I want to start as the Byzantines and rebuild the glory of Rome from the earliest start date. Any tips or strategies for this? What ideas should I take? How do I keep the Ottomans from automatically taking my land? Thanks in advance!
Restoring the Glory of Rome
- Thread starter SaxonWarchief
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get advisor for +1 diplo rep, set ottomans to threatened, and if you have max relation improvement and full army poland or hungary might ally you. Being allied with poland or hungary makes the war winnable. Poland and Hungary usually rival each other, so you usually won't get both, but if you do get both, it makes the war easy.
Albania is much easier to ally and has a 5/5/5/0 general. Also you can beat venice with them when venice tries to reconquest albania (as long as otto don't also reconquest albania at the same time) and you can pick up naxos corfu and that little venetian island to the right of athens.
If you control constantinople and that territory to its southwest you can build a bunch of galleys and blockade the straight, cutting the ottos off from the balkans during wars.
Albania is much easier to ally and has a 5/5/5/0 general. Also you can beat venice with them when venice tries to reconquest albania (as long as otto don't also reconquest albania at the same time) and you can pick up naxos corfu and that little venetian island to the right of athens.
If you control constantinople and that territory to its southwest you can build a bunch of galleys and blockade the straight, cutting the ottos off from the balkans during wars.
Do not count on a strait block! Their fort in Edirne will nearly guarantee they can cross. They also tend to not skimp on their own navy, so even controlling the strait is a hefty investment.
Hungary is the best ally. Poland has numbers, but Hungary starts witb strong traditions and a general, and their regency means they aren't burning manpower on the offensive at first. They will frequently accept offensive CTAs vs Venice, Serbia, etc if offering land.
Finally, you kinda have to get lucky and have ottos cripple themselves vs QQ or maybe mamluks in long wars. They don't fall behind in mil tech, are #1 disc early, and unlimited manpower. You could play perfectly and still lose.
Hungary is the best ally. Poland has numbers, but Hungary starts witb strong traditions and a general, and their regency means they aren't burning manpower on the offensive at first. They will frequently accept offensive CTAs vs Venice, Serbia, etc if offering land.
Finally, you kinda have to get lucky and have ottos cripple themselves vs QQ or maybe mamluks in long wars. They don't fall behind in mil tech, are #1 disc early, and unlimited manpower. You could play perfectly and still lose.
build 4 heavies, go over force limit to ~20 troops. Develop using all your diplo and admin and focus mil. Declare when he is fighting Aq Qoyunlu and sieging the mountain fort. With 4 heavies he won't try to contest your navy and you can siege up Edirne before he sieges up AQQ. Then you can strait block him and take all your cores in 1450. Wallachia is a useful ally for the war, Serbia and Hungary would just slow you down. You should never fall behind in mil tech when you mil focus, and after you broke him in the first war Byz is a really easy start
Just start as the Otto's and either upset the dhimmi and turn orthodox or take Byzantium's provinces then release them fully after destroying the ottoman's armies, stability, reputation, and economy. Release and play as them I mean.
Actually the Ottomans at times seem to prefer other targets first. I think in my latest games, they try to take Candar first. I expect the dynamic will soon shift again due to the Ottomans losing their cores on the Anatolian Beyliks. In general, get as many allies as possible. In some cases, it wouldn't even hurt to ally Albania, just so that Skanderbeg can help you win battles.
Another alternative strategy would be to no cb someone like Candar when the Ottomans declare war. If you can manage to snipe their capital before the Ottomans can get there, you could vassalize them, become the warleader against the Ottomans in defence of Candar after and call in all your allies.
Another alternative strategy would be to no cb someone like Candar when the Ottomans declare war. If you can manage to snipe their capital before the Ottomans can get there, you could vassalize them, become the warleader against the Ottomans in defence of Candar after and call in all your allies.
I've not played since 1.19/1.20, but the only way of ever winning the war on your own back then was trapping them on the Island by Athens Euboia(?)
Albania Skanderbeg strategy was mostly dead in the water.
HUN-POL alliance was the ideal one, but time consuming.
My personal favourite was either Austria/Aragon/Poland and then Hungary and Mamalukes. If I remember rightly the devs made it so Austria joining would force France to ally TUR which is baaaaaad. Edirne is the most important province as you can easily reclaim the rest of the lands in the West by blockading the sea.
Another strategy I successfully done was drag out the war which caused crazy inflation and loans on both sides, however there are a lot more powers looking to eat the Ottomans than there are looking to eat you. So in one case the Pope called a crusade on a financially crippled Ottoman and before you know it, they was reduced to a power no bigger a threat than anyone else in Asia.
Albania Skanderbeg strategy was mostly dead in the water.
HUN-POL alliance was the ideal one, but time consuming.
My personal favourite was either Austria/Aragon/Poland and then Hungary and Mamalukes. If I remember rightly the devs made it so Austria joining would force France to ally TUR which is baaaaaad. Edirne is the most important province as you can easily reclaim the rest of the lands in the West by blockading the sea.
Another strategy I successfully done was drag out the war which caused crazy inflation and loans on both sides, however there are a lot more powers looking to eat the Ottomans than there are looking to eat you. So in one case the Pope called a crusade on a financially crippled Ottoman and before you know it, they was reduced to a power no bigger a threat than anyone else in Asia.