This has to have been the most frustrating and tedious session I've ever played, and is an example of why I have only played two campaigns out to the bitter end, despite starting dozens. I love this game for around the first 200 years or so, and then it gets increasingly annoying. So far, I've only made occasional mention of the numerous revolts, rather than listing all of them individually. This time, it's a life-and-death struggle, more critical than the petty wars over a province or two, and I'm going to go into at least some detail to give an idea of the severity.
7/1753 - A day after Yaroslavl's surrender, Orleans declares war on recently liberated Bourbonnais, and calls Hungary to arms against Bourbonnais, Münster, and Mainz. Hungary's troops are out of position, and need time to respond. Münster takes control of the war from Bourbonnais, but Orleans retains control of its war.
8/1753 - Mainz initiates a siege of Hungary's province of Pfalz. Hungary's IX Honved from Spain advances through Auvergne's territory toward Boubonnais, destroying a rebel group along the way to Limousin. Another Hungarian army intercepts Münster's 10,000 troops in their province of Westfalen just before they advance into Hungarian territory.
9/1753 - Utrecht joins Müunster, as Hungary breaks Münster's army. A small detachment is split off to deal with Utrecht, and 2000 Utrecht troops are destroyed in Gelre. All three provinces of Münster in Europe are place under siege, and the victorious troops in Gelre are on their way to besiege Utrecht, but the Level 4 forts will take a long time to surrender.
10/1753 - A scan of the colonies shows one province of Toulouse in South America occupied by a Brazilian Separatist group, which would create Brazil out of a large number of provinces owned by Toulouse, Portugal, and Hungary, if allowed to control the province for a year. Hungary requests military access through Toulouse's territory, which is granted in spite of relations worse than -100. 7000 troops are dispatched to crush the dangerous revolt. Yaroslavl owns one colonial province (somehow, despite being completely landlocked), Pernambuco, and that turns striped due to a revolt. Hungary gains military access and immediately instructs a half-army of 7000 troops in Magdalena to board ship and restore order to the province. Toulouse's colonial province of Bahia near Pernambuco goes striped, and the troops already on their way to the adjacent provinces have one more thing to deal with. Münster unloads troops from a small fleet off the Coast of Brittany, and begins a siege of Finistere. Brittany allows military access to Hungary, and an army is dispatched to break the siege, as well as the besiegers. That access also allows the other half of the army in Magdalena to march to stop another revolt in Brittany's isolated province of Caracas.
12/1753 - Another Separatist revolt occupies a province of Brittany in Woods Cree, in the far northern parts of Canada. 7000 Hungarian troops begin the brutal overland hike into the frozen wastes in winter to deal with the uprising. On the eastern seaboard, Moose Cree goes striped, and Quebec Separatists appear in adjacent Abitibi. Chipewyan up north falls to the Separatists, adjacent to Woods Cree. Hungarian troops reach the provinces of Bahia and Pernambuco, easily eliminating the small rebel groups in the surrounding provinces, as well as pacifying the freshly rebel-occupied province of Diamentina. Troops reach the revolt in Caracas and crush the rebels.
3/1754 - A single brigade of troops from Münster begins sieging Bermuda, and Münster's previously unnoticed colonial province of Vestbygden is spotted in Greenland. A modest fleet of old transports and some escorts is dispatched with 5000 troops to deal with both. Münster's colony of Rio de Oro in Africa is placed under siege by Hungary, but it has a Level 5 fortress. That's a lot of scattered colonial possessions for a landlocked country, but it's pretty clear that, unlike the player, the AI is able to demand provinces in peace deals that it doesn't even occupy.
4/1754 - Hungary crushes the rebels in Abitibi, while Brittany begins a siege to recover Moose Cree on its own. Surprisingly, Cleves (the province of Berg) accepts vassalage by Münster, and Hungary breaks off a small contingent of troops to stand guard in the country in case it joins Münster in the current war. Other than Vestbygden, all opposing provinces are under siege, but most of the sieges remain at 0% progress, with a couple at 13% and one at 25%. The brigade of Münster troops on Bermuda is destroyed, and the troops re-board ship bound for Vestbygden.
6/1754 - Hungary's small fleet of 5 transports and 2 escorts is attacked in mid-ocean by a marginally smaller Münster fleet of 6 combat vessels, and sunk almost immediately, thanks to about 8 levels of tech difference (my naval techs have fallen behind) and obsolete ships (every one of their ships is of the latest types), compounded by horrendously one-sided die rolls. Work begins on a new transport fleet and a couple of new combat ships, since I don't have enough in that part of the world to make a credible invasion, not that Münster's 1000-man remaining army requires a credible invasion force.
