If you want to focus on exploration Portugal, Castille, and England are the best nations, with Portugal probably being the fastest. You can colonize with anyone through its just some nations will take (a lot) longer.

Ottomans are good for building a huge land empire. Conquer the Levant and the Mamluks and then bring the true faith to the european infidels imo.

you can refund idea groups but you only get 10% of the points back

alt: conquer egypt and go red sea-->east africa/asia and colonize that way

The Mamluks are too powerful, they conquered all of Egypt, some of the middle East, some of East Africa. I'm expanding my empire West, battling Hungary who's allied with Switzerland. After I annex a few against Hungary, going to concentrate on the Mamluks. How do I obtain the reasons so I don't lose stability when I declare war? How do I increase the land unit cap so I don't get charged up the butt for the upkeep/maintenance.

Outside of selecting missions that give you military targets, you can use the fabricate claim option in diplomacy (under covert actions) to get claims on another nation's provinces, which will give you the Conquest CB.

Conquering provinces is one way, but otherwise I think the best way is ideas? Like, Quantity ideas (and there are other idea groups too) will let you increase your land forcelimits.

http://www.eu4wiki.com/Force_limit

You get .25 force limit per base tax, so building 4 temples = +1 force limit. Thats the easiest way to get force limit especially if you have a lot of provinces.

Full quantity gives +50%, offensive 6 gives +20%, and administrative gives +6 (from +50% available mercenaries).

New DLC Announced: El Dorado

http://www.europauniversalis4.com/ne...ts-you-go-gold

Since I generally don't play colonization nations and usually don't do it with other countries seems like something I'll skip (or more realistically pick it up whenever Steam has it 75% off). Nation designer sounds like it might be interesting though.

Ty guys, this game is really addicting because it appears so simple but the game is so complex.

It is a very addicting game.

Only problem sometimes is that the ai is terrible. Sometimes they start wars they know they can never win.

The most fun game for me was I (Prussia), France, and Russia vs the rest of Europe in a single war. We ****ed up the rest of Europe pretty badly. Prussian armies are really overpowered just like the French armies. After that war I thought the ottomans needed to die, and they did.

And one game I stopped it got way too easy I led a pu with Russia and Naples (they conquered most of Italy). there was no country or alliances strong enough to beat me.

I have no idea how anyone has the patience to play Manchu or India in low speed.

manchu guy joined last session which was 1518-1568. Indian dude subbed for me (savoy/italy) so India was AI last session.

Usually in these games it's the players who get beaten in Europe who move east. Indians used to be Bohemia (before they got dunked by Austria and Poland), Manchu just joined, and the Hansa player (thank christ) has opted to quit the game entirely after being eaten.

So, IDK how many people are still interested in the AARs from the ongoing game at failheap. But since Drunken is no longer playing (he had to miss 2 weeks) I figured I could copy-paste some over. We have gone another 100 years or so, and ****'s gotten interesting. Prepare for some super-long posts.

Portugal 1518-1568

Started by getting my ass beat by Songhai in West Africa, who outnumbered me 2:1, Spain bailed me out. Took most of the important West African trade provinces as a result of the war. Spain then hand fed me provinces from Morocco. The core of Ceuta was lost forever in this war, but the province was of such little importance that I shrugged and moved on. My colonists grew the South African charter to dominate the region during this session.

Finally, after years of hard work, I managed to adopt a Plutocratic Administration in the 1550s, abolishing the old Monarchy and becoming a Merchant Republic. With Portugal's super focused trade/colonial ideas and limited expansion options, this seemed like the best course of action to stay relevant into the late game. The last King of the Portuguese house of Avis is asked by the landowners to oversee the transition, and he leads the nation for four more years before stepping down to a well earned retirement. His relatives continue to rule in Spain.

As a Merchant Republic Portugal is finally making some serious money for a 7 province minor (not counting overseas provinces), so I can begin a huge shipbuilding program. I start a trade war with Kilwa and take their coast, and am in the process of doing the same for the rest of East Africa. The Portuguese Zanzibar charter is growing rapidly.

Also, remember how Portuguese missionaries converted the Kongo to catholicism? Well, with the Holy Roman Empire and most of Europe turning into Heretics, the Electors tried to elect Portugal to the throne. But after I abandoned Monarchy, Republican Portugal became ineligible to be named Emperor of the Romans, so there was only nation left worthy of the title 'Emperor of the Romans'.



Truly worthy of Charlemagne's legacy.

Spain: 1518-1568

Felipe I, aka Felipe the Great, died in 1520. Many thousands of mourners flowed into the streets upon his passing as he had single-handedly led the Spanish nation to greatness. He was suceeded by his son, Alfonso XII, who pretty much blew chunks and died 4 years later.

With the death of Alfonso XII a monarchal crises erupted as he had left no heir to continue the Trastamara line. Rather than pick from a random noble house, a cousin from the Portuguese de Avis lineage was recruited to take the Spanish throne. The eminently capable Carlos I (4/6/6) took the throne in 1524, his awesomeness mainly stemming from the fact that the regency in Spain was able to actually recruit a competent person to take the throne rather than rely on pure genetics to get it done.

Carlos I oversaw the end of the religious turmoil that had gripped the country during Alfonso's reign, converting the last few catholic provinces to the reformed faith. He also gave significant leeway to the great Spanish conquistadors Hernando de Figerora and Baltasar de Requesens, charging them to map the north african continent and aggressively loot every native nation they found for valuables. Thousands of ducats of gold would flow into Spanish coffers during the next 20 years due to the intrepid efforts of these brave explorers.

Carlos I began an impressive building campaign as well, setting out to recitify the lackluster manpower pool that Spain possessed. Armories and training fields were set up all across the nation. The provinces that still lacked temples were finally temple'd up. It was a time of hope for the future, but then Carlos I died in 1538 after a measly 14 year reign (god damnit).

His reign was followed by a 8 year regency during which Spain assisted it's ally portugal in subjugating some African natives (as opposed to the American natives to which they were accustomed to). A detachment was sent to assist the Portuguese in benin, promptly turning the tide of the war and crushing the natives beneath the iron heel of the Spanish army. Then another war was prosecuted again Morocco, regaining the lost Portuguese lands and procuring Cueta for Spain.

King Diego I (2/3/6, which is adequate for our purposes) took the throne on 1546 and continued mainly in the direction of his forefathers. The rapid spanish colonial expansion continues apace and additional ships have been commissioned to protect spanish trade in the Med and the Caribbean. Tensions have risen slightly with France however, with France claiming huge swaths of north america as their land.

AUSTRIA 1518-1568

Franz I von Habsburg concluded his war against lesser German states by taking Thuringia and Nurnburg for the great Austrian Archduchy. Nurnburg is simply too good a province for pitiful Bavaria to hold, and Thuringia completes a corridor to the far-flung northern provinces. Following these conquests, a period of relative peace and inner focus began. The Pope was annexed by Cologne, only to be released again, now with terrible relations towards Austria, allowing Franz to declare '**** the Pope and the mother ****ing Papists' in his infamous Statute in Restraint of Appeals. This tanked relations with the remaining Catholic HRE nations, which paved the way for a new focus on Religion (Religious ideas) and the adoption of Protestantism as the official national faith (and taking many other decisions to boost our Missionaries' strength). Conversions progressed steadily from the North, to the South, and then across finally into the ancient Austrian lands; Vienna being the last province converted, as a despicable Reformed center converted it first.

Franz lived too long, only ceding the throne to his talented son Maximilian in 1534, when Max was already 45 years old. With the threat of war looming between Italy and France, envoys were entertained from both sides. France offered to help Austria take the lands of former Switzerland. Italy simply offered to sell them, with no war necessary. The purchase was made at the end of the religious troubles. A deal had also been struck with Sweden regarding the partition of the Hansa, as penalty for the merchants' reprehensible actions - Stade and Bremen were soon gained from that diplomatic move. Archduke Maximilian I died in a hunting accident in 1541, taken far too soon from the world, but only after starting a war against Hungary to conquer their most Eastern provinces.

A Regency took over for the first 3 years of Ferdinand von Habsburg's reign. completing the war against Hungary and joining Brandenburg against Saxony and Trier - Koblenz being taken from Trier to unite another corridor, to Aachen. The false-Emperor in Hamburg was annexed to Austria, but aside from that Ferdinand's rule has been remarkably peaceful. All three rulers have built up Austria's infrastructure, more than doubling income, and greatly increasing manpower. Moreover, successful marriage policies have put Habsburgs on the thrones of Great Britain and Baden, and seen them twice elected in the Commonwealth.

Truly it is a great time for Austria, now Protestant and unhindered by the shackles of Emperorship!

Screens on Steam ( http://steamcommunity.com/profiles/7...ots/?l=english ) shortly.

Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth: 1518-1568

After having formed the plc in at the end of the previous session, the nation now had much work to do in making sure there were no enemies at the gates, all orthodox are converted and the economy of the nation is improved.

As more Religious ideas were taken, more orthodox provinces passed hands. Crimea was annexed in a short war. Troops went on an expedition to Egypt to learn how to fight wars, loot provinces, rape women and win sieges, and hopefully securing the goodwill of the Turkish Sultan for the future.

The evil Merchant spymasters of Hansa were integrated into Scandinavia for the relief of all.

Trade Ideas were taken up as a means to improve the income of of our nation and steer wealth our way. Unfortunately, minor kingdoms in the west continue to steal our goods through overland provinces in the Krakow region.

A temporal anomaly occurred wherein the King was abducted by demons and the incompetent Sejm made enemies of our friendly neighbors, among other mistakes. Having been found drunken and passed out in a bordello, the King re-assumed control and made things right, only to find out the fools had embraced the Counter-Reformation! Seeing the benefits in helping remove Orthos from our lands, the 5 missionaries quickly converted all to Catholicism. When Papal influence was at 100, we purchased 1 mercantilism (stab was at +3) and promptly switched our religion to the great teachings of Reformed, which allows powerful focus which will undoubtedly come be of great use. Less rebellions, more army morale and trade power at the will of the King! After about 15 years the nation was completely converted, with a tempo of 4 or 5 months per province, two at a time, until the end when we assumed the title of defender of the faith, with which we used the 3rd missionary to quickly finish the conversion work.

We purchased 15 caravels from the great shipwrights of Venice.

Moldavia and Transilvania were annexed. Many forts, workshops, constables, tier3 admin buildings and armories were built these last 30 years.

Many great kings were elected, where 2 very capable monarchs from Austria (and 1 from BB?) assumed power for the joy of our people.

In a move that may turn out to be a great mistake or a terrible plunder, the PLC started a process of Westernization wherein advisers from Austria were brought in to help bring our backwards nation to the foremost of technology and efficiency. With a total cost of 2400mp (800 each), and a progress of 18 per month, it was estimated this reformation would take 11 years if nothing negative were to happen. So far, all attempts by the rooted power structure of the PLC to ****** or stop the process were dealt with harshly and without problems. Six years into the process and it is estimated ~50% of the work is still to be done.

Our great King dreams of a future where the ideals of the Commonwealth spread throughout the cosmological sphere that Nicolaus Copernicus proposed not 20 years ago in great trading ships that fly through the ether using the solar wind to traverse the vast gulf between the planets just as sailed ships roam the oceans of Terra in their pursuit of prosperity. His latest dream ends when a booming God beseeches him to wake up: "Poland can into space! Follow my guidance and the stars shall be yours!"

Sweden AAR, The Peaceful Years

The king has pretty decent stats, so I've been catching up on technology. Having military as my national focus for so long as allowed me to keep pace with the other nations while filling out both the offensive and the quality idea tree. My ally England was willing to build more modern ship hulls for me, so that allowed me to keep putting my diplo points into filling out exploration aswell. By the end of the session, all three of my idea trees where filled out and I shifted my national focus to diplomatic and started catching up on that aswell.

At the start of the session, the Swedish fleet consisted of 30 galleys, 6 cogs and 13 barques - by the end of the session, the galleys had been replaced by 15 Carracks, the cogs by 10 flutes, but the largest portion of the expansion where my light ships, by the end of the session, Sweden has the largest merchant marine in the world - 90 Caravels, twice as big as the second largest merchant fleet. Currently, those ships are spread out between the North Sea, Lübeck and the Baltic trade nodes. Sweden wishes to make it public that aslong as Poland keeps reinforcing their own trade fleet in the region, Sweden will match them ship for ship and proposes that if the polish fleet moves elsewhere, so will the Swedish, resulting in the trade power ratio in the node remaining the same, but both parties will have ~40 trade ships free to work elsewhere, which would most likely result in greater prosperity for everyone involved.

Diplomatically, the massive mega-alliances of Eastern and Central Europe have caused a stalemate, so Swedish diplomats stayed busy insulting our Venetian, Brandenburgian and Dutch rivals. The fact that everytime we did so, we earned 25 military points and some prestige may also have been related. I probably earned some 200 military points through various missions like this.

Dutch traders where found to have too much influence over Lübeck and a trade embargo was issued. Sofar, this has passed by without any comment from the Dutch themselves.

Our colony in Kanada grew to the size where direct control from the homeland was causing problems and control of the region was given to a local goverment. IKEAnada as the new state is called grew as the session progressed and now encompasses most of the western canada coastline and have begun making their way inland. The natives of Abenaki where deemed a threat to further colonial expansion in the area and troops from the homeland where requested. The Abenaki where crushed and their lands where given to the colonists to govern.

Comparing to the other colonial nations, they're quite behind in terms of military might, but their land is fairly undesireable compared to the wealth of the southern regions, they should be fairly safe for now.

Finnish turned into an unaccepted culture, so I hit the button and formed Scandinavia. Culture converted away all the undesireable cultures in eastern Sweden - this as a defensive method to ensure my cores would remain should the area be conquered, but also to deny others from making me release those lands as free nations. Finland, Riga, Kurland and the Livonian Order will never rise again.

Persia 1518 - 1568

This period of Persian history, like many of its competitor nations can most roundly be described as one of consolidation. It was decided that the economy needed to strengthen significantly if Persia was to ever sustain a standing army capable of fending off a surprise Russian/GH/Ottoman attack (or possibly all three) so a programme of great works was initiated to increase the production of fine Persian products such as dyes, spices, silks and other fabrics.

In 1522 Joneid I Zand (4/2/3) ascended to the throne, with his promising heir Nader Shah (4/2/6) waiting in the wings, who promptly ate an expired prune and shuffled this mortal coil. The Timurids suffered a number of attacks from Yarkand, Chagatai, Uzbek and even some Indian nations. A number of countries were released in these conflicts including tiny states such as Afghanistan and the Mughals, and the once sprawling empire of Timur the Lame has been wiped from the map. Persia claimed some of these lands in the turmoil including the important way point along the silk road of Samarkand, although it will be a significant period before these lands can become of any use to the Sultanate.

The previously (and suspiciously) peaceful Ottomans burst from behind their defensive walls to twice attack their Mamluke foe, including forming an outrageous and unnecessary coalition against them. Persia will not stand for this imbalance of power and the middle east currently rests on a knife edge of perilous further conflict. At this time we say to our brothers in Alexandria "havā-tō dāram" we have your back in the face of this unwarranted aggression. The protestations of future peace are hard to heed when they are backed by an army 90k stronk.

The Sultan and his advisers now face some interesting potential answers as to how to further the Persian nation. Should they look to the sea or continue along their land-locked path? Either way confrontation with some great powers is not far away, to succeed we will need good quality and patient commanders, strength of character and a trust in our righteous Shiite faith to carry us forwards to victory.

Venice

The Venetian trading and building was interrupted when Ottomans attacked our trading partners mamluks. An old mutual defence pact was in existence, and wanting to abide by the rules they had agreed Venice offered to honour the pact with mamluks.

Mamluks eventually accepted when it was clear they could not stop the ottomans alone. Venice quickly sent its fleet to assist, sinking every warship the ottomans possessed and getting revenge for the last war they were involved in against the ottomans.

The triumphant venetian navy blockaded the entire ottoman coast line and prevented reinforcements crossing the bosphorus. Greece was taken without a fight, and then very little more could be done. It was agreed with Mamluks that this was the limit the venetians were capable of and it wasn't going to stop the ottomans, with Italy and others warring the Mamluks there was little to be done by venice.

A quick peace with ottomans took back the two cores Ottomans had taken previously, the Doge hoped this smack on the nose would make the Ottomans think twice about future wars against Venice and not hold a grudge as the peace terms were very generous. This was quickly shown to be a vain hope, Italy and Ottomans allied and took back the balkan provinces and some in Italy. Clearly Venice will be carved up between the two if things do not change, and next time Venice will extract a full pound of flesh and blood in any peace deal.

The Venetian fleet is itching to again prove venice the master of the mediterranean. The greeks have suffered under the ottoman lash too long. Constantinople must be returned to christianity for even muslims to be safe from the madness of the sultan.

PS Sweden sucks!

1518-1568 ledgerdump is in the spoilers

1568-1597

Some preface for this session. During the intervening week, the following was signed between France and Spain.

Many people were mads. On to the AAR!

Great Britain: 1568-1597

Finally achieved unity, saw french trying to build something that resembled an invasion fleet without enough actual warships to seriously threaten my island, but with spanish help might be, so I built some boats and brought my forces home.

Nothing came of it, so I sat around and built stuff, optimised my trading, and set about using my income to get additional trading fleets into the water.

Bahmani/Hindustan AAR 1568-1597

This round started with a small war over Kochin. A minor province Kochin was quickly integrated into the Bahmani territories. Mysore and Orissa also were integrated into the Sultanate. After these conquests our great faith of Islam was given over to the peoples dwelling in the new provinces, Al-ḥamdu lillāh.

Sadly the late Sultan died, much to the dismay of his peoples - but not his advisor`s. Allah in his excellence gave to us a new Sultan, the 44 year old heir given to Administration and Military prowess, he wields the great sword of Islam with grace and power. Demonstrating these abilities Ceylon was vanquished, along with two rebellions caused by faithless agents provocateur stirring the peasantry to blind hatred and rage.

Amongst such years of warfare, conquest, and glory the great nation of Portugal made landfall on our shores. Tales of great wealth, power, and unimagined discoveries spread amongst the court while the men of this Portugese expedition resided in the royal palace. Sensing a chance to share in such fertile trade an agreement to alliance, trade, and military access was given and reciprocated. During this period of quiet a nationwide programme was enacted to improve trade and local economies. Common culture and a desire to create a united nation, free of internal conflict, has been spread throughout the provinces. With this period of consolidation the Sultanate has been renamed Hindustan. For Hindustan is a nation open to all peoples of India!

Under the aegis of Islam we are strong. Allah Akbar.

Spain: 1568-1597

This period was a time of turmoil for Spain, both diplomatic and militaristic. To start, King Diego I signed the Treaty of Madrid, aligning Spain with France in return for heavy French concessions. While King Diego knew this would earn him the ire of many other nations (which it, in fact, did) the offer the French court presented (the provinces of Narbonne, Languedoc, and Provence) was too large to be turned down. With the treaty signed, the Spainish and French courts began to plan an invasion of Italy. 10 Years would pass before any action was taken, and during that time the Spanish Empire finally fully embraced the philosophy of Quantity and made significant expansions in its European Army. Finally, in early 1578, France declared war on Italy and ~225,000 French and Spanish troops crossed into Northern Italy. Austria rallied to defend Italy, however the rest of Europe remained strangely silent... seemingly content to allow the French and Spanish superpowers to continue to grow larger.

Despite being massively outnumbered, Italy and Austria did not initially gave up and contested the invasion with vigor. The combined armies (minus a Spanish Army group) initially met in Lombardia with the attacking Austrian army nearly routing a large French force before additional French, Italian, and Spanish armies arrived. Bolstered by additional troops and led by the fantastic Jaime de Beaumont the Franco-Iberian armies triumphed, though the Austrian and Italian armies dealt the same amount of casualties as they took in the battle.

Battle of Lombardia


Following the battle both the Italian and Austrian armies retreated. They would stay quisecent for the next year before emerging to contest the French siege of Sundgau. Once again, French morale held the line until reinforcements could arrive, resulting in yet another Austrio-Italian defeat.

Battle of Sundgau


Shortly after the battle retreating Austrian regiments attempted to cross a bridge east into Germany, only to find the bridge blocked by a detachment of Spanish troops. Disheartened, they surrendered on the spot (AKA: Brock got ****ed by a bug where reteating troops didn't retreat and where insta-routed).

Rout at Sundgau


Shortly thereafter Austria would peace out of the war for some concessions to France. This left only Italy backed up by Noble-Led Ottomans (AKA: AI ottos) and some germanic minors. The King of Italy announced that he would only give up lands over his cold dead hands after proceeding to march his army onto Sicily and place the powerful Italian Navy blocking the straights. Due in part to the Italian Navy having jumped the local Spanish trade fleet in the beginning to the war, and the fact that the Italians were backed up by the Ottomans, this presented a problem as the local Spanish Navy (which were still early Carracks) was not powerful enough to break the blockade. Luckily the Ottomans, driven by hubris, soon abandoned the blockade and sailed into the Straights of Gibraltar where they met the Spanish Navy in glorious battle.

Battle of the Straight of Gibraltar


With the defeat of the Ottoman Navy the Italian King, surely driven by fear and worry, fled to the Ottoman Empire and promptly overthrew the council of nobles there. The Italian council of Nobles proved to be less adept than their departed King at defending themselves and promptly send the Italian navy into the loving arms of the Spanish Fleet, after reducing its size of course.

