1.8 Byzantium

[Oddb@ll]

Tried a Byz game this morning. It actually wasn't much harder than before.

-Grabbed Albania for free
-Allied Austria and Poland
-Built a ton of galleys
-Jumped Venice, grabbed cores (be sure to follow TheMeInTeam's tip with hitting enemy fleet while they are separated)
-Do the same to ottomans. I called in Poland as well. Grabbed all my cores and forced them to pay me reparations (Just wanted to try it out, hehe)

I actually got a lot of help from rebels, more than I am used to. They spawn in several provinces at once thus carpet siegeing ottoman lands. In my game they rose up in Bulgaria. Now the turks have a lot of cleaning up to do....

 

[Blitzzer]

-Grabbed Albania for free

Can you elaborate on this please? How did you grab Albania for free when Byz no longer has a core on it and it starts out at war with the Ottoman?

Edit:And if you declared on them without a CB on day 1, how did you magic your troops to siege them before the Ottostacks step on them?

 

[BarskiPatzow]

Can you elaborate on this please? How did you grab Albania for free when Byz no longer has a core on it and it starts out at war with the Ottoman?

Dunno about the core, but it is easy to take because turks dont rush right in albania,cus of def bonus and albania op general. Also turkish army no longer spawns next to albania. Tried 5 times with serbia, got albania each time

 

[GAME IS BUGGED]

What i would try:

- Get Austria, Hungary and Poland as allies to counter the army of the Otto's
- Get also Aragon as ally. They have a huge naval and a PU over Naples, who also have a pretty good naval. This will counter the navy of the Ottomans. And they may land some troops.
- Hope that all allies want to join against the Otto's and crush them.

Maybe change Poland for someone else, so they will block the Ottomans.

 

[Delta107]

I don't care about abuses. This is just plain stupid. You want Rhodos or Cyprus back? Well, conquer some turkish land first. You can't fabricate a claim on those islands any other way! The best thing is that you'll now have NATIONALISM in Rhodos and Cyprus if you conquer them. Which basically means the people there will HATE YOU for driving off the Iberian/Catholic and French/Catholic oppressors.

Makes sense. Not.

+1 A very DUMB decision. it's a workaround for something that can't be corrected otherwise. Booooo paradox, booooo :angry:

 

[Blitzzer]

Dunno about the core, but it is easy to take because turks dont rush right in albania,cus of def bonus and albania op general. Also turkish army no longer spawns next to albania. Tried 5 times with serbia, got albania each time

Serbia is fine, since you start with a border with Albania. But getting your guys from Constantinople to Albania before the Ottostack gets there... I see no way for you to make the trip with your cogs in time and the Ottos will never give you access afaik. But clearly it can be done.

 

[Delta107]

All of this makes me wonder why they ever bothered with the Purple Phoenix DLC. Granted, it was a pre-order bonus, and much has changed since then. But why design events and units at all for a nation you are determined to have get crushed every time without gamey tactics?

http://www.eu4wiki.com/Purple_Phoenix

It's the same as with the Merica DLC. They just washed their hand like Pontius Pilate. They're don't care now that people have payed dollars for that... A new patch, heh of course it has priority... Damn. :angry: If you sell this stuff you have to update it, work for it.

 

[Admiral66]

The easy way to get your balkan cores back WITHOUT any allies is by taking 300 ducats worth of loans. Then Build a fleet of 30 galleys and block the strait between Constantinopel and Anatolia. Once they leave Greece to retake their cores in the east.

This patch did nerf the Byzantines reconquest potential by removing some cores, but not by alot. One of the more positive things that have happened is by far the hordes nerf(Georgia stays alive, and Qara Qoyunlu doesen't get mad strong) and now Ottomans and Qara qyuonlu rival each other.(No more Qara-Otooman alliance of death towards the Mamlukes, and potentially you)

If they ally crimea, it shouldn't really matter since 90% of the time Lithuania become a PU under Poland. Crimea also can't get military acces through the west since Golden horde is their rival, and the orthodox states don't really fancy them. Have 1 of your diplomats keep good relations with Poland in case they don't rival the ottomans.

If you are lucky, Cyprus, Chimo(?) or Rhodes may defect to you since the AI doesen't increase autonomy in it's capital to reduce revolt risk.(Note that raising autonomy gives no negative effects in capitals since it can't go over 0. You basicly get a free 10 less revolt risk for 20 years)
If Tunisia allies with the ottomans, restart isn't necesarry unless they decide to be a dick and visit you with a 25+ fleet.
Just always make sure that you keep in par/conquer more than what the ottomans do.

