Mini-AAR? Nawww

[Velociryx]

Edit: - I changed the tag line of this thread cos I wanted folks who browsed through here to know that this isn't an AAR per se....yeah, I'm outlining the major events in the game, but I think it'd be false for me to call it an AAR, or even a mini-AAR. Mostly, I consider this to be an open discussion forum on practical game strategies, using a live game as an example. Note too, that any discussions here may well influence the future direction of the game....if things come up in discussion, and we wanna try them out...perfect!


I'm still very much enjoying my Lorraine game (which has spawned my AAR), but given the time it's taking to play out even a single year with that nation, I'm finding myself itching to give other nations a go as well....I tried Austria, and found it to be....eh...so so I guess....it's just that already being neck deep in a game with a nation in that part of Europe that begins landlocked, I was looking for a different "feel."

That's what prompted me to play Portugal, and ohhhh man@! That's where the goods are! I've only played to 1499, and already it's been far and away the most entertaining, most FUN game I've had yet! Awesome little country with a number of unique problems.

First, of course, is their location. Essentially, you're standing in the shadow of Spain, and the Spaniards, while they don't outright hate you, are none too fond.

Second, you have no tax base to speak of. Essentially, you can't HOPE to support a sustained colonization effort (even tho you get a nice number of annual colonists, and some good explorers), because you simply can't pay for it.

Third, you have some really WRETCHED trading posts in Africa...AND, the natives in most of them are hostile.

Fourth, as if Spain wasn't enough, there are 40,000 Moroccans who'd dearly love to have a go at you in Tangiers.

All in all, Portugal is a nation with a few problems.

Oh! And your "mighty" natural allies, The Hanseatic League and Pomerania....yeah....there's two countries you can count on in a pinch....considering that neither is a naval power to speak of, and they're both so durned far away.....

Needless to say, I was hooked from the start.

First thing I did in this game was pause it on January 1st, 1492, and stare at the map for about half an hour. Boring, I know, but I was trying to get into the game....I mean REALLLLY get into the game.

Learned some interesting stuff, too.

It's true, Portugal has a lot of punishing disadvantages, but as I stared, I found a lot of strength as well.

3 Colonists a year....that ain't bad, even if some of them go to waste in the early goings, as I build up the economy.

Even on hard settings (dynamic missions off this time, normal aggressiveness, Chaos Kills), the Portugese still start with 750 ducats....so they've got means, but the lack of a tax base worth mentioning forces you to spend that money in miserly fashion.

The causa belli with Morocco is nice, assuming I can ever get around to building an army to counter the Moroccan 40k. Interesting too, that it's balanced by not knowing all the Moroccan territories (some of them are terra incognita to me at game start), meaning that an early game rush against them is out....I gotta at least wait until I get my first explorer before I can even think about absorbing them.....

Also, they've (Portugal, I mean) got strong forts....meaning that if the army goes off to fight someplace, and the bad guys land to cause trouble, it'll take 'em a while to chew through the defenses....

Hmmm....Intriguing situation on the opener then. A hostile southern neighbor whom I can do nothing about. A semi-hostile eastern neighbor who I'm not big enough to do anything about, plenty of cash in hand, but almost none in tax revenues, big fleet (much bigger than I can afford, actually), small army.

Interesting.

After much contemplation, I saw what a two-edged sword my colonists were. I'd need 75d or so per colonist to set up shop in new world territories. Multiply that by seven (assuming a 100% success rate....riiiiight...like that's gonna happen), and I spend several hundred ducats on each newly founded city. Ain't gonna happen with my current tax base, but at first, it seems the only way I can GROW my tax base, given the strengh of my neighbors.....if I try to grow at their expense, it'll be a very short game!

But then....inspiration.

Italy is a seething mass of chaos.

Lossa little, warring states.

I'm a big fish compared to them....::evil grin::

So...On January 1st, 1492, we rally the rather impressive Portugese navy (21 Warships and 5 Transports), pick up every soldier I've got (20k in Portugal and 10k--sacrificial lambs?--in Tangiers....mostly I just wanted to get my guys the hell outta tangiers....that 40k army is worrisome....

And we head for the Italian Peninsula....

By August, we're in position, and so waste no time picking on one of the larger fish in that part of the sea....The Papal States (In my mind, I kept hearing these rumors that the Pope was about to decree that the treaty of Torsedillas was intended for France and Spain, and the Portuguese, in a blind rage, rushed to attack the Pope to make him reconsider...lol...or something).

In any case, the battle did not go well.

First, the Pope had aligned himself with Savoy and France, and both of them duly loaded guys on ships and began making for Tago and Porto.....bad but not unexpected, and I was relying on my stout forts to help out there.

In Italy itself, my first battle ended in a stinging defeat in Romagne, and my army fled to Emilia. I think that if the Papal army (which was only about a third the size of mine, btw), had persued immediately, they'd have crushed my game then and there.

They held their ground tho, so we besieged and took Emilia in about three months. (no cannon, btw....didn't have the tech for it....just infantry and cav....right at 26,000 all told, after the first defeat...and of course, attrition was nibbling constantly....::sigh:.

Emilia in hand, we marched back to Romagne, and in a battle that lasted the better part of a month, we smote the Papal army most heinously, reducing them to 300-odd men, and sending them running to Rome.

Didn't take long to knock out minimally fortified Romagne, and thence to Rome herself.

I didn't want to annex them outright, however....just wanted to grab a foothold.....I had another annexation target in my mind.....

Anyway, while I was playing brazen gunboat diplomacy in Italy, Spain got off to a fast and furious start, annexing both Granada and Navarra while I was still prepping for my attack....at least I could feel safer about making a landgrab, since Spain was clearly the Bad Boy so far....

Took the better part of the year to get Rome's defenses to fall, so I waited till January, then sued for peace, demanding everything but Rome herself, and some coin....I was running low by this time, having spent money to promote bailiffs in all seven of my territories (and, I sent out one colonist to raise a lvl 6 colony up to a proper city).

Wound up getting a nice 236d from the Pope....sweet....
(war wrapped up early 1495, and by the way, the 28,000 men (Savoy and France mixed force) still hadn't made much headway against my fortresses!).

Then....I sat back and started saving cash, sending the fleet back to Tangiers with an eye toward cutting their maintenance in half and trying to stop gushing so much money each month.

But....fortune favors the bold, and long before I could call myself ready, an opportunity arose which I could not ignore.

France and Spain decide to go head to head in 1496. I'm not ready, but what the Hell....if I get crushed, I get crushed....but if I can pull off a victory here....

Spain's allies are relatively few in numbere, including only Milan and Naples, while the French alliance has grown, and now includes Lorrain, Helvetia, Papal States (which is in no shape to help the French cause, courtesy of yours truly), and Savoy.

Off they go....lossa marching, lossa troop movement.

I borrowed 400d and raised a wampum big (20k) army in Tago, including a few cannon. Also bulked up the Army of Italy with some cannon and a handful of infantry (got it back up to 18k...it had dwindled to 12k during the course of the war with the Papal States).

As soon as the new troops had respectable morale, I declared war on Naples and proceeded to march that direction.

Of course, Spain rallied in support of her ally, but there were no Spanish armies in my immediate vicinity, so we marched into the soft underbelly of Spain...Estramaduras, a province with NO fortification at all! No combat needed to capture the territory! 1,000 cav are dispatched to take this territory, while the rest of the army marches on Spain's rich CoT in Andalusia....

Naples was actually pretty easy. King Ferdinand is a good fighter, but he just didn't have enough troops. He beat me twice, forcing me to retreat, but each battle, he lost more troops than I did, and as of the third battle, his army was just in pieces.

After sweeping aside the Naples resistance, it was a pretty straightforward siege.

In Andalusia, however, things were taking forever! The medium-sized fort there proved to be a daunting barrier, and the siege took nearly two years to complete. During that time, many Spanish troops were raised all around us, but all marched north....apparently the French were giving them a good fight, and they left us mired in our siege.

Finally though, we met with success, and captured the province!

Attempted to sue for peace, offering to give back poorly-defended Estramaduras, but it was a no-go, so we moved to Gibralter (minimally fortified).

That siege went pretty quickly, and we were helped by the arrival of a pair of Conquistadores, who brought with them an extra thousand guys each.

Spain sent a token (6k) force against my army in an effort to break the siege, but we sent them packing, and soon had Gibralter under our belts as well.

Again, Spain refused to give up Andalusia.

Knowing I had to do something drastic to get their attention, I attacked Toledo....Spain's gold-bearing province. Small fortress, so it took a bit longer, and it fell with some 38,000 angry Spaniards en route to teach my army a lesson in humility, but finally, with Toledo in hand, the Spaniards agreed to peace in exchange for Andalusia, and the Portugese army in Spain retires to Tago, dreaming of Spanish gold (but that'll have to come later!).

Once the peace with Spain was secured, we simply demanded the annexation of Naples, and got it.

So....near the end of 1499, we've got a strong presence (4 territories) in Italy, we've managed to get two CoT's under our control --and more importantly, Toledo's gold is now within easy striking distance!, AND we have two Conquistadores.

I think that one of these will be assigned to Africa to go looking for Moroccan provinces, and the other will be assigned to Vasco De Gama's fleet and sent looking for New World territories to lay claim to....now that our tax base is firmed up some, we can actually begin to think in terms of sending out a colonist or two.

And, since our back-to-back wars did little to endear us to either France or Spain, I think I shall have to spend some coin to gain the favor of the French King, offering myself and my services as the Scourge of Spain.....hmmm...yes, and perhaps even gain French assistance in the quest for Toledo's gold....I like it!

-=Vel=-

[Velociryx]

OH! Almost forgot this part! After I sued for peace with Spain and Naples, the principal actors in this war (France and Spain), kept going at it, with Spain REALLY making strong gains, annexing both Helvetia AND Lorraine...all their lowcountries holdings are now linked with Compte! Spain's looking strong indeed, despite the loss of Andalusia to me....

Hmm...and perhaps with such a strong presence north and east of France, they won't mind if I nibble a bit more....

And....I was the unfortunate recipient of the worst event in the game, IMO....late 1497, three of my provinces were treated to an outbreak of Plague...population HALVED! Gad, what a disaster!


-=Vel=-

[Cookie Monster]

Hi Velociryx,


I've been playing EU on and off for the past 8 months and have discovered an interesting tidbit. Someone mentioned in the Europa-Universalis.com forums that a policy of granting loans to rich countries really boosts your income. If you can find someone who will borrow from you, you can make a nice profit from the interest on the loans. A side benefit is that your inflation rate decreases because you can pump your own tax dollars into research thereby avoiding a stockpile of gold in your coffers from which inflation stems.

It takes a lot of time and patience, not to mention countries who are willing to take loans from you, to build up a nice income through loan interest. I'm currently playing as the Ottoman Empire and had 9% inflation rate. In 4 years I've reduced that rate to 5% and it together with the promotion of law officials is still decreasing. I usually start out with small loans, say 50d, and offer attractive interest and payback timeperiods. Say about 1% and 42-48 months to repay the loan. Then the next loan I hit my target with will be at a slightly higher interest but same time period. I hope this helps, I don't have the exact link to the thread but it's there somewhere.

[Velociryx]

Hmmm....that is interesting indeed! I did not know that loaning other folks money would reduce inflation, but if so....Excellent! I shall experiment with that in my current game@! Maybe, sort my own finances out and then start making the rounds in the French Alliance...seeing if I can help them jumpstart their economies a bit with some attractive loans....I LIKE IT!

Currently, with the game mentioned above, my inflation is 3%....two points coming from loans, and one point coming from having to rake in at least enough income to break even for the time being (again, that Navy is KILLING me! Next time I send DeGama out, I think I'll let attrition eat some of his warships....sheesh...hate to do it, but I really can't afford them!).

