Minor suggestion?

[unmerged(35620)]

Sugestion

well , I do play Walachia (correct form is Valahia, by the way) and I am a colonial power by the year 1650, but it was quite a challenge! I know the correct form because I leave there and I can tell u, 4 example that Radu de la Afumati was a great general, but he only appears as a Monarch. So, if u play as a minor you must know that the game does not offer u many leaders, especially if the minor did remained minor in reallity.
if u choose a minor (Wallachia), your first priority is 2 enter an alliance with a powerfull nation in your neighbourhood, and than attack another, for example if u do have an alliance with Hungary, attack Turkey especially when they are at war with others. You get some leaders early in the game.

 

[Loeffle]

Someone ever tried to free Baden from Habsburg and lead it to something big?
Could also be quite interesting to ally yourself with France and then start thrashing behated Württemberg first, then Austria etc

 

[unmerged(31147)]

Poland will often DoW Pommern, while their alliance will also be DoWed (often at the same time) by the Union of Kalmar. So, I don't think they're much easier.

I'm just having a successful (so far) GC with Pommern. Yes, it's tough at the beginning, your alliance is weak and probably the best thing is to switch to Polish-Lithuanian alliance (which is often joined by Bohemia, very powerful at battlefields with Zizka and his successors). Both provinces are really poor and have low manpower, but you have two CoT behind the frontier - so it's vital to get Mecklemburg and/or Danzig as soon as possible. You can take advantage of Hanseatic-Danish and Danish-Swedish conflicts - Denmark often FA's some North-German minors and then gets involved in a war with Sweden, so you can grab them back easily and at a low cost. After you gained two-three provinces with a CoT, it's much easier - you should DA some other minors and get a dominant position in northern Germany. Still, it is a demanding game, you're just on the line of expansion of many countries which are for a long time stronger than you (Denmark, Poland and Brandenburg in the beginning, then Sweden) and you need some good diplomacy. Wait for the moment when Poland is weak and isolated, ally with her enemies, attack and eliminate as a potential threat. Build your position in HRE, grab the rest of protestant provinces, but don't get involved in conflict with Austria too soon.
In my game, it's 1650 and I just became a leader by VP - having for the whole time economy and BB under control.