[RFCM:BWS] An Iberian Love Story

[Alexius08]

I originally intended to post this story in Valentine's Day due to its romantic nature. However, I kept getting delayed by unfavorable in-game conditions and lack of time. I realized that I need to reload alot and getting everything done perfectly, because it needs a good deal of luck and lots of skill when playing as "the Perfect Prince" and "el Hombre" of Isabella. Otherwise, I'd end up with a thread that died as soon as it started. As of now, I've played this one all the way to 1650 (and still playing), so expect this story to end much later.



So, this story would be about me playing as the Portuguese. The UHV conditions seems to be easy, so I gave myself more challenges before completing the third UHV condition.




As soon as I spawn, Isabella...


... and Louis meet me.


So here's how to start a long-term relationship: send her tribute.


The obligatory follow-up move.


I also sent some gold to the French galley that appeared next to my territory, subsequently getting open borders.


After opening up my borders, I decided to settle Lisboa on the spot.

The best thing about this particular start is that I flipped one of Izzy's knights, so I decided to send it into an exploration to the east...

...meeting the Dutch as a result. Opening borders with them is not a problem.


Among the changes I made on JediClemente's modmod is adding a missionary of Iberia's religion because Islam spread to Lisboa on one of my attempts (instant ragequit). Now, all I need to do is to use this missionary and convert.


My exploring knights later reached the outskirts of Germany. As usual, I bribed the border guards so that the knights can explore.


After recovering from the anarchy I got through converting to Christianity, I decided to adopt Hereditary Rule, Slavery and Organized Religion. I'm ready to adopt Theocracy whenever Izzy wishes or infrastructure in my cities are almost done, whichever comes earlier.


After reaching the beaches of Morocco, I decided to found Casablanca right there to get iron and ivory (in the future, getting sheep and wine)...


...instantly getting the attention of the Malinese.


Izzy later asked for one of my techs. Since I love her, she gets it.


Further to the east were the Russians. I also bribed them to grant me open borders.


North of France was an island-kingdom that is looking for trade partners. Wish granted.


Seems that Germany is the strongest European country, followed by Spain.


I forgot to ask for open borders with Mansa Musa. Now he requested it. Okay.


My pikemen discovered a hostile tribal village, guarded by a horse archer.


My exploring galleys reached Viking territory. Instant open borders with them.


Izzy decided to accept my marriage proposal. It's good to get this done early in the game than later, because I need a good excuse for refusing to declare war on her (and declaring war on and/or cancelling deals with her enemies).

 

[Optical]

Will be following this, should be interesting.

 

[hoplitejoe]

OB with spain so early? thats pretty good going, spain not giving OB is the most annoying thing as portugal. are you going to invade spain after getting the first uhv?

 

[Alexius08]

OB with spain so early? thats pretty good going, spain not giving OB is the most annoying thing as portugal. are you going to invade spain after getting the first uhv?

Nope. I intend to be nice to Izzy till the end.

 

[Optical]

He put in a Missionary. So Izzy is pleased.

 

[Alexius08]

I eventually sent my pikemen to take down the horse archers...


...and loot the village.


I decided to send the knights to a nearby goody hut. Turns out that I pissed off the inhabitants of the hut.


I taught the Vikings how to ride horses for a small fee...


Annoying the Germans a bit.


I see that the Chinese were mad at us...


So I sent some knights for some religious discussion to please them.


Those horseback-riding lessons paid off. Now, for a bigger deal, Ragnar sent me some compasses in exchange for better bows.


After this, off to experiment with telescopes.


Suddenly, Mongols. Hordes of them, busy attacking China.


Look, another enemy of the Mongols.


Genghis wants lots of gold from me. I refuse...


... and declare war on them. Now, Japan and China would open borders.


Meanwhile, in the Apostolic Palace, everyone else's borders are opened up. Good for me.


A wild barbarian trireme appears. Since it's me fighting barbs the second time, I sunk the trireme.


Mansa Musa converts to Islam. Izzy would be mad on him.


Not now.


After travelling across China, we meet the Khmer, who's hostile to their northern neighbors.


Had some discussions with Ragnar on government centralization...


...so I got an off-topic...


...and an on-topic tech. Now we could adopt bureaucracy.


Arab triremes were spotted near Casablanca while fighting the French. Not surprised that Saladin is Izzy's worst enemy (the result of zealots of different religions meeting each other).


The Mongols finally prove that they are wimps by negotiating with China. Where is your horde now?


War with Spain? My wife would surely kill me before the Arabs could send their navy.


The Mongols were dumb enough to leave a catapult outside. So my knights charge on it before it could be used for invading Japan.

 

[Yoshiegg737]

A wild barbarian trireme appears. Since it's me fighting barbs the second time, I sunk the trireme.

A wild barbarian trireme appeared!

Alexius sends out Portuguese Galley!

It's Super Effective!

The wild barbarian trireme has fainted!

Portuguese Galley has gained 2 experience points!

Also: Yoshi likes this story

 

[Civ'ed]

Nice story! Always side with fanatics.
And lol at yoshi's pokemon analogy.

 

[Alexius08]

Plague just started in Madrid and quickly spread to the rest of the world because of me having open borders with almost all civs.


I've seen that Pete would trade me his maps (written on paper). So I gave him guilds in exchange.


Now that we have paper, we could take a look at other maps.


This is where we start controlling southern Africa.


Sorry, but I'll pass...


...and take his calendar in exchange for spelling lessons.


It's 1291, the calendar says.


