How to take provinces from someone in a PU?

[calvinhobbeslik]

I'm playing the Ottomans and I finally got a province bordering Russia so I could fabricate claims and eventually take Moscow for the achievement...and then I find out that Great Britain has put them under a PU (Of course, my attempts at PUing any country have all failed...). Can I still DOW Russia and take some of their provinces? I should get a ticking war score at least, but can I get enough total warscore to demand all the provinces around Moscow?



Also, on a related note, a lot of Europe (including Spain, Poland, and Lithuania) is in a coalition against me just because I took 4 Hungarian provinces...that gave Spain a whopping 195 AE against me...how do I expand in Europe without incurring so much AE?

 

[calvinhobbeslik]

Here are some screenshots. I can field more troops than Russia, and I'm ahead of them by 2 MIL techs (and I can get 1 more, but I'm 4 years ahead of time). However, the Russians have finished Defensive ideas, and I don't have any military ideas. I think I'll be able to beat them, but can I take all 5 provinces around Moscow without getting the other half of Europe in a coalition against me?

 

[Noctus]

Spain is your neighbor across the water in Italy. Thats why the base AE from the hungarian provinces got multiplied so highly.

Take a look at which CBs you use to declare war and what to take when with these. For example if you declare war over a borderfriction (fabricated one claim on a borderprovince) and then take totally unrelated provinces in the peace, you get extra AE.

Try to switch your expansion betwee theaters, so the (relatively) local AE has more time to cool off.

Hire a dipomatic advisor that gives Better Relations over Time.

Take the full religious idea chaim, for the Better Relations over Time bonus at the end.

 

[Swistaczek]

Also there's some extra AE gain just cause you are big. This is to be changed in 1.4 IIRC

 

[Djoums]

I don't think you can get 195 AE from 4 provinces, my guess is that you fully annexed some of the Balkans before that. Consider vassalizing them instead, then annex, that will also save you a lot of admin points because you will get free cores on their provinces.
You can still declare war on Russia, siege the war goal and defeat whatever England throws at you. But you probably won't get enough warscore to ask for several provinces without sieging England itself. If your goal is simply the achievement, consider restarting it and manage your AE better along the way. Russia being under a PU is just bad luck.

Edit : also consider focusing on Muscovy/Russia way earlier, they are usually rather weak at first but tend to become very scary as time goes.

 

[calvinhobbeslik]

I don't think you can get 195 AE from 4 provinces, my guess is that you fully annexed some of the Balkans before that. Consider vassalizing them instead, then annex, that will also save you a lot of admin points because you will get free cores on their provinces.
You can still declare war on Russia, siege the war goal and defeat whatever England throws at you. But you probably won't get enough warscore to ask for several provinces without sieging England itself. If your goal is simply the achievement, consider restarting it and manage your AE better along the way. Russia being under a PU is just bad luck.

Edit : also consider focusing on Muscovy/Russia way earlier, they are usually rather weak at first but tend to become very scary as time goes.

Nope, all of the Balkans was either annexed in the 1440s or by the diploannexation of Bosnia/Serbia. I really hope I don't need to restart, since I only need to take 5 provinces from Russia...

 

[calvinhobbeslik]

Spain is your neighbor across the water in Italy. Thats why the base AE from the hungarian provinces got multiplied so highly.

Take a look at which CBs you use to declare war and what to take when with these. For example if you declare war over a borderfriction (fabricated one claim on a borderprovince) and then take totally unrelated provinces in the peace, you get extra AE.

Try to switch your expansion betwee theaters, so the (relatively) local AE has more time to cool off.

Hire a dipomatic advisor that gives Better Relations over Time.

Take the full religious idea chaim, for the Better Relations over Time bonus at the end.

Speaking of Spain, any tips on how to invade them to take their Italian holdings and eventually Cordoba? Should I try to ally France?