So...if loans to other countries reduce inflation, then all I gotta do is repair my relationship with France (who got ticked off when I abused the Papal Armies, and then....

::the wheels are spinning now!::
-=Vel=-

[Cookie Monster]

Good luck out there!

The year in my game is 1610. I've really struggled with inflation until I started this new strategy. Couple this with a high infrastructure tech level and you'll really see inflation bite the big one! I can't wait to get home to play. I'm at work right now and my break is over Oh well......

[Velociryx]

Ahhh yes, I know the feeling....Fortunately, the seas are quiet today, and I have a bit of free time, but Chaos could erupt at any minute, so I'm enjoying this while the calm lasts!

I'm curious to know if you have any estimates on where the "pressure points" with the loans/inflation rate are?

In other words, if you loan out Xducats at 1% interest, will that lower inflation by 1% a year, or only at the end, when the loan is repaid?

If you're not sure on it, I'll fiddle with it when I get home....if we can get some solid numbers and maybe derive the formula....

-=Vel=-

[Cookie Monster]

Hi,


I know that the decrease in inflation in my game was from 2 factors. One was the loan strategy but the other was having discovered infrastructure level ??? I am able to now promote the "law official" to help reduce a provinces inflation rate.

Here are my exact numbers for the 3 loans I have sent out so far.

1. Portugal accepted a 50d loan at 1% for 42 months.

2. Poland-Lithuania accepted a 50d loan at 1% for 42 months at the same time Portugal accepted their loan.

3. Portugal accepted another loan from me 5 months after the first loan was paid off. The numbers are as follows....50d 2% and 42 months.

Hope this helps.

[Velociryx]

Hmmm....interesting. Yes, that's Infra 5 - with the Justicars, or whatever they're called. That's -1% per apointee (inflation modifier, that is).

As to loans...Hmmm....I can definately see the advantages here....and from what my research (net-based so far, and soon to be game based, if this day will ever freakin' end! LOL) has turned up so far, the interest payments on loans goes directly into your treasury...essentially giving you cash without fear of inflation. That's good stuff, and gives me some ideas where Portugal is concerned in this game.

Some stuff I'm really curious about/anxious to experiment with:

The best interest rate I've ever gotten when taking out loans the traditional way is 11%, so I'm assuming that something less than 11% is the max you could charge a rival nation....and you'd prolly have to work up to that slowly.

I wonder if a vassalized nation more readily accepts loans? Obviously, the major Euro powers would be the best candidates (targets?) to loan money to, but my guess is that if you have a few vassals in your pocket...while you're waiting to get yourself in a position to annex them, they may well provide you a good supplemental income. Also, it may turn out that they serve you better as lender nations rather than annexed ones...Hmmmm....

Much stuff to ponder....and, it looks like I'd better get Portugal's diplomatic standings back up there....

-=Vel=-
PS: Intriguing thing about this most recently started game...in the first war between France and Spain, nearly all their satellite nations are gone....Spain ate Helvetia, Navarra (which was not allied to France, but prolly would have if Spain hadn't killed them in March, 1492!), and Lorraine, and France ate Milan--and while I didn't EAT the Papal States, I pretty much hobbled them, and I DID absorb Naples....so that leaves Spain with no allies, and France with two small allies. Odd....cool, but odd...

[faded glory]

Early on in my Hedjaz game I sent 3 low interest loans to turkey (3%). They accept most of them

But all profits went to the black hole that was the disaster of a war in Ethiopia

[Velociryx]

Ya....seems like if you ARE gonna make loans, your best bet would be to foster good relations with somebody far away....for example, in your game, make nice with Sweden and Denmark (and maybe France/England?)....you're likely never to have to face them anyway, and if so it'll be late game....

Secondarily, would be the necessity of considering warfare as an option of last resort, so you can avoid those would-be disasters. If you're looking to increase your tax base, that's cool, but it'd be all the more important to pick your battles carefully--ie - maybe wait till Ethioipia was embroiled in a war with somebody else, then quick strike, eat a couple provinces and sue for peace the following January....death by a thousand cuts kinna thing....

-=Vel=-

[faded glory]

Ethiopia has no neighbors. Only Nubia and LOTS of native encampments...but Nubia's southern border province has a supply of 0. Sending an army through there is a mess. The AI knows it. They wont do anything about it. Even the turks tried in my game

Understand that war with Ethiopia is very difficult. The terrain kills morale and the climate kills the troops. And Keren always has a state of the art fortress

I dont know. Tonight I may assemble a few hundred thousands troops and drop them off in Keren . Im pretty angry at the ethiopians . But twice now Ive been whooped

[Velociryx]

Gods....lots to report on here...and believe me, Faded Glory...I now FULLY understand what you mean....::shiver::

Tonight, I played through to January 1507....you'd not think a lot could happen in 7 years, but sheesh....

First, to pick up where I left off in describing this game, I had just made peace with Spain. Little did I know (didn't even notice when I was checking alliances and such) that The Palitinat was allied to Spain, and apparently not yet ready to end the war with me. They attacked recently won Andalusia with an army of 25,000, and in Portugal, even scraping together every man I had (including my two Conquistadores and their troops), I had all of 8,000 I could send against them.

Loans were taken out, much as I hated to, and I built a respectable army. Before said army could be assembled, however, the wily men of Pfalz had captured Andalusia, and rather than fight them in Tago, I accepted their peace offering, forking over 250d. UGH.

Shortly after THAT crisis had passed, the men of Morocco decided they'd give warfare a go, and invaded Tangiers with fifty thousand troops.

The army (18,000 strong) I had assembled in Tago hastily departed via DeGama's fleet for Morocco herself, landing behind the invaders and cutting off their supplies.

More than a year later, I would capture both Morocco and....whatever their "middle" territory is called. I also landed a Conquistadore and 5,000 Infantry in previously unexplored Sahara...only to discover the territory had ZERO support.

Gamely, I attempted a siege there anyway, and despite my Conquistadore's ability to withstand attrition, his force was steadily whittled away. I reinforced from my main army each month, in an effort to keep the siege going, and wound up losing nearly 20,000 men to the desert, and still never took the territory. Never even came close.

Fortunately, having control of their capitol, the Moroccans eventually sued for peace, giving me that middle territory whose name I can't recall in exchange for their capitol back. That also had the effect of preserving Tangiers under Portugal's banner, but the Army of North Africa was in sorry shape.

Almost a year to the day after the disaster in North Africa, the Hasfids (Tunisia) declared war on Spain. Somehow, they had wrangled an alliance with France, which put all of Southern Europe back into a general war. It was a war I was only too glad to sit out.

Unfortunately, due to all the loans taken out to keep an army in the field, I was forced to declare bankruptcy in 1504.... Lost all my accumulated research, which really hurt, cos I was close to getting advances in both Trade and Infrastructure, but I just couldn't keep it afloat any longer.

So, now my makeshift armies are reeling from low morale, my research is reset to zero, and although my tax base has more than tripled, I still can barely afford to pay salaries for my troops and overgrown fleet. In desperation, I send DeGama on an extended Atlantic adventure, hoping to: a) Find some juicy, NON-Native-occupied territory to occupy when I DO have money, and b) get rid of a few warships via attrition to lower my fleet maintenance costs.

Eventually, DeGama arrives at the Cost of Carolina, and putzs around through the gulf, finally dropping one of my conquistadores with 5,000 men in Nicaragua. The bold adventurer begins exploring westward (where he'll eventually run into the Aztecs), and DeGama begins heading for home, having lost 4 of his warships, and bringing the maintenance down to something approaching affordable.

As all this is happening, Persia (who is my best diplo-relation at the moment....+22), invites me to join the most bizzare of alliances....they're at the lead of a coalition of Georgia and Spain.

Not really wanting to contemplate fighting Spain (-200 with Portugal, after robbing them of Andalusia), I readily agree. However....shortly after I do, France declares war on Spain, and immediately marches a 43k army stationed in recently militarily annexed Milan to my fortress in Emilia.

