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Once again, there seem to be a problem with how much infamy we lose each year. Danzig became a core so its local Embassy was closed, so we will need a new one in Verona.



Phew! It seems that Ulm world conquest was stopped by Ulm itself, which helps us as well.



Serbia has been attacked by the vile Hungarians! While they have not send a call to arms, we decide to get involved anyways.

Our ambassadors warns us that 'something very bad will happen because of this silly thing in the Balkans' but what does he know. We're Lippe, just and honorable!



The war has drawn in Poland, Lithuania and Castille too. As you can see, the eastern armies are easily stomped over.



The pompous music of Baroque will help our victories feel much more epic than before.



As Castille calls in their new friends, Scandinavia and Denmark, into the war, Milan decides it is the best moment to go to war against us as well, dragging in Liege and Bavaria and Aachen as well.

Unfortunately for them, the Army stationed in Verona is more than ready to teach them a lesson.



Ah, unfortunate; the new units were made available in middle of the war.

While Caroline Infantry would give us several pips worth of offensive strength, a drop in morale due to a switch could prove disasterous. We will have to wait.



Battle of Liguria ends in eradication of Castillean and Polish forces in Italy, allowing us the aforementioned switch.

Meanwhile, our Armies in Poland and Lithuania are battling the northerners, dealing with minor stacks.



One by one, our enemies are beaten up for money or political shenanigans.

An expeditionary force into Iberia discovers that Castille has ignored its own fortifications REAL hard - some of their core lands having fort level 1, the ones everyone starts with!



Their forces? Forget their forces - their land forces are terrible as well. And this is the feared-over Castille we're fighting? Pah!

Milan was beaten up and forced to accept teachings of Luther, as well as renounce claims to the most of northern Italy. This should silence them for a long while.



Finally, the last one surrenders. We decide that Castille must be broken apart, and thus their core lands are separated into the Kingdom of Leon.

In retrospect, the short war to punish Hungary took much more time, money, fighting, sieges and peace treaties than any war before.

Alexander I von Mecklenburg has taken to calling it 'The Great War', for there was no other like it before.



To celebrate the magnaminous victory of Lippe against its enemies, Alexander I decides to sponsor a new architectural style.

A pompous, disgustingly lavish, absurdly decorated style - Rococo. May the palaces of Lippe shine with gold and marble every day from now on!

Several years pass and Armin, with concern, notices that his infamy counter does not go down - instead, it goes up.

But then we get another Idea slot, perfect moment to implement Cabinet; now our Infamy goes down by 0.90 per year. In a decade, the currently acrued reputation will be gone.



Oh dear, that's a rather large rebel stack. Fortunately, the Danziger garrison deals with them well enough that they retreat to Warmia (where the Poles annihilate them).



Emperor Armin tries to distract the rebellious and detractory thought with a fancy new university at Westfalen, capital of Lippe.



Aaaand then he dies. Long live Simon IX! His heir, Alexander, is a very competent young adult.

Croatia has been inherited by Lippe, but holding these poor Balkan provinces would be tedious. We will sell them to Serbians, who have a core claim in the region and are of the same national group.



A free core via event? Don't mind if I do!



The war we declare triggers a chain of alliance, and Brandenburg, England and Bohemia now assail our lands. We will beat them off after we're done with our primary goal!



This very annoying event has the tendency to pop up very often after 1650 when you have at least 2 ports but not Quest for the New World or Colonial Ventures - aka if you don't colonize/explore.

Fortunately, this late at tech tree, we can afford any slowing of Production tech; it won't yield any new buildings anyways.

At the war front, Brandenburg and Bohemia have an annoying tendency to conquer our provinces before we can. Its but a small inconvenience.



Battle of Nuremberg ends in Lippe victory, and the beaten stack is chased by Simon IX and his Army to Regensburg where he destroys them.



Unfortunately, while besieging Prague itself, Simon IX got himself killed. Oops!

Alexander I von Mecklenburg ascends to the throne immediately, and his newborn son Simon is there to ascertain the dynastic continuation.



All those rapid successions and certain events dropkick our stability into negative numbers first time since probably forever.

Despite being an Emperor, the size of our lands make it somewhat difficult to recover stability swiftly, so the man on the picture above will help us with that.



Lippe so OP even its fledgling fleet is kicking arse. Although that was only about a fifth of English navy, Alexander is quite proud of his sailors anyway.



The literary reputation of Lippe continues, and that's because University of Armin I is completed, allowing us to pass these two edicts.

School Establishment increases efficiency, Education Act lowers tech costs and boosts prestige gained each year.



And finally, we enforce harsh demands on Bohemia, emphasizing release of Moravia, for whom royals of Lippe have a certain weak spot.

Also, Serbs, who were valiantly tying up English galleons and regiments in the Balkans, has been rewarded with English coastal possessions. The English are infuriated, we believe. That will show them!



France, in the meanwhile, has fallen on some rough times. C'est la vie, friends!

Shouldn't have broken the alliance with us. We will pray for your good luck, though!

Finally, thanks to adjustments to the Treasury slider (and Grain Depot cutting down military maintenance), we're making a monthly profits now!

It might be 2 ducats per month, but you gotta remember back in 1400s we were losing several (up to 6-8) ducats per month.



And speaking of money - gifts to the state!

Let it rain!! *clink clink clink* As our current mission is to build a Weapons Manufactory in Nassau, we can now afford that building. It provides both income (even more in a province with Copper or Iron) and +5 to Weapons tech monthly.



It's time that Armin does some proper Emperoring and bullies Lithuania to return Istria to the members of Holy Roman Empire - for example Aquileia.



This is why keeping up with military technology is very important.

You keep up, or you die. Violently.



Aaah, we gain Nationalist thought emerges! It gives somewhat decent casus belli against all nations within your culture group, so you can grab them more easier if you want to create a national (Germany, Italy, Russia) blob.

As for the idea, you can see we're taking Regimental System. That plus Grain Depot in Kassel means our land forces' maintenance costs are slashed by 45%. If we traded in Salt enough, we would have 55% reduction, but alas, we're not a global trader.

Gotta have a flaw somewhere, you know?



Literary reputation of Lippe shines once more, as a ancient text is rediscovered! And it's first time I saw this pop up for me, and we almost passed our chance; this event has cut-off date of 1700 AD.

And of course it's a philosopher's treatrise. Free government investment is great!



We manage to bully Lithuania hard enough to give up Istria and few hundred ducats.

After a short while of thinking, Armin I decided that he recovered the land, then he is entitled to keep it! Aquileia can complain as much as they want, Istria is ours!

Also, you might notice that we have a valid civic decision availbale. That would be...



While forming Kingdom of Westphalia would give us a nice set of rewards, free coastal cores even, it would jump our monarchy from Absolute to the Administrative line.

As well change our fancy multi-square coat of arms into plain white-and-blue one, which is a no-no.

In january 1686, Armin I of Lippe decided that our military must grow, now that costs to maintain it has been drastically lowered. A fifth army will be created, and current units will be enlarged to 29.000 troops each (13 regiments infantry, 12 cavalry and 4 artillery).



Oh right, in EU3, when you complete a manufactory mission, you gain a free 4-star advisor.

The next mission asks for textile manufactory in Altmark, but I'm saving money for another building - Tax Assessor, which reduces inflation by -0.05 yearly. More money we can mint without inflation, the better!

Meanwhile, England and its Irish friends has been awfully quiet lately, I wonder what's up with-



THE INVASION HAS BEGUN RUN FOR YOUR LIVES!!



...or maybe, just maybe, we're not destined to become Xin subjects, who knows!



Simon, heir to the throne, having almost died of measles - or whatever he has caught - reminded me that I have not saved in a long while.

Fortunately, he has lived through his fever, and continues to be a heir. Phew!