After reading about terrible treatment of Riga by many EU4 players who use this proud country as a conquest of last resort I decided to give it a shot. In other games I have been playing I observed an amazing window of opportunity for Riga. It's relatively easy to achieve something like this:
I did this game on Ironmen mode, no bonuses and normal AI. All my games use those settings. After 1529 I lost Ironmen mode because of some glitch but I never save and load so it's like Ironman scenario.
The trick about playing Riga is simple. You make Livonian Order your rival. You claim as many provinces as you can. You improve relations with Poland, Denmark, Muscovy and Austria (you want to be part of HRE, don't you?) and you wait for Danish Conquest of Osel. After this calamity Livonian Order is left without army, without allies and without Osel. Riga has to create 6-9 additional infantry divisions after Denmark and allies destroy Livonian Order army and DOW Livonian Order after peace with Denmark. The war is long but easy. Riga has to take some loans but is manageable. In peace Riga takes all provinces but capital. So after 10 years you play not Riga but Livonian Order.
I annexed all the Livonian Order provinces (but Osel and capital Livland) in 1455. In 1458 I became a part of HRE.
At that point Teutonic Order is probably without an army and allies too after few wars against Poland or/and Denmark or/and Brandenburg or/and Pomerania. Claim provinces and DOW Teutonic Order. You should be part of HRE now - there is very little time to do it because you need better relations with Austria to join HRE with every conquered province. Being part of HRE gives tremendous advantage over Poland and Lithuania and Denmark and Sweden.
It's also good to be allied with Denmark and Poland at this point.
I took Memel and Ostprussen in first war which ended in 1459. In 1461 I annexed the Livonian Order after short conquest.
In second war against Teutonic Order I took Danzig and Warmia. It was year 1466. Few years ealier Poland had taken Chelmno and in 1470 Poland took Marienburg which really pissed me off because it separated Danzig and the rest of my country.
My next target was Pomerania. Mostly because Pomerania had weak allies and as a 3 province country was perfect to vassalize and integrate. I vassalized Pomerania after short campaign in 1474. I integrated Pomerania 16 years later.
I decided to research diplomatic ideas first. I researched offensive ideas later.
As you can see my target was to become Prussia and later to unite all Germanic lands. The decisive campaign happened around 1480. I DOW Novgorod as a proxy war against Poland (Novgorod's ally). I played this game few weeks ago so I can't retrieve all the details but I think Riga was allied with Muscovy, Bohemia and Hungary and it was custom made anti-Polish coalition. Riga won. I annexed Poznan and forced Poland to release Teutonic Order with Marienburg and Chelmno as a sovereign state. Few years later, after the truce Riga subjugated Teutonic Order in a very easy war.
In 1493 I decided it's time for another conquest. Riga attacked Mecklenburg. East Frisia (with provinces East Frisia and Oldenburg) was Mecklenburg's ally. I vassalized both countries.
The next 40 years were quite busy. Riga conquered Neumark from Brandenburg and generously handed it over to Teutonic Order. Munster and Brunswick became Rigan vassals. In wars against the Hansa Riga conquered Bremen (annexed), Luneburg (handed over to Mecklenburg) and Stade (handed over to Brunswick) and liberated Hamburg and Saxe-Lauenburg. In that war I destroyed 30 000 Hansa army with my 47 000 army on very low morale, immediately after switching from low maintenance mode. Destroyed. No one survived.
During that time Teutonic Order, East Frisia and Mecklenburg had been successfully integrated.
General information:
I did this game on Ironmen mode, no bonuses and normal AI. All my games use those settings. After 1529 I lost Ironmen mode because of some glitch but I never save and load so it's like Ironman scenario.
The trick about playing Riga is simple. You make Livonian Order your rival. You claim as many provinces as you can. You improve relations with Poland, Denmark, Muscovy and Austria (you want to be part of HRE, don't you?) and you wait for Danish Conquest of Osel. After this calamity Livonian Order is left without army, without allies and without Osel. Riga has to create 6-9 additional infantry divisions after Denmark and allies destroy Livonian Order army and DOW Livonian Order after peace with Denmark. The war is long but easy. Riga has to take some loans but is manageable. In peace Riga takes all provinces but capital. So after 10 years you play not Riga but Livonian Order.
I annexed all the Livonian Order provinces (but Osel and capital Livland) in 1455. In 1458 I became a part of HRE.
At that point Teutonic Order is probably without an army and allies too after few wars against Poland or/and Denmark or/and Brandenburg or/and Pomerania. Claim provinces and DOW Teutonic Order. You should be part of HRE now - there is very little time to do it because you need better relations with Austria to join HRE with every conquered province. Being part of HRE gives tremendous advantage over Poland and Lithuania and Denmark and Sweden.
It's also good to be allied with Denmark and Poland at this point.
I took Memel and Ostprussen in first war which ended in 1459. In 1461 I annexed the Livonian Order after short conquest.
In second war against Teutonic Order I took Danzig and Warmia. It was year 1466. Few years ealier Poland had taken Chelmno and in 1470 Poland took Marienburg which really pissed me off because it separated Danzig and the rest of my country.
My next target was Pomerania. Mostly because Pomerania had weak allies and as a 3 province country was perfect to vassalize and integrate. I vassalized Pomerania after short campaign in 1474. I integrated Pomerania 16 years later.
I decided to research diplomatic ideas first. I researched offensive ideas later.
As you can see my target was to become Prussia and later to unite all Germanic lands. The decisive campaign happened around 1480. I DOW Novgorod as a proxy war against Poland (Novgorod's ally). I played this game few weeks ago so I can't retrieve all the details but I think Riga was allied with Muscovy, Bohemia and Hungary and it was custom made anti-Polish coalition. Riga won. I annexed Poznan and forced Poland to release Teutonic Order with Marienburg and Chelmno as a sovereign state. Few years later, after the truce Riga subjugated Teutonic Order in a very easy war.
In 1493 I decided it's time for another conquest. Riga attacked Mecklenburg. East Frisia (with provinces East Frisia and Oldenburg) was Mecklenburg's ally. I vassalized both countries.
The next 40 years were quite busy. Riga conquered Neumark from Brandenburg and generously handed it over to Teutonic Order. Munster and Brunswick became Rigan vassals. In wars against the Hansa Riga conquered Bremen (annexed), Luneburg (handed over to Mecklenburg) and Stade (handed over to Brunswick) and liberated Hamburg and Saxe-Lauenburg. In that war I destroyed 30 000 Hansa army with my 47 000 army on very low morale, immediately after switching from low maintenance mode. Destroyed. No one survived.
During that time Teutonic Order, East Frisia and Mecklenburg had been successfully integrated.
General information: