How to Serbia?

[FEMADeathCamps]

So, with the addition of Belgrade in the game, I wanted to try playing it up as Serbia. Starting off I allied Bosnia and rivaled Ragusa, Albania, and Wallachia (Just to fill out rival slots). Once I got the chance to get a more powerful ally (Hungary, as no one else was willing) and Albania got kebab'd I rivaled Bosnia and invaded when my truce was up (Ragusa attacked as well, but I blocked them from occupying anything by carpet-sieging). I full-annexed Bosnia and cored them. As I was thinking which way to go next, Venice attacked. Hungary joined the war but Venice managed to beat both our armies, and Hungary didn't really help after that.

I am wondering if I did anything wrong, what I should've done instead, or if there is just a better strategy for playing Serbia. My goal is to take over all of Yugoslavia, and later to remuv kebeb.

[pro gamer]

u dont

[Kljajic]

When you ally Hungary, you should be able to ally Austria sometime in future. If Poland and Austria are not hating each other you can ally Poland too. Vassalise Bosnia but don't annex them yet. When you form alliance with Austria, Ottomans will probably stay calm, meaning they will probably not attack you anymore on their own. Then you can attack Venice, take Istria and join HRE. That way you'll be protected by the emperor. But have on mind that if you have high developement you won't be able to join HRE, that's why you shouldn't annex Bosnia in the first place, at least not until you don't become member of HRE.

[FEMADeathCamps]

Originally posted by Kljajic:

When you ally Hungary, you should be able to ally Austria some near time in the future. If Poland and Austria are not hating each other you can ally Poland too. Vassalise Bosnia but dont annex them yet. When you form alliance with Austria, Ottomans will probably stay calm, meaning they will probably not attack you anymore on their own. Then you can attack Venice, take Istria and join HRE. That way you'll be protected by the emperor. But have on mind that if you have high developement you won't be able to join HRE, that's why you shouldn't annex Bosnia in the first place, at least not until you don't become member of HRE.

Sounds pretty good, I'll give it a whirl! Thanks for the advice!

[Kljajic]

Originally posted by POSH Xray:

Originally posted by Kljajic:

When you ally Hungary, you should be able to ally Austria some near time in the future. If Poland and Austria are not hating each other you can ally Poland too. Vassalise Bosnia but dont annex them yet. When you form alliance with Austria, Ottomans will probably stay calm, meaning they will probably not attack you anymore on their own. Then you can attack Venice, take Istria and join HRE. That way you'll be protected by the emperor. But have on mind that if you have high developement you won't be able to join HRE, that's why you shouldn't annex Bosnia in the first place, at least not until you don't become member of HRE.

Sounds pretty good, I'll give it a whirl! Thanks for the advice!

No problem, glad that I was able to help!

[FEMADeathCamps]

So quick update, this has gone quite well except for one small problem, Hungary declared on Venice (Claim on Dalmatia) and called me in. I decided this could be a good chance to get Istria, so I accept (Also didn't want to lose Hungary as an ally - Ottomans had the mission to conquer Serbia), and thus a long bloody war begins. I started off capturing Istria, but the Venetians catch my army (Bosnia is attached with about 4k troops to my 11k troops) and force me to retreat to my capital, and the Bosnians retreat to Pest. Regrouped with the Bosnians, we are again attacked and defeated in Travunia. At this point I am more than slightly annoyed and am wondering where the bloody hell the Hungarians went off to. I then find them doing NOTHING but sitting in Albania waiting to cross to Corfu. Eventually the Hungarians move up when Venice occupies their capital. I took this time to siege and occupy Dalmatia and have Bosnia occupy Istria, though Istria was soon liberated yet again by Genoa. The Venetians, mildly annoyed, march up from Greece and occupy Kosovo and catch Bosnia and I's army in Bosnia, as we headed North to help the Hungarians, and stack-whiped both of our armies. In the end, despite having positive 33% warscore, Hungary white peaces, and I'm left to rebuild my ruined army, navy (hah), and manpower.

Oh also Austria doesn't like me and won't marry me because he has too many diplo relations, Poland hates me because they rivaled Hungary, France is indifferent, but Aragon rather fancies me.

This was not quite the plan.

