Tuscan Raiders -- a Magna Mundi IV 1.3 AAR

[unmerged(82977)]

This is my first AAR. I initially planned to document the progress of my Magna Mundi game as Tuscany but there was already another Tuscany thread ongoing but it looks like it has been ended prematurely so I'll go ahead and post what I had already completed and continue to carry it forward.

This is the first real game I've played of the Magna Mundi mod (aside from a couple of test spins to try out some of the differences) and this is also the first game I've tried which is set to "very hard". I want the most difficult game that I can get so that it will still hold my interest beyond the first 100 years or so.

I'm not writing much in the way of a story here... this will just be a fairly straightforward reporting of events as the game progresses. For those of you who prefer an alternative history narrative there are several other superb AAR on these boards that will be much more to your liking.

Goals:
Hard to say right now... not having played on very hard or a real MM game before now I don't really know how quickly it will be possible for a 2-state minor like Tuscany to advance over time. Given that disclaimer, the list of goals (from short term to longer term) will be...

1) to become the dominant power in Italy, eventually leading to...
2) Domination and eventual unification of all of Italy
3) Dominant Naval power in the Western Mediteranean, and ultimately...
4) Domination of the the entire Mediteranean
5) Re-establishment of the borders of the Roman Empire itself!

anything beyond that will be gravy... I won't preclude taking states outside the old Roman borders if they present themselves, but I don't plan on being the aggressor in those cases.

So, without further preamble...

Starting conditions for Tuscany
I am already provided with 3 advisors: Piero (Artist 4), Paolo Uccello (Artist 4) & Luca Pitti (Trader 4). However, Carlo Chiastavelli (Trader 6) was available as an option, so Luca Pitti was replaced by Him as an "upgrade". At the time I thought the immediate stability bonuses furnished my the two Artists would be more useful to try to get stability back up as fast as possible.

The Stability slider was maximized.

Starting leader, Doge Cosimo de Medici, was converted to a very effective general for the start of game: Fire 1, Shock 2, Maneuver 3, Seige 1

Tuscany starts the game already allied with Milan (who are at war with Venice). Additional overtures for alliances were also offered to Venice, Modena and Sienna but all 3 were rejected.

I decided to start out aggressively from the start to try to get a quick growth spurt, so I built 1 infantry and recruited 1 mercenary infantry unit in Firenze and started looking about for a vulnerable opponent to strike against. I soon settled on Urbino (Ancona) as the most vulnerable target (it was allied only with Mantua, which I figured would be kept occupied by Milan).

War was declared on Urbino on July 10/1453 and 2 infantry units led by the Doge (and later followed by the 3rd) marched into Ancona and quickly defeated the 1 infantry unit that was present. The subsequent seige of the city was over by the end of October, 1453 (during which time our first contingent of latin knights was being recruited in Firenze), and the army swung north via Firenze and Modena to beseige Mantua by January, 1454 while their army was being occupied beseiging Parma.

As May 30/1454 approached, I slowed the game to minimal speed and then paused it as that day clicked over to check the list of new advisors that became available -- at this point, both level 4 artists (Piero and Paolo Uccello) were replaced; one with Goncalo de Noronda (spymaster 6) and the other by Giancarlo de Farnese (treasurer 3)...

The seige of Mantua was still ongoing in July of 1554 when Venice suddenly offered an alliance, which was quickly accepted.

The seige finally ended in October and Mantua quickly accepted vassalization (and paid 50 ducats). Once this occured, Ancona was finally offered and accepted annexation, driving BB up to 6.68... I then settled back to work this off and develop Tuscany's trade. Soon after this, Tuscany gains influence over a new Cardinal from Pisa.

a nice quick start with few difficulties thus far... more soon

 

[SerFranke]

Really a good start so far, it surely helped that the two OPM's in the region had an alliance without further support.
I enjoyed the other Tuscany AAR and I'll be following this one, too.

Btw, are you using any additional mods except MM?

 

[Nikolai]

Nice. I like Italy/Roman Empire aars.

 

[unmerged(514)]

You managed a nice start!


Be advised Magna Mundi is not designed to be played on Very Hard however...

 

[unmerged(82977)]

RedBaron1918 - yes, the way the alliances fell out was very fortuitous. I am using a map mod as well -- Pishtaco's THEATRUM ORBIS TERRARUM version 1.2a. I think it looks much cleaner and simpler.

