Ah, the Venetian Republic. A personal favorite faction of mine, Venice is the articulate, finance driven empire of Northern Italy that will use its financial and naval strength to indoctrinate the areas and factions in its vicinity, and, eventually, Italy and the majority of Europe. Playing as these Italians makes you realize the importance of your economic development in MTWII. Not only that, but the faction boasts of some superior military strength too...
So I started a new game, as these fellows obviously, for the sake of commencing a diary from the very start. The options are as follows;
Difficulty: Medium
Battle Difficulty: Medium
No Battle Time Limit
Campaign Length: Long
Basically your default settings for a standard campaign. Anyhow, first, I feel obliged to provide some information on the Venetian Republic. We start with three cities: (or provinces, or areas, I choose to refer to them as cities for clarity's sake) Venice, our capital, which is very much an island city that can only accessed via the bridge that connects it to the rest of Italy, meaning that so long as you can fend of a single army, you're pretty much impregnable since the bridge only allows the entrance of one army per siege assault. Venice controls the Adriatic Sea like no other city, once you have a sufficiently strong armada and once you have established a prosperous trade route, you'll have wealth and strength pouring into your veins. Second up, we have Ragusa. Strangely enough, the game does not grant us Zagreb from the very start for unknown reasons, despite being adjacent to Venice itself. Either way, Ragusa is situated in the middle of two other cities (Zagreb and Durazzo) across the Eastern European border of the Adriatic, granting a little more safety to your dominance of the Adriatic. Finally, we have our little island city of Iraklion, which to me is godsend because you can literally set sail and disperse your armies to anywhere from there. Just build up your armies there, enlarge your navy, and there's not much left to do, really. Acquiring Cyprus with a force from Iraklion is a great early start if you do it in the first 20 turns, which will thus enable you to expand your empire towards Jerusalem and Anatolia.
Of course, such rapid expansion will not be able to be of our essence for a rather long period of time, considering the fact that we're confined to Italy at the moment, and completely encompassed by foes. The Holy Romans (Germans, as I will refer to them from now on), who possess the nearby city of Bologna and who pose a great threat to our capital, for one. Although Bologna does not pose enormous threat on its own, its links to the German powerhouse of Innsbruck, and the less proximate Nuremberg and Staufen make conquering it a perilous and debilitating task. So instead, we should keep our relations with the Germans cool until our military force is sufficiently strong to invade Bologna, thus shrewdly eradicating all German existence off the face of Italy. Equally frightening, the Milanese. We are of the same kin with Milan, yet we are face to face, and war could easily erupt out of nowhere. So, we are forced to use diplomacy to prevent conflict from occurring at all costs, because the sheer proximity of the two default Milanese cities make the probability of bloodshed all the more real, and all the more devastating. Here's the golden rule; unless you possess the strength to take both Milanese cities in Italy, do not attack. They are just as confined to Italy as you are and will retaliate promptly. The Milanese have the advantage of spreading towards the southern French border, and gradually towards the Iberian Peninsula, just as we have the potential to expand towards designated destinations I have listed above, so never underestimate them. Speaking with the experience I earned through and extensive and fatiguing Russian conquest - the Milanese are real bitches. When I sent two separate ships loaded with fresh troops - all the way from the Russian capital of Novgorod - and when the second one (which also contained two generals) failed to arrive in Italy due to serious naval rapes, my whole Italian campaign nearly bit the dust. I took Genoa easily enough. Though when I strained to send a third of my war-beaten troops to acquire Milan itself, I blundered terribly, having been squashed by multiple Milanese generals that drained my entire dominance over Northern Italy shortly after a failed siege attempt. I did eventually manage to push the bastards out of Italy entirely, (though still inhabited the nearby pre-French city of Toulouse) but I could not have done so if wasn't for my incessant transfer of troops from Bern and Staufen, and, later on in the war, Innsbruck, which I acquired from the Germans with sheer luck. Translation: Italy is one of the most damnable regions in MTWII, laden with forests suitable for ambush for both sides, and its such a tight strip of land that once you engage, it's going to be very difficult to fully compose yourself. And Milan is there to make things even worse. Our third nemesis is the Papal State, a faction that is actually initially quite tranquil but later on in the game gets tired of being imprisoned between Sicily and us/Germany, and starts building up massive armies to devour both us and the Milanese.
Perhaps not as convincing as the Germans or the Milanese, but still, you need to keep an eye for the Pope if you want to ascertain victory in Italy. Plus, you'll likely get excommunicated by Pope if you start bashing the Papal States too frequently. Our last, and least potentially dangerous adversary in the Byzantine Empire. I don't even regard them as one of Venice's direct opponents, since they choose to clash with Turkey and Hungary more often than anything else, however, do try to invade Durazzo, the nearest of the three Adriatic cities before they do, because no one is more spry and devilish in taking Durazzo in the first 10 turns than these bastards. Be wary of the expansion of Eastern Europe, as their inquisition of cities bordering the Adriatic will form a series of interstices that will eventually burgeon and threaten the existence of Venice.
However, Venice is not renowned for its tactical intelligence and military strength but for its trade, commerce, and success in financial conquest. Iraklion can be initially used to form trade links with the Byzantines, the Turks, Egyptians, Sicilians, and, if you're lucky, with the Hungarians, but the centrality of your capital will make merchants and diplomats cascade in for trade rights from the first couple of turns, that I guarantee. Merchants' Wharves, ports and other structures to be utilized for trade are essential for your growth, so always but a little more weigh on the construction of those particular buildings when you're financially in a rather bad situation. Farming and mining are also viable tools to generate income, but international trade remains as a mandatory field of progression that Venice must absolutely practice with immaculate diligence.
Finally, though you only get to use them very late in the game, the Venetian Heavy Infantry are totally worth owning. Seriously, these mother fuckers are some of the strongest melee fighters in the game, packing a wallop with 16 Attack and 5 Charge Points, and shielding themselves just as well with 16 Defense. Seriously consider upgrading your castles as quickly possible, because once you have these men, you have near-invincible army in the open field and in siege assaults, especially if they're assisted with crossbowmen and cavalry. Thus, I end my brief introduction of the Venetian Republic. Venice is one of the most enjoyable factions to play as, being deliberately assaulted from each and every side for the entire duration of the campaign. Conflict will be aplenty, but you must ensure that you're economy is always better than the opposing factions. I will officially start my diary with #2, so, until then, farewell.
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