Roma Universalis [EU IV LP] [No 56k]

[Thanas]

Cleanup


Our merchants flourished, but....

..some caused a spread of the plague. We responded by enacting harsh quarantine measures. Hard choices? yes. Necessary? Also yes.


The traitors were attacked...

...and integrated.


We don't care about your "independence", you'll pay taxes like everyone else.

Meanwhile, our diplomacy bore fruit...



As we chose the religion idea, we got some benefits - for one, great free stability increases.


We also commissioned a tale about Ioulianos III and Despina:



We needed this CB to continue the war against the Mongols.



More trade. Yay.

and better tech:





WHY? OUR ANCESTOR STUDIED COMETS. GTFO.
damn dirty peasants...

Thankfully, our good ministers made up for it:


Many of the disunited Russian nations willingly became our vassals...


...while Sachsen continued to be trouble:

..and started to expand eastwards...


We engaged in a massive fortification program in Africa:

..and then started the cleanup in North Africa:







...there wasn't much resistance.


But the church supported us...

...while we supported the arts...

..introduced the arquebus...

...crushed a few muslim revolts...

...increased the religious ideas...

...and finally continued our blood feud with the Mongols.

From "The Extermination of the Mongol state", by Legate Iustinianus Martellus, Paris 1509:
...the Mongol hordes had largely banded together, so that any attack was met by at least two of the Hordes. Rome first declared war on the Nogai Horde, whose capital...

was taken by storm. A combined army of the Timurids and their Indian Vassals tried to relieve the Nogai Horde, but was intercepted by the Legio I Herculia....


...and completely annihilated. Here, the Romans showed that they had mastered the art of Mongol-killing, for the legion cut through the enemy like a hot knife through butter. A peace treaty surrendering the disputed territory was soon signed thereafter...


(to be continued below)

[Thanas]

Our mines in Austria became more and more important.


We increased our technology


...and built an embassy in Moravia.

We incorporated the first of our vassals into the Empire (the one in yellow)




Of course we supported the artists of Florence.

While we were peacefully annexing the nations of Western Europe, it was time to take the fights to the Mongols again.


From "The Extermination of the Mongol state", by Legate Iustinianus Martellus, Paris 1509:
The largest of the Hordes known to us at this time was the Kazakh Horde.

Our great Emperor in his wisdom decided that it was time for us to crush the Kazakh Horde and drive them back into the dark east from whence they came.
I myself had the honor and distinction of leading the Imperial forces.

My force, Legio V Macedonica, had slaid countless hordes in its 1500 years of existing. Under my leadership, it added more to that number.


Their fortresses were not built to withstand Roman might.

Soon, we added large swaths of territory, the size of Gaul three times over, to the empire.


More ideas, this time allowing us to reach the first tier of the unique national Ideas for the Roman Empire.

The Pax Romana would once more be in full effect.

We started integrating the conquered Kazakh territories into our nation by sending settlers and administraters to make them into cores.


Our technology level:

which was soon increased again:

Hooray for three-field rotation. Due to our great budget surplus, we immediately built farm estates all over the Empire.

Meanwhile, we had the opportunity to recruit a great Woman of History:

Of course we did so. She became a great treasurer for us.

Our people demanded we take the fight to the infidels once more:

...and it was good luck there was one more North African sultanate to clean up:



The former Kazakh territories were now littered with fortresses, temples and farm estates as we started to civilize the Kazakh people.

While large tracts of land remained empty steppe, we now had a foothold that would last forever.

Meanwhile, in England:

The various Jewish kingdoms of England had now fractured, but some powerful Jewish kingdoms started to rise in their place, Eastsaex being the most prominent one.


We discovered artillery.

It was decided to add two artillery cohorts to each legion, putting the full strength at 14000 men.

This drove up the price of copper:



Our religious ideas once again increased...

giving us enough strength to start converting the few muslims left in our country...

...which, except for annexing some Russian and taking some Kazakh territory, had not changed much from the outside. But inside, the renaissance had started to blossom.

- Start of game
- now

TL, DR:
Cleanup completed, now it is time to remove the Mongols from their existence. I will continue to accept the vassalage from the disunited Russian territories, if they peacefully want to join the Empire, who am I to tell them no?

