If the Henry VIII of this timeline is anything like the OTL version, it would probably be hard to get him out of the Thames.
- 2
- 1
-
We have updated our Community Code of Conduct. Please read through the new rules for the forum that are an integral part of Paradox Interactive’s User Agreement.
Nice trick with the fort occupation. Has the Poop given Central America to anyone? Thanks
- 1
Mediocre duke, great prince
This means we're all in for Caribbean, without a hold on Caribbean trade node, Mexico area is useless except the gold.
- 2
RIP Francois II.
What does Mexico look like right now? Are the Aztecs still a thing?
How large will Henrika grow?
What does Mexico look like right now? Are the Aztecs still a thing?
How large will Henrika grow?
- 1
- 1
That's one way to get a good heir! So, with 30% legitimacy for your heir how can that be improved? Only by putting him in power?
You have your cities' development lopsided, with more military and production than taxation. That's obviously because you're hesitant to spend admin points on dev. I've always increased dev more or less in proportion, but I realize maybe there's no reason to. Is there a reason to do one way or another?
I would feel really vulnerable with just a few homeland provinces and sitting next to France like that. I'd probably spam forts but that may not be the way to go. How many forts do you have in Europe?
Great work in Mexico! I know how to transfer an occupation, but how do you transfer a fort? Do you just direct them into the provide so it becomes theirs?
Looking forward to more!
Rensslaer
So, with 30% legitimacy for your heir how can that be improved? Only by putting him in power? You have your cities' development lopsided, with more military and production than taxation. That's obviously because you're hesitant to spend admin points on dev. I've always increased dev more or less in proportion, but I realize maybe there's no reason to. Is there a reason to do one way or another?
I would feel really vulnerable with just a few homeland provinces and sitting next to France like that. I'd probably spam forts but that may not be the way to go. How many forts do you have in Europe?
Great work in Mexico! I know how to transfer an occupation, but how do you transfer a fort? Do you just direct them into the provide so it becomes theirs?
Looking forward to more!
Rensslaer
- 2
And anyone who does help might just lose their heads.Central America is in the Columbia colonial region. So Castille lays claim to the whole thing.
Exactly. Let's hope he does great things.
We have a decent chunk of the Caribbean, so it's not wholly useless. Plus, the more of it we grab now, the easier it will be for us to steal the rest from Portugal when we reach that point.
And that gold from Mexico has actually been an unintentional key to this campaign.
What are the colonies going to do? Rebel?
The Aztecs still exist, along with the other native countries in the region. No one state holds a dominant position though. The AI doesn't handle the reform/westernization mechanics for this area very well.
But that means they're all easy pickings for Brittany.
As large as we can make them. The colonial Canada region stretches from the Atlantic to the eastern side of the Rockies along the modern US-Canada border.
Our heir's legitimacy will grow over time as people come to accept him. Once he comes to power, we can improve it directly through a button by spending some mil points. However, I'll only use that option if I'm desperate.That's one way to get a good heir!
The lopsided development is by design. But you're right that it's partially because of our need to save admin points for Expansion ideas and coring. I have a more detailed explanation on development coming in a future update, but for now, I'll say this:
Admin/tax dev doesn't scale as well as diplo/production dev. Mid-late game, most money will come from trade and production, so focusing on that area of development early is a good idea. I wouldn't say no to more tax dev, we even took out a loan this last chapter to get more tax in our provinces from an event, but it's something I'm hesitant to spent points on. Diplo points are also the least useful of the three, so can be given away more freely.
Manpower dev will be key to our growing empire. Without manpower, we won't be able to challenge the French. Focusing mil dev on a province, then building a barracks and soldier's household on it will give a huge amount of manpower. And any war can be won if we can outlast the enemy's manpower. That's something I want to showcase.
It's just much better to focus provinces on specific types of development (based on trade good, terrain, and other factors). And the diplo/mil combo usually is more effective than the admin/diplo or admin/mil combo.
Back in chapter ten, we deleted all our European forts to save money. So we have no forts in our homeland besides our free capital fort. It's a risk to be sure. But money was more important at that early stage. We could afford more forts now, but I'd need money to rebuild them.
You transfer a fort the same way you transfer an occupation. The province controller pays for whatever fort is in the province.
Glad to hear it!
Thanks for your comments and readership, everyone! It's always heartening to come back from a trip and catch up with what I've missed on the forum. Tomorrow's chapter is already written, so should be released at the normal time.
- 3
- 1
CHAPTER TWENTY-SEVEN: In the Land of Jungles and Gold, We Gain Glory (January 1514-December 1517)
CHAPTER TWENTY-SEVEN: In the Land of Jungles and Gold, We Gain Glory
|-|
(January 1514-December 1517)
|-|
(January 1514-December 1517)
Itza and Kaqchikel are both fully occupied, but that’s not enough for our greedy Conquistadors. We also attack Xiu and their allies, Tzotzil and Chactemal. Chactemal’s normally level 3 fort is conveniently mothballed. Our army rushes straight in. We still have to siege their level 1 capital fort, but our job has been made much easier.
We peace-our Kaqchikel a month later for their annexation and 35 gold. I also put 5 mil Development into Dublin to not reach the points cap.
- Dublin: 3/3/2 -> 3/3/7
- 983 mil -> 793
In any case, the world is shaken by the news in Mantua. The current Age of Discovery, along with all our Splendor and Abilities gained, will end in 120 months. After that, the next Age will start, with new objectives and bonuses. At least this means Portugal will lose the extra colonial growth they get in this Age, which will even out the playing field.
We annex Itza and take their gold in April 1515, and our colony in New York finishes in June (the game christens it, Nouv. Angoulême). I thought this name was weird, so I did some digging.
I’m assuming this is supposed to be “New England” or some variation. But “England” in French according to Google is “Angleterre.” That can’t be it. There is a city in southwestern France called Angoulême, but why did the game choose this town to reference? What’s so special about it and its relation to the OTL New York that Paradox made it the French name for the city?
“England” in Breton according to the translator I’m using is “Bro-Saoz.” So, going with the theory that this is supposed to say “New England” and Paradox just coded in “Angoulême” instead of “Angleterre,” then Breton translation would be “Nevez Bro-Saoz.”
Anyway, I hope you all enjoyed that aside. Our colonist is now free to go do something else. If you remember in Chapter 22, we had an important decision to make. Do we stop colonizing the Caribbean, do we gain 5 provinces then stop so we can form a CN, or do we go for the full 10 and a Merchant?
We have the 5 provinces needed for a CN, but should we push for 5 more? Right now, there are 9 empty provinces not under us or Portugal: The Bahamas, plus all of the Lesser Antilles minus St. Martin (Portugal), and 2 provinces to the east of Havanna separating our Cuban stuff from Portugal’s. There’s definitely enough time to get 10 provinces should we want to, especially if we’re willing to go over our colony limit.
After much debating, I colonize Barbados. The Portuguese and the Pope will just have to deal with it. As Duke Henri signs the decree to allow settlement, a chill washes over him. The clouds darken. He feels the eyes of God watching him. Or is it just a cool breeze? It’s probably just the wind. I wouldn’t worry about it.
Some of our transports head to Manhattan to pick up our colonial garrison there and ship them south to Barbados. In October, England brags about their discovery of El Dorado. I tried searching for Chanar in the province finder, but it must still be covered by terra incognita. It’s presumably in Brazil where the English have been focusing.
April 1516 sees us declare another war against the natives. This time we’re attacking Chorti and Can Pech. A few months later, Cape Coast finishes. We move 2 tiles east to Whydah, boxing Castille in. While this doesn’t trap Castille, it does give us a very important border with Benin.
Our lone artillery regiment is destroyed because I wasn’t paying attention. But that’s alright. We’ll just build another one. The Ottomans make another go at the Mamluks in February. Maybe this war will be more decisive. We also finish Expansion, giving us more Trade Power across the globe, less minimum Autonomy in our Territories, and a new Policy when combined with Expansion.
Policies are something I’ve mentioned in passing before. But basically, Idea Groups will give you an extra bonus when paired with another. Not every group and combination has a pairing, but it’s an extra thing to consider beyond your point generation or immediate goals. Some of the Policies are very powerful and can be game changers for your army, economy, or diplomacy. You can browse the different parings by hovering over the Idea Group when selecting it. Every nation can automatically select 1 free Policy from each of the 3 categories (admin, diplo, mil). Any Policies taken beyond that will cost 1 point per month of the type to maintain. You can get more free Policies from Reforms, Ideas, and other bonuses.
