EU - Granada, or How I Stopped Worrying and Learned to Love the Spanish Empire

[Daimyo]

Since the excellent Russia EU "dynasty" seems to have been retired and since I now play EU almost exclusivelyt I've decided to chronicle my own dynasty here. After conquering most of Europe with with Russia and the Turks, uniting the second reich with Brandisburg and creating a dominant trade empire with England in my previous Grand Campaigns, I deciding to make this dynasty as challenging as possible. I will play Granada. Granada starts with a single poor, mountainous province (Sierra Navada) and begins the game with no allies and at war with Spain, the most powerful country at the start of the game. This game will also be played on the "very hard" difficulty level and with AI aggressiveness on "furious" (both the most difficult settings possible). Because of this and my choice of country, surviving more than one or two years will be a real accomplishment. Granada is also a Muslim country which means it develops new technology at a slower rate than the Christian European countries AND I will be unable to enter royal marriages with anyone in Europe to protect my fragile nation. This could be a very short dynasty. Also of note before I begin, this game will be played with patch 1.8 and using the Improved Grand Campaign 1.8. There are no other majors which means no country is protected from miliary annexation.

(**Note, At times I'll make remarks "in character" so please don't take offense if I call the Spanish "dirty spaniards" or refer to Christianity as a plague.. I don't mean it in real life, just trying to get into the role of ruling a small, greatly-oppressed Muslim nation)

[Daimyo]

**** The Moorish War of Independence; January,1492 - July,1494 ****

Granada starts with 250 ducats and an army of 16/2/0 (16000 infantry, 2000 cavalry). Spain begins with an army of 40 units (I think 30/10/0, but I'm writing this right after playing the first year so I don't remember exactly) in Toledo, which is RIGHT next to my lone province. Things don't look good for the home team. I immediately recruit 7000 fresh infantrymen and begin the yearlong process of upgrading my fortifications that begin at minimal. At this time, I notice my moral maxes out a notch below the normal maximum which is a HUGE drawback. I'm beginning to doubt my ability to last through the end of the year. Luckily we have Allah on our side and losing to the Spanish heathens is not an option.

There is no way our glorious, but small army can defeat the Spanish hordes in a straight fight. Our only hope will be to use our cavalry and try to hold off the Spanish while our infantry takes enough Spanish provinces to convince the heathens to leave us alone. Luckily the Spanish have severely underestimated us and left two of their nearby provinces undefended. We send our army of 16,000 to Andalusia, a detachment of 1,000 cavalry to the unfortified province of Murcia, and 1,000 of our cavalry to meet the huge Spanish army in Toledo.

The cavalry sent to Toledo have no chance to defeat the Spanish army. The goal is to harass them (move behind them and cut off their supply line, etc etc) enough that they have no chance to leave the province. Using my two 1000 men cavalry units, my goal is to hold off the Spanish army for about six months. If I can take Andalusia I will have two Spanish provinces and a chance to get peace from Spain.

A few months later we receive word that the Army of Granada has set up siege at Andalusia. Our spies estimate the city can withhold our siege for about a year. Unfortunately we don't have a year to wait so I order our force to assault the city until it falls. The cavalry unit sent to Murcia reports that the city has fallen without struggle and that the detachment has moved on to Toledo to aid in the harassment of the Spanish army. At the same time I find that my army is now 7000 men stronger. I send this army to Gibraltar to protect myself from Spanish attack from this province.

Several months later I receive word that Andalusia has fallen after three assaults and the loss of 3000 faithful souls. With two Spanish provinces in hand I immediately sue for peace. I offer the Spanish a return of occupied Andalusia and Murcia. All I ask in return is that they recognize Granada as an independent, sovereign nation. Being the filthy, arrogant pigs that they are, they reject my generous offer. I send my main army, the Army of Granada, on to unfortified Estramaduras. My plan of action is to take Estramaduras from the Spanish and then march on to their capitol in Castille. It is a bold plan, but since they rejected my peace offer, I have no other option but to go for the throat.

I wait anxiously for word from the front line, but hear nothing until the end of the year. My main army reports that they have set up siege at Castille. After their first assault has left the Spanish with about 3500 troops defending the city. Word from Gibraltar is even more encouraging. The first assault on the fortress resulted in the destruction most of the Spanish garrison. Cnl. Derna informs me the city shall be mine within a month. I receive much worse news from my cavalry detachments. Apparently Spanish reinforcements from the East caught them off guard and allowed the Spanish army in Toledo to break free of their harassment. Nearly 40,000 Spanish troops will march into Sierra Nevada within about two months. Luckily our fortifications will be upgraded by that time. If Gibraltar falls as plan we should be able to get a favorable peace from the Spanish since we will control (although weakly) four of their provinces.

Gibraltar falls in a month as promised! I immediately send a diplomat to the Spanish king with a peace offer. This time my bargaining position on paper is much better so I demand Andalusia and its center of trade. Again we are rebuffed! The siege on Castille will go on!

Unfortunately the Spanish troops arrive in our capital and set up siege. We wait anxiously for about six months locked out from the rest of the world. With no way to get word through the Spanish siege army we have no way to know the state of our armies in Gibraltar and Castille. After about six months the Spanish dogs slaughter the rest of our garrison and storm the city. Luckily most of our government officials are able to escape in the chaos. Apparently the Spanish troops had suffered so much disease and attrition during their siege that they were more concerned with pillaging and looting than anything else. After setting up a temporary capital in Gibraltar we learn that within a week of the fall of our capital, Castille fell as well to our troops as well! There will be no surrender! Suddenly desperate, the Spanish abandon our capital to retake the Castille. Luckily they need to cross the mountains of Toledo to get to Castille and we need only move from an adjacent province to get to our capitol. We retake the Sierra Nevada just as the Spanish army engages our army outside of Castille. With their capitol in our hands and our's free we offer them peace in exchange for Andalusia and our independence. They have no choice but to accept.

