Early Austrian Game : what to do ?

[BaronNoir]

My questions revolve on several points (I'm aware of the whole ''don't annex HRE minors'' thing)


1)Should I...deal...with Hungary pre-1500, by annexating province ?

2)Should I deal with Serbia and Bosnia (they seem to bring an insane amount of trouble rebellion wise, and put me in direct contact with the Ottomans and their 120k army. The joy...

3)Should I deal with Venice before they ally with France ?

 

[Ultrix Prime]

It's usually helpful to read the wiki on any country you want to play. If you have already done so, my apologies. Here is the link -> http://www.eu4wiki.com/Austria

Basically, if you handle France by either:

a) allying and marrying them
b) forming alliances and making it your goal to go smash them such that they are no longer a threat

then you can pretty much do whatever you feel like with Austria. Conquering the world with Austria is a viable strategy, or I assume it still is in 1.8.

 

[hitchens]

As Austria the world is your buffet.

Attack France together with Castille.

 

[hitchens]

1)Should I...deal...with Hungary pre-1500, by annexating province ?

Why not? You are stronger.

2)Should I deal with Serbia and Bosnia (they seem to bring an insane amount of trouble rebellion wise, and put me in direct contact with the Ottomans and their 120k army. The joy...

They are not important and Hungary/Ottos will deal with them.

3)Should I deal with Venice before they ally with France ?

Venice often end up with bad alliances. Deal with Venice when the time is right.

 

[yyrkroon]

If Hungary is friendly, marry and look for PU opportunities, then force PU.
If Hungary is not friendly, wait until you get the PU mission, then force PU.
It really doesn't behoove you to reduce them in size, as you are practically guaranteed a PU with them at some point.

Ignore Serbia and Bosnia in the near term.

Ignore Venice.

Follow the "Revoke by 1500" formula. Pre 1.8 it was best to drop troops down to almost nothing, and merc up everytime someone thought the empire was weak. Defend it for big AI. Repeat. Doing this I managed to revoke in the early 1500s.

Post 1.8, simple attack HRE members, award distant, LOW BT (nothing higher than 6BT) HRE provinces to your HRE allies. Then following the war demand them back. 10 IA per province. If you get a little trickier you can float an elector spot while doing this for even more IA. Even without the Elector juggle you should be able to revoke well before 1500 (someone managed a 1457!).

 

[BaronNoir]

One question, however. The second to last reform, the one that turn every state as vassal....won't it have crippling effect on my diplo points, considering the diplo relation limit ?

 

[Pornek]

One question, however. The second to last reform, the one that turn every state as vassal....won't it have crippling effect on my diplo points, considering the diplo relation limit ?

The new vassals dont apply to the diplo relations.

Day 1 RM Bohemia, hope for heir of your dynasty and claim throne to get them in a PU.

Regarding Hungary. I would attack them / drag them into a war by declaring on ally and make them spit out Croatia. You can diploannex Croatia and it also has a core on Venice. Once You have done that you can get the mission post 1500 to PU them (IIRC you wont get it if they have a certain # of provinces taking Croatia puts them under the threshold).

 

[Cossack_PL]

You can get a Habsburg leader both in Bohemia and Hungary if you RM them day one. Hungary is more valuable IMHO, as Bohemia in PU will give you a big (-50 IIRC) penalty for other electors for having a subject elector, so it will make you harder to keep the Imperial throne unless you use all your diplomatic relations to ally the electors.

Of course this is only possible if they don't rival you from the start. If they rival both you and Poland, you can get easily alliance with them and both have a strong military support (just the numbers of Poland, Moldavia and Lithuania can be overwhelming) and you can get your dynasty ruler on Polish throne for tasty MPs.

 

[BaronNoir]

The wars to release vassals take forever and give me 2-3 authority each time....

 

[Meridian235]

The powergamer answer is to do the early revoke, but for a more natural game I like to focus on Venice.

1) RM Bohemia, ally Brandenberg and a couple of other electors.
2) Get relations up with Spain to help against France.
3) Ignore Burgundy unless they attack the HRE. Ignore Hungary and wait for the PU mission.
4) Focus on breaking the large countries in the HRE into smaller pieces, or recovering HRE territory from enemy hands.
5) Eat Venice in small bites, keeping your AE low. Prepare to break the Turk, and start thinking about a showdown with Poland.
6) Expand eastward, not into the HRE.

 

[BaronNoir]

I really don't understand what to do : in whatever direction I try to expand, I end up in wars with France, Burgundy or Castille that eat my Manpower for décades...And the imperial liberation wars usually end up this way too.

 

[BaronNoir]

Is there an online guide available somewhere (for instance, I did tried to force Hungary to release Croatia, but it's not working)

Even the initial war against Hungary is an exercice in patience most of the time.

 

[Pornek]

Is there an online guide available somewhere (for instance, I did tried to force Hungary to release Croatia, but it's not working)

Even the initial war against Hungary is an exercice in patience most of the time.

If you ally Poland after they have the PU, you have the PU over Bohemia and you ally Castille. Hungary is imo rather easy to defeat.
Only Problem could be France, you have a. Castille for that and b. at some point HYW -> Hungary war France will get declared on by Burgundy.

 

[marat271]

My questions revolve on several points (I'm aware of the whole ''don't annex HRE minors'' thing)


1)Should I...deal...with Hungary pre-1500, by annexating province ?

2)Should I deal with Serbia and Bosnia (they seem to bring an insane amount of trouble rebellion wise, and put me in direct contact with the Ottomans and their 120k army. The joy...

3)Should I deal with Venice before they ally with France ?

Conquer the world by pre 1500. Anything else would be a disgrace.

 

[AurochsAway]

I really don't understand what to do : in whatever direction I try to expand, I end up in wars with France, Burgundy or Castille that eat my Manpower for décades...And the imperial liberation wars usually end up this way too.

Is there an online guide available somewhere (for instance, I did tried to force Hungary to release Croatia, but it's not working)

Even the initial war against Hungary is an exercice in patience most of the time.

Are you using allies? Allies are Austria's strength. Your wars shouldn't take decades, and you need to make use of mercs. What is this initial war against Hungary, and why release Croatia? The only reason you should war with Hungary is to PU them.