7/1754 - Nevers successfully instigates a Separatist revolt in Campeche, and troops are sent overland to deal with it. Hungary's northern expedition retakes Woods Cree for Brittany, but a Münster brigade begins besieging Hungary's northern-most province of Swampy Cree. Chipewyan is successfully occupied by 2000 Separatist rebels adjacent to both, and the rebels advance toward Woods Cree. A few brigades are left behind to stop it, while the rest advance against the Münster brigade in Swampy Cree. In Europe, Cleves joins its overlord against Orleans and Hungary, and the Hungarian troops already present immediately begin a siege of the province.
8/1754 - Further east, Hungary's siege of Wenden (owned by Hungary's vassal Prussia) is finally completed after 4 years, with the rebels running out of food and water. The province is returned to Prussian control.
9/1754 - Münster's brigade in Swampy Cree is annihilated, leaving Münster and its allies with only one land brigade between all of them. The rebels in Campeche are eliminated. All of this activity does not include the constant nuisance "battles" every month as fresh brigades are created by Münster and its allies in the besieged provinces, and instantly destroyed, nor the frequently spammed demands for Hungary to release vassals or entire countries and pay astronomical sums to end the war, despite zero or slightly negative war score for the demanding countries. As far as I'm concerned, those are useless and annoying distractions that should have been removed by the developers. Most of the besieged provinces have advanced to 13% or 25% siege progress, although a couple are still at 0%, and one is all the way up to 75%. Near the end of the month, La Plata suddenly gains 11 cores in South America, and a Separatist revolt in an incomplete Hungarian colony insta-occupies the unfortified province of Caracara. Both Portuguese and Hungarian troops move to eliminate the dire threat.
10/1754 - 16,000 Trebizond Nationalists (not Separatists) spawn in Kaffa, days after the last of 12,000 Turkish Nationalists from Anatolia are finally destroyed in Bithynia. The siege of Bourbon succeeds, but Orleans controls the war, and Hungary cannot negotiate with a supporting combatant.
11/1754 - Bourbonnais surrenders to Orleans, becoming a vassal. The revolt in Caracara is put down violently by both Hungarian and Portuguese troops. Another revolt breaks out in Caracara while both armies are still present, and is almost instantly eliminated. The Hungarian troops remain in Caracara, since the successful occupation of the province left a local effect causing +15 revolt risk for the next 2 years. As I said, Separatists are EXREMELY dangerous.
12/1754 - Hungarian troops finally arrive in Chipewyan and pacify the province. Meanwhile, Toulouse's island province of Beothuk goes striped, but Hungary doesn't have enough transports in the area to ferry troops across.
1/1755 - Münster's province of Westfalen is occupied by Hungary after a lengthy siege. Another Münster brigade is destroyed on Bermuda by 2000 Hungarian troops.
2/1755 - Brabant declares war on Utrecht. Hungary's colonial fleet manages to sink two Münster transports heading toward the Americas, but Münster still has 3 more transports and 6 combat ships remaining.
4/1755 - Gelre declares war on Utrecht. Hungary' Royal Honved defeats the rebels in Kaffa, and eliminates them in Crimea.
At this point, the situation in Europe is purely a boring waiting game until Münster's provinces fall to siege. I'm hoping to force Münster to release its vassal Berg, and hopefully inflict some other setbacks: renounce core claims, or possibly release another state or even a province, since I'm down to around a point of Infamy again. The problem is that the moment I get a decent war score, Orleans will undoubtedly take whatever deal they can get, at my expense. There's no way that I can vassalize them in one bite at their size, with several colonies, and they won't accept a Royal Marriage for a possible PU without a massive number of bribes to bring Relations up from -200.
Meanwhile, I'm hard-pressed to keep the Separatist revolts in the Americas under control in OTHER countries, not so much in my own. Like the hated "Garibaldi's Red Shirts" in Victoria 2, success by the Separatists against ANY country allows automatic taking of land from EVERY country that holds those cores, without any ability to prevent it, even if you have massive armies in the provinces. Basically, you lose the colonies automatically, and only the country that failed to protect its own province gets to fight to take it back. Any other victim has to declare a separate war with no Infamy discount, unless they can find some other CB.
The massive number of provinces requires even more massive investments into technology, as well as increasing the time between slider moves, so I've got a far more Narrowminded country than most at this stage of the game, leading to less tech development. The large number of factories is almost irrelevant, since +5 points of research per month is trivial compared to the 1500+ research points that I get through taxes, production, trade, and various other sources. Even the +100 research points I'm getting in a couple of fields from other countries in my tech group are a drop in the bucket. I'm using just about every Magistrate I get just to keep up with basic Level 1 Forts and Churches in every province, Constables and Workshops in every non-colonial province (Constables enable another type of colonial revolt), and a few scattered Markets and Docks, while the rest of the civilized countries have been able to blanket their small numbers of provinces in higher-level improvements. With about 80 years left to go, it's becoming an ever-increasing grind just to hold onto what's already been gained, while the sieges take longer and longer.
