Byzantine Empire

[zedestroyer]

I'm tired of RTW, so I'm going to start a campaign in Medieval II. A few weeks ago I played the Portuguese campaign. In a few turns I conquered Iberia (Spain was defeated), Southern France (mission of the council of nobles), Northern Africa (Moors were defeated), Antioch (crusade), Corsica, and Sardinia, in this point I had to give up because I didn't have time to play.

Now I want to start a slower campaign with the Byzantine Empire.

1
What strategy do you guys implement? I was thinking in attacking Acre to have a base in the Middle East. Sofia to protect my lands from Hungary, Durazzo to protect my lands from Venice, Syrminia and Rhodes to help my economy, Caffa to serve as my merchant center (it's isolated, so it will be hard to reach by other faction merchants, and have slaves, a good money making resource).
After that I'm planing to conquer Antioch, Adana and Crete, if I have the Chance or if the Venetians attack me.
After these conquests I will just build up and defeat any army trying to attack my lands.
I'm thinking in having Corinth as my military center (my fortress~citadel) in the West and having Acre as my military center in the east.
What do you guys thing about this strategy?

2
It's worth conquering Bucharest?

3
In the beginning of the game I will train and hire the units at my disposal, until the fist steep of my strategy is accomplished. After that I will ttry to have field armies composed of Vardariotai with some support units (generals, mercenaries, ...) to protect my lands, Vardariotai are excellent skirmish cavalry units and perform well as melee units and cavalry it's faster in the campaign so it is able to protect large areas, with the support of spy's to spot enemy armies. In my cities and castles I will train militia units to maintain them under control, my control.

4
When I reach the best units I'm thinking of training an offensive army to attack Italy, the Turks will be a good shield against the Mongols and Timurids.
For my future offensive army I'm thinking in:
- A core of 6 Guard Archers, they have a good ranged attack and they perform well in melee fights, so they will be my legions
- 3 Kataphractoi to support the Guard Archers, protecting them against cavalry (they have armor piercing) and/or flanking the enemy army
- My best General to support the Kataphractoi and the Guard Archers
- 4 Varangian Guards to flank and to support the Guard Archers in the field, these guys will be also useful in sieges
- 6 Vardariotai for harassing and, if this is possible and worthy, for attacking the rear of the enemy army.Iif needed, the Vardariotai can also support the Kataphractoi (if the enemy have many cavalry units). These guys are really good horse archers and they are also good in melee fights, they are an formidable multivalent unit.
What do you guys think about this army and tactics?

[Mithrantir]

I avoid going around Jerusalem from the beginning. Most probably it will result in a direct confrontation with Egypt (or Fatihmid Caliphate if you play SS).

First move is to send my King to take Sophia. It's a vital province and prevents Hungary from coming to close to my money making provinces (Thessalonika and Constantinople). I also send the faction heir to capture Smyrna.

Second move is to convert to city Nicosia. Cyprus is pretty much isolated and it serves better as a city (generating more money) than a castle that would force me to create a standard flow of fleets moving armies.

Bucharest is worth taking and gives an extra income. But is a secondary target. It's a village iirc and although it expands to a city pretty fast, still is a secondary target. But it also helps you keep an eye to Hungary and gives you a shortcut to the main castle of Hungary.

Durazzo is also secondary since it's a village and grows slowly.

I usually keep Corinth as castle until i expand my borders a little or capture Ragusa and Herakleion. It's too far away from the borders for my liking so i keep a minimum pace of building there.

Vardiatorai are very good but also expensive. Byzantine cavalry is also good, but ranged troops have the problem that can't win battles with heavy infantry. So don't dismiss the dismounted byzantine lancers and the spearmen. In fact these troops are quite good once you have started building the armor upgrades (and thus their defense rating).

Guard archers are very good missile troops but still need some form of heavy infantry around.

