EUIII - Brandenburg (1399-1571), Prussia (1571-1821)
 

Starting up a new EUIII game that I may take into Vicky2 should the converter that some users have been making produces a game that isn't FUBARed.

I'm setting up some strict ground rules but first, the options

1) Merchants = free. I always set it this and let Compete Chance and Trade Efficiency do their thing. In the games I have played with this option, I still have a hard enough time establishing a presence at one trade center, let alone several. In fact, it's easy to control trade if you are big and rich enough. With this option, all merchants are created equal (free), so 1 province nations can still compete.

2) Inflation = From Gold. It never made much sense to me how inflation worked in EUIII. If I'm not spending tax revenue on "Investments" (Tech), or military maintenance, and putting into the treasury instead, how is the minting more coins? That's....just me putting into the treasury to spend on buildings or recruiting more units. Gold, however, does give a lot of wealth to a nation and that's historically been the source of inflation.

I leave everything else on the default setting.

Ground Rules

1) Leader Administration - If it's 3 or lower, I can't do anything that requires a Magistrate, which, as of Divine Wind, means constructing buildings as well as many types of decisions.

2) Leader Military - If it's 3 or lower, and I can't go to war unless called on by allies. If it's 7 or lower, I can't declare war without a CB. With a score of 8 or higher, I treat my leader like a war-monger who can go to war with anyone at any time.

3) Leader Diplomacy - If it's 3 or lower, no diplomacy with anyone (except to declare or end a war) unless other nations come to me.

4) Men of the Court - I can only have 1 Tech adviser, the other 2 must give different bonuses.

5) Missions - I have to make an effort to achieve them unless they are not feasible. For instance, I did have it tell me a few times as Brandenburg to take over a nation that was 1 or 2 nations away from mine, without a CB....not real feasible. Especially when the nation is a 1 province nation that is a vassal of the HRE. With those missions, I must take the Prestige hit and cancel it. (IOW, no ignoring the missions)

Goals

I have several specific goals for this dynasty

1) Create Prussia. To do this, I will need to take over the province of Ostpreussen (capital of Teutonic Knights) and either Danzig (another Knights province) or Hinterpommern (capital of Pommerania). This makes Pommerania and the Teutonic Knights my enemies.

2) Become Holy Roman Emperor. This is the best way to gain new provinces. If someone takes a province that they have no claim on, they have to give it to the HRE or suffer several consequences. Of course, if you lose the HRE, you have to give them up or suffer those consequences yourself. In effect, those provinces become "Imperial Provinces". Until one day the former HRE nation doesn't give them up...

3) Try to control the Papacy....that is, until I move towards Reformed or Protestant which I'll need to do to form Prussia. (The other requirements for Prussia formation for Brandenburg is to be at peace, the leader have a Diplomatic score of 7 and to have a Prestige of at least 20).

4) Since I won't be expanding much to create more wealth, trading will be a priority.

In other words, instead of creating the biggest nation I can, I plan to play the interconnected games of politics and religion in this dynasty with an eye on a specific region of the map. At least for the time being.

Brandenburg - October 1399. To the east, Poland (pink). To the south, Bohemia (Brown)

October 1399

Brandenburg is in a Personal Union with Luxemburg, and is ruled by King Jobst I von Luxemburg. It won't be long until I get out of it, but until then, I can't do too much. I'm not counting him as my leader, so I'm treating it as if I have a Leader with 0-0-0 stats. IOW, I can't do much of anything until I'm out of this Union.

I move the "Serfdom-Free Subjects" slider 1 tick towards Free Subjects (it's now -3). This cost me a bit of Manpower in Brandenburg.

Not many options for Advisors. Just 2, and neither give me useful bonuses. So, I spend the Cultural tradition and create 3.

Johann Cicero von Dossow - Statesman (level 2). +6 to Gov Tech
Georg Albrecht Posadofsky - Sheriff (level 2). +2.0% to National Tax
Ernst von Dossow - Alderman (level 2). +2.0% to Production Efficiency

Mission: Make Bohemia vote for us!

The mission is simple, make Bohemia vote for us as HRE....wait, make the current HRE vote for us? Right off the bat, I get a not very achievable mission. Oh well, I have to try.

The good news is that I am a voter, so I already have 1 HRE vote in my pocket. The rest will be require a lot of effort and a lot of gold.

Current Provinces

Brandenburg - Capital and Focus
Population: 25,020
Tax: 9.12
Production: 2.21 (Total: 11.33)
Trade: 1.5 Units of Cloth
Fort: 1

Neumark
Population: 6,004
Tax: 5.28
Production: 0.50 (Total: 5.78)
Trade 1.3 Units of Grain
Fort: 1

Ruppin
Population: 6,504
Tax: 5.28
Production: 0.50 (Total: 5.78)
Trade: 1.3 Units of Grain
Fort: 1

Potsdam
Population: 25,018
Tax: 6.24
Production: 1.61 (Total: 7.85)
Trade: 1.5 Units of Iron
Fort: 1

All trade at Lübeck, which reminds me, I set my merchants to auto-go to the Lübeck CoT.

June 1400
Potsdam gets a Trade Station. This gives a bonus of +10.0% to Local Tax and a -1 to Revolt Risk.

July 1400
A group of Pommeranian rebels crossed into my territory. My army of 6 infantry and 1 Latin Knights easily fought them off and sent them running back to Pommerania.

April 1401
The same group of Pommeranian rebels, who have been fighting with the Pommeranian military for over 2 years, crossed into Bradenburg territory again. They had been reduced to under 1000 men. This time, my army of 6 infantry regiments and 2 Latin Knight regiments wiped them out.

April 1404
The Pope has called for a Crusade against The Ottomans.

July 1405
Ferdinand I of Bohemia has been elected as the new Holy Roman Emperor even though is is only 3 years old. So a Regency Council is ruling the HRE for now. Vaclav IV of Bohemia ruled the HRE from Nov 1378 to July 1405.

Bohemia is also currently at war with Austria Both have been pulled into the Venetian Conquest of Fruili.

November 1405
A new Pope is appointed. Pope Gregorius XII. Castille is now in control of the Papacy.

May 1406
I notice the war between Austria and Bohemia comes to an end. Bohemia pays Austria 30 ducets and ends it vassalilzation of Silesia.

January 1407
Nobles Ally with Foreign Power

I gain a Diplomatic Insult CB on Magdeburg and lose 1 Stablity.

December 1408
Took a look around the area and noticed that Scotland was at war with England....and they were rolling over them. At this point, England has already taken most of Ireland, but at the end of 1408, they were forced to cede a few provinces to Scotland.

Other nations that are expanding include Lithuania and Hungary.

June 1409
Our government increases to 4, allowing us to build Churches and we get an Idea.

Some considerations: Military Drill will give me +1 to Morale, which would be huge but I'm not planning on many wars. Patron of the Arts will give +3% to Cultural tradition per year, giving me a boost to the quality of advisors I can create. Unam Sanctum gives me a CB against all heretics plus a papacy influence bonus. And then there's Bureaucracy, +10% to National Tax.

I decide on Patron of the Arts so that will help me create high level advisors and give me better bonuses. It's going to be awhile before I need to go to war and I have plenty of time to take those when I have more idea slots open. The Patron of the Arts will help me get a better Statesman to give a better bonus to Gov Tech so I can get those ideas sooner.

In other news, Aragon has taken a province from the Teutonic Knights (Warmia) to establish a presence in the Baltic Sea and Denmark has taken a small bite out of Sweden.

December 1409
If losing a one-sided battle with Scotland was enough, the Welsh people rebelled during that conflict and after a year, Wales finally is able to break off of England. England is not having a very good start to the 15th century. They are down to just 1 province on mainland Europe as well.

Paulus II becomes the new Pope. Castille is still in control of the Papacy.

April 1410
Move the "Innovative-Narrowminded" slider 1 tick towards "Innovative". This puts it at 0. I don't plan to move this one any more since I don't want to take a hit to my Papacy influence. I lose a 3% bonus to it to move it, but also lose the penalty to technology cost. So now that that is all even up, I'll leave it where it is until I gain some bonuses to Papal influence and can afford a tick or two towards "Innovative" and not worry about the penalty.

I suppose in order to avoid a conflict with the Holy Roman Empire, Hungary gives two provinces to Bohemia (the HRE). Bohemia also gained the province of Cuneo, once owned by Savoy. I suppose France wanted to avoid a conflict as well.

April 1413
Still no new leader and under control of Luxemburg. Taking a lot longer than I thought.

Land Tech improves to 4 and I will be able to build Armories once I get a leader of my own!

October 1413
Production Tech increases to 4. I can build Constables (+25% to Direct Tax - tax I get at the end of every year), +1% to Production Eff.

April 1414
Naval Tech increases to 4. I can build Docks and colonial range increases.

October 1414
Trade Tech increases to 4. Can build Marketplaces (increases trade value), Trade Eff. +1% and Trade Range: 170. I have yet to establish any kind of presence in the Lübeck CoT.

The world seems to be at war. Bohemia and France are the major players in a large war and Austria and Hungary are the main players in another large war. I look at the map and see a lot of occupied provinces. Hungary is especially not looking good.

May 1415
The war between Hungary and Austria ends. Austria takes a province and forces Hungary to release Croatia (losing several more provinces).

Looks like the war between Bohemia and France didn't do much of anything.

May 1417
King Matyas I von Luxemburg, the leader of Hungary, is not doing too well (Event). They need our help. If I help them, I gain 10 Prestige, and relations with Hungary improve by 40, but it will cost me 100 ducets.

If that Prestige meant something to me right now, I might do it....but it doesn't. I can afford the gold, since I haven't been able to do anything, money has been building up in my treasury. But I can not for von Luxemburgs. To hell with them.

Relations between Brandenburg and Hungary: -40.

July 1417
Cultural Differences (Event). Relations between Brandenburg and Luxemburg: -25, due to differences between our civilized culture and their backwards people.

January 1418
England demise continues. France booted England from their lands, although England does have a province in Greece at the moment. They also lost the province of Cornwall. I assume that France forced them to release Cornwall as an independent country due to Cornwall being an ally of France.

July 1418
Johann Cicero von Dossow, Statesman, has died. Statesman (2) Friedrich Wilhelm von Anhalt-Dessau takes his place.

Nov 1418
Ruppin gets a Trade Station.

I also noticed that Bavaria has occupied the province of Frankin since 1407...War Exhaustion must be getting high for both of them.

Oct 1419
Jobst finally kicks the bucket, but I'm still in a PE as his daughter takes the throne. I've played as Brandenburg a few times and it has never taken this long for the PE to end. I know what I have to do, but based on my ground rules, I can't do it....I want to just play this out and see what happens, but if it goes on too long, I'll just start sending insults until I get freed.

Moved the Mercantilism-Free Trade slider 1 towards Free Trade. It's now at -2.

November 1420
Innocentius VII becomes Pope. Venice controls the Papacy.

January 1421
National Institutions (Event). Centralism +1, lose 1 Stability

October 1421
Naval Research Wrong! (Event). Lose 1 Stability. The other other option was to lose some money invest in Naval Tech. My Stability is at +3, and it only takes a few months to get it from +2 to +3.

March 1423
Genoa has taken a massive chunk fo the Gold Horde's territory. France is also starting to goggle up the small nations around them.

September 1424
Elisabeth ignores Brandenburg (Event). Queen Elisabeth has been focused on her own realm and has not visited Brandenburg once. Relations between Brandenburg and Luxemburg: -25.

