Hopefully King Richard will be Lion-Hearted. To secure Ireland from England and Hopefully someday reclaim the lost homelands.
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Thanks for this update. Not the victory you hoped Spain would bring but at least you are out of that grinding war and you can work on repairing the damage. Your world standing didn't suffer although your nation does seem to be quite far flung at this point.
Would love to see a map of Ireland to understand the situation there post-war. Didn't completely understand what happened there without a map to help guide, but it does seem your losses became independent areas, from what I made out.
As you made this decision while at war with the British, couldn't you have taken the opposite view given their break from Catholicism? Or are you still threading the needle due to your poor relations with the pope?
I realize with Breton you must be aggressive or you will be steamrolled. However, given your decision in the war with the English to let them cross into Ireland, I'm guessing that is a gamble you wouldn't normally make. Or were you just impatient with how the war was costing you?
However, I remain wary given the results of the Star Trek rollout last fall and how Imperator also seemed to fall flat. I have gone back to the philosophy of being very conservative when it comes to committing to new games.
Would love to see a map of Ireland to understand the situation there post-war. Didn't completely understand what happened there without a map to help guide, but it does seem your losses became independent areas, from what I made out.
Was there a strategic reason for this stance and how will the outcome play out for you?
As you made this decision while at war with the British, couldn't you have taken the opposite view given their break from Catholicism? Or are you still threading the needle due to your poor relations with the pope?
Quite a helpful guide if I ever take up EU4. I wonder if you have played more aggressively than you might as a showcase to help folks out of such situations?
I realize with Breton you must be aggressive or you will be steamrolled. However, given your decision in the war with the English to let them cross into Ireland, I'm guessing that is a gamble you wouldn't normally make. Or were you just impatient with how the war was costing you?
Given the importance of EU in the company's history, I can understand why. I do hope they are successful.
However, I remain wary given the results of the Star Trek rollout last fall and how Imperator also seemed to fall flat. I have gone back to the philosophy of being very conservative when it comes to committing to new games.
One of these days I will venture into CK3 but I want more DLC to drop first. Parts of the game that I can't get but are open in CK2 keep me in the CK2 camp for now. Plus I see mods and AARs with Asian maps for CK3. Wondering when or if that geographic expansion will happen. For those who like mega-campaigns, Asia is perfect for the CK3-EU conversion. (Of course, I also want a separate Americas game from the CK or Imperator eras but that is another topic.)
Good to hear.
Indeed.
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It's not our losses, but England's. Spain won the war, so we couldn't lose land (even with Ireland occupied). Not unless we accepted England's offers of separate peace (which we eventually did, but that was a white peace. An earlier offer which I mentioned in the update had them demand Leinster and some money). Here's my screenshot of the peace to help visualize:
.png "Screenshot (9792).png")
.png "Screenshot (9793).png")
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Thanks for helping me visualize what happened here. So England still has two provinces in Ireland. That will make them a likely competitor in the future, no doubt. What will you do to ready yourself for more war with them and France too in the future? (Hopefully, not simultaneously.)
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That caused me a lot of lost saves, but I tend to stick to the bitter end, until well after all reasonable hope is lost. In this specific case, it would've helped me.
Would it be realistic in this case to diploannex them?
So you're decreasing your absolutism thus you can increase it in the next age and get a bonus from the absolutism gained in that time period? I feel I'm misunderstanding something here.
Why doesn't it feel like so? I mean, among the things that bring points, which are England's strong suits?
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@jak7139 quite a testament to your gameplay and strategic knowledge that you've come out the worst for wear in two major wars and STILL increased from 6th to 5th Great Power status!
Very interested to see how you manage the Irish situation in the coming decades. I do expect there will be a rematch with England, but more likely on YOUR terms this time. Then surely King Richard will desire to return to the homelands. Will it have to wait for his son?
Rensslaer
Very interested to see how you manage the Irish situation in the coming decades. I do expect there will be a rematch with England, but more likely on YOUR terms this time. Then surely King Richard will desire to return to the homelands. Will it have to wait for his son?
Rensslaer
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Phew, catch-up done. Informative as ever. A couple of brief comments from the most recent chapters:
That’s a neat trick and while at first appearing a little gamey, on reflection it actually makes sense realistically.
