Nice anticipation.
And a slick move here. Stab is good!
Oh, the Fates are indeed sorely tempted
Is this foreshadowing or just a bit of teasing? Huzzah!
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Is this foreshadowing or just a bit of teasing? 
Nice job shirking Spain when you expected them to cause trouble! I was completely unaware of the ability to prevent being called into offensive wars. I will have to remember that.
Espionage is an idea group I might not have looked at, except for your advice. His to know!
And great work uniting Ireland!
Rensslaer
Espionage is an idea group I might not have looked at, except for your advice. His to know!
And great work uniting Ireland!
Rensslaer
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I love these little gains like this or the same month integration before
sounds juicy!
I'm assuming the first will be useful for the second?
i was mistaken
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That's wild about Espionage ideas. I've never considered it because I still remember the meta from like ten patches ago, but now I'll have to consider it for my Bavaria run.
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Francois could have been Brittany's Louis...
Someone who can finally take the homeland back...
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Congratulations on your success in Ireland!
King Richard sounds like a cruel Batman for Breton Ireland.
And why not? Enough of those tough Norse winters. Decamp for the land of drinks with umbrellas and sunscreen. (I know they don't have those yet in this time period, but then they're well placed to develop those for later.)
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Thanks! I figured since Spain has already done previous wars against England, they would do so again once their truce was up. I made sure to check the date when that expired so I wouldn't get called in.
It is indeed. But also expensive which is why I waited for the free hit.
Mostly teasing. But we have to keep our guard up.Oh, the Fates are indeed sorely tempted
Most times I don't use it. But here, we really did not want another war with England when we've just recovered from the previous. It's much better to continue with our current easy expansion and tackle England later.
I forget when Paradox updated the group, but it has quickly become one of my favorites to use, especially when paired with Offensive.
Thank you!
Every little bit helps.
Yeah, you can get so many extra claims because of it. If you take the group early enough, you can pair it with the Age of Discovery bonus for claims bordering claims for even more overlap.
The +15 reasons will be useful overall. There's tons of small countries we can use it on.I'm assuming the first will be useful for the second?
i was mistaken
I saw that Spain had broken their guarantees, so thought attacking the last two Irish minors was the better play. I would've annexed them myself, but didn't have enough admin points.
The reductions to AE from it should definitely help since you're in the HRE.
He could have, and we'll have another Francois before the end. But I wanted some variety. Having every king be named the same might also get confusing after a while, unless I do enough to distinguish their reigns/personalities.
Not him, unfortunately. But we do have some major fights when he, and later his heir, rules.
Thanks! It's a major milestone.
I was indeed emulating Gordon's speech at the end of The Dark Knight. Good catch!
Exactly!
I'm sure Denmark had no trouble finding settlers.- 2
100%. I'm running it and Diplo and it's made life so much easier. I made Austria my junior partner in a war and the coalition was, like, three OPMs.
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CHAPTER FORTY-THREE: Growing Ever Larger, Ever Stronger, Ever Faster! (May 1587-December 1593)
CHAPTER FORTY-THREE: Growing Ever Larger, Ever Stronger, Ever Faster!
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(May 1587-December 1593)
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(May 1587-December 1593)
Starting off, we have enough points to pick up the second slot in Espionage. This one gives us -20% AE.
And the Pope has affirmed Portugal’s right to Colonial Cascadia.
Mamuju completes. With no more peasants in California, we send our colonist to the existing settlement in Miwok to help it grow faster.
We have an army of 11k over in Halmahera in the East Indies ready to attack Tidore.
Not wanting to suffer a strait crossing, I load most of our army onto transports, baiting Tidore into crossing. They do. We reinforce. Our navy blocks their escape to force a stackwipe. We begin a siege.
Eora completes. We start a new colony in California (Chumash). Navajo cedes 1 province to us and using their seized gold, we pay off the loans we took at the end of Chapter 41.
Our inflation is continuing to grow, even with the Papal bonus we took (also Chapter 41) decreasing it slowly. All the gold from Mexico, Matsolo, and various peacedeals is enough to offset that. Using some admin points, I decrease it by 6.
Tidore is annexed. Ternate next door is a tempting next target. I notice they have a colony in Ceram to the south.
T’epot’aha’l in California completes. The next colony is set up in Yaqui nearby. It’s a gold province, meaning our soon-to-be CN in California will also send us gold fleets, same as Al Esperans a Anne.
(Because we did not AMT Navajo, they're still around. The province across the water to the west of Yaqui is what we took. Navajo moved one province north).
