We've now gotten our regular complement of men up to 14,000, 4,000 of whom are cavalry. It's expensive, but it all helps when dealing with rebel units who can be quite fierce at times. [IMG]http://game-point.net/misc/eu3/burgundy/154.png[/IMG] One thing I'd forgotten to mention is that an event had given us a core on Transylvania earlier. Better grab it now before we lose it, so we declare war on Wallachia on a Reconquest CB. They're allied with Novgorod, annoyingly, who join in to defend them. *sigh* [IMG]http://game-point.net/misc/eu3/burgundy/155.png[/IMG] Meanwhile, with the defection of Abkhazia and Kalmykia, we're just waiting for the Qara Koyunlu nomads to appear at our doorsteps and declare war. [IMG]http://game-point.net/misc/eu3/burgundy/156.png[/IMG] The conflict with the Timurids gets ever-closer. We don't want to take Astrakhan yet, though, because that would put us next to Nogai whom we don't want to fight at the same time. [IMG]http://game-point.net/misc/eu3/burgundy/157.png[/IMG] A short time later, Transylvania is ours and after Novgorod submit to our superiority and white peace out, that little war is over. [IMG]http://game-point.net/misc/eu3/burgundy/158.png[/IMG] Slider change time rolls around again and we continue our push for ever-more centralization. The increased revolt risk for going beyond our policy restriction is acceptable, if slightly annoying. [IMG]http://game-point.net/misc/eu3/burgundy/159.png[/IMG] Belatedly, Qara Koyunlu appear at our borders. Time to cut through them and on to the Timurids (who seem to be experiencing quite a bit of rebellion at present; must have had a change of leader). [IMG]http://game-point.net/misc/eu3/burgundy/160.png[/IMG] In November 1489, Madeira finally cores, increasing our colonial range substantially. We can now colonize South America and the Carribean. [IMG]http://game-point.net/misc/eu3/burgundy/161.png[/IMG] Bavaria are currently occupied in a war with Aquileia, and they're one of England's most powerful allies. As such, we decide that this would be a good time to enact that long, tough war with England to wrestle Calais from them, so we declare war on our Reconquest CB. [IMG]http://game-point.net/misc/eu3/burgundy/162.png[/IMG] We fund rebels in Calais and they get sieging. However, these rebels would later go on to be defeated by our own allies, somehow (probably thinking they were doing us a favour), and ultimately Calais ends up getting occupied by Burgundy in this war. Guess it will have to be won by standard peace demands. [IMG]http://game-point.net/misc/eu3/burgundy/163.png[/IMG] April 1490, and we start our colonization of the Carribean region with a colony in St. Lucia... [IMG]http://game-point.net/misc/eu3/burgundy/164.png[/IMG] Back in Europe, the first spoils of the war with England: we get Franken from Bavaria. That should help us carve an artery of territory through the centre of the HRE. [IMG]http://game-point.net/misc/eu3/burgundy/165.png[/IMG] Then, France declare war on England on a Reconquest CB and England are finally willing to talk concessions, after a year of war. We take Calais and nab Caux at the same time. Caux was Normandy, merely England's vassal (and so not counting as England's territory), so as a nice bonus we can get them to relinquish their core on it at the same time. [IMG]http://game-point.net/misc/eu3/burgundy/166.png[/IMG] Meanwhile Wallachia had declared war on us, dragging Novgorod in again. That's for the last time. We vassalize them, converting them to Catholic into the bargain. [IMG]http://game-point.net/misc/eu3/burgundy/167.png[/IMG] In February 1493, yet another Imperial Liberation casus belli crops up which allows us to take several of Aquileia's provinces cheaply... worth doing as it will continue our gradual takeover of Europe. [IMG]http://game-point.net/misc/eu3/burgundy/168.png[/IMG] With success in Grao Para, Burgundy's colonization of South and Central America begins in earnest! [IMG]http://game-point.net/misc/eu3/burgundy/169.png[/IMG] We're really struggling with our manpower; it just won't build back up quickly. I think it's because we're taking constant attrition holding on to occupied Golden Horde territory during nasty winters, but there's not much we can do about it at the moment. We really don't want to peace out with the Golden Horde and let them regain some strength or let other nations (probably Novgorod) take these provinces. [IMG]http://game-point.net/misc/eu3/burgundy/170.png[/IMG] We get to government level 11, which means another national idea. It's got to be Colonial Ventures rather than Divine Supremacy at this point. Converting provinces would be very nice and reduce revolt risk in a bunch of places, but given the amount of colonization we have to do we've got to get as many colonists coming as soon as possible. [IMG]http://game-point.net/misc/eu3/burgundy/171.png[/IMG] The Ottomans concede defeat, and a thought strikes me - this would actually be a really good time to attack the Ottomans on a Holy War CB, with them weakened down to about 15,000 troops after their fight with the Timurids. We could take some of their land so we'll still get through to the Timmies, and peace out with Qara Koyunlu getting them to give us (a tiny amount of) tribute each year. Of course, we also want to get those cheap territories from Aquelia at the same time so we declare was on them too. The upcoming years are going to be tough. [IMG]http://game-point.net/misc/eu3/burgundy/172.png[/IMG] Then again, this Aquileia fight might not be as hard as anticipated; everyone dishonours their alliance with them, leaving it as us vs. Aquileia. [IMG]http://game-point.net/misc/eu3/burgundy/173.png[/IMG] The campaign against Aquileia goes very successfully, and we get their 5 HRE teritories for a mere 5 infamy on the Imperial Liberation casus belli! Now to concentrate on the Ottomans... [IMG]http://game-point.net/misc/eu3/burgundy/174.png[/IMG] By February 1496, we've won the war against the Ottomans too, taking 3 of their territories and getting through to the Timurids at last. [IMG]http://game-point.net/misc/eu3/burgundy/175.png[/IMG] In no time at all, they appear at our borders: [IMG]http://game-point.net/misc/eu3/burgundy/176.png[/IMG] By Western nation standards, our tech level (especially land tech) is pretty bad; only level 8 to the Timurids' level 4. Our tech progress has been slowed down by the large number of non-core provinces in our empire - large empires with many non-cores generally leads to very slow tech, even with heavy neighbour bonuses from the likes of Aachen who are the world tech leaders, and in our Western tech group. Whatsmore, although our army numbers are higher, our manpower is very low and we have lots of attrition we're taking holding on to captured Golden Horde territory. No doubt the Timurids don't have this issue. Nevertheless, I think we can win the ensuing war against the Timurids. It will certainly be a long one if we can overpower them, with many slow province defections to follow over the coming years. We'll obviously be heading for Judea and Mecca firstly to get ourselves more missionaries.