I've been having a fun game as Switzerland, but this reminds me of one of the earlier patches: countries basically ally with everyone powerful and it makes it impossible to do anything. Austria and France are friends in my game, which basically prevents me from doing anything since France owns everything along the mediterranean and now has a mission to take Milan.
Yup, this sounds exactly like my game as Naples. Managed to gain independence from Aragon early on, but that was the only luck I ever had. Naples is in a difficult enough position as it is - Aragon and/or Castille causing problems in Sicily, and any lands north of your starting Territory belong to the HRE.
So naturally, the last thing I needed was Aragon (who had whittled down Castille dramatically) being on super-friendly terms with France, Portugal, Austria and Venice. Attacking one just brings pretty much all the big players of Europe against you. I sorta rage-quit that game.
Yeah I played Naples in 1.5, and the game basically played out like that. I contented myself with conquering North Africa, making colonies, and then trying to snipe stuff from Austria whenever the opportunity arose because Poland was my ally and put the Hapsburgs to shame.
I don't know if this is common knowledge round these parts, but I just found out that you can modify the music files to play any .ogg or .wav without invalidating the checksum (so you can still do ironman). The details are here: http://www.eu4wiki.com/Music_modding
What I'm going to do is add my CK2 and EU3 music onto the playlist, because as great as their music is, it can still get tiresome after you play for a marathon session.
I don't know how this happened. The Papal States held Rome, and Norway was Protestant
State of Europe. I've managed to snipe away one province from Austria so far. And they haven't been the Emperor, Hesse has, which is both good and band. Good because it lets me take HRE things without fear of reprisal, bad because no one is holding France back. The Burgundian inheritance never happened, so France just ate up all of Burgundy. Austria and France aren't friends anymore at least, but they still haven't rivaled, Austria has been focused on attacking to their North and generally being a busybody. But I dunno what my next moves will be. I'm gonna keep pecking away at Milan before France kills them for good, and basically hope that France doesn't fight me, all the mountains in world won't help me from that. I think this game has gone past the tipping point, and there's really not much left to do but wait for France to destroy me, there's no one anywhere near as strong as them in Europe.
So a rundown of what's happened in my Serbia game. I declared three wars on Naples, taking Abruzzi in the first war and two provinces apiece in the second. Shortly after, France declared war on Austria. While on the whole Austria lost the war pretty badly, there was some good to come of it. Hungary was called in and between my forces and the Austrian ones we forced a quick surrender, and in the peace deal Austria took a province for itself and gave one to me. (For the record, while you should always be very careful about allowing war leaders to negotiate for you if you do allow them to do so they totally will give you provinces if you have fabricated claims on it, they have the warscore to do itn and don't want all the provinces for themselves.) Anyways, once I was finally out of the war and had finished integrating the Hungarian province, I decided to finally finish off Naples and take their capital. Here's where a big problem happened: a two-fold chain alliance.
Now, I wasn't totally unaware of the possibility of a chain alliance call happening since Naples only had a single province left and was allied to two province Genoa. (Genoa, as often happens, had lost Azov and Corsica.) Still, I thought that the differences between the two were minor enough so that I thought it would be pretty unlikely that Genoa would take over the war. Unfortunately, they did. More unfortunately, they called in Lithuania. Who called in both a Super-Denmark which had integrated all of Scandinavia and a strong Bohemia which had taken some bites out of several north-German states. To make matters worse, I had just to be safe called in Poland, but I guess both Naples' call and Genoa call all went through before my single call to Poland was sent and they refused to join. (It's hard to predict what happens in chain alliance webs.) At least they didn't join against me, but still I was left standing alone with my 20,000 man strong Serbian army vs the over almost 40,000 men from Lithuania, the over 40,000 men from Denmark, and the approximately 30,000 men from Bohemia. On the seas I actually had one of the larger navies in the world thanks to my big Adriatic presence, but Denmark's navy was twice as big as mine and had twenty heavies besides. You might see at this point why I may have started panicking.
Bohemia, at the very least, couldn't get military access through Hungary, Poland, or Austria and therefore couldn't really participate in the war.(Although their presence would still make the other members of the alliance less willing to negotiate.) Denmark had to go the long way around by sea but had enough transport ships to drop off about seventeen thousand a trip. Lithuania was the biggest problem, since they had easy access to my lands through Poland. I quickly seized Napoli as the Lithuanians began marching towards my land. While the siege was taking place the Danish fleet made its first drop off attempt but luckily for me their first wave was just five thousand men to Dalmatia. By the time Danish fleet had starting heading back to Scandinavia to pick up more troops I had finished occupying Napoli, so I very quickly and sneakily transported my army back to Serbia-proper in groups of three or four regiments at a time and I wiped out the outnumbered Danish expeditionary force. Only, now there were two large Lithuanian armies in my eastern lands, two stacks of fifteen each. It was then that I realized I maybe, just maybe had some chance in hell of winning if I could do a couple of things: a.) Keep anybody from taking back Napoli. b.) Keeping the Danish and Lithuanian armies from ever uniting. and most importantly c.) Defeat the Lithuanian and Danish armies individually. The way Lithuania had arrayed their armies gave me a chance to accomplish C, despite being heavily outnumbered. They had two stacks, one without a leader. If I sent my whole army at the leaderless army I might be able to do enough damage that even once Lithuania reinforced I might be able to win. To do this though, I needed more than twenty regiments. I took several loans, and hired eight mercenary regiments. I sent my twenty eight regiments at the leaderless Lithuanian army, the other Lithuanian army reinforced and it was close battle... but I lost. Still, we were fighting on my land. That meant my armies recovered morale and manpower faster than the enemy's. He again split his forces into two to siege, and several months later I came again and thanks to my forces recovering faster than his I managed to win the second battle. Lithuania's army shattered and retreating aside, I knew I had to disband the mercenaries that had made that victory possible. They were simply too costly, and would bankrupt me if I tried to keep them throughout the entire war. After I disbanded the mercs Denmark's second wave arrived, this time with 15,000 troops. I waited a few months for my army to recover again, and again threw them into a tough battle against Denmark's 6/3 general; luckily my numerical advantage proved enough and I managed to again completely destroy Denmark's forces when they had no place to safely retreat.
The rest of the war largely followed the same pattern: getting into tough battles and winning by razor thin margins. Again and again my plucky outnumbered forces managed to hold firm; even a single loss could have meant the end of everything. Finally, after the war had been going on for several years I was able to get Denmark out of it by signing a separate peace deal where I conceded defeat. Almost immediately afterwards Lithuania was willing to not only give me Napoli but also give me enough ducats to get me well on my way to completely paying off all the debt I had sustained during the war. I just wanted to share this because it's things like the above, winning against what at first seemed like hopeless odds, that make me really enjoy EUIV for all its many and oft-changing problems. No matter what happens next in my Serbia game I consider the campaign a success, for as nerve-wracking as the war was it was also equally fun.
Edit: Whoops, apologize for the wall of text. Put it behind spoilers just so it isn't so much of an eyesore.
Yeah, Leadership of the war always goes to whoever is 'strongest' but I'm not sure if there's a way to tell in game how its determined. There's also a few CBs that prevent warleader change, which is something I just learned:
So for some reason screenshots aren't working for me (the standard F10/F11 stuff anyway), and I don't want to do Steam screenshots, so I can't do a nicely illustrated report until I figure it out. For now, this'll have to be text only.
Attempt #1: Ragusan Suicide
There's a commonly-used strategy out there for starting out as certain nations near the Ottomans, and it involves Albania. At the beginning of EU4's timeline, the Ottomans and Albania are at war. This actually lasts for decades if you scroll around through the starting timelines, matching the historical resistance offered by the plucky Albanian warriors.
Well, in EU4, Albania is stuck with an army less than half their historical size, and they get crushed by the Ottomans almost every time right off the bat. This is very bad for Eastern Europe. Luckily, there's a super-gamey strategy that lets you hold the Ottomans at bay.
What you do is immediately declare war on Albania. Send a ship over to blockade their port for an instant 25% warscore. They will capitulate and submit to vassalization (if not immediately then as soon as the Ottomans crush their army). This will result in you being at war with the Ottoman Empire. At this point you sue for peace as soon as possible, offering to release Albania as vassals or pay up some cash.
As of EU1.5, this no longer works. The AI has received some upgrades for peace settlements, and they will ignore your attempts to sue for peace.
I was unaware of this. So, following the gambit to the letter, I immediately vassalized Albania and futilely pushed for peace with the Ottomans. But no peace was coming. The Ottomans occupied Albania, then Ragusa, and that was that.
Time for a new ploy.
Respublica Ragusina
The Republic of Ragusa was a Croatian city-state from 1358 to 1808, appearing as an independent state after the Venetians lost a war with Hungary. It focused on maritime trade, functioning as the gateway to the Baltics in the Mediterranean. In 1458 it became a tributary of the sultan (and then a protectorate in 1481) but continued to enjoyed independent rule for several centuries. This put the maritime republic in a fairly secure position, which they used to damage the trade of their Venetian rivals.
Ragusa eventually fell into decline. Once Portugal rerouted eastern trade around Africa, Mediterranean trade states like Venice and Ragusa lost much of their income and reason for success. And as the Ottoman empire itself declined, its Croatian subject followed suit. Today, Ragusa is known as the city of Dubrovnik in modern day Croatia, a World Heritage Site and popular tourist destination.
The Problem With Ragusa in EU4
Playing a small, independent trading city-state concentrating on building wealth sounds like a whole lot of fun. Unfortunately, there's basically no way to do this in EU4, especially with Ragusa. There are a number of reasons for this:
* The Ottomans will not be held off by Albania. They will crush them, destroy Byzantium, and then it's a crap-shoot if they move right on into the Baltics or get otherwise distracted.
* Surviving as a vassal state is highly unlikely in EU4. You will probably be integrated instead. So, trying to worm your way into Ottoman vassalization (or simply starting in that status) is a good way to get into trouble. There are some solutions to this, but honestly it probably won't be much fun.
* Bosnia and Serbia both have their eyes on Ragusa instead of the Ottoman threat to the east. The AI is quite aggressive and will usually focus on the easiest targets instead of the biggest threats unless those threats share immediate borders. Bosnia in particular does not border the Ottomans and therefore doesn't give them much thought. It will march on Ragusa at the earliest possible opportunity.
* Trade ability is primarily a function of power and existing wealth. There are precious few mechanisms for a tiny nation to use to dominate trade. This is mostly a result of it being a fairly zoomed-out system. You can do it with tech, ideas, and a naval focus, but it will take one or two hundred years to make much difference, and you're just not going to survive that long if trade and diplomacy are all you're worried with.
