Venice

[The_Adm0n]

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How to put Italy under your boot in 5 turns: (VH/VH)
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Turn 1:

• Take Cristiano Selvo and the garrison at Iraklion and get them on the ships neighbouring the island. Destroy all buildings you can at Iraklion for some extra cash, and set the ships destination to drop the troops off at Palermo on Sicily (on my first attempt with Venice, Sicily attacked Iraklion by about turn 9 or so - so it’s worth getting rid of. As an extra point, you can destroy some of the ships to get rid of some upkeep costs in following turns).

• Next take your diplomat outside of Venice and strike up a conversation with Bologna. Agree to an alliance and trade rights as well as exchanging Iraklion for Bologna. The HRE should “barely accept”. (You can buy Bologna from the HRE in the alliance for 3850 florins instead of exchanging it for Iraklion, but by keeping Iraklion you will come to blows with the Byzantine Empire sooner rather than later and also you won’t be able to take your full garrison out of Iraklion either to take Palermo - so the choice is yours). Leave the diplomat where he is.

• Move your ships near Venice next to the third island along the coast of the Ragusa region, leaving them by the coast. Take Alessandro Selvo and the two units of spear milita in Ragusa and stick them on the ships, leaving one unit of peasant archers to garrison Ragusa and keep the peace (might not be necessary, but it never hurts). Destroy all buildings at Ragusa you can, and take your spy on that coast and also set him to board the ships.

• Take Councillor Bartolomeo and take Zagreb. Make as many units whole as possible and leave the weakest to garrison Zagreb to keep the peace, then with the rest of you army make for the same boat you stuck Alessandro on.

•Take four of the five mercenary crossbowmen from Bologna and siege Florence, building a battering ram.

• Take Doge Domenico and a unit of peasant archers and make a fort at the space in the Alps north of Venice. Leave the archers and then set Doge to rendezvous with the mercenary crossbowmen outside of Florence the following turn.

•Recruit a unit each of Italian spear militia and Italian militia at Venice, and build whatever buildings you want to at Bologna and Venice. Take your merchant and go for whatever resource you think is best (the silk outside Constantinople trades for a lot, but it takes a while to reach).


Turn 2:

• Complete your move with Domenico, take Florence, leave as small a garrison as you can there and make for Genoa.

• Recruit a unit of Italian militia at Venice.

• Complete Councillor Bartolomeo and his army’s move from the previous turn, as well as the spy’s, and set ship to dock your army at the western side of the Naples region.

• Move closer to Palmero with your ships containing Cristiano.

• With your diplomat gift the HRE with 250 florins per turn for 200 turns, ensuring their alliance. The fort you created in the first turn should have trapped their army so you will still be able to reach them with your diplomat. If you attempt this in the first turn, they will refuse, saying that they don’t feel comfortable accepting whilst giving nothing in return - which is why you needed to leave your diplomat in place last turn. Ordinarily by turn five Milan and the HRE will have an alliance, and any moves you make against Milan will cause your and the HRE’s alliance to break - making it vitally important to deal with Milan as soon as possible. Sometimes the HRE will refuse your gift again, if so then try again the next turn, if things went okay make for France with your diplomat (or whoever you want).


Turn 3:

• Dock your troops on the western coast of the Naples region, and make for the city.

• Advance further to Genoa with Domenico, recruiting all the mercs you can.

• Take your entire garrison out of Venice and make for Milan, you’ll reach the city but not be able to lay siege yet - so war is held at bay for another turn.

• Move Cristiano closer to Palermo.

•#The Papal States should send a diplomat to Bologna during their turn (making the acquisition of Bologna vital). Offer them an alliance, trade rights, Ragusa, Zagreb and exchange military access (you may have to run troops through Rome and they’ll definitely have to run troops through your lands to reach Ragusa and Zagreb). Then gift them 250 florins per turn for 200 turns. This makes the perfect buffer against Hungary, and to some extent with the Byzantine Empire though they usually will send boats to Naples with armies anyway as they seem determined to make war with you for whatever reason.


Turn 4:

• Dock Cristiano at Palermo, and with every army engage the required city. It helps to build two battering rams instead of one where possible on the off-chance one goes up in flames during a siege. Sometimes an army waits outside Naples, if this is the case you can take Naples this turn. You’ll notice that Palermo has one general unit garrisoned only, the rest are laying siege to Tunis.

• Remember to disband the troops you used to garrison Ragusa and Zagreb so you don’t have to pay their upkeep.


Turn 5:

• Conquer. Milan is a tough fight but all the rest are very easy, and you’ll kill off both Milan and Sicily in one fell swoop - giving you the entirety of Apennine Peninsula apart from Rome. If the Pope and asks you to cease hostilities - don’t; your reputation won’t suffer greatly and will bounce back to “outstanding” within a turn or two due to your tribute. I would recommend sending Cristiano with a small force to siege Cagliari in the same turn, and deploy Domenico to start blocking up the Alps with forts.