Bohemia Guide — Form the Holy Roman Empire

Bohemia is in the strongest position to form the Holy Roman Empire in EU5. If your goal is to achieve Renovatio Imperii and unite Europe under a single crown, Bohemia is your best choice.

The key insight is that forming the HRE automatically integrates all your territory. This means the normal rules about control and integration don't apply — you can blob aggressively without consequence, as long as you survive until Renovatio Imperii.

Bohemia begins in 1337 with a powerful position:

• Multiple Subjects: You start with approximately nine subjects that you'll want to annex for population growth
• Emperor Candidate: High chance of being elected Holy Roman Emperor early
• Rich Economy: Gold and silver production provides strong income
• Central Location: Perfect position for expanding in all directions
• Historical Events: Several events that boost your position including royal court and cathedral options

Initial Government Reforms

Start by selecting these reforms:

• Diplomatic Traditions: Take this first
• Bureaucratic Ethos: Unlocks at Age of Renaissance (1342) — gives more legislative efficiency

Estate Privileges

Manage your estates carefully:

Pro tip: Don't drop below 50 legitimacy at the start. Accept privileges that give money without significant downsides.

Initial Economic Settings

• Mint: Set to zero
• Taxation: Max taxation on all states
• Cost of Court: Set to maximum
• Everything Else: Turn off to save money

Early Building Priority

• Scriptoriums: Build several early for book production — you'll need books for libraries and universities
• Roads: Wait for the special road law that makes roads cheaper (20% discount for first three ages), then build everywhere
• RGO Expansion: If you have extra money, expand gold and silver RGOs to maximum

Society & Cabinet

• Change society value towards centralization
• Focus on stabilizing the country
• Assign best cabinet members to their respective positions
• Improve relations with electors (Cologne, Mainz) to secure Emperor election

Research Focus

• Institution Growth and Stip Capacity first
• Legislative Efficiency in the tech tree (this is like AE reduction)
• Proximity Cost after legislative efficiency

Parliament is your primary tool for both law changes and fabricating claims for wars. You'll be calling Parliament constantly throughout this campaign.

Priority Law Changes

1. 1. Thomas Councils (Admin System): Provides legislative efficiency, which is essentially AE reduction
2. 2. Royal Court Customs: More legislative efficiency stacking
3. 3. Distribution of Power: Favor the common people — commoners make the most money in early game
4. 4. By Blood (Integration Law): Increases speed of subject integration
5. 5. Present Levies → Noble Levies: Gives your levies a bonus

Additional Parliament Uses

• Request Additional Taxes: When you need money (and you will)
• Pick Nobility-Backed Issues: Since you have high support with them
• Authority Growth Buff: The Catholic Church can enact a bull giving 20% integration received — pass this when available

You should be elected Emperor relatively early in the campaign. Once elected, you gain access to HRE mechanics and can begin accumulating Imperial Authority.

Election Preparation

• Improve relations with Cologne and Mainz (key electors)
• Generally, you will be elected without much effort
• Upon election, you get an event: "We must lead the Gibbelians to victory" — take it for 10 authority and elector opinion boost

Golden Bull (40 Authority)

As soon as you hit 40 Imperial Authority, go to Fundamental Laws and pass the Golden Bull. This sets up all the Holy Roman Emperor laws and is your gateway to HRE reformation.

How Dynastic Power Works

Your authority generation comes from dynastic power, which is directly tied to your total population inside the HRE. This creates a completely different playstyle:

Authority Growth Progression

Track your progress through the campaign:

• Campaign Start: ~0.15 dynastic power per month
• After Early Wars: ~0.31 dynastic power per month
• Mid-Campaign: ~0.67 dynastic power per month
• Late Campaign: ~1.04+ dynastic power per month
• Population Goal: 10+ million people in your realm

You start with approximately nine subjects. All of them need to be annexed for their population to count toward your dynastic power.

Annexation Strategy

1. 1. Start Improving Relations: From day one, begin improving relations with all subjects
2. 2. Annex in Waves: Focus on improving with half your subjects, annex them, then improve with the second half
3. 3. Smaller First: Smaller subjects annex faster — prioritize these
4. 4. Moravia Last: Save Moravia for later as it's slower to annex

Reconquest Vassals (Exception)

The one exception to the "no subjects" rule is creating temporary reconquest vassals:

• When you take land, you can release a nation as a vassal
• This gives you reconquest CB on their former territories
• The vassal will fabricate claims automatically
• Annex the vassal after you've used the CB

Poland-Hungary War

Your first major war targets both Poland and Hungary. Use Parliament to fabricate a claim on Poland.

• Strategy: Focus on Hungary first while letting subjects deal with Poland
• Rush Forts: You can rush 1-2 forts at war start before garrisons fill
• Siege Capital: Getting Hungary's capital gives you prestige
• Peace Hungary First: Take Transylvania reconquest land, then focus Poland

Reconquest Mechanics

To view reconquest options:

1. Go to Liberate Countries treaties
2. Toggle to see available regions
3. Take one location from a region to get reconquest CB on the rest

Post-War Checklist

• Add to HRE: Add all conquered land to the HRE one location at a time (tedious but necessary)
• Delete Forts: Remove all conquered forts — you won't have control and rebels will use them against you
• Check Antagonism: Verify your AE is manageable with your legislative efficiency stacking

The Black Death will arrive and can devastate your population. Since population = authority growth, you need to protect your people.

Preparation

• Build Hospitals: Construct hospitals in Prague at minimum — this helps save your people
• Segregate the Infected: When the plague spreads, use this option for 15% disease resistance nationwide
• Move Court into Hiding: Protect your Emperor from dying — good leaders affect authority growth

The Black Death will claim some population regardless. Accept the losses and continue your expansion — the extra population from conquests will more than compensate.

