And Continued and Continued....


23 June, 1540 – We defeat the Genoans at Liguria and begin the siege.

2 July, 1540 – We lose a ship and naval battle in the Straits of Malta.

10 July, 1540 – Austria and Venice are at peace, Austria got a couple of provinces.

14 July, 1540 – We recapture Malta!

28 September, 1540 – Tuscany captured Ancona.

17 October, 1540 – Aragon sends a peace offering with them renouncing their claim on a few of my provinces. I push on. I want land.

1 November, 1540 – Our stability increases. Our production and government techs increase.

30 November, 1540 – Both Apulia and Sardinia fall to us.

1 December, 1540 – Aragon rejected a peace offer of Apulia and Calabria.

11 December, 1540 – Aragon sent a counter offer where they denounce a bunch of claims. No thanks.

13 December, 1540 – Portugal rejected our offer of a white peace.

11 January, 1541 – We captured Abruzzi. Every Italian Aragonese province, including Sardinia, is in our hands.

14 January, 1541 – I decide to try and slip a few regiments behind enemy lands and besiege Portugal, the leader of the alliance.

17 January, 1541 – Parma falls.

31 January, 1541 – 2 regiments land in the southernmost province of Portugal, Algarve, and begin a siege. I just want to show them this is really a war for them as well as everybody else. Then maybe they’ll agree to a peace easier.

22 February, 1541 – Liguria falls to us. I do not immediately annex Genoa. If I did, then the province would be vulnerable to attack by the big Burgundian armies hearabouts.

8 March, 1541 – A combined Tuscan and Naxosian thrust drives the Aragon/Burgundy troops out of Parma. A siege begins.

27 March, 1541 – 3 more regiments land in Algarve.

10 April, 1541 – We recapture Parma after a short assault.

22 April, 1541 – RM: Castille

I detatch my 4000 mercs and 1000 cardotta infantry and send them to Palermo, where I’ll move them to Tripolitania. No sense leaving them here in N. Italy, where they’ll do little good.

3 August, 1541 – We capture Algarve.

5 August, 1541 – Portugal rejects our peace offer for two Italian provinces, despite it being well below what we could ask for.

20 November, 1541 – After rejecting a few peace offers from us, Portugal offers us peace for Algarve. I don’t want Algarve, I want Italian provinces!

10 January, 1542 – Tuscany negotiate a separate peace with Portugal, so their captured province of Aragon’s is now back to Aragon. Ancona is free of my alliance control.

23 January, 1542 – After an assault, we capture the Portugese province of Bracanaga. I don’t want it, I just want to force Portugal to accept our peace offer. Portugal is curenttly having a major uprising, which was why I was able to take out these provinces.

24 January, 1542 – They again reject my peace offer.

I send 4000 of my troops in N Italy to Ancona to bring it back into the fold.

1 June, 1542 – Our production tech increased.

8 June, 1542 – After rebels capture the Portugese province of Alentejo, I snuck in and captured it.

10 June, 1542 – Portugal rejects yet another peace offer for just two provinces.

11 July, 1542 – We capture Ancona.

4 September, 1542 - I captured Lisboa from the rebels. I bet Portugal will give me peace now that I have her capital in my hand!

1 June 1543 – Our land tech increases

10 September, 1543 – After many peace offers, and capturing Valencia and Barcelona, but losing a province in Portugal, Aragon – not the full alliance, but just Aragon, is giving us Calabria and Apulia.

7 October, 1543 – Portugal offers us peace with them and Burgundy and they’ll give us two of their provinces that I captured. I really don’t want either one. I reject it and send a peace offer for just one of the provinces, and they reject! Stupid AI.

20 October, 1543 – I go ahead and annex Genoa. This war is over.

23 October, 1543 – RM: France

25 October, 1543 – RM: Muscowy

9 November, 1543 – I offer Portugal a simple white peace. They accept.

A Time of Assessment


I now have Liguria, Lombardia, Calabria and Apulia.

10 December, 1543 – RM: Bohemia.

24 December, 1543 – I get an event: Excellent minister. I can choose to invest it in stability and our stability gets +1. The other adds 10 to each of our army and navy tradition. I choose the stability bonus.

1 January, 1544 – Our government tech increased. One more increase and we get our next national idea. Even with my awesome advisor lasting the entire journey, which is unlikely, it looks like it would be at least 23 yeas before that next level is reached.

I missed it, but at some pointing time, the Ottomans and the Mamluks went to war within the last year.


Let’s talk briefly about strategy. What happened in that war?

Burgundian forces much larger than any I could knock out arrived in Lombardia and captured it. The force were powerful in part because of the very large amount of calvary they had.

In the meantime, I had Cardotta infantry as the backbone of my army. They are great on defense, but are only okay in attacking. I also had 2000 calvary and 1000 artillery. When they attacked me, I always drove them back, but here was no way I was going to be able to dislodge them from Lombardia.

So, for most of the war, after sending back the Burgundy forces that sallied forth several times, our mutual armies just held their position. If I move my major force, he attacks Parma in strength. If I attack him, I lose and he follows and wipes out my forces. If he attacks me, the same occurs. If he leaves, I take Lombardia. So we just stayed there for over two years

I think the reason that Portgual and Aragon seemed so reluctant to admit loss was that one of their allies, Burgundy, was doing well against me. So it didn’t matter that I had five Aragonian provinces to the one province of mine Burgundy had. Even after I drove to the Iberian peninsula and captured Valencia, Barcelona, two Portugese provinces, and Lisboa – two capitals, I was unable to drive home any sizeable peace deal.

As a result, that war took much longer than it had any right to.



Let’s look at our new acquisitions in order of capture. A quick note, all financial information is under a stability of one, whereas most previous information as given out in a 2. Therefore, these would be a little lower than those by percentage.

Lombardia – Lombardia has the distinction of being the only province in our nation to be completely landlocked, in northern Italy, although we did have Bern for a brief moment before releasing it as our vassal. We are now adjacent to Bern, i.e. Switzerland, here in Lombardia. 239017 people work the cloth trade here in this Lombard Catholic province. They make 25.28 ducats a year for us. They have a temple, workshop, and courthouse. It is a core province of Venice.

Liguria – Liguria is a center of trade and the former capital of the state known as Genoa. 153624 people work the wool trade here. The Lombard people here celebrate Catholicism in all of its glory. We receive 21 ducats annually here, plus we get all excess trade generated in Liguria. This province grows at a quicker clip because of the CoT. It comes with a workshop, temple and courthouse as well.

Calabria – Calabria is the southern tip of the Italian peninsula – the tip of the boot so to speak. Messina, our eastern Sicily province is land connected to Calabria through a straight, so our Sicilian provinces are now connected through Calabria to Napoli. 53996 Sicilian Catholics work the fishing trade here in Southern Italy. The province makes us 9 ducats annually. It comes with a courthouse, workshop, marketplace and temple. Aragon has it as a core province.

Apulia – 59850 Sicilians work the salt trade here, celebrating their Catholicism and sending us a combined 11.73 ducats annually in taxes and production. Apulia is the eastern half of south Italy, the heel of the boot, so to speak. Like several other provinces, this comes with a temple, courthouse and workshop. Apulia is a core province of Aragon.

A new Map

Re: Aragon

[mortal combat]Finish Him[/mortal combat]

Can you tell I don't like them?! Aragon has usually been a major thorn in my side during CK and EU2 games.

My Rating of the Top Mediterranean Powers in 1 January, 1544:

1: The Ottomans. They have Thrace, the wealthiest province I have discovered in Europe, North Africa, and the Middle East. They've never lost a major province in war. They have most of Turkey, including valuable like Anatolia.

2 (sorta): Castille. They may not haev the most valuable provinces in the Mediterranean - just two good ones in North Africa, and then one great one in Iberia - Cordoba. That's it. Tangiers, Gibraltar, Grenada - these have less value. However, their military might and overall wealth is great.

3: Naxos. I honestly beleive that with the addition of Liguria and Italy in our fold that we are now the third most powerful nation in the Great Sea. With a lot of Italy now under our fold, and with a Center of Trade now ours, we are positioned to continue the ascension in the Mediterranean. Note however, that we are SOLELY a Mediterranean power. The Turks and Castilleans are more than just that, but we are not.

4: Mamluks. The Mamluks are still a power to be reckoned with. They have a Center of Trade in Alexandria, and several weatlhy provinces in Egypt and the Middle East. They also have some amazingly poor provinces, and they are spread out a bit too much.

----------------------

All powers below here are not nearly the same. These four are the major players in the region. The remainder are solid, but unspectacular. Note that all of these four powers have a center of trade. That's no mistake.


-----------------------

5. Aragon. Despite their three consecutive losses to us, make no mistake that Aragon still has some power. With two Italian provinces, Sardinia, and The Bealaeres (which I know I must've mispelled), they have some roots. And, of course, Barcelona and Valencia are major economic players over in Iberia.

6. Venice. They have several provinces that are Med. left - Nice, Venezia, Corfu and Crete. Three of those are weak, but the power of Venezia cannot be overestimated. It is, hands down, one of the three most economically powerful provinces in Europe (Thrace and Novgorod being the other two).

7 Tuscany - With three wealthy provinces in West Italy, Tuscany has carved out a decent niche in the Mediterranean.

8. Everybody else just has a handful of provinces. Hungary, France, Crimea, Tunisia, Provence, Bourbonnais, The Papa States and Austria.


That means my expansion is about to hit a major wall. I take what next? I grab Tunis, Venetian provinces, the rest of the Aragonian Italian provinces, and then what? My ally Tuscany? The relatively poor provinces of ally Castille? The handful of Med provinces of France, Hungary or Austria? One of the French minors that are allied with France? The Mamluks? The Ottomans?

Yep, expansion is about to meet a very powerful force in a bit. Not now, obviously, but soon.

Do you think that once you make a move for the rest of italy that it will be time to head across the pond? Or will your sliders not moved that far? Or is that even part of the plan?

Thought I'd add my voice as one who is enjoying the read. Do you think it's been a bit easy to create your little empire, given your start point?

Tell

Like Sand in a Sieve

21 January, 1544 – Poland has been annexed by Austria.

15 February, 1544 – Hungary declared war upon Austria. Burgundy joined Austria.

30 April, 1544 – England is now Great Britain after taking Scotland.

Burgundy is currently experiencing some revolts in the lowlands because of converts to Reform. (This game recognizes several different groups of related Christian faiths – Catholic, Orthodox, Protestant, Reform, and if this game is like its predecessor, Counter-Reform Catholic.)

13 December, 1544 – Tuscany declared war against the Papal States. I’m sort of in a post-war reconstruction right now, and not interested in chasing down Roma. I inform Tuscany that this alliance has served its purpose and now it must come to an end. Again.

1 March, 1545 – Austria and Hungary come to peace terms.

3 November, 1545 – RM: Burgundy

1 December, 1545 – The island of Corsica has declared independence against Crimea and are calling themselves Genoa.

11 March, 1546 – RM: Muscowy

13 March, 1546 – RM: Denmark

1 August, 1546 – Maurice of Orange has arrived. He is a foreign drill instructor. For 50 ducats, I can pay him to increase our land investment and increase our quality slider by one. I agree. A free slider movement in a direction I already wanted to go? Excellent.

5 December, 1546 – To create the We Were Once Bitches of Naxos Club as founding members, Venice and Genoa are now in an alliance. Who will join them? Aragon? Tunisia?

4 February, 1547 – Genoa entered an alliance with Hungary. Unfortunately, Hungary beat us int eh only conflict we had with her, thus ending the club at two.

24 April, 1547 – Tuscany and the Papal States are at peace. We are somehow still allied with Tuscany despite us turning them down. That’s odd.

1 July, 1547 – Our stability rises to 2.

15 July, 1547 – Genoa, the alliance whore, entered into a pact with Saxony.

1 December, 1547 – Our production tech increased by one.

1 January, 1548 – Our land tech increases by one. We can now build Level 2 forts.

I order a large ship, a Caravel, built in Naxos. This is in anticipation of oceanic travels soon.

11 February, 1548 – Venice declared war upon us. Genoa and Novgorod joined her. Both of our allies joined us.

As a hard corps EU2 vet, I know the engine. I know where the obvious pitfalls are. I know when to avoid inflation, I know when to push my country and when to back off. I understand why I shouldn;t have a high badboy, because I've been attacked by ten countries once with it. I know how to expand, and how to build a one province into a power. I understand the need to strike when an opponent's guard is down. Sometimes it fails, like the failed war against Dulkadir or Mamluks.

I also know how to use an ally, like Castille. I won my first war agaisnt Aragon, who was mnuch more powereful than I, by sneaking around bheind them while they played with Tuscany. That was clever warfare, but Ididn;t win on the battlefield. Then I won with Castille at my side, and that's easy. I planned to take out Aragon years before our first war. I know what's coming down the pike, because I've played the previous installmnet enough.

One thing that has surprised me - I am amazed at how the Ottomans haven't attacked me yet. I know its coming, but still, it's surprising. We have a positive relation with them.


Hope that helps!


Think about it in real time. In almost 100 years, I've taken southern Greece, a few islands, and most, but not all, of Italy with an outpost in North Africa. Tons of countries in history have expanded much quicker than that.

All will be revealed :)

I want dominance in the Great Sea, but I also know that any naval trading power, no matter how big or small, needs to colonize in this era. Much like the Dutch, the Portugese, the Swedish, the Portugese, etc all expanded in this area as naval powers, so should I. In this game I know there at least was a Venetian colony somewhere, because I saw the colonists leave.

Where my colonies will be, however, has yet to be determined.

Campaigns At Home



I jack up maintenance and send out orders to my troops stationed at various areas around the map. I order war taxes raised, because I don’t think this will be an overly long war.

I had built 3000 calvary since the last war, to help our main troops. These are Eastern Steppe Calvary, and they look pretty good.

25 February, 1548 – I drive Venice out of Mantua and begin a siege.

12 March, 1548 – 3000 troops I had as a reserve begin a siege in Nice.

31 March, 1548 – Our 4 regiments of mercs from the last war arrive in Crete and begin a siege there.

3 May, 1548 – 1000 of our troops arrive in Corfu and begin a siege there.

29 May, 1548 – Two more regiments arrive in Corfu.

26 July, 1548 – Mantua fell before us.

6 August, 1548 –The siege of Brescia has begun.

28 August, 1548 – Crete fell.

8 September, 1548 – Nice fell before us.

25 November, 1548 – Corfu fall to us.

12 February, 1549 – RM: Sweden

13 February, 1549 – Brescia falls to us. Looks like we have a good hand at the negotiating table.

I offer peace for Brescia and Mantua. Venice disagrees. I order my main force to Venezia itself to bring the next peace offer on a pike.

4 March, 1549 – Austria and Hungary get into another hissy fight.

13 March, 1549 – I reject a Venetian offer of peace for Nice, Corfu, and they give up their claim to Lombardia. I have no desire for Nice.

19 April, 1549 – I win a battle in Liguria with my backup army after Venice tries to send it a few regiments to hit me from behind.

8 May, 1549 – Muscowy was annexed by Lithuania.

10 May, 1549 – We defeat the Venetian forces in Venezia and initiate the siege.

22 May, 1549 – RM: Lithuania.

5 June, 1549 – My backup army wins another battle in Lombardia.

7 July, 1549 – Venezia falls after a quick assault. We also win a small battle for Nice. Now, I think Venice will be more amenable to peace talks.

8 July, 1549 – Venice agrees to cede to us Mantua, Brescia and Crete for peace.

Crete –This island holds our fellow Greek brothers. I wanted to liberate at least one of the remaining Greek provinces. 17091 Catholic fishers send us 7.32 ducats annually. Crete is a core province of Venice. There is a workshop here.

Mantua – Just north of our holdings, Mantua is also a Lombard province. 52489 people grow and harvest grain, among the worst trade goods in the game. However, I needed to take Mantua because I wanted Brescia a lot, and Venice would have otherwise had a province in the middle of our Northern holdings. The Catholics here make us a little over 10 ducats annually, almost exclusively in taxes, and they already have a courthouse and a workshop. This is a core province of both us and Venice.

Brescia – The real plum of this war, Brescia is north of Mantua and east of Lombardia. Also a province of Lombard people, the approximately 102000 Catholics here work the cloth trade. Around 15 ducats are made here annually, almost split even between taxes and production. There is a temple, workshop and courthouse here. Venice claims this as a core province.

We are still at war with Genoa and Novgorod.

1 August, 1549 – I change our slider to be less innovate, so that I can finally make colonists. This will make our colonist production neutral, and I’ll need to inflate it somehow in order to actually get colonists. Our stability falls.

I fire Omar Belli, our production tech advisor and older gentlemen. I hire Murad Sukollo, an advisor who will give us 0.4 colonists a year. Thus, our artificial growth begins. See how I planned this all out long ago?

14 September, 1549 – I drive the Genoese forces away from Corsica and begin the siege.

14 April, 1550 – Corsica falls before us. Now, I could annex Genoa, again, and take Corsica. It’s a Mediterranean province, and I probably should. However, I already have some badboy from before. It’s not too bad, but I want to steer clear of harming myself by annexing this measly province.

So I order vassalization in the peace deal. I also demand 50 ducats. They give us both.

17 April, 1550 – Novgorod accepts our white peace offe

Beautiful dynasty...

Can you give a brief overview of your current financial state, i.e., how much you make per year, how much you spend, treasury, etc.... Thanks.

Thanks to everybody who has chimed in so far!

let me see if I can get that info for ya

This is a year old, from February 1549:


In the middle of a war, so I have higher maintenance. I am losing 5.5 ducats monthly and making around 92 annually. Minting money leads to inflation. You mint money when you take your monehtly production income and use it to pay advisors and military maintenance instead of putting it into production. I'd rather lose money monthly nad make annuallyy, then have all of my monthly bills paid for. I still mint some income.

Monthly income: 32 ducats
Investments: 30.03
Maintenance and Salaries: 7.2 ducats

This is subject to change based on: stability, leader's acumen, province improvements, tech level, merchants in COTs, form of government, and I'm currently under war taxes.

Wow, that was fast.

And your power grows.... :D

I can't wait until you colonize.

Journeys Begin


6 May, 1550 – the Papal States declared war against Tuscany. I agree to join them.

During that war, I must have missed the Ottomans and the Mamluks coming to peace terms, and Hungary and Austria doing so as well.

1 April, 1551 – Napoli and Palermo are now a part of our patrimony and are core provinces.

1 May, 1551 – Tired of this war with the Papal States, I order my troops into Roma.

1 June, 1551 – I win the battle of Roma in 5 days, and then assault the city and win it in 8.

3 June, 1551 – The Papal States accept being our vassal and give us 50 ducats.

8 July, 1551 – I order a level two fort built in Lombardia. I order constables built in Napoli and Ferrara. A constable increases revolt risk by 2 but also increases our taxes from the province.

20 October, 1551 – Kazan declares war upon Hungary.

3 December, 1551 – I initiate a RM: Great Britain.

1 January, 1552 – I order another Caravel built in Naxos.

12 January, 1552 – RM: Austria

1 January, 1553 – Our naval tech increases. I recruit an explorer. I send our new explorer, Stephanos Giustaianini, as the head of our exploratory navy with a pair of Caravels. They’ll head out and explore new sea lanes for us.