Battle of the Gulf of Valencia


After that, all the fight went out of the nobles, who quickly accepted French terms to end the war. With possession of Provence (turned over by France just prior to the war) and Liguria (taken from Italy, along with Nice) Spain had achieved iron control of the Genoa trade node. Unfortunately, the declining legitimacy of Diego I (totally unjustified), along with massive over-expansion led to a series of massive rebellions in Spain. Over 100,000 rebels would rise against the Monarchy over the next 10 years. Provencial, Moroccon, Lombardian, Catalan, Galacian, and many more rebelled against their rightful king. When word of the massive rebellions reach the French king suggested that Spain increase autonomy in the suggested provinces. This amused the court greatly, "Reward rebellion with increased freedom? Nonsense, we shall put them to death. With fire and sword!" The Grand Army of Spain brutally crushed any and all rebellions until the troublesome period had passed.

With peace in Europe attention shifted to the new world, where yet another war with the natives had been underway for several years. Large swathes of native land had been occupied, the court deciding that it was time to annex the entirety of the remaining native kingdoms. This was what was done, however the court under-estimate the degree of rebelliousness this would cause in the Western Spanish Empire. This rebelliousness would result in a series of rebellions that put the rebellions in Europe to shame. The natives rebelled, were crushed, and then rebelled again, again, and again. The Army of Western Spain, even backed up by 42,000 Spanish regulars, proved completely incapable of suppressing the madness.

The Great Mexican Rebellion ~1593


The situation rapidly spiraled even more out of control, and it was only through the efforts of 100,000 Spanish regulars over 4 years of continuous fighting that brought the rebellion to its heels. While a small regional area is still occupied in 1597, the rebelling armies have finally been crushed and Spanish troops have restored order to the troubled colony.

The Portuguese East India Company: 1568-1597

The late 1500s were a period of great progress for The Republic of Portugal, with the Portuguese economy and navy expanding rapidly under burgher rule. Portuguese merchants lobbied the Doge and his council to establish a presence in India, and working with the mighty Sultan of Hindustan a mutually profitable arrangement was reached: Portugal would establish trade posts in Ceylon and Gujarat, bringing a flow of goods and technology to Hindustan. In Zanzibar we bring the Sultanates of Kilwa and Mogadishu to heel, but the rise of the Sultanate of Adal in the Gulf of Aden has proven to be a threat to our trade.


Portuguese merchants securing treaties with the Sultan of Hindustan

In China, the disintegrating Ming Dynasty also presents us with new trade opportunities. The warlords of Manchuria appear to hold the strongest position in the region, so promises of aid and succor are made to their Emperor in exchange for help securing trade posts in Canton and Hangzhou. However, a storm in the South China sea led to the loss of the entire Portuguese invasion fleet; the Admiral's name has been striken from the histories and his family exiled to Spain. Our shipyards quickly set about rebuilding the grand fleet, but new technologies have come to our attention that require an extensive overhaul of the entire fleet. Here we find Portugal in 1597.



The Fleet in the harbor of Gujarat, assembling after the disaster in the South China Sea

Manchu 1568-1597

Gonna keep this one brief as it was fairly slow going compared to you guys in the west.

Game resumed in 1568. Spent 6 months or so recuperating man power after the war that had concluded just before the end of the previous session. Put together a small fleet of cogs & transported half my army over to Hokkaido (northern island of Japan). Japan at this point had yet to make any moves against the Ainu, and I've been holding the Sakhalin's for several decades & need to wipe out the Ainu to change culture there; So I wipe them out, take the island & the Kurils. Since I had the transports now, I snap up the Ryukyu island change the south of Japan as well.

From there I pivot back to the western side of my empire, and focus on building my military to go after the Ming again whom I had a truce with until 1590. During the intervening years we come into contact with foreign merchants from the republic of Portugal. Sensing mutual opportunity we established a military alliance and draw up battle plans for the conquest of Ming. Portugal's navy will give us a much needed hand at sea, countering the powerful navies of the Ming & their allies in Korea; And our land forces will bolster Portugal's attacks on Ming's southern provinces. Before the plan could be put into action, the Portuguese invasion force is all but wipe out in a storm at sea.

Before a new invasion date can be established, the conflict goes hot. Our allies in Oirat declare war on Ming & call upon us. We set out pacifying the once substantial army of the Korean's, and occupy their key provinces. I leave behind a small contingent of men to handle any troops they raise before they can establish a sizeable force. My forces move around Korea bay taking Ming provinces, First the Andong area Enclave, and than around the west & southern side to Laizhou, and then further south to their capital.

At this point I figure I have a pretty good smattering of provinces to take in a peace deal so I sue for peace with Ming & as I am ironing out the terms, Oirat & Ming declare peace (Oirat started the war) and utterly shaft me on the terms (again)

So now I'm just preparing for this next treaty to end with Ming so I can take what is rightfully mine.

Scandinavia: 1568-1597

An anonymous source informed us that the PLC was probing their neighbors for interest in invading Sweden. As a direct violation of our joint agreement of our agreement to stay neutral, we decided to act first by reaching out to the Russians to gain their support in that conflict. The PLC then apparently changed their minds regarding their intended target, for shortly after, they came to us asking our support in invading Russia - we relayed this information to our new Russian allies and decided that I should play along in order to teach the PLC a lesson - as the Russians still needed time to prepare for the war, I worked to ensure the invasion got delayed - such as shipping troops over to the new world and annexing the Huron and Iroquis into IKEAnada.

Years later as our army returns from the New World, the PLC-Russia war began and both sides asking for Swedish support. The Swedish-Russian agreement took precedence simply because the PLC had managed to annoy the Swedish King with his diplomatic tresspasses, twice had their gone back on agreed deals and forced plans to be remade, but that they also had been probing for support in invading our lands was the final straw. We assume that the reason they instead decided on going for Russia was the fact that they did not find the support they sought. Clearly, the neutrality agreement was not worth the paper it was written on.

As the War began, Sweden joined in on the side of Russia and after several battles in the northeastern corner of the PLC, the PLC surrendered unconditionally. Three provinces in the northeast where ceeded to Russia and three provinces along the Baltic coast where ceeded to Sweden, along with them Ostpreussen - an imporant trading hub. The PLC would also release Astrakhan from their vassal status and therefore ending their eastwards expansion into the steppes. Now Sweden holds a larger share of the Baltic trade, resulting in additional trade being steered into Lübeck, providing a healthy boost to our trade income in the area.

After that, Sweden went back into building up it's navy and infrastructure - large amounts of ducats went into building trade posts, canals, training grounds and workshops and started replacing older now obsolete ship hulls with more modern designs. The total number of combat ship hulls also grew and a very promising admiral has been put in charge of the fleet.

IKEAnada continues to grow at a decent pace.

Session ended early, so not much more to tell really.

Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth: 1567-1597

This period of time was a troublesome period for the PLC. Due to the vast and diverse pool of wills and ideas contained in the Sejm, this chaotic government made a terrible mistake that would end up costing our nation dearly. Due to complex schemes and treacherous proposals to its neighbors, the diplomatic core of the PLC committed a grave error in trusting classified diplomatic proposals to UN-vetted bureaucrats which resulted in a grave and scandalous incident with the Kingdom of Scandinavia. Believing that the PLC was attempting to create a double-cross between Russia and Scandinavia, the Viking government decided that the PLC under the Sejm could not be trusted and devised a plan to lure it under a brilliant diplomatic trap. He secretly feigned interest in an anti-Russia alliance to contain its exponential growth to lure the PLC into his own double-cross, to prevent having to fight the other PLC allies if he were to attack, he lured the PLC into an offensive war in which it would be called to arms against Russia, but instead accepting a call to arms form Russia. This event would later take effect in a convoluted situation that will explained further on.

