AoE 2 DLC: New civ - Vlachs + New campaign: Stephen the Great

I suggest adding the Vlachs/Romanians in the next DLC, alongside a new campaign of a Vlach ruler - Stephen the Great.

Beside the Vlachs and Stephen the Great, other nations and campaigns can be added.

There are plenty of AoE2 topic about the Vlachs so I wouldn’t feel like I’m adding anything new, but about the campaign, let me tell you the story of Stephen the Great.

Stephen the Great and Vlad the Impaler were cousins and polar opposites. You probably know about Vlad the Impaler’s dark tendencies, Stephen the Great on the other hand was the polar opposite. He was a faithful man and for every victory he would build a church in the name of God.

Stephen the Great and Vlad the Impaler were contemporaries, one ruled Moldavia and the other Wallachia, sometimes they helped each other in battes.

Stephen the Great is less popular than his cousin in international history, because being a religious man is less cool than impaling the opposition. However, military-wise, in my opinion he was above Vlad the Impaler.

Depending on how much you are willing to read, I have 3 different summaries:

MEGA SHORT SUMMARY: He was born in 1433, became ruler of Moldavia in 1457 and 1504, being a ruler for 47 years. He took the throne of Moldavia from his uncle who killed his father to take the throne. At different points he was at war with every neighbour: Hungary, Poland, Tatars, Wallachians and Ottomans. He helped was helped and fought alongside Vlad the Impaler. He had 46 victories out of 48 battles, his only defeats being at the hand of the Ottomans.

He was a devout Christian, for each of his 46 victories he ordered a monastery to be built. His most crucial victories were: against Matthias Corvinus of Hungary at Baia, against the Tatars at Lipnic and against Suleiman of the Ottoman Empire at Vaslui and Razboieni, and against John Albert of Poland in Codrii Cosminului.

Just so you know I’m not making this up:

“was Prince of Moldavia between 1457 and 1504”
“He was victorious in 46 of his 48 battles, and was one of the first to gain a decisive victory over the Ottomans at the Battle of Vaslui, after which Pope Sixtus IV deemed him verus christianae fidei athleta (true Champion of Christian Faith ). He was a man of religion and displayed his piety when he paid the debt of Mount Athos to the Porte, ensuring the continuity of Athos as an autonomous monastical community.”

SHORT SUMMARY: His uncle killed his father in 1451 and took his throne. Stephen the Great fled to Hungary and helped by his cousin Vlad the Impaler to gain the throne of Wallachia in 1456. In return, Vlad the Impaler helped Stephen the Great take his father throne in the same year.

In 1459, Stephen the Great became a Polish vassal, this infuriated King Matthias of Hungary. In 1462 he failed to besiege Chilia but succeded 3 years later.

In 1467 King Matthias of Hungary attacked Moldavia and was beaten badly by Stephen the Great. Then Stephen the Great advanced in Transylvania. In 1469 King Matthias signed a peace treaty so he would stop.

When Vlad the Impaler lost the throne of Wallachia to his younger brother, Radu the Handsome in 1462, Stephen the Great knew that a war with the Ottomans was imminent since he previously took Chilia.

In 1470, Stephen the Great attacked Radu the Handsome in Wallachia. In response, the Ottoman Empire sent the Tatars to invade Moldavia but Stephen the Great defeated them at Lipnic and returned to Wallachia.

In 1474, Stephen the Great finally defeated Radu the Handsome who fled to the Ottoman Empire and placed Laiota Basarab as ruler of Wallachia. But 2 years later Laiota Basarab switched sides (top 10 anime betryals).

The same year Laiota Basarab switched sides, Mehmed II asked Stephen the Great to give up on Wallachia, give back Chilia and pay tribute to the Ottoman Empire. Stephen the Great refused and war was on.

Mehmed II sent Suleiman Pasha and Laiota Basarab to deal with Stephen the Great. Who defeated them at the Battle of Vaslui in 1475.

In 1476, Mehmed II came personally to fight Stephen the Great, he defeated Stephen the Great at the Battle of Valea Alba but was unable to take Moldavia’s capital, Suceava and eventually retreated.

In the same year, Stephen the Great invaded Wallachia from the east while his cousin Vlad the Impaler invaded Wallachia from the west.

Laiota Basarab fled to the Ottoman Empire, Vlad the Impaler was again ruler of Wallachia, but 2 months later Laiota Basarab returned with an Ottoman army and Vlad the Impaler was killed in battle.

The war lasted for 8 more years. In 1484, the Ottomans eventually managed to reconquer Chilia and Cetatea Alba and incorporate them into the Ottoman Empire, then signed a peace treaty with Stephen the Great where he would have to pay tribute and become an Ottoman vassal.

In 1494, the Polish King John Albert planned a replacement of Stephen III with Sigismund, his younger brother.

The 13 years of peace ended. In 1497, the Polish army marched in Moldavia under the pretext to release of Chilia and Cetatea Alba from the Ottoman Empire. John Albert suddently attacked Moldavia’s capital, Suceava, but was unable to take and eventually retreated.

On the way home, Stephen the Great attacked John Albert starting the Battle of Cosmin Forest heavly crippling the Polish army. In 1948, Stephen the Great sent armies to loot and plunder Poland.

In 1499, John Albert signed a peace treaty so he would stop, the Polish suzeranity over Moldavia ended.

In 1500, Stephen the Great stopped paying tribute to the Ottoman Empire again, and joined the Venetian - Ottoman war (1499 - 1503) together with Hungary, he defeated the Ottoman army again, but he could not recapture Chilia or Cetatea Alba.

In 1502, the Tatars of the Great Horde invaded Moldavia but Stephen the Great defeated them with the support of the Crimean Tatars.

The same year, he sent troops to support Hungary and since the truce with Poland expired recaptured Pocutia from Poland.

In 1503, Hungary and Wallachia signed a peace treaty with the Ottoman Empire and Stephen the Great again paid a yearly tribute to the Ottomans. He died in 1504 of poor health. On his deathbed, he had urged his son and co-ruler, Bogdan, to continue to pay the tribute to the Sultan.

FULL STORY:

1. Origins and Userper Peter

Stephen the Third, surnamed Stephen the Great was born in 1433 and died in 1504. Son of Bogdan II and Prince of Moldavia between 1457 and 1504, he ruled for 47 years, very uncommon at the time. In his long rule, he fought against every neighbour: the Kingdom of Hungary, the Kingdom of Poland, the Crimean Khanate and the Ottoman Empire, having a total of 48 battles out of which 46 were victories.

While Vlad the Impaler, although Christian, is seen in popular culture more like the devil or at least a cruel torturer, Stephen the Great was more of a devout Christian or at least a religious fanatic. For each victory, he ordered for a church or a monastery complex to be built. The Pope called him “Champion of Christ” and was sometimes named “Stephen the Great and Holy”. Many of the monasteries built by him stand today on the list of world heritage sites.

Famous quotes by Stephen the Great:

I don’t like wars. We do not owe anything to anyone and we never oppressed anyone, we want to live in peace and understanding with the neighbours that God gave us, as well as with faraway countries. If you already have so much money and power, what are you doing in my country? After his father, Bogdan II, was killed by his brother in 1451, Peter Aaron, Stephen the Great fled to Hungary, helped Vlad the Impaler to gain the throne of Wallachia in 1456 and arrived the same year with his army helped by his Wallachian cousin Vlad the Impaler.

After defeating Peter’s army twice, he goes to Suceava and asks the people present if they want him to be their ruler. The assembly of bishops, nobles and townsmen agree and he becomes Stephen III of Moldavia while Peter took refugee in Hungary.

2. Conflict with Hungary

In 1459, Stephen the III recognized Poland as a sovereign state. His obedience to Poland, caused King Matthias of Hungary to consider Stephan as treacherous (big words from the guy who lied to the Pope and to Vlad the Impaler then betrayed him) and in 1462 Stephen the Great took advantage of the Ottoman Empire’s war with Vlad the Impaler and unsuccesfully besieged the fortress of Chila.

Only in 1465 did Stephen the Great managed to take Chilia with the help of the local townsmen.

In 1467 the position of King Matthias was unchanged, giving asylum to Peter and claming obedience from Stephen III, who supported the uprising of the Transylvanian Saxons and nobility against King Matthias, and gave refugee to the leaders of the failed rebellion.

King Matthias attacked Moldavia with 8.000 cavalry and 4.000 infantry in order to settle the issue. He brought with him 2 pretenders to the throne.

At the Battle of Baia, Stephen III managed to burn the town that the Hungarian army as settled in. Descriptions of the battle say that the fire made the night equal to day and that many hungarians were burned alive. King Matthias was wounded by 3 arrows and had to be carried away from the battlefield, the hungarian army routed to Transylvania only to be stopped by a blockade but Matthias luckly escapes.

In 1468 the Moldavian army advanced in Transylvania, found Peter and had him exectued.

In 1469 Stephen III further raided Rodna and Baia Mare in Hungary as retaliation for supporting contender Peter. Then Stephen III and King Matthias signed a peace treaty and became allies.

3. Incursion against Radu the Handsome

Due to previously taking Chilia and Cetatea Alba in 1465, Stephen III foresaw that he will eventually have to fight the Ottoman Empire, he wanted to have a friend ruler in Wallachia instead of pupper ruler Radu the Handsome, younger brother of Vlad the Impaler who took the throne in 1462 with Ottoman help after Vlad the Impaler was imprisoned.

