Very cool. Have you been Emperor before? There are some nice bonuses, and if you can pass the reforms you will have a vassal swarm on your side, unless or until you unite the HRE. Looks like the previous Emperors sucked because no reforms have been passed. As you probably know, 25 princes is the minimum for the HRE bonuses to be in effect so you can't let one more disappear, or better yet bust someone up and make them release a few.

Yes, but only because I cheated just to see what the big deal was. This is the first time I've done it legitimately, I actually found the whole HRE game quite fun and think I might go for a minor such as Ulm or Frankfurt for my next game.

As for releasing princes, I've got a few targets lined up to grab some war reparations off. I do like the idea of using vassals to fight wars, it's been quite fun having Guyenne and a released France help me out so far.

Going back to the what country to play next question, have you considered playing as Ceylon? Small but semi-isolated start bigger neighbours, some opportunity for colonisation and trade.

Having become Emperor, I'm beginning to work on reclaiming the Empires borders, here's a quick update on the colonies. Nothing particularly unusual, except maybe the ownership of Jerusalem.

No major border changes, I released two minors from the Hansa, Hungary has converted to protestant, there are no reformed nations left.



The Eastern Front, I'll sell Danzig to Brandenburg once the war is over



Saw the Mamluks in trouble, helped out Venice and grabbed Jerusalem for the bonuses.



America filling out well, my colonial nations are expanding on their own.



Central America, Colombia becomes the first breakaway state.



Argentina. It's hard to see but Portugal controls the Georgia islands.



South Africa and a Belgian controlled Congo. Uh-oh...

Wow, that's an empire with global reach. Nicely done. I've never attempted to colonize Madagascar for whatever reason, probably due to the number and aggressiveness of the natives there, I usually jump over it and go for Reunion or Mauritius. You even took over the Kongo. You must be raking in the ducats. Great map too, look at Norway and Syria and well, lots of nations. Very cool.

Thanks, I took the Congo because Spain and Portugal had already muscled in on the Gold/Ivory coast and I went for Madagascar because Britain was controlling most of the cape and I wanted to have a 'bridge' in Africa for future expansion into India. Natives weren't really a problem just sailed over an army and shot them all. Only a small cost to MP and safe colonisation.

As you can see in the first pic I was in the process of occupying the Papal State as part of a war to help Brittany annex Orleans before Britain does. As Brittany was the war leader they gave me Manatua in the peace deal. Not really sure what to do with, can't release them as a vassal since the core has expired. Maybe take Northern Italy for the Empire? Really high cost though since the area is so developed.
Attack the Papacy and take Rome for the protestants?

I don't know which DLC it was in, or if you have it, but you could use them to create a Client State if you don't want to own the territory outright. But of course taking Rome is always fun. Make the Pope have to go live somewhere else.

Edit: Client states are from Art of War DLC

I took the 'annex surrounding land, core and add to empire then release as vassal (Milan) and sell them Mantua' option. Put me over the diplo limit but oh well.

Is there a good way to get Imperial Authority? I managed to pass the first reform but have been really struggling to build up more IA.
Or good ways to expand the Empire? I'm reclaiming the Southern German/Northern Italian provinces that were once part of the HRE but there must be a better way than eating up all my admin and diplo points by doing 'conquer, core, add, release'. Or is it supposed to be expensive?

I know there have been some changes to how this works, and my last Emperor run was before that. The main ways I would get it were winning defensive wars, releasing HRE states, adding territory to the HRE and forcing religion. I can't be sure if this is best in the latest version. Be sure to check all of the provinces you've taken and add them to the HRE if not already.

Thanks, well everyone is protestant so there won't be any forcing religion, releasing states is something I've been doing, got up to 31 princes now. Probably won't be too many defensive wars unless Lithuania decides they want some of Bohemia.

I gained a big chunk when my new King was re-elected but that's not really a viable method of graining IA.

Edit: Looks like Portugal and Castille are having a bit of difficulty holding on to their colonies.

Well my Brabant game became unplayable due to stuttering, started a new game as Ansbach. It's not really going anywhere and I got steamrolled by Bohemia then Trier kicked me while I was down.

I did see this though. Got to be one of the most 'wtf' situations ever. 1417, I was using the 1356 start mod where the Ottomans begin fairly small which explains how they were gobbled up. No idea how Wallachia the conqueror happened, every time I looked they'd grown in size.

