EU III - The great Brabantian Conquest

[ProPain]

So Mels remark in the general EU III thread inspired me to play Brabant and conquer the Netherlands. I played a few test games to see what I'd run in and then started the game I play now. It's been a very interesting game and my longest EU III game untill now. As a consequence I learned a heap about EU III I didn't know before. Yes, Paradox a decent manual would be very welcome. So I'll do write up here to share my discoveries and save you all some time.

Brabant, a modest beginning
So we start out as Brabant, a three province state occupying what nowadays is the southern, catholic part of the Netherlands and about a quarter of present day Flanders, the dutch speaking part of Belgium.

Having my ass handed to me in previous games I start the game by looking at Burgundy and their mission: 'Reconquer Brabant'. Great, my powerfull neighbour who's hell bent on annexing me anyways now has a mission for extra incentive and less infamy and stab hits. I forego all royal marriage options and send all my diplomats out to big, nearby nations who are willing to ally with me. This turns out very necessary as Burgundy declares war immediately after I unpause the game. No worries though, got me some good allies.

I fight a defense war, building up troops, avoiding losses and picking off 1000 man burgundy armies where I can. After a few months we're looking at this.

http://www.civduelzone.com/forum/attachment.php?attachmentid=484&stc=1&d=1350755093

Me and my allies have the upper hand troopwise and I have occupied Antwerpen which contains a COT (Center of Trade). The war continues and I end up occupying all burgundian provinces north of Bar. I try to reach the ones south of Bar as well but Burgundy maintains a 12K stack there and I only have 13K troops myself. Too dangerous. Also both our allies have chickened out of the war by this time so I decide to make peace. I have to choose between annexing 3 provinces but leaving Antwerpen and it's CoT to Burguny or taking Antwerpen and Ghent. I do some testing and go for the 2 provinces including the CoT. This turns out to be a great decision. The CoT gives me money but also now Burgundies economy is in ruins. The rest of the game they're of no consequence and the years after the war I see they suffer from a lot of unrest and revolutionairy troops rising up.

Brabant after the 1st Burgundy war:

http://www.civduelzone.com/forum/attachment.php?attachmentid=485&stc=1&d=1350755592

Steady growth

After that initial war I get a lot of missions to vassalize the german states on my eastern border and the other dutch provinces. At some point I get the reconquer Gelre mission allowing me to conquer Gelre. After a little over 25 years Brabant looks like this:

http://www.civduelzone.com/forum/attachment.php?attachmentid=486&stc=1&d=1350756032http://www.civduelzone.com/forum/attachment.php?attachmentid=487&stc=1&d=1350756032

Last pic is a diplo map: green is vassals, blue is royal marriages. Turquoise is both.

The marrying kind

The following 25 years are more of the same, vassalize german states. To alleviate boredom I marry of some of my relatives. They might inherite me a throne at some point and moving them abroad saves me their nagging at home.

Look at that diplo map. Who doesn't love a good marriage party :)

http://www.civduelzone.com/forum/attachment.php?attachmentid=488&stc=1&d=1350756424

A decade later we managed to conquer all dutch provinces except Utrecht. At this time I wasn't to worried about Utrecht, later Utrecht proved to be a royal PITA. No mission to annex would show up, and even a diplo annex would leave me with a stab hit, unlawfull HRE territory penalty and 50 years before I get a core. Especially the unlawfull territory is bad because that gives a 0,25 a year penalty on your infamy. Should have diplo annexed it though, cause they'll make a horrible yellow stain in my beautifull Brabant for the next century.

Rise to power.
Along the way I noticed that all my vassalisation had an interesting, unexpected (at least for me) effect. I pulled some electors from the Holy Roman Empire in my sphere of influence and after working on my relations with some other I was elected Emperor of the HRE!!!

Never had this happen to me before and I was happily surprised by the effects. Being the emperor gives you more prestige, diplomats and....huge army modifiers. Suddenly I could build a big army with within my budget :)

[ProPain]

Bye, bye BBB

These army modifiers are meant to help you defend your HRE mates, but I had something different in mind.:D. First I conquer Flanders that split off Burgundy when France sliced them up. And then time for the Big Blue Blob itself

http://www.civduelzone.com/forum/attachment.php?attachmentid=489&stc=1&d=1350757430

I start the war and both sides lose quite some troops. IN 1466 I'm not looking good troop wise.

http://www.civduelzone.com/forum/attachment.php?attachmentid=490&stc=1&d=1350757834

Manage to win the war anyway and force France to release vassals and previously annexed neighbours. Effectively I set them back to 1399, maybe even worse than that as the released nations automatically ally me.

After the 1472 peace treaty:

http://www.civduelzone.com/forum/attachment.php?attachmentid=491&stc=1&d=1350757834

Tragedy happens
So here I am, cruising along, conquering France, vassalising the Western German states, ruling the HRE and then suddenly something happens. I get an event that makes me choose to either let my king rule on and lose my heir or vice versa. With my king already being a bit old and my heir having decent stats I choose to let the good old king die in peace. No worries you'd think. But then disaster happens....

I get a new heir..... and my new heir is a she......:eek:

At first I;m just happy with a new heir, getting a new heir quickly means less chance to get the ever so boring regency council. But then a little voice in the back of my mind says...I think female rulers can't be HRE emperor......

Big setback, lets hope this king has a long life.

We near 1499 and a century of Brabant rule. We did pretty ok. Conquered a lot of land, got a lot of vassals, reduced France and Burgundy to second rate countries.

More to come.


http://www.civduelzone.com/forum/attachment.php?attachmentid=492&stc=1&d=1350758999

[Shabbaman]

It seems to me that if you manage to beat the first Burgundian conquest of Brabant and take Antwerp, you're already halfway there. I can't see what Bohemia and Austria are doing, but you're already one of the larger states in the HRE. At least you have the most wealthy provinces...

[ProPain]

Austria will come back though, I'm in 1597 now and Austria is huge. (but not as big as Brabant :) )

[Shabbaman]

It helps if you bash their heads in occasionally. Or you could become emperor and declare their land unlawful territory.

[ProPain]

The king is dead, long live the Queen
Guillaume I de Valois or Willum dun urste as we like to call him dies in 1505 after a real short rein. The regency council takes over for Jeanne, better known as Janneke. After two years of boredom and high speed turns Janneke inherites the throne. Good we can declare war again :)

With a female ruler we're no longer emperor of the HRE and that hurts. Not so much our feelings but mainly our casflow. We lose all kind of nice bonuses and suddenly we're over our forcelimit. This is penalised by a huge tax penalty. I disband a few mercenary regiments and decrease military maintenance. Sad, sad times.

Between 1507-1509 we fight a war against some insignificant small states. looking back at map I dont have a clue why and what we got out of it. No new vassals, no new provinces. At least we killed some time.

Around 1410 we have expanded our net of vassals again.

http://www.civduelzone.com/forum/attachment.php?attachmentid=494&stc=1&d=1350931169

What does this button do.......
Around 1510 I notice Castille has disputed succesion but somehow I wont inherit it although my prestige is high. Come to think of it, I only inherited a country once in all the games I played. What am I doing wrong here.....

And then I notice the 'Claim throne' button again. I never used that because it gives a relationship penalty with others you have a royal marriage with. And usually I marry everyone who is remotely willing. Today I decide I dont care, and press the button. Brabant claims the throne, we should inherite Castille. Jeanne turns out to be a lucky lady, the castillian monarch dies after a year and we get a PU with Castille in 1511 :D

Now all we have to do is wait for an heir and Jeanne to die.

So it's the easy button!!
Now we now it's so easy I repeat the same trick with Brittany which has become the new France. Once again we have a short lived monarch and in 1522 we also have PU with Brittany. This is shaping up nicely.

Now all we have to do is wait for an heir and Jeanne to die.

In 1514 Ile de France is added to the brabant empire because some mission gives us a core if we annex it. France has been beaten up so badly that they're now a OPM Sadly the CoT on the Ile de France has disappeared, nothing really special any more here.

[b]It's a boy misses Walker, it's a boy
In 1416 a new heir appears. It's a boy, we can dream of the HRE again :)

NOw all we have to do is wait for Jeanne to die.

The Empire strikes back
Turns out Jeanne is not really planning on dying soon. We still want to be empress so we adopt imperial administration. The sliders change for the better a bit but I dont really notice any other mind boggling benefits.

A new world
The next decades pass by quite uneventfully.We acquire a few German provinces and in 1550 we get a foothold in the americas. I do this mostly because a mission requests this and I'm bored. I was planning to let Castille do the colonizing and then simply inherite everything but..Jeanne just won't die.....

Patos, spanish for 'dump'

http://www.civduelzone.com/forum/attachment.php?attachmentid=495&stc=1&d=1350935851

Brabant in 1550
http://www.civduelzone.com/forum/attachment.php?attachmentid=496&stc=1&d=1350936075

and the diplo map, it's hard to see but Austria is getting quite big.
http://www.civduelzone.com/forum/attachment.php?attachmentid=497&stc=1&d=1350936075

[Shabbaman]

I guess you're about to hit the reformation. What national ideas did you pick?

[Melifluous]

Normally I'd say that if you want a leader to die, you make them a general and they die much quicker.

But you have a Queen and they can't be made generals either :(

I guess you get to wait it out and work on lowering your infamy and building up your buildings. You know, peace stuff, build up your navy, get ready for Colonising the new world. Worry about your tech slider positions.

She'll die soon enough from boredom :p

[meli]

[ProPain]

I started the write up when I was already around 1595 or so. I'll try to get the last 50 years covered asap and then update as I play. I can say Jeanne was in excellent health and lived a long and happy life.

[Pastorius]

(...) And usually I marry everyone who is remotely willing.(...)

Funniest part of this here writeup.

[akots]

It is a funny write up, I really enjoyed. Never played the game and the main idea I got that it is on the boring side. That is in contrast with the write up here, quite enjoyable.

[Shabbaman]

Funniest part of this here writeup.

Even better, if they don't want to marry you you can diplospam them until they give in.

It is a funny write up, I really enjoyed. Never played the game and the main idea I got that it is on the boring side. That is in contrast with the write up here, quite enjoyable.

It's not boring, but it's a sandbox game without victory conditions. So you'll have to do a bit of roleplaying to make it worthwhile. Sometimes you have to wait for years before you can do anything, but since the game is real-time instead of turnbased, you can simply speed up the game. The game requires a substantial amount of micromanagement, even when there's not much to do though, so if you want to play perfectly speeding up isn't always an option.

[ProPain]

It is a funny write up, I really enjoyed. Never played the game and the main idea I got that it is on the boring side. That is in contrast with the write up here, quite enjoyable.

Thanks for the compliment. My write up is getting the wrong message across concerning the boredom. It's a great game but is has some mechanics that sometimes force you to wait for a while and that can be a tad boring. Totally garee with Shabba's post in that respect. But it really has one more turn qualities and is really addictive.

Even better, if they don't want to marry you you can diplospam them until they give in.



Depends, sometimes I lack diplomats and I can do that. I do try to spend every 4th diplomat on a marriage request so not to wase diplomats. Same with magistrates: When I reach 4,5 and dont have anything usefull for one, I'll order a great painting in de the diplo menu to avoid wasting magistrate capacity.

[ProPain]

Time for the next 50 years of Brabantian conquest. :)

So after 1950 we gradually extend the Brabantian Empire. In 1556 we start colonizing present day Cuba and meet the Incas. They look rich and weak, nice. We do need to ship in troops to attack them and will take a while. It's a long journey from Andalucia to Havanna after all.

So first we concentrate on our mission to reconquer Bourgogne and in 1557 we cross the Burgundian border, our armies eager to avenge the unprovoked aggresion of 1399. 150 years may have passed but we haven't forgotten that hainous act! A lot of allies get involved on both sides and some serious troop movement ensues. In the end it proves to be an easy war and we add Bourgogne to our holding. Sweet revenge.

http://www.civduelzone.com/forum/attachment.php?attachmentid=499&stc=1&d=1351287684

On the economy side we're doing great. Not only do have a vastly superior income our junior PU partner Castille isn't doing too shabby as well. And more money means: more troops :D

http://www.civduelzone.com/forum/attachment.php?attachmentid=500&stc=1&d=1351287793

Too many chiefs, not enough indians
In 1560 we have troops in cuba and are ready to take on the Aztec army. Their troops are so weak it's almost embarrasing, at one point we crush an army 50% larger than our own. They seriously need to work on their war tactics. In 1562 we take some coastal provinces and around 1250 ducats. Thank you for financing your own doom Montezume. I'd rethink that strategy where you attack infantry with jaguar warriors though if I were you. After the americas we need to focus on Europe again, and we add Thuringen to the empire. We are growing some weird looking arm into the HRE here.

http://www.civduelzone.com/forum/attachment.php?attachmentid=501&stc=1&d=1351288293

supersize me please
In 1563 is a year of sadness and glory. Jeanne finally dies. By this time I;m kinda sad though, I've grown attached to her. She ascended the throne at 15 years of age and ruled for 57 years. She guided us through tough wars, managed to land us an imperial crown more prestigious than that piece of junk HRE tiara and brought Brabantian civilization to savages both in the old and new world.

She also has a great parting gift.:eek::eek:

http://www.civduelzone.com/forum/attachment.php?attachmentid=502&stc=1&d=1351288701

Guillaume II inherites Brittany! Look at that beautifull green land extending all the way to the Aragon border. We still have a PU with Castille as well, once they embrace the brabant way of life the mediterranean sea will be our private pond :) Obviously she deserves a statue but Jeanne I didn't allow to have her photo taken. We'll have to make due with an engraving of her great-great-grandmother who ruled Brabant during the war of Burgundian agression in 1399.

http://www.civduelzone.com/forum/attachment.php?attachmentid=503&stc=1&d=1351289652

[ProPain]

live fast, die young and leave a beautiful corpse
Guillaume dies in 1566. His 3 year reign inspired a song

A_SqnYJg-Ps

We dont inherite Castille or Brandenburg, he'll be forever known as Guillaume the x-eyed.

Jean IV ascends the throne, lets hope he takes after his grandmother.

Have we got contact, you and me?
Obviousle we need to connect our isolated provinces Toulouse and Rouergue. We vassalise Auverge and start a war against Foix the minute we get a border friction casu belli in 1585. Foix gets allies involved but it's an easy war anyway.

http://www.civduelzone.com/forum/attachment.php?attachmentid=504&stc=1&d=1351291305http://www.civduelzone.com/forum/attachment.php?attachmentid=505&stc=1&d=1351291305

Great end result, Bearn and Armagnac are ours. Also deserves a song ( thought about Frank Boeijen, but decided on a more international approach)

Ex-09RPA2hM






To be continued,,,,,,,

[Shabbaman]

Why haven't you taken Utrecht yet?

[ProPain]

mostly because that will result in severe stab loss and +4 infamy. I don't have a CB and because they have a bishop as ruler I cannot marriage assimilate them. Also when I take em, I have to wait 50 years for Utrecht to core.

I've been hoping for a 'annex utrecht' mission since forever, didn't happen.

At this point I don't really care anymore, I dont think I'll form the Netherlands anyway. Brabant will rule the world!!!