1st EU2 GC. ravagon runs England.

[Victor Galis]

-2% is the worst modifier you can have, I thought. I've never seen worse than -14 from location. The only thing I can really do to make that -2% go to 0, is to maintain +3 stability AND build a manufactory there. Are you sure that 1000 pop will do anything? (I mean, 700 is where it stops being a colony where you can't build anything, 5000 is the point where it's not considered a colony you can't send people to). I'm not exactly swimming in money right now to keep sending colonists.

[Dale]

Some of those western-african provs have some heavy-duty location modifiers. Trust me. 1000 pop is when the "colony" become a "colonial city". 5000 is when it's a pure "city".

Search on EU2's official forums for "location modifier" and you find in the threads that the first step to reduce location modifier is at 1000 pop, stepping up slowely till all location modifier is gone at 5000 pop.

Hope this clears it up.

[Victor Galis]

Hmm... maybe it is too soon to abandon Bavaria's African ambitions then. Time to build up the colony and then build up my army and the Bavarian Red Sea fleet and become the bane of Oman (muahahaha) or Ethiopia.

[Victor Galis]

Progress has been made.

A few minor wars have been fought between my alliance and evil, evil Brandenburg, but have been largely inconclusive. Meanwhile, Brandenburg annexed Pommern and two 2 Polish provinces, bringing their total to 13! Evil, evil Brandenburg must be stopped before it spreads its protestant message any further, saddly only protestant Hessen seems to be willing to stop evil, evil Brandenburg.

I finally got that African colony to 1000. It's somewhat not worthless now, yay!

A random event granted me a cassus belli against the Ottoman empire. Then against Karaman. I quickly declared war on the Ottomans, siezing Constantinopole from rebel forces which had held it for about a century. Next, I built up the Red Sea fleet. I waited hoping my allies would soften up Cyprus which was being defended by 38k Ottoman troops. Finally, I sent my 10 ships with as many men as they could carry. In a daring assault, we smashed the Ottoman army. Glorious victory against 4 times our number. Only trouble is Sivas can not be reached to complete our conquest. (CB against Karaman actually happens right here) God is truly on Bavaria's side! Conversion of the heretics in Anatolia happens through a random event here. Oh, and exceptional year +200d so that I can continue. War on Karaman, Sivas falls, then the Red Sea fleet delivers our african army to Doha to sieze all the Ottoman colonies. The Ottoman Empire is subjugated entirely, but I can't annex for some reason. I agree to their peace offer of a large sum of money, Cyprus and all their colonies. Persia will later take Sivas, leaving the Ottomans with just their capital.

Meanwhile, things start falling apart. I take two provinces from Karaman, but thanks to war exhaustion all Bavaria is rebelling, and I have virtually no armies to put them down. I take 3 loans trying to put down the rebels, but soon I just don't have any provinces to build troops in. Things look bleak as rebels besiege Muenchen itself driving off a freshly built army too. Then the government falls... and all the rebels go away, stability is up... no provinces lost, and I begin to wonder, why I can't topple my own government intentionally.

Then a cycle of hyperinflation as I try to raise money to pay my loans. This I manage by 1660, and all is good. A conquistador shows up in Doha, and with the aid of the Red Sea fleet, I land him on the coast of India in a few places. I now know what the east coast looks like, and have a pair of tradeposts there, but it's impossible to explore with my navy, so I have to settle for my minor discoveries. Money is again short as I try to send more colonists to india and upgrade to governors, all while trying to prevent inflation from rising any further. (A level 2 fort would cost me 360d right now, and that just can't be maintainable).

[Victor Galis]

Hmm... relations with Brandenburg have improved. They are now guaranteeing my independence, and we have a royal marriage. They also annexed Saxony and Courland, leaving them as the only German Protestant country (with well over 20 provinces). England annexed Denmark, which promptly revolted. England lost all of Ireland in a revolt, and now holds only Hamburg, its colonies, and its home provinces.

[Nikolai]

Originally posted by Victor Galis The Ottoman Empire is subjugated entirely, but I can't annex for some reason. I agree to their peace offer of a large sum of money, Cyprus and all their colonies. Persia will later take Sivas, leaving the Ottomans with just their capital.