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Continuing on from Jan/1455...

I'm keeping my eye out for the next target of opportunity -- either Siena, Modena or the Papal State are in play. In the meantime, with the money gained from the defeat of Mantua, Tuscany funds the construction of our first Carrack to begin to strengthen the navy.

As I continue to monitor the situation, it turns out that Modena and Siena both forge an alliance with the Papal State, Siena also allies with Switzerland and Modena with Savoy. Not such easy pickings in the immediate neighborhood anymore. Since no easy pickings are available Tuscany continues working on getting the BB score down and building up trade (which is not so easy -- currently losing a merchant for every one that I gain).

June 1455 - Pirate event... basically, Tunis wants 'protection' money to keep the pirates at bay. Now is not the time to get hit with a trade-damaging attack and Tuscany is flush with money so I go ahead and pay the 20 ducats.

Sept 1455 - Cosimo de Medici has died... the new Doge is Piero Tempesta. A bit of a step down from Cosimo

Converting him to a general yeilds: Fire 2, Maneuver 2

Then again, in October 1455 - a sudden offer of alliance arrives from Genoa... once again we quickly accept and now almost all of northern Italy are our friends.

As Jan 1456 rolls around, I am greeted with the news that Austria has bought off Cardinal Trabillesi

too bad, but at this point the benefits provided by a single cardinal are not proportional to the expenditure required to try to get him back so I let it go.

In April 1456 our stability finally gets back up to 3, maximizing taxes and trade efficiency. My intention is to try my best to keep it here unless an opportunity that was just too good to pass up appears.

In Dec 1457 our newest ally Genoa goes to war with Georgia. There isn't really very much that we can (or want) to do -- Tuscany is still very much limited to actions in the immediate vicinity of Italy but we go along to maintain appearances and in the meantime take advantage of the situation to raise war taxes to build up the treasury.

In Oct 1458 our vassal Mantua is invited to become an ally and accepts but little else happens that year... war continues in the Black Sea and Genoa is slowly loosing ground -- at "very hard" setting, it has become evident that AI landforces are quite a bit larger, so Genoa trying to conduct a war over some distant provinces with limited naval transport capabilities looks like it is having a very hard time vs an enemy whose core provinces (and allies) are right next door.

In June 1459 Sicily declares war on the Papal State and is joined by it's allies Aragon and Venice. I hadn't noticed how or why but Modena was no longer an ally of the Papal State and Siena dishonours their alliance so the Papal State is left alone to defend itself. Given this situation, Romagna looks very juicy! However, the forces of the Papal States are very strong so in addition to Tuscany's 1000 knights and 3000 infantry, 2 additional mercenary infantry units are recruited in July. In the meantime, the Papal State had newly alligned itself with Switzerland, but I anticipate that our allies in Milan and Venice will keep them occupied in the north. We wait until Papal troops pass through our territory to attack Abbruzzi and then declare war on the Papal State and march into Romagna in Sept (dropping my stability back down to 0).

Fighting the Papal States is very difficult! 1000/5000 troops vs. 1000/1000 + 2000 still fairly new mercenary units and my army is quickly defeated (it seems to me that my army's morale was down 30% as soon as the combat started and though it was close, terrain and defensive attrition proved to be the decisive factors and my forces were forced to retreat. I quickly recruited another mercenary unit and returned to the attack in the new year and this time Tuscany was victorious and Romagna was beseiged. The army of the Papal State retreated to Ancona and besieged the province but was the victim of attack from a rebel uprising in the province (always happy to see that kind of fortuitous timing on the part of a rebellious province). I left a beseiging unit in Romagna and sent most of my forces to follow up the attack on the army of the Papal State in Ancona but despite now outnumbering them almost 2 to 1 and having a much higher moral score going into battle, Tuscany's armies were again thwarted by a combination of better generalship and terrain advantage. I am beggining to suspect that under the "very difficult" settings, attrition for attacking armies is highly disadvantageous.

However, all of that disruption was enough to allow my armies besieging Romagna to overcome the defenders long before there was any threat of the Papal armies winning the seige in Ancona. Their army was finally driven out thereafter, with some help from the Sicilians, and retreated to Firenze. In October 1460 the Papal State, who has lost Rome and is still at war with Sicily, Aragaon and Venice accepted our demands and gave up Romagna and 25 ducats.

Oh, and I almost forgot to mention another very fortuitous event! Just when it was needed, in May 1460, only 8 months after declaring war, Carlo Chiastevelli's efforts become admired throughout the nation, boosting stability back up to +3.

Once peace was reached, the mercenary units were also disbanded to save the maintenance money.

It was very close and I was lucky that, as anticipated, Mantua and Milan were able to keep Switzerland occupied and cut off Papal reinforcements from Avignon.

As of Dec 1460, Tuscany has become a Medium Power (classification under Magna Mundi)

Events to this point continue to go my way nicely, but the battle with an overmatched Papal State army has given me my first hint of how much more difficult it may be to advance on a purely military basis going forward... the overall size of most of the armies around me are much larger than I've seen in games with "normal" or "hard" settings... Siena alone has an army of 5000 and Modena has 7000. On the other hand, Mantua contributed 4000 infantry in the defense of my northern approaches and Milan fielded an army of 11000 so I'm going to have to consider position and depend on the contributions of vassals and Allies even more than usual going forward.

 

[unmerged(82977)]

Be advised Magna Mundi is not designed to be played on Very Hard however...

I'm a couple of decades ahead of the events I'm currently documenting and it's become evident that using force alone is MUCH harder to do... the next series of events also goes my way very nicely (thanks again to vassals and allies) but then a subsequent attempt at a foothold in North Africa will demonstrate just how difficult it is to go one on one...

 

[Mettermrck]

Italy's an excellent region to carve a new empire out of. Good luck!

 

[unmerged(60155)]

You seem to be getting some pretty lucky events so far! Great start!

 

[coz1]

Indeed, nice events. Do watch your BB. Your threshold in MM is a lot lower than you may be used to.

Nice going so far. Good luck.

 

[unmerged(82977)]

Continuing on, starting from January 1461...

Actually, the next several years are fairly uneventful... despite the fact that for the next year or so we are nominally at war, via Genoa, with several countries in the Black Sea (who continue to whittle down Genoa's holdings there). In early 1462 Genoa signs an unfavourable peace with Crimea, who takes both of Genoa's core provinces on the Black sea and demanded the release of Corsica as an independent state. All Genoa has left is Georgia and that will not last long...

Overview of the situation in May 1462

Locally, the territorial map has changed very little, other than Tuscany's earlier gains...

Almost nothing is different in the west... I won't bother to post the images, but in the east Crimea has grown at the expense of Genoa; Hungary and it's allies Transylvania and Bosnia have been carved up, first by Bohemia and currently by Poland, Lithuania & Mazovia -- yes, that is Lithuania that has taken Hum from Bosnia.

In the northeast, the biggest change is the expansion of Muscovy in the north at the expense of Novgorod.

For the most part, the rest of the 1460's are largely uneventful... which suits Tuscany fine as it allows BB to be greatly reduced and would presumably allow for a great expansion of mercantile activity.

The problem is, the 1460's are largely peaceful for most other trading countries as well and instead of increasing the number of merchants placed in various trade centers I am merely running in place and even slowly losing ground.

In September of 1462, this pops up...

Giving Tuscany a causus belli vs. Papal State. Rome is undefended and there on a silver platter, but unfortunately, I'd forgotten that we have a truce in effect, so after increasing funding to the troops and maneuvering them into position to strike I had to stand down -- oh well

Other minor events:

1463 - Gain Cardinal Tempesta in Firenze
1464 - January -Cardinal Tempesta paid off by Lithuania
1464 - February - Architecture event... I choose not to reform, losing 2 prestige but gaining Narrowminded +1 (I intend to retain missionaries for later in the game).
1464 - May - Grand Ball event... No, we are building up the treasury and won't waste the money.
1464 - August - Barbary Pirates Attack event (Pisa)... Bad Luck (don't want to take the long term tax hit at this point)
1464 - October - Artisans Unhappy event - Abolish a tax and gain Free Subjects +1

At the end of 1464 Austria has already been at war with Cologne & Wurzburg as well as with Brandenburg & Pomerania when Bohemia & Silesia declare war as well... The Holy Roman Emperor is being assaulted on all sides. As we enter 1465 Austria is being carved up, losing more than half of it's provinces, but manages to buy off most of it's enemies in turn until it is once again at peace by the end of the year having lost only it's treasury.

