How long did it take you to integrate France? Looks like it would have taken an eternity. Also, did you vassalize the Mamluks?
Best Italian Nation to Restore the Roman Empire
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It took several decades. At one point I thought I wasn't going to make it, but I activated the annexation policy (for completing Admin and Influence) and reduced the cost by 20%, so make it in time with decades to spare.
I don't remember if I vassalizied the Mamluks... I probably straight conquered them, but not sure. But releasing them and reconquering from Ottomans is usually a viable strategy. I just don't remember what i did there... sorry
LOL. I guess I did. Ottomans must have killed them, and I probably released and re-conquested.
Date on the screenshots is July 2016, so awhile ago. I'm sure it's still achievable. I know the game so much more now that I don't think it would be an issue. Just remember to make the big alliances and take a little at a time. And no, won't be doing it again. Working on finishing a One Faith run before Dharma. Then I'll be focusing on India
Its what I tried to do but I was only able to unify Italy by the 1580 and still missed some little lands ... then France decided I was arival and broke aliance ... I could at best take Tuis but then Ottomans started roll over... So I dunno if I can start again from my 1580 savegame and accomplish the Roman empire still.
Castille, Britain and France are huge , for not talking of Ottomans.
Quick comparison:
Ambrosian Republic:
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+10% National tax modifier -
+5% Morale of armies -
0/-0.025/-0.05 Monthly autonomy change -
+2 Number of states -
-30 Maximum absolutism
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+5% National tax modifier
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-5% Stability cost modifier -
-0.00/-0.025/-0.05 Monthly autonomy change
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+2 Number of states
-
-50 Maximum absolutism
At tech 12, you can promote an Oligarchic Republic to an Administrative Republic (Switzerland and Siena at game start):
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-5 Years of separatism -
+10% Production efficiency -
-0.025/-0.05/-0.075 Monthly autonomy change
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+3 Number of states
-
-30 Maximum absolutism
Quick comparison:
Ambrosian Republic:
Oligarchic Republic (e.g., Florence and Lucca at game start):
So, Ambrosian gives +5% tax modifier and +5 morale modifier (helping fund your expansion and punch above your weight in combat), in exchange for extra stab cost (which, as a Republic usually operating at ~40-50% Republican Tradition, is already through the roof, so who cares). I ignore the two absolutism penalties, since (at least until Dharma drops) you will want to collapse to Republican Dictatorship and then Administrative Monarchy before the Age of Absolutism starts in both cases.
At tech 12, you can promote an Oligarchic Republic to an Administrative Republic (Switzerland and Siena at game start):
This is certainly competitive with Ambrosian Republic, as by the time tech 12 rolls around, you are spamming manufactories (so production efficiency is very welcome; it's only half of what you get when ahead of time in Admin Tech, but always there, which is nice). It's not obviously that much better than +10% tax income, but the reduced separatism and extra autonomy reduction are very nice. The major downside is 5 year election cycle, rather than 4, so average MP generation is a bit less than Oligarchic and Ambrosian. On balance, I would put Ambrosian and Administrative toughly on par, albeit with very different focuses. Of course, most Oligarchic Republics will only enjoy Administrative Republic status for about half a century, before both Ambrosian and Administrative will want to flip to some form of monarchy before absolutism hits.
The real problem with the Ambrosian Republic is the country that it goes with. While Milan has a lot of minors surrounding it to easily conquer (for most countries this would be great), most of these are OPM's and can easily join a trade league with Venice or Genoa or ally either them, the Papacy, or some other powerful nation. With Venice, however, you ARE the trade league. BTW, what countries do you suggest inviting to my trade league if I play Venice (besides Albania and/or The Knights)?
Id def suggest the underrated nation of Naples, Just restart to a game where aragon doesnt ally france(not hard at all) and get independence. Naples has Free cores to rich lands of sicily. Can jump to Berber nations/Bosnia/Venice/Papal state/ Iberia(via catalan vassal). Superb ideas. Good naval strength, good provinces and able to be the leader of genoa trade easily. Its one of the best nations in the world with many directions to take.
