Venice

[removeduser_487563287433]

So, after getting thoroughly bored with the traditional countries such as England, Castille, Portugal etc and given up on the whole Irish unification idea I started a game with Venice, and it's great, very interesting.

Problem is that it seems to be prohibitively difficult. Inflation is through the roof and I am utterly incapable of tackling it. I have my open moves sorted but after that everything goes sour.

In the opening moves I win the war against Milan, annexing Parma and vassalising Milan if possible. I diploannex Corfu. I declare war on Mantua, assuming they haven't allied with anybody too powerful and annex them, connecting Parma with the rest of my Italian provinces. I now settle down to rebuild stability and reputation. I send two cogs with two regiments onboard to Cuba to begin colonisation.

But this is where everything seems to go wrong. Inflation is unavoidable. I need to maintain the large fleet I start with in order to be able to remain in control of the Adriatic and Meditterean provinces. I need to maintain the two regiments and two cogs in the New World. I need to maintain a fairly large army in Italy to conquer the Italian states and hope that Austria, Burgundy or the Ottomans don't invade. War with any of these is merely a formality of my inevitable defeat against the armies of tens of thousands they can immediately field. Whilst I'm picking off Italy by bits and pieces and desperately trying to establish cities on Cuba these three states make leaps and bounds in size.

So, what to do?

[Fabolous]

Well... thats kind of the trick isn't it? I mean, you're Venice. You're provinces are quite good, as are most of the ones around you. But there aren't enough for you to be as strong as a France/Castille unless you make sure you dominate trade. Trading is very important to playing Venice.
I don't normally colonize with Venice... or atleast I don't send troops over. Make sure you keep your stability up to keep your spread out provences happy. Do all the little things to manage smaller economy nations, like turning down military costs when at peace.
You can't really win a war with Austria/Burgundy/Ottomans early on unless you are one of the other ones. That really can't be helped. I mean, I can normally swing a white peace or so without much trouble if I do end up at war with them, but I don't recommend it.


My hesistant assumption is you just are trying to do too much than your economy can handle. A little inflation is difficult to avoid with anyone though.

[removeduser_487563287433]

I just gave it another bash. I got Corfu, Mantuna, Parma and as a little bonus Anacona as well. Fantastic! Oh, until Austria and all her allies, Sicily and all her allies and Bosnia and all her allies all declared war on me at once.

Also thing about Venice is that you actually get merchants very very slowly, so early trade is a no no.

[Fabolous]

Also thing about Venice is that you actually get merchants very very slowly, so early trade is a no no.

Venice gets some of the most merchants per year early...
How many are you getting per year?

[removeduser_487563287433]

None. May have been due to my stability, I really wanted as much as north Italy as possible so I just declared war on Mantuna. Maybe diploannex is the way to go?

[William the Bastard]

Maybe diploannex is the way to go?

Yep. It is rather tempting to just annex all the little one province nations but as Venice it is often better to have loads of vassals as allies. If you get deced on by Austria then at least you will have back up. From the start you should be allied to Sicily. This can be an advantage if they dec on someone interesting. They tend to dec on the Papal states. They and whoever they are allied to will make a nice vassal for you. It sounds like you are having BB problems?

[removeduser_487563287433]

Yep. It is rather tempting to just annex all the little one province nations but as Venice it is often better to have loads of vassals as allies. If you get deced on by Austria then at least you will have back up. From the start you should be allied to Sicily. This can be an advantage if they dec on someone interesting. They tend to dec on the Papal states. They and whoever they are allied to will make a nice vassal for you. It sounds like you are having BB problems?

Not really. It's only rather bad or tarnished, people shouldn't be going ape **** on me!

[Fabolous]

None. May have been due to my stability, I really wanted as much as north Italy as possible so I just declared war on Mantuna. Maybe diploannex is the way to go?

Lmao. Yeah, you should be getting around 5-6 a year early with Venice. None would make it hard to trade.

Diplo annexing is almost always the better option. I hate it, but its better.

[jimkatalanos]

I like Venice. Try to unify Italy.

[Otherside]

thats still rather high i unified italy with venice in 80 years u just have to take ur time beat up milan in the first war then keep up relations with austria they will just pwn in a war ....

[removeduser_487563287433]

Diploannexing is a pain in the arse without royal marriages.

[Fabolous]

Diploannexing is a pain in the arse without royal marriages.

Give gift. Month later, give gift. Month later, give gift. Another month later, give gift. Month, gift. Gif, gift, gift. Gift. Annexation rejected. ****ers.

Fun stuff.

[William the Bastard]

Give gift. Month later, give gift. Month later, give gift. Another month later, give gift. Month, gift. Gif, gift, gift. Gift. Annexation rejected. ****ers.

Fun stuff.

Or wait for the elusive awesome leader. They do turn up now and then. I had a leader with diplo skills 8! He kindly helped in my diplo-annexation of 6 vassals.
This is what you are trying to achieve. Even then it will take a gamble fighting France or Austria.

[Woad-Warrier]

Have you tried to get really good relations with Austria? Its better to be loved by your enemies than hated.

And always vassalize then annex. Annexing small states is not good, especially when your a small power. Also I'm fairly sure that enemy states wont declare wars on your vassals, so it was properly be a good idea to make a "buffer" zone.

[removeduser_487563287433]

Well, luckily I saved a year or two before everybody decided to gangbang me so I've started that again... and touch wood... it's under control. BB is below a point where most have stopped sending spies, Cuba will soon be mine, finances rising, touch wood touch wood.

[removeduser_487563287433]

Okay... so I just wasted a lot of time and money getting my relation with tuscany to 200 to vassalise.... and..... I can't because we don't have a royal marriage because we're merchant republics and a royal marriage is a prerequisite to vasalisation. Argh!

[William the Bastard]

Okay... so I just wasted a lot of time and money getting my relation with tuscany to 200 to vassalise.... and..... I can't because we don't have a royal marriage because we're merchant republics and a royal marriage is a prerequisite to vasalisation. Argh!

Not really. I have done it without one.

[Woad-Warrier]

William! Why aren't you killing those French?! GET BACK TO WORK!

[removeduser_487563287433]

I'm afraid you're mistaken.

"To offer Vassalisation you must 1) have a Royal Marriage 2) have a Military Alliance 3) have a relation of at least +190 4) have the same religion and 5) the target country must be at peace.

[William the Bastard]

I'm afraid you're mistaken.

"To offer Vassalisation you must 1) have a Royal Marriage 2) have a Military Alliance 3) have a relation of at least +190 4) have the same religion and 5) the target country must be at peace.

That's what it says but it is still possible. A royal marriage helps if you want to turn into a monarchy but I wouldn't take the BB hit. The EUIII wiki is down but when it gets back up I'll show you .