On July 10th, 1494 Spain officially signs the first Treaty of Castille recognizing the independent nation of Granada. In addition they agree to forgo all future claims on the Muslim states of Andalusia and Sierra Nevada. We agree to withdraw all our troops from Castille and return all other occupied Spanish provinces back to Spanish control. We fully expect the Spanish to rip this treaty into small pieces in five years, but nonetheless we finally have the creditability to diplomatically approach the other nations of the world.

Here is how my nation looks at the end of this war. (45k jpg)

[This message has been edited by Daimyo (edited 04-18-2001).]

[Daimyo]

**** The Peaceful Years; July,1494 - October,1501 ****

Shortly after war the Spanish dogs decide to trade their wares at Tago instead of Andalusia. Its nice that we have a center of trade, but without Spanish trade its not what it once was. We'll need to find other ways to increase the trade volume at Andalusia. For this, we'll need to look outside the Iberian Peninsula and Europe. One nice thing about controlling Andalusia is its shipyard provides me with one settler per year. We send a group of traders to Puerto Rico (which we discovered after deciphering some maps stolen from the Spanish capitol), but none survive the trip. We try again a year later and soon begin receiving small shipments of new world sugar. We send out another group of traders to a small island labeled as Moron on the Spanish maps looking to find another source of sugar. Unfortunately the natives have very little sugar to trade with us, but our traders send us samples of something they call "tobacco." Apparently it has quite a soothing and relaxing effect when smoked. Unfortunately it is a worthless novelty item to us, but it would be too expensive to bring the traders back so we instruct them to set up friendly relations with the natives and try to convince them to grow more sugar.

In the mean time our glorious Sultan, Mohammed the Little, begins a friendly letter writing campaign with the French monarch Louis XII. The French government is quite neutral toward us at this point, but hopefully we can convince them that we would be a worthwhile ally since we hate Spain even more than they do. It pains us greatly to kiss the ass of a bunch of heathens, but we realize we won't survive long against Spain without a powerful ally or two. In the same vane we begin to mobilize a decent military for the inevitable war with Spain.

[Daimyo]

**** First Great War of the Iberian Peninsula; August,1501 - November,1505 ****

When our first loan comes due it becomes obvious that we will not be able to repay it under the current circumstances. The gold mines of Toledo would easily double our monthly income. The people of Granada view Toledo as rightfully Moorish land so we would not take an internal stability hit by acquiring it. This coupled the fact that we'd rather catch Spain unprepared than wait for them to conquer us at their convenience leads to a declaration of war against Spain in October of 1501. Several allies of Spain jump to their support, but none of them are close enough to be a threat. Spain has recently shipped most of their troops away from the Iberian peninsula for some reason unknown to us so it seems our path to Castille is once again wide open. We quickly send cavalry units out to occupy Murcia and Estramaduras and send our entire land force (25k infantry each from both Andalusia and the Sierra Nevada) into Toledo. Upon their arrival our 50,000 troops easily overrun the 5000 strong Spanish garrison and immediately begin their march onto Castille. Once again the plan is to hold the Spanish capital and immediately sue for peace.

Our advance scouts notice that two rather large Spanish forces are moving south toward our sacred lands. At about the same we receive word that the Republic of Venice has declared war on us and their ally Portugal has joined in the war! This is very bad news as there is absolutely no way we can fight both the Spanish and Portuguese at the same time. The troops in Castille are given the order to begin an assault on the palace at once. Unfortunately only about 35,000 men survived the journey. Still we have a good chance to take the fortress in one assault.

At first the battle looks to be going very much against us; our troops are beginning to crack under the intensity. We are easily winning the battle of numbers with about a 30,000 to 500 advantage, however our troops have such low moral that they will break any second. A 25k detachment of Spanish troops begins to assault Andalusia and another 30,000 Spanish troops are in route to relieve Castille. The siege army outside of Castille doesn't know it, but the result of their assault will most likely determine the future of Granada's independence. With one final all out burst on the fortress and with Allah on their side our faithful troops slaughter every last man in the palace guard. It takes little convincing to get Ferdinand to sign the second Treaty of Castille (March 1502), this time ceding the province of Toledo and about 100 pounds of new world gold to our honorable nation.

With Spain eliminated from this war we turn our attention to a quick settlement with Portugal. The Portuguese border is surprisingly undefended so we send our 30,000 strong army into Elvas and assault their fortress. We cut their forces down to less than 150 men before our moral breaks. This is the same army that took Toledo and Castille so we're willing to cut them some slack THIS time. We easily take Elvas on the next try and march toward Tago. At this time troops from the Portugal's allies, the Hanseatic League, begin landing on Granadan soil. We quickly settle a peace with Portugal and divert our army back to Granada. We expel to the Hanseatic League and offer peace to Venice but they refuse. We raise two more loans and offer than 250 pounds of sugar but they still reject our deal. Fearing bankruptcy we send out several traders to areas we discovered from our updated Spanish maps and invest in our military. At least if we go bankrupt we'll keep our non-liquid assets.

In August we default on five national loans and declare bankruptcy. Our internal stability drops to dangerous levels and our inflation goes up to about 30%, but we're out of debt and can now actually start earning money from our possessions.

In November troops from Venice land in Andalusia, and we barely defeat them despite outnumbering them nearly three-to-one. A month later, Venice comes to the conclusion that their is little point to fighting a war with a poor nation so far away (they can't get in money in peace and don't want any of my provinces) so they settle for taking the remaining 8 Ducats left in my treasury. Although our economy is in shambles we increased our population by nearly 50% and nearly doubled our income by taking Toledo. I think this war will be looked at as being extremely favorable for us in the future. Heck, I feel like just surviving 14 years with Granada is quite an accomplishment.

