Where in the World is John Locke? (EU4)

[John Locke]

In order to get out of the routine of playing Russia/Brandenburg/Austria/Portugal, I'm going to be taking an idea from CatKnight (Who also had some great Baseball Mogul dynasties a few years ago) from the Paradox forums. The idea is to use the Random Nation button to start off the game. From there, every 5 years you roll a die. To continue past 5 years, you need to roll a 2 or higher. For 10 years, a 3 or higher, and so on and so forth. If you don't roll a high enough number, your turn at that country is over and a new country will be chosen. Here is the link to his AAR: Random World Order

For the 1st (1444-1450) and last (1815-Jan 1 1821) chapters, the same country will be used. If I happen to lose as a country (Say I roll Albania to start and lose in 1446), the next country will get the remaining amount of time plus the next chapter. I'm going to allow myself 2 "Rerolls" with countries. I don't want to have to use these and they will only be considered if I land on an isolated country.

All DLC is enabled for this AAR. Ironman is off by necessity. Lucky Nations will also be turned off. The only mod that I'll be using is the graphics mod Illusionary Flat Political Mapmode v1.0. It seems that the latest hot patch has left the game pretty stable and I haven't read about any major bugs so unless something pops up, I don't expect any major downtime.

 

[John Locke]

Chapter 1.1: Not a lot to do in Norway

Our first stop is in Norway. We have 15 provinces which are all poor (10 have 1 base tax, 3 have 2 BT, 2 have 3 BT). All but the northernmost province Finnmark (Sami) have Norwegian Culture). We primarily produce fish with naval supplies and fur sprinkled in there. If all of this isn't exciting enough, we start off under Denmark in a Personal Union. So our ruler is the 27 year old Christoper III von Wittelsbach. Denmark also has our neighbor Sweden under a PU, along with Holstein as a Vassal. Because of this, we don't really have much to do diplomatically. What we can do is ask for neighboring countries to support our independence.

We have a few options for countries to support our independence. England would be the best choice but they're busy with the Hundred Years' War. Scotland wants our islands to the north so they won't help us. The Teutonic Order and Livonian Order don't dislike Denmark enough to help. Pomerania is an option but they aren't really strong enough. After looking everything over, the 2 countries the we will try to appeal to are The Hansa and Novgorod. The Hansa may be small but they are quite rich and have a decent amount of troops. Novgorod is a risk with Muscovy breathing down their neck but it's a chance we have to take. We send both of our diplomats away to improve relations.

We take the mission Fortify Hagogaland even though we don't have to money to build an Earthen Rampart yet. We do build 2 Barques (Light Ships that can increase our Trade Power). Our National Ideas reduce the build cost of Light Ships by 20% and also increases their Combat Ability by 20%.

On Christmas Day 1444 our Clergy gets uppity and they demand changes. We ignore their demands (+10 Prestige, -10 Papal Influence). In April of 1445, Scotland has decided to support the independence of Sweden. A big blow to any chance of independence comes in August of 1445 when Denmark enters into an alliance with Poland. Poland by itself isn't a problem, it's that they will drag Mazovia (their vassal), Moldavia (their March), and their giant dog on a leash Lithuania into any wars with them. More bad news the following year as there is finally an heir to the Danish throne in young Christoffer.

We finally start making repairs to our capital Akershus, gaining 5 Prestige at the cost of some manpower that would just go to waste. In February of 1447, we finally start construction of a fort in Hagogaland.

By May, our diplomats can do no more in Novogorod and The Hansa. The Hansa would consider being our allies but they won't support our independence. Novogorod was close to agreeing with us but we just couldn't quite get through to them. Our diplomats will now go to Pomerania and England to try and find help.

In August of 1447, the old Pope died and was replaced with Pope Hadrianus IV, who was loyal to England. In early 1448, the fort construction mission in Hagogaland is completed, netting us 1 Army Tradition and increasing the Manpower in that county by 28. We then take the Mission Solidify Papal Relations. Pomerania won't help us so we move that diplomat to Rome. In December, priests in the county of Trondelag (Our only county with a Temple) are rumored to be teaching heresy. We put an end to it with 30 Diplomatic Points.

Something finally happened in September of 1449, when our Overlord declared war on The Hansa in what they are calling a Trade Dispute. Unfortunately, our Trade Fleet ran straight into the fleet of The Hansa. Thankfully our Battle Fleet was able to reach them in time. We did lose 2 Barques in the fight.

The plan here is not to help out Denmark. We will not be sending our 6 regiments down to help. It was unfortunate that we even had to engage the "Enemy" navy. While the Danish side has about 10,000 more troops than the Hansa/Austrian side, many of them are Eastern Tech and not quite up to par. As you can see here, the Danish side outnumbered The Hansa in this battle and still lost. Hopefully that keeps up.

As we hit 1450, here are the very early results of the war:

Continue as Norway or move on

Need 2+
The Roll: 1

Alright then. Can't really say I'm disappointed because there just isn't much to do when you're under a Personal Union. So, where do we go from here?

 

[Schauwn]

Loving this.

 

[John Locke]

Chapter 2.1: Rebellious Qara Qoyunlu

Welcome to Qara Qoyunlu! We are a Shia nation that is barely has barely over 50% religious unity (Sunni and Coptic have a decent share). We currently cannot send missionaries to fix that problem. We produce ten different trade goods with Wool and Grain being the major two. There are 8 different cultures inside of our country with Mashriqi and Kurdish being the most prevalent. We are ruled by Khan Jahan Shah Qara Koyunlu who specializes with the military. We have allies in Tabarestan and Haasa, as the following diplomatic screen shows. It also shows a sizable problem.

We are greeted with 32,000 Armenian Nationalists who are close to sieging down their respective provinces. If that wasn’t enough, on January 6[sup]th[/sup], a pretender rises up because we have been at peace for so long. Thankfully, those 5,000 troops spawn in Van so the rebels just kill each other. The game didn’t think that was fair, as 19 days later 5,000 more Pretender Troops rise up elsewhere. For 9 months we fight rebels and wait for our troops to reinforce. We can’t have anything nice though, as Persian Nationalist from the neighboring Timurids have crossed over and start sieging one of our provinces. They take the province while we reinforce but they are eventually defeated and the county of Ilam is lifted from rebel occupation.

Being at war with Rebels isn’t good enough for our people as they give me an ultimatum. Kill off my heir or see another rebel stack. Sorry son.

We do get some good news as Haasa has agreed to become our vassal in September of 1450. At this point we are completely out of manpower so we just need to sit and recover and hope no more rebels pop up. The plan is to take our neighbor to the west Aq Qoyunlu when we have recovered. Just before we planned to declare war, we secured the throne by popping out an heir in baby Iskander. The picture below also shows all 3 counties of Aq Qoyunlu in the darker blue.

The deciding battle ended on June 5[sup]th[/sup], 1452. While we lost more men, we shattered their morale. The Aq Qoyunlu army was entirely defeated 2 weeks later.

From this point forward it was a waiting game until the three provinces fell. Rikka was the first, falling on October 9[sup]th[/sup] while Dyarbakir was the last to fall in June of 1453. We demanded their full annexation. All 3 provinces started the Coring process the next day. The local autonomy in Erzincan was increased to pacify the population. After the war, we decided that Georgia was no longer worth our time and would no longer be considered a rival.

During the war, the local nobility demanded an increase to their pensions which we grudgingly accepted (-10% National Tax Modifier). The next group of whiners was a group of Imams who believe we are pursuing heretical research. I tell them to GTFO (-25 Piety).

Things were quiet until August of 1454 when we were able to convince Shirvan to become our 2[sup]nd[/sup] vassal. We start to fabricate a claim on the country of Trebizond in September. In October those bastard Persian rebels crossed over into our country again. I’ll probably recruit a bunch of mercenaries to supplement our army in getting rid of them. On December 11[sup]th[/sup], the province of Erzincan became a Core.