EU4 is primarily a war game. If you want to survive as anyone, you're going to have to play that game. This will be especially true for Ragusa.
The reason for Ragusa's historical fall, however, still apply. The only incoming trade route is Constantinople, which is itself further supplied eastward. If the colonizing nations reroute trade around Africa, Mediterranean income will suffer greatly. Preventing this will require either attaining a global naval presence, or conquering eastward to ultimately control the destiny of Indian trade yourself.
The Opening Gambit
Many strategies for tiny nations like Ragusa involve day-one war declarations to quickly jump-start your expansion before alliances and protectorates and other annoyances come into play. I don't really like this, as it takes a couple weeks before the world settles into a believable diplomatic starting form. So, I chose to ignore such strategies and just play things as they came.
One thing I did, though, was advance the start to January 1, 1451. At this point, Montenegro has achieved independence from Serbia. This is crucial for early Ragusan survivability, because otherwise you have to deal with two aggressive states on your borders leaving you with almost nowhere to expand (and thus typically have to use weird strategies that aren't much fun to play, like relocation and other snooze-fests).
My initial set of missions were useless, so I picked the most harmless-looking one: boosting relations with Milan to 125. Milan starts at war with Venice, and Venice is a natural threat to Ragusa, so making friends seemed like a good thing to do. I sent off the diplomat and went on with my business.
I got a good starting leader, a 5/2/2 patrician (handy because I still start with 100 Republican Tradition -- normally improving your leader requires sacrificing Tradition, which can be bad if it gets too low). I'm too poor to afford any advisors, which is a pretty terrible state to be in. I tank my military expenditures, send my light ships off to secure trade in Ragusa, and sit and wait to see what happens.
The Baltic Crisis
What happens is that things start looking really bad for Ragusa really fast. The Ottomans demolish Albania (as expected), and Venice obliterates Milan (also unsurprising), taking 2 of their 3 provinces in the peace deal. This is important later. The really bad news, however, comes from Bosnia and Montenegro. Both nations declare Ragusa as rivals and begin fabricating claims. Within a year, both have succeeded.
I respond by rivaling them myself and expanding my armed forces. Anticipating bloody times ahead, and uncertain if I can achieve victory, I go all-in. I set my army expenditures back to the maximum and supplement my army with mercenaries such that I have 4000 infantry and 1000 knights. My army is now much larger than Montenegro's and equal to Bosnia's, which gives me some breathing room. I also hire my first general, though he's not really anything special.
Serbia sees what's happening and feels threatened by this; if either Bosnia or Montenegro conquers Ragusa, Serbia will be at a severe disadvantage with its Baltic neighbors. It sends me an alliance offer, which I graciously accept. Emboldened by this bit of extra strength (Serbia has another 3,000 troops of its own), I do something rather rash. I declare war on Montenegro without a Casus Belli.
I can't wait around for them to attack. Montenegro will wait until I'm weakened by a war with Bosnia to strike, and if I'm going to end up at war with both of them, I want it to be on my own terms. I march into Montenegro and defeat their army in a fairly quick battle. I blockade their port and secure a vassalization demand. Montenegro now swears fealty to Ragusa, and my drained treasury gets a much-needed injection of 60 ducats from the defeated nation.
Bosnia chose not to invade during this period, which isn't surprising since, with Serbia's backing, I remained stronger than they. However, I'm feeling a lot of pressure to keep moving. Ottoman and Venetian threats loom, and a single-province vassal hasn't added much to my capabilities. I need war with Bosnia, but I can't really afford another war declaration without a casus belli. I need an excuse.
Fortunately, Bosnia provides it through a diplomatic insult. Before I can attack, though, I need to do something about Venice; they have become hostile, and I can see that they fully intend to reconquer the city that was once theirs. I find that a pretty substantial coalition has developed following Venice's snatching of Milanese territory, including all the northern Italian duchies, Austria, and a few others. I withdraw my diplomat from Milan (now unable to achieve 125 due to Aggressive Expansion penalty and unwilling to pay from my meager treasuries to fulfill it) and join the coalition. Then, I declare war on Bosnia.
My Serbian allies join, and things start out fairly good. Initial battles are won by the Ragusa-Serbia alliance, and Bosnian territory is now under siege. Almost immediately, Austria declares war on Venice, and all hell breaks loose.
The Mediterranean on Fire
Austria, northern Italy, and Ragusa declare war on Venice, while its allies Switzerland and Aragon (and, via personal union, Naples) respond. Suddenly, the entire northern Mediterranean from eastern Spain to the edge of Greece is at war. Seeing their chance, the Ottomans march on Constantinople, and there's absolutely no one available to help. The end of Rome has arrived.
Meanwhile, I'm in all sorts of trouble. No one has a fleet that can touch the Venetian armada, so I'm forced to dock my ships in Ragusa and hope for the best. And for whatever reason, Aragon decides it would be prudent to ship 8,000 soldiers to Montenegro and lay siege to my hapless vassal. I can't do anything about this on my own, Serbia is not a part of the coalition and thus not at war with Aragon, and the Italians are busy dealing with Naples, Switzerland, and Venice by land. I'm on my own.
Speed is absolutely of the essence. I split my small army, leaving enough to siege Treviso and move the rest to engage a newly-recruited Bosnian force. I outnumber them 3,000 to 2,000 and hope for the best. Unfortunately, the best doesn't happen, and my force is crushed by the Bosnian recruits. Serbia is able to mop up for me, but now I'm down to 2,000 soldiers and have Catalonians running all over my territory.
Zeta falls around the same time as Treviso. I move my soldiers to the Bosnian capital, and Aragon marches its forces into Ragusa. A grim realization hits me: as soon as Ragusa falls, my navy will be forced into the sea. My 9 ships will be fodder for the Venetian fleet of 53, and some of them may well be captured by enemy forces. Rather than see Ragusan ships flying the Venetian banner, I give the order: the entire Ragusan navy is put to the torch. I am now a maritime trading nation without a ship.
That is a problem for another day, however. Ragusa falls, but so too does Bosnia. Finally accepting defeat, Bosnia agrees to a vassalization peace deal. Five provinces now submit to Ragusan rule, but Ragusa itself is under the control of the Catalonians. War exhaustion is high, my coffers are running dry, and my options are few.
It is at this point, however, that the vultures begin to circle over Venice. Hungary launches an invasion, and Genoa soon follows suit. Venice is now being picked apart on three sides. While the city itself is certain to remain unassailable (as no one can challenge its fleet), it is only a matter of time before all of its external conquests are demolished. A force of northern Italians marches through Dalmatia and to Ragusa, freeing the city from its Spanish oppressors, while my remaining troops liberate Zeta. At last, things are looking up. Austria's war goal is actually Parma, not the standard coalition goal of the capital city, so given time, this should work itself out in our favor. I pray that the three wars combined will inflict a great toll upon Venice, for my own three wars have certainly taken their toll on Ragusa.
The Next Steps
For now, I remain a part of the coalition's war efforts, but I foresee no additional conflicts in the immediate term. I achieved Government tech 4 and acquired my first national idea, going with Diplomacy. I desperately need to settle things down with my neighbors; Bosnia hates me, and integrating Montenegro isn't going to be easy. My alliance with Serbia was broken upon my vassalizing Bosnia, so I find myself friendless once more. I send diplomats to work in Bosnia and Hungary, but I see no useful alliance prospects in the near term.
Currently, the Ottomans are at war with northern Africa. This gives me time to rebuild and focus on my new rival: Serbia. If I can restore my war exhausion levels and rebuild my army, I should be able to crush the Serbs without too much difficulty. This should probably wait until I absorb Montenegro, however, which is still some years away. It is time to follow a relatively historical path of engaging in a ton of diplomacy to better secure my position. Still, while the short-term path ahead of me is clear, the long-term is much more troubling.
How will Ragusa deal with the menaces of Venice and the Ottoman Empire? Either one alone is an overpowering foe, but I am solidly sandwiched between the two. Ottoman diplomacy is a possibility as they seem to have few designs on my territory at present, but that is unlikely to last (especially once I have taken Serbia). Venice will never be my friend, and I cannot defeat them until I can match their daunting navy.
Ragusa's future is uncertain, and frankly I can't wait to see what happens next.
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Welp that Swiss game ended basically the way I thought it would. No one got near strong enough to fight France, then I got declared on by France, Austria and some HRE minors simultaneously. So that was basically game over, because I'd never get strong enough to fight anyone after that.
I still don't really understand the war system, generals are so damn strong, and the AI always gets amazing ones. I wait and fight them in the mountains and they have slightly better odds. I narrowly lose, they force march and insta-wipe the stack, repeat.
army tradition doesn't go down when you hire a general anymore (because you're paying with military power I guess they don't think you should have to pay twice) so sometimes it can be worth it to reroll it to get a better one. Maneuver is also super important because apparently you'll almost always fight on the terrain that is best for the general with higher maneuver. So one point of maneuver can be worth 3 fire and shock in some provinces. It can also be worth it to retreat early to avoid stack wipes, force the enemy to eat attrition chasing you down and you'll still have pretty high morale when they catch you.
SLyM on
My friend is working on a roguelike game you can play if you want to. (It has free demo)
I do spam generals, I usually can get one on par with the enemy's. They nerfed the hell out of scorched earth, so attrition is negligible.
And I don't mean stack wipe from the battle, I mean they just chase you down or hit you with an army coming from somewhere else, being in the center of europe and in the HRE means there's not really anywhere to run to.
The new integration system makes it harder to play a vassal state, once you get the warning you're being integrated you have, at most, a year to break free or you're done.
And the way they changed the pips on units in the beginning makes rolling a 4 shock general basically mandatory.
So in my Serbia game the Ottomans attacked with a holy war CB. On my side I had Austria, Poland, and Muscovy verses them, Crimea, and Tunisia. (Which contrary to the normal state of affairs has become the dominant North African power.) It was a long tough war but I managed to keep my army intact and eventually our superior numbers whittled down the Ottomans enough to finally turn the tide. Ultimately the Ottomans only had to spit out Albania and pay a few hundred ducats, but at the very least they had pretender rebels who seemed to enforce their demands which put in the Ottomans in a regency. Ten years of no offensive wars sure helped to slow them down some. In the meantime I recovered my strength and took Albania for myself and also finally finished taking all of Sicily. (Including Malta.) Considering how the last war went I'm wondering about maybe declaring an offensive war on the Ottomans soon, assuming I can get all of my allies to join. (Poland and Muscovy almost certainly would but Austria might be a bit more hit or miss.) Taking Greece off their hands would be nice for both the taxbase and trade benefits, and even better if I could cut off Istanbul from the Ottomans' asian holdings all the provinces they've conquered from the Mamluks would become overseas provinces, drastically cutting their income and manpower. Basically if I could just weaken the Ottomans a bit while all of my allies are cooperative and strong I'd feel a lot more secure in the long-term
Although I talk about not feeling secure, I'm actually now in eight place in the scoring system. I have an army of 30,000 troops, a navy of about fifty ships, and a decent income thanks to moving my main trade port to Dalmatia and collecting in Venice. My main worries are that Venice has recovered somewhat from earlier thrashings by taking Lombardia and is allied with France, Additionally Hungary has, for the most part stayed allied with France. (I managed to snag a couple of provinces on the rare occasions they weren't allies.) France is not hostile to me at all, but considering they're allied to two of my biggest rivals are themselves the biggest rivals of my ally Austria, I can't help but feel concerned at France's continued good fortune. At the very least a combined alliance of Portugal, England, and Castille+PUED Aragon has regularly kept France distracted which has allowed Austria to recover from some pretty disastrous early wars with France.
