My Best Byzantium Game evar~!

[ceteris.paribus]

If I knew this Ironman Byz game was going to be this good, I would've done a formal AAR. Unfortunately, I'm too lazy anyway and would rather play more EU4 than do that. But wanted to share one of those awesome campaigns you may get now and then.

Shortly after re-establishing the theme system, I began to build a better trade fleet and save MP to actually tech up instead of spending it coring and culture changing. However, I was pulled into War of Succession with Spain over Poland for some reason and decided to check why. Somehow and some time during the campaign, my Emperor became a von Hapsburg! I didn't realize this and given that my stability and prestige has been mostly shot the whole game and I was resigned to just winging the rest of the game militarily annexing new territory, content that I was able to make short work of the Ottomans in a personal record time. But I guess Austria, as a long time ally, gave me their name instead! :laugh:

Upon further investigation, Austria is currently ruled by a Regency. I was like "sweet!" As soon as that ruler becomes of age, I'm going to Claim Throne and annex that sucker! And yes I did manage to westernize shortly before 1520 before rolling all over the Ottomans.

 

[Gihren Zabi]

Any plans to take Rome?

 

[ceteris.paribus]

Probably, but "Restoring the Pentarchy" is currently down further on the list. Austria has 2 more reforms to go to unite the HRE and I want to possibly PU them before that happens. If things go well, I've got to prepare my forces for the possibility of PU'ing Spain as well since they too are of the same dynasty. All while repeat DOW'ing the next HR Emperor to repeal as many as those reforms as possible to keep HRE balkanized.

I wonder if I can squeeze in attacking The Mamluks now and then as well :wacko:

 

[yodajunkie]

what was your opening strategy, flee to italy, vassalize the balkans, ...?

 

[Rain Envy]

I'm curious to know the initial strategy also. You westernized very quickly.

 

[Apocaliptica]

what was your opening strategy, flee to italy, vassalize the balkans, ...?

yea, share your wisdom with us

 

[ceteris.paribus]

I took my opening move from another thread:

1) While paused, declare war on Albania.
- Board 4 troops onto your ships and proceed to blockade Albania
- Improve Relations with Bosnia
- Queue 1 infantry and 1 cavalry in Constantinople

2) Unpause, and vassalize Albania as soon as you see 25% hit on the war score.
Land your troops ASAP after Albania accepts as you will be pulled into a war with Ottomans

3) Send diplomacy to the Ottomans and "suggest offer."
Your offer will just be concede defeat and you will lose 10 prestige. (I'll pay 10 prestige any day to get out of war with Ottomans w/ truce for a couple of years)

4) Send your fleet back for the rest of your troops at Constantinople and combine them with your troops in Albania (you should have 4 now for a total of 8 altogether)
- Ally Bosnia
- Improve relationship with Hungry until you can marry and ally them.
- Queue up 2 cavalry in Achea and Morea to add to your army in Albania.

Note: At some point, the Ottomans will send you a warning. Ignore it! The only connecting faction you will attack will be Serbia and you will still have a Truce with the Ottomans during this time. JUST LOL while DOW'ing Serbia.

5) DOW Serbia calling Bosnia to help (No CB, you will take -2 stability hit)
- Upon completion of sieges, core Zeta for yourself and vassalize what's left of Serbia.
- Bosnia will probably drop you as an ally and become hostile.

6) Fabricate claim on any of Bosnia's provinces.
- Ally and marry Hungary
- Improve relations with Austria until you can marry and ally them.

7) DOW Bosnia and vassalize them upon completion of sieges.

By this point, you will have exceeded your relationships cap with Athens, Albania, Serbia & Bosnia as your vassals and Hungary & Austria as your allies. Hungary will always drop you as an ally at some point and you stability will probably be at -3 (there is always some random dumb event that will make you lose 1 stability during or after vassalizing Serbia.) You can break royal ties with Hungary at that point since -3 is the lowest you can go.

Things to expect from this point on.
- Ottomans might attack while you are still working on improving relations with Austria. Hopefully you will have Hungary as an ally to help defend. Kite the Ottomans army around til Hungary can reinforce your army in an ideal defensive province. When you win, make sure to take Epirus so you have a direct connection to Venice via Corpu so you can westernize as soon as the icon pops up.

