Rex Germania - A Brandenburg to Prussia Strategy AAR

[HistoryDude]

Congrats on defeating Wurzburg and co!

RIP Milan. Will Venice pursue further expansion?

That coalition looked scary, but your period of peace seems to have destroyed it. That's good.

Hopefully the Hungarian-Lithuanian War doesn't distract you from other matters...

Are you in line to keep the imperial throne if Friedrich V dies?

 

[Midnite Duke]

If I am in Afghanistan, I do not need tales of mysterious Hindustan as I know about Hindustan. I would like to hear about Scottish cannibal vagabonds and the lions and giraffes of Africa. Thanks

 

[Rensslaer]

I'm going to do feedback differently since our power is out and the laptop is not charged. Too difficult using quote feature on a phone.

@TheButterflyComposer, @Bullfilter, @VILenin @El Pip you asked about the job and I'll respond to that here but may have more feedback below.

I've taken a job with as good company and got a good raise, which is all I can ask! It's what I'd been hoping for.

@VILenin yes the top 3 great powers seem unassailable at the moment, and will likely remain so for some time. Colonial empires are helping them there. Muscovy will become Russia soon, and they lurk in the fringes of my nightmares, but are not at the forefront of my concerns yet. I think the whole Protestant Prussia thing may be in my future, but it must be timed properly. I give up much to make the change, including giving up the title of Emperor.

Imprison the chancellor, summon the soldiers of (borrowed) fortune, don't read the fine print on the loans when signing the paperwork! Brandenburg is going to war!

@El Pip thanks for catching up! Oh how you've given me ideas for better ways to run an absolutist empire! You'll love my next update.

@HistoryDude thanks! Yes Venice becomes an issue soon enough. Not least because they are allied with Austria. The Emperorship is always at risk but it's somewhat controllable. Can we control it? That's the question.

@Midnite Duke I love that quote! Is that your saying or someone else's? Sounds Kiplingish maybe? I quite agree with the sentiment. I'll try to add info about what's going on elsewhere.

Anyway, until the storm and power outage I was making progress on the next update. Still only half done but should be finished soon.

Any new readers? Lurkers? Thanks to everyone for reading!

Rensslaer

 

[Rensslaer]

In our last update you’ll recall Friedrich IV had passed away and his son was fortunate to have been elected as Emperor Friedrich V. Brandenburg has gone through a period of peace, during which it has paid off many of its loans and improved its economy and technology substantially. Then, in the Autumn of 1553 Brandenburg is called to war against Lithuania by its powerful ally Hungary.





In January, before much progress could be made in this first call-to-war, we receive another entreaty from our (also powerful) ally Denmark. This is a war against Scotland, and Scotland’s allies Holland and Rothenburg. As with the Hungarian alliance, Brandenburg desires to maintain this alliance, and so we again answer the call in the affirmative. Suddenly, after 10 years of peace, we’re at war with 5 countries (France having refused Scotland’s call – which if they hadn’t might have resulted in a different answer from us).



Now, as you might expect, there was hope early on that Hungary might be able to carry her (substantial) weight against Lithuania. But Hungary dithered… Well, the AI directing Hungary dithered. They’d start to conquer a province, then give up before the 30 or 40 days were up, and move on to another province where they’d stop and attempt to gain control. They just didn’t seem persistent or serious. We’d seen wars like this elsewhere, and it was unlikely to lead to anything. And we were at war, with high army maintenance and were otherwise suffering war exhaustion and other ill effects of being at war, even if we didn’t really have to engage ANY of these enemies… AAARGHHH!!!!



And then we lost all hope that the Lithuanians might leave us alone and we could pass through this war quietly. Fifteen thousand Lithuanian soldiers made their way out of Muscovite territory and appeared ready to do battle and/or occupy parts of East Prussia! We only had 9,000 troops nearby to counter them.

Battle was joined in late February, and we didn’t acquit ourselves too badly in battle, but soon it was clear that overwhelming enemy reinforcements were on the way. We retreated on 8 March and withdrew to Danzig, where Nassau had sent friendly reinforcements and we had enacted a Defensiveness Edict.




Nevertheless, though we were having to accept a local setback, it was clear that we would need to gather our troops, and our resolve, and we would need to push back against this undesired foe. Also it became clear that this war was primarily ours, and could not be left up to the Hungarians. <sighs>

By April, by gathering forces near East Prussia, we finally moved against the Lithuanians at Marienburg. It was 25,000 vs. 7,000 and we defeated them soundly with nearly 4,000 casualties for the enemy.





On the other front, we made landing in March at the Shetland Islands, followed by a landing in Scotland proper. We landed more troops and spread out more to the Hebrides and Orknies. We were getting away with a lot until July, when 11,000 Scots marched north from Lothian to put things aright in the north.

We scattered! Three thousand of our troops were caught before they could escape to the islands, and half the force was destroyed before they could retreat. But the rest of our armies sheltered behind the protection of our Navy, which held sea control and prevented passage of the Scots to their outlying provinces. Our Navy had also managed to sink some of the remaining Scottish ships that had survived the predations of the Danish Navy previously.

So… We at least could secure the island portions of the Scottish possessions, which were not insignificant (I think there are 5 island provinces and 8 mainland, Scotland already having lost some to Great Britain). You may also recall that we’d wished previously to take the Shetland Islands for ourselves, as an island base from which to operate. This was on the table again.

In eastern Poland we built up 30,000 soldiers to attempt to break the siege at Schieratz.




The campaign was hard fought, over more than 3 weeks’ time. Six thousand Hessians arrived to tip the direction of battle, and assisted Gen. von Taubeneck in dislodging the Lithuanian army. By mid-June the battleground was strewn with 9,000 dead Lithuanians and 12,500 Brandenburgers and Hessians. A costly victory, but one which still favored Brandenburg in the long term. And our general gained a helpful trait, increasing movement speed.

This was the turning point of the war!

By June of 1554 the Lithuanians had only 15,000 troops remaining in service, and all of these had just been defeated, and would require time to recover. They had only 13,000 Manpower left to restore their strength. That wasn’t good math, for them.




Also by June of 1554, Brandenburger troops, supplemented by our vassals, and to a small degree by Hungarian troops, had been able to capture the vast majority of Lithuanian provinces. By and large, these had been transferred to the control of Hungary so that they could use them to purchase a beneficial peace.

The provinces, for instance, to the south in the below screenshot, have been transferred – those are the pink on red crosshatches. The provinces in the north, such as Minskas, which we just captured, are crosshatched with Brandenburger brown.





On the Dutch front we watched a battle between East Frisians (12,600 troops) and Rothenburgers (our enemy – 6,800 troops). We had 11,000 troops nearby who could have assisted, but I don’t think they actually had access due to the fort at Den Haag. But because of that we did place Den Haag under siege. By August our allies had captured two of the Dutch provinces, to the north and south of Den Haag, but our siege wasn’t progressing quickly.

Elsewhere, we soon had Rothenburg and Vilnius under siege as well.





We were, frankly, expecting peace between Hungary and Lithuania much sooner than November of 1554, as our conquests had been quite extensive, and we’d transferred most everything to Hungary. Our side had 71% Warscore.

I was then expecting that Hungary would AT LEAST take territory! But no, they made peace to pillage Moldavia and provide an indemnity. Brandenburg gets 69 ducats for our trouble in the war. And 21 Favors, but it’s my belief that Favors accumulate quickly enough with allies anyway that this is meaningless.

Hmm… Well, not terrible. It wasn’t worth the time and men and expense we invested into the war, but we were really in it only to support Hungary anyway, and to preserve our alliance. I shouldn’t complain, and so I won’t.