The Policy we’ve gained from Exploration-Expansion has given us 15 extra Global Settlers and -50% Native Uprising Chance. The -50%, when paired with our decision from the Clergy, brings us up to -100%! We don’t need any more garrisons, hooray!
Chactemal is annexed in August and their money (47.62) taken. Now, the keen-eyed among you might notice something strange about this peacedeal. Do you see it?
We accidentally gave Belize (Chactemal’s level 3 fort) to d’Elbene. This can be the downside of using the fort-transfer trick when not paying attention.
This is really annoying. This was a mistake. I’d meant to take it for myself. If this was an Ironman game, I’d have to reload. But this isn’t an Ironman game. I know opening up the console in a tutorial AAR is a bold move. But I didn’t do anything besides transfer Belize from d’Elbene to Brittany. We’d already won the war anyway. Chactemal would’ve accepted the peace whether I took it or d’Elbene did.
Owning Belize has the side-effect of giving us enough Development to become a Kingdom. Henri is no mere Duke anymore! This doesn’t do much for us, but it is a nice indicator of our progress. We get faster Autonomy decay, more governing capacity, and a shorter timer on being able to change our monarch point focus.
We’re also nearing the diplo points cap. Instead of spending some on Development, I accept the Irish as an equal culture to Breton within our realm. Narratively, this could be seen as Henri giving the Irish nobility concessions in return for his new title. A title that he created probably just to assuage his ego.
All owned provinces with cultures that aren’t your own get minor penalties to their unrest and economic value. Brother cultures (i.e. Breton and Francien, English and Scottish, Swiss and Bavarian) receive lesser penalties. Accepting Irish has removed the penalties, letting the game treat those provinces as if they were Breton.
Xiu is consumed in October (20 gold). I notice Portugal is colonizing provinces in Texas (the Colonial Region is Mexico). And our Caribbean CN spawns in December after Aruba finishes. I name it after the first Breton Explorer to chart the Caribbean, “Iles de Beaumetz.” I hope Arthur is proud wherever he is. IDB is turned into a Private Enterprise to hopefully compete with Portugal navally and trade-wise in the Caribbean.
- 5
- 1
- 1
How unusual is it for the Protestant Reformation to spawn in Italia instead of Germania? Thanks
- 2
You mean from Tordesillas? So they only last until this Age ends?
I probably would've done the same, but is Pope about to kick you out of christendom?
How far are we from a Mexican CN?
- 3
Just finished a big catch-up after my recent distractions. All very useful as always, including the comments and discussions.
I did
Congrats!
I didAnother milestone for a small power trying to get big.
- 1
- 1
Oops! Yes I'll have to remember not to assign provinces I want to seize to allies or CNs.
Great work in Mexico and the Caribbean!
Can't wait to see how this new kingdom does when stacked up against a European major in war.
Rensslaer
Great work in Mexico and the Caribbean!
Can't wait to see how this new kingdom does when stacked up against a European major in war.
Rensslaer
- 2
CHAPTER TWENTY-EIGHT: Vassals, Artillery, and…France? Oh My! (December 1517-December 1519)
CHAPTER TWENTY-EIGHT: Vassals, Artillery, and…France? Oh My!
|-|
(December 1517-December 1519)
|-|
(December 1517-December 1519)
While looking around the map, I notice Ashanti, a West African nation, would become our vassal. This is not only a sign of our increasing power. It’s also a great teaching moment.
I’ve talked before about the benefits of vassals and subjects. They pay you money, field militaries that you don’t have to pay for, and can even pay for expensive fortifications like we discussed in Chapter 26. And there are even other benefits I haven’t mentioned yet like having them fabricate their own claims while your diplomats are elsewhere, reconquering their cores during war for cheaper AE, and feeding them land to save on overextension or admin points. They’re great!
But while we have force-vassalized nations in peacedeals (Kildare), we haven’t released a nation from ourselves to make a vassal or peacefully offered the privilege to a weaker nation. This next topic deals with the latter option.
Just like how nations can accept alliances, marriages, and most other diplomatic options, nations can also accept vassalization. This requires 4 things:
- The target must have less than 100 Development (this restriction doesn’t exist when force-vassalizing).
- They must have 190+ opinion of you.
- You must be allied to them.
- They must be at peace.
- Trust: having 100 trust gives +10 reasons for acceptance. Allying the nation, currying favors, then using them to increase trust quickly solves this.
- AI Attitude: If the target is friendly, allied, or threatened, they’ll have an extra +10 reasons to say yes. Neutral attitude gives -20. Hostile or outraged gives -1,000.
- Royal Marriage: +10 reasons.
- Diplomatic Reputation: +3 reasons per each point of reputation.
- Government Rank: +10 if you are of a higher rank than the target. -10/20 if the target is a kingdom/empire.
- Religion: -10/-20 if you are a heretic/heathen.
- Cores: if you own one of the target’s cores, they will never accept.
- Espionage Ideas Slot 7: +15 reasons.
- Improving Relations: improving to the maximum 100 relations with the target gives, of course, 100 opinion.
- Royal Marriage: grants 25 opinion.
- Alliance: 50 opinion.
- Guarantee: 10 opinion.
- Enemy of My Enemy: having the same rival as the target grants a ticking opinion boost up to 20.
- Same Religion: Normally 10 opinion. But if you have the Religious Diplomats Estate privilege from the Clergy it is 25.
- Military Access: if you offer mil access to the target (which they will almost always accept, especially if you’re allied) that’s another 10 opinion.
- Transfer Trade Power: asking the target to Transfer, not Steer, Trade Power towards you gives another 10. If they won’t accept because too many nations are already giving you trade power, temporarily cancel those other deals (like with your current vassals) so you can lock this new prospect down.
- GP Influence: Great Powers, as long as they don’t have any loans, can influence any nation for a fee, giving the target 25 opinion and 5 trust.
- Gift: sending a gift of gold gives at most 25 opinion.
- Subsidizing: ticks up slowly depending on the size of the subsidy. Gives at max 15 opinion. You can subsidy the target for a few months to get them to 190, offer vassalization, then cancel the subsidy afterwards.
- Opinion: by having max opinion with a subject, they’ll receive -20% Liberty Desire (LD). Can be done through any/all of the ways described above. Subjects’ relations can be improved via a diplomat up to 200 instead of the normal 100.
- Marriages: not only gives opinion for vassalizing the target, but also give -5% LD.
- Trust: Having 100 trust can give -20% LD. You can curry favors with your subjects just like with allies, but it’s slower. If you have spare diplomats, you can curry favors while you’re still allied with the target and before they’ve sworn fealty.
- Placating: at the cost of 20 Prestige, you can temporarily decrease LD by 10%. Stacks up to -100% (assuming you have enough Prestige) and ticks away over time.
- Development: much like Placating, it gives -5% LD for every point of Development within the subject you improve. But this will, in the long term, make them stronger and more expensive to annex. I usually do this as a last resort to keep them loyal while they’re in the process of annexation.
- Economic Dependency: if a vassal is in debt, you can pay off their loans. Each loan paid off gives -5% LD and stacks to -100%. Using the vassal-fort trick (Chapter 26), you can let your troublesome subjects take on debt, only for you to come in as their “savior.”
- You can also build forts (and other buildings) in your subjects to keep them in debt. This was once a common strategy, but Paradox has since patched it. If your vassal can’t afford the fort, they will delete it.
- But there are still a few ways around this. One, they’ll only delete forts you build, not forts they conquer, are granted, or start with. Two, they won’t delete forts while at war. Build some forts in your subject, wait for them to nearly finish, declare an easy war but keep it going for as long as possible, then pay off your subjects’ debt.
- Army, Navy, Economy Size: pretty self-explanatory. The more powerful you are, the better. The AI only cares about army size, not quality, so building masses of cheap infantry can help.
- Some subjects, like CNs or Personal Unions, only count their own military/economy strength against yours. Others, like vassals or marches, check all of their strengths together against you.
