Cologne

Primary culture

Rhenish (Germanic)

Capital province

Köln (85)

Government

Clerical State

State religion

Catholic

Technology group

Western

Colognian ideas

Please help with verifying or updating this infobox. It was last verified for version 1.33.

Traditions:

+1 Missionary

+15% National manpower modifier

The Pursuit of Territorial Unity

−10% Aggressive expansion impact

Archicancellarius per Italiam

−1% Prestige decay

Hanseatic Trade City

−10% Development cost

Prime Minister of Cologne

+0.5 Yearly devotion

+0.5 Yearly legitimacy

−0.03 Monthly autonomy change

Pivotal Ecclesiastic Territory

+3% Missionary strength vs heretics

Shifting Alliances

+1 Diplomatic relation

Order of St. Michael

+5% Discipline

Ambition:

−20% Unjustified demands

Cologne is a TPM in western Germany. It starts as an elector of the Holy Roman Empire. One important thing to remember is that Cologne can't form royal marriages at the beginning of the game, which affects Cologne's diplomacy. Cologne starts off in the Northwest German region. Cologne has the further disadvantage of having their provinces split and enemies surrounding them. In order to survive, Cologne must get a large ally fairly quickly and grab land under the protection of their larger ally.

Missions[edit | edit source]

Main article: Colognian missions

Events[edit | edit source]

Main article: Colognian events

Decisions[edit | edit source]

id

Form Westphalia

As the ideas of the Enlightenment are sweeping through Europe, we may choose to embrace them ourselves in Westphalia. Our future model state will feature ideas as revolutionary as equal rights for all male population, freedom for serfs and emancipation for the Jews, as well as enabling of free enterprise through abolition of socage and the guilds.

Potential requirements

Westphalia does not exist.
The country:

was never an end-game nation.
was never a German regional nation.
is not Hanover, the Papal State, the Holy Roman Empire, Germany, Prussia, or Switzerland.
has not enacted this decision before.
is not a colonial nation.
has Westphalian or Rhenish primary culture.
does not have the Celestial Empire reform.

If the country is AI-controlled, it:

is not a custom nation.
is not a former colonial nation.
owns core provinces Westfalen and Niederhessen, plus one of Köln, Trier, Mainz, or Münster.

Playing with normal or historical nations.

Allow

The country:

has an administrative technology of at least 10.
is not a subject nation other than a tributary state.
is not at war.
is not a nomad nation.
owns core provinces:
- Westfalen
- Niederhessen
- Either Köln, Trier, Mainz, or Münster.
owns at least 12 core provinces in the North Germany region with Westphalian or Rhenish culture.

Effects

The country:

becomes Westphalia.
gains 25 prestige.
gets new missions.
gets the event ‘New Traditions & Ambitions’, unless it is a custom nation.
increases rank to kingdom, if:
- it is a duchy
- it either is an elector of the Holy Roman Empire or is not a member.
promotes Rhenish and Westphalian cultures.
gets permanent claims on all unowned provinces in:
- South Westphalia area
- North Westphalia area
- Hesse area
- Palatinate area
- North Rhine area
- Lower Rhineland area.
- Europe with Westphalian or Rhenish culture.
gets “Increased Centralization” for 20 years, giving:
- −0.05 monthly autonomy change,
- +1 national unrest.

AI will always take this decision

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 nation.
is not The Papal State, Holy Roman Empire or Roman Empire
has not yet enacted this decision.
is not a colonial nation.
is in the Germanic culture group except Dutch culture.

If the country is AI-controlled then it:

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

Playing with normal or historical nations.

Allow

The country:

has an administrative technology of at least 20.
is not a subject nation other than a tributary state.
is not at war.
is not a nomad nation.
is not the emperor of the Holy Roman Empire.
owns core provinces:
- Berlin
- München
- Brunswick
- Augsburg or Stuttgart
- Nürnberg or Frankfurt
- Niederhessen or Köln
- Königsberg or Straßburg
- Hamburg or Lübeck
- Dresden or Erfurt
owns at least 50 core provinces across the North Germany and South Germany regions.

Effects

The country:

becomes Germany.
gains 25 prestige.
gets new missions.
gets the event ‘New Traditions & Ambitions’, unless it is a custom nation.
leaves the Holy Roman Empire.
increases rank to empire.
gets a permanent claim on North Germany and South Germany regions.
gets “Increased Centralization” for 20 years, giving:
- −0.05 monthly autonomy change,
- +1 national unrest.

The emperor of the HRE:

gets the opinion modifier “Left the Holy Roman Empire” ( −150 opinion / +1 yearly decay) towards Germany.
gets the event ‘Germany breaks out of the Empire’.

AI will always take this decision unless it is

Austria

Strategy[edit | edit source]

Start of you should immediately go for the alliance with trier and mainz you might want to save scum though because they like to rival eachother then pick papal influence which you will mostly likely in the diet then improve stability so you gain devotion and after that you will be getting 8 papal influence a turn which you want to make as quick as possible becasue the reformation is most certainly gonna turn your country protestant or reformed but before that you want to expand into the territories that you need for your missions so you will have all those extra buffs before inevitably Westphalia for there better missions and economic ideas and the first target should be Berg which holds a province that you should take to get the first mission to unite your capital (Koln) with your two other territories.

After you've completed that just keep focusing on missions and try to quickly get the first national idea which lowers aggressive expansion which you pretty much need to take a decent chunk of provinces without getting into a war against a million tiny german states and most likely austria.

After you've finished all your territorial missions ignore the religious ones since most likely trier or mainz are no longer catholic and go for westphalia which has a larger mission tree for you with all new missions and it buffs your new capital which you start with as cologne and now after that your pretty set just try to quickly become a monarchy or someone else will steal the imperial throne from you and when you win the religious war you get an event as Westphalia to giving you permanent till the end of the game.

After that it's Smoove sailings from there since you should at least have 20 to 30 divisions on your own and with Westphalia extra accepted culture slot which should give you 4 in total you can easily form germany or just play a weird cursed HRE.

Country guides

Western technology group