Quote Originally Posted by putts
So...that's it,really...
How can I improve my starting strategy?
How do I make my income not so reliant on my Emperor?
How do I avoid always being the bad guy and getting excommed?
How do I keep "friends" during a war?


Thanks for any help. Greatly Appreciated.
Welcome to the Org, putts!

I've not played as the Germans very often -- although coincidentally enough, I just started an HRE campaign myself a few days ago -- so I'm maybe not the best person to give you advice for this particular faction. I'll do my best, however....



How can I improve my starting strategy?
I'd say the placement and disposition of your armies is probably pretty good -- at least as good as it can be, considering the HRE is often attacked by multiple factions -- so I won't go into that.

Obviously, money is a big priority for the Germans early on, as their starting lands simply aren't very good income-wise. Given that, here's what I would recommend:

For one thing, I would hold off on upgrading the farmland in every single one of your provinces right away; it's not cost-effective to do so, especially early in the game when your funds are limited. Initially, you should try to only build farmland upgrades in provinces that already have an income of at least 250 florins or more, as that will mean your income *after* the farmland has been improved will be increased by at least 50 florins/year.

Now in your particular case, I'm not sure any German provinces have even that high an income -- except for maybe Provence -- so you'll have to lower your standards a bit, say to provinces with a base income of around 200 florins. Also, you'll probably want to build the 20% farm upgrade in at least one your troop-producing provinces, so that you can then construct the Horse Farmer line of buildings in order to be able to train your cavalry units. (It's unfortunately not very economical to upgrade the land in the 3 provinces listed, but it can't really be helped.)

Otherwise, however, I wouldn't bother to build farmland upgrades anywhere else just yet. Once your economy has improved somewhat and you have more money available, you can then build them where you see fit. If you've not already done so, I would recommend you build mines and trading posts in provinces with metals (excluding iron of course) and/or trade goods.


How do I make my income not so reliant on my Emperor?
This is a phenomenon most MTW players deal with to some extent or another, and unfortunately it's something that can't really be helped very much. If your Emperor had a high Acumen rating, and/or had one of the income-increasing virtues such as "Trader" or "Steward" -- I'm guessing your Emperor had one of the Steward traits since you built all those farm upgrades -- there's not a whole lot that can be done directly to cushion the economic blow from his death.

About the best thing you can do to alleviate the money strain is to just make sure you've appointed decent governors to all your provinces -- preferably generals with 4 acumen or more -- especially to your bigger money-making territories (Austria, Saxony, etc.). Also make sure you bestow the "state" office (Imperial/Grand Chamberlain, etc.) to a general with good Acumen as well.


How do I avoid always being the bad guy and getting excommed? How do I keep "friends" during a war?
LOL! Sorry, I'm not laughing at you; it's just that those are probably the two most frequently-asked questions by people playing the HRE. The unfortunate fact is, that as the Germans, it's extremely difficult -- if not impossible -- to obtain a favorable outcome in either of these two categories.

The empire's sheer size means it almost never has the Pope's favor in any war between it and another Catholic faction, and usually your Emperor's influence isn't high enough to keep many friends during military conflicts, especially early on in the game. And even if you're able to get his Influence to a decent level (6 crowns or higher), it still doesn't guarantee he'll retain more allies than before.



I wish I could give you better advice, putts, but the simple fact is that overall the HRE is one of the hardest factions in the game ("Moderate" difficulty my foot!). A German campaign is going to be challenging at almost every level, especially in the Early period -- you have a large area to defend, generals lacking both ability *and* loyalty, poor lands, enemies on all sides, and the Pope breathing down your neck at almost every turn.

If I discover any strategies that work when playing my HRE campaign, I'll certainly let you know....but I'm probably going to struggle through it just as much as you are now!