....You forgot about the Cossacks.

I'm not apologising.
Cossacks live in Russia, so by that logic they are Russians. And they will follow the Tsar of Russia who will kill the Mongols to the end of the earth!:V

we got guns...and angry Russian people....you tell me what's going to happen next!
We seize the means the Means of Production? Summon the Red Army and overthrow the Emperor for the glorious communist revolution? Or do we just get drunk?:V
 
We are so overpowered with that big ass army and our own canon production I bet we could set up a Eastern and western empire situation.
If we rebelled against the empire we'd be fucked. We don't have the men to throw away, nor do we have the capacity to make a ridiculous amount of cannons.

The empire does, and no amount of tactical genius can save us from getting drowned in bodies.
 
If we truly manage to break and conquer the mongols. The captured territory will be massive.
I am afraid that territory we would claim only in name. You cannot really conquer nomads (unless they settle) because they will shatter, run away and be absorbed by other nomads when defeated. Yes, the land may be free for a time because the hordes will be afraid, but that land is absolutely undeveloped.

To remove nomads, you need to remove grazelands. To remove grazelands, you need to replace them with farmlands, forests, villages and cities. Nomads prefer lands without forests, don't farm and make very few permanent settlements. Thus, any effort to remove nomads will be a lengthy colonisation instead of a quick landgrab because you cannot grow forests or settle cities on a whim.

Cossacks can have a half-nomadic lifestyle, having a base camp (or a bunch off villages), from which they conduct raids and patrol lands. But even having a Cossack-settled border is a long journey because:
  • Life in Rus is not terrible right now, serfdom is very weak on account of having lots of almost empty land where you can farm and don't give a touch about a tribute for some prince. IRL, a lot of peasants ran away to be Cossacks to have a less oppressed life.
  • Population is smaller. Just a side-effect of the events happening in early 13th century instead of late 14th century (when Cossacks were formed as we know them now IRL)
  • Cossacks have little interest to fully civilse the land as they prefer it being a frontier.
 
I am afraid that territory we would claim only in name. You cannot really conquer nomads (unless they settle) because they will shatter, run away and be absorbed by other nomads when defeated. Yes, the land may be free for a time because the hordes will be afraid, but that land is absolutely undeveloped.

To remove nomads, you need to remove grazelands. To remove grazelands, you need to replace them with farmlands, forests, villages and cities. Nomads prefer lands without forests, don't farm and make very few permanent settlements. Thus, any effort to remove nomads will be a lengthy colonisation instead of a quick landgrab because you cannot grow forests or settle cities on a whim.

Cossacks can have a half-nomadic lifestyle, having a base camp (or a bunch off villages), from which they conduct raids and patrol lands. But even having a Cossack-settled border is a long journey because:
  • Life in Rus is not terrible right now, serfdom is very weak on account of having lots of almost empty land where you can farm and don't give a touch about a tribute for some prince. IRL, a lot of peasants ran away to be Cossacks to have a less oppressed life.
  • Population is smaller. Just a side-effect of the events happening in early 13th century instead of late 14th century (when Cossacks were formed as we know them now IRL)
  • Cossacks have little interest to fully civilse the land as they prefer it being a frontier.
...Dude the purpose of the quest is destroying the Nomadic Mongols and bringing them to heel.

We've got the Cossacks on side and can Vassalise those tribes we let live.

What you're saying here is that Vasiliy's life purpose is impossible to accomplish. I don't think it is if we bind the Cossacks and remaining tribes to us. Like the Mongol Enpire managed to.
 
...Dude the purpose of the quest is destroying the Nomadic Mongols and bringing them to heel.

We've got the Cossacks on side and can Vassalise those tribes we let live.

