Germany or Prussia?

[Xandurz]

Which one is better to form as brandeburg? Both of these choices will have me fight against a blobbed up Poland so I'm kind of torn between them.

Any advice would be much appreciated.

[Sil.^Fisk]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=UseSK98cTgw

[nizzie]

İlk olarak Xandurz tarafından gönderildi:

Which one is better to form as brandeburg? Both of these choices will have me fight against a blobbed up Poland so I'm kind of torn between them.

Any advice would be much appreciated.

It's probably easier to form Prussia early in the game. Forming Germany requires you to conquer and annex other HRE nations, you'll constantly have Austria (the Emperor) ♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥, asking you to release unlawful territory, which messes up the relations to your neighbors even more. I play Brandenburg, am in the early 1600s, and now recently decided to snatch Ostpreussen and Danzig from Poland, and form Prussia instead of Germany. I could have done that much earlier.

It's probably good to know that even after forming Prussia you can still form Germany.

edit: And about Poland: I grabbed Neumark, which is a Polish core very early in the game. In those nearly 200 years they never declared war on me, but who knows, maybe I got lucky.

[King Crimson]

Prussia is easiest to form first. I think for Brandenburg the best idea you can pick first is Diplomacy the extra relations and diplomat was instrumental in keeping Poland-Lithuania off my back and i vassalized alot of small neighbors through royal marriges and diplomacy and when the time was right i cut into poland and took the baltic coast to form Prussia now i'm 1 state away from forming Germany and i'm the Emperor.

Defensive Military is good 2nd choice too coupled with prussian ideas it means your rolling in military tradition and elite generals.

[Xandurz]

Thank you for letting me know.
looking through all requirements I see that I only need to conquer Saxony to form Germany (I have all the necessary provinces under myself or my puppets already, 'cept that one).

I had 20 coalitions against me already, the HRE Emperor must be having nightmares related to brandeburg (relation hatred -200 lol) so I don't really care about sour relations.
They can either give it to me or i'll take it by force (I would like if there was a chance to demand provinces from AI).

I was just wondering if I'll miss on some flavor events that would give me some permanent bonuses/benefits if I went the Brandeburg -> Prussia -> Germany way.

@jim: lol, First idea I picked was offensive, you can imagine how it all went from there

[Shin]

Personally, I avoid the Germany/Prussia thing... on some levels if feels like a step down, especially as an OPM. In EU3, one of my last games was a Saxony game where I conquered everything that was Germanic culture. I felt as if I couldn't just... betray all the work by changing the flag and name... I mean, Saxony did it, not Germany. Why sell ourselves short? :D

Although I understand why people like nation events, it's just when someone takes a nation that normally wouldn't do well, an opm, and make them into a power and then they want to change their flag and name for something else... it's like "But you've come this far! People should be wanting to be you! Not you wanting to be Germany/Prussia!"

[Xandurz]

Well, I see it more as keeping the unity of your people.
I conquer the German States so it is not just Brandeburg but also other German States.
Naturally it should lead to proclaiming yourself the King or President of the German States (Germany).

[=M$= Oroberus]

The key to Germany is crippling the HRR. I started with the Altmark/Magdeburg and grabed nearly every HRR province around, from Lüneburg to Brandenburg and Anhalt + Saxony within the first 80 years. By now (1630) I formed Prussia that reaches from Memel to Lüneburg.

Just ally with the rivals of Austria and aim on the first wars not on gaining terretory, but on forcing austria to give land away. As the Emporer changes, just to the same.

One of the points where the games meets real history, a weak Emporer equals strong lords and the lords don't really give a ♥♥♥♥ about you grabbing terretory if you spend some time on relationships with them. But you should keep in mind that you let some time go over before grabbing the next because of the penalties that will stack.

One additional thing: Befriend Denmark and help them form Scandinavia, they make a real great long time ally with multiple 30k armies.

I'm pretty confident to form Germany until 1750 latest, what will be 121 years earlier then it was done in real.

[Dojaeni]

I didnt go for prussia beacouse of the protestant requirement but i found that as brandenburg i managed to keep on austras good side with alliance RM guarantee etc, and they pretty much joined me in every war i had to take german cores, and i joined them too in theirs. it wasnt until late 1600#s that things turned south due to some religous thing, i couldnt ally as my people didnt like austria, so three electors annexations and i got the form germany, take emperor and unite the HRE achievements. Only downside is that the HRE is cut in half with austria right bang in the middle

[Surimi]

The rewards of forming Prussia are relatively small compared to the rewards of forming Germany, so if you're ultimately looking to do both it's perfectly possible to skip forming Prussia and just go straight for Germany. It is possible to form Germany relatively fast (1520 or so) if you're willing to risk facing a few coalition wars and can get an alliance with France, although in ironman it's probably better to play it cautiously.

The only reason to form Prussia is that all the required expansion is outside of the Empire, meaning you can do it without accumulating the huge AE while also adding new taxes and manpower to help your campaigns inside Germany. Ultimately, expanding in both directions is probably the most optimal strategy if you can pull it off, which means forming Prussia may come pretty naturally.

On actually attacking Poland.. wait until they've just lost a war against the Ottomans. Trust me, no matter how blobbed up they are its probably going to happen. An alliance of convenience with Muscovy can also be a big help.

[Dustpuppy]

Germany is very dangerous to form before you get your military ideas. Other nations will see that you've claimed their territory and get ready to go to war with you. You do not want to share a border nor claim french provinces before you get your 4+ fire/shock generals onto the field.

[Mcrone]

Why not both?

[Xandurz]

İlk olarak Mcrone the Slightly Old Scout tarafından gönderildi:

Why not both?

I started this topic a year ago and already tried both choices.
And the best way for Brandenburg is to go:
Brandenburg->Prussia->Germany, since that way you get most claims on a lot of territory.

[mss73055]

Another nice thing with Prussia is snatching the Livonian Order. This puts another dent in future Poland. Nobody will remember Lithuania's rage with you once Poland has absorbed it.

[Patrick]

Never be afraid to google the Eu4 Wiki for information first. You would be suprised about the wealth of information you find there.

http://www.eu4wiki.com/Brandenburg
http://www.eu4wiki.com/Prussia
http://www.eu4wiki.com/Germany