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Thread: Byzantium

  1. #151
    Praeparet bellum Member Quillan's Avatar
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    Default Re: Byzantium

    Never ever use autoresolve against the Mongols if the army contains their original troops. The autoresolve function is basically a number crunch. It's apparently heavily weighted in favor of numbers and experience. The first is usually a disadvantage for cavalry, as mounted units are smaller in size, but all the original Mongol invasion troops have something like 6 xp! The result is that you will almost always be crushed if you use the computer to resolve it.

    Now, if you cannot fight the battles out yourself for whatever reason, then I have to agree with RVG. Build your armies as full stacks of big infantry units like spear militia or Byzantine Spearmen, keep multiple stacks together, and then resolve it. You'll take horrific losses, but those troops are pretty cheap to replace, and you at least have a decent chance of winning.

    If you can fight out the battles, then the Byzantines can give the Mongols a serious challenge on the field. I've beaten them in an open field battle with an army of 2 generals, 2 kataphractoi, and 16 assorted horse archers, but there's no way to fight that battle without losing a lot of troops. It works out better if defending a bridge or a ford.
    Age and treachery will defeat youth and skill every time.

  2. #152

    Default Papal Vassal?

    Has anyone ever tried simply being a vassal to the Papal States (for a very hefty fee)? That way, the Pope is charged with "protecting" you and any attack on you would be an attack on him. This should lead to immunity from attacks from the Catholic factions, unless they want to be excommunicated.

    Then make every crusading Catholic faction (except maybe Venice) who passes through Byzantine territory on their way to the Middle East your ally. Then you can use all of their armies to recover all the lost territory of the original Eastern Roman Empire.

    Any thoughts?

  3. #153

    Default Re: Byzantium

    this my first campaign for a while, i have decided to consolidate the Balkans by eliminating factions which attack me, in the 60s and Venice is dead, the Vampires are soon to follow, them i shall halt on the rivers which are a natural frontier. at that point it is time to consolidate religion, mop up rebels, build some forts. sack-cash from Budapest Venice Iconium 'n Vienna is keeping the old empire ticking over nicely. religious unrest is a problem as the latins are conquered. the frontier is locked into a permanent state of religious strife. things will be better when Venice attains 40% 'Doxy.

    vards are so good, they are so agile, and even a basic infantry force of spear and trebizond bow will win with these hot horsemen nippin' round the flanks and carving up the enemys' arse from that oblique angle old boy. Have at 'em lads!

    however horsemen do sufer with auto resolve, the basileus lacks lancersin the early game.

    naval dominance is vital. seal off the aegean, the black sea and the adriatic. if a hostile fleet gets in then you can play ping-pong with the piratical scumbags and bounce them from one fleet to the next until they are truly scuppered!
    But vain the spear and vain the bow,
    They never can work War's overthrow;
    The hermit's prayer and the widow's tear
    Alone can free the world from fear
    (Blake)

  4. #154

    Default Re: Byzantium

    Quote Originally Posted by Quillan
    Never ever use autoresolve against the Mongols if the army contains their original troops. The autoresolve function is basically a number crunch. It's apparently heavily weighted in favor of numbers and experience. The first is usually a disadvantage for cavalry, as mounted units are smaller in size, but all the original Mongol invasion troops have something like 6 xp! The result is that you will almost always be crushed if you use the computer to resolve it.

    Now, if you cannot fight the battles out yourself for whatever reason, then I have to agree with RVG. Build your armies as full stacks of big infantry units like spear militia or Byzantine Spearmen, keep multiple stacks together, and then resolve it. You'll take horrific losses, but those troops are pretty cheap to replace, and you at least have a decent chance of winning.

