So, here is a Europa Universalis 2 succession game. And the details of game are here:

Version: The newest, 1.61 I think.
Mod: AGCEEP
Country: Venice
Leader: Pasquale Malipiero
Religion: Catholic
Cultures: Italian, Greek
Land Level: 2?3?(Late Medieval)
Naval Level: 3(Late Medieval)
Year: 1464
Provinces: Veneto, Istria, Dalmatia, Ragusa, Corfu, Ionia, Crete, Thrace, Apulia
Allies: Styria, Strassburg, Wirtemberg and Palatinate
Vassals:
Wars:

I will be updating the list when the game goes further.

_________

The player-list(I reserved places for the guys that have promised to join in the Lurid Livonians-thread):

1: Hitti-Litti
2: Kan' Sharuminar
3: Chuckhi Husky
4: Till
5: Stormbringer
6: Olav
_________

I'm in. Nice choice of nation; I have never played Venice before, so I don't know what to expect. I've never participated in a SG before, but I guess the "rules" are simple :).

What difficulty have you planned to use? If you haven't started the game yet, I would suggest playing at normal (or perhaps easier). Have you decided on how many years each round should be?

I'm in, as long as we are using the latest version of AGCEEP, 1.51. I think each round should last as long as the ruler lives, and as soon as that changes we save and post here.

Olav@ Dunno, maybe not the default of mine(very hard, coward). I accept suggestions. :)

Stormbringer@ Of course the last version of AGCEEP, I meant the version of the game itself.

Edit: Stormbringer's idea of changing after monarch would be good, but the length of reigns have a big scale. If we play 10 years per player, then players would play the same amount of years.

I'm in, but i better warn you:

a) Succession games just keep piling up for me right now, so i won't manage more than one turnset/week.

b) I never played any nation besides Granada. Hopefully, i'll stay ahead of my reflexes, but don't be too surprised, if we suddenly find ourselves at war with Aragon, Castille and Portugal...! ;)

As for the length of the turnsets, i would propose to keep it flexible. A lot of wars can happen during the lifetime of a monarch, which can alter the course of the game significantly.
I would propose each player plays no more than one war (unless the war is a cold one). Besides keeping the writeup at a manageable length, it will also reduce the time one has to spend to familiarize oneself with the current situation, after it's ones turn.

I'll join. I'm sorry if I'm not any good.

Thanks, CH!

I don't think you're that bad, and if you are, every SG needs a noob player! :lol:

So, what difficulty will we use? I propose normal/hard and coward/weakling. With that difficulty and low aggressiveness we won't see any "Mahra declared war on you! Prepare for battle..." messages. Unless we invade to Arabia. :crazyeye:

I vote for normal. On the harder difficulties BB points decrease so slowly - warfare is not always the best option. On normal this problem isn't so big, so we can wage war more often. After all, war is the funniest part in EU2 :). As for AI aggressivity, I'm unsure. Normal and coward seems like good options.

How about the length of rounds? Even if playing for as long as one monarch is alive, I agree with Till that the rounds could be a bit too long. Keeping it flexible is a good alternative, so we finish the turnsets after a war. Another option could be to divide the 400 years into turnsets of 10 years. This will give us 8 turns each (if we are 5 players).

I thought about it being ten years.

I agree on normal difficulty. Having to wait for your BB rating to cool off is annoying by itself, but if the BB points were gathered by another player, i imagine it to be quite irritating.

As for the the aggressiveness level, i would propose normal, but i must admit i never tried any other setting. If "weakling/coward" means that the AI will wait for us to attack them, then i would find that rather boring, i fear.

From my (limited to one nation) experience, a helluva lot happens during 10 years, at least in the beginning. I suspect things slow down later, but early turnsets might require several hours of playtime. That's a little too much for my taste; i'd rather keep turnsets short, which would also leave more room for discussion about the best course of action.

Edit: Stormbringer's idea of changing after monarch would be good, but the length of reigns have a big scale. If we play 10 years per player, then players would play the same amount of years.

Ah, I didn't see this before now.

As Till mentioned, 10 years could also be a bit too much. Should we try with 5 years to begin with, and see how things turn out? I guess we could be flexible with this - if there is nothing happening during the 5 years in the turn, it could be increased to 10 years or something.

How long should we wait for the 6th player? Or should we settle for 5?

We can try at the start with 5 years, but I think that if there's an ongoing war, that's just going to end, we can play over 5 years.

I have much time next week, so I'll start tomorrow. The sixth player can join if he wants during the game, it won't mix things too much.

I'll advertise this in Paradox Interactive thread. :)

If you haven't started yet, HL, could you post a pic with the domestic policies?

I'll post in the post of the first turn. ;)

Which starts now(Should I put the pics as thumbnails or not?).

The game begins at 1419. We are at war with Hungary, and Dalmatia is occupied as you see in one of the pics. I also show you our whole empire, leader and other big things, domestic policies and the diplomatic status.

http://aycu02.webshots.com/image/11081/2004094155703985605_rs.jpg (http://allyoucanupload.webshots.com/v/2004094155703985605)

http://aycu37.webshots.com/image/12516/2004045691211077872_rs.jpg (http://allyoucanupload.webshots.com/v/2004045691211077872)

http://aycu29.webshots.com/image/10548/2004092587812612170_rs.jpg (http://allyoucanupload.webshots.com/v/2004092587812612170)

We know that Hungary is weak. Though they managed to make my army to retreat to Veneto, they still offered a peace deal at October 1st 1419. I accepted, as they had a bigger army and they offered 40 ducats and Istria!

http://aycu29.webshots.com/image/10068/2004082335378169221_rs.jpg (http://allyoucanupload.webshots.com/v/2004082335378169221)

Later on, peasants started to demand more rights. I accepted, as it lowered Serfdom(Serfdom=weak but much troops). But it lowered our stability with 2. :(

http://aycu01.webshots.com/image/11040/2001211650531555870_rs.jpg (http://allyoucanupload.webshots.com/v/2001211650531555870)

Merchants were sent, and rebellion of Istria was put down with our military leader Tomas Savorgnan.

