With the expanded HRE, Papal, estates and governing costs mechanics of the Emperor DLC, Austria is one of the most interesting countries to play in EU4. The most recent patches have somewhat nerfed the emperor, which I actually like. It's now quite difficult to pass reforms, which makes forming the HRE (if that's what you want to do) more of a campaign-long struggle and less of a done-by-1550 rush, a challenge I personally welcome.
Mechanics that have long been peripheral or downright irritating have become of much more central interest: balancing the estates, managing the HRE, expanding prudently, spreading the Habsburg dynasty and more. Here are my tips after a few Austria runs and a lot of experimentation. I found a slow, tall approach to be quite useful in the early game.
Please note: this is by no means a comprehensive guide and certainly not a min-maxing guide--more of a "first impressions" with some intermediate-level play. I'm sure some of you advanced players will have plenty of exploits to snowball Austria faster than I could.
Opening moves
Side note: Delete your starting navy. It's basically just warscore waiting to be lost. You could also sell it if you have the patience to find a buyer. Deleting the fort in Breisgau will make early wars a lot easier. I built one in Steirmark to block off the alps and found it invaluable.
Your first goal should be to get the personal union with Bohemia via the Secure Electors mission. I allied the bishopric electors, rather than the monarchies, as diplo slots will be limited for the time being. Improve relations should do the job or--if absolutely necessary--royal marriages with Saxony, Brandenburg or the Palatinate. You can cancel alliances with the bishoprics without having to break off marriages if you run out of slots.
To win the war quickly, I would take a low-interest loan from the burghers and hire some mercenaries--we need our manpower for the Succession War with Hungary. Focus on hiring one or two of the small Swiss/Flemish companies with good generals and complement them with the independent companies. These can't be merged but they can be stacked. I would disband these mercs as soon as you win the war and refrain from hiring mercs for the rest of the game--Bohemia and Hungary can be your meat-shields and a small, well-drilled army your attack force.
You should also be working on other missions simultaneously. The Balance of Power mission requires you to be a Great Power (which you will be with your PUs), have a GP rival and a GP ally. I open by rivalling Venice, Hungary and Bohemia for the power projection after early wars, but as soon as you have the PUs you can rival the Ottomans and France. For the ally, Castille is the best candidate--it counterbalances France (your other main rival in the long term) and will likely get you Habsburg on their throne (plus Aragon hopefully). With some luck this will net you the "Spread the von Habsburgs mission".
The other early mission I highly advise rushing is Balance the Estates because it gives you an invaluable loyalty boost for a key 20 year period. On day one, invest some diplo power (1 dev) in Inntal to increase the goldmine output and bring you to 30% crownland. Keep in mind this will create inflation, which Austria should be mindful of throughout the campaign. I went to great expense to keep a Master of the Mint on staff for the duration and it paid off. At the start, I would give out all of the monopoly privileges to get to 60% loyalty and some cash. The mission reward will allow you to cancel these when workshops become a thing.
In the medium term other useful privileges are:
-Control over Monetary Policy (burghers) to keep inflation low is worth the monarch points
-Supremacy of the Crown (nobility) for the loyalty bonusses
-Papal Emissary (clergy) for the pope points.
-Oversight, Right of Counsel and Free Enterprise can be used to keep equilibrium above 60%
-keep a Burghers slot open for loans if possible
-use estate missions selectively to increase loyalty when you need to revoke privileges.
In the first 50-100 years, you should revoke your monopolies, take Religious State, Primacy of the Nobility and Land of Commerce for the monarch points and then, finally, start accumulating crownland.
I would avoid trading stab cost for cheaper advisors--increase your income instead.
The von Habsburg dynasty in 1510. Bohemia and Hungary and under PUs. Castile/Aragon and Naples are not PUs but have the dynasty, as does Poland/Lithuania.
Next steps
Side note: With the latest patches, adding provinces to the empire and convincing countries to join don't give you instant IA. The fastest way to get IA is via the Imperial Incidents. Keeping the empire intact, Catholic and maintaining Free Cities/small minors will reduce penalties.
There are a couple of missions I would put off until much later:
I focus on these things at this point:
I would hold off on integrating your PU vassals for quite some time. Hungary is too big (until you've taken Dalmatia and Veneto) and you will hit a cap in terms of governing capacity. Once your admin tech is higher, I would eat Hungary first, which will give you CBs in the Balkans. You should also consider the estate privileges that increase governing cap at this point.
Side note: Courthouses and State Houses may finally have a use in high dev provinces/states!
If you lose the imperial crown at some point don't freak out--it's not a big deal and you will almost definitely get it back soon. You don't want to waste diplo slots needlessly on sucking up to electors.
Final notes
At this point, you have all the ingredients to be unstoppable.
Mechanics that have long been peripheral or downright irritating have become of much more central interest: balancing the estates, managing the HRE, expanding prudently, spreading the Habsburg dynasty and more. Here are my tips after a few Austria runs and a lot of experimentation. I found a slow, tall approach to be quite useful in the early game.
Please note: this is by no means a comprehensive guide and certainly not a min-maxing guide--more of a "first impressions" with some intermediate-level play. I'm sure some of you advanced players will have plenty of exploits to snowball Austria faster than I could.
Opening moves
Side note: Delete your starting navy. It's basically just warscore waiting to be lost. You could also sell it if you have the patience to find a buyer. Deleting the fort in Breisgau will make early wars a lot easier. I built one in Steirmark to block off the alps and found it invaluable.
Your first goal should be to get the personal union with Bohemia via the Secure Electors mission. I allied the bishopric electors, rather than the monarchies, as diplo slots will be limited for the time being. Improve relations should do the job or--if absolutely necessary--royal marriages with Saxony, Brandenburg or the Palatinate. You can cancel alliances with the bishoprics without having to break off marriages if you run out of slots.
To win the war quickly, I would take a low-interest loan from the burghers and hire some mercenaries--we need our manpower for the Succession War with Hungary. Focus on hiring one or two of the small Swiss/Flemish companies with good generals and complement them with the independent companies. These can't be merged but they can be stacked. I would disband these mercs as soon as you win the war and refrain from hiring mercs for the rest of the game--Bohemia and Hungary can be your meat-shields and a small, well-drilled army your attack force.
You should also be working on other missions simultaneously. The Balance of Power mission requires you to be a Great Power (which you will be with your PUs), have a GP rival and a GP ally. I open by rivalling Venice, Hungary and Bohemia for the power projection after early wars, but as soon as you have the PUs you can rival the Ottomans and France. For the ally, Castille is the best candidate--it counterbalances France (your other main rival in the long term) and will likely get you Habsburg on their throne (plus Aragon hopefully). With some luck this will net you the "Spread the von Habsburgs mission".
The other early mission I highly advise rushing is Balance the Estates because it gives you an invaluable loyalty boost for a key 20 year period. On day one, invest some diplo power (1 dev) in Inntal to increase the goldmine output and bring you to 30% crownland. Keep in mind this will create inflation, which Austria should be mindful of throughout the campaign. I went to great expense to keep a Master of the Mint on staff for the duration and it paid off. At the start, I would give out all of the monopoly privileges to get to 60% loyalty and some cash. The mission reward will allow you to cancel these when workshops become a thing.
In the medium term other useful privileges are:
-Control over Monetary Policy (burghers) to keep inflation low is worth the monarch points
-Supremacy of the Crown (nobility) for the loyalty bonusses
-Papal Emissary (clergy) for the pope points.
-Oversight, Right of Counsel and Free Enterprise can be used to keep equilibrium above 60%
-keep a Burghers slot open for loans if possible
-use estate missions selectively to increase loyalty when you need to revoke privileges.
In the first 50-100 years, you should revoke your monopolies, take Religious State, Primacy of the Nobility and Land of Commerce for the monarch points and then, finally, start accumulating crownland.
