Eastern Europe

[UhOhIt'sAnArrow]

So this was inspired by the thread, "whicih faction should i play?", and i was kind of wondering some strategies for Venice, Byzantium, and Hungary. Hungary especially becasue their unit roster is so tough in the beginning surrounded by people with awesome infantry and cavalry. By like turn 15 as Sicily, Venice, Hungary or Byzantium (basically i just hate fighting the turks, they dont really apply) i have 4 enemies on 4 diferent fronts.

So some strategies on Venice, Sicily and Hungary would greatly be appreciated as to strategic locations to take without pissing off all my neighbors.

[clandestino]

Well for the Venice there are little options,there are onley two rebel regions around ( Zagreb and Durazzo ) and they should be your primary goals in first 2-3 turns. The other possibility is to quickley conquer Innsbruck which will give you a possibility to recrute castle-trained troops. I'm sure that Germans' response won't be nor quickley nor strong which will give you the time to train some units and to send a diplomat to ask truce. You onley have to watch for German garrison in Bologne - building a fort on the bridge on the Po river should keep them bussy for few turns. Alliance with Pope, Hungary, Milan and Byzantines should be your diplomatic priorities.

[UhOhIt'sAnArrow]

See I usually do that but they always just break the alliances. Alliances pretty much mean nothing in this game lol. But it seems like I should really focus on Bologna first.

[clandestino]

I played with the HRE and I know how much their forces are scattered and weak at the begining. Taking Bologna or Innsbruck will kripple them in starters. Remember - the attack is the best defence. At the beginig Venetian forces are more concetrated than HRE's and you should use that to gain local superiority and quickley conquer their nearest settlements. In few first couple turns you should train as many troops as possible, that's onley way to survive in this game.

[Knight of Judgment]

allie with the pope and give some denarii and if hre hasn't the favour of the pope you can say to pope call a crusade against hre . i do this playing as skotland for milan and i took dijon and the gift of the pope becouse i took the crusade target

[Iustinianos]

As Venice I always go directly for Zagreb, Durazzo and Florence. While I besiege these settlements I recruit extra forces at Venice(Italian Spear Militia). Once I capture Florence I merge the forces from Florence with those of Venice thus creating an army strong enough to conquer Bologna. Once this happened you should reach out for Inssbruck, to my experience holding castles in the Alps such as Inssbruck and Bern is very import. You not only control the passage to Italy but you also protect your cities in Northern Italy. Also be sure to get an alliance with Hungary, France, the Pope and Byzantium. Then I often prepare to Blitz Milan, it shouldn't be that hard as they probably have about 2-3 cities, but you are going to have to do this fast as you do not want to Pope to excommunicate you. Once you destroyed Milan and throwed the HRE out of Italy you can focuss on impriving your economy in N-Italy. Venice, Bologna, Florence, Milan and Genua can become some of the richest settlements in the game. Also they are perfect to recruit armies very fast.

As for Hungary, I only played it once, but this is how I did it: get Zagbreb as fast as possible before the Venetians do and get Sofia before the Byzantines do. Also send armies to conquer Bucharest and Iasi. My advise is to get an alliance with Poland, HRE and the Pope. As for the units, they are not outstanding in the beginning. The Pavise Spearmen are quit capable tough so you should try make these as soon as possible. The most likely enememies are Byzantium and Venice, so prepare to fight them. It is vital that when you get attacked by Venice to get Ragusa as soon as possible as it is their only castle. In my Hungarian campaing I got lucky that the Pope excommunicated Venice so I could get a crusade going against their capital Venice. I sacked it, this gave me a lot of money to prepare myself to the war with Byzantium. Now the Byzantines really gave me a hard time, they had like the strongest army in the world. But with the help of Hungary's mighty Horse Archers and a lot of mercenaries I managed to throw them out of Greece. Since I had a firm alliance with Poland and the HRE I never had to fight in my northern territories. That's all I can say about the Hungarians. Hope it helps.

[clandestino]

Once I capture Florence I merge the forces from Florence with those of Venice thus creating an army strong enough to conquer Bologna.

