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CHAPTER FIFTY-NINE: Final Preparations (April 1726-April 1739)
  • CHAPTER FIFTY-NINE: Final Preparations
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    (April 1726-April 1739)

    We have a small amount of inflation I think because of an event, so I pop our Mission as a remedy. I also activate the 2 others below it, giving a large sum of cash, Prestige, and other benefits.


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    Almost as if the game knows our plans with France, we get a massive +10% Discipline for the next 6 years because our Commandant Advisor is so talented.

    For each type of Advisor (Philosopher, Artist, Reformer, etc.) you can get a once-per-game event which gives a bonus in their specific field. You get the bonus either way, the 2 choices in the event just let you choose between Prestige or Stability (or admin points if your Stability is maxed out).


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    (Brittany may be a colonizing imperialist, but at least women have a place in our court).

    Some of the other Advisor bonuses have fired already this campaign, but we’re lucky that the Commandant one has waited until now. France should be quaking in their boots!

    Our next Age Ability is picked up: a +3 to sieging forts. The max for everyone is normally +5, but now we’re at +8 (assuming we have enough artillery for the full bonus).

    Another Idea is taken which gives a relation-slot. Later, the next one is grabbed (+2 Diplomatic Reputation) And Spain returns Sale to Morrocco once we ask nicely.


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    Our forces are nearly ready. Everybody is being shipped back to Britain for the coming conflict.

    Unfortunately, Spain then calls us into a war against Pasai. I can’t refuse, not now. I may need Spain as a distraction against French might.


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    The war goes fine. In fact, here’s a screenshot of how well our armies do with that extra Discipline.


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    Here you can see us sieging a level 8 fort. Our extra artillery helps immensely. The province falls after only 227 days, and that’s without a Spy Network against Pasai! If you’re ever sieging a fort, make sure you have enough cannons for a full bonus, rearrange your armies if you have to. The extra micro is worth it.


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    As that happens, we complete Influence Ideas. The final 2 slots plus the finisher are shown below:


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    We also get some new Policies. I take the one giving extra Favors growth so we can fleece Spain and Vijayanagar quicker.


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    This war is an easy, albeit annoying, distraction. That extra Discipline comes and goes in the blink of an eye. We weren’t able to bring it to bear against our big blue nemesis.

    We grab an Age Ability which lets us activate the Forced March ability on our armies for free.

    Forced March is an army toggle, letting that army move faster at the cost of 1 mil point per province travelled. Armies with the toggle activated also don’t recover Morale. This Age Ability just removes the mil point cost.


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    Here’s some surprising news from Europe. The Ottomans has lost 1 province to a Czech-Italian alliance.

    France is still on the warpath, even daring to attack the Pope himself (relocated to Germany ever since Savoy took Rome).


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    Spain takes 3 provinces in their war. We get nothing despite our hard work. The monument in Pegu would’ve been a fine addition to our collection. I make sure to mark some provinces, so Spain knows we want land over here. Since they weren’t marked before, they didn’t care.


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    Surat is returned to Gujarat. Tangiers is returned to Morrocco.

    After taking another Policy for cheaper subject integrations, I annex Kong and Jenne.

    We catch up on diplo tech and again take the next admin tech far ahead-of-time. The bonuses were good, plus we got Innovativeness.


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    Russia now shares a border with Bohemia, so the Czech-Italian bloc again finds itself under attack. Can they pull off another miracle?

    Despite the delays in Asia, we’re nearly ready to attack France. At least the war experience we’ve gained has increased our lagging Army Tradition, giving us a new generation of much better generals.


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    We’re at around half our land forcelimit already, with the economy and manpower for more if we wish. France still has us beat in terms of quality, but not by much. And if we have enough numbers, it won’t matter. Crucially, France is now low on manpower. Their constant wars of aggression have taken a toll.


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    With some diplomatic power finally free, I move our main trade node to the English Channel. It’s time to compete with France there more directly. At first our income goes down, even with our merchants given time to readjust, but once I assign our navy to protect trade, we get an extra 210 ducats. That’s 210 ducats that aren’t in French hands.


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    France is now down to 4th place in total income. The gap between 1st place (us) and everyone else continues to grow.


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    We’re able to take another Mission now because our home trade node is the highest valued node in the world (the North Sea was not, the English Channel is). This boosts our income even more.


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    Ceuta (Spain) and Baroda (Vijayanagar) are returned.


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    We finally declare war on France. Spain won’t join immediately because we have no more favors. We’ll call them in later.

    Our fleet doomstack obliterates some French lights in the first engagement of the war.


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    CHAPTER SIXTY: Finally, War With France (April 1739-April 1752) New
  • CHAPTER SIXTY: Finally, War With France
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    (April 1739-April 1752)



    We begin by occupying Greenland. Our American subjects have already locked down the other French possessions across the Atlantic. Some 1k stacks we pre-built and a Moroccan force occupy French West Africa. Three fronts dealt with.


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    Just Europe remains...

    …filled with the entire French army.

    No problem, right?

    Spain is, unhelpfully, giving us military access. Through the quirks of EU4’s system, this access also applies to anyone we’re at war with, which means France. 100k are besieging Portugal. Another 200k is seen on the shores from Normandy to Belgium.

    Slowly I ferry troops to Spain, 80k at a time. We lose one heavy in an engagement with the French fleet.


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    That’s the one thing I forgot to do before declaring, build enough heavies to match France.

    Landing in Porto, we snipe a small French stack.

    Another army is brought over, and we give battle!

    We lose, retreating to Morocco across the straits. But look at those French losses!


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    I have hope.

    Also, we call Spain in. All those French forces are trapped behind the Pyrenees!

    And they’re already on medium war enthusiasm.

    I take the next mil tech ahead-of-time. If there was ever a time to do so, this is it.


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    We can and will win.

    A Breton force lands in Vizcaya, catching some isolated French. We fight at Burgos. The fort shall not fall!


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    The Spanish and French emperors both command the field. Our side wins, and the French once again lose loads.

    Some of them had nowhere to retreat to, so are caught at Palencia and Segovia. A small section limps home to Labourd (fort zone-of-control shenanigans).


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    Spain calls us into their ongoing Tunisian conflict, which we agree to help with in spirit. All our armies are of course focused on a certain blue blob. But our navy wins a battle and captures a few ships.

    We lose a battle at Porto, but the French are being whittled down.

    Meanwhile, we take an Age Ability for improved artillery damage from the back row. Remember that artillery does only half damage while in the back but takes double while in the front.

    I activate our Golden Era finally. I’ve been saving it for this.


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    A, relatively speaking, small French army attacks us in Braganza. They thought we were isolated.

    They were mistaken.

    Their remaining forces in Portugal are hunted down and defeated!


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    With that cleared up, we march north. Another French stack makes the mistake of crossing us at Labourd. A follow up force is wiped at Bordeaux.

    Our navy loses again to the French fleet. But we’ve crossed the Pyrenees. Southern France is open.


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    Most of France’s forts are up-to-date level eights. But our cannons, barrages, and Spy Network make quick work.


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    Spain makes peace with Tunis, enacting a semi-revenge for their previous humiliations in Asia.


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    We lose a close battle at Forcalcario, but the French take losses they can’t afford.

    But Spain…Oh that dastardly Spain!

    They have no manpower and warscore is even, I get that. But I really didn’t expect them to separate peace.


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    In the meantime, we take our last Government Reform. We can now spend those points on switching out earlier Reforms that might not be useful any longer, or increase our Governing Capacity.

    Expanded Royal Court is an example of one of the Reforms we might want to change, given how we only took it initially for the faster Reform Progress Growth.


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    The upside of Spain white-peacing, it reminds me to check on Naples and Savoy. Both are white-peaced-out after a quick blockade.

    France is suddenly all alone.

    Our manpower is looking kind of low (only 120k, gasp!), and France is willing to cede a lot.

    We could be greedy, but I’m practical. And I don’t really want to slog through France’s armies right now, especially since Spain isn’t here to soak the damage.


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    As our armies have moved north to siege France, their armies have hid in Italy, only now emerging for a counterattack.

    We siege things much faster though. By the time they retake a single fort (Auvergne, I think it was) we hold the Benelux and all of central, eastern, and northern France.

    The war ends in glorious victory, the first of hopefully many against our ancient rival!

    The peace is as you might expect, all of France’s American and African colonies, Brittany proper, plus a nice slice of their main northern coast.

    We have dented the French skull.


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    The truce lasts 11 years.

    Our income and forcelimit have grown. France’s has shrunk.

    In other news, the Revolution fades into obscurity. We never saw it get off the ground this game.

    Over the rest of the update, Gujarat gets all their cores back from Vijayanagar. Morocco gets their last one from Spain.


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    We complete a few Missions. We start annexing Morocco. Later, we annex Gujarat and Junagarh too.

    Afterwards, our venerable Emperor Francois V dies at 69. His 53-year-old son Jean VIII ascends to the throne. Our new heir is the 0-year-old Francois.

    We vassalize Kutai and take another Age Ability.


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    France isn’t out of the game yet though, they continue venturing into Germany. Spain attacks Blambangan again.

    I become Defender of the Faith for the extra Morale, manpower, and missionary. The other bonuses aren’t half bad.

    It’s been 5 years already since the peace with France and our manpower is nearly full.


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    The Industrial Revolution Institution spawns in us. Great! We embrace once it spreads enough.

    I install a relative as Spain’s heir. Maybe one day a Dreux will sit on the throne.

    Here’s a concept we haven’t talked about yet: Charter Companies.

    You can buy land from nations in TC regions for a hefty sum. I usually never use it but figured I’d show it off. It can be a useful way of getting a foothold if the AI accepts.

    Because we’ve just allied Porbandar in India, they have extra reasons to say yes. We choose to buy Thatta because it is a Trade Center, and also because the dead nation of Sindh has a core there. We release Sindh, meaning we can now ask Porbandar for all their cores back, just as we've done for Morocco and Gujarat.

    We can’t do this for Vijayanagar unfortunately. They’re too big to accept.


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    At the end of this play-session, our income sits at over 2,000 ducats, double the Ottomans in second place!

    We have the largest navy (I did remember to build more heavy ships) and the second largest army.


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    What will the last 63 years of this game bring?
     

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