HRE guide / advice

[Swami]

I actually never played as the HRE emperor, but in my Holland run I kinda got elected by accident. However it seemed interesting for me to try and go for it. However in order to keep it, I need erbkaisertum when I want to become the dutch republic eventually.

I looked up a few guides, but many are old and I though lets just ask the advice of the forum. As I have a few questions.

1. How long does is reasonably take to get it? I got the first reform done by Austria and Im in 1500. I would hope to finish it by 1600 or is that completely unrealistic to aim for?

2. What is better to do, ally electors in the HRE or outside? I can maybe get England and Russia as allies and use them to tame the future commonwealth and Denmark with the kalmar union.

3. should I focus on internal war to release as many nations or on external war to add more land to the Empire, which gives me the reforms faster?

4. How do I get these princes to support me, I figured I just build up the autority or do I also need to improve relations with these nations? I litterally cant find info on such basic questions, probably because they are to noob

5. Should I add land to the HRE right away or should I wait untill the last reform. Seems that it might be wise to do the latter.

Also any advice or link to a guide to help do this as fast as possible would be nice. Also I have a pretty scary France, Denmark, Poland alliance in all ways, attacking either of them will result in war with all 3. France is also having a iberian wedding castille that ate Portugal as an ally and Austria rivaled me. So I feel going outwards would only be possible a bit in the low countries and maybe into Hungary and the balkans or northern Italy. However no idea if thats worth it, or that I can better focus on releasing nation in the HRE first.

 

[Sfan]

1. The best way to get IA is to add provinces. So it mostly depends on how fast you expand. An experienced player could do it by 1600 for sure, but that will depend on what you achieve.
2. A strong ally outside is crucial, but allying Catholics Electors inside the empire is important to keep the Emperorship (especially because you don't have any special diplomatic modifier as Holland).
3. External wars are more efficient to generate IA.
4. Improve relations, get diprep, avoid being overextended before passing a reform.
5. Add right before passing a reform, or else you might lose IA or get over 50 IA while in the middle of a war. Ideally, you are at 20 IA, you see a good moment because you have high diprep and you are at peace, you add 30 provinces and pass a reform. Then you go back to conquest for a while and let IA tick up if it does, and you do it again.

Check bbqftw's AAR even if they are old. He is still the best at HRE play.

 

[Swami]

1. The best way to get IA is to add provinces. So it mostly depends on how fast you expand. An experienced player could do it by 1600 for sure, but that will depend on what you achieve.
2. A strong ally outside is crucial, but allying Catholics Electors inside the empire is important to keep the Emperorship (especially because you don't have any special diplomatic modifier as Holland).
3. External wars are more efficient to generate IA.
4. Improve relations, get diprep, avoid being overextended before passing a reform.
5. Add right before passing a reform, or else you might lose IA or get over 50 IA while in the middle of a war. Ideally, you are at 20 IA, you see a good moment because you have high diprep and you are at peace, you add 30 provinces and pass a reform. Then you go back to conquest for a while and let IA tick up if it does, and you do it again.

Check bbqftw's AAR even if they are old. He is still the best at HRE play.

30 provinces for one reform? So I will have to almost conquer all of Europe? Also what exactly is the problem if I get over 50 IA in a war?

Thx for the quick answers btw, I will look up that AAR

 

[Xso]

You cant pass reform while being at war. And you can have more IA by :
Adding new provinces (+1 per province)
Having a lot of princes ( more than 25, but the more, the better)
Having 7 electors
Having 8 free cities
Being reelected (+10 when your ruller dies)
Having peace in full hre (+.10 monthly)
Event ( having some elector voting for you or over 100 relation : *1.1)
Ideas (Bohemia and Austria)

You lose ia monthly by :
Having heretic princes
Having HRE pronvinces under foreign control

A strategy can be to lose on purpose the reelection, to quit HRe, to be reelected and to add your provinces to hre again.

In past patches you could tag swich but unfortunately it's over

 

[Swami]

If I form the Netherlands as the emperor, do my provinces still leave the HRE so that I can add them back in? Or should I temporarely lose the emperorship, form the netherlands, then try to become emperor again?

 

[Xso]

I think you leave and can add them back but you need to check

 

[Sfan]

30 provinces for one reform? So I will have to almost conquer all of Europe? Also what exactly is the problem if I get over 50 IA in a war?

Thx for the quick answers btw, I will look up that AAR

It's 1 IA per province, so yes, you need most of Europe to reform if you can't get ticking imperial authority. But that's not as hard as it looks, regions like Lithuania and Crimea provide a lot of European provinces for low dev and low AE.

 

[covya]

forming countries as the emperor has always been one of the easiest ways to gain a bunch of IA, as you leave the HRE but remain emperor, allowing you to add it all back again.

 

[Xso]

forming countries as the emperor has always been one of the easiest ways to gain a bunch of IA, as you leave the HRE but remain emperor, allowing you to add it all back again.

Doesnt work anymore

 

[covya]

oh? what changed?

 

[Sfan]

It has been changed ages ago, yes. Due to the ultimate France England easy tagswitch exploit. I think there are just 1-2 formables left which remove provinces, and they are all hard to do.

 

[Swami]

I hate map painting, so if its impossible without that I'll just don't do it. There is no point in being HRE emperor if I have to completely anex the commonwealth and france to do it Can I somehow make my vassals enter the HRE btw or is that impossible? I will probably just try to do the normal diplomatic and internal stuff. Defend the borders and free occupied HRE provinces, but I don't think I will go for the gamey add everything the the HRE route, allthough it might be the most viable, I'll just challenge myself xD