Here is how my nation looks at the end of this war. (45k jpg)


[This message has been edited by Daimyo (edited 04-18-2001).]

[Daimyo]

**** Out of economic ruin rises a new colonial "power"; December,1505 - ****

With our economy in shambles, our glorious Sultan, Mohammed the Little, decides to retire to life of quiet meditation. Out of the chaos emerges a new form of government. Instead of a new sultan, an honorable council of sheiks will now rule our glorious nation. Unfortunately none of them are very skilled and it makes my job much more difficult with more than one puppet to control. Nevertheless, with the guidance of Allah we shall emerge stronger than ever from this time of trials. We decide to model our immediate future after our neighbors to the West. Like Portugal we will attempt focus our immediate efforts on developing trading posts abroad to improve our economy. We immediately develop two new trading posts near Moron and two much farther north in an area covered in forest. Luckily one of our new trading posts produces a decent supply of sugar. The other Moron-ic trading post produces Tobacco, which is sort of a mixed blessing. It turns out the heathen nations to our north have become quite fond of this stuff. It’s not quite as valuable as sugar, but the demand is definitely picking up and we are currently the largest supplier in Europe. Being followers of the one true faith and upon the order of the council of sheiks the citizens of Granada are forbidden to smoke the drug. However, we have no problem selling it at great profit to heathens. Our northern trading posts are not so profitable. One produces fish and the other furs. We really have no need for furs in Granada, but apparently the northern heathens need it in their godforsaken lands.

In 1511 we receive the news that the people of Toledo have converted to the true faith. Shortly after we receive word that the leader of the heathens has divided the world into Spanish and Portuguese possessions. We shall see if the Spanish are so arrogant to think this ruling applies to our trading posts. If so, we won't hesitate to march our entire army into Castille for a third time.

Toward the end of the year we receive word that our Sunni brothers, the Turks, have forced the evil Republic of Venice into ceding two of its provinces to Turkey. We celebrate the victory by marrying the daughter of one of our sheiks to one of the Turkish generals.

[This message has been edited by Daimyo (edited 04-18-2001).]

[daedalus]

Bravo! Good job!!!

And good writin', too.

[Daimyo]

**** The Second War of the Iberian Peninsula; August,1512 - May,1513 ****

Bolstered by the Ottoman victory over Venice and our previous victories over Spain, the council of sheiks begins to become restless. When we notice in early 1512 that Spain has began to upgrade their fortifications outside of Castille we begin to feel our window for expansion is closing. A decision is made to strike at Spain one last time in an attempt to take the two undefended Spanish provinces bordering Toledo. In August, 1512 we deliver a declaration of war to the Spanish and immediately deploy 1000 infantrymen each to Estramaduras and Murcia. Our remaining 25,000 men march on to Castille. Our scouts send word that the 50,000 strong Spanish home guard has been diverted to the French border to relieve Castille. Our men launch an assault and kill half the 5,000 troops in the Spanish garrison. Now we just need to wait three or four months to get the men's spirits up and we can most likely take the city. It's going to be close. As the Spanish relief force arrives in Leon they make a surprising decision. Instead of heading directly into Castille they head south to liberate Estramaduras first. The good news for me is that the extra month or two it delays them should allow me to take Castille. The bad news is I will most likely only be in a position to demand Murcia in the peace settlement.

Estramaduras falls to Spanish just as I am about to begin my assault on Castille. Perhaps already accepting the loss of their capitol, the Spanish troops make a surprising decision to march to Toledo instead of attempting to stop the fall of Castille! Castille falls in my assault and it now appears as if I can march my troops to Estraduras and take it back before offering peace! My troops begin the two-month trek. Just as I arrive to take the province Toledo falls tot he Spanish. It has little relevance. Since I control the Spanish capitol and two provinces to their one, they have little freedom at the bargaining table. We demand Murcia and Estramaduras in exchange for King Ferdinand's freedom. The heathens gladly except and the war is over a mere nine months from the start.

Here is my nation at the end of this war

[This message has been edited by Daimyo (edited 04-18-2001).]

[Daimyo]

**** The World at War; 1513 - 1518 ****

Shortly after we settle our dispute with Spain, Russia declares war against Spain. Each activates their alliance bringing a total of about eight or nine countries into the battle. A few months later in November, 1514 the heathen dogs in Portugal feel greedy and declare war on us. They activate their massive heathen alliance and we activate our alliance as well. This war looks to embroil most of Southern Europe. Between this war and the other war to the north nearly every nation, except for perhaps France and England, is now involved in one of the two wars. My war looks to be focused onto two areas. Turkey and Venice should battle it out in the East and we will do our best to keep Portugal out of the Moors.

Curiously Portugal does not invade us right away, so we send 10,000 troops into Algrave and the rest of the army into Estramaduras in defense. Eventually the Portuguese do attack us at both Algrave and Estramaduras. We win easily in Algrave, but our driven out of Estramaduras.

By June of 1516 we have set up siege at Algrave and Tago. By May of 1517, both provinces surrender. Our forces move on to Oporto and set up siege. It falls to us in August, 1518 and we immediately demand Aporto and Algraves from the Portuguese. With their capitol in hand they have no choice, but to accept our terms. We didn't plan this war, but it turned out quite nicely for us. Shortly before our peace agreement Turkey forced Venice to pay 25 Ducats for their peace. So far it appears none of our brothers have lost a war against the heathens.

Here is my nation at the end of this war

[Daimyo]

**** Spanish War of Aggression; February,1519 - January,1522 ****

In an attempt to take advantage of our years of war against Portugal, Spain declares war on us on February 1st, 1519. They immediately blitz through Estraduras and lay siege to Toledo with almost 30,000 troops. We immediately take out our first post-bankruptcy loan and begin raising fresh troops. We send a 12k army from Oporto to Galicia to set up siege. At the same time we dispatch our Southern army from Algarve to set up siege in Castille. Instead of assaulting we allow the troops to siege. It seems Spain's strategy is to siege one province at a time with a large army. If we can siege two of their's in the same time (one of which is their capitol) we should come out ahead in the end. Toledo, Castille and Galicia all fall within a month. Despite having exchanged provinces we hold the advantage because we hold their capitol. I send them a generous offer of a white peace, but the dogs refuse! I order the Galicia unit on to Asturia and send the Castille troops on to Valencia. Meanwhile the Spanish advance on to Andalusia. Apparently they really want (and rightfully so) that shipyard and center of trade back. I send my newly raised troops to siege at Gibralter. Andalusia, Galicia, and Asturia all fall at about the time. Now up four provinces to three (including the capitol) I offer them peace demanding Galicia... again they refuse! We will win this one even if we must burn every Spanish city to the ground.

We receive word that the dogs have burned many of our New World trading posts. The Spanish army moves to Algraves. We send our northern army on to Euskadia and our Southern army over to retake unfortified Estraduras. Within several months Euskadia falls and Estraduras is reclaimed. Galicia appears to be mere months from falling as well. We have now achieved a decisive victory and demand Galicia and Valencia from the heathens. Reluctantly they accept. We now control more provinces on the Iberian Peninsula than any other nation. Losing our trading posts will hurt, but we now look to be in great position in any future Iberian wars.

Here is my nation at the end of this war

[Daimyo]

**** The Polish War of Aggression; November,1522 - April,1524 ****

In November, 1522, Spain's ally Poland declares war on our ally Turkey. Despite just ending a brutal war earlier in the year it looks as if we have once again been thrown into war with Spain. Once again we send troops to Castille to set up siege. Troops are also sent to Asturias, Catalonia and Gibralter. Spain seems to have very little ground troops left on the Iberian Peninsula. Our trading posts have reported a lot of Spanish activity in the New World so perhaps they have focused their military efforts there. Nonetheless, a 20k detachment of Spanish troops once again head toward Toledo. In about a month are surprised to see an 8k unit of Turkish troops disembark onto the Peninsula. If Turkey begins a sustained land assault on Spain, the Spanish Empire could potentially crumble very quickly. The Turkish troops set up a siege outside of Aragon. A year passes with only minor skirmishes (involving about 5k troops per side) outside of the seiged provinces. Then within a month of each other Castille, Gibralter, Asturias and Toledo all fall. Our Asturias troops march on to Euskadia to set up siege. A freshly raised unit moves onto Leon to setup siege there as well. The Gibralter army marches to Algraves to quash a rebel uprising. Six months later with three Spanish provinces in hand and three others halfway there I offer the Spanish peace. In the fourth Treaty of Castille the Spanish cede to us Asturias and Gibralter.

Here is my nation at the end of this war

[Blade6119]

Great story so far...i was wondering how you got to be granada...i was wondering if this was for the grand campaign?...i wanted to try some small countries for the game but can't get them besides the 8 "gold countries"...is there a scenario editor or something...thnx..and keep up the great story...

Blade

[Blade6119]

Sorry...forgot about the patch...i need to download it..thnx and sorry for the stupid question...keep up the good work

[Blade6119]

Where can i get the patch...can't find on any of my game sites...

[Daimyo]

1.8 patch for the North American version is here
http://www.paradoxplaza.com/files/pa...01.08%20NA.exe

I'm playing with the IGC 1.8. The IGC makes some changes to make the game supposedly more historically accurate, balanced, and fun. I'm not sure about that, but the one thing it does that is useful for me is that it includes a handy little utility that lets you choose which countries are playable. You can do this with the GC by editing the text files, but the IGC makes it very easy.... I'm running IGC v1.8. The latest is 1.9c. You can find it by going here
http://www.europa-universalis.com/depotmain.asp

and then browsing around a little (I think I can't link directly to it cause its an asp page).. thanks for reading and have fun!

[Carligula]

Really outstanding writeup, Daimyo... can't wait for finals to end so I can get this game .

Are you planning to wipe out the Spanish outright, or keep them around as a shield against France possibly coming after you?

[Daimyo]

I had hoped to leave the Spanish and the rest of Europe alone and concentrate on colonizing the new world and vassalizing the Northern African and Indian nations. Unfortunately as you'll see, Europe just won't leave me alone...

Thanks for reading!

[Daimyo]

Sorry the dates are not so exact.. I kind of got carried away with playing this weekend and didn't stop to take notes very well... hehe


**** Twenty Year Battle for Internal Stability; May, 1524 - mid-1540's ****

Over the last ten years or so I added about seven provinces from Spain and Portugal to my Iberian Empire. Although these places rightfully belonged to my people, 300 years of Catholic leadership had converted most of the population away from the true faith. Because of this, the people were lost and confused and rejected our rule. We spent the next 20 years re-educating the people. In the northern provinces of Galicia and Austeria missionaries were able to convert the heathen population to the true faith. The good people of Toledo and Gibralter even accepted the teachings of Mohammed on their own. The rest of the country has so far refused the true faith, but over time they have been able to accept Muslim rule.

[Daimyo]

**** Spanish War of Conquest; mid-1540's ****

Seeing their influence over the people of Iberian Peninsula waning angered the Spanish monarchy greatly. Just as my people were truly accepting Granadan rule, the foolish Spaniards declared war upon us. A bunch of far away nations joined the Spanish side and my trusty Muslim brothers all joined in on my side. Once again I sent my main army to seige Castille. I also sent an army to Leon and another army to Catalonia. The Spanish sent their lone army to Estraduras. Within the year all three Spanish provinces fell to my army. I sued for peace demaning Leon and Catalonia. The Spanish relented. Right after this war, France declared war on Spain as well! I almost felt sorry for them. When I went to check the Spanish/French border, I noticed that Algiers actually took Gerona from the Spanish apparently in a seperate peace offering!

**** First Mameluk War; late-1540's ****

Shortly after the end of the last Spanish war my allies, the Turks, declared war on the poor hapless Shi'ite Mameluks. They have fought them earlier and taken most of their middle-Eastern territories, but I had never committed any troops of my own to help out. Seeing a great opportunity for expansion, this time I decide to help out. I load about 15,000 ground troops onto my fleet of warships and transports and set sail for Alexandria. We arrive and quickly assault the city. It falls in two attempts and we march on to their capitol in Egypt. My goal is to take the capitol and quickly sue for Alexandria in a peace settlement before the Turks settle. The plan works as Egypt quickly falls into my hands and I quickly offer the Mameluks peace. The Turks retake the Egypt shortly after I withdraw my troops and take a few provinces of their own from the Mameluks who are left with only three provinces of their own. Alexandria gives me a huge population and my second center of trade. Also because Alexandria is a Sunni province and we liberated them from a Shi'ite government, there is no risk of revolt in the province.

[Daimyo]

A Shift in Colonial Strategy; mid - late 16th century ****

With our newly updated Spanish maps we find a nice little out of the way island to the north of our sugar islands. The Spanish apparently have little use for these lands because of their lack of gold, but we decide to send a few traders in search of more sugar or tobacco. This island appears to be very large (so large that the Spanish only know of one side of the island). We send traders to areas labelled by the Spanish as Santee, Roanoke, Chesapeake, Delaware, and Manhattan. Many of these names do not sound Spanish so we can only guess perhaps they acquired these maps in wars with other nations like England or France. We are quite pleased when we find that in several of these areas the natives have large quanities of tobacco to trade with us. In the last twenty years tobacco has become all the rage with the northern heathens. The fools will pay even more for it now than sugar. The traders in Santee send back a new material grown by the natives called cotton. With wool being so cheap and established in Europe we see little future in this new material. Santee is also the only one of the provinces without natives in the immediate area and when the traders send back stories of how fertile the land is a few people offer to migrate there in an attempt to set up the first Muslim city in the new world! It is a departure from our past policy of just trading with the natives, but the council of sheiks decide to grant the intrepid pioneers passage to establish the city. A little over a year later we receive word that the trip was a success, but more people are needed to develop the city. Over the next six years we send about 100 people per year until the city reaches a population of around 700. At that point they feel they have enough to actually be self-sufficient. Soon after we begin establishing cities in Roanoke, Chesapeake, and Manhattan.


**** Second Mameluk War; late 16th century ****

Once again the Turks decide to declare war on the Mameluks and once again we see it as an excellent opportunity to expand. This time we raise an army in Alexandria and take the Delta by assault. Once again we march to Egypt and with the help of the Turks it falls to our control in a matter of months. We sue for peace and this time grab the Delta. The Turks feel a little upset that they have to retake Egypt on their own, but they do it easily and annex the rest of the Mameluk territory into their empire shortly. While not as large a prize as Alexandria, the Delta is still a very nice province. Shortly after this war we diplomatically annex the North African nation bordering Alexandria [sorry I forgot the name] which gives us a very nice position in North Africa. Unfortunately our seperate peace with the Mameluks and our annexation of another Sunni nation has severly alienated us from the Turks. Luckily we feel strong enough to defend ourselves from Europe now without their help.

[zippy256]

Great write ups........ A very enjoyable read.

[Daimyo]

**** Second Great War of the Iberian Peninsula; early 17th century ****

Shortly after the turn of the century, Portugal decides to declare war on me. Unfortunately for me they've got about 90,000 troops in Tago and when they activate their alliance both England and Spain join in against me. I call on my Muslim brothers to come to my side, but to much to my chagrin, they all dishonor the alliance despite having pretty good relations. Looks like the bastards are scared of fighting against three of the current world powers at once. Since Portugal's lone army is almost double my combined military, this war will have to be won with strategy. I send one of my armies to laye seige to Castille and then I wait to see where Portugal will choose to attack me. Meanwhile I begin raising troops all over the peninsula.

When I see Portugal has decided to target Algraves first, I send my army from Andalusia up to Oporto to strike at the Portuguese from the north. I send my third army from Valencia over to Toledo. My goal it to seige Castille and Tago and then sue for peace. If I can get some more Spanish territory in the deal it would be nice, but not too important to me now. As for the massive Portugeuse army I will allow them to wither from attrition outside the walls of Algraves and Andalusia and then strike at them with my Toledo army when I see any sign of weakness.

Portugal does indeed set up seige at Algraves with all 90k of their army. Unfortunately for them the province will probably support less than a third of that number. I send about 15k infrantrymen each into Tago and Castille. Because I have few troops I will have to wait out the seiges instead of assaulting. The wildcard in this war is the English. If they send a massive army down it could get ugly; if they don't it should be over within a year.

My troops arrive in Castille in about a month and Tago in about two months to set up seige. The Spanish begin a seige in one of my northern provinces pretty quickly as well.

After about five or six months the Portugeue army is down to near 30-40k men and they decide to end the seige with an assault on the fortress. It falls and they march onto Andalusia. A month later we receive word that English warships have been spotted off the coast of Galicia. A few days later English troops disembark and begin seiging the city.

