Venice

[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

[Orb]

Just managed a beautiful opportunistic stab at Sofia and Bucharest with Hungarian help early on. It helps immeasurably at preventing a war with Hungary and also adds a great position for attacking the Byzantines.

Edit: Well, 27 turns in I've wiped out the Byz. Hungary has just betrayed our alliance, which doesn't really concern me.