Byzantine on Expert?

[Cannibal]

Hi all,

I'm back after a one year hiatus, which I blame on the pressures of work and family. Oh plus the fact that I was also lured away by another game which ought to remain nameless.

I'm going to play a few on easy and normal (not all the way through, just until the point when you know you've got it cracked) to try to get back into the swing of things before I have a go at the early Byzantines on expert (I've never played them before)-I like a challenge, don't I?

Does anybody have any tips or gotcha's that I need to watch out for? Yes, I have read the manual and the guides on this site, so I'm aware of the conventional wisdom. It's obvious I need to take out the Turks fast before they do the same to me, what else do I have to watch for?

Cheers,

Cannibal

[katank]

read the guide forums.

invading Sicily right away can take out a dangerous naval competitor.

read some of my posts on speedy blitz techniques.

[Xiphias]

The Byzantines lose some of their better units (Avar Nobles, Vangarian Guard) as high and late roll on so you might want to conquer the world quickly.

[Jihad2Death]

Cannibal,what era are you starting on? If you`re starting in early,take out the turks,and Sicily early.Try not to fight nations with alot of Cav,until you get Vangarian Guard because the Byz don`t have really good spearmen.If you are playing in high,you might want to leave the eastern part,and head East.Unless you really want to fight The Golden Horde,which comes around 1230.If you decide to start in Late,good luck

[katank]

in early, post only a single byz inf to cover both greece and bulgaria and all units to trebizond or at least try to

lesser armenia holds

anatolia force hits Rum and should be easy win. abuse your emperor's jedi powers and use naptha to blow up their annoying little spears.

attack sicily form naples. the sicilians will withdraw into their keep.

next turn, storm Rum and strike into Armenia.

then push across to Syria and Edessa then ransom Eggy sultan by cutting him off it possible and dont' stop until you finish the Eggy.

as for Sicily, abandon the siege and put down the rebellion in Naples.

next turn, invade Sicily again and they decide to fight which is the chance for you to destroy their army in the field so that no storming would be needed.

now try to hold onto both in some interesting defenses as you build up your gen and learn more about byz inf and naptha.

if forced to choose, keep Sicily as you can produce UM, spears, and then Byz inf in addition to the intact shipyard for western naval base.

[Maeda Toshiie]

The Byzantines lose some of their better units (Avar Nobles, Vangarian Guard) as high and late roll on so you might want to conquer the world quickly.

Avar nobles are Moldavia only and available to all. I tend to go for porno cav instead.

Varangian guard disappear at Late.

[Thomas_di_Montessi]

yep, as everyone says, the varangian guard people thingy's dissapear in highand late periods so to speak.
Though I am an Italian or Sicilian by default, only sometimes fighting for french or aragonese, i do have a byzantine friend, who frequently advises me to beware of byzantine cavalry on a battle field. He often talks of the turks being the main difficulty if left unchecked, (though don't underestimate the opposition from sicily)
From what my friend says, use your cavalry, especially horse archers to the max. They can turn the tide of a battle. Thats just what my friend says though, don't just take my word for it

From personal experience, fighting Byzantine heavy infantry dudes, they can seriously screw up an assault, (particularly one time when they broke out of Constantinople citadel, to crush my crusader force to a pulp)

Anyway, have fun, but bear in mind what happened to Byzantium in the real middle ages... (bloody turks)

[Cannibal]

Thanks for all the replies people. To those who asked, yes I'm starting on early rather than high or late.

Katank-I really like some of your writings on the blitz techniques, the principal problem I have with playing on Expert is shortage of money. I think you've got that problem licked, and I'm wondering if I might have time to grab the Turkish Sultan on the way through to spring the trap on the Egyptian Sultan?

The only remaining worries I have would be stripping the Balkan borders of troops to feed the Levantine blitz. I guess I can hold my breath and hope that my Orthodox neighbours won't land grab understaffed territories while I'm busy in the East?

Cheers,

Cannibal

[Oleander Ardens]

When playing GA I hardly never have any problems with the Magyars; The will backstab you, yes, but usually only when your veteran armys already marched into Egypt.

