Let's Play: Victoria 2 (a Krakow aar/roleplay)

[PdaFtw]

The Free City of Krakow​

A Krakow aar/roleplay​

​

A brief note:
Before beginning my first aar I have a few things to say. Firstly, I will combine my awe inspiring (lol) skills of storytelling with one of my favourite games, making many fictional characters and following the main events of my city-state's president. Secondly, I will try to play according to his personality and political ideals. Thirdly, I won't be aiming to form Poland or conquer the whole world or any of those things, in this aar I'l try to focus on the roleplaying aspect, and if I get annexed that's pretty much the end. Finaly, I'l try to update this as regularly as I can, but if I suddenly stop its cause I got bored of playing vicky, I'l probably won't so relax . Thank you guys and I hope you'l enjoy!

Backstory (1815-1836)​

(Note: All characters are fictional)

The Free, Independent and Stricly Neutral city of Krakow was a city-state created in 1815 during the congress of Viena. It's foreing affairs, and to a considerable extent his internal ones, were controlled by the three surrounding nations, The Russian Empire, Prussia and Austria. It had been, so far, a prosperous city with a relatively high amount of literacy and low taxes, and was one of the first fully fledged democracies to arise in Europe. (wikipedia ftw)

​

In the year of 1836, when we'l be starting our let's play, the continent was divided into Great Powers and into small, but ambitious nations. The old nations of the UK, France, Austria and Russia retained the great majority of european power, but Prussia, the new guy in town, was rising up to meet them quickly. There was a constant struggle to expand both economicaly and through territory expansion, all the while everyone was trying to be the "coolest", yearning for prestige and respect.

Meanwhile, Krakow remained in peace, taking little interest in foreign affairs and prioritising his citizens, a ideology that the newly elected president Wisław Piotrowsk, leading member of the conservative Catholic party, was happy to follow, though he secretly held dreams of a nation free of foreign influence.

Wisław Piotrowsk (1782-1848)

(Note: I won't add portraits to everyone, probably just the krakowian presidents)

 

[Cassidy]

1) Ally with Austria

2) Conquer Copenhagen

3) Build as big of an army as you can in Copenhagen, then fleet to transport it

4) Conquer Sokoto

5) Don't forget the researches for colonial expansion (Imperialism, Machineguns, etc)

6) Once the Scramble for Africa begins, have everything ready to join it too, and also conquer any densely populated region in an Uncivilized country to finish the creation of a colonial empire under a free city.

7) Build a massive colonial army

8) Ship the colonial army to Europe

9) Declare war on Austria to reclaim the lost clay in Galicia

10) Defeat Austria with the help of the large colonial army

11) Go for Prussia next, or if you're unlucky NGF/Germany

12) After taking back all clay Prussia stole from Potato, prepare for Barbarossa

13) Don't forget to research chemical weapons first

14) Invade Russia

15) ???

16)



tl;dr



Good luck. You are going to need it, a lot.

 

[PdaFtw]

Wisław Piotrowsk's first term (1836-1840)
​

28th of June, 1836
In these troubled times the Assembly of Representatives served constantly as an arena where liberal, conservative and reactionary men bickered and argued intensely. This day was no exception.
"What we propose is perfectly reasonable, Henio, please sit down and avoid talking so loudly, I'm sure everyone can hear you perfectly." Said Wisław to Henio Król, head of the krakowian Liberal Party, while rubbing his forehead in an attempt to stop the headache Henio's loud speech caused.
"I'l gladly stand up and speak loudly, for I stand and speak for the oppressed krakowians!", yelled Henio. "What use do we have for regiment of 3 thousand men when we do not need to be protected? Or is it not meant to protect, sir? I say you'l use it to opress us even further!". At that, all of the liberal representatives stood up, shouting out they'r support for their leader.
"An army is more than a tool, sir. It is the difference between an independent and subjugated nation and a symbol of polish pride!", answeared Bolek Olszewski, ringleader of the reactionaries. "This shouldn't even be discussed! And by the way, it will only "opress" those in defiance of the law and only during peace. So if you are afraid of the regiment "opressing" your rabble they should have been thrown in jail a long time ago!", and a wave of reactionary supporters raised to show their support.
Wisław knew this argument would never end unless he himself intervened. "ENOUGH!", he shouted before the Henio could answear, "Everyone had time to make their arguments, now we shall proceed to vote on the motion." He then waited for a few minutes so that everyone could find their sits. "All in favour?...All opposed?" And after a voting count the motion was aproved with 72% of the votes.
Alright, the easy bit was done... Thought Wisław as he left the building, for every bill that was aproved by the Assembly needed to be aproved by the Austrian, Prussian and Russian ambassadors.

