Having just ordered Chronicles (hard copy shipped from England to the US) I decided to give a report on my hopefully last In Nomine game. In may take up to 4-6 weeks for Chronicles to show so I should be able to finish it. I am well into the game already, 1488, and it has been quite eventful and instructive. It will just be text for now but I hope to get some screen shots up next week. So off we go.
1399 A.D. The world has turned upside down. Proud Byzantium is on the verge of destruction, her once wide swath of lands are occupied by Turkish invaders, Latin opportunists or local rebels but one stem of Greek culture has still survived. Trebizond still endures on the wind swept coast of Anatolia. She is small and surrounded by those wishing her destruction but while life is in their breast her people have hope.
I. Survival and the building of a trade empire.
The first thing to do is expand into Candar but we have no money for that. So set our expenses to raise our stability and send out our merchants to Astrakhan followed by Venice and we mint a good bit. A slider move is made toward Free Trade. Royal Marriages followed by alliances are made with Georgia and mother Byzantium. Once enough money has been made we purchase 3 mercenaries and buy a cavalry regiment. We are way over our force limit so we need to finish the war quickly. Candar has not made any alliances yet but time is not on our side so we launch. The war goes well with Candar's army being swatted quickly followed by sieges of Sinope and Kastamon. Peace is made and we annex Sinope and vassal Candar. She will be tough to annex later but we need the extra cash and don't trust she won't ally with the Ottomans quickly.
We spend the next five years putting merchants in every COT we can see and soon get 20 merchants in place in Astrakhan, Lubeck, Venice and Liguria. We also build a few ships, a cog and a couple Carracks, which turn out to be a big mistake but more on that later. Money is good so time to expand again. Looking around we see no real opportunities until our sites align on Crete. No allies and a good tax base. France does guarantee Crete but she won't get involved...will she? Sounds good so we load a few regiments up on the fleet and move them into position, declare war and launch. The Crete army gets destroyed and the siege is set up. Wait what are those French ships doing off Sinope. Dropping off the invading troops what else? 3 regiments besiege Sinope and my troops are in Crete, how wonderful. Time to Merc up. Georgia helps by sinking the French fleet, who knew she was a naval power? Byzantium broke the alliance which she would regret later. Crete falls and we annex her then move troops back to Trebizond. The French invaders are run down and crushed then we wait for France to accept a peace. Eventually France accepts a peace where we pay her 25 and release Candar. That last was a throw in by me to get Candar unvassaled and we promptly declare war and annex her.
So it is now 1405 or so and we have expanded to 4 provinces and have a growing trade empire. We really have no good opportunities so we sit down and expand our fleet and trade empire. Over the next 20 years or so the Timurids and the Mamlukes are involved in an interminable war and the Turks have been kept busy swatting and annexing Balkan and Greek states. Wallachia, Achaea, Athens and Morea fall to the Turks aggression. We go crazy in the trade wars and eventually fill up Astrakhan, Lubeck, Liguria, Venice, Novgorod, Ile de France, Andalucia and Antwerp with 5 merchants each. I am rolling in cash and go on a fleet building spree. My fleet gets to 10 Carracks, 2 galleys and 4 cogs, enough I think to challenge the 22 galley Turk fleet. I have over $300 in cash and feel I can now expand again using my fleet and buying mercs. It is about 1430.
1399 A.D. The world has turned upside down. Proud Byzantium is on the verge of destruction, her once wide swath of lands are occupied by Turkish invaders, Latin opportunists or local rebels but one stem of Greek culture has still survived. Trebizond still endures on the wind swept coast of Anatolia. She is small and surrounded by those wishing her destruction but while life is in their breast her people have hope.
I. Survival and the building of a trade empire.
The first thing to do is expand into Candar but we have no money for that. So set our expenses to raise our stability and send out our merchants to Astrakhan followed by Venice and we mint a good bit. A slider move is made toward Free Trade. Royal Marriages followed by alliances are made with Georgia and mother Byzantium. Once enough money has been made we purchase 3 mercenaries and buy a cavalry regiment. We are way over our force limit so we need to finish the war quickly. Candar has not made any alliances yet but time is not on our side so we launch. The war goes well with Candar's army being swatted quickly followed by sieges of Sinope and Kastamon. Peace is made and we annex Sinope and vassal Candar. She will be tough to annex later but we need the extra cash and don't trust she won't ally with the Ottomans quickly.
We spend the next five years putting merchants in every COT we can see and soon get 20 merchants in place in Astrakhan, Lubeck, Venice and Liguria. We also build a few ships, a cog and a couple Carracks, which turn out to be a big mistake but more on that later. Money is good so time to expand again. Looking around we see no real opportunities until our sites align on Crete. No allies and a good tax base. France does guarantee Crete but she won't get involved...will she? Sounds good so we load a few regiments up on the fleet and move them into position, declare war and launch. The Crete army gets destroyed and the siege is set up. Wait what are those French ships doing off Sinope. Dropping off the invading troops what else? 3 regiments besiege Sinope and my troops are in Crete, how wonderful. Time to Merc up. Georgia helps by sinking the French fleet, who knew she was a naval power? Byzantium broke the alliance which she would regret later. Crete falls and we annex her then move troops back to Trebizond. The French invaders are run down and crushed then we wait for France to accept a peace. Eventually France accepts a peace where we pay her 25 and release Candar. That last was a throw in by me to get Candar unvassaled and we promptly declare war and annex her.
So it is now 1405 or so and we have expanded to 4 provinces and have a growing trade empire. We really have no good opportunities so we sit down and expand our fleet and trade empire. Over the next 20 years or so the Timurids and the Mamlukes are involved in an interminable war and the Turks have been kept busy swatting and annexing Balkan and Greek states. Wallachia, Achaea, Athens and Morea fall to the Turks aggression. We go crazy in the trade wars and eventually fill up Astrakhan, Lubeck, Liguria, Venice, Novgorod, Ile de France, Andalucia and Antwerp with 5 merchants each. I am rolling in cash and go on a fleet building spree. My fleet gets to 10 Carracks, 2 galleys and 4 cogs, enough I think to challenge the 22 galley Turk fleet. I have over $300 in cash and feel I can now expand again using my fleet and buying mercs. It is about 1430.
