For the glory of Russia! A Muscow AAR.

Dale · June 15, 2003, 06:13

Okay guys, the latest talk on AAR's has made me do one myself.

Vel, since you were interested, my Moscow AAR.

Settings:
- EU2 patch 1.07 (no betas)
- EEP 1.04
- VH/Normal
- Muscowy chosen nation
- Mods: A port for Ericsford in Greenland (Norway owned) which I forgot to take off after my last Norway game (failed dismally, got annexed by Denmark and Sweden after blowing off the vassalage with Denmark. But that's another story).

BTW, the standard GC does have a port for Ericsford, so I'm not breaking any rules in putting it back.

I'm not a very good writer of stories, so I'm not even going to attempt one. I'm just going to explain what happens in the game, and why I did it.

From the below pic, you see I've got 3 central Russian provinces, and many CB shields. I've always loved Moscow for it's potential over any other Russian minor. Hence why I play them not Novgorad.

Muscowy 1419..... Blood Red!

Dale · June 15, 2003, 06:37

"January 1, 1419 : Muscowy cancelled the Vassalization she had with Golden Horde."

This would have to be THE MOST IMPORTANT THING that Moscow MUST do to win!

Of course, the Horde does nothing about it.

The good thing with Moscow is you get a lot of level 1 techs in the first 2 years.

Feb 1, 1419 : Land 1. June 1, 1419 : Infra 1. July 1, 1419 : Trade 1.

Jan 1 1420 I received Yuri Patrikeev in Moscow. My main army (mostly inf with 3k cav for support) is in Moscow while my cav army (about 9k I think it was) is based in Vologda. Preparations for the destruction of Novgorad are well underway. Interestingly, Sweden hasn't DOWed them yet, nor Suzdhal.

Jan 25, 1420 Tver DOWed Novgorad. Saves me doing it. Tver, Pskov, Moscow and Ryazan against Novgorad. On Feb 3 Suzhdal decided it didn't want to miss out and DOWed them too. The Russian area has exploded into war!

Using my cav army from Volgda, I quickly run through and capture the colonies of Archanglsk, Karelia and Kola. By April, Novgorad's capital is ready to fall so my leader (Yuri) moves onto the province with 2k cav to steal the siege from Tver. Not nice I know, but I need to determine this peace! At the same time, I initiate a siege of Olonets. Once the army being built in Olonets is defeated, I leave a force and move onto Kexholm. Just after this, I move the rest of the Moscow based army to Ingergermanland.

Sep 1 1420 sees navy to level 1.

Now the captures begin. Novgorad in Aug 1421. However, just as the rest of the country is about to fall into my hands, Tver makes peace with Novgorad on Nov 25, 1421. I gain Kola & Arkhangelsk and a couple of ducats.

5 days later, Pskov DOWs Livonian Order. I decide not to join the war breaking the alliance, but am too slow and miss grabbing Tver who also opted out.

So now I'm all along, but double the size. Admittedly the two new provs are colonies, but a hard colonisation policy on the two provs will change that.

Next installment to come later.

Muscowy Jan 1, 1422: Novgorad shells out....

Nikolai · June 15, 2003, 07:19

A Muscowy AAR!

Will be interesting to see how good you do it. Good luck!

Serb · June 15, 2003, 08:30

Go get them!

Mother Russia forever!!!

Velociryx · June 15, 2003, 10:24

WhoooHoooo! Off to a solid start, too! Go get 'em!

-=Vel=-

Dale · June 15, 2003, 21:49

Thanks guys.

I'm currently about 1470 in the actual game, and this one's a keeper!

As the game progresses, you'll see I'm taking a different route to mother Russia's historical one.

Dale · June 16, 2003, 04:33

Jan 1st 1422 saw me all alone with no allies, and two new colonies. Colonisation began of the colonies and would proceed over many years:

Mar 1st: expanded Arkhangelsk

Sept 1st 1423 sees our infra rise to level 2. We can build fine arts, but at the income we have it'll take us 10 years to get there.