After a few months, the English assault the fortress in Galicia and it falls. They march on to Austuria. Spain takes Catalonia in an assault. Portugal begins to assault the fortress at Andalusia. I begin marching my troops from Toledo in to Andalusia. This is really going to be the turning point of the war. Portugal is taking a great risk here. If their assault is successful then four of my provinces will be occupied by the heathen alliance and neither Tago or Castille has fallen yet. Even with both capitols in my control the best I could hope for is an even peace. If the assault fails, them my troops from Toledo will easily mop up the survivers and detroy the entire Portugeuse military on the peninsula. From there it would be an easy job to recapture Algraves and take a Spanish province or two in peace.

When my Toledo army arrives in Andalusia they find the Portugeuse troops trying to regroup after their failed seige and easily take the battle of Andalusia with very little losses! I order them to pursue the survivors into Algraves. Within a week I receive news that both Tago and Castille have fallen to my troops. The tide has surely turned now. I decide to let the Spanish off easy this time and offer them peace demanding 500 ducats. They happily accept, but unfortunately their treasury is nearly empty and I only receive about 30 ducats. With Spain out of the war, I decide to really hurt Portugal. After slaughtering the disorganized remains of their army I load up about 15,000 troops and sent them across the straights to Tangiers. I don't really care about the English. I just need to make peace with Portugal and the war will end.

I set up seige in Tangiers with one army. I order the other to keep up their seige at Algraves. The third I send to Galicia to take it back from the English, who are laying seige to Asturia in the meantime.

In about a year Tangiers, Galicia, and Algraves are back in my hands. I control Tago and Tangiers from Portugal. England holds Asturia and has moves on to seige Leon. I make a very generous offer to the ruler of Portugal. If they let me have Tangiers and all the money in their treasury (up to 500 ducats) I will let them have Tago back and even spare the monarch's life. They happily accept. England is a little disapointed about having to come pick up their 10k of troops, so I they just decide not to. I don't really mind since they will quickly wither away and they can't participate in any wars unless they leave first and then come back...

[Daimyo]

**** Emphasis on Colonial Expansion; early 17th century ****

This past war was really so great for us because because it set us up great for overseas expansion. From stolen Spanish maps we learned that our little "island" is actually nearly the size of Europe. From our stolen Portuguese maps we stole we learned about the Eastern world. Directly east of Persia there exists a civilization known as Hyperbrad with which the Portugeuse have established some trade. We immediately send a group of traders and a diplomat to establish relations.

Much to our surprise and delight, these Hyperbrads follow the true faith! We immediatly establish a friendship and begin sending them gifts until they agree to share their maps with us. We are pleased to find that they know of two other Muslim nations, the Mughal Empire and Mysore, but we are saddened to see that several of the heathen nations like Portugal and England have set up posts in the area. The Hyperbrads ask us to join their alliance with the Mughals and we accept. With these two nations as my allies I should have no problems expanding my influence in this part of the world. I'd like to see the English or Portugeuse mess with me now as it would basically mean sacrificing all their efforts in this area.

The Spanish maps of "America" (as they refer to all the Western lands) reveal a native civilization near our colonies that call themselves the "Iriquois." We send diplomats to meet them as well, but they're not very friendly. Nevertheless, we will continue our expansion in America. New Iberia now consists of cities in Santee, Roanoke, Delaware, Chesapeake, and Manhattan and trading posts all arround them. We notice from the Spanish maps that the English have began their own colonial efforts to the north and that the Spanish have a small empire to the far south. As long as they stay out of my personal space, we'll all be happy.

After a few years and many gifts, the Hyperbrads agree to become my vassals. After ten years our alliance ends and I immediatley offer Hyperbrad, Mysore, and the Mughal Empire to allign with me. They all accept.

The English dogs begin establishing trading posts in New Iberia territory. I can not stand for this. At the same time they establish a new center of trade in Yanam which is adjacient to the Eastern border of Hyperbrad. This center of trade is very rich. I can not allow the English to infringe on my territory in both New Iberia and Hyperbrad. I start sending all my merchants to Yanam. Even if the English own it, I can still profit off of it if I can shut out their merchants.

After about a year it becomes obvious that the English can't compete with me in Yanam so the dogs enact a trade embargo on my merchants! Furious I hand them a declaration of war the very next day.

[ 04-22-2001: Message edited by: Daimyo ]

**** The Brit and Indian War; early 17th century ****

Enraged by their trade embargo I send the English a declaration of war. The English have left the Spanish and Portugeuse alliance and have joined an alliance with the Iriquois. They join on the English side and Hyperbrad, Mysore, and the Mughals join on my side. This war is unique in that it will seemingly be fought entirely overseas in New Iberia and Hyperbrad. It is the first colonial war in the history of Europe.

Luckily for me, this declaration of war was not as shocking as it was to the English. I had known that this day would come and I had quietly amassed quite a large army in my New Iberian provinces. I probably had near 100k of troops in New Iberia distributed evenly throughout my five cities. My goal in this war is to annex the Iriquois. I only get one colonist a year (as long as I control a shipyard) and that number will never increase for my country. To colonize six cities (like what the Iriquois possess) would take me well over fifty years and over 5000 ducats. By annexing the Iriquois I would almost triple my New World population and military potential which would make me all but invincible in future New World wars. In fact, I didn't really care about the English trade embargo. It just gave me a great way to get into war with the Iriquois with actually taking the huge stability hit from declaring it myself. The English really have no way to mobilize much of an army in New Iberia so they shouldn't be much of a factor.

