Venice

[frogbeastegg]

Venice is playable right from the start, without the need to unlock it or edit any files.

[Amon_Zeth]

Watch out for Emperor Alexius of the Byzantines, to the east. He's got about eight stars or so, and I think he usually has a full stack of troops with him. Scary.

[Lusted]

Overview

Venice are in an interesting position. At the start they border Milan, HRE and Hungary, and soon will border Byzantium and Sicily as well. It has good trade and a good mix of units, especially some useful militia units to protect its cities. It's unique infantry units(Venetian Heavy Infatry, Venetian Archers) do not take long to get, and are good quality troops.

Starting Position

As mentioned above, your borders are nearly surrounded by other factions at the beginning. There are 3 rebel provinces near by that you should try and get as soon as you can. Zagreb or Durazzo you wil be assinged to take by the Council of Nobles, and i go for both of them. Also try and get Florence if you can. Also try and build up good relations with the other factions in Italy, as well as Hungary as you do not want them to backstab you if you play Venice like i do.

The Pope

Do everything you can to make yourself the best loved faction fo the Pope. This greatly helps you out with wars against other catholic factions. Milan are likely to back stab you at some point, but maintain good garrisons in you settlements and let the ai attack them. This wa you beat up their army, they are the agressors, and will 9/10 times accept a ceasfire the next turn.

Byzantium

Once i've got myself quite secure in Italy, i go after the Byzantines. They field quite archer heavy armies, which can be a pain as Venice, but if you bring armoured sergeants, mailed kngihts, and your own archers along their armies should be no trouble. I plan my war against Byzantium in 2 parts.

1. Take Thessalonica, Corinth and Constantionple. Then build up my forces before
2. Taking the rest of their settlements, as well as Rhodes.

Once Byzantium is destroyed you should have enough provinces to be raking in the cash.

The Holy Land

What i like to do next, is use Constantionple, Cyprus and Rhodes as launch pads for Crusades to the Holy Land. This further extends your empire into provinces which can bring in a lot of cash, and also provides you with large armies for when the Mongols come.

Italy

All this time you will more than likely have been attacked in Italy. At first just beat them when they attack your cities then make peace. Later on try and capture a province from the factions that attack you every now and then. Then rebuild your standing with the Pope. This way you can slowly conquer Italy, whilst not getting ex-communicated.

The Mongols and Timurids

These 2 can be either a huge pain, or do nothing. Personally i plan based on the huge pain thing. Let them attack your cities, and beat them when they assault them. In open battles their horse archers and cavalry will beat you, even if you have got to Chivalric Knights and Menat arms by this point. Wear them down slowly using your fortresses.

End Game

You should already have quite a few of the 45 provinces needed for victory, and now you can do several things, or a combination of them.

1. Conquer the rest of the middle east and Egypt
2. The New World
3. Beat up some other Catholic factions to get the required provinces.

I hope this is helpful, even if it is a bit short.

[santelia]

Venice is a wonderful italian choice, but to really boost it the right way the right beginning strategy is the key. So, to grow fast and to easily conquer territories you have to pay attention to a couple of not so visible elements:

1) you are compelled to control narrow long territories, such as the eastern Adriatic coast, and narrow territories mean both difficulty in mantaining a quick reinforcement chain and frequent attacks on long exposed borders. Magyars, HRE and Byz could become annoying reasons to waste unwanted money to face their attacks time after time.

2) in the beginning Milan can be a quite ally, but if you really choose to ally with them and to forget them for many turns, you are in the meantime letting them build a strong economy and very dangerous armies. You risk to pay a lot, later, for such a lazy choice.

So, that's what I did:

Destroyed buildings in Durazzo and disbanded troops down there, to get an initial boost of money. Didn't care of losing the town. It will be so easy to take it again when needed lately in the game...

Build up a little but hard army in Venice, sent it with 3 spies to Genoa to open the gates, conquered the town and made a ransack. Got lot of money and strong happyness. Raised taxes. Build a harbour. Made a new little strong army in Venice. Same tactic used to Bologna, that already has a harbour. Next turn got Florence from rebels the same way. In the meantime Pope asked me just to take Florence, that I was already taking, and got some free troops as prize. Funny. Same tactic again to get Milan. The Milan remaining armies (only 3 and not so strong) became rebels the next turn, and they sadly faced my towns being beated with easy.

End of Milan faction. Northern Italy is mine.

Now spent some turns to build up my economy and enforce my armies and garrisons.

After a short body-building time, sent spies to Naples, followed by a strong army, all along the Adriatic western coast. Faced Sicilian king's army in the south and beated it 2 times, then finally arrived to the gates of Naples (opened the usual way) and conquered it. Usual ransack and usual lot of money and happyness.

Pope asked to take Rhodes from rebels, so I build up an army in Crete, sailed to Rhodes, put it on siege, and taken it after 1 turn. Another price from Pope. Great!

Then used few more turns to enforce economy all over my territories and to build up a strong army in Naples. When ready, sent usual spies to Palermo and taken it with the new army. Ransack, money and happiness the usual way. Sicilian faction is out. I am the owner of all Italy, and only have a precious tenant in Rome (the Pope!).

Now, it's time for greek territories (Corinthus, Thessalonica and Byzantium, plus my former town Durazzo).
I did it my way

Next move: Asia.

But the key of success is to be found in the beginning attack strategy.
In my way, I have the strongest economy of the campaign, and the best manageable territories, in a very smart blitzkrieg.

See you soon, mates!

[phoule]

Possible bug? Or feature of playing the "Merchant" civ...on turn 1, you can send your diplomat to pay HRE a visit at Bologna. Say hi, make a deal to swap maps, trade deal and alliance and then to top it off with a merchant strat BUY Bologna off HRE for 1000 florins for 6 turns, when the city is yours from the sale you'll get 5 Merc Xbows which can move on Florence in the same turn, then reinforce Bologna with some units from Venice, essentially laying claim to Bologna and Florence on turn 1 in addition to laying claim to Zagreb...then assault Florence as your first move and because of your size from the first turn Milan will be happy to pay you 1000 for at least 4 turns in exchange for an alliance, so you essentially end up paying 2000 florins for Bologna. Considering it pulls in a hefty 1200+ a turn in taxes it pays for itself very quickly. This was in a very hard campaign map...

