part 2 of the guide:

But what is military rating exactly?

Military rating evaluates the land warfare capabilities of a country. Click to expand...

Modifier Rating



Mil Tech +0.2 per Technology level.

Mil ideas +0.1 per idea + +0.25 per bonus.

Generals +0.025 per pip for each general or conquistador (counting rulers/heirs). Max 5.00.

Military quality +0.15 per +5% combat ability (sum of all types).

Discipline +0.15 per +5%.

Soldiers [Unknown]

Morale of armies +0.5 per point.

War exhaustion -0.2 per point. Click to expand...

So, you might need military ideas filled, big military tech, high discipline, high morale and lot of good tier 3 generals to qualify to contest a succession. Its sounds like only military nations can contest. But nations with HUGE pips on generals have HUGE military rating (can get +5 bonus with generals alone!)

What can you conclude out of this? Nations who pick military ideas get more military rating then nations who don't. A (lucky) nation with military ideas, with full manpower pool, with big manpower pool due to provinces owned and large standing army led by god general pool will usually have the highest military rating. AKA France? England, Austria, Muscovy etc. Note that score might play role too.

Result? Its usually always the same nations that contest successions. In western Europe France, Austria and England contest successions a lot. In eastern Europe Muscovy/Russia contests everything since they have huge force limit army and HUGE manpower pool thanks to national traditions. This changed a bit in 1.10 and beyond. It seems Europe situations can get wonky and you will see more unusual PU situations and succession wars now.

IMPORTANT TIP: So, if you want to provoke succession wars, its good idea to set England, France or a blobbed Muscovy as rivals IF they didn't rival you yet. Nations that set YOU as rival will be part of the contestant pool then, giving you chance for free PU with just a RM done!! As said before, only nations that rivaled YOU or the heirless nation count. Rivaling France won't do, they have to rival YOU if they want to be able to contest.

I'll repeat it once again: a succession war can occur in step A with JUST a royal marriage done, IF a high military rating nation or anyone else qualifies to contest the succession. But it can also happen in step C. Usually a same dynasty partner attacks you then.

Important note: All this may be overruled by factors that make a succession war impossible, such as the target being at war or leading a personal union of its own.

Right.. Once again, are you still with me? I know its all very complex

I just explained HOW a succession war can be caused; now I'll explain how the mechanic of a succession war itself works.

1. HOW does succession war work practically?



-----> A succession war can trigger if there are 2 sides who can contest the succession meaning:

1. rightful defensive claimant (rightful meaning as in 1. they got RM and/or same dynasty with heirless country or 2. NO rm with heirless country but they got highest total development of all dynasty partners)

2. unrightfully aggressive claimants (a country with the same dynasty as the target OR nations that set your nation or the heirless nation as rival OR your RM partners OR the RM partners of the heirless nation) that can get involved in a succession war.

If the ruler dies without an heir: then a succession war might begin automatically on the same day IF someone qualifies to contest. The most powerful country (meaning the country with highest military rating of the pool of nations that qualify to contest succession) will get popup if they want to enforce their "unrightfully claim" with a war. Note that this means that if *you* got the RM or dynasty with the contested country, this unrightfully claimant might DOW you to take the minor PU slave away from you.. And there will be NO popup, the succession war will start OUT OF THE BLUE when their heirless king dies and you *cannot* get out of it, no popup asking if you want to deny or something like that. It will ALWAYS be a surprise when this happens.

since 1.19, the AI ACTIVELY goes for the wargoal in succession wars, if they are the attacker in a succession war. If a minor gets a PU through succession war, and a greater power contests it, they will now FIGHT for all the warscore they need to STEAL the union away.

2. Regarding the two nations who will fight in a succession war:



if the tooltip in the diplomacy window of the heirless nation says 'succession war versus X and Y', then X is the defender and Y is the attacker.

a) the DEFENDER (the rightful defensive claimant (who had RM or dynasty share with the country and highest total development) gets the pu after a RM with target country or after their king of your dynasty dies without heir (no rm needed in this situation). The heirless country will become your minor PU slave at start of the war, but you (together) need to fight a rival/other claimant over the right to have the country as a minor PU slave. All your allies get call to war when this aggressive claimant declares war on you.

b) the ATTACKER (the unrightfully aggressive claimant; this can be 1. countries with the same dynasty as the target 2. Nations that set defensive claimant or the heirless nation as rival 3. the claimant's RM partners 4. the RM partners of the heirless nation) needs to fight both the country that had RM/ same dynasty with target country and the country itself (who will be in PU under the war leader), plus all the allies of the rightful claimant, IF this attacker accepts the DOW option of the event. Don't forget this attacker can call in their allies in this situation too!

... I know, this is complex. Hope you can follow it a bit.

Note that I have seen AI succession wars involving three AI countries, with defensive and offensive side calling in all their allies. I have seen some succession wars that involved whole Europe before I stepped into this game, if a greater power went to another as minor PU slave. It can happen (like Spain going under France as minor PU slave); but it shouldn't if you play this game... You will *always* be involved yourself. *grin*

3. Examples of succession war as attacker/defender



------> I got this kind war myself, as defender, and as attacker with a popup..

a) Defensive example YOU versus xxxxx: Tooltip said 'Succession war between Savoy(me) and France' in diplomacy window of Castile. Castile was my ally since 1445, we beat up France good during their hundred years war after a DOW in 1448 or so.. King of castile died in 1460 or so (heirless, Spanish heir *died* during event, hunting accident or so, can't recall), we had RM, and we (Savoy, tiny country compared to castile) got personal union with castile. As a senior. Castile was my slave. Yes, it happened, because I was their highest development Rm partner (higher then Portugal and Aragon). I got castile as minor PU pet without having shared dynasty, with a succession war. As explained above, this *can* happen if another nation qualifies to contest your right to install your noble on their throne. Anyways, Castilian king died and wanted to give his throne to Savoy. France contested that of course (they set ME AND Castile as rival) and declared on me same day as their king died because (as the popup for their DOW says) "the Castilian king was old and lost his mind saying Savoy should get their throne if they die heirless" or something like that, as explained above. Funny enough it happened not long after I made peace with France after the second "beat up France-war", so I just beat 'm again with help of *all* my allies, because France declared on me as aggressor contestant for castile throne. I would do same as AI, really, I was opportunistic country baiting greater powers to help beating down the big blue blob France before 1500.

b) offensive example, xxxxxx versus YOU: Tooltip in Naples diplomacy window aid 'Succession war between Austria and Savoy (me)'.Naples broke free of PU with Aragon. Naples took RM with Austria after that, and Austria had rivaled me, and I had rivaled Austria back. Their king died heirless. Austria got Naples as minor PU slave, because me, the most powerful military nation that qualified to contest the succession, got the popup where you got to decide whether or not you want to contest that succession. If you do, you do an aggressive DOW on the country who took the minor PU slave, and you will face them, their allies, and even the whole coalition if your rival is in coalition against you.. So think CAREFULLY before accepting this popup, as said before.

since 1.19, the AI ACTIVELY goes for the wargoal in succession wars if they are the attacker in a succession war. If a minor gets a PU through succession war, and a greater power contests it, they will now FIGHT for all the warscore they need to STEAL the union away.

Ok, now reread it all until it makes sense

OPTION F : you inherit the throne, bypassing a personal union completely. There is huge difference between random inheritance and PU inheritance though!

1. So HOW does it work exactly (this is theory):

I wish to thank @Ternega to submit this theory in the thread. What follows is his theory on how inheritance works, and it is backed by observations and indirect evidence.

I will refer to a potential inheritor (player or random) as country X, to their existing PUs as PUs and to countries with disputed succession as DS.

You will need knowledge in chapter 4 to understand what is written below, as it involves tiers of nations.

Inheritance consists of 3 steps:

A) Random dice roll for all nations, the INHERITANCE ROLL (IR for short) for nation X

IR is not displayed anywhere in the interface and cannot be influenced by reloading game. Its up for debate when this roll occurs, but indirect evidence and observations leads to conclusion that it is likely rolled when any monarch takes throne in any nation , OR in periodic intervals of few decades. What is certain and backed by numerous observers: save scumming with an old ruler will NOT alter the outcome of inheritance, which leads to the above conclusion it has to happen lot sooner. Inheriting independent nations is special case, see below.

My own theory is that the actual chance for PU (or random inheritance) is calculated when the new (current) ruler takes/took the throne, and NOT when the current ruler dies. After that, this chance gets re-rolled on periodic (long intervals; length of timer unknown but likely 10+ years). Save scumming with a 70+ old king and hoping you will inherit won't work, as the chance is already calculated when he took throne or the SAME for a long period. I think they installed this to avoid players save scumming till they inherit.

Proof enough if you ask me

This roll will be checked if ANY heirless nation or PU subject can be directly inherited.

B) Comparing IR to the individual inheritance threshold chance (IT for short)

this is the % chance you can see in tooltips of PU subjects) of each PU stable for 50 years and for any DS nations that you can legally inherit (heirless (vassal) nations being in inheritance tier).

The full probability to inherit -for PU overlord or strongest successor for inheritance tier heirless (vassal) nations- can be calculated as 5 x Diplomatic Reputation for + Stability (Senior) + 5 if both partners share a culture group -1 per province in the junior partner or inheritance tier heirless nation.



