Civ Duel Zone  

Go Back   Civ Duel Zone > PBEM and Pitboss Games > Shabbaman's Forum
Home

Reply
 
Thread Tools Display Modes
Old 24-09-2012, 12:29   #1
Shabbaman
Administrator
 
Shabbaman's Avatar
 
Join Date: Mar 2003
Location: Costa La Haya
Posts: 8,493
Default EUIII: frog domination

Okay, after playing a reasonable amount of time on very easy with a rather easy starting position (France) I got the hang of it. Somewhat. This game is actually pretty fun (because it's HARD). Somewhere next year Europa Universalis IV will be out. From what I've read of it some of the good things of Crusader Kings 2 will be included. I wouldn't know what that would be, since I don't know CK2... but when that's on a discount I will pick that one up as well.

I started the Grand Campaign (in 1399) as France. I've added two pictures of the world as it is in 1399. Thumbnails... if you click the image and view them at full size you'll understand why The image with all the pretty colors shows all the nations; France is blue. Unfortunately, other nations are blue as well, most notably Sweden and Bengal. The second picture shows my provinces in light blue, and my vassals in dark blue. You can see that France is nothing like it is today. Especially the english provinces and southeast of what is now France are the valuable provinces. Besides England (the archenemy) it's main rival is Burgundy (conveniently colored burgundy in the first picture).

I'm in short describing the events up to 1493. For a quick glance, just take a look at the third picture. In 1493 I'm hamstringed by a bad reputation, but at least I'm number one in almost everything besides trade (because a bad reputation gives a penalty to trade compete chance, and being in the Hansa prevents me to compete with other Hansa members... but their trade stations keeps my tax rates up and my revolt chance down). I made some poor choices in the first five years, but when I figured out what was going on I got lucky:
-Burgundy is part of the empire, and when I attack them the emperor inevitably backs them. Luckily for me the initial emperor, Bohemia, starts weak, so in my first war of conquest I managed to beat both Burgundy, the emperor and it's allies, so I chopped Burgundy in half (because I was stupid enough to let Burgundy have Bar). Shortly after I made peace, Burgundy went gung-ho on all the little states north of me, so after this war they were a lot stronger than before.
-Going after Burgundy again for the second time was a lot tougher, as the HRE had passed to Austria, and Austria is a beast. I could never beat Austria and Burgundy at the same time. The Austrian Emperor didn't live long though, and the HRE passed to... Burgundy. I declared war immediately, and no one came to their aid. They were too big to annex or vassalize, but I got the provinces France has a core on and freed the states like Luxembourg and Liege. After a third war I annexed the remaining Burgundian states.
-In the third Burgundian war, I vassalized Switzerland. It's a big country, and their army is usually decent. It's a good ally, helping me in many wars.
-England was a pain, but their king got excommunicated. All of Europe helped me to rape and pillage their country. Good times. It's still a poweful nation now that they got most of Scotland and all of Wales, but their fleet is still weak and that's what helps me.
-I was lucky to grab the Azores before Portugal. They clearly weren't happy with this, so they got them when I got in a war with them. They have a big fleet, but no army. So, I pillaged Portugal and got my islands back.
-Spain was rampaging through north Africa, so while their armies were abroad I rampaged through united Spain, freeing Aragon and some minor states in the process. I actually did this twice, so now I have the whole of north Africa as an ally.

So now I have colonies in Brazil, and some conquered land in North America. I will get a core on Cape Verde soon, so I'm fairly certain I can colonize most of the Carribean before anyone else. The only problem I have is stability cost, with this much provinces a stability drop cost me a lot of money. Most European conquered provinces become core provinces, so I get more tax income. When I get a core on conquered Liguria and the province in North America that happened to have a center of trade, I will finally be able to trade. That is, if I let my infamy drop
Attached Images
File Type: png EU3_MAP_FRA_1399.10.14_1.png (479.3 KB, 6 views)
File Type: png EU3_MAP_FRA_1399.10.14_2.png (405.5 KB, 4 views)
File Type: png EU3_MAP_FRA_1492.12.21_1.png (409.4 KB, 3 views)
__________________
"Our spam is backed with COMETS!"
Shabbaman is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 04-10-2012, 12:53   #2
Shabbaman
Administrator
 
