The Byzantine Empire: Gameplay InformationThe Byzantines are the heirs to the remains of the Eastern Roman Empire. Their backward-looking nature as opposed to the progressive mindset of their neighbours is the cause of stagnation, unrest and general dissent in their empire and they have been in steady decline for decades. Catholicism is the greatest threat to Byzantium, typified by the Great Schism, since the nations under the influence of Rome are likely to attempt to seize the world's trade capital, Constantinople, tearing the heart out of the Byzantine Empire. The Turks are nearly as large a threat to the east, but fortunately they are a single enemy and there is a chance to consolidate holdings in Anatolia before war truly begins. The Byzantines lack virtually all forms of gunpowder in their late units, meaning that they will have to rely on their relatively strong early units to counter this threat.Table of Contents.Campaign Overview. MEDIEVAL II: TOTAL WAR HEAVEN Copyright © 2006-2019 HeavenGames LLC. All Rights Reserved.The graphical images and content enclosed with this document are viewable for private use only.
Player characters as Half-Dragonsedit. Rebalancing the Half-Dragon template to be used with a player character, while also giving some extra ideas to gain.
- Medieval 2 Total War Byzantine Strategy 2
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Stainless Steel is a mod for Medieval II: Total War - Kingdoms, created by.Description:A combination of bug fixes, many small mods, better AI and AI armies, more provinces, graphical improvements and many other campaign and battle map changes. Popular files for Medieval II: Total War - KingdomsNameTypeSizeDateTotal7 daysmod3871.7 MB8/.5K223mod2617.3 MB2/3/201716.5K122mod2250.5 MB6/5/201914.5K80mod21 KB5/6/20183K72mod6522.2 MB6/5/201912.4K58mod4247.4 MB6/6/20192.1K55mod3332.5 MB5/25/20193.6K53mod4235.2 MB5/1/201915.8K51mod777.4 MB4/2/20175.2K49mod6095.8 MB7/23/20182.1K43mod1993.4 MB22.3K43mod1245.5 MB6/6/201922.4K39mod3333.8 MB1.1K38mod5213.3 MB5/28/20191.9K37mod8481.2 MB5/29/20178.4K36mod2947.1 MB1.1K34.
Ive done the byzantine campaign and found it historiacally inacurrate. One thing is that the empire dosen't start with its danubian frontier, which it managed to hold on to despite the loss of asia minor. Second Durrazo Should be held by the Byzantines as it remained part of the empire.Another issue is that Nicaea should not be held by the empire as a history book SPECIFICALLY said that the city fell to the turks in 1078. One thing that annoyed me is Constantinople is WAYYYYYYY to small and weak to be realistic.
It definitley should be a huge city not just large. And seriously? Only a small church in Constantinople? WHAT THE ♥♥♥♥!!!! Did someone forget to tell the developers about the Hagia Sophia? Anyways, I also think there should also be a Nicomdeia region because that city was very important at the time, and was one of the few cities in asia minor that the byzantines managed to hold on to.
Overall I have found that the shapes of the regions is not proper for representing byzantine history. So, what do you guys think? Are there any mods to fix this?
Exspecially one that gives the byzantines a proper frontier on the danube. You think thats bad they didnt even get the Mongols Religion right I was playing as as Moors one day.
A Jihad was Called next thing i see is that the Mongols Joined the Jihad thats not right In real life The Golden Horde was Pagan Not Islamic. You should Play the Kingdoms Expansion the Crusades Campaign it has more faction Detail and I think it Has Nicomdeia as a region you can also make Greek fire units as the Byzantines.Yeah they didnt get everything right but i think they did that to balance the factions but remeber the Sejuks did end up takeing most of the Byzantines land in the end. I played the kingdoms expansion but it ♥♥♥♥♥♥ me off that they didnt include the european part of the empire (other than constantinople) btw i totally agree the mongols were pagan not islamic! And I absolutley HATE the fact the the factions expand in weird/unrealistic ways- why the hell would portugal try to take over Wales!!!????? This game needs an update and unfortunatley its not going to get one because its old and sadly they have already closed the last studio that was still working on this game.
I guess we can just hope for a new game. Medieval III anyone?:Doh and one last thing i checked the crusades campaign and it did not have Nicomedia -sigh.
Contents DescriptionByzantium is the shadow that remains of the old Roman Empire. Despite retaining the civilized ways of the Roman legacy, the Byzantines have done little to further it.
In fact, it is their reverence of the old ways that has brought the empire to a point of stagnation, in a world that has gradually kept moving on. The differences between the thinking in Byzantium and the west were most profoundly highlighted with the Great Schism, the division of Christendom.Despite boasting the world's trade capital and home of Orthodox Christianity in Constantinople, the Byzantine Empire is well past its zenith and is now in steady decline. The outer regions of the empire have been slipping from the Emperor's grasp for decades now. To the west, the Normans have taken southern Italy, and in the east the Turks have moved into Asia Minor after their decisive and terrible victory at Manzikert.
The latter of these two losses was the worst defeat the Empire had suffered in its entire history. To make matters worse, general corruption, chaos, and dissent has lead to some of the other provinces closer to home to rebel.Arguably, the greatest threat to Byzantium lies in its independence from Rome. There is significant risk that the lords of the west will consider the lands of Orthodox Christianity to be fair game unless the Pope decrees otherwise. It is a true irony that Constantinople may now have to appease Rome after becoming the new capital of the Roman Empire centuries ago.If the Byzantine Empire is to once again become the dominant power of the east, then it will first need to reclaim its heartlands wholly before encroaching upon the borders of another power. The Byzantine legacy is long and predominantly proud, but unless the Emperor can turn things around in a hurry, it is a legacy that will soon end.StrengthsGood heavy cavalry and missile cavalry, capable archers.WeaknessesLacks late period gunpowder.Overview.