Our new vassals:

Stay or Go?
Need: 2+
The Roll: 4

We'll be staying in the Middle East for now.

 

[John Locke]

I've finished 1455-1460 but I ran into a problem. I got to the end, rolled the die, and it had me leaving (Spoiler Alert). Ok, that's fine. I go back to the menu to select a random country but the button is grayed out. I tried clicking it anyway and it gave me an Indian country. Well, it just gave me the country that was underneath the button. There is a bug report on it so at least I know it isn't just me. So I'm going to try and find another way to select a random country until it gets fixed.

 

[John Locke]

Alright, temporary workaround found. I will use a random number generator to pick a province number. This page has the complete list: http://www.eu4wiki.com/List_of_provinces

If it picks a water or uncolonized province I'll just roll again.

 

[John Locke]

Chapter 2.2: Howdy Neighbor

For the time being, we’re just going to let those Persian Rebels siege. Our numbers would be fairly even and we really can’t afford to get into another big fight at the moment. We do get a mission to get up to 28 troops to protect against the Mamluks. So we hire 3 mercenaries and get 5.0 Army Tradition for that. We send a diplomat to Baluchistan to Improve Relations.

July 4[sup]th[/sup], 1455 will now be known as Persian Independence Day. The Timurids finally caved and allowed Persia to form. The rebels that were sieging Ilam have disappeared, thankfully. We now have a new large neighbor. Unsurprisingly, they hate us and Rival and Embargo us within 2 months of forming. Up yours too, neighbor.

Diyarbakir becomes a core in September. We increase Local Autonomy to get rid of any chance of rebellion. We enter an Alliance with Gazikumukh and follow that up with a Royal Marriage. They agree to become our vassal in May of 1456. Ar Raqqa becomes a core in June and we increase autonomy in this province as well.

We are able to increase our military technology to Level 4, Pike Square. This allows us to build an Armory, increases our Military Tactics by 0.25, and increases our Land Morale by 0.50. In August of 1456, we find out our latest vintage of Wine was terrible leading to a loss of 5 prestige and increase in Piety. After more and more waiting, our troops have finally fully reinforced in April of 1457.
We take the Mission Save the Azerbaijani people in Zanjan. We hire 3 more troops to get up to our Force Limit and begin to move our troops to the Persian border. I go to declare war when I find out that Persia recently allied with The Ottomans. Eff. That would be a death sentence. The Orthodox countries to our north are busy with a war in the Crimean Peninsula so declaring war on Trebizond is an option. We decide to wait a few months and let them deplete their armies in another war before striking.

That plan goes to hell quickly as Persia declares war on Tabarestan. We grudgingly accept the call and find ourselves at war with Persia, The Ottomans, and their vassal Athens. We are outnumbered 60,000 troops to 48,000, along with The Ottomans having superior troop types. The plan is to go after Persia right away and try and decimate them early. We hope the Ottomans will just siege our own country, leaving the War Goal in Tabarestan alone for the time being. Our lone Trade Ship gets destroyed in the first 10 days by the Persian Fleet. Sorry guys, you didn’t stand a chance.

Not even a month after the war starts our Tribes are at each other’s throats and they get into a huge fight, resulting in the loss of 10 Prestige and 1 Stability. The first major battle results in an Allied Victory, even while attacking in the Mountains. The army follows that up be completely wiping out a separate, decent sized Persian army. While these 2 battles were taking place, The Ottomans started marching to Persia and our lone sieging army. We couldn’t make it back in time and the small group of troops was destroyed. Fortunately, The Ottomans retreated and look to be content sieging near their own borders. They also are only deploying about half of their troops are the moment or else this would turn into a bloodbath.