1 February, 1553 – Our government tech increases. We can now choose a new national idea. Ironically, we just now used our last idea, Quest for the New World last month. Here are some ideas:

Colonial Ventures: 1 extra colonist annually. If I am serious about colonization, this is the way to do it.

Engineer Corps: My military leaders get +1 siege. Level two forts are just now appearing, but our land tech has kept up so far, so there is no need for this yet, to my mind at least.

Deus Vult: If I am about to be forced into wars with the Mamluks or the Ottomans, better to choose them on my terms, and this would allow me to do so.

Church Attendance Duty – Stability cost modifier -33%. Getting this cost reduction is handier the bigger I get.

National Bank – Inflation reduction of 0.1. (annually I believe). Not bad at all.

Bureaucracy – National taxes by %5. A very decent increase and solid enough.


I think we can find something good here. I think I can put off Engineer Corp and National Bank for now. That leaves Colonial Ventures, Deus Vult, Bureaucracy and Church Attendance Duty. Tough.

Deus Vult allows me to take Tunisia, then plan for and execute a war against the Mamluks. No stability hits. Bureaucracy adds to my coffers, but I am doing alright there nowadays. I can cut that. Colonial Ventures allows me to get colonists without raping my sliders or hiring advisors. Church Attendance Duty slashes costs to increase my stability nicely.

Deus Vult, Colonial Ventures or Church Attendance Duty.

I decide to push it and go for Colonial Ventures.

23 February, 1553 – My exploring fleet has arrived in the Gulf of Morocco. I order them south into seas unknown.

28 February, 1553 – Starting today, I have discovered new areas. I need an abbreviation for this, so it will look like this. NSD: Sea of Canaries. NLD: Safi, Castillean. NSD stands for new sea discovery and NLD stands for new land discovery.

I’m going to head south down the African coast for now.

22 March, 1553 – NSD: Coast of Gambia, NLD: Sierra Leone. (Land is sometimes discovered when you sail an explorer along a coast, but not always). Sierra Leone is unclaimed territory. And IVORY.

30 March, 1553 – NSD: Gold Coast, NLD: Grain Coast. (Unclaimed SPICES province)

7 April, 1553 – NSD: Ivory Coast.

14 April, 1553 – NSD: Golf of Nigeria, NLD: Fernando Po, unclaimed, NLD: Bonny and Calabar, Kanem Bornu provinces. I enter into a trade agreement with Kanem Bornu.

20 April, 1553 - NSD: Coast of Cameroon, NLD Cameroon, unclaimed.

27 April, 1553 – NSD: Golf of Kongo, NLD: Kisarna, unclaimed.

6 May, 1553 – NSD: Coast of Angola, NLD: Damaraland (IVORY) and Greater Namaqualand, both unclaimed.

17 May, 1553 – NSD: Coast of Nambia.

26 May, 1553 – NSD: Cape of Good Hope. There’s four Great Britain fleets and one Castillean one here as well. Busy sea.

You didn't have to wait long, Izulde!

Time for some fun.


May 30, 1553. 100 years. Let’s take a look at our realm:

We have a fleet of two Caravels currently in the Cape of Good Hope, having sailed along and discovered the West African Coast.

We have a fleet of 5 Cogs docked in Napoli.

We have three vassals.

Switzerland, who would be willing to be annexed anytime, I asked my advisors .

Genoa, on the province of Corsica.

The Papal States and the province of Roma.

We have two allies.

Castille and Tuscany. Two long term allies, although there have been some rock roads with Tuscany.

I have 7 regiments of infantry in Lombardia. I am hanging my infantry over to Janissary infantry from Cardotta infantry, although I still have some Cardotta ones here and there.

I have 5 regiments of calvary, 6 of infantry, and one of artillery led by our ruler in Mantua.

I have eight regiments of infantry, including the mercs, in Tripolitania.

Our easternmost province in Cyrpus. Our westernmost, Liguria. Our southernmost Tripolitania, our northernmost Lombardia.

We have a respectable reputation. Our ruler’s diplomacy causes a large drop yearly in our badboy image, plus most of the land we have taken recently was defensively, which never causes as much of a problem internationally. Our next government tech increase is expected in 1653, one hundred years from now. That’s with all of our bonuses in governmental tech research.


The provinces alphabetically:

Apulia – The recently captured Apulia is a decent enough province in the greater scheme of things. With salt, its production is decent, and it has a solid number of people in the 60k+ range. Apulia’s income is 10.36 ducats.

Athens – Once the core of my nation, but now out of the way. 11314 wine growers make decent production but few taxes. We get 9.44 ducats annually from these Orthodox Greeks. Ottomans still have this as a core.

Brescia – Along with Mantuaand Crete, Brescia is our most recent acquisition. There isn’t anything I can say that I haven’t already said about Brescia just a few years ago. Cloth province, Catholic, Lombard, 14.30 dcuats annually, over 100k people.

Calabria – The weakest economically of the five southern Italian provinces (Napoli, Apulia, Calabria, Messina and Palermo). It’s an important strategic province because it is the link between Sicily and Italy. The 58000 people here are fishermen and send us a mighty 5.02 ducats annually.

Crete – Another of our most recent acquisitions, our fellow Greeks in Crete must be happy to be under Greek rule now. The 17623 Catholic fishermen give us 6.64 ducats annually.

Cyprus – 20406 Greek Orthodox winegrowers here send us 10.48 ducats annually in a province that is virtually surrounded by Muslims.

Ferrara – Our unofficial capital of Northern Italy, although Liguria, Lombardia and Brescia are more vital now, its historical value, and core province state currently, will probably keep it our unofficial northern capital. 94704 work the salt trade here in Catholic Lombard country. They send us 19.34 ducats annually.

Liguria – Our most valuable province. 173387 people work the wool trade here. They’ve already gained 20k people since we’ve controlled them. 17.9 ducats are sent to us by these Catholic Lombards.

Lombardia – Another recent acquisition, Lombardia is important both because of the number of people it has (257540), second highest in our nation, and because they have a solid resource in cloth. We get 23.04 ducats from Lombardia annually. The people here are Lombards and Catholic.

Malta – 10741 fisherman work this island south of Sicily and north of Tripolitania. We get 3.54 ducats from them annually.

Mantua – One of our many provinces that begin with M, Mantua is also the most recent M to join our nation. 54123 people work the highly lucrative grain trade (that’s a joke) giving us a mighty 8.97 ducats. The Catholics here are Maltan.

Messina – The third M, Messina is the east Sicilian province, where the people are Sicilian, Catholic and number 99291. Almost over one hundred thousand. They fish here, and send us 7.06 ducats annually.

Modena – 66237 winegrowers work the former capital of our inheritance. The Catholic Lombards send us 18.32 ducats annually. Tuscany considers this a core province.

Morea – Our first province outside of our home, the sleepy winegrowers of Southern Greece send us 9.44 ducats annually, which makes sense considering they just have 11314 people. The Orthodox Greeks are a core province of the Turks.

Napoli – Our most important province after Liguria. The 361872 people here work the wine trade and send us 18.73 ducats annually. The Sicilian Catholics make me happy. I check and count the number of European provinces with more people than Napoli. (Thrace, Venezia). That makes Napolit he third most populous state in the continent (although that will eventually change as large Centers of Trade like Ile-de-France will catch up.)

Naxos – Our capital and home state. Naxos has never been besieged, nor has one attack or defense occurred here in the 100 years we’ve controlled the nation. 6696 Greek Orthodox work the winefields here and create 9.32 ducats for us.

Palermo – Another of the Southern Italy possessions, Palermo has 142956 people working the wine trade. They give us 14.97 ducats annually. The people here are Sicilian and Catholic.

Parma – Along with Modena and Ferrara, Parma was one of our inheritance provinces. 96227 people work the wine trade here, sending us 19.10 ducats annually.

Rhodes – 32928 fisherman work this island off the shore of the Turkish peninsula. The Greek Orthodox people here create 3.18 ducats, making this the lowest, worst economically province in the entire nation. They were also our second conquest province.

Romagna – 122142 people work the salt trade send us 19.25 ducats annually. They are a core of Aragon even though we nabbed this Catholic Umbrian province from The Papal States.

Tripolitania – How ironic to end our tour with a look at the only non-Christian state. The 44438 Tuareg and Sunni people here work the very lucrative ivory trade. We get 18.91 ducats annually, although over 18 of that is from production, since we have a low tax base here. Tunisia has this a core province even though we took it from Tripoli.


I believe that we are the world’s largest exporter of wine, but this game doesn’t have the stat keeping that EU2 had, so I can’t be sure.

We are the number 2 country by prestige. Number one is Tuscany. Our inflation of 8% in the fourth highest, but we are nowhere near the worst. Mamluks with 15% is the worst. Tunisia is second at 10%.

Tuscany and us are the only countries that have discovered the fourteenth tech in government, which allows the fourth national idea. We’ve gone from very last to very frontal, due to our amazing advisor, who I likely to die soon, unfortunately.

I say you should edit the savegame file to move your capital to a more central location and assign yourself a stability hit and a decrease in funds for it like was earlier suggested.

You're more Lombard than Greek by now, even if you are still by and large Catholic.

Discovery



June 1, 1553 – We get knowledge of 33 sea lanes and provinces. Some other eastern power must have learned it, and its fifty years was up. Let’s take a look at what we can now see.

I can now see a bunch of the North African inland provinces.

I can now see North Scandinavia and the seas up there. This includes Iceland, which is currently controlled by Portugal.

I can see the Atlantic island provinces of Madiera (Port), The Caniaras (Castille) and The Azores (Port). I can see a lot more of the eastern Atlantic.

I can now see about five more provinces in the Red Sea area. I offer a trade agreement to newly discovered Yemen.

I discover all of the north west African coast.

All in all, a powerful slate of discoveries.

5 June, 1553 – NSD: Coast of Ciskei, NLD: Transkei, unclaimed

12 June, 1553 – NSD: Coast of Transkei, NLD: Natal, unclaimed

18 June, 1553 – NSD: Coast of Natal

22 June, 1553 – NSD: Gulf of Zambeezee, I’m heading over to Madagascar.

1 July, 1553 – NSD: Taolagnaro Bay.

10 July, 1553 – NSD: Coast of Tamatave

20 July, 1553 – NSD: Diego Suarez Bay

29 July, 1553 – NSD: Zanzibar Strait, NLD: Kilwa, Mozambique, Mombasa and Malindi, four provinces of the Swahili. I offer a trade agreement. I order my fleet to return home because they are starting to show signs of wear.

4 August, 1553 – NLD: Boina and Manabe, two unclaimed provinces on Madagascar

16 August, 1553 – NLD: Sofala and Quelimane, another pair of Swahili province

4 October, 1553 – For some reason, Ak Koyunlu is asking us for military access. I agree out of a lark. Also, NLD: Benin – a province of Kanem Bornu. NLD: Whydah, an unclaimed IVORY province just west of Benin.

7 October – NLD: Gold Coast, an unclaimed IVORY province.

29 October, 1553 – NLD: Cape Verde, unclaimed islands off the coast of Africa.

15 November, 1553 – My fleet returned to dock at the Canarias. It was almost destroyed by attrition. I need to establish a post on the coast of Africa if I want to go further in that direction.

If I want to send out some troops to clean out a province and then set up home, what provinces would I be interested in:

Sierra Leone, still on the western bump of north Africa, this ivory province feature 7000 natives that are very angry. It would costs us 62 ducats to try and place a settler here, with a current 44% chance of taking before clearing out the baddies. 186 days to arrive here.

Grain Coast, next door to Sierra Leone with spices, 5000 pissed off natives. The same data otherwise as Sierra Leone.

Two provinces over and on the underside of that north western bump is the Gold Coast. This ivory province features 9000 fully pissed off Africans, with a 220 day trip.

Adjacent to Gold Coast is Whydah, which is next to Benin. This ivory province features 5000 pissed off natives.

Near the southern end of the west coast of Africa is Damaraland. This is an Ivory province with 316 day travel time for colonists. The chance to set up here is 54% because the 4000 natives, although a bit on the aggressive side, are not pissed off and looking for heads.

Cape Verde. There are no natives here. Colonists will set up with a 71% chance and in just 163 days.

If I want a post for us to explore from, Cape Verde is easy to set up, but not great for Cross Africa explorations, since it is so close to the northern part of Africa. If I want a deeper post, Damaraland is the best choice. On the other hand, Cape Verde sets up easily and I don’t have to worry about natives. Of course, it’ll never be anything more than a naval post with its grain.

On Jaunary 1, I’ll order colonists to Cape Verde if it is still unclaimed.


19 November, 1553 – RM: France

15 March, 1554 – Sweden inherited Connacht.

1 June, 1554 – Our trade tech increased.

13 June, 1554 – We establish a colony at Cape Verde.

Nah, I'll stay with it for now. Besides, I'm waiting on getting the best Lombard province still. (Venezia)

Didn't want to put these both in the same post. HEre's teh other half of what I was doing tonight.

More Discovery


7 July, 1554 – I order more exploring, this time by just one Caravel while the other rests in Cape Verde.

I order my ship into the ocean.

16 July, 1554 – NSD: Cape Verde Approach

26 July, 1554 – NSD: North Equitorial Current

6 August, 1554 – NSD: Southern Guiana Basin.

13 August, 1554 – NSD: Amazones Gulf. We’ve found land. Let’s sail north or south along it….north! Great Britain is already here, I see one of her fleets.

18 August, 1554 – NSD: Bay of Belam, NLD: Surinam, unclaimed SUGAR

23 August, 1554 – NSD: Guyana Coast, NLD: Essequibo, another unclaimed SUGAR. A Castillean navy is here.

27 August, 1554 – NSD: Winward Islands.

2 September, 1554 – NSD: Venezuelan Sea

I’m hoping to find a Castillean province here somewhere. I can use my ally as a base of operations.

5 September, 1554 – NSD: Eastern Caribbean, NLD: Les Cayes, a Castillean province, WITH a port.

11 September, 1554 – NSD: Jamaica Channel.

17 September, 1554 – NSD: Northwestern Caribbean.

21 September, 1554 – NSD: Mocitos Coast. There’s Portugese fleet here. Well, the Europeans are here, no doubt.

26 September, 1554 – NSD: Gulf of Darien. NLD: Panama, unclaimed, NLD: Magdalena and Antioquia, both Great Britain.

29 September, 1554 – NSD: Central Caribbean.

7 October, 1554 – NSD: Belize Bay, NLD: Belize, Peten, Hondorus, all three provinces of the Maya. I offer them a trade agreement.

11 October, 1554 – NSD: Yucatan Channel

16 October, 1554 – NSD: Gulf of Mexico

20 October, 1554 – NSD: Yucatan Sea

24 October, 1554 – NSD: Tampico Bay

28 October, 1554 – NSD: Galveston Bay. NLD: Atakapa, a wealthy Sugar French colony. NLD: Karankawa, an unclaimed grain province.

1 November, 1554 – Our stability increased to 2.

3 November, 1554 – NSD: Mobile Bay

7 November, 1554 – NSD: Apalachee Bay

12 November, 1554 – NSD: Florida Straits

17 November, 1554 – NSD: Coast of Cuba

23 November, 1554 – NSD: Turks & Caicos Sea

28 November, 1554 – NSD: Coast of Hispaniola, NLD: Barahonas, a Castillean province.

3 December, 1554 – NSD: Lesser Antilles, NLD: St. Kitts, St. Thomas – both unclaimed SUGAR provinces.

13 December, 1554 – NLD: Turks Island. We discovered this while sailing by. It’s a nice island, with COTTON as its resource. It also has a low native population. I think that this will be our next colony settlement in January 1. I want at least an outpost here that’s mine. This will suffice.

19 December, 1554 – NSD: Sargassos Sea

24 December, 1554 – NSD: Coast of Florida

29 December, 1554 – NSD: Coast of Carolina

1 January, 1555 – Cyprus is now one of our core provinces.

NLD: Santee, Tuscarora – two Castillean provinces. NLD: Muskogee and Alabama, two Creek provinces. I offer them a free trade agreement.

I order colonists to Turks Island. The chance of connection is 64 percent. There are 1000 natives but they are quite passive.

Explorations Without and Within

2 January, 1555 – Venice stupidly declared war against Austria.

9 January, 1555 – NSD: Cape Hatteras, another Castillean province, Pamlico was also discovered.

13 January, 1555 – NSD: Chesapeake Bay

17 January, 1555 – NSD: Massachusetts Bay

22 January, 1555 – NSD: Bay of Fundy, NLD: Abnaki, a Portugese colony here in the north.

30 January, 1555 – NSD: Fortune Bay

3 February, 1555 – NSD: Cabot Strait, NLD: Taqamkuk, unclaimed.

7 February, 1555 – NSD: Gulf of St Lawrence, NLD: Micmac, unclaimed

14 February, 1555 – NSD: Strait of Belle Isle, NLD: Labrador, unclaimed.

24 February, 1555 – NSD: Labrador Strait

6 March, 1555 – NSD: Hudson Straits

17 March, 1555 – NSD: Eastern Hudson Bay

24 March, 1555 – NSD: James Bay, NLD: Nunavik, unclaimed

31 March, 1555 – NSD: Western Hudson Bay

I order my fleet to return to the Castillean provinces I call home here.

10 April, 1555 – NSD: Foxe Basin

28 April, 1555 – NLD: While sailing home, we find Ungava. An unclaimed fur province.

19 May, 1555 – NLD: Innu, unclaimed

26 May, 1555 – NLD: Acadia, Epekwitk, both unclaimed

18 June, 1555 – I dock my ship at Santee and send out a ship I have docked in the Caribbean and send over my explorer. I intend to hit up South America.

8 July, 1555 – NLD: Cayenne, an unclaimed SUGAR province.

20 July, 1555 – NSD: Coast of Brazil

Austria has finally defeated the Venetian army and begun a siege of Venezia

26 July, 1555 – NSD: Coast of Recife

2 August, 1555 – NSD: Coast of Pernambuc, NLD: Pernambuco, a British colony.

8 August, 1555 – NSD: Todod Santos Bay, NLD: Rio de Janeiro, an unclaimed SUGAR province with mild natives. Need to mark this for later.

14 August, 1555 – NSD: Rio de Janeiro, NLD: Santo Amaro, an unclaimed SUGAR province and, wait for it, wait for it, wait for it, wait for it…Santana, an unclaimed ***GOLD*FREAKIN*GOLD*** province. 500 natives, fairly mild group of guys.

19 August, 1555 – NSD: Baia Parangua, NLD: Banda Oriental, unclaimed

24 August, 1555 – NSD: Rio de la Plata.

26 August, 1555 – We have set up a colony at Turks Island!

29 August, 1555 – NSD: Bahia Blanca, NLD: Tehuelmapu, unclaimed

3 September, 1555 – NSD: Coast of Patagonia, NLD: Patagonia Oriental, unclaimed

14, September, 1555 – NSD: Strait of Magellan, NLD: Patagonia Occidental, unclaimed.

23 September, 1555 – NSD: South Chile Coast

25 September, 1555 – Austria has captured Venezia.

I discovered an Aragonian colony in Unami (New Jersey).

4 October, 1555 – NSD: Coast of Chile

12 October, 1555 – NSD: Atacama Coast, NLD: Picunmapu, unclaimed, NLD: Atacama, a French colony.

19 October, 1555 – NSD: Arica Gulf, NLD: Arica, unclaimed

20 October, 1555 – I ask France for military access and they grant it. I can now use Atacoma as a base of exploration here on the west coast of the Americas.

How does colonization work? Do you just move your colonists in and hope for the best? Which resources are the most valuable?

An excellent question:

I have merchants, diplomats, spies, missionaries and colonists that can be made at different speeds and used. I've yet to use missionaries or spies in this game. Merchants set up at a COT and diplomats begin talks between two countries.

If I decide that I like a certain province, like Cape Verde, I send a diplomat by clicking on teh province, and then hitting a send button on the province's screen. That screen gives me the lowdown - percentage, natives number, agressive, zeal, time to colinize, etc.

I choose provinces beauce of several factors. What their good is, how un-aggressive the natives are and where they are on the map.

A provinces makes two types of funds for you - tax and production. As you've seen, tax depends on the size of the province, produciton on the good of the province. Tripoli sends me almost no taxes, because of various factors, but I still get a good production from its Ivory trade.

When looking at a good in aprovince, it will tell you what the approximate worth of said good is. At the beginning of the game, all goods are given a base amount, and that amount changes as supply and demand change. For example, at the beginning of the game,slaves have a very low value, but as cotton and sugar provinces are growing, slave demands sharply grows. The ultimate good is Chinaware, since there are so few Chinaware provinces in the game, and it starts with the highest base value.

Wine starts with the highest base value as well, but there is so much of it getting made that its value drops. Goods like spices, coffee, sugar, tea, and cotton are what I'm looking for, with furs currently a solid value as well, alhtough I've seend them overused and plummet in value.

Gold does not act like a good in that it cannot be traded. Gold is gold. On the other hand, I would get an intimidating amount of produciton value from any gold province.

When a colony hits 1000, it becomes a city. Any natives alive join the city. Kill the natives, and you do not get this population bonus. However, your initial chance to grab a province increases if you kill off the natives. If you do not, then there is a chance every month, based on aggressiveness, that the natives will revolt and burn your colony down.


Hope that info helps!

The Continuing Saga of a Man and Two Ships

23 October, 1555 – I decline an alliance offer from Sweden.

8 November, 1555 – After restoration at Atacama, I begin a new, fresh exploration. NSD: Arequipa Bay

14 November, 1555 – NSD: Coast of Peru, NLD: Cuzco, Chanchan, Nazca, Incan territories. I offer them a free trade agreement

19 November, 1555 – NSD: Guayaguil Bay

27 November, 1555 – NSD: Coast of Equador, NLD: Cauca, unclaimed

30 November, 1555 – NSD: Gulf of Panama.

6 December, 1555 – NSD: Bay of Costa Rica, NLD: Nicaragua, COFFEE, unclaimed, Chorotega, unclaimed, NLD: Pipil, Mayan.

12 December, 1555 – NSD: Acapulco Bay, NLD: Guatemala, Mayan, Mixtec, Zapotec. I offer the Zapotec a free trade agreement.

19 December, 1555 – NSD: Manzazilla Bay. A Portugese navy is here.

25 December, 1555 – NSD: Mazatlan Bay.

1 January, 1556 – Where do I send my next colonists? I had intended on filling out Turks Island, since there are natives here, and I need to get it fully colonized. However, the gold province of Santana beckons. In this game, gold nets you a lot of ducats, but will increase your inflation (see real life example of Spain). The bigger and better your economy, the more you can handle a gold province.

On the other hand, Turks Island is a good province with a good strategic position.

After debate, I decide that if someone had found Santana, they would have colonized Santana. Let’s focus on Turks Island for now. If I lose Santana, there are still plenty of wealthy provinces with valuable resources.

With colonization, our chance of success to expand Turks Islands has risen to around 81 percent.

2 January, 1556 – NSD: Coast of Baja, NLD: Guaycura, unclaimed.

18 January, 1556 – NSD: Coast of California, NLD: Cochimo, Salinan, unclaimed

26 January, 1556 – NSD: Santa Catalina Islands

12 February, 1556 – NSD: Coast of Oregon

28, February, 1556 – NSD: Coast of Columbia

10 March, 1556 – NSD: Hecate Strait, NLD: Tlingit, an unclaimed GOLD province. Again. Well, I don’t feel so bad about focusing on Turks Islands now.

27 March, 1556 – NSD: Kodiak Island, NLD: Aleut, an unclaimed fur province

5 April, 1556 – NSD: Coast of Alaska

16 April, 1556 – NSD: Gulf of Alaska

I order my fleet to return to Atacama.

3 May, 1556 – RM: Lithuania

8 May, 1556 – NLD: Kalapuya, unclaimed fur

1 June, 1556 – Our naval tech increased

9 June, 1556 – NLD: Sinaloa, unclaimed

15 June, 1556 – NLD: Tlapanec, a Zapotec province

30 July, 1556 – Our fleet arrives back at the French colony of Atacama. Because we’ve docked it and out here, we can see some mainland provinces, but I’m not interested in those for now.

1 August, 1556 – Our land tech increased

I send my explorer to our ship berthed in Santee, on the American coast, and send it out to explore the sea lanes

12 August, 1556 – NSD: Blake Plateau

18 August, 1556 – NSD: West Bermuda Sea

26 August, 1556 – NSD: East Bermuda Sea. Also, our colony in Turks Islands expands.

10 September, 1556 – NSD: Antilles Current.

25 September, 1556 – NLD: Bermuda, unclaimed

14 October, 1556: NSD: West Gibbs Fracture

25 October, 1556: NSD: Labrador Sea

31 October, 1556 – NSD: Notre Dame Bay, NLD: Beothuk, unclaimed

3 November, 1556 – I have a high naval tradition and can recruit a good admiral.

13 December, 1556 – My fleet docks at Turks Islands. NLD: Tortuga, a Castillean province.

1 January, 1557 – I spend 50 ducats or so to recruit that good admiral I can get for right now. He is really good. Photios Della Carceri. He adds 6 to my fire, 6 to shock and 5 to maneuver. I add him to the head of my navy in Napoli.

Colonists to Turks Islands now have a 95% chance of taking. I send more

Now I send my explorer back to the Atacaman vessel and explore into the Pacific.

11 January, 1557 – NSD: San Felix Island. Exploring sea lanes takes out more of a toll on a ship than exploring coastal areas, so I may only get a few ocean areas at a time.

21 January, 1557 – NSD: Humboldt Current

1 February, 1557 – NSD: Eastern Island

13 February, 1557: NSD: Tiki Basin

17 February, 1557 – Venice and Austria are now at peace.

22 February, 1557 – NSD: Tuamatu Islands

7 March, 1557 – NSD: Marquises Islands

28 April, 1557 – My fleet returns to Atacama to rest up.

3 June, 1557 – RM: Great Britain

2 July, 1557 – Denmark was annexed by Hamburg

1 August, 1557 – RM: Sweden

12 August, 1557 – Autria and Hungary are at peace. Austria won a province.

26 August, 1557 – Turks Islands expands!

1 September, 1557 – Our fleet at Turks Islands is ready to head back out.

1 October, 1557 – NLD:: Narraganset, unclaimed

5 October, 1557 – NLD: Pennacook, a Portugese settlement

10 November, 1557 – NSD: Western Coast of Greenland, NLD: Vestbygden, an unclaimed fur province on Greenland.

21 November, 1557 – NSD: Baffin Bay

I have now discovered every sea region in the North Atlantic and North America.

I order my fleet back to Turks Islands by way of the American coast.

1 December, 1557 – NLD : Connecticut, unclaimed

20 December, 1557 – NLD: Powhaten, Castillean

11 January, 1558 – I send more colonists to Turks Islands

14 January, 1558 – NLD: Bahamas, unclaimed SUGAR province

19 January, 1558 – NLD: Moron, a French colony in Cuba

1 March, 1558 – Our naval tech increases

1 July, 1558 – Our production tech advances. My fleet from the Caribbean is now at Cape Verde. I order them around Africa to explore more in that direction.

28 July, 1558 – NLD: Ivory Coast, unclaimed IVORY province

25 August, 1558 – NLD: Benguela, unclaimed

4 September, 1558 – NLD: Lesser Namaqualand, unclaimed IVORY

6 September, 1558 – Our colony in Turks Islands grew.

3 October, 1558 – RM: Austria

30 October, 1558 – NSD: Coast of Pepper

6 November, 1558 – NSD: Horn of Africa

12 November, 1558 – NSD: Gulf of Aden

17 November, 1558 – NSD: Bab el Mandab

28 November, 1558 – NSD: Sea of Oman

I order our fleet back to Cape Verde

5 December, 1558 – NLD: Majerteen, unclaimed

1 January, 1559 – I send new colonist to Turk Islands.

My badboy is completely gone.

I also decide to go ahead and send colonists to Santana. I have the money and the space colonists. There’s a 75% chance of them taking

16 January, 1559 – NLD: Delagoa Bay, unclaimed IVORY

22 January, 1559 – NLD: Little Karoo, unclaimed SUGAR

17 April, 1559 – We arrive back in Cape Verde. Betcha want to see some political maps of my discoveries thus far, eh?

Map the First, Boring ol' North America

Map the Second, the Busy Caribbean:

Simply South America:




More boring that North America

And then one part of Africa that is not boring (the rest is):

Three words for you:

Sugar.White Gold.

Another heads up that someone is reading this dynasty. Really good stuff. I'm interested whether you'll do much more in Europe or if colonization will be your main focus.

I have a question about the EU series of games. I had considered purchasing EU III. Since I have a new baby, my gaming is pretty much restricted to a laptop. I have a new one with a Intel 950 integrated chip, but I noticed on the EU III website that this game may not work with that chip.

With that said, are the other games (EU, EU II, CK) pretty solid as well? What would I be missing out on if I were to purchase one of the other games?

Heya!

I never played EU.

EU2 and EU3 are very similar, except that EU2 is a very event driven engine, and EU3 is more of the CK random event engine. I sorta miss the EU2 engine, to be honest. In EU2, China got a gauranteed early explorer (Zhang He), other nations got explorers and conquistadors at random, unless they traditionally had one, so Portugal got may, but in EU3, you can gt your own by setting the sliders, so thats beter and so forth.

CK is a different game in many respets - no COTs, very dynasty driven, etc. It's very good, but a different feel of a game. EU3 is still EU, CK has a different style and emphasis.

Hope taht helps.

A Temporary Diversion


I’m leaving my fleets as they are right now, I’ve pretty much explored my limits right now except for a few oceanic zones, and I’m not that interested in exploring them.

What I’d really like a good war. Get me some more land, and have some fun. Someone, declare war on me!

If I can’t have war come to me, then I’ll bring war to someone else!

I make war preparations.

I make my ruler a general.

9 June, 1559 – I declare war against Aragon. Our stability drops because they are Catholic. All four allies join the war (Portugal, Burgundy, Castille, and Tuscany).

I order my large force into Ancona to initiate a siege. I order 5000 troops into Barcelona.

26 August, 1559 – Turks Islands expands!

10 September, 1559 – I got an event I’d rather not have. Unhappiness Among the Clergy. My Catholic priests are upset we have a fairly free thinking society. I have two choices:

(Names are mine) – I’ll run whatever society I want to run: -1 stability
Please don’t hurt me, I’ll do whatever you want – 1 towards narrowminded and away from innovative.

I want neither. I don’t want the event. Ick. Stability loss during war? Feh. I’ll take the narrowminded track.

14 September, 1559 – The first battle in the war, other than sieges, was won against Burgundy in Lombardia. I remembered my achilles heel from the last war.

18 September, 1559 – And then I get driven out of Lombardia. I order more forces to the province. I cannot lose Lombardia.

2 October, 1559 – We set up a colony in Santana!

17 October, 1559 – A large contingent of our forces arrive in Lombardia.

21 October, 1559 – We drive the Burgundians back out of Lombardia.

22 October, 1559 – Switzerland agrees to give us military access, in case I want to strike Burgundy through our ally.

10 November, 1559 – France and Austria begin a hissy fight. I’m rooting for France.

1 January, 1560 – I send colonists to Turks Islands and Santana.

10 January, 1560 – We capture Valencia

13 January, 1560 – Ancona falls.

18 March, 1560 – We barely win a battle in Barcelona and limply begin a siege

1 April, 1560 – We emerge victorious in Lombardia against Burgundy.

5 May, 1560 – We barely won a battle in Barcelona again.

18 May, 1560 – I drop off 3k more troops in Barcelona

7 July, 1560 – I reject the first peace offer, this one from Aragon for no land. I want the Italian provinces, and maybe Sardinia, The Baleares or Valencia. But, minimum the two remaining Italian provinces.

20 August, 1560 - Abruzzi falls to us.

23 August, 1560 – We again defeat Burgundy at Lombardia. I was wise making this my level two fort.

26 August, 1560 – Turks Islands expands.

8 September, 1560 – After an assault, we capture Barcelona.

Aragon rejected a peace offer for Valencia, Abruzzi and Ancona

2 October, 1560 – Santana expanded.

9 October, 1560 – Burgundy accepts our offer of a white peace. That’s bad news for the Iberia boys left in the war.

17 November, 1560 – We drive the small defending force in Sardinia into the sea and begin a siege here as well.

1 January, 1561 – I send two colonists again, yadda yadda.

1 April, 1561 – Funj asks for military access. I don’t even know where they are, but I say sure.

1 May, 1561 – Our stability increases.

26 August, 1561 – Turks Island expands

11 September, 1561- Aragon accepts our offer of peace for Ancona, Abruzzi and Valencia.

I accept peace with Portugal for 8 ducats of theirs.


Ancona – A province that we gained a core on, 68494 Umbrian Catholics work the poor wool trade here. They make us 6.98 ducats annually. The province comes with a temple, workshop, marketplace and courthouse.

Abbruzzi – The other Italian province to fall into our hands, 45757 Umbrian Catholics work the ever popular wine trade here. 13.49 ducats are created here annually in taxes and production. Already built here are a workshop, temple, marketplace and courthouse.

Valencia – This Iberian province is southwest along the Spanish coastline from Barcelona. 104848 people work the, you guessed it, wine trade here. The Catalan Catholics here make an unknown amount of ducats, because the province is still blockaded from the war. They have the same four improvements mentioned above.

So is Aragon pretty much only left with their north american holdings? Would it be hard to go into the colonies and take land or would you get attacked in europe because you diverted troops? Also by having control of land so far away from your capital do you have to pay added maitenance or some other penalty?

Aragon has Barcelona, their capital, and about five or six more Iberian provinces.

Developments Ashore


22 September, 1561 – RM: Castille

2 October, 1561 – Santana expanded.

1 January, 1562 – I send out colonists again.

7 May, 1562 – RM: Munster

3 June, 1562 – RM: Burgundy

26 August, 1562 – Turks Islands expands

2 October, 1562 – Santana expands

14 October, 1562 – RM: Lithuania

1 January, 1563 – In an effort to finish out Turks Islands, I press onward. I intend to finish colonizing it soon.

16 March, 1563 – Kazan declared war against Crimea. The Ottomans joined Crimea. Could be a major war.

14 May, 1563 – Hungary declared war upon Austria, who is still fighting France and her minors.

23 July, 1563 – Something really, really weird just happened, something I never planned and didn’t know could happen without me planning it. We just became the Papal Controller.

As a result, we get the following:

-20% stability cost
+1 diplomat annually
Reputation (badboy) -0.25 (annually? Once?)
Prestige +1 (again, annually, once?)

We controlled two cardinals – one in Malta and one in Napoli. No one else controlled more than one. Ergo, we are the new Papal Controller.


26 August, 1563 – Expansion…..

1 January, 1564 – I double send colonists again

17 March, 1564 – France won a couple of provinces from Austria. Yay!

29 March, 1564 – RM: France

3 June, 1564 – Now Austria are the Papal Controller after a cardinal died.

26 August, 1564 – Turks Islands expands. The natives there join the colony. It is now a full city

Turks Islands – This Lombard Catholic province is a group of islands clustered in the Atlantic. The main export for the 2037 people here is cotton. They make about 19.89 ducats annually, with almost all of that coming from production. Cotton has a high trade value right now.

And More

1 September, 1564 – Lombardia is now part of our patrimony and is a core province.

2 October, 1564 – Santana expands.

5 October, 1564 – The Ottomans defeated Kazan and won two provinces.

1 November, 1564 – Our trade tech increases.

14 December, 1564 – Austria defeated Hungary and won Hum and Bosnia.

25 December, 1564 – Austria offers me an alliance. I accept. They are the biggest, baddest boys on the block, and Tuscany is long since outlived its usefulness as an ally.

Plus, this might get me in a war with Hungary. In said war, I’d want to take Dalmatia and Croatia. Austria might get me the hookup.

1 January, 1565 – Let’s just assume that every January for a while I’m sending colonists to Santana and every October 2 they take, unless I tell you otherwise.

28 May, 1565 – I get a Boundary Dispute and press the issue to get a Casus Belli on Roma.

1 July, 1565 – Our naval tech increases.

14 August, 1565 – I move our slider one more towards quality. All of our leaders will now get +1 fire. Our stability drops.

21 Septmeber, 1565 – RM: Pommerania

1 October, 1565 – Our government tech increased when it looked like it was going to be forever before it did so.

1 January, 1566 – I decide to try and wrest the Papacy away from Austria. After a cardinal died and came from our territory in October, we each have two cardinals. I am going to try and bribe an Austrian one. I want that -20% stability cost. That’s handy!

After paying 55 ducats, we are now the Papal Controller!

1 August, 1566 – Our stability increases.

13 November, 1566 – A cardinal has died, and the new cardinal is from Brescia, giving us four of the seven cardinals. Hopefully we’ll be the Papal Controller for a while.

22 February, 1567 – I get an event: Rush of Colonists. I take the Colonists, and we now have a full set of 5.

1 June, 1567 – Our land tech increases

4 February, 1568 – I get a event. Natives Encountering Our Colony in Santana. A group of natives are peacefully but cautiously watching our colony. I have three options:

1). Repel the Savages. Colony grows by 200, native numbers decrease by 300.

2). Present a Trade Proposal. I lose 50 ducats, but the tax base increases by one.

3). Do nothing. Lose some prestige.

Our colony is two away from expansion, and I’ve sent out one of those. I don’t want to kill off natives, or else I’d take the first option. The tax base is minor for a colony. I choose nothing initially, but as I think about it. I save a full colonist and the money to send it by choosing option number one. The colony expands to 1000, then takes the 200 natives then the 100 new colonist arrive to make it 1300. A full province. I can send another set of colonists out now. Let’s take number one after all.

Looks like the natives chose not to join, and just left or something. Let’s take a look at Santana, a new city:

1030 Lombard Catholics work the gold mines in this coastal province. We get 42 ducats annually, 40 of those being gold production.

Conflict Quick and Expected


Okay, time to send out more colonists. Here are some ideas:

Southern Africa. Then use that as a base for future explorations.

Near or beside Santana. There are other solid colonial areas here. This would help mutual defense.