    If you can fight out the battles, then the Byzantines can give the Mongols a serious challenge on the field. I've beaten them in an open field battle with an army of 2 generals, 2 kataphractoi, and 16 assorted horse archers, but there's no way to fight that battle without losing a lot of troops. It works out better if defending a bridge or a ford.
    thanks for the advice. I am now able to fight the Mongols and sometimes win. I've played several campaigns as the Byzantines and the HRE. I've tried different strategies of fending off the Mongols and Timurids (giving border regions to the Pope and other factions right before they arrive, or leaving the Turks around so they have to fight them first) but it seems that that no matter what i do they are simply programmed to go after the stronger/richest(?) faction at the time. As the Byzantines they came to Antioch and into Asia Minor. As the HRE they went to Kiev and came into central Europe. Of course, they never accept a ceasefire. Has anyone found a clever trick of keeping them at arms length without having their treasury drained by the endless wars?
    I love this game but I am getting a bit disenchanted because it always comes to "how badly will the Mongols/Timurids beat you up?".

  5. #155
    Praeparet bellum Member Quillan's Avatar
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    Default Re: Byzantium

    River crossings. My first campaign, as the Byzantines, I held the Mongols off on the bridges. I owned Iasi, which I had as a city. The army standing on the bridge consisted of 6 units of Byzantine Infantry, 4 units of Byzantine Guard Archers, 1 trebuchet, 1 general, and 8 assorted horse archers. I lined up 3 units of infantry across the edge of the bridge, with 3 more directly behind them, and all 6 in guard mode. When the battle started, they'd advance directly to the edge of the bridge from the deployment line. The foot archers would line up on a hill where they could fire down onto the bridge. The horse archers would do the same. The treb was set to fire rotting cows, and I'd wait until the Mongols started crossing to begin firing.

    I'd always manage to eventually land a dead cow in the middle of the bridge, which meant every Mongol unit would be affected by it. I used the horse archers to chase down any routers that came through my side of the bridge, and didn't pursue any routers across the bridge until the battle was won. In some cases the Mongols would have 2-3 stacks, so there's be a pause after I'd broken the first army but the next hadn't yet arrived, and then I'd switch off the lead infantry.

    After the battle was over, I'd use the nearby city and fortress to replenish losses.
    Age and treachery will defeat youth and skill every time.

  6. #156

    Default Re: Byzantium

    Yeah when I played them I won 60% of me battles using vards to harass the enemy all the way up the field,then finishing it off with a rain of arrows from the Guard archers,plus a calv charge from behind,with my vardf if needed.

  7. #157

    Default Re: Byzantium

    Quote Originally Posted by oz_wwjd
    Yeah when I played them I won 60% of me battles using vards to harass the enemy all the way up the field,then finishing it off with a rain of arrows from the Guard archers,plus a calv charge from behind,with my vardf if needed.
    I think I found something about the Mongols (it may have been mentioned before). It seems that if you have four full stacks close together the Mongols seem to too timid to attack. I had four full stacks of varying quality near Nicea. As long as I had them close together the Mongols kept going back and forth but never attacked. As soon as I moved two of the stacks to defend against the Timurid jihad against Constantinople the Mongols attacked. I put the stacks back and they seemed to shy away from attacking Nicea. If you wait them out long enough they will slowly decay in strength so you can pick them off one stack at a time. It's a "containment" policy but it seemed to work this time.

  8. #158

    Default Re: Byzantium

    Here's a question: had anyone has Constantinople rebel within the first 20 or 30 turns? I've played as the byzzies many times but my most recent game is the first I've ever seen it do that,and it hurt my wallet something severe,at one point I was - 11118 florins,until I re-took and sacked it,then I took the turkish citadel of Caesarea and exterminated that,so my budget's looking better,if my damn cities would stop trying to kick me out as soon as I moved the tax rate off "low".

    I suspect spies in my cities.

    Hoping that some public buildings will improve them to the point where I can start making some cash now,as the Venetians have attempted to invade 4 times,and been kicked out 4 times,also hoping that the alliances I have with the polish,Hungarians and milanese will keep them tied up for a bit.