Religion - Orthodox. Long Campaign win conditions - Hold 45 regions, including: Rome Region, Jerusalem Region. Short Campaign win conditions - Hold 15 regions.
This guide to playing as the Byzantine Empire shows how a player can expand, consolidate and defend the empire. It covers initial objectives, strategy, armies/units, economy, diplomacy, alliances and enemies. General tips and Mod Links are also included.This guide is aimed at new and inexperienced players and is more of an introduction for them.
I've played this game since release at all settings and enjoyed it immensely but I'm tailoring this guide for the average new player.Grand Campaign, Vanilla Game (SP). The Byzantine EmpireThis faction offers unique challenges to the new player. From the outset it faces hostile powers on every border eager to swallow up it's territory. This Empire's territory is more spread out, exposed and difficult to defend compared to the relatively compact area's of the British Isles and the Italian and Iberian peninsulas.In the early game armies can be overstretched and borders vulnerable to attack as there are not enough troops to go round. There's no safe border as there's always at least one hostile power on every frontier.
Medieval 2 Total War Byzantine Strategy 2
Also there's no ability to call for a crusade to get you out of trouble against a dangerous enemy as the empire is Orthodox not Catholic.However it's not all bad. The Byzantine Empire is surrounded by great geographic defensive features, you just need enough troops to secure these areas. To the west of the city of Constantinople there are the Balkan mountains, to the north the river Danube and in the east the mountain passes of Anatolia. It's also in a great trading area, with access to valuable materials and resources. It has a varied range of troop types offering great flexibility, mobility and choice. Properly developed and defended the empire can hold it's own against anyone.So this guide's just a compendium of playthrough experiences and different strategies I've had some success with. I recommend you don't slavishly copy every little detail of these strategies as there are always unique opportunities that arise in a game which you can take advantage of.
It may not suit every players style and some techniques and strategies may not be for you, but you may find elements that you can adapt to fit your own requirements.The only thing I would have as a hard and fast rule is don't become overstretched early on. The more you own the harder it is to defend, if you're too ambitious too soon you probably won't have the income or economy required at this point to afford and sustain the increase in armies and may find yourself in deep economic trouble.
Hello and welcome if you're new to Medieval II and the Byzantine faction. Before you read any further a word of warning. My armies can be quite cavalry heavy making use of all types. I employ mobile defence tactics/strategies and prefer to take the fight to the enemy defeating them in the field rather than sitting behind my walls and waiting for them.So if you're new to this and not yet up to speed with the different cavalry types, particularly missile cavalry and how to use them effectively take what you can from the guide but ignore the tactical sections. The Byzantines have a variety of cavalry units so It's important to know or quickly learn your cavalry types to get the best performance from these units. Playstyle/PreferencesI'm not in a particular hurry to win the game in the quickest possible time.
I prefer to take my time and pursue all aspects of the game not just the military. I particularly enjoy city building and developing the economy to it's full potential. These strategies are designed to allow the player to facilitate economic and city development and are not dominated by the desire to obtain the quickest possible grand campaign victory.Cavalry and mobile warfare is my preference and playstyle. I love using the varied Byzantine cavalry units to full effect and I enjoy the challenge of going toe to toe with the Mongols so do bear this in mind, I'm not a wall defender. I'm not saying that static settlement defence is ineffective just that this guide's tactics and strategies are based on my preferences.
So it may not suit everyone.There are many excellent players here who have perfectly sound static settlement defence strategies who may be willing to offer you alternative advice. Basic CampaignI have a very specific strategy for the Byzantine Empire early game. My priority is to destroy or severely weaken Venice asap before they can establish themselves and become a serious threat. I move into Asia MInor initially capturing the rebel areas and then move against the Turks slightly later but still early game.I prefer to KO the Turks outright which can be done quite quickly and easily.
This gives me a brief window of time to focus on Venice without having a threat at my back. Also these eastern conquests finance my Venetian campaign. In Europe in the first period of the early game I only advance to the Eastern Danube (Sofia region) and defend this area and the routes/passes into the Western Balkans.My initial strategy is to assemble this group of provinces which will form the core of the empire:Constantinople, Sofia, Thessalonica, Athens, Rhodes, Nicaea, Smyrna, NicosiaLater the furthest extent of the empire in the early game is from Zagreb in the west to Adana/Caesarea/Trebizond in the east but no further. The mountain passes of Anatolia are great for defensive warfare, plenty of choke points.I conduct raids/sackings, destroy enemy facilities to top up my income and create buffer zones by gifting these newly captured settlements to allies. Prior to the Mongol invasion, I'm really focused on economic/city development and particularly port building.
It's all about pacification, conversion, development and consolidation of the areas I have recently conquered and not further expansion at this point. It's very effective and the money rolls in once all the new buildings/ports come online.
Cpns kementerian lingkungan hidup. The Ministry of Environment and Forestry (Indonesian: Kementerian Lingkungan Hidup dan Kehutanan) is the. Lambang Kementerian Lingkungan Hidup dan Kehutanan.png. Ministry overview. Formed, 27 October 2014 (2014-10-27). Bidang studi: Kebijakan Lingkungan, Ilmu Lingkungan & Kehutanan. Lembaga induk: Kementerian Lingkungan Hidup dan Kehutanan Republik Indonesia. Oct 3, 2017 - File:Lambang Kementerian Lingkungan Hidup dan Kehutanan.png. Original file (690 × 690 pixels, file size: 492 KB, MIME type: image/png).
