Thank you! And congrats to you as well, for second place!
I honestly didn't expect it given the stiff competition. But I'm glad people enjoyed this enough to give it a nod. It's been very fun to write!
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I honestly didn't expect it given the stiff competition. But I'm glad people enjoyed this enough to give it a nod. It's been very fun to write!
We'll get our revenge eventually. But we're a long ways off.
Catholic nations do get some penalties for owning Rome (and there's also the risk of Excommunication). The Naples-Papal war will conclude in the next part.
Thanks! I'm glad it's remained engaging. I sometimes feel my explanations are too long or that I'm focusing on the wrong things.It's always been an interesting read, due in no small part to your explanations of the game and your strategy, but a challenge certainly spices things up. The story is certainly more exciting when you're up against it and have the risk of failure staring you in the face.
Yes. Partly due to the terrain (dry savannahs and plains). Also because the provinces are less developed.
I could. But that might invite the enemy (who outnumber my forces locally) to attack the disunited stacks. The sieges aren't that bad. But the constant fighting has taken a toll on both sides.
It is. And it's also foreshadowing.
Glad to hear it!
The AI usually forms 2-3 power blocs in West Africa without player intervention. We're fighting one of those blocs here: Timbuktu, Jolof, and Kong. The east is still disunited at this stage with many players. Songhai, Air, Benin, and Yao remain the biggest.
Keeping Portugal (or anybody with a colonist) as a subject still works. And that's how you get two merchants for the same CN region (one from your own CN, another from your subjects' CN once they're annexed).
I'll try. It's a major goal.
Thanks everyone, for your comments and readership!
- 2
CHAPTER THIRTY-THREE: A Narrative Interlude & Other Things (September 1534-November 1535)
CHAPTER THIRTY-THREE: A Narrative Interlude & Other Things
|-|
(September 1534-November 1535)
|-|
(September 1534-November 1535)
We jump right into a war against France.
That’s right. You heard me.
A war against France.
The ending screenshot for last week’s chapter was taken on September 19th, 1534. That’s when France broke our Swiss alliance. This next screenshot is on October 7th, 1534. Our light ships are engaged with France’s in the English Chanel.
So, at some point in-between France declared war, and I forgot to highlight the actual declaration. The sides are the same as in Chapter 29, minus Naples and Switzerland.
We might be able to fight this. Might.
But our forces are once again out of position. And our manpower is completely drained. If we do fight, we’ll be relying on the Spanish AI whose forces are currently not in Spain. Our only option is still an instant surrender.
We’ve been kicked from the mainland. King Henri moves his court to Cork. From Ireland we shall rebuild!
And we shall return.
"Beneath Fog" from Kingdom: Two Crowns
Ropes were tightened. Decks were scoured. Sheets were sewn up. The work was hard, but that wasn’t the reason for the crew’s lack of joy. There would be no returning to this port, they all knew it. Not for them, their children, or their children’s children. Penn-ar-Bed was a Frenchman’s land now.
A grizzled, stubbly seadog spat on the deck of the ship, then quickly hid his contempt by rubbing the spot with a shine rag. The church bells were silent now. The French had at least given them the curtesy of a departing sermon. Soon they would be off.
Around them, a dozen or more ships lay moored. They carried the families and belongings of the crew and passengers. But this, the lead vessel, had a special task.
A cold and eerie fall fog had started to form. But this crew and vessel had sailed from Brittany to the Moray Firth and back a thousand times, rain or shine. The short hop from here to Cork would be no issue.
And that was the trouble. Every man in the crew was a good piece of rigging, tense, strong, sturdy, unflinching. They yearned to fight. But instead, by order of King Henri, first of his name, they were to run like cowards.
If the fog were just a bit thicker, maybe the king would reconsider leaving his native home and subjects for some foreign court. Maybe a challenging bit of weather could calm the restless, brave hands that sailed the “l’Impétueux,” take their mind off things.
Maybe.
Maybe…
But no.
They all heard it, the clopping horses coming their way. Each slow trot of the animals’ hooves a harsh reminder on their fiery hearts.
“Here come the king and his men, cowards every one of them.
By decree we flee and fly, never again to live and die.
In these homes on the bay, we rested and supped in happier days.
Now, no more
No more…”
The crewman, a young lad whose head held little sense but many dreams, faltered. The gangplank had been lowered. King Henri stood, watching.
The ship groaned, the rigging ready to snap.
The king moved aside, as if to make way for a guard. But slid away instead for the captain. He conversed with me for a time as the crew made ready.
Crew and nobility, courtier, king, and commoner all mulled about on the deck. The King refused offers to go to his quarters. He stayed and watched until the anchor was pulled away.
Alone at the bow was King Henri as “l’Impétueux” cut through the fog. Other ships followed in its wake.
But alone was King Henri at the bow as Brittany’s golden shores disappeared ‘neath cloud.
Alone was King Henri at the bow.
~~~
~~~This episode, dated October 7th, 1534, taken from the personal writings and memoirs of “The Vougay of the East,” Captain Vougay de Tintériac which he assembled shortly before his death~~~
Our capital in Cork is still a large city, but we’ve been hit hard by our losses. Still, we continue on. We lose Savoy as a rival as well.
