Rise of the Magyars - A HUN tutorial

[Kovax]

At last, I found a sizable block of time to run what promises to be the defining conflict of the century, rather than tackle it piecemeal in a few 30-45 minute sessions.

12/1548 - Preparing for what looks to be an epic struggle against France, Hungary is sadly lacking in competent military leaders. The best of the 5 has only 1 pip in Melee, the others only have Fire and/or Movement pips. Emperor Janos von Luxemburg takes to the field as a general, bringing 4 melee pips to the impending war. With a ruler converted to a general, Hungary can now pass the Militia Act, the primary function being a slider move toward Centralization at the expense of another toward Quantity. This puts the slider at -4 Decentralization, only one more step from the -5 required to complete the military phase of Westernization, although it will take two slider cycles to make that single move, due to it being beyond the minimum slider position for the current form of government.

2/1549 - Hungary now has 5 armies of 14,000 men on the French border, a smaller force with around 4000 men, and another 3000 neighboring the recent French colony on the North American coast. Armies consisting of 14,000 troops also remain on the Golden Horde, Shawnee, and Ottoman borders, another 14,000 men are left to cover the core of the empire along the Brandenburg border, plus there is an army to cover the British Isles. War is declared against France for violating the Imperial Ban by holding Calais, Picardie, Cambray, and Pisa. Hungary's allies and vassals join the war, as do Brandenburg and Trier for the French side.

3/1549 - Poland surrenders to Sweden, making some token reparations. Brandenburg's already battered army fresh out of the war in Poland is shattered by the Hungarians left to cover the central Empire, and Potsdam is taken by assault. Brandenburg agrees to annul its alliance with France, dropping out of the war. Trier's modest army is crushed by a force of 14,000 Hungarians, which then turns its attention to France, while Hungary's allies begin sieging Trier. Calais, Picardie, Champagne, Bourbon, Auvergne, and Languedoc are taken by assault.

5/1549 - The first group of nearly 20,000 French troops arrives at the front from Spain, and begins re-sieging Languedoc, while 28,000 Hungarian troops take Isle-de-France. Three Hungarian armies fall back to recover morale, rather than engage the French immediately in their current condition.

6/1549 - Golden Horde appears on the border once again. Hungarian troops seize the French colony of Conoy, and Hungarian colonists are dispatched to culturally convert the colony to Hungarian. A French attempt to settle the neighboring province of Delaware fails. Austria diplomatically annexes Baden (2 provinces). France settles with Tuscany (which is occupying Pisa) in its other war with Castille, agreeing to release Foix as an independent state.

7/1549 - The 20,000 man French army in Languedoc is attacked by 28,000 Hungarians led by the Emperor. The initial rounds go badly, with two of the three melee rolls for Hungary as 0, with the middle roll as the "bright spot" with a 3. Casualties inflicted are running close to 5:1 in favor of France. A third 14,000 man army is brought into the fight. France accepts a white peace with Castille. The French force's morale finally runs out, and they retreat to Périgord, pursued by that third Hungarian army plus the less battered of the first pair, while the most seriously damaged (4000 men left from 14,000) slinks away to replace the devastating losses and recover morale. The Hungarian armies, despite being at the same technology level, are still slightly behind their western equivalents, and the 0 melee bonuses don't compare with France's 3 and 4 pip leaders. Luck has also been bad in terms of melee combat rolls for the last few battles, with more 0s and 1s than all of the other digits combined. That hasn't been the case against the Golden Horde, where one roll of an 8 almost evaporated the entire opposing army in a single turn.

8/1549 - Zaporozhie and Crimea become Hungarian cores. A second French army of 22,000 men arrives and resumes the siege of Languedoc, while the first stack is engaged again in Périgord, broken again, and flees to Armagnac with the two Hungarian armies in hot pursuit. A third battle occurs in Armagnac, where the French stack is finally eliminated, but both Hungarian armies are in no shape to continue in their present conditions. A third French army of 17,000 men arrives. A Hungarian general passes away: the one with a pip in melee.

9/1549 - The siege of Trier is completed by Hungary's allies, and Trier agrees to break its alliance with France. The 17,000 man French force is engaged by 28,000 fresh Hungarian troops, while the battered Hungarian armies return to friendly soil to speed up their recovery. The smaller French army is broken, and retreats in a long march through Poitou, Berry, Orleanais, and eventually to Isle-de-France, where it finally halts and is engaged by the pursuing Hungarian armies. Pisa is taken by a small Hungarian force.

10/1549 - Golden Horde offers 4.8 ducats per month in tribute, which Hungary accepts. Hungary gains another cardinal in the Vatican, bringing its annual Infamy change from +0.07 to a marginal drop of -0.03. The French unit in Isle-de-France is broken again, fleeing to Alencon. Emperor Janos von Luxemburg passes away, and is succeeded on the throne by his son Albert (5/8/4), who in turn has an infant heir Ulaszlo (5/5/5), somewhat mediocre across the board (6 is average), but far from terrible.

11/1549 - Albert's slightly lower Administration skill is insufficient for the number of non-core provinces controlled by Hungary, and will likely remain so until the former British provinces become cores, so the Overextension penalty returns. The French stack fleeing to Alencon is engaged once again with moderate losses on both sides, then heads for Normandie, where it finally surrenders and is removed. Yet another 16,000 French arrive from Spain, joining the 22,000 in Languedoc. With all 5 of its main armies in the theater either depleted or only partially recovered from their last battering, and not a single general with a positive melee modifier in the whole bunch, Hungary decides to take its 54% war score and quit while it's ahead. France accepts defeat, surrendering Calais and Pisa outright, and releasing Toulouse (4 provinces) and Normandy (3 provinces) as independent countries. Hungary is granted a core in Calais for liberating HRE provinces from an outside aggressor. Overall that removes 9 provinces from France, while increasing Hungary by 1 directly, plus the other 8 as allies, and makes the inevitable future war(s) for the illegal HRE provinces of Picardie and Cambray potentially a lot easier. No longer at war, Hungary releases Pisa as a vassal, which burns off 2 of the current 2.7 Infamy. Emperor Albert's higher Diplomatic skill promises to reduce that at a rate of around -0.8 per year.

12/1549 - Emperor Albert von Luxemburg begins the lengthy process of forging new royal marriages with a long list of countries, while the Hungarian armies return to their previous spots or to put down several revolts in the newer provinces as a result of war exhaustion combined with overextension. A new Statesman advisor is hired, and the Dissolution Act becomes available, but the -3 Infamy benefit will be better off being used after a war where Infamy is gained, rather than pass it now for its lesser benefits.

1550 - France restores the alliance with Brandenburg. Austria releases illegally held Breisgau to the Emperor but refuses to turn over Baden itself. Numerous revolts are put down by Hungary, Poland, and France after their brutal conflicts. Hungary sends colonists to the last unclaimed coastal province in North America between Muskogee and Massachusetts.

The truce with Ottomans will expire at the end of 1551, so that may be the next move. It will take two slider moves toward Centralization to make the single change required to complete Westernization (slider moves outside of the minimums or maximums allowed by your form of government take two slider actions to make), and the first of those is due in 2-3 more years, then about another 14 years until the final cycle. Neither the current king nor heir have sufficient Administrative skill to pass that last Westernization reform anyway. The 4 provinces of Bulgaria will become cores by the end of the decade, as will the two illegal HRE provinces of Savoie and Luxemburg currently being held by Hungary. Breisgau is currently being held as a release valve for 2 more points of Infamy, which I may use if/when I diplo-annex Bosnia. Religious conversion has been proceeding as fast as I can churn out missionaries, but there are still a lot of provinces to convert. Construction begins on another Weapons Manufacturer in Bulgaria, for the +5 research bonus. Land and Government are both roughly on par with the rest of the HRE, but Production is lagging by a couple of levels, and Trade and Naval are still 5 or 6 levels behind, each getting more than 50 points of neighbor bonuses per month, thanks to Westernization and a bunch of fairly advanced neighbors. I'm pumping all of my research points into Land and Government, and allowing the free neighbor bonuses to stay high, for greater overall research speed.

Thanks to the repeated incursions by the Golden Horde, as well as the forced release of HRE provinces by France, Hungary now has 100 Imperial Authority, enough to pass two reforms and become permanent hereditary leader of the HRE. I will not go that route, however, as I intend to exit the HRE after Westernization is completed. Burning off the 100 Authority will be time-consuming, but I'm sure I can spend a lot of it restoring Relations after I diplo-annex a few vassals. I NEED to burn it, otherwise whoever is elected to the throne when I exit the HRE will pass those reforms, which I don't want to happen, because I intend to regain that throne, by force if necessary, while NOT being a member. At this point, Austria is the likely candidate, although it might go to Milan or Hesse if Austria increases its Infamy any further. Poland even has one elector, despite being a non-member, due to their shared religion.

 

[Kovax]

A short session, and a mistake in my previous understanding of the game was corrected.

4/1551 - During the previous couple of months, the king of Burgundy was succeeded by a noble without much legitimacy. Hungary sends spies to seek documents to provide a reasonably legitimate excuse, but that fails. Burgundy's access through Hungarian territory is revoked by Hungary, to reduce Relations by 20 points, and avoid the -5 Stability hit for declaring war with military access. Burgundy almost immediately requests that access be restored, which is denied, reducing Relations by another 10 points.

5/1551 - Hungary cancels its own military access through Burgundy, lowering Relations further, and another espionage mission is dispatched to seek documents. They are discovered, causing a small increase in Infamy. More importantly, they succeed.

6/1551 - Hungary breaks its alliance with Burgundy, dropping Relations well under 100, and thereby eliminating all but the Royal Marriage issue.

7/1551 - Hungary declares war for the throne of Burgundy. This causes a single stability hit because of the Royal Marriage, which will take roughly 15 months to burn off, thanks to the combined effects of the two +50% Stability Cost penalties for Westernization and Overextension. Aragon dishonors its alliance with Burgundy. Artois is quickly assaulted and taken by Hungary, and two Hungarian 14,000 man armies converge on Franche-Comte, triggering a revolt by 8000 Protestant Zealots immediately upon their arrival. The Burgundian army moves toward Bar (Austrian), heading for its two isolated northern provinces beyond.

8/1551 - The religious revolt in France-Comte is brutally crushed, and the slightly ruffled Hungarian armies begin moving toward Bar to cut off the Burgundians. The Burgundians cancel their movement toward Bar, and the Hungarians then shift direction to engage them in Bourgogne, defeat them with only slightly more casualties suffered than inflicted, and chase them to Franche-Comte where they are eliminated. By the end of the month, all of the Burgundian provinces are either under siege or already taken.

9/1551 - Normandy, even though allied with Hungary, makes alliance with Burgundy and joins the war against Hungary. So much for gratitude for liberating them from France.

12/1551 - Hungarian troops eliminate the weak Normandy army of 4000 men, and begin sieging all three provinces. Normandy should make a fine vassal, since they make such a terrible ally. A slider move is now available. Much to my surprise, the slider actually moves! Despite the claims and the way it worked in previous expansions, only a single slider action is required to move to -5 Decentralization. This fulfills the one major requirement for the final military reform to complete Westernization....problem is, my current ruler and his heir both lack the Administrative skill necessary to carry out the reform. I also need to wait until the current "Resisting Western Influences" effect expires, but will probably need to renew it for another decade and hope for a king capable of doing the reform.

Assuming that nothing unusual happens (which may be asking a lot from EU3), I should be able to vassalize Normandy, then force a personal union on Burgundy, within a few months. After that, I can pass the Dissolution Act, burning off 3 of the 4 Infamy which vassalizing Normandy will inflict. Bosnia is showing up on the long list of countries I can diplomatically annex, the only one (until I vassalize Normandy) that's not an HRE member. Annexing an HRE member that way will add non-core provinces and invoke the resulting penalties, which will then take 50 years to core, but Bosnia isn't a member. I can then use up some Imperial Authority to restore Relations with the other HRE member states (particularly my Personal Union partner Dauphine and hopefully Burgundy). Normandy, not being a member, will need to be courted in the more traditional manner: lots of cash bribes.

 

[Kovax]

Business as usual over the weekend. Progress, but nothing earth shaking.

4/1552 - I suddenly realized that the annual -0.4 Infamy reduction modifier for my embassy was missing from the list of modifiers, which would have happened when Albania became a core. Construction of a new embassy in Bolgar was started, the most recent non-core border province in my empire.

6/1552 - Normandy surrenders to Hungary in the continuing war for the throne of Burgundy. Normandy becomes a Hungarian vassal. Two days later, Burgundy agrees to the personal union under Hungary, and renounces its core claims in Calais, Luxemburg, Valenciennes, and Picardie.

