Introduction
Brandenburg starts out as a regional power in the north east of Germany and the Holy Roman Empire. It has an interesting start and a lot of potential. Its location is perfect to form Prussia as well as to dominate the very rich Lübeck trade node, which provides a reliable source of high income. With the recent 1.30 Patch Brandenburg, Prussia and Germany received unique mission trees, which are used as guideline for progression in this guide.
For me personally Brandenburg is the only viable country to form Prussia - and later Germany - since we all know: A Prussia without a Hohenzollern is possible but preposterous.
This guide seeks to guide the player through the first decades while aiming to maximise Brandenburg's strength and fulfilling all territorial requirements to form Prussia later. At the end of the guide I have collected a few hints, tips and ideas on what to do after the first decades.
This Guide has some RNG requirements, therefore restarting may be required a few times. Please remember that constructive criticism is very welcome. If there is a better way to reach the goals of this guide I strongly encourage anyone to share it. In case you only want to complain without pointing out a better approach: Please keep it to yourself.
As an alternative to restarting in case of bad RNG it is possible can make backups of the save file at critical points and revert to them to save time and effort re-rolling a new start. I will mark points where I recommend to create backups with '*'
I strongly recommend to read all notes in a step, as some notes (especially the RNG ones) should be kept an eye on. Also be aware that this guide uses mechanics which are locked behind DLCs, owning all DLC is highly recommended.
On Backups and reverting - a short guide
The save files of EU4 are usually located under
...\Documents\Paradox Interactive\Europa Universalis 4\save games
To backup a save file simply copy the file to another folder or copy paste it in the same folder to create a duplicate. It is also recommend to rename the backup saves in order to be able to better tell apart when and why the backup was created. Personally I recommend creating the following folder as it allows access the backups form the in game menu and load them up:
...\Documents\Paradox Interactive\Europa Universalis 4\save games\backup
Guide
Step 0: 11th November 1444 - Finding the right setup
- Poland and Austria must not be rivalled with each other!
- Saxony must not be rivalled to Brandenburg!
If one of these cases applies, re-roll the setup in order to get this guide to work. When the right setup was found it is advised to make a backup of it, just in case '*'
Step 1: 11th November 1444 - Before unpausing
Goals: Setting up the country, allying Austria and approaching Poland
- Recruit 2(!) infantry regiments (up to a total of 11 regiments)
- Send an alliance request to Austria (they start with a friendly attitude towards Brandenburg)
- Start improving relations with Poland (they start with a neutral attitude towards Brandenburg)
- Uncheck 'Automatically raise maintenance during war' in the Military tab. Attention! The player now needs to activate forts and rise maintenance manually. Its very possible to get stackwiped when not paying attention and not maintaining the troops. (Newer Players may skip this point as it only helps saving a little extra cash)
- Send the Merchant from Krakow to collect in Saxony (this should increase the trade income a little bit)
- Enable the 'Encourage Development' edict in Sternberg and develop the province using diplomatic power to push crownland over 30%. Do not forget to disable the edict in November 1446!
- Managing the Estates:
- Clergy Privileges: Religious State, Oversight by the Clergy
- Nobility Privileges: Primacy of the Nobility, Supremacy over the Crown
- Burghers Privileges: Land of Commerce, Free Enterprise
- Sell crownland '*'
- Summon the Diet (preferably roll an agenda, that is easy to/will be fulfilled by following this guide, like getting a port, owning Neumark, getting allies. Using the last backup re-rolling is quite easy) '\*
This strategy allows Brandenburg to forgo Advisors for the first years, while also filling the nations coffers. The crownland will be at 0%, which hurts a lot but there is an event in which the nobility will bail out the Crown. When the event fires, make sure to Seize Land before accepting the offer to get an additional 5% crownland. One can revoke the nobility privilege the event gives after 20 years
- Give Friedrich II (Brandenburg's ruler) military command (if a backup was made one can re-roll general pips to get high shock - 2 is ok, 3 is good and 4+ is amazing, but very rare)
- Set the army to drill and mothball the fort in Berlin
- Set the national focus to military
- Do not rival anyone! '*'
Step 2: The first months - Gaining strength
Goals: Allying Poland and Saxony, getting Neumark and conquering Pomerania
- Offer a royal marriage to Austria
- Offer a royal marriage and later on an alliance to Poland
- Offer an alliance to Saxony, they will ask for a royal marriage, accept that offer
- Improve relations with Saxony
- Do not complete the Mission 'Imperial Ambition' until after the first conquest, the extra diplomat and improve relations bonus are very useful to manage aggressive expansion!
