EU4 - Strive for Pskov!

[Abe Sargent]

2 Oct – I can now declare war on Muscovy

I built a third army of 10k and another general for it. I also have 2000 troops to the side to capture lesser territory. I have three armies on the edge of Muscovy, my two big ones of 15k each with 2k artillery each, and those are going to hit and move deep. Then I have my 10k army with a lot of inf and artillery to siege and be available as a third unit to give myself the needed flexibility,.

I am going to win this war:

1. I have a bigger military by far
2. I have a better economy to support an army bigger than my force limit. Right now, with my military additions, I’m at +1.1 annually
3. I have better allies
4. I don’t declare a war I don’t intend on winning


I declare war for Rzhev

I call Poland to battle, and they willingly accept for 10 favors. I have bunches from helping them out a few times.

The Battle:

Muscovy
Tver
Rostov
Yaroslavl

Vs

Pskov
Poland
Lithuania – Poland’s Jr. Partner
Livonian Order - Our vassal
Mazovia – Poland’s Vassal
Moldovia – Poland’s March

I chose not to call in Estonia. But the Russian Steppes is about to run red with the blood of the defeated!

6 Nov – My besieging army arrives in Tver, the capital of, well, Tver.

12 Nov – I take Rzhev

24 Nov – Vishy V is ours

27 Nov – One of my main armies begins a siege next to Moskva

29 Nov – Another province is ours

6 Dec – A siege of Rostov begins by one of my mains

23 Dec – Two more minors are ours

25 Dec – Poland arrives in Moskva and begins a siege

16 Feb, 1498 – Muscovy choose to chase my minor armies and routed one.

Poland is moving her 35k strong army at our foes

29 Apr – Poland defeats the main Muscovy army

11 July – A huge bloody battle commences in the province we are besieging as 32k combined Muscovy and vassal forces arrive to send out my 15k strong army. Three days into the battle, the large Polish force arrives, and we win and force them away.

31 July – We capture Tver

Next? Moskva!

2 Aug – We capture Mozhaisk, the province we were besieging

22 Aug - Rostov falls

Next? Yaroslavl

4 Oct – Lithuania routs the Tver army

I spend 45 MIL to breach the Moskva with my forces (I have 4k artillery here, one more than the fort’s defenders) to open a breach for me to assault with these two armies

22 Dec – We assault and capture Moskva

Now I have a few options. We have a huge warscore, and I can do this, but it looks weird on a map:

Tver
Moskva
Rzhev
Mozhaisk

Now that pisses off a lot of folks, Novgorod, Sweden, Odoydev and Muscovy would consider that enough to put me past the point of no return in terms of badboy.

Now if I wanted to be funny, I could transfer their three subjects to me and then force them to release Beloozero.

I have it

I take:

Tver
Moskva
Rzhev
Mozhaisk
War Reparations

Too bad I couldn’t take the holding that my mission wanted.

It looks odd on the map, but Mozhaisk is the better grab with its level 2 castle

[Abe Sargent]

MAP



I tried to move stuff around for you so you could see the four province tail I have that licks into Tver and Muscovy. This is the end of Muscovy as a major player. I took their best province, and then two really goods ones from them fiscally.

And again, Poland is the best ally ever. They helped to keep the Muscovy army from being a major threat and reduced that war by about a year or two to win


All of my provinces are Muscovite culture, Orthodox religion, and have cores ongoing


Rzhev – 14 dev, Woods, grain farmers, 5% unrest, 75% autonomy, Rzhev is south and east a bit of Novgorod and Kholm, and next to Lithuania.

Mozhaisk – 8 dev, woods, grain, level 2 castle, 10% unrest, 75% autonomy, next down the Lithuanian border from Rzhev and connects it with Moskva


Tver – Former capital of Tver, with a 21 development, grasslands, 10% unrest, 75% auto, grass farmers. In the center of Tver. It has a church and workshop


Moskva – The crown jewel! 29 Dev, grasslands, iron miners, it has a marketplace and level 2 castle, 5.4% unrest, 75% auto. Inland Center of Trade with 13 MIL upgrades to make a ton of manpower.

[Abe Sargent]

16 Jan, 1500 – With my big badboy, I move one of my armies next to Sweden, just in case they are feeling a little frisky

17 Feb – I mothball my forts.

I embrace State Firearm Regiments. This increases my land maintenance but increases the speed at which I gain professionalism with me drilling

8 May - I have a rebellion of 8k in Olonets

13 July – Put down

1 Feb, 1501 – Workshop in Tikhvin


1 Apr – One of my adviser passes. It was my Admin adviser

I hire a level 1 bum that can also increase our Missionary strength by +2

12 May – Tver fabricates a claim on Moskva and the Novgorod culture is now accepted in Narva. I order a Regimental Camp there.

29 May – Rzhev now a core

29 July – The other three are now cores as well

12 Aug – I promote Moscow and Tver holdings to a state.

21 Aug – I keep my King and we’re now 6/3/3

I order a Church in Moskva and a Regimental Camp in Tver. These Camps will raise my forcelimit.

30 Dec – I hire my 3rd army, one of the main ones, out to the Teutonic Order for their war with Brandenburg

Now without paying that upkeep my monthly prices shoot back up

2 Jan, 1502 I noticed that all three provinces of the Livonian Order are now Orthodox.

I designate the Livonian Order as a March, not a vassal. Marches cannot be vassalized, and emphasize military growth, and don’t give you cash. As a Merchant Republic, I still get it’s trade though.

1 July

MILTECH 9 – I get Pike Infantry, and bonuses to combat

I swap over

11 Aug – Sweden claims Neva

15 Aug – Peace with the Teutonic Army


1 Oct – I get an event and choose to put a great piece of art into ADM tech. I now have enough for...

ADM 9 - +5% production efficiency

We were early and got some good results.

[Abe Sargent]

1 Jan, 1503 – In Cyprus, the Protestant Reformation begins.

The Age of Discovery is ending in 121 months!

DIP TECH 7 – Max Colonial Range, 110, +0.30 naval morale

This just cost 334 since it was late


16 April – I fabricate a claim on Kolomna in Muscovy

1 Aug – My leader gained -10% construction costs

I spend some ADM to increase DEV in some places

17 Nov – Uriev is now embracing Novgorod culture. I order a church built here

12 Dec – Rebellion of 13k in Rzhev

29 Jan, 1504 – Put down

I was saving my Mil for the tech, and don’t have a bunch now

1 July – Reval converts! That was our final non-Orthodox holding. I order a Church here to celebrate her change to the correct way!

Denmark is fighting Sweden, so I offer the army on the border with Sweden as a Condottieri. They accept happily.

Good luck Denmark!

27 Feb, 1505 – Cyprus brings that sweet wine to our Trade League

21 Mar – After a breach and assault, Viborg is captured by our Condottieri

18 Aug – I keep my guy and our leader improves

29 Oct – All of what might normally be called Finland was captured by us

15 Nov – Regimental Camp in Uriev

10 Dec – A bunch of English troops arrive off Stockholm and protest the presence of Denmark in the Swedish capital


22 Dec – I catch a spy from Yaroslavl

[Abe Sargent]

15 Jan, 1506 – England wins and pushes back their war

1 Feb – We take the title Defender of the Faith

28 Feb – In order to cut autonomy and drop rebel risk, I use both of my Russian abilities


22 June – I fabricate a claim n Viborg, the adjacent Swedish holding

30 Aug –

TRADE Tech #7 - +25% Caravan power

We finished it and get +1 Merchant!