Another tough battle is fought in Africa, though we do inflict more casualties on the enemy this time. And we’re out of manpower completely again. The one thing we do have? Money. The Grand Company (8,000 infantry with 18,400 manpower) is hired in Beafada for 121.52 ducats.
Here’s a good comparison of our pre and post-war power levels, the screenshot of our economy in Chapter 31 and one for the present:
We’ve actually only lost about 2 ducats in tax and almost 1 ducat in production. But trade is the real issue. We’ve lost around 11 ducats there!
Does anyone have a guess as to why the hit to our trade income is so big?
It actually took me quite a while to notice our new trade income. I took the screenshot for your benefit, but barely glanced at it myself. I just assumed our deficit was because of our lost homeland and army reinforcements. Eventually I have a proper look at my economy and realize my mistake.
Anyway, we’re 10 years ahead in all the techs. So, we can start developing our lands to get us back on our feet. I’m still following the strategy outlined in Chapter 30 of only spend mil and diplo points. And because all our diplo points are going towards our Idea Group, we only spend mil at this time. But this will help with our manpower deficit.
- Mann: 1/1/1 -> 1/1/3
- Ormond: 3/3/1 -> 3/3/5
- 297 mil points -> 6 mil points
(A look at all our Stated provinces after losing the mainland. The TCs are important too. But our Development efforts will be focused in Ireland)
In other news, our army (mercenaries included) is attacked in Beafada. We still have low morale, so are forced to retreat one province east into enemy territory. To prevent the following stackwipe, I decide to cut our losses.
We still have positive warscore from occupying Jolof’s capital (the benefits of a Spy Network and a 3-Siege general) and the wargoal (Gabu).
This was a costly victory, but we’ll be back. And hopefully better prepared too!
(As you can see, the attrition wasn't that severe. And even on battles we took less casualties. But the enemy had us outnumbered heavily. With hindsight, I should've hired the mercs day one of the war.)
Gabu is a Trade Center, so we assign it to our Ivory Coast TC. This still doesn’t complete the bourgeoisie’s agenda to expand our presence in the node. But it’s a start. I decide to rival Timbuktu to show Brittany’s commitment to her colonies in the region.
I disband our mercenaries as well. We wasted 120 ducats to hire them in the first place, but we don’t need them at present. Two clicks (143 admin points) are spent to buy down inflation, bringing it from 10.21% to 6.21%.
(Another look at our economy post war without the mercs. Not terrible, but still not great.)
Here’s a screenshot of Nubia. It’s not relevant or anything. I just never see them form so thought it was cool. Good job AI!
But here’s something much more relevant. You remember that Neapolitan-Papal war, don’t you? The one Naples started? Well, here’s the peace:
Yep! Somehow Naples lost that, despite having the numbers advantage. The Pope has become the dominant power on the peninsula. But they’re by no means unchallenged. Naples and Savoy are both still allied to France. Venice is strong as well.
We pick up another slot in Diplomatic. We have another diplomat now and more Improve Relations. We also get some Diplo Rep from our Breton Ideas.
Improve Relations is a very good bonus to get. It increases the rate our diplomats improve relations by (of course) and also increases the rate of AE decay. If we were playing a much more aggressive campaign, say in the HRE, then this bonus would be a must. It’s still good regardless. Diplomatic is just a really solid group. It’s useful in basically every situation.
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You're not playing as Brittany anymore, are you? You should embrace that you are actually Ireland!
- 1
So, the fight against France continues in exile......somehow you need to be able to keep allies to Revanche your homeland.
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vengeance!
I hope the brits don't get funny ideas like the french
we completely lost our all provinces in a trade node, now you gotta steer all new world trade to north sea and collect from there
we could've destroyed all development in brittany provinces so we can build on irish ones, right? what percentage is lost when that is done?
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After some catching up (before our big house move next week distracts further again) I’ve commented on some things from the last two chapters that caught the eye. Much useful info throughout, as always.
Both from bitter experience and your foreshadowing, my assumption was bloody battles, some nasty surprises and attrition wiping out your manpower. Though at least in this case there wasn’t a major colonial power supporting the enemy.
This is what I feared.
Yup.
Those games (and thus AARs) are always the most fun, imho.
Huzzah!
OK, that’s a big challenge.
Alas: you are once again the nail as the French hammer falls.
That’s the spirit. Let’s hope that French revenge soup of vichyssoise is eventually consumed cold but satisfying.
Loss of a channel trade node?
At least you got something out of it, even if the price was a bit too high.
A pity. Is it still the same Pope, or do they each inherit the same hostile attitude on accession?
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Managed to catch up again. You sure took your licks the last few rounds, but at least avoided the ten count. I quite enjoyed the narrative interlude. IHope you keep them coming.
- 2
This will be a long one; sincere apologies in advance.
- Naah mate, you cannot escape with a pre-apologies for whatever you are doing.
- Yeah. I know.
- So?
- Ok. This will be the last one ever to comment on a gameplay-aar in eu4.
It will be a two-parter, slightly related to each other.
Part I
Both are feeders, but the Bordeaux has only one outgoing, the North Sea has two. Both have the unfortunate location, as they feed major nodes, but the latter feeds two instead of one: the Channel and the Lübeck. And the Lübeck again feeds the Channel, yet this is cut down significantly by the Deutsche Hanse, unlike the direct flow from the North Sea to the Channel.