In 1470 Stephen III began hostilities against Radu the Handsome in Wallachia occupying the cities of Braila and Ialomita, the Ottoman Empire sent in response the Tatars to invade Moldavia but Stephen III defeated them at Lipnic.

After returning to the Wallachian front and further defeating Radu the Handsome in battles, he fled to the Ottoman Empire in 1973 and Stephen III’s ally Laiota Basarab was placed as ruler of Wallachia.

But Basarab’s loyalty is shortlived and after 2 years he soon switches sides, reasoning that the powerful Ottoman Empire will better help him consolidate his rule.

Still, even with Wallachia back in the Ottoman camp, in losing Moldavia the Ottomans lost an important vassal to the north which could jeopardize their control over the Danube delta as well as their ambitions to take control over Bessarabia.

As you can imagine, Mehmed is none too pleased about all this and he gives his want-away vassal an ultimatum: Stefan must cease all hostilities against Wallachia, travel to Istanbul and pay tribute he is due for the past five years, and surrender the important fortified port-city of Chilia to the Ottoman Empire, which would then no doubt serve as a base for future Ottoman military operations into Bessarabia and Moldavia beyond.

Unsurprisingly, Stefan refuses and both sides begin preparing for war.

Mehmed orders his Bosnian general and governor of Rumelia, Suleiman Pasha, to end the siege of the Venetian town of Shkodër, in present-day Albania, and assemble his troops in Sofia, from where he is to advance towards Moldavia. The long siege of Shkodër, stretching from May to August, coupled with another 30 days of marching through rough terrain takes its’ toll on the troops.

Still, they reach Sofia by late September. According to contemporary sources the Ottoman army numbered around 120,000 troops, which is likely a highly exaggarated figure. Looking at the composition of Ottoman armies

In the 15th century, Suleiman probably commanded around 50,000 troops, with another few thousand Bulgarians performing mainly engineering tasks such as clearing roads and building bridges. After assembling in Sofia, Suleiman turns north and moves towards the Danube. But the autumn chill creeps in, and the ever colder days begin to increasingly hamper troop movement.

4. Suleiman in Moldavia

As he crosses into Wallachia via Vidin, Suleiman, knows his troops are facing a harsh winter campaign and gives the men a well-deserved rest. Two weeks later the Ottoman army marches again. As they advance through Wallachia, Basarab Laiotă joins the Ottoman juggernaut with his 15,000 strong army.

Stefan, meanwhile, spends months appealing to the Pope and other European countries for support. Aided by the

Venetians in his diplomatic efforts, but the Christian kingdoms offer little help: 1800 Hungarians, 2000 Polish horsemen, a small number of Transylvanian handgunners and 5000 Székely infantry, personally recruited by Stefan.

The size of Moldavia’s army is, again, probably inflated by contemporaries. It is likely that Stefan commanded no more than 30,000 troops and 20 cannons in total.

Though heavily outnumbered, the Prince of Moldavia is well prepared. Upon entering Moldavia, the Ottomans are met with a completely desolate country; its’ waters poisoned; its’ settlements burned; its’ population gone.

Stefan has evacuated the population and livestock, destroying anything that may be of use to the Ottomans, aiming towear down the invaders as much as possible. Not daring to disobey Mehmed’s orders, Suleiman reluctantly continues the march.

But his army is soon bogged down as Moldavian detatchments constantly harrass and ambush the Ottomans, destroying some of their supplies and hindering their advance. Suleiman’s troops march through Moldavia

For nearly 30 days in freezing conditions, searching for Stefan’s army.

But finally, on January 10th 1475, Ottoman scouts bring news. They find several untouched villages further north-west. Suleiman orders the troops to cross and deploy on the other side of the Bârlad river. There, he expects to either find Stefan or to rest his exhausted troops in the villages discovered by the scouts.

Heavy fog severely restricts visibility and the rain keeps pouring throughout the day, turning parts of the valley into a muddy marsh. As the Ottoman army deploys in battle formation across the river, suddenly, Moldavian war drums and trumpets reverberate in the distance.

Suleiman is now convinced that Stefan’s entire army sits further up the valley, but cannot see them through the fog. He orders his troops to advance slowly towards the enemy, and rushes more troops across the bridge.

5. The Battle of Vaslui

Unbeknownst to him, in the middle of the valley, only the Székely and Moldavian professional infantrymen are deployed, along with the Hungarian infantry. Moldavian light cavalry is on the flanks, with a Moldavian heavy cavalry detatchment and Polish heavy cavalry in the rear. As the Ottomans advance through the marshy area, knee-deep in mud, Moldavian light cavalry suddenly appears.

Faced with repeated hit-and-run attacks, the Ottoman Janissaries and regular infantry push forward to get out of the mud, followed by the Sipahi heavy cavalry. forward to get out of the mud, followed by the Sipahi heavy cavalry. repeated attacks by the Moldavian light cavalry. Midway through the valley, the Ottoman infantry clashes with the defenders. As more Ottoman troops advance up the field, Stefan springs his trap. Archers and handgunners shower the Ottomans with projectiles from the surrounding woods. Cannons, hidden on a nearby hill begin bombarding the area around the bridge.

As ordered by Stefan, his troops in the valley begin a tactical retreat, luring more and more Ottoman troops into the line of fire. Unable to see the enemy through the thick fog, Moldavian archers shoot in the direction

of the sound of enemy footsteps. Helped by the rain of arrows, Székely troops manage to crush the Ottoman left flank, but are soon pressed hard by the heavy sipahi cavalry. Not able to see what is happening in the valley, Suleiman throws everything he has at trying to reinforce the attack.

But, soon after, the bridge collapses under the weight of the troops which nearly severs Ottoman lines of communication. Meanwhile up the valley, Ottoman troops rout the Székely infantry and begin to envelop the defenders.

But then, Stefan springs his final trap. More war drums and trumpest sound off, west of the Ottoman left flank. Expecting a Moldavian attack from where the music is playing, Ottoman commanders scramble to turn their troops and form a line, which stops their momentum in pushing up the valley. Unable to see through the fog, they hear the sound of drums and trumpets getting closer, and closer.

But the main Moldavian army is on the hill behind them, hidden in the trees. At that moment Stefan plays his final move. With his elite boyar heavy cavalry in the center, and peasant infantry on the flanks, he charges down the hill into the exposed Ottoman rear. Seeing the charge, panic errupts as the Ottomans think they are being attacked from three sides, and their troops break rank. In a chaotic headlong retreat, the Ottoman troops are chased down and slaughtered en masse by the Moldavian army.

Basarab Laiotă flees from the battlefield without commiting his troops. Suleiman’s position is soon flooded by fleeing soldiers. He tries to regain control of the army but is forced to signal a general retreat. While the set piece battle was over on January 10th 1475, the engagement lasted for another 3 days, as Stefan’s troops chased the Ottomans all the way south to the Siret and Danube rivers.

Stephen the Great inflicted a great defeat on the Ottoman Empire, the Battle of Vaslui was described as the greatest ever secured by the contemporary Venetian and Polish sources, reaching beyond 40.000 casualties on the Ottoman side.

6. The Return of Vlad the Impaler

In the following year, Mehmed II personally invaded Moldavia with an army of 150.000 men, which was joined by 10.000 Wallachians under Laiota and 30.000 Tatars attacking from the east who called for a holy war and started to pillage the country. Stephen the Great rooted and killed the Tatars.

In 1476, after killing 30.000 Ottomans, Stephen the Great was defeated at the battle of Valea Alba at the hands of Mehmed II.

However, Mehmed II was unsuccesful in his siege of Suceava citadel and eventually retreated. While Laiota was forced to return to Wallachia when Vlad the Impaler returned from Transylvania with an army of 30.000 men.

Stephen the Great invaded Wallachia from the east while Vlad the Impaler invaded Wallachia from the west.

Laiota fled to the Ottoman Empire and in November 1476, Vlad the Impaler was again ruler of Wallachia. He received 200 loyal knights from Stephen the Great to serve as his loyal bodyguards but his army remained small. When Laiota returned in December 1476, Vlad the Impaler went to battle and was killed by the Janissaries near Bucharest.

Laiota again became ruler of Wallachia which forced Stephen III to return again to Wallachia and dethron Laiota for the 5th and last time while Vlad IV Tepelus was established as ruler of Wallachia.

In 1484, the Ottomans managed to reconquer Chilia and Cetatea Alba and incorporate them into the Ottoman Empire under the name of Budjak, leaving Moldavia a landlocked principality for many years to come.

Out of the 47 of rule, Stephen the Great was at war with the Ottoman Empire for 10 years, between 1474 and 1484, evetually signing a peace treaty and accepting once again Ottoman suveranity.

7. War with Poland

In 1494 the Polish King John Albert planned a replacement of Stephen III with Sigismund, his younger brother.

The Polish official pretext of the campaign in Moldavia in 1497 was the release of Chilia and Cetatea Alba from the Ottoman Empire. John Albert tried to siege Suceava but he failed, at the same time Stephen the Great was helped by 2.000 Ottoman soldiers and 12.000 Hungarian soldiers.