7/1552 - Hungary passes the Dissolution Act. This burns off 3 of the 4 Infamy just acquired, moves a slider one step toward Free Subjects, and provides a small reduction in Revolt Risk at the expense of some Production Efficiency. Seeing how money isn't a problem, I'll take the improved research speed, and the reduction in Revolt Risk will offset the increase due to the slider move itself. Elsewhere, Austria declared war on Milan, leading to a massive set of alliances at each others' throats. Hungary is not involved.

9/1552 - A Border Dispute event provides a core on Sandomierz in Poland, bringing it up to 3 Hungarian core provinces in Poland, including the capital. I think this looks like an opportunity.

11/1552 - Hungary passes the Piracy Act, providing a small improvement in Infamy reduction. Polotsk declares its independence from Poland in one of the Polish major revolts, and a long, painful war between shattered armies begins before Polotsk is re-absorbed. I've got a truce with Poland, so the opportunity is wasted. Ryazan gains a core on a Hungarian province in a border dispute, so now each of us has a disputed core with the other.

3/1553 - Stability finally returns to +3. Hungary declares war on Ryazan over the core in Tula from the first border dispute, and Novgorod honors its guarantee of Ryazan, taking control of the war. France gains a border dispute core on Hungary.

4/1553 - Tula and Kasimov are taken by assault and Ryazan accepts the Hungarian demands to convert to Catholicism, surrender Tula, and renounce its claim on Bryansk. Milan surrenders to Austria in the large war between them, renouncing treaties, but Portugal has taken over that side of the war, and it continues.

7/1553 - Novgorod agrees to liberate its OPM vassal Nizhny Novgorod (in Smolensk), and to release OPM Muscovy as an independent country, ending that war.

10/1553 - Hungary diplomatically annexes Bosnia. It will take time, money, and Imperial Influence to repair relations with the other HRE vassals, and the stability hit will take 18 months to recover.

1/1554 - Now that the war against Novgorod is over, Hungary gains a border dispute claim on Vetluga in Novgorod territory. Go figure.

8/1554 - The previous "Resisting Western Influneces" event expires, and the next event offers a choice between making a slider move toward Decentralization or another 10 year delay until Westernization. Considering that my current king and his heir lack the Administrative skill to complete Westernization, I'm going to have to wait at least decade anyway. Refusing the delay would leave me with an even longer delay until I can move the slider back to -5 again, and additional serious consequences will inevitably appear at random for not accepting the delay. I accept ten more years of "Resisting Western Influences". Given the current ruler and heir, it's likely that I'll have to renew it for another decade next time.

10/1554 - The Golden Horde makes its return, right on schedule. The truce with France is due to expire in a month.

12/1554 - Much to my relief, France decides to declare war on Portugal, rather than a country guaranteed by or allied with Hungary. Both have serious navies, and both have colonial possessions in South America, with Portugal having far more of the latter.

6/1555 - The Golden Horde army has been depleted from 42,000 troops down to under 15,000, and they're afraid to attack either of the 14,000 man Hungarian stacks blocking them from the occupied provinces to their south. Colonists are on their way to Astrakhan and Sarai.

1/1556 - With Infamy down to zero, Hungary declares a colonial war on Shawnee, which is joined by its ally Cherokee.

3/1556 - With its capital occupied, Cherokee agrees to renounce its cores in all previously taken provinces, dropping out of the war.

1/1557 - Shawnee surrenders Cumberland and Shawnee provinces to Hungary, as well as renouncing its cores in previously taken provinces.

4/1557 - The province of Savoie becomes a Hungarian core, ending the illegal non-core HRE province +0.25 annual Infamy penalty.

8/1557 - Hungarian settlers in Astrakhan reach 1000 in number, and Astrakhan defects to Hungary.

4/1558 - The four former Bulgarian provinces become Hungarian cores: Bulgaria, Nis, Silistria, and Burgas. With the increase in revenue, another 14,000 man army is built.

12/1558 - France accepts defeat at the hands of Portugal, surrendering a colonial province in South America.

2/1559 - Austria diplomatically annexes Alsace (2 provinces), then refuses a month later to surrender the first to the Emperor. Relations with Austria are strained.

4/1559 - A particularly annoying group of 4000 Cherokee patriots is finally eliminated after being chased and defeated more than a dozen times over the span of 16 months by 6,000 Hungarian troops. Good riddance.

5/1559 - An increase in Government technology allows another National Idea: Colonial Ventures is taken for the +1 colonist per year.

9/1559 - The province of Luxemburg becomes a Hungarian core. With all three of the Balkan provinces currently being held either by Finland or rebels, Hungary's Infamy reduction is currently at -1.28 per year.

11/1559 - Another group of colonists arrives in Sarai, and the province defects to Hungary. I'm planning to complete the settlement of one more GH province before settling for token tribute, because I don't want too many new provinces in one bite, in order to keep revolts down to manageable proportions. The northern provinces are enormous, taking 2-3 months to cross, and I don't think I need to deal with suppressing revolts in areas that I can't cover. Taking those would also negate my new Embassy, not that it's a big deal to build another.


The map doesn't show the 3 African provinces around Benin, nor the entire US eastern seaboard (except the swamps of southern Florida) all the way up to Massachusetts controlled by Hungary, although Portugal did place a colony on the Gulf coast of North America. With the new National Idea, the pace of colonization should accelerate.

The 3 core claims in Poland are looking particularly promising for my next possible venture, although I can only claim 2 of them, the third being the capital. I can also take the illegal HRE province at full Infamy cost (4 points), and get that as a core for liberating it from an outside aggressor. They're currently allied with two weaker countries, so they're vulnerable, and I've got my brand new stack of troops moving up to support the two armies already near the border. Now all I need is a general with some pips, but 20-25 Tradition doesn't seem to get much beyond 0-2 pips in Fire, 0-1 in Melee, 1-3 in Movement, and 0 in Siege, and yet the AI regularly has 3-4 pips in Melee.

Time is also starting to run low for Holy War CBs, ending around 1600, so a push into Asia Minor is likely soon.

As said earlier, completing Westernization will need to wait for a ruler with at least a 7 in Administration, and then I have to wait until the decade-long "Resisting Western Influences" effect expires. I'm competitive with the HRE countries in both Government and Land technology, but am still receiving 50-66 points each in the other 3 techs due to neighbor bonuses. As long as I'm focused on those two techs, and the others are behind the rest of the HRE, I'm getting about 160-170 free research points per month.

 

[Kovax]

Amazing how much the balance of power can shift in a decade. France is now looking long past its prime.

6/1560 - France declares war on Aragon. Castille honors its guarantee of Aragon, and takes control of the war. France is apparently a bit short on ships after its long and brutal war with Portugal, and Castille's navy does further damage. Hungarian troops are ordered to shift from the Polish border to the French. Brandenburg joins France in the war, so a Hungarian army is left behind to deal with that potential problem, while an army is brought from the Golden Horde border back toward the center of the realm to assist if needed, and 10,000 fresh troops are recruited.

7/1560 -Toulouse joins Castille; Naples follows suit a few days later. Hungary recruits a new general, and this one has TWO pips in melee!!! A semi-competent general at last.

11/1560 - All of the armies are in position, and Hungary declares war on France over the two illegal HRE provinces, calling its vassals and allies into the war. France only has around 47,000 men this time around, plus another 16,000 Brandenburg troops in support. The French navy is down to 3 small ships, and no transports. Some 10K-12K of their troops appear to be overseas after an earlier war in Africa, with no way of getting back to Europe any time soon. Most of the rest are engaged against Castille and Aragon.

1/1561 - Picardie and Cambray, the illegal HRE provinces, are quickly assaulted and taken in the north, while two Hungarian armies in the south, totaling 28,000 men, engage 20,000 French troops busy sieging Toulouse. The battle looks to be about even, with the new Hungarian general negating all but one of the French general's 3 melee pips, and only a -1 terrain penalty, and the nearly 3:2 numerical advantage being partially offset by the mix of lower quality eastern foot troop types but superior cavalry compared to western equivalents at the same tech level. A freshly arrived third army is brought in to insure victory, and the French rout, are chased to Périgord by that nearly untouched third army, and eliminated. Novgorod sends a warning to Hungary, but the troops on the Golden Horde front should be able to handle anything that happens there.

2/1561 - Isle-de-France is assaulted and taken by 28,000 Hungarians, Armagnac is taken in the south, and the still healthy army in the south is sent to assist Castille in its close matchup against 20,000 French troops in Navarra. Hungary's transports in the New World arrive too late, as France's last remaining non-island colony is taken by Naples just as they arrive offshore. Castille breaks the 20,000 French troops only a couple of days before Hungarian assistance arrives, so the Hungarians halt and simply wait for the French to rout into them and surrender.

3/1561 - Brandenburg's 16,000 troops sieging Niederlausitz are engaged by a 14,000 man Hungarian army and a newly raised 10,000 man group. Brandenburg's troops are routed with heavy losses on both sides, fleeing to Brandenburg province; Hungary's allies arrive in Brandenburg before they reach it, pursued by the Hungarians. Brandenburg's army ceases to exist, but the Hungarian armies are in no shape to make an assault, so lengthy sieges are initiated.

5/1561 - Hungary's new 2 pip melee general dies unexpectedly. Fortunately, all of France's continental armies are gone, and all of their continental provinces are under siege or already occupied.

6/1561 - France and Aragon negotiate a white peace, but France is still at war against Castille in that war, as well as Hungary in the second war.

9/1561 - With all of the provinces finally taken that aren't already under siege by Castille and its allies, Hungary proposes terms to France: France surrenders the illegal HRE province of Picardie to Hungary, renounces its claims on 5 cores (4 of them held by Hungary), and agrees to liberate Orleans (3 provinces), Alencon (OPM), and Armagnac (OPM) as independent countries. The deal is accepted, effectively splitting France into a southern section and two smaller northern sections: one with the capital and the other consisting of 3 of Brittany's former provinces, with one of those three already in revolt by Brittany patriots and the other two under siege by Castille's allies. Hungary is granted a core in Picardie for recovering it from outside aggressors. This leaves Austria, Portugal, and Castille in contention for the second most powerful country, each with a little under half of Hungary's army size.

11/1561 - Settlers arrive, and the province of Mordvar defects from the Golden Horde to Hungary. Days later, the Golden Horde offers to pay 3 ducats per month in tribute, and Hungary accepts, having already gotten what they wanted from the war. Imperial Authority is increased as a result of the successful war against outside enemies, bringing it back up to 83.

12/1561 - The time for research advisors in this campaign is past, but I can't resist when a 6 star Army Reformer shows up. At the start, when tax and production incomes are low, and the ruler's 9-18 points of research in each field often exceed that, getting a 6 star advisor and +18 points of research can provide a significant early advantage. By 1500, with tax, trade, and production incomes dwarfing those contributions, it's not very important, but still a pretty good deal if there's nobody else worth recruiting. Hungary's Land tech level is on par with the rest of the HRE (only +0.4 points due to neighbor bonuses), and its Government tech level just went 4 years ahead with the last advance, but the three other techs are getting from around 50 to over 70 research points per month from the neighbors in the HRE, and I'm happy to continue accepting the freebies.

Troops are currently moving from France back toward the Polish border, but I'm considering making a drive into Asia Minor instead, and taking land in the east at 1 Infamy per province before the Holy War CB runs out. The cores in Poland won't expire, since they're in the same cultural group, and I'm still hoping that their king will leave the throne to some low-legitimacy heir or a noble with no legitimacy, to force the whole country into a PU for 0 Infamy, rather than take individual bits and pieces over time.

 

[Kovax]

With France cut down to manageable proportions, the next planned step will be expansion into Asia Minor.

2/1562 - Austria releases Metz to the Emperor.

3/1562 - France surrenders Auvergne to Toulouse. With at least 4 Cardinals under its control, and 3x the odds of gaining new ones compared to the next competitor, Hungary calls for a Crusade against the Ottomans. A naval equipment facility is completed I Partium, so Hungary now has at least one of every factory type to boost research.

5/1562 - Hungary declares a Holy War against the Ottomans, who are embroiled in a long grind against Morocco. Oman joins the war in defense of the Ottomans. 14,000 Hungarian troops advance into Thrace and engage the 5000 Ottoman defenders, routing them. The modest Ottoman fleet moves to block the strait, to prevent Hungarian pursuit.

6/1562 - The slightly larger and more gun-heavy Hungarian main fleet engages the Ottomans in the Sea of Marmara, blocking the fleeing Ottomans from completing their escape. The Ottomans are re-engaged in Thrace and quickly eliminated. 12 of the 16 Ottoman ships are sunk. On the brink of victory in the conflict against Morocco, the Ottomans settle for a white peace in that war, to focus on Hungary.

