Screenshot Let's Play: Victoria II (The Concert of Europe mod) - The Path of the Danube [Cancelled]

[Acacia Sgt]

Well, recently I've been wanting to make this, and figured now was as good time as any. Decided on using a mod that added lots of stuff to make it a more interesting ride. So first things first. For this, I'll be playing with Austria. Now, were it the normal game, the options to go as Austria is to form Austria-Hungary, or beat Prussia in becoming Germany. However, the mod brings up another option:

The Danube Federation

This is essentially the mod's take on what WWI stopped from happening: Franz Ferdinand's idea of redrawing the empire into the United States of Greater Austria, granting the various ethnic groups within the empire a level of autonomy that only the Hungarians had gained so far. Sounds like a promising challenge.

Now, before starting, one more detail I want to implement. Something just for fun. Normally, the names of the in-game generals are generated from a pool of names and surnames and picks a combination at random. However, I think it's possible to edit the names of already generated generals by editing directly from the save files.

So basically I ask: Who would be interested to lead the armies of Vienna... to victory!

Well, in any case, since I'd need to do the renaming as soon as generals start to pop-up, I'll first wait if there are those interested in that before doing so or starting without it. Just a note, since the game spans more than a hundred years of history, obviously the generals don't last that long. For that case, if there aren't enough names, I'll just rename an inactive general and just go on from there. Sure, makes little sense... but then again, the player being acknowledged as the King/President/etc who seemingly also lives that long... yeah...

So for those who want to, pick the type in the poll. Just note that I usually don't use navies much, so be wary of wanting to be a navy admiral if others have chosen already.

So until next time.

[spoiler=Table of Contents]

Prologue I - The Concert of Europe, External Matters

Prologue II - The Concert of Europe, Internal Matters

Chapter I - The End of a Year

Chapter II - Incursion on Tripoli

Chapter III - The Greek Plight

Chapter IV - The Struggle for Bosnia

Chapter V - The End of a Struggle

Chapter VI - Army & Industry

Chapter VII - Further Development

Chapter VIII - The Road to War

Chapter IX - The Austrian Mediterranean

Chapter X - The German Storm

Chapter XI - The Russians are Coming

Chapter XII - The Decline of the Tsar

Chapter XIII - Austria's Polish Adventure

Edited May 4, 2015 by Acacia Sgt

[Excellen Browning]

It's an interesting coincidence that I'm playing a historical Austria game in EU4 right now, so I guess I'll be forming Austria-Bohemia-Hungary-parts of Poland

Also signing up as a General.

[blah the Prussian]

General Rudolf von Dogson, loyally serving the House of Hapsburg, your Imperial Majesty! Seriously though this looks great. Following with interest.

[Acacia Sgt]

General Rudolf von Dogson, loyally serving the House of Hapsburg, your Imperial Majesty! Seriously though this looks great. Following with interest.

I may use your username in the text, but I'm totally gonna name the in-game general that, heh.

Well, since Austria doesn’t start with any generals, I can begin this while still waiting for more volunteers.

Napoleon has died, but his legacy still shakes Europe. The empires of the Americas are shattered, and the empires of Europe hear the first rumbles in a gathering storm of nationalism. The Vienna Congress that brought the Napoleonic Wars to an end was meant to restore the old monarchical order, but the concert of balanced powers it sought to establish is already looking precarious. Whichever nations can seize this moment will dominate in the new age.

[spoiler=Prologue I - The Concert of Europe, External Matters (Sep. 1, 1821)]

Austria at the beginning of the game isn’t in a bad position. 4^th place Great Power, a sizeable amount of provinces, some industry and soldiers, money, decent starting literacy, not currently at war with another country, etc.

On the other hand, there are also some looming threats on the horizon, like minority uprisings and Prussia, as an AI-controlled Prussia will have forming Germany as its long-term goal.

Prussia (left) starts with a few of the German nation-states already under its sphere, with the rest on the road there. Austria (right), on the other hand, has only the ones of South German ethnicity (Baden, Württemberg, Bavaria), plus Saxony and the minor Italian nation-states. Since forming Germany has as a requirement for a German nation to have the rest (barring Austria itself) under its sphere, then it means that inevitably Prussia and Austria will go to war for the hegemony of the German people.