We got a historical event, called a Pretender to the Ottoman Throne. It gives us a Casus Belli against Otto for two years. I forgot to take a pic of the event. :lol: I won't declare war yet, but the next player will still have a CB against them for few months. They have two armies of 11,000 men, I checked it with our humongous, 40 ships containing navy. Long live Admiral Pietro Loredan!

At October 22nd 1422, Thomas Savorgnan died. :(
He died of plague that he catched while visiting Kaffa, where he got Theodoros to join our military alliance with Tuscany.

March 2nd 1423, Tommaso Mocenigo summoned his advisors to help. They decided to start and aggressive foreign policy, which weakened our relations with our neighbors, but gave us better land troops.

http://aycu07.webshots.com/image/9206/2003698524398954063_rs.jpg (http://allyoucanupload.webshots.com/v/2003698524398954063)

Soon Tommaso died, and Fransesco Foscari rose to power.

http://aycu28.webshots.com/image/9507/2000924326879006185_rs.jpg (http://allyoucanupload.webshots.com/v/2000924326879006185)

That was my first turn.

CH's turn!

I will send it by e-mail, as CFC uploading system didn't work.

CH, PM me your e-mail address or MSN Messenger address, so I can post it to you. :)

I can't find the latest version of the game.

CH: Here (http://www.agceep.com/installation.htm) is the latest version of AGCEEP, and here (http://www.paradoxplaza.com/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=39&Itemid=120) is the latest EU2 patch. :) Good luck with your turn!

HL: Did you play for 5 years, or did you quit when the monarch died? Anyway, nice getting Dalmatia from Hungary! Do you have any plans for where further expansion could take place?

Looks like you made good progress! :)
Instead of emailing the safe, we could attach it to the posts as zip archives. Or we could use another site to upload it, such as here (http://treehouse.selfip.net/uploads/).

Olav@ I played for five years, years ended just a little bit after Mocenigo's death.

Till@ Do we need to upload both save files, .eug and .eug.cfg? I'm not sure...

I suspect the .eug file will be enough, but i'm not sure, either!

The problem is that .eug.cfg file uploads in seconds, but the .eug file's uploading has failed. :(

Where you can compress files to .zips or .rars? WinRAR has only a possibility of "compress and e-mail."

But hey, I think everyone here has a MSN Messenger account? I'll use that, so no prob with compressing and uploading!

I added CH's MSN to my list, I'll send it when he's logged in it.

Strange, did you receive any error messages?

In order to add the files into a zip or rar archive, start WinRAR, browse to the files and click on "Add". If you have the shell extensions installed, you can just mark the files in the Windows explorer, right-click and select "add to archive".

The page you gave just didn't upload, and a FAILED was added to the site's address. CFC's uploading didn't upload it in 10 minutes...

Now to the compressing:

Till. I name you as Sir Thanks-A-Lot.

http://forums.civfanatics.com/uploads/99967/Venice.rar

Is there anything I should do?

Well, I think you should try to keep peace, and if war occurs then defend our homeland. :)

Tip: Always keep ships in the Adriatic Sea, in AGCEEP Veneto can't be then invaded. :old:

January 1st, 1424

Turned down military support for now.

March 21st, 1424

Morocco wanted a Trade Agreement with us. I accepted.

June 2nd, 1424

http://img85.imageshack.us/img85/592/treatyof1424ie9.png

I went with "Take control of Thessalonica", giving us 100 ducats and Macedonia becoming one of our national provinces. Began building a tax collector in Dalmatia.

July 3rd, 1424

Stability increased to +1.

January 26th, 1425

http://img255.imageshack.us/img255/6609/carmagnolaep7.png

Went with "Decline Carmagnola's Offer" because there wasn't enough money for the first one. It gives us +200 naval investment but takes away 50 ducats.

August 6th, 1425

http://img252.imageshack.us/img252/884/deathandtaxescy5.png

Went with "Death", increasing our stability by 1 but losing our tax collector in Corfu.

January 1st, 1426

Stability increased to +3.

January 1st, 1428

Rebuilding tax collector in Corfu.

January 18th, 1428

http://img252.imageshack.us/img252/3835/foreigndrillinstructoraym6.png

Didn't have enough money to accept, so declined, losing 1 victory point.

May 20th, 1428

http://img255.imageshack.us/img255/4477/peppermonopolyuz2.png

Didn't have enough money to pay, so refused, increasing mercantilism by 1 but losing 300 trade investment and losing 2 inflation.

http://forums.civfanatics.com/uploads/41904/Venice.zip

Nice! Two updates in one day!

Luckily with Macedonia as a core province we can declare war to Otto any time.

Great that you avoided loans, they cause inflation and inflation is the root of evil.

Good going! Too bad that you didn't have enough money to get the foreign instructor.

What are our goals, by the way? I think we should have some, that will make the game more interesting. One goal could be to stop the Ottomans from getting Thrace. If Otto DoWs Byzantium, I think we should do it too + DoW Otto at the same time. By sending the fleet to the straits between Thrace and Smyrna/Anatolia(?), Ottoman soldiers can't cross the strait. This way we could get Thrace for our selves, right under the nose of the Sultans :)

If you're still looking for a player, I'll take a look into getting the mod and making sure my game is up to date tomorrow (if people could post appropriate links for me as well, why, that would be grand :mischief: ).

I'm not the greatest of EU players though - but I'm usually able to hold my own. Ho hum.

Feel free to join, Kan! I signed you up! :mwaha:

YOU CAN'T RETURN!!!

Now, I hope that Till has the save and he's playing it...

I got the save, but i'm a little stretched for time right now. If worse comes to worst, I might be unable to play before Thursday! It'd be great if you could move me to the bottom of the roster, at least for this turn. :)

This (http://www.agceep.com/installation.htm) and this (http://www.paradoxplaza.com/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=39&Itemid=120) is what you need, Kan :)

As you wish, Till. I'll skip your turn. Stormbringer, your turn.

This (http://www.agceep.com/installation.htm) and this (http://www.paradoxplaza.com/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=39&Itemid=120) is what you need, Kan :)

Thanks! I take it it's the deluxe version of AGCEEP I want, as that's what I'm downloading.

I use the deluxe version.

