An EU2 story about an Italian dash for Greatness

[Pyotr Veliky]

This is an AAR (After Action Report) or “story” as it is called over here at CFC of my Europa Universalis II game as Milan. Since some of you might not be familiar with the game, I have chosen a rather descriptive style which allows for explanation of game mechanics and such. I have enjoyed this game immensely for a few years already myself and it would be nice if this little piece of writing could interest others, too.

Settings

Version: 1.08b
Mods: AGCEEP 1.37.1 and Ryoken’s “Sinister Color Scales” Mod
Scenario: Grand Campaign (1419-1819)
Victory Conditions: Standard (victory points)
Difficulty: Very Hard
AI Aggressiveness: Weakling (to avoid crippling AI vs. AI wars)
Fog of War: On
Forced Annexation: On
Random Events: On
Dynamic Missions: Off

Strategic Situation and Goals

Milan’s position, in the north of the wealthy Italian peninsula, is a quite promising one. Although a minor, it consists of two provinces in an area where most of the other Italian minors consist of only one. Expansion should be the name of the game for Milan, but not at any cost and not too fast. If its reputation gets ruined too much too early, Milan could find itself in a brutal war against a large number of countries with the most likely suspects being Venice, Aragon and the Papal States. However, if Milan is too slow in strengthening its position, it might get overwhelmed by the two great nations that are destined to form on the other side of the Alps: Austria and France. My goal: to unite Italy under the Milanese Crown and form a viable counterweight against the Habsburg and French threats, keeping Italy for the Italians (well, Milanese, actually ). After this, expansion in other parts of the Mediterranean or even the world might be a possibility, depending on the circumstances.

A worrying start: Aragon’s Blitz

Already in March 1419, the Papal States declare war on Siena, the one province minor just to its north that isn’t part of any alliance. Although Siena shouldn’t pose any problem for the Pope’s forces, Rome, left without an ally after Naples declined to join the war, asks Aragon for an alliance and to join the war. It quickly becomes clear this was a bad move. To Rome’s dismay (and mine, too), Aragonese troops manage to take Siena before the army of the Pope can seal the fate of the small garrison. Siena surrenders and disappears from the map, like I expected, but not to become part of the Papal States. Instead, Siena becomes yet another jewel in Aragon’s Italian Crown. Aragon now has a solid bridge head in the northern part of Italy, right at my doorstep and at striking distance of some easy to annex one province minors. That’s not good, that’s not good at all.

It gets worse, however. Just after being denied the price of Siena, the infuriated Pope turns south, to his former ally Naples. Aragon joins this war, too, and ferries troops over from Sicily to besiege and eventually capture Apulia, Naples’ southern province. This should mean the Pope gets Naples itself, but again someone beats him to it. This time, however, it’s not an ally that steals his siege, but Tunisia, which had declared war on Naples after the Papal States did. And so the spoils are divided: Apulia goes to Aragon and Tunisia takes Napoli. Naples no longer exists and, oh yeah, the Pope gets zilch! The poor man must have been reaching for his pills when he heard about that one…

So now we have Muslims in Europe at a few days travel from the seat of the Holy Church. No Pope worth his salt could have accepted this situation for long and thus the Papal States go to war for the 3rd time in as many years, this time hoping to actually get something from it. But as the smoke over the battlefield settles, the Pope, looking out over the city of Naples, sees the flag of, you guessed it, Aragon proudly waving in the southern Italian wind. “With such friends, who needs enemies?” he desperately asks, looking up at the sky. No one answers, but the Pope could swear hearing the soft echo of a sinister laugh…

With Naples taken, Tunisia quickly accepts peace handing over Naples to Aragon and 9 ducats to the alliance. Of this amount, the Pope gets half. At least, he got something out of it.

With the Papal Wars over, it’s probably time to look at the map of Italy and find out what this “Warrior Pope” has managed to achieve:

Yup, that’s right: A huge Iberian presence on the Italian peninsula! Aragon now owns 6 Italian provinces; Sardinia, Sicily, Messina, Apulia, Naples and Siena! They have doubled the amount of Italian provinces under their control in a matter of years and have made themselves the single most formidable obstacle to my plans to unify Italy under Milanese rule. Thanks a lot, Holy Father.

Milan’s First War

If Aragon keeps on growing at this pace, there soon won’t be any “easy” targets in Italy left for me to feed and grow on in order to gather the strength needed to chase those damn Iberians back to where they came from. Aragon has made its opening moves, it’s now time for me to do the same.

But, the reader might like to know, what have I been doing while Aragon was happily gobbling up damn near the whole of Italy? Well, Milan is a small country with a small army (10,000 men at the start) and with coffers that are filled just enough to mask the fact that the bottom isn’t far away. So, I focussed on my economy. The domestic policy slider was moved one step towards Centralization for the extra economic and research boost and a bailiff was promoted in Emilia to increase the province’s income (the province of Milan began the scenario with a bailiff already in place). All my available funds were poured into researching Infrastructure, which will also benefit my economy. After all these measures, I started gathering money for my first war.

So, that’s what I’ve been doing, let’s get back to the now. With my mindset and country ready for war, all I need is a victim. It takes two to tango, after all. The choice isn’t hard, in fact it is being dictated to me by the circumstances. I’m in an alliance with Mantua, Modena and Genoa (which became my vassal and member of my alliance through an event) and so the only “available” Italian nation not linked to Aragon is Tuscany. Taking out Tuscany would give the added advantage that it can’t be annexed by Aragon anymore. It will cost me a lot of bad boy (BB) points to declare war without a Casus Belli (CB) and then annexing them in a peace deal, but I don’t want to run the risk of my vassal breaking away or being stolen right from under me by Aragon. I can defend Tuscany better when it’s part of my realm. And if the rest of the world thinks of me as a bad boy because of this, so be it.

Now that I’ve decided on Tuscany, I need a good moment to strike. The Tuscans are part of an alliance with Venice, Bosnia and Athens. Only the first two will probably give me trouble; I don’t expect to see Athenian forces. Even without Athens, this is quite a powerful alliance and therefore I need them to be distracted before I can attack. Patiently I wait…

…and I don’t have to wait long. In September 1429, Venice declares war on Hungary and both countries bring their allies to the party. Good, a large war. As Venetian troops march east, I declare war on Tuscany and order my army, now consisting of 20,000 men, to cross the border. There, it meets a smaller Tuscan force which it completely annihilates. I can now conduct a siege without interruption. Tuscany’s allies have all joined the war, but so have mine and Modena and, especially, Mantua are forming a nice dam against Venetian and Bosnian troops pouring into the Po valley. Mantua, at least, will most probably fall and be annexed, but I should be able to keep Modena free, rout the enemy and get a favourable peace deal before they can amass their full potential in the west, i.e. before the war with the Hungarian-led alliance comes to an end.

In late October 1430, the city of Firenze falls to Milanese troops and I immediately demand Tuscany’s annexation. They refuse, probably hoping to be liberated by their allies. While I keep repeating my offer, I move my army north to face the Venetian and, especially, Bosnian troops that are on the verge of taking out Mantua. As my troops move north, they receive great news: Tuscany acknowledges that no help will be forthcoming and unconditionally surrenders to Milan. As a result of this, Firenze now becomes part of my empire and, as a little bonus, I take control of Tuscany’s navy, which consists of 12 ships.

I do not make it north in time to save Mantua, which is annexed by Venice as my troops are given marching orders to lift the siege. Apparently, the Bosnians decide the war is over and their army, consisting of 28,000 men, starts heading east as soon as Mantua is incorporated into the Venetian empire. With Hungarian forces occupying the Venetian province of Croatia and at striking distance of Sarajevo, I don’t understand what they were doing in northern Italy in the first place, but that’s probably just me...

After the Bosnians have packed up their things, Mantua is only defended by a small force of some 5,000 Venetians which is easily brushed aside. I quickly take Mantua, but since Venice is considered an island and the crossing is blocked by the powerful Venetian navy, I have no hope of bringing the war to Venice itself and demanding Mantua in a peace deal. So, when in August 1432 Venice offers me 198 ducats for peace, I gladly accept the offer.

As a result of the Tuscan War, two states are erased from the map and both Milan and Venice managed to increase their holdings:

The growth of Venice isn’t welcome, but is a logical and necessary consequence of my war with Tuscany. It will be dealt with later. Right now, I need peace to digest my conquest and create a financial buffer in case of war, because although within the Milanese court people were very pleased with this smooth expansion, others outside Milan weren’t so thrilled…

 

[Pyotr Veliky]

The Pope is at it again…

In September 1433, after a peace that had lasted just over a year, Italy is again plunged into war by the Warrior Pope (who else???) and his Iberian cronies. This time their aggression is aimed at poor old me. I call on my allies for help and they all join the war, which gives the war something of an epic North vs. South feel; virtually the whole of Italy is in flames. Well, mostly the southern part, actually…

As soon as I am informed of the Papal declaration of war, I decide on my goals; I want at least Siena from this war. Meanwhile, the Pope makes his first move and sends an army to Firenze. I don’t know what he hoped to find there, but I’m sure it wasn’t the defeat I inflict on him. After this victory, I move south and start laying siege to Siena, while the demoralized remnants of the Papal forces do the same in Firenze. With Marche being besieged by Modena, these forces are in essence cut off, however, and soon the siege is lifted and the army heads for Marche where it, again, is defeated. Soon after Modena takes Marche, the walls of Siena are breached and in August 1434 the city falls to Milanese troops.

The Pope has been seriously mauled by the Northern Alliance, but as of yet I haven’t encountered any Aragonese troops on the battlefield. In order for me to get Siena in a peace deal, I need a higher war score (WS) than what I get from just holding Siena itself; I will need to make the Aragonese bleed before they will listen to reason. In order to achieve this, I leave Rome for what it is and head directly south, to Napoli. The largely symbolic defence force Aragon has stationed there is easily chased away and I start besieging the city. It falls in April 1435. In the south, Aragon does little to oppose me and in Firenze an Iberian landing party is convincingly driven back into the sea. Despite all this my demands aren’t met, however; Siena seems too good to part from. Guess I’ll have to hurt them some more, then…

Since Apulia (to the south of Napoli) is defended by the remnants of the army that was so easily defeated in Napoli, the fall of the city is just a matter of time. In the mean time I make peace with the Papal States for a few ducats and somewhat later Modena is able get Marche; a good development. In November 1436, Apulia falls and all Aragonese possessions on the Italian mainland are now in my hands. But still those stubborn Iberians keep refusing peace for Siena and 100 ducats, even though I hold three of their provinces! Moreover, apart from a war in Italy, Aragon had for a year now also been at war with an English-led alliance which had been hitting the Aragonese navy quite hard (which, incidentally, could explain why their land forces weren’t ferried over to Italy in the numbers I had been expecting them). Instead of ending the war, Aragon makes another attempt to land in the north, in the undefended province of Emilia. With the arrival of my northern army, however, this attempt too ends in failure.