  9. #159

    Default Re: Byzantium

    I never had Constantinople rebel. It is usually a cash cow for me. You have to keep building farms, trade buildings, and also barracks etc. and maintain a good garrison.
    One thing I do is build a couple of fleets and close off the straits on both sides (Aegean and Black Sea). That stops all merchants, diplomats and foreign armies from crossing over to Asia Minor and causing trouble (unless I allow them).
    As for the Turks I found that you can easily destroy them in the first few turns if you take Iconium quickly and then Ceasarea as soon as possible. But you may want to keep the Turks alive as a buffer against the Mongols. If you take Iconium and then offer them a ceasefire in exchange for Trabezon there is a high probability they will give it to you without a fight.

  10. #160
    Member Member Marius Dynamite's Avatar
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    Default Re: Byzantium

    Hello!

    I am in the midst of a VH/VH campaign as the Byzantine Empire. I decided to do this campaign with the goal being to reconquer the Roman Empire. It was very very tough to get were I am now @ around the 1280's. I've wrote down the basics of what I done. I should point out I am writing this out of recent memory without anything written down so I could have forgot a few little details. This is also a big read which is why its in spoil tags.

    Spoiler Alert, click show to read: 
    It was clear early on that the neighboring catholic factions, Hungary, Venice, Sicily were looking toward the weakening Byzantine Empire as a place to expand into. The Venetians and Sicilians posed the greatest threat as they had good early infantry units which were superior to my own.

    My own economy was poor and not fit to fund a war on potentially 3 fronts, i.e. Greece against Italians, Macedonia against Hungarians and The Turks in Asia Minor. I secured an alliance with the Turks and set up Watchtowers on the borders so I could prepare for an invasion if they looked likely to betray me.

    Diplomats were also sent to the Hungarians in order to secure an alliance with them. The funds generated from trade with these people would also prove crucial in a lengthy war with the Italians.

    The decision was taken to reform the Byzantine military into 3 horse archer based armies led by Byzantines finest generals. The horse archer armies would be made mainly of Byzantine cavaly with around 20% being the elite Vardar horse archers. This would allow the entire destruction of catholic infantry based armies as they marched through the mountains of Greece.

    With the recruitment of these armies near completion the decision was taken to launch a quick war with the ill-prepared Egyptians. Emperor Alexius and Prince John were sent with around half the professional military force to capture Alexandria and Cairo. The bulk of the Egyptian army was caught unaware by the amphibious assault and they were dealt a decisive and crushing victory near Alexandria. In the following turns both Cities were captured and sacked. The Egyptians were so badly hurt they would never be able to launch a land attack on Cairo and Alexandria and peace was agreed a few turns later.

    My major mistake here was deciding not to finish off the Egyptians who had almost no military left and held only Gaza and possibly Jerusalem. I needed the army sent to Egypt to fight back the Sicilians, who had Corinth under siege, and the Venetians who were advancing on Thessalonica.

    A decisive victory pushed the Sicilians out of Greece but the Venetians proved much more resolute. Despite them taking heavy losses to my horse archer forces they continuously poured more and more troops at me. Eventually I managed to annihilate their invading forces but as I planned an advance on Ragusa the Sicilians sent their Norman Knights at Corinth and destroyed the defenders there.

    All this time I had been carefully managing my economy, building farm upgrades and ports in all my major cities. I had captures Rhodes and Iraklion, converted Rhodes to a city along with Cyprus to increase my income. As I upgraded my economy upgrades became more expensive. This became a strain on my dwindling income and it was preventing me constructing suffient military forces to inflicet fatal blows on the italians.

    I managed however to drive the Sicilians back out of Greece and launched a successful invasion of Southern Italy capturing Naples after a lengthy siege. (My army was the veterans of the Egyptian campaign led by now Emperor John, an entire horse archer army). With the Sicilians on the backfoot I pressed on and drove them out of Sicily. At this point they were effectively destroyed however they still held territories in a small colony elsewhere, perhaps Africa, I never found out. Later it was reported they has been conquered by another Kingdom.

    After the destruction of Sicily the plunder gained was used to upgrade Cairo and Constantinople and purchase various other upgrades to the Empire. Some was also reinvested in the strained military.

