Revolution Baby!

Year: 1718

France

A couple of battles with the United Provinces and then rebels in Flanders beat me up and kicked me out. Ok not so bad, just need to recover the place.

However, next turn my King dies and the new Queen Victoire I can't hold things together and Revolution breaks out. I plump for the sans-culottes, but foolishly I had just built some large and impressive forces up in Paris the turn before - my Drill School having just been constructed. This meant the government forces were much too strong. I still managed to fight a good battle in charge of the Revolutionary army though and nearly won a close fought affair, but it wasn't to be.

Of course my faction had now died off, so this meant I could continue the campaign but only from the turn before back with the ancien regime. This time I decided not to build the government forces. Will see what happens next - will Revolution still happen? Can the people rise up and defeat their oppressors?

Will the new revolutionary army get rid of their white uniforms eventually?

Defeat for Spain in Flanders

Year: 1717

France

I seem to be doing well, but badly. My subjects keep threatening to revolt, but my popularity is going up and down like a yo-yo - up when I defeated an invading force from the United Provinces - completely whipped them, and then down again - I guess because of my oppressive taxation policy. Income has risen as - I think because I lost some troops and also started raiding Spain's trade routes - I forgot previously that this could bring income in as well as hurt your enemies - I should try to do a bit more of this.

I would like to sort of push my subjects a bit further to see if they come out in open revolt - just to see what happens. Presumably there is a French Revolution style event that happens and changes the regime - and the flags and uniforms maybe?

On the war front perhaps I should invade Spain - they seem to be preoccupied in North Africa, with the peninsula looking relatively unguarded. My forays into Northern Spain have been met by relatively small enemy forces so far.

Spain Declares War - my oldest Buddy

Year: 1713

France

Not sure what I did to upset these guys but that went and declared war. More fool they I say - I swiftly invaded a completely unprotected Flanders and after a couple of turns of strong garrisons, no tax and destroying a rebel army, I am pretty much in control.

I am still woefully short of money, but things aren't looking quite as grim as they were.

I should be able to build a drill school next turn. And also go a-raiding into Northern Spain!

I Sold Quebec and Got Jamaica

Year: 2009

France

I chose autoresolve to make sure I got through the Iroquois attack without crashing! I haven't faced another battle that I wanted to play through yet, so not sure if the crash will happen again!

Even though the income from Jamaica is lower. I decided that this was the right thing to do. Now that Louisiana is gone and a war of expansion in North America is looking difficult in the face of persistent Native American opposition, I decided that this option would be less sapping on my resources. I was definitely spending more on maintaining large forces in Quebec and a lot on trying to develop local military facilities, forts etc. And mostly in vain - the Iroquois are tough opponents.

With Jamaica, given my experience with Great Britain, I get a colony that requires a relatively small garrison and can be developed with plantations to generate some good income.

I can concentrate now on sorting out my Caribbean colonies by supporting them with adequate naval forces to clear the area of pirates and protect important trade routes.

I will maintain Acadia and Newfoundland as long as these aren't overly threatened by invaders - they are OK, but I don't think will ever generate a lot of revenue.

What are my war aims - probably at the moment not the same as those objectives demanded by the Short Campaign. Instead I want to build wealth and develop technology quickly so I am in then a good position to become a dominant power and take the necessary provinces.

However, income and reputation are not looking good at the moment. I am wondering if a quick European war to get another province and increase reputation might be a good idea. I am still at war with Wurtemburg - perhaps another go at them would be a good idea?

Battle Crash

Year: Summer 1708
France

I was hoping to have played for about an hour last night, but this was curtailed by two crashes while a battle was about to load. The Iroquois had decided to attack one of the forts that I had recently built in New France to protect my resources. I was looking forward to a fairly close fight - we both had three units, although mine were suffering from attrition so the Iroquois had more numbers. But I had the advantage of the fort - so should have been a close fight. The loading screen went white and then Empire decided it needed to close. So I went back in, the campaign had saved at the end of the previous year so I hadn't lost anything except the time spent watching other players moves.

I was tempted though to make a few garrison adjustments in New France to see if it would change the Iroquois attack decision. I moved an extra unit of militia into my fort. Well the Iroquois decided to attack another fort instead that only had three units. And the same thing happened - a white screen crash in the battle loading sequence. I hope this isn't going to keep happening!

Anyone else had this problem?

This guy took all regions playing as Sweden!

Montreal Falls and Austria declares War!

Year: Summer 1707

France

What a nightmare - the Iroquois just won't give up and took Montreal fairly easily - I really need to bolster my forces there.

And then Louis XIV dies and Austria disputes the succession. Interestingly enough they apparently brought in their allies, which included Great Britain - a problem because they could really mess up my trade routes, and Wurtemburg and Bavaria - not as threatening, but they are on my borders so could get messy.

But so far these allies are still at Peace and Austria hasn't done much. They are sending a raggedy mob of 3 units of irregulars through Bavaria towards my borders though - not much of a threat I hope?

On a more positive note I now have three schools/colleges and am rapidly researching mostly military technologies - the plan being to be able to defeat the natives in North America more easily through more advanced tech.

Damn the Iroquois

Current Year: Summer 1705

Nation: France

Montreal has just fallen to the Iroquois! I am fighting to get it back and have done well, just one enemy unit left inside the city, but the attack was rather unexpected. As a result I am speeding up the concentration of my forces in Quebec. I am wondering if the Iroquois will be rather less good at cavalry than those Cherokee were? I am still expecting a hard fight though.

I am pleased though to now have two new schools under construction. With three schools I can focus each on one of the key areas of research, i.e. one on military, one on science/philosophy, one on technology.

French - starting out a short campaign

I played a few years as France last night. In many ways quite similar to Great Britain with its North American provinces, battles with Indians and a colonial ally - i.e. Louisiana. However, France seems to have a literal goldmine in Guyana which is quite profitable and also more wealth in general in both America and Europe - however, this also means there is more to defend.

I spent the first few turns just trying to build up some garrisons and defences, while also keeping focused on building up long term economic growth as early as possible. I dabbled in a war with Wurtemburg when they declared war on me, but my forces were well beaten when I tried to lay siege to Cologne, so I have left that for a while.

Next step is to build and protect New France and Quebec and then strike south to help Louisiana.

No play no posts!

There is a good reason for no recent posts on this blog - I simply haven't been playing the game recently. Will have to get back into it soon.

I hear that there is a new patch available, which is quite exciting!