The Scorpion Soldiers of Ukraine

[jwolf]

Introduction and gameplay commentary

I am playing a GC as Ukraine with version 1.07 (actually, the first beta, from April 1 2003), difficulty and aggressiveness both normal. Ukraine has fascinated me ever since my very first EU2 game, which was Ukraine in the Fantasia scenario. I was particularly intrigued with the Fantasia starting monarchs: Shaula, Krempsky, and Nech. Although in the actual monarch file this trio plays only a very minor role, I will elevate them to greater prominence here. In fact, I am trying to write a more character oriented story than my earlier AARs, although I still expect to put in a fair amount of narration because I am better at that.

However, we can't start the Ukraine story quite yet. Since they are not available at the beginning of the GC, what I did was to start as Helvetia, figuring they would be a good neutral country. My plan was to switch to Ukraine after they revolted from the Golden Horde, usually around 1450. Meanwhile, I intended to play Helvetia conservatively, defending the two Swiss provinces and making sure they have a reasonable economic base -- not going bankrupt, for example.

I didn't think this would be difficult.

I was wrong.

So before the Ukraine story begins, I give you a prelude, the story of Hell-vetia.

[jwolf]

Actually, Take 1 went reasonably well. Helvetia starts with an army of 20K infantry and 1K cavalry, but a support limit of only 9K. I dropped the maintenance to 50%, but didn't disband any forces. Austria declared war in June 1419, and after a couple of months fighting I no longer had to worry about my army being too large for the support limit.

Though my army was badly mauled, the Austrians were hit hard as well. They had a much larger army, but they got into an additional war against Venice, and with that distraction I was able to stay even with them. Eventually, sometime in 1423 or 1424 they asked for a face-saving payment of indemnities from me, just a few ducats since my treasury was low. I agreed even though I had about a +10 warscore from battles.

The war was rough, but Helvetia came through with no loss of territory. Soon afterward I got the exceptional year event. I only had a tiny bit of inflation, but getting the 100 ducats really helped. I rebuilt the army and gradually expanded my merchant presence, with 5 in Liguria and 1-2 each in Novgorod, Kurland, Mecklenburg, and Flandern. My support limit got as high as 12K, and monthly income was just short of 6 ducats.

Austria then took a more positive stance toward Helvetia, requesting military access (granted), and even guaranteeing my independence!

Late in the 1420s I received my first alliance invitation, from Tuscany. I declined with regret, believing this alliance would be more likely to entangle Helvetia into a war with my immediate neighbors. However, I got such a war anyway very soon when Milan, allied to Savoy and Genoa, declared war.

This war did not look promising at all: Helvetia's 12K army opposing Milan's 15K and Savoy's 20K, which moved to attack Schwyz and Bern, respectively. My defeated army from Schwyz moved to Piemonte but after a little while I figured there was no way my siege would be completed quickly enough since I could not possibly blockade the port. So I moved the army to Lombardy. This gambit worked very well. My enemy's sieges progressed slowly in my level 2 mountain fortresses, while my army (now about 8K, all infantry) made steady progress in Lombardy. My siege finished first (just ahead of Savoy's), at which point Milan panicked and offered me about 150 ducats. I accepted and the whole war was over.

With Milan's indemnity I rebuilt the army. By the mid 1430s, about 1436, I checked relations with Genoa (the alliance leader of the group that had attacked me earlier), and our relations were reasonably good, about +80. So I opened the diplomatic menu and clicked on "join alliance."

Instantly, CTD.



End of Take 1.

[anti_strunt]

Originally Posted by jwolf

Instantly, CTD.



End of Take 1.

Sucks!

That's why I always keep at least two backup saves when playing a game I plan to AAR... But when all three (or four, as actually happened once) go corrupt there's precious little you can do...

[Machiavellian]

Crashed to Desktop for joining the evil alliance of Milan, Savoy, and Genoa.. hmm.. Thats quite a setback considering you seemed to have done well both in your war against Austria and the war against MSG.

[nalivayko]

I am intrigued, I want to hear about the scorpion soldiers

[coz1]

And you started so well, surviving the initial Auststrian onslaught. Let's hope round two goes a bit better. And I can't wait for the Ukranian part to begin. Sounds very interesting.

[rahlus]

My condolenses, jwolf. Please don't let this stop you.

[jwolf]

Originally Posted by coz1

Let's hope round two goes a bit better.

It didn't. The sordid details to come tomorrow.

I remember reading an AAR of Eire by Storey a while back. He had two false starts before he finally got a good game going, and then a great AAR. So I will follow Storey's model, but with even more false starts.

Nalivayko, I was hoping you would stop by. I hope I will do justice for the Ukrainians. As for the "scorpion soldiers" that is some fanciful interpretation by me. But when you have to fight Lithuania in the 1400s you need all the help you can get.

By the way, if any reader can identify what Ukraine has to do with scorpions I'll give you a suitable reward -- a named character in the story, even a guest author position if you wish, or just about any reasonable terms you name. First correct answer wins. (Hint: it's in my opening post.)

Thanks to all for your interest and condolences. I didn't bother making saves of the first Helvetia run because I thought I would just breeze through it for a while and then go on to Ukraine. And I played my last two entire GCs with no CTDs, so I was lulled into complacency. Then, ZAP!

Although it will be awhile before I get to the Ukraine part of the story, I want to assure all of you that, contrary to the impression you'll get when I post the second attempt at Helvetia, I did eventually succeed. And I did start playing Ukraine, although I had one failing start with them, too. Anyway, as I write this I have played to about 1490 and I managed to get Ukraine off the ground. While nothing is guaranteed, I should have a decent chance of survival. As for goals, I'm not sure. This is my first game with 1.07 (after a long time with the much easier 1.05) and I am finding it to be quite a challenge to play the little guys. So I would be glad to hear game suggestions as we go along. Of course, comments on the story are very welcome, too.

Edit: Fixed smiley

[Sapphire]

Great start and pity about CTD.

My Helvetian game have gone well after 12 battles or so and got 279 ducats out of it.

Anyway, are the Scorpions is the band and some of them used to or still lived in Ukraine. I do not like music band but as I recalled reading in the newspaper that there was an article about Scorpions under attack by German tax department or something. In addition, one of them left the band or something. Any ideas what happened to them?

[merrick]

Originally Posted by jwolf

So I opened the diplomatic menu and clicked on "join alliance."

Instantly, CTD.



End of Take 1.

That's what the "Autosave : Yearly" setting was invented for (well, that and waking up the AI and getting out of really stupid mistakes).
Best of luck anyway and looking forward to the Ukraine once you get there.

[jwolf]

Originally Posted by Sapphire

Anyway, are the Scorpions is the band and some of them used to or still lived in Ukraine. I do not like music band but as I recalled reading in the newspaper that there was an article about Scorpions under attack by German tax department or something. In addition, one of them left the band or something. Any ideas what happened to them?

Sapphire, I have to admit I am almost completely ignorant of contemporary bands. So I've never heard of this Scorpion Band. But you may claim a reward in the story anyway -- just send me a PM with your wishes and I'll try to fix something up.

My offer to identify the scorpion connection still stands, although Sapphire's answer may well be better than what I had in mind.

Merrick, I've never used the autosave. I always thought it would just clog up my computer with a lot of unwanted saves. Maybe I should reconsider.

[jwolf]

Don't talk to me about Take 2.

Early in 1419 Strassburg offered me an alliance, probably with their first diplomat. I was impressed with their earnestness and sincerity, and accepted. Meanwhile, Helvetia was going broke. Of the starting treasury of 150 ducats, 100 went to tax collectors, and I lost 3 ducats each month from maintenance, even at 50%. No tax was collected the first year (since the TCs weren't finished yet), so I had to take all cash to treasury just to stay even. Midway through 1420 I finally bit the bullet and disbanded 5K infantry from my army. Austria declared war the next month.

In contrast to Take 1, Austria led a much more potent alliance, with Bavaria and Baden, and eventually Wurtemburg as well. To make a long story short, Helvetia and Strassburg were utterly defeated. A combined Austrian and Baden army crushed Strassburg, while Austria captured Schwyz and annihilated my army in Tirol after a series of tough battles. Baden's conquest of Bern was the coup de grace.

Results: Austria annexed Strassburg and took Schwyz from Helvetia, in 1424.

I looked about for a new friend and joined Savoy's alliance with Genoa and Trebizond. They quickly got into a war with somebody in Turkey. With no army, I joined the war, taking war taxes so that I could rebuild the treasury. On December 30, ONE DAY BEFORE I WOULD HAVE GOTTEN THE TAXES, I got the unprovoked revolt event. Bern was under siege by rebels and I had no army and no money. For several years the rebels gradually declined as usually Bern was covered with snow in December and January.