    This brief period of fortune for the Byzantine Empire was exactly that, brief. The Pope was reeling after the invasion of Southern Italy and Sicily and seen it as a direct attack on himself. Add to that the conversion of half of Italy to Orthodox Christianity and his declaration of war by an attack on Naples is almost justified!

    The Pope also managed to unite the nearby Catholic factions into a coalition against the Byzantine Empire. These include the Holy Roman Empire, Venice, Milan, Spain (not so close) and Hungary. Despite being good allies to the Hungarians they chose to side with the their fellow Catholics.

    So began The Italian Wars.

    Although I had built a significant Naval Force in the Aegean and around Italy, I was still only a strong nation and not a superpower and could not match the naval power of the United Catholics. Hungarys massive fleets sailed from the Black sea and blockaded all my ports while the HRE, Milan and Venice dealt with my fleet in Italy.

    The blocking of my ports caused an economic crash. I can't quite remember what year we are at now, but I think it is 1130's - 1140's.

    Initial invasions of Southern Italy and Sicily were successfully repulsed. As the economy began to start up again I retrained my army in Sicily and recruited my own version of Dismounted Knights from the population of Palermo. This force successfully invaded and capture Rome after around 50 years of fighting. I had been fighting a largely defensive battle in Greece against the Hungarians, and Constantinople itself also had to be defended.

    Around the time of Romes capture the Egyptians, still not a significant land force, had a vast navy, perhaps the 3rd largest in the eastern med after the Venetians and Milanese. They blockaded Cyprus and Alexandria. This is why I said my mistake earlier was not to destroy them when I had the chance. I now had to create an army in Egypt, by this time totally assimilated into the empire, and launch an assault on Jerusalem, the new Egyptian capital. This invasion was an incomprehendable success and the funds gained from the victory allowed me to push back the Venetians all the way to Zagreb and finally inflict a fatal blow on the Papal States force in Italy by capturing Florence.

    It was not all a succesful war however as the Milanese, who had established a vast empire in France, routed my armies in Sicily and only sued for peace when I blunted their invasion of southern Italy.

    With the economy now booming because of all the money I had been putiing into it all this time the Byzantine Empire became a true Superpower. Later campaigns have seen the capture of Venice, which was largely underdeveloped, the destruction of Hungary and the capture of all of Asia minor from the Turks who had betrayed our 150 year alliance to join a Jihad against Constantinople.

    The Turks still hold some territory in the Middle East after being ravaged by the Mongol Invasion. The Mongols now hold Antioch and share a border with me at Acre and Damascus. They are yet to make a move against me. I have strengthed my forces significantly in Gaza, Acre, Damascus and Jerusalem to destroy any invasion before it can reach Cairo, my largest city. Likewise military force as Caesarea are being upgraded to repel any attack towards Constantinople.

    A second War with the powerful Milanese/HRE alliance has broken out as they attempt to drive me out of Italy. My power now is unmatched and the empire can defeat all the nations in the known world at once. I have sent armies with my powerful new Knights, the Latikon to invade the HRE heartlands wjile forces have been dispatched to recapture Sicily form the Milanese as well as invade Sardinia and corsica and close a noose around the great city of Milan.

    The date is around 1280's

    Also another note I should add. I have used espionage to great success through this campaign. In Egypt my missionaries converted around 70% of the Jerusalem population to Orthodox during the second war with Egypt. I also have at least 5 super merchants at Egypt at any 1 time generating a massive 2000 florins per turn. They sit on the 3 sugar resources around Cairo and the 2 ivory depositis at the very southern point of the nile. Assassins have also played a major role. I have vet assassins in Hungary, Italy and Egypt constantly killing Imams, priests and enemy generals to keep my Wars running smoothly.

    I'll post some Screenshots if anyone wants to see!

    Last edited by Marius Dynamite; 07-23-2008 at 02:59.

  11. #161

    Default Re: Byzantium

    [QUOTE=Nikitaras;1895168]thanks for the advice. I am now able to fight the Mongols and sometimes win. I've played several campaigns as the Byzantines and the HRE. I've tried different strategies of fending off the Mongols and Timurids (giving border regions to the Pope and other factions right before they arrive, or leaving the Turks around so they have to fight them first) but it seems that that no matter what i do they are simply programmed to go after the stronger/richest(?) faction at the time. As the Byzantines they came to Antioch and into Asia Minor. As the HRE they w
    Last edited by Gray Beard; 09-26-2008 at 12:04.
    Gray Beard
    Byzantium, Forever and Ever

  12. #162
    Merciless Mauler Member TheLastPrivate's Avatar
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    Default Re: Byzantium

    Quote Originally Posted by Gray Beard View Post
    Trick #5: Use the regroup/retreat feature (Right mouse click) of the campaign map and setup a location that your stack will retreat to without running into another Mongol stack. This is really important because it preserves your forces and keeps them near enough to support each other if you lose. You have to avoid playing auto resolve ping-pong and having the same stack losing multiple times in one turn.
    What's this regroup/retreat feature? Can you elaborate more? I always thought this feature would be useful but I never found it in the manual! Is it available on vanilla?
    Last edited by TheLastPrivate; 09-22-2008 at 15:37. Reason: typo


    Gae Ma Ki Byung:
    Possibly the earliest full-armored heavy cavalry in human history, deployed by the Goguryeo from the 3rd century A.D.

  13. #163

    Default Re: Byzantium

    The rally point feature on the campaign map is not actually available in vanilla. I'm sorry I didn't know that because I play the "Long Road" mod

    To use it in the mod you place the cursor at the rally spot press and hold alt and right click
    Gray Beard
    Byzantium, Forever and Ever

  14. #164

    Default Re: Byzantium

    Quote Originally Posted by TheLastPrivate View Post
    What's this regroup/retreat feature? Can you elaborate more? I always thought this feature would be useful but I never found it in the manual! Is it available on vanilla?
    Actually I thought it was part of the Vanilla game but I just started one up to see and it isn't. I normally play the "Long Road" mod. What an egregious oversight by this game's designers!

    To use this function in that mod you press and hold the ALT key and the right click
    Gray Beard
    Byzantium, Forever and Ever

  15. #165

    Default Re: Byzantium

    As far as I know it is in the vanilla though I normally play "The Long Road"

    To use the function mouse over the location you want to set as a rally point press the "ALT" key and right click. Doing this makes units tha tlose auto resolve battles retreat to that location. It keeps units from losing and then retreating into another battle and then into another battle and so on until there is nobody left to retreat with.
    Gray Beard
    Byzantium, Forever and Ever

  16. #166

    Default Re: Byzantium

    I am a great fan of Byzantium and have always played with this faction.



    I usually set a defence along the Greek border (Thessalonika, Corinth) to defend from both Venician and Hungarian assaults, paying attention to any surprise Hungarian attack on Costantinople. I found that due to the small amount of armies possible to recruit it is very useful to have many spies in the Balcans in order to not be taken by surprize by any (especially Hungarian) offences.

    In my current campaign however I converted Corinth into a city a garrisonned it with the maximum amount of troops. I did the same for Thessalonika. Instead of fighting the Turks I went North to take the CRIMEAN peninsula and then to take KIEV and finally IASI the large northern castle of the Hungarians.

    This worked perfectly and made me crush the Hungarians (not entirely because a Jihad was called against Constantinople). After my attack from the North the Hungarians were no longer a threat for me, and instead they acted as a cuscion state when the Mongols invaded.

    So the Hungarians actually helped me fight the Mongols instead of being my greatest foe throughout the game, as they usually are.



    I admitt I was playing on High - High difficulty instead of their "Very High" counterparts, however.

    BYZANTIUM WILL ENDURE ANY INFIDEL ASSAULT!
    (General 129)

  17. #167

    Default Re: Byzantium

    Hi
    I can't get the fix for Varangian guard to load, it is the one that was posted as version 1.1. Anyone have any ideas?