We take 1 province from Yokuts (not AMT) and some money. This, plus the Navajo province, are left uncored. They’ll be automatically fed to our CN as soon as they spawn.
Zuni cedes a large chunk of land to us. I get to work coring the cheapest province of the bunch. That will be our 5th province in the region, enough for a CN.
(Did not AMT Yokuts/Navajo to help fill in the region faster).
We’re busy building many things. But it’s important not to neglect the colonies. I start the process of building up IDB with forcelimit, manpower, and money buildings. We want them to eventually challenge Portugal’s Caribbean colony in a 1v1 for dominance.
The next Espionage slot is unlocked. We get 50% faster Spy Network construction and 10% faster sieges. Having a large Spy Network on an enemy also helps with sieges against them, so this is a double bonus.
We’ve discreetly shipped 27k to Gabu in West Africa. It’s time for another war there. Since we last looked over here, the region has mostly consolidated under Songhai, though a few smaller powers remain.
We declare on one of those smaller nations, Kaabu. They are allied to Songhai.
As that goes on, another North American conflict is started against Wichiyena, Pawnee, Kiowa, and Nehiyaw all on the Great Plains.
(Kiowa is over in the Pacific Northwest, well out of range. Everyone else though, we can take).
Norway gets their own CN in Canada. Miwok finishes. We head again to Australia, but again our colonist is kicked out. Busy with our 2 wars, I don’t notice and forget to reassign him before the end of this update.
Neither war is all that intense. We haven’t seen a single enemy army in Africa. Kaabu is full occupied. Songhai is being slowly sieged. We pick up the next mil tech a bit ahead of time for some Innovativeness.
(Songhai's busy with a war in the east, so we haven't seen a single army. Kaabu is futilely trying to siege Benin).
It’s a very key tech, giving us new artillery units (we’re at 8 pips instead of 6) and increasing our artillery’s Fire value by a whopping +1!
We’re not at the point yet where artillery starts doing all the damage, but this tech is a major step. Our artillery now does more than double the Fire damage that our infantry does. But remember artillery only does half damage if it isn’t on the frontline (Chapter 28), so for practical purposes this increase isn’t as huge.
(Looking at the top of the image and going off raw stats, our artillery now does 2.65 total damage. Compare that to infantry's 2.25 and cav's 2.5. Aside from rounding artillery's number down though to ~1.32, there's also the monetary factor. One regiment of artillery is 3x more expensive to recruit than an infantry. One unit of cav is only slightly cheaper than one of cannon).
We get an extra diplomat and -15% Advisor costs from the next Espionage perk. Pawnee, Nehiyaw, and Wichiyena are all annexed.
Songhai is peaced out. We take 2 provinces and cash. We shouldn’t have been able to, I don’t think, since we have no land or sea connection, but the game allowed us. Perhaps it was because of the Songhai-Kaabu alliance in some way.
Bure has a fort and produces gold. Joma is a Trade Center. Both very useful. Kaabu is then annexed.
In terms of Great Power score, we’re still in 5th place, but only 73 points behind France in 3rd.
Our income? 66.25 gross. Our inflation is slowly being bought down with admin points.
Our War Exhaustion is almost all gone. This latest batch (2.9) was only accrued due to the Kaabu war.
(Highlighted in blue is our War Exhaustion).
Our manpower sits at 59,150 with a cap somewhere in the 60,000 range.
We have 61,000 men under arms and 43 ships that sail the seas.
Cork, our capital, has 37 Development. It’s a hub of commerce and one of the largest cities in the world.
(Whenever we've conquered land recently, like from Zuni and Songhai, I've used Concentrate Development to steal some Dev for our capital).
Brittany has never been stronger, never this close to greatness!
And we’ve only further heights to climb.
Torchlight flickered unevenly on the walls. Members of the court and prominent citizens rushed past, each finding a seat in the crowded hall. Those that were late had to contend with others for seats and, failing that, stand near the back, nearly out of sight. They were buffeted constantly by the snowy wind as even more latecomers filed into the room, nodding apologies.
It was two days after Christmas, the New Year was nearly upon them. Yet King Richard, first of his name, was a man impossible to deny. Every man present had had his name twice checked on a list by the captain of the royal guard. For those that were old enough to remember, such a thing had not been necessary in Brittany.
But then, they were not in Brittany anymore.
Even though they spoke in whispers, with the sheer number of mouths flapping, the hall had reached a steady commotion. Loyalists mingled with lesser lords. Bretons mixed with Irishmen.
