[Abe Sargent]

Lamentations


I need to create a strategy for victory. Here are the things I need to do.

1). Up the maintenance on my navies and armies.

2). Order more troops over in the main areas of Naxos. I order 2000k Azab Infantry built in Athens and Morea (my best infantry, but can only be built in Athens and Morea)

3). I turn my really good military leader into a general for my armies. Francesco IV makes a great general!

4). I change my production income to cover the increased price of my army.

The strategy:

I have a fleet with two ships and around 1850 men that have just finished boarding in the Malta Channel. I can slide my fleet to the Gulf of Gabes and strike at Tunisia. I am not looking for land in this war, but I’d be happy with some ducats and having Tunis give up their claim to Tripolitania.

Then I send my fleet back to my shores and wait for the new armies to be built, and then curry both them and my newly minted general back to the shores of Tripoli or Tunisia. These troops, plus my first attack, knock Tunis down. Tunis declared war. Get peace with them quickly, and I may get peace with them all quickly.

Problems: My army doesn’t have a lot of financial support and needs a few months to get back up to speed. In the meantime, if Tunis has any defensive troops, or if Algiers can mobilize what they have quickly, they could really ruin what I have. Part of this will be seen as soon as my fleet arrives in the Gulf of Gabes. I’ll have a better idea then.

18 November, 1497 – Okay, my fleet has arrived in the Gulf. Tunisia has no troops in either Gabes (which is next to Tripolitania) or in Tunis itself, the capital. Now I have a choice to make. Send my troops to the capital and try to besiege it, or do the same for Gabes. If Algiers has troops, then they’ll arrive more quickly in Tunis than Gabes, but capturing Tunis will end the war with them, doing so with Gabes may not.

Unfortunately, Tunis has a bunch of boats in harbor, and they are about to pop out. My fleet cannot win with its lowered maintenance. I need to run now.

29 November, 1497 – My troops arrive back in Tripolitania after my fleet returned. Now I’m popping my fleet back to Morea to pick up the new soldiers when they are built.

6 December, 1497 – Our fleet is docked in Morea.

21 December, 1497 – My troops arrive in Gabes. Stay here or move on to Tunis? Well, since Gabes has no fort, we just captured it! I move my troops on to Tunis.

12 January, 1498 – My new troops are built. I’m grab my new leader, load them, and them send them off.

14 January, 1498 – My old troops arrive in Tunis and begin the siege.

16 January, 1498 – An Algiers Fleet arrives in the Aegean Sea.

6 February, 1498 – My new troops are loaded and ready to go. New decision. Go after Algiers? Support the Tunis troops? Harass the Mamluks?

Mamluks, I Choose You!

14 February, 1498 – I send my troops to Beirut. Why Beirut? It’s near Cyprus, so I can support my ally if Mamluks try to attack them. Beirut also doesn’t have walls, so it’s an easy capture. Plus there are no troops nearby, so I can be here for a while.

Around 1000 rebels in Sirt (the Mamluks province adjacent to Tripolitania) are rebelling. Might slow down the Mamluks!

24 February, 1498 – We capture Beirut when our troops unload.

26 March, 1498 – Mamluks reject our offer of white peace.

23 April, 1498 – Algiers has sent an army to challenge our siege of Tunis.

25 April, 1498 – My troops are caught in Damascus by Mamluks Calvary.

28 April, 1498 – Mamluks have arrived to besiege us in Tripolitania.

4 May, 1498 – After losing the battle of Damascus greatly, I choose to retreat to Beirut.

3 June, 1498 – My newer army arrives back in Tripolitania only to fight the Mamluks here.

7 June, 1498 – We drive the Mamluks out of Tripolitania. I order my men to follow.

23 June, 1498 – We won the Battle of Tunis after a great battle.

13 July, 1498 – Tunis falls!

15 July, 1498 – My army defeated the Mamluks in Sirt but it was close. I order them back to Tripolitania.

2 October, 1498 – The Mamluks offer to pay us 6 ducats if our entire alliance agrees to peace with their entire alliance. I take the deal.

4 November, 1498 – Anathos D’Anoe has arrive din Rhodes and is an advisor available exclusively to me for a year, after that, if I don’t hire him, he goes into the general pool. He’s a natural scientist, which mean that he’ll help our tech investment in production. He costs 3.1 ducats to hire and 0.1 monthly. I hire him without hesitation.

One thing about the war that surprised me was that when I sacked Tunis, I did not get her maps. I should know what she knows, but I do not. That was very disappointing. They removed the trade maps ability from diplomacy, and now you don’t get them when you sack a capital? How are you supposed to get new maps, then?