Bug or Feature?

[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!

[Beren Son Of Barahi]

I thought i would post my experience and lessons from my campaign with Venice. although reading the post above, a lot of what i have learn is there.

Venice is in a great location and ironicaly in between a rock and hard place. that being in between alot of cathlic factions and also on the cusp of the muslim world. The Trick is to get a solid base of operations first, using ities spears and crossbows, both units will hold you under pretty heavy attack if you can keep them focused on strong points. garrison well, and after the rebel land grabs pass, work on your getting 5 cities and the two island castles if you can to the south west. this should give you both the ways and the emans to make money and work on your armies.

it is most important to do things big with venice, if your going to get merchants get lots of them and make sure you don't let others in, same goes for spies, preist and assassin, i have an army of spies, preist and assassins roaming around esp. in front of my armies... this was something i didnt do very well for a while.


* tip Pavise Crossbow Militia work very well in open ground when stagged and skirmishing, if possible aim at the units at the back of the incoming units it causes a large numbers of kills. ities spears can hold any local factions inf at the start of the game.

*tip theres alot of rolling hills around, if you can attack from the hill tops.

rhodes and the other island are great for trading and for staging a naval base. i have one castle and one city, to allow for strong riads into turkey or the holy lands.

wait for the excummincations for milan and sicily , they will attack you and them take all the settlements you can in 2 or 3 moves, i wiped out mailan and sicily in 4 turns each...

after sicily you should have great castles ready to mass produce Venetian Archers, Dismounted Men at Arms, and Venetian Heavy Infantry, as they leave alot of the other units in the area lacking....

take your time with venice and you will prove to be a very strong faction...

[santelia]

One of the best features of venician troops is the killer pavise crossbow militia. Not at the top like the Genoese one (14 shot stat), but very effective (12) for the cost.

Always get at least 4 of them in your army, better if you can get 6.
Play battles instead of making them resolve automatically.

Put your pavise crossbows in the front position, let the enemy army come at your range, walk few steps forward and target the heaviest enemy troops you can find.
The AI rest bug let you shoot your deadly arrows as a killing machine while the enemy troops stay there and die man after man without attacking.
This way you can destroy the heaviest enemy units (heavy melee inf, heavy cav) and the general unit too, before your arrows end.
Enemy archers and crossbows, if any, in the meantime target your most forefront units, that in this case are just your pavise crossbows. Due to their pavise, your crossbows stay completely safe while reloading, and only have the risk to take minor losses when firing.
Bafore you suffer consistent losses (30-50%) with your pavise crossbow units, they will be able to reduce at 20% 1 enemy heavy unit each 1.2 units of your pavise crossbows. Take 6 of them and you'll be able of destroy 5 enemy heavy troops.

Pay attention that your pavise crossbows must always have free sight to the targeted enemy unit, just to be effective and deadly. If they don't have free sight to the target, they use a parabolic shot that results in quite no damages at all for the enemy. That's correct, since crossbow arrows are short and thick and are designed to be effective only with a straight fire.

[R'as al Ghul]

I'd like to contribute my own observations from my 3 Venice campaigns. They are the only faction I've played in campaign yet, but, as they weren't in MTW 1, I found them to be exceptionally interesting and challenging. I guess the same can be said for Milan but I've not played them yet.
My first two campaigns I had to abort due to mistakes on my side. When wrong diplomatic decisions, wars with neighbours and abysmal relations with the pope plus excommunication and the plague all came together at one time, I resigned. But I've learned playing the game and Venice that way. The third campaign is around turn 160 atm and I'm doing very well.

Where to expand?
As others have stated and becomes obvious when you look at your realm, you're surrounded. Even worse, most of your neighbours and soon to be enemies can reach your capital in one turn. Especially Milan and the HRE but also Sicily will eventually try to seize it. I've not had the initial conflicts with the Byzantines and Hungarians as others describe. I guess one reason is that I didn't take Zagreb. The Hungarians and Byzantines are very often Allies after turn 1 or 2. It seems that the Hungarians have the mission to take Zagreb (I've the theory that the AI also gets missions from the "Council of Nobles" like the player, this explains part of the AI's moves) and whether you or the rebels own that settlement makes little difference to them. Let them have it and instead of fighting the Hungarians negotiate trade rights asap. BTW, Zagreb isn't making much money anyway and is landlocked.
I did however take Durazzo (you can wait for the mission to get extra cash or units) and most importantly Florence. I'd try to get Florence on turn two before anybody else gets there. You'll need the income of that city and it provides a jumppoint to the isles of Corsica and Sardinia which you can take later on. Another easy expansion is Rhodes but again, you can wait for the mission, it takes time before others get interested. You can get to Rhodes from Iraklion in one turn and you need about 5-6 Militia units to capture it. I'd recommend thinking about making Rhodes a city as I've not build a single castle unit in that place for the whole 3 campaigns. Your future castle in that area will be Corinth which is always undergarrisoned. But try to wait till you enter a war with Byzanz, a couple of turns into the game and their attention will shift eastward. Try to negotiate for trade rights, too.
So, the initial turns should be devoted to get Florence, Durazzo and Rhodes. Corsica and Sardinia are next and I'd make them cities, too. (The plan for later is to have these castles: Ragusa, Corinth, Palermo and Innsbruck.)
You should now consider how it is feasible to seize the other Italian cities Genoa & Milan, Bologna and Naples & Palermo. Chances are that Sicily will try to claim Florence (the mission thing again). Let them lay siege and wait for the Pope's reaction. If they attack you can esily repel them with your militia force. If the Sicilians get excommunicated - attack and try to destroy them by taking their two cities. The same strategy is recommended with the other neighbours. Milan is very aggressive and the HRE always short of being excommunicated. If you play it wise you can do the pope a favour by expanding to their territory. Be careful, though, it may take longer than you expect.
If you manage to take Italy except Rome you're bound to become filthy rich but you need to make sure that you've trading partners. France has been my ally for 150 turns or more, as have the Papal states. The Hungarians are undecided between war and alliance but have been trading partners for quite some time.
Further conquest depends on the situation but Byzant's greek possessions are yours for the taking once you can muster an army that's not needed to defend your Italian provinces.
If the HRE gets into trouble or is excommunicated take their castles of Innsbruck and Bern.

Economy
North Italy is a powerhouse of trade. See to it that you build the structures to support the economy and get the most out of it. You'll have trouble to upgrade your cities all at a time but make sure that public order is taken care off by building the barracks line and the mayor's buildings. Siege workshops etc. aren't that important and can be delayed.

Diplomacy
This is the most important part of the game I've come to realise. It's a major difference to the previous titles and I really enjoy it. Keeping good relations with the pope is the most important thing, after all he's your neighbour. Also you can't get rid of him in any way, he'll haunt you from exile if you take Rome and you most probably won't be able to repair the damaged relations. I've even had my King die and wasn't reconciled.
To be on the Pope's good side you need to know what makes him happy.
First of all, I offered him Trade rights and an alliance very early. He accepted and we're allies for 160 turns or more now. That's a good start but won't help you through the game. The difficult task is to keep it that way. I've made it a a habit to drop by every other turn and offer him my map info (if I have something new) as a gift. Sometimes he'll decline and even insist to pay you for it. Additionally he'll keep track of your doings and if he thinks that you're not a good catholic your pope-o-meter value will fall. So, don't attack your christian brothers before they do, defend yourself and wait for them to be excommunicated. Train a lot of Priests and send them to the Byzantine Orthodox region, to North Africa and to the borders between Moors and Spain. By converting and fighting Heretics you'll quickly gain Piety points and have your Priests promoted to Cardinals and finally to the College of Cardinals. try to have at least three Cardinals in the College to influence the Papal votings which can happen very suddenly even if the Pope is still young. Be prepared. It's absolute legitimate to send assassins to the other Cardinals to make room in the College for your own. Select the enemy Cardinals on the College scroll to learn their position on the map.
Apart from the dealings with the Pope you need to stay in touch with your allies and trade partners. Make them small gifts to maintain good relations. Seize opportunities to fight together with them. A good way is to attack a fleet when the Pope's fleet is near it and you're allied with him.
All your neighbours will sooner or later send a bunch of Assassins and Spies to your cities, even if they're neutral. Keep a spy in each of your towns and train your assassins on the never stopping flow of foreign agents. Escpecially the Hungarians and the HRE have swarmed me with agents.


Military
Military wise, as was already said, you can pretty much rely on your city troops. I've fought for at least fifty turns with nothing else but Militia. Italian Spear Militia and Pavise XBow Militia. Later you can add Cavalry Militia, Broken Lances etc....The castle units are excellent once you get them, but after taking Palermo or Corinth that won't be a problem. Shipping troops over from Ragusa to Venice is very quick. BTW, it is absolutely necessary to build a strong fleet. Try to tech up to War galleys asap and build stacks of three. Make use of the chokepoints at Durazzo and Palermo to keep enemy fleets out of your territory. Iraklion should be able to build at least war galleys if you want to survive the naval battle with the Byz empire which will come eventually.

I hope I've inspired the one or other to try this faction. It's really fun if you add some roleplay elements to it and try to stay on the good side of the Pope. Right now most of my Generals have lots of vices and very low piety but my pope-o-meter just maxed out after building the second cathedral.

[Sharpy]

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.

I lost my first campaign in very similar circumstances. To avoid a repeat, I did two things; Firstly, I reigned in my conquest of Rhodes till later in the game, concentrating on consolidating the Adriatic first (the Hungarians WILL attack if you look weak). I also converted Duosso into a castle to stop it revolting and to free up units.

Second, I took out Milan immediately. It took about 10 turns and allowed me to focus on Bologna, Florence and Sicily without having to worry about Milanese armies. From that point, winning the game was a foregone conclusion.

[frogbeastegg]

This is not the place to talk about bugs. Do that in the Citadel.

[Alexander: The hellenic empire]

I am currently playing a the Venicians and I am having a lot of trouble with the Mongols who are blasting down through Europe. I have been successful in defending my castles with archery but cannot match their missile cavalry in field battles. Does anyone have any advice for defeating the Mongols.

Thanks,

I have also found out that getting hold of the new continent is not as easy as it seems. Any advice for this would be great.

I hope I'm not asking for too much.

I also hope you are having as much fun as me while playing, most probably, the best game ever.

[Il Duce]

Here's my strategy (or what I have been doing for the last 50 turns):

1)Establish a strong trade economy with your neighbors quickly--especially with your Italian buddies...establish alliances with them to keep a period of peace on the peninsula; while you're at it, send out diplomats to secure your relationship with the more powerful nations like Byzantium...this will ensure that you will have at least 30 or so turns before you start getting harassed by them

2)Take over the rebel provinces--in the order of: Florence, Durazzo, Zagreb, Rhodes...Florence and Durazzo are the most important ones.

3)Send out several merchants to monopolize the resources in your peninsula.

4)Once you have a sizeable income, start building your army with more expensive units...also you should now have some cavalry units that you got as a gift from your council of nobles if you've taken some of the rebel states.

5)After building a sizeable army, take them over to Genova and kick some ass...in my case it was just some Milanese general there so it was easy...

6)Establish order in the new city, then march your guys over to Milan and burn that to the ground.

...that's as far as I've gotten...Milan has been pushed back further north and I have control over parts of the northern mediterranean and the alpine provinces...I plan to conquer the Sicilians and control the peninsula...after that, I don't know where I should go...the Byzantines and their cavalry archers are pesky to deal with (especially with a militia-heavy army) and HRE is still a bit too powerful for me to deal with...it'd be nice if i can monopolize the entire mediterranean...

[Wizzie]

Why Play Venice?

