A History of the World According to Paradox: A Hands-Off AAR, Part Two

[WolfSnakeCaffer]

'Cept Navarre owns at least a third of Spain. Basque spain is pretty cool tho.

Basque and Scandinavian culture, 2 of my irl favourite cultures. I am more then satisfied with the way this game is going.

@Wolfsnakecoffer, I'm currently planning one last update in Europe and then a few elsewhere in the world before getting to the Byzantines. The Byzantines & Timurids are going to be at war for about 120 years, so it's hard to slot it in chronologically; it's even worse than the French civil war. I will be covering Asia soon, but don't plan to say much about Ming which has been extraordinarily passive. There were no changes in its borders in 1489 and 1627.

LMAO, so it should be named the hundred years war then.

@Thoctar, I probably willhave a culture map in the next global update. It's a horrible culture map if you're a fan of Russian culture, that's for sure. Not so bad if you like Norwegian, Danish or Basque.

Ottoman are defacto screwed by their muslim tech. While they had actually better tech than westerners in 1400-1500 (hello janissaries)

I seriously hope EU4 will fix the tech non-sense of eu3

I partially agree, I agree that a western tech group makes sense given how quickly Europe advanced compared to the rest of the world between 1400 and 1870, making it justified to have westernization in the game. But in 1400 the Ming and the Ottomans were way more advanced then Western Europe. What I would like is for the Ottomans and the Ming to be 3-5 techs in each techgroup ahead of Europe at the start of the game, but western Europe gets its tech speed advantage meaning by the early 1500s they will overtake the east.

But as I said in the past, the west did tech quickly but not because western culture is superior (they stagnated techwise during the dark ages and the medieval period prior to the renaissance, and after that most of their early innovations were really just them trading with China and copying them, for example gunpowder)

I would much rather if tech wise certain government policies could be unlocked which give the westernization bonus, you don't need western culture to get the policies, but its easier if you are, meaning in most games the west will advance like they did but sometimes Middle east or Asia would. I think it would make the game far more realistic and interesting, since this is suppose to be about altnernate history, not redoing history exactly as it happened.

 

[Nivenus]

I would much rather if tech wise certain government policies could be unlocked which give the westernization bonus, you don't need western culture to get the policies, but its easier if you are, meaning in most games the west will advance like they did but sometimes Middle east or Asia would. I think it would make the game far more realistic and interesting, since this is suppose to be about altnernate history, not redoing history exactly as it happened.

Speaking as someone who's never actually played EU3 before (so my knowledge as to how this would work practically is limited) that sounds pretty good to me. Better yet though might be if world trade and colonization helped fuel tech advances, since Europe's rapid advance in technology following the 15th century was probably tied in large part to their domination of world trade. Another possibility might be creating some kind of competitive market for technology, since there's been some speculation that the monolithic power of the Ming and the Ottomans within their respective realms may have created little incentive for tech advancement, whereas in Europe the highly competitive nation-states were all trying to get the edge on one another.

Again, not sure how that would work in practice precisely and these features don't seem particularly important to CK2, where everyone is more or less on the same playing field (as far as I can tell).

 

[WolfSnakeCaffer]

Well, the arab would is wayyyyyyy ahead of Europe from the start to the end of the typical CK2 game in tech. I find if you want to use a spy to steal technology Cairo and the territory south of there are the 2 best territories in the game to do that.

I'm also really glad that someone else is bringing up the important of trade and how it causes innovation, since I made many posts about that in the EU4 suggestions thread. Sadly most people, in the typical under-appreciation of trade found by most people, disagreed with me.

 

[Darkath]

since I made many posts about that in the EU4 suggestions thread. Sadly most people, in the typical under-appreciation of trade found by most people, disagreed with me.

I share your pain bro, been there done that.

 

[WolfSnakeCaffer]

what was your idea that everyone found pointless and needlessly complicated?