With no peace in sight, I contemplate moving my forces to Sicily and taking over the island, but with my weak navy that might be too risky. Aragon could lock my army up on the island by blocking the straits and then southern Italy would have been undefended. I don’t have a large manpower pool and can’t afford losing armies like that. So, I decide to bide my time, which turns out to be a wise move. While repeatedly denying me peace for Siena and 100 ducats, Aragon manages to pleasantly surprise me with this peace proposal in March 1437:

Of course, I accept and with some pleasure I stare at the map of Italy, checking out my new Italian empire:

All is not well, however; please note the English flag waving over Rome. That foolish Pope decided to come to Aragon’s aid when England declared war, even though he had just been involved in another war he had had no hope of winning. Just after this screenshot was taken, the Papal States were annexed by England, which sucks, because now it will be so much more difficult for me to take Rome. Even when being annexed that guy manages to screw things up… Revenge from the grave maybe?

Playing cat and mouse with my Iberian friends

I quickly integrate the captured provinces into my realm by promoting bailiffs that will increase the income generated from them. Also, I start rebuilding my army to deter any would be aggressor. My rapid expansion has left me with almost 15 bad boy (BB) points so I need to take a rest from conquest for now as to not completely ruin my international reputation before I am strong enough to defend myself properly.

In July 1446, my old foe Aragon again causes me trouble by declaring war, a month later followed by Tunisia. The Northern Alliance is now fighting two alliances and five countries in total: Aragon, Navarra, Tunisia, Tlemcen and Morocco. Bring it on!

The war against the Muslim nations for me is mainly a “phoney war”; only very small armies appear on the Italian peninsula and they are easily defeated. A lot of fighting, however, is done at sea between the fleets of Genoa and Modena and Muslim ships. In March 1448, Tunisia accepts peace with the Northern Alliance paying 100 ducats. The Aragonese, however, are a harder nut to crack.

While I strike south and cross the street of Messina to capture the island of Sicily, the Aragonese navy is causing havoc for my allies at sea and landing parties are laying siege to some of my northern provinces. However, with some help of Modena, I manage to quickly take both the provinces of Messina and Sicily, which frees up troops to do some siege lifting in the Po valley. I successfully chase away the Aragonese from my territory, but they find somewhat of a safe haven in mountainous Liguria; I try to overwhelm them several times with superior numbers but the defensive bonuses are too strong to overcome and I am beaten back. I need another front to hurt them, since my war score is not enough even to demand Messina.

Although my navy is quite weak, especially when compared to Aragon’s, I decide to take a risk. I load a 10,000 men strong army led by a leader with a siege bonus on my 12 ships and set sail for Sardinia, hoping not to encounter any enemy ships. The landing on the island is unopposed and I start the siege. My ships return home without meeting any enemy vessels.

In August 1451 I capture Sardinia, but still I don’t have enough war score to demand Messina, a direct result of the large number of land and, mostly, sea battles lost to Aragon by my alliance. To further complicate the situation, the Aragonese landed 3,000 men in Messina just before the fall of Sardinia, a force that should have been an easy prey for the 15,000 (!) troops Modena had stationed in nearby Sicily. However, they for some reason sat idly by as these 3,000 were reinforced to 16,000 and then to 25,000, thereby allowing a front that had earlier been secured to be opened up again. :shakehead With Messina under siege, I order my army in Emilia south and bring back the boys from Sardinia to join it in Napoli.

On its way to Messina, my Emilia army lays siege to Siena which had earlier been captured by rebels (there has been more of them, but I leave them out for the most part, because it gets repetitive) and in August 1452 we are back in control of the city, after which I hurry to Messina which had fallen to Aragonese troops in May of that same year. When I reach Messina, Sicily has also just been captured, but after the battle with the 15,000 men Modena had stationed there, the Aragonese army isn’t as numerous as it used to be. I take over the siege of Messina started by the retreating troops of my ally and am confident that the Aragonese will move to Messina to find defeat in the mountains there. I am not as confident about the war as a whole, though. Many battles are lost and getting a decent (i.e., enough to demand a province) war score will be nearly impossible. Maybe I will have to be satisfied with taking cash, or else a separate peace with Aragon might be an option…

In April 1453 Messina is once again in our hands and as I see the Aragonese in Sicily heading for Messina, very unwelcome news reaches Milan: Tyrol has declared war and they are joined by Venice! We defeat the Aragonese in Messina and move to besiege Sicily when another declaration of war is issued against us, this time from Tunisia! After 7 years of continuous warfare, an impressive array of cowards has taken up arms against Milan and its allies. They probably assume to find an easy prey, but they are mistaken. Despite growing war exhaustion, a less than satisfactory financial situation and overwhelming odds, I will not budge. Not a single one of my provinces will ever be handed over to those vultures!

 

[Kan' Sharuminar]

Good work, though I think your ultimate goal is aiming too low. No unification of Italy...a reunification of the Roman Empire!

I'm liking the style of your AAR, easy to read but with a lot of details. Only a few centuries to go.

 

[Dell19]

Interesting story. I've played Milan, Venice and Aragon before and Aragon are unsurprisingly the easiest nation to form a united Italy with although when I was Venice I was a bit too agressive trying to grab Byzantium so that the Ottomans wouldn't form properly. Not having that province tends to kill their development.

