Brandenburg

[unmerged(82265)]

I want to form Germany and dismantle the HRE. I figure I'd try Brandenburg since I've heard others did it. Tried several times tonight and I get beat down by huge colations after taking my first provinces. There are just so many nations around, I can't keep good relations with them all!

I allied Poland and took TO and Palm, but after that was death every time.

Any tips?

 

[Popperlicious]

Do not "take" a single province within the HRE unless you are both A) the emperor, and B) strong

Instead you need to vassalize and diplo annex. If the enemy is too large to vassalize in a war, then force them to release smaller HRE states from them - then diplo vassalize them (they will love you for getting them released).

If you want to take territory, do it against the Teutonic and livonian orders, when those are yours, start chipping away at Poland.


Your starting move should be to immediately ally Bohemia & Austria, then get a claim on the teutonic province next to you, declare war on teutonic order - get that province + Danzig. Next objective is to get into a war with pommeraina & Mecklemburg, then vazzalize them.

 

[unmerged(787246)]

As the alliance with Poland sooner or later breaks, only use them in the first war against the Orders (take Neumark and Danzig) and the vassalization of Pommerania (sell them Danzig).

At this point Poland usually leaves the alliance, which is just what you want (as long as you still have Bohemia and Austria). Wait until you spot a weakness (if that takes too long wage another war against the TO) and hit them hard by using your allied forces to preserve manpower. If Mazovia is still alive you can take them as a vassal, otherwise you have to take a province, release them as a vassal and then return their cores in the next war. Don't take too many provinces from them, as the vassalization/conquest of the Orders generates some AE as well.
If you can conquer the Orders (usually Denmark attacks the Livonians and reduce them to force-vassal-size) and reduce Poland in size while maintaining the alliances with Bohemia and Austria, the east is yours to take. Consolidate a little at this point, build up your trade fleet and army and prepare for several beatdowns of Poland/Lithuania.

After the vassalization of Pommerania you should also be able to start diplo-annexing small nations within the HRE (Anhalt is the first possible), which is a great way to expand there. Also pay attention to the blobbing inside the HRE: If some nation reaches 4 provinces, attack and vassalize.

Edit: I'd advice to vassalize both the Livonian and Teutonic Order as soon as warscore allows it. Preserves a lot of adm points and uses much less AE than an entire conquest.

 

[trojan1234]

You need to focus on strong nations nearby you. Ally Austria, Bohemia, Poland, and Denmark before you take provinces. Don't bother with small nations. Poland and Denmark might break the alliance after you took Danzig. But you still have Austria/Bohemia. You can beat them with the help of your allies.

 

[Tormodius]

I had Poland plus some weaker neighbours as ally. It was nice to have when fighting countries inside the HRE, also I had alliance with Sweden. But I failed at this anyway and only managed to form Prussia very late and not form Germany. Then I got badass coalitions against me late in the game, and I had few and weaker allies. Austria did keep Imperial Throne, did many imperial reforms, and in the end I got in trouble with them too. I had Bohemia as a solid ally but it was at the point where only we were protestants could never win vs. all those catholic coalitions. Seems being Protestant is really hard as Brandenburg, since thats minority in Europe mostly, so you might drop that if you feel like easier game. So I would reccommend doing it different from what I did. Vassalize inside HRE and ally Austria and Bohemia like someone said earlier. Maybe keep good relations inside HRE and diplo-annex and play along with HRE as long as possible. Try become Emperor early game when catholic, or cozy up on the one who is Emperor until later game, and you might form Germany when you did more successfully than me.

 

[Mindmeld_me]

my main question is why do you want to dismantle the hre. If you want to by all means go ahead but I find it very useful especially as emporer. what you have to keep in mind is your playing a "long game". You want to avoid picking up to many relations penalties at any one time, that gts coalitions against you and your constantly at war. Only attack an hre member to claim land if the emporer is already at war. they can not demand unlawful territory if either one of you is at war. initially you want to attack weak non hre members. that means the orderz. after that wait for denmark and poland to.be vulnerable. Hre members you want to diplo annex whenever yoj can, just remember you'll get a annexed mwmber of hre relation hit with every member so space those out. ally austria and get a royal marriage so tbey are happy and will join you in wars. They will offset powerful enemies. Take your time and don't rush to a goal. The pickest thing is to get provinces from war when Austria is busy fighting. The unlawful territory hit is a pain. If you want to be Emporer and dismantle the hre that way, grow slowly hntil you have the same large nation boost as Austria then get at 3 votes, easiset once Austria starts annexing members and takes hits. Once you are Emporer hou get a number if nice boosts and no one is.demanding territory from you if your aggressive.

 

[Garriath]

My strategy in my latest Brandenburg Ironman game was to go super-aggressive and annex nearly all my immediate neighbors in the HRE. Naturally, several punitive wars followed, but not before I was able to core them all. So, when I had to give up everything that I'd conquered and ended up "where I started," I now had cores on all of my neighbors. As soon as my AE went down a bit, I launched a series of new "reconquest" wars, incurring very little AE, and doubling my starting size. If you prefer to avoid the vassalization route, I found it a pretty effective alternative.

 

[sunsterson]

my last game was pretty good until Austria got a pu with France, my former ally.

 

[unmerged(82265)]

my main question is why do you want to dismantle the hre.

Because it is something I haven't done yet and it seems challenging.

 

[sgt.stickybomb]

I want to form Germany and dismantle the HRE. I figure I'd try Brandenburg since I've heard others did it. Tried several times tonight and I get beat down by huge colations after taking my first provinces. There are just so many nations around, I can't keep good relations with them all!

I allied Poland and took TO and Palm, but after that was death every time.

Any tips?

Take it easy and don't go over board with annexation, keep strong alliances till you are big enough

 

[justin6477]

Because it is something I haven't done yet and it seems challenging.

One thing worth bringing up, occupying their capitals is the same as controlling an elector. Unless that's changed since EU3.

 

[unmerged(82265)]

Finally did it, but am stuck with 200 AE on all of Europe + Denmark. I don't think I can expand any more. Pitty, because with this much power halfway through the game I think I could easily get 1st. That would be a personal feat starting with such a small nation.