HRE Emperor getting called into every war

[UnBeAtAbLe™]

in my latest game as austria i was getting called in every war because every AI nation attacks an hre member ( france, denmark, papal states, poland ) or hre members attacking free cities

was in 7 wars at once only to rego into a 5 side wars only couple of years later

[Marquoz]

So? That's part of being emperor. Make wars less likely by getting ridiculously strong, which, as Austria, is ridiculously easy. The AI doesn't factor the emperor's allies into its calculations when deciding whether or not to attack, but it does look at the power of the Emperor's nation itself. Eat the whole Venetian trade node, eat the Ragusan trade node, eat the Ottomans, etc. Grow outside the Empire and you'll terrify anyone who thinks about attacking the Empire itself.

[UnBeAtAbLe™]

i had PU over milan, hungary and bohemia. allied to every elector and castille and some italy minors

[Malvastor]

Originally posted by UnBeAtAbLe™:

i had PU over milan, hungary and bohemia. allied to every elector and castille and some italy minors

That's good but:

The AI doesn't factor the emperor's allies into its calculations when deciding whether or not to attack

You have a good collection of subjects and allies. Now you want to use them to increase your own power. Conquer Venice, push your way down the East coast of the Adriatic, vassalize and annex your Italian minor allies if possible, and start eating your way through the Balkans and eventually Anatolia. Find an excuse to core an HRE province on the North Sea/Baltic coast and start eating Denmark. If you're lucky the Burgundian Inheritance will fire and let you inherit Burgundy and the Low Countries; if you're not, use Imperial Ban to attack them and take their HRE provinces. The goal is to make your Austria itself a large enough force that no one will risk drawing you into a war, even if they're not looking at your allies and subjects.

[Marquoz]

Exactly--I was just coming to post what you said, Malvastor. I don't agree with the way the AI calculates enemy strength when deciding whether or not to attack the Empire. I think the Emperor's allies and PU's should be taken into consideration.

But they aren't. And unless/until that changes, if you don't the want Empire to be attacked by outsiders constantly, you need to strengthen Austria itself. Not its alliance web, not its network of PUs, Austria proper.

The way I always do that was described in my first post in this thread. I conquer every province in the Venice trade node and move my collection point there. I conquer all of the Ragusa node, because it feeds into Venice. And I wipe the Ottomans off the map before moving into Egypt and the Middle East, because all that trade goes to Venice as well. Doing so makes Austria incredibly rich and personally powerful--so powerful that no outsider will ever dare to attack the Empire again.