Alright gentlemen, I stand before an import strategic decision in my game and I'm frankly unsure how to proceed since I'm fairly new to EUIV (and EU in general). So I hope by sharing my situation here, I can gather some good ideas.
Here's my situation:
I'm Brandenburg gone Prussia and I pretty much rule North Europe about the year 1630. My kingdom stretches from Friesland in the west to Memel in the east and from Jämtland in the North to Saxony in the south.
I'm allied to Sweden, Bohemia and France (what is left of them after religious, peasent and nationalistic Rebells broke the land
o) while my greatest enemies are Poland (which ate Lithaunia, the Orders and the Minors in the region) and Austria, which blobbed BAD in the HRE, until I managed to beat them up a bit and forcereleased several minors.
Poland is right now my victim of choice, since they are about 3 Military Techs behind (and that against Prussia(!); I kind of feel sorry for them :laugh and I'm slowly biting provinces out of them. They are allied with several nations, of which the largest are Naples and Bavaria, so there is no thread for me.
Then out of the blue thy get a PU with Naples, which I was able to contest. I of course started a sucession war, which I overwelmingly won. Warscore is about +65 right now while I'm literaly sieging EVERY remaining province of them - with the rest of Europe staying quite.
My problem now is this: I could get the PU with Naples OR I could force them to give me Kurland and release the Ukraine. And I don't know what to do, as either decision has it's pros and cons:
PU with Naples:
Pros:
+I get bigger and stronger
+6 Provinces for free
+Poland will lose an ally
Cons:
-HUGE AE (up to 60 for Poland and still 50 for Austria)
-Poland will stay in one block and will keep to be a nuisance
-I get emeshed in Italian politics; maybe even in conflict with OE (which wouldn't be a problem) or Spain (which would be)
-There would be no way for me to reach Naples with Prussian troops - I would have to crush Austria first (doable, but only in the long run)
Forcerelease Ukraine
Pros:
+Poland will get torn appart; they probably won't be any problem any longer
+Poland might get in trouble in italy over their PU
+Ukraine would make a nice ally
+I could get a province adjacent to my kingdom
Cons:
-Polen will get a PU with Naples and eventually integrate them
-I will lose any benefit of PUing Naples
-I can beat Poland any time; why lose this opportunity
I tend to want to release the Ukraine, since I really see no long-term benefit of involving myself in Italy. I would only get in trouble I couldn't handle, since I can't reach it.
Do you agree with that or have I missed something? Has anybody a good advice for me, for I believe either decision will make for a totaly different game from then on.
Thanks in advance for any thoughts.
Here's my situation:
I'm Brandenburg gone Prussia and I pretty much rule North Europe about the year 1630. My kingdom stretches from Friesland in the west to Memel in the east and from Jämtland in the North to Saxony in the south.
I'm allied to Sweden, Bohemia and France (what is left of them after religious, peasent and nationalistic Rebells broke the land
o) while my greatest enemies are Poland (which ate Lithaunia, the Orders and the Minors in the region) and Austria, which blobbed BAD in the HRE, until I managed to beat them up a bit and forcereleased several minors. Poland is right now my victim of choice, since they are about 3 Military Techs behind (and that against Prussia(!); I kind of feel sorry for them :laugh
and I'm slowly biting provinces out of them. They are allied with several nations, of which the largest are Naples and Bavaria, so there is no thread for me.Then out of the blue thy get a PU with Naples, which I was able to contest. I of course started a sucession war, which I overwelmingly won. Warscore is about +65 right now while I'm literaly sieging EVERY remaining province of them - with the rest of Europe staying quite.
My problem now is this: I could get the PU with Naples OR I could force them to give me Kurland and release the Ukraine. And I don't know what to do, as either decision has it's pros and cons:
PU with Naples:
Pros:
+I get bigger and stronger
+6 Provinces for free
+Poland will lose an ally
Cons:
-HUGE AE (up to 60 for Poland and still 50 for Austria)
-Poland will stay in one block and will keep to be a nuisance
-I get emeshed in Italian politics; maybe even in conflict with OE (which wouldn't be a problem) or Spain (which would be)
-There would be no way for me to reach Naples with Prussian troops - I would have to crush Austria first (doable, but only in the long run)
Forcerelease Ukraine
Pros:
+Poland will get torn appart; they probably won't be any problem any longer
+Poland might get in trouble in italy over their PU
+Ukraine would make a nice ally
+I could get a province adjacent to my kingdom
Cons:
-Polen will get a PU with Naples and eventually integrate them
-I will lose any benefit of PUing Naples
-I can beat Poland any time; why lose this opportunity
I tend to want to release the Ukraine, since I really see no long-term benefit of involving myself in Italy. I would only get in trouble I couldn't handle, since I can't reach it.
Do you agree with that or have I missed something? Has anybody a good advice for me, for I believe either decision will make for a totaly different game from then on.
Thanks in advance for any thoughts.