The big problem for the Italian nations is that in the original game Austria ends up being far too large and very difficult to win against whilst France is always powerful. Spain tends to be weak in Europe and thats why Aragon has a bit of an easier time as its generally possible to avoid the one large Spanish army and take more provinces than they can.

 

[Pyotr Veliky]

Interesting story. I've played Milan, Venice and Aragon before and Aragon are unsurprisingly the easiest nation to form a united Italy with although when I was Venice I was a bit too agressive trying to grab Byzantium so that the Ottomans wouldn't form properly. Not having that province tends to kill their development.

The big problem for the Italian nations is that in the original game Austria ends up being far too large and very difficult to win against whilst France is always powerful. Spain tends to be weak in Europe and thats why Aragon has a bit of an easier time as its generally possible to avoid the one large Spanish army and take more provinces than they can.

Yes, one of my most interesting games was with Aragon. I didn't focus on Italy, though, but mainly on Castile and France.

 

[Pyotr Veliky]

Good work, though I think your ultimate goal is aiming too low. No unification of Italy...a reunification of the Roman Empire!

I'm liking the style of your AAR, easy to read but with a lot of details. Only a few centuries to go.

Thanks! My goals, btw, will be updated as I go.

 

[Sarevok]

Impressive presentation. I got plenty a Europa games I could "showcase". Mabye I should repost that pic of my "french" game where I took over virtually all of europe in 10 years.

 

[Dell19]

Yes, one of my most interesting games was with Aragon. I didn't focus on Italy, though, but mainly on Castile and France.

I went for Italy first and then later Spain. The game became dull when I basically took the role of Spain by annexing the Aztec empire.

 

[Sarevok]

I just like getting into as many wars as humanly possible... and winning them all.

 

[Pyotr Veliky]

I usually play more peaceful. I invest in infra and build a lot of refineries to create an uberecomy that's untouchable. Then, I start building a military to match my economic status. With a bit of alliance hopping, I usually manage to take out the big boys quite easily even though I'm not a great military player.

 

[Reno]

A very promising game, also nicely written.

 

[Dell19]

I usually play more peaceful. I invest in infra and build a lot of refineries to create an uberecomy that's untouchable. Then, I start building a military to match my economic status. With a bit of alliance hopping, I usually manage to take out the big boys quite easily even though I'm not a great military player.

I generally do both. I will tend to have lots of wars whilst investing in infra and land tech and do well that way. In my latest game as Tyrol I managed to unite Germany although I was Austria by then. Had loads of buildings in provinces so that new ones cost about 4000 gold but the gap in land technology made a war against France and Burgundy very easy although France would only give me 3 provinces even though I had taken over every European province that they owned.

 

[Pyotr Veliky]

OK, it's been a while, but here I have a new set of updates for the few interested readers.

The vultures land beside the carcass…

While troops from Tyrol and Venice are swarming into the Po valley, I do not completely abandon my efforts to capture Sicily, still hoping to get something out of the war with Aragon. Maybe they will eventually throw in the towel like they did last time, giving more than expected. At the moment it doesn’t look like this will be the case, though. Even with a small positive war score for me and my alliance, I only get peace offers from Aragon demanding 75 or 100 ducats or, even worse, the province of Apulia. My my, getting cocky, aren’t we? Even with my northern provinces under siege, I will not give those pesky Iberians anything in this war which they started and which they are losing.

I split up my Sicilian siege army so that one part can be send north to at least create the impression that Tyrol and Venice aren’t free to roam around at will. The first city to fall in the onslaught is Milan itself when Lombardia is captured by Tyrol in September 1453. I attack the province, but I’m defeated. Meanwhile, smaller enemy armies have landed in the south; 2,000 men from Venice in Napoli and 1,000 men from Tlemcen in Apulia. I send my siege army from Sicily, which in December 1453 succeeded in capturing the province, over to Apulia and then Napoli where it easily destroys the enemy. If I am ever going to survive this war intact, I need small victories like these to boost my war score, since I won’t be able to survive an all out slugfest.

Meanwhile, more and more troops, especially from Venice, are pouring into northern Italy and soon my allies, too, are feeling the burden of the war. Both Liguria (Genoa) and Romagna (Modena) are besieged by large armies that I have no hope in matching. My tactic, therefore, is quite simple: I will avoid battle with large concentrations of enemy forces unless absolutely necessary and will instead focus on destroying smaller stacks while simultaneously trying to regain lost provinces as soon as the siege army has moved on to the next. If all goes well, this should at least limit the damage and maybe get my war score to such a level that peace can be bought with cash, instead of provinces.

As this screenie makes clear, though, it won’t be an easy task:

I constantly try to make peace with Aragon, Tunisia or Tyrol to somewhat lessen the burden, but no one is interested until in 1456 Aragon finally agrees to pay 100 ducats in exchange for peace. In that same year, Tunisia does the same, after which I can focus my attention fully on Venice and Tyrol.

At one point in time, my alliance’s war score with the Tyrol-Venice alliance is -48% and things start to look very bleak indeed when in the last days of December 1456 Modena is forced to accept peace with Tyrol (the leader of the alliance), handing over Marche to Venice. Not only does this mean that more troops are freed to fight me, it also means my southern provinces are cut off from the north. Now the only way of getting troops from one end of Italy to the other is by ship, which is a dangerous undertaking given the fact that most of my enemies have a more powerful navy than I have. At some point in the future, I will need to secure a link to the south.

