Pbem109 - Do you hear the people sing?!

[terje439]

Turn 19

The deal with Preussia goes through, and the European borders are redrawn, and we gain 2 provinces for the cost of 1 protectorate province. A great deal. Ordinary provinces gives us all of its income while protectorates only gives us part of what they produce.
Horses and labour is still the main issue, and this turn it was decided to strengthen the army by ordering another INF division in Paris. Paris still produces the best troops, the only downfall is that Paris is also our main supplier of labour, and building military units steals away population in the city, which again reduces our production output...

After we ordered the INF to be built, we had just enough labour to produce one low level barrack (from level one to level two), a low leverl court (again from one to two) and a low level bank (yup, you got it, level one to level two).

[terje439]

Turn 20

All of Europe is at peace. Yet in our palace in Paris we know that all the other major nations are plotting, just like us. To improve our situation further, we order the construction of a farm, a bank and two barracks. That is all our economy allows us to do for now.
And we order a new redrawn map of Europe.

[terje439]

Turn 21

Another quiet turn. We order the production of two militia divisions. These weak unreliable forces are really no good, but placed in a fortress they do not cost any upkeep, and they force the enemy to stop for a month or two to take out the fortress before advancing. This delay might prove vital if we end up at war with several nations at once.
We also make a secret deal with Russia and Turkey.
No buildings are ordered as all our labor is used to produce those two militia divisions.

[terje439]

Turn 22

These are quiet times, nothing much happens anywere. Like boxers we watch eachother carefully wondering who will strike the first punch and where the strike will land.
A count of all our provinces reveals that we hold 27 provinces, that is getting close to the magic number of 30.
[SPOILER]At 31 provinces we get 4% waste in all our provinces.[/SPOILER]
This means we need to expand our court system, so we order the production of 4 courts this turn, amongst them, one is ordered in Paris. This means that when Paris is done expanding its courts, no waste will ever be experienced in Paris as the citys courtlevel will be at 5, which eliminates waste in that province.

We also take some time to expand our merchant ships, they do a great job for us!

[ShaiHulud]

You seem to be blessed by your opponent's various strategies. The gift of bloodless wars that also granted you so many worthwhile provinces is almost unfathomable.

Austria has given Russia reason to find common cause with you for where but in Poland is Russia to expand? Chipping at the margins in Sweden is anything but profitable and attacking Turkey through narrowly channeled borders seems, also, unrewarding.

England has done the same by taking the lion's share of Denmark and severely limiting Sweden's scope for expansion. Now, England also gives Prussia cause for grievance by placing Brunswick in her sphere. Neither of these moves appear advisable for England cannot really protect those areas against ANY Continental power for very long.

It will be interesting to see if France can make herself the benefactor of the downtrodden against Perfidious Albion and the anti-Republicans of Austria. [;)]

[terje439]

Turn 23

As has been the standard now, nothing much goes on. Our population increases by two due to good food production, and we order two courts and two farms to be built. Preussia tries to coup some of the minor german nations, and it backfires. Brunswick feels that to be a challenge of their superiority and they seek protection with Britain.

A major concern now, is the fact that Spain is growing into the major power in Europe. Of all nations to wage war against, only Russia is worse than Spain. While the Russians are a pain due to long distances and winter effects, Spain spawns alot of guerilla troops.
And the fact that Britain has stated that she will DoW anyone that DoWs Spain makes it an even harder nut to crack...

[terje439]

ORIGINAL: ShaiHulud

You seem to be blessed by your opponent's various strategies. The gift of bloodless wars that also granted you so many worthwhile provinces is almost unfathomable.

Austria has given Russia reason to find common cause with you for where but in Poland is Russia to expand? Chipping at the margins in Sweden is anything but profitable and attacking Turkey through narrowly channeled borders seems, also, unrewarding.

England has done the same by taking the lion's share of Denmark and severely limiting Sweden's scope for expansion. Now, England also gives Prussia cause for grievance by placing Brunswick in her sphere. Neither of these moves appear advisable for England cannot really protect those areas against ANY Continental power for very long.

It will be interesting to see if France can make herself the benefactor of the downtrodden against Perfidious Albion and the anti-Republicans of Austria. [;)]

Hehe well alot of weird choices have been made indeed. My main concern is Spain, she controls almost all of N.Africa.
However due to the deal I was able to make with Turkey and Russia, they will not DoW me nor eachother. Turkey keeps asking if I want to trade and I accept. She is selling me wool and textiles for money.
I find it strange however that Britain has decided to fund Preussia. That cannot possible be to my advantage. If Britain wants to ride two horses she might find that it is very easy to fall of..

Only downfall to my economy is the low output of labor (only 20 per turn).

Terje

[ShaiHulud]

You have several provinces that can be prompted to provide more labor. This assumes that you've not already rejected that idea.

Inducing a war between Turkey and Spain over Africa would probably grind Spain down considerably without availing Turkey too great rewards. Spain's fleets can protect her islands easily and Turkey's land connection, though SLOW, would guarantee her superiority in Africa. An excellent strategy to sidetrack both for an extended period, if it can be attained.

[terje439]

Yes, I could produce more labour, but then I would have to produce less food which again slows down the building of my armies. So it is really a lose-lose situation

[terje439]

Turn 24

There has been some talk between Spain, Britain and myself as to the future of Piedmont. Plainly put, they do not have any. Well, atleast not as an independent nation. We will DoW them and keep their continental provinces, while Spain gets to keep their Med provinces. Britain has been informed just so she does not think we are trying to pick a war with Spain.

So, all we do this turn is to move our main army closer to Piedmont to prepare for battle. We also start the construction of two farms, two courts and a barrack.