Use Vardiatorai and Byzantine cavalry and/or Skythikon in battles to go around the opposing troops and attack them from the flanks or rear. When deploying the forces put them in a position that will help them cover the distance easily and safely. Also these missile archers are a good way to erase the opposing missile units (if they are not horse archers though), when they start to fall behind (or advance too far) from the infantry of the enemy. Just make sure they won't stay too long in a position that leaves them vulnerable to heavy cavalry charges.

[zedestroyer]

Guard archers are very good missile troops but still need some form of heavy infantry around.

For that I will use some Varangian Guards. Guard archers should be able to hold any enemy infantry the time needed to start using the Varangian Guards and the Kataphractoi if the enemy don't have to much cavalry.

Use Vardiatorai and Byzantine cavalry and/or Skythikon in battles to go around the opposing troops and attack them from the flanks or rear.

That's the objective of using the Vardariotai, surround the enemy army distributing arrows and even charging possible weak points in the enemy formation.

Because the Byzantine Spearmen is weak, I want to use Kataphractoi cavalry to replace them, they do have armor piercing capability, so they can do some damage on the heavy armored cavalry units.

What I want is to use the Shock and Awe strategy, so I want firepower (Guard Archers and Vardariotai) and shock (Kataphractoi and Varangian Guards) to rapidly dominate the battlefield.

[Razbojnik]

For that I will use some Varangian Guards. Guard archers should be able to hold any enemy infantry the time needed to start using the Varangian Guards and the Kataphractoi if the enemy don't have to much cavalry

Varangians are crap;slow moving,vulerable to cavalry,misiles,spears,only worth for charging the enemy from behind,or battering feudal or chivalric knights.

[nosjo78]

A few simple tips for the Byzantium if your new.
1. DO NOT PISS OFF THE POPE, (try to get an alliance before you even think about fighting a catholic faction)
2. If fighting catholics try to wait for them to be excommunicated.(In the case of Venice it happens alot.
3. Keep the turks around to fight off the mongols.
4. The middle east should be your trade center. (lots of good things there to trade) Caffa only has 1 slaves resource.
5. Train some assasins and send them out towards the turks and middle east. Keep the turks away from your cities by killing their generals with your assasins. Have enough of them to help you handle the mongols when they arrive.

[Trajan]

Moved to Battle Planning.

[SSJPabs]

My strategy as the Byzzies is to rush Sofia and make that my western line. I am fully willing to trade Durazzo back an forth with Venice as a buffer to my interior Greek provinces. I'll usually ally with either Venice or Hungry and go east--but not at the Turks. I send a sea invasion right to Antioch, if you move fast you can capture Antioch, Aleppo and Adana from rebels securing yourself a rich city and two castles to defend it. Then you have a choice, Turks or Egypt. I'll usually ally with the Turks and head south along the coast wiping out Egypt unless they've taken Saudia Arabia or Baghdad. If they have, I leave those lands alone as my Mongol buffer. By the time Egypt is crushed, the Turks will have turned on me, but by now the Smyrna/Aleppo/Adana castles are built up enough and with the money from Antioch, Jerusalem, Nicosia and Alexandria I can finance enough soldiers to smash the Turks. Yes, Nicosia makes a good city--you can get 7000 a turn from it!

After that I usually turn Yerevan into a castle to have the Tibilisi/Yerevan/Mosul castle line against the hordes and make Trebizond into a city.

[Red_Praetoria]

Hmm, On my Byzantine campaign, the one im currently playing, I started out by rushing the nearby isalnds, and Sofia. After that I made a good relationship with the pope, and Milan. After this was all accomplished I crushed the Turks. About 70 turns after this I destroyed the Hungarians.

All of that was rather easy but now things are looking tough. The mongols have come and the HRE is attacking my areas in the Balkans and Thrace. Im losing territories fast in Anatolia and have no idea what to do. The problem is I having a hard time finding a stable Byzantine HI unit. The swordsmen were all fine until the Mongols came with their huge 2-hand halaberds. My guys just get pwned. Any suggestions on a good army build?

[Laconian]

concentrate your armies inside the cty walls when taking on the mongols. you might get defeated by you take down many mongols with you. muster armies that include horse archers, balistas and catapults as well as archers when you take on the mongols.