I decided to vote for Otto, because Louis would be our future enemy.


Saladin wanted my map. I refuse.


Apparently, Portugal is no larger than Mali. That would change.


The future of Dutch colonial ventures are uncertain due to this move.


Now that France vassalized Mali, I no longer need to worry about Sofala being cut off from the rest of my empire.


I meet the Turks, who won't open borders even when pleased. So I leave Mehmed alone, for now.


If only this happened while China was at war with Mongolia, then I'd open up more borders.


Since I gave myself carracks with optics while others need astronomy for caravels, it's time to take advantage of this.


But before I could finish building a carrack, here comes another barbarian trireme. Instant 6XP for my galley.

Now, I load a carrack with an explorer and cross the Atlantic.

 

[Civ'ed]

dun dun dun dun...
Give your wife a colony, Joao!

 

[hoplitejoe]

I would make sure you get a open borders with the Turks while they are Christian, they can go Muslim at the drop of a hat (having a few extra agreements is a good insurance for if someone collapses) .

 

[Alexius08]

Unfortunately, the only sure way to get OB with Mehmed is to get his attitude to "Friendly" or join a war on his side (most often against Arabia).

 

[Red_Spy]

Keep up the good story.

 

[Alexius08]

The explorer from our carrack just spotted a goodie hut. Must. Get. Next. Turn.


We just get one useless quest...


...after another. We'd fail those soon after we get gunpowder.


Turns out that the natives explored the continent before. Just got their map.


A French farmer/sheperd ran to my wineyard after escaping from the barbarians. I need to be prepared when the savages come.


Careful now. Steering on the wrong direction would rip my pocket apart prematurely.


Now that we're far enough from those warriors from an unknown civilization Incans, we could safely land our explorer into a newly-discovered hut and get some gold.


The French worker was reassigned to building a workshop in Arguin after being chased by war elephants.


The result of sending out longowmen to shoot down the elephants.


Landing down on another hut, our explorers learn some medication techniques from the natives.


Look, Willem is willing to trade us his cannons and muskets for our telescopes. Now, we don't have to worry on prematurely getting conquistadors.




When the exploration phase is over, we'd stack this guy (with Med1+Med2 promotions) together with our troops.


The Maoris decided to send us some warriors. I'd use them for exploring Australia.


I hope I could convince Izzy to stay out of this war.


Seems that Mansa Musa had problems with his unruly citizens. He asked for my help...


...and I charged him for copying my laws.


The next hut got some more money. I'll leave this warrior behind.


I finally circumnavigated the globe. My sailors no longer fear falling to the edge of the world.


Another warrior joins our explorer. I'd leave our new warrior behind for exploring Australia together with another warrior.


I think I've used up my free wins against the barbarians, so I sent another carrack to deal with the pirates.


How do we use the extra XP in this case? I decided to give him Guerilla2.


With the discovery of a map of India, I linked my old maps with the new ones.


We're about to found our first city in the New World! Is anyone else out there?

 

[hoplitejoe]

you missed the conquer event?

 

[Alexius08]

I want cannons and muskets for my conquistadors, not catapults and maces. Also, mutual contact is required for conquistadors to spawn. Those quechuas didn't see my carrack.

 

[Duke of Britain]

Your first colony is not in Brazil?
i order you to colonize Brazil, and build some impressive thingies here

 

[Alexius08]

I would, but later.

 

[Optical]

nice turnset, strong writing. Good story going on here!

 

[Alexius08]

I just settled Curaçao, and we see some Incans right outside our borders. Those must be the warriors I spotted with my first carrack. The paranoid colonists decided to gather an army and invade the natives, but I ordered those troops to calm down. Before we could get the stack out of Incan territory, we need to let the Incans visit Curaçao.




I decided to use a different approach to the civs in the New World: sell them a tech before opening borders.


A similar stack spawns when I meet the Aztecs, but we're not interested for their lands. And they lack cash for them to buy one of our techs.


The most advanced civ turned out to be the one led by my technologically-better half. I wanted so much to get art lessons from her, so I went to great lengths on rejecting other offers that involved aesthetics.


I shipped to Japan some of my wine. They need an alternative from sake.


My slaves soon revolted, protesting over wine shortages. I gave them some of my income as compensation.


Finally, Montezuma earned barely enough cash to pay my missionaries.


I set apart some of my crabs to sell them to the Arabs.


Incan workers just built a road for barbarian dog soldiers. Time for target shooting drills.


I just finished researching for banks. Good when combined with feitorias (which would come later).


Pretty much guarantees us the first UHV condition.


Mehmed submits to Saladin and the Ottomans are reduced to a sultanate. I wonder why the Turks are so weak.


I settled Nova Scotia, aiming to get the nearby fur sometime later.


More maps for us.


I was preparing my troops to get to Nova Scotia by going through Aztec territory when plague strikes and Montezuma becomes a vassal of Spain. I'm doomed if I dare to enter Aztec territory because Izzy would consider it as a threat.


Sometime earlier, France declared war on England. Now that Louis is about to lose control of the situation, the AP resident (whoever it is) attempted to negotiate for peace. However, attempts for a ceasefire was met with limited support.


They agreed for peace sometime later.

I'm done on making the maps. Time to sell it away.













I have to spend so much on blank canvases, brushes and paints. However, it's worth all the money when I get a chance to paint for my wife a portrait of herself. That's why I rejected earlier deals involving aesthetics.

Now that I'm free of my only self-imposed tech trading restriction, I could get the rest of the cultural techs from others. More on that on the next update.