From: "Daniel Ban" Subject: EU AAR - Russian Grand Campaign (long) Russian Grand Campaign. Game Difficulty Normal. AI Set to Aggressive Part 1 - The Liberation of the Volga 1492-1560 As Russia, you start with a small, poor set of provinces, with a weak economy, fairly poor diplomatic relations, and weak technology. You have two advantages: a strong army with very cheap infantry, and a lot of "core" provinces that are under the control of weak neighboring khanates. I started the game by attacking and annexing the khanates. I hit Kazan at the outset, and rapidly followed up by absorbing the Golden Horde (to grab that gold mine in Samarra) by 1500. I also invested in tax collectors early on, but did not invest in merchants as my tech was too weak for monopolies. I also formed an alliance with Austria and Hungary. After a brief rest I hit Astrakhan, and was winning when Poland decided to invade. I activated my alliance and was able to beat back the Poles, liberating one of the Russian provinces near Russia. After absorbing Astrakhan in about 1510 I spent nearly 40 years developing my economy with tax collectors and judges and then after getting Monopoly tech establishing a monopoly in Novgorod. I basically sat out the wars of the Reformation and built up quietly. I had to fight a couple of defensive wars vs Poland and Sweden but managed to survive and grabbed another Polish province and one in Finland from the Swedes. With my economy growing and my alliance still solid, my one lack at this point was a port. Around 1550 I hit Sibir, which expanded into a war with Crimea and the dread Persians. I suffered some losses from the Persians but was saved when Turkey declared its own war against Persia. I managed to sue for a separate peace with Persia and proceeded to humiliate and annex both Sibir and Crimea, grabbing that much vaunted warmwater port. Meanwhile Spain was dominating, France was second, Turkey was surging and I was trailing, in the victory point race. Part 2 - Eastward into Siberia 1560 - 1610 In 1560 I got my first Explorer (land) unit. I provided him with a cavalry force and headed for the Far East. Good old Stroganov made it all the way to the Pacific and I founded a colony at Nakodkha to get another port. Once the colonists started rolling in I expanded Nakodkha and also started popping up trading posts on all fur bearing regions in Siberia. I got a couple more explorers rolling and mapped out all of Siberia thats accessible in the game. Pretty soon I had trading posts all over the steppe and central asia regions reaching up to Kamchatka. Novgoroed exploded in value as a Center of Trade, and when my colony in Nakadkha opened up a Center of Trade it accessed the Chinese market, giving me a 2000 (!) value CoT, with a nice monopoly. That Nakodkha CoT really put me over the top. With my alliance stable and the ability to defend any wars in Europe, my Siberian expansion became a huge cash cow. I plowed the cash back into tech and econ development, bringing me from a backward nation to being a major player in Europe. The wars of religion continued to plague and hinder the Europeans, while I developed. The one nation doing well was Spain who won most of its wars and expanded massively in the new world. France suffered grieviously in this period and I surged briefly into second place. Part 3 - The First Great War 1610-1640 In 1610 Spain paid the piper for its success. I suspect inflation was a major cause, but Spain was soon consumed by a nasty tangle of wars, revolution and national rebellions. It lost chunks of ground to rebels like Cataluna and Aragon. A major coalition war broke out, with a huge tangle of alliances and declarations of war. With shifting alliances, the war continued 30 years. I was dragged in when Turkey and Persia were attacked by my allies, Hungary and Austria. Poland and Sweden took advantage and jointly declared war on me as well. Ringed by enemies, I had to reach deep into my economic reserves to win this war. However due to my vast recent expansion, the reserves of cash and manpower were there. After a long series of battles and sieges where I relied on Russian winter and cheap manpower to defeat superior forces from Turkey, Persia, Poland and Sweden, I was able to force the Turks to a separate peace. I am not sure why, since I was leader of the alliance but when I signed the peace, Turkey remained at war with Hungary and Austria (maybe because Hungary started the war?). This proved to be disastrous for my poor Hungarian and Austrian allies. While I focused on adminstering a painful lesson to Poland and Sweden, Turkey basically beat the snot out of poor Austria, consuming, in a series of wars all but the home province. Hungary also lost ground, giving Turkey a deep salient into central Europe. I was able to exhaust the Poles and grabbed several more provinces including Belarus and Ukraine. The Swedes ceded Savelaks (in Finland) to me and I considered the war a success. Despite all of my success the Turks passed me into second place. Spain remained in first, but with a much reduced lead. Part 4 - The Long Boom 1640 to 1700 After the war, I fortified my frontiers, built up my standing army and focused on tech and econ development. I dropped colonies on all the non fur bearing areas of Siberia and upgraded all my trading posts to max level. Pretty soon my Nakodkah market was worth 2500 with a monopoly to me. I built tax, judges and governors everywhere I could and was pretty soon equalling then surpassing Spain in economic might. I built several manufactories and also some shipyards, one each for the Pacific the Baltic and the Black Seas. I also opened up conscription centers in Ukraine and Moscow. Although Austria dropped out of my alliance, the faithful Hungarians stayed in. Spain stagnated, and Turkey grew stronger, but I developed enough to surpass Turkey and take 2nd. By the end of the 17th Century I was poised to make my big move and the target was clear: The Turk had passed Vienna and was at the gates of Bavaria, and those damnable Poles were still in my way. Part 5 - The Second Great War 1700 to 1750 In my prior war I had grabbed all of my core provinces from Poland leaving me without a causus belli to justify going to war with them. Fortunately around 1700 they declared war on me and I responded with massive force. A vast coalition world war broke out, bringing in basically everybody. I fought in four phases: First I relied on my fortresses to control the Swedes and Persians, and hoped that the Hungarians could delay the Turks while I basically razed Poland to the ground. I crushed the Poles, and then turned to Phase Two: hurt the Swedes and Persians bad enough to force peace (plus territory and cash) out of both. Then phase 3: meeting the Turk in the field. A truly incredible battle with a Turkish army of 135K vs a Russian horde of over 200K was fought in Moldavia. With my vast reserves and good tech, I trounced the Turk and sent him packing. Onto Phase 4: assaulting Turkish fortress and forcing a peace with annexations. Each time I did this I would wait 5 years for the peace treay to expire and hit the Turk again. I eventually took 12 provinces from Turkey, in the Caucasus, Balkans and central Europe. The war with various coalitions continued for fifty years. During the latter half I sent my navies out to contest Spanish power (with poor results). However, Spain had trouble on land, facing its rebellions and France. By the end of the War, Turkey was broken as a major player, I was the strongest force in Europe, and I had taken the lead in Victory points. After that it was just a coast to the finish. It was great fun, and I want to play some more! Dan -- end of forwarded message --