The PLC at the start of this period was about halfway done in the reformation of its decrepit government into a more modern Western type. As such, getting into a dangerous and long war against the northern neighbors the Russians would be too dangerous, since the rigors and demands of a war would create and feed rebellions in a chaotic time. Due to the versatile nature of our Reformed Christianity religion, the country managed to avert any revolts even at a meager 2 legitimacy and several other risks.




Therefore it was decided to, in conjunction with the Russians, split the Golden Horde steppe lands to increase the living room for our peoples. Steadfastly we had been implementing a program of Polish Resettlement into the lands of cultures that could create troubles in the future or did not conform with our ideas. Thus the Belorussians, Lithuanians, Prussians, Hungarians, Romanians, Crimean, Greeks, Caucasians etc have been encouraged at great diplomatic cost to re-settle into the New World or into our neighbors. Only the great Ruthenian and Polish cultures are accepted in our PLC, so that we may in our closeness become more resilient to possible hardships.

Many battles were fought in suppressing the resisting Nomads after our armies were raised to above 100 regiments. Together with the Turkish armies we eventually managed to establish a land connection between our forces to prevent us from being separated in the event of a war in the future when we again Warred on the Golden Horde and its vassal.

Battle of the Lower Don



Then more rebelling nobles and Sejm provocateurs were dealt with until the great August II von Habsburg (4/4/3) was elected to lead our nation.

Great King


Then the great Vikings put an Axe at our backs. Not many records remain from this time but in their war the PLC ceded about 20BT to Russia and Scandinavia, and releasing the Astrakhan Nomads from vassalage. It was a short war but the outstanding numbers arrayed against us and the superior Scandinavian Troop quality left no doubt of the hopelessness we were in, alone in this war. In the end, the King and the Sejm agreed that the peace demands were merciful and hoped for a future rapprochement with our neighbors.

After the demoralizing defeat the PLC together with our allies the Turks, under new administration, split the Gazmuth vassal from the golden horde into 3, the Circassian vassal kingdom of PLC, Georgia the vassals of the ottomans and the remnants in the East. Now the land bridge was formed and we would not be split by a superior naval force. Despite warning and pleadings, the Ottoman empire was inherited under absurd mismanagement, being behind in miltary, naval and administrative tech.

Goodbye Causacus. Welcome to the PLC

And then a great diplomatic blunder (thought so by the Sejm at the time) was done by the Ottomans. Under significant technological and numbers disadvantage at sea (the previous administration lost its entire fleet in a war against Spain), decided to declare war on Venice for some Aegean provinces. The PLC thinking it a mistake did not initially participate in this war because it realized the futility of the war goal and impossibility of attaining naval superiority which is a requirement against Venice. In addition, the PLC was very wary of intervention from its northern neighbors since its other allies, the Austrians and Brandenburgians were weakened from a large war and maladministrated, respectively.

It was a terrible moment when heralds arrived claiming that the Mamluks and their allies the Persians, decided to enact their defense treaty with venice to finally cut the Ottomans down to size and reclaim all the stolen Mamlukian lands. The 2 level military advantage also put a great advatange in the field for them. So the Ottomans asked for help against this unfair situation and the trustworthy Poles answered the defensive call to arms, completely aware of the possibility of northern intervention. Thankfully the Scandinavian nation was preparing for a defensive war against France to protect its ally the UK, and in addition to not wanting to further antagonize it neighbors decided to be merciful and not intervene. No logic stands behind the Russian inaction but spies claim it is pursing an isolationist policy as it consolidates its Asian mainland provinces. These acts of deliberate mercy will surely be remembered.

In any case, realizing that the key to the war lay in forcing a Mamluk surrender, the plc and turk armies swarmed from Europe, across the Black sea (to circumvent the Venetian Blockade) and descended upon anatolia and Asia minor with pent up bloodlust. The Polish armies, having suffered a terrible defeat previously were in need of a war to improve its skill, sharpen its blades and impale its enemies in the great cavalry pikes. After much manuevering in Irak, the brave combined forces of the Persian and Mamluks Armies attacked a 20 regiment strong PLC position in Van. Unbeknownst to them, the entire 150+ regiments of the Allied army was spread around the other mountains preparing for such an opportunity. Over eager for an easy victory, the enemies continued to reinforce the attack as our troops slowly and methodically reinforced our prepared defensive positions. The enemies valiantly lost but when they realized that their armies had no chance against an enemy 50 regiments over strength with superior discipline and with a defensive advantage they retreated back into Persia. This massive and decisive fight incurred over 11 WE for the enemies and a total loss of almost 60k troops. After the fight, our generals upgraded the PLC armies to the next level and further increased our military prowess. So it was decided to march south and siege out the Mamluks, hoping to force a white peace in the East to better deal with the Venetian Merchants.

Pics of the fights:
Battle of Van
State of Affairs by Session End

Ledgerdumps and Session Map in the spoiler

1597-1638

British AAR

Accepted a swedish plan to crush the dutch navy and force concessions with blockades. Planned war declared, dutch fleet was annhiliated at sea, blockades placed, colonial ground war was won, and concessions gained.

My colony decided (with standard american intelligence levels, amirite?) to declare an offensive war against the dutch colony, and promptly gets crushed, handing back the gains I'd made before I was ready to join the war.

Time passed, truce ended and france/holland tried to invade the english mainland. The dutch navy was caught outside port and mostly destroyed before it could flee. Then some extra reinforcements came rushing out alone due to some horrible errors in the passing of orders and were sent rapidly to the bottom of the ocean. French reinforcements had their view blocked by their sails, due to poorly trained french seamen one assumes, and they followed on in to the fight, and then on to the bottom of the ocean. Spanish ships arrived belatedly to help as well, and then ran away before the swedish fleet turned up to catch them (because the spanish are not silly).

British and Swedish fleets returned to harbour to repair, while the spanish and portugese turned up to form an intimidating blockade of the english channel. French troops attempted a landing in Cornwall, but turned back when the British armies arrived to contest the landing. The second attempt in Kent, where the Royal navy was docked ended in an ambush, and the total destruction of 30 thousand french troops in exchange for around 2000 defenders (swedish troops arrived to help before the battle finished).

Further landings were called off, and peace was agreed in exchange for war reparations from france to england with the repaired Royal and Swedish navies ready to engage and with their tradeships rallied for battle.

Later, war was once more declared in the colonies, this time by the Dutch colony against the Swedish colony, leading to the calling in of the British and Swedish forces by the slowly losing Swedish colony. The dutch rapidly conceded after their armies were smashed repeatedly and the invasion of their homeland was being planned.

The remainder of the session saw much building throughout the british isles, as Britain tries desperatly to catch up to her more developed european neighbours. As it stands, the Royal Navy is the most powerful single fighting fleet on the face of the planet, while the dutch are continuing to take a large value of trade from the channel node, while the spanish/french alliance is a lot more shaky than previously, and much colonial territory in south america still sits open to be taken. Races with the portugese and potentially huge wars are on the horizon.

Spain: 1597 - 1634

In 1597 Spain was still mired in the Great Mexican Rebellion. However, after speaking with the troubled colony's leader it became clear that he was singlemindedly focused on raising stability, rather than reducing the 200% overextension that any moron would do first. Unable to change the idiot's mind, the King simply pulled all his troops out of the ****hole and decided to let the colony collapse. It's taken 40 years and it still hasn't finished, jesus christ.

Luckily, happier times were in store for Spain's European affairs. Spain had offered to both the Mamluks and the Persians help in their war vs PLC and Ottomans return for large amounts of gold, but neither seemed particularly interested, prompting the King to wonder aloud why none of the involved powers wanted any help. Surprisingly it was the PLC who came to Spain, asking the price and then gladly paying it in return for Iberian help against Venice. Spain accepted, using the funds to build a mighty navy. The expanded Spanish Navy sailed forth and, together with the stalwart Portuguese, smashed the Venetian wall in the battle of the Aegean Sea.



With their wall destroyed and the blockades of the ottomans broken the Venetian traders recognized their defeat and chose to drink as much as possible before the end came (this isn't a critique of TMFD, at all, it was a ****ty situation and completely understandable from his end. Sorry the way it turned out). A Spanish army group was landed, eventually completing sieges on Venice and some other italian provinces. Having completed the contract for the Ottomans and PLC the Iberian powers peaced out, taking the oppertunity to steal everything that wasn't nailed down on their way out, of which 2000 went to Spain. Which on top of the 1500 given by Ottomans and PLC made the war very profitable indeed.

Spain spent the next decade or so quietly expanding their military through arsenals and conscription centers. Hawaii was found and colonized, with Spanish colonizers leapfrogging from their to Indonesia. In ~1615 Spain decided to send 30,000 troops to assist the Portuguese in China. Troops were eventually landed in 1617 and they promptly won several significant victories against the native Chinese.





With Spanish help much success was had and the troops were shipped to Peru after completing their mission, warring and making gains against the Inca. Back home continued expansion in the army would soon come into use as well. A small war against Italy ~ 1603 had resulted in new Spanish Vassals in Tuscany and Sicily, and the plan had always been to expand them before integrating them into Spain proper. The war was mainly possible due to the fact that the Platinate was the emperor at the time and Austria was unable to intervene. However, by 1623 Austria was once again the HRE and clearly had an interest in annexing Italy as seen by it's numerous vassals (Milan, Urbino, Naples). Diplomats were sent to Austria asking if they would defend as the Emperor if Spain attacked, to which they replied "yes" and "All of Italy will be ours". This was not acceptable to Spain, and a quick check of Austria's alliances showed them allied to Scandinavia and the Commonwealth. Altogether it was a powerful alliance. Diplomats were sent to France, informing them of the upcoming war and that they may be called upon should Austria get reinforced by her allies. In early 1625 war was declared with most of the Spanish army still in Iberia. When it became clear that Scandinavia and the PLC were not going to intervene the army was ordered to begin the march to Italy.

June 1625 saw the war properly begin as 150,000 Spanish troops marched into Parma, inflicting a blistering defeat on the Austrian army encamped there.




Spanish troops continued the march into northern Italy, wiping out several vassal armies, before encamping the majority of the army around Mantua. Another Austrian attack came in Cremona, with the Austrians lured in by a seemingly undefended siege army. The Battle of Cremona, while smaller, was a large victory for the defending Spanish forces.



After the battle of Cremona Austria retreated north of the Alps, allowing Spain to occupy the majority of the Italian peninsula. The front would be relatively quiet until late 1628, minus a Spanish push into the Alps that retreated after a few days and minor losses, where a joint Brandenburg/Austrian (Brandenburg having joined the war a few months previously) into the newly named "Welsch-Bern" (formerly Ferrara). This would be the definitive battle of the war.

Victory at Welsch-Bern


After the battle Austria asked for terms. This produced a minor ****up, as Spain wanted to have both Ancona and Urbino returned to Tuscany (as they were cores) but only asked for Ancona. Despite the mishap, huge swathes of territory were stripped from Italy and fed to Sicily and Tuscany. Italy now only retains Rome, Corsica-Sardinia, and some ****ty North African lands.

Growth for Spain in 1634 is still strong, with Italy yet to be annexed and war with Inca restarted. Iberia STRONGK.

Oh, also at some point there was a war between France/NL and England/Scandi, can't remember where timewise. Iberia stepped in to give some naval aid, however both the French and Dutch navies were effectively destroyed prior to our arrival. Even with control of the channel in Iberian hands, English resistance proved too steep for french troops to overcome, and the whole thing ended with war reparations.

Ottoman AAR

After the previous sultan mysteriously disappeared one of the Viziers staged a coup and took the reigns of the Ottoman empire. The empire was embroiled in two separate wars, one against the traitorous Persians and Mamalukes and one against the infidels from Venice. Allah had smiled upon the sultans armies and had granted them several victories over the Mamaluke/Persian invaders but turned his back on the Ottoman navy. Luckily the friendly Poles negotiated a mercenary contract with the Iberian powers and a new navy was bought, for a price. The is allowed the new sultan to pursue the wars to conclusion rather than follow the mad plans of the previous sultan and surrender several conquered territories to the Mamalukes. After conquering much of norther Egypt and defeating a force of some 130k invaders in the field, the sultan was informed by an advisor that if he "offered words of surrender" to the invaders they would be forced to accept or face terrible internal turmoil (read: achieved +40 warscore and was able to finally stab hit the Mamalukes out of the war). With no remaining distractions or Venetian navy, the initial war with Venice was finally, painfully brought to a successful conclusion with the reconquest of the Aegean. After the intervention of the Iberians the Doge conceded defeat and did the sensible thing - take a nap after his long red-eye flight. The sultan then spent the next ~30 years furiously researching advanced military technology, refusing to be caught flat-footed again.

Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth: 1597-1638

After extensive and painful negotiations, under threat of invasions from many nations, the Sejm decided it would be best to surrender against the aggressors for heavy concessions against the Turks. This depressing prospect forced the Sultan to commit suicide. Ultimately, this would end up turning into a great Miracle. As such, under extreme manpower losses to attrition, the PLC bravely assaulted the Pyramid fortresses (a great manpower waste, it turned out) and togheter with our allies, continued to caputre Mamluk fortresses in order to force them to accept our surrender. At this point our resourceful diplomats made a deal with the Iberians for their Naval support for a sum of 1400 ducats. An expensive bargain, but deemed necessary given the situation. In addition, securing their serives for us precluded them from helping our diplomatically inept enemies who never sought the support of our own neighbors. This oversight would be their undoing. After the fall of Cairo, the allied forces moved to force a fight against the reinforced and fresh troops of the Eastern Alliance. Under a morale shock over the intervention of the Iberian powers against them, they decided to again attack thinking to hold a tactical advantage in the open fields of Antakya. Unfortunately for them, our own troops had been reinforced by Sea and so the last and most important battle of the conflict was fought. A grand total of 120 enemy regiments fought against the combined Allied army of 160 regiments. This numerical superiority, together with superior discipline, made up for the inferior tactics and morale of the turkish armies. Our 20k Southern Cossacks impaled and trampled over our enemies in such ferocity and bloodlust in their charge that the enemy wall of battle scattered and their armies retreated in all directions under a massive WE penalty and manpower loss. An additional 15k troops were immediately destroyed in their retreat. Facing such horrors the Eastern Alliance was forced to accept our "Surrender" (!). Our victories forces consolidated and proceeded to liberate Constan... Istanbul from the Merchant scums.