I bet you say "wait what" now

The rule of thumb is you can start to get % chance to inherit a junior PU or random nation that has dip rep times 5 in amount of provinces. You will get chance even sooner if you share culture, and a bit more if you got +3 stab.



important sidenote: Take into account that stacking these modifiers doesn't mean a guaranteed inheritance; the roll the game does on monarch taking throne has to be good enough. The modifers above just widen the range in which the inheritance roll is successful (which is something that is not very Obvious).





example: Austria has 10 diplo rep, 3 stability. Same culture group 3 province nation is heirless and in inheritance tier and their ruler dies , or Austria 3 province PU subject has been subject for 50+ years and new ruler takes throne in Austria.

Austria would get 50% chance from dip rep, 3% from stability, 5% from same culture group and -3% from 3 provinces in PU/DS for a total of 55% as inheritance treshold chance.

the inheritance chance of PU subject is calculated with d iplomatic Reputation, which is 5% per point, and number of provinces owned by the junior, which is -1% per province. Austria would get 70% chance to inherit at 14 dip rep, before counting provinces of junior PU or DS.



so for a 14 diplomatic reputation Austria: if any Austrian PU subject has 70+ provinces, forget an inheritance even at 14 dip rep, barring stability and culture group influence.



The inheritance chance of random nations is calculated the same as above, but is ALSO dependant on them being in the right tier (see chapter 4) -which is EXTREMELY RARE- and on another rule: you can only inherit a nation if you have twice their province number, and IF the nation is smaller then 15 provinces.

IF IR<IT you will inherit nation on step C. It should be noted if multiple PUs have same IT they will be all inherited simultaneously or not at all.

C) Inheritance itself, happens when new ruler takes throne for PUs and when their ruler dies for DS. For PUs if check didn't pass they will stay your PU (assuming positive relations). For DS nations will either be inherited, become your PU, cause succession war or gain your dynasty, depending on the tier they are in. Vassals will never become personal unions, but can be inherited (including, in extreme cases, vassals of other nations ). For PUs if check didn't pass they will stay your PU (assuming positive relations). For DS nations will either be inherited, become your PU, cause succession war or gain your dynasty, depending on the tier they are in. Vassals will never become personal unions, but can be inherited (including, in extreme cases, vassals of other nations).

Only Inheritance threshold can be influenced without use of console.

2. EXAMPLE, because examples are easier to understand:

let us take Burgundy as example, led by a player, past 1500.

All three PU subjects of Burgundy can be inherited. Burgundy also has a chance to 1. to inherit the OPM independent heirless nation of Lorraine , and 2. to inherit their heirless vassal Nevers because both of those nations are in the right TIER to be inherited.

------> Step A:

Burgundy king took the throne decades ago, and the inheritance roll occured that day with a 100 sided dice, d100. The game rolled 10.

------> Step B:

1. Burgundy has three PU subjects. The king in Burgundy dies, or abdicates. The game compares the IR inheritance roll in step a versus the IT inheritance threshold chance of Burgundy' PU subjects (the chances can vary depending on current diplo reputation and stability, see formulae above). The IR inheritance roll is BELOW the IT inheritance threshold chance for all three subjects (meaning that IR 10 was lower then the xx%chance to inherit), which leads to inheritance of all three in step C. If the inheritance threshold roll is only lower then the inheritance chance for only ONE of the PU subjects, then Burgundy will only inherit that PU subject. Or two outta three. Or none.

2. Nevers and Lorraine have an invisible high inheritance threshold chance because they only have a few provinces. Since Nevers is a vassal of Burgundy and cause Lorraine is independent, the check for inheritance happens when *their* ruler dies. The new King of Burgundy was in line to inherit Nevers and Lorraine IF their ruler ever dies heirless while those nations are in the inheritance tier, because the inheritance roll of Burgundy was the lowest of all the possible successors with inheritance chance.

So, if a nation gets really Lucky to be strongest successor while random nation is in inheritance tier and their ruler dies heirless.. You can then inherit nations half your province number with a maximum province number of 15..

example: A player once reported seeing Muscovy inherit entire Denmark, without them sharing dynasty (with just RM done). Muscovy must have had REALLY low inheritance roll to go under the very small inherit threshold chance to inherit Denmark. The default outcome would have been that Muscovy delivers noble to take throne in Denmark.

Are you still with me

Note AGAIN that the inheritance threshold chance to inherit independent nations will be a LOT higher if you stack a load of diplomatic reputation . A 14 dip reputation Austria can inherit eglible random nations easily depending if their ruler dies heirless in in the right tier, or if their PU subjects have lower province number then Austria diplo reputation x 5.

------> Step C:

Burgundy gets cores on ALL the provinces of the nations that get inherited, and all nations inherited by Burgundy vanish from the map, becoming territory of Burgundy. Having negative opinion with legible inheritance subjects WILL prevent the inheritance, and might lead to the normal 'break union'. What happens to vassals/colonial nations of inherited nations needs to be tested still.

3. Important tips:



*if you see in diplomatic window of PU subjects that you will inherit one or even 5 at once, then ABDICATE. You will inherit them all immediatly, if it showed you would.

