Prussia to Super Germany 1.75

Here are current (version 1.75) mechanics and suggested strategies for progressing Prussia into the North German Federation and then Germany, including most of the German minors and Austria. The process is a bit different from versions 1.6x and below.

big picture

The current mechanics are to:
- resolve the SH question
- wait for German National Identity to complete and optimally have Nationalism researched by then.
- run the leadership play.
- bankroll Austria up to 80
- push the "form Germany" button.

There is no need to improve relations with all of the minors, which was necessary in previous versions. The North German Federation forms automatically after a successful leadership play.

SH question tactics

Resolving SH will require a confrontation with Denmark. One challenge is that you have no land access to Denmark. Your navy is laughable. Your army easily outclasses theirs, but you cannot get to them.

The minimum required to resolve SH is to liberate one of two German states from Denmark. If you only get one, you get a claim on the other, so you will end up with everything in the end. Any additional war goals that you want to put on Denmark are up to you.

It is feasible to gain access to Denmark by building a navy and landing them. However, I prefer to put those resources into building the economy.

Without a navy, you will have to sway in a power that has land access to Denmark. I find that Hanover and Sweden are most reliable for this. Mechlenburg would work too, but I have not had any success in swaying them. I recommend improving relations with both Hanover and Sweden to 50 and picking up any defensive or trade agreements with them that you can get. With these steps, you should be able to sway at least one of them when the time comes.

Keep an eye Britain and France's situations once you have Hanover and Sweden ready. Ideally you want to kick off the SH war while both are busy elsewhere. If either supports Denmark, you have a chance if you can sway in Russia, and slim to none if you cant.

If you use your free interests on North China and South China, you may get a chance to join Britain for the Opium War. If you are on Britain's side in another war when you run the SH war, they cannot join it against you. In any event, if Britain is busy with Qing, they are not likely to mess with you.

leadership play tactics

Once SH is resolved, German National Identity is complete and Nationalism is researched, you can kick off the leadership play with the button under cultures/ nation forming/ Germany. I suggest adding Austrian reparations as a war goal. You will need money from somewhere to bankroll Austria after a successful leadership play.

Ideally start the play with Austrian relations at 50. They may or may not start damaging relations at some point. In any event, you put yourself in the best position by starting with Austrian relations high and ending the war quickly. Unlike before, relations do not go to -50 at the start of a war. If you are lucky, you could end the leadership war with Austrian relations as high as 50.

Swaying in Russia is helpful for a quick war or maybe even a backdown.

High relations and maybe a trade or defensive deal with Bavaria is helpful. If you can sway them in, that gives Austria another front to deal with. Bavaria has direct access to the Austrian capital.

Sway in other minors if you like, but I do not think that they matter much. In any event, do not sway any minors with a guarantee of independence. This would need to run for 5 years before they will join Germany.

Great Power diplomacy tactics

The main idea for this section is to use diplomatic influence to get Britain, France, Russia, and Austria to do what you want for the German Unification. The United States is an ocean away and does not matter much. You are going to need lots of influence to make all this happen. Get influence by rivaling lots of powers. Obvious targets are Ottomans, Netherlands, Spain, USA, and France. Britain is a bear that I would rather not poke, at least before forming Germany.

If Russia joins the leadership war on Austria's side, you will lose. The best way to prevent this is to ally with Russia yourself. You will likely need to give an obligation to get the alliance. I recommend improving with Russia from unfreeze at least until you have the alliance.

Try to have Austria to 50 before starting the leadership war. However, you may choose to improve with Britain or France first in preparation for the SH war.

Ideally, you want to keep both Britain and France out of the SH war. I do not have an optimal strategy for improving with Britain and France to this end. It is fairly easy to pick a time to kickoff SH when Britain is busy. They tend to pick major fights fairly often. France will sometimes just stay home and try not to revolt. My best guess is to not rival France, and do the best you can on improving with both Britain and France with limited time and influence available. Time is limited because ideally you want to resolve SH before German National Identity completes so that you can run the leadership play and form Germany as early as possible.

I have not had problems with Britain or France joining the leadership war. Apparently they care a lot less about Austria than they do about Denmark.

forming Germany

After a successful leadership play you need to bankroll Austria up to 80. Hopefully you have been aggressively building your economy. Consider deleting construction sectors to make the money work, especially those in the newly added North German former minors that do not have local access to both iron and coal. When Austria is at 80, go to cultures/ nation forming/ Germany, verify that Austria will join, and push the button to form Germany.

Sometimes Wurtenburg does not want to join. I am not sure why. My advice is to not wait on them. You can pick them up with a claim after pulling in everyone else.

technology required

As in previous versions, the German National Identity event completes once the German minors acquire Nationalism. This is a requirement for starting the leadership play.

Prussia also needs Nationalism to start the leadership play. My approach to this is not worry about it for my first tech. Research Water Tube or whatever you like. Before choosing the second tech, check to see if Nationalism is spreading to you. If it is, you should get it about the same time the minors do. In that case, research whatever you like for your second tech. If it is not spreading, you need to research it for your second tech to prevent delay of your leadership play.

[「Sk™」]

I'm quite confused as I own SH and incorporated it but the journals don't clear...