So this is where things left off last time. Bosnia has just been made my vassal and hasn't gotten around to rebuilding its forces quite yet.
The war with Venice is still going on, but it's winding down, and soon it draws to a close.
The deal is not kind to Venice. Milan gets a province back (the other was held by a different war group), Naxos is released from vassalhood, and Croatia is liberated as a sovereign state, which is nice, and
wait
waitwaitwait
Oh reeeeaaaallly
Croatia hilariously rivals Ragusa as its very first thing. We respond by guaranteeing their protection to try to discourage any opportunists from getting to them before we can. Oh, and we rival them back, too, and Serbia while we're at it.
State of things after the war. Venice is still partially occupied by another group, but they peace out with minor demands (ending relations with Aragon and some cash). Also pictured: Brittany being hilarious.
Well. Shit.
A Diplomatic Interlude
The next few years are much calmer as Ragusa recovers from the brutal wars. Our grand city embarks on a flurry of diplomatic missions, smoothing over things and making friends with almost everyone around us who matters. Internally we focus on reducing our war exhaustion and improving our military technology, and we pick up the second diplomatic idea while we're at it (faster core fabrication, which we don't really need yet, but the next couple are quite good). So far we still haven't found any allies, but only Serbia and Croatia are actively being threatening (and at this point we fear neither of them).
In 1464 we receive a number of Byzantine refugees, which is great for our military research efforts. Shortly thereafter, this extraordinarily random event occurs:
This improves our diplomatic efforts quite nicely, though it only lasts for a couple years. The cardinal who became pope was actually just some future cardinal I set Auto to because his score was the lowest and my papal influence score is pretty low.
That's not the best part, though. No, what's great is who I snatched the papacy from: none other than the glorious nation of Tyrone.
Catholicism, what are you doing
War and Growth
Nearly a decade of peace has passed, and that's just about long enough. We revoke the guarantee on Croatia, only to discover that this forces a truce on us (sensible enough, really). We wait out that time by beating the war drums incessantly.
We bribe Hungary into forming an alliance with us, mostly because they have a claim on Dalmatia and are very scary to us. Shortly before we're able to march on Croatia, we formally integrate Bosnia so as to better use their troops in the battle ahead.
Our armies are restored, our navy is slowly being rebuilt, and our lands are stable (after liberal application of Harsh Treatment on the new provinces). The truce ends, and the armies of Ragusa march on Croatia.
The (other) Croatians stood little chance. The superior Ragusan force, led by a talented 3/3/1 general, make quick work of the Croatian army, and Dalmatia soon falls. We annex the province outright thanks to our Conquest casus belli.
New Allies and New Directions
Options for Ragusa have really opened up now. Having grown to a more respectable size, we're able to secure alliances with stronger powers. Nations that have suddenly turned Friendly to us include the Papal States and France (!!).
An alliance with France would be terrific for defense, as almost no one would dare attack us with our big blue bodyguard looming nearby. However, France will likely drag us into many large wars (like the one it's fighting right now with a number of nations), and they'll probably never come to our aid in an offensive war.
The Papal States are more manageable, but also probably less useful. They might attack our enemies with us, but they don't serve as much of a deterrent to a would-be invader. They do have a fairly nice little navy, which could be good if we end up at war with Venice (though in the near term it's still too small to make a difference).
Speaking of the Venetians, we now have to declare a second rival or face projection penalties. Our choices are Venice, Naples, and Hungary. Hungary is our ally, and I was working pretty hard to make friends with Naples in hopes that we could ally them some day as well (their union with Aragon is no more). But of these, Naples is easily the weakest, with Venice being definitely the strongest.
The roleplayer in me wants to rival Venice. But could Ragusa survive such a bold move?
On the eastern front, Serbia still looms (with a buffed-up military), and the Ottomans remain terrifying and very very close. I will leave Montenegro as a vassal for now so as not to border the Ottomans and damage our relations. I would like to vassalize Serbia and similarly keep them that way for some time. However, I haven't yet been given excuse to do so, and fabricating isn't an especially tempting route forward. I'd like to wait for a mission, but with our standing militaries being similar in power, I'm not sure I'll get that lucky.
Both France and the Papal States are at war, but once they finish I have to make a decision.
1. Ragusa allies France and rivals Venice. This is risky, because Castile can probably hold off France for awhile. This may embolden Venice to attack. And I still can't do anything about the Venetian navy (and will not be able to for decades to come). Though, with Hungary, we could probably still win the land war.
2. Ragusa allies the Papal States and rivals Naples. Expansion into Italy is usually profitable and fairly easy. Naples is weak right now, though they have greater potential than me and will likely recover into a bit of a beast. Cogs will be first on the agenda in this scenario.
3. Ragusa pursues an alliance with Naples and ignores the rivalry. I'd love to have another free military leader for an Admiral, but that can wait. Vassalizing Serbia becomes top priority.
I would also really love to expand into some of the delicious island nations out there. Crete is independent and isolated. Cyprus is independent, though guaranteed by the Mamluks. I believe Naxos is still independent and isolated as well, and there's always the Knights, though they have some allies for some reason. However, none of these can be rivaled, and it's impossible to fabricate a claim on an island. Do I eat more AE and stability hits to go after any of these before someone else does?
I will have to sleep on it. The world will always be there tomorrow to conquer.
Playing as a Balkan nation is hard. Surprised you still don't have bad revolt risk in your Bosnian acquisitions even with harsh treatment since all four of those provinces are Orthodox and I have to assume your religious unity isn't great. Going for Italy worked for me in my Serbian game, and even better for you as Ragusa you wouldn't have to convert. Surprised that Venice allied Castille and not France like they normally do. France would make for a fantastic ally, in the latest patch they seem to always do excellently.As for the Ottomans... I wonder if they get a mission to conquer/subjugate Ragusa if it's independent? They have missions for Serbia, Bosnia, and Wallachia so it wouldn't surprise me. The thing is that Ragusa so rarely survives that if such a mission exists for the Ottomans I've never seen it.
I think the latest patch made tolerance of heretics smooth over your religious unity quite a bit, and I think I get a bonus from being a merchant republic or something. The only risk of religious rebels I have is in the province I'm converting; the rest were all nationalists with a 6.5% risk, so the -10% from harsh treatment really ended up overkill. The bonus from Republican Traditions is really nice too, though it's steadily falling because I can't afford to keep having weak rulers (I'm still too poor to support a single adviser).
Triptycho: A card-and-dice tabletop indie RPG currently in development and playtesting
Oh right, I forgot about Republican Tradition. Anyways... things have been going pretty well for my Serbia, despite some annoying hiccups:
I finally decide to back the other horse. Upon noticing France was friendly with me, I broke my alliance with Austria and promptly allied them. Unfortunately soon after they declared war on Savoy and pulled me into the war. Now, the war went swimmingly and France actually gave me Mantua in one of several peace deals. Unfortunately, they took so much HRE territory that the combined opinion malus from all that unlawful territory forced me to break my alliance with them. It's probably been almost twenty years since then and I'm still waiting for my opinion of them to get positive again. So irritating.
In the meantime I took Rome and actually managed to convert it to Orthodox. (Hurray for stacking for Patriarch Authority with religious ideas, decisions, and a missionary strength adviser.) I also noticed that the Ottomans had been dragged into a war with the Timurids. While I knew the Timurids didn't have a chance, it occurred to me that all of the Ottoman armies would be occupied down south, so I called Russia and Poland in to help... (Again, would have loved to get France into the action. Could have probably dragged the war on to almost 100%) and I declared war on the Ottomans. The war went rather well, the Ottoman forces were scattered so despite being technically outnumbered my allies and I won almost every battle and I had a 3 siege general so sieges didn't last very long. I dragged the war on for as long as I thought I could before my allies would peace out, and focused on depriving the Ottomans of coastal provinces in the peace deal.
I would attack again as quickly as possible but unfortunately Russia and Poland happen to be at war with one another at the moment. At least I might be able to finally ally France again in the meantime.
Does Austria like you? They would be a good ally. And you should still Rival Venice, you can get power projection without actually fighting them directly:
Support Rebels, fabricate claims, and I think you could send privateers against the Venetian node.
I started a game as Saxony last night, and I just have Brandenburg (the province) left to conquer to form Germany. Second Reich soon...
So a couple more things have happened in my Serbia game:
First and aprorpos of nothing else, I got vision on most of Asia and discovered this monster:
I've never seen Manchu do this well in any other game. it seems to have about 2/3rds of China and has spread West. It has a land forcelimit of about a hundred and even as an unwesternized horde it's still the dominant Asian power. Who knows what it could do if it manages to form Qing. Just so impressed to see any Horde do so well. Also glad to see a country that will at the very least slow down Russian conquest now that increased coring times are no longer a thing.
As for the "Ottoman Problem" well...
Unfortunately for them they've just had their income, forcelimits, and manpower crippled. This is the result of three wars. The first I took Thessaly, Athens, and Monastir with the help of France and Russia. (Finally my opinion became positive and I could ally them again.) France didn't actually do much since it had trouble getting its armies to Greece, but their presence still made the Ottomans more willing to negotiate. In the second war Genoa declared war on Crimea, and brought along Lithuania and Venice. The Ottomans were able to handle them initially, but my ally Poland sensed Ottoman weakness and decided to also pounce on Crimea, calling me in too. With Poland and I, alongside Lithuania, Genoa, and Venice all directly are indirectly helping out the Ottomans began to lose both wars. That's when Russia decided it'd be a good time to attack too. While the Ottomans ultimately didn't lose all that much (Although Crimea is another story.), their armies and manpower were depleted and they went pretty heavily into debt. Lithuania occupied the province Genoa wanted, so the Genoese war ended with the Ottomans releasing Armenia and Trebizond and giving a few provinces back to the Mamluks. The Russian war ended with the Ottomans losing only one Georgian province but annulling all their alliances, and my Polish-Serbian war ended Crimea losing three provinces, and Byzantium being released as a two province Sunni minor state in Achea and Morea.
