Cassidy
Arcane
Paradox Interactive has improved a lot in regards to presentation
Game Opening Video
First of all, I haven't consulted any GameFAGS guide, I have completely skipped the tutorial and thus this is a blind LP, if the fact I've played Victoria:Revolutions before doesn't count. It is the first time I'm playing this game, and thus if anything foolish is done don't be surprised.
Also I promise this won't interfere in any way with the progress of my Hearts of Iron 2 LP. In any case I'm doing this with Victoria 2 1.2 patch and only using the fixes that reduce the excessive need for goods from capitalists and craftsmen. Otherwise it's purely vanilla, like was my HoI2 LP.
Finally, it will take a time for war to get serious. This LP will be far less war-ridden for the first few updates, after all Victoria games are more focused on building than on combat when compared to Hearts of Iron series and there will be little to do militarily while being landlocked and having Austria, Russia and Prussia as neighbors.
==================================
Index
ATTEMPT #1: Ruined by Russian cowardice.
- Intro: Krakow, an enclave of Liberty within Tyranny (in this post)
- 1837-1851: Age of Liberals
- 1851-1874: Victory or Death!
ATTEMPT #2
1836-1890: Clawing out of the Jackboots of Mother Russia
- 1836 - 1878: Kraków, walcz!
- 1878-1884: A narrow window of opportunity to retake Silesia
- 1883-1884*: War of Silesia, Krakow's Finest Hour
- 1885-1886: Peace is for the weak and subjugated
- 1886-1888: War without end
- Late 1888: The price of liberty
- Early 1889: Dangerous setbacks
- 1889-1890: Decline of the Austrian Empire
1891-???: Great Patriotic War
*Again thanks to retarded and cowardly AI.
ATTEMPT #3 - Now with 1.3 patch, British India mod and homemade balance fixes
1836-1896: Taking back Polish land from the Krautz
- 1836-1891: When a single city forges a colonial empire.
- 1891-1892: Road to Berlin
- 1892-1895: Attero Dominatus
- 1895: Cod, Potatoes and Rice
1896-1905: Great Patriotic War
- 1896-1897: The Great Patriotic War begins: Operation Barbarossa with Potato
- 1897-1898: The Price of Independence
- 1898-1900: Never again we shall be subjugatedl!
- 1900-1903: The Final Liberation of Poland is Coming
- 1904-1905: The Final Liberation of Poland and Finland
==================================
Krakow, an enclave of Liberty within Tyranny
1836
Let the music play
The Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth once was a powerful empire, during the Golden Age of Poland in the 16th and 17th centuries. Combining the might of the Polish Potato with the cunning of the Lithuanian Hitman, it stretched from Bytów at the Northwest to Dorpat at the Northeast, including even cities like Smolensk from Belarus and Kiev(called Kijow) from Ukranistan, the home of skyway. It even was among the few countries of Europe with holdings in Amerikwa, as the Polish-Lithuanian Duchy of Kurland(which needs no introduction) colonized Tobago, and Gambia.
However, during the 18th Century decline came strongly to these lands, and society began to collapse. Exploiting this decline, three powerful countries neighboring the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth, all which hated her: Austria, Prussia and Russia, began to slowly carve their land, until both Poland and Lithuania were erased from the map. Upon the contrived treaties born from the carving of her territory between the three eagles, came the tiny Free City of Krakow, a tiny country, with little more than a hundred thousand of inhabitants, which came up with a democratic system of government(democratic by that epoch's standards, of course). Krakow was a dwarf among three giants, it was the last "sovereign" leftover from Poland, with apparently little hope and future as an insignificant piece of land, part of a cynical gesture of "goodwill" to let Poles still have a country under their control.
But not matter how hopeless the future seems, they know better than to give up. Thus begins the tale of a struggle of nearly a century for the freedom and emancipation two peoples.
The desire for the sovereignty of Poland, suppressed under a facade of satisfaction or at least acceptance of the current status quo, must be systematically developed within a set of ideological beliefs, a growing nationalist movement in the underground will soon serve as basis for the advancement of their State policies.
Krakow is a tiny, insignificant country, whose population is made almost exclusively of miners and its economy mostly based on the extraction of coal. There is the potential of industrialization, but with the limited resources, it will be a long time before it can happen. Among the people, also are included a minority of Jews and of Ukrainians, including artisans involved in the creation of paper and canned food. Strangely, in spite of a majority of conservatives, the Liberals are gaining ground.
The Free City of Krakow is a democratic government, but only the wealthy and the middle class have voting rights, the Upper House is chosen by the government rather than elected, the government has the right of controlling the media through censorship and ballots are not secret. Many yearn for reforms towards greater liberty, while most of the world is afraid of change, believing such reforms might draw the necessary population into Krakow, for it would then become truly an enclave of liberty, to stand alone.
If Krakow isn't devoured by the ravenous beasts and imperialists surrounding her, their people will forever dream with the day Poland shall have a chance of being born again, a dream which is the only reason why they haven't given up. It seems however an impossible feat, to turn a weak, tiny city into a Great Power, and to seize all rightfully Polish territory from their usurpers. There must be one way of ever having a minor chance of succeeding at that.
The government establish the budgetary policies. Education is deemed very important, for it may give the edge necessary to ensure the future of Krakow. Taxation is defined in the most politically incorrect way possible, although adjustments shall be made to ensure nobody will starve and end broke, and thus the Middle Class ends earning a large tax cut. Eventually tariffs also are lowered, once it proves that raising taxes instead shall deliver better income and hurt less the people. However there is another concern: with three countries hungry for an excuse to also erase Krakow from the map, how to ensure their sovereignty?
A "deal with the devil" is made. It is well known Austria, Prussia and Russia aren't in the mostly friendly relationship among themselves, and thus, Krakow pledges full support to the Austrian agenda in Central Europe and the government states that they are completely willing to support the Austrian military endeavors with their available military assets*. The inhabitants of Krakow eschew at the decision, and the government's popularity suffer an immediate spike downwards.
*Nothing.
Perhaps in a direct attempt to go against the typical policies of the countries that destroyed Poland, the population pressures for unrestricted religious liberties and the complete separation between Church and State, which also are an important element of the main opposition party agenda: the Liberal Party.
In what many suspect to be Russian meddling, a strong Mafia arises within the city of Krakow, to further destabilize and complicate things. Crime fighting is given a high priority within the budget, and many seek a zero tolerance policy against crime. Neither thugs, nor Prussians, nor Austrians shall break the resolve of the Polish people in Krakow.
The military budget of Krakow is already at the maximum, but that is all they can afford right now, unfortunately. The people clearly stand for slowly building up a strong army, although how is a question that in this year still have no answers. Nevertheless, there are plans to shift the focus of research to army affairs. As for Navy, totally irrelevant, obviously.
Krakow is already a tiny country. There is little hope of drawing enough people to it to turn it into something small rather than tiny if every person who arrives is treated like shit. The people hope that such measures wouldn't however trigger an even greater decline of multikulturalism, but there is very little reason for the real causes of multikult decadence: Blacks and Mozlems, to immigrate to Krakow in the first place, and all foreigners are either Jews, Ukrainians or South Germans instead.
Nevertheless, some ancestors of the typical Codexers become very upset about this development among public opinion. 1836 thus carried on, and the Conservative Party slowly losed space and popularity.
It seems that the alliance with Austria truly pissed off the inhabitants of Krakow. In an unbelievable victory with 100% of the votes, the Liberal and Lolbertarian coalition won the elections, and a new political climate was building up within Krakow.
Would this mean the dawn of the MULTIKULT ITZ or the dawn of the first steps for the rebirth of the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth?