Byzantium

[TosaInu]

THE BYZANTINES — EARLY

1. Opening moves
The Byzantines need to attack Turkey and then Egypt in a variation of katank’s patented “Ransom the Sultan” blitz for Turkey.

There is also the isolated province of Naples to consider. The best defense there is an attack.

Gather all available forces and attack Rum. This is the richest, most developed province for Turkey. Without it, the Turks are hurting. Keep pounding the Turks with your Byzantine infantry, Trebizond archers and Kataphracts.

After you have taken Syria, go on a “ransom blitz” against Egypt. Methods vary depending on difficulty and number of troops, but the idea is to take and hold Syria, Tripoli and Palestine before the Egyptian sultan leaves Antioch. Then seize Antioch and ransom the sultan.

Other chances to grab the sultan and extort ransom will arise. In one game, I ransomed the sultan three times for a total of about $28K.

Meanwhile, back in Italy …

Take the whole Naples garrison and invade Sicily on the first turn.

At worst, you will set the Sicilians back for years, inflict heavy casualties and be able to ransom back your Byzantine infantry. Rebuild the unit in Constantinople and send it to the real war in the Middle East.
At best, you will storm the keep, conquer Sicily, build a swordsmith there to rebuild your Byzantine infantry and triumphantly retake Naples.

Finally, do not forget the Balkans. Horse archers from Greece and Slav warriors from Bulgaria can take Serbia easily. Just get to it when you can afford it and before the Hungarians do. Use the horse archers to destroy as many of the rebel peasants and spears as possible before engaging with other troops.

Congratulations; you are now the proud owner of an empire stretching from Egypt to south Italy. Time to tech up, build a dominant navy and get ready for the Crusades that will come your way. So much for Christian solidarity.

One final note on the opening moves; the island provinces of Crete, Rhodes and Cyprus are a lot of trouble, but work to keep them. They can make good shipbuilding centers. Their loyalty will improve once they have a ship link to some other port in the Byzantine Empire.

2. Units and buildings.
Byzantine infantry from Constantinople, Trebizond archers from Trebizond and Kataprhacts from maturing heirs make all the army you will need for the opening blitz. Some Slav warriors for garrison duties and as governors plus some horse archers for killing rebels are supplementary.

People love Kataphracts, Pronoiai Allagion and Varangian Guards, but those high-powered units can wait. First get your trade routes established and your coasts covered with fleets, develop your farming economy, and build up good armies in your big border provinces: Greece, Bulgaria and Egypt. Byzantine lancers and cavalry in support of Byzantine infantry and Trebizond archers will handle anything in the Early Era. Get yourself squared away, and then you can afford those top-flight units and have the time to develop them.


EDITED: to include the summery compiled by Doug-Thompson

[Cheetah]

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[TosaInu]

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Pragmatic

Mercenary

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Posts: 148
Joined: Sep. 2002
Posted: Sep. 30 2002,20:09

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Okay, I'm about ready to try my first game without cheat mode. I'm not sure if I'm ready for battles, however, so I'm going to be playing on easy.

What would anyone suggest for strategy? I found a page on FourBelowZero.com that gave some intro strategies. It suggests pulling out of Georgia and Lesser Armenia, leaving Naples to its fate, and concentrating on Greece, Bulgaria (questionable), Constantinople, Nicaea, and Trebizond. (The islands, while well developed, are isolated, and not much can be done to reinforce them.)

Anyway, I can see building up Constantinople (Kataphraktoi) and Trebizond (Trebizond Archers). What else? Obviously, with the economics of the game, it's a case of specializing. Also, since you want to top out revenue, the farm upgrades and merchant upgrades (when available) are also nice.

I assume I'll want to have ships churned out on a regular basis, as well, to connect with multiple-commodity provinces.

Any advice? Who to ally with, who to shun, who to backstab? I don't want to conquer the world. I just want to conquer my corner of it. The provinces in the Balkans which start out Orthodox. Along the coast down to Egypt. (Especially Jerusalem and Egypt, though mainly for historical reasons. Any benefit to Jerusalem, aside from the impressive governorship?) I'd like to keep my three islands. I think I'll want to stay away from north of the Black Sea, especially if the Mongols come in. Let them wipe out Novgorod and the Poles, I say.

Anyway, if any of you can offer some general tips on how to play as Byzantium, I'd appreciate it. I'll even play that particular game without any cheats (aside from save/reload... gotta have a crutch ).
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Boromir0101

Mercenary

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i was lord of water i am no newbie Posted: Sep. 30 2002,20:40

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For being Byzantines (my fav faction, to if only they had kerns) but anyway some tips
1.Kataphractoi are devastating early game, some of best cav avialible until Chivilarc knights, but they can beat most turkish melee cav. they are WAY to slow to use against horse archers though (build inns for alan mercs and/or get Khazar province for steppe cav.
2.Build trade routes, and ally with catholics so they dont crusade against you
3. Trezibond archers and byzantine infantry are good combos, trezibond's are good archers byzantine inf maybe games best
4. Constantinople good rich farm province, build it up (if you get 1092 patch it starts better)
5.The islands aren't that great, low farm income, no trade, maybe use them as naval bases thats about it
6.take out turks as quick as possible they end up being much stronger late on
7.Naples is hard to hold, try to get a foothold early as possible

thats all i can think of
darn now i want to play a Byzantine game good luck

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Long has my father the steward of gondor kept the forces of mordor at bay, by the blood of our people are your lands kept safe Boromir

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Long has my father the steward of gondor kept the forces of mordor at bay, by the blood of our people are your lands kept safe Boromir
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DojoRat

Duke

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Posted: Sep. 30 2002,20:40

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Pragmatic

On easy you shouldn't have to pull out of any provinces.(my rule is never pull out, but then I've had a vasectomy) First, choose the best leaders to be the governor of each province. These are units that have a leader with high acumen (4+ feathers) and dread in that order. The provinces with the highest income should get the better leaders. You may want to wait a turn or two and check your new units if you can't seem to find any good ones. This will boost your income without raising taxes.
In Naples, lower the taxes all the way and build a fort to produce peasants. You might get a revolt any way but its worth a shot.
Go after Serbia, its nuetral and has gold, which is very good.
Build up your forces and use your generals to take out the Turks and Eygypt in that order.
Concentrate on spearman and esp Byz inf as well as the Treb archers. Your heavy Cav will take time to develope. Buy mercenaries just before your campaigns begin to give yourself an edge. You'll need inns for this put one in both the Balkans and Anatolia.
Well that's a start. I gotta go.

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Pragmatic

Mercenary

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Posted: Sep. 30 2002,20:54

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I have a feeling that me and Hungary won't be seeing eye-to-eye. They have Iron in at least two of their provinces, so I'll be wanting them for future upgrades. Long-term, however. (Maybe assassinate both their leaders, one after the other, until they go rebel. THEN snatch them up.)

I don't know if its possible to get Serbia without cheating. The Hungarians tend to take Moldavia (one of the provinces that I want). I'll have to see if they take Serbia, as well.

It looks like my main enemies are going to be the Hungarians, the Sicilians (hard to exterminate, those... but I think I know how to reach Malta, now), the Egyptians, and the Turks. What order should I take them on? Who should I ally with in the meantime?

Aside from maxing out the trade possibilites, what provinces are good for what? It's too expensive to build everything in every province....

Should I spread out things like Cathedral, Admiralty, and stuff like that?
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Yoko Kono

Count

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UK Posted: Sep. 30 2002,21:03

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as the byzantines i developed my islands to churn out ships, this way they can never be attacked (only bribed or revolts), use trebizond for archers, constantinople for kata and byz infantry, while i used greece for byz cav
this way i had a good steady suppy of my core army units, byz inf; byz cav; treb arch and kata as shock, and my trade empire expanded rapidly givng over 10K income from the capital alone
try to fight one enemy at a time to maximise trade revenue
in my game i had a strong defensive line to hold back the turks whom i allied with after they failed to defeat me in battle, and i kept the otrher muslims on board as i need their trade income
i would first fight off the hungarians or anyone else with little or no sea ports but first ally with another faction along their borders who may also take advantage of your was and this will lesson the chances of intervention
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RealWarSucks

Mercenary

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Joined: Sep. 2002
Long Beach, CA Posted: Sep. 30 2002,22:53

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Well, I played one game as the byz so I'm not really qualified to say...but that never stopped me before. It was on expert level.