In the face of military and diplomatic pressure, John Albert abbandoned the plans to remove Stephen III from the throne of Moldavia.

On the way home, Stephen III attacked John Albert starting the Battle of Cosmin Forest heavly crippling the Polish army. In retaliation, Stephen the Great sent armies to loot and plunder in Poland in 1498 and 1499.

After repeated exchanges of messages in 1499 the Polish suzeranity over Moldavia ended and a peace between Moldavia and Poland was signed.

8. A Last Attempt

In 1500, Stephen the Great stopped paying tribute to the Ottoman Empire again, but by then his health had declined. In 1501, he sent a delegation to Venice to discuss the possibility of Moldavia and Hungary joining Venice in the war with the Ottoman Empire.

Stephen the Great’s army again broke into the Ottoman Empire, but they could not recapture Chilia or Cetatea Alba. The Tatars of the Great Horde invaded southern Moldavia, but Stephen defeated them with the support of the Crimean Tatars in 1502.

He also sent reinforcements to Hungary to fight against the Ottomans. By then, however, the treaty with Poland was no longer enforced, prompting Stephen to recapture Pocutia from Poland in 1502.

Hungary, Wallachia and the Ottoman Empire concluded a new peace treaty in 1503, and Stephen the Great again paid a yearly tribute to the Ottomans.

In an ironic twist, the doctor he got from Venice died in late 1503. Another Moldavian delegation was sent to Venice to ask for a replacement, but also to propose a new alliance against the Ottomans. This was one of his last acts of international diplomacy, as he died in 1504. On his deathbed, he had urged his son and co-ruler, Bogdan, to continue to pay the tribute to the Sultan.

According to contemporary chronicler Grigore Ureche, Stephent the Great had been regarded as a saint soon after his funeral: “not on account of his soul, for he was a man with sins, but on account of the great deeds he accomplished”.

In total, Stephen III built 46 monasteries and churches, one for each victory. During his 47 years rule, he had a 46-2 win-lose ratio, while being outnumbered in many, his most famous victories being against Matthias Corvinus of Hungary at Baia, against the Tatars at Lipnic, against Suleiman of the Ottoman Empire at Vaslui and Razboieni, and against John Albert of Poland in Codrii Cosminului. With his only defeats being at Valea Alba against Mehmed II and his first siege of Chilia in 1462.

STORY DONE

Each chapter from the full story can be a mission in the campaign:

  1. The Ascension → You return to Moldavia, the land of your father, now ruled by your uncle, who killed your father to take his throne. Vlad the Impaler helps you defeat Peter the Userper and take the throne. You play with both Stephen the Great and Vlad the Impaler’s characters in this battle.
  2. The Battle of Baia → King Matthias of Hungary offered asylum to Peter and demanded vassality from you. When you refused, he invaded Moldavia and brought with him 2 pretenders to the throne. You play with Stephen, defeat Matthias’ army, follow him in Transylvania where you find and kill the 2 pretenders.
  3. Dracula’s Brother → Vlad the Impaler was betrayed and taken prisoner by the Kingdom of Hungary, his brother, an Ottoman puppet was put into place. Invade Walachia, fight and kill Radu the Handsome. (at the mission’s end, Radu the Handsome isn’t killed but flees to the Ottoman Empire)
  4. The Battle of Vaslui → Your power move in Wallachia angered the Sultan, who has sent a vastly superior army against you, will you be able to outmanuver and defeat them? While the Turks advance from the south, the Tattars advance from the east.
  5. A Debt Repayed/One Hand Helps the Other → Vlad the Impaler helped you take the throne, now, free from the Hungarians, it is your turn to help him take the throne once again. Invade Wallachia from the east while Vlad the Impaler invades it from the north. You play as Stephen the Great but Vlad the Impaler’s character is also present on the map as an ally.
  6. Polish Ambition → Uneased with a strong voivode in the south, King John Albert planned a replacement of Stephen III with Sigismund, his younger brother. Under the pretext to release of Chilia and Cetatea Alba from the Ottoman Empire, the Polish attacked Moldavia’s capital of Suceava as soon as they entered the territory.
  7. My Last War → Stephen the Great, 68 years old at this point, makes one last attempt to retake Chilia or Cetatea Alba from the Ottomans, while the Tattars attack from the east. Stephen then takes Pocutia from Poland. The doctor he got from Venice died in late 1503 (come on, you have to mention this, imagine having a doctor sent to heal you but the doctor dies). He asked Venice for a new alliance against the Ottomans in 1504, but this didn’t came to be as Stehpen the Great died the same year, 71 years old.

We could have added civs: Venetians, Romanians.
And added campaigns: Venice, Romanians (Stephen the Great) and Ottomans (Suleiman the Magnificent) or (Mehmed the Conqueror, who defeated the Byzantines and also fought against Stephen).