You can get by the way Slav Warriors (Serbia + Bulgaria)and Trezibond Archers very fast indeed. Against the HA, Szekely, Jobbagys and the few Royal Knights you won't need much else to defend your lands...

Cheers

OA

[Louis VI the Fat]

I can only confirm what everybody else has said: devote your attention on first conquering the Golden Triangle between Constantinople, Georgia and Egypt.

Never mind your northern and western neighbours or the tempting steppes. Deal with them later. With provinces this rich under your control, and with so few expenses wasted on defense as you only have three choke-points, the world is yours...

[The_Emperor]

Quote[/b] (Louis IV the Fat @ July 12 2004,05:33)]I can only confirm what everybody else has said: devote your attention on first conquering the Golden Triangle between Constantinople, Georgia and Egypt.

Never mind your northern and western neighbours or the tempting steppes. Deal with them later. With provinces this rich under your control, and with so few expenses wasted on defense as you only have three choke-points, the world is yours...
Yes but taking the Steppes can be very fun and provide you with some great units.

Avar Nobles in Moldavia, Steppe Cavalry and Steppe heavy Cavalry makes for an impressive addition to a Byzantine army.

(Steppe cav is some of the finest fast light Cav you can get and great for router collecting and Horse Archer chasing)

Then of course your also right in the path of the Golden Horde, but then you would have been in Armenia and Georgia anyway http://www.totalwar.org/forum/non-cgi/emoticons/biggrin.gif

[katank]

Cannibal, wiping out the Turks ASAP is the best as they are just pains and historical rivals. trying to ransom the Turkish sultan would mean waiting too long and the Eggy sultan will move to a secure enough location that he can't be easily isolated and ransomed.

hitting Eggy fast is essential or you'll have to deal with their camel and nubian spam which can still hurt you.

you should pump out Byz inf from Const. nonstop.

the Huns wouldn't bug you and I find that 1 Byz inf in Bulgaris is quite enough.

on the 3rd or 4th turn, instead of moving the just built Byz inf east, move him to Bulgaria and take Moldavia with the By inf in Bulgaria for early Avars.

when your forces are marching through Eggy lands, forts should be up and you can pump slav warriors from Bulgaria and Moldavia, making for ideal garrisons for all the empire.

send your second born north to conquer the steppes.

try to go for Kiev and Lithuania to establish easy 2 province border and cut off the Poles who become strong if they can expand into the steppes.

[Cannibal]

Good points folks.

I had a practice run through over the weekend on Expert. I tried trapping the Turkish Sultan for some ransom, but when my troops went in to grab him he insisted on fighting to the death-so we obliged, so unfortunately no money there.

This kind of delayed my blitz to grab the Egyptian Sultan, from Syria I sent one stack into Tripoli and one into Palestine, trapping the Egy Sultan in Antioch. The Egy's withdrew in both places, so next turn I attacked Antioch from Tripoli just a little too late. Antioch had just completed a fort when we attacked so everybody just holed up in the fort. I didn't have enough of the right kind of troops for storming the fort and bringing them in would have put a severe dent in the rest of my invasion plans for Egypt. So I reloaded and pushed troops from Syria into Tripoli and Antioch-success I ended up with around 9,200 for him, his son and assorted others, and that's a fortune this early in the game on expert. Of course he then shows up in Palestine, which might make it difficult to trap him again.

My emissary made good use of some of the funds bribing the rebs in Khazar. I wouldn't dream of doing this for a couple of Spearmen, but a stack of 8 Steppe cavalry, four horse archers, and 3 units of Steppe Heavy cavalry found hanging out in the fort was not to be sneezed at. I also gained the buildings intact, and Khazar was already quite nicely developed.

I had quite forgotten that slav warriors can be produced right from a fort like peasants, so I didn't develop the Balkans as fast as I should have. By now I could have some of my territories staffed by slav warriors for additional security at a very reasonable cost.

The swing back and forth between Sicily and Naples actually works quite well, and I think I can hang onto both if I play it carefully next time around.

Thanks for the advice guys


Cannibal

[katank]

no problem.

the Sicily blitz make your remote colony prosper and makes for one of the most interesting starts ever IMHO.

however, I often end up at war with the Italians when I do keep both.