Paradox Interactive Games

Forming Prussia is no easy task. There are around 4-5 factions that are ideally placed to form Prussia from a reasonably early point in the game. These are as follows:

• Teutonic Order
• Brandenburg
• Pomernia
• Saxony
• Poland

Overall, the first 3 are the best options. This is due to Poland being able to form the CommonWealth later in the game and is often in a Personal Union with Lithuania. Alongside this Poland will also be dealing with the fact that it is not a member of the HRE and so will struggle with taking provinces from them.

Saxony is perhaps a little too far away and considerably smaller and less powerful than the surrounding nations.

The Teutonic Order are ideally placed for this task and have strong national ideals that will work well early game. One issue you will face as the Order though is Poland. Poland frequently attack early game and without powerful allies they are hard to beat, particularly when they have joined with Lithuania to form the PU making them twice as deadly. The Order is sadly not classed as a member of the HRE and this again increases the difficulty.

If playing as Brandenburg you will find that whilst you have the advantage of better positioning the national ideas are not quite as strong early game. However it is easier to make friends, and you are part of the HRE. Brandenburg is also able to ally with Poland fairly early which can be a strong advantage. You should either make use of this Alliance early to wage wars and take land or wait until Poland attack the Order and use the distraction they create to seize as much territory (key territory for Prussia) as you can! Poland will dislike this, they see the land in that area as theirs, however they will try and encroach on the HRE if they can and you need to be able to stop this early. If you do not address this they will become an increasing nuisance.

Problems

Poland are a rather large problem sadly. No matter what faction you play in the area they will either attack the Order or start encroaching on the HRE. If they do not push towards HRE, perhaps they will push to Muscovy or Hungary. In any of these situations it is vital that you stop them from expanding quickly. If they cannot expand the threat that they start off as begins to diminish. This is incredibly important as late game they can become not only a blockade but also a significant threat that stops you from expanding borders on all sides for fear of attack. They are fairly docile early game but once they have formed the CommonWealth this changes and they become significantly more aggressive and power thirsty!

Pomerania is a relatively small nation and shouldn't pose too much of a problem. They often have a succession war, which will allow you to get the Casus Belli from them. It is possible that the Emperor will demand land back from you. It is important that you should not cede the land back unless Pomerania is your vassal!

Steps

If you haven't already taken Danzig in your first attack on the Order them you should prepare to do so now. From here you will be attempting to take out the Westphalian countries and slowly take the North to ensure a steady footing and a clear block of land.

The Order is next on the list. By now they will be residing in a small portion of land, it is time to finish them off and ensure that Poland does not take the rest of their land. This should secure you with another 2 or 3 provinces depending on what is left. This could be a valuable time to vassalise them.

By this point in the game you should be able to, or will have already allied with Austria or other large global powers. From here you will need cash and to do this you will be required to take Lubeck. Lubeck is a key location for trade and will be what provides you with a large cash flow. Pomerania should be annexed around a similar time. It is possible you will need to vassalise Lubeck, though because they are a member of the HRE this will be harder to do so.

This should lead you to around 1520-1525 during which you will be able to form Prussia and convert to Protestant. Converting is a significant point and to ensure Prussia is at her strongest will be required. From here you will need to push Southward and encounter the likes of Bohemia. Bohemia are a tough enemy and often have Poland as their allies. You will need Austria's help to take them out!

From here you are able to ally with other global powers and start taking out the smaller factions to form Germany afterwards. This can be slow progress but by the early 1600s you should have more of, if not all of the cores.

Allies

Allies are important for forming Prussia. You must choose carefully and choose powerful alliances that will last a long time. If you do not manage this it is possible you will be betrayed and people will not come to your help against Poland.

If you form strong alliances Poland will be unable to bring harm to you and you will find the overall passing of the game becomes significantly easier. This does not mean that this will be easy, Prussia are without a doubt one of the harder factions in the game to play well and to succeed. However, with a little bit of perseverance you will easily smash Poland and her commonwealth into oblivion and conquer the whole of Germany for the world to see!