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Excellent post. I loved reading it, and hope it becomes reality. If we get Romanians, wouldn’t Vlad Dracul campaign be for it?

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No point at another Vlach campaign if we already have one.

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As awesome as that campaign sounds, if a Vlachs civ were to be added, it would be best to have a time period different from the Vlad Dracula campaign. Maybe a campaign detailing the foundation of the Romanian kingdoms? IDK that much about medieval Romania aside from the Dracula era sadly.

it would be fine if it were in dawn of duke dlc… bt enough european civs for now

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Yeah that’s what I think. But what if they decide to finally do >1 campaign for every civilization?

We still have a bunch of civs tgat need campaigns first.

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And Vlachs shouldnt be the first civ to get a second campaign either since they arent that important

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TIBET, TAMILS AND NEPAL FIRST in an Indian subcontinent DLC. They should make it happen since China is cracking down on steam anyway

We don’t really have a Vlach campaign though. In Dracula’s campaign you play as the Slavs, Magyars and Turks because there’s no Romanian civillization.

When it comes to medieval Romanian rulers, the “trinity” of the best rulers are:

  • Vlad the Impaler
  • Stephen the Great
  • Michael the Brave

Michael the Brave’s story is similar to that of Stephen the Great, meaning he managed to defeat much more powerful neighbours multiple times. However, it takes place in 1593-1601, right at the end of AoE2’s timeframe.

There is also Mircea the Elder on the 4th sport (Dracula’s grandfather) who managed to beat the turks and take some of their territory. Territory which was lost 2 years after his death.

When it comes to the founders, we have Bassarab I for Wallachia & Bodgan I for Moldavia:

The Kingdom of Hungary wanted to create buffer states between them and the Golden Horde to avoid another invasion. So they set up 2 vassal states in Wallachia and Moldavia.

In Wallachia: Basarab became ruler of Wallachia in 1310, he revolted against the Kingdom of Hungary in 1325 and took the Banate of Severin from Hungary (de facto independent). The independence was still unrecognized by Hungary. When Michael Asen III attacked Serbia he supported the Bulgarians but were defeated at the Battle of Velbazhd in 1330. The same year, with the Wallachian army defeated, Charles I of Hungary invaded Wallachia with 30.000 men, he was allowed to take Targoviste and plunder Wallachia with no ressistance, but when he was returning home the Wallachian army of 10.000 men awaited him at the Transylvanian passes, where the Wallachians ambushed and almost annihilated the royal troops in the Battle of Posada. But the Kingdom of Hungary wouldn’t recognise Wallachia as independent until 1344.

According to a contemporary account: The Wallachian army, led by Basarab himself, probably numbered less than 10,000 men and consisted of cavalry, infantry archers, and some locally recruited peasants. When Charles saw his best knights being killed, without being able to fight back, while the escape routes were blocked by the Wallachian cavalry, he gave his royal robes and insignia to one of his captains, who died under a hail of arrows and stones, and, with a few loyal subjects, made a difficult escape to Visegrád clad in dirty civilian clothes.

I can only see 3 missions made out of this:

  1. Independnce! → Capture Severin.
  2. The Southern Thrust → Help Michael Asen III attack Serbia.
  3. The Battle of Posada → Gan independence for good.

In Moldavia: Dragos was made ruler of Moldavia by the Hungarians in 1345 (one year after Hungary recognised Wallachia’s independence). He was succeded by his son Sas in 1353, who was then succeded by his son Balc in 1359. But around the same time, another Romanian, Bogdan, who has been the Duke of Maramures (inside Hungary, Transylvania) since at least 1342 (first mention of him). He fell into conflict with King Louis I of Hungary and requested the support of a Romanian knez (Count) below him in 1349. Giula refused, and Bogdan invaded and took his lands. King Louis I of Hungary demanded Bogdan restore Giula’s lands but he refused. Bogdan stood in disgrace with the King of Hungary, but none of them were able to make a move against the other.

Learning that the Romanians in Moldavia were opposed to King Louis I’s authority, when Sas died in 1359, Bogdan left Maramures and went to Moldavia where he took command of the already existing Moldavian revolt and defeated Balc, who fled for Hungary. In retaliation, Louis I of Hungary confiscated Bogdan’s domain in Maramureş and donated it to Balc. In retaliation, Bogdan declared Moldavia independent from the Kingdom of Hungary

In retaliation, Louis I of Hungary launched several expeditions against Bogdan I (but their dates cannot be determined, we can only know that they took place between 1359-1365) that ended in failure and Louis I of Hungary eventually recognised Moldavia’s independence.