The war against Scotland, Holland and Rothenburg continues…




In December Brandenburg chose our next Idea Group – Trade Ideas. That increases our Global Trade Power by 20%. We also get an add-on for 10% Infantry Combat Ability (a welcome boon).

Not much happened over the next few months. Scotland remained stalemated, with their larger army preventing our return from the islands we occupied. The siege at Den Haag continued until the end of March, when they finally opened their gates to us.

This increased our Warscore against the enemy alliance to 50%, and we seized our opportunity to end this war with a separate peace.





We force them to pay 243 ducats for the war and our trouble. Oh, and we do, finally, take the Shetland Islands as Brandenburg’s Northern Sea outpost. This would become, theoretically, our base for trade, conquest and maybe even colonization beyond the sphere of Europe. It would also help us in future conflicts with Scotland (as it had proved a worthy haven for us during our two wars with them).

I immediately order a fortress built there, to protect our outpost and help prevent easy conquests of this outlying territory. We would, in time, garrison this island also.

So, by April 1555 we again found ourselves at peace. We used the war winnings to pay back one of our 11 loans, which were costing us 4 ducats a month in interest. With lower army maintenance we began to earn back ducats at a rate of 14/mo to repay more. This peace would continue for 8 years.

 

[Historywhiz]

Well done. I’m not sure you are out of the woods yet though given your forces’ poor tactical performance against the Lithuanians. As a general rule, Lithuania has some of the worst troops in Europe and mainly rely on their superior numbers to make up the quality deficit. If you are taking more losses in battle than they are, something isn’t right.

 

[Cromwell]

Hungary really not helping there in its own war, I will never understand the AI in this game. The problem you will have with colonising now you have your outpost is how expensive it is at first (and you really have to keep at for a while being it puts money back in the coffers) and the one thing you really don't have in this playthough is excess cash.

Still the wars are over and that means opportunity, I will of course carry on schillling for my idea of taking land from the Tuetons, it's hard to tell from the maps in this update, would it be possible to take Krakow (a very rich provice) after a big Tuetonic conquest or has the one provice minor already fallen into somoene's open maw?

 

[mackwolfe]

Nice update. Brandenburg is expanding, again.

Can you provide a "wide" screenshot of Europe's map . You have not mentioned Ottomans much, and I am curious as to whether they will be an issue for you.

 

[jak7139]

It's weird Hungary didn't take any land, but oh well. At least any future war against Lithuania should now be easier.

The Shetlands are a nice gain too. Do you plan on expanding any further in the British Isles? Do you have vision over any part of the New World?

 

[Rensslaer]

Well done. I’m not sure you are out of the woods yet though given your forces’ poor tactical performance against the Lithuanians. As a general rule, Lithuania has some of the worst troops in Europe and mainly rely on their superior numbers to make up the quality deficit. If you are taking more losses in battle than they are, something isn’t right.

@Historywhiz I'm not sure that's it. Sometimes it's just bad die rolls and/or a difference in commanders. I'm not sure what the difference was between our abilities. At some point, though perhaps a little into the future somewhat, Brandenburg ends up being ahead of most of her neighbors in military tech and stats.

Hungary really not helping there in its own war, I will never understand the AI in this game. The problem you will have with colonising now you have your outpost is how expensive it is at first (and you really have to keep at for a while being it puts money back in the coffers) and the one thing you really don't have in this playthough is excess cash.

Still the wars are over and that means opportunity, I will of course carry on schillling for my idea of taking land from the Tuetons, it's hard to tell from the maps in this update, would it be possible to take Krakow (a very rich provice) after a big Tuetonic conquest or has the one provice minor already fallen into somoene's open maw?

@Cromwell I really can't fault the AI. For one, I've seen so many other games with worse AI. For another, I've seen up close how complex it is to program AI to do exactly the right thing, and it's near impossible to program it to do what you want or what it should in all circumstances. Later on I watched Hungarian AI successfully conquer Lithuanian territory on its own, so I know it can do it. My main concern was that they were going to take 2-3 times as long as I had patience for.

