EU3: The Kingdom of Aragon

[sabotai]

I recently started playing EU3 again. After playing through a few campaigns as nations I was familiar with (Portugal, Japan and Bavaria), I decided to start up with a nation I have not played before. I was thinking of playing as a 1 province nation, like Anxiety did with Naxos, but instead decided to go with a "power", but one that was threatened by at least one nation that was a far greater power.

I went with Aragon, a nation on the Iberian Peninsula that is sandwiched between Castille and France. Aragon starts with 6 provinces on the main land and several islands (The Baleares, Sardinia, Malta and the island shared by Palermo and Mallina).

There are several challenges in playing as Aragon.

One is that it's a little difficult to defend so many islands. If I get into a war with anyone of any power, I either need to station at least one regiment on every island to help defend it, or have a huge navy that will prevent any tranports from getting there. It helps that the AI does tend to ignore the islands and will prioritize defense and going after mainland provinces first. However, in several play throughs with Portugal, if they can't get to your mainland provinces, they will go after your islands.

Another is France and Castille. There isn't much room to expand your mainland territory. There are a few 1 province nations around Aragon at the start of the game, but all but 1 (Navarra) is a vassel of France. So other than annexing Navarra, you have to war with Castille or France to expand your mainland territory, and both of them are far richer and much more powerful than you are at the start.

Therefore, most of the territory you conquer early in the game will have to come from North Africa or Italy, meaining less tax revenue from conquered provinces and needing to transport your invasion forces to and from your mainland/islands.

Third is connected to the second. At some point, France is coming at you. You can try to stop it with Royal Marriages, but it won't work. France will come at some point, so get ready (although they won't right away, so you have time).

But there are bonuses as well.

You start off with pretty good relations with Castille and Portugal, so you don't really need to worry about them invading.

You start off with a large fleet of Galleys and Cogs, so the fleet you'll need to war is already provided for you.

The best advantage of Aragon is that you start off with a Personal Union with Sicily. They will accept vasselage pretty easily when your monarch dies (thus ending the Personal Union). After that, it's just a matter of waiting 10 years and trying for a Diplo-Annex. If they accept, you will directly control southern Italy.

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The Story So Far...

I've played through a little over 15 years so far. Here is what happened.

In June, 1453 (game starts on May 30, 1453) Aragon declared war on Navarra. The war was short, as we simply sent our army up there and waited for their fort to fall. Navarra held out for awhile, but in April, 1454, Navarra fell and was annexed.

Alfons V died in October 1453. Sanc II (5 Adm., 5 Dip., 8 Mil.) took over rule of Aragon and still rules to this day.

We allied with Castille after Sanc took rule of the nation. Because of this alliance, I felt more secure in our defense against France. Should they come, hopefully Castille honors the alliance and protects my northern border.

With an alliance with Castille came the chance to piggyback in some wars in Northern Africa. The one province I had my eye on was the privince of Oran, held by Algiers. It is a province that has decent Production and Tax Income (for a Northern African province) and produced Wine. About as wealty a province there is in Northern Africa west of Alexadria (that isn't a capital). I wanted that province.

With Algiers allied with Morocco, and Castille constantly at war with Morocco, it opened the door for me to easily get in and take the province. In the first Iberian-African war (in 1463), Castille was able to take a few of Grenada's provinces, but didn't make any progress into Africa, nor was I able to fight off the Algierian army in Oran.

Much better progress in the second war (1468). Castille took a few provinces from Morocco, and I got Oran. Since Castille made peace quickly the first time, I was worried I wouldn't have time again. However, I sent two armies of 6k troops each into Algiers, one in Oran and one in Kabylia (east of their capital, Oran on the west). After defeating their army and taking control of both provinces, I immediately sued for peace and got Oran.

Right after the war was over, I had a chance to Diplo-Annex Sicily. They accepted, and now Aragon rules over Southern Italy.

The current date is January 10th, 1469.

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Current Map (January 1469)

[Coffee Warlord]

Resurrect the Roman Empire!

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Current State of Affairs

Economy

I have been ignoring merchants right now. I've tried sending them out, but they get competed away quickly. Right now, it's costing 2.8 ducats to send a merchant to a nearby Center of Trade. The CoTs are getting to the point where they will be worth it, but at the start of the game, the cost is not worth the reward, since you only get 1 or 2 ducats per year, IF your merchant can last a year.

Once CoTs start getting much more money, then they'll be worth the risk when it's only a matter taking a few months to recover initial costs.

My stability is +3, and I plan on keeping it there. I think I have a good grasp of how to keep it high, so I don't have a need to put money into Stability nor hire Stability Advisors.

I have every ducat going into Investments. I do not have any inflation yet. My only advisor is a Naval Tech advisor, who puts 6 ducats a month in Naval research, so I also do not have any money going into Naval tech. I have 2 going into Production and Trade each, 3.5 going into Land and 5.7 going into Government (trying to get to Second National Idea as fast as I can). My first National Idea was Scientific Revolution, which modifies how much I need to research by -2.5%.

I have 95 ducats in the bank (it's January), I'm losing 3.37 ducats per month for my advisor and military upkeep (40.44 per year), and I am gaining 70.7 ducats at the end of each year.

Military

Army - I have 3,000 infantry in mainland Aragon. I also have 3,000 infantry and 2,000 cavalry in recently conquered Oran to help fight off inevitable revolts.

Navy - 17 Galleys and 8 Cogs (what I started off with.

Diplomacy

I have an alliance with Castille and Burgundy. Burgundy is on France's North-East border. I also have Royal Marriages with Portugal, Castille and France.

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Goals

France - *sigh*

As you can see, France has, I think, their entire army sitting on my northern border. Each little French flag on the above map represents either 10k or 11k soldiers. They have 42,000 troops sitting there. I have 3,000 protecting.

I doubt, however, they will be so bold as to attack me when I have both Castille and Burgundy allied with me. Burgundy has a pretty sizable army (although at war right now so hard to get exact idea of how big it is. About 20k right now) Castille has about 20,000 as well. So if that is all, or the bulk, of France's army, and both Castille and Burgundy come to my resque, I think I should be fine.

The Mamluks. I see them already. They are allied with Tripoli (the green nation in the bottom right of the map) and own 2 provinces west of them. I bet they get the rest of Tunis soon, and then look to Algiers.

So that's 2 major powers that could be threatening me pretty soon.

Northern Africa

My plan here is simple. I'll leave Morocco to Castille while taking Algiers for myself. Oran was, by far, their best non-capital province. The rest are pretty poor to very poor. It's not really with the effort to control the rest of their provences, so instead of annexing them, my goal is to simply make them a vassal. That will give me half of their tax income, which isn't really much, but there is atax penalty to different religions, plus there is also a tax penalty to not having a land connection. Totally up the penalties, it's not worth controlling Algiers. Oran is the exception because, for one it has a high tax base, and secondly the money it produces from Production more than makes up for the tax penalties.

More importantly, however, is that it'll give me space to work with in Northern Africa. And since Castille is on its way to taking over Moroco, if I don't at least make them a vassal, Castille will probably expand that direction next if I don't put up a road block.

As said, next over are The Mamluks and their allies, Tripoli. I could easily take over Tripoli, a 3 province nation. Just like Algiers, there provinces are poor. Except their capital, which is very rich in Production (it's an Ivory province). It'll be worth taking on 2 worthless provinces to control that Ivory province, so the plan is to find an opening to invade. However, since I'll be surrounded by The Mamluks, I'll only look to make them vassals at first. As soon as I can securely occupy those lands, then I'll look towards annexation.

Italy

Ruled mostly by small nations that are constalty allied and at war with each other. I plan to take my time here. I'm going to warn most of the nations here, and when one declares war, I have my chance to get some land.

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1469

I recruit 3 infantry units in Sicily to help fight off any revolts that could happen. Some people don't like being under my control there, so it'll be a few decades worth of possible revolution in Sicily. With the addition of 3 infantry, my monly upkeep is now 4.06 per month (48.72 per year)

With the increase of revenue from the annexation of Sicily, my budget looks like this: 7.3 Government, 2.5 Production, 2.5 Trade, 0.0 Naval (+6 Advisor), 4.5 Land

I entered into a Royal Marriage with Savoy (the small, white nation between Venice and France)

1470

I sent out warnings to Sien, The Papal States, Genoa and Tuscany. Now if any of them declare war, I get a Casa Bali on them, meaning I can go to war with them without getting a -2 penalty to stability for going to war without a reason.

Northern Italy did end up warring, but a 1 province nation Mantua, which is land locked, started it. I didn't both to warn them because I could not get to them. Oh well.

1471

With over 100 ducats in the bank now, I start building 2 more Galleys.

The war between Mantua and Genoa ended with Genoa annexing Mantua. Looks like Genoa is starting to become a power in Northern Italy. Problem for them is they remain at war with Austria (who was allied with Mantua),

I enter into a Royal Marriage with Sweden.

England and Portugal go to war with Scotland and Norway.

I start construction on another Galley. This will give me two fleets of 10.

The truce between Algiers + Morocco and Castille + Aragon is over. I must start preparing myself to invade Algiers. It's only a matter of time before Castille and Morocco throw down again.

My Trade Tech increases to level 2. The CoT in Burgundy (Vlaanderen) is now valued at 414 ducats. I may start sending merchants soon.

In October, Castille delcared war on Grenada, but Grenada is no longer allied with Morocco or Algiers. I go to war with them, mainly to keep my alliance in tact. Karaman, a 1 province nation all the way on the eastern edge of the Mediterranean was allied with Grenada and are at war with me now.

I move one of my galley fleets over to Malta as a precaution.

1472

Event
Diplomatic Insult: A diplomate from The Papal States has insulted me.

We Will Not Forget This - Gain a Casus Belli on The Papal States
Try To Ease The Tension - Change relations by 60



The Papal States are allied with Sien, a bordering 1 province nation. Here's my chance. I can go to war with The Papal States, Sien will get dragged into it, and I can annex Sien.

I choose "We Will Not Forget This" but I'm holding off on war for a bit. I'm still going to wait and see if Castille invades Morocco and build up some troops. The Papal Stats have 3k Cavalry and 2k Infantry sitting in their capital. Sien has 3k Infantry.

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1473

Castille finished off Grenada. There are no more Muslim nations on the Iberian Peninsula.

Event: Fortification Effort
It's of the Utmost Importance - Gain a level 2 fort in Napoli plus 236 manpower at the cost of 30 ducats
It's too expensive - Gain 40 ducats


I choose "It's too expensive". Those 40 ducats will be better served raising a 4k mercenary army. I am in the process of tranporting my Oran army over to attack Siena. With this 40 ducats, I will add to the army already in Italy and declare war.


April, 1473 - War Were Declared

Castille and Burgundy have both joined the fight. The Papal States are sending 4k into Napoli, where I have 7k waiting (but a bit demoraled due to having just hired 4k in mercs). My 5k army is undocking into Siena where they have to fight 3k of infantry. The Papal States are also sending 1k into Abruzzi, which I have undefended.

June 1st - Our army in Napoli fought off the army of The Papal States. They immediately follow them to Roma.

June 6th - We win Siena. The Siena troops are retreating to Roma, so I stop my marching there. Instead, I send my army to Abruzzi to fight off the small force they have there.

July 12th - We win in Abruzzi but our fortress in Napoli is under siege. I send my fleet of cogs to mainland Aragon to pick up my 3k infantry that is there.

September 10th - After a long naval battle, we lost 10 of our Galleys, while they only lost 3 ships. We did "win" the battle, though, and captured one of their galleys.

1474

March 7th - Siena has fallen into our hands and we have annexed them. This didn't do us any favors as far as Reputation goes, but oh well. We now send our troops into Rome. Tuscany has also allowed me access through their land, so I can send a force to attack Papal's second province (of 3) without needing to send them around the Italian Peninsula.

As it turns out, looks like Tuscany took a jump at opportunity. I see they are currently in the province I was headed to and are about to take it. The Papal's 3rd province is surrounded by France, so no getting to it.

August 1st - Roma has fallen. My first peace offer is for them to become our vassal. Without being able to get to their thrid province, if they don't accept this, they probably never will

And they did. The Papal States are now vassals of Aragon.