In a side room the King paced eagerly, mentally preparing his speech. He forgot who had said it, but Richard knew that words had meaning. Words had power. Power enough to command and cow. Power enough to mend and break. Power enough to bless and bury.
Snapping his fingers, he listened greedily to the voices beyond the chamber. Those were his people. Those were his subjects. They would hear him out and, at best, resist lightly before bowing their heads. At worst…
Well, Richard had dealt with such things before.
His dear, departed father had given him a mess. But now, now Brittany sang like a well-trained bird.
There were still screeches and squawks from time to time. Richard knew perfection was impossible. He just relished the challenge. It was a thrill to fight and plan. To him, the burdens of rulership felt almost like one large game.
It was a game he would win.
. . .
The speech neared the climax. Richard stared out at the attentive faces of the lords of the realm. This was his moment to savor. Brittany had come this far off the back of his work, not theirs.
He took a deep breath, pausing dramatically, and gave his voice a commanding pitch.
“Our rivals thought to snuff us out. To bury us in the dust. These attempts have left Brittany scarred, exiled. But rest assured that my resolve is unwavering. We will emerge from this crisis even stronger! For the sake of stability, Brittany shall be reorganized into a glorious empire! One dedicated to the security of its citizens above all. I am prepared to do what is necessary. Are you?”
Author's Note: I feel like this narrative episode is missing something, yet can't put my finger on what that might be. Feel free to let me know what you thought of this one.
I also think that, if Richard were real and living in the 21st Century, that the Guns, Drums, and Steel tracks would be all he'd listen to.
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Will it remain your capital even after the homeland is reclaimed?
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Definitely a positive vibe for the future. Imagine - closing in on France for 3rd.
Whoo will be the hunter, and who the rabbit, in a few years?
Rensslaer
Whoo will be the hunter, and who the rabbit, in a few years?
Rensslaer
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so the optimal play is to wait until it's 10 provinces and then take from them?
so, time to burn some destroying the english?
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Thanks for the latest chapter. Good to see you add some narrative. Love the music.
I did not think it was missing much at all, perhaps because it was a welcome break and a surprising departure.
However, if I must get into the weeds on this, I would say the speech comes off like a royal report, a state of the empire if you will. I think declaring an empire is ahead (well, you can see it in the Americas, Africa, and Asia already) is good and gives the king some vision for his speech. But what is needed in this speech is more vision. He should be outlining a strategy for that empire.
I did not think it was missing much at all, perhaps because it was a welcome break and a surprising departure.
However, if I must get into the weeds on this, I would say the speech comes off like a royal report, a state of the empire if you will. I think declaring an empire is ahead (well, you can see it in the Americas, Africa, and Asia already) is good and gives the king some vision for his speech. But what is needed in this speech is more vision. He should be outlining a strategy for that empire.
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I haven't decided yet. That could very well be up to the audience.
And we're only just getting started.
You're understanding well. England, France, Spain, Portugal, we've reached the point where we'll soon surpass all of them.
Soon, we'll be going on the attack!
Wait until it's 10 provinces for the extra merchant, then annex the overlord. Taking from the Danish CN would just feed to our existing CN.
Most of the time, it's too much of a hassle to do this, so you just have to have one CN per region normally.
England is coming...very, very soon. We actually get distracted somewhere else though first, which you'll see in a few updates.
You're welcome!
Adding these narrative episodes has been very fun. I feel it's a nice break from the rest of the AAR.
I'm not sure how others feel about Paradox's rock and roll music packs, but I love the ones they've done for CK2 and EU4. Some of my favorite music, period.
Yes, we only see part of Richard's speech, so I agree there's a lack of vision. This narrative episode was a late addition to the chapter, so I didn't have the energy to write out a whole speech. Certainly, there could've been more. Maybe it would've been stronger if I'd cut out the speech, leaving it up to the imagination before the King goes on stage. I think the first part, before the ellipses/break has more oomph to it.
(But I also wanted Richard to channel his inner Palpatine).
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CHAPTER FORTY-FOUR: Wars, Colonies, Revolts, & Excommunication (December 1593-October 1600)
Author's Note: Be warned, a very long chapter below. But this is the best way I found to split these up.
The Papal bonus that decreases our inflation has expired and I retake it. That should at least help a bit. As you’ll see sometime below, this purchase, plus another, has unintended consequences.
