Byzantium Guide 1.12 (+ "Basileus" achievement)

A simple guide for Byzantium after patch 1.12 plus obtaining the "Basileus" achievement.

A good start

Since I haven't seen a Byzantine guide in 1.12, I'll attempt to write one. Keep in mind that this will help you, at least, survive the early stages of the game that are the most difficult. In time, you'll be able to expand, as well. It's highly possible that this guide will help you obtain the "Basileus" achievement, reffering to the restoration of the Roman Empire.

What you, really, need, playing as Byzantium is a good and lucky start. First and foremost, check the Ironman settings. Play the game in Normal difficulty and with no bonuses, at all. AI bonuses is going to be a huge boost to the Ottoman army and economy, making it, almost, impossible to survive, at the beginning, let alone to expand and restore the Empire to its former glory. So, be sure to check it out.

Next, when you start the game, check that you have a Diplomatic Reputation +1.00 advisor, the one that costs 0.9 ducats per month and hire him/her. If you don't have one, restart. Without him/her, you won't be able to obtain an alliance with anybody and strong alliances is all you need, at the beginning of the game.

That's a good start. But it can be, even, better! Check out if Poland has rivaled the Ottomans. Most of the time, they do. In my game, they hadn't, but it wasn't much of an issue, the way things went. If Poland is not a rival of the Ottomans, it's by no means a reason to restart, in my honest opinion. The difference is that if they do, they will most probably join all your wars against the Ottomans but if not, it's going to be very difficult to persuade them.

The next step is to check Austria's rivals. In patch 1.12, Austria rivals Venice, almost, everytime. That's a good thing. This will be a +20 relations boost that never fades away (+1 each month) and, in my game, it guaranteed a friendly attitude of Austria towards me, early on. Sometimes, the Austrians rival the Ottomans, as well, which is more than brilliant for you, as it's the first step of a long and healthy friendship.

Your first steps

Time to have a look at your own state.

Historically, Byzantium, in 1444, was nowhere near an Empire. It only controlled the city of Constantinople and the Peloponnese, the southern part of Greece. Not only the countryside but the City itself was depopulated. The Army was destroyed due to the long civil strife and the wars between the Byzantines and the Crusader states and the Empire had no allies, at all. In fact, Emperor Ioannes tried to convert Byzantium to Catholic, in an attempt to gain the Pope's favour, thus the sympathy of the West, for a common campaign against the Turks. This situtation is depicted in the game. Your economy sucks. Totally! You only own 3 provinces and a small vassal, Athens, that's not much of a help, itself.

In order to revert this ugly situtation, you need strong alliances. From day one, send the first diplomat to Poland and the second to Austria. You may use the "double points per month" trick by recalling the diplomat and sending him again to his destination. That's especially useful if you see that the Ottomans have already picked the "City of the world's desire" mission, which, instantly, gives them a Conquest Casus Belli for your capital.

If the trick doesn't work, anymore, then don't worry. Still, the Ottomans may attack you immediately but that's rare, since, most of the time, the try to regain their cores from the other, smaller Turkish states (Karaman, Ramazan, Dulkadir, Aq Qoyunlu). If you don't have the time to obtain the alliances before they attack, restart.

Lower the autonomy in Achaea. It's useful, since it gives you +1 army and navy forcelimit. So, you have to build 3 infantry regiments in your 3 provinces. Don't build any cavalry. You don't have the money to either conserve them or recruit them and, moreover, your army is not a conquest army, at the beginning.

Sent your only Barque to protect trade in Aleppo, where your trade power is 6%. Recall the merchant from Alexandria, where your power is only 3% and sent him to Collect From Trade in Constantinople. With the remaining cash, build your navy to the limit with Cogs. Use a loan, if you have to. Your navy is not a fighting navy, either. It's all about transporting as many troops as possible at a time and, of course, to avoid the "Byzantine Navy Strength" penalty with your possible allies.

Move your army to Achaea. Use your Ruler as a general. If you want to try your luck, recruit a general yourself, but it's nor recommended due to your low Army Tradition.

Set your national focus to military. That's very important, since you're going to fight for your cores, at first, plus, keeping up with Ottoman military technology, let alone surpassing it, is extremely vital!

In order to repay your loan and to accumulate money, minimize your military and navy expenses and either mothball or destroy completely your fort at Morea. Mothballing a fort makes it cost half it's monthly expenses (0.50 ducats). By destroying it, you can keep these money for your economy. Some might argue that that's a stupid move but if the Ottomans ever reach southern Greece, that'll be the end. Besides, if all goes well, you won't be needing a fort down there or if you insist, rebuild it, later.

Whaterver you choose, DON'T destroy or mothball the fort of Constantinople. Garrisons take some time to recover and it's a crucial strategic point up there.

Picking rivals

As of 1.12, Byzantium has 2 rival spots.

You must rival Venice, in order to gain Austria's favour. DON'T embargo them! An embargo will drag you into an early war with Venice and its Vassals, while you won't have any allies. This is a catastrophy.

Also, DON'T rival Genoa. Why? Beause most of the time, Austria rivals Venice and allies Genoa. If you rival Genoa, don't expect Austria to accept an alliance, as you're going to have the -50 "Austria is allied to Genoa" relations penalty. Even if Austria doesn't ally the Genoese instantly, don't rival them, 'cause you never know how the AI works, sometimes.

If you care about your early Power Projection, rival Karaman. This can only be done if Karaman has already rivaled you, which happens, sometimes. You can embargo them without fear, as well. They can't reach you, let alone win a war against you. However, I don't recommend you doing it. Later on, you may need the rival spot for someone else and you never know if Karaman will endure the Ottoman invasions with or without help. Besides, you won't be able to forge an alliance with the rivals of Karaman (probably some other Turkish or Mongol state) due to the difference of religions and the distance between your borders.

In the rare occassion that Serbia or Albania rivals you, exploit it, immediately. Rival them. This'll give you, most probably, the mission "Recover Albania" which gives you Conquest Cassus Bellis for Albania, Zeta, Kosovo and Ragusa. If that happens, don't let it go. It's one of the rare occassions that the "Purple Phoenix" missions work, properly.

However, don't go nuts and start declaring No-CB wars. It's going to get tricky if the Ottomans intervene, plus you need the stability, the lowest possible War Exhaustion and the best behaviour to ally Austria and Poland. This includes No-CB wars against Albania, Ragusa, Serbia, Bosnia, Wallachia, Theodoro or Trebizond. Every other small faction or OPM around you is either a vassal of some major power or has its independence guaranteed by one.

Making friends and Athens

If everything goes according to plan and the Ottomans haven't attacked you, yet, by 1446 you should have maximized your relations with Austria and Poland.

Watch out how this goes. If you see them ready to accept a Royal Marriage or an Alliance before reaching +100 relations, DO IT! The faster you are, the better.

Poland will, normally, first accept a RM, then the Alliance. Ask for Military Access and give. Austria, normally, accepts the Alliance first, then the RM. If they need 1 or 2 more points to accept, take 2-3 loans and send them a gift. Don't worry about the money. By making them friends, it'll help you take either cash or War Reparations (or both, as a matter of fact!) from the Ottomans (or anyone other) later, thus you'll be able to repay your debts.

Don't bother allying Serbia. Bosnia, now, as of 1.12, is Catholic, which makes it easier for them to ally some Western state like Milan or the Papacy. If a Serbo-Bosnian war occurs and Bosnia wins, there'll be no Serbia, at all and Bosnia won't be your best pal. If Serbia wins, they'll rival you since they can't rival anybody else, due to being either very large (Hungary, Venice) or very small (Ragusa, Albania) in comparison to them. Besides, you don't want Milanese, Savoyard or Vatican forces to land on your shores and loot your poor country. After all, the Balkans is No1 place of expansion for a solid Empire like yours.

Wallachia, on the other hand, is a different story. Notice that the Wallachian ruler is very old (55) and has no heir. Take your chances, improve your relations with them for a month or two and sent a RM. There's a chance that you'll get a Palaeologus uncle or cousin in their throne, thus, making it easier for you to vassalize them, later on or have a PU, whether by force, later or by chance, early on, it doesn't matter. That didn't happen for me, though. Apparently, the old dude got some girl pregnant at his 60 and had a son with a strong claim.

