Byzantium [strategy]

[Nexus06]

Ok people

let me get straight to the point. How do you cheat on ironman?

I've tried with every update about 200 restart with Byz.

Ally Albania and Trebizond (almost nobody else ally, except all the minions in the caucasus and theodoro).

now you have 2 strategy, following internet.

wait for ottomans to attack you:

1) Attack ottomans and trap units in Eubea. Fake. Venice NEVER allow you to walk in their lands, they simply hate you.

2) Ottoman force to break alliance with albania (if you move your army there to attach Skandenberg before).

or you attack first, promising land to allies to join. Albania agrees, Trebizond 1 every 25 restart.

If you attack first venice still doesn't hate you. you can try to go for eubea, but in that case your fleet is to weak and get annihilated.

even if you plan to micromanage all battle and set timescale 1 day= 1 day reallife you lose.

Ottomans simply blown too much armies, like 40k or more. and even with the constant -2 of using terrain and all shits to support you loose 15 vs 15 first wave and immediately after 25 second wave.

Attaching skandeberg works if you want albania to wander around with your army. so question is simple.

Every youtube video i see of byzantium strategy, ottoman armies are idiotic.

they use only 15k army, the other wanders around in anatolia.

therefore with cheat are you using on ironman to make ottoman idiot?

thanks

 

[Ryanneo]

Took me a few restarts but i waited for ottomans to DoW Albania and have them launch their stacks into on of the islands Venice owns since they will be in the war because of guarentee. And then I either ally Albania and have them call me in or I declare war myself depending on Ottomans allies. Not sure if Insta albania alliance works the same but when i tried that and fought the war Ottomans kept their fleet in port since my fleet was nearby and they never had the chance to cross troops into eurobea with Venice having their fleet blocking it

 

[Nexus06]

i've done the math, and catalogate it on excel.

here numbers.

56 times i've restarted with the strategy of waiting ottomans to attack.

5 times they attacked Albania.

5 times an army of 15 popped up from north and blasted Albania far before i was able to come in support. But in perfect time to blast albania and win the -2 mountain crossing to blast my army.

i've tried 4 times to send my army in albania.

4 times ottoman forced albania to break alliance (100%).

Now. Unfortunately i have this "trip" to play fair with byz. but it is clear to me that what i see on internet do not happened on my pc. Therefore, or mu ottoman commander is napoleon, or something is "different" from truth.

i've even tried playing very easy, no achievements, but i never get the second army to wander around like an idiot.

The only real explain possible is that a cheat lower the ability of the opposing army.

 

[Sleepyhead]

Wallachia is a better initial ally, never bothered with Albania or Trebizond, they aren't much help.
In combination with Hungary you have a shot at retaking your land in a fair fight. If Hungary rivals you you might want to try Poland, a +1 dip adviser is key and they need to be rivaled with the OE. From there you won't get attacked at least.

 

[otaats]

Would be nice to get the "Recover Greece" mission from the get go.. I tried Byz about 10 times, and the only time i got close to beating the Ottos, I went with Recover Greece>annex Negroponte, Corfu and Crete>annex Rhodes>trap Ottomans on Corfu and Negroponte strategy. Tunis joined the Otto cause however, and they wrecked my navies (managed to destroy most of Ottoman navy first.. But Tunisian 15 ships were overwhelming next to Ottoman remnants).

 

[Ixal]

I tried allying Albania and waiting for Otto armies in the mountains and that usually worked rather well. Never managed to siege down a fort with that so couldnt close of the strait but it gave me good cores and a truce to build a real alliance against them.
But that was ages ago.

 

[braunschweig1]

As someone who has actually gotten the Euboea strat to work before, you need a solid 12 to 15 galleys to beat the Ottomans, or 4 heavy ships. The trouble is these days, Ottomans like to declare before you can build up to that number. Never ally Trebizond, they're unreliable and really weak - only time I would is if you're no-CB warring Candar, which is a different strategy altogether. Wallachia + Hungary is the strongest alliance you can get, Poland and Lithuania tend to get pooped on by the Ottomans in my experience. Then again, it does seem like Lithuania is less of a paper tiger this patch.

 

[Dominion]

Bit presumptuous to assume everyone else is cheating just because you aren't capable of doing it.