  18. #168

    Default Re: Byzantium

    Altough i'm Polish i'm a big fan of the Byzantines. I don't know why but i really like their troops, and their map position.

    I usually use: 6 Biz. Guard Archers, 4 Dis. Latinkon, 2 Dis. Biz. Lancers or Varangian Guard, 4 Vards, General, 2-4 flanking Cav, and some ballistas (which have a very accurate shot ans i really love to use them)

    I play really differnet then most of you. I tend to leave Anatolia and the muslim factions alone.
    I would probably leave the pannisula altogether but Nicea is just too good money maker just to abbandon it early. So i keep it and take also Smyrna and make it a castle, then i take Rhodes and make it a city just like i do with Crete.
    Then i make some nice stacks of navy and block the paths between asia and Constantinopole, which leaves me with just one west to look at.
    I take the emperor and blitz Sophia, Bucarest and Iasi. Iasi i make a castle. The rest cities. It's hard at the beginning but it's managable.
    Iasi as a castle with some river crossings near is a perfect place to defend my second eastern border.
    Now it's time to take care of the western factions. At the beginning i make a marriage betwenn my princes and the Polish prince... right the Polish... why? cos Hungarians are doomed within the cople next turns. Bran and Budapest are taken quickly, and the faction becomes rebel. i change Budapest to castle if it's possible, if not i leave a large garrison there, this will be me NW border, the city produces little trade as the area has no resources so i concentrate on the military aspects here. Bran i would change to a city or leave it be as a secondary fortress for fast unit production. In the west the Venetians are knocking to you for quite some time by now, especially if you take Durazzo quick as i did.
    The key here is their fortress Ragusa. Take it and then kill off their militia with Vards. I make Ragusa a city making Zagreb a Castle to complete my NW border. The last thing is to take Iraklion, but it's obvious.
    By now i have like 200000 florins and sit secure in my territory. The alliance with the Poles is strong and it never broke. Especially if you take some minor rebel lands and give it to them.
    If the HRE starts to bother you sack and pillage Vienna and then give it to the Pope or the Poles. If you have some princesses always marry them to Polish princes.
    This should secure you in Europe forever.
    What you do next is up to you. Usually i jump Sicily and the "italian" isles. Then go For Tunis and march throug the Moors.

    As for the "hordes". If they go for Constantinopole you hace the passages blocked by navy so only Nicea and Smyrna are in danger. You can try to defend them or let them fall. Your total income wont suffer form it. If they go for the north steppes you have Ias supported by Bran and surrounded by rivers, should be managable to defend.

    You should really ally with the Poles, you will have at least 2-3 common enemies. You could try alliance with the Pope especially after some tribute and giving him some lands. Will secure you from the crusades against you. I ally also with the Turks as i don't plan to invade their lands. They usually keep their word for several years.

    As for Byz pros:
    - great HtH and Missile Infantry
    - great early navy
    - decent to uber cavalry
    - one of the best economic potential
    - not boring to play :)

    As for Byz cons:
    - very weak spear units
    - no good gunpowder units
    - can't do Jihads or Crusades
    - multiple enemies

  19. #169

    Default Re: Byzantium

    I love playing as Byzantium. You are surrounded by potential enemies and will be outclassed later in the game, but an agressive start will give you the bedrock for a formidable empire that nobody will be able to withstand regardless of their final troop mix. I play H/M.

    I like a northern border of Sophia and Ragussa. You can reach the former before the Hungarians if you start out immediately. Follow up with your princess to secure an alliance (I had to offer them 100 a turn for 6 years or so which marked their card) and they will stay peaceable for quite some time.