Actually, I think that these are the best two areas. Here are some of the best choices from those two areas:

Little Karoo – Of the South African provinces, none combines a wealthy crop like Sugar with low aggressiveness natives. There are just 500 natives, but they are very peaceful. 78% of setting up a colony here. 364 days to set up a colony.

Sao Vincente – Next to Santana, 1000 natives with low aggressiveness are in this Sugar province. 75% of setting up a colony here. It would take 272 days.

Those are really my two options. Sao Vincente or Little Karoo.

I choose Little Karoo. Then I may go to Sao Vincente next. I want that outpost to use as a place to explore further outwards.

20 June, 1568 – RM: France

4 August, 1568 – Hungary has declared war against Austria. I agree to assist my fellow Austrians.

I make preparations.

9 August, 1568 – We defeat the Hungarians in the Adriatic and captured a ship.

1 October, 1568 – Apulia and Calabria are now part of our patrimony.

2 October, 1568 – Santana expanded.

13 October, 1568 – We win the Battle of Dalmatia, and begin a siege.

1 November, 1568 – Liguria is now part of our patrimony.

12 November, 1568 – I lose a battle in Croatia and retreat my forces back to Dalmatia

1 January, 1569 – I have the money, so I send a colonist to San Vicente

1 February, 1569 – Provence are the new Papal Controller.

10 February, 1569 – Our attempt to colonize Little Karoo has failed. I send in more colonists. Just a 22% chance of failure. That sucked.

12 February, 1569 – My main army arrived in Croatia, blasted the defenders, and has begun a siege of their capital.

6 April, 1569 – Croatia falls after an assault

28 May, 1569 – Dalmatia falls to us.

29 May, 1569 – Hungary accepted peace for Dalmatia.

Dalmatia: 21835 people work the relatively poor wool trade in this sleepy province along the east coast of the Adriatic. 8.03 ducats are made by the Croatian Catholics. Venice and Hungary have it as a core province. It’s not that valuable, but it increases our Mediterranean presence in a new area.

A Friend Found

20 September, 1569 – We set up a colony in Sao Vicente. Sorry I misspelled it earlier, that’s the correct spelling. I send in more colonists.

1 November, 1569 – Janina and Salonica are no longer cores.

9 February, 1570 – Little Karoo is set up with colonists. I send in more and my explorer.

15 March, 1570 - Crimea and The Ottomans declared war upon Hungary. That country is dead.

29 June, 1570 Sao Vicente expands. I send in more colonists.

1 August, 1570 – My explorer has reached Little Karoo and then waited a few months to get repaired. I now send it out.

3 September, 1570 – Austria defeated Hungary, but no land changed hands.

25 September, 1570 – NSD: Western Arabian Sea, NLD: Socotra, Yemen

4 October, 1570 – NSD: Mascate Coast

9 October, 1570 – NSD: Gulf of Indus, NLD: Kutch, Vijayanagar. I offer them a free trade agreement. Kutch is also a COT.

15 October, 1570 – NSD: Straits fo Hormuz. NLD: Suhar (Persia) and Hormuz (Timurid)

23 October, 1570 – NSD: Persian Gulf

31 October, 1570 – NLD: Qawasim, Persian

5 November, 1570 – NLD: Sind, Vijayanagar (Vj)

12 November, 1570 – NSD: Golf of Gujurat, NLD: Dadra, Vj

17 November, 1570 - NSD: Laquedive Islands, NLD: Raichur Doab, VJ. A Portugese vessel is in these waters.

22 November, 1570 – NSD: Coast of Malabar, NLD: Malabar, Travanacore

27 November, 1570 – NSD: Comorin Cape

2 December, 1570 – RM: France, NSD: Coast of Coromandel, NLD: Tirichirapalli, VJ

7 December, 1570 – NSD: Coast of Orissa

I order my fleet to return but to explore a few more sea lanes on the way back.

12 December, 1570 – NLD: Madras, VJ

19 December, 1570 – NSD: Ceylon Sea, NLD: Jaffna, Korlaes (Pegu)

1 January, 1571 – I got two advisors that appeared in my realm. Both are level one. One adds naval and the other adds production.

I fire Murad Sokullu, the colonist making advisor now that I have my national idea and whatnot. I hire Evangelos Zorzi, the national scientist production maker. I hope that if my very aged government advisor is to die soon, that he does it this year, so I can hire this naval advisor before he goes into the general pool.

11 January, 1571 – The Teutonic Order declared war against Austria. I join said war but have interest in actually fighting.

8 February, 1571 – Little Karoo expands. I send in more colonists

20 March, 1571 – NLD: Inhambane, unclaimed IVORY

28 March, 1571 – Sao Vicente expanded. I order in more colonists.

11 April, 1571 – While our explorer was docking at Little Karoo, we discovered Great Karoo, an inland province behind us.

29 April, 1571 – RM: Castille

20 August, 1571 – Lithuania declared war against Crimea. The Ottomans joined Crimea.

25 December, 1571 – Sao Vicente expands.

I decide to stick with my best advisor who is getting long in the tooth, 64 years. He’s dying any day now, but he’s six times better than the naval advisor, which means that for every two months he lives, I get as much production than one year of the naval guy.

1 January, 1572 – Colonists are dispatched to Sao Vicente

I order out my explorer again.

7 February, 1572 – Little Karoo expanded. I order more colonists in.

10 March, 1572 – The Teutonic Order declared war upon Austira. I join them, but expect to fire no bullets.

16 April, 1572 – NSD: Ganges Delta, NLD: Chittagong, Bengala (Orissa).

20 April, 1572 – NSD: Aykab Bay, NLD: Arakon (Pegu)

25 April, 1572 – NSD: Irrawady Delta

30 April, 1572 – NSD: Mergui Archipelago

1 May, 1572 – I found a LITHUANIAN colony here in the spice isles. I kept getting land masses shown to me, and wondering what eastern power had been here for fifty years that I should get such a bounty of sea provinces here in the spice isles. It’s Lithuania!

This is great! Lithuania, like France before her, has maxed relations with us. I ask for military access and in a day, she agrees. I can use their colony in the Spice Islands for some serious explorations.

An End for Now

5 May, 1572 – NSD: Straits of Malacca

12 May, 1572 – NSD: Straits of Johor

17 May, 1572 – NSD: Coast of Sarawk

20 May, 1572 – Aragon won a province from Hamberg, Bremen, in the far north of Germany.

24 May, 1572 – NSD: Coast of Brunei

30 May, 1572 – NSD: Sulu Sea

11 June, 1572 – I park my explorer at Ternate, the Lithuanian colony

11 July, 1572 – The Teutonic Order rejected our white peace offer

1 August, 1572 – I send out my ship and explorer in Ternate.

6 August, 1572 – We get an event called. Excellent Minister. I reap the administrative benefits and our stability increases, and is now maxed!

11 August 1572 – NSD: Sea of Ternate

18 August, 1572 – NSD: Sea of Bunda, NLD: Ceram, unclaimed SPICE

23 August, 1572 – NSD: Timor Sea

28 August, 1572 – NSD: King Sound

4 September, 1572 – NSD: Arafuam Sea

15 September, 1572 – NSD: Kolepaum Bay

26 September, 1572 – NSD: Palau Islands

30 September, 1572 – Sao Vicente expands

1 October, 1572 – I learn about a new Lithuanian colony on an island in the Indian Ocean.

And our explorer died  I order my ship back to Ternate to bide its time until a new explorer is hired.

1 November, 1572 – New info from, likely, Lithuania shows us Brunei. I offer them a free trade agreement.

7 December, 1572 – The Order accepts our white peace proposal.

1 January, 1573 – I order colonists to Sao Vicente

I recruit a new explorer and dispatch our fleet in the spice isles to continue to investigate the area.

I order Constables built in Lombardia and Liguria.

12 January, 1573 – NSD: Maguindanao Coast

21 January, 1573 – NSD: Philipine Sea

27 January, 1573 – NSD: Gulf of Leyte

31 January, 1573 – NSD: Coast of Luzon

1 February, 1573 – Our trade tech increases

4 February, 1573 – NSD: Luzon Strait, NLD: Samtoy, unclaimed. A Portugese fleet is here.

6 February, 1573 – Little Karoo expanded.

10 February, 1573 – NSD: Paracel Islands

15 February, 1573 – NSD: Guangzhou Bay, NLD: Jianamen, Ming – I send Ming a free trade agreement. We have discovered China!

23 February, 1573 – NSD: Taiwan Strait

27 February, 1573 – NSD: Yang Tse Delta

3 March, 1573 – NSD: Yellow Sea

7 March, 1573 – NSD: Korea Bay

19 March, 1573 – NSD: South Korea Sea, NLD: Jeolla, Korean. I send them a free trade agreement.

22 March, 1573 – NSD: North Korean Sea

28 March, 1573 – NSD: Coast of Olga

4 April, 1573 – NSD: Sea of Japan, NLD: Echizen, Japan. I offer them a free trade agreement.

17 April, 1573 – NSD: Tatar Straits, NLD: Udskoye, unclaimed fur

25 April, 1573 – NSD: Amur Estuary

30 April, 1573 – Bay of Ayan, NLD: Othotsk, unclaimed, and TAUISK, an unclaimed GOLD province.

4 May, 1573 – NSD: Bay of Komenskoyie

16 May, 1573 – NSD: Coast of Kamchatka, NLD: Kamchatka

21 May, 1573 – NSD: Okhotsk Sea

28 May, 1573 – NSD: Coast of Sakhalin

2 June, 1573 – NSD: Soya Strait, NLD: Sakhalin, unclaimed, NLD: Ezochi, Japan

I order my fleet to return.

10 June, 1573 – I decline an alliance offer from Saxony.

14 July, 1573 – NSD: Manila Bay

1 August, 1573 – Our four star land tech advisor died today. We mourn him. I hire Arnau Mutanier, a one star colonist make.

30 September, 1573 – Sao Vicente expanded

1 October, 1573 – I order my fleet back out to explore again

17 October, 1573 – NSD: Java Sea, NLD: Makassar, owned by Makassar. I send them a free trade agreement.

24 October, 1573 – NSD: Straits of Makassar, NLD: Sabah, Brunei

12 November, 1573 – NSD: Coast of Surabaya

17 November, 1573 – NSD: Coast of Java, NLD: Bantan, unclaimed SPICE

22 November, 1573 – NLD: Mataram, unclaimed SPICE

23 December, 1573 – NSD: Gulf of Carpentaria

30 December, 1573 – NSD: Torres Strait

1 January, 1574 – I only have one set of colonists right now. I send them to Sao Vicente.

7 January, 1574 – NSD: Trobian Islands, NLD: Rabaul, unclaimed

16 January, 1574 – NSD: Great Barrier Reef

24 January, 1574 – NSD: Capricorn Bay, there is a Portugese ship here.

1 February, 1574 – NSD: Cape Howe

A level two statesmen named Giovanni Ghisi has appeared in Cyprus. I fire our colonist make and hire this guy.

8 February, 1574 – NSD: Bass Strait

17 February, 1574 – NSD: Kangaroo Island, NLD: Paredarerme, unclaimed

24 February, 1574 – NSD: Great Australian Bight

I order my fleet to return to Ternate

1 April, 1574 – Our production tech increased

I order colonists to Little Karoo

1 May, 1574 – NLD: Buru, unclaimed COFFEE, Halmahera, unclaimed SPICE

8 May, 1574 – Our fleet returns to Ternate.

1 July, 1574 – Brescia and Crete are now part of our patrimony.

My badboy is completely gone. Let’s do something about that.

Brevity in Arms

30 September, 1574 – Sao Vicente grows

1 October, 1574 – I’ve discovered a Lithuanian colony on the coast of West Africa, beside Kongo. I offer Kongo a free trade agreement,

1 November, 1574 – After making preparations, I declare war against Venice.

All three of ours allies honor our alliance and join us against Venice.

I have a small army in boats outside of Corfu, and they are ordered to march onto Corfu and begin a siege. Another army is in Ferrara and ordered into Venezia to begin a siege. Finally, a large army is in Lombardia, and they will smash into the major Venetian army, blood will run this day.

9 November, 1574 – The Siege of Corfu has begun

10 November, 1574 – And the siege of Venezia.

29 November, 1574 – I lost the Battle of Piedmont. I retreat to Lombardia to regroup. I hate losing the first battle in a war that I planned.

1 January, 1575 – I order colonists to Sao Vicente

4 January, 1575 – RM: France

18 January, 1575 – My large army arrives in Nice and begins a siege

9 March, 1575 – Corfu falls to us.

30 March, 1575 – After an assault, Nice falls to us

2 April, 1575 – A Venetian force is besieging Liguria

14 April, 1575 – The besiegers from Corfu arrive at Venezia to assist the siege here.

30 April, 1575 – My army and a Tuscan army drive the Venetians away from Liguria

1 June, 1575 – RM: Saxony

2 June, 1575 – Venezia falls to us.

13 September, 1575 – We drive back the Veneitans from Piedmont with a combined assault of my main army and the Venezian army.

30 September, 1575 – Sao Vicente expands

5 October, 1575 – We won the battle of Savoie.

4 November, 1575 – The first peace offer from Venice arrives and it was laughable.

11 November, 1575 – After an early walls breached during the siege, I order us to pour in and we capture the city.

6 December, 1575 – Piedmont falls to us.

8 December, 1575 – Venice accepts peace. They give us Nice, Piedmont, and become our vassals.


Nice:

40647 people work the quiet and relatively poor fish trade here on the coast immediately west of Liguria. The Lombard Catholics send us 7.78 ducats annually. They have a temple, marketplace, courthouse and workshop.

Piedmont:

117731 people work the unsurprising wine trade here in Lombard country. The Catholics here send us 21.8 ducats annually. They have a courthouse, workshop, temple and University!

I recruit another admiral. I split off 6 Flytes from my Med fleet and send 6k troops on those ships. Time to send sole soldiers abroad.

Just curious...how are the powers that dominated this period historically doing? (i.e. England, France, Spain, Germany, etc.)

Ventures Temporarily Restablished

10 January, 1576 – Our first admiral died. 

I order a Constable built in Piedmont accidentally – meant to build a level 2 fort. Ah well. I order a Constable built in Palermo as well since I now have some extra splash.

1 March, 1576 – A Gift to the State occurred, and I add the 200 ducats to the treasury. With our new money, I order the following:

Constable in Romagna and Brescia and Mantua
New Admiral for the Med

13 March, 1576 – I send out my explorer for another run.

25 April, 1576 – NSD: New Caledonian Sea

2 May, 1576 – NSD: Three Kings Islands

8 May, 1576 – NSD: Northern Tasmin Sea

14 May, 1576 – NSD: Cook Strait. NLD: Taranaki, unclaimed

23 May, 1576 – NSD: Coast of New Zealand

2 June, 1576 – NSD: Fiji Basin

I order my explorer back to the Lithuanian Colony of Ternate.

11 June, 1576 – NLD: Whangarei, unclaimed

10 August, 1576 – Sao Vicente expands

6 November, 1576 – RM: Lithuania

1 December, 1576 – Naval tech increase

15 December, 1576 – I send an Insult to Bali.

28 December, 1576 – 6000 troops and the appropriate fleet arrive at Ternate. I can send them at opposing forces at any time.

1 January, 1577 – I need one more successful colonization at Sao Vicente to expand. I send off colonists. Time for more explorations.

7 January, 1577 – Ottomans and Hungary come to peace terms after a war with no land changing hands.

24 January, 1577 – NSD: South China Sea

28 January, 1577 – NSD: Cam Radh Bay, NLD: Vijaya, Champan – I send them a free trade agreement.

1 February, 1577 – NSD: Coast of Annam

4 February, 1577 – NSD: Gulf of Tonkin

15 February, 1577 – NLD: Prey Nokor, Malaccan – I offer them a FTA

19 February, 1577 – NSD: Mekong Delta

23 February, 1577 – NSD: Gulf of Siam

1 March, 1577 – NSD: Malayan Sea

19 March, 1577 – NSD: Macabar Isles

23 March, 1577 – NSD: Coast of Atjeh. Now that I’m done with this section of the sea, I’ll return to the Lithuania province

1 April 1577 – Our land tech increases

1 May, 1577 – I send colonists to Little Karoo

29 July, 1577 – I initiate a slow campaign to increase our relations to Venice. It will take a lot of ducats and a lot of time and a lot of diplomats and a lot of gifts.

I send out the explorer again, this time to finish exploring around the Japan area.

20 August, 1577 – NSD: Ryukyu Islands

24 August, 1577 – NSD: Amakusa Sea

3 September, 1577 – NSD: Northern Philippine Sea

8 September, 1577 – NSD: Setto Island Sea, NLD: Kii, Nagato, Bungo, Shikoku, all Japanese. There’s a British fleet here.

15 September, 1577 – NSD: Tokai Sea, NLD: Musachi, Hitachi, Mutaro, all Japanese

20 September, 1577 – NSD: Taihei Ocean

27 September, 1577 – NSD: Tsugaru Strait

I order the explorer back.

30 September, 1577 – Sao Vicente expanded.


Sao Vicente:

Adjacent to Santana and up the coast, the province of Sao Vicente features 2040 Lombard Catholics working the sugar fields. They send us 26.03 ducats annually, with around 23 of those being production.

There is no Germany during this period. Either historically or in this game.

Great Britain is okay, although their colonization efforts are focused on South American, not the north. They have some provinces in Scandanavia and Ireland.

France is about the same as rl. They haven't begun to assex their vassals. They have decent colonizations. This was not an era of French dominace, in real life, because of European wars.

Sweden, which was a major player during this time normally, is down to a handful of provinces. No colonization efforts by Sweden, unlike real life (at least thus far)

Austria is a major, major player in both real life politically (Hapsburgs) and in this game geographically - they have large swaths of land.

Obviously, in the game, Spain never formed. There's Castille and Aragon instead - its component pieces. Castille has a lot of power however. Less colonial power, but a lot more North African power - so it porbably averages out hte same.

Portugal was a major, major colonial power during this time in the game, with colonies all over America, Africa, the spice islands, India, Malacca, etc. In this game, their colonies are almost all in North Amercia, but they have massively expanded in North America, taking out tribes and gobbling land at a very quick clip.

The Ottomans were a major power in Europe duiring this time, and still are.

Saxony's doing very well for itself. As is Hamburg. Burgundy is still around (in real life, Burgundy was building a powerful country when the young duke got offed in battle and the country was split up).


How about a list to help you out?

My personal choices for the top five powers in Europe, currently:

1). Austria. They have a ton of land, they took out Poland, Hungary, parts of Lithuania, parts of Scanadanvia. They stretch from the Adriatic to the Baltic.

2). The Ottomans. They've gained some serious land in Europe in the eastern parts, and along with ally Crimea, they have some some serious power. They also have the most valuable province in Europe, Thrace.

3). Castille. Their combination of advnaced soldiers and large amounts of land makes them very, very, powerful.

4). Burgundy. The combinations of the wealthy Dutch provinces and the best COT in the game currently in Dutch territory with one of the most advanced armies in the game make them a power.

5). Naxos. I honestly beleive that we are powerful enough to win a war against all ofthe other major powers if we prepared for it. But no thte Turks, Austrians, Castilleans or Bugundains. Even if taken by surprise, I feel that they would win against us.

