Good Job, now you have all your cores.......so whats now on the *to-do* list? Dipl-annexing France i guess.....
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coz1 said:I cannot believe that Granada is still around.Very strange.
Not only that, but Navarra is still there too. Spain has been asleep at the switch.
labalag - thanks for de-lurking! Your question (what will happen to Köln and Münster?) brings up an important subject. My policy for the moment is no annexing of European provinces that are not French or Italian, so I had no plans to do anything to Köln and Münster except to end the war. Of course, I'm kind of running out of French and Italian provinces to annex, so what then? Suggestions welcome.
coz1 - your eyesight is better than mine, I thought it was black olive... Thanks to you and others who have reassured me concerning the length of the AAR. Actually I was never worried that readers would lose interest - just that I might!
Van Engel - Yup, no more permanent CBs! So I have to take whatever chances come along in Europe, while vigorously expanding in North America.
Troggle - Yes, happily for me none of the Big Guns has really shone in this game. England, despite having France virtually annihilated for them, are somehow failing to do anything useful, Austria are still a decidedly Small White Blob, and Spain are playing a pretty mediocre game as well. I'm now in 4th place behind the Ottomans, Spain and Austria, but I'm pretty confident of reaching #1 by the end of the game - I'm gradually closing the gap.
coz1 - your eyesight is better than mine, I thought it was black olive...
Thanks to you and others who have reassured me concerning the length of the AAR. Actually I was never worried that readers would lose interest - just that I might!Van Engel - Yup, no more permanent CBs!
So I have to take whatever chances come along in Europe, while vigorously expanding in North America.Troggle - Yes, happily for me none of the Big Guns has really shone in this game. England, despite having France virtually annihilated for them, are somehow failing to do anything useful, Austria are still a decidedly Small White Blob, and Spain are playing a pretty mediocre game as well. I'm now in 4th place behind the Ottomans, Spain and Austria, but I'm pretty confident of reaching #1 by the end of the game - I'm gradually closing the gap.
Chapter 26: 1621 - 1638
Unruly English, Insufferable Helvetians
Unruly English, Insufferable Helvetians
The House of Anjou in 1621 ruled over most of France and Italy as well as a number of colonies in North America. However, Henri II King of Provence was now 58 and had no sons, only two daughters. The elder was called Nicoläa and the younger was called Claude. To keep things neat and tidy, in 1621 Nicoläa married her cousin Charles, eldest son of Henri’s brother François, who was next in line to the throne. Later on, in 1634, Claude married Nicolas François, Charles’ younger brother. If you didn’t grasp all that, the two daughters of Henri married the two sons of Henri’s brother François - very neat, very tidy, and certainly no chance whatsoever of any non-Angevins sneaking in by marriage to have a claim to the throne.
The only European power other than Provence with colonies in North America were the English, and frankly they were making what is known in the trade as a pig’s ear of running them. The colonists were generally speaking a lawless crew who were almost always revolting in every sense of the word. They were mostly Anglicans of course, which went a fair way to explaining this behaviour. Bands of rebels regularly strayed into Provençal territory from the English colonies and had to be rounded up, sobered up, disarmed and sent away again.
In 1622 a group claiming to represent the more respectable and law-abiding citizens of Stadacone approached the mayor of Bas St-Laurent:
Pierre de Castellet, mayor of Bas St-Laurent: What? Another band of unruly English thugs invading our colony?
Jock McTavish, who was actually, like many of the English settlers, from Scotland: Och, dinnae get yer knickers in a twist, pal. Wurr no’ unruly English thugs, ken, wurr jist lookin’ for a wee bit o’ peace and quiet.
Jock McTavish - not your average loutish English colonist
De Castellet: Well in that case why do you come armed to the teeth like that?
McTavish: Had tae fight wurr way oot, didn’t we? It’s nae picnic over there in Stadacone, ken. Cannae walk doon the street wi’oot somebiddy tryin’ tae knife ye or somethin’. Jings but ye’ve got a nice wee colony here in Bass St Lorrent, eh?
De Castellet: Ahem - the correct pronunciation is “Bas St-Laurent”.
McTavish: Bah San Loh-rong - it’s a right tricky language yeez’ve got though, ken?
De Castellet: Actually, we do of course have two languages - everyone in Provence speaks French and Italian.
McTavish: Sounds a wee thing complicated furr jist talkin’ tae falks, though. See - ah’ve somethin’ o’ a personal interest, ye might say.
De Castellet: And what might that be?
McTavish: Weel, me an’ ma pals here, we’re furr invitin’ yeez tae come an’ run wurr colony furr us, ken. Couldnae dae a worse job than they English folks we’ve got in charge the noo.
De Castellet: You wish to defect to Provence?
McTavish: Ocht but ye catch on fast, pal.
De Castellet: Well - er... normally we don’t like to have - how shall we say... non-Catholics in the Kingdom of Provence...
McTavish: Och, dinnae fash yersel aboot that, jimmy. We’ll no’ be givin’ yeez nae bother at aw.
De Castellet: Alors, messieurs - dans ce cas, soyez les bienvenus dans le royaume de Provence!
McTavish: Whit?
And so the colony of Stadacone defected to the crown of Provence, followed a few months later by Saguenay and Manicouagan. So happy were these defectors under Provençal rule that three more English settlements, in Manhattan, Connecticut and Massachusetts, defected in 1624. The people of Acadie were more reluctant but by 1629 they had also opted to become part of Provence.
Back in Europe, Henri was still hoping for an oppotunity to annex his vassal, France, or to vassalize his ally, Siena. The Sienese generally lay high on the Assereto-Anjou Scale and could easily be bribed with pizza in the traditional Provençal fashion, but no matter how much pizza they accepted, they never seemed willing to be Henri’s vassals. As for France, they were still at war with the English. Henri began to suspect that they might be staying in this war simply as a way of avoiding Provençal annexation.
In 1623 Henri had something of a bust-up with the traditionally troublesome Helvetians in what was officially described as a “boundary dispute”, but which quickly degenerated into an all-out libellous mud-slinging contest. Tempers became so frayed that it looked like war might be declared, however things settled down in the end and the issue appeared to be forgotten.
The Helvetian boundary dispute in full swing - is that a new kind of CRT he’s got?
Henri finally died in 1624, and the crown of Provence passed to his only surviving brother, François, who was so inept and lacking in self-confidence that he immediately abdicated in favour of his eldest son, Charles who, it will be recalled, was married to Henri’s elder daughter Nicoläa. He was Charles IV of Provence and his main pre-occupation was how to deal with the French. Charles’ hatred of the French was barely concealed, despite the fact that they were his allies and vassals, and it was with difficulty that his advisors managed to restrain him from cancelling the vassalization, banning them from the Provençal Alliance and declaring war without any just cause whatsoever.
During the early 1630s a wave of revolts hit the former English colonies and it was only after a severe bout of insanity that Charles suddenly realized why. He had just recently announced a new campaign for narrow-mindedness in Provence, but had forgotten that Protestants were still a hated breed in the realm, whereas Calvinists, of whom none actually existed any longer, were practically welcomed with open arms. He quickly reversed this policy and there was no more trouble from the Anglicans of North America.
Charles’ intention in becoming more narrow-minded was of course to encourage faster colonization of the New World. A brave adventurer named Arnaud was also hired in 1632, and over the next few years he wandered about opening up several new areas of North America for eventual colonization. The English were meanwhile desperately trying to grab some provinces once more, but Charles was not too worried - it seemed only too likely that the same scenario as before would repeat itself, and that these colonies, conveniently established with English gold, would eventually defect to Provence.
Unruly English colonists making a meal of Empire-building
In 1633 the odious Helvetians, who were currently in a war against an alliance of German states, annexed one of them, namely Baden. To Charles, this was the last straw. Something had to be done about this upstart Alpine state. But before he could do anything about Helvetia, he had become increasingly convinced that France had to be put out of the Alliance. In the end his entire court refused to accept his policy and in a rage Charles abdicated, handing over the throne to his brother, Nicolas François who, it will be recalled, was married to Claude, Henri II’s other daughter.
Nicolas François was a somewhat incompetent monarch, but at least he was happy for France to remain in the Provençal Alliance. In 1635 he declared war on Helvetia, noting that they had almost no army left and that their only ally, Tyrol, had only one province, currently in the hands of rebels. He did not call on his allies for help, and as it turned out, this was almost certainly a wise decision.
The war lasted less than two years, during which time the entire country of Helvetia was brought under Provençal control. Finally in June 1637 the Tagstazung were forced to swear fealty as Nicolas François’ vassals and to pay him the entire contents of their treasury.
During the war the Palatinat had broken away from French rule once more and Louis XIII of France had called on the Provençal Alliance to help him get them back. Nicolas François did just that, invading and vassalizing them in their turn. Siena at first dishonoured the alliance, but when they were invited back, they joined in the war with a vengeance. In fact, after Provence had made peace by vassalizing the Palatinat, the Sienese proceeded to march in and annex them. It was beginning to look like Siena needed to be dealt with using alternative methods than showering them regularly with expensive pizza.
The Kingdom of Provence in 1638
The Provençal Empire in the New World - all are colonies except Massachusetts and Connecticut
Bit of luck there with the English colonies defecting. A million games could go by and it wouldn't work so well. And a great bit there with the Highlander. Reminds of ye olde Scottish AAR. Nice.
Congratulations on the defections! That worked quite well... the English were suffering from the Civil War or something?
Oh, those dynastical bits are great! To which extent is this historical? It's almost too strange to be made up!
Oh, those dynastical bits are great! To which extent is this historical? It's almost too strange to be made up!
TheBee said:Congratulations on the defections! That worked quite well... the English were suffering from the Civil War or something?
Oh, those dynastical bits are great! To which extent is this historical? It's almost too strange to be made up!
I think it's a bit early for the English Civil War.
I didn't expect those colonies to fall so quickly. Did they automatically convert to French culture? Can you name a colony after me? (I think Ile de la Ste. Trogglesville has a nice ring to it
just kidding) Those tobacco provinces are great money makers.And go easy on Siena, or jwolf will get mad at you (and don't you even think about touch the Kazakhs
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Yep you had pretty good luck there with the english colonies (lucky git) I never get so much luck with things like that....ahh nevermind, another great update
) I never get so much luck with things like that....ahh nevermind, another great update 
Troggle said:
1638 too early for the civil war?
Oh and great AAR so far, I've been reading for a while and I like
Rhodz said:1638 too early for the civil war?
Oh and great AAR so far, I've been reading for a while and I like
Wasn't it in 1648? Are there stab hits and rebellion events leading up to the civil war?
I've looked it up and the Petition of Rights is in 1628. The Parliamentary Conflict fires between 1634 and 1641 and the Civil War is in 1642.
The events don't look so horrible to me though that threequarters of England's colonies would defect
The events don't look so horrible to me though that threequarters of England's colonies would defect
Just some answers - no update yet!
coz1, Troggle, Van Engel - Yes, I do count myself lucky swiping all those colonies from England, although they were all in revolt simultaneously and no other Europeans are around to defect to.
As for the cause of England's troubles (they've also lost all of Scotland back to the Scots - hooray!) I can only gues that it has to do with their decades-old war with France which seems never-ending. Can anyone enlighten me about how the AI suffers war exhaustion? No human player could surely survive at all in such a long war??? Anyway, I can say for sure it was nothing to do with the Civil War, since the colonies were revolting back around 1620. The real Civil War problems are still to come methinks (in the 1640s).
Semi-Lobster - alas those Anglicans are expensive to convert with low probability of success. I have better things to spend my money on! I've now got my tolerance sliders for Catholic and Protestant at max, so there shouldn't be a lot of trouble. It's actually only the four northern provinces that were city colonies, so the others are no problem anyway.
TheBee - glad you mentioned the historicity of my dynastic ramblings. This is one of the things I have most fun with. Basically it's all true, and gleaned from a wonderfully-constructed site which you can visit here. It covers just about every royal line in Europe, giving nothing but the bare bones of births, deaths and marriages. The fun is building all of that into the way the game is going. For example, the Grand Duke of Tuscany Cosimo II who in the game was my vassal, really was the King of Provence's nephew at the time when I annexed them - cool, huh? Of course, as I've mentioned before my rulers are the historical Dukes of Lorraine, since there was no historical Provence.