Shabbaman's Avatar
 
Join Date: Mar 2003
Location: Costa La Haya
Posts: 8,493
Default

Sometime after the first english excommunication war and the second french conquest of Burgundy the English occupied Holland. So I made it my goal to liberate Holland. This was actually pretty tough, somehow the English didn't intend to lose these provinces. Somehow the dutch won't make a particular grateful country: I noticed yesterday that I annexed Holland and Liege during the third French excommunication war (or maybe the second, these excommunications are starting to blur into a continuous war), because the infamy cost of annexing these small states aren't that much higher than simply vassalizing them. All in all I end up with an increasingly poor infamy score... but declaring war on France shouldn't go unpunished.
__________________
"Our spam is backed with COMETS!"
Shabbaman is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 08-10-2012, 16:45   #3
Shabbaman
Administrator
 
Shabbaman's Avatar
 
Join Date: Mar 2003
Location: Costa La Haya
Posts: 8,493
Default

I noticed England is pretty close to forming GB now. That's a good thing, because what I did to Castille and Austria (slice and dice) didn't really work with England, because the provinces (Northumberland? Sounds like a bad car brand) that form a autonomous nation are too small to compete with England. But liberating Scotland should hamstring them for a while.
__________________
"Our spam is backed with COMETS!"
Shabbaman is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 20-10-2012, 19:20   #4
Shabbaman
Administrator
 
Shabbaman's Avatar
 
Join Date: Mar 2003
Location: Costa La Haya
Posts: 8,493
Default

Okay, minor update. Right after I picked my third national idea, the reformation started. I didn't know if I should pick Colonial Ventures or Church attendance duty. Colonial Ventures gives you additional colonists, and this seemed nice in my quest for the new world: I had occupied some indian lands and was slowly colonizing South America. I was pushing naval tech as well, so I could grab the carribean with it's valuable trade goods. I could go for those islands if I had the additional settlers from Colonial Ventures... OTOH, I kept getting missions to integrate the small french vassals into the empire of France, but I couldn't do this because of the stability drop this would lead to. Long story short, reformation hit and I was screwed. Protestants and reformed are popular people in la belle France ajourd'hui. Since I had neglected religion in every possible way, I didn't even have any missionaries to reclaim those provinces (which, like I found out later, would've been pointless with the religious zeal penalty that converted provinces get for 50 years or so) Anyway... thanks to Propain I learned how to unlock my government slider, and I rushed towards the next National Idea. Church attendance duty has the nice side effect that other faiths won't spread in your provinces, but besides that you get a stability cost reduction. With that, and a level 5 artist, I could afford to integrate Alsace for sure.

Or so I thought. The elzasser people converted to some obscure christian faith and wouldn't think of joining France. Not even the walking EUIII encyclopedia named Propain could think of a strategy to convert them to catholicism, so here I was, with a useless national idea and a bunch of useless missionaries. At least those missionaries could convert those heathen indians in my captured colonies. And then...



My king died and left me with a regency council, so the game got really boring at this point. I took this opportunity to let my infamy drop a little, and expand my western colonies. I figured I should be looking towards the east as well, since I don't have much colonizing competition from the other European powers yet. So I grabbed the Cape, and with the help of a navigator I could grab Bourbon (small island next to Madagaskar (SHUT DOWN EVERYTHING), sounded appropriate for France to own that piece of land) later on. I scouted India and discovered the indonesian archipelago. I noticed that there are a lot of provinces with spices, so I decided that that would be my next goal.

After all, it seems only fair that I own Indonesia, historically speaking. Balkenende would be proud. I can't establish colonies over there (yet), but that won't keep me from waging holy war against those heathens. And yes, I can make good use of my missionaries there. So when I got a new king, I started pillaging Atjeh and Borneo (which was completely owned by Brunei...). Unfortunately those islands are too big to capture in one war, so this is going to take a while. Nobody liked Atjeh and Brunei in that region, so I made some friends automatically. I noticed some of these friends own provinces with a high base tax, so we're no longer friends.

My goal is to own all the islands in this region, and protect this with my huge fleet. They can keep the mainland, I don't like Ming as my neighbour. There's a COT on Java though, and I'm not sure it's wise to capture it. It'll bring me great wealth eventually, but it'll kill my compete chance for the next 50 years (until I get a core). I would like a COT in the region, so I guess I'm taking my chances. My infamy'll have to drop after this anyway... What do you think?

Oh, another fun fact: I randomly got a core on an aragonese province. Aragaon, my faithful ally, who I helped in many war they started (seriously, they're waging a war against Sicily and Modena EVERY OTHER YEAR), but who declined to come to my aid when the Khmer decided to attack me... yes, that Aragon. I wouldn't be surprised if there's going to be a war on the Iberian peninsula sometime soon. Especially since a core on their province means NO INFAMY FOR ME, ha! Oh, and they're allied with Portugal, and Portugal is getting too big for my taste.

Oh, did you know you can make high res pictures of the world? Pretty cool. Unfortunately the forum thinks they're too big, I'll have to look into that.
__________________
"Our spam is backed with COMETS!"
Shabbaman is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 22-10-2012, 11:43   #5
Shabbaman
Administrator
 
Shabbaman's Avatar
 
Join Date: Mar 2003
Location: Costa La Haya
Posts: 8,493
Default

Well, I wouldn't want to keep this from you. Brunei declared holy war on me (doesn't the AI get stability hits for breaking truce?), so I captured all provinces of their loyal ally Atjeh. Again. But since Brunei declared war, apparently I couldn't get Atjeh's provinces with the holy war BB discount. Sigh... so I went after Brunei, and now that whole island is mine for a measly 5 infamy. These provinces have a large population, and three of them have spices. In the one with naval supplies I will build a manufactory (eventually). Oh, and of course I took that center of trade on Java as well. French East India is taking shape

Which apparently is something Baden has a problem with, so they started the Badenese Reconquest of Sundgau. Why is it that wars have names that most of the time don't cover accurately what happens? The Third Badenese Folly would've been a more fitting name. Unfortunately for Baden I was preparing to invade Aragon. Even worse, one of my large armies is usually sitting on top of Sundgau or Franche-Comte, so within a few days there wasn't much left of the Badenese army. My Swiss allies took the Badenese provinces (what a shame that you can't give your vassals or allies captured provinces without taking the infamy hit yourself...) so I sent my army after one of Baden's allies: the Papal States. I mentioned earlier that I was neglecting religion, but after several excommunications I simply pay the Papal State to keep good relations. But this war doesn't do our relation much good. The Papal State is pretty big, they have most of the lands in the Italian boot. Modena and Ferrara are blocking my army unfortunately, so I can't punish them for attacking me. I make peace with Baden before the Pope can capture my vassal Florence. I want to get my infamy down, so I'm not grabbing any provinces. But history has decided that this war will be known as the Badenese Succesful Attempt To Lose Their Core On Sundgau.

Back to my plan to punish Aragon. Oh look, the Papal State gets me excommunicated Styria seizes this opportunity immediately to declare war on me. Ungrateful bastards: I crafted Styria from the remains of Austria myself. They're bordering me because they took the remaining Milanese provinces (the lands I left Milan to keep my infamy at an acceptable level). Someday in the future I will get back at them and form Milan from their lands. Pretty soon I'm in three seperate excommunication wars. My land tech is superior and I was gearing up for war anyway, that was my luck. One of the three wars involves Castille, and I annihilate their army and navy. Since they're attacking me, I lack a proper Casus Belli to take decent compensation (this is what's annoying me in this game: I want my revenge, isn't being attacked enough Casus Belli to get some infamy reduction?), but at least I destroyed their army and fleet. Those three excommunication wars involve about everybody, except England, Aragon and those countries involved in the Badenese Succesful Attempt To Lose Their Core On Sundgau. But my luck hasn't run out.

My army is absolutely huge because I was recruiting in all my provinces after the excommunication, so I decide to go after Aragon right away. And look, Aragon is allied with Portugal and the Papal States. Heh. I ship one army around Modena and Ferrara, then move my fleet next to Barcelona where the (decently sized) Aragonese fleet is, and attack. My two stacks are so large that I annihilate the 20k Aragonese army swiftly, and I can take their provinces without extended sieges. Portugal doesn't even have an army, so that's a cakewalk. The Papal States go down without much ease, and from their lands I form Urbino and Naples. The circle is round: I started this game with a war against Provence that was in a personal union with Naples (pretty dumb in hindsight, it's tough to extort provinces out of a personal union if you can't hit the leader of the union), Naples eventually perished but now I have a grateful ally in the south of Italy.
__________________
"Our spam is backed with COMETS!"
Shabbaman is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 23-10-2012, 14:12   #6
Melifluous
Administrator
 
Melifluous's Avatar
 
Join Date: Mar 2003
Location: In the bar with SF.
Posts: 3,024
Default

So Shabba,

What are you doing to reduce infamy? The only things I've found so far are

1) A Ruler with High Diplomacy - (Kinda hit and miss unless your Government type allows elections)(-10% of Diplomacy skill per year, so -0.1 to -0.9 range)
2) An advisor with +Diplomacy (Ambassador, -0.05 to -0.45 range)
3) Cultural Decision - Support the Florentine School (only -0.1 Inf a year but meh)
4) Release Vassals - (-2 Inf per province!)