I can only see 3 missions made out of this:

  1. Establishing Powerhouse → Bogdan I fights his own count, Giula, that is loyal to the King of Hungary.
  2. To Greener Lands → Bogdan I leaves for Moldavia with his army, to support the Romanian rebels against the newly coronated Balc.
  3. Showdown → Displesed with Bogdan’s declaration of independence, the King of Hungary finally has a pretext to wipe out Bogdan for good, coming with an army in Moldavia.
    (The King of Hungary attacked multiple times, but having multiple missions of the same thing would be repetitive)

The issue with the founding of the Romanian medieval states is that it doesn’t have enough content for 5-7 battles like an average campaign (where as in Stephen the Great or Michael the Brave’s case, picking the battles is like a Swedish buffet) and you are only fighting the Magyars + Serbs (Wallachia) & Vlachs (Moldavia) (where as in Stephen the Great or Michael the Brave’s case, you fight every neighbour).

The only way I see the foundation of the medieval Romanian states to work is if the 2 campaigns of Wallachia and Moldavia are merged into one, with 3 mission each, leading to a total of 6 missions. This also makes sense chronologically for as soon as Wallachia’s independence movement ended, Moldavia’s independence movement began.

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We DO have a Vlach campaign, we just have one in which you dont play as the Vlachs. Just make you play Dracula as Vlachs

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My Idea for a Vlach Civ concept (after reading this and more in the web):

Vlachs - Defensive Civilisation (Or better active-defensive civ, explanation later)

Civ Bonusses:

Villagers have +20 HP and gain +2/+3 Pierce Armor when reaching Castle/Imperial Age
Villagers are produced at double speed from Castle Age.
Gain +50 G for each completed military Building.

TB: Cavalry units cost -5 food.

UT1: Mass Recruitment: Land military units (except siege) don’t cost wood. (150 F 150 G)
UT2: Peasant Army: Villagers automatically fight back when attacked, Miliia Line and Villagers gain + 8 melee attack (1000 F, 800 G)

Tech Tree:

Blacksmith: Don’t get Blast Furnace, Plate Mail Armor, Leather and Ring Archer Armor

Barracks: Access to everything (except Eagles ofc)

Archery Range: Don’t have access to Elite Skirmisher and Parthian Tactics

Stable: No Camels, Elephants or Steppe lancers. No Paladin.

Monastery: Limited (don’t have thought through this yet)

Siege Workshop: No Siege Ram, Siege Onager

Castle: No Hoardings

Dock: No Shipwright

University: No Architecture, no Fortified Wall, No Siege Engineers.

Access to all Economic Upgrades except Stone Shaft Mining.

Unique Unit

Gospodar: Heavy armored Cavalry with bonus against other Cavalry - 30 F 100 G, 12 S training time

HP: 100 / 120
Atk: 8 / 12
ROF: 1.8
Bonus Damage: +6 / +9 vs Cavalry , +3 / +6 vs Camel
Melee Armor: 4 / 6
Pierce Armor: 3 / 4
Armor Class: Cavalry
Speed: 1.45

Conclusion:
The Civ is designed to encourage “active defense” play. Vills are stronger , but the higher production speed in castle leads to a fast, less protected expansion with a lot of hittable areas for the opponents army. To compensate for that the civ has super cheap trash units (after the mass recruitment tech) that scale terrible and a bonus to Military buildings. Also the UU is designed to counter both main lines (but weak against infantry and monks) and has high mobility to support the attacked areas fastly. At the same time it is a quite strong Raiding unit aswell.
As the history of the Vlachs indicates the civ has access to a lot of different units with all kind of different bonusses. The Vlach player has to decide according to the situation what are his best options, as each of his units excels against very specific enemy units but gets destroyed by several others.
In the very lategame the Vlach player can use his Villagers as a nice supplement for his army. But he need to be careful as they still get “countered” by hussars.
The reasons why I chose the specific UTs is because of the Various Battles where the Vlachs very fastly recruited a lot of military and also armed their peasants to fight back intruders. Fppr this reason the civ should be encouraged to place a lot of military buildings to be able to recruit mass army when needed. This I thought can be achieved the easiest way by taking away the wood cost of the units, so the gathered wood can be used to construct the military buildings instead of producing military.

This civ is awful at everything (like seriously, their only viable castle age unit is the knight and at imp they literally dobt hqve a single viable unit outside SE-less cannons and maaaayyybe leather less arbs which will suck but still do damage) but has an OP boom (this makes every single boom centered civ look weak) in which they will have to rely to counter enemy archer civs against which they cant use skirms. Not a fan at all.

Also ironic coming from the guy that complains about all the economic centered civs 11.