What you're saying here is that Vasiliy's life purpose is impossible to accomplish. I don't think it is if we bind the Cossacks and remaining tribes to us. Like the Mongol Enpire managed to.
In fairness, I recall the QM saying from the get-go that Vasily's ambitions were nearly impossible to achieve, and more born out of a combination of grief over losing his father, and a need for revenge against his conquerors. It is true that we have the Cossacks, who are more used to living on the Eurasian steppes, on our side, but any attempts to fully develop and "civilize" that area of the world is a multi-generational ambition at best, and a fool's ambition at worst. I mean, even the modern-day Russians have struggled to utilize that land, and they have had all the advantages of being an industrialized superpower. The best Vasily could probably do within his lifetime is break apart the Mongol Empire (which isn't terribly hard, to be honest, since nomadic empires rarely last more than a couple generations at the best of times), and then grab some of the more exploitable lands for himself.
 
unless we crit roll....several times that causes the QM to go on a drinking Binge because of the bullshit.

its happened before,

case of example? The Space Battle Tropico/X-com quest...so much Deus Vult to be had...so much...
 
unless we crit roll....several times that causes the QM to go on a drinking Binge because of the bullshit.

its happened before,
I don't drink. But I might just end the quest if that happens because it will become boring. I don't like writing things that are boring.
 
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Well, handguns, even really primitive ones, would certainly be useful, and since it was a 100 roll, they're probably relatively advanced, hopefully.

So, @Magoose , some questions:
- How advanced are these first handguns, considering the high roll? Did we skip levels of tech advancement, like wheellocks or flintlocks instead of hand cannons or matchlocks?
- Did Leonardo also invent better powder, like serpentine powder, or the principles of corning? (Gunpowder - Wikipedia)
- Are they mass-producible, or bc they were made by (presumably) Leonardo da Vinci they're Wunderwaffen for now?

If they are mass producible, I would also desire handguns for our armies so Russia is ahead of technological and tactical innovation for once...but that will probably have to wait until our Mongol campaign ends, when we can retrain troops and formations in their use without too many problems. Since our nobles are pissed at us, we should probably get the campaign rolling next turn, I don't think we can wait any longer.


EDIT1: Something else I should point out, there's lots of options for gunpowder research other than cannons and firearms. China alone had primitive rockets (similar to modern fireworks), Fire Lances, even arrows that could carry gunpowder charges for an explosive bang at the end. (Gunpowder - Wikipedia).

If our current guns are shitty (even with Leonardo's genius behind their design and principles, which I doubt), we could modify our existing crossbowmen with gunpowder arrows, and we might come up with an acceptable alternative to firearms for the moment, at a cheap upgrade. If we also made sure to upgrade the crossbows (steel crossbows, with winches for maximum pull/force), that would be a very good long-ranged force, and would be much more silent and less visible than OTL firearms.

There's also land mines, grenades, etc. Now that we have our own gunpowder and cannon manufacturing abilities, I would definitely want to get our engineers and scientists working on more uses for gunpowder.

Above all else I want Russia to be providing inspiration to the WEST eventually, not the other way around.


EDIT2: There's also the naval component to consider. We have shitty naval forces at the moment, but we now have our wife's rule on the Polish throne to consider, as that also means any naval forces Poland has are also theoretically available to us.

For obvious reasons, we should push for both nations to pool their industry and intellectual manpower and design new, larger warships that can optimally utilize various types of cannons as long-range weapons. In doing so we can utilize the benefit of our hindsight, if possible, and focus on the development of higher-quality ships with an emphasis on better naval training, supply, and overall discipline. Also, onboard crews of marines, equipped with firearms, crossbows, and a mix of melee weapons would make boarding MUCH harder, meaning our ships, with high rolls, might be very difficult nuts to crack.

We have shitty ships, and I doubt Poland possess a strong or capable navy, so in doing this we'll be massively upgrading and expanding both navies, allowing for much stronger control of the Baltic and North Seas. More control = greater levels of possible trade, cultural spread, and overall power and influence. Thus, naval power is absolutely critical to the growth and benefit of the growing Russian nation.

I'm also not entirely sure if the European Empire in this story have conquered Sweden, Norway, or Finland yet, or maybe the Empire has some territory but they're just outposts, idk. If not, a massive upgrade and expansion of naval forces would provide the first steps in making a conquest of the far northern territories by the Empire MUCH easier by way of naval logistics. Obviously invading Mongol territory, taking it from them and purging their people, and making it RUS is more important, I'm just thinking of potential opportunities for expansion and growth.