I gobbled up Byzantium while waiting for the truce timer to end, and also finished taking the last province of the short-lived independent Croatia. Even after the truce timer ended the Ottomans still hadn't recovered from the last series of wars, so even though only Russia was willing to join I was confident I could win. More than that, I specifically wanted to cut off the connection between Istanbul and Anatolia so as to make all of the Ottoman's provinces outside of Europe count as "overseas", which would make them worth a fraction what they were previously. This proved troublesome as the Ottomans still had naval supremacy and to get to the provinces I needed I had to walk all the way around the Black Sea since the Ottomans were constantly blocking the Bosphorous. First I baited them into attacking over and over again across the straight, and eventually I wore them down enough that it was safe to go and siege Izmir and Hüdavendigar. In the peace deal I took those two provinces as well as 300 ducats, and two Bulgarian provinces. As soon as the peace deal went through the Ottomans' land and naval force limit each dropped from over a hundred to around fifty. As I said before, they've been fatally wounded. They could move their capital to somewhere in Anatolia to reverse it, but I'm almost a hundred percent certain the AI won't do that. I'll probably take all of the Ottomans' Anatolian provinces before I take Istanbul. Also I broke my alliance with Poland since they had become so weak as to no longer be useful, and they're likely to get into wars with Hungary which could jeopardize my relations with France.
I don't understand Army Tradition. I've been playing my Germany game, and my AT peaked at 40 when I was small, and now I'm big and its basically locked around 0-10. And I've been super aggressive, I'm like 5 techs behind in Admin because of it. Do I just need to fight a war with france and lose a ton? I'm just getting crushed in fights because my generals are so bad.
Pretty sure Germany's particular Tricolor would be pretty out of place in the 1600's. But yeah I agree thatas far as "Flag with an Eagle emblem" designs go, Germany's is probably the worst in EUIV. Love Germany's color though. (Even if some part of me misses the garish bright blue it used to have.) Also yeesh that France really is a monster.
So in my Serbia game, to my surprise, the Ottomans did move their capital to Anatolia but only once I had completely isolated Istanbul. (And yes, they could have moved it before hand since Anatolia is still in Europe, but I guess the AI is more concerned with strategic concerns than economic ones.) So I... took Istanbul. And also took a couple of Syrian provinces to again block them off from their Arabian and Egyptian holdings. I've taken the Restore the Pentarchy mission, and I only need Judea and Alexandria to finish it so I'll probably prioritize taking those provinces in the next war. On the other side of my empire in Italy, I noticed Venice was stealing an enormously high percentage of my trade. (I had moved my trade port to Dalmatia way back because Venice is such a good node to collect in.) Couldn't declare War on Venice directly because of their alliance with France, but luckily they were allied to Tuscany who I could attack using the amazing 'cleansing of heresy' CB. (Amazing because, for those who don't know, it doesn't allow the war leader of war to change.)
Anyways I took Treviso and Verona so I could take Venezia later, and I trashed the Venetian navy so Venice shouldn't be any sort of problem for the foreseeable future. Probably just going to keep attacking the Ottomans. At some point I want to take Gorz, Istria, and Friuli to form a land connection between my Italian and Balkan lands. Ferrying troops using boats is fine, but annoying.
I think the things that bug me most is just that its a low resolution blob, and that it looks almost exactly the same as the Russian CoA.
But anyway, yes, moving your trade capital is super amazing, I did that early on in my game when I was still saxony so that I could pull from Lubeck which actually has money in it. I eventually might move it to Antwerpen and then brute force money out with my ships.
Also: Espionage is actually pretty good now, especially since it doesn't cost ADM points, Infiltrate Administration for revealing the Fog of War is super amazing when you have to fight people like Russia and don't want to run in blindly.
I'd agree about the espionage, I don't think I ever picked up that idea before. With the stronger rebels now the +50% rebel support efficiency looks rather interesting.
I'm tempted to run a Palatinate game at the weekend where I victory is reached by destabilising everyone around me!
Toward the end of 1470, the Republic of Ragusa finds itself in the most secure position it has enjoyed since its independence. Bosnia has been integrated, Montenegro is a subject state, and the Dalmatian territory of Croatia has been successfully conquered. European powers are now taking notice; Ragusa is no longer a port on the way to Venice. It is now a full-fledged Mediterranean power.
Emboldened by its newfound strength and successful diplomatic ventures, Ragusa turns its eyes toward its rivals. Serbia awaits as the last Balkan state not yet subjugated. Naples has broken free from its union with Aragon to be a new independent threat just across the Adriatic. And as always, the hated Venice looms, its domineering eye yet fixated upon the Croatian trade republic.
Ragusa formally declares them all its rivals. Overcoming these three will propel Ragusa into the forefront of the Mediterranean and give it the ability to stand up to the true terror of Christendom - the Ottoman Empire.
Internal Ragusan politics demand the first focus be on Serbia. Ranking officials suggest making claims on Kosovo and taking it from the Serbs. I agree with this plan and take on the Mission. Fabrication completes without difficulty, and soon, Ragusa and Serbia are at war.
The Serbs once possessed a military to rival Ragusa's, but over the previous two years, something happened, and their army of 6,000 fell to 3,000. The Croatians pounced on this opportunity and made quick work of Serbian forces. Within a year, Kosovo belonged to Ragusa, and Serbia was formally subjugated and converted to Christianity.
Expansions and Alliances
Ragusa quickly returned Kosovo to its new subject and turned her eyes westward, seeking new alliances. France had momentarily expressed a desire for friendship, but something had shifted during its wars, and relations returned to neutrality. Disappointed but not defeated, Ragusa instead found allies in Savoy and the Papal States. These allies would be helpful making further progress in the region, but they would not be powerful enough to protect Ragusa from the Ottomans.
Speaking of whom, the Sultan of Sultans had turned eastward, battling with other Turkish states in an attempt to solidify its own rule. They also engaged in battle with several hordes. Feeling secure for the moment, Ragusa formally integrated Montenegro and continued looking for friends. It found one in Austria, and Ragusa could hardly ask for a better ally. These three allies, together with the Huns, should be enough to protect the merchant republic from any threat she should expect to encounter in the near-term.
And so the eyes of Ragusa turned next to Naples. Claims were fabricated on Abruzzi, and the Ragusan forces marched. Naples was soundly defeated, but before the war could be completed, a new problem surfaced. The Papal States were under attack.
Italian Wars Part II
Siena, a one-province duchy, had attacked the substantially larger Papal States in retribution for their conquest of Tuscany. But several other nations had joined, including Venice, Mantua, and Milan. Ragusa, Genoa, and Hungary responded, and another large war broke out in Italy.
Ragusa quickly mopped up in Naples, taking Abruzzi and charged in to help. The first battle went poorly, and Ragusa had to retreat in full to rebuild its forces. In the meantime, however, a terrific opportunity appeared. The Venetian navy had engaged the fleets of the Papal States and Genoa. This would have worked out in Venice's favor, but Ragusa had just enough ships of its own to tilt the battle back in the favor of the Papal Alliance. The battle went, well, swimmingly, if you will, and the entire Venetian navy was demolished. Not a single ship would make it back to port. Ragusa finally had her revenge for having to sink her own fleet decades prior.
Following this, the battle began to turn. Nationalist rebels in the Papal States were defeated, and Ragusa led a siege of Parma. One by one enemy holdings were besieged. And suddenly the Croatians had a grand opportunity.
Siena was willing to talk peace with Ragusa and offered the Venetian province of Parma. This offer was just too good to pass up. The allies weren't happy about it, but in time they would understand and forgive. Ragusa now owned a formerly Venetian chunk of northern Italy.
Italy returned to peace shortly after. Venice was forced to give up Corfu, and the Papal States decided to have a bit of a laugh in the process. Rather than giving rulership back to the people of Corfu, they found a living relative of the last Basilius of Byzantium and put him on the "throne," recreating the Byzantine Empire on the tiny Greek island.
Further Opportunism
The Ottomans remained embroiled in conflicts in the east. They were generally victorious, but they had no interest in looking westward to Ragusa's Balkans. Feeling increasingly confident (and increasingly starved of manpower and ducats), the Croatians formally integrated Serbia.
Meanwhile, Naples had allied with France, which was most unfortunate. Sensing few opportunities there for the time being, Ragusa looked to its latest rival. The tiny Mantua had been making a lot of noise about Ragusa's encroachment on Italian soil. They were becoming a nuisance. So, Ragusa did what she had been doing for some time lately -- she declared them rivals, fabricated claims, and conquered them into submission.
This didn't go as quickly as Ragusa would have liked, as now the Holy Roman Empire was involved. Brandenburg led the charge, but the charge was nowhere to be seen. Annoyed, Ragusa decided to completely ignore them and instead went after Corfu, where claims had recently finished fabrication. The fledgling "emperor" had the gall to eye the Eastern Balkans as the prime location to rebuild the empire. Ragusa was having none of this and swiftly conquered the island, once again returning Byzantium to the pages of history.
Meanwhile, Brandenburg had arrived with a few allies and a sizable force. Ragusa responded by hiring a number of mercenaries and met them with an army of 14,000. The Croatians were victorious, and the Empire's forces were routed. Soon, they agreed to have Mantua pass into the control of Ragusa.
During this period, France had declared war on Savoy, bringing its ally Castile into the fray. Ragusa was deeply regretful, but hardly suicidal, and declined to join the war. It went... about as expected. Even Austria and the Papal States couldn't supply enough forces to counter the might of the Spaniards and French in alliance.
Furthermore, the Iberian Wedding occurred, and Aragon was put into a personal union with Castile. It was now only a matter of time before Spain became as much of a threat as the Ottomans. The Croatians needed to move fast.
And move they did, launching another attack on Naples and taking the province of Bari. Ragusa's Italian holdings continued to grow, and with it, her wealth.
The Next Steps
Having continued to progress in the development of new Diplomatic ideas, Ragusa has thus far been able to conquer with impunity. She has gained no new enemies of note and continues to enjoy the friendship of many of her neighbors, despite her rapid climb into power.
Soon, the kingdom of Naples can be vassalized, then integrated, freeing the people from the despotic rule of a crown and giving (some of) them a voice in the grand Republic. Once that is complete, Venice will soon follow, and then, Ragusa will truly be ready to stand up to the fearsome Ottoman Empire...
