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You both give me too much credit by assuming it would take a large power to defeat me. You forget how idiotic I can be.
Also, my question may have been misleading. Although my Prussia was clearly defeated on the field of battle, I defeated the "leader" of the war.
Also, my question may have been misleading. Although my Prussia was clearly defeated on the field of battle, I defeated the "leader" of the war.
My new mission was ok, but not incredibly useful. Muscovy was at war ( and losing) with Sweden. GH was my next most likely target, but they were being overrun also.
My limited experience has taught me that in EU III it's always a bad idea to declare on nations that are being torn apart by other nations. You can never get the peace you want if you aren't completely in charge.
Even this mission didn't change my mind:
But my BB was being depleted. If I was not going to declare on Muscovy or GH, then who?
I figured that it might be a good time to expand into the Balkans. It would be easy to destroy Bosnia, or Serbia, or Bulgaria.
They were all either guaranteed or allied with Byzantium and Muscovy was DoF.
Hmm. What to do?
My logic went this way:
If Muscovy defends the faith I will be able to peace them out quickly. They are in serious trouble already.
If my Prussia is going into the Balkans, why annex Bosnia or Serbia? Why not extend my ugly borders in a snake like trail by declaring directly on Byzantium?
Mistake.
The battles with Byzantium's allies went well.
Then the Byzantium forces showed up and served me my Prussia's head on a platter:
I have grown used to losing a small army every now and then,
but now I am faced with a Gargantuan Byzantium army and there is little I can do about it.
Luckily for me, Muscovy was war leader. My troops in that theater had faced no opposition and were able to assault at will.
Byzantium beat the pants off of me, but peace with Muscovy saved my ass.
Obviously, I could have won this war eventually even if Byzantium had been the leader of the enemy alliance. I would have made peace with Muscovy and moved troops south. Byzantium could not have stood up to my superior manpower for long.
That does not change the fact that they beat Prussia.
If only I had been smart enough to check the ledger before declaring war. I'm used to HTTT troop levels. DW plus D&T makes it much easier for medium nations to field very large armies.
In a meager attempt to prove that I am not a complete idiot, I did one intelligent thing. Before making peace with Muscovy I declare on the only neutral Balkan Nation:
I might not be able to beat Byzantium, but Bosnia I can handle.
So … perhaps I misled my small audience. Prussia's "defeat" resulted in a net gain of territory. At the same time there can be no doubt that Byzantium beat me.
Moving forward, this is significant:
That is my fourth Fine Arts Academy. Each one gives +1% Cultural Tradition. That means I don't need Patron of the Arts as much as I once did.
QFTNW?
It won't last long. I will swap again, but there are some interesting TI areas out there.
As I was looking around, trying to decide what areas to explore first, I found an important uncolonized island.
My Prussians need a nice place to relax.
They need a new ruler too.
My limited experience has taught me that in EU III it's always a bad idea to declare on nations that are being torn apart by other nations. You can never get the peace you want if you aren't completely in charge.
Even this mission didn't change my mind:
But my BB was being depleted. If I was not going to declare on Muscovy or GH, then who?
I figured that it might be a good time to expand into the Balkans. It would be easy to destroy Bosnia, or Serbia, or Bulgaria.
They were all either guaranteed or allied with Byzantium and Muscovy was DoF.
Hmm. What to do?
My logic went this way:
If Muscovy defends the faith I will be able to peace them out quickly. They are in serious trouble already.
If my Prussia is going into the Balkans, why annex Bosnia or Serbia? Why not extend my ugly borders in a snake like trail by declaring directly on Byzantium?
Mistake.
The battles with Byzantium's allies went well.
Then the Byzantium forces showed up and served me my Prussia's head on a platter:
I have grown used to losing a small army every now and then,
but now I am faced with a Gargantuan Byzantium army and there is little I can do about it.
Luckily for me, Muscovy was war leader. My troops in that theater had faced no opposition and were able to assault at will.
Byzantium beat the pants off of me, but peace with Muscovy saved my ass.
Obviously, I could have won this war eventually even if Byzantium had been the leader of the enemy alliance. I would have made peace with Muscovy and moved troops south. Byzantium could not have stood up to my superior manpower for long.
That does not change the fact that they beat Prussia.
If only I had been smart enough to check the ledger before declaring war. I'm used to HTTT troop levels. DW plus D&T makes it much easier for medium nations to field very large armies.
In a meager attempt to prove that I am not a complete idiot, I did one intelligent thing. Before making peace with Muscovy I declare on the only neutral Balkan Nation:
I might not be able to beat Byzantium, but Bosnia I can handle.
So … perhaps I misled my small audience. Prussia's "defeat" resulted in a net gain of territory. At the same time there can be no doubt that Byzantium beat me.
Moving forward, this is significant:
That is my fourth Fine Arts Academy. Each one gives +1% Cultural Tradition. That means I don't need Patron of the Arts as much as I once did.
QFTNW?
It won't last long. I will swap again, but there are some interesting TI areas out there.
As I was looking around, trying to decide what areas to explore first, I found an important uncolonized island.
My Prussians need a nice place to relax.
They need a new ruler too.
Wow, that's a large Imperial army you faced there! Of course, you will need to get revenge at some stage and punish them for humbling you!
My Prussia moves on.
These cores are nice, but fighting Portugal seems to be a bit of a stretch.
I discovered some Indian TI and immediately got MA. (It really seems ridiculous that every nation on earth is dying to give me MA).
I declared on Gujarat.
Deccan is the Sub-Continent's super power, but Im not too worried.
I outclass them in every way.
Forcing peace on my terms is not difficult.
Deccan accepts a WP soon after. I leave my conquistador in their territory. He will explore to his heart's content.
Obviously, this happens:
And I declare on Venice for my core. The only problem here is that the Pope joins in.
I beat them at sea and immediately have both their provinces under siege.
Time to attack Muscovy again.
This will bring in my old friend Byzantium. I let them march, then attack them in my territory.
It is easier that way.
Soon enough the crippled Muscovites are defeated.
A BD on Muscovite territory :
Let it be noted that I beat Byzantium. I allowed them a WP because my Prussia is just that kind of nation.
My Prussia also forgot to take a picture of the Muscovy peace deal, but here is the after image.
Did I mention that I also forced them to release Zaporzhie, a nation that exists only in my core province of Kharkov?
That was a tough war.
And Venice finally capitulated.
These cores are nice, but fighting Portugal seems to be a bit of a stretch.
I discovered some Indian TI and immediately got MA. (It really seems ridiculous that every nation on earth is dying to give me MA).
I declared on Gujarat.
Deccan is the Sub-Continent's super power, but Im not too worried.
I outclass them in every way.
Forcing peace on my terms is not difficult.
Deccan accepts a WP soon after. I leave my conquistador in their territory. He will explore to his heart's content.
Obviously, this happens:
And I declare on Venice for my core. The only problem here is that the Pope joins in.
I beat them at sea and immediately have both their provinces under siege.
Time to attack Muscovy again.
This will bring in my old friend Byzantium. I let them march, then attack them in my territory.
It is easier that way.
Soon enough the crippled Muscovites are defeated.
A BD on Muscovite territory :
Let it be noted that I beat Byzantium. I allowed them a WP because my Prussia is just that kind of nation.
My Prussia also forgot to take a picture of the Muscovy peace deal, but here is the after image.
Did I mention that I also forced them to release Zaporzhie, a nation that exists only in my core province of Kharkov?
That was a tough war.
And Venice finally capitulated.
Some more great victories! Getting a foothold in India is good for you too. You've formed an impressive snake through Russia.
I have only had sporadic moments to play lately. A few minutes here, a few minutes there. Note and picture taking has suffered.
Gameplay has also probably suffered. RL is one reason I'm not better at this game. EUIII requires more dedication and attention to detail than I can give some times.
Pskov was my first vassal and their troops have been very useful in my Eastern wars.
I need to clean up the Russian boundaries a little bit. I started by issuing a DoW to GH.
GH exists in two separate parts. One is GH Asia and is only partially visible to me.
There were no significant battles and nothing of interest. In fact this war was so boring that the peace deal was not recorded by history.
Here is an image showing the post-war borders:
By mistake, I took the Prussian cored GH province under the HW CB. This resulted in a new mission.
Not bad. Transylvania is not involved in the web of Orthodox alliances. Declaring on them will bring in only Bulgaria.
This happened:
I'm not sure what strange series of events led to Muscovy being at war with Morocco, but Morocco has been at war with some interesting enemies. It's strange that Castille has never expanded into Africa. It's stranger still that Morocco actually took Neva. No matter though. Eventually it turns Swedish.
This also happened:
I was about to declare on Transylvania when this event fired. I needed to build a little BB before losing 2 by completing the mission so I declared on Deccan.
Not too much happened here either. I destroyed one of their armies, but generally just avoided fighting too much in India. Defenses are weak there.
Once I knew I could build BB, I began fulfilling my mission:
That's a nice little expansion into India proper.
The early battles in the Balkans go well.
Transylvania's army is destroyed. Bulgaria's stack was a more serious battle than I had anticipated. My morale was depleted and I considered the thought that I should not chase them, but decided to try and destroy them.
Mistake.
Not really a big deal in the grand scheme of things though. I have several armies hanging out in the Russian territories and I have the MP and money to rebuild as many as I want any time.
Unfortunate, but not a disaster.
Plus, I called all my allies when I issued the Dow. A few months later:
In January of 1590 my mission is completed.
Bulgaria is forced to pay a small price for their crimes.
I still need to build up some BB and clean up the Russian borders.
A quick GH war is called for.
They are not an interesting enemy.
Gameplay has also probably suffered. RL is one reason I'm not better at this game. EUIII requires more dedication and attention to detail than I can give some times.
Pskov was my first vassal and their troops have been very useful in my Eastern wars.
I need to clean up the Russian boundaries a little bit. I started by issuing a DoW to GH.
GH exists in two separate parts. One is GH Asia and is only partially visible to me.
There were no significant battles and nothing of interest. In fact this war was so boring that the peace deal was not recorded by history.
Here is an image showing the post-war borders:
By mistake, I took the Prussian cored GH province under the HW CB. This resulted in a new mission.
Not bad. Transylvania is not involved in the web of Orthodox alliances. Declaring on them will bring in only Bulgaria.
This happened:
I'm not sure what strange series of events led to Muscovy being at war with Morocco, but Morocco has been at war with some interesting enemies. It's strange that Castille has never expanded into Africa. It's stranger still that Morocco actually took Neva. No matter though. Eventually it turns Swedish.
This also happened:
I was about to declare on Transylvania when this event fired. I needed to build a little BB before losing 2 by completing the mission so I declared on Deccan.
Not too much happened here either. I destroyed one of their armies, but generally just avoided fighting too much in India. Defenses are weak there.
Once I knew I could build BB, I began fulfilling my mission:
That's a nice little expansion into India proper.
The early battles in the Balkans go well.
Transylvania's army is destroyed. Bulgaria's stack was a more serious battle than I had anticipated. My morale was depleted and I considered the thought that I should not chase them, but decided to try and destroy them.
Mistake.
Not really a big deal in the grand scheme of things though. I have several armies hanging out in the Russian territories and I have the MP and money to rebuild as many as I want any time.
Unfortunate, but not a disaster.
Plus, I called all my allies when I issued the Dow. A few months later:
In January of 1590 my mission is completed.
Bulgaria is forced to pay a small price for their crimes.
I still need to build up some BB and clean up the Russian borders.
A quick GH war is called for.
They are not an interesting enemy.
Nice work! I found it funny that even though you had an army wiped out you didn't even take any extra WE from it!
Bulgaria must be punished in time for this though. No mercy to the Asens!
Bulgaria must be punished in time for this though. No mercy to the Asens!
Events like this are always welcome,
but sometimes they catch a player like me by surprise. There is no way I can avoid zero BB at this point. My main goal is to clean up the Russian borders by declaring on Muscovy, but they are allied with Byzantium.
I have destroyed one false Roman Emperor. I need to destroy this second one.
This happened also.