1st of July, 1836
"You think of yourself too highly, Phillipp. What gives you the right to answear for us?" said Marcel Vogt, ambassador of Prussia and former army official, to Phillipp Pabst, the austrian ambassador.
"Not at all, Marcel, I just know that the creation of this err... "Army" will benefit us all." and meanwhile the russian representative Erast Volkov sat silently, sipping from the wine cup he held, but he broke his silence.
"You'r assumptions annoy me, Phillipp, but you were right nonetheless. It allows us to better mantain order in these streets and to keep these polacs in check. I'm not so sure as to call it an army... It could unnintentionaly raise patriotic feelings. Why not just call it the Krakowian City Guard and be done with it?"
Phillip stroke his beard as he thought about Volkov's proposition. "Well tought, my russian friend, you may create your "army", Wisław, just make sure to name it as Volkov said. You may leave now" And he waved the president off.
"Very well, si-" Wisław answeared, but was interrupted by Marcel.
"I still haven't said my veredict so you may stay." He said, clenching his fist.
"It doesn't matter, Marcel, it is two to one, and besides, the treaty of Viena named Austria as the main decision maker." He turned to Wisław again with a satisfied smirk on his face. "You may leave."
Wisław watched these three foreigners deciding his country's future with sadeness. "Very well, sir." And he headed off.
And over the next months the Krakowian City Guard was created.

woo-hoo!

 

[Cassidy]

Are you playing with A Pop Divided or the Heart of Darkness version of the Pop Demand mod? If not, I seriously recommend it.

 

[PdaFtw]

I'm sure liberalism is just a trend... Right?

19th December, 1836
Since the Krakowian City Guard was created the heavily patrolled city's streets were now mostly deserted, and Wisław could sense the impending conflict whenever he looked through the window of his office or walked through the streets. And it came on the 19th of December. The president was taking care of some beurocratic papers when he started hearing shouts of "Freedom!" and "Liberty!". He looks through the window and a large crowd was starting to gather infront of the Assembly, much to the dislike of a number of policemen and guardsmen who were trying in vain to disperse them.
"What is the meaning of this?" Wisław asked, and his secretary asnweared.
"Liberals, sir. They have been plotting this for the past few months..."
"I knew that, I just didn't expect they'd actualy try it..."
"Don't worry, sir. I'm sure the Guard will put an end to this in no time."
But they didn't, and for every soldier that appeared 10 very unhappy men came along, and after a few hours the fighting began. The soldiers started shooting when an officer was hit in the head with a stone, killing him almost instantly, and the crowd threatened to break the barrier the guard had set up. Wisław had to do something.
"Get me Henio. Now."
"Y-Yes sir, at once." and his secretary stormed off.
The liberal ringleader arrived a few hours later, and fires had broken out in several spots of the city. The fighting had spread, and was now happening in most streets.
"You sent for me, president?" Henio said while sitting in one of the chairs that were infront of Wisław's desk with a smirk on his face.
"I want you to call off your men immediatly. I am willing to discuss terms after that, but not before."
"They're not my men nor anyone's. They are free men, and free men do as they please."
Wisław suddenly slammed his hand on his desk with all his strength and his lamp fell to the ground, shattering. "DAMN IT, HENIO! People are dying, polish people. Our people. And for what? Your stubborness? Now do as I say or I swear to God you won't be leaving this room."
Henio remained calm at Wisław's sudden burst, but his smirk had disappeared. "...Very well. I'l do what I can, sir, but I'm counting on having a serious talk with you after this."
"You have my word on it." the president said, sitting back on his chair and taking a moment to breath deeply and to calm his throbbing headache.
Henio left, and after a few hours the crowd had disappeared, leaving behind shattered glass, raging fires and the occasional corpse lying in a pool of blood.

