Europa Universalis IV - How to Play as Etruria Before 1452

This guide will help you create the nation of Etruria; An incredibly rare nation in EU4 that can only spawn under strict conditions.

Contents

How to Spawn Etruria

Сrеdit gоеs to Sharpie The Protogen !

In order for Etruria to spawn in the earliest time possible, I recommend save scumming constantly. It isn’t required, but is helpful.

Game conditions at start:

Rival Ferrara.
Use summon diet to get a claim on Ferrara (Emilia-Romagna area) – Save scum if you don’t get a mission for it.
Set military focus. Hire morale/discipline. Hire admin/diplomatic adviser. Get all +1 monarch power from estates. Get 1.0% burgher loans. Patreon of arts. Cheaper advisors. Supremeacy over the crown. Religious diplomats.
Get ‘Burghers Force Draft from estate and enact decision to build heavy. You will need this to barage fort in Lucca and Siena later. When available, build two more galleys.
Ally someone strong if you can, France/Aragon is great. Otherwise Papal State, Mantua is helpful.
Hire admial and move to blockade Ferrara’s coast.

*Bonus save-scum moment: Save every day so that Ferrara can’t get an ally, if they do; save scum.

Declare war on Ferrara Dec 11th 1444.
Improve relations with Siena. Fabricate on Siena until 30 spy network. Sounds confusing, but you need Siena to be over 100 relations after you peace out Ferrara so they don’t rival you; Otherwise they can’t buy Abruzzo.
Ideally during wars you want a siege general of 3+ or more. It’s not essential, but helps massively in Ferrara war to cut down on siege time.
Peace out Ferrara when you can for both provinces. Royal marry Siena/give money to them to get them above 100 relations to counter rivalry.
Do not engage in naval warfare. Once annexed, send fleet to Pisa.
Full core Modena and Ferrara and move your capital to Ferrara. Exploit development in Tuscan region and destate it. Shift primary culture to Romangol and demote Tuscan culture.

*Start fabricating on Lucca when available.

Leave the HRE. Required unless you want to wait for shadow kingdom. But be a man, we don’t want to wait around.
Sell Abruzzo to Siena.
Make sure by this point you have military tech 4 + 55 military power.
Hire at least two mercenary companies, 3 is preferable. You will be facing Siena’s allies + Austria and it’s allies. Your war goal should be Siena.
Have your ships out in Tyrrenean Sea.
Declare war on Siena and immediately march to Siena. Send 1k troop to siege Arezzo.
Barage Siena force with your fleet and immediately assault the fort. Consolidate your troops every single day until it falls.
Set defensive edict in Ferrara.
Your goal is to survive until Siena will accept giving you Arezzo. A couple of timed battles will help.
If you are facing a large fleet with fear of losing them, immediately hide them in Pisa.
Annex Arezzo back and click on the province. in the rebel icon, Tuscan seperatists may spawn, immediately accept their demands.

*You need Tuscany to be on the map in order to spawn Etruria. This is also a sneakily way to play as Tuscany without needing tech 10.

Delete Firenze fort.
Sell Firenze to Lucca.
Declare war on Lucca. Do the same as the Siena war; Barage fort by putting fleet into Ligurian Sea, assault the fort, consolidate troops during assault. Send 1k to Firenze.
Hold out until Lucca accepts giving you Firenze.
Call any allies you have here. This also has the added affect of reducing war enthuisiasm.
Take Firenze back. Click on Firenze, hover over rebels icon and accept Etrurian demands.

Etruria should be on the map. They will have a truce with you. Declare war on them on the same month you release them and get there before the end of the month. Garrison should be only 100 men. Will fall in two months time.

*Make sure Etruria doesn’t get guarenteed or have any ally. Save scum if you must.

Use your remaining power points to tech up, reduce inflation and raise stability. Once you become Etruria, you will inherit some of Florences problems. I recommend raising stability to at least 0 and techning up in any department.
Annex Etruria immediately when the fort falls.
Disband most of Florences allies, especially big ones.
Go into diplomacy and create subject ‘Etruria’.
You are now Etruria. You are a vassal of Florence.
Wait for the coalition to declare on Florence to release you. As they truce broke Etruria, there will be a very large coalition.
Forge your destiny!

Etruria has generic mission tree and Italian ideas, but is otherwise the chadiest of all nations.