That is, if I don’t do something about it. Since my goal is to unite the people of my lands, I’ll let Prussia unite the rest of the Germans without much burden. After all, one must know which battles to fight, and when it is for the best to avoid them. As such, I’ll remove the German nations from my sphere through the coming years, and hopefully Prussia won’t wage a hegemony war on me. Unfortunately I can’t do it all at once as removing a country from my sphere comes with a loss of prestige and infamy penalties, so it has to be gradual.

Additionally, since I can right now, I’ll form an alliance with Prussia as well. This could lessen the chance of they declaring war on me, plus gives me a powerful ally for future conflicts. Speaking of, who says we have to confine ourselves with Europe? Our dominion will expand across the world as far as we can! Starting with: North Africa.

Northern Africa houses a few uncivilized nations that can become easy pickings, especially this early to establish a foothold for the inevitable scramble over the continent that will come near the end of the century. Options are somewhat limited though, as Tunisia is an Ottoman puppet, and we can’t declare war on puppets or sphered countries. Also, chances are France will start gobbling up Algeria soon, and the Ottomans eventually do the same with Tripoli. Both African countries have their capitals in coastal provinces, so I can’t cut them off from their eventual conquerors.

However, Tripoli is only two provinces big, and the Ottomans do take a while to go after it. So if I’m fast enough, I can annex Tripoli whole before the Ottomans have the chance to. This leaves Morocco and Egypt left. Morocco is a bit too far from Austria proper to go after it first, and Egypt is best to let it be. Of all North African nations, under the AI it has the highest chances to rise to a prominent ranking, and so, is best to get on good terms and make an ally out of them.

Especially if I were to butt heads with the Ottoman Empire. Currently it’s stamping the rebellions in Epirus and Greece. I wouldn’t be able to save both if I wanted to get involved, but if I want to weaken the Ottomans, helping Greece out would be the way, as other nations like France also do so as well, though not always making a difference anyway. In any case, I’ll go the path of helping Greece, so I have to have friendly relations with them to interfere in the war. I’d need to increase country relations to speed it up.

In order to accomplish these ambitious endeavors, I’d need the army to support it. Austria’s starting army is sub-par. Most don’t have full brigades supporting them, and no generals, so they’re at a big disadvantage. What we lack in efficiency we make up for in numbers, though. And if worse comes to worse, we can mobilize the populace. Although since the Ottomans’ army isn’t that big, I trust we may not have to come to that.

So in preparation of the incoming conflict, I move my armies to the border. My current armies are mostly composed of Infantry, with a few Cavalry brigades. This will do for the early-game. Austria starts with five regiments, in Vienna, Milan, Lwow, Buda, and Venice. All but the last one will move, as I have plans for the regiment at Venice.

With the unassigned soldiers I have left, I proceed to put them in brigades. Some unit types are only restricted to my primary and accepted cultures. As I don’t have any accepted, I can only use the primary, South German, for the higher units. My overall regiments will be composed of mainly infantry and artillery. Artillery are the main offensive, with infantry serving as secondary offensive and a protective force for the artillery, as they don’t excel in defense. Alongside them will be a smaller group of cavalry. These are for the reconnaissance bonus they bring, which can help take over provinces faster. These new brigades will be assembled in Vienna on stand-by until ready or I need them.

As for the remaining pre-formed regiment, the one in Venice, they will stay there. Thing is, to head to Tripoli, I’ll need to ferry them across the Mediterranean Sea, and my starting navy is only three Clippers. So as my casus belli is being fabricated, I’ll build the remaining Clippers so I can ferry the whole regiment. In the meantime I’ll also start building up an offensive fleet, and put them in Venice. Since my coastline is on the Adriatic, I can establish a chokepoint on the Straits of Otranto, as the Italians are not hostile to me at the moment, and the Ottomans would have access to the straits too once they take back Epirus.

Well, this is shaping up nicely so far… but then what about the matters at home? Those are important too. But that will have until next time.

So until then.

Edited April 7, 2015 by Acacia Sgt

[Excellen Browning]

not vying for german hegemony boring/10

[blah the Prussian]

You should also take Bosnia from the Turk.

[Excellen Browning]

Hell you should liberate the Ukrainian Rus from from the yoke of oppression of the Muscovite Rus.

[Acacia Sgt]

I don't think I'm ready to take on the Russians just yet, even with Prussia as an ally. Regarding Bosnia, I considered it, but for now I'll let them keep it. Taking a province without a casus belli generates a big amount of infamy, and while I could've fabricated one instead of planning to interfer in their war with the Greeks, I was counting on interfering instead, as it is the better path for me right now. I'll explain the why later when I am fighting them... or Greece gets re-anexed and I fail to join the war in time (one reason I'm not making a CB against the Ottomans).

Anyway...

[spoiler=Prologue II - The Concert of Europe, Internal Matters (Sep. 1, 1821)]

Loading the game again made Prussia’s answer pop up immediately. Well, that’s one matter out of the way.

So, before unpausing the game and get it moving, it’s time to enact some changes to the way we’ll run the country from what it currently is.

An important aspect for developing the country are the technologies and inventions. Austria already comes with some of them researched, and some to develop in the meantime. The rest won’t unlock until we reach certain years. Now, technologies need Research Points to get them. These points are gained through various ways, and I’ll prioritize this, as faster RP gain means faster technology research.

Technologies come in five main categories. Army, Navy, Commerce, Culture, and Industry, and each have five sub-categories. Culture technologies is where most of the bonuses to RP gain are, so I’ll give them priority, followed by Army.

Right now I can only research one Culture technology, Introspectionism, which is what I’ll do. The prestige and military bonuses are nice, but the Education Efficiency multiplier gain is the main reason I’m researching this. EE affects how fast the country’s literacy increases, and literacy is one thing that boosts RP gain. Also, since my administration is Avantgarde Intelligentsia, my Culture technologies get a big boost in how fast they get researched, at the cost of a small penalty of the gain to the other categories. Right now I have no way to change it, so I’ll have to deal with it until I can.

Literacy gain itself is tied to the amount of Clergymen the country has, as well as RP gain. A way to increase the amount is to use National Focuses. These serve to enact certain bonuses to our provinces. Austria begins with two right now, both which I’ll use to Encourage Clergymen in my most populous provinces, Bohemia and Slovakia, and work down from there. 2% of total population is enough for RP gain, but to ensure max Literacy gain 4% is needed.

Right now both provinces barely have 1% each, so in the following months as the numbers increase, I’ll be seeing rises in both RP and Literacy gains.

One final adjustment is in the budget management. While not showing all the sliders, these are the ones I’ll be changing right now. First is Education. The more is spent on Education then the more efficient Clergymen are, and decreases the chances of the Clergymen switching to another POP type. I’ll be moving it all the way to 100%.

Next is Administration. In this mod, Bureaucrats also make an impact on RP gain, although only to 1% of total population. Their main role is to manage the administration of provinces, lowering their crime rates, and in the case of colonies, promote them to full-fledged states. The more spent means more efficiency and a more stable number of Bureaucrats. So the Administration slider is to them as the Education is to Clergymen. This too will be set to 100%.

Finally, the Military Spending. Like the previous two, the effects apply to our Soldiers and Officers, thus ensuring we have redshirts people to make our armies. And up to 100% it goes too.

Obviously, this means my income takes quite the hit. The way the slides are right now, I currently have a gain the equivalent of almost 990 Pounds per day (in Victoria no matter which country you are, everything is in British Pounds). In order to get back to the green, I’ll have to increase Taxes (self-explanatory) and Tariffs (the tax for importing foreign goods basically). Taxes go to max while Tariffs only to 15% efficient increase. As right now the efficiency is not at 100%, the actual Tariff increase is much higher, but as the efficiency rises, I’ll be lowering it accordingly to keep it at 15% increase.

Both changes ensure my daily income goes back to 920, not as high as before the changes, but close enough. This could change depending on how thing develop down the road, though.

One final aspect to tend to is on our political matters. Austria starts as an Absolute Monarchy, and among its starting Political stances are No Voting and Appointed. This means that there are no elections to change the Upperhouse (in Victoria that’s only what voting is for, since the ruler is the player), but instead I have full authority over which political party is in charge. Although once I make a change I have to wait a full year before changing it again.

Right now I’m going to leave it alone. The other current parties in existence don’t have something that could benefit me right now, so I’ll leave Metternich in charge for now.

Finally, right now I can enact this decision since Austria starts with the technology of the same name already researched. The gradual prestige gain balances out somewhat the gradual consciousness gain, so I take it since the gains aren’t too big yet to make long-term impact.

Well, unless I forgot something that should be all the matters settled before finally getting this show on the road. Next time, we finally begin the game properly.

[blah the Prussian]

Oh yeah, COE did start in 1821. I had forgotten. I recommend making sure Greece gets more land than it did historically.

Edit: apparently Queen Victoria is immortal, if she lived to 1921 lol. I IS SMART!

Edited April 9, 2015 by blah2127

[Excellen Browning]

Since it starts in 1921 the Armenian massacre has already taken place. The Turk must not be allowed control over any Christian lands.

We will chase the dogs across the sea, sack their beloved Constantinople and free the christian peoples from the Turkish menace once and for all.

Edited April 9, 2015 by Excellen Browning

[blah the Prussian]

Since it starts in 1921 the Armenian massacre has already taken place. The Turk must not be allowed control over any Christian lands.

We will chase the dogs across the sea, sack their beloved Constantinople and free the christian peoples from the Turkish menace once and for all.

Deus Vult, Acacia, Deus Vult. Edited April 9, 2015 by blah2127

[Excellen Browning]

Pretty sure it's Deus Vult!

[blah the Prussian]

Pretty sure it's Deus Vult!

God dammit autocorrect! Whatever, fixed now.

[Rehab]

Greek expat General Archibald "Archie" Medes, at your command and patiently awaiting the establishment of the Military-Industrial Complex and the trouncing of the Turks.

Following along, I haven't gotten around to starting it yet but Victoria has a fascinating depiction of the time's politics. Do things like completed westernization efforts carry over from EU4 saves? I once heard somebody say the converter was a little lackluster. E: Or is it only EU3 that can transfer over?

Edited April 9, 2015 by Rehab

[Acacia Sgt]

I do have plans to push the Turks out of Europe, but it may not be easy, since the mod has events regarding the current Greek uprising. I may not even need to head to war but I don't know how the AI of other Great Powers will react. But well, I'll bring it up again once it happens. So in any case...

Let’s begin, shall we?

[spoiler=Chapter I - The End of a Year (Sep. 1, 1821 - Dec. 31, 1821)]

Got to stay alert on the affairs of the world.

So, as September runs its course I see my income fluctuating due to the changes I did while paused. It finally stabilized to a steady gain, which brings me to the next step.

I order the construction of forts in the provinces bordering the Ottomans: Dalmatia, Croatia, and Slavonia. Forts can give bonuses to certain units, and slows down occupation speed. Eventually I may build forts on the Russian border, but for now I’ll do it where I think I’ll need those most right now.

And thus September gives way to October.

Since Baden is in my sphere, I can get military access. It’s actually a sort of restriction the mod made in regards to the subject. Originally you could have or grant military access to any country as long they were up for it. The mod adds the restriction of only to allied, puppets, and sphered countries.

As otherwise this could happen, since Austria starts with MA in Anhalt, and Anhalt is in none of the three relations with me.

While there is nothing regarding the ruler, again since it’s the player, the mod does have something for the second-in-command. You may notice that I had a First Minister already, but I actually got the pop-up of his appointment and for this one on the same day. Because of that I didn’t bother showing the Military Man modifiers, until I actually get one. For now, Man of the People isn’t a bad one, and in fact could be useful if I need to change the ruling party because of that fantastic 100% support modifier.

In the meantime, my treasury has reached such point where I could afford forts to every border and/or coastal province. Sure, that pretty much means loosing almost all of my money, but with the amount we gain, we can easily recover.

