Saxony

Primary culture

Saxon (Germanic)

Capital province

Dresden (61)

Government

Feudal Nobility

State religion

Catholic

Technology group

Western

Saxon ideas

Traditions:

−10% Development cost

−10% Advisor cost

Albertine and Ernestine Lines

+1 Diplomat

Meissner Porcelain

+10% Goods produced modifier

The Zwinger

+1 Diplomatic reputation

Wittenberg University

+3 Tolerance of heretics

Corpus Evangelicorum

+1 Diplomatic relation

+10% Church power

Principal Line

+10% National tax modifier

The Saxon Circle

+5% Discipline

Ambition:

+1 Yearly prestige

The power of the von Wettins of Saxony has increased substantially in recent years, to the degree that they now form one of the most powerful states in Germany. First, the male line of the Askaniers of Saxe-Wittenberg died out in 1423 and their land – and their title as Elector – was bestowed upon the von Wettins by the Holy Roman Emperor.

Thuringia was then acquired in 1440, when Friedrich IV the Peaceful, the cousin of Prince-Elector Friedrich II of Saxony, died. However, with this rapid expansion comes new challenges: Jealous of the Prince-Elector's success, his brother Wilhelm seeks land for himself and his successors, and is intent on splitting the Wettin inheritance.

Threats to Saxony's newfound ascendancy abound elsewhere too. To the south lie the Kingdom of Bohemia, a powerful nation prone to heresy. In case of war with Bohemia, Saxony will struggle to stand alone against their might. Even worse, the Habsburgs of Austria have designs on the Bohemian throne - should they inherit it, this will have far-reaching consequences for the balance of power in the Empire...

On the other hand, to the north lie the Hohenzollerns of Brandenburg. An ambitious medium-sized power, they would prove valuable allies or worthy rivals in equal measure. Saxony could make common cause with them against Bohemia, but this path may risk aggravating the mighty Poland. Perhaps it would be safer to simply conquer Brandenburg and join their power to Saxony in that manner.

If all these threats can be neutralized through diplomacy or military strength, considerable possibilities open up for Saxony. To the west and south-west lie the diverse rincipalities, bishoprics and free cities of the Lower Saxons, Westphalians and Franconians - petty states with little military capability of their own. They would fall easily to a united Saxony that is able to dedicate its full attention to their conquest...

For the area, see Saxony (area).

Saxony is a four province country in the north-central area of Germany, beginning the campaign as a senior partner in a personal union over Thuringia. It borders Brandenburg, Anhalt, Magdeburg, Bohemia, Thuringia, and Goslar. Saxony starts out as one of the electors of the Holy Roman Empire.

Missions[edit]

Main article: Saxon missions

Events[edit]

Main article: Saxon events

Re-formation[edit]

id

Form Saxony

The Duchy of Saxony has passed hands between dynasties and even shifted territory considerably over the centuries. Perhaps we too should lay claim to it?

Potential requirements

The country:

was never an end-game tag.
was never a German regional tag.
has Saxon as primary culture or is Saxe-Lauenburg.
is not a colonial nation.

If the country is AI controlled,

it cannot be a custom nation.
it cannot be a former colonial nation.

Allow

Saxony does not exist.

The country:

is not a subject nation other than a tributary state.
is not at war.
owns its following core provinces:
- Wittenberg (59).
- Dresden (61) or Leipzig (62).
owns at least 6 core provinces in Saxony (area),Thuringia (area) or Saxony-Anhalt.

Effects

The country:

changes to Saxony.
gains 25 prestige.
gets permanent claims on all provinces of Saxony (area),Thuringia (area) or Saxony-Anhalt that it does not own.
gets the modifier “Increased Centralization” for 20 years with the following effects:
- −0.05 monthly autonomy change,
- +1 national unrest.

If Saxony:

is not a custom nation
- then it gets the event “New Traditions & Ambitions”.
was not formed by Thuringia
- then it obtains new missions.(which are Saxon missions)

Decisions[edit]

As a country with Saxon primary culture Saxony is able to form Prussia. The player should not form Prussia if they wish to achieve the Meissner Porcelain achievement.

id

Reform into Prussia

The lands once conquered and Germanized by the Teutonic Order will always need protection against rapacious neighbors. Should the Order fail in this duty, we can take their place and usher in a new era of prosperity and Prussian discipline.

