Where to place march?

[unmerged(477166)]

Hi all. I'm currently playing as Venice and enjoying it immensely. I've vassalised / annexed most of the Balkan (except 4-prov. Bulgaria which is an ally).

It's currently about 1500, and Bohemia (Emperor), France and Lithuania have expanded hugely. Sooner or later there's going to be a war. My navy is fairly powerful, and definitely a match for France & Bohemia combined, but I know I'll be seriously outmanned. I have no significant allies, and all major powers are just flat out rejecting any advances. Austria was forced to release Styria and Tirol reducing them to a 3PM :ninja:, and they can still field 20,000 men! They...just...won't...die!

I've seen people advocating 2 basic strategies when it comes to Venice. Scorching Treviso and holing up on Venice, or letting armies onto Venice and trapping them there with the navy. I can build a march now, so where is it best placed? I'm leaning towards Treviso, as if I wait for them to march over to Venice, they'll have occupied my north Italian and Aquilean territory. Which will devastate the economy, so I'd rather they build up war exhaustion outside of Venice and end the war quicker?

As a side note, is it worth building up the territories mentioned above with 3 significant enemies, or should I just focus on Anatolia & the Middle-East as I was intending to do before the European situation got out of hand.

Any thoughts appreciated. Focusing on the trade aspects may have been a mistake, I should have just attempted to blob!

 

[unmerged(463662)]

Treviso is good. Remember to scorch the land before the stacks arrive as well.

 

[Comradebot]

Scorching the earth... gotta love it. It's how I beat Trollhemia with Pommerania. Didn't have an island to hide on, but enough troops to smack their stacks after they'd starved.

 

[marty99]

Some more detailed information would be helpful, exactly how much troops do each of your enemies have, and how much can you afford to field if it comes to war? And a screenshot would help too.

I've seen people advocating 2 basic strategies when it comes to Venice. Scorching Treviso and holing up on Venice, or letting armies onto Venice and trapping them there with the navy. I can build a march now, so where is it best placed? I'm leaning towards Treviso, as if I wait for them to march over to Venice, they'll have occupied my north Italian and Aquilean territory. Which will devastate the economy, so I'd rather they build up war exhaustion outside of Venice and end the war quicker?

These two strategies aren't mutually exclusive, you should scorch Treviso no matter what, indeed if you're fighting a defensive war you should scorch any province that's likely to be besieged for any significant period of time, but you can also trap them on Venice if you want, then destroy them after they've suffered from attrition.

 

[brifbates]

I'm reasonably sure putting a march in Venice isn't an option as long as you own Treviso since it is the only province with a land border (march requires land border with unowned province).

 

[unmerged(463662)]

Ideally you want to put the march in your worthless gateway province.
Treviso is your gateway province, unfortunately, it's quite valuable.

 

[12doze12]

Personnaly I would put the march in the balkans or greece.