Earlier, when I selected QFTNW, it looked liked the Cabinet requirements meant it would be decades before I qualified. A few years ago I noticed that I did quailfy. Since then I have been full Government investment despite being 12 years ahead of schedule.
In any case, the battle with Byzantium was made much easier by the fact that Bulgaria gave me MA. This is something that bothers me a little bit about this game.
As always, I don't know whether this is due to DW or D&T, but it is simple to get MA from anybody. I have never seen a chance less than Likely. Religion of the nation does not matter. The fact that we were at war a few months ago does not matter. Everybody is willing to give me MA.
I don't like it, but I will exploit it.
One stack destroyed.
And the other.
Muscovy being war leader is disappointing. All of their troops are in Siberia. If they weren't war leader I could force peace on my terms long before the level 3 Byzantium fortresses will fall.
Travel times meant that my reinforcements did not arrive in time.
Once they arrived:
I did not chase this army. It eventually split and tried to siege some of my provinces, but it never attacked Perm (Muscovy's capital) again.
I lost a stray fleet, then this army showed up:
I searched for a Byzantine colony everywhere.
I'm an idiot.
They own Corfu. it took several reoccurrence of random 1 unit Byzantine armies appearing before I realized what was going on.
The second false Emperor is split in two.
This is a valuable peace from Muscovy. Murom is an OPM. Novgorod exists only in the East.
I have had the National Decision about "Invest in Textile Manufacturing" for forever. It seems worthless, but I might take it just to get rid of the icon, because i missed this happening.
I think this is twelve years before I anticipated. Ten of those years can be attributed to the 40 year core rule that seems standard to D&T. I attribute the other two years to my own stupidity?
It's close to 1600 and Germany has been formed. That seems like a fine time for a look around the world style of update.
I'll work on that tomorrow since I think I'll have some time to play.
but sometimes they catch a player like me by surprise. There is no way I can avoid zero BB at this point. My main goal is to clean up the Russian borders by declaring on Muscovy, but they are allied with Byzantium.
I have destroyed one false Roman Emperor. I need to destroy this second one.
This happened also.
Earlier, when I selected QFTNW, it looked liked the Cabinet requirements meant it would be decades before I qualified. A few years ago I noticed that I did quailfy. Since then I have been full Government investment despite being 12 years ahead of schedule.
In any case, the battle with Byzantium was made much easier by the fact that Bulgaria gave me MA. This is something that bothers me a little bit about this game.
As always, I don't know whether this is due to DW or D&T, but it is simple to get MA from anybody. I have never seen a chance less than Likely. Religion of the nation does not matter. The fact that we were at war a few months ago does not matter. Everybody is willing to give me MA.
I don't like it, but I will exploit it.
One stack destroyed.
And the other.
Muscovy being war leader is disappointing. All of their troops are in Siberia. If they weren't war leader I could force peace on my terms long before the level 3 Byzantium fortresses will fall.
Travel times meant that my reinforcements did not arrive in time.
Once they arrived:
I did not chase this army. It eventually split and tried to siege some of my provinces, but it never attacked Perm (Muscovy's capital) again.
I lost a stray fleet, then this army showed up:
I searched for a Byzantine colony everywhere.
I'm an idiot.
They own Corfu. it took several reoccurrence of random 1 unit Byzantine armies appearing before I realized what was going on.
The second false Emperor is split in two.
This is a valuable peace from Muscovy. Murom is an OPM. Novgorod exists only in the East.
I have had the National Decision about "Invest in Textile Manufacturing" for forever. It seems worthless, but I might take it just to get rid of the icon, because i missed this happening.
I think this is twelve years before I anticipated. Ten of those years can be attributed to the 40 year core rule that seems standard to D&T. I attribute the other two years to my own stupidity?
It's close to 1600 and Germany has been formed. That seems like a fine time for a look around the world style of update.
I'll work on that tomorrow since I think I'll have some time to play.
Germany! That's awesome, lots of free cores in the west there, and some nice bonuses too.
Splendid defeat of the Byzantines. Their power is pretty much broken forever.
What are your goals now?
Splendid defeat of the Byzantines. Their power is pretty much broken forever.
What are your goals now?