The rebel force in Bern was down to about 4K in 1429 when Austria declared war again. Baden moved their army to Bern, generously driving out the rebels, but setting up a siege of their own. A few months later, Bern had fallen and Helvetia was annexed. Game over.

This was my most humiliating debacle ever.

End of Take 2.

[jwolf]

I started the same way as Take 2, except that this time it was Savoy who made the initial alliance offer, which I accepted. Having witnessed Austria's opportunism, I was determined to keep all 21K of the army until the first war, even though that required taking all cash to treasury beginning with the second year.

When Austria declared war, midway through 1420, they headed an alliance with Bavaria, Mantua, Baden, and Wurtemburg. In contrast to Take 2, the illegitimate donkey cavities in Baden took a vary passive role in this war. But Austria and Bavaria both moved aggressively against Helvetia. I broke down and took a loan, something I had expressly avoided in the earlier trials, so that I could build up a reasonable army. The initial enemy sieges, Bavaria in Bern, and Austria in Schwyz, were both driven off by my regrouped army, though with high losses by the Swiss.

Savoy fought hard, too. They landed an army by ship at Mantua, and this army eventually went up to Bayern and captured Bavaria's capital. This enabled Savoy to get a separate peace with Bavaria and pretty much knocked Bavaria out of the war.

Then Provence and all the French allies declared war on Savoy. The Savoyards were hammered by both enemy alliances. Austria captured Piemonte but I was able to send a Swiss army to recapture it (any other enemy target was too well defended for me to try to take). This only delayed Savoy's doom until the French alliance captured both of their provinces, forcing Savoy to yield Piemonte to Provence. Well, my ally was crippled but at least I didn't have to worry about the French anymore.

Meanwhile, Austria had added another member to its alliance -- Bohemia. They sent a 27K army with a good leader into Switzerland, and my army was repeatedly mauled by them, whether I stood to fight or retreated. I never got any tax money since both Swiss provinces were continually looted, and gradually lost ground in the treasury even with all income going to cash. Once I was forced into the third loan, it appeared that only a miracle would allow me to avoid bankruptcy even if the war ended right then, which it certainly did not.

Take 3 was not going well.

Eventually, the Bohemian army moved away to find greener pastures elsewhere. But Austria, Wurtemburg, and Baden kept attacking, and the only way to defend was to take more loans in order to build troops. Even so, the war ended in complete defeat with Austria taking Schwyz and forcing me to be their vassals.

Helvetia went bankrupt a few months later.

End of Take 3.

[jwolf]

This fiasco was mercifully brief. The start was similar to previous attempts, again with an Austrian DOW sometime in 1420. My defense efforts failed completely; the war ended with Austria taking Schwyz and my treasury, as well as force-vassalizing Helvetia. With no army, no money, and an outstanding loan, this was clearly another losing attempt.

End of Take 4.

[Van Engel]

hmmm................ sounds hard.........
*goes off to try a game with helvetia*

[Van Engel]

*comes back 10 mins later*
Yep thats hard..........
first, got trashed by Austria and other german states
secondly, I got trashed by Milan and there real cool leader

[Sapphire]

That was crazy.

I admit, I did failed first but managed to pull though the second. Yet you pulled your failure to extreme.

One question,

Was the dash at the beginning was on purpose

So before the Ukraine story begins, I give you a prelude, the story of Hell-vetia.

I can only wonder what it stand for?

"Hell for Veteran (player)"

[rahlus]

Wow...I had no idea Helvetia was so difficult. Good Luck.

[coz1]

Holy cow, jwolf - the list of failed attempts is almost as interesting as the eventual AAR sounds as though it will be. I wonder - have you tried buying Austria off from the start? Not sure how many diplomats you get, but perhaps the first toggle of the aristocracy slider and then just hoard money to continue sending them - perhaps even try to get into their alliance rather than fighting against them. Might not work, but it might be worth a try.

[Director]

When it comes to humiliating disasters, I empathize, brother. I converted to the new upgrade for my 'Building a Better Bremen' and got reamed, steamed, dry-cleaned, folded, spindled, mutilated, pressed and hung out to dry.

I think my eighth try succeeded. So you're doing better than I!

Best advice? Storey cautioned me that merchants were expensive and mostly useless in the early going, and that an alliance with a powerful country was essential. He was so right.

The failures are interesting to hear about, and I'm sure the eventual game will be, too.

Are we going to be treated to a character who moves east from Helvetia, or will you just skip over?