October 24th - Sanc II has died. We are now ruled by a Regency Council

December 13th - Burgundy calls for me. They are being attacked by Bohemia and Hungary. I need this alliance so I accept. I am hoping in a few months, I can offer a white peace and escape any kind of attack.

[WSUCougar]

Sweet move in Italy! But what are those Mamluks up to?

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1475

March - This alliance with Burgundy is getting out of hand. Now they want me to help defend against Brunswick, who i salso allied with Brandenburg, Mecklenburg and Saxony. Now, they are in the north so they are no threat to me, but still. I'm afraid my people are starting to get tired of war.

I accept, becuase I need them as allies...

September - The war with Bohemia and Co. ends with nothing of any imprtance happening.

November - Mecklenburg tried to tell me to give up Sardinia as soverign and pay they a bunch of money. L-O-L. Was my response.

December - The war ends with nothing important happening.

1476

Peace in our land, but Hungary and Venice are at war with the Ottomans.

1477

Castille brings me into a war against the Cherokee. Don't think I need to wrry about them counter attacking me.

November 4th - Our new leader has come of age. Joan II - Admin: 6, Military 5, Diplomacy: 5

Portugal and England have gone to war with Norway and France. Hopefully they can hurt France a bit. I've given Portugal access, just incase they could use it.

1478

I have started to build some Galleys (4 to be exact). Need to build my fleet back up.

1479

May - Navarra is now considered a core province. In other news, Burgundy is overrun with rebels. It doesn't look good for them.

October - Portugal and England have started to make some progress in France, and for the first time in a while, I don't see any troops along my border. I'm starting to get the "bright idea" to invade and try to poach a few provinces. Castille and Burgundy (who is hurting) may join me, so that will make several powers vs. France. But they are allied with Scotland and Norway, so me attacking will bring them into it.

But I can't. My reputation is still too bad. I'm going to really piss people off if my reputation gets worse so I need to cool it with the attacks and annexing for awhile. I still had a bad reputation from annesing Sicily when I attacked the Papal States. But that was too good of an opportunity. This would probably be stupid.

1480

And soon after I wrote that, France pushed Portugal out. Good thing I didn't follow through with my initial thought.

May - My production increased to level 1. I can now build Workshops (+2 to tax revenue in province). They are expensive to build (50 ducats) but more than worth it over time. I start construction of one in my capital (Barcelona)

And something I forgot to mention. Siena has a University, which gives me +6 to Production in Siena, +1% Population Growth in Siena, and +5 to Government Research per month. I pull back on Government Research a few ducats per month (about 3) and put that towards Land Research.

Here is how my tech research is borken down now

Government: 5.5 per month (+5 from University)
Production: 2.9 per month
Trade: 2.9 per month
Naval: 0.0 per month (+6 from Advisor)
Land: 8.1 per month

July - France asked us for military access. Fat chance...

Decmber - Burgundy asks for help against Flanders, a 3 province nation that just declared independance from Burgundy. I accept. I also entered into a Royal Marriage with Austria.

One last thing. The Mamluks have annexed Tunis. I'm not sure when, since I've been distracted by what is going on in Europe, but they look like they are on the move.

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1481

My Bad Boy is still near 7, so I hired a few Diplomat Advisors to help bring it down. My ruler has it declinging -0.5 per year, but with 2 2-star advisors, it's not dropping at -0.7 per year. So within a decade, my Reputation will be perfect again.

England and Portugal are still at war with France. 4 nonstop years at war have got to be hitting all three economically and socially (war exhaustion). Looking through their provinces, both England and Portugal have War Exhaustion over 11 in the Revolt Risks while France's provinces have over 7.

May - Our workshop is completed in Barcelona. I forgot to give a rundown of my provinces, so I might as well do so now.

Mainland Aragon

Capital: Barcelona
Income: Tax 17.25 (Workshop), Production: 5.10
Trade: Wine (1.2 Units). Trade Value: 15.0 (Market Place)
Culture: Catalan, Religion: Catholic

Velencia
Income: Tax 10.35, Production: 5.15
Trade: Wine (1.3 Units), Trade Value: 15.1 (Market Place)
Culture: Catalan, Religion: Catholic

Aragon
Income: Tax 7.35, Production: 2.38
Trade: Iron (1.0 Units), Trade Value: 7.0
Culture: Castilian, Religion: Catholic

Girona
Income: Tax 4.60, Production: 1.27
Trade: Fish (1.0 Units), Trade Value: 3.7
Culture: Catalan, Religion: Catholic

Roussillon
Income: Tax 4.60, Production: 3.68
Trade: Wine (1.0 Units), Trade Value: 10.8
Culture: Catalan, Religion: Catholic

Pirineo
Income: Tax 4.20, Production: 0.32
Trade: Wool (1.0 Units), Trade Value: 1.0
Culture: Castilian, Religion: Catholic

Navarra
Income: Tax 2.55, Production: 2.36
Trade: Iron (1.0 Units), Trade Value: 6.9
Culture: Basque (Non-Accepted), Religion: Catholic

The Islands

The Baleares
Income: Tax 3.56, Production: 1.95
Trade: Fish (1.0 Units), Trade Value: 5.7 (Market Place)
Culture: Catalan, Religion: Catholic

Sardinia
Income: Tax 2.36, Production: 1.42
Trade: Fish (1.2 Units), Trade Value: 4.2
Culture: Lombard (Non-Accepted), Religion: Catholic

Palermo
Income: Tax 6.23, Production: 5.00
Trade: Wine (1.4 Units), Trade Value: 14.7
Culture: Sicilian, Religion: Catholic

Messina
Income: Tax: 5.34, Production: 1.58
Trade: Fish (1.3 Units), Trade Value: 4.6
Culture: Sicilian, Religion: Catholic

Malta
Income: Tax 1.77, Production: 1.27
Trade: Fish (1.0 Units), Trade Value: 3.7
Culture: Maltese (Non-Accepted), Religion: Catholic

Italy

Napoli
Income: Tax 7.12, Production: 7.66
Trade: Wine (2.0 Units), Trade Value: 22.5 (Market Place)
Culture: Sicilian, Religion: Catholic

Calabria
Income: Tax 3.56, Production: 2.11
Trade: Fish (1.2 Units), Trade Value: 6.2 (Market Place)
Culture: Sicilian, Religion: Catholic

Apulia
Income: Tax 2.67, Production: 4.24
Trade: Salt (1.2 Units), Trade Value: 12.5
Culture: Sicilian, Religion: Catholic

Abbruzzi
Income: Tax 2.95, Production: 4.00
Trade: Wine (1.1 Units), Trade Value: 11.8
Culture: Umbrian (Non-Accepted), Religion: Catholic

Siena
Income: Tax 4.72, Production: 9.82, University 6.00
Trade: Cloth (1.1 Units), Trade Value: 11.2
Culture: Lombard (Non-Accepted), Religion: Catholic

Africa

Oran
Income: Tax 1.45, Production: 3.99
Trade: Wine (1.1 Units), Trade Value: 11.7
Culture: Berber (Non-Accepted), Religion: Sunni

[sabotai]

1482

Burgundy is being carved up. Another province declared independance (Hainaut), and now I am at war with them. I did sign a White Peace-erino with Flanders.

Thanks to the war that Castille declared in the Americas (and my accepting to fight with them), it revealed a part of the map to me, including a capital province that holds a CoT. There are still free slots here, and even better, it's one of the richest CoTs I know about. I send off all of merchants. Not cheap at 5.63 a pop, but if there are several free slots, I doubt there will be a lot of competition here.

July - Government Tech 2.

All 5 merchants find a home at the Tuskegee Center of Trade. It's total value is 411.50 ducats, and my merchants (which cost 28.15 ducats to send) are bringing home 34.8 ducats a year in trade (6.96 each). If they are able to all last just one year, it'll cover the cost and the rest will be pure profit.

Right now, only 4 nations are at this CoT, Castille, Cherokee, Creek, and now Aragon, and all 4 have 5 merchants here. Of course, now there are no free slots, but no one is capable of a monopoly. So as long as this CoT stays between the 4 of us, we should be able to reap in the profits.

August - I sign a White Peace with Hainaut. I also enter into Royal Marriages with Brittany and England. I think I need to start upgrading my relations with Brittany and hope they want an alliance at some point. I don't think I can count on Burgundy to protect me from the north anymore.

December - Holland has declared its independance from Burgundy. I accept Burgundy's request to help fight, but will take a White Peace offer as soon as Holland offers.

Both Flanders and Hainaut came to peace terms with Burgundy. Hainaut keeps its independance, Flanders gave back one province, and is now a 2 province independant. Flanders immediately signed alliances with Hainaut, The Palatinate and Brittany.

1483

The war that France fights against Portugal and England still rages on. It is now entering its 5th year. War Exhaustion in Portugal and England is up to 12.74 in both nations. France is catching, they are up to over 10. All of France's provinces have a 4.3% chance at revolt because of the war exhaustion (the problem that seems to have destroyed Burgundy)

Portugal is up to 4.7% revolt, and due to a low Stability, England's provinces are at 9.7% revolt chance. England is getting very close to the revolt levels I have been seeing in Burgundy (9.5% - 12.5%).

July - Naval Tech 2 - I can build Barques now. Barques are Light Ships (The first ones you get). They are slightly smaller than a Galley, but they have 15 Cannons to a Galley's 10, and they have a Ship Speed of 10 vs. an 8 for Galleys. The downside is that they cost more than twice as much to construct.

Now that I have 18 Galleys, I'm going to start really building up my fleet. I want to start building some Carracks. They are the Big Ships. Hull Size: 20 (Bargue 8, Galley 10), Cannons: 40, Ship Speed:5. Not as fast as a Galley or Barque, but they'll blow the fuck out of you if they catch you. I figure some of these to compliment a vast armada of the Barques should be pretty good.

August - White Peace with Holland. Burgundy has lost it's Capital to rebels. Burgundy may be slowly dying. Their territory is fractured and they can't move armies from one area to another. They have 12k soldiers sitting in one of their small blobs, but they can't move. They have 11k in Holland, and they can't get to their capital. Very bad for Burgundy.

December - Castille starts war with Creek and the Cherokee, so the money will stop coming from that CoT for the time being. I was wondering why Castille hadn't been going into Morocco. I guess they decided to focus on the New World. After my Bad Boy disappears, I'll prepare for an invasion of Algiers.

1484

Algiers begins leading a Personal Union with Morocco. Some how, Castille got inself into a war with Morocco, but I was uninformed. Dunno how that happened, but I guess I missed out on this one.

Event - Nobles Demand Privileges
"Accept Their Rightful Claims" - Aristocracy gains 1
"Ignore Their Demands" - National Revolt Risk +2, National Tax Modifier -5% - For 1 year

Booo. I'll go with the Aristocracy I guess. It'll make Big Ships and Light Ships cost another 5%, but Cavalry is cheaper and Production gets a 1% bonus (hurts trade though). I'll move it back when I can.

June - Cherokee give me a White Peace offer and I take it. The value of the CoT was hit hard, but I still have my 5 merchants there. The CoT has 327 now and my merchants bring home 26.93 per year now. Oh well, it is house money now anyway.

July - I enter into an Alliance with Austria. Now that Burgundy (who is at peace with Holland now, getting back 1 province) is no longer a northern power, Austria can now help protect me. Lucky for me that they offered me an alliance. I'm still allied with Burgundy, but now if they try and drag me down with them, I can tell them off.

It looks like Austria has a standing army of about 30k troops.

The rebels that have taken a 3 province blob of Burgundy (including their capital) have now moved into France. It's an army of about 5k rebels. Go rebels go!

France finally signed a truce with Portugal, but continue to war with England going on for the 7th straight year as I enter 1485.

[sabotai]

1485

Another province declares independance from Burgundy. A nation called Nevers that I am now at war with (but will take a White Peace once offered).

1486

France and England continue to fight. France's stability took a hit, and with their War Exhaustion over 11, revolt risk in their provinces are at 8.1%. England's is over 11%. One of their provinces is rebelling.

Good new for Burgundy, finally, in that they have annexed Nevers to take back one province.