Venice is possibly one of the most interesting factions to play, not only for their fantastic militia armies, but also their ideal position near the seat of the holy see and the edge of the Christendom; within easy striking distance of the fabulously rich Asia Minor territories and their inhabiting infidels.
This gives you many options at the very start of your campaign. Should you take up the crusader's cross and bring the light of Christianity to the heathens across the adriatic? Set your economy on overdrive and become the trading hub of the mediterranean? Or, set your sights on Europe and crush the Christian Monarchs under your elegant velvet bootheel? Each is possible.

Short Term Goals - Early Game

Although it is tempting to band your militia armies together and ride off to sack Thesalonica and Constantinople right at the very beginning, your first priorities lie in securing you borders. Although the Council of Nobles will scream for you to annex Zagreb and Durazzo, neither is particularly wealthy or provide any significant advantages other than to over-expand your borders at a time when you are quite vulnerable. If the Council does offer a reward for the capture of either, it is worthwhile to send a token force to sack the settlements before abandoning them and leaving them to rebel. You will need all the troops you can get for the Peninsular war which will shortly be coming to a head.

The Nettle in the Bushes - Bologna

Bologna is the most pressing and tricky problem you will first have to deal with. Not only does it have a powerful Imperial Army, complete with an Emperor with an unhealthy hankering for Gondollas and Venetian girls, but it also lies between you and Florence. Although some think that Florence is a waste of time, I would strongly disagree. Not only does it expand your power base in sub-Alpine Italy, but also gives you access to the West coast of the peninsula. And this will be vital for creating various fleets, and for any military ambitions on the islands of the med, specifically Ajaccio and Cagliari.
So, one of your first orders of business should be to march your army of merchants and tradesmen over to Florence and force the resident duke to bow to the power of the Doge. However, to do this without dealing with Bologna will result in your various armies tramping all over the Emperor's lands. Understandably, soon enough he'll get annoyed at you and feel inclined to send his Germanic armies off to stick sharp things in your face.
You have three options:

1. Ignore him and induce the pointy things outcome.
2. Sack Bologna and start an early war with a powerful Empire.
3. Buy Bologna from the Imperials for 1000 florins for 6 turns.

Of the three, I would usually pick the third options. Not only does it remove one faction from the inevitably inter-Italian wars, but also gives you a few mercenary crossbow units for free and delivers the city of Bologna into your sweaty little palms.
However, if you do opt for the sack and pillage option, be prepared to suffer the Pope's displeasure and take on a powerful entity early on. Not really recommended for beginners.
In any case once you have Bologna you will be rated as quite a powerful faction, and it is worth trying to eek out every Florin of everybody when it comes to eary-game diplomacy. Giving away Map Information, trade rights or alliances; be a proper Venetian entreupener, sell anything you can for extortionate prices and buy anything you reckon you can flog on for a profit.

The Snake in the Grass - Milan

By now you should have Venice, Bologna, Florence, and the castle at Ragusa under your control, and you should be concentrating on building up ports, roads, farming and markets in each to maximise your income. If you are a person of a certain agressive and tyrannicaly nature, you can go for Milan straight away and try to throttle them before they become too much of a problem. However, I found it more leisurely and slightly more devious to churn out some heavy militia spearmen armies and wait for their inevitably attack on me.
While you wait, you should send some token forces to capture the island settlements of Ajaccio and Cagliari. Personally, I converted them to settlements as I thought they would turn into cash-cows later on (which they did), but I also see some merit in leaving one as a castle to support any military operations around Northern Italy, as Ragusa is quite far away. Alteratively, you can convert Florence to a castle to serve this function, but I think the islands are the better option (Florence will develop as a city quicker than the islands will). However, if you're confident enough you needn't bother turning any into castles, as Venice' militia armies are more than adequate to deal with any threats.
Once Milan attacks, repulse them with your militia armies and pounce on Genoa and Milan as soon as possible. At this early stage it is probably better to sack these settlements, as you could use the cash, but watch out for his Popeness. If Milan have expanded across the Alps, I would be reluctant to follow them. The tactic I would use is to capture Bern (as they usually will expand to Bern and then Dijon) and gift it to the Papal states, meaning you have a buffer between your little powerbase beneath the alps and your marauding enemies. Another plus to this tactic is that the Pope thinks you're the best thing since Jesus.

Fortress Italy

Now you have all of Northern Italy under you control, woohoo!
A major advantage that is often overlooked is that there are only around six to seven passes allowing access into this little money-printing region with it's big, wealthy cities. Since I wanted to move my conquests towards the Byzantine Empire at this stage, I created "Fortress Italy" by blocking all the passes with forts, garrisoned by a unit or two of cheap militia. Remember these forts arn't there to withstand any serious attacks, just to deter any wandering armies or to delay any would-be-invaders long enough for you to scrape a stack together. Once you have the money, it's worth creating a heavy espionage network with a spy in each of your Italian cities (they will be magnets to spies of the other Christian factions - and the less unrest in your cities the more you can tax them), and also spies in each neighbouring settlement on the other side of the alps. This way you can spot any invasions before it's too late.

The Mafia - Sicilians

By this stage Sicily will be hankering for some land and will probably attack you (if they havn't already). If you've been smart, you've been building up a nice, elite, small army in Ragusa. If you havn't, well you should have. Ship this castle army over to mainland Italy to take on whatever mob the Sicilians have sent against you, and hiring some mercenaries/getting some reinforcements from nearby settlements, march on Naples. Don't pause for too long in this conquest, as Sicily can be quite tenacious and have a good early-game unit roster. It's best to hit them early and fast with units like armoured spearmen that can withstand their Norman Knights/Muslim Archers combo. After a quick jaunt across to Sicily to storm Palermo (Note: the conquest of the Sicilians was a prolonged affair in my campaign because I didn't plan for it and I induced Papal interference. However, that's no reason for yours to go the same way. Know and plan for this war from the first few turns) you should be sitting sweet.

Now what?

Now you have several options. You can sally across the Alps and storm Europe, or head off and conquer the Byzantines (this is a lucrative prospect). Alternatively, you can use Palermo as a staging post for conquering North Africa, and move towards either the Iberian Peninsula or towards the Holy Lands. The advantage of starting with Crete and being within striking distance of Rhodes is that you have the perfect launch pad for Crusades - and you should exploit this. Not only do Crusades gain you favour, but turns your characters into Gods among men and make you very, very rich.