Me too, so we should use the deluxe version.

Thanks chaps. Game is up and running, and I got the previous savegame working fine. Count me in then :)

is it too late to sign up? My internet's been down for the past couple of weeks and as such I've only just noticed this AAR.

I've been dying to do an EU2 AAR for ages, and if it's a succession game, well, I can blame everyone else! Woo!

I'm sorry, Peck of Arabia. But I'm pretty sure that this won't be the last EU2 SG. ;)

Well, I hope this won't be the last... :p

meh, fair enough- I'll just watch and make loud comments from the sidelines...

COME ON VENICE! ARE YOU JUST GOING TO SIT THERE AND LET THE OTTOMAN EMPIRE EXIST!?

Hey, only 10 years gone and Dalmatia is liberated.

Stormbringer, post here if you've got the save.

Stormbringer has the save, he plays it in a day or two. Told me via PM.

Guys, I'm very sorry but way more things than I can deal with all piled up right now. I just switched computers, and I don't think I will have EU2 installed again until this weekend, or possibly next weekend, and I do not want you all to wait for me that long. So go ahead and skip this turn, and I will let you all know as soon as I have my computer running again, and then I would be glad to join you.

Okay, after Stormbringer it's Olav, who still plays Livonia-AAR with old version. Then it should be my turn, but I played before CH. So Kan or Till will play this turn.

I won't let this game die.

KAAAAAAAN!

I can take it and hopefully have an update by tommorow.

Out of interest, can't Olav install another copy of the game, if it's a version problem he has? I once had a couple of installs of HoI in order to play the vanilla as well as another for a Great War mod :)

Dunno, maybe he could make a separate install. But his Livonia-AAR ends soon so...

I'm too busy right now to play, so it's nice that you could take it, Kan.

I might try to install another copy if I don't finish my AAR soon (although I expect it to be finished during the weekend).

Terribly sorry about this, chaps - I actually had the game up and running, but now a friend is having problems and I'm helping him out :crazyeye:

It will be done soon though, the five year Sharuminian Council is nothing if not determined.

Ok, so I just re-installed everything and I could play if we need someone to pick up the game. E-mail the save to me at mishkasm@gmail.com

1429-1434

At the begining of 1429 Francesco Foscari altered slightly the budget of his government. While infrastructure and trade were already ahead of those of other nations, they were still the most important areas of research, and their neglect over the last couple of years could no longer be tolerated.

Similar neglect in the trade sector was distressing. Merchants piled up in the capital, not being sent anywhere when Venice could probably have a monopoly on trade throughout South Eastern Europe. Merchants were immediatley dispatched.

The same year domestic policies of the city were changed to allow more freedom for the peasantry. Stability has not been a major problem, while higher efficiency and morale would prove useful in the coming conflicts.

In the spring the city reached land tech 2, now on par with pretty much all of Europe. At the same time Francesco initiated a number of diplomatic overtures towards potential allies, hoping to strengthen Venitian alliance in the hopes of a coming battle against the Turks.

That however ended the good part of the five years, and after this point events went from bad to worse. The alliance that Venice had lead expired in October, and all of the allies refused to resign it. None of the other nations would agree to one either, and Venice lacked the funds to convince them.

In early 1430 a monopoly was gained in Venice. It would be lost a couple of times over the coming years, but overall trade remained at a higher level than before 1429.

In June of the same year a local conflict between nobles and peasants erupted in Istra, and Francesco sided with the nobles. It went against his previous policies, but the money he gained was quickly used to promote a tax collector in Ionia, long overdue.

In September Thessalonica fell to the Turks (event), hurting the Venetian trade in the Ionian sea. Venice had to really prepare for a war with the Turks now, but the army remained weak, the allies few, and the money always short.

For the remaining two years trade remained a focus of the reign, bringing it up significantly. A pretender to the Bosnian throne was sent away due to the lack of funds, and the war with the Turks was once again postponed.

Then finally a brilliant leader, Gottamelata, took command of the Ventian army, and maybe now is the time to strike at the enemy.

http://forums.civfanatics.com/uploads/1286/Venice.zip

I will install the new version of AGCEEP today, so I can take the next turn if nobody else want to.

Nice that you did some build up of the economy, Stormbringer. Hopefully the income will be good enough to wage war in the next turn!

Great, Stormbringer! We returned to the original schedule!

Olav or Till, your turn to lead Venice to glory!

If Till plays, after him it's Olav's turn. Then back to me and then Kan and then CH and then GLORIOUS VICTORY FOR VENICE!

I got it up and running now, so I could play it now within an hour.

1434

Francesco Foscari worried himself with the fact that Venice didn't have any allies. Looking for alliances to join, he noticed that Aragons mighty alliance had room for another member. An emissary was sent to Aragon, with a request to join the alliance. To Foscaris joy, Aragon accepted. The joy lasted only for a day, when the alliance expired. Foscari had to find a new alliance. The choice fell on Naples, allied to Tuscany. Even if this wasn't the best and biggest alliance in the area, it was better than nothing.

In the domestic matters, Foscari put all the budget money on research of infrastructure. The next level should be reached around 1450, giving access to a wonderful manufactory: a refinery. Venice would benefit greatly from this building, as many of the provinces in the realm got wine (and sugar) resources.

1435

In the spring of 1435 important events happened to Venices ally, Naples. They were vassalized by Provence. This outraged Foscari: How could his ally and Italian friend bow under for a small French nation? To not appear weak, Foscari orderer his soldiers to prepare for war...

http://img237.imageshack.us/img237/9454/32342680qu6.jpg

Since Venice had a valid reason to attack Naples, the rest of Europes nation didn't complain about Foscaris actions (1 BB for DOW and -3 stability). Foscari decided that Tuscany, Venices ally, wouldn't need to participate in the war.

As the invasion came, the Napolese(?) army in Apulia quickly retreated to Napoli. They were clearly up to something, as their fleet sailed from the west coast of Napoli to the east coast. They loaded almost all of their soldiers onto the fleet: they planned an invasion of Ragusa! Foscari made a plan for a counterattack: When the Napolese soldiers had embarked onto the ships, Venices great admiral Pietro Loredan should attack the outnumbered enemy fleet with full force.