7/1562 - Naples declares war on Morocco. Syria follows suit with its own war on Morocco. Hungary takes Thrace by assault, crosses the strait, and takes Bithynia.

8/1562 - Hungary crushes the small Ottoman army on the Asia Minor side of the strait. Bursa and Anatolia are taken soon after. The invading Hungarians split up to siege the remaining provinces.

2/1563 - The throne of Poland is vacant, with a regency council covering for the under-age heir. I notice that Toulouse is at war with Morocco, not sure when that was declared. Castille has also joined one of the other wars against Morocco.

11/1563 - The last Ottoman province is taken, and the Ottoman fleet is annihilated. Oman demands the release of a Hungarian vassal, in complete disregard of the actual situation.

12/1563 - The Ottomans accept Hungary's demands to surrender Bursa, Bithynia, Anatolia, and Konya to Hungary. Hungary gains 4 Infamy, then releases Baden (the province of Breisgau) as a vassal, burning off 2 of those Infamy points immediately, and raising Imperial Authority back up to 100 (I can't get rid of it!!!). The Ottomans move their capital from Thrace to Sinope, and Thrace is now vulnerable to the next war's surrender demands. Meanwhile, the former Golden Horde province of Kalmykia becomes a Hungarian core after 50 years of control. Two more provinces in the Americas also become cores.

1/1564 - Toulouse calls for Hungarian assistance against Morocco, not that it's needed. Cherokee warns Hungary.

3/1564 - Hungary's colony in Conoy becomes self-sufficient, completing a solid link between the two areas of colonization.

6/1564- After over 30 years of service to his country and religion, Hungary's highly esteemed 6 star Theologian passes away. A replacement is sought, using the Culture screen and the 55 points of Culture built up. A 4 star replacement is generated, maintaining a fairly high conversion chance for the 8 missionaries in the field. Meanwhile, the first group of 6000 Hungarian troops land in Tangiers, taking the province by assault. Cueta is taken a few weeks later, while a second wave of troops is sent to reinforce them.

9/1564 - Chiaha and Catawba become cores in the Americas. The initial 6000 troops in Morocco are assaulted by 11,000 Moroccans, but the second wave of Hungarians arrives only a few days into the battle. The Moroccan army is broken, and flees, but a second group is approaching, so pursuit is not attempted. The second group of 8000 is broken, pursued, and destroyed.

3/1565 - France finally surrenders to Castille, giving up Gascone and Finistere (formerly a province of Brittany). Toubkhal is taken by Hungary, and Morocco offers to give up a province, but Hungary has no desire for a lone remote province that's going to be difficult to defend, especially at a 4 Infamy price tag. I can take 4 provinces elsewhere for the same Infamy cost.

8/1565 - Ulaszlo, heir to the throne of Hungary and the HRE, is now old enough to rule, so the current Emperor Albert takes the field as a general, and is sent to Morocco. The "Resisting Western Influences" effect expires, and a new decision takes its place. As before, I don't have a king with the Administrative skill to complete Westernization, and don't want to suffer the alternative: a slider move back toward decentralization plus the inevitable additional penalty events, so I renew the effect for another decade.

12/1565 - Morocco cedes Alexandria to Naples, giving Naples another addition to its large swath of land along the coast of Egypt. I'm still waiting for Toulouse to settle with them, because there's nothing I want from Morocco at the moment, at least at full Infamy cost.

Poland is still a valid target, but their prospective heir looks to probably be legitimate, once he comes of age to rule. That means, I can either declare war for 2 of my 3 cores, or to release (and receive) the illegal HRE province they hold, but I can't get both in the same war without paying the full 4 point Infamy cost for one or the other, while a war to enforce a Personal Union will eventually gain all of it at zero Infamy.

I'm also hoping that other countries don't jump on the Ottomans and take Thrace before my truce with them expires. The truces with France and the Golden Horde will both expire in under 2 years, plus I've got 2 native tribes in North America that I can prey upon for 0.8 Infamy provinces, once the revolts die down a bit more in the last set of conquered provinces. I'm taking relatively small bites, rather than trying to pacify large areas of conquered land, the latter being a major pain when it happens in instances like the inheritance of Muscovy or Britain, each tying up several armies for 20-30 years while they deal with it.

 

[Kovax]

This session turned out to be mostly a matter of wasting time until a couple of truces expire, but it wasn't all wasted.

2/1566 - Prussia turns Riga over to the Emperor. It cannot be released as a vassal while still at war, and besides, I'd rather wait until I build some Infamy to burn off by releasing it. To resolve that second little detail and build some Infamy, Hungary begins another war against the Cherokee, destroying their entire meager army in Tennessee only a few days into the war. A couple of days later, Shawnee joins and takes control of the war from Cherokee.

3/1566 - Morocco retakes Fez from Hungary, which is uncontested because all Hungarian troops have long since been withdrawn from that theater of operations. Natives in Penacook damage the colony for the third time. "Three strikes", and all of that. Hungarian troops are dispatched to the province to exterminate the violent tribe. There will be no "4th time".

6/1566 - Moroccan troops retake Toubkhal by assault. Shortly after, Morocco surrenders to Toulouse, giving up two provinces and ending the war.

7/1566 - Hungary annexes both remaining provinces of Cherokee, gaining 1.6 Infamy.

8/1566 - Shawnee agrees to relinquish its core claims on 3 provinces controlled by Hungary, and the war ends, since any demands for provinces would be at a cost of 4 Infamy. Hungary releases Riga as a vassal, shedding the small amount of Infamy gained in the war.

10/1566 - Spies from an unknown country attempt to provoke revolts in 3 different areas, all within days of each other. Two fail outright, while the third increases revolt risk but does not start a revolt.

11/1566 - The Golden Horde returns for another beating. By this point in the campaign, they're down to under 15,000 troops even before I destroy a few.

12/1566 - Samara is taken by assault, and a small group of around 4000 GH troops is annihilated almost on contact. Castille declares war on Aragon.

1/1567 - Another spy from an "unknown" country instigates an actual revolt in Derby. This is quickly crushed. I've got a high enough spy defense that this inability to tell who is sending them 4 times in a row is difficult to explain, unless someone hired an extremely competent spymaster.

2/1567 - Annoyingly, Toulouse calls its allies into another war, this time against Aragon/Foix, the former down to its last two provinces and already at war against Castille, and the latter just having managed to acquire a second province. Hungary honors the call on paper, but really doesn't need to do anything about it, since it's a one-sided war. The colonist sent to Samara is blocked and lost to a stray GH brigade passing through the province, before Hungarian troops can get there. Apparently, it's a good idea to leave a couple of brigades behind, in case the opponent decides to send a single brigade to interrupt your settlement of the province while your bigger stacks are busy chasing down other threats.

51567 - Poland annexes Lithuania by force. Another Hungarian colonist is sent to Samara.

7/1567 - Milan declares its own war on Aragon.

8/1567 - Castille annexes Aragon, and Tuscany immediately joins Foix in its war against Toulouse/Hungary/others.

9/1567 - Foix is annexed by Toulouse. France forms an alliance with Castille, despite their war and hostile relations only a decade ago. Clearly, the AI does not follow the same rules for dealings with other AI countries, in contrast to dealings with the player. Another province is successfully converted to Catholicism, the 4th or 5th to be converted or re-converted within the past year. The 4 star Theologian is having far more success at it than his 6 star predecessor, and now I'm down to only 6 active missionaries.

The truce with the Ottomans is due to expire in about a year, and Thrace is occupied by a large stack of angry Ottoman peasants, which is probably a better defense than the Ottoman government can provide for the province at the moment. I'm hoping to take Thrace, grab at least 2-3 more provinces in Asia Minor (which will only leave the Ottomans with around 3-5 provinces), and then release Metz or some other province as a vassal to shed most of the Infamy.

Poland has a new king, but with too much legitimacy to allow a foreign claim on their throne. Austria has a Luxemburg on the throne, but again, no chance of a PU, and they won't even renew a Royal Marriage (it shows up as "very Unlikely"). Switzerland is the largest HRE country after Austria, and they don't have a king, so no chance of a PU there either, and the couple of OPMs that could be forced into one had too many allies and guarantors to be worth the effort. I've already got 3 continuing PUs waiting to be annexed: Serbia, Dauphine, and Burgundy, but none of them are showing "...Will Inherit...".

Portugal has a Royal Marriage with Hungary, but a firm line of succession at the moment; getting Portugal and all of its colonies would practically rival the annexation of Britain for sheer number of provinces. Unfortunately, the Hungarian fleet isn't large enough now to cover all of its colonies (and is just one ship shy of its force limit), so adding another 20+ non-core overseas colonies wouldn't improve the bottom line at all, although it would give me control of most of South America. Their sole North American colony on the Gulf Coast was down to 10 population for a while, with a growth rate of -40 per year, but apparently it's not allowed to go below 10 colonists; now it's at +65 per year with no natives to revolt.

 

[Kovax]

This session suffered from a bad case of Border Dispute spam and repeated spy attacks.

5/1568 - Hungary decides to press a Border Dispute claim over the province of Tirol in Austria. Diplomatic Relations suffer as a result. Armies spend several months crossing the empire toward the Ottoman borders. France allies with Portugal. France has a ruler with low legitimacy, but attacking them while they're allied to both Castille and Portugal is asking for trouble, particularly with their large fleets and Hungary's relatively vulnerable colonies. A better opportunity is likely to present itself eventually.

1/1569 - Hungary declares a Holy War on the Ottomans. Oman and Ramazan join the Ottomans, while 14 allies and vassals honor their agreements with Hungary. The hardest part of this war looks to be the revolting peasants occupying Thrace.

2/1569 - The peasants are driven out with barely a fight, and Thrace, already weakened, is quickly taken by assault. Yazgod is also taken almost immediately. A slider move becomes available, and Plutocracy is increased by one to -3.

5/1569 - Another group of Colonists arrives in Samara, which defects from the Golden Horde to Hungary. The small Ottoman army is caught in Angora, and eliminated in a single engagement. The Golden Horde agrees to pay 3.4 ducats per month in tribute.

6/1569 - A border dispute over Polesia gives Hungary another core in Poland, bringing the disputed cores in Poland up to 4. Ramazan's entire navy (1 ship) is sunk, their army destroyed, and their province besieged.

7/1569 - Venezia and Macedonia become Hungarian cores. This is a significant financial event, because Venezia generates 54.99 ducats in taxes, another 29.33 ducats in production, plus trade revenue.

11/1569 - All Ottoman provinces are occupied. The Ottomans agree to surrender Thrace, Angora, and Hamid to Hungary, and to renounce their core claims on 4 previously taken provinces. Religious conversion of Thrace begins immediately. but the odds of success are rather low. With the wars against both Golden Horde and Ottomans ended, Hungary releases the province of Metz as a vassal (Alsace), cutting the infamy gained from the Ottoman war in half.

9/1570 - Numerous revolts are put down throughout the empire, and there are 2 more spy attacks to foment rebellion. The second attempt is traced to the Golden Horde, both fail. Poland moves its capital to Warsaw, meaning that all 4 disputed cores can be claimed in the settlement of a war. A third spy attack is attempted, but the source remains unidentified.

1/1571 - Hungary declares war on Poland over the disputed cores in Sandomierz, Krakow, Minsk, and Polesia. Brandenburg and Luneburg join Poland against Hungary and its long list of allies and vassals. Novgorod joins Poland as a result of its previous warning to Hungary.

2/1571 - Natives rise up and attack the colony in Pennacook for a fourth time, but this time there are troops present. The native tribe is exterminated.

6/1571 - Brandenburg's army is destroyed by two Hungarian armies, and its capital is taken by assault a few days later. Brandenburg agrees to cancel its alliance with Poland and to pay 100 ducats. Another Border Dispute arises with Austria over Augsburg, giving Hungary a second core in Austrian territory. Nizhny Novgorod joins Novgorod against Hungary.

8/1571 - Three more spy attacks are conducted against Hungary, all identified. The first is by Novgorod, the second by Golden Horde, the third by NIzhny Novgorod. Luneburg's army had been chased back and forth for months, momentarily sieging various Hungarian provinces before running away again and again. It is finally caught and destroyed. Toulouse settles for a white peace with Inca.

12/1571 - Luneburg becomes even more annoying by demanding that Hungary release Brunswick and pay 1200 ducats. Rather than letting them off the hook when Poland surrenders, they will pay. Sadly, the AI in this game has no clue when it's army is beaten and its land it under siege, until its provinces are actually occupied, and will make absurd demands for everything and the kitchen sink even with a substantial negative war score. Even more sadly, sometimes the AI will accept those demands from another AI country, but never from the player.