Ouch! One side of the face slapped. Sometimes the clever ploys don’t work out. Risk and reward.
Which map mode do you screenshot to show these recent acquisitions?
And now the other cheek! Turned and slapped for good measure. A nasty setback, but not existential. And it has left England badly weakened with some opportunities for the future,
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Thanks everyone for the comments! I'm not sure how much time I'll have on Sunday, so figured I'd do comment feedback now. I should still be able to post on Monday if everything goes okay.
And we ignored the Treaty of Tordesillas versus Portugal in the Caribbean, something I normally wouldn't challenge as aggressively (I probably would've stopped at 5 provinces and a CN, not pushing for the extra merchant).
And with the war with England, the safer play would've been to not let England cross into Ulster. We had the forces to keep them out. But I wanted to try and showcase a trick you can do with naval blockades and strait crossings.
Most of these decisions are ones I would make anyway. But I am trying to force some mechanics and situations to come up where possible.
I'd say keep an eye on how things go these next few decades. Something in what I have planned out as Chapter Forty will be a huge boost to our economy and military long-term.
One main point in our favor though, we're a player. We can grow and plan much more aggressively than any AI. The next two updates, which is all the backlog I have written, will make very clear that our pace of expansion isn't slowing down. We've just been hit with a few speed bumps.
As for our continental return, that's even further out. Not for Richard or his son. But certainly they can dream.
Richard won't be the reclaimer, but his reign is probably the most important one out of this whole game. Comparing now to when he dies, we're in two vastly different spots.
Having such a disparate group of colonies means it's tricky and slow to deal with revolts, of which there are many because of our war exhaustion. We can deal with it, but it's a persistent issue for the next while.
There are different bonuses to being either Conciliatory or Harsh, which you can find here. But I wanted the Improve Relations and heretic opinion bonuses to help with Tyrone and Sligo.
I'm trying not t needlessly antagonize our neighbors. Sure, England hates us and we hate them. But I don't want to give them an excuse to attack us.
A little bit. In some earlier comment feedback I mentioned how we could've allied France in Chapter One, but I thought that would be too easy.
And we ignored the Treaty of Tordesillas versus Portugal in the Caribbean, something I normally wouldn't challenge as aggressively (I probably would've stopped at 5 provinces and a CN, not pushing for the extra merchant).
And with the war with England, the safer play would've been to not let England cross into Ulster. We had the forces to keep them out. But I wanted to try and showcase a trick you can do with naval blockades and strait crossings.
Most of these decisions are ones I would make anyway. But I am trying to force some mechanics and situations to come up where possible.
Partially, but I also knew that the war would drag on forever with mainland England unoccupied. We needed to get more warscore to end things in a timely manner.
That's a good philosophy to have. The only game I've ever preordered was HOI4. I had fun with it at launch, and I still do now after all the patches. But I don't think it was worth buying early.
We need to be able to match England/France with numbers and economy. We don't have either right now. That requires more land and development.
I'd say keep an eye on how things go these next few decades. Something in what I have planned out as Chapter Forty will be a huge boost to our economy and military long-term.
I think sticking through things is more fun. In moments of frustration and hopelessness, I save and quit to pick things up another day. That also gives time to strategize.
Spot on! That's the plan.
Most estate privileges decrease the max absolutism you can have. The next age, Age of Absolutism, is when the mechanic unlocks. So, it can be a good idea to start revoking some of the less necessary privileges early to prepare and get more cap.
We're even with England in terms of men. But half of our forces were overseas doing other things. England of course has a much stronger navy. Lot's of our development is also tied up in colonies and subjects. Henrika, d'Elbene, etc. can't reasonably get to Europe to help on that front. They can fight England's other colonies in the Americas.
One main point in our favor though, we're a player. We can grow and plan much more aggressively than any AI. The next two updates, which is all the backlog I have written, will make very clear that our pace of expansion isn't slowing down. We've just been hit with a few speed bumps.
Thanks!
An England war is coming. But not for a while yet. As you say, we have to do it on our terms. But that doesn't mean the English don't suffer defeats elsewhere against other nations.
As for our continental return, that's even further out. Not for Richard or his son. But certainly they can dream.
