The AI has been super aggressive about doing boat landings now. I remember Ireland would usually end up being left alone for most of the game, and now I'm always seeing it get wrecked by outside powers.
I started my Palatinate game last night, in terms of territory gains it's pretty slow going, though I currently have Trier and Mainz as vassals. Probably the weirdest thing I've seen so far is Hesse getting the Burgundian inheritance event, turning a 2 province state into a great power (fortunately I was already their ally!).
Is there any definitive way to know who the war leader will be? I want to conquer a 2 province nation (Baden) whose only ally is another 2 province nation (Aachen). Unfortunately, Aachen is allied with Bohemia and Austria and I don't want to be in a position where those two beasts get called in!
I really wish more complex peace treaties were possible. Plenty of them in actual history have involved the winning side nevertheless giving stuff up, like the US paying Mexico in exchange for them recognizing Texan independence.
the issue is that the AI would probably be willing to sell you most of their provinces for a bunch of gold which they can't use because they're tiny now.
My friend is working on a roguelike game you can play if you want to. (It has free demo)
A decade of calm was in order for the Republic of Ragusa. Time was needed to restore the nation's manpower, mend the diplomatic wounds, absorb the new territory, and plot the next steps. Unfortunately, this decade would not come easily.
Austria, the strongest ally of the Croatians and the Holy Roman Emperor, was in trouble. Hungary had attacked Holy Roman territory, calling in its ally France. This put Ragusa once more in a difficult spot, for Hungary was her ally. It was for this reason that the merchant republic looked the other way when Savoy called for aid. But Austria was not Savoy, and besides, this alliance with Hungary could not last forever; much of Croatia lay subjugated within those borders, after all. Ragusa answered the call to arms.
This turned out to be a futile gesture, however. Austria maneuvered its armies in the worst possible manner and was utterly obliterated by allied forces before Ragusa had a chance to join the fray. The Croatian armies parked near the border and waited for an opportunity, but such never materialized.
What materialized instead was more wars as subject nations and border countries took advantage of the chaos to strike. Soon, Ragusa was dragged into further wars against the likes of Switzerland and Liege. Eventually Hungary and France accepted peace, taking chunks of the Empire with them, and these lesser wars were able to be won.
The peace was short-lived, however, and once the first treaties had ended, again France and Hungary warred with the Empire. Austria reached out to Ragusa for help, but this time the merchant houses had other ideas. How much was this alliance truly worth? If Austria could not defend her own Empire, how could she defend Ragusa? And why should Ragusa continue to spend blood and treasure for the Empire while not being beholden to any of its benefits?
The decision was made. The alliance was broken. It was time for a new paradigm.
The New Paradigm
Many changes occurred within this short decade, some of which brought new opportunity. The Papal States had continued their expansion, further obliterating Venice and absorbing every bit of territory outside the city itself. Italy was now divided between the Pope, Naples, and the Croatians, a situation that apparently bothered the Christian leader. Despite many years of loyal service to the Pope and Christendom, Ragusa soon became an official rival of the Papal States.
Meanwhile, the Ottomans had lost a disastrous war against the Mamluks, giving up territory and freeing the Albanian people. This was the first sign of vulnerability from the Turks. Perhaps their luck had run out?
On the other side of the sea, Castile had begun to view Ragusa in quite the positive light. Deciding they would make a fine replacement for Austria, the Croatians joined the Spaniards in formal alliance.
That secured, it was time to move again. The Croatians marched on Naples one final time, destroying their armies and blockading their ports. A surrender soon followed, and Naples became a subject nation of Ragusa. Only two powers remained in Italy.
Albania was the next target. The poor nation had already demonstrated in the past its inability to defend itself against the Ottoman menace; Ragusa would not stand to have it fall into Muslim hands again. The Croatians marched, and the Albanians were swiftly vassalized and converted.
This done, the Republic enjoyed another period of calm. Venice was a tempting option, but the strategic benefit of capturing the city was in doubt. As long as Venice still existed, Ragusa's other rivals in the area had yet another power to be concerned about. The diplomatic cost of conquering the Venetians once and for all might be too high. And yet, was it really better to let the city fall into the pope's hands?
While the Croatians pondered this move, another opportunity suddenly presented itself. Castile had attacked Algiers, and the Ottomans had answered the call of alliance to help. However, they had still not managed to really recover from the beating the Mamluks had inflicted upon them, and Castile was managing to fight on equal terms. It was around this time that a Crusade was declared upon the Ottoman Empire.
The New Crusade
In 1396, Christian forces led by Hungary, France, and other nations led the Crusade of Nicopolis against the Ottomans and failed horribly. For a hundred years no further crusade was launched. Byzantium fell, and the specter of the Ottomans loomed over central Europe.
All that changed around 1515. Conflict with the Berbers drew Europe into war with the Ottomans once more, and a new crusade was formed, this time led by Castile, Ragusa, France, and Poland. The weakened Ottomans could offer little resistance against this force. The Ragusan navy blockaded the strait while the Polish and Croatian armies engaged the Crimean land forces that came to Ottoman aid. The Muslim armies were routed, and soon the majority of the western holdings of the Ottoman Empire were occupied by Christian forces. Satisfied with her accomplishments, Ragusa accepted a peace deal with the Ottomans that would force them to relinquish conquered territory.
By releasing Morea, which had been under the control of the Castilians, the Croatians gave themselves the opportunity to expand into southern Greece themselves. The long-term goal of Ragusa is to secure territory on the Gulf of Aden. That means war with the Mamluks and conquest of Egypt. With the Ottoman threat greatly diminished, Ragusa could now position herself to strike the moment the Mamluks show similar weakness.
From there, control of the path of Indian trade is there for the taking.
Ragusa's goals are now clear:
1. Conquer Morea. When able, take Croatia from the Hungarians.
2. Take further territory of former Byzantium, including Constantinople, so as to direct a greater amount of trade into Ragusa's ports.
3. Conquer Egypt and build a second navy in the southern seas.
4. Extend influence eastward to India, ensuring that the Portuguese and Spanish do not direct trade around Africa.
Her threats are becoming more visible as well:
1. Hungary is now a rival and must be dealt with.
2. The Pope is a serious problem; how does a good Christian war with the spiritual leader of all Christendom? This new Protestant religion is beginning to spread. Perhaps...
3. The result of the New Crusade is not yet known. Castile may take Ottoman territory, which would be rather disastrous for Ragusa's expansion plans. Would this strain relations? Worst case, France expands there. Ragusa would prefer if the French kept munching on the Holy Roman Empire, thanks.
4. The Mamluks are the ultimate roadblock, even more daunting than the Ottomans in their prime. Perhaps they could be lured into attacking so that Castile can join the fray. Or, should Ragusa conquer all of Italy and Greece first, creating a Croatian version of the Roman Empire and becoming a power that only France could rival? But if this takes too long, Ragusan trade could suffer as the Western Europeans make it to India first.
NOTES: France has conquered Brittany and is overall quite the beast this time. Austria inherited Brandenburg, but it's done nothing to reverse their streak of losing wars. Portugal is busy with Morocco, which is great news for me. England has taken most of Ireland and is well on its way to forming Great Britain.
Genoa and the Hansa have fallen to rebels, switching to Monarchies; meanwhile Venice and Novgorod are mostly destroyed, leaving Ragusa as the last Republic of any real power in the game. Morea and Wallachia did free as republics, which is great because it means free casus belli for me. Not sure if Wallachia is really worth bothering with, but I guess if I don't, Poland or the Ottomans will eat them.
The Mamluks just absorbed Tripoli. I didn't even notice that until just now. They are truly frightening this game. I will probably have to beat them with navy and blockade attrition.
Siena still exists and is not a vassal of anybody. I suppose I could just go take it myself now that appeasing the Pope is utterly hopeless.
France is quite the monster in 1.6. I've taken half of their their territory in my Switzerland game and they are still like the fourth strongest land military power. Changes to how manpowers works means that France now has almost limitless men in addition to their high force-limits, huge morale bonus, and amazing generals. The Mamluks shouldn't be too bad if you can eat into the Ottomans faster than they can. They may be big but they're still in a crappy tech group.
People keep saying that about France, but France doesn't exist in a vacuum. In my Netherlands game I own 3 provinces with lower than 5 basetax. Austria has basically no provinces below 5 basetax either, and there are basically zero provinces in Germany or North-central Italy below 5 too.
Really it's just that Europe is now even better off than all the rest of the world, possibly other than India.
My friend is working on a roguelike game you can play if you want to. (It has free demo)
Europe as a whole is better, but since France is the big European power most likely to start wars they benefit the most. It basically means they're much less likely to over-extend themselves than in previous patches. Still, they are beatable, but not by an AI country. (Unless Austria and Castille happen to ally early on or a Burgundy+Castille combo attacks them very early on.)
So still not using the beta version, and I started a game out as Utrecht ironman to try and form the Netherland. It's been about fifty years since then. I still need to get Zeeland and Breda (Snagged Holland from Burgundy when they were getting carpet sieged by France.) Zeeland and Breda are now owned by Austria, but I'm allied to France, a strong Pomerania, and Bohemia and I'm pretty confident that our combined forces could easily beat Austria except... for the last thirty years France has been at war over England for thirty years straight. It was me and France on one side, England and Portugal on the other. France surprisingly managed to beat Portugal and England's combined navies, and proceded to occupy Ireland. About 7 years at war I finally peaced out to let my war exhaustion drop a bit. About thirteen years in France finally discovered the Azores so Portugal was 100% occupied and was finally allowed out of the war. Currently France has 84% warscore against England just from the occupation of Picardie, Meath, and Ulster, a ton of battles, and the ticking warscore.
Even by the time I exited the war France and everyone else involved in the war was already at low war enthusiasm, so it surprised me why the war continued to go on for so long. I know the AI is a lot more stubborn about making peacedeals in 1.6, but I hadn't seen anything this ridiculous before. I think the problem is being caused by a couple of things: 1.) Both sides still have their entire army; England has about 30,000 men just sitting at home, France has tons of stacks everywhere besides England. 2.) France is two military techs ahead of England, which likely makes them consider England weaker than they actually are. 3.) England literally can't offer anything besides Picardie and Meath because all the Welsh lands have already become independent. Tyrone is the capital of a vassal which I believe means that if France were to take that they couldn't take any other land, and since England has no navy they also have no real trade presence in Bordeaux, meaning that France probably doesn't want England to give them trade power. 4.) France isn't even trying to land troops in England proper. If France did England would be able to wipe out the small stacks, but at least that would eventually convince France to be willing to accept peace.
This wouldn't be all that much of an issue for me, after all France would still be willing to join wars anyway and they could always buy down war exhaustion, except that France is slowly but surely bankrupting itself due its maxed army maintanence and the fact that the French navies are all blockading England.
STOCKHOLM — JUNE 17, 2014 — Paradox Interactive and Paradox Development Studio today revealed the third expansion for Europa Universalis IV, the award-winning grand strategy game of empire-building and global domination. The new mini expansion, entitled Res Publica, will introduce new systems of governance and trade to the game, including an all-new government type and several new Idea Groups for ambitious strategists to explore. The mini expansion is scheduled to release this summer for Windows, Mac, and Linux PCs.
Res Publica, a Latin phrase meaning “Public Affairs,” expands upon the critically acclaimed strategy game Europa Universalis IV, providing players with even more ways to rewrite history and tell their unique stories of conquest. In Res Publica, dictators and diplomats will discover new ways to manage and govern their empires, including additional ways to influence growth, sway the balance of power, and maintain – or shatter – a nation’s stability.
Res Publica adds the following features to the game’s affairs:
Republic Affairs: Grow your influence with the Merchant Republic faction to create new trade posts and reap bonuses, or exploit the inner power struggles of the Dutch Republic and their unique election events
Meet the New Boss: Try the all-new Republican Dictatorship government type, and decide between increases in power or Republic Tradition in new in-game opportunities and events
Don’t Fight the Power: Retain power for the ruling family by backing heirs in Elective Monarchies; boost your growth with the National Focus bonus and spend your points on Administrative, Diplomatic, or Military Power
Res Publica will provide grand strategy fans with their broadest set of choices and tactics yet when it releases this summer. However, if you want to see the expanded gameplay in action right now, check out livestream at
where we have 32 dev’s playing the latest beta build of the game today from 15:30cest to 17:30cest
I've been playing a game as Qing, tried to westernize,but the changes to westernization and rebels basically make it a game over button. I'm nearly all of China, Japan and the Philippines, every time a rebel pops up and takes a province, there goes 100 westernization. I lose it faster than I gain, and I need to make 3,200 points towards it. All for 1 extra monarch point and cheaper tech...
Honestly, I'd like for them to expand a bit on the various monarchies and empires and whatnot as governance systems. They could benefit from a bit more intrigue or something to spice things up.
I've been playing a game as Qing, tried to westernize,but the changes to westernization and rebels basically make it a game over button. I'm nearly all of China, Japan and the Philippines, every time a rebel pops up and takes a province, there goes 100 westernization. I lose it faster than I gain, and I need to make 3,200 points towards it. All for 1 extra monarch point and cheaper tech...
What if you released vassals first, prioritizing areas with higher revolt risk and those farthest away from your core power? Then you reduce likelihood of rebels as well as distance to cover to deal with them.
The +10 RR you get can be fully countered with Harsh Treatment, but if you have a ton of rich provinces, that can be prohibitively expensive. Wealth also slows your progress; consider tanking your trade and surviving on loans so it doesn't take as long (also release rich vassals).
It may be worth canceling all non-vassal diplomatic relations so you can have as many of them as possible.
Of course all this assumes the points you'll be spending westernizing and reintegrating vassals is less than what you'd spend on the more expensive tech.
Triptycho: A card-and-dice tabletop indie RPG currently in development and playtesting
The high merchant houses of Ragusa are nervous. The pope has taken much of Italy, including all the former territories of Venice, the once-great rival of the Croatians. Further, the pope shows open hostility toward Ragusa, clearly intending to take her lands with no regard to how faithful a Christian servant the Republic has been. Venice is not a direct threat to Ragusa, but one thing is certain. The city and its wealth must not fall into the hands of the pope.
Ragusa declares a trade war and moves her navies in to blockade the ports of Venice. The Venetian navy has long since been demolished, but the city itself still has quite a sizable force, and Ragusa can only attack by sea. 9,000 Croatians charge from the cogs, meeting the 8,000 Venetian defenders. As soon as the troops are on land, the cogs return to collect the remaining 9,000 forces. By the time they arrive with the reinforcements, the battle was already lost. Half the Ragusan army was wiped out.
Undaunted, the fresh forces charge the wearied Venetians, and this time Ragusa prevails. The city is besieged and soon falls. This time, Ragusa does not bother with claiming a vassal. Venice is fully assimilated, its government dismantled. The oldest and most hated rival has been conquered.
The war took a heavy toll on Ragusa, however. After rebuilding her forces, the merchant republic is left with the lowest amount of remaining manpower since embarking on the quest for empire. It will take some time to recover. Wars must be chosen carefully and executed swiftly for some time.
Rebuilding and Assimilating
Poland's crusade went quite well. They took territory from the northwestern part of the Ottoman Empire and forced Crimea to release the states of Greece and Georgia.
Elsewhere, France conquers what's left of Genoa and gains a border with Ragusa. This proves particularly harmful for relations as the French immediately declare Ragusa as a rival. This is a terrifying development that pushes the Croatian diplomatic machine into action. The diplomats manage to keep relations in the green, but they're nowhere near their former levels. France and Ragusa share an ally in Castile, so the Republic redoubles its outreach toward the Spaniards, hoping to ensure their loyalty should the worst happen.
Otherwise, Ragusa bides her time, recovering population and working on assimilating Albania. Bringing Albania fully into the fold isn't of itself a high priority, but if Wallachia and Morea are to be vassalized, the existing government structure needs to be a bit more efficient to handle it.
The decade passes quietly.
The United Republic of Ragusa, Bosnia, Serbia, Naples, Venice, and Albania
The time has come for action once more. Political will grows for the subjugation of Wallachia, and Ragusa's forces soon march, spearheaded by a mercenary force to reduce casualties among the Croatian population. The war is largely uninteresting and fast, and Wallachia becomes a formal vassal of Ragusa.
No time is wasted, and Morea becomes the next target. Naxos joines the tiny Greek state in defense, but Ragusa has no interest in the islands at this time and simply focues on Morea. The small republic is also defeated with few casualties, and the Croatians acquire another vassal.
The war machine is in motion. Nationalist and religious fervor has the population in full support of the military conquests. And the Crusade against the Ottoman Empire was never formally ended. Poland had recently engaged Crimea and the Ottomans, taking Crimean territory and also giving Crimea proper to Greece. The Ottoman military was down to 15,000 foot soldiers. Still wary of the skill of those troops, Ragusa improves her own forces to number 24,000 with a good number of cavalry and cannon. The Crusaders march.
The battle is close at first thanks to the skills of the Ottoman general, but it eventually swings in favor of the Croatians, and the Sultan's forces are routed. Ragusa marches on Constantinople, now known as Istanbul in the East, and lays siege. The Ottoman capital falls, and Ragusa secures the release of Bulgaria and Epirus. The latter will grant improved connections to Corfu and Morea and thus will be a priority target once the truce comes to an end.
Ragusa has enjoyed a truly blessed century. Apart from momentary occupation by Aragon during the coalition wars of long ago, no foreign power has occupied any of Ragusa's territory. And in a hundred years, not a single nation has declared war on the Republic. Her expansion has been only trivially contested, and her growth has been the greatest of any nation in Europe.
In the past few decades, Ragusa's goals have not really shifted. France has been added to the list of threats, but at this point the Croatians would be satisfied sacrificing the northern Italian possessions in order to placate the French machine. The true goals remain east and south: the great cities of Constantinople and Alexandria. Where before there was a mighty Empire, there shall now be a mighty Republic. Let Rome busy itself with religion and theocracy, for the ducats that once flew into her coffers are now collected by the Croatian merchant fleets. Let it be known across the seas, from the Portuguese colonies in the West to the heart of Islam in the East; there is a new Rome, and she is Ragusa, and her destiny shall unfold across all the known world!
NOTES: Byzantium is back, now in Cyprus. It still wants the Eastern Balkans, heh. Castile has inherited Aragon; if they side with me instead of France, then this is fine news as far as I'm concerned. Austria continues to collapse; I expect Bavaria to become Emperor before much longer. Poland is really looking silly, but they're still a great ally. If they manage to form the Commonwealth, things could get crazy. The Mamluks continue to impress; I'm going to need one hell of a navy when it's time for war.
So in my Utrecht->Netherlands game I just recently noticed that Kurland of all nations has their own national ideas, and they're pretty decent. I guess I must have missed the part of the 1.6 patchnotes that mentioned them getting their own ideas. Now I have an idea for what to try after my current Netherlands game.
Kurland as a country already existed in the game, but before it only had generic national ideas, and wasn't formable by any country. Just a really random country to give NIs to. Like, I'd expect Navarra would get some first or something.
This had gone on long enough. The Pope was taking too direct a role in political administration, sending armies around in conquest and dreaming of a theocratic empire. It was undermining the role of the head of religion, and murmurs began amongst the clergy of Ragusa. The Republic was devout and righteous, yet the Pope was antagonistic and belligerent. It was time for a split.
The first steps came in laws that taxed the churches and promoted a high council in Ragusa to head all matters of religion, effectively demoting the Pope within the Croatian borders. This would have angered the Papal States, but frankly relations were already rock bottom and had been for decades. Once these steps were fully integrated into the Republic's society, a new, bolder step was taken. Ragusa officially adopted the Reformed faith.
This was the only practical course of action for breaking away from Catholicism. The Protestant faith had made precious few gains in this part of the world, and Reformed had the benefit of improved tolerance of heretic faiths (which, as of 1.6, is much more useful than before). This should help reduce revolts and promote religious unity while the missionaries work to convert the populace to the new order.
Well, things never go quite as planned. Shortly after the change, Ragusa entered into a great period of Religious Unrest. The threat of revolts skyrocketed, and the government had to focus most of its attention inward. It was going to be another slow decade.
The decade was spent mostly working on infrastructure. Morea was formally integrated, and Epirus was swiftly conquered and directly assimilated. Ragusa's borders were looking quite fine indeed.
Further progress was made on Ideas, advancing near to the end of the Administration chain. Town Halls reduced revolt risk, and Star Forts were constructed in every city in the Republic.
And then, once again, all hell broke loose.
Not Quite Rome Yet
In 1553, a united Spain launched an ill-conceived invasion of the island of Corsica. Corsica had been granted independence during the collapse of Genoa decades before, but it remained a part of the Holy Roman Empire. Austria continued its collapse, losing both its status as Emperor and even its Monarchy, shifting into a Noble Republic as a result of a rebel uprising even as endless wars continued to eat at her territory. Bavaria had taken over, restoring a bit of stability to the generally chaotic Empire, and Holy Rome responded to Spain's invasion.
Bavaria took over leadership of the war, then called in her own allies. These included Hungary and, unfortunately, France.
Spain had no chance of winning this war, and the leadership of Ragusa was well aware of this. However, she could not afford to lose Spain as an ally, either. With some luck, Ragusa's forces could engage Hungary alone, weakening the nation so as to be able to strike in the future and take Croatian territory. Ragusa accepted the call to arms.
There was no luck to be had, however. France moved quickly, sending a giant armada to block Ragusa's fleets, preventing the troops in Morea and southern Italy from being able to reach any of the actual fighting. Spain's armada refused to engage, and Ragusa was forced to sit and watch as Spain slowly lost the war. The Spanish put up a good fight, actually, but the results were written before the first engagement.
For the peace deal, France took some ducats and demanded that Spain end all relations with Ragusa, rendering the whole thing a general waste of time. Nothing changed except that Ragusa still lost her ally.
Looking around, she found a new ally in Bohemia, a nation that nearly rivaled Bavaria in strength and might some day become Emperor. They too have a border with Hungary; perhaps the day will come that Bohemia could aid in the freeing of the Croatian people?
Alas, that day was not to come. Hungary launched a war for an Austrian province, which somehow led to Bohemia sending a Call to Arms to Ragusa. And Hungary's ally France also joined the fight.
This battle was going to go even worse. Ragusa had spent some time in-between wars upgrading her navy, so France didn't send the armada this time. However, the forces of Rome and Ragusa were terribly outnumbered. The Croatians did participate in some battles, winning an engagement against France before being attacked again with morale yet to recover. The Ragusan armies fled to Venetia, where they promptly hid behind the daunting Republican Fleet and waited. Much of Holy Rome and even a good chuck of Ragusa were occupied before there was peace, most of which involved Austria losing yet more territory (and then re-converting to Despotic Monarchy).
And, of course, the ending of all relations between Bohemia and Ragusa. Yes, it happened again.
Ragusa now nursed a bruised ego. The visions of grandeur the nation had only just experienced were brutally shattered as the Great Blue Terror unleashed a healthy dose of reality upon the merchant republic.
Stabbing Eastward
Nothing good was coming out of Western Europe, and Ragusa had had about enough of it. Waiting another decade for depleted manpower to recover, the Council focused again on internals. Much of the empire was converted to Reformed, and the period of Religious Unrest came to a thankful end. More buildings were constructed, and the government completed its Administrative reforms. The alliance with Spain was reformed, and with it came knowledge of the Spanish Square. Pike units upgraded to muskets, and the army was rebuilt. Optimism was restored; it was time to move again.
The chosen direction continued to be the East. Clever Ragusan spies had managed to forge claims on the island of Crete. War was declared, and the Knights of St. John answered the islanders' Call to Arms. Ragusa occupied the both of them. The Knights were vassalized and converted, while Crete was fully absorbed.
Bulgaria was next, swiftly vassalized and converted via a lucky Mission draw.
The final target was the Ottoman Empire through a Border Friction casus belli. It had engaged "Byzantium" (Cyprus) and managed to move all its forces into its eastern territory. Ragusa positioned her massive fleet in the Straits, isolating the Greek territories of the Empire, and charged. The Ottomans were unable to respond at all, and the Croatians rapidly occupied all the Western territories. Ragusa took the province of Monastir in the peace deal (the target of the Border Friction). Only nations on the Eastern side could be released, which frankly would only serve to feed the terrifying Mamluk titan, so these options didn't look especially appealing.
Feeling rather cheeky, Ragusa instead demanded that the Ottomans release the Byzantine core of Edirne back to the pretender Basilius in Cyprus. Along with being hilarious, this move effectively split the Ottomans, isolating its western territories from its capital of Istanbul. Completing the conquest of Greece would now be especially trivial. Ragusa could even choose to return all such territory to Byzantium, then launch a subjugation war against Cyprus. It just depends on how things unfold in the diplomatic realm...
And Back Again
Shortly after these conquests completed, current events snapped Ragusan eyes back westward once more. The Bavarian monarch had died, and Hungary had laid claim to the throne.
Problem is, so had France.
Both nations were allied to the same general set of nations. Every last one of those nations sided with France (presumably out of fear, since there's absolutely no good reason for anyone to want France holding another kingdom). The slaughter was swift and decisive. France entered into personal union with the nation that previously led the Holy Roman Empire. And Hungary was forced to release the nation of Croatia.
Suddenly a grand opportunity was presented to Ragusa. A Mission soon appeared for Zagreb, but it would be trivial to incorporate the whole nation. At last, Croatian lands were to be united!
And what of France? How would Holy Rome respond to this Union? If France inherited all of Bavaria, would Europe explode? Or would France simply conquer everything?
In spite of all her accomplishments, her growth and accumulated power, Ragusa felt as vulnerable as ever. Until she had the ability to stand up to her French rival, she could never be secure. And given that France managed an army three and a half times that of Ragusa's, the road ahead was long indeed...
NOTES: Great Britain has formed, but Munster managed to rebel shortly before this during England's conquest of Scotland. The Netherlands actually revolted against France (event), but since Flanders existed as an independent nation, they only got one province and were shut down crazy fast. Most of France is eerily stable with zero revolt risk; I can't even reasonably fund rebels to make life difficult for them. Ryazan absorbed the rest of Crimea and is carving out an interesting little nation for itself.
Greece makes me giggle; not only is it in a silly place, but it's also Sunni and allied with the Ottomans. The Mamluks just took out Algiers; as a result they're getting into it with Spain, which could give me a great opportunity to attack (if I can get ahold of a casus belli somehow). They have a dozen capital ships, though, while I have two, so I can't take them on yet.
I really want to subjugate the Pope, but he's keeping some solid alliances (France) making me unwilling to attempt it. I'll be going after Croatia next, but I think I'll resist taking the rest of Hungary; the territory isn't very useful, and I don't want to extend my borders with Poland (a fairly reliable ally) or start getting into it with Holy Rome.
I have the opportunity to Westernize, but I'm not sure it's worth it. I don't know that I can handle the +10 RR. I'd probably need to release Venice and Naples as vassals first, which would further slow me down. It's already 1577 and I haven't really expanded outside my little corner of the world yet. Any more delays and I'm going to have trouble getting that Indian trade control that comprises my ultimate goal...
So my Netherlands game has gone some crazy places:
The first thing you're probably going to notice is the huge Austria and Bohemia. Austria got a PU over Hungary almost immediately and inherited them to boot. This however caused Austria to be a bit to aggressive and so they lost the title of Emperor to Bohemia for a time. Bohemia used the benefits of being Emperor to expand quickly, mostly into Poland. A Bohemian-Russian alliance helped matters. Eventually Bohemia also ticked off to many people and ended up losing the title of emperor to Milan. So that sort of explains the weird situation in central Europe. Second point of interest: religion. Almost every nation in Europe ended up going Protestant, even France. (Helps when the reformation starts in Brittany.) The only remaining Catholic strongholds are Austria, the Iberian nations, and the Italian peninsula. Reformed also did quite well. I went reformed, but so did Scotland, Poland, and Riga. Also in case you're wondering the Americas are a bit odd too:
Yes, that is Austria in South America. And yes, Portugal has had a real rough time of it this game. Also yes England still exists, at least for now, in the Caribbean. My three colonial nations are Nova Hollandia in the extreme north, New Netherlands on the eastern seaboard, and Nova Frieslandia in the Caribbean. I've played thirty years past where I took these screenshots, and mostly I've just been expanding my overseas empire, building up and continually reupgrading my navy, and maximizing trade potential. (I did forcibly vassalize and integrate Scotland and Hesse, and conquer Wales and the Hansa; so the European front hasn't been all quiet.) I've managed to get up to 10 merchants, and my income is the highest in the world by a fair margin, where I make about 60-80 ducats a month at full army maintenance, four colonies, and numerous high level advisors. I'm first in score, followed by France, Spain, Russia, Austria, and the Ottomans. Army wise, I have the fourth highest force-limit in the world, and I'm allied with France and Russia regardless.(Plus I make so much money I could temporarily go massively over my force-limit if I ever felt desperate.) Not bad for starting out as a one province Dutch theocracy, eh?
The first half of the seventeenth century has been kind to the Dutch:
The current state of affairs in Europe. Major powers in rank of score are: Myself, France, Russia, the Ottomans, and Austria. Major events that have happened: France attacked Milan, causing them to end up losing most of their land and also giving the title of Emperor back to Austria finally. Bohemia and Austria got into two big wars, one of which Bohemia won which gave them that Baltic coastline, and the second of which Ukraine+Austria won, which caused Bohemia to lose Krakow. Castille got tangled into some ill advised wars against first Austria and than the Ottomans+Algiers, which ultimately caused Castille to lose all their holdings in Africa and also lose Galicia. The Pope took Milan's downward spiral as a invitation to take over most of Italy and likewise Sweden preyed on Poland and Lithuania's weakeness to get a presence on the southern Baltic coast. (I'd love to take down Sweden but unfortunately they're allied with Russia and for now that's still more trouble than it's worth.) France and and I took bites out of Austria, and if they look bigger it's only because they integrated the many vassals and personal unions they had. Also Russia broke their alliance with me because they took the mission to get a presence in India and got a -200 relations penalty for wanting my provinces. I might be able to re-ally them once they complete/abandon the mission, but on the other hand the Ottomans are actually friendly with me now that I'm no longer allied with Russia, and they might actually be a bit more useful of an ally. Religion mapmode:
Austria managed to flip a bunch of princes back to Catholic, but for the most part protestant is still the dominant religion in Europe. Orthodox also been doing pretty well thanks to Ukraine.
Not much interesting has happened in the Americas. I colonized the very tip of South America and managed to get California (And I plan to just sell any Alaskan provinces to California.), and I've also been slowly feeding Nova Hollandia and New Netherlands. Neither seem to want to declare war on their own, so it's been slow going. Portugal can't actually colonize any more of Louisiana unless they conquer the line of Native tribes blocking their way. Also of note: Portuguese Mexico is actually protestant, unlike Portugal.
My goals in Asia are mainly to go after the centers of trade in Makassar, Malacca, and southern China. The key to getting dominant trade companies isn't really usually about province count, it's all about getting the centers of trade and building all of the trade buildings in those provinces. Since they also get +50% trade power from being in a trade company, they ultimately get insane amounts of trade power. And yeah, India is a bit weird in this game. Nice pink color though.
Also of note, the reformation happens WAY slower without all the princes. Reformation % is at 90% or so as of that screenshot.
Also the Byzantines are paper tigers oddly enough, I don't know if its because they don't have the events/ideas that really crank the Ottomans up into blob mode. The only place I really haven't fully grasped them is at sea, but I'm working on it.
Oh and Dev diary today for Res Publica:
Welcome to the first developer diary for the Res Publica mini-expansion for Europa Universalis 4. In this diary we’ll be looking at the various ways in which Merchant Republics are expanded and fleshed out in both the expansion and the patch, as well as the new ‘National Focus’ mechanic.
Trade Posts
With the Res Publica expansion, Merchant Republics will now have the option to create a Trade Post in provinces they own. A Trade Post costs 50 administrative power and gives the province +15 trade power and +1 naval forcelimits. Each Merchant Republic can only have a single Trade Post in each node, and cannot create Trade Posts in their home node. This makes territorial control of outposts such as Venice’s Crete far more important to a Merchant Republic that wants to pull a large amount of trade home.
National Focus
With the Res Publica expansion, all nations will be able to set their National Focus. National Focus can be set to either Administrative Power, Diplomatic Power, Military Power, or unfocused. When set to a power, the National Focus increases the base gain to that power by +2 but reduces the base gain in other powers by -1, so a National Focus in Administrative gives the player a base power gain of +5 administrative, +2 diplomatic and +2 military instead of +3 to each when unfocused. This allows a country to focus power into a category where they have a need, for example due to a new idea group, being behind in technology, or having a monarch with poor abilities in that category. The National Focus can be changed every 25 years.
Merchant Republic Factions
Included for free in the 1.7 patch is a faction system for Merchant Republics similar to the one for Ming. Merchant Republics will have three factions, The Guilds, The Traders and The Aristocrats, and will be able to spend monarch points to increase the backing for the faction they prefer so that faction is in control. If The Guilds are in control, the republic gets +10% national goods produced and -10% build cost but -10% national manpower. If The Traders are in control, the republic gets +10% global trade power and -10% naval maintenance but -5% to tax income. If The Aristocrats are in control the republic gets +10% land morale and -10% land maintenance but -15% foreign trade power. For those that own the expansion there are also quite a few new events for the Merchant Republic faction system.
Technology Changes
Lastly in this dev diary, we’re making some tweaks to the neighbour bonus and technology groups that are included for free in the 1.7 patch. We felt that the reduction of the neighbour bonus in 1.6 was too harsh on nations that needed to catch up after Westernizing or from falling behind due to a poor monarch, so we’ve increased the neighbour bonus back to -5% for each technology level you are behind the tech leader in your tech group, with a maximum reduction of -75%. To encourage countries to stay on the cutting edge of administrative and diplomatic technology instead of waiting for the neighbour bonus, we’ve instead introduced bonuses for nations that are ahead of time in those technologies, with nations that are ahead of time in Administrative tech gaining +20% production efficiency and nations that are ahead of time in Diplomatic tech gaining +20% trade efficiency. No additional bonus was added for nations that are ahead of time in Military technology, as the military advantages are bonus enough.
In addition to these changes, we’ve also made life a little easier for some of the slower tech groups by removing all monarch power penalties associated with technology groups, so Chinese nations will no longer gain -1 to all monarch powers, African nations will no longer gain -2, and so on.
In the next dev diary we will talk about the Dutch Republic mechanics and new idea groups, so stay tuned!
as someone who loves playing countries in other continents than Europe that's so nice.
Agreed, the big nerfs to westernization had made it so I've been unwilling to play any nations in Indian techgroup or below, despite finding Asia a very fun region to play in with some countries with great national ideas.