Closer to home, Sicily declares war on the Papal State and quickly takes Rome while the Aragonese fleet destroys that of the Papal State in the Tyrrenian Sea. Rome is Annexed by Sicily in March 1466 but relinquishes it again by May of that year.

We must be growning! Bank loans grow to 200 ducats in April 1467.

throughout this narrative I've been ignoring the reporting of "Guelphs vs. Ghibbelines" (sp?) events... they pop up rather frequently and I've never done anything other than remain neutral since Tuscany has allies on both sides of the fence.

Finally, in September 1469, an event takes place that is much more interesting (though I forgot to get a picture). An insult from Modena, giving Tuscany a causus belli.

In a situation very similar to that of Tuscany's earlier war against Urbino & Mantua, Modena's only ally, Corsica, was the only other one state minor in the immediate vicinity. However, Tuscany was only a few months away from Land Tech level 1 so I waited until then, taking that time to recruiting a couple of mercenary units, move 2000 cavalry to Mantua then subsequently cancelling military access through Modena, moving the bulk of my forces to Romanga to leave Pisa and Firenze undefended (anticipating that when war was declared, Modena's forces would move in to attack my cores, allowing my armies to move in on their left flank) and sending the fleet into the Ligurian Sea with one of the mercenary infantry contingents.

In April 1470 Tuscany declared war on Modena. Genoa, Venice and Mantua all follow suite but Milan dishonoured the alliance. The Tuscan cavalry from Mantua are sent into undefended Ferrara from the north as does the bulk of the army in Romagna from the south as the mercenary contingent at sea wades ashore in Corsica.

Modena does most of what I anticipated, sending the bulk of their forces into Pisa and Firenze (2000 men into each) and the remainer to Ferrara, although my force of 2000 Latin Knights from Mantua are there first to gain the terrain advantage. Battle is joined in Ferrara but the bulk of the Tuscan ground forces arrive soon after. In the meantime, Mantua quickly recruits 2000 mercenaries and sends them into now defenseless Modena from the north.

Modena's army in Ferrara is defeated, forces from Venice join our own and a quick assault brings Ferrara under Tuscan control. As the Venitian force and a small Tuscan contingent moves on to Modena to join the Mantuan mercenaries assaulting the capitol, the bulk of the Tuscan forces move back into the homeland when they are joined by the armies of Genoa to break the sieges of Pisa and Firenze. The remenants of Modena's forces are eventually forced back into Ferrara as first Corsica and then Modena itself (both with Venitian aid) surrenders.

First Corsica and then Modena both agree to terms and become vassals of Tuscany, ending the war... However, other events in 1469 conspire to play right into Tuscany's hands. Looking at the above image, you will note that Siena and The Papal State have gone to war (assaulting one another's capitols), but something that is less evident is the movement of the armies of Milan. Having broken their alliance with us upon the outbreak of war with Modena, they forged a new alliance with Sardinia, only to be sucked into a war when Aragon declares war on their former state (bringing their ally Sicily along). You can see the Milanese army behind that of Genoa in Romanga heading south, leaving their homeland undefended...

Tuscany still has a Causus belli against Milan, and with their armies heading south I begin to weigh the pros and cons of continuing Tuscany's wars in the north. The only issue that is of concern is that Milan is also allied with Savoy, but that is also a potential bonus... I take a few months t0 spread some of the wealth from the recent victories to my allies, to reposition some of my armies in Mantua and then wait to see what happens. As Milan's army moves through Italy, attrition whittles it down to 75% of it's full strength and once it arrives in Abbruzi and begins a battle with the forces of Naples in Jan of 1471, Tuscany declares war on Milan.

Genoa carries the battle in this war... Since being reduced to a one state minor, Genoa, with their large income, have Land Tech 3 whereas Savoy is only at Land Tech 1, and Genoa has 8000 troops to Savoy's 6000. Genoa quickly sends a small contingent into Parma and the bulk of their troops into Nice while Tuscan, and then Mantuan, forces advance in bulk into Lombardia.
Genoa repels an attempt by Savoy to eject them from Nice, and then follows them into Piedmont with a large force which is joined by a coordinated attack by Tuscan forces from Lombardia, forcing the enemy's retreat to Savoie, but it is not long before a large Venitian force, having finally arrived on the scene, drives them out...

