M2TW - Venice

[edyzmedieval]

So, I'm planning to start a Venice campaign on either Normal or Hard. It's something that I wanted to try for some time because Venice has a fantastic unit roster (Venetian Archers + Stradiotai), flexible too, plus a great starting position.

Any tips for a Venice campaign before I launch some lanze spezzate (Broken Lances) into the neighbouring factions?

[LordK9]

I remember that Venice was tough but, since there are so many close by potential enemies, my grand plans always went up in smoke and I found myself improvising. There are two that seem more prone to attack IMO - Milan and Byzantine Empire. Hungary does but I think I remember it revolving around a single city. HRE often attacks too. Sicily only seems concerned about a single city. Sorry, can't remember their names but you'll figure it out fast enough (perhaps the hard (fun) way). I always play the short games as the longer games get boring to me - it's obvious at some point that you will eventually win but it keeps a dragging on and that changes strategy a bit since particular kingdoms must be eliminated to win. I generally like concentrating on the Byzantines while keeping a strong presence in the west with at least two armies (one in Venice, one to get behind the bridge in counterattack).

Well, everyone plays differently so, this may or may not be good for you (which means I'm not really helping :) ).

[edyzmedieval]

I played on Hard so far and I've been attacked from every side pretty much - Byzantines, Milan, Sicily, HRE... You name it, they came and attacked.

[edyzmedieval]

Venice on H/H was ridiculous - don't want to imagine what it was like on VH/VH.

Scaled back to N/N and it's a bit more decent but everyone still attacking on every side.

[LordK9]

Intense may be a good descriptor. At least Venice is hard to take as the enemy armies generally get assaulted on two sides (providing you have a defensive army dedicated to that). On the positive side, the islands are secure. It took me several tries to win with Venice (and that was on the normal setting).

[edyzmedieval]

Islands secure except maybe Iraklion because the Byzantines are always attacking me. Fleets are crucial - build a strong fleet, make it patrol around and you're relatively well defended.

On the plus side, take Milan and Genoa and you're relatively good to go on the Italian north part + Bologna.