7/1753 - A day after Yaroslavl's surrender, Orleans declares war on recently liberated Bourbonnais, and calls Hungary to arms against Bourbonnais, Münster, and Mainz. Hungary's troops are out of position, and need time to respond. Münster takes control of the war from Bourbonnais, but Orleans retains control of its war.
8/1753 - Mainz initiates a siege of Hungary's province of Pfalz. Hungary's IX Honved from Spain advances through Auvergne's territory toward Boubonnais, destroying a rebel group along the way to Limousin. Another Hungarian army intercepts Münster's 10,000 troops in their province of Westfalen just before they advance into Hungarian territory.
9/1753 - Utrecht joins Müunster, as Hungary breaks Münster's army. A small detachment is split off to deal with Utrecht, and 2000 Utrecht troops are destroyed in Gelre. All three provinces of Münster in Europe are place under siege, and the victorious troops in Gelre are on their way to besiege Utrecht, but the Level 4 forts will take a long time to surrender.
10/1753 - A scan of the colonies shows one province of Toulouse in South America occupied by a Brazilian Separatist group, which would create Brazil out of a large number of provinces owned by Toulouse, Portugal, and Hungary, if allowed to control the province for a year. Hungary requests military access through Toulouse's territory, which is granted in spite of relations worse than -100. 7000 troops are dispatched to crush the dangerous revolt. Yaroslavl owns one colonial province (somehow, despite being completely landlocked), Pernambuco, and that turns striped due to a revolt. Hungary gains military access and immediately instructs a half-army of 7000 troops in Magdalena to board ship and restore order to the province. Toulouse's colonial province of Bahia near Pernambuco goes striped, and the troops already on their way to the adjacent provinces have one more thing to deal with. Münster unloads troops from a small fleet off the Coast of Brittany, and begins a siege of Finistere. Brittany allows military access to Hungary, and an army is dispatched to break the siege, as well as the besiegers. That access also allows the other half of the army in Magdalena to march to stop another revolt in Brittany's isolated province of Caracas.
12/1753 - Another Separatist revolt occupies a province of Brittany in Woods Cree, in the far northern parts of Canada. 7000 Hungarian troops begin the brutal overland hike into the frozen wastes in winter to deal with the uprising. On the eastern seaboard, Moose Cree goes striped, and Quebec Separatists appear in adjacent Abitibi. Chipewyan up north falls to the Separatists, adjacent to Woods Cree. Hungarian troops reach the provinces of Bahia and Pernambuco, easily eliminating the small rebel groups in the surrounding provinces, as well as pacifying the freshly rebel-occupied province of Diamentina. Troops reach the revolt in Caracas and crush the rebels.
3/1754 - A single brigade of troops from Münster begins sieging Bermuda, and Münster's previously unnoticed colonial province of Vestbygden is spotted in Greenland. A modest fleet of old transports and some escorts is dispatched with 5000 troops to deal with both. Münster's colony of Rio de Oro in Africa is placed under siege by Hungary, but it has a Level 5 fortress. That's a lot of scattered colonial possessions for a landlocked country, but it's pretty clear that, unlike the player, the AI is able to demand provinces in peace deals that it doesn't even occupy.
4/1754 - Hungary crushes the rebels in Abitibi, while Brittany begins a siege to recover Moose Cree on its own. Surprisingly, Cleves (the province of Berg) accepts vassalage by Münster, and Hungary breaks off a small contingent of troops to stand guard in the country in case it joins Münster in the current war. Other than Vestbygden, all opposing provinces are under siege, but most of the sieges remain at 0% progress, with a couple at 13% and one at 25%. The brigade of Münster troops on Bermuda is destroyed, and the troops re-board ship bound for Vestbygden.
6/1754 - Hungary's small fleet of 5 transports and 2 escorts is attacked in mid-ocean by a marginally smaller Münster fleet of 6 combat vessels, and sunk almost immediately, thanks to about 8 levels of tech difference (my naval techs have fallen behind) and obsolete ships (every one of their ships is of the latest types), compounded by horrendously one-sided die rolls. Work begins on a new transport fleet and a couple of new combat ships, since I don't have enough in that part of the world to make a credible invasion, not that Münster's 1000-man remaining army requires a credible invasion force.
