An Italian problem?

[attilavolciak07]

I'm sure this shows up with all of you guys too but has anyone noticed that Milan and Venice (in every campaign) are back-stabbing and always excommunicated.
Is this because of their aggresive tendencies or because they try to be powerful in a region seiged by powers such as France, HRE, Papal States etc.?
And since I haven't tryed playing Milan or Venice or Sicily could you tell me which faction you enjoy the most?
Sorry for these noobish questions but I have been playing this game for around 8 months and love it.

[Marcus Septim IV]

i love Milan

[Dodge]

Forza Meelan

[Old Geezer]

I voted for Sicily because of their great starting location.

[Arcinatus]

i thought the general consensus around here was that sicily's location was terrible? personally i dont really mind it, but it can be hard to defend all your territories when you have to go basically everywhere by ship

and why can't i vote?

[Musthavename]

Sicily has a great starting position because it has options everywhere. Its part of Italy and the rich cities of the North are easily accessible. There's room for easy expansion (and one that won't annoy the Pope) in Africa. Similarly, you're in the centre of the Meditarranean, and so its very easy to either go to Spain or to Greece.

Regardless, I prefer Milan. I don't know why, i've just always had better campaigns with them.

[Arto]

Milan because the have lots o' money! and

Spoiler Alert, click show to read: 

Always bet on Kaka

[Dodge]

Jesus loves Kaka'

FACT!

[Theseus1234]

venice is good all around and has a reasonable starting position, with a somewhat open route for expansion (i.e. north, a little west, east, east, and south-east)
their navy is good for getting around too

[will-o-the-wisp]

Pick Venice.

Leave one or two units at the capitol and rush at Milan. I destroyed Milan in 3 turns, at 1086. If you do that, you got the greatest trading cities in the game (northern Italy).

Build a ton of militia, and take Florence, Ajaccio, Zagreb, Durazzo, Thessalonica, Constantinople, Corinth, Sofia, and Smyrna. I had them all in the year 1130. I was also number one in everything but finance (number 2 there).

You got a small empire right there. Rest is up to you. I suggest taking out sicily and eliminating Byzantine

[Double A]

yes, hurray for the Blitzkreig!

[Mythic_Commodore]

Papal States - inquisitors, Papal and Swiss Guard, good starting position, never being excommed. Yeah, pretty good. Oh, and not having to worry about losing because of a lack of generals is good too.

[Double A]

lack of generals = winning?

[Sparkshot]

Venice is my pick; I love their Heavy Infantry and find their campaign more exciting. I like Sicily but having to go everywhere by boat can become tiresome, even though it presents opportunities. Also, this is trivial but I don't like Sicily's colors on the campaign map either. Having the Rebels, Sicilians, and fog of war all represented as grey makes the map unattractive.

Anyway, I generally find myself more financially stable as Venice (without the rest of the northern Italian provinces under my control) because of the better developed wealthy trade cities of the Byzantine Empire. Once you hit The Holy Roman Empire's provinces you will definitely be rolling in the florins because of all their mines (Vienna is a must have). Plus, Venice gets Musketeers so that automatically moves them to the top with me.

[zligor]

Sicily. They have best starting position in the game. You can expand where you want without being excommunicated. You have all the advantages of other Italian factions ( strong militia units) + great norman knights.

[DrGonzo]

I would go for Sicily too.

[Hazzy101]

The Papal States. Swiss guard are awesome

[TheKing]

Milian are back stabbers,Im playing as france at the moment and I had been allies with them,but then they turned on me and are now taking over all my town and cities one by one

[zligor]

Milian are back stabbers,Im playing as france at the moment and I had been allies with them,but then they turned on me and are now taking over all my town and cities one by one

All of factions are, not only Milan. I`m playing as Egypt now. Poland agrees to became my vassal and two (!) turns later attacks me

[Mythic_Commodore]

No, Double A, you never have to worry about losing because your last family member died - you just get another for free.