Bavaria

This article is only accurate for EU3 and Napoleon’s Ambition, version 2.2.
Please help update this page to include information on the IN, HTTT and DW expansions.

Bavaria
At the start of the Grand Campaign – 14 October 1399
Basic Stats
Government type	Feudal Monarchy
Technology group	Latin
Number of provinces	4
Capital province	München
Center of Trade	None
State religion	Catholic
Primary culture	Bavarian
Other accepted cultures	None
Sliders Centralization <▪▪▪▪▪▫▪▪▪♦▪> very decentralized Decentralization Aristocracy <▪▪♦▪▪▫▪▪▪▪▪> quite aristocratic Plutocracy Serfdom <▪♦▪▪▪▫▪▪▪▪▪> much serfdom Free Subject Innovative <▪▪▪▪▪▫♦▪▪▪▪> slightly narrowminded Narrowminded Mercantilism <♦▪▪▪▪▫▪▪▪▪▪> extremely mercantilistic Free Trade Offensive <▪▪▪▪▪♦▪▪▪▪▪> balanced Defensive Land <▪▪♦▪▪▫▪▪▪▪▪> quite land oriented Naval Quality <▪▪▪▪▪♦▪▪▪▪▪> balanced Quantity

Bavaria is one of the stronger German nations, bordering Austria, Bohemia, the Palatinate and a handful of minors.

Initial position

Advantages

• Decently sized territory
• Single culture (Bavarian) with some additional provinces of the same culture held by smaller neighbours
• Provinces are rich and high in manpower
• Austria's and Aquileia's gold provinces are within close reach
• Many unique missions (compared to the rest of the German states) mainly focused on conquest

Disadvantages

• Next door to powerhouses Austria and Bohemia
• Landlocked
• Relatively difficult to expand within HRE
• Poor starting sliders

Its sliders and the fact that Bavaria is landlocked make it not very well suited for trade. Merchants will be very expensive to place, yet easily competed away. The country is surrounded by fellow HRE states, which will be a crucial factor for diplomacy and expansion initially, regardless of your goals.

In Nomine

Most of the advise for NA below still applies in In Nomine. By bribing the electors it should not be very hard to become Holy Roman Emperor. The increased manpower, stability investments and calls to war will provide ample opportunity to expand. A feasible as well as historically plausible goal for Bavaria would be to try to unite Germany.

Napoleon's Ambition

Opening moves

Playing as Bavaria in Napoleon's Ambition it is vital to choose a good advisor. Go for one providing a high land, production or trade technology investment. The key is to get a higher land technology level than your enemies. Investing in naval research is obviously useless. Try to ally with your big neighbours. Austria would be the best choice, or at least Bohemia, so they do not attack you at the first hint of vulnerability. Salzburg is a great target of an early annexation raid. It's wealthy and will be taken by Austria if you don't rush for it.

Early military expansion

It can be advisable to wait until the other minors in your area ally with each other. Most of your neighbours only have one province or very few. So annexing them at one or trying a turbo-annex is possible. Meanwhile try to send numerous traders to Venice, Lübeck, Antwerp or Genoa to get a good trade income. With that money, build up an army of about 5000 or more men. While time goes by, wait until someone declares war to you and then do the easiest thing to get new land: attack their ally. If one neighbour is allied with someone further afield then declare war at range while absorbing the provinces local to yourself, beware infamy from this tactic however. The common tactics like lending money that they can't pay back, fabricate claims or send warnings are useful to get at least a casus belli.

Mid game

At some point, you will get closer to the real hard enemies: France, Burgundy, Austria, Poland, Lithuania and the Ottomans. You can try to ally with one of them, but they will certainly break the alliance some day. Hamburg is often invaded by England. You can get it from them, but they will then declare war to you very very often. As long as you keep playing in the middle of Europe, they are no real enemy. They will send occasionally a fleet carrying 1-3 regiments, so keep your coasts guarded. Most times they try to invade you from the north, especially through Denmark, Sweden or Norway.

Late Game

Once you have united Germany and hold wide parts of Europe, you can start with very different actions: go for Africa, conquer the Near East (Jerusalem and Mecca give a nice bonus), set up colonies in America or conquer the Aztecs and Mayas. Or try to wipe France, England or Castille from the map. Keep in mind, that "Deus Vult" (Unam Sanctum in IN) becomes handy outside of Europe, and beware of the high attrition in tropical provinces.

Country guides

Europe:

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European minors • Dutch minors • French minors • Irish minors • Russian minors • Turkish minors

Asia:

Aceh • Ayutthaya • Bali • Bihar • Brunei • Golden Horde • Hindustan • Japan • Kazakh • Korea • Malacca • Manchu • Minamoto • Ming • Mongol Khanate • Nogai • Oirat Horde • Orissa • Pegu • Qin • Rajputana • Ryukyu • Vijayanagar • Wu • Xia
Indian minors • Southeast Asian minors

Near East

Ak Koyunlu • Jalayirids • Khorasan • Najd • Oman • Ottomans • Persia • Qara Koyunlu • The Mamluks • Timurids • Trebizond • Yemen

Americas

Aztecs • Chimu • Haiti • Inca • Maya • USA • Zapotec 
American Natives

Africa

Adal • Algiers • Ethiopia • Morocco • Mutapa • Songhai • Tunisia