Potential requirements

Playing with normal or historical nations
Has never been an end-game tag
Has not formed Prussia before
Primary culture is Pomeranian, Saxon or Prussian
Is not Prussia, Germany, the Holy Roman Empire, Brandenburg
Is not the Teutonic Order with theocracy government reform enabled
Does not have the Celestial Empire government reform
Is not a theocracy
If AI-controlled:
- Is not playing a custom nation
- The Protestant or Reformed religion is enabled
- Prussia does not exist

Allow

Prussia does not exist
Administrative technology is at least 10
is not a subject nation other than a tributary state.
Is not a steppe horde
Is not at war
Religion is Reformed or Protestant
Owns core provinces Königsberg (41), Warmia (42) and Danzig (43)

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.
changes its government to monarchy
enacts the government reform Prussian Monarchy
gains 25 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.
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
does not have custom or Prussian ideas
- then it gets the event ‘New Traditions & Ambitions’.

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 a colonial nation.
has one of the following cultures as primary culture:
- Westphalian, Pomeranian, Rhenish, Saxon, Bavarian, Prussian, Swabian or Franconian.

If the country is AI-controlled then it:

must have at least 15 cities and 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 or Köln (85)
- Owns Königsberg (41) or Strasbourg
- Owns Hamburg (44) or Lübeck
- Owns Dresden (61) or Erfurt
50 Owned core province in:
- North Germany
- South Germany

Effects

The country:

changes to Germany.
gets empire government rank.
leaves the HRE.
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’.
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’.

Strategy[edit]

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

Saxony begins the game in 1444 as an elector of the Holy Roman Empire. It is a challenging nation to play, with the potential to form Prussia, Germany or become leader of a united Holy Roman Empire.

Since it finds itself in a central location in the HRE, Saxony can expand easily by picking off smaller nations. To do that, however, it is important that the player ally with Austria at the very start of the game. Having the Emperor as an ally will ensure that the Emperor doesn't demand provinces that you conquer inside the HRE. After that, the player can use diplomats to constantly build spy network and then fabricate claims on and then invade Anhalt, Wurzburg, Brunswick, Magdeburg, Hesse, and even Bohemia and Brandenburg if possible.

Another way for Saxony to greatly increase in size is by marrying into Burgundy and hoping for the Burgundian Inheritance to hit. The provinces of the Low Countries are rich and provide lots of tax income. By placing a merchant in the English channel trade node, Saxony can generate larger monthly incomes, allowing the player to hire better advisors and therefore accumulate more monarch points. The boost to manpower from these provinces also enable the player to build larger armies to take down larger alliances. The downsides to this strategy is that it creates a direct border with France. And if France decides to rival Saxony, then those lands would become plum targets right for the picking. A good way to prevent this is by rivaling England immediately after the Burgundian Inheritance and marrying into France. With some luck, the player will have an alliance comprising of Austria and France, giving the player the option to attack larger countries like Poland without fear.

Such a strategy works especially well if the player aims to become the Emperor. To do that, it is essential to ally with three other electors in order to therefore guarantee four votes out of seven (since Saxony starts as an elector itself). The best candidates for such an alliance would be Cologne, Mainz, and Trier, though Brandenburg can be a good ally too. As soon as the Austrian Emperor dies, Saxony will become the new Emperor. This will give greater freedom for the player to conquer provinces within the HRE. The danger, however, of this route is navigating through the Reformation. If the player can manage to win the League Wars as the Emperor, Saxony's dominance can be consolidated, and it can expand south into Italy and east into Poland.

If the player wants to form Prussia and/or Germany, the best option is to expand towards Brandenburg and then the Teutonic Order (or what remains of it). Since the latter is outside the Empire, grabbing the Prussian provinces provides a good boost of power. However, there are both pros and cons to reforming into Prussia. Saxony has excellent ideas and traditions focused heavily on diplomacy while Prussia's traditions are purely military. The formation of Prussia requires the player to be either Protestant or Reformed. Switching religions requires some planning beforehand, otherwise the process could take nearly 50 years to complete.

In order to aid the quick spread of institutions, the player must invest surplus monarch points into developing the Saxon capital to 20 development, and other provinces to a minimum of 10 development. If the player wishes to build Saxony into a land power, there is no rush to invest in diplomatic technology, since it mainly improves ships and trade. Instead, the diplomatic points can be used to grab Diplomatic and Influence ideas. These two idea groups provide a lot of bonuses that will allow for more nimble diplomatic gameplay. The increase in diplomatic reputation is highly useful, especially if Saxony is the Emperor. Increase in diplomatic relations allows the player to have more vassals at the same time. Military ideas are also a decent since the player usually will have leftover military power. If the player is considering switching religions, taking the Religious national idea second can quickly convert Saxon lands. If religious ideas are chosen, only go four ideas deep since the rest of the religious tree is not worth it. However you can achieve +3 tolerance of heretics therefore 100% religious unity with Saxon ideas, full Legitimacy and Declaration of Indulgence.