As Loredan engaged in battle, good news came. A monopoly company was formed, so Venice got 75 ducats in the deal.

http://img237.imageshack.us/img237/9933/13873613vb0.jpg

Loredans attack was a big success, as all of Naples ships were sunk. The Venetian army in Apulia had now no opposition to worry about.

1436

Apulia was captured in January. Since all of Naples' troops were on the bottom of the Adriatic sea, it was a easy job for Gattamelata and his men to besiege Napoli. It was captured in October, and Naples had nothing left. Foscari could therefore get almost everything what he wanted from Naples in a peace deal. The final results were military access, 75 ducats in compensation and Apulia to Venice (+2 BB).

http://img178.imageshack.us/img178/4710/63482384ss7.jpg

1437

1437 had a bad start, as Loredan lost his life at sea. This was not the only bad event this year, as Sigismund of Hungary was payed 50 ducats in return of Hungarys recognition of Dalmatia as Venetian land. However, Sigismund also recieved a message that Crotia is also considered Venetian property. (The other event gave -75 ducats)

http://img135.imageshack.us/img135/9409/62010285zf2.jpg

1438-39

In the summer of 1438, the mad monarch Gianfrancesco of Mantua decided that Venice should be his worst enemy.

http://img339.imageshack.us/img339/1999/57690815dk8.jpg

This gave Venice a valid reason for war against Mantua and her ally Milan. However, Foscari decided that this alliance is far to strong to wage a war against at this time.

As the new years eve came, a new leader reported for duty: Francesco Sforza. He would become handy in the future wars that sure will come.

----

Ok, that was my first turn. The alliance we're in now is very weak, so be on the lookout for alliance members! Also, cavalry is way too expensive (23 ducats for 1000), so I suggest going one click to Aristocracy.

The save (http://forums.civfanatics.com/uploads/63791/Venice.zip).

Great! I'll wait some time for Till before I take the save.

Olav, what graphic mod are you using? Or do you use any? :crazyeye:

I would have tried to create a new alliance with Aragon when it expired, though I doubt others would have joined it.

I got it. Will have to set up the game first and have to attend with some RL matters, but it should be ready by Monday.

Forget the real life! :p

Monday is OK, then I'll try to play at Tuesday.

Great! I'll wait some time for Till before I take the save.

Olav, what graphic mod are you using? Or do you use any? :crazyeye:

I would have tried to create a new alliance with Aragon when it expired, though I doubt others would have joined it.

I'm using a color-mod by Ryoken69(?) that I found at the Paradox forum. Here (http://forums.civfanatics.com/uploads/63791/SinisterColors2.zip) it is. Just paste it in the EU2\maps folder. Create a backup for the current colorscales that already is there.

I tried to invite Aragon into a new alliance when the last one expired... they wouldn't join. So Naples + Tuscany was really the only option, as Milans alliance was full.

1439-1443

Sultan Doge Foscari found Venice to be in excellent economic shape. When it came to international politics, however, there was some reason for concern. Hungary hated Venice's guts, and while they were quite powerful by themselves, they had Austria and Bohemia as allies to boot!
Venice just had Tuscany as ally, which wasn't really worth too much. But it seemed just about every nation was in an alliance already, so there was currently no way of getting more allies. Foscari would have to be patient.
In January 1439, a military leader died:

http://img228.imageshack.us/img228/7969/eu22007030519540535tp8.jpg

In February of the same year, more power was given to the Aristocracy. Besides these two events, nothing of real significance happened. Merchants lost market share in Venice, which caused Foscari to send new ones to regain it. Spare diplomats were used to arrange marriages all over Europe.
November brought Venice news of the new Emperor over the Holy Roman Empire, Friedrich V or Austria.
In 1440 a new military leader joins our cause:

http://img224.imageshack.us/img224/343/eu22007030611063315in8.jpg

He suggested that we make use of the casus belli against Mantua, but Foscari deemed Mantua's alliance too strong.
The only other noteworthy event of the year occurred in November, when a diplomatic move gave us some minor benefits:

http://img224.imageshack.us/img224/6606/eu22007030611182025ba9.jpg

Much to his suprise, Foscari received a promotion to "Viscount" in 1441. Just when he was about to organize the celebrations, news of Sforza's death arrived...
This was also the year, when a casus belli against Hungary expired. It pained Foscari to let the chance go by, but war would have been folly against such a strong enemy.
It wasn't until 1442 that Foscari had something resembling a choice to make. Either support the dissidents in Lorraine (-25 gold & relations) or refuse to support them (-1 stability).
He decided to support them, given how far away Lorraine was and how little money was required.

http://img301.imageshack.us/img301/8664/eu22007030611285610bh6.jpg

----

These were very uneventful turns. I tried to get Naples to declare war on us by insulting them, but they were smart enough not to fall for it.

The Save (treehouse.selfip.net/uploads/EU2/venice.zip)

Great!

I may play the save today, I'm not sure but I may. At least tomorrow I'll play it.

Here is the update!

Unfortunately very few or none pics, connection is currently very laggy(haven't played the save yet when wrote this). :(

"Umm... May I speak to you, Doge Fransisco?"
"Speak, my loyal cook!"
"Well, I and Humberto thought that we really need money. And a way to get it is robbing it by war."
"Hmm... Continue."
"And by beating Hungary we could do it. I asked your two daughters to marry a Bohemian and Austrian prince. When we declare war to Hungary, and their allies join, their stability is weakened!"
"Hmm... I may try that"

Joanna and Maria married Janislav of Bohemia and Jörg of Austria. That was the start of Gardener's Masterplan!

But the plan won't be done before the paying of loan. Luckily Venice's yearly income was bigger than monthly income X 12.

September 22nd 1445 a big step forwards was made. Papal States and Siena were invited to our alliance, which now grew bigger and stronger.

October 7th 1446 our alliance expired, and Tuscany refused to join the new alliance. :eek: So did Papal States. And Foscari joined the alliance of Styria, Palatinate, Wirtemberg and Strassburg in order to rob Tirol. :goodjob:

Thanks to our Entrenched Maritime Republic, we got a naval shipyard to Veneto. :woohoo:

July 1st 1447 Taddeo D'Este died. :cry:

Connection is laggy, and I'm not able to post a pic. :( Another Lombardi War occured by an event. We got a CB against Milan, our major enemy. Also 5000 infantry to Veneto were deployed by that event.

