Brandenburg

Primary culture

Saxon (Germanic)

Capital province

Berlin (50)

Government

Feudal Nobility

State religion

Catholic

Technology group

Western

Brandenburg ideas

Traditions:

−15% Construction cost

−20% Cost to fabricate claims

Northern March

+10% Infantry combat ability

Found the Kammergericht

+10% National tax modifier

Divide the Estates

−10% Stability cost modifier

Pomeranian Wars

+10% Morale of armies

Seat of the Old Emperors

+1 Diplomatic reputation

+0.10 Imperial authority modifier

Iron Tooth

−2 National unrest

Geheimer Rat für die Kurmark

+5% Nobility loyalty equilibrium

+5% Burghers loyalty equilibrium

Ambition:

−25% State maintenance

The recent history of the March of Brandenburg has been a sad state of affairs. With poor soils, swamps and wild forests Brandenburg is not the richest lands of the Holy Roman Empire and under Wittelsbach and Luxemburg rule the region has been treated as a source of quick income. With the ascendence of the Hohenzollern Dynasty things have slowly begun to change. Friedrich I spent his entire reign wearing down the influence of the Brandenburg estates and fighting the prevalent lawlessness, sending his armies against the castles of the many robber barons that have for long had a free reign over the region.

In many ways Friedrich II, 'the Iron', has proven to be his father's son, resuming the policies intended to crush the power of local potentates and greedy burghers. He has also sent out feelers to the Teutonic Order for the reclamation of Neumark, a land originally part of Brandenburg, but pawned by his predecessors.

The difficulty in asserting state power is amply demonstrated by the Kalmar Union kingdoms of Denmark, Sweden and Norway, where a king attempting to achieve similar goals was recently deposed and replaced by a Bavarian Wittelsbach. If Brandenburg is to be made a durable state it must also remain united, avoiding squabbles like those among the Wettin heirs in Electoral Saxony to the south.

The nearby kingdoms of

Poland and

Bohemia are both without rulers in 1444, one as a direct result of the failed Crusade of Varna against the

Ottomans, and the other due to the rejection of the Habsburg heir Ladislaus the Posthumous by the Bohemian nobility. Despite the Bohemian lands still not having recovered from the Hussite wars of the last decades the Heretic Hussites remain a strong factor in Bohemian politics, making the kingdom a cause for concern among all its neighbors, Brandenburg included.

Missions[edit]

Main article: Prussian missions

Brandenburg shares many of its missions with Prussia.

Events[edit]

Main article: Brandenburg-Prussian events

Decisions[edit]

id

Form Kingdom of Prussia

There is only one king in the Empire, the king of Bohemia. At the same time our lands in Prussia are not a historic part of the Empire, let us declare ourselves King in Prussia to reflect our grander status than the other electors.

Potential requirements

Playing with normal or historical nations
Has never been an end-game tag
Has not formed Prussia before
Does not have the Celestial Empire government reform
Is Brandenburg
If AI-controlled:
- Is not a custom nation
- Prussia does not exist
- Either the Protestant or Reformed religion is enabled

Allow

Prussia does not exist
Administrative technology is at least 10
Religion is Protestant or Reformed
Owns core province Königsberg (41)
Owns core province Danzig (43) or Stolp (2995)
Is not at war

Effects

The country:

becomes Prussia
gets new missions.
gets the modifier “Increased Centralization” for 20 years with the following effects:
- −0.05 monthly autonomy change,
- +1 national unrest.
gains 5 prestige
changes its primary culture to Prussian
gains a permanent claim on all non-owned provinces in the West Prussia and East Prussia areas

If Prussia:

is a member of the Holy Roman Empire but not the emperor or an elector
- then all its provinces are removed from the HRE.
is a duchy and the emperor DLC is not enabled or the HRE does not exist:
- then it becomes a kingdom.
does not have custom or Prussian ideas
- then it gets the event ‘New Traditions & Ambitions’.
is a republic:
- then it enacts the government reform Stratocratic Administration
is not a republic:
- then it changes its government to monarchy and enacts the government reform Prussian Monarchy
has the States General reform
- then the States General reform gets removed

One random owned province with Pomeranian, Saxon or Prussian culture:

Gain 1 base tax

One random owned province with Saxon or Pomeranian culture that is not the capital:

Change culture to Prussian

Change the capital's culture to Prussian

id

Form German Nation

Regardless of the absence of a strong, central authority, our nation is prospering. The Hanseatic League, formed by hundreds of towns in northern Germany, has contributed to the prosperity of our nation. Intellectual growth, combined with sea and overland trading, has also helped spur the development and transform our country into a wealthy manufacturing center.

