Hey all,
These are some AARs of some minor, but significant, modifications I made of the IGC 2.1 (with patch 1.09). What I did is impliment some ideas that have been floating around these boards and ran seven HO games using these modifications. I used the independent Eire and Bretagne options, with CoTs in Astrakhan and Anglia, as well as Mighty Burgundy (modified, see below)
What I did was:
1. Modified the Mighty Burgundy option to create a Burgundian Netherlands. I removed Bourgogne and Picardie from Burgundy and moved the captial to Brussels in Hainaut, as well as moving the armies accordingly. The new Burgundy was allied, vassalized, and married to Austria. I made Hainaut a national proivince for both Spain and Austria to make sure their interest was turned to the area; and I retained Picardie and Bourgogne and added Lorriane as Burgundian national provinces (to simulate Burgundian historical interest). This is supposed to simulate the situation in 1492 where Philip of Habsburg was Duke of Burgundy, but his father Maximilian of Austria was regent. It also allows these provinces to revolt later in the game and possibly become an independent Belgium-like state. It would probably be better if the name and symbol could be changed to Brabant or Flanders (which I'm sure would please BiB to no end
), but it's the best that can be done right now.
2. Implimented Hungary as a vassal of Bohemia, as has been discussed in a recent thread.
3. Removed Memel and the army in it from LAT and gave them to Prussia. I don't know why Prussia doesn't possess this province in the IGC, as they owned it historically.
The results:
In four of the seven games, Austria diplomatically annexed Burgundy, amost always in 1502 or so. Of course, residual nationalism caused a lot of revolts in the area for Austria; of course, revolts in the Netherlands were quite historical. By the time these revolts die down, it is just about time for the Dutch to start their revolts... Unfortunately, Austria seems to get fixated on the west, and tends to ignore Hungary and Bohemia in favor of Lorraine (in one game Lorraine was diplomatically annexed by Austria, then revolted and was reconquered on four separate occassions). However, Austria still went back and diplo-annexed Hungary in two of the games. In the three games where Austria didn't annex Burgundy, one was becasue France took Franche-Comte and thus removed the common border between HAB and BUR, and in another Burgundy annexed Cologne and therefore presumably became too big for Austria to successfully annex.
Making Hungary a vassal of Bohemia did little to the game. In every single instance, Hungary eventually broke off the vassalization, in six of the seven cases in 1502.
Giving Memel to Prussia changed the game significantly. As we all know, Prussia is usually a doormat for Poland, but by giving it a second province, its longevity is greatly increased. In five of the seven games, Prussia was still going on strong when I exited (usually around 1550 - 1575, but once I continued to 1675 and it was still doing fine). In all five of these cases LAT had disappeared, once in an eeriely historical re-enactment of the Livonian War (right down to almost the exact same dates). The main reason for Prussia's longevity is that while Poland is busy beseiging East Prussia, the Teutonic Order is running around in northern Poland and taking out province after province. Normally when P-L captures EP, it's the end of the line for Prussia, but with this modification, they still have to capture Memel to annex PRU. By that time the LAT has gained a victory and P-L is forced to make peace by ceding several provinces to the Teutonic Order. In any case, P-L tends to ignore Memel and go instead for Kurland, which helps ensure Prussia's continued existence. In the two games where Prussia dissappeared early, Denmark and Poland both simultaneously DoW on LAT and PRU; P-L takes EP and then goes after Kurland while Denmark targets Memel and Kurland; Prussia is powerless against such an onslaught. In one game, Prussia even was Brandenburg's vassal before the Reformation wrecked that relationship. Conclusion: Prussia + Memel = viable, long-lived nation, Prussia - Memel = Polish cannon fodder.
A few other points I noticed:
England is doing much better, and is holding together more often than it used to. England losing Wessex to France is still as inevitable as death and taxes, but they often regain it. They are also holding their own against the Scots as well.
The Pope is on steroids! In one game he annexed Naples and conquered Sicily from Spain before 1500! In another he conquered Calais and held it for quite some time.
I'm not seeing CoTs popping up anywhere. I don't know whether it is because I am playing HOs game, but I have yet to see a colonial CoT. Granted, the colonial dynanism seemingly has been reduced; colonies are not proliferating as quickly as they used to (in the game I took up to 1675, the Americas north of the Rio Grande had only four or five TPs and colonies). Has anyone else noticed this?
