Faction Analysis and Strategy: Byzantine Empire

[Prince Romendacil II]

Well, since I have nothing to do that's worth doing, I decided to do an analysis and a strategy guide on Byzantium. So, uh, here we go.

Analysis:
Economy: At the start of the game, Byzantium, holds one of the richest provinces in the game: Constantinople. Constantinople alone can yield over 4,000 florins by itself, let alone your other lands which are not exactly poor, but are not exactly rich. Although you're units are pretty expensive, you have access to the coast which equals trade income.

Generals: Byzantium, has the some of the best generals in the game, monarchs and heirs all being at least 5 stars most of the time. Plus with almost all of the titles gives a command boost.

Positioning: You have a good start point, but not as good as say the Almohads, or the Egyptians. You must have many chokepoints, because enemies are all around. But the advantage is you have many ways to strike; you can strike the Rebels, the Hungarians, the Turks, and the Egyptians.

Units: Your units are pretty expensive, but they're worth it. Kataphraktoi are some of the most disciplined calvary, while Trebizond archers can only be matched, in my opinion, by English longbowmen. Not to mention the Varangian Guard, one of the elite among infantry.

Strategy: The first thing you do is take out the Turks. But you don't rush into it, as some people would advise. Build up your economy up for the next ten years, while also making farm improvements, building military infracsure, and building inns so you can hire mercenary troops. When your reday do a two pronged attack and attack two of the Turkish provinces. Once youve finally defeated the Turks, repeat the step with the Egyptians. After that consolidate your holdings and do as you like.

[RollingWave]

I have not played a byz in early myself... but I am doing a turk early one... and I personally think the byz should rush into killing he turk asap... because the turks like the byz have only a few province that can build units off the bat, and they get a really crappy army at the start too.. (Except for being able to build armenians very soon) but once they are able to build armenians, saracean/muhawid spear, and turcomen light cavs they are quiet a force to be recon with... but if you take out Rum and probably armenia right off the bat the turks are effectively gone from the game... with no unit producing province and no money making province for that matter http://www.totalwar.org/forum/non-cgi/emoticons/joker.gif

Byz army have some real issue in dealing with good calvary archers.... unless you can get stepp cavs quickly ... but the turks don't get much quality cav arch until a few yaers in....

[ShadesWolf]

The Byzans are my favourite faction to play as, I spent most of my time composing the SP guide for them, as compared to any of the later ones I have produced.

Take a look if you are interested. ShadeWolfs guide to SP byzan (http://www.shadesmtw.com/gaminginfo/byzanfaction.htm)

They are a very varied faction, and on all three era'soffer the player good entertainment.

[Mega Dux Bob]

The thing I noticed that really helps the Byz is ; Rum is a rich province and there for the taking and once you take down the Turks (with whom AI can put up a fight in my experiance) your' two big opponents until the GH are the Egyptians and the Hungerians, whose are armies under AI control are trash. Fighting the Egyptians as the Byz the big issue is are your' units going to break from fatigue from killing all those camels, spearmen and peasant?

[-Isapostolos-]

Quote[/b] (Mega Dux Bob @ July 31 2003,12:33)]Fighting the Egyptians as the Byz the big issue is are your' units going to break from fatigue from killing all those camels, spearmen and peasant?
Nah fighting the egyptians is easy. If you control the sea, and you start a war with them, theyll start moving up all their units toward the front lines (Antioch, tripoli, Syria), and thus exposing their important provinces for sea invasion (egypt, palistine). From there on they ar ecaught between two fires, an dyou should be able to walk over them.

As for byz having problems with Turcoman troops, all you need are trebizond archers. These guys can win all kinds of archery duels, xcept maybe longbowmen. Just make sure their light cav fires at the trebz, and their shields will take the beating.

Turks are a walk over in standard early campaign, so I prefer using the WesW start settings, which give the turks most asia minor (except trebizond, but I gave them that aswell).