I send one army to Oswago, one to Tuscarora, one to Irondekoit, and one to the capitol of Mohawk. I leave one army behind to watch my colonies in case of the English manage more of an attack than I predict. To my surprise my troops are barely a match for the Iriquois even outnumbering them two to one! [note: Granada has no leaders and the generic ones are absolutely terrible... Also, my moral seems to max out one level below the other European countries. I wanted to edit this, but I can't find where to change my generic leader's strength. As it is I can't really fight anyone in a direct fight]. Luckily the Iriquois have very weak fortifications so I'm able to quickly assault and conquer Oswago, Tuscarora, Mohawk, and Irondekoit. They have only one province left, and I send an army to take it. Unfortunately most of my other armies are massacred and Irondekoit is reclaimed by two 30k strong Iriquois armies that show up out of nowhere! I quickly offer the Iriquois peace demanding Tuscarora and Oswago. The Iriquois accept. It seems that they should have fought on given the last few battles, but I'm pretty sure if they had tried I could have conquered them entirely after several years. With nearly all their provinces in my possession they would not have been able to restock their army very fast, whereas I could have easily built almost 50,000 troops each year in my colonies. [The reason for me to end the war quickly is that 1) I need to avoid long wars as much as possible so as to lower the risk of having my wars overlap and becoming really long and 2) the way the badboy rating works its strongly in the players favor to take two provinces at a time and only annex a country with one or two provinces left]

With the Iriquois out of the war, there really wasn't much for me to fight for. My Hyperbrad alliance easily took Yanam from the English, but it wouldn't benefit me at all to give it to the Mughal Empire (they don't accept my merchants either). I asked the English for a white peace, but they rejected me so I burnt all their trading posts in New Iberia. They have small cities in Hindua and Erie so I split up one of my armies and sent half to each. My army found Erie undefended so it was a quick victory. Now with two English provinces in hand I again sued for a white peace. This time the English gladly accepted before my second army could reach Hindua.

I didn't take a pic at the time, but this is roughly what things looked like at the end of this war. At the time there was no French (blue) around, much less English (red), and much less Granada (brown).

[Daimyo]

**** The Four Portugeuse Wars of Silliness; early 17th century - 1660 ****

Act I.
Despite having absolutely no troops on the Iberian Peninsula, Portugal gets the bright idea to declare war on me. Unfortunately they are once again allied with England and Spain. As before, I immediatly disptach a unit to Tago to seige Portugal's capitol city and a unit to Castille to seige the Spanish capitol. This time I decide to take the opportunity to relieve Spain of the burden of ruling Aragon and Euskadia so I send a seige army to each of these provinces as well. I burn all of England's trading posts in New Iberia while in the meantime my Hyperbrad allies take Yanam from England. Within a year all four provinces are in my control. I sue for peace with Spain and get Aragon and Euskadia. I sue for peace with Portugal and get about 60 of the 500 ducats I demand.

Act II.
About six or seven or so years later, once again, despite having absolutely no troops on the Iberian Peninsula, Portugal decides its in their best interests to declare war on me. Spain, who also has no troops on the peninsula, and England joins in the war. Once again I seige Tago and Castille and burn all the English trading posts in New Iberia. My allies take Yanam. I sue for peace and once again get cheated out of my ducats.

Act III.
About six or seven years later, once again, despite having absolutely no troops on the Iberian Peninsula, Portugal decides its in their best interests to declare war on me. Spain, who also has no troops on the peninsula, and England joins in the war. Once again I seige Tago and Castille and burn all the English trading posts in New Iberia. My allies take Yanam. I sue for peace and get cheated of out of my ducats.

Sometime after the third silly war with Portugal I offer the nobility of Hyperbrad the privledge of becoming Citizens of the Iberian Empire. They express great interest, but unfortunately the monarch learns of the plan and blocks the deal. Our relations suffer, but we immediately send him a personal gift and a letter explaining that it was all a big misunderstanding that soothes things over.

A month later we once again offer the nobility the privledge of joining the Iberian Empire. This time we're more careful about keeping things secret. They accept the deal, stage a coup, and then willing join my empire. Mysore and the Mughal Empire don't like the deal at all, but I don't really mind. Now that I have my own large base in Hyperbrad, I don't really need them any more.

Act IV.
About six or seven years later Portugal decides that this time they can succeed where they failed in the past. I receive a declaration of war and notive that the Spaniards and English will be joining in once again. At this point I'm pretty pissed off at the Portugeuse. [My badboy rating has always been less than five, so I'm not sure why they keep DoW'ing me with no chance of victory] This time I vow to teach them a lesson they will not soon forget. I send my army to Tago. I send another army to Castille. This time I also load up about 20,000 soldiers on my war ships with the intention of sending them to New Portugal to wreck havoc. The English now have four or five colonies in inner New Iberia. I send my New Iberian troops out to take the English settlements. With my own troops to control in Hyperbrad I decline to ask my allies to fight for me this time. Instead I send about 15,000 of my own men from Hyperbrad to lay seige at Yanam. Yanam contains a very rich center of trade. Now that I have my own troops in Hyperbrad I hope to add it to my empire.

After a couple months I begin seiging Tago and Castille on the mainland. In New Iberia I lay seige at the English cities in Hindua and Erie. In New Portugal I set up seige at Recliffe.

Within a year, Tago, Castille, Yanam, Erie, Hindua, and Recliffe fall into my hands. I negotiate a seperate white peace with Spain to keep them from burning any more of my New Iberian trading posts. England offers me Erie in a peace deal, but I reject it and demand Yanam. Not surprisingly they reject. No matter, there is an undefended British colony next to Hindua that would give me four stars and a much better chance. I send a detachment to secure it.