Holding events and pop-ups is kind of gamey, though they do autodecline. But because the game allows you to do it, I think it's just part of the strategy. There are sometimes I do it, like here. Other times, not.
That's the Diplomatic mapmode. Everything in green is your nation (or whichever nation you have selected). Light green stripes are uncored land. Light blue stripes are uncored land that's currently being cored. I find it very helpful to know what exactly was taken during a war (since usually whatever's taken won't already be a core).
Indeed.
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CHAPTER THIRTY-NINE: Schmoozing Ireland, Stackwiping Scotland (November 1559-August 1562)
CHAPTER THIRTY-NINE: Schmoozing Ireland, Stackwiping Scotland
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(November 1559-August 1562)
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(November 1559-August 1562)
Using 600 ducats I pay off 3 of our Bourgeoisie loans, leaving us with 2 leftover. I also trade some favors for manpower from Spain. Our diplomats are busy in Sligo and Tyrone, building favors and improving relations.
Because both nations were released in a peacedeal, Spain has guaranteed them for the duration of their truce with England (though they can always cancel those early).
Owning Ireland directly, not through vassals, would be better for us. But we’d have to wait for Spain to end their guarantees. There’s always the chance that Spain keeps the guarantees right up until the truce expires, letting England right back in.
Vassalizing Ireland, while slower, is safer. And with everything that’s happened to Brittany these past decades, I think safe, guaranteed bets are needed for us to succeed. If we want to beat France, if we want to beat England, we’ll need a solid base.
Ireland will be that base.
On King Henri’s death, we lost a Stability. I don’t have enough admin points to boost it back to 0 right now, but it’ll be a priority. The cost is increased because of the Religious Turmoil Disaster. A consequence of the negative Stability and our high War Exhaustion, a plethora of revolts are hitting on our nation everywhere.
Some have already risen in Africa, now some appear in Bengkulu. And more are growing and firing all the time. Our manpower is stretched thin, and it will only grow thinner. We also only have one transport fleet, so can only deal with these far-flung colonial revolts one at a time.
There’s also the Satapo native war which began in the last part. We can win this, but it’s preventing our War Exhaustion from decaying naturally. And now we’re pulled into another conflict.
Scotland alone has declared on Tyrone (Spain did indeed revoke their guarantee). If we break our alliance, cutting our losses and getting a 5 year truce, Scotland will annex Tyrone. That, in turn, could let England creep back in whenever they attack the Stuarts again.
(We could break our guarantee of Tyrone and dec our own war, but we'd have a 5 year truce because of our previous treaty. A trucebreak isn't appealing right now.)
If we want to keep our rivals out, we must fight, even if our nation begs for peace.
No. There will be no peace. Not until it’s forced upon our enemies.
There is some good news about this war though. England won’t give Scotland access, so they have to use their 5 transports.
3 more infantry regiments are recruited in Ireland. That, plus Tyrone’s own 3k, means we’ll outnumber Scotland slightly against whatever they send. Our other armies are busy with Satapo and the revolts.
The Scots attempt a landing in Leinster. Aided by the -2 landing penalty and Tyrone’s reinforcements, we win.
(The Scots can only come at us 5 regiments at a time.)
They try to retreat to their transports, but I use our light ships to force their fleet into battle. This halts Scotland’s evacuation, causing a stackwipe.
A few months later, the Scottish try again with a landing on Tyrone directly. We win again. Our navy forces a stackwipe again, but this time we lose 2 ships.
Later, again, another battle in Leinster. Another navy-forced wipe.
In continental affairs, France is attacking the HRE for Utrecht. It’s obvious who’s going to win. All we can hope is that Austria, the Pope, the Danes, and the Dutch take as many French with them as possible before the end.
(The 3 numbers left to right: France's number of armies, ships, and manpower. A scary behemoth!)
It is then, on the 4th of June, 1561 that our new King is crowned. His reign will see great change. But for good or ill, who can say.
The first victory of King Richard’s reign happens against Satopo’s ally, Fox. We annex them into d’Elbene.
Unfortunately, Richard took this as a sign to become Cruel, further increasing unrest in our provinces. Great. Just great.
Spain arrives at that moment with an offer. They want to provide us with an heir.