1/1572 - Novgorod offers to pay 122 ducats in reparations. That should at least reduce their funding for spies for a while. Hungary accepts. Luneburg is taken by assault, then accepts Hungarian demands to convert to Catholicism and renounce core claims in 4 other countries.

3/1572 - Poland surrenders Krakow, Minsk, Polesia, and Sandomierz to Hungary, renounces its core claim on Poznan, and agrees to liberate Lithuania as an independent country (3 provinces). This builds no Infamy.

Poland still holds an illegal HRE province, so that can be taken in a later war for another instant core. France will inevitably end up on the opposite side of a war against either Castille or Portugal, if not both, sooner or later, and then Hungary can utilize one of several CBs against them.

 

[Kovax]

They say that all things come to those who wait. Well, I waited, and one good thing came. For the rest, I'm still waiting.

11/1572 - Alabama becomes a core of Hungary.

1/1573 - A 6 star Theologian becomes available, and I immediately replace the 4 star advisor, in spite of his impressive success rate over the previous couple of years.

7/1573 - Castille declares war on Grenada. Portugal joins Grenada against Castille, and Naples joins Castille, while France dishonors its alliances with both Portugal and Castille. This removes the unsightly alliances in the way of taking more pieces of France, and Hungarian troops start moving from the far ends of the empire toward the French borders.

9/1573 - Brandenburg allies with France once again, and Hungary is forced to compensate, redirecting an army to cover that possibility.

11/1573 - Grenada surrenders to Finland, and becomes a vassal, while Portugal and Castille continue their war over it. Hungarian troops are forced to divert to quell a major revolt, along with the frequent minor nuisances.

4/1574 - All but one of the Hungarian armies are in position, and the last is mere days from it, when Austria declares war on France; Brandenburg honors its alliance with France.

5/1574 - On the first of the month, Hungary declares war on France over its illegal HRE province of Cambray, and Brandenburg joins France. On the second day, the Golden Horde appears once again. Troops have been stationed there in anticipation, and immediately advance into GH territory.

10/1574 - The war goes unexpectedly well, the provinces fall to assault by concentrated stacks of troops with minimal loss of Organization, and France surrenders. Hungary receives Cambray (which it gains as a core province), Potsdam from Brandenburg (which had become a Hungarian core via a previous Border Dispute), and Champagne (not a core, but a direct link between Hungarian-controlled areas), and France agrees to relinquish its claims on 5 cores. Hungary gains a total of 4.8 Infamy for the demands. Shawnee warns Hungary.

[11/1574 - The emperor of Hungary dies, Ulaszlo (5/5/5) takes the throne, and a mentally handicapped heir (3/3/4) with low legitimacy is next in line. Days later, the new Emperor dies, leaving the country in the hands of a regency council for the next decade before the totally inept new ruler takes the throne. All Personal Unions are broken. Revolts break out. Assuming that the new king will live for 50-70 years, this potentially puts the end of Westernization off until the middle of the next century, or longer if the next heir isn't above average. This is WAY more of a crimp in the campaign than I care to deal with, and I reload to just before the end of the war.]

11/1574 (take 2) - nothing unusual happens, Hungary spends time putting down revolts and burning off some of the 4+ Infamy, and settlers are sent to Kazan, a Golden Horde province occupied by Hungary.

4/1576 - Finland claims the throne of Toulouse. A regency is established in Aquileia, leaving them vulnerable to an espionage mission to claim the throne, but they're allied to Naples. Naples would almost certainly take control of the war, and they're allied to several other large countries that would make the war less than cost-effective. The "Resisting Western Influences" event runs out, and the new consequences for not accepting the demands are even worse than before. Hungary accepts, and the resistance continues for another decade.

6/1576 - Kazan defects from Golden Horde to Hungary.

7/1576 - GH agrees to pay 2.4 ducats per month in tribute.

8/1576 - Emperor Laszlo passes on, leaving the throne to Ulaszlo (5/5/5), who also inherits Bosnia, Burgundy, and Dauphine, and is raised to the Imperial Throne of the HRE as well. Lajos (6/6/6) is the new heir at age 23, average in all stats, but not the 7 in Administration I was hoping for. The National Focus is moved from the British Isles to the strategic province of Serbia, where it will affect 9 neighboring provinces, and hopefully allow some cultural assimilation, which has been unusually rare in this campaign.

2/1577 - The vast number of former British provinces become cores of Hungary after 50 years. English becomes an accepted culture.

3/1577 - Overextension ends, bringing the time to recover a point of Stability down to only about a year.



Another year or two and I should be down under a point of Infamy, and then I can either take another whack at Poland over their last illegal HRE province, eat another chunk of the Ottoman Empire, or else go after more of France in a few more years at a much higher Infamy cost per province. The Shawnee are down to only a few provinces, and I could probably annex all of it in the next war, but it won't gain me anything until I complete a bunch more ships, now that I've got all of those coastal cores from the British Isles to boost my naval force limits by leaps and bounds. Portugal and Castille won't be quite as daunting, once I've got a fleet to rival or exceed theirs. There's already no comparison in land armies, with Hungary having substantially more troops than the next two competitors combined.

So far, I've built Constables, Churches, and Workshops in just about all of England itself, but Scotland and Ireland are still barely touched by improvements, and now I've got additional land from Poland, in former GH territory, and in Asia Minor as well, all needing Magistrates. I've put a few churches and a couple of ports in key places in the New World as well, but no Constables, because those enable a revolt event that's downright scary if not crushed quickly: it allows the formation of a new county, and will potentially include land that ISN'T in revolt, even if the owner of that land isn't the same as the province with the revolt. Those colonial provinces are also fairly low in potential tax income due to the low population density, so if anyplace is going to get short-changed on improvements, they're it.

 

[Kovax]

Nothing like a long evening with free time. Not a lot of timeline advance in the campaign, but a lot of activity within a few years.

3/1577 - Toulouse declares war on Mali, another pointless war it can't properly prosecute.

4/1577 - Toulouse once again calls in Hungary to fight a war it started. The Emperor of Hungary is converted to a general, to hasten the succession process, since the heir is (1) better in every stat, and (2) old enough to take the throne.

8/1577 - Hungary and Poland disagree once again as to the location of the border, and Hungary gains a core claim for the province of Ruthenia. With so many border provinces, the odds of a border dispute seems to go way up. The province is already under siege by Ukrainian separatists. Elsewhere, the Golden Horde annexes Nogai, giving them enough provinces to be at least somewhat relevant once again. I'm only in contact with 2 provinces, with Astrakhan (2 provinces) insulating Hungary from the others.

10/1577 - The province of Ruthenia declares independence from Poland as the Ukraine, and almost immediately allies with Novgorod.

11/1577 - Hungary declares war on Ukraine, and Novgorod honors its alliance, taking control of the war from Ukraine. Sweden joins Novgorod. A few days later, Switzerland joins Novgorod, and Ryazan follows suit. Hungary did not bring its allies to the fight, and it looks to be nasty in terms of local forces, but ultimately no real threat once serious troop concentrations can be brought in.

1/1578 - The New World province of Santee becomes a Hungarian core after 50 years. The province of Ruthenia is taken by assault, and Ukraine (Ruthenia) is annexed by Hungary for no Infamy cost. The 17,000 man Swiss army begins sieging Savoie, and is attacked and successfully driven off by 28,000 Hungarian troops, fleeing to Wallis.

3/1578 - The entire Swiss army is caught and destroyed in Wallis, and one of the two Hungarian armies involved breaks into smaller siege groups, while the other stands watch. Ryazan's 7000 man army besieging Tula is chased off by 8000 Hungarian troops, fleeing to Ryazan where it is caught and defeated.

4/1578 - The broken Ryazan army is pursued through Murom to Nizhny Novgorod and wiped out. Novgorod's main 18,000 man army laying siege to Moskva flees from 14,000 Hungarians, who follow it as far as Tver, then stop to take Tver by assault.

6/1578 - Austria declares war on Milan, starting a massive war between large numbers of allied countries on both sides. Switzerland , now involved in two wars, with its army eliminated, one province taken, and the rest under siege, demands that Hungary release a vassal. The offer is immediately rejected as delusional. 8000 Hungarian troops take the disputed province of Vetluga in Novgorod.

8/1578 - The 14,000 man Hungarian army in Novgorod territory manages to catch the Novgorod army, now expanded to 21,000 troops. Generals are comparable in skill, and the Hungarians suffer a -2 terrain penalty on the attack, but the 6 Land Tech levels difference between the two armies and the National Idea granting +1 morale, along with one good die roll at the start, proves decisive, and the substantially larger Novgorod army is broken easily. The Novgorod army flees in the direction it was heading when attacked, and is pursued toward Moskva.

9/1578 - The Novgorod army, reduced to 11,0000 men, flees from Moskva to Tver, where it is caught and broken again.

10/1578 - Ryazan becomes a Hungarian vassal, with Hungary incurring 4 points of Infamy.

11/1578 - Novgorod's army is caught in Yaraslavl, where it is eliminated. Sweden, not actively involved in the war, demands that Hungary release two vassals. Obviously, this is not taken seriously.

2/1579 - After another Swiss province falls to a lengthy siege, a quick check of the peace settlement options reveals that it would be technically possible to vassalize Switzerland with 98% war score, but that will require completing a few more sieges.

4/1479 - The second Hungarian army standing guard outside Switzerland (to reduce attrition) is brought into Switzerland itself to participate in assaults. As the Level 2 walls are breached by lengthy siege, province after province falls easily to assault, and eventually only the capital remains in Swiss hands, its garrison slightly reduced but with its walls intact. Both Hungarian armies are brought to bear in their entirety, and the capital falls just before the last shreds of Hungarian morale fail. Switzerland accepts vassalage, and one of the two remaining points of war score is dedicated to removing a Swiss core in Konstanz.

7/1579 - Another "Poor Uniforms" event fires, but has no effect because the previous one is still active.

9/1579 -Toulouse ends its pointless war with Mali, then warns France. This alliance is becoming a problem, and I expect to break it in the not-too-distant future.

10/1579 - Orleans declares war on France, and Brandenburg joins France once again.

11/1579 - Sweden changes its tune, and offers white peace to end its participation in the war. Hungary agrees. After 3 failed spy attacks in only a couple of months, one of them having been traced to Novgorod, a fourth attack succeeds, causing a revolt in Chiaha in the New World. The surrender terms for Novgorod are going to be harsh. A fifth attack happens a few days later in Mordvar, but fails.

12/1579 - The capital province of Novgorod falls to Hungary, and Novgorod accepts the terms: Yaroslavl is released as an independent country (4 provinces), and Novgorod agrees to convert to Catholicism. That should keep them busy dealing with domestic religious issues, and 4 provinces smaller for the next war. The next day, Orleans calls Hungary into its war against France, Brandenburg, Munster (NOT the country in Ireland; not sure how to get the umlaut over the "u"), and a small resurrected Bavaria outside its original borders. With just under 8 Infamy from the two vassalizations, Hungary itself doesn't stand to gain anything from the war, but joins in as a matter of honor.

2/1580 - Milan accepts moderate individual surrender terms in its war with Austria, releasing a state from its sphere of influence and renouncing treaties with a long list of countries. Munster (again, wrong "u"), has one province occupied by Hungary, and accepts a white peace with Orleans. Hungary breaks the Bavarian army besieging Niederbayern, barely holding on without breaking, and chasing it to Oberpfalz. Brandenburg's army is handed a solid thrashing, fleeing to Neumark.

3/1580 - Bavaria's army is destroyed in Oberpfalz and wiped out. The Brandenburg army is defeated again in Neumark, chased to Brandenburd, and eliminated.

4/1580 - Manhattan becomes a core.

5/1580 - Hungary offers separate surrender terms to France. France agrees to renounce 3 core claims, one of them in Cambray, a second in Normany, and the third one the province of Orleaonaise so France can't annex the entire country of Orleans as cores.

7/1580 - Krakow and two other provinces undergo successful religious conversions within a two month span. The new 6 star Theologian is performing admirably, but there are only so many missionaries to go around, and a LOT of new provinces in need of conversion.

8/1580 - Hungary suffers another hated "Monetary Reform" event, much to my dismay. This offers a choice between 3 Inflation, which will take 60 years to burn off at the current rate, or else 2 Stability hits, which will impact everything for the next two years, and gain an advisor who is totally useless since I didn't take the 3 Inflation. Given the long time to burn off a Stability hit with current modifiers, the large number of non-core provinces that will inevitably rise up in revolt over the next two years, and the currently well-stocked treasury, I decide to break from my usual response and suffer the Inflation. It's only money.

