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Good point Advisor Vortex. I did say when our Empire regained its strength. But I didn't take into account the cowardice of the Papists. Whatever else they are, the Ottomans aren't cowards, and I was thinking in terms of fighting them. Taking that into consideration, we should not attack Italy. At least not while they would unite the rest of the heretic Europeans against us. We should make an effort to convert as many Europeans to our side as possible, only then would it be possible to take back Rome. I thus withdraw my earlier plan of action as it relates to the Papists. But I still stand behind what I said about the Mongols and Ottomans.

Your loyal servant, Admiral Skywalker

As I said, defence is a pirority now, we've re-established our holdings in europe and our navy is as strong as ever, we should focus on building up our defences and keeping an eye on the mongol hordes right now, the biggest threat in my opinion.

Whoops! There should be one more screenshot - It illustrates our victory quite nicely. Admiral, I don't think the Ottomans will be much of a problem.

Then I withdraw any point I made about the Ottomans mi'lord. This was an even more glorious victory than I thought! Now, to consolidate our claims and keep an eye on the Mongols.

Your loyal servant, Admiral Skywalker.

It seems the only thing left is to secure the whole of Anatolia against any threat from the East, particularly the Mamluks and other major powers in the Middle East, while maintaning a pause on further expansion in Europe for a while. If Cyprus and Crete have no strong protectors, then taking them would be in our interests. The Mongols are not exactly the best of neighbors, so I advise an alliance with Hungary as an insurance against Mongol aggression. Of course, we need to consolidate what we have first.

Your humble servant, Lord Force.

I agree with Lord Force. We should eliminate the minor powers standing between us and full control of Anatolia, all the way to our old fortress of Trebizond and Cilicia. We can then present a unified front to the stronger powers of the Middle East. An alliance with Hungary would be a strong deterrent to Mongol attack, and it might lead to better relations with the Catholic west.

I am stunned that we have found such success, but it seems fate is on our side. We haven't held this much land since the 11th century. We can't let this get to our heads, though. We must temper our reactions to such unprecedented conquest with caution, as the fates could turn against us at any time.

(ooc: meh. Too easy - breaking the truce should have more consequences and nobody should have instituted liberum veto. I guess that will be it for my participation in this thread).

Thanas wrote:(ooc: meh. Too easy - breaking the truce should have more consequences and nobody should have instituted liberum veto. I guess that will be it for my participation in this thread).

Um, Thanas, what is liberum veto?

It essentially is the Emperor signing away all his powers to the nobles.

From wikipedia:

The liberum veto (Latin for "the free veto") was a parliamentary device in the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth. It allowed any member of the Sejm (legislature) to force an immediate end to the current session and nullify any legislation that had already been passed at the session by shouting Nie pozwalam! (Polish: "I do not allow!").

So yeah. Every little pissant noble can now nullify any act of the emperor. Hooray. (not that paradox is any good in simulating that, essentially it is a cheat here).

EDIT: In that case, I suggest that the Emperor remove this... thing, as soon as his powers allow. An imperial autocrat has no need of being second-guessed by his subjects!

I'm not into this whole role playing thing, but a word of warning: when you play as the Byzantines in Divine Wind, you need to keep pressure on the 'Rids or they have will devour worlds. Here's what happened in one of my games:

Force Lord wrote:EDIT: In that case, I suggest that the Emperor remove this... thing, as soon as his powers allow.

Once instituted, it can never be removed.

Thanas wrote:

Force Lord wrote:EDIT: In that case, I suggest that the Emperor remove this... thing, as soon as his powers allow.

Once instituted, it can never be removed.

Oh. Well, I hope feudalism dies down as soon as possible in Byzantium.

With it enacted, it will never die down. (Nevermind that this makes no sense in the first place, seeing as how Byzantium was not really a feudal structure like in the west).

You guys are conflating history with gameplay. in EU3 the only effects are:

-8 to war exhaustion
+10% to Army Tradition
1 move towards Decentralization
2 moves towards Aristocracy
Gain 5 cavalry regiments and 10 infantry regiments in a random owned and controlled province

Well, what's done cannot be undone. The game must go on!

Huh. I just saw "Grants a crapload of soldiers in Athens" and went with it - didn't realize the consequences. As to the rest, I got very very lucky with the random events. Breaking the truce cost 5 stability but I got a couple stability-raising events right afterward. War subsidies and tribute from the first Ottoman War kept our head above water fiscally until now, when we've got enough provinces to support the army Liberum Veto gave us.

That said, this is silly. Want me to go back to an earlier save, turn up the difficulty, and avoid signing away the Imperial prerogatives?

Unrelated note: Dominos, it's nice to see that the Red Menace will be present a couple centuries ahead of schedule in whatever timeline that is.

Well, we could give it a try with the earlier save, see what happens. I don't want to force you to it, though.

Excuse my tardiness, Mi'lord, but I just arrived back from collecting the final reports from our 'special envoys'. As you noticed, our efforts to destabilize the Ottoman rule in the rightfully Roman provinces were a huge success, and I applaud you for your bold and swift action in order to secure these by - as we call it in our trade - less elegant means.
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Anyways our current situation is no less volatile than it was at the time of my last report. I strongly advise you to seek the friendship of the Hungarians to counter the Mongolian agression while rebuilding our forces. A snake has to coil for a deft strike, as they say.

Meanwhile, we might do well to look into small states that seek protection, and to forge plans to expand into Anatolia. Karamar and Candar both needlessly lenghten the borderline to defend. I agree that we should not strive to turn against western heretics, unless opportunity allows to do so without raising ire against us.

I don't know about reverting to another save just yet. The tables could still be completely turned by the mongols or timurids.

I wouldn't mind reverting, or staying the way it is. Doesn't really bother me either way, since the Navy will still be a major player. And thus as the Admiral I need to stay involved more than the average advisor. I'm just looking forward to the next post either way.

I'll give it another day to see what people think before doing one or the other. I won't be able to post before Friday night at the earliest, anyway.

Okay then. But I won't be able to reply until Saturday morning at the earliest either (don't have internet on Fridays nights...). And even then I might not be able to. So I may or may not go silent over the weekend.

Dont forget to give out royal marriages like a sailor spends - we need diplomatic ties...

Just a quick note - I'm going to go with the older save, unless someone has a strong objection. Should have something up before the weekend.