1444-1463: Dire Times
Ahhh, Byzantium. A country I've always wanted to be successful with over my time playing EU4, but have had about a dozen failed attempts. The reliance on luck against overwhelming odds has always turned me off. "If x rivals y, restart", etc. and starting with Byzantium isn't exactly good for my health... 
Well on about my 12th attempt, by my estimation, I've managed to successfully establish a decent power base, and I feel like I face almost no risk of total annihilation — while still keeping Constantinople, city of the world's desire.
Our goal for this run is primarily Basileus, (which requires most of Anatolia, the eastern Balkans, Greece, and some other provinces) and Mare Norstrum. While we're at it, we may aim for the two Orthodox achievements: Consecrate Roma, and gain 100 Patriarch Authority.
So, without further ado, I present my Byzantium 1.24 AAR. Standard settings, normal difficulty, all expansions (and most DLC) up to Cradle of Civilization, including the newly-purchased Purple Phoenix, which gives an insane amount of diplo and mil monarch points through events.
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We sell our light ships and a couple of transports to Aragon, delete our cavalry, and start pumping out 2 heavy ships and some galleys. Our focus is set to mil points and a mil advisor hired when we finally remember. A diplo rep advisor is also hired.
We ally most nations that are willing to take us, including Wallachia, Theodoro, and Trebizond. We set a threatened attitude towards the Ottos, and start improving relations with Hungary and Albania. Otto's declare on Albania, and we ally them:
For once, our first war with the Ottos seems to have good odds, at least on paper. But whether or not our Venetian and Albanian comrades will actually use their armies efficiently is another matter. We set our stack to allow attaching and Athens and Naxos do so.
Not wanting to face yet another failed run, we hire soldiers far beyond our force limit, with little regards given to our economy. As long as we don't go bankrupt, we can always pay off our loans later. Our nobility estate has also gained an extreme 100% influence as we wanted to get those 150 "free" mil points for early teching, and we teeter-totter their influence and loyalty points.
With the Otto's armies split, we face a nice victory at the Battle of Thessaly...
and another satisfying victory at the Battle of Lezhe, where we were able to get the Ottomans as the attacker against Alby's mountain fort. So far, so good.
We have gained naval dominance, and are sieging Otto's Balkan provinces, along with the fort in Macedonia. The Otto's are on our capital, and Venice has hunted down a few small Otto stacks. The Mamluks kindly subsidize us for two ducats a month.
We claim victory at the Battle of Constantinople!
The war has raged on for three years with success, but we have paid the price of 27,845 soldiers fallen.
We keep pressing forward into Anatolia, hoping for more gains — but we lose several battles as we're caught out of position and our warscore suffers.
We eventually gain the war score back and peace out for the provinces we want before Albania makes a suboptimal peace deal.
We shall remember the 37,000 fallen soldiers who bravely gave their lives for the resurrection of Byzantium.
We have a, *ahem*, small debt of 1449 ducats. Assuming the Mamluks revoke their subsidies, interest is over half of our income and it would only take 16.9 years of our entire income to pay off the debt!
We forget to take away the noble's land before they gain too much influence and an aristocratic coup occurs! I, the great Byzantine emperor, have become but a puppet of the nobility!
Since we're already in a disaster, and losing 25% of our income to the aristocratic coup, we might as well just claim bankruptcy, leaving our fate and defenses in the hands of our allies, which now include Hungary.
We forget to spend our monarch points before bankruptcy, losing about 400-700 we could've at least put towards inflation or development. But at least the OP Purple Phoenix DLC gives us lots of diplo and mil points.
Though our presitge, legitimacy, stability, and monarch points are all tanked, our bankruptcy goes surprisingly well. After it's over, we integrate Athens.
Once our truce with the Turks is up, we declare on them, bringing Wally and Hungary on our side.
Byzantium and Wallachia siege the Ottos all over, while Hungary sieges Crimea.
The Ottos are still at war against Candar and friends they started attacking earlier. Genoa seizes Crimea's moment of weakness and start their own war. Things aren't looking too hot for the Sunnis of eastern Europe...
With Crimea ready to peace out, we make the (probably wrong) decision to take some land for ourselves, suffering the diplo point hit and double AE gain against a non-co-beliggerent.
From the Ottos, we take back our last cores. We also take a land bridge to the gold mine in Kosovo and a sea province for Bulgaria to have upon release. Finally, we take a foothold in Anatolia to release a Turkish vassal to feed Turkish and Sunni provinces. Economically, it would've been best to take more of the Balkans for ourselves, but we settle for the more positionally strategic locations.
After forging a claim on Kosovo, we release Bulgaria and Saruhan. Unfortunately, our Crimean provinces aren't adjacent to any of our vassals, and there is no vassal to release in Crimea. We are forced to core it ourselves and take the hit to religious unity.
Well on about my 12th attempt, by my estimation, I've managed to successfully establish a decent power base, and I feel like I face almost no risk of total annihilation — while still keeping Constantinople, city of the world's desire.
Our goal for this run is primarily Basileus, (which requires most of Anatolia, the eastern Balkans, Greece, and some other provinces) and Mare Norstrum. While we're at it, we may aim for the two Orthodox achievements: Consecrate Roma, and gain 100 Patriarch Authority.
So, without further ado, I present my Byzantium 1.24 AAR. Standard settings, normal difficulty, all expansions (and most DLC) up to Cradle of Civilization, including the newly-purchased Purple Phoenix, which gives an insane amount of diplo and mil monarch points through events.
------------------------------------------------------------
We sell our light ships and a couple of transports to Aragon, delete our cavalry, and start pumping out 2 heavy ships and some galleys. Our focus is set to mil points and a mil advisor hired when we finally remember. A diplo rep advisor is also hired.
We ally most nations that are willing to take us, including Wallachia, Theodoro, and Trebizond. We set a threatened attitude towards the Ottos, and start improving relations with Hungary and Albania. Otto's declare on Albania, and we ally them:
For once, our first war with the Ottos seems to have good odds, at least on paper. But whether or not our Venetian and Albanian comrades will actually use their armies efficiently is another matter. We set our stack to allow attaching and Athens and Naxos do so.
Not wanting to face yet another failed run, we hire soldiers far beyond our force limit, with little regards given to our economy. As long as we don't go bankrupt, we can always pay off our loans later. Our nobility estate has also gained an extreme 100% influence as we wanted to get those 150 "free" mil points for early teching, and we teeter-totter their influence and loyalty points.
With the Otto's armies split, we face a nice victory at the Battle of Thessaly...
and another satisfying victory at the Battle of Lezhe, where we were able to get the Ottomans as the attacker against Alby's mountain fort. So far, so good.
We have gained naval dominance, and are sieging Otto's Balkan provinces, along with the fort in Macedonia. The Otto's are on our capital, and Venice has hunted down a few small Otto stacks. The Mamluks kindly subsidize us for two ducats a month.
We claim victory at the Battle of Constantinople!
The war has raged on for three years with success, but we have paid the price of 27,845 soldiers fallen.
We keep pressing forward into Anatolia, hoping for more gains — but we lose several battles as we're caught out of position and our warscore suffers.
We eventually gain the war score back and peace out for the provinces we want before Albania makes a suboptimal peace deal.
We shall remember the 37,000 fallen soldiers who bravely gave their lives for the resurrection of Byzantium.
We have a, *ahem*, small debt of 1449 ducats. Assuming the Mamluks revoke their subsidies, interest is over half of our income and it would only take 16.9 years of our entire income to pay off the debt!
We forget to take away the noble's land before they gain too much influence and an aristocratic coup occurs! I, the great Byzantine emperor, have become but a puppet of the nobility!
Since we're already in a disaster, and losing 25% of our income to the aristocratic coup, we might as well just claim bankruptcy, leaving our fate and defenses in the hands of our allies, which now include Hungary.
We forget to spend our monarch points before bankruptcy, losing about 400-700 we could've at least put towards inflation or development.
But at least the OP Purple Phoenix DLC gives us lots of diplo and mil points.
Though our presitge, legitimacy, stability, and monarch points are all tanked, our bankruptcy goes surprisingly well. After it's over, we integrate Athens.
Once our truce with the Turks is up, we declare on them, bringing Wally and Hungary on our side.
Byzantium and Wallachia siege the Ottos all over, while Hungary sieges Crimea.
The Ottos are still at war against Candar and friends they started attacking earlier. Genoa seizes Crimea's moment of weakness and start their own war. Things aren't looking too hot for the Sunnis of eastern Europe...
With Crimea ready to peace out, we make the (probably wrong) decision to take some land for ourselves, suffering the diplo point hit and double AE gain against a non-co-beliggerent.
From the Ottos, we take back our last cores. We also take a land bridge to the gold mine in Kosovo and a sea province for Bulgaria to have upon release. Finally, we take a foothold in Anatolia to release a Turkish vassal to feed Turkish and Sunni provinces. Economically, it would've been best to take more of the Balkans for ourselves, but we settle for the more positionally strategic locations.
After forging a claim on Kosovo, we release Bulgaria and Saruhan. Unfortunately, our Crimean provinces aren't adjacent to any of our vassals, and there is no vassal to release in Crimea. We are forced to core it ourselves and take the hit to religious unity.
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