Jan 19 1424 sees Suzhdal cancel its vassalation with Golden Horde, and we start a new alliance with them on the 21st.

Now we aren't alone.

To further our relations in the area, in 1425 we start a diplomatic effort, snagging marriages with Ryazan, Tver and Pskov. This should hopefully ensure our security for a few more years. That's one of the best things of the Russian minors. Your start can go one of two ways: death or dominance.

1425 also saw our trade empire pick up again, as money was freed up from ensuring our borders. We could also start putting funds into tax collectors. In feb we increased our holdings in Novgorad. We also expanded our trade in Novgorad in 1426. We culminated our trade investment in May 1426 by reaching trade 2. We're on the way!

Mar 15th 1427 saw Sweden DOW Novgorad with Denmark and Norway. Not wanting to miss out on my pie, I DOW Novgorad 4 days later. Suzhdal dishonoured the alliance to my changrin. I'll teach them a lesson later!!!

To repatch our security we enter an alliance with Ryazan and Tver in Aug 1427.

In the war effort, our sieges go to plan. Novgorad falls to us on April 7th 1428, Ingergermanland on May 28th (stole from Denmark with Yuri actually

), Olonets on Oct 19th and Kexholm on Sept 23rd 1429. On that same day, Novgorad agrees to our occupation and hands over all occupied territory.

In world news, we heard a rumour that the filthy French have raised the insane witch Jean of Arc to general on Feb 22nd 1429. I have no idea how a Catholic heathen can claim to hear the voice of God. Me thinks it's the voice of insanity!

On Jan 1st 1430, the future of Moscow is almost guarenteed. We look now at the map of Moscow's reach to see the following:

Muscowy Jan 1, 1430: Novgorad caves in....

Dale · June 16, 2003, 19:28

The next few years saw a fair bit of upheaval in the Russian area. The battle for the mantle of "Mother Russia" was really heating up. Luckily for Moscow, it would prove large enough to absorb any attacks and respond easily.

In Feb of 1430, Suzhdal decided to take advantage of the Golden Hordes internal troubles to exact same revenge on them for all those years of vassalage by declaring war. The other Russian princes sit by idly watching what happens.

May 1430 saw the death of that witch Jean of Arc by English hands. Good riddance!

January 5 1431 saw the mobilisation of our forces again when Pskov dowed our ally Tver. Pskov, Lithuania and Poland versus Moscowy, Tver and Ryazan. All nations in the war except Pskov and Tver didn't actively participate in the war, so in June 1432 saw Pskov paying off Tver for peace.

A big change for our military as our king Vasilli II decided to take charge of the army in Moscow on Jan 1 1433. This was good timing for us because Suzhdal went with "Let's teach them a lesson" at a royal wedding between Muscowy and Suzhdal on Feb 8th. This utter insult was compounded when they delivered their message of war to us that same day. Instead of a groom in a carriage of gold coming from Vladimir, their were mounted cossacks with sharp sabres. This could not go by unpunished! It took us till May 20th 1435 to annex Suzhdal, but only because we were caught offguard by the DOW.

On Dec 1st we saw that our truce with Novgorad was finished, and they were all alone, so we declared war with the full intention of gaining the valuable CoT in their home province. It took till July 13 1437 to capture the strong fortress of Novgorad. The winter and lack of supply hampered our efforts. But we annexed them.

Muscowy Jan 1, 1438: The Russian Prince wars......

Dale · June 16, 2003, 20:11

Due to our recent annexations, our relations with Europe as a whole were badly hit (BB of about 16 by this point)

Also, our economy was badly shaken by the recent years of warfare, and our new acquisitions needed some fital work done to them. Hence, Moscow's policies turned from warfare and expansion, to growth, stability and diplomacy.

Our colonisation program began with renewed strength, as our colonies needed expanding to cities. Kola and Karelia were our current targets, as Arkhangelsk was now a colonial city of over 700 people.

Also, our new lands needed government buildings like tax collectors and forts. Trade was also falling behind. So the military took a back seat while Muscowy rebuilt itself from the centre out.

