never seen a kongolese HRE. amazing!

Yeah, they got converted to catholic by portuguese missionaries. Then when the evangelical league event came around they were the only catholic non-vassal state still remaining, so they got to wear the crown! It was hilarious, everybody was laughing their assess off in TS.

I'm currently going for the albania achievement, anyone knows if I have to stay as albania to get it or if forming italy is allowed? (first this needs a culture shift of course)

Here is the legderdump from this week sessions. I'll post the more interesting AARs as the come, but western europe was mostly quiet apart from the demise of Great Britain (defeated by the combined French and Scandinavian navies) and Austria (whose player left and was promptly dismantled by the various powers).

Countries


Ok, we'll get the "holy **** iberia" out of the way quickly. The Iberian players have continued to cement their dominance of trade and used it to power massive economies. With a combined income of over 800 monthly, both Portugal and Iberia are extremely rich and, as we will see, have begun spreading the wealth around in an effort to affect the diplomatic landscape elsewhere.

Meanwhile, France continues it's exceptionally strong growth with 310 monthly. We could talk more about other nations, but subsidies play such a large part in nation income at this point we will wait for the more detailed income screen.

Caveats here are due on many of the eastern nations, particularly PLC, as they have significant amounts of territory occupied by the great war in the east.

Incomes, Detailed


So, here we get a better idea of what the incomes look like. Although it's important to note that for both Spain and Portugal this screen doesn't substract the subsidies they are giving to other countries (POR is giving ~318 monthly, Spain ~20 monthly). Still, Portugal and Spain are the dominant economies in the game, followed by France, then Scandinavia being supported by ~41 monthly subsidies from the Iberians. Both Hindustan and Qing are also being supported bu subsidies from Portugal.

Armies


The military buildup in France and Spain has been massive this session. Both sides appeared to have entered a cold war after the ending of the Franco-Iberian alliance and have spent vast sums of money expanding their military. Spain is now up to a terrifying 590,000 men, with France at a relatively lowly 421,000 men. No other power comes even remotely close to either of the two powers. The coming war will surely be the most massive the world has ever seen.

The picture is muddied for the rest of the world, as virtually all the central/eastern europe powers are currently involved in a long war (Russia, Mamluks, Persia vs PLC, Ottomans, and Brandenburg) that shows no real signs of ending soon.

Navies


Iberia continues to be dominant on the waves. The Spanish and Portuguese navies have more heavy ships than the rest of the world combined, and significantly more hulls then the rest of the European powers. Sadly, some former naval powers (Venice, GB) have been destroyed this session, so the list is actually smaller than it has in the past.

Leaders


For the first time this week we take a hard look at the leaders screen. PLC has the best leader in overall stats, followed by Scandinavia. But all the major powers have at least one extremely capable general to lead their armies.

Probably the most terrifying officer corps comes from the Spanish and French Armies. Despite not joining in any player wars this session both have amassed truly amazing generals with Spain having a 6/5/3/1, a 5/6/2/0, and a 5/3/5/1. France meanwhile has a 6/5/2/1, 4/3/6/1, and a 4/4/2/3. The coming war between the two super-powers promises to be extremely bloody.

But where is the map???

I'm p salty about this mp game, can't resist pretty maps tho.

How Portugal still has European holdings?

Because they're routing something ~120 value in trade around Africa to Seville. Spain benefits hugely from this and would never want to stop it.

Spain, France, Russia dominating in a shocker.

If you westernize as russia, you won't get western units? So there is no use in westernising as russia. Correct me if I am wrong.

You get better tech

Not worth it though

Hmm but it will be a huge setback to westernize. and the eastern units won't be upgraded to western units I read somewhere.

And I can compete with the western countries in teching up. So my only benefit would be better units to westernize, but if my troops won't be upgraded it has no benefits at all.

No benefit to westernize as Eastern tech for sure, probably not as Muslim either as you can keep up with full negative piety.

So can someone give me a cliff notes version of how Portugal is collecting all that trade? Is there just no one competing with them in the node?

Sevilla GOAT basically. Lots of forwarding to that node will make anyone with it as a home rich as ****. Midgame it should always be making assloads of cash in a player's hands.

Essentially, Portugal and Spain had no real competition when it came to securing trade routes. Spain rapidly took over the Carribean, Genoa, and is diverting significant trade from alexandria on top of it. Portugal spent time securing the African trade routes and has used its status as a merchant republic to great effect securing large amounts of trade from Asia (I think he has something around 15 merchants active now).

On top of all that, Spain is giving 100% of it's trade power to Portugal which gives it significant benefits in production. This lets portugal collect EVERYTHING, which is better since they have much higher TE than Spain, after which portugal subsidies monies back to Spain.

A real Iberian wedding made in Heaven it seems

Is there a reason Sevilla > English Channel? Looks like more nodes can route to English Channel? Looks like the major difference is North America vs Alexandria./Genoa A problem France solves by controlling champagne.

Is that just not realistic in most games?

