At the risk of this thread being viewed as a billiard diatribe (or worse), the following is a Copy and Paste of my original posting from months ago regarding the HRE and possible German unification. This post was prior to the new version of AGCEEP, and was included in a thread dealing the the unsatisfactory nature of the HRE workings within the game.
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First off, thanks to all of the individuals who put the time and effort in to creating and maintaining AGCEEP. I'm a lowly player of the mod, not a creator. That being said, all of you who actually do the heavy lifting should certainly have the freedom to do whatever you see fit in regards the unification of Germany. So I won't take any offense in any of you labelling my ideas as ill-conceived, impossible to program, wrongheaded, or just plain stupid. However, this thread addresses something I'd love to see accomplished in the game - a fantasy unification of Germany. Whatever nation I play, whether vanilla or AGCEEP, I always try to "unify" the provinces sharing my core culture(s). I love the KOI events for this very reason.
First, I share the frustration at the current workings of the HRE. I'd like to see relations with the actual electors (whether the 1419 electors, the post Westphalia electors, or an "event" transition between the two) matter more than whether you are Catholic or Habsburg when HRE elections come around. The latter two could be big factors, just not the almost absolutely decisive ones they are now.
Second, in regards to the unification event, I'd like to see a few approaches possible. In some ways, this will make the programming more difficult (more events = more work to program them), but in other ways it might actually make the transition from individual principality to leader of Germany more manageable. A more stepwise transition rather than an all in one event.
1. Diplomatic option - Holy Roman Emperor is so well loved (e.g., 190+ relations with all electors, plus 190+ relations with non elector provinces of the empire, alliance with all elector states, AND relations for the elector states with the Emperor higher than for any other nation) that a stepwise trigger of states voluntarily vassalizing themselves to the Emperor comes up. The relations must remain high and the alliance intact for the continuing volunteered vassalizations to continue, maybe a few every 10 or 20 years. High stability, no major defeats (losses of core provinces) in wars would be a prerequisite. Massive hits to relations with non German neighbors is the downside, maybe automatic 5 year duration CB against HRE for all neighboring states with each volunteer vassalization. Diplo annexing of these vassals at the player's option according the the current EUII rules, but they become cores immediately upon the diplo annex.
2. External Threat option - an outside power begins gobbling up German minors, and the rest become fearful for their future. A subservient future within Germany being preferable to execution or exile under Ottomans or French or Polish (or any other nation with non German culture) overlords, the HRE (if meets criterion in 1 above) OR the most powerful German state (Saxony, Bavaria, Austria, Brandenburg-Prussia) is offered the crown (if HRE doesn't meet criterion in 1 above). Centralization takes a hit (those minors would still want some privileges), quality goes down a bit (incorporating all the various armies into a unified whole takes a bit of time and money), etc.
3. Vassal state - an external power conquers a sufficient number of German culture provinces and creates a German vassal as an ally, akin to Napoleon's Confederation of the Rhine.
#3 stands on its own; the only prerequisites are that a unified Germany does not exist (but note that a unified HRE could exist or could still be created).
#2 competes with #3 - the same external threat that could create the vassal ally Germany also could spark its creation as an independent nation - a race to see which happens first?
#1 and #2 can coexist, as could #1 and #3. The HRE could end up battling a unified Germany for dominance, or could fight against a vassal Germany allied with an external threat. Or the unified HRE and a unified Germany could coexist peacefully, as Germany and Austria did after 1871 (I know, outside of EUII's time frame and there was no HRE by this time, but still a somewhat relevant historical parallell).
Despite this being a 'fantasy' unification, I believe that these separate routes to German unification would actually make game play more historically accurate.
a. The diplomatic game between France and Austria for favor with the German minors would actually have a basis in game play. France allying with just one elector (historically, it was Bavaria) and keeping great relations with it would prevent the HRE from becoming a true unified nation. That is what really happened historically - France actually did fear a "unified" HRE and used Bavaria in this way (OK, somewhat of a simplification, but still a relevant parallel).
b. France could have picked off German minors for most of the 1600s if it wouldn't have been concerned about making itself into a common foe for all of Germany - it had to play a delicate game of picking up a province or so at a time. Yes, France did overreach on occasion, but was beaten back by groups of frightened neighbors.
c. The #3 option actually did happen during the time of EUII.
I'd also propose that these three options carry their own set of events. For example, the HRE could choose to lose non German cultures (if they have any) in return for higher Quality and Centralization, or it could choose to keep those non German cultures but with a big hit to stability, quality (incorporating those non German speakers into a predominantly German speaking military), and centralization. I'd be happy to share ideas for just such supportive events for the other options as well, but I figure I've thrown out enough ideas for discussion.
I think that these conditions would preclude a united Germany (and/or unified HRE) from forming very often in game play - just as it didn't happen during this time period until Napoleon formed the Confederation of the Rhine. But the possibility of creating a unified HRE and/or Germany would allow for players (France, Austria, and the German minors in particular) knowledge of the possibility of unification to alter their game play in a way that would lead to more historically based gaming.
I'm not suggesting that these methods are the only ones; I could also see a "alliance against the center" method of unifying the HRE (one or more German states become so hated by the rest that the Emperor is allowed to excercise true power in a war against these minors (which are added to the Emperor's cores). The problem with this option (and a few others I'd considered) is that even a computer programming dunce like myself can see that the event file for this would become way to complex to achieve in practice. So I've concentrated on the three methods outlined above. Criticisms welcomed.