Our loan was paid in January 1448.

http://forums.civfanatics.com/uploads/99967/Venice.rar

The Save!

How did we get a loan? :crazyeye:

By the way, good stuff with the shipyard and the new alliance! :) Too bad it is only Styria who is a neighbour.

How is the Ottomans doing? They haven't tried to get Istanbul yet?

Dunno, Till got it.

It's good that only Styria is our neighbour. If we attack to Milanese alliance and keep boats on Veneto's coastline, they can't attack it. And our allies won't lose provinces. I think that Tirol should be captured, bullion and gems = money!

Otto hasn't tried to pwn Byzantium, they were at war with Austro-Hungarian alliance. Wallachia is Austria's province. :crazyeye:

I did? :blush:
Sorry, i didn't even notice it! In my defense, i did have a rather bad cold at the time and wasn't operating anywhere near 100%. Still... :blush: :lol:

I am next this time, right? If so I'll play it tomorrow :)

Yeah, Kan is next. :)

Cheers, I'm just finishing up a report for elsewhere, then I'll shift my attention to this. Should be all done tonight :)

Charting the Sharuminian Council of Venice from January 1449- January 1454

Not wishing to be too bold with my first outing (and rather confused at going back to EU2 after months of EU3), I decided not to be too bold in my turn, rather hoping to take advantage of any situation that came up.

1449
Very little happens. We maintain our standing at the Veneto Trade Centre, and put out a couple of royal marriage offers. In particular, I followed Hitti’s example of gaining royal marriages with our possible enemies, and gained one with Serbia, an ally of Hungary.

1450
Very little happens at home again, though we gain infrastructure level 3, and I decide to push for the next land tech in order to keep up with Europe - it should be done in ‘59. More interesting things happen within the Hungarian alliance though, as some young whippersnapper decides to cause trouble.

http://img19.imageshack.us/img19/5677/pic01as4.jpg

This is small news in itself, however it had the run-on effect of causing Bohemia to betray the alliance, and it joined a more northern alliance containing Brandenburg and several neighbouring German states. Wallachia, for it’s part, was annexed almost immediately into Hungary. No sooner had this happened, when Hungary declared war on the small nation on Moldovia, causing a minor incident when Serbia refused to assist, then rejoined the alliance later anyway.

http://img68.imageshack.us/img68/3568/pic02fg4.jpg

The only major thing that happened to Venice was when Tuscany received this event. I cannot remember what our relations were before, but they are now at around -62. I don’t know what a Hegomony is, but I obviously filed an official protest, complaining that we never had any money in any of their hedges.

1451
This was a little more interesting, as Bohemia decided - possibly to celebrate the new year - to declare war on Hungary, bringing both alliances into the conflict.

http://img68.imageshack.us/img68/1295/pic04za6.jpg

I was tempted to shift our armies to the Hungarian border, in case we could take advantage of the situation, however an ‘Unprovoked Uprising’ event happened in Apulia, forcing my attention to there. The rebellion was crushed, however during the battle our great general M Attendolo was killed, which was most frustrating. It also made me decide against attempting anything on Hungary.

1452

Particularly since we suddenly got an event in which the nobles refused to pay their taxes! The very thought…Well, I simply refused (we bloody well needed those taxes, I couldn’t pay the gold)

http://img513.imageshack.us/img513/7016/pic05fw5.jpg

1453
Perhaps known as the year Byzantine did not fall, as Constantinople was saved from a siege by the Ottomans at the last minute. In Venice, we maintained our trade, dealt with the revolt, and watched foreign affairs.

Particularly the Bohemia-Hungary war. The Bohemians forces the Austrians into a separate peace, gaining 73 gold in the process. Brandenburg have taken a province, and are besieging another. Hungary meanwhile, is still fighting it’s war against Moldovia, and has take one of it’s two provinces. Regardless, I dissolved the council at the end of the year, and have passed it over to Chukchi Husky, wishing him a happy birthday in the process.

http://forums.civfanatics.com/uploads/14851/Venice.rar

Good birthday present for CH!

Hungary is still at war with Bohemia, right? If so, we could try our luck against them. Though Tyrol is tempting too, Strassburg or Wirtemberg could take Baden and Tirol could be joined to Venetian Empire.

As advice to Chukchi Husky, look at Austria's relations with Hungary. If they aren't friends anymore, we could either declare war to Austria or Hungary, as with bad relations they may not join the war.

Hungary is still at war with Bohemia, yup. And Moldovia as well, so they're effectively fighting on two fronts.

Tyrol may be better right now - it's not in an alliance, and has an army of just 4000. Hungary quite happily fielded an army of 20000 on our borders - just to show off, I presume, before marching to Bohemia :lol:

Stability would take a hit though - we're at 0, though CH will gain a point this year. That's about all I can recall right now :)

Let us not forget a third alternative - war against the turkish infidels! After all, we can't let them get Istanbul. It should belong to us! :old:

Do we have Casus Belli against anyone by the way? If we have against Tyrol, war is a must :D

It could be good to fight a war against Tyrol alone. Ask some of the nations on the way between Tyrol and Baden for access, so we can reach Baden. If we are alliance leaders, it should be okay to invite the alliance to the war.

Olav, I though about breaking military access with Morea in order to declare war to them and their Byzantium&Morea&Knights of St.John-alliance. So we could have Constantinople if we conquer it ourselves.

I don't believe we have CBs, I really want one against Tyrol. :D I think that in war we should invite our allies, as they can have Baden in a separate peace while we annex/vassalize Tyrol. I think annexing would be better, as then Austria couldn't event-annex them.

I sent a couple of insults to Tyrol, in the hopes the casus bellis they gained would be used. It didn't, they just jumped up to higher relations than before! Honestly, it was like a little puppy who was far too eager to please.

Hungary is still at war with Bohemia, right?Yes, and Moldavia, Brandenburg, Stettin and Pomerania.