Is it not better to attack Bologne first;the HRE will probably attack you from the back while you are besiegeing Florence. My tactic is to block passage south of Innsbruck with the fort and than attack Bologne. This way you get well developed and lucrative settlement and kill German emperor with one shot.

[Trajan]

Moved to Battle Planning.

[MarkPharaoh]

Bologna is a lot harder to sack early game than Innsbruck, and since the Germans really rely on their castles you can really cripple their early game while having a strong defensive position to keep northern forces from attacking your capital and also help with keeping Bologna isolated until you have the firepower for a proper siege.

[Laconian]

My stetegy with Venice is fristly to gain control of Zagreb and Durrazo. When you get them you should consolidate them and eventually make them castles. Meanwhile, buy Bologna from the HRE by offering alliance, trade rights, map info and what ever else is nessacary. Also make an alliance with the Pope. While that is happening, blitzkrieg Milan and attack Genoa and Milan simualteneously. With Milan should be gone and everyone is happy.

Meanwhile in the east, use Iraklion and Crete as a base to espand in the east. Firstly conquer Rhodes and if you can Smyrna. Make an alliance with Hungary and attack the Byzantine from two fronts; Corinth-Thessalonica and Nicaea. Then attack Constantinople and youshould be in control of the Balkans.

[clandestino]

Meanwhile, buy Bologna from the HRE by offering alliance, trade rights, map info and what ever else is nessacary.

Are the Germans realy prepared to sell Bologna for trade rigts, I'm not so sure in it.

[clandestino]

Meanwhile, buy Bologna from the HRE by offering alliance, trade rights, map info and what ever else is nessacary.[

Are the Germans realy prepared to sell Bologna for trade rights? I'm not so sure in that.

[Wheem]

Well, he did say "and what ever else is nessacary."

They'll sell it to you on turn one if you offer enough florins, but that feels cheesey to me, honestly. With the potential of that city, I find it pretty unrealistic that they'd sell it to you for that little amount of money, so I never do it.

[clandestino]

Come on, how much money you can offer them in first thurn when you only have 8000 florins?

[Unknown Soldier]

6000 gets you Bologna

Split as 500 over 12 turns 0r 600 over 10 turns or 1000 over 6 turns

These all have worked for me

[clandestino]

I would rather train some troops for that kind of money. But De gustibus non discutando

[Unknown Soldier]

You get 5 free units of merc crossbow men as the new garrison within siege distance of Florence, just need a family member to stop them being bribed/going brigand.

[UhOhIt'sAnArrow]

Yeah that's pretty good. I recently tried playing Hungary, and everything went really well until I tried to attack Venice. I attacked them with a nice army of the spearmen, a few feudal knights, axemen and quite a few veteran silver armored militia. Yeah, the garrison was completely crossbow militia and i lost. Routed my entire army... Then I tried venice, everything was going well but I ended up getting 4 enemies on 3 fronts because i coudln't take down the Germans without getting excommunicated.

I has bad luck

[fluffstalker]

Yeah I started a Venice Campaign a while back as well. I just cant spend the cash on building a fleet massive enough to defeat the Byzantines and Egyptians, and my trade lines are all being cut, and I cant reinforce my far flung settlements.

The real key to Venice is consolidate first, then strike either Milan or Sicily hard when there arent so many hostile navies about. Taking the Normans out gives you an early castle that is also decent as a cash city. i wouldn't recommend attacking the HRE unless your pretty well into the game and can fend off multiple attacks.

After consolidating, crusading is brilliant for expanding your empire. It keeps the purse tight as you can recruit heavy knights for practically free and it gives you territory away from Catholic Factions. I usually send two stacks crusading so that i have a large army that can quickly subjdugate the surrounding area. Focus on expanding among the Mulsims or Orthodox Christians and work your way back towards your European Provinces.

[Knight of Judgment]

hre is like ejypt in rtw . every time attacks you . i played as milan but my capital conquered and i start a spanish campaign .