I took on the Turks really quickly. It was a long war that involved a lot of trading territories but I was able to wipe them out. Around this time I got jumped by the Hungarians and the Egyptians. I was easily able to take out the hungarians all together but then the HRE and Italians got involved. Basically I had never started a war with anyone but everyone who started one with me lost all or most of their provinces. Everything was going pretty well, I had from Syria to Genoa, Tyrolia, Bohemia, Bavaria, etc. The trouble I had was that I was heart-set on getting profit out of trade but the catholics kept attacking me. Anyway, strange things occured out west beyond my sight and the spanish took over the Iberian penninsula, southern france, all of africa, and up to my borders on the east. There were no more muslim nations. The Spanish were out of control strong at this point. I gave up. They were gradually wiping out my turkish holdings and i tried in vain to get one of the muslim factions to pop back up and slow down the spaniards. I guess I could have probably survived taking losses all the way to Constantinople and then trying to destabalize the spanish but it seemed like it would take forever.

Out of the experience I can give you this advice;

Bribe for Kazhar. It didn't work so well for me, but it seems like a good tactic. A better way I guess would be to get a force in Georgia and then bribe the Khazar, when they join you move in your reinforcements. Without reinforcements I was attacked by rebels from all sides who took back the province. Being able to produce the steppe cav is nice, especially against all those stupid horse archers.

Other than that I'd say my biggest mistake was conquering too fast. I ended up taking so many provinces so quickly that I had to move all of my armies out to the borders to keep down rebellions. It was costly supporting those forces and I seldom had the cash to really develop my core provinces.

My thinking was that the best chance for the byz would be to become a trading empire until i had the cash to rule russia. But the key to that is not being at war (at least not with everyone). I guess in hindsight I should've kissed more catholic booty...I doubt it would have mattered though since without the almohad the spanish became the global hegemon.


good luck

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Grifman

Duke

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Posted: Oct. 01 2002,00:11

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Here is the Byzantine Blitz ™ strategy:

1) Hungary is your friend. Your enemy is Turkey. Do not foolishly antagonize Hungary or attack them - a decent frontier force will discourage them from any adventures - 6 unit army in Serbia (slowly increasing to a fulls stack) and one unit in Bulgaria is all you need on that front. You have bigger fish to fry. Forget about the iron - it's not crucial and it won't do you any good to have their iron if the Turks have Constantinople.

2) First two turns - send troops and take Serbia - nice mines and farm income. Wait any later and Hungary takes it.

3) Send emissary to Khazaria ASAP and bribe it. Nice farm, trade income but most important, Steppe Cavalry which will make mince meat of Turkish archers.

4) Pump out troops in the Big C and Khazaria, mainly Byzant infantry and Steppe cavalry.

5) Hire as many mercs as you can afford in Trebizond. You should now have two large stacks of armies.

6) Move everything into Rum. The Turks will retreat and now they are doomed. You have their main, if not their only troop producing province.

7) Garrison the Big C, and build up more troops there, hire more mercs if you can. Let the Turks take whatever they want other than the Big C and Khazaria and Rum - if they hold a province temporarily it doesn't matter - you can now outproduce them since you hold Rum, even if they try and rebuild elsewhere.

8) Eventually, you can build up enough troops in Khazaria (Steppe Cavalry), Trebizond (mercs), Rum (horsearchers) and the Big C (Byzant infantry), along with your Rum armies to manuever and force the Turks back. Shouldn't be too long before you take the last Turkish province.

9) Now take some time to consolidate your victory, but don't stop producing troops or take it easy. The Egyptians will soon attack - they never attack the Elmoheads when they can attack Christians. Just build up and be prepared.

10) I use the island as naval bases. They all get 20% agriculture, then build only enough to be able to produce ships - to be used against Egypt (see below).

11) You shouldn't have trouble beating the Egyptians as you can easily outproduce them. A good idea when the war comes is an amphibious invasion of Egypt. A one stack army can usually take it, as they never garrison it with enough troops. This deprives them of a major province, and also heads off the Spanish or Elmoheads taking it as you roll back the Egyptians from the north.

12) With the Turks and Egyptians yours, your future is assured. Just build up for the Mongol invasion, and prepare to retake Italy or anywhere else your fancy takes you You can even attack the Hungarians now if you want. The world is now your oyster.

Grifman


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Taohn

Man at Arms

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Toronto, Canada Posted: Oct. 01 2002,00:12

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If you're playing Early, I've gotten myself a good start this way. Kick the turks out of Rum and Armenia on the first turn. If you use the right combo of troops they may reteat from Rum without a fight. Rum is their home province so you'll have, for all intents and purposes, eliminated them. Don't kill them off totally though or you'll regret it.(rebellions) I like to leave them Syria. Raiding them often so they pose no threat. Also, Lower Naples' taxes to very low and start a fort. Attack Sicily on turn one with all troops in Naples. Try to kill all their soldiers on the battle map or you'll have to siege a keep with Naptha throwers and Byz infantry. Either way you'll end up with a free keep

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Like all Miyagi, Shimpo Sensei was fisherman.... Love fishing. Love sake. One day, strongo wind, strongo sun, strongo sake, but no fish. Shimpo Sensei fall asleep off coast of Okinawa, wake up off coast of China.

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Like all Miyagi, Shimpo Sensei was fisherman.... Love fishing. Love sake. One day, strongo wind, strongo sun, strongo sake, but no fish. Shimpo Sensei fall asleep off coast of Okinawa, wake up off coast of China.

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Grifman

Duke

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Posted: Oct. 01 2002,00:55

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I have no problems with any Turkish rebellions and its 1274 AD and I have every Turkish province and have had them for over 150 year. I suspect you are not doing a good job of managing happiness in your provinces . . .

Grifman

[This message has been edited by Grifman (edited 10-01-2002).]
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Rosacrux

wind of change

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No man's land Posted: Oct. 01 2002,07:01

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Good strategy Grifman, and on Expert, from my experience with it, it's the only working.

but the lad is playing on easy, so give him a way to enjoy the game from early on, not crush'em all and then spend the rest of the game warring one faction after another, with no peaceful times at all, until he steamrolls over all provinces.

On easy, you can concentrate on production/trade but wiping out the Turks is crucial: If you let them grow, they'll become a major pain in the arse. So, take them out the way Grifman describes (those mercenaries are a must-have for early warfare, the AI has nothing to match them). Once again: Take out the Turks in the beginning. If you can come up with a couple of alliances before invading Rum, all the better: You'll have an easier time later on.

As for building up, Constantinople should produce Byz-inf and Cataphracts and a dromon or two early on, while an island province (I usually pick Crete... for sentimental reasons) can grow to become your main shipyard and produce loads of Dromones. So after some crucial upgrades, Constantinople should build all the money-bringing buildings and later on the nifty ones (Chancellery, Cathedral, Uni and so on). Greece and Nicae produce decent money, so build those up too... quickly. In the beginning you'll want to build archer facilities in Trebizond, to get those fancy (and effective) archers with good valor.

But you should make Rum your main troop producing province, along with Khazar (take both ASAP, they are crucial for your welfare of the Byzantines). Steppe cavalry is very useful and you'll have those buggers around up until you get Pronoiai Allagion (the latter a very decent medium cavalry btw).

You have to know that as the Byzantines you shall have no free time, meaning every now and then (even on easy) a catholic faction shall jump on your throat. You have to play the diplomacy game with skill and cunning, use them spies and assasins and try to keep good relations with all you can, because trading is vital for you - you need BIG armies to defend your lands, not mentioning going on the offense (something you'll have to do sooner rather than later - at least against the Muslim factions. The Turks shall attack you no matter what, and the Egyptians shall follow, so be prepared).

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Pragmatic

Mercenary

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Posted: Oct. 01 2002,07:26

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Well, I tried it on Normal settings. Only minimal save/reloads. I was doing quite well, but decided to quit. I still need a few games on Easy. And I haven't a clue on how to use the tactical battles. (Thus, invading Sicily and Rum on the first turn are flat out.)