1 Jan, 1507 – The next institution, colonialism, has arrived.

7 Jan – Tver claims one of my provinces

22 April Workshop in Pernov, Farm Estate in Mozhaisk

15 Aug – We have the Condottieri sent back


24 Oct – I claim Vladimir

18 Nov – War won by Denmark, they got four provinces

22 Nov – Claim by Sweden

6 Dec – I claim another province in Sweden

5 Jan, 1508 – We are making great draperies in Pskov, and our relations with Lithuania improve, one of our major clients, and we get some local bonuses

I can claim another Age of Discovery with my splendor but I skip it

4 April – The power of our Icon of St. Christopher expired. I go with the Institution spread of the Icon of St. John Climacus

2 May – Our truce with Novgorod expired. But I don’t care

15 May - I sell my army out as Condottieri again.

19 Sept – Sweden claims Narva

2 Oct O I get an event for fracturing merchant. I choose to support local trade over global and I get +5 in one and -5 in the other

12 Dec - With the bonuses in cash own an army and the influx of cash, I order a Farm Estate in Tver

[Abe Sargent]

11 Feb, 1509 – I hit the max in ADM at 999 power, but the next tech is 1012. Wow.... I spend a little for DEV. Eventually the cost will come down to a normal level

16 Feb - I fabricate two claims in Sweden after we get a Spy Network event

18 Aug – I keep my leader and he rises 6/5/5

1 Sept – I claim Ryazan. Now I have claims on every one of those territories. I would not have been able to claim them without the ability I took in from The Age of Discovery

DIP TECH 8 – Trade Range +10, +0.20 Naval Morale Can build shipyards

I order a Farm Estate in Rzhev. These are pretty cheap with my multiple reductions to building, by the way.



1 Jan, 1510 –

ADMIN TECH 10 – We can get another Group of Ideas!

Hmmmm.....what makes sense?


I am going to wait and see what the next Age wants before making this play

Right now my monthly tech gains are 12/9/8.

21 Sept – We get an Agricultural Revolution event. Narva gets +1 tax

1 Nov – I lost the CB against Riga

10 Jan 1511- I order a marketplace in Priozersk

2 Feb – Tver claimed another of our holdings

10 July – We capture Yarosavl trying to spy on us!

18 July – I get a Reform the Military event. I choose to put it all in navy, and we get +200 DIP power, and bonus naval build and maintenance for a few years

1 Oct –

DIP TECH GAIN 9 – We get some new ships and max colonial range. I update my navy.

This just cost 388, so the 200 I just got was heavy good! We’re about to level up MIL anyways

[Abe Sargent]

15 May, 1512 – Marketplace in Ladoga

1 Aug – My fleet has finished updated and repairing and I send it back out again to protect our trade


1 Sept – Another claim by us vs Sweden

1 Nov – I cancel our drilling

10 Dec –

MIL TECH 10 – We get Eastern Hussars and better artillery. I order them replaced

1 Feb, 1513 – The Era of Discovery Ends!!!

Next is the Age of Reformation

Here are my goals:

Convert another nation’s religion by force – We already have!
Change to Protestant or Reform. No thanks
Fully embrace either Humanist or Religions Idea Group. No thanks
Convert at least ten provinces to your faith. I have 5
Have 5 colonial subjects. That’s not me this game. Not yet
Gain the trade bonus for one of Spices, Silk or Chinaware
Unify all provinces of my culture group

We have different abilities as well. If we get there, I’ll take a looksee

I activate my forts

2 April – I fabricate a claim on Riga. Again

11 May – I begin the process to move two provinces to Novgorod culture

I choose Plutocratic Ideas in MIL Ideas

26 May – We capture a Swedish spy

22 Aug – I keep my leader. 6/6/6 baby! And he’s just 52, could be here for a while.

1 Nov – Our peace treaty with Muscovy ends...

I have max manpower – 23k

I have my three armies in Moskva, Tver, and Mozhaisk all ready to go, with our new military cavalry and artillery all updated.

Ready?

The first time it was for a foothold. This time it’s for glory!

I declare war with Muscovy for their province, Ryazan.

I call Poland again. Our eternal ally!

[Abe Sargent]

20 Nov – I rout the Rostov army in their capital and begin a siege there

12 Dec – Two minors are mine

22 Dec – I begin a siege for Ryazan

23 Jan, 1514 – We take Rostov surprisingly early.

27 Jan – After a breach and assault, I take Ryazan

3 Feb – I begin a siege of Yaroslavl

9 Mar – I capture two minors including Vladimir

30 Mar – After a long 3 month battle that involved everyone throwing in reinforcements, including my detaching a army from Yaroslavl, we win in Mologa.


17 Apr – Another battle won by our side. Poland won against a very inferior foe

5 May – We begin the siege of Nizhy Novgorod.

27 Aug – I assault and take NN. We move to their moved capital

29 Nov – After a second army converges, we take their capital

27 Dec – Yaroslavl is ours

26 Jan, 1515 – We have more minors coming under our sway

5 April – I have an 88% warscore but I want to push. I want every Tver, Yaroslavl, Rostov and Muscovy province under my control.

25 July – Every one of the 33 provinces is mine. Now, hold up, we have one last battle ongoing...

21 Aug – We rout their army

Alright, peace time with a 100% warscore

Time to go shopping

[Abe Sargent]

I have to get my key three provinces, the two I need and the one to get me there.


If I do a max land grab of value, here’s what I could do:

I could do 8 provinces. There are a few valuable provinces to the far east – Nizhy Novgorod is Copper Mines, I could dig to it, and then build up around what I have and spread out so my mass is not such a tail. Here let me show you what it would look like in my war negotiations. Now that would cost an epic amount of badboy, like 56 badboy. A ton of bad boy. And some wouldn’t like it. But that would end Muscovy, give me a value NN plus eight territories and everything I need to become Russia.

This is what I would do if I was a conqueror. But I am a merchant republic. That’s a huge addition of territory beyond what we could do. But I would leave that behind soon when I take on Russia, we’d get their government type, Tsardom, as well.

So...what now brown cow?

Now, if I were to do Merchant Republic stuff –

Take the key three, and the salt province next to them
War Reps
Release Beloozero and Ryazan
Etc

Now if I skip Kolomna and instead unite with the wealthier Yuriev, and don’t get the holdings that flesh out my stuff I can get both Copper Mines, and even toss in mission. Here, pipcs





I do NINE Provinces instead!

I took:




Belooozero:

Beloozero
Ustyuzhna

Yuriev
Ryazan
Vladimir
Tula
Pronsk
Murom
Nuzhny Novgorod

I grabbed some more valuable ones instead of ones that look pretty on a map. I intend to release Beloozero soon.

This completes my mission

I spend around 340 ADM to order cores on them all

I mothball my forts

My next mission is to make nice with Denmark

All of my holdings are Orthodox and have a 75% autonomy


Beloozero – Novgorod culture. Forest, 5 dev. 9.8% unrest, Naval Supplies

Ustyuzhna – Novgorod Culture. Forest, 7 dev. 9.8% unrest, Naval Supplies



Tula – Iron mines, steppes, 9.8% unrest, 8 dev, Ryzanian Culture. South and west of the above holdings.

Pronsk – Same as above but with 7 dev.


Ryazan – Same as above, but with wool, level 2 fort, and 13 dev


Murom – Woods, grain farmers, connects NN below and Vladimir. On border with Kazan. Muscovite Culture, 12 development

Nizhny Novgorod – East of Murom above, next to Kazan, Copper mines, 15 dev, woods, Muscovite culture. Level 2 fort here


Yuriev – Salt is harnessed here, next to Moskva, Vladimir, and such. Muscovite culture, 8 dev, woods, church built here

Vladimir – 12 dev, woods, iron mines, Muscovite, next to Kazan, Ryazan, Murom, Yuriev, etc.