In April of 1459, we reach Diplomatic Technology 4, Marketplace and Dock. This increases our Trade Range by 10 and allows us to build a Marketplace and Dock. In October we decrease taxes by 15% to help our struggling nation (It was that or -20% Manpower reinforcement or +2 Unrest). Sieging efforts continue and we finally see a gain in November and Zanjan falls to the combined forces of Tabarestan, Shirvan, and Haasa. This group then marches back to Tabarestan to take on the slightly recovered Persian army. As January 1460 began, the battle was not over but it appeared to be an Allied victory. As we close this turn, here is a look at the War Screen.

Stay or Go
Need: 3+
Roll: 2

So we will be leaving Qara Qoyunlu after 10 years. As stated above, the Random Nation button isn’t working so I’m using a number generator to pick the new country.
1275: Water
1862: Cremona

Looks like we get to start with Rebels again!

 

[John Locke]

Chapter 3.1: Not Unique for Long

Welcome to northern Italy, where we start off besieged by Pretender Rebels and embroiled in a losing war as a secondary participant. Our government (currently) is the unique Ambrosian Republic (+10% National Tax, +5% Army Morale, -0.05 Monthly Autonomy, 3 year election cycle). Grand-Captain Matteo Mancini (1 A, 1 D, 4 M) is our fearless leader. 10,000 rebel troops lead by Galeazzo Luserna del Torre have already taken control of Lombardia and are at -28% siege in Cremona. Meanwhile, our own troops are currently in Bavaria, watching as Ulm and friends win a coalition war. We currently have just 806 troops. If this isn’t enough we have also taken out 8 loans at 15 ducats each, with 4 of them being due next June.

We are able to take Military Tech #5 Standard Pikes (Combat Width +2, Infantry Shock +0.15, New Infantry) right away. Thankfully, Bavaria sees reason on January 4[sup]th[/sup] and peaces out, releasing Nuremberg as a sovereign state and will no longer have Ansbach as a vassal. March is election time for us. We keep Mancini because the government is going to fall soon and he should see the end of it. A feud in May between aristocrats nets us 1 Stability at the cost of 20 Republican Tradition. A saint performs a Miracle in June and we are in awe (+1 Stability, +0.5 Catholic Reform Desire).

August 1, 1460 is our day of reckoning, as Cremona falls and the Rebels enforced their demands. Long Live The King. We soon enter Royal Marriages with our allies Mantua, Savoy, and Bavaria.

In December, we allow the building of a one of the first community hospitals.

1461 sees us take the Mission Rival of a Threat, so we start increasing relations with England. We pay off 3 of our 4 loans in June and another in December.
Lombardia is now the seat of a Cardinal in 1462, allowing us the chance to become Papal Controller. In February we take Diplomatic Tech #5 Basic Financial Instruments (+20 Trade Range, +10% Trade Efficiency). We see an increase of Obscurantism in June, increasing our National Unrest by 2 for 2 years. Another loan is repaid in September. We sanction The Last Jousting Tournament in December.

In June of 1463 the Pope dies and he is replaced by Pope Clemens VII, loyal to the Papal State. In September, our troops have finally reinforced. What I’d like to do is attack Genoa and take Liguria, thus reducing them to Corisca to the south and their random provinces in Crimea. Unfortunately, during our reinforcing downtime, they allied with Venice who is pretty powerful. Also, our big pal Savoy is currently busy beating up France in a Coalition War. So for a while we sit and wait.

In May of 1464, we realize that neighboring Ferrara has no allies AND is losing a war to Tuscany. We have a claim on Modena so I declare war immediately. We forget to dock our trading fleet so we ask Austria for docking access, which they accept. Tuscany refuses to split up their troops so we are able siege 3 of the 4 provinces that Ferrara owns. As we reach January of 1465 it’s just a waiting game for the provinces to fall.

Stay or Go?
Need: 2+
Roll: 4

 

[John Locke]

Chapter 3.2: Why Won’t You Just Surrender?

Our new King finally produces an heir in little Gian Galeazzo (1 A, 1 D, 5 M) in March. In April our small folk somehow believe that this war has taken a toll on them. Yeah, this war that has had no battles an only sieges. Mmk. We tell them to suck it up (+2 Unrest for 5 years). The county of Ferrara falls in April. Venice decides to embargo us in June which does hurt our trade income a bit. Romanga falls on August 17[sup]th[/sup]. Things are going as planned.

And then Tuscany decides to screw us over. They make peace with Ferrara, and well, the picture below tells the story.

So now we’re at war with Ferrara for nothing. We have 100% War Score so we force them give us 50% of their trade power for 10 years along with 10% of their monthly income for 10 years. Thanks a lot, you dicks.

So we bring our troops home and then promptly declare war on the friendless Modena in October. Their 1 Troop is easily defeated and we begin to siege.

In May of 1466 we pay off a loan, leaving us with just 1 outstanding. The big war in France also ends in May, with France being forced to release 3 nations. Nice work guys.

In June we take Military Technology #6 Arquebus (+0.25 Military Tactics, +2 Combat Width, +0.30 Infantry Shock). Despite this, we realize that because we are warring, our troops are getting any smarter so we lose 1 Stability. In December we are finally able to stop paying War Reparations to France from a prior war. This frees up around 0.70 ducats a month.

In February of 1467 we pay off our final loan. In June we take Administrative Technology #5, Constable & Temples, which allows us to build both. All of our provinces already have Temples but we do start construction of a Constable in Lombardia (+20% local production efficiency). Our Royal Marriage with Bavaria ends in July when their ruler dies. They decide to renew it in September.

Our Constable is built in April of 1468. And do you know what is still going on? Yeah, that siege of Modena. It’s been at 21% for over a year at this point. The siege has been going on for over 2. And even before that, we were sieging it when it was a part of Ferrara. Those people just don’t quit. Well, they prove to actually be quitters on June 1[sup]st[/sup] but I can’t really blame them. Modena agrees to be annexed the following day. We spend 78 Admin Points to start the coring process.

The Emperor isn’t happy about this and he demands that we release Modena. Start chief, they’re staying with us.

We start construction of a dock (+0.33 Local Trade Power, +25% Local Ship Repair) in Parma in June. We also start fabricating a claim on the county of Romanga. Interesting news from the south in September as Aragon has lost their Personal Union over Naples. We quickly ask for a Royal Marriage and Alliance, which they accept.

We start construction of a Marketplace (+2 Local Trade Power) in Parma in June of 1469. In September we start fabricating a claim on the Tuscan county of Pisa. In September, Tuscany declares war on Siena. This war will put our allies Mantua (Tuscan side) and Savoy (Siena side) at war with each other. If Tuscany were to win, I think it’s possible a coalition could start, considering they were just at war with Ferrara. I’ll keep a close eye on this.

In November, we get an easy mission to Insult Switzerland, netting us 5 prestige and 25 Military Points. Soon after, The Papal State decides that we shouldn’t be rivals anymore. So I take the mission to Solidify Papal Relations. Modena becomes a core in mid-December.

Stay or Go?
Need: 3+
Roll: 5

 

[Yankee151]

That should hurt France pretty badly

 

[John Locke]

Yeah, hopefully Burgundy and friends go after them once the truce is over. The longer those 2 beat each other up, the better things are for Europe.

 

[John Locke]

Chapter 3.3: Stuck

Note: Updated to Patch 1.11 and added the Women of History DLC.

We hire Master of Mint Emanuele Gonzaga for 16.6 ducats and a salary of 1.3 ducats a month. He will decrease of Inflation by 0.10 each year (Currently at 1.40) and give us +1 Administrative Power a month. In June, we make improvement to our land technology (+50 Military Power, +0.50 Inflation).

It’d be nice to be able to go after our Rivals but they main 3 have created a web of alliances that would overpower us. Furthermore, Savoy and Mantua are still at war with each other so it’d just be Bavaria helping us out. So unfortunately we’ll just have to wait and bide our time. In January of 1471 we start construction of a Marketplace in Lombardia. Nothing happens until November when we finish our mission with the Pope (+5 Prestige). We then take the Mission to protect again Genoa, so we build an additional cavalry unit. This mission is complete in January of 1472 (+5.0 Army Tradition). We then get the east Insult Tuscany mission (+5 Prestige, 25 Military Power).

In June we start construction of a Marketplace in Cremona. Also in June, Nobles begin to demand their old rights back which we grudgingly accept (+15% Local Autonomy in Modena, Cremona, and Parma). Just before the end of a year our lone Cardinal dies.

In May 1473 we take Diplomatic Technolgy #6 Embassies, which allows us to build an Embassy. On November 20[sup]th[/sup] the Emperor dies but Austria retains control.

Neighboring countries believe we look weak for just sitting around and doing nothing so we lose 5 Prestige. We get an increase in Administrative Power in June of 1475 (+50 ADM Power, +0.50 Inflation).

Siena finally gives up in September, agreeing to become a part of Tuscany. I attempt to start a Coalition against Tuscany but they apparently didn’t accrue enough Aggressive Expansion so we are out of luck.

Searching for a way to expand, we start fabricating a claim on our current ally and neighbor Mantua. We think we might see some action in November when Bavaria declares war on Nuremburg but they do not ask for our help. They should have, because Nuremberg plus 2 allies beat them badly in the first battle.

Stay or Go?
Need: 4+
Roll: 1

Well, this last 5 years was pretty boring. We could have gone after Ferrara again in the next turn but it wasn’t meant to be.
Random Number: 1940: Belz

Great, a vassal. At least we start off in a war.

 

[Schauwn]

Update?

 

[John Locke]

Probably tonight. Was waiting on hotfixes because AI countries were taking forever to colonize. The newest one seems to have fixed it.

 

[John Locke]

Chapter 4.1: Won't Anyone Stick Up For The Little Guy?

A subject nation once again. We have 4 provinces sandwiched in between Poland and Lithuania and are bordered to the north by the Teutonic Order, who we happen to be at war with. The new patch introduced “Liberty Desire” to subject nations. At 50 we become rebellious. We’re at a 4. None of the neighbors are willing to support our independence. Fantastic. We decide to improve relations with Bohemia on the off chance they start hating Poland. We also take the Solidify Papal Relations mission and ship a diplomat off to Rome.

Despite numerical superiority, we are technically losing the war because Kulm, the war target, hasn’t been taken and we’re already at least 4 years into the war.

So obviously, the 2 large siege stacks are focused on provinces not named “Kulm”. We take our 7,000 troops off of the stack in Ostpreussen and head over to Kulm where we defeat 3,000 Teutonic Troops. After this, our ally Pomerania takes a White Peace. Quitters. We split our troops up again to go and siege Danzig and Marienburg. Hungary takes a White Peace in March so that’s one less enemy. They do not like Poland and might be willing to support our independence so we send a diplomat to kiss up to them. The main portion of the Muscovy army was soundly defeated on June 25[sup]th[/sup]. For the rest of the year we just continue the 3 sieges.

In February, our General dies. In March, we break of our siege of Danzig because Livonian and Teutonic Troops were heading straight for Marienburg. They do not attack at this time. They wait until late April to strike so we call off the siege of Kulm as well. Despite this, our Merchants think it’s a good time to complain about a lack of protection. We agree to help them (+1 Mercantilism, -25 Diplo Power). On May 20[sup]th[/sup], the battle is lost. Lithuanian forces arrive 4 days later and destroy their forces.

In other news, the Iberian Wedding event fired, leading to a Castile getting a Personal Union over Aragon. Because we are now reinforcing our troops, we are bleeding money. In September we have to take a 9 Ducat loan. We send our troops back to Kulm and Danzig where they are once again attacked. Fortunately we had Lithuania reinforcements nearby so we didn’t lose the battles but we did lose plenty more troops. We’re forced to take another loan in February of 1477. In March we take Military Technology #6, Arquebus. In May we gain 5 Prestige by Solidifying our Papal Relations.

In September we have to take out a 3[sup]rd[/sup] loan. We also a blessed with a Brilliant Diplomat, who we send to Rome to serve God (+20 Papal Influence). Kulm finally falls on September 19[sup]th[/sup]. These troops are sent off to siege Neumark. We take Danzig in early December. We take another loan in February of 1478. Poland finally calls off the dogs and agrees to a peace deal on February 20[sup]th[/sup].We take the mission Recover Manpower. A Political Crisis in March causes us to lose 25 Legitimacy.

We’ve reached maximum relations with Hungary and April and it still isn’t enough for them to support us. Honestly though, they aren’t a strong enough ally and they’re being ravaged by Rebels at the moment. Poland is improving relations with us, trying to get up to the 190 needed to start Diplo-Annexation.

Nothing of note happens over the next year and a half. Lithuania is getting beat up by Rebels that started appearing during the Teutonic war but they can probably handle them.

Stay or Go?
Need: 2+
Roll: 5

I’m really hoping that in the next session Poland annexes us. I have no options for independence and there just is nothing to do as a subject nation.

 

[John Locke]

Chapter 4.2: Nothin' Doing

We start off 1480 by taking Administrative Technology #6, Three Field Rotations (+10% Production Efficiency, Build Farm Estates). Doing this also lets us pass the De Heretico Comburendo Act, which means we can punish people who own or translate the Bible by burning them at the stake. Seems a bit excessive but we’ll take the +2% National Tax modifier and +0.5% Missionary Strength. We would now be able to start converting the province of Belz (Which is Orthodox) but it would take 1111 months.

Throughout these 5 years, we got hit with the “_____ Technology is Wrong/Heretical” for all 3 categories. Instead of losing 50 points from each power, we take the -10 Prestige choice 3 times. Pope Honorius V is elected on September 20, 1480 and he is loyal to the Papal State.

Nothing really happens for a while other than us paying off one our loans. Muscovy got absolutely wrecked by Kazan in a war. Kazan started the war while we were still at war with Muscovy so it was easy pickings for them.

In January of 1482, we get dragged into a Pomeranian war against Mecklenburg, which causes us to automatically fail our Recover Manpower mission. We will not help because at this point having our Land Maintenance at 100% would result in us having a negative monthly balance. They don’t need our help anyway.

Continuing into 1483, we pay off our final loan. We still would have a negative monthly balance with full Land Maintenance. We’re just rolling in cash over here. Later in the year, Kiev declares independence from war ravaged Hungary.

Remember at the end of the last session when I said Lithuania could probably handle their rebel problem? Well, they didn’t. Polotsk takes 4 provinces in January of 1484 and is now free from Lithuanian and Polish control.

In February we are able to take Diplomatic Technology #5, Basic Financial Instruments (+20 Trade Range, +10% Trade Efficiency). In May we are able to take Military Technology #7, The Limber (+0.25 Military Tactics, +0.10 Infantry Fire, +1.00 Artillery Fire, Enables Artillery). We can’t take advantage of the new Artillery because it costs way too much for us.

In May, SOMEONE WILL FINALLY SUPPORT OUR INDEPENDENCE! Too bad it’s Hungary, who is still getting wrecked by rebels and Wallachia/Serbia. This does increase our Liberty Desire into the Mid 60s. However, that is just taking into account Poland and not Lithuania and Moldavia. If it were just Poland, we would have a punchers chance to gain independence. For now, we’ll just sit here and twiddle our thumbs. We end the session with the war at 60%.

Stay or Go?
Need: 3+
Roll: 6

VETOED

Yeah, I didn’t want to have to do this but there is absolutely nothing for me to do here. Hungary would be a useless ally in an independence war. I was hoping Poland would start annexing us but it isn’t possible to do so while they are at war. So, I’ll use my first Veto to GTFO of Mazovia.

Province Selection: 1767 = Slavonia

Why.

 

[Yankee151]

Well, you asked for excitement