Venice

[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.

[The_crusader]

When I first played MTW2 I just had to try out Venice(maybe it was because I saw shakspears Merchant of Venice......anyway),I did 3 test campains with them and I noticed that there is always an inevitable attack from the Holy Roman Empire.they will also strick a deal with Milan to attack you,the best way to get Milan off your back would be to send a princess and have her get married,then build as much merchant cavilers at Venice (they should be available at this point of the game and there not that bad for a cheap price....at that point of the game of course),the Holy Roman Empire will attempt to besiege your capital,and if that fails they will cut off there hostilities against you so you may have the rest of the game nothing but smooth sailing and bloody conquering....

[Quillan]

The unfortunate problem with that idea is the Venice begins the game with no princesses and the faction heir starts married, so there will be no early marriage alliances. Buying Bologna from the HRE seems to keep them off your back. If you make nice with the Pope, you'll reduce your probable hostile neighbors down to 3: Hungary, Milan, and Sicily. Hungary is nowhere near the threat Milan is, and Sicily isn't that hard to hold off, but Milan needs to go quickly, even if that causes problems in your papal relationships.

[The_crusader]

True,Milan should go early in the game ...as I recall they have France that is also against them(the ennemi of my ennemi is my friend).

[Rhyfelwyr]

Here's what's happened so far in my M/VH Venice campaign:

Stage 1:

Spent a few turns to build up the Venice province. After that, built a basic militia army and conquered Miland and Genoa. In my previous Scots campaign I found Milan a strong faction on the battlefield, so I wanted to get them away from my lands. I then built forts across all gaps in the Alps to seal off my lands from the north and west, safe from the HRE, Milan, and France. I then quickly grabbed Zagred and Durazzo before Hungary could make a move.

Stage 2:

For some reason there was no Crusade called to the Holy Land. So, I focused on securing my lands in Italy. The Pope had already grabbed Florence, which was pretty annoying, so I seized Florence and then Rome in a couple of turns, thinking the Papal States Faction would be destroyed. Meanwhile, I used spare troops from Zagred and Durazzo to wage war against the Byzantines, conquering Corith, Rhodes, Smyrna, and Nicaea.

Stage 3:

The Pope finally launched that eagerly awaited Crusade that lets Catholic factions make some easy gains. Unfortunately it was against me, and so I panicked and gathered all spare troops in Italy and joined them in an army based between Milan and Venice. The HRE, Spain, Denmark, Scotland, Sicily plus some others all soon joined the Crusade. A small navy was sent to complete a mission to blockade a Sicilian Port at Palermo. In the east, my troops take Byzantium just before a Turkish army on Jihad. In a great moment of luck, my fleet returning from Palermo spots a figure who looks like a Bishop cowering in a forest next to a Castle filled with Muslim Rebels at Caralis. This figure turned out to be the Pope, and so at a huge cost (totalling six figure amounts of florins) Venice is reconcilled and the Crusade is called of. Magdeburg becomes the new Papal land after I bartered it off the HRE in an earlier ceasefire agreement.

This is where my campaign is at right now. I'm economically crippled for the moment, but managing to hold onto my lands so far. My advice is that its best for Catholic factions not to attack the Pope...

[Gaius Terentius Varro]

True,Milan should go early in the game ...as I recall they have France that is also against them(the ennemi of my ennemi is my friend).

I am playing on VH campaign and Milan has been my trusted ally for 120 turns now I got 2 marriage alliances with them. I keep giving them little cash and map info and they stay loyal. They keep France England Spain at bay while i went east. You can actually stop the reputation slide on VH through intensive diplomacy it just takes a while. I got Egypt to ally with me after 3 crusades against them so hell anything is possible.

[Hrafn]

I have been trying to keep the Ventian bloodline clean by not accepting adoptions and man-of-the-hours (rather sad actualy to deny the hard fighting peasants a stab at nobility).

Its only around turn 25 and it seems that the bloodline detoriarate rapidly: my faction heir and his brothers get the "Dysfunctional" traits and the rest of the brood start showing up with "Aloof", "Deep pockets" and "Lazy"..

Ive tried very hard to use the guides to train up good generals/governors so most have various levels of good taxman, farmer and trader traits....

But im afarid that all my hard work to groom the venetian bloodline would end me up with some "Utterly insane", "Totaly Closed", "Embezzelers" inbreeds...

So should i try to opt for some adoption to get fresh blood into this nest of degenerates?

What have i done wrongly to get so appaling traits when the whelps come of age? I tought having a chivalourous grand crusader as father and grandfather should set some kind of example? The heir married a spanish princess, maybe thats where the problem lies?

[Out]

I have been trying to keep the Ventian bloodline clean by not accepting adoptions and man-of-the-hours (rather sad actualy to deny the hard fighting peasants a stab at nobility).

Its only around turn 25 and it seems that the bloodline detoriarate rapidly: my faction heir and his brothers get the "Dysfunctional" traits and the rest of the brood start showing up with "Aloof", "Deep pockets" and "Lazy"..

Ive tried very hard to use the guides to train up good generals/governors so most have various levels of good taxman, farmer and trader traits....

But im afarid that all my hard work to groom the venetian bloodline would end me up with some "Utterly insane", "Totaly Closed", "Embezzelers" inbreeds...

So should i try to opt for some adoption to get fresh blood into this nest of degenerates?

What have i done wrongly to get so appaling traits when the whelps come of age? I tought having a chivalourous grand crusader as father and grandfather should set some kind of example? The heir married a spanish princess, maybe thats where the problem lies?

No, you see, you are playing as Venice. In effect, you are now the Father of Capitalism. You just have America syndrome. No known cure.

In seriousness though, I don't think it's *all* your fault, sometimes you get some bad luck, even with hardcoded events. At least, I prefer to look at it that way.

[TheLastPrivate]

I have been trying to keep the Ventian bloodline clean by not accepting adoptions and man-of-the-hours (rather sad actualy to deny the hard fighting peasants a stab at nobility).

Its only around turn 25 and it seems that the bloodline detoriarate rapidly: my faction heir and his brothers get the "Dysfunctional" traits and the rest of the brood start showing up with "Aloof", "Deep pockets" and "Lazy"..

Ive tried very hard to use the guides to train up good generals/governors so most have various levels of good taxman, farmer and trader traits....

But im afarid that all my hard work to groom the venetian bloodline would end me up with some "Utterly insane", "Totaly Closed", "Embezzelers" inbreeds...

So should i try to opt for some adoption to get fresh blood into this nest of degenerates?

What have i done wrongly to get so appaling traits when the whelps come of age? I tought having a chivalourous grand crusader as father and grandfather should set some kind of example? The heir married a spanish princess, maybe thats where the problem lies?

Spanish and Hungarian blood tends to have the "rage" trait so its good to marry them and bring their blood in. You get bad genetic compositions once in a while and I just charge them into rebel spearmen in a narrow column.