1487

I start recruitment on 3 Cavalry regiments as I will spend the next few years preparing to invade Algiers.

Looks like Scotland is taking advantage of England's failure in their fight with France. Scotland has invaded England, with Norway joining Scotland's side and Portugal coming to help out England.

I start minting 2.1 ducats a year to help pay for the cost of my increased army. I will only gain 0.1 inflation per year with this, so even if I spend a decade minting these ducats, my inflation will only get up to 1% (England and Scotland are already at 5% while France is at 4%). Since I am ahead of the curve on inflation, I may keep it here for good, especially if I take National Bank with my next National Idea (which eliminates 0.1 inflation per year).

My Land tech is set to up in December of 1488, so I'll be looking to start my invasion in 1489 so I can have better infantry units and an extra boost to morale.


1488

England pushed Scotland back and signed a truce. They are back to focusing on France.

Castille's war on the Cherokee and Creek has destroyed that CoT, those morons. My 5 merchants are now just bring home 7.37 ducats. The CoT is only worth 89.57 ducats right now....those morons.

March - Joan II dies. I am now ruled by a Regency Council and can not start a war. Damn.

Nobles Demand Privileges. Again....I moved Aristocracy to the left 1 more. I take the Stability hit and move it back. My Stability is at +1 now, but is set to go up to +2 in a few months.

I gain a Casus Belli on Tuscany, but they are allied with Genoa. I could forgo my plans in Algiers and try to take a few Italian Provinces. I don't have a Casus Belli on Algiers, so that's going to cause a Stability hit...

But as long as I am ruled by this Regency Council, I can't do anything.

November - My Land Tech raises to Level 2

Latin Medieval Infrantry (old units) - 1 Morale for both defense and offense
Men At Arms (Level 2 Unit) - 1 Shock for both offense and defense, 2 Morale for both offense and defense.

As you can see, Men At Arms are much better than the Latin Infrantry. Level 2 also gives me Longbow units, but they are the same as Men At Arms, except only have 1 Morale for offense. Makes me wonder why I would get them since they are the same as Men At Arms on defense, worse on offense (and cost the same).

So now all of Aragon's infrantry troops are Men At Arms (Infrantry automatically upgrades to a unit of your choosing, Naval units do not).

After 11 years, the war between England and France comes to a truce. I don't think France will attack me (although they do have a Casus Belli on me) with such a high War Exahustion. But if they do, Castille, Burgundy and Austria have my back, so I'm not worried right now.

1489

Plans continue for my invasion of Algiers. I'll just have to wait until a monarch is crowned.

A level 4 Artist (Advisor that adds to Stability) has come to Messina. His name is Domenec Valdran. I hire him. It will cost me 12.0 ducats to hire him, plus 0.4 ducats per year. Well worth it since I anticipate Stability hits in the near future. My Stability was set to up to +3 in 1521, now it's set to do that in 1501. A 20 year difference.

October - Siena is rebelling. I send my main force of 5,000 Cavalry and 3,000 Men At Arms to fight them off (4,000 infantry on their side). It's a quick battle as I only lose 14 troops while taking out over 600.

1490

In the summer of 1490, while I have to sit on my hands and wait for a new king or queen, I see Mumluk troops marching from Egypt through Tripoli to Tunisia. The Mumluks are currently are war with Qara Koyunlu and Haasa (Middle East nations)

As soon as the troops got to the province of Tunis, they turned around and went home. What are those wacky Mumluks doing?

I have also noticed that Castille has all of their army, 20,000 strong in their Moroccan provinces. I might not have to wait for a new monarch to be crowned.

[sabotai]

1491

The War of Brunswickian Succession. Austria inherited the throne of Brunswich, but Mecklenburg says not so fast. Austria calls for my help and I accept. My Stability drops 1.

The Mamluks are now sending a large force to Tunis. Why, since they are still warring with Qara Koyunlu and Hassa, I don't know (since they appear to be losing that war). This large force ended up turning around as well.

1492

January - Joan III is our new leader. Administration: 8, Military 7, Diplomacy: 3. I now wait until the Mumluks are out of sight...

France is once again at war with England, Portugal and now Flanders. On the side of France is Scotland and Norway. So it looks like France will be tied up for awhile.

I have recruited several more troops and have increased how much I am minting per month to help cover costs. I am now minting 4.3 ducats a year which causes 0.2 inflation per year. My inflation is currently at 0.5.

The Plan

Algiers will not attack and Castille is dragging their heels when it comes to Morocco, so I'm going to have to take the Stability hit (which will now make it -1 for me). Not a huge deal since with my new ruler's Administration rating plus the Advisor, it should raise back up into positive numbers fairly quickly.

Algiers has a main army of 2k Cavalry and 7k Infrantry sitting in their capital, which is adjacent to Oran. As soon as I declare war, they will probably attack my forces in Oran, which stand at 7k Men At Arms right now (2 sperate forces). My main army, 5k Cavalry and 3k Men At Arms will immediately land in the province east of their capital and begin siege there.

I will then transport the small Italian force I have of 3k Men At Arms to Algiers east most province. The goal with them is to block at attempt at the Mamluks to backdoor a few provinces.

If my forces in Oran can fight off Algier's main force, then great. They'll then pursue and eliminate them. If not, I'll withdraw them into the province south of there to begin siege. If Algiers decides to focus on sieging Oran, I'll let them. My forces sweep in from the east and corner them. If not, if they try to hunt down my Oran Infrantry units, then I'll immediately have my main force pursue Algier's main force, and bring over a force I have in Aragon (2k Cav. 2k MaA) to take the place of my main force.

Ready? Break!

[sabotai]

1493

I wait until the latest force from the Mamuks (who now have a truce with their enemies) to do their patrol thing before declaring war. While I do this, Oran becomes a Core Province. Also, I get another Advisor, a Level 2 Government Tech advisor.

Damn. Looks like Mumluks are keeping a force in Tunis. They may get one from me.

June - I declare war on Algiers. Castille, Austria and Burgundy all declare war on Algiers.

Algies dows something that makes me very happy. They split up their main force. One staying in the capitla, the other heading to defend the province south of Oran. Thank you Algiers.

June 20th - A quick Naval Battle occurs in the Barbery Coast, one that sees me sink 2 of their ships and take one of their Galleys.

The slipt army of Algiers is headed for Castille occupied Morocco. Again, I thnak you Algiers.

Juy 8th - A second Naval Battle in the Barbery Coast. Algiers had 5 of their ships destroyed while I lost one of my Barques. I have some ships damaged and need to send them to port to be repaired. But they did their job since Algiers' navy has been obliterated. I leave my undamaged ships behind to continue blockading their ports.

August 4th - Morocco tries to offer me a White Peace. Sorry, I want my Castille allies to grab as much of your land as possible.

September 5th - I finally get the army of Algiers to vacate the capital. I land a small force of 3k Men At Arms (my Italian force) next to their capital (I switch where I was landing them and my main force when I saw the Mamluks were not leaving).

After a few days of stalling and fighting a force twice my size, I retreat losing only a handful of troops towards their capital. I have another 4k disembarking right now into their capital, and I have 3k of my Men At Arms in Oran advancing on their capital. Soon I'll have 10k in their capital, with half of their forces fighting Castille, this one is already over. Now I just need to beat them enough that they'll take a treaty to be my vassals.

October 31st - I lift my siege in Tlemcen (province south or Oran) to head off a retreating Algiers army in Aures. They got their asses handed to them by Castille and are running for their lives. Might as well cut them off and finish them.

November 8th - Constantine falls (their east most province). I figure what the hell and try to offer them vassalage to see if they have any sense. They do not. I move my mainforce into Kabylia, where their mian force sits.

December 20th - We win in Kabylia. We lost 352 men (of 7,888) while they lost 1,113 men (of 5,000). They retreat towards Biskra, I follow.

December 28th - We win in Aures with the help of Castille. A shattered army retreat to Tlemcen and I follow. Castille only has Cavalry in Aures, so it'll take them forever to siege.

1494

January 9th - They retreat quckly from Biskra. Only 190 killed. I follow, except I leave my infrantry behind in Biskra to lay siege. My Cavalry forces will hunts these men down.

January 29th - We win in Kabylia and now chase to Constantine. Castille looks like thye are trying to poach a few provinces. These are my future vassals, fellas! Oh well, no skin off my back if they take a poor province or two. I only want Algiers to use as a staging point to push east into Egpyt and the Middle East later in the game so they are more than welcome to take a dirt-farm or two.

February 1st - The 4 provinces that made up Sicily are now cores of mine. Sweet!

February 4th - Well, I just pulled one over on Castille. They were beating Morocco badly. Morocco, as it were, just wanted to negotiate for themselves, not Algiers. They've been sending me peace deals worth a few ducats, but I decided to try something. I sent them an offer to be my vassals, just for the hell of it. To my surprise, they accepted.

Morocco are now vassals of the Kingdom or Aragon.

February 12th - Al-Djazair (their capital) has fallen.

February 13th - Algiers accept my terms for peace. They are now vassals of the Kingdom or Aragon.

Overview - I wanted 1 vassal, I got two. Morocco is pretty poor, but a few ducats each year from them will not hurt. I may start plans to diplo-annex them down the road since they do have a gold province (which I don't see a ducat of since that goes towards Production, not Tax).

Algiers is pretty much dirt poor, other than their capital which takes in almost 12 ducats of tax a year by itself. Well, now they only get 6.

[sabotai]

Diplomatic Map - 1494

Bright Green = Land directly controlled by Aragon
Dark Green = Vassals
Bright Aqua = Allies
Dark Aqua = Just a Royal Marriage

[sabotai]

1494 - continued

August - Event: Abandon the Holy Roman Empire

The incessant strife, both religious and politican, withint the Holy Roman Empire is draining the morale of Siena's population. The relation with the Emperor has reached an all time low and many consider it to be in Siena's best interest to leave the confederation.

If I have Siena leave, relations between Aragon and Mecklenberg will be changed by -100 and Siena will no longer be a part of the Empire
If I have Seina stay, relations between Aragon and Mecklenberg will be change by +50.

I decide to keep Siena in the Holy Roman Empire. I have no quarrel with Mecklenberg and no desire to pull a province out of the confederation. Not exactly sure what I get for having Siena in the Empire, but I guess it can't hurt.

1495

Another war has come to a truce between England and France. I sure do wish those chaps from the island would actually do some hurting to France.

The Center of Trade in Tuskegee is back up to 357 ducats, and my merchants are again pulling in nearly 30 ducats a year.

With my warring ways done with for a little while, I drop my army maintanence down as well as the amount of ducats I mint. I'm now back down to 0.1 inlfation per year.

June - Our stability improves to +1.

August - Event: Good Government Policies

Changes of plicies when cleverly timed and made were oftan well perceived by the people of the time beyonf their actual effeciency, as a proof of the government's good will and interest of the realm.

I can 1) Increase my Stability by 1, 2) Have an instant 400 ducat investment in Government Tech, 3) Have 300 ducats added to my treasury.

I easily go for the +1 to Stability. My Stability was not set to raise again until 1501, so the added tax revenue over the next 6 years will probably make up for either of the other two choices (Each stability counts as +10% to tax revenue, so at +1 my tax revenue gets a 10% bonus, at stability +2 my tax revenue gets a +20% bonus). It also lets me start to think about another invasion. The war with Algiers and Morocco did not effect my Bad Boy at all.

November - Entered into a Royal Marriage with Cyprus.

1496

January - I start building a Workshop in the province Aragon.

February - Event: Revolt in Pirineo

High taxes, and cultural and religious differences, have caused unhappiness among our citizens. If this continues it will drastically affect the stability of our nation.

Ignore Them - 4 units revolt in Pirineo
Lower Taxes - -10% to taxes in Pirineo for 730 days.

To hell with them, I ignore them and send my troops in. The battle only took 4 days even with my lowered maintanence.

March - WARNED - Genoa has warned me not to go to war with any of their neighbors. I'm so scared.

June - I entered into a Royal Marrieg with Tyrone, a 3 province nation on the Irish island.

July - Trade Tech increases to 3. I enter into a Royal Marriage with Brittany.

