Genoa IS hard...

[Basileos Leandros I]

I am currently in a Knights Templar campaign going very well, but I wanted to try out something very hard, for a nice challenge, so I started again. Every campaign, simple rules, no cheating apart from a maximum allowed of one adding of 40000 florins to your treasury. Huge units.

Simple SS 6.1 campaign, Genoa on VH/VH. Initially I was with just Genoa and Ajaccio but after two turns I managed to conquer Florence, and a couple of turns afterwards I managed to expand to Cagliari and Marseille. First turns were really good, bringing about 2k profit per turn while I still had a decent army and was building up Genoa and Marseille so the income will improve over time.

I allied with Venice, Sicily, Papal States, France and Germany in the beginning, so I can concentrate on building up my treasury in case somebody attacks me. For the first 30 turns everything was nice and boring, until my army got waay too big and I simply had to expand. I made a sort of big mistake to attack the Sicilian territories, after cancelling the alliance with them. I looked at their faction rankings I didn't expect them mount a very serious comeback, especially when they were simply bankrupt. But how wrong I was...

I attacked their posessions in Tunisia but those Norman Knights are just inhumane. They beat my Italian Spear Militias time and time again, and I simply couldn't match them. They attacked Genoa after conquering Bologna from the Germans, but luckily I escaped due to Genoese Crossbowmen and some solid walls. I had to do something fast that would bring me cash fast as well, so in the end I managed to raise one full stack of medium troops and I raided their cities and castles. I took Tunis, I took Syracuse and simply looted it to the ground (got 11000 florins ), and then destroyed everything. The same happened with Naples, and later on I conquered Al Mahdiya. All were barely defended but the reply came instantly. A full stack came over to Genoa, filled with double silver chevron knights and another full stack over to Florence. Al Mahdiya attacked as well but it survived. Genoa survived as well but with huge losses, but Florence had no chance. They simply razed it to the ground. Things were soon getting out of hand, and Genoa got another full stack on it's way. Marseille reinforced the capital with some spear militias and it survived once more but simply I couldn't cope with them any more. Once again, Genoa survived, but another stack came over to the city. This time I was sure it would be the end, so I "borrowed" 40000 florins, and with that money I invested in buildings and mercenary troops to defend my capital. I managed to defeat them but with huge losses and more than half of my armies gone. In the end I managed to defeat them, held them at bay for a couple of turns and then managed to get a Ceasefire and Trade Rights which were really useful.

Moors attacked afterwards but they were easy pickings...
Now I managed to get everything back on track, with a profit of around 5k per turn, but those middle turns were a killing... I was this close to lose everything.


ADVICE - If you wanna have fun, pick Genoa.

[Sir Walter]

I've never played on VH/VH, so I wouldn't know... when playing as Genoa I'm picky and don't take Marseilles as it would actually be a declaration of war on France, so Venice usually goes quite soon. Also, if you can fortify the Alps then Bologna can be annexed (but it's risky!)

[Lysimachus]

I never knew Genoa could get an erection.

On to the topic though, I don't think you should have cheated. You should have fought until you were defeated and then thought "well, I guess i'll do X and Y differently but that was one heck of a game".

[Basileos Leandros I]

Well, if we were true to history, all the leaders were debt-ridden in all countries, so basically it's just borrowing from the Genoese bankers.

[Kazuhiro]

Genoa is a hard faction specifically because most of their units, other than their missiles obviously, are par with others or worse.
They are one of my favorite factions, since the AI gets basically every advantage over you.

[Tyrenia]

Wow, that campaign sounds exciting. That said for cheating. I only ever use toggle_fow, just so I can see the location of a good young general for my Princess to marry.

As a diehard Venice and HRE fan, I have never liked Genoa. Nothing personal of course, but they always seem to become really powerful really quickly in Hard. THe most interesting time was when I was playing as Ireland, and by the time I had conquered the British Isles, Genoa owned most of France, parts of Iberia, all of Northern Italy, the Southern HRE and one or two provinces in Northern Africa. Destroying them took a strong Military Alliance with Spain, the HRE and the Remnants of France and Venice + 75-100 turns.

As for Genoa tactics (you have inspired me to start my own Genoa campaign), I would attack Venice straight away, before it has the chance to get big, and try to gain control over the 'Big Five" (Milan, Genoa, Venice, Florence, Bologna), as a strong economic base, before expanding to the rest of the Italian Peninsula. This tactic works as Venice, so I assume it will be similar for Genoa.

Thanks for the inspiration

[Sir Walter]

Wow, that campaign sounds exciting. That said for cheating. I only ever use toggle_fow, just so I can see the location of a good young general for my Princess to marry.

What is this toggle_fow you speak of?

[Basileos Leandros I]

What is this toggle_fow you speak of?

Reveals the entire map for you.

[Sir Walter]

Reveals the entire map for you.

Oh! Wow... thanks. I'll use it sparingly (I've never liked cheating).

[King Siegfried]

Also. Do not dick with Sicily unless you are prepared to crush them in one fell swoop. Norman Knights are monsters and Sicily simply sits and lets the script spawn money and armies for it. Then they just hurl full-stacks at you. I've made that mistake once. Luckily I had citadels powering me at the time and I took Palermo from them. Seriously, it was all that saved my ass.

[Basileos Leandros I]

Yeah well when Genoa is under siege, Florence the same, Cagliari is under siege by the Moors along with Beneb El Anab and Tunis, what can you do actually? Surprisingly the French left me alone, they didn't even bother coming with their armies to me, and its turn 164...

Now my economic power is something to be reckoned with, making around 10k a turn if I don't recruit or construct buildings. Everything all good, but I'm worried about the events going on around me. HRE has been simply FLOODING the north of Italy with troops, Sicily took over Rome but I launched a Crusade and England captured it back, France has obliterated Aragon , Scotland has all of northern Germany, Venice has dissapeared from Italy, Khwarezmians occupy the whole of Iran, Mesopotamia and half of the Holy Lands (Damascus, Jerusalem, Edessa, Aleppo)...

This campaign is crazy. And even now, if France or Germany attack me, I'm simply dead. There's no way I can stand their military power.

Wish me luck.

[Kawee]

You should not have allied with Venice. I usually do very well with Genoa since it's one of my specialised faction. First off, buy Bologna from HRE, and then grab Marseilles and Florence. Sit for a minute. Wait till Venice are at war with Byzantine and commit their troops there. Then siege Venice. If reinforcements come, fight them on the bridge where you can defeat both armies quite easily and then you've got yourself Venice! Fortify North Italy and then with multiple stacks you should be able to take on Sicily. Remember, grab Bari and Palermo from them first.

[Basileos Leandros I]

Everything seems perfect, but there's one thing - Byzantines allied with Venice and only fought together for a short time, Venice got Durazzo from them. Templar Knights simply churned in the Seljuk Sultanate, but the Turks resisted heroically and still have a good number of provinces, which they captured from the Byz. In turn, Byz lost Constantinople to Egypt and Asia Minor to Templars and Seljuks, but they have a good portion of the western provinces, apart from Ragusa and Durazzo. Venice expanded southwards as well in northern Africa, and there they have some serious stacks. The only thing which I'm dissapointed of is that I lost Milan in the first few turns by attacking Florence instead.

With Sicily, grabbing Bari and Palermo now is kind of impossible, they're both Citadels, and Palermo is always strongly garrisoned. My only castle is Ajaccio which barely got to Castle level. The only thing I can hope for is Papal States fighting with the Sicilians, that gives me a good excuse to attack them and launch Crusades as well.

[Tyrenia]

You're Genoa, so a lack of castles/citadels shouldn't bother you, as 90% of your best units come from cities!

I would suggest spending the 10k per turn on a full offensive stack, then launch a crusade on Palermo. Even if you don't take it, you should weaken it enough so that it falls quickly to another faction. This will deprive them of their main military powerhouse, and should make taking the rest of Southern Italy a lot easier.

[Vaz]

I prefer it without any codes at all. I just have a young general walk around between provinces and drop a few Watchtowers - particularly along any trade routes. Haveing said that - I'm currently playing the Cuman Khanate, so I only have to secure 2 alliances (Kwarezmian - I've learnt that these are a must, and Kievan Rus) to be secure for 20 turns at least, although the trade is poor (lots of neighboring castles).

I'll try out the Genoese soon Never even tried them in Vanilla - annoyed the monkey out of me as France, with constantly blocking Marseille (always with Merchants HQ - usually dropped 5-6K from profit whenever they were besieged, so I just built up forces, got them excommunicated - cancelling trade routes, insulting them, getting them angry with bad trade offers, etc - then wiped them out in 2-3 turns. This should be far better though, so I'm enjoying it!

[Tyrenia]

Oh! Wow... thanks. I'll use it sparingly (I've never liked cheating).

