A speculative guide on how to restore the most gloriouse Byzantine Empire #romefan
Background
So, after looking through all the facts about the new game and the statistics about the byzantines and ottomans I have compiled a speculative guide on how hard restoring rome will be in EU4.
Plan
In the new 1444 start the ottmans start with more ships than Byzantium but this will not remain a problem for long, use the large amount of trade power and taxes constantinople has + loans if nessecery to quickly build up a superior naval force to the Ottomans. While the initial building cost will be large ships are dirt cheep in terms of upkeep so this will not be hard to do. From the videos we have seen we know the AI likes to hold its forces in a massive doomhorde, wait untill this horde crosses the Strait of Marmara into Anatolia and then strike (this is the classic strategy in eu3 for taking down the Ottomans).
Spread your pathetic army across all of the Ottoman European holdings, you have a forcelimit of 8 so this is easy to do while still having men spare to hold of there orthodox vassals. After you have seiged all their provinces wait untill their war exhastion has reached max before declaring peace, take as many of their european holdings as you can (usualy all but edirne) and liberate any european vassals.
Congratulations, the hardest part is done, it only gets easier from here. I calculate that you will have a higher forcelimit that the Ottomans due to having more provinces and rich basetax Constantinople (this is also how it worked in eu3). We now want to secure your position in the balkans by allying with the recently released vassals and gaining controll of Athens, Crete, Naxos and Rhodes through use of funding rebels. Controlling these provinces won't only boost your income and forcelimit but will also give you more trade power, allowing you to dominate there respective trade nodes (Constantinople, Ragusta).
Your time has now come, you will have a larger force than the Ottomans and willing allies (slaves) to help you in the war. Declare war on the Ottomans and crush then with your superior force, make sure you have a good general as the Ottomans have some deadly national ideas and superior technology on there side. Win the war and annex the Ottomans remenants. You have a rough time ahead of you but the worst is over.
Who needs technology? Spend all your monarch points on changing religion and culture in your recently conquered provinces. Byzantium has an intresting NI that lowers revolt risk in orthodox provinces, so after the heathens have beenconverted your life will be much easier. The turkish beys will form a coallition against you, don't worry though, you can easily defeat all of them. After doing this, go through the same process as with the Ottomans above.
Many people would be tempted to go for the (likely) Byzantine missions to annex Italy and the Balkans but I don't recommend it yet. All the italian minors will have powerfull allies and will be very hard to conquer with your current tech (which is rather poor due to spending it all on conversion) The balkans are poor and the trade node there points away from Constantinople. It would be far more beneficial to controll Alexandria and shuffel trade from there up to Constantinople. There are other reasons to go for Aegyptus, they will have terrible technology just like you, and have no strong allies to intervene.
Smash the Mamluks, with a good cassus beli you can annex the whole lot in two wars. Don't try and change culture its too much effort, just core the territory and convert then to orthodoxy for your neat bonuses.
At this point the world is your oyster, consider destroying Venice to cement your hold on the east medeteranian trade nodes. Try taking out Italy and try to catch up and westernise. Hopefully the Byzantines have an easier path to this than most through a special desicion, if not then you will have to go through the same pain as everyone else.
Try taking over trade nodes in the indian sea and direct trade to Alexandria rather than around the cape of good hope. for some intresting fun try colonising the coast of africa and indonesia as an extra way to expand.
National Ideas (with help from Emperor Marcus)
Offensive Ideas will help you defeat the Ottomans and the Mamluks, pivk these up first.
Economic Ideas will help to pay for a growing army.
Trade Ideas will help you controll the eastern mediteranian nodes and funnel trade through Alexandria instead of Africa.
Lastly consider Expansion/Exploration for late game Colonialism.
Background
So, after looking through all the facts about the new game and the statistics about the byzantines and ottomans I have compiled a speculative guide on how hard restoring rome will be in EU4.
Plan
In the new 1444 start the ottmans start with more ships than Byzantium but this will not remain a problem for long, use the large amount of trade power and taxes constantinople has + loans if nessecery to quickly build up a superior naval force to the Ottomans. While the initial building cost will be large ships are dirt cheep in terms of upkeep so this will not be hard to do. From the videos we have seen we know the AI likes to hold its forces in a massive doomhorde, wait untill this horde crosses the Strait of Marmara into Anatolia and then strike (this is the classic strategy in eu3 for taking down the Ottomans).
Spread your pathetic army across all of the Ottoman European holdings, you have a forcelimit of 8 so this is easy to do while still having men spare to hold of there orthodox vassals. After you have seiged all their provinces wait untill their war exhastion has reached max before declaring peace, take as many of their european holdings as you can (usualy all but edirne) and liberate any european vassals.
Congratulations, the hardest part is done, it only gets easier from here. I calculate that you will have a higher forcelimit that the Ottomans due to having more provinces and rich basetax Constantinople (this is also how it worked in eu3). We now want to secure your position in the balkans by allying with the recently released vassals and gaining controll of Athens, Crete, Naxos and Rhodes through use of funding rebels. Controlling these provinces won't only boost your income and forcelimit but will also give you more trade power, allowing you to dominate there respective trade nodes (Constantinople, Ragusta).
Your time has now come, you will have a larger force than the Ottomans and willing allies (slaves) to help you in the war. Declare war on the Ottomans and crush then with your superior force, make sure you have a good general as the Ottomans have some deadly national ideas and superior technology on there side. Win the war and annex the Ottomans remenants. You have a rough time ahead of you but the worst is over.
Who needs technology? Spend all your monarch points on changing religion and culture in your recently conquered provinces. Byzantium has an intresting NI that lowers revolt risk in orthodox provinces, so after the heathens have beenconverted your life will be much easier. The turkish beys will form a coallition against you, don't worry though, you can easily defeat all of them. After doing this, go through the same process as with the Ottomans above.
Many people would be tempted to go for the (likely) Byzantine missions to annex Italy and the Balkans but I don't recommend it yet. All the italian minors will have powerfull allies and will be very hard to conquer with your current tech (which is rather poor due to spending it all on conversion) The balkans are poor and the trade node there points away from Constantinople. It would be far more beneficial to controll Alexandria and shuffel trade from there up to Constantinople. There are other reasons to go for Aegyptus, they will have terrible technology just like you, and have no strong allies to intervene.
Smash the Mamluks, with a good cassus beli you can annex the whole lot in two wars. Don't try and change culture its too much effort, just core the territory and convert then to orthodoxy for your neat bonuses.
At this point the world is your oyster, consider destroying Venice to cement your hold on the east medeteranian trade nodes. Try taking out Italy and try to catch up and westernise. Hopefully the Byzantines have an easier path to this than most through a special desicion, if not then you will have to go through the same pain as everyone else.
Try taking over trade nodes in the indian sea and direct trade to Alexandria rather than around the cape of good hope. for some intresting fun try colonising the coast of africa and indonesia as an extra way to expand.
National Ideas (with help from Emperor Marcus)
Offensive Ideas will help you defeat the Ottomans and the Mamluks, pivk these up first.
Economic Ideas will help to pay for a growing army.
Trade Ideas will help you controll the eastern mediteranian nodes and funnel trade through Alexandria instead of Africa.
Lastly consider Expansion/Exploration for late game Colonialism.
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