You forget, I have made a tool to calc Booms. I have enough experience with booms to know that this specific Boom bonus isn’t “OP”. The civ has about the same boom as britons with their super cheap TCs and the initial sheep bonus. And one major downside of that boom is the low amount of TCs and therefore heavily reduced protection for the expansion.
I think you forget that for having such a boom you still need to add the same amount of farms and pay the full food price for every vill.

Disagree. They can definetely go for xbows. Also cav archer especially after the UT. And don’t forget their UU. The civ is also designed around using it, besides it has weaknesses against infantry and monks it is actually a very strong unit.

They have 25 F skirms. Yes they aren’t elite and lack armor, but they can just spam them like crazy. Don’t say they are better than normal skirms, but completely different. They can definetely be used against enemy archers.

Again, I don’t think this is a Eco powerhouse. They have an above average Boom, that’s given. But they don’t have much going for them before and even that boom comes with downsides. They can’t compete with the well-known eco powerhouses.
But yeah because how the civ is designed they need to have a solid boom, it’s the idea of actively defending that boom against the opponents raids.
But I was very careful to don’t make the boom OP and especially don’t give a general eco bonus like the eco powerhouses have (yeah viking, chinese or mayans eco bonusses also work if the civ doesn’t boom at all). But the civs eco bonus is clearly designed to only really support a boom, it’s basically useless for an all-in play. That’s a huge difference to the versatile bonusses of the known eco powerhouses.

Are there any stories around Rumania that does not have Turks as the bad guys?

Well in one of the storys the really bad guy is the pope who didn’t sent help when they needed it but instead gave some title like “savor of cristianity” or something like this.

(i think it is a very important destinction to make between “opponents” and really bad guys. Because your very best “Friend” can be your worst bad guy just waiting to thrust the knife in your back whilst your “opponen” can be a very nice guy. And I prefer to have a nice guy as an opponent than a bad guy as my “friend”.)

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I’m interested in your tool to calculate booms. Any access for the public?

The tool is very complicated and raw as it has so many Inputs. Even if I made it public there was basically nobody who would even try to use it, and the work to put into was probably not worth it.
But I explain how it basically works here:

I think I made another Thread about this but I can’t find it. Probably also someone else made the thread and it was just part of my reply there.

The actual Picture of booming potential of the civs looks like this:

The orange bar is for how long it takes to be “fully boomed” with the used buildorder (FC into 4 TC boom) and the blue indicates for an approximate optimisation potential by changing that build according to the civs strengths.

You need an UT for that. And you prob need to build like 12 archery ranges to have a decent production of this unit that has lesd ramge, does less damage and dies super easily to other ranged units compared to normal skirms.

You save both the building time of the town centers and theextra stone, go for a crazy 1 TC push or you can go wirth basically a six town center boom without mining stone. Persians already have a solid boom and they have 1/6th of the bonus your Vlach civ has (yes, although Persians could be buffed to maybe have 15/20/25% faster TCs they are considered to be a solid boom civ and used to be OP with only an additional villager).

You can go for anything, you can go for frank cav archers if you want, but theres a reason Burmese NEVER go xbows and that is the weak skirms to support your archers. This civ would be crushed by any ranged composition before you can even get to put down a castle. Also this civ would be annoying asf in villager fights.

True, but a cheap one. I don’t claim it’s an easy transition, but you also save on several expensive upgrades in the process, so it isn’t as bad as proclaimed here.
And it’s also not the only choice for the civ. The civ can easily also go for the UU, making defences or Siege. The slightly reduced Knight Line is also an option aswell…

You are exaggerating as hell here xD. Skirms are produced way faster than archers, you don’t need that many ranges for a decent produtction.

Well of all the range units the proposed skirms are actually nerfed the most against standard archers. All other archer units have higher damage output and therefore benefit less from the reduced pierce armor. So fi anything these skirms would actually trade a bit worse against standard archers/xbows than regular elite skirms but better against all the other range units (especially standard elite skirms).

You would need 36 farmers for that… Seriously…

Persians have multiple bonusses that have already an impact before reaching castle age. Also the persian bonus influences the whole TC and not only Vill production.
Nevertheless I was curious and put the proposed Vlach Civ in my sheet. The result was a bit surprising to me as it showed that a 100 % faster vill production indeed would be too strong (but not by that big of a margin as you try to portrai it here). Funnily I must go down to about 50 % to reduce it as it looks like the majority of the impact on the eco is already on the lower percentages (above 50 % it seems that the high cost of farms thwart the eco benefit down). I didn’t expected that bonus to be that strong actually but fortunately I made that tool that showed that 100 % was indeed a bit overambitious.

They also don’t have Arbs and no cost reduction. Saving 25 W on an Archer is not that bad of a discount, even if it is “only” wood that is saved.