I do it purely for interests sake, to see who's getting pwned and who is doing the pwning. And like I said before, I don't want my princess to become an old maid looking for a half-decent young general to marry. Time is heirs you know...

[Sir Walter]

I do it purely for interests sake, to see who's getting pwned and who is doing the pwning. And like I said before, I don't want my princess to become an old maid looking for a half-decent young general to marry. Time is heirs you know...

I usually use princesses to cement an alliance or marry one of those "suggested" ones if he's really good - the only time I did otherwise was marrying the duke of Switzerland when playing as Sicily, he raised an army of mercenaries, took Milan and totally outflanked Genoa and Venice who were fighting it out a bit further south

[Basileos Leandros I]

This campaign is very very odd.

The Teutons migrated end ended up in Brasov (well, at least it's historical ), Venice now moved completely in Greece, their capital being Corinth, Fatimids took Nicosia and Constantinople, the Byz are simply a bunch of cities with a couple of stacks near them, and in Italy, Sicily almost got everything apart from Milan and my own cities.

The plague struck and completely destroyed my trade, went from 16000 doing trade to 0 now. At least I had 110k in my Treasury.

[Sir Walter]

This campaign is very very odd.

The Teutons migrated end ended up in Brasov (well, at least it's historical ), Venice now moved completely in Greece, their capital being Corinth, Fatimids took Nicosia and Constantinople, the Byz are simply a bunch of cities with a couple of stacks near them, and in Italy, Sicily almost got everything apart from Milan and my own cities.

The plague struck and completely destroyed my trade, went from 16000 doing trade to 0 now. At least I had 110k in my Treasury.

Well, nothing like a bit of variety to make your campaign interesting

[Spartan90]

I have a full in-depth guide for Genoa if you're interested. Other than that, just a few tips:

1. Don't even bother spending your time organizing alliances with neighbouring factions, as all of them - specifically when you're playing Genoa - will betray you. Particularly the other Italian factions.

2. Taking Marseille might seem like a great economic opportunity, but this will bring you to an inevitable war with France or Aragon - or both.

3. The same goes for Ajaccio and the other island to the south. Keeping them seems to bring you at an almost instant war with Sicily and the Moors.

4. Your primary goal is to conquer the Big 5 northern Italian cities: Genoa, Milan, Florence, Venice and Bologna. My tips are to ditch your settlement in Ajaccio immediately - this provides you with troops to invade the Rebel Milan and Florence, and also temporarily prevents war with the Moors and Sicily. Conquer Milan with the combined troops of Genoa and what was Ajaccio's garrison. Then take Florence, you should get them both without much trouble. The next target is Bologna, although you don't want war yet, you will simply get annihilated by the might of the HRE. Try purchasing it off them, or for the more cheaper option, spam spies and assassins to lower order and destroy infrastructure. By this time, Venice will more than likely attack you, so take her grand city to weaken her considerably. With the Big 5 cities, the world is your oyster, and you pretty much hold the most economically important cities of the game.

5. Never break alliances. You shouldn't have voided the alliance with Sicily, as it lowers your global reputation drastically. From here, no one will trust you, deal with you diplomatically, and war will be declared every weekend on you. If you want to go to war with an ally, trick them into attacking you. Keep your border cities unprotected, with an army nearby hiding in trees. Patrol your border with full stacks to make them scared. Attack THEIR allies, etc.

6. To make 10k per turn not including building and training of soldiers is quite pathetic for Genoa. I'm sorry for the bluntness, but Genoa is quite easily the richest faction in the game, and you should be raking in three times that amount quite easily. Obviously you are at war with too many neighbouring factions, so get some ceasefires and trade rights. Also, patrol your land routes, as you may have some hidden rebels choking your trade routes and stealing your money (I was once losing 2k a turn in Venice from some hidden rebels that were blocking the roads to Vienna and Zagreb. Not good).

7. Remember that cities are your best ally. Cities provide more wealth. Cities provide you with militia armies that are considerably stronger than any other militia armies in all of Eurasia. Cities provide you with musketeers and reasonably strong heavy cavalry.

8. Last but not least, never underestimate the deadliness of your crossbowmen. Historically, Geonese Crossbowmen were used extensively throughout Europe as mercs, they were feared through the lands. When used correctly (I won't go into detail here, read my guide for more info), your xbowmen should be killing hundreds each battle. Also remember to never use them on your city walls unless you need them to fight melee or man your towers. For some reason, xbowmen are crap on walls, to the point of absolute uselessness.