I had a brilliant start after having so many faulty ones. But then I had a brutal coalition war after I vassalised Brandenburg. I was outnumber 75K against 150K. Amazingly, I was able to survive after a ghastly time by constantly spending dip points to keep my war exhaustion down and eventually got a peace offer through to release Danzig, cede Kulm/Chelmo and pay reparations to Poland. It reminded me that sometimes not all is lost, and just trying to stick with it as stubbornly as possible can help.

However, I still do not see how the TO are at all meant to expand. In theory, to get the Baltic Crusader achievement, I have to either rush through the Livonian knights and secure Novgorod before Muscovy can claim it. Otherwise, the best option as I see it is to build up a secure base within the HRE to the West, try and core or diplo-annex as many Pomeranian/Saxon lands as possible whilst riding Austria's dick as long as possible. Only then would a second option of forcing the way into Poland and Lithuania with as many military ideas and as high discipline as possible be plausible.

I think I got completely gridlocked when Poland made an enduring alliance with Denmark, which has on too many occasions now had me and Austria in a killer pincer movement. The CPU is thick as a brick and will just leave stacks to erode from supply limits or attack in a suicide run over crossings, and the Prussian lands are too narrow to protect safely, as is shown in my picture. I joined Austria in a defensive war which has resulted in my army being completely cut off, and Bohemia smartly took this time to steal some clay. Unless I drop the stack and rush a mercenary army, possible getting into decades of uncontrollable debt, I'm going to get skewered in the fleshy underbelly hard-friggin-core.

Also whoever told us that discipline saves lives is a complete liar. Even with typically higher discipline, troop effectiveness and tactics due to Teutonic ideas and advisors, my manpower is still in a constant state of plunging through the floor. This is not a fun country to play.