SS6.4 The Byzantine Empire Tips?

[MrHenry]

Hey guys. This is my first time playing as the Byzantine Empire in Stainless Steel (Late Era, M/M). I was wondering do you have any tips or suggestions on how to approach the campaign? When to take Constantinople? Who to fight and who to ally with?

[Jambat]

Hey guys. This is my first time playing as the Byzantine Empire in Stainless Steel (Late Era, M/M). I was wondering do you have any tips or suggestions on how to approach the campaign? When to take Constantinople? Who to fight and who to ally with?

Alllllright, this is one of my favorite campaigns ever.

Here's what to do:

*Ally with the Turks and Hungary from the very start. Eventually, the Turkish alliance will be broken (either you will do it, or they will), but it's good for the breathing room at the start you can get. Depending on the AI Hungary can last for a long time, which works as a nice wall protecting you versus many other factions while you focus on reclaiming lands and the dangers of the east.

*Sell that easternmost province [Trebizond? That lone bit of purple in the sea of green] to the Turks. You can usually get 10K gold plus a regular tribute in pay for it. Make sure you destroy all the buildings you can before selling it as that's another couple grand of gold. You will probably go bankrupt anyway, this will just give you a good dozen turns before that happens. If you don't sell it, they'll attack it soon, and you won't hold it without serious reinforcements and gold you won't have.

Edit: Also, make the alliance and trade rights with the Seljuk seperate from the negotiations for the province. If you try to do it all at once, they usually either turn it down or offer you way less money. So, get the Alliance, then immediately go back into negotiations and sell off the town. You'll probably get 15-18k total from breaking the town down, initial gold, and tribute.

*Build up several small armies in the first turn or two so you can move out many of your nobles, try not to build too many expensive troops at the start as the elite troops you start with will do most of the killing, you just need bodies to soak up damage and wear people out - 1K a pop a spearman will hurt more than help at the very beginning. Make sure to disband some of the merc units - I love the Skythions (sp) and Latinikons (spelling, again), but that's 500 and almost 800 a turn in pay each I get rid of at the start.

You want to cripple Venice first. Take the two Venetian islands back and build/repair the ports, they will make you nice money. You can either use the Doukas nobles on the western lands to push up into Venice proper, or defend the Venetian counter-assault while you get everything else in place.

I use the Emperor and his force (plus a couple cheap units built onto it) to go after my first noble mission that always seems to pop up in the first few turns. The whole 'Go take this rebel settlement...'. His bodyguard, and elite troops he comes with, can dominate the rebel settlements. After taking that, I recharge that unit and link up with the Venetian killers a few turns later.

The Latin Empire you will want to take on when the opportunity presents itself. You should have two nobles with smaller forces on the Venetian islands, and the Emperor usually takes one of the rebel settlements north of the Latins. After you have those, and can leave them without riots, you can build a couple more troopers and link up, and start taking back those settlements. Also watch for them to leave their castles. If they leave and are more than one move away you can rush in and take it back in a easy fight, and then it's pretty easy to defend your new lands from them.

Don't panic if you see someone moving in on the Latins. Usually, even with a full stack, the Latins will win. That's your moment to swoop in and win the province. Seeing someone like Hungary bleed Constantinople for a turn or two will make your own assault so much easier.

Once you've taken a bite out of Venice and recovered some lands from the Latins you will start making money again, which allows you to get fancy with buildings and units. Once you have Constantinople, you'll make a ton of money, but it's not worth it to go hellbent after it at the very start. You basically are solidifying the central Greek lands, and preparing for a really strong fight. Keep Hungary as happy as possible, and when you are ready..go kick the Seljuks butt.

Edit: And don't forget your navy. I always blockade every single Venetian port, forcing them to get to me by going through the Doukas' guard, and hurting their economy. I also use other boats to dissuade the Sicilians from jumping into the fight. They'll usually try to make a move on the Latin Empire, but they usually aren't a big threat as they focus on the Moors more than you at the start.

[k/t]

The same tip I have for all these threads: do a search.

[Ferdiad]

Thats like asking someone to divide by Zero! You'll doom us all!

[k/t]

http://www.twcenter.net/forums/showthread.php?t=203634
http://www.twcenter.net/forums/showthread.php?t=320711

And he's a staff member, no less.

