Total War ATTILA: mod Medieval Kingdoms 1212 a.d. - Holy Roman Empire: guide to Renovatio Imperii - Legendary mode

I specify immediately that this is a guide designed on my personal experience alone and that has, of course, no absolute demands on how to manage the campaign.
Stated this, it is necessary to make some premises:
1: As stated in the description, the guide will treat the Renovatio Imperii completed by imperial reforms, not by military conquest of the territories of the Empire;
2: in the specific title the level of difficulty because, as regards the voting system through which reforms can be implemented, this drastically affects the number of votes available from time to time;
3: for this campaign I used the submod Unlimited Governors, which gave me the advantage of being able to appoint governors in all the provinces I owned, thus being able to access the various edicts.

I conclude with a personal consideration: it is a campaign that has put a strain on my patience, like perhaps the one with the Western Roman Empire in the legendary vanilla edition of Total War ATTILA. Despite this, I enjoyed a lot, both for the different and unique type of game due to the system of imperial reforms, both for the roster of units available to the HRE that, sopprattutto in High and Late game, is really remarkable.
That said, let’s get started!

As in many Total War campaigns, managing the first rounds is essential. In addition to the level of difficulty we set, within the panel of choice of different factions, the game specifies that the initial level of challenge is very high due to the position of our territories and the bad diplomatic relations with other factions; Moreover, you are also excommunicated
Below I will divide the guide into several sections to address the main topics. Here, instead, I will indicate which are in my opinion the first essential steps.
Here’s how I advise you to proceed:
You start with bad relationships with everyone and negative income. First, let’s get some money.
1: use your funds to recruit some troops in a couple of turns (you have two armies) and head north to the Kingdom of Denmark. As Emperors you have the right and duty to free the imperial territories from the yoke of factions outside the Empire, then wage war on Denmark and recover the territories of Hamburg and Strasland (I advise you to keep them to yourself, however if you prefer you can free the member state of the Hanseatic League that is based in both these territories).

WARNING: remember not to plunder or conquer by plundering the cities of Catholic Christian factions, or the Pope will have a lot to say (do it only when your relationship with him is at a high level, 7, and only if necessary, or risk excommunication).

WARNING: only in this case, I advise you to remove Otto IV from the command of the army, to appoint Heinrich heir and put him there. This will serve to build up influence for your heir so that he can undertake at the right moment the mission of assassination against Otto (see The first game steps - II).

From Otto’s death onwards, I advise you to put factional leader and heir always in command of an army and have them fight (especially in the crusades) so as to skillare their abilities, increase their influence and so the prestige within the faction.

Drive the Danes out of your lands, concentrate on their original territories. Here you have two choices: either incorporate them or destroy all the buildings of the cities, so as to replenish your coffers, and then return them to them after making them your vassals (I chose the second option)To earn some extra money from the tribute they owe you now.
With the money you make, start building in your cities, avoiding for now buildings that provide for a cash maintenance (for example, the chapel or the garrison barracks);

2: in the first rounds demolish all the buildings in the only two cities you have (the goal is to avoid bankruptcy: if it happens your troops will begin to desert, so try in every way to make loot)

WARNING: even if they hate you, I advise you not to engage in looting or conquests against other states of the Empire, because it would only deteriorate relations (see point 1 premise).

3: in the second round of the campaign you will discover that you have a suitor to the imperial throne: Frederick II. In my personal experience, when you are the HRE, your rival will not see him in the slightest, except in the portrait of the diplomatic panel. This will allow you to concentrate on the Danish territories.

1: Once you defeat or subjugate Denmark, concentrate on completing the mission of succession to the imperial throne. As said, it is likely that your rival will not even attempt to enter your lands, so you will just have to wait for the shifts to pass; if at the end of the mission time everything will remain as before, you will be confirmed emperors.
In case Frederick invades, send one of your two armies to Frankfurt and camp there; you just have to keep control of the city

WARNING: Otto IV, your faction leader, must not die before the end of the aforementioned mission and you must not lose control of Frankfurt or the crown will automatically go to Frederick II and you will be ousted from the imperial throne.

2: Once the succession mission is accomplished, the first thing you will have to do is try to eliminate Otto IV: whether he dies in battle or you have your heir assassinate him, your faction leader must be eliminated. In fact, a dead face Otto, the excommunication on the imperial crown will be revoked.
This is, in my opinion, a central point of the game of the way to the Renovatio Imperii: once the excommunication (which penalizes you a lot in relations with all the member states of the empire), you will immediately see a marked improvement in relations with them.
In case some MS in the meantime has declared or declares war on you, try to make peace immediately (with the improvement of the relations I told you about it should work).

As you will have understood, relations with Member States (abbreviated MS) are essential. Always try to maintain good relations with all of them. In the first rounds of the game, your actions for or against one MS will have the same effects on all the others; as the years and the different wars that the MS will declare each other this thing will change and you will have to ponder your choices.
Here are some tips:

1: In general, try not to interfere in disputes within the Empire. For you the essential thing is that the territories remain under the control of an MS, whoever it is, and do not fall into the hands of outsiders. Intervene only on occasions of particular need (see point 4);

2: Sign non-aggression pacts, military transits, defensive and military alliances as much as you can to improve relations with individual MS;

3: by signing alliances clearly you will improve relations with an MS, but you will worsen those with its rivals and in the case of war you will have to side: my advice is to weigh the situations and from time to time choose the part with which you are in less cordial relations. This decision is justified as follows: in my experience, if you have extremely cordial relations with a faction, Even entering into war, relations will deteriorate more slowly than if you had ignited hostilities with an MS with which you are not on good terms and with which, therefore, relations would be more difficult to recover.