The only downside is, as with also Savoy, it does not initially have any provinces to form Italy. Plus, its ideas are no where near as good as other Italian nations' ideas.
I'm in the middle of woman xamoaign. I got Italy around 1500 through a fair bit of luck, and allying austtia, Aragon, France and savoy Ferrara. Allying one or more of the italian minors alongside france and/or austria is very helpful as it allows you to reduce the ae for them (allies have reduced ae gain) effctivley "saving" them for later conquest after your inevitable betrayal. I attacked Venice when the ottos declared and took brescia, Treviso and Verona, then took Genoa for sea access and italy requirement. After that waiting for ae to burn and economy to build back up I nabbed mantua, then Roma and Ancona from the pope in 1490 after converting to protestant- admin ideas were great, although I probably could have taken influence earlier (I went admin->offensive->religious->influence->ttade). Florven was allied so I haf to wait for savoy to dtag me and frqmve jn agaisnt thwm, and once thr truce ended i ate florence and siena feom them and formed italy. I then qent to wars alongside france for satdinia and sicily, releasing Catalonia as a opm in valencia and then feeding back their cores over a century. I recommend taking Sardinia or Sicily early so you can fabricate on Tunis.
After beating Castille to pieces and forming Italy I backstabbed France for Russia and england, then expanded variously through naples, Tunis. Switzerland and Tyrol based on truces and ae. Savoy was tricky as Ottos intervened and France was allied so I had to wait till the league war and snipe Savoy (which as my ally fully ate Switzerland, I had to peace out France with Englis Calais and then took graubunden to release and feed back Switzerland in the first war then came back and took nice, cuneo, and all Switzerland in round 2) and now that the ottos are allied to Tunis and Morocco I'm in a bit of a pickle but in 1650s I have almost all of Italy (nice and montferrat as savoyz pitoful remnants as a french vassal) took, Savoy, tunis, bizerte, coastal Libya and then fabricated to rush cyrenica and the Nile delta from the malls before the ottomans could finish them off. Im presently jn a fairly expensive war with fravce alongside Britain with the goal of finishing off savoy and taking a few provinces from France. Then once econ and manpower recover I intend to attack the ottomans with russia.
The early age abilities, ae reduction claims bordering claims and vassal transfer are all really good. Going protestant early is vital, as you get Republican tradtion+unrest+diciplline (the ambosian republic eventually flipped to a administrative monarchy but by that time I had Italy so I didn't care). Always watch alliances and be sneaky with your wars on both ae and timing. Admin is essential, as is at least one mil idea, I recommend offensive or quality and resigning to be perennially using mercenaries in early and mid game for your infantry since you have the cash.
After beating Castille to pieces and forming Italy I backstabbed France for Russia and england, then expanded variously through naples, Tunis. Switzerland and Tyrol based on truces and ae. Savoy was tricky as Ottos intervened and France was allied so I had to wait till the league war and snipe Savoy (which as my ally fully ate Switzerland, I had to peace out France with Englis Calais and then took graubunden to release and feed back Switzerland in the first war then came back and took nice, cuneo, and all Switzerland in round 2) and now that the ottos are allied to Tunis and Morocco I'm in a bit of a pickle but in 1650s I have almost all of Italy (nice and montferrat as savoyz pitoful remnants as a french vassal) took, Savoy, tunis, bizerte, coastal Libya and then fabricated to rush cyrenica and the Nile delta from the malls before the ottomans could finish them off. Im presently jn a fairly expensive war with fravce alongside Britain with the goal of finishing off savoy and taking a few provinces from France. Then once econ and manpower recover I intend to attack the ottomans with russia.
The early age abilities, ae reduction claims bordering claims and vassal transfer are all really good. Going protestant early is vital, as you get Republican tradtion+unrest+diciplline (the ambosian republic eventually flipped to a administrative monarchy but by that time I had Italy so I didn't care). Always watch alliances and be sneaky with your wars on both ae and timing. Admin is essential, as is at least one mil idea, I recommend offensive or quality and resigning to be perennially using mercenaries in early and mid game for your infantry since you have the cash.
That's quite the campaign!
Lol yes. I'm on the phone right now so apologies for atrocious English.
