massive 21 regiment hammer under Obers, which is nearly half-cavalry, while Muhl tries to occupy Bohemia proper, while putting up a fight if attacked before Obers can come.
The first part of the plan was accomplished with ease. As in Lithuania, I get a free annihilation, this time in Neumark, by Muhl’s 14 regiments. This eases considerably my advance, and I start a siege right there, and another in Niederlausitz. Obers has less success, but still wins the battle of Sandomierz. However, the enemy army, which still has a high morale, joins forces with another in Ratibor, where the Silesian forces were destroyed. I wait for Muhl, coming through Breslau with some troops. The enemy is dislodged and demoralized, and finally destroyed in Erskejuvar.
The strongest regiments of both armies are given to Obers, the weakest, to Muhl, which is assigned to siege duties. I attack the enemy in his own sieges in Hungary, with total success. The siege phase starts in July, as there is no Bohemian army in existence any more, apart from newly trained mercenaries. By March 1488, Praha is under my hands after an assault, and I sign peace.
Little happened after that. Friedrich the First of Bavaria was chosen as the new Emperor. I discovered how to use gunpowder artillery. I won’t build any yet, as I don’t have any room in my force limits, and it would be useless in battle. But some day, I will, as they provide a lot of help in sieges and assaults, and are eventually killer on the battle field. Also, I obviously chose a new leader, but that goes without saying I guess. He is mediocre, at 4 ADM, 6 DIP and 3 MIL, but it could be worse, namely by his being excommunicated.
On a side note, I was involved, at least in theory, in a war against the Golden Horde, when it attacked Ryazan. The war also involved Novgorod. I signed a white peace, without a single soldier ever setting foot in Russia... Actually, I signed it when I came back to take the map screenshots. Must have forgotten about it... That is the reason it wasn’t really mentioned. Actually, it was during the war with Bohemia. Novgorod also signed a white peace after its army was destroyed. Well, I assume it was: the only time I looked at what was going on, there was a 20 regiment stack with 1000 men chased by 30k Tartars... That doesn’t sound good.
In November, I gained a new core on Altmark through Boundary Dispute. I started preparations, and cancelled my alliance with them, which was useless anyway. Some time afterward, Lüneburg left my league. Then Sweden, which followed with a trade rights treaty for grain with Genoa. Also, the Burgundian army is much, much smaller than it was, since it is at war with Aragon, and a nationalist rebellion has taken Bremen... Hum, that seems a very good moment to leave you on a cliff hanger. And not the usual “3 AM, exam tomorrow, must sleep” kind of cliff hanger, even though there was a part of that: a real, publicity break kind of suspense. Something will happen, a war, be it with Magdeburg, Sweden, Lüneburg and its allies, or Burgundy. But nobody but me knows what will happen. Well, I didn’t even know who I was going to attack at that moment, and even though I’m quite sure what I’m gonna do tomorrow, I wasn’t sure yet when I ended this session, so one could say it is a surprise for everybody. Who do you think I should attack?
International news now... Castilian rule on France is now over. Orleans has rebelled from England, and has taken Paris in the process, and Dauphinée appeared as an OPM. And of course, it is entirely occupied by Fez in North Africa and Granada in Iberia. “France” has taken Poitou from Sicily, which had it at some point, God knows why. As mentioned, there is a war between Burgundy (with Bavaria) and Aragon. Forgot to mention it in the last update, but Finland was annexed by Novgorod, which, in turn, surrendered Karelia to Norway recently. Venice is at war with Milan, and on its way to annexation, but for some reason, Milan has yet to take Crete. Moscow is now an enclave in Lithuania, though less so since the independence of Ryazan. There is a war between the Ottoman Empire and back-from-ashes Austria, involving the Ottoman vassals, but is yet undecided.
On the trade front... Not many changes for my league, as this update was somewhat short, but I didn’t show you the beautifully coloured Lithuania, and its three CoTs.
Beautiful isn’t it? A genuine rainbow of stupidity. Notice also that Venice is quickly shrinking. It was much larger during the last update, somewhere around level 6 I think. Now, it’s level 3, mostly because of some very rich provinces.
It is possible that this whole account was not perfectly accurate, as I didn’t take a lot of notes. I apparently haven’t written anything about the war with Lithuania, though I do have a lot of screenshots for a short war. There are holes, however, as I remember a lot more fighting than there was. But overall, the end result is the same, whether or not there was another battle of Minsk.
I should be able to play a bit tomorrow evening, and I’ll try to write my next report on Monday, but it should be there on Tuesday.
I'm reorganizing the first post. In the end, I want to put most major events that happened during each report. Right now, it isn't finished, but when I'll be over, it should be quite useful.
Listed by income. I’m first, and I have a vassal on the first page. That looks good. Notice my very high TE for this stage of the game. Also, all my antagonists but one (Lithuania, Bohemia, Bavaria and Burgundy are there, Sweden is not) are also on the first page, though not as rich as I am (and often, not as much as Holland is).
Listed by Trade level. I’m equal with Holland, which is good, as it is the no. 1 tech powerhouse in the game. The only field I’m late in are Land, with Denmark, and Government, with Milan at 13 (not seen), but both are late everywhere else.
Listed by Overall. Just for bragging rights. I have three leaders, all in the top 13. I rarely look closely at this page, I only search for precise enemy generals.
Listed by Total. I already have a large army, larger than many of my opponents. However, this is distorted by the recent Bohemian defeat. Lithuania and Burgundy are ahead of me, however.
Listed by Big ships. That’s very good news. The only nation capable of defeating me is overrun by rebels... Ming (not seen) also has many ships, but only galleys, and it kind of is in China, so it is of little concern for a century at least, and then, only if they messed with India.
As you can see, I’m a trading power. What a surprise! The income from vassals is quite a good addition, it is almost as much per province as in my own provinces, despite the fact that I only get 50% of their income. Obviously, the difficulty level modifier helps them, and therefore helps me.
A lot into Government because I suddenly remembered that the road network needs Gov. 12. My priority would be Land otherwise, but I have already spent enough on it to reach it when I don’t have early research penalty, on January 1st, or earlier if I feel better troops are needed. Naval, with this spending, would also be researched near the start date, within the first year or so. Government should also fall on the right day, if everything goes right.
Lovely, isn’t it? I will continue with Free Subjects, Plutocracy, Naval (+4, for Thalassocracy), Quality, and Defensive, in that order. Innovative will not move, at least for a while. That gives me 11 slider moves, so something like 110-120 years before I can celebrate. Maybe with a few Centralization thrown in, but only if I’m happy with my global RR, or maybe also a few moves toward Land after Thalassocracy. In any case, by the early 1600s, I probably won’t be moving sliders any more.
Back to the game. Obviously, Mecklenburg left my league, once more. There was a clear possibility of a large scale war against several opponents that could threaten Lübeck and Denmark, and certainly will attack my Brandenburgian territories and Prussia. My army was ready, I had troops in Lübeck ready to fall on Mecklenburg, mostly infantry for an assault, a stack with cavalry in Brandenburg, and a small diversionary force in Danzig. Of the first two stack, I would make two new ones, with a better balance between cavalry and infantry. I raised maintenance to maximum. I just had to wait a month or two, and war would start...
... But nothing actually happened in Germany. Sweden left my trade league. And as you might have noticed in the ending screenshot of the last update, it is allied with Mecklenburg. As my only reason for waging war on Mecklenburg was... to be at war with them, I thought it would be better if, instead of fighting them, and Sweden, and Bohemia, and Bavaria, I just attacked Sweden.
And it worked. Mecklenburg joined the war.
I had changed the setup of my army, of course. The infantry stack stayed in Lübeck (led by my ruler, Ergel), the cavalry went to Hamburg to attack Lüneburg (led by Muhl), and the diversion force was placed in Skane to start some fighting in Sweden (led by Adendorf). I won’t surprise you : the armies of both Lüneburg and Mecklenburg were destroyed. They all died. Die I say. Pommerania started a siege in Vorpommern, which is quite funny of them. After the initial victories, I assaulted Mecklenburg, and placed 3 regiments in Lüneburg, the rest of this army heading for Skane. They would be joined by troops from Magdeburg, which is still my ally after 80 years. Loyality, what could I do without it? In Pommerania, I pushed the ducal army until its timely destruction. Poor soldiers. Didn’t it come to the mind of their leaders that they might have started a siege in Danzig, which was farther from my army, and which is more valuable? I guess they like core provinces more than reason... or life, actually. In October, that part of the war ends.
I vassalized them because they have a high income (though mostly from trade, I guess), and too much fighting over them is... too much fighting over them. They have given trade rights to Genoa, and even in my league, they won’t cancel those rights unless . It isn’t exactly a very important part of my trade empire, but I won’t give away free money. A province with a trade value of 10 means, on average, 0.2 more tax in Lübeck, plus my modifiers. Free tax is always good. In addition, I get a part of their revenue. Also, it gives me the chance to get a mission to integrate them, and until then, it’s a free military access to Brandenburg, so I don’t have to put a large army in Vorpommern and a large army in Lübeck, and can send some troops in Skane instead. Some of this thinking is ex post facto, as I forgot that trade income doesn’t contribute to vassal income while playing. I would probably not change my decision, however: even with the difference in income, I prefer Mecklenburg over Pommerania, as the annexation of the former joins Vorpommern tomy capital, and would increase my naval force limits.
I also assaulted the fortress in Hinterpommern. With all my most important part of the war, obviously, was Sweden, but it was, from the start, an obvious victory. Of course, full blockade, including the Öresund. Because I had forgotten that Pommerania had a fleet, or simply that it existed, I sent only one galley in the Southern Baltic, so it was attacked. I didn’t destroy their fleet when I sent my own galleys from Öresund to deal with it, but I did capture one galley. When the moment I start a new fleet building project, it will be disbanded, so it isn’t much of a gain. I sent 3 regiments to start a siege in Smaland, the rest going to Västergötland, with a planned siege on Bohuslan that never happened, as I was attacked. The first battle was a complete success against a superior opponent, the next, a moral victory: I lost the battlefield, but no pursuit followed, and the enemy suffered more than I did in men and exhaustion. I had, however, to order a strategic retreat to recover morale. Help was, and would arrive soon.
I left a small siege force under Abendorth in Smaland. With the joined forces of Muhl’s cavalry and Ergel’s infantry, going through allied Denmark, I attack the Swedish army in Västergötland. In absolute numbers, it was a difficult fight, but it greatly reduced enemy resistance. I leave a sizeable force to start sieges, and follow the army of Sweden, which is finally defeated in Bergslagen, in January 1484. I separate my troops and start sieges. The army in Skane was already on its way to Stockholm. I won’t go into the details of every siege. Southern Sweden fell first. I took Stockholm in May. I sign peace a bit later, when Poznan is taken by Silesia.