I know previously I said I wanted to see if the Dreux could go all the way. But here are my thoughts:
Narratively, King Richard is young, inexperienced. He has other things to worry about besides procuring an heir. Gamewise, this was a new session, I had time to think things over. I believed, at this point, that we would grow large enough to surpass Spain, large enough to get a union over them when the time came.
But I also still want to see if House Dreux can make it, so if our Spanish heir lives, fine. If he dies, fine. We’ll let fate decide.
I accept Spain’s offer. Prince Felipe’s stats are great, 4/3/6.
Another victory in North America. Satapo cedes 1 province in Georgia to d’Elbene.
Another battle against Scotland in Tyrone. We stackwipe their army but lose 3 ships.
With one war ended, one more begins. It’s Ojibwe again.
Henrika is still very weak. To help them out, and to start cutting off Danish Canada from the interior, I colonize Mosoni and Attawapiskat on the Hudson Bay. Sampit finishes soon after. That colonist is sent to Kesagami also in Canada.
(The 3 yellow-orange provinces are currently being colonized by us. The red province is a future target. I'd hoped Henrika would do this themselves to be able to core their interior land. But we'll have to do it instead.)
Scotland tries a different approach. They land unopposed onto Mann and occupy it. But if they think that will force us to the table they’re mistaken.
We’re in the midst of 2 wars, hemorrhaging money, and out of manpower. Nevertheless, we fight on.
Still, it’s tiring. I cut my play-session short.
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Great work teaching the Scottish populace that it's better to not join either the Scottish army or Scottish navy.
Nice to force stackwipes - a faster end to the war approaches!
Rensslaer
Nice to force stackwipes - a faster end to the war approaches!
Rensslaer
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Your annoyance and frustration are showing here but who wouldn't feel that way? But certainly, that doesn't mean you were due a cruel ruler.
Feeling for you here, as it appears there is no easy route up this hill. However, it appears you have a plan. Looking forward to how you will end some of these wars in the next chapter. Good luck playing on.
Feeling for you here, as it appears there is no easy route up this hill. However, it appears you have a plan. Looking forward to how you will end some of these wars in the next chapter. Good luck playing on.
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Make Felipe a general and leave him in the ocean (the famous strat from CK) if you decide to keep the de Dreux dynasty.
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Very good. I’m going to use it for my AAR when I can.
Sounds the wise option. Especially after the AI kept throwing curve balls at you soon after!
In EU:Rome and now EU4, I always try to maintain 3 stab at all times - very rarely stay below it for long. In the limited games I’ve played, anyway.
That’s the spirit. Death before dishonour!
That’s a hard row to hoe. You need something debilitating to happen to them.
Go flight! Damn the consequences.
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I could. We'll see if our new prince lasts.You actually can't make rulers or heirs admirals. I think Paradox was trying to patch just that kind of strat. Felipe can lead our land troops if we want though.
I've decided to not intervene, if Felipe lives, he lives. If he dies, he dies. We'll see what the game thinks.
They shouldn't have pounced on Tyrone like that. We weren't going to let them off so easily.Great work teaching the Scottish populace that it's better to not join either the Scottish army or Scottish navy.
It does indeed. The Scots should soon bow out.
I was feeling very annoyed at the game at this point. Brittany just couldn't seem to catch a break. We've been served one war, setback, or rebellion after another.
But this period does not last. We'll come out of it stronger than ever before!
As I've said before about losing the mainland to France, these challenges have actually made the AAR more fun to play and write. But in the moment I was feeling very frustrated.
I do have a plan. You'll see parts of it unfold over the next few updates.
Indeed. Having Tyrone and Sligo as vassals isn't bad. I just would've preferred to own them directly. But we don't have that luxury right now.
Having at least +1 is good. But we've been too busy spending our admin points on conquests, ideas, and tech. Having negative stab is never a good thing in the best of times. With our war exhaustion, it's even worse.
It's either that, or we grow much larger than them somehow. We'll see how that goes over the coming decades.
If we don't fight, who will?Go flight! Damn the consequences.
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Wouldn't he be at sea if the army he was commanding was left in the middle of the ocean?
What happens if you send your heir to sea on a transport in command of a regiment and the ship gets lost at sea due to attrition??
Rensslaer
This is something I actually haven't thought of before. I might have to test this, but don't have time right now.