Capitalists are a POP type that basically are in charge of the industry of the country, provided the ruling party allows them to, and in this mod, provide also a RP gain boost up to 4% of the total population. Right now a project has pop up of building a factory. Because of the current low number of Capitalists invested in the project, it will come to be quite slowly. However, the ruling party allows me to invest as well, so I promptly put all the required money at once so it can begin construction.

And perhaps because of the modifiers of my First Minister, this happens. At this point it only reinforces the conservative majority that the populace already has, but as stated, this could have repercussions if I switch the ruling party.

And thus ends October.

November dawns with Brunswick also rescinding our military access in their lands, and a couple more factory projects popping up. I could go over the details here, but most of that is only to give a boost to my industry score. I have plans to eventually switch to a ruling party that allows me to build factories myself, and that’s where I’ll go in detail of my industrialization plans.

And December begins with Saxony offering me an alliance, which I take. On the other hand, Hesse-Kassel rescinds MA on me too.

Near the end of the month the casus bellis is done, and since it went by undetected, no infamy is gained. Good.

However, my Clippers are not yet ready, so I’ll not declare war just yet. The casus belli won’t last forever, but the Clippers will be ready in thirty-three days, so that’s no problem.

And as such, 1821 comes to an end.

I still have no generals, which I’m finding strange, but hopefully they will come in time for next update, which will be the invasion of Tripoli. So until then.

[blah the Prussian]

Apparently Austrians in 1821 have a deep, all consuming interest in a war between Afghanistan and Kasimir, if it made the front page. Seems legit.

[Excellen Browning]

Wait so theres no 1921 start, but the old 1821 start? Meh. That means the Ottomans haven't started killing christians en masse yet.

[Acacia Sgt]

Why would you think this started in 1921? Victoria II begins in 1836, the mod of that which I'm playing changes the start date to 1821.

[blah the Prussian]

Wait so theres no 1921 start, but the old 1821 start? Meh. That means the Ottomans haven't started killing christians en masse yet.

Nah, the 1921 start is in the Kaiserreich mod, where Imperial Germany won WWI. As you can tell from my avatar, I'm a fan.

[Acacia Sgt]

[spoiler=Chapter II - Incursion on Tripoli (Jan. 1, 1822 - May 18, 1822)]

At the beginning of every year the Upper House gets rearranged. That big hit to the Liberals is normal in this case, since we’re an Absolute Monarchy and the people has no vote, although even if they could the majority are conservatives anyway.

Württemberg wants an alliance, and I comply. Also, good news, the option to hire a general showed up. So I do so, and go edit the name.

And thus, I present you, the Ruthless General’s Aide, Excellen Browning. He may inspire a slight drop in morale to the troops, but more than makes up for it by the attack, organization, and experience boosts he grants. Not bad, not bad. So as shown, I assign him to the Fourth Army in Venice, as he’ll lead the troops into Africa.

Looking over at my influence with Greece, I see it’s not going up fast enough. The rate is 0.082 per day at the moment, and I need fifty to increase to Cordial status, and another fifty to Friendly, in order to interfere. As such, I don’t think I can get there in time. Although since the Ottomans are focusing on Epirus first, this could buy me time. So just in case, I may have to fabricate a casus belli against the Ottomans.

One reason I didn’t want to do this, is because of the Ottoman’s puppets. Currently, in both its wars against Epirus and Greece, it has the aid of Kurdistan, Iraq, and Tunisia. However, they also have Serbia, Wallachia, and Moldavia as puppets, and they all border me. Declaring war on the Ottomans themselves will have all the puppets aiding them, while if I were to just interfere in a pre-existing war, chances are the Ottomans may not call them too. Emphasis may not.

A problem lies in that relations with the Ottomans are at seventy-five, and the minimum needed to fabricate a casus belli is fifty. Fortunately choosing to decrease relations drops it by twenty-five, and I’m just a month away for gaining another diplomatic point to fabricate the CB

As I wait, the Clippers gets done, and wait for them to reach Venice. Also, Parma wants an alliance.

Finally, February begins and I can begin with the CB. This could be my chance to take Bosnia, but the CB for taking a province lasts quite a while and the infamy penalty if found is big. Greece could fall before that, but I’ll take the risk. At least combat-wise I won’t have trouble since Prussia is my ally.