In New Portugal I break off a couple 1k units and send them all around burning trading posts. By the time I finished I had probably burnt about 10-15 and Portugal was left with none on the continent. I offer England peace once more and this time they give up Yanam! I force Portugal in to a much harsher decision. They basically have nothing right now. I could easily take all their cities and possessions around the world in about five years and annex them with force, but this war might be difficult to justify to the people of Iberia. Instead I make the Portugeuse a very generous offer. All they have to do is move their capitol off the Iberian Peninsula and renounce all rights to all their old territories there. In return I will let them survive as a nation and spare the life of their monarch. I think its a generous offer because after starting four silly wars against me I was ready to just behead their monarch and get it over with. The Portugeuse government reluctantly decides to accept our offer and move their capitol offshore to the Azore Islands.

[At this point Portugal is down to only two cities in New Portugal, a couple island cities around Africa, and some holdings in Africa and Asia. I could probably take them all and annex them within five years, but I don't really want to remove a major player from the game. However, I really can't stand them declaring war on me every few years when its impossible for them to ever win. It really only lets me unfairly take land from England and Spain and money from Portugal. As a compromise I decide to edit the game so that Tago is no longer the capitol of Portugal. I move their capitol to the Azore Islands off the coast of the Iberian Peninsula. I take ownership of Tago for myself and end the war. Some may see this as cheating since I edited the save file on my own, but my motives are not to advance my position in the game, but to keep the AI from comitting suicide by constantly attacking me. I even gave a Portugal a shipyard in the Azores to make up for the one they lost in Tago. Having an extra one doesn't help me at all since the colonist bonus is negated. Also, getting the center of trade in Tago does not help me as well since it makes the Andalusia CoT completely worthless (almost all my trade goes to Tago now, Andalusia gets four provinces, one of which adds nothing because it is a gold province, the others add fish which is worthless). My other option was to annex Portugal which would have been doable, but a hassle. My main reason for not doing this, as I said before, is that I do not want to remove a major colonial and political power like Portugal completely from the game this early. In the end taking Tago from Portugal will hurt me more than help me. It will now be next to impossible for me to end wars so easily if they DoW on me again. I'm considering taking Castille from the Spanish in the next war for this exact reason. This is the first time I have edited the save game file. I will make a note like this if I ever do it again with my reasoning for doing so.]

The Iberian Empire, circa 1660

[Carligula]

Originally posted by Daimyo:
...Because of this and my choice of country, surviving more than one or two years will be a real accomplishment...

Hehe... sandbagger . Very well done (writing and conquering both).

[Daimyo]

Originally posted by Carligula:
Hehe... sandbagger . Very well done (writing and conquering both).

Actually... I'll admit it... this was my third attempt. The first two times I did not make it past the first year...

If you can survive that first war with Spain though the rest isn't too hard, especially since the Spanish and Portugeuse capitols are so near...

[daedalus]

Awesome job!!!

PS - This may seem like a completely dunce question but how do you offer gifts to someone?!? For the life of me, I can't seem to figure out how to do it. Eeek!!!@

[Blade6119]

You can offer gifts by going in the diplomacy menu with that country...in the top right there is a relations button and i t hink diplomacy...click on relations...a list of 3 gifts and 3 insults will come up on side bar...click on what to spend that money and improve relations

[Daimyo]

Right-click on the country you want to give a gift to and select send diplomat. A window should open up that either a) lists different levels of gifts or insults or b) lists things like like "offer royal marriage", "declare war", etc etc.

To the left of this window there is a smaller window with two choices. One choice is relations and the other is [can't remember the name]. Anyway if relations is selected in this small window then the larger window will show option a) from above. if the other one is selected, the larger window will show optiob b). (or the other way around... don't have it in front of me)... hope this helps.

[Blade6119]

Daimyo...i wanted to knoiw if you could explain what files to edit to move capitols...make cot's....make shipyards...this would make the game more realistic in a way(if not considered cheating,as many countries have had to move their capitols due to wars or better choices...if you could explain(ie. take the time to) it would help a lot in making the game more realistic...thnx

[Daimyo]

**BACKUP YOUR SAVED FILE BEFORE YOU DO ANY OF THIS... I'm not responsible for lost data**

The file you're looking for is in the scenarios\save games\ folder. The name will be the same as what you named the save game and the extension is *.eug. Open this file with wordpad, its clear text. I'm not entirely familar with everythign here, but i'll do my best.. you'll have to look elsewhere or experiment more yourself to find what most things do. Everything I know comes from personally experimenting.

The first stuff seems to be info about the current game. After that there is information about every province. After that is the most important part where it stores all the info about each country. Scroll through the countries until you find your's (they're listed by tag, so you can search for your countries tag if you know... most are obvious some are not TRI = Granada for example). Toward the end of each countries entry there is a list of each city the country owns. The top one should be the capitol and will have an entry like "capitol = yes" just delete this and move it to the city you want to be the capitol. To add a shpyard just change "shipyard = no" to shipyard = yes".

If you have more questions I'll try to answer them later.. i have to go now. The best way to learn is to jst look around in there, make one change at a time and test the game between changes.

[daedalus]

Grrrrr. I feel like a dolt. When I'd click on the diplomacy button, it'd be on the "View Alliance" setting. So I'd see the "offer peace", "create new alliance", etc. When I clicked on the "View Relations" button, I forgot to double to check to see if the context menu had changed and simply assumed that it was the same. Yes, naturally making an ass out of myself. Found it now, thanks to y'all. DANKE!!!

[Blade6119]

Daimyo...I opened the files with wordpad and all i got was 1 line of @@#%%*&^$&%$*$^$#&$#&...YOU KNOW WHAT I MEAN!!!!

ANY HELP WOULD BE GREAT...THNX

[daedalus]

Not Daimyo here, but . . .

It's the EUG file not the EUG.CFG file.