If they have no heir, that might be good for you but ALWAYS check what'll happen when their ruler dies. If you see that "A noble from the house of Palaeologus succeds to the throne" or "[Your ruler's or heir's name] succeeds to the throne", then that's good. If it says "Succesion war between [somebody] and Byzantium", it's better to let it go. If the Succesion War involves some small country like Albania, Serbia, Bosnia or Trebizond, you can choose to Go to War. If it says Poland, Hungary, Muscovy or some other giant, break the RM, immediately, even by taking the stability hit. You can't control this particular war and some of your allies might not even join. And remember that, as of 1.12, there's a -1000 relations penalty with someone who dishonours the Call to Arms, against an enemy. This means you'll probably be alone for a while and you don't want that. The AI's stupid but not that stupid. Especially when the AI's the Ottoman Empire.

NOTE: It's highly recommended, that, after obtaining the alliances with Austria and Poland, the player annexes Athens. They're not much of a help, plus, as of 1.12, diplomatic annexation is expensive and is related to the development of the vassal's provinces. The more you wait, the more developed the provinces will be, thus, the more expensive the annexation. Besides, that'll grant you a one-time event "Athens Reclaimed" giving legitimacy or monarch points and prestige.

War with the Ottomans in the Balkans

Luck is needed. If Poland hasn't yet obtained the PU with Lithuania or has lost it, you're, simply, done. If Austria is caught up in a war with France or Burgundy, that might be bad, but not as bad as with Poland. Poland has full access to yours and the Turkish lands, meaning that their help is more important than the Austrian one.

There's a chance that the Ottomans are allies to Crimea. Good. If you own AoW DLC, sent Moldavian, Mazovian and Wallachian (if you're in a PU or an Alliance) armies to siege Crimea. White peace them, as soon as possible.

If the Ottomans are allied to Tunis, defend the Peloponnese. Place your army to Achaea and wait for them to disembark either there or to Morea. It's easily defended territory and, I personally, won all battles against them even with 1-2 lesser regiments. Achaea is a mountainous region and Morea is a coastline. White peace with them, as soon as possible, as Tunis has a very large fleet and can't be beaten by anyone of your alliance. For the sake of historical knowledge, that's how the Greek Revolutionaries won the Independence War against the Ottoman Empire in 1821 (by waiting the Turkish armies in the Peloponnese and smashing them completely).

If the Ottomans are allied to Algiers or Tlemcen, you're lucky. It's very rare for the Berbers to board ships and travel to the other side of the Mediterranean.

If the Ottomans are allied to the Timurids or Persia, smile. Persia can't reach you since, in order to do this, they need military access from the Mamluks, their, most of the time, hated rivals. The same applies to the Timurids, who, most of the time, are absorbed with wars in India or collapse, since they have many forts and the AI doesn't know what to do with them!

If the Ottomans are alone, concentrate. In 1.12, warscore is mostly gained by taking forts and killing armies. You can't blockade the Straits of Marmara but you can follow Austrian and Commonwealth armies and smash the Ottomans. Always look at the ledger and the Warscore board to see their army strength. Order your allies to siege Edirne. Why? Because they have better siege ability than you, so it's going to be a faster siege, plus, after the siege is over, they'll sit in Edirne and Constantinople provinces and the Ottomans can't pass! The Turkish armies just go commit suicide crossing the straits on foot and on small stacks. You can siege every Ottoman province in the Balkans yourself. Remember to kill every Turkish army you can. That raises the warscore.

Watch out for your allies desire, though. If you see them losing the will to fight, try to obtain as much warscore as possible and peace out. That may happen if Poland is not a rival of the Ottomans, so they may white peace out or if they are, but some Baltic state declares war on them. Austria won't give up easily but if you see many internal HRE wars involving Austria, try to make the best peace deal possible and fast.

The Peace deal must include your cores, so you don't lose admin points for coring. If you can, TAKE Edirne. This will make the Ottomans move their capital to Asia. That means that their army will guard Sugla, Hudavendingar, Ankara or whichever the new capital of theirs is, making it easier for you to reconquer the Balkans, later. Also, Edirne is usefull, as it contains a fort. Historically, this fort was named "Throat-cutter", (guess why!). In the game, it will completely block the Ottomans from reaching Europe again, because, now, they'll have to capture BOTH Constantinople and Edirne to advance to the Balkans or Greece. That'll give you plenty of time to gather mercenaries (if your army is destroyed) or your allies to reach for help. THAT's the beauty of the new fort system! You can carpet siege with 1 regiment the fortless provinces while the Ottomans have their full stacks trying to capture 2 forts at a very important position.

