Provence

Primary culture

Occitan (French)

Capital province

Anjou (178)

Government

Feudal Nobility

State religion

Catholic

Technology group

Western

Provençal ideas

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Traditions:

+10% Morale of armies

+1 Diplomatic reputation

Memory of Angevin Claims

−25% Cost to fabricate claims

Revive House of Anjou

+1 Yearly legitimacy

Composite Monarchy

−1 National unrest

Tarascon Castle

+15% Fort defense

Public Weal

+2 Diplomatic relations

Toulon Dockyard

+10% Naval force limit modifier

−5% Naval maintenance modifier

Provençal Quilting

+10% Production efficiency

Ambition:

+1 Yearly prestige

For the area, see Provence (area).

In 1444, Provence is ruled by ambitious René d'Anjou, who styles himself not only as Duke of Anjou and Count of Provence, but also as the King of

Aragon,

Naples, and

Jerusalem.The lords of Christendom pay little heed to these claims, yet Good King René is determined to reclaim his birthright.

Provence controls a divided domain. Anjou is at the heart of the conflict between England and France, desired by both nations and likely to suffer from the coming wars. Provencal land in the Rhineland is split between the directly ruled Duchy of Bar and the subject Duchy of Lorraine. Provence risks the ire of both the Holy Roman Emperor and the powerful Duchy of Burgundy if it chooses to meddle in affairs of the Rhineland Princes. The Duchy of Provence itself lies on the north coast of the Mediterranean, nested between France, Savoy, and the Papal city of Avignon. From here the ambitious René may launch an invasion of Aragon, though Italy may be a more tempting prize as the Empire’s hold over the region wanes.

Provence maintains good relations with its largest and most powerful neighbor, France. Provence must balance its own defensive needs and plans for expansion with French expectations of support should the Hundred Years war once again break out into open war.

Provence is a nation with great ambitions, but even staving off annihilation may prove to be a challenge as surrounding nations eye its’ lands greedily.

Provence is a medium-sized Occitan country in France (region). They are the leader of a personal union with Lorraine in 1444. Historically they are rivals with Aragon, and their country is split in three parts: the provinces of Provence and Draguignan to the south-east of France, the province of Anjou to the east of Brittany, and the province of Barrois west of Lorraine. In 1444, Provence has the same dynasty as France which can lead to a personal union. They have cores on one of France's provinces, one of England's and one of the Papal States's.

Missions[edit | edit source]

Main article: Provencal missions

Decisions[edit | edit source]

id

Form French Nation

This year will mark the beginning of an evolutionary period for our nation. The old feudal ways will begin to make way for a more modern centralized nation. Although struggling financially due to miscalculated projects and military campaigns, we have managed to transform ourselves into one of the most dominant powers of Europe.

Potential requirements

The country:

was never an end-game nation.
is not the Holy Roman Empire, France, the Papal States or Spain.
has not yet enacted this decision.
is not a colonial nation.
is in the French culture group or has Basque or Breton as primary culture.

If the country is AI-controlled then it:

is not a custom nation
is not a former colonial nation.

Playing with normal or historical nations.

Allow

France does not exist.
The country:

is not a subject nation other than a tributary state.
is not at war.
is not a nomad nation.
owns its core provinces:
- Paris (183)
- Orleanais (184)
- Champagne (186).
owns at least 15 core provinces in France region.
Paris (183) is part of a state.

Effects

The country:

becomes France.
gains 25 prestige.
gets new missions.
gets the event ‘New Traditions & Ambitions’, unless it is a custom nation.
increases rank to kingdom, if it is a duchy
removes all provinces from the Holy Roman Empire, if it is a member and not an elector or the emperor.
gets a permanent claim on France (region).
gets “Increased Centralization” for 20 years, giving:
- −0.05 monthly autonomy change,
- +1 national unrest.

If Paris (183) is part of the HRE, but its owner is not a member then:

the province is removed from the HRE.
the Holy Roman Emperor:
- gets the opinion modifier “Removed provinces from the Empire” towards the owner, worth −50 opinion with a yearly decay of 1.
- loses 1 imperial authority.

Paris (183):

becomes the new capital of the owner country.

AI will always take this decision

id

Reestablish The Kingdom of Jerusalem

Rejoice! Holy Jerusalem is again in Christian hands - our Christian hands. The Pope has informed us that if we were to reestablish The Kingdom of Jerusalem, our salvation would be assured.