And then wait.

A lot



__________________
Isn't it awfully nice to have a penis?
Isn't it frightfully good to have a dong?
It's swell to have a stiffy,
It's divine to own a dick.
From the tiniest little tadger
To the world's biggest prick!
So three cheers for your willy or John Thomas.
Hooray for your one-eyed trousers snake.
Melifluous is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 23-10-2012, 19:34   #7
ProPain
Customized Admin :)
 
ProPain's Avatar
 
Join Date: Mar 2003
Location: sailing the seas of cheese.
Posts: 5,852
Default

Apart from those measures I've noticed:

- build an embassy
- rnd diplo advisor event: http://www.paradoxian.org/eu3wiki/Excellent_Diplomacy

Apparently there;s another rnd event, I've never seen it though:
http://www.paradoxian.org/eu3wiki/$DIPLOMAT$
__________________
I fed my Dog the American Dream
Well, he rolled over and he started to scream
He said, I dig the taste of salt but it don't keep me alive yeah, yeah
ProPain is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 23-10-2012, 21:56   #8
Shabbaman
Administrator
 
Shabbaman's Avatar
 
Join Date: Mar 2003
Location: Costa La Haya
Posts: 8,493
Default

Releasing vassals is a step too far, I didn't get that infamy because I don't like provinces. Controlling cardinals drops infamy as well, but besides having a lot of catholic provinces I haven't figured out how to get cardinals. So mainly it involves waiting. Since there's not much to do besides waiting for the revolution that's not a bad thing in itself.

A question: I noticed England is grabbing mayan provinces. Should I grab some valuable provinces myself or just extort cash?
__________________
"Our spam is backed with COMETS!"
Shabbaman is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 23-10-2012, 22:48   #9
ProPain
Customized Admin :)
 
ProPain's Avatar
 
Join Date: Mar 2003
Location: sailing the seas of cheese.
Posts: 5,852
Default

Quote:
Originally Posted by Shabbaman View Post
Controlling cardinals drops infamy as well, but besides having a lot of catholic provinces I haven't figured out how to get cardinals.
You're chance of getting a cardinal is negatively influenced by your infamy iirc. So we have a self reinforcing effect here.

Quote:
Originally Posted by Shabbaman View Post
A question: I noticed England is grabbing mayan provinces. Should I grab some valuable provinces myself or just extort cash?
Indians in latin america are sitting on 1000's of ducats. In my Brabant game I easily extorted 6000-7000 gold from the Aztecs (the only surviving indians in middle americas) before I took their lands. In the south the Inca's were the sole survivors and I alrdy got some heaps of cash from them as well.

Their provinces can be quite good as well especially the gold producing ones. If you can spare the infamy I'd take some provinces each war as well, they're pretty cheap you get 0,8 BB per province only if you use the correct CB. Once the Aztecs were out of money I simply annexed the remaining provinces.
__________________
I fed my Dog the American Dream
Well, he rolled over and he started to scream
He said, I dig the taste of salt but it don't keep me alive yeah, yeah
ProPain is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 25-10-2012, 23:22   #10
Shabbaman
Administrator
 
Shabbaman's Avatar
 
Join Date: Mar 2003
Location: Costa La Haya
Posts: 8,493
Default

Wow, I just fought the Second Badenese Attempt To Lose Their Core On Sundgau. I got 91 gold out of it, they didn't have a core left they could lose. One might say that this war was a lot less succesful than the previous one. For Baden, that is.

I got 800 gold out of the Maya, and when I left the aztecs revolted and broke free. That's A Good Thing (tm), because now I don't have to wait for the cease fire to end. Oh, and I got a colonialism CB on England now. And two incan provinces, one with a CoT and one with gold, plus 2400 gold.
__________________
"Our spam is backed with COMETS!"
Shabbaman is offline   Reply With Quote
Reply

Thread Tools
Display Modes

Posting Rules
You may not post new threads
You may not post replies
You may not post attachments
You may not edit your posts

BB code is On
Smilies are On
[IMG] code is On
HTML code is Off
Forum Jump


All times are GMT +2. The time now is 21:44.


Powered by vBulletin® Version 3.7.3
Copyright ©2000 - 2024, Jelsoft Enterprises Ltd.