And Krakow is actually already ours through a previous war a couple of updates back. They were allied with the Bohemian cast-off territories (either Opole or Moravia I think) and I took them as a vassal.

Nice update. Brandenburg is expanding, again.

Can you provide a "wide" screenshot of Europe's map . You have not mentioned Ottomans much, and I am curious as to whether they will be an issue for you.

@mackwolfe Thanks! I'm including a wide screenshot of both Europe and Europe/Asia/Africa in the upcoming update. It should show what you're looking for.

It's weird Hungary didn't take any land, but oh well. At least any future war against Lithuania should now be easier.

The Shetlands are a nice gain too. Do you plan on expanding any further in the British Isles? Do you have vision over any part of the New World?

@jak7139 Yeah I was surprised. In a subsequent war Hungary did the same thing. Dunno.

Thanks about the Shetlands. I had in fact considered taking more provinces and decided having contiguous territory with England and/or Scotland would likely be more of a liability than an asset under those particular circumstances. Besides, I had German territory I'd rather spend AE on.


Thank you, everybody, for your readership and comments! I have the next update in process, and I even have the one after partially mapped out. I do kinda want to get more caught up to where I am in gameplay, which has gotten to be too far. I realize that the stuff I'm telling you about now was played 3 months ago, and that's a little silly.

Rensslaer

 

[Midnite Duke]

Confession Time: The line is mine, but I posted it to the wrong AAR. It is a reference to generic events that should be redone with different realms. Has anyone else accidentally posted a comment to the wrong AAR?

France deserted Scotland. Why? Scared of big, bad Brandenburg? Thanks

 

[VILenin]

Hmm. Did Hungary have any claims on Lithuania? Apologies if you covered this in the last update and I forgot.

How do favors work? Am I correct in thinking that you can use them during a diplomatic exchange to close the gap between what you want and the AI's willingness to accept?

And, once again, congratulations on the new job! It's gratifying to know that it worked out.

 

[Rensslaer]

Confession Time: The line is mine, but I posted it to the wrong AAR. It is a reference to generic events that should be redone with different realms. Has anyone else accidentally posted a comment to the wrong AAR?

France deserted Scotland. Why? Scared of big, bad Brandenburg? Thanks

Haha! @Midnite Duke I have written Hindustan into the next update anyway, and will deal with this unintentional comment as if it matters/relates, which of course it does, as it would to any such story.

As to Scotland... I almost wonder if it was the combination of Denmark and Brandenburg (and I think maybe Friesland?) that caused the French to beg off. It wasn't a small war.

Hmm. Did Hungary have any claims on Lithuania? Apologies if you covered this in the last update and I forgot.

How do favors work? Am I correct in thinking that you can use them during a diplomatic exchange to close the gap between what you want and the AI's willingness to accept?

And, once again, congratulations on the new job! It's gratifying to know that it worked out.

@VILenin the war was technically against Moldavia, whose ally was Lithuania. So maybe I fudged that in the update, saying the peace was with Lithuania when it was really with Moldavia. Did they have claims? Not completely sure -- I assume so.

Favors... They're not a one-for-one bonus that translates into diplomatic advantages. But they can be traded for things like 1) ducats from your allies (something I routinely take advantage of, because I needed the money early on, but which I've never agreed to pay to an ally because -I- need that money and I feel like it's kind of stupid of them to have asked lol), 2) Manpower from your allies, 3) Trust from your allies (Trust being something more like what you presume -- a form of diplomatic leverage), and some other stuff. I believe you can also spend favors to ask your allies to join you in a war they might not otherwise join.

I'm going to recommend Jak's Game Guide: An EU IV Tutorial for fine game details like how Favors work. My AAR is more focused on the geopolitical strategy, but if you haven't checked out JGG you should. It's another really interesting tale.

Thanks about the job! I start Monday and am looking forward to it.


So I actually have the next update finished and ready to post, but I'm going to hold onto it for a couple days so I can get the 2nd update finished first. This is just to maintain a more steady pace.

Thanks everyone for your readership and support! Be back with you in a couple days.

Rensslaer

 

[VILenin]

@VILenin the war was technically against Moldavia, whose ally was Lithuania. So maybe I fudged that in the update, saying the peace was with Lithuania when it was really with Moldavia. Did they have claims? Not completely sure -- I assume so.

Favors... They're not a one-for-one bonus that translates into diplomatic advantages. But they can be traded for things like 1) ducats from your allies (something I routinely take advantage of, because I needed the money early on, but which I've never agreed to pay to an ally because -I- need that money and I feel like it's kind of stupid of them to have asked lol), 2) Manpower from your allies, 3) Trust from your allies (Trust being something more like what you presume -- a form of diplomatic leverage), and some other stuff. I believe you can also spend favors to ask your allies to join you in a war they might not otherwise join.

Oh, right. Moldavia being the primary war target probably also had an effect on Hungary's decision to take land or not. I probably got that switched up in my head and thought Lithuania was the target.

Favors - that's interesting, it sounds like they're fairly versatile. Is the manpower you can request an actual helpful amount, or do you find that it doesn't make much of a difference?

But they can be traded for things like 1) ducats from your allies (something I routinely take advantage of, because I needed the money early on, but which I've never agreed to pay to an ally because -I- need that money and I feel like it's kind of stupid of them to have asked lol)

Yeah, who do they think they are? XD Is there a penalty for refusing favors?

I will definitely also check out Jak's guide, since he seems like a wealth of good information!

 

[Rensslaer]

Oh, right. Moldavia being the primary war target probably also had an effect on Hungary's decision to take land or not. I probably got that switched up in my head and thought Lithuania was the target.

Favors - that's interesting, it sounds like they're fairly versatile. Is the manpower you can request an actual helpful amount, or do you find that it doesn't make much of a difference?


Yeah, who do they think they are? XD Is there a penalty for refusing favors?

I will definitely also check out Jak's guide, since he seems like a wealth of good information!

@VILenin I pulled up the screen to check and remembered a couple more useful things for Favors, as well as one I'd never seen before (wonder if it was added in a DLC? - I'm using the subscription, so I have all the DLCs w/o paying extra). The new one is one I might be able to use someday, which is "Return Core Province" -- you can ask someone who owes you Favors (generally only an ally) to return one of your core provinces. Nice! This might have rejiggered some of my past strategies with certain neighbors if I'd known.

Some others I'd known about was:
1) Break Alliance -- I've used this more than once, to avoid ending up in a war with an ally, and I've even allied a country previously (Denmark I think?) in order to eventually ask them to break their alliance with the Teutonic Order (which was and is a target of mine).
2) Request Relative as Heir -- In some cases it matters if your dynasty is in control of another country, and I've used this once or twice. I don't remember what all the advantages are, besides relations, but I think it can also end up in inheritance on occasion. So you can spend Favors to get your cousin in when the ruler dies, essentially.
3) Trade Favors for Sailors -- Important if you're low on sailors, which I've never been.

The Soldiers you get from this Favor action are significant. It's "6 months" of Manpower, which I assume means however many soldiers that country would generate/add to their own total over the course of 6 months. Generally this translates into a few to several thousand soldiers, which can definitely help if you're low on Manpower.

I'm sure if you refuse a request to trade ducats or soldiers from an ally there's a small relations penalty, but if they're already your ally this should go away before it causes any rift.

So there was probably a 50-80 year period where I was asking my ally for ducats every opportunity (I think you can ask once every 5 years). There were also 5-7 times when I asked for Manpower when I was trying to build up. You can't request Manpower if your ally is at war, and so often if you're at war and out of Manpower it cannot be used because your ally is fighting alongside you.

