Welcome to Lets Play: Europa Universalis III(MEIOU). I, Leecros, will be your host today and i shall take you upon an exciting journey through history.
So, what is Europa Universalis III?
Europa Universalis III published by Paradox Interactive. It is a Grand Strategy Game covering the years from 1399 to the early 1800's. In it, you pick any nations in the world and guide it to glory.....or extinction. I'll go into a little bit more detail as the situations arise.
Well, that sounds great and all, but what's MEIOU? That's not an Europa Universalis III expansion.
Well you would be correct, MEIOU is a quite large mod for the Divine Wind Expansion of the game. It expands the historical scope to 1356-1856. Adding about 40 years onto each end. It also adds more nations, provinces, decisions, sliders, and other such things. It may be best to go to the paradox forums and read Gigau's(The Mod's creator) take on what exactly MEIOU is... (link)
So, why MEIOU? Why not Manga Mundi or one of those other great mods out there?
Well, i've played a few EUIII mods in my time, but MEIOU has really been the only one that's stuck to me. This is of course my personal opinion and that's just the way it is. It is, unfortunately still rather buggy and there's new releases regularly and i hope we don't run into any issues with bugs. Two locations that i know to avoid is Japan and the Roman Empire as there are a couple of well known bugs involving them. Hopefully that doesn't become an issue, but we shall see.
So, what nation are you going to play?
We will be playing as Novgorod. As chosen by the readers. After a three-way tie with the Teutonic Order and Madurai it came out on top in the tiebreaker.
Will you be finishing it?
I certainly plan on it, Barring unforeseeable consequences i fully intend to play the game through until either the end of the game or the nation i am playing gets annexed.
So, how will this work?
Well that's partly up to you ladies and gentlemen. I intend to write it like a story using my own imagination to embellish and elaborate it. I don't want it to turn into a power gaming trip to conquer the world. However from time to time i'll let you, the reader have an impact on my course of actions depending on my situation. You may, if you wish roleplay or just tell me what you think i should do next. Normally there's likely going to be a simple decision involved. "Do we Attack France? Or do we wait and strike them when they're weak? Do we Colonize the Americas? Or do we focus on the homeland?" These are questions that may come up and there may even be a third or fourth answer.
I will retain the right to act against these decisions if i feel they are suicidal ill-advised.
How often will you be updating?
I hope to update as often as i can. MEIOU is about 200-300 times slower than a normal Vanilla game and i can only move as fast as the game goes. On top of that while i do plan on playing almost daily i may not post daily as these posts take time to do(i've been working on this one for an hour and a half.)
And that's about it. Please keep your arms and legs in the vehicle at all times or they may be ripped off by rebels and remember, this is my first Lets Play. Be gentle, but know that constructive criticism is appreciated.
Oh and one last thing. I will be playing on Hard difficulty with High AI Aggressiveness. Lucky Nations(*) will be set to random. I also Will Not Save Scum Period. That sort of ruins the whole point of the game if i can just close and load the game to avoid getting my butt kicked. If i get annexed the LP will be over. Depending on the feeling of the viewers at the time and the strength of the nation, i may take a place on the seat as the person who conquered me.
*Vanilla Note: Lucky Nations is a small buff given to nations that were powerful at the time. They aren't massive bonuses, but they are still bonuses. While it is random, the randomness factor tends to favor larger nations.
Pick up Novgorod, and wipe out both the Horde and the smug smile on Muscovy's face. And then see how much of Europe you can grab expanding westward.
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Quote:
Originally Posted by JaronK
Frankly, a Wizard can suck even more than a Fighter could ever dream of sucking. A Fighter can stab himself to death, but only a Wizard could Plane Shift to some horrible far realm to be tortured for an eternity of insanity.
Pick up Novgorod, and wipe out both the Horde and the smug smile on Muscovy's face. And then see how much of Europe you can grab expanding westward.
Novgorod is certainly a decent choice. They're large enough that one bad or unlucky war won't finish them off, but most of their land isn't extremely valuable(With Novgorod being the most notable exception and even it's not valuable compared to many west European regions). They're also a Merchant Republic which throws in the added dynamic of Elections, but we shall see. I plan on letting this thread stew over the weekend and going with what the majority rules.