7/1754 - Nevers successfully instigates a Separatist revolt in Campeche, and troops are sent overland to deal with it. Hungary's northern expedition retakes Woods Cree for Brittany, but a Münster brigade begins besieging Hungary's northern-most province of Swampy Cree. Chipewyan is successfully occupied by 2000 Separatist rebels adjacent to both, and the rebels advance toward Woods Cree. A few brigades are left behind to stop it, while the rest advance against the Münster brigade in Swampy Cree. In Europe, Cleves joins its overlord against Orleans and Hungary, and the Hungarian troops already present immediately begin a siege of the province.
8/1754 - Further east, Hungary's siege of Wenden (owned by Hungary's vassal Prussia) is finally completed after 4 years, with the rebels running out of food and water. The province is returned to Prussian control.
9/1754 - Münster's brigade in Swampy Cree is annihilated, leaving Münster and its allies with only one land brigade between all of them. The rebels in Campeche are eliminated. All of this activity does not include the constant nuisance "battles" every month as fresh brigades are created by Münster and its allies in the besieged provinces, and instantly destroyed, nor the frequently spammed demands for Hungary to release vassals or entire countries and pay astronomical sums to end the war, despite zero or slightly negative war score for the demanding countries. As far as I'm concerned, those are useless and annoying distractions that should have been removed by the developers. Most of the besieged provinces have advanced to 13% or 25% siege progress, although a couple are still at 0%, and one is all the way up to 75%. Near the end of the month, La Plata suddenly gains 11 cores in South America, and a Separatist revolt in an incomplete Hungarian colony insta-occupies the unfortified province of Caracara. Both Portuguese and Hungarian troops move to eliminate the dire threat.
10/1754 - 16,000 Trebizond Nationalists (not Separatists) spawn in Kaffa, days after the last of 12,000 Turkish Nationalists from Anatolia are finally destroyed in Bithynia. The siege of Bourbon succeeds, but Orleans controls the war, and Hungary cannot negotiate with a supporting combatant.
11/1754 - Bourbonnais surrenders to Orleans, becoming a vassal. The revolt in Caracara is put down violently by both Hungarian and Portuguese troops. Another revolt breaks out in Caracara while both armies are still present, and is almost instantly eliminated. The Hungarian troops remain in Caracara, since the successful occupation of the province left a local effect causing +15 revolt risk for the next 2 years. As I said, Separatists are EXREMELY dangerous.
12/1754 - Hungarian troops finally arrive in Chipewyan and pacify the province. Meanwhile, Toulouse's island province of Beothuk goes striped, but Hungary doesn't have enough transports in the area to ferry troops across.
1/1755 - Münster's province of Westfalen is occupied by Hungary after a lengthy siege. Another Münster brigade is destroyed on Bermuda by 2000 Hungarian troops.
2/1755 - Brabant declares war on Utrecht. Hungary's colonial fleet manages to sink two Münster transports heading toward the Americas, but Münster still has 3 more transports and 6 combat ships remaining.
4/1755 - Gelre declares war on Utrecht. Hungary' Royal Honved defeats the rebels in Kaffa, and eliminates them in Crimea.
At this point, the situation in Europe is purely a boring waiting game until Münster's provinces fall to siege. I'm hoping to force Münster to release its vassal Berg, and hopefully inflict some other setbacks: renounce core claims, or possibly release another state or even a province, since I'm down to around a point of Infamy again. The problem is that the moment I get a decent war score, Orleans will undoubtedly take whatever deal they can get, at my expense. There's no way that I can vassalize them in one bite at their size, with several colonies, and they won't accept a Royal Marriage for a possible PU without a massive number of bribes to bring Relations up from -200.
Meanwhile, I'm hard-pressed to keep the Separatist revolts in the Americas under control in OTHER countries, not so much in my own. Like the hated "Garibaldi's Red Shirts" in Victoria 2, success by the Separatists against ANY country allows automatic taking of land from EVERY country that holds those cores, without any ability to prevent it, even if you have massive armies in the provinces. Basically, you lose the colonies automatically, and only the country that failed to protect its own province gets to fight to take it back. Any other victim has to declare a separate war with no Infamy discount, unless they can find some other CB.
The massive number of provinces requires even more massive investments into technology, as well as increasing the time between slider moves, so I've got a far more Narrowminded country than most at this stage of the game, leading to less tech development. The large number of factories is almost irrelevant, since +5 points of research per month is trivial compared to the 1500+ research points that I get through taxes, production, trade, and various other sources. Even the +100 research points I'm getting in a couple of fields from other countries in my tech group are a drop in the bucket. I'm using just about every Magistrate I get just to keep up with basic Level 1 Forts and Churches in every province, Constables and Workshops in every non-colonial province (Constables enable another type of colonial revolt), and a few scattered Markets and Docks, while the rest of the civilized countries have been able to blanket their small numbers of provinces in higher-level improvements. With about 80 years left to go, it's becoming an ever-increasing grind just to hold onto what's already been gained, while the sieges take longer and longer.
