Easiest way to get a Catholic empire

[dirtInfestor2]

So i am wondering what the easiest way to a catholic empire would be. According to the wiki, after Erbkaisertum is passed the peace of westphalia is declared if there is no dominant religion yet. So if i can pass Erbkaisertum before the leagues can form what will happen next? Will the official faith be catholic? Or do i still get the peace of westphalia?

The reason why im asking is because im almost certain that the protestants wont ever attack me (as im too strong already) and thus i cant enforce the official religion via war.

Also what other options do i have?

 

[Zephyrum]

You still get the Peace of Westphalia, but with it comes the reduced IA hit from heretic princes.

 

[Dominion]

If no one declares you'll get the Diet of x and catholic becomes the official faith.

 

[dirtInfestor2]

For this i have to ensure that no elector is protestant though. (atleast according to http://www.eu4wiki.com/Religious_league_events#The_Diet_of_.24CAPITAL_CITY.24). Wouldnt it be easier to just let them not fire then (which also implies that no elector is protestant) since this way i only would have to wait until 1625? I honestly dont even know how one could achieve that a protestant elector isnt a league enemy??

 

[ElGranCapitan]

You can enforce Religion via Revoke

Depends on where your game is at, I got protestant around 1510-1515 in my Austria one faith and killed them immediatly (was a lucky spawn - Denmark/Sweden/Lüneburg+England converted 4th and thus without a Center). I revoked around 1530, reformed spawned 10 years later. You can enforce religion via subjects tab once you revoked, though if the Centers are still around I'd advise you to diploannex them and convert the Center manually, just so that it doesn't annoy you with conversions and zeal

 

[dirtInfestor2]

Well my game is already in 1520 and i only passed three reforms, the fourth is about to come. I can probably get to Erbkaisertum in the next 30 years but revoking seems impossible.

 

[Big Bad France]

As emperor, you can core any land within the HRE boundaries, regardless of distance from your own land. You can declare war on nations within the HRE, force them to release smaller nations, and then take their northern-most province for yourself so you get borders with more princes who might turn protestant. Rinse and repeat, then when your neighbors start converting, you can declare war and force convert them back to catholic.

 

[ElGranCapitan]

Are you Austria? If so that's a bit slow
Regularly kill your king, that's 10 IA on reelection (I think I did it two or three times)..unless your heir really sucks, then kill your heir first.
Burgundy shouldn't be alive post 1460ish, without Hungary Burgundy can put up a fight, with Hungary (and Bohemia obviously) it's really onesided. Also your AE is probably really high in Italy from the PU wars and the shadow kingdom war, killing Burgundy is 0 AE so it's a really good time
In 1505 (or later when you had to fight the PU war) kill your king again, with dip+influence and some dip rep stacking through missions you should have a good chance at inheriting both Bohemia and Hungary (Bohemia is nice because you can upgrade to Kingdom and Hungary is a lot of land to add for IA)
Decide on 2 or 3 electors you like, and use them to get reelected, don't improve with the others to get those +10% IA missions
As soon as you got time Imperial ban Denmark for Holstein to get a foothold in northern germany, taking a province from Brandenburg that borders saxony can be useful as well, as those are more likely to turn protestant

 

[Big Bad France]

Are you Austria? If so that's a bit slow
Regularly kill your king, that's 10 IA on reelection (I think I did it two or three times)..unless your heir really sucks, then kill your heir first.
Burgundy shouldn't be alive post 1460ish, without Hungary Burgundy can put up a fight, with Hungary (and Bohemia obviously) it's really onesided. Also your AE is probably really high in Italy from the PU wars and the shadow kingdom war, killing Burgundy is 0 AE so it's a really good time
In 1505 (or later when you had to fight the PU war) kill your king again, with dip+influence and some dip rep stacking through missions you should have a good chance at inheriting both Bohemia and Hungary (Bohemia is nice because you can upgrade to Kingdom and Hungary is a lot of land to add for IA)
Decide on 2 or 3 electors you like, and use them to get reelected, don't improve with the others to get those +10% IA missions
As soon as you got time Imperial ban Denmark for Holstein to get a foothold in northern germany, taking a province from Brandenburg that borders saxony can be useful as well, as those are more likely to turn protestant

It might be a good idea to take a few provinces from Brandenburg. They need to be small enough to get the war score for force converting under 100%.

 

[dirtInfestor2]

Im France. Got the double BI and Castille as PU. I started with a no cb vs Byzanz to quickly expand into Arabia/Russia and was planning to focus on Scandinavia (already got GB) and Russia/PLC next. I didnt consider things like disinheriting your own ruler just to get IA but my heirs were really bad most of the time so i guess there is that.

Cant i just revoke electorate from all protestants and give it to catholics instead?

 

[ElGranCapitan]

It might be a good idea to take a few provinces from Brandenburg. They need to be small enough to get the war score for force converting under 100%.

That's definitly solid advice, but unnecessary as Austria because a heretic prince or 2 doesn't matter. If they are too big to force convert or the CoR isn't in the capital just manually convert it. Heretic electors spawning the leagues isn't a problem you should ever have as Austria, if you do, you are going too slow

With some other country that can't revoke as fast I'd definitly cut them down to <100% warscore though

Im France. Got the double BI and Castille as PU. I started with a no cb vs Byzanz to quickly expand into Arabia/Russia and was planning to focus on Scandinavia (already got GB) and Russia/PLC next. I didnt consider things like disinheriting your own ruler just to get IA but my heirs were really bad most of the time so i guess there is that.

In that case make sure no electors are protestant (reformed doesn't matter), pass reforms through adding 50 provinces at a time (if your monthly IA is negative it doesn't matter much), you should conquer enough land anyway

 

[BoomKidneyShot]

Typically in my Austria games (PU with Hungary, Shadow Kingdom stopped, and BI before 1450 if I can swing it), the final push for Erbkaisertum and Revoking are given by the Hungarian provinces that I have just diploannexed. I usually have Landfriede right around the time the Reformation starts, so I put it off for a few years to kill one (or more) of the religious centers). You won't get all of the princes to stay Catholic but usually it's too little, too late as the problem is minimized when you proclaim Erbkaisertum.

The one issue with doing it that early is that you don't get the Catholic Empire modifier, which is nice, but not all that useful. The missionary strength helps for a One Faith but that's about it.

 

[dirtInfestor2]

The one issue with doing it that early is that you don't get the Catholic Empire modifier, which is nice, but not all that useful. The missionary strength helps for a One Faith but that's about it.

Well OF was indeed my goal for this campaign so i thought i take any bonus i can possibly get. So what i am gonna do now is just prevent the leagues from forming and then get it somewhere around 1630.

 

[IoannesBarbarus]

Based on the MTTH for the league formation and diet events, it would be better to let the leagues form. The diet fires

• after 1625, MTTH 5 years, if leagues didn't form
• 30 years after leagues formed, MTTH 5 years, if leagues did form.

Leagues form after 1550, MTTH 10 years (-1575), 5 years (1575-1600), or 6 months (1600-), if there is a Protestant elector of course. I ran a quick simulation cause I was curious exactly how much difference that amounts to.

If you let the leagues form you'll get the Catholic Empire around 1597 (within 1590-1608, 50% chance). If you don't, you'll get it around 1630 (within 1627-1635, 50% chance).

 

[dirtInfestor2]

But you also would have to fullfil the following:
No known country:

• Is an elector
• Is protestant
• Is a league enemy
• Has a truce with

I guess with removing elecorate this shouldnt be all too hard though.

 

[IoannesBarbarus]

That part is poorly written. It means no country should fulfill ALL those conditions. I.e., you don't have a truce with any Protestant electors in the Protestant league.