Europa Universalis IV – How to play the mighty strong powerful country of Lorraine

Strategic view of the country

 
To do list : 
-getting FREEDOM 
-do not get waterlooted 
-take the place of Austria without asking 
-getting some overseas territories 
-becoming the first power OF THE ENTIRE PLANET WORLDWIDLY 
 
(I am playing with all the DLCs) 
 
Lorraine has its own doctrine set : 
 
 
 
Summary of what we get : 
 

• -10% infantry cost and +20% to the caravans as starting doctrines (those are really good) 
• +20% forts defense (not bad) 
• +10% production (good) 
• -25% on the cost to fabricate claims (very good) 
• 1 more diplomat (good in the HRE) 
• 1 more promoted culture (uuuugh…. could we get discipline instead?) 
• +2 tolerance of the true faith (ok.) 
• +1 yearly prestige (good)

 
and finally we get +10% on national tax modifier (this is certainly due to the proximity with France) 
 
AND you’re under a personal union of Provence 
 
 

FREEEEDOOOOOOM (yeah like the scots or something)

 
The first thing that prevent you from worldwide domination is the personal union. You might restart a few times as sometimes no body will like you (I know pretty realistic game). Diplomacy is esssential due to your geopolitical situation. 
 
Provence will be allied to France during a long time, you can wait for France to break up the alliance or not answering Provence’s call to arms. I didn’t wait and choosed to fight France. 
 
What are your potential ally ? 
 

• Brettony (she will always rivals Provence) 
• Savoy, if she rivals Provence 
• The Pope BUT he may excomunnicate the leader of Provence which is also yours. If he do that he will break the alliance so be fast if you count on his armies. 
• Palatinate (it’s better to blob him after) 
• Burgundy, she will be hard to ally and will anyway block you in the future 
• somethimes the tea drinkers with some improved relations but they will also block you in the future and will attack France anyway 
• Austria, certainly the better ally for this war and beyond.

 
Hire a +1 diplo rep advisor if necessary you shouldn’t be in red. You can spend some money anyway as you will recover it in peace deals. 
 
 
 
 
 
Some other countries could ally you. However it’s less frequent, even if they rival Provence (Genoa from time to time) they won’t always join you as (like Genoa) they can’t access Provence. 
 
It might not sounds enough but England will attack France (hopefully) and so you will (or wait for France to don’t join Provence in your war). Since 1.30 France is very very likely to beat easly England so a war with her is almost certain, it’s not necesseraly a bad thing as you will be able to take a bunch of money and developpement if you got Leviathan. 
 
A war against Provence alone is easy. Just be sure to take the provinces in the Lorraine state as they are what you will take in the peace deal. If you’re allied with Burgundy she will keep those provinces for herself. 
 
Do not hesitate to take the +5% morale from your “focus tree” 
 
I won this war in 1.31 with Austria, Bretonny and the Pope (I attack during the countinuation of the hundred years war, took Paris and the dev/money that come with it) 
 
You’re now free ! 
 
 

OK. But what now ?

 
 
 
Perfect name placement by the way 
It seems that it won’t be so easy, you either go again for France -_- or you can expend into the HRE -_- 
Invading France is however needed ASAP to avoid having such anenemy just next to you (and also it’s not in the HRE) 
 
Now you should save your game use as wisely as possible your diplomats, you only got 2 of them if you lose at this point it’s certainly because of an unwise use of them. 
 
If you got Leviathan ;( earn favors from your most powerful ally (Austria in my case) it’s the best thing you can do as is can solve many problems (money, manpower, ally in an offensive war) 
Otherwise look for new allies/claims 
 
The second diplomat should go for claims over Tier (“Trêves” in French I don’t know in English, it’s the orange guy next to you in the north) or the Palatinate. The one with the less ally is better to invade of course. 
 
The main idea is to get an access to the sea as soon as we possible 
 
If you have any occasion of becoming the emperor, do it only if you know what you are doing. You might not be strong enough for the reformation, if you think that’s alright, go for it. 
 
Don’t forget to train your army ! You can destroy the Verdun fort but I don’t recommand it for money reason. Replacing it later with a fort on your capital is however a great idea. 
 
During this time you can listen to some wonderful music that comes from the region of “Bitscherlond” or “Pays de Bitche” in French (which is located in Lorraine of course) : 
 

 
It’s very representative of the spirit of the region, quite funny and also available on spotify : 
https://open.spotify.com/track/0rX4rXk90dU6T4fu78S1Sq?si=96a6ab79d7804f9c 
 
MEANWHILE : 
 
 
 

Everything that can happen during this time

 
Burgundy that steal your snack at the pause : 
 
 
Solution : wait 😀 (there’s a big chance that they will attack France and won’t answer to the call to arms) or prevent it (really hard if they ain’t an ally) 
 
The wars of your allies : 
 
 
 
Genoa got attacked by the kebabs so Austria called me (I don’t know why don’t ask) and an army managed to reach me while I was training mine. I’m lucky that I didn’t get stack wiped while I was looking elsewhere and all the europeans Turks possession where occupied. The point is, keep your army alive for your future wars. The only reason why you should engage it is favors. 
 
Coalitions <3 
Hire a guy that improve the relations because it also make the agressive expension go away faster. Don’t forget to improve your relations with all the neighborhood ! 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
Sooooo apparently Lorraine is so trong that it cursed the entire spacetime 
 
New alliances : 
Poland : will be complicated unless friendly towards you 
Danemark : depends on his rivals 
Castile: if she rivals France you can ally her by improving the relation to the maximum, a royal marriage and outrageously insult one of her rival (in my game she got banged by Grenade…) 
Ottomans : good luck haha 
Moscovy : you need a miracle (in my game she got banged by Novgorod) 
 
1st doctrine : 
Diplomatic, or a military one. Exploration if you’re quick. Take what your leader is the best at. 
 
 

Crusade in Africa

 
So I managed to reach the see with 3 wars : Palatinate (2 provinces), France (3 provinces) and Burgundy (1 province). I just needed Austria in my war against France and the Pope against Burgundy. 
 
Now we are looking for a land were the agressive expension is just a number. 
 
Tutorial : 
 
YOU EITHER TOOK EXPLORATION AND GO BANG SUBSAHARIANS NATIVES 
 
OR YOU YOU TOOK MILITARY DOCTRINE SO EXPLOARATION IS NEAR 
 
OR YOU TOOK DIPLOMATIC IN WHICH CASE you’re ♥♥♥♥♥♥ ATTACK TLEMCEN WITH NO CASUS BELLI (keeping some papal influence is great for stabing up here) BUT IT’S EASIER LATER (be sure to have enough colonial range through the associated mapmode, if not, annex a less distant province from Africa) 
 
Having naval supremacy isn’t hard if you’re only fighting Tlemcen (I got an 4/3/2 admiral thanks to the orders) and is essential unless you’re in good terms with Morroco in which case you can land here. 
 
 
 
So we get a very spread out country 
 
 
 
But at least we can achieve some great things with diplo. 
 
 
 
(I allied Brandanburg, Saxony, Mainz (I don’t know the English name, “Mayence” in French). I also vassalised Baden. 
 
 

What come next

 
So I became the emperor because it’s la classe à Dallas 
 
 
 
Then I used the holy technique of “les Habsbourd, ça dégage” which means that I got Austria in a personal union through war 
 
 
 
Which, combined with the emperor title finally allowed me to reach the legitimate place of Lorraine 
 
 
 
“we became a great power” 
 
But that’s not all ! 
 
 
 
Those kind Austrians got Bohemia as a PU ! Thanks <3 ! 
 
3rd doctrine : 
I took expension as I can colonise subsaharian region with my holdings in Tlemcen, then Brazil. I discovered those region with my PU I don’t need an explorer. 
Depending of what you choosed you can take the religious doctrine or the commercial one (maybe a bit early for them) or a military one if not already done (I took defensive as 2nd doctrine) 
 
Then you just need to conquer the world, easy 
 
Through oversea first if you don’t like the HRE, if you’re emperor crush the reformation and focus on europeans affairs. 
 
You can also form the tag added in 1.30 “Lotharingie” which has really good ideas, same insane map colour and easier to form than with Burgnudy (just need “Aaachen” or “Aix-la-Chapelle” in French and 30 civilized provinces) or from France if France don’t exist anymore. 
 
Everyrhing else don’t depends on the starting country, so you can convert to heresy, make some weird central asian culture your main culture and of course having Inukshuk in every single provinces. 
 
 

Roleplay stuff

 
I will simply list some Lorraine thing for enhance a roleplay experience if you like that (not switching to wierd central asian culture for exemple) 
 

• The people of Lorraine (Lorrainers in English ? If you know it I will be glad to learn it), especially from Moselle went elsewhere, in Serbia or in the south of Brazil for exemple. More generally a lot of German people went to the eastern Europe. Convertiting culture there is therfore an interesting thing. 
   
• The Duke of Lorraine isn’t a warmonger. Spare the life of your citizens is important, even if the ruler is good at war (Charles V or René 2 for exemple) 
   
• “Français ne peut, Allemand ne veut !” which means “French can’t be, German don’t want” the culture you start with isn’t exact (it’s normal otherwise the game would have millions of differents cultures) and la Lorraine made herself through the ages between French and Germans, between the HRE and the kingdom of France, the choice between the one of the two world belongs to you ! 
   
• You don’t like England (biggest share with France lol) Joan of Arc come from Lorraine and at the time Lorraine wasn’t a part of France ! La Lorraine also killed Burgundy (England’s ally) after the battle of Nancy (more complicated than that of course go on wiki if interested) 
   
• The house of Lorraine use to be very influent ! (The Archiduke of Austria-Hungary in 1914 is from the Lorraine branch of the Habsbourg for exemple, remember, wiki is your friend !) so PUs are great instead of war. 
   
• You don’t like Burgundy (as said before), which is funny as your starting culture is the same as burgundy. 

There is more of course, but it’s already a start. If anyone has something to had here don’t hesitate to tell it to me, but this guide isn’t a story book 
 
Thanks for having read through the whole guide ! I hope I brought to you any useful advice for your next playthrough ! 
 

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