In the meantime, our colony in Wurundjeri finishes. We move one province to the west. Gunditjmara has no native tribes adjacent to it, so we should be safe from any migration-cancellations this time.
A few days after that, our spies capture an urgent missive. Our CN, d’Elbene, is planning to attack Creek on their own!
Usually I would allow this, but I want to ensure that Creek stays around in the provinces bordering French South Carolina. France might declare their own war against a weakened Creek afterward, giving them enough land for a CN and letting d’Elbene take it themselves later without French interference.
I declare war on Creek immediately. This cancels out d’Elbene’s own plans, since they’re now at war with them anyway, and we now control the peacedeal.
As we attack Creek, we also vassalize Jambi in Sumatra. Our diplomats have been working away diligently for a while now. A lot of the smaller nations in Southeast Asia (Deli, Jambi, Pahang, Kutai) are all willing to become our vassals, especially with the extra +15 reasons we’ll soon get from finishing Espionage.
(Cicled in blue is Jambi. They have 2 provinces, one on mainland Sumatra and an island strait-crossing just off the coast).
Most of our treasury, recently buoyed by the Songhai war, is spent on 4 Manufactories (Kildare, Ulster, Midlands, and Limerick).
Our colonies have the Creek war well in hand. It’s only a matter of time until we gain victory.
With no distractions, we start a war in Africa against Jolof and Timbuktu. Their alliance bloc has broken down as Songhai has consolidated the region. Kong is completely gone. This war shouldn’t be as difficult as it was back in Chapter 32.
After that, our California CN spawns in. I name it after Brittany’s ruling dynasty: Douar-font Dreux (DFD), which I think roughly translates to Dreuxland. It’s a Crown Colony. The new merchant is sent to California to transfer to Mississippi.
Writing this now and looking over screenshots, I think the name is a little wonky. I might have to revise it a bit later. But we have a century to go until then.
England boasts about circumnavigating the Globe, a minor achievement of no significance. It won’t save them from being eclipsed.
Our manpower is looking fine. We have around 61k in reserve, but I feel it’s better to play it safe. Using 50 more Papal Influence, I pick up the manpower recovery bonus as well.
This, importantly, brings us below 50 Papal Influence. And, also key, our rivals in Portugal have seized the Papacy.
King Richard is Excommunicated.
Those Iberian fiends!
The requirements for Excommunication are:
The penalties aren’t game breaking. But they also aren’t anything to scoff at. In an RP sense, this just continues our long-running feud with the Pope.
How can we lift this curse, you ask?
Well, we have to either get Portugal to like us, or we wait until someone who does takes the Curia for themselves. We can also buy an indulgence, but that requires a boatload of cash. And if we do that, Portugal can just Excommunicate again after 5-year timer. I’d like to wait until the Pope isn’t a Portuguese puppet.
To rub salt on the wound, we lose 1 Stability from an event.
Sometimes, I feel like when it rains it pours in this game.
With California secured under a subject, our colonies at Yaqui and Chumash both complete on schedule. Moving again to Australia, I claim Kurrama in the northwest and Guugu Yimithirr in the northeast. Both aren’t currently adjacent to any natives.
Timbuktu is separate peaced for 1 province. We don’t intend on keeping this one for ourselves though. I have other plans. But we must be at peace first.
Jolof is annexed and we get 80 ducats.
(In yellow, the 1 province taken from Timbuktu).
Creek’s ally in North America, Atahachi, is annexed. Creek cedes almost all their land to our CNs. All they’re left with is some provinces adjacent to France, Denmark, and Portugal. I’m hoping our rivals take the bait.
(To recap, you need 5 cored provinces in a given region for a CN to spawn. Denmark and France both currently have 4, Portugal has 2. I've left Creek strategically separated in spots to tempt the European AIs to attack).
I take this moment to also enlarge Douar-font Dreux’s gold fleet just like we’ve done previously to Al Esperans (Chapter 40).
But now that we’re at peace, I can enact my plan for the province we stole from Timbuktu. I plan to release a vassal.
As mentioned in Chapter 28, there are 3 ways to make vassals:
If you have a slightly different button in this spot, click it so you’re looking at your own nation, not another country. Or you can right-click your country on the map.
Clicking the button to release a subject lists every possible nation that could be popped out of you. In this case, we want to release Fulo.
Fulo unfortunately has a core on Kantor, a province we’ve already cored from Kaabu. This is a slight waste of admin points, but giving up Kantor is worth it because of what Fulo gives us in return. Take a look at this:
We gave up Kantor, plus uncored Trarza and Bambuk. But we’ve gained access to Fulo’s cores outside our borders.
That’s 7 extra provinces in Africa that can be taken cheaply for little AE, unrest, and warscore.
Continuing our goal of preparing for Absolutism, I revoke another privilege from the Nobility. We don’t need cheaper colonies anymore. Our economy can handle it and we’re running out of free land anyway.
Immediately after though, I backtrack and take the integration privilege instead. It’s time to say goodbye to Tyrone and Sligo. We slowly annex them both, one at a time.
Also, yes, there’s a massive rebellion going on in Ireland right now. If you looked at the screenshot of Fulo’s cores and wondered where our army and transports were going, that’s where. In fact, they’ve nearly arrived.
Despite the revolt (maybe to spite it. Hah!), I upgrade our Trade Center in Cork to level 3. It’s now a World Port. The extra Trade Power gives us a bigger share in the North Sea, and the Dev cost and +1 building slot don’t hurt either.
A chunk of cash is also spent in Cork to build a Shipyard. At this time, I also move our merchant from North Sea to Amazonas, which ends up transferring into Caribbean.
(The increase in trade income from the Trade Center upgrade and merchant movement).
The next Espionage slot is taken. The Foreign Spy Detection is nice for catching, get this, foreign spies. Late-game especially our rivals will constantly be trying to harry us. And the Corruption decrease offsets the extra Corruption we’re getting from our most recent Government Reform (Chapter 42).
In miscellaneous news, Portugal attacks a weakened Zuni, eating a large chunk. And we offer knowledge of the latest Institution to Ayutthaya for a fee of 4.56 ducats a month.
And at least one country has fallen for our trap. Denmark goes against Creek!
At some point the Kurrama colonist was recalled. Whether that was my decision, or a native forced me out I’m not sure. I don’t have a screenshot of the exact moment, so I thought at first maybe it finished. But looking through later screenshots I was able to see that we don’t own it in the future.
Gunditjmara and Guugu Yimithirr are both still planted and growing. But we send the free colonist to Sakam on the southern tip of Taiwan.
6 Training Fields (the upgrade to a Barracks) are built across our empire to further increase our manpower. Once those are complete, I queue up a Marketplace in one of our Trade Centers (maybe in Africa, I think. Again, no exact screenshot. I can just see it in the outliner). Everything is ramping up fast.
At the end of Chapter 41 (June 1578) I posited how much more our income might grow before the end of the century. Then, it was 41.19.
Now, we’re 20 years and a month later with 2 years left before 1600. Production has nearly doubled to 14.04. While Trade income has seen the largest boost, going from 14.07 to 23.81.
Our income is 75.54 gross. A hefty increase of over 30 ducats!
War Exhaustion, the persistent issue, is back to manageable levels. We only have a bit left over from the Jolof-Timbuktu conflict. Our inflation is still high but being worked on.
We even pick up another Age bonus, giving less warscore costs against heathens and heretics. That means more war on the horizon, but now we have an economy that can handle it.
At least there is some justice in the world. France is Excommunicated too! Hopefully this slows the French behemoth down.
Portugal is no longer the Papal Controller. That honor now belongs to Strasbourg. They hate us just because of the Excommunication. But if we improve relations they should lift it. One of our diplomats gets to work.
King Richard may be a cruel, ambitious, and controlling ruler, But Queen Isabelle knows how to smooth things over. The extra points will help us complete Espionage quicker.
Some problems, however, can’t be solved with words. After dealing with the revolt in Ireland, our army sails yet again for an often-overlooked part of our nation.
Ile Bourbon was colonized way back when as an outpost (Chapter 32). During the chaos of Richard’s early reign, some peasants revolted and occupied the island. According to the province log that was only, let’s see…
40 years ago!
At last, our army has got around putting the peasants back in their place. This strange, all too brief, period in the island’s history is over.
Realistically, Ile Bourbon has been independent and ruled by peasants this entire time. EU4 just doesn’t model revolts that way.
Gunditjmara finishes. I set up a base in Guam. I wanted either Wake or Midway, but those have both already been claimed by the Portuguese and English respectively.
Denmark ends their war with Creek, taking the only province they could reach. It’s still enough for a CN once they core it. And more free land for d’Elbene once that happens.
We take admin tech 16 giving yet another Manufactory.
Here’s some metrics and a brief tidbit to end-off the update:
We have the world’s seventh highest max manpower, a testament to our focus on mil Dev and Barracks/Training Fields.