Pics of the fights

Battle of Antakya, notice the Iberians enjoying the battle from their ships.
Battle of Istanbul when the Doge comitted Suicide

During the blooddy campaign to liberate Greece and take over the balkans, our hired hands helped themselves to the Venetian Wealth. Rumors of a taking of over 4k ducats in the sack of Venice abound. We are jealous of this but recognize it was a deserved spoil of war so we wish the Merchants of Portugal and Spain great benefit from this blood money. After they left the war, Venice, raped, genocided and completely demoralized, surrendered many provinces to the Ottomans and gold to the PLC. After this tremendous disgrace the Doge committed suicide.

Having survived this great war, not having been attacked by its neighbors, the PLC entered a golden era of prosperity. Under the great scheming guidance of its kings, the PLC and the Turks figured out a way to continuously send themselves gifts to launder ducats in order to funnel an Western Arms trade to the Ottoman Empire. More reforms were enacted, more caucasian lands were taken, Circasia and Theodoro were annexed, and finally the Sejm decided to pass the Pacta Conventa when a less than stellar king was elected (due to reputation sabotage against the Habsburgs by the Sejm scheemers). Eventually this incompetent king passed away and the House of Hohenzollern took over the PLC and so the great King decided he had enough of this Sejm bull****. When informants let us know of an impending Nobility revolt in 1625, we prepared our armies with the help of Brandenburg and executed over 100k greedy and traitorous rebels in Warsaw at great manpower cost. Two years later in June 5th, 1627 the nobles surrendered and the Sejm, together with its ridiculous laws was abolished. The PLC became the first Absolute Monarchy! This superior form of government, under the guidance of the Hohenzollern Dynasty shall lead our nation to a prosperous future. In 1628, Austira was attacked by Spain, and while in conjunction with our allies we considered intervening in this war, the certain entrance of France on the side of Spain dissuaded all from further action. Hopefully the Austrian King can reach an amenable deal in the partition of Italy and Venice with his neighbors. In 1631 our old cores controlled by Russia disappeared. However, through this entire period unimaginable military technologies were acquired by claiming Russian lands and repeatedly insulting Persia and the Mamluks (over 300 overall mp). In addition, almost the entirety of our lands are occupied by Polish and Ruthenian peoples, with only a few isolated holdout provinces remaining.

The Sejm Rebellion:
Battle against the traitors of the Republic.
The Sejm supporters are executed.
The Sejm is "pacified", Long live the Absolute Polish-Ruthenian Commonwealth Kingdom! Long live House Hohenzollern!!!

The Sun Never Sets on the Iberian Empire (Portugal AAR)
1597-1634



In 1597 King Avis, the Portuguese ruler of Spain, came to a realization: his kin in Lisbon were much better at running a trade empire than the slovenly merchants employed by his own court. So the wise King Avis humbled himself and asked the Council of Burghers for aid, and they accepted gladly. From 1597 onward, Portuguese merchants would manage the shipping lanes, trade and domestic production of all Iberia.

Under this Royal decree from King Avis, The Portuguese burghers set to work improving the economy of Spain. In a few short years the revenues from the markets of Seville had nearly tripled in size; the ports of Seville became the nexus of world trade. The Crown and the Republic split the revenue from this arrangement equally, bringing about the Iberian golden age.



Merchant republics are hilariously broken. Hordes warranted nerfs in 1.8 though, Paradox knows what they are doing.


Around this time, war raged in the Mediterranean between the Ottoman Empire and many other belligerents. King Avis received a handsome offer to have the joint fleet intervene, so we sailed forth under the pretexts of a trade conflict and sank the Venetian blockade of Constantinople quickly. The Rape of Venice saw Iberia plunder thousands of ducats from the treasury of the Doge.

Later, the French asked for Iberian cooperation in the Franco-Dutch attempt to invade Great Britain. Our admirals itched for the chance to prove their mettle again, so we accepted. Under Spanish command, our Fleet sailed to meet the British line in battle.

Unfortunately, the foolish Dutch admiral boldly sailed out from harbor against a far superior Anglo-Scandinavian fleet, and was soon sent to the bottom along with the French fleet who came too late to the battle. Our fleet was caught up in the great gyre near Bordeaux, so Portugal and Spain never got a chance to fight. This humiliating defeat for France ended in war reparations.

The Portuguese golden age is benefiting the far east as well; our small but professional army is helping the new Qing dynasty to subjugate China, and our shipwrights provide galleons to the Sultan of Hindustan at a discount. We also have provided thousands of ducats in aid to these Asian kingdoms. Indeed, the flourishing of Iberia under Portuguese rule will bring about a new era of global prosperity


Iberia para sempre, o império no qual o sol nunca se põe!

Hindustan: 1597-1634

asato mā sad gamaya
tamaso mā jyotir gamaya
mṛtyor mā amṛtaṁ gamaya

From ignorance lead me to truth
From darkness lead me to light
From death lead me to immortality

During the long reign of Sultan Ali III Bahmanid the Hindu nation prospered under the tutelage and continued patronage of Portugese merchants. After much deliberation the Sultans circle of trusted advisors decided upon a path of reformation after witnessing the power and great luxury of the western trading companies. This, however, was a path fraught with bumps and missteps. The Hindu people and privileged noble families believed the great Sultan to be a betrayer of the old ways and faith. At one point a Hindu religious madman having visions of blessed Ali III Bahmanid converting to Catholicism whipped the populace into open rebellion. Regiments were sent in to quell such unwelcome unrest. And as a show of force to dissuade further outbreaks of violence. Many nobles feared for their traditional rights and promptly refused to serve in the reformed armies or even discontinued tax payments and land rent. Over time the reform of government, army, and navy was accepted.

The last ten years of Ali III's reign saw a general improvement of infrastructure and religious conversion of the recently conquered province of Orissa. Portugal saw fit to offer a subsidy treaty for continued Hindustani loyalty. Sultan Ali considered gold to be a good reward for loyalty, there were no problems signing the treaty.

Alas Allah took the great Sultan into his bosom whereupon Ahmed II succeeded to the Sultanship. Early in Ahmed's reign a French naval group was spotted off the coast of Ceylon by Hindustani trading ships. Contact was made with the provincial governor of Coromandel. French intent was peaceful and only requested access to Hindustan lands for a French force of marines to move up the coastline and into Bengal. During this time Ahmed II launched an invasion of Malwa, long time rival and enemy of the royal Bahmanid line. The initial objective was Mahadeo but quickly expanded into a drawn out war with Malaca rushing to the Malwanese defense. After a prolonged conflict with the two nations Sultan Ahmed II slowly conquered Malwan provinces one by one, eventually sieging an forcing the capitulation of Mandu. With the peasantry in open revolt over this devastating war Malwanese diplomats agreed to a peace ceding multiple provinces to Hindustan as payment for the cost of war.

Swedenavia AAR. 1597-1634.

