Goin for Switzerlake, any tips?

[Server Jester]

Had a bit of a hiatus from EU4 after my computer broke and buying a new one. Then I had another brief period with DBD (never again) and now im wanting to do Switzerlake.
Any suggestions on what to aim at?
I already know some events like annexing Three Leagues for free, and getting some free professionalism from giving France condotteri for the hundred year war.

Ideas im thinking Espio, Merc (or vice versa), Diplo (Influ if client states are worth it), Admin, then whatever else

[Server Jester]

I also know dismantling the HRE would be a good idea but im hesitant to go for it early on unless Austria loses emperorship early

[Server Jester]

Another question that totally isnt a bump, is the Geneva march event worth it if Savoy denies the two provinces to Geneva?

[Hunkthebear]

Due to being in the HRE, Espionage or Diplomacy would be at the top of the list due to the reduced AE generation and more diplomants to control AE. Admin is always a good choice.. and due to playing Switzerland, Merc Ideas are actually an interesting option due to their Mercenary Militarization.

As for Geneva... so long as you dont take any coastal provinces i can't think of any reasons to not go in that direction so long as you have to power to take Savoy on early (easiest if you have some good allies, ideally the Emperor and France due to your location... especially if Austria loses the Emperorship. If that occurs see if you can take Tyrol from them due to the gold mine there.

The majority of your expansion will probably occur once the Reformation hits and the HRE divides itself a bit, so taking Religious for the CB is an option as well.

If you can do so try to dismantle the Empire at some point to make expansion much faster... just bear in mind that this will make any large neighbors to also go in hard, so prepare for that.

[RCMidas]

What you can always do is a standard "conquer everything in sight" game and then simply hand over every coastal province to something like a specially created client state or a series of formerly-tiny vassals you release like Cornwall, the Hanseatic League, the Isles, and so forth. It won't matter how strong they think they are or how much Liberty Desire they gain, if that achievement is the specific goal of your game.

[Server Jester]

Originally posted by RCMidas:

What you can always do is a standard "conquer everything in sight" game and then simply hand over every coastal province to something like a specially created client state or a series of formerly-tiny vassals you release like Cornwall, the Hanseatic League, the Isles, and so forth. It won't matter how strong they think they are or how much Liberty Desire they gain, if that achievement is the specific goal of your game.

Im intending where, if possible, I can go from Switzerlake to forming Germany for Early Reich

[RCMidas]

That...will limit your options somewhat in the releasing department. Germany does have a goodly number of landlocked provinces however, which should be good to combo with most of France and Hungary, maybe some Italy and Poland. As ever, make ample use of the Big Three idea groups of Diplo, Admin, and Influence (in that order as you're an HRE member looking to expand into and almost certainly dismantle the HRE). This is also one of the few occasions when I'd actively suggest taking Humanism and helping the Reformation run rampant, up to and including the League War, if it's taking time to dismantle the HRE.

If you're going to speedrun this, I might even suggest culture-shifting to Austrian BEFORE you achieve a Germanic cultural union, so that you can deliberately reform into Austria and complete its missions to remove the Admin Tech requirement for forming Germany. Plus you get some nice bonuses there too. Hmm, I'm saying that with the assumption that you have most or all the DLC active for this.

Focus on one thing at a time, and appreciate that this is probably going to be a very long game, lasting likely into the Age of Revolutions, if you're going for achievements like that.

[Empire autogladiators]

Touch grass

[RCMidas]

Originally posted by Aelfric dota:

Touch grass

Expand into Asia! Brilliant. Loads of low-dev provinces, loads of potential trade to route into Europe.

[Jean-Maurice Nya]

France and Burgundy are nice targets. Inlands of Italy. And then the HRE.
I took Espionnage and Mercenaries as my first ideas and pretty much obliterated everything thrown at me. Then influence.
I fed my vassals with all coastal lands.

[Server Jester]

Originally posted by Jean-Maurice Nya:

France and Burgundy are nice targets. Inlands of Italy. And then the HRE.
I took Espionnage and Mercenaries as my first ideas and pretty much obliterated everything thrown at me. Then influence.
I fed my vassals with all coastal lands.

I did consider getting Influence instead of Diplo third because I could just give any good coastal lands, like Genoa's provinces to a client state, though part of me also wondered if I should just go Diplo and do the same with released or forced vassals, and have the benefit of being able to take larger chunks of land in a deal and not suffer huge AE cause of Espionage's AE reduction and being able to make statewide claims