(I could have chosen the option that increases relations and prestige, but I want the opposite.)

October 1424
Comet Sighted! (Event). Stability drops 1.

January 1426
Corruption (Event). Stability drops 1.

Land Tech increases to 5. Men at Arms and Longbow available.

August 1427
Jindrich II of Bohemia is elected Holy Roman Emperor (4 years old).

December 1429
Elisabeth lost her heir but has a new one. I have decided that should Elisabeth die before her heir is of age, I'll then wreck our relations with insults. If not....then I'll let the PE continue....I knew the risks going in. The good news is that I have a treasury with 427 ducets in it. It's not growing much since I am putting all the money I can into Tech. So it's actually given me a way to build up a nice treasury and put tons of money into Tech.

Gov Tech goes to 6 (btw, I'm only updating Tech levels when it gives me something new). I can now build Embassies.

April 1430
Georg Albrecht Posadofsky has died. Sheriff (3, +3% to Nat. Tax) Georg Schnittern takes his place.

March 1431
Free Subjects gets a tick in its direction. The slider is at -2 now.

July 1432
Alderman Ernst von Dossow has died. Philosopher Johann Briesen (level 2, +1 to Prestige per year) takes his place in the court.

August 1433
Castille and France (mostly Castille) and eliminated Aragon from the map.

December 1433
England is making a comeback. They've taken 3 Italian provinces.

March 1435
A Generation of Cowards (Event). Bad Discipline: -10% Discipline until March 1445.

March 1436
Looks like England's comeback has hit a wall. They are in 3 separate wars. One with Bohemia/Milan/Croatia, one with Scotland and one with France and her allies.

February 1437
This marks the 30th anniversary of Bavaria's occupation of the province of Franklin. Still no peace.

October 1439
Death of a Merchant (Event). The state needs the money. +18.78 ducets.

March 1440
The wars in England are over. They only lost 1 Italian province, but they also were forced to release one of their Irish provinces (creating Connacht).

September 1440
I found a loophole in my own rules. I said nothing about Spies.....I sent a spy to Tarnish Luxemburg's reputation. It cost me 25 ducets, but it worked, but were found out. They get a prestige of -9 (if they are in negative prestige with their leader dies, the PE ends), and our relations drops 25 points. My prestige also drops to -1.

September 1441
Free Subjects +1

January 1442
Statesman Friedrich Wilhelm von Anhalt-Dessau dies. Statesman (3, +9 Gov Tech) Johann Georg Höltzendorff takes his place.

April 1442
Sheriff Georg Schnittern dies. (Level 3, +3% Nat. Tax) Sheriff Albrecht Arnswald takes his place.

September 1444
Luxemburg did something to wipe out their prestige hit. They did drop down to -11, but they must have had an event to raise it back up. Sent a spy, and they failed. I go through all 5 spies I have in order to finally get one that succeeded. We also drop to -7 relations.

March 1445
Gregorius XIII becomes Pope.

August 1445
Brandenburg gets a Trade Station

March 1446
Franken finally breaks its occupation from Bavaria. But, it's to rebels.

April 1447
Agricultural Revolution (Event). Raise taxes even higher (+1 Base Tax in Neumark). The other option was raising Manpower by 166.

June 1448
Cultural Differences (Event). Relations between Luxemburg and Brandenburg: -25

April 1450
Gov Tech to 8. Can now build Courthouse and allows Feudal Monarchy

April 1451
I don't think Queen Elisabeth is ever going to die....Franken still occupied by rebels. Poor province. Must be like the dark ages there by now.

March 1452
Free Subjects +1. Costs me a bit of Manpower. France has nearly completed taking control of their whole region.

May 1453
She waited out the effects of the last spy zerg. Time for another. Only took one this time. Relations -25 and Prestige -10. Time to play the waiting game again.

March 1454
France bitchslapped Castille and took some provinces. Not only are they nearly controlling their whole cultural region, they are expanding into Spain.

August 1454
Gov Tech to 9. New Idea. Bureaucracy: +10% Nat. Tax

November 1454
Queen Elisabeth von Luxemburg dies. The PE is broken.

King Georg Albrecht I von Braunschweig-Lüneburg takes the throne of Brandenburg.
Adm: 4, Mil: 8, Dip: 8. He starts with a Legitimacy of 20. Will take time to raise that.

Our treasury is filled with gold ducets (1290) since I wasn't able to build anything. Time to get busy. I order Constables built in every province. I also start bribing (ahem, sending gifts) to all of the HRE voters. Also start getting into a lot of Royal Marriages to raise Legitimacy.

First thing that happened is that we were Guaranteed by the Teutonic Knights.

December 1454
Alliance with Lithuania.

October 1455
Alliance with Austria

December 1455
Austria goes to war with Byzantium. I come to their side.

October 1456
War with Byzantium ends just as Lithuania comes calling. I come to Lithuania's aid. The Teutonic Order honors their alliance with Muscowy.

December 1456
Siege of Danzig begins

March 1457
We Expand the Bureaucracy in Brandenburg. This cuts into Nat. Tax by 5%, but gives us +0.25 Magistrates per year.

May 1457
We assault the fort in Danzig and take the province.

June 1457
Begin siege in Warmia.

Merchants complain (Event). Unhappy Merchants: -10% Trade Eff. for 10 years. Don't care, I can't get into any CoTs anyway.

November 1457
We assault after the walls are breached. Warmia falls.

December 1457
We assault the fort in Ostpruessen once we enter the province and it falls.

April 1458
After a few small battles, we arrive in Memel and assault. This time it doesn't go well and we settle into a siege.

November 1458
Memel falls....the disadvantage of not being the war leader. Once it fell, The Teutonic Knights and Lithuania sign a peace deal and that's that. They annuled a bunch of treaties and paid Lithuania some money. Oh well.

How about I send my troops home and end my participation in this war. I sign a white peace with Muscowy.

Build Armories in Brandenburg and Potsdam.

February 1459
Austria calls for their war with Bavaria. Sorry, I'm out. It ends up costing me some prestige.

Since my Prestige is in the crapper right now, what's a bit more? I decide to cancel the "Bohemia votes for us" mission. Oh good, it gives me another crappy one. Conquer Silesia. Can't cancel for 5 years...

June 1459
Building an Armory in Neumark.

July 1459
France has laid a claim to my throne. Come and get it!

November 1459
Building an Armory in Ruppin

March 1460
War not going too well for Lithuania. Muscowy is taking many of their provinces and rebels are taking quite a few as well.

May 1460
Leopold VIII Johann of Austria becomes HRE.

June 1460
Land Tech increases to 8. Can now build Training Fields.

August 1460
Lithuania ends up winning the war. They took a huge chunk out of Novgorod.

September 1460
Building Training Fields in Brandenburg

April 1461
Production Tech to 8. Can now build Workshops.

Building Training Fields in Potsdam

June 1461
Trade Tech to 8. Can now build Trade Depot.

October 1461
Building a Workshop in Brandenburg.

August 1462
Free Subjects +1. Currently at +1, +2 is the highest it can go with my government (Feudal Monarchy)

Sept 1462
Naval Tech to 8. Can now build Drydocks.

October 1462
Building Training Fields in Ruppin.

July 1463
Building Workshops in Potsdam and Neumark.

December 1463
Influenced Elections (Event). Gain 80 ducets and Relations between Brandenburg and Magdeburg +40. The other options was a relations hit an a small boost to prestige.

February 1464
Statesman Johann Georg Höltzendorff dies. (Level 5, +15 Gov Tech) Statesman Wilhelm Friedrich von Schwerin takes his place.

Looking it over, it looks like Austria is pretty entrenched as HRE. At least as long as King Leopold VII is on the throne. He has very high stats. He gets a nice boost from Dip score, but also a big boost (+100) for being a large nation. I need to find a way to expand...

November 1464
Workshop being built in Ruppin.

May 1465
Training Fields being built in Neumark.

July 1465
Statesman gains power (Event). I want to keep my level 5 statesman....I take a 2 Prestige hit and Decentralization +1.

September 1465
Sheriff Albrecht Arnswald dies. (Level 4, +4% Nat Tax) Sheriff Helmut von Rauch takes his place.

November 1463
I spend my way to 200 (or nearly 200) relations with the electors not named Bohemia (since they only vote for Bohemia), despite Austria's entrenchment. I'm still way off. I need to find a way to expand or knock Austria down a peg or twenty.

January 1466
Poland has taken Danzig and Warmia from the Teutonic Knights...damn.

February 1466
Maximilian I von Habsburg of Austria becomes HRE.

October 1466
Corruption (Event). Stability drops 1

June 1467
Marketplaces being built in Brandenburg, Potsdam and Neumark.

August 1467
Neumark gets a Trade Station.

January 1468
Ruppin builds a Marketplace.

September 1468
Opposing Military Schools (Event). Defensive +1

October 1468
The king's Legitimacy is now at 100. Still a long way off from Austria. That's not going to happen for awhile.

It's time to make something happen. I Declare war on a very weak Teutonic Knights. They are allied with Pommerania and guaranteed by Austria, who is in the middle of a big war, and decide not to join the war.

I also order 8 more units (6 Infantry and 2 Latin Knights)

December 1468
Sieges on Stettin and Hinterpommern begun.

March 1469
Gov Tech to 10. Noble Republic allowed.

April 1469
Stettin falls

June 1469
My newly formed second army begins a siege of Vorpommern

August 1469
Hinterpommern falls.

October 1469
Alliance with Hungary.

December 1469
Vorpommern falls.

Peace with Pommerania: I can annex all three provinces, but that will give me 12 infamy. Plus, Austria will probably demand them and I'll take a bunch of stability to hits when I refuse to hand them over.

I take just Vorpommern and hope I dan't get asked for the province that often.

February 1470
Sieges bagun in Ostpruessen and Memel.

July 1470
Ostpruessen falls.

September 1470
Memel falls.

Peace: I demand vassalization and then accept. I could have taken Memel, but Vorpommern's future as my province is uncertain and I don't want to be separated from my provinces without sea access. I will try to diplo-annex them at a later date.

November 1470
Alliance with Teutonic Knights.

Vorpommern
Population: 17,362
Tax: 4.95 (will increase as revolt risk goes down)
Production: 1.29 (Total: 6.24)
Trade: 1.4 Naval Supplies
Fort: 1

December 1470
Commision a National Epic. +1 Cultural tradition for ten years

January 1471
War with Bohemia. As it turns out, The Teutonic Knights were at war with Bohemia when I made them my vassal. I get pulled in, Lithuania dishonors the alliance, but Hungary honors and is now at war with Bohemia.

I start off with +25 and can easily just end the war right now. Teutonic Knights would gain 2 provinces. However, I'll gain 6 infamy if I did that....Bohemia is the defender here.

So, with no real options, and nothing to gain really, I tell them to release Silesia and hand over 100 ducets. They accept and I gain some money, a new ally and 100 gold ducets. Not bad for not doing anything.

November 1471
A Formal Request (Event). Either hand Vorpommern to Austria (and gain 5 prestige) or take a 5 prestige hit and a 1 stability hit (and give Austria a CB on me). I take the hits this time.

December 1472
Hungary breaks their alliance with me. Austria offers me an alliance and I accept. (Now they won't DOW...at least, if they do I'll be prepared when they break their alliance with me)

February 1473
Austria brings me into a war against over a dozen nations. I accept as I don't think any of them will get to me.

July 1473
France is one of the nations I am warring with. They hold the province of Holstein close to me. I send an army there to lay siege.