Meanwhile, cities are falling to Venetian troops at a frightening rate. Firenze, Napoli, Emilia, all are captured once or more by Venice while my small army is trying hard to keep up with the siege speed of the enemy hordes. It is virtually impossible, though. They have two large armies in the field that can siege more provinces faster than I can. Also, I try to kill off wandering armies of one or two thousand men while engaged in a siege, which slows the whole process down considerably. However, slowly but surely the war score is pushed back to create a somewhat better overall picture. After taking the northern provinces, the Venetians (Tyrol, at this point, hardly joins the fight anymore) have a tendency to return to Venice itself, only to appear again when I start coming too close. Mostly, we are just dancing around one another in circles. They besiege Firenze, I do the same to Mantua etc. Provinces are changing hands all the time, with Venice being somewhat more flexible, because they can land troops in my southern provinces. The other major advantage they have is that they captured Liguria and that I do not have the time or the forces to lay siege to it. This virtually guarantees a positive war score for them no matter what. As the 60s draw near, no end to the war is in sight, but money is definitely running out and war exhaustion mounting. I need to get out of this war and fast! I have been getting peace offers demanding cash and one or more provinces, but that’s not the peace I have in mind.

In 1460, Venice renews its push to end the war on its terms and starts besieging both Firenze and Marche, which I had captured earlier. Tyrol, too, is joining the party again and heads south with a respectable force. I am increasingly getting weaker with little hope of replenishing my lost strength. Then, because of an event, I get an auto loan of 200 ducats. Usually I despise loans (as well as inflation), but now this cash might come in handy. My war score at this moment is -12%, a good effort, but really the maximum I can hope to achieve. My efforts on the battlefield are more and more fragmented and I will not be able to hold Tyrol and Venice up for much longer. So, I take this money now the war score is “good” and, together with the cash I get at the beginning of 1461, offer it to Tyrol, which has just started a siege of Siena, in exchange for peace. To my delight they accept! For 275 ducats I have bought off a total collapse and now, after 15 (!) years of war, Milan is finally at peace again.

Oh, and BTW, do you remember how I, in the first post, explained my goals and that one of them was to form a counterweight against France? I think I’m a bit too late for that:

 

[Pyotr Veliky]

It’s all about Aragon, baby!

After a few well deserved days (yes, that’s days) of peace, our dear friends from Aragon feel it’s time for war again and so they have a declaration of war delivered to the Milanese court in July 1461. With my war exhaustion still intact from the last war, I decide to try and fight this one with the troops at hand, some 17,000 men. Almost automatically, they start heading south (part of the journey by ship this time) telling stories about all those zillion other times they travelled through this same region to face the Aragonese. Some complaints were heard about the repetitiveness of it all; always the same girls in the same inns…

As the army arrives in Messina, it meets a force of some 4,000 defenders which it drives off the battlefield without much difficulty. And so the siege of Messina begins… again. The troops take place in the trenches that had been dug the last time and start waiting for the inevitable to happen. Messina falls in December 1462, even though the Aragonese make a feeble attempt at lifting the siege. After this success, the army heads for the province of Sicily, where it destroys the remainder of the Aragonese troops on the island. In September 1463, Sicily too falls in Milanese hands.

Meanwhile, however, a large Aragonese army of 22,000 men has landed in Messina and has started a siege there. Outnumbered and faced with a defender in mountainous terrain, I know I have little hope of dislodging them. However, when I look at my war score, I see I might just have enough to demand Messina in a peace deal since my ally Genoa has been quite successful at sea, defeating the Iberians’ navy at almost every possibility. I decide to give it a shot and low and behold: they accept. Finally I have a foothold on the island of Sicily!

Please note the growth of Venice, which in March 1463 diplo-annexed its ally Tyrol. This might turn out to have grave consequences for me, not only because Venice is now bigger, but also because it left Venice without an ally. In search for a new one, it found… France. You can’t say I haven’t been blessed with a healthy dose of luck, can you?

With peace achieved again, I immediately promote a bailiff in Messina and start saving money to pay off my loan, which is due in November 1465. After this is done, I pour most of my funds into the military until I have an army of 40,000 men. Not enough to fight off France and Venice, but it should be sufficient for any other eventuality. And where might such an “eventuality” come from? Yes, you guessed it: Aragon. Those guys just really don’t know when to quit, do they? And so, in October 1471, we start the dance of war all over again. But already on the first day of war, Aragon is faced with a nasty surprise: France immediately declares war on Aragon as soon as it declares war on me. If that’s not swift justice, I don’t know what is…

With my army still in Messina, my target is obvious: Sicily. Apart from that, I load an army of 10,000 men onto my ships and send them off to Sardinia to capture the rock. Both missions are successful and meet with little interference from Aragon and its new ally Castile. Sicily falls in January 1473, Sardinia in April of the same year. In addition, I twice manage to beat two lone Castilian warships, adding some welcome points to my war score, something Genoa, again, is helping nicely with too. And so, like in the last war, Aragon is again put in a situation where I can demand a province from it. I demand Sicily and the offer is accepted. The entire island is now mine. I just hope those silly Iberians have finally learned their lesson now that they have already lost five provinces to Milan. Next time, I wouldn’t know what to take from them, since Sardinia is pretty worthless and a strategic liability at that…

Oh, and Aragon also was no match for France and was forced to cough up 84 ducats and hand over Roussillon. They must be the worst warmongers in history, apart from the Pope, that is…

Given the situation that has now emerged in Italy, my options for further military expansion there are close to zero. Genoa is a vassal and ally, Modena an ally, Marche belongs to Venice, which is backed by an insanely powerful France and Rome is a lone outpost in the far away English realm, which means I have little possibility of obtaining it in a peace treaty.

