Byzantium at ~1500 | Which would be your strategy?

[MrProper]

Dear EU4 vertans and strategoi,

as you can see in the left panel, this is my first post in this forum. I am pretty new to Paradox games and my experiences to EU4 are limited to about 60 hours of gameplay. Otherwise, however, I am an experienced strategy player. The purpose of creating this thread was to get some feedback on my current campaign: On one hand I would like to pose the question "what would you do in this situation?", and on the other hand get feedback on my own strategy.

Admittedly, I am not so much of a casual player. I need challenging games to keep myself entertained, and in EU4 I found that in the Byzantium campaign. I read multiple strategy guides, experimented with in game mechanics and gave the campaign multiple shots in ironman mode. Eventually, I had a good opening. Egypt and Hungary were both rivals of the Ottomans. Instead of going for Constantinople right away, the Ottomans attacked a minor nation in little Asia first, giving me sufficient time to ally Albany, Hungary and Wallachia. After declaring war on the Ottomans, Egypt started its own campaign against the Ottomans. There were many close calls, but eventually the Skanderbeg strategy worked and I could reclaim most byzantine cores on the Balkan. After individual wars against Naples, Venice, the Knights, Serbia and Bosnia, and two more against the Ottomans, this is my situation in 1507:

Given the progress of the campaign, my ambition became to acquire the "Basileus" achievement. I assume this is the phase of the early mid game, at which it will be decided if I manage to do so. Due to my lack of experience in later phases of EU4s, I am not 100% certain how to continue from here on.


Diplomatic and Strategic Stance
Byzantiums rivals are Naples, Castile and the Ottomans. In turn, it is rivaled by Naples, the Ottomans, Poland and Portugal. I am allied with Muscovy, Hungary and Wallachia. I made Serbia my vassal, and fed it some provinces from Bosnia to safe myself some admin points for coring. Now that most of the Balkan is secure, it is obvious that I do not need Wallachia anymore, effectively freeing up one of my relationships.

In the western part of Europe, a dangerous coalition is forming. Spain is in a personal union with Aragon, and furthermore allied with Naples and Portugal. Just having finished the recent war against the Ottomans and having claims on almost all its territories, Naples should likely be my next target. However, this will bring me into conflict with Castile and its allies.

The Mameluks are currently hostile towards me with a relation of -17 in total, mostly due to AE and their interest in Crete and Cyprus. With improved relations and some waiting time, I assume it should be possible to make their opinion swing and ally them with the benefit of having a partner that could engage Portugal (in case it keeps expanding in Africa), as well as having a helping hand to finish off the Ottomans. An alternative could be Qara Qoyunlu, which would accept an alliance offer right away.

Austria, the Papal States and Milan are currently very eager to become my allies. Given its influence in the HRE and the shared rival Castile, I take that Austria would be the best choice as "western" partner for now.

Economical and Financial Situation
My nation has a monthly surplus of 10 ducats without any loans. Whenever I had spare money left, I used it on building churches in regions with a high base tax income. In similar fashion, I picked locations for workshops and marketplaces, simply putting them where they would have the highest impact. My impression is, however, that the average AI nation (given they were not at war for most time so far) progressed much further. Here, I wonder if I should take a break in expanding in order to catch up, or if I should seize what others build for me instead.

Ideas and Technology
I picked Admin first for reduced coring cost, and Influence as second idea group. As for Influence, I would assume it would be clever now to rush through the group, in order to improve the boni related to vassals and the reduced AE impact. As for later, I have religious, trade and quality on my "must" list, and would consider taking innovative for the potential +20 infantry combat ability policy unlocked in combination with quality. My last pick would be either quantity or defensive, depending on my progress. With respect to technology, I am on an equal level with my neighbors.


What are your thoughts?

 

[Logist]

You should keep slamming into the ottomans until they're completely annexed. Otherwise they'll keep expanding east and make trouble for you. I would also try to pick up an eastern ally, preferably QQ but if not the mamluks.

 

[holyvigil]

Don't stick with Austria too long. They are a rival magnet due to being in the center of things and they always decline. Go for France and you'll be set the whole game. Keep an eye out on the war in eastern Europe and ally the winner of it. As someone said kill the Ottomans. They have the ability to resurect themselves if not destroyed and they will always be your enemies. Maybe hold off on killing them until you secure the Mamluks but I usually go influence then religious first so that I can focus on the Muslims first.

 

[zmb]

Nice going. I would continue beating up the Ottomans in Anatolia, and eventually turn south into the Levant and Egpyt - if you can beat the Ottomans the Mamlukes shouldn't pose a problem.

In Europe, Italy would be nice to have - and I think there's an achievement with Orthodox nations and Rome, so you could get that. In terms of allies to fight Castile and the Italians, Austria is good, but France is better - would they be interested? You may also want to control the Ragusa trade node if it's draining trade from Constantinople or you want to direct your trade to Venice. That would require ditching Hungary, but you probably don't need them at this point if you can find someone better.

For Basileus, I think you need the a bit north coast of the Black Sea, so just make sure you get to it before Russia does. Genoa should be an easy target now that they aren't in the HRE. If you want a land route, you+Hungary+Muscovy should be able to take on the PLC unless they have particularly strong allies.

 

[schondetta]

I would defiantly take Religious before admin. staking the TofTF and Missionary strength makes expanding so much easier and gives you a CB with quite literally everyone else. you dont need to need to be an admin point fiend if your not going to WC. Finishing up the Ottomans looks to be your best bet at the moment and getting a border with other Sunni nations. accepting Turkish as a culture is a good idea and is easy money. I would take all the coastal provinces and connect to Karaman and Aq. seems optimal to NOT focus on Italy for now until Castille integrates its vassals and thus is weaker .I would just focus all your AE in one religious area and focus long term on taking the provinces that grant you more missionaries. BYZ ideas stacks very well with Religious essentially once you convert a province it'll never revolt again. some peace of mind

 

[IIWBIIMars]

Ignore Europe (at least for now, it´s not worth the hassle), crush the Ottomans, expand eastwards into Persia -> India -> SE Asia -> China and make Constantinople the trade capital of the world.

Then....roflstomp those pesky Europeans, you can take huge swathes of land with Absolutism in the late game to achieve Basileus.

Edit: Yeah, Religious Ideas are awesome in your position, even if it is just for Deus Vult CB. Also, Trade is a must if you "go east".

 

[Bouchart]

I'll second Religious for Byzantium. It goes well with your insane missionary strength and ToTF. Go east and worry about Europe later.