    The Venitians will come knocking and your key to repulsing their initial foreys and capturing their territories are your horse archers. Use your general and vards to smash thier missile troops then shoot their spears to pieces. I managed to clock up several heroic victories and a good deal of experience for my troops. on the way. In my most recent game I had planned to stop at Ragussa and let them blunt themselves on it, but found it easier to take them in the field and thereby made my way to Venice itself which led to a dilema - keep it an prepare for a long Italian war (fun but draining) or give it to an ally who has no real counter to horse archers in case they betray you - or you them. I chose to hold it, but the Danes or Scots would have been my other preference.

    In the East hit the Turks with everything you have got. Either wipe them out or accept their offer of a ceasefire when you are certian they will not be a threat ever again, but will detain the Mongols a bit later on.

    I press on against Egypt and by turn 50 aim to be rid of them. You can then mop up rebel territories and have a monumentally rich empire. I turn Rhodes, Cypress, Samyra, Corinth and Adana to cities with others to follow later, but leave several castles near Antioch or Kiev and find that one stuffed with trezibond archers and lowly (and they are) byzantine spearmen can make a big dent in a Mongol army. Obviously you have much better troops available to hold bridges and mountain passes.

  20. #170

    Default Re: Byzantium

    one of my favourite faction

  21. #171
    Megas Domestikos Member AnthoniusII's Avatar
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    Default Re: Byzantium

    CBUR (Complete Byzantine Unit Roster) project aims to recreate accuratly the armies for three main eras.
    7th to 9th century,10th to 11th one and finally 12th to 15th century.
    Here is a work of ours.

  22. #172
    Member Member Zortanius's Avatar
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    Default Re: Byzantium

    Posting again after a 5 year hiatus =)

    I am a Byzantine and general med/ancient history obsessive. Time Life book by Philip Sheridan (props to Sir Robin for mentioning this), John Julian Norwich's trilogy, have all fired my purple imagination down the years.

    The Byzantine campaign on the hardest level, although engrossing and somewhat challenging, is eminently beatable and very accomplishing once done so. It's very stressing at times on account of low money, few troops and multiple fronts, but the joy/sense of achievement, after victory is sweet indeed.

    I did the following within 50 turns (100 years) and I think it's fairly standard:

    - Conquered all of Egypt, Asia Minor, Middle East (including Tibilisi and Yerevan), Balkans (including Budapest and Vienna), Poland, Livonia, Kiev, Italy (except Genoa), Cagliari, North Africa and Sicily.
    - Eliminated Sicily, Venice, Hungary, Poland,
    - Reduced Milan, Egypt, Turks to one or two provinces (places like Jeddah, Sarkel, Ajaccio)
    - Reduced Papal states to merely the pope's army and few inquisitors.
    - Put HRE and Moors firmly on the back foot.

    Eventually the Mongols showed up but despite some initial losses, I had consigned them to scraps after 20 turns.

    Now I am waiting for the Timurids, with the entire map, except, Spain, Britain and Timbuktu, in the purple.

    Notable family features:

    - Anna Comnena managed to marry Istvan, the Hungarian heir, early and add him to my family. This gave me a decent general to 'open up' the Balkans with.

    - Istvan conquered and defended Sofia, Bucharest, Budapest and Vienna. I was convinced his potential sons would continue the royal bloodline but he died in battle against the Poles, outside Thorn, childless but glorious.

    - Alexius, emperor and an excellent general, conquered Smyrna, Iconium, Ceasarea, Adana, Antioch, Aleppo, Damascus and Edessa; all the while beating back multiple Turkish and Egyptian armies.

    - His son and successor John continued the Eastern onslaught, adding Mosul, Baghdad, Damascus, Jerusalem and Gaza. John's adopted sons, Manuel Cerularius and Athanasios Branas, brought Tibilisi, Yerevan, Trebizond; and Egypt; respectively, back into the Byzantine fold.

    - John's brother Isaac was entrusted with defending the Adriatic coast against Papal, Milanese, Venetian and Sicilian invasions. Despite lacking adequate man power and the support of a navy, he gave better than he got and after beating of annual invasions from the aforementioned factions, secured the eastern flank by conquering Zagreb and Venice while stabilising Durazzo and Ragusa. He was then sent North to subdue and defend Vienna and Budapest while Istvan and Isaac's adopted sons, Constantine Dragas and Nikephorus Melissenus pressed north of the Danube.