- When you are able to tech up, make sure you only Tech up Adm and Mil. Use your Dip MP to change the culture around the South Slavic territories you will own. Remember, you need to be 8 Technology behind Venice to Westernize.

- As an idea group, its best you take Religious Ideas for the -25% stability cost to help with Westernizing. After you get that idea, make sure you have enough ADM points to pump your stability to +3 when the time comes Westernize.

- Venice might be a douche and try to take Albania. Hopefully you will have Hungary at least, but they did it when Austria was my ally and we made short work of them.

- One of your other cored provinces owned by The Knights, Venice, Trebizond or Cyprus will randomly rebel in your favor as you grow larger. Make sure you pay attention. I had a stack of 20 rebels turn into troops for my army once in Cyprus eat my income w/o me noticing until after 4 automatic loans lol.

Note: I was trying to take either Romagna and/or Urbino after coring Zeta to possibly cheese into the HRE for guaranteed protection from the Ottomans. But their owners were well allied at that point. If you can manage to take one of those provinces and move your capital to Romagna or Rome temporarily to get into the HRE, you will probably have a very successful Byzantine campaign.

Also you might have to restart a couple times because something stupid happens before you even begin to DOW Serbia. Just be patient.

Tips: When Westernizing, HORDE ALL YOUR ADM MP! Let random events help you recover or negate it. This helps prevents heart attacks! If you are fortunate enough to get to 0 stability, you cand dump your saved ADM MP until you get +3. I was able to fully Westernize in less than 12 years (although I had like -80 prestige LOL!)

 

[Teije]

Tips: When Westernizing, HORDE ALL YOUR ADM MP! Let random events help you recover or negate it. This helps prevents heart attacks! If you are fortunate enough to get to 0 stability, you cand dump your saved ADM MP until you get +3. I was able to fully Westernize in less than 12 years (although I had like -80 prestige LOL!)

That's a good tip thanks.

 

[ThuderLizard2]

One suggested change to your opening salvo is to form an alliance with Serbia before DOWing Albania. Serbia will blockade and Albania can be vasslized before your troops arrive. Then Ottos will declare war (you assume leadership) and Serbian will not join giving a Dishonored Call CB. Ally with Bosnia then DOW Serbia. Before done with Serbia DOW Wallachia which Bosnia will not joining giving a CB on them. Within a few years you'll have 4 vassals and only one non-valid CB war. Keep Albania as a vassal until their 5/5/5 general dies.

 

[ceteris.paribus]

One suggested change to your opening salvo is to form an alliance with Serbia before DOWing Albania. Serbia will blockade and Albania can be vasslized before your troops arrive. Then Ottos will declare war (you assume leadership) and Serbian will not join giving a Dishonored Call CB. Ally with Bosnia then DOW Serbia. Before done with Serbia DOW Wallachia which Bosnia will not joining giving a CB on them. Within a few years you'll have 4 vassals and only one non-valid CB war. Keep Albania as a vassal until their 5/5/5 general dies.

GG! Learn something everyday :laugh:

 

[axzhang]

My Byzantine game involves the same gamey tactics, but with one helpful suggestion -
If you manage to ally Pol-Lith (pretty easy in the ensuing truce period with Ottos), try to DoW Crimea, without a CB if necessary (since you are in truce with Ottos, they won't join and Pol-Lith will smash them).
For the peace with Crimea, make them Annul treaties with Ottos.

Now you can DoW Ottos and block the straits. Since Crimea has annulled treaties for the next 5 years, Ottos won't be able to cross the straits and you can siege the Balkans at your leisure.

If you can't get Pol-Lith, just fight Ottos in the old fashioned way I guess.

 

[ceteris.paribus]

My Byzantine game involves the same gamey tactics, but with one helpful suggestion -
If you manage to ally Pol-Lith (pretty easy in the ensuing truce period with Ottos), try to DoW Crimea, without a CB if necessary (since you are in truce with Ottos, they won't join and Pol-Lith will smash them).
For the peace with Crimea, make them Annul treaties with Ottos.