Remember to ask for cash and/or war reparations to pay your debts. I recommend you don't ask them to release any states, as vassalizations and dilomatic annexations are much more costly and much more complex, now.

In order to drive the Ottomans away from Europe, you'll need two wars. One for your Greek cores and one for Bulgaria. As of 1.12, Bulgarian provinces have Religious Zeal, thus making it impossible for Ottomans to convert them by 1450, as it used to be. That's good for you, 'cause Bulgarian culture will be an accepted culture as soon as you core their provinces, plus you won't have to get advisors or Religious Ideas first or Patriarch Authority to convert them back to Greek Orthodox.

NOTE: Taking provinces from the Ottomans in the Western and Eastern Balkans, grants a one-time "Purple Phoenix" event that grants legitimacy and monarch points and allows the execution of a decision that gives Army Tradition and Monarch Points, too.

War with Venice

It might be tempting, at the beginning, to attack the Venetians, but it's not an option. Venice's naval superiority, plus their vassals and a possible alliance with France, is a danger for the best Byzantine game. Don't get too greedy or overconfident.

In order to attack Venice, you need to have Austria willing to help you, land connection to Naxos, Negroponte and Corfu and a navy that can, at least, compete with theirs.

I recommend you drive the Turk away first, then bother with the Italian.

Else, act opportunistically. When Venice is at war with the Mamluks over Cyprus and ONLY if they're losing this war, attack the Knights of Rhodes, after forging a claim. This has two possible outcomes. Either Venice won't join, so you can take out the Knights by yourself or they will join, honouring their guarantee but withouth French/Burgundian/English/Castillian help. Besides, if they're losing the war to the Mamluks, that means that the Venetian fleet has lost many battles and it's weak. ALWAYS check the ledger, though, first!

Another option is to attack Venice when you're 100% sure that Austia will join and, at the same time (!) their major ally (mean. France, England or Castille) is losing a war somewhere and they're not going to join. Quicly capture Negroponte and Naxos. If you can, transport your armies to Crete but protect your fleet. Corfu's tricky. The straits are easily reached from Venice but from the western Mediterranean, as well, meaning that if Venice has their fleet somewhere you can't see, you're done.

Attack only small Venetian fleets you find and quickly. Destroying Venetian Barques hits their trade income. That's something.

Unless you're lucky enough to obtain the mission "Conquer the Eastern Islands" or "Save the Greek people in Negroponte/Naxos/Crete/Corfu/Rhodes/Cyprus", you have to forge claims over these.

You might need 2-3 small wars to take everything you want. If you conquered Albania through the mission, take Dalmatia, as well. Keep the Austrian happy and give them land, if you can, probably Treviso, Istria, Brescia or Friuli, but you come first, here.

After obtaining the Greek islands, Venice won't, probably, be a possible rival of yours, anymore, so keep Austria happy by constantly improving relations with them.

War with Genoa

Just like Venice, with the difference that they have a smaller fleet, smaller army but are an HRE member.

If they're allied to Astria, forget about it. Try to support Greek rebels in Scio, who'll join you after 3 (or 5, I don't remember) constant years of occupation. The Pontic Greeks of Kaffa are a matter of later times.

When Italy leaves the HRE, at around 1500, it might be a good idea to attack, if they don't have strong allies like France or Castille and if you can carry on such an expedition.

Sometimes, they get beaten up by the much more powerful Savoy or Milan or even the ambitious Tuscany. Take advantage of that, always watching for their allies.

Even before 1500, they won't be a possible rival of yours, if all goes as planned.

You can rival them, after obtaining the alliance with Austria and only if they're not allied to each other.

If they don't have any strong allies, you can embargo them and provoke them to attack you. At times, you'll see the mission that requires you to keep up with Genoese army limit. You'll see that it's a little bigger than yours. That's a proof that you can handle them.

War in the Western Balkans

In between truce times, it might be a good idea to expand to the Balkans in expense of Serbia/Bosnia or "Yugoslavia" (mean. the united Slavic state). That's easy. Especially if you have the missions "Conquer Albania" and "Conquer Istria".

