Nitra

Primary culture

Slovak (Carpathian)

Capital province

Pozsony (1774)

Government

Feudal Nobility

State religion

Catholic

Technology group

Eastern

Slovak ideas

Traditions:

+10% Infantry combat ability

+20% Fort defense

Rudohorie

+10% Goods produced modifier

Universitas Istropolitana

−10% Administrative technology cost

Golden Kremnica

+0.10 Yearly inflation reduction

Land of Castles

−10% Fort maintenance

+10% Garrison size

Town Air Liberates

−10% Infantry cost

Slovak Literary Language

−1 National unrest

Slovak National Awakening

+10% Morale of armies

Ambition:

+10% Production efficiency

Nitra is a nation in Eastern Europe. It is also the primary nation of the Slovak culture. It doesn't exist in any start but can be released by Hungary.

Historically, the Duchy of Nitra merged with the neighbouring Duchy of Moravia to form the Great Moravian Empire in 833. Nitra remained a part of Great Moravia until 907 when the country disintegrated and the lands of the duchy were annexed by the newly formed Principality of Hungary. The Duchy's autonomous status was restored in the early 11th century, except for a brief period of time when it was a part of Poland. In 1108, the ducal rights of Nitra were abolished by the King Coloman and the duchy was fully integrated into Hungary.

Strategy[edit | edit source]

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

The player's first goal is achieving independence. Nitra generally does not struggle to secure its independence because its overlord, Hungary, has many strong enemies that will support independence even with the diplomatic malus on higher difficulty settings. It is recommended to restart until Poland and Bohemia have both rivaled Hungary, but the Ottomans are a viable alternative. The player can ease this process by ruining Hungary before releasing Nitra as playable, or by rivaling Austria to prevent Hungary from securing an alliance with them, but this is not required. The player should develop the gold mine, which Nitra has a starting core on, in order to maximize income.Crippling Hungary in the independence war is not always desirable because it can allow the Ottomans to dominate the Balkans much more quickly, which may conflict with some players' long-term goals, but if the Ottomans are used to support independence the player can build trust and rely on Ottoman help later in the run. It is recommended in the first peace deal to secure the province of Maramaros, which can be released as a vassal Kiev or Transylvania for further defensiveness.

Once free, Nitra is in a weak but stable position; its neighbors, Poland and Bohemia, generally will not act hostile to Nitra because Slovak culture is in the Carpathian rather than the West Slavic group. The biggest threat is its former overlord, Hungary, but this danger can be mitigated by joining the HRE. This is generally necessary for the Great Moravia achievement, as many of the required provinces are within the empire and conflict with Austria is best avoided. After independence, Nitra should focus on consolidation. Playing tall is a viable option, as Nitra has defensive terrain with multiple forts, valuable trade goods, and a gold mine. Its small size allows for rapid institution spread, especially if it cultivates strong relations with Austria and Bohemia; diplomatic relations and idea groups are not immediate priorities, so developing its gold mine is the best use for spare diplomatic points. This will lead to high inflation, but the increase in income will support advisors and an army at the force limit.

To accomplish the achievement, players can focus on opportunistic expansion with the help of Austria or the Ottomans, or seek election as the Holy Roman Emperor, which will grant sufficient force limit to fight wars for the needed provinces. It is possible to maintain the alliance with Bohemia until securing election, then break the relationship in order to expand into the Czech lands needed for the achievement; releasing a West Slavic subject such as Moravia from captured Bohemian provinces can be advantageous because of the mismatched culture group. It is recommended to target Austrian provinces last for the achievement unless the player can secure Ottoman support, because Austria's high development and strong diplomatic relationships will create a bottleneck and slow down progress toward the other provinces.

Idea groups[edit | edit source]

Economic ideas are an excellent first choice, as Nitra has relatively few provinces to core in the early game and will benefit from every idea in the group, especially inflation reduction. Nitra has serviceable production provinces, but trade ideas are not a useful alternative to economic ideas because of their high diplomatic point cost and Nitra's poor starting node. A good second idea group is quality, which is beneficial for the policy and compounds Nitra's national ideas and Eastern tech cavalry; however, players not interested in becoming emperor may consider quantity or offensive ideas instead for the buff to forcelimit.