Vanilla game - need a fun faction

[htothehh]

So after taking nearly a 1 year break, I've decided to come back to MIITW. I need a fun Christian/Orthodox faction to play as. I've played as England, Spain, Sicily (only a about twenty turns or so), Byzantine, Turks, Egypt, and Moors. I never played as the other Christian factions because of their unfavorable location on the map... Any ideas of what I should do/play as?

[Antwerpen]

Um...I think you should try Milan. It is interesting when you don't just make war with anyone, but be at peace and make money. Also, you can get back to Sicily or Russia

[Praetorian_Mossop]

Try Poland or Hungary, they don't have a good starting position and don't have the dismounted knight based armies

[htothehh]

Which faction has more strategic battle fields in its area? Milan?

[Tankfriend]

If you mean strategical valuable positions like bridges or mountain passes, then you should go for Milan or Venice (especially Venice, as the capital can only be accessed via a bridge) because Northern Italy offers a lot of mountain passes and bridges that can be used as valuable choke points against invading armies. And the rest of the Italian Peninsula and Sicily is surrounded by the Mediterranean of course, so you got a very good defensive position in your home territory. Now add in their superior militia units (they're partly better or on par with sergeant spearmen) and their special units (notable are Milans "Genoese Crossbowmen", Venice's "Venetian Heavy Infantry", the Italian "Carrocio" [their own version of the Great Cross that can be recruited on crusades] and the monster ribault for massive close range damage) and they're certainly interesting to play - it can be getting a bit easy though.

You could go for Russia as well, as far as I have played them, they are quite hard to begin with but can become strong with their unit roster later on. They also have a few good choke points at bridges, but the territory is very vast and most provinces don't offer much income. So you'll be bound to a quick reaction force of cavalry (most of which are capable of both ranged and melee combat), which in turn demands quite some money. But imho these difficulties are what makes them interesting. Oh and... prepare for the Mongols and Timurids, they're rather close...

[Mithrane]

As Danemark, if you push south into the HRE, you will have a TON of mountain pass battles. They have very little cavalry to speak of, and are the premire infantry nation, allowing you (forcing you?) to have some very strategic battles where you can overcome seemingly insane odds with well timed / placed huscarl charges.

[htothehh]

OK, I think I'm going to start with Venice, and after I beat that then probably Milan. As of Venice strategy, would it be a good idea to conquer Italy first? Should I conquer Rome, make that my capital, and then expand North?

[The Noble Lord]

OK, I think I'm going to start with Venice, and after I beat that then probably Milan. As of Venice strategy, would it be a good idea to conquer Italy first? Should I conquer Rome, make that my capital, and then expand North?

Don't bother the Pope yet, get stronger economically and militarily and be ready for Milanese, Hungarians, French, HRE and others that will come knocking on your door. You should expand to the northern Italy and western Balkans. Good seaports there and few goldmines. Establish trade relations with the Byzantines and Turks. Send emissaries to the Fatimids.
Just be careful not to leave city of Venice lightly defended.

Good luck.


CHEERS

[Tankfriend]

And if you can get an attack on Sicily (maybe if they get excommunicated) and are strong enough, go for it. That offers you a good position for trading and ferrying troops to North Africa and into the Near East - that's especially useful if you want to take your chance at a crusade.
Also, try to get your hands on all those smaller islands around, they can get you a small fortune if you're trading with the nearby factions while also being a secure haven for yourself as the AI rarely ever attacks islands.

[Old Geezer]

Frence has a surprisingly well-balanced roster of units and a very favorable starting location. If you play on very hard strategic setting then you should have no trouble getting into wars with your neighbors. Having ports on the north and the med. is a great benefit. You can expand rapidly in any direction and going crusading is easy. The rich cities of the channel and northern Italy are so very tempting. It is usually easy to get Milan excommed and get the Pope to call a crusade on them. Just take out perfidious Albion immediately and go get allied with the Pope asap too.

[htothehh]

*sigh* a freshly installed game is not working =[

EDIT: game works now! Starting as Venice/Milan.

[TheTrueGreek]

milans pretty fun to play as, just consider the pope into everything as his stack of men is right next to you half the time

[Ex Tenebris Lux]

if you're going to play Venice, move against the Byzzies as fast as possible. And don't accept any peace at least until you have Greece (Thessolaniki and Corinth I think). Trust me on this.

[htothehh]

OK, I started a Milan campaign, I'm about 30 turns in now, and here's what happened, tell me what you think.