April 14 1439 was a dark day for Moscow. Our national hero Yuri Patrikeev died. He was given full national honours and a state funeral. Thousands of people turned up for the burial procession to say their last goodbye to the man who had almost single-handedly brought Moscow to the mantle of supreme Russian power. He had joined the army when Moscow was an irrelevant minor Russian state in the far east of Europe, and died when Europe trembled at the sound of our approaching cossacks. He is handing over a stronger, more unified nation to the next generation. It's such a shame he would never see Muscowy come to maturity as Mother Russia.

On Sept 1, 1444, an engineer of brillance come to Moscow with plans for a new type of fortress. He was well received and became the Prince's official engineer. Land 2.

On Dec 1, 1444 we discovered the secret of making vodka. Coiencidently, it took quite a while for the makers to coherently pass on the recipe to the national archives. Infra 3.

June 15, 1445 saw Vasilli II give up the reigns of military command to concentrate on matters of state. (Vasilli II dies, but interestingly he's still the monarch

) However on Jan 1 1446 he appointed Fedor Basenok in his place as commander of the Moscow army.

Ivan Obolenski-Striga took command of the army in Novgorad on Jan 1 1447. Between the two leaders they met frequently on matters of security and defense, presenting frequent reports to Vasilli II.

Our naval abilities increased on Feb 1 1447 to level 2. At this point, we have little interest in matters of the sea.

In July 1447 Moscow and Ryazan re-affirmed their mutual military agreements and national security in a formal, floral ceremony. A bit of constenation ended with a bit of a laugh as Ryazan Prince's quill snapped and splashed ink onto the jacket of Vasilli. Political commentators around Europe are quoted as saying, "It's not like Ryazan had any choice in the matter. It was either sign or be absorbed by Moscow. Maybe that's why the Ryazan Prince was so nervous causing him to push too hard on the quill.".

On Sept 8th, 1447 treachery was enacted upon Muscowy. Lithuania declares war and is joined by Poland against us and Ryazan. The double treachery of our neighbors becomes totally apparent when Kazan, ever the Lithuanian puppet declares war on us as well!

We will teach Kazan a lesson!

Dale · June 17, 2003, 06:16

Jan 1, 1448 sees Muscowy at war with Lithuania, Poland and Kazan. This is the first real test of Moscow's armies.

Unfortunately, our armies are spread too thinly, and on July 11, 1448 we pay off Lithuania to end the war. The battle for Kazan, however, flows backwards and forwards between Kazan and Vladimir.

Whether it was due to Vasilli's failing mental abilities, pressure from the cabinet ministers, or just too much pressure in wartime, Vasilli appointed his son Ivan to co-rule Muscowy. Though it seems strange at first, it's warmly received by the populace.

Kazan finally fell to us on Sept 28th, 1449 and on that same day the Khan of Kazan aceeded to becoming our vassals. Revenge is exacted!

All was quiet for us for a few years, and did we need it! We had to bolster our troops, continue with the strengthening of our economy, and build government buildings across our lands.

In the continuation of the Russian Prince's manouvers around each other, Muscowy demanded the submission of Tver, and when they agreed they became our vassals on Feb 26, 1452.

Ryazan aceeded to the same demands on Nov 24, 1455. (Both are EEP events only I think).

Our land technology increased to 3 in March 1455.

On Sept 2, 1459 we resigned our alliance with Tver and Ryazan.

March 28, 1462 was a glorious day for Muscowy! Ivan III ascended to the throne after being given full powers by his father Vasilli II. Ivan III is our greatest monarch so far and much can be done with him.

On May 10, 1464 the fools in Tver declared war on Pskov. Both Moscow and Ryazan, not wanting to get involved in another war with Lithuania and Poland opted out of the alliance and secretly formed a new one the very next day. Tver would fight by itself.

On Jan 1, 1466 Ivan III held a meeting with the cabinet. He presented a plan to get a naval base in the north of our nation, on the Scandinavian peninsula. He showed us a nation that was currently weak, had no alliance to hold by, and had a number of ports in the north. Muscowy quickly prepared for war in the north for the first time!

Dale · June 19, 2003, 04:48

My save game keeps crashing a few days into 1545, so it looks like I'm going to have to scrap it.

But I'll put the screenshots of Russia from 1544. I'd just finished beating up the horde for the second time with Ryazan.

Europe...............

Dale · June 19, 2003, 04:51

And North America. A lot of the provinces (except for the indian tribes and a few good provs I've built to cities like Manhattan) are still TP's, but that's still pretty good colonising for the year.......

Serb · June 24, 2003, 04:11

Russian America!!!
Well done.

Few observations if you don't mind.
"On Jan 1, 1466 Ivan III held a meeting with the cabinet. "
I'm sorry, but it sounds pretty funny for my Russian ear.

It should have been: On Jan 1, 1466 Ivan III held a Boyarska Duma. "
Boyars- fat, old guys with very long beards. High ranked, wealthy Russian elite.
Duma- hmmm...it's current name for Russian parliament. Then it was like council of Boyars (aristocrats) and Tzar.
One more thing, Cossaks were much later. In 15 century Tzar's soldiers were called "strelzy".
Great AAR.

ravagon · June 24, 2003, 05:45

I could start one too if you like Serb?
With my playing ability I'm thinking of calling it "How to ruin Russia without even trying".

Dale

Quote:

My save game keeps crashing a few days into 1545, so it looks like I'm going to have to scrap it.

I ran into a similar problem with crash bugs on a particular date (don't remember which exactly) and had overwritten both autosaves before I realised it.
Managed to fix it by saving very close to the crash and then loading up the save as another country, playing as the new one until after the date in question, saving again and then loading up the new save as the original country. AI had totally botched my deployments and declared war on somebody in the meantime but at least I didn't lose my game. Don't know if this works for every kind of crash though...

Serb · June 24, 2003, 07:05

Quote:

Originally posted by ravagon
I could start one too if you like Serb?

Sure, why not?

Quote:

With my playing ability I'm thinking of calling it "How to ruin Russia without even trying".

I guess I see now, 'why not'.
I'm currently playing as Novgorod. Well, it's already Russia (I;m in the middle of XVI century). Pretty shitty atempt if you ask me. I've decided to play with honor and to conquer only provinces that righfully belongs to Mother Russia. I've conquered a lot of, but somehow I'm very low technologicaly. In my previous game, few days ago when I conquered Mongol and Baltic provinces and had 3 trade centers I had almost the same tech level as Major European powers. In my current game I'm 5-7 levels behind military and 1 level behind in trade&infra. Perhaps beacause I had very high inflation rate about 30% at the beggining? Now it droped thanks to 2 'good year' events. I don't know what to do. I have a respectable reputation with a lot of conquered territories, and hold 5 traders in majority of trade centers, but they almost do not generate an income. WTF?

Last time I played very long ago, (1.04) perhaps I just forget how to play?

Heresson · June 24, 2003, 08:28

Serb, playing this game is dangerous for You.

Nikolai · June 24, 2003, 13:25

Which patch are you playing, Serb? I was steadily getting better untill 1.06 and after, when I have been a moderate disaster...

Dale · June 24, 2003, 18:47

I find the best thing to do as a Russian minor to catch the Latin tech group is to concentrate solely on infrastructure/trade techs, going 1 for 1 with them till about 1500. Because you're fairly small up to that stage, and still inside your religious/culture provs, the actual cost of upgrading those two techs is pretty low. I try to get both to level 4 before 1500 (should be able to get infra4 by 1480), and then you go nuts on land tech. Because you've got awesome trade levels no one can kick you out of the CoTs, and your infra tech jumps your production revenue up, which is important if you stay on the serf side of that slider.

In the game above, in 1545 I had like infra/trade 5, land 18 and naval 11 (for shipyards). I was the clear leader in Europe. All because I totally ignored land/naval till 1500. Your natural growth in these areas (neighbour/monarch bonuses) is enough to keep up with the likes of Sweden, Lithuania and Poland.

Nikolai · June 24, 2003, 18:53

An intersting approach...

Got to try it!

Serb · June 25, 2003, 04:43

Quote:

Originally posted by Heresson
Serb, playing this game is dangerous for You.

Nope, at least not for me. If I'm playing EU2, say 'good bye' to Poland.

Serb · June 25, 2003, 04:43

Quote:

Originally posted by Nikolai
Which patch are you playing, Serb? I was steadily getting better untill 1.06 and after, when I have been a moderate disaster...

1.07

Serb · June 25, 2003, 05:00

Quote:

Originally posted by Dale
In the game above, in 1545 I had like infra/trade 5, land 18 and naval 11 (for shipyards). I was the clear leader in Europe. All because I totally ignored land/naval till 1500. Your natural growth in these areas (neighbour/monarch bonuses) is enough to keep up with the likes of Sweden, Lithuania and Poland.

I used the same startegy in my first game in 1.07 version. Aproximately at the midddle of XVI century I quickly removed my backwardness in military, because tech. cost depends on time. (the later, the less tech. cost) and those neighbor bonuses helps a lot too. But, in my second game I was unable to reach the same military level as other major powers (13-14lvl, iirc) so qickly. I'm still lvl6 and progress goes MUCH slower than in my previous game. Two major reasons I guess: different income (only 1TC instead of 3), my inovativness (sp?) and other settings are different a bit. But the thing that I still do not understand is why in the hell my merchants almost don't generate income? In some TC they generate 0, while foreign traders generate 10+? Perhaps it's some how related to temporal insanity of Ivan the Terrible? I never saw such situation before. At the beggining of the game they worked just fine, then some kind of sh!t happen and I almost lost my trade income.
Btw, I have 5 traders almost in all known TC (except the most expensive Asian- India, etc) and no one kicks me out of them too despite that my trade level is lower (3 iirc, while majority of others have 4). I just signed trade agreements with a lot of countries while I already had 5 traders in foreign TC. I mean when I have 5 traders in TC, I sign a trade agreement with major powers who have their traders in the same TC, then wait untill I gain a lot of traders and diplomats again and go to conquer another market. It's my standart tactics. All I have to do now is to kick-out traders of minor countries if they somehow took my place on those markets.

Nikolai · June 25, 2003, 10:06

Tell me Dale, how did you manage to get all that land in America by 1544?

You are not a country of naval explorers to say so, and you are a long way from America by sea! And, do you think you'd get so good tech levels that fast without your possesions in America?

Heresson · June 25, 2003, 11:41

Quote:

Originally posted by Serb

Nope, at least not for me. If I'm playing EU2, say 'good bye' to Poland.

Knowing You, it'd rather be "Goodbye to Russia"

Dale · June 25, 2003, 18:59

Nikolai:

How'd I get all that land in NA? Well I'm glad you asked.

In the 1460's I DoWed Norway (who by luck had dropped out of the Dane-Swede-Norway alliance). Captured their two colonies in the north quickly, sacked Oslo for their maps (they know the NE coast of Canada you know

), captured the Greenland provinces from Norway and peaced out with Finmark and Greenland. Now since they're colonies/TP's I got 0BB and Norway's maps.

In 1495 I got a conquistador and it was a matter of ship him across to America and explore. I bee-lined directly for the rich Manhattan area till I came up against natives. As Russia, I was getting 3 colonists a year (2 + 1 for Finmark still being a colony making me a colonial nation) I popped a TP onto every square as I explored/de-natived them (except for very low/low aggressive ones). I worked on two cities in America and in the early 1520's built an army. The native tribes were in alliance with each other, so I only suffered -2 stab for DoWing effectively 4 tribes. Annexed the tribes, got their maps, and kept TP popping. Like I said above, almost every province in NA is a TP, except for a couple of good cities (like Manhattan for the CoT) and the native provs.

Hope that helps.

Nikolai · June 25, 2003, 19:05

Holy ghost! Very impressive!

I've never thought about that! BTW, I'm playing Muscowy myself now, but I am around 1470 and still I have only tech 3 in infra and researching tech 3 i trade...