Now, if you include colonial power, Portugal would leap frog over us.



Hope that answers some questions!

Times of Boredom

26 October, 1577 – NLD: Taiwan. Whoah momma. Unclaimed CHINAWARE province with almost 6000 natives.

20 November, 1577 – Our explorer berths at Ternate.

18 December, 1577 – I accept a request from Venice to move across our provinces.

1 January, 1578 – I have a colonist and some money. Where next to colonize?

Obviously the Spice Islands offer some nice choices. What are the best?

Well, for pure value, Taiwan is amazing. The natives are a bit pissy I have a 70% chance of my first colonist taking, it costs me 100 ducats, almost twice as much as normal. It would take 672 days for colonists to reach Taiwan. Plus, it may be a bit too close to China for my tastes. What if China decides they want it? What do I do?

Mataram – As a spice province with a high tax value (8 outta 10) there’s really not much more you could want from a province. The large number (9000) of slightly aggressive natives might be a problem considering the slow speed of colonization here in the Indies.

If all I want in an outpost and a spice isle, then Halmahera is my best choice. The 500 natives here barely register a pulse, and although the taxvalue is very low (1), it’s a spice colony. There’s a large 82% chance of my first colonists settling – which is about as good as you are going to get with natives on the colony. Let’s send our colonists here.

Halmahera it is.

April 4, 1578 – Our Monarach, Giovanni III has died. We have a new king, Guglielmo III. Admin: 7, Military: 8, Diplomacy: 3

April 6, 1578 – RM: Burgundy, Castille

8 April, 1578 – RM: Great Britain

10 April, 1578 – Lithuania lost a province in peace accords with the Ottomans

27 April, 1578 – We became the Papal Controller again.

30 April, 1578 – RM: Lithuania

1 May, 1578 – Our stability increased.

4 May, 1578 – Little Karoo grewoo

20 May, 1578: RM: Tyrone

23 May, 1578 – A new war between Crimea and the Ottomans against Lithuania begins

1 January, 1579 – I order level one forts in Turks Islands and Santana

31 July, 1579 – Little Karoo expanded. I sent more colonists in.

30 September, 1579 – RM: Saxony

20 October, 1579 – We successfully set up a colony in Halmahera

1 January, 1580 – I order a level one fort built in Sao Vicente

25 June, 1580 – The Teutonic Order again tries to pick a fight with Austria. Again I agree to join our fellow brothers.

30 July, 1580 – Little Karoo expands. I send out more colonists.

1 September, 1580 – Turks Island is now a core

1 January, 1581 – I order more colonists to Halmahera

23 January, 1581 – RM: France

8 July, 1581 – The Order sent us a white peace offer, which we accepted.

29 July, 1581 – Little Karoo expands. I send more colonists. If these take, then it’s a city and the natives join.

16 September, 1581 – I take a look at my slider settings, because I can move one. I decide to move us one towards Free Trade. Our stability drops.

1 January, 1582 – Our government tech increases

1 March, 1582 – Our land tech increases.

I need to find another place to send colonists. After some consideration, I choose Rio de Janeiro. It’s near my current South America holdings, and a sugar province. It’s solid.

10 March, 1582 - - Hungary ceded territory to the Ottomans. That leaves just one Hungarian province left – Croatia.

29 July, 1582 – Little Karoo expands. It is now a full colony:

Little Karoo – Located on the southern tip, east side, of the African continent, Little Karro is an ideally suited colony for exploration and interseas trade. 1563 Catholic Lombards work the sugar trade here. 25.08 ducats are made here annually, with 22 of those being production.

Adding Ginger to Bread


1 August, 1582 – Our great governmental advisor whose great work brought us significant fame and was with our court for decades and decades has passed.

1 September, 1582 - Elias Zeno a level two treasurer, who adds to our trade tech, has arrived in Cyprus. I hire him

20 October, 1582 – Our colony in Halmahera expanded.

1 November, 1582 – Anastatios Loredano, a level 3 government advisor arrived in Palermo. Do I hire him? Here is what I currently have:

Level 2 government advisor
Level 2 trade advisor
Level 1 production advisor

And now a level 3 government advisor. I could fire the level 2, replace him with the level three, and move on. Or, I could replace another with the level 3 government advisor. Like a 1 production advisor? Let’s do that. I drop the production advisor.

13 November, 1582 – Our attempt to set up a colony in Rio de Janeiro has failed. I dispatch more colonists to reattempt.

1 January, 1583 – I order a level 1 fort built here.

28 July, 1583 – We set up a colony in Rio de Janeiro. I order more colonists to follow.

1 January, 1584 – Colonists are sent to Halmahera

25 March, 1584 – Uhoh. Dalmatia has become reformed!

12 April, 1584 – Rio expanded.

1 November, 1584 – Santana is now a part of our patrimony (core province).

1 January, 1585 – I send colonists to Rio.

15 September, 1585 – Rio expanded. More colonists.

20 October, 1585 – Halmahera expanded.

9 November, 1585 – RM: Burgundy

1 January, 1586 – I send colonists to Halmahera

31 May, 1586 – Rio expands.

1 October, 1586 – Abbruzzi and Valencia are part of our patrimony.

1 January, 1587 – Colonists, Rio

31 March, 1587 – RM: Austria

23 April, 1587 – After a lot of diplomats and a lot of money, I have maxed relations with Venice.

July 1, 1587 – I offer Venice annexation, and am told by my advisors that the chance is roughly half and half. Unfortunately, it’s the bad half, because they reject our annexation offer. Our relations drop.

15 September, 1587 – Rio, expansion, more colonists

1 October, 1587 – Our land tech increases

20 October, 1587 – Halmahera expands

1 November, 1587 – Our trade tech increases

1 January, 1588 – I send colonists to Halmahera.

I offer Venice annexation after spending the last half of last year jacking our relations back up with gifts. This time, they accept.


Savoie:

This Lombard Catholic province in the beginning of French country is a cloth province. 24.35 ducats are made annually, split about even, by the 32834 people here. Savoie comes with a temple, marketplace, courthouse and workshop.

Corfu:

Another of the Greek provinces, the island of Corfu has a workshop, temple and courthouse. The sleepy 17885 Orthodox fishers give us 5.31 ducats annually. Venice gave it a level 2 fort.

Sao Tome:

The colony of Sao Tome is adjacent to Rio de Janeiro. It is a sugar colony, currently with 645 settlers here. It features 300 natives, with a low aggressiveness. Four more successful bands of colonists and it becomes a full city.

Venezia:

805712 people work the fishing trade here in the Center of Trade known as Venice. The Lombard Catholics make around 22.84 ducats annually. This is a core province of Austria. The place comes with a shipyard, courthouse, temple, marketplace and workshop. It also has a level 2 fort.

Visions of Tomorrow and Yesterday Intertwined

15 February, 1588 – My explorer is coming back from a deep Indian Ocean trip where he opened up some sea lanes, but I’m not sure he can make it back to my colony deep it the Spice Isles. I send requests for military access to Malacca, Brunei and Atjeh. Each has around an even chance of giving me the requisite access. None do. Just have to hope my ship and explorer can make it back, but it’ll be tight.

19 March, 1588 – A level two fort is completed in Savoie.

23 March, 1588 -Our fleet arrives back in the Sea of Ternate, and will dock soon. It was down to 12%, and would have been destroyed on 1 April, 1588. I came within one week of having my vessel and explorer destroyed.

31 May, 1588 – Rio expands

1 June, 1588 – I send a colonist to Sao Tome. The natives there are more aggressive than they are in Rio, so let’s finish it out first.

3 July, 1588 – RM: Saxony

5 July, 1588 – Aragon rejected a royal marriage offer.

1 January, 1589 – I order a constable in Venice and a customs house in Liguria.

13 February, 1589 – Sao Tome expands and more colonists go there.

18 August, 1589 – Austria declared war upon Saxony. I join my allies. I intend to send no armies north.

3 September, 1589 – RM: Burgundy

20 October, 1589 – Halmahera expands.

28 October, 1589 – Sao Tome expands. I send in more colonists.

1 January, 1590 – I order courthouses in Tripolitania and Damatia. I order a customs house in Venice.

1 April, 1590 – A level 3 stability tech advisor arrives in Corfu. I hire him and jettison my treasurer that added to our trade tech development.


With my new stability advisor, I feel that it is time to move into a new phase of my life.

Damn, this is a great campaign. Going from a small Greek province to a Mediterranean power with African and South American colonies... it makes a great story. Go on, and make Naxos the new Rome!

Something I found out by accident. If you lose a ship, you won't lose the explorer/admiral. They go right back into your pool.

Plans Afoot


I order preparations for war.

13 July, 1590 – Sao Tome expands. I send more colonists.

16 August, 1590 – I accept a white peace from Saxony.

4 October, 1590 – RM: France

1 January, 1591 – I send a colonist or three to Halmahera.

I am about to do something I haven’t done but once this game, and also something that I have never done at the same time.

I switch national ideas. I am leaving behind Scientific Revolution and taking Deus Vult.

My stability drops to -1.

And then I declare war on Tunisia.

My allies join me. The Mamluks and Morocco join Tunisia. Blood will flow. Oh yes, it will flow.

To prepare for this war, I have done the following things.

1). My main army is in Tripolitania, with 5000 calvary and several thousand infantry. The purpose of this army is to sweep east quickly – attacking and defeating all opposition as it goes.

2). The army (around 5k infantry) that I normally have in Tripolitania is in the Castillean province of Gabes – adjacent to Tunis. It will march in, besiege Tunis and annex the country.

3). A decent sized army is in ships off the coast of Cyprus. It is ordered to land in Beirut, and they’ll move south or siege, whichever is needed.

4). 5000 troops and the requisite ships, plus the Caravel are in Little Karoo. They will be ordered to sail up the coast of Africa and land in the back of Mamluks, thus hiting them from behind. This will not occur for several months, in order to draw out the Mamluk troops towards one of the two ends of their empire to fight armies 1 and 3.

That’s my battle plan. Here we go.

Plans Undone


19 January, 1591 - My troops land in Beirut. I order a quick assault.

27 January, 1591 – My main army arrive sin Sirt and engages defensive forces here.

29 January, 1591 – The Siege of Tunis has begun

31 January, 1591 – After a quick siege, Beirut has fallen to us. I order them to Damascus.

1 February, 1591 – Our stability increased

2 February, 1591 – I order a quick assault of Tunis. We defeated the Mamluks in Sirt. I order my forces to move inwards. My troops in Tunis can take these provinces once Tunis falls to us.

18 February, 1591 – My troops arrive in Damascus. I decide to begin a siege.

20 February, 1591 – My troops in Tunisia failed to capture the city in an assault and continue the siege.

1 March, 1591 – Our stability increases to 1

We defeat the retreating Mamluk troops in Cyrenaica. I order my main army eastward.

27 March, 1591 – Sao Tome grows and is now a full city. I‘ll look at it after the war.

8 April, 1591 – Our main army has won the battle of Libya. I order them to Asyut.

18 April, 1591 – Damascus falls after an assault. Another assault on Tunis fails.

3 May, 1591 – A Mamluk force arrives in Beirut to begin a siege.

5 May, 1591 – I order my main forces into Cairo itself.

13 May, 1591 – The Siege of Cairo begins.

11 June, 1591 – My northern army arrives in Judea and begins a siege.

1 July, 1591 – RM: Burgundy

Our army in Judea is met by some angry Mamluk troops.

5 July, 1591 – After another assault, Tunis falls. I order my troops eastward to Sirt.

7 July, 1591 – We defeat the Mamluks in Judea.

9 July, 1591 – Tunis has been annexed.

15 July, 1591 – Our army from Little Karoo has arrived in the Suez. I order my troops to disembark and do some fighting

3 August, 1591 – Damn Aragon declares war against us. Castille and Tuscany join us, but Austria runs away. I have a bunch of troops stationed in Valencia that I wasn;t using. Hopefully I can distract Aragon with those and, say, Castillean troops until the war is over. Burgundy and Portugal joined Aragon. Burgundy I’m worried about, but I guess we’ll see how it goes.

Death Continued

I order an assault of Cairo. Have to end this now.

19 August, 1591 – Cairo falls.

20 August, 1591 – Morocco offers a white peace, which I accept.

I order my troops to Alexandria. Capture it, force it in peace, and then move on to Aragon.

I order a bunch of troops built in Northern Italy.

29 November, 1591 – Mamluks recaptured Beirut

5 January, 1592 – Judea fell to us.

15 January, 1592 – Sirt fell to us.

29 January, 1592 – I order my newly built northern army into Savoie to break the Burgundy siege.

15 February, 1592 – We break the siege.

3 March, 1592 – Alexandra fell to us.

6 March, 1592 – The Mamluks rejected my offer of peace for Judea and Alexandria. I order my army to Delta where we’ll keep seiging.

10 April, 1592 – I reject a peace offer from Mamluks for Sirt, Damascus and Judea.

12 April, 1592 – I can’t drag out the Afrcian war any longer now that I have European powers to concern myself with. I offer peace for just Alexandria. Mamluks accept.

24 May, 1592 – I have sent the Burgundain defenders away in Frenche-Comte.

8 June, 1592 – We have driven the Aragonese out of Sardinia and begin a siege.

3 September, 1592 – We drive the Aragon forces from The Baleares

11 September, 1592 – Frenche-Compte fell to us.

11 October, 1592 – Portugal accepted a white peace offer.

29 October, 1592 – RM: Castille

1 November, 1592- Our production tech increases

25 November, 1592 – After several sea battles won and lost by us each, I manage to sneak 5000 calvary into Valencia. I am about to attack Barcelona.

2 February, 1593 – After a massive battle, we drove the Aragonese forces from their own capital and began a siege.

10 April, 1593 – Barcelona fell.

30 April, 1593 – The Baleares fell

1 May, 1593 – Our naval tech increased

7 May, 1593 – Our troops broke the siege at Valencia.

25 July, 1593 - I order a siege of Aragon

12 September, 1593 – My forces are pushed out of Frenche-Compte, and th Burgundy forces begin a new siege.

3 November, 1593 – Sardinia falls.

12 November, 1593 – Frenche-Compte fell to Burgundy.

16 November, 1593 - One of my admirals has died.

20 November, 1593 – Aragon fell

23 December, 1593 – Aragon accepts peace for The Baleares and Sardinia. That drives Aragon out of the last non-Iberian Mediterranean province.

24 December, 1593 – Burgundy rejects a white peace

28 February, 1594 – Burgundy keeps rejecting our peace offers.

20 March, 1594 – Our explorer died.

27 March, 1594 – A large Burgundia force arrives at Savoie. Anticipating such a move, I landed 4000 calvary, 200 infantry and my leader to bolster up the northern army.

4 May, 1594 – We won the Battle of Savoie of 1594.

6 May, 1594 – Burgundy rejects our white peace offer. Fine then. I order my troops back into Frenche-Compte

1 June, 1594 – Dalmatia is now a core province.

14 June, 1594 – We win at Frenche-Compte

17 June, 1594 – They reject another peace offer.

27 June, 1594 – Even more Burgundian troops arrive to protest our presence in Frenche-Compte

24 August, 1594 – After another long battle, we drive the Burgandy troops back.

26 August, 1594 – Burgundy rejects yet another white peace offer.

1 October, 1594 – Sao Vicente is a core

21 October, 1594 – Sweden was annexed by Norway.

17 December, 1594 – I capture Frenche-Compte. I send a white peace offer.

18 December, 1594 – Burgundy accepts peace.

1 January, 1595 – Let’s survey the new provinces, in order of newness:


Tunis – Located in North Africa, the province of Tunis features 284195 people live and work here. The Berber Sunnis work the grain trade. I order a Courthouse built here. They currently send me a mighty 1.56 ducats, but we’ll work that out.

Alexandria – Our third Center of Trade, the Egyptian province of Alexandria is located near the Nile. 191536 people call Alexandria and the surrounding province home. The wool trade is the poison of choice here. 4.21 ducats are sent to us annually, and again, we’ll work that out. The people here are Sunni and al Misr Arabic. It comes with a temple, courthouse and workshop.

Sao Tome – A former Venetian colony that we were able to expand during the war, Sao Tome hosts 1409 Lombard Catholics in this Sugar city. 23.56 ducats are sent home annually.

The Baleares – These islands off the coast of Aragon are fairly poor. Captured mainly because of their strategic location, The Baleares 17645 Catalan Catholics fish the mighty Mediterranean. With a temple, courthouse, marketplace and workshop, the people here make around 6.31 ducats for us annually.

Sardinia – One of the final Lombard provinces that were not in our grasp, Sardinia is an island in the Great Sea. The 73326 Catholics here work the barely lucrative fish trade. They send us 8.36 ducats annually. The province comes with its very own temple, marketplace, courthouse and workshop.

Rio de Janeiro – After capturing the provinces from Aragon but before peace with Burgundy, we finished Rio de Janeiro’s colonization. 2067 Lombard Catholics work the sugar trade here. They send us 24.41 ducats annually in trade.

I need to decide where to send more colonists. A few ideas:

Santo Amaro – The link between Rio and Sao Vincente, it’s another sugar province. No reason not to maximize our connection. There are 1000 natives here with a low aggressive ness and a 65 chance of taking initially, which jumps significantly after you set up, obviously. The taxbase here is just one, however.

Tahiti – Way out in the Pacific we discovered Tahiti. It’s a spice province with 1000 natives of a low aggressiveness. It would take us 551 days to settle here, but there’s a 75% chance of taking initially. It would help us navigate around the world to have a colony in the Pacific. Tax value of 3.

Mosquito – A province on the east coast of Central America, this coffee province features 2000 natives of low aggressiveness, a tax value of two and a 69% chance of taking with our first colonists. This province is adjacent to the Mayans.

Taiwan – Want a valuable province no matter how long it takes to send colonists, how aggressive the natives are, or how close you are to China? Then go for Taiwan.

Mataram – High taxvalue of 8 meets spices meets large number of natives meets long travel time and some aggressive ness on part of natives.

Mauritus – An island in the southeast Indian Ocean, this is a sugar province with 500 natives and no aggressiveness. This colony would have a good taxvalue in 5. A 78% chance of taking with our colonists meets 483 days lead time.

Cape – Adjacent to Little Karoo. This is a wine province with no aggressiveness natives and just 500 of them. It also has a 7 taxvalue, and 358 day travel time and 78% chance of taking. Mauritus would be better because of the trade value of sugar vs wine, but Cape has the higher taxvalue and would set up more quickly.

Bahamas – An unclaimed cotton province near Turks Islands. This place features 5000 natives, so it would become a nice province quickly. They are of medium aggressivenss, so we’d need to concentrate on colonizing here as fast as possible. The taxvalue is a 2, which is lower than I’d like, and the chance to take is 68%. I’ve seen better.

I’ve also found some gold provinces in exotic places like near Kamchatka and near Alaska.

Looks like my real options are Cape, Santo Amaro, Bahamas, and Tahiti. The others are in places that are either worse than one of those four options or do not help me as much geographically.

I decide to axe the Bahamas. It’s low taxvalue, gamble with the natives, and commitment to work on it to the exclusion of finishing Halmahera makes it an unruly choice. I don’t want both Halmahera and Tahiti on my queue – takes too long. That leaves Cape or Santo Amaro.