I would avoid trading stab cost for cheaper advisors--increase your income instead.
The von Habsburg dynasty in 1510. Bohemia and Hungary and under PUs. Castile/Aragon and Naples are not PUs but have the dynasty, as does Poland/Lithuania.
Next steps
Side note: With the latest patches, adding provinces to the empire and convincing countries to join don't give you instant IA. The fastest way to get IA is via the Imperial Incidents. Keeping the empire intact, Catholic and maintaining Free Cities/small minors will reduce penalties.
There are a couple of missions I would put off until much later:
- Deal with the Bishoprics and Connect Further Austria. These give you claims in HRE provinces in Bavaria, Swabia and beyond which are simply too costly in terms of AE and relations.
- I would also put off the PU on Poland--this will take several wars and you're better off eating a bigger Poland.
- I wouldn't bother with claiming Burgundy either--use the Succession event to gain Imperial Authority by liberating their vassals. If it doesn't fire, force Burgundy out of the Empire in the other incident. You can follow the colonial mission chain much, much later.
- You may get an event allowing you to PU Milan. I would resist the temptation. They're a weak PU that's a waste of a diplo slot/governing cap and you will get a mission for this in the long-term. Forcing Venice to give back Milan's cores, on the other hand, is a worthwhile way to weaken Venice and make that country easier to "digest". A stronger Milan will weaken France and be a fatter, jucier meal at a later date.
I focus on these things at this point:
- gobble up the 4 provinces needed to complete Tirol and Carniola states and get your money's worth for edicts. I built a fort in Vorarlberg to block off passage through the Alps.
- Slowly eat the Venetia and Dalmatia states. Make Venice your main trading city. Build shipyards until you can pick a naval doctrine (ideally for free if you have no navy). Take the galley combat bonus and build a large fleet of 25-40 galleys.
- Do whatever you need to pass the Rein in Italy decision for the IA. Look closely at the alliances/rivalries between the minors and win a war to knock a few countries of the list. Don't take provinces, just win the wars. Then you can go over your diplo limit to ally whoever's left. If you must, spend 5 IA to revoke Free City status in Konstanz and give it to an Italian minor. Once you click the decision, cancel any alliances.
- Use the Imperial Ban CB to get any and all HRE territory from Denmark, France, Burgundy, etc. back in the empire. Don't take the provinces though--force countries to release states or give back cores. This will net you some passive IA and is more worthwhile than conquest at this stage. It also opens up the Borders of the Empire mission. Be very selective about demanding territory--you don't want to piss of electors and neighbours for CBs you're not going to use. If you're clever and have good timing, you can rival these countries to net some extra power projection from the wars.
- Ally large monarchies to try and spread the Habsburgs. Spain, England and Naples are great choices. If you're holding off on devouring Poland, you can also get a Habsburg elected their by supporting your heir.
I would hold off on integrating your PU vassals for quite some time. Hungary is too big (until you've taken Dalmatia and Veneto) and you will hit a cap in terms of governing capacity. Once your admin tech is higher, I would eat Hungary first, which will give you CBs in the Balkans. You should also consider the estate privileges that increase governing cap at this point.
Side note: Courthouses and State Houses may finally have a use in high dev provinces/states!
If you lose the imperial crown at some point don't freak out--it's not a big deal and you will almost definitely get it back soon. You don't want to waste diplo slots needlessly on sucking up to electors.
Final notes
At this point, you have all the ingredients to be unstoppable.
- Expand carefully into the Balkans and Poland using claims from missions.
- Don't take territory that is distant, difficult to defend or costly in terms of AE/coring. As mentioned above, governing capacity is a real concern for Austria in the early and midgame.
- Crush the Protestants in Germany using the Deus Vult CB and eventually complete your missions to conquer these areas.
- Don't let England, France or the Ottomans get too strong.
- The rest of the game will be spent slowly passing reforms and completing your colonial missions!
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