Three Countries One Goal

[Storey]

Even though Ayutthaya starts besieging my provinces I still concentrate on Ming.

And it paid off with a white peace with Ming in December 1669. I can’t believe I was finally out of that war. I start sending gifts to Korea in the hopes that I can avoid this problem as I did in the past when Korea and Japan were best buddies.

Now it’s pay back time for Ayutthaya.

I’m showing this because this single lousy ship was blocking several on Japan’s ports and that was enough to cut a surplus of 14.5 ducats per month in the treasury to 7.5 ducats. Blockades have some real teeth in them and you take your chances in ignoring them.


It didn’t take long for the advantage to shift to Japan. There were still a few provinces in Ayutthaya that were not fortified.

Finally they agree to give Japan Rayong and Udong in a peace agreement.

Finally I’m at peace! Well except for the continuing revolts that roll on and on.

September 1672 and Mecklenburg declares war against the Teutonic Order. Guess I know what I’m going to be doing at the start of the next turn.

November 1672 France declares war against Sicily.

Japan gets a royal marriage with Korea. Our relations are up to +135.



All in all not a bad outcome considering the starting situation. What made a big difference was finding that Japan was no longer at war with Vijayangar, Gondwana, Bali, Taungu and Tibet at the start of the turn. Hopefully Korea won’t declare war again and if all goes well next turn Japan will make a serious attempt to move toward the goal.



Japan is alive and still in the hunt.

 

[unmerged(49655)]

If I were you I would sell that Ming border prov to someone else.

 

[unmerged(59737)]

I bet you a nickel that your 30,000 man manpower reserves will be gone by the time you take over again.

 

[germanpeon]

If I were you I would sell that Ming border prov to someone else.

I on the other hand would NOT for several reasons. One, Ming isnt the one that started the war. Two, when war happens, its better that they focus on the easier target (SE Asia) than ferry troops to the harder target, mainland Japan.

 

[unmerged(49655)]

The AI sucks at invading Islands.

 

[Capibara]

I knew war with Ming would come, although not because of Korea, but congratulations!!, you managed it well and now you can focus in the goal, just hope Korea isn't wanting another war soon.

 

[unmerged(58610)]

Brunei came up with the vital distraction, thus vindicating your decision to keep them around. The main problem you have in that corner of the world is a distinct lack of war targets for Korea. Korea has the choice of Japan or Ming and they're allied with Ming. That Ming navy explains why the Japanese ai was building ships. If your Indian provinces are cores, the ai will try to recover them. That means more fun and games with Vijayanagar and Ayutthaya. You did spend the whole Japan turn trying to extricate yourself from the mess the ai got itself into.You did well not to lose any provinces to Ming.

Sicily is making some interesting choices; fighting Fez and the DoW against France. Looks like you will have to spend another turn as Sicily dealing with their backyard.

The Teutonic Order can't have left too much of Poland from their last spat. There's not too much of Mecklenburg and Austria got smashed by Burgundy. I do keep forgetting the Order's colonial possessions that seem to grow as if by magic. Whilst it might be tempting fate, these wars do not appear to hold any real danger for the Order or pose a long distraction from their, and your, march through Muscovy. It would be wise to check who is allied with Muscovy, before launching war.

 

[Murmurandus]

Cry Havoc and let slip the pigs of war...

Excellent turn... Impressive how you got that white peace with Ming...

 

[aldriq]

As ruthlessness goes this turn has been pretty good, but in the end the little mouse (Brunei) helped the pig not to be eaten by the big bad dragon. So actually Brunei is my hero this time Which proves that no matter how hard you try the AI will always out-ruthless you, as it has nothing to lose

 

[unmerged(79701)]

Deccan? Who the hell are they. Well they happened to be my single province in India that revolted away from me before the turn started. I haven’t been able to get any men over there ( I didn’t really feel the urge to ) and now they’ve declared their independence. Frankly I don’t care. Moving up the East coast of India isn’t an option any more.
No more finesse playing around here. If I’m going to get to Timurid its going to be the good old fashion way, by kicking someone’s butt.

So what's your plan for Japan? Do you want to start some war with Vijaynagar, and Bihar or Delhi or whatever major power holding northwestern India, to reach the Timurids? This will be long and painful for sure. Rebuilding your navy is the way to go anyway, and you can trust the AI for that. Expansion from the provinces you already have in Western India could be a quicker way to Badakashkan, but I don't think the AI could maintain territorial gains in this area, especially since you have -3 Stability and so much revolt risk already. The path for Japan is long and hard...