- Wait for the 'Pawning of Neumark' event. Make sure neither Neumark nor Darmburg are occupied by rebels. If it does not fire until about July 1448 restart (the chance for this to happen is 50%). Alternatively one can wait a little longer, but be aware that Polands truce with the Teutons ends in December 1449 and Poland can attack them after that date (waiting to March 1452 increases the chance to 75%)
- Once the event has fired (and made a backup'\')* stop drilling and wait 3 - 4 months to let moral recover. In the mean time move the army to Uckermark
- Complete the mission 'Reclaim Neumark' at the end of a month to gain the CB at the 1st of the next one
- Wolgast usually only allies one or two minors, if not restart.
- Set Wolgast as rival, declare war for Stolp
- During the war be careful when splitting up the troops. Especially when Wolgast has more than one ally
- Take Stolp and vassalise the rest of Wolgast to be able to finish the mission 'Pomeranian Succession'
- Change the trade policy in Saxony and Wien to 'Establish Communities'. This gives an additional +15% improve relations which increases the decay rate of aggressive expansion '*'
Step 3: December 1449 - Fooling Poland and taking East Prussia
- Wait until December 1449, when Polands truce with the Teutonic Order ends
- Rival the Teutons and other expansion targets
- Mark all Teutonic Provinces as vital interest
- Declare war for Königsberg, calling in Poland '*'
- Make sure to occupy all provinces Poland considers of vital interest first, the other occupations will be transferred as they are set as desired. Poland must not hold occupation of any of the Teutonic provinces, if they do restart form the last backup!
- End the war (while checking AE) in one of the following ways:
- by taking all provinces in the East Prussia Area (the area is furthest away from the HRE so taking these provinces yields the least AE. This also leaves the Teutons with less than 5 Provinces, which prevents the 'Prussian Confederation' event)
- by taking Danzig, Königsberg and other provinces for continuous borders and more trade power in the Baltic Sea (continuous borders are easier to manage for less experienced players. Baltic trade is useless until the trade port is moved to the Lübeck Node; yields more AE per development taken; taking Danzig also prevents the 'Prussian Confederation' event)
Use the tooltip in the peace interface to determine how upset Brandenburgs neighbours will be. If the entire HRE is pissed, wait for a few years before peacing out and use that time to improve relations with potential coalition members (looking at you Denmark).
- Since all provinces are set as vital interest, Poland should not lose trust even if not given any land! (This has be reported to not work in some unspecific cases. If they would loose trust give them Kulm and hope this is enough to make them happy, as Brandenburg needs all provinces in the West and East Prussia areas to progress in the mission tree)
Poland not losing trust despite not getting any provinces
- Preventing the 'Prussian Confederation' event is a top priority, since it allows Poland to truce-break (and full annex) the Teutonic Order, preventing Brandenburg form progressing in the mission tree)
Depending on how long the war with the Teutons lasts it should be somewhere between1451 and 1455. This means that within 10 years all the required provinces to form Prussia were conquered, while also securing a decent income and strong allies.
Brandenburgs situation after the first war with the Teutonic Order
Tips
- After The first war with the Teutonic Order I highly recommend to integrate Wolgast as soon as possible, to get up to 15 Provinces in the North Germany region to complete the 'A Show of Strength' mission.
- Brandenburg gets claims on Mecklenburg and Lübeck very late in the mission tree, therefore Mecklenburg is an excellent vassal, as no permanent claims get 'wasted' due to integration with diplomatic power
- Use the Claims from the 'A Show of Strength' mission to attack Lüneburg and Lauenburg for the provinces of the same name and a direct border to both Lübeck and Hamburg
- Hamburg is a Free City and therefore protected by the Emperor if attacked directly. Since its in a trade league, attacking Lübeck and making them a co-belligerent is always possible (as long a Lübeck exists)
- Take out Stettin for the estuary in Stettin
- When owning at least two of these provinces (Settin, Lübeck and Hamburg) move the main trade city into the Lübeck Node (Hamburg is my personal favourite for this)
From this point onwards Brandenburg/Prussia should be in a very comfortable situation with great income and a good situation to expand further...
Idea Groups
I do not want to give advise on Idea Groups, as this boils down to play styles and preferences. I will state my personal opinions and preferences however and explain them.
My opinion on Quantity and Diplomatic Ideas:
- First of I need to say that I do not think very highly of Quantity Ideas, as they bloat the force limit and manpower while not providing enough economic support to fill it. Since Brandenburgs early game economic situation is dire this leads to the issue that the force limit boost provided can not be fully used without making budget cuts in other areas, especially buildings. This however considerably slows down the economic snowballing, which leads to a dragged out bad economic situation. Also manpower can be easily bought with buildings and edicts, without wasting an entire idea group on it.
- Furthermore drilling with less than 100% of the force limit results in decreased professionalism gain. Personally I have the goal of 50 professionalism by 1518 (the time admin tech 10 can be taken without penalty), as this allows easy completion of the 'Professional Army' and 'Empower the Junkers' missions without having to take a estate privilege which gives +5% all powers cost.
- Diplomatic Ideas are often said to be mandatory in the HRE due to increased aggressive expansion gain. But AE is not the only bottleneck the player faces early game. The economy and especially monarch power are a major bottleneck early on, which often have the same limiting effect as AE. Diplomatic ideas can be evaded by using other aspects of the game, like the 'Imperial Ambition' mission and stacking the improve relations modifier. Combining the a diplomat advisor (+20%), the 'Establish Communities' trade policy (+15%), Protestantism (+15%) and high prestige (up to +50%) doubles the AE decay rate. Early game this and utilising the 2 or 3 Diplomats available is enough to max out relations with will almost all possible coalition members. In the mid-game coalitions are all the fun for Prussia, so why should one try to prevent them?
My personal favourite set is Economic - Quality - Trade, here is why:
- Brandenburgs starting economic situation is dire. It is of utmost importance to solve this problem. Economic Ideas provide a wide range of bonuses, which help with this. Especially the −10% Construction Cost are superb and stacking this modifier early on to start the economic snowball is quite easy. Combining Brandenburgs Tradition (-15%), Economic Ideas (-10%), The first HRE reform 'Call for Reichsreform' (-5%) and the Renaissance (-5%) yield a total of -35% Construction Cost.
- Quality Ideas provide extra army tradition for better generals, +10% combat ability to all units and +10% discipline, when using the Economic - Quality policy. When combining this with Prussian ideas and militarisation, its easy to achieve +30% infantry combat ability as well as +25% discipline early on, which is already enough to stomp all opposition in single player.
- Why taking the second ducat idea group (Trade) as well? Ducats! This is maybe my Dutch ancestry but ducats make the world go round. They are the single most important currency in the game as everything can be bought using ducats: armies, monarch power (via advisors), force limit and more ducats (via buildings) and even manpower (via edicts and buildings). The more ducats the better.
- Combining the three idea groups gives access policies of each category so all can be activated for free. In addition to the aforementioned the +5% discipline policy from Economic - Quality, Quality - Trade and Trade - Economic give a total of +30% trade efficiency and +10% production efficiency.
- Using these idea groups while moving the main trade city to Lübeck can solve almost all bottlenecks: manpower, the economy and monarch power. Only AE is a limiting for Brandenburg/Prussia then, but like I already said: Coalitions are all the fun.
![[1.30+] An Army with a State - A Guide to Brandenburg-Prussia](https://b.thumbs.redditmedia.com/kFZ2qQ3U-GZimQa7IYQUoR2HMvS0eC8cqeRyIjjfjcg.jpg "[1.30+] An Army with a State - A Guide to Brandenburg-Prussia")
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