You can't annex a country consisting of more than one province. TPs is not cointed here, but for colonies I'm unsure. So in the next war, if they still have only one province, hit annex!

[Victor Galis]

Hmm... you sure about that? I thought you could annex a country no matter how large if you held all their provinces... oh well, now their last province is guarded by only a minimal fortress. One day, Constantinopole will be mine.

[Nikolai]

Yes, I'm sure. What you are describing, haven't been possible since EU1.

[Victor Galis]

EU1 was a little silly sometimes. My first game as France in EU1, I owned most of the world, minus some large number of colonies, and China. Of course in EU1, you could only take 3 provinces per war, which was very annoying.

[Nikolai]

Yes, and another thing that was annoying, was the rule about not being ableto annex a country with a golden shield, ie a major. Thankfully we had the IGC! But there should have been like it was there from the start, IMHO.

[Victor Galis]

I think you could turn off the no annexing majors rule, but yes, it was very annoying having Vienna completely surrounded by French land, but not being able to end the Austrian's mizerable existance. Of course you could also edit the scenario files to change the major powers.

[Victor Galis]

Ack! Disaster. Jan 2, 1690. It seems that whenever I start the game, I can't play for more than a month or two before the game will crash. I don't know what it is, but I've tried 6-7 times, and also restarted the computer

[Nikolai]

You couldn't turn off the rule in the regular game, but the mod community did so in the IGC.

As for your problems, I'd recommend you to post your problems in the support area at the official site. They are good at finding solutions, and I seem to remember that similar problems have been fixed.

[ravagon]

A free moment at last. Right, well then, wading back through all of the shameless spam (none of which came from my posts of course), it seems I left merry old England (er, Britain), near the end of the 17th century - having just won a magnificent bloodless victory over those evil frenchmen.

Unfortunately however, in spite of our vital contribution to the war effort, it seemed that our relationships with those in the anti-french league were deteriorating quickly - ungrateful Catholics the lot.
We needed allies to prevent a recurrence so it was time to start searching for strong and, more-to-the-point, reliable, Protestant nations.
Scandinavia.
Embattled for a century against their former Danish overlords, Sweden and their Norwegian allies seemed most worthy of out attention - first in the financial sector and then, eventually, in full-blown war.

Sweden had earlier managed to capture one of the Dutch provinces from a now-diminished Danish ally, Geldre, and it was this province most in need of our immediate aid.
Its defenses slowly crumbling under a heavy land assault with massive naval support, it (I've forgotten what the place is called ) became the first target of the counter attack.
A medium-sized field army went in overland as a massive royal navy fleet engaged and in short order, annihilated, the Danish naval presence.
Their added naval supplies gone, and suddenly caught between defending Swedes and fresh British regulars with, consequently, a huge attrition rate, the Dane-alliance forces were decimated.

Acting quickly the royal navy entered the Baltic and smashed a second Danish fleet enforcing a blockade on Swedish ports before setting sail at flank speed for the Channel coast.
Forming up with two more RN squadrons (for a total of 55 warships ) they lay in wait for the third and most-feared Danish Naval force - a massive 40+ ship armada returning from their colonies in Venezuala.
In what became the greatest naval battle of the century, over 30 Danish ships were sunk by deadly accurate fire. One RN vessel erm, "ran aground" and had to be scuttled.

Their home ports blockaded, their navy decimated and many of their overseas expeditionary forces cut off, the Danes couldn't hope to hold out for long.
They didn't.
Just as the northern colony in Finmark (an irresistable target of opportunity with the destruction of the Danish navy) surrendered to British forces (themselves suffering grevious losses from the artic weather) Denmark surrendered. Victory!
Finmark went to Britain and a hefty sum to Sweden. The 'northern alliance' was cemented.
Then things began to get nasty.

A border incident with the new nation of Russia pulled the Swedes into a furious and bloody fight for survival in their most remote provinces. massive armies were thrown at each other in the icy wastes with horrendous losses on both sides.
British forces sent to assist were woefully ill-prepared and suffered heavy winter losses even while assembling in Swedish safe zones. In breaking one siege and then a second their losses mounted to an unacceptable level and they had to be withdrawn - Sweden would have to do most of the fighting themselves.
As a peace was signed with first Meckleburg and then Pommern (the other two Swedish allies) the outcome became beyond doubt.
Incredibly, a treaty was signed yielding only 55D to Russia in exchange. Less than 0.5D per thousand casualties for the total losses on both sides. This was not our kind of war.

The next skirmish was doomed from the outset - this time only British naval aid was sent. The Swedish alliance crumbled when Meckleburg and Pommern refused to become involved and another peace was signed giving Russia a mere pittance for the severe losses suffered. When a Swedish DoW against Meckleburg followed shortly thereafter the writing was on the wall and Britain refused to become involved.
Aid was sent to Meckleburg as Swedish forces pressed forth, aid which was quickly handed over in a treaty preventing much bloodshed.

The Scandinavian kingdoms would remain loose friends in a world of enemies but there would be no more British lives lost in futile warfare over the roof of the world.

[ravagon]

At this point in time we came to an understanding with our long-time friends in Portugal. Somehow they had managed to remain unsullied by Papist corruption and a binding alliance was signed between us. (ie: I had an event that made Portugal a vassal - and an incredibly wealthy vassal at that - and I wanted to keep them that way ) Again stretching forth our colonial arm we discovered a new French threat - this time in the New World.

[Brief Interlude: At this point one of those colonization crash bugs came up and due to ravagons complete and utter failure to recognize it for what it was, both autosaves and the save game had been overwritten. The only thing left to try was reloading one of them as another nation and playing past the crash point. Cleverly I managed to choose Eire, upon whom Britain has a permanent CB. Thankfully they didn’t use it, instead contenting themselves with declaring war on the hapless Lenape, and royally stuffing up British fleet deployments all over the world for the next decade.]

War with the Lenape was brief and relatively bloodless on both sides – although they were able to field a massive body of over 35000 braves they were disorganized and easily routed by a relatively small 8000-man field army and with a rapid followup of a field artillery brigade the two native provinces outside the capital were quickly taken. To our astonishment the war ended right there as the natives willingly ceded both provinces (including the Manhatten CoT btw) with no further engagement, leaving only their capital.

Success and yet another CoT! (Another had recently opened in one of our small islands of French Madagascar
During this brief distraction France had not been idle. French forces in the south were rapidly overrunning native resistance, itself divided by bitter tribal rivalries (the Huron and one of their allies declared war on the unfortunate Lenape but accomplished little other than increasing their own unrest and thereby helping the French). Aid was sent to all tribes opposing French forces but this too was poorly used.

A brief respite was earned when a tactically adept Huron warchief struck at weakly-defended French holdings in the North. Lacking the necessary overland access, the French force had to turn on its heels and head for their main southern port (believe it or not this was in Louisiana. J) to embark and set sail for their only northern access route – then to have yet to force their way through another 4 provinces to reach their lost province – a journey of several months at least.
With the valuable respite, native forces in the south managed to stabilize their lines and retake one of their lost territories – eventually leading to a cessation of hostilities that left a much reduced but at least viable native presence in the south.

Huron leaders in the north wisely signed a peace deal before the full weight of the French force could arrive, handing over most of their tribal wealth in the process - but a pittance for the check they had inflicted on French Imperial aims. J
French vulnerability had been exposed however. Their last province connecting their northern ports to Huron territory was a mere trading post – highly vulnerable to attack and within easy reach of British holdings.

Further adding to our concerns was a worrying trend in unrest in our North-American colonies. The king was seriously considering granting them vassal status but we prevailed upon him to adopt a wait-and-see approach. Nevertheless regulars were sent to every corner of the New world to keep a watchful eye on all affairs.

Trouble brewing in Europe provided yet another distraction as our Portugese allies were attacked by Danish and allied forces. New to their alliance was a new nation – Flanders.
Not only was this home to the valuable Flanders trade center but it was also within easy reach of the large northen field set to oppose French ambition and it was an element of this great force that moved against them.
The huge fortess was the largest we had ever gone against – certainly we had built nothing of the scale ourselves – but it fell quickly to our heavy canon. Annexation! The other Protestant nations protested but we were ill-inclined to make concessions as this was a war not of our making. Denmark seethed but could do little as their ally fell. To their credit they did make the attempt but the royal navy was waiting and Danish fleets withdrew suffering heavy losses. No British ship ran aground this time around.

Peace was eventually signed and a large force remained in our new province to quell dissent. The Danes withdrew but it still seemed to us that there was something rotten in the state of Denmark.

Returning our attention to the New World battlefield we were just in time to witness the final end of the hapless Lenape. Stripped of their territory by some irritating wight who just happened to reign over our glorious nation for a month or so but never otherwise made the history books, then attacked by their Indian brethren, they had finally revolted and overthrew the last vestiges of the old ways.
We welcomed their new nation.
The United States.


[Just when I thought I knew how this game worked, it threw this one at me. Go figure. ]


Sensing their vulnerability we took them under our wing (they were still pagans after all) and poured aid into the new country. Their technology grew at a great pace and had soon far-outstripped the rest of their brothers, but they were still weak. Within weeks they were full members of the British-US-Portugese alliance and only just in time. Soon the flame of war again darkened the skies of the native American nations as heavy French expeditionary forces set sail.
This time though the wily Huron had learned a thing or two. This time they struck at the vulnerable French trading post first – giving way for the everready British colonists to bar the door. The French interior was cut off in the north and French forces would not be allowed access across British soil.
The Huron then struck for these vulnerable French possessions and made quick work in capturing/destroying that which they could reach – most importantly their slow recruitment rate produced a constant stream of warriors to the frozen northernmost outpost – eventually seeing its fall.

In the south, French forces were pushing their way through the native bands, regardless of a great deal of British assistance. With continued effort they might even have been able to break through and liberate their occupied northern provinces. The fall of their strongest to the north though changed this.
Annexing one tribe and setting up a defensive front for the continuing low-level engagement with others the majority of the French force set sail for the icy northernmost Genoan port in Thunder bay – a port through which they had access but which would be followed by a treacherous route across the icy wastes to even reach the battlefield.

They fell in droves. Of an estimated 46 000 who disembarked in Genoan territory, less than 18 000 reached the captured Huron fort. By the time it was retaken, French numbers had dwindled to below 5000 men. It was all they could manage to sign a white peace with the Huron.

Then came the second and most fatal hammer blow – in the south.
Having left another 25 000 men throughout their eight southern and four occupied provinces, more than enough to repel the persistant native attacks, the French must have felt relatively secure…
Our new US allies had the Louisiana purchase.
1000D paid up front (they must have taken a loan I guess)
All eight French provinces sold.



All French forces hopelessly cut off. Morale falls through the floor and native attacks take their toll. France is routed and about half of their men survive to reach their only remaining friendly port in western Georgia (also owned by Genoa).

The USA, now with nine provinces although none of such are connected to their capital is immensely stronger. France is smashed for good in North America, retaining only a few inaccessible interior provinces and their French-Canadien ports. Britain grabs five more provinces (3 vacated after the Huron burned French TP’s and another two thence thus revealed).



The general mobilisation would continue in Europe through the early years of the 19th century, as General Wellington was sent to France as our new ambassador, along with a rather large ‘embassy staff’ of 150 000. Lord Nelson, wisely redeployed from Alsaka in case the French attacked over the North pole, sat waiting for some sort of French action, and was rather bemused when very little happened. France certainly rebuilt their armies to a theretofore unheard of level – well over 500 000 men – but to little effect as we were able to match them. Tales of a rather vertically-challenged, ambitious and extremely arrogant Corsican seemed to be unfounded.

As the year 1818 drew to a close, ending with a whimper rather than a bang, we could only wonder what the future would bring to our seemingly unassailable empire on which the sun never set (or at least not very often).

To be continued … in Victoria! Hint, hint Paradox …



Net result: [Summarised in a report from General Wellington delivered to King George shortly before his new regimental crest - depicting two dead Frenchmen atop a mound of dead Frenchmen - was approved ].

“We won”
General Wellington.

[Velociryx]

Loved the tale, and the title of the last post!

-=Vel=-