We have the eighth highest Score. In terms of Ages, this one has been our best yet, far outpacing our gains in the Age of Discovery.
We’re fourteenth in income. If we keep this pace, we’ll soon make the top 10.
We own a decent share of different Trade Goods, giving us a couple minor buffs.
We’re the fifth GP, just barely behind France and Spain.
(Comparing our GP rank to last chapter, we're still in 5th place. But we've grown by 84 points. Spain grew by 61, surpassing France. France grew by only 21).
We have 63,000 men under arms and 49 ships under sail.
In terms of Development, we’re in eleventh place. And, surprisingly, we’re below d’Elbene.
Adding our Development with d’Elbene’s and Al Esperans a Anne’s, we’re at 1,730 in second place. That doesn’t include Douar-font Dreux, Henrika, Nevez Breizh, or Iles de Beaumetz, so we might even surpass Russia.
This goes to @TheButterflyComposer's point a few chapters ago of creating an American monarchy. We would be much, much stronger if all this land was ours directly. And if I weren’t doing a tutorial and trying to showcase CNs as a mechanic, I would do that.
Having a colonial empire like this really only works if like Spain, England, or Portugal you have a solid homebase. We did not have that and have even been kicked from our home base. Only now are we reaching the point (via Ireland and Africa) where we have a solid amount of land under us.
So yes, we’ve handicapped ourselves. But again, I want to show off CNs and how even in horrible positions you can still come back.
We will return to the mainland one day and make France pay.
CHAPTER FORTY-FOUR: Wars, Colonies, Revolts, & Excommunication
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(December 1593-October 1600)
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(December 1593-October 1600)
The Papal bonus that decreases our inflation has expired and I retake it. That should at least help a bit. As you’ll see sometime below, this purchase, plus another, has unintended consequences.
In the meantime, our colony in Wurundjeri finishes. We move one province to the west. Gunditjmara has no native tribes adjacent to it, so we should be safe from any migration-cancellations this time.
A few days after that, our spies capture an urgent missive. Our CN, d’Elbene, is planning to attack Creek on their own!
Usually I would allow this, but I want to ensure that Creek stays around in the provinces bordering French South Carolina. France might declare their own war against a weakened Creek afterward, giving them enough land for a CN and letting d’Elbene take it themselves later without French interference.
I declare war on Creek immediately. This cancels out d’Elbene’s own plans, since they’re now at war with them anyway, and we now control the peacedeal.
As we attack Creek, we also vassalize Jambi in Sumatra. Our diplomats have been working away diligently for a while now. A lot of the smaller nations in Southeast Asia (Deli, Jambi, Pahang, Kutai) are all willing to become our vassals, especially with the extra +15 reasons we’ll soon get from finishing Espionage.
(Cicled in blue is Jambi. They have 2 provinces, one on mainland Sumatra and an island strait-crossing just off the coast).
Most of our treasury, recently buoyed by the Songhai war, is spent on 4 Manufactories (Kildare, Ulster, Midlands, and Limerick).
Our colonies have the Creek war well in hand. It’s only a matter of time until we gain victory.
With no distractions, we start a war in Africa against Jolof and Timbuktu. Their alliance bloc has broken down as Songhai has consolidated the region. Kong is completely gone. This war shouldn’t be as difficult as it was back in Chapter 32.
After that, our California CN spawns in. I name it after Brittany’s ruling dynasty: Douar-font Dreux (DFD), which I think roughly translates to Dreuxland. It’s a Crown Colony. The new merchant is sent to California to transfer to Mississippi.
Writing this now and looking over screenshots, I think the name is a little wonky. I might have to revise it a bit later. But we have a century to go until then.
England boasts about circumnavigating the Globe, a minor achievement of no significance. It won’t save them from being eclipsed.
Our manpower is looking fine. We have around 61k in reserve, but I feel it’s better to play it safe. Using 50 more Papal Influence, I pick up the manpower recovery bonus as well.
This, importantly, brings us below 50 Papal Influence. And, also key, our rivals in Portugal have seized the Papacy.
King Richard is Excommunicated.
Those Iberian fiends!
The requirements for Excommunication are:
- The Papal States has a negative opinion of the target.
- As I said, our diplomats have been busy in Asia. I must’ve let the improve relations slip.
- The target has less than 50 Papal Influence.
The penalties aren’t game breaking. But they also aren’t anything to scoff at. In an RP sense, this just continues our long-running feud with the Pope.