These are some AARs of some minor, but significant, modifications I made of the IGC 2.1 (with patch 1.09). What I did is impliment some ideas that have been floating around these boards and ran seven HO games using these modifications. I used the independent Eire and Bretagne options, with CoTs in Astrakhan and Anglia, as well as Mighty Burgundy (modified, see below)
What I did was:
1. Modified the Mighty Burgundy option to create a Burgundian Netherlands. I removed Bourgogne and Picardie from Burgundy and moved the captial to Brussels in Hainaut, as well as moving the armies accordingly. The new Burgundy was allied, vassalized, and married to Austria. I made Hainaut a national proivince for both Spain and Austria to make sure their interest was turned to the area; and I retained Picardie and Bourgogne and added Lorriane as Burgundian national provinces (to simulate Burgundian historical interest). This is supposed to simulate the situation in 1492 where Philip of Habsburg was Duke of Burgundy, but his father Maximilian of Austria was regent. It also allows these provinces to revolt later in the game and possibly become an independent Belgium-like state. It would probably be better if the name and symbol could be changed to Brabant or Flanders (which I'm sure would please BiB to no end
), but it's the best that can be done right now.2. Implimented Hungary as a vassal of Bohemia, as has been discussed in a recent thread.
3. Removed Memel and the army in it from LAT and gave them to Prussia. I don't know why Prussia doesn't possess this province in the IGC, as they owned it historically.
The results:
In four of the seven games, Austria diplomatically annexed Burgundy, amost always in 1502 or so. Of course, residual nationalism caused a lot of revolts in the area for Austria; of course, revolts in the Netherlands were quite historical. By the time these revolts die down, it is just about time for the Dutch to start their revolts... Unfortunately, Austria seems to get fixated on the west, and tends to ignore Hungary and Bohemia in favor of Lorraine (in one game Lorraine was diplomatically annexed by Austria, then revolted and was reconquered on four separate occassions). However, Austria still went back and diplo-annexed Hungary in two of the games. In the three games where Austria didn't annex Burgundy, one was becasue France took Franche-Comte and thus removed the common border between HAB and BUR, and in another Burgundy annexed Cologne and therefore presumably became too big for Austria to successfully annex.
Making Hungary a vassal of Bohemia did little to the game. In every single instance, Hungary eventually broke off the vassalization, in six of the seven cases in 1502.
Giving Memel to Prussia changed the game significantly. As we all know, Prussia is usually a doormat for Poland, but by giving it a second province, its longevity is greatly increased. In five of the seven games, Prussia was still going on strong when I exited (usually around 1550 - 1575, but once I continued to 1675 and it was still doing fine). In all five of these cases LAT had disappeared, once in an eeriely historical re-enactment of the Livonian War (right down to almost the exact same dates). The main reason for Prussia's longevity is that while Poland is busy beseiging East Prussia, the Teutonic Order is running around in northern Poland and taking out province after province. Normally when P-L captures EP, it's the end of the line for Prussia, but with this modification, they still have to capture Memel to annex PRU. By that time the LAT has gained a victory and P-L is forced to make peace by ceding several provinces to the Teutonic Order. In any case, P-L tends to ignore Memel and go instead for Kurland, which helps ensure Prussia's continued existence. In the two games where Prussia dissappeared early, Denmark and Poland both simultaneously DoW on LAT and PRU; P-L takes EP and then goes after Kurland while Denmark targets Memel and Kurland; Prussia is powerless against such an onslaught. In one game, Prussia even was Brandenburg's vassal before the Reformation wrecked that relationship. Conclusion: Prussia + Memel = viable, long-lived nation, Prussia - Memel = Polish cannon fodder.
A few other points I noticed:
England is doing much better, and is holding together more often than it used to. England losing Wessex to France is still as inevitable as death and taxes, but they often regain it. They are also holding their own against the Scots as well.
The Pope is on steroids! In one game he annexed Naples and conquered Sicily from Spain before 1500! In another he conquered Calais and held it for quite some time.
I'm not seeing CoTs popping up anywhere. I don't know whether it is because I am playing HOs game, but I have yet to see a colonial CoT. Granted, the colonial dynanism seemingly has been reduced; colonies are not proliferating as quickly as they used to (in the game I took up to 1675, the Americas north of the Rio Grande had only four or five TPs and colonies). Has anyone else noticed this?