Now you can DoW Ottos and block the straits. Since Crimea has annulled treaties for the next 5 years, Ottos won't be able to cross the straits and you can siege the Balkans at your leisure.

If you can't get Pol-Lith, just fight Ottos in the old fashioned way I guess.

I eventually and usually try to fit in Poland+Lithuania, but they turned out to suck big time in this game so I didn't bother. Poland managed to lose their their PU with Lithuania over Moscovy rolling all over them. Thus looking at the map, they got rolled over by Teutonic Order.

Its hard to fit in extra friends, when your slots are already filled with Vassals + 1 one ally. I suppose I could've taken Diplomatic Ideas instead of Naval Ideas, but usually do not find very many friends on the eastern side of Europe in the later game.

 

[axzhang]

Yeah but I am referring to the prelude to the first Ottoman war, I.e first 5 years of the game. That's the point where you actually have to fight for survival and having Crimea with annulled treaties with Ottos means no military access is granted. Therefore you can rely on the same gamey 1.1 tactics of blocking the strait and sieging the Balkans. What allies you get after that first war ceases to matter.

 

[ceteris.paribus]

Yeah but I am referring to the prelude to the first Ottoman war, I.e first 5 years of the game. That's the point where you actually have to fight for survival and having Crimea with annulled treaties with Ottos means no military access is granted. Therefore you can rely on the same gamey 1.1 tactics of blocking the strait and sieging the Balkans. What allies you get after that first war ceases to matter.

Good thought. I'll give it a shot next time around. The old fashion way of duking it isn't a sure way of recapturing the Balkans.

What would be a real treat is if you can set yourself up in the HRE while doing this which will be the primary focus of my next attempt.

 

[Rain Envy]

How do you horde adm if westernization wipes it out?

 

[ceteris.paribus]

How do you horde adm if westernization wipes it out?

It does wipe it out to -100. What I meant was save whatever you get til you cap at 999 and possibly let random events help you get you recover your stability.

 

[Mr. Methyl]

How do you horde adm if westernization wipes it out?

It's generally accepted that spending some ADM to go up one or two stab points after beginning Westernization is a bad idea since there are so many events that just lower it right back down during this time. Best to save as much as you can to go up +3 at a time.

edit: There was or is also a way to sink a bunch into ADM buildings and then cancel after clicking the button, regaining the ADM points. Haven't ever tried it, though, not sure if still valid.

 

[yodajunkie]

It is possible to actually annex Albania in this first war if you move your troops there as soon as possible. The two armies tend to skirt around a bit - if you can get an army in the province before the Ottomans decide to detach siege, then you can take it.

The issue, though, is that you lose the glorious benefits a 5-year truce would afford you.

 

[axzhang]

Good thought. I'll give it a shot next time around. The old fashion way of duking it isn't a sure way of recapturing the Balkans.

What would be a real treat is if you can set yourself up in the HRE while doing this which will be the primary focus of my next attempt.

Like this? Fought and won with claim throne CB on Austria in 1610 or so. The Palatinate is now emperor, can easily become HRE but the game gets pretty boring at this point.

It is possible to actually annex Albania in this first war if you move your troops there as soon as possible. The two armies tend to skirt around a bit - if you can get an army in the province before the Ottomans decide to detach siege, then you can take it.

The issue, though, is that you lose the glorious benefits a 5-year truce would afford you.

Why would you do that when you not only lose a 5 year truce but also Skanderberg, the game's single best ruler in 1444 (and his godly shock pips as a general to lead your armies to glory over trampled Ottoman bodies)?

 

[ceteris.paribus]

Like this? Fought and won with claim throne CB on Austria in 1610 or so. The Palatinate is now emperor, can easily become HRE but the game gets pretty boring at this point.

Yeah! Looks like you had an even "bestar game" than I did LOL! Except it turned out in my "best game" an heir popped out shortly before I could end the War of Succession (damn that Austrian ambition!)

But yeah my game got boring shortly after since I just ended cleaning up the Alexandria, Basra and Persian areas w/o much strong resistance.