*for best chances of inheritance you should maximize your diplomatic reputation (and stability for that little extra nudge) when your ruler gets old (40 age or 50 age should be good threshold to do it, depending whether your ruler is general or not), additionally you can use enforce culture (if available) to gain an extra 5% chance.

Can you see now WHY Austria inherits a lot? They got high natural diplomatic reputation as emperor, their stability is usually high, and their culture group consists MANY nations.

*Keep these parameters as high as possible until they are no longer in DS. When trying to inherit nations in DS it is advisable to focus on nations within your own culture group, and to weight benefits of inheritance with risk of gaining them as PU instead.

OPTION G : A dynasty in a nation has died out; this can happen if an heir in regency dies by event. The nation will go in interregnum.

My theory: If you do RM with a nation in interregnum, and if you are highest diplo reputation partner of all RM partners, then you deliver the noble that becomes new king after a few years.

Anyways, You get a free dynasty spread if you deliver noble to become king in a nation with interregnum. Once the nation gets a king of your dynasty, you are in option C with that nation.

Prepare for force PU war: when your noble takes throne, claim the throne, and do force PU war..

Chapter 6: Important side notes for game of thrones

disclaimer: this list is LONG, but all the points in it are relatively important!

1. It is possible to share a dynasty without ever having married a country yourself. Nation A marries nation B, B marries C, A and C can end up sharing a dynasty. And so on. If you were lucky/unlucky to get a Habsburg ruler, you can bypass step A completely!!! Think of the possibilities. With high enough prestige you can claim throne of austria in this situation, if their prestige is lower, and the emperor has no heir... Dynasty is dynasty, there is no "leader" country of a dynasty. A country who got habsburg king due to event of a king dying heirless and getting Habsburg on throne.... can claim throne of the original habsburg country later on.

2. I would never claim a throne unless the ruler is heirless and 40 or 50+ years of age, unless you plan to do a force union war. I'd do 40+ if they got 0 other RM or 1-2 RM partners. I'd do 50+ if target nation is a lucky nation, or has many RM.

Why? If you claim at 30+, target country of my claims somehow miraculously get the event that gives godlike heirs ("born under a star" or something like that, it can give you heir like 6/5/6.. And you can name him Johan!) Man, my herald once brought news of a Johan heir in a Muslim country that turned orthodox due to rebels. I couldn't stop laughing ) I suppose the heirless king goes in overdrive if they hear some country claims their throne. Heck, I'd make sure I'd get an heir no matter what. Maybe there is even higher chance for heir events if your country received claim throne from another. God knows what formulae the AI uses. Anyways, consider carefully when to claim a throne.

3. If you fight a force union war, and the heirless country with your dynasty member also has minor PU countries... You will *also* get these nations as minor PU slave IF you force their overlord in a PU. As screenshot in the teaser chapter shows, I got Poland, Muscovy and a huge palatinate in one war, just because I force Pu'd the overlord.. For 980 prestige.

4. If you get a colonizer as minor PU slave, all the colonial nations they form stay under that PU slave. *If* you integrate them however, they do NOT break free, they become *your* colonial nations, even if you never took expansion/exploration idea groups. Note that colonial nations of minor PU subjects do NOT count towards WC achievement. This means you HAVE to integrate all minor PU nations with colonial nations to get WC achievement. Once you integrate colonizer minor PU subjects, all their CN become YOUR CN. Take this into account when doing a WC run! Integrate PU subjects with colonial nations FIRST!!

5. If you make a greater power like France a minor PU slave (as England can do in HYW) be sure to have some other greater powers as allies, or they will declare independence fast. England or France are good examples, since they feel confident that their navy and/or their army will stop you from obtaining white peace conditions. IF you somehow manage to get white peace able war score, you can end war: the country who declared independence will become your lesser PU partner again, and the 50 year integrate timer *will* be reset.

6. Always keep an eye on successions window. Do it a lot, 4-6 times a year. Sometimes a 70 year old king dies that has heir. Sometimes the 70 year old king gets succeeded by a 64 year old that has no heirs. Check succession outcome for *every* country that gets new king.. If they get another old king with no heir, a quick RM might secure a quick personal union chance by installing a dynasty member on their throne after the old 64 heir dies also. ... only to DOW them for force union the day after your noble took throne PREY for more chances in game of thrones.

7. Whether or not a country will accept a royal marriage with you is determined by the distance towards your nearest (cored?) province, their opinion of you (but bonus isn't same as opinion bonus/malus in diplomacy!), your diplomatic reputation, if you are of same religion or not, if you are neighbors, if your army and navy are bigger/smaller then yours, and their trust of you (positive or negative).It is possible to get a RM with a country that has -200 opinion of you and threatened status (hostile and outraged status give malus making RM impossible!) due them wanting the provinces you conquered from them earlier. It doesn't take this into account. With high enough diplo rep, a diplo rep advisor and some luck you might just pull a RM off with a non-outraged/hostile -200 opinion neighbor of same religion. If you grow very big, you can even RM-200 opinion heretic countries that are reasonably far away from your nearest province.

---> Example of something weird I pulled off: I played Savoy. Conquered Genoa for their black sea base (Azov or Kaffa province). Due to having province very near Muscovy, I could RM Muscovy as Savoy with the help of a diplo rep advisor (just about, with like +26 bonus and -25 malus for acceptance) Their king was 60+ and heirless. Needless to say I was. excited. Possible Muscovy PU slave before 1500! But it didn't work out, my king died before he did (ending the RM with them), and Poland got the dynasty spread. Eventually Poland took Muscovy as minor PU slave (I see Muscovy king die heirless lot now..) and +-50 years later I got chance to force PU Poland, obtaining Muscovy after all! See screenshot above.

8. (thx @Thund91 for bringing this up, forgot about it) "A country who is war leader, will NEVER end up as a junior partner in a personal union. I, as Bohemia, claimed the throne of Hesse, who had an old ruler (53) and no heir. I had Hohenzollern or w/e Dynasty. It changed from a noble from my dynasty to a succession war between me and Brandenburg after I claimed the throne. This was good, HOWEVER, as soon as Hesse got involved in a war, it again switched to "a noble from Hohenzollern succeeds," and this has been true in all the cases where I've claimed the throne or when there was peace and the partner got involved in a war and then it switched again."

Also, a nation who has PU subjects of their own, will never EVER become PU slave to another nation, except if you force PU war them and win.

--->This why warning a country NOT to go to war vs. neighbors helps for stopping this option. The target country might still become war leader in a defensive war of an ally of theirs that gets attacked, so warn *everyone* that has CB on the target country and their allies, and anyone that can drag the heirless country in a war (so, the allies of the heirless country need warning as well, as well as THEIR enemies... I'm not joking. Just warn everyone in Europe if you hate unraveling alliance webs! A warning will usually stop other countries from going to war, if they feel threatened enough by you.

---> this is also the way to go if YOU are threatened to fall in PU under someone. Just stay at war forever, until you get a new noble on your throne from your country or RM partners. If you are at war, you can never *ever* fall in a PU under someone, unless they do force union war.

9. A minor PU slave will END their status and elect their own king in a few situations.

-----> your king could die when your "force PU" minor PU slave still has negative opinion of you, due to the opinion penalty you got by claiming their throne. They will end the union and elect their own king. You will get restore union CB. .

-----> the minor PU slave can declare independence if they feel confident. This depends if on your military rating. If you got low manpower, a small army on low maintenance etc (in general, if you are beat up) they will declare independence real fast.

---> rebels can force their demands, breaking the PU. Kill any rebel types that can force a country into a republic. Also kill all pretender rebels.

10. this point 10 is obsolete, seems they removed almost the entire AE penalty for force PU'ing a country into subject status. So focus on forcing PU when you can! It gives little AE now. Point is, forcing a nation in a PU will net you load less AE then flat out conquering a nation. This is one of the reasons why playing game of thrones can be worthwhile.

11.

---->If *you* take initiative for a RM with a country, it will end when your king dies. So never take initiative if your king is old, and you intend to DOW on that country or do whatever that might damage their re-acceptance of a RM after you get new king.

---->IF *other country* sends RM proposal, it will only end when THEIR king dies. Meaning, accept proposals of young kings, and send proposals when your king is young. It makes renewing the RM lot easier after one of the kings die, especially if you develop bad relations with the country after the rm relation is set up.

12.If succession says "a pretender will rise" (or whatever it says) it means they got a weak claim heir (low legitimacy) and low prestige. Then a pretender will spawn with a stack of rebels inside the country, after the weak claim heir seizes the throne. *if* that rebel stack manages to occupy and hold enough provinces, he will seize the throne. A country of 1-2 provinces can never fight against these pretenders, and you will get heralds saying that "a pretender seized throne of country X". Note that the risk of a pretender goes away if you or a country UPS its legitimacy and their prestige. What has this to do with your game? There is no popup and pause option herald to warn you that pretender rebels (or any rebel type!) spawned in your minor PU slave country, you got to notice this yourself. This can be devastating in the first years of obtaining a minor PU slave after a force union war.. If you don't see those rebels inside the fresh obtained minor PU slave, they can break your PU over that country!!! In theory tax rebels can turn your minor PU slave into a noble republic and pretender rebels just seize your throne in their own country

Note that they so called "fixed" this in recent patches, but I still saw rebels popping up in subjects without I got notified.

A good solution is to enable popup/pause for events happening in interesting nations. Set your (PU) subjects as interesting nation, and you can se when they get a disaster or an event that gives (pretender) rebels within their borders.

---> TIP: Park an unneeded army inside territory of the fresh minor PU subject AND attach them to that country its army (as long as you don't go to war). Then you got a semi-reliable way of eliminating rebels in minor PU subjects. This tip also works for rebels in colonial nations, after you fully annex a country that is bigger then your colonial nation itself...

-----> example: you got a new fresh obtained England as minor PU slave. You go to war right after in Africa, and you forget to check England territory. A few years after you get a herald saying a pretender rose to throne in England, and you get casus belli to restore union. Needless to say I was like 'wait....what...how?" first time that happened. So, until you get good relations with seized minor PU country and until your base revolt risk for that seized country is 0,0%, keep an eye on your seized country. If a PU subject gets pretender rebels or any rebels at all, *KILL THEM*. It will earn you trust, and it prevents this from happening.

13. Another important tip I almost forgot that is *very* important in the European game of thrones. The pope. Yes, the pope....

If you are curia controller (it got a lot harder to become this in 1.8 and later), the pope can allow you to break royal marriages at will. As many as you want, whenever. Bride pregnant or whatnot, so to speak. If a king without heir "produces" an heir, royal marriages with a country that you only married to seize throne, become useless in the game of thrones. Who cares about the +25 relation bonus... If you did RM to a -200 relation non outraged neighbor that wants all your conquered provinces. .... Then you can easily take another -75 (or was it -100) penalty for breaking a royal marriage. They won't get outraged! funny...If you are curia controller, just break royal ties. No stability hit now, and just marry someone else, simple as that. Your nobles don't dare to argue with the pope. This is especially handy once a noble of your throne took throne in a country you got RM with. Just break royal marriage now, and hope for a succession war decades later. If you watched the Tudors series on TV: Henry VIII in England wanted pope to break royal marriage.. Pope refused, Henry VIII became head of church, protestant, declared restraint of appeals and church taxes. That *is* actually in game in EU4, as a possible nation decision... They got their facts straight at paradox.

If you are not curia controller, your nobles will be in an uproar, and it will cost you a -1 stability hit for each marriage broken.

NOTE that getting the full diplomatic idea group removes the -1 stab for breaking royal marriage as well.

...I think I literally broke marriages with a country 100 times in a century total. I think I beat Henry VIII there. All because I got the pope as a friend. All that, because I didn't turn reformed/protestant. The pope is your friend for this game of thrones. Which brings me to point 14.

14. there is one big downside to taking very big countries as minor PU slave. You need to be bigger in province number before you can integrate them. A small country that gets big country as minor PU slave (as I did, Savoy got Spain early on) cannot integrate it until you blob and become bigger then your minor PU slave, and that greater power will take on a diplo slot for decades. But since minor PU subject and alliance partner both take a diplo slot, I prefer a minor PU slave greater power over an alliance with a greater power any day. A minor PU slave will *always* join your wars, just like vassals.

Example: Denmark cannot integrate their minor PU slaves, since they are small at start.

This isn't a bad thing, as a greater power minor PU slave is usually better then spending thousands and thousands of diplo points integrating them.

15. If your country is the target of a succession war (since your king has no heir and you got dynasty partners and enemies who qualify for succession war) you got 2 options.

--->1. break royal marriage. Should work, right? It usually does.

--->2. EVEN BETTER: start a war until you get new king from one of your RM partners. If you are at war, you can never become the target of a succession war (as stated above). Chain wars work wonders in situation like this. If you are at war, you can't become junior PU partner. So chain those wars, and end the first one you started when call for peace kicks in, after you started second. And so on.

Some clarification: You can be at war for decades without "call for peace" being active for more then a month. You only need to end first war you started to get rid of the modifier. Repeat when it pops up again.

Note that this ALSO means its BAD idea to call a monarchy to war that has old ruler and no heir, if you are in line to get them as PU subject peacefully. If you do, a noble will just replace the old heirless king, and your shot at free PU is gone until you finish the war.

16.If you inherit the throne of an elector (usually by them being your dynasty and you are a LOT bigger) you also inherit the elector status in the HRE. You can get the "electable" achievement this way.

17. Just abiding your time after allying many greater power nations is a good start for game of thrones. I do the risky strategy of feeding allies in multiple wars, and then hoping for a PU chance before 1700. What people overlook generally is that feeding allies gives them AE, and it might lead to them being UNABLE to get any RM except yours, because all countries will be outraged towards them, thanks to your feeding. Gamey tactic? I think its valid and WAD.. I just abuse it. This leads to less heir chance for them. It worked out great here. Then you hope for heir dead events. If such events happen after your dynasty spread to allies, its immediate force PU chance. I once got free PU over Austria, after I helped them expand for decades, in the Ryukyu AAR.