How can we lift this curse, you ask?
Well, we have to either get Portugal to like us, or we wait until someone who does takes the Curia for themselves. We can also buy an indulgence, but that requires a boatload of cash. And if we do that, Portugal can just Excommunicate again after 5-year timer. I’d like to wait until the Pope isn’t a Portuguese puppet.
To rub salt on the wound, we lose 1 Stability from an event.
Sometimes, I feel like when it rains it pours in this game.
With California secured under a subject, our colonies at Yaqui and Chumash both complete on schedule. Moving again to Australia, I claim Kurrama in the northwest and Guugu Yimithirr in the northeast. Both aren’t currently adjacent to any natives.
Timbuktu is separate peaced for 1 province. We don’t intend on keeping this one for ourselves though. I have other plans. But we must be at peace first.
Jolof is annexed and we get 80 ducats.
(In yellow, the 1 province taken from Timbuktu).
Creek’s ally in North America, Atahachi, is annexed. Creek cedes almost all their land to our CNs. All they’re left with is some provinces adjacent to France, Denmark, and Portugal. I’m hoping our rivals take the bait.
(To recap, you need 5 cored provinces in a given region for a CN to spawn. Denmark and France both currently have 4, Portugal has 2. I've left Creek strategically separated in spots to tempt the European AIs to attack).
I take this moment to also enlarge Douar-font Dreux’s gold fleet just like we’ve done previously to Al Esperans (Chapter 40).
But now that we’re at peace, I can enact my plan for the province we stole from Timbuktu. I plan to release a vassal.
As mentioned in Chapter 28, there are 3 ways to make vassals:
- Force vassalize them in a war. Only works if the nation is small enough.
- Diplo-vassalize them using alliances, improve relations, etc.
- Release a subject out of yourself.
If you have a slightly different button in this spot, click it so you’re looking at your own nation, not another country. Or you can right-click your country on the map.
Clicking the button to release a subject lists every possible nation that could be popped out of you. In this case, we want to release Fulo.
Fulo unfortunately has a core on Kantor, a province we’ve already cored from Kaabu. This is a slight waste of admin points, but giving up Kantor is worth it because of what Fulo gives us in return. Take a look at this:
We gave up Kantor, plus uncored Trarza and Bambuk. But we’ve gained access to Fulo’s cores outside our borders.
That’s 7 extra provinces in Africa that can be taken cheaply for little AE, unrest, and warscore.
Continuing our goal of preparing for Absolutism, I revoke another privilege from the Nobility. We don’t need cheaper colonies anymore. Our economy can handle it and we’re running out of free land anyway.
Immediately after though, I backtrack and take the integration privilege instead. It’s time to say goodbye to Tyrone and Sligo. We slowly annex them both, one at a time.
Also, yes, there’s a massive rebellion going on in Ireland right now. If you looked at the screenshot of Fulo’s cores and wondered where our army and transports were going, that’s where. In fact, they’ve nearly arrived.
Despite the revolt (maybe to spite it. Hah!), I upgrade our Trade Center in Cork to level 3. It’s now a World Port. The extra Trade Power gives us a bigger share in the North Sea, and the Dev cost and +1 building slot don’t hurt either.
A chunk of cash is also spent in Cork to build a Shipyard. At this time, I also move our merchant from North Sea to Amazonas, which ends up transferring into Caribbean.
(The increase in trade income from the Trade Center upgrade and merchant movement).
The next Espionage slot is taken. The Foreign Spy Detection is nice for catching, get this, foreign spies. Late-game especially our rivals will constantly be trying to harry us. And the Corruption decrease offsets the extra Corruption we’re getting from our most recent Government Reform (Chapter 42).
In miscellaneous news, Portugal attacks a weakened Zuni, eating a large chunk. And we offer knowledge of the latest Institution to Ayutthaya for a fee of 4.56 ducats a month.
And at least one country has fallen for our trap. Denmark goes against Creek!
At some point the Kurrama colonist was recalled. Whether that was my decision, or a native forced me out I’m not sure. I don’t have a screenshot of the exact moment, so I thought at first maybe it finished. But looking through later screenshots I was able to see that we don’t own it in the future.
Gunditjmara and Guugu Yimithirr are both still planted and growing. But we send the free colonist to Sakam on the southern tip of Taiwan.
6 Training Fields (the upgrade to a Barracks) are built across our empire to further increase our manpower. Once those are complete, I queue up a Marketplace in one of our Trade Centers (maybe in Africa, I think. Again, no exact screenshot. I can just see it in the outliner). Everything is ramping up fast.
