Venice

[TinCow]

I have played two VH/VH campaigns as Venice now. I lost the first and am doing reasonably well on the second. I will describe my errors in the first, the change of strategy that allowed me to survive in the second, and general advice.

First campaign:
I grabbed Zagreb and Durazzo almost instantly, with Florence and Rhodes following shortly. I made alliances with everyone I could and was raking in money. Unfortunately, my military forces were relatively minimal, with the only sizable force capable of taking the field located near Venice. Hungary and Byzantium allied and both declared war and besieged Zagreb and Durazzo respectively on the same turn. Both stacks were massive and I had no chance of defeating the assaults. I sent my large army from Venice to try and help Zagreb. Both cities fell the next turn, before my relief army could arrive. With the main force diverted to the east, Milan (my allies) declared war and besieged Florence. Hungary also moved on Ragusa. I turned the army back around made for Florence, but it too fell before I could get down to help it. HRE then declared war, defeated my main stack and took Venice. I had managed to assemble a large force on Crete and could have attempted to invade Greece and survive that way, but instead I declared defeat and started over.

Second campaign:
Took Zagreb and did as one of the previous posters advised: took Durazzo for mission money and then abandoned it. I focused spending on military development in Ragusa and Venice, with the aim of being able to fight offensively in Northern Italy and defensively behind the walls of Ragusa. As before, Hungary and Byzantium declared war and attacked Zagreb and Durazzo. However, since Durazzo was rebel, I was not at war with Byzantium. Zagreb fell and I did not try to retake it.

Despite many alliances, I soon found myself at war with Milan, Sicily and HRE. I focused everything I had at military buildup around Venice/Florence while building defenses and archers for Ragusa. I stayed on the defense in Italy until Milan and Sicily got excommunicated for repeatedly attacking me. I then managed to grab Bologna (Sicily had taken it from HRE). With Venice, Bologna and Florence all controlled by me and close to one another, I was able to out-produce Milan and took Milan and Genoa after many battles of attrition. During this time Ragusa had been attacked several times by Hungary, but strong defenses and the ferrying of troops and generals across the water by boat helped preserve it.

When Northern Italy was secured, I built up a large force, including catapults, and took the war to the Sicilians. Following the capture of Palermo, I then took Corsica and Sardinia, making all of Italy my own. By this point, I was no longer in danger of imminent destruction. I then focused on economic development and border defense for a long time.


General Comments:

Territories - You start with very widely dispersed territories. Your cities will all have to be self-reliant at the beginning of the game. This may mean giving up Zagreb and Durazzo as I did. However, there are FIVE cities very close to one another in Norther Italy. This is a major power base and should be your first objective. I would even say you could lose all other provinces and still be ok, as long as you were able to expand in Northern Italy. Once you have those 5 in your pocket, you will be in good shape.

Militia units - Venices militia are very good. Italian Spear Militia and Pavise Crossbow Militia in particular are excellent. At higher development levels, you can get a militia cavalry unit as well. On top of that, the town hall line of buildings gives you a morale boosting unit that can also fight decently when things are desperate. With all of these units, and the ability to produce siege engines, you do not even need castles to become a military power. Given that all 5 Northern Italy settlements are cities (and you want to keep them as cities for trade), this is important. I highly urge fielding armies that are based on these units. You can go most of the early game with them just fine.

Use the Carrocio Standard! (or whatever the morale boosting city hall unit is called) The morale boost is noticable and will keep your Italian Spear Militia line holding significantly longer. While they are expensive to recruit (about 750 if I remember correctly), they have a very low maintinance (about 50 I think), so they will not cost you much in the long run. They are entirely decent fighters too, and can make the difference in a battle if it is hanging by a thread. Just tell them to drop the standard and attack like normal infantry. I always keep one of these in every city and in every major army.

If you lose Ragusa, perhaps consider converting one of the Northern Italy cities to a castle. Otherwise, I believe it is in your best long-term interests to keep them all as cities.

Castle units - After you control Italy, you will want to develop your castles though. Palermo, Ragusa, and either Corsica or Sardinia should be more than enough to keep you supplied with castle troops until you take a mainland castle from HRE. Once Italy is secured, I highly urge you to hold your borders and develop your cities. It takes a while to get decent units out of Venices castles, but when you get there it is worth it. Venetian Archers, Dismounted Men at Arms, and Venetian Heavy Infantry are excellent units. Venetian Archers may even have a run at Longbowmen for one of the best archer units. They are particularly excellent for siege defense, since they have long range arrows, good defense, and can fight off anything but heavy infantry in melee. This is an archer unit that you can place in front of in-coming ladders and siege towers. When they run out of arrows, use them as an additional infantry unit.

Crete/Rhodes - Crete is an excellent outpost territory. Use milita from there to take Rhodes, which you can develop either as a city or castle, depending on your desire. Crete and Rhodes will be constantly blockaded during wars, but I have not yet seen the AI attempt naval invasions of them. They are the perfect spots from which to launch Crusades, allowing you access to Asia Minor instantly by ship, or a direct landing in the Holy Land within 2 turns of sailing. If you start your Crusades from these islands, no one will ever beat you to the objective.

Venice Defense - Defend the bridge! Thats right... that huge bridge that is the only access to Venice. If you can hold there, great, do it. Even if you cannot, hold there for a little while, shooting them up with your crossbowmen as they come across, then withdraw into the city. It is technically a battle loss, but you will have inflicted large casualties by crossbow for the loss of a unit or two of spear militia. A worthwhile trade IMO.

Pope - Keep on the Popes good side. Let everyone else get excommunicated by attacking you. Always do what the Pope asks. When the Papacy is low on money, gift money to them, particularly in tribute. They will love you and you will probably be able to get an alliance with them. Since you will be fighting in Italy a lot, you can sometimes get Allied Papal forces to fight with you. This means auto-excommunication for your enemy!