Venetian sea help

[Chimerae]

I'm working on the Venetian sea achievement, and I don't really know how to continue. I've tried it in 1.7 as well, but I just couldn't get 90% in these nodes. What I had in mind was the following:

- Make one big Byzantium vassal (or march?) consisting of Greece and Anatolia
- Make one big South slavic vassal (probably Serbia)
- Since I want to try and get a huge reformed area I have to wait for the reformation to fire first (so I can force convert Serbia and Byz)


How will I get 90% trade power? The higher your percentage of power, the slower it goes up (like an asymptote). That was my problem in my last attempt (then I got bored and stopped).
My current situation:



I have no money issues. Currently I'm earning twice as much as France is earning. I have a full mercenary infantry to keep manpower high. I'm running maritime and plutocratic ideas.

 

[Chimerae]

Anyone?

 

[DKinator]

You should pick up the provinces of Bessarabia, Alexandria, and Rossetta, and drop the provinces with no trade bonuses. That includes the provinces in Ragusa and mainland Venice. With the limit of how many provinces you possess, you need to maximize how many are affecting trade in the relevant nodes. The main difficulty I've found with this achievement would be just how much those HRE minors steal with the inland steering bonus. There's really not much advice I can offer beyond just continually throwing out light ships and embargoes (making sure not to tank your trade efficiency by doing so).

EDIT: I'm not sure if this works anymore (and it may have never worked, but I recall it being possible), but you can start up a colonial nation and then sell them provinces in those nodes.

 

[Haldir305]

Just occupy all the land in a war.

 

[Zqrfmb]

Find whoever has power in those nodes and destroy them or get competitors to transfer you trade power.