7th of January, 1837
After the uprising Wisław declared temporary curfews and a no tolerance policy for law breakers. That managed to keep the streets empty for the most part, and the krakowians spent christmas mourning for the many dead. After the discussion between Wisław and Henio, the conservative and liberal party agreed to propose the Weighted Universal vote franchise in the assembly, in which everyone got to vote, but the wealthy and middle class votes counted 3 and 2 times more than a poor man's vote. The reactionaries were not happy.
"No, no and a thousand times no! That rabble barely understands the concept of democracy, and you want them to have a say in our elections? You'l doom us all!" yelled Bolek, reactionary leader.
"The people have spoken, Bolek, and they want to vote. Who are you too keep them from their rights?" answeared Henio with contempt.
"I am the leader of the krakowian reactionary party, and I vote NO!" and his party, along with a few conservatives, raised from their seats and shouted in aproval.
"Must I remind you all that the voting hasn't begun yet? Sit down and let's get this over with." stated Wisław, sighing. He had always been someone who was very interested in politics, but everything that had happened during the first year of his term made him feel like he bit more off than he could chew when he ran for office.
When everyone managed to finaly find their sits the voting commenced and the bill was approved with a 58% majority.
He then headed for the Austrian embassy, where the 3 infamous diplomats awaited him. The president didn't like the building, it was too luxurious and all of the perfumes made it smell odd.
"Miners and farmers deciding the fate of a country? I must say, Wisław, we did your people a favour by annexing your former country!" said the austrian ambassador, laughing loudly after and spilling some wine on the carpet. Wisław narrowed his eyes at him, but managed to keep his toughts to himself.
"Looks like your 'army' didn't do you much good when it was truly needed. Thats the polish soldier for you. Replace them with germans and the peasents would be running away before they even knew what hit them." said Marcel while taking big gulps of wine from his cup.
"Well said, Marcel, well said!" agreed Phillip.
"Let's cut to the chase, shall we?" said Volkov suddenly. While the other two diplomats where japing he clearly had been thinking about the whole state of affairs. Wisław didn't trust the cold, pale and distant blue eyes the russian ambassador had. "I don't see any harm to our interests in this policy, besides, the populace has clearly shown their will on this matter, if we decline this decision we might have ourselves an open revolution."
"I couldn't have said more myself!" added Phillip "You have our permission to proceed with this bill of yours, president. You are free to go now."
Wisław could almost hear Marcel's teeth grinding at eachother, and he waited for a brief moment for the prussian ambassador to answear, but since he kept to himself he excused himself and left the embassy.

Democracy: Where any two idiots outvote a genius.

 

[PdaFtw]

Are you playing with A Pop Divided or the Heart of Darkness version of the Pop Demand mod? If not, I seriously recommend it.

Im playing vanilla Victoria 2 with heart of darkness expansion. I heard very good feedback about that mod, but Im just too lazy to install it and havent realy checked it either lol

 

[Infantryman]

Your initiative is worthy of great praise, PdaFtw! This LP so far resembles more those seen on Paradoxplaza than typical Codexian ones.

Vicky2 had an enormous potential to be a great game, but its mechanics were really screwed up. Increasing the well-being of your people as well as their education levels (high consciousness) causes massive emigration, steadily reducing your country's population! I really hope they finally fixed that in Heart of Darkness, because that made employing Yanukovich-style strategy the only sensible one. It would be nice to be able to play as LIBRULS for a change.

I suppose you should become a part of someone's sphere of influence. You'd get access to their internal goods and commodities market and you wouldn't be at the immediate risk of an invasion.

 

[PdaFtw]

Your initiative is worthy of great praise, PdaFtw! This LP so far resembles more those seen on Paradoxplaza than typical Codexian ones.

Vicky2 had an enormous potential to be a great game, but its mechanics were really screwed up. Increasing the well-being of your people as well as their education levels (high consciousness) causes massive emigration, steadily reducing your country's population! I really hope they finally fixed that in Heart of Darkness, because that made employing Yanukovich-style strategy the only sensible one. It would be nice to be able to play as LIBRULS for a change.