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Originally Posted by BRC
teleporting Hyper Nixon solves problems with Patriotism.
I'll second novogrod. They have good expansion possibilities to the east and some powerful rivals to the west and south (Sweden, Teutonic Order, and Poland-Lithuania). Always makes for an interesting game.
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At the heart of all beauty lies something inhuman, and these hills, the softness of the sky, the outline of the trees at this very minute lose the illusory meaning with which we clothed them, henceforth more remote than a lost paradise.
-Camus, An Absurd Reasoning
playing as one of the Native American factions would certainly be different. It's one of a few things that i haven't done in Europa, either Vanilla or MEIOU. I've done other achievements. I've united Japan before 1500, Formed just about every formable nation in the vanilla game at some point in time. Including uniting the Holy Roman Empire as a tiny nation. I've even conquered a large part of Asia playing as Ryukyu, notorious for being one of the most difficult nations in the game. However i don't remember a single time I've ever played a native game.
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Quote:
Originally Posted by BRC
teleporting Hyper Nixon solves problems with Patriotism.
Madurai! With Travanacore and the Bahmanids as your immediate neighbours, reuniting India should be fun. Normally Bengal starts to unify the North so they'll be another challenge. Hopefully China has restabilized by the time you need a new challenge.
The problem with the native american factions is that they're kinda boring for much of the early/mid game. All you can do is conquer your neighbors, which should happen quick, and then wait at x5 speed for a european nation to drop a colony next to you so you can westernize. It gets interesting then, trying to westernize and build up before getting crushed by the europeans, but before that it's kinda dull.
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At the heart of all beauty lies something inhuman, and these hills, the softness of the sky, the outline of the trees at this very minute lose the illusory meaning with which we clothed them, henceforth more remote than a lost paradise.
-Camus, An Absurd Reasoning
I don't really mind the UI itself, although it did take a little bit of getting used to. I also play Dwarf Fortress, however, so the UI isn't really something i look at.
Quote:
Originally Posted by Weezer
The problem with the native american factions is that they're kinda boring for much of the early/mid game. All you can do is conquer your neighbors, which should happen quick, and then wait at x5 speed for a european nation to drop a colony next to you so you can westernize. It gets interesting then, trying to westernize and build up before getting crushed by the europeans, but before that it's kinda dull.
I've noticed the AI Natives surviving better in MEIOU, especially if they manage to form large empires spanning the entire area. Although the wait for the Europeans can potentially be longer because they have a tendency to start colonizing later.
So going into the last day for people to throw their lot behind a nation we have
2 - Novgorod
1 - Cuzco
1 - Madurai
I have my doubts as to how well i can do with Madurai, but I don't play Europa because it's easy.
edit: The Difficulty Gauge for Madurai is reading the same as Novgorod, but that's not always entirely accurate.
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Originally Posted by BRC
teleporting Hyper Nixon solves problems with Patriotism.
Go Teutonic Order, and focus the entire game on converting the nonbelievers rather than conquest for conquest's sake. If we take land, we convert it to a more "proper" religion, then release it as its own state once more, knowing we have done God's work.
At least to start the game, until we all shout at you to conquer Afghanistan or somesuch in 1450, before we build a navy or even discover the place.
The difficulty gauge is rarely a realistic appraisal of true difficulty, since it only accounts for your tech/manpower/economy and not the situation your nation is actually in. Take its readings with a pinch of salt!
Novgorod is a pretty hefty challenge, but not quite as interesting as Madurai or Cuzco, so I'm happy to pitch support in for one of them. I think I'll go with Madurai as the I've seen a lot of Native American LPs/AARs, especially in MEIOU, but relatively few Indian ones!
The difficulty gauge is rarely a realistic appraisal of true difficulty, since it only accounts for your tech/manpower/economy and not the situation your nation is actually in. Take its readings with a pinch of salt!
That is indeed true, but i think that it may be fairly accurate for Madurai's situation. They have the more powerful Vijayanagar To their north who could easily block us in. If that happened, it could be a long waiting game until they get into a situation where we can take advantage of them.
Assuming they don't turn on us in that time.
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Quote:
Originally Posted by BRC
teleporting Hyper Nixon solves problems with Patriotism.
Mewtarthio, you have scared my brain into hiding, a trembling, broken shadow of a thing, cowering somewhere in the soothing darkness and singing nursery rhymes in the hope of obscuring the Lovecraftian facts you so boldly brought into daylight.
So for the tiebreaker here's what we're going to do. There's three options to vote for. Novgorod, Madurai, and Teutonic order. The next person to vote after this post will be the decider.
For the sake of expediting this process so that even if you voted previously you can recast your vote. I was considering this as the time ticked down to midnight and felt that this was the best way without me just randomly picking one of the three or casting my own vote. Hopefully that means i'll wake up and check this thread and see what nation i'll be playing.
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Originally Posted by BRC
teleporting Hyper Nixon solves problems with Patriotism.
Can we vote if we already voted? Because then Novgorod all the way, baby.
You can set your first goal to be conquering the Teutons though, so that fewer people feel left out.
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Quote:
Originally Posted by JaronK
Frankly, a Wizard can suck even more than a Fighter could ever dream of sucking. A Fighter can stab himself to death, but only a Wizard could Plane Shift to some horrible far realm to be tortured for an eternity of insanity.
3 way tie obviously means you need to do 3 lets plays!
Looks like the vote has been cast, so three hurrahs for Novgorod!
And sure, lets mark our first objective of wiping the Teutonic Order from the map. That way we have a country ruled by orthodox merchants with a powerful catholic faction inside for silly roleplaying of conflict within the borders.
Welcome to Europe, the year is 1356 and we are in a time of great change and progress. Over the next 400 years, Kingdoms will rise, Empires will fall, Sweeping reforms and counter reforms, and religious unrest will alter the very face of the world as we know it. So, here is the known world. Consisting of mostly Europe and North Africa at this time:
Spoiler
We aren't playing the world though. That would be silly, we're playing one nation. Specifically Novgorod. So lets take a closer look at Novgorod.
Spoiler
Novgorod is a medium sized nation in North East Europe. It's a Russian Orthodox Merchant Republic based out of it's Center of Trade in the city of Novgorod in Severnaya Rus. It is, however rather poor for a nation that size and many powerful factions may strive to take their land away from them.
Spoiler
*MEIOU note: We start with the merchant adventures national idea....not my favorite, but it's definitely all right for a merchant republic.
In Scandanavia, we have Sweden. Although King Magnus is currently at war with his son over the Swedish crown. When that is resolved he may set his sights on us.
On our southern borders we have The Livonian Order, a Vassal State to the Teutonic Order and Pagan Lithuania. The Teutons may see us as heretics and strive to convert us to the Catholic faith. Whereas Pagan Lithuania may view us similarly and attempt to take our land for their own pagan benefits.
We also border Muscowy. A smaller nation than us, but more wealthy and possibly the most ambitious of them all.
Far to the south, bordering lands unknown. The Blue Horde lurks. At any time they could press north, raping and pillaging as they come.
So, who rules this land? The Ruler of Novgorod is called the Posadnik. Ontsifor Lukinich is a brilliant man with skills at managing government and the military, but he's also known for his plots and plans. Tactics to better the nation*.
Spoiler
*Meiou note: Every ruler ascends to the throne with two traits. They can be very good, or very bad. They also have a third trait for how religious they are, but that has less of an impact.
He was just recently elected and he already had a dilemma on his hands. He held in his hands three alliance proposals. One from Denmark, One from Sweden, and one from Smolensk. The first day on the job and he's already making decisions to impact Novgorod's future. Sweden and Denmark were currently in the middle of a war against King Magnus of Sweden's son, King Erik. If he accepts the alliance, it surely won't be long before a call to arms is sent. He mulls it over for a few days before accepting Denmark and Sweden's alliance proposal. Smolensk, however, wasn't as lucky. Posdanik Lukinich was already forming a plan in his head and didn't want more distractions.