Event: Nobles Ally with Foreign Power

The nobility was not fully subjugated during this age and the nobles could and did strike independent alliances with foreign princes. The crowns of Europe might not have liked it but they were normally hard pressed to prevent these kinds of activities.

They will pay for their treachery - lose 1 Stability but gain a Casus Belli on Tuscany.
We'll deal with them later - Lose 2 prestige.

This is pretty good. I'll lose one stability here, but I gain something that would cost me 2 Stability. Tuscany is allied with Genoa and Salzburg (who is surrounded by Austria). I can snatch land from Genoa and vassalage Tuscany. If the war goes well, I can vassalage both. And I have mage-power Austria near Genoa's northern border (if they can get military access from Venice, they'll overrun Genoa).

I choose "They will pay..." and start moving my army to Italy.

[sabotai]

1497

March - War Were Declared.

All of my allies (Castille, Burgundy and Austria) join in, as does Tuscany's allies (Genoa and Salzburg)

I land a force of 4k infrantry on the island of Corsica and begin a siege.

April - Tuscany sends a force of 2k Cavalry and 7k Infrantry into Siena. I send my force of 5k Cavalry and 3k Infrantry into Tuscany's capital, and I have a force of 3k infrantry laying siege to Genoa's province of Ancona (directly northeast of Roma)

I lose all of my galleys and barques in a massive naval battle (11 in total - they lost 8 ships). 7 of my cogs retreat and head to pick up my last army (the one stationed in Oran).

June - I undock 3k infrantry into Genoa's province of Modena where they battle a small force of 1k cavalry. We win on July 3rd and begin a siege, but I see Tuscany sending a large force to battle them, so I send them into Tuscany's capital to help with the siege there.

September - Tuscany wants a white peace and I tell them to stuff it. Salzburg is trying to get out of being destroyed by Austria by offering 2 whole ducats. Declined. A huge force from Burgundy (15k) arrives in Genoa's capital and starts kicking ass.

November - Corsica falls on the 17th.

December - Ancona falls on the 28th. I shoot Genoa a peace offer asking for Corsica and Ancona. They reject it (wonder how receptive they'll be when Burgundy storms their capital).

1498

January - I offer Salzburg and their large tax income a deal to be my vassals. They accept. Salzburg is a 2 province nation in the middle of Europe that is surrounded by Austria. One province takes in 17.73 ducats in taxes, the other takes 25.17. And I get half of that!

I send the army that took Ancona to Ferrara.

February - Government Tech increases to 3.

March - My 3k forces successfully fight off a 3k force from Genoa in Ferrara and lay siege to the province. Genoa's capital falls to Burgundy. Let's see how they like my terms for peace now.

They seemed to like them fine. Corsica and Ancona are now property of the Kingdom of Aragon. I send the 3k troops in Ferrara to Tuscany's capital to assist in the siege.

April - Tuscany's capital, Firenze, falls on the 4th. They have an army 6k strong in Siena and a smaller force of 3k in Pisa. I send my 5k Cav - 3k Inf force into Siena

May - We win the battle of Siena. Aragon Casulties - 682, Tuscany Casulties - 2611. I follow with my large force and send a reserve force into Siena to retake it.

July - We destroy half of Tuscany's remaining army and they retreat into Genoa. Pisa is a pretty good province so I'm going to siege it and try to get it in peace talks.

August - Pisa fell when I stormed it after a large force from Burgundy arrived (since I was there first, I got dibs on it).

September - Tuscany cedes Pisa to Aragon and become our vassals. My Stability also increased and is back to +1.

My "bad boy" took a hit as it's at 4.43 now.

[sabotai]

Post Tuscany War Map

[sabotai]

New Province and Vassal rundown

Ancona
Income: Tax 2.45 (Base 5), Production: 0.38
Trade: Wool (1.2 Units), Trade Value 1.1
Culture: Umbrian (Non Accepted), Religion: Catholic
-- Has a Temple

Pisa
Income: Tax 3.92 (Base 6), Production: 11.31
Trade: Wine (1.3 Units), Trade Value: 15.2
Culture: Lombard (Non Accepted), Religion: Catholic
-- Has a Workshop, Temple, Marketplace and a University (my second one). What a prize!

Corsica
Income: Tax 1.47 (Base 3), Production: 2.17
Trade: Naval Supplies (1.0 Units), Trade Value: 6.2
Culture: Lombard (Non Accepted), Religion: Catholic
-- Down the road, I'll be able to build a Naval Equipment Manufactory because of the Naval Supplies.

Vassals

Tuscany - Firenze
Taxes: Hard to tell since they still have War Taxes on, but their Base Tax here is 12. It also has a Workshop (+2), so it should get around 14 ducats in taxes, minimum (unless negative stability). So they should provide me with at least 7 ducats a year.

Salzburg - Salzburg
Taxes: Base 10, so will provide at least 5 ducats a year

Salzburg - Munchen
Taxes: Base 15, so I will probably get at least 7.5 ducats a year.

So with my new vassals, I should get at least around 20 ducats a year more. According to my ledger, I took in 30.5 ducats from my vassals (for comparison, I took in 77.5 in taxes in my own kingdom). So far, with one month left to go, I have taken in 44.7 ducats from Vassals (Salzburg accepted vassalage at the beginning of the year but had war taxes on). Add in Tuscany, but take away war taxes, and I should be looking at a steady income of 40+ ducats a year.

[sabotai]

1499

Spending most of the year reorganizing my army.

April - Siena becomes a core province.

July - Round 3 of Portugal + England vs. Scotland + Norway + France is about to begin.

September - I start building a Workshop in Girona.

Income Overview (to ive an idea of how much is coming from where)
Taxation: 92.1
Census Taxes: 85.0
Tolls: 82.2
Production: 67.4
Vassals: 55.4
Trade: 29.3
Manufactory: 12.0

1500

So why do I keep losing my fleets?

The simple answer is that I am a novice at taking care of my navy. Despite playing Japan and Portugal a lot in this game, I never focused on navy except to build transport and exploration fleets. I would build fleets to use in war, but I never paid much attention to them.

I forget to bring them to port to repair. Sometimes I forget that they are even there. I really have no clue when it comes to naval strategy in this game. That's one reason I took Aragon and am trying to make myself a Naval power, so that I can learn the ins and outs of navy strategy in this game. So far, I've done bad.

Time to rebuild my fleet. I begin construction of 1 Carrack and 2 Barques.

Case in point about me forgetting about fleets. I just found a fleet of Galleys sitting in a bay off the northern coast of Castille (I thought I had more ship than what I lost in the war...). *sigh* Well, at least I still do have a navy.

[sabotai]

Well this sucks. The game keeps crashing on me when I get to July of 1501. No idea why this is happening since I've played several games well beyond 1501. I thought it might be because I was playing in windowed mode, but I just tried playing at full screen and it's doing it there too....

So I guess this dynasty gets put on hold for now....

I'll see if any of my old saves still works tomorrow.

[sabotai]

I loaded an old autosave and it appears to be working. I got to 1503, but I'm going to have to go back to March 1497...

EDIT: To hell with it. I'm loading up a saved game from my test run. When I tested it, I loaded the oldautosave which was saved in 1500. I played to 1503 to test it out, but my autosaves got overwritten. I'm not going back and doing the Tuscany War again, so I'm going to restart this up in 1502 since nothing significant has happened since I started my little test (Castille did not declare war on Morocco yet, so I have deleted that part from my post above), so that's where we are.

[sabotai]

1501

I was given 200.00 ducats in an event (as opposed to taking 2.00 prestige). I ordered the construction of 4 Carracks. I should hjave checked my Naval Tech though, since it increased right after they finished construction...

1502

England and Portugal are still at war with France. I hope they do something. I at least hope widespread revolts happen, seeing as France is at -3 Stability right now and their provinces are at 10% revolt. Maybe I should try some spy games...

I "Support Revolt" in the province of Provence for 25 ducats, which is on the Mediterranean, but a bit off my border. My spy was discovered, but he was successful. The revolt risk in Provence is now 13.1%

I wonder if I declare war on France if Castille, Burgundy and Austria would follow. It would make it 5 nations on 1....

March - Castille declares war on Morocco.

I end my vassalage of Morocco and assist Castille. I do have a plan this time. I'm going to load up some troops and head down the coast of North Africa to the southern part of Morocco. I will then go in and try to get that gold mine before Castille does.

April - My Naval Tech advisor died.

May - Algiers in laying siege to Oran. When my Cogs get back from Africa, I'll need to ship some troops over to retake it.

Castille has made it to Sus, Morocco's gold mine. Maybe they will get booted by Morocco.

October - We have become the Papal Controller. Stability Cost -20%, Yearly Diplomata +1, Reputation -0.25, Yearly Prestige +1%

November - Looks like I'm getting into a 2 front war. The Papal States have been invaded by Genoa. This can not stand. I declare war on Genoa (and Venice is in on it) and hope that my force of 2k Cav. and 2k Inf can get the job done while the bulk of my army is fighting off the Algierians. I am also named the leader in the war.

Days after I declare war on Genoa, I booted Algiers out of Oran. Going to send 4k Inf over to Italy.

Since I could not beat out Castille to Morocco's gold mine, I took the province of Ifni. I also took their colony of Rio De Oro. Both provinces are way too poor to be worth the effort. The only they are is they connect the Morocco gold mine to the Atlantic Ocean...

December - My force of 4k Infrantry begin siege of Genoa's capital and my force of 2k Cav and 2k Inf. begin siege of Modena.

1503

January - Disaster. My cogs were destroyed before my force of 4k Infantry landed. Another naval blunder on my part....

February - Since I can't get to Morocco's gold farm, and they are pretty poor so I don't really need them as vassals, I offer them a simple White Peace (they accepted). I'll take the lose of a vassal out on Genoa and Venice. I start building up some Cogs...

March - I send my 15 ship fleet at Venice and Genoa. 10 Galleys, 4 Carracks and 1 Caravel (the successor to the Carrack). Venice is laying siege ot Corsica.

Genoa has a fleet of 1 Carrack, 27 Calleys and 7 Cogs (and a pretty damn good admiral). They destroy 7 of my Galleys quickly and I take off when another 10 Galleys show up. Damn do I not know what the hell I'm doing as far as my navy goes...

July - Venice sends a force of 4k Cav and 6k Infrantry into Modena. The Papal State have a large there backing me up, but their low morale brings down the overall morale of the forces there and I quickly withdraw.

Time to stop the bleeding asap. I offer Genoa a white peace and they accept. Still at war with Venice, though. They rejected White Peace.

September - Corsica has fallen.

Carles I becomes out new monarch. Admin 7, Military 4, Diplo 7.

October - I offer up The Papal State's province of Romagna, a high Production province, in a peace deal. The reject it...

November - We defeat Venice in Siena.

1504

January - I bite the bullet and offer Venice Romagna and Corsica in a peace deal. They accept. I had to, there was no way I could get a force over to Italy to defend against them. The whole thing was my fault for failing to see that Venice and Genoa had become allies. If I saw that, I would not have declared war and let Genoa have the Papal States...Also stinks that since I was coming to the aid of a vassal, my allies were not involved, so no help from Austria. Next time, with Austria on Venice's northern border...next time.

[sabotai]

1504 - continued

I am now starting to see provinces discovered by other nations in my tech group. They are pretty scattered right now, but in several years I should have some possible targets for colonization.

June - Government Tech increases to 4. One more for another National Idea.

1505

January - Austria calls on me to help fight the Ottoman Empire. How can I refuse? They are allied with the 1-province nation of Montenegro. I have a chance to poach them while maybe taking a province or two from the Ottomans while they focus on Austria.

February - Montengro is defenseless. I need to get some troops there ASAP.

March - Siena has converted to Protestant. Looks like that's about to spread.

April - We begin siege of Montengro, but the Ottoman's are marching there to defened.

May - I am booted from Montenegro. Damn.

June - Ancona has become Protestant.

July - We defeat a small army from Candar in Corfu and begin siege.

October - Government Tech increases to level 5 - I choose "Military Drill" so that our army gets a morale bonus, seeing as how I keep getting ymself into all of these wars.

December - I can't support this milatry action. My navy is in port repairing after a couple of victories, and my force in Corfu is about to have a large Ottoman force destroy them. I offer The Ottoman Empire a white peace and the accept.

I need to spend the next few years out of wars and rebuilding my army and navy.

In other news, a lot of land in the New World is now visible to me. Time to see what I can grab.

[sabotai]

1506

Looks like South America is still untouched. I can see the eastern coast of Brazil. All but one of them is a Sugar province (the only one that isn't is a tobacco province.). And all of the natives are non-aggressive. Those will be my targets.

I send colonists to Rio Grande, Itamaraca, Pernambuco, Bahia and Ilhues. They all have 60-70% chance of success and cost 23.7 ducats to send (my treasury is at 262 right now). Rio Grande and Itamaraca both have natives that have a 5.0 Aggression (middle of the ground). Hoping they don't cause a problem. I'm going to try and go down the Brazilian coast with colonies.

Looks like England and Castille have been focusing on North America. I also see Venice and Portugal with colonies in the West Indies.

June - England + Portugal are warring with France, Scotland and Norway again.

July - Event: Saint Performs Miracle.

Some people were so devout in their religion that they set out to help the poor and heal the sick. They were oftan called saints for their acts and were sometimes even believed to perform miracles.

We Have Been Blessed - Gain 1 Stability
Their Actions Have Shown Us The True Path - Narrowminded gain 1

I choose the Stability gain. It's now at +3.

September - Failed to colonize Rio Grande and Itamaraca. Successfully colonized Pernambuco, Bahia and Ilhues. I'm still out of colonists. I only get 1.6 per year.

1507

January - Sent a colonist to Pernambuco. Also began recruitment of 3 Latin Knights.

February - Genoa is attacking Tuscany. I choose not to help them. Venice would still be a bit too much right now. I was hoping my warning of Genoa was still active, but it is not. No Casus Belli as a result of Genoa's actions.

May - I recruit 3 Men At Arms.

June - Austria is losing pretty badly to The Ottomans. I successfully expanded my colony at Pernambuco. I will focus on building that up to a city above the other colonies first.

September - Genoa has warned me.

October - I see a colony from France a few provinces south of mine in Brazil.

November - Venice annexed Tuscany. Now the only nation bordering Venice or Genoa in Italy is Aragon (they would have to go through me to get to Roma).

December - Venice has annexed Savoy. They are becoming too powerful.

1508

January - I've built up a fleet of 12 Cogs. I still have 3 Carracks. So that is my fleet. Becuase of the money I spent raising my army a bit and to colonize Brazil, there isn't much left for building more war ships. I start beuilding 3 Galleys (since they are cheap). I hope I don't get into any wars anytime soon.

I send a 9k army (3k Cav, 6k Men At Arms) to Italy. I already have 2k Cav and 4k Men At Arms there. Hopefully the presense of 13k troops in Italy will keep Venice and Genoa off my back.

1509

I continue to rebuild my army and fleet. 4 more Men At Arms are recruited and 3 more galleys are built. Pernambuco is halfway to becoming a city. I am pushing the limits of my treasury...

November - Abbruzzi converts to Protestant.

[sabotai]

1510

January - Castille decides it is time to finish off Morocco.

February - Venice and Genoa have declared war on Algiers.

Event: Plague in Malta. The 40 ducats are too much right now. I ignore it, 1500 people in Malta die and they get a penalty to population growth for 600 days.

March - A merchant of mine was competed away in the Tuskegee CoT. It was fun while it lasted.

Castille annexed Morocco, Algiers is still at war with me and are attacking Oran, which I have left defenseless.

April - I land one of my large armies (3k Cav, 6k Inf.) in Oran and fight off Algiers.

1511

June - Natives Encouting our Colonies - In Ilhues, I would like to choose "Present a Trade Proposal" since that would increase the tax base by 1, but it costs 50 ducats. I choose to repel the savages, which gives me 200 population but kills 300 of their's.

September - Algiers offers me a White Peace and I accept.

1512

Austria finally beat the Ottomans back and it appears they came to a White Peace.

Venice and Genoa are starting to get too powerful. Now that Austria is free of the Ottomans right now, I'm going to look at striking at them soon. So that I don't need to build up a huge navy, I have transported all of my soldiers over to Italy in preparation for the coming war.

My forces total 13 Cavalry units and 20 Infantry units. My navy consists of 3 Caravels, 10 Galleys and 12 Cogs. No match for Venice as I learned in our previos war. However, my forces, now that they are in Italy, should over run them. Genoa can not produce a large army so I really only have Venice to worry about.

And they will have Austria on their north border. Now i just need to find a way to draw them into a war so I don't take a Stability hit and my allies are far more likely to join. It'd be nice if you could talk to your allies to see if they'd join you if you invaded someone...

1513

Spent the entire year organizing my army and waiting for it to be full strength.

[sabotai]

1514

January - We declared war on Genoa, taking a hit of 3 points on our Stability causing it to drop to -1. The good news is that Burgundy, Austria and Castille all have supported me in this decision.

I immediately send armies into Modena, Firenze and Romagna (All are 3k Cav, 6k Infantry). I can see Austria sending a small force into Venice and it looks like Burgundy could be sending a rather large force.

February - I love it when a plan comes together. Venice is attacking a few provinces in Austria, essentially leaving me alone. They have sent some small forces that I easily defeated. Burgundy's force is about to land in Venice's western provinces (that were once Savoy) and I see a huge Austrian army on its way.

In other news, Castille took 2 provinces from Algiers. Looks like they are targeting them next. I don't think I can stop or get in Castille's way. I could try to war with Algiers and take their provinces myself, but then Castille would join and take some and then move on. Oh well. They can have North Africa. Venice and Genoa determined for me to focus on northern Italy for the time being (not to mention it's far more rich in taxes and production than North Africa).

Colonization news: I lost the colony in Bahia and the natives in Pernambuco have revolted. I'm down to 131 colonists there. I need to get a few troops over there.

March - We assaulted Firenze and Romagna and took them. After a month or two of recovery, I will send them farther into Venice.

June - Austria has begun siege of a few of Venice's provinces. Burgundy has taken one, but does not look like they want to take any more.

July - I sent 3 Men At Arms onboard 3 Cogs to Pernamuco. I hope they make it in time and don't get lost along the way.

August - I begin siege of Venezia, Venice's capital.

September - I begin siege of Parma, a province owned by Venice.

October - A pirate ship off the coast of Pernambuco sinks a cog and 1k infantry with it, however I manage to sink it with the other 2 cogs and land. 2k Men At Arms occupy Pernambuco now.

Both Modena and Ferrara fall.

Joan IV takes the throne. Admin 5, Mil 8, Diplo 8.

November - Both Venice and Genoa offer a White Peace. Stuff it. You wanted blood, you got it. I begin siege of Mantua, Genoa's last province aside from it's capital.

December - Damn! I forgot to pay attention to my treasury...I have to take out a loan. Not the end of the world and Venice and Genoa will be the ones to pay for it.

1515

January - I lose a battle in Lomardia, but take a lot of their troops with mine. I basically killed their chance to mount a counter offensive.

February - I assault Venezia and take it.

Well, this was bound to happen. Burgundy is going to war with Brittany who happen to be allied with Austria. If I support Burgundy, I lose Austria. If I don't, I lose Burgundy...

I side with Austria on this one and decline. Thanks for the help Burgundy and I hope Austria and Castille are still good enough to keep France out of my land.

March - Parma has fallen.

April - I attack Liguria, Genoa's capital, and begin siege. I also assault Mantua and take it. Since Genoa are merely negotiating for themselves, I give them the standard "unconditional surrender" deal, give me all of your provinces except your capital, and become my vassal. The reject it.

May - Burgundy made peace with Venice, taking one of their provinces.

August - Lombardia falls to me and Austria takes two more provinces. We now control most of Venice's provinces. Before the war is over, I'm going to try and sent my 2k Men At Arms in Brazil to capture Venice's colonies.

1516

January - Linguria falls. I offer my terms of unconditional surrender again. They again reject. I may have to leave out the vassalage part. No worries, I'll just war and annex them next time.

March - Venice has all of their colonies protected by 1k infantry each (a few islands in the carribean. I could probably take them, but this war is near its end and I don't want to delay. Besides, that will be 3 more colonies I'd need to build up. If they are at 700 or 800 colonists, it'd be great, but they are still small and I've got my own to worry about.

April - It looks like Austria did a damn fine job in taking out the Venician navy since I don't see any ships from Venice. I transport some troops to Corsica to siege it.

May - Brittany is offering me an alliance. Works out great for me. More protection to the north and they are already allied with Austria. I accept.

July - The province of Nice falls, which means we have captured every province of Venice's on mainland Europe. Once Corsica falls, I'll begin negotiations.

September - Corsica falls.

October - Genoa is refusing vassalage. I tell them to cede Mantua, Modena and Ferrara and to give up their claim on Corsica. They accept.

Venice will be difficult. Firenze and Romagna will be musts, and I will try to get as much as possible after that.

1517

May - A peace deal is finally made. Venice ceded Corsica, Firenze, Romagna and Nice.

I'll have a new map up shortly.

[sabotai]

Northern Italy - June 1517

[sabotai]

1517 - Continued

June - I got another National Idea (that Government tech advances fast with a few Universities and an Advisor). This time I take National Bank. My inflation shas gotten up to 4.1%. While that's still half of other nations like England and France, I hate letting my inflation get out of hand. This way, in the 1600s and 1700s, this are dirt cheap to me compared to other nations.

I took National Bank so that when I'm building up to war and fighting, I can mint and not worry about inflation. I usually put it so that I am at 0.2 inlfation per year when I need money, and put it at 0.1 otherwise. Now, I will be at 0.1 when I'm building up, and at 0.0 when I am not. I could even make it so I take -0.1 inflation per year, lowering it.

I spend most of the rest of the year getting my troops back to their stations. I'm keeping more than half of my army in Italy, but sending 15k back to mainland Aragon.

December - Genoa has sent spies at us a few times already. I think they don't like me.

1518

My plan is to spend the enitre year just sitting back and trying to build my treasury up, even if it means taking a big hit on inflation. I need to make money to pay off the loan I had to take.

I'll get a rundown of my new provinces up afterwards.

[sabotai]

New Provinces

Corsica you know about.

Nice
Income: Tax 2.32 (Base 4), Production 2.24
Trade: Fish (1.1 Units), Trade Value 6.0
Culture: Lombard (Non Accepted), Religion: Catholic
-- Has a Workshop and Marketplace

Firenze
Income: Tax 1.26 (Base 12), Production 12.18
Trade: Wine (1.6 Units), Trade Value 16.7
Culture: Lombard (Non Accepted), Religion: Protestant
-- Has a Workshop, Temple and University

Romagna
Income: Tax 2.73 (Base 5), Production 11.57
Trade: Salt (1.4 Units), Trade Value: 15.1
Culture: Umbrian (Non Accepted), Religion: Catholic
-- Has a Workshop, Temple and University

Modana
Income: Tax 0.63 (Base 5), Production 10.76
Trade: Wine (1.2 Units), Trade Value 12.9
Culture: Lombard (Non Accepted), Religion: Protestant
-- Has a Workshop, Temple, Courthouse and University

Ferrara
Income: 0.54 (Base 5), Production 11.92
Trade: Salt (1.3 Units), Trade Value 16.0
Culture: Lombard (Non Accepted), Religion: Protestant
-- Has a Workshop, Temple, Marketplace, Courthouse and University

Manuta
Income: 4.68 (Base 10), Production 0.40
Trade: Grain (1.2 Units), Trade Value: 1.1
Culture: Lombard (Non Accepted), Religion: Catholic
-- Has a Workshop and Courthouse

Four more Universities! And a lot of Production income.

[sabotai]

1519

Following the war with Venice and Genoa, my Reputation has taken a hit. We are up to 5.22 (Ideally you'd want as close to 0 as possible). That translates to a "slightly tarnished" reputation.

So, no more wars for a few years. Hopefully it will be down a good bit when my truce with Venice and Genoa expires. Then it's time to really take it to them.

Here's how my army stands.
13 Regiments of Latin Knights
22 Regiments of Men At Arms

My Navy
3 Caravels
9 Cogs

For the next several years, I plan to focus on building up my navy (again) and colonizing Brazil. France already has a city in Brazil now and has another colony.

A gold mine, in the Province of Santana (in present day Argentina) became visible to me. I'm going after it.

I've almost been competed out of the Tuskegee CoT. My 1 merchant that is left takes in 5.57 ducats, which is less than the cost to send one there (6.75). I send another batch, since they are only still competing with a few nations so if they can get into it, they'll stay awhile.


February - Event: Native Exploitation

The maltreatment of the indigenous people, in combination with previously unfamiliar diseases brought by the settlers, has decimated the native population of Bahia.

Ignore Their Suffering - Lose 500 natives in Bahia, 200 natives in Ilheus, -2% Chance ot Colonize and -5% income for 50 days
Attempt to Assuage their pain. - +2% to colonize and +5% Overseas Income for 50 days (costs 40 ducats).

I attempt to assuage their pain.

April - We no have 4 merchants in Tuskegee (sent 5, plus the one I had there means it cost me 33.75 to put 3 merchants there, 11 and change each. We'll see if they pay off (need to spend over 2 years there to make a profit).

December - I am at war with a 1-province nation of Utrecht, a nation that Brittany is fighting. I took up leadership in the war, so I'll wait for Brittany to beat them and then force them to be my vassal.

1520

May - Well, we lose Brittany as our ally. They wanted me to go to war with a 1-province nation called Friesland. The problem is they are allied with Austria. So good bye Brittany.

October - I had to defeat Utretch (a nation in present day Netherlands) since Brittany sucks. Since they are so far from me, it's not worth to annex. They are a high tax, low production province, so they serve me better by giving me half of their tax income (Base 9 plus Workshop)

1521

August - I lost my colony in Bahia again....I'm sending my troops to exterminate the natives there. I've had enough of them.

November - The deed is done. No more natives in Bahia.

1522

February - Land Tech increases to 4. I get artillery now.

October - Pernambuco is finally a city of 2500 people. Tax 3.75 (Base 5), Production 14.75. Trade Tobacco (1.0 Units), Value 37.8

1523

September - Now that my reputation has dropped down to respectable levels, I move my troops over to Italy for another invasion of Venice. They chose their path.

1524

The outlook for war...

Genoa is crippled. They just have 1 regiment in their capital. They'll be an easy victory.

Venice has 2 large armies. One consists of 6k Cavalry and 3k Infantry in the province of Lombardia. The other is in their capital and is 3k Cavalry, 6k Infanty and 1k Artillery. These will not be easy armies to defeat. They also have a 3rd, a 1k infantry that is protecting an isolated province bordered with Austria.

My hope is that Austria will again fight with us and Venice will have to split up their armies.

[sabotai]

1524 - continued

April - I declare war on Genoa, Venice follows them. Austria and Castille honor their alliance.

Venice immediately sends all of their forces at me. Time to be a wall.

May - I win the battle of Mantua. I had 1 army there, but once war was declared, I moved a second. I had 15,000 troops there to meet their force of 9,000. We lost 1400 while killing 2300 of their troops. I have my largery army follow them back to Lombardia where the smaller moves into Parma to begin a siege.

War of Palatine Succession - Denmark is given the throne of The Palatinate, but Austria objects. Denmark is a bit powerful, and they are allied with Burgundy. I simply can not lose Austria as an ally. I hope that the multiple fronts will keep Burgundy off my back....

The Battle of Ferrara is a costly one to us. We lose neqarly 6500 out of 15,000 while Venice only lost 1500 of 13,000. We still manage to break them and they retreat back to Venice.

August - We are now chasing that large army of Venice's. There smaller army is now sieging Nice, but I'm ignoring them for now. Once Liguria, Genoa's capital, falls and I annex them, then I'll go and get Nice back.

October - Land Tech increases to 5. We now get Condotta Infantry, Landsknechten Infantry, and Reformed Galloglaigh Infantry. Condotta focus on defense, Reformed Galloglaigh on Offense, and Landsknechten is more balanced.

I update all of my units to Lansknechten Infantry.

1525

I didn't even notice, but the War of Palatinate Succession is already over.

May - England offers us an alliance and we take it.

June - Romagna has become Protestant.

August - We are losing ground a bit. Austria hasn't come through like they did in the previous war and it looks like I'm going to have to raise some mercenary armies. I have a lot in the treasury right now (466) so I can afford it.

I raise an 8k mercenary army, 2k Cav and 6k Men At Arms.

I have been wondering why I can not annex Genoa and I found out. They have a few colonies. Arg.....They have a CoT in Liguria, time to take out those colonies.

December - Venezia falls. Austria has sent some muscle, but they are capturing provinces by just finishing the job I started.

1526

Genoa sure does not know how to pick colonies. All 3 are poor fishing colonies. I start destroying them. To hell with my reputation, I have revenge to take care of.

May - I burn Genoa's 3 colonies in North America and annex them. Now I can solely focus on Venice.

June - Austria made peace with Venice, taking Istria, Lombardia and Brescia.

September - Venice cedes Parma, Verona and Piedmont in a peace deal. War is over for now. (Sorry for the lack of info on the war, is was a very messy war with small battles happening constantly)

[sabotai]

New Provinces

Liguria
Income: Tax 18.33 (Base 10, Workshop +2, CoT +10), Production 0.54
Trade: Wood (1.7 Units), Trade Value 1.4
Culture: Lombard (Non Accepted), Religion: Catholic
-- Has Workshop, Temple and Courthouse

Parma
Income: Yax 5.12 (Base 5, Workshop +2), Production 11.56
Trade: Wine (1.4 Units), Trade Value 14.2
Culture: Lombard (Non Accepted), Religion: Catholic
-- Has Workshop, Temple and University

Piedmont
Income: Tax 5.82 (Workshop +2), Production 11.56
Trade: Wine (1.4 Units), Trade Value 14.2
Culture: Lombard (Non Accepted), Religion: Catholic
-- Has Workshop, Temple, Courthouse and University

[sabotai]

Northern Italy - 1526

[sabotai]

1526 - continued

Now that Italy is mostly mine, Genoa has been annexed and Venice has been bitchslapped, I can focus on other things. North Africa is forgotten. If Castille wants that dirt farm, they can have it, but if they get to The Mamluks and Tripoli, I can join in and quickly vassalage Tripoli like I wanted.

France. They are my next target. With my alliance with England, it's only a matter of time before I get drawn into war with them. They have a lot of muslce, but with Portugal and England hammering them, my armies may be the straw that breaks the camal's back and start pushing France back.

My main goal will be the provinces of Provence and Languedoc. If I can take those two provinces, I will make a land connection with Italy, and that will mean a lot more in taxes from my Italian provinces.

First things first. My inflation is over 7% and I have a loan that still needs paying back. I need to make sure that loan is paid off so I can stop paying interest, and I need to let my National Bank bring my inflation down some.

As for war with France, they outnumber me, but I can attack on two fronts, 3 if you count the north from England.

1527

May - Event: Firenze has been looking at leaving the Holy Roman Empire. I stay in it and improve relations with Denmark.

October - I have a colony at Santana, the gold mine.

1528

September - 9 regiments revolt in Pisa. It takes until December to fight them off. Stability (currently -2) and War Exhaustion.

1529

March - Pisa becomes Protestant.

July - France is really building up their forces. They have 16k in 5 different provinces (80k total...)

November - Parma becomes Protestant.

December - Out loan is paid off. Romagna is revolting.

1530

No news to report. A year of peace within Aragon.

1531

February - Event: Empty Words

The edict of tolerance, proclaimed by Joan IV a short while back has proven to be nothing more than mere words. There have been several violent incidents and atrocities against religious minority groups since the declaration where Joan IV has taken the stance of complete ignorance.

1 - Out Time Is Better Spent Elsewhere - 4k revolt in Piedmont, 10k revolt in Napoli
2 - Issue a New Edict - lose 40 ducats, gain 1 stability

I choose 2. I need that stability and it's well worth the 40 ducats.

October - Portugal grabbed Bahia, grrrr...

1532

July - Land Tech increases to 7. Can build Small Cast Iron Cannon, Large Cast Iron Cannon and Weapons Manufactory.

September - Brittany asks for an alliance. I think that'd be one too many and decline.

[sabotai]

1533

July - I have increased both Iheus and Santana to about 600 colonists.

1534

February - France goes to war weith Burgundy, Denmark and Hess. Burgundy still has a punch a Denmark has become a decent power. All of the massive armies France has on my borders are marching off.

March - Mantua becomes Protestant.

June - Ilheus and Santana increase to 700 colonists.

November - We have become the Papal Controller. -20% Stability Cost (badly needed), +1 yearly diplomat, -0.25 Reputation a year, +1% Prestige.

1535

Feburary - Our Stability increases on 0.

March - France has taken all of Burgundy's provinces in the south, but Burgundy has pushed in France's northern border. Sounds like a White Peace is going to happen...

June - Naval Tech increases to 7.

July - We fight off a big revolt in Liguria. We also increase Santana to 800 colonists.

December - France has pushed Burgundy back in the north and have taken a few provinces. Looks like Burgundy is going to get killed in this war.

1536

May - Event: Fortification Effort. I spend 30 ducats to build a Level 2 fort in Piedmont.

June - Government Tech increases to 13. I can now build Fine Arts Academy.

July - Ilheus increases to 800 colonists and Santana increases to 900.

September - Plague. Calabria has a plague and I can not afford to do anything about it. I lose 1500 population and -20% Pop Growth for 600 days.

November - France signs a peace treaty with Burgundy and Co. They got a few provinces.

1537

July - Santana has become a city. A population of 1544, Tax of 1.77, Production 40.08 (Gold).

1538

February - Build a Constable in Barcelona. A Constable will increase revolt risk by +2, but increase Direct Tax Income by 50%. Worth it in low risk, high tax provinces since it takes a bit for them to get over 0.0% revolt risk but gives 150% in census taxes in Core provinces (60% in non-Core provinces, but I wouldn't build in them since they are not practically immune to revolt)

April - Production increases to 4

1539

February - Build a Workshop in Velencia (+2 to Tax Income)

September - Ilheus increases to 900 colonists.

[sabotai]

1540

January - Build a Constable in Aragon

June - Pere V rises to power. Admin 4, Military 6, Diplomacy 8

August - Iheus becomes a city. Population 1753, Tax 1.18, Production 18.70, Trade Item: Sugar.

September - We must have been trying to build up Iheus for quite awhile since it just became a Core Province.

December - Pernambuco becomes Reformed.

1541

January - Trade increases to 6. I can now build a Refinery. Land Tech increases to 8 and I can build Level 2 Forts. I also started building a Constable in Velencia.

June - Production increases to level 5.

August - Event: Ausias de Zaporta's Reforms

Administering such a large empire as Aragon requires extensive economic planning and the lack of a good financial advisor had so far proven quite disastrous. The appointment of Asias de Zaporta helped turn the tide however. He introduced a number of financial reforms, including a more equitable tax system and a plan for the funding of the national debt.

Implement National Debt Funding Plan - +60 ducats, -10% interest for 80 days.
Implement Tax Refomr - National Tax Modifier +10% for 80 days.

Only 80 days of tax reform, 2 1/2 months worth, means the +60 ducats is more money. Much more money, actually. So, I with then National Debt plan (and immediately sent colonists to Sao Vicente and Santa Amaro)

November - Modena, Mantua and Ferrara become Core provinces.

December - A Culture Accepted - We are now accpeting Lombard as an integral part of our nation. Their language and culture is a part of our national heritage.

Mo' Money!

1542

Here is a rundown of our income.

Last Year
Production: 163.0
Tolls: 122.8
Census Taxes: 113.7
Taxation: 103.6
Events: 60.0
Trade Tariffs: 60.0
Manufactory: 48.0
Vassals: 43.3
Gold: 40.1
Trade: 21.5

February - Start building 3 Barques.

March - Sao Vicente colonization was successful, but Santa Amora was not.

June - Nice, Firenze, Corsica and Romagna are now Cores.

October - Sao Vicente increases to 200 colonists.

December - France has gone to war with Portugal, Castille and England. The only nation I am not allied with there is Portugal, so it was probably a declared war between them. I'm going to wait a few months, for France's troops to march off some, and then possibly declare war on France. Those 3, plus me and Austria could be devestating to France.

1543

February - Castille and Portugal are hitting France pretty hard in the South.

March - Production increases to 6. Can now build Textile Manufactory.

October - They have been pushed back and France has reformed their southern forces. I've been waiting for a window to jump in, but I don't think that's going to happen now.

1544

January - France took Portugal's colony of Bahia. Castille has a few massive armies in Africa that they are not moviing, as well as one in the middle of their territory...

May - I decided that I can't afford the Stability hit, so war with France has to wait. It'll probably wait for a good, long time so I'm going to focus more on colonization and building up my army/navy for now.

June - Naval Tech increases to 8.

July - Other than their alliance with The Mamluks, Tripoli is defenseless. I am going to reconsider North Africa for territory and vassals. On the other hand, Venice is crippled and I could take them easily and vassalage them. Just things to consider in a few decads when my Stability finally gets back to +2 or +3 (unless I get some events).

September - Sao Vicente is at 400 colonists and I have set up a colony in Santo Amaro.

December - I send 5 merchants to a CoT in India called Bihar. It's value is nearly 1,000 ducats, so per merchant, that should be quite a take and cover costs relatively quickly, even though it costs me 15 ducats each.

1545

March - 2 merchants set up shop in Bihar. They are taking in 31.45 a year total. So, as long as they stay, I should make a profit in about 2.5 years.

April - Government increases to 14. I get a new National Idea.

I could choose Smithian Economics, which gives me a +10% bonus to Production Efficency, meaning more money as a result of production. Last year I made 182.8 from Production, and my Production Efficency is 42%. A 10% increase would make that a little more than 190. Add that to my Production Tech level is increasing very fast (each tech level gives +2% to efficiency) and my new focus on colonization, and that each 10% will turn a very big chunk of money into an even larger chunk of money

I am also thinking of taking Bureaucracy, which is a +5% to National Tax Modifier. I think that would give me just about the same as Smithian Economics right now, but less in the long run. However, if that also effects Census Taxes, that's more money in my pocket at the end of the year, which I have been using to send off colonists.

In the end, I went with Colonial Ventures, which gives me an extra colonist each year. Right now, I am only getting 1.6 colonists a year, and I can not afford to move my sliders since doing that costs a Stability Hit. 1 extra colonist a year basically means, if all colony efforts are successful, an extra city every 5 years (since it takes 10 to get it to 1000).

October - I'm down to 1 merchant in Bihur. If only it didn't cost so much to send them to India. Andalucia in Castille is up to almost 600 ducats, and it only costs 3.38 to send a merchant there.

November - Sao Vicente is up to 600 colonists and Santa Amaro is up to 300.

1546

January - And I am competed out of Bihur. A very costly experiment...

May - Sao Vicente and Santo Amaro increase by 100.

June - Build 3 more Barques.

December - Sao Vicente increases to 800.

[sabotai]

1547

France has called a truce with Castille, Portugal and England. Nothing major happened.

February - Santa Amaro increases to 500. Trade Tech increases to 7 - I can now have monopolies.

March - Build a Workshop in Pirineo. Apulia has become Protestant.

August - Piedmont becomes Reformed.

December - Sao Vicente increases to 900.

1548

January - I ship off 5 merchants to Andalucia, 2 of them are able to set up shop.

February - I am down to 1 merchant in Andalucia already, that is bringing in about 10 ducats a year. My trade efficiency and compete chance pretty much sucks.

March - Build 3 more Barques.

April - I am already gone from Andalucia.

July - I have entered into a Royal Marriage with France.

Sao Vicente is now a city of 2029. Tax 2.95, Production 20.76 (Sugar).

I have also noticed that Brittany is alliance-free. They have some colonies south of my South American colonies. The poor colonies, but easily taken over. They also only have 4 provinces on France's north-west side. They could be quite an easy target...

1549

January - Build a Constable in Pirineo and Girona. Santa Amaro increases to 700.

August - Santa Amaro increases to 800.

September - Production Tech increases to 7.

1550

February - Santa Amaro increases to 900.

May - Build a Workshop in Roussillon.

August - Santa Amaro is now a city of 2029. Tax 0.59, Production 21.58 (Sugar).

Here is a map of South America.



It seems like all of the easy provinces are spoken for now in America. It's either war or fighting lots of angry natives, except for a few exceptions. A stretch of land in North America is unclaimed (present day Louisiana, eastern Texas). I am going to start there. The Aztecs are still around. If I can get a large enough army there, I could try to go after them. There are no more Mayans or Zapotek, it's all just Aztec now.

[sabotai]

1551

May - Chitimacha was successfully colonized, but Bayougoula was now (both make up present down southern Louisiana).

June - Liguria is now a Core.

October - Piedmont, Verona and Parma are now Cores.

December - Chitimacha is now at 200.

1552

January - Build a Constable in Rousillon.

July - Chitimacho is now at 300 (while Bayougoula still keeps failing).

November - Santana is now a Core.

1553

March - I gain a Casus Belli on France (Boundry Dispute). They are at war with Burgundy right now, but I am not prepared since I've been focusing on colonization. Oh well.

April - Build 3 more Barques.

September - Chitimacha increases to 400.

November - I get the Boundry Dispute event with France. If I press the issue, France will gain a Basus Belli on me. I decide to press the issue and see if I can get them to declare on me (so I don't get the minor stability hit).

1554

January - Build a Constable in Liguria.

July - Chitimacha increases to 500.

September - Build 3 more Barques.

1555

March - England calls for help against the Iroquois. This won't effect us.

June - Build 2 Caravels.

December - Land Tech increases to 9. I can build Regimental Camps. Local Manpower +25%, Recruitment Speed - 50%. They cost a little over 200 ducats to build.

1556

January - Chitimacha increases to 600.

July - Bayougoula is finally colonized.

October - Chitimacha increases to 700.

1557

February - Bayougoula increases to 200.

June - England has called for help against Denmark. Denmark has been crippled in recent years by Austria and Lithuania, however they still have allies in Norway and The Palitinate. Still, I really want to keep my alliance with England, so I accept and take a -1 hit to Stability, making it 0.

August - Chitimacha increases to 800.

November - Government Tech increases to 15.

December - Bayougoula increases to 300.

1558

April - Chitimacha increases to 900.

October - Build a Temple in Barcelona (-5.00 to Stability Cost). Takes 2 years to build.

November - Chitimacha becomes a city of 1530. Tax 1.18, Production 15.99 (Cotton)

1559

January - Naval Tech increases to 9.

February - Trade Tech increases to 8. Bayougoula increases to 400.

March - Production increases to 8.

September - Bayougoula increases to 500.

[sabotai]

1560

April - Bayougoula increases to 600.

1561

January - Bayougoula increases to 700.

March - France has armies of 20k each along my border. I start recruiting more infantry units (5 regiments)

1562

I continue to recruit more infantry. I am planning on havine at least 3 armies of 10k infantry and 5k Cav along my border. Not as big as the French armies, or as many, but it's probably all I can afford. We'll see after that.

April - Enric I takes the throne. Admin 8, Military 3 (ow!), Diplo 6

July - I colonize Bourbon, an island off the west coast of southern Africa. A sugar province with no natives. I wanted to go after South Africa, but Portugal beat me to it.

September - Bayougoula increases to 900.

1563

Supply limits are stopping me from having my 15k armies (supply limits in my provinces go from 12-14). I would just keep them at 15k, but in peace times I lower my maintenence so I'll keep losing a bit of soldiers each month if I build them that high. So I'll make 4 12k armies instead.

March - I colonize Mauritius, an island right next to Bourbon.

August - Bourbon increases to 200.

October - Bayougoula is now a city of 1532. Tax 1.77, Production 16.59 (Tobacco)

1564

I'm cutting it down to 3 armies of 12k each. Maintenence, even at min., is getting a bit high.

June - My Stability increases to +1

July - Austria needs my help against the Ottoman Empire. I accept.

November - I land an army of 3k Inf and 3k Cav in Corfu (A Greek Province) and begin siege.

December - I land an army of 6k Inf in Morea and begin siege.

1565

The Ottomans attacked me with a fleet of 77 galleys. 77! That's about triple my entire fleet...

February - I land an army of 5k Inf and 2k Cav in Albania, easily fight off a small force and begin siege.

March - The Ottomans have forces headed to Greece. Too small to challenge me right now, but they are building.

I again get the Ausias de Zaporta's Reforms event and take the 60 ducats again.

I raise 10 mercenary infantry regiments in Italy and send them to Ottoman territory.

May - We fight the Ottomans out of the Austrian province of Croatia.

June - We beat the Ottomans in the province of Dalmatia and begin siege.

Moria has fallen.

The Ottomans accept my peace offer of giving up Morea. It is an Orthodox province of 12,263 people. Tax 0.95, Production 6.17 (Wine). Culture: Greek (Non Accepted).

I was surprised that The Ottomans accepted so easily. They fought me off in Croatia and was about to hit my armies in Corfu and Morea with larger forces. Oh well, I got one out of them, next time I'll try and free all of Greece. At least I now have a province to launch an attack from.

I'm leaving 6k Infantry in Morea.

November - I colonize Mahe, a spice island north of Bourbon and Mauritius.

1566

January - Build 4 Galleys.

June - Build 4 Galleys

1567

January - Government Tech increases to 16. I can now build Customs Houses (Local Tax +5%).

Bourbon increases to 400, Mauritius increases to 300, Mahe increases to 200.

Build 4 Barques.

March - The Ottomans are fortifying their new border with me. There are 5k in Athens and 5k in Janina.

April - Sao Vicenta is now a Core.

A look at my economy at the end of 1567

Income for the Year
Production: 297.9
Census Taxes 193.4
Taxation 163.3
Tolls 108.0
Trade Tariffs 60.0
Manufactory 48.0
Vassals 44.0
Gold 40.2
Trade 22.2

Expenses for the year
Army Maintenence 123.3
Building Colonies 97.3
Building Fleets 90.0
Fleet Maintenence 19.7

Investments (per month)
Government (16) 0.0 (I have plenty going in due to Universities that I don't need to fund it. It's 32 years ahead of its time)
Production (8) 10.0
Trade (8) 10.0
Navel (9) 19.4
Land (9) 19.4
Stability +1, 0.0

Treasury 6.8, which is giving me 0.0 increase to Inflation.

[sabotai]

1568

The Ottomans now have 10k sitting in Athens and 5k in Janina. If war erupts again, looks like i'll need to focus efforts there.

My military right now
39 Regiments of Infantry
19 Regiments of Cavalry
0 Regiments of Artillery

8 Caravels
19 Barques
8 Galleys
8 Flytes

February - Bourbon increases to 500.

March - Mahe to 300 and Mauritius to 400

It was only a matter of time. Castille has gone to war with The Mamluks. It will be Castille, Aragon and Portugal against The Mamluks and Tripoli. I need to act fast, get in and take over Tripoli and vassalage them. After that, I need to take as much land from The Mamluks as I can.

May - Revolt in Pisa. I don't have time for this shit...I ignore them. If I can't beat 9 regiments of rebels...

June - I land a force of 2k Cav and 5k Infantry in Tripoli and begin siege.

December - I just saw that I can not negotiate peace with Tripoli. Something about us being junior partners. So, I'll just take the two Tripoli provinces that I can (they are dirt farms), and make peace with The Mamluks before Castille makes peace for the whole alliance. That way, I can get in and annex Tripoli in the next war (their capital is an Ivory province)

Triplitania, Tripoli's capital, falls.

1569

March - Sirt falls. I march on Tripoli's last province.

Aprial - In a naval battle with The Mamluks, I lost 1 ship while they lost 5, however, they captured 4 of my ships.

Damn, Portugal managed to grab Tripoli's last province.

May - We hit them hard in a Naval attack. We lose 1 ship, but they lost 13.