[Abe Sargent]

2 Oct – We become a Great Power.

12 Jan, 1516 – I declare Kazan as our new rival

13 Feb –

DIP TECH 10 - +10% trade efficiency, bonus trade ranges, and new ships

7 Aug – We befriended Denmark. Next? Reduce overextension

I really want to get to the 11s in each of the next techs. I am 10/10/10. 11s are where manufactories can be found

11 Dec There is a Local Fortification expect discovered at Novgorod. I use him locally and the defenses there increase.

25 Jan, 1517 – Ryazan, Vladimir and the two Beloozero holdings are now fully cored.

1 Mar – Our army’s level of professionalism is now at the point where I can refill garrisons

I am now officially too big, and I have a message telling me that I am now losing Republican Tradition


22 Mar – The last cores are done, and we won a mission

I choose to recover manpower as the next mission

I reform Subednik to drop autonomy

1 May –

Plutocratic Ideas #1 – Mercenary Pay – We get bonus options for Mercs, and their discipline.

Pskovian Ideas:

Knight’s Guard - +25% Mercenaries Available

12 June – I order a church in Ryazan

[Abe Sargent]

20 June –

I can switch to Russia anytime. A lot of things change when I do




Tsardom

This government form is given when forming Russia, and is automatically empire rank. Besides giving +10 to amount of states and access to the Russian abilities, it gives the following bonuses. +20% Manpower, +0.1 Yearly Absolutism & -0.05 monthly autonomy


For 50% more Spynetwork cost, the Tsar may lay claim to an entire area, rather than settle for claiming individual provinces.


Here let me show you a pic of what would happen in game:





I get more manpower, tons of more states, auto Casus Bellis on everything ever dreamed of by man, and for 20 years we have some shifts. Now I would love a third diplomat, but I would lose two merchants by leaving behind my Vache Republic. I keep my Russian abilities, and that’s nice.

Notice that my capital doesn’t change. It’s not moving to Moskva nor to St. Petersburg (Neva). So Pskov would remain the central city of New Russia, which I think is pretty cool.

Absolutism is a new value, like army professionalism, that increases over time with certain uses and gives you useful abilities. It starts in the Age of Absolutism, which isn’t for a while.

Now note the key here is the New Traditions & Ambitions event. I have the ability to swap my Pskovian Ideas for the Russian ones whole sale. Here is the Pskovian ones, again, for your benefit:







Of them, the best are the -2 national unrest and +10% global trade power, +20% trade steering, and +20% goods produced you finish you with. But Russia? Get ready to hold onto your butts




We have a bunch more manpower, a full +50% force limits, -10% bad boy, but note the second ability there. You get an ability to colonize the Siberian frontier just by being next to them automatically.

So I have to make a choice. Do I want to Tsar this thing up right now? I think yes, I need to. I need to be able to have all of my current provinces not get all upset and pissed off at me. We’re losing tradition now anyways.

I become Russian!

I Raise Streltsky and create 12 units in my capital.

Tsar Daniil Naryshkin rules, 6/6/6. My tech growth each month is 13/11/10

I issue an edict to create the Russian Patriarchate

I reform Subdednik and cut autonomy

I have four different factions to balance – Boyers, Cossacks, Clergy, and Burghers.

I give to the Boyers – Luki, Kholm, Mozhaisk

I give to the Clergy – Ustinzha, Beloozero, Murom

We end our trade league

I am making around 20 ducats a month right now


I invest some tech into DEV in a few places

[Abe Sargent]

1 July – RM Poland

4 July – RM: Estonia

12 July – RM: Denmark, and it brings a new queen for our ruler

I order a Workshop in Rzhev

14 July – RM: Brandenburg

29 Sept – I stop drilling and move my armies around. What I want to do is to take Perm from Kazan so I can begin to move towards colonizing Siberia.

23 Oct – I start upgrading my military. I have a forcelimit of 79k but just 59k under my auspices. I start, slowly, building up for a war against, well, anyone. Particularly Kazan

2 Feb – I order a Church in Beloozero

17 March – In Holland, the Reformed branch of Christianity begins.


According to the Ledger, Kazan has an army 27k strong. I am now at 67k

22 May – White Karelia was force-vassalized by Sweden

4 Aug – Our ruler is now Midas-Touched

1 Dec – I am thinking about declaring war on Novgorod and then naming as co-defendant their liege Kazan as well as their ally Odyev, so I can take land from all three at the same cost. They are currently at war with Mongolia and the Oirat Horde, so this is good timing.

10 Dec - I declare war on all three

I send in armies to Novgorod, Odyev, and Kazan

22 Dec – I take out the army of Odyev and begin the siege there

19 Jan, 1519 – I have captured a few minors. I begin a siege of the capital of Kazan, on the border with us.

3 Feb – I crush the Novgorod army in their capital and begin a siege

28 Feb – I assault and capture Odyev

1 Mar – My ADM tech adviser passes and I hire another who bumps my production a bit

12 Apr – I take the Nov capital

17 Apr – I get a peace offer from Novgorod only for three of her provinces. She only has five left. I could annex her out of existence. I keep the pressure on

11 July – I have every holding of Novgorod’s.

15 July - I take the 3 holdings of Novgorod that are next to me. Then I force-vassalize the other two that I can’t annex

I spend around 75 ADM power to core those three holdings. They are pretty weak and I’ll likely give some away to my estates later

Now we are just at war on two flanks. I move that army into Perm, a vassal of Kazan with whom we are also at war.

17 October – We capture the capital of Kazan

20 Nov – Kazan is now at peace to the east and is moving their armies back to face me

3 Apr, 1520 – I capture the capital of Perm

11 May – We defeat the Kazani army after I combine two of my forces to hit it from either side in a pincer movement

4 June – Rebels bust up and we have to put them down

I hit my max power in ADM so I spend it on some DEV here and there

23 June – Our siege of Astrakhan is concluded and we take it

22 July – We finish the rebels

3 Aug – We finish the siege at Bashgird.

28 Aug – Poland defeats Kazan

I am moving east into territory I don’t know, because we have taken tons of their land. I have had a 99% warscore, but I want to push east to see what lands I can find.

1 Sept –

Plutocratic Ideas #2 – We get +10% land morale with our troops!

17 Sept – We finished cored the three provinces I took from Novgorod. I hand one to my Boyers. We’ll look at them later.

13 Dec – I have revealed and taken three more Kazan provinces and I am pushing east more.

5 Feb, 1521 – I get a peace offer from Kazan for nine provinces. No thanks, I’m still exploring east. I’ve found like 6 or 7 and taken them all so far.

[Abe Sargent]

4 April – Peace with Kazan. I am taking a TON of lands from them and basically denuding them as a threat from here out.




I’m taking the highlighted provinces in war. I pay for some cores. It’s only like 250 for everything, these are not that wealthy.

Next is Odyev, which I have a 100 war score for.

I annex it, and their home of Oka is now ours.

[Abe Sargent]

Orthodox:

Oka – Ryzanian, Grain farmers, west of Tula, woods, workshop, church and farm estate already here, 15 dev,


Onega – Far north and was formerly under the control of Novgorod. Their culture, fur, gave to Boyers, fully cored, forest, 9 dev (now it was 6 when I took it)


Kargopol – Forest, naval supplies, southwest of Onega, Novgorod culture, 11 dev. I hand it to the Clergy.


Soroka – 16 dev, Docks built here, fur trade, forest, Novgorod culture, north of Kargopol.



Sunni:

Assume these are Kazan culture unless I tell you otherwise, with 75% auto and 25.5% unrest


Alatyr – Muscovite, 4 dev, Grain farmers in the woods, south of Murom, NN, and Cheboksary. Very poor, was a throw in as my last province I added to the peace tables. Weak land. I’ll give it away after coring it and building it up a bit


Cheboksary – On the border with Muscovy, connects NN and Alatyr with Kazan and Tetyushi and other holdings to the east. Grain farmers, 10 development, Steppes.


Tetyushi – Small province tucked away between Cheboksary, Kazan and Bolgar. Taken to make the map look nice. 8 dev, steppes, grain farmers,


Kazan – The former capital, 17 dev, Steppes, grain, level 2 fort and church are here, has the Inland Center of Trade boost. It's the home of a Center of Trade, and our 2nd one after Novgorod!


Bolgar – South of both Kazan and Tetyushi, the steppes here have iron mines. 7 dev


Glazov – East of Kazan is this grain farmer province, woods, and 6 dev. Uralic culture. South of Ishkar, connects Kazan with Perm, my key military target for this war.


Ishkar – North of Glazov, this iron mining province is in the woods with Uralic people. 5 dev.


Perm – My primary war target, due it its wealth and adjacency to Siberian holdings is this former capital of Perm to our north. In the forests here we have 13 dev and copper mines. The Uralic people here are also north of my final province.

Zlatoust – This Mountain province is south of Perm and next to Siberian holdings as well. The Bashkir people here have a 6 development but something really important as their trade good – gold.

So I took from Kazan their COT and capital, two iron mining areas, one copper, and one gold. What do they have left? Other than grain, wool, Livestock and fish, just six iron mines left of value across their entire nation Nothing else at all.


Using my cool power, I take the Siberian province next to me in Perm. We can take them without using a colonist using that power. Now it will grow on its own, without any colonial cost to hit my treasury. We call this land Ekaterinburg

[Abe Sargent]

MAP TIME!!!





I put my mouse cursor over our Siberian colony.

[Abe Sargent]

19 June - Crimea is now at war with Kazan and I grant them military access. Feast away my friends, feast away

1 Sept – We get a natives suffering a disease in Ekaterinburg event and I spend some gold to help them out!

2 Jan, 1522 – I mothball my forts

30 Mar – We get an Adventuring merchant event and bonus trade

9 June – RM: Novgorod

12 July – Alatyr a core. I send over a missionary and give it to the clergy

17 July - Oka now a full on core. I am already getting a 0.85 monthly cash from it. One of the good things about being Russia is that every East Slavic culture is right at home, whether it’s Novgorod, Muscovite, Ryzanian and so forth. So Oka is all in

31 Aug – I get an event – Prospering Times for my Leader. Which tech do I want to invest it in? Dip. We are almost at the next level for ADM already

5 Oct – I get an Excellent Minister event and a bunch more free development

3 Mar, 1523 –

Plutocratic Ideas #3 – Bill of Rights, -2% unrest

2 June – After a while of making nice with Portugal, we now are married to them. I am hoping that marriage to the place that started the Colonialism will help me get there a little faster.

My missionary isn’t going anywhere so I pull him back


18 Nov – All of the rest of the cores are completed.

I can’t get any Missionary to take....hmmm....

I pass the Blasphemy Act, which gives me +1 Missionary STR and -1 tolerance of heathens. Is that enough?

That should do it. I send a missionary to Ishkar

1 Jan, 1524 –

ADMIN TECH 11 – We get bonus production, can build Textile Manufactories.

DIP TECH 11 – We get more colonial range and trade and can build Naval Equipment Manufactories

I have the cash saved for two manufactories. I hold off for now for the next manufactory. That’ll be a big boon to my mining areas



2 Feb – I get a Queen is Heretical event. The common people are upset that she is still a Catholic. I could try for a divorce, but no, I’ll stick with her and we get +2 revolt risk for a few years

21 April – Demand for fish plummets as more and more Protestants don’t eat it as much during Lenten season

17 June – I hand Tetyushi to the Boyers

1 July – My military adviser passes and I hire a new one with a bonus to manpower

25 Aug – The Ottoman empire is trying to expel our traders from Constantinople, but we viciously reject.

18 Oct – We get a big rebellion of 21k in Kazan.

29 Dec – After combining two local armies, we put it out. I’m trying to save MIL for the next tech there.

[Abe Sargent]

17 Feb, 1425 – I get an event as a wealthy family wants to help fund our colony out in Siberia. I saw yes and a few things immediately happen:

1. Our colony there gets 1000 people and a fort as well to protect it, so it will be a fully colony
2. I get a few hundred gold for my treasury
3. We begin a colony in the next two provinces to the north.
4. My current colony gets 30 years where it won’t make anything as it is used as a base of operations by these merchants.


Ekaterinburg – Mountainous, now has Naval Supplies.

The other two are both Fur provinces

24 June – A new heir is born! Whew! He’s 3/3/4

22 Nov – Pernov is now Novgorodian culture

16 July, 1426 – I steal maps from Kazan of central Asia

15 Aug – Another rebellion occurs

29 Sept – Finished

24 Oct – Diplomatic Move even gest me some DIP power

30 Mar, 1427 – We get +10 Patriarch Authority from an event

11 May – I get a Burgher rebellion in Reval after I force them to give back land they took there for 15k. Troops. Luckily I have an army next door, waiting to declare war on Riga

1 June – Rebellion over.

21 June – While I’m here, I declare war on Riga

10 July – I rout the Riga army and begin a siege of their holdings

17 July – Reval is now Novgorodian culture


10 Dec – I get a Sunni uprising in the province I am trying to convert. I usually have my army there because it’s common and we put it down immediately.

[Abe Sargent]

22 Jan, 1428 – Ishkar converts. Next is Bolgar

30 Jan – Muscovy annexes Yaroslavl

1 Feb – We take Riga. I annex them with a few hundred gold and then order a core

Riga – woods, 21 dev, although 11 of it is MIL, Catholic, Prussian, coastal, Daugava Estuary here increasing trade, Naval Supplies. It has a level 2 castle, docks, church and marketplace


22 Feb – I take a mission to make nice with England

4 Mar – Native Assimilation event


21 April - I get an event for The Russian Orthodox Church Declares Independence

1. Lead the true faith from Pskov. Gain a ton of ADM Power, P. Athu, +25 relations with every Orthodox nation.
2. Help our brethren reclaim Constantinople. Gain your typical temporary claims on 9 provinces, including Constantinople proper. Lose a little PA
3. It is our destiny to free Constantinople from the Turks! Get permanent claims, and lose some more PA

So what I want? ADM power and PA and great relations? Or a permanent CB on 9 holdings I’m likely to never use? I go with the first.

14 July – I put down some Muscovite separatists in Alatyr


10 Aug – France declares us a rival. I do the same back.

1 Dec – Scholars have found documents that we are descended from Julius Caesar. I use it to gain legitimacy

6 Dec – I finish my quest to make nice with England.

1 Feb, 1429 –

MIL TECH 11 – We get bonuses to infantry, and can build Weapons Manufactories

I order them in:

Nizhny Novgorod (NN)
Perm
Vladimir
Tikhvin
Pronsk



17 Apr – My colony in Komi is now fully up and running!

Komi – Forest, 5 dev, fur trade, north of our colony in Serov, northwest of Uzbek, west of the opening province of Berezhov and Obdorsk

I Siberian move to Berezov.

