Milan & HRE

[Ziggy187]

Playing Milan as Ambrosian Republic makes me ineligible to be Emperor. Can I still become an elector?
Is there any advantage in conquering Italy to remain in the HRE?
I'm thinking I'm better off just leaving and maybe dismantle HRE later on.

 

[Viktor Vaughn]

Playing Milan as Ambrosian Republic makes me ineligible to be Emperor. Can I still become an elector?

yes, as long as you stay in the HRE. other republics and theocracies can become electors in the HRE, so you can as well

Is there any advantage in conquering Italy to remain in the HRE?

I'm assuming we're talking preventing shadow kingdom? if you want to do an HRE run it's nice. it's also nice to prevent shadow kingdom so you don't suffer relations penalty with the emperor, and it makes expanding north into Germany much easier. you also get the benefits from imperial reforms. biggest downside in my opinion is the AE you're gonna rack up along the way. Usually taking two Italian provinces in a war gets you into dangerous territory with your fellow Italians and probably Austria when you take Venice. But if you can manage that, then sure.

 

[Bouchart]

AI typically doesn't make large countries into electors so you'd need to either inherit one in a personal union (not easy to do as a republic) or hope the Reformation hits so hard there aren't many eligible electors.