The war against Mantua ended pretty well; I got a whole bunch of money, and decided against annexing Mantua. Now I've got cash to spare, though that does come with the problem of my constantly growing Inflation. I'd say the gold is worth it, but the inflation is a problem nonetheless.
In terms of long-term problems, I'm not sure what to do about the fact that I've got no clear path to getting Bohemia and Hungary in a PU; also I'm not sure how I missed this before, but
Hungary's Hapsburg heir is different from mine, unfortunately.
First off, I think I'm gonna start doing these decadely instead of whenever I remember this thread exists. Lets me spend more time playing the game, less spam, and so on and so forth.
Back in the land of eu4, I started a war with Venice. It's going pretty well. I've taken all heir provinces save for Venizia, for the simple reason that they have boats and I don't. (They have 10 Galleys and I have 4, fyi)
I'm building some more Galleys as we speak, but it will take a while; I need to take Venizia for the whole Shadow Empire thing, so getting it is important. On the other hand, I could take some provinces and money and invade them for Venezia later on, when I have an actual navy and they don't have the money to pay for theirs.
I also got the level 5 Admin tech, which meant I could take an Idea Group; I went with Diplomatic, as I had a bunch of Diplo power saved up and little to no Admin power. Also, Diplomatic just seemed like a better Idea Group.
Once the war with Venice is over, I'll probably invade the Papal States. They've got an HRE province and I need to take them for the Shadow Empire thing.
First off, I think I'm gonna start doing these decadely instead of whenever I remember this thread exists. Lets me spend more time playing the game, less spam, and so on and so forth.
Back in the land of eu4, I started a war with Venice. It's going pretty well. I've taken all heir provinces save for Venizia, for the simple reason that they have boats and I don't. (They have 10 Galleys and I have 4, fyi)
I'm building some more Galleys as we speak, but it will take a while; I need to take Venizia for the whole Shadow Empire thing, so getting it is important. On the other hand, I could take some provinces and money and invade them for Venezia later on, when I have an actual navy and they don't have the money to pay for theirs.
I also got the level 5 Admin tech, which meant I could take an Idea Group; I went with Diplomatic, as I had a bunch of Diplo power saved up and little to no Admin power. Also, Diplomatic just seemed like a better Idea Group.
Once the war with Venice is over, I'll probably invade the Papal States. They've got an HRE province and I need to take them for the Shadow Empire thing.
Remember to keep the pope at positive relations or he WILL excommunicate you.
I'd suggest taking the pope slowly, preferably with a vassal/free Urbino (make the pope release if they don't exist), they will add their province to the empire if they're threatened by an outside power (Pope man) and next to an HRE province. The shadow kingdom decision can be taken if they are either vassals inclusive OR in the empire already.
Good luck beating up the bullies and babysitting the princes!
Remember to keep the pope at positive relations or he WILL excommunicate you.
I'd suggest taking the pope slowly, preferably with a vassal/free Urbino (make the pope release if they don't exist), they will add their province to the empire if they're threatened by an outside power (Pope man) and next to an HRE province. The shadow kingdom decision can be taken if they are either vassals inclusive OR in the empire already.
Good luck beating up the bullies and babysitting the princes!
Strictly speaking, you can add the pope to the HRE by annexing, coring, and adding Rome, and then taking their next capital, but I usually don't bother because I want their (none Rome) land.
All of the Pope's territory is in Northern Italy apart from Avignon, which tends to get gobbled up by France about half of the time. So really, you just need to wait for that to happen. That said, not getting Bohemia in a PU is a big oof. Hungary works, I guess, but the problem is that they tend to be in the Ottomans' warpath, and early on you want to avoid fighting the big green blob while you get your internal affairs in order.
Dumb power gaming tip: Consider setting your ruler to be a general so you get a higher chance he dies each year. You'll lose a bit more stability, but gain 10 IA each time you are elected HRE in a row.