The peaceful years have come to an end and Sweden prepares for war. This time, the target are the Dutch. The Dutch have decided to remain in control over eastern Iceland and that island of theirs off the coast of IKEAnada is just an ugly shade of orange - an unappealing blob of eye-stinging colour next to the pleasant blue hues of IKEAnada. That alone would be justification for any war. The borders must be cleaned up.

There was also the presence of Dutch merchants in Lübeck - and in large numbers - simply couldn't be tolerated. Like leeches, they're siphoning out our trade, growing fat.

Through diplomacy, we convinced Austria not to defend the Dutch. With Austria out of the way, this left France as the last remaining Dutch ally - with their long history of working with the Dutch, it was deemed an uneccessary risk to try and talk them out of the war, fearing they'd warn the Dutch. Instead, our plans where expanded upon in the likely event that France should enter the war in defence of the Dutch.

The plan, in short, was to conduct a naval blockade along the entierity of the French-Dutch coastline and bring the land war to the colonies, for fighting the French juggernaught on land was not an option. To further entice France into surrendering, a large number of privateers would be sent towards Bordeaux to further increase the pressure on the French.

With the plan laid out, we brought Great Britain in on the plan and they agreed with much enthusiasm, citing that the Dutch had several times violated their agreement to share the Channel node. Together, we agreed upon the goals of the war - the Dutch would leave Iceland, and all their colonial territories north of Manhattan would be ceeded to the Swedish/English colonial states, including Manhattan itself.

With the PLC engaged in what historians refer to as the Muslim Thunderdome War and thus, our eastern borders secure. We struck. On the first day of the year 1600, the Swedish battle fleet undocked from Köpenhamn and opened fire on the Dutch vessels who where caught entierly by suprise. As the last of the Dutch ships where siezed or sunk, the fleet sailed out to the North Sea, sinking another fleet of Dutch traders. After a short stop in London for repairs, the fleet then went and joined the blockade. From Friesland to Navarra, the British-Scandinavian fleet would deny even the smallest of fishing boats access to the sea.

Meanwhile, Swedish troops laid siege to holdings in Iceland and Kanada. A combined force of Swedish and British regulars joined with the colonial troops and marched south from Ottawa to engage the Dutch colonial troops. After a series of battles and unable to reinforce their colonies, the French/Dutch defenders asked for peaceterms.

Of course, before the ink had even dried on the treaty papers, both the Dutch and the French went into a massive naval construction program. The British kept a keen eye along the coastline, counting a total of 80 galleons being built by the southeners. With a proper naval battle looming, both England and Sweden expanded their battlefleets to meet the challenge form the south. As the truce was nearing it's end, ships where once again unmothballed and brought into shape.

Then, breaking the truce - France declared it's conquest of Wessex, bringing the Dutch into the war. Quick to react, Admiral Mikael Gjaltenheim brought his fleet out to sea and caught the Dutch fleet of battle as it was undocking. The British fleet, drawn by the sound of cannonfire joined in and in the very first days of the war, the entierity of the Dutch fleet had been destroyed in it's entierity.

As the battle was drawing to a close, French sails where sighted. Without hesitation, Gjaltenheim led his fleet to engage the French who where seeking to assist the Dutch fleet - unknownst to them, the Dutch fleet had already been destroyed. The British joined the battle and in the first month of the war, the Swedish High Seas fleet and the Royal Navy had destroyed 80 Galleons and over 40 frigates with only a handful of losses of their own. Then, as if it wasn't enough, another massive fleet entered the English channel - France it seems, had called in their southern allies in Spain and Portugal and despite having sunk over 80 heavy ships in the past few days, the defending fleet was still matched hull for hull by the attackers. With the fleet still damaged from the battles with the French and the Dutch, the first wave of french troops would land in England uncontested.

In response to the french transports sighted in the channel, Swedish transports began ferrying over troops to England to help fight off the impending invasion. The French landed outside Kent and where met by the English on the shore. Swedish troops joined the battle and the result was the complete destruction of the French landing force in what shall be known as the battle of Benny Hill.

The Iberian fleet, seeing the carnage on the beaches, quickly lost their stomache for the horrors of war and withdrew. With their ambition of invading England quite thoroughly trashed, the French surrendered and ended up paying England war reparations for the next 10 years.

After the war, the Dutch made some progress towards rebuilding their battle fleet, but French shipyards remained empty.

Some years later, AMURICA **** YEAH started a war against the Dutch colony. Britain wished to enter the war to assist their colony, but before they where ready, AMURICA surrendered and the provinces gained in the first war where returned to Dutch control.

Years later, the Dutch colony started a war of reconquest against IKEAnada. The much larger Dutch colony would probably win that war, so Sweden attempted to enforce peace. The aggressors refused and with that, the overlords of both nations got dragged into the war. Once again, the Swedish line of battle sat outside the Dutch shores, trapping the Dutch fleet. The British where called in and soon, the war in the colonies turned around. Leaving Britain to take care of the colonial front, Sweden shipped it's troops home to prepare for the invasion of the Dutch homeland.

Before that happened, the Dutch once again asked for terms, the Dutch fleet unable to break the blockade. The Swedish invasion of the Netherlands averted - the losses AMURICA saw in the previous colonial war where restored, and the Dutch colony ceeded a meaningless province to IKEAnada.

Also poured more money into infrastructure, but after having seen the numbers Portugal, Spain and France pull in every month, it's questionable if one should even try to compete with them.

Ledgerdumps

Manchu is finally not playing single player anymore!

Was Italy human followed by a ragequit or something? I've never seen the AI form Italy before but there's no human Italy on the last couple maps.

Italy was under the control of a couple subs after drunkenone couldn't make it. The first handed over provinces to France without a fight (which was a shame, because Austria was definitely gonna back him up and it would have been a good fight.) The second guy was somebody different, but by that point the Franco-Iberia alliance had been formed and once Italy was attacked again the sub switched to cover the AI ottomans since their player was gone and it was clear Italy was doomed. Italy was then partitioned with most of it going to Spain and Austria

France and Spain allying makes them overwhelmingly powerful in a non shocker

yeah well the alliance just ended.

Quick questions to the pros regarding diplo annexing:
In my games, the most common problem with diplo annexing is "<insert country>'s tax base compared to <my country>'s tax base" as a huge negative.
How is that value derived?

That's diplo vassalization. Base tax is the total value of all your provinces. Each province has a base tax. I don't know the entire formula. Wiki says:

+30*to*-90*from base tax. Determined by*60*(your base tax)/(target's base tax)^2 - 90, where base tax is the total province base tax of the country without any buildings or modifiers. In addition the base tax of your vassals multiplied with your vassal income efficiency counts towards your base tax*

I know most of you guys are only into EU, so this just as a PSA:

Gamersgate are celebrating their 10 year anniversary with a sale, and one of the items on the list is Hearts of Iron 3 with ALL expansions and a million-and-one DLCs. All for €10, which should be roughly the same in USD (plus/minus tree fiddy).

I confess, I've never actually owned HoI3. Darkest Hour always seemed to be the superiour game to me, but I've heard good things about the expansions, and for a tenner I'm grabbing it.

Oh, it's DRM Free, too. No Steam adware bull****.

Thanks for posting djstu/Nonfiction, I enjoy following.

Ah, yes. No wonder I couldn't find the details, using the wrong name to search.
Thanks for the info!