I made it after a lot of restarts but I found an "easy" way to do it. (Ironman)
My strategy was:
- Make your ruler a general and assign it to the army to make him die as soon as possible and pray for a decent leader.
- Recruit barques until your naval limit +2/+3 and send it to Constantinople.
- Fabricate a claim on Cyprus as usual.
- Improve relations with Venice & ally with them when possible.
- Improve relations with Poland & Aragon and other possible allies. Get a +1 diplo if needed.
- Declare war on cyprus and pray for Venice to kill Mamluks navy because sometimes doesn't work.
- Wait with one unit embarked and ready just next to Rhodes. Wait for a Venice army (usually 5k-6k) that will siege Rhodes. You need to be too careful with timing to assure you are the siege leader and not Venice. Lower the game speed to 1-2 and disembark in Cyprus 1 day before the Venetian army do, to lead the siege. Tricky, but possible at low game speed.
- Wait until 100% score (I think is a new feature) and annex Cyprus.
- Start fabricating a Claim on Nablus and sell it ASAP to Byzantium. Start fabricating a claim again on Cyprus. That way Venice won't break the alliance because you don't own Cyprus. Anyway, if they break the alliance, ask for it again. At this time you should be able to ally with Poland or another major power.
- Declare war on Byzantium when Venice is willing to help. Vassalize Byzantium
Venice won't break the alliance because once again, you don't "own" Cyprus. You'll have a negative penalty with Venice, but they won't turn hostile to you.
Just wait for Mamluks to be at war with everyone, sometimes that happen too often when Ottomans declare war. And pray for Ottomans not having "Conquest the last crusader Bastion". Conquest the provinces you need and before unpausing core Nablus, Gaza and Jerusalem ASAP to avoid getting Jerusalem out of coring range.
Ideas? Obviously religious. Day 1, change focus to ADM until you get +3 missionary strength. After it, you decide if you want to finish the idea group or going to ADM tech 7 for the another one. Suggestions: Avoid cultural shift. Mainly because your primary culture is maltese, you have no maltese provinces so it means that you will get accepted cultures on every province you conquest. This strategy is Ottoman dependant as usual, but playing as Knights mean you need a lot of luck. As long as you are allied with Venice & Poland, or Venice & Aragon, or Hungary maybe Austria who knows.. they won't attack you that easily and Ottos will be fighting in another wars mainly against Austria & Genoa because Crimean wars or Muscovy later in the game.
Also when papal events spawn avoid at all costs raising reformation desire on catholicism and take only +1 stability if worth it because you can't form Jerusalem after protestantism appear. Don't waste ADM points in stability until you got Rhodes converted to catholic. Also, getting a theology for Advancement of religion help and a +1 missionary is worth it if you can afford it. You should notice that my government is a Republic Was an error. When one of the religious events "Liberal backslash" spawned I decided to allow them to change my government to a Republic. And you can't form "Jerusalem" as a Republic. But it works with Republican Dictatorship. I re-elected the same leader until my R.Tradition was about 10-15. That was the only thing I should avoided but, I prefered it instead of getting -1 stab hit.
My strategy was:
- Make your ruler a general and assign it to the army to make him die as soon as possible and pray for a decent leader.
- Recruit barques until your naval limit +2/+3 and send it to Constantinople.
- Fabricate a claim on Cyprus as usual.
- Improve relations with Venice & ally with them when possible.
- Improve relations with Poland & Aragon and other possible allies. Get a +1 diplo if needed.
- Declare war on cyprus and pray for Venice to kill Mamluks navy because sometimes doesn't work.
- Wait with one unit embarked and ready just next to Rhodes. Wait for a Venice army (usually 5k-6k) that will siege Rhodes. You need to be too careful with timing to assure you are the siege leader and not Venice. Lower the game speed to 1-2 and disembark in Cyprus 1 day before the Venetian army do, to lead the siege. Tricky, but possible at low game speed.
- Wait until 100% score (I think is a new feature) and annex Cyprus.
- Start fabricating a Claim on Nablus and sell it ASAP to Byzantium. Start fabricating a claim again on Cyprus. That way Venice won't break the alliance because you don't own Cyprus. Anyway, if they break the alliance, ask for it again. At this time you should be able to ally with Poland or another major power.
- Declare war on Byzantium when Venice is willing to help. Vassalize Byzantium
Venice won't break the alliance because once again, you don't "own" Cyprus. You'll have a negative penalty with Venice, but they won't turn hostile to you. Just wait for Mamluks to be at war with everyone, sometimes that happen too often when Ottomans declare war. And pray for Ottomans not having "Conquest the last crusader Bastion". Conquest the provinces you need and before unpausing core Nablus, Gaza and Jerusalem ASAP to avoid getting Jerusalem out of coring range.
Ideas? Obviously religious. Day 1, change focus to ADM until you get +3 missionary strength. After it, you decide if you want to finish the idea group or going to ADM tech 7 for the another one. Suggestions: Avoid cultural shift. Mainly because your primary culture is maltese, you have no maltese provinces so it means that you will get accepted cultures on every province you conquest. This strategy is Ottoman dependant as usual, but playing as Knights mean you need a lot of luck. As long as you are allied with Venice & Poland, or Venice & Aragon, or Hungary maybe Austria who knows.. they won't attack you that easily and Ottos will be fighting in another wars mainly against Austria & Genoa because Crimean wars or Muscovy later in the game.
Also when papal events spawn avoid at all costs raising reformation desire on catholicism and take only +1 stability if worth it because you can't form Jerusalem after protestantism appear. Don't waste ADM points in stability until you got Rhodes converted to catholic. Also, getting a theology for Advancement of religion help and a +1 missionary is worth it if you can afford it. You should notice that my government is a Republic
Was an error. When one of the religious events "Liberal backslash" spawned I decided to allow them to change my government to a Republic. And you can't form "Jerusalem" as a Republic. But it works with Republican Dictatorship. I re-elected the same leader until my R.Tradition was about 10-15. That was the only thing I should avoided but, I prefered it instead of getting -1 stab hit.
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