I had already signed peace with Lüneburg in March, but it didn’t blend into the description very wel...
For the next year, nothing much. Elections are held, and I choose to try to get someone else. He turns out to be mediocre, at 6-5-3. I recruit a new general to counter the loss of Ergel, my previous ruler, and it was a good choice, as he has a +5 modifier to shock. In June 1485, only a year after the last war...
That’s a real setback. I lose loads of disposition with my league members and people granting me trade rights. I don’t fear the CB to everyone else, I can fend off anybody, but yeah... I start sending gifts to the nations most needed by my league. Soon after, I learn that Lithuania has meddled with my SoI. As a reflex, I go look at their army, and it is, at the present moment, smaller than mine, for reasons I know nothing about. Then, I remember that they embargo me, so I have the Trade Dispute CB, which is better than Violated Sphere. They build up their forces however, but it doesn’t discourage my stronger, better organized, better led, and more disciplined troops.
I don’t have much of an objective. Forcing Lithuania back in my league would seem a major one, as I can’t take territory from them right now, for BB reasons. Also, it would be fun to get a few ducats. Releasing countries would be fun. In any case, if they join my league, I will get a new CB in five years.
My plan called for two thrusts: one, under Obers, my latest general, would go south from Mazovia, then head for Minsk; the other, with Muhl, was to go north, and then southeast, and start a siege in Vilna. Both would have for pupose to destroy all enemy armies that could be seen. All this while, a smaller group, under Abendorth, would set up sieges in Byelorussia, lending troops to the other groups if need be. This last one, of course, didn’t have as much strength as the other, and acts mostly as a kind of strategic reserve actually doing something in the mean time. As both offensives were completely separate for most of the war, I will describe the opening actions separately.
The Lithuanian army seems to have put most of its effort on the Baltic coast. Sending cavalry doomstacks one over the other, it won the opening battle at Samogitia through force of number alone, but at a heavy cost: more than 6000 losses against less than 2500, even with equal leadership. It forced me to postpone this offensive for a moment. However, I was not followed in my retreat to Ostpreussen: the enemy went to Vilna, and disappeared into Minsk. With later information from my Sourthen Army, I can guess they had to fight rebels. In April, I go back to Samogitia, with more success, ending with an annihilation battle in Riga, and I start sieges.
The South had more immediate success. I leave a few regiments in Podlasia for a siege, and attrition reduction. At the first battle, in Grodno, I annihilate 6 regiments. Podlasia is attacked, but I end up on the right side, with help from Abendorth’s corps. There is a major battle in Minsk going on too, and success is considerable:
This was the first of several battles which will lead to the ultimate victory, one slaughter at a time. The follow up battle in Grodno is a success, and the enemy is destroyed at Trakai. Abendorth starts sieges in several places. Meanwhile, Obers is fighting in Vilna, and it is another rout:
During this period, I sank the allied Norwegian fleet (7 carracks), and the 10 galleys of Lithuania. Nothing was captured. I was already blockading all of Lithuania, but it made my life easier. I also sent a few ships to blockade Norway, too.
Then, I start pursuits. However, the task is difficult, as the enemy continuously pours in fresh troops, and attacks my own position. My losses are heavy, and I have to send reinforcements from my sieges forces to continue the fight with Obers. My siege force in Vilna is attacked by a large force, and I send many troops from neighbouring sieges, but still lose. The enemy follows my shattered army, and I risk the annihilation of more than a dozen regiments. I had taken Podlasia, and my score from blockades and battles was high, so I decide it was enough for now.
I didn’t have much time to rebuild and repair my wounds, as very soon, Bohemia leaves my league. It does need to be in my league, right? I declare war. I have two main armies, one under Muhl in Brandenburg, the other under Obers in Mazovia. Abendorth has the troops required to besiege Poland, and nothing else. I plan to destroy the Bohemian army with my massive 21 regiment hammer under Obers, which is nearly half-cavalry, while Muhl tries to occupy Bohemia proper, while putting up a fight if attacked before Obers can come.
The first part of the plan was accomplished with ease. As in Lithuania, I get a free annihilation, this time in Neumark, by Muhl’s 14 regiments. This eases considerably my advance, and I start a siege right there, and another in Niederlausitz. Obers has less success, but still wins the battle of Sandomierz. However, the enemy army, which still has a high morale, joins forces with another in Ratibor, where the Silesian forces were destroyed. I wait for Muhl, coming through Breslau with some troops. The enemy is dislodged and demoralized, and finally destroyed in Erskejuvar.
The strongest regiments of both armies are given to Obers, the weakest, to Muhl, which is assigned to siege duties. I attack the enemy in his own sieges in Hungary, with total success. The siege phase starts in July, as there is no Bohemian army in existence any more, apart from newly trained mercenaries. By March 1488, Praha is under my hands after an assault, and I sign peace.
Little happened after that. Friedrich the First of Bavaria was chosen as the new Emperor. I discovered how to use gunpowder artillery. I won’t build any yet, as I don’t have any room in my force limits, and it would be useless in battle. But some day, I will, as they provide a lot of help in sieges and assaults, and are eventually killer on the battle field. Also, I obviously chose a new leader, but that goes without saying I guess. He is mediocre, at 4 ADM, 6 DIP and 3 MIL, but it could be worse, namely by his being excommunicated.
On a side note, I was involved, at least in theory, in a war against the Golden Horde, when it attacked Ryazan. The war also involved Novgorod. I signed a white peace, without a single soldier ever setting foot in Russia... Actually, I signed it when I came back to take the map screenshots. Must have forgotten about it... That is the reason it wasn’t really mentioned. Actually, it was during the war with Bohemia. Novgorod also signed a white peace after its army was destroyed. Well, I assume it was: the only time I looked at what was going on, there was a 20 regiment stack with 1000 men chased by 30k Tartars... That doesn’t sound good.
In November, I gained a new core on Altmark through Boundary Dispute. I started preparations, and cancelled my alliance with them, which was useless anyway. Some time afterward, Lüneburg left my league. Then Sweden, which followed with a trade rights treaty for grain with Genoa. Also, the Burgundian army is much, much smaller than it was, since it is at war with Aragon, and a nationalist rebellion has taken Bremen... Hum, that seems a very good moment to leave you on a cliff hanger. And not the usual “3 AM, exam tomorrow, must sleep” kind of cliff hanger, even though there was a part of that: a real, publicity break kind of suspense. Something will happen, a war, be it with Magdeburg, Sweden, Lüneburg and its allies, or Burgundy. But nobody but me knows what will happen. Well, I didn’t even know who I was going to attack at that moment, and even though I’m quite sure what I’m gonna do tomorrow, I wasn’t sure yet when I ended this session, so one could say it is a surprise for everybody. Who do you think I should attack?
International news now... Castilian rule on France is now over. Orleans has rebelled from England, and has taken Paris in the process, and Dauphinée appeared as an OPM. And of course, it is entirely occupied by Fez in North Africa and Granada in Iberia. “France” has taken Poitou from Sicily, which had it at some point, God knows why. As mentioned, there is a war between Burgundy (with Bavaria) and Aragon. Forgot to mention it in the last update, but Finland was annexed by Novgorod, which, in turn, surrendered Karelia to Norway recently. Venice is at war with Milan, and on its way to annexation, but for some reason, Milan has yet to take Crete. Moscow is now an enclave in Lithuania, though less so since the independence of Ryazan. There is a war between the Ottoman Empire and back-from-ashes Austria, involving the Ottoman vassals, but is yet undecided.
On the trade front... Not many changes for my league, as this update was somewhat short, but I didn’t show you the beautifully coloured Lithuania, and its three CoTs.
Beautiful isn’t it? A genuine rainbow of stupidity. Notice also that Venice is quickly shrinking. It was much larger during the last update, somewhere around level 6 I think. Now, it’s level 3, mostly because of some very rich provinces.
It is possible that this whole account was not perfectly accurate, as I didn’t take a lot of notes. I apparently haven’t written anything about the war with Lithuania, though I do have a lot of screenshots for a short war. There are holes, however, as I remember a lot more fighting than there was. But overall, the end result is the same, whether or not there was another battle of Minsk.
I should be able to play a bit tomorrow evening, and I’ll try to write my next report on Monday, but it should be there on Tuesday.
I'm reorganizing the first post. In the end, I want to put most major events that happened during each report. Right now, it isn't finished, but when I'll be over, it should be quite useful.
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Is there a upper limit you have in mind for your BB? I noticed it was 2.7 in you ledger but you also said you didn't want to take land in war due to BB. I assume even moderate BB is harmful to your efforts to expand your trade league.
I might rise to 8, or even slighty over, if there is no other option, e.g. if I have to annex someone, or want to take several interesting provinces/make several vassals at once, but otherwise, my target is to be below 3. I've been above 9 a few times, after the annexation of Holstein and the Order at least, and a very high base tax province or other interesting target might be valuable enough for me to take a hit, but if I'm over 3, I won't do anything that might give me BB if it is possible to delay it. I don't think I have gone over 10 yet, and it probably won't happen.
And obviously, I think very careful when I expand into the HRE without a core.
Excellent AAR, will be following it from now on. And good work with beating the larger nations so far!!!
And is there "levels" to COT's??? I've never noticed anything like that, and where can you see if?
And is there "levels" to COT's??? I've never noticed anything like that, and where can you see if?
Thank you! I've had quite a bit of luck (especially with the Brandenburg core and a few battles), but I'm very happy of the way some of the wars were fought. Especially the first one against Bohemia. After that lucky victory at Mazovia, they haven't been able to get back up. They are imperal electors now, however, but they can't convince anyone to vote for them.
CoT levels are equivalent to the value of the CoT, divided by 100. Of course, an integer, here. So a CoT with a value of 100 is level one, just like a 199 one, and 845 is level 8, etc. It is meaningful because that's what gives you a bonus. You get +2 tax, 10% manpower and 1% growth for every level, in addition to the basic CoT boni, which you get even with token CoTs. The last time I checked, Lübeck was around 1150, so it's level 11. That means I get more than double manpower, 11% more growth, and +22 tax. It's basically in part for these reason that trade rights and the trade league are important with a Merchant Republic : by making nations further away join my CoT, I get, presently, at the very least two more CoT levels, which is basically free money. + they won't build useless CoT, I get better relation increase, and they increase the size of the most interesting CoT around, instead of... Worms, or Vilna, or Venice, where I'm blockaded.
