Venice strategy 1.5?

[pgroves]

Hi - now that patch 1.5 is out, I'd finally like to give Venice a try. I'm thinking of joining the HRE (not to become emperor, as want to stay a Republic, but to get the tech and diplomatic relations boost and the reduction to revolt risk, also to get Austria off my back), which I know can be fairly easily done by raising relations with Austria to +200, then selling Crete to Naxos (which I can later annex) - is this a good idea? Obviously I would want to leave the HRE if it reaches the 4th or 5th reform, though.

Other than that, rather than greatly expanding in Italy, I was thinking of trying to dominate the Mediterranean islands (including Cyprus)and dalmatian coast, take Ragusa and dominate trade in Alexandria.

Does anyone have any good Venice tips, with the 1.5 patch in mind? Which allies are worth having? Savoy? Is it worth trying to stay in alliance with Austria once I've joined the HRE? What are good initial idea groups to take? Was thinking Naval for the first one, for the naval force limits increase, to help me dominate trade. I'm not interested in the colonial game. Thanks!

 

[Victor_Yuzo]

If you wait until the Ottomans go to war with the Mamelukes or Austrians and build a few extra galleys to chase down their fleet and blockade the Bosporus you should be able to take a good chunk out of them right as the game starts and clean up the rest without too much trouble.

 

[cholliman]

To get into the HRE you either sell Crete or release Croatia. In my own game I released Croatia with the idea that I could get Hungary to return cores before annexing them, but I kept on waiting, waiting, and waiting for a good time to strike (though it did finally happen!) - all that time they were eating up a diplomatic relations spot! Overall, I found joining the HRE to be exceptionally beneficial. It protects you from the Ottomans, and lets you gobble up all the provinces in the Venice trade node without a problem (though with the reintroduction of AE, take your time!).

You can certainly blob as hard as you want, but for borders, my own preference was on the mainland to own 100% of the provinces in the Venice trade node and then just a few more to make things look very nice. If you do that, no one else can collect there, and no one bothers to try and steer away from it since it is an end node. You don't need to then use any ships to protect it and will fully collect a TON of cash. After that, the goal is to just push as much trade as you can to Venice. Conquer a few provinces in Israel/Palestine can give you a port in the Red Sea and then you can get a foothold in the Gulf of Aden trade node. That one carries the trade from Asia and splits around Africa to Western Europe, so you should hijack it and sent the trade through Alexandria and then back to Venice.

For allies, I stayed best friends with France the whole game and to a lesser extent Poland (as you both are rivals to Hungary). Since I focused on Naval+Trade ideas, I was stuck with 4 relation slots for most of the game so each one has to count, so I personally wouldn't bother with non-major powers like Savoy. In my own game I vassalized the last remaining province the Byzantines were holding onto, and kept then returned the cores from the Turks a bit later in the game.

For ideas, my prefences were (in no order as it depends on what you need to do):

Military-wise:
Plutocratic
Quality
Offensive

Diplomatic-wise:
Naval
Trade

Administrative-wise:
Innovative

As a note, when you get the bonus tech reduction from Innovative + Plutocratic + Imperial Integrity + University, your techs are super cheap. You will not have any problems being top tier in tech and fully filling out your ideas.

 

[unmerged(102303)]

I seem to play Venice games more than any other nation.
Have been playing lately with the beta patches so this should still apply.
This is the best strategy that I have found so far, but it has flaws, so maybe
the community can improve. Would love to hear suggestions.

My current strategy:
1. Start Game
2. Start working on joining HRE (alliance, guarantee, relations with AUS).
3. Set Byzantium, Ragusa and Burgundy (for enemy of ememy boost with AUS) as rivals.
4. Take mission to seize Ragusa, fabricate claim on Morea (Byzantium).
5. Wait for Ottomans to attach Byzantium, release Croatia as vassal (can't when at war).
6. Siege Morea / Achea before Ottomans can, hold them until Ottomans peace out for Constantinople.
7. Peace out Byzantium - make them a vassal.
8. Declare war on Ragusa, call-in Austria (for "at war together" relations boost).
9. Relations with Austria should now be 200 - join HRE.
10. Start picking off Italian minors (use Austria to beat up Aragon).
11. Take Cyprus from Egypt, overbuild galleys to crush their navy and ground the army (warscore tick).
12. Humiliate Aragon in a war to break-up their personal union with Naples.
13. Start picking off lands from Naples, grab naval as idea for forcelimits.
14. Build a lot of galleys, wait for Ottomans to get in to war in the east.
15. After Ottoman army is all in the east - declare war and block the straits.
16. Siege all of Ottoman Greece - use peace to give land back to Byzantium.
17. Integrate Byzantium - start claiming lands in Egypt (Gaza / Sinai).
18. Take Gaza and Sinai from Egypt - take more in future wars to control Alexandria trade.
19. Take exploration idea - send a exploration fleet from Italy to Gulf of Aden - start dominating trade there.
20. Start conquering your way from Sinai to Gulf of Aden, take over that trade node.
21. Take mission to grab land in India - grab a foothold there.
22. Repeat until you make it to Japan.
23. Colonize Guam, Hawaii - invade Maya, FROM THE PACIFIC!!
24. Laugh as Castile / Portugal arrive to Italian Mexico.
25. Somewhere along the way try to become HRE.
26. HRE + global Venetian trade income (even w/o Merchant Repub) = steamroll anything.

Tips
- Becoming papal controller lets your excom lots of the Pope's Italian enemies (50%AE for expansion).
- Eventually you need to pivot from an Austria to France alliance to become HRE.
- Wait to ditch merchant republic until you have enough merchants (naval, trade ideas).
- Switch to monarchy by letting republican tradition drop (don't form Italy early).
- Early Venice national ideas > early Italian ideas. Don't switch until you can get coring bonus at end.
- Don't worry too much about military early on, you will out tech all enemies as you go east.
- Use mercenaries armies as first waves in invasions, they will take the most casualties. Saves manpower.
- Make a land connection from Venice all the way to your lands in Gulf of Aden to maximize taxes.