Quote Originally Posted by Spino
Transforming Venice into a part of the mainland as opposed to making it a tiny island makes perfect sense when you consider how the AI might deal with it. As I recall RTW's AI was never particularly bright when it came to amphibious invasions so whether this has been improved in MTW2 or not CA probably thought it best to help level the playing field a bit by making Venice somewhat of an easier target for enemy nations.

Furthermore now that Venice is part of the mainland the AI controlling that faction might be more inclined to behave more sensibly. If Venice itself comes under siege a Venetian army in the area would have a much easier time marching back home to assist as opposed to having to rely on a dodgy naval AI which might place a friendly fleet well out of range and unable to carry out the necessary transport mission.
Of course this would be a feature only a perfect world where the Artificial Intelligence was actually intelligent. I completely agree that until we have reached that level of technology, all allowances must be made for an idiotic AI in games.