We also take diplo and mil tech 10, giving new models for our transports, galleys, cavalry, and artillery, plus some other small things, including the ahead-of-time bonus from diplo.
I know I just did that whole huge explanation about vassals, so I won’t go into much detail on our new cavalry unit.
We go from a (Fire/Shock/Morale) 0-0/1-0/1-1 pip unit to a 1-0/2-1/2-2 pip unit. Very nice! Our cavalry now does damage in the Fire phase.
But I need to talk about artillery. I promise, I’ll try to be brief. If you need a reminder of what the different pips mean, see Chapter 9.
Artillery units during combat have two main differences from inf or cav:
- One, they only do HALF as much damage when BEHIND a unit and take DOUBLE damage when in the FRONT rank.
- Two, they transfer HALF of their DEFENSIVE pips rounded down to the units in FRONT of them.
When looking at the extra artillery Fire/Shock damage techs give you on the Technology screen, or the damage they currently do on the Military screen, visualize those numbers as HALF of what they really are. You NEVER (unless you’re trying an artillery only run) want artillery in the front rank.
We choose the Pedrero instead of the Culverin because it has 2 defensive Shock pips instead of 1. That way, our front rank will benefit from the transferred pips.
Getting back to the game, I lose another 1,000 infantry to the fog of war. But in better news, we’re able to ship our garrison from West Africa over to help with the fight. King Henri is also now Industrious. And we have a 3-siege general.
We’ve had a couple general, Conquistador, and Explorer deaths. I haven’t mentioned them much because, just like the detail on these wars, we’re starting to zoom out for a more global reach. I also haven’t mentioned any Trade Good price changes because they mostly aren’t important.
I’ll still cover ruler changes, advisor hires, and peacedeals. But I don’t want to bog these updates down any more than necessary. Just assume, because of the tech-difference, none of these native wars are hard.
We’ve been building a Spy Network in one of the natives we’re fighting, Kiche. With 50 Spy Network accrued, we’re able to steal their maps of Mexico. I don’t want to lose anyone else to “the fog” (cue, cheesy horror movie music).
Our alliance with the Pope continues to bring benefits as Dublin gains a Cardinal in January 1519. I sure hope nothing bad happens to our alliance. King Henri feels a chill in the air again. Weird?
We’re also able to pick up a new Government Reform. Of the 11 options presented, 2 are greyed out, and only 3 align with our campaign goals:
- Sustained Drill: less army attrition, more army drill, and less drill loss (see Chapter 23 where drill was briefly mentioned but not explained).
- Military Engineering: less expensive artillery and cheaper wall barrages during sieges.
- Organized Military Staff: faster reinforce speed, more supply limit, and reinforcing our troops is less expensive.
We annex Kiche in March bringing our overextension up to 85.6%. Since we want to annex Can Pech too, we’d either have to wait or risk going over 100% (something that would be a terrible idea this early).
But there is another, niche, option that is rarely possible. When clicking on a province, you can look at all the provinces in its Area/State on a second tab. This tab has some buttons. The one that’s relevant here is Concentrate Development.
This decreases the Development of the valid provinces in the State and put some of it into your capital. You can’t always do this because the original Area’s Development needs to be high enough. But when you can, it will decrease the overextension and cost to core recently conquered provinces.
We do this with Kiche’s provinces, bringing us to 68.8% Overextension. Then we annex Can Pech and take most of Chortli (except for one province in Colonial Columbia that we don’t care about). We also start colonizing Guadelupe.
I also seize, sell, and summon with our Estates again. The Bourgeoisie want us to increase the number of TC-provinces we have in West Africa to 5. Easily doable. With the extra money we now have (768) we build a Workshop in Bro Naoned (0.23), a Marketplace in Cork, and 5 Barracks (each giving 750-1,022 manpower).
Things are looking up! King Henri scoffs, perhaps he was wrong about that chill after all. After all…I mean… … … oh no…
Author’s Note: Concerning the next chapter, I’ve got to be honest, I tried to fight this war with France, I really tried. But, realistically, since this is supposed to be a tutorial, I should have surrendered immediately. You can win wars when fighting against stronger opponents, but this is not one of those times. However, I wanted to see if I could still win anyway. And when it looked like victory wasn’t on the cards, I reloaded my save to right when France declared and immediately sought peace.
