WC question for 1.8

[Ceranai]

So I've been trying to do a 1.8 WC using the HRE as a vassal swarm but have been struggling to get global dominance by 1820. I'm always the most powerful but even if I own all of europe, africa, america, and india i only have 25 years to eat up a lot of land and im worried about westerniing and I just think there are still too many small states to eat up.

So my question is what is the secret to a WC? What are the most important points? What should one's priority be after uniting the HRE?

 

[Immortal88]

I can't help you there, but I got a question very much related to it: I copied my entire EU IV 1.8 to wrap up my Austria Ironman game with the fun exploit - but can we actually still unlock achievements running the 1.8 version if 1.9 is out already?

If so then technically you could just keep your 1.8 EU IV around forever and retry if you fail to unlock WC with the early vassal swarm exploit.

 

[AurochsAway]

The easiest aim is to protectorate as much as you can, not directly control it.

 

[Immortal88]

^ I think that's true, protectorates don't count towards your diplo limit but more importantly I believe I read somewhere the trigger for the "world conquest" achievement is simply that "no independent nation apart from you exists" and they are not independent of you. Problem is they stop being protectorates as soon as they westernize so you need to make sure they can't.

 

[Tom DeSanctis]

Problem is they stop being protectorates as soon as they westernize so you need to make sure they can't.

And how is that done?