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[Delta Foxtrot]

Do you have big enough army to crush the centralization rebels? If so, centralize. Otherwise move for free trade. As for warfare, anything that nets you best possible profit while staying within badboy limit.

[USEC_OFFICER]

Capture the province for the money, and then pray that you have enough forces to smash the rebels while you centralize.

Also I've never played EU3 before, so a couple screenshots would be nice if you could manage them.

[Delta Foxtrot]

Capture the province for the money, and then pray that you have enough forces to smash the rebels while you centralize.

The amount of rebels you get should be pretty easy to guess. At least all of my centralization related rebels have had numbers numbers directly related to the population of the province they appear in. Considering we're the Knights we shouldn't have too many provinces where they can pop up. So yeah, basically: if our armies > our most populated province, then we should get through the centralization just fine.

[Iituem]

Spot decision time.  We've gotten into a war with a three province minor and between us and our allies subjugated all of their provinces - but they control an ally capital province, preventing us from having quite enough war score to vassalise.  Their latest peace offer is ~40 ducats + one province (but said province is landlocked and we would have no direct access to it).  We could take the offer for what it is (trying to take more provinces would just give them to our ally, as we only occupy that one province) or try and beat their army (which presently has the upper hand, but if we crush it they can't build more) and liberate the allied province, then push for vassalisation.

We have leadership of the war either way, so the ball is in our court.

Vassalisation Pros:

* Half their monthly income per month.
* A forcibly loyal ally with a powerful land-based army and reasonable navy who will conquer provinces directly in our name rather than their own (as a normal ally would).
* Do not have to suppress rebels as we would in a newly conquered province.
* Getting a potentially greater gain than our original goals.

Vassalisation Cons:

* Slightly higher war score (1pt, as we're fighting as a defender).
* Does not expand our forcelimits the way direct conquest would (somewhat offset by vassal army/navy).
* May not get the large cash injection from another peace settlement (depends on final warscore/their treasury).
* Victory not guaranteed - they might still win out and clear some of their provinces, bringing the war back to a stalemate.
* Not pursuing our original goals.

The grandmaster (the new grandmaster, as the old one died in the field) favours risking the outcome of the war for a bigger gain, but that's because I've decided he'll be something of a chancer.  What do his advisors think?

[Zrk2]

Who is it? Karaman?

[Iituem]

Shh, spoilers.

Spoiler (click to show/hide)

It's Savoy.

[Delta Foxtrot]

Being a minor state we can't really just lay low and chill. I urge to chance for vassalization for greater overall gains.

[Zrk2]

I dunno, France seems to like to shit on them. That'd really screw you over.

[NRDL]

Being a minor state we can't really just lay low and chill. I urge to chance for vassalization for greater overall gains.

Fortune favors the bold.  +1

[Zrk2]

That was Erasmus, wasn't it?

[NRDL]

Well...I think it came from Alexander.  You probably know more about Hellenistic tidbits than I do, though. 

[Iituem]

From the notes of Grandmaster Philibert de Naillac

Spoiler: Ubino Besieged (click to show/hide)

1400-1401

Having incurred heavy debts, we put our forces to rest.  The Rhodian mercenaries we hired have been disbanded under threat of arms, for it is unwise to depend too much on hired swords when good Christian men can defend our lands and expand the dominion of the Lord.  We are slowly recruiting more men to build a second division of infantry, but even with the added forces Ancona provides we are still short on men.

The good news is that because of our chapters across Europe and the good, strong rule of the aristocracy over the serfs, we have a strong and plentiful diplomatic corps and so are free to harry the nations of Europa for new allies.  Support has been less than forthcoming, and many powers consider us beneath their interest.  We have managed to acquire alliances with the Holy Father and the island of Sardinia, though.

The Knights produce 6-8 Diplomats per year!  Theocracy, catholic, maximum aristocracy.  I find myself spending them on military access all the time just to keep below 5 dips.  At war, we spike to 8 dips/year.  It's astounding.

Mid 1401



At last, a good honest war!  Sardinia has been set upon by the arrogant Aragonese and requests our aid.  As a bonus to the effort their other ally, Genoa, has been pulled into the war.  There is a chance that both Savoy and England may yet intervene, though.  We could always renege on our alliance...

Hah.  As if we would besmirch our honour so.



The Lord be praised, the English have stayed out of the fight.  Of course, there is still the Aragonese gryphon to contend with and they have clear naval superiority over all of us combined.  Our primary hope is that they do not take this war too seriously and only commit a minor force to the attack.

