Genoa is in a nasty spot eh?

[gord96]

Been having a nasty, bloody, dirty, stinking campaign with Genoa, late game with 6.2

these guys are in a tough spot. I got enemies flowing in from all sides. The greedy Venetians to the west. Their damned German allies from the north. and there damned French allies from the east. Milan has been under siege most of the game and the surrounding land is completely black. The only positive thing is the Pope is on my side and recently excommunicated the Venetians. all in all it's a very FUN campaign!

any tips for me? my goal is to somehow hold them off long enough to surge forward and sack Venice. I imagine that will fill my coffers nicely. Army is made up of spears, pikes, militia cavalry and crossbows. Can I call for a Crusade against an excommunicated power?

gord

[Point Blank]

Genoa is the most evil faction in the game.

[hippacrocafish]

Genoa is the most evil faction in the game.

Genoa is just about the most tame faction whenever I play. I tell you who's really evil the Holy Roman Empire and the Fatimids, big ol' Empires who like to pick on the little guy...even when that little guy is their biggest trade partner and attack said little guy cripples the economies of both countries.

[Ichon]

Sounds like a normal Genoa game to me. Usually I move first against Venice but as long as Milan bears the brunt of the sieges and you have merchants in Belgrade, Sicily, N Africa, Constantinople... etc you have the money to defend in Italy indefinitely and perhaps even expand to some islands to build up enough for an invasion of France.

[gord96]

oh. so it's me that's the problem! hehe. i guess we are a city of greedy merchants. my Doge keeps a flock of the worlds finest assassins ready to do his bidding.

[gord96]

good advice Ichon! I need to expand my merchant ventures!

[Theseus1234]

My advice? Get the hell out of there! Migrate to like Antwerp and Bruges. That should make for an interesting campaign!
EDIT: On a serious note: take Venice as early as possible, with whatever troops you have. It'll be worth it in the end. You may lose Milan to the HRE, and Marsielle to the French, but the economic power and technological advancement of Venice itself would be more than enough to make a push to regaining your lands. You'll probably be able to get Bologna and Ancona out of it too.

You can only can check the crusade list, but usually the option to crusade against a nation's primary city is only available after they've been excommunicated for a long time.

[hippacrocafish]

You can only can check the crusade list, but usually the option to crusade against a nation's primary city is only available after they've been excommunicated for a long time.

A good target for crusading as Genoa is Tunis, it gives you a good foothold against Sicily or the HRE (Depending on which campaign you are playing) and acts as a boon to sea trade, especially if you've already claimed Corsica and Ajaccio. If you can claim all of Northern Africa your trade will be lucrative, to say the least, and money will cease to be a problem.

Whenever I play as one of the two north Italian powers I always ally myself with my 'Rival' for a few reasons:

1. The A.I. is too stupid to know that their objective is to destroy you.
2. They will be your best trade partner.
3. They provide a good ally against the Germans.
4. Usually prevents unwanted war and excommunication.
5. They will be easier to crush later on when better units are available.

[xXEsotericXx]

Start finishing off Sicily , they will attk u anyway or the papal first, then make a ant holy roman ally pact with others like , denmark, france , take some of there regions, u could also try afrika, take on the moors with other factions, what italian factions do best is be friends with papal states, ask for crusades....., thats how i got all north afrika, italie too, and some holy roman regions, Genoa has realy good unit rooster.

[gord96]

Start finishing off Sicily , they will attk u anyway

Sicily and the Pope are my best allies right now. I dont want to get them mad at me hehe. I think if I can capture Venice I will be ok. I just need the HRE to not send a stack every turn and I can attempt it!

[WillTheOnly]

I hate Genoa. Their Cardinal became the Pope and he excomunicated everyone but Genoa... basically starting the first world war.

[Point Blank]

Genoa AI = backstab specialists

[napoleonic]

Genoa AI = backstab specialists

I wonder why is that? and I remember on medieval 1 there were some predefined AI behavior sets for each factions that make them behave on specific patern, is that the same with medieval 2?

[Concrete]

Genoa AI = backstab specialists

Why you're the only person with wisedom when it comes to Genoa in this entire thread.

Playing as Venice? Genoa attacks me.
Playing as Sicily? Genoa attacks me.
Playing as the HRE? Genoa attacks me.
Playing as France? Genoa attacks me.
Playing as Aragon? Genoa attacks me.
Playing as the Moors? Genoa attacks me.
Playing as Kingdom of Jeruselum and migrating to Tunis(don't ask.)? Genoa attacks me.

EVERY SITUATION LISTED ABOVE EXCEPT THE TUNIS ONE, I WAS ALLIED WITH GENOA WHEN THEY ATTACKED ME.

[Kawee]

Hmm...I actually start off with allying myself with HRE. Why? Because I plan to attack Venice, and I don't want an alliance in the way. It's also easy to hold HRE in the mountain passes. I also gave them lots of money (10k over 10 turns I think) in exchange for Bologna. Bologna is worth it, especially considering you didn't have to go to war with HRE for it.

Then I pushed hard to grab Milan, Florence, and Marseilles before the AI could. The AI don't start declaring war until the 10th or 15th turn or something like that.

So before anything even happen, you should have Genoa, Milan, Marseilles, Bologna, and Florence, plus Ajaccio (or the other island, I can't remember.) Personally, I wouldn't take the other island just yet just because that's get you into war with the Moors.

At this point, wars will be declared all over the map. This is where you earn your spur. Like when playing Venice, it's all about knowing where to hold your ground.

Hold the French at MArseilles, and hold HRE in the mountains (or in Milan, your choice) (they usually backstab me for some reason, so I always prepare myself for the almost inevitable.) So you got your Western and Northern fronts sorted. With Milan, Genoa, Bologna, and Florence pumping out money, you can concentrate solely on Venice. Personally, I usually fight defensively until they get excommed, and then I move in for the fill. Take Venice and the castle below it (the name escapes me for now.) That'll put Venice out of the Italian Peninsula.

Here, you must once again learn where to hold your ground. You're already holding the French in MArseilles, HRE in the mountains (or Milan) and now you will hold Venice at either the little straight of land leading from Ragusa into Venice, or on the Venice bridge, and hold Sicily at the former Venice castle. That's 4 enemies to hold back.

The next part is to choose where to advance. Choose one of the four fronts to advance in. Personally, I would go either into HRE or against Sicily. I usually attack the one which is excommed. If both are (or are not) then I'll go take Sicily first since holding the Italian Peninsula is just about as lucrative a region as it come. When attacking HRE, I personally don't go very deep at all since it's tough driving through the heart of the empire, it's not that lucrative, and you open yourself up to other factions. I just take the two mountain castles. There, you can hold out against northern attacks forever.

Once you have the Italian Peninsula + Marseilles + the two mountain castles, you should be able to take it from there.

Genoa AI = backstab specialists

Brutus came from Genoa, that says it all.

[xXEsotericXx]

Genoa AI = backstab specialists

6.2 all factions are backstab specialists.... total war = NO ALLIE'S! or go play POKÉMON ! -.-

[Alpha Zeke]

6.2 all factions are backstab specialists.... total war = NO ALLIE'S! or go play POKÉMON ! -.-

[Desley]

Been having a nasty, bloody, dirty, stinking campaign with Genoa, late game with 6.2

these guys are in a tough spot. I got enemies flowing in from all sides. The greedy Venetians to the west. Their damned German allies from the north. and there damned French allies from the east. Milan has been under siege most of the game and the surrounding land is completely black. The only positive thing is the Pope is on my side and recently excommunicated the Venetians. all in all it's a very FUN campaign!

any tips for me? my goal is to somehow hold them off long enough to surge forward and sack Venice. I imagine that will fill my coffers nicely. Army is made up of spears, pikes, militia cavalry and crossbows. Can I call for a Crusade against an excommunicated power?

gord

Haha, sounds like a weird campaign to me =P the french in the east and venice in the west.

[gord96]

Haha, sounds like a weird campaign to me =P the french in the east and venice in the west.

hehe ooops!

[merocaine]

Play nice, dont use assassins, only make war on the heathen and the excommunicated, never sack, never kill prisoners, release if prudent. This way it is easy to get and keep alliances.