Quote Originally Posted by CrusadeAgainstYourEnemies View Post
I started out very peacefully with Venice on VH/VH.

Traded Iraklion, Map Info and an Alliance to the Holy Roman Empire for Bologna.

Secured an Alliance with the Pope.

Did not move on Zagreb or Durazzo.

My only military move in the first 25 or so turns was to take Florence.

In the mean time I spent my time by teching up the economies of Florence, Bologna and Venice through farms/roads/markets/ports while supplying each with the means to defend itself through militia spears and crossbows.

I built cavalry in Ragusa. Brought the administrator to Venice and the Iraklion family member to Ragusa.

I allied with the French knowing full well I would eventually square off with the Milanese.

But the first act of war was the Sicilians. They were eliminated with relative ease as they were excommunicated and destroyed without a Crusade but with no Papal intervention either.

Next the Milanese decided to strike. I crusaded against Milan and quickly relieved the people of that nation of their two Italian cities. Now Venice resides over all of Italy, minus Rome, and Ragusa on the Greek coast.

My next move, where I'm in the middle of now, was an invasion of Greece. The goal for my initial half of the strategy is to secure Constantinople to Genoa whilst avoiding war in the West, setting up my economy and maintaining Papal favor.

The way I approach this game, as a Catholic faction on VH/VH, is always to appease then manipulate the Papacy.

I just took Thessalonica and Corinth, the next stop is Constantinople to control the trade of the entire map.

Once that is achieved, I will likely look to Hungary/Poland/Germany to further expand.

Don't get trapped into the idea that Venice needs to be played with the same ruthlessness and aggressiveness as the AI. It is possible and very effective to use your early military strength to stay at peace and develop a core of Venice, Bologna and Florence as the heart of your future Imperial economic structure.

Thats great advice to anyone who is listening. I made a few of those mistakes a number of times before I realized what I was doing wrong. Your thoughts on not being too aggressive is spot on.