Rensslaer

 

[Historywhiz]

@VILenin I pulled up the screen to check and remembered a couple more useful things for Favors, as well as one I'd never seen before (wonder if it was added in a DLC? - I'm using the subscription, so I have all the DLCs w/o paying extra). The new one is one I might be able to use someday, which is "Return Core Province" -- you can ask someone who owes you Favors (generally only an ally) to return one of your core provinces. Nice! This might have rejiggered some of my past strategies with certain neighbors if I'd known.

Oh that one is phenomenally useful, particularly when you use it to ask for the core territory of your vassals. I just used it Tuesday night in a Byzantine game that I was playing. My ally of Hungary had swooped in to take much of Bulgaria off the Ottomans in a separate war to the thrashing that I had been giving them in Anatolia. This briefly annoyed me, until I remembered that I had gotten a boatload of favors from them some years prior when I had given them most of Moravia and Silesia in thanks for helping me deal with the pesky Bohemian ally of the Ottomans then. So I just released a Bulgarian puppet, made it a non-hereditary pronoiar (exclusive Byzantine mechanic), then used all my favors to ask the Hungarians back for the rest of Bulgaria.

 

[Rensslaer]

In the feedback to the last update, our wise commenters asked about a couple of things, such as when we might convert to Protestantism, and when Muscovy might become Russia. These were timely comments, as these things are about to occur!


It was also hinted that folks might want to know what Brandenburg knows about Hindustan (since we’re in Europe and not there) and someone else asked what’s up with the Ottomans in my world, so here’s a snazzy shot of that (screenshot actually from 1564, but the only one I happened across showing this wide of a shot). There’s that blackish green crosshatchy area north of the Caspian Sea which I think is rebel-held Ottoman territory. They don’t have access, so it’s remained that way for some decades. I wish EU IV would cause those lands to create their own countries, or restore whatever was there before, or something.





It can be assumed that the Americas are not particularly unusual. Portuguese and Spanish colonies in South America, pretty much just Spanish in Central America, and a not-abnormal mishmash of native countries interspersed with French, British and Danish colonies in North America. There’s a Portuguese and a Spanish colonial presence, also, at the Cape of Good Hope.

Anyway… One of the first things I did upon achieving peace with Scotland is Brandenburg converted to the Protestant faith. It was a logical move. Probably 3/4 of my provinces had already converted to non-Catholic, and I’d really done nothing to stop these conversions. At no time in the past 120 years since I started the game did I send a Missionary anywhere. That changed immediately – I sent missionaries to begin converting the Catholic provinces.






As you can see from the above screenshot, this conversion was a pretty big deal. Regardless of how many of my own provinces had converted, Brandenburg’s official conversion would have been breathtaking even had Friedrich V not been the Holy Roman Emperor! In this particular case, it was an earthshaking event.

Brandenburg, which had always had among the highest prestige rankings in Europe, suddenly had -26 Prestige after losing 100 due to the conversion. We also lost the Emperorship, and sadly it ended up being awarded to our bitter enemy Ferdinand I of the Austrian Habsburgs! He soon added four of his allies as Electors – Verden, Liege, Brabant and Friesland. These choices will have far reaching ramifications you’ll see later.

But there were positive results too, besides the provincial benefits of having the state religion match the local. Tax income went way up, we earned nearly 1000 ducats somehow, and our diplomatic relations became easier to manage. Our vassals all converted too.

The end of Brandenburg’s war with Scotland happened in the Spring of 1555. But our ally Denmark continued the war, and came to various resolutions. The peace with Holland, in September 1556, forced the cession of Amsterdam to the Danish ally Friesland, causing her to grow to 4 provinces, leaving Holland at only 2.





It was another 2 years before Denmark and her remaining cobelligerents brought Scotland to her knees. The peace was harsh and shattering. Five provinces ceded to Denmark proper, another 2 to Personal Union Norway. Another 4 provinces became 3 separate nations guaranteed by Denmark – Gaeldom, Mann and The Isles.