March 1474
France chases me off of Holstein. My other army is already headed there.

June 1474
I lose another battle and decide it's time to head home for now.

July 1474
Border Dispute (Event). I gain a core on Stettin. Sweet.

January 1475
My truce with Pommerania expires and I DOW them. Novgorod, Meissen and Riga honor their alliances. That means I need to make this quick. Sweden comes into the war because of an alliance with Novgorod....

Siege begun in Hinterpommern.

February 1475
I win a battle in Meissen and begin a siege.

May 1475
Ruppin looks close to falling. I end the siege in Meissen to chance off the small force besieging it.

June 1475
After wiping out Meissen's force, I head back and lay siege to their province.

October 1475
White Peace with France. Hinterpommern falls.

November 1475
Siege of Stettin begins. Looks like most of Pommerania's allies are staying out of it.

Meissen falls. I tell them to annul their treaties with Bohemia and Pommerania, and to give me 50 ducets, and to become my Vassal. That gives me 19.6 Prestige and 4 Infamy. They accept.

January 1476
Alliance with Meissen.

I sack Philosopher Johann Briesen...

I Support the Florentine School. Cultural Tradition +2, Infamy -0.1, Prestige +2 (all per year). I also Commission 2 Paintings (+10 Cultural tradition). I also Introduce Heir for 5 Prestige, as well as the yearly bonuses of +2 Cultural Tradition, Preastige +1 and Legitimacy +1.

I hire Level 4 Diplomat Helmut von Rauch (-0.2 Infamy per year)

Stettin falls in the middle of January.

They cede Stettin, renounce their claim on Vorpommern, and hand over 100 ducets. If I force vassalization, that would give me an infamy of 12 and that's a bit high for my liking. They'll be down to 1 province, hopefully I'll get it at a later date.

This peace deal does not end the war. Many of Pommerania's allies are still at war with me.

February 1476
We are now accepting the Pommeranian culture.

April 1477
They all finally offer white peace and I accept. War is over.

Stettin
Population: 22,284
Tax: 7.60
Production: 1.91 (Total: 9.51)
Trade: 1.5 Naval Supplies
Fort: 1

Brandenburg - April, 1477 (I didn't know we could rename provinces. I renamed Vorpommern to West Stettin. Neat.)

April 1477
Bohemia declares war on the Teutonic Knights to retake Estland, a province to the north-east on the Baltic Sea. Austria backed out on us. This might not god well. I order up another 6 Infantry, 2 Cavalry army.

And then later in the month, Sweden declares war to gain the same province....

June 1477
The Battle of Potsdam. A force of 15,000 Bohemia initially faced an army of 8,000 Brandenburg men, but were quickly reinforced by another 8,000 Brandenburg men and 2,000 infantry from Meissen. The Brandenburg led force won the day, with Bohemia losing nearly 6,000 men to the 4,000 lost by Brandenburg and Meissen.

July 1477
Following the battle of Potsdam, the Brandenburg forces pursued Bohemian force into Niederlausitz. There, they surrounded the Bohemians, and wiped them out (8500 men) while only losing around 200. A crushing defeat for the Bohemians.

(Event) In the same month, Wilhelm Friedrich von Schwerin published "The Spirit of Laws", a monumental work on government which has been celebrated by academics and world leaders throughout Europe for 3 of its numerous theories: the classification of government, the influences on politics, and the most important one, the thoery of the separation of powers.

I get +15 Gov Tech for 5 years, and the choice of +2 Stability or +10 Prestige. Since it would just be +1 Stability (since it's at +2), I choose +10 Prestige.

Thirdly, Austria wants an alliance again....sure, I immediately call them to Arms. They refuse, the alliance is broken again and they suffer a major hit to their Prestige (now at -47).

September 1477
Bohemia annexes Silesia.

October 1477
Brandenburg signs alliance pacts with Naples and Burgundy. They both enter the wars.

November 1477
Bohemia offers a White Peace. I accept (War exhaustion is getting high, my infamy is still around 6....I can't be at war right now).

Brandenburg signs an alliance with Castille.

January 1478
Naive Relative (Event). A close member of the family of our ruler has proven utterly naive, and keeps telling foreigners vital information publicly. I execute him. (-1 to Stability)

July 1478
Sweden offers White Peace. I accept.

January 1479
We are pulled into a war with Crete thanks to Naples.

April 1479
Thanks to my awesomeness, I was war leader. Once Crete would accept a "Concede Defeat" peace deal, I took it and gained +5 to Prestige. (Sorry Naples)

Leopold IX von Habsburg of Austria is now the HRE.

May 1479
Cultural Assimilation (Event). Stettin is now Saxon.

Constable being built in Stettin.

June 1479
Pommeranian is no longer an accepted culture.

March 1480
Poland annexes Hinterpommern. They now have the provinces I need.

September 1480
Austria frees Pommerania.

October 1480
I cancel the "Conquer Silesia" mission. I get "The Pomerania Sucession". I need to own Hinterpommern. Good, I was planning on doing that anyway, and I have a CB now!

War were declared! Several small german nations come to their aid.

December 1480
I send all my forces (24,000 men) at them and siege their fort. It falls easily and I annex Hinterpommern. New mission: Create A Proper Fleet. My naval force limit is 7 so I have to build seven ships.

Gov Tech to 11. A new idea. This time, I take Military Drill. +1 Morale to land forces.

January 1481
Claims on Our Rivals (Event). We have managed to produce very legitimate documents that shows that we have a historical claim on one of their provinces. We gain cores in Niederlaustiz (Bohemia), Atmark (Brunswick) and Torun (Poland).

National Institutions (Event). As of late, more and more people are requesting representative national institutions. I choose Centralization +1 and lose 1 Stability.

Province Decision. Brandenburg - Formalize Scales, Weights and Measures. -0.5 to Nat Revolt Risk, +10% Trade Eff., +10% Production Eff., +5% Nat Tax. (Costs 5 Magistrates).

July 1481
Atmark is given to Austria. Won't be getting that province anytime soon. To good news is that now I have a "large HRE nation" and get a +50 boost to my chances of being elected HRE. I'm inching closer and closer....

December 1481
Lübeck is annexed by Saxe-Lauenburg. We are no longer in a Trade League and The Hansa are finished. All trading stations close.

January 1482
Stettin building a Workshop

Wurzburg finally accepts a White Peace from our war with Pommerania and we are finally at peace again. War Exhaustion is nearly at 6...

October 1482
Austria wants Hinterpommern....I mean, Albrechta, named for the king. I said no and lost 5 Prestige.

January 1483
At war with Byzantium by way of Castille. Hope it's short.

Building an Armory in Stettin

June 1483
14 pirate ships are blockading our ports. Nothing I can do about it...

Generals Concerned by our unmanly tactics (Event). Offensive gains 1.

July 1483
White Peace with Byzantium.

September 1483
Free Subjects +1, putting it at +2, the max for my government form.

February 1484
Building a Dock in Stettin.

Someone must be colonizing the new world as I'm starting to get lots of Atlantic Ocean sea provinces shown to me. Looking around, it looks like it's Portugal.

January 1483
Alliance with Scotland. Naples pulls me into a war with the Papal States.

February 1843
Hired Level 4 Grand Captain Christian Wilhelm von Hohenzollern, +0.2 Morale to armies.

April 1485
Franz I Stefan von Habsburg of Austria becomes HRE.

May 1485
Building a Drydock in Stettin

June 1485
The Teutonic Knights accepted annexation into Brandenburg.

Ostpreussen
Population 46,346 Prussians
Tax 5.04
Production 3.64 (Total: 8.68)
Trade: 1.9 Naval Supplies
Fort: 1

Memel
Population: 4,736 Prussians
Tax: 1.08
Production: 1.24 (Total: 2.32)
Trade: 1.1 Grain
Fort: 1

Ösel
Population: 1,773 Estonians
Tax: 0.36
Production: 1.11 (Total: 1.47)
Trade: 1.0 Grain
Fort: 1

Estland
Population: 11,471 Estonians
Tax: 1.08
Production: 1.31 (Total: 2.39)
Trade 1.2 Grain
Fort: 1

I now have all the requirements to becomes Prussia, except I need to become Reformed or Protestant.

I'm thinking of just releasing Estonia as a vassal if it gives them Ösel and Estland. Neither province is worth the cost or effort to defend (both are separated from the other two). Have to wait for peace first.

October 1485
The Papal States offer me a White Peace and I take it. There is not option to release Estonia. Oh well. Guess I'll either keep them or sell them....

My bonus for having a large nation is now at +100, making it the same as Austria's. I'm not well within striking distance of the throne of the HRE. Time to ramp up my campaign. My infamy is at 4.3 right now, that needs to drop.

January 1487
Training Fields being built in Stettin.

I set my National Focus to Memel so that I can build a CoT there. It costs me 500 ducets (about 40% of my treasury), but hopefully the income from it will make up for it. The CoT gives a +2 to the Tax for the province, and since it's a costal province, that's another +2.

March 1487
Bohemia declares war on us. They are looking to take back Estland. Hey, I have a core in their nation as well. All of my allies come to my aid (Meissen, Scotland, Burgundy, Naples). We are at war with Bohemia and Saxony.

I recruit 3 generals which takes another ~120 ducets....my treasury has a hole in it!

May 1487
A force of 8,000 from Brandenburg begin siege of Leipzig (Saxony).

A force of 16,000 Brandenburg men wipe out 7,000 from Bohemia in Neumark.

July 1487
A force of 15,000 from Brandenburg easily defeat 13,000 Bohemians in Potsdam. Brandenburg loses 2,000 to Bohemia's 5500 casualties. The difference is probably due to both of my armies having a general while they have no commander. Not to mention the +1.2 morale my forces have due to Military Drill and an advisor.

The rest of the Bohemians are wiped out by the Brandenburg forces when they pursue into Niederlausitz.

October 1487
Brandenburg defeats a Saxony army in Brandenburg. All wins so far, but Brandenburg needs to regroup as casualties are taking their toll.

I decline Scotland's call for assistance against England. Sorry, got my own thing going on and you don't seem to be helping me...

November 1487
Leipzig falls. Saxony agrees to terms. They will pay me 50 ducets and annul all of their treaties, giving me 10.8 Prestige and no infamy. I thought about forcing vassalization, but that would have given me 3 infamy, increasing it to 7. Bit too high for my liking.

Bohemia offers White Peace...No way.

Kirkland falls.

April 1488
Niederlausitz falls. Bohemia agrees to terms. They will cede Niederlausitz, renounce their claims on Estland and they will release Silesia. This gives us 2 Prestige and no infamy.

July 1488
I currently have 4 of 7 votes for HRE. I need to keep them. I'm also going to try to gain more.

December 1488
I throw some money at Saxony and get them to 200 relations, giving me their vote. Bohemia votes for Bohemia, and The Palatinate votes for France since they are a vassal of France.

March 1489
Marketplace being built in Stettin. Trade Depot in Neumark.

May 1489
Land Tech to 10. Can now build March. This gives +500 Manpower and +200% to Local Defensiveness, but it must be built in a Core and it must border another nation. It cost 480 ducets to build, and if at any point the requirements are not met, the building is destroyed.

July 1489
Gov Tech to 12. Can now build Spy Agency. I haven't been building any of the Gov buildings because they give bonuses for Stability costs and Spy Defense. I'm going to start, though, since my Stability is no longer always at +3. Right now, it's +1.

Church being built in Brandenburg and Potsdam.

January 1490
Austria asks for Ösel. I tell them to go to hell.

