Anyone played this way before? It's hilarious fun. Basically, you take a vassal of the HRE, and politic your way through in such a manner that you destroy the blob empire from within.
I've been doing it as the Gerulfings of Frisia and this is without a doubt one of my favorite games so far. When Heinrich IV declared a war against France for a claim of one of his vassals, some Italians began a war for Ugo Hucbaldi (one of their main guys) as Emperor. With the HRE's demesne levies being completely sapped, I joined the faction and he won the war, deposing the Salian dynasty. I then immediately pushed for independence (due to war-killing Medium crown authority) alongside the Bohemians and received it.
Then the HRE got into a crown authority civil war with Saxony (they lowered it back down to Low, but that apparently wasn't enough) and some of their other German vassals, and I joined back up about 15 years after I had left, fighting for the HRE. HRE wins the war, and I then push a claim I had forged on a neighboring Friesland county in the meantime, won it, and did the same with the northern neighbor immediately thereafter.
Then Ugo died and his child heir was elected Emperor. I successfully petitioned to become regent and lowered crown authority to minimal, and there's more civil wars brewing. :laugh:
I've been doing it as the Gerulfings of Frisia and this is without a doubt one of my favorite games so far. When Heinrich IV declared a war against France for a claim of one of his vassals, some Italians began a war for Ugo Hucbaldi (one of their main guys) as Emperor. With the HRE's demesne levies being completely sapped, I joined the faction and he won the war, deposing the Salian dynasty. I then immediately pushed for independence (due to war-killing Medium crown authority) alongside the Bohemians and received it.
Then the HRE got into a crown authority civil war with Saxony (they lowered it back down to Low, but that apparently wasn't enough) and some of their other German vassals, and I joined back up about 15 years after I had left, fighting for the HRE. HRE wins the war, and I then push a claim I had forged on a neighboring Friesland county in the meantime, won it, and did the same with the northern neighbor immediately thereafter.
Then Ugo died and his child heir was elected Emperor. I successfully petitioned to become regent and lowered crown authority to minimal, and there's more civil wars brewing. :laugh: