Your nation got the Circumnavigation? Pretty cool. I've never seemed to manage to be the first.

Now where were we.... ah yes, 1661

After basking in the glow of the union and counting all of my lucky stars, we sort of went in to a funk. There existed on the continent a sort of power stalemate. Alliances and rivalries were arrayed such that seemingly no one wanted to be the first to plunge in to war. Aside from a minor war with Burgundy to take some rich Italian provinces, we essentially did nothing for 30 years.

I wanted to attack Austria. They were my ally, but I had to end the alliance, and before long we were rivals. The problem from my perspective was the PLC. They were allied to both Austria and us. And if war broke out, PLC would answer on the side of the defender. That would likely be enough to swing the result considering the size of their army.

So I looked at attacking another of Austria's allies. But the others were all HRE. And if I attacked them, Austria would be called in (good), but as co-belligerent meaning they could in turn call in their allies (not good). I needed to find a way to go to war with Austria, with PLC on my side, not theirs. Checkmate and stalemate.

While I was trying to work this out, the ticking clock was weighing on my mind. How could I come back to SimHQ having just gloated in my newfound power of Personal Union, and have nothing new to show for it? Could I live down the shame of turtling with the most powerful union on earth? No! To arms!

So we attacked Ottomans. Yes, all 250,000 of them. You know by now I have a fixation with Constantinople, and there it sat, within reach. Fabricated some claims and declared war using an Imperialism CB. This war went far better than I could have hoped. We crushed their re-built navy in short order, and seemed to have the upper hand in battles, always a step ahead. In the end, Ottomans were defeated and we took most of the rest of the territory on this side of the Bosphorous, aside from a couple of Greek provinces, and we split the spoils with Bulgaria. The City of World's Desire was mine.

Coring costs must have had a serious rework. In past versions I would guess that coring Constantinople would have cost hundreds of ADM points. The city was 46 development at the time of capture. And the cost was 81 MPs. Yes, thank you, and seconds if you please. What's up with that? No complaints here, as I've long felt coring costs were too high.

Soon after, we began diplo-annexing Bulgaria. Their usefulness had come to an end (this is why I rarely use Marches), and I really needed to free up the Dip slot. We also had made Milan a vassal years before with the intention of feeding them northern Italian provinces. Otherwise they were also useless, and stupid as will be seen.

So with my long term goal of taking the city of Constantinople completed, we turned attention back to Austria. Tick, tock, tick, tock. The bastages had added Sweden as an ally. So the prospect was even more daunting. Before that though, a few comments about our faithful junior partner. When I got the union, I was concerned that they would be difficult to control. Being so big, they might be disloyal and rebellious. But for whatever reason they have been happy to be our partner. Liberty desire has fluctuated between 0 and 20%, depending on my Dip Rep, which is constantly under assault by Austrian and Ottoman shenanigans.

But there have been two very annoying problems. The first was, Aragon seemed to stop progressing technologically. I think it was mainly due to my string of incompetent rulers, who, in a union, are their rulers as well. At the time of the union we were each Mil tech 23. 40 or so years later when we went to war with Austria, they were still level 23, while everyone else concerned was 26. That's a big problem. Not least because tech level 26 may be the most powerful tech jump of all. At 26 you get +1.00 morale, new infantry and cavalry and +2 combat width. A level 25 army fighting a same sized level 26 is going to lose most likely due to the morale disparity, all other things being equal. And when it's 23 vs 26 it's even more disadvantageous. So despite having the second largest army in the world, Aragon's armies are brittle.

The second annoying problem was that of Aragon's 140,000 troops, fully half were mercenaries. The cost must be exhorbitant, and this despite having 150,000 manpower. Disband those mercs for Christ's sake. And to top it off they kept 108k in a single stack, parked on a province with a supply limit of 48. Massive, constant attrition in their own lands (while at peace!) for absolutely no reason. It's maddening really.

Also, there is zero chance of inheriting Aragon due to the size of nation. Check that, there is a -80% chance

Anyway, despite that, we still needed to attack Austria to get the Take That Von Habsburgs achievement. 14 provinces are required. Then, by divine providence, the wise leaders of Burgundy allied Austria. And Burgundy isn't in the HRE meaning I can declare war on them, Austria would be called in and PLC would join on my side. Hallelujah!

And that was done using an Imperialism CB before I unpaused, so that nothing else would change. It was a massive struggle, not least because Aragon's armies were crushed anytime they fought alone. If I could join the battle it went well, as it used my tech level and morale. In the end we won this war, with casualties well in excess of those shown earlier in he Ottoman war. We took three provinces from Austria, including Vienna, essentially cutting Austria in two. When that truce expired we launched another attack, taking a few more provinces, but mindful of the AE to avoid coalition. And that's where it stands with about 60 years to go. I think 5 more provinces are required.

The latest version of EU IV resulted in quite the blob-a-thon. To wit:







For idea groups I have taken

Defensive, Influence, Religious, Offensive, Maritime, Quantity and....

Espionage! For the first time ever. I love the whole espionage re-work and it's the first time I've felt like taking this group would be worth it. Kudos Paradox, well done!

Remember earlier I had mentioned both wanting to unite my union in to one contiguous realm, and also that Milan is stupid? Well, in one of the wars with Austria, we took Brescia and granted it to vassal Milan to core. This was the last needed province to unite my lands, allowing us to walk from the Atlantic to the Black sea. I love it when a plan comes together. Except soon after I noticed Brescia was Austrian again. Son of a #%&*$#! Milan must have caved on the return unlawful territory demand from Austria, which I ignored and they should have too. And they had a claim on it too. Morons. So now we need to take Brescia all over again. You can see it in the screenshot, how there is one white province still separating the two halves of my empire just to the north of Genoa. Dad used to tell me, if you want something done right, ya gotta do it yourself.