Other than that, the provinces in the Bordeaux node has higher total development, therefore higher local goods produced, which makes the node richer, at the beginning. More so as the run progresses, and the colonisers get more provinces, the Bordeaux node receives a higher trade transfer than the North Sea can get. The first gets from the Carribbean, the Gulf of St. Lawrence, plus the Guinea; the latter only from the Gulf of St. Lawrence. The White Sea flow comes later with an event, and it benefits... yeah, the england-tag.
So the reason is that the code effectively purging the player from a rich node. The player has lost all trade transfer from the Carribbean and the Guinea. Moreover, the loss of trade transfer from the latter node means losing the entire trade flow from Asia and Africa.
Part II
The code has invaded the player-homeland as such, as it has incentive by missions, but also due to the fact that the player is neighbouring, and the code is significantly more powerful, therefore the anti-player strategy of the code seems plausible in this case.
Unfortunately it is actually tied to the burgundian inheritance event, and this, together with some parts of the above (such as the White Sea trade flow event of the england-tag) is due to the:
It is incomprehensible to expect the like OTL from a simulation, and unfortunately the code is armed with every possible bonus in detail like OTL - such as the national idea magic, for example giving the france-tag an enormous army morale bonus regardless of its status but just by enabling idea sets, so by the monarch-powers, meaning it only depends on the monarch-dice, and any tag in the vicinity will suffer its consequences. Or the burgundian inheritance event, which will always produce a convoluted result for all, no matter code or player.
A simulation is a set of equations that produces results to model the real process. The quality of the results depend on the ability of the equations, their coefficients, the assumptions to represent the process; and needless to say, when the inputs vary, the outputs vary. This is the expectation: Varying output by varying input.
The first variation in any run is the player's choice of tag. The player chose the brittany-tag in this run, and such a choice, for most of the starts, will begin as the code-france deliriously desiring the provinces of the player. The examples are near infinite. The player can start with a switzerland-tag, and can find itself rivaled by the emperor tag code-austria, the code-burgundy, and the code-france desiring each and every one of its provinces. This is acceptable, though grudgingly, as the code behaviour changes by the existence of the player wildly. Whatever, moving on.
The next variation in the inputs is the run-style. The player chose the coloniser route in this run, and such a choice will force the code overdrive with the colonisation. The usual bunch will go coloniser, and more tags than the usual, and they will try to out-colonise, colony-block, and ally-block the player.
It is therefore in this run the england-tag has colonised the Brazil region. The religion plays a major role, so yes, Treaty of Tordesillas affects the code behaviour heavily. The anomaly started with tag-choice, now it has shifted up the gear, as the design forces the code into like OTL.
Because there had been a treaty between two major colonisers in the past, the code is designed to reflect this, in a terrible form, which gives only a challenge to the player, but it disrupts the choices of the code heavily. The code will not prefer to go against the papal-tag, will mostly abide to the treaty, and it will colonise against its interests, yet it will still try to out-colonise, colony-block, and ally-block... the player.
The code-england has colonised the Brazil region, and that is mostly to prevent other tags, and more so the player-tag, colonising that region. In this example though, the code is still benefiting from this choice, as the trade from the Brazil region can be transfered to the Channel node. On the other hand, yes, had the code-england chosen to colonise the north-eastern America, it would benefit more, but there is the treaty-block. And the code could have bypassed this. It does not.
A player-england can wait until 1500s to colonise, knowing that there is the anglican event. Another anomaly. Just because there had been such a religious event happened in the history, england-tag is given the opportunity seceding from the catholic church, and it is designed as an incomprehensibly turbo-bonus for that tag, a cash-generating (grant monopoly interaction), tech-cost reducing, dev-boosting, army-pumping (militarise religious icons interaction), etc. denomination, whatever, but it will free the tag from the treaty - and the player-england can out-colonise every other tag with this event. The code does not wait for this, and rushes colonising as a catholic, in an extremely disadvantageous way considering the other catholic colonisers such as the castile and the portugal. But it will with very high probability does so, when the player is also a coloniser.
And the burgundian inheritance event - a famous anomaly, and its results will be mostly detrimental for the progress of any player in the vicinity, as in this run. Therefore the code has got such bonus, and the game is reduced to not strategic choices, but a fight against the enormous bonuses, because the simulation fails to model due to such anomalous events, developments, ideas, etc. just to be like OTL, and the code tries hard and fails to keep up with it. It can only disrupt the player, as in this run, by conquering the player's homeland -it was inevitable, as the player in this run lost the diplomacy-warfare by not forming an efficient alliance-ring to deter the aggression of the code-france- , and annihilating its trade income. The code does it, and the fun is: the france-tag does not have the gov-cap to benefit from those provinces. The starting france-tag, after annexing its initial vassals, will be already near its cap. A player-france can anticipate this and adjust the timing of its conquests accordingly, but the code rushes to devour all in the vicinity, and stays at over-cap until admin-tech 12, and even by then it will not be enough, because of all those dev-rich burgundian provinces. Running with 90% autonomy over half of its provinces. Probably also with 2000 ducats in debt. And it will just buy defender of the faith title whenever it can instead of paying for debts. Because the code does not mind, as it has army morale boost, like OTL.
