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Il Pregno

Corporal
33 Badges
Feb 27, 2020
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Hello there!
There could be a little exaggeration in the title, but let me explain what is going on.
I have the latest DLC and I am currently going through an Ethiopia campaign hoping to get the related achievements. I'm not constant in my gameplay and also not so good as a player, but I usually get by. My problem is that I am quite stubborn and love to roleplay a little in my games and now this is putting me in danger.
This is my situation:

Declaration of war.png

I am allied with QQ and they were declared by Ottomans. Now, I know I can simply decline and keep going on my way but this is not ideal in my roleplay. So, I thought for once to jump in the forums and ask for help on how to manage keeping the alliance and beat the Ottomans.

Until now I tried twice to do this, both times focusing first on the Ottomans' allies. I can beat Tunis, Mogadishu and Najd but, at the same time, I can't help QQ. As soon as I finish the minor nations, QQ is fully conquered and Ottomans simply bulldoze me out of middle east by sheer numbers. I managed to win multiple battles, getting around, sieging a little and jumping on little armies but sooner or later I have to engage with full stack. I can win those battles, the problem is that I finish my manpower in about a couple a years while Ottomans simply don't care.

So here's my question: how would you try this acrobatics, accepting to help my ally and beating that coalition?

Thank you for the help, if you need any other screenshot just ask.
 
You have an Ottoman problem to be sure, they want QQ's lands but they will also want yours very soon -- assuming they already don't have claims on Alexandria. So, while QQ is a weak nation and already in poor shape, you might want to fight the Ottomans and get a long truce, since you aren't co-beligerated.

Here, my best advice is to slacken your standards to 0%, you'll need the manpower, and then get some loans (lots of loans) and hire some mercs -- in particular, hire a merc company with a good siege general if one is available. You may need to go over force limit, but try and limit the bleeding so you don't go bankrupt during the war.

Once you've done that, you need to make sure you have a path through to the QQ lands, which may require you take the fort in Kerak at minimum. This is so you can send an army to defend QQ mountain forts, in particular the capital in Tabriz. This will help keep QQ in the war. You might want to use a merc stack for this, just in case it gets blown up. Next, use the good merc siege general to try and knock out Mogadishu, Tunis and Najd out of the war.

Assuming you can do that, eventually you'll be able to consolidate your troops to go on the offensive, keep your armies close together to provide support and deterrence.

Winning wars of attrition against the Ottomans is not really a good plan. Unfortunately for you Ethiopea's missions/goals and Ottoman missions/goals overlap. A nation like France, Spain or Prussia can wait until they are overwhelmingly powerful to deal with the Ottomans, while a nation like Austria, Byzantium or Poland can strangle them in the 1440's. Ethiopea is one of the unlucky nations that only comes into contact with the Otttmans once they've become a serious problem.