I assume that it'd be the same as a stackwipe. Generals commanding destroyed armies go right back to the leader pool.
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CHAPTER FORTY: Renames & Expand Infrastructure (August 1562-March 1571)
Author's Note: Another long, detailed chapter right here. Perhaps I could've split it into two parts. But then, I don't think either shorter update would've been "worth the wait" with the once-per-week schedule I'm posting at. With the rate-of-posting in mind, do you all generally prefer longer updates such as this one, or would you want shorter episodes?
We pick up again with our 2 wars, countless revolts, and War Exhaustion issue. Over the break between sessions, I remember something. We can’t lose War Exhaustion while at war, and it doesn’t look like either war will end anytime soon. But we can decrease it manually by 2 by spending 75 diplo points. We’re 7 years ahead on tech, so I do just that.
(Rebels loading, firing, constantly. So tiring...)
Points: 398 -> 38
War Exhaustion: 19.61 -> 9.61
That should take the heat off a bit.
But, of course, the game sees we might be succeeding and can’t have that.
Here’s Austria with a Call-to-Arms. It’s the League War!
Sorry…Austria…you’re breaking up…going through a tunnel…
*Click!*
Here’s another idea I’ve had between breaks. Our economy is only functional right now thanks to the gold from Mexico. I’m serious. We get like 300 gold per fleet every few years, the equivalent of an extra 25 gold income a month!
What if those fleets were…larger? Yes, we can do that. Yes, we could’ve benefited from it this whole time. All it takes is 100 gold up front, some admin power, and the click of a button.
Here’s something you may not expect. A third war! Started by…us?
I suspect Huron will attack us again. They’ve done it a couple times before. This time, I want to get the jump on them. Plus, this war brings in Iroquois, another very aggressive thorn.
I’m done intervening in all these native wars. That ends now.
In the France-Utrecht war, Naples is separate peaced for 2 provinces. This won’t help Austria, Utrecht, and the Pope win against France (especially now the League War is happening) but it weakens France’s long-term Neapolitan friend.
Another thing also helping our economy is Spain. Whenever we can I’m remembering to ask for money or manpower. We will come out the other side this time of troubles, I promise you, but we must be diligent.
The first of our new and improved gold fleets arrives. This one brings in 367.92, but 38.94 was lost along the way.
Helpfully around this time, we receive a gold rush in Africa for another influx of cash. I build churches in Cork, Limerick, and Ulster (0.13 a month, 0.10, and 0.10) to celebrate. Most of our loans are paid off, leaving us with 1 leftover. We must invest in our future.
Another war comes, but we don’t get called in. This is a benefit of being embroiled in so many other conflicts. If you’re already at war, your AI allies are less likely to call you into things. Spain attacks England, using the pretense of dynastic restoration (their mission tree tries to simulate the Spanish Armada, giving them a free union CB).
Some of our forces, battered and weary, barely arrive in Bengkulu in time. If we were 1 month later, we would’ve lost the province fully to rebels. Phew!
Iroquois is annexed. Kaskasia is annexed. Chalaghwatha is annexed.
Richard receives news that Brittany is falling to ruin. We spend money to try and stop it.
Scotland offers white peace. We refuse. That would just leave Tyrone open.
(National Fragmentation? You don't say...)
The Bahamas breaks free from Iles de Beaumetz, declaring a pirate republic. We had the option of playing New Providence here. But that’s not the goal this game.
(That very large tooltip is simply saying that New Providence has spawned as a Pirate-TAG)
Chisca is annexed.
Marameg, on the border between peninsular Michigan and Canada, and Bodewadmik (Detroit) are colonized to give us a border with Huron and subsequently Ojibwe.
Huron is annexed, finally. Ojibwe is annexed, finally.
We also finally boost our Stability back to 0.
Our armies in North America have nothing better to do, so we declare on Miami.
(Miami, the last native standing in Michigan)
Since our War Exhaustion can’t go down because of the war with Scotland, we might as well be in multiple, manageable wars. Being in 1 or being in 10 makes no difference in that regard. The last of our loans are repaid with all the spoils we’ve gotten.
The France-Austria war ends predictably. Utrecht loses their capital but persists elsewhere. Austria loses 2 provinces, including their gold mine, to France’s ally, Bregenz.