I still took screenshots of the alternate-timeline war, and I figured I should still show what happened during it. We won’t be continuing on from that point, but will instead go off the reloaded, instant-peace version.
I still took screenshots of the alternate-timeline war, and I figured I should still show what happened during it. We won’t be continuing on from that point, but will instead go off the reloaded, instant-peace version.
- 3
- 3
- 1
A quick reminder to everyone that the Q3 ACAs are ongoing. Voting ends November 3rd, and anything updated from July 1st to September 30th is eligible.
- 1
Oh well, controlling the Papacy isn't going to happen now. You'll probably also get excommunicated if you tried to fight the Pope, because he's corrupt.
- 1
- 1
When the code declares a war on the player, it means the code has calculated that the current standing and the potential army size of the player can be defeated by the code. This happens usually when playing against turbo-tags, and when the player does not expand its defensive-alliance-ring enough to prevent it.
It can be a useful tool, such as against code-denmark and code-poland-lithuania in the early phase when playing as the lübeck-tag. The code does not calculate the trade league partners as critical as an ally, therefore hurls itself onto the riga-tag. A player-lübeck can actually benefit from such code-wars with a trade league of size six to eight, and the code will fail.
But when the player starts with a minor tag, is allied to a code-turbo-tag for protection against the other code-tags of any type, and despite this defensive alliance, when the code is still declaring a war on the player, it means: well, it was a good run.
The code-france has calculated that it can destroy the code-castile, while bulldozing the player-brittany, and the betrayal of the papal-tag has increased the chances of it to declare - the code regularly checks for betrayal potential of the allies to declare a war or not. It is 1519, and the code-france must have already activated its national idea, élan, +20% army morale; if so, then the run is over for the player-brittany. There is no escape from that war, and a white peace would be considered a glorious victory, if it can be managed.
In any case, it will definitely ruin the economy, and the code-ally, the castile, will be weakened, open to wars of opportunity. The player will be at the mercy of the code. Going for a coloniser run, this means imminent war by code-england, and when that alliance falls, the code-castile will be thunderously hostile to the player-brittany.
Edit: Corrected grammatical mistakes.
Last edited:
- 3
The Poop did not take care of his business in the woods, but rather his spoils are stinking up your castle. Thanks
- 1
YEEowch!! That's not cool, and definitely not just a chill. That's COLD!
Maybe the Pope will live to regret this. But no, it seems the Popes never stick around long.
Would love to see a playthrough update for the war that might have been!
Rensslaer
Maybe the Pope will live to regret this. But no, it seems the Popes never stick around long.
Would love to see a playthrough update for the war that might have been!
Rensslaer
- 1
- 1
Aside from the immediate diplomatic repercussions from his betrayal and the war with France, we will now no longer benefit from the Pope prioritizing us for Cardinals and Tordesillas treaties. We could, as you mentioned, become excommunicated if we anger him too much.
This French declaration and Papal betrayal has been a major setback, but the game continues on. This all stems from our decision many chapters ago to violate Portugal's Caribbean mandate.
If our army wasn't over in Mexico we could've done a lot of damage. But we've been completely caught off-guard.
I won't majorly spoil how the rest of the campaign goes, but Brittany is still alive in the 1600s. But definitely, Castille being weakened because of this French war was a worry. Our economy will also suffer (though part of that was due to a mistake I made). I'm lucky England decided not to intervene.
France's ideas have been changed slightly and their Elan nerfed. I can't remember what their old ideas were and whether these new ones are better or worse. But they're still much better than what Brittany has.
He's justifiably angry at us for our unsanctioned colonies against Portugal in the Caribbean. But now that anger goes both ways. Seeing how his country will turn out has been something I've kept an eye on.
Popes may change, but the nation of the Papal States remains. We'll see how many generations it takes for Rome to regret its choice.
Glad to hear it!
I wasn't sure if reloading a save would be a controversial move or not. But peacing out instantly is the correct move given the circumstances. As frustrating as the Papal betrayal and French invasion were when this was played, they've added a nice narrative rivalry. They've also provided a nice, very long-term, goal to strive towards.
- 2
- 1