Byzantium quest

[Rexos]

I had to leave my old Byzantium game after the update corrupted the save.....so now I'm trying to start a new game but.....

with the new updates and dlc, sure they nerfed the ottomans but now it seems to me it's even harder to conquer them early, I mean in my old game I got 100% WS by 1450, now that's quite hard.

They get alliances by 12.11.1444(Ramazan, Dulakir, Crimea) even if small countries, but still we are talking about other forts to siege and thousand of men to fight...
Also, now Albania is garanteed by venice and usually gets powerful alliances with papal States, Aragon or Hungary making the war with the Ottos longer, and I can't join the war because their provinces are occupied by other countries...I still couldn't find a way to get a nice start

How do you that?

 

[Ryanneo]

Not sure if optimal but it works for me, I wait for Ottomans to DoW albania and for them to move their armies on to the venetian islands since venice gets pulled in. And then I ally abania and get pulled in so i can avoid all of the allies ottomans have since obviously they started the war and wouldn't be able to call allies in.

 

[TenshiN]

Byzantium Quest sounds like a name for some brand-new RPG game...

 

[Rexos]

Byzantium Quest sounds like a name for some brand-new RPG game...

Yeah I like it too

 

[Rexos]

Not sure if optimal but it works for me, I wait for Ottomans to DoW albania and for them to move their armies on to the venetian islands since venice gets pulled in. And then I ally abania and get pulled in so i can avoid all of the allies ottomans have since obviously they started the war and wouldn't be able to call allies in.

I'm sorry I didn't actually read this
The problem with this strategy is that you won't be able to take lands for yourself, or at least not enought lands

 

[Badesumofu]

I'm sorry I didn't actually read this
The problem with this strategy is that you won't be able to take lands for yourself, or at least not enought lands

Albania as war-leader seem to pretty consistently make the Ottos give back most of your cores except Edirne if they win the war hard enough. It's been observed to happen on a few occasions without any player intervention, even.

 

[Sharples88]

You don't even need to trap them on the islands, just make sure you have a decent shock general and wait for Ottomans to attack Albania. Then declare war for the Core on Yanya and attack them inside Albania or defend in the mountainous region. Granted I took around maybe 20 loans for the mercs to fund the war (but I removed all of them within 15 years). You don't need to call allies in your war, just count on Mountains, potentially Skanderbeg (5, 5, 5) and Venice. They usually try to siege Constantinople with half their stack and bring the other half to the Greek/Albanian region, in which case when you attack, the stack in Constantinople usually responds (unless they breached the walls).

I did this on my second try (first is when they got a breached walls in Constantinople the first month, incredibly unlucky) and peaced them out in August 1447 for all of my cores. It's absolutely reasonable to go over force-limit with your army or take war-taxes.

As for the navy, I didn't even bother with recruiting any navy. The 13 ships I had were enough because Ottomans stupidly leaves 1-4 stack galleys in open sea zones while their main navy is blockading somewhere else, and if they're at war with Albania, Venice's fleet also is considered in too. You can win at the navy because navy AI in this game is very bad.

 

[Rexos]

Ok, this is a good result but not the best you can get, so it is, actually harder, to get more from them with the new updates.......the thing is that I also wanted to try the governament switch witch Circassia, but that cannot be done if I don't take the 3 Black Sea provinces from otto, so I need more than "my cores back"

You don't even need to trap them on the islands

I disagree, I find this, the best strategy above all others, you don't have their armies in the way and you can do whatever you want and they won't even recreuit new men when you defeat them or stack them, ottos are pretty strong and have around 30K manpower, and then they can hire mercs too, this way they won't do anything at all, so if possible I prefer to use this in any occasion

 

[Lord Beverage]

Albania as war-leader seem to pretty consistently make the Ottos give back most of your cores except Edirne if they win the war hard enough. It's been observed to happen on a few occasions without any player intervention, even.

^- This. I kicked off my Byz WC run with Albania returning my cores without having to lift a finger. Ottos seem unable to handle Venice if they DOW Albania in the opening months.

 

[Sharples88]

Ok, this is a good result but not the best you can get, so it is, actually harder, to get more from them with the new updates.......the thing is that I also wanted to try the governament switch witch Circassia, but that cannot be done if I don't take the 3 Black Sea provinces from otto, so I need more than "my cores back"



I disagree, I find this, the best strategy above all others, you don't have their armies in the way and you can do whatever you want and they won't even recreuit new men when you defeat them or stack them, ottos are pretty strong and have around 30K manpower, and then they can hire mercs too, this way they won't do anything at all, so if possible I prefer to use this in any occasion

Yeah I know that's easier, but it's not essential to do so. Personally during my war, I only had to fight six 'major' battles in defensive terrain and good shock pips. You can also beat Ottomans to tech 4 if you rush it, if you're into that sort of thing. Ottomans love to have their two major stacks far apart from one another, and when one is attacked, their other one comes along too late.

Personally, I'm against trapping the entire Ottoman army on islands purely because the AI, unlike a human, won't disband those troops and remake anew; It's a very gamey tactic. But that's just me, it's certainly the easier road to go along.

I mean I've played 2,400 hours, and this was the second time I've ever played Byzantium (never played as the Ottomans). It really isn't that hard. From watching the previous vids with BudgetMonk, this seems to be one of the easiest patches to do so. The guarentee of Venice and removal of most Ottoman cores gives them fewer options than ever and a powerful enemy to be distracted with.

 

[Rexos]

the thing is that I don't aim to just win....but to destroy the ottomans at 100 WC without any help, and right now I don't feel like that is so easy early on....

 

[Razer_greece]

In my last attempt i declared war in Venice early on cause they were fighting the Serbians. Until they defeat the Serbians, i got Naxos,Negroponte and Corfu and managed to trap them in Corfu when they went for re-conquer. In the end, i got out of the war in around 1450? (if i recall correctly) with Naxos,Negroponte and Corfu. Try to get the alliance with Hungary or Poland to stay protected from the Ottomans and when the time comes declare war on them and trap them somewhere. Make sure you have a superior fleet and enjoy victory

 

[Barricadas]

Also if a Venice alliance looks impossible, rival them so you can probably get Aragon as an ally. They had been very helpful in the last Byzantium run I made as Naples came to wars too. But as soon as you get your cores back, get some new allies (preferably Poland) because they will get Iberian Wedding eventually.

 

[--M--]

I tried the Ally-Albania-after-they-got-attacked-by-Ottomans strategy: Had all my cores back by 1450 including Edirne and Sofia.
Albania, Aragon and Venice beat the crap out of Otto, I peaced out early to get Edirne. Albania forced Otto to give my last core back to me when they finally won. Won the 2nd war with Hungary and Karaman as allies, the 3rd one all on my own.
Most glorious Purple Phoenix start for me so far. Ever.

 

[Rexos]

So be it, let's try this strategy since I got no other choices....for the switching government...any advice?