I'm still reeling under the effects of bankruptcy, and after having fought off a handful of rebellions, my Italian army numbers just under 15,000 (Oh...I have 8 cannons and 300-odd cav....

Needless to say, I'm just hoping to SURVIVE this war.

But, there are a few bright spots.

1) The Hasfids invaded recently rebelled Apulia, taking care of the rebels for me and putting the rebel-controlled castle under siege.

2) In the last Hasfid/Spanish war, the men of Tunisia wrested Sicily (both provinces on the isle) from Spain.....so....soon as DeGame reaches Tangiers, I'm gonna send him to Naples, load up the army and try my luck at getting Sicily from Tunisia. If that works, I'll invade the Tunisian capitol (no troops present at the moment), and sue for peace, hopefully getting the Island from them.

3) France took Emilia, but did not proceed any further south into my Italian territory. Instead, her armies did an about-face, and began marching toward Spain.

4) I've got 18,000 men in Tago, under the command of my best general (5/5/5/3), and he's marching on Bearn. IF I can gain Sicily, re-take Emilia, and then Move to Milan, I MIGHT be able to sue for peace with France, gaining Milan out of the deal.....don't know, and the Spaniards will prolly make peace with France before half of that happens, but I've gotta try....::sigh::

OH! And, I fought some HATEFUL natives in North Africa. Little band of 3,000 angry natives wiped out 11,000 of the 12,000 man force I was exploring with. They hopped on a boat and went around them, stopping in Lugio, which is a source of Ivory. All my colonization efforts went there, and in September of 1506, I got a city established, so if there's one bright spot, it's that I have a city in Middle-Africa that I can use to reinforce my explorers and maybe tangle with those fierce natives again.

A secondary bright spot is that I have at least a token force in North America, although I don't see myself doing much large scale colonization there for a while. My goal is to found one city there, and use it as a base to conquer the Aztecs. If I can, the Aztec territory will finally springboard me into a position where I'll be able to afford the forces I've currently got, and then I can finally start working on improving my diplomatic standing around the world....

....if I survive that long....::gulp::



-=Vel=-

[Prometheus]

Just a thought on loans…….

While I understand your “controlled bankruptcy theory” if you don’t want to do that you could always take a loan out to pay off the current one (repeat as many times as needed), I don’t think this adds to your inflation rate but I have never tested it. I don’t know you would consider it as cheating but since you still have to pay it off eventually. This is just what I do to avoid research, moral loss and everything else bankruptcy does.

[Velociryx]

'evening all...and a good thought on the Loans, btw....trouble was, I had already taken out five of 'em, and the interest expense, plus the expense of maintaining my army proved to be too much for my lil' economy to bear.....

Played through to June 1518 this evening, and things are once more looking up.

Survived the Frech/Spanish war without a loss of territory, tho as expected, before I execute my plan of action against the Hasfid's, France sued for peace against a relentless Spain, paying 147d to get out of the fight.

After that, I DoW'd Morocco, absorbing them into the empire just before my CB with that naton ran out, and then set about the business of colonizing.

I also went on a diplo-offensive, and got both France and Spain up from "we hate that you live and breath" to "ho-hum neutrality"....that, at least, gave me some breathing room, but pretty much the whole rest of the world (including a surprisingly powerful Austria) hates me.

Right now, with just shy of 300VP's, I'm a somewhat distant second to Spain's 450-odd, but the real surprise of the game has been tiny Wurtemburg, faithful ally of Austria, who has conquered Mantua from Venice and Serbia from the Turk....they're proving to be a tough little cookie, and are actually showing up 6th overall in the VP race.

After absorbing Morocco, I turned my full attention to North America for a time, developing a city in Nicaragua (no port tho...blast it!), and from there, began a troop buildup for conquering the Aztecs.

When the time came to rumble, there were still two Aztec territories that were Terra Incognita to me, but I solved that problem by positioning two strike forces (both led by Conquistadores). The lesser force was composed solely of cav, and had just under 2k. The larger force had a mixed bag, totalling 10k. The Aztecs had three principal forces of 11k, 20k, and 7k.