I suppose you should become a part of someone's sphere of influence. You'd get access to their internal goods and commodities market and you wouldn't be at the immediate risk of an invasion.

Thank you! This game is one of my favs and Im absolutely enjoying making this LP.

I played both Vicky 2 when it came out and when Heart of Darkness was released. In HoD I never rly had a problem with emigration when I had high literacy or consciousness (which is normaly prety soon since I usualy invest alot in education and research points), even when playing as a european absolute monarchy, and I think that I'l have even less trouble with it when playing as a democracy. The only thing that annoys me a bit is that in HoD almost every country tends to release all of his colonies as independent nations for some reason.

As to your suggestion, Krakow starts under Austria's sphere of influence so I've already got that covered.

 

[Sunnmøring]

I'm not sure if they fixed that for regular Heart of Darkness (I haven't played it without the Pops of Darkness mod yet) but you can pretty much always play as the LIBRULS if you're in the Americas, they get tons of immigration. It actually makes it harder to play them if you try to be all repressive because then the massive incoming immigration will go to your neighbors instead.

Anyway, good luck! You'll need it to survive, though a general lack of interest in bothering to even conquer Krakow from the neighboring states does tend to keep it up for a few decades in a good number of the games I've played.

 

[PdaFtw]

I realised that keeping track of all of the characters I created can be problematic, so here goes a list of them which I'l update whenever I add more. I'l also use it to provide a little bit of a backround to them cause why not.

Characters so far:

• Wisław Piotrowsk, elderly president of Krakow and leader of the conservative Krakowian Catholic Party, which is the most influential in the country.
• Henio Król, leader of the Krakowian Liberal Party and self-proclaimed "freedom fighter".
• Bolek Olszewski, ringleader of the Krakowian Reactionary Party and owner of a large portion of the country's coal mines.
• Marcel Vogt, former officer in the Prussian army, currently working as an ambassador to Prussia in Krakow.
• Phillipp Pabst, an aristocrat who owns lands near the austrian-krakowian border and works as an austrian ambassador in Krakow.
• Erast Volkov, a minor russian aristocrat who holds lands near Russia's border with Krakow and is distantly related to the tsar.

The next few months were peaceful enough. For a while, it was common to see liberal parties and festivals on the city's streets, celebrating the aproval of the vote franchise, but Wisław still felt uneasy, and the reactionaries, though outnumbered, still held resentment. Liberalism was proving to be no common trend, and it was rapidly gaining strenght in the upper house. Nevertheless, Wisław had gained some breathing space, and he could now focus on the administration of the country. He became know for heavily investing in the education, and the literacy rates were increasing at an impressive rate, making Krakow the country with the most literacy in the whole world, in large part dued to its puny size, with over half of it's population able to read.
Meanwhile, Austria's elderly monarch finaly perished, leaving his inept and very ill underaged son as the only heir, and a regency council promptly took over. Satisfied with Phillip Pabst's performance as an ambassador in Krakow, the council asked Phillip Pabst to join them, and he gladly accepted, moving to Viena and leaving his post unnatended with the promise of a new replacement to come. In central Europe, war raged between the Prussian coalition of german states and the Anglo-Belgian alliance as a consequence of a scandal involving a belgian princess, the prussian heir to the throne and a wax candle, which led to what would be known as the Belgian-Prussian War Of Honor. Marcel Vogt was drafted to duty once again, leaving Prussia with no formal diplomatic presence in Krakow and allowing the Russian Empire to tighten his grip on the city-state.
The scales of war began to tip to the prussians, and William IV, Britain's ruler, suddenly died, passing the crown to princess Victoria of Kent, who, altough popular with the people, also inherited a losing war and was considered by many to be unable to manage the country at times like these with little to no experience.

Note: William IV and queen Victoria are not fictional characters.

I'm really starting to hate these stupid little Russian Dolls. They're so full of themselves.

 

[LusciousPear]

Loving this. Give you a 1/10 chance of actually finishing it tho because it seems like a lot of work

 

[PdaFtw]

Loving this. Give you a 1/10 chance of actually finishing it tho because it seems like a lot of work

Challenge accepted. But I am having loads of shitty work to do so its kinda slowing me down. Don't be surprised if I spend a few days without posting anything.