As advice to Chukchi Husky, look at Austria's relations with Hungary.They have +198 relations with each other.

Let us not forget a third alternative - war against the turkish infidels! After all, we can't let them get Istanbul. It should belong to us! :old:The Ottoman Empire is at war against Byzantium.

Do we have Casus Belli against anyone by the way?No one.

So, when are you updating, CH? :)

I don't know.

Today? Tomorrow? :confused:

I'm sorry.

Is it okay for you Chucki if we swap turns this round? I'm busy the next week, so the best for me would be to play my turn today.

I don't mind.

Thanks! I'll play and update sometime this evening.

1454

Over 80 years old, Francesco Foscari, Venices Doge, wanted to accomplish something great before his death. What would be better than adding some provinces to Venices realm?

Foscari had some bitter enemies to the west, with the powerful Milan in charge of a mighty alliance. However, in April something unexpected occured. Foscari agreed togheter with Francesco Sforza that Sforza was the legitimate Duke of Milan, and therefore the Treaty of Lodi was signed. Foscari had his doubts of signing, but refusing the treaty would have been too rough for Venices to tackle (-100 ducats, -100 relations with Tuscany and Milan).

http://img106.imageshack.us/img106/1314/67663103lq7.jpg

Both Sforza and Foscari agreed that the Ottomans had to be stopped. The infidels were currently in a war with Morea and Order of St. John. It was in other words just a matter of time before the Turks would be on Venices doorstep. Foscari, seeing this as an opportunity to do something good in his last days, decided that he would slow the Ottoman expansion into Europe down.

The Venetian general Colleni and his men was ordered to set sail for Ionia outside Hellas. Then, in September, it was time for war:

http://img440.imageshack.us/img440/2397/52202886ag7.jpg

The unexpected declaration of war against Byzantium and her allies Morea (who refused to join) and Order of St. John created a lot of unrest in Venice (-4 stability due to no CB, good relations and same religion). Weren't the Ottomans the primary target? Foscari knew that Constantinople under Byzantine control would fall sooner or later. Annexing this great city would provide a great base for Venice to stop the Ottomans.

Colleni, commanding almost 15,000 cavalry, had an easy job defeating the Byzantine army, counting 12,000 infantry. Much to Collenis surprise, 22,000 Ottoman soldiers watched the battle (under white flag, fortunately). Perhaps they were to demoralized to move after the unsuccessful siege in 1453?

1455

While waiting for news from Constantinople, Foscari decided that something had to be done in the domestic matters. Venetian priests were given less privileges, which thereby reduced the narrowminded culture within the republic (+1 Innovativeness). This made, of course, the clergy unhappy (-1 stability).

The walls of Constantinople were a tough obstacle, but Colleni managed to break through and capture the city in June. Sadly, Colleni died before Constantinople was annexed the same month:

http://img266.imageshack.us/img266/7571/83553544lb1.jpg

1456

Venice was still in the war against the Order. A swift attack on Rhodes made the army there surrender, and a siege followed. The Order made several attempts to break the blockade, but they never succeeded:

http://img126.imageshack.us/img126/2518/39528145rj3.jpg

The island came under venetian control in June, but the Order refused to sign the first attempt of a peace deal. One month later, however, they decided to give up. They were now vassals of Venice, in addition of granting military access to Venetian solderis. 50 ducats were also paid in compensation(+8 BB from the war, 2 from DoW, 6 from annex).

1457-1459

Even if the war was successful for Venice, the economic condition was now very poor. The unstability in the nation had seriously hampered Foscaris wish for trading monopoly in Venice. Lots of money were therefore invested to increase stability.

Foscari died in 1457, at the age of 84. The election of a new Doge didn't go after the plan, however:

http://img49.imageshack.us/img49/6742/10hw8.jpg

The new Doge, Malipieore, decided that the Council of Ten should get away with it, since he couldn't afford the cost of limiting their power (-50 ducats). Due to the councils mistreatment and Foscaris success in foreign affairs, Foscari was given a state funeral.

---

Hope you forgive me my warmongering :D. I guess the Ottomans would DoW us a couple of times now. If they do, remember to send the fleet (or parts of it) to the straits outside Thrace, so the Ottomans can't cross it. Then it should be easy to take their greek provinces :)

The save (http://forums.civfanatics.com/uploads/63791/Venice.zip)

"Constantinople is now liberated under the power of Venice. As we all know, Constantinople was actually found by our proud Venetian ancestors."

Article quoted from:

Gazzetta dello Veneto Propaganda

:crazyeye:

We destroyed the last remnants of the Empire :cry:

How are things in the Hungary-Bohemian war?

Sorry about that :blush:. But we could make a new empire, even greater one! :smug:

They are at peace now. Didn't notice if there was any tributes, but no provinces changed hands. But Brandenburg got Pressburg from Hungary.

Good to see we are still going, I have finals this week, so can't play, but after that I'll be available again.

Now has anyone seen Till?

It's my turn again already?! Oups, i got it. Will try to play tonight.

1459:
The highlight of the year was when our navies obtained Naval Tech 4:
http://img265.imageshack.us/img265/9421/eu22007031420441460xu8.jpg

I noticed that the Ottomans keep a large army in Constantinople. I wonder if they suffer attrition.

1460:

A most welcome event worth lots of $$$:
http://img265.imageshack.us/img265/333/eu22007031420490670cl2.jpg

We also reach Land Military Tech Level 4. News of a nation called Shewa reach us. I try to arrange a marriage, but the local headmen are not interested.

1461:

A wave of obscurantism sweeps over the land:
http://img19.imageshack.us/img19/5048/eu22007031420523381mo8.jpg
Options:
a) Revolt risk +2 for 12 months
b) -50 Gold; Revolt risk +1 for 12 months
c) Stability +1; Missionaries -2; Revolt risk +5 for 12 months; Innovativeness +1; Revolts in Ionia
d) Stability -1; Missionaries +2, Innovativeness -1

I went for c), given that it would gain us stability and the revolt would happen in the province, where our army was stationed.

