Venice Campaign Ideas

[KingsleyHunt]

I have been playing Venice for a while and I think it could be my favourite faction because of the balanced roster, advantage in the crusades (being so close) and because its right in the middle of the action. I Would like to hear from other Venice fans about your campaigns with the Most Serene Republic of Venice

PS: A screenshot would be nice

[SturmChurro]

About the same as the other factions I play as. I eventually kill everything around me.

[Imperial Island]

Try a Mediterranean Empire/ Don't declare war on everyone to start of with though it would be pointless. Most likely Milan will soon start getting on your nerves and declare war on you. Annex their territories quickly. You should also take any rebels bordering the sea. I then went for north Africa and the moors in Spain before taking the Levant then finishing off Sicily and the Papal states.

With domination of the Med you can then move where ever you want!

[ChivalrousKiller]

If you want a more fun campaign, try to play historical

Take only the closest rebel settlements to begin with, focus on trade instead of expansion, and create an economic superpower with a huge fleet. Go on crusades to the Holy Land now and then, go with an army and sac Constantinople, and crush the Turks on the sea

[Charliedoja]

I know this will sound kind of boring but one thing that i love to do is just sell off all of my cities except for Venice and i just try surviving with one city

[Scelesticfish]

Lol try and remake the Roman Empire. Take Rome asap and make it your capital and go from there. It should be pretty fun since you're already an Italian faction. The dark green is the empire itself and the light green are Romes vassels

[misery-guts]

Try emigrating to the far east and take on the mongols with only one village

[ChivalrousKiller]

Try emigrating to the far east and take on the mongols with only one village

LOL, have you tried it?

[Tom Crooze]

One thing I'd recommend is the first thing you do in a Venician campaign is to covert Irkalion to a Castle and Ragusa to a city. The location of Irkalion makes it perfect to attack the Byzantines.

[ChivalrousKiller]

One thing I'd recommend is the first thing you do in a Venician campaign is to covert Irkalion to a Castle and Ragusa to a city. The location of Irkalion makes it perfect to attack the Byzantines.

I'd say the location of Iraklion makes it perfect for naval trade, so I totally disagree with you. Iraklion (when developed over some time) is a HUGE source of income. Ragusa, on the other hand, has a great defensive position and develops fast as a castle, so I can't say that I agree on that matter either.

Just my opinion though

[Tom Crooze]

I'd say the location of Iraklion makes it perfect for naval trade, so I totally disagree with you. Iraklion (when developed over some time) is a HUGE source of income. Ragusa, on the other hand, has a great defensive position and develops fast as a castle, so I can't say that I agree on that matter either.

Just my opinion though

Well, During my Venician campaign, it served really well as a castle. Then again, I usually try to gain more income via looting than trade.

[General Maximus]

Firstly, build up enough money from trade. When you have enough money to create a large army, start recruiting troops. While you recruit, be sure to constantly manage diplomatical relations, and form alliance with any nearby faction. When you have a large army in your command, drive them to nearby rebels. Rebels will fall like maggots, when they face your 'horde'.

Try to expand your kingdom in such way that it captures region, while not disturbing anyone. Be sure to keep the Pope happy, and try to persuade him to become an ally. If he becomes an ally, than you are very secure from other Catholic factions. If he rejects alliance, keep persuading him till he becomes somewhat happy. Be sure to maintain a religious order in your provinces, and this will keep Pope happy.

You should not try to win only by fighting, instead you should drain out enemy's economy, which will eventually force him to surrender.

Send spies to all enemy lands, to ensure a good scouting bonus. Assassins can be useful too, but beware of enemy assassins.

This is all I can tell you. I wish you good luck in your campaign, and on the battlefields.

[ChivalrousKiller]

It may work just as well

But it doesn't change the fact that Iraklion is one of the most valuable cities on the map, so I would never convert it. Why don't you just take Rhodes with your starting troops instead?

