Victoria: Austrian AAR, of sorts.

[Carach]

thought i would try this shiz out.

so i made a roman empire on my last victoria campaign but i was a major noob and basically cheated my entire way through it - hence why im not doing an aar of that one heh.

This is about Austria; another empire i am quite fascinated about and tbh, i just like the giant blob they were on european maps (possibly one of the most squarish empires the world has ever seen?) I plan to play this campaign through to the end and into Hoi2 via export.


This is the ancient empire, 1836. A period of peace and prosperity; this happy world is about to be thrown upside down as the world's most evil imperialist gamer (me) takes command in an attempt to change history.

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Ive played up to around 1874 so its going to be past tense at first but we will eventually get into present/future tense.

My first plans concerned the south of the Empire: the balkan states and the proxies of the Ottoman Empire (and them too)

Basically i wanted to annex these countries and end ottoman influence here while the ottomans were busy fighting egypt for their land back; thus i went about on my merry business:

By the mid 1840s i had put serbia to one province and taken a few Ottoman holdings. I decided to make white peace with the other proxies because at this time i did not have the military capability to take their provinces at the same time as fighting the ottomans. They would come into the fold later.


A victorious war against the slightly superior numbers of the Ottoman Empire over and land gained: The Austrian Empire, 1848.

Not particularly long after this time (after the peace treaties expired) i declared on Serbia again in order to annex them and once again got into a war with the Ottomans: The result was an annexed Serbia and yet more provinces taken from the Ottomans (just 2.. i was being nice). To make a clearer border i got rid of Montenegro and annexed them with ease as they had no allies.

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So the Empire faced a few years of peace after this period of establishing power in the Balkans. During this time the Crimean war occured and both Austria and Prussia remained neutral while Britain, France, the Ottoman Empire and multiple Italian states invaded Russia both from the baltic and the Black Sea. the allies gained almost all of Russia's western provinces and Russia was soon seeking terms with them; first the French made peace, gaining several provinces in the far east (just north of japan), then it was the Brit's turn and they gained several provinces on the Black sea coast aswell as large tracts of land in the Baltic - surely humiliating for the Russians. The ottomans were happy to maintain the status quo. and thus ended the Crimean war.

It was not long after this large-scale war when i looked at taking wallachia and whatever the other one's called was when i ran into a spot of trouble. Silly old me didnt look at their relations with other nations, and, thinking they were only allied with Ottomans as per usual i declared war with the intention of annexation of both states. To my suprise and slight horror the russians (having just finished the Crimean war were built up with armies) went to war with me (turns out they had been garentueeing the independance of these states).

I quickly moved units to my front with the Russians and played a long game of shuffling units around to counter their advances while my by-now mobilised forces pushed on Wallachia and the other one; annexing them both in relatively short order and thus allowing these units to be available for offensive action in Russia itself - The counter attack began.

moving a large bulk of some 9 divisions up the black sea coast in coordination with units to the north i pushed deep into the Russian bulge that lay between Prussia and Austria, encircling multiple Russian units and destroying them. It didnt take too long for the russians to seek terms (suprisingly) and after declining a few i demanded a couple of provinces that linked Austria to the Black Sea itself - they accepted and war was ended.

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It was quite lucky the war with the Russians ended when it did because the Prussians were begining to get pushy with their hegemony demands of Northern Germany - A year or so after the ending of hostilities with Russia the rising tensions with Prussia came to a head and war broke out between the two.
Austrian troops were demoralised from the costly war with Russia and as a result Prussian army morale was far higher than their Austrian counterparts as well as Prussian advancements in technology giving them a slight edge on the battlefield. Despite this the Austrians were the first on the offensive, pressing along the entire southern frontier of Prussia with reasonable success. 7 Austrian divisions were however tied up fighting only one Prussian equivilent in a mountainous region of south-east Prussia and this would prove costly to the Austrian army (both in manpower and in the grand scheme of things for the immediate future) - The Austrian Emperor had been planning on these troops to steamroll the positions and thus be available to reinforce other Austrian troops along the front and ultimately reach Berlin in a few months. This was not to be the case now.
The Prussians time and time again pushed Austrian advances back and their allies Mecklenburg had landed in the Adriatic with no opposition. Saxony, Austria's only ally (the others had been cowardly and declared neutrality; they would pay for that later), was having a tough time of it as the Prussians repeatedly attempted to flank Austrian armies by going through Saxony. However as the mobilisation kicked in and new units deployed it slowly tipped the balance in favour of Austria as several large scale battles took place on the outskirts of Berlin ending in costly victories for Austria.