Troggle - how about if I rename Isle Royale to Isle Trogale? I've just colonized it, in fact, so it should appear in the next update. The Khazaks are safe, but Siena... em, let's just say jwolf should maybe skip the next update...
Rhodz - thanks, and thanks for posting! Have I said recently how much I like getting replies?
coz1, Troggle, Van Engel - Yes, I do count myself lucky swiping all those colonies from England, although they were all in revolt simultaneously and no other Europeans are around to defect to.
As for the cause of England's troubles (they've also lost all of Scotland back to the Scots - hooray!) I can only gues that it has to do with their decades-old war with France which seems never-ending. Can anyone enlighten me about how the AI suffers war exhaustion? No human player could surely survive at all in such a long war??? Anyway, I can say for sure it was nothing to do with the Civil War, since the colonies were revolting back around 1620. The real Civil War problems are still to come methinks (in the 1640s).
Semi-Lobster - alas those Anglicans are expensive to convert with low probability of success. I have better things to spend my money on! I've now got my tolerance sliders for Catholic and Protestant at max, so there shouldn't be a lot of trouble. It's actually only the four northern provinces that were city colonies, so the others are no problem anyway.
TheBee - glad you mentioned the historicity of my dynastic ramblings. This is one of the things I have most fun with. Basically it's all true, and gleaned from a wonderfully-constructed site which you can visit here. It covers just about every royal line in Europe, giving nothing but the bare bones of births, deaths and marriages. The fun is building all of that into the way the game is going. For example, the Grand Duke of Tuscany Cosimo II who in the game was my vassal, really was the King of Provence's nephew at the time when I annexed them - cool, huh? Of course, as I've mentioned before my rulers are the historical Dukes of Lorraine, since there was no historical Provence.
Troggle - how about if I rename Isle Royale to Isle Trogale?
I've just colonized it, in fact, so it should appear in the next update. The Khazaks are safe, but Siena... em, let's just say jwolf should maybe skip the next update... Rhodz - thanks, and thanks for posting! Have I said recently how much I like getting replies?
Farquharson said:Troggle - how about if I rename Isle Royale to Isle Trogale?
Excellent. It has sort of a quiet dignity, as quiet as someone who asks to have an entire island named after them anyway.
A CALL FOR HELP!
I'm having trouble with a corrupted savegame. Basically I got a 12 month CB on Siena in June 1643, banned them from the alliance then cancelled military access. In May 1644 I DoWed them, and after the war starts, every game saved is corrupted, ie won't load. I have pre-war saves, and they will load and save fine - only if I declare war the problem occurs. Of course, I'm probably the victim of the little-known "jwolf virus" which infects computers, searches for EU2 savegames in which Siena is about to disappear, then corrupts them...
Failing that, does anyone have any suggestions? Of course, I could just not declare war but that seems a little hard to take since just about every time I've played the war through I get a very nice result!
I'm having trouble with a corrupted savegame. Basically I got a 12 month CB on Siena in June 1643, banned them from the alliance then cancelled military access. In May 1644 I DoWed them, and after the war starts, every game saved is corrupted, ie won't load. I have pre-war saves, and they will load and save fine - only if I declare war the problem occurs. Of course, I'm probably the victim of the little-known "jwolf virus" which infects computers, searches for EU2 savegames in which Siena is about to disappear, then corrupts them...
Failing that, does anyone have any suggestions? Of course, I could just not declare war but that seems a little hard to take since just about every time I've played the war through I get a very nice result!
OK, a slight amendment. The problem has nothing to do with declaring war - it happens even if I don't declare war. I can save and reload up to June 1, 1644 but if I save the game on or after June 2, 1644 it won't reload. The problem persists even if I play as a different country during these dates. Has anyone had experience of this problem, and more particularly, how it might be fixed? I have a beautiful war result saved if I can just fix the file!!
Just when I thought it was safe to return to the forums, you're about to annex Siena! No, NO, NO!
Seriously, your corrupted saves sound like a very nasty problem. And it is really weird that it only happens if you use the CB and declare war. I presume that in the war you take Pfalz and force-vassalize Siena?
