@Cryostorm: That’s the goal. Africa by itself can be frustrating but isn’t a threat to the Roman Empire’s integrity, leaving just Asia. Which is where the greater opportunities await anyway.
@JSC: Going by ‘map view’, it looks even worse for Demetrios III’s reputation since on the map, the Empire has shrunk during his reign by this point (the losses in interior Syria which are much smaller than the gains in northern Mesopotamia). He accomplishes lots of things, but none are the sort that grab the attention of future generations.
The Triune political structure actually somewhat mirrors the Roman structure. There’s the big one, France (Roman heartland-the Empire proper), and then the two smaller ones England and Ireland (Sicily and Egypt). Although the connection between the Big One and the two smaller ones is definitely more stable and efficient in the Roman case, since it’s administrative rather than personal.
@Duke of Nova Scotia: Yeah, Rhomania’s definitely going to be settling down for the rest of the decade. Still lots happening, but nothing dramatic and epic. The rest of Europe may be a different story.
@RogueTraderEnthusiast: Constantinople, if it’s smart, would likely try to minimize Orthodox spread into Hungary. It’d risk either destabilizing what is supposed to be the front-line buffer state, or risk Buda seeing Constantinople as a greater threat than whatever’s the big boy in Central Europe. And if that happens, Buda may very well flip back to that big boy, and the Empire’s geopolitics in the area are back to 1630 settings.
There’ll be more on the plans for 1635 in the next update.
Demetrios must have. The ancients named Jupiter after the King of the gods, which one wouldn’t do if one wasn’t certain it was the biggest planet. Which makes me think the ancients already knew it was the largest back then, although I don’t know how.
The fracturing of Persia would be a largely artificial affair, as you pointed out, and it’d be one that would require constant maintenance. It’d probably end up like the Versailles Treaty, good if it can be enforced, except there isn’t the ability/will to enforce it. Marching an army to eastern Persia might happen once, but repeat performances are most unlikely.
It works both ways. The Triunes can pick at Roman trade in the east, which will hurt Roman finances too.
@ImperatorAlexander: Serbia has a port in Budva, which is its one sea outlet. There are a couple of small ships, but they’re more for enforcing customs and chasing smugglers, not for fighting a naval war. The Prince-Bishop of the Black Mountain (Zeta) also has control of Kotor, so a lot of seaborne trade in and out of Serbia actually goes through his hands.
A bunch of kingdoms in Mesopotamia may be too much. Mesopotamia isn’t that big and a weak buffer state is a bad buffer state. But a Mesopotamian buffer state would be really nice. Even if whoever is in Baghdad needs to be watched closer, penning the Ottomans up behind the Zagros would be really nice from Constantinople’s point of view.
@Βοανηργές: Bohemia’s too far into Europe for Constantinople to be willing to commit to defending. Vienna’s on the approach to Constantinople; Prague isn’t.
There’s probably going to be more astronomical references in the future. I’ve been on an astronomical binge lately.
@sebastiao: Mexico’s too far away for serious Roman power projection to do much. They can do some naval actions but that’s it. Japan can be boosted more, but Japan is a big player in its own right. A too powerful Japan may not always play Rhomania’s ball.
Marriage between the Triune and Ottoman Imperial families is extremely unlikely because of the religious differences. There was one exception with a Roman-Ottoman marriage, but that was an extremely rare case coming just after Andreas I’s reign. It’s not something that’ll become regular.
@Evilprodigy: At this stage Demetrios was focused on the political/military issues, with the economics as an afterthought. There’ll definitely be follow-up meetings with the various Foreign Secretaries, but the details of something like trade deals isn’t something early modern monarchs will get deep in to.
Although all the countries would have tariffs, albeit reduced ones. So a Hungarian barge that decides to land at a Vlach port will pay import dues there, and then if it doesn’t sell everything and crosses over to the Roman town on the other side of the river, it then pays import dues on those goods.
Another option could be joint tariff collection, where all tariffs collected in Section A are split evenly between the two parties.
@luis3007: Rhomania could smack Persia down, but I don’t see it being able to keep Persia down permanently. It’s too hard to project power past the Zagros. Mesopotamia’s a much easier proposition since it’s closer and smaller.
Arabia’s too annoying and unprofitable to be worth the effort.
@minifidel: There’s lot of potential for naval bickering between Rhomania and the Triunes. Neither can threaten the core territories of the other, but they can pick at the edges.
It wouldn’t be so easy in the Indian Ocean. The Spanish are rivals of the Triunes, but in eastern waters they have a longer history of rivalry with the Romans. They’d have a strong interest in preventing the one from destroying the other, lest the victor become too powerful and force the Spanish out as well.
@Curtain Jerker: Yeah, the issue with personal unions is that one lousy monarch can spoil the whole thing.