April 1490
Georg Albrecht I von Braunscheig-Lüneburg of Brandenburg, who has ruled Brandenburg since 1454, is named Holy Roman Emperor.

-3 to Nat Revolt Risk
-10% Stability cost
+10% National Manpower
-10% Technology Cost

However, just days after being named Emperor, Georg Albrecht I dies. His heir, being only 8 years old, is named Emperor. However, a Regency Council will rule for the time being.

Joachin von Braunscheig-Lüneburg
Age: 8
Admin: 7, Dip: 3, Mil: 4

The Regency Council has A: 7, D: 5, Mil: 6

Once Joachin comes of age, I can't perform any diplomacy. That might make keeping the title of HRE difficult.

May 1490
Call for Reichsreform! Right after Joachin von Braunscheig-Lüneburg is put on the throne, the Empire is reformed.

HRE Members
Build Cost: -2%
Tech Cost: -2%

Emperor
The same plus Prestige +2%

June 1490
Stettin builds a Trade Depot.

Hadrianus VI becomes Pope.

December 1490
Memel builds a Marketplace.

March 1491
Poland warns us.

War with The Papal States by way of Naples.

May 1491
The province of Stade is handed to me. 8,990 Hannoverians live in it. If I can release it, I will. it's a few provinces over and I don't want to have to defend it.

Austria is back on top of the voters. There's not much I can do except get rid of my infamy and try to raise my prestige.

June 1491
Ostpruessen builds an Armory.

September 1491
Nobles Demand Privileges (Event) Aristocracy gains 1

Pressburg, a Hungarian province that did belong to Austria, is handed to me and immediately revolts. I release Stade as Bremen. They are now my vassal, and that also gives me 10 Imperial Authority.

December 1491
I break up the revolt in Pressburg. I can't release it either. Guess I'll just keep it and pass it to the next Emperor if I don't keep the throne.

August 1492
Level 6 Statesman Johann Georg Truxes (+18 to Gov Tech) is hired.

September 1492
Gov Tech to 13. Allows Theocracy.

December 1492
Cultural Decisions: Support the Florentine School. Yearly Culture Tradiont +2, Infamy -0.1, Prestige +2 (Costs: 3 Magistrates, 1 Diplomat and 127 ducets)

March 1493
Warned by Hangary

May 1493
Handed the province of Breslau. 41,400 Schlesians (can't release).

September 1493
Sold Pressburg to Hungary for 40 ducets. Holding was giving me Infamy. Don't know why. Maybe because of Regency Council? Either way, I have several giving me infamy for holding.

December 1494
I was given Cremona. I release it as Milan and get 10 Imperial Authority.

April 1494
Sold Breslau to Silesia for 80 ducets.

May 1494
I move the Land-Naval slider to 0.

June 1494
I'm given the provinces of Savoie and Cuneo, but Savoy already exists and there's no nation I can release them as. They are far to the south and just not feasible for me to keep, not to mention, they are giving me infamy now.

October 1494
I give Cuneo to Savoy and give Savoie to France (since it wouldn't let me give it to anyone else). Savoy is an elector and holding their provinces was costing me points for their vote.

The current electors are Brandenburg, Cologne, Mainz, The Palitinate, Saxony, Trier, and Savoy. Bohemia must have lost their vote at some point. Now that I have given away Savoy's land, I have their vote and have a 4-3 edge on Austria.

March 1495
Training Fields being built in Ostpruessen. I used the provincial decision to promote cultural unity, removing it as a core of The Teutonic Knights.

July 1495
I give Ösel to Sweden.

August 1495
I give Estland to Novgorod. Now my Infamy should drop. Austria got back on top of the voting because my Infamy kept going up from holding some of these provinces. The two I just gave away are practically worthless.

September 1495
We finish building a 10 ship fleet (3 Carracks and 7 Galleys). New mission: Connect the Prussian lands. I need to own Warmia and Danzig.

France gave me Savoie back. This time I sel it to Savoy for 40 ducets.

December 1495
Naval Tech to 10. Can now build Barques.

Damn, I forgot about the Large Nation bonus....I lost it. It's at +50 instead of +100 and Austria has a big lead on me now. I need to grab Danzig and Warmia and soon.

March 1496
There should be a Stable Government (Event). Lose 175 ducets invested in Gov Tech.

May 1496
Hired Siegmund von Anhalt-Dessau, level 5 Diplomat, -0.25 Infamy

November 1496
Constable being built in Ostpreussen

January 1497
Joachin I takes the throne. With a Dip. skill of only 3, other than going to war, I can't use diplomacy.

I immediately declare war on Magdeburg to the east, who holds a core of mine (Altmark). They are allied with Bavaria and Denmark.

February 1497
We assault the fort in Altmark and it falls. We annex them. (10 Prestige, 0 infamy).

April 1497
Bavaria wins a major battle in Meissen (and I close the screen before I can report the casualties....they were massive on my side).

I order up two more armies.

May 1497
Bohemia declares war (reconquest)....a whole of people on each side.

June 1497
Memel falls to Bohemia.

October 1497
Ostpruessen falls to Bohemia.

Win a big battle vs Bavaria. We lost about 10,000 (of 35,000) and they lost 7,000 (of 21,000), but they retreat and we follow.

After chasing the Bavarian force through two provinces, we finally wipe them out.

December 1497
Bohemia accepts a White Peace (my allies had taken a few of their provinces).

Bavaria is about to feel my wrath...

March 1498
Brandenburg forces enter Bavarian territory and suddenly they want a white peace. No deal.

April 1498
We liberate Meissen.

May 1498
Trade Tech to 12. Can build Canal.

August 1498
The provinces of Ansbach, Niederbayern and Thüringen all fall.

I can't take any Infamy. I tell Ansbach to just Concede Defeat and give me 5 Prestige.

September 1498
Salzburg falls. Same deal to them, concede defeat and give me 5 Prestige.

October 1498
München falls. Later in the month, Oberpfalz falls.

Bavaria gets these terms. Release Ausburg, Baden and Thuringia and annul treaties with Ansbach, Anhalt and Saxony. We get +8 Prestige and no Infamy.

I get +10 Imperial Authority for the release of Ausburg.

November 1498
Naples pulls me into a war with Sicily.

December 1498
With the war vs. Bavaria, I gain enough Prestige and Imperial Authority to put me at a 5-2 advantage in HRE voting over Austria. The annexation of Altmark puts me back at a +100 for Large Nation bonus.

Did Wales lose its independence?

Fun dynasty, by the way.

January 1499
Courthouse in Brandenburg and Potsdam. Canals in Stettin and Neumark, Marketplace in Albrechta.

May 1499
White Peace with Sicily.

August 1499
Cessation of Church Functions (Event). Gain 250 ducets but get -5% to Nat. Tax for 20 years.

September 1499
The Milan I created in 1494 was gobbled up by Savoy. I was just given Bescia, so I create Milan again and get +10 Imperial Authority, my Infamy is gone and I have all but 1 vote for HRE.

November 1499
All my alliance with Naples has given me is crappy relations with The Papal States, causing my Papal Influence to be 0, and to give me 0% of getting cardinals. Well, I wanted to play the religion game, so I end my alliance with Naples and will work at getting back on The Papal States' good side.

April 1500
Heir falls ill (Event). Lose 20 ducets, 50% will die....he lives!

May 1500
Trade Depot in Memel.

June 1500
We get Cremona again. Not much I can do about it so I sell it to Milan for 40 ducets.

(It just occurred to me....I've been breaking a ground rule. Selling a province is a diplomatic action. But at the same time, I hate how the game doesn't allow you to create 1 nation vassals out of any province you own. I should be able to create the nation of Cremona....oh well, time to stop doing that until a new monarch comes along)

July 1500
Level 4 Sheriff (+4% Nat Tax) Friedrich Wilhelm Cisielsky hired.

November 1500
Constable in Niederlausitz.

January 1501
A Heretic Prince (Event) Switzerland has converted to a heretical faith. -10 Imperial Authority.

June 1501
Pressburg passes back to me from Hungary.....that's odd. I see, it's a core of Austria. I guess they held it long anough to become a core, and now it's a province of the Holy Roman Empire....can't do anything with it right now.

January 1502
Poland got into a war with France. This is a great chance for us. They are allied with Lithuania and Hungary has warned us....and there's less than a year left on our truce with Bohemia. It's a chance worth taking. I Declare War on Poland.

February 1502
Ostpreussen falls to Poland. We take Poznen.

March 1502
We take Turon. Kalisz falls to our allies. Memel falls to Poland. Danzig falls to us.

May 1502
The Battle of Torun. We technically win, in that they retreated, but we suffered many more loses. We follow the Polish troops to Plock (The Lithuanian forces withdrew to Warmia) and wipe them out.

June 1502
Land Tech to 11. Can now make Galloglaigh Infantry.

August 1502
Ansbach converts to Protestant, we lose 10 more Imperial Authority.....uh oh....

October 1502
A few wins and a few loses....we need to regroup. We lost Poznen to Poland.

May 1503
Poland has regained all of their provinces. Another nation converts to Protestant and I lose 10 more Imp. Authority. One or two more, and I'll be out as HRE...

August 1503
All my armies are reinforced, plus I created 2 more 8-Inf, 3-Cav armies. We win a big battle in Poznen and retake it.

Excellent supplies (Event). -5% Big Ship Cost, -5% Light Ship cost for 1 year.

September 1503
We retake Torun. We retake Danzig.

October 1503
We take Sieradz (Poland).

November 1503
Kalisz falls to us.

December 1503
Warmia falls to us. Peace Deal with Poland: Cede Warmia and Danzig, plus 50 ducets. I get 0.9 Prestige and 2 Infamy. I get 10 Prestige for completing the mission and again I get "Conquer Silesia"...

February 1504
We wipe out a large Lithuanian force in Podlasie.

March 1504
Hungary offers White Peace and we take it.

May 1504
Gov Tech to 16. Can now build University.

I noticed my Infamy is getting pretty high...

October 1504
Taking over a lot of Lithuanian provinces. My goal there is to break them up as much as I can to reduce their threat to me. Liege converts to Protestant, I lose 10 more Imp. Authority. I've also been given a few more Italian provinces and I can't do anything with them until I end the war with Lithuania.

July 1505
Naval Tech to 11. Can now build Caravel.

Peace Deal: Lithuania renounces claim on Memel. They release Ukraine and Smolensk. I get 7 Prestige and now Infamy.

September 1505
Release Cleves (was given Berg at some point). Release Savoy (some how they ceased to exist and I got a few of their provinces. They get Nice and Lombardy).

November 1505
I can't create Prussia since my leader's Diplomatic skill is too low, but seeing as how I doubt I'll ever gain control of the Papacy now, I decide to complete one of the steps towards Prussia and convert to Protestant. While this wrecks my chances of being reelected for HRE, I was losing my grip on it anyway. I'd rather deal with the change to Protestant now rather than later.

May 1506
Pass Blasphemy Act: Stability Cost +5%, Missionary Cost: -6% (Will need, most of my provinces are Catholic).

Church in Ruppin, Altmark and Neumark. Spy Agency in Brandenburg, Canal in Memel.

My Imperial Authority is increasing now when a nation converts.

June 1506
Missionary in Potsdam, Stettin, West Stettin, Albrechta and Danzig.

December 1506
Religious Civil Disorder (Event). +3 Nat. Revolt Risk, -2 Tolerance of the True Faith, -2 Tolerance of Heretics. until 1821.

