Holy Roman Empire Guide (only minor battlefield details)
Before I post this, I just want to let you know that this is how I prefer to use this faction and I conquered all of Europe with it (moving into the Middle East). It may not work or appeal to you, which is your decision and I'm not claiming my strategy is better than any others (infact its probably the worst).
Anyway here it is.
The Holy Roman Empire
This Faction is located in Central Europe and has the starter cities - Nuremburg, Frankfurt, Staufen, Bologna, Vienna and Innsbruck. It borders a number of factions, all of them a threat, like Hungary, Poland, Denmark, Milan, Venice and France.
0-10 turns
It is vital that you should try and take as many Rebel cities as possible, Zagreb, Metz, Prague, Hamburg, Bern and Florence are the closest ones and it would be wise to try and secure as many of them as possible. I've noticed that Roman Royalty breed fairly quickly compared to other Factions so you should have governors there in no time. After you've secured as many Rebel cities as possible, you should focus on your Military, Technology and Finance. If you get hotheaded and start a war within the first 10 turns you may not last long.
10-15 turns
South of HRE are Venice and Milan, it is highly likely these two will start a war with each other. My advice is to stay out of it, let them fight and weaken each other so you can move in for the kill later on in the game. Keep a supply route through the mountains as well as Bologna and Florence are usually right in the middle of a huge battlefield. If your lucky, Milan or Venice will quickly best the other faction which only leaves you with one enemy, though they'll probably be more powerful.
Importance of Hamburg- Denmark to your north can become quite a power if left alone for a while. This will only happen though if they gain Hamburg. Try and capture Hamburg and isolate Denmark from the rest of Europe. You may also be able to seize Stettin and Antwerp as a bonus. Hamburg has a large population so you may be able to use it as a Finance and Military Powerhouse.
Importance of Zagreb- Not only is it a good fortress, it will weaken Venice and cause their supply line to become extremely narrow. This will keep Venice from being able to gain a foothold in the Hinterland and as I said, will severely weaken their power requirements.
Importance of Bern- This city will flank Milan from the north and keep the rest of your nation safe. If Milan invades, this city will provide a perfect route to quickly destroy them.
Importance of Prague- This city will shield Vienna from Hungary, and Vienna has your biggest population and provides the most income. And Prague also provides a quick route to Budapest lest Hungary do invade.
15-25 turns
Now Europe should be in chaos, various Factions will be warring and your borders will never be truly safe. Milan and Venice will probably both be weakened from years of warfare and strife and Denmark shouldn't pose a problem. Other factions generally are unagressive. Now it is your time to strike and mark HRE's name in history,
Preparations- Now you should start using Diplomacy to secure your borders. Poland, Byzantine Empire and France should be your main priorities to ally yourself with. All 3 are quite large territorial wise and Military. Move an army down to Bern where you are in range of attacking Genoa or Dijon, Milan may have one or both of them, if one it will be Genoa, if both, attack Dijon as you can't afford to have two flanks. Move a second army down to Bologna and guard the small pass between the city and the mountains, this army should be quite large as it is needed to block any reinforcements retreating or attacking out of any of the two states. You should have two armies near Zagreb, one is to make a quick strike at Venice (city) while the other will block any reinforcements coming from Ragusa. Now you have a fine plan to annihilate both factions before they are even prepared. The bulk of their forces will be near Bologna though so make sure to keep that city garrisoned with competent soldiers.
Attack - Now you strike, using all the steps from the previous paragraph, you should have an army besieging Genoa/Dijon or both if your incredibly confident, another army besieging Venice and two more armies block vital supply routes. If all these attacks are successful, you should now have conquered 2/3 more cities and nearly destroying Venice and Milan in the process. Now that you are done with them cities, move in on Milan and Ragusa and if both conquered, you'll have destroyed two large threats in between 2-5 turns. Make sure you Sack the cities, for income, don't go exterminating the population as that is just stupidity.
Situation - You now control Northern Italy and have firm holds on the southern coast of Europe. Build a navy if you want to conquer Cagliari and that other city on those two islands west of Italy, they aren't very productive with military but they do provide extra income and expand your Empire.
Sicily - These guys should be your next target. They will likely only control two cities but they will also have a full military as they usually don't get involved with Milan/Venice either. Divert some of your armies south and take Naples and then Palermo, this will eliminate another Faction and will provide you with two large cities on the Mediterraenian* Sea, once again, they don't count much to your military apart from your Navy but they provide more income for you to spend.
Denmark - This isn't really relevant but it does help your income and will probably provide military defences from France/expanding England or Poland. If you've taken Hamburg your job should be easy. In one move you should be up at Arhus and by 5 turns you should have taken Stockholm and Oslo (the latter is usually controled by Rebels). That is another faction down and yet more income. With Milan/Venice gone you can freely move your armies around your nation without trouble and destroying small factions like Denmark is quite easy and leasurely.
Situation - Your Empire now expands west to Dijon/Metz/Genoa (whatever), east to Prague and Ragusa, south to Palermo and north to Stockholm but your still in danger. Byzantine and Poland are still powerhouses to your East and France will likely be to your west, though they might have been destroyed by a number of other factions like Portugal, Spain and England.
Governors - You should now control Oslo, Stockholm, Arhus, Hamburg, Antwerp, Stettin, Frankfurt, Innsbruck, Nuremburg, Prague, Vienna, Zagreb, Ragusa, Bern, Metz, Genoa, Milan, Bologna, Florence, Naples, Palermo, Cagliari, other random city, Venice and Staufen which means you'll need 25 Governors if you've done everything I've said and captured all those cities. Now, it'll probably be between Turn 40-60 so even by then you probably won't have that many Royal Family members and Generals. An easy way to get Royal Family Members is to use Man of the Hour. You may think the game randomly does it you but thats not true. In my previous HRE Campaign most of my Family Members were Men of the Hour.
All you need to do is find a Rebel Army (not city) anywhere in your nation, there should at least be 5 if your not to tight with your security. Gather up a small army (roughly between 100-400) soldiers and attack any Rebel Army. Make sure you don't outnumber them or they outnumber you by too much. Now Auto-Resolve the battle and depending on what difficulty you play on, you'll probably get a victory with minimal casualties. If you do this your Captain will probably get Man of the Hour and will be up for Adoption into your family which you should accept. Every extra member of Royalty you have increases the power of your nation and your control on it.
Technology- Without cheating, by now you should have unlocked most Medieval units that don't include Gunpowder. I'm talking about anything between a Peasant and a Teutonic Knight. If you've been able to conquer and keep your finance booming, your armies will be futuristic compared to other Faction Armies.
Finance- Most of your cities Tax Rate's should be on High or Very High, if its a castle, it will be on Normal. Keep your citizens Happy or Content at the least. If a city drops down to Disillusioned or Potential for Riots, immediately garrison the city with more forces and lower your Tax Rate, the more forces in the city, the less chance of there being a Riot depending on the city's population.
50-80 turns
By now your armies should be huge, the Mongols should've invaded the Middle East and Gunpowder will be invented. Use artillery to your advantage in battles as they can quickly route and demoralise an enemy army. Build Paved Roads for quicker Trade and movement of your armies and other characters like Diplomats, Spies and Priests. Quell any Heresy in your nation with Priests, lest you gain the Pope's attention (Inquisitors are extremely annoying and often execute your favourite Nobles) and have Spies and Diplomats in other nations, even Assassins if the need arises.
100-120 turns
The Plague will arive soon and all nations will be affected. Now is the time to strike again so the Plague doesn't reduce you to a weak nation. Gather your armies and prepare to invade.
France- They will already likely be pulverised by other Nations, so taking whats left shouldn't pose any difficulty. In the process you might insult other nations so be cautious. France will only have 2-3 cities, 4 at best. But be prepared! Taking France will open up borders with England and Portugal, potentially Spain as well.
Taking Europe- You'll want small borders when the Plague strikes so I'd advise you to take all of whats left. It may seem like a gamble but it isn't if you've kept your nation healthy and your armies booming.
England- Once France is gone, you'll come across England who will be looking to expand further inland. Deny them this and attack from the south and east. Take Bruges and Rennes, then Caen and keep them isolated at their island. They may also control Anglers so make sure to take that city as well. You now control the entire northern coastline of Europe, congratulations! You have no more threats North of you (apart from Poland but they won't trouble you much longer).
Securing Westen Europe- Portugal may have some cities north of the mountains and they will provide a bridgehead should Portugal invade. Capture these cities (Marseilles (maybe), Toulouse (def) and Bordeuax (def/maybe). Now you have a a secure Western Border when the Plague strikes. By now you should be nearing the 45 territory victory limit (Take Rome and kill the Pope because he's annyoing) and I'm only going to tell you how to secure the last of your borders, after that, you've already won and the rest is up to you which shouldn't pose any difficulty.
Hungary - They are next and while they don't seem to offer an strategical advantage, they do when you invade Byzantine and Poland. Send forces to the North of Budapest to hook around and advance on Bran while striking Budapest with another force. Send a stronger force south to secure Sofia and Bucharest, after Bran and Bucharest are taken, join them forces and hook around Poland to take the last Hungarian City (forgot the name but it starts with I and is fairly isolated). Thats another faction down and your conquest of Eastern Europe is being secured.
Poland- Using the forces that struck Budapest, take them north and hit Krakow from the south. Have another army near Hamburg and yet another army near Stettin, use the former to hit Madgeburg and the latter to hit Thorn. Your forces that had just finished Hungary should now be behind Poland in a salient of some sort. Use them to hit Hyach. In a matter of moves you neutralise Poland, they are not destroyed but their grip on Eastern Europe has slid off and they are isolated in Russia. You now only have one more obstacle before you've conquered Europe.
Byzantine Empire- This will be tough, no doubt. Byzantine Empire will always rival you, but if your lucky they may be weakened by The Turks and the Muslim Factions to the south and east. Byzantine at its best will be fighting a two front war and your invasion will only find a third of their forces. This is why it is vital you hit them quickly and efficiently, A blitzkrieg in other words. Form an army at Ragusa and attack Daruzzo, while using your army which took Sofia, send it south to Thessolonica, then after them two cities are finished, join them together on a combined effort on Corinth. Then use whats left of your forces to take Constantinople. This will basically leave them for dead for The Turks and The Mongols or even the Egyptians.
Ruler of Europe- YOU NOW CONTROL EUROPE! Your armies now even threaten the Muslim Factions and you are a threat that causes even the Mongols to retreat.
I have tested this strategy twice, both times it had worked. First on M/M and then on H/H. You may not approve of this strategy and that is entirely your opinion. This isn't the proper way or the best way, just my way that I would like to share with you. I focused completely on the Strategy on the Map, not the RTS battles of which are completely random and can go either way but I will tell you that Crossbowmen and Heavy Cav are the key to success but that is also my opinion.
It was a bit long and I appreciate if you read it all and try it out but you have better things to do, obviously and I express my gratitude anyway.
Cheers!
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Originally Posted by Valandur