Poland is at war with Prussia and several other countries, split in two with Lithuania between the two halves. I'm still waiting for an opportunity to force a Personal Union. Austria is still at war with Castille from its war on Milan, but Castille seems to be suffering far higher War Exhaustion than Austria. I'm waiting for Austria to get itself in over its head to break it up, since it's now the second most powerful country. I could do so now and fully expect to win that war, but it would be a rather costly struggle with my Eastern foot troops against their Western types at similar tech levels. I was two levels ahead of France in the recent war, and still suffered almost 2:1 casualties. Once the Infamy drops a bit (at just under 1 point per year), I'm expecting to grab around 3 more provinces from the Ottomans, before someone else gets them. They're now far enough behind to fall into the "clubbing baby seals" level of difficulty.

 

[Kovax]

Well, that turned rather unexpectedly into an extremely short session when life intervened. Not much progress, but a rather significant discovery for the next installment.

9/1580 - Checking on the neighbors, it appears that the king of Milan has low enough Legitimacy to allow an Obscure Documents mission, even though the heir is seen as legitimate and Milan doesn't show up on the list of potentially claimable thrones. Milan is allied to Prussia and MUnster (with the umlaut over the "u"), but guaranteed by Castille. Castille is currently at war against Austria, and has a LOT of troops on my borders already (20,000 in one stack, 18,000 in another, plus a few individual brigades), so I'm a bit hesitant to start a war without adequate preparation. My own troops are scattered to put down revolts, and it will take time to collect them.

10/1580 - The Obscure Documents CB is good for a year, so I send spies to produce documentation supporting my claim. They succeed, but are discovered. Relations with Milan are pretty decent, at 165, so I've got to reduce that quite a bit, and there's the small matter of a Royal Marriage to deal with, which I can probably annul since I'm the Papal Controller at the moment.

11/1580 - Hungary cancels military access through Milan. Several additional brigades are built in the two provinces recently inherited from Dauphine, state-of-the-art Maurician infantry. I'm also slowly replacing the last of the obsolete Landsknechts with eastern Offensive Musketeers, since it'll probably be a while before I can complete Westernization and upgrade all of my troops to the current western standards.

I'm hoping that Castille's troops engage the Austrians, or vice versa, rather than parking on the borders (some of them currently in my territory, since I had granted Castille military access during a previous war against France, and granted it to Austria back in the early 1400s), but so far they seem content to stand there and stare at each other. If Castille attempts to invade Switzerland (which is my vassal, but still at war against Castille), then I'm going to rush the declaration on Milan to defend Switzerland, otherwise I've got a year before I need to act. The Austro-Castillian war has been going since 1578, but there really hasn't been much contact between the major participants; so far it's all been peripheral actions while the bigger stacks just glare at each other from a distance. If it gains sufficient war exhaustion, I'm hoping that Castille will dishonor its guarantee rather than involve itself in another war, but I intend to be ready in case it doesn't.

This has diverted the troops with which I had intended to push further into Asia Minor, but I'll gladly add another Personal Union within the HRE over a few more provinces of a different religion, which I would have to convert and won't become cores for 50 years. Since I'm still at around 6+ Infamy, taking a few provinces at 1 Infamy each seems less urgent than forming a PU and eventually inheriting 4 strategically situated provinces as cores without gaining any Infamy in the process.

 

[Kovax]

This little incursion turned into a rather serious confrontation, and took a lot longer than I thought it would.

7/1581 - The Golden Horde makes its regular re-appearance. This time, they've got 28,000 troops sitting on the border, against my two armies of 14,000 and 8,000. I move to attack.

8/1581 - Austria and Castille have danced around and skirmished with each others' small allies, but have not directly engaged each others' main armies. Most of Castille's are in my territory, one large stack of 20,000 in the same province as 14,000 of my own troops. The other large stack moves into Switzerland, and I don't want Castille taking pieces of my vassal, so I launch the war against Milan. As expected, Castille joins Milan, but Milan has picked up another ally which joins the war, and then Castille takes control and invites its own list of allies. I'm suddenly fighting 7 countries: Milan, Castille, Prussia, Naples, Trier, MUnster, and Ferrara. Hungary allies with its Swiss vassal, already at war with Milan and Castille.

9/1581 - A second group of 14,000 troops joins the first against the 20,000 Castillians in former Burgundy territory, and Castille's army routs, is pursued, and crushed. The second stack is driven out of Switzerland by Swiss troops into Hungary's former Bavarian provinces, and eventually run down and eliminated by a mixed Hungarian-Swiss coalition.

5/1582 - After several months of cat-and-mouse, chasing down and crushing small, annoying 1 or 2 brigade armies, MUnster surrenders, releasing Gelre as an autonomous country.

6/1582 - Ferrara renounces its cores in Mantua and Modena. Hungary gains another Border Dispute claim on Kalisz, in Poland. The native tribe in Abnaki attacks the settlement for the second time in 3 months. An army is dispatched, and a month later the tribe ceases to exist. There will be no more attacks.

9/1582 - Trier, an elector, is let out of the war with the token renunciation of a treaty.

10/1582 - An Agricultural Revolution event for Thrace raises the tax base to 16, which is substantially higher than the 10 in Venezia. That will bring in a fortune once it becomes a core. A modest size army of 10,000 Castillian troops begins counter-sieging Brescia, is engaged and defeated, and then flees THROUGH defending troops in Verona, Treviso, and beyond. Eventually, it stops and begins sieging Istria, where it is caught a day later and defeated once again. The next month, they arrive in Krain, are engaged once again, and are exterminated to the last man.

12/1582 - Castille's constant demands to release vassals or complete countries are met with laughter, and then it changes to requests for a white peace. These are rejected while Milan is still in the war. All of the visible provinces of Milan (including 3 of their 5 incomplete colonies in South America - two are on the Pacific side) are occupied, but they are only at 74% surrender progress, and I need over 80% to enforce a Personal Union. That's when I notice that Hungary's province of Osel in the north has been taken from the rebels who held it, and is now occupied by Milan. There was no indication that the province was under assault, because I didn't control it, they took it from the rebels. A war fleet is dispatched to push past the Prussian fleet blocking the island, with a transport fleet following a few days behind it. Golden Horde offers 2.1 ducats per month in tribute, which Hungary accepts.

1/1583 - Castille settles with Austria, releasing Galicia.

2/1583 - Polish spies support revolts in the Western Isles, but no revolts breaks out.

9/1583 - Danzig (Prussian) is taken from Prussia, and they drop out of the war with a white peace. Osel is taken back from Milan, and surrender progress against them rises to 98%. Milan enters a Personal Union under the Emperor, and renounces a core claim on Verona. Castille then accepts a white peace offer, ending the war.

The truce with the Ottomans has long since expired, and I'm considering them to be the next target, but I'd like to burn off some of that 6-7 Infamy first. I can also pick up a few more provinces from the North American native tribes, since I'm now bordering the Iroquois in the northeast. There's no time limit for starting Colonial Wars, as opposed to Holy Wars, which will end after 1600. Of course, I'm now stuck with the +0.25 annual Infamy for Osel, at least until the next revolt, or until I send a real army and take all of those other illegal HRE provinces from the Finns.

 

[Kovax]

Another short session, just over a half-hour.

10/1583 - 3/1584 - A string of revolts makes any outside wars seem like a bad idea right now. Diplomats are sent to repair the damaged relations with Milan. A second army is sent to Asia Minor, but has to be diverted back to put down a major revolt in Serbia. Meanwhile, a large revolt in Anatolia leading to a never-ending ping-pong chase back and forth between Bithynia and Bursa leaves the army already in Asia Minor with only around 8,000 of its 14,000 men, but the rebels eventually ran out of men. A revolt in the New World is driven from the province it was besieging, and flees to a province in Florida which had just completed colonization, with an incomplete fort. The province is instantly taken, destroying the incomplete fort, and then Hungarian troops arrive a day later, destroying the rebels and reclaiming the province. One magistrate wasted. France finally settles with Orleans, re-annexing all three provinces even though the capital is no longer a French core.

4/1584 - The Ottomans are already at war against Portugal, Morea, and a couple of minor states, so Hungary rushes ahead and declares a Holy War to grab what it can before Portugal gets it. Oman, Khazan, and Ramazan honor their alliances with the Ottomans. Khazan is a horde, sharing no border with Hungary, so it immediately drops out of the war.

5/1584 - Karaman, an isolated Ottoman province, is taken by Hungarian troops, and the Ottoman army appears on the Hungarian border with 15,000 men a couple days later. The reduced morale of the Hungarian army after the assault on the fort is not conducive to winning a field battle, so they decide to fall back to Anatolia until the second army arrives. The Ottomans begin sieging.

6/1584 - 14,000 fresh Hungarian troops drive the Ottomans out of Hungarian territory and pursue them to Sinope, where they are defeated again. The first Hungarian group moves to cut off their retreat. 11,000 Persians appear, but they are not at war with Hungary, and head toward a small Morean army sieging Ramazan. Persia could enter the war against Hungary at any time using an Alliance CB, but haven't done so.

9/1584 - Yazgod is taken by assault, Sivas follows. Two more provinces to go.

Ideally, I'm hoping to occupy all of the Ottoman provinces, but not settle up for a couple more months until I shed another tenth of a point or two of Infamy. Currently, I'm leaning toward taking 2 of their 5 provinces, which would leave them with a single group of 3 provinces, big enough to defend itself from the European OPMs or similar sized neighboring Islamic states, but no match for anything bigger. I can now diplo-annex another vassal, and I've got a suitable non-HRE vassal that can be annexed, but I don't need the extra Infamy at the moment, so that will have to wait. The Personal Union with Milan is at least up to the point where it will continue with the next ruler, rather than ending due to bad relations.

 

[Kovax]

The war against the Ottomans continues.

10/1584 - The last of the Ottomans retreat into a Hungarian army arriving ahead of them in Trebizon, and are destroyed.

5/1585 - Erserum and Trebizon fall to the Hungarians. The Ottomans surrender Karaman and Yazgod, as well as relinquishing their claims on 3 previously taken provinces. Bavaria annexes Ulm by force, as an illegal HRE province.

6/1585 - Bavaria releases Ulm to the Emperor. While the 9 tax base is tempting, Hungary releases Ulm as a vassal, shedding some Infamy.

2/1586 - The king of Morea passes away without a legal heir, and Hungarian agents are dispatched to produce "Obscure Documents" claiming a right to the throne. Morea is allied to both Brandenburg and The Knights.

3/1586 - Savoy settles with Austria, becoming a vassal.

6/1586 - Hungary declares war on Morea over the disputed throne. Brandenburg and The Knights honor their alliances with Morea.

8/1586 - Morea's fleet attempts to block a Hungarian army from crossing the strait between Asia Minor and their capital island, and the Hungarian fleet is waiting to ambush them. The Morean fleet is cut down by about 75% while the Hungarian army assaults and takes Antalya in the mean time. The Hungarians then cross the strait and defeat the 4000 Knights defending, who have no way to escape. Brandenburg's army proves far more elusive, evading the Hungarians and taking Poznan by assault before being caught and destroyed. Another Hungarian army takes Achaea and then Morea itself.

10/1586 - Naxos is taken next raising the war score to 100% with Morea, but Brandenburg's surrender negotiation screen reveals that it can be vassalized at just under 100% war score. The Hungarians spread out to siege, and while attention is diverted, 2000 un-noticed Brandenburg troops attack the unescorted artillery brigade that was left behind to allow faster pursuit, destroying that brigade. Only a couple days later, the 3000 Hungarian troops sent to defend the guns arrive, crushing the Brandenburg unit in turn.

2/1587 - The Knights agree to release both Saruhan (Smyrna province) and Mentese (Antalya) as independent countries. The alliances with these can be broken later, followed by Holy Wars to annex them. "Resisting Westernization" is renewed once again, for lack of an able Administrator on the throne. With their entire country occupied for months, 2000 Morean troops suddenly appear out of Persian and Ottoman territory, and begin counter-sieging Anatolia. 14,000 Hungarians soon put an end to that.

3/1587 - The walls of Brandenburg's fortress are breached by the besiegers, and the province is taken by a determined assault.

5/1587 - Another slider move becomes available, and army Quality (most importantly, Discipline) is increased at the expense of Quantity. The result is that 61,000 recruits are removed from the pool, which is a trivial concern because it replenishes at over 10,000 men per month, thanks to the combination of an enormous empire in concert with huge HRE bonuses. The last Brandenburg province falls to Hungary. The Hungarians expand their sphere of influence for 20 Prestige points, then vassalize Brandenburg, regaining most of it. There are a few points of war score left, so Brandenburg also renounces its core in Potsdam, taken earlier. The Personal Union with Morea is then enforced, restoring Prestige back to 100.

