Hello

[Martok]

Greetings, frederick! Welcome to the Org.

If you have not done so already, I recommend you go to MTW Guides and check out Frogbeastegg's Beginners Guide to Medieval: Total War, along with Cheetah's HRE guide. Both are very useful and informative in helping you with your game.

That said, unless you truly have your heart set on playing the Germans, I would honestly suggest trying a different faction instead. A lot of MTW players here will agree with me that the HRE--despite its difficulty rating being listed as "Moderate"--in actuality is probably one of the most difficult factions to do well as, particularly for relative newcomers to the game.

If you're at all interested, the following factions are probably the ones I've seen most often recommended for newer players: Almohads, Danes, Egyptians, English, & Spanish. These factions all have 2 or more of the following things in their favor:
1.) Good lands (and therefore good starting income)
2.) Decent rulers/princes
3.) Good starting position
4.) Unit roster is strong and/or easy to use in battle.
Note: I recommend these factions based on if you're starting in the Early period. In the High period, for instance, the Danes and especially the Almohads aren't as strong as they are in Early; whereas factions such as the French and the Turks are in a better position than they were before.

I wish you success on your campaign, Frederick!