7 Religious revolt in West Stettin. They were quickly put down.

June 1507
Land Tech to 12. Can now build Large Cast Bronze Mortor, Houfrice and Barracks.

July 1507
Level 6 Sheriff (+6% Nat Tax) Joachin Siegmund von Rütz is hired.

September 1507
Growing Number of Heretics (Event). Gain 2 Missionaries, lose 50 ducets, +3% Revolt Risk, -10% Missionary Cost, +1.5% Missionary Chance.

Missionaries in Brandenburg and Neumark.

November 1507
Verona, one of the Italian provinces I couldn't get rid off, revolted awhile back. It finally defected to Milan. Good, my Infamy thanks you.

June 1508
Albrechta converts to Protestant.

August 1508
Land Tech to 13. Condotta Infantry, Landsknechtan Infantry, Reformed Galloglaigh Infantry, Culverin and Pedrero.

Workshop in Niederlausitz

November 1508
Warmia converts to Protestant.

March 1509
A Catholic revolt in Potsdam is put down.

October 1509
Piedmont defects to Savoy.

November 1509
Benign Neglect (Event) in West Stettin. +100 Ducets.

March 1510
Release Mantua.

October 1510
Pressburg rebels and I have no way of putting it down....not that I want the province...

November 1510
Naval Tech to 12. Can build Shipyard.

January 1511
I Introduce Heir and Commission a National Epic (+1 Culture for 10 years)

March 1511
Stettin converts to Protestant. Barrack building in Stettin.

April 1511
West Stettin converts to Protestant.

June 1511
Production Tech to 13. Can build Counting House.

October 1511
Missionary to Ruppin.

February 1512
Religious revolt in Danzig put down.

Trade Tech to 14. Can build Refinery.

March 1512
Release Wurttemberg (province: Konstanz).

Production Tech to 14. Can build Textile Manufactory.

August 1512
Brandenburg becomes Protestant. Barracks building in Brandenburg.

October 1512
Naval Tech to 14. Can build Flyte.

February 1513
Land Tech to 15. Can build Small and Large Cast Iron Cannon and Weapons Manufactory.

April 1513
Agricultural Revolution (Event) +1 Base Tax in Danzig.

September 1513
Excellent work is being done in the shires, lead by Sheriff Joachin Siegmund von Rütz (out Sheriff). +10 Prestige, +5% Nat Tax for 6 years.

November 1513
Pressburg defects to Hungary.

June 1514
Gov Tech to 17. Another Idea. I take Press Gangs, which reduces the cost of building ship by 50%.

July 1514
Counting House in Brendenburg and Stettin. (Ok, this is a bit tiresome to keep updating minor changes and buildings and such. No more of these.)

October 1514
Potsdam converts to Protestant.

February 1515
Ruppin converts to Reformed. (No, wrong way Ruppin!)

December 1516
Neumark converts to Protestant.

January 1517
Naval Tech to 15. Can build Naval Equipment Manufactory.

Danzig becomes Protestant.

March 1517
Anti-Piracy Act (National Decision). -0.05 Infamy, -3 Infamy Limit.

September 1517
Benign Neglect (Event) in Ruppin. +100 ducets.

October 1517
Smugglers Running Rampant (Event). -1 Stability, -160 ducets.

April 1518
Nobles Demand Privileges (Event). Aristocracy +1

August 1519
Release Riga (Riga and Livland). Release Bar (Barrois)

January 1520
West Stettin becomes a core.

Religious Turmoil ends in Brandenburg.

April 1520
Land Tech to 16. Can build Fort 2.

March 1521
Released Siena (Siena).

April 1522
The Hansa are expanding and I have an Imperial Liberation CB on them. They don't have many allies, except France is Defender of the Faith....they may get involved. I DoW them.

France did get involved and brought a few more with them. I need to smash The Hansa quickly.

May 1522
I fleet was crushed by France's.

June 1522
Now Poland is in it and now Lithuania is in it....

Tensions along the Memel border (Event). Lithuania gets a Border Friction CB on me.

July 1522
Memel converts to Protestant.

Peace Deal with Silesia. They give me 100 ducets and I annul all treaties. I get 8.5 Prestige and 0 Infamy.

December 1522
A major win over France in Mecklenburg. They lose 32,000 men to our 22,000 casualties. Most importantly, I nearly wiped them out.

May 1523
France gives me terms. Cede Cremonia and pay 182 ducats. I accept to get them off my back.

I complete my conquest of The Hansa and force them to cede Mecklenburg, Lauenburg and Hamburg. I also tell them to renounce their claim on Bremen and to annul their treaty with Poland.

Now I need to fight off a half dozen nations that were pulled in, including the Ukraine, Poland and Lithuania...

January 1524
I pay Genoa 25 ducets to stop blockading my ports.

May 1524
The Palitinate and Ukraine white peace.

December 1525
Pushing Lithuania and Poland back didn't take much effort. I regrouped in Western Brandenburg, let my forces reinforce, and then threw my armies at them. I blitzed Poland and took them over quite easily, but no peace since they are the war leader at this point. I then turned my attention to Lithuania, which was a bit harder, but only in that it took longer.

By December, I had both nations completely conquered. I force Lithuania to relase Polotsk and to give me 325 ducets. 13.7 Prestige, 0 Infamy. Polotsk is about half their size at this point. A crushing defeat.

Poland's deal is to renounce their claims on Danzig and Albrechta, to release Mazovia (1 Province), give me 150 ducets and cede Torun and Poznan to me. That gives me 4.4 Prestige and 8.0 Infamy (which I plan to work off quickly....those provinces are too rich for me to not go after).

Imperial Reconquest - Poznan has been liberated from the clutches of Poland and restored to the Holy Roman Empire. Our service to the Empire has been recognized. Gain core on Poznan. Cool.

January 1526
Really wish I could keep Mecklenburg, Lauenburg and Hamburg, but I took them to make them vassals, and my Infamy needs to come down. At 12.3, it's getting up there. And with me holding these provinces, it's increasing 0.65 per year, and that's with a -0.25 to Infamy Advisor.

February 1526
We are now accepting Polish culture.

November 1527
Torun joins the Holy Roman Empire.

November 1528
The Mamluks have inherited The Ottoman Empire.

December 1528
Johann Linkendorf (Event). Our diplomat advisor has done good things. +10 Prestige, -6 Infamy.

September 1529
Gov Tech to 18, allows Administrative Monarchy. I make the change, have a 2 point drop in Stability. I not get +2 Magistrates per year and +10% Production. (Feudal Monarchy had force limits bonus plus something else I forgot)

Europe 1530

January 1531
Albrechta becomes a core.

June 1531
Land Tech to 17. Can build Regimental Camps.

August 1531
Exceptional Year (Event): +25% to Nat. Tax.

May 1532
Poznan converts to Protestant.

December 1532
Muscowy inherits the throne of Ukraine. Muscowy is getting pretty big now.

January 1533
Architectural Development (Event). Innovative +2, Gain 2 Prestige, Gain 50 ducets, +2 Nat. Revolt Risk for 1 year.

August 1534
Torun converts to Protestant.

July 1535
Memel and Ostpreussen become cores. Prussian culture is now accepted.

August 1535
Memel becomes part of the Holy Roman Empire.

I move the National Focus to Brandenburg from Memel (forgot it was there).

February 1539
The longevity of my monarch may have saved the Emperor's throne for me. Siena, my vassal, has managed to become an elector while another elector, Oldenburg, has converted to Protestant. 3 votes, with the other 4 going to 4 different nations right now.

April 1539
King's Reputation tarnished (Event). Lose 1 Stability.

October 1539
Ostpreussen joins the Holy Roman Empire.

December 1539
We have entered into a Personal Union with Wallachia. (We lead it).

September 1540
Altmark converts to Protestant.

March 1541
Time to keep everyone in check. France is no longer Defender of the Catholic Faith, Brunswick (to my west) is. Time to start some wars. I have a lot of "Imperial Ban" and "Imperial Liberation" CBs.

I think I'll start with Bohemia. Time for them to become irrelevant.

April 1541
I DoW Bohemia. Burgundy, Hungary and Lüneburg come to their aid.

October 1541
Bohemia wants a White Peace after doing pretty much nothing.

March 1542
Lüneburg gets hit hard. Renounce all of their claims, annul all of their treaties, pay 50 ducets and become a Vassal of Brandenburg. 15.2 Prestige and 4.0 Infamy to me.

July 1542
Bohemia is simply crushed in this war. They had no chance. A little over a year after the war begins, they are overrun. I take Kurland and Oberlausitz for myself, and I take Breslau and Ratibor with the intent to release Silesia. They must annul several treaties and hand over 50 ducets. 6.6 Prestige, 4.0 Infamy.

I also gain 5 Prestige for completing the Conquer Silesia mission.

Hungary is currently at war with everyone. This will be an easy finish.

October 1542
Hungary accepts peace terms with Muscowy and gives up a chunk of land.

Time for me to clean up, but Bavaria enters the picture and I have to divert forces that way.

March 1453
Oberlausitz becomes Protestant.

December 1543
Land Tech to 18. Can build Tercio Infantry, Maurician Infantry and Free Shooter Infantry.

June 1544
Peace Deal with Bavaria: Cede Ulm. 4 Infamy to me (I plan to release).

Peace Deal with Hungary. Release Ukraine and Moldavia. Annul a few treaties. Plus, 25 ducets. 6.9 Prestige, 0 Infamy.

The Palitinate, Silesia, Mainz and Ulm are all released, nearly wiping out all of the infamy I had gained.

July 1544
Gov Tech to 19, Can build Town Hall and allows Administrative Republic.

January 1545
Grand Ball in Brandenburg. +2 Prestige, -30 Ducets.

July 1545
Exceptional Year (Event) +25% Nat Tax for 1 year.

Nothing happening...

Nothing happening....

April 1549
One of the electors changes to Protestant, giving me their vote and completing my mission to get them to vote for me. Sweet. The new mission: Conquer Silesia....of ffs...

I release Salzburg.

August 1549
Alliance with England, who has been killing everyone since their struggles last century.

February 1550
I push through, on the third try, Reichsregiment, the 2nd Imperial Reform. This gives a few bonuses to the HRE (+1 Dip Skill, +1 Diplomats and +0.4 Magistrates).

October 1550
I have an "Imperial Ban" CB on Poland for the province of Kalisz. I DoW them.

Now at war with Lithuania, Poland, Genoa, The Hansa and Smolensk.

February 1551
The Hansa Peace deal. They are my Vassal. Plus 125 ducets. 17.1 Prestige, 4 Infamy.

May 1551
Lithuania renounces their claims on Kurland, annul all (3) treaties and pay 150 ducets. 10.9 Prestige, 0 Infamy.

June 1551
Genoa and Smolensk White Peace.

School Charter (Event). Gain a University in Niederlausitz.

July 1551
Poland cedes Plock (to Mazovia) and Kalisz (to me), converts to Protestant, renounces their claims on Poznan and Torun and will pay 50 ducets. 11.9 Prestige, 4.4 Infamy.

Imperial Reconquest - +10 Imperial Authority for liberating Kalisz, and I gain it as a core.

August 1551
The Emperor is dead. Joachin I ruled Brandenburg, and was Holy Roman Emperor, from January 14th, 1497, to July 26th, 1551. A reign of over 54 years.

His heir Georg Wilhelm I von Braunschweig-Lüneburg, (Adm 4, Dip 4, Mil 4) takes the throne of Brandenburg and i elected the new Holy Roman Emperor.