It might be a good idea to vassalize the huge Slavic state and designate them as a march. Later, you might need their help in obtaining possessions in Northern Italy or Hungary, plus you can feed them Croatia.

Keep in mind that in 1.12, Hungary is a friend of Austria and the PU event happens both more often and sooner. If they're just friends, avoid attacking them, unless you've got a strong ally to hold Austria, since P-L can't fight both Hungary and Austria, at the same time.

If they're in a PU, then you're lukcy, 'cause that means that Hungary won't expand south, leaving the Slavic states in your plate for breakfast.

The aggressive strategy of vassalizg by force both Bosnia and Serbia early on, is not recommended since the massive Agressive Expansion relations penalty and a hostile Hungary/Austria, is a guarantee for a quickly lost game.

As of 1.12, diplomatic annexation is costly. In my game, at around 1500, Bosnia was 300 diplomatic points expensive. Earlier annexation might also be difficult, since Athens, your vassal, at the beginning of the game costs 110 diplomatic points.

If, somehow, Croatia forms and you can attack them, do it. Hold Lika, Dalmatia, Ragusa (if it's part of Croatia) and Istria (same as before) to complete the Purple Phoenix mission and feed the rest to Catholic Bosnia who shares the same culture group and religion with them or Serbia. Nonetheless, hold the coastal Adriatic for yourself, in order to be able to raid Italy whenever you want.

NOTE: Holding a number of provinces in the Western Balkans, gives you the chance to execute a decision which grants Army Tradition and Monarch Points.

War in Asia Minor and "Basileus"

When you have secured the Balkans from every rival of yours and you have the strong alliances to hold against the Turkish hordes, it's time to invade Asia Minor.

Like before, making the Ottomans release a state which you can vassalize and feed, is not recommended, not only due to the differences of vassalization in 1.12, but also due to different religion and culture.

It's better to obtain 5-6 proinces each time. Core and convert. Turkish culture will be accepeted early on.

Remember to attack when the Ottomans are caught up in a war in the East or have no allies or no army/manpower.

Probably, after driving them away from the Balkans, you might be able to take them out yourself, but don't risk it, if you're not sure. The best Byzantine games are lost due to overconfidence.

If the war goes bad, retreat to Europe and guard the Straits till you find the chance to either revert the bad course or peace out in GOOD terms, meaning white peace or giving a few ducats or the opposite, gaining some. Don't start giving provinces as this might be a huge setback and especially in Europe.

If you have picked Religious ideas, you have the Religious CB against heathens and heretics, thus you don't need to forge claims in every possible province, in order to attack the Turks.

In order to hold Asia Minor and restore the Theme System, thus the Roman Empire, you might need 3-5 wars, depending on their outcome and who controls the desired provinces.

NOTE: The conqest of Asia Minor Coast and Anatolia, enables 2 decisions; "Triumph for Asia Minor Coast" and "Triumph for Anatolia". This, in accordance with the event "Turks driven from Anatolia" will grant you a large boost in Army Tradition, Prestige, Legitimacy and Monarch Points.

NOTE 2: As of 1.12, the provinces need to acquire the "Basileus" (mean. "King" in Greek) achievement are the mainland Greek, Filibe/Plovdid in Bulgaria and the provinces of modern Turkey, along with Cyprus and Kaffa.

http://images.akamai.steamusercontent.com/ugc/686018548909354564/C59460F559B4DED4BC474A7518B8BFC4ACF32C45/?interpolation=lanczos-none&output-format=jpeg&output-quality=95&fit=inside|256:*

[This image shows the exact provinces need to achieve "Basileus". I'm not the owner of the image nor by any chance had anything to do with its creation, therefore I don't claim to have any status upon it. Image found on EU4 wiki.]

War for Cyprus, Trebizond, Theodoro and Kaffa

1) Cyprus starts having its independence guaranteed by the Mamluks. In middle-game, the Egyptians vasalize it and, at around, 1550-1600, they annex it.
It's easier to conqer Cyprus when the Mamluks are caught up in a war with some Middle Eastern faction, Tunis, Venice or losing to the Ottomans. Just keep watching when they WON'T join the war and grab the place.
In order to get a Conquest CB against Cyprus you need to have a claim either forged from Rhodes or from the mission "Conquer the Eastern Islands".
If Cyprus is a vassal of the Mamluks or if they control the island, it's much more difficult and involves a war with them, which is planned AFTER you deal with the Ottomans.

