Austria starts as HRE Emperor and has one of the strongest mission trees in the game — it can snowball into a world conquest if you play it right. First things first though: fill your forcelimit. You'll need a full army before picking your first fight.

For idea groups, the recommended order is Diplomatic, Influence, Religious, Administrative, Humanist, and Offensive — swap Humanist and Offensive depending on whether you want to lean into the HRE vassal swarm or not.

Welcome to a Brandenburg → Germany run. Our goal is to form Prussia for its military strength, then dominate the German lands. First, build up your army and prepare to take Stettin and Wolgast to secure a stronger economic and manpower base.

This is a spin-off of the Austria to HRE chain. The core gameplay is similar, but here the focus shifts toward conquering the lands around the Mediterranean and Black Sea. Personally I did this run by loading an earlier save after forming the HRE and redirecting expansion toward the relevant provinces.

For idea groups, the recommended order is Diplomatic, Influence, Religious, Administrative, Humanist, and Offensive — swap Humanist and Offensive depending on whether you want to lean into the HRE vassal swarm or not.