6/1587 - Mentese breaks its alliance with Hungary, saving a diplomat later on. A "Peasants Getting Uppity" event occurs, and a move toward Free Subjects is chosen, causing a -1 Stability hit. Thanks to the steady stream of church construction, it will only take around 11 months to recover.

12/1587 - They're back again. The Golden Horde makes its inevitable return. Several additional GH provinces are now visible further east, and it just might be time to start heading toward China....

9/1588 - It took 3 months for the Hungarian army to travel to the GH province of Perm, the province was taken easily, and settlers were dispatched. They finally arrive. These ginormous provinces in Asia take forever to cross, are taking forever to settle, and are difficult to garrison because they can be taken by siege by the time your troops only two provinces away can get there. More settlers are dispatched. Novgorod warns Hungary (again).

Next war in Asia Minor should be either Mentese or Saruhan, and then I can take the last 3 Ottoman provinces, unless someone else grabs them first. Persia now has borders with me in two different places, and conflict is looking inevitable. I've got 12 years to make the best of the Holy War CB, but infamy is decreasing rather slowly once again, thanks to a couple of coreless Baltic HRE provinces being released by Finland once again.

 

[Kovax]

Another brief session without much to show for it. Most of the session is spent chasing down minor revolts, dispatching missionaries to heretical or Moslem provinces, and sending magistrates to construct churches, constables, and workshops in the many provinces still lacking these fundamental upgrades.

2/1589 - Castille recovers Almeria from Finland.

3/1589 - Ufa is easily taken from the Golden Horde by Hungarian troops in a short and one-sided assault. The token defending army of 1000 men isn't even enough to call a "speed bump".

11/1589 - 14,000 Hungarian troops reach North Ufa, and take that as well, after the 10,000 defending GH troops run away without a fight. Settlement of Perm is proceeding slowly due to the long transit times across the huge eastern provinces, and I can't begin settling Ufa or North Ufa until I complete the colonization of Perm and establish direct contact with them. Toulouse calls Hungary to war once again, this time against Zapotec. Since I'm already at war, and probably will be for quite a while, this imposes no new restrictions.

1/1590 - Finland annexes Grenada.

2/1590 - Idnakar is taken from the Golden Horde by a brief Hungarian assault.

The 3 month travel times between provinces in the east makes it time consuming to conquer, and even harder to keep pacified when a garrison army only 2 provinces away takes 5 months to arrive at the site of a revolt. That's long enough for rebels to take the province. Things will get even slower as I advance further east and increase the distanceto my capital.

Infamy is still over 4 points, and will take nearly another 5 years to dissipate at the current rate. I'm planning to sour relations and wage war against Mentese and Saruhan within the next year or two, which would bring me back up to somewhere around 5 Infamy, and then will try to get a war against the Ottomans started shortly before the end of the century, so I can use the Holy War CB one last time. I've avoided taking any more provinces from the native tribes in the New World or Africa, because I'm trying to save the Infamy for Holy Wars in the East. I can still use the Colonial CB after 1600.

Basically, the game keeps getting slower and slower, because there's a lot more provinces to manage, revolts in far away places, and wars on opposite ends of the map. It gets progressively more and more tedious as you expand. The supply of magistrates and missionaries, on the other hand, doesn't increase with size, so bringing the new provinces up to the minimum level of advancement takes all of that, and there never seems to be anything left to spare to bring the original core provinces up to the level of the smaller neighboring states.

 

[Kovax]

Last night I forgot to heed that old saying, "Look before you leap".

7/1590 - Maya joins Zapotec against Toulouse, Hungary, Castille, Naples, and so on.

9/1590 - Castille negotiates a separate settlement with Zapotec, forcing Zapotec to release Aztec.

11/1590 - Perm defects from Golden Horde to Hungary. Hungarian colonists are sent to Ufa.

3/1591 - Zapotec offers white peace with Hungary. With no vested interest in the war, Hungary agrees and drops out of the conflict.

4/1591 - Toulouse annexes the remainder of Zapotec.

7/1591 - Natives in Acadia attack the colony, reducing the population of the settlement down to 40. Troops are dispatched to put a stop to the aggression, as in Abnaki.

9/1591 - Portugal forces the Ottomans to release Trebizond as an independent country, but its war with Syria and Swahili continues.

11/1591 - Hungarian troops arrive in Acadia, and eliminate the unruly native tribe.

1/1592 - Portugal annexes Magdeburg (Altmark province) illegally. 10,000 rebels led by a pretender to the throne of GH are spotted, heading toward Ufa, which would cause the current group of settlers to fail. Hungarian troops are sent to head them off.

3/1592 - Hungarian troops arrive in Ufa 3 days before the rebel army, and destroy it. This has the unfortunate side effect of ending the rebel occupation in 2 other GH provinces. ALL 48,000 troops of Hungary's allies in Idnakar advance on Tobolsk, leaving Idnakar undefended from the remains of the GH army, reduced by attrition in the wastelands of Berezov from 12,000 men down to barely over 2000. Hungarian troops are raced to the scene, and the GH troops halt.

7/1592 - Infamy finally dips down to just above 2 points. Hungary requests a Crusade against the Ottomans. Several Islamic states place guarantees of the Ottomans over the next frew days. The price tag of the operation suddenly looks a lot higher. Hungary delivers an insult to Saruhan, which is guaranteed by the Ottomans, intending to break the alliance next month, and then draw the Ottomans into war to defend Saruhan. Persia guarantees Saruhan.

10/1592 - Colonists arrive, and Ufa defects to Hungary. Golden Horde agrees to pay 1.8 ducats per month in tribute.

Beginning of 11/1592 - With Ufa under Hungarian control, nomads from both Nogai and Khazak appear on the borders. The Mamluks guarantee Saruhan. With all of the new guarantees, it really doesn't matter which of the countries Hungary declares war on, it is going to draw in a large Islamic alliance. Hungary calls its entire mob of allies and vassals into a Holy War against the Ottomans. Persia takes control of the war on the Ottoman side, and all of its allies and vassals enter the war. A closer look at the extent of Persian lands, and a check of their army size in the ledger surprises me. They've actually surpassed all but Hungary, Austria, and Castille in terms of military manpower, and their domain stretches from Kaffa on the Black Sea all the way to Baluchistan on the border of India. This is suddenly a lot bigger war than I expected, facing Persia, Ottomans, Morocco, Iraq, Oman, Atrakhan, and Ramazan.

Late 11/1592 - Hungary takes Adana (Ramazan), and Ramazan renounces its core claim in Angora. 1 opponent down, 6 more to go. Meanwhile, Persian troops appear in Kaffa, move to Crimea, and take that from Hungary. Corfu joins the war on the Persian side.

12/1592 - Uralsk is taken from Atrakhan by Hungary. Corfu's fleet is engaged off the coast of Corfu and destroyed. Alania (Persian) is taken by Hungary, but Zaporizhia is taken by Persian troops. Astrakhan offers to renounce its 3 core claims in Hungarian territory, and Hungary accepts. That's 2 down and still 6 to go.

1/1593 - Sivas (Ottoman) is taken by Hungary, while Persia takes Cherson from Hungary. Corfu is taken by assault, accepts conversion to Catholicism, and annuls its alliance with Persia. 3 down, 5 to go.

2/1593 - Erserrum (Ottoman) falls to Hungary. Hungary annexes all three provinces of Ottomans, incurring 3 Infamy. 4 down, 4 to go.

3/1593 - 16,000 Persian troops, heavily disorganized after their assaults on Crimea, Zaporozhia, and Cherson, are engaged by 28,000 Hungarian troops in Budjak, where they are quickly broken and eliminated. Another 21,000 fresh Persian troops are defeated in Imereti by 28,000 Hungarians, half of which have just completed a successful province assault. The routed Persian are chased north by the less-disorganized Hungarian army of 14,000 men, while the other lays siege. Hungary's allies liberate Zaporozhia.

5/1593 - 18,000 Persian troops are narrowly defeated by 14,000 Hungarian troops in Dagestan. Hungarian troops take Georgia. Crimea is liberated by Hungary's allies. Persian troops from Imereti flee through the Hungarians in Georgia to Kalmykia, without stopping. They are pursued from there further north toward Sarai. In other parts of the world, France declares war on Champagne, and Toulouse honors its guarantee of Champagne. Toulouse does not call Hungary into the war, because Hungary is clearly preoccupied.

6/1593 - The one group of fleeing Persians is defeated in Sarai, and flees even further north to Saratow. The Persians from Dagestan reach Astrakhan, where they are defeated again, fleeing toward Alania. Hungarian troops take Baybaktu from Nogai, and Nogai agrees to pay 0.5 ducats per month in tribute. The Persians fleeing from Astrakhan are caught in Alania and eliminated. The Persians from Sarai are defeated again in Saratow and flee back to Sarai.

7/1593 - Oman requests a white peace, which is accepted. 5 down, 3 left. The 9000 remaining Persians fleeing from Saratow are eliminated in Sarai.

9/1593 - Kartli is taken by Hungary. 4000 Iraqi troops and 1000 Persian troops are eliminated by Hungary's allies, the allies begin sieging multiple Persian provinces. The entire Persian army is down under 10,000 men, and the other remaining 20,000+ Omani and Moroccan troops on that side of the conflict are not actively involved.

10/1593 - Khazak admits defeat, freeing up the 14,000 men on that end of the empire.

1/1594 - A combination of Iraqi and Persian troops is chased from Armenai, and engaged in Qarabagh.

2/1594 - Shirvan is taken by Hungary. The Persian/Iraqi army in Qarabagh is destroyed, leaving only a couple thousand Persians and Iraqis to defend the vast Persian Empire. Qarabagh is taken by Hungary, followed by Armenia. The Persians accept Hungary's terms, releasing Georgia (5 provinces) and Candar (Kastamon province) as independent countries, ending the war. This leaves the province of Kaffa isolated and ripe for revolt or annexation in the next war, and leaves Candar (Kastamon) vulnerable to attack, once the alliance with Hungary is broken.

There is no time for that, however, because Toulouse immediately calls Hungary to arms against France, MUnster (4 provinces), and Bavaria (Wurzburg's two provinces, with a new name). Hungary assumes control of the war, and Hungary's multitude of allies and vassals join in. There are 24,000 French troops besieging Neveres, and another 10,000 further north. Two Hungarian armies of 14,000 men each are ready in the north, but the 14,000 man contingent in the south will need to wait for assistance to deal with the 24,000 man French stack. The rest of the Hungarian troops are either in Persian territory, along the horde borders, or in the New World, so I'm going to have to rely on my allies and vassals to deal with the French allies. At this point, my primary goal in this war is to force the re-release of Orleans (3 provinces), along with the renunciation of as many French core claims as possible.

 

[Kovax]

Well, the eventual outcome was never in doubt (Toulouse is almost a match for France, so my main concern is dealing with France's allies, for which I'm way out of position), but the situation shows that one's troops can't be everywhere in force at once. That's what vassals are for.

4/1594 - MUnster's army tangles with those of several Hungarian vassals, and they request a white peace even before sieging begins. Accepted, and out of the war. At the opposite end of the spectrum, Bavaria has 0 war score, but demands the release of several of Hungary's vassals. Clearly not accepted, nor acceptable, and I'm still miffed at the programmers for allowing nations with 0 or even slightly negative war scores to make ridiculous demands. The northern French army is quickly crushed by 28,000 Hungarians and a few allies, and both Isle-de-France and Vermandois are place under siege by Hungarian troops from one army, while rebels occupy one of the former Orleans provinces, and Toulouse and Nevers occupy a couple of provinces in the south. Normandy and Holland begin their own sieges. The other Hungarianarmy advances to join the southern one, before taking on the larger French force besieging Nevers.

5/1594 - The French army in Nevers is narrowly defeated, and driven off, but the Hungarians opposing them are in rather sad shape after the fight. One army of 14,000 is simply unable to fight and heads for friendly territory to speed recovery, while the other is hanging on by a thin sliver of morale, but pursues the French force toward Bourbon anyway. France settles with Toulouse, surrendering the province of Périgord and renouncing 3 core claims. The French reach Bourbon on the last day of the month, arriving at essentially the same time as the pursuing Hungarians. Without a shred of morale remaining, the French army surrenders and is eliminated. The Hungarian army divides up to siege the remaining French provinces..

6/1594 - 14,000 men of the Hungarian II Honved engage 9000 Bavarian troops besieging Oberlausitz. Hungary suffers heavy casualties, and morale comes down to the wire, but the Bavarians break first. They are pursued to Niederbayern and eliminated. At this point, Ferrara decides that entering the war on the French side is a good idea.

7/1594 - Ferrara's ship (note the singular) blockades the Hungarian ports in the Gulf of Venice. The small Hungarian coastal defense fleet in Dalmatia puts an abrupt end to that. A "Nobles Demand Old Rights" event fires, resulting in a Stability hit, which will take around 13 months to recover. Ferrara's thousand-man army begins sieging Venezia.