However, there is another option for expansion in EUII apart from the military one. Vassals can be annexed by diplomatic means when some prerequisites are met: both nations, the overlord and the vassal, need to be at peace, the bond between them has to be at least 10 years old, their relations must be +190 or higher and they must be part of the same military alliance. However, acceptance of the annexation offer is not a given even when these conditions hold true. Chances of the vassal accepting the offer increase if the overlord is bigger, wealthier, has a larger army and if the diplomacy value of the overlord’s monarch is higher than that of the vassal’s ruler.

Since Genoa has a Center of Trade (CoT), their income is quite impressive and although they have been my vassals since 1421, I do not see them as my best option for an attempt at diplo-annexation (which, btw, could backfire with the vassal breaking away). Instead, I opt for Modena and after some gifts to increase our relations I offer them to become my vassal. Not surprisingly (I dwarf them in virtually every respect), they accept.

In January 1481 my ally Genoa declares war on Burgundy. Not willing to let the alliance I have with them fall apart, I join the war, while Modena declines. Luckily, they just became my vassal, which stops them from joining any other alliance. Genoa’s victim Burgundy is the punching bag of Europe and far away, so I will sit this one out without doing any fighting. I joined the war merely for political reasons and already in March of that same year offer Burgundy a status quo peace which is accepted.

Then, and it really is getting quite annoying, Aragon declares war again in September 1482. They bring their ally Spain with them and I invite Genoa. In the past few years, I have expanded my navy a bit and thus with some confidence I order my ships out of Firenze’s port to guard the Ligurian Sea and prevent enemy landings in northern Italy. In this I am not always successful, but once in my territory the small armies of at most 4,000 men the Spanish insist on sending are easily obliterated. Aragon, meanwhile, focuses on Messina and Sicily, but they too only send small detachments that are no match for the 18,ooo men strong defence force stationed on the island.

This whole war is a joke, really. I have more problems with rebels that during the conflict manage to take both Sicily and Firenze than with the regular forces of the Iberian alliance. By winning battles I’m steadily increasing my war score until Aragon offers me 200 ducats for peace in November 1484. Next time, it might be easier for them to just hand over some cash, so we both wouldn’t have to go through the whole useless process of waging war again… :suicide:

 

[Kan' Sharuminar]

Very good. Don't think I've seen France unify so quickly in my games before though.

What's your bad boy at now?

 

[Pyotr Veliky]

Yes, France is very big quite early.

About bad boy: I don't really know. I've played way beyond this point already. But the provinces gained against Aragon were all gained in defensive wars, so my bad boy couldn't have been very high; no DoWs without CB, no provinces taken in wars of aggression.

 

[Dell19]

Funniest thing in my game as Austria (Tyrol to begin with) was that France diplo annexed Burgundy and had a massive empire but then they had an event where Burgundy reappeared as vassals and since then they have been always allied but not quite as much of a handful and in my main war against that alliance I could get two peace treaties.

 

[Specialist290]

I kinda like the Paradox series of games myself, despite either my ineptitude or impatience with them. Hoping to see how this game turns out.

 

[Pyotr Veliky]

There’s no place like home

In the same month as peace with Aragon is concluded, Genoa declares war on Crimea. They call on me to join the war, but I am getting tired of the alliance I’m in. I want to keep my vassals, but as allies they are useless in the sense that the wars they drag me into don’t give me the opportunity to expand. So, I decide to decline and leave the Northern Alliance which has existed since 1419. A few months later I join the French-led alliance with Venice, Würtemberg and Desmond. However, when asking to join them I fail to notice the alliance is currently at war with Burgundy with which a peace treaty is still in effect. By joining the French alliance I also join its ongoing wars and thus break the treaty which causes my stability to plummet to -3. Ouch… Luckily, stability costs aren’t too high for Milan and I return to positive stability quickly.

In May 1485, Tlemcen declares war on Venice. I join the war without doing any fighting, because there is little I can gain from it. In 1488 I receive a handful of ducats for peace without firing a single shot. In June 1489 Venice declares war on the Ottomans and again I honour the alliance, but, like the previous time, I have no intention whatsoever of getting any of my soldiers killed. The Ottoman Empire hasn’t been doing too well in this game and I don’t want them to be weakened any further since they are the natural enemy of Venice, which, despite it now being an ally of mine, is clearly my main Italian rival. I intend on taking them on some time in the future and if the Ottomans can cut them down to size a bit this surely wouldn’t be a bad thing. Despite massive French troop movements (they really have an awesome army!) to this new theatre of war in the east, the Venetians are no match for the Sultan’s armies and are forced to give up Corfu, Hellas and Macedonia in October 1490. A defeat for my alliance, a clear victory for me.

My alliance members turn out to be a warlike bunch indeed when already in November of that same year Desmond declares war on Brittany. Everyone, including me, joins the war, but in June 1491 I conclude a separate status quo peace with Brittany because this war too will lead nowhere for me. Therefore I take a drastic decision: I leave the alliance. Not only am I being dragged into pointless wars, it also stops me from confronting my closest rival Venice if an opportunity would present itself. For the future, the Habsburgs seem like my natural ally, but since Austria hasn’t yet incorporated any of the lands that will in a few decades catapult it to superpower status it isn’t a real alternative at this stage.

Where, then, should I turn to? Faced with uncertainty, most people tend to fall back on things, places, people they know. I am no exception. And so, after an absence of more than 6 years, I return home to Genoa and Modena, my two vassals who, despite my leaving them behind earlier, remained loyal to me. I ask both of them to join an alliance led by me and both accept. The reasons for me leaving them in the first place are still there, but with my plan of expanding with the help of a powerful alliance being unsuccessful for the moment, I opt for a different strategy: I want to incorporate first Modena and then Genoa into my realm by diplo-annexing them.

Modena has already been a vassal of Milan for more than 10 years and relations are very good, so I decide to immediately give it a go; I ask them to join my realm. Their answer doesn’t please me one bit. Not only do they decline, they also refuse to accept me as their overlords anymore which means I’ll have to start the whole process all over again and my next chance to annex them will come at least 10 years from now. In November 1491 I ask Modena to become my vassal again and they accept. Despite Modena’s reaction to a similar suggestion, I also offer Genoa to be annexed. They, like Modena, decline, but still remain my vassal. That, at least, is a positive sign.

The following few years are mainly spend staring at the screen, watching nice shiny ducats flow into the treasury and seeing neighbours and far away countries throw heaps and heaps of peasants into the meat grinder called war. In my own realm I am faced with nasty revolts which result in the whole of Sicily and even my own capital province of Lombardia being captured by rebellious scum. Their success isn’t long lived, though, and order is quickly restored. A few hangings here and there go a long way in teaching the masses the virtues of being obedient.

When not at war, I usually look around a lot at what other countries are doing, which alliance they are part of, what their bad boy score is etc. This way I see, for example, that France is getting too far ahead in land tech, prompting me to concentrate fully on this area instead of infrastructure until I’ve caught up with them. When clicking around some more, I also come past Genoa. I notice my relations with them are high enough to make another attempt at diplo-annexation. They are economically much stronger than Modena, which rejected the offer in the clearest way possible, but still I decide to give it a go. I press the button “annex” and a message appears on the screen that they accept! The province of Liguria (with a juicy Centre of Trade or CoT) and Corsica are now mine, just like all Genoese troops and ships. I am now way over my support limit for troops, so most (some 37,000!) of them have to be disbanded, but the extra ships (3 warships, 5 galleys and 5 transports) find a nice place in the port of Firenze. Especially Liguria is a substantial boost to my economy and apart from that, doesn’t the map of Italy just look much better now?

The overall picture, goals for the 16th century

My next target for diplo-annexation will be Modena, but in the mean time I focus on developing my economy. I gather money to build my first manufactory; a refinery in Firenze which is completed in 1499. A refinery, when built in a province that produces wine (like Firenze) or sugar, adds 12 ducats a year to the income generated from this province and also adds 5 extra ducats a month (!) to trade research. These bonuses alone already make it a more than lucrative investment, but on top of that every single refinery you build increases your trade efficiency by 1 point. I have 4 wine producing provinces (Firenze, Emilia, Napoli and Sicily) and I intend to build refineries in every single one of them within the century. I will then easily outclass my trade competitors and trade is a sweet money maker indeed. With cash to spare, I start to take control of my own CoT in Liguria. I have not yet reached the trade tech level necessary to monopolize this CoT, but I do have enough trading power to at least generate a nice income.

Now let’s take a look at the state of Europe at the turn of the century, a Europe in which Milan isn’t doing too poorly, although the French threat still looms large and an ugly looking green Venetian pimple is still disgracing the face of my pretty Milan:

My plans for the coming century are as follows:

- Priority number one is the creation of the Kingdom of Italy, an extra possibility given by the AGCEEP-mod. There are several ways in doing this, but in my situation the most viable alternative is asking Austria to grand me the Crown. For this I need to own a certain combination of Italian provinces (which I do), be in their alliance, need to have relations of at least +150 and our houses need to be linked by royal marriage. Also, my bad boy rating mustn’t be above 6. When all these conditions are met, I can ask Austria for the Italian Crown, a request they might reject, however. There is, therefore, no certainty I will become a King instead of a mere Duke.

- Expand trade and invest, invest, invest in my economy. Money breeds money. More money breeds even more money. My main investment goal will be the economy, but I also want to be on or very near the same land and sea tech levels as my main potential enemies. Just being wealthy won’t stop my neighbours from tearing me apart.

- After Modena is annexed, I will look for an alliance with Austria, not only to become Italy, but also to confront France and Venice. I have to bite the bullet sometime. Mainly, however, I expect a rather peaceful century.

 

[Pyotr Veliky]

Rising from the shadows to achieve Greatness

In 1500, a crisis emerges when both France and Austria lay claim to the vacant Milanese throne. I have to decide which path to take; be inherited by the French, by the Austrians or go my own way. Although there are some benefits to being inherited, there is one nasty consequence: Milan would become a vassal of either France or Austria. Staying independent means paying 500 ducats (which would mean taking out two loans), seriously damaging the relations with both Paris and Vienna (and I need them to become Italy!) and losing 2 stability points, but I just can’t get myself to accept any of the other two options. Principles can be a quite expensive nuisance sometimes.