 

[magritte2]

WESTERN MEDITERRANEAN, 1527-1568

Southwestern Europe, much like the rest of the continent, struggled with the fallout of the Reformation for much of the 16th century. This was especially true in Navarra. King Juan II Benavides’ grandmother had converted to the Protestant faith in 1508, yet almost twenty years later, many of the Navarran people still revered the Pope. The catholics were a constant source of tension and despite all the measures he had taken. The town criers had to be licensed, catholic masses had been forbidden, and he had dissolved the monasteries which had been pits of sedition, and even hired Diego de Beaumont, the most famous artist of his time, to paint anti-catholic propaganda. Still, he faced open rebellion in the south and in his African possessions. Furthermore, the cost of missionaries and sufficient armies to prevent rebellion was expensive, so he and his father had favored the wealthy merchants, infuriating the noble classes. The rebellion in Africa could wait, but swift action was needed in the South. He sent his best general, Nicolas de Ursua, south with nearly 20,000 men to deal with the catholic zealots who had taken control of Malaga and Gibraltar.

The Western Mediterranean in 1527:

In 1527, at the battle of Cadiz, Nicolas succeeded in defeating 11,000 catholic rabble roused by Piero Belluno. But before he could take Gibraltar, the rebels persuaded Pope Clemens IX to take the Archbishopric of Gibraltar as a Papal Fief. The Arroca was a difficult fortress to capture, which would give the rebels time to draw in catholic powers like Etruria and England. With no desire to entangle himself in such a war while the country remained so unstable, Juan left Gibraltar alone. This was not the end of his problems, however, for while Nicolas was fighting the rebels in Spain, the province of Fes defected to the Duchy of Fez.

Denmark had converted to the new faith eight years earlier than Navarra, and while it too faced a stubborn Catholic opposition, by 1535, the danger had largely passed. With the situation at home stabilizing, King Christian II Goye decided it was time to take advantage of his large conscripted army to expand his holdings in Africa. Seven years earlier, while Denmark had still been troubled internally, Mali had conquered the small Duchy of Algiers. This was irksome because not only was Algiers was a Christian state, it gave Mali a port on the Mediterranean, enabling them to trade their ivory and gold directly with European centers like Venice and Genoa, instead of passing through the Danish city of Tangiers.

Christian’s war against Mali was a success. Twenty-seven thousand Danish troops disembarked at Lemdiyya in January of 1536 and began the invasion of Mali. His general had no stomach for a march south across the Sahara, however, which limited the extent of compensation he could demand from the Malians. He left them in control of the port of Relizane but demanded they release a state in the Atlas Mountains, severing Mali’s connection to the Mediterranean. The new king Louis II de Lorraine christened the land Orleans after a Duke that had once ruled there. Though Christian’s troops returned to the north thereafter, Mali attacked Orleans in 1544, and the Danes were forced to intervene and drive them out again. Seven years later, with Mali again threatening war, King Charles II Bonaparte of Orleans wisely became a vassal of Denmark. And though Mali had tried to garrison Relizane well, the province eventually rebelled and the Algiers was reborn in 1556.

The Reformation had never gained much traction in Etruria, perhaps because it was the Pope’s backyard. It had been dragged into the wars in central Europe on occasion, but never suffered greatly in them and its economy continued to boom, especially after Doge Carlo Bartolini introduced a standard system of measures. After annexing its vassal, Tuscany, in 1527, it ruled nearly all of Peninsular Italy. But though business was good, Carlo eyed his protestant neighbor to the north, Austria warily. Positioning himself for an eventual conflict, he took the unusual step of guaranteeing the independence of Genoa, which had been Etruria’s hated rival for centuries.

This failed to stop King Joseph Billung of Austria from declaring war on Genoa in 1552. True to his word, Carlo declared war on Austria as did Genoa’s ally, Sardinia. Austria dragged in a number of northern European states that would have little impact on the war but it did have one important ally: Navarra. At that time, a five year old, Francisco Febo Benavides, sat on the throne and the country was still struggling with an insurgency in North Africa. Even so, the regency council ruling Navarra elected to join the war, and what had started as a local war in northern Italy had become a struggle for supremacy in the Western Mediterranean.

Once the war began, King Joseph realized that he had underestimated the stern discipline Etruria’s commandant Denis de Coligny had drilled into his new ‘Tercio’ infantry. After some initial successes, the Austrians found themselves forced onto the defensive. Abandoning hope of gaining Parma, Joseph made peace with Genoa and Sardinia to concentrate on Etruria. But Navarra proved less helpful an ally than he had hoped, and in 1555, Billung signed a peace in which he ceded Ferrara, released the Duke of Luneburg from his oath of fealty, and paid reparations to Carlo.