2) Trebizond lies far and you can't get a CB against them, except from random events which is very rare. Most of the time they get annexed by Crimea or Qara Qoyunlu, after a war that involves Georgia who guarantess their independence. It's best to conquer it AFTER you secure Asia Minor.

3) The same applies for Theodoro. Usually, they become vassals of Crimea, which annexes them. Conquer it later, AFTER you secured Asia Minor and you can hold a war against Crimea and some other Mongol tribe.

4) Like the forementioned, Kaffa's no different except the fact that they belong to Genoa. Take it opportunistically in a war against them or later on, as mentioned above.

War in Middle East, Italy and the West

Frequently, you'll recieve the "Restore the Pentarchy" missions or others demanding you conquer Antioch, Aleppo, Rome, Alexandria and Jeusalem.

These wars are far from your reach and ability, early on, but after you're done with the Ottomans, you can deal with the Mamluks.

Just ally one of their rivals who are Christians, namely the Commonwealth, Russia or Spain. You'll need many wars but if you played that well enough, you can do it. Secure territory you can actually hold, core it and convert it, then again, till they're no more a threat. That's going to happen when you conquer Alexandria or Cairo.

Personally, I'm not interested in that much. Besides, a first-time game for "Basileus" might be slow enough for you not to be able to reach Northern Africa, except the occassion you can handle multiple wars.

As for Italy, now that the small states leave the HRE and after you deal with Venice, it's easily invaded. Especially if Naples breaks free from Aragon. The hard time is if they don't and Spain reaches Rome. You don't lose reputation from vassalizing the Pope as an Orthodox country and you destroy the Papal mechanics if you convert the Eternal City.

Having done that, the way for the HRE, Tunisia and Spain is open. Just maintain good relations with the rivals of your enemies, supossedly France, Great Britain or the next-in-line to the throne of the HRE.

Westernization and Ideas

Once, I tried westernizing. It's fun, for sure, but not that fun if you're still surrounded by much stronger enemies and/or your state is still in a bad shape. That's totally personal. But the event with the trade of western arms giving bonuses in technology happens a lot, to say. Thus, westernization is not a must.

For ideas, I went with Maritime (to keep up as much as you can with the Ottomans, Venice, the Mamluks) although, probably, Diplomatic is much more useful. Don't bother with Influence. You'll have many CBs against your enemies all the time, plus AE is not that much in Byzantium. Who's going to forge a coalition against you? Your rival, the Ottomans? Or Persia? Besides, if they do, that means you're huge enough to handle them.

Religious is important to convert the Sunni provinces and to have the CB against the Muslim and Catholic states.

Quantinty, for manpower problems.

Aristocratic, 'cause the Noble Knights idea allows you to execute the decision "Institute Liberum Veto". This decision can be applied when you're at war and your WE is over 8.00. It will remove 10.00 WE from you and grant free cavalry units in a number of provinces.

Trade. Mid-game, you should own Ragusa, Constantinople, Aleppo, Crimea. You need the extra merchants. If you own Venice and Alexandria, as well, all the better.

Economic. Cheaper buildings, now that they don't cost Monarch Points and are more important than ever.

Administrative, if you use mercenaries and go around in a killing spree, conquering everything in your path.

Try to balance between Technology and Ideas. Have the Ideas you wish, whenever you wish but try not to fall behind in Technology and, especially, in Military, at least while you still try to drive the Turk away.

How can things go wrong?

There are a number of instances where the game is at stake. I tried to think of some occassions that I encountered, in my countless tries, always following the strategy of this guide by letter.