These provinces are on my initial shopping list and are made up of priority objectives and secondary ones. Absolute top of the list is the rebel settlement at Sofia, that's first quickly followed by the other rebel areas in the vicinity. Slightly later I seize the Turkish held regions east of Nicaea and take Crete from Venice. Once acquired I don't sack settlements that I want to grow as I want to keep the population high in order to access higher level buildings, barracks etc, asap.
Short term profit can hurt you long term.I don't expand beyond these regions at this point, except to conduct sacking raids. However If things are going well the opportunity may arise to capture Zagreb, this is worth taking due to it's high income mines.
If the player can take Zagreb a lot of the Venetian forces will probably have been destroyed thus opening the door to Venice which may allow you to destroy the faction. If I'm conducting a lower risk balanced campaign I won't keep Venice at this time as my armies will be a bit overstretched but withdraw to Zagreb. I'd gift Venice to an ally.
Hungary usually attacks when you move armies west.The secondary objectives, are non essential at the moment but are desirable later on, so I view them as targets of opportunity if I see an opening I'll go for it but they're not take at all costs.After the priority objectives are completed I then focus on province development, military and economic. I adopt a defensive posture after the first expansion phase is over as I really want to avoid getting myself over-extended early game. I like to have these regions under my control before the Mongols arrive. I do not advance further into Europe until after the major events have passed, horde invasions, plague, etc. Italian CampaignIf I'm playing an aggressive campaign I use the same objectives as above but with Italy added.
This is a bit riskier due to the northern border being harder to defend as your troops are geographically stretched leaving your empire vulnerable to attack. There is no longer any distinction between targets, it's now an all out effort to capture Italy although the eastern targets and border limits remain the same. On the positive side of things though you can destroy Venice (faction) and you are richly rewarded when you plunder the cities of Italy plus these cities generate a lot of money.When I make my first attack in Italy I keep Venice, garrison the city and withdraw the army back to Zagreb to repulse Hungarian attacks. After the Zagreb border is secured I move this army to Ragusa, sail from there to Italy and take Naples as I'm usually at war with Sicily. If diplomacy has failed and I'm at war with the Papal States I can then march on Rome and then Florence. I can rest at Florence to refit my armies and strike out from there to take the remaining Italian ciites.
Byzantine Western ArmyStandard mix of heavy infantry, spearmen, missile troops, heavy cavalry etc. Similar composition/tactics to western european armies. Substantial use of local mercenaries when fighting in the west, Heavy Cavalry, crossbows etc.
In the west I recommend replacing Byzantine spearmen with Merc spearmen as it's a stronger more reliable unit, common and easy to recruit. I prefer to use crossbowmen instead of guard archers in the west.When facing superior western enemy heavy infantry in the early period usually before you have access to Dismounted Latinkon compensate by increasing the melee cavalry contingent in the western army and use them to flank the opposing force and attack the enemy rear asap routing them before your inferior infantry break. Speed is essential.Units: Byzantine Infantry (early), Byzantine spearmen (early), Latinkon HI/HC, Kataphractoi, Byzantine Lancers HI/HC, Vardariotai.Mercenaries: local HC, crossbows/Pavise crossbows, spearmen/pike units. Byzantine Eastern ArmyDifferent composition when facing eastern/nomad factions, increased missile cavalry/archers, light cav, less heavy infantry as more mobile forces are needed. Mostly cavalry armies with a minimal infantry component.I tend to use and recruit Skythikon and local mercenary MC units as emergency back up when I'm fully stretched and all my reserves are already committed (usually nomad invasions).
They are used to bolster damaged and understrength armies and to plug gaps when damaged regular units have been withdrawn for retraining and no regular replacement units or reserves are available.My latest eastern armies are now split into two types. Cavalry only armies for field battles (large formations of missile cavalry supported by heavy and light cavalry) commanded by a night fighter general with movement bonuses/traits.
Infantry only armies are used for seige and settlement assaults. The cavalry armies are really performing well against the Mongols (player controlled).Units: Byzantine Infantry, Byzantine spearmen, Byzantine Guard Archers, Latinkon HI/HC, Kataphractoi, Byzantine Cavalry, Vardariotai, Byzantine Lancers HI/HC, Skythikon MC.Mercenaries: Armenian Cavalry, Alan Light Cavalry, local Miissile Cavalry. How to create a 'Mongol' type armyFirst of all have a group of good spies ready. Send the spies after a group of Nomad armies, not all the enemy army/unit information may be available so you may have to conduct spy missions against these armies. Successful missions will reveal all the unit info you need.
This will allow you to browse through the enemy stack (right click the unit card) giving you their stats and abilities.Now go through the various units in your army contrasting and comparing them with the Mongol units (right clicking respective unit cards). Try and match the closest unit types (stats/abilities) to the enemy. Also go through your military buildings (stables/barracks/ranges) and right click the unit names to see if there are any suitable units that you have not yet recruited. Examples would include matching Mongol Heavy Archers with Vardariotai and Dismounted Heavy Archers vwith Byzantine Guard Archers.Lately I have been enjoying great success with cavalry only armies against the Mongols. They are made up of large formations of Byzantine cavalry/Vardariotai supported by light, heavy and Bodyguard cavalry.Recruit, transfer and assemble these units into armies that have a similar build to the Mongols. Match up as best you can unit type for unit type (best quality available/affordable), same numbers and composition. If they have ten horse archers in an army then your army will have the same number.
You'll find that you are mostly recruiting units from my eastern army list (above).If you haven't done this before it may be advisable to make a much earlier save so that when you do get the enemy unit info from your spies, you can then reload your game giving you the opportunity to properly recruit and prepare your armies. The HubAn important part of my military strategy is to designate particular settlements as 'military hubs' a limited group of castles that get priority investment and development. By focusing on these castles I can access higher quality troops more quickly than if I spread the cash around. This strategy evolved from one originally used to defend the river Rhine and Danube crossing points in Rome TW: Barbarian Invasion.The idea is to create strongpoints at strategic locations near the frontier. This strategy involves keeping field armies on the border, but to keep them on the border I need reserve units (of equal quality), which I station at these military hubs. If the roads are not fully developed or the frontline is a bit distant, I build forts closer to the field armies and place reserves in them. Reinforcements, Replacements and RetrainingThis enables me to send replacement units to damaged armies and withdraw the damaged units for retraining at the hub while always maintaining a full strength army on the border.
It's essentially unit rotation. Remember you can also merge damaged units and withdraw the donor units for repair (that's why it's always useful to have groups of units of the same type in your armies). For this unit rotation to work, it's crucial that the road network is developed to enable the swift transfer of troops. AdvantagesOne of the advantages that this strategy offers is allowing the player to keep an army in place. Reducing Casualtiies - Avoiding City AssaultsTaking cities can be expensive in terms of losing experienced troops, damage and repair of walls, buildings and unit retraining. If you're not a fan of seige warfare or direct assaults or just want to save a bit of cash try and draw the enemy out.
Look for any enemy armies lurking next to their city walls then attack this army not the city. Once battle is commenced the garrison army will automatically rush out the city gates to reinforce their comrades, once you've wiped them all out you can take the city unopposed. Note: don't use autoresolve. It's a trap (using Ragusa as a diversion)Going for Ragusa can draw a lot of Venetian forces into the Balkans leaving the city of Venice weakly defended. After taking Ragusa it may be worth using the castle as bait leaving it weakly defended and blocking the valley with a few forts in front of the castle to delay the enemy assault on the castle. Meanwhile sail your main army up the coast and take Venice (hire some mercenary galleys if you have no ships nearby).It's usually worth having an agent in the Venice region so you can keep an eye on the size of the garrison. When it's weakly defended and any reinforcements are out of range sail your army to Venice.
Sack the city and demolish all the buildings, gift the city to an ally and sail back to Ragusa.Taking Ragusa and sacking Venice will not only severely weaken Venice making them a spent force but should leave you in a really good position both financially and strategically. Zagreb may also be vulnerable, this is a wealthy settlement with great mines. After this you should be in a stable and secure position.Venice is the greatest threat early game, dealing with them quickly should give you the space and time to develop your settlements and economy. The Buffer ZoneSo I'm looking for a way to stop the attack and one that doesn't cost a lot of money. The solution for me is to gift the city to an ally. This will protect the north eastern part of my European border and bring in another (powerful) faction into the war as it's almost inevitable that Hungary will try and reclaim the city. So I'm really trying to put Hungary on the defensive, hmm I wonder which faction would be best at doing that.The Papal States.
So Hungary drags the Papal States into the war, bingo!, excommunication and maybe a crusade against them. In fact any powerful reliable ally will do. With Hungary now on the defensive I am now free to take Ragusa from Venice which will really make my border a lot more secure and reduce the Venetian threat.
After the Nomads are vanquished, if they have taken the southern Invasion route, the Middle Eastern factions are usually in pretty bad shape and can be easily defeated. Slightly longer if they took the northern route. You can then advance to Jerusalem, Yerevan and Baghdad. After these areas have been converted and pacified you can then take Egypt.Gaining the Egyptian cities gives your trade and economy a massive boost enabling you to expand your military forces. At this point you can turn your attention to Europe as the eastern borders are secure (freeing up a lot of troops) and you now have an economy and income strong enough to support the larger and more powerful forces needed to push into Europe.I find when I'm at this point in the game that I create 2 army groups one to advance from Eastern Europe and another which assembles at Alexandria and pushes along the North African coast. If I have a strong enough fleet a number of armies sail along the N.African coast with the goal of quickly taking Tunis while another advances by land clearing enemy armies on the way. If Italy has not already been taken the African force sails from Tunis to Sicily and marches on Rome from the south taking the settlements in it's path while another army marches south from N.Italy and links up with them at Rome.
They then push north to secure the alpine passes.Meanwhile the E.European force should have already taken Bran, Bucharest, Budapest and should have just taken Vienna. By this point I should either have achieved my victory conditions or be within touching distance of them. Prepare for the invasion by building watchtowers all along the edge of your eastern frontier so you can track the enemy and avoid any nasty sneak attacks.
This means you can see the enemy coming and judge their rate of advance and direction allowing you to prepare and position your forces.Do everything you can to track down every last general, army and family member of each wave, send out spies to locate and track them. In the east have experienced assassins on hand ready to act as soon as the enemy arrives. I recommend keeping spies on the far eastern map edge from north to south.As soon as the Mongols arrive send every unit of missile cavalry and Byzantine Guard Archers in the armies in Europe eastwards to Adana. The MC can be replaced with Byzantine Lancers in Europe.Barracks/stables and archery facilities may still be under construction at Caesarea but if you have wisely prepared the facilities at Sofia should be advanced enough to recruit Guard Archers and a respectable amount of missile cavalry. Recruit and transfer from here until the eastern facilities are ready. Recommmended 'anti-Mongol' units/army build:Bodyguard, Byzantine Cavalry, Vardariotai, Alan LC, Trebizond Archers, Byzantine Guard Archers, Armenian Cavalry.
Elite Byzantine heavy cavalry may be unavailable in the necessary numbers at this time so you may have to rely on Armenian and General units for HC support.Victory against the Mongols is usually a matter of attrition and is reliant on successful army management, raising and maintaining full strong army stacks in the field. Therefore the players army should use high volume units i.e.
Those that have a high recruitment pool back at the hub.In a mainly cavalry army units like Byzantine Cavalry should be used in large numbers as they are plentiful and easily replaced, this is an important factor against the Mongols due to the heavy casualty rate. Armies which include large amounts of Vardariotai may be better and more powerful in every way but they will quickly run out of replacements at their castles.
However Byzantine cavalry replacements hardly ever run out due to the large unit pool.It's vital that the player sends full army stacks against the Mongols, so this is an important consideration as you do not want to run out of troops. Byzantine Cavalry should be the larger missile cavalry contingent supported by a smaller Vardariotai group in an army. Fly you fools (Run to the hills)If the Mongols/Timurids take the southern invasion route then in the face of a powerful Mongol/Timurid advance then exposed settlements on open plains must be abandoned don't get surrounded by superior numbers and trapped in a Stalingrad scenario.Gift settlements in their path that you are going to abandon anyway to allies to draw them into conflict with the nomads. These settlements can be easily regained after the nomads are defeated. Ideally this will include the Papal States when they attack their newly acquired settlements and are at war with the Pope the chances of a crusade against them are greatly increased.
You shall not Pass!Fight them in the mountains. Withdraw to and assemble as many armies you can spare around Caesarea, here you can concentrate your forces by occupying strategic choke points and fighting the nomads on a relatively narrow front when they're bottled up in the mountain passes approaching Adana and Caesarea were they cannot take advantage of their superior numbers.The key to repelling and defeating the Mongols in Anatolia is holding one particular mountain pass (choke point) on the road to Adana. The Mongols will throw their forces up this one narrow pass. It's vital that you hold it.
First of all block the entrances of the valley with forts, garrison them with one peasant unit each, the idea is to slow their advance enough to give the player the time to retrain units and repair armies. Every time they destroy the forts and after you repulse an enemy attack replug the valley with a new fort.Withdraw any severely damaged armies for repair at Adana while the enemy reseige the forts on the border. The small delay gives the player time to transfer replacements/reinforcements from Caesarea to the front and send understrength units to Caesarea for retraining. Remember to make good use of night attacks and enemy general assassination in this valley. (Note, only for Mongols, forts are useless against Timurids due to their elephants). Tag Team WrestlersAt the end of my turn I make sure I have enough movement points left to allow for a safe withdrawal when my army falls below an effective fighting strength. You have to know when enough is enough and it's time to hit the withdraw button.
Imagine your armies are tag team wrestlers. It's the same principle, go in hard and get out fast when you tire and start hurting and then put a fresh guy in the ring and repeat. As one army is withdrawn for retraining another is slotted into the valley in the upcoming turn and the cycle is repeated. Fight, destroy, withdraw, retrain, replace and repeat, all the time rotating my armies in this cycle. Diversionary Attacks: Behind the LinesWhen the Mongols arrive I strongly recommend creating a small force to operate behind Mongol lines.
This force will patrol up and down the E. Mediterranean coast from Antioch to Alexandria looking for weakly defended Mongol settlements to raid in hit and run target of opportunity attacks.The objective is to take the pressure off the Adana pass by diverting Mongol armies towards the settlements you have recently captured/raided instead of Adana. This force can be raised or operated from either Adana or Cyprus. I gift or trade the captured settlements and move on to the next target. It's a good way to drag other factions into a war with the Mongols.
Make sure this 'commando' force is carried by a fleet that is stronger than anything any enemies have in the vicinity.This force should be led by a general with movement bonus traits to increase the army's strike range. This can allow and make easier a rapid withdrawal from the target settlement. Having a significant heavy cavalry contingent and a group of trained/experienced spies in this army can make more distant settlements viable targets by using cavalry only attacks (this requires spies to open the gates).as your force can quickly attack and safely withdraw without running out of movement points.These raids have the silver or should I say golden lining of raising vast amounts of cash through sacking enemy settlements and demolishing their buildings. Combine assassinations with night attacksMake sure to put generals with the night fighter trait in command of your armies. Most nomad armies are commanded by night fighters so you must assassinate these enemy commanders before you launch your night attack.If you can eliminate their generals enemy armies will be unable to reinforce each other at night. This means one of your armies can take on and destroy a larger group one at a time.
It's vital that no enemy night fighter generals remain alive within the local vicinity (reinforcement area) before you attack. Tactics: OverviewThese tactics rely on using a large mixed cavalry army as it's my preferred force when facing nomads. I'm also biased as I'm a cavalry fan and like mobile battles. Tactically It's a simple concept: given a similar army build with similar units, capabilities and numbers to the AI opponentthe human player should always win. However this all depends on the player knowing how to use the various missile and cavalry units.When I play as the Byzantines against the Mongols or Timurids, I mirror the composition of the opposing nomad armies in my own army. Meaning, I try to have the same mixture/balance of units that they have and fight in the same style.I have a substantial amount of horse archers supported by Alan light cavalry along with Armenian and General bodyguard HC.
Byzantine Guard Archers are used as the main battleline replacing the infantry (they have good melee capability). Additional Heavy Cavalry units are used instead of BGA when using a Byzantine cavalry only army. This is a viable option for a battleline in this case due to the fact that Mongol horde armies have no spearmen. However this line must be used offensively, cavalry cannot hold a static defensive line.When facing the Timurids I have the same kind of army composition but now elite Byzantine cavalry should be available in sufficient numbers to effectively deploy. I also add two/three long range artillery units to the 'Mongol' build, really need some big elephant guns.It's pointless charging after their horse archers with HC as they will never catch them so you need a mixed cavalry force. Alan LC can catch anything the Mongols have and Vardariotai in large groups can cut Mongol cavalry to pieces if used correctly, An arrow can catch a horse archer quicker than a sword or spear. My typical Byzantine v Mongol battleByzantine Army: The minimum core of the Byzantine force would be at least six Vardariotai/Byzantine cavalry or MC combo, six Byzantine Guard Archers, two Alan LC backed up by a varying force of some combination of Bodyguar d and Armenian Heavy Cavalry.
No infantry or artillery. Always a full army stack.Byzantine Cavalry Army: Essentially the same as above except that the Byzantine Guard Archers are replaced by additional Heavy Cavalry and are lined up in the middle of the formation. Remember horde armies have no spearmen so it's a great opportunity to take advantage of this fact by unleashing large numbers of cavalry to full effect i.e. Smashing them into their missile infantry battleline.Mongol Army Formation:The typical Mongol veteran army (full stack) will line up with mixed missile cavalry on the wings usually some combination of Mongol Horse and Heavy Archer cavalry, Mongol missile infantry in the middle battleline with artillery in the second or third line with the General and heavy cavalry behind them.Byzantine Formation: This is my deployment. Byzantine Guard Archers (Cavalry only army: Heavy Cavalry) in a single line formation in the middle, six Vardariotai grouped together in a double line formation in an advanced position on my left flank supported by a group of Alan LC and Heavy Cavalry. Two cavalry units covering my right flank.Battleplan: My initial objective is to smash the Mongol missile cavalry on the enemy right flank (my left) and turn right charging into the side of the main enemy force.
At the same time my Guard Archers (or HC) should be slowly advancing towards the enemy, if I get the timing right both sections should engage the main Mongol force simultaneously.My cavalry wing group will approach the enemy missile cavalry from my far left hand side being careful not to get too close to the main body of Mongol missile infantry. If they advanced from a more central position they would be in range of both missile infantry and missile cavalry sustaining early heavy casualties.By attacking from my extreme left I can remain out of range of their 'heavy hitters' and can 'outgun' their missile cavalry by having local superiority. I can then quickly rout the Mongol horse archers by charging my entire cavalry force into a melee attack shattering their cavalry screen.Once the enemy right flank is destroyed their infantry battleline is wide open and my cavalry are able to attack it from the rear and side.
I also charge the BGA (Cavalry only army use HC in a line) into the enemy frontline. It's then a case of slugging it out with repeated charges until they eventually break and then it's pursuit mode making sure no substantial Mongol units escape destruction. Post battle I always execute nomad prisoners. Destroying Mongol ArtilleryWhen facing the large Mongol veteran armies they often have a long range artillery contingent which usually includes rocket launchers. It goes without saying that these units have to be destroyed before I can implement the above attack. This requires a little tweaking of the plan.The problem with the artillery units is that they are usually in the heart of the Mongol army surrounded by powerful units. So I need to separate them from the main force, but how?The 'how' is to manipulate the Mongol army into swinging to the right (their left).
When it does this the slow moving artillery units will fall behind the swifter melee/archer units and will become detached from the main force. This can be achieved by moving a substantial cavalry force to my right flank in an advanced position close to the Mongols, but out of range of their missile troops.The Mongols will try to counter this by making a substantial reorganisation of their formation eventually resulting in the artillery becoming detached. This is the signal for me to send my Alan LC quickly followed by a detachment of heavy cavalry in support on a hit and run attack on the enemy artillery. After the artillery are destroyed I quickly withdraw my cavalry back to my own lines.
I then redeploy my army to it's original formation and continue with the original battleplan (above). Mongols getting you down, feeling particularly lazy today, Mongol/Timurid onslaught getting a bit grindy? Then try new improved assassination by Assassin's Guild. Here's how you can assemble a large group of elite master assassins.If I'm going to use this strategy I like upwards of 10 (min) experienced killers ready to go before the first Mongols arrive. If you can build Assassins Guilds so much the better as your kill chances will increase as you will have better trained assassins.
Also if you can recruit assassins in a city with a racing track they will receive a horse and will be able to move much further per turn.If you have enough highly skilled assassins you can wipe out the entire family resulting in all Mongol armies being destroyed. Remember nomads come in waves, ignore the first Mongol faction destroyed message as more armies are coming.
Unleash your assassins for each wave. Also applies to Timurids.If you follow the assassination strategy and have recruited and trained assassins and the Mongols/Timurids take the northern route and not the southern one, shadow their armies with your spies and send your assassins after them anyway, better safe than sorry.
If you have a problem, if no one else can help, and if you can find them, maybe you can hire the A-Team.Do not destroy all rebel forces, if they are blocking a road, force them to retreat but do not finish them off. These rebel units are great for quickly levelling up your assassins at minimal risk of failure and death. Weak enemy armies that are not led by a general are also low risk targets. The same group of assassins can repeatedly attack the same rebel unit turn after turn and be almost guaranteed to receive a higher rank, ancillary or bonus trait. As they grow in skill they can then be moved on to attacking enemy agents, religious agents, diplomats etc. A large force can be created by constantly recruiting each turn (like an assembly line) and sending them to attack the rebel unit.The number of assassins you are recruiting and their missions will mean you get offered Assassins Guild buildings, try and get them in cities that are close to the border, Iconium is ideal and Nicosia if you convert it to a city, your ultimate goal is to get the HQ building.
This means your assassins capabilities skills and traits will be further along the line when recruited and the journey to master assassin is much shorter. Assassins can pick up other traits and ancillaries/followers while staying in cities.By taking these steps and using these methods a highly skilled force of assassins can be created and be ready and waiting for the Mongols and Timurids. This diplomatic strategy might be useful for new players finding their feet, however do bear in mind that effective diplomacy and deal making is harder to achieve and less likely to succeed on a sustained long term basis on higher difficulty settings. Personally speaking, on the highest difficulty levels I seldom bother with diplomacy outside of short term and simple trade deals.For the Byzantines the first diplomatic act I would make is to ally with the Papal States and give them nice little gifts (money or unwanted settlements) throughout the game to keep them happy (At least early game, things change when you start moving west). I also ally with western and northern Catholic factions early on, as they have no interest in Constantinople. Short Term DealsThe Byzantine Empire is never going to form a long term reliable, loyal alliance with Venice or the Turks as they all have to hold Constantinople as part of their victory conditions. However at points in the game it may be worthwhile to make a short term deal with them but always be aware at some point in the game they will betray you.
Most allies can never be trusted 100% but these particular factions are never to be trusted. So it's always a good idea to look at other factions victory conditions and identify those factions that require Constantinople. Hit the RoadOnce diplomats have been recruited one of the best and inexpensive ways of increasing their skills is to send them on a European or World tour. Try and make each individual diplomat travel through and visit as many regions as possible.
Their language traits will increase e.g. Bilingual, multilingual and they will also pick up ancillaries and other traits as they travel. Diplomats that are well travelled have higher rankings and are better at getting a treaty or deal.Usually the further away they go the better they get. If you don't forget about them and keep them moving they can be levelled up relatively quickly. Denmark France Poland Scotland The Papal StatesI found these factions to be reasonably reliable and open to an alliance in the early game. Once you have made an alliance you still have to monitor your relations with these factions as any faction can still betray you. They can also go to war with each other forcing you to choose which ally to keep.
I'm always looking for marriages with France and Denmark in particular. Marriage makes stronger more reliable alliances than normal treaties. There is a boost in faction relations when these marriages produce children.
Also the longer you trade with an allied faction the stronger the alliance gets, so get your alliances and trade deals asap. Allies: Making extra moneyEarly on when my diplomats contact factions and my guys offer them an alliance the offer will show a rating of generous or very generous. When this is displayed there's a good chance I can make a bit of extra cash. I can usually squeeze a couple of thousand out of them as part of my demands. Very early on I try to make alliances with every single faction I encounter.
In fact I recruit as many diplomats as I can to seek out all the factions to raise as much cash as possible from alliances. Caution!When making a lot of alliances early on, this will inevitably result in you having to choose between allies when they come into conflict.
The message will ask you to either support or decline support of an attack by an ally. Depending on your choice this will break the alliance between your faction and the ally you don't choose. Breaking alliances/treaties can negatively effect your reputation and reliability rating making future diplomatic deals/alliances/marriages more difficult to achieve. So only milk numerous allies as described above if you don't care about your reputation/reliability or future diplomacy. At the beginning of the game the Pope usually hates me immediately and relations are going down the drain quickly. To rectify this and gain an alliance, I find it's a question of getting my princess and diplomats to Italy asap.I start off by giving the Papal States an unconditional trade deal (free) that usually improves things.
I leave a diplomat in PS (throughout the game) and continue to offer them gifts of money and unwanted settlements. This is one of the benefits of raiding as it allows you to give cities/castles away. I usually gain an alliance by giving them a settlement, Bucharest is ideal.To keep in their good books I continue to gift settlements usually ones that I've just sacked when I'm conducting raids against Egypt. I don't ask for anything in return as the Pope likes free stuff, although I can get military access later on when my relations are high enough. You can also top up and maintain the relations level by making the odd donation or two.
Money talks.The Papal States can be quite a tricky and expensive ally to manage, and it's not always possible to maintain an alliance or avoid war with them but it's worth trying in the early game, at least until you build up your military strength. I really don't want to be fending off multifaction religious wars and campaigns with the armies of both Western Christendom and Islam marching on Constantinople at the same time. So I try to do everything I can to maintain an alliance with the Papal States for as long as possible. Crusades, no thanks, one religious war at a time please.
ConstructionI then examine what buildings these settlements have and see which one's are lacking basic economic infrastructure. Priority building goes to settlements that do not even have basic roads, so the first thing that get's built is a dirt road, then basic ports are built, traders and basic farms. This process is then repeated for the next tier.
Get the basic things built first. My number one economic goal is transport, travel and trade e.g roads, ports and wharves. Remember to build those traders as you can then recruit merchants and send them out to farm resources. Characters - Family MembersAlways check the traits of any family members who are governing a settlement.
They can have positive and negative effects on the income of any settlement. These traits can either increase or reduce income sometimes substantially even going into the thousands. If you are unsure about this you can easily see it by replacing governors, you can then see the income levels of the settlement rise or fall as you switch characters.I know some of you will think this is stating the obvious but I've seen posts in the forum were people are a bit unsure of even the basics. Merchants - Rich Trading RegionsAntioch, Aleppo, Alexandria, Mosul, DongolaSome of the best trading areas have clusters of valuable resources around their settlements which are high earning locations for any established merchant. Also the more towns and citiesyou have the more merchants you can recruit, that's another good reason for converting some of your castles to civilian settlements.There are some high yield mines in the Balkans but I have found in the early game my merchants are at greater risk from hostile merchants. I found it easier to establish my merchants in the east as there are fewer factions with access to these locations at the start.
Medieval 2 Total War Byzantine Strategy Map
Also if the Byzantine player blocks the sea straight crossing points from Europe to Anatolia, it can stop any characters gaining access to the Middle East. This is useful in stopping all faction agents, merchants, spies, assassins, priests and even Crusading armies (although these will sail instead). Castles, Towns and CitiesI found that when playing as the Byzantines a good way to increase my income was to convert my island, internal province and coastal castles to towns/cities but keep the border castles. I would retain a castle at Sofia and develop it as a military hub because of it's strategic location as it offers protection to Constantinople and allows the player to control the Danube river and Western mountain passes. I found I could get by with a reduced number of castles, a good number of them are not needed.
This gives you the added bonus of having better developed castles as your money is not diluted and spread out across too many weak ones. Trading PortsBuild up your commercial ports, especially the settlements close to Constantinople. Convert the castles to towns on the Greek coast, asia minor coast and the islands.
As the game goes on, this can create a nice zone of six closely grouped trading ports all trading with the capital. If these ports are developed the income of Constantinople will vastly increase. If you have played Rome 1 you will remember that this was always a very lucrative area to seize and it can be developed in a similar way with rich results.Individually you might not think a port returns a lot of cash but when you get clusters of ports which you can further develop trading with each other then you see real increases in trade and income. Never view these structures in isolation their real value is only seen when they have other ports to trade with.
The player should view this not as building an individual port but rather an interconnected network of ports. This also applies to roads. The benefit and revenue comes from the network. If it's not working, adapt and be flexibleIt's all too easy for a windbag like myself who has played this game for years to simply say follow my brilliant masterplan to the letter and victory shall be yours. That's a very convenient thing to say but it's also a complete lie.If you are struggling with certain aspects of the strategy then you should adapt and tinker with it, you'll probably come up with something better. Maybe the Mongols are particularly troublesome for you, remember It's the general principle that counts not obsessive attention to detail and sticking to a rigid plan, if the plan's not working change it to something that works for you.Anatolia is the ideal killing ground all you need is a secure defensible base to retrain and reinforce your armies from.
If you don't think you can hold a line at Caesarea then make either Iconium or Smyrna the military hub. (If you choose Iconium convert it to a castle asap)The selection depends upon your confidence in your own abilities. Make an honest assessment about what you're actually capable of holding against the Mongols because the eastern hub is crucial when fighting in Anatolia and you cannot afford to lose it. Make sure to choose early because you need to prioritize the development of the military facilities of the selected hub settlement so your armies are ready and waiting to receive our uninvited guests from the east.The key to defeating the Hordes in open battle in Anatolia is to use the geography (choke points) to reduce their reinforcements thus giving your armies a fighting chance by evening the odds as your armies are not vastly outnumbered when you engage them.
Remember if all else fails and you're really struggling against the Mongols and need a get out of jail card fast, you can always murder your way to victory by assassinating all their family members. Reason for doing thisI was going through my previous Steam Forum posts when I noticed that I had replied to a number of Byzantine related questions, mainly from new players. I also noticed there wasn't a Byzantine guide at that time on Steam. So I thought I'd bring my previous posts together here instead of reposting them whenever a similar question was posted in the Med 2 forum in the future.
I've expanded on the original posts and added an number of other topics.The purpose of this guide is not to arrogantly dictate how a player should play the game or make general assumptions about players (exp/knowledge/ability) but instead present a small selection of examples of potential options, choices and strategies that can be made in the game which may or may not inspire players to develop their own different solutions. It's a demonstration of what can be done and what is possible within the game. I understand that players have different levels of experience and some of you are unfamiliar with older TW games. When I started this I never expected it to be this big, just a couple of paragraphs I thought, ah, the best laid plans of mice and men. Things just snowballed out of control and now I've created a monster.
If it get's any bigger I'll have to rebrand it as Byzantine Empire: Deluxe Edition or some equally ridiculous meaningless term like Gold or Platinum edition.To those of you that got this far I congratulate you on your patience, fortitude, stamina and tolerance of an overly verbose narcissist. Enjoy the game.Cheers, Wrath of Santa. Anatolia: The peninsula of land that today constitutes the Asian portion of TurkeyAsia Minor: As above.Buffer Zone: A neutral area serving to separate hostile forces or nationsChoke Point: In military strategy, a choke point (or chokepoint) is a geographical feature on land such as a valley, defile or a bridge, or at sea such as a strait which an armed force is forced to pass, sometimes on a substantially narrower front, and therefore greatly decreasing its combat power, in order to reach its objective. A choke point can allow a numerically inferior defending force to successfully thwart a larger opponent if the attacker cannot bring superior numbers to bear.(early) stating the obvious, units I only use in the early part of the gameBGA: Byzantine Guard ArchersHC: Heavy CavalryHI: Heavy InfantryLC: Light CavalryMC: Missile Cavalry. TheLegend27:Disband all useless units within your empire that you really, honestly don't need. Or if you have a unit that costs a lot in upkeep, disband it as well. You can win with cheaper troops.Destroy all useless buildings such as ballista makers and leather tanners.
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You don't really need them.Get as much money out of diplomatic deals as you can. Get trade rights with others, give your map info and ask for money in exchange, etc.Build economical buildings in your cities rather than military ones.
What order I like to build for money-making buildings is:-Roads-Farms-Ports (make sure it gives good income by checking the settlement details tab)-Mining (only if it gives pretty decent money, if it's gold or something put mines first)-Markets-Anything else I forgot to mention.That's about it. Try not to recruit/maintain too many armies, get money out of trade with other nations and diplomacy, and build good economical buildings in your settlements. The Turks are the only faction receptive to an alliance as the Byzantines. Which means you don't have to defend half your frontier.By Turn 35 I owned Venice (I went a-stomping that way) as well as a good deal of Egypt - the string of rebels and weak factions is too much to resist, as well as the ability to troll the pope by taking Egypt mid-crusade, thus cancelling the crusade = crusading armies are now bankrupt.Hungary was also a major rival - their castle tends to be have the population to be upgraded to a fortress quite quickly (around Turn 25 or so), which means you can start getting better units.