Overwhelmed and lacking the manpower reserves of an enlarged Austria, they lost the Capital and began seeking terms - terms declined by the Austrian Emperor, who would only accept Prussian war guilt and ultimately complete war indemnities. These generous demands were eventually accepted by the Prussian leadership and thankfully restored the status quo in Germanic lands - Austria would continue to be the leader of Germans.

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Austria, despite its great success against the Prussian upstarts, had not forgotten about those that had abandoned it during its time of need.
And so the Emperor's next plans were made to begin retribution and establish Austrian leadership in German lands directly, once and for all.

The Austrian Empire was smart and declared war on a small defenceless state, bringing much of the free German states into conflict with Austria to defend it (except for Prussia, who had lost it's credibility as a defender of Germans). Austrian armies swept over southern Germany with ease, annexing Bavaria and countless other states. By 1871 Austria had almost doubled in landmass:


Extent of the Austrian Empire after the Hegemonic wars of Germany.

And so after this period of illustrious victories, the Emperor of a revived Austrian Empire decided it was time for peace at last and the preservation of the status quo (more or less). However it was not to be, as the jealous Ottomans had been eyeing their old lands up and, believing the border to be completely unguarded, took their chances with a suprise invasion.
Although shocked, the Emperor was not particularly concerned and merely saw this betrayal as a chance to further punish the muslim criminals; the vast armies of the north moved south with amazing speed thanks to railway improvements throughout the country and it was now the Ottoman's turn to be caught with their pants down. The Austrian forces fell upon the Ottoman invaders and pushed them back into greece with ease. Constantinople was occupied not long into the war along with most of greece and the Ottomans begged for peace; giving all of the balkans up for good and establishing a new frontier along the lines of modern greece. The Austrian Emperor had wanted the Ottomans expelled from greece completely, leaving them with only Constantinople in Europe, but this peace treaty was good enough for now.


The extent of the Austrian Empire, 1874, after yet another crushing victory over the Ottoman Empire


-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-

That basically rounds up what ive done on the campaign so far. I had planned to play as Denmark for a while and annex the northern german states for them but ai screw up Austria when i played with them for a short time..so doubt ill be doing that in future.

For the immediate future ill be cleaning up my borders by getting rid of the one province states lying around. I was thinking of extending into Italy but i dont think i will; i have good relations with the states there. Ill probably sit tight for ww1 - dunno how that's going to play out though? if Germany doesnt exist.. :/ their war with france in 1871 didnt occur either because n.german fed isnt in existance (they had the fall of prussia after i beat them so..)

[Dodge]

WW1 doesn't happen in Victoria unless you play 1914 scenario, too many variables.

[Carach]

thats cool... My bad boy points is high enough now to have uneasy relationships with everyone around me; france just declared war i just this minute concluded that too so ill post up a report of that in a min) so i still got fun

edit: right the report.

France: A global empire with around 70 divisions and 60 ships.
Austria: about 25 divisions and a dozen ships. (not mobilised)

The French had watched Austria's campaign in central europe with concern. Fearing that their influence was waning as a result of the austrian land grabbing they decided war was neccessary to stop this dangerous growth of Austrian power.

Only one division was on the border with France when the was was declared and the French had soon occupied the northern Austrian province bordering them. Upon recieving the declaration of war Austria had immediately mobilised and moved its entire army from the frontier with russia to France, and moved a division from northern italy to the area of operations too. It was at this time Sardinia-Piedmont suddenly declared an alliance with France and began invading italy. Austria had well and truely been caught with its pants down.

Thankfully the french invasion was contained quickly and soon pushed back:



The problem was now breaking through the French mountainous region that made up the border with Austria. Huge numbers of divisions made a coordinated attack from both provinces bordering France and eventually broke through and slowly but surely we began pushing the french back, establishing a small bridgehead:


The battle for Nancy cost several divisions on each side as 20-30 divisions on each side fought each other tooth and nail for control of the province. Eventually Austrian troops were victorious.

Austria began gathering civilians from around the Empire to become soldiers in the fight and brought out half a dozen divisions before her money stores ran low (and ultimately into debt..). The central position Nancy commanded was essential to pushing further into France and thanks to troops pushing into southern France from the defeated sardinia-piedmont over half a dozen french divisions were distracted to allow stalemate to be broken: Using the belgian border as an anchor the Austrians worked their way up towards the English Channel but finding the way completely open several divisions were detached in a daring attempt to push through the gaping hole in the French lines and take Paris while armies across the entire front would take part in offensive operations to hold down any divisions trying to relieve the beligered capital:



This large operation was massively successful, the french armies, backs now broken after several huge battles around nancy, were thrown back in disarray and Paris was occupied by April 1878. After this humiliating defeat the Austrian Emperor, not wanting to see France completely destroyed and humiliated, was content to demand full war indemnities and the 2 mountainous regions that had caused the Austrian army so much trouble in the initial stages of the war. France accepted.


France, a broken nation, bowing to the demands of the great Emperor and handing over vast sums of money in addition to two vitally important provinces.

The sardinia-piedmont affair was a small side show, i deployed my initial mobilised troops there and overran them completely, moving into France. took provinces to give me access to the western med. but then realised i couldnt move my armies back heh they sat in grenoble for the rest of the war tying up enemy troops.

I lost a Man-o-war i nthe adriatic when i attempted to move my transports and stuff round to pick up those troops stranded in france; the French had a protected cruiser! i was like "wtf" and it was near-immune to the traditional ship of the line so my ships stayed in port and im now working on getting my naval tech up.

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Now im going to continue with my initial plan of getting rid of the single state factions within my borders. And maybe work on Italy.

[Carach]

now i know why nobody does AARs a graveyard is more lively than this place.

oh well, will put up another update for my own amusement.

After the victorious war against France the frogs decided they would have to regain land elsewhere. Their eyes were on Africa this time and they declared colonial war upon Morocco, gaining 3/4 of their provinces in a peace treaty rather than annexing outright. After this peace treaty i garentueed both Morocco's and Tunisia's independance against further French aggression - and this ultimately brought Austria into yet another conflict with france as they declared colonial war upon Tunisia in 1879. (so i declared colonial war on france automatically by defending Tunisia's right to independance). The plan was to use my small 3 transports to ship a few units over there and protect but i was completely unprepared and my units had to move south to the boats by which time the majority of tunisia had already been taken by france; however i landed 3 units that got into conflict with 4 attacking french divisions. It was at this time french shipping appeared and blocked my path to the coast thus leaving 3 of my divisions to fight an ultimately lost battle. My 9 man-o-wars set sail in an attempt to divert the French naval attention and this worked, i was able to land another 2 divisions in tunisia to turn the battle over. It was costly though, i lost 2 MoW's and 2 transports in the naval battle. I sent a peace offering of returning to the status quo and this was accepted: Both Tunisia's independance and Austrian prestige was still intact (Previously france had been sending offers of humiliating me! i had thought of accepting because it seemed hopeless getting reinforcements to africa).


Tunisia's integrity intact after the short war with France, 1879

Yet another suprise (in a long line it seems to have been heh) was the Prussians, who had regained a relationship of 151 with Austria even after its devastating defeat a decade earlier, declaring war upon the Austrian Empire just as she was finishing the Tunisian affair.
With the majority of Austrian units now on the southern coastline of the Adriatic they moved with all haste to the north to stem the Prussian invasion - Karlsbad, Leipzig, Dresden, Kassel and several other provinces had already been taken by the time Austrian forces arrived at the scene to begin the counter attack which initially went reasonably well, however there were large gaps in the Austrian lines which the Prussians repeatedly exploited:



The prussians made good use of their smaller army; focusing their forces to steamroll the Austrian offensive and making it seem like they had more divisions in the field than they really did. Fighting remained hectic as the Austrian armies fought a rear guard action to re-establish some order to the front line before launching yet another offensive to retake what had been lost.