All such random or periodic events, developments, ideas, etc. provide some flavour, certainly, and this is the tragedy of the design, as it irreversibly changes the code behaviour, trying hard to challenge the player, yet it actually annihilates any ability it might have against the player. Inputs vary, but disrupted with the design like OTL fetish, and outputs do not vary accordingly, and the code cannot cope with it.
Playing as mewar, and why the faq player cannot ally the code-portugal against their common rival, the code-vijayanagar? Oh yes, the code-portugal is designed to be coloniser, and when a code-tag enables explo-exp sets, it will flag all gold provinces as vital interest, and the player-mewar has one (1) gold producing province. Sigh. Declare war on code-portugal, and fight against code-portugal, its seven colonies, its ally code-spain, its five colonies, its guarantor code-england, catholic defender of the faith code-france. Whatever. Playing as coptic ethiopia, and why the faq player cannot ally the code-commonwealth against their common rival, the code-ottos? Oh yes, the council of trent event. Sigh. Declare war on both code-ottos and code-commenwealth. Whatever.
Near infinite examples there are, yet all there remains the frustration.
- You've finished mate?
- Yeah. Yeah.
- All right then.
Nice run. Kudos for having enormous patience. Have fun.
Cheers
Edit: Corrected typographical, semantic mistakes.
- Naah mate, you cannot escape with a pre-apologies for whatever you are doing.
- Yeah. I know.
- So?
- Ok. This will be the last one ever to comment on a gameplay-aar in eu4.
It will be a two-parter, slightly related to each other.
Part I
It is simply due to the change in the main trade node. Starting brittany-tag is on the Bordeaux node; a relatively insignificant one, yet it is far richer than the new node the player is exiled to, the North Sea node.
Both are feeders, but the Bordeaux has only one outgoing, the North Sea has two. Both have the unfortunate location, as they feed major nodes, but the latter feeds two instead of one: the Channel and the Lübeck. And the Lübeck again feeds the Channel, yet this is cut down significantly by the Deutsche Hanse, unlike the direct flow from the North Sea to the Channel.
Other than that, the provinces in the Bordeaux node has higher total development, therefore higher local goods produced, which makes the node richer, at the beginning. More so as the run progresses, and the colonisers get more provinces, the Bordeaux node receives a higher trade transfer than the North Sea can get. The first gets from the Carribbean, the Gulf of St. Lawrence, plus the Guinea; the latter only from the Gulf of St. Lawrence. The White Sea flow comes later with an event, and it benefits... yeah, the england-tag.
So the reason is that the code effectively purging the player from a rich node. The player has lost all trade transfer from the Carribbean and the Guinea. Moreover, the loss of trade transfer from the latter node means losing the entire trade flow from Asia and Africa.
Part II
The code has invaded the player-homeland as such, as it has incentive by missions, but also due to the fact that the player is neighbouring, and the code is significantly more powerful, therefore the anti-player strategy of the code seems plausible in this case.
Unfortunately it is actually tied to the burgundian inheritance event, and this, together with some parts of the above (such as the White Sea trade flow event of the england-tag) is due to the:
This may seem a fair question, but because of this, wanting it like OTL, the design of the code is in such oblique shape, and the result will always be such frustrating exactly because of that incomprehensible desire.
It is incomprehensible to expect the like OTL from a simulation, and unfortunately the code is armed with every possible bonus in detail like OTL - such as the national idea magic, for example giving the france-tag an enormous army morale bonus regardless of its status but just by enabling idea sets, so by the monarch-powers, meaning it only depends on the monarch-dice, and any tag in the vicinity will suffer its consequences. Or the burgundian inheritance event, which will always produce a convoluted result for all, no matter code or player.
A simulation is a set of equations that produces results to model the real process. The quality of the results depend on the ability of the equations, their coefficients, the assumptions to represent the process; and needless to say, when the inputs vary, the outputs vary. This is the expectation: Varying output by varying input.
The first variation in any run is the player's choice of tag. The player chose the brittany-tag in this run, and such a choice, for most of the starts, will begin as the code-france deliriously desiring the provinces of the player. The examples are near infinite. The player can start with a switzerland-tag, and can find itself rivaled by the emperor tag code-austria, the code-burgundy, and the code-france desiring each and every one of its provinces. This is acceptable, though grudgingly, as the code behaviour changes by the existence of the player wildly. Whatever, moving on.
The next variation in the inputs is the run-style. The player chose the coloniser route in this run, and such a choice will force the code overdrive with the colonisation. The usual bunch will go coloniser, and more tags than the usual, and they will try to out-colonise, colony-block, and ally-block the player.
It is therefore in this run the england-tag has colonised the Brazil region. The religion plays a major role, so yes, Treaty of Tordesillas affects the code behaviour heavily. The anomaly started with tag-choice, now it has shifted up the gear, as the design forces the code into like OTL.
Because there had been a treaty between two major colonisers in the past, the code is designed to reflect this, in a terrible form, which gives only a challenge to the player, but it disrupts the choices of the code heavily. The code will not prefer to go against the papal-tag, will mostly abide to the treaty, and it will colonise against its interests, yet it will still try to out-colonise, colony-block, and ally-block... the player.
The code-england has colonised the Brazil region, and that is mostly to prevent other tags, and more so the player-tag, colonising that region. In this example though, the code is still benefiting from this choice, as the trade from the Brazil region can be transfered to the Channel node. On the other hand, yes, had the code-england chosen to colonise the north-eastern America, it would benefit more, but there is the treaty-block. And the code could have bypassed this. It does not.
A player-england can wait until 1500s to colonise, knowing that there is the anglican event. Another anomaly. Just because there had been such a religious event happened in the history, england-tag is given the opportunity seceding from the catholic church, and it is designed as an incomprehensibly turbo-bonus for that tag, a cash-generating (grant monopoly interaction), tech-cost reducing, dev-boosting, army-pumping (militarise religious icons interaction), etc. denomination, whatever, but it will free the tag from the treaty - and the player-england can out-colonise every other tag with this event. The code does not wait for this, and rushes colonising as a catholic, in an extremely disadvantageous way considering the other catholic colonisers such as the castile and the portugal. But it will with very high probability does so, when the player is also a coloniser.
And the burgundian inheritance event - a famous anomaly, and its results will be mostly detrimental for the progress of any player in the vicinity, as in this run. Therefore the code has got such bonus, and the game is reduced to not strategic choices, but a fight against the enormous bonuses, because the simulation fails to model due to such anomalous events, developments, ideas, etc. just to be like OTL, and the code tries hard and fails to keep up with it. It can only disrupt the player, as in this run, by conquering the player's homeland -it was inevitable, as the player in this run lost the diplomacy-warfare by not forming an efficient alliance-ring to deter the aggression of the code-france- , and annihilating its trade income. The code does it, and the fun is: the france-tag does not have the gov-cap to benefit from those provinces. The starting france-tag, after annexing its initial vassals, will be already near its cap. A player-france can anticipate this and adjust the timing of its conquests accordingly, but the code rushes to devour all in the vicinity, and stays at over-cap until admin-tech 12, and even by then it will not be enough, because of all those dev-rich burgundian provinces. Running with 90% autonomy over half of its provinces. Probably also with 2000 ducats in debt. And it will just buy defender of the faith title whenever it can instead of paying for debts. Because the code does not mind, as it has army morale boost, like OTL.
All such random or periodic events, developments, ideas, etc. provide some flavour, certainly, and this is the tragedy of the design, as it irreversibly changes the code behaviour, trying hard to challenge the player, yet it actually annihilates any ability it might have against the player. Inputs vary, but disrupted with the design like OTL fetish, and outputs do not vary accordingly, and the code cannot cope with it.
Playing as mewar, and why the faq player cannot ally the code-portugal against their common rival, the code-vijayanagar? Oh yes, the code-portugal is designed to be coloniser, and when a code-tag enables explo-exp sets, it will flag all gold provinces as vital interest, and the player-mewar has one (1) gold producing province. Sigh. Declare war on code-portugal, and fight against code-portugal, its seven colonies, its ally code-spain, its five colonies, its guarantor code-england, catholic defender of the faith code-france. Whatever. Playing as coptic ethiopia, and why the faq player cannot ally the code-commonwealth against their common rival, the code-ottos? Oh yes, the council of trent event. Sigh. Declare war on both code-ottos and code-commenwealth. Whatever.
Near infinite examples there are, yet all there remains the frustration.
- You've finished mate?
- Yeah. Yeah.
- All right then.
Nice run. Kudos for having enormous patience. Have fun.
Cheers
Edit: Corrected typographical, semantic mistakes.
Last edited:
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Ach! That's bitter to lose all of continental Brittany! But I guess it's what I/we would have expected from the very beginning, and yet despite everything stacked against you, you've constructed quite an impressive Irish and colonial presence that outweighs your losses in many ways.
So is Nubia a breakaway from Ethiopia? Interesting.
Looking forward to seeing how you'll turn this around and come back to the mainland!
Rensslaer
p.s. Oh, and I agree with @Lord Durham -- the narrative piece was very well done. And the music very atmospheric.
So is Nubia a breakaway from Ethiopia? Interesting.
Looking forward to seeing how you'll turn this around and come back to the mainland!
Rensslaer
p.s. Oh, and I agree with @Lord Durham -- the narrative piece was very well done. And the music very atmospheric.
- 2
We're Breton in spirit! Can't let France steal our national identity.This is an option we can choose though. We could switch our main culture to Irish and get access to its formable, missions, ideas.
It does. Spain is our only ally right now. They're strong, but not strong enough to completely carry us in a war of revenge.
Let's hope not. The good news is that they are nowhere as strong as France.
We actually couldn't in this case, for a few reasons. One, Concentrate Development can only be done in territories. The area your capital is in is always a state. So no luck there (a small portion would be taken anyway, not enough to significantly hurt France). The second option, Exploit Development, can only be done once per province every 20 years. The dev would not be transferred to Ireland. We'd gain some money, manpower, or sailors instead.
In hindsight that would've helped in the short term with our manpower issue. But I didn't think of it.
Agreed. It's less boring.
Yeah. We'll be back eventually.
The Papal States TAG keeps the same attitude and opinion even if a new Pope is elected.
No apologies needed. Your comments can be as detailed or simple as you like.
You are all correct! The loss of mainland Brittany has moved our main Node from Bordeaux to the North Sea. It took me until 1538 to notice.
France getting the BI has made them significantly stronger than normal. Enough so to challenge us and Spain. If the BI had gone to someone else (Austria, us) we would be better off. Remember, Burgundy was our ally before. We lost a good ally against French expansionism, and France lost a rival and roadblock, gaining all that land.
If you look back to Chapter One, France was willing to ally us day one. But I didn't do that. I thought, "No, that would be too easy." I got my wish to have a challenge, annoying as these defeats may be.
If we didn't get the jump on colonization, we would be out of the game. Our overseas land has helped immensely (even if it also meant our armies were not in Europe, prepared for this French war).
The Horn of Africa isn't unified at game start. So one of the Nubian-cultured TAGs has formed it. I can't see fully through the terra incognita, but it looks like they're powerful.
Thanks! I will probably do a few more before the end of this AAR. They won't be often, more as the inspiration strikes. I just had the image of King Henri leaving on a ship, and the song is titled "Beneath Fog," so I thought it fit. Same with the first one in Chapter Fourteen. The image for the scene and the song was clear, so I added it in.
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CHAPTER THIRTY-FOUR: At Least We Have Gold (November 1535-August 1541)
CHAPTER THIRTY-FOUR: At Least We Have Gold
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(November 1535-August 1541)
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(November 1535-August 1541)
Spending 200 ducats (our Mexico CN’s periodic gold fleets help a ton) we upgrade the Center of Trade in Cork. This helps a bit with our economy, as you can see:
Also, you might remember that we got the free War Taxes bonus from the Age of Discovery (Chapter 20). When that Age ended, I forgot to disable it. That’s why you’re seeing me turn that off here.
We lost, let’s see…264 mil points over 11 years (December 1525-December 1535). That could’ve helped with our Development spending. That in turn would’ve meant more manpower and forcelimit, meaning more troops, meaning France might’ve been deterred from attacking us. Oops! This happens every campaign, by the way. Whenever I pick up the War Taxes Ability, I always forget to turn it off.
The distractions never cease. Fox (modern-day Pennsylvania/Ohio) declares war on Henrika. We intervene. We also integrate Ashanti during this time.
Even though their province isn’t a Center or Estuary, I assign it to our TC anyway. This completes the Estate agenda. Whenever we’re able to, I’ll unassign Ashanti’s province. There’s a cooldown and the province will get some temporary maluses. Nothing too severe.
Chagos becomes a full city. The Fox war ends with money and reparations taken. We can turn our army off now, giving a surplus of 2 ducats a month. I’ve also been slowly buying down inflation since, as mentioned last time, we’re so far ahead in tech (currently 3.07%).
More Crownland is seized. And a new Diet is called. The bourgeoisie once again win King Henri over. The merchants want us to own a spice or cloves province in Indonesia. Not hard to do. There are many colonizable provinces that have a decent chance to produce those goods.
Spain wants us to share our maps of the Pacific with them. I say no. The Prestige we'd get, while nice, is not as nice as keeping Spain in the dark on Asia for as long as possible. Declining doesn’t give an opinion malus. Spain still loves us as much as before.
Ojibwe (Wisconsin) attacks Henrika as well. You know the drill by this point. But this time Ojibwe accepts the immediate white peace. No intervention necessary.
(Ojibwe and the rest of North America, including some future targets)
Another fleet from Mexico arrives. It carries nearly 300 ducats in pillaged wealth! I pay off most of our loans with it.
Our colonist from Chagos has been free for a while. I was busy managing other things. But now I remember to send him to Indonesia. The province of Bengkulu gives us a mainland foothold and has a 20.3% chance for spices.
The Ottomans attack the Mamluks once again. And L’espoir d’Anne feels confident enough to attack the remains of Zapotec on their own.
Ile Bourbon also completes. Our colonist moves to Matsolo in East Africa. Why? Gold. And St. Vincent is done as well. Next up, Lower Limpopo and more gold (hopefully).
Osage (Michigan) attacks Henrika but we white peace it before anything happens. And now we’ve finally finished something we started long ago. In Chapters 22 and 23 we started a race with Portugal in the Caribbean. This race has had, I believe, a butterfly effect on the whole game, from the Papal betrayal to losing the Breton mainland.
But we’ve finally finished it! With St. Vincent done (and IDB is colonizing the Bahamas as well, remember), we have 10 provinces in the Caribbean and another merchant.
Was this merchant worth all the trouble? Probably not. Would I play things differently if I tried this again? Yes. But that’s hindsight for you.
Our dearly won merchant heads to Timbuktu (and Tyler too) which feeds into the Ivory Coast. I’d just like to mention that this merchant’s name is Arthur d’Elbene. It’s nice to see the family is doing well ever since that first expedition (Chapter 14).
We get 0.40 more ducats with him in Timbuktu. But I also check out what would happen if we moved him to the North Sea to collect. That turns out to be the better play, earning us another 0.50 on top of the 0.40.
(I had a proper look at our merchants by this point. They're no longer funneling everything towards Bordeaux)
We get some more diplo rep from Diplomatic Ideas. Hire a mil advisor. And we start converting Beafada to Catholic.
