Basileus opening strategies and AI movement through forts

[JustARandomGuy]

Hey everybody. I am currently trying to do the Basileus achievement. However, I have not gotten very far yet. What vexes me in particular is that the AI is able to move freely through the fort in Athen. I always thought it would block their way to Negroponte, Achaea, and Naxos given that I own/occupy these provinces. Am I mistaken?

Aside from that, I find it quite tough this patch to get your expansion started as Byzantium because the Ottomans are seemingly neither interested in Candar nor in Albania and attack me always first. Any ideas on how to approach this new setup? Have tried DOW on Venice (after fabricating a claim on Negroponte) several times but since they changed the Byzantine national mission from conquest of Greece to conquest of Asia minor Venice has usually 1-4 allies by the time you go to war with them.

Any help is appreciated, cheers.

 

[Sfan]

You might want to restart until the Ottomans attack Albania first, this happens from time to time, and this will significantly weaken them now that they also have to fight Venice.

 

[Lundgreen]

Athens is only a capitol fort, so it doesn't hold back armies like "regular forts".
You need to be lucky to survive the opening, i've tried (and failed) a couple of times as well.
Boost your capitol - making Byzantium into a real regional power. As soon as you are worth something - and have an army to match, countries will want to ally you.

 

[wergy]

All you have to do now is to wait the Ottos declaring on Albania. They will be in war with half of the world so after a while you'll be free to pick up a few provinces and then quickly peace out. Before 1.23 it was much more difficult. Do the achievement before they fix it

 

[JustARandomGuy]

Thanks for your replies. Am yet still to see Otto not attacking me first. Maybe i should not tune down army maintenance.
But yeah, the key to getting this achievement is trying over and over again i guess.

 

[Sfan]

Army maintenance plays a role in the choice of the AI. Keep it high and he won't attack you as often.