Also, I ran out of money early on, so I couldn't bribe the Khazari. (Just as well. There was a Spanish crusade headed for Khazar, and it had three stacks by the time it had reached eastern Hungary.)

I did figure out that there's several provinces that you want to keep, no matter what.

Constantinople: Kataphraktoi, already well developed, loyal as all get out.
Trebizond: Treb. Archers, starts with an inn, also loyal.
Nicaea: Pron. All. (no-one had mentioned that; I sat bolt upright when I read that in the province display...), also loyal.

So, next game on easy, and only Auto-calc battles that are overmatched. (I'm going to be creamed, but what the heck... Can someone point me to a thread where tactics are discussed? I know the basics: hold the center with your best infantry, archers behind to pepper oncoming troops, and cavalry is to be used on the flanks or for running down routed troops.)
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Rosacrux

wind of change

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No man's land Posted: Oct. 01 2002,07:32

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For one, Naples is doomed. don't try to even get it up and running, just concentrate on the vital provinces. But you shouldn't give away anything else, you want to cream the Turks not get creamed by them. Focus on Rum, then Khazar and if you can get away with it (have a couple of spare units) bribe away Serbia.

Another point: Don't build everything everywhere: Focus on some key provinces (those I have already mentioned) and forget about the others, until you have abound cash.

As for tactical battles, there are others more skilled than me to get advice from... check the index thread, there are quite a few topics about this.

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CHIEF HISTORIAN

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Grifman

Duke

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Posted: Oct. 01 2002,09:59

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Quote
Originally posted by Taohn:
If you're playing Early, I've gotten myself a good start this way. Kick the turks out of Rum and Armenia on the first turn. If you use the right combo of troops they may reteat from Rum without a fight. Rum is their home province so you'll have, for all intents and purposes, eliminated them. Don't kill them off totally though or you'll regret it.(rebellions) I like to leave them Syria. Raiding them often so they pose no threat. Also, Lower Naples' taxes to very low and start a fort. Attack Sicily on turn one with all troops in Naples. Try to kill all their soldiers on the battle map or you'll have to siege a keep with Naptha throwers and Byz infantry. Either way you'll end up with a free keep


You must be playing on Easy. Won't work on hard:

1) You can't easily take the keep on hard with what you have

2) Even if you take it, you almost always get a rebellion that outnumbers you

3) The keep will hold for 4-6 years, but you can't afford to build ships in Constantinople and send troops to Sicily and fend off the Turks at the same time.

Strategy just won't work on Hard.

Grifman


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Paladin

Count

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Posted: Oct. 01 2002,13:01

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Quote
Originally posted by Boromir0101:
4. Constantinople good rich farm province, build it up (if you get 1092 patch it starts better)



Absolutely. And it makes for more historically accurate and more fun since your back is up against the wall and if you don't make the right moves, you can easily be defeated by the Turks early on.

For anyone that wants to download a copy of it:

http://home.pacbell.net/jpaladin/1092Early.zip


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Transported to a surreal landscape, a young girl kills the first woman she meets and then teams up with three complete strangers to kill again. - Marin County newspaper's TV listing for The Wizard of Oz
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DojoRat

Duke

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Posted: Oct. 01 2002,13:07

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The Byzantines in the early period on normal have a lot of tactical advantages. Their generals are great and the early appearance of Byzantine inf is another plus. Here are some basic tactical tips.
1. Know your enemy. Build a watchtower in both the east and the west. They're cheap and it will let you know what you're facing.
2. Gain local superiority. Build/Gather your forces from nearby provinces but just watch your loyalty/tax ratio.
3. Use the terrain. If he is on a hill try to either lure him off with some skirmishers or at the least turn sidewways on it by setting up on his side. Keep your Cav out of the trees when attacking.
4. Hold and flank. Group your spearmen and militia in a line. Send them forward to engage their line. Place your Byz inf on the flank and send them on a short hook to flank the end of their line. If you have some Kataphraks send them on a longer hook around the other side to plunge into the back of their general who has turned to meet the threat of you Byz INF. Save the light cav (if you can) for mopping up or scattering archers.
Different opponents will require different tactics but holding the center and turning the flanks is a good start.


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MajorFreak

Knight

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Canada Posted: Oct. 04 2002,20:04

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I played on hard. I figured i'd leave the european theatre till much later, and concentrated on killing of the Ottoman's and Egyptians. (italians caused me no end of grief with both ship bugs - no compass/mobile blockading)
i attacked Rum first turn. lowered taxes to stave off revolts and just went full bore on ethnic cleansing. Not pretty, but it got me Rum. After that it was a steady march: Armenia, Edessa and then Tripoli and the one just to the north and south of tripoli were ripe for the taking after i wiped out the turks

Best tactical advice for dealing with the turks? cavalry get massive penalty in woods, plus arrows suck in woods. You'll be outnumbered, so good luck. It's so worth it when you destroy the cream of turkish military and it's downhill for them after.
discovered the joys of heavy armour and desert heat. icky (though i mourn the fact winter weather isn't available....actually i do hope they patch in random winter weather. rare, but it would be nice to have the odd snow blizzard fight.)

[Graphic]

I found a rather sneaky way to become very powerful within a mere several turns with the Byz.

Simply take your Emmisary and go around all of the many rebel provinces to the North and bribe away. Most of them have very little loyalty and are very cheap to bribe. Within 15 or so turns, you'll have as many provinces.

Notes:

- If you like, when your emissary is finished bribing the final rebel provinces around Muscovy, have him take a brief journy through Germany and Denmark to bribe Norway and Scandanavia (there's a good chance that your emissary will be assassinated when passing through those territories, though).

- There is not much fear of this causing you to go bankrupt, because as you bribe more and more provinces, you will be getting an income from all of them.

- This strategy is possible with the Turkish, also, but not advisable. The Turks would have to deal with a lot of revolts since they are Muslim. Most, if not all, of the provinces in question are Orthodox, as is The Byz.

[The_Emperor]

My main strategy for the Byzantines in Early is to give up Naples and develop everything else. (with a good dose of bribery to take advantage of rebels near Hungary)

Naples is in all probability going to be lost sooner or later because the people are catholic and full of rebellious spirit... even if you manage to keep the people down, by the mass training of Peasants and Militia the Papacy and the Sicillians will move against you and you will lose without naval support.

I say let them have it, crank up the taxes let them rebel and ransom back your men. (if you want them that is)

Focus the bulk of your attention on Turkey and wipe them off the Map... and then you get to laugh as Egypt attacks you with massed hordes of peasants

[katank]

It's nice to blitz turks by hitting Rum, then Syria and whichever provunce sultan is for a possible ransom.

then, hit eggy with typical turkish blitz that I illustrated in my turk guide part.

there's actually a decent chance of trapping the sultan in antioch if you blitz turks right away

note: your emperor and lone naptha already take Rum on their own on the first turn.

I know it's an abuse of jedi generals but it works with nice wedge switch to 1 liner when wedge hits and then slam other units with naptha grenades.

this turns into full rout for the turks soon.

move in some more troops to maintain loyalty.

the Turks will be crippled by lack of troops production for the rest of the game (two or three turns from then).

BTW, you trebizond inn will also fill up (often with turcoman foot with whom to take down the sultan, ahhh the irony)

[Doug-Thompson]

Quote[/b] (The_Emperor @ May 04 2004,14:28)]My main strategy for the Byzantines in Early is to give up Naples and develop everything else. (with a good dose of bribery to take advantage of rebels near Hungary)

Naples is in all probability going to be lost sooner or later because the people are catholic and full of rebellious spirit... even if you manage to keep the people down, by the mass training of Peasants and Militia the Papacy and the Sicillians will move against you and you will lose without naval support.

I say let them have it, crank up the taxes let them rebel and ransom back your men. (if you want them that is)

Focus the bulk of your attention on Turkey and wipe them off the Map... and then you get to laugh as Egypt attacks you with massed hordes of peasants

Consider, also, a banzai charge into Sicily on the first turn with your entire Naples garrison.

Defending Naples usually gets you into a war with Sicily while you're stretched out into Egypt, and an expensive naval war at that.

So crank up the taxes, abandon Naples and attack the 100 spears and a keep in Sicily.

