Your economy was great, your income was over double the second place income. As far as building placement goes I just use common sense. If a province has 1.7 trade income i don't bother building a marketplace, or at least set it dead last in priority.

Sliders were mostly good, I kept moving them along how you were moving them. The one Slider I went the opposite direction with was Innovative/Narrowminded since I needed missionaries. You were at -4 with gives you a penalty to missionary growth, you were getting -.15 missionaries a year. With slider moves and events I moved it back to 0 and I took the religious decision that gives .5 missionaries a year so I was up to 1.5 missionaries a year which was enough.

Free trade is probably better than Centralization for Sweden, you are poor, trading boosts your income a TON*, and you get +2 cent for free anyways when you form Scandinavia.

*for example, Hansa is making 102 monthly income, with 52 of that coming from trade from 25 merchants. Theres only 1 other free trade country right now, england, who is making 11 monthly from trade on 6 merchants. Sweden could pretty easily be making 10-15+ monthly from being free trade whereas cent will only bring you maybe 5ish monthly given that your provinces have poor tax base anyways.

or u could just let him join the Hansa

naw man there are clearly enough free traders, we don't need any more <_<

The Kingdom of Portugal and the Ottoman Empire would like to formally announce their defensive alliance. Our great leaders have only peaceful intentions and good will towards the other rulers of Europe, and no desire to take aggressive action against any other European nation. But as great leaders, we must take prepare for those who do not share our peaceful mindset, so that our peoples may be kept safe. So it shall be that any leader cruel enough to attack one of us shall find himself also at war with the other.

Signed King Joao III of Portugal

In the name of harmony in Europe, the peaceful, freedom-loving Hansa Republic unilaterally agree to remove all of its vassals from its trade league. Since my vassals are currently raping CoTs all over Europe and making everyone else unable to trade, this will boost everyone's income and make it so they stop getting competed out of their own CoTs.

You are welcome

Could we move the start time again like we did last week?

Obv if nobody has a problem with it, but it would allow me to play a bit longer. Then again saturday is always an odd day for me and i may or may not have to go do some runs, so I just wanted to throw it out there...

Come with cash and you can have it for a price. Come with soldiers and I'll sad face.

I believe I need Sjælland and Jylland to form Scandinavia along with the Skane you've agreed i can have. You also own Jylland, what's your position on that?

You dont need jylland iirc, just the 3 capitals of denmark/sweden/norway... maybe they changed it, cant remember

edit: looking on wiki it says you need jylland too, but thats from IN which was 2 expansions ago... im at work now so cant check

i have no issue starting a 10 again

And yes he needs jylland and sjaelland

Starting at 10am EST again is fine with me.

I'm not a morning person and would really prefer to start later. 11 would be OK if you want to roll the time forward a bit, but more than that is pushing it a bit for me, sorry :S

i could do 11... im going to be super hungover and not wanting to be alive at 10am/earlier

I'd like an earlier start too. I'm going out that evening so the earlier the start the better.

Don't worry about it.

11 seems like a good compromise for those of us who are going out friday night.

I ****in hate being sick

Fine with 11

11est is fine for me.

11est is good for me as well.

11 ok, 10 too early.

Hello all, the following is an account of the Austrian experience. Happy reading. Also, 11 is good. Any indication of how long we'll be able to go?

The decline and fall of the Austrian Empire is a complicated story. Let this be a cautionary tail to contemporary European heads of state that a complete lack of a sense of duty, unmatched cowardice, and a general deficiency of intellect, wisdom, and forethought—compounded by blind luck—may raise up an unwitting nation governed by fools and populated by jackals to equal footing with the supremely dominant princes of Europe, only to dash it down again on the rocks of failure and obscurity.

The story begins with the arrival of Siegfried Byszynski to the Austrian court. The unexpected and not-at-all suspicious death of Albrecht IV lead to a council of regents headed by Byszynski. A brief period of rapid expansion was achieved when Byszynski graciously heeded the call of the Milanese, enabling the acquisition of several rich provinces. A series of governmental reforms were cut short when Prince Ferdinand von Habsburg came of age, and Byszynski was relegated to the position of chief adviser.
After spending several years familiarizing himself with the ladies of the court, entrepreneurial madams running homes for young women, and really just any old milk maid (the real heart and soul of the Austrian economy), Prince Ferdinand began a war of aggression with the Polish, hoping to expand his realm and embrace a more ethnically diverse populace. King Xavier I of France did not appreciate the subtleties of the Prince's growth policy, and war was declared.

Finding Prince Ferdinand inspecting the quality of the workmanship of the inside of a small cupboard in an infrequently used wing of the royal palace, Byszynski brought the small, rather cramped council of war to order. Always the noble figure, Prince Ferdinand conducted himself with the composure befitting an emperor at this dangerous and uncertain time.
“Are the French here yet? Have they come for my head?
“No sir, they have been delayed by Milan and the Alps. But the king of Castile has landed an army at on the Italian peninsula.”
“Carl!? How could he do that? We used to play together as children on the grounds of the palace at Toledo.”
“Your majesty, I thought we had agreed not to discuss the terms of your late father's hostage agreement with the King of Castile. Our friends in Milan are in trouble. Now is the time for action.”
“You're right Siggy. Now is the time for me to save our great people. Now is the time for courage. Send riders to the French. Plead for a cessation of all hostilities. Offer them all our territory south of Wien.”
“Your majesty, that is a bit excessive.”
“They want my head Siggy! I need my head!”
“Yes, your majesty.”
Somehow the riders never made it to the French forces, and the Austrians at the front never heard of Prince Ferdinand's shrewd diplomatic strategy for peace. Some say Byszynski never sent the riders. Others say they were distracted by the lack of enemies in other areas of Europe. Regardless, the Austrian armies distinguished themselves at the Battle of Parma. While the Milanese technically did “almost everything involved in the fighting,” the Austrians, by hurling rocks, debris, and very heavy ration kits at the Castilian forces successfully prevented them from scaling the shear cliffs of the Alps. Then, with almost reckless abandon and curiously simian howling, the Austrians threw themselves at the Castilians at Lombardia who eventually retreated with expressions of shocked amazement and general disgust. War reparations were well spent on several commemorative statues of Prince Ferdinand and a towering gold and jewel encrusted hat tailored to the prince's specifications: “bigger than the Pope's!” This infraction of church protocol was rumored to have had something to do with certain Italian allies falling out of favor with the Holy Father in Utrecht.

After several more years of personally investing in the growth of the homes-for-young-women industry as well as several new nunneries, Prince Ferdinand started the War of the 2nd Austrian Intervention because the Polish were “getting uppity.” The Muscovites dealt a swift and decisive blow to the Polish forces and their Lithuanian allies. The Austrians easily and honorably dealt with the remnants as they knew their fleeing enemies would want them to.
“Your Majesty, our general has won us a great victory. I don't know how Ernst accomplished that, but we can now bargain with the Polish on our own terms. Might I suggest the liberation of Silesia?”
“Nonsense. We shall take Somogy and Szolnok from the Polish for ourselves.”
“Your majesty, I don't believe our German brethren would look well on that acquisition.”
“Ah but Siggy, in old Hungary there are princesses with huge...tracts of land.”
“It would bring us significant disrepute among our friends in Europe, particularly crippling the good will we have so carefully fostered with Cologne, Mainz, and Auileia. I need not remind your grace that these are friends whose causes we have supported with certain financial contributions.”
“You mean the whore money? No, Siggy, my mind's made up. Huge tracts of land.”
“Your majesty, the noble ladies of Cologne and Mainz were sent to grace our court as a sign that when the time came, we could count on the support of those very key nations.”
“Oh bah Siggy. You did good getting us those fine whores—the princess from Cologne has particularly fine oratory skills—but don't fight me on this. There's nothing more that a bunch of tiny prince-electors can do for us.”
“Yes, your majesty.”

This chapter of the story ends as a series of fumbles and actions of ineptitude precipitate, paradoxically, in an expansion of Austrian territory, wealth, and power.

wat

¿Que?