 

[Storey]

Insanity Boy - I’d sell it if I thought it would protect me but the Ming is still expanding so I’m going to have to hope that getting on Korea’s good side will stop them from declaring war on Japan. Of course it doesn’t guaranty that Japan wont’ declare war on Ming.

Fulcrumvale - I’m going to go back to Japan after 3-5 years and pop over and see what the situation is like. I want to know if it’s going to move everyone damn regiment back to Japan again.

Germanpeon - I agree although one of the problems with the AI is that is seems incapable of launching large sea invasions. I think I’ve seen 2 or 3 regiments in an invasion but usually it’s a single regiment. Still any real fighting is going to take place in South East Asia.

Insanity Buy- Too true.

Capibara - Yes if Japan manages to stay out of a war with Korea then there is hope that it will be able to make progress toward the goal. Of course there are a few countries between Japan and the goal that might prove to be a problem.

Chief Ragusa - I know it wasn’t much but not losing anything to Ming was a moment of pride for me. I didn’t think I had a chance of getting a white peace with them. It looks like I was wrong in that a white peace isn’t a problem, it’s getting anything more from the stronger opponent that proves to be difficult.

I’m afraid you’re right about Sicily. You and others have pointed out that I should have taken care of North Africa to remove them from being a threat and I didn’t do it. It may mean that I will be constantly distracted from moving toward the goal.

I believe the TO had Poland for lunch. They tasted good. Funny you should mention the TO’s colonial possessions. They are threatened by an unexpected foe.

Murmurandus - Yes a white peace with Ming is a victory as far as I’m concerned. Who knew that pigs could fly?

Aldriq - Funny thing is Malacca is on the mainland of South East Asia and has seldom sent men to help in any of the wars. Oh sometimes it will march men to a revolting province and help but that’s about the limit of their help. Brunei meanwhile sends men in every war and aggressively attacks my enemies. I smiled when I saw that they were the reason that Ming marched away from the front line. Sadly Brunei’s army lasted about as long as it takes to blink but they served their purpose.

Boyss - I plan on finding the biggest blunt instrument of destruction that I can find and wreak havoc on Vijayanagar’s head. I was hoping on using my province in Western India to attack ( I forget the country’s name) that bordered Timurid. But they’ve been in several wars with the Timurid and they lost all of their provinces along the sea. So I’d have to launch a sea invasion to go that way and I don’t think I would survive the logistical nightmare that would cause so It’s the brute force method for me.

Joe

 

[Storey]

1673 Teutonic Order

A sigh by any other sound is still a sigh.

Before we start let’s just for the hell of it take a quick look at the government slider moves from close to the beginning of the game until now. The one on the left is from 1463 and the one on the right is the current positions.

I’ve moved toward Free Subjects a few times. Maybe Offensive and I’ve had a few events that moved toward Plutocracy and Centralization. The rest is the computer’s responsibility.






All right so what’s going on with the TO? I’m at -3 stability, in a war with zero in my manpower pool, revolt risk (agitated by my policy restrictions) is anywhere from +11 to +15% and my armies are marching toward and away from the front line in Mecklenburg.

Sigh I make a few adjustments with my armies movements.

Since I’m at -3 stability my options are limited. I would like to change a National Idea but as with Japan you have to be at positive stability to make a change and that’s unlikely to happen this turn or for that matter any turn unless the AI stops the F@@K from DOWing every country that looks cross-eyed at them. Talk about an inferiority complex.

However there is good news. I’m well within my support limits for land and naval.
Yep, that’s all the good news there is.



So what is this war all about? I’m at war with Mecklenburg, Saxony and Burgundy. Mecklenburg and Saxony aren’t a problem. I could back slap some sense into there heads in a second but Burgundy is another matter. They are large

and they are at land tech 26 and naval tech 25. So my land tech15 and naval tech 14 doesn’t look so impressive. Kind of like when you’re a teenager in high school and you’re in some type of gym class and after a particularly hard work out you’re taking a shower with all the guys and you notice that some of the guys are way beyond your... uh well lets just say they’re hung like a mule and there you are suddenly rubbing the soap under your arms whistling like you didn’t notice. Well that’s how I felt looking at Burgundy. I have the feeling that they didn’t get that large by inheriting countries so want to bet they have some impressive leaders? Oh did I mention that they are also leader of the H.R.E.?


Sigh. All I want is a white peace and I’ll be fortunate to get one. Oh I forgot I’m allied with Gotland and I’m sure they will be of great help, yea sure.

The first battle took place in Mecklenburg. In fact Mecklenburg was the main battle ground for the entire war. It became a race to see who could reinforce their army first and Burgundy won the race and I had to retreat.

 

[Storey]

At the same time continuous sea battles took place off shore with the TO winning all of them. I faced only three fleets from Burgundy that had more than 5 ships. The Oresund proved to be the perfect choke point and forced Burgundy to fight there.

Burgundy continues the siege and then tries an assault. The fools have miscalculated and I see my chance. I attack with 22,000 somewhat hearty men.

I attack and win but it wasn’t easy. They had a superior leader but I was able to finally win the battle. But what the hell I rubmy hands together and chuckling at my bold and masterly move.

Still I was bothered that is cost me so many men when I clearly out numbered the enemy’s forces.




But Burgundy was just getting warmed up and they counter attack.

They won the battle and then assaulted the fort and captured the province.





I start licking my wounds and moving those regiments that are no longer viable to the rear and replace them with mercenaries.

Fortunately the Burgundy AI decided to go brain dead for the moment and didn’t follow up on its victory. This is the usual situation after the AI captures a province. I figure it’s sitting there number crunching to it’s heart’s content trying to decide what square peg to put in what round hole, which causes it to go into lock down as it tries to figure out why it doesn’t fit. Not that I’m complaining. This pause is saving my ass. But it will only be a matter of time before the cogs start moving and Burgundy starts advancing again.



Even with this lost province the war score with Burgundy was still +1% in my favor. I assume it’s because I’m blockading a few of the enemy’s ports.

The war doesn’t stop me from sending gifts to Lithuania. Our relations are at -80 and I want to keep my military access. However my king sucks lemons when it come to diplomacy so it is going to take a long time and will be very costly to improve our relations.

So the war has become a staring contest between Burgundy and the TO. Neither side is willing to blink and take offensive action because one is brain dead and the other sees no reason to launch an attack. I’ll leave it to the reader to figure out who is who. Then in December two of the most sensational events ever to take place in the history of the world took place. Well all right maybe that’s a little over the top but they did blow my socks off.

 

[Avarri]

And those two events are? Well your cliff hanger has worked getting me sucked in, and causing me to quit my lurking and post. Great AAR, though bad luck about war with that Huge Burgundy. Hopefully those "sock-blowing off" events involve the implosion of Burgundy.

 

[germanpeon]

Damn your cliffhangers! Its almost impossible to guess what you meant, but I will anyway. It might be that France or Austria DoWed Burgundy, allowing a turning point for you. It could also be Lithuania or some other eastern power DoWing YOU.

Well, I guess we will learn the truth eventually.

 

[unmerged(49655)]

I’m at -3 stability, in a war with zero in my manpower pool

I think this goes without saying for the start of all your turns

 

[unmerged(81390)]

It feels like the TO won't win the race afterall they are in the best position, but those wars will slow 'em down too much

 

[unmerged(58610)]

The Danes are fighting the same alliance and losing. The first event would be the Austrians launching an attack on Burgundy. The second, a state in south america with more gold than you can shake a stick at and troops armed with sticks attacks the Teutonic Order. That's notas sensational as Japan inherits the Ming or Sicily inherits Castille, but hey, we're talking useful to the Teutonic Order here.

It would appear that the ai atacks without a CB. Now that claims can be fabricated, why would that ever be the case? The ai still fights wars until its manpower is zero before hiring mercenaries. Hiring mercenaries first and managing its manpower properly would make more sense. It still has far too many 1000 man armies. You'd think that if the ai has taken the province it wants from you that it would send a peace treaty asking for it, rather than sit trying to work out what to do next.

I guess, for the Teutonic Order, it is hire every merc and march them to glory against Burgundy whilst awaiting the 100 man army from Gotland that will try to free Mecklenburg for you. Now were they they the Gotland Demigods lead by a 6/6 general, they might achieve something other than adopting wierd horizontal poses on the beach.

 

[Murmurandus]

A louzy war and a cliffhanger... This AAR is sure going down the drain... It has nothing to do with the fact that voting has closed for sure...

 

[unmerged(59737)]

Why does the AI not care about its manpower?