My style of play would depand of my faction... As the French, I rushed to the English, then HRE as they attacked me, and the french king have been at war 9 years out of 10.

However, with the danes, I took Scandinavia, then started a trading empire, taking all the ressource-filled rebel provinces around the baltic sea. Then, I only took rebel provinces, from the start or civil war, with one exception, a heavy strike on 3 HRE provinces to balance a western european conflict.