There Must Be Order - A Teuton AAR

[stnylan]

Well, there won't be many people left to contest with you when you abandon the Pope.

 

[Turrosh Mak]

Kebzero, could you explain why you picked Ecumenism over Unam Sanctum as your third idea? I would have thought the stab free DoWs in the 1500-1550 time frame would more than pay off delaying Ecumenism to idea #4.

 

[unmerged(10971)]

Party time! Invasion parties are the best kind.

 

[elbasto]

Well, there won't be many people left to contest with you when you abandon the Pope.

Even more reasons to stay catholic, since there won't be much competition for cardinals.

It's like having a 6 stars diplomat all the time, plus the prestige bonuses of having the pope and several cardinals.

 

[kebzero]

FEEDBACK​

Celebrate good times come on!

...great, now I'll have that song on my mind for the next few hours.

Well, there won't be many people left to contest with you when you abandon the Pope.

Is that a bad thing?

Kebzero, could you explain why you picked Ecumenism over Unam Sanctum as your third idea? I would have thought the stab free DoWs in the 1500-1550 time frame would more than pay off delaying Ecumenism to idea #4.

I take Ecumenism for two reasons... The first is that having the idea will block the 'Religious Turmoil' event from happening to me. The other is that with my 'animist irritation' program, I'm likely to have more heretics for a longer period than I otherwise would. Certainly, it would be better in terms of BadBoy, but odds are I'd be hit with the Turmoil event, and given my country size I might never get rid of it before game end.

Party time! Invasion parties are the best kind.

Not for the host, I'd imagine.

Even more reasons to stay catholic, since there won't be much competition for cardinals.

It's like having a 6 stars diplomat all the time, plus the prestige bonuses of having the pope and several cardinals.

True enough, it would be fairly easy to maintain control of the Curia to game end - but it would result in a slightly harder fight situation in Europe, and when I'm not playing an Italian or Iberian, I don't like remaining Catholic.

Besides, more of a challenge this way.

 

[kebzero]

Part 37 - Ottoman Assistance

Keeping their navy at port is the bothersome bit.

Given that we had few troops in the area upon the Declaration of War, Holland is initially successful in their assaults. In Limburg, we finally push them back.

Then, something quite fortuitous happens. As we siege Utrecht, Catholic Zealots rise up. They're not loyal to us, so we fight them and send them to Gelre. Rather than chase them down and save our siege, we let them work it. Gelre is currently Reformed...

The Ottomans seek to take the Polish problem off our hands.

Mind you, they get a fair bit of resistance. They can't reach half of them, but...

Go, Zealots! That's one more Catholic - and BadBoy-free - province.

And wouldn't you know, they're kind enough to repeat the process on Oldenburg.

Poland, gone.

...and then for the bonus - no more Aragon, ever!

At long last, we finish the push up the Govt tech branch, and can add Unam Sanctam as our fourth National Idea.

They might have marched on Breda as well, but we'll settle for this.

Holland is now suitably reduced.

Didn't cost us all that much, either. Three points in total - two for the DoW, one for Breda.

With our core within Tripoli expiring, it is time to intervene. Rather than fight Tripoli directly and get a nasty tangle of alliances and guarantees, we chase after our neighbour. Our main purpose here is to save Catholic lands from the Turk, and thus prevent the re-emergence of Aragon and Poland.

The Ottomans have a fair army, but they've worked up a fair bit of War Exhaustion.

Fortunately, the Ottomans is more than happy to split their armies up in a handful of regiments, and march them back and forth across the Balkans. Our intercepting stacks wipe out a considerable portion of their forces thanks to that. At last, they pile up a solid stack in Banat...

...but are pushed back.

The war is going well.

While we still can, we throw France a punch.

Sieging with cavalry takes time, but eventually we secure the Horde area still bordering us.

We could have tried landing toops in Kaffa too, but opted not to. The Horde wasn't our main target.

From Tripoli, we gain our Libya core and a Red Sea port.

The Balkans are all but secured. Time to peace.

We carve off all their Catholic holdings, plus a few more.

Since most were Catholic, the BadBoy gain isn't too great. With that, we've saved as many Catholics from heretics and heathens as we can. It is unlikely that other countries will convert, with the Counter-Reformation begun. We are now prepared for some major reforms of our own.

 

[Zeitgeist]

Expert use of free Catholic provinces Never knew that it was free-- I'll have to take that into account in my next campaign.

 

[unmerged(10971)]

Well! You certainly have good luck with these religious changes. Some nice trimming down of enemies, there... at this rate you'll have all of Europe not too long from now.

 

[Enewald]

Heh, Ottomans are trimmed well.

 

[HungaryForBlood]

exciting! this makes me want to make an animated gif of europe as provinces fall to your forces over time.

 

[unmerged(70585)]

Just caught up, excellent way to pick off the catholic provinces. Now when you change religion can you do the opposite and pick of Protestant and reformed provinces?

 

[kebzero]

FEEDBACK​

Expert use of free Catholic provinces Never knew that it was free-- I'll have to take that into account in my next campaign.

Before 1650, any province that is of your religion, but not of that of the current owner, would cost 0 BadBoy score if taken in a peace settlement, similar to a province with your core in it - at least, that is the rule in IN 3.2b.

As has been pointed out, the declaration of war would still cost you BadBoy... 1 for the DoW, more if you take stability hits in the process (i.e. with a Casus Belli and the Unam Sanctam idea, the cost would be just 1 BadBoy point).

The first time I noticed this, I got nearly all of Scandinavia for about five BadBoy points. T'was fun.

Well! You certainly have good luck with these religious changes. Some nice trimming down of enemies, there... at this rate you'll have all of Europe not too long from now.

If you leave a cadre of medium/large powers in the north - i.e. stay out of wars with the Scandinavians, for example - there's a fair chance at least one of them will be struck by this 'religion straight to capital' conversion.

Europe will still take quite some time - I don't like eating One Province Minors I do not have cores on, and if there's a chance someone else (i.e. France or Denmark, in my game) eats them, I try to be patient. The map might look messy until the late 1700s, but that is so for a reason.

Heh, Ottomans are trimmed well.

We couldn't very well let them keep Catholic provinces I could get for almost no BadBoy, now could we?

exciting! this makes me want to make an animated gif of europe as provinces fall to your forces over time.

I'll probably compile one of those maps once this AAR is completed. I'm curious as to how the religious spread map mode will look, what with my animist gambit.

Just caught up, excellent way to pick off the catholic provinces. Now when you change religion can you do the opposite and pick of Protestant and reformed provinces?

Precisely - that's why I've been waiting for the Counter-Reformation to occur. When it hits, nearly all remaining Catholic countries adopt the decision, leaving them far less prone to further 'spread of...' events. In all likelihood, they'll remain Catholic - but they're still likely to have some provinces of the new religion. Often enough, that's ample reason to make a timely conversion.

If the stability cost wasn't so atrocious at this stage, it might have been interesting to go through all three decision-controlled religions.

 

[kebzero]

Part 38 - Going Noble

Cancelling one mission, we get another hopeless one. Madeira is fit for a Refinery, not a University - not that we can afford either.

Inside Terra Incognita, Muscowy and Novgorod duke it out in their neverending conflict.

Our next slider move comes about, heralding in a massive reform. First, we relent even more on Serfdom. It drops us a point of stability, which is of no consequence now.

This would be the first half of why...

...and this the second.

The Imperial Crown is claimed by Pommerania.

Sadly, this great upheaval was too much for our benevolent dictator, Heinrich V. He could not survive the changes, nor the backstabbing nobles vying for a Republic.

For a moment, we contemplate picking the military candidate. If he'd been good enough, we could have swapped back to a monarchy and enacted the Militia Act - but then we'd have been stuck with him for eight years. Better to play it 'safe'.

Our first Prince is 'average' in Diplomacy (since 5 is the lowest rating and 9 is the highest rating for an elected Diplomacy candidate).

...I wonder how all those saved Catholics feel about this move. Nevertheless, now we have to save the repressed Protestants of Europe... after we work our way out of -3 stability, of course.

We're still trying to provoke the Animists within our realm.

And lo and behold, they revolt! Time to wall them in so they don't flee into any Prussian culture province, nor the already Animist province.

After some 'convincing' words and blows, they pack up their things and set off to cause a ruckus in Kurland.

We'll need more colonists, which means more Centers of Trade. We split Lubeck...

...and Venice.

Finally, at a massive -2 Stability, it is time to save Protestants. Catholic Denmark, with a near majority of Protestants, is by far the most important target.

Good thing that they are infantry-heavy. Bad thing that they have a navy.

Dresden is the first battlefield. We have terrain and river crossings against us, but thankfully Danish leadership is absent.

With that army broken, we give pursuit. Vorpommern bears the brunt of Danish forces, leaving the south, west and north fairly undefended.

Poor Tripoli... this could have been such a comeback.

Kurland joins the animist ranks.

Norway offers a quick way out, and we accept. We have no qualms with them at present, anyway.

Now under a general, the Danish force is proving far more hardy - but we maintain momentum.

We can never refuse such an offer.

Tripoli can't refuse the offer they got, either. The Ottoman throne is thus safe.

The Danes, however, are rallying. Our forces in Mecklenburg suffers a bitter defeat.

 

[Vesimir]

One question: Why didn't you take catholic Friesland in your war against Holland?

 

[sprites]

i guess it was too expensive on WS terms
with a TO that huge MP isn't a problem , but with a small i struggle with my 12k MP :'( so easily depleted in a small war against lith , poland , sweden , tver and novgorod (bohemia on my side but hmm ... well i hadn't to fight the poles )

little better : i hadn't trouble having animists , but my empire is 1/8 of kebzero's ^^ that's it when you don't play aggressive

 

[Vesimir]

Oh, indeed. But then I thought that a nation has to accept an offer when you control all their provinces. (Or get a stab hit. But after a few offers they have -3 so they have to accept.)

 

[kebzero]

FEEDBACK​

One question: Why didn't you take catholic Friesland in your war against Holland?

WarScore. I already took 100% out of them, and in IN 3.2b you can't extort more than 100% in a war, AFAIK.

I could have taken Friesland instead of Brabant (which was not catholic), but then I'd run the risk of Brabant being reborn as a OPM in the middle of my empire. I didn't want to take that chance, so I took an extra BadBoy point now rather than six or seven a hundred years down the line.

There was also still a chance I'd get another war with Holland before converting.

i guess it was too expensive on WS terms
with a TO that huge MP isn't a problem , but with a small i struggle with my 12k MP :'( so easily depleted in a small war against lith , poland , sweden , tver and novgorod (bohemia on my side but hmm ... well i hadn't to fight the poles )

little better : i hadn't trouble having animists , but my empire is 1/8 of kebzero's ^^ that's it when you don't play aggressive

As I see it, low ManPower pool for medium powers is only truly a problem if
1) You don't prepare for a war by building up a large army (on low army maintenance) in advance, and then let the pool recover
2) The war lasts long enough for your regiments to be badly depleted.

Mind, fielding a large, low-maintenance army can be risky for a small, poor country.

Oh, indeed. But then I thought that a nation has to accept an offer when you control all their provinces. (Or get a stab hit. But after a few offers they have -3 so they have to accept.)

Hrm... I've never seen this happen, so I wouldn't know. I've pushed the stability of countries down, but I don't think I've ever seen them cave with a higher than 100% warscore settlement even if they're at -3 stability.

 

[kebzero]

Part 39 - The Copenhagen Zoo

Denmark is losing, but our progress is slow.

At first glance, it would seem Muscowy is doomed... but Zaporozhie had been warned by their southern neighbor...

The title of Emperor is passed onto Anhalt.

At long last, Danish forces are confined to Copenhagen. I don't mind them having a large army there - when I peace them, it would be good for us if they could keep their remaining empire intact. I'd hate to see a dozen minors reappear.

90% warscore is good enough to claim 100%, so we settle while we can.

Not much BadBoy gain, there.

So, we immediately procede to round two.

The bulk here are Danish forces trapped in Copenhagen.

Saxony is forced to give up some claims.

More animist rebels, yay! And better yet, Vilna is a high-tax province, so the stack is quite solid.

Brandenburg is OPM'ed. We'll get our new capitol eventually...

Anhalt surrenders their claims abroad.

Denmark is further reduced.

Holland is OPM'ed, just in case we get a lucky Boundary Dispute.

This time, however, we've taken several non-Protestant provinces, and our BadBoy score goes up.

Cancelling that mission, we get the only 'improve relations' mission we have worth doing.

Minsk goes Animist.

Aquileia contests Ferrara for Italian leadership.

Animism is finally catching on.

Aquileia wins... for now.

A new day, a new mission. One of discovery this time. Mind you, our hapless explorer finds every other province along the eastern seaboard long before he finally stumbles upon Connecticut.

After being steamrolled by the Timurid Empire and victim to at least one succession crisis, Zaporozhie folds.

In Prussia, it is time for a change in leadership following the death of the first Prince. The new guy is even better at diplomacy, which is what matters most.

 

[PrawnStar]

Nice work but no vassals?

I've got over 100WS in a peace treaty in 3.1 - it's at the back end of the Iroquois AAR. Two provinces in Italy from Milan - just over 100 points.

 

[Enewald]

Heh, animist zealots are finally doing their job.