Storm the keep. Take it and delete all of Sicily's buildings before the Loyalist revolt kicks in. Fight the loyalists, pay the ransom for your troops, rebuild the Byz infantry unit and send it east to the real war.

You've now done the Sicilians serious hurt. Nobody's going to be building ships in Sicily for a very long time.

You've also broken all contact with the Sicilians, who will put one fleet in the Malta Channel and the other in Sicilian waters to renew contact with Sicily and re-take it. The war with Sicily is over.

Now you're free to finish off the Turks and Egyptians, and use horse archers from Greece and cheap Slav Warriors from Bulgaria to wipe out the rebels in Serbia and provide the necessary garrison. Build a fort and a port in Serbia. Meanwhile, build a ship in Constantinople and get it over to the Adriatic. Return to Naples in triumph, then take Sicily and keep it.

[katank]

I see no need to use bribery for the rebels as they are trash that cost money.

these lousy spears can be killed by HAs or if you spare a byz inf from the war with Turks/Eggy.

treb archers also kill spears like nothing.

Is it just me or does it seem like Const. should just churn out a byz inf every turn for the first decade or so?

[Kristaps]

Quote[/b] (Doug-Thompson @ May 12 2004,12:15)]Naples is in all probability going to be lost sooner or later because the people are catholic and full of rebellious spirit... even if you manage to keep the people down, by the mass training of Peasants and Militia the Papacy and the Sicillians will move against you and you will lose without naval support.

Hehehe, keeping Naples actually is my pride goal if playing Byzantines: I make sure I fight off all rebellions and siciallian incursions until my fleet is able to bring in reinforcements. A combinations of the initial infantry + some peasansts, then urban militia, then spears and locally trained rebizond archers can do wonders :)

A blitz into sicily and NOT DESTROYING IT, is another option. I keep Sicily, and then attack Napolese rebels with troops built in the more advanced island. If you lucky enough: you might even jump start ship building in Sicily.

Actually, tried it again last night :) The lone Napolese byzantine infantry general Cerularius should rather be called Figaro. One turn he was fighting in Sicily, the other: back in Naples fighting an uprising happy about his absence.

Here is how it went (GA, Hard):

AD 1087 - Lord Lascaris: a scary 4 dread general becomes the king of Naples; Cerularius (the byzantine general in Naples) accepts the honors to be the Duke of Trebizond (2 command stars); construction of guard towers is started in Naples; Lord Cerularius and the napolese garrison venture into Sicily.

AD 1088. - the Sicilian spear unit retreats into the keep;
Cerularius and and his naptha throwing buddies move back into Naples to quell a catholic uprising (if no old_rebels are used this is quite manageable); start building border towers in Naples.

AD 1089. - Lord Cerularius earns his 3rd command star slaughtering napolese catholics; As soon as the dust settles he sets the sail back to Sicily where their king has
abandoned the island garrison all alone (the Sicilan boats have taken off for somewhere...); note that the Sicilians were not able to build anything during year 1088 since the province oficially belonged to Byzantines and there were no unit building facilities at the time in Malta; on the orders of Cerularius, fort construction is started in Naples.

AD 1090. - to the amazement of Lord Cerularius, Don Duncan Corsini has ordered his Sicilian spear garrison to defend in the woods... they get slaughtered or captured to the last man. The Sicilan keep falls with no defenders left. Despite 99% loyalty, catholics rise up again in Naples. Lord Cerularius sets his sail back to Italy. Town watch construction starts in Sicily.

AD 1991. - on the sight of Lord Cerulariu's unit marching off the ship, the Napoles catholic rebels retreat screaming like women. Lord Cerularius earns his 4th star. however, his absence has not passed unnoticed by Sicilian loyalists who do not seem threatened by the freshly recruited peasant leutenant in the keep.

AD 1992. - Lord Cerularius kills 50 loyalists, capturing 47. This does not stop the islanders from rising up again.

AD 1993. - Lord Cerularius helped by freshly recruited Sicilian militia kills 70 loyalists, captures and executes 50 more. From this point on: the populations in both Italian colonies seem to be content.

P.S. I guess, it wouldn't have gone as smoothly if (1) the Sicilians arranged their fleets correctly and got their king join the fight in Sicily, (2) the Pople had realized Naples was undergarrisoned at times... (3) the Italians had realized the same thing... (4) Lord Cerularius got rebellions in both provinces at the same time (5) old_rebels switch was used :)

[Doug-Thompson]

Quote[/b] (Kristaps @ May 14 2004,11:22)]A blitz into sicily and NOT DESTROYING IT, is another option. I keep Sicily, and then attack Napolese rebels with troops built in the more advanced island. If you lucky enough: you might even jump start ship building in sicily.

Now that is intriguing. If the keep's not destroyed in the assault, you can get a swordsmith's workshop pretty soon and replace losses to the Byz infantry. You could hold off rebellions indefinitely.

[katank]

dammit.

that's so true.

didn't think of that.

I simply had him fighting off wave after wave of Naples rebels.

by 1092 now he's already a 5* with a huge list of skilled and risky v&vs.

he's now my best non heir general

keeping both may actually be doable now that I think about it.

hmmm.

fight the rebels both ways and the swordsmith can immediately start having more byz inf join him and replenish losses in his unit.

this way you could actually hold all both provinces.

this is assuming the Sicilians don't smarten up and send their king over from malta which would be horrible.

the AI is incapable of managing their only two fleets so well though and hence that wouldn't be an issue, I suppose.

[Doug-Thompson]

THE BYZANTINES — EARLY

1. Opening moves
The Byzantines need to attack Turkey and then Egypt in a variation of katank’s patented “Ransom the Sultan” blitz for Turkey.

There is also the isolated province of Naples to consider. The best defense there is an attack.

Gather all available forces and attack Rum. This is the richest, most developed province for Turkey. Without it, the Turks are hurting. Keep pounding the Turks with your Byzantine infantry, Trebizond archers and Kataphracts.

After you have taken Syria, go on a “ransom blitz” against Egypt. Methods vary depending on difficulty and number of troops, but the idea is to take and hold Syria, Tripoli and Palestine before the Egyptian sultan leaves Antioch. Then seize Antioch and ransom the sultan.

Other chances to grab the sultan and extort ransom will arise. In one game, I ransomed the sultan three times for a total of about $28K.

Meanwhile, back in Italy …

Take the whole Naples garrison and invade Sicily on the first turn.

At worst, you will set the Sicilians back for years, inflict heavy casualties and be able to ransom back your Byzantine infantry. Rebuild the unit in Constantinople and send it to the real war in the Middle East.
At best, you will storm the keep, conquer Sicily, build a swordsmith there to rebuild your Byzantine infantry and triumphantly retake Naples.

Finally, do not forget the Balkans. Horse archers from Greece and Slav warriors from Bulgaria can take Serbia easily. Just get to it when you can afford it and before the Hungarians do. Use the horse archers to destroy as many of the rebel peasants and spears as possible before engaging with other troops.

Congratulations; you are now the proud owner of an empire stretching from Egypt to south Italy. Time to tech up, build a dominant navy and get ready for the Crusades that will come your way. So much for Christian solidarity.

One final note on the opening moves; the island provinces of Crete, Rhodes and Cyprus are a lot of trouble, but work to keep them. They can make good shipbuilding centers. Their loyalty will improve once they have a ship link to some other port in the Byzantine Empire.

2. Units and buildings.
Byzantine infantry from Constantinople, Trebizond archers from Trebizond and Kataprhacts from maturing heirs make all the army you will need for the opening blitz. Some Slav warriors for garrison duties and as governors plus some horse archers for killing rebels are supplementary.

People love Kataphracts, Pronoiai Allagion and Varangian Guards, but those high-powered units can wait. First get your trade routes established and your coasts covered with fleets, develop your farming economy, and build up good armies in your big border provinces: Greece, Bulgaria and Egypt. Byzantine lancers and cavalry in support of Byzantine infantry and Trebizond archers will handle anything in the Early Era. Get yourself squared away, and then you can afford those top-flight units and have the time to develop them.