The next one is being written. The intro is done, but it should be a long update. 15 years, quite action packed... Don't know for today, and I work tomorrow and Tuesday, so it's quite uncertain right now.
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Now, I had a bit of time to think, and… I decided. I have two main objectives right now: force back Sweden in my league, so I can eventually start the gift process again, and finally have some kind of peace, instead of wars every 5 years; annex Magdeburg, which quite a nice province. Of course, weakening Sweden enough for it to be vassalized would be fun, and breaking down Bohemia too, but that looks like a long term prospect, especially since I’m not quite on friendly terms with Norway, so no alliance in the near future, as I’m quite short on diplomats these days, what between wars, trade league related business and SoI, guarantees and warnings from time to time. Besides, an alliance means I would have to cancel quite a few, with all the nations I force released. Lithuania is easier, I just have to release everything, and they’ll be back to a reasonable size. After taking the interesting bits, like Riga, of course.
The first choice to make is: which goal should get the priority? Well, that should be quite obvious, as I have a permanent CB on Magdeburg, and not on Sweden (though getting into a war with them isn’t difficult). Now, I can declare war on Sweden, Lüneburg or Pommerania, which are now all ex-members, and would all cause a war in Scandinavia. Sweden has a few strongish allies, including Bavaria, Lüneburg would call half my league, but Pommerania...
So, let’s go. Silesia, also my ally, chose my side. This is not the first war against Sweden, and they get progressively weaker every time, so it shouldn’t be much of a challenge, though I can’t get much either from this war. Vassalizing Pommerania would be good, as it would allow me to eventually annex them peacefully (at a -0,50 yearly BB cost, if I can’t get the mission, though), and thus unite my Prussian lands. Even until then, they have a good tax revenue (base tax of 7 for Hinterpommern and 6 for Poznan, IIRC), and it’s still a free, unbreakable military access and alliance. Otherwise, thrashing the Swedes once again should be enough. If Norway attacks for its core on Bohuslän, so much the better! Become Vassal is about 150 WS right now, so it is not impossible that a strong stand or two from Norway could be enough. However, so far, Norway has not been quite a destructive force, so... well, yeah.
The war starts strongly for my side. I kill a Swedish army 10k strong before day 12 in Smaland. My overwhelming force of 30k under a +5 shock general might have had something to do with this... I leave a small siege in Smaland, and Abendroth (whose name was incorrectly spelled Abendorth since the start, I think...) leads some soldiers toward other provinces, while Olbers, with the main battle army, goes for a stack in Västergötland. Uninteresting victory, but victorious, I still am. The pursuit is enough to end that part of the war. I start sieges in April
The Pommeranian army wasn’t quite a challenge either, and I assault Hinterpommern from the start. Silesia is besieging Poznan, so I let them, and send my assault stack (3-11 under Muhl) to Stockholm, which is assaulted in May, when morale is back up. The rest is just siege work, and waiting for Silesia to succeed. And sinking their fleet, which was quite easy. However...
That’s what I wanted to hear! I let them hold a few sieges on the border, so when I sign peace, they may start with a good position on the negotiation table. They weren’t very active, but still besieged Dalaskogen and Västerbotten, which they held by the end.
Now, a short manpower pause. I’ve lost a few soldiers, so when they get back home, I’ll lose a lot of MP, and my gain rate is not the most impressive. I’m no France. Next target: Magdeburg. Alone, it wouldn’t be much of a task, but it is allied with Hesse and Bavaria. Bavaria, being the Emperor, built a large army, 66k strong, and Hesse is a medium HRE power, with 17k, enough for me to have to plan something against them. I decide to focus on completely defeating Hesse before focusing on the Imperial army. In Bavarian territory, I while hold a line in Meissen, with more troops in Potsdam in Rupin as reinforcements. I have 17k under Kindt (a new general with +4 shock and +6 manoeuvre) in Hamburg, attacking Altmark (but no siege!), and continuing through Brunswick into Hesse; another 7-10 army in Brandenburg, which will be my main army against Bavaria, attacking Meissen; and Muhl, in Mecklenburg, will be his reinforcements, with 4-6, detaching troops for the siege of Altmark. Is that all?
The Bavarian border troops and the Madgeburgian army are destroyed, obviously, so all proceeds according to plan. I notice Hesse is the alliance leader, which is suboptimal, as I would rather have signed a compromise peace with them, and then dealt with Bavaria before 100% warscore is achieved. Of course, Bavaria needs to be completely occupied, so I can release everybody: Brandenburg, Thuringia (which holds a core on Meissen), and Wurttemberg.
The first real battle happens in Meissen, in December. The enemy’s 11 000 soldiers surrender to a cost of 300 men, but I somehow got only 0.10 tradition from the feat. Will it be sufficient? Another stack is coming, and another, totalling about 30 000 men. I don’t have that much available, but enough for strong resistance. Our generals cancel each other. I was successful, but without enough morale for a pursuit. I decide to send some of my more battered regiments to recover in friendly territory. However, I see a Bavarian army in Niederlausitz (remember, Bavaria is Emperor), heading for a Silesian siege in Potsdam. It will arrive while my troops will still be there, and it would be the best place for a battle, with the help from my allies, so I send Olbers to help. It is another success, but I’m nearly out of morale, so everybody has to wait in Brandenburg, and progressively, I move them to Lübeck and Hamburg.
Meanwhile, in Hesse, the war was quite easy. I had forgotten that I had three vassals around them, namely Münster, Trier, and Holland (through Friesland and Münster), which were quite helpful, as they all distracted a part of the enemy army. In Brunswick, I only faced 8 regiments, while the rest was busy with my vassals. The battle was not quite a success, but still called an official “victory”. Such half-victories would be common in this campaign. It is mostly ping pong, the kind that was quite legitimate, as I never really thoroughly defeated them. Half the battles caused more deaths on my side, and the others were even. In the end, my battle army was only 4k strong, with less than 3k in sieges. With a +6 manoeuvre, too. And little attrition. Was rough. I start a few sieges, the others being taken care of by my allies. Many regiments go back to my mainland. In August 1492, I take Altmark.
My allies had already taken a few provinces in Bavaria, including Ruppin and Potsdam. Actually, all my numerous allies (including Croatia, Hungary, Silesia, and my vassals) will be useful throughout. They all ended up besieging provinces, distracting enemy doomstacks, and the likes. I would rather have strategic allies, instead of a swarm of OPMs, but I’m fine so far.
Now that I have all my forces, I start a new offensive. I have divided my forces in two armies, one in Altmark, the other in Brandenburg. Both encounter a large army in Ruppin, with more than 25k soldiers with success. The pursuit in Meissen is even more successful, with 15 500 deaths for the Bavarian forces. The remaining forces are eliminated in Ruppin by one of my two armies, while the other, led by Kindt (I fear attrition more than unsuccessful battles right now), and augmented by many regiments of the first, will help my allies in Bavaria proper. This small campaign starts with minor victories of little effect, and ends with this, in February 1493:
Bavaria still has token forces in Konstanz, but nothing for me to be afraid of. Even though I only control Thüringen and Ruppin (both besieged by vassals), only München, Konstanz, Wurttemberg and Franken are held by Bavaria, and only Konstanz is not besieged. Well, it is a few days later, but anyway. So it can be said that my allies, for once did something useful, which is not typical of these tiny minors. Even Croatia has Oberpfalz (though it will sign out of the war soon). They are probably all gaining loads of inflation, but hey, their problem. So it looks like I have won right, so this should be boring, right? Of course, it can’t be!
The fun begins. I leave substantial forces in Bavaria for the sieges, but the bulk of my (depleted) forces move for Oberpfalz and Niederbayern. I take care to synchronize them so they don’t get attrition by being in the same province at the same time. I start with a small operation led by Kindt, as the army led by Olbers is low on men and morale. Kindt goes to lift a siege in Ratibor, leaving one in Sudety (under a new general, Nanne, with +3 shock and +5 manoeuvre), and another in Bohemia, to avoid attrition. The battle is a success, with less than one thousand losses on my side, and nearly three thousands for the Bohemian army. The pursuit eventually destroys the eleven enemy regiments in Oberlausitz. However, some bad news:
This explains why the beginning of my campaign was so easy: they have forces elsewhere. I let them besiege Silesia, and wait. Salzburg, allied with Bohemia, notices it was at war, and attacks my forces in München, so I had to send Olbers to crush them. Soon, in October, I have the war score needed for peace.
I have 8.6 BB. It is quite a lot, but manageable. Hesse is also one of the main German nations. Also, Bavaria is not nearly as powerful as it once was, without all of these allies. As I’m quite sure I mentioned, Thuringia has a core on Meissen, so basically, Bavaria is reduced to its original territory, plus Franken, so it is not much of a threat. It isn’t much more powerful than Hesse, and it can be managed by my vassals alone in case of war. Also, I get to had Thuringen and Brandenburg to my league, which was impossible while they were controlled by Bavaria. Also, it should not be good for their chances to be re-elected:
For some reason, the Palatinate became a Lithuanian vassal some time ago. I don’t really know what happened. It is fun to see, also, that even though there were changes, the electors are historically accurate, though Bavaria shouldn’t be an elector until the Thirty Years War. Soon, Bohemia will be elected, with a college still as divided as before.
I start my attack on the Bohemian forces in Silesia in January. Kindt waits in Bohemia while Olbers reaches Moravia through Oberpfalz, to avoid attrition, then both converge on Ratibor. The battle is a huge success, as you can acknowledge, and basically knocked them out of the war.
A short pursuit is enough for complete victory. It also prompts Poland to declare war on the new defenceless Emperor. I start several sieges, but send some troops to attack the Bohemian allies: Ansbach, Salzburg and Saxony. These operations do not need to be detailed, but be assured that I didn’t have many problems, though Salzburg needed a pursuit. I also have a rebel uprising (1-6) in Vorpommern, but little can be done about this for now. However, don’t worry, they will be vanquished.
One thing I had not mentioned is that Bremen declared independence from Burgundy. By now, they even are at peace. I put them in my influence, of course. You probably have understood that I will annex them soon, but I still have to regroup. Even after I had all the war score I needed, I continued the occupation to help Poland and Silesia, and to force several allies into my league.
I didn’t spend much time waiting for the next step. I simply grouped several infantry regiments in Hamburg (with my first two artillery regiments!), and attacked Bremen.
I assaulted the fortress, and it was done. I annex them right after. The war in Friesland and Wurzburg was not of much interest. Wurzburg was mostly taken care of by Thuringia and Hesse, and Friesland, by Holland. I simply had to assault Utrecht, and help Holland do the same in Friesland. Before I could do anything with Wurzburg, it was already done. I cancelled treaties, and forced every one into my league. No vassals, as I have too much BB right now for that. Sweden had left my league, and I decided it could be fun. Right after the peace treaty, my forces are ready.