Excellent going! Probably a good thing that Muscovy et al. are going down - after all, when you reclaim the Germany cores you'll run right into France. 
Thanks for the comments. The question about my goals are answered here, but I'm open to suggestions if you think they are insufficient.
In my Germany's world it is April, 1594.
Here is Western Europe:
France has blobbed on the continent, but as far as I can tell she has no colonies. England is still England. Castille is still Castille. They have been fighting each other for what seems like forever. They both send alliance requests fairly regularly. If the time is ever right I might accept one, but I don't want them to drag me into unnecessary wars.
Europe with germany's cores:
That's a lot of free provinces but, as Maurous pointed out, taking them will eventually bring me into a war with France. I'm looking forward to that. Fighting France should be fun. Here is the army screen from the ledger:
I outnumber France, but my armies are spread out all over the world. Without colonies, their's must all be in Europe. I'll try to avoid that war for as long as possible, but eventually, my Germany must destroy France.
Here is Russia:
All of this must become German. I want my Germany to stretch eastward to the Pacific.
Here is the Balkans/Anatolia/Mideast:
I want to connect European Germany to Egyptian Germany, but it's not a huge priority. I'm not really interested in expanding into Persian territory. I don't know why, but for some reason it doesn't really feel right. Of course, Persia has been very careful to stay out of my way so far. If they make me mad I might change my mind.
India:
My Germany wants India. This may cause Persia to make me mad.
Southeast Asia:
I want to expand here also. The world map shows a lot of this area as blue. I'm not sure whether that is Joseon or Brunei. I am assuming it is not France.
North America:
Note Germany's presence. One of these provinces is still a colony. I did this to give me an American border with England. I will fight them at some point. They have expanded in an unintelligent haphazard manner. They have disconnected territories everywhere. I am assuming that many of those will begin revolting away, but I still want to be able to strike their main New World presence when the time comes.
The blue in the Canada is Sweden.
Also note Portugal.
South America:
It's Portugese and Castillian with a smattering of England and natives. The purple is Naples.
Africa:
Other than a few English conquests there has not been much European expansion here. Trinacria has several provinces and Sienna has the Ivory Coast. My Germany is completely uninterested in Africa.
Let's look at my Germany.
I am 132 units over the force limit!
My economy is not suffering.
Income at full maintenance:
And at lowered maintenance:
I could easily build more armies.
The income screen:
That measly level of inflation was created by event. I have a MoM, but I may not replace him when he dies.
Sliders:
I'm good with this. I'll move towards mercantilism.
Tech levels:
I'm keeping up with everybody well enough.
I need to build up my navy some.
And the pies:
Missionaries are much harder to come by than I'm used to, but their success chance seems higher.
Here is the world in 1594:
I think this version of D&T lasts until 1861. Thats's 267 years. If I can maintain a CB that gives me provinces at 2 BB each, AND I can continue burning BB at 3 a year, that's 400 more German provinces. Add in my German cores and the random BD and the total may rise to 450.
My end game goal is to take every one of them. I want my Germany to to eliminate France and England from Europe. I want my Germany to stretch to the Pacific. I want my Germany to own the Indian subcontinent. Beyond that, I will continue letting the game lead me where it will.
My immediate goals are to claim my cores and finish the destruction of this evil Orthodox alliance that continues to pester me.
Thanks for the updates!
What has happened with the naval tech? Why are you 20 levels ahead there? Surely a 46 in Land would be preferable, if anything! Either way, you might want to build some frigates as your tariffs are only at 61%.
Nice going!
What has happened with the naval tech? Why are you 20 levels ahead there? Surely a 46 in Land would be preferable, if anything! Either way, you might want to build some frigates as your tariffs are only at 61%.
Nice going!
Looking at the ledger page, that appears to be the case for everyone. I'm guessing it's a D&T thing where Naval levels advance quicker than the other categories'.
Naval tech is drastically changed in D&T. There was a dedicated thread on the D&T board about all the changes, but I can not explain them very well. Basically, all ships start out being much less powerful. The carrack is the first ship that is really able to do damage. Even now the merchantman seems to be the best ship available. I have a feeling that naval warfare is much more interesting now, but since it is still a boring side show to land warfare, I'm not sure.