And good things don’t last apparently. Or maybe you were rooting for the Dreux? Prince Felipe dies in a hunting accident.
We get a new Dreux heir immediately. I disinherit him. His stats are terrible.
Tyrone peaces out Scotland for money and takes the Inner Hebrides. Once we end our war with Miami, we’ll finally be at peace.
The end of the Scotland war also lets us finally vassalize Tyrone. With them subjugated, Sligo sees the writing on the wall and accepts as well (they were rivaled to Tyrone, preventing us from getting the 190 opinion necessary). Welcome aboard, friends!
Hathawekala is annexed. We declare on New Providence to quickly reconquer them.
And, at long last, who’s ready for some renames!
I know this is probably not the most exciting thing. But I promised it, so here it is. It’s also good for roleplay.
There’s a French colony in Maine.
(I'm keeping the default names the game gives in most cases. But our original North American provinces needed a makeover)
Continuing. Oneota is annexed.
One admin click of Development is spent in Dublin to bring it up to 20 and to get rid of the leftover Devastation there from Scotland’s blockade.
Some more admin is spent in Desmond and Leinster on Expand Infrastructure. What is EI, you ask?
EI is a small button in the province building window. For 50 admin power, the province gets some nice bonuses and is more expensive to govern. You can click EI an infinite number of times but have to reach a threshold beforehand (15 Dev, 30, 45, etc).
(Desmond is at 13 Dev in this image, but I did bring it up to 15 as you'll read below)
The key bonus here is +1 number of Manufactories. Normally a province can only hold one kind (i.e. a money one OR a manpower one OR a governing one). But EI allows you to have one of each type, assuming you’ve clicked the button enough times.
Richard’s prerogative is to build Ireland into a mighty land. An Eden. From which the world will tremble, will despair, and will beg Brittany for mercy. Look out France! Despair, oh England! We are coming.
I also bring Leinster up to 20 Dev from 18, and Desmond up to 15 from 13.
The League War ends, surprisingly enough, in Austrian victory. Bohemia, the leader on the Protestant side, was surrounded by Austria and her allies, leading to this result.
Incidentally, we get some bonuses as a fellow Catholic nation for the Catholic side winning.
Erie is annexed. Kispoko is annexed. Cahokia is annexed.
We core 2 of Huron’s provinces in the Louisiana CN region. We’ll soon have a new subject in the Americas.
23k Reformed zealots revolt in Dublin. With Irish help, we put them down.
2 colonists are sent to Brazil. It has gold and no other Catholic has a CN yet (England lost their Papal sanction upon becoming Anglican), so why not.
Desmond is brought to 30 Dev (4/4/7-> 7/9/14) and we press the EI button again. Then I do a few more clicks, making it 37 Dev (7/11/19). This Devving lets the current Institution, the Printing Press, appear in the province. Soon it will spread to the rest of our lands.
(It's already a great province with all that Development, now it just needs some buildings)
IDB annexes New Providence. I build 7 new transports to help with all these revolts
We colonize Xhosa in South Africa. For the next Age Ability, I take the one for Institution Spread. I also turn on the appropriate Edict (Chapter 7) in Ireland.
King Richard, while cruel, is at least Well-Connected. All our Advisors are cheaper for the rest of his reign.
I end up having to abandon our 2 Brazilian colonies. Why? Spain, our trusty ally, cuts us off from the interior. I don’t want to own Brazil directly. I want a CN. We move instead to Ambon and Kendari in the East Indies.
(I didn't realize Muturu in Brazil was coastal. That province is a chokepoint to the interior. We've been outplayed)
The England-Spain war ends in a loss for Spain. The wargoal required them to occupy London. No way that was happening. They lose Minorca in the Balearics, Sassari in Sardina, and a few provinces in Chile.
10 more transports are ordered.
I declare war on Chiaha in the Appalachians. We also attack Creek. Miami is annexed.
Some mercs are hired to help with the revolts.
We end the update with a lot of money, not a lot of men, and plenty of rebels.
CHAPTER FORTY: Renames & Expand Infrastructure
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(August 1562-March 1571)
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(August 1562-March 1571)
We pick up again with our 2 wars, countless revolts, and War Exhaustion issue. Over the break between sessions, I remember something. We can’t lose War Exhaustion while at war, and it doesn’t look like either war will end anytime soon. But we can decrease it manually by 2 by spending 75 diplo points. We’re 7 years ahead on tech, so I do just that.
(Rebels loading, firing, constantly. So tiring...)
Points: 398 -> 38
War Exhaustion: 19.61 -> 9.61
That should take the heat off a bit.
But, of course, the game sees we might be succeeding and can’t have that.
Here’s Austria with a Call-to-Arms. It’s the League War!
Sorry…Austria…you’re breaking up…going through a tunnel…
*Click!*
Here’s another idea I’ve had between breaks. Our economy is only functional right now thanks to the gold from Mexico. I’m serious. We get like 300 gold per fleet every few years, the equivalent of an extra 25 gold income a month!
What if those fleets were…larger? Yes, we can do that. Yes, we could’ve benefited from it this whole time. All it takes is 100 gold up front, some admin power, and the click of a button.
Here’s something you may not expect. A third war! Started by…us?
I suspect Huron will attack us again. They’ve done it a couple times before. This time, I want to get the jump on them. Plus, this war brings in Iroquois, another very aggressive thorn.
I’m done intervening in all these native wars. That ends now.
In the France-Utrecht war, Naples is separate peaced for 2 provinces. This won’t help Austria, Utrecht, and the Pope win against France (especially now the League War is happening) but it weakens France’s long-term Neapolitan friend.
Another thing also helping our economy is Spain. Whenever we can I’m remembering to ask for money or manpower. We will come out the other side this time of troubles, I promise you, but we must be diligent.
The first of our new and improved gold fleets arrives. This one brings in 367.92, but 38.94 was lost along the way.
Helpfully around this time, we receive a gold rush in Africa for another influx of cash. I build churches in Cork, Limerick, and Ulster (0.13 a month, 0.10, and 0.10) to celebrate. Most of our loans are paid off, leaving us with 1 leftover. We must invest in our future.
Another war comes, but we don’t get called in. This is a benefit of being embroiled in so many other conflicts. If you’re already at war, your AI allies are less likely to call you into things. Spain attacks England, using the pretense of dynastic restoration (their mission tree tries to simulate the Spanish Armada, giving them a free union CB).
Some of our forces, battered and weary, barely arrive in Bengkulu in time. If we were 1 month later, we would’ve lost the province fully to rebels. Phew!
Iroquois is annexed. Kaskasia is annexed. Chalaghwatha is annexed.
Richard receives news that Brittany is falling to ruin. We spend money to try and stop it.
Scotland offers white peace. We refuse. That would just leave Tyrone open.
(National Fragmentation? You don't say...)
The Bahamas breaks free from Iles de Beaumetz, declaring a pirate republic. We had the option of playing New Providence here. But that’s not the goal this game.
(That very large tooltip is simply saying that New Providence has spawned as a Pirate-TAG)
Chisca is annexed.
Marameg, on the border between peninsular Michigan and Canada, and Bodewadmik (Detroit) are colonized to give us a border with Huron and subsequently Ojibwe.
Huron is annexed, finally. Ojibwe is annexed, finally.
We also finally boost our Stability back to 0.
Our armies in North America have nothing better to do, so we declare on Miami.
(Miami, the last native standing in Michigan)
Since our War Exhaustion can’t go down because of the war with Scotland, we might as well be in multiple, manageable wars. Being in 1 or being in 10 makes no difference in that regard. The last of our loans are repaid with all the spoils we’ve gotten.
The France-Austria war ends predictably. Utrecht loses their capital but persists elsewhere. Austria loses 2 provinces, including their gold mine, to France’s ally, Bregenz.
And good things don’t last apparently. Or maybe you were rooting for the Dreux? Prince Felipe dies in a hunting accident.
We get a new Dreux heir immediately. I disinherit him. His stats are terrible.
Tyrone peaces out Scotland for money and takes the Inner Hebrides. Once we end our war with Miami, we’ll finally be at peace.
The end of the Scotland war also lets us finally vassalize Tyrone. With them subjugated, Sligo sees the writing on the wall and accepts as well (they were rivaled to Tyrone, preventing us from getting the 190 opinion necessary). Welcome aboard, friends!
