Byzantium frustration

[Gurden]

I've seen and read a few guides, but I fail, like over and over...
They were for 1.36, not sure if something was changed in 1.37?

Playing on Ironman, but only normal difficulty.
But...:

Papal States takes forever to ally, I insult, I rival their rival, I send gifts, I improve relations.
But by the time my relation is enough to ally, they have maxed out relations, and then I need an extra 20.

Knights raid my provinces, and so while they want to ally me, my land doesn't want to ally them. I found that hunting pirates can help here, but that means I can't attack Epirus, because my navy doesn't want to hunt pirates, while I'm at war due to the frightening big Epirus navy. Takes 100 years for my nation to forget a pillage...

Epirus will often ally Venice or Papal, or even Knights before the 11th December, and even if not, then while I fight them, the Knights torch my provinces, making allying them impossible.

Ottomans will often attack before 1449, just because...

[Keijo]

You don't need the knights, take the estate priviledge which gives you 1 heavy ship and build a couple of galleys and you will beat the Ottoman navy. Georgia is your best ally since they will make the Ottomans go that way.

Note that if you dow the Ottomans in 46-47 you can only bring Georgia and the Ottomans will take mil tech 4 in 1448 so it can end badly. You can always settle for 50-70% ws and then bring the big boys for the next war.

[Xi Jinping]

Wait until 7 000k Greek rebels rise and take rhodes .
Watch the unrest build


This happens late 1400s
You may sometimes have the island by accident

[Octopuses]

Just ally any of Hungary/Austria/Poland/Lithuania and declare on Ottomans when they are in another war.

I always ignore the navy when playing in Ottoman area because it's unnecessary.

[ChalkStorm]

you can strand ottoman ships easily still even with the penalty to shipbuilding, and with help from hungary/poland/austria you'll be able to beat ottomans easily. I did it first try this patch despite not playing the game for nearly two years.

[Gurden]

I appreciate the help, but seems the odds have been changed some in patch 1.37, or else it's the Ironman mode that wrecks it.

I had a good try, but then Poland declared on Hungary, and I was foolish enough to join. That was my mistake, and I should have ignored the war.

But my lattest try, Ottomans declared war on me, 3rd of Janury 1446... That's near impossible to prepare for.

[Keijo]

Don't know who you can ally before 46 but you can try Muscowy because they have same religion, it will prevent the Ottomans attacking. Also if you just ally theodore+georgia+trezibond+serbia and hire a merc company the Ottomans might not attack because you have enough units on your side.

Maybe you could even ally Muscowy on january 1st and the AI propably would attack you still and you could win the war. But remember that they will take the mil tech by 48 so you need to take Gallipoli and blockade the strait.

[Gurden]

Got a good game going now, but took some restarts :(

First Ottoman war I took 6 provinces, but we had to just wait them out till they gave up.
Also understand the strategy for the first few wars better...
Wait for Ottoman armies to leave for a distant war. Occupy their northen provinces, block
strait, and then just wait...

And then I instantly attacked Serbia and annexed them.
After this it gets easier to remove your debuffs.