Great map. The Byzzies survive!

The only time I've seen something resembling that is when I imported a CK2 save from the 14th century with all sorts of little duchies. It seems strange having no Ottomans.

It's is cool to see Byzantium do well, problem is the AI never seems to be able to hold on to any territory no matter how much you help them. ie returning territory and forcing the Otto's to release states. I had no part in this success (I failed in my attempt to vassalize Ulm. Game said they had no allies, they pulled Bohemia, Saxony and Baden in anyway).

Wallachia has now taken all of the Crimea and is moving north into the Ukraine. Can't wait to see how this one plays out.

Ok. Starting a new game as Brunswick. Ultimate goal is to form Westphalia and establish/steal some colonies in North America.

The plan is to put as much MP into development as possible, hopefully without dropping behind in tech. Fabricate claims and wait for my neighbours to get mixed up in their own wars before pouncing. By the time I have 4 or 5 provinces I should be able to stand on my own.
With any luck I can use rivals to get alliances with medium to large nations such as Bohemia.

Any advice?

Well the whole point of Common Sense was to allow 'tall' nations, and I think it pulls it off mostly. And if you're going to be in the HRE it is sort of necessary to be able to do so to have any chance.

I haven't played EU IV in more than a month, so I don't know if any changes have been made, but I always struggle with the decision to spend much on development at least until you start to get improved efficiency, but that's not until level 20 or s IIRC. But it's an interesting way to play, and as development is tied to coring cost, perhaps highly developed provinces will put off potential invaders due to the cost.

Anyway, it should be interesting. It's gotta be very difficult to expand as an HRE OPM in this version, but a good challenge nonetheless!

Turns out you start with three provinces, I thought two but I won't say no to an extra province at game start

Just discovered I can form Hannover with Stade and Luneburg, I've already force-vassalised Verden (Stade) so this might be a good route to becoming a regional power. Brandenburg is my rival and potential threat.



Edit: Quick update. Vassalised Luneburg, allied Pomerania. This puts me over the diplo limit but it doesn't really matter since I've got dip as the national focus. I've got a lot of friends, Brandenburg is making enemies by annexing provinces. I also went a little overboard with building up Hanover.

Edit II: I took quality as my first idea. Has some nice combat and siege bonuses.

OK three provinces are much better to get started with. And that's a pretty sweet starting location really. If you can take the trade centers surrounding you you'll be swimming in ducats.

In my Brandenburg game we started out with 5 provinces in a little less ideal location (surrounded by larger neighbors) but as you saw had little difficulty in reaching Empire size, so I'm sure you'll be fine.

Personally I would be looking to move on Denmark before Sweden does.

Yeah, I've got my eyes on the Hansa, I'm not too worried about Sweden as with lucky nations turned off they should take the better part of a century to start moving in on Denmark. That said Denmark's only allied are Utrecht and Gotland so taking some provinces before they get any better allies might be a good idea.

Got a 'Diplomatic insult' casus belli on Koln, not exactly a fair war seeing as they'd just come out of an occupation (By Burgundy I think) Whoever said wars were fair?
I appointed my idiot heir as a general in the hopes he'd be killed in battle. He died 'naturally' a few days after the surrender.
Took humilate and transfer trade power in the peace.

I rarely opt for trade transfer since it takes a diplo slot, but if you have the slot it's good. But humiliate is one I go for whenever possible. I love trying to get as high a power projection as I can, and the target gets the same amount negative.


Good job on the heir. Too bad for him

Good news - I've acquired all the provinces needed to form Hannover or Westphalia
Bad news - You need admin level 15 to form, I'm only level 7
Good news - I crippled Denmark, taking Holstein and forcing them to release Skane. Took 84 warscore.
Bad news - I've been running on 0 manpower for several years now.
Good news -

Had to fight off Poland for my allies, they kept placing their stacks on top of mine during sieges. You're not helping the manpower situation guys!
On the plus side it means I can core Holstein's provinces while at war and avoid the unlawful territory hit from the Emperor.

No manpower and no legitimacy? I must be doing well!



Three reforms down and the reformation hasn't even kicked off, normally in my games the Emperor is lucky to pass one reform without it being revoked.



Finally.



All the Westphalian lands are under my control. Now we play the waiting game for adm lvl 15.