Toughest wars you have fought

[Stoertebecker]

I fought a war as Portugal versus Spain, France and the Ottoman Empire in a MP campaign some time ago. Toughest war ever. I was attacked by their combined fleet, which I, after initial defeat, managed to beat. That way I could store my ~120k army on the ships while the French-Spanish tried to take over my provinces.
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My congratulations. I would never expect Portugal to win a war against Spain. Nor would I think, that it could win against France. And I would have said, that it was abolutely impossible for Portugal to win a war against the two plus the Ottomans.

@Best Player: Your Russia is huge. Especially regarding the time. It would be fun to know, if you could repeat this with 1.09.

 

[Fiftypence]

I just had a horrible war as Morocco in AGCEEP, in the late 1480s and early 1490s. First Castile DOWed, bring Portugal with them, which by itself wouldn't have been too much of a problem. Then, Mossi (African state bordering my provinces Timbuktu and Gao) attacked, bringing with the Ashanti and Oyo, all of whom have quite large armies. The Europeans don't do much at first, but the African states quickly overwhelm my small southern force and occupy Timbuktu and Gao, and move up through the passage to Morocco proper with ease as I haven't built forts in those provinces yet. So, I send my main army south, at which point Castile lands 30,000+ troops in Fez. I can't make any progress in the south against the Africans, as they're too strong in the mountains, so I focus on the Castilians, attacking them with around 15,000 cavalry. I win the battle, but only 3,000 troops remain, leaving me without an army and with barely any money. At this point I took several loans and built a large cavalry force and wiped the Castilians out, and they accepted a peace with me giving them 50 ducats. I then turn my attention to the Africans, who are almost invincible in the mountains. I try several times to attack them, but each time they repel me. Eventually, after about ten attempts I retake the fortless passage provinces, and retake Timbuktu and Gao. However, they won't accept white peace as my warscore is in the gutter due to all those lost battles. At this point, Hausa attack Mossi, and with things turning sour they accept a white peace. By this point I owe 600 ducats, and have severe war exhaustion (as well as high revoltrisk in a couple of provinces due to events), as well as high inflation from a nasty event. The only thing I can do is mint, in order to scrape together the cash to pay off the loans, inflation be damned. The important thing was that I survived, and managed not to lose any territory.

And then, Tlemcen and Tunisia declared war. :rofl:

 

[unmerged(40707)]

And then, Tlemcen and Tunisia declared war. :rofl:

Which Aggressiveness level for AI in this game?

 

[Mats_SX]

My congratulations. I would never expect Portugal to win a war against Spain. Nor would I think, that it could win against France. And I would have said, that it was abolutely impossible for Portugal to win a war against the two plus the Ottomans.

Thanks. You should come play MP with us I know you're doing it with your German pals already.

 

[Fiftypence]

Which Aggressiveness level for AI in this game?

Weakling, as it's the recommending level. And this was with pretty much no badboy on my part, I should add.

 

[unmerged(40707)]

Morocco should have been considered as very weak by AI then.

 

[BurningEGO]

I am quite surprised you had mighty forts in that game as Portugal in that game of yours Mats. Were you lucky enough to get em via events? Or are you guys using that crazy point system again?

And damn Martmol, when will you learn how to perform an adequate invasion!

Oh - and the goddamn leaders - havent checked the save file properly but didnt you, maybe, just maybe, got a goddamn ubber admiral Mats?

 

[Mats_SX]

I am quite surprised you had mighty forts in that game as Portugal in that game of yours Mats. Were you lucky enough to get em via events? Or are you guys using that crazy point system again?

We were using a system, yes. But that system would not allow you to purchase forts. Those I had researched and constructed fair and square.

Oh - and the goddamn leaders - havent checked the save file properly but didnt you, maybe, just maybe, got a goddamn ubber admiral Mats?

I had a good general, but my admiral was not that uber, not that I recall. The system that we used allowed us to purchase leaders (on top of the historicals and the average randoms), but you could only buy a leader every second or third session (or fourth, in case you were unsuccessful in the gathering of the points).

And damn Martmol, when will you learn how to perform an adequate invasion!

The diplomatic situation was such that Brandenburg had attacked Spain and taken several Inca gold provinces. Portugal had been fighting England for domination in Indonesia. Spain felt betrayed when Portugal declined to attack Brandenburg together with them, and so allied with France. The Ottomans were in it only to get revenge for an earlier war of little importance. With Spain being a backwater nation, they mostly served as a supply line for the French invasion. They were a CRT behind, so they could not do much to aid the French.

 

[BurningEGO]

I have fought wars a CRT behind and won them!

Sometimes even without fire phase!

That is not an excuse!

Oh, i forgot Martmol is dutch, therefore I forgive him.

Lastly, that is far from a normal game so i wouldnt consider it a war, even.

(i saw people like drake having crazy 6-5-5 generals by 1660 as Bradenburg)

 

[Mats_SX]

I have fought wars a CRT behind and won them!

Sometimes even without fire phase!

That is not an excuse!

Oh, i forgot Martmol is dutch, therefore I forgive him.

Certainly this gives you all the more reason to still be playing.

Lastly, that is far from a normal game so i wouldnt consider it a war, even.

(i saw people like drake having crazy 6-5-5 generals by 1660 as Bradenburg)

A "normal" game is normal only in the eye of the beholder. The leader files are not balanced and they require the addition of not only 3-4 statted randoms, but also better leaders to have the leaderless nations stand a chance against the historical masters of war. Any other situation is simply unfair in my opinion.