Both are adjacent to current colonies. After careful consideration I decide to send out colonists to Cape.

A Sideline of Years

18 January, 1595 – Austria agrees with our royal marriage proposal.

3 February, 1595 – I get a Boundary Dispute. I choose to press the issue and gain cores on four adjacent provinces to Alexandria. Our relations with Mamluks plummet, but they were already really low.

13 February, 1595 –The Cherokee inherited the Creek

1 March, 1595 – Little Karoo is now a core.

4 April, 1595 – I accept another alliance offer from Austria.

1 June, 1595 – Our government tech increases. We can choose a new national idea.

I take the National bank without much hesitation. We need to fix our inflation.

20 October, 1595 – Halmahera expands

25 December, 1595 – We establish a colony in Cape

1 January, 1596 – I send out colonists to Cape and Halmahera

14 January, 1596 – Portugal wrests one of our cardinals away from us. We are still the Papal Controller with two cardinals and Portugal has two cardinals. I want to remain the controller because of the increased badboy reduction and decreased stability costs.

18 July, 1596 – RM: Tyrone

15 August, 1596 – RM: Saxony

26 November, 1596 – Portugal are now the new Papal Controller

25 December, 1596 – Cape expands.

1 January, 1597 – I order colonists to Cape and level one forts built in Sao Tome and Rio.
I also incite rebellion at Ternate. My spy is captured but succeeded. Their rebellion rate is up. Hopefully some rebels will arise in Ternate. My hope is that rebels will capture Ternate, Lithuania won’t care, and after a few years, they’ll jump to Naxos. This is my first use of a spy in this game. I’m hoping I’ll like it and keep using them.

11 May, 1597 – I get New Land Claimed in Halmahera. I can increase my taxbase, manpower, or both for an additional cost of 30 ducats. I choose both.

29 July, 1597 – RM: Lithuania.

1 October, 1597 – I choose to move my slider one towards free trade again. Our stability dropped,

20 October, 1597 – Halmahera expanded,

1 November, 1597 – Our stability increased back to 1

25 December, 1597 – Cape expanded.

1 January, 1598 - Colonists leave Naxos bound for both of our colonies.

I order a Constable built in Alexandria

25 December, 1598 – Cape expands.

1 January, 1599 – We discover Ethiopia. I send them a free trade agreement. I send colonists to Cape. I order a Customs House built in Napoli and Ferrara.

27 January, 1599 – I send a new spy to Ternate to incite rebellion again. He succeeded and was not caught.

1 March, 1599 – A great admiral of ours died today. Sad.

1 September, 1599 – I decline an alliance offer from Novgorod.

20 October, 1599 – Halmahera expands.

25 December, 1599 – Cape expands.

1 January, 1600 – Colonists are dispatched to our two colonies.

25 December, 1600 – Cape, grow, yadda

1 January, 1601 – Send more colonists to Cape. Our trade tech increased. We gained cores in Nice and Piedmont. I also decide to send colonists to Santo Amaro. Halmahera becomes a city with the colonists en route, so I need a new colony, and Santo Amaro makes perfect sense.

20 September, 1601 – Our colonization attempt to Santo Amaro failed. I send in more colonists.

5 October, 1601 – Guglielmo III has died. Giacomo III is or new king. He is: Admin 8, Military 5, Diplomacy 8. Pretty good.

What is your military tradition? Have you thought of hiring generals while it's high? Using your monarch is great and all, but should he die in battle without an heir, you might be royally pissed with what might happen with all those royal marriages you have. No telling who might suddenly control your empires future.

Creating Dynastic ties with other countries also creates heirs to your country, remember. :)

Tell

My tradition is very, very low.

I think two of my leaders that died did so during war.

Royal marriages, are, in my opinion, great ways of bumping your realtions with others. Lt's be honest. inheriting the Modena provinces really gave us a nice jumpstart to. Right now, the only nation with a royal marriage to Castille is us. Imagine us inheriting all of that, for example. It's worth the risk. Plus, my monarch is a better general than anyone else (well, he normally is, I don't think the new guy is). I use him as my hammer army, not for any of my anvils. The anvils get the hardest work.

-Anxiety

Thanks for the reply. I completely agree with the fact that inheriting Modena was your ticket to where you are now, was just pointing out a small concern with the use of the monarch and what could happen should no heir be present. I don't know that you could be inherited by another country or not, but I do know that you could be forced into a dynastic union where you have very little control over your country until the king of the other country dies. That'd put a real spanner in the works, as the saying goes.

Tell

A Brief Interlude

19 October, 1601 – Castille declared war against Morocco. I join my ally.

20 October, 1601 – Halmahera expands.

Halmahera – The largest of the spice islands, Halmahera is a spice province with 1520 Lombard Catholics working the trade here. 19.82 ducats are made here annually.

25 October, 1601 – RM: Austria

25 December, 1601 – Cape grows.

1 January, 1602 – RM: France. Colonists: Cape. Level one fort: Halmahera. Constable: Abbruzzi.

4 March, 1602 – RM: Denmark

19 May, 1602 – I accept a white peace offer from Morocco.

8 June, 1602 – Santo Amaro is set up. I send in more colonists.

20 June, 1602 – I get colonist expansion. Cape gets 200 colonists.

I also get a Boundary Dispute event with provinces like Provence and France. I choose to settle it. No way am I starting a French-Naxosian war.

25 December, 1602 – Cape expands, and with those 200 colonists, is now a city!

Cape:

1531 people work the winefields in this quiet South African province. 15.14 ducats are made here by the Catholic and Lombard people.

10 February, 1603 – Our other admiral has died.

8 March, 1603 – Santo Amaro expands. I order in more colonists.

14 March, 1603 – 3 calvary regiments arrive in Minas Geras, a gold province interior to our own coastal provinces. I order my men to attack the aggressive natives. I tend to clean this province out then colonize it.

16 April, 1603 – The natives are wiped out. Colonists are dispatched.

30 May, 1603 – 150 Years in the Making

How big is your royal family to have all of these royal marriages?

What are your total army numbers (inf, calv, etc,...) and number/type of ships? How does that compare to any other power...if you have any kind of knowledge of that variety at all?

The 150 Years Review


Our 11% inflation in 3rd worse in the world.

We have the sixth highest income in the world.

Liguria sends us the most taxes, followed by Venezia.

After the gold province of Santana, Lombardia is the greatest production maker for us.

China outnumbers us with four centers of trade.

I have 44 regiments of infantry, 14 of calvary, 2 of artillery.

2 caravels, 1 galley, 1 cog, 14 flytes and one early frigate that I captured from Aragon.



A look at our provinces, this time by geography:

Greek: The following provinces are our Greek provinces – the heart of our realm historically.

Naxos – This Orthodox wine province features 9994 people making us 14.92 ducats annually. It has a workshop.

Athens – 55626 Orthodox fishermen work the seas here, making us 8.33 ducats. It has a workshop and is no longer a core of the Ottomans.

Morea – 16887 Orthodox wine growers make 15.28 ducats annually for us. It comes with a workshop and is no longer an Ottoman core.

Rhodes – 49149 fishermen here are also Orthodox. 4.57 ducats are made annually in this province. It has a workshop.

Cyprus – 30458 Orthodox folk ply their trade in the wine business. 16.79 ducats are made here annually. This province features a workshop.

Crete – 7.87 ducats are made by the 26304 fishers in this island. The Catholics here have a workshop.

Corfu – A temple, workshop and courthouse adorn this sleepy Orthodox island. 20232 fishermen make 5.32 ducats for us annually.


Italy: All of these provinces are Catholic. This category will be subdivided by culture.

Lombard: These are the Lombard provinces.

Ferrara – 156239 people harvest salt here. The province has a workshop, temple, customs house, university, marketplace and constable. 31.34 ducats are made here.

Modena – 103940 people work the wine trade here in Modena. 27.29 ducats are made. This province features a university, temple and workshop.

Parma – 151002 winegrowers create 29.76 ducats for us. A temple, university and workshop dot the skyline.

Liguria – This center of trade feature 332206 people making wool and 19.26 ducats, almost all in taxes. It comes with its own constable, workshop, temple, courthouse and customs house. It is a core of Genoa.

Nice – This sleepy coastal provinces features many fishing villages housing 52057 people. 8.38 ducats are made annually by the marketplace, temple, workshop and courthouse.

Piedmont – The 150779 people make 29.74 ducats growing an harvesting wine. The province has a customs house, temple, courthouse, university and workshop.

Savoie – 37681 people live and work here, making 27.06 ducats. The province has a temple, marketplace, workshop and courthouse. Cloth is grown here.

Lombardia – The cultural heart of this district, Lombardia has 384314 people making cloth. The province features a constable, workshop, temple and courthouse. 40.27 ducats are made here annually.

Brescia – Another cloth province, the 31.09 ducats are made annually by the 158785 people. A constable, workshop, temple and courthouse dot the landscape.

Mantua – 80785 farmers grow grain in this province. They have a courthouse, workshop and constable. 9.45 ducats are made here each year.

Venezia – Another center of trade, this province just works the fish trade, with 999679 people working here. It features a shipyard, customs house, constable, courthouse, temple, marketplace and workshop. It is a core of Austria. 22.73 ducats are made here.

Sardinia – The island of Sardinia 79094 people specializing in the fishing trade. 8.67 ducats are made here. The place has a temple, marketplace, workshop and courthouse. It is a core of Aragon.



Umbrian: These provinces in Central Italy are predominantly Umbrian.

Romagna – 191668 people work the salt trade in this province that is also claimed by The Papal States and Aragon. 32.03 ducats are made annually here. It has its own university, constable, workshop and temple.

Ancona - 99719 wool harvesters make us 6.84 ducats annually in this core province of Aragon. Temple, marketplace, workshop and courthouses add an aura to the town.

Abbruzzi – Our final Umbrian province, 19.67 ducats are made annually by the wine trade, worked by 66617 people. This is an Aragonian claimed town. The place came with a temple, marketplace, constable, workshop and courthouse.


Sicilian: These provinces are Sicilian

Napoli – 576858 wine growers work the markets here. This city comes with a constable, workshop, marketplace and customs house. 29.97 ducats are made in this province claimed by Aragon

Apulia – 95822 people work the salt trade here making 19.45 ducats annually. This province is a core of Aragon. Just a workshop, courthouse and temple lie here.

Calabria – 92153 fishermen make 6.85 ducats, core of Aragon, has a workshop, courthouse, temple, and marketplace.

Messina – 9.15 ducats are made in this fishing village. Aragon claims her as a core. It comes with just a workshop. 148,204 people live here.

Palermo - Only a constable and a workshop are used by these 213380 wine growers who make us 27.04 ducats annually. Aragon likes this place and has a core here.



Elsewhere in Europe: The following provinces are in Europe. All but Dalmatia are Catholic.

Malta – The Maltese fishermen number but 16247 and have a workshop. It is a core of Aragon and makes us 4.70 ducats annually.

Dalmatia – This former Croatia and Hungarian and Venetian province is now in our hands. The people here are Reform. It is claimed by Hungary. 26904 people make wool here and send us 2.06 ducats annually. There is a workshop and courthouse here. The people here are Croatian.

The Baleares – This former Aragonian province is still claimed by her. 19033 fisherman work the Mediterranean. The Catalan people make us 6.23 ducats. They have a temple, workshop, marketplace and courthouse.

Valencia – 152494 Catalans work the grape vines and making wine. 25.15 ducats are made by the Catalans. Aragon claims this as a core. It features a workshop, marketplace, courthouse and temple.


Africa: These three provinces are all Sunni.

Tripolitania - This ivory province has 64129 people and a courthouse and workshop. 22.89 ducats are made here. The people here are Tuareg.

Tunis – 1.94 ducats are made by the 300327 people that work the grain fields here. The Berbers have a courthouse.

Alexandria – 211036 al Misr Arabics work the grain trade in this center of trade. 5.39 ducats are made annually by these people with a constable, workshop, temple and courthouse. This is a core of Mamluks.


Colonies. These are all Catholic and Lombard. None of them have any city improvements beyond a fort.

Turks Islands – 2779 cotton growers make 21.32 ducats for us.

Santana – Gold is featured in this colony. 1760 make 44.46 ducats here for us.

Sao Vicente – 26.90 ducats are made by the 2506 sugar growers here.

Halmahera – Spice is the order of life here. 1520 people make 19.99 ducats for us

Sao Tome – 1507 people make us 23.67 ducats from the sugar trade.

Rio de Janeiro – 24.54 ducats are made by the 2211 sugar workers.

Little Karoo – Sugar is also a way of life here for the 1848 people that make us 26.05 ducats.

Cape – Wine is the key ingredient here. 15.94 ducats are made by the 1537 people here.


On the way – Cape Verde, Santo Amaro. Colonists are trying to settle at Minas Geras.

I don;t have that many RMs anymore. Sweden, Britain, France, Castille, Saxony, Austria, France, Burgundy, Lithuania. Sometimes Tyrone or Norway. Vassals cant give RMs, and certain government types can't either. That's why I can't diplo vassalize Tuscany - I can't get a RM with them.

That's not that many marriages in this time in Europe, especially for a large power. Compared to the real life Hapsburgs that positively small.

My totals should be in the above 150 review, I beleive. I wrote it an hour ago, so I can't remeber for sure.

Now I'll rarely see other countries entirely, and a fog of war is over everything except my allies, and states adjacent to me or my troops or my allies. I see that Castille has more troops than me, but Castille has a more territory than me. I have more than Aragon, and you would exepct me to. I believe I have less than the Ottomans from what I've seen, and I think I have more than Mamluks.

I have a whole lot less than Austria, and I have less than Burgundy from what I've seen. My economy can't take all of that soldiering during peacetime and it certainly can;t build soldiers during war.

I beleive I have my armies stationed in Valencia, Dalmatia, Alexandria, Tunis, Little Karoo, and North Italy.

New European Map:

Diversions in Coffee


8 September, 1603 – I recruit a new explorer.

6 October, 1603 – I get an event – Good Government Policies. One options allows me to increase my stability two, one allows me to invest in government tech and the third allows me to get 500 ducats. I choose the double stability growth. We jump from 1 to 3!

5 December, 1603 – Santo Amaro grows.

13 December, 1603 – We have set up a colony in Minas Gerais.

1 January, 1604 – I send colonists to Santo Amaro.

1 July, 1604 – Our trade tech increases

5 July, 1604 – I want another “colony.” I decide to take a shortcut and declare war on Bali. I have five regiments of troops ready to unload here in the Indies.

All of our allies join us. Champa joins Bali.

21 July, 1604 – We land and attack the Bali defenders.

31 July, 1604 - Our general died on the battlefield.

13 August, 1604 - We defeated Bali and captured their capital because it has no fort.

14 August, 1604 – Bali accepts annexation. We now have Bali Lombok as a province in our nation. That gives us a truce with Champa.

I order a Courthouse built here, because the people here do not like me right now.

Bali Lombok:

This coffee province has 114060 Hindu Sulawesi people. They make 32.23 ducats for us annually.

Intersections in Time and Space

30 September, 1604 – Santo Amaro expands and I send in more colonists.

1 November, 1604- Halmahera is now a core province.

1 January, 1605 – I send colonists to Minas Gerais.

I sack my stability advisor.


29 June, 1605 – Santo Amaro expands

1 August, 1605 – I get a new colonist and send him to Santo Amaro.

17 August, 1605 – The courthouse in Bali-Lombok is complete. I order a fort built here.

30 September, 1605 – Minas Gerais expands

1 October, 1605 – Our production tech increases.

1 January, 1606 - I submit plans for a workshop to be completed in Tunis.

21 February,1606 – After a short life, my explorer died.

30 April, 1606 – Santo Amaro expands and more colonists are sent.

6 May, 1606 – The Oirat Horde offers us an alliance. I respectively decline – since they are in Asia.

12 June, 1606 - Norway has entered into a personal union with Denmark.

25 June, 1606 – RM: Ethiopia

1 August, 1606 – I send colonists to Minas Gerais.

17 August, 1606 – A fort is built in Bali-Lombok. I order a workshop.

RM: France

1 January, 1607 – Our government tech increased.

28 January, 1607 – Santo Amaro expands.

1 February, 1607 – We send more colonists to Santo Amaro

10 May, 1607 – Minas Gerais grew

1 July, 1607 – I recruit an admiral.

12 September, 1607 – Ethiopia was annexed by Swahili.

7 October, 1607 – RM: Funj

31 October, 1607 – Santo Amaro expands, more colonists, etc.

11 April, 1608 – RM: Norway

30 July, 1608 – Santo Amaro expands. I send a last group of colonists.

1 August, 1608 – Rio de Janeiro is now a core province of ours. I send colonists to Minas Gerais.

30 April, 1609 – Santo Amaro expands and is now a full city.

Santo Amaro – The link between our South American holdings, this Catholic Lombard sugar province has 2035 and makes us 24.18 ducats annually. I order a fort here.

Battle Lines Being Drawn

11 May, 1609 – Minas Gerais expanded and I quickly dispatched more settlers.

30 June, 1609 – I have a Rush of Colonists. Three extra colonists arrive. I need a place to send them. Where next to colonize?

Before I was looking at Bahamas, Tahiti, Mosquito, Taiwan, Mataram, Mauritus. I can add to that the following.

Guayra – A tobacco province just inland from our current South American holdings. The people here are mildly aggressive, but we can colonize it quickly, I hope.

Jamaica – Jamaica combines a wealthy taxbase (6) with a wealthy crop (sugar). It does have mildly aggressive natives, but a quick colonization and some nearby troops can probably help with that.

After consideration, I believe I have enough colonists for now for a far away colonization and a close up colonization. Therefore, I send colonists to Taiwan and Bahamas.

28 December, 1609 – Our admiral died after serving for a short time. Ah well.

8 February, 1610 – Minas Gerais expands and more colonists are sent with alacrity.

7 March, 1610 – We establish a colony in the Bahamas. I send in more.

13 July, 1610 – Castille declared war upon Morocco. I join them. Eventually Castille will just annex Morocco. Will this be that war?

7 November, 1610 – Minas Gerais expands.

11 November, 1610 – Bahamas expand and I send more colonists.

1 February, 1611 – Peasants in Bali Lombok rebel.

We have an advisor that has appeared in Mantua, a level 4 natural scientist (production tech increase). I hire him.

24 February, 1611 – We put down the rebels.

1 April, 1611 – Both our naval and production techs increased.

3 May, 1611 – We set up a colony in Taiwan!

18 July, 1611 – The colonists sent to the Bahamas have set up, and more are sent post haste.

8 August, 1611 – Aragon declared war against us. Burgundy and Portugal joined them. My allies joined us.

I prepare for war.

Children in a School Yard


10 September, 1611 – We begin a siege for Frenche-Compte

4 November, 1611 – Norway inherited Denmark.

6 November, 1611 – RM: Norway

9 November, 1611 – Castille is out of the war having negotiated peace.

17 November, 1611 – Burgundy inherited Hungary. I order my troops in Dalmatia into the newly made Burgundian Croatia.

29 November, 1611 – We lay siege to Croatia.

5 December, 1611 – 3000 calvary of mine have landed in a Greenland colony by Aragon and captured it. We permanently took it.

I move to the next colony up of Aragon’s..