At the end of Chapter 41 (June 1578) I posited how much more our income might grow before the end of the century. Then, it was 41.19.
Now, we’re 20 years and a month later with 2 years left before 1600. Production has nearly doubled to 14.04. While Trade income has seen the largest boost, going from 14.07 to 23.81.
Our income is 75.54 gross. A hefty increase of over 30 ducats!
War Exhaustion, the persistent issue, is back to manageable levels. We only have a bit left over from the Jolof-Timbuktu conflict. Our inflation is still high but being worked on.
We even pick up another Age bonus, giving less warscore costs against heathens and heretics. That means more war on the horizon, but now we have an economy that can handle it.
At least there is some justice in the world. France is Excommunicated too! Hopefully this slows the French behemoth down.
Portugal is no longer the Papal Controller. That honor now belongs to Strasbourg. They hate us just because of the Excommunication. But if we improve relations they should lift it. One of our diplomats gets to work.
King Richard may be a cruel, ambitious, and controlling ruler, But Queen Isabelle knows how to smooth things over. The extra points will help us complete Espionage quicker.
Some problems, however, can’t be solved with words. After dealing with the revolt in Ireland, our army sails yet again for an often-overlooked part of our nation.
Ile Bourbon was colonized way back when as an outpost (Chapter 32). During the chaos of Richard’s early reign, some peasants revolted and occupied the island. According to the province log that was only, let’s see…
40 years ago!
At last, our army has got around putting the peasants back in their place. This strange, all too brief, period in the island’s history is over.
Realistically, Ile Bourbon has been independent and ruled by peasants this entire time. EU4 just doesn’t model revolts that way.
Gunditjmara finishes. I set up a base in Guam. I wanted either Wake or Midway, but those have both already been claimed by the Portuguese and English respectively.
Denmark ends their war with Creek, taking the only province they could reach. It’s still enough for a CN once they core it. And more free land for d’Elbene once that happens.
We take admin tech 16 giving yet another Manufactory.
Here’s some metrics and a brief tidbit to end-off the update:
We have the world’s seventh highest max manpower, a testament to our focus on mil Dev and Barracks/Training Fields.
We have the eighth highest Score. In terms of Ages, this one has been our best yet, far outpacing our gains in the Age of Discovery.
We’re fourteenth in income. If we keep this pace, we’ll soon make the top 10.
We own a decent share of different Trade Goods, giving us a couple minor buffs.
We’re the fifth GP, just barely behind France and Spain.
(Comparing our GP rank to last chapter, we're still in 5th place. But we've grown by 84 points. Spain grew by 61, surpassing France. France grew by only 21).
We have 63,000 men under arms and 49 ships under sail.
In terms of Development, we’re in eleventh place. And, surprisingly, we’re below d’Elbene.
Adding our Development with d’Elbene’s and Al Esperans a Anne’s, we’re at 1,730 in second place. That doesn’t include Douar-font Dreux, Henrika, Nevez Breizh, or Iles de Beaumetz, so we might even surpass Russia.
This goes to @TheButterflyComposer's point a few chapters ago of creating an American monarchy. We would be much, much stronger if all this land was ours directly. And if I weren’t doing a tutorial and trying to showcase CNs as a mechanic, I would do that.
Having a colonial empire like this really only works if like Spain, England, or Portugal you have a solid homebase. We did not have that and have even been kicked from our home base. Only now are we reaching the point (via Ireland and Africa) where we have a solid amount of land under us.
So yes, we’ve handicapped ourselves. But again, I want to show off CNs and how even in horrible positions you can still come back.
We will return to the mainland one day and make France pay.
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Honestly I'm getting tired of the way the Pope treats Brittany, Richard and his successors should stop sucking up to him when he mistreats them anyway...
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The peasants of Ile Bourbon must have been astonished when the fleet came against them at last. It must have seemed like nobody was coming.
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You've come a long way, and a long way yet to go.
I'm really looking forward to watching you crush England and your revenge upon France.
Rensslaer
I'm really looking forward to watching you crush England and your revenge upon France.
Rensslaer
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Thanks for this latest chapter. Although you warned that it was long, it was breezy reading and flowed quickly.
Renss says it best. Glad you have dealt with your rebellions, set a trap for the Danes (no I'm not switching sides but still cheering you on), and have expanded your empire. Looking forward to other fights ahead.
Waiting to see when you will take that step and retrieve the homeland.
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