The Savoyards on the other hand present an excellent opportunity.  They border our 'ally', Genoa, and are a ripe target for invasion.  We haven't a chance of breaking Aragon in this war, but we certainly can make Savoy pay through the nose for a peace.

Late 1401



Scum and villains!  Someone in the Order is a traitor and has been spreading rumours and sending missives to the courts of Europa to imply we are nothing more than ruthless aggressors!  I will have their very head on a platter for this insult!

From the journal of Grandmaster Thomas I of the Knights of St. John

Early 1402



Whilst on campaign in Savoy, Grandmaster Philibert was assassinated.  Evidence points to supporters of Brother Marcus, who he had executed for treason after last year's scandal.  The shock has permeated through our states, destabilising much of the good work the late Grandmaster put into effect, but we will recover.

The Order's council has appointed me as new Grandmaster without a full vote, as we are in a time of crisis.  It is my hope that whilst I may not have the military experience of the late Grandmaster, my long years serving as the head of our diplomatic corps and liason with the European chapters will prove of use.





A very, very nice admin/diplomat.  Shame about the military, and since we cannot afford generals I have no choice but to employ him as one.  Still, Philibert was Admin/Diplo 3/3, so this is a big improvement all around - especially regarding infamy loss.


Mid 1402



We have made a small amount of headway in this war.  Genoese forces keep losing battles, but with our help they have managed to evade the enemy and capture the province of Nice.  Sardinia has unexpectedly managed to capture the Baleares from Aragon, but they may not be in the war for long; Aragon has all but completed their siege on Sardinia itself.  We have not the forces or ships to relieve them, alas.  I fear our ally may become a part of Aragon after all.



Sardinia fell, but Aragon wanted the Baleares back without issue.  They made a peace that broke Sardinia's alliances and cost them their treasury, but kept the province out of Aragonese hands.  The primary official aim of the war (securing Sardinia's independence) has been achieved, albeit in an unintended way.  Aragon has made no attempts so far to attack Genoa seriously and we are too far away for them to bother.  God be on our side, they will not change their minds.


Late 1402





In a strange twist, Luxembourg's has been excommunicated.  Rumour suggests that Brabantian cardinals pressured the Pope to make this happen.  The reason this is strange is that the king of Luxembourg is the king of Brabant.  This appears to be a kind of quiet rebellion on the part of the king's clergy.

Savoy has begun offering peace deals.  Not surprising; their capital Piedmont and Nice are captured by Genoa and we are on the verge of taking Savoy itself.  On the other hand, they have taken the Genoese capital.  We rejected their initial offer for a white peace on the grounds we need the money from the war to boost ourselves.  They recently made another offer; a deal of ducats for peace.  This is sorely tempting, but now that we are here I see another possibility.

If we take their last province and free Liguria, we can force them into vassalage.  Their powerful armies would aid us much more than any of their rebellious provinces (especially since in a deal most of them would go straight to the Genoese, who are not even our direct allies!), though the loss of the cash deal will hurt us in the short run.

Would my predecessor have taken this risk?  We stand to lose our armies and face defeat if we fail.  Yet I say that God is on our side; with such fortune to date, how can He not be?  We will press our sieges and take Savoy in the name of the Father.


Early 1403




We are trapped in a fight in Piedmont that neither we nor the Genoese can win.  I am ordering retreats to Switzerland and Milan where the Savoyards do not have military access; once they settle in for a decent siege of one of their provinces we can move in to Liguria to relieve it.


Late 1403






After months of cat-and-mouse, fortune has intervened.  The Burgundians (who are also at war with Savoy) came to deal a killing blow in Piedmont, bringing their superior armies to bear against the Savoyards.  After a series of fierce battles the wretched Savoyard army fled to Savoie and accepted a swordpoint truce from Burgundy for most of their treasury.  It looks like we won't have the option of a cash truce anyway, but at least we don't have to defend a new vassal from one of the greatest land powers on the continent.


Early 1404




After the crippling defeat at Piedmont, our combined forces finally achieved a victory against the Savoyards!  We beat them in Piedmont in late January and finally hounded the last of their forces into surrender by mid March.  With the Savoyard army utterly obliterated, nothing remains but to liberate Liguria.

Or does it?  Genoa is a powerful nation, with colonies bordering the Black Sea and the Mediterranean.  If we were to pull out of Liguria now, force them to restart the siege themselves, it might give Aragon time to finish besieging Kaffa and extort some harsh penalties from the Genoese for a truce.  Not the most salubrious of tactics, and one that Gransmaster Philibert would have frowned on, but I am not as chivalrous a knight as he was - I am a diplomat.


Mid 1404



Under the pretext of reinforcing our troops against an Aragonese strike on the captured provinces I pulled our forces out of Ligoria and occupied the Genoese-occupied Savoyard provinces.  In an interesting spot of foreign affairs, the latest casualty on the Austro-Venetian war that is wracking southern Europe is Venice's ally Switzerland who have been forced into vassalage to Austria.



Not long after, Aragon conquered Kaffa and delivered their demands to Genoa, which capitulated easily.  Genoa has released its provinces of Azow and Corsica as the sovereign states of Zaprozhie and Corsica respectively, gaining Aragon a couple of new allies.  Of course, nobody wants to make Aragon stronger (especially now that we are the sole combatant against them in the war) but this has dropped Genoa to a meagre two provinces.  If we can find an excuse to war against them, we could take Genoa itself and control one of the key ports of trade in the Mediterranean.


Late 1404 - Mid 1405





Savoy's remaining provinces (recently vacated by the Genoese occupation) fall and they agree to come under our protection.  Aragon is unwilling to accept a white peace or even token concession of defeat, so we will just have to fight their small attack forces until they grow tired and accept a peace.




There is a strong argument for the reduction of religious freedoms; the openly Orthodox capital makes our new vassals uneasy.  We accept motions to improve the state of missionary drives to convert them, but sadly just cannot afford the costs of a fully-fledged campaign in Rhodes just yet.



I take the liberty of leading our forces back to Ancona to drive out the Aragonese.  There is little contest; our troops are highly disciplined and they are outnumbered regardless.




In line with our ongoing policy of repressing the heretics, Savoy is no longer a kingdom or even a duchy; the former King Amedeo VIII is now Bishop Amedeo.  Practically, not a lot has changed for him.  He still has direct authority, he still keeps any members of the cabinet either we or he hasn't killed, and he even keeps the palace.  If he's smart he might even be able to fudge things so that his son is appointed the next bishop.  If he's smart and loyal.

We have also taken the liberty of enforcing laws regarding the awkward matter of blasphemy.  We need to make things a little more affordable for our missionaries, so this should make their lives easier, though it risks making the country harder to stabilise in the long term.  No matter; the price is worth it to convert those misguided heretics back to the truth path.


Well, that certainly could have gone worse.  We're still at war with Aragon, but they are barely committed to the war and it's only a matter of time before they accept a peace.  One of the cool things about being a Theocracy or republic (not a noble republic, perhaps) is that you don't have to worry about losing Legitimacy when you lose a war.  As a Grandmaster I can buy off awkward enemies with a Concession of Defeat (most of the time) or money when a white peace won't work.  If I try that as a monarchy, I get revolts all across the country as I take an immediate -20 hit to legitimacy.

Now, let's talk about the future.  Should we try to manufacture some sort of CB against Genoa?  Wait for a CB to arise naturally through an ally?  Lay off the wars and focus on trade?

Trade's difficult as we're still heavily Mercantilist, but if we took Liguria we could just stay that way and have a better compete and placement chance (but we'll never get the +10 trade efficiency from full Free Market, mind).  Again, decision on whether to pursue Free Trade as a long term strategy or just take CoTs.

Finally, any other advice or strategy you might care to provide is welcome.  Sooner or later we need to take coastal provinces for ourselves, though.  We need them for ships and men.

[Delta Foxtrot]

Getting a CB to get that Genoan CoT sounds like a good plan for now as it would profit us short term. I still think that in the long term we should go for free trade though.

[Iituem]

From the notes of Grandmaster Thomas I

Late 1405



Queen Maria of Sicily offered the Knights an alliance in respect of our increased martial might - the first alliance offer we have not ourselves solicited.  With three strong allies (the Holy Father, Savoy and Sicily) we can now begin to seriously punch above our weight.  We simply need a war to fight with them.




Speaking of wars, we finally dealt with the Aragonese siege at the monastery in suitably short order.  We may be few, but our forces are most certainly well-trained.  With this last victory Aragon was willing to accept a token defeat; this concession cost us nothing but our pride, and we have plenty enough of that after the last war.



With that war over, we have ordered a change in our standard levies.  We have done away with the poorly equipped peasants with clubs and spears and replaced them with a poorly equipped levy of practically unarmoured peasants with halberds.  This might not seem a great change, but there is a certain frightful effect upon an enemy when they see a forest of blades on poles approaching them with no way to get through.  The lack of armour weakens our troops' ability to stay in the fight, though, so this is a double edged sword.  We will kill our enemies' morale faster, but we risk losing it as fast as well.