 

[PdaFtw]

Over the following year, Victoria proved to be a most capable queen to the british. Under her leadership, the UK managed to regain the upper-hand of their war with the Prussian Confederation and she finaly put an end to it with a white-peace treaty, while stating , quote, "These are not medieval times. We're not sending men to their deaths because of an embarassing situation.", an idea that the prussian king was happy to agree to once the war wasn't in his favor. However, the conflict didn't end so peacefuly for Belgium. Unhappy with the terms, a branch of the belgian royal family split and created the duchy of Wallonia, which occupied the southern half of the country.The UK quickly lost control of the situation, and France moved in to place both Belgium and Wallonia under its sphere of influence.

Soon after, an american incursion to Columbia, an unsettled region in British Canada, originated a diplomatic crisis between the USA and the UK, both wanting the province for their own. Victoria once again proved her skillfulness, and, after a few months of very tense discussions between the two countries and several other Great Powers, managed to claim Columbia for her nation. So far, she is seen as one of the most popular monarchs in British history, and promises to bring the country to a new golden age.

Done looking? Cool, now back to Krakow, bitches.
20th of December, 1843
Wisław was drinking a cup of coffee at his desk when someone suddenly and loudly knocked on his door. "Yes, what is it?" he said while putting down his cup, he knew the person who knocked was his secretary who had the annoying habit of knocking too loudly.
"Erm, excuse me, sir. The russian ambassador is here too see you. His name is Erast Vol-"
"I know who he is, thank you. You may send him in."
"Oh, and he brought someone else. I... Don't know who he is, sir."
"No problem, just send him in aswell." Wisław said sighing.
After a few moments Volkov and a fat and very well dressed man entered the room. "Lovely evening, is it not Wisław? Mind if we sit?"
"By all means, ambassador, what a delightful surprise." lied the president.
"Likewise. Now, I came all the way here because I have a proposal I feel it's most beneficial for both of our countries."
"Well then, speak your mind."
Volkov grabbed a cup from the presidents desk and examined it while speaking. "It is known that Krakow lies over deep deposits of coal. And your most exported commodity, after the mineral, is glass that your artisans make. Well then, why not industrialize the production? There is a big demand for glass of all kinds at the moment."
Wisław sat back of his chair and crossed his arms while examining the russian's expressionless face. "We couldn't afford such a construction even if we wanted to." he answeared after a few moments.
"I'm aware of that, but it just so happens my friend over here is a renowned capitalist who is most interested in this project aswell." Volkov said, looking at his friend.
"The name is Ivan Kovalev, president. It truly is a pleasure to meet you." said the well dressed fat russian while extend his arm to greet Wisław.
The president shook his sweaty hand and they exchanged a few pleasentries.
"Now tell me something, Ivan, why are you interested in building such a factory in Krakow?" finaly asked the president.
"I'm interested in money, and if there is demand for it il supply it. Besides, Leonid and his associates, competitors of mine, own the vast majority of the coal supply in Russia and they won't sell it to any glass factory I build over there. If I build one here, I won't even need to buy coal from them."
Ivan's justification seemed reasonable and true to Wisław. He nodded and said "How about you, Volkov? I assume you have your demands."
"Naturaly. I won't interfere with any profits your factory will make, but I do ask that you sell the majority of the glass produced to The Russian Empire. A reasonale demand."
Wisław tought about the proposal for a moment. It didn't really matter to who they sold the product, as long as they made a profit. Plus industry was becoming a sign of development that Krakow lacked. "And how much money would you invest, sir?"
"65% of it. You'l only have to contribute with 30 thousand russian rubles." answeared Ivan.
The price made Wisław shiver. It wouldn't bring the country into debt, but it was close, and he didn't liked handing so much money to a russian.
Volkov must have seen Wisław's doubts in his expression. "Think of it as an investment, Wisław. I'm sure you won't regret it."
After some tought the president reluctantly agreed to partialy finance the project, and after a year the factory was in working order.

 

[Eyeball]

Your initiative is worthy of great praise, PdaFtw! This LP so far resembles more those seen on Paradoxplaza than typical Codexian ones..

I'm confused - where are the allusions to transsexuals or Cleve?