(Notice how Anhalt is pwning Bohemia.)
Once again, not much of an interesting war. I annihilated 8 regiments in the first battle, in Västergötland, at the cost of only 800 men. As I didn’t think about Scotland, my blockade in Kattegat was attacked, but with the help of Holland and nearby fleets, I captured a carrack (with a name!). I was quite lucky, as my galley was nearly sunk at the end (8%). The remains of the Swedish army (2-4) were encountered in Östergötland, and forced to surrender in Bergslagen. I started several sieges, and assaulted Stockholm. I don’t have any picture of the war in Poland, but it was rather easy, and I signed peace in November 1497. The next step was Scotland.
After setting up a blockade, I land 17 regiments (4-11-2) in Fife, and assault. After waiting the next month for morale, I attack the enemy (3-7) in Lothian. It is destroyed in Ayrshire. It is enough for me.
Oh, yeah, there was action in Poland. I don’t have any notes. I don’t have screenshots. That’s how interesting it was.
I didn’t spend much time about peaceful administration so far in this update. Probably because the Hanseatic elite didn’t see much actual fighting near Lübeck, or in the league’s own territory. Some things happened. I formalized weights and measures, and held two elections. The first one gave me a 3-6-3 Diplomat, which is quite bad, the other, a 6-7-3 one, which is better. Of course, it appears Lithuania didn’t like him:
As we are in a “what happens the few months every couple years not spent bashing Bohemia?” phase, let’s see what trade looks like for the Hansa. Actually, at the moment of the screenshots, I had 5 merchants (or a monopoly) in every useful CoT. Well, not exactly, there was one on his way to Lisbon, but it got in, so it counts.
I don’t have Mantua, and obviously those in which I can’t/don’t trade were left out, as well of a few CoTs I don’t care about like Samarkand (I have 5 merchants there, but I don’t see any right now). I gave you a few tooltips for you to see my 1337 compete chances. They are less impressive with a few minors, but always above 50%, to my knowledge. Getting 5 merchants into Lübeck was tricky, as I had to wait a lot (and send merchants manually for a while) because of all the members that were in. Right now, only my league members trade in my capital.
With a major trading nation, I trade in every CoT over 200 ducats, decent merchant chance and an acceptable price. I might consider a few that would be right under, really cheap, and with an overwhelming chance to get in. And of course, if I want it to survive, or don’t care if it does (which is why I have. As for monopolies, I select a few of the best CoTs, and make sure I won’t be competed out of it. Having too many merchants is bad for compete chance (as you can see, I lose 27.5% because of that, and that’s after abandoning several once useful CoTs), but good for revenue. This is the way I balance it with Hansa, Venice, Holland, and others. Of course, this strategy does not apply to Bohemia and Muscowy, and in my experience, it is mostly useless in India.
A few months after the screenshots (taken in August 1499), I discover Astrakhan (and the whole lot of Eastern provinces, of course), so I also send merchants there. It is owned by the Ottomans, by the way. The Horde has... Pensa. Yeah. Astrakhan is only worth 195 ducats, but it is cheap, and there isn’t much competition.
[Continued]
The first choice to make is: which goal should get the priority? Well, that should be quite obvious, as I have a permanent CB on Magdeburg, and not on Sweden (though getting into a war with them isn’t difficult). Now, I can declare war on Sweden, Lüneburg or Pommerania, which are now all ex-members, and would all cause a war in Scandinavia. Sweden has a few strongish allies, including Bavaria, Lüneburg would call half my league, but Pommerania...
So, let’s go. Silesia, also my ally, chose my side. This is not the first war against Sweden, and they get progressively weaker every time, so it shouldn’t be much of a challenge, though I can’t get much either from this war. Vassalizing Pommerania would be good, as it would allow me to eventually annex them peacefully (at a -0,50 yearly BB cost, if I can’t get the mission, though), and thus unite my Prussian lands. Even until then, they have a good tax revenue (base tax of 7 for Hinterpommern and 6 for Poznan, IIRC), and it’s still a free, unbreakable military access and alliance. Otherwise, thrashing the Swedes once again should be enough. If Norway attacks for its core on Bohuslän, so much the better! Become Vassal is about 150 WS right now, so it is not impossible that a strong stand or two from Norway could be enough. However, so far, Norway has not been quite a destructive force, so... well, yeah.
The war starts strongly for my side. I kill a Swedish army 10k strong before day 12 in Smaland. My overwhelming force of 30k under a +5 shock general might have had something to do with this... I leave a small siege in Smaland, and Abendroth (whose name was incorrectly spelled Abendorth since the start, I think...) leads some soldiers toward other provinces, while Olbers, with the main battle army, goes for a stack in Västergötland. Uninteresting victory, but victorious, I still am. The pursuit is enough to end that part of the war. I start sieges in April
The Pommeranian army wasn’t quite a challenge either, and I assault Hinterpommern from the start. Silesia is besieging Poznan, so I let them, and send my assault stack (3-11 under Muhl) to Stockholm, which is assaulted in May, when morale is back up. The rest is just siege work, and waiting for Silesia to succeed. And sinking their fleet, which was quite easy. However...
That’s what I wanted to hear! I let them hold a few sieges on the border, so when I sign peace, they may start with a good position on the negotiation table. They weren’t very active, but still besieged Dalaskogen and Västerbotten, which they held by the end.
Now, a short manpower pause. I’ve lost a few soldiers, so when they get back home, I’ll lose a lot of MP, and my gain rate is not the most impressive. I’m no France. Next target: Magdeburg. Alone, it wouldn’t be much of a task, but it is allied with Hesse and Bavaria. Bavaria, being the Emperor, built a large army, 66k strong, and Hesse is a medium HRE power, with 17k, enough for me to have to plan something against them. I decide to focus on completely defeating Hesse before focusing on the Imperial army. In Bavarian territory, I while hold a line in Meissen, with more troops in Potsdam in Rupin as reinforcements. I have 17k under Kindt (a new general with +4 shock and +6 manoeuvre) in Hamburg, attacking Altmark (but no siege!), and continuing through Brunswick into Hesse; another 7-10 army in Brandenburg, which will be my main army against Bavaria, attacking Meissen; and Muhl, in Mecklenburg, will be his reinforcements, with 4-6, detaching troops for the siege of Altmark. Is that all?
The Bavarian border troops and the Madgeburgian army are destroyed, obviously, so all proceeds according to plan. I notice Hesse is the alliance leader, which is suboptimal, as I would rather have signed a compromise peace with them, and then dealt with Bavaria before 100% warscore is achieved. Of course, Bavaria needs to be completely occupied, so I can release everybody: Brandenburg, Thuringia (which holds a core on Meissen), and Wurttemberg.
The first real battle happens in Meissen, in December. The enemy’s 11 000 soldiers surrender to a cost of 300 men, but I somehow got only 0.10 tradition from the feat. Will it be sufficient? Another stack is coming, and another, totalling about 30 000 men. I don’t have that much available, but enough for strong resistance. Our generals cancel each other. I was successful, but without enough morale for a pursuit. I decide to send some of my more battered regiments to recover in friendly territory. However, I see a Bavarian army in Niederlausitz (remember, Bavaria is Emperor), heading for a Silesian siege in Potsdam. It will arrive while my troops will still be there, and it would be the best place for a battle, with the help from my allies, so I send Olbers to help. It is another success, but I’m nearly out of morale, so everybody has to wait in Brandenburg, and progressively, I move them to Lübeck and Hamburg.
Meanwhile, in Hesse, the war was quite easy. I had forgotten that I had three vassals around them, namely Münster, Trier, and Holland (through Friesland and Münster), which were quite helpful, as they all distracted a part of the enemy army. In Brunswick, I only faced 8 regiments, while the rest was busy with my vassals. The battle was not quite a success, but still called an official “victory”. Such half-victories would be common in this campaign. It is mostly ping pong, the kind that was quite legitimate, as I never really thoroughly defeated them. Half the battles caused more deaths on my side, and the others were even. In the end, my battle army was only 4k strong, with less than 3k in sieges. With a +6 manoeuvre, too. And little attrition. Was rough. I start a few sieges, the others being taken care of by my allies. Many regiments go back to my mainland. In August 1492, I take Altmark.
My allies had already taken a few provinces in Bavaria, including Ruppin and Potsdam. Actually, all my numerous allies (including Croatia, Hungary, Silesia, and my vassals) will be useful throughout. They all ended up besieging provinces, distracting enemy doomstacks, and the likes. I would rather have strategic allies, instead of a swarm of OPMs, but I’m fine so far.
Now that I have all my forces, I start a new offensive. I have divided my forces in two armies, one in Altmark, the other in Brandenburg. Both encounter a large army in Ruppin, with more than 25k soldiers with success. The pursuit in Meissen is even more successful, with 15 500 deaths for the Bavarian forces. The remaining forces are eliminated in Ruppin by one of my two armies, while the other, led by Kindt (I fear attrition more than unsuccessful battles right now), and augmented by many regiments of the first, will help my allies in Bavaria proper. This small campaign starts with minor victories of little effect, and ends with this, in February 1493:
Bavaria still has token forces in Konstanz, but nothing for me to be afraid of. Even though I only control Thüringen and Ruppin (both besieged by vassals), only München, Konstanz, Wurttemberg and Franken are held by Bavaria, and only Konstanz is not besieged. Well, it is a few days later, but anyway. So it can be said that my allies, for once did something useful, which is not typical of these tiny minors. Even Croatia has Oberpfalz (though it will sign out of the war soon). They are probably all gaining loads of inflation, but hey, their problem. So it looks like I have won right, so this should be boring, right? Of course, it can’t be!
The fun begins. I leave substantial forces in Bavaria for the sieges, but the bulk of my (depleted) forces move for Oberpfalz and Niederbayern. I take care to synchronize them so they don’t get attrition by being in the same province at the same time. I start with a small operation led by Kindt, as the army led by Olbers is low on men and morale. Kindt goes to lift a siege in Ratibor, leaving one in Sudety (under a new general, Nanne, with +3 shock and +5 manoeuvre), and another in Bohemia, to avoid attrition. The battle is a success, with less than one thousand losses on my side, and nearly three thousands for the Bohemian army. The pursuit eventually destroys the eleven enemy regiments in Oberlausitz. However, some bad news:
This explains why the beginning of my campaign was so easy: they have forces elsewhere. I let them besiege Silesia, and wait. Salzburg, allied with Bohemia, notices it was at war, and attacks my forces in München, so I had to send Olbers to crush them. Soon, in October, I have the war score needed for peace.
I have 8.6 BB. It is quite a lot, but manageable. Hesse is also one of the main German nations. Also, Bavaria is not nearly as powerful as it once was, without all of these allies. As I’m quite sure I mentioned, Thuringia has a core on Meissen, so basically, Bavaria is reduced to its original territory, plus Franken, so it is not much of a threat. It isn’t much more powerful than Hesse, and it can be managed by my vassals alone in case of war. Also, I get to had Thuringen and Brandenburg to my league, which was impossible while they were controlled by Bavaria. Also, it should not be good for their chances to be re-elected:
For some reason, the Palatinate became a Lithuanian vassal some time ago. I don’t really know what happened. It is fun to see, also, that even though there were changes, the electors are historically accurate, though Bavaria shouldn’t be an elector until the Thirty Years War. Soon, Bohemia will be elected, with a college still as divided as before.
I start my attack on the Bohemian forces in Silesia in January. Kindt waits in Bohemia while Olbers reaches Moravia through Oberpfalz, to avoid attrition, then both converge on Ratibor. The battle is a huge success, as you can acknowledge, and basically knocked them out of the war.
A short pursuit is enough for complete victory. It also prompts Poland to declare war on the new defenceless Emperor. I start several sieges, but send some troops to attack the Bohemian allies: Ansbach, Salzburg and Saxony. These operations do not need to be detailed, but be assured that I didn’t have many problems, though Salzburg needed a pursuit. I also have a rebel uprising (1-6) in Vorpommern, but little can be done about this for now. However, don’t worry, they will be vanquished.
One thing I had not mentioned is that Bremen declared independence from Burgundy. By now, they even are at peace. I put them in my influence, of course. You probably have understood that I will annex them soon, but I still have to regroup. Even after I had all the war score I needed, I continued the occupation to help Poland and Silesia, and to force several allies into my league.
I didn’t spend much time waiting for the next step. I simply grouped several infantry regiments in Hamburg (with my first two artillery regiments!), and attacked Bremen.
I assaulted the fortress, and it was done. I annex them right after. The war in Friesland and Wurzburg was not of much interest. Wurzburg was mostly taken care of by Thuringia and Hesse, and Friesland, by Holland. I simply had to assault Utrecht, and help Holland do the same in Friesland. Before I could do anything with Wurzburg, it was already done. I cancelled treaties, and forced every one into my league. No vassals, as I have too much BB right now for that. Sweden had left my league, and I decided it could be fun. Right after the peace treaty, my forces are ready.
(Notice how Anhalt is pwning Bohemia.)
Once again, not much of an interesting war. I annihilated 8 regiments in the first battle, in Västergötland, at the cost of only 800 men. As I didn’t think about Scotland, my blockade in Kattegat was attacked, but with the help of Holland and nearby fleets, I captured a carrack (with a name!). I was quite lucky, as my galley was nearly sunk at the end (8%). The remains of the Swedish army (2-4) were encountered in Östergötland, and forced to surrender in Bergslagen. I started several sieges, and assaulted Stockholm. I don’t have any picture of the war in Poland, but it was rather easy, and I signed peace in November 1497. The next step was Scotland.
After setting up a blockade, I land 17 regiments (4-11-2) in Fife, and assault. After waiting the next month for morale, I attack the enemy (3-7) in Lothian. It is destroyed in Ayrshire. It is enough for me.
Oh, yeah, there was action in Poland. I don’t have any notes. I don’t have screenshots. That’s how interesting it was.
I didn’t spend much time about peaceful administration so far in this update. Probably because the Hanseatic elite didn’t see much actual fighting near Lübeck, or in the league’s own territory. Some things happened. I formalized weights and measures, and held two elections. The first one gave me a 3-6-3 Diplomat, which is quite bad, the other, a 6-7-3 one, which is better. Of course, it appears Lithuania didn’t like him:
As we are in a “what happens the few months every couple years not spent bashing Bohemia?” phase, let’s see what trade looks like for the Hansa. Actually, at the moment of the screenshots, I had 5 merchants (or a monopoly) in every useful CoT. Well, not exactly, there was one on his way to Lisbon, but it got in, so it counts.
I don’t have Mantua, and obviously those in which I can’t/don’t trade were left out, as well of a few CoTs I don’t care about like Samarkand (I have 5 merchants there, but I don’t see any right now). I gave you a few tooltips for you to see my 1337 compete chances. They are less impressive with a few minors, but always above 50%, to my knowledge. Getting 5 merchants into Lübeck was tricky, as I had to wait a lot (and send merchants manually for a while) because of all the members that were in. Right now, only my league members trade in my capital.
With a major trading nation, I trade in every CoT over 200 ducats, decent merchant chance and an acceptable price. I might consider a few that would be right under, really cheap, and with an overwhelming chance to get in. And of course, if I want it to survive, or don’t care if it does (which is why I have. As for monopolies, I select a few of the best CoTs, and make sure I won’t be competed out of it. Having too many merchants is bad for compete chance (as you can see, I lose 27.5% because of that, and that’s after abandoning several once useful CoTs), but good for revenue. This is the way I balance it with Hansa, Venice, Holland, and others. Of course, this strategy does not apply to Bohemia and Muscowy, and in my experience, it is mostly useless in India.
A few months after the screenshots (taken in August 1499), I discover Astrakhan (and the whole lot of Eastern provinces, of course), so I also send merchants there. It is owned by the Ottomans, by the way. The Horde has... Pensa. Yeah. Astrakhan is only worth 195 ducats, but it is cheap, and there isn’t much competition.
[Continued]
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Now, I gave too much time to peace. I’m never at peace, it seems.
My strategy is basically similar to that I had the last time: one army goes north, another, south, with a reserve/siege army in between. Well, I think that’s what I did the last time... Did I? Well, anyway, that’s what you’ll see now. A bit differently, now that I can have an separate army for assaults and similar siege-related business. As for generals, there were changes I didn’t discuss because they did not fit anywhere. Viktor Muhl is dead since the war in Bavaria, and Olbers died during peace. I have a replacement, which I hired before Olbers death, in the name of Siegfried Muhl, with a devastating +6 shock, and +4 manoeuvre (with +6 fire and +1 siege, if these stats are at all useful right now). The new Muhl has 7-8 for the Southern operations, Abendroth has a 7-8 reserve, and Kindt, with his high manoeuvre, has a siege/assault army of 4-12-2, and will go north. I don’t expect much opposition there, but at least, I will assault Vilna (and Trakai, because it’s on the way) before sending siege forces everywhere.
My main objective is to take Riga. It is a low manpower provinces (base 1), but it has a high base tax, and I would get a core on it. The other Imperial provinces in the area are only moderately interesting. This also applies to those which aren’t Imperial, mind you. I will eventually link my Prussian lands to Riga, but I will first wait for Memel or other Lithuanian CoTs to collapse. If I destroy it manually (which would be the main purpose), it will slow down the stagnation of the others. I will also want to release a few minors.
Muhl is the first to see action. I Polesia, his 15 regiment army encounters a large stack. The result is favourable:
Of course, my army is mostly gone as an operationally important force. With only 6k soldiers, I cannot do much. I will soon give those regiments that were the most affected to Abendroth, however, and all of his regiments to Muhl, as he is my best general. After the usual pursuit, that is, which will destroys the remains of the enemy army. Oh, and Abendroth also saw some fighting:
Convenient. Another battle concludes the next day (November 26, 1500), and the already weak forces under Muhl have to fight another 15k stack in Polesia. Another victory, but my army is reduced to 3 000 men, though theirs lost more han 5 000 men. I succeed shortly afterward to unite Abendroth and Muhl in Volhynia, were they quickly eliminate an army of 16 thousand soldiers. Up North, I have successfully assaulted Trakai, Vilna surrendered with only 50 defenders left in December, and my army started to separate into different siege forces. Obviously, I have artillery in Riga. There is no meaningful army in sight (a few lone regiments here and there, probably mercenaries), but that does not mean there is nobody to fight.
Also, there is a sizeable army in Ryazan, which has taken Moscow. I’m not saying a reversal of fate is at all probable, by the way. I send all my army to defend Ryazan, and lift my sieges in Byelorussia. It may have been overreacting, as by the time I got there, the Lithuanian army had been weakened by that of Ryazan. It was obviously vanquished swiftly, at the battle of Ryazan (only 192 deaths on my side). The army that appeared out of Ukraine was not much of a challenge either. I didn’t even need Muhl, only with the siege forces that were not necessary anymore on the Baltic coast, I was able to win there too. There is now no enemy army (except that of Norway, which is completely blockaded), so I divide my forces for sieges. As for their galley fleet, it is sunk when Kurland falls in July 1501.
A fact I didn’t mention is that Novgorod declared war on them. Clearly, the combination of a long rivalry and hostility, of having core provinces owned by the other, and the fact that the enemy has no army and high WE does this to the AI. Also, my vassals occupied the Palatinate, which had been diplo-annexed during the war. Or before. Don’t remember. I was really confused. I also was asked for military access by the Golden Horde... As the sieges were slowly succeeding, Hesse apparently became Papal controller, and lifted my excommunication.
I was starting to assemble troops to be transported in Norway, as I didn’t need more troops for my sieges, when Sweden declared war on them. I have an interest in Norwegian expansion, and if I attack them, destroy their army and their fleet, assault their cities, and do other funny warlike things that I generally enjoy, I will put them in an impossible situation against Sweden. I only had war score from the blockades against them, but it was enough.
Just so you know, Smolensk has loads of cores, including one on Novgorod, and Ukraine is an ugly looking three province minor because of Cultural Unity decisions. Both join my league, but it they are too close to the Lithuanian CoTs to trade in Lübeck. As of the end of the update, I’m still working on trade rights, but I constantly need diplomats.
I’m quite rich, I have a sizeable surplus, and I am above 16 in all (or at least most) tech fields. Time to build manufactories! I start with a naval equipment manufactory in Vorpommern. It is safe from attacks, being to provinces away from many opponents, and it produces naval supplies. I will eventually build more, but I’m still thinking about whether to build a naval manufactory or the university needed for School Establishment Act and Education Act. The second one is quite positive, but would need me much patience or cultural tradition, which I don’t really have, and the first one is quite unimpressive. I don’t know if it is worth it to lose the benefit of the resource bonus, as I’ll need years of peace (when has that happened yet in any of my games?) and a National Idea dedicated just to achieve it (or years of randomly waiting for a level 5 Statesman). For this reason, I will probably not build a manufactory in Lübeck for some time.