But there should be a choice, always. If you do not want to spend your nations resources in a leader programme, but instead on other fields, you should be able to. These mechanisms are not a part of the eu2 engine, but they are still entertaining and a valuable addition in both fairness between players and dynamism in the game.

The more choices a player has to make to steer his nation, the better. It will provide every game with different styled nations baring the same name. I like that.

 

[BurningEGO]

I do not believe in such.

Allowing EVERY nation to have such leaders - i still remember the early TFGs - is problematic. Imagine the Ottomans - huge, manpower pool. They are a beast. Give them an ubber leader and they will steamroll the world. That is why, in a normal game, they barely got any good leader at all after 1560.

A normal game has balance in almost every term leaderwise. Portugal is small and poor, but has the potential to become the richest because it is the first nation in europe with explorers. And France, although surrounded by opponents from all sides, has superb leaders, giving the edge you usually need in these gang-rapes.

Certainly this gives you all the more reason to still be playing.

Indeed. Just by checking the old stats page of this game i wish to play eu2 again.

Nothing special, but considerating i started in 1419 with the Timurids (which are piss poor, even with the edits i received), i even managed to attack Austria by 1520-1530 with Babur, with LT 5, while they had LT 13. In the end, not wanting and not being able to face a two front war, they paid me a rather hefty sum of cash. Babur even killed Frunds in a cavalry fight if memory serves.

And mind you, i was rather noob back in these days.

You can check this one too.

Austria and France teched LT while i was dumb enough to tech trade and land at the same time. Results were catastrophic since i was caught behind in tech and attacked by both of them (PLUS england) as Poland. But even after more then 10 years of fighting, neither managed to beat me till i eventually decided to surrender to avoid a major gang-rape by Denmark-Russia. Not properly a victory, but all of them bleeded dry for a couple of provinces, while i managed to reach trade 3 and india before anyone else shortly afterwards.

Really, i still question myself why i played like that in that game - i wanted to annex both Bohemia and Hungary, but i didnt tech LT at 100%. I was so obssesed with becoming a huge power that i didnt expect Austria nor France to get LT 9 before me. Regardless, ended up being the strongest-richest power till i left. Despite the unholy alliances (France+Austria+England at start plus spain financing them, pu-lease).

 

[BurningEGO]

But now, getting back on topic.

This one - goes for the thoughest war ever fought (kinda hard to define thoughest after all the wars i fought).

England. Managed to annex human played France. Beated the crap outa Bradenburg too. Could have turbo-annexed em, but the player left and a new one came in - and i was just too merciful - and ended regretting such in the end. Tricked Sweden into canceling vassalization with Denmark after i occupied all of Norway (that was EVIL).

People didnt like what i did, both in here and in other games. Therefore the expectable hapened - Austria, Ottoman Empire, Sweden, Russia, Venice, the backstabbing bradenburgians (which i thought would remain a reliable ally after i WPed em when i could have turbo-annexed em), and last of all - the terrible PERSIANS, decided to attack me. Thats right folks - Persia attacking England.

French folk was terrorized when they saw the persian legions marching through Paris.

The war lasted over 15 years (cant remember properly though) - i made many mistakes, notably, trying to fight a war in the continent while i was totaly outmatched in numbers. When i finally noticed i couldnt do it, it was too late, but still managed to inflict serious looses in everyone - Frunds died in Flandern while crossing the river, and the Turks lost one of their monarchs too.

They tried to muster a fleet too, to invade my island, but mighty cabot beated em all near the shores of England. Epic naval engagment. I obviously lost the war, but it was good in the end - france was too big a territory to defend.

Afterwards i conquered Mexico, and when the big NATO alliance dissolved, i jumped in to pick up the grabs. Sweden was eventually annexed (damn buggers), and Bradenburg was paying for its transgression, but then the game ended due to a player problem between both the GMs.

From a terrible position after the war, i sure managed to reverse the tides - with scandinavia, great britain and the low countries, i had the biggest naval supply limit by far (doubt everyone combined could surpass it), and the wealth from Mexico made me far stronger then anyone could imagine.

And although the game was far from over, i could say i was the obvious victor. Scandinavia was impregnatable - due to forts, and atrition, and so was England. And with such a big naval supply limit i could strike anyone - anywhere in the nearby future (supply limit would be somewhere between 2000-3000 if memory serves, by 1530).

 

[Mats_SX]

An excellent read. We might disagree on game setup standards, but I like your stories.

And please don't mix my points system with HAL's

 

[BurningEGO]

Well, the Last Great Huzzah was an epic game... in every term (i am just sorry we never ended it).

First you got a little guy that gives up all his provinces on a mission to travel to India and hypertech like crazy (Portugal).

Then you got a Brandeburg and a France that decide to doublecross me - both of them insulted me, promised me eternal rivalry, refused my demands for peace, and ended up leaving the game in the end (i guess they expected me to be their best friend after saying to me that i had made "an enemy for the entire game".)

You got a Spain that is on a single-player frenzy annexing everything in north africa, paying no attention whatsoever to america.

We cant forget about a sweden that gave me most of denmark/norway BB free. Nor about mighty Cabot sacrificing himself and beating the crap outa the venetian fleet.

Or about my great reversal of fortune - seriously i believe i never did so well - lost so many provinces, and so much wealth after the war but managed to come up on top after feeding on some people's carcasses and on the Azteks.

But really, best of all, a silly Persia that invades England, and blocks the entrance to Siberia to Russia.

If you wish to read more, check the AAr thread (click here) and look for my posts (because i posted screenshots with epic battle/political screens).

P.S: How could i forgot to mention that i pillaged an entire human played France for a whole session!