An EU3 Dynasty - The Utrecht Shuffle - Complete!!! (We Lost... )

[Abe Sargent]

After a short and abbreviated campaign in EU:Rome, I had a desire to continue EU'ing, and thus have begun a campaign as Utrecht.

My goal is to expand in the lowlands, and eventually form The Netherlands. Then, I intend to either colonize or militarize, whichever I feel like at the time.

Okay, let's a take a look at Utrecht:

Cloth, one province, 12.83 ducats annually, Dutch culture, Catholic religion, 15512 population
Utrecht's neighbors are Gelre (which I have a Reconquist CB on), Holland, and three province Brabant in Breda.

We are a member of the Holy Roman Empire and a trade partner with the Hanseatic League.
I would like eventually to be the HRE.

Utrecht is interesting to me, in part, because we are a Theocracy. This is the Archbishopric of Utrecht. I've never played one before. So, for example, no Royal Marriages. It's also a little tougher with alliances, I'm told. In fact, playing Utrecht is supposed to be the hardest of the minors that can make The Netherlands. We’ll see!

For example, a royal marriage with someone means they lose stability to DOW you, and that's a nice incentive, but I have none. My government type hates heretics, but gets some serious church love.

With that, Utrecht seems like a tougher nation to play than some, but the free CB on Gelre means we can try to expand quickly and relatively safe from badboy and pissed off people. Burgundy is the big bad of the area, and I need to keep nice with them. I also need to find a valuable ally early, one who will help, but who will not poach my provinces.

My early goal is to annex Gelre, and then poach any nearby provinces as time allows. My goals are to grab Gelre, Friesland, both provinces from Holland, Breda from Brabant, Brabant province itself from Brabant, Antwerpen and Vlaanderen from Burgundy as the Netherlands.

[Abe Sargent]

The first thing I always do is take a look at my sliders.

We are massively decentralized, and that needs to stop. We need to put in a ton of work here.

We are at -3 Aristocratic, and my ideal is usually -5. I like cheaper cavalry, I like a +1 to my leader’s shock, and I like more diplomats. We are close.

We are at -4 serfdom which is horrible. I much rather prefer free subjects. I get cheaper infantry and stability costs – which is not too bad at the beginning, but at a cost of huge tech decreases and lower morale for my troops. Ick.

Actually, we are at just +1 towards narrow-minded, and I would have thought a Theology would have been a lot more. That’s not too bad actually. Being narrowminded gives you like 17 benefits – Better spy defense, better relations with the Papacy, missionaries, colonial growth -- lots of great stuff. However, it comes with one major disadvantage – tech growth. I’ll stay here for a long time, and focus on tech in free subjects vs serfdom, rather than play with this one.

We are at -3 for mercantilism vs free trade, and each of these has benefits I want and things I don’t want. I generally prefer to be dead center as a result, with no bonuses or minuses for my nation. Where I am right now is good for everything but merchant placement cost – so I’ll keep it. This is not the slider I will expect to change for a while.

We are dead center in Offensive vs Defensive. Boo! I prefer to be at -4 or +4 at one end or the other, and this is the worse to be. I generally choose defensive because I like the +1 to my leader’s siege. +1 to shock on the offensive side is not bad either, though. Offensive gives you better morale, worse fort defense, and more expensive artillery. Defensive gives you lowered morale, cheaper artillery and better fort defense. So I prefer defensive, but I can rock offensive, but in the middle is crappy. It will take four sliders to get me where I want to be, on either side.

-1 on the Land/Naval spectrum, which is not too shabby. If I decide later on to become the Netherlands with the colonies in far flung corners of the globe, then I may want to move to Naval. I will stay here for a while, with slightly better morale and cheaper armies and bigger force limits – but slightly.

Dead center on Quality vs Quantity and I always prefer maximized -4 Quality. Having +1 to my leader’s fire is great. You do have more expensive infantry and take a hit to manpower, but you also get increased discipline.

So, to move everywhere I want will take 23 or 24 slides. That’s about 250-300 years away. I need to prioritize. My priorities are:

Centralization
Free Subjects
Everything else.

So, I move my slider to more Centralized. Have a revolt of 1000 peasants in Utrecht

[Abe Sargent]

Archbishop Frederick III

Admin 6
Diplo 7
Mil 4


It’s the 14, October, 1399. I check my advisors and find a lovely one to hire:

Rudolf van Steenwijk, a three star statesman (government tech advisor)

Here is our initial map, with a lot of the blobbies viewable:

[Abe Sargent]

Alright, I think I’m ready to unhit the pause button and move on. I do one more check though all of the tabs and screens, just to make sure.

In addition to 1000 soldiers, we have four ships. I decide to destroy them, because I don’t need them right now and don’t want the maintenance.

Okay, I think we are ready.

Wow, did you know you could negotiate with rebels? We can lose 50 prestige, gain 1 towards free subjects, lose some taxes for a couple of years. That seems like a good deal for a slider move I want/need to make.

[Abe Sargent]

Oct 16 – I order 1000 infantry built in Utrecht. Our mission is to ally with Brabant.

I convert my ruler to a general and put him in charge of my army.

Oct 17 – Burgundy allows us military access.

Oct 18 – Hainaut rejects our alliance proposal

Oct 19 – Munster accepts our alliance offer – Bishops United!

Nov 1 – Stability increase

Dec 8 – Hainaut agrees to be my ally.

Dec 9 – Our troops have been built, and I waste no time and DOW Gelre.

Our Munster ally does not join us, but Hainaut does. Gelre’s does not join her either, and Brabant, which guaranteed Gelre’s independence is attacking us

Dec 16 – We crush the Gelre army and it is destroyed.

Dec 27 – Brabant begins a siege of Utrecht

Feb 1, 1400 – Stability increase back from the loss from my attack on Gelre

Feb 10 – Hainaut’s forces are harassing Brabant in the south in order to poach a province or two, and that may really relieve some pressure from us.

Apr 1 – Stability increase

Aug 23 – After a lot of battles with small armies trying to dislodge us, and Hainaut stopping Brabant from attacking us, we finally take Gelre. I annex them. I order my troops to relieve the siege.

I order my forces to Breda instead.

Sept 10 – We crush and destroy a Brabant army in Breda, after it was damaged post-fight with Hainaut.

Oct 14 – Since the initial advisors have had their year and not been hired, they are tossed out. I hire a 2 star statesmen and

Oct 17 – These sieges are ongoing:

Us on Breda
Hainaut on Brabant
Brabant on Utrecht
Brabant on Hainaut

I try a risky strategy. Breda’s walls fall, and yet it has full population. I order an assault.

Oct 25 – Breda falls, and I offer Brabant White Peace and they accept.

With Utrecht and Hainaut about to fall, Brabant could have swung the war their way easily, so I felt we should end the war while I have an advantage.


Gelre – 10073 Dutch Catholic Farmers make 10.65 ducats for us annually. This is a core province, and thus has no rebel risk.


So, one year into the game, we have full stability, two government tech advisors, an ally in Hainaut who helped us out, and we annexed Gelre, plus we moved sliders basically twice instead of just the once.

This was a good first year.

[Abe Sargent]

Nov 21 – Brabant now guarantees us. Funny

Dec 3 – I proclaim guarantees for Friesland and Holland

Feb 16, 1401 – I order a Census conducted in Utrecht and although I get a population growth bonus and tax and production bonuses, we found out we had about 10% fewer that we thought we did.

Apr 1 – I order 1000 cavalry in Utrecht

Nov 1 – I order another 1k in cavalry

Dec 24 – Cologne agrees to be my ally too.

Jan 19, 1402 – Time to make a mistake. I DOW Friesland. Our stability drops 3.

Brabant had guaranteed them, but I have two allies next to Brabant and I hope that Hainaut and Cologne will come to my aid, keep Brabant off my back, and let me annex Friesland.

Both of our allies reject us.


Feb 16 – We defeat the troops in Friesland, and begin a siege

Feb 18 – They arrive in Utrecht and begin a siege.

May 1 – Stab increase

It’s just all sieges right now.

May 7 – They fail another assault on Utrecht

June 15 – Friesland falls and we annex it. We gain a ton of badboy, and some prestige.

There are 7000 Brabant troops in Utrecht but getting nowhere so I will order my troops to their adjacent province in Breda and then I’ll move over if they fail another assault to force them out, and begin another siege.

July 17 – As predicted, they failed an assault and I move to Utrecht to try and dislodge the 7000 troops from my capital.

July 26 – We broke the siege! We follow their troops back to Breda and hope to continue the momentum. Imagine if I could break their army and take Breda too.