Western Mediterranean in 1557:

The 1550's saw much unrest in many parts of the region. In addition to the Algerian nationalist revolt in Mali, Castillian patriots overthrew the local Swedish garrison at Asturias de Oviedo, and the rebels joined Galicia in 1556. Similarly, insurgents in Provence succeeded in restoring that province to Genoa, after thirty years of Hungarian occupation. By 1557, there were widespread uprisings spanning the Navarran-Danish frontier in southern Iberia, including such diverse groups as Maghreb Arabs, Andalusians, and a pretender to the Navarran throne. One such group seized control of the province of Granada from Navarra in 1559, and declared their loyalty to Queen Isabel of Castille.

The situation was not improved by the fact that Navarra had once again been dragged into a war that started in central Europe. In the Spring of 1557, King Mayas von Rheinfelden of Hungary declared war on Cleves, hoping to succeed where his predecessors had failed. Within a few months, it became another conflict between Catholic Etruria and its allies on one side, and Hungary, Frankfurt and Navarra on the other. Unfortunately for Navarra, its allies were unable to help it when the Etrurian general, Nestore degli Albizzi landed in Almeria and conquered its southern provinces. By 1561, the regency council was forced to concede defeat and surrendered both Almeria and the important African port of Tunis. Though Etruria failed to protect Cleves, it had won more land for itself, and neither Hungary nor Frankfurt saw fit to continue to pursue the war beyond 1564.

Despite the failure of their previous efforts, the Austrians attacked Genoa again in 1564. But Doge Bonifacio Vasari of Etruria was far less interested in protecting his old rival than his predecessor had been. Despite their timely intervention in the Austro-Genoese war of 1552-1555, the Genoese still envied the strength of the Etrurian trade league, and refused them access to their markets. The desperate Doge of Genoa, Giovanni Battista Arborio Mella had only his alliances with Sardinia and Castille to fall back on, and they were hardly sufficient to fight back the protestant powers of Austria and Navarra.

Within two years, Castille had been forced to surrender its capitol province of Valladolid to the Navarrans, along with nearly six years of the national income, a horrendous cost. With its ally forced out of the war, the Genoese were crushed by the Austrians and lost their western coastal provinces in 1567. But ten years of war between this conflict and the previous one had done nothing for Navarra’s internal stability as a catholic revolt swept through its North African possessions, resulting in most of them defecting to Etruria.

Though ringed by enemies, for all the other major countries in the region had convertant to the Protestant faith, Catholic Etruria had continued to flourish through the middle years of the 16th century. The prosperous and progressive Italian state’s powerful merchants monopolized not only the trade centers of Venezia and Pisa, but even the Danish center at Tangier. Meanwhile, its rivals in the west were still wracked with instability.

Western Mediterranean in 1569:

 

[Nivenus]

The Reformation continues to wreck things up in this timeline. At least Navarre doesn't seem headed for a French-style death spiral at the moment, although the religious unrest as certainly done a lot to hinder any hopes of a Pax Navarra.

I'm also impressed by how quickly Italy is heading for unification. Etruria must be really close to sealing the deal there. What else do they need at this point?

 

[dodedo]

rome, i belive

 

[magritte2]

They're not as close as you'd think. They need Monferrato and Firenze as well as Rome. They do have core on Firenze and Roma at least.

 

[WolfSnakeCaffer]

I've never tried to unify Italy in a game before, so I actually don't know. but I can't imagine its much more then Rome now.

edit nevermind, magritte answered

 

[Darkath]

Its good to see that there is at least some parts of europe that looks homogeneous

 

[unmerged(571919)]

I wish Mali still held those territories. Damn Danes....

 

[Nivenus]

They're not as close as you'd think. They need Monferrato and Firenze as well as Rome. They do have core on Firenze and Roma at least.

Interesting. IIRC, the Kingdom of Savoy actually declared the creation of a unified Kingdom of Italy before annexing Rome. I can definitely see the rationale for making it required though.

Is unifying a country in EU3 like creating a new title in CK2 where you need about 80% of the territories to declare it? Or do you need all of the territories?

