Brandeburg 1.30 situation

[Gornova]

Playing EUIV as Brandeburg in Ironman, I allied early with Austria and Poland, conquered all nations between me and baltic sea, conquered Danzig and then moved in a war against Saxony. After this war, I was in a good position but.. Poland go to war against Hungary first ( and drag me in ), causing me lose manpower and money and then crush with Austria.
I've decided to stay with the Emperor against Poland (and lose alliance with Poland), but after some years of war I've opted for white peace. Mostly because there are noble rebels, a lot of debts ( 10 ! ) and ruined economy.
Now (1498) I'm in a difficult situation:

- I cannot attack Poland ( too much powerful for me rith now),
- Bohemia is still strong ( and defended by alliance with Austria), so not possible to attack right now
- age of reformation started and I'm not sure if is better to become protestant ( some money, a huge prestige hit! - 100) or stay catholic
- my economy is ruined: a lot of debt (-2,6 every month!), need to fire all advisors, 10 / 14 armies to not take other debts, already do "debase currency" some times, but got some corruption, now something like +0,02 each month)
- build claims on smaller german nations is a point, then attack one of them to get more territory, but too much aggressive expansion
- estates have a lot of lands and influence

Any tips on how to get out of this mess ?

 

[RTErk]

Playing EUIV as Brandeburg in Ironman, I allied early with Austria and Poland, conquered all nations between me and baltic sea, conquered Danzig and then moved in a war against Saxony. After this war, I was in a good position but.. Poland go to war against Hungary first ( and drag me in ), causing me lose manpower and money and then crush with Austria.
I've decided to stay with the Emperor against Poland (and lose alliance with Poland), but after some years of war I've opted for white peace. Mostly because there are noble rebels, a lot of debts ( 10 ! ) and ruined economy.
Now (1498) I'm in a difficult situation:

- I cannot attack Poland ( too much powerful for me rith now),
- Bohemia is still strong ( and defended by alliance with Austria), so not possible to attack right now
- age of reformation started and I'm not sure if is better to become protestant ( some money, a huge prestige hit! - 100) or stay catholic
- my economy is ruined: a lot of debt (-2,6 every month!), need to fire all advisors, 10 / 14 armies to not take other debts, already do "debase currency" some times, but got some corruption, now something like +0,02 each month)
- build claims on smaller german nations is a point, then attack one of them to get more territory, but too much aggressive expansion
- estates have a lot of lands and influence

Any tips on how to get out of this mess ?

Stay Catholic until you dont have any problems and the DoF isn't a powerful country.
You should Seize Land whenever you can.
If you chose to play in the HRE, you have to accept the AE too.
The economy situtation is pretty bad... you should lay low until you recover your economy.

Other tips : Pick ideas that increase your discipline (Quality etc.), picking ideas that increase your infantry attack is good too, you get %20+ from Prussian ideas.
Admin ideas is pretty good, it gives you +%25 Governing Capacity and you will need it when you form Prussia.

Basically, get A LOT of discipline.

 

[Gornova]

Stay Catholic until you dont have any problems and the DoF isn't a powerful country.

thanks!

You should Seize Land whenever you can.

I will try

If you chose to play in the HRE, you have to accept the AE too.

ok, no easy way there

The economy situtation is pretty bad... you should lay low until you recover your economy.

ok!

Other tips : Pick ideas that increase your discipline (Quality etc.), picking ideas that increase your infantry attack is good too, you get %20+ from Prussian ideas.
Admin ideas is pretty good, it gives you +%25 Governing Capacity and you will need it when you form Prussia.

I get quantity to get more manpower, maybe was a mistake

Basically, get A LOT of discipline.

yep!

What about which country attack next ?

 

[RTErk]

thanks!



I will try



ok, no easy way there



ok!



I get quantity to get more manpower, maybe was a mistake



yep!

What about which country attack next ?

A screenshot of the map would be nice, then I could tell you !

 

[Vetgirig]

What about which country attack next ?

Denmark. Support Swedens independence. If you do not border Denmark. Make sure to conquer all provinces you need to border Denmark.

Trade income is where it is.

Also you might wanna consider bancrupcy if you are having an economu with minus 2.5 ducats per month. Unless you forgotten the easy ways to lower costs like lowering army maintainance.

 

[raphi1985]

One can significantly improve the economic situation of Brandenburg by conquering land in the Lubeck trade node and shifting your main trade port their as well, as it is a fairly rich node. It is best to prioritize taking the centers of trade and Estuaries. This is however just a general remark/strategy, not really considering the specific situation.

 

[Deliberus]

The optimum way to play as Brandenburg would be to just rush down Konigsberg so that you can become Prussia but reading what happened, it seems like that is no longer possible. Not to worry, you can still expand into the rest of the HRE and come back to get Konigsberg later. Either wait for the 30 years war to start and kick Poland/PLC when their troops are away or are low in numbers or you can waltz in when they're getting kicked by the Ottos...

 

[Don_Quigleone]

Bear in mind that, if you want to become Prussia (and let's be honest, that's the entire point), you do need to convert to protestantism at some point.

My suggestion would be to get your economy in order, invest in military ideas (quality/offensive being the best for brandenburg) try to ally with Russia and bide your time until you see an opportunity to snipe konigsberg. After you form prussia you'll have space marines and it'll be much easier. But even without forming prussia, your initial ideas still allow you to have "space marines lite", which should be sufficient to beat Poland if you get your alliances right.

 

[eoncommander]

In my current game as Brandenburg --> Prussia, I found it useful to become emperor for a while before converting to Protestant. Extra gold, manpower, force limit, plus it's a lot easier to expand. (I also subsequently won the league war and became emperor again as Prussia.) Later on, as Prussia, your troops will be so much superior to those of your enemies that you can attack even when outnumbered.

 

[Gornova]

A quick update on game's situation.
After reading suggestions I keep head down, work on income, pay my debts and so on. All worked fine until...

Austria start a war against France and Savoy for a little part of Switzerland. After a while Austria was beat but and France comes to me, destroy my army and forced me to exit from war with a peace deal with a 460 debt ( again! ), and lose ally with Austria. After that.. never again with them!

I don't panic, but after a while nobles started to rebel, so I took another big debt, hire mercenaries and fight them all.
This started an attack from nearby enemies (Saxony and allies) against me and allies ( show superiority). I won but a great cost!
Meanwhile zealots protestants rebels start to spawn around me !

My economy was ruined, so I keep only one logic decision: declar bankruptcy and become protestant.
As you know I have a lot of malus, but no debt and finally no rebeles.

Thanks for suggestion, first time I have the possibility to start a war to take Konigsberg and form Prussia, so I will start war against all past enemies

 

[RTErk]

A quick update on game's situation.
After reading suggestions I keep head down, work on income, pay my debts and so on. All worked fine until...

Austria start a war against France and Savoy for a little part of Switzerland. After a while Austria was beat but and France comes to me, destroy my army and forced me to exit from war with a peace deal with a 460 debt ( again! ), and lose ally with Austria. After that.. never again with them!

I don't panic, but after a while nobles started to rebel, so I took another big debt, hire mercenaries and fight them all.
This started an attack from nearby enemies (Saxony and allies) against me and allies ( show superiority). I won but a great cost!
Meanwhile zealots protestants rebels start to spawn around me !

My economy was ruined, so I keep only one logic decision: declar bankruptcy and become protestant.
As you know I have a lot of malus, but no debt and finally no rebeles.

Thanks for suggestion, first time I have the possibility to start a war to take Konigsberg and form Prussia, so I will start war against all past enemies

A suggestion, don't join wars that you can't win (or your ally can't win). You can always decline, -25 prestige is better than ruining your entire nation once more

 

[schaedel]

Another Suggestion, which works around 50%: The AI is very bad in calcualting wars and war-scores and so on. Veryvery often, especially with the player involved, you can get a head-start in a war. If you don't want to lose Austria (too late anyway, but generally speaking) just join their war, and rush for the war-goal and try to keep it occupied for some time. With the warscore in your favor, you should be able to separate-peace France for a very minor cost and hopefully not have to cancel the alliance with France. You will "only" lose 5 trust with Austria for separate Peace, but all things considered, that's pretty minor

 

[Snake_Squeezins]

If I have a bellicose ally that always tries to drag me into their wars of conquest, I just go into the diplomacy menu and click “disable offensive wars.” Most allies will maintain the alliance anyway, unless you are allied to a pair of rivals. (For instance if Austria and France are rivals and you have allied both of them - if you disable offensive wars then one usually starts to break away.)

 

[hegel68]

If I have a bellicose ally that always tries to drag me into their wars of conquest, I just go into the diplomacy menu and click “disable offensive wars.” Most allies will maintain the alliance anyway, unless you are allied to a pair of rivals. (For instance if Austria and France are rivals and you have allied both of them - if you disable offensive wars then one usually starts to break away.)

Unfortunately, that only helps with offensive wars. In my recent Brandenburg -> Prussia game, I was dragged into three Austrian defensive wars in a row before 1485: the first one against Burgundy suiciding into Liege, the second one against France attacking Savoy and the third one against France because of the Burgundian Inheritance.

Allying Austria as any German nation is really a double-edged sword: Austria will not ask you to give back conquered land in the HRE, but at the same time, it will often drag you into its wars on the western border of the HRE.

 

[Big Bad France]

In my current game as Brandenburg --> Prussia, I found it useful to become emperor for a while before converting to Protestant. Extra gold, manpower, force limit, plus it's a lot easier to expand. (I also subsequently won the league war and became emperor again as Prussia.) Later on, as Prussia, your troops will be so much superior to those of your enemies that you can attack even when outnumbered.

This is also a good way to get a headstart on passing reforms. An early revoke seems like a good way to mitigate the governing capacity limit that Prussia faces.

 

[eoncommander]

This is also a good way to get a headstart on passing reforms. An early revoke seems like a good way to mitigate the governing capacity limit that Prussia faces.

This is dependent on your goals for the campaign though. If you're Brandenburg and want to form Prussia, you need to switch to Protestant, which will lock you out of the emperor's seat until you can win the league war. And if you want to go on and form Germany, you can't be emperor when you take the decision, so you need to find a way to lose it later on as well.

 

[Don_Quigleone]

Honestly, after conquering Pommerania at the beginning of the game (and maybe trying to rush Konigsberg before Poland gets it), I wouldn't bother being allied with Austria. Most of your conquering is going to be outside the HRE anyway, and being asked by the Emperor to give up land is not a big malus to deal with.

Meanwhile, if any really big country attacks, the emperor is going to defend you anyway, so why bother having him as an ally? And Austria barely ever helps you in your own wars.

The real key ally is Russia, and if you can manage it Denmark/Sweden/Norway. Hungary or Bohemia is also decent.