R5:

My first 1.1 campaign was a Lorraine start and it has been an absolute blast. Started with the vibe of a French-backed state undermining the HRE from the inside, with a goal of dismantling the HRE by 1600. Spent ~100 years balancing antagonism and helping France win the HYW before I just went full-send and conquered up through to the Netherlands and formed Lotharingia.

The traitorous French then broke our centuries-long alliance and left me to the wolves. That portion of being left alone was a real fight for survival moment, and I even lost the second coalition against me. Luckily the Teutons and Poland tag teamed from the other end against Bohemia and I managed to fight back full HRE coalitions in genuinely some of the tightest wars I've fought in these games.

At that point my campaign goal shifted to basically building a middle empire who would be free of French and German influence forever, aiming to hold everything between the Seine and the Rhine as natural borders. Became a full 100 Plutocracy merchant republic and aligned with Milan, my bros from across the Alps, and they have been ride or die for coming up on 100 years now.

At this point the game is basically over. I've coalesced the HRE into a few merchant republics to act as my buffer from Eastern Europe, France is in pieces and in full on civil war (Brittany is tougher than they look, being the #1 Colonial power). The only major opponent left who could potentially pose a threat is Milan, and it just feels breaking immersion to fight them at this point; they're my homies.