It kinda sucks that surviving as teutonic order is a bit rng. If there is no +2 diplo guy restart. If you cant get an alliance with austria before Brandenburg, Poland and or Denmark declares war on you, you are ****ed. But if you can get the alliance and add your capital to the hre it is easy mode.

More AARs from the ongoing MP game:

Spain 1666-1704

The war with France did not come as soon as many suspected. Troops had to be ferried back from Africa and claims established on the italian lands that the Spainish Court wanted. This lackadaisical approach continued once war was declared as Spanish Generals were routinely outmaneuvered by their french counterparts. As promised, the war was extremely bloody.

Defeat at Dauphine, after a short skirmish Spanish troops retreated due to poor fighting grounds



Defeat at Ferrara, as part of a large Spanish defense of a French Push into Italy



Disaster at Liguria, a reinforcing Army is caught leaderless by a French Army and routed before reinforcements arrive



Defeat at Parma, the bulk of the Spanish Army in N. Italy is broken


2nd Battle of Liguria, again the Spanish Army is thrown back in disarray


Battle of Provence, 2 years into the War. Spain despretely tries to break into N. Italy but is once again thrown back


Battle of Lombardie, France allows the entirety of the Spanish Army access to N. Italy, then crushes it.


After the Defeat at Lombardie, France was able to destablize the country by sending worthless peace-deals. Unable to convince his populace that the fight could still be one, and in the midst of a civil war (which started ~1668 cause why not), the Spanish court was humiliated into accepting a peace consisting of 100 gold to France. While many could argue that Spain got off light in a war they were clearly losing, it was still a horrible blow to Spanish prestige.

Peace with France did have some tangible benefits at least. The army, broken and shattered as it was, was used to ruthlessly put down the numerous rebels that had cropped up due to the civil war and after 3 short years order was again restored to Spain. Additional conquests were made in the New world, what few native nations remaining quickly absorbed into the sprawling Spanish colonial empire. However, the bulk of the attention went to re-organizing and reconstituting the Spanish Army. It took decades, but the Army was eventually reformed and brought to it's former glory. The lessons of the past war were taken to heart as well and it was decided to focus on invading southern France rather than fight in italy. 102,000 Mercenaries (backed by 60,000 cannon) would serve as the armies shock troops, absorbing the initial French resistance and seiging down key territories while Spanish regulars backed them up.

All the pieces were finally in place, and the 2nd Franco-Iberian war was declared in 1692. The Mercenary armies lead the way, catching the French by surprise in Gascogne. Both sides reinforced heavily, and the battle was by far the bloodiest in recorded history with over 500,000 dying on the bloody fields.

Decisive Victory at Gascogne


Following the battle the Spanish army broke up and rapidly sieged down several territories in sourthern france, despite extensive fortifications. A tactical mistake was made in Toulouse where the assaulting mercenary armies took extremely heavy casualties and their infantry companies were wiped out. This regretful action cost the Spanish army 90,000 men and stranded another 72,000 cav and artillery in Spain has they had no screening forces. Despite this, the Spanish regulars pressed onward, winning Victories at Perigord...

Victory at Perigord


... and Limousin...

Victory at Limousin


Which signaled the end of French resistance. Many rich French provinces were taken in Northern Italy and Bordeaux. A new client state, the Democratic People's Republic of France, was established in Bordeaux and has proven to be a worthy vassal by raising ~25,000 men out of only 3 provinces. However, it is assured that France will want its provinces back, and whether the Spanish luck will hold in the coming wars remains to be seen.

Ledgers

Countries


So, skipping the overall income here since we'll talk about it later. Spain and Portugal are both insanely rich. Spain has super high power projection after several wars against France as well. French and Spanish max manpower is also relatively equal. But whatever, onto incomes! (sorry for the Franco-Spanish focus)


Incomes Detailed


Nothing terribly new here in terms of rankings. Iberia is insanely rich... and getting steadily richer. France has taken a huge beating economically (mostly at the hands of rampant piracy courtesy of Spain) and is now below but roughly equal to Scandinavia who is standing on their own without any Iberian subsidies.

A clear division between countries is also noted. Tier 1 consists of the Iberian powers, Tier 2 contains Scandinavia, Russia, France, and Persia, Tier 3 mostly consists of the eastern nations.

Armies


France and Spain continue their massive buildups despite 2 wars between them this session. Spain has a gigantic army of 745,000 men while France has "merely" 640,000. Either country is equal to roughly 3 of the next largest armies combined. However, there are other things to note. Scandinavia has continued it's strong growth and takes the top spot of the 2nd teir armies. Germany has also grown significantly.


Navies


The days of multiple Naval powers are over. The seas now belong exclusively to the Iberians and Scandinavians.

Leaders


Very different situation from last session. Germany, Russia, Spain, and Scandinavia all have strong officer corps. A surprising absence is France who lacks the top tier generals the other nations have, despite being involved in multiple wars this session.

But WHERE is the MAP?

map person super lazy

MAP

While these can probably be answered by reading AAR...
- French Korea?
- WHAT ON EARTH HAPPENED TO THE UK, lol USA
- did not know Egypt was formable