Posdanik Lukinich immediately starts organizing a council of advisers* to assist him.
Spoiler
*Vanilla Note: The Great Men/Council all give bonuses to your nation, they rank from one star to six and can be quite useful.
Posdanik Lukinich also began to divert funds away from the capital and towards the region of Olonets, in the hopes that such actions will stimulate the growth of the small village of Kam, an area that's currently being sustained by the government since it only has a population of 50 people.
Also in an attempt to generate more income he opened the way for traders to travel to lubeck to trade their goods and loosed some of the more mercantile laws. He also began to mass troops in anticipation of the war with King Erik Sweden(Mentioned from now on as Sverige).
Sure enough just a month later, February 20, Sweden sent a call to arms. Posdanik Lukinich grinned. They acted exactly as anticipated. He immediately began directing troops into the border regions between Novgorod and Sverige. Before they made it there however, King Erik calls Yaroslavl and Holstein into the war. Yaroslavl in an attempt to divert Novgorodian troops and Holstein in a similar attempt against Denmark.
Posdanik Lukinich was not perturbed though,Yaroslavl was a tiny nation on Novgorod's border. They didn't have the power to pose a real threat. He ordered his troops to continue pushing into the border regions of Viipuri and Savo. By the end of the year, Several Sverigen regions were under siege by the Danish, Swedish, and Novgorodian armies.
Spoiler
As 1357 came about though something happened that the Posadnik didn't expect. Muscowy, seeing that their Russian "Friends" to the north were busy declared war on Tver and crushed them. In a similar attempt, Pagan Lithuania attacked Smolensk. It seems as if whenever Novgorod gets into a war, her enemies take advantage*. However, by May, all of Sverige's territories were under siege. *Vanilla note: Thus is the power of High AI Aggression
In July, Savo surrendered to Novgorodian forces. A few days after the defeat, Denmark, and Novgorod go into private negotiations to negotiate their withdrawl from the war. By August, Denmark negotiated the annexation of Halland in exchange for their withdrawal. Unfortunately for both Swedens, Posdanik Lukinich had other plans. He subtly manipulated the negotiations so they would go nowhere. He wouldn't get the opportunity to move these plans forward for another year and the negotiations stalled.
March of 1358 was when he enacted his plan. Sending bribes to Sverige's troops in Pohjanmaa, bribing the fortress into surrendering to Novgorod right under the noses of the Swiss armies. Suspicious of Novgorod's intent, King Magnus sent a letter to Posdanik Lukinich demanding to know his intent. Lukinich responds with "We are merely helping you in the war effort."
By June, Sweden had annexed Sverige's ally, Holstein and Novgorod finally defeats the garrison at Viipuri. Novgorod's ruler finished what he wanted. He sends a declaration of peace to King Erik. Demanding the handover of Savo and Viipuri to Novgorod. This ends Novgorod's part in the war. The war continues for another year, ending with a simple ceasefire.
Spoiler
However, Posdanik Lukinich Already had other plans up his sleeve. Within a few months of exiting the war, Posdanik Lukinich finally sends their response to Muscowy's aggression. Despite their good relations, Novgorod declares war on Beloozero. The "War of consolidation" Hoping to lure their allies, Rostov and Smolensk into the war to improve their position against Muscowy and reclaim Novgorodian land. Sure enough by October Beloozero and its allies answer the call for war against Novgorod right into the Posdanik's plans.
It's not even a close war that leads up to the elections. By the time of the elections Beloozero is completely destroyed and Rostov and Smolensk are on the run. Smolensk is crippled by Lithuania finally taking the piece out of them that they wanted.
thus begins the elections:
Spoiler
So, does Ontsifor Lukinich deserve to be reelected as Posdanik? He's certainly done his part to improve Novgorod's position. He's improved the economy and is working towards regaining rightful Novgorodian land. However he's also deceitful. He's stolen land right out from under Sweden and declared his "War of Consolidation" on a friendly nation. If this path continues he may ruin Novgorod's reputation for years to come.
Here is the map of Novgorod and the surrounding area after Lukinich's first term:
Spoiler
Quote:
Originally Posted by Kurgan
3 way tie obviously means you need to do 3 lets plays!
Perhaps i will do another Lets play of one of the two competitors when i'm finished with this one, but we'll see how this one goes.
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Quote:
Originally Posted by BRC
teleporting Hyper Nixon solves problems with Patriotism.
If they were truly friendly nations, they would understand that unity in the face of the Mongol threat is more important than anything else. As for Sweden, they are heathen Catholics and deserve no mercy. Keep Lukinich, and keep squeezing your neighbours for all they're worth.
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Quote:
Originally Posted by JaronK
Frankly, a Wizard can suck even more than a Fighter could ever dream of sucking. A Fighter can stab himself to death, but only a Wizard could Plane Shift to some horrible far realm to be tortured for an eternity of insanity.
Chapter 2:The Great Rostov Brawl AKA: The one where i get lucky
Posdanik Lukinich was elected for a second term. Despite his questionable acts and dangerous plans his attempts at strengthening Novgorod have proved fruitful thus far. However, those opinions may soon change...
Shortly after the elections, the Rostovian Army was cornered and defeated, seeing their defeat was imminent, Rostov started sending diplomats begging for peace. These were ignored as the Novgorodian Armies marched on the capital of Rostov. Pskov, a small nation who's been allied with Novgorod from the beginning learned from Novgorod's moves on Sweden. They entered private negotiations with Rostov and negotiated for the annexation of Zaozerye. A region which rightfully belongs to Novgorod! Publicly Posdanik Lukinich applauded his ally's gains, but quickly began making plans for taking the region from them.
June 13, in an attempt to thwart Novgorod's attempts to conquer Rostov, Muscowy declares war on Rostov. Dooming the small nation to either be conquered by Novgorod or Muscowy. In a somewhat surprising move, King Erik of Sverige came to their defense, along with several other russian minors, including Yaroslavl and Nizhny Novgorod. By the end of July Smolensk was fully occupied and annexed.
At the start of 1361, Posdanik Lukinich broke his military access agreement with Pskov and funded patriots in Zaozerye. Hoping they would capture the territory and merge with Novgorod without any Novgorodian military intervention.
June 4, after a year and 2 months of being under siege. The Surrender of Rostov was a strange sight. With Muscovite troops on one side of the city and Novgorodian armies on the other. When a Rostovian horseman rode out of the gate with the Signed letter of Surrender, both armies charged at the horsemen. In the Great Rostov Brawl the horseman and several dozen Muscovite and Novgorodian troops were killed. The letter of surrender however was taken by Novgorod.
After Rostov Surrendered, Posdanik Lukinich pulled a move no one suspected, Lukinich forces Rostov to concede to be Novgorod's vassal. By the end of the next month, Novgorod gets pulled into the war against Muscowy to defend their new vassal. Massive protests hits the major population centers upon hearing that Novgorod was not only at war, but intentionally provoked their powerful neighbor, massively destabilizing the country.
Spoiler
~I really dropped the ball here, I had forgotten to cancel military access with Muscowy and took a crippling stability* hit from getting thrown into the war with Muscowy. However i said no reloading and that's something i'm sticking to.~
*Vanilla Note: Stability is how stable your country is. It's on a range from -3 to 3 and positive stability gives bonuses and negative stability gives penalties. They are quite good bonuses and bad penalties.
At the start of 1362 Moldavia, an ally of Muscowy is forced to withdrawl from the war, citing growing concerns of Mongolian invasion. A month later Muscowy was willing to offer peace, Knowing that more aggressive actions may tear his country apart, Posdanik Lukinich accepts peace with Muscowy. the terms were: Muscowy joins the Novgorodian League, Muscowy renounces their cliams on rostov, and pays minor reparations. Although the War of Consolidation technically ended with the vassalization of Rostov. Most historians agree that the war wasn't officially ended until the peace between Muscowy and Novgorod.
Spoiler
~I got really really lucky here. Because the Muscovian armies squatted on Rostov for a year they took considerable attrition while Sverige and its allies did quite a number on them. At some point during that time their ruler died and they lost their Rising Nations buff and were unable to support the 30,000 troops they had at the start of the war.~
After the war, Posdanik Lukinich began the long road to stabilizing his nation. He wouldn't get much of a chance, however, as Lithuania had other things in mind. In September 1362, Lithuania declared war on Novgorod, citing the return of their rightful land in Smolensk.
Spoiler
Sick of the deviousness of Novgorod, Sweden and Denmark ignore the call to arms.
Spoiler
However, they did feel guilty over it and both of them sent war subsidies to help Novgorod against the pagan menace.with the sudden influx of money, Posdanik Lukinich orders in increase in minting and recruiting, hoping to have an army comparable to Lithuania's before they march across the border. Unfortunately they would march across the border a month later, with Lukinich still not having the army he would like. By the end of the year, three armies had moved into the border regions and laid siege to Novgorodian land.
Spoiler
The winter was a hard one for Lithuanian troops however, and in the few months since the start of the war, by January 1, 1363, Lithuania would lose 13,000 troops to the harsh winter alone. Sensing that he would need even more troops, Posdanik Lukinich commissions several bands of mercenaries. After finally having a large enough of an army to stand a chance, he personally takes control of the army and moves them towards the nearest Lithuanian army besieging the area of Starya Rusa. Despite a vicious battle, Novgorod was forced to withdraw due to the lack of morale. However, they did manage to deal more damage to the Lithuanian troops who were forced to pull back as well.
In an attempt to break the spirit of the Novgorodian army, Lithuania launches an attack on the army at the Capital. Despite the Novgorodian defeat there as well, they did not manage a rout. In a mildly surprising move, The Teutonic Order saw our plight against the Heathens and sent an alliance offer. Posdanik Lukinich quickly accepted and by the beginning of October Teutonic and Livonian troops were pushing across the border into Lithuania.
Spoiler
On October 17, the Novgorodian army clashed with the Lithuanian army sieging the capital and defeated them, pushing them back. Afterwards Posdanik Lukinich turned his army back to Starya Rusa in an attempt to gain momentum. Unfortunately while he did defeat the army at Starya Rusa he was forced to withdraw yet again as Lithuania had taken control of all of Smolensk and the majority of their army was now marching for the capital.
Posdanik Lukinich reentered the capital on January 5,1364, defeated. He wrote a letter of concession to Lithuania offering them Smolensk and a small reparations. Lithuania accepted and in a speech about it the following day, Posdanik Lukinich said "It is better to lose a small piece of our nation than for our entire nation to collapse in war."
Spoiler
Thus, with the smoke of war barely beginning to clear the elections begin. Posdanik Lukinich was full of mistakes. He certainly got struck with the Second Term Blues. Novgorod is massively destabilized and his only net gain was a vassal in Rostov. While this position is good in the defense against Muscowy it helped little during the war with Lithuania which....while valiantly fought ultimately ended in defeat. So does Lukinich deserve a third term?
Spoiler
Here's a map of the Local Cluster after Lukinich's Second Term:
Spoiler
Phew that was quite the 4 years. A few things i didn't mention, the two kings of Sweden have reconciled and we now have a united Sweden. Also Denmark was returned Skane per their agreement with Sweden. I don't know if having a vassal in the heart of Muscowy is a good or bad idea, but i suppose we'll see...
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Quote:
Originally Posted by BRC
teleporting Hyper Nixon solves problems with Patriotism.
Clearly, the hit to Novgorod's reputation was too high a price to pay. If Lukinich's scheming isn't good enough to stave off Lithuanian swords, then he goes out the window and we get either a military ruler or a diplomat who will reconcile with Novgorod's allies. Since we want moar land, I think military is the way to go here.
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Quote:
Originally Posted by JaronK
Frankly, a Wizard can suck even more than a Fighter could ever dream of sucking. A Fighter can stab himself to death, but only a Wizard could Plane Shift to some horrible far realm to be tortured for an eternity of insanity.
Hardly! A diplomatic solution must be reached! The Lithuanians declare themselves the inheritors of the legacy of the Kievan Rus? Put together a coalition and CRUSH the pagans! Heal our grievances with our Orthodox brethren. Perhaps even an alliance with the heretic Poland would be in our interest.
Lukinich has been a mixed bag for us. He has brought our nation some mild greatness, but also managed to pull a defeat out of the jaws of victory! This is proof that we are pushing ourselves too far too fast! I say, we need to CONSOLIDATE! Put <insert name of bureaucratic candidate> into power, and let us work on rebuilding and reorganizing before we throw the dice once more! It doesn't matter how many swords we have or how many allies we have, if we cannot even administer our own territories, we will falter and fall.
Since we seem to have a bit of a tie going on, so I'll be the voice of unreason.
We need a military leader right now. The army needs to be rebuilt and we need to take back the territory that rightfully belongs to us. No peace until those dirty heritic pagens are put to the sword!
Chapter 2: Newish Blood AKA: The one where i get rebels
January 10: The elections were held and with the din of war still clearing one thing became obvious. Lukinich would not be re-elected. Despite all of his efforts the nobles felt incredibly hurt that he had failed the Republic in their war against Lithuania. Despite his excuses they felt his surrender was a little bit premature.
In light of this the election itself was a hard fought battle. Once the votes were tallied, Novgorod had a new Posdanik: Afanasiy Nagiye. Posdanik Nagiye greatly admired his predecessors strategies against Sweden and Muscowy, however he greatly disapproved of his lack of Diplomatic Initiative.
Spoiler
In his first acts he sent requests to Denmark and Sweden, requesting military access. A small olive branch to repair the damaged relations between them and Novgorod, but a start. He also sent an offer of an Alliance to Muscowy. Despite the mildly unpopular move, it was clear that the Heretic Lithuania was a grander menace. Surprisingly, Muscowy accepted. He also sends a diplomat to Poland in an attempt to organize friendship between local powers.
Then he began to repair the military for his next campaign. Despite his skill in Diplomatic and Military affairs, Posdanik Nagiye had little skill at the administration requirements of running a nation as large as Novgorod. It wasn't long before he fell behind in his work causing inefficiencies in the taxes, logistics, and other such concerns.
Spoiler
MEIOU note: In MEIOU a nation that is too large to be administered by the current policies receives a realm duress penalty. The one we currently have is minor, but they can be difficult issues for larger nations to sort out.
By the beginning of March the army was reorganized. Posdanik Nagiye began to contemplate his next move to strengthen Novgorod's position. His attention turned to Tver, a small nation that borders Novgorod, Lithuania, and Muscowy. While they do have the right to be independant, they would be best protected from all three factions if they were vassalized by one of them. Nagiye felt that Novgorod was the best nation for this undertaking.
Spoiler
In light of his recent progresses on the diplomatic field and their support of the alliances with both the Teutonic order, Muscowy, and the movements towards positive relations with Poland, several nobles contibuted considerably to the national treasury in the hopes that these diplomatic procedures will continue.
Spoiler
At the beginning of April, Posdanik Nagiye sends a formal Declaration of war to Tver, refusing to call in his allies in an attempt to avoid a similar fiasco like The Great Rostov Brawl. Having no allies of their own, it only takes until the end of May for their 7,000 strong army to be defeated and the Novgorodian army to begin sieging the capital.
Despite his best efforts, Posdanik Nagiye still had issues stabilizing Novgorod itself. By December rebellion was running rampant with rebel groups appearing all across the nation. Nagiye moved troops to counter them, but it was a difficult task.
Spoiler
~We're looking at +1 stab every two years or so. A slow process. Between the size of our nation, the value of it, the lack of stability increasing advisors, and a good administrator it's really hurting. I intend to play it as the ruler's traits and skills play so neither Lukinich nor Nagiye are really focusing on Cultural Tradition~
April 30 - The Blue Horde invades Muscowy and Nizhny Novgorod.
It takes nearly a year, but on May 17 Tver's capital falls and they quickly surrender to Novgorod under vassalage. Thus giving Posdanik Nagiye his first victory in war and another ally to the Novgorodian cause. The troops free from the burden of war, Nagiye quickly sends the bulk of the army to go hunt rebels.
June 10 scores Lukinich his final victory. After two years of being held by Novgorodian rebels, Zaozerye defects to Novgorod. the rebels there swearing allegiance to the state. However, due to constant occupation and oppression at the hands of the rebels, Zaozerye's capital is reduced to only 500 people, forcing it to be sustained by the already strained government.
At the end of 1365, Lithuania invaded Karachev, on the border of Muscovy and Lithuania. Nizhny Novgorod leads the alliance and calls in our ally Muscowy*. Fortunately, as Muscowy is distracted by the Blue Horde, so is Lithuania.
*Vanilla note: Muscowy is the Defender of the Faith. This means that they are obliged to join in wars against religious enemies such as Pagan Lithuania, Catholic Europe, and Muslim nations
In the middle of August, Posdanik Nagiye began to turn his attention back to military gains. His aim was Yaroslavl. Another nation to vassalize. This would bring a third nation under Novgorod's wing, along with giving Rostov direct military access to Novgorod should the situation arise. He began moving troops to Belzaroo and Bezhichi on the border of Yaroslavl in preparation.
In December, 1366, Posdanik Nagiye is ready to make his move on Yaroslavl. Utilizing the same strategy as he did against Tver he quickly smashes the small Yaroslavan army and besieges the capital by February 1367. The only flaw in his plan was that he didn't expect Nizhny Novgorod to join the war, however as they have an army of 7,000 men. He felt it was unlikey that they would cause trouble.
Spoiler
As the elections come around in January of 1368, the siege of Yaroslavl is still ongoing:
Spoiler
So, Posdanik Nagiye's first term saw a large amount of unrest. He managed to vassalize Tver and it appears he will do the same to Yaroslavl. Novgorod is still having stability issues and rebels are running rampant. Despite this, most of the issues are improving, being left over from Lukinich's deceit. We also see the beginning of the decline of Lithuania. Muscowy and the Blue Horde are on the offensive. Orthodox rebels are running rampant. However none of these things have been influenced by Novgorod yet. So, does Nagiye deserve another term? Or is he too similar to Lukinich in his tactics and personality.
There is yet another issue, fellow nobles. Pagan Lithuania is floundering under Muscowy and their recent Blue Horde and Rebel Issues. Our ceasefire runs out in a year. It may be prudent to attack them in defiance for them trouncing us previously. However if Muscowy cedes from the war, we will be left to fight the Pagan Menace alone and Novgorod has about 4 more years before it's on the positive end of their recovery.
Map of the Local Cluster at the end of Nagiye's first term:
Spoiler
I have yet another issue to discuss. It appears as if Novgorod cannot form Russia in the current version of MEIOU. However it seems as if it's more of an oversight than an intentional condition. I've considered modding it in myself, but i have no skill at modding EU3 . That said if a fix is released i will be installing the fix. If it's not fixed by the time we're ready to form Russia...presumably after we crush Muscowy in one way or another, i may see if i can find out if i can mod it in....which carries it's own risks, or simply change the name of the nation. The second may be easier and less risky with damaging something important, but we won't get the benefits of Cores or a tax boost as we would if we had just formed Russia via decision.
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Quote:
Originally Posted by BRC
teleporting Hyper Nixon solves problems with Patriotism.
Fire this guy. He hasn't been able to solve our problems quickly enough, and it's only a matter of time before the Horde comes this far north.
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Quote:
Originally Posted by JaronK
Frankly, a Wizard can suck even more than a Fighter could ever dream of sucking. A Fighter can stab himself to death, but only a Wizard could Plane Shift to some horrible far realm to be tortured for an eternity of insanity.
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. That said if a fix is released i will be installing the fix. If it's not fixed by the time we're ready to form Russia...presumably after we crush Muscowy in one way or another, i may see if i can find out if i can mod it in....which carries it's own risks, or simply change the name of the nation. The second may be easier and less risky with damaging something important, but we won't get the benefits of Cores or a tax boost as we would if we had just formed Russia via decision.