The all-cav force rode in, engaged and routed the 7k force, then followed them back through the uncharted territories, while the 10k force engaged the largest of the Aztec armies, routed them, and then followed them back to the capitol, where 7k reinforcements were waiting.

After a vicious battle in the Aztec capitol, their army was once more routed, and they fled into terra incognita--well, it stopped being terra incognita as soon as the capitol was in hand, but...--, and their last territory.

The two conquistadore forces headed for that territory from different directions, arriving within a week's time of each other, and the Aztec army was again routed.

Before they could make it to the territories we'd already conquered, we got in touch diplomatically, and demanded annexation. Since they'd not won a single battle against our vastly outnumbered forces, they readily agreed, and overnight, the Empire of Portugal was really on the map!

Two Aztec gold-bearing territories, plus our slow, steady expansion in Africa and Central America saw our economy shoot through the roof!

Much as it chaffed me to do it, I took two loans to be in a position to afford 6k in cavalry recruitment. Reasoning here: I've got two excellent conquistadores, and a LOT of exploring to do. I don't know how much longer they'll live, since I've had them for something close to ten years....didint' wanna wait till I had the cash via taxes, so I bit the interest, and took loans. Got each explorer outfitted with an exclusively cav. force for speed (just over 4k each), and one is heading up the California coast, while the other delves into the heart of South America.

Troop-wise, I've got the following:

In Portugal: 24k - 18 in Andalusia, and 6 in Tago

The Army of Africa:
19k, split into two forces in the same territory (former Moroccan capitol) - 9k (led by a Conquistadore) and 10k - These are staring down 39k in Algiers....

The Army of Italy:
17k - was 20, but repeated rebellions have whittled their numbers somewhat.

Central America:
2 Explorers with 4k Cav. Each
2 Mixed Aztec/Portugese armies: 15k and 10k, guarding Central America
2k Garrison guarding Nicaragua

Also, the Persian alliance fell apart when Persia attacked the Uzbeks, and none of her allies honored the alliance. So....taking advantage of Spain's isolation, and my improving relations with her, I forged the "BadBoy" Alliance, with Spain....I figured that, given their bulldog attitude toward little countries (having absorbed Baden, Lorraine, Granada, and Navarra so far), they were probably glad to have any friends at all, even one who stole Andalusia from them....and for my part, with my attention currently being focused on Central and South America, I was glad to have them as an ally....at least for now.

Even though the Portugese thirst for gold has been temporarily sated by the sacking of the Aztec Empire, thoughts of Toledo still make my mouth water, and eventually my Spanish allies will no doubt feel a Portugese dagger in their backs, but for the moment, I'm content to ride shotgun with them, confident that the alliance will be long-lasting, since nobody else wants anything to do with Spain.

Future plans: Mostly, these revolve around exploring North and South America with a vengeance, ridding the world of Algiers and the Hasfids (which, by the way, will give the Empire of Portugal a virtual lock on North Africa! WhoooHoooo!), and strengthening my diplo ties with my neighbors in Italy....with an eventual eye toward sacking Rome (who has recovered nicely, btw, with a 59k man army in Rome), installing one of my relatives as Pope, and even further down the road, diplo-annexing Tuscany and Modena.....then we'll have to see about Wurtemburg's claim on Mantua and Austria's claim on Milan, but that's a waaaaays on down the road.....

OH! And by and by, I DO wanna get into a position where I can start lending some cash! That's definately on the list!

-=Vel=-

[Velociryx]

Hmmm...been thinking about my long-term (game-ending) goals as I sit here.

I definately do NOT wanna try to conquer the world.....but, I would like to be the Master of N. Africa, unite Italy--which, taking Italy and N. Africa together, should give me firm control of the Med.-- and have a strong, controlling interest in the Americas. Everything else will be gravy, but those are my goals for 1792. OH! And I want Toledo and Gibralter from Spain!

-=Vel=-