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

Originally Posted by Gray Beard:
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?

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

Originally Posted by TheLastPrivate:
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

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.

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

:crowngrin:

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.

:2thumbsup:

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

:embarassed:

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?

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

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.

one of my favourite faction

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.

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.

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.

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.