Muscovy became Russia at the beginning of 1558. I’ve mentioned previously that Muscovy/Russia is a looming shadow in the mind of Brandenburg’s leadership – a potential threat, and yet not one that is immediate. Relations are not bad. Hopefully that will continue. The Ottomans are less friendly, but equally distant in our minds.

And Elector Friedrich V – nee Emperor – died in April of that year, leaving Electress Agnes Sack in charge of a Regency for a few months.





This screenshot might give you a good idea of the overall European situation. Everything to the west, off screen, is Scotland/England, France and Spain. Hungary and Denmark are Brandenburg’s allies. Bohemia, Bavaria, and a number of other states are Austria’s allies. Brandenburg is allied with Verden (the yellow spot just below Denmark), but that’s about to change – they’re allied with Austria and they’re studiously Catholic, and we foresee that they are unlikely to choose our side in any conflict. We end that alliance.

Then, of course, there’s the Teutonic Order, which is our secondary nemesis. But overall from what you can see I’m reasonably happy with Brandenburg’s growth and strength against its rivals.

Friedrich VI von Hohenzollern was coronated Elector in November 1558, with acceptable stats (admin at least). He soon acquired the Bold Fighter trait, which increases Land Leader Shock by +1.





In other news in and around that year we advanced to Military Tech 13 and Administrative Tech 13.

We had successfully improved relations with our vassal Wurzburg such that their Liberty Desire (rebelliousness) was down to 57%. That was until first Austria (1556) and then the Teutonic Order (1560) began supporting an independence movement for Wurzburg (France later did the same, but I’m not sure when). This brought their Liberty Desire up to 100%, which was rather irksome, as you can imagine.

England became Brandenburg’s new Rival. And Brandenburg fell to 7th among the Great Powers as our peers embraced the Printing Press. We sought to annex Krakow, our vassal, which drew our Diplo points down enough that we had an overall gain rate of 0 for the duration. Ick!

But, since you might think that things remained very dire for Brandenburg during this period, we actually had our opposing coalition (which dates back to the Franconian Conquest acquisitions in the 1540s) start to break apart. We still very much feared a conflict with Austria, now even more so due to the Wurzburg Independence issue.

Between 1555 and 1565 Berlin went through some transformation, other than just the expansion of the Brandenburg Gate. An event in July 1555 joined Berlin with neighboring Cölln and this joining brought with it an increase of 6 development and some other boons. This made Berlin the 2nd largest city in the known world, larger than Paris and second only to Constantinople.





In 1556 we upgraded Berlin to a World Trade Center, with more nice improvements and modifiers. A Textile Manufactory was completed in 1558ish, and Berlin was converted by Missionary from Reformed to Protestant in 1565.

Then in 1562 England takes advantage of the beating Brandenburg and Denmark gave to Scotland and declares their own war of conquest. This war dragged on for 4 1/2 years – beyond the scope of this update – but its result might as well be annotated here…





Scotland was entirely annexed by England in 1566. The three oddballs – The Isles, Mann, and Gaeldom – remain.

In 1563 or so we had a number of interesting things occur to Brandenburg. Friedrich VI had a drunkenness scandal which unhelpfully lowered our Stability by 1. But we also purchased a National Bank Idea that led to a National Bank event which reduced Inflation by , brought our Stability back up by 1, and gave us nearly 1000 ducats!





Our military was somewhat larger than our Force Limit would allow, so we invested in such things as Regimental Camps to increase the Forcelimit. But there were other buildings as well, such as a Weapons Manufactory in Brandenburg.

And we finally were able to Embrace the Printing Press Institution, bringing us back in line with our peers. By doing so Brandenburg jumped back up to 5th in the Great Powers rankings, about 110 points behind Austria. France, of course, remained the far more powerful Rival who we hoped not to have to contend with just yet. We were also blessed to have the 7th and 8th ranked Great Powers as our allies (Denmark and Hungary).





At the end of 1563 our period of peace finally ended with yet another call to arms by a faithful ally. Oldenburg was one of those countries who Brandenburg had cultivated a friendship with in order to stand with us in a potential conflict with Austria. They decided that they coveted the province of Meppen, which had switched hands multiple times, but was currently in the possession of Berg.




Berg’s allies included Brunswick, and Liege, which placed us at war with all of them when we honored our treaty (Trier COULD have joined, as Defender of the Faith, but didn’t appear to have done so). One advantage, we might have imagined, was that we could perhaps take some territory from our old rival Brunswick (subject of one of our first wars in the 1400s).

And, almost as a footnote, the uppity Norwegians rebel against us in the Shetland Islands. We’d expected this, and as I’ve already mentioned, I’d prepared a fortress there and a 7,000 strong protective force. The troops were, I think, at less than full maintenance, and so they did not prevail in the initial round of fighting against these rebels. However, I’d also foreseen this, and had a 7 cog transport force waiting off the coast for them to retreat to. These transports brought more troops back, and defeated the rebels, protecting our new acquisition.

 

[Historywhiz]

Tax income went way up, we earned nearly 1000 ducats somehow,

It’s called dissolving the monasteries. Protestants liked to do it for some strange reason…

 

[Midnite Duke]

Hopefully Wurzburg will not be swayed by the evil rhetoric of Austria/France and try to leave the benign leadership of Berlin! Thanks

 

[jak7139]

I wish EU IV would cause those lands to create their own countries, or restore whatever was there before, or something.

It can happen if the rebels are separatists and the provinces remain occupied for long enough. They can't create any new tags though. Only spit out whatever nation is currently rebelling.

He soon added four of his allies as Electors – Verden, Liege, Brabant and Friesland.

The HRE hasn't had a full complement of Electors this whole time? You could've made sure your friends instead of Austria's got the job.

Relations are not bad. Hopefully that will continue.

You can ally Russia too, if you want. They could definitely help against Austria.

That was until first Austria (1556) and then the Teutonic Order (1560) began supporting an independence movement for Wurzburg (France later did the same, but I’m not sure when).

If you enter a war against any of these, their support independence treaty will end (because they'll be at war with your subject). So the situation isn't too dire.

What's Austria's forcelimit and max manpower now that they have the Emperorship? Enough to challenge you?

 

[El Pip]

Two updates to comment on, lucky me. Less lucky for everyone else, but what can one do?

Suddenly, after 10 years of peace, we’re at war with 5 countries

Classic Renss.

we had enacted a Defensiveness Edict.

This is EU4 speak for "Taken out some more loans and hired mercenaries" I presume?

Hmm… Well, not terrible. It wasn’t worth the time and men and expense we invested into the war, but we were really in it only to support Hungary anyway, and to preserve our alliance. I shouldn’t complain, and so I won’t

This is the same Hungary which dithered completely in the war and needed to be bailed out. I have to question if that alliance was really worth saving given how Hungary performed, but then you do know the game so I doff my hat to your superior judgement on this.

We force them to pay 243 ducats for the war and our trouble. Oh, and we do, finally, take the Shetland Islands as Brandenburg’s Northern Sea outpost.

To my untrained eyes that is what a proper win looks like, so congratulations there.

Part the Second

This made Berlin the 2nd largest city in the known world, larger than Paris and second only to Constantinople.

1/3rd of that is probably the Brandenburg Gate, the other 2/3rds being the offices of the banks and merchants who make all the loans to the Brandenburg government.

Scotland was entirely annexed by England in 1566.

Hurrah!

At the end of 1563 our period of peace finally ended with yet another call to arms by a faithful ally.

The loans were getting worryingly low, good to see you taking decisive action to top them back up.

It’s called dissolving the monasteries. Protestants liked to do it for some strange reason…

I wonder, are the other benefits of being Protestant included in the game?