I know developing a lot of this stuff from scratch will be EXPENSIVE and probably require high rolls to even make progress in, but we should do this for the following reason: In all the glimpses into Emperor Alexander we have received, it has never even been mentioned the concept of using cannons for naval warfare, so we should beat him (and thus the Empire) to the punch if we can in this regard. The kingdom (and thus the king) who thinks of, develops, and properly leverages the benefits of naval cannons/warships first will reap massive benefits from doing so, and prestige.
 
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Also, we need to be capable of more actions per year, like 3 actions per category. We have too much to do, and not enough actions to get it all done in. SOme ideas here:
- Possibly centralizing government influence under us the king might be a good thing, reducing the power of the nobility and increasing what we directly can do or influence.
- Maybe we can create dedicated state departments that run the various needs of the Russian state, or if something like these departments already exists we could expand funding and trained personnel.
- Maybe we could found schools to train more scribes, scholars, and just expand the number of literate and even minimally educated people by a lot, thus increasing who could work in said departments.
- If the printing press hasn't been invented, DO IT NOW!!! And make sure every city in Russia has a government-owned and operated printing press to expand the available literature or useful documents we'll need.

IDK, just trying to brainstorm possible future ways to increase actions.

Maybe our problem is that our current actions don't have enough bonuses. I can't help but notice that our recruitment SUCKS right now, and we seem to consistently fail at it with low rolls.

- Maybe purges, or reeducation, is a good idea for certain departments, those that keep failing.
- If we don't have dedicated Academies, one for training Land forces and one for training naval personnel, we should get them established, and import good foreign teachers to get them off to good start. If we already have them, expand them with more funding, facilities, personnel, whatever it takes.
- Constructing universities and inviting foreign geniuses/intellectual leaders into Russia would be a good idea. I mean, apparently there's a Leonardo in this universe, which means there's some sort of patron-client privilege/funding going on. Russia can do the same, we should try and establish ourselves as an Eastern patron of the arts and sciences. I mean, heck, maybe we can get Leonardo, or others like him, to come over temporarily, and either act as teachers or possibly provide lectures and discussions on scientific topics, like the Roman Forums of old.
 
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Also, we need to be capable of more actions per year, like 3 actions per category. We have too much to do, and not enough actions to get it all done in.
Its called choosing your actions wisely. There are a whole lot of stuff to do and not enough time to do it, and while extra actions are noted, please also note that I don't want to break my own quest by giving you too many actions and... Oh I don't know, sage dice happens that completely ruins my plans, makes us even more overpowered then and take all the tension and potential conflict away from the quest.

Edit: Its mostly so I can have some level of balance and control to make sure the quest advances at an organic pace and so all hell does not break loose on my end. I can only take so much of the dices bullshit.
 
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Its called choosing your actions wisely. There are a whole lot of stuff to do and not enough time to do it, and while extra actions are noted, please also note that I don't want to break my own quest by giving you too many actions and... Oh I don't know, sage dice happens that completely ruins my plans, makes us even more overpowered then and take all the tension and potential conflict away from the quest.

Edit: Its mostly so I can have some level of balance and control to make sure the quest advances at an organic pace and so all hell does not break loose on my end. I can only take so much of the dices bullshit.
I do sympathize with your plight as GM, it is a lot of work to keep games like running, especially expansionist empires. But, it also makes sense to me that empires grow over time, so gaining more actions, even if only expanding to say 3 per category, makes sense, even if only triggered by special events or sheer length of time we've ruled.

Would we, perhaps, unlock more actions as Russia expands? I mean, after we kick the Mongol's asses we're going to be taking and colonizing a lot of eastern territory, thus growing in power and abilities. One of the primary stimuli to creating larger and more efficient government institutions to the Russian government in OTL was their expansion eastwards, leading to visionary Czars like Peter and Catherine the Great who saw things needs to improve and change.
 
Sorry that the omakes are taking so long, but I'm just taking a break for a few days.

I just need the rest.
 
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One Happy Family
One Happy Family

Six months. You had been waiting for this day for the last six months. Zima was coming home.

You missed her so much. How she smiled when your three little monsters climb into your bed and pull on your head and beard, clamoring for the both of you to wake up. How she would come to your office and help you, even though you did not need it… Her body pressed against yours, as you-

"Father!" Dmtry shouted so loud that it made your ears ring. You looked down to see your second son pointing out into the street. "I can see mother's banner!"