8/1594 - Hainaut joins the French against Hungary, an begins counter-sieging Isle-de-France. They suffer a small accident when 14,000 Hungarian troops show up a couple of weeks later. The Hungarian army then heads to besiege Hainaut, but Holland's troops get there first, and control the siege.

9/1594 - Ferrara's brigade evaporates on contact as the first army from Asia Minor arrives in Venezia. The Hungarians then move toward Ferrara itself. Elsewhere, Prussia surrenders to Poland, giving up 4 provinces.

10/1594 - The province of Ferrara falls to assault, and they agree to renounce their alliances with France and Genoa. France settles with Nevers, releasing Bourbonais as a sovereign state (1 province).

11/1594 - Sieges in both of Bavaria's provinces are completed, and Bavaria agrees to renounce its core claims on 7 provinces and end its alliance with France. Shawnee warns Hungary. Tuscany allies with France. Hainaut makes totally absurd demands on Hungary, and they're lucky that Holland got there first.

12/1594 - Tuscany joins France, after all, that worked out so incredibly well for Ferrara, right? Two more Hungarian armies arrive from Persia, and Hungary is now prepared to fight this war properly, except that it's about over.

2/1595 - France surrenders to Hungary, releasing Orleans (3 provinces, splitting France into two parts again), handing Vermandois to Hungary (which leaves Isle-de-France isolated), and renouncing 2 core claims.

Taking Vermandois at 3 Infamy (as a defender) isolates Isle-de-France from its other provinces in the south, leaving it vulnerable to annexation in the next war. I'm sitting at about 5 Infamy, and hope to bring that down a couple of points before beginning one or two wars in Asia Minor against those Islamic OPMs before the Holy War CB runs out at the end of the century. I could also sneak in another war with Persia in 1599 when the truce expires, if a suitable opportunity arises, but that will likely boost my Infamy a bit higher, affecting Trade and revolt risks.

 

[Kovax]

Several major events over the weekend, and things rarely go exactly as planned.

3/1595 - Toulouse warns Bourbonnais. Hungary breaks its alliance with Toulouse and guarantees Bourbonnais. The alliance with Toulouse served its purpose against France, but now Toulouse is the bigger problem. There are plenty of revolts and colonies to deal with over the next few months, without being dragged into yet another war by Toulouse for no gain.

9/1595 - Stability is finally restored to +3. Tuskegee, Cheraw, and Cherokee become Hungarian cores in the New World, easing the unrest situation there. Troops begin shifting to suitable jump-off points along the Polish border and near its allies.

11/1595 - Hungary enforces the Imperial Ban by declaring war on Poland. 21 vassals and allies of Hungary join the war against Poland and its 5 allies and guarantors. Cologne, a heretical elector, sides with Poland as expected.

12/1595 - Hungary burns 22 Prestige bring another OPM into its Sphere of Influence. Cologne surrenders after Koln is taken by a combined assault, converting to Catholicism and renouncing claims to 4 cores within its neighbors' territory, which provides nearly enough Prestige to replace that used to expand Hungary's SOI.

1/1596 - Toulouse declares war on Algiers, which calls in Morocco, Tripoli, Iraq, and Haasa against Toulouse.

3/1596 - Austria diplomatically annexes its vassal Savoy, adding 2 more illegal provinces to its collection. If they release the two provinces to the Emperor, Savoy could be liberated as a vassal, burning off most of Hungary's infamy, just in time for a nice Holy War. In the current war, 3 Polish provinces have already been taken by Hungarian assaults, and Hungary's allies already have most of Poland under siege. Novgorod, allied to Poland, offers a white peace to Hungary after having one province occupied, and drops out of the war to deal with internal problems. Its smaller 10,000 man army destroyed with hardly a fight in the opening month of the war, the main Polish army of 18,000 men falls back to Grodno, rather than accept battle, but is attacked by 8000 Brandenburg troops allied with Hungary. A 14,000 man Hungarian army follows and assists, but Brandenburg had already done most of the work. The Poles break and flee to Podlasie, which is already under siege by 1000 Brandenburgers, and the Hungarians pursue, arriving simultaneously to eliminate the demoralized Poles. A second Hungarian army takes Warzawa by assault 2 weeks later. Poland surrenders, ceding Kalisz to the Emperor, releasing Tver (3 provinces) as an independent country, and renouncing its core claims on 3 previously taken provinces.

12/1596 - Hungary gains a core on Alania in Georgia as a result of a Border Dispute event. Hungary dissolves the alliance with Georgia (formed as a result of their release from Persia), and sends an insult to Mentese, which is allied to Georgia.

2/1597 - Another Border Dispute event gives Hungary a core claim on Limburg in Brabant. Hungary cancels military access, as they only have 2 small allies. Checking the "Declare War" screen, Brabant is Reformed, and Austria is the Defender of the Faith, with 67,000 visible troops and several significant allies to consider. Those troops are of a higher caliber than the Eastern troops fielded by Hungary, so a 3:2 troop ratio would likely be required. The war would be winnable, but far from cheap, especially over a single province. Scrap that idea....for now.

5/1597 - Toulouse annexes Tripoli (2 provinces).

10/1597 - Golden Horde does what it always does, and appears on the border as expected. A Hungarian army advances into their territory, but they seem to be preoccupied by an internal revolt. The "Resisting Western Influences" effects expire, and the decision is made once again to resist for another decade. The current king is living to a ripe old age, and his heir is in his late 40s already, so still no leader capable of completing Westernization of the military.

11/1597 - Hungary declares two separate wars on the same day: one against Georgia over the disputed core province, and a Holy War against Mentese. Haasa, Iraq. and Syria join Mentese. Mentese's army is destroyed in Antalya (its only province), and the province is taken by assault in three days, its surrender delayed until the arrival of a new diplomat carrying the terms. Meanwhile, its navy leaves port, directly into the waiting arms of the Hungarian main fleet.

12/1597 - The province of Georgia is taken, and the Hungarian troops next head for Alania. The diminutive Mentese navy is eliminated, and the Hungarian fleet moves to intercept a Syrian fleet heading westward. Mentese surrenders, and is annexed by Hungary for 2 Infamy. Further east, North Ufa falls to a Hungarian assault, and GH offers to pay 1.9 ducats per month in tribute. The offer is accepted, since their gigantic low-value provinces aren't worth the effort to pacify at the moment, when there are two other hordes, one of them with better land, about to reappear. The Syrian fleet is brought to battle by the slightly larger but slightly damaged Hungarian fleet, and 6 Syrian ships are sent to the bottom of the Mediterranean. The Hungarian fleet takes moderate damage in return, but loses no ships. 5 levels of tech advantage help.

1/1598 - Poland refuses to turn over Kurland to the Emperor (for which I am grateful), having re-annexed the entire Teutonic Order (but Prussia still exists). Alania in Georgia is taken by Hungarian troops.

2/1598 - Yemen joins Syria against Hungary. One Hungarian army assaults Imereti in Georgia while a second catches and annihilates the Georgians besieging Astrakhan. Georgia cedes Alania to Hungary, and now only the province of Imereti stands in the way of linking Hungary's Asia Minor conquests with its thrust across Asia proper.

5/1598 - Hungary accepts Syria's offer of white peace. Saruhan breaks its alliance with Hungary.

6/1598 - Nogai appears on the border.

8/1598 - 14,000 Hungarian troops engage a horde of 16,000 Nogai nomads in Baybaktu. The Nogai troops flee to Ust Yurt, while the victorious Hungarian troops assail and take the province. Colonists are sent to properly settle the province.

10/1598 - Nogai's army is again defeated in Ust Yurt, and the province taken only a couple of days later. Kazakh nomads appear on the borders.

11/1598 - The shattered remnants of Nogai's army are crushed in Mangyshlak. A "Poor Administration" event costs the realm 1250 ducats, which is less painful than the alternative: 2 Stability hits. 5000 Kazakh troops attack the technologically far superior 14,000 Hungarian troops guarding Baybaktu, with inevitable results.

2/1599 - Hungary takes Khawarzam from Kazakh, and Kazakh offers 4.7 ducats per month in tribute. Hungary accepts the offer, and continues sending colonists to Baybaktu..

7/1600 - Baybaktu defects from Nogai to Hungary. Nogai accepts the Hungarian demands to release its vassal Astrakhan and to pay 0.5 ducats per month in tribute.

10/1601 - Savoy declares independence from Austria, and is at war with Austria and Lithuania. Hungarian spies produce an "Obscure Document" showing a legal claim on the throne of Savoy.

11/1601 - Hungary sends an insult to Savoy, souring relations. So far, no Austrian troops have crossed Hungary to reach Savoy.

1/602 - Hungary declares war on Savoy over the disputed throne. If/when successful, this may end up with Hungary at war against Austria when the new PU partner calls Hungary to war. Troops begin moving from distant parts of the realm toward Austria, just in case. Savoy's army of 8000 men is busily engaged against 4000 of its own peasants.

2/1602 - Savoy's army is defeated in Piedmont, then chased and eliminated in Cuneo. Hungary divides its 14,000 man army into 2 siege groups, rather than bring another army in to make rapid assaults, since this is almost inevitably going to end up as a long waiting game for Savoy and Austria to peace out.

5/1602 - Genoa declares its own war on Savoy. This is a bigger problem, because Genoa is allied to both Naples and Portugal, and will most likely call in one or both if Hungary gets involved. I'm seriously hoping that Savoy will eventually peace out with Genoa, as well as with Austria, since neither side can gain any war score on the other.

8/1602 - Cuneo surrenders to its Hungarian besiegers a lot sooner than expected.

10/1602 - Modena and Tuscany both join Genoa against Savoy.

11/1602 - The Piedmont garrison surrenders to its Hungarian besiegers, so it's now a waiting game to see who peaces out first. I can take on Austria, and half-expect that to happen, but it would be painful. I could also take on Genoa/Naples/Portugal, but their powerful navies and strong colonial presence will make it an exercise in frustration in the colonies that I don't care to deal with. Both at the same time would be a nightmare. Meanwhile, a spy from Novgorod is detected trying to incite a revolt in Hungary's New World provinces, but fails.

 

[Kovax]

Well, there's good news, and some bad news.....

12/1602 - Golden Horde again. Enough said.

2/1603 - Avignon joins Savoy against Hungary, Genoa, and Austria. A small detachment is dispatched to deal with it.

3/1603 - With just one of its province taken, Golden Horde offers 2.3 ducats per month in tribute, which is accepted by Hungary. Who needs those giant, poor provinces that take 3 months to cross? Avgnon's 1000 man army is easily wiped out, but the 3000 man garrison defending their province is another matter. A long siege begins.

4/1603 - Bavaria declares another war on Ansbach, pitting themselves and Mainz against Hesse, Trier, and Ansbach.

9/1603 - Lajos II (6/6/6) assumes the throne of Hungary and the Holy Roman Empire upon the death of his elderly father. Zsigmond (5/7/6) becomes the new heir, a reasonably capable diplomat, but lacking sufficient Administrative skills to Westernize the army. Another generation of waiting and hoping begins. Diplomats are sent to renew Royal Marriage ties with selected countries. No countries were inherited, but at least the Personal Unions continued.

10/1603 - On the bright side, Savoy and Austria agree to a white peace, ending one potential bloodbath.

2/1604 - Kazakh nomads appear on the borders of Hungary. A Hungarian army is sent, and a second soon takes a different approach vector.

3/1604 - Poland declares war on Prussia (1 province), and numerous countries join each side, many of them HRE members. This could get interesting.

5/1604 - Mantua and Modena drop out of the war against Savoy, agreeing to a white peace. A few days later, Tuscany peaces out as well. Just before the month closes, Genoa accepts Savoy's white peace request, ending all of the other wars against Savoy except for the one against Hungary. A day later, Savoy accepts Hungary's terms, entering a Personal Union under the Emperor of Hungary and renouncing its claims on Savoie. Yaroslavl, previously liberated from Novgorod by Hungary, and having taken control of Prussia's war against Poland, immediately dispatches a messenger to Hungary. Sensing the nature of the message, and with nothing to gain by entering someone else's war against Poland, the Emperor summons his own messenger and issues his own declaration of war against Poland to reclaim the illegally held HRE province of Kurland. The messenger from Yaroslaval is then admitted, who delivers his request for Hungarian assistance in the war, and is informed that Hungary is already at war against Poland. Problem solved for everyone (except Poland). As expected, Luneburg, Cologne, and Nizhny Novgorod support Poland in the new war. Nizhny Novgorod is already under siege by Yaroslavl, Koln is already besieged by Hesse, and Luneburg's troops are deterred from their move toward Hannover (Hungarian) by the direction of 8000 Hungarian troops, which then change direction to attack the Luneburg troops in Luneburg.

6/1604 - Alimuly is taken from the Kazakhs by the 14,000 troops of the XIV Honved, which then moves to support the 14,000 men of the XII Honved marching on Zheteru and the 33,000 Kazakh troops guarding it or passing through. Both Hungarian armies should arrive there within days of each other. Hungary takes control of Sieradz from Poland.

7/1604 - Prussia surrenders, becoming a vassal of Poland. 33,000 Kazakh troops are defeated in Zheteru, scattering in 3 different directions. Hungarian troops take Plock in Poland. 21,000 Polish troops fresh from the siege of Prussia arrive in Warzawa and begin to move to restore control of Sieradz. Zheteru is taken from Kazakh by a brief Hungarian assault, and Kazakh offers to pay 3.8 ducats per month, which is accepted by Hungary. Luneburg's army is engaged in its home province and destroyed.

8/1604 - 14,000 Hungarian troops of the Royal Honved take control of Podlasie from Poland, and the army heads north toward the HRE province of Kurland. The VII Honved waits to engage the 21,000 Poles in Sieradz until support arrives.

9/1604 - Prussia joins its new master in the wars against Hungary and Yaroslavl.

10/1604 - Two 14,000 man Hungarian armies move to engage the Polish army, and another 5000 allies advance from a third direction, creating a massive 33,000 versus 21,000 man battle. One extremely good die roll happens (for a change), the outcome is decisive, and the Polish army simply evaporates in place.

11/1604 - Cologne, occupied by Hesse, surrenders to Yaroslavl, renouncing treaties. They then request a white peace with Hungary, which is accepted. Hungary gains a core claim for Caux province in Normandy, as a result of yet another Border Dispute event. Funny how often those happen when you've got 100+ border provinces.

3/1605 - Osel becomes a core province of Hungary (I hadn't even noticed that it wasn't in revolt for the last 50 years), finally ending the penalty for holding an illegal non-core HRE province. Now I'll have to defend it. Additional Polish provinces have fallen to assault, and Poland accepts the demands: convert to Catholicism, cede the illegal HRE province of Kurland to the Emperor, renounce 2 core claims, and end the vassalization of Prussia. That gives Hungary cores in two of the three problem provinces on the Baltic coast, the third (Livonia) being illegally held by Finland. Guess what's on the agenda?

The Nogai (what little is left of them) should reappear soon, and will likely lose both of their remaining provinces to Hungarian colonists. Infamy is now falling 0.25 per year faster without the Illegal Non-Core HRE Province penalty for Osel, and I can now consider expanding inland in the Americas at the expense of the native tribes. As for the Persians or other rivals in the east, I can wait for the right opportunity, rather than push the matter without a good reason/excuse, because the time pressure (and the opportunity for extremely-low-Infamy conquests) is gone.

Possibly even more importantly, I've restored Relations and most of the previous Royal Marriages throughout the HRE and Western Europe, and can hope to inherit some or all of the 3 countries currently in Personal Unions. I'm also well situated to jump at any reasonable chance to form or force additional PUs. Additionally, I'm still keeping an eye on Aquileia, in case they break their current alliances with several major powers, or I can find some way of severing those treaties, since they're one conspicuous missing link in my path across the southern end of the HRE. Thuringia blocks the central route, but that's also incomplete on the western end. The process would be a lot easier now if I were out of the HRE, since I could diplomatically annex a few vassals without paying illegal province penalties for the next 50 years.

 

[Kovax]

Not the most exciting session, but definite progress, one VERY important change in the line of succession, and another misunderstanding of when certain rules apply or don't.

4/1605 - Poland surrenders to Yaroslavl, releasing Polotsk as a sovereign nation and liberating its vassal Nizhny Novgorod, but Poland is still at war with several other countries.

5/1605 - Bavaria and Hesse settle their war over the independence of Ansbach , signing a white peace.

7/1605 - Nogai nomads appear on the borders of Hungary once again. Their previously unseen and distant province of Tara, now their capital, becomes visible.

9/1605 - Ust Yurt and Mangyshlak are taken by assault, and Hungarian colonists are dispatched to Ust Yurt.

12/1605- Emperor Lajos II's reign (6/6/6) proves to be short, and Zsigmond (5/7/6) is elevated to the throne upon the death of his father, but inherits no countries in the process. His son Laszlo (7/4/6) looks to be a mediocre diplomat, but has the Administrative talent needed to westernize the Hungarian military and complete the process of Westernization. With the heir at 6 years of age, it's too soon to convert the Emperor to a general in order to hasten the succession. Diplomats go out once again to renew marriage ties and mend relations where needed. Thuringia proves unusually resistant to marriage offers, causing 3 failures, where they were previously quite supportive.

4/1606 - Hungary declares a war of Colonial Conquest against Shawnee.

12/1606 - Shawnee's four provinces are annexed by Hungary.

4/1607 - A slider move becomes available, and Quality is increased, also providing a mediocre commandant who is passed by for hiring.

5/1607 - Naples joins Castille against Finland, Tver, and France. Hungary is allied to Tver as a result of liberating them previously, so it behooves us to remain at war with Nogai to avoid being called into their current conflict. Fighting Castille and Naples for no gain doesn't seem like a good idea.

8/1607 - Ust Yurt defects from Nogai to Hungary, and the next group of colonists is routed to Mangyshlak.

10/1607 - Finland gets a "Border Dispute" claim on Osel. Just when I thought it was mine....

3/1608 - Golden Horde, once again. This time, however, we can send troops through it to reach Tara (Nogai's capital), and incidentally occupy a couple of provinces along the way. The "Resisting Western Influences" event recurs, and is extended for another decade. The current heir of Hungary will be 18 when it expires again, so either the current emperor needs to pass away before then, or else the heir needs to live to at least age 28 when the NEXT cycle expires.

late 1608 - Georgia turns Imereti over to Trebizond, after having declared on Crete and being dog-piled by a host of nations guaranteeing Crete or allied to Portugal, who became the war leader. Since Trebizond is allied to Portugal, getting Imereti to link the two eastern arms of my expanded empire just became a lot more difficult.

3/1609 - Genoa relocates its capital to Gold Coast (in Africa), thereby removing itself from the HRE and making Liguria an illegally held province. If not for their extensive alliances and guarantors, I'd declare war immediately. As it is, I'll wait for a better opportunity.

4/1609 - With Kazakh due to reappear in only a couple of months, Hungary settles with Golden Horde, accepting 1.6 ducats per month in tribute. I don't need 3 horde wars going on at once, even if one of them is 100% occupied and has no troops. My vassals and allies might get intimidated by the number of conflicts.

7/1609 - Kazakh appears.

8/1609 - Mangyshlak defects from Nogai to Hungary, leaving Nogai with a single distant province (Tara). With Nogai having nothing left to take and no income to pay tribute, Hungary allows them to admit defeat, ending the war.

10/1609 - 9000 Kazakh tribal warriors are wiped out in Mangyshlak. Another group of 11,000 heads for Ust Yurt, and Hungary allows them to advance, waiting to pounce.

12/1609 - 11,000 Kazakh troops are eliminated in Ust Yurt by 14,000 Hungarian troops, and the Hungarians advance against Alimuly, where 14,000 more Kazakhs wait.

1/1610 - 14,000 Hungarians engage the 14,000 Kazakhs in Alimuly, and the skills of the generals practically offset each other, but technology is a decisive factor: level 24 troops versus level 6, and the Kazakh army is exterminated with only minor losses in return. Three days later, the province is taken by siege.

Further progress in the east is being hampered by the two provinces of Astrakhan, which I have to go around, and by the sheer size of the provinces. Looks like those two provinces need a sudden change of ownership. The current war against Kazakh would allow me to keep colonizing land all the way to China, but I don't want to tie down the manpower to garrison all of that land, because with 2-3 months to get from one provinces to the next, an army can only cover its own province and its immediate neighbors and still expect to arrive before any sieges are completed. I'm taking it one bite at a time, with the 5 year truces allowing time for revolt risk to burn off a bit before the next advance.

The current heir has the 7 Administrative skill needed to finish the Westernization process, but the timing might be tricky, depending on when the current Emperor passes away. At this stage of the campaign, the stats of a ruler have relatively little impact on research compared to taxes, production, and trade income, but are still important for passing certain decrees, reducing Infamy, and signing diplomatic agreements.

A glance at my war options indicates that I was mistaken about the 1600 cutoff date for Holy Wars. Apparently, although I can no longer declare a Crusade, Holy Wars are still perfectly valid. That changes the situation by quite a bit.

 

[Kovax]

Reality intruded on last night's session, so it was relatively short.

6/1610 - Kazakh offers 2.8 ducats per month in tribute, and Hungary is already stretched out into a narrow and slightly convoluted occupation corridor. Hungary needs to widen the corridor, not extend it, so the peace offer is accepted.

7/1610 - Hungary declares a Holy War on Astrakhan (who do not own the province of the same name), which would remove the one major obstacle which the troops currently need to go around. Saruhan (Smyrna province) and Ramazan (Adana province) honor their alliances with Astrakhan, and Hungarian forces immediately move to attack all of them at once.

8/1610 - After destroying the 1000 defending troops and taking Smyrna by assault, Hungary accepts Saruhan's offer to pay 6 ducats in war reparations. Similarly, Ramazan offers to pay 4 ducats, and the offer is accepted. Taking those provinces without a war goal for 8 Infamy each would be pointless, and they really don't have anything else worth taking. There's no point in forcing them to break their alliances with Astrakhan when Astrakhan will no longer exist, and Prestige isn't meaningful when it's parked at 100 for most of the game, thanks to the annual gain for being the Holy Roman Emperor.

9/1610 - Bersh and Uralsk are taken by assault, and Astrakhan (2 provinces) is annexed by Hungary for a total of 2 Infamy. I'll happily take two provinces for 2 infamy instead of one province for 8 Infamy.

3/1611 - After decades of dedicated missionary efforts, the province of Thrace converts to Catholicism. It will still be roughly another decade until it becomes a core.

4/1612 - Hungary declares a war of Colonial Conquest on Iroquois.

1/1613 - Iroquois cedes Mohawk and Oneida to Hungary.

Somewhere along the line, Anhalt (Magdeburg) was illegally annexed, probably as a minor participant during one of Poland's wars, and was released to the Emperor. The game notifies you with a big pop-up screen if a country refuses the random event demanding the surrender of an illegal province to the Emperor, but gives no such notice if the demand is accepted, only a routine entry in the journal, which I apparently missed during one of my own wars. Basically, somebody gave me an illegal non-core province, and nobody told me. It became evident when I checked my Infamy reduction rate and spotted the modifier for an illegal province. I could release it as a vassal, but I'm going to wait until I build at least 2 points of Infamy before doing so, and then release it to burn off 2 points.

Thanks to a ruler with a slightly higher Diplomacy skill, as well as a LOT of cardinals due to the sheer number of Catholic provinces (Hungary has a 27% chance, versus 7% for the next most likely country), the rate of Infamy reduction is still around -1.2 per year, despite the illegal province knocking 0.25 off that figure, and the ruler's acceptable Administration skill combined with a highly skilled Theologian has resulted in a large number of recent religious conversions in Europe and the colonies, although the Asiatic provinces and Ireland are still mostly Islamic or heretical.

Austria is fairly large, having added a handful of scattered provinces to its strong starting situation over the previous century, and is the only remaining rival of any importance within the HRE. They hold several illegal provinces and a Hungarian core, and there's a fairly high likelihood of us both being dragged in on opposite sides in some war, but I'm not looking to force the issue while I'm still not fully Westernized. Switzerland is a vassal of Hungary, and Milan is in a Personal Union, leaving Hesse and MUnster as the next most powerful HRE states with 4 provinces each, but Castille is now up to just shy of 100,000 troops, eclipsing Wu by a slender margin, and Austria by a third. Castille's still got well under half my total number of troops, and I've got the financial capacity to add another couple of armies, so I'm not feeling in any danger, but their sizable fleet could make matters in the colonies rather unpleasant. Unlike Austria, Castille and Portugal welcomed my offers of a Royal Marriage, so it's still very possible to acquire a huge amount of (non-core) European and colonial land through inheritance, but I'm not counting on it. I've got a core in Brabant, but no hurry to take it, since it's not due to expire for several decades, and they're protected by Austria while it's a Defender of the Faith. Genoa holds an illegal HRE province, but they're allied with Portugal, so I'm biding my time and hoping that changes. Lots of potential in the West, but under the present situation it's mostly looking rather expensive to take. I suspect that the next big move will be in the East.