(OOC: One of the players had his PC die on him, so we are not moving too fast atm)

[Harvey Birdman]

The Duke of Wellington would consider Mus to be the "scum of the earth" for giving you the west bank of the rhine.

What's your inflation rate/unit cost increase factor at.

France 1792 seems to get a lot of inflation events. Like 5% chance a turn and the thermidor reaction. I went from 26% to 126% in 3 years. It affects unit costs: money, labour? horses iron timberand textiles and the money part of developments. [:D]

Soon you won't be able to save up textiles to buy good units and you'll be stuck buying vanilla infantry, cavalry and artillery.

[terje439]

My unit cost inc is at 22%.
And I am actually allready short of anything but money and food hehe. My main concern is that I produce the best units in Paris, but that is also my main labour production site, and producing troops costs labour and population. By reducing population I produce less labour...It is an annoying circle I'll tell you!

Terje

[Harvey Birdman]

Hmmmmm France 1792 starts 26%. So your down 4%????????

That's why I put allocate labour in paris at 75% luxuries/ 25% labour. I have antwerp and lille at 75% textiles / 25% labour and use strasbourg as a swing labour iron producer.

[terje439]

That is what I will do eventually, but I need to get rid of unrest in some of my provinces first. I will also reduce food production eventually, I just need to build my population up a little more.

Terje

[terje439]

Turn 25

We are back on track [&o]

Alot of things happens this turn.
First of all we are asked by King Mus of Britain to attack and destroy some Swedish privateers in the English channel as the Brits themselves cannot attack them due to a peacetreaty. We are happy to oblige, sinking some privateers should bring us some glory as well as a few experience points for our naval arm.
We then decide that it is time to alter the maps of Europe once more, and we declare war on Piedmont. Our army is ordered to take up position to be ready to invade next month.
Riots have ended in Flanders, and to our delight we manage to produce a few horses in that province, a greatly needed resource.
We also order a farm and two courts to be built. We really need to focus on the courts now, we are closing the 30 province limit really fast.
And once more we hand out alot of money to other nations, who said that buying friends do not work? The nations of Spain, Turkey, Russia, Switzerland and Genoa all recieve 30$ from us this turn. That is 150$ from a net income of some 250 so there is no need to worry, we still make a healthy profit which means we still have alot of room to expand our armies. Now all we need is to improve the income of labour, textiles and horses....

[Harvey Birdman]

I think the revolution event is the trigger for inflation events for france.


So what's it gonna be napppie439: 1. prussia then sweden or spanish protectorates in italy. or 1. italy then Prussia & Sweden,

Uhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhmmmmmmmmmmmm Prussia lots of yummy wool/textiles jager infantry and easily digestible vs spanish guerilla pain in the butt?

[terje439]

Turn 26

So, we order our troops to corss the broder into Piedmont, but the generals reply that the terrain is so hard that they might not succeed in reaching the assigned area. This is not good, as we have spotted an Preussian Army on our border. For some reason (call me paranoid) I doubt they are merely sightseeing...
The good news is that Piedmont did NOT ask Spain to become her protector. But to keep Spain pleased I will hand over Sardinia after we have defeated Piedmont nontheless.
We hand out the same ammount of money to the same nations this turn as we did last turn, just money is worthless, might as well try to buy some friends.
We decide not to build anything this turn, instead we preserve our labour for next month, and then we will order the construction of a new factory in Paris. This will increase our labour output, so in the long run it should be well worth the resources poured into it.
Our fleet promptly sank the Swedish privateer and headed back to Brest. All our ships are now gathered in Brest. If we have to fight a naval battle, we want to bring our entire fleet, and not send the different squadrons in piecemeal.

[terje439]

ORIGINAL: Harvey Birdman

So what's it gonna be napppie439: 1. prussia then sweden or spanish protectorates in italy. or 1. italy then Prussia & Sweden,

Uhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhmmmmmmmmmmmm Prussia lots of yummy wool/textiles jager infantry and easily digestible vs spanish guerilla Xunts?

Well. Either action is likely to get me into a war against the rest of Europe I'm afraid. When I conquer Piedmont I will have to raise some havoc in the pbem109 thread in the LFO forum. Will see how people react. Britain has told me that he will go to war over Spain, Sweden, Preussia and Turkey. So if I am to tackle any of the nearby nations, I will end up at war with Britain.
But "the boot" always looks nice [;)]

Terje

[terje439]

Turn 27

Two minor nations decide that they need protection. Genoa asks us to be their protector, we agree of course. Piedmont decides to ask Spain for help after all, I have sent a mail to Spain asking how we go on from here. Spain has allready agreed that Piedmont and Savoy are to be considered French territory, but does he want a show case war or does he simply want to hand the provinces over quietly?

We continue to hand out money, Spain, Turkey, Russia and Switzerland all recieve 50$ this turn. No need to pay any more to Genoa now that they are our protectorate.

Paris sees a new factory being ordered, and scattered around the nation we order the production of a level 5 court, a level 3 court and a level 2 court. At level 5 the court makes sure that no waste takes place in that province, so this is the max level we will build any court to.

Again we do not have the labour to expand our armies, this is something that is a big worry actually. We are falling behind in the arms race, we will need to build another division next turn.

[terje439]

Turn 28

Spain offers us Piedmont and Savoy in a diplomatic deal, we accept of course. Once more we hand out money to the "normal" nations, but we will now tell all major powers that we need to reduce this ammount a little. We want to have a bigger stockpile of money, as our stockpile is now around 200, while Britain's is at 2500.
We order the production of a level 3 court and a barrack.
Also ordered is an INF division in Paris, we need to expand our army.
We have the option to buy 56 different upgrades for our army and navy, but chose not to do so. Instead we save the upgrade points for one of the more expensive upgrades.
We then take a brief look at our current upgrades, these are upgrades we start the game with.