Castille offered Tripoli a white peace. WTF Castille!? Guess I'll try to grab a few of The Mamluk's provinces.

June - I destroy a few ships of The Mamluks in the Bay of Alexandria. Looks like I may have destroyed The Mamluk's main fleet.

Nope, they have a fleet near Cyprus. As it turns out, it was only 7 ships. We destroyed them all and lost 1.

October - We lose a long campaign in the province of Gabes.

1570

March - Lybia falls.

May - We land a force of 7k in Alexandria and begin siege.

August - We lose Lybia. The Mamluks offer us a white peace. Since Castille screwed us over on Tripoli, I see no reason to stay in this war. I accept.

September - Enric II rises to power. Admin 6, Military 8, Diplo 5

1571

October - National Institutions

As of late more and more people are requesting representative national institutions.

L'etat c'est moi - Centralization gains 1, Stability loses 1
Give Them What They Want - Desentralization gains 1, Stability gains 1

Decentralization is alread maxed. I take the free Stability.

1572

I just noticed that Morea has the ability ot recruit Spahi Cavalry, a muslim elite cavalry unit. They are much better than Latin Knights. I'm going to start building them and transporting them through my kingdom to make our cavalry units much better.

May - I set up a colony in Cape Verde. It is just a poor fishing colony, but it is an island off the coast of North-West Africa, striking distance to an African nation called Mali. This country has a lot of rich provinces that I think are better served under my rule. I'm going to build up this colony and sned some ships over carrying a lot of troops.

June - Bourbon increases to 600, Mauritius to 500

July - Mahe increases to 500.

October - Cape Verde to 200.

1573

January - Cape Verde to 300.

April - Land Tech increases to 10.

Enables Terico Infantry - Very good overall, a slight bias to defense.
Enables Maurician Infantry - Very good overall, a slight bias towards offense.
Enables Free Shooter Infantry - Defensive Fire stage, Offensive Morale and Shock.

I designate my Infantry to be Terico Infantry.

April - Cape Verde to 400.

July - Bourbon to 700

August - I have learned my lesson from the Ottomans and when they smashed me with a huge force of galleys.

I have been working overtime getting my fleet up to super-power status. I now have 12 Caravels, 16 Barques, 45 Galleys and 11 Flytes (1 is over in South America).

I'm going to keep building galleys, as many as I can. My goal is to get to 100 Galleys, and then start building up some Barques.

September - Mahe increases to 500.

December - Cape Verde increases to 500.

1574

February - Road Constructions

The construction and maintenance or raods and trade routes in the northenr areas of our country have had a great impact on our economy. It has alled us to increase our trade and thereby generate a higher tax income.

Higer Tax Income - Spend 50 ducats to increase the Base Tax of Valencia by 1
Increased Manpower - Spend 50 ducats to increase the Manpower in Valencia by 198

I choose higher tax base.

Trade Tech increases to 9.

April - Mali has inherited the throne of Swahili. That gave them a lot of rich provinces on Africa's west coast, near where I will have a few island cities set up soon. Another great thing that I noticed. Tripoli is allied with Mail. I can get Tripoli without involving The Mamluks.

As a side note, I may have to take the Quest For The New World Idea at some point to get to some of the hidden provinces in Africa.

July - Production Tech increases to 9.

August - Cape Verde increases to 600.

September - Bourbon increases to 800.

October - Cape Verde to 700.

1575

April - Cape Verde to 800

May - Naval Tech increases to 10

July - Cape Verde to 900.

September - I send off 5 merchants to the CoT in Jiangsu, a province of the Ming Dynasty. It only cost 6.5 ducats per merchant, and the CoT has a value of over 1400 ducats.

November - Cape Verde is now a city of 1019 people. Tax 0.79, Production 2.19 (Fish). My launching point into the west empire of Mali is now finished. Now I need to get the 3 islands on the east side of Africa up to cities and I'll have launching points into Mali's newly inherited eastern empire.

December - 3 Merchants set up shop in Jiangsu. I'll know next month how much they make.

1576

The 3 merchants in Jiangsu make 53.16 ducats a year in that CoT. That's 17.72 ducats each.

March - 1 merchant in Jiangsu has been competed away. I send 2 more.

April - Nice has become Reformed.

June - Chitamacha has become a Core.

June - Both merchants fail to get into Jiangsu, and I'm already down to just 1 there.

July - I've gotten up to 61 Galleys. I'm stopping for now so that I can build up some Flytes.

August - Ferran II comes to power. Admin 6, Military 8, Diplo 3

December - After sending 3 more merchants, I have been competed out of Jiangsu. Not worth it for me. I just have not been paying attention to Trade and now I can't get in anywhere (except for Tuskegee).

1577

February - Bourbon to 900.

April - Venice has warned us. Now that's damn funny! Except they are allied with Lithuania.

August - Gift To The State - I gain 300 ducats (instead of 2.00 Prestige). I start building a lot of galleys.

1578

March - I colonize St. Helena. It's a fishing island off the western coast of central Africa. Another strategic point. Since Mali inherited Swahili, my ambitions has gone from taking over Mali to taking over all of Africa.

Bourbon has become a city of 1093. Tax 3.95, Production 23.62 (Sugar).

Mauritius increases to 600.

September - Thanks to the gift to the state, I now have 83 Galleys.

October - Mahe increases to 600

November - St. Helena goes to 200.

1579

February - Rebels have pretty much taken over every province in what was once Swahili. I wonder if that will force a new Swahili to be born.

May - Mauritius goes to 700.

June - Event - Assassination of Noble - If I let them solve it themselves, I lose 1 stability, if I take control, Plutocracy gains 1. I take control of it myself since I've been wanting to move towards Plutocracy anyway.

Government Tech to 17, I get a new Idea. I go for Quest For The New World out of requirement. If I am going to go into Africa, and maybe go after the Aztecs and Incas, who are both still very much around, I need this Idea to get to the provinces that I still can not see.

October - St. Helena to 300.

December - I have made it to 96 Galleys.

1580

March - 99 Galleys

April - Mahe increases to 700.

Mali seems to have gotten the rebellion in Swahili under control now.

August - Mauritius to 800.

September - Navy Numbers: 12 Caravels, 16 Barques, 100 Galleys, 26 Flytes.

October - St. Helena to 400.

[sabotai]

1581

August - Bayougoula has become a Core.

A Center of Trade has appeared in the province of Chitimacha. Its value is nearly at 1,000 ducats. I'm not sure when it was created, but all spots are already filled.

I'm going to build up a small army of cavalry in Chitimacha so I can clear the natives in the 2 provinces to the west. I'll colonize them and that will connect me to The Aztecs.

October - St. Helena increases to 500. Mauritius increases to 900. Actually, 990. Growth rate is at 12%. Instead of spending to send another colonist, I'm just going to let it increase to 1000 population on its own.

1582

March - The natives in Atakapa (province west of Chitimacha - present day eastern area of Texas) have been cleared.

April - St. Helena to 600.

The natives in Karankawa (south-east Texas) have been cleared.

May - Mahe has increased to 800 (878 specifically. 1 more colonist and then I'll let it get to 1000 on its own.)

August - Mauritius has become a city of 1500. Tax 3.95, Production 23.09 (Sugar)

[nfg22]

Keep going, I want to see france fall.

[PilotMan]

Yeah, I m reading along too. I don't have III, but the tactics are similar to II. Good luck.

[sabotai]

Originally Posted by nfg22

Keep going, I want to see france fall.

Oh, those French bastards will fall. My plan is to use all of the money I make from the ivory, gold and slaves in Africa as well as the gold I plan to take from The Aztecs to fund a massive effort against the French, Ottomans and Mamluks.


1582 - continued

October - St. Helena increases to 700

November - Successfully colonized Atakapa

1583

June - I clear out the aggressive natives in a recently revealed province called Minas Gerais, a gold province, and send off a colonist.

St. Helena increases to 800

August - My Stability increases to +3.

September - Mahe increases to 900 (992 - going to let it increase on its own)

1584

January - Failed to colonize Minas Gerais. Trying again.

April - St. Helena to 900.

September - Colonized Minas Gerais.

October - Event: Exceptional Year

Excellent business enviroment combined with good harvests were once in awhile a blessing for the nation's tax base, generating higher income for the realm.

Collect Benefits Over Time - +25% Tax modifier over 365 days
Take Advantage At Once - +200 ducats.

I take the 200 at once. I don't think +25% would give me more than that.

1585

January - I place 3k Spahi Cavalry in Cape Verde.

BTW, Mahe is a city of 1509 people. Tax 1.98, Production 18.17 (Spices). I hope to get armies of 7-10k on each island with their own fleet of Flytes. When I launch my attack on Mali in the west, I want to strike hard at Mali in the east. The provinces in the west have begun to build forts, so that will be hard, but the ones in the east still have none. I will take them first. I imagine it will take several wars to completely defeat Mali, but I will take as many east provinces as possible, as quickly as possible.

February - Land Tech increases to 11

April - Atakapa increases to 200

June - Naval Tech increases to 11

July - St. Helena becomes a city of 1043. Tax 0.89, Production 2.45 (Fish).

October - Minas Gerais increases to 200.

1586

May - Minas Gerais increases to 300.

July - Event: Fortification Effort. I spend 30 ducats to build a level 2 Fort in Siena as well as increase its manpower by 154

December - Atakapa increases to 300.

1587

The eastern provinces of Mali have once again been overrun with rebels. Taking those provinces will probably be very easy. So much so that I will declare war very soon and not bother with fighting in the west for awhile.

April - Normally I don't bother with telling of succession wars, but this one is major. The leader of the Ming dynasty will his throne to the leader of Japan, but Korea has objected. If all of Ming is given to the leader of Japan, that would be huge in the far east.

June - Bourbon is now a Core.

Event: Fortification Effort - I spend 30 ducats to build a Level 2 Fort in Navarra as well as increase manpower by 131.

Minas Gerais increases to 400.

Junly - Fortification Effort: 30 ducats to build a level 2 Fort in Girona as well as increase manpower by 132.

1588

January - Minas Gerais increases to 500.

April - Mauritius is now a Core.

Fortification Effort: Pisa gets a level 2 Fort and 205 increase to manpower.

July - I have colonized Karankawa, connecting my North American provinces to the Aztec Empire. Atapaka increases to 400.

August - Minas Gerais increases to 600.

Swahili has declared independance as a result of the rebellion. This is my chance seeing that Swahili has now allies right now. I will launch an attack at them and take as many provinces as I can.

November - I declared war on Swahili, costing me 2 Stability for not having a Casus Belli. All of our allies honor our alliance.

I am marching right through their territory. I landed one 7k army in Mogadishu, their northern most province, while also landing a 7k army in Safala, their southern most province.

1589

March - Atakapa increases to 500.

April - Swahili accepts peace terms. They hand over Bagamoyo, Tanga, Mambasa, Malindi, Lamu and Mogadishu. All of them are ivory provinces. Taking off of those provinces gave me a tarnished reputation (7.88).

I'll have a rundown and a map up when I finish the year.

October - Naval Tech increases to 12.

[sabotai]

[Chief Rum]

Yo! Since others are chiming on, I will too. I have been following along and enjoying what you got going here. Keep it up!

[Chief Rum]

Originally Posted by sabotai

July - Event: Fortification Effort.

Okay, I admit when I first read this, I thought you wrote Fornication. And I was thinking, "Well, try harder, damnit!"

[sabotai]

Rundown of new provinces starting at the top (north).

Mogadishu
Tsx 0.61, Production 18.19 (Ivory)
Culture: Swahili (Non Accepted), Religion: Sunni

Lamu
Tax 1.22, Production 17.98 (Ivory)
Culture: Swahili, Religion: Sunni

Malindi
Tax 1.22, Production 18.73 (Ivory)
Culture: Swahili, Religion: Sunni

Mombasa
Tax 2.44, Production 19.17 (Ivory)
Culture: Swahili, Religion: Sunni

Tanga
Tax 0.36, Production 18.48 (Ivory)
Culture: Bantu (Non Accepted), Religion: Animism

Bagamoyo
Tax 0.36, Production 17.48 (Ivory)
Culute: Bantu, Religion: Animism