13 December, 1611 – I lost a major naval battle against Portugal and lost a bunch of ships.

16 December, 1611 – I seize the other Aragon colony in Greenland and our badboy increases some more.

11 January, 1612 – I marched a sneak army through France and hit Aragon behind. I begin the siege of Girona.

29 January, 1612 – Frenche-Compte fell.

1 February, 1612 – Trade tech increases

26 February, 1612 – I offer a white peace to Morocco and they accept.

24 March, 1612 -Bahamas expanded and colonists were sent.

2 April, 1612 – I capture one of the Aragon small cities, former colonies on the North American coastline.

11 April, 1612 – We capture the other Aragonian province in the Delaware area.

21 May, 1612 – Girona fell to us.

27 June, 1612 – Croatia fell.

1 July, 1612 – Some Aragonian troops arrive in Girona to try to recapture it.

11 July, 1612 – We defeat the defending force and begin the siege of Navarra.

10 September, 1612 – I take Frenche-Compte and Croatia in a peace deal with Burgundy.

1 November, 1612 – My army from Navarra marched over and relieved the Siege in Girona.

28 November, 1612 – Bahamas expanded and more colonists were sent.

8 December, 1612 – I lost a battle against the Portugese in the Americas.

1 February, 1613 – Corfu, Savoie and Sao Tome are now our cores.

6 March, 1613 – Taiwan expands. More colonists are shipped.

31 March, 1613 – After a quick assault, Aragon falls to us.

7 May, 1613 – After sending my forces back through the two Aragon provinces in America, I send a peace offer for them and Aragon refuses. It was a very generous offer too.

21 June, 1613 – Aragon accepts peace for Girona and Aragon.

4 August, 1613 – Bahamas expands and more colonists set out.

8 August, 1613 – The siege of Algarve has begun.

29 August, 1613 – The siege of Braganca has begun.

4 February, 1614 – Algarve falls

27 March, 1614 – We begin a siege at Madeira

2 April, 1614 – Portugal rejected a white peace offer

10 April, 1614 – Bahamas expand, colonists and what.

26 April, 1614 – Braganca falls to us.

1 May, 1614 – They reject another peace offer.

6 July, 1614 – I accept a military access request from Austria.

23 August, 1614 – Madiera fell.

15 December, 1614 – Bahamas grows, more settlers are shipped.

1 January, 1615 – Our government tech increases

4 January, 1615 – RM: Castille

7 January, 1615 – Taiwan expands. More colonists are sent eastwards.

15 February. 1615 – We capture a Portugese colony on the west Africa coast named Arguin.

25 March, 1615 – We come to a white peace with Portugal.

Looks like Portugal was giving you a bit of fit there.

Yeah, I'd move Portugal up teh power scale significantly after that war. All of their power is overseas, but they have such a mammoth amount of land and troops there, and its' really tough to take them out. They still keep something like 20k troops at home, and its concentrated in just a handful of provinces.

IW as hoping to get Madeira, but I;d been at war so long, since the Morocco tiff, that I needed to get my war exhaustion down, and I couldn't continue to press Portugal.

I doubt I'll be going into mainland N. America ever, because they are just that powerful there.

-Anxiety

Counting the Faces


26 March, 1615 – I try to give Frenche-Compte to Switzerland but they decline. I can’t release it as a vassal without realizing three other provinces as Savoy. Let’s see if I can do anything else with this province.

France and Burgundy are not willing to buy it. Feh. Alright, I’ll keep it for now, although I don’t want to.

Our new provinces:

Girona: 16819 Catalan Catholics work the fish trade here in this province east of Barcelona. There is a workshop, marketplace, temple and courthouse here. They make 8.96 ducats for us

Aragon: The province of Aragon is an iron province. 18472 Castillean and Catholics work the mines here making 18.79 ducats for us. There is a workshop, marketplace, temple and courthouse here.

Croatia: 22829 Croatian Reformers make and sell cloth here. 17.14 ducats are made here. There is just a workshop here. I order a courthouse built here. Austria has it as a core.

Frenche-Compte: Which I didn’t want. It’s too internal. 23099 Burgundian Reformers sell salt here. 15.91 ducats are made here. It comes with a courthouse, temple, workshop and customs house.

Two colonial provinces on Greenland are now ours as well. I’ll talk about them as I colonize them to full colony status.

3 April, 1615 – RM: Austria

1 May, 1615 – Our production tech grows.

8 August, 1615 – We get a New Land Claimed event in Calabria. I choose to increase taxbase by one.

21 August, 1615 – Bahamas expands. One last group is sent off.

1 January, 1616 – After saving up, I order a Textile Manufactory built in Lombardia. It costs me over 1k ducats. It’ll take five years to build. What does it do? Production tech investment almost at the level of a level 2 advisor monthly. 6 ducats annually, normally, but double in a province with cloth or wool (and Lombardia is a cloth province), and +1% population growth each year. Not bad, eh?

1 February, 1616 – I send colonists to a Greenland province.

27 April, 1616 – Bahamas expands and is now a full blown city.

Bahamas: 6016 people work the cotton fields here in the Bahamas. 20.47 ducats are made by these Lombard Catholics.

How about a new Caribbean map?

Other people's Toys

1 August, 1616 – Tunis is now a core.

1 September, 1616 – Our colony in Greenland expanded.

11 November, 1616 – Taiwan expands and more colonists are sent with all due haste.

25 November, 1616 – RM: France

1 January, 1617 – I order a new wall built in Bahamas. A workshop is ordered for Turks Island.

1 April, 1617 – I order new colonists to the first of the Greenland colonies.

1 May, 1617 – Alexandria is a core province.

1 August, 1617 – One of our governmental advisors died. A level 6 advisor appeared in Parma! But he’s a spymaster, and I don’t feel I need to make spies a go go. I hire a colonist maker as an advisor.

1 October, 1617 – I send colonists to the other Greenland province.

1 November, 1617 – Eiriksfjord expands and becomes a full city.

Eiriksfjord is a fish province on southern Greenland. 1325 Lombard Catholics work here giving us 3.23 ducats annually. I order a fort built here.

1 December, 1617 – Burgundy has converted to Protestant. That means they are no longer anyone’s ally.

1 January, 1618 – I order a constable built in Sardinia.

6 March, 1618 – Genoa accepted an alliance with us.

18 March, 1618 – So does Switzerland.

23 March, 1618 – I get an alliance offer from Burgundy. Tasty. I accept.

This month of alliances brought to you by Naxos the coke of the Aegean!

29 April, 1618 – Our other Greenland colony expands. More colonists are dispatched.

16 September, 1618 - Our colony in Taiwan expanded.

1 October, 1618 – We sent out more colonists to Taiwan.

17 October, 1618 – RM: Lithuania

20 October, 1618 – I offer a military alliance with The Papal States and they agree. Why ally with my vassals? Because then when they war, they might get territory. No badboy for me, but I can annex them later. Switzerland, for example, has about 10k troops sitting there in Bern.

Why accept Burgundy’s alliance? They are very, very strong. They’ll leave me soon, I have no doubt, but for now, they are convienent. Plus, if they get into a war with Austria, I can leave Austria and try to take some more nearby provinces.

10 November, 1618 – Vestbygen has expanded and is now a full city.

Vestbygen has 1014 people killing and cleaning furs. The Catholic Lombards are send us 12.87 ducats annually.

A Venture Gained


1 January, 1619 – Sardinia and The Baleares are now cores. I order a fort built in Vestbygen.

21 May, 1619 – RM : France. I send colonists to Minas Gerais.

3 August, 1619 – RM: Lithuania

1 September, 1619 – I get another New Land Claimed, this time for Santo Amaro. I choose to spend 30 ducats to increase both manpower and tax value.

1 November, 1619 – I dispatch colonists to Guayra

18 February, 1620 – Minas Gerais expands.

31 July, 1620 – We set up a new colony in Guayra.

5 August, 1620 – Taiwan expanded. More colonists are snet.

1 October, 1620 – Colonists, Guayra, etc.

1 January, 1621 – The textile manufactory is built. Cape is a core province. I order a Missionary to Bali-Lombok. It’ll take around ten years, and at the end of that time, we have around a 50/50 chance of converting the people there.

1 April, 1621 – I send colonists to Minas Gerais.

30 June, 1621 – Guayra grew.

1 October, 1621 – I send colonists to Guayra.

30 December, 1621 – Minas Gerais expands. Need just one more colonist to make it a full city.

1 January, 1622 – I order a workshop in Sao Vicente and Cape.

20 January, 1622 – I get another New Land Claimed, this time for Cape. I choose just the tax value increase.

6 February, 1622 – RM: Great Britain.

8 June, 1622 – Taiwan expands. We send more colonists in.

28 Junly, 1622 – Guayra expands.

1 October, 1622 – I send more colonists to Minas Gerais.

1 January, 1623 – I order a constable in Messina and Parma.

1 February, 1623 – Our trade tech increased.

1 April, 1623 – I send more colonists to Guayra.

30 June, 1623 – Minas Gerais expands.


Minas Gerais – This gold province inside our coastal provinces has 1017 Lombard Catholics making 42.64 ducats for us. It took us nine successful colonization attempts instead of the usual ten, because we delayed and it grew enough in the meantime while we were look at other colonizations.

I order a fort built here.

8 July, 1623 – I get an interesting event:

East India Company

Our nation’s stands on the brink of being able to compete in the foreign spice markets abroad. Our monarch is considering founding this company. Here are my options:

Found It! Gain 200 ducats, a merchant. Get Trade Company benefit for six years or so:

+4 trade tech
+50% chance of merchants taking
+50% chance of merchants competing
+1 merchant annually

Or, The Venture is Not Worth the Effort. -2 prestige.


I obviously choose to Found It!

How advanced are the Inca's, Maya's and other America based factions?

Reruns


15 October, 1623 – Castille declared war upon Morocco. I join said war.

29 December, 1623 - Guayra expands. I ship out more settlers.

18 March, 1624 – Castille finally annexed Morocco.

11 April, 1624 – Taiwan expands. More colonists are sent.

28 September, 1624 – Guayra expands

1 October, 1624 – And colonists are sent there.

1 January, 1625 – Our badboy, which was once quite high, has diminished a bit. Let’s bump it back up.

3 January, 1625 – Genoa has accepted our offer of annexation.

Corsica –

The island of Corsica is 20505 Catholics making and selling naval supplies. This Lombard provinces makes us around 8.51 ducats annually. I order a Constable built here. It came with a workshop.

24 January, 1625 – Giacomo III died. We have a new ruler. Francisco VI. He has – admin 6, military 7, diplomacy 7. Solid.

By the end of the month, I get and accept RMs from France, Austria and Lithuania.

22 May, 1625 – RM: Burgundy.

24 May, 1625 – I offer Munster a RM and they accept.

30 June, 1625 – Guayra expands, colonists sent.

7 August, 1625 – I get Colonial Expansion in Guayra. 200 colonists arrive there.

6 September, 1625 – I send colonists to Espirito Santo. A sugar province adjacent to my colonies in South America.

1 October, 1625 - our naval tech increases.

1 December, 1625 – Our production tech increases

1 January, 1626 – Our land tech increases. I order a constable in Cape.

14 February, 1626 – Taiwan expands. This may be my last set of colonists sent there.

1 April, 1626 – Guayra expands and more colonists. This should be last set of colonists here as well.

20 May, 1626 – We set up a colony in Espirito Santo.

1 November, 1626 – More colonists are sent to E Santo.

29 December, 1626 – Guayra expanded.

Guayra – This tobacco province in internal to our coastal provinces in South America. 2015 people send us 22.54 ducats annually. I order a fort built here.

1 July, 1627 – Santo Amaro is a core.

30 July, 1627 – E Santo expands. More colonists.

1 October, 1627 – I send colonists to Porto Seguro, a sugar province north of E Santo and south of British colonies.

18 December, 1627 – Taiwan grows.

Taiwan – This Chinaware province has the most valuable trade good in the game (gold is not traded). 6952 people make 33.54 ducats for us here. I order a fort built here post haste.

1 January, 1628 – Our trade tech increased.

29 April, 1628 – E Santo expands. I send in more of the colonists of the colonizing.

6 May, 1628 – I get another colonial expansion, this time of E Santo.

4 June, 1628 - Porto Seguro expands. More colonists.

14 July, 1628 – Our reputation is almost back to normal. I should do something about that.

10 November, 1628 – I declare war against Mamluks. All of our allies join us. Their one ally, Kanem Bornu, joins them

The Cherokee are Land Tech 0. As are teh Aztec, Zaptotec, and Maya. Let me check the Incas, hold on. They are also at zero. Now let's compare that world wide.

Sub-saharan Africans? All at zero or one land tech.

Let's see about the Indies nations. Brunei is at 8, Sulu at 7. Atjeh is just at 2.

By comparision, Mamluks are at 7, Burgundy at 16, Castille at 17, we are at 15.

The Seven Seals

4 December, 1628 - We win in Alexandria.

12 December, 1628 – We drove the enemy away from Sirt.

The siege of Beirut has begun.

14 December, 1628 – We give Burgundy military access after they ask

27 December, 1628 – Beirut falls after a quick assault.

29 December, 1628 – After chasing troops into Libya from Alexandria, we defeat them here with the Alexandrian army.

1 January, 1629 – Minas Gerais is now a core.

18 January, 1629 – We win in Cyrenaica.

20 January, 1629 – My rear army begins a siege of Sirt.

26 January, 1629 – E Santo expands. More colonists are sent.

28 January, 1629 – I win a battle in Judea and begin a siege.

30 January, 1629 – I lose a Battle in Alexandria and Mamluks begin a siege.

11 February, 1629 – Judea falls to us after another quick assault.

23 February, 1629 – A new force drives the Mamluks out of Libya.

3 March, 1629 – Porto Seguro expanded.

18 March, 1629 – We win in Alexandria and break the siege.

1 April, 1629 - I send in more colonists.

3 April, 1629 – We launch assaults on Cairo and Libya.

7 April, 1629 – We were attacked in Alexandria by a small force and drove them away.

10 April, 1629 – We barely defeated the Mamluks in Libya.

12 April, 1629 – A large Mamluks force of 7 regiments arrives in Judea and begins a siege.

16 April, 1629 – Judea falls after a short assault.

We won in Cairo and have begun a siege in their capital.

19 April, 1629 – Hawran fell to our assault. The troops from Beirut are marching to us, I decide to stay here and fight, and probably lose, as opposed to running around trying to avoid them.

2 May, 1629 – I lose in Hawran.

23 May, 1629 – Sirt fell to us.

8 June, 1629 – Hawran fell again.

16 August, 1629 – Cairo fell to us.

1 September, 1629 – Bali-Lombok is now a core. We defeated a minor Mamluk army trying to take Alexandria from us.

22 September, 1629 – We win two minor skirmishes.

1 October, 1629 – Instead of sending out colonists, I order a Conquistador – a general who can search provinces. I will send an army deep into Mamluk territory to find their good provinces, assuming they have any.

8 October, 1629 – On the same day, both Libya and Judea fall to us.

25 October, 1629 – E Santo expands.

14 November, 1629 – We recapture Hawran.

19 November, 1629 – I launched my Sirt and Libya armies into a simultaneous strike against some aggressive Cyrenaica defenders, and crushed them between the two armies.

20 November, 1629 – I accept white peace with Kanem Bornu.

21 December, 1629 – We drove the Mamluks fragments from Sirt.

24 December, 1629 – We won in the interior province of Ibrim. Now I order my Conquistador to explore.

29 December, 1629 – Porto S expanded.

3 January, 1630 _ I get a peace offer from Mamluks for Sirt, Libya and Hawran. I have no desire for Sirt and Hawran, but I think that I do want Libya. Beirut would be good, so would Delta or Judea. After that, my conquistador will tell me.

4 January, 1630 – Beirut fell back.

5 January, 1630 – Cyrenaica fell to us.

20 January, 1630 – We discovered Berber, an Orthodox province! It had no fort, so we captured it. How many more of our Christian brothers are back here? In other news, We captured Al Kirk.

17 February, 1630 – We discovered Butana, another Orthodox province hear in the Mamluk rear. We capture it immediately.

10 March, 1630 – A small number of infantry capture undefended Gojjum. This Orthodox province used to be Ethopia’s, until the Mamluks took it. I knew it was here, so I knew to drive with my Conquistador here to see what else what out there.

13 March, 1630 – We discover a minor Sunni province. I order my men on.

2 April, 1630 – I discover another small Sunni province in the rear. I run into some rebels as well. I choose to flee rather than destroy the rebels.

3 April, 1630 – Delta fell to us.

18 April, 1630 – I get a better peace offer from the Mamluks, but it’s not what I want. I continue the war.

12 May, 1630 – I lose a battle is Asyut and retreat to Alexandria.

16 May, 1630 _ I find another Orthodox province – Dongola. Okay, I;m ready to send out a peace offer now.

I have a warscore of 99, that’s pretty good. Let’s see what I can do with it.

I send a peace offer for several provinces. The Mamluks reject it. I order the war continued.

25 May, 1630 – Damascus fell to us.

28 May, 1630 – We defeated the Mamluks in Asyut.

19 June, 1630 – Now they accept our peace offer. We took Libya, Delta, Judea and the four Orthodox provinces.

You conquering fool! ;)

I just bought this game...and while I didn't fare well in the first few EU games, this one I seemed to have grasped better.

That being said, I tried to walk in your footsteps with Naxos just to see how it was like, and needless to say, I didn't have the skill nor the patience.

That being said, I tried Mecklenberg (which I confess is a little easier) and had a blast, and it really did sharpen my skills and interest.

Everyday I check in on this dynasty just to see how things go and I'm always impressed.

That being said, do you find that this game makes it easier to conduct conquest than the first two games? I thought something would kick in for that small a country to have expanded that big (it's not a complaint, I think it at least allows for the possibility which in the prior games was more of just being capable of surviving not so much expanding influence).

I'm about three years down the road from this last post. Something happens totally unexpected, and I have to make a bad decision or a worse decision. Ah hell, I'll go ahead and tell ya.

Aragon and Castille ally with each other and Castille asks me to join a war vs. Portugal and Britian with their ally Aragon. It's a classic trap war. The kind where on top it looks okay, but deep down would be horribel for me. GB is adjact to my colonies in S America with soldiersi in theirs, GB and I have a royal marriage so joining Castille would be a stabilityhit for me. It's precisely the sort of war I've been dodging all year long.

Take th ebad war with teh possibly of lost land? Or leave my allaince with my bestest alliance buddy? Doing so drive Castille into the hands of Aragon. can you imagine Aragon declaring war against me and havin Castille join her? I;d be raped. I've spent all game making nice wiht hepeople who would kill me.

So I have to leave the alliance, but there is this real danger. I know its a danger, because I've played eu2 so much. So what I am currently doing is secnding gifts to Aragon like mad. Make nice, get our relations up, get a royal marriage with them, and then hope they no longer want to attack us.

I see what the future could bring and take steps to avoid it. I only wage war against those I think I can win. When I lose war, I'd rather lose ducats.

I have the newer badboy system down pat. I know when to attackm when to push and when to call off wars (like I did in a previous war against Portugal pushed against Mamluks just now, etc). Your badboy decreases by the diplomacy skill of your leader each year. When I took 7 provinces from Mamluks, I gained 7 badboy points. My leader's diplomacy is 7 or 8, can;t remember which. That means my bb decreases by 0.7 or 0.8 each year. I'm the Papal Controller and that's an additional -0.25 bb each year. When I had that 3 diplomacy guy a while ago, I had to take a long gap between each war. Now that I am papal controller with a high diplomatic king, I can wage a lot of war.

To be fair, that's pretty realistic. How much of a bad reputation would a Catholic nation who controlled the curia have really gotten in 1630s by capturing seven provinces in the Middle East and North east Africa, including Judea?

Hope that info helps!

Libya – 9403 Tuareg Sunnis work in this core province of ours. Just 2.28 ducats are made by the wool makers. This province has strategic value, cutting off two Mamluk provinces from the rest of the nation (Sirt and Cyrenaica). I expect rebel problems to follow shortly. A temple, courthouse and workshop accompany this province.

Delta – The delta of the Nile river is inhabited by 54675 al Misr Arabic Sunnis. This is also a core province of ours through a previous event. 5.89 ducats are made by the fishers here. It has a temple, courthouse and workshop. I took this province because I had the ability to grab another province additional to the other six, and we had captured it, it was a core, and it was continuous with Libya and Alexandria.

Judea – I decided to take Judea because of the homeland of Christ. Under the hand of both the current Papal Controller and the Holy Roman Emperor, hopefully Judea will remain in Christian hands. 18835 people harvest grain here. The Sunni people are of al Misr Arabic descent. 3.41 ducats are made here. The typical three buildings are here too.

The following four provinces are all Orthodox. I ordered forts built in them all. I believe these lands were captured from previous Orthodox nations in the area, such as Ethiopia or Nubia.

Dongola – 19332 farmers harvest various grains in this Nubian province. They send us 1.89 ducats. Funj has this as a core, so it may have been theirs once upon a time. It comes with the typical three buildings.

Berber – 19238 people work the very poor wool trade here. They are also Nubian. This province is also a core of Funj. 1.93 ducats are made. The same three buildings comes with.

Butana – This is the best province, finally, that we took. I was happy to find not only fellow brothers in Christ but also an Ivory province. The people here are Nubian. 58390 people work the trade here. The make is 24.45. That’s just 0.3 or so less than Tripolitania makes. It is also a core of Funj and comes with the same three buildings.

Gojjam – This Ethiopian province hosts 19987 farmers making us 2.27 ducats in the grain trade. This is not a core of anyone outside of Mamluks. It comes with the standard three buildings.

These four provinces cut off two Mamluk provinces fromt eh rest of the country, like our Med holdings do as well. It’s an interesting dynamic.

I started a game as Japan. My first goal was the conquest of Korea and Manchu. It took 2 wars to finally get the upper hand on them (they were allied, so I had to fight both at the same time). I took 2 korean provinces after the first war (I was lucky they offered that.I was out of manpower and was about to start losing very badly), and the second saw me gain most of Korea and 2 provinces from Manchu. The 3rd war the annexation of Korea and taking all but one province from Manchu. The extremely fast 4th war was the annexation of Manchu.

I also had several colonies (I took Quest For the New World idea). Taiwan, an island in the West Indies, a few up in Siberia (found a gold prvince up there, plus there are a lot of fur provinces).

Then something happened. I got this event that gave me two options. 1) Lose 500 ducets, move 1 towards Centralization. 2) Lose 2 Stability. Basically the event stated that Japan should not be this large. I forget the exact text, but it said that because Japan was so decentralized (my slider was all the way to Decentralized), that it was hard to control the nation.

After so many wars, my stability was -2, so I took the Stability hit. Problem Solved, right? No, because I got the event again. And again, and agian, and again. I was stuck between -3 and -2 stability because this damned event kept popping up. It was hurting badly because I didn't have any merchants, so I had very little trade income. As a result, I was losing about 3 or 4 ducets per month (with the treasury slider in the budget all the way to the left). So I had to move the slider a bit to the right, but that caused my inlfation to go up pretty fast. If I could have merchants, I could send them out and get enough trade income to ffset most of that -3 to -4 a month.

But I couldn't get merchants because I couldn't get out of -2 stability, and I couldn't take the first option since I never even got close to having 500 ducets at one time. So, I did what I had to. I created Korea and Manchu as vassals. I stopped getting the event.

At least I still got half of their taxes.

That's an annoying event. I'd get pissed if I got that event. Don;t know off the top of my head where my centralization/decentralizion slider is, maybe you chouls change yours over time, then annex those guys.

Yet, it's pretty realistic. A nation that has no "centralization" should have a really hard time controling its nation if it gets large, so stability should stay down (or the nation should spend a lot on "control"-like things (I guess police, and the nature) to keep things stable.)

But if you haven't gotten it by now, you probably won't. In my Portugal game (where I had a LOT of provinces in the New World, half of North Africa, a few Castillian provinces and a few Italian provinces), I never got the event. I think I was either in the middle or a notch or two toward Decentralization.

I wonder if I can find the event in the scripts.

Contemplation


Over the next few months, I’ll send my troops to their new locations. I’ll also continue to explore this area with my Conquistador.

I order colonists to E Santo.

1 July, 1630 - We get an event. The Conquest of Jerusalem. I get one extra missionary annually and 1 prestige annually. That’s awesome! What’s really cool is that I did not know you could get that!

26 August, 1630 – I actually discovered an unclaimed province adjacent to Butana – Taka. Taka has no natives, trades slaves, and is fairly poor. I’ll steer clear, but I thought it humorous that I find it here.

1 October, 1630 – I send colonists to Porto S.

16 October, 1630 – Pegu and Ming have entered into a personal union.

20 October, 1630 – I decline an alliance offer from Japan.

1 December, 1630 – We lost our other governmental advisor.

5 December, 1630 – I ask for and receive military access from Funj.

19 December, 1630 – We discovered a province to the west of Gojjam. We were attacked by natives but drove them off. Fazughli.

11 January, 1631 – NLD: Dar Nuba. Attacked again by natives.

15 February, 1631 – NLD: Kordofan. We drove off the natives.

27 March, 1631 – E Santo expanded.

1 April, 1631 – And more colonists are dispatched.

26 May, 1631. Today is a great day. Today, after preaching for over ten years, the people of Bali-Lombok have converted to Catholicism!

1 June, 1631 – I order a constable built in Bali-Lombok.

Another cardinal died. I currently control six of the seven cardinals.

30 June, 1631 – Porto S expanded.

1 July, 1631 - A sad thing happened today. We no longer accept Greek as a main culture. 

5 July, 1631 – I get a massive Boundary Dispute event, giving me a core on five Mamluk provinces, which I accept.

30 March, 1632 – E Santo expands.

1 May, 1632 – E Santo is sent more colonists. If these take, it becomes a city.

24 May, 1632 – I decline a Mamluk request for military access. Heh, let them suffer.

1 June, 1632 – I order a customs house built in Bali-Lombok.

1 August, 1632 – Our naval tech increases.

20 August, 1632 – Porto S expands.

1 November, 1632 – I send more colonists to the Porto Seguro.

29 January, 1633 – Espirito Santo exapands:


Espirito Santo - This 2031 sugar colony makes us 25.57 ducats annually. I order a fort built here.

30 June, 1633 – RM: Lithuania.

30 July, 1633 – Porto S expands and more colonists are sent.

1 August, 1633 – A level two treasurer advisor (trade tech) appeared in Dongola. Capturing those lands pays off! I hire him.

1 October, 1633 – My trade tech increases.

1 November, 1633 – Where do I send my next colonists? I’m pretty much done with this area of South America. All of the remaining adjacent territory is grain or other poor trade value goods. There are some provinces that I don’t know what is in them, but my Conquistador is stuck in Africa inside a landlocked section of my territory.

Here are some ideas:

These four are older ideas, and are still available.

Tahiti – Way out in the Pacific. A nice naval base. Spice with 1000 natives of a low aggressiveness. It would take us 551 days to settle here, but there’s a 75% chance of taking initially. Tax value of 3.

Mosquito – East coast of Central America, this coffee province features 2000 natives of low aggressiveness, a tax value of two and a 69% chance of taking with our first colonists. This province is adjacent to the Mayans.

Mataram – High taxvalue of 8 meets spices meets large number of natives meets long travel time and some aggressive ness on part of natives. Already have three provinces in this area of globe (Halmahera, Taiwan and Bali-Lombok)

Mauritus – Island in the southeast Indian Ocean, sugar province with 500 natives and no aggressiveness. This colony would have a good taxvalue in 5. A 78% chance of taking with our colonists meets 483 days lead time.


I also considered this last time:

Jamaica – A wealthy taxbase (6), a wealthy crop (sugar). Mildly aggressive natives, but a quick colonization and some nearby troops can probably help with that. Already have colonies nearby (Turks Islands, Bahamas)


After consideration, I decide to go with Jamaica and send out colonists.

The Oracle at Naxos


1 January, 1634 – I order a Refinery built in Napoli. That’s another 5 year to build thing, double ducats in wine and sugar provinces (Napoli is a wine province) and it adds tech.

17 March, 1634 – I get a New Land Claimed event for Corsica and choose to increase the taxvalue.

1 May, 1634 – Porto S expands and I send in more settlers.

10 June, 1634 – I once again respectfully decline a Mamluk overture for military access.

1 July, 1634 – A level 2 army reformer advisor appeared in Mantua. I jettison my colonist maker for him.

14 July, 1634 – We now have a new colony at Jamaica.

18 August, 1634 – Castille wants to smack the Cherokee around, and I join their war, but not their desire.

1 January, 1635 – Our government tech increased. I order colonists to Jamaica. A marketplace is ordered for Bali-Lombok. A customs house for Corsica. A level two fort for Frenche-Compte. Constable for Turks Islands.

27 January, 1635 – Porto S expanded.

1 April, 1635 – Bahamas are now a core province.

1 June, 1635 – Since I am the leader of the Castillean-Naxos alliance, I negotiate peace on behalf of both of us with the Cherokee for 50 ducats to me. The Castilleans were raping them and I don’t really want anyone to get that powerful.

7 September, 1635 – Castille declared war upon Portugal. Aragon, who had joined an alliance with Castille and was in one with Portgual, choose to fight with Castille against Portugal. Great Britain joined Portugal. So, Britain, and Portugal are at war with Castille and Aragon. Castille asks me to join.

Okay, here’s the problem. Castille is the aggressor. Join them, and my stability drops from being an aggressor against GB (we have a royal marriage). I have no real desire to go to war with GB, who is next to our colonies in South America. I have no real desire to go to war with Portugal. Again, normally I’d leave behind Castille, for a while at least.

However, they’ve joined with Aragon. Aragon. Our mutual enemy. If I drive Castille away am I sending them into the nest of our enemy? Do I want to find myself on the same side of a war as Aragon against two nations I really don’t want to be at war with along with a resulting drop in stability?

I’m still allied with Burgundy and Austria if I leave the Castille alliance. It’s just we’ve been partners for so long.

Still, Naxos before Castille. I decline and leave our alliance.

30 November, 1635 – I offer Castille a RM and they accept.

1 January, 1636 – I order marketplaces in Lombardia, Brescia, Piedmont, Palermo, Modena and Parma.

31 May, 1636 – Jamaica expands and I dispatch settlers a-go-go.

1 June, 1636 – The next word I get news that Tawian is a core.

1 July, 1636 – I sent more colonists to Porto S.

1 September, 1636 – I begin a campaign to make nice with Aragon. The last thing I need is for Aragon to declare war on me and have Castille join them.

17 September, 1636 – Aragon and Portugal come to peace terms.

1 January, 1637 – Our Greenland provinces are now cores.

8 February, 1637 – Jamaica expand and more colonists are sent.

30 March, 1637 – Porto S expands.

20 July, 1637 – I accept a RM from Aragon.

1 October 1637 – Croatia and Frenche-Compte are now cores.

21 October, 1637 – Jamaica expands and colonists are sent out

Miscellany


1 January, 1638 – The two provinces of Ceylon threw off their yokes and declared independence. I move a ship over to take a look at their defenses. They might be my next expansion target.

1 July, 1638 – Aragon and Girona are now part of our patrimony.

3 July, 1638 – Jamaica, expansion, more colonists

5 July, 1638 – After a few of my gifts arrived at their court, Swahili, the country to our south in the former Mamluk Orthodox provinces agrees to give us military access. Now I can move my Conquistador out.

14 September, 1638 – I declare war upon Ceylon. All of our allies join us.

1 October, 1638 – I send colonists to Porto S.

15 October, 1638 – We land 5k troops in Jaffna and begin a siege.

7 December, 1638 – We defeat Ceylon in Korales.

14 March, 1639 – Jamaica expands; more colonists sent

1 April, 1639 – Our naval tech increases.

24 April, 1639 – We capture Korales. I order my troop back to Jaffna.

23 May, 1639 – We crack the Jaffna defending troops and begin a siege.

27 June, 1639 – My cavalry fail to take out the stragglers at Korales and they won a victory there.

15 September, 1639 – Jaffna falls.

1 October, 1639 – I accept peace with Ceylon. We take Jaffna, and Ceylon becomes our vassal.

Jaffna – 18057 people work the spice trade here on this island off the coast of southern India (Sri Lanka). The Sinhala Buddhists make 21.91 ducats for us annually. It comes with a workshop. I order a Courthouse built here. Atjeh has it as a core, in addition to Ceylon.

9 October, 1639 – RM: Austria.

23 November, 1639 – Jamiaca, expansion, yadda

1 December, 1639 – Our production tech increased.

8 December, 1639 – RM: Aragon

1 January, 1640 – Forgot to tell you about the expanded and new city Porto Seguro.

Porto Seguro: This sugar city is nestled between the British colonies in South American and our own possessions. 2060 people make us 27.05 ducats. I order a fort built here.

1 July, 1640 – Our land tech increased

6 August, 1640 – I send one more group of colonists to Jamaica.

1 October, 1640 – I order a Missionary to Jaffna. It’ll take around 9 years and I’ll have around a 45% chance of it taking.

1 January, 1641 – Where to send my new groups of colonists? Mosquito? Mauritus? Tahiti? Mataram?

I choose something father away for the first one, since my colonist production slowed with the recent firing of my colonist advisor.

Colonists are en route to Mataram.

5 April, 1641 – NLD: Roggeveld. This inland province was discovered by our Conquistador just inland from Cape. It has GOLD! We’ll be colonizing this now.

18 April, 1641 – Jamaica is now a full city.


Jamaica – 2516 make 30.39 ducats working the sugar trade here. I order a fort built.


16 May, 1641 – RM: May

1 July, 1641 – I send colonists to Roggeveld.

6 August, 1641 – RM: Austria

29 December, 1641 – Our badboy is almost back down, and there’s some more land I can grab, so let’s get it on.

A Dance Once Danced


I declare war against Mamluks.

All allies are in. Let’s play our game once more.

14 January, 1642 – We defeat a small Mamluk force in Delta.

Our forces arrive in Beirut and begin attacking Mamluks.

17 January, 1642 – RM: Britain.

19 January, 1642 – We discover a province behind ours in South American with our Conquistador. We may colonize it later.

20 January, 1642 – We defeat the Mamluks in Beirut and I order my forces to move. This is not a besieging force – too many cavalry.

24 January, 1642 _ Our holding forces that were in Judea arrive in Beirut. They begin a siege.

4 February, 1642 – We win a battle in Damascus with our largerly cavalry army.

9 February, 1642 – We win in Sirt and begin a siege.

15 February, 1642 – We win a battle in Delta.

20 March, 1642 – A quick assault leads us to capture Beirut.

30 March, 1642 – We catch a fleeing group of troops in Hawran and defeat them.

20 April, 1642 – Sirt fell after a quick assault.

23 April, 1642 – We win a major battle in Al Karak against the Mamluk reserve forces.

26 May, 1642 – We win another battle in Gaza. I leave my troops here to initiate a siege.

7 June, 1642 – We won the battle of Cyrenaica and begin a siege.

9 June, 1642 – We captured Damascus after another assault.

29 June, 1642 – We set a colony in Roggeveld and I send in more colonists.

10 July, 1642 – Massawa fell to our southern army,

2 September, 1642 – We sent up a colony in Mataram and more colonists are sent there as well.

28 September, 1642 -We defeat a very large army in Cairo after building 3 cavalry regiments in our Egyptian/Libyan provinces.

13 December, 1642 – I offer Kanam Bornu a white peace and they accept.

24 December, 1642 – Gaza fell to us.

29 December, 1642 – Cyrenaica falls to our quick assault.

13 January, 1643 – My Conquistador died.

19 January, 1643 – Asyrut fell to us.

28 March, 1643 – Cairo fell to us.

3 April, 1643 – We reject our first peace offer from Mamluks.

11 April, 1643 – Sinai fell to us.

17 April, 1643 – We defeat one of their last good armies at Diamentia and began a siege. I have a plan on which provinces I want to capture, and Diamentia is the last one I need to capture.

22 June, 1643 – Our colonization to Roggeveld failed. I send in more colonists. Had a 985 chance of success.

19 July, 1643 – My major army lost a 3 month battle against the Mamluk major army in Nile. My army is essentially destroyed and will take months to rebuild.

15 August, 1643 – I fail an assault at Diamientia and continue the siege.

7 September, 1643 – I capture Kargah.

3 November, 1643 – My troops from the Kargah siege arrived in Diamientia and assaulted the province and it has fallen into our hands.

13 November, 1643 – Our backup army defeats the Mamluk army in Nile. With their major army broken, capital captured and numerous other provinces in my hands, I send in a peace offer for a few provinces I have my eye on.

14 November, 1643 – The Mamluks accept my peace offer. We get Gaza, Sinai, Beirut, Damascus and Diamientia.

Diamientia – This quiet fishing village has 11518 Sunnis making us 4.32 ducats annually. The al Misr Arabic people here have a courthouse, temple and workshop.

Gaza – 9507 Sunnis work in this core province of ours. They work the salt trade. 13.79 ducats are made by these al Misr Arabic people. They have the same three buildings.

Sinai – Just 6765 people make us 13.65 ducats in the salt trade. The citizens here are al Misr Arabic Sunnis. They have the same three buildings.

Beirut - 91654 al Suryah Arabic people make naval supplies here. This core province of ours features the same three buildings as others. 7.9 ducats are made here in this Sunni province

Damascus – 276802 Sunni people harvest grain here. These people are al Suryah Arabic. 4.7 ducats are made by this core province, and the province features the same three buildings as the previous three.

How about a map of the area?

FWIW, I checked and in my Portugal game, I'm all the way to the right on Decentralization and don't get the event, so there must be other factors to it (or maybe a Japan specific event?). Anyway, I diplo-annexed Castille and just about the whole world declared war on me. :D

Really enjoying this dynasty, Anxiety. I have no experience with EU, so I'm going to ask a noob question....

...how does this game, you know, end? What are you trying to accomplish?

Much like SimCity or The Sims or such, there is no end - only what you want to do, what you want to focus on. There is an end time-wise, when the game ends because that's the end.

I played a dynasty as Grenada and ended after the final scripting event ended (which were scripted by me for a fantasy Grenada)

Does EU3 not keep a running tally of "victory" points?