[LaCroix]

The way I see it, the americas are pretty safe from European intervention. "Hebrewsaxony" is to splintered to start expeditions, and Ming/China (the only other nation strong enough to start colonizing in the game as it usually works) is probably still reuniting, and then will have to chew through some of the Indonesian warring countries before it will turn it's eye eastward.

I'm pretty sure Roman caligulae will be the first European footwear to leave an imprint on American soil.

[Thanas]

Ok, I am still trying to find a balance between posting important events and dealing with the clutter of EU IV. What I definitely miss is the individualism of CKII though. You knew an army was spanish by its composition, now it is always the same body of troops. Character traits matter little, culture etc. even less. Overall, EU IV feels a lot more soulless than CKII, but that is well fitting with the overall theme of Paradox games - the increasing power of the state over the individual.

Anyway, update coming soon.

[Thanas]

Worlds new and old

From "A history of the Roman Empire", by Iulius Mommsen, Münster 1902:

"The first Saxon war ever since the Roman aggression of the 14th century broke out over territorial claims held by the Roman empire with regards to Münster and Osnabrück. Both territories were mainly known for their large grain and meat production and of vital importance to controlling middle Germany.

Once again, Roman legions crossed the Rhine. The VII Gemina was ordered to take Friesland,

with the VI Victrix tasked to take Münster.

The first battle, at Berg, was inconclusive. Though Rome won, it lost many soldiers.

A larger battle was soon fought at Osnabrück. Six Roman legions met as many saxons, the battle being decided by the arrival of the Legio VII Gemina, which crushed the Saxon rear. The Saxon Army broke, with smaller groups being hunted down...

as happened in Ostfriesland, where a large part of the Saxon knights were cut down.

On the southern flank, Saxony started an attack into Austria. Here, the I Italica stood its ground long enough for the VIII Augusta to relieve them, which in turn held out until the main Roman Army arrived...

which, led by the crown prince Aurelianus, made short work of the Southern Saxon Army.

In Ostfriesland, the Roman troops chased the larger Northern Saxon Army, which was now reinforced by the Saxon vassals. Near Hamburg, the forces met in battle.

The battle was decided by the new Roman Artillery cohorts, which bombarded the Saxon camp, causing great chaos, preventing fortification work and preventing sleep for the Saxons. The exhausted Army was then broken by a general infantry assault.

Saxony soon surrendered the disputed territories, ending the first - and only - war between Saxony and Rome in the 15th century.


It was not a war Rome took lightly, considering the Ruling elite spoke German at least as fluently as Latin or Greek and the Emperors at this point were more of a German dynasty than Romans. Writing those lines would have been impossible without the abolition of the censure bureau, for which I extendmy gratitute to the Roman assembly of 1850...this work thus is able to stand as the first unbiased critical recording of the history of the Roman Empire."


As we had a large surplus of diplomatic points, we started changing the culture of Spain and France to resemble our own.

In the east, Minsk became our vassal:


A few months later, Julius IV Thanas died, leaving the throne to crown prince Aurelianus, second of his name:

Aurelianus proved to be a deeply devoted emperor, increasing religious ideas:

However, he also increased the naval focus:



The Empire at the time of Aurelianus accession to the throne.

(to be continued below)

[Thanas]

(continued from above)


One of the first actions of Aurelianus was to install Catherina Sforza as the head of the administrative agencies of the empire.

An heir was soon born:



Religious leaders came to offer their advice to the young Emperor.


Perm agreed to become a vassal of Rome.


The administrative technology was increased.


Learning from the Saxon war, pike-and-shot techniques were introduced throughout the armies.


Chernigov was integrated into Rome.

There was some trouble in africa as the Fulani tribes organized:

But as long as the slave trade continued, nobody much cared.


Greater attention was paid to the blood feud with the Mongols. The Roman legions in the east had been retrained with the new pike-and-shot techniques and were standing by.

The Timurids had made friends among some Indian nations.

However, not even the Indians dared to really challenge us in battle.

This changed when the Timurids got desperate - but ran directly into the two legions kept in reserve for the purpose of countering their movements.


