Stop attacking me

**Sweet Zombie Jesus** · December 31, 2007, 09:09 AM

I'm playing Venice with patch 1.1.The HRE and Milan are destroying me.There sending out huge army's and attacking all me citys and now I'm losing all my money trying to building army's to stop them.I'm now on turn 35 and I've taking the Holy land(Jerusalem and Arce) but now I have Egypt trying to take them back.I did have an alinance with the HRE and Milan but they broke it when my relationship was good with the HRE and perfect with Milan.How can I stop them attacking me?

**green tea** · December 31, 2007, 09:38 AM

As Venice, you can have a very strong economy. Concentrate on enhancing your economy by building markets, ports etc. Try to conquer the rebel island cities. There you can build ports (economy), and naval invasions occur seldom. The italian states also have the advantage of a strong militia. With them, you have a good chance to be victorious against the peasants the HRE sends against you. Milan is a problem for every neighbouring power because of their money and their effective crossbow militia. When your economy is strong enough, you should conquer their lands. They are rich, and every taken milanese city gives you much money and weakens them. Maybe you should wait with conquering Milan also until they are excommunicated (which will be soon).

edit: And forget about the holy land. Sell the cities to anybody that will take them, or just leave them after destroying all buildings (money). It is in this phase of your game just a waste of your resources.

**Pyrebound** · December 31, 2007, 10:23 AM

Take advantage of the superior militia of italians! In the early game as milan all i need is to rush to get the tier 2 barracks and 3 when you can, the spear militia + genoese xbow mix is superior to my neighbours armies. Early game is the key to make your nation safer in the late game.

Fill your cities with it. spear militia, especially venice, if you aren't going to capture all of the northern italy. They are quite good and you get alot of them free of upkeep. Remember archers and the italian cav militia, which is basically enhanced merch cav.

Capturing the cities around venice also gives you alot better chances to defend yourself against foreign attacks. As venice has very nice economy, you can buy bologna from HRE for 8,000-10,000 florins, and then quickly take both genoa and milan at the same time. That way you can send reinforcements from city to another as they are all clumped up.

pb

**Sweet Zombie Jesus** · December 31, 2007, 10:32 AM

I've just made peace with the HRE thanks to Sicily.They start to destroy the HRE.Milan are still attacking me every turn with huge armys but I have France as a ally and there helping with my attacks but Milan have taking a few of france's citys and are getting stronger.I'm going to give the holy land to the Papel states.

**Pyrebound** · December 31, 2007, 10:37 AM

Though shipping your generals and possibly troops if you dont want to disband them is a huge loss of money. If pope likes you already, you could sell them to egypt to cover some of your expenses

**eggthief** · December 31, 2007, 02:37 PM

Maybe u prefer the AI with 1.3 and with a AI mod.

**Problem Sleuth** · December 31, 2007, 02:52 PM

Maybe you should wait with conquering Milan also until they are excommunicated (which will be soon).

Or you could bribe the Pope and earn more money in the long run. Occupy one city, and maybe sack the other if you really need the funds. If you do sack it, you should get a few thousand Florins, which you give to the Pope as a gift.

**Rodrico Stak** · December 31, 2007, 06:08 PM

The best way to keep them from breaking those alliances would be to patch to 1.2 (savegames are upwards compatible, or so I've heard). It fixes the problem of your allies always backstabbing you.

**Emperor Tom** · December 31, 2007, 06:19 PM

Well if you are allied with the Papacy and you have both Jeruselum and Acre give the Papacy Jeruselum and keep Acre. That way the Pope helps subdue the Egyptians from the south and you can spread out. The papacy will continue to try and conquer the "infadels" because they aren't Catholics. That will hurt Egypt greatly.

**Skyline Pete** · January 01, 2008, 01:16 AM

The best way to keep them from breaking those alliances would be to patch to 1.2 (savegames are upwards compatible, or so I've heard). It fixes the problem of your allies always backstabbing you.

I modded one of my campaigns myself once and the only thing I adjusted was the rate at which diplomatic relations decline. This prevented a LOT of back-stabbing and also led to multi nation alliances that actually worked.

Of course one person might be betrayed if they left a city undefended.

As for the OPs problem, sell the Holy Lands to someone random for a LOT of money and then use that to create a few stacks of Militia units and tromp Milan.

**green tea** · January 06, 2008, 10:10 PM

Originally Posted by Skyline Pete

I modded one of my campaigns myself once and the only thing I adjusted was the rate at which diplomatic relations decline. This prevented a LOT of back-stabbing and also led to multi nation alliances that actually worked.

That´s nice. How did you do it? (Or better: how could I do it myself?)

**Skyline Pete** · January 07, 2008, 12:53 AM

Have you unpacked your files?

**loquar** · January 07, 2008, 01:34 AM

If youve got the holy lands by turn 35 with venice you may have spread out a bit much a bit early.

As has been said earlier try and consolidate your starting area a bit. I'd destroy all your destroyable buildings in jerusalem and acre to make some nice cash then sell them or gift them and concentrate on making a nice starting bubble.