Man Switzerland is a hard start. Like sheesh. Managed to get my cores back from Savoy with a day declaration, but I had to take about 9 or ten loans to do it. Expansion options past that are limited. I'm allied to France now so I could again declare on Savoy to take Savoie (Which has 11 base tax and is amazing.) and possibly vassalize Savoy, but I'm afraid France might start to turn hostile on me. (Maybe if I just take Savoie I can get away with it. Expanding into Germany is difficult with Austria right there next to me. I can probably do it but it'll be slow going. Venice and Burgundy are both options, but they'd be a hard fight and before declaring on either of them I'd be more comfortable if they were embroiled in war already. In the same vein, if could steal Tyrol from Austria if they were, say for example, fighting Burgundy, I'd be pretty happy.
Entering into one of my favorite phases of late game EUIV - Getting the missions to conquer India and China. Working on controlling the zones now to get the extra merchants. I've kept France at bay all game amazingly, although I got dragged into a defensive war against France after Hungary started getting themselves involved where they shouldn't and I got trashed, but not horribly so. And the war ended in a White peace before I could get completely destroyed. I've thrown caution to the wind and Rivaled them. Only 100 years left. Russia was my ally for a long time, but they hate me now because I started devouring southern india and apparently they desire those provinces as well.
Conquered Wuttemburg, got called into an offensive war by France against Burgundy. Burgundy had been entangled in a war with England and Austria so it wasn't too hard to route them. I seiged down French-Comte in the hope that France might give it to me. Anyways while France was slowly sieging down Burgundy I got a mission to vassalize the Palatinate. Now, the Palatinate was allied to Austria but Austria was currently getting sieged down by the Pope, Hungary, and Savoy so I thought it likely that they'd dishonor the call. I was right and Austria didn't join, and the war against the Palatinate was fairly easy. Unfortunately, the Palatinate was involved in an offensive war and when I vassalized them I inherited. That wasn't unexpected, what was unexpected was the loss of all my stability because one of the nations on the other side had a truce with me and apparently getting called into the war automatically counted as breaking a truce. Ugh. Serously the mechanics for inheriting wars when you forcibly vassalize countries still needs to be tweaked.
Anyways I beat up the people and eventually got out of that war, when everybody around me decided to rival me. The rival opinion malus, in addition to the AE I had accrued, caused all these new rivals to join a coalition against me. And then declare on me. And France dishonored the call, the jerks.(Probably had to do with the fact that they had declared war on Burgundy almost immediately after ending the Hundred Years War, so they were pretty beat up.) Anyways, a lot of mercs and baiting 40 regiment stacks into the Alps later and I got out with just a concession of defeat. Most of the coalition members dropped out after that, but I'm still not going to risk taking any more AE for awhile. Besides, it's going to take me a long time to gain all my manpower back. I re-allied France and I guess to make up for leaving me out to dry they started giving me war subsidies. At least it should help pay off the debt I accrued. Whenever I do declare war again I want to take Savoie.
I mean I'm still in the empire but I'm not the Holy Roman Emperor since I'm a republic. Running away from Europe as Switzerland would be pretty impractical and also really silly. Part of the reason I'm doing so well is because I don't have any ports. I can ignore diplomatic techs for awhile and focus on my land forces. My first two ideas were diplomatic and plutocratic, and I'm probably going to go for another military idea for my third idea. If I can totally eliminate Austria as a threat, my next move will be to try backstab the French by allying their enemies and start taking their land too. The key to Switzerland seems to be milk the French for all their worth and use their forces to take over the southern half of the Holy Roman Empire. Luckily alliances are a lot more stable now so it's unlikely the French will break the alliance before I do. And because I'm constantly pulling them into wars with Austria it's limiting their own ability to expand.
Switzerland strong!
Very soon comes the time that I'll backstab France. Their war exhaustion is incredibly high due to an ongoing war with Denmark that neither side can totally win. On top of that I've allied Spain and Spain has rivaled France. Together, together we should be able to win. Other interesting things: Pomerania is going to form Prussia as soon as they finally get to admin tech 10. (It's not the first time I've ever seen it but it's one of the strongest Pomerania's I've ever seen thanks to long standing alliances with Russia and Denmark.) The Ottomans basically ate all of Poland; Lithuania has been balkanized.
Posts
Yeah I played Naples in 1.5, and the game basically played out like that. I contented myself with conquering North Africa, making colonies, and then trying to snipe stuff from Austria whenever the opportunity arose because Poland was my ally and put the Hapsburgs to shame.
Here's the unit type graph over time:
What I'm going to do is add my CK2 and EU3 music onto the playlist, because as great as their music is, it can still get tiresome after you play for a marathon session.
I don't know how this happened. The Papal States held Rome, and Norway was Protestant
State of Europe. I've managed to snipe away one province from Austria so far. And they haven't been the Emperor, Hesse has, which is both good and band. Good because it lets me take HRE things without fear of reprisal, bad because no one is holding France back. The Burgundian inheritance never happened, so France just ate up all of Burgundy. Austria and France aren't friends anymore at least, but they still haven't rivaled, Austria has been focused on attacking to their North and generally being a busybody. But I dunno what my next moves will be. I'm gonna keep pecking away at Milan before France kills them for good, and basically hope that France doesn't fight me, all the mountains in world won't help me from that. I think this game has gone past the tipping point, and there's really not much left to do but wait for France to destroy me, there's no one anywhere near as strong as them in Europe.
Now, I wasn't totally unaware of the possibility of a chain alliance call happening since Naples only had a single province left and was allied to two province Genoa. (Genoa, as often happens, had lost Azov and Corsica.) Still, I thought that the differences between the two were minor enough so that I thought it would be pretty unlikely that Genoa would take over the war. Unfortunately, they did. More unfortunately, they called in Lithuania. Who called in both a Super-Denmark which had integrated all of Scandinavia and a strong Bohemia which had taken some bites out of several north-German states. To make matters worse, I had just to be safe called in Poland, but I guess both Naples' call and Genoa call all went through before my single call to Poland was sent and they refused to join. (It's hard to predict what happens in chain alliance webs.) At least they didn't join against me, but still I was left standing alone with my 20,000 man strong Serbian army vs the over almost 40,000 men from Lithuania, the over 40,000 men from Denmark, and the approximately 30,000 men from Bohemia. On the seas I actually had one of the larger navies in the world thanks to my big Adriatic presence, but Denmark's navy was twice as big as mine and had twenty heavies besides. You might see at this point why I may have started panicking.
Bohemia, at the very least, couldn't get military access through Hungary, Poland, or Austria and therefore couldn't really participate in the war.(Although their presence would still make the other members of the alliance less willing to negotiate.) Denmark had to go the long way around by sea but had enough transport ships to drop off about seventeen thousand a trip. Lithuania was the biggest problem, since they had easy access to my lands through Poland. I quickly seized Napoli as the Lithuanians began marching towards my land. While the siege was taking place the Danish fleet made its first drop off attempt but luckily for me their first wave was just five thousand men to Dalmatia. By the time Danish fleet had starting heading back to Scandinavia to pick up more troops I had finished occupying Napoli, so I very quickly and sneakily transported my army back to Serbia-proper in groups of three or four regiments at a time and I wiped out the outnumbered Danish expeditionary force. Only, now there were two large Lithuanian armies in my eastern lands, two stacks of fifteen each. It was then that I realized I maybe, just maybe had some chance in hell of winning if I could do a couple of things: a.) Keep anybody from taking back Napoli. b.) Keeping the Danish and Lithuanian armies from ever uniting. and most importantly c.) Defeat the Lithuanian and Danish armies individually. The way Lithuania had arrayed their armies gave me a chance to accomplish C, despite being heavily outnumbered. They had two stacks, one without a leader. If I sent my whole army at the leaderless army I might be able to do enough damage that even once Lithuania reinforced I might be able to win. To do this though, I needed more than twenty regiments. I took several loans, and hired eight mercenary regiments. I sent my twenty eight regiments at the leaderless Lithuanian army, the other Lithuanian army reinforced and it was close battle... but I lost. Still, we were fighting on my land. That meant my armies recovered morale and manpower faster than the enemy's. He again split his forces into two to siege, and several months later I came again and thanks to my forces recovering faster than his I managed to win the second battle. Lithuania's army shattered and retreating aside, I knew I had to disband the mercenaries that had made that victory possible. They were simply too costly, and would bankrupt me if I tried to keep them throughout the entire war. After I disbanded the mercs Denmark's second wave arrived, this time with 15,000 troops. I waited a few months for my army to recover again, and again threw them into a tough battle against Denmark's 6/3 general; luckily my numerical advantage proved enough and I managed to again completely destroy Denmark's forces when they had no place to safely retreat.
The rest of the war largely followed the same pattern: getting into tough battles and winning by razor thin margins. Again and again my plucky outnumbered forces managed to hold firm; even a single loss could have meant the end of everything. Finally, after the war had been going on for several years I was able to get Denmark out of it by signing a separate peace deal where I conceded defeat. Almost immediately afterwards Lithuania was willing to not only give me Napoli but also give me enough ducats to get me well on my way to completely paying off all the debt I had sustained during the war. I just wanted to share this because it's things like the above, winning against what at first seemed like hopeless odds, that make me really enjoy EUIV for all its many and oft-changing problems. No matter what happens next in my Serbia game I consider the campaign a success, for as nerve-wracking as the war was it was also equally fun.
Edit: Whoops, apologize for the wall of text. Put it behind spoilers just so it isn't so much of an eyesore.
http://www.eu4wiki.com/Casus_belli
Attempt #1: Ragusan Suicide
There's a commonly-used strategy out there for starting out as certain nations near the Ottomans, and it involves Albania. At the beginning of EU4's timeline, the Ottomans and Albania are at war. This actually lasts for decades if you scroll around through the starting timelines, matching the historical resistance offered by the plucky Albanian warriors.
Well, in EU4, Albania is stuck with an army less than half their historical size, and they get crushed by the Ottomans almost every time right off the bat. This is very bad for Eastern Europe. Luckily, there's a super-gamey strategy that lets you hold the Ottomans at bay.
What you do is immediately declare war on Albania. Send a ship over to blockade their port for an instant 25% warscore. They will capitulate and submit to vassalization (if not immediately then as soon as the Ottomans crush their army). This will result in you being at war with the Ottoman Empire. At this point you sue for peace as soon as possible, offering to release Albania as vassals or pay up some cash.
As of EU1.5, this no longer works. The AI has received some upgrades for peace settlements, and they will ignore your attempts to sue for peace.
I was unaware of this. So, following the gambit to the letter, I immediately vassalized Albania and futilely pushed for peace with the Ottomans. But no peace was coming. The Ottomans occupied Albania, then Ragusa, and that was that.
Time for a new ploy.
Respublica Ragusina
The Republic of Ragusa was a Croatian city-state from 1358 to 1808, appearing as an independent state after the Venetians lost a war with Hungary. It focused on maritime trade, functioning as the gateway to the Baltics in the Mediterranean. In 1458 it became a tributary of the sultan (and then a protectorate in 1481) but continued to enjoyed independent rule for several centuries. This put the maritime republic in a fairly secure position, which they used to damage the trade of their Venetian rivals.
Ragusa eventually fell into decline. Once Portugal rerouted eastern trade around Africa, Mediterranean trade states like Venice and Ragusa lost much of their income and reason for success. And as the Ottoman empire itself declined, its Croatian subject followed suit. Today, Ragusa is known as the city of Dubrovnik in modern day Croatia, a World Heritage Site and popular tourist destination.
The Problem With Ragusa in EU4
Playing a small, independent trading city-state concentrating on building wealth sounds like a whole lot of fun. Unfortunately, there's basically no way to do this in EU4, especially with Ragusa. There are a number of reasons for this:
* The Ottomans will not be held off by Albania. They will crush them, destroy Byzantium, and then it's a crap-shoot if they move right on into the Baltics or get otherwise distracted.
* Surviving as a vassal state is highly unlikely in EU4. You will probably be integrated instead. So, trying to worm your way into Ottoman vassalization (or simply starting in that status) is a good way to get into trouble. There are some solutions to this, but honestly it probably won't be much fun.
* Bosnia and Serbia both have their eyes on Ragusa instead of the Ottoman threat to the east. The AI is quite aggressive and will usually focus on the easiest targets instead of the biggest threats unless those threats share immediate borders. Bosnia in particular does not border the Ottomans and therefore doesn't give them much thought. It will march on Ragusa at the earliest possible opportunity.
* Trade ability is primarily a function of power and existing wealth. There are precious few mechanisms for a tiny nation to use to dominate trade. This is mostly a result of it being a fairly zoomed-out system. You can do it with tech, ideas, and a naval focus, but it will take one or two hundred years to make much difference, and you're just not going to survive that long if trade and diplomacy are all you're worried with.
EU4 is primarily a war game. If you want to survive as anyone, you're going to have to play that game. This will be especially true for Ragusa.
The reason for Ragusa's historical fall, however, still apply. The only incoming trade route is Constantinople, which is itself further supplied eastward. If the colonizing nations reroute trade around Africa, Mediterranean income will suffer greatly. Preventing this will require either attaining a global naval presence, or conquering eastward to ultimately control the destiny of Indian trade yourself.
The Opening Gambit
Many strategies for tiny nations like Ragusa involve day-one war declarations to quickly jump-start your expansion before alliances and protectorates and other annoyances come into play. I don't really like this, as it takes a couple weeks before the world settles into a believable diplomatic starting form. So, I chose to ignore such strategies and just play things as they came.
One thing I did, though, was advance the start to January 1, 1451. At this point, Montenegro has achieved independence from Serbia. This is crucial for early Ragusan survivability, because otherwise you have to deal with two aggressive states on your borders leaving you with almost nowhere to expand (and thus typically have to use weird strategies that aren't much fun to play, like relocation and other snooze-fests).
My initial set of missions were useless, so I picked the most harmless-looking one: boosting relations with Milan to 125. Milan starts at war with Venice, and Venice is a natural threat to Ragusa, so making friends seemed like a good thing to do. I sent off the diplomat and went on with my business.
I got a good starting leader, a 5/2/2 patrician (handy because I still start with 100 Republican Tradition -- normally improving your leader requires sacrificing Tradition, which can be bad if it gets too low). I'm too poor to afford any advisors, which is a pretty terrible state to be in. I tank my military expenditures, send my light ships off to secure trade in Ragusa, and sit and wait to see what happens.
The Baltic Crisis
What happens is that things start looking really bad for Ragusa really fast. The Ottomans demolish Albania (as expected), and Venice obliterates Milan (also unsurprising), taking 2 of their 3 provinces in the peace deal. This is important later. The really bad news, however, comes from Bosnia and Montenegro. Both nations declare Ragusa as rivals and begin fabricating claims. Within a year, both have succeeded.
I respond by rivaling them myself and expanding my armed forces. Anticipating bloody times ahead, and uncertain if I can achieve victory, I go all-in. I set my army expenditures back to the maximum and supplement my army with mercenaries such that I have 4000 infantry and 1000 knights. My army is now much larger than Montenegro's and equal to Bosnia's, which gives me some breathing room. I also hire my first general, though he's not really anything special.
Serbia sees what's happening and feels threatened by this; if either Bosnia or Montenegro conquers Ragusa, Serbia will be at a severe disadvantage with its Baltic neighbors. It sends me an alliance offer, which I graciously accept. Emboldened by this bit of extra strength (Serbia has another 3,000 troops of its own), I do something rather rash. I declare war on Montenegro without a Casus Belli.
I can't wait around for them to attack. Montenegro will wait until I'm weakened by a war with Bosnia to strike, and if I'm going to end up at war with both of them, I want it to be on my own terms. I march into Montenegro and defeat their army in a fairly quick battle. I blockade their port and secure a vassalization demand. Montenegro now swears fealty to Ragusa, and my drained treasury gets a much-needed injection of 60 ducats from the defeated nation.
Bosnia chose not to invade during this period, which isn't surprising since, with Serbia's backing, I remained stronger than they. However, I'm feeling a lot of pressure to keep moving. Ottoman and Venetian threats loom, and a single-province vassal hasn't added much to my capabilities. I need war with Bosnia, but I can't really afford another war declaration without a casus belli. I need an excuse.
Fortunately, Bosnia provides it through a diplomatic insult. Before I can attack, though, I need to do something about Venice; they have become hostile, and I can see that they fully intend to reconquer the city that was once theirs. I find that a pretty substantial coalition has developed following Venice's snatching of Milanese territory, including all the northern Italian duchies, Austria, and a few others. I withdraw my diplomat from Milan (now unable to achieve 125 due to Aggressive Expansion penalty and unwilling to pay from my meager treasuries to fulfill it) and join the coalition. Then, I declare war on Bosnia.
My Serbian allies join, and things start out fairly good. Initial battles are won by the Ragusa-Serbia alliance, and Bosnian territory is now under siege. Almost immediately, Austria declares war on Venice, and all hell breaks loose.
The Mediterranean on Fire
Austria, northern Italy, and Ragusa declare war on Venice, while its allies Switzerland and Aragon (and, via personal union, Naples) respond. Suddenly, the entire northern Mediterranean from eastern Spain to the edge of Greece is at war. Seeing their chance, the Ottomans march on Constantinople, and there's absolutely no one available to help. The end of Rome has arrived.
Meanwhile, I'm in all sorts of trouble. No one has a fleet that can touch the Venetian armada, so I'm forced to dock my ships in Ragusa and hope for the best. And for whatever reason, Aragon decides it would be prudent to ship 8,000 soldiers to Montenegro and lay siege to my hapless vassal. I can't do anything about this on my own, Serbia is not a part of the coalition and thus not at war with Aragon, and the Italians are busy dealing with Naples, Switzerland, and Venice by land. I'm on my own.
Speed is absolutely of the essence. I split my small army, leaving enough to siege Treviso and move the rest to engage a newly-recruited Bosnian force. I outnumber them 3,000 to 2,000 and hope for the best. Unfortunately, the best doesn't happen, and my force is crushed by the Bosnian recruits. Serbia is able to mop up for me, but now I'm down to 2,000 soldiers and have Catalonians running all over my territory.
Zeta falls around the same time as Treviso. I move my soldiers to the Bosnian capital, and Aragon marches its forces into Ragusa. A grim realization hits me: as soon as Ragusa falls, my navy will be forced into the sea. My 9 ships will be fodder for the Venetian fleet of 53, and some of them may well be captured by enemy forces. Rather than see Ragusan ships flying the Venetian banner, I give the order: the entire Ragusan navy is put to the torch. I am now a maritime trading nation without a ship.
That is a problem for another day, however. Ragusa falls, but so too does Bosnia. Finally accepting defeat, Bosnia agrees to a vassalization peace deal. Five provinces now submit to Ragusan rule, but Ragusa itself is under the control of the Catalonians. War exhaustion is high, my coffers are running dry, and my options are few.
It is at this point, however, that the vultures begin to circle over Venice. Hungary launches an invasion, and Genoa soon follows suit. Venice is now being picked apart on three sides. While the city itself is certain to remain unassailable (as no one can challenge its fleet), it is only a matter of time before all of its external conquests are demolished. A force of northern Italians marches through Dalmatia and to Ragusa, freeing the city from its Spanish oppressors, while my remaining troops liberate Zeta. At last, things are looking up. Austria's war goal is actually Parma, not the standard coalition goal of the capital city, so given time, this should work itself out in our favor. I pray that the three wars combined will inflict a great toll upon Venice, for my own three wars have certainly taken their toll on Ragusa.
The Next Steps
For now, I remain a part of the coalition's war efforts, but I foresee no additional conflicts in the immediate term. I achieved Government tech 4 and acquired my first national idea, going with Diplomacy. I desperately need to settle things down with my neighbors; Bosnia hates me, and integrating Montenegro isn't going to be easy. My alliance with Serbia was broken upon my vassalizing Bosnia, so I find myself friendless once more. I send diplomats to work in Bosnia and Hungary, but I see no useful alliance prospects in the near term.
Currently, the Ottomans are at war with northern Africa. This gives me time to rebuild and focus on my new rival: Serbia. If I can restore my war exhausion levels and rebuild my army, I should be able to crush the Serbs without too much difficulty. This should probably wait until I absorb Montenegro, however, which is still some years away. It is time to follow a relatively historical path of engaging in a ton of diplomacy to better secure my position. Still, while the short-term path ahead of me is clear, the long-term is much more troubling.
How will Ragusa deal with the menaces of Venice and the Ottoman Empire? Either one alone is an overpowering foe, but I am solidly sandwiched between the two. Ottoman diplomacy is a possibility as they seem to have few designs on my territory at present, but that is unlikely to last (especially once I have taken Serbia). Venice will never be my friend, and I cannot defeat them until I can match their daunting navy.
Ragusa's future is uncertain, and frankly I can't wait to see what happens next.
I still don't really understand the war system, generals are so damn strong, and the AI always gets amazing ones. I wait and fight them in the mountains and they have slightly better odds. I narrowly lose, they force march and insta-wipe the stack, repeat.
And I don't mean stack wipe from the battle, I mean they just chase you down or hit you with an army coming from somewhere else, being in the center of europe and in the HRE means there's not really anywhere to run to.
And the way they changed the pips on units in the beginning makes rolling a 4 shock general basically mandatory.
Although I talk about not feeling secure, I'm actually now in eight place in the scoring system. I have an army of 30,000 troops, a navy of about fifty ships, and a decent income thanks to moving my main trade port to Dalmatia and collecting in Venice. My main worries are that Venice has recovered somewhat from earlier thrashings by taking Lombardia and is allied with France, Additionally Hungary has, for the most part stayed allied with France. (I managed to snag a couple of provinces on the rare occasions they weren't allies.) France is not hostile to me at all, but considering they're allied to two of my biggest rivals are themselves the biggest rivals of my ally Austria, I can't help but feel concerned at France's continued good fortune. At the very least a combined alliance of Portugal, England, and Castille+PUED Aragon has regularly kept France distracted which has allowed Austria to recover from some pretty disastrous early wars with France.
So this is where things left off last time. Bosnia has just been made my vassal and hasn't gotten around to rebuilding its forces quite yet.
The war with Venice is still going on, but it's winding down, and soon it draws to a close.
The deal is not kind to Venice. Milan gets a province back (the other was held by a different war group), Naxos is released from vassalhood, and Croatia is liberated as a sovereign state, which is nice, and
wait
waitwaitwait
Oh reeeeaaaallly
Croatia hilariously rivals Ragusa as its very first thing. We respond by guaranteeing their protection to try to discourage any opportunists from getting to them before we can. Oh, and we rival them back, too, and Serbia while we're at it.
State of things after the war. Venice is still partially occupied by another group, but they peace out with minor demands (ending relations with Aragon and some cash). Also pictured: Brittany being hilarious.
Well. Shit.
A Diplomatic Interlude
The next few years are much calmer as Ragusa recovers from the brutal wars. Our grand city embarks on a flurry of diplomatic missions, smoothing over things and making friends with almost everyone around us who matters. Internally we focus on reducing our war exhaustion and improving our military technology, and we pick up the second diplomatic idea while we're at it (faster core fabrication, which we don't really need yet, but the next couple are quite good). So far we still haven't found any allies, but only Serbia and Croatia are actively being threatening (and at this point we fear neither of them).
In 1464 we receive a number of Byzantine refugees, which is great for our military research efforts. Shortly thereafter, this extraordinarily random event occurs:
This improves our diplomatic efforts quite nicely, though it only lasts for a couple years. The cardinal who became pope was actually just some future cardinal I set Auto to because his score was the lowest and my papal influence score is pretty low.
That's not the best part, though. No, what's great is who I snatched the papacy from: none other than the glorious nation of Tyrone.
Catholicism, what are you doing
War and Growth
Nearly a decade of peace has passed, and that's just about long enough. We revoke the guarantee on Croatia, only to discover that this forces a truce on us (sensible enough, really). We wait out that time by beating the war drums incessantly.
We bribe Hungary into forming an alliance with us, mostly because they have a claim on Dalmatia and are very scary to us. Shortly before we're able to march on Croatia, we formally integrate Bosnia so as to better use their troops in the battle ahead.
Our armies are restored, our navy is slowly being rebuilt, and our lands are stable (after liberal application of Harsh Treatment on the new provinces). The truce ends, and the armies of Ragusa march on Croatia.
The (other) Croatians stood little chance. The superior Ragusan force, led by a talented 3/3/1 general, make quick work of the Croatian army, and Dalmatia soon falls. We annex the province outright thanks to our Conquest casus belli.
New Allies and New Directions
Options for Ragusa have really opened up now. Having grown to a more respectable size, we're able to secure alliances with stronger powers. Nations that have suddenly turned Friendly to us include the Papal States and France (!!).
An alliance with France would be terrific for defense, as almost no one would dare attack us with our big blue bodyguard looming nearby. However, France will likely drag us into many large wars (like the one it's fighting right now with a number of nations), and they'll probably never come to our aid in an offensive war.
The Papal States are more manageable, but also probably less useful. They might attack our enemies with us, but they don't serve as much of a deterrent to a would-be invader. They do have a fairly nice little navy, which could be good if we end up at war with Venice (though in the near term it's still too small to make a difference).
Speaking of the Venetians, we now have to declare a second rival or face projection penalties. Our choices are Venice, Naples, and Hungary. Hungary is our ally, and I was working pretty hard to make friends with Naples in hopes that we could ally them some day as well (their union with Aragon is no more). But of these, Naples is easily the weakest, with Venice being definitely the strongest.
The roleplayer in me wants to rival Venice. But could Ragusa survive such a bold move?
On the eastern front, Serbia still looms (with a buffed-up military), and the Ottomans remain terrifying and very very close. I will leave Montenegro as a vassal for now so as not to border the Ottomans and damage our relations. I would like to vassalize Serbia and similarly keep them that way for some time. However, I haven't yet been given excuse to do so, and fabricating isn't an especially tempting route forward. I'd like to wait for a mission, but with our standing militaries being similar in power, I'm not sure I'll get that lucky.
Both France and the Papal States are at war, but once they finish I have to make a decision.
1. Ragusa allies France and rivals Venice. This is risky, because Castile can probably hold off France for awhile. This may embolden Venice to attack. And I still can't do anything about the Venetian navy (and will not be able to for decades to come). Though, with Hungary, we could probably still win the land war.
2. Ragusa allies the Papal States and rivals Naples. Expansion into Italy is usually profitable and fairly easy. Naples is weak right now, though they have greater potential than me and will likely recover into a bit of a beast. Cogs will be first on the agenda in this scenario.
3. Ragusa pursues an alliance with Naples and ignores the rivalry. I'd love to have another free military leader for an Admiral, but that can wait. Vassalizing Serbia becomes top priority.
I would also really love to expand into some of the delicious island nations out there. Crete is independent and isolated. Cyprus is independent, though guaranteed by the Mamluks. I believe Naxos is still independent and isolated as well, and there's always the Knights, though they have some allies for some reason. However, none of these can be rivaled, and it's impossible to fabricate a claim on an island. Do I eat more AE and stability hits to go after any of these before someone else does?
I will have to sleep on it. The world will always be there tomorrow to conquer.
I finally decide to back the other horse. Upon noticing France was friendly with me, I broke my alliance with Austria and promptly allied them. Unfortunately soon after they declared war on Savoy and pulled me into the war. Now, the war went swimmingly and France actually gave me Mantua in one of several peace deals. Unfortunately, they took so much HRE territory that the combined opinion malus from all that unlawful territory forced me to break my alliance with them. It's probably been almost twenty years since then and I'm still waiting for my opinion of them to get positive again. So irritating.
In the meantime I took Rome and actually managed to convert it to Orthodox. (Hurray for stacking for Patriarch Authority with religious ideas, decisions, and a missionary strength adviser.) I also noticed that the Ottomans had been dragged into a war with the Timurids. While I knew the Timurids didn't have a chance, it occurred to me that all of the Ottoman armies would be occupied down south, so I called Russia and Poland in to help... (Again, would have loved to get France into the action. Could have probably dragged the war on to almost 100%) and I declared war on the Ottomans. The war went rather well, the Ottoman forces were scattered so despite being technically outnumbered my allies and I won almost every battle and I had a 3 siege general so sieges didn't last very long. I dragged the war on for as long as I thought I could before my allies would peace out, and focused on depriving the Ottomans of coastal provinces in the peace deal.
I would attack again as quickly as possible but unfortunately Russia and Poland happen to be at war with one another at the moment. At least I might be able to finally ally France again in the meantime.
Support Rebels, fabricate claims, and I think you could send privateers against the Venetian node.
I started a game as Saxony last night, and I just have Brandenburg (the province) left to conquer to form Germany. Second Reich soon...
I've never seen Manchu do this well in any other game. it seems to have about 2/3rds of China and has spread West. It has a land forcelimit of about a hundred and even as an unwesternized horde it's still the dominant Asian power. Who knows what it could do if it manages to form Qing. Just so impressed to see any Horde do so well. Also glad to see a country that will at the very least slow down Russian conquest now that increased coring times are no longer a thing.
As for the "Ottoman Problem" well...
Unfortunately for them they've just had their income, forcelimits, and manpower crippled. This is the result of three wars. The first I took Thessaly, Athens, and Monastir with the help of France and Russia. (Finally my opinion became positive and I could ally them again.) France didn't actually do much since it had trouble getting its armies to Greece, but their presence still made the Ottomans more willing to negotiate. In the second war Genoa declared war on Crimea, and brought along Lithuania and Venice. The Ottomans were able to handle them initially, but my ally Poland sensed Ottoman weakness and decided to also pounce on Crimea, calling me in too. With Poland and I, alongside Lithuania, Genoa, and Venice all directly are indirectly helping out the Ottomans began to lose both wars. That's when Russia decided it'd be a good time to attack too. While the Ottomans ultimately didn't lose all that much (Although Crimea is another story.), their armies and manpower were depleted and they went pretty heavily into debt. Lithuania occupied the province Genoa wanted, so the Genoese war ended with the Ottomans releasing Armenia and Trebizond and giving a few provinces back to the Mamluks. The Russian war ended with the Ottomans losing only one Georgian province but annulling all their alliances, and my Polish-Serbian war ended Crimea losing three provinces, and Byzantium being released as a two province Sunni minor state in Achea and Morea.
I gobbled up Byzantium while waiting for the truce timer to end, and also finished taking the last province of the short-lived independent Croatia. Even after the truce timer ended the Ottomans still hadn't recovered from the last series of wars, so even though only Russia was willing to join I was confident I could win. More than that, I specifically wanted to cut off the connection between Istanbul and Anatolia so as to make all of the Ottoman's provinces outside of Europe count as "overseas", which would make them worth a fraction what they were previously. This proved troublesome as the Ottomans still had naval supremacy and to get to the provinces I needed I had to walk all the way around the Black Sea since the Ottomans were constantly blocking the Bosphorous. First I baited them into attacking over and over again across the straight, and eventually I wore them down enough that it was safe to go and siege Izmir and Hüdavendigar. In the peace deal I took those two provinces as well as 300 ducats, and two Bulgarian provinces. As soon as the peace deal went through the Ottomans' land and naval force limit each dropped from over a hundred to around fifty. As I said before, they've been fatally wounded. They could move their capital to somewhere in Anatolia to reverse it, but I'm almost a hundred percent certain the AI won't do that. I'll probably take all of the Ottomans' Anatolian provinces before I take Istanbul. Also I broke my alliance with Poland since they had become so weak as to no longer be useful, and they're likely to get into wars with Hungary which could jeopardize my relations with France.
Use mercenaries because it prevents your war exhaustion from going crazy.
My Germany, starting to colonize West Africa and have created Gefrorenesland in Northern Canada.
nb. I hate the unified German icon, I really wish it just used the tricolor.
So in my Serbia game, to my surprise, the Ottomans did move their capital to Anatolia but only once I had completely isolated Istanbul. (And yes, they could have moved it before hand since Anatolia is still in Europe, but I guess the AI is more concerned with strategic concerns than economic ones.) So I... took Istanbul. And also took a couple of Syrian provinces to again block them off from their Arabian and Egyptian holdings. I've taken the Restore the Pentarchy mission, and I only need Judea and Alexandria to finish it so I'll probably prioritize taking those provinces in the next war. On the other side of my empire in Italy, I noticed Venice was stealing an enormously high percentage of my trade. (I had moved my trade port to Dalmatia way back because Venice is such a good node to collect in.) Couldn't declare War on Venice directly because of their alliance with France, but luckily they were allied to Tuscany who I could attack using the amazing 'cleansing of heresy' CB. (Amazing because, for those who don't know, it doesn't allow the war leader of war to change.)
Anyways I took Treviso and Verona so I could take Venezia later, and I trashed the Venetian navy so Venice shouldn't be any sort of problem for the foreseeable future. Probably just going to keep attacking the Ottomans. At some point I want to take Gorz, Istria, and Friuli to form a land connection between my Italian and Balkan lands. Ferrying troops using boats is fine, but annoying.
But anyway, yes, moving your trade capital is super amazing, I did that early on in my game when I was still saxony so that I could pull from Lubeck which actually has money in it. I eventually might move it to Antwerpen and then brute force money out with my ships.
Also: Espionage is actually pretty good now, especially since it doesn't cost ADM points, Infiltrate Administration for revealing the Fog of War is super amazing when you have to fight people like Russia and don't want to run in blindly.
I'm tempted to run a Palatinate game at the weekend where I victory is reached by destabilising everyone around me!
Toward the end of 1470, the Republic of Ragusa finds itself in the most secure position it has enjoyed since its independence. Bosnia has been integrated, Montenegro is a subject state, and the Dalmatian territory of Croatia has been successfully conquered. European powers are now taking notice; Ragusa is no longer a port on the way to Venice. It is now a full-fledged Mediterranean power.
Emboldened by its newfound strength and successful diplomatic ventures, Ragusa turns its eyes toward its rivals. Serbia awaits as the last Balkan state not yet subjugated. Naples has broken free from its union with Aragon to be a new independent threat just across the Adriatic. And as always, the hated Venice looms, its domineering eye yet fixated upon the Croatian trade republic.
Ragusa formally declares them all its rivals. Overcoming these three will propel Ragusa into the forefront of the Mediterranean and give it the ability to stand up to the true terror of Christendom - the Ottoman Empire.
Internal Ragusan politics demand the first focus be on Serbia. Ranking officials suggest making claims on Kosovo and taking it from the Serbs. I agree with this plan and take on the Mission. Fabrication completes without difficulty, and soon, Ragusa and Serbia are at war.
The Serbs once possessed a military to rival Ragusa's, but over the previous two years, something happened, and their army of 6,000 fell to 3,000. The Croatians pounced on this opportunity and made quick work of Serbian forces. Within a year, Kosovo belonged to Ragusa, and Serbia was formally subjugated and converted to Christianity.
Expansions and Alliances
Ragusa quickly returned Kosovo to its new subject and turned her eyes westward, seeking new alliances. France had momentarily expressed a desire for friendship, but something had shifted during its wars, and relations returned to neutrality. Disappointed but not defeated, Ragusa instead found allies in Savoy and the Papal States. These allies would be helpful making further progress in the region, but they would not be powerful enough to protect Ragusa from the Ottomans.
Speaking of whom, the Sultan of Sultans had turned eastward, battling with other Turkish states in an attempt to solidify its own rule. They also engaged in battle with several hordes. Feeling secure for the moment, Ragusa formally integrated Montenegro and continued looking for friends. It found one in Austria, and Ragusa could hardly ask for a better ally. These three allies, together with the Huns, should be enough to protect the merchant republic from any threat she should expect to encounter in the near-term.
And so the eyes of Ragusa turned next to Naples. Claims were fabricated on Abruzzi, and the Ragusan forces marched. Naples was soundly defeated, but before the war could be completed, a new problem surfaced. The Papal States were under attack.
Italian Wars Part II
Siena, a one-province duchy, had attacked the substantially larger Papal States in retribution for their conquest of Tuscany. But several other nations had joined, including Venice, Mantua, and Milan. Ragusa, Genoa, and Hungary responded, and another large war broke out in Italy.
Ragusa quickly mopped up in Naples, taking Abruzzi and charged in to help. The first battle went poorly, and Ragusa had to retreat in full to rebuild its forces. In the meantime, however, a terrific opportunity appeared. The Venetian navy had engaged the fleets of the Papal States and Genoa. This would have worked out in Venice's favor, but Ragusa had just enough ships of its own to tilt the battle back in the favor of the Papal Alliance. The battle went, well, swimmingly, if you will, and the entire Venetian navy was demolished. Not a single ship would make it back to port. Ragusa finally had her revenge for having to sink her own fleet decades prior.
Following this, the battle began to turn. Nationalist rebels in the Papal States were defeated, and Ragusa led a siege of Parma. One by one enemy holdings were besieged. And suddenly the Croatians had a grand opportunity.
Siena was willing to talk peace with Ragusa and offered the Venetian province of Parma. This offer was just too good to pass up. The allies weren't happy about it, but in time they would understand and forgive. Ragusa now owned a formerly Venetian chunk of northern Italy.
Italy returned to peace shortly after. Venice was forced to give up Corfu, and the Papal States decided to have a bit of a laugh in the process. Rather than giving rulership back to the people of Corfu, they found a living relative of the last Basilius of Byzantium and put him on the "throne," recreating the Byzantine Empire on the tiny Greek island.
Further Opportunism
The Ottomans remained embroiled in conflicts in the east. They were generally victorious, but they had no interest in looking westward to Ragusa's Balkans. Feeling increasingly confident (and increasingly starved of manpower and ducats), the Croatians formally integrated Serbia.
Meanwhile, Naples had allied with France, which was most unfortunate. Sensing few opportunities there for the time being, Ragusa looked to its latest rival. The tiny Mantua had been making a lot of noise about Ragusa's encroachment on Italian soil. They were becoming a nuisance. So, Ragusa did what she had been doing for some time lately -- she declared them rivals, fabricated claims, and conquered them into submission.
This didn't go as quickly as Ragusa would have liked, as now the Holy Roman Empire was involved. Brandenburg led the charge, but the charge was nowhere to be seen. Annoyed, Ragusa decided to completely ignore them and instead went after Corfu, where claims had recently finished fabrication. The fledgling "emperor" had the gall to eye the Eastern Balkans as the prime location to rebuild the empire. Ragusa was having none of this and swiftly conquered the island, once again returning Byzantium to the pages of history.
Meanwhile, Brandenburg had arrived with a few allies and a sizable force. Ragusa responded by hiring a number of mercenaries and met them with an army of 14,000. The Croatians were victorious, and the Empire's forces were routed. Soon, they agreed to have Mantua pass into the control of Ragusa.
During this period, France had declared war on Savoy, bringing its ally Castile into the fray. Ragusa was deeply regretful, but hardly suicidal, and declined to join the war. It went... about as expected. Even Austria and the Papal States couldn't supply enough forces to counter the might of the Spaniards and French in alliance.
Furthermore, the Iberian Wedding occurred, and Aragon was put into a personal union with Castile. It was now only a matter of time before Spain became as much of a threat as the Ottomans. The Croatians needed to move fast.
And move they did, launching another attack on Naples and taking the province of Bari. Ragusa's Italian holdings continued to grow, and with it, her wealth.
The Next Steps
Having continued to progress in the development of new Diplomatic ideas, Ragusa has thus far been able to conquer with impunity. She has gained no new enemies of note and continues to enjoy the friendship of many of her neighbors, despite her rapid climb into power.
Soon, the kingdom of Naples can be vassalized, then integrated, freeing the people from the despotic rule of a crown and giving (some of) them a voice in the grand Republic. Once that is complete, Venice will soon follow, and then, Ragusa will truly be ready to stand up to the fearsome Ottoman Empire...
Conquered Wuttemburg, got called into an offensive war by France against Burgundy. Burgundy had been entangled in a war with England and Austria so it wasn't too hard to route them. I seiged down French-Comte in the hope that France might give it to me. Anyways while France was slowly sieging down Burgundy I got a mission to vassalize the Palatinate. Now, the Palatinate was allied to Austria but Austria was currently getting sieged down by the Pope, Hungary, and Savoy so I thought it likely that they'd dishonor the call. I was right and Austria didn't join, and the war against the Palatinate was fairly easy. Unfortunately, the Palatinate was involved in an offensive war and when I vassalized them I inherited. That wasn't unexpected, what was unexpected was the loss of all my stability because one of the nations on the other side had a truce with me and apparently getting called into the war automatically counted as breaking a truce. Ugh. Serously the mechanics for inheriting wars when you forcibly vassalize countries still needs to be tweaked.
Anyways I beat up the people and eventually got out of that war, when everybody around me decided to rival me. The rival opinion malus, in addition to the AE I had accrued, caused all these new rivals to join a coalition against me. And then declare on me. And France dishonored the call, the jerks.(Probably had to do with the fact that they had declared war on Burgundy almost immediately after ending the Hundred Years War, so they were pretty beat up.) Anyways, a lot of mercs and baiting 40 regiment stacks into the Alps later and I got out with just a concession of defeat. Most of the coalition members dropped out after that, but I'm still not going to risk taking any more AE for awhile. Besides, it's going to take me a long time to gain all my manpower back. I re-allied France and I guess to make up for leaving me out to dry they started giving me war subsidies. At least it should help pay off the debt I accrued. Whenever I do declare war again I want to take Savoie.
Cheeky Ottomans
Yes, yes Switzerland can. (Styria is my vassal.)
Seems to me like Switzerland's best gambit is to smash Genoa and get a port. Otherwise they're so precariously positioned with nowhere to run.
If you can remember CK2 vanilla, you know what you're in for.
Very soon comes the time that I'll backstab France. Their war exhaustion is incredibly high due to an ongoing war with Denmark that neither side can totally win. On top of that I've allied Spain and Spain has rivaled France. Together, together we should be able to win. Other interesting things: Pomerania is going to form Prussia as soon as they finally get to admin tech 10. (It's not the first time I've ever seen it but it's one of the strongest Pomerania's I've ever seen thanks to long standing alliances with Russia and Denmark.) The Ottomans basically ate all of Poland; Lithuania has been balkanized.