In the meantime my brigade in Vienna is almost ready, so I start to move brigades to Buda. Lippe-Detmold rescinds MA, but at least Krakow wants an alliance. Also, I decide to stop influencing Egypt and focus entirely on Greece. It does rises the influence rate, at least.

And not surprisingly, with the current rebellions the Ottomans are facing, Crete had an uprising of its own. Not as a war, but as rebels, aptly named Cretians Nationalists. Since the Ottomans never did something about it, Crete was able to break free, having the Ottomans take a prestige hit.

On the same day, this pops up. Despite the text, choosing the expedition has no negative consequences and you even gain prestige, while declining makes you lose it. Obviously, I chose to outfit an expedition.

Wait a minute, that place is up there near the Arctic Ocean! I highly doubt they’ll find much in a botanical expedition there…

Anyway, the time has come. Onward… to war!

It’s Excellen’s time to shine. The army in Venice board and embark. Tripoli’s capital is a coastal province, which where I’ll have the regiment disembark.

February 10 – War is declared, and the Fourth Army departs from Venice.

March starts with Mecklenburg rescinding MA, but on the flipside Bavaria and Modena want alliances.

This is another mod-incorporated mechanic. Population growth fluctuates at intervals, and right now Average growth gives neither bonus nor penalty.

March 24 – Excellen and his army disembark in Tripoli an engage the enemy at the capital

It begins. 15000 versus 9000, pure infantry battle. The enemy army has no leader, and regiments receive harsh penalties when not. The dice icons are essentially a modifier to a number that determines how well we’re fighting. The battle opened with a 7 on us against a 2 of them, meaning I have the advantage.

March 28 – A mere four days of battle, the enemy is completely wiped out.

Now, I could begin occupying the capital, but wars in Victoria operate in that if you don’t fulfill your planned objectives under a set period of time, it actually starts counting against you on the warscore. And the opposite happens when you do fulfill them. As such, I promptly move them to start occupying the province I aim to take.

April starts with Nassau rescinding MA. Yeah, this will go on with the nations Austria starts having MA with until they all rescind it, it seems.

May 3 – Excellen reaches Ghat, and begins the occupation.

I note that I have another general, which I promptly rename and assign him to my forces in Vienna, which I move to the border as well now that I’m satisfied with their numbers. I also renamed the regiment itself.

And here is blah2127, the… oh dear, that doesn’t sound good at all! Yeah, the RNG was not kind to blah… sorry dude.

May 17 – Perhaps knowing the futility of future struggle, Tripoli sends its sentiment of surrender where they accept our demands.

May 18 – We accept the terms, and the war ends with us acquiring the Tripolitanian Fezzan.

And thus, the war comes to an end. I acquire prestige for winning, and the territorial gain. Unfortunately, this means Excellen and the men under his command get stuck down there, since I can’t send troops through anymore, and trekking the Sahara to the nearest un-colonized coastline is suicide. And I don’t even know if I can have ships take anchor in un-colonized lands. So they’ll have to chill out for the time being as my Clippers return to Venice.

And that was our first war. We established a foothold in Africa, and Excellen saw his first battle, easy as it was. Until next time.

[Blaze The Great]

Wow this is a cool game. Following this.

[blah the Prussian]

Oh my god those borders. General Rudolf von Dogson in all his corrupt, paranoid glory begins circulating a petition demanding the annexation of the rest of Tripoli. Seriously, how does Vienna exercise ANY authority there whatsoever? At least we can make Tripoli Danubian with the wonders of industrial technology.

[Acacia Sgt]

That's the beauty of fabricated casus belli. You can only declare war if you have one, but you are given a wide array of choices on what to go to war for. Sure, you could get an infamy penalty if caught while it's being created... if caught... and infamy goes down over time anyway, even if not at a fast enough rate to afford receiving penalty constantly. But it's there.

Edited April 10, 2015 by Acacia Sgt

[blah the Prussian]

Wow this is a cool game. Following this.

This game is beyond cool. Sometimes its just entertaining to grab Switzerland or something and watch the craziness. I once saw China push Russia out of Siberia entirely.

