I'm actually trying to play as Byzantium

[Palatinus Germanicus]

Following this strategy:

Spoiler

And the problem is very simple. I can't attack Venice before 12 DEC 1444, and they always get an ally. -An ally that gets military access through... everyone.

I make sure Venice is mutually rivaled to Hungary... check. But in a run I just tried, it was the EXACT same circumstances as in the video, and Savoy got access through: Switzerland, Austria, Hungary, Ottomans. Which of course, means overwhelming enemy armies in my lands, regardless of naval supremacy. None of that happens in the video, of course... because as always, all these people who make Byzantium strategy sound easy & trivial... are just trolling us.

By 12 December, Venice will have one (or possibly up to 3) of the following allies: Savoy, Papal State, Genoa... even Aragon happens occasionally.

I've done a lot of save-scumming. A LOT. I've even made it to 12 DEC, and DoW them with no allies, but the request had been sent, and the alliance was formed on the 13th (day after the war started). So that ally joins within a few weeks.


Can't believe I fell for it. Up 'til now, I've looked at every single Byz strat and said, "yeah, that's not gonna work". I actually thought this one would work. Can't believe I got duped.

 

[Shinkuro Yukinari]

Restart about 15 times until you can get at least 2 of Austria, Poland or Hungary in an alliance

 

[TenshiN]

1) Ally Hungary + Poland/Austria
2) Call both for land
3) Don't give them any
4) Otto-man rekt
5) ?????
6) Profit!

 

[Palatinus Germanicus]

Restart about 15 times until you can get at least 2 of Austria, Poland or Hungary in an alliance

I was hoping to go it alone, and start fighting right away. That's why this strategy seemed so appealing to me... be master of my own destiny.

If you do it with allies, you have to fight the Ottomans normally... no gimmicks. They'll siege/fight in Poland or Hungary (hard to win... and depends on having competent allies). If it's just you, you can trap them on Corfu and/or Negroponte much more easily.

Truth be told, I actually did fight Venice one time, w/ no allies. The first time I tried this... restarted for some stupid, trivial reason. Never happened again.
I swear the game logs what you do... and prevents you from trying to do it again.

For example, early attempts... Venice made no attempt to defend Crete, and never went down there. Later on (attempts), I went snuck in there and took it. Every restart after THAT run, the A.I. Venice is SO much more paranoid about Crete. He sends troops down there, he patrols the sea in that area, etc. If I try to 'sneak' in again, he wipes me, every time.

I even do cold boots (full shut-downs) top purge the RAM, between some of these runs -- still paranoid about the strange shenanigans that could happen from previous Paradox titles. But yeah, it's almost like a comedy act. I swear the game logs what you do, and records it in the A.I. script files. I should do a fresh install, and see if Venice gets no allies again, and neglects Crete, again.

1) Ally Hungary + Poland/Austria
2) Call both for land
3) Don't give them any
4) Otto-man rekt
5) ?????
6) Profit!

It's that easy, ay? Alright, I'm gonna go try it. Why do I feel like I'm being sent on another fool's errand?

 

[Shinkuro Yukinari]

There is actually an exploit involving editing save games, if you really wanna do it(Ironman compatible). Check the Youtube channel Reman's Paradox, he goes in-depth on it

 

[Pelthis]

Honestly if you want to win "easily" without having to save scum and restart 15 times until you can secure good allies etc... Take loans, build ships (heavies, 3-4 should be enough), ruin Otto's navy, block their troops in Anatolia, or even better on an island such as Negroponte/Naxos and carpet siege them. GGWP.

 

[Shinkuro Yukinari]

Honestly if you want to win "easily" without having to save scum and restart 15 times until you can secure good allies etc... Take loans, build ships (heavies, 3-4 should be enough), ruin Otto's navy, block their troops in Anatolia, or even better on an island such as Negroponte/Naxos and carpet siege them. GGWP.

Didn't they rework the strait blocking mechanic like a couple of patches ago so this isn't a possiblity?

 

[estile606]

you can still cross if you control both sides of a straight, so to block them in anatolia, you would need to siege their capitol before their troops can get there. That seems like a tall order to me.

 

[Sneering Imperialist]

Florryworry beats the Ottos handily in his latest campaign, by locking the Otto troops on islands. Here's his explanation: https://www.twitch.tv/videos/182899596

 

[Palatinus Germanicus]

There is actually an exploit involving editing save games, if you really wanna do it(Ironman compatible). Check the Youtube channel Reman's Paradox, he goes in-depth on it

I was actually going to suggest that the only way is to edit the save, and break Venice's alliances. -I don't use the console, ever... but looked, and there doesn't seem to be a way anyhow... with the console. So you'd need to edit the save file.