1406 - Early 1407



Not a great deal has happened on the military front this year - Luxembourg's king got excommunicated then pardoned by his own council again; clearly they are not fond of the personal union.  Towards the end of the year a blazing comet streaked through the sky over the monastery and many of the rabble took it as an ill sign.

In lighter news, we have after much heartache established a foothold in Genoa's markets; a cloth trader and a salt merchant (two merchants) are busy bringing in much-needed extra funding each month.  Our stance towards a moral economy harms their ability to compete as well as they might like, though.  Perhaps my successors will make an effort to change the Order's views on the matter.


Late 1407-1408



Having finally brought the peasants to heel, a scandal breaks out amongst one of our chapterhouses regarding embezzlement of funds.  Rather than suffer the penalty to the reputation of our finances, I ordered a full-scale investigation to root out further corruption.  The country has been thrown back into a measure of chaos again whilst we work to restore order.




Poland has recently been most heavily trounced by Bohemia and Lithuania in an ongoing war; as a result, the Emperor is more powerful than he has ever been with the acquisition of Polish territories and Poland itself is reduced to the solitary province of Krakow.  The reason for the Emperor's clamp-down was the Polish monarchy's ruthless and underhanded declaration of war after war upon its weaker neighbours, leaving it with a horrifically damaged reputation.

The opportunity has arisen to attack Poland for weregild without sanction by the nations of Europa, and perhaps more than that.  Krakow is not an insignificant province; it is wealthy and its population would double our existing manpower pool.  The only disadvantage is how extremely landlocked and inaccessible it is.  We may well need to station a permanent garrison there after conquest.



War has been declared and thank God, Aquileia has defaulted on their alliance.  As valuable as Aquileia's extensive gold mines would be, we could likely not face their troops in the field.



Whilst we send our troops north into the heart of Bohemia to deal with the flagging remnants of Poland, the Holy Father attacks Mecklenburg with a combined Papal-Sicilian army.  The ensuing siege lasts several months before the city yields.



In an interesting note about foreign affairs, Aragon has finally set about conquering Sardinia again... only for Corsica to seize the prize before their own troops can get there.  I wonder, shall we see them attack their ally in the future?




Poland and Mecklenburg make us unsatisfactory and downright insulting peace offers.  Poland might have been bankrupted by Bohemia, but Mecklenburg is still rich.



Our troops strike Meissen to the south of Mecklenburg, breaking their armies and securing victory.



On another foreign affairs note, there are a couple of very important wars going on at present.  The French reconquest of Maine has pitted cousin vs cousin as Naples and all of France's might come head to head in Provence.  We might well see a dangerous rival weakened, though France is unlikely to send troops to Naples to inflict penalties as it has a weak and useless navy.

The war that has embroiled virtually all of southern Europe is in fact the Ottoman Jihad against the tiny Greek state of Achaea; a war that has called all of its allies together into a terrible holy war.  This includes both Sicily and the Pope, Venice, Byzantium (the new kingdom by that name, as the Empire has fallen to the Turks), Naples, Aquileia and so on.  We could certainly join this fight, but I suggest waiting until the war is going a little further south for the Turk.  If so, we could stand to gain significant victories against their vassal states or even break the Ottomans up a little more.






Meissen's army breaks and the Brothers put forth a demand to stop the deterioration of our armed forces.  Following the ongoing advice of Brothers Aywanez and Nix I have embraced the change to encourage development of our naval training; it is easier to fight battles on land than to win them on the sea.

In other news, a Castilian-controlled Curia has pressured the Holy Father to declare a Crusade against Morrocco.  Useful, should we decide to strike at the Moors any time soon.

Not long after this, Mecklenburg falls to Papal forces.  Before the Pope can try to acquire a new state to the north, we intervene and rob them of their treasury.  Fifty ducats are added to our war chest, putting us in a far more stable position than before.


Early 1409





In our new, more stable position I grant more and more executive powers to the administrative branch of the Order.  This is unpopular with my fellow Brothers to say the least, but with more power amongst the bureaucracy it will become much easier to institute new laws and edicts.

Meissen falls, surrendering their treasury.  With both of their minor allies out of the war, we accept Poland's total annexation.  As expected, we can now field a larger army, though at least some of it will have to go to Krakow much of the time simply to suppress any rebellion there.

Now I must ask my brothers for their advice on what to do with the money we have thus captured.  Though risky, we could certainly continue to invest in our businesses in Liguria for still greater returns.  We could use the money as a false 'loan' to try and instigate a casus belli against Genoa.  We could just put the money into more troops or ships and get ready for the next war.

I had best ask them and see what they believe is the best course to come.

[NRDL]

troops and ships.