[katank]

hitting Sinai and forcing the Sultan to one side would be another ransom opportunity.

a cheap trick is to let Arabia or Egypt rebel and then hit the other side for the ransom.

this way, the Eggy gain some loyalist rebels but the cash that you gain from ransom will more than offset however much it cost to kill the rebels.

besides, if you provoke a rebellion, be sure to leavew the province empty and usually at most 3 units will pop up.

For the opening, I like to have all forces in Anatolia attack Rum and your katank emperor can take care of just about the entire enemy army there and the naptha can nuke the spear unit to prevent them from tying up your emperor and your spear is just for back up.

this deprives them of their unit production province right away.

pull all other units to trebizond and leave only 1 byz inf on the western front.

queue up all byz inf in Const.

give title to someone in Trebizond or Georgia and attack the next turn Armenia while reinforcing Rum so your assault goes through.

then, storm Edessa and Syria on the next turn.

Inn in trebizond should yield some nice mercs to use against the Eggy, often a unit of Druzhina. FFK is always nice even if it fries in the desert, it wil be enough to cut through a few nubians before they are useless.

I love it when I can hire some muslim mercs like turcoman foot or kwarzies. ahhh, the irony.

for the Naples Sicily part, you should attack Sicily the ver first turn and then turn back to crush the rebels in Naples.

then, invade Sicily again and the spear will actually stick around to fight.

bomb it with naptha a few times while maneuvering with Byz inf. feign charges with Byz inf to get them off the trail of the naptha so the naptha can use all their ammo.

when all ammo is up or they are close to routing, charge in melee from both sides and try to get all of them.

if you get all of them, you'll not have to assault the keep and a free keep with shipyard without needing to assault is nice.

you can try and keep naples by fighting rebels every turn but I personally try to just keep Sicily by first pumping peasants, spears, and finally Byz inf.

then, after Sicily stabilizes, take back Naples.

Taking Rome is a good idea as you are the true Romans and must restore the empire. Also, getting a Castle isn't bad and by use of some cav etc, you can ensure grabbing the castle without needing to assault.

Also, the Popesta is a lot quieter about calling ofr crusades against you yadeeyada when you are sitting next to his weakling army with a huge stack

[Zortanius]

What I love about the Byzantines is the fact that everyone in the game wants to hate you. Every faction covets Constantinople and the rich provinces in the Balkans and Asia Minor. Usually even if you ally with a few catholic factions, even if one catholic faction attacks you - they all switch to neutral. Some even to enemy. They all send crusades to various provinces of mine - Constantinople, Nicea, Anatolia et al.

So, within say 20 years of you not doing much except capture some rebel provinces, pretty much everyone is out for your bllod. Wave after wave of catholic crusades sweep in from the west. Meanwhile hordes of muslim warriors bombard your east. Needless to say - it's tonnes of fun after a while. Almost every Byzantine unit has good defence stats, many - like Kataphracts and ByzInf have better defence than attack. The latter, with a level or two (or three) of armour upgrades and valor bonuses are absolutely deadly. They can sut thru almost any muslim infantry - including saracen infantry and if they can catch and pin them, murabatin infantry. They kill camels as well, who have a combat penalty in non desert areas. Also your first King Alexius I, will have 7 sons, 3 of them will be absolutely deadly both as fighters and generals and 2 will be solid if not spectacular. Throw in the one unit of Varangian Guard which you start with - commanded by the emperor's cousin, and the 1 or 2 ByzInf generals you train at constantinople, you have a veritable inpenetrable collection of legions. Spend the first 20 years or so getting as much of the rebel balkans and steppe areas as possible. Thereafter get all the farming upgrades and build basic military installations at Lesser Armenia, Serbia, Anatolia and Nicea. Pump out spears from one, archers from another and BI from Constantinople. You may have to build 1 more ship though just to keep the italians away from your lands. Therafter settle in to fight lots of defensive battles against superior odds. THAT is the real fun of playing as the Byz.

One year (1133 iirc) I had to fight 4 different crusades (French, Italian, German and Aragonese - the nerve), fend off both the Turks and the Egyptians as well as repel the Russians who are very very sneaky. Always try and keep 2 or 3 units of steppe cavalry in your armies for rounding up prisoners and repelling HA.

Sometimes I will bribe rebels in some far of province - Sweden, Ireland or even something like Flanders after a rebellion - just to get in at the deep end.

You know you are going to win the game eventually - just make it more challenging and fun.

Cheers

[ah_dut]

bwa, byz inf and treb archers roll over all in early with the jedi's in tow

[Mightypeon]

Med mod 3.14 high

The starting situation is grim.
Byzantium is in the hands of the outremer scum, Kerte is captured by the Italians and the rest of the outremer surats hold on Zyprus. So what to do?
I usually build units in Treb and Greece, get some help from Niacäa and then retake constantinoples.
It try to make a lot of them run.
Assaulting Byzantium castle is extremly costly, I prefer sieging it out.
After this setback, the Eggys/Turks will kill of outremer.
Take Cyprus, once the outrmeer fleet is gone.
Now advacne agasint the Turks.
Try to hold and fortify Georgia, the hilly terrain is your main point of defense agasint the incoming horde.
Crimea should get some fortifications.
Design a specialized Castle defense force and wait for the horde.
Try to establish a Empire from Greece Bulgaria to Georgia to Egpyt.
If you did this the really hard part is over.
Now take over control of the med, and ready yourself for the next fights....

[Paladin]

The Viking version of the game must have improved the AI because I easily built up a nice empire emcompassing the balkans, Naples, Anatolia, mideast, and egypt. I had a huge annual income that let me build like crazy. But the Germans and the French sent Crusades to pester me.

Thinking that I was the master, I laid waste to their base in Hungary and took every Hungarian province in two turns.

Feeling pretty good, I took over the Papal States and proceeded to attack both the Germans and the French.

That's when a massive Golden Horde showed up. The next turn, the Papacy returned with a massive force. So I was fighting the French, Germans, Papacy, and the Golden Horde. After a few years of brutal war, my empire dissolved into two factions. Now, my empire looks like swiss cheese. There's nothing easy about this version. But I'm having a good time.

[katank]

always be prepared for the GH with healthy pack of buffed varangs in the Khazar fortress for them to storm as well as more varangs and heavy spears forming a plug behind which mountains of arbs in Kiev can destroy em in Kiev.

1231 is the magic year so be prepared.

war with 4-5 factions isn't much.

play HRE and you'd be at war with 6-7 factions at a time if you prohibit yourself from rampant offensive wars that destroy factions (ie. can't wip em out).

[Romaoi]

Byzantine Ransom Blitz (Med Mod, Expert Early)
Turn 1. Prepare for Invasion.
A. Move Units into Constantinople: Byz Inf from Greece, Crete and Cyprus. Byz Inf, and Strat from Trebizond.
B. Move Dromon from Crete to Rhodes.
C. Build Watchtowers in Greece and Constantinople. Port in Bulgaria. Spear1 in Cyprus and Trebizond and start Keep in Rhodes.
D. Train 5 Treb Arch in Bulgaria and Constantinople; 5 Spear in Greece and Rhodes; and 5 Dromon in Crete.
E. Send Princess to Kiev and Emissary to Rum.

Turn. 2. Invade Moldova.
A. Move Imperial Army from Constantinople (1 Kat BG, 1 Strat, 1 VG, 2 Treb Arch and 5 Byz Inf) into Moldova; move 2 Treb Arch and 1 Byz Inf from Bulgaria into Moldova; and move 1 Byz Inf and 1 Spear from Rhodes into Moldova. Move 1 Spear from Greece into Bulgaria.
B. Build Spear2 in Constantinople and Armorer1 in Greece.
Results: Moldavian forces will usually retreat into fort without fight.

Turn 3. Invade Poland.
A. Move Imperial Army (1 Kat BG, 1 Strat, 1 VG, 4 Treb Arch, and 7 Byz Inf) into Poland. Move 1 spear from Greece and Rhodes into Bulgaria and 1 Treb Arch from Constantinople into Bulgaria. Leave Moldova to the Russians for now.
Results: Polish King will usually retreat into Silesia or Volynia, leaving his castle to fall immediately. Sometimes though, you may have to assault the castle on the next turn.

