Playing as Austria, how can I make money without minting? I'm not over my force limits but I seem to need to mint just to stay ahead of bankruptcy.
Above all: keep your land maintenance low when you're not at war. (Also, hire a master of the mint so that you can mint some of your income without getting inflation.)
Also, how do you become the HRE?
Inconvenient way: Be more prestigious, better liked, and legitimate than the current emperor when he dies, and hope that he does so just after attempting to pass a reform (so his authority is low).
Brute-force way: Vassalize or PU four of the electors.
Cheesy way (in DW): Expand your Sphere of Influence so that your effective Diplomacy skill goes sky high, pumping your diplomacy-skill bonus in the Imperial Election to ridiculous levels.
One more thing, what is the best way to go to war with somebody who maintains an army that is about 25% larger then yours, when you need to conquer them? The game still being in the early land techs, each at 5 iirc, and with the opponent having a good connection of alliances.
Simple, unhelpful answer: "Don't". Not-so-simple unhelpful answer: "Carefully."
Useful answer: If they've got a bigger army and lots of allies, you're going to need to find some way of neutralizing the latter. It's useful to remember that if country A and country B are allied, but (due to the peculiarities of the alliance system) country B is part of the alliance you're fighting a war on behalf of, and country A isn't, then if you get into a war with country A, country B can't come to their assistance.
This is why France should probably form an alliance with the sitting Emperor (usually Austria), then join in the Emperor's war against someone in the Balkans, before trying to reclaim their cores from Burgundy and Provence.
On the same note, how do you ensure that your allies will actually attack with you?
Attack with them when
they go to war, and help them win their wars quickly so that they don't rack up too much WE.