Edit: Reformed is great, might have my favorite bonuses now. The trade focused bonuses probably add like a good 20% income to trade, and in times of war the extra land and naval morale you can get can be the difference between holding off France or getting rolled over. The admin focused bonuses aren't as impressive as the other two foci, but they include lowered revolt risk which is useful for when you first flip to reformed. And it's not very hard to get enough fervor to at least keep one foci active at all times.
Here's my progress in Arborea. Lotharangia rivalled me, so shit has gotten real, and I really have no idea how to deal with it. I have level 4-5 forts all along the border with them, Italy, and Bulgaria. But they flat out have twice the men I do. I've made friends with Mazovia and GB, but there's really no land powers left besides them and me.
Here's a wide shot of the old world. I'm kinda bummed they made Qing so hard for the AI, Manchu has gotten the territory for it, but I don't think the AI can figure out how the reform and
God I hate fighting France. In my Netherlands game with 2-1 odds with France attacking across rivers and into mountains I still take triple France's losses. I still keep eventually winning wars through simply draining France's manpower down by using mercs, but UGH. Stupid stacking discipline bonuses leading to 123% discipline. Also stupid Lucky Nations insane +33% manpower recovery speed modifier.
The power of a level 9 fort. I've fought Lothrangia a couple times now. I had an early one when Mazovia was still a power where I was able to steal away Trent, but since then its been purely defensive. They have twice my army size and its all concentrated in a rather small area. I'm all over the place, East Africa, India and the Middle East. I basically have to maintain Roman style garrisons in the Alps in case the Germans come over and hope for the best.
So I bought this when it came out because obviously, but I really didn't play it much until recently. I just want to say as someone who's still caught in some EU III thinking, I'm impressed with the way the AI handles itself. I mean sure it's just a computer game, it does some really silly things and even more predictable ones, but it is capable of putting up a fight. I started my first game back as Brunswick because I like that part of the world and I figured forming Hanover would be a reasonable short-term goal. For those who don't know, Brunswick starts with 2/4 provinces needed to form Hanover. Now I'm 100 years in, more than quadruple my original size, and Hanover is still out of reach because the Hansa are resisting me tooth and nail. We haven't even fought a war because each time I make a move to put myself in a stronger position they manage a counter. I gain some provinces to the S and NW, Hansa goes E into Pomerania (and manages to get a coalition against me going). I ally with Brandenburg and Denmark? He gets Russia and England. He snags an alliance with France? Well then I better ally with France too because nobody beats France.
And it's been like this all game. The first couple kings expanded our base only to repeatedly get warned by Austria. And now that Austria is weak-ish, Hansa takes the lead in slowing me down. The nerve of these computers, telling me what I may and may not conquer.
Honestly not sure if I'm frustrated or glad that the AI is getting in my way. I mean either way I'm sure I'll find a violent solution but in the mean time just wanted to share.
I'd say the AI in EUIV is not great, at least in comparison to a player, but it's loads better than in probably any other Paradox game previously released. Like, when you look at how exploitable the AI can be in Crusader Kings 2 it looks like a genius in EUIV. Also the AI has continuously gotten improved in EUIV; the AI is much better at both warfare and economic management now than when the game was first released. As for your problem with the Hansa allying France, I'd advise trying to get France to join in a third party war on your side. So long as you two are fighting in a war on the same side, they can't defend the Hansa if you attack them. As for Russia, them being a threat depends entirely on them being able to get military access to your lands. If Denmark has all of Scandinavia then they're probably rivals with Russia by this point. If you don't call them in and bring them into the war, Russia can't walk through their lands to get to you. Likewise Poland-Lithuania also normally hates Russia's guts and so won't give them military access either. Basically check Russia's neighbors and see which ones are likely to give them access, and whether or not there's a path Russian troops can take to get to you. And as for England, well England is a joke at exerting influence in mainland Europe. They'll drop small stacks that you should be able to easily deal with.
Anyways, I think I've finally managed to start to break the back of the French war machine:
It's been several grueling wars but I've managed to liberate much of the lowlands in France. (Shortly after taking this screen-shot I got into another war with France where I also took Artois and Liege.) Austria has been, well, balkanized over the past fifty years. Since Russia seems permanently stuck desiring my Indonesian land, my only recourse for a great power ally was the Ottomans. They've been fairly useful, although I have had to dishonor one or two calls against Russia+Bohemia while I was in the middle of one of my wars against France. (I can fight France or I can fight the Bohemian-Russian alliance, but I can't fight both at the same time.) The Ottomans got stuck with an awful 1/1/1 ruler for about fifty years, so they're pretty behind on tech. Still, their pure numbers can at least overwhelm France's allies. Speaking of numbers, I now have about 280,000 troops, which is finally enough of a numerical advantage over the French that I can reliably win battles.
Some screens of the rest of the world:
North America:
France has lost much of Cananda. Decided I'd rather have Nova Hollandia and New Netherlands colonize Louisiania as opposed to have a very weak Colonial nation there.
Africa:
I thought it was weird how France never tried to colonize any part of Africa, and in fact in general France had a surprisingly weak overseas presence throughout the entire game.
Asia:
Russia did rather well on the colonizing front. Spain and Portugal got some of the eastern coast of Siberia, but in return Russia has one of the biggest Pacific presences. I really like how with the 1.6 patch they added straights between lots of the Indonesian islands and also in the Philippines.
Posts
I was the same with CK2, but now, I'm kind of getting into it.
What are the essential differences between CK2 and EU4?
EU4 is about empire building and how you'll conquer / survive against your neighbors.
Is there any definitive way to know who the war leader will be? I want to conquer a 2 province nation (Baden) whose only ally is another 2 province nation (Aachen). Unfortunately, Aachen is allied with Bohemia and Austria and I don't want to be in a position where those two beasts get called in!
A decade of calm was in order for the Republic of Ragusa. Time was needed to restore the nation's manpower, mend the diplomatic wounds, absorb the new territory, and plot the next steps. Unfortunately, this decade would not come easily.
Austria, the strongest ally of the Croatians and the Holy Roman Emperor, was in trouble. Hungary had attacked Holy Roman territory, calling in its ally France. This put Ragusa once more in a difficult spot, for Hungary was her ally. It was for this reason that the merchant republic looked the other way when Savoy called for aid. But Austria was not Savoy, and besides, this alliance with Hungary could not last forever; much of Croatia lay subjugated within those borders, after all. Ragusa answered the call to arms.
This turned out to be a futile gesture, however. Austria maneuvered its armies in the worst possible manner and was utterly obliterated by allied forces before Ragusa had a chance to join the fray. The Croatian armies parked near the border and waited for an opportunity, but such never materialized.
What materialized instead was more wars as subject nations and border countries took advantage of the chaos to strike. Soon, Ragusa was dragged into further wars against the likes of Switzerland and Liege. Eventually Hungary and France accepted peace, taking chunks of the Empire with them, and these lesser wars were able to be won.
The peace was short-lived, however, and once the first treaties had ended, again France and Hungary warred with the Empire. Austria reached out to Ragusa for help, but this time the merchant houses had other ideas. How much was this alliance truly worth? If Austria could not defend her own Empire, how could she defend Ragusa? And why should Ragusa continue to spend blood and treasure for the Empire while not being beholden to any of its benefits?
The decision was made. The alliance was broken. It was time for a new paradigm.
The New Paradigm
Many changes occurred within this short decade, some of which brought new opportunity. The Papal States had continued their expansion, further obliterating Venice and absorbing every bit of territory outside the city itself. Italy was now divided between the Pope, Naples, and the Croatians, a situation that apparently bothered the Christian leader. Despite many years of loyal service to the Pope and Christendom, Ragusa soon became an official rival of the Papal States.
Meanwhile, the Ottomans had lost a disastrous war against the Mamluks, giving up territory and freeing the Albanian people. This was the first sign of vulnerability from the Turks. Perhaps their luck had run out?
On the other side of the sea, Castile had begun to view Ragusa in quite the positive light. Deciding they would make a fine replacement for Austria, the Croatians joined the Spaniards in formal alliance.
That secured, it was time to move again. The Croatians marched on Naples one final time, destroying their armies and blockading their ports. A surrender soon followed, and Naples became a subject nation of Ragusa. Only two powers remained in Italy.
Albania was the next target. The poor nation had already demonstrated in the past its inability to defend itself against the Ottoman menace; Ragusa would not stand to have it fall into Muslim hands again. The Croatians marched, and the Albanians were swiftly vassalized and converted.
This done, the Republic enjoyed another period of calm. Venice was a tempting option, but the strategic benefit of capturing the city was in doubt. As long as Venice still existed, Ragusa's other rivals in the area had yet another power to be concerned about. The diplomatic cost of conquering the Venetians once and for all might be too high. And yet, was it really better to let the city fall into the pope's hands?