[Kljajic]

Originally posted by POSH Xray:

So quick update, this has gone quite well except for one small problem, Hungary declared on Venice (Claim on Dalmatia) and called me in. I decided this could be a good chance to get Istria, so I accept (Also didn't want to lose Hungary as an ally - Ottomans had the mission to conquer Serbia), and thus a long bloody war begins. I started off capturing Istria, but the Venetians catch my army (Bosnia is attached with about 4k troops to my 11k troops) and force me to retreat to my capital, and the Bosnians retreat to Pest. Regrouped with the Bosnians, we are again attacked and defeated in Travunia. At this point I am more than slightly annoyed and am wondering where the bloody hell the Hungarians went off to. I then find them doing NOTHING but sitting in Albania waiting to cross to Corfu. Eventually the Hungarians move up when Venice occupies their capital. I took this time to siege and occupy Dalmatia and have Bosnia occupy Istria, though Istria was soon liberated yet again by Genoa. The Venetians, mildly annoyed, march up from Greece and occupy Kosovo and catch Bosnia and I's army in Bosnia, as we headed North to help the Hungarians, and stack-whiped both of our armies. In the end, despite having positive 33% warscore, Hungary white peaces, and I'm left to rebuild my ruined army, navy (hah), and manpower.

Oh also Austria doesn't like me and won't marry me because he has too many diplo relations, Poland hates me because they rivaled Hungary, France is indifferent, but Aragon rather fancies me.

This was not quite the plan.

You don't need France as an ally quite yet, because you are small and they are for now too far away. Improve your relations with Austria, and try to get that alliance with them, you need it cause soon or later Austria will get claims on provinces which Venice holds, plus there is an option for Austria to rival Venice, it happens most of the time. Do you have any DLC activated, if not I suggest you to buy some. Essential one is "Art Of War" which brings a bunch of new mechanics while at war. With this DLC enabled you can transfer occupied provinces to your allies or vassals, and vice versa, you know for example if you are at war with Ottomans and Austria sieges and captures Constantinople they are gonna transfer it to you, because they have no interest in holding it, neither they want it as their core province. War without "Art Of War"can be quite frustrating from time to time, because if your ally captures provinces which you desire you won't be able to take them when you are making peace with the enemy. Also with the "Art Of War" you can give the instructions to your allies on which particular provinces they should focus getting and sieging, and many more stuff.

And also you need to be leader of the war against venice, meaning you need to declare war against them, cause otherwise Hungary will get Dalmatia and Istria for them, and then that will become the real problem.
Lower number of your diplo relations, senf gift to Austria if needed, that will get you bonus opinion -> royal marriage them -> alliance.

[FEMADeathCamps]

Originally posted by Kljajic:

Originally posted by POSH Xray:

So quick update, this has gone quite well except for one small problem, Hungary declared on Venice (Claim on Dalmatia) and called me in. I decided this could be a good chance to get Istria, so I accept (Also didn't want to lose Hungary as an ally - Ottomans had the mission to conquer Serbia), and thus a long bloody war begins. I started off capturing Istria, but the Venetians catch my army (Bosnia is attached with about 4k troops to my 11k troops) and force me to retreat to my capital, and the Bosnians retreat to Pest. Regrouped with the Bosnians, we are again attacked and defeated in Travunia. At this point I am more than slightly annoyed and am wondering where the bloody hell the Hungarians went off to. I then find them doing NOTHING but sitting in Albania waiting to cross to Corfu. Eventually the Hungarians move up when Venice occupies their capital. I took this time to siege and occupy Dalmatia and have Bosnia occupy Istria, though Istria was soon liberated yet again by Genoa. The Venetians, mildly annoyed, march up from Greece and occupy Kosovo and catch Bosnia and I's army in Bosnia, as we headed North to help the Hungarians, and stack-whiped both of our armies. In the end, despite having positive 33% warscore, Hungary white peaces, and I'm left to rebuild my ruined army, navy (hah), and manpower.

Oh also Austria doesn't like me and won't marry me because he has too many diplo relations, Poland hates me because they rivaled Hungary, France is indifferent, but Aragon rather fancies me.

This was not quite the plan.