 

[holyvigil]

Byzantium is one of the hardest initial starts. I have seen people who play EU4 for living (twitch streamers) go through 8 or more restarts. The Ottomans hate you and they have the best beginning pips, the best starting military ideas, the best starting ruler, the best starting government, the best starting events, the best special units, good starting diplomacy, a strong economy, and a large army. Don't play it if you don't ally Hungary or Poland. And accept that it takes a while to get started. Also this is posted about once a week so you could check last weeks byz question and see if that is more helpful.

 

[Brynjar]

Austria, Hungary, Poland and Lithuania are all potential allies. If you haven't been able to ally any of them in 200 restarts you are doing something terribly wrong in your diplomacy.

After you have successfully allied one or more of them (+Albania and possibly Wallachia) you can save a copy of your save and roll back to it if things go wrong to save time restarting for rng.

 

[Nunn45]

To butcher what I gather is the current Strategy, restart until they get the "Conquer last Crusader bastion" Mission or w/e it is.
If they get into a war with Venice over it then its just a matter of waiting for the ottomans to put an army on an island, declaring and blocking them there with your fleet.

I almost won this way but i messed up with using auto transport...

 

[TenshiN]

1) Ally Poland+Hungary+Wallachia or Austria+Hugary+Wallachia
2) Declare on Ottoman and call allies for land
3) Wreck Ottos and take all the land yourself, give your allies nonw
4) Allies break alliance
5) Now ally Mamluks+whoever still wants to ally you
6)?????
7) Profit!

 

[holyvigil]

Austria, Hungary, Poland and Lithuania are all potential allies. If you haven't been able to ally any of them in 200 restarts you are doing something terribly wrong in your diplomacy.

After you have successfully allied one or more of them (+Albania and possibly Wallachia) you can save a copy of your save and roll back to it if things go wrong to save time restarting for rng.

How do you ally lithuania? The distance modifer always makes it so that I can't and they never rival the ottos so you never get the threatened modifier.

 

[Sybrand99]

The last days I've also tried several starts with Byzantium, and I think it's surely possible to survive 1 out of 8 games or so. The problem most of the times is the Ottomans declaring before you can make alliances, and you have no chance. But I managed one time to beat them with only Albania and Wallachia, unfortunately bad luck made everything go wrong (see also this topic https://forum.paradoxplaza.com/forum/index.php?threads/why-cant-i-go-back-to-selanik.1062085/). At this moment I have a game in 1479 where I managed to survive, but I haven't been at war with the Ottomans (they don't attack because I allied Hungary). Screenshot of my game:

There are a several steps that gives you the best chance of surviving and beating the Ottomans.

1. On the first day, sell your barques to Naples and build galleys up to your naval force limit instead.
2. Put all the nations in the region on positive and start improving relations with important nations. You have to hope that Hungary rivals Ottomans, you have a good chance to ally them. When Poland rivals Ottomans, most of the times they have to many diplomatic relations but you can always try.
3. Ally Albania and Wallachia. When Serbia is friendly to you (most of the times they rival you), ally them and move your troups to their territory. Put your fleet in Achaea.
4. Build your force up to the force limit and ask nobility for a general (and hope that this is a god). Move your troups to Achaea.

When the Ottomans declare (unfortunately mostly before you can ally Hungary or another major country):
1. Put defensive edict on Constantinople.
2. Attach with Albanian troups and try to attach with the army of Wallachia. Most of the times Ottomans split their army in two. One stack will siege Constantinople, and the other will move to you. Together with Albania and maybe Wallachia you should be able to beat that army (btw, make sure you reach tech level 4 as fast as possible).
3. The Ottomans also tend to split their fleet, maneuver your fleet carefully and try to take them separately. When the big fleet arrives, return to your port. When you are dominating on the sea, move it to the Aegan Sea, and start to siege Selanik. Wallachia can also attach now surely. Now you have to hope that the siege will go fast. Once you've sieged down Selanik, your in a great position to beat the Ottomans, if they keep their army splitted.

But you still need a lot of luck, but you can increase your chances!

 

[Brynjar]

How do you ally lithuania? The distance modifer always makes it so that I can't and they never rival the ottos so you never get the threatened modifier.

It's rare, but at least it used to be possible. There may have been some changes to their possible rivals recently.