The byzantine empire

[cupoftea]

Any idea's how to do it? The opening moves are just too hard for me. I try to ally to trebizond and attack candar, and the two province state in turkey. By this Georgia deffects to me so I get useless lands all over the place, but I'm still to weak to take over the ottomans. And the timmies usually attack me too.

[Eneru112]

Play more, learn how the mechanics work and you'll be unbeatable regardless of what nation you play as.

[midget_roxx]

Play more, learn how the mechanics work and you'll be unbeatable regardless of what nation you play as.

Ryuku has something to say to you

[empr guy]

if you start at 1409 the ottomans are alot weaker and you start with more land, although im not sure if thats the advice you were looking for

anyway, you could try to fabricate claims against the island nations like rhodes, corfu, etc, and try to build up some strength while waiting for the ottomans to become weakened in a war or something. you could also just try to get some allies and attack the ottomans asap so they cant get too strong.

[Facupay]

1405 is a great year to start with the byzantines. You regain some greek provinces and the Ottomans are in the middle of a civil war. Because you have a ton of same culture cores you can send spies to incite patriot revolts and, if you're lucky, most of ottoman greece will defect to you. You shoud do the same with the greek minors to avoid problems with Venice. Use revolts, not outright war.

If you think the Ottomans are too strong for you on land, mint and build as many carracks as you can. Then block the sea of mármara, they won't be able to touch you.

With the amazing "restore the theme system" decision(25% more manpower for free!), great missions and cores the byzantines have the potential to dominate the mediterranean, they just need to take off.

[Musthavename]

The problem with those Greek minors is many of them are spam guarenteed by half the known world. Solution - Patriot Rebels. Don't know if they work in DW but they did wonderfully in HTTT. Do that and you can quite easily reunite Greece and quickly become a real fighting force.

[Ba'alzamon]

Divine Wind has the template of HoI and Vicky imo. I love it though. Just becasue they include Japan does not make it easy at all to conquer with them..

[ivan_the_terrible]

Musthavename's right, the minors in Greece are generally not worth declaring war on and annexing. Use spies to fund patriots, but make sure you do it before they shift culture and religion from Lombard/Catholic to Greek/Orthodox as they sometimes do further down the track.

Also, don't bother with Caracks unless the Ottomans have them (this is why I don't recommend starting during their civil war -- they have 5). Build galleys instead. Even if you have to go over your naval limit, make sure you have an advantage over the Ottomans. When their army happens to be in Asia, declare war and park your fleet in Marmara Sea. From here you can either occupy their european provinces and wait for them to defect, or fund patriots in them. I usually occupy non-Greek culture provinces (so they don't get independence) and fund patriots in the Greek ones. Be careful with this though because other countries may declare war on the Ottomans and take the rebel-occupied provinces before they've defected to you.

[Leonidas The Lion]

In DW its become harder to play as the Byzantines, as there is the risk they will Jihad you within a month or so of starting.

[General Brittanicus]

Well i'm playing DW and i started by immediately declaring war on the ottomans and calling my allies such as Serbia to arms, i used the byzantine fleet to block any turks from asia minor, conquered all of Greece and then in combination with my allies conquered parts of Asia Minor (Carefully avoiding the massive ottoman army there, which just stood still for some reason). Then I got favourable peace terms which expanded my territory in Greece (started in 1405) and more or less screwed over the ottomans on in the same area.

[Bolkonsky]

Usually, I build a large fleet (devote all my resources to that) until it's stronger than the Ottomans'.

Then I deploy Patriot rebels in the nearby territory, you can almost always scoop up a province or two like this. (It will be invaluable when you go to war with the Ottomans.)

Wait for some rebels in Ottoman territory on the mainland.

Then go to war, blockade their main force, and with a bit of luck and some good war strategies, you can retake a good chunk of what's rightfully yours.

[Vezon]

What game is this?

[General Brittanicus]

What game is this?

Europa Universalis 3

Usually, I build a large fleet (devote all my resources to that) until it's stronger than the Ottomans'.

Then I deploy Patriot rebels in the nearby territory, you can almost always scoop up a province or two like this. (It will be invaluable when you go to war with the Ottomans.)

Wait for some rebels in Ottoman territory on the mainland.

Then go to war, blockade their main force, and with a bit of luck and some good war strategies, you can retake a good chunk of what's rightfully yours.

I'm pretty sure your fleet starts stronger than the ottomans anyway, at least it did on my campaign in 1405. Just don't get one of the italian republics declaring war on you though, there fleets will destroy yours.

[ivan_the_terrible]

Very true about the Italians.

Also, if there is no fighting for a long time you'll automatically get a White Peace, which means their massive army is free to cross to Europe again and crush all the patriots. So it pays to send a kamikaze infantry unit over to Asia every now and then while you're waiting for provinces to defect.

[Leonidas The Lion]

guys you should try start in 1399, then come talk to me about difficulty.

[Pickle_mole]

also to add on the the block them with a fleet strategy is that you can get rebels to spawn in asia and as they move all their armies there to deal with them declare war and easily take greece.

[Leonidas The Lion]

I still don't know how you are going to counter their bigger navy.

[Bolkonsky]

I still don't know how you are going to counter their bigger navy.

I do this almost every time. It's all about waiting, waiting, waiting.

You wait until you have some spies. Then some well placed Patriot rebels get you some provinces. Then you get moar tax munnies! Then you build a bigger fleet! And if you're lucky, you get a province that does't border the Ottomans. Then you wait for some type of Ottoman turmoil, and strike. Once you win the first war, it's usually a piece of cake to beat them. (Unless they have allies.)

[Leonidas The Lion]

I do this almost every time. It's all about waiting, waiting, waiting.

You wait until you have some spies. Then some well placed Patriot rebels get you some provinces. Then you get moar tax munnies! Then you build a bigger fleet! And if you're lucky, you get a province that does't border the Ottomans. Then you wait for some type of Ottoman turmoil, and strike. Once you win the first war, it's usually a piece of cake to beat them. (Unless they have allies.)

3 times out of 5 the Ottomans declare jihad on me within 5 months.

[Bolkonsky]

3 times out of 5 the Ottomans declare jihad on me within 5 months.

Did I mention restart a lot?