I'm playing as Austria, 1399 start, and it's going really, really well. First thing I did was force a PU on Bavaria in like 1401, because they start without an heir. They weren't allied with anyone of significance so the war went fast. I had the Claims in Northern Italy mission, but I noticed Milan was allied with Burgundy, and I didn't want to fight them, so I waited a bit, hoping that they would break their alliance soon. Well, my first lucky break, England declared war on Burgundy, which dragged Milan in as well. England occupied all of Milan and then made peace and only made them release Parma and break their alliance with Burgundy. I immediately conquered the area with very little trouble.
All this time I'm constantly spreading the Habsburgs around Europe. I married pretty much the entire HRE and any one else of any significance around Europe. Second lucky break, Sicily randomly becomes a PU partner. Sicily is kind of useless for Austria, but still, it's a PU partner, and if I inherit, I'd just release as a vassal and have a useful spot in the Mediterranean to stop off at when I eventually have a navy.
After the Northern Italy mission, I get the mission to become the emperor. I was already trying, so it didn't really matter. I got all the electors to 200 relations and I just waited for a while, built constables, etc. I had a few minor wars while waiting. Anyways, when I eventually became emperor, almost immediately after Brandenburg got into a PU with me.
After that bit of luck, I just followed CBs, warred with Denmark, Hungary, Burgundy, and managed to vassalize a couple of the electors to ensure my continued emperor position. I actually lost the war with Burgundy because I didn't have a good way to position my troops and I ended up losing my entire army when Burgundy got really lucky and wiped them out. I ended up paying them a bit of money, but it wasn't a huge loss.
After a while I got the vassalize Burgundy mission, so I started to build my troops up from 30k to around 50k. My finances were taking quite a hit with all the extra troops I built, and just when I was thinking about how nice inheriting Bavaria and Brandenburg would be, it happened and then my financing went from losing 10 per year to making something like 60 per year at full maintenance.
I started to look at Burgundy and for some sort of opening, but they were allied with France so it was pretty much pointless to even think about it. I had 73k troops, and France had 72k, but Burgundy had like 55k, so together there was no real way to win. Then I randomly got Brabant in to a PU, which is ridiculous. Three peaceful PUs and it was only like 1440. The only throne I ever claimed was Bavaria at the start of the game.
Brabant is pretty much pointless against Burgundy, but it might be a good distraction so I could attack the south. While I was thinking about this, I was also getting my relations up with France. I offered France an alliance on Very Unlikely and they accepted. This caused the AI to rethink their alliance with Burgundy, so they cancelled their alliance with them, for no reason as far as I can tell.
So now I have France on my side (very likely to join the war against Burgundy), I have Brabant as a good distraction, Castille asked me for an alliance, which is amazing because Burgundy is allied with Aragon, and I have a ton of vassals all around the HRE. The game literally went from Austria and the HRE versus Burgundy and France to everyone pile up on Burgundy. I can't lose. It's only like 1450 too.
Sorry for the long post, but this game is ridiculously lucky with the peaceful PUs and all the tough alliance blocks breaking right when I want them to. I'll take screenshots tomorrow and post them.
All this time I'm constantly spreading the Habsburgs around Europe. I married pretty much the entire HRE and any one else of any significance around Europe. Second lucky break, Sicily randomly becomes a PU partner. Sicily is kind of useless for Austria, but still, it's a PU partner, and if I inherit, I'd just release as a vassal and have a useful spot in the Mediterranean to stop off at when I eventually have a navy.
After the Northern Italy mission, I get the mission to become the emperor. I was already trying, so it didn't really matter. I got all the electors to 200 relations and I just waited for a while, built constables, etc. I had a few minor wars while waiting. Anyways, when I eventually became emperor, almost immediately after Brandenburg got into a PU with me.
After that bit of luck, I just followed CBs, warred with Denmark, Hungary, Burgundy, and managed to vassalize a couple of the electors to ensure my continued emperor position. I actually lost the war with Burgundy because I didn't have a good way to position my troops and I ended up losing my entire army when Burgundy got really lucky and wiped them out. I ended up paying them a bit of money, but it wasn't a huge loss.
After a while I got the vassalize Burgundy mission, so I started to build my troops up from 30k to around 50k. My finances were taking quite a hit with all the extra troops I built, and just when I was thinking about how nice inheriting Bavaria and Brandenburg would be, it happened and then my financing went from losing 10 per year to making something like 60 per year at full maintenance.
I started to look at Burgundy and for some sort of opening, but they were allied with France so it was pretty much pointless to even think about it. I had 73k troops, and France had 72k, but Burgundy had like 55k, so together there was no real way to win. Then I randomly got Brabant in to a PU, which is ridiculous. Three peaceful PUs and it was only like 1440. The only throne I ever claimed was Bavaria at the start of the game.
Brabant is pretty much pointless against Burgundy, but it might be a good distraction so I could attack the south. While I was thinking about this, I was also getting my relations up with France. I offered France an alliance on Very Unlikely and they accepted. This caused the AI to rethink their alliance with Burgundy, so they cancelled their alliance with them, for no reason as far as I can tell.
So now I have France on my side (very likely to join the war against Burgundy), I have Brabant as a good distraction, Castille asked me for an alliance, which is amazing because Burgundy is allied with Aragon, and I have a ton of vassals all around the HRE. The game literally went from Austria and the HRE versus Burgundy and France to everyone pile up on Burgundy. I can't lose. It's only like 1450 too.
Sorry for the long post, but this game is ridiculously lucky with the peaceful PUs and all the tough alliance blocks breaking right when I want them to. I'll take screenshots tomorrow and post them.
props! but sounds like this will get really boring in a 100 years or so.