Since we don’t plan on assigning Beafada to a TC, and our missionary has nothing else to do, we might as well. This will help our Religious Unity and get rid of the heathen penalties from owning the province (remember that TC provinces give no religious maluses).
Portugal has recently ended a war of reconquest against Natchitoches in North America (their Mexican CN had the same issues with natives that Henrika and d’Elbene have been having). I’d like to get a Louisiana CN, but we need a border first. We declare on Ichisi (Florida) to sort this out.
We find gold in Matsolo. This is slowly hurting our inflation. But this province will give us a lot of cash once we invest into it. Definitely needed. Lower Limpopo unfortunately gets tropical wood. I would’ve liked a double.
Another gold fleet arrives. Another loan is paid off. And 9 light ships are built.
We get 2 Base Production in Desmond from an event. And we don’t get spices in Bengkulu. It’s incense instead. King Henri is incensed at the news.
Here’s some big news. The French and English are fighting over Calais. Hopefully, it’s a very bloody, long, and expensive war for them both.
Also, L’espoir d’Anne annexes Zapotec. However, we experience a quirk of EU4’s peace system because of it.
Zapotec had a few vassals. And when you annex an overlord, all their subjects are transferred to the conqueror. But because L’espoir d’Anne is a subject themselves, we get the vassals instead. This does mean we got these provinces without a war, however they are taking up 2 relation-slots that we might’ve used for other things.
(I was trying to get a Union over Luneburg, just to showcase the mechanic. But it didn't work out, so I won't mention it)
And, as if King Henri wasn’t shaken enough already, tragedy continues to strike! Prince Francois, like many of EU4’s heirs, was fond of hunting. Was. But the forests of Ireland aren’t like those of Brittany. They’re strange and unfamiliar.
Prince Francois is dead.
Even news of a North American victory can’t cheer the aging king up. He has no heir. No homeland. Is this a punishment from the Vicar of Christ? Will he be the last of his house?
We’ll have to leave the King with those questions for now. It’s time to let him mourn.
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That ending reminded me why CK and HOI are my favourite Paradox games - my heir doesn't have as many accidents as in EU.
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Gosh yeah. You can't catch a break. The fact that you know what you're doing and have a grossly successful overall strategy makes up for these setbacks.
But gosh I hate setbacks.
Interesting mechanic about getting an annexed country's vassals. I wonder if I could try that on Austria.
In my experience it doesn't take too long to reacquire an heir. Have I just been lucky?
Hope France and England exhaust each other.
At this point in your game I guess I would have expected Spain would already have scouted much of the East Indies. I started to see Spanish colonies in that area by the mid 1500s I think. Is that unusual?
Rensslaer
But gosh I hate setbacks.
Interesting mechanic about getting an annexed country's vassals. I wonder if I could try that on Austria.
In my experience it doesn't take too long to reacquire an heir. Have I just been lucky?
Hope France and England exhaust each other.
At this point in your game I guess I would have expected Spain would already have scouted much of the East Indies. I started to see Spanish colonies in that area by the mid 1500s I think. Is that unusual?
Rensslaer
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The only accidents my heir suffers in CK are when they "mysteriously" die.
It is. We're doing okay right now, but something is coming in the next couple decades that will hurt.
Agreed. I knew we needed to get colonies ASAP. Without those overseas territories, we'd be toast.
Keep in mind that if Austria gets small/weak enough, those subjects are liable to rebel. So, it's tricky to do against larger nations. Not impossible though. You just need to eat Austria slowly over many wars until they're at less than 100% warscore. Then you go for the full annex in the last war.Interesting mechanic about getting an annexed country's vassals. I wonder if I could try that on Austria.
I was playing it up a little bit.
But I do think King Henri would be at his wits end with all that's going on.
It depends on the AI's priorities. Spain still has free land to take for their claimed CNs in Argentina and Colombia. And no one has claimed California or Alaska yet. Sometimes they heavily focus a region, other times not. We will see other Europeans east of Africa before the end of the century.
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CHAPTER THIRTY-FIVE: Finishing Diplomatic & A Spanish Proposal (August 1541-September 1545)
CHAPTER THIRTY-FIVE: Finishing Diplomatic & A Spanish Proposal
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(August 1541-September 1545)
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(August 1541-September 1545)
We left off last time with tragedy. But regardless of the King’s sorrows, the management of the realm continues on. The cooldown is up, so I remove Ashanti’s province from the TC. In the long-term, this should be better for our income. In the short-term, the province will be useless.
The second to last slot in Diplomatic is picked up. The bonus is straightforward, every province costs 20% less to demand in war. I also think this is a good time to point out our GP ranking.
Despite our losses, we’re still growing at a good pace. We’re more than half as strong as France or Spain, nearly as strong as England, and Portugal doesn’t even make the cut.
Don’t misunderstand, losing Brittany proper has hurt our game a lot. And we’re not out of the woods yet (no spoilers). But we are still strong and growing rapidly. We will outpace every AI on this list by the end of the game, even France.
We’re the first European to discover Japan according to the game, so we gain some Prestige.
And another event, a long time coming, happens. Austria is allied to England in their war against France. This of course means the entire weight of France is bearing down on the HREmperor. Austria, distracted heavily, declines to defend Provence when Lorraine finally declares independence (see Chapter 15).
We build a Marketplace in Gabu, further cementing our trade share there. And we move a colonist from Matsolo to Nias, the northernmost of the two island chains west of Sumatra. Around this time, we declare on defenseless Natchitoches.
With Matsolo finished, I decide to turn the whole area into a State. Once we full-core everything and the Autonomy goes down, our gold income will increase a ton. There are no Estuaries or Centers in this Area/State, so we don’t plan on adding it to a TC.
It’s all a huge balancing act between trade, Autonomy, governing capacity, and so on how you manage your provinces. At times, it can feel overwhelming. But usually going with your instinct is the best call. In this case, my instincts tell me we’ll make more money from Matsolo’s gold if it’s fully integrated.
A simple month-tick helps confirm my theory. We were making roughly 0.58 ducats from the province before. Now we’re up to 5.77! I build a Church there (0.13 ducats) to further help. And another one (0.10) is built in Desmond.
Our colonist moves to the other Sumatran island-chain, Mentawari. I’ll let our income screen speak for itself:
The Natchitoches war ends fully. We take their province at the mouth of the Mississippi river. King Henri is sure this will be an important trade hub someday. Since this is in a new Colonial Region (Louisiana), we’ll have to keep and core it ourselves for now.
The game dubs this province Nouvelle Orleans. I think Nouvelle Nantes is much more fitting (proper non-French, Breton renames will come eventually).
Taking the next mil tech (12) gives us some more Tactics and a choice for our infantry. At this point, I think we’ve all got the drill regarding pips, Fire, and Shock. If not, you can refer to Chapter 9 (or Chapter 28 for specifics on artillery). Here’s the change we made:
We’ve been at peace for 3 months. We can’t have that! Kongo looks weak. We attack them. Lorraine is now independent.
(A quick look at our manpower and cash reserves. We've recovered fully from the Jolof war 9 years ago. Hopefully, this one isn't as bloody.)
Lower Limpopo is done. We set up shop on the island of Belitung which is between Borneo, Sumatra, and Java. More light ships are built, we grab admin tech 12, some productive barracks are built in Ireland, and France has set up an outpost in Gabon. This spiteful gesture actually blackflags our army, since we were in the province as the colony spawned. There’s also a Portuguese province in Luanda, bordering Kongo’s south. I’ll have to attempt a naval landing in Kongo instead.
Austria peaces out of the England-France war, reneging on the most recent HRE reform. I’m not going to talk about the HRE, I don’t think (unless you want me to). It’s not relevant to Brittany’s situation. But I will do an HRE-focused season 2 of this I’m pretty sure. But that’s far, far in the future.
The Turks take a massive bite out of Egypt. They’re now the preeminent Middle Eastern power. Also, I should mention that they've allied Russia. I didn’t actually notice this until much, much later. It’s an interesting divergence given Russo-Ottoman relations historically.
While France is winning their war. That doesn’t prevent England from taking a slice of Scotland in a separate peace. We’ve finally finished Diplomatic too.
We get cheaper diplo tech cost and lessened Stability impacts from diplomacy. What this means, is that we don’t suffer a Stab loss from breaking royal marriages (allowing us to “fish” for unions if we were playing that way). And we suffer less penalties from no-CB wars (-1 Stab loss instead of -2). We also, incidentally, finish off our Breton Ideas. The extra 25% naval forcelimit and +1 yearly Prestige are both nice, but not major.
At 57, King Henri has still not found another heir to replace the late prince. But the Spanish offer us a member of their House. I’m sorely tempted to consider it.
We’d get closer ties with Spain (keeping our alliance secure) and we’d have the opportunity (should we grow large enough) to gain Spain as a Personal Union. This would include the entirety of their overseas empire as well. Of course, we’d suffer the same risk of falling under a union. Do I chance it? We can’t fall under a PU as long as we stay at war.
Decisions. Decisions…
"Horns of Hattin & the Aftermath (Orchestral House Lords version)" from Crusader Kings 2
The diplomat shivered, his ruff wobbling. And colder too, he thought. Looking up, he saw an Irish motif of the patron Saint Finbar before the doors. He prayed, hoping the Breton king was in a hospitable mood.
The miniature room was small enough that the Spaniard could even identify the features of the two guards—weary faces with determined looks. Their stern glares filled him with dread. He gulped.
He nearly jumped as the attendant entered, curtly bidding him forward. “His majesty will see you now.”
The aide’s hair was grey and frantic, yet that face held the same steely stare.
Cristo! Are they all this way? The diplomat wondered.
Nervously, yet with purpose, he stepped further into the court of King Henri.
. . .
The weary king slumped in his throne
Thinking of ways he might atone
For his lost home
For his son turned bones
Here was Spain
Offering an end to the pain
Would it be a boon or a bane?
The implications were plain
An end to his house
A fire to be doused
A Spanish lion set to pounce
This Breton mouse was roused
In the end, I decide not to take Spain’s offer. In part, this is for narrative purposes. What can I say? I’ve grown attached to the Dreux family. I want to see if they can make it all the way to 1821.
How about another war? We don’t have any troops in Mexico. But our CN is decently powerful. I declare war against a few of the remaining tribes and let our subject go to work.
It’s at that moment that our truce with France expires.
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I don't think they will, this is EU not CK where you can just take mistresses and legitimise extra children, and spares exist anyway.
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