Anxious about my future

[unmerged(41568)]

So here it is... playing with byzantium for the first time and managed to roll back the OE to their capital with only a loan and some help by Teke and Candar or what is Karaman?... next i grab Trabzon and just recently Albania from its latest owner Athens... point is I was fairly confident with my chances of giving birth to a new roman empire but still im confused about the treaty that surrenders the orthodox faith to the pope (gain italian culture conversion to catholicism)... now i got a brand new alliance with Venice, the knights, cyprus and georgia (yay allies!) :rofl:

what's next? all my provinces are of the wrong faith... my tech group is orthodox so i compensate with centralisation and innovationess (or i try to compensate) Karaman is my vassal and fearing the OE would try to unite the Turks tribes i invaded an already warmongering and exhausted OE and force-vassalised them while gaining a new (sunni) province west of Trabzon... yikes i wanted to let them go as vassals but could not... da-oh... stuck with them unless some rebels wipe my local dignitaries back to the sea. ..

So...
hem... what do i do? i convert all my provinces to catholicism or will there be some event that ultimately save the orthodox faith? i continue my military spread toward the east? or i create a sponge zone of vassals to prevent invasions (like Stalin's wishes regarding Poland during WW2)... my relations being fairly good with other catholic states - i invade a two zones orthodox Moldavia? or since im now catholic and have italian culture i steal parts of Italy? or i could backstab my own alliance and go for the islands south and the 2 provinces the knights own in Turkey?

I'd like pointers and plz dont link me with strategy guides, they only explain how to survive the first war with the Ottomans with luck, loans and a sweet tongue

btw my BB is at 0 so feel free to send unorthodox suggestions
heres a screenie


Thanks in advance... I know there is(or there are? - my english classes really suck) a lot of Byzantium fans out there
GC - EUv1.08

 

[curtis]

There will be another event that allows you to return to Orthodoxy (if you want to) but you will lose the Italian culture.

 

[Alexandru H.]

Don't worry about the Council of Florence event, it's a two-choice phase (as the previous poster said) but you should consider the situation: you can convert to catholicism (much better religion game-wise), gain an extra culture (italian), good relations with your catholic neighbours, plus two points of innovation (you surely have no money to spare for conversions at this time, so tech-rushing is a good thing). Remaining orthodox will net you -2 innovation (not so good at the beginning), plus extremly low relations with the catholics. I suggest the first choice (even if playing it historical isn't that big of a deal), because you can safely expand into Asia without any problems (Alexandria should be your main target from now on) and later on, turn against the West (having catholic religion and italian culture will be in your best interest for this). Converting some orthodox provinces with similar cultures is not very hard to do by 1500-1550.

Your alliance is good; Venice can keep Hungary down, and the rest can work with you against the muslims. Don't forcevassalize no one that lies in your sphere of interest... Conquer Alexandria as quickly as possible than turn west against the italians... Good luck!

 

[saskganesh]

if you want to stay catholic. i'd recommend going narrowminded instead of Inno, on the offchance you will get some random conversions

your tech will lag, but that won't be a problem with your lagging muslim neighbours.

also go high aristo, as i believe that you will thus get more "gifts to state" events, and you can funnel this bonus cash into converting your orthodox greek provinces. woth doing.

do get in some alliance that is prone to fight in Italy. you should be able to grab some of those provinces in seiges. while your tech deprived army will not be that useful in a field battle, you do have a fleet, which will give you maneuverability to start seiges of your own choosing. the italian provinces are quite rich and you will see the benefit in owning them.

venice is a key. you will either want to ally with them, so their larger fleet doesnt destroy yours, and you have freedom to invade italy...or fight them. in that case austria, and later france may be your best friend.

you will probably want to be opportunistic and do both (fight them or ally them).depending on the changing tides of the political situation,

you will have lots of oportunities for Italian wars by "defending the pope'. free CBs against the enemies of Rome...

and OE? they are very very dangerous to you even as emasculated vassals. they will build up a large army, break the vassalge and threaten your reborn empire's existence. wipe them off the map as soon as is possible.

 

[unmerged(5205)]

If you stay Catholic you're going to have to go narrowminded to get some missonaries

 

[unmerged(29041)]

I hope you are not playing AGCEEP, are you? because the conversion to Catholicism carries such increase in revolt risk for so long, that you become unable to recruit armies. On top of that you throw your multiple rebellions by your angry orthodox and muslim subjects, and your kind neighbors. I had the worse time of my EU2 life until I finally reached my going back to orthodoxy, which by then I had discovered that was required for the fantasy events. I was down to my bare bones, almost without armies and letting my enemies fight my rebels, and my rebels take back my provinces from my enemies. It took me decades to recover, and ever since then I remained a good orthodox. Looking back it was one of my best games, I must be a masochist

 

[unmerged(41964)]

I hope you are not playing AGCEEP, are you? because the conversion to Catholicism carries such increase in revolt risk for so long, that you become unable to recruit armies. On top of that you throw your multiple rebellions by your angry orthodox and muslim subjects, and your kind neighbors. I had the worse time of my EU2 life until I finally reached my going back to orthodoxy, which by then I had discovered that was required for the fantasy events. I was down to my bare bones, almost without armies and letting my enemies fight my rebels, and my rebels take back my provinces from my enemies. It took me decades to recover, and ever since then I remained a good orthodox. Looking back it was one of my best games, I must be a masochist

It doesn't look like he's playing AGCEEP. You don't get that many core provinces in the AGC.

 

[unmerged(41568)]

....another event... Alexandria... narrowminded... an alliance proned to conquer Italy... easy expand into Asia... all good pointers, thanks guys these are all helpful. I was getting scared about my religious sliders; not much room for imagination(catholic state with half-muslim half-orthodox provinces). I cant wait for protestantism to get a hold on Germany so I can slide that religion far left ... I'll follow you guys' lead and go for Egypt and keep good relations (for now ) with my western neighbors... I think I'll stay catholic when the new event pops up. I sure like a good challenge. oh and I play with the plain EU2 GC.

 

[unmerged(37277)]

Playing with Byzantium I have always made conquest of rich Armenia.