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cholliman

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Yeah I'm not the most popular at the moment, I am only just hanging on to a 3 vote majority, luckly no other nation has anything more than a single vote.

I didnt know the annexing thing stacked so hard and took so long to cool down, I think I'm at like -67 (+1.7 yearly) which is going to take forever, and I have two more annexations that are completing shortly.

For vassalizing minor electors, if they are still small I'd do that. In my last Austria play through, this was my first order of business. You can just use the revoke electorate CB that you have on them, quickly occupy them and be done with it. I grabbed Cologne, Trier, Mainz and the Palatinate (this last one since is a kingdom and you can potentially inherit their vote with kingdom). While they are all minnows, they do help out in wars. If you keep a small 2-3 size stack of mercs to siege, the small vassals will typically link up with them while your big stack does the battles. You have Bohemia in PU now, but unfortunately you don't get their electoral spot upon integrating them - only inheriting.

For the religious unity, I only used it when they say yes. Make sure to check out their reasons for no as sometimes they are borderline and a few months of improving relations will switch them from no to yes.

Finally for the minus relations that you are waiting to get rid of, you just need to unlock the Austrian idea which buffs your better relations over time!
 

Stildawn

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So vassalizing the electors is a good idea? I think I read somewhere that the -50 stacks, and that even your vassals can vote against you? Maybe I read that part wrong but that is what was stopping me from doing it earlier. I can easily vassalize Trier, Cologne diplomatically if I tried. And I could do the Palatinate and Brandenburg through war (although I am allied with both).

At this point, France is the only concern, I'm powerful enough to take on pretty much anyway especially with my allies. I would be attacking Denmark to release all the places they have taken while I was too preoccupied to defend (they played their strategy brilliantly to be honest), but Denmark is allies with Muscovy so they will take the defenders side, and I dont want to lose my Muscovy alliance that I just got.

So what happens to Bohemia when I integrate? Does the elector count just go down to six and I need to find another elector?
 

cholliman

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So vassalizing the electors is a good idea? I think I read somewhere that the -50 stacks, and that even your vassals can vote against you? Maybe I read that part wrong but that is what was stopping me from doing it earlier. I can easily vassalize Trier, Cologne diplomatically if I tried. And I could do the Palatinate and Brandenburg through war (although I am allied with both).

At this point, France is the only concern, I'm powerful enough to take on pretty much anyway especially with my allies. I would be attacking Denmark to release all the places they have taken while I was too preoccupied to defend (they played their strategy brilliantly to be honest), but Denmark is allies with Muscovy so they will take the defenders side, and I dont want to lose my Muscovy alliance that I just got.

So what happens to Bohemia when I integrate? Does the elector count just go down to six and I need to find another elector?

I think the penalty is only for the electors that are not your vassals - not quite sure off the top of my head. I didn't have any problems staying emperor whatsoever after getting those vassals however.

After you integrate Bohemia, the elector count goes down, and it is important to choose a new elector ASAP. If you have less than the full count of electors, your IA starts to go down.
 

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Yeah I'll think I'll look into going down that route maybe, I played last night and got carried away so I have way to much for one chapter (due to the 20 image limit thing) so I'll have to spread it out.
 

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14th of September 1520

The time of peace continued for the Empire, but the times of religious troubles also continued, the Emperors authority was already tanked with Princes leaving the true faith, and no respite was seen on the horizon.

Keeping to herself Austria continued to develop their lands, buildings were built, ideas were enacted. Lorraine and Alsace joined the now powerful nation.


K20fVn1.jpg


The peace was not to last much longer, however the wars to come were of no great concern.

The first of the small wars as they become known later, was Cologne, Austria drawn into this war by its allies had no real desire to fight. However the numbers were greatly stacked against Cologne and the Emperor took the opportunity to secure Imperial politics.

The Divisions marched north, and the territory of Cologne was quickly put to siege with the Austrian armies sneaking in to grab siege leaders in all of Cologne provinces. Had their allies known they probably would have been furious.

Shortly after Cologne was on its knees in front of the Emperor... A new vassal gained, but more importantly their electoral vote.

The next of the small wars was against Pomerania, again Austria was drawn in instantly stacking the war against Pomerania. Oddly the enemy controlled the lone province of East Frisia out to the west, unfortunately for them this was in the Antwerpen trade node, a node which Austria planned to eventually totally control.

Again the Divisions marched, no one within the Empire was a match for a single Division let alone three. Pomeranian provinces fell one by one, bringing them to the peace table with Austria securing their desired province.

The small wars had little effect on Austria life at home, the armies marched away yes, but money was still flowing and development still continued, especially in the sciences.


2pFp2vU.jpg


After the small wars the Emperor decided to continue his plan of subjugating the smaller electors, the more the better to secure the Empire for the future.

The great men of Austria deliberated over the potential electors, Trier was chose to be sufficiently easy to vassalize. With the decision made, the Divisions marched once again and war was declared.

The initial goings were easy, Trier had just come off a war with Hesse and their armies were no match for the Austrian Divisions, the country was quickly put to siege.

As the sieges continued, the Emperor received serious news. Venice had attacked the Empire...


ggtIyzM.jpg


As Venice was the war leader, The Emperor thought now would be the time to finally deal Venice a decisive blow, the timing wasn't perfect with the war against Trier incomplete. But the Emperor thought that if Austria could get a few quick victories in against Venice directly, they could take gains and peace out before the weight of Venice's ally France could weigh in. There was also the hope of the Spaniards keeping France busy till gains could be made.

So the call was honored and Austria was once again embroiled in a massive war of the major powers.


k1vwC7d.jpg


The allies were called and the war was begun, however Trier was not yet conquered, so the armies stayed north as the job was close to being finished. But things went sour...

The French were not distracted by Spain, nor did they delay. Their giant armies marched north into Austrian Low Countries, the Austrian forces in Trier had to abandon their sieges and come together in the hope to scrape a victory.

The battle of Trier began shortly their after, a massive clash of western militaries. Unfortunately the French brought more men, and their General was superb. The battle wore on for weeks but the tide was turning against the Austrian Division.

It was a loss, the French had smashed the Austrian moral in a overly bloody affair, the total number of deaths on the field nearing sixty thousand souls.


8Ab03ee.jpg


With the situation lost up north, so was the war with Trier, Austria still occupied some land however and the Emperor quickly sort peace taking a single province instead of the desired vassalization.

The army was in full retreat, France once again was in command of the field and advancing steadily towards Austrian homelands. The shattered Divisions were sent to recover in the capital, the decision was made to merge the Divisions as after the shocking defeat at Trier the Divisions individually had no capacity for independent operations.

And so a single heavy Division was hastily organized, at the same time the Emperor put out an open call for all mercenaries in Europe, the Austrian coffers were open, they needed all the fighting men available.

It was with this last decree that the Emperor passed away. His son Fredinand I rose to both the Austrian throne and was luckily elected Emperor, his military skills would come in great use in the long war.


aV8Fj0C.jpg


Military ideas were also advanced in the time of war, hopefully proving useful in the battles to come.

Relief was slowly coming to Austria after the Emperors death, the French armies started to withdraw as the Spaniards had marched to threaten the unprotected south of France. This had drawn off forces from Austria, just at a time that the sole heavy Division was recovering and many mercenaries were hastily pressed into service.

Venice was open and the previous Emperors vision could be fulfilled, the enemy lands were sieged by the newly formed Austrian forces, Austrian vassals also began to show in the war in greater numbers.


GE6qQ0h.jpg


The French saw their mistake to late, as armies came back to Austria the tide had already turned, battles raged in the Alps, but this time Austria and her allies held firm advantage. The battles were still vicious however with many lives lost, to be replaced by an every steady stream of new mercenaries.

The battle of Mantua sealed the deal in the east. The French and Venetian forces were slaughtered to the last man, revenge taken for Trier.


With the battle of Mantua the main French forces were destroyed, this in turn opened up their homeland to the arriving Spanish and collection of Austria allies, their territories were falling, one by one.

In the east, only the Swiss remained, they made an attempt to turn the course of the war, but they should have known the Alps better.


FcZYwPz.jpg


The second battle of Trent (the first fought between France, Venice and Bohemia and allies) broke the enemy alliance, their forces were shattered and in chaotic retreat everywhere. The entire Venice homelands fell shortly after, and Austrian forces moved on into Switzerland.

Naples sent an army north, but it to was to late, the combined Austrian forces sent them packing, but at out of the enemy allies they were the least scathed by the war.


veQp7PO.jpg


The enemy alliance fell one by one, exhausted and tired of the war. Large gains were made in Switzerland, never again would they pose a serious threat to Austria's endeavor's.

ibeLLb2.jpg


And finally the way was over, Venice's lands too rich to take them all. Modest gains were made, but the real factor of the war was that France was no longer allied to Venice, it would be open for the future.

With peace returned Austria took stock of the aftermath, once again Austria was down to next to no strength, its armies were large but almost all foreign and its manpower was depleted. Again the war had been to hard.

However Austria now had time to rebuild, politics in the Empire were better.


lw4ybwL.jpg


Ideas advanced, but so did war, Austria joined Spain against the Muslims, Austria was in no condition to fight however and sat out the war, watching the borders, hoping that no Ottoman forces would venture north. Eventually Spain made gains and the war ended without a shot fired in eastern Europe.

o7s6OhO.jpg


A few more small wars happened, each time Austria sat out the war as it was still rebuilding. The Austrian alliances were successful both times, with moderate gains for those involved. All the while the new military minded Emperor pushed military development.

3rd of December 1546

So another chapter finished. And again Austria is rebuilding, hopefully now I can slowly take out Venice and gain their wealth. I'm thinking of moving my Capital to either Antwerpen or Venice eventually as they are end nodes.
 
Last edited:

Stildawn

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1st January 1821

Don't ask but I had a mental relapse and deleted like 5 chapters of screenshots by accident (unrecoverable the curse of SSD). So I gave up, but here we are right at the end.

It was a very interesting game and I learnt a lot. I didn't end up going down the traditional HRE route so it probably ended up weaker than what you gurus could produce with an Austria start.

Instead I went down the diplo-vassal route, and I slowly absorbed each of the princes one by one haha. I missed out on the Pom's though they are the one that got away.

So here's a political shot, I'm easily the most powerful, my armies are vast but more importantly I have a massive manpower pool, my entire army could be wiped and I could rebuild the entire lot and still have over 200k of manpower to spare. I have also maxed out all the military ideas except for the nobility one so my army is very efficient and well trained.


fkm1kA6.jpg


I entered the trade game super late, so this next one isn't all that great. I have a love/hate feeling about the western Europe node, I'm loving that I can just send a merchant and a butt load of frigates and steal all the colonizers wealth, but I feel that it sort of ruins the game a bit that it practically all ends up coming into one node which anyone can play in. People like Portugal, Spain, England and France have obviously spent considerable effort in setting up trade routes from America and Asia, yet unfortunately for them it all comes to western Europe where with minimal effort I steal the majority of it.

gG79KTB.jpg


hfq1u5o.jpg


As you know I started with Spain as my main ally, however that quickly ended as they started to expand into HRE Italy. Next I had Sweden, but that too ended, but Russia has been solid (ish), I have had my hand in helping them to the height they have achieved, and yes they are scary big, but I was never concerned cause we did end up at war sometimes and I always managed to easily trump them on the field. The main thing annoying me at the end of this game is Bulgaria, the bastards just wouldn't take an annex in time and thus ruins the look a bit.

And now to the world, first a political map, then religion.


LG1WWna.png


3bU5q1y.png


clXIz6L.jpg


And the end screen. The funniest thing on here is that I have the largest navy. When I literally had no navy at all right up until the 1800's, when I had buckets of cash so I decided to build a massive trade fleet and a massive warship fleet.

All and all a good game though, I left the HRE unformed cause I believe it gives me bonuses that I would lose if I formed it.


Thanks all for reading if you got this far and thanks for all the advice.