That's the beauty of fabricated casus belli. You can only declare war if you have one, but you are given a wide array of choices on what to go to war for. Sure, you could get an infamy penalty if caught while it's being created... if caught... and infamy goes down over time anyway, even if not at a fast enough rate to afford receiving penalty constantly. But it's there.

That sort of made me think about how Paradox games let you do way worse shit than GTA or whatever. In Victoria you can start a bloody war over a complete fabrication, in EU you can participate in the slave trade, in CKII you can kill children left and right, and HOI lets you be the fucking nazis! I shudder to think what would happen if Jack Thompson finds out about them!

[Acacia Sgt]

Then again, the "pen & paper" aspect mitigates it. Can't speak of the rest, but in Victoria it's not like you're actually shown a bloody war and the like, just numbers ticking and stuff.

[spoiler=Chapter III - The Greek Plight (May 19, 1822 - Nov. 12, 1822)]

Once a peace offer is accepted, a state of truce follows which lasts about 5-6 years, during which we can’t fabricate a CB against them. CB’s can still be gained though through random events, but declaring war in a state of truce will make you lose prestige and gain infamy, which the CB only lessens, not outright removes. In any case, I wouldn’t worry much on what is still left of Tripoli as soon enough I’ll go to war with the Ottomans.

Speaking of, June begins and Epirus is close to falling. They’re beyond help at this point I’m afraid.

Whoever is the editor of this paper needs to be fired. Unfortunately, the RNG of news generation tends to bring up stuff that happened months ago. Although that “Balkans Quiet” note... suuuuuuure…

Now this is nice. An increase in farming efficiency for a province. Obviously this means more resource production, which means more for the use of the people and/or sell to other countries. The farmlands of Vienna will benefit.

July opens up not in favor of the Greeks and Albanians, as Epirus finally fell. Also, apparently while I was at war Parma decided to silently break their alliance with me, since no notification pop up appeared. Whether or not a country wants an alliance is determined by several factors, and being at war actually decreases the overall number if they’re not part of it. So once the value falls in the negative, the AI will do so. It’s possible other countries in my sphere did as well, but they’ll probably petition an alliance again.

By August the war has taken its toll on the Greeks. Unfortunately there is little I can do about this. That relations decrease at least only slows down slightly the influence gain.

Ooooh, so close, at only twelve days from having being completed without detection. Fortunately, the CB fabrication still goes on despite being caught (I know, makes little sense). As such, the infamy gain is so little that it’s no big deal.

And so, as September begins, I prepare myself for war again. Also, I have an Admiral now, but since no one has signed up to be one so far, I’ll let the guy be. Besides, right now I don’t have a proper fleet anyway so he won’t be seeing action for now. Anyway, before declaring war, research on Introspectionism has ended.

Some nice bonuses. As you also see, I’ve begun on the next technology, to unlock being able to hire Dragoons. Those will be my cavalry of choice for my Primary/Accepted cultures.

And so, we go to war… again!

September 11 – War was declared on the Ottoman Empire, the regiments begin their march to enemy territory.

As you can see, all the Ottoman puppets joined in. I also chose to ask my allies for help, so let’s see how it goes…

And they all accepted, great. This should be no problem then. Onward to victory! My plan is such:

A main portion of my armed forces will begin occupying Bosnia. I’ll send a smaller group to rush down to Greece to stop the occupation and hopefully give Greece a respite. The rest will head east to engage the Serbians, Wallachians, and Moldavians. Hopefully this will hold until my allies arrive and give me their much needed support.

September 17 – The II. Armee enters the Serbian capital of Belgrade and engage their main army.

I know, I know, but I’m counting on the superior numbers winning against an army with a general.

September 17 – The III. Armee enters and begins the occupation of Banja Luka.

September 19 – Blah2127 enters and begins the occupation of Bihac.

September 20 – The Serbians stood no chance and they were completely wiped out in three days.

September 22 – The occupation of Belgrade begins.

September 24 – The Armata Principatul Moldovei enters and begins to occupy Suceava.

Oh uh, I’m being invaded now. I’ll take care of the Moldavian and Wallachian armies before occupying their territories.