I send my colonists to Obdorsk – it’s a coastal province up here in Siberia

5 June – I put down some Bashkiri Separatists

14 June – Muscovy declared war on Kazan...

Is this my chance to hit Muscovy?


7 Mar, 1430- Our colony in Serov is now fully self-sustaining


Serov – Fur trade here south of Komi and north of Ekaterinburg. Forest, 3 development


1 June – I lose an advisor in DIP and my next a level 2 trade advisor

I am moving my armies around. My truce with Muscovy ends in October.

24 June – Native Assimilation in Berezov

7 July – Riga now a core

21 Aug – I hire Streltsy!

[Abe Sargent]

1 Oct – I declare war against Muscovy and I don’t bring in Poland

My five armies, along with the Streltsy one I just hired at 21k, are ready to go and invade


Russia
Novgorod
Livonian Order

Vs

Muscovy
Rostov
Teodoro



8 Nov – Two minors falls

15 Nov – Another 2 are ours

19 Dec – Another falls

1 Jan, 1431 – Fur in Berezov

15 Jan – More minors are ours

19 Jan – Their capital falls

15 Feb – Another 2 fall

13 Mar – Rostov is ours

28 Apr – Yaroslavl is ours

10 Dec – After chasing them for a while, all four of my major armies in the area manage to capture and take out the Muscovy force

13 Jan, 1532 – Muscovy won their war with Kazan. I move into the areas they took

20 April – I get a Queen of the People event and we reduce unrest in the nation

27 April – I get a growing taxbase in Perm event

9 July – I beat their main army and our warscore rises to 99.

10 July – I get a peace offer from Muscovy that offers me 9 of their holdings. But I’m not sure if it contains the key three I need, so I build my own

[Abe Sargent]

I take 8, including all of the ones I need to – Rostov, Yaroslavl which have forts and were developed, their capital of Galich, the copper mines of Viatka, etc

I spend around 350 ADM to core them

Orthodox:

Yelets – South of my holdings in the southeast beneath Oka, Tula and Pronsk, this Mishar culture group of people have 7 development, Steppes, livestock, and a church here


Viatka – The last major prize Muscovy had. Copper mines west of Perm the nation, north of us at Kazan, Glazov and Ishkar. 15 dev, Muscovite, woods, and south of our new holding in Ust-Vym


Ust-Vym – Total throw-in. Just captured by Muscovy from Perm about a few months before we took it. Forest, fur, church, 3 dev. East of Novgorod. Uralic people here.


Rostov – The former capital of the nation, 11 dev, grasslands, Muscovite, farm estate, workshop, church all here, grain farmers. Connects our holdings in Yaroslavl to Yuripev


Yaroslavl – Former capital. Grassland, livestock, 16 dev, workshop, level 2 castle, Muscovite. Connects Rostov to Kostroma


Kostroma – Cloth is made here in the woods, 9 dev, Muscovite, in the center of the area that connects Yaroslavl, Galich and Vologda


Galich – Former capital of Muscovy. Salt, woods, 13 dev. North of NN, south of Kostroma


Vologda – Iron mines here in this forest that connect our two holdings in Beloozero to Kostroma


These are all of the remaining good places in Muscovy. The next war likely ends them.





There you are!

[Abe Sargent]

11 Feb, 1533 – I take on Defender of the Faith so I can get another Missionary. I send it to Zlatoust

22 Mar – Bolgar converts. Next? Tetyushi

25 Mar – The great Tsar passes at the age of 66. Our child is just 7, so the Queen is regent until he is old enough to take over, limiting our actions.

I invest in a stability gain back to +3

5 June – I am reconfirming various marriages like Poland and Estonia

13 October – We have most of our cores from Muscovy completed today

I order a Weapons Manufactory in Viatka, and Naval Equipment one in Yuriev


15 Oct - Poland has declared war against Bohemia and asks for my aid. I send over two of my five armies to help. It’s only fair

22 Feb, 1534 – We have won a few battles in Bohemia and I lay siege to the capital

7 Apr- I am now the trade leader in copper

31 May – Kazan lost 9 provinces to Transoxiana

24 June – I capture the capital

19 Aug – Another province falls under my siege

9 Oct –

Plutocratic Ideas #4 – Free Merchants, +1 merchant!

Russia Idea: Table of Ranks, +0.5 army tradition, -10% adviser upkeep

15 Dec – Another siege succeeds

25 Jan, 153 5 – I give Ust-Uym to my Clergy


28 April – I can get my first ability from the Age of Reformation

I take an institutional spread +50%

1 July – One of my colonies has Naval Supplies

7 Oct – Now a full province:

Berezov – Fur, forest, 3 dev,

I move into two adjacent provinces – Surgut and Mangazea.

24 Nov – I take another holding

[Abe Sargent]

5 May, 1536 – The truce with Kazan is up

I move my stuff back to get ready for the next war.

4 Oct – I declare war on Kazan

14 Oct – Kazan lost their war, and had to free some land and give up others

22 Dec – We rout the only Kazan army and it’s now just capturing these provinces.

2 Jan, 1537 – I take their capital. Still only had like 100 people in it from the last war

9 Jan - Poland won her war. We got some more favors stored for the future

13 Mar – Native Assimilation

3 May – I get a peace offer from Kazan at 99 warscore. I push to the last province

22 June – 100%

[Abe Sargent]

Here let me show you:




We just have a few provinces to finish up and then we’re done

Highlighted stuff is green

I spend some ADM to core them.

[Abe Sargent]

I am thinking about doing something I rarely do. Pushing further.


Here let me show you:

This is the Uzbek Horde




There’re just seven provinces there, and I might be able to take it out in one war. Two tops. I have an army of 25k there beside them. Allies? They are a tributary state of Kazan. Now there’s just one province here of value, a copper mine, but I could take it out without batting an eye.

I am not normally a warmongering, person. But why not? Let's play a little differently today!

[Abe Sargent]

8 July - I declare war on the Uzbek Horde. Kazan joins and I am at war with them again.

23 Aug – Once again, the Kazan capital falls quickly.

8 Sept –

DEP TECH 12 – We get a big naval morale boost

30 Mar, 1538 – We capture the capital of Uzbek.

20 Jul - I take three more holdings of Kazan. I can’t get that 4th under my warscore. I also get war reparations and cash

1 Sept – Surgut is fur

4 Sept – We convert Zlatoust, next is Alatyr

12 Sept – We capture the final Uzbek province

I annex the 7 provinces of Uzbek.

After the war I move into two adjacent Siberian provinces into Ket and Narim

[Abe Sargent]

MAP!!!



Wow. You can see us beginning to look a little bit like Russia. You’ll note that to my east are some unclaimed provinces. Five colonies and I just captured 20 provinces down here in Central Asia. Lots of pressure.

My major hit was manpower, which I have exhausted, and I would need to wait some turns to refill. Well, not really. I could hire a bunch of Strelsky to keep the war machine going. I have a force limit of 132k but just 102k under my army. I could immediately have 26k more in my capital.

But still, it’s time for cooling down, and getting these cores under control and run.

[Abe Sargent]

15 Sept – I steal the Mongolia maps from Kazan.

Let me do a quick ledger check for you, now that I have Ming on my maps:

We have the 2nd largest army currently, at 97109. Ming is the biggest with 111k. After rebuilding my armies, I’ll be bigger. My force limit is 8 better. I am the 3rd richest after Ming and the Ottomans, both of whom have more holdings

1 Nov – A rebelling unit from Muscovy has rebelled and taken the name Rostov. I could just war and take them.

18 Dec – I put down some rebels

1 Feb, 1540 – Mangaeza will have Naval Supplies

I pay to move into two more Siberian colonies and that puts us at 7!