In June 1505, I make a second attempt to diplo-annex Modena. With my economy soaring, I expect little opposition from them this time and I am correct. Modena, too, is added to the Milanese Empire and so, with all my previous allies incorporated into my realm, I am free to start my overtures in the direction of Austria. Some gifts go a long way in rebuilding our relationship after the dive they took in 1500 and in August 1506, a royal marriage is agreed upon. After some extra gifts, I join the Austrian alliance in August 1508 and in December of that same year the event I had been waiting for fires:

And Austria answers like it should, after I have greased the wheels of the court bureaucracy with tons of cash:

You may now all kiss my pinky ring…

So, what did this promotion get me? Well, for starters, a spiffy new shield. Apart from that, all northern Italian provinces besides Venice have now become my core provinces and this includes Piemonte, currently occupied by the French. Also, I get 200 victory points (yay!) and a new set of Italian leaders. My relations with most neighbours except Austria plummet and a small rise in revolt risk and +5 bad boy points are also included in the deal. For all of this, I pay 500 ducats, which again puts me in debt. But I smile as the money leaves my coffers; I’d have paid double for this new shield. Hah!

A safe haven in a Europe ravaged by war

In May 1510, Austria, my King maker and ally, declares war on Hungary. Not wanting to be rude, I join the war, but surely they aren’t expecting me to fight a nation I have no way of reaching, right? Hungary a few times offers me a status quo peace, but I decline. They are being trashed by my allies Austria, Saxony and Bavaria and I thus hope for an alliance peace in which I might get a few ducats. Unfortunately, this doesn’t happen as Hungary agrees on peace in October 1513 handing over Krain, Serbia and Karpathia to Austria and Magdeburg, Brandenburg and Anhalt to Saxony. No money changes hands, so I get nothing. Oh, well… At least my alliance strengthened itself and is now more and more starting to look like a viable counterweight against the French-Venetian alliance.

Another “phoney war” for me is started by Saxony in January 1514 when it declares war on Cleves. Again, I stay out of it, but this war, too, is a beneficial one for my alliance as both Saxony and Bavaria manage to increase their holdings. In 1516, I reach land tech 9, the first CRT-improvement. I’m not the first to reach this level, but I am not that far behind France, which is a good thing.

In 1517 it looks like a major European wide war is started when Saxony and its allies Austria, Bavaria and Italy take up arms against Poland, which is not only huge, but also supported by Denmark, Sweden, Holstein and Bohemia. I expect a genuine slugfest, but somehow Saxony and Austria manage to blitz the Poles and get away with a quick peace, netting 340 ducats for the alliance.

In the field of trade, everything is going great. Work on a second refinery is started in the province of Emilia in 1524 and in August of that same year I reach trade level 3, which allows monopolies. Already in November, I create one in my home CoT in Liguria.

In the following years, my alliance (which welcomes Bohemia in its midst in 1526) gets itself into many, many wars. Cleves, Serbia, the Ottoman Empire, Poland, the Livonian Order… If it moves, someone in our alliance feels the need to attack it. The war against the Ottomans was a defensive one, but for the most part my alliance members are the aggressors. Must be a German thing… Since the wars are outside my reach and I have little interest in them in the first place, I mostly just watch them being waged around me. Sometimes some lone enemy army gets itself stuck in Italian territory where it finds a quick and merciful death.

The first Great European War for Italy

In September 1526, Austria declares war on Poland. “Been there, done that”, I think. However, this war turns out to be somewhat different from other far away wars, mainly because it’s not far away this time. Just after the outbreak of hostilities, France joins the Polish alliance and thus its ongoing war with the Austrian-led alliance. Instead of a “cold war”, I am faced with a war that could turn very hot for me indeed. I believe our alliance is a bit outgunned, but not by much, so I need to rake up some war score for it, maybe I’ll be rewarded for it in a peace deal.

Since Piemonte is a core province of mine with Italian culture, I immediately start a siege there. The south of France seems largely empty of troops at the moment and most of the fighting is done in southern Germany where huge stacks are being thrown into battle. While France is distracted, I must make my move. Meanwhile, French ships are appearing in the Ligurian Sea to drop off an invasion force on the island of Corsica. Their landing, however, ends in defeat. This minor success is followed in October 1531 by the fall of Piemonte, after which I head for Province.

Still without large French armies spotted in the vicinity, Provence falls to Italian troops in September 1532. I immediately try to secure a separate peace with France demanding Piemonte, but this offer is rejected. I head for Languedoc to increase my war score, when virtually at the same time a large French army appears (probably from southern Germany) to lay siege to Lombardia. The province is captured by the French in April 1533. A French attack on Corsica is again unsuccessful, but they do manage to defeat my army in Languedoc. As the French army that had captured Milan slips away, I send in an army of my own to take the city back. Overall, this war isn’t going too bad and I feel that, if France is being kept busy in the north, I might manage to get Piemonte out of it. On August 7, 1533, however, I get the message that Poland and Austria, both alliance leaders, have made a peace deal in which Austria gives up Silesia and Galizien. And so, regrettably, my little war against France also comes to an end. That’s too bad, really, but at least I have been able to hold my own against France and that’s a good sign.

After this war, the previous pattern repeats itself with a seemingly endless stream of declarations of war. My alliance fights wars against the Ottomans, Hungary and Cleves. Overall, these wars seem to be a success, except for Austria’s performance against the Ottoman Empire. Slowly but surely, the Ottoman Turks are creeping up the Balkan peninsula, taking advantage of the fact that Austria keeps getting involved in pointless wars which sap its strength instead of focussing on the main threat coming from the south.

At this time I decide the moment has come for me to stop being a follower and become a leader. The next war will be of my own doing and will benefit Italy and Italy alone. The target: Venice.