While the Croatians pondered this move, another opportunity suddenly presented itself. Castile had attacked Algiers, and the Ottomans had answered the call of alliance to help. However, they had still not managed to really recover from the beating the Mamluks had inflicted upon them, and Castile was managing to fight on equal terms. It was around this time that a Crusade was declared upon the Ottoman Empire.
The New Crusade
In 1396, Christian forces led by Hungary, France, and other nations led the Crusade of Nicopolis against the Ottomans and failed horribly. For a hundred years no further crusade was launched. Byzantium fell, and the specter of the Ottomans loomed over central Europe.
All that changed around 1515. Conflict with the Berbers drew Europe into war with the Ottomans once more, and a new crusade was formed, this time led by Castile, Ragusa, France, and Poland. The weakened Ottomans could offer little resistance against this force. The Ragusan navy blockaded the strait while the Polish and Croatian armies engaged the Crimean land forces that came to Ottoman aid. The Muslim armies were routed, and soon the majority of the western holdings of the Ottoman Empire were occupied by Christian forces. Satisfied with her accomplishments, Ragusa accepted a peace deal with the Ottomans that would force them to relinquish conquered territory.
By releasing Morea, which had been under the control of the Castilians, the Croatians gave themselves the opportunity to expand into southern Greece themselves. The long-term goal of Ragusa is to secure territory on the Gulf of Aden. That means war with the Mamluks and conquest of Egypt. With the Ottoman threat greatly diminished, Ragusa could now position herself to strike the moment the Mamluks show similar weakness.
From there, control of the path of Indian trade is there for the taking.
Ragusa's goals are now clear:
1. Conquer Morea. When able, take Croatia from the Hungarians.
2. Take further territory of former Byzantium, including Constantinople, so as to direct a greater amount of trade into Ragusa's ports.
3. Conquer Egypt and build a second navy in the southern seas.
4. Extend influence eastward to India, ensuring that the Portuguese and Spanish do not direct trade around Africa.
Her threats are becoming more visible as well:
1. Hungary is now a rival and must be dealt with.
2. The Pope is a serious problem; how does a good Christian war with the spiritual leader of all Christendom? This new Protestant religion is beginning to spread. Perhaps...
3. The result of the New Crusade is not yet known. Castile may take Ottoman territory, which would be rather disastrous for Ragusa's expansion plans. Would this strain relations? Worst case, France expands there. Ragusa would prefer if the French kept munching on the Holy Roman Empire, thanks.
4. The Mamluks are the ultimate roadblock, even more daunting than the Ottomans in their prime. Perhaps they could be lured into attacking so that Castile can join the fray. Or, should Ragusa conquer all of Italy and Greece first, creating a Croatian version of the Roman Empire and becoming a power that only France could rival? But if this takes too long, Ragusan trade could suffer as the Western Europeans make it to India first.
NOTES: France has conquered Brittany and is overall quite the beast this time. Austria inherited Brandenburg, but it's done nothing to reverse their streak of losing wars. Portugal is busy with Morocco, which is great news for me. England has taken most of Ireland and is well on its way to forming Great Britain.
Genoa and the Hansa have fallen to rebels, switching to Monarchies; meanwhile Venice and Novgorod are mostly destroyed, leaving Ragusa as the last Republic of any real power in the game. Morea and Wallachia did free as republics, which is great because it means free casus belli for me. Not sure if Wallachia is really worth bothering with, but I guess if I don't, Poland or the Ottomans will eat them.
The Mamluks just absorbed Tripoli. I didn't even notice that until just now. They are truly frightening this game. I will probably have to beat them with navy and blockade attrition.
Siena still exists and is not a vassal of anybody. I suppose I could just go take it myself now that appeasing the Pope is utterly hopeless.
Really it's just that Europe is now even better off than all the rest of the world, possibly other than India.
It also lets you play with countries with cool NIs that have really shitty positions or early games, like the Bizzies, Knights, Brittany, etc.
My favorite so far is the Brittany game where I started out owning mecca.
Hoo hoo hee hee hoo hee.
Even by the time I exited the war France and everyone else involved in the war was already at low war enthusiasm, so it surprised me why the war continued to go on for so long. I know the AI is a lot more stubborn about making peacedeals in 1.6, but I hadn't seen anything this ridiculous before. I think the problem is being caused by a couple of things: 1.) Both sides still have their entire army; England has about 30,000 men just sitting at home, France has tons of stacks everywhere besides England. 2.) France is two military techs ahead of England, which likely makes them consider England weaker than they actually are. 3.) England literally can't offer anything besides Picardie and Meath because all the Welsh lands have already become independent. Tyrone is the capital of a vassal which I believe means that if France were to take that they couldn't take any other land, and since England has no navy they also have no real trade presence in Bordeaux, meaning that France probably doesn't want England to give them trade power. 4.) France isn't even trying to land troops in England proper. If France did England would be able to wipe out the small stacks, but at least that would eventually convince France to be willing to accept peace.
This wouldn't be all that much of an issue for me, after all France would still be willing to join wars anyway and they could always buy down war exhaustion, except that France is slowly but surely bankrupting itself due its maxed army maintanence and the fact that the French navies are all blockading England.
The +10 RR you get can be fully countered with Harsh Treatment, but if you have a ton of rich provinces, that can be prohibitively expensive. Wealth also slows your progress; consider tanking your trade and surviving on loans so it doesn't take as long (also release rich vassals).
It may be worth canceling all non-vassal diplomatic relations so you can have as many of them as possible.
Of course all this assumes the points you'll be spending westernizing and reintegrating vassals is less than what you'd spend on the more expensive tech.
The high merchant houses of Ragusa are nervous. The pope has taken much of Italy, including all the former territories of Venice, the once-great rival of the Croatians. Further, the pope shows open hostility toward Ragusa, clearly intending to take her lands with no regard to how faithful a Christian servant the Republic has been. Venice is not a direct threat to Ragusa, but one thing is certain. The city and its wealth must not fall into the hands of the pope.
Ragusa declares a trade war and moves her navies in to blockade the ports of Venice. The Venetian navy has long since been demolished, but the city itself still has quite a sizable force, and Ragusa can only attack by sea. 9,000 Croatians charge from the cogs, meeting the 8,000 Venetian defenders. As soon as the troops are on land, the cogs return to collect the remaining 9,000 forces. By the time they arrive with the reinforcements, the battle was already lost. Half the Ragusan army was wiped out.
Undaunted, the fresh forces charge the wearied Venetians, and this time Ragusa prevails. The city is besieged and soon falls. This time, Ragusa does not bother with claiming a vassal. Venice is fully assimilated, its government dismantled. The oldest and most hated rival has been conquered.
The war took a heavy toll on Ragusa, however. After rebuilding her forces, the merchant republic is left with the lowest amount of remaining manpower since embarking on the quest for empire. It will take some time to recover. Wars must be chosen carefully and executed swiftly for some time.
Rebuilding and Assimilating
Poland's crusade went quite well. They took territory from the northwestern part of the Ottoman Empire and forced Crimea to release the states of Greece and Georgia.
Elsewhere, France conquers what's left of Genoa and gains a border with Ragusa. This proves particularly harmful for relations as the French immediately declare Ragusa as a rival. This is a terrifying development that pushes the Croatian diplomatic machine into action. The diplomats manage to keep relations in the green, but they're nowhere near their former levels. France and Ragusa share an ally in Castile, so the Republic redoubles its outreach toward the Spaniards, hoping to ensure their loyalty should the worst happen.
Otherwise, Ragusa bides her time, recovering population and working on assimilating Albania. Bringing Albania fully into the fold isn't of itself a high priority, but if Wallachia and Morea are to be vassalized, the existing government structure needs to be a bit more efficient to handle it.
The decade passes quietly.
The United Republic of Ragusa, Bosnia, Serbia, Naples, Venice, and Albania
The time has come for action once more. Political will grows for the subjugation of Wallachia, and Ragusa's forces soon march, spearheaded by a mercenary force to reduce casualties among the Croatian population. The war is largely uninteresting and fast, and Wallachia becomes a formal vassal of Ragusa.
No time is wasted, and Morea becomes the next target. Naxos joines the tiny Greek state in defense, but Ragusa has no interest in the islands at this time and simply focues on Morea. The small republic is also defeated with few casualties, and the Croatians acquire another vassal.
The war machine is in motion. Nationalist and religious fervor has the population in full support of the military conquests. And the Crusade against the Ottoman Empire was never formally ended. Poland had recently engaged Crimea and the Ottomans, taking Crimean territory and also giving Crimea proper to Greece. The Ottoman military was down to 15,000 foot soldiers. Still wary of the skill of those troops, Ragusa improves her own forces to number 24,000 with a good number of cavalry and cannon. The Crusaders march.
The battle is close at first thanks to the skills of the Ottoman general, but it eventually swings in favor of the Croatians, and the Sultan's forces are routed. Ragusa marches on Constantinople, now known as Istanbul in the East, and lays siege. The Ottoman capital falls, and Ragusa secures the release of Bulgaria and Epirus. The latter will grant improved connections to Corfu and Morea and thus will be a priority target once the truce comes to an end.