11 Mar – 2 separate rebellions break out

27 Mar – We have a boundary dispute with Novgorod and we take one of their provinces. Not a claim on it, we just took the whole thing.
 
4 April – TONS of rebels are popping up. I have 7 provinces with rebellions

Here I’ll show you

MAP!!!



11 April – One defeated where the battle was ongoing,

2 May – Another rebellion springs up here


25 June – 5 of my holdings have been captured, but we have defeated another army today

12 July – We take out another army, another province falls to rebellion

5 August – A third army is gone

29 Aug – I recapture one province

15 Sept – Another prov falls to them

22 Sept – We capture another back

29 Sept – Another is recaptured

Luckily, two armies moved to Kazan and are besieging their capital

25 Oct – I retook another province

1 Nov – I beat another army

3 Nov – Another province is reclaimed

1 Dec – We recapture another

Now the biggest news is that I still have some rebels but they left the country for now, and if they come back, I have to pounce on them . This also delayed rebuilding my armies considerably.

[Abe Sargent]

19 Jan, 1540 – Tetyushi converts, next in line is Glazov

12 June – I give the territory I got from Novgorod to the Boyers.

1 July – A few things happened:

1. Our leader has taken over the throne, as he is now of age. He s 3/3/4
2. His heir is his son with a 6/2/1 look.
3. Our Tsar has a negative trait and is greedy and our taxes will suffer with him at the helm
4. We have a group of pretender rebels that we have to put down.

Isn’t it annoying not being a republic with its smooth transition?


10 Oct – I have taken out the rebels and recaptured both provinces they had gathered

22 Oct – Discovery in our colony – we gain DIP power

1 Dec

Plutocratic Ideas #5 - +10% Goods Produced from Free Subjects.

1 Jan, 1541 – I hadn’t given you my provinces yet I captured in war, all 20 of them. Here we go:


We’ll do this fast, because of how many I have. I’m just writing their name, faith, culture, trade good, type of land, development, and buildings in the province, without any conversation about location or anything like that.


Ar-Chally – Steppes, 7 dev, grain, Kazan, Sunni,

Bashkorostan -Bashkir, Sunni, Steppes, Wool, 10 dev


Berezhnye – Steppes, Sunni, Kazan, 11 dev, grain

Chelabinsk – Steppes, Grain, 9 dev, Kazan, Sunni

Iglino – 11 dev, grain, Steppes, Kazan, Sunni


Kurgan – 6 dev, woods, fur, Ostyak, Sunni

Kustanay – 3 dev, steppes, Iron mining, Sunni, Kazakh

Orenburg – 11 dev, iron mining, Steppes, Bashkir, Sunni

Pokrovsk – Steppes, 7 dev, Astrakhani, Sunni, iron mining

Samara – 7 dev, Steppes, livestock, Kazan, Sunni

Saratov – Steppes, 12 dev, livestock, Mishar Sunni

Simbirsk – 3 dev, iron mining, Kazan, Sunni, steppes

Syzran – Steppes, Livestock, 6 dev, Kazan, Sunni




Uzbek:

Atbasarask – Copper mines, Kazakh, Sunni, 6 dev, steppes

Omsk – Steppes, Siberian, Sunni, church here, 6 dev, fur

Yugan – Woods, 3 dev, Fur Trade, Ostyak, Sunni,

Kemerovo – Woods, 6 dev, Fur, Ostyak, Sunni

Variegansk -Woods, 5 dev, Fur, Ostyak, Sunni

Tobolsk – Woods, Fur, 11 devel, Fur, Ostyak, Sunni – This is a Sufi Shrine and it has bonuses to unrest and taxes, but it’s autonomy rises with time, not drops.

Beloyarskiy – Woods, Fur, 9 dev, Ostyak, Sunni



Whew!

[Abe Sargent]

15 Jan – Four provinces are now cores

22 Jan – I get another Great Draperies! Event

2 Feb – Rebels in Yelets.

5 Feb – Two more provinces now cores

22 Feb – I discover a Muscovy spy

I fabricate claims on two of the provinces under the control of the Oirat Horde

I order a workshop in Viatka

1 Mar – They capture Yelets

5 Mar – I send a missionary to Beloyarskiy

15 April – We take them out

26 April – Most of my cores are complete

2 May – We retake Yelets
19 June – The last of the cores are done. We are fully cored

I hand Glazhov to the Boyers

I am currently getting more than 30 gold a month in my treasury, for a total of around 1 manufactory and one lesser building/year.

13 Dec - I pass the Conventicle Act which increases my Missionary Str by 1 but -1 tolerance of heretics

I am working to build up my spy network in the central Asian horde areas where I don’t have cores already

1 Jan, 1542 –

I order:

Workshop in Perm, Vladimir, Yuriev, Pronsk

Weapons Manufactory in Bolgar, Ishkar, Tula

Farm Estate in Kazan


5 Mar – I put down the rebels from before that crossed into other territory. They came back

1 Apr -I get a an event to improve our manpower considerably by taking “cannon fodder” from the Livonian Order. I do and I get more than 20k manpower! But relations worsen and their liberty desire rises. I spend 20 prestige to make nice with them and drop it back to lesser levels


With my huge investment in manpower, I move my armies around subtly, preparing for a potential war with the Great Horde. They are allied to the Transoxiana and a vasal state of Crimea. I want to get the trade node of Astrakhan on the Caspian Sea. That’s one of the few real targets back here


29 Sept – All five of my armies are on the border with our foes.

27 Oct – I get an excellent minister event. There is a level 3 adviser in ADM I can get for 50% now and 50% off for his monthly cost, so I hire him! He gives me -2% unrest. I also take a level 3 MIL adviser in the same event for 50% off now and later! I get +10% manpower

My tech investment is now 12/8/10

[Abe Sargent]

1 Feb, 1543 – I fabricate a claim on an area

ADM TECH 12 - +3 states, allows some new gvnt types

I give Iglino to the clergy

I order a Weapons Manufactory for Moskva

6 May – I have finished fabricating claims and am ready for war to our south

According to the ledger, my expected three enemies are:

Crimea – 13k
Great Horde – 7k
Transoxiana – 28k

I think I can take ‘em solo

I have five armies that are 25k, 23k, 19k, 18k, 18k. I put my biggest two armies on the border with Transoxiana as well

I declare war for Astrakhan

Crimea did not join her allies. Smart.

28 June – Four minor holdings have fallen

1 July – The Golden Era of our nation has ended.

3 July – Surgut now a full colony:

Surgut – 3 dev, Forest, fur, north of Uzbek.

19 July - I rout the Great Horde army entirely, and it’s gone

12 Aug – The siege of Astrakhan has begun

23 Aug – I noticed that Astrakhan has just been rebuilt and only had a few hundred people in it from being mothballed. I assaulted and took it

1 Sept – As of now, 10 minor holdings are ours

7 Oct – I assault and take the Great Horde capital

1 Dec – Glazov converts. Next is Perm

I have moved three of my big armies deeper into Transoxiana

31 Dec – I have captured every Great Horde province

5 Jan, 1544 – Muscovy declared war on Rostov

12 Feb – More minors are falling in Transoxiana

26 Feb – I am playing a cat and mouse game with their army. All three of my armies are in adjacent provinces to support each other as I move.

Right now I only have a 9% warscore against Transoxiana them so I have to move cautiously.


1 Mar

Mangazea – This colony, 7 dev, forest, has the Taz Estuary bonus, naval supplies. North or Surgut

I send more Siberian folks east to Troitskiy


31 May – I get an excellent minister event

3 July – After a meat grinder of multiple armies, I finally catch their main one and beat it.

9 Oct – I take one of their lands after a successful siege

13 Nov – After arriving in their capital of Samarkand, I defeat their army again

15 Nov – Beloriskiy is now Orthodox! Next is Tobolsk

27 Dec – I assault and take Samarkand

[Abe Sargent]

2 Jan, 1545 – My warscore is just 72 with Transoxiana so I keep on going. I want to get to enough to take all 7 provinces near me. I can get 5 right now

13 Feb – I finished a siege

17 Apr – I take another successful siege in Merv

26 April – I defeat their army again, this time we rout it

29 April – We capture the final province in Transoxiana


1 May – I can’t get all of the provinces I want under one war. Ah well.

I get 308 gold and most of the provinces to the west and north of the Caspian Sea.

I order CBs on those six holdings:

Guriev
Nivzhy-Embinsk (NE for short)
Kalmykov
Alexandrov-Gay (AG for short)
Gliniskaya
Yaik




Now the good stuff...

[Abe Sargent]

1 June – I claim more provinces in the Transoxiana area


I start peace with Astrakhan which is next to my new additions from Transoxiana.

Peace!



Here are the provinces I am taking, leaving just two in the middle of my territory for later nibbling.

Kasimov
Tambov
Voronezh
Sarai
Kuma
Astrakhan!
Beljamen
Borisoblebsk

You can see to my east the six I took as well. We often change names when I take provinces.

I declare the Ottomans as my rival


All are Sunni

Kasimov – Mishar, Steppes, livestock, 13 dev

Tambov – Steppes, iron, 9 dev, Mishar


Voronezh – Steppes, 8 dev, livestock, Mishar

Sarai – 17 dev, steppes, wool, Astrakhan

Kuma – 6, Steppes, Astrakhan, iron mines


Tsaristyn – This was renamed by the game after we took it. Happens a lot. 9 dev, livestock, Steppes, Mishar


Borisoblebsk – 6 dev, steppes, livestock, Mishar


Astrakhan – HERE WE GO! 23 development, wool, drylands, Astrakhan culture, Sunni, has a level 2 castle, at the Volga Estuary, and has that bonus, center of trade.

I order a church in Narva and a Textile Manufactory in Kostroma

I hand Ingermanland to my Boyers

[Abe Sargent]

15 July – Many of the mid-Asia powers are entering into a coalition against me. This happens when you overstate your badboy. So far its Nogai Horde, Crimea and Chagatai Horde. That last one is the only one that matters to me

27 Nov – The Ottomans join the coalition

2 Jan, 1546 – I start building up my spy network with the Chagatai Horde

8 Feb –

Barnual - Colony now grown, Steppes, 3 dev, livestock, next to Chagatai Horde, East of my holdings in ex-Uzbek

9 April – The Nogai Horde declares a punitive war on us for over-expansion, Joining them are a ton of people:

The Ottomans
Crimea
Circassia
Mamluks
Chagatai
Wallachia
Guge
Anizah
Hisn Kafa
Dulkadir

These are the allies, vassals or people in that coalition

I call out to Poland and her and Lithuania join me

This is the first War of Aggression I have ever fought in my life.

I am ready to defend Mother Russia to the ends of this earth!


I hire 29k Streltsy in our capital

[Abe Sargent]

19 May – Chagatai Horde has hired an army from Ming to help them


My first two goals are to blitz Crimea and then to hit Nogai hard

16 July – I grab some land here in Crimea, and then I leave this flank to my allies who are getting here to deal with Crimea and the Ottomans and I leave behind one army and move the others east where I am the only one deal with the hordes


28 July – I lose a province to Chagatai

26 Sept – Another province of ours falls

1 Oct – I capture the capital of the Nogai horde

During this war I’ll likely be investing MIL to keep the rebels off me, I don’t have time to chase people down

13 Oct- Another of ours falls

29 Nov – Crimea/Ottomans won a close but long battle with Poland, but it was long enough for my army to army and try to oust them back

1 Dec –

Narim – Colony not ours, forest, 3 dev, fur. I order the land to the east added to our Siberian colonial ways.

3 Dec – I have captured every province of the Nogai Horde

15 Dec – We defeat the combined Ottoman/Crimea/Circassia force in Crimea. I sent my merc army here to mop up, so I now have two armies here

15 Jan, 1547 – I rout their force in Crimea and begin a siege of their capital

17 Jan – One of my armies snuck into the Chagatai Horde from behind their line and is beginning to take minors

26 Jan – They capture another of ours in the east.

11 Feb – They take another

15 Feb – My first of the Chagatai minors heads into our grip.

1 Mar –

Obdorsk – 3 dev, forest, naval supplies


3 Mar – I have a Magistrates Resign event and lose some DIP power

16 Apr – I assault and take Crimea, the capital of their state

In other news, Wallachia has taken over all of Moldavia, so our warscore is dropping because of that

17 Apr – As I near the CH forces, they pull out of my area. I’ll try and recapture the 7 provinces they took

22 Apr – A big battle out the Crimean peninsula is underway

19 May – More CH provinces fall to me. I split my army into multiple pieces and just took another 3.

22 May – I have retaken one province

29 May – Another is retaked

2 June – In a giant battle in Kyzyl-Cyr, we defeated two Ottoman armies and a Crimean one with both of mine, as well as both Poland and Lithuania in a battle that saw almost 100,000 troops on our side and around 85,000 on theirs!

The warscore change on that was incredibly high, and it pushes it to a resolvable level. We have a 16% for the war

We take one state in my territory, the previously-Kazan province of Buzuluk. Now under the control of the Nogai Horde. I also take some gold and War Reparations.

Peace!

I order a core for it:

Buzuluk – Iron mines, steppes, 6 dev, Sunni, Nogai culture, next to our holdings in Bolgar, Samara, etc, and next to the border with Transoxiana

That war ended at least a year or two before I thought it would. It was pretty anticlimactic


I currently have 138k troops, which is 20k more than the Ottomans

This year my truce with Muscovy will end, by the by

20 June – Native Assimilation event

4 Aug –

Ket – Former colony, Naval Supplies, woods, 3 dev

22 Oct – Sunni rebellion in Tambov. I have a main army next door

15 Nov – Put down

8 Dec – Tobolsk converts! Next is Yugan

10 Dec – 7 of my cores are complete.

[Abe Sargent]

2 Jan, 1548 –

I missed my 100 Year Review due to war. Sorry about that!


I am considering calling it anyway. What’s left for me to do? I am colonizing the crap out of Siberia, we know I’ll win again Muscovy this year and take a ton more land from it. I have a big army, with six armies that have a lot of heft and size to them.

Ledger:

2nd best income after Ming
2nd most development after Ming

Most max manpower at 128k by far than anyone else, Ottomans are 2nd

With 35 techs we are tied for the most

With 19 ideas, we are tied for 2nd after Ferrara with 21

We have the most power projection

We are ranked 3rd in Great Powers after Ottomans and France


Top Provinces by Tax Income with at Least 10:

Pskov – 20.80
Novgorod – 16.50
Moskva – 14.40
Pernov – 11.20
Beloozero – 11.20
Tikhvin – 11.20
Murom – 10.60


Top Provinces by Production Income with at Least 20:


Zlatoust – 27.60 (GOLD)
Perm – 24.11
Tikhvin – 22.15
NN 21.95
Moskva – 21.09

I have another 12 with a Prod of 10-20

I have 99 holdings, 4 colonies

We have the highest army professionalism

We have the largest army in the world – 13k more than Ming, and 31k more than the Ottomans

Our navy is the 7th largest


We have four trade nodes – Siberia out of one of my colonies (Tomsk), Novgorod, Astrakhan, and Kazan

Trade Goods:

5.0

Gems


4.5

Copper


4.37

Paper


4.0

Dyes
Silk
Cocoa
Ivory


3.60

Cloth


3.0

Glass
Tobacco
Sugar
Cotton
Coffee
Spices
Chinaware
Iron
Salt

2.5

Tea
Grain
Wine

2.25

Fish


2.12

Incense


2.0

Naval Supplies
Fur
Livestock
Tropical Wood
Slaves
Wool


We are the world’s leader in production of:

Fur (35%) – bonus annual prestige
Naval Supplies (13%) - +20% Naval Forcelimit
Copper (22%) – 20% recruitment time
Iron (16%) - -5% recruitment costs

I’m surprised I’m not grain, but China is 18.8% of the world’s grain, and we aren’t even at 10%.

In case it does become the end of my dynasty

[Abe Sargent]

There you are!


Vassals – Novgorod, Livonian Order
Allies – Estonia, Poland

Marriages – Estonia, Poland, Novgorod, Denmark

I make 102 gold a month right now, and after the cores come through, that will grow

My tech dev is 12/8/10

[Abe Sargent]

2 Feb –

Novosibirsk – Now a full colony. 3 dev, woods, fur. I order my Siberian colonial folks out east to Kuznetsk


12 Apr – Perm converts. Next target is Kuma down by Astrakhan

9 July – Two rebellions in the former Transoxiana are up

27 Jul – We defeat one

29 Jul – The other captured one of our provinces

15 Aug – Another is captured

21 Aug – I recapture the first

22 Aug – We defeat it before it can leave

12 Sept – We capture the 2nd back

1 Nov – Our leader passes very early, and we have a Regency Council ruling. I have some pretender rebels I need to quell

22 Nov – We defeated them in Nizhny-Embinsk.


31 Dec - All but three provinces are now cored

4 Jan, 1549 – We renew our marriage vows with Denmark. We still had the others.

We boost our stability

13 Mar – Ming announces me as a new rival

2 Apr – I order:

Workshop in Tula, Murom, Kazan, Ishkar
Church in NN, Perm, Astrakhan

Textile Manufactory in Ryazan,


I hand Kasimov to the clergy

12 May – I can’t declare war on Muscovy because I have a Regency Council He’s 12 right now, hope this won’t last too much longer


3 Nov – Even the province I took in the defensive war is now a core

Plutocratic Idea #6 – Free Cities – I get +25 caravan power

[Abe Sargent]

1 Jan, 1550 – The Printing Press institution has begun. I am already behind in embracing Colonialism, I don’t want to hit any issues there either

2 Feb –

Tomsk – Now fully self sufficient, this former colony is the home of the Siberian Center of Trade. Forest, 3 dev, naval supplies. I order three more provinces to come under the Siberian call. Those are West Tunguska, Yeniseysk, and Krasnoyarsk


22 Feb – Rostov won four provinces from Muscovy. They also saw the freedom of a nation of Yaroslavl as well, now free from Muscovy

I enter a RM with Rostov

15 April – Rostov and us enter into an alliance


16 May – We send them a gift

20 June – Rebellion of some Great Horde Separatists

26 July - Defeated


1 Aug – I can choose a new ability for the Age of Reformation

I take religious wars which decreases my warscore cost for other faiths by –25%

1 Sept –

I build

Workshop in Galich
Church in Rzhev

Weapons M in Vologda

24 Oct – Yugan converts. Next? Buzuluk!

21 Apr, 1551 – With the introduction of foodstuffs from the New World, the demand for grain has ebbed as people have many more options. The price of grain drops from 2.5 to 2.0. That’s not good.


1 May – The Ottomans have announced Russia as a rival

27 June – Our new Tsar, Yekterina, takes the throne and the Regency Council concludes.

1 July – Our new Tsar is just, and that will drop unrest by -2.0

[JonInMiddleGA]

Originally Posted by Abe Sargent

13 Mar – Ming announces me as a new rival

Watch out, I hear they're merciless.

[Abe Sargent]

I declare war on Muscovy

15 July – Our missionary in Kuma succeeds, next is Guriev

22 Aug – We crush the Muscovy army

6 Nov – Their capital is ours

6 Dec – We defeat their army again

21 Dec – We rout their army

28 Mar, 1552 – We capture their last province. I move my navy to track theirs down and end it.

21 June – I have a Boyer rebellion in Ar-Chally, but I have an army nearby in Kazan that heads over

6 Sept – We have a new 4/4/3 heir!

14 Sept – We destroy the Muscovy navy and now have a 100 war score!




Here is what I am about to take. Almost ready to level my DIP up too.


It fills out the map nicely. I order cores for my 8 new holdings. Only Suzdal, Kashin, has a DEV of more than 10.

[Abe Sargent]

Originally Posted by JonInMiddleGA

Watch out, I hear they're merciless.

It's true, they really are!

[Abe Sargent]

I feel like that will likely be where I'll call it. I finished doing what I was looking to do, and I have built a powerful platform for success moving forward.

I would pursue a diplomatic annexation of Novgorod next, and then add Yaroslavl, Perm, Rostov, and Muscovy to my allies and vassals slowly, and then bring them into my territory slowly but surely.

In between each of those peaceful annexations (which often can take a decade) I'd see myself grabbing a large amount of land east or south, and expand quickly.

My first major target would be Crimea to my south and a little west of Astrakhan. Right now I get the bonus for getting territories in peace from other faiths, and want to exploit that with the wealthy territory of Crimea. I'd use my great power right now to break their alliance with the Ottomans, and then isolate them, but that creates a peace for 5 years, and then use that 5 years to drop my badboy from Muscovy and then prepare for war here, then wage war and mostly take out all the Crimea Muslim state.

Then I'd want to look at places like the Oirat Horde's five provinces, which is a tributary of Ming, as well as another war with Transoxiana that delves deeply into the central Asia with hopefully a drive that sets up a future war with the Chagatai Horde, and then maybe finish off the Nogai Horde.

So Crimea first militarily, and then look east. I would expect that within 50 years I would have peace vassalized three Russian minors, removed Crimea completely or mostly from the map, had a minor war with the Ottomans, finished colonizing Siberia, taken out the Oirat, Nogai hordes, and won a major amount of land from both Transoxiana and the Chagatai Horde, and be looking at potentially moving to places like Sakhalin, Mongolia, or the pacific for future colonial options. I would expect to be fully Russia as you expect, in terms of the map, roughly around 1600

[Brian Swartz]

I find these remarkably interesting given that I don't know what you are talking about most of the time(i.e. I don't know EU IV acronyms etc.).

[Abe Sargent]

Originally Posted by Brian Swartz

I find these remarkably interesting given that I don't know what you are talking about most of the time(i.e. I don't know EU IV acronyms etc.).

Thanks!!!

[Cap Ologist]

Good job! Always enjoy reading them as well!

[Abe Sargent]

Originally Posted by Cap Ologist

Good job! Always enjoy reading them as well!

Thanks thanks!!!!!!!!!