Sure enough in the sunlight, there was a long, flowing red and white banner flying high above a group of mounted knights. And riding in front was Zima. You knew how she was slightly smaller than everyone else, and from… experience seeing her fully clad in her armor.

And out of it, but you would not want to embarrass and scar your children for learning about that little bit of information until they were old enough and mature enough to understand it.

You were not going to repeat your father's mistake of telling you about that.

Zima was too far away to hear clearly, but seeing her men start galloping towards the barracks was enough of a clue.

She then came riding towards you, beneath her helmet you could imagine a smile on her face. Then she reined her horse, stopping it and handing over the reins to some of the stable boys that were waiting for her, and dismounted in one fluid motion while you could feel the joy radiating off of her.

She ran as fast as she could in her armor, crossing the spring snow covered the distance between her family and herself with ease.

"Vasily!" Her scream was one of joy.

Once she was at arm's length, you prepared yourself for the usual greeting of the children first, before she kissed you, and you lead her to your home.

What you did not expect her to do was tackle you. Thankfully the snow that you landed in was fresh and soft, and there were no rocks hiding underneath it to do anything that could damage… well, anything else important.

After all, you were being crushed by your wife in a suit of armor.

"Ow…" You groaned. "Zima, it's good to see you too, but could you please get off of me?"

Zima then realized what she had done, and quickly rolled off to the side into the snow. "Sorry, Vasily... " She paused. "But I was so happy that I'm back by your side instead of Poland."

"Mommy!" The three boys cheered as they dogpiled her, ignoring the cold of her armor and the snow.

Zima's helmet slipped off and her smile was just as precious as ever. Full of energy and warmth that you could never have. Her golden hair was still short, but it was longer than when you last saw it.

"It's good to see you, boys." She replied, sitting up as the boys got off of her and helped her. "Have you three been behaving yourselves?"

"Yes, mother." The three of them said at the same time. Their voices were trying to sound like yours, deep and powerful, but it came off as squeaky and well, childish.

Zima gave you a look. 'Should I ask again?' Her eyes said it all, and you smiled, giving her a nod.

Zima looked at the three boys. "Are you sure? Do I need to ask your father if you've been up to any trouble?"

The boys looked paler than the snow. "No mother," Alexi said, as he hid behind you.

"No." Ivan said looking for a place to hide, seeing that hiding behind you was already taken.

"No mother." Dimitry said as he looked at the castle, likley wondering how long it would take for him to run away into his room.

"Vasily, did they do anything that I should know about?" Zima asked. All three boys were petrified.

You nodded, a smile still on your face. "No, they have been on their best behavior since you were gone." The aura of joy around your three sons came back almost immediately. "Now, I think we should go inside and get something to eat. Your mother must be starving."

Zima's mouth watered at the mention of food. You helped her up and led her to your home. It had been awhile since she had been there after all.

Hopefully, she'll still like the food.

(A Few Hours Later)

The day slipped by in an instant. As the moon rose in the night sky, your children were asleep, and all you wanted to do was be with your wife.

But as you arrived back to your room you saw your wife standing by the door. Her ambush was perfect as she pushed the door shut and kissed you. "Do you know how long I have been waiting for you to hold me, Vasily?"

You were still in shock and you did not have an answer to give her. Your eyes closed as you felt her warm skin against yours, taking in its familiar touch. Your arms wrapping around her in a protective manner. "Six months of a cold bed and men looking at me like I was some angel that needed to be rescued from my own loneliness." She kissed you down your neck. "But I am only yours, Vasily. Always yours."

It was then, as your eyes opened, you noticed that she was clinging to you like a child. "Zima?"

You wanted to say something, to stop her, but her forceful tone stopped you. "Vasily. Do you love me?"

You nodded. "Of course I do," You then leaned in closer, to right next to her ear. "I always will."

The night was… Beautiful. Loving and perfect.

Reward: Pregnancy rolls have now begun again.

AN: Enjoy.
 
Awww. I might have diabetes now, that was so sweet.

Now onto pregnancy roles. Not going to lie, I'm kinda hoping that we don't get Zima pregnant again. I'm not sure if Rus and Poland will be able to handle so many Aristovs in the future.
 
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