In retrospect as Milan I think I should have taken Switzerland earlier- having those mountain passes as friendly firsts makes a massive difference in various ears (like I lost over 109k men to France trying to siege down bern and getting counterattacked/attrited).
Also I think I should have gone quality instead of offensive and taken religious fourth and influence third, the ae reduction and vassal feeding ability would habe been much more useful even factoring in the necessity of converting land, especially since you can stack inquisitors, church bonuses and reformation centers to convert northern and central italy. Army morale is alo insanely good, Im killing boatloads of French soldiers but still losing battles a lot because they have Like 6 morale to my 5 ish. All in all im confident I can still win this war but I've had to merc spam, bleed off 70k manpower and take a few loans and if the Ottomans intervene I'll probably have to settle for savoy lands rather than taking my full 100% warscore pound of flesh from France as God intended.
(Protip, army positioning is super important, don't let 30k stacks siege down even if you're afraid of getting counterattacked by 50 French stacks....). Between that and basically having to rebuild my navy every free years (and also corruption) I've probably wasted thousands of ducats and and half a million men over the last century, but with full trade ideas, and dominance over Egypt, Tunis and Genoa nodes I can deal no problem even with this horribly wasteful profligacy in true Roman style, by ignoring it with sheer dogged persistence.
If you start as an Italian minor that collects in Genoa, you can try a colonial game to build up a power base. A no-CB war against Granada will give you the colonial range to get to Cape Verde or Arguin early on. It's so hard to expand in Italy early on because of the massive AE.
I'll second the Venice idea. It's actually my current campaign (see spoiler). You're in a great position to expand around the Med while waiting for the Shadow Kingdom to fire. And vassalizing Byz right from the start kinda kneecaps the Ottomans quite nicely. Bonus points if they DOW Byz while you're at war with them too, putting you in a defensive war with the Ottomans and able to call in all your allies. Try and get Austria and Hungary as allies, and even a trade league (all those little 6k stacks add up). Should make for an easy war.
Bosnia, Serbia, Crimea all make easy targets in the early game to build up a decent power base. Once the Shadow Kingdom fires, you should be more than strong enough to mop up the Italian kingdoms and form Italy. Just remember to leave Rome for last to avoid the penalty for owning it, unless you switch religion of course.
Bosnia, Serbia, Crimea all make easy targets in the early game to build up a decent power base. Once the Shadow Kingdom fires, you should be more than strong enough to mop up the Italian kingdoms and form Italy. Just remember to leave Rome for last to avoid the penalty for owning it, unless you switch religion of course.
I always thought Savoy was the easiest:
1. 30 yo monarch with decent stats
2. 25% improve relations idea - AE is the big limiting factor in Italy
3. France will ally you a lot of the time
4. Can expand into Burgundy / Provence under the right circumstances
I haven't played a game in Italy for ages other than a recent Mantua game (which was fun, but far from easy!) so don't take my opinion too seriously
1. 30 yo monarch with decent stats
2. 25% improve relations idea - AE is the big limiting factor in Italy
3. France will ally you a lot of the time
4. Can expand into Burgundy / Provence under the right circumstances
I haven't played a game in Italy for ages other than a recent Mantua game (which was fun, but far from easy!) so don't take my opinion too seriously
I'd like to give a shoutout to Venices little brother, Genoa. It is part of the HRE and like its big brother it can easily expand around the Mediterranean using its existing provinces and missions to counter the HRE AE.
True, it's missions will allow it to expand in all directions at once. It also used to be great to keep around, let it finish it's missions then take the provinces it got from them.I'd like to give a shoutout to Venices little brother, Genoa. It is part of the HRE and like its big brother it can easily expand around the Mediterranean using its existing provinces and missions to counter the HRE AE.
How has no one mentioned Savoy? You have a guaranteed French alliance before you even unpause which protects you from....well anyone attacking you. You can get away with a long as long as you have big blue watching your back. You also have good development and good ideas in case forming Italy takes a long time.
Yeah, vassalizing Byzantium can be the perfect way to screw up the Ottomans, possible being able to cut their country in half.