Best way to ruin the empire

[Saint Cad]

I decided to try it as Austria. First step is build relationship with Burgandy, Hungary and Poland and other electors and claim 2 provinces of Bohemia. I figured if I could vassal Bohemia after two wars and then I could take the other electors which tanks my chances of re-election and then I take the capital of the new emperor and there ya go.

Seemed to work until Denmark used the coalition cb (complete BS) to have half of Europe on me. Are there better strategies?

 

[joelzhl]

The easiest way is to get a truce with the current emperor, then war every single electors out there, but don't make peace. Once your 5 year truce with the emperor ends, you can declare again. This time you will be able to occupy all electors and the emperor's capital.

 

[hauptman]

As austria the only conquest you should be after is Venice's coastal provinces... Everything else is left to their respective owners until you vassalize the entire HRE.

Once you revoke the privlage, now you may conquer to your hearts content... removing Burgundy and france from whatever Imperial lands they hold.

 

[Schmoekoeksklok]

As austria the only conquest you should be after is Venice's coastal provinces... Everything else is left to their respective owners until you vassalize the entire HRE.

Once you revoke the privlage, now you may conquer to your hearts content... removing Burgundy and france from whatever Imperial lands they hold.

Forming the HRE is not quite the same as ruining it

Why don't you just do what you did before, but improve relations with Denmark? They shouldn't get enough AE on you to join a coalition with +100 relations.

 

[Xara]

Start as an Elector, ally with the other 6 electors, jimmy your way into a war vs. austria without losing those alliances, occupy wien, disband the empire

 

[Fossa]

I just ruined it as Sweden since the Palatinate had made the empire hereditary. Had 3 electors as allies that joined my attack on Saxony(#4), allied to Trier(5). The emperor ,the Palatinate (#6) and its PU Bohemia (#7) joined to protect. Took some time to check all the alliances to get it right. I drove them before me, crushed them and listened to the lamentation of the princes.

Of course I wouldnt have started the war if my allies hadnt promised to join, which they luckily did.

As for Austria, the problem is that you're in the empire, so if you vassalise or ally the electors the risk is they could be voting for you (high diplo rep) or not join your war (low dilpo rep). Tough one.

 

[unmerged(804580)]

Hey, a thread on dismantling the HRE... and I just did it, like ten minutes ago. What a coincidence.. lol

I didn't plan to dismantle the HRE, but somehow Austria was being a total asshole and got themselves a nice coalition, which made Bohemia the Emperor, and then Savoy. As soon as I saw Savoy was the new Emperor, I decided to go for it. As Tuscany, I had most of Italy except Corsica and the original Venetian provinces.

The rules are a little bit complex, but you DON'T need to siege down every single elector capital. In fact, you only need to be either allied to all electors, or have their capital sieged down. The rules are rather byzantine, so I'l just retell what happened in my game. The electors are, as you can see, Bohemia, Brandenburg, Cologne, Mainz, Palatinate, Saxony and Trier.

* Palatinate, Cologne and Trier were allied to Savoy. I allied Bohemia, Brandenburg, Saxony and Mainz. Even before DoW'ing Savoy, the allied electors were "not independent."

* Brandenburg DoW'd Bohemia, calling in Austria. This made Brandenburg "independent" since the alliance broke. Austrai sieged Bohemian capital, which made them "independent."

* Seeing the chance, I thought I'd DoW Savoy and bring in the rest of the electors on either side of the war. Palatinate, Cologne and Trier were "independent", while my allies Saxony and Mainz were "not independent." I sieged down Piedmont and the emperor-allied elector capitals, they were then "not independent." I vassalized them, again "not independent."

* I didn't siege down Brandenburg, so they were still "independent." Brandenburg peaced out Bohemia and made them annul all treaties with me, and after the war I re-allied Brandenburg. Brandenburg was "not independent", Bohemia was "independent." This left only Bohemia "independent" elector.

* Unable to ally Bohemia back, I just sat on Savoy and waited out the five years. Damn you Brandenburg.

* During the time, the Palatinate had a peasant revolt and the rebels sieged down their capital. This made the Palatinate "independent." I had to go save their ass.

* After sitting on Savoyard capital for five years, I allied Bohemia again. After this, I was able to click "HRR auflösen"... "Dismantle HRE" button.


So, it certainly is easier when there is a weak emperor (like Savoy in my case) but it is not necessary to get into war with every single elector at once. As I dismantled the HRE, Brandenburg and Bohemia were not even at war, but just being allied to me was sufficient.

 

[Saint Cad]

Turned out to be easy as Burgandy once I knew an alliance counted as control and when Bavaria became HRE all I has to do was occupy Koln, Rheinpfalz and Munchkin to get the achievement.

 

[BBBD316]

I do think there should be an easier way of dismantling the HRE, sigh.

 

[trojan1234]

Dismantled HRE in 30 years from the start as Austria. Austira is the easiest pick to ruin the HRE.

Bohemia is the best for the next and the last Emperor. Do not hit her hard.
Saxony is usually best friend of Bohemia. Let him do his job. Send insult if Saxony is voting for you.
I picked up Brandenburg as my vassal. It will give -50 for Saxony's rating.

Revoke electors by direct war or just jump in with revoke CB and let elector's enemy annex the elector.
You are ready when you have only 3 electors: Bohemia, Saxony, and your vassal.
Claim one Bohemian province and wait for Emperor die.
DOW right after Bohemia become emperor. You only need to occupy 2 capitals to dismantle HRE.