EDIT:

Another thing I'm finding interesting is how (aside from Navarese Granada and Danish rule in Portugal) Danish Iberia and Navarre are more or less shaping themselves into the exact same geography as Castille and Aragon. The resemblance is pretty uncanny given some of the weird geography in the rest of the AAR.

 

[Portal]

Not exactly the same... Navarre owns what would be in CK2 the Duchy of Castille as well as being down in, I think, Seville. But the borders are neat, which I like.

I love Etruria. If they need Roma, which they do, that may cause issues as they are pretty deeply Catholic. Though they are shaping up to be a powerhouse - it won't take them long to slap about Sardinia and Genoa. If they're daring they might make a move for Aqueilian Sicily.

Castille annoys me. The tiny state is ruining the borders. As does Galicia. They need to be annexed.

I am ambivelant about Mali. On one hand, I really liked them, but on the other the New Vikings, Terror of the Atlantic, appeals greatly.

 

[magritte2]

Is unifying a country in EU3 like creating a new title in CK2 where you need about 80% of the territories to declare it? Or do you need all of the territories?

No, the way it works is you have to own and have core on a list of specified provinces--which for Italy are Ancona, Siena, Firenze, Roma and Lombardia. For Germany, there are ten specified provinces you have to own. Once you have made yourself King of Italy or Germany, you get core on the whole country, though.

 

[Dasfubar]

Could we get a cultural screenshot soon? I'd love to see how Danish/Basque Iberia is.

 

[magritte2]

THE FALL OF SWAHILI, 1533-1558.

The rivalry between the Shona people of Mutapa in the interior of East Africa and the Swahili people of the coast was an old one. Tensions between the two were increased by the gradual adoption of the foreign Islamic faith by the Swahili while the Shona continued to follow the traditional “superstitions” of their ancestors, and by the raiders who vetnured across the Mutapan border seeking slaves to sell in the markets of Zanzibar. Warfare between the two kingdoms had been sporadic and inconclusive over the centuries.

East Africa in 1553:

In 1533, Malik Husayn III Sokoine of Swahili, egged on by his brothers of the faith in Mali, Hausa and Yemen, decalared war. His aim was to further spread Islam and regain control of the southern coastal areas around the mouth of the Zambezi. But while Malik Husayn was a fine diplomat and administrator, he was not a brilliant military strategist like his rival Chrisamhuru II, and his far-off allies could provide little aid. He suffered a humiliating defeat in the Battle of Mozambique and was forced to surrender Kilwa, Bagamayo and Zanzibar in 1545.

The battle of Mozambique proved pivotal in the history of East Africa. In 1541, Chrisanhuru consulted his diviners and was told the time was ripe to attack his neighbors to the north. The seers were right: circumstances could not have been more auspicious. Pirates off the Coast of Pepper were preventing merchants from Hormuz and Alexanderia from coming south to ply their wares, and Swahili had long been more dependent on trade. Furthermore, a revolutionary movement had begun in the north, led by Mwinyi Ahmad Salam. In less than a year, Chrisanhuru’s forces were victorious and Swahili relinquished the province of Tanga.

Chrisanhuru III proved just as able as his father, but Malik Husayn’s son, Malik Fumo Madi was a pale shadow of his father. When Mutapa attacked again in 1547, Swahili had lost nearly its whole army fighting rebels and suffered a devastating defeat. Malik Fumo was reduced ruling only a stretch of coast north of the Zambezi. It was not long before this too was taken from him. After the war of 1557-1558, Mutapa was supreme in East Africa and traditional African religions were returning to preeminence in the region.

East Africa in 1560:

 

[WolfSnakeCaffer]

Interesting. IIRC, the Kingdom of Savoy actually declared the creation of a unified Kingdom of Italy before annexing Rome. I can definitely see the rationale for making it required though.

You are correct, iirc Rome remained independent for 10 years after Italy was first unified, and iirc in Vicky 2 you don't need Rome to unify Italy. At least in one of my games Piedmont unified Italy with Papal States remaining independent.

 

[PrawnStar]

Still reading, still lovin' it

Fascinating to see how it plays out.

 

[Warlord Skorr]

African animists annexed another entity?

Astounding and awesome!