14 DAY TRIAL // Since I got beat by Austria in my very first attempt at war, I stayed put, expanded my diplomatic relations and tried to make as much money as possible, increasing my treasury and investing into buildings and some more ships, right up to my naval force limit.
Two of the nations that I have managed to create an alliance with are Poland and Bohemia, which are well placed to keep Austria in check in the future, should they try and take over my limited territory.
Republics in Europa Universalis IV can choose to keep their ruler or choose a new one via a sort of election process, both of the options including some positive and negative consequences.
I choose to keep my Republicanism high, which means that constant change is a requirement, and supplement my Monarch point via capable advisers.
At the same time, I have managed to get two cores on the Ottoman Empire and I have been buffing up my own land forces in order to try and actually take them via force.
The downside of having many allies is that they often drag you into wars you want no part off, which means that I have fought with Lorraine two times already and once with a couple of German minor principalities.
This has resulted in my acquisition of a Swiss province, which I have refused to hand back over to the German Empire, further infuriating Austria, and I am forced to put my trade expansion plans on hold for a while as I get ready for a battle with the country that sits just above me on the map.
The big surprise is that the major power does not make a move against me and war is launched by the Ottomans, who want to take over all of the Balkans, including my holdings there, as well as the islands in the center of the Mediterranean.
The power of my alliance is bigger than that of the Turks, but unfortunately, we never manage to adequately coordinate our attack and concentrate our forces, which basically means that the Ottomans are able to defeat our incursions and get their war targets relatively easy.
Europa Universalis IV makes it possible to return from a defeat and become a power in the long term, but I have now suffered two major losses in about 20 years and I have a feeling that I need to go back to the drawing board and see how I can better play Venice.