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Thread: XL Guide Byzantines

  1. #1
    Son of Gloin, Cleaver of Orcs Member Gimli's Avatar
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    Post XL Guide - Byzantines

    I am starting this thread up and have started putting up actual guide stuff! Thanks in advance for any good ideas or suggestions!

    EDIT: I will be adding to each of the following three posts until I have made a guide out of each!
    Last edited by Gimli; 07-26-2007 at 14:31.
    "May the best dwarf win!"
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  2. #2
    Son of Gloin, Cleaver of Orcs Member Gimli's Avatar
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    Post Re: XL Guide Byzantines

    Byzantines (Early)

    WELCOME EMPEROR! You are the powerhouse of the East! Your empire spreads out in all directions from Constantinople and your coffers are deep!
    The provinces that you start with are similar to those that you start with in VI. There are three that you lose to others in the mod: Georgia (Rebels), Anatolia (Turks), & Lesser Armenia (Armenians). Regrettably, you keep Naples! Also sad about that is that with the land bridge to Sicily gone, you have VERY few options with Naples. Your best option is to be an "Orthodox pain" in the hind end of the Pope by holding the province and thus increasing Orthodox religion on the Italian peninsula!

    OPENING THE GAME

    Despite your rich empire, you start the game without the manpower to start a major campaign on your first turn. The only way you might be able to do so is to lower the taxes to such an extent that your provinces won't revolt under VERY MINIMAL (or no) garrisons. (Note: I "play for money", so I never lower taxes!!!) There are, of course, several different paths you can take [or a combination]. The four or so feasible starting goals (excluding having "taking Italy" as your main objective! *remember... FEASIBLE*) are:

    1) "Road to riches!" (my personal favorite) You make early moves against the Turks with your main goal being to take Eygpt (and all the provinces on the way!) You start by building as many troops as you can (which isn't many at the beginning...) Allies you will want: Serbs to help cover your North (from the Cumans/Hungarians) and Armenia (they are always at war with the Turks anyway!) You will want to mass troops in Nicea (or Trebizoid, depending on where you strike first) After about 2-4 turns, you should have a good sized army and be pulling in 1.5K or so florins! The Cumans will probably attack you in Bulgaria pretty early on. I suggest slav javelinmen to deal with their heavy cuman cavalry. You will need units to keep their horsemen in place though and to fight with the inevitable rabble of spearmen and Slav Warriors that they will bring along. Once you can get them out there, Byzantine Lancers will do OK against his units (light enough to be tolarable at chasing horse archers, but strong enough to actually fight!) In fighting the Turks, one must have a lot of cavalry and I sometimes wind up hiring some Merc cavalry units out of Trebizoid to supplement my own. To deal with the Turks' plethera of horse archers, I have found that shooting them to pieces with Trebizoid Archers is not only great fun, but pretty effective! Rum is a good spot to hit first as it is very rich and if you can take and hold it, it helps keep Anatolia from being reinforced. Once the Turks have fallen (and the Cumans put in their place), move into the "promised land." Head South along the coast and take everything in your path. Having control of the Eastern Med. is nice at this point. It can be a little hard as the Eygptians sometimes have quite a fleet! Once you have Palestine and Eygpt and the other provinces around there, your money issues (if you even HAVE any at this point) should clear up without much ado. After all that, I generally head into the Hungarians/Cumans/Poles/Kievians. Despite that, I like to leave the Cumans and Kievians until last as they will be a nice buffer against the Horde! Levidia is a good place to stop the fight against the Cumans as it has river boundaries to the East.
    2)
    Last edited by Gimli; 07-31-2007 at 20:43.
    "May the best dwarf win!"
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  3. #3
    Son of Gloin, Cleaver of Orcs Member Gimli's Avatar
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    Post Re: XL Guide Byzantines

    Byzantines (High)
    "May the best dwarf win!"
    ......... ...........

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    Son of Gloin, Cleaver of Orcs Member Gimli's Avatar
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    Post Re: XL Guide Byzantines

    Byzantines (Late)
    "May the best dwarf win!"
    ......... ...........

  5. #5

    Default Re: XL Guide Byzantines

    Byzantines (Early)

    Alliances WILL SAVE YOUR BEHIND!!.. Try alliances with the Serbs/Hungarians/Poles and Armenians...

    More often than not I also get the Cumans to ally..and the Genoese will usually ally due to thier fights against Venice or Scicily

    Those that rarely if even ally with me: Therefore enemies
    Venice, Gemany, France, Castile, English, Pope,

    Those that will usually war against you:
    Scicily, Turks, Eggys

    +++++++

    Strategic Looks:

    Look EAST! and know that taking out the Turks and Armenians will make your strategic attack on the Eggys a lot easier...

    so step 1: take Georgia/Anatolia/Rum. Therefore, you keep the CUmans/Volga Bulgarians from 'sneaking in' and having another production slot I usually use for ships to keep the Black Sea safe & secure.

    Step 2: Once the Turks have fallen as well as the Armenians. Build up and get ready to slaughter eggys.. use Armenian Hvy Cav, Byz Inf and Trebizond Archers, the Eggys won't have anything to really hit against that group.

    Step 3, secure all holdings up to Sinai....

    remember to have plenty of garrisons on Naples/Cyprus/Crete/Roades since thier loyalty sucks big time...make sure you have a good # of priests/bishops on Naples to keep it Orthodox! so as to be a royal pain in the kahoots to the Pope..lol

    Remember to have a high star gen in Naples too, since the Scicilians WILL attack and constantly.. Greece will also be a target for the scicilians & serbs and crusades as well...

    Also try to have spies as well since loyalty well since loyalty is such an over-riding trait with the Byz...

    Step 4: Finish off the Eggys and Blitz North Africa all the way to Spain, who usually will have conquered the peninsula...

    IF The Almos have conquered the Peninsula, then note that a fleet will be critical since Almo fleets tend to be large....when they build them.

    IF you feel that a province or group of provinces will be lost, I raze them to make sure the enemy has nothing to go back to, and there is no reason for them to re-take it then, or if they do, they won't get any income from it... and the occuping army will be then stuck (no dock/port)

    Step 5: Think about next MAIN step

    At this point, I finish off the Scicilians and usually have taken a prov or two off of the Genoese to solidify my holdings in the Med and basically OWN it... it pretty much becomes a Sea of purple..:)

    Oh and by this time, the Danes WILL BE A ROYAL PAIN!!! so DO NOT Let them in, since if they get in, they will have pretty much North Europe as allies and thier fleet is big and armies that will basically be scary strong

    I have had fleets of 15 ships battle the Danes, and loose most of it and barely win....

    Most fleet battles will be against 3 factions

    Scicilians, Almos/Spain, English/Danes depending on who won on the peninsula and who owns Northern Europe.

    +++++++++++

    Income.. as the Byz, I never worried about it, and I could be spendy on major ticket items and have plenty of cash once Eggy lands have been taken/solidified...

    At that size, people are VERY jealous of you and will usually not ally with you

    Mongols: when they hit, you should kill them off in say 3 or 4 turns and let the Mongols chase after the Cumans/Volgas

    Step 6: Go North & Northwest young man

    At this point, I usually head north (Steppes & Central Europe) and just wipe entire groups out and not care who I crush.. I just raze everything in sight and create rebels like crazy, since I will usually hit the 50% prov limit and the game goes nutsoid on me and all hell breaks loose at that point...:(

  6. #6
    Savaran Commander Member Hound of Ulster's Avatar
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    Default Re: XL Guide Byzantines

    I would recommend making alliances with all of the Christian powers, including Sicily. That will allow you to concentrate your forces against the Seljuks. In my Early campaign with Byzantium, I am locked in a brutal death struggle with the Seljuks (two battles with at least 2,000 men on each side already in Anatolia)

    build lots of kathaphractoi.....
    'Only the Dead Have Seen the End of War' Plato

    'Ar nDuctas' O'Dougherty clan motto

    'In Peace, sons bury thier fathers; In War, fathers bury thier sons' Thucydides

    'Forth Eorlingas!' motto of the Riders of Rohan

    'dammit, In for a Penny, In for a Pound!' the Duke of Wellington

  7. #7
    lurker Member JR-'s Avatar
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    Default Re: XL Guide Byzantines

    Early -

    Lots and lots of cheap troops while you build up economic infrastructure.

    Fortify and defend Greece and Bulgaria as bulwarks against the west.
    Turn the islands into ship factories and flood the eastern Med.
    Do weapons and armour upgrades in Byzantium and Antioch for good troops.

    Look east. Expand Eastward and take Trezibond at which point fortify and defend.
    Look South. Take everything to egypt at which point fortify and defend.

    Consolidate. Replace cheap troops with good, shunting the cheap ones to egypt to be used to push westward along North Africa.
    Consolidate. Build Infrastructure in your now secure territory, including a good mix of function types depending on specialty or isolation.

    Defend. Build up two quality armies of around 5,000 apiece in Trezibond and the territory to its south led by 5 star generals.
    Defend: Build up two quality armies of around 2,000 apiece in Greece and Bulgaria led by 5 star generals.

    Repulse the Mongols when they arrive, as many times as necessary, and then defeat them in their own territory (usually the province north of Trezibond).

    The year is 1234 and you have smashed the Mongols, you are now ready to look westward!

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