1498-1500 : War against the Hansa
Well, you know the routine. Clear the province, send the colonist.
Meanwhile another colony in the Caribbeans is founded, Saint Thomas.
Nav Tech 11 is researched and we are called to arms again by Castille.
Somehow we botch colonization in Gabon, we didn't kill all natives and then we came back to Gabon to kill the rest, but it was too late. Oh well.
Meanwhile we keep converting the heathens.
The second colonization attempt succeeds. Gabon is colonized and we gain one colonist. Next mission will be vassalize Urbino.
Of course we need some infamy first to burn, and we declare war on the excommunicated Hansa, calling all of our allies to arms.
We send our troops to the far North.
Meanwhile Castille makes peace with the Mameluks.
Success made us overconfident. We sent our troops to the north peacemeal and without preparation.
And we get ingloriously defeated in Lübeck.
What happened to Venice's high morale ? We discover in horror that the Hansa has a land technology of 14 and can build Landsknechte, while our land technology still lags at ten!
What a noob !
Meanwhile the strategic Bermuda island is also colonized.
The troops we sent to the north aren't enough to defeat the Hansa, so we send reinforcements by sea.
The Portuguese meanwhile are sieging Bremen and we make a landfall in Hamburg.
The second battle of Lübeck has the same result as the first. Another inglorious defeat. But at least we know the reason now.
Catastrophe is about to strike us. Our army is about to be routed in Lauenburg.
But thanks to our allies occupying some Hansa dominions, we still manage to get a peace from the Hansa. We are victors, although undeservedly.
We need to improve our land technology. That was a costly mistake. Venice isn't invincible after all.