August 1552
Pass "Act of Uniformity" Religious Decision. +0.4 Yearly Missionaries, -8% Missionary Cost.

Pass "Test Act" Religious Decision. +0.5 Yearly Missionaries, -1 Tolerance of heretics.

I tried to start a game of EUIII last night and promptly realized that I have no clue what I'm doing with the game and I suck.

Everyone sucks at first. It has a pretty steep learning curve. I'd suggest Castille as a good first choices. Don't have to mess with the HRE stuff, start off pretty strong and can start colonizing the new world before most others.

Here's the Wiki for EU III: http://www.paradoxian.org/eu3wiki/Main_Page

Loads of info and strategy guides there (although, being a wiki and that there's been several expansions, some info may be out of date, depending on what version you have).

This looks pretty cool. Checking out the wiki now...

EDIT: %*&$!!! *%## Doesn't work on a Mac.

Who loves EUIII? Me! Who loves EUIII Dynasties? Me!

July 1553
The Ming have expanded all the way to the Caspian Sea.

December 1553
Heir falls ill (Event). Lose 20 ducets, 50/50 chance of surviving....he dies, but a new heir is found right away. Friedrich Wilhelm is A: 5, D: 7, M: 8. So yeah, hurry up and die Georg Wilhelm. Once you do, Prussia is born.

January 1554
Warmia and Danzig are now cores.

February 1554
Danzig is now part of the HRE.

June 1554
Warmia is now part of the HRE.

July 1555
Gov Tech to 21, can build Fine Arts Academy

October 1555
The Hansa becomes Protestant.

January 1556
Reform the Hofgericht fails to pass.

July 1556
Temporary Insanity of Monarch (Event). Georg Wilhelm I has been acting strange the last couple of months. -2 Prestige, -88.72 ducets, -1 Stability, but I lose 1 Infamy. (The other option gained a bit of Army and Navy tradition).

June 1559
Production Tect to 19, can now build Treasury.

June 1562
Trade Tech to 19. Can now build Road Network.

March 1563
Kalisz converts to Protestant.

June 1563
Land Tech to 21. Can no make Chambered Demi Cannon.

February 1564
Bavaria annexed Ausburg. Not going to let that stand. I DoW Bavaria.

Bavaria, Hungary, Saxony and Sicily vs. Brandenburg and about 2 dozen small German nations.

June 1564
Peace Deal: Hungary gives me 175 ducets. 4.8 Prestige, 0 Infamy.

August 1564
Naval Tech to 19. Can build Grand Shipyard.
Peace Deal for Sicily: White Peace

December 1564
Bavaria is easily crushed. They renounce claims on Olm, Dresden and Thüringen. They end their vassalization of Saxony. The cede Ausburg and will annul treatings with several nations. They also pay 450 ducets. 28.1 Prestige, 1 Infamy.

I release Ausburg. +10 Imp. Authority. I also release Holland (received the province from France). +10 Imp. Authority.

February 1566
A route to colonization has opened up. The Azores (just discovered for me), for some reason, are not colonized and they are just within reach of my colonists. I could then use them as a stepping stone to North America. I'm starting to get a steady rate of discoveries for provinces. In fact, New Jersey to Newfoundland is not colonized.

I send a colonist to The Azores.

July 1566
The Azores successfully colonized! Brandenburg's Colonization Era has begun. It will be slow, though. By the time I can use The Azores to colonize the New World, the New World may be fully colonized.

May 1567
The Azores produce Naval Supplies.

June 1567
Gov Tech to 22. Another Idea.

Since I've started colonizing, I decide to take "Quest for the New World" to get the +50% range bonus. That puts the north east US and Canadian provinces in range. I send a colonist to Taqamkuk.

Plague! (Event) Plague in Neumark. -40 ducets, Population in Neumark changed by -20%.

December 1567
Successful colonization of Taqamkuk. Send a 2nd colonist. Now I'm pretty much out. I only get 0.6 colonists a year. The Azroes is up to ~500.

February 1568
Natives Encountering our Colonies (Event). Settlers of our colony have spotted minor groups of natives observing the colony. I present a trade proposal. -50 ducets, +1 Base Tax in Taqamkuk.

October 1569
Niederlausitz University - Class of 1569. +1 Magistrate

April 1570
Taqamkuk makes Naval Supplies.

August 1570
Austria annexed Thuringen...and then give us Dresden. The province of Thuringen could be next. I'll hold on to Dresden for awhile.....maybe for good.

November 1570
Plague in Albrechta. -40 ducets, -20% Population

May 1571
King Georg Wilhelm I is dead. He ruled for nearly 20 years, from June 1551 to May 1571.

Friedrich Wilhelm von Braunschweig-Lüneburg becomes the new King of Brandenburg and is elected to be the next Holy Roman Emperor. +10 Imperial Authority. He has Diplomacy of 7....that means.....

The Kingdom of Prussia is born.

June 1573
Ruppin converts to Protestant.

November 1573
Saxe-Lauenburg accepts our offer for diplomatic annexation. We gain the province of Lauenburg. They make Salt and have a large Production.

May 1574
Naval Tech to 21. Can build Galleass.

April 1576
Monetary Reforms (Event). Lose 2 Stability, Gain a Level 4 "Master of Mint" in Brandenburg.

November 1576
Taqamkuk is now a self-sustaining colony.

June 1578
We successfully colonize Unamakik.

September 1579
Agricultural Revolution (Event). +1 Base Tax in Memel.

October 1579
The Azores are self-sustaining.

November 1579
My proposal for reform of the Hofgericht is voted down again.

January 1581
Austria is expanding quickly and need to be put in their place. I DoW Them for "Imperial Liberation".

Unamakik will produce Fur.

March 1581
Peace Deal: Annex Leipzig. 8 Infamy, but I plan to release.

June 1581
Smugglers running rampant (Event). -1 Stability, -441.03 ducets

Austria signs an alliance with Lithuania and brought them into the war.

December 1581
I get pulled into a war vs. Castille and Portugal.

Peace Deal with Austria. They will release Epirus, Croatia, Modena, Venice, Tirol and Thuringia and pay 225 ducets. 23.6 Prestige, 0 Infamy.

September 1582
Land Tech to 22. Can make Latin Caracole Cavalry.

February 1583
Gov Tech to 23. Can build College.

Peace Deal with Portugal: Portugal gets one of Genoa's colonies. Castille accepts White Peace.

March 1583
Release Saxony as a vassal.

December 1583
I sell Dresden to Thuringen so that my infamy will start dropping. It's currently near 8.

November 1584
Clergy condemns philosopher as heretic (Event). Support the Philosopher. +1 Innovative, -1 Stability.

January 1585
Burgundy converts to Protestant. +10 Imperial Authority. That will seal another vote for me. As long as Austria doesn't convert to Protestant, I have the throne locked up.

October 1586
Colonized Epekwitk.

April 1890
Unamakik self-sustaining. Not much happening. I'm preparing for a large war. Not sure against which nation, though. France has embargoed me, so they might attack. Muscowy is starting to get close and Austria is still too much of a threat.

June 1890
Fur will be produced in Epekwitk.

April 1591
According to the ledger, I have the largest army in the world. I have just over 200,000 soldiers. France is just below 200k, but they have twice as many cavalry as I do. The Ming come in at 158,000. Muscowy 115,000. However, I'm 4th on Manpower, behind those three. The Ming have 200k manpower, France has 181k, Muscowy has 150k, and I have 104k (Max: 109k).

That tells me that while I can probably beat Muscowy in a fight by beating their armies and then try to not allow them to rebuild their army, France would probably take me easily. Or at least, if I won early, they'd outlast me.

For Navy, England has 101 ships, Ming has 60, France has 56, Portugal has 55, Castille has 47 and Prussia has 37.

July 1591
Prussia inherits Oldenburg.

January 1592
Taqamkuk rebels. Time to send an army over there.

August 1592
Kurland and Oberlausitz become cores.

October 1592
Naval Tech to 22. Can build Galleon.

March 1595
I've been saving up colonists because I like to let colonies grow on their own, so since I had the 7 unit army there, I sent them on a walk from Taqamkuk to Unamakik (they had to take the long way). I cleared out several provinces as they were attacked along the way.

Innu colonized.

August 1595
Gov Tech to 24. Can no build Customs House.

Acadia, Kespek, and Micmac colonized.

October 1595
Stadacona and Atikamekw colonized. And now I'm out of colonists again so they better grow on their own...and since colonies can be taken by force in war, I better stay clear of war for a bit.

Map of the "New Prussia" - 1595

October 1596
Lithuania inherited Anhalt not too long ago. Border Dispute - I gain Anhalt as a core. The problem with war with Lithuania is that they are allied with Austria and in Muscowy's Sphere. Not sure I am ready with war with....oh to hell with it. I DoW Lithuania. I don't think any of them can get to my colonies.

Muscowy comes into the war (Sphere), Portugal comes in (Defender of Catholic faith), Poland come in (Allies). And Brunswick had warned us, they are in.

November 1596
Sweden comes in, honoring their alliance with Muscowy, as does Byzantium.

December 1596
Peace Deal with Lithuania. They cede Anhalt and 25 ducets. (Now the real war begins. :) ) 0 Prestige, 0 Infamy.

January 1597
Peace with Brunswick: They cede the province of Brunswick, release Oldenburg (province of Osnabruck) and will pay 625 ducets. 6.4 Prestige. 4 Infamy.

March 1597
Portugal offers white peace (after I win several naval battles but it's the only nation I fear taking my colonies). I accept.

April 1597
We take a decent sized army from Muscowy in Mazovia.

Sweden offers white peace. I take it. I also offer White Peace to the rest of the bit players and they accept. Down to Poland (I intend to vassalize them) and Muscowy.

January 1598
Manpower is getting low. Bohemia went to war with Poland and blocked me from taking one of their provinces, which stops Poland from accepting a deal to be my vassals since I'm stuck at 67% war score. Instead, I take Sieradz, Poland renounces their claims on Plock and Kalisz, Poland annuls all treaties and they give me 25 ducets. 3.4 Prestige, 4 Infamy.

February 1599
The war has gone extremely well. The only problem is Muscowy refuses peace terms. I think it's because I've exhausted my manpower. They are refusing deals that keep saying would cause turmoil in their nation...so I'm going to keep causing turmoil.

Except, several of my provinces just revolts. This could get messy, but I'm not accepting a white peace any time soon.

March 1599
Muscowy finally comes around. They settle for Peace Terms: Release Smolensk and Ukraine (both several provinces big), as well as cede the province of Podlasie to me. And 25 ducets. 13.1 Prestige, 4 Infamy.

April 1599
Innu produces Naval Supplies

August 1599
I sell the province of Brunswick to Cologne for a whopping 960 ducets.

October 1599
Fish will be produced in Micmac.

December 1599
Brandenburg revolts. My troops are still getting back to the country except for 1 unit that has been fighting off the rebels.

Fur will be produced in Atikamekw. Fish will be produced in Acadia.

Ruppin rebels. War exhaustion is through the roof....I probably should have checked that before DoW Lithuania.

May 1600
Epekwitk is self-sustaining.

May 1601
For to be produced in Stadacona

June 1603
This may turn out to be a bit of a disaster...

Friedrich Wilhelm I dies. He ruled transformed Brandenburg into the Kingodom of Prussia and ruled as Holy Roman Emperor from May 22dn, 1571 to June 3rd, 1603.