Sept 7 – After a long campaign we win in Breda but lost about half our forces. Pursue? Or siege?

Sept 17 – We pursued and annihilate their army. Their nation is at our disposal.

Nov 1 – I order 1000 infantry in Utrecht to add to a siege.

Dec 1 – Stab increase

Dec 28 – I dispatched my cavalry from my sieging unit in Brabant and ordered them to defeat and destroy a newly built unit in Breda and initiate a siege.

Mar 26, 1403 – Brabant province falls

Apr 2 – I offer Burgundy military access and they accept

May 10 – Breda falls

Jul 1 – Stab increase

Sept 11 – Limburg falls. Time to get some goods, and some severe badboy. Breda is their capital, so I cannot take it. I need Brabant province anyway. Do I want Limberg?

I can also force vassalize them and take provinces later. I want land though.

Sept 12 – I take both provinces.

[Abe Sargent]

Friesland – The goal of the war was this province. 11.4 ducats are made by the Dutch Catholic fishermen. 9316 people here are rebellious, for the obvious reason that we just took their stuff.

I didn’t expect to win provinces from Brabant this soon, and I hope I didn’t overextend – we’ll find out. That’s always an issue with too much expansion.

I move my national focus to Brabant.

Brabant – 43705 Flemish Catholic cloth makers, with a University in the province. They make 23.07 ducats annually. There is also a marketplace here, and a major revolt and rebellion.

Limburg – The iron mines of Limburg bring in 9.87 ducats. The Flemish Catholics number around 17641. There are both a marketplace and courthouse in here.


We finished a mission to have a bigger army than Brabant, and then got one to build a big navy. I spend some prestige to get rid of it. Our new mission is to protect against Cologne by getting a bigger army.

We have 16.8 badboy, which is way high.

Speaking of badboy, Burgundy has been a very bad boy with a ton of additions. They annexed Bar, Luxemburg, Liege, and they vassalized Trier.

[Abe Sargent]

Nov 16 – I expand my influence over Brabant. We lose some prestige, and a diplomat, and they are now in the Utrecht Sphere of Influence. This will also help us keep Burgundy out of our Sphere.


Dec 23 – I order 1000 cavalry, and then I’ll keep my army at 3k each for a while.

Jan 3, 1404 – Burgundy, the papal controller, excommunicates the rule of Holland – ick. I suspect Burgundy will blast them, and that’s unfortunate.

July 3 – I decided to build another 100 infantry just to complete our mission. It is successful. Next mission: Create a Proper Fleet. Again. Gargh

July 12 – I accept alliance offers from Brunswick and Hainaut

Jan 1, 1405 – I Enact Land Reform in Brabant. It costs two magistrates.

Nov 14 – Burgundy is in a war with Lorraine and marching troops through Brabant when I have a huge rebellion and Burgundy is putting it down for me.

Jan 9, 1406 – We get an event about Nobles Demanding more Rights and I give it to them and our slider moves more towards aristocracy

Jan 11 – Castille claims Defender of the Faith

Aug 2 – After vassalizing Lorranie, Burgundy now has a mission to conquer Hainaut, so I remove my alliance with them, because I don’t want to have to do so later

[Abe Sargent]

Nov 1 – Government tech increase

I have a free Idea slot. Here are some that I find inviting:

Grand Army – I might want a big army early to fight the big boys
Military Drill – Getting +1 morale is hot
Bureaucracy - +5% tax is smart
Unam Sanctum – No CB needed t DOW a heretic. Not useful right now, but mega useful later when Protestants and Reforms pop up.

There’s really not anything here I find too hot. I take Military Drill because you never regret it.

I can build temples now, but they just lower the cost to increase stability and I have no desire to build any right now.

[Abe Sargent]

Jan 20, 1407 – I order more troops built after Burgundy, controlling the Curia, excommunicates….ME!!!

This is not going to be fun.

Feb 2 – Brunswick breaks their alliance with me (no, really?)

Mar 4 – Burgundy cancels military access. I think I know what’s coming next

June 3 – Rebels in Limburg

June20 – Defeated

July 15 – Burgundy DOWs Hainaut

Sept 18 – Burgundy annexes Hainaut

Oct 10 – Burgundy revoked the Excommunication of Holland. Their new mission is to improve relations with Holland, so this is probably a step to complete that.

Apr 1, 1408 – We are warned by Burgundy not to go to war with our neighbors, or else

[Abe Sargent]

May 13 – Burgundy DOWs us. Holland joins them. France gives us War Subsidies. Cologne, Munster, Scotland and Brittany join the wars

June 20 – After being besieged by about four different powers, Burgundy just annihilates our 9000 strong army in Brabant. Without armies, we are at our foes mercy

Aug 9 – Utrecht falls to Holland

Oct 2 – Brabant DOWs us

Nov 10 – Brabant falls

Nov 12 – Gelre falls

Nov 22 – Friesland falls

Jan 9 – Holland offers me peace for all of my ducats. I accept. They take Munster, Cologne with them, and now Utrecht, Gelre and Friesland are free.

Mar 5 – Cleves and Munster DOW me.

May 11 – Limburg falls

May 27 – Burgundy’s peace offer is total – we give them Brabant and Limburg, we release Gelre and Freisland.

I decline. Come and get me Burgundy.

June 24 – Burgundy DOW’s Brabant and is moving to take Breda. They are just a gobbling machine.

Aug 29 – I change a slider ot more centralized hoping we’d see rebels, but no such luck – stability drop instead

Sept 7 – Gelre falls

The reason I am delaying is A, it gives my ruler a chance to die, and B, it gives Burgundy a chance to take all of my provinces and Vassalize me, intact.

Sept 10 – Friesland falls

Sept 18 – I reject a peace offer from Munster for Frieland, which they just took.

Oct 8 – White peace with Brabant, who has much bigger issues now.

Dec 28 – White peace with Scotland

Feb 1, 1410 – I accept peace with Brittany

June 15 – France gives us a lot more war subsidies

Aug 19 – Utrecht continues to hold out against sieges, including a recent assault by 9000 troops.

Sept 15 – Utrecht falls. Burgundy controls all of our lands except for Friesland, in the hands of Munster

Sept 24 – We accept peace with Cleves, which includes Munster, for our ducats. That frees up Friesland

Feb 6, 1411 – Burgundy captures Friesland. Please, make me your vassal….

Feb 12 – Brabant, in Breda, is annexed

Mar 24 – Burgundy takes all of our provinces except Utrecht. We are back to a one province nation.

Mar 25 – Oldenburg DOWs us. The Hanseatic League joins them. We have no value at all, and no money, no army – nothing.

Apr 1 – Stability increases

June 15 – Hansa lands troops in Utrecht

Aug 1 – Govnt Tech Increases

Dec 29 – Utrecht falls

We are annexed. We lose.

[Abe Sargent]

Okay, so what next. Options:

1). Reboot, and try running as Utrecht again
2). Reboot and play another nation
3). Quit EU and go play another game
4). Restart from my save before I was Excommunicated and try from there


I did everything I could to keep the big bad off my back. Normally it works, this time it did not. Burgundy got incredibly lucky to get the papal controller so soon, and then to keep it for a while after excommunicating Holland. No one attacked Holland for being excommunicated despite being so for a couple of years, but I get attacked by tons of nations. Munster, Brabant, Brittany, Holland, Cleves, Cologne, Oldenburg, Scotland, Burgundy, The Hanseatic League – I was their whipping boy. But no one attacked Holland who has super rich provinces compared to mine.

If I had a royal marriage with Burgundy, would they have come after me? It’s the one thing you can’t cancel. You can cancel a bad alliance or military access, but you cannot cancel a royal marriage. It comes with a badboy hit. Would they have come after me?

Burgundy played this game like I would if I had Burgundy. I would take Barrois, Hainaut, Brabant, Utrecht, Gelre, Friesland, Luxembourg, Liege and vassalize Lorraine and Trier, and then take Holland and have all of the lowlands under my control. And I would do it very quickly in order to give me a leg up, economically, on England, France, Castille/Aragon, and the other nations. This was smart play by them.

They didn’t even have a mission on me, they just took me out.

To be fair, I have used the Excommunication bomb on others and then DOWd them for land, so I can’t complain when it is used against me. It’s a tool, and Burgundy used it well in the end.

France giving me war subsidies was very realistic too. Let me fight their battles by proxy. Smart stuff by France.

[thealmighty]

Possibly idiotic question, but what does DOW stand for?

[Tellistto]

Declaration of War