Potential requirements

Germany does not exist.
The country:

was never an end-game tag.
is not The Papal State, Holy Roman Empire or Roman Empire
is not a colonial nation.
has a primary culture in the Germanic culture group.
does not have Dutch as primary culture.

If the country is AI-controlled then it:

has at least 15 cities
has an administrative technology of at least 20.
can not be a former colonial nation.
can not be a theocracy.
can not be a custom nation.

Allow

The country:

has an administrative technology of at least 20.
is not a subject nation other than a tributary state.
is not a nomad nation.
is not at war.
is not the emperor of the Holy Roman Empire.
All of the following must be true:
- Owns Berlin (50)
- Owns München (65)
- Owns Brunswick (57)
- Owns Augsburg (1868) or Stuttgart (70)
- Owns Nürnberg (67) or Frankfurt (1876)
- Owns Niederhessen (1762) or Köln (85)
- Owns Königsberg (41) or Straßburg (75)
- Owns Hamburg (44) or Lübeck (45)
- Owns Dresden (61) or Erfurt (63)
50 owned core provinces in:
- North Germany
- South Germany

Effects

The country:

changes to Germany.
gets empire government rank.
leaves the HRE.
gets new missions.
gets permanent claims on all provinces of North Germany and South Germany that are not owned by Germany.
gains 25 prestige.
gets the modifier “Increased Centralization” for 20 years with the following effects:
- −0.05 Monthly autonomy change
- +1 National unrest

If the country does not have custom ideas

then it gets the event ‘New Traditions & Ambitions’.

The emperor of the HRE:

gets the opinion modifier “Left the Holy Roman Empire” towards Germany worth −150 opinion with a yearly decay of 1.
gets the event ‘Germany breaks out of the Empire’.

Strategy[edit]

The below is one of many player suggested strategies for Brandenburg. Bear in mind, due to the dynamic nature of the game, it may unfold differently for other players.

Brandenburg is a duchy located in the German region. In 1444, it borders Mecklenburg and Stettin and Wolgast to the north, Teutonic Order and Poland to the east, Lüneburg to the west, Bohemia and Saxony to the south, Brunswick to the west, and three OPMs. Brandenburg starts as an Elector of the HRE, eight provinces that total 65 development, and a chance for an event that allows to buy Neumark and drambug from the Teutonic Order for 100 Ducats, if Brandenburg has less than 3 loans. It starts in a good position to form either Prussia or Germany.

Playing Brandenburg can be challenging during the first 20 to 30 years after a 1444 start. It is quite luck-dependent, and requires good allies to grow in this early period. Depending on the intended strategy, consider restarting the game if Poland starts as a rival. There are a few missions for Brandenburg which give claims on neighboring provinces. Even if these missions let Brandenburg expand rapidly, aggressive expansion may accumulate quickly, eventually leading to a coalition if not managed correctly.

One way to start with Brandenburg is to ally Austria, Hesse, and Mecklenburg. Brandenburg should then attack Stettin. It is important to secure control over Stettin's capital, as it has a level 2 fort on it for later use. In most cases, Stettin will have a few allies in the HRE. However, they occasionally ally with stronger countries such as Poland. Brandenburg and its three recommended allies will have no navy whatsoever, so land warfare must be the primary focus instead. Assuming that Stettin does not have any strong allies and Brandenburg sues for peace out before 1446, getting a stronger ally, like Bohemia, can be accomplished quickly by building up to force limit and improving relations. Then with your new claimed land you should focus on getting the coast of wolgast. Wolgast will have will most likely not be friendly towards you so they will either ally Teutonic Order or Poland, in this case, core Stettin and try and get the union over Ansbach as they will provide you troops in the upcoming wars with Poland or the Teutonic Order.

Another way to expand which doesn't involve running into problems with aggressive expansion is to move eastwards after subjugating Wolgast and attacking the monastic Teutonic and Livonian Orders.

One thing is very likely to happen: Poland will attack the Teutonic Order. If this happens around 1448, Brandenburg should wait for their war with Wolgast to end before securing an alliance with Poland. Once the alliance is secured, Brandenburg must declare war on the Teutonic Order. Don’t attack the Order until Pomerania becomes Brandenburg's vassal. The player should attack the Teutonic Order the moment the peace is signed with Pomerania in order for Brandenburg to seize provinces from the Teutons before Poland annexes them.

By the time the war against the Teutonic Order is over, Brandenburg can raise an army with around 20 units and build enough ships to create a decent fleet. A period of peace should present itself until a second war with the Teutonic Order is waged, or until most of your aggressive expansion has ticked away.

At this point, Brandenburg should have a very low aggressive expansion rating in central Europe, which opens options to change allies. Austria is a good choice, and Denmark, if not a rival, is another. Brandenburg should then be in a good position to attack the Livonian Order, and either seize their territory or make them a vassal.

From now on the strategy is completely up to the player since the situation varies from game to game. However, it is recommended to finish expanding into Novgorod, and then slowly expanding into the German region in order to be able to form either Germany or Prussia.

Alternative opening[edit]

An alternative strategy the player can attempt is to conquer fast. Its possible to vassalise Saxony right at the start as in most cases, Saxony doesn’t get strong allies (if they do, restart the game) and it's possible to win a quick war. Like in the first strategy, it's important to always ally with Poland. The aggressive expansion for vassalising Saxony is huge, but not enough that that a coalition war could be started against Brandenburg. After that, the player is recommended to lay low since high AE doesn't allow anymore expansion for a while. About 10 years of peace is recommended to get the AE down. Sometimes, with a newer patch, Brandenburg gets the opportunity to buy Neumark from the Teutonic Order for 100 ducats, which the player should accept.

In the 10 years the player sits back and waits for AE to go down, it is recommended to prepare for war with Wolgast and attack around 1448/50. Attack, vassalise and make sure Stolp becomes a Brandenburg province, so there is a connection to Teutonic Order.

At this point, the player can follow the first strategy on this page and expand towards the east, and into Denmark to the north. Its possible to get to number 7/8 of the Great Powers by 1500. It is strongly recommended the player focus on Admin Points. It is possible Brandenburg will get behind in technology, but with strong allies, Brandenburg can gain a ton of provinces with high development, and into the Great Powers for the extra 1/1/1 Points each month.

Using the mission tree[edit]

Begin by allying two of Poland, Saxony, Bohemia, Austria or Denmark. Claim the Ansbach throne for an easy subjugation CB, with no aggressive expansion. Royal marry and guarantee Anhalt for a chance at a second personal union. Rival tiny HRE nations on the last day of November, to not give them the incentive to ally strong nations. For this reason do not rival Pomerania. When 12 Dec rolls around, declare humiliate wars on Lüneburg, Mecklenburg and so on. You should easily win, taking "Show Strength" in the peace deal for 300 monarch points and power projection. Peace out all participants individually for war reps, ducats, trade power and prestige. Save up the monarch points for tech. When the Renaissance spawns, develop Saxon provinces to 10 and Berlin to 20, hastening the institution.

During this time, fabricate a claim on Neumark. By 1448, be prepared to attack the Teutonic Order. If Poland declare war on the Teutons before the Neumark event fires, immediately declare war and occupy the province. Either way, once Neumark is yours, take the mission reward for permanent claims on Pomerania. Your aggressive expansion should be near zero, allowing you to annex Pomerania in a single war. This should cause you to eclipse your tiny rivals, allowing you to choose new rivals for a second round of farming.

Once your aggressive expansion has decayed a bit, use the permanent claims to declare war on the Teutons. Prioritise Konigsberg (to form Prussia) and Memel (to border the Livonian Order). Poland-Lithuania requires Danzig and Marienburg to form the Commonwealth. If Poland chose a Jagiellon and you want the Commonwealth in a personal union under you, sell Poland the provinces after completing the mission.

The Livonian Order are a decent subject if they have lost land. Check you can vassalize them for under 100% warscore, then use their reconquest CB (usually against Denmark). Riga is Prussian so take it for yourself. Now established, you could play a tall Brandenburg-Prussia, become the Emperor, or expand into the remnants of Novgorod, Denmark, Bohemia or the HRE. If Lithuania explodes (usually due to Poland choosing a local noble, or badly losing a war), expand into Lithuania before Russia grows too strong.

General notes[edit]

As money is a big issue for Brandenburg in the early years, to be able to get at least a small profit while at the same time maintaining a sizable army, it is recommended to raise the tax in Berlin to 9 and raise the tax in some other provinces by 2 or 3, as this lets Brandenburg earn a few extra gold per month, making it possible to have 1 or 2 Advisors.
Building a church in the capital province and in other high administrative development provinces is also recommended.
To increase trade income, it is a good idea to go for Hamburg, Lubeck, and to expand into Denmark (While at the same time managing their aggressive expansion), to get a good presence in the Lubeck trade node. Focusing too much on trade however may hurt Brandenburg's ability to have a strong fleet, as the focus would be on light ships, making the potential wars against Denmark significantly harder.
It may also be a good idea to ally Austria to avoid unlawful territory requests
If going for the route of conquest, dismantling the HRE when the emperor is weak would make expanding within Germany easy. When the time comes, France, Poland, Sweden and other powerful neighbors will be helpless against the Prussian military.
At the start of the campaign, if you want to have a navy after the conquest of a sea province, it is advised to build galleys, as the Baltic sea is inland, giving the galley damage boost. They are also really cheap, which suits early game Brandenburg's needs

Country guides

Western technology group