1. Took over the rebel town Ajaccio on the island South of Milan
2. Alliance w/ Papal States
3. Took over the rebel city Florence
4. Alliance w/ France to secure my Western borders
5. Took over the rebel castle Cagliari on the island South of Ajaccio w/ the army that conquered Ajaccio
6. Alliance w/ Byzantium to secure my Eastern borders against Turkey after I defeat the Venetians
7. Declared war on HRE, and took over Bologna
8. Sicily declared war on me by attacking Cagliari, fended them off easily
9. HRE send Diplomat requesting Ceasefire, accepted, then made an Alliance with them to secure my North borders
10. Called crusade on Venetian's Ragusa, currently got a full stack besieging the city (Spain and France are on their way)
11. Made a medium-sized army to guard my Western borders in case France turns on me

After I acquire Ragusa, I plan to give that to the Pope, and then move my large army South to eliminate my only threat - Sicily. After that I don't know what I should do...

[Tankfriend]

Sounds like a good start.
My suggestions:

- wipe out the Venetians, they're probably already as good as dead as you said they're not a threat; their cities will get you some nice pile of cash (especially later on when they're developed a bit)

- keep Ragusa for yourself;
one: it will earn you money and you're allied with the Byzantines already (they might go for it eventually though)
two: giving the Pope additional provinces can result in him going on a killing spree all over Europe because he's becoming the strongest faction out of nowhere
three: it's rather easy to befriend the Pope if you constantly give him some small amounts of money, recruit priests, join crusades etc.

- turn on Sicily and wipe them out; that gives you a good position to start getting control of the Mediterranean and it removes the last threat on the Italian Peninsula

When you're done securing your position in Italy, you can go virtually everywhere around the Mediterranean because you not only receive some respectable amount of cash but you also got a good naval position with Sicily under your control.
Some ideas:

- Invade North Africa and defeat the Moors, set up defenses against Egypt; then go on into the Iberian Peninsula and knock out Spain and Portugal and continue with France (or start with France and do it the other way around, that's gonna be harder I guess)

- Try to go up against the HRE; they're the most likely to attack you some time soon anyway; then you could continue with Denmark, they're usually rather small but their provinces can get a nice income; or attack France so you can secure your - at this time very long and vulnerable - western border

- Start a crusade to Jerusalem, capture it and then try to conquer the surrounding factions; that can be quite hard depending on how fast you can capture your first castle because you will be lacking reinforcements at first (being dependent on mercenaries).

[The Noble Lord]

OK, I started a Milan campaign, I'm about 30 turns in now, and here's what happened, tell me what you think.

1. Took over the rebel town Ajaccio on the island South of Milan
2. Alliance w/ Papal States
3. Took over the rebel city Florence
4. Alliance w/ France to secure my Western borders
5. Took over the rebel castle Cagliari on the island South of Ajaccio w/ the army that conquered Ajaccio
6. Alliance w/ Byzantium to secure my Eastern borders against Turkey after I defeat the Venetians
7. Declared war on HRE, and took over Bologna
8. Sicily declared war on me by attacking Cagliari, fended them off easily
9. HRE send Diplomat requesting Ceasefire, accepted, then made an Alliance with them to secure my North borders
10. Called crusade on Venetian's Ragusa, currently got a full stack besieging the city (Spain and France are on their way)
11. Made a medium-sized army to guard my Western borders in case France turns on me

After I acquire Ragusa, I plan to give that to the Pope, and then move my large army South to eliminate my only threat - Sicily. After that I don't know what I should do...

Very good start, Now concentrate all your forces on Venice and take them out. Their rich cities will provide you with much needed cash.
I wouldn't worry now about the French and Sicilians. Main threat will come from the north and the east.
And, secure the goldmine in the western Balkans. And guard it jealously.


CHEERS

[Ex Tenebris Lux]

Unite the Boot. Conquer all other Italian factions except of course for the Pope. Get him later. Or be his protector lol either way. But unite Italy... through force...

[KittySN]

I've always found Venice to be a blast. There's so many options for expansion, and eventually getting attacked on all fronts because everyone hates you makes it pretty interesting.

[Ex Tenebris Lux]

yeah venice is fun, especially when you wipe out that snot nosed little upstart duke from milan. who does he think he is? some mere duke, the doge will teach him a thing or two...

(please dont point out to me that doge basically translates as duke)

lol

[Antwerpen]

snot nosed little upstart duke from milan. who does he think he is? some mere duke, the doge will teach him a thing or two...

You sir, are underestimating the power of Milan.