His heir, Friedrich Wilhelm II was born months ago. A regency Council will rule Prussia (as well as the HRE). Friedrich Wilhelm II has 4s in all 3 categories. For nearly 2 decades, I won't be able to declare war.....probably a good thing, unless one of the other major players gets out of control.

June 1605
Land Tech to 23. Can build Arsenal and make Charge Infantry.

January 1606
Pennacook colonized.

April 1606
Massachusetts colonized.

September 1606
Abnaki colonized.

October 1606
Iron ore quality problems (Event). Infantry and Cavalry Cost +5% for 1 year.

October 1608
Naval Supplies produced in Massachusetts.

February 1609
Gov Tech to 25. New Idea. This time I take Unam Sanctam, giving me an automatic CB against Catholics, Reformed and Orthodox nations.

March 1609
People sampling new religions. Reverse Course: Narrowminded +1. The other option was 10 years of bad, bad thing (+2 Revolt risk, -33% Tax, -40% Manpower)

June 1609
I build a Textile Manufactory in Brandenburg. It costs 940 ducets (I have over 8000 right now) and 1 Magistrate. Since it's a Cloth province, it gives me 12 ducets per month (about 8 years to pay for itself - takes 5 years to build so 13 years from now), +1% Population growth and +5 to Production Tech investment.

September 1609
Fish produced in Abnaki.

October 1609
I build a Weapons Manufactory in Potsdam. 12 ducets a month (Iron province), +1% Pop growth and +5 Land Tech investment.

March 1610
Fish produced in Pannecook.

October 1610
Stadacona is self-sustaining.

September 1611
Micmac is self-sustaining....ok, a bunch will become self-sustaining soon. No point in updating this a dozen more times.

September 1612
Austria has declared war on our ally Modena. I answer the call (and will be calling all of my allies). My war exhaustion is gone.

January - March 1613
Several battles involving 50k+ from both Austria and Prussia occurred over three months. The Austrian army was wiped out while Prussia suffered ~20k in casualties.

May 1613
The surviving Prussian army, reinforced by another 50k force, quickly overran the northern part of Austria, including the capital Wien.

June 1613
Poland agrees to become my vassal and pay 125 ducets. 14.7 Prestige, 3 Infamy.

November 1613
Autria forces Modena to accept annexation. Don't worry fellas, I'll free you. Lithuania agrees to a peace deal with Austria and comes into the war. Don't they learn their lesson? Ever?

January 1615
Peace Deal with Lorraine: Give 550 ducets and renounce claim on Barrois.

Peace Deal with Lithuania: Cede Samogita (to me) and Wenden (to Riga). Renounce claims on Podlasie and Volhynia. Annul all treaties. 175 ducets. 7.9 Prestige and 6 Infamy.

Peace Deal with Austria: Release Styria, Pskov, Modena and Aquileia. Renounce claims on Trent and Calabar. 7.0 Prestige, 0 Infamy.

September 1615
Production Tech to 23. Can now build Mint.

EUIII never stuck with me, probably because CK is more my style, but I'll be damned if I don't enjoy the hell out of EUIII dynasties.

I had a nice 80-100 year rivalry with Brandenburg when I played with Switzerland. Brandenburg became HRE, changed some policy to make HRE a hereditary title. Meanwhile, I had built the Swiss empire by vassalizing all of Italy, France and all the little French vassals. Took some time, but finally wore Brandenburg down enough where I could vassalize them. Those were some nasty European fights.

Thanks for reading guys. I do wish there was more CK in EUIII. I wish there were more of Vicky in EUIII.....to me, EUIII feels like the "base game" with games like CK and Vicky adding to it and making it better. I would really like a deeper family/dynasty model and a deeper economic model in EUIII. There doesn't feel like there's much "depth" to the EU games. More of a "Jack of All Trades" type model. Complicated, steep learning curve, yes. But nothing all that flavorful. (Still love the game, just wish there was a lot more to it.)

I am finding this dynasty a bit boring now, though. I had hoped my ground rules would have made it more difficult, but only really delayed the inevitable. Part of the problem is EU's piss poor war AI. I send 100k strong at Austria, who has an army of about 60-70k. So what does Austria do? Send 25k to Modena to siege a 1 province nation with an army of 3k. Meanwhile, my 100k army runs right over the 30k they sent to stop me (I don't know where the rest of their army was, probably off taking some other 1 province nation. And not assaulting the fort.) It's just not a challenge anymore. Even Muscowy was a pushover even though I thought they'd give me a hard fight.

Still going to play this out, but will probably be less active as far as wars go. Right now my plan is to try to force through reforms to unify the Holy Roman Empire into a single nation, and then get to the end and see how the game imports into VickyII.

July 1616
The Azores become a core.

March 1617
Naval Tech to 23. Can build Early Firgates and Naval Arsenal.

October 1617
Friedrich Wilhelm II von Braunschweig-Lüneburg (all 4s) takes the throne. I already want him to die (in about 17 years) so that his heir (Friedrich Wilhelm) can take the throne. Adm: 7, Dip 8, Mil 6.

January 1618
Taqamkuk becomes a core....and it deserves a good name, a German name!. Neue Stettin!

May 1618
Massachusetts becomes self-sustaining. And I want this to be my main base of operations in the New World, so it needs a good German name as well....Hoffnung Ort. I make Hoffnung Ort my National Focus.

August 1619
Genoa is attacked and I am called on as Emperor to defend them.....I can't. War exhaustion is still high. It would have been a tough battle, mainly because it's against nations far from me (Portugal, Castille, etc.) I get -10 Imperial Authority penalty.

August 1620
Colonized Potumtuk, giving me a land border with the Iroquois.

October 1620
Natives not assisting (Event). Lose 25 ducets.

August 1620
I send an expedition into the mainland of the new world (discover more provinces)

October 1621
Blasted! Friedrich Wilhelm, heir to the throne, is dead. The new heir is named Emil. Ad: 7, Dip 8, Mil 3 (can't start wars with him). He has a weak claim.

May 1623
The expedition returns with many tales of strange wild life and both hostile and friendly natives. They discovered 4 great lakes, the Großen Seen! And most importantly, mapped the border of the Iroquois nation. They also learned that the Iroquois trade through the CoT located in Lisboa, Portugal and make a fortune in the fur trade. We must convince these natives to trade through Memel. One way of the other...

December 1623
Lauenburg becomes a core.

February 1624
Land Tech to 25. Can build level 3 fort.

October 1625
I open up my markets to the Iroquois so they can send their merchants to my CoTs. (Their provinces are still sending their goods to Lisboa).

January 1627
Gov Tech to 27. Can build Cathedral, Glorious Monument and allows Absolute Monarchy.

April 1627
Colonized Narraganset. Now I've run into Norway. They have colonized Connecticut, Manhattan and Mahican.

October 1627
I just don't understand it. I try to be friendly with the Iroquois but they just keep insulting us by not signing trade agreements or alliances. Oh well....I tried.... ( ;) )

DoW the Iroquois.

July 1629
Tensions along the Hoffnung Ort border. Norway gets a "Border Dispute" CB on me.

January 1630
I annex the Iroquois, giving me 7.2 Infamy (it had just gotten down to 0) and 10 Prestige.

Now all of that Fur is coming to Memel. Memel is now the #1 CoT in the world, valued at 662.7 ducets. Andalucia is now #2 at 586.8 ducets and Lisboa is 3rd at 579.0 ducuets.

March 1630
Plague in Ruppin - -20% Population

April 1630
Die Große Reise! I outfit another expedition to the west. This time I tell 8,000 brave men, and the leader of the expedition, Kaspar Zitzwitz, to stay out as long as feasible and discover the lands for the good of Prussia.

May 1631
Land Tech to 26. Can build Leather Cannon.

June 1631
Naval Tech to 24. (As you can see, my naval tech is lagging behind my land tech)

September 1632
Ottawa converted to Protestant. I will be spending a lot to build up this province. A good inland base.

November 1633
Tensions along the Hoffnung Ort border. Norway gets a "Border Dispute" CB on me. Again.

November 1634
Land Tech to 27. Can now build Gallop Cavalry and Conscription Center.

August 1635
Smolensk calls for my aid against Ukraine.....I decline.

October 1638
Die Großen Reise has ended. Unfortunately, Kaspar Zitzwitz died on the return trip. His bravery, however, has given us a nearly complete map and view of the northern continent of the New World.

April 1639
Boundary Dispute. I gain a core on the Lithuanian province of Trakai. They are allied with a few small nations, but guaranteed by Muscowy and Genoa is the defender of the faith. Not worth it to get into a long war with Muscowy again. I'm pretty much focused on the New World right now.

June 1639
I diplo-annex Mecklenburg.

May 1640
We are drawn into a war with France. Muscowy I'm inclined to leave alone for awhile. They do have the Ming to deal with (potentially). France....France needs to be knocked down a peg or two.

All of my vassals and allies are with me. Time to zerg France.

France has the largest army in the world, 236k. We have 186k. All of my vassals and allies should make up that difference.

Their navy is also bigger, but only by a little. They have 50 ships (14 big, 24 small, 8 transport). We have 45 (19 big, 26 small, 0 transport).

June 1640
We sink 5 French ships, evening up the forces.

July 1640
Genoa wants me to come fight with them against Great Britain now! GTFO! No, Genoa. No.

August 1641
Gov Tech to 28. Republican Dictatorship possible. The war with France is essentially a stalemate so far. Perhaps I shouldn't have focused so much on the New World.

September 1641
Genoa is pissing me off. They asked me again to fight Great Britain. FFS Genoa. Thanks for sapping all of my Imperial Authority. Once this war is done, I'm thinking of maybe killing you.

September 1642
We are turning the tide in the war with France. France initially had a lot of success in Northern Italy, but we have helped push them back. In the French north, we are pushing through. We have defeated two large French armies and are starting to take provinces at a good pace, including Paris.

November 1642
France is offering white peace....I have them on the ropes now.

Also, they have 36 ships blockading the Azores....

December 1642
Avignon accepted annexation from France. France also dealed out with Utrecht, giving them the province of Gelre. Hopefully this wave of peace keeps up and others take their tiny bit out of France, and then I can smack them with a deal that forces them to release a bunch of nations.

April 1643
The war is going very well now. Our army is as large as it was at the start, and we have 100k manpower. France, on the other hand, is down 158k, almost 80k casualties for them (we had plenty of casualties too, but took few enough that we reinforced, and then our manpower recovered).

June 1643
Land Tech to 28. Reformed Tercio, Gustavian Infantry and Highlanders Infantry.

April 1644
War Exhaustion is starting get too big, so I peace out with a devastated France. The release Brittany, Aragon, Toulouse, Ferrara and Avignon. They also pay 275 ducets. 16.5 Prestige, 0 Infamy.

I'll be spending some good money and time building up my army so that what happened during the first year of this war doesn't happen again. Next time, and there will be a next, I'm going to steam roll the ancestors of Napoleon.

April 1645
Production to 27. Can build Stock Exchange.

January 1646
I've embargoed Genoa and Sent them a Warning about going to war. Punishment for their nonsense a few years earlier.

October 1646
Had to break Alliance with Aragon when they tried to bring me into a war. My W.E. is still high, can't do it.

July 1648
Sieradz (a Polish province) becomes a core and I make it a part of the Holy Roman Empire.

April 1649
Podlasie becomes a core and I make it a part of the Holy Roman Empire.

November 1649
The Ming have been broken up. Don't know what happened, but they did stretch from the Pacific to the Caspian Sea but now Tibet is free, Wu is free, Mongol Khanate and Oirat Horde are free, Kazak, Nogai....a whole bunch of nations have been freed.

