How to play the HRE?

**Glowboy** · June 13, 2008, 09:24 PM

So I was wondering on how to play as the HRE I usually get about 20-48 turns in then suddenly get attacked by every faction.(By the way I play on VH/VH)

**RollingWave** · June 13, 2008, 09:37 PM

on VH it's tough, I would personally think that one way you could do this is to quickly sell your Italian Holding to someone (Pope?) and run back to German proper. because holding that area is a REAL pain. yes i know it's potentially insanely rich but it's also the place that get you into the biggest trouble.

focus north and try to kill the Danes first. that give you at least a safe base of operation. if there's a Crusade ... join... and expand there. the key is to try and not fight that many Catholics until someone gets excommunicated.

**Wheem** · June 13, 2008, 10:49 PM

Since the 1.2 patch, Alliances with the AI seem to hold together quite well (though I always have a high reputation, so that might have something to do with it).

Decide on a direction you don't want to expand in, and make Alliances with those neighbors (marriage alliances seem best if you can get one).

Also, I'd suggest doing what I always do - focus on Chivalry, not Dread. Release prisoners (unless doing so leaves you against a force you cannot defeat again). Occupy settlements. Build churches and government buildings when you have governors able to have 100% movement on the turn they're completed.

High Chivalry governors will greatly increase population growth, and help both your economy and unit selection in the early portion of the game. Having armies of militia and sergeant spearmen against the early Italian militia armies can get kinda rough.

**Sher Khan** · June 13, 2008, 11:13 PM

Moved to Battle Planning.

**dr_guerra** · June 14, 2008, 10:05 AM

First and foremost, ally with France. Give them a princess or marry one of theirs. Doesn't matter. Just do it.

Then kill the Danes as fast as you possibly can.

Ally the pope, build up LOTS of troops in Bologna. If your cities are well defended, no one will attack.

I also like to ally with Poland.

Alliances are key, really.

Try not to piss off too many factions, so think that every rebel settlement you get will anger the faction in that area.

Get your best castle to focus almost entirely on infantry buildings, like barracks and the like. Try to get quality infantry soon, especially if you have to fight the Italians.

Just go slowly, consolidate your cities before moving on. Get a priest in each city and try to take over the papacy. It helps a lot later on, you can just call a crusade on an excommunicated European power and it takes a huge load of stress off your shoulders.

Build lots of cities for economy and just have a castle in each border region. Take Hamburg castle first. It's a good one. Agitate the Danes, but be careful. Use lots of cavalry against. Repeated charges then withdraw and charge again.

It should be fine. HRE aren't too bad once you know how to make alliances. Remember, every princess you get, make an alliance with. Even better if you can marry your heir or leader to a foreign princess, but try to ally your neighbours first. Don't trust Milan. Ever. Under any circumstance. All your settlements that border them should be top notch defended.

**Glowboy** · June 14, 2008, 03:19 PM

Thanks everyone for the respones but because of the 2H bug their infantry is pretty useless right because my unit of zwiehanders(sp) eithrt loses or wins by a small margin to even armoured sargeants, and I don't really like cavalry all that much. So do the HRE have any good infantry?

**dr_guerra** · June 14, 2008, 03:21 PM

HRE has good infantry, but not my taste really. I prefer faster moving infantry.

**Wheem** · June 14, 2008, 04:55 PM

Most of the HRE's infantry force consists of generic units, but those aren't necessarily bad. You should eventually get the Dismounted Imperial Knights, which are decent for their armor piercing maces (though for some reason they have much lower defense skill than other dismounted knights).

It'd be nice if we could get another patch for the original game that would re-balance the 2h units, in light of the shield bug being fixed roughly 1 year ago. One would think it'd be a relatively easy fix for them to do, but I doubt we'll ever see another non-Kingdoms patch for Medieval 2.

**Lord Romanus III** · June 14, 2008, 05:10 PM

Well to get Greater Germany and decent living space, you should:
1. Take the army from Vienna and march north to Prague. Combine the army from Nuremburg with it.*
2. Take the army near Frankfurt and take Hamburg.
3. Get the army form the place under Frankfurt and take Dijonn. The army in Innsbruck goes to reinforce near Bern.
4. Take your army out of Bologna and blitz Florence.*
5. Take the army at Prague and take Breslau.
6. Take the army from Dijonn and take Metz.
7. The army in Hamburg goes for Stettin.
8. The armies that took Stettin and Prague should go and take Magdeburg quickly.
9. The army that took Metz should rush south and help the Innsbruck army attacking Bern.
10. Annex Scandinavia and the Lowlands (Dutch places).

This is easily do-able if you reinforce your armies and attack quickly.

*As an alternative to using the armies from Vienna and Nuremburg, you can take the army from Vienna and grab Zagreb (while still taking every place). The army from Florence can also grab the Islands off Italy if you want.