I just don't want to do that, though. It delegitimizes the game, and I can never have 100% certainty (unless I'm just editing simple values), that I haven't screwed the files in some kind of way. I've never edited out alliances... so I wouldn't trust myself to do it completely correct. Break the alliance, sure. But there's probably several other values that would need to be adjusted (befriend/protect/conquer values, relations etc). But in any case, it's no longer a legit game. I can't just e-rape & mind-***k the A.I., and then say... "OK, now that's done... on to the more legit in-game exploits! Rome shall be restored!" Sort of takes the glory out of it.

I guess I'm going to just have to cool my jets, and wait for the moment when -hopefully- some stronger allies can fight a competent war.

Winning the game in 31 days just seemed so exciting, though... but alas, the white whale eludes me.

 

[Shinkuro Yukinari]

I was actually going to suggest that the only way is to edit the save, and break Venice's alliances. -I don't use the console, ever... but looked, and there doesn't seem to be a way anyhow... with the console. So you'd need to edit the save file.

I just don't want to do that, though. It delegitimizes the game, and I can never have 100% certainty (unless I'm just editing simple values), that I haven't screwed the files in some kind of way. I've never edited out alliances... so I wouldn't trust myself to do it completely correct. Break the alliance, sure. But there's probably several other values that would need to be adjusted (befriend/protect/conquer values, relations etc). But in any case, it's no longer a legit game. I can't just e-rape & mind-***k the A.I., and then say... "OK, now that's done... on to the more legit in-game exploits! Rome shall be restored!" Sort of takes the glory out of it.

I guess I'm going to just have to cool my jets, and wait for the moment when -hopefully- some stronger allies can fight a competent war.

Winning the game in 31 days just seemed so exciting, though... but alas, the white whale eludes me.

Well, having Three Mountains completed by 1450 is still an achievement, although a tedious and scummy one

 

[Pelthis]

Didn't they rework the strait blocking mechanic like a couple of patches ago so this isn't a possiblity?

Yeah I just checked it and indeed, Anatolia can't be blockaded like before, but you can still lure them to islands. As long as you can keep it "neutral" place it should work.

 

[Palatinus Germanicus]

Wait a minute guys... I failed when SAVOY was his ally, because I got flooded w/ enemy armies.

But just maybe, if he ONLY allies Genoa, I can pull it off. The naval situation is actually not that tough. I would just need to win the first wave of Venetian landings... before the Genoese fleet shows up.

Or Papal State maybe? Nah. Any of these allies are going to get access through Hungary & Ottomans... and that's the whole point.

But WHAT IF... I don't rival the Ottomans? Would they still give access to these Catholic fiends? Surely not...? That might be the key, then. Don't rival the Ottomans until afterwards.

So:
1) fight epic naval battles against Venice along with Pope or Genoa. A hard struggle, but doable.
2) THEN rival Ottomans, and use the Corfu & Negroponte tricks.

-And by then, you should have like 20 ships or more, after capturing so many enemy fleets from the 1st war. Throw in a couple of heavies, ready just before the Ottoman war, and it should be easy as pie.

I'm still skeptical the Ottomans will take the bait, though. What's to stop them from just sieging Athens & Constantinople, and laughing at me. Heck, that's what Venice did when he had access by land.




EDIT: Put Athens under scutage, before the Ottoman war, just in case. That way they can't just stop, siege it... and wind up controlling both sides.

 

[Commrade]

Just managed to win the first war without even restarting. I just allied with serbia,hungary and karaman, fabricated on kastamoru (Candar) waited for ottos to declare on albania and declared war on Candar. Siege their capital and wait for hungry otto to declare on them. Vassalize Candar, call in allies and set edirne as hungarys war goal and laugh when turks try to attack across the straight and get stackwiped by janos. Took all my cores, reps and kocaeli + some bulgarian provice (for vassal reconquest) gave 0 to allies and they were still happy. Eezybeezy

 

[Palatinus Germanicus]

Alright. I have done it.

I came up with an idea, and it worked. I made sure not to threaten Venice... stopped paying for the fort in the capital. No troop movements. No naval activity heading towards his direction. He never suspected a thing...

Spoiler

Didn't even have to reload. Once I did this, it worked the first time. The A.I. obviously has a sense of urgency for getting allies, when it feels threatened. Also Genoa rivaled me... I made sure not to rival them back. Otherwise they might've hooked up soon.

Then the war was basically easy. Now I'm ready to peace out. Question is... should I vassalize Corfu, or take it outright. I should mention I have a naive enthusiast... or whichever makes improve relations (AE cooldown) slower.

I'm thinkin' I'll vassalize Corfu & Naxos, take Negroponte, POSSIBLY take that Albanian core, and release. 2nd war w/ Ottomans... reconquest for Serbia (1 prov), Albania, and Bulgaria. Of course take reps, and cash.

Open to suggestions. I saved,and did a test peace deal. Didn't affect too many people... I can still rival the Ottomans after the war, and ally Hungary. ALMOST Austria, thanks to 2 mutual rivalries (Venice & Ottomans).

2 Heavies almost ready. This is gonna be intense. Report back tomorrow.

Spoiler