    - The youngest brother Andronicus, mopped up the Balkans behind Istvan and Isaac befire strengthening at Bran and then wheeling North East, annexing the southern Russian Steppe, Iasi, Kiev and Halych. Although always victorious against the Russians, despite always being outnumbered, his only defeat came in his last battle. Sallying against the Grand Duke Miloslav's double stack army outside Kiev, he met his match and was felled by two corps of Druzhina, having decided to flank the Russian besiegers but getting caught in their midst.

    - Thanks to Isaac's stellar work in tying down the eastern front, later generals like Athanasios Glykys, Leo Phocas (no better name pedigree) and John Bryennius were able to launch successful invasions of Naples, Sicily, Tripoli, Tunis and Cagliari. All the while allowing other family members to push down on Northern Italy while trapping the Pope in a pincer movement.

    Campaign features

    - I had no navy to speak of with my few ships always getting mopped up and flung to the far reaches of the Mediterranean. This explained the multiple invasions on multiple fronts on an annual basis.

    - Since everyone attacked me right at the outset (except the Turks, whom I attacked), I had no trade income and my yearly margins were always red.

    - So, I constantly sold cities to HRE, Poland, Papal States, Milan and Egypt before immediately conquering them back and sacking them. This windfall, although reducing the building level in the city gave me instant cash. In addition the troops and generals got various experience, looting, engineering, attacking and dread bonuses.

    - I started using spies and assassins in bulk, this allowed me to conquer cities quicker and increased my emperor's dread, authority and public law attributes, generally making my empire more loyal.

    Military features

    - Byz Spear, Militias and peasants make great garrison troops. The former can even hold off some decent siege forces especially when cramped in a choke point. Spearmen and Militia can even hold off an enemy for a while on the open battle field, allowing cavalry to encircle the enemy and charge home.

    - Skythikon are unsung heroes, Byz Cavalry even more so and together their movement, missile attack and charge are excellent supplements to the general's bodyguard and Vardaratoi.

    - Spread your cavalry out, flank and encircle the enemy at every opportunity. Once arrows are used up, tight formation, switch off skirmish mode and charge.

    - Whenever possible, sally, even if you are unable to break the army, the losses they take will ensure that their assault will be weak.

    - The Byz, with a decent general, can more than hold their own against the Mongols. Be positive, micro manage, move and be dogged.

    - Byz infantry and dismounted lancers, are excellent against Western Infantry, especially with a couple of experience chevrons.

    Tips

    - When selling a settlement, always ask for an outright payment over tribute, always barter by raising the amount in small increments.

    - Even if they cannot buy it, give it to them as a gift. The cash bonus from sacking the settlement will more than compensate the loss in income for a turn or two.

    - Train assassins by killing rebel army generals on an annual basis.

    - Place your missile cavalry behind the enemy general. While you skirmish and wait for his army to attack, his corps of bodyguards will be weakened or wiped out completely. This is especially useful for the Mongols. Once the general dies, the morale and experience bonuses disappear and his troops are quite beatable.
    To persevere
    beyond the crimson horizon
    pervading the darkness
    enduring forever

  23. #173

    Default Re: Byzantium

    I cant personally understand why everyone has so much trouble wity the mongols im so teched up by the time they arrive and have a massive economy that they dont seem to be that difficult to defeat. The varangian guard, byz guard archers, vards & archontopoulai seem more than a match for anything that comes into Roman territory from this lot. I always weight for the Turks & Egyptians to weaken both empires against this lot before sweeping all before me in the middle east.

  24. #174

    Default Re: Byzantium

    I don't find dismounted lancers to be reliable in battle,as mine always seemed to break quickly when I used them to hold a position while my archers rained death on the enemy. I found myself using a mix of Byz inf and varangian guard instead,as they are more reliable in my opnion at least and easier to retrain as well.

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