Turn 4. Collect first Polish ransom.
A. Destroy everything in Poland for cash except watchtowers/border forts.
B. Attack Polish King with your Imperial Army (leave a 100 men to garrison Poland). In Volynia you will usually capture him outright, in Silesia he may take refuge in the keep.
C. Collect the ransom usually around 8,0000 – 10,000 florins. If he retreats into the keep prepare to assault on the next turn.
D. Build armorer1 in Trebizond and Crete and start a Keep in Cyprus. Build Merc in Bulgaria.
E. Move 1 Spear from Rhodes and Greece and 1 Treb Arch from Constantinople into Bulgaria.
F. Train 5 spears in Trebizond and Cyprus.
Results: If you capture his Royal Highness he will pay you dearly. If not, get him on the next turn. Poland may rebel against your garrison, if so, smash them again.

Turn 5. Regroup the Army.
A. If you have ransomed the king, return the Imperial Army to Poland. If you have taken Volynia or Silesia outright, destroy everything for the cash. Otherwise you will have to assault the King in his Keep on the next turn.
B. Move 1 Spear from Greece and Rhodes and 1 Treb Arch from Constantinople into Bulgaria.
Results: The province you have just left will usually rebel for the Polish King on the next turn. If so, prepare to attack him again for another ransom.

Turn 6. The Big Invasion. Collect second Polish ransom and mug the Hungarians.
A. Attack the Polish King in Volynia or Silesia with half of the Imperial Army.
B. Attack the Hungarian King with your Heir and half of the Imperial Army in Poland and the Imperial Army in Bulgaria (7 Spears and 6 Treb Arch).
C. Build Trader1 in Bulgaria and Spearmaker2 in Greece.
D. Move Spear from Greece, Rhodes, and Cyprus into Bulgaria and a Treb Arch from Constantinople into Trebizond.
E. Train 5 Spear in Greece and Rhodes; 5 Kats in Constantinople and 5 Treb Arch in Bulgaria.
F. Hire any Mercs in Bulgaria.
Results: You give the Polish the once over again. The Hungarian King will usually retreat into Carpathia or Croatia leaving his nice Hungarian Castle to you outright. Sometimes you will have to assault the Hungarian Castle on the following turn. Either way it is a rich prize, so destroy everything for cash.
You mug the Hungarians the same way as you do the Polish. Chase them from Croatia and Carpathia for as long as the other factions will let you do so in peace. If the Hungarians have an ambitious King, they may have taken Wallachia or Serbia while you were mugging the Poles. If so, then you will have to build Kats earlier for a good leader and detail part of the Imperial Army in Bulgaria to drive the Serbs out to where they can be cornered.
But be careful of the Sicillians, Italians, the Turks and the Russians. They can swarm like sharks if they smell too much filthy lucre flowing into your coffers. I can usually hit the Poles three times and the Hungarians twice before somebody tries for Greece or Trebizond. This expedition usually nets me around 40,000 florins before I have to deflect an attack from a jealous rival.

If the Turks become embroiled with the Egyptians (something you should encourage), keep a look out for an advantage against the Russians. I once brought my Imperial Army back to Bulgaria, only to find the Russian Prince was in Moldavia, Kiev, Crimea, Pereyaslavl and Khazar. I drove him out of Moldova, Kiev and Khazar and mugged him in the Crimea, leaving him 10,000 florins poorer in Pereyaslavl. His fleet was very large and kicking my fleet’s ass so I finished him off there.

I can usually keep the Sicillians out of Greece with 4 Spears, 3 Treb Archs and a Kat Heir. But the Italians are another story, I do everything to keep them happy until I can make fire Galleys. Watch the Turks, because they usually come on like gang busters. Also don’t let them keep any ships around Cyprus!

The purpose of this mugging expedition is to fund Byzantine economic and military expansion. It also effectively eliminates Hungary and Poland as threats and can embroil HRE and Italy over Croatia and Hungary. I prefer to marry into HRE and ally with them as a check against Italy. The elimination of the Polish threat only strengthens HRE against Italians. The Turks I take care of when they come. We play a game, they hit Trebizond and I retreat into my Keep. I hit make a seaborne invasion of Anatolia on the next turn while the AI masses its Turkish Army in Trebizond for an attack on my capital. They divert their army into Anatolia while I strike into Rum, which the AI leaves with only a small garrison. The Turks get Anatolia back leaving Trebizond intact with its Byzantine Garrison still in the keep. Rum usually falls like a plum, castle and all, I raze all the military buildings (I don’t destroy the rest because I’ll be back soon to stay) and leave it to the Turks, who retake it with a huge Army. Now my main Army in is poised opposite in Trebizond. This usually invites the Egyptians to the party. They can’t resist an undefended Syria or Edessa. After that it is only a matter of time before I and the Egyptians dismember them.

I’ve done this about a dozen times now and after the dust settles, Byzantium occupies Constantinople, Nicea, Anatolia, Rum, Armenia, Georgia, Moldavia, Crimea, Kiev, Bulgaria, Greece, Crete, Rhodes and Cyprus. Khazar, Serbia, Hungary, Croatia, Wallachia, Carpathia, Volynia, and Silesia are in ruins and left to the jackals of war. My economy is humming and Egypt is still rich and ready for the plucking.

Remember, that I use the word usually a lot. It doesn’t always go down so easily, but have fun and give it a try.

[Romaoi]

MTW VI BYZ Early Normal:
Pull troops out of Georgia and Lesser Armenia. Very low taxes in Naples, Georgia and L armenia. Low taxes in the Islands and normal taxes elsewhere. Build W/t in every province first turn. Take Serbia first turn with Treb from Bulg and Byz Inf from Greece, to buffer Greece. Take Walachia and Moldavia sequentially with Constantinople garrison. Second turn build forts on Islands, Treb and Naples. Third turn start building farms and traders on Constantinople, Greece, Nicea and Bulgaria. Get to where you can produce spears and trebs in Naples, Trebs in Trebizond, Byz Inf in Constatinople. Ships on Islands. Build Anatolia towards spearmen. Don't bother with horsies, Byz Inf, Spearmen and Trebs can handle the neighbors with ease. Concentrate on economy and trading. Put good leader prospects in Bulgaria to use Serbian, Wallachian and Moldavian rebellions to raise stars and military skills. (I got a seven-star Master of Numbers Treb this way) Avoid conflict as long a possible until you get really powerful and rich, then kick ass. You may have to give of Georgia and L Armenia for a little while. I have seldom lost Naples by building in this order: Watchtower, fort (train 2 Peasents), town watch (train 2 UM) , spear 1 (train 4 spear), bowyer 1. Then just train lots of spears and trebs and wait for the Pope, Italians or Sicillians to call, and kick their butts when they do. Most importantly, experiment and have fun.

[Lanemerkel1]

People love Kataphracts, Pronoiai Allagion and Varangian Guards, but those high-powered units can wait. First get your trade routes established and your coasts covered with fleets, develop your farming economy, and build up good armies in your big border provinces: Greece, Bulgaria and Egypt. Byzantine lancers and cavalry in support of Byzantine infantry and Trebizond archers will handle anything in the Early Era. Get yourself squared away, and then you can afford those top-flight units and have the time to develop them.

I personally have found that the best army if you don't have VI is 4 units of PRONOIAI ALLIGON 2 units of BYZANTINE CALVALRY 1 unit of KATAPHRAKTOI as the general 4 units of BYZANTINE INFANTRY 3 units of TREBIZOND ARCHERS (1 of them being your starting one and the other 2 being newly trained out of trebizond or constaninople) once the BULGARIAN BRIGANDS come along replace the 2 units you of TREBIZONDS you trained with 2 units of BRIGANDS and 2 units of VARANGIAN GUARDS it works PERFECT and all these except for the BRIGANDS are exclusive to the byzantines so I just make it a byazantine exclusive army by not replacing the TREBIZONDS with BRIGANDS then its a byzantines exclusive

[Lanemerkel1]

oh yeah i can't find the EDIT button so this ell have to do you have to have the ptroop thing set on HUGE

[Jamais Le Dimanche]

I love playing Byzantines in Med Mod Early Expert. The problem is that their starting position in Med Mod is not as good as in Regular MTW VI. Nicea has no tradable goods and belongs to those pesky Seljuks. As does Anatolia. AND they have Ottoman Infantry, which if I recall my history, would not come available until the Ottomans (Osmanlis) come of age in the late thirteenth century. I found that if I tangle with the Turks, the Russians attack with a lot of ships and Boyars, or the Hungarians, Sicilians or Italians. This is especially true if I play my normally peaceful development plan.

So I am experimenting with early Blitz attacks, to cripple them until before they can get too strong. Today, I had a few hours free, so I tried this one several times with some interesting results.

On the first turn I move everything into Constantinople, except of course for the Vest (Byz Inf) stranded in Rhodes. I move the Dromon from Crete to Rhodes. And build Dromons in Crete, Kats in Constantinople, Trebs in Bulgaria and Spears in Greece and Rhodes. I also build for spearmen in Trebizond and Cyprus who will come available on turn Four.

On turn two in move the Rhodes units (Byz Inf & Spearmen) into Nicea. The Army in Constantinople I split in two. Army Number One (Kat BG, Kat, 2 Byz Inf, 1 Treb) joins Rhodian force in Nicea. Army Two (VG 2*, Byz L, 3 Byz Inf, 2 Treb) moves across the Cherno More (Black Sea) into Kiev. Reinforce Const from Bulg and Greece. Press turn button.

On turn three the Russians vacate Kiev leaving either Castle or Keep intact (as happened every time so far.) and go into the Crimea. The Turks in Nicea retreat into their Keep. Reinforce Nicea from Rhodes, Trebizond from Constan and Constan from Bulg and Greece.) Assault Keep in Nicea and destroy everything in Kiev and move into Crimea. Press turn button.

On turn four, Army #2 on auto always beats Russians, who leave with remnents for Khazar, leaving Crimea either intact or with a garrison that you must assault. Turks in Nicea fall to army #1 leaving either keep or fort intact. The Turks will often Invade Trebizond at this point with a small force. If they do pull your garrison into the keep. Build a watch tower in Nicea. Take your King Kat, everything in Constan, Bulg and Rhodes and move into Trebizond. Take your new Heir and the rest of Army #1 and head for Anatolia. Build spearmen in Cyprus (and Trebizond if Turks don't bite). Build some stuff and press button.

On turn five, Army #1 forces Turks into keep in Anatolia. Army#3 (remember Emperor in Treb?) forces Turks out of Treb. Army #3 either destroys remaining Crimea garrison or defeats Russians in Kiev and forces Russian Prince into Keep in Khazar. Russian Revolution breaks out in Kiev.

And so it goes. Russian rebels retake empty and devastated Kiev. Russian Prince ransomed in Khazar. Khazar is destroyed and small garrison is placed into Crimea. Remainder of Army #2 leaves Khazar via port (which is destroyed afterwards) a lands in Trebizond. Anatolia keep is assaulted, Army # 3 feints into Rum and everything that is avaliable reinforces Anatolia.

Most of the time so far, the Turks pull into Castle in Rum and I put both all three Armies into Rum to meet the counter attack. The AI seems to be slow to move troops from Edessa, Armenia and Syria to protect Rum. On the following turn there is a large battle in Rum, which has always been a Byz victory so far. Soon Rum falls and is laid waste, followed by Armenia (likewise wasted, my intention is to weaken, not destroy Turks and Russians). I then fall back to a three province border in the east Anatolia, Trebizond and Georgia.

If Egypt doesn't join the feeding frenzy, leave Lesser Armenia alone or they will attack too soon. Also weakening the Turks too much also invites a premature Egyptian attack, so stay out of Syria! The Egyptians have plenty of units and rich provinces, so I prefer to fight them in defensive battles where I can bleed them a bit, before I attack. Besides with this plan the Byz army will be spread out in the East and West. The key for the Byz at this stage is to crank out a lot of Spears from Greece, Rhodes, Trebizond and Cyprus, plus Trebs fro Bulgaria and Kats from Constan. This combination seems effective at this stage, before Byz Inf can come on line in any numbers. Train and reinforce like crazy. Keep a good stack in Constan for your second heir to use against Hungary if possible or to protect Greece from the Latin maritime powers.

In the most interesting game so far, I've have managed to rush west with my second heir and blitzed Hungary for two Royal ransoms, leaving me with Bulgaria, Serbia, Greece, Moldavia, Constantinople, Nicea, Trebizond, Georgia, Anatolia, Crete, Rhodes and Cyprus, protected by a buffer of devastated Croatia, Hungary, Carpathia, Wallachia, Kiev, Khazar, Armenia and Rum. All in all a fine empire to start with and with 40,000 florins or more for development. Most of the time, however, Egypt or Italy give me serious trouble before I can finish with Hungary. Sicily will also try to cause trouble (usually maritime attacks, but once in awhile a strike at Greece). I find that the Sicilians are the easiest to handle, but Italians seaborne invasions or an Egyptian breakout in the east is SERIOUS TROUBLE.

BE SURE TO BRING CYPRUS AND RHODES ONLINE AS SOON AS POSSIBLE AS SHIP BUILDERS. Dromons aren't very good potection, so you need a lot of them to protect your islands and keep your seaborne reinforcement routes open. Italy, Egypt and Sicily all seem to build a lot galleys and Dhows.

I am going to try Blitzing with the Hungarians next. Poland looks well situated for several royal ransoms.

[_Aetius_]

My strategy with byzantium on early is on expert mode, keep naples and develop it, start by building watch towers on my first go in every single province, then border forts in naples and other rebellious provinces on my 2nd go i build 20% farmlands in anatolia, constantinople, nicaea, and greece. Then forts in anatolia, bulgaria naples and georgia. Send everything i can spare east after 5 or 6 years invade rum and over the next five years crush the turks.

Easy.

Then avoid war with egypt, create a frontier, i have rum armenia, lesser armenia and edessa, egypt will probably take syria from the turks and they also have antioch. Maintain large garrisons on the frontier and replenish the garrison on the other forntier with hungary.

All the while creating a fleet take crimea which has no defence whatsoever, trade all the way upto venice, and to egypt. Develop all my provinces i start to pump out byzantine infantry in 3 or 4 provinces, varangian guards and heavy cavalry in constantinople, trade keeps money flowing in, if a war with egypt or sicily ruins this, build an army in naples to capture sicily defeat the sicilian fleet, with egypt let them invade your provinces there armies are poor and you should massacre them with the armies used in the earlier turkish campaign.

They will both sue for peace soon, but it doesnt matter if sicily doesnt because theyll be reduced to malta and your navy should be to powerful for theres. Dont take anymore land you have enough develop everything because the money form sicily, constantinople, bulgaria, greece, crimea, and nicaea will be massive.

Thats what i always do, and since ive conquered eevry province on the map by starting with this strategy to start off with it clearly works.

[metatron]

Kill the Turk quickly; I cannot stress this enough. He will become much stronger as you become weaker. Hire mercenaries, don't worry if they outnumber your own men.

After said Turks are all subjugated under the Imperial banner, consolidate your European front, as an Egyptian expedition would be costly and cause logistical problems (although, if you feel you can afford it, go for both).

Keep you fleets in a triangle between the Black Sea, the Adriatic, and the Nile Delta and all your feduciary problems should melt away.

After Egypt/the Balkans are secured, you may want to push to Spain/Russia. Both offer their share of riches. The African route offers your army security, and Russia does fall to the Khan eventually. However, establishing a presence there can mean a quick counterattack, or an initial decimation.

Finally, the last provices open to you should be the Italian/Iberian lands. The Spanish aren't nearly as rich, but they won't have the entire Catholic world at your throat either.

Above all else, do as the Emperors did since Augustus: manipulate your enemies, exploit divisions and weaknesses. Roma Victor!

[ZlOpOgLeDjA]

Greetings! Ladies & Knights
Romanii attack!!
an easy non stressful play fir byzantine experts from 1087 to ???

