- Those who play for fun
- Those who play to win
How does one “win” EUIII? Don’t think of the game’s objective as a single victory, but more so an ongoing evolution of gameplay. It’s kind of like the classic situation with the board game Monopoly: You can play forever and ever and ever but the game never really seems to end, you just keep going trying to place as many hotels as possible, conspire with other players, or, try your darndest to keep your head above water. Instead of representing oneself as a Top Hat or a Scotty Dog the player selects a nation to control.
Introducing:
The year is 1511 AD, one hundred and thirteen years since the beginning of this - my first attempt at a – grand campaign. Muscowy’s state religion is Orthodox, type of government is Despotic Monarchy.
Under this system, kings and their attributes are chosen at random when the current ruler dies. Several kings have come and gone since the game’s start, causing the blue difficulty bar to tilt in relation to how many stars the leader can lend to our cause. King Fyodor III is legit, meh, so-so. In this present situation I’d like to see more stars under Military, but, as with the rest of this game, you’ve got to roll with what you’ve got…
And what exactly does the rising power known as Muscowy currently have in terms of land?
(Clicking the pictures will enlarge them)
Muscowy is beige. The clump here in the middle as well as the three provinces to the west makes a total of nineteen provinces. Not too shabby. I could’ve played more aggressively in the beginning, but I’m content with where I’m at now - There are drawbacks to expanding so quickly. Having four sea-side provinces, whereas having none in the beginning, is a definite perk. Plus, it’s cool that I have to zoom out in order to see all of Muscowy.
We’ll discuss neighbors and other players in this eastern Europe/western-central Russia Theater later on.
Be it known, that the following topics will make sense when the time comes. What I’m doing right now is taking the pieces out of the box and placing them on the board.
Financially, Muscowy ain’t doin too hot. My main source of income, luckily, comes from taxes. However, trade and production efficiency is terribly low. These numbers will go up as higher technology levels are achieved (The colored bars on the right.)
It’s a long story but technology research – labeled “investments” on the scroll - is slow due to all the money being sucked into the treasury, thus giving me a hellacious inflation rate – everything costs an extra 45% of the base price, and growing annually. Also, due to the country’s physical location the game puts it in the “Eastern Tech Group” which means my research is slightly slower than the rest of Western Europe. But, steps can be taken to adjust both of these factors and turn things to our favor, which we will get into shortly(IMPORTANT).
Muscowy’s military roster looks much more attractive than its 16th century financial Excel Spreadsheets. I’ve got five separate armies, each with 6,000 men. Three of these are comprised of infantry because they are faster to train and cheaper to maintain. Two armies consists solely of 6,000 Calvary units. These may be more expensive to maintain but are invaluable in traversing the vast terrain of western/central asia (IMPORTANT). I’ve had this setup for most of the game and they’ve served me relatively well both in offence and defensive maneuvers. As always, there could always be more military presence, but the budget is stretched thin as it is. This is where diplomacy becomes a crucial factor (IMPORTANT).
THE GOOD GUYS
Here’s what the map is showing you:
(1) Muscowy in all her might and majesty
(2) Hungary recently sought us in forming an alliance. They have a strong land force and a growing navy. Distance may be an issue, though.
(3) Poland and Muscowy have been an alliance for the past fifty years or so. They have a good military, and have come to our aid many times. They too feel at odds about…
THE BAD GUYS
(4) Lithuania. I’ve sought time and time again to ease relations with them but they just don’t want to cooperate. So I take comfort in knowing that Poland (whatever their beef may be) and Muscowy flank this stubborn nation on two of its three sides. And when the time is necessary we WILL strike this country (IMPORTANT)
And just who is this nation on Lithuania’s southeast border? Who is this grey mass? Ladies and Gentlemen, the main antagonist to this series, and threat to the security and survival of Muscowy:
Coming soon
Chapter Two: The Barbed Web of Diplomacy
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