Potential requirements

Jerusalem does not exist.
It is either:

the ‘Age of Discovery’
the ‘Age of Reformation’.
The country has completed the mission Jerusalem!.

The country:

has not yet enacted this decision.
is Catholic.
is not a republic.
has not enacted the 'Celestial Empire' government reform.
owns Jerusalem (379) or is either Provence, Cyprus or The Knights.

If the country is AI-controlled then it:

is not a custom nation

Playing with normal or historical nations.

Allow

The country:

is not at war.
owns the core provinces:
- Jerusalem (379)
- Jaffa (1854)
- Gaza (364)
Jerusalem is part of a state.

If the country was never an end-game nation and is Provence, Cyprus, The Knights or has the mission Restore the Hospitallers^[1]:

- is not the emperor of the Holy Roman Empire

Effects

The country:

gains 25 prestige.

If the country was never an end-game nation and one of the following is true:

is Provence, Cyprus or The Knights
has its capital in Arabia, Egypt or Mashriq regions
has the mission Restore the Hospitallers^[1]

then:

becomes Jerusalem
gets the event ‘New Traditions & Ambitions’, unless it has custom ideas.
leaves the Holy Roman Empire.

else:

releases Jerusalem as an independent nation with the same primary culture.

Jerusalem:

moves its capital to Jerusalem (379).
becomes Catholic.
gets new Missions.
increases rank to kingdom, if it is a duchy
becomes a monarchy, if it is not a theocracy
enacts the Government Reform "Crusader State".
gains cores on:
- Palestine area
- Transjordan area
- Tarabulus (378)
- Sidon (1855)
- Aqabah (4268)

The AI will never take this decision.

Strategy[edit | edit source]

The below is one of many player suggested strategies for Provence. Bear in mind, due to the dynamic nature of the game, it may unfold differently for other players.

Provence faces some unique challenges geographically and diplomatically. Geographically, they are spread out in three different parts of France, none of which are connected to any of the others. Diplomatically, Provence are trapped between the larger nations of Burgundy and France, as well as being on the border of the Holy Roman Empire.

Opening moves[edit | edit source]

The rival settings of neighbouring nations can dictate the strategy required. For example, if Burgundy either begin rivalled, or hostile, finding allies such as Austria or Castile may be necessary. Castile may also prove useful if the player chooses to rival Aragon. France always starts as friendly and as your ally from day zero, then they will prove to be an invaluable ally, against the probable targets of Burgundy, England and Aragon. Attacking into the HRE is not advised, as Austria will be called in against the threat from outside the HRE and be able to call in all their allies also, or at least until you join it.

However, the player should always rival England and Brittany. I would recommend that the 3rd rival be one of the Pope's rivals to try and get an early alliance. Start improving with The Papal States, and maybe buy Indulgences from the Papacy menu to get your relations up to 150 to complete the mission Negotiate For Avignon where the Pope will give Avignon to you for free.

Optimal Start: For those of you looking for a more competitive, optimal game would allow you to ally Burgundy and The Papal States, and rival England, Brittany, and another nation of your choice such as Savoy, Aragon, or maybe Genoa.

On December 11th, declare Reconquest on England for your core on Maine, and make sure to occupy all of Normandy before France does. Make sure to set all of Normandy as provinces of interest. If you did ally Burgundy, you may also call them in but that isn't required. This war should be pretty easy, just make sure that you defend Normandy from the Brits and make sure France doesn't occupy any provinces there. throughout this war, you may separate peace Portugal for money and war reparations, however I would advise against it because since you have no way of crossing the English Channel, you will need all the war score you can get. Full Siege all of Portugal and continental England, stackwipe armies,and try and peace out for all of Normandy and as much money as possible. You can also take the Pale to allow expansion into Ireland, but money is usually a better option to better prepare you for your next wars.

Later expansion and objectives[edit | edit source]

After your war with England, don't give France any land. They will probably want to break their alliance with you, so go ahead and break it immediately, you won't need them. From here on out, try and get an alliance with Castile, and make sure you get an alliance with Austria, and get an alliance. This is essential for the campaign, so if they rival you, or won't ally you no matter what you do, restart. When you do ally Austria, Royal Marry them, and improve relations until you reach enough for you to join the HRE. Importantly, before you do join the HRE, be sure to move your capital from Anjou to any province that has a direct land connection to the HRE via your land, such as Avignon, or one of its neighbors. Once you move your Capital and join the HRE, complete the mission "Claims of King Rene". If Naples is independent, you will gain a Restoration of Union CB on them, which I would use as soon as possible. If they aren't, you will get cores on all of Naples. Whatever happens, declare on them as soon as possible, either the moment you get a Restoration of Union CB, or the moment they get Independence. Ideally, your war will end before they become independent, but if it doesn't it is fine. The only problem is if they aquire a strong ally like Aragon, Castile or France. After this war, you are in a very good position to do a couple things. The first is to attack Aragon to secure another PU. In the peace deal to PU Aragon be sure to take Malta directly as it is important in the mission tree if the player chooses to form Jerusalem later.