Faced with the new weapon tactics, the Timurids surrendered en masse, as did the relief army sent by India.

In the peace deal, the Timurids lost almost all their northern territories.


The new Eastern frontier of the Empire

(to be continued below)

[Thanas]

(continued from above)


Kiev was annexed.

We finally completed the first idea in the exploration group:

which in turn allowed us to complete another Roman Idea:

We promptly started a large program celebrating the Roman History.

Our first colony was an icy land in the north.


Though it did not prove to be popular with Settlers, soon people started flocking to it in search of fortunes.

The success of the colony caused many more people to wonder what new lands would be out there.

Soon, expeditions were sent across the waters of the world.


Impressed by the legacy of Rome, more lands decided to join us peacefully.


We promptly increased our religious traditions.


Our first expedition discovered little but open water, except for an uninhabited island which was quickly turned into a colony.


However, on


Our intrepid explorer Serapion Maurikios discovered South America.

A followup expedition by a newly formed Force named Exploratores founded the first Roman colony in the new world on



From "A new World", by Serapion Maurikios, Rome 1494
"...it was by the grace of god that we found fertile and rich land, especially after the earlier failures had damaged our finances heavily. But the grace of the Lord is infinite and granted us success. A success that was compounded when we first encountered the natives. Our earlier travels had only turned up deserted islands. Imagine our surpise when a foraging party of the exploratores encountered a whole party of natives. These people are unilke any of the tribes we had subjugated in the lands of the icy north or in Africa - they are red-faced, flat-nosed and posses a strange grace and beauty. They move like cats through the jungle and are skilled spearmen, though their arrows and spears lack iron. But what they lack in weapons they make up in stealth, for they appeared suddenly near a hunting party. Only the quick reaction of Centurio Phokas, who bellowed* at the exploratores to stand down, saved us from bloodshed. The people here have no fear, but a kindly curiosity. Soon, we discovered that trade was - despite our unfamiliarity with their language - very much possible and we established relations with them..."

*editor note by Julius Mommsen:
"The exact words of Centurio Phokas have passed into legend as the first words of diplomacy spoken in the New World, but have not been written down due to concerns about the church before. They were first recorded after the breaking of the Church authority due to the philosophies of Enlightement in the 17th century and are as follows:
"[Expletive] stand down. Don't even [expletive] think about it. First [expletive] soldier who [expletive] [expletive] moves will get my cane up his [expletive] [expletive] so hard that he will [expletive] teeth for the next five [expletive] months. The second irrumator who [expletive] up will be sent to kiss Jesus' [expletive] by me personally."
Needless to say, this explains the high content of expletives among the vocabulary of the former colony at Ceara. It should also be noted that Centurio Phokas settled in Ceara after his service, married a native women and served as the first colonial Governor of Roman Brazil. His speeches in the colonial senate have been recorded in the forthcoming "The Art of Swearing. Diplomacy and the gutter in colonial languages." "



We passed a few reforms, most notably the decision to appoint Suffragan bishops:



Minsk was peacefully annexed.

The new east:


We annexed Rusa...


Meanwhile, Serapion Maurikios started exploring North America...

...while the colony at Ceara flourished:


Meanwhile, the devout Emperor Aurelianus II decided to introduce the inquisition to aid the cultural and religious destruction civilization of heretics and heathens.


Of more constitutional importance however was the census and restoration of the Roman Senate, which once again was filled with delegates from all corners of the Earth.



Serapion Maurikios returned from his voyage to the North.

He was quickly sent out again to explore the inland, making contact with the Powhatan tribe.

Unfortunately, he caught a disease from then.

From "A history of the Roman Empire", by Iulius Mommsen, Münster 1902:
"Exhaustive Searches by divers so far have failed to find the resting place of the first of the great explorers. Memorials to him have so far included the Serapion Maurikios-class of battleships, several universities as well as a place in the neo-pagan pantheon as the god of Explorers."

Some religious fanatics felt we did not do enough oppressing of natives and heathens in the new World.

So we showed them how oppression worked by using them as examples. Surprisingly, such protests died out quickly after that.

Meanwhile, England continued to be a mess, with Lothian of all places uniting the orthodox believers in heavy wars against the Jewish oppressors.

(I could also have vassalized Lothian and England but decided not to do so because then there would be no colonial competition).

The successor to Serapion Maurikios proved to be a disgrace:

We sent him to explore Africa to sober up. He had more success there:

What a surprise, people like you if you don't kill them.

Gorillas like marbles.

Hmmm, penguins.
(shortly thereafter most of them died of dysentery)

Meanwhile, thanks to the colonists being kept in line by the kind words and hands-on style of newly promoted Tribune Phokas, the native tribe of Ceara largely assimilated into our colony.

With this new swell of citizens, the new colony became a full-fledged Roman province on


almost exactly 8 years after it was founded by the now deceased Serapion Maurikios.


TL, DR:
I think this is about the level of detail that works best as long as there are interesting events.
Also, America.

[Mr Bean]

If I'm remembering the game correctly (Second hand my cousin was describing this over Christmas) finding the Mississippi in America gives your explores access to like 1/3rd of America's landmass at least as far as future colonies go.

[Thanas]

If I'm remembering the game correctly (Second hand my cousin was describing this over Christmas) finding the Mississippi in America gives your explores access to like 1/3rd of America's landmass at least as far as future colonies go.

I have never had the same experience but then I mainly played Byzantines before this game. That said, any such discovery was made moot by the El Dorado DLC, which revamped the explorer mechanic. Now you sent your explorers on missions where they find everything in a given area.

[Thanas]

Regencies, an Empress and Native Women taking power, oh my.


We increased our colonial range and started exploring the Indian Ocean.


To show you how exploration works in the EL Dorado EU IV:

You need an Explorer in command of a fleet, then you can chose Exploration missions. The first one explores the coastlines and open seas (Explore the waters...) the second (explore the coast) the coastlines and coastal provinces. Land exploration is done by selecting a conquistador and sending him out to search for the cities of gold.

While exploring, events will trigger, like this one:

and also negative ones, like this one, which is the mirror to the one above:


If you found a colony, it will start producing goods after a while:

and eventually turn into a full-fledged colony:

This concludes the introduction to colonies in EU IV. We hope you enjoy our Cocoa and sugar.


We increased our administrative tech:

while our explorers circumnavigated Africa, linking our eastern territories with the west via the sea. Of course, as we have full control of Arabia and the med, goods are still transported via the silk road and there is no need for us to travel the long way around Africa. Other European nations however will soon enact colonies there to not have to depend on us.



More technology increases, allowing us to adopt a new style of organization based on the pike and shot practised by the German legions.


We also adopted a new marching song for our soldiers.

(also recommend as background music for the following)

Meanwhile, our troops had spent enough time building roads that the mountains of Afghanistan were now surmountable.

We quickly declared war.

The indian devils came to the aid of the Timurid devils, but were quickly driven off.

After a desperate battle, the Timurids and their indian allies surrendered.



Our Emperor died and was succeeded by his son. I hate that I can no longer name my heirs.

Meanwhile, while our explorers were exploring the Canadian coast, they had an unexpected passenger:

"A free explorer with local knowledge? Get her on board."
"But Sir, she is a woman".
"So? The heir to the throne is a women. Are you saying she is unfit to rule?" *death glare*

We quickly gave her her own fleet and commissioned her as admiral. She also chose a Roman name because her old name was unpronounceable for our tongues.


And she proved to be a great explorer, for within two years she managed to chart the entire Canadian coastline....

as well as the american coast.

After this successful conclusion of her voyages, Severina asked for a special mission - she wanted to be the first to circumnavigate the world.

We agreed.


Unfortunately, all contact was lost while on the third leg of her voyage.

From "A history of the Roman Empire", by Iulius Mommsen, Münster 1902:
"The disappearance of the Konstas Expedition is one of the great mysteries of the Roman Empire. After the conquest of the Aztec empire, it became known that Severina Konstas had made landfall at their eastern territories and then set sail north. It is generally assumed that the ships encountered violent weather in the pacific, for the local histories spoke of a large storm and heavy rain that swamped the coast. We may never know what happened to her or her ships, though her discoveries made a lasting mark on Roman history."

Constantinople Gazette, 20th July 2002:
"Divers from the University of Tenochtilan, Roman Mexico, claim to have located the remains of three shipwrecks of the coast of California. The ships appear to match early 15th century caravels and are thought to be the remains of the long-lost Konstas Expedition. More investigation will have to be done to uncover the reasons for the wreck..."


However, we soon found new issues to distract us from mourning our Explorer, for another Mongol Khanate in the east needed civilizing.

Suffice to say our Landsknechte were very successful.




The Roman East after this conquest:



Bohemia became our vassals.


Another exploration idea was completed.


"Here, have some trinkets. Now please stop stabbing me".

Not all was bad, for there soon happened a slave transaction that would shake the world:

She promptly became a chief advisor and was put in charge of our efforts in the new world. (I'm wondering, are we colonizing them or are the native women taking more and more power?)

Another female explorer was found.



This one successfully charted the coast of South Americas and the South Atlantic.


Given how our explorer actually is a native, we thought it best to accept their traditions and gain good relations with the natives.

I have to say it is a bit funny that the two biggest explorers of this era are both native women from the Americas.


More exploration ideas, leading us to another Roman idea:

That's right, look upon the legions of Rome, you savages, and know your doom.


Another Russian duchy was annexed.

....and sadly, our Emperor died after scarcely ruling for fifteen years.


Let's take a look at the council and the advisors:

Well, they seem to be competent people.


Administration, of course.

See kids? That's why you stay in school, even if your daddy happened to be the most powerful man in the world.

As there was nothing else to spend diplo points let's take a look at the cultural conversion rate:

Well, everything looks pretty good. The Russians and Mongols are making a bit of trouble, but their territories are poor and they themselves matter little.

(to be continued below)

[Thanas]

(continued from above)

Let's take a look at Central Europe:

Sachsen (Saxony) has made quite a bit of a habit of bashing in the head of Pommerania. I suspect the latter will come crying to Rome and ask for protection soon.


Another administrative advance. We could now become a full-fledged theocracy, but why? Rome is an Empire and our current Empress is not one such fanatic.
Case in point, we passed a law allowing the worship of the heretic faiths in our empire:

(there were some religious revolts by fanatic orthodox who wanted us to do more to wipe out the heathens but we quickly crushed them.)
For our new idea group, we chose the expansion Idea. More colonies, more profit.


Speaking of profit:

Sure, why not. After all, what could go wrong with releasing thieves on some island?


A new merchant ship type was developed, allowing for easier travel across the oceans.

Military technology increased again:


We now have better things that go boom.

And once more we let ourselves be guided by German influences and developed the Schwarze Reiter.
Their new kit looked awesome:

and they were quite the bad asses as well.

We colonised some island in the South Atlantic to have a better base there.

Other than that, I can't ever imagine it will be put to good use.

Our native Explorer now had charted the eastern waters and even those of Australia:


Meanwhile, some crusty old gentlemen felt they weren't getting enough of the pie.

"So, I've already appointed young native girls to lead our exploration efforts. What makes you think I, a woman empress, will suddenly decide crusty old aristocrats should be the only ones getting the chance for advancement?"
"..."
"As a sidenote, the Varangians haven't gotten enough practice with their axes lately."

We lost some stability due to our insistence on meritocracy, but preserved the quality of our navy. Worth it.

Meanwhile, our first African colony, the island of Fernando Po, became a central hub for the slave trade.



Sachsen got caught with the hand in the cookie jar. We decided to do nothing as we did not want to expand into Germany right now.


More colonists. Good.

Meanwhile, in the Caribbean:

WTF? How did they manage to pull this off in three years time?
Half a year later they genocided the friendly Mayans in the Honduran jungle and in Belize and expanded there too. This would not do. The Jewish menace has to be stopped.

But first we shore up public support by building a new huge palace.



We told another explorer to circumnavigate the globe.

Sadly, the waves of the Pacific ate him too.

As a warning to Saxony and to stabilize the frontier, we managed to annex Bohemia.

Now we had a nice large salient into Saxon lines.

This was enough to scare them off for a while.



Technology increases. Like it says on the cover.


Thankfully, we already owned much of the cloth industry due to our control over Northern Italy, Flanders and Persia.
Which means:
1. More money for us
2. Fuck you, Mongol wool industry.


Another Russian duchy, another annexation.


We developed a new musket.


But what good does a new musket do you if you cannot test it?


No more picking on the Mayans for you, Eastsaxons. See how you like it when people stronger than you come sailing to your shores to take over.


Say hallo to Legio I Parthica and Legio X Italica.

What's that? You don't like being occupied and want peace?

Soon after we took London, they surrendered and turned over their Caribbean territories and Mayan territories to us.



Two Colonies were formed, which had the Carib and Mayan nations as their primary culture. Thanks to La Malinche, we had no trouble integrating them.


We thus became known as a global empire.


GLORIOUS ROMAN BUILDINGS BEST BUILDINGS. No more ugly blocky buildings. It is time to return to arches, spires, domes and mosaics.

We colonised two more islands:
In the Indian Ocean, the Island of Bourbon, primarily settled by French settlers:

and in South America, the Falklands:



More technology.

Thanks to our explorers, new trade routes with China, previously cut off by the Mongol hordes, were now flourishing:

Unfortunately, not everybody in our colonies liked tea:

A visit by a legion put everything back in order.

Meanwhile, we declared war to wipe out the Timurids once and for all:

This time, they had found allies among the (real) Indians again. They attacked first, crushing the III Augusta, which retreated all the way to Samarkand.
However, the Legion had given as good as it got - inflicting as many casualties against a foe twice their number. The enemy units entrenched in the Himalayas.

This would not do. For the glory of Rome, no enemy must be allowed to occupy a province. No matter if we will have to attack into the mountains, no matter the cost. Rome will not back down to the Mongols.

Two legions were assembled and ordered to dislodge the Timurids and Indians from the mountains. They had the advantage of terrain and numbers.

We had the Landsknechte and Schwarze Reiter.
After this victory, occupation and annexation of the Timurids was just a question of Time.


The Timurids had been wiped out.
The date was:


and the Empire had succesfully expanded in the East:


TL, DR:
- native explorers are awesome
- La Malinche is a nice touch
- Timurids have stopped existing
- Landsknechte and Schwarze Reiter are really really cool, especially when used to expand the empire and not to plunder the population like in OTL.
- We stopped the Eastsaxons from genociding the Mayans.

[Iroscato]

Holy shit. You made the world a lot smaller in that relatively short space of time. And it all looks ripe for annexing!

[LaCroix]

After you're done with this campain, what game do you plan to play next week?

[Thanas]

After you're done with this campain, what game do you plan to play next week?

Heh. Actually, the Mings just allied with the remaining Mongols (post next update) so we'll see.

Update coming within the next two hours.

[Borgholio]

So Thanas, let me ask something. You seem to be progressing quite well through this game (and CK as well). What is the challenge exactly here? Is it similar to Civilization where you have to build up all aspects of your empire including military, economy, science, etc...? Or is the main challenge administration and making sure your line doesn't die out as it appeared to be in CK?

[Thanas]

So Thanas, let me ask something. You seem to be progressing quite well through this game (and CK as well). What is the challenge exactly here? Is it similar to Civilization where you have to build up all aspects of your empire including military, economy, science, etc...? Or is the main challenge administration and making sure your line doesn't die out as it appeared to be in CK?

Yeah, this is more like Civ (though less stupid). The main goals are technology, to build colonies, expand your empire roughly in that order. Your dynasty does not matter a lot like in CKII - your line might even completely die out and the nation would still exist (though go through a succession war).

[Thanas]

Mongol Conquests and the Great Wait.




More colonists are a good thing, especially since we are now focusing our efforts on the frozen North to get better access to the Mongol Hordes/stabilize the regions there.


Yeah, let's not sour our relations with the natives. We need them.


We gained our first protectorate....


Now, we could easily have taken all their land, but we are trying to uplift their nations.
Given that this is about the only native group organized as a nation on the North coast of Southern America, why not?


An idea increase. Of course, there is only one city where we should build a Fine Arts academy - the eternal city itself (And given that it is a unique building, the only place).

To other nations, this would have been a huge investment. To us, it was Friday's income. (M. Bison joke aside, actually the income of three months.)


Church taxes. Why not?


Woohoo. We discovered the arrogant Whale-killers.


Some of our Our only Indian colonies increased.


Another increase in exploration ideas.

...which also increased our Roman ideas



Of course we taxed the Caribbean colonies. After all, that is what they are there for - all taxation and no representation.
And if they dare to hold a "Fish party" we will just have the local legion visit them again.

Meanwhile, while exploring the coast of Australia, this happened:

Damn poisonous Aussie natives.

Meanwhile, we developed the coolest infantry type of the Renaissance:


TERCIOS. ALL HAIL THE TERCIOS - besides the Romans and Prussians the finest form of Infantry Europe has ever known. As we are the Romans, ROMAN TERCIOS will probably be double strong. That is how this works, right?

Also, you all should watch Alatriste.

Despite the death of the explorer, we managed to map all the waters of the world:


(See, this is why I hate the new exploration mechanic, because now all it takes is ~80 years of exploring and everything coastal is known. Then again, it probably is a net win design-wise, as it stops a lot of micromanagement. Maybe a new patch would do well to slow down the speed of exploring).

Our new tercios were put to the test against the Mongol Hordes.


They performed....well, judge for yourself:



LAND FOR THE LAND GOD.

Sadly, our great Empress died.

Anastasia I increased the territory of the empire, smashed the Mongol Hordes, destroyed the Timurids and protected the natives. Let us all have a moment of silence...

...then commission a new flagship in her honor.

(there was some debate if the figurehead depicting the empress should be bare-chested as was tradition).


More expansion ideas....

...and a diplomatic technology increase.

Also, I gotta find a way to spend some military points, as I am running close to max without anything to spend on.

(what you see in the background are dozens of military buildings finishing.)

Pomerania, who lost all but three counties to the Saxons, agreed to become a vassal.



Our administrative technology rose.

And we discovered the city of the human-slayers.


From "Aztecs, cannibals and the stuff of legend - the Roman colonisation of the New World", by Georg Draconius, London 1970:
"The relevations that the Aztec were executing thousands of prisoners a year as human sacrifices were not new to the Emperor given that La Malinche had already told the council this fact, but it was unknown in the Empire proper until word of the discovery of Tenochtilan spread. This caused great outcry and was promptly used by the Emperor Bardas I to declare war, though many claimed it was just a pretext to gain access to the rich Aztec gold mines."

"In any case, the war proved hugely popular, as scores of university students tried to enlist after the Coimbra speech. The Empire however refused their services, noting they would do far better service as administrators and bureaucrats then as soldiers. The war would not be fought by students, but by the trained professionals of the Exploratores, Speculatores and Armigeri, three legion-seized forces trained in jungle warfare and raised for the expressed purpose of destroying the Aztec Empire"

"The main battle happnened when the Speculatores, supported to the south by colonial forces of Roman Mexico and tribal allies, attacked the main Aztec Army at Mixe."

"Here, the combined arms tactics proved too much for the warriors."

"After the battle, the tribal allies of the Aztecs surrendered large swaths of their territory to buy peace"



Relations with the natives of Hawaii improved.

Why should we stop them?

Meanwhile, our fine arts academy produced great results:

"Sell it? Are you serious?"


All shall be invested in Rome, for Rome is supposed to be beautiful.


Noooo. Not the European Beaver? Thankfully we had lots of beaver in our Canadian colonies....well, we would if we had canadian colonies. Damn it.


Ioustinianos Thanas succeeded to the throne. He followed tradition and decided that....

...it was time to bash the Mongols again.

While at war, our technologies increased:





Meanwhile, the Eastsaxons secured a colony in India. This happened:

Meh, some more money to them. Meanwhile, we got tea. Hooray.


"Wait, wasn't this a Roman principle already, with some soldiers even becoming Emperors?"

(to be continued below)

[Thanas]

(Continued from above)



CANNONS. AND SEMI-CANNONS. MAYBE EVEN QUASI-CANNONS?
(if you don't get it remember the vs debates in Sci-fi)


Bardas died. Well, that was a very short reign. Thankfully, we got an heir...


More settlers. Good. All go to Siberia.


We annexed another vassal in Europe. Soon, there will only be five countries left in Europe.


Yeah, great.


Another idea...

...and finally, the Roman ideas are complete. Hooray.

With our idea now complete, we could enact a policy that would be of use to us:

Settlers, settlers everywhere.

(The way policies work is by costing you -1 point increase for the area in which they are enacted. As I don't need the money, I did not enact the colonial restrictions policy and rather took the points)


Our administrative technology was increased, allowing us to pick another idea.

Given how we had lots of free points around, it was time to invest in a military idea.

A comet was sighted. Sigh, here comes the -1 stability hit...

Wait, what? Hey, that's neat.


More ideas....


We need to aid the natives.

Our administrative...

...and military technology was increased. (Screenshot taken before the administrative technology increase)

A new form of infantry was developed...


And then, nothing happened of note for the next years. Somehow, we changed Emperors rapidly. First came Martinos, then this guy:

In his reign, we increased our ideas:


And then started a search for the Seven cities:


"Sure, let's follow the crazy person. What is the worst that could happen?"


....damn traitors.
During the expedition, our ideas increased again:


And of course, when you follow a crazy person, this happens:



Well, at least some good came out of this....


Let us take stock where the game is right now ((1594):


We pushed nearly all the way across Siberia and have started our first colonies on the Siberian coast.

There are only a few Mongol and mixed Mongol/Chinese tribes left.

However, Ming has allied with all of them, trying to stem our expansion.


The North of America has not been settled so far.

In England, Lothian has increased her territory, though they seem disinterested in colonies so far:

Eastsaxe however has not been slouching

They have conquered part of Mexico, completely destroying the Mayans and allied with the Aztecs. Jewish Englanders allying with human-sacrificing God Kings. The racist jokes write themselves.
(we could not do anything about this conquest due to the regency period)

To the south, not much has happened either.



In Africa, Eastsaxes has started colonizing the South.


They've also taken the Maldives....

...and part of Borneo.

So the question is: What shall we do next? Shall we follow the blood feud and take out the Mongols completely (thus immediately having war with Ming), or wait a few decades until we have consolidated all of Siberia? Shall we go into India? Shall we play the Eastsaxon Whackamole or allow them to build their colonial empire to get a stronger final opponent? Shall we start our conquest of the British Isles to reconquer all of the Roman Empire?

What do you think?

[Iroscato]

Allow Eastsaxe to conquer much of the new world, whilst you endlessly improve your fighting skills and your infrastructure. Let them dare to hope they can defeat you one day.
Then correct them of this foolish dream.

[Borgholio]

Consolidation is never a bad thing. I'd finish on Siberia so you have a continuous coast to coast empire, and then reclaim Britain for the glory of Rome. Once you're secure in your mainland empire, whack-a-mole sounds like fun.

[Alferd Packer]

Fight Ming and watch it implode.

[The Vortex Empire]

Let the Eastsaxons grow their Empire so you have somebody to fight, consolidate Siberia, then take India.

[Gandalf]

So Thanas, let me ask something. You seem to be progressing quite well through this game (and CK as well). What is the challenge exactly here? Is it similar to Civilization where you have to build up all aspects of your empire including military, economy, science, etc...? Or is the main challenge administration and making sure your line doesn't die out as it appeared to be in CK?

A key part of the challenge is based on what you want to do with a country. For example, I like to play as precursors to modern countries and unify them somewhat ahead of schedule and do ahistorical things. Recently, I played as the precursors to the modern Saudis, and attempted to create a massive but tolerant caliphate. I got crushed by the Ottomans, but I meant well. Now I'm playing as the shogun trying to unify Japan.

[Borgholio]

So you can pick pretty much any empire you want, not just the Romans or whomever you import from CKII?

[Skywalker_T-65]

So you can pick pretty much any empire you want, not just the Romans or whomever you import from CKII?

If a nation is on the map (in this or a converted CK game) you can play as them. Understandably some have almost nothing in regards to unique ideas/events...but they're still playable.

For instance, one of my personal favorite challenges is taking Trebizond and restoring Rome that way.