Have you tried saving the game immediately after the DOW, no other action? And what happens if you try to load the save?
I have zero experience, unfortunately, diagnosing save game problems. From casual reading in the forum I have the impression that common sources of these problems are hanging alliances or other relations involving a country that got annexed. But how you would find such a thing, if in fact that is the problem, I have no idea.
Does the EEP have anything unusual involving Siena and/or Provence that would lead to some sort of clash in the save file?
This sounds like a LOT of work, but is it possible to compare the formats of two saves -- one before the DOW, presumably OK, and one after, presumably corrupt -- and see if there is some kind of syntax error in the latter?
In some games I get a delicate period of a few years during which the game is highly crash prone. But if I can get through that period, the game is OK. And I've never seen a save game fail to load.
I truly hope you can resolve the problem, even if it means Siena has to live a little longer. Goodness, if Siena causes your game that much trouble, think how bad it would be if you tried to annex France!
Back to the AAR, I particularly enjoyed the conversation between the Scotsman from Stadacone and the mayor of neighboring Bas St. Laurent. Nice touch on your part to keep the Scots involved! And you had first cousins marrying (twice, no less). Was that really allowed back then?
Edit: I was writing this as you posted #256. So the DOW doesn't make any difference in the corruption after all. Could there be some event which is timed to June 1644 that is causing the trouble?
Seriously, your corrupted saves sound like a very nasty problem. And it is really weird that it only happens if you use the CB and declare war. I presume that in the war you take Pfalz and force-vassalize Siena?
Have you tried saving the game immediately after the DOW, no other action? And what happens if you try to load the save?
I have zero experience, unfortunately, diagnosing save game problems. From casual reading in the forum I have the impression that common sources of these problems are hanging alliances or other relations involving a country that got annexed. But how you would find such a thing, if in fact that is the problem, I have no idea.
Does the EEP have anything unusual involving Siena and/or Provence that would lead to some sort of clash in the save file?
This sounds like a LOT of work, but is it possible to compare the formats of two saves -- one before the DOW, presumably OK, and one after, presumably corrupt -- and see if there is some kind of syntax error in the latter?
In some games I get a delicate period of a few years during which the game is highly crash prone. But if I can get through that period, the game is OK. And I've never seen a save game fail to load.
I truly hope you can resolve the problem, even if it means Siena has to live a little longer.
Goodness, if Siena causes your game that much trouble, think how bad it would be if you tried to annex France!Back to the AAR, I particularly enjoyed the conversation between the Scotsman from Stadacone and the mayor of neighboring Bas St. Laurent. Nice touch on your part to keep the Scots involved!
And you had first cousins marrying (twice, no less). Was that really allowed back then?Edit: I was writing this as you posted #256. So the DOW doesn't make any difference in the corruption after all. Could there be some event which is timed to June 1644 that is causing the trouble?
I had a a problem with EEP too, as it corrupted my England game and made it crash often. You could send a PM to one of the mods, they might have some insight into uncorrupting save games, or maybe ask someone affliliated with EEP.
Don't let this AAR die, there must always be an Angevin!
Don't let this AAR die, there must always be an Angevin!
jwolf - thanks for your comments. Your last (edited) comment was in fact spot on. The problem was caused by a (presumably badly coded) event in China on June 1st 1644 (The Chinese Collapse). I seem to remember John Poole's Polish AAR suffering from a Chinese event too, which is why I loaded the game as China to see what was happening there. The good news (not so good for Siena, I'm afraid ) is that I tracked down the offending lines in the save file and deleted them - the game now appears to load OK!
Troggle - don't worry, there will always be an Angevin! (Until 1819 that is...)
Just Too Uber - thanks for the reminder! I would probably have resorted to that if I hadn't discovered the problem myself.
So I'm in 1646 now, I'll play a few more years to make sure everything is working OK then do an update.
) is that I tracked down the offending lines in the save file and deleted them - the game now appears to load OK!Troggle - don't worry, there will always be an Angevin! (Until 1819 that is...)
Just Too Uber - thanks for the reminder! I would probably have resorted to that if I hadn't discovered the problem myself.
So I'm in 1646 now, I'll play a few more years to make sure everything is working OK then do an update.