1) Austria's not a rival of Venice and, moreover, they ally each other. It's going to be difficult.
2) Poland loses PU with Lithuania, removes the Ottomans as a rival and starts fighting over the Baltic and only. They're not mch of a help, anymore.
3) Austria loses PU with Hungary and Emperor status, while being crushed by France and Bohemia. Styria released. Game over.
4) Early attack on Venice, allied to France. France besieges everything. Game over.
5) Early attack on the Mamluks. All Arabian vassals smash everything in their path.
6) No CB wars, early on. Unable to obtain alliance with anyone due to high aggressive expansion. Turks coming from all sides. Game over.
7) First Byantino-Ottoman war and I gained nothing at all. Next time, stacks of 40 regiments came all the way and took everything. (If the first war grants you nothing or lets you crippled and strippen of your provinces, RESTART!)
8) Any random event fires or by chance, Austria rivals Poland. You can't obtain both alliances, at once, anymore. Probably, a restart.

http://images.akamai.steamusercontent.com/ugc/686018548909368485/822FA97F143D48F9E7E0E3743E0EB8CF9C6FCBF6/?interpolation=lanczos-none&output-format=jpeg&output-quality=95&fit=inside|256:*

[Theme system restored. However, things, indeed, went wrong. I was under the false impression that the restoration of the Theme System would unlock the "Basileus" achievement. Apparently, as explained in some other section of this guide, as of 1.12, more provinces are recquired. Thus, my game continues, no matter the sacrifices I did to, just, obtain Trebizond from Lithuania, who now holds Theodoro and Kaffa, as well. The Mamluks hold Maras and Cyprus, 2 provinces needed to execute the decisions "Triumph for Anatolia" and "Triumph for the Asia Minor Coast" and "Basileus" achievement. The image is my own screenshot and is, of course, free of use.]

Purple Phoenix missions, events and DLC problems (Complaining to Paradox)

Most of you are, probably, owners of the "Purple Phoenix" DLC that focuses on Byzantium. As we all know, this DLC includes a number of flavour events, actually helpfull events, decisions and more, about our beloved faction.

However! During previous patches, Paradox removed the Byzantine cores from many provinces, making it all more difficult to play as the Eastern Roman Empire. That's one thing to do. What, really, annoys me and matters more, is the way that the PP missions appear.

As you've, probably, all noticed, playing as Byzantium comes with a lot of "Restore the Pentarchy" or "Recover Jerusalem" or "Recover Antioch" missions. The DLC, though, contains missions that focus on restoring the whole Roman Empire. From Greece to Bulgaria, to Croatia, to Turkey, to Egypt, to Italy, to Spain.

The problem is the criteria that the developers set for those missions to appear. If you search at the game files, there's a .txt that describes what someone has to have, in order to get free claims over a the Eastern Balkans, f.e.. And that's a ruler with military skill from 4 to 6. The same applies to all other missions, except the religious missions (Recover Antioch, Jerusalem, Rome) and the Pentarchy missions who recquire a ruler with at least 2 military skill!

That's funny, 'cause when you hold your Byzantine Army to Greece, you mean to secure Greece first, then the Balkans, then Asia Minor and only later proceed to Italy, Egypt, Tunis and Spain.

As it seems, sadly, Paradox isn't thinking of this DLC enough, anymore. Trying to change the .txt files the way I mentioned above, comes with a change in the checksum, thus making Ironman impossible, as it recquires the game to be unmodified and unaltered.

If one wants, they can alter the files, lowering the military skill needed for the missions to appear and enjoy a non-Ironman game, coming with no achievements, though.

Last but not least, I know it won't be heard by anyone with that kind of jurisdiction or authority, but, please Paradox, fix the missions. We bought the DLC for a reason and I know it's not a hard work, since someone totally inexperienced with modding, like me, is able to do such a needed change.

Thanks, a priori.

http://images.akamai.steamusercontent.com/ugc/686018548909354582/27E54CA4E0DCA7799B69FB02682AF2742A52464B/?interpolation=lanczos-none&output-format=jpeg&output-quality=95&fit=inside|256:*

[This image is of an older version of the game, so the provinces shown may not represent the current version. However, they do represent loosely the "Purple Phoenix" Missions. I'm not the owner of the image, nor did I have anything to do with its creation, therefore I don't claim having any status upo it. Image found on google.]

Epilogue and thanks

You might need to start the game many times over till you manage to "win". Good luck. May the Empire of the Empires be restored to its former glory and the King of Kings rule forever.

"Once more, as time and years go by, once more, they shall be ours!" (Middle Ages Greek folk quote about the "Reconquest" of Constantinople from the Ottomans).

Many thanks to Anhellius for pointing out a great number of things that this guide contains.

Also, any native English speaker that sees a grammatical or syntactical error in the text, feel free to point it out. There's no problem at all, instead it'll be welcomed as great help.