Crusader Kings II

[Chaotix]

My Byzantium/Rome game finally came to a halt when a civil war involving half the Empire finally taxed my patience. I'll resume it another day, but its absolutely crazy. In the meantime, I've decided to try a Republic! Venice in 867. I'm only a couple decades in so far, but it is a nice change of pace. The internal politics of the Republic are a very fun and intriguing way to occupy what is apparently a rather war-less time.

For those with experience playing Republics: Can you do some blobbing? How does territorial expansion work as a Republic, and what's the best way to go about it?

Playing as a Republic is all about economic expansion.

Typically your primary goal should be making a lot of money, and you'll find that conquests and expansion come with the money. You have a few tools at your disposal, and it works in a basic cycle:

-You can build trade posts in coastal provinces.
-You can declare war for cities in provinces in which you have trade posts.
-You can declare war for provinces in which you have cities.
-You can also do whatever a feudal lord can do.

When you are Doge, make it your first priority to get yourself enough cities to fill your demesne limit. Cities give you a lot more cash than trading posts, and they are mainly an insurance policy in case you don't get re-elected. Also try to get yourself a Duke-level title, so that you can have Count-level vassals even when you're not the Doge.

If you're not the Doge, or if you started out as the Doge, you'll also want to devote attention to building trade posts. Build as many as you can, and try to build them all around a single sea region, as you'll get bonus "trade network" money. You can have a lot more trade posts than cities, so these will become your primary investment down the line.

You can give anyone in your family an honorary title called "designated heir", which will make him the heir instead of following the usual Seniority rule. Be aware that age is a major factor in the elections. You can also pay the election fund, though, and once you are rolling in dough it is quite easy to trivialize the election and make sure you get elected.

If you want to role-play you may choose to forego the campaign fund, as it really does make the election process trivial. However, be aware that if you're just a Patrician, the Doge can attempt to seize your trade posts. If you Diplomacy is not high enough, there's nothing you can do about it (not even rebel), and you can't plot to get them back either against a Doge, or if you are the Doge. That's prompted a rage-quit on my end, but only because I wasn't aware of what little freedom there was in that situation.

Anyway, once you are rolling in cash you'll be able to hire enough mercenaries to take on Kingdoms and eventually the Empires. It's perfectly possible to build an empire of coastal duchies and trading posts; Greece's duchies are 100% coastal and Italy comes close as well. Whatever you can't seize as a Republic you can always fabricate claims for.

A final few points of advice:
-Use the trade post views often, they are very useful and also give you an aesthetic sense of "empire".
-Build up the republic city! When the AI is Doge, they won't do it since they know it just gets passed off to the next Doge. But a weak capital city can limit your potential, whereas a strong one can provide you with a ton of extra cash.
-If you're going to make vassal Duchies, make them Dukes or Archbishops, not Mayors. City-level Duchies will become their own separate republic with their own five families, and it's very messy.