Naval techs do advance much more quickly than the others. Will that continue? I don't know.
Naval techs do advance much more quickly than the others. Will that continue? I don't know.
My strategy for destroying the Orthodox coalition will be to declare on the best target unless Byzantium or Muscovy is DoF. In that case I will declare on the DoF.
My strategy for taking the German cores is to take as many as I can without involving a large nation. My vassals are the easiest targets. i can cancel treaties with them and wait to cancel vassalization until immediately before the war.
First on the list is Novgorod.
I got MA from both Muscovy and GH before doing this. The ease at which the AI gives MA is beginning to seem a little cheesy to me, but it's not like I'm cheating. Thoughts?
England declared war on Muscovy immediately.
I declared on unprotected Cleves.
Four months later I declared on Hesse.
I have been building armies rapidly. Again, it seems cheesy to outman everybody so easily, but if I can afford it, why not do it?
Battles are not worth mentioning.
I completed a mission and got a new one that will not be completed.
This scared me a little.
Mainz is ripe for conquest:
I chose another DIP candidate rather than re-elect my DIP 8 guy.
Sweden attacked my army!
I had planned on just sitting there, but if they want a fight I will give it to them.
The rest of the war with Sweden will be nothing but two sieges.
Holstein suddenly came into existence.
They ceased to exist just as quickly.
Novgorod is no more.
The sieges in Europe are not progressing at all, but I have built enough armies to start assaulting. First, I will add another German core to the list of wars I'm involved in.
Evidently somebody else completed my mission for me.
No problem there. I'll take the 2 BB burn at some point.
Mainz goes away.
As does Hesse.
I had foolishly marched an army through Castille's province to Denmark. No biggie. Sweden isn't smart enough to request MA from Castile.
I forgot to mention that I had added The Palatinate to my war roster.
Byzantium is DoF. Hence they are my next Orthodox target.
Before I do that, I might as well do this.
My strategy for taking the German cores is to take as many as I can without involving a large nation. My vassals are the easiest targets. i can cancel treaties with them and wait to cancel vassalization until immediately before the war.
First on the list is Novgorod.
I got MA from both Muscovy and GH before doing this. The ease at which the AI gives MA is beginning to seem a little cheesy to me, but it's not like I'm cheating. Thoughts?
England declared war on Muscovy immediately.
I declared on unprotected Cleves.
Four months later I declared on Hesse.
I have been building armies rapidly. Again, it seems cheesy to outman everybody so easily, but if I can afford it, why not do it?
Battles are not worth mentioning.
I completed a mission and got a new one that will not be completed.
This scared me a little.
Mainz is ripe for conquest:
I chose another DIP candidate rather than re-elect my DIP 8 guy.
Sweden attacked my army!
I had planned on just sitting there, but if they want a fight I will give it to them.
The rest of the war with Sweden will be nothing but two sieges.
Holstein suddenly came into existence.
They ceased to exist just as quickly.
Novgorod is no more.
The sieges in Europe are not progressing at all, but I have built enough armies to start assaulting. First, I will add another German core to the list of wars I'm involved in.
Evidently somebody else completed my mission for me.
No problem there. I'll take the 2 BB burn at some point.
Mainz goes away.
As does Hesse.
I had foolishly marched an army through Castille's province to Denmark. No biggie. Sweden isn't smart enough to request MA from Castile.
I forgot to mention that I had added The Palatinate to my war roster.
Byzantium is DoF. Hence they are my next Orthodox target.
Before I do that, I might as well do this.
No surprises there, any German minors without a major diplomatic web are going to be easy pickings at this stage. At least Sweden tries to make things interesting.
That's a, umm, decent general you've got there.
That's a, umm, decent general you've got there.
No surprises there, any German minors without a major diplomatic web are going to be easy pickings at this stage. At least Sweden tries to make things interesting.
That's a, umm, decent general you've got there.
Yeh he's not too bad.
Sad to say, but one problem i have is remembering to hire generals when I'm at 100% tradition. The "great leader" alert icon isn't showing up.