Well I don't have royal marriages (theocracy) so I can't do that and I don't know if it would be worth it to change governments, and I am Trier, smack in the middle of the HRE and everyone around me has 10 other nations protecting them. Another thing that annoys me, both the weaker and stronger nations around me have lots of strong guys declaring their independance, but no one has made me that offer.
Hey I'm in the middle of a Trier game rite now, its MEIOU though so its a bit different. I find its helpful to get military access on everyone around you, anyone who could be the emperor and the big blobs like england and france and castile. When you have good relations with someone, they will usually give warning before attacking, like insults and deal cancelations. I don't really bother with alliances, they are more trouble then they are worth unless you know you are going to be attacked soon or unless its expansion time and you need a CB. Also, the AI avoids making alliances with weaker countries because it knows they won't provide much help, so allied countries tend to either be weak, or loosers who are likely to be attacked soon. The trick to expanding in the HRE is to identify closed alliances chains (like A is allied only with B who is allied only with C who is allied with noone else) and then generate CB's on them. AI's will accept loans at 8% interest, 12 months, for an amount larger then about 20 or 30 gold. They rarely pay these back. The less cheesy way is claiming thrones, giving warnings, guarantees and participating in chain alliance derpfests. I think going monarchy is worth it, because royal marriages allow you to claim thrones and make others reluctant to attack you. Plus they really help out with those endless "IMPROVE RELATIONS WITH IRRELEVANT COUNTRY" missions.
My game is wierd though, I might be having an easier time because the emperor keeps loosing wars to GB and France.