The second is to expand into Occitania, and build up your own power base. I would recommend getting the Aragonese PU first because you will need to act fast to be able to PU Hungary before Austria does. From then on, you have your choice on whether to annex all of the French lands and reform France, or attacking Mamluks and forming Jerusalem. From that point, the possibilities are endless.

Joining the Holy Roman Empire[edit | edit source]

Joining the Holy Roman Empire is a possibility and not only helps you go through your mission tree, but it would help protect from the outside threats of France, Brittany, and Burgundy. In order to do this, high relations are required with the Emperor of the HRE. This usually means improving relations with them, getting an alliance and royal marriage. Then joining the HRE through the interface. You will need to move your capital to a province connected to the HRE by either a sea tile or your lands, so I would recommend using either Avignon or Aix, but any province in the Provence state will do just fine. Usually Austria will want to ally you after your war with France, but if they do you can always improve relations and hope for the best.

Provence as a leading maritime nation[edit | edit source]

In order to significantly boost your income, using the Italian trade nodes allows you a significant opportunity to have a very strong economy very early on. The player should start out with the high trade power in the Genoa trade node, having annexed Brittany also helps maintain the most trade power in Bordeaux when Provence annexes them. Game as a trade nation involves trying to monopolise trade in the Genoa trade node. This means trying to take as many centres of trade and estuaries in the Genoa trade node. Taking those of Genoa relatively early is advisable (after Shadow Kingdom fires). Annexing Aragon after a PU will also help, giving you almost all of Valencia, and several centers of trade in Genoa. In addition to developing trade power in the Genoa node, doing the same in the upstream nodes of Alexandria, Tunis, Ragusa, Sevilla and Champagne will help to draw even further trade value into the Genoa node. After moving through the majority of your mission tree, if you want to play wide going after these upstream trade nodes are the way to go. You can also take land inside of the Venice trade node to gain access to trade from Wien trade node, and others to further boost up your income. The best way to economically snowball early is to take land upstream from your own trade nodes, adding provinces with valuable trade goods to trade companies, and building the right buildings and trade company investments there to gain bucketloads of cash. In the process, you will likely become a strong naval hegemony, and be able to field a fleet that renders you superiority over any other Mediteranian power.

First idea[edit | edit source]

First idea could be diplomatic ideas. In order to survive, Provence needs many relations and good reputation, and diplomatic ideas does just that. As a member of the HRE, the player can stack reputation quite easily and also play the emperor game, if they so wish to.

Another contender is influence as it helps with early game expansion and gives a lot of diplomatic bonuses as well.

Second idea and beyond[edit | edit source]

Provence can play both as a land or naval power, depending on what the player chooses. It is worth considering the following:

Influence - If Provence wants to stack even more reputation, and relations.
Offensive/Quantity - Offensive if the player wants to have better land troops and Quantity if the player wants more manpower and soldiers and you should have the economy to support it by this point.
Trade - Provence can earn a large and significant income from the Genoa node.
Religious If you want to expand into Sunni land, like North Africa or the Levant, religious is a top pick early on depending on the expansion routes you choose. It gives you Deus Vult, by far the most useful single idea for you, and probably in the game, plus hefty bonuses to Prestige, Missionary Strength, and has some of the best policies in the game.
Economic- If you decide to play tall and not wide, and play the PU game, then economic stacks very well with Quantity to get you massive discounts to development costs. In a multiplayer game, Quantity Economic are easily the way to go if you have more than 5 players in Europe.

Good King Rene[edit | edit source]

For this achievement Provence will have to conquer Jerusalem, and the 2 coastal provinces left to it and form the tag. Using a no CB war on Tunis will help getting a foothold on north Africa after that eating islands or taking direct land will secure the Kingdom of Jerusalem in a whim. You can also conquer Cyprus, and wait until you are in a good position to attack Mamluks and take a large portion of the Levant from them. Either having a good ally, or just being strong and having PU's to be able to take them on, or simply waiting for the Ottomans to attack them work well.