In any case, whichever side you choose to side with, immediately make peace with the MS you are at war with and try to regain relations with both (the two will continue to wage war, but in the meantime you have secured positive diplomatic points with both. If your coffers are swollen, why not, give generous gifts that really help a lot to maintain good relations;

4: The only time I advise you to intervene is when an MS is becoming too powerful, incorporating other MS or conquering territories outside the Empire. In such cases, you can take sides against him. Do not eliminate it altogether; reduce its territories to the original ones and then make peace with it; from here start the treaties and the huge donations to recover the relationships;

5: Why not conquer the territories of the MS to you or other hostile? Or why conquer only some of the territories of the empire? In my opinion, for two reasons:
to. as you can see in the image, the conquest of the imperial territories penalizes you diplomatically (see chapter "Economy - raids and restitutions") with all factions (including MS);
b. you need the votes of the Member States for reforms.

As Holy Roman Empire your throne is not hereditary but elective (at least until the specific reform that allows you to obtain hereditary succession) and ,every time the emperor dies, another of your or other MS will be elected.
1: If your faction leader wins, you will remain in command of the Empire
2: on the contrary, if he loses, you will become Earl of Brunswick, that is, a normal MS.

3: Here I must be honest: the guide cannot be complete in this section, as it is not entirely clear to me what determines the election. There is no option in the diplomacy panel or in the HRE panel, with the decrees and the reforms, that allows you to buy the electoral vote, nor can you predict which faction will be elected to possibly interpose between it and the imperial crown. What I understood by playing is that good relations with other MS are fundamental and, I believe, the number of votes you have for the different reforms (see point 4) at the time of the Emperor’s death.

As Emperor you have the right to enact decrees and reforms. For the first will be necessary only the imperial authority, while for the second will be necessary to have the imperial authority and the votes.

ATTENTION: the imperial authority you will get over time and the factors that determine its growth are your role as emperor and the amount of territories within the empire under your direct command.

1: Through decrees you will be able to increase certain aspects of your government, such as research, bureaucracy, trade, military leverage, etc. and you will need them to get a temporary bonus for a certain number of turns, after which the decree will be withdrawn and you can issue another (the same as before or a different type, depending on your needs). Usually a decree costs 15/20 of Imperial authority.

2: Reforms are a series of measures through which you will implement centralization within the empire, allowing you to take more and more command of the latter and its MS. The last is the Renovatio Imperii with which all the territories of the Empire will automatically become yours.

WARNING: if an MS is eliminated by another MS or by a faction outside the empire, you will see that the number of votes required for approval will decrease (this until you get a reform that will establish a fixed number of 7 votes)

WARNING: at legendary difficulty I noticed that the acquisition of votes is very unstable. I personally found myself with very good relations with all Member States and at the same time with 1 vote. As for the succession, there is no diplomatic option to buy or secure the vote, so I am not clear about that. Often the votes dropped to 1 and then with donations or simply waiting for a certain number of shifts went up to the amount needed to pass the reform. This unpredictable mechanism is that, once reached the maximum level of imperial authority (100/100), instead of using it for the decrees, I patiently waited for the votes were enough, so as to be ready, as soon as possible, to enact the reform. In this way, however, I penalized the system of decrees, which is very useful at the level of gameplay.

As mentioned in the last part of the paragraph "Relations with Member States", it is important not to occupy imperial territories. However you need to expand your faction, grow your economy, research and armies. Here are some solutions:

1: as stated in the beginning, if you decide to wage war on Denmark, you will conquer the territories of Hamburg and Strasland. If you want to keep them under your rule, you already have a small nucleus of territories directly subject to you. If this is the case, I advise you to add at most two other territories within the empire: secure control of the city of Milan; for two reasons, a. is very rich, b. the municipality of Milan always tends to fierce expansionism. In general I would take a city in Northern Italy. Below you can add a city of an MS with which you just can not recover relationships as a result of events unfavorable to you. Owning 4/5 maximum 6 provinces inside the Empire will guarantee you territories protected by the MS (with which you will have non-aggression pacts, alliances, military transits etc.), however, will harm relations with the latter a minimum. Nothing that a nice donation or a declaration of war to the factions envious to the MS can not solve.

2: having protected internal territories, taking care of the public order aspect of your cities, you can often leave for more or less distant shipments:

to. participate in the crusades, as you will make the pope happy, so you can take money from him and you can plunder in peace the Saracen cities without incurring his disapproval. Once taken you can decide whether to give them to the Kingdom of Jerusalem, keep them or demolish all the structures and then return the cities to the previous owner;

b. if you notice that a faction outside the Empire (Hungary, France, England or others) has grown too large and especially is at war with one of the MS, declare it war, conquered its cities (occupy them plundering if they are not Catholic Christians) demolish the structures and then either give them to one of the MS, or return them to the previous owner.

c. always in the event that an external faction is expanding, you could take its territories and liberate previously destroyed factions, thus creating vassals outside the Empire (be careful not to re-emerge factions that are unpopular with the MS; if there is a clash between one of your vassals and one MS, I advise you to side with the latter);

d. in the event the Kingdom of Sicily makes war on one of the MS, include it in your personal domains. This will give you cities to grow your income, waste your research, increase your imperium, so you can have more armies and agents and finally trade with the Mediterranean factions.

Once have been completed the Renovatio Imperii .... It is up to you...

I hope that this guide can be useful or that it can be a comparison for all those who have undertaken the same campaign and have encountered the same difficulties and problems.

Spend the last words joining all the players who have tried this mod and recommend it: it is really well done, enjoyable, immersive and exciting, whatever the faction you want to try and whatever style of game you have. For fans of Total War and for those who couldn’t wait to see a Medieval Total War III, well, this mod, as I read in many reviews and comments to the gameplay, is amazing.

Greetings to all!