If you'll look at the bottom right of the picture above, you'll note that Abbruzzi has been captured by the army of Milan, but apparently Milan was unable to reach a peace with Aragon/Sicily and the AI does not like to abandon a battle... it'll keep armies in a captured provice in the face of hostile forces until the city defences are back up to their maximum, giving more than enough time for me to take out Savoy's armies in the north and move a guard force back down to Ancona to plug the gap until the sieges were won and Savoy and Milan could both be vassalized in December 1472.

An added benefit of all of these wars is that, in short order, Tuscany's prestige has been driven up to 100! Now merchant success begins to literally explode and over the next several years Tuscany will place merchants in almost every available trade center.

I've been vassalizing Lombard states in the north of Italy, rather than anexing provinces, for 2 reasons: the main one is that in Magna Mundi, states that are members of the Holy Roman Empire gain the Emperors protection and their return to their 'rightful' owners is usually demanded, especially if a state's relationship with the current Emperor is not the best (and given that Tuscany's current relationship with Austria is at -150, I doubt I'd be hanging on to anything for very long). The second reason is BB... vassalization has much less of an impact than outright annexation. I'll try to bide my time and hold other members of the HRE as vassals until the Ruler of Tuscany becomes Emperor (if that happens). Maybe then we'll see if we can safely annex vassal states. In the meantime, I'll see if I can continue to expand by annexing non-member states in the Mediterranean.

 

[unmerged(82977)]

Too many pics for one posting

How things stand 20 years in (May 1473):

Little apparent change on the Political map of Italy -- but the Diplomatic map shows a very different picture...

To the West, as was the situation 10 years before, there has been little change. One exception is France who has been consolidating it's claims and is beginning to become the power in western Europe.

The eastern Mediterranean has continued to be the most active region with nearly constant warfare. The Ottoman Empire has expanded somewhat to the east, but was held largely in check in the west by 15 years of cyclical wars. Initially against Hungary and her allies, but the victories against the Hungarian block were pyrrhic -- First Bohemia and then Lithuania picked up pieces of Hungary and Bosnia, respectively, and then Croatia emerged from Hungary's western provinces. Bohemia, Lithuania and Poland (+ various minor allies and vassals) have continued to impede the Ottomans and have kept them engaged in wars for years at a time. I'd hate to see the exhaustion scores of these countries!

Yes -- that is Crimea which owns Albania

One thing I am likeing about this very hard setting -- the size of the forces involved and the heavy attrition on the attacker is probably contributing to some of the difficulty The Ottoman Empire is having breaking out into Europe. I had been getting used of seeing the Ottoman habitually knocking on the doors of Vienna 50 years before the historical seige.

To the north-east there is relatively little change, although Lithuania has begun to encroach on Crimean territories...

Next installment: Tuscany overreaches in Africa

 

[Bad Santa]

Nice update, i dont think ive ever seen anyone recreate the borders of rome on eu3.

 

[Corbett]

Rebuilding the ancient empire of Rome? Sounds great!

 

[unmerged(68789)]

Yes, it looks as though on this difficulty, with MM, recreating the Roman Empire is an ambitious target, but hopefully you can pull it off; I dare say it'll be interesting to watch either way.

 

[unmerged(60155)]

Export to Vicky when you're done!

 

[BBBD316]

Very nice, I will watch this one as I think that you will find it hard to get the Imperial title, but then again I know jack about the game and could be completely wrong.

 

[unmerged(82977)]

Tuscany Overeaches in Africa

Things had been going so well up to this point that it was just about time for a wake up call, but before
we get to the action there were a few fairly uneventful years during which Tuscany was faced with
critical decisions such as whether to impose a salt tax or allow Mainz to have passage through her
territories.

It had worked well the first time around, so when the Pirates came calling for additional protection money,
I was happy to give them the 10 ducats to keep them off my back.

By the end of 1474 stability was back up to +3 and efforts were refocused on improving Land and
Naval Tech.

In 1475 the only events of note are that Savoy is brought into the alliance of Tuscan vassal states
and our Treasurer dies and no replacement is hired (only Colonial Governors are available).

Looking to the east by the beginning of 1476, it appears that the Ottoman Empire is finally breaking
out in the balkans after having been held in check for 20 years... They are gaining ground but are
currently fighting, simultaneously, Lithuania, Transylvania, Bohemia, Silesia, Croatia and Hungary.

but things on the peninsula continue to be peaceful... We reach Naval Tech level 1 in 1476 and
maximum Manpower in 1477. Flush with ducats and manpower and at maximum stability, Tuscany
is looking for it's next great conquest and it falls right into her lap!

Causus Belli and a year to prepare (so what if they're allied with Morocco and have Tunisia as a vassal?
They're all still Level 0 Land Tech)

oops... first mistake

but first, an unimpressive new Doge: Bonaventura Pico (Admin 3, Military 4, Diplo 3)

though I suppose he makes an ok general: Fire 2, Shock 1, Maneuver 2

No pics of the first part of the following... It happened so fast

Everything was made ready and in March of 1497, war is declared on Algeria and all of Tuscany's allies
join in. The expeditionary force of 4000 lands in Tunis as it only has a garrison of 1000. However
6000 more Tunisian and Algerian troops quickly show up and hand us a beating! Only 1,700 retreat
to Gabes, capturing the province. Another 4000 troops were then landed with the intention of holding Gabes
in a defensive battle and then to strike out at Tunis and Gafsa...

By November, Tuscan forces were about to be overrun and were compelled to engage in a fighting
retreat back to the coast. We withdrew with the loss of 2 regiments as 12,000 additional forces
from Morocco made an appearance.

The decision now was whether to sue for peace or withdraw and regroup for another attempt -- As we
were only a few months away from Land Tech level 2 (men-at-arms) I decided to remain at war
and try again.

That was the second mistake

However, there was some good news... while the troops were back home, the fleet took to the
Mediterranean in force over the spring and summer of 1480 to sweep the sea clear of enemy ships. The
Navy had much better success than the armies did, sinking 21 ships at the cost of only 3 of our own
and making the sealanes clear for the troops to be safely transported back to Tunisia.

In June of 1480, Land Tech level 2 was reached and the armies converted over to men-at-arms.
With this new technological advantage over the primitive Berber forces, surely Tuscany would now
be victorious! (Though it was still not until 1482 that manpower levels had recovered sufficiently to press
the attack)

It was pleasantly surprising then when Morocco proposed a separate peace agreement for minimal
concessions which were eagerly agreed to...

Sweet!

7 regiments are sent overseas with no naval opposition. As the coast of Tunis is approached the
situation looks promising... there is only a garrison of 1000 in Tunis and a further 3000 in Gabes and
no Algerian armies in sight. The troops put ashore in unfortified Gabes... The quicker the provice is
captured the less attrition the armies will suffer and the easier a landing subsequent reinforcements
will have.

The Tunisian army is easily driven out of Gabes, retreating to Tunis with most of our army in hot pursuit.
The Tuscan army is once again, quickly victorious and begins to besiege the city, however, at this point,
Algerian armies appear and are all converging on Tunis. In response, the regiments left behind in Gabes
move to rejoin the bulk of the army while the reinforcements that were inbound for Gabes are diverted
to Tunis as well. A showdown is brewing!

Ultimately, Tuscany is victorious, but the battle is costly...

However, another fresh Algerian army has shown up in Constantine and manpower is running low
again... this is turning into another battle of attrition. Instead of trying to break the opposition, we will
settle for trying to reach a peace without being left completely empty-handed. A contingent is sent
to Gafsa to capture the province and then a peace is proposed demanding only Gabes (as
a beachead from which to pursue future military adventures in North Africa). Algeria must be hurting too,
they agree to our modest demand. The war ends in June 1485.

Gabes is ours! Woohoo!!!

Wow, nice return on 6 years of war with manpower again at 0 and our landforces severely depleted.
Wait, can something make it even better?

Tax Income = 0. For 27000+ days. Yes... well worth the effort

 

[unmerged(514)]

Tax Evasion Overseas will be changed dramatically in Magna Mundi Gold.

 

[BBBD316]

Wow you poor bastard, still at least the AI gave you a run for your money. Is it possible to sell it back or is it part of the grand plan?

 

[unmerged(82977)]

Wow you poor bastard, still at least the AI gave you a run for your money. Is it possible to sell it back or is it part of the grand plan?

Well, it is all part of the grand plan -- a springboard for future attacks against either Algeria or Tripoli depending on circumstances. We'll see whether it actually just ends up causing me further trouble.