Give Hungary something to keep them happy, and snub out the Mamluks. Any tips?Just keep restarting. Don't save-scum in this situation, since the Ottomans are hard-coded from the start of your campaign to attack Candar first. And even after that they don't join up. France, Spain, Portugal and Papal States have formed a massive unassailable alliance bloc. Its so smart and ive never considered itAnother alternative is releasing Morea. They will however, sometimes engage if you move your fleet outside these two seas, so keep your navy in those 2 places, and your safe.
Use estate interaction to get a General, and pray for high Shock/Siege. Check who Albania has rivaled and then try to rival them too. I assume I need to ally Hungary/Mamluks/Austria/Poland in preparation for a second Ottoman invasion, but I have absolutely no idea how to do that. Naples was then swallowed up by the Pope-Man and Aragon was punished by Castile in later years. What you do with it is up to you. Mothball your fleet.Improve relations with Karaman, Trebizond and Wallachia. there's three problems with having aragon as an ally:The iberian union will automatically cancel your alliance with them and castille is far less likely to be friendlyyou don't control edirne so controlling the mamara strait with aragonese ships isn't that helpful, and after you take back your cores you're usually wealthy enough to be able to hold the strait with your own galley spamhungary and poland offer more immediate and stronger land forces to take on the ottomans, so there isn't much of a reason to devote time and a diplomat to getting aragon to be your friend.At this point of the game, you want allies that are in close proximity to you. Fabricate a claim on zeta trough epirus, and do this ASAP (since it's possible that the otto's will guarantee later). Drop your troops onto Circassia and march through Georgia. If Karaman still exists, take Tekke in order to fabricate and full annex them and limit the Ottomans even more (though be aware, Mamluks might come knocking).From here on out, there are far too many variables at play to accurately guide through. The kebab just groups up and rapes my army.What DLC do you have? You should always be able to outmaneuver the Ottomans armies, in my experience(and i have a ton of experience fighting the ottomans, about half my campaigns i play as byzantium) they always siege down your forts, they never go after your armies unless your armies are sieging down THEIR forts, and if your on Selanik and they're coming at you from Edirne, you can easily evade them. I hope this guide has helped some of you out starting as Byzantium, memes aside. By the time you return, Kastamonu should be taken, so just port your ships there. Wont even join fucking battles right next doorthe ai likes to attach to small stacks of units, maybe send out a 1k to try and grab them and control them from there?Thanks, this was helpful. If you can engage the fleet of 18 in the Adriatic, the fleet of 27 is usually parked in the Black Sea and can't get there in time.Once you finish repairs, sit in the Boshporus until the fleet of 27 come for you. If you don't do this, theres a big chance that hungary will be stealing the balkan provinces & mamluks the anatolians.- If you want to expand even faster, you can no-cb an irish minor with 2 provinces, vassalize it, force take 1 province, and voila, now you can expand into GB. 225. However I did find this harder than going for the Another option is RM'ing Imereti as their leader is close to death with no heirs at game startThey're also a really easy alliance to get - just need to improve with them for maybe 3 months - and in just about all my Byzantine starts, their ruler dies by 1450 and you can then use Imeriti's claims to expand into the Black Sea region while waiting for your truce timers in the Balkans to expire and to spread out AE. An offensive mountain battle can be devastating at this point of the game. Constantine would be known for his brave defense of the city, and legends would speak for centuries of the Marble Emperor who would one day reclaim Constantinople for the Greeks, so it's a bit odd that Paradox makes him a shitty 3/2/2 ruler. It should be a smallish stack of 7 or so, but your first engagement will give you a taste of what life is going to be like from now on. It has not been an easy time for Byzantium. No matter how much you tell them to take a specific fucking province. Contents. It's easier to grab access through Crimea and walk down, but I've won battles by jumping off my ships straight onto Theodoro as well.After this war, you want to ally Hungary. Declare on the Ottomans, promising land to both Hungary and Mamluks.I can't guide you through this war as every game is different and there are too many variables in this, but save-scum if something goes wrong (simply tab out the game and force quit EUIV). Having just trashed the Crusade of Varna in 1444, the Ottomans are led by Mehmed the Conquerer and seem invincible, while Byzantium is a small collection of cities and countrysides.Your brother Constantine has just invaded and vassalised Athens, which led to the Ottomans invading and forcing you to become their vassal.