September 27 – The 2^nd Army enter and being to occupy Tuzla.

September 30 – The Armata Principatul Wallachei enters and begins to occupy Hermannstadt.

I also notice a big Ottoman army heading to Bosnia. I may need to intercept it with the soldiers heading to Greece.

October 4 – The 1^st Army engages the Armata Principatul Wallachei in Hermannstadt.

I seriously need more generals… but not enough have voted so far, dammit! But seriously, I only have two generals and one admiral. That sure is low…

October 5 – The Serbian populace rallies to stop the occupation of Belgrade.

Apparently the Serbian general hasn’t call it quits yet and leads a mobilization of civilians. They won’t last long.

October 7 – The V. Armee and Imperial Regulars clash at Novi Pazar.

Well, bad news, my other regiment won’t arrive yet. Good news, I managed to arrive first, so the Ottomans get a slight terrain penalty due to being the attackers.

Also I got a notification for alliance with Baden. Looks like they too had broken the alliance back then.

October 9 – The Serbian surprise attack fails and get wiped out.

Methinks we should not spare the general this time. If only to stop another civilian uprising that will get them all killed. These guys were fighting a hopeless battle.

October 12 – The I. Armee arrive at Novi Pazar to reinforce the V. Armee.

Well, that should buy some time.

October 15 – The Wallachian organization falls apart and engage a retreat from Hermannstadt.

It is possible to retreat from battles, though it counts as a defeat of course, though with the AI it’s hard to tell if they are retreating by choice, or is the forced retreat from losing a battle but not being wiped out. One indicator though is the army’s organization. In Victoria, when an army’s organization reaches 0, it counts as a defeat, which is what happened here, considering they didn’t had that many casualties.

In any case, I still have that Moldavian army to deal with, so I move the troops north to engage them next.

October 18 – The Ottoman organization falls apart and engage a retreat from Novi Pazar.

Same deal here, their organization dropped to 0 and thus was declared a victory for me. Now that I pushed through, so to speak, I have both regiments continue heading south to help the Greeks out.

October 19 – Blah2127 finishes occupying Bihac.

Progress! Also I failed to notice when, but a Bavarian regiment has made it to Bosnia and is helping out in the occupation of Banja Luka.

October 22 – The Armia Krakówiej enters and begins occupying Botosani.

The Krakowvians have made it to Moldavia. The tide is slowly going to turn in our favor now.

October 24 – Blah2127 enters and begins occupying Livno.

October 25 – The Wallachian 1st Army enters and begin occupying Hermannstadt.

The Wallachians are at it again, except it’s a civilian regiment and not as large as their army. This gives me more time to deal with them as their occupation speed won’t be as big.

October 30 – Excellen completes his trek through the desert and begins to occupy Misratah.

Yeah, don’t think Excellen was just chilling down there in some oasis and a harem or something. Although my colony wasn’t in any danger. As far as I know, AI don’t move armies through non-colonized land, so Tunis can only sit there and shake its fist at me or something because Tripoli is in the way. *insert Trollface here*

As to why I’m invading there? Well…

Why not help myself with a little extra? The downside is that since I’m adding another wargoal without the CB, I gain the full infamy penalty. Not really worried there, as it’s not much and will go down in time.

Its official, the editor is Slowpoke. How can the declaration of war itself only made the news now!?

November 1 – The Army of the Danube intercept the I. Armee and V. Armee at Skopje.

How dare they use that name! Fortunately neither side has a general so… it could go either way, really. Depends on the RNG.

November 3 – The Armata Principatul Wallachei enter and begin to occupy Déva.

November 5 – The 1^st Army engages the Armata Principatul Moldovei in Suceava.

November 10 – The Esercito di Parma enters and begins to occupy Bor.

The Parmese made it to Serbia. I wonder if they brought cheese in their rations…

November 12 – The Ottoman organization falls apart and engage a retreat from Skopje.

Phew! That was close! My organization was very low, but fortunately the dice favored me this battle. The march to Athens will not stop!

Well, the war is not going perfect, and I’ve had a close call already. But the allied forces have yet to come in full force and are already near, so the war’s conclusion is not that far. Until next time!