In any case, by this case you campaign will have panned out in it's own unique way and the way forward is really up to you, so happy conquering

[TevashSzat]

This is a blitz strategy that I have found to be very effective. I play as vh/vh.

First turn, use faction heir's army to take Zagreb. Leave one unit in it and send the rest of the army towards Durazzo. Build up three cavalry from Ragusa. Send faction leader in Venic with all garrison except for one peasent archer right next to Bologna as far as you can go. The army should be at 9 o'clock from the city if you did it right. Recruit militia in Venice.

Second turn, use everything in Ragusa except for one unit of peasent archers and go towards Durazzo. What will happen with HRE is that they will send an army right in front of your faction leader as if they are trying to block your passage through that mountain pass. Don't try to get to Florence another way but attack the army that came out. The fight is not that hard since they have lots of peasant archers. Key thing is to fight the army that is the smallest first whether it is reinforcements or the artmy that you attacked. If you do things correctly and kill a routers, sack Bologna. Leave one of your weakest units in there are move the rest to siege Florence. Hire all of the mercenaries you can at Florence.

Third turn, take Durazzo with army from Ragusa. Take Florence and sack it too. Turn it into a castle. This is very important later on. Leave one unit in Florence and go for Genoa. Siege it. Hire more cavalry in Ragussa.

Fourth turn, you might have to fight a battle with your faction leader against any army that attacks you, but Milan usually sends an army up towards Bern so there shouldn't be any heavy resistance. Sack Genoa too. Warning around this time Pope should be asking you to stop fighting Milan or get excommunicated, but continue. You can easily get reconciled later with your huge amounts of money. Meld heir army, cavalry from Ragusa, and the army that took Durazzo togeather and move towards Thessaloinca. Leave one unit in Durazzo. Remember to keep on building units in Venice to garrison the cities you conquered.

Fifth turn, stay put in Italy and build up your army. Milan might besiege Venice or Genoa, but you should be able to hold it easily. Get your general and two spear militia from Crete, hire mercs, and send it towards Corinth by boat.

Sixth turn, your faction heir army should besiege Thessaloinca and the army from Crete, Corinth. Set up for an attack on Milan.

Seventh turn, sack Thessaloinca and Corinth and besiege Milan. Turn Corinth into a city since you won’t get attacked there with this strategy. Move everything you can in Corinth up towards Thessaloinca.

Eighth turn, sack Milan. The Milan faction should be destroyed.

After this, use your army in Thessaloinca and head for Constantinople. It should be at least a half a stack and hire any mercenaries you can while fighting. There will be at least two stacks of Byzantine you have to fight, but they are not really tough fights since you should have three generals in your army as well as lots of other cavalry units. Remember to gang up on the horse archers with all of your cavalry first. Once they are out, rest of battle is easy as you can just charge the enemy infantry from behind. It is very likely that the army there becomes too weak to fight anymore at that point I suggest you head north and take Sofia which the Byzantines should have. Use that to retrain troops and build an army for Constantinople. In Italy, take the two island cities and then aim for Sicily. At the same time, try to get reconciled with the pope by giving him money. I had to give him 8000 for reconciliation, but I had like 25000 money already so I wasn’t really worried.

One important note is that try to get a ceasefire with HRE. If you don’t fast enough, they will get an alliance with Byzantine Empire at that time which its incredibly hard to get peace and then they will try to drag other factions into the fight. At one point in my campaign, I was against a five faction alliance against me. They were HRE, France, Sicily, Hungary, and Byzantine Empire. If you cannot get peace with HRE, it is important to take Innsbruck just north of Italy since if you don’t it will keep on pumping troops out for the HRE to attack you in Italy. Hungary will probably show up in front of Zagreb with a full stack, but you can hold the city by having around five or six militia units in it. All you do is position them around the gate and when they break the gate down, the whole army will rush in the gate which you will have surrounded. They enemy will be easy to defeat from there . I have defeated a full stack with around 1000 troops with only about 350 militia with this strategy. It is highly effective. Sicily will go for Bologna with a full stack if they declare war on you so put a decent sized garrison in it, but defence strategy would still be the same as Zagreb.

[Nepereta]

Starting Moves

Roleplaying: Crusader

Diplomacy:

1) Visit Bologna with diplomat buy Bologna off germans + offer maps + trade and allaince. Best way to buy is a perhaps around 2500 for 2 turns or so. (It varies please experiment)

2)Send diplomat to secure allainces with Pope ( offer Military access + Maps + trade + alliance) Offer each gift seperately for more bonus should get perfect rating.

3) Send diplomat to secure allaince + trade with sicily and milan.

4) Send diplomat to ally +trade with every single catholic faction.

5) Always keep your word. Make sure that allainces are broken by others and don't communicate at all with those you intend to fight early on. I got a reliable diplomatic rating for this and it makes it a lot easier in the game if people always trust your word.

Aggression:

1)

• send faction leader with the x-bows to take florence.
• take the two rebel territories to the east using your other generals.
• Take the small rebel island to the north east of your island.

2)

• Trigger crusade versus Tunis. Pope standing should be high enough.
• Send faction leader + x-bows from bologna + enough mercs to trigger minimum crusade army on florence coast.
• Hire cheap crusader boats on the coast
• go straight to tunis and take it.
• on the way back try to take out the two small rebel islands between tunis and florence.

Bring your faction leader back to venice and sit pretty with the huge pop(chiv) bonus in your homelands.

Now take a breather from fighting and build up for war:

The target is byzantium
To remain diplomatically reliable never enter or agree to talks with them

I used the following bases:
X-Bow Militia + It Milita in venice
Ballista then catapults in Bologna
Armoured Sargeants + Peasants in Raguza.
I built priests in a variety of locations and stacked them together in a horde which I nickname the god squad.
And I built lots of boats everywhere.

Attacking byzantium:


Its harder fighting them outside due to the huge numbers of horse archers they seem to tote. I would advise taking a castle or city at one end of their empire and then attacking the other using marine attacks.

I went for south greece castle first and watched their stacks approach it. Then I attacked nicae and constantinople.

Its important to bring your own artillery as it will save you a turn.( I started build ballista workshop on turn 1)

Once you have byzantium the world is your oyster. Remember to trickle a giant and growing god squad(preist horde) through your territories rapid conversion is the second phase of a true crusader.

I took another breather until rome asked for an antioch crusade.

NB rebel held antioch yields the holy lance (spear of destiny)

Ended up fighting the egyptians. Milan just got xcommed thinking about starting to fight them but we share many allainces unfortunately.

[RtkBedivere]

Has anybody on the venice campain tried to completely ignore the papalcy. I started out caring then kinda slipped of. I have priests in my estern territories so that i dont riot as offten but i just dont see much use for it. Now i can also expan much more easliy in europe as i dont have the pope on my back.

im just wondering if I will get destroyed in a couple turns...

[Nepereta]

ignoring the incredibly nearby papacy as any Italian faction is rough, you'll get slapped around by inquistors quickly and easily they rarely snipe a good friends priests and generals. Best bet imo is play the pope and manipulate him as best you can and obey when you can't manipulate. Every italian has a great shot at crusading from the get go.

However if you want RP some catholic bashing I'd suggest cleaning the italian penisula including the pope. IF you can stop the inquistor spawn point you'll be safer.

[Snoil The Mighty]

Long time player of the series and visitor to this site, but first post. My experience playing Venice was that ignoring the Pope proved to be a bigger pain in the keister than just keeping him happy with (initially) allaince&trade rights. Then give maps and frequest free updates. Eventually giving him military access boosted me two when I was low on the popescale. Tithe him some florins here and there. Also, anytime you are about to attack rebels or a faction the pope is war with, have your Dip give a free 'offer to attack". Those go over great with his Popeliness as well so use it. First run was on h/h and I ignored the Pontiff which seemed ok for a short while. Then the happiness levels dipped getting excommed and those Inquisitive Pyromaniacs found much fuel amongst my family tree for frequent burnings. Makes you a target of cursades too which very-not-fun and costs you not only blood and treasure but alliances and (worst of all) trade agreements throughout Christendom. But, when he really likes you, you can pretty much name a crusade of your choosing every time they are available and with him on your borders, he's a way better friend than enemy. Every 2-3 cathedrals I build now, he chips in 1k in florins when they are complete, I own the college of cardinals and the Pope has been Venetian for 1.5 centuries now. My popescale readings have been consistently 8-10 essentially from day 1 and this campaign is going smoother than the silk I sell to the rest of the world....at a nice markup.....

[Snoil The Mighty]

Ok, can't edit-didn't catch that so sorry 'bout the repost but to be clearer than previously-

Ignoring the Pope might not be quite suicidal as Venice, but it seemed that it hurt worse than the other scenarios I have tried. As England and Scotland it didn't hurt nearly as much to be on the Pope's naughty list as when I was Venice. As Venice it seemed to affect my citizen's happiness more, though that could have been a function of Venice's proximity to the Papal States. Also, with a central location, any crusade called on you will get Hungary, HRE, Milan, and Sicily (assuming said factions are extant) in on the first call, and likely Spain France and Denmark too. Losing alliances and even worse, trade agreements, was crippling for me. The warfare was non-stop, sea and land. And I couldn't keep more than 4 generals alive once the Inquisition got going. I usually had 3. Then once the Byzantines ally with even one of the factions crusading on you, they are at your throats too. Not saying it can't be done if you don't prepare for it, in fact I may retry it at some point, but it's by far easier to make him your Popely Pal which is very easy to do...

As with most, I started with Trade Agreement, then alliance, then map. I gave Alliance before map because I also gave free "offer to attack" each time I attacked rebels, and I believe (correct me if I am found wrong) that those offers won't gain as much interest if not allied. (If the Pope ever is at war with anyone else, I also make sure to offer to attack for free on them too if I actually have such plans. Might as well get my Pope Points!) Then I gave map and have continued to give free and frequent updates, eventually gave military access which took up two notches without adding any florins to the gift. When in doubt, tithing some florins every few turns works nicely-his Holiness has a great fondness for florins. I have gone deep enough into the game where I am on my fourth diplo who's only assignment has been keeping the Pope in my pocket. No Inquisition, very little heresy, a Cardinal College full of Venetian priests and bishops, and a long lineage of Venetian Pope's has been the result. I have completed 7 crusades, 3 where I took cities from Catholic factions. And of the 7, six were locations I asked for specifically. Hope that's clearer and that my typing was better.

[RtkBedivere]

Well as this point in time its probably a little to late to go back. I hadent thought about clearing italy as i was just thinking that would make the situation worse. Ill try that and if it doesnt work ill start scraping up relationships with the pope.

[Von Nanega]

Because of your proximity to Rome and European factions, kthe Popes pleasure is important to court. Milan was getting nosey and camping all around my border. I built two good miliia armies, and stood next to their two cities in Italy. They promptly attacked Bologna since I had moved away. I ignored their seige, and besieged the Milan and the other one an the coast. Several bloody field battles later the Milanese army was destroyed and I took the cities. Time to regroup adn charge them dearly for a cease fire. The Pope is still my little freind and Milan is crippled.

[Nepereta]

Because of your proximity to Rome and European factions, kthe Popes pleasure is important to court. Milan was getting nosey and camping all around my border. I built two good miliia armies, and stood next to their two cities in Italy. They promptly attacked Bologna since I had moved away. I ignored their seige, and besieged the Milan and the other one an the coast. Several bloody field battles later the Milanese army was destroyed and I took the cities. Time to regroup adn charge them dearly for a cease fire. The Pope is still my little freind and Milan is crippled.

concur same thing happened to me. Milan got excommed and then tried to attack bologna. I end up taking milan and venice before reconcilation took place with papacy.
winning gambit I think is pope friendly and focus the early wars on the heathens

benefits in short are:
1) Chivalry +piety benefits for crusaders the pop explosion benfit is great!
2) papal kick backs in terms of cash and troop experience.
3) No need for focused heavy cav build because you'll get chapter houses quickly.
4) no excoms and few inquisitions v you. ( I lost 1 priest and 1 diplomat in all the time I have been playing.)
5) the catholics that do attack you usually get xcommed.
6) you'll own the papal college and be a pope maker for years.
Problems are:
1) uniting the italian penisula takes far lot longer since you are waiting for other italian factions to attack you.
2) moslems hate me ( all bar the moors have war decced me)

[Skott]

I started up a Venice Campaign today (H/H) because reading about it got my interest going. First thing I did was buy Bologna from the HRE for 6800 Florin. Then I got the noble mission to take Florence which I did. During this time I allied with Milan, Papal States, and Sicily to buy me some time. After selling Bologna the HRE immediately took Zagreb. So neither Hungary nor Byzantium got it. I then sailed some troops down to Durazzo after getting the mission and took it.

I built up for a bit and then the Pope calls for a crusade to Jerusalem. I was building a army to invade Sardinia and Corsica so sent this army with my King south along the Dalmatia coast and picked up some nice units on the way. My fleet met them south of Durazzo and then ferried them to Jerusalem. The Egyptians were taken offguard. They only had two units in the city and I easily took it on the second turn of the siege. I left this army in Jerusalem to defend the Holy Land and take more territory.

Things are going really good at this point. I start to build another force to invade Corsica and Sardinia and then Byzantium attacks. At first its only naval blockades so I dont worry and ignore their ships. Next turn both Milan and Sicily attack me. At first Milan sends a small army of four units at Venice and the Sicilians blockade my ports. No problem I keep my guys inside the city and let them siege me thinking the Pope will excommunicate them. They assualt and I beat them back. Two turns later a full stack of Milanese troops attack Venice. I was trying to rebuild my troops so I waited unable to to do much. They assault and I barely survive it. Still the Pope doesnt do anything. On the next turn after beating them back two more, full stack, Milanese armies approach and I see a Sicilian army coming north. Also a small Byzantine army shows up at Durazzo. Still no excommunication from the Pope. And he's my ally and I got great prestige with him. I ask for help but he refuses to attack anyone. The money I been giving as gifts isnt doing much other than keeping my relations with him high.

One Milanese army goes for Venice again and the other goes for Florence. I beat back the Byzantine army at Durazzo. Venice falls to Milan as does Florence. On the following turn the Scilian army lays siege to Bologna. Another Byzantine army, this time a full stack, attacks Durazzo. On the following turns the Sicilians take Bologna and the Byzantines take Durazzo. Now the Pope finally excommunicates Milan and Sicily. Too late! LOL

After this Raguso falls to The HRE after I refuse to give them money. They wanted 8200 Florin and I didnt have it so said, "No". This left me just Jerusalem and Crete so I declared defeat and quit the campaign. The Milan faction built up very fast in my campaign and matched my troops unit for unit in quality but produced like four times as fast. The Sicilians had even better troops but only one army. Dismounted Knights and so forth. The HRE also had better troops but nothing I could do about them once they attacked. The Byzantines had two full stacks at Durazzo idling about when I finally quit. The Egyptians seemed kinda pansied about things. They didnt know what to do once I took Jerusalem.

I'm gonna restart the campaign again later and see how it goes. The AI in this game is alot like in RTW where it has nearby factions gang up on you. Just how its programmed I guess. The Venitian merchants seem to be better than other factions I have played. They seem better able to take over other merchants without losing. The assassins still suck IMO. Havent played a faction yet that the assassins could kill anything. The spies still suck as well. Neither the assassins nor the spies perform anything near as good as they did in RTW. I actually did get a good crusade this time. First time one actually worked for me. In past factions they always deserted before getting to the Holy Land.

This game has so much potential and yet so many flaws.

[katank]

Nope, you played your opening wrong. You need to recognize the threat of Milan to you. Take out Milan ASAP and declare war first. Papal excomm isn't a life saver. Just pay off the pope to let you kill Milan in peace. If you look strong, Sicily will simply have their big stack near the border to Bologna hesitating to attack. Then simply amphibiously land two halfstacks near Naples and Palermo simultaneously to take them. Their big stack can't relieve their cities in time. Palermo is often a citadel early on which can let you pump out Venetian archers (awesome units).

You should also not be beaten to Zagreb by the HRE. You have an army in range of it on first turn.

Your forces in Crete can land right next to Corinth on the first turn and siege it on the second. Key is to attack instead of waiting to be attacked.

[Skott]

I restarted the campaign and this time I went more agressive and took Milan out early. Things going much better now. I'll give a write up a little later.

btw, whats these Carrocccio Standard units? I got one for taking Jerusalem and I thought it was like some little unit that gives bonus to an army. Now I got like 8 of them (no cost to me) for completed missions and I'm not sure what to do with them all. Anyone got a strategy tip for them?

[katank]

Carracio Standards boost morale of troops around them, working like a general. This is very useful for militia heavy armies of Venice.

They can also be capable heavy infantry should you find a need to tell them to drop the standard to fight. They are one of the very few units capable of taking a Mongol charge. They have a hefty (+8) bonus against cav.

[afrit]

Hmm. I had a bit of a different experience with vh/vh. I think deterrence in the west may work. Here's my campaign summary (now around turn 45 or so):

I took Zagreb and Durazzo and Rhodes very early (i.e before being asked as a mission), then I read the posts here, and I got worried that Milan and Sicily will attack me in Venice. So I kept a full stack in the city at all times. That seemed to deter Milan (they would move an army every few turns into Venice territory and then leave a couple of turns later). Hungary also seemed to send a stack into Croatia once in a while, but in the end they attacked the HRE and left me alone for a long time. I think keeping a half-full stack in Zagreb helped.

When I noted the Byz moving a large army towards Durazzo, I attacked them first. I got lucky in that I sunk their fleet in the first battle (I massed all my ships in a single stack). This allowed me to use a marine opportunistic strategy with them. When their main army attcked Durazzo, I sailed around and took Corinth (spies helped). WHen they went for Corinth (leaving Durazzo alone!), I took Thessalonice, and seeing that I could not hold it, gave it to the Pope (so the Byz could not get it back). Then I hopped the same army across the sea and took Smyrna (also poorly defended). When their prince headed to Smyrna, I took the same army, had it join a crusade (to Jerusalem), and then took advantage of the extra movements to take Constantinople and Nicaea before the Byz stack from Smyrna could return. I am now having trouble garrisoning the 2 cities because of crusade desertions, but at least the Byz have been severely weakened.

While at war with Byz, Sicily attacked, but I defeated them outside the walls of Venice with my Doge. Despite them being excommed, I did not go on the offensive except to blockade their adriatic sea ports. A few turns later, Milan attacked, but I pushed them back and captured their capital. Pope did not complain. Now France declared war and Hungary is sending a stack towards Zagreb, but I am ready for them (I think)

Needless to say, maintaining large armies for deterrence early on was costly, and I depended a lot on sacks of Byz cities to remain afloat. I had several turns in the red. But now with Constantinople and Nicaea (and the free crusading army), I am in the black.

[Skott]

Okay, I started a new Venice campaign (H/H) and doing much better this time around. The trick does seem to be that Milan needs to be taken out ASAP. Once again I bought out Bologna from the HRE. I sent my eastern army to take Zagreb. Then I sent my Venetian army to take Florence. Last time I had Bologna and Florence as cities and this time I turned them into castles. I couldnt get Durazzo. The Byzantines got it before I could get there. Which i think is a good thing considering the Byzantines are leaving me alone this time. I did make alliances with Milan, HRE, Papal States, and Sicily. I later added Hungary to the alliance.

I built up as quick as I could and took on Milan. I waited for the Milanese troops to be over off my western visual range before attacking. I was hoping I could get a extra turn before they came running back. Unfortunately They got a stack back to Milan right after I laid siege to it. Bologna however was only guarded by two units. On my turn after starting the siege Bologna fell easily to my army there. The Milan fight however wasnt as easy. The Milanese had a full stack next to Milan when I started my assault with my full stack. After a long hard fight I beat both the Milanese relief army and the city troops. Milan fell. Luckily for me that also took them out of the game. I had feared they had taken a western territory but apparently they failed. I was also lucky that Milan hadnt made an alliance with anyone else. So no angry friends to come after me.

Right after this the Pope called for a crusade against Jerusalem. I sent a army there and captured the town. Only Poland answered the crusade call as well. I sent my King down from the Venice port via ship. Jerusalem only had two Egyptian units defending it so it was a easy take. Two turns after that the Egyptians asked for peace and trade which I politely accepted.

Now I was in excellent relations with the Pope. I then attacked and captured Corsica and Sardinia. I turned the Corsican castle into a city to increase profits but the Sardinia castle I left as is for any future attacks against Sicily and the Moors if needed. Next I took Rhodes and the fortress northwest of Milan. Forget its name but it was a rebel fortress and I got to it before the HRE did. Bern I think it may be called. I'm at work so cant check.

The Pope died just before I took Rhodes and the Northwest Fortress (Bern?) and after buying some votes I managed to get my Cardinal elected Pope. I then managed to take Acre after that. And thats how things stand now.

I'm allied with Papal States, HRE, Hungary, Denmark, and Sicily. I'm neutral and got trade agreements with everyone else including the Byzantines. There hasnt been much European warfare. Just Portugal against the Moors. Its like everyone is waiting for someone to attack or break alliances and start the wars going. England, Spain, and France all asked for an alliance at one point but I turned them down because I felt sure they would be the first to start a European war but so far they havent. Kinda odd because usually by now two of those three are at war with one of each other.

I have a army almost to rebel held Antioch. The Egyptians tried to take it but after a lengthy siege they were forced to withdraw. I figure I'll take it and then Adana since its still rebel. I currently got a mission to annex Gaza and I started to build another army to take it but a 3/4 stack of Egyptians showed up nearby so not sure what to do about that yet. I wanted to get Antioch and Adana first before fighting the Egyptians just to avoid fighting in the northern MiddleEast and southern MiddleEast.

I been watching the Scilians but they just been hanging out south of Rome with a full stack. They seem peaceful enough. They probably dont know what to do and got no inkling to invade anyone. Even their navy is behaving itself. Just sailing around the Mediterranean. I think they are killing rebel fleets because I havent seen many this time around and thats kinda unusual.

I dont want to be the one that breaks up the Alliance so I think after I take Antioch I'll either Attack Egypt or Byzantium. No one cares about Egypt and the only alliance Byzantium has is with Poland and Poland isnt in alliance with anyone I'm allied with. Besides Hungary is at war with Byzantium and Hungary is in my alliance group so that'll probably keep people happy if I go killing them. I been teching up the Zagreb and Ragusso fortresses all this time so I can build a pretty powerful army given time. Right now I have small garrisons at Zagreb and Ragusso but can quickly build up if need be.

I do have to watch France though. They got spies and assassins camped outside of Milan and Genoa. I think its a matter of time before they get brave and/or greedy. My assassins are useless agianst their assassins. Best chance I can get is 25% and so far every attempt has failed. I go through this with every campaign I have played with this game. Once again I'm fustrated how useless assassins are in this game. The AI however doesnt seem to have this problem. A definete flaw in the design IMO. So, anyway, I got spies and assassins at all my Italian Castles/Cities to keep the AI's assassins and spies from succeeding. So far thats working but who knows for how long.

I had to go to work so I stopped there. The year is 1180. I'll pick it up again later tonight or tomorrow when I get the chance.



Edited For Spelling & Grammar

[Von Nanega]

Not only must ally with the Pope, give the Papacy military access. The Pope will wander around your lands a bit with weak stacks. Since I was allied, I would wait for the stack to be next to an enemy, and attack! The pope forces would be drawn in, I would make sure they impacted the enemy line first, then I would attack. Since (in this case Mila) the enemy force would be fighting the Pope, they would get ecommed. Muhahahahahaha