Playing around a bit with the Byzantine Empire. I have some questions that if answered can help me. I have three questions after I get you up to speed on my first 40 turns. Perhaps the questions and your answers may also help other members on how they can approach the first 30 or 40 turns as well. So let's make this thread a help for everyone!
My approach was not to commit frenzied expansion. Sofia and Smyrna became a part of the Empire fairly direct though. Eventually Rhodes and Adana were also added, but only after the first two were developed to stone castles. Pay as you go and do not over extend. That was my idea with this short campaign. The focus was on building the trade and that meant the eventual offer of the Merchant Guild in the capital as is natural.
Nicea acquired the Theolgians Guild after the appropriate improvements dus to population growth. This was also after being the only settlement to recruit priests. The settlement continued to pop out priests to threaten the Turkish lands by conversion of the faiths. A war by other means, so to speak.
This selective focus on priest recuitment in Nicea and Merchant recruitment in the capital was by design. The spy line was pretty much ignored for the same reasons. I wanted the two guilds that I had offers to accept as a priority before other guilds.
Oh, and to give a bit of relaxed developement at the begining, the first capital expenditure was for the Ikoners studio in the capital. That 4000 florin cost pretty much wiped out the opening surplus funds! Call that first expenditure a bit of role play detail since the Catholic priests do not really theaten the Byzantine capital until the second crusade if ever. I am not certain why, but the Islamic factions do not seem to spam as many religious agents as the Catholics do in my campaigns. Perhaps this is the result of pressure from adjacent factions since the eastern portion of the map is fairly spread out compared to the western side of the map.
The Pope called for a Crusade on Jeruselem on or about turn 20. The Hungarians joined up with Istavan No other factions other than Poland are participating. The Hungarian stack of Crusading militia simply stayed in place outside of Sofia. Weird how there seems to be no dessertion from the Crusade army. I thought the other factions would suffer the same fate as the human faction when not progressing towards the Crusade target. Oh well, live and learn.
Both the Hungarians and the Pope are allied with the Byzantines. I always like a marriage alliance with Hungary since their victory conditions focus on the HRE and Poland, so the Byz can protect their backs as a good ally. I am not so certain that this is how the computer thinks, but let's call it a bit of role play. The Turks are never a problem as long as the Byz take the firght to them with cavalry and wait out the sieges if the melee units favor the Turks in the beseiged settlements. In this case I have not yet begun a campaign against them though.
A regular tribute of 200 florins per turn is being maintained with the Pope. Trade with all factions that can do so is a priority. So the network slowly expands to cover the Mediteranean Ocean settlements as my two diplomats move about.
The above explanation should give you the substance of what my current campaign approach was trying to accomplish. Observations are, of course, welcomed. Now for the questions!
1) How would you deploy the navies with this approach. Size of the squadrons and number of fleets as well as where they should patrol. Navies are not cheap to maintain and there is not a direct and immediate threat. I have two fleets of 4 ships each patroling and shuttling troops toward Adana and watching Venice. Perhaps these should have been smaller fleets to reduce maintenance. Of course, a single ship can watch as well as a large fleet, but small fleets can encourage other factions to break the peace. I also find at least three ships are needed in the beginning as a fleet to safely address the pirate single and double ships that pop up. With four ships, a merge after losses and sending the partial ship back for repairs would still maintain three ships in the fleet. I had in the past simply merged the two begining small fleets and built no more untill Venice came knocking on Byzantine shores. So my approach was differant this time.
2) I usually grab Iconium and start a war with the Turks. This is in response to the scenario that Creative Assembly laid out in the campaign introduction. So in a sense this is also a bit of role play as well. Then maybe push on quickly to the Turk's capital and no more Turks as a faction. Half of the victory conditions are now completed for the short campaign leaving on Venice to be eliminated. This would usually be the quick and dirty conclusion of a short campaign with the end coming as the Byzantine Empire swallows their arch rival, Venice.
By leaving the Turks to be at peace, this has caused me to rethink castle positions. Sofia, Adana, and Smyrna I believe should remain as stone castles. Rhodes and Cyprus can be converted to the city lines. But what about Corinth? It would normally be the first to reach the fortress upgrade status via natural population growth. With 40 turns of peace, Sofia is now capable as well. So should Corinth be converted or up graded to a fortress. I can see advantages of both options as the campaign continues. In total in this quiet expansion, the Byzantines have only 9 settlements. So what would you do for the castle and city line allocation with these 9 settlements?
3) I notice by focusing on trade, I neglected the spy line of buildings. The first building does contribute to growth. The second one enables the recruitment of assassins. The Byzantine Empire is a bit on the edge of the chaos in Italian politics where the assassins are essential. Was ignoring this line for the first 40 turns a mistake that I will regret as the game proceeds? I know it takes a bit to groom the assassins on the easier captains as targets. Even the Cardinals are a tough target for the new assissin. Even a small portion of spys can be useful when at peace as well and their recruitment was neglected as well. If nothing else, they can be used as mobile forward watch towers to keep on eye on things.