Your goal is to accumulate 5 "Emperor Comfort Policies" to unlock Renovatio Imperii. Here's the reform path:

Reform Progression

1. 1. Golden Bull (40 Authority): Fundamental Laws → Vote for Seal of the Golden Bull
2. 2. Electorate Laws - Dynastic Preference: Imperial Voting → Vote for Emperor Dynastic Preference (gives authority + comfort policy path)
3. 3. Electorate Laws - Successor Preference: Imperial Voting → Vote for Emperor Successor Preference (Comfort Policy #1)
4. 4. Free City Laws: Vote for Cities of the Holy Roman Emperor (requires prior policies)
5. 5. Electorate Organization - Limited Electors: Allows removing up to 2 electors
6. 6. Electorate Organization - Integrated Electors: More comfort policies
7. 7. Centralization Laws - Improved Imperial Authority: Extra authority growth
8. 8. Imperial Tax Laws: Socioeconomic → Imperial Taxation
9. 9. Imperial Registry: Great Imperial Army → Final comfort policies
10. 10. Revoke Privileges: Vote for Revoke Privileges
11. 11. Renovatio Imperii: Vote for Renovatio Imperii — Form the HRE!

This campaign is wildly aggressive. You'll be at war almost constantly, with each Parliament session triggering a new declaration.

Target Priority

1. 1. Poland & Hungary: Primary early targets
2. 2. Teutonic Order: Easy expansion, weak target
3. 3. Golden Horde: No forts, easy to siege
4. 4. Lithuania: Large population gains
5. 5. Bulgaria: Warning: Bulgaria has MANY forts
6. 6. Serbia: Balkans expansion
7. 7. Kiev: Warning: 13 forts — extremely tedious

War Tactics

• Rush Forts Early: Get on forts before garrisons fill — you can assault empty forts
• Block Garrison Growth: Standing on a fort prevents garrison from growing
• Call Austria: Once allied, call Austria into wars for support
• Separate Peace: Peace out individual war participants to reduce front complexity
• Don't Over-extend: Don't take reconquest cores if you want to keep the CB for later wars

Managing AE

Your legislative efficiency stacking makes AE manageable despite constant wars. Check the antagonism map mode regularly — you should stay "pretty chill" even with aggressive expansion.

You will have constant rebels. This is unavoidable — you have zero control over most of your territory and aren't even trying to integrate it.

The "Rebel Simulator" Reality

• Unintegrated land with zero control = constant rebellions
• Hungarian rebels, Orthodox zealots, various civil wars
• This is normal — embrace it
• Your Bohemian core economy has to support all this instability

Critical: Delete All Forts

Handling Rebellions

• Rebel Crackdown: Use this ability to slow rebel progress
• Carpet Siege: Without forts, you can quickly carpet siege rebel territory
• Prioritize: Deal with rebels when they're about to trigger civil war (95%+)
• Accept Civil Wars: Sometimes you have to let civil wars happen — they're manageable if rebels have no forts

Civil War Types

• Orthodox Civil War: Most common — Orthodox provinces rebel
• Heretic Rebellions: Various religious groups
• National Rebellions: Hungarians, Poles, etc.

Call France (once allied) to help with major civil wars. The key is that rebels without forts are merely annoying, not dangerous.

Your economy will collapse. This is expected. Your little Bohemian economy has to support an empire's worth of unintegrated territory.

The Cost of Court Problem

Cost of Court becomes crushing as you expand. Every conquered province increases your court costs, but you get no economic benefit from unintegrated land.

• First Loans: Expect to take loans mid-campaign
• Interest Spiral: Interest becomes a serious concern
• Expansion Limit: Eventually, you literally cannot afford more territory

Survival Tactics

1. 1. Tank Legitimacy: Turn off cost of court spending and let legitimacy drop to zero if necessary — you can recover later
2. 2. Close Buildings: Shut down monasteries, especially Orthodox ones in rebel-prone areas. Close any expensive buildings you inherited
3. 3. Tax Season: Parliament's "Request Additional Taxes" becomes your lifeline — use it every session
4. 4. Strengthen Government: Use this cabinet action to slightly reduce cost of court
5. 5. Crown Power: Put your ruler in the army for crown power boost, which helps with costs

The final phase is essentially "survive and accumulate authority". You've likely stopped expanding because your economy can't handle more territory.

Final Reforms

1. Imperial Registry: Pass the Great Imperial Army law
2. Revoke Privileges: This is the penultimate step
3. Renovatio Imperii: The final vote — Form the HRE!

What to Do While Waiting

• Deal with constant rebels (the "rebel simulator" phase)
• Manage your economy — every ducat counts
• Keep authority growth buffs active
• Don't die to civil wars
• Use Parliament for taxes, not wars

The Moment of Victory

When you pass Renovatio Imperii, several things happen:

• Your tag changes to Holy Rome
• You gain Rome Reborn: 20% manpower, 10% integration speed
• You become an Empire
• You get a free government reform
• ALL YOUR TERRITORY INTEGRATES INSTANTLY

Key Takeaways

• Unique Playstyle: Population matters, control doesn't — this ONLY works for HRE formation
• Constant Warfare: Every Parliament = new war declaration
• Delete Forts: The single most important tactical decision
• Accept the Pain: Rebels, debt, zero legitimacy — it's all temporary
• The Payoff: Instant integration of everything makes it all worthwhile

Don't Use This Strategy For...

• Normal campaigns where you want stable territory
• Any nation not pursuing HRE formation
• Learning the game (this is advanced)
• Achievement runs that require stable control

This is the most blob you'll ever do in EU5 — a throwback to EU4's aggressive expansion. Enjoy ruling the Holy Roman Empire!