Hathawekala is annexed. We declare on New Providence to quickly reconquer them.
And, at long last, who’s ready for some renames!
I know this is probably not the most exciting thing. But I promised it, so here it is. It’s also good for roleplay.
- d'Elbene:
- Baye Blanche, capital of d’Elbene -> Bae Gwenn
- Nouveau Arvor -> Nevez Arvor
- Penakuk -> Nevez Bretagne
- Sklaer’s Ennemi -> Sklaer’s Enebour
- Sainte Anne -> Sant Anne
- Baye Notre Dame -> Baye Hon Itron
- Henrika:
- les fort des trois rivers -> Al Kastell a Teir Ster (name is now small enough to allow capitalization)
- Trois Rivieres -> Teir Ster
- Greenland:
- Vittresville -> Vittreker
- L’Espoir d’Anne -> Al Esperans a Anne
There’s a French colony in Maine.
(I'm keeping the default names the game gives in most cases. But our original North American provinces needed a makeover)
One admin click of Development is spent in Dublin to bring it up to 20 and to get rid of the leftover Devastation there from Scotland’s blockade.
Some more admin is spent in Desmond and Leinster on Expand Infrastructure. What is EI, you ask?
EI is a small button in the province building window. For 50 admin power, the province gets some nice bonuses and is more expensive to govern. You can click EI an infinite number of times but have to reach a threshold beforehand (15 Dev, 30, 45, etc).
(Desmond is at 13 Dev in this image, but I did bring it up to 15 as you'll read below)
The key bonus here is +1 number of Manufactories. Normally a province can only hold one kind (i.e. a money one OR a manpower one OR a governing one). But EI allows you to have one of each type, assuming you’ve clicked the button enough times.
Richard’s prerogative is to build Ireland into a mighty land. An Eden. From which the world will tremble, will despair, and will beg Brittany for mercy. Look out France! Despair, oh England! We are coming.
I also bring Leinster up to 20 Dev from 18, and Desmond up to 15 from 13.
The League War ends, surprisingly enough, in Austrian victory. Bohemia, the leader on the Protestant side, was surrounded by Austria and her allies, leading to this result.
Incidentally, we get some bonuses as a fellow Catholic nation for the Catholic side winning.
Erie is annexed. Kispoko is annexed. Cahokia is annexed.
We core 2 of Huron’s provinces in the Louisiana CN region. We’ll soon have a new subject in the Americas.
23k Reformed zealots revolt in Dublin. With Irish help, we put them down.
2 colonists are sent to Brazil. It has gold and no other Catholic has a CN yet (England lost their Papal sanction upon becoming Anglican), so why not.
Desmond is brought to 30 Dev (4/4/7-> 7/9/14) and we press the EI button again. Then I do a few more clicks, making it 37 Dev (7/11/19). This Devving lets the current Institution, the Printing Press, appear in the province. Soon it will spread to the rest of our lands.
(It's already a great province with all that Development, now it just needs some buildings)
IDB annexes New Providence. I build 7 new transports to help with all these revolts
We colonize Xhosa in South Africa. For the next Age Ability, I take the one for Institution Spread. I also turn on the appropriate Edict (Chapter 7) in Ireland.
King Richard, while cruel, is at least Well-Connected. All our Advisors are cheaper for the rest of his reign.
I end up having to abandon our 2 Brazilian colonies. Why? Spain, our trusty ally, cuts us off from the interior. I don’t want to own Brazil directly. I want a CN. We move instead to Ambon and Kendari in the East Indies.
(I didn't realize Muturu in Brazil was coastal. That province is a chokepoint to the interior. We've been outplayed)
The England-Spain war ends in a loss for Spain. The wargoal required them to occupy London. No way that was happening. They lose Minorca in the Balearics, Sassari in Sardina, and a few provinces in Chile.
10 more transports are ordered.
I declare war on Chiaha in the Appalachians. We also attack Creek. Miami is annexed.
Some mercs are hired to help with the revolts.
We end the update with a lot of money, not a lot of men, and plenty of rebels.
- 4
- 1
- 1
I don't mind either way, whichever you prefer.
That was a close one...
Yay, House de Dreux shall survive.
- 1