Ragusa has enjoyed a truly blessed century. Apart from momentary occupation by Aragon during the coalition wars of long ago, no foreign power has occupied any of Ragusa's territory. And in a hundred years, not a single nation has declared war on the Republic. Her expansion has been only trivially contested, and her growth has been the greatest of any nation in Europe.
In the past few decades, Ragusa's goals have not really shifted. France has been added to the list of threats, but at this point the Croatians would be satisfied sacrificing the northern Italian possessions in order to placate the French machine. The true goals remain east and south: the great cities of Constantinople and Alexandria. Where before there was a mighty Empire, there shall now be a mighty Republic. Let Rome busy itself with religion and theocracy, for the ducats that once flew into her coffers are now collected by the Croatian merchant fleets. Let it be known across the seas, from the Portuguese colonies in the West to the heart of Islam in the East; there is a new Rome, and she is Ragusa, and her destiny shall unfold across all the known world!
NOTES: Byzantium is back, now in Cyprus. It still wants the Eastern Balkans, heh. Castile has inherited Aragon; if they side with me instead of France, then this is fine news as far as I'm concerned. Austria continues to collapse; I expect Bavaria to become Emperor before much longer. Poland is really looking silly, but they're still a great ally. If they manage to form the Commonwealth, things could get crazy. The Mamluks continue to impress; I'm going to need one hell of a navy when it's time for war.
This had gone on long enough. The Pope was taking too direct a role in political administration, sending armies around in conquest and dreaming of a theocratic empire. It was undermining the role of the head of religion, and murmurs began amongst the clergy of Ragusa. The Republic was devout and righteous, yet the Pope was antagonistic and belligerent. It was time for a split.
The first steps came in laws that taxed the churches and promoted a high council in Ragusa to head all matters of religion, effectively demoting the Pope within the Croatian borders. This would have angered the Papal States, but frankly relations were already rock bottom and had been for decades. Once these steps were fully integrated into the Republic's society, a new, bolder step was taken. Ragusa officially adopted the Reformed faith.
This was the only practical course of action for breaking away from Catholicism. The Protestant faith had made precious few gains in this part of the world, and Reformed had the benefit of improved tolerance of heretic faiths (which, as of 1.6, is much more useful than before). This should help reduce revolts and promote religious unity while the missionaries work to convert the populace to the new order.
Well, things never go quite as planned. Shortly after the change, Ragusa entered into a great period of Religious Unrest. The threat of revolts skyrocketed, and the government had to focus most of its attention inward. It was going to be another slow decade.
The decade was spent mostly working on infrastructure. Morea was formally integrated, and Epirus was swiftly conquered and directly assimilated. Ragusa's borders were looking quite fine indeed.
Further progress was made on Ideas, advancing near to the end of the Administration chain. Town Halls reduced revolt risk, and Star Forts were constructed in every city in the Republic.
And then, once again, all hell broke loose.
Not Quite Rome Yet
In 1553, a united Spain launched an ill-conceived invasion of the island of Corsica. Corsica had been granted independence during the collapse of Genoa decades before, but it remained a part of the Holy Roman Empire. Austria continued its collapse, losing both its status as Emperor and even its Monarchy, shifting into a Noble Republic as a result of a rebel uprising even as endless wars continued to eat at her territory. Bavaria had taken over, restoring a bit of stability to the generally chaotic Empire, and Holy Rome responded to Spain's invasion.
Bavaria took over leadership of the war, then called in her own allies. These included Hungary and, unfortunately, France.
Spain had no chance of winning this war, and the leadership of Ragusa was well aware of this. However, she could not afford to lose Spain as an ally, either. With some luck, Ragusa's forces could engage Hungary alone, weakening the nation so as to be able to strike in the future and take Croatian territory. Ragusa accepted the call to arms.
There was no luck to be had, however. France moved quickly, sending a giant armada to block Ragusa's fleets, preventing the troops in Morea and southern Italy from being able to reach any of the actual fighting. Spain's armada refused to engage, and Ragusa was forced to sit and watch as Spain slowly lost the war. The Spanish put up a good fight, actually, but the results were written before the first engagement.
For the peace deal, France took some ducats and demanded that Spain end all relations with Ragusa, rendering the whole thing a general waste of time. Nothing changed except that Ragusa still lost her ally.
Looking around, she found a new ally in Bohemia, a nation that nearly rivaled Bavaria in strength and might some day become Emperor. They too have a border with Hungary; perhaps the day will come that Bohemia could aid in the freeing of the Croatian people?
Alas, that day was not to come. Hungary launched a war for an Austrian province, which somehow led to Bohemia sending a Call to Arms to Ragusa. And Hungary's ally France also joined the fight.
This battle was going to go even worse. Ragusa had spent some time in-between wars upgrading her navy, so France didn't send the armada this time. However, the forces of Rome and Ragusa were terribly outnumbered. The Croatians did participate in some battles, winning an engagement against France before being attacked again with morale yet to recover. The Ragusan armies fled to Venetia, where they promptly hid behind the daunting Republican Fleet and waited. Much of Holy Rome and even a good chuck of Ragusa were occupied before there was peace, most of which involved Austria losing yet more territory (and then re-converting to Despotic Monarchy).
And, of course, the ending of all relations between Bohemia and Ragusa. Yes, it happened again.
Ragusa now nursed a bruised ego. The visions of grandeur the nation had only just experienced were brutally shattered as the Great Blue Terror unleashed a healthy dose of reality upon the merchant republic.
Stabbing Eastward
Nothing good was coming out of Western Europe, and Ragusa had had about enough of it. Waiting another decade for depleted manpower to recover, the Council focused again on internals. Much of the empire was converted to Reformed, and the period of Religious Unrest came to a thankful end. More buildings were constructed, and the government completed its Administrative reforms. The alliance with Spain was reformed, and with it came knowledge of the Spanish Square. Pike units upgraded to muskets, and the army was rebuilt. Optimism was restored; it was time to move again.
The chosen direction continued to be the East. Clever Ragusan spies had managed to forge claims on the island of Crete. War was declared, and the Knights of St. John answered the islanders' Call to Arms. Ragusa occupied the both of them. The Knights were vassalized and converted, while Crete was fully absorbed.
Bulgaria was next, swiftly vassalized and converted via a lucky Mission draw.
The final target was the Ottoman Empire through a Border Friction casus belli. It had engaged "Byzantium" (Cyprus) and managed to move all its forces into its eastern territory. Ragusa positioned her massive fleet in the Straits, isolating the Greek territories of the Empire, and charged. The Ottomans were unable to respond at all, and the Croatians rapidly occupied all the Western territories. Ragusa took the province of Monastir in the peace deal (the target of the Border Friction). Only nations on the Eastern side could be released, which frankly would only serve to feed the terrifying Mamluk titan, so these options didn't look especially appealing.
Feeling rather cheeky, Ragusa instead demanded that the Ottomans release the Byzantine core of Edirne back to the pretender Basilius in Cyprus. Along with being hilarious, this move effectively split the Ottomans, isolating its western territories from its capital of Istanbul. Completing the conquest of Greece would now be especially trivial. Ragusa could even choose to return all such territory to Byzantium, then launch a subjugation war against Cyprus. It just depends on how things unfold in the diplomatic realm...
And Back Again
Shortly after these conquests completed, current events snapped Ragusan eyes back westward once more. The Bavarian monarch had died, and Hungary had laid claim to the throne.
Problem is, so had France.
Both nations were allied to the same general set of nations. Every last one of those nations sided with France (presumably out of fear, since there's absolutely no good reason for anyone to want France holding another kingdom). The slaughter was swift and decisive. France entered into personal union with the nation that previously led the Holy Roman Empire. And Hungary was forced to release the nation of Croatia.
Suddenly a grand opportunity was presented to Ragusa. A Mission soon appeared for Zagreb, but it would be trivial to incorporate the whole nation. At last, Croatian lands were to be united!
And what of France? How would Holy Rome respond to this Union? If France inherited all of Bavaria, would Europe explode? Or would France simply conquer everything?
In spite of all her accomplishments, her growth and accumulated power, Ragusa felt as vulnerable as ever. Until she had the ability to stand up to her French rival, she could never be secure. And given that France managed an army three and a half times that of Ragusa's, the road ahead was long indeed...
NOTES: Great Britain has formed, but Munster managed to rebel shortly before this during England's conquest of Scotland. The Netherlands actually revolted against France (event), but since Flanders existed as an independent nation, they only got one province and were shut down crazy fast. Most of France is eerily stable with zero revolt risk; I can't even reasonably fund rebels to make life difficult for them. Ryazan absorbed the rest of Crimea and is carving out an interesting little nation for itself.