1462:

In this year, Cristoforo Moro becomes the new monarch. His skills are soon tested, when the Silver Crisis arose:
http://img211.imageshack.us/img211/5728/eu22007031420572200rj6.jpg

1463:

In this year, a military advisor offered his services. Unfortunately, we couldn't affort them and i had to send him away. To make up to it another kind event happened to us:
http://img106.imageshack.us/img106/1940/eu22007031421004306ti9.jpg


----

I seriously contemplated attacking Albania, as it is without allies and blocks access to Constantinople. However, i never seemed to have had enough cash to mount an army sufficient to the task. With the Direct Tax event lots of money floated in and maybe we should go for it now.
We have currently more than double their tech level, and this makes a huge difference, as i painfully had to learn in my AAR. Maybe enough to offset their mountain bonus.

The Save (http://forums.civfanatics.com/uploads/61625/Save_Games.zip)

Lots of nice events there! Especially the one with the cavalry from Byzantium :mischief:. Looks like our domestic policies did get some much needed adjustments too. Only bad thing was that you didn't get a war against Albania.

I considered a war against Albania as well during my five years - possibly Venetian destiny to rule there?

I like to think so! But rooting 30k out of their mountain-holes is going to be tricky or costly...

Hope that they move and besiege a Venetian province?

I also considered an invasion to Albania, but they had Skanderbeg as a military leader and as their king. And Skanderbeg may be in the top 5 of military leaders and kings.

:bump:

Where's Stormbringer?

First post updated.

I'm here, I'm here, getting around to it, should have it played today.

Great! The thread rises from the ashes!

1464-1469

Well guys, this time the luck was definatley not on our side.

First and foremost I took a look at the whole situation, realizing that we would have to focus either on expanding to the east or to the west. After looking at both choices I decided that higher tax values, smaller armies, and the same culture made the small Italian states better targets than Greece.

The first target was Mantua - a vassal of Milan, but not an ally. We would expand our empire while hurting Milan, our biggest competator in Italy. The war went brilliantly, with our armies overwhelming Mantua on the plains, seiging the city, and annexing the land.

At the same time the Pope called for a new crusade against the Turks. Officially Venice chose to agree with the Pope, gaining a volunteer army to fight the Turks, but in reality Venice had no plans as of yet to involve itslef in the complicated web of wars that were already raging in the Balkhans. The Pope held a grudge, and it would come back to bite Venice later.

Seeing the Ottomans busy with multiple wars, Venice chose to press further in the West. Milan had been engaged in a war, and had just a single ally left - a perfect way to knock out our greatest competitor. The war against Milan begun perfectly, Venice defeated the main Milanese army in the field and the siege of the city proceeded well. Then, a revolt on Crete broke out, and a general feeling of unhappiness spread across the peasantry. Milan's friends, emboldened by Venice's troubles, joined the war, and Venice was forced to sign peace while it was still ahead, gaining only some gold from Milan.

The Pope, frustrated with Venice's actions, demanded that the Inquisition be allowed to work in the city. The government of Venice refused, requiring the Inqusition to be held to the same standards as all other courts, angering the Pope even further.

About the same time the Christian defender of Albania, Skanderburg, died, and asked Venice to defend Albania against the Ottomans. It would appear that however inviting Italy looked, Venice would have to eventually turn to the East and fight the Ottomans. But not yet.

Just as the Venitian army moved to Crete to put down the revolt there, Austria and Tyrol declared war on the city state. Two days later Aragon followed suit, as did the Pope and all of his Italian allies. Crete was passified quickly, but that hardly made the situation look much better.

I can't say I envy whoever has to take over from here

http://forums.civfanatics.com/uploads/1286/Venice.zip

If Styria and company are still our allies, and they joined the war, I think we should manage to get out of the wars without losing any provinces. If we are so lucky to capture the capital of a one-province minor, I suggest not to annex them. I guess our BB is too high for that now. But taking other provinces is okay.

Who are allied with the Pope?

So we're at war with Papal alliance, Aragon and Tyrol-Austria?

Well, that can be handled! CH, your turn!

So we're at war with Papal alliance, Aragon and Tyrol-Austria?We're at war with Aragon, Austria, England, Mainz, Modena, Naples, Papal States, Siena and Tyrol.

What should I change for domestic policies?

I would suggest either aristocracy, land or offensive doctrine :).

Yeah, in this situation land should be increased.

CH, I think we have border only with the Italian nations and Tyrol. Then Mantua and Apulia should be defensed, just put ships near Veneto and it is safe.

I forgot to mention, we are also at war with Scotland and the Irish countries,

Moved towards offensive doctrine in domestic policies. Made our army in Crete board the fleet, and sent it to the Adriatic. Building 6,000 infantry in Mantua, 5,000 in Dalmatia and 2,000 in Istria. The Papal States are then begain beseiging Apulia, and Modena beseiging Mantua, which won a battle against the army I built there.

The fleet arrived in the Adriatic, and I sent the army to Napoli. there was a small army there, but our army defeated it, and is beseiging Napoli. Hopefully they will win any battle with another army because of the cavalry advantage. Once Napoli is beseiged, I'll move it up through the plains of Italy. I'll leave the fleet in the Adriatic for now.

We lost control of Mantua, but our army in Napoli won a couple of battles against Naples and our fleet won a couple against Naples and the Papal States. Aragon began besieging Thrace. After seiging Mantua the army of Modena attacked our army in Naples and won, and began chasing it, winning every battle. Finally our army boarded our fleet. I accepted peace with Modena, giving them Mantua.

Our stability increased to 0 in May, 1470. More armies joined Aragon in Thrace (I think some are English). I sent our fleet to Marmara with whatever remains of our armies, facing a battle with Naples on the way and winning.

Mainz accepted peace with the Palatinate, taking Wurzburg. I made peace with the Papal States and allies, giving Apulia to Naples.

I lost our army in Thrace. I accepted peace with Aragon, giving them Thrace. I sent our fleet to the Gulf of Venice, then this happens.

http://img464.imageshack.us/img464/3569/byzantinerefugeesva6.png

I can't put down the revolt because I lost our army. Might as well count Crete as lost.

I began building a new army in Veneto, only have enough money for 2,000 infantry.

On the 30th of March, 1471, something happened. I couldn't see what it was because it came up just as I was clicking on our fleet (it always happens to me). Whatever it did took out a loan and increased our stability to +2.

On 29th of July, Athens declared war on us.

On 3rd of November, Nicolo Tron becomes our monarch. Our navy wins a couple of battles against Desmond, England and Scotland, gaining Stolen Rutters from Scotland. Wirtemburg is annexed by Tyrol. England is seiging Istria, Ionia and Corfu.

A little bit of good happens on the 26th of January, 1473.

http://img50.imageshack.us/img50/896/coppercoinsaw1.png

I don't spend any of the money because of the loan. Strassburg is annex by Tyrol.

Another good thing happens on 23rd of April, 1473.

http://img50.imageshack.us/img50/858/arsenalmz4.png

It's a weapons manufactory.

On 19th of June, 1473, Denmark declares war on us. The Palatinate is annexed by Mainz. We're by ourselves now.

On 29th of July, Nicolo Marcello becomes our monarch. This happens afterwards.

http://img261.imageshack.us/img261/4671/saintqp7.png

Our stability is now +3.

We accepted peace with England, giving them Corfu. They annexed Scotland straight after.

Our reputation is now 16/35.

http://forums.civfanatics.com/uploads/41904/Venice.zip

We have 16BB? :wow:

How many BB did you get, Stormbringer :p. Looks like we have to stop the expansion for a while (well, we could take back the Corfu, of course).

We should join a strong alliance as soon as possible. Perhaps Austria has room for us?

Annexing Mantua was a bad idea if your bad boy rating was already over 10.

It was around 6-7 after annexing Byzantium, which was a while ago.

Giving our provinces away in peace deal (non-core) will give -1 BB. But that is out of the question now, since we don't have any non-core provinces left.

Bad boy was 6 when I decided to annex Mantua, I was pretty sure that still having it under half of our limit would be managable, did not expect the AI to jump on us.

We have 16BB? :wow:It was over 20.

That certainly was a rough ride. Well, i reckon annexing Albania will have to be delayed for a little while! :lol:
I'll try to play before the weekend.

Till, it's my turn. CH and Olav switched for this round.

I think that I'll play today. :)

Well, I didn't play yesterday, so I play now. Bumped so you can see that I will put the update here. :)

Edit: I'm sorry, but the situation is so doomed, that I won't focus to it now, I'm little tired. I checked the save, and we sure have hell of a war. :lol: But will focus on it tomorrow, I promise. :)

The age of Hitti-Littian government began in a tremble of warfare. Situation had to change, so peace was made with Athens.

http://aycu26.webshots.com/image/14185/2006327005008099324_rs.jpg (http://allyoucanupload.webshots.com/v/2006327005008099324)

December 4th 1474 Pietro Mocenigo was declared as the new Doge.

http://aycu31.webshots.com/image/13230/2006394627835216162_rs.jpg (http://allyoucanupload.webshots.com/v/2006394627835216162)

But only 3 months later Serbia declared war to us. Luckily Hungary didn't join the war, as didn't Bremen. Well, that wasn't bad compared to this:

http://aycu23.webshots.com/image/13622/2006322786668761490_rs.jpg (http://allyoucanupload.webshots.com/v/2006322786668761490)

Or this:

http://aycu36.webshots.com/image/12875/2006387037280199727_rs.jpg (http://allyoucanupload.webshots.com/v/2006387037280199727)

Or this:

http://aycu15.webshots.com/image/10854/2006304118113247190_rs.jpg (http://allyoucanupload.webshots.com/v/2006304118113247190)

Just telling that we have no chance of surviving and we shall lose all of our provinces if the game is continued. :(

So what is your opinion; shall I play the save for 2 years more and pass to next one, or should this be put in the "Abandoned" folder?

Yeah, it looks like we're pretty much done for.

I don't think it's any point to play the last 2 years, but abandoning the game is a bit harsh, don't you think? We could either take a restart, or play some of the turns over again, like the one where Byzantium was annexed or the one where Mantua was annexed.

Also, I think we should set some goals for each century. I think it will be easier to play and cooperate if we have some plans on what to do.

Edit: It looks like some of you use PrintScreen to take screenshots. It's much easier to press F11 - this saves a SS to the ACGEEP folder. Then you don't have to alt-tab to Windows all the time. Note: F11 doesn't show events, so you have to use PrintScreen on those!

PrintScreen is IMO more useful, just paste it to MSPaint, edit what you want, save and host. With F11 it's only (edit) host, but with events you have to use PrtSc. And I'm used to PrtSc.

You guys can alt-tab out and into the game? It utterly screws up the graphics for me.

Anyway, i would support to replay from the save before our BB rating went through the roof. I also agree with Olav that we should agree to some sort of master plan on what to do. At the very least, we need to decide on the direction of expansion, as this also determines which countries are possible allies.

You guys can alt-tab out and into the game? It utterly screws up the graphics for me.



I can alt-tab out as long as it is not on a loading screen.

What's alt-tab?

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alt_tab

:D

In short: It is used to switch between two programs.

I didn't know that existed.

Well, what's the verdict, Hitti-Litti?

Don't you other have a opinion on what to do?

My opinion is that we start again from an earlier save or start a new SG.

I would probably start a new one although in SP I would probably reload.

Unlucky circumstances, didn't really expect to see such a pile-on against us :(

I would say a new SG would be better, at least to maintain enthusiasm and not be fearing another loss as Venice :)

I agree, playing a reloaded save would be odd. I was at start thinking of choosing Sweden. Maybe that will be the next country of EU2-SG series.

Dell, feel free to host the next one. :)

Okay although apparently Sweden is a country that you need to be patient with as their starting economy is not great.

Here (http://forums.civfanatics.com/showthread.php?t=214088) is the new SG :)

Okay although apparently Sweden is a country that you need to be patient with as their starting economy is not great.
I played as Sweden a couple of times. Immediately set out to offer loans all around Europe, and built up the economy that way. If you offer loans at 3% initially, the AI tends to take them; you can gradually raise the interest rate over time and make a killing. That finances eventual wars against Denmark and Novgorod...

Enjoyed reading your adventures, guys! :goodjob: