I plan to try playing austria

[Humes]

Me and a friend had a game of europa multiplayer he was england and I was portugal, we both did alright but eventually spain and france dominated europe while england domainated south america and me the north + mexico (I even had to move my capital there as I lost my europe holdings bar a little of africa that had gold, I was still ranked third for income though so wasnt all bad).

We are now going to start the game again, with my friend playing as england again and I fancy trying someone else as if I played portugal again it would be a bit, been there done that (just last game), as I would want to go to the new world and build a colonial empire, although this time I wouldnt keep the alliance with my friend as thats what sparked spain's invasions of me.

So anyway I plan on trying Austria for something different and maybe more challnging (which might be a mistake haha), I understand from reading the wiki that you should use the claim throne feature a lot more as austria (for imperial lands) I also notice that you can do this straight away from Bavaria.

However I have some questions.

Should I only do one royal marrage at a time (ie only with people in that list that have weak claims).

If I do that though how should I look to improve realtions with the electors to secure my position as emperor?

I thought about getting realtions bonus's by from the off allying with as many electors as I could but that leaves me a bit weaker when it comes to wars as I wont have anyone powerfull as an ally.
And if I refuse to royal marrage them wont this hurt me becoming emperor.

Plus I feel like austria is surrounded by powerful empires bohemia, hungery and Milan for starters lol.

I suppose I am just after some tips or early game moves for playing early game austria. 1399 start.

My friend has been doing a lot of reading up as well for speeding up his colonialism of the americas (I guess we are a bit competitive).

I plan to expand quiet a bit I might go east and eventually try and claim india, or if france annoys me try and take them down and then eventually try taking america off whoever owns it (likely my friend). Bold goals maybe.

Thanks for any advise you have.. Should be fun either way

 

[Felicity]

Austria is quite a different game than England/Spain/Portugal/France- Being in the center,that is, being able to influence both west and east Europe, and having to deal with the HRE(which takes a bit to learn but once you do it's fun). France WILL be your mortal enemy, because they want lands that are Imperial, so they like to try and fight the HRE at times.

Austria I think has a better start position than Bohemia, since Austria can influence Italy right away, and has an easier outlet to getting a coastal province. Once you're Emperor, you can bully everyone all you want, and PU's are Austria's best friend.

 

[Sandmann]

On the very first day use your diplomats to ally strong countries like France, switzerland, bavaria as on the first day they are very likely to join.

 

[unmerged(204522)]

dont use "claim throne". instead, use "fabricate claims" spy action and enforce the PUs through war. this will also give you the prestige needed to expand your SoI.

 

[glen55]

Each to his own, but with its imperial ambitions Austria has so much diplomacy to do that I would not recommend the 1-marriage-at-a-time route. Whenever your king dies pick out 1 or 2 countries to claim throne on if good ones are available, but after that your royal marriages are a vital tool of diplomacy. I like to marry every country in the Empire that does marriages, unless I have firm plans to attack that country soon.

The electors generally won't ally with you. You need to marry and bribe them to get their relations up, and then they will vote for you so long as you keep your infamy down, speaking of which, keep your infamy low. It's easy to take the crown as Austria. When the opportunity arises, vassalize electors and they will vote for you for the rest of the game as long as you are the same religion, and if they aren't the same religion and you are Emperor you need to force-convert them. Often you can force-convert and vassalize in the same war. If you get 4 vassal electors, you don't have to worry about infamy so much.

On the HRE screen, mouse over the electors and it will tell you who they are voting for and, more importantly, why. Look at that info often and study it well, for it will tell you exactly what the factors are that you need to influence to get the electors.

You will be fighting a lot, so Military Drill is recommended for your first NI, although National Bank is a viable alternative since Austria often has a little trouble getting the economy going early on.

 

[Humes]

Thanks guys,

I like france being my mortal enemy I always used to have at them as england in earlier single player games (sadly I dont have the english channel to hide behind now... god help me).

So my first moves should really be get the emperor title and ally up with Switzerland, Bavaria and france if possible. They would certainly be good choices I think.

I didnt know if royal marrying Bavaria and then going straight at them with a claim throne and war dec was a good idea or not. As my first move I mean, I could look at the spy mission like I hadnt thought of that!

I will make sure and royal marrage often then if its more recommended, would certainly help in getting the votes I need for the crown.

Yeah I like the military drill idea as my first national idea (I will def take national bank as second or at latest third).

Thanks a lot for all the suggestions guys I'll try and do you all proud haha

 

[unmerged(397168)]

Don't ally Bavaria, you want to annex them. Ally yourself with Bohemia as long as they are the HRE.

 

[grommile]

On the very first day use your diplomats to ally strong countries like France, switzerland, bavaria as on the first day they are very likely to join.

I'd take Hungary and Bohemia over Switzerland (strong? Switzerland? Only in the hands of a human.) and Bavaria. Partly because my usual opening gambit with Austria...

dont use "claim throne". instead, use "fabricate claims" spy action and enforce the PUs through war. this will also give you the prestige needed to expand your SoI.

... is to take advantage of Bavaria not having an heir. At the start of the game, all monarchs in Europe have Legitimacy 100 and so are immune to Fabricate Claims, but many monarchs lack an heir so can have their throne claimed by a suitably audacious neighbour.

 

[Sandmann]

if you leave the hre, ally the emperor, fight a war on the same side as him and then DoW a country within the HRE, will the emperor defend the target or not when you already fight together? Is the emperor an exception from the rule that allies in war can not get in war with eachother?

 

[Lama43]

Send RM to Bavaria, claim throne, attack. Meanwhile vassalize all the small states that ally Bavaria, and then force claim.
Constantly check for disputed successions and the fabricate claims spy mission. Try to vassalize all electors that ally your PU targets. After some time all the HRE should be yours

I wouldn't ally anybody except vassals and PUs. Unsubordinated allies are much more a pain in the ass than a help.

 

[Humes]

Thanks for all the tips!

Having my game tonight so will post how it goes incase anyones interested

 

[grommile]

I wouldn't ally anybody except vassals and PUs. Unsubordinated allies are much more a pain in the ass than a help.

Allying Hungary makes it rather less likely that Hungary will ally Milan and try to turn you into a delicious habsburger with cheese.

 

[Humes]

Hey guys we will be continuing tomorow but if your curious this is roughly how things are going.

day 0 I offered bavaria a royal marrage which to my surprise they rejected (very likely and they rejected lol) I only allied with tier and switzerland I was going to go with hungry but was trying to keep my alliances short. I had the mission to take the 3 lands off Milan, so the swiz were going to be handy. I reoffered bavaria a royal marrage which then this time accepted but they were now allied with hungry, so they've never been taken by me so far.

It didnt take long before i took the lands off Milan, and things started to go pretty well.

The year is currently 1445 I havent expanded much I took maybe 4 lands off hungry when they were brought into a war as an ally on the opposing side. But my personal unions are going ok.

I have Personal unions with: Brandenburg, pommerania, mantua, milan, naples, savoy and sicily.
I also have vassals with: Acaea, wurteemberg, aquileia (except I own gortz with a core), ferra, modena and tuscany.

Bohema is tiny as I smashed them when they were excomunicated Brandenburg was given some of their land and I forced them to release a nation. Due to having little choice of other people I now hold 5 of the votes to become the next emperor (dispite my 19 infamy. Prob shouldnt have vassalized all those people).

I hold an alliance with castille now and not the swiz, and my only real threat is burgandy who have taken a fair bit of northern germany. So far burgandy and france havent had their big brawl and I believe its due to my friend who as england has refused to give up them french lands and just used his boats till they get bored and accepted white peace. His econamy is great as he has only a token land force and is making a rush straight for the new world. Last he told me he had colonized greenland and attacked some native americans (I suspect he's over reaching and that will be a mistake till he gets coastal provinces there, but I cant confirm, as my nation cant really see whats going on over there).

I am hoping that when I become emperor I will be able to defeat burgandy and force them to release a few nations but at the moment they do have a much larger army than me, my main strength is the fact I have my 13 subject nations. I am trying to work infamy down as well so my diplomatic relations improve at a faster rate with my PU nations. I have inflation at 2% and currently dropping but I really do need to build a few more constables (stability 3 as well currently).

Prob not great but I am happy with it and its really enjoyable. I am looking forward to our next game. I feel like I might be missing out a little on the new world later on down the line (my only port is gortz so far) but plenty of time for that yet, besides european politics are fun.