All of the Pope's territory is in Northern Italy apart from Avignon, which tends to get gobbled up by France about half of the time. So really, you just need to wait for that to happen. That said, not getting Bohemia in a PU is a big oof. Hungary works, I guess, but the problem is that they tend to be in the Ottomans' warpath, and early on you want to avoid fighting the big green blob while you get your internal affairs in order.
Nah, austria is perfectly fine fighting the ottomans. They start out stronger than ottoblob, and as long as you play relatively aggressively you should stay stronger than they are. Any 2 of Austrian Northern Italy / Bohemia / Hungary / Burgundian Inheritance is enough to let you keep up through at least late 1500s, especially if you also ally Castile, ally / eat PLC, or steal Sweden from Denmark.
Nah, austria is perfectly fine fighting the ottomans. They start out stronger than ottoblob, and as long as you play relatively aggressively you should stay stronger than they are. Any 2 of Austrian Northern Italy / Bohemia / Hungary / Burgundian Inheritance is enough to let you keep up through at least late 1500s, especially if you also ally Castile, ally / eat PLC, or steal Sweden from Denmark.
So, you know how I said I would do these every decade instead of randomly? I lied.
But I have a good reason! Specifically, France and the Papal State declared war on me and I'm getting fucking murdered.
As you can see on the right, my main army has been slaughtered and demoralized countless times, just barely managing to escape complete annihilation. I'm going to let them recover for a while before sending them back into battle, but this war hasn't been working out for me at all. I had originally hoped to use this war as a chance to take a province from the Papal State and make them release Florence, but I'm becoming less and less confident in my ability to see that through. I'll try to make a separate peace with them once Poland finishes sieging Rome.
So, you know how I said I would do these every decade instead of randomly? I lied.
But I have a good reason! Specifically, France and the Papal State declared war on me and I'm getting fucking murdered.
As you can see on the right, my main army has been slaughtered and demoralized countless times, just barely managing to escape complete annihilation. I'm going to let them recover for a while before sending them back into battle, but this war hasn't been working out for me at all. I had originally hoped to use this war as a chance to take a province from the Papal State and make them release Florence, but I'm becoming less and less confident in my ability to see that through. I'll try to make a separate peace with them once Poland finishes sieging Rome.
Castille and Poland-Lithuania, from the screenshot.
The problem, as always, is that allied armies can't fucking coordinate for shit.
Also from the screenshot, Chungus has burnt through all his manpower and hasn't managed to secure PU over Hungary or Bohemia, though he at least got the Netherlands from what I can see.
Castille and Poland-Lithuania, from the screenshot.
The problem, as always, is that allied armies can't fucking coordinate for shit.
Also from the screenshot, Chungus has burnt through all his manpower and hasn't managed to secure PU over Hungary or Bohemia, though he at least got the Netherlands from what I can see.
Yeah, but Austria alone has a force cap of 50. Add in NI and the lowlands and that should be around 60, maybe 65. The only explanation I can think of is not having the military at force cap.
Yeah, but Austria alone has a force cap of 50. Add in NI and the lowlands and that should be around 60, maybe 65. The only explanation I can think of is not having the military at force cap.
Most likely that's the case, probably from aggressive warring and not having downtime to rebuild manpower (also, it's generally hard on the treasury to sustain an army at force limit without some sort of economic boost or juggling of fort maintenance, and I don't think the Schwaz silver mine is operating at full capacity at this time)
My army wasn't at Force Limits, for the simple reason that I couldn't afford that large an army. I built up the second France declared war on me, and right now my army is 33k max (though I don't actually have that much, thanks to my manpower). As for allies, Poland, Lithuania, and Castille are all on my side. But well...
They're getting just as murdered as I am; at the start of the war, my side had 75k infantry and they had 55k. A few crushing battles later, France has lessened that number.
On that note, I'm considering sending this peace deal to France:
It would hurt the holdings I just got from Burgundy, but I think it would be worth it to send them the deal before they get even more war score.
My army wasn't at Force Limits, for the simple reason that I couldn't afford that large an army. I built up the second France declared war on me, and right now my army is 33k max (though I don't actually have that much, thanks to my manpower). As for allies, Poland, Lithuania, and Castille are all on my side. But well...
They're getting just as murdered as I am; at the start of the war, my side had 75k infantry and they had 55k. A few crushing battles later, France has lessened that number.
On that note, I'm considering sending this peace deal to France:
It would hurt the holdings I just got from Burgundy, but I think it would be worth it to send them the deal before they get even more war score.
If you're losing a war, always give away your allies territory before you give away your own. It uses up twice as much warscore per dev and doesn't weaken you.
If you're losing a war, always give away your allies territory before you give away your own. It uses up twice as much warscore per dev and doesn't weaken you.
If you're losing a war, always give away your allies territory before you give away your own. It uses up twice as much warscore per dev and doesn't weaken you.
Yeah. Wait out the war imo; either you can muster your forces (don't be afraid to go into debt for mercs! Debt is not that bad!) or Castile will start to lose territory. Also, it can be helpful to remove people outright, such as by seiging down Provence and getting rid of 5k of their troops + giving you a hefty chunk of cash to booster shot yourself. Same goes for the pope, but with the added advantage of you having a use for all the extra warscore that can't be used for money.
Either you get it down to you and your allies vs just France, or your allies will lose territory that you can give away. Don't be afraid to burn bird mana, it's not super valuable besides ideas.
E: if Provence is a vassal this doesn't work as well but seiging down their territory should still give you more warscore for your time.
Yeah. Wait out the war imo; either you can muster your forces (don't be afraid to go into debt for mercs! Debt is not that bad!) or Castile will start to lose territory. Also, it can be helpful to remove people outright, such as by seiging down Provence and getting rid of 5k of their troops + giving you a hefty chunk of cash to booster shot yourself. Same goes for the pope, but with the added advantage of you having a use for all the extra warscore that can't be used for money.
Either you get it down to you and your allies vs just France, or your allies will lose territory that you can give away. Don't be afraid to burn bird mana, it's not super valuable besides ideas.
E: if Provence is a vassal this doesn't work as well but seiging down their territory should still give you more warscore for your time.
Most likely the negative warscore is from the fact that his provinces have been overrun. Take them back, especially Tirol (for the silver mines).
The AI usually doesn't declare war on you unless they think they're strong enough to take you and your allies on, or unless you pissed people off enough to get a coalition going.
So I took @QTesseract's advice and decided to wait it out and get mercs. There were immediately two rather large problems.
One, France tracked down my army (which was hiding in Poland) and engaged it; I actually won, thanks to some Polish helpers, but it left me with 7K troops, and that's including the 3k mercs.
Secondly;
Castille made a separate peace the second France got inside their borders. Thanks Castille, you're such a good ally. Why couldn't you just follow the plan and let me give your stuff to France!
Now that Castille is down, I legitimately don't think I can win this war. France alone has more troops than my side combined, and every day we waste is another day they gain war score.
Edit: And I forgot to mention, I got excommunicated! Now everyone hates me, yay!
So I took @QTesseract's advice and decided to wait it out and get mercs. There were immediately two rather large problems.
One, France tracked down my army (which was hiding in Poland) and engaged it; I actually won, thanks to some Polish helpers, but it left me with 7K troops, and that's including the 3k mercs.
Secondly;
Castille made a separate peace the second France got inside their borders. Thanks Castille, you're such a good ally. Why couldn't you just follow the plan and let me give your stuff to France!
Now that Castille is down, I legitimately don't think I can win this war. France alone has more troops than my side combined, and every day we waste is another day they gain war score.
Edit: And I forgot to mention, I got excommunicated! Now everyone hates me, yay!
Yeah, at this point cut your losses. If you can, give them enough land to start a coalition against them, but if that's not an option you can always reconquedt it later. I advise attacking one of the pope's allies after this, so you can sever their alliance with france, and maybe allying aragon or denmark as a stopgap until the iberian wedding.