Greece makes me giggle; not only is it in a silly place, but it's also Sunni and allied with the Ottomans. The Mamluks just took out Algiers; as a result they're getting into it with Spain, which could give me a great opportunity to attack (if I can get ahold of a casus belli somehow). They have a dozen capital ships, though, while I have two, so I can't take them on yet.
I really want to subjugate the Pope, but he's keeping some solid alliances (France) making me unwilling to attempt it. I'll be going after Croatia next, but I think I'll resist taking the rest of Hungary; the territory isn't very useful, and I don't want to extend my borders with Poland (a fairly reliable ally) or start getting into it with Holy Rome.
I have the opportunity to Westernize, but I'm not sure it's worth it. I don't know that I can handle the +10 RR. I'd probably need to release Venice and Naples as vassals first, which would further slow me down. It's already 1577 and I haven't really expanded outside my little corner of the world yet. Any more delays and I'm going to have trouble getting that Indian trade control that comprises my ultimate goal...
So my Netherlands game has gone some crazy places:
The first thing you're probably going to notice is the huge Austria and Bohemia. Austria got a PU over Hungary almost immediately and inherited them to boot. This however caused Austria to be a bit to aggressive and so they lost the title of Emperor to Bohemia for a time. Bohemia used the benefits of being Emperor to expand quickly, mostly into Poland. A Bohemian-Russian alliance helped matters. Eventually Bohemia also ticked off to many people and ended up losing the title of emperor to Milan. So that sort of explains the weird situation in central Europe. Second point of interest: religion. Almost every nation in Europe ended up going Protestant, even France. (Helps when the reformation starts in Brittany.) The only remaining Catholic strongholds are Austria, the Iberian nations, and the Italian peninsula. Reformed also did quite well. I went reformed, but so did Scotland, Poland, and Riga. Also in case you're wondering the Americas are a bit odd too:
Yes, that is Austria in South America. And yes, Portugal has had a real rough time of it this game. Also yes England still exists, at least for now, in the Caribbean. My three colonial nations are Nova Hollandia in the extreme north, New Netherlands on the eastern seaboard, and Nova Frieslandia in the Caribbean. I've played thirty years past where I took these screenshots, and mostly I've just been expanding my overseas empire, building up and continually reupgrading my navy, and maximizing trade potential. (I did forcibly vassalize and integrate Scotland and Hesse, and conquer Wales and the Hansa; so the European front hasn't been all quiet.) I've managed to get up to 10 merchants, and my income is the highest in the world by a fair margin, where I make about 60-80 ducats a month at full army maintenance, four colonies, and numerous high level advisors. I'm first in score, followed by France, Spain, Russia, Austria, and the Ottomans. Army wise, I have the fourth highest force-limit in the world, and I'm allied with France and Russia regardless.(Plus I make so much money I could temporarily go massively over my force-limit if I ever felt desperate.) Not bad for starting out as a one province Dutch theocracy, eh?
On the other hand, if you ever get to that point you're probably already in really good shape so it isn't really that big a threat.
Your choice of nation and your choice of .sigs engenders some interesting possibilities.
Steam: Elvenshae // PSN: Elvenshae // WotC: Elvenshae
Wilds of Aladrion: [https://forums.penny-arcade.com/discussion/comment/43159014/#Comment_43159014]Ellandryn[/url]
The current state of affairs in Europe. Major powers in rank of score are: Myself, France, Russia, the Ottomans, and Austria. Major events that have happened: France attacked Milan, causing them to end up losing most of their land and also giving the title of Emperor back to Austria finally. Bohemia and Austria got into two big wars, one of which Bohemia won which gave them that Baltic coastline, and the second of which Ukraine+Austria won, which caused Bohemia to lose Krakow. Castille got tangled into some ill advised wars against first Austria and than the Ottomans+Algiers, which ultimately caused Castille to lose all their holdings in Africa and also lose Galicia. The Pope took Milan's downward spiral as a invitation to take over most of Italy and likewise Sweden preyed on Poland and Lithuania's weakeness to get a presence on the southern Baltic coast. (I'd love to take down Sweden but unfortunately they're allied with Russia and for now that's still more trouble than it's worth.) France and and I took bites out of Austria, and if they look bigger it's only because they integrated the many vassals and personal unions they had. Also Russia broke their alliance with me because they took the mission to get a presence in India and got a -200 relations penalty for wanting my provinces. I might be able to re-ally them once they complete/abandon the mission, but on the other hand the Ottomans are actually friendly with me now that I'm no longer allied with Russia, and they might actually be a bit more useful of an ally. Religion mapmode:
Austria managed to flip a bunch of princes back to Catholic, but for the most part protestant is still the dominant religion in Europe. Orthodox also been doing pretty well thanks to Ukraine.
Not much interesting has happened in the Americas. I colonized the very tip of South America and managed to get California (And I plan to just sell any Alaskan provinces to California.), and I've also been slowly feeding Nova Hollandia and New Netherlands. Neither seem to want to declare war on their own, so it's been slow going. Portugal can't actually colonize any more of Louisiana unless they conquer the line of Native tribes blocking their way. Also of note: Portuguese Mexico is actually protestant, unlike Portugal.
My goals in Asia are mainly to go after the centers of trade in Makassar, Malacca, and southern China. The key to getting dominant trade companies isn't really usually about province count, it's all about getting the centers of trade and building all of the trade buildings in those provinces. Since they also get +50% trade power from being in a trade company, they ultimately get insane amounts of trade power. And yeah, India is a bit weird in this game. Nice pink color though.
Also the Byzantines are paper tigers oddly enough, I don't know if its because they don't have the events/ideas that really crank the Ottomans up into blob mode. The only place I really haven't fully grasped them is at sea, but I'm working on it.
Oh and Dev diary today for Res Publica:
as someone who loves playing countries in other continents than Europe that's so nice.
I also need to go buy WoN for the Reformed features since I have converted...
Edit: Reformed is great, might have my favorite bonuses now. The trade focused bonuses probably add like a good 20% income to trade, and in times of war the extra land and naval morale you can get can be the difference between holding off France or getting rolled over. The admin focused bonuses aren't as impressive as the other two foci, but they include lowered revolt risk which is useful for when you first flip to reformed. And it's not very hard to get enough fervor to at least keep one foci active at all times.
Here's my progress in Arborea. Lotharangia rivalled me, so shit has gotten real, and I really have no idea how to deal with it. I have level 4-5 forts all along the border with them, Italy, and Bulgaria. But they flat out have twice the men I do. I've made friends with Mazovia and GB, but there's really no land powers left besides them and me.
Here's a wide shot of the old world. I'm kinda bummed they made Qing so hard for the AI, Manchu has gotten the territory for it, but I don't think the AI can figure out how the reform and
The power of a level 9 fort. I've fought Lothrangia a couple times now. I had an early one when Mazovia was still a power where I was able to steal away Trent, but since then its been purely defensive. They have twice my army size and its all concentrated in a rather small area. I'm all over the place, East Africa, India and the Middle East. I basically have to maintain Roman style garrisons in the Alps in case the Germans come over and hope for the best.
And it's been like this all game. The first couple kings expanded our base only to repeatedly get warned by Austria. And now that Austria is weak-ish, Hansa takes the lead in slowing me down. The nerve of these computers, telling me what I may and may not conquer.
Honestly not sure if I'm frustrated or glad that the AI is getting in my way. I mean either way I'm sure I'll find a violent solution but in the mean time just wanted to share.
Anyways, I think I've finally managed to start to break the back of the French war machine:
It's been several grueling wars but I've managed to liberate much of the lowlands in France. (Shortly after taking this screen-shot I got into another war with France where I also took Artois and Liege.) Austria has been, well, balkanized over the past fifty years. Since Russia seems permanently stuck desiring my Indonesian land, my only recourse for a great power ally was the Ottomans. They've been fairly useful, although I have had to dishonor one or two calls against Russia+Bohemia while I was in the middle of one of my wars against France. (I can fight France or I can fight the Bohemian-Russian alliance, but I can't fight both at the same time.) The Ottomans got stuck with an awful 1/1/1 ruler for about fifty years, so they're pretty behind on tech. Still, their pure numbers can at least overwhelm France's allies. Speaking of numbers, I now have about 280,000 troops, which is finally enough of a numerical advantage over the French that I can reliably win battles.
Some screens of the rest of the world:
France has lost much of Cananda. Decided I'd rather have Nova Hollandia and New Netherlands colonize Louisiania as opposed to have a very weak Colonial nation there.
Africa:
I thought it was weird how France never tried to colonize any part of Africa, and in fact in general France had a surprisingly weak overseas presence throughout the entire game.
Asia:
Russia did rather well on the colonizing front. Spain and Portugal got some of the eastern coast of Siberia, but in return Russia has one of the biggest Pacific presences. I really like how with the 1.6 patch they added straights between lots of the Indonesian islands and also in the Philippines.