18. You can feed allies provinces in a war. This will anger their royal marriage partners; especially if they joined YOUR war versus someone that they like. The ally (who joined your war) will lose its alliances this way, their RM partners will be outraged, and in the end it can lead to your ally having only YOU as feasible RM partner. This leads to LESS heir chance for them, since they only got one RM. This is an advanced tactic to increase your chances in game of thrones. If they got less heir chance, you get more chance at a PU chance with them. This is especially useful to isolate Austria in the HRE, and to get Austria as minor PU subject.. Note that only exact same religion nations will get load of AE with whoever you fed.

19. If you have a chance at installing a noble of your dynasty on a foreign throne (a REAL chance, like a 50+ year old heirless ruler, not some 18 year old heirless king cause he isn't going to die soon), then make sure you don't get involved in a war that includes them. If you are at war with the nation you might install noble on, then the dynasty they pick to get new king from changes from 1st highest base tax partner to the second. Rule of thumb: you can't get dynasty spreads in other nations directly, even with a RM, if you are at war with that nation. If the war ends, it will flip-flop back to your dynasty delivering noble.

20.If your greater power PU subject is hostile, this is due to them being a greater power. Greater powers who become (PU)subject will always be hostile to their overlord, unless overlord manages to get +200 relation with them. This being 'hostile' doesn't mean they will declare independence soon. That depends on their military rating versus yours and their liberty desire. You can lower chance for independence wars by being at war constantly and let your PU armies do the fight. Use 1k army of yourself, set subjects to "supportive, and click attach on that 1k troops on. The PU armies will attach, and you can then move the PU army one province a time to where you want them. If you don't, they might flee a province where they get attrition in. Keep your PU subject manpower pool low and their standing army low, be at war constantly and you will have low chance for independence wars.

21. PU subjects can ally with each other and declare joint independence war versus their overlord.

Its the same mechanic as with vassals, with ONE exception: PU subjects look at their OWN strength versus overlord when evaluating if they can win versus their overlord. Vassals take their combined strength into account.

If you see PU subjects allying, its because their liberty desire is all high. Pu subjects will never ally with vassal subjects.

So if Naples and Aragon are PU subjects of Castile, and one of the two declares on overlord, then the other will join the war. Both will get a new king.

You can avoid such wars usually by being at war constantly, as it gives subjects -50 incentive to declare independence if you are at war.

22 .IF a minor PU subject declares independence war: if you get white peace or better (aka you don't have to offer anything) the country declaring independence will just become a minor PU subject again after they accept the peace deal, and 50 year integration timer is reset.

You can avoid wars like this if you use stacks of minor PU subject to win your wars. If their manpower and current standing army is low, and they are at war constantly, they will almost never declare independence. Even France won't.

23. Another important note: You can get Union over another same culture/dynasty nation now BY EVENT.

Both rulers must be between 16 and 40, the two nations involved must be neighbors, both nations must have no heirs, both rulers have to be of different sex and be either of the same dynasty or in the same culture group. Both nations need to have high enough opinion with each other. The MTTH of the start is 500 months. Portugal can get a UNION over Spain this way, Or Styria can get a Union over Austria.

24. Paradox nerfed force PU war and calling in other nations to help out They added a special malus so no one will join, because I suppose it makes no sense that allies of yours help to give you another (big) subject.

Well no one... I'd have to look it up, but I think its highly unlikely for someone to join. Maybe if they are rivals they might still do it.

But I wouldn't count on it.

Best way to get PU subjects is now setting France, England or whoever is mean and big army as RIVAL, and hope they rival you back. And then hope they give you succession wars. Or just claiming throne of same dynasty heirless nation, and hoping their king dies heirless. That will give the PU for free too in most cases.

25. While fighting the 'Claim throne' war (same dynasty but no heir for example -> Claim throne and start war) it doesn't matter if the target Nation gets a new heir. You can still force the PU when the war score is high enough.

26. you can make (PU) subjects independent again by occupying any small nation 100% and then do 'offer' peace deal on them that cancels 'vassalage' of any unwanted subject. This can be handy if a small PU subject holds land you need to form PLC or Italy for example

27. USE the subject interaction buttons for all your PU subjects! You can ask them to change culture to yours, to switch to your religion, and other subject interactions will lower their liberty desire.



28. Players and Lucky Nations cannot be inherited. Instead, if there are no valid Contestants, then PU (otherwise SW) will happen.



29. Junior leading a PU herself cannot be PUd or get a succession war over her throne. A noble will rise either from the same dynasty (if there is one) or from RM partners; whichever is strongest. I.e. Aragon cannot be PUd while she has Naples under her. These countries, however, can be inherited! (The PUs of the Junior will be let go free, while vassals become the Successor's vassals).



30. An inheritance cannot be contested.



31. For PU or Succession war: the size of the Successor and/or the Contestant does not matter! (I wrote it here because it's a common misconception).



32. If there are no other Contestants otherwise, an in-dynasty PU always will be contested by dynasty members. I.e. Tver will contest Ryazan for Muscovy PU; Navarra will contest Aragon for Castile PU (though they couldn't even stop a dynasty spread from other, slightly bigger Houses)



33. War Rules to know for PU game:



--> If Junior is at war, no PU/Inheritance/SW will happen. A noble will rise either from the same dynasty (if there is one) or from RM partners; whichever is strongest.

--> If Successor is at war with anyone but the Contestant -> instead of inheritance a PU/SW will happen. Already PUs are unaffected by these wars.

-->If Successor is at war with the Contestant -> instead of a SW a PU will happen (the UI will display succession war...it's a bug)





34. Prestige does not seem to matter when the game chooses who will fight succession war. You can be the Successor or Contestant even with -100 prestige.



35. deleted due to problem being bug fixed in 1.18.



36. what to do if you get a large nation as PU subject:

be at war constantly, and never be at peace for a day. Unions get -50 malus to declare independence if overlord (and them) are in a war.



farm prestige, as PU subjects get 1% ld for each point overlord is in negative prestige. -100 prestige is 100 LD in PU subject, so farm that prestige!



If you own Cossacks dlc, you can conquer provinces near them, and then you can grant the conquered provinces with the subject window option. If the conquered provinces border them by land or sea zone, you can grant those provinces to them.

It will lower their liberty desire, and THEY got to attack the rebels that follow. Its a great way to weaken subjects.



And constant warfare (leading their armies around with 1k stack with attach on) will lower their army strength, which will all in all result in docile PU subjects.

If one of them goes above 50+% ld, then enable loyalist faction. You have to preventPU subject from allying other subjects or asking support independence from any greater powers, which they will do if one goes above 50%.



If someone supports their independence, then rival them and crush them with humiliate rival cb. Your subject will LOSE support from said nation, and might go loyal again.



lose the war if you have to, getting LD of big PU subjects below 50% is more important.



That's the best thing to do.. Keeping free rival slot for nations that support subject independence guarantees a CB to stomp those supporters the minute they support your PU subject independence.



37. pretender rebel stacks spawn in subject PU nations if YOUR (overlord) legitimacy is low, or if average/weak claim heir takes throne in overlord nation.



38. Unlike Vassals and Protectorates; subjects under a PU do not suffer from the 'Subject Nation' 50% malus to development.



This actually has a pretty large impact on PU'ing smaller countries:



- Since the small country is not expanding in it's own right; it should have more monarch points to spend on development and technology.

- Multiple countries in an area generates more overall monarch points than one overlord.

- This results in much faster development if you keep your PU's around, leading to a stronger country when they are finally integrated; through inheritance or manually.



39. Inheritance is a possibility; particularly with smaller PU's. This saves you on the diplomatic power for manual integration, and lets them stay around until you roll the integrate; during which time they develop. Economic Ideas is a very common choice for the AI; especially early.



This is particularly noteworthy if your own ruler has higher stats; since PU juniors directly take the stats of your ruler.



Small PUs without feeding could be a good way to go if you're playing a diplomatic reputation stacking game though, as then the chance of inheriting becomes significant and the relative effect of development is larger.



In the HRE, there's also the carrot of inheriting elector status from a PU (Palatinate is the best PU junior for this). Definitely something to consider if you're playing Habsburg-style



40. When in a Succession War, the attacker can now demand Cancel Subject on the Country in question as part of the war goal.



41. All subjects now get reduced AE from your actions, not just vassals & marches. As of 1.18, Pu subjects won't take hideous AE from your conquests.



42. Royal Marriages now have a 50% chance of getting a queen, and a newborn heir is a 100% chance of getting a local noble as a queen. If you have a Queen consort from a country you become kin. You also get events from your family offering or asking favors to/from you. Furthermore, if: if a consort of YOUR dynasty rules a nation with any weak claim heir, you can claim their throne and force PU!



43. 1.18 Added AI for Abandon Personal Union. AI might get rid of PU they don't want.



44. PU Bug fixes 1.18:



--> Gaining PU on a nation that is defending in an independence war against a former lesser partner will drag the new overlord into the war instead of ending it, as of 1.18.

--> Can no longer declare restoration of union war on subjects.

--> The HRE emperor will no longer get automatically called into succession wars inside HRE.

--> No longer possible to contest a country for succession if the countries are already at war.

--> Interregnum death will no longer trigger succession wars.



45. Disinheriting an heir can be quite useful in the game of thrones. Marry a nation of the dynasty you want to obtain, and then disinherit your heir when your ruler gets old. Go to war then until your ruler dies, and a noble from the desired dynasty will ruler your nation, provided that nation is your biggest development RM partner. Note that you need to go to war until this happens, to avoid succession war over your nation! If you don't, you suddenly might end up as PU subject of France.. farm prestige first, as PU subjects get 1% ld for each point overlord is in negative prestige. -100 prestige is 100 LD in PU subject, so farm that prestige!