I am quite happy of my situation. I have too many allies which serve no purpose, league members are rebellious (but hey, they are basically on my vassal waiting list), and Sweden is a phoenix, but overall, I don’t see a losing war ahead of me anytime soon, especially with my elite generals (I have a new one, Grünewaldt, with 5-6-5-1!) The main European power is probably Burgundy, but it cannot do much against me without the Imperial throne (though it can attack Holland) and doesn’t really have a reason to pick a fight with anyone but Milan, Aragon and French minors. Otherwise, the only defeat I suffered was against Bohemia, which I regularly beat up nowadays.
Oh, and speaking about beating up Bohemia...
Yeah...
Flashback now. When the war started, most of my troops were scattered. Many regiments were blocked because I didn’t have enough diplomats to ask Military Access from Smolensk and Ukraine, so many regiments were blocked because of the ugly Lithuanian borders. The war triggered my alliance with them, so they could get out then, but I had to fight with only about half my army. Happily, my troops were placed correctly, in Brandenburg (6-8-2 under Grünewaldt) and in nearby Skane (6-8 under Muhl), so I was in a correct position. The first battle was in Neumark, where Grünewaldt a weak 12 regiment army. Meanwhile, Breslau and Ratibor were besieged, with the main hostile army in Ratibor, with 13 regiments. Happily, the Silesian army escaped the onslaught, and started a siege in Kalisz. I attacked the enemy in Breslau with both armies, but even though it was a success, I did not destroy the enemy regiments. And in Ratibor, well you saw what happened. We are in March 1503, the DoW was in January. Now, sieges, etc.
The actual “difficult” part of the war is still ahead of me. I have most of my army spread out in Bohemia, with 2-3 regiments on every provinces, which means that I don’t have all my troops for further operations, but there is still one foe to face: Salzburg. Now, you probably know them as the Austrian minor that either stands there, watching, is annexed by Austria, or becomes the Papal States, and then does what I described above. This time, they were lucky. Steiermark defected to them. Then Linz. Then Wien. So Salzburg is basically the new Austria (the original one is reduced to Treviso, Slavonia and Istria, provinces with very little, hum... synergy).
The first battle was an overly confident attack on Steiermark by Grünewald in June, with only 4000 men against the double. Their army was somewhat weakened, but my very few available forces were crippled. I was able to find a few regiments here and there, and attempted a new offensive in November, with about 8000 men against 11000. I had more success than the first time, but their army was still more numerous than mine, and my morale was low, so I decided not to order a strategic pursuit, and wait for a moment. I was in a better situation the next month, and went for Steiermark. The fun began, and in February 1504, it was done, and I started sieges...
Well, that was easy. However, as I prefer keeping everything in nice little boxes, I forgot to mention that Oldenburg left my league. We had decent relations, more than I have with most other members. Very large “WTF?” look on my face when it happened, but it did. Let’s have a look at their allies...
Friesland? That sounds interesting! Only Friesland and Wurzburg join on their side, as I’m already at war with BOH, and Thuringia and Brandenburg are allies. Actually, Brandenburg dishonoured both alliances, since it declared war on Bohemia with Reconquest on Neumark. They will white peace out of it, of course. The war starts in March 1504, and the other peace treaties were from April, so I’m still relatively close from chronological order.
The Oldenburgian army is dealt with by Münster, as I declared war before my army was in place to keep the CB. I just assault the fortress (with help from Mecklenburg), and sink their fleet, while the fight is raging on in Osnabruck, better known as “the city named after a treaty”.
Friesland decided it was wise to make an amphibious attack on a larger army. Probably they chose a mistranslated and anachronistic version of Sun Tzu or something, or maybe they used an internet rumour website to guess the next von Clausewitz book. This should explain why I didn’t take care of the siege of Utrecht personally, and Münster got to Friesland itself before I did, but I helped with troops for assaults. It was soon over, but I still wanted to force Wurzburg into my league. There, I found mostly Hessian and Thuringian sieges, so I helped with troops to assault. Hesse understood the message, but Thuringia didn’t, so it took some time. In November, I sign peace with Wurzburg, and in February, the war ends. Yes, that is the situation on the Diplomat front. My current leader is a brilliant 3-5-3, which is quite minimal. I stopped right after this screenshot. Well, that one, and the next few.
Apart from what I already said, not much happened in the rest of the world. Aragon had to release two provinces, and is presently in a new war with Burgundy. It has lost control of two Northern provinces, but nothing conclusive. Norway lost Karelia in the Novgorod-Lithuania war, which is not exactly crippling, and had to release Kexholm as Finland. Another consequence of that war is that Pskov was liberated, and Lithuania lost one province to Novgorod. However, my friendly purple neighbour won a war against the Golden Horde, and has access to the Black Sea (though it is cut by Ukraine). The weirdest event was when I discovered that several provinces in Northern England defected... to Poland? This should ease Wales in its attempt to annex all of England, but they don’t have a cog... I guess they’ll have that kind of inspiration some day. Well, anyway, it would be sunk by the still huge and bankruptcy inducing English fleet, but they have to try something, right? Last time I checked, they weren’t even blockading Wales, they were blockading their own provinces. Oh, and Anhalt annexed Saxony.
You might have noticed I haven’t declared war on Sweden recently, so they probably are not in my league, and I probably do not have a CB against them. Well, that’s true. I let them go. I decided I would warn them (Norway is a neighbour, as it diplo-annexed Denmark), and guarantee Finland. Well, I still don’t have the diplomats for that, but within the next 2-3 years, I should be OK!
Sorry for the long delay. The next ones should come quicker, as most of the exams are behind. Well, when I say “quicker”... I’ll be trying out DW too, but don’t worry, I will continue this game, 4.1b is in a separate folder anyway. I will try not to mess the installation, I promise. Especially since... the Reformation is only one step away! More on this... some... other time. I will explain my very deep and thoughtful Reformation strategy.
My strategy is basically similar to that I had the last time: one army goes north, another, south, with a reserve/siege army in between. Well, I think that’s what I did the last time... Did I? Well, anyway, that’s what you’ll see now. A bit differently, now that I can have an separate army for assaults and similar siege-related business. As for generals, there were changes I didn’t discuss because they did not fit anywhere. Viktor Muhl is dead since the war in Bavaria, and Olbers died during peace. I have a replacement, which I hired before Olbers death, in the name of Siegfried Muhl, with a devastating +6 shock, and +4 manoeuvre (with +6 fire and +1 siege, if these stats are at all useful right now). The new Muhl has 7-8 for the Southern operations, Abendroth has a 7-8 reserve, and Kindt, with his high manoeuvre, has a siege/assault army of 4-12-2, and will go north. I don’t expect much opposition there, but at least, I will assault Vilna (and Trakai, because it’s on the way) before sending siege forces everywhere.
My main objective is to take Riga. It is a low manpower provinces (base 1), but it has a high base tax, and I would get a core on it. The other Imperial provinces in the area are only moderately interesting. This also applies to those which aren’t Imperial, mind you. I will eventually link my Prussian lands to Riga, but I will first wait for Memel or other Lithuanian CoTs to collapse. If I destroy it manually (which would be the main purpose), it will slow down the stagnation of the others. I will also want to release a few minors.
Muhl is the first to see action. I Polesia, his 15 regiment army encounters a large stack. The result is favourable:
Of course, my army is mostly gone as an operationally important force. With only 6k soldiers, I cannot do much. I will soon give those regiments that were the most affected to Abendroth, however, and all of his regiments to Muhl, as he is my best general. After the usual pursuit, that is, which will destroys the remains of the enemy army. Oh, and Abendroth also saw some fighting:
Convenient. Another battle concludes the next day (November 26, 1500), and the already weak forces under Muhl have to fight another 15k stack in Polesia. Another victory, but my army is reduced to 3 000 men, though theirs lost more han 5 000 men. I succeed shortly afterward to unite Abendroth and Muhl in Volhynia, were they quickly eliminate an army of 16 thousand soldiers. Up North, I have successfully assaulted Trakai, Vilna surrendered with only 50 defenders left in December, and my army started to separate into different siege forces. Obviously, I have artillery in Riga. There is no meaningful army in sight (a few lone regiments here and there, probably mercenaries), but that does not mean there is nobody to fight.
Also, there is a sizeable army in Ryazan, which has taken Moscow. I’m not saying a reversal of fate is at all probable, by the way. I send all my army to defend Ryazan, and lift my sieges in Byelorussia. It may have been overreacting, as by the time I got there, the Lithuanian army had been weakened by that of Ryazan. It was obviously vanquished swiftly, at the battle of Ryazan (only 192 deaths on my side). The army that appeared out of Ukraine was not much of a challenge either. I didn’t even need Muhl, only with the siege forces that were not necessary anymore on the Baltic coast, I was able to win there too. There is now no enemy army (except that of Norway, which is completely blockaded), so I divide my forces for sieges. As for their galley fleet, it is sunk when Kurland falls in July 1501.
A fact I didn’t mention is that Novgorod declared war on them. Clearly, the combination of a long rivalry and hostility, of having core provinces owned by the other, and the fact that the enemy has no army and high WE does this to the AI. Also, my vassals occupied the Palatinate, which had been diplo-annexed during the war. Or before. Don’t remember. I was really confused. I also was asked for military access by the Golden Horde... As the sieges were slowly succeeding, Hesse apparently became Papal controller, and lifted my excommunication.
I was starting to assemble troops to be transported in Norway, as I didn’t need more troops for my sieges, when Sweden declared war on them. I have an interest in Norwegian expansion, and if I attack them, destroy their army and their fleet, assault their cities, and do other funny warlike things that I generally enjoy, I will put them in an impossible situation against Sweden. I only had war score from the blockades against them, but it was enough.
Just so you know, Smolensk has loads of cores, including one on Novgorod, and Ukraine is an ugly looking three province minor because of Cultural Unity decisions. Both join my league, but it they are too close to the Lithuanian CoTs to trade in Lübeck. As of the end of the update, I’m still working on trade rights, but I constantly need diplomats.
I’m quite rich, I have a sizeable surplus, and I am above 16 in all (or at least most) tech fields. Time to build manufactories! I start with a naval equipment manufactory in Vorpommern. It is safe from attacks, being to provinces away from many opponents, and it produces naval supplies. I will eventually build more, but I’m still thinking about whether to build a naval manufactory or the university needed for School Establishment Act and Education Act. The second one is quite positive, but would need me much patience or cultural tradition, which I don’t really have, and the first one is quite unimpressive. I don’t know if it is worth it to lose the benefit of the resource bonus, as I’ll need years of peace (when has that happened yet in any of my games?) and a National Idea dedicated just to achieve it (or years of randomly waiting for a level 5 Statesman). For this reason, I will probably not build a manufactory in Lübeck for some time.
I am quite happy of my situation. I have too many allies which serve no purpose, league members are rebellious (but hey, they are basically on my vassal waiting list), and Sweden is a phoenix, but overall, I don’t see a losing war ahead of me anytime soon, especially with my elite generals (I have a new one, Grünewaldt, with 5-6-5-1!) The main European power is probably Burgundy, but it cannot do much against me without the Imperial throne (though it can attack Holland) and doesn’t really have a reason to pick a fight with anyone but Milan, Aragon and French minors. Otherwise, the only defeat I suffered was against Bohemia, which I regularly beat up nowadays.
Oh, and speaking about beating up Bohemia...
Yeah...
Flashback now. When the war started, most of my troops were scattered. Many regiments were blocked because I didn’t have enough diplomats to ask Military Access from Smolensk and Ukraine, so many regiments were blocked because of the ugly Lithuanian borders. The war triggered my alliance with them, so they could get out then, but I had to fight with only about half my army. Happily, my troops were placed correctly, in Brandenburg (6-8-2 under Grünewaldt) and in nearby Skane (6-8 under Muhl), so I was in a correct position. The first battle was in Neumark, where Grünewaldt a weak 12 regiment army. Meanwhile, Breslau and Ratibor were besieged, with the main hostile army in Ratibor, with 13 regiments. Happily, the Silesian army escaped the onslaught, and started a siege in Kalisz. I attacked the enemy in Breslau with both armies, but even though it was a success, I did not destroy the enemy regiments. And in Ratibor, well you saw what happened. We are in March 1503, the DoW was in January. Now, sieges, etc.
The actual “difficult” part of the war is still ahead of me. I have most of my army spread out in Bohemia, with 2-3 regiments on every provinces, which means that I don’t have all my troops for further operations, but there is still one foe to face: Salzburg. Now, you probably know them as the Austrian minor that either stands there, watching, is annexed by Austria, or becomes the Papal States, and then does what I described above. This time, they were lucky. Steiermark defected to them. Then Linz. Then Wien. So Salzburg is basically the new Austria (the original one is reduced to Treviso, Slavonia and Istria, provinces with very little, hum... synergy).
The first battle was an overly confident attack on Steiermark by Grünewald in June, with only 4000 men against the double. Their army was somewhat weakened, but my very few available forces were crippled. I was able to find a few regiments here and there, and attempted a new offensive in November, with about 8000 men against 11000. I had more success than the first time, but their army was still more numerous than mine, and my morale was low, so I decided not to order a strategic pursuit, and wait for a moment. I was in a better situation the next month, and went for Steiermark. The fun began, and in February 1504, it was done, and I started sieges...
Well, that was easy. However, as I prefer keeping everything in nice little boxes, I forgot to mention that Oldenburg left my league. We had decent relations, more than I have with most other members. Very large “WTF?” look on my face when it happened, but it did. Let’s have a look at their allies...
Friesland? That sounds interesting! Only Friesland and Wurzburg join on their side, as I’m already at war with BOH, and Thuringia and Brandenburg are allies. Actually, Brandenburg dishonoured both alliances, since it declared war on Bohemia with Reconquest on Neumark. They will white peace out of it, of course. The war starts in March 1504, and the other peace treaties were from April, so I’m still relatively close from chronological order.
The Oldenburgian army is dealt with by Münster, as I declared war before my army was in place to keep the CB. I just assault the fortress (with help from Mecklenburg), and sink their fleet, while the fight is raging on in Osnabruck, better known as “the city named after a treaty”.
Friesland decided it was wise to make an amphibious attack on a larger army. Probably they chose a mistranslated and anachronistic version of Sun Tzu or something, or maybe they used an internet rumour website to guess the next von Clausewitz book. This should explain why I didn’t take care of the siege of Utrecht personally, and Münster got to Friesland itself before I did, but I helped with troops for assaults. It was soon over, but I still wanted to force Wurzburg into my league. There, I found mostly Hessian and Thuringian sieges, so I helped with troops to assault. Hesse understood the message, but Thuringia didn’t, so it took some time. In November, I sign peace with Wurzburg, and in February, the war ends. Yes, that is the situation on the Diplomat front. My current leader is a brilliant 3-5-3, which is quite minimal. I stopped right after this screenshot. Well, that one, and the next few.
Apart from what I already said, not much happened in the rest of the world. Aragon had to release two provinces, and is presently in a new war with Burgundy. It has lost control of two Northern provinces, but nothing conclusive. Norway lost Karelia in the Novgorod-Lithuania war, which is not exactly crippling, and had to release Kexholm as Finland. Another consequence of that war is that Pskov was liberated, and Lithuania lost one province to Novgorod. However, my friendly purple neighbour won a war against the Golden Horde, and has access to the Black Sea (though it is cut by Ukraine). The weirdest event was when I discovered that several provinces in Northern England defected... to Poland? This should ease Wales in its attempt to annex all of England, but they don’t have a cog... I guess they’ll have that kind of inspiration some day. Well, anyway, it would be sunk by the still huge and bankruptcy inducing English fleet, but they have to try something, right? Last time I checked, they weren’t even blockading Wales, they were blockading their own provinces. Oh, and Anhalt annexed Saxony.
You might have noticed I haven’t declared war on Sweden recently, so they probably are not in my league, and I probably do not have a CB against them. Well, that’s true. I let them go. I decided I would warn them (Norway is a neighbour, as it diplo-annexed Denmark), and guarantee Finland. Well, I still don’t have the diplomats for that, but within the next 2-3 years, I should be OK!
Sorry for the long delay. The next ones should come quicker, as most of the exams are behind. Well, when I say “quicker”... I’ll be trying out DW too, but don’t worry, I will continue this game, 4.1b is in a separate folder anyway. I will try not to mess the installation, I promise. Especially since... the Reformation is only one step away! More on this... some... other time. I will explain my very deep and thoughtful Reformation strategy.
Be warned, more than half of this update was played with the Religious map, as you might have guessed. Also, I won’t describe everything in strict chronological order.
We are in the early 1500s. What should happen soon?
Ah. That. Right. March 1505. A few months later...
That too. Castille? Right. That was unlikely. The Reformation in Ibera. I don’t remember seeing simultaneously more than one Reformation faith province there that wasn’t mine.
As mentioned... Reformation strategy. I usually shift my religion to Protestant. I don’t remember many games where I didn’t. I also generally become a republic in the same general period with Gov. 19, so I don’t lose the benefits from being Emperor because I’m not the right religion. Obviously, that is only because I generally play small, but expanding trading nations. With Venice, my favourite country, I generally own almost all of Italy by then, and am waiting for cores. Yes, I change my religion with Venice. Actually, I change it even quicker, generally on day one, as I need not to be Catholic to have a decent chance at Spread events. I must have -1 Centralization for the missionary gain decisions, but I actually forgot that, so I will have to wait for the next slider change, in 1510, to have missionaries. It means +1 RR because of my government, but most of the decisions do that too, and I won’t have any revolt problems after the religious turmoil, which will cause more problems if I don’t have enough missionaries.
I decided I would go Reformed. Actually, that decision was made some time ago, but had not become definitive until... well, now. It will help my colonization effort (though I’m not a great colonizer), and I gain more from the trade efficiency bonus than I lose from the tax penalty. The thing I don’t like is that I lose one diplomat per year, which hurts. I also don’t risk being excommunicated anymore, which will happen twice before I switch.
The biggest problem with changing my religion is religious turmoil, but it shouldn’t be as harsh as usual, as Brandenburg initiated the Protestant reformation. This means I will have several Protestant provinces in the area, which should help me getting under 10% Catholics. Having fewer Protestant provinces is rarely an issue. To quickly end it, I will have to target the right provinces with my few missionaries. From that strict point of view, the best provinces for missionaries would be those close to many unconverted provinces, and not neighbouring other provinces with missionaries. With this in mind, the best choices would be Warmia, Vorpommern (Brandenburg neighbours the Protestant Reformation flag country), Hamburg and Fyn, not taking eventual unexpected spreads into account. However, this is a partial point of view, as I also need to convert provinces for other reasons (tax, etc.). So the order will be something like that: Lübeck, Danzig, Hamburg, Vorpommern, Warmia. Of course, not set in stone.
I have my first spread event in 1506, when Sjaelland converts to Protestantism. The next year, Brandenburg shifts to Reformed. Those are the only two that happened before Bohemia attacked Ukraine, my ally, and I had to answer their call.
As usual, I don’t have much of a problem fighting them. My armies are not very well positioned, however. I lose Danzig to an assault because I didn’t notice there was an army in the area, and moved my troops in Mazovia toward Bohemia itself, not their territory in Poland. I destroyed the 1-7 army with both my Prussian and Scandinavian armies. I give them different path toward Ratibor, from where I will decide on a new course of action. Meanwhile, my army in Altmark is slowly coming (I forgot to detach the artillery). It fought a few battles in Lusatia of little consequence, and lost a battle against Salzburg, so now it is waiting in Bohemia for more troops to assault.
In Ratibor, I am attacked by a somewhat large army, though smaller than mine. It is, however, led by a +6 shock general, so I can’t use my own leader to gain a decisive edge. I do win, however, and follow enemy general Boleslav to Bohemia. Remember that I have a siege there. Another win, the rest is ping pong, longer than expected because of their artillery on the back row. I also used part of my army for sieges, and to deal with Salzburg (with Grünewaldt, as I expected a tough fight for my reduced force), and Ansbach, which was assaulted when Bavaria declared war on them and sent many infantry regiments. They probably assaulted again when I signed peace a few days later, too. There is still a Bohemian army 12k strong in Lithuania, which guaranteed Ukraine, but it is of little concern. However, Ukraine did lose their capital, Ruthenia, to Bohemia before anyone could intervene, as it is not connected with the rest of the country. Finally, Silesia declared war on Bohemia, a quite risky gamble if they can’t control enough land. Actually, they will be vassalized at the end of the war. I signed peace with Salzburg when the capital fell, and then with Bohemia.
We are in 1510. I have made the necessary slider change for centralization, and I have enacted all the available religious decisions (after hiring a theologian for those that need one). Sounds good...
The situation of my provinces had changed during the war. Fyn, Skane, Vorpommern and Altmark are now Protestant, as you can see through the decision pop up. That’s a lot of Protestants to convert, but at least, I’m sure I’ll be out of Religious Turmoil as soon as possible, as long as they don’t take over all Catholic provinces. I don’t have any missionaries yet, though. I could have waited more, but there you go. I gain 0.7 (Test Act, Reformed, missionaries every year, which means about 24 years before I have missionaries everywhere. However, I do have chance with me: Riga converts, then, Lübeck! Even before my first missionary. Good. At the end of this session, I have one missionary in Danzig.