February 1650
Naval Tech to 26. Can now build Wargalleon.

January 1651
I've built my army up to 212k strong. My force limit is 252, so that's what I'm aiming for. France is down to a 144k army. And their fleet is only 30 some ships. I have a CB on them (several actually). My War Exh. is still 3.xx, so I'm waiting a bit.

May 1652
Gov Tech to 29. Can build War College. I build the War College in Potsdam (+1 Army Tradition per year).

May 1653
Declared war on France. "Imperial Ban" CB. They have no allies, but Brunswick is Defender and they enter the war (briefly.... :) ) And all of my vassals and allies are in the fight as well.

July 1653
Naval Tech to 27. Frigates and can build Naval Base.

October 1653
By the time we deal with Brunswick's main army and get to France, my allies have already done the dirty work. France also go itself into a war with Great Britain. France is about to go from world power to bare existent in a matter of a few years.

July 1654
France is completely overrun. I offer peace terms. Devastating peace terms.

France release Dauphine, Bourbonnais, Auvergne, Armagnac, Foix, Champagne, Nevers, Normandy, Orleans, Songhai, Chimu and Alencon. They also pay 175 ducets. Prestige: 42.3. Infamy 0.

Chimu is a small part of South American. Songhai is a large part of their African empire.

Here is France after I got done with her....she still is in the middle of fighting several other nations.

Wow. Fractured France!

The french successor states would like mighty fine under the Prussian Eagle.

August 1656
Hamburg has accepted our offer for diplo-annexation.

September 1657
Lithuania is no longer defended by Muscowy, and they just put a CoT in the province of Trakai, a core of mine. Even though my WE is still a bit high, it should be a quick war. Bavaria, Denmark and Transylvania come to Lithuania's aid. Big mistake.

April 1658
Lithuania cedes Trakai, annuls a few treaties and renounce several claims. 3 Prestige, 0 Infamy.

May 1658
I force Bavaria to renounce a bunch of claims (not much else I can do to them yet).

Denmark cedes Holstein to me, and they annul their treaties with Brunswick and Bavaria. They also renounce their claim on Gotland. 3 Prestige, 4 Infamy.

Nice quick war. I weaken a few nations, and take a few provinces.

July 1658
Trakai becomes a part of the Holy Roman Empire.

August 1661
The provinces of Connecticut and Manhattan have defected to me. Nice.

July 1664
I assimilate the Manhattan colony (Culture becomes Prussian, costs 1 Colonist).

February 1665
Samogitia becomes a core.

July 1665
Samogitia becomes a part of the Holy Roman Empire.

December 1665
France declared war on Orleans. France, France, France....

February 1666
Connecticut assimilates to Prussian.

July 1666
Land Tech to 30. Enables Swivel Cannon.

September 1666
WE was still high when the war started. I force France to renounce a bunch of claims. 1.2 Prestige, 0 Infamy.

I need to get my WE down. Bohemia has been sending spies against me. They will suffer.

April 1667
Gov Tech to 30. Another Idea. I take "Cabinet". -1 Infamy.

The borders of Prussian North America and British North America are now touching. A colonial war with Britain seems inevitable.

February 1671
Not sure where all of this came from (a bit of searching, from Gov Tech getting to 30), but I have a Nationalism CB on all other nations with my culture group. All of the Germanic nations (or nations with at least 1 province with Germanic cultures I think).

This is going to be quite useful.

June 1673
Time to use the Nationalism CB. I DoW Brunswick. They have a fairly large colonial empire going, so I'm going to cut the head of the snake off and deny them their port province, more if I can afford it. They are allied with Friesland, Bohemia (no Nationalism CB on them they are Czech) and Portugal is their faith Defender.

Friesland, Portugal and Bohemia all join. I, of course, bring my horde of vassals and allies, including the recently released Songhai. They border one of Brunswick's large colonial settlements in Africa.

October 1673
No troubles so far. Overran Brunswick pretty easily, but getting to their colonies may be troublesome. Peace Deal with Bohemia: Release Hungary (1 province), renounce a few claims, annul a few treaties, 100 ducets: 3.7 Prestige, 0 Infamy.

Lithuania signs an alliance with Brunswick and comes into the war. That's just stupid.

April 1674
Gov Tech to 31. Can build Tax Assessor.

May 1674
Lithuania accepts a peace deal. They are now my vassal (What did you think was going to happen, Lithuania?)

July 1674
We take Freisland's province in Africa. I take it from them in the peace deal, as well as make them annul some treaties and pay 250 ducets. 15.0 Prestige, 4.0 Infamy.

Utrecht came into the war, and got smushed. Annul some treaties, release Gelre and pay 150 ducets. 7.4 Prestige, 0 Infamy.

The Incas came in too and I just let them White Peace out of it.

August 1674
Brunswick calls on Bavaria to come to their aid. Wrong move Bavaria.

Pisa comes to Brunswick's aid. Now this could get messy, Pisa has a lot of colonial land as well.

December 1674
W.E. out of hand again. Man it goes up fast these days (My large armies suffer a lot of attrition...). Peace dealing out of this war. Brunswick cedes Bremen, Osnabrück and Westfalen. Annuls their treaties with bavaria, Cologne and Pisa. 4.0 Prestige, 6.0 Infamy (not 12 because of Nationalism CB).

Portugal, man, my horde of minions were running over them. I wish some of them would peace deal on their own. If I take the province in my deal for them, I take the infamy hit. I tell Portugal to hand over 1925 ducets, New Jersey and to annul a few treaties. 5.8 Prestige. 4.0 Infamy.

My infamy is now 17.3. My War Exhaustion is 16.64.

I rename Unami (New Jersey) to Neue Hamburg.

October 1675
Land Techn to 31. Can build Fort 4.

December 1675
The Emperor, Friedrich Wilhelm II, is dead. He ruled the Holy Roman Empire from June 3rd, 1607 (Regency Council to October 7th, 1617) until December 15th, 1675.

His heir, Emil I von Braunschweig-Lüneburg of Prussia takes the throne. Administration: 7, Military: 3 (No wars unless called on or attacked), Diplomacy: 8 (That should bring my Infamy down a bit faster). However, his claim was rather weak, and Wallachia is no longer in a Personal Union with us. Emil's Legitimacy is 29.

His heir is 51 years old, Ludwig Karl. A: 4, D: 6, M: 4

November 1676
Meissen accepts our offer for diplo-annexation.

I've tried a few times to push through the Imperial Reforms to form the Holy Roman Empire as a nation, but it's just not happening. I can't seem to get the votes. So, it's time to start slowly diplo-annexing my vassals.

The one I have been avoiding is The Hansa. They are an elector and I'd be rolling the dice on who would replace them. So The Hansa and Siena in Italy are safe from my slow province eating....

December 1678
Naval Tech to 29. Can build Admiralty. I build it in Danzig.

December 1679
Production Tech to 31. Can build Grain Depot.

November 1686
Silesia accepts diplo-annexation.

May 1689
I've been moving the slider toward Free Subjects. That gives a hit to Stability costs, so I've been building Churches in a lot of provinces to offset that.

November 1692
Emperor Emil I has died. The second Prussian King to sit on the throne ruled for 17 years from December 15th, 1675 to November 5th, 1692. Counting the Brandenburg kings, the monarch in Berlin has ruled the Holy Roman Empire for just over 200 years, starting on March 27th, 1490.

The 3rd Prussian King to serve as Holy Roman Emperor is Ludwig Karl I von Braunschweig-Lüneburg. (A: 4, M: 4, D: 6).

May 1693
Gov Tech to 32. Can build Royal Palace and allows Constitutional Monarchy. I build a Royal Palace in Brandenburg.

February 1694
Declared war on the Shawnee (before Britain takes it).

September 1694
Annex the Shawnee.

March 1696
The reign of Ludwig Karl I lasts only a few years. He died on March 6th, 1696.

Emil II is only 6 years old, thus a Regency Council will rule for now. (A: 5, D: 5, M: 3)

March 1699
Bremen accepts our offer of diplo-annexation.

My infamy keeps hovering between 6 and 10. I diplo-annex someone, it pushes north of 10, several years later it's come down some. But after the annexation of Shawnee and now this, it's just north of 10 again, but I've now accumulated more "unlawful provinces" than I can handle and it's increasing 0.35 per year.

So, I sell Westfalen to Cologne (I mostly took that province to punish Brunswick in the first place. It's not a rich province.) Hamburg will become a core in 1706. Until then, I can deal with a +0.1 per year infamy. Then, it'll start going down.

I've got about 120 more years to go, and it seems like the next few decades will be spent on lowering infamy, but also on colonizing and building up my nation to be as advanced as possible so that when I convert to Vicky 2, hopefully, I start off with a big lead on everyone.

Europe - 1699 (The Prussia label is messed up. It takes vassals into account, and ever since I vassalized Lithuania, it's been like that.)

November 1699
Naval Tech to 31. Can build Chebeck.

November 1704
Emil II takes the throne.

September 1706
Hamburg becomes a core and our Infamy stops at 11.1, and will now decrease at a whopping 0.05 per year.

June 1708
Holstein is now a core. Holstein becomes part of the Holy Roman Empire. Since they weren't already, it didn't affect my infamy. Still only dropping at 0.05 per year.

April 1714
Gov Tech to 33. Another Idea. This time I take Colonial Ventures, which gives me +1 colonist per year.

I also take the stability hit, making it 0, and switch out Unam Sanctum for Smithian Economics, which gives a +20% Production bonus. Seems like i never needed the religious CB and that I wouldn't be using it at all.

July 1714
Not sure if this is a good idea or not, I haven't read up on it, but I'm opening a CoT in Manhattan. This will take some away from Memel, but hopefully the net gain is worth it.

It starts off with a value of 1233 as many New World provinces are now trading in Manhattan. Memel did drop a lot, down to ~450 from nearly 1000.

March 1717
One of my infamy reducing advisors (one reduces infamy directly while the other gives a boost to the leader's diplomatic skill) died. His replacement was not as good, and now my infamy is holding at 11.2. it went back up when I hired a different advisor to replace the dead ambassador. Whoops.

June 1717
I was trying to expand to the west coast, but Portugal and Brunswick have beaten me there. They both have a lot of South America colonized.

April 1721
Land Tech to 33. Can build Coehorn Mortar.
Naval Tech to 32. Can build Twodecker.

September 1721
France gives me Utrecht, which I then release. That drops my infamy a few points and now it's holding at 9.3. (France did get something out of the deal. I lost my "Imperial Ban" CB on them).

July 1723
Prussia becomes a Constitutional Monarchy. It takes away my 10+ bonus to Production, but I get more than double the amount of magistrates.

Formalize Separation of Powers (National Decision). -2 Nat Revolt Risk, +0.50 Magistrates, +1% Yearly Prestige.

November 1724
The amount of time and money it takes to repair relations with my vassals after I diplo-annex one of them is too great of a price. If I just had a few, it's fine, but since I have so many, it takes forever to get them to stop hating me, so maybe the diplo-annex route isn't the right choice either.....

I may have to go total warmonger.

December 1724
Bremen and Osnabruck become cores. My infamy starts to fall.

December 1725
August Wilhelm, the heir to the throne, is born. A: 8, D: 7, M: 7.

Because Brunswick's capital on mainland Europe become isolated, they moved their capital to South America. I didn't notice until now.

December 1726
Meissen becomes a core.

March 1732
Land Tech to 34. Grenzer Infantry, Caroline Infantry and Line Infantry.