You don't need France as an ally quite yet, because you are small and they are for now too far away. Improve your relations with Austria, and try to get that alliance with them, you need it cause soon or later Austria will get claims on provinces which Venice holds, plus there is an option for Austria to rival Venice, it happens most of the time. Do you have any DLC activated, if not I suggest you to buy some. Essential one is "Art Of War" which brings a bunch of new mechanics while at war. With this DLC enabled you can transfer occupied provinces to your allies or vassals, and vice versa, you know for example if you are at war with Ottomans and Austria sieges and captures Constantinople they are gonna transfer it to you, because they have no interest in holding it, neither they want it as their core province. War without "Art Of War"can be quite frustrating from time to time, because if your ally captures provinces which you desire you won't be able to take them when you are making peace with the enemy. Also with the "Art Of War" you can give the instructions to your allies on which particular provinces they should focus getting and sieging, and many more stuff.

And also you need to be leader of the war against venice, meaning you need to declare war against them, cause otherwise Hungary will get Dalmatia and Istria for them, and then that will become the real problem.
Lower number of your diplo relations, senf gift to Austria if needed, that will get you bonus opinion -> royal marriage them -> alliance.

Ok, I just barely married Austria, but they will not ally me because of the size of my army and navy. My ♥♥♥♥ is too small for them.

[FEMADeathCamps]

Update: I got real lucky! Milan, with the backing of the pope, went to war with Venice, so I jumped on them with Hungary. Currently, I hold Dalmatia, but the Hungarians occupied Istria before I could send a unit to go occupy it, the Venetian army has crumbled.

[FEMADeathCamps]

Nevermind! The Ottmans declared war! ♥♥♥♥!

[priamossz]

yep, the ottomans are really op at the moment as they gonna get their golden age as well as their 33% siege ability will make them extremely dangerous. I tried playing with hungary a few games and each time they slaughtered me in this patch and hungary is about twice as strong as serbia and can make alliances easier. good luck with Serbia bro, you going to need it.

[FEMADeathCamps]

Originally posted by priamossz:

yep, the ottomans are really op at the moment as they gonna get their golden age as well as their 33% siege ability will make them extremely dangerous. I tried playing with hungary a few games and each time they slaughtered me in this patch and hungary is about twice as strong as serbia and can make alliances easier. good luck with Serbia bro, you going to need it.

I don't even have Rights of Man or Mandate of Heaven yet :/

Dear God, a kebab that's even stronger...

[Д а н к о в с к и й]

Venice is always super dangerous. As hungry I was able to take a couple provinces from them and the Byzantines. I ended up selling these to the Ottomans to keep them pacified and friendly.
Also I don't think you can get land unless the AI promises to give it to you when called into wars unless you peace out early and end the alliance. While I've never done a game as Serbia (tempted to try one now), I have done with Hungry and others will tell you to ally with Austria I wouldn't agree. Austria would bring you into a thousand wars since they're constantly expanding and forming other alliances. Furthermore, I believe Poland is sometimes a rival to hungry which might also sour the deal. Taking out the Ottomans early I think is a strategy to look into. If the Hungarians are busy being angry at the Wallachians for something, I'd also ally them, build up an army (probably throwing myself in debt in the progress) and marching in on the Ottomans with the Hungarians (if you start the war you should be able to combine and lead their armies). Take a few territories and/or as much money from the Ottomans as you can get trying to throw them in debt, truce you, and cucking their manpower reserves. I'm still a bit new to Europa Universalis (played more Victoria 2 up to this point) so maybe not the best idea but I was able to match the Ottomans as Karaman once so you shouldn't have a problem with Wallachia, Serbia, and Hungry. Alternativly, you could placate the Ottomans with relations (if possible).

[👅 f r e a k y c y r u s 👅]

I did a Lazarus game a while ago, so not sure if this tactic still works.

First you must vassalize Albania to get Skanderbeg. Make them into a march for the bonus force limit. Develop your gold mine so you can field more men. Ally anyone you possibly can (besides Byz or something like that). Try to get Hungary.

You can ally Bosnia or take them over. Doesn't matter.

Use Skanderbeg, Hunyadi, and mountains to take down Ottomans.

[priamossz]

you cant really go after albania as the ottomans near always instantly declare on them. even if you manage to take it its most likely going to mean that the ottomans going to declare on you for albania and in the process take more land from you.

[Kljajic]

Well I used HRE tactic and in the end it looked like this
https://puu.sh/vAW9w/f6058758f5.png