[Tom Crooze]

Because Irkalion revolts INCREDIBLY easy if you take your troops out. At least, that's what happened to me. Also, Rhodes isn't useful IMO, mainly because it would probably revolt as well do to the lack of Catholics in the settlement.

[General Maximus]

I think Rhodes will be attacked by Byzantines in early period, and later maybeTurks will be sailing there. This is my opinion though.

[ChivalrousKiller]

Because Irkalion revolts INCREDIBLY easy if you take your troops out. At least, that's what happened to me. Also, Rhodes isn't useful IMO, mainly because it would probably revolt as well do to the lack of Catholics in the settlement.

Has never revolted when I've played them, and I always take Rhodes early

And for the lack of Catholics, it's just to build churches and recruit priests. All settlements in the game are easy to hold except for one, which is really horrible: Antioch

I think Rhodes will be attacked by Byzantines in early period, and later maybeTurks will be sailing there. This is my opinion though.

In my games, the Byzantines rarely even take Smyrna, and I've never seen the Turks take Rhodes

[General Maximus]

In my games, the Byzantines rarely even take Smyrna, and I've never seen the Turks take Rhodes

Hmm...

In my game, Turks begin to use ships somewhat early, and the ship that landed in Rhodes was coming from Holy Land.

[ChivalrousKiller]

As I said, I've never seen that, but everything is possible of course

[Chad29]

I've never tried Venice, though their military is good. I'm not sure about iraklion. I guess it could get you money with naval trade from the Byzantines, Turks, and Egyptians. However I've seen Byzantine go to war often because of that island.

[MooseUpNorth]

My impressions of Venice's neighbors:

The Pope: You're his favorite. Being his favorite, you can take advantage of this outrageously.

France: Faithful allies and perfectly happy to let you manage their cities for them indefinitely. Marseilles, Toulouse and Bordeaux are available for a modest fee. I've yet to be attacked by France.

HRE: Sometimes friends, sometimes not. Consider trading them Iraklion for Bologna (and pocket change) on the first turn. They'll often bite on Durazzo for Bern (and a little cash) in the first five or so turns. You can always take back these settlements from the Byzantines. Also, like France, they are willing to put many other cities (including Vienna) on the table for cash so long as you're allied.

Hungary: Likely to stab you in the back, given the chance. Keeping six units in Zagreb is usually enough to keep them honest for a while. They'll ally early to make the Byzantines nervous. They'll eventually consider selling Sofia if Poland hasn't pressed them too hard. (And Sofia makes for a good recruiting/retraining citadel for defending Constantinople with elite troops.)

Milan: Likely to stab you in the front, given the chance. But they'll usually go after Dijon in force before they start stuff with you. If you time it right, you'll be able to strike Milan and Genoa simultaneously while they're nearly unguarded. Most of the time, His Holiness won't even intervene (except to excommunicate Milan on general principal) until you've taken Dijon.

Byzantines: Will stab you in the face at the drop of a spear. Any spear. I've had some odd cases (note the plural) where they've taken a barely-defended Durrazo and immediately requested a cease-fire. They were willing to trade Durrazo and one other city (such as Corinth or Thessalonica!) to get it.

Sicily: Something to do for when you finish with Milan. Curiosity: I've seen them besiege and actually take Rome from time to time.

Poland: Strong and faithful allies who will usually keep Hungary and HRE too busy to interfere with you.

Denmark: Faithful allies. So long as you keep buying the HRE's excess cities, they'll keep the HREs looking over their shoulders and not at you.

Turkey: Faithful allies. They'll only turn on you over a Crusade or Jihad.

Portugal / Spain / Moors: Pick one. I suggest Portugal, as they're least likely to get into dust-ups with your keeper allies.

Russia: They're friendly, and they're standing between you and the Mongols.

Egypt: They're friendly (or they would be if you stopped Crusading against them), and they're standing between you and the Timurids.

England: Hereditary enemies of the French. Trade with them, but don't ally with them.

Scotland: Who?