What do do as Venice in the demo?

[calvinhobbeslik]

I played both Portugal and the Ottomans, and those were fun. But what exactly can I do with Venice in 28 years? In the full game, I'd probably want to conquer Suez and establish trade in the Gulf of Aden, but it seems that you have to fight Austria and/or the Ottomans, so you can't even attack the Mamluks.

 

[Jokurr]

Good question. I got my ass handed to me by Austria about 2 years in, didn't feel like continuing since it would take years to recover.

 

[Baikal]

Try this thread. Its not much but the same topic. Might be helpful.

 

[Zoob]

In my 28 years I consolidated my trade network, I conquered Rhodes from the Knights to increase my trade power in the eastern meditterranean and got my repuation with Naxos up to 190 and then diplo annexed. I had a powerful infantry army that I used to get involved in a couple of wars supporting my mantuan and bavarian allies. Have a really good play with trade, try to channel as much as possible from Wien, Constantinople and Alexandria.

I couldnt really get into portugal or austria and am yet to play ottomans ,but Venice was a blast.

 

[Brownbeard]

At least your doge does not die in 1507 and leaves the throne to a 1 year old. I had such a promising game with Habsburgs when this happened. Game over, cannot start any more wars.

Venice is quite challenging in this start, and its a serious question what to do with Venice. The only sensible expansion route is upstream, and thats Alexandria, Ragusa and Constantinople, with Alexandria being the only target thats actually worth the effort.

But, on the other hand, surviving and status quo in the period is an achievement as well.

 

[Phinky]

Venice is a hard game in the demo. Your best bet is to improve relations with Austria constantly. They may still declare war eventually, but it will by you time to deal with the ottomans. Build a massive navy, bigger than forcelimits allow, max out armies to forcelimit and wait for the ottomans to hurt themselves down to little manpower. I was able to force the ottomans to release the byzantine empire allowing me much needed breathing room. At this point it is a good idea to ally with either France, Bohemia, Poland, Hungary (if their independent). I personally think the demo should have picked some other republic for the trade game as Venice is almost more about diplomacy than Austria and war the Ottomans.