EU4 Brandenburg Guide: From Poor Elector to Kingdom of Prussia
Brandenburg in 1444 holds an Elector’s seat in the Holy Roman Empire and almost nothing else worth having — poor soil, swampland, a treasury drained by predecessors who treated the March as a source of quick income. The wiki doesn’t dress this up: the opening decades are genuinely luck-dependent, and it suggests restarting outright if Poland rolls in as a rival, since Poland’s disposition shapes nearly every viable strategy that follows.
Two starting quirks worth knowing immediately
The Ansbach connection. Brandenburg’s starting heir, Albrecht Achilles, doubles as the ruler of Ansbach — if Ansbach’s ruler dies, Brandenburg’s heir dies too (oddly, the reverse isn’t true). Should he inherit Brandenburg’s throne, Ansbach may separately enter a personal union under you by event, and since Ansbach already holds its own union over Bayreuth, you inherit that as well — a documented easy path to the “Double the Love” achievement, though the union can break again a few years later.
The Neumark bargain. Before 1666, usually within the first few years, the Teutonic Order frequently offers to sell Neumark and Dramburg for just 100 ducats, provided Brandenburg holds fewer than 4 loans at the time. Take it every time it fires — it’s the cheapest territorial expansion in the entire opening.
Three documented strategies
The standard opening builds a coalition first: ally Austria, Hesse, and Mecklenburg, then attack Stettin — securing its capital (a level-2 fort) matters for later use. Brandenburg and its allies start with essentially no navy, so this opening is land warfare exclusively. If Stettin lacks strong allies, press for peace before 1446 and build toward a stronger ally like Bohemia next. From there, target Wolgast’s coastline; expect them to ally the Teutonic Order or Poland, in which case core Stettin first and pursue the Ansbach union for extra troops. Watch for Poland attacking the Teutonic Order — a near-certainty around 1448 — and time your own war on the Teutons to start the moment your Wolgast peace is signed, so you claim Teutonic provinces before Poland annexes them outright. The long-term endgame from here: consolidate central Europe at low aggressive expansion, pivot allies toward Austria or Denmark, take the Livonian Order, then work into Novgorod and the German region toward Prussia or Germany.
The fast-conquest alternative trades patience for speed: vassalize Saxony immediately (they rarely have strong allies; restart if they do) while keeping Poland allied throughout. This generates heavy aggressive expansion — enough to concern you, not quite enough to trigger a coalition — followed by roughly ten years of enforced peace to let it decay. Use that decade to prepare a Wolgast war around 1448-50, securing Stolp specifically to connect your territory to the Teutonic Order. From there the routes converge: expand east, north into Denmark, and aim for a top-10 Great Power ranking by 1500, prioritizing administrative points even at the cost of falling slightly behind in military tech.
The mission-tree walkthrough is the most detailed and highest-ceiling route, built around tracking several deadlines simultaneously. Ally two of Poland/Saxony/Bohemia/Austria/Denmark early, claim the Ansbach throne for a clean subjugation CB, and — critically — rival small HRE nations on the last day of November specifically to deny them time to seek stronger allies (never rival Pomerania this way). The Fate of Neumark event (the 100-ducat purchase above) unlocks the Pomeranian Succession mission (4 Pomeranian provinces from Stettin and Wolgast) and A Show of Strength (15 North German provinces) — both satisfiable by combining your starting land with Neumark and Wolgast’s five provinces. The hard deadline: in 1460, Danzig rebels from the Teutonic Order and draws Poland in, who will likely claim most Prussian land before you can — attack the Teutonic Order before this date if forming Prussia matters to you. Separately, the Franconia succession puzzle (triggered by the same Ansbach-inheritance event) requires 6 provinces across Lower/Upper Franconia within 5 years to avoid losing both unions and spawning a rival Franconia state; Würzburg plus its vassal Bamberg is the commonly cited two-province shortcut, with Coburg (via manipulating Ansbach or Bayreuth’s own wars) as a supplementary target.
Forming Prussia — and, much later, Germany
Kingdom of Prussia requires: administrative technology 10, a Protestant, Reformed, Anglican, or Hussite state religion, and ownership of Königsberg plus either Danzig or Stolp. The religion requirement is why this is gated to roughly the mid-1500s at the earliest — Brandenburg starts Catholic, so the Reformation itself is a prerequisite, not just a side effect.
Forming Germany is a much larger, much later project: administrative technology 18, at least 15 cities, and specific core provinces spanning Berlin, München, Brunswick, and paired alternatives (Nürnberg-or-Frankfurt, Hamburg-or-Lübeck, and others) across at least 50 total core provinces in the North and South Germany regions. Treat Prussia as the mid-game milestone and Germany as the genuine end-game one — they are not sequential steps of the same project, and most Brandenburg campaigns pick one or the other rather than both.
General notes worth banking
Money is tight for years — raising tax in Berlin to 9 and nearby provinces by 2-3 points is the documented fix for maintaining even one or two advisors early on. For a navy, build galleys: the Baltic counts as inland water, giving galleys a damage bonus, and they’re cheap enough to suit Brandenburg’s early budget. If pursuing the trade-focused variant, Hamburg, Lübeck, and a push into Denmark secure presence in the Lübeck trade node — but don’t over-invest in light ships at the expense of a real fleet if a Danish war is on the horizon.
Common death spirals
| Symptom | Likely cause | Check | Fix |
|---|---|---|---|
| Crushed early with no allies willing to help | Poland rolled in as a rival at game start | Poland’s starting disposition | The wiki’s own advice: seriously consider restarting |
| Missed the Prussian land window | Attacked the Teutonic Order after 1460 | Current date vs. the Danzig rebellion trigger | Prioritize the Teutonic war before 1460 if Prussia is the goal |
| Franconia unions broke unexpectedly | Didn’t secure 6 Franconian provinces within 5 years | Provinces held in Lower/Upper Franconia vs. the 5-year timer | Target Würzburg+Bamberg early; use Ansbach/Bayreuth’s own wars to pad the count |
| Coalition forming after vassalizing Saxony | Fast-conquest AE not given time to decay | Current AE vs. the ~10-year cooldown window | Sit on hands; resist further expansion until AE has genuinely dropped |
| Can’t form Prussia despite owning the provinces | Still Catholic | Current state religion | Prussia requires Protestant/Reformed/Anglican/Hussite — plan the Reformation into your timeline |
Sources checked
This guide is built on a live self-fetch of the EU4 wiki’s Brandenburg page, which — unusually — offers three distinct strategy write-ups (a standard opening, a fast-conquest alternative, and a detailed mission-tree walkthrough with a patch-1.35-specific addendum) rather than one, all explicitly labeled as suggested approaches among several. Formation requirements for both Prussia and Germany are transcribed directly from the game’s own decision conditions and are wiki-verified.
Frequently asked
Why is Brandenburg considered a hard start despite being an HRE Elector?
The Elector title is prestigious but doesn't fix the underlying problem: poor soil, swamps, and a genuinely weak economy inherited from prior Wittelsbach and Luxemburg rule. The wiki is direct about this — the opening 20-30 years are luck-dependent and require good allies just to grow, and it explicitly suggests restarting if Poland starts as a rival, since Poland's goodwill (or hostility) shapes nearly every strategy.
What are the two starting-heir quirks worth knowing?
Brandenburg's starting heir, Albrecht Achilles, is also ruler of Ansbach — if Ansbach's ruler dies, Brandenburg's heir dies too (curiously, not the reverse). If he does succeed to Brandenburg's throne, Ansbach may separately choose to enter a personal union under Brandenburg, and since Ansbach itself already holds a union over Bayreuth, Brandenburg inherits that too — an easy route to the 'Double the Love' achievement, though the union can break again a few years later by event. Separately, before 1666 (usually within the first few years), the Teutonic Order often offers to sell Neumark and Dramburg for just 100 ducats, provided Brandenburg has fewer than 4 loans — take it.
Which opening should I pick?
Depends on risk tolerance. The standard approach (ally Austria/Hesse/Mecklenburg, take Stettin, work toward the Teutonic Order in step with Poland's own war against them) is the more measured route. The fast-conquest alternative vassalizes Saxony immediately for a large aggressive-expansion hit, then requires roughly a decade of enforced peace to let it decay — higher risk, faster territory. The mission-tree walkthrough is the most detailed and reward-maximizing but requires tracking several simultaneous deadlines (Neumark, the 1460 Teutonic collapse, Franconia) precisely.
What's the 1460 deadline about?
A hard, documented ticking clock: in 1460, Danzig rebels out of the Teutonic Order, which quickly draws Poland in — and Poland will likely take most or all of the Prussian lands Brandenburg needs for its own mission chain and eventual Prussia formation. It doesn't lock you out of those provinces permanently, but taking them becomes significantly harder afterward. The clear implication: attack the Teutonic Order before 1460 if forming Prussia is the goal.
What is the Franconia succession puzzle?
A genuinely fiddly diplomatic side-project: when Brandenburg's starting ruler dies, Ansbach's ruler (also Brandenburg's heir) takes both thrones, triggering a mission requiring 6 provinces across Lower and Upper Franconia within 5 years to complete Franconian Conquest — but no single state controls four of the needed provinces, so it typically requires multiple simultaneous wars or calling in several targets (Würzburg plus its vassal Bamberg is commonly cited as the best two-province package). Missing the deadline breaks both personal unions and spawns a new country, Franconia, from whatever provinces you hold in the region.
What does forming Prussia actually require, and what about Germany?
Prussia: administrative technology 10, Protestant/Reformed/Anglican/Hussite religion, and owning Königsberg plus either Danzig or Stolp. It's achievable by roughly the mid-1500s at the earliest — deliberately gated behind the Reformation. Forming Germany is a much later, much bigger project: administrative technology 18, at least 15 cities, and a long list of specific core provinces (Berlin, München, Brunswick, and pairs like Nürnberg-or-Frankfurt) across at least 50 total cores in the North and South Germany regions — an end-game target, not a mid-game one.
Should I expand into Novgorod/Russia territory instead of staying in Germany?
The wiki treats this as a legitimate late-strategy branch once the German/Prussian foundation is secure — 'finish expanding into Novgorod, then slowly into the German region' is explicitly recommended in the standard opening's endgame, and the mission-tree route separately notes that if Lithuania collapses (often from Poland choosing a local noble or losing badly), expanding into Lithuania before Russia grows too strong is worth prioritizing.
Sources checked
Self-fetched directly from the live EU4 wiki, which offers three distinct strategy write-ups for Brandenburg plus a patch-1.35-specific update — all explicitly labeled by the wiki as suggested approaches, not official doctrine. Formation requirements (Form Kingdom of Prussia, Form German Nation) are wiki-verified from the game's own decision conditions.