Byzantine Expansion

[THE_IMPERIALIST]

The Byzantine Empire starts out in Greece and Asia Minor. With the Seljuk Turks to the east and Cristendom to the west Byzantium has plenty of potenial enemies. One big advantage they have is thier economy is strong and can become rock solid with time. The Turks to the east are not nearly as strong as you would think, as thier economy is weak early on. Your real enemy is Hungary and Venice who can field infantry much superior to yours. The Byzantine armie's strengh is thier calvery and thier archers, and it will take some skill to overcome Knights and Armored sargents. My question is what direction would you expand into, and what your army would be made of.

[Silverheart]

First of all, it´s THEIR, not thier (just a little pointer).

When I played as the Byzantines for the first time, I expanded by focusing on rebel settlements first, while also expanding against the Turks. Eventually, after pushing them back into the deeper parts of the Zagros mountains, I also went at the Egyptians (they attacked first).
As for Europe, I took Sofia (Crucial, if you can hold it, you can fend off most of eastern and central Europe) and trained up a large invasion force to surprise the north-italian factions. It didn´t work out in the long run - stupid expansionist Pope - but they were noticeably weaker when the next army came. After securing a foothold in Northern Italy, I started going seriously against Hungary.

All in all, You should secure your European border (take and hold Sofia, Iraklion and Durazzo - at least) and focus on expanding in Anatolia and the Holy lands (secure a strong foothold for when the Mongols arrive)
After that, the world is yours.

[The Source]

First of all, it´s THEIR, not thier (just a little pointer)..

ones the american version,ones australian/british
i

[ChivalrousKiller]

ones the american version,ones australian/british
i

Thier is a small spelling mistake, not another version of a word

[Justsomeone777]

In my last campaing, I took Sofia, Rhodes and the castle south of nicea from the rebels. Then the turks attacked me, and some time later, venice attacked me.

Against Venice, I rellied a lot on horse archers. You don't even need your elites (Variendotai sp?) to finish them in a war of attrition, retrating when you run out of ammo and there's still a big quantity of infantry. A raid on Venice itself it's pretty much enough to defeat them early. After you take their towns, tribute them all to Hungary, so that they are a buffer state, but let Venice rebel.

The Turks as you said have a weak economy early, and defeating them is not very hard, however I tried to fight the in sieges, to negate the effect of their horse archers. After taking Caesarea and Iconium, they are deafeted.

I recomend alling Hungary, Egypt, Papal States and Milan. Either the hungarians or egyptians (or both) will betray you soon. So you will be set to conquer them without losing reputation.
With Egypt I used the same tatics as the turks, but in a larger Scale, taking a 2 way aproach on the levant and the Nilo itself. the first was positionated in Caesarea, and the second in Nicosia.
With Hungary is harder. I used Variendotai to lure and defeat the hungarian nobles, and dismonted Latinkon to stand agaisnt the dismonted knghts, with byzantines spears on the flanks and elite archers (don't remember the name) for suport. Also some units of cavalary.

[Silverheart]

Exactly.
A spelling error, but I pointed to it because it keeps repeating itself.

[THE_IMPERIALIST]

thanks for the tips, i thought before just to leave sofia for hungary, but it seems like a good target now that i think about it. btw, i know i have spelling mistakes, please dont focus on them, its annoying.

[Noozooroo]

thanks for the tips, i thought before just to leave sofia for hungary, but it seems like a good target now that i think about it. btw, i know i have spelling mistakes, please dont focus on them, its annoying.

Just a pointer - it's spelled "by the way," not "btw." Gosh. I mean seriously, you left out like ten letters.

[Silverheart]

aww, Noozooroo.
He´s admitted his mistake, let´s not put salt in the wound... ^::^

[Capt. Picolinni]

I'd focus on Europe first. If you leave it to late (like I did) their Infantry will be to heavily armoured for either your infantry or cavalry.

[Silverheart]

The best startegy would probably be to focus on securing the borders first, and then start going against both the Turks and some european faction at the same time. You get a two-prong war, but as long as you keep your borders safe and clean, there´ll be nothing to worry about.

[Shasqua]

Expand west at first, taking Durazzo and invading Venice to seize Ragusa and Iraklion. Otherwise, they'll swarm you with Mailed Knights. You will also want to blitz Sofia before the Hungarians get it. Guard your western borders and then move to conquer Anatolia. Do that and you'll have a good economy. And invest heavily in infrastructure that will make plenty of money. After you retake Anatolia, the rest of the game should be easy.

[technishn08]

First of all, it´s THEIR, not thier (just a little pointer).

Seriously lol? This is the internet, welcome to it. People make typos.

Now, as to the Byzantines, its all about turning wealth into military force. I find occasionally raising taxes and stopping all non-essential construction is a good way to get out of any crises that an enemy might put you in. The Byzantine Empire's cavalry are a definite plus, and usually I have a sort of homeland defense force consisting of a highly mobile, all cavalry army.