[MrHenry]

What do you mean? Yes, i'm a staff member. Maybe because it was pretty late at night, searching wasn't the first thing that came to my mind, especially on the SS Mod forums. Sorry if I offended you pal.

Jambat, thanks man! That's what I was looking for +Rep!

[Jambat]

Jambat, thanks man! !

Not a problem. Make sure to post it up in the Empire thread eventually so we can see how you are doing with your ERE reconquest!

[MrHenry]

Not well I started a new game with Venetia !

[Jambat]

Not well I started a new game with Venetia !

All that typing....wasted?!

[Glt.Galland]

it depends on your playstyle and how much you want to exploit. selling regions is sth like that imho. maybe you will need some tricks on vh/vh (don't know if its even possible) but not on m/m.
in addition every campaign differs from another so you can hardly say what you will encounter in the beginning.
so I considered to follow two main decisions from the start:
1. retake constantinople as soon as possible
2. ally with hungary

[Ataraxie]

For a FUN FUN FUN Byzantine Late campaign;

Stick everyone into the starting navies. Leave the cities empty, destroy a few buildings for cash. Move everyone to Sicily. Conquer Southern Italy.

Enjoy endless war with everyone else on the board. It is lovely !

[kraxmause]

For a FUN FUN FUN Byzantine Late campaign;

Stick everyone into the starting navies. Leave the cities empty, destroy a few buildings for cash. Move everyone to Sicily. Conquer Southern Italy.

Enjoy endless war with everyone else on the board. It is lovely !

Creating a new Roman Empire? I like that idea, after all they say that history repeats itself...
I think I'm gonna give your idea a shot, but I'll start from Rome and not Sicily.

[Duck of Death]

Im going to give this idea a try as well.

rep be upon you

[MrHenry]

Hey hey hey. Let's take it easy guys. I started a new campaign with Venetia like I mentioned and I've attacked the Byzzies already

[Ferdiad]

Venetians have good units and a great position.

[Ishan]

Post deleted, insults especially in SS forums will not be tolerated, don't do it please.

[bigdaddy1204]

Hey guys. This is my first time playing as the Byzantine Empire in Stainless Steel (Late Era, M/M). I was wondering do you have any tips or suggestions on how to approach the campaign? When to take Constantinople? Who to fight and who to ally with?

I disagree with the person who posted that you should ally with the Turks.

Remember, in the late campaign you are basically playing as the Empire of Nicaea, a state with its heartland in Asia Minor. You'll find that the rebel provinces representing the Latin Empire to the west are extremely strongly defended. The Turkish provinces in central Anatolia, however, are weakly defended. My advice is to strike the Turks early, advance into the interior of Anatolia and conquer the Turkish cities of Ankara, Iconium and Caesarea. Conquering Anatolia will give you a much shorter front line to defend, and a much stronger economic and military base.

Otherwise, your entire empire is spread out and vulnerable to Turkish attack. You can’t be secure sending armies away to the west for more than a few turns at most, when the Turks could attack at any moment. Trebizond is too far away to be defended properly. But it’s also your best castle with your best troops – and it’s rightfully yours! Selling Trebizond is not an acceptable move for the Byzantine people and Emperor. You need to eliminate the Turks.

As a helpful prelude to this strategy, I recommend you strike the Venetians hard in turn 1 or 2 right at the start of the game, before they are ready. Take Rhodes and Crete. The reason for this is that Rhodes is a useful castle to train higher level troops, and Crete is an easy economic conquest that will boost your finances. The Venetians are weak in the first turns, and you can knock them out by turn 4 or 5. Send a diplomat and make peace – they will happily accept because you don’t directly border their lands, and you may even be able to get them to pay you 3,000 florins for peace. Useful funds, for your conquest of Anatolia. On turn 6, you should ship all your forces back to western Asia Minor, and advance straight towards Ankara and Iconium.

It’s a very satisfying campaign to play, leading a Byzantine army to regain its Anatolian heartland first, then strike back at Constantinople. Once you control the whole of Asia Minor, you’ll find that you have a really strong, secure state that can easily handle enemies in any direction. You’ll then easily be able to pick off the European provinces in Greece, Thrace and Bulgaria, which will have been weakened by western invasions. When you turn west, you’ll come not as a small state hemmed in on the coast, but as a powerful empire.

Good luck, and I hope you enjoyed reading.