That would be a small update if there wasn’t something else to discuss. Well, it still is, but anyway. I reached Gov. 17!
I decided to colonize a bit. I usually don’t give much attention to this part of the game, but I want at least several islands in the Carribean, and I need an advanced base with a core in order not to depend on advisors until the end of time, so I decide to establish a colony in Micmac (New Brunswick), the only known province I can reach. It is not a very interesting province, with base tax 3 and base manpower 1. Maybe I will get furs, at least... The main interest is to have a core province capable of reaching the Caribbean. Even with the 50 years of naval research I will get in the meantime, I won’t be able to reach all of the islands (or any, I don’t have the numbers with me). My first attempt fails, but a second one succeeds. Yay! I get the “Native Encountering our Colonies” event, and choose the +1 base tax option. I decided to recruit a conquistador, even though I would rather keep the tradition for a 90% general, and, with three regiments from Europe, I started exploring the area. The war in Europe drew away most of my much needed funds until the conversion, so I could not send many colonists, but after discovering most of the East coast, I noticed some provinces aren’t half bad, so I will probably try to colonize from Micmac to Delaware at least, hoping for furs, tobacco and cotton, and not grain and fish. Actually Micmac produces fish. Meh.
Later, I hired two explorers, giving enough range for a few islands in the Caribbean! One of them is quite old, and I am about 5 points below the maximum, so I will send out all my colonists there for a moment. I have one on its way to St. Kitts at 68%. I also started a colony in... that province South of Micmac. It is mostly to connect Micmac with the rest of the East Coast, and provide some strategic depth in case something happens. As a side note, I have access to the Huron CoT. Is is quite worthless, but it is cheap, and I don’t have any competition, so it is red. This is what I know of North America. I have a cog in case I need a cog. For pirates, too.
The Reformation is quite strong. Protestantism claims Lithuania, but is slow in all other countries but mine. Calvinism... Burgundy and Smolensk converted already, and force-converted Novgorod has many Reformed provinces already. Plus, of course, several minors on both sides.
Politically, Bavaria annexed Thuringia once again, and did the same to Ansbach. As mentioned, Silesia lost against Bohemia, and was vassalized. There is a personal union between Normandy and Milan. Aragon lost to Burgundy, but annexed Orleans, which owned Île-de-France. The Ottoman provinces in Croatia are revolting, and two of them reverted back to Austria and Croatia. I think that’s it. Everybody was probably busy with the Reformation anyway.
I played a few more months when I went back for map screenshots, actually, and ended in March 1513. Nothing happened. Time passed. I killed natives. Simple things really. I gained Stability, too, so I’m at +2. Also, sorry for the horrible pun in the title, I don't have much inspiration left. I'm especially sorry if you are an Eastern Canada First Nation, because since my childhood, both of these terms are tightly associated.
Now, back to DW.
We are in the early 1500s. What should happen soon?
Ah. That. Right. March 1505. A few months later...
That too. Castille? Right. That was unlikely. The Reformation in Ibera. I don’t remember seeing simultaneously more than one Reformation faith province there that wasn’t mine.
As mentioned... Reformation strategy. I usually shift my religion to Protestant. I don’t remember many games where I didn’t. I also generally become a republic in the same general period with Gov. 19, so I don’t lose the benefits from being Emperor because I’m not the right religion. Obviously, that is only because I generally play small, but expanding trading nations. With Venice, my favourite country, I generally own almost all of Italy by then, and am waiting for cores. Yes, I change my religion with Venice. Actually, I change it even quicker, generally on day one, as I need not to be Catholic to have a decent chance at Spread events. I must have -1 Centralization for the missionary gain decisions, but I actually forgot that, so I will have to wait for the next slider change, in 1510, to have missionaries. It means +1 RR because of my government, but most of the decisions do that too, and I won’t have any revolt problems after the religious turmoil, which will cause more problems if I don’t have enough missionaries.
I decided I would go Reformed. Actually, that decision was made some time ago, but had not become definitive until... well, now. It will help my colonization effort (though I’m not a great colonizer), and I gain more from the trade efficiency bonus than I lose from the tax penalty. The thing I don’t like is that I lose one diplomat per year, which hurts. I also don’t risk being excommunicated anymore, which will happen twice before I switch.
The biggest problem with changing my religion is religious turmoil, but it shouldn’t be as harsh as usual, as Brandenburg initiated the Protestant reformation. This means I will have several Protestant provinces in the area, which should help me getting under 10% Catholics. Having fewer Protestant provinces is rarely an issue. To quickly end it, I will have to target the right provinces with my few missionaries. From that strict point of view, the best provinces for missionaries would be those close to many unconverted provinces, and not neighbouring other provinces with missionaries. With this in mind, the best choices would be Warmia, Vorpommern (Brandenburg neighbours the Protestant Reformation flag country), Hamburg and Fyn, not taking eventual unexpected spreads into account. However, this is a partial point of view, as I also need to convert provinces for other reasons (tax, etc.). So the order will be something like that: Lübeck, Danzig, Hamburg, Vorpommern, Warmia. Of course, not set in stone.
I have my first spread event in 1506, when Sjaelland converts to Protestantism. The next year, Brandenburg shifts to Reformed. Those are the only two that happened before Bohemia attacked Ukraine, my ally, and I had to answer their call.
As usual, I don’t have much of a problem fighting them. My armies are not very well positioned, however. I lose Danzig to an assault because I didn’t notice there was an army in the area, and moved my troops in Mazovia toward Bohemia itself, not their territory in Poland. I destroyed the 1-7 army with both my Prussian and Scandinavian armies. I give them different path toward Ratibor, from where I will decide on a new course of action. Meanwhile, my army in Altmark is slowly coming (I forgot to detach the artillery). It fought a few battles in Lusatia of little consequence, and lost a battle against Salzburg, so now it is waiting in Bohemia for more troops to assault.
In Ratibor, I am attacked by a somewhat large army, though smaller than mine. It is, however, led by a +6 shock general, so I can’t use my own leader to gain a decisive edge. I do win, however, and follow enemy general Boleslav to Bohemia. Remember that I have a siege there. Another win, the rest is ping pong, longer than expected because of their artillery on the back row. I also used part of my army for sieges, and to deal with Salzburg (with Grünewaldt, as I expected a tough fight for my reduced force), and Ansbach, which was assaulted when Bavaria declared war on them and sent many infantry regiments. They probably assaulted again when I signed peace a few days later, too. There is still a Bohemian army 12k strong in Lithuania, which guaranteed Ukraine, but it is of little concern. However, Ukraine did lose their capital, Ruthenia, to Bohemia before anyone could intervene, as it is not connected with the rest of the country. Finally, Silesia declared war on Bohemia, a quite risky gamble if they can’t control enough land. Actually, they will be vassalized at the end of the war. I signed peace with Salzburg when the capital fell, and then with Bohemia.
We are in 1510. I have made the necessary slider change for centralization, and I have enacted all the available religious decisions (after hiring a theologian for those that need one). Sounds good...
The situation of my provinces had changed during the war. Fyn, Skane, Vorpommern and Altmark are now Protestant, as you can see through the decision pop up. That’s a lot of Protestants to convert, but at least, I’m sure I’ll be out of Religious Turmoil as soon as possible, as long as they don’t take over all Catholic provinces. I don’t have any missionaries yet, though. I could have waited more, but there you go. I gain 0.7 (Test Act, Reformed, missionaries every year, which means about 24 years before I have missionaries everywhere. However, I do have chance with me: Riga converts, then, Lübeck! Even before my first missionary. Good. At the end of this session, I have one missionary in Danzig.
That would be a small update if there wasn’t something else to discuss. Well, it still is, but anyway. I reached Gov. 17!
I decided to colonize a bit. I usually don’t give much attention to this part of the game, but I want at least several islands in the Carribean, and I need an advanced base with a core in order not to depend on advisors until the end of time, so I decide to establish a colony in Micmac (New Brunswick), the only known province I can reach. It is not a very interesting province, with base tax 3 and base manpower 1. Maybe I will get furs, at least... The main interest is to have a core province capable of reaching the Caribbean. Even with the 50 years of naval research I will get in the meantime, I won’t be able to reach all of the islands (or any, I don’t have the numbers with me). My first attempt fails, but a second one succeeds. Yay! I get the “Native Encountering our Colonies” event, and choose the +1 base tax option. I decided to recruit a conquistador, even though I would rather keep the tradition for a 90% general, and, with three regiments from Europe, I started exploring the area. The war in Europe drew away most of my much needed funds until the conversion, so I could not send many colonists, but after discovering most of the East coast, I noticed some provinces aren’t half bad, so I will probably try to colonize from Micmac to Delaware at least, hoping for furs, tobacco and cotton, and not grain and fish. Actually Micmac produces fish. Meh.
Later, I hired two explorers, giving enough range for a few islands in the Caribbean! One of them is quite old, and I am about 5 points below the maximum, so I will send out all my colonists there for a moment. I have one on its way to St. Kitts at 68%. I also started a colony in... that province South of Micmac. It is mostly to connect Micmac with the rest of the East Coast, and provide some strategic depth in case something happens. As a side note, I have access to the Huron CoT. Is is quite worthless, but it is cheap, and I don’t have any competition, so it is red. This is what I know of North America. I have a cog in case I need a cog. For pirates, too.
The Reformation is quite strong. Protestantism claims Lithuania, but is slow in all other countries but mine. Calvinism... Burgundy and Smolensk converted already, and force-converted Novgorod has many Reformed provinces already. Plus, of course, several minors on both sides.
Politically, Bavaria annexed Thuringia once again, and did the same to Ansbach. As mentioned, Silesia lost against Bohemia, and was vassalized. There is a personal union between Normandy and Milan. Aragon lost to Burgundy, but annexed Orleans, which owned Île-de-France. The Ottoman provinces in Croatia are revolting, and two of them reverted back to Austria and Croatia. I think that’s it. Everybody was probably busy with the Reformation anyway.
I played a few more months when I went back for map screenshots, actually, and ended in March 1513. Nothing happened. Time passed. I killed natives. Simple things really. I gained Stability, too, so I’m at +2. Also, sorry for the horrible pun in the title, I don't have much inspiration left. I'm especially sorry if you are an Eastern Canada First Nation, because since my childhood, both of these terms are tightly associated.
Now, back to DW.
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