Austria Meta in Multiplayer

[delta180]

I have played multiplayer for some time but not as a major nation and recently I have been thinking of playing my favourite single player nation, Austria

Problem I have is there seems to be a meta to playing multiplayer as Austria, all the Austrian players I have ever played with try to make 2 things happen
- union with Bohemia
- Austrian favoured Burgundian succession

I myself have never wanted either of these in my single player games as they are notoriously double edged swords and I don't know if the reward is worth the risk

The union with Bohemia will give you a powerful early vassal but make it harder to be re-elected by AI, I have always prefer an alliance with Bohemia instead, from what I can tell it is harder to keep the Empire in multiplayer because of the tendency for players to excommunicate the Emperor if and when they can

Next the Burgundian succession, which gives you a powerful early game boom but does the same for France. Later in the game the Dutch will rise up and try to take that land back as well. I don't know how the war works but I assume it calls all of the Austrian rivals into it since I have seen the Dutch be joined by nations such as the Ottomans

in multiplayer is it advisable to go against the meta or should I try to union Bohemia and fire Burgundian succession despite the risks involved?

 

[Brima]

I don't really see the Burgundian Sucession as such a risk because :
- Yes, France gets provinces but you get much more development than them and the French would get these provinces anyway and even more, if Burgundy survived unless you protected them
- All these HRE provinces rejoining the HRE stops the Emperor from losing Imperial authority which is a great thing
- These provinces make you have a lot more borders (and so CB) with HRE members, which is great when the Reformation kicks in if you want to erase religious centers
- Dutch revolts? By the time they kick in, you should be so powerful that it shouldn't matter. And if it matters, you can always bug exploit and move your capital there, which prevents the revolts.

And, as Austria, even with Bohemia as a lesser partner (which is such a stupid game mechanic), I shouldn't worry about being reelected...

 

[magni_]

Next the Burgundian succession, which gives you a powerful early game boom but does the same for France. Later in the game the Dutch will rise up and try to take that land back as well. I don't know how the war works but I assume it calls all of the Austrian rivals into it since I have seen the Dutch be joined by nations such as the Ottomans

in multiplayer is it advisable to go against the meta or should I try to union Bohemia and fire Burgundian succession despite the risks involved?

About Burgundian succession, neatherlands will only revolt, if u fail to culture convert the low lands, and Austria get's a lot more than France.

Good players that play Austria in MP do normally one or more of those 5:

Go Hostile to Poland (together with moskau) and form Prussia and basically not care about uniting the HRE

Go Hostile to Italy and forming Italy and basically not care about uniting the HRE

Going Hostile on HRE players, and removing all players from the HRE (this is the most realistic chance to unite the HRE in MP)

Going Hostile on France, together with England & Castile in to one of the above options


The PU on Bohemia is done in most of those cases, if there players allow them to get away with it

 

[MiniaAr]

It depends on the size of your MP.
If there are more than 20 players in the Euro/Med region, chances are that there is a Burgundian played, and 3 to 4 players in the HRE alone (and a couple of Italian, an Hungarian one, etc....)

In this case, the union on Bohemia is a must have. Usually, there will be played electors as well: Brandenburg almost certainly, Cologne or Palatinate are likely candidates as well. It's pretty much meta to demand their vote in exchange of you not interfering in their blob in the HRE, provided they don't interfere with your own plans (namely gobbling up Bavaria directly as fast as possible). Also, you can instruct other players to do away with electors with your approval, so that you can name other players in the AI stead and that they vote for you. If a Dutch minor is played (Holland/Brabant), this is a likely candidate for such an electoral post (it prevents them from leaving the HRE once they form the Netherlands).

Once again, you have to be prepared to use the Imperial stick to ensure they're kept in line. An early game "Demand unlawful territory" is terrible for a played HRE minor (because the relation penalty will interfere with their coalition management). Thus any reasonable played will accept to vote for you in exchange of this.

In the MP I play, we have such a setup and we also remove the Burgundian inheritance from the equation (by having someone join for 2 minutes in the first session as Burgundy, as this prevents the event) and a Dutch minor player.

This ensure that France isn't going to be boxed in by an early HAB/BUR alliance, but on the other hand usually ensures that HRE minors are going to support a strong Austria to prevent France going for the Rhineland on day one. Also without the inheritance, France has to spend time, money and MP actually conquering Burgundy, which can be a good time for an Austrian/Castillan player to strike as well.

I agree with magni afterwards. You usually will go hostile to France (you'll want a border around Alsace and the Swiss mountains), and you'll probably go hostile to either Poland, North Italy, the other HRE minors (beware that an alliance of 2 of those never gets stronger than you) or alternatively Hungary (which can be counter-productive as this will also benefits the Ottomans usually greater than you).

The Union with Bohemia is great because this is a large subject with a large army, and you won't be spending mana in the early game to secure this territory, which allows you to use those ressources elsewhere (Bavaria, Switzerland, the Rhineland or even North Italy)