Buildings & Improvements
WT, BF, Fort+Motte+Bailey, Mine, +20%, Port, TP, TW,
Keep+Wall+Ballista, MineComplex, Me, +60%, Church, TG, Tavern
Castle+Wall+Catapult, MeG, +80%, Monastery, Brothel, Alehouse
Citadel+Barbican, MaMe, Reliquary, TM, Drinking Den, Stew

list of military provinces for continuous training:
Cavalry
Moldavia : Avar Nobles (sp-ar+hb)
Kiev : Steppe Heavy Cavalry (sp-ar+hbg)
Khazar : Steppe Cavalry (hf)
Siege Weapons
Constantinople : catapult (sew) * i prefer castle assaults
Foot Ranged
Trebizond : Trebizond Archers (bo) *
Infantry
Bulgaria : Spearmen, Slav Javelinmen (sp)
Nicaea : Byzantine Infantry (sp-sw)
Sweden : Viking Units (sp-sw+ar+RP)
Navy
Crete, Rhodes, Cyprus : Dromon (shipwright)

I. Short Term Objectives
1. Rum & Armenia (do not proceed towards Egypt, cause you will most likely
become a goal for crusades. this way you can provoke a inner crusade warfare!?)
line should be Lesser Armenia - Rum - Armenia
2. Moldavia (your prize province!) - Avar Nobles are similar to Kataphraktoi
but, quicker and cheeper & most of all you will be able to train them at Keep level!
3. Provide navy from islands : Crete, Rhodes & Cyprus (use navy to protect Greece)
4. From Moldavia to Kiev & Khazar to get basis for Steppe (Heavy) Cavalry.
* Naples?! if you can't have it, give it away! hopefully Pope will have it!
why? best scenario is when you capture Venice, is landing of Pope onto Sardinia, Corsica

II Long Term Objectives
5. War against Hungary, Poland & Russia to establish line
Croatia - Hungary - Poland - Prussia/Pomerania
6. War for the line from Venice to Flanders (cutting off britts)
7. Get Pope to desert Italy!
8. From now on you can attach middle east to your orthodox family
9. Childs play for France, Spain & Britannia
*destroy all military facilities with exception of your own...

you should rule the old world within 100years...

[Kralizec]

In my last Byzanthian game I tried to capture sicily whilst holding naples as it seemed a good idea. Sending both the Byz infantry and naptha over to sicily the first turn means that the Napelese rebels will be fewer in numbers.
I first gave the infantry general the Duke of Trebizond title, so that the army would have +1 valour because of the two stars granted by the title. Crushing the sicilian army wasn't difficult at all.

HOWEVER,

I never manage to catch all the routing troops! There are always a few spearmen or u.m. that manage to make it to the end of the map because my byz infantry isn't capable of intercepting them! This is hugely annoying because I have to return to naples to fight of the insurection and Sicily returns to the sicilians. Sicily is more valuable then naples because of the keep but assaulting it isn't much of an option I think because the low loyalty meanst that a huge revolt would happen instantly.

I eventually did manage to take sicily and keep Naples (the last battle was against my 100 man army against a single spearman. I autocalced because I feared that if I did it manually the spearman would just flee before I had a chance to attack him). So now I had both provinces, after a lot of years (don't remember how many, 7-9 I think) and a 6 star general.

THEN

The Italians invade Sicily with 10 units of Urban militia. Knowing that my sincle unit of byzanthine infantry is no match even with the 5 units of valour that it had, I retreat. I'm left over with Naples only.

[Talon]

Byzantium Early on Expert

The Byzantines are one of my favorite factions to play, possibly because everybody else in the game hates them and they are the "outlier" faction. Catholics have other Catholics and Muslims have other Muslims. You're on your own baby!

First, as many suggest- attack the Turks in Rum instantly-you can deprive them of their troop generator and cripple them early. Next, take Serbia and Wallachia. This is all you do on the Northern front for a long time. Use Serbia, Wallachia, and Bulgaria as your defense line against the waves of crusaders that are bound to come. Build up your troops armor factor in Constantinople. It is relatively easy to defeat the Turks. As for Naples- its gone- some say attack Sicily but I dont think that works on Expert. Just ransom your troops back- they are useful in finishing off the Turks.

Keep your islands, eventually you'll need all 3 as ship producers.

Once you have the Turks wiped out, build up some economically and get ready for the Egyptians. Pay careful attention not to become overly dependent on mercs. I always keep my florin flow on the positive side.

I looked to bribe Khazar as well but the generals loyalty was too high- his price was over 12,000 florins and not a good deal- although I missed the light cavalry.

Soon the Egyptians will attack you. Some talk about ransoming the Egyptian Sultan but he died when I cornered him. Proceed south methodically down into Gaza and Egypt. If the Egyptians have a huge troop buildup, then hire some mercs and throw them into the grinder the next turn- dont keep mercs around long.

You can wade through the Egyptians with good generalship and som patience- keep your units in formation and dont chase the wily buggers. It may take awhile to chew them up but it will happen. In my game the Spanish met me halfway across Africa as we both chewed up the Egyptians.
I consolidated, improved economically, started building ships and when the Spanish declared a crusade I smashed across Africa (which is a pure slugfest as you can only go one province to one province)

I fought one of my toughest battles in Tunisia. The Spaniards had four stacks of troops to my two (one Byzantine, one purely mercenary) I attacked with my mercenary stack anchored with two units of heavily armored Byz Inf. In a classic attack of him hitting my right flank while I hit his, it was the longevity of one of my Byz Inf units holding onto my right flank long enough for me to roll up his right flank. Still with the merc troops (a real mishmash) it was a tough battle but ultimately a satisfying one.

It was one battle of victory or facing a breakthrough all across Africa, but eventually I reached Morocco. The fact that the Byz have great generals helps! I built ships to protect my coastlines as all of my garrison troops were hordes of peasants. If I would have lost a battle I would have been in serious trouble.

Spain was a tough nut to crack, with several huge battles, one of which ended up in a surprising defeat. But in the end I was able to eliminate the Spanish and control Spain. I holed up in Aragon and Navarre- two easily defendible provinces while I recovered and built up.

In the meantime I had fought battles against basically all the Catholic factions in Serbia. The high quality of troops built in Big C plus all the experience gained by units in successive successful battles made Serbia a rock upon which the Crusaders smashed themselves. Troop capacity in the Big C, Trebizond, and a few secondary places was adequate to replace losses.

Once I had a string of ships across Notrh Africa and a heavy fleet built up I finally took out the wily Sicilians, who made a complete nuissance of themselves throughout the game. Note: You have to keep control of the sea areas around Greece and Serbia or the Sicilians will attack you there when youre least expecting.

ABout this time the Italians finally declaed a crusade and I smashed my way across the northern med to control almost all land around the Med. My fleet destroyed the Sicilians and Italians (over many years of fighting) and I retook Naples, Sicily and Malta.

At this point my economy was humming along almost unstoppable. I started using autobattle in some of my fights as I took out the French, then the English in Western Europe- always keeping the number of provinces I needed to defend at a minimum. Finally I took out the Germans which was easier than expected. It was with regret that I attacked the Hungarians and the Poles which heretofore had been the only factions NOT to attack me. By now I was using mostly autobattle and massing huge armies where the enemy retreated.

The last bastion was Eastern Europe, Scandanavia and the steppes of Russia. I was able to bribe quite a few territories and waded through all else. I almost conquered everything before the Mongol horde arrived but missed it by one year and one provence. Then the AI placed a full 8 stacks of Mongol archers, heavy cav, and warriors in Volga-Bulgaria. I traded provinces back and forth for a couple years until I could surround the Mongols with heavy troop formations. At this point I had ships in every sea and had capacity to creat a full two stacks of troops from coastal provinces. Eventually I was able to surround the Mongols with enough troops to pin them down and engage them. Four hard fought battles with 4000 troops per side ended up in Mongol decimation, and terrain covered with bodies. That was it- game over. Byzantium reins supreme!

[BalkanTourist]

Byzantium is the easiest faction to play with. I conquered 100% of the map in 1166. I kept Naples and took Sicily. I attacked the Turks and whipped them out in 4-5 years then immediatelly took the battle to the Egyptians. In the North I rushed all the rebel lands effectivelly cutting the Hungarians and the Poles from the steppes. It was so exciting to fight the Horse Archers of the steppes with my BIs and an unit of VGs. Upon my reaching of Prussia the unit was a 10 star general. Loyalty was a problem at first. From there it didn't take me long to move over to Scandinavia and finishing off the steppe rebels. I had an amazing roster of units, vikings from the north, Avar nobles from Moldavia, Steppe Heavies, but the best unit of them all - Byzantine Infantry!