During the peacedeal with the ottomans, a smart move is giving Venice back it's core on Albania, then ally Poland+Austria while fabricating a claim on Albania. Presume to declare war on Venice and take Albania + all of your island cores. Remember to make sure your fleet is at 50 galleys after your first war with the ottomans, since the AI produces ALOT of ships in this patch.

You should be able to verse vs the ottomans now in Anatolia. However, keep an eye on the Mamluks. They are your best buddies in denying the Ottomans any time to reduce their war exhaustion. And by all means, make sure the Mamluks don't lose too much land to the turks.


This is what I remember of the bat, might happen that I edit in some more.

 

[Oddb@ll]

Can you elaborate on this please? How did you grab Albania for free when Byz no longer has a core on it and it starts out at war with the Ottoman?

Edit:And if you declared on them without a CB on day 1, how did you magic your troops to siege them before the Ottostacks step on them?

Ottomans dont start with war against Albania. So it's cool.

And if you check a few pages back someone managed to figure out a way to get around the lost core problem. On these premises I would say Albania is for free. Just ask Serbia for mil access and move your entire 5k stack on Albania.

 

[Blitzzer]

Ottomans dont start with war against Albania. So it's cool.

And if you check a few pages back someone managed to figure out a way to get around the lost core problem. On these premises I would say Albania is for free. Just ask Serbia for mil access and move your entire 5k stack on Albania.

Suddenly I feel silly. Thanks for that :laugh:

 

[BarskiPatzow]

Ottomans dont start with war against Albania. So it's cool.

And if you check a few pages back someone managed to figure out a way to get around the lost core problem. On these premises I would say Albania is for free. Just ask Serbia for mil access and move your entire 5k stack on Albania.

Errr they start with a war...

 

[Oddb@ll]

Errr they start with a war...

Eeeeerrrr they dont in my game.........

 

[Ranjid]

Errr they start with a war...

It's most likely the same bug as with the cores. Scrolling through time before starting the game messes up pretty much everything. You can also start as England without being at war with France.

 

[Blitzzer]

It's most likely the same bug as with the cores. Scrolling through time before starting the game messes up pretty much everything. You can also start as England without being at war with France.

So you're saying the missing cores are a bug instead of design?

 

[Ranjid]

So you're saying the missing cores are a bug instead of design?

Seems more like it's the other way around. They don't appear if you don't mess with the timeline. But who knows? I certainly do hope this is a bug. But the chances are slim. Otherwise a dev would've stated so by now.

 

[Derikari]

Considering the local autonomy for colonies was supposed to be 50% all game but later starting dates magically ignore that penalty if those some provinces are owned, it could be a bug or another poorly done part of the patch.

 

[GeneralJhon]

Well got some allies like Austria and Polland, and try to do the fleet strategy, with the new rebel system; in my game there were a lot of revolt at 1460 and i got the opportunity to declare war and capture some provinces, but out of nowhere ottos got a bigger fleet with better admiral that destroy my entire fleet so they cross the straitss (Byz+Rebels = destroy an army of 15 but then an army of 30 came and destroy my army xD, unfortunatly Austria got as rival hungary and they could not reach the war zone

 

[Oddb@ll]

Well got some allies like Austria and Polland, and try to do the fleet strategy, with the new rebel system; in my game there were a lot of revolt at 1460 and i got the opportunity to declare war and capture some provinces, but out of nowhere ottos got a bigger fleet with better admiral that destroy my entire fleet so they cross the straitss (Byz+Rebels = destroy an army of 15 but then an army of 30 came and destroy my army xD, unfortunatly Austria got as rival hungary and they could not reach the war zone

You need to be very aware of their fleet and its movements. Try and catch it when it is split up and destroy it piece by piece

 

[TheMeInTeam]

You need to be very aware of their fleet and its movements. Try and catch it when it is split up and destroy it piece by piece

Better still, declare war while your fleet with an admiral is over a split fleet of theirs w/o an admiral. The instant you declare it starts a naval battle; no time for the AI to assign one, so no lucky bonus in that fight, which is probably the only fight you need. After that they were never willing to challenge my galley fleet.

I actually did the same thing to Venice in a coalition war, though that was more touch and go since they declared on me.

I guess Albania is fine if you don't take stabhit to get it, but it's only 1 tax and won't boost you much. In my game Ottos allied Theodoro so I got free land while waiting for them to get 20 WE. Somehow even with 20 WE and 10+ year war no greek revolt for Ottos though, only Bulgaria.

 

[Seiska]

Hah, ottos DO start in war with albania, you're playing a bugged game if they don't so don't even mention it anymore. This patch has made things easier, just ally poland and maybe aragon or austria and beat the ottos. Strait blocking is too op.