[Crash]

Winning with the Byzantines is so easy, I don't play them anymore. Strike Turkey immediately, take Rum on the first turn. Build up your trade and agriculture, and churn out trebizond archers, horse archers, and byzantine infantry like crazy. Train some VG and Kataphractoi in Constantinople, add one or two of each to each army, then go out and conquer the world before the GH shows up. If the GH shows up before you win, take your best units and generals, add some pavise arbalesters and some mercenary Italians or billmen, and fight the biggest GH army to the death. Don't worry you'll win as long as you let them do the attacking.

[Prince Lom]

The Byzantines are only good in Early and High periods. Once you get into the Late period, they lose many of their military advantages. Varangian Guard become un-buildable, Kataphraktoi are outclassed by the later Catholic Knights, Byzantine Infantry get cut to pieces by Chivalric Men at Arms (and Foot Knights if you've made them useable). Trebizond Archers don't stand up to Arbalests, but fortunately the Byzantines can build Arbalesters too. Byzantium's best ships are also outclassed by Booms and Carracks.

In Early, they are something of a 'munchkin' Faction - very easy and simple to use, with great Generals of royal blood and basic units, and lots of cash. Don't get me wrong, I'm not saying there is anything wrong with playing as them - it's just that they are very easy to win with.

In High, they offer a bit more of a challenge. The other Factions are more developed, the Byzantine empire is more scattered, they don't even own Constantinople to begin with

In Late - well, to be honest I haven't even played as them in Late. I just don't think it's so much fun without getting the ol' Varangian Guards or Byzantine Lancers.


OK, a breakdown of my opinions on individual units:

Byzantine Infantry: Good attacking infantry, not really solid enough to hold the line unsupported though. They are cheap and numerous however, and effective.

Trebizond Archers: I like these, but they are little more than Archers who can fight a bit. They tend to suffer lots of casualties in hand-to-hand fighting, so I keep them out of things unless the situation is desperate. In 'archer-duels' their shields give them an advantage.

Kataphraktoi: Superb against weak to medium units, other than spearmen of course. Their heavy armour protects them from lesser Archers, but Longbowmen and Arbalesters will hurt them a lot. Their lack of speed has a double drawback - they are not as easily re-deployed as other cavalry, and when they are retreating it is easy for other cavalry to catch them and capture them all.

Varangian Guard: Slaughters, plain and simple. Only Chivalric/Gothic Foot Knights and Janissary Heavy Infantry can compare. As long as they don't get charged by the heaviest cavalry in the game, Varangian Guard can win almost any fight. Not having them in the Late period is a blow to the Byzantine Faction.

Pronoiai Allagion: Good cavalry - but way overpriced in terms of upkeep. If you can afford that however, then these guys are decent medium-heavy cavalry.

Byzantine Cavalry: Very flexible Horse Archers. They can defeat weak and medium units in melee fighting, and shoot tougher units instead.

Naptha Throwers: Heheheh. I like these guys. Keep them safe behind your infantry until the enemy units are engaged, then run them around the back and let loose the bombs Cool.

Urban Militia: Poor. Byzantine Infantry are better in almost all respects.

Peasants: Generally only of use as garrison troops.

Crossbowmen: Not bad - but not great. They are not as good as...

Arbalesters: The best ranged units, as far as bang-for-buck goes. They are extremely powerful, and essential for taking out those late-tech Catholic Knights.

Byzantine Lancers: Cheap, and worth their cost. Not battle winners, but useful light cavalry. They make much better pursuers than Kataphraktoi because they are not so slow.

Spearmen: Sadly this is the best spear unit that the Byzantines get. They are up to the task of defeating Cavalry, but will get mashed by tough attacking infantry.


Hmm... sure I've forgotten something... ah, nevermind.

[Parmenio]

I'm not sure if version 1.1 changes things but in a 1.0 game I had upgraded my Byzantine field armies to Armoured Swiss Pike, Pav' Arbalests, Pronoiai Allagion, Shot and Cannon by around the High period.

The thing that really wins the game almost regardless of faction is domination of the seas.

[Demon of Light]

1.1 changes that. The Byzantine Empire was never meant to be able to build Swiss Pikemen in Constantinople. I have to say though that hours of enjoyment were derived by marching my army(reinforced by the Swiss) into khazar and slaughtering the Mongol Heavy Cavalry. Then I got the patch. Then I upgraded to Version 2.0 and had all my kings die at 56