Offensive operations were constantly hampered by both partisan uprisings in occupied prussian provinces and by rebellions in southern and central regions of the Austrian Empire; the state had been at near constant war for some time and the general populace were tired of the conflict (100% war exhaustion for most of the fight with the prussians heh) - this kept several much-needed units away from the front lines.
Thankfully though again, the mobilised forces brought a turn in the fighting and put the Prussians on the backfoot at last and the Austrian commanders realised that a stretched out war would only mean victory for the Austrian Empire as Prussia yet again lacked the manpower to keep such a major war effort going. The austrian armies made painfully slow progress but the Prussian back had clearly been broken in the eastern portion of their lands and by december 1880 (half a month before the ending of hostilities) almost all of Prussia had been overrun:



And so it was that the Austrian Emperor decided it was time to bring the Prussian traitors to the negotiation table for the second time in his lifetime. The demands were harsh and were clearly aimed at ending Prussia as a large threat to Austrian interests in the future. (a necessary policy as they had signed a defensive alliance with Russia during the war, shocking Austrian leadership). All of the western portion of Prussia would be immediately handed over to Austria and war indemnities would be paid. Humiliation however was not forced upon the Prussians as it was believed the demands already on the table would do enough to hurt their prestige. Austria did not want to make an enemy out of Prussia but hoped to remain on decent terms in future.


The extent of the Austrian Empire after the war against the Prussians.


The war with the Prussians had been costly for Austria; the country was even further in debt than it had been during the French wars and extensive adjustments had to be made to the economy both during and after the conflict in order to cope with the deepening red.
The general populace too, who had been so utterly tired of war soon into the conflict with Prussia (to the point of 100% exhaustion throughout most of it) and the increasing taxes and tariffs had lead to a rise in rebel activities to a dangerous level. The empire was on the verge of collapse on the eve of its greatest victory. Peace was now required for a good many years.

[Enemy of the State]

I read them! It was my idea anyway. Please continue

I might get Victoria, looks very similar to HoI2. Is it the same engine?

[zznɟ ǝɥʇ]

I'm reading it!

[Carach]

I read them! It was my idea anyway. Please continue

I might get Victoria, looks very similar to HoI2. Is it the same engine?

victoria's infintely more complicated than hoi2 though heh. with world market and debt stuff going on... its far... "deeper" i would say.

to the point that when ur a noob it seems like u cant learn and have to cheat to get a lot of materials and money etc (which is what i did throughout my entire first campaign remaking the roman empire). You just got to accept that during wartime your pretty much gonna go in to debt heh, and then have to screw ur economy over a bit to make the money back up.

The engine probably is the same as HoI2 but im not sure, combat isnt the same either (u cant have ur armies 'support attacking' etc - so its more 'with the times' of slug fest wars) but it is a fun game and theres a lot of technology to be developed. It seems to be more about colonisation and the rush for africa than conquering the world through war like eu3 and hoi simply because the deep complications it has for the economy, it cant be done very easily without cheating.

i make it sound like a bad game but it is fun just far more hardcore than any of the other paradox games ive played (i havent played eu2 or crusader kings though so i dont know)


Anyway i added my latest war with Prussia. have a look Russia look like they gonna attack me next, my badboy is at 104 now so its almost a certainty :/ Luckily they are attacking one at a time thanks to peace treaties so i can handle it for now, i would have more of a problem with my rebellions than with the russians if they went 1 on 1 with me i think now..

[Enemy of the State]

What is that red country in the Baltic?

[Carach]

dark red is denmark. light red is britain (they made a bunch of gains in the baltic and the black sea from the crimean war)

If my economy and internal position wasnt such a disaster i'd load up denmark and start annexing the north german factions. I dont want any one province states in hoi2 as i dont know how the export will go for them. I also like the idea of "balance of power" and all that heh. They would be a good balance to prussia and the netherlands (not that holland are a violent nation.. lol)

[Enemy of the State]

Brits conquering Estonia, Latvia and Finland? I like it!

[molonthegreat]

Very good aar i will keep reading it.

[Carach]

i was thinking of gobbling up switzerland. But i dont want too large a border with france as they are (or at least were before my wars with them) vastly superior in numbers when it comes to shipping and divisions. The prussian border was annoying enough to maintain in the last war when they would focus 8-11 divisions in one place and steam roll through - this seems to be what the ai does on most occasions to break stalemate.

i presume prussia turn into germany on hoi2 export so ill keep them alive in their current form from now on but states like hannover and other small ones need to be removed maybe ill annex them and give the provinces to denmark or something.

[Carach]

another update (ive played the game a lot the last few days because ive been ill now im recovered i wont be on the game for a few days as ill be out boozing and the like). Its been eventful but already its pretty obvious that this is nothing more than bb wars just like the repetitive fighting that would occur in eu3. u could win.. but it would be annoying - Unless of course all the european powers gangbang me at once which i can see on the horizon.

so who's been getting spanked by the Austrian war machine this time? Well, its France again.

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Yup, the slippery frogs just dont know when to give up; stubborn folk. Yet again they declared war upon the Austrian Empire. They didnt even wait for me to move my troops off the border.

As soon as the declaration was recieved Austria (yet again) mobilised its reserves and immediately commenced offensive operations around the French province of Metz. The french, in their haste to declare war, had not even garrisoned the frontier and the austrian troops swarmed across the border with little opposition met:


Austrian troops quickly gaining the initiative in a war they did not want.

However an unexpected hinderence was the single division sitting in Epiniel(sp). It would not be broken even by large numbers of Austrian troops and as a result tied up troops that were needed on the march to Paris.
Until troops from the most eastern frontiers of the Empire would arrive this single division would be a thorn in the side of the Austrian offensive:


The single french division on the border with Austria; it annihilated an austrian division and the province itself would remain a hinderence throughout the entire war.

France had brought allies with her early into the conflict in the form of Sardinia-Piedmont (again) along with two small Italian states Parma and Modena. These states would prove little trouble as Austria had allies of her own in the form of the Papal states (a defensive alliance formed shortly before the war); while the Papal states would gobble up parma and modena, mobilised austrian troops would assualt sardinia-piedmont and push through into southern france.
S-P collapsed quickly and offered several provinces in return for peace before their capital had even been occupied and so the troops freed from this campaign quickly moved into france and/or back into italy to aid the papal states take over Parma and Modena (didnt take too long):


Sardinia-Piedmont; now a shadow of itself thanks to French aggression. Parma and Modena have yet to fall but they merely delay the inevitable.

The French response to their own declaration of war was shockingly poor; their armies were non-existant during the initial stages and Austrian forces penetrated far despite constant partisan activity in provinces like Nancy and Epiniel(sp). Eventually though just outside the gates of Paris the French rallied themselves and established a fighting front line and counter attacked with large numbers of troops against a thinning and stretched Austrian line. However this small number of troops (merely 30 thousand strong) held off 12 divisions for long enough for another 4 divisions to arrive to effectively end the French offensive with large loss of life for the Frogs.


Initial stage of the french offensive to keep the Austrians out of Paris for the second time in a decade.


Austrian counterattacks surrounding the province proved successful and troops were freed to come to the small army's aid and ultimately end the French offensive in bloody defeat.

Despite this devestating defeat the Austrian army was too stretched to push its victory into a decisive defeat of France as a whole by taking paris. They would simply have to wait for reinforcements to arrive from the east, and for the troops mopping up partisan activity and rebellions.

Eventually these troops did arrive and thanks to Austria's improved economic situation (thank you prussian war debt) it could once again churn out several divisions to reinforce the front line and put an end to the war.
During early 1887 the fresh Austrian troops assualted the walls of Paris and overwhelmed its exhausted defenders; it was time again to bring France to the negotiation table.


The Treaty of Rome: France were officially humiliated in the eyes of the world, she was also forced to pay war indemnities for the second time in a decade which would surely cripple her weakened economy. In addition to this she lost Metz. However far harsher were the fates of Modena and Parma; the price for fighting with France resulted in their loss of sovereignty to the Papal States. - Red line shows extent of the Austrian front line when the Peace treaty was signed. Green shows the provinces gained by Austria and her allies.

And so another great european war comes to a close. What is far more concerning than France however is the close relationship of Prussia and Russia - not only defensive allies now but full out partners whatever the enemy.

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Economical/social situation:

No debt! Prussian war indemnities helped me massively on my way to getting out of the red and extensive measures (very high tarrifs and pretty high taxes along with minimal defence spending until the french war) helped further. By the time the french war came about Austria had only a small debt remaining (around 15 thousand) and actually gained money throughout the conflict to be able to pay al lthe debt off by the time the war came to a close - France will now pay for further industrial development which, despite the harsh economic situation, were continuing to improve railways and set up factories throughout.
My industry actually near-equals Britains currently thanks to the industrial heartland of Prussia that i took and the southern german states (Bavaria being the main one) so im vying for top spot with them in that regard. Prussia suprisingly have more prestige than i do despite being beaten around and me humiliating people and taking provinces left right and centre. and my military capability is still less than several of the other top powers. im 2nd/3rd on the rankings.

Socially the country is in a much better state too; despite several rebellions that occured in the old Prussian states and other recently conquered territories unrest has generally declined across the Empire as the economical situation returns to a normal level.

badboy is at something like 106-9 something like that; war with prussia and russia is pretty much a certainty so im moving troops to the border with them so im not caught pants down like other times.

[Carach]

i lost the recent save so i went back a month or so in time but its no matter as i still had peace etc, was just a few ships less than what i wanted heh.

This update is focused on central europe once again as the Austrian Empire decided that small german states (that also played a part in the Prussian war against Austria almost 30 years prior) no longer had a part to play in the future of Europe. As a result war was declared on hannover; bringing all the remaining states bar one into conflict with Austria.
Unfortunately the austrian armies didnt make it too far before it was faced with potential onslaught by multiple nations, old foes and new:


Hannover is invaded but Metternich recieves a shock when he discovers Russia have declared war and Prussia have joined them. Hopefully France do not jump on the bandwagon too?

The Empire immediately mobilised and produced some extra divisions to plug the gaps in the Austrian lines that Prussian troops were now streaming through. Fortunately the Russian frontier was thoroughly defended and as a result they were fearful of mounting an offensive.
However to add to the pressure was Belgium; who joined Prussia in an official alliance not long into the conflict. The border with Belgium was completely unguarded and would remain so unless they became a major thorn in the side.
By mid-late 1891 the diplomatic situation was as such:


Terrible relations with the majority of the major powers, and at war with two of them. Had Austria finally been checked?

Despite the increasing number of enemies the Austrian bulk continued to push through the small German states as primary objectives and all were either annexed or at least under occupation by the end of 1891. Thus giving relief to the faltering Austrian defences along the border with a by now-mobilised Armed forces of Prussia.
When the austrian reserves were eventually available for deployment they were put on operations along the border with Belgium, who had taken several provinces and actually become quite a threat to the rear of the Russian lines. 6 of the reserve divisions and a couple of reinforcements from the north dispatched the belgians back into their territory and several units remained to block their return.
Offensive operations began against Prussia in late 1891/early 1892 and the troops had varying degrees of success. It was proving difficult to push forwards without the many troops guarding the russian frontier. However thanks to a (massive) mistake by Prussian generals, Berlin became open for Austrian troops to occupy while the Prussians were fighting a doomed pitched battle not too far away:


In their haste to destroy a large number of Austrian divisions south of Berlin, the Prussians left the capital open and a small group of troops entered berlin from the north west in december 1891.

Despite this victory for the Empire, there was small hope of holding the city in the immediate future, Austrian forces were overstretched and the occupied German lands in the north were under threat of Prussian invasion before any agreement could be made with Denmark. As a result Metternich gambled and offered a white peace to the Prussian ambassadors, hoping that the occupation of Berlin would make them see sense. Thankfully it did and both Russia and Belgium complied with the peace, ending their wars immediately.

Austria quickly handed over its newly conquered lands to Denmark, Hannover remained with one province as a puppet of the Austrian Empire.


The layout of Europe, Early 1892. Thanks to Austrian generosity, Denmark have truely become a european power in its own right and its presence in the middle of the continent, it is hoped, will provide another counter to further Prussian aggression.

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Other news:

-I gave the western med. coastline that i took from S-P to the papal states - one province bordering France down there is easier to defend.
-Britain took modern day Nigeria after quite a long conflict.
-After France's humiliation they decided to annex both morocco and tunis (my garentuees of independance had gone long before and i had no interest in helping the 2 backwards nations by now anyway). They have also recently declared war on Brazil for some reason!
-Sweden seem to be a major player on the west coast of Africa in the scramble. they are actually probably second behind Britain in provinces owned there... of all the nations heh.

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Anyway, i thought i was going to have to concede land in this round. Prussia, Belgium and Russia all at war. Fortunately though it seems none of them have powerful peace-time nations and that gave me some time to gather my own troops. Prussia have powerful reserves and they were threatening but then they made their stupid mistake with Berlin and i decided to quit with them while i was ahead. The russians did nothing the entire war except tie down 9 or 10 of my divisions to guard the frontier. Their military actually seems pathetic for such a nation - maybe its because Britain have many of their populated areas i dont know? Belgium were only ever really a thorn in the side that my mobilised troops could deal with but annoying as i lacked the troops to effectively invade.
All combined their military stats/score (not division numbers, i dont know the numbers for that) were slightly superior to my military score and tbh had the russians broken through anywhere i would of had it because i had nothing to plug the gaps with.

Actually quite suprised the ottomans havent taken a pop since i slaughtered them the first few times years ago. They dont even have armies on my border so they must be threatened elsewhere like Russia or Egypt, possibly a revived Persia.

[zznɟ ǝɥʇ]

I'm really enjoying these updates since I hope to one day master Paradox games enough to feel comfortable getting this.

I wonder where Austria will expand next...

Edit; Damn you Carach, I've gone and bought it.

[Carach]

the little brown blob in my empire needs to go, so thats definately happening next time

probably get rid of S-P too, and if belgium start stuff again in the future im gonna get rid of them and give all the provinces to the dutch.

other than that i dont have any particular plans for expansion as ill become too powerful and thus the game wont be a challenge seems badboy points can give me enough action now without too much effort on my part to cause trouble.

[warluster]

Great AAR, I've read all updates with Great Interest.

I say you should move into Italy, but not with a lotta troops, as I reckon the Old Enemies (France, Prussia, Russia, Turks) are going to attack you again soon.

Anyways, good AAR. Can't wait 'till next update! I'm even thinking of buying that game!

[Carach]

quick update: 1893 or 4 the french, after their victory over brazil (gaining 4 or 5 provinces) decided yet again to punch above their weight by declaring war upon the Austrian Empire.

peace treaties with russia and prussia still existing, i moved everything to the borders and aimed to steamroll through to paris. S-p joined france again and i went to annex them (or get them to one province satellite) - this was easier said than done with their provinces on sardinia.

Part one went well: i was in Paris quickly but let the war drag on to get a decent score to play around with and the French were sending offers of extensive amount of lands sprinkled throughout France - Land was not what Austria was in need of however so the war continued.
Part two (taking s-p out) was initially easy withtheir 2 remaining mainland provinces overrun quickly, however my navy was barely up to the task of reaching sardinia and i lost a couple of MoWs on the way (seeing as they are hopeless against protected cruisers.. my monitors/whatever the bigger one is dispatched them okish though) - after several attempts at invading i was finally successful (thanks in part to papal military access giving my fleet a base to repair from). with sardinia taken i demanded everything except the capital and made them a satellite.



the frontline when France accepted peace in earli/mid 1895 (forced disarmament - generous of me tbfh, and the aim is to keep France from irritating me for what must be the 4th or 5th time in future.)

The austrian empire is hegemon of Europe and no frog is going to change that!

I gave sardinia to the papals and kept the remaining province. Meanwhile ive been improving relations with denmark (we dont need another backstabber to join the bandwagon against Austria, it may just tip the boat) and embarked on a modernisation and expansion of the Navy.

For the future: move everything back to the border with russia/prussia as a war with them (again) is inevitable thanks to my badboy points (126.... i think im in for trouble for the rest of the game lol)

[Carach]

Great AAR, I've read all updates with Great Interest.

I say you should move into Italy, but not with a lotta troops, as I reckon the Old Enemies (France, Prussia, Russia, Turks) are going to attack you again soon.

Anyways, good AAR. Can't wait 'till next update! I'm even thinking of buying that game!

cheers. and yes, Prussia/russia are certain to declare war again. The ottomans though im not so sure; they have major issues in greece with rebels and their troops are non existant along the border but hey, i guess that didnt stop the french before.

The italians i am on good terms with, theyve been allies in the past and are the only factions with relations above 100 with me lol so i think ill keep them there for HOI2. I dont plan on annexing any other nations though i have thought of utterly destroying belgium and holland (belgium i have bad relations, the dutch are +12 so neutral i guess) and give it all to the danes but i think that would screw me over in the end really with the bb points as high as they are already and i could really do without yet another enemy on the continent heh.

[Aketi]

Nice campaign! Your going to unite all the Germans under your rule right? I am very interested in seeing your population statistics in another update!

Btw you might not know this but there is a trick to zoom out another two levels beyond the regular ones. Right before the game autosaves go to the lowest zoom level and put your mouse pointer on the zoom out button. When the game saves make 7 fast clicks et voila.