Forcing others out of PU

[Doncor]

So France got a PU over Castille, and I, playing as Austria, find it very irritating. England is almost consumed by Scotland and France, because of that. Is there a way to restore the balance in Western Europe? I think the bottom line here is to break PU with Castille. Any suggestions on that? Also, I dont have any DLC installed.

 

[makaramus]

some things you can do:
1)Reduce prestige of castille(effects some)
2)take provinces of him(but I gonna assume if you defeated him that much you would relased him)

But there is a cheesy tactic too you can do... when a nation formed all behavior aganist him becames "unknown"... this means france will not be loyal that moment
if you follow them FOR THAT MOMENT ONLY and offer help to france they will accept it cool isnt it

Note:to do cheesy tactic you need el dorado or conquest of paradise dlc

 

[Markusmiless]

You may want to re-read that makarmus.
It isn't Castille that has the union over France it's France that has a union over Castille.

That said if the OP has a union over Hungary or Bohemia (preferably both) you may be able to use numbers to take care of France. (especially if you gain Poland or Denmark (if they still have the kalmar unions) as an ally).
Being emperor helps as well obviously but if it's fairly early in the game you shouldn't have lost that title.
However France gets Elan (20% morale) and Castille has 15% morale in traditions (against your 10% I believe). So picking up Defensive could be helpful overall.

 

[makaramus]

You may want to re-read that makarmus.
It isn't Castille that has the union over France it's France that has a union over Castille.

That said if the OP has a union over Hungary or Bohemia (preferably both) you may be able to use numbers to take care of France. (especially if you gain Poland or Denmark (if they still have the kalmar unions) as an ally).
Being emperor helps as well obviously but if it's fairly early in the game you shouldn't have lost that title.
However France gets Elan (20% morale) and Castille has 15% morale in traditions (against your 10% I believe). So picking up Defensive could be helpful overall.

well then only cheesy tactic doesnt work XD he need to break france thats the only way
even if you had dlcs this time nothnig will change since castile without aragon is too weak compared to france

 

[Doncor]

You may want to re-read that makarmus.
It isn't Castille that has the union over France it's France that has a union over Castille.

That said if the OP has a union over Hungary or Bohemia (preferably both) you may be able to use numbers to take care of France. (especially if you gain Poland or Denmark (if they still have the kalmar unions) as an ally).
Being emperor helps as well obviously but if it's fairly early in the game you shouldn't have lost that title.
However France gets Elan (20% morale) and Castille has 15% morale in traditions (against your 10% I believe). So picking up Defensive could be helpful overall.

I have annexed both Hungary & Bohemia with Silesia, additionally Venetia and Lombardia are mine. My allies are Polish Commonwealth and Tuscany (all nothern italian provinces), my PU juniors are Pomerania (occupies most of north east germany) and Flanders.
Having said that, overall I'm supposed to defeat France - the only good ally they have is Aragon (with Naples). However one important thing to consider - I s**k at doing wars with major countries, oftentimes I lose wars when odds were on my side.

Additionally, facts to keep in mind: it's late 1500s, not really an early game. Poland and Tuscany most likely wont join an offensive war with me due to debts or goid relations with France. Another thing, France is really big now - all historical french provinces + south england, south belgium.

 

[Markusmiless]

Well with those things in mind I'd aim to just stack mil modifiers.

I'm currently playing a Prussia game and I've probably the strongest army in Europe, however my army is also around 30% the size of any one major country in Europe.
So if you've a hard time handling wars yourself then more allies is a good option, even having England/Scotland could be useful as that forces some of French soldiers of the mainland.

Like I mentioned Defensive Ideas could be very useful for matching French morale slightly (and the higher army tradition gives you better generals).
Another useful idea group could be Quantity Ideas as that allows you to have quite a few 20-stacks that you can keep close togheter (but that is only if you can have as many generals as your main stacks, you want the tip of your spear to be the most powerful afterall).

But honestly one option is to simply ignore France for the moment being, as long as you keep a strong army that should deter the AI somewhat from attacking HRE land and you could keep expanding elsewhere.

 

[Doncor]

Well with those things in mind I'd aim to just stack mil modifiers.

I'm currently playing a Prussia game and I've probably the strongest army in Europe, however my army is also around 30% the size of any one major country in Europe.
So if you've a hard time handling wars yourself then more allies is a good option, even having England/Scotland could be useful as that forces some of French soldiers of the mainland.

Like I mentioned Defensive Ideas could be very useful for matching French morale slightly (and the higher army tradition gives you better generals).
Another useful idea group could be Quantity Ideas as that allows you to have quite a few 20-stacks that you can keep close togheter (but that is only if you can have as many generals as your main stacks, you want the tip of your spear to be the most powerful afterall).

But honestly one option is to simply ignore France for the moment being, as long as you keep a strong army that should deter the AI somewhat from attacking HRE land and you could keep expanding elsewhere.

In terms of allies, I'm at my best now. I am no longer the HRE emperor, and all german countries turned against me as I am the only catholic left. England no longer exists, Scotland is allied with France (!). I literally allied all bordering countries except for Bavaria and Saxonia (as it's simply not feasible).

As I have conquered all territories that ever belonged to Austria, my main game goal now is to keep Europe with its historical borders. And France is the major thread to this (and for keeping power balance in Western Europe).

I think sooner or later I'd have to face France. I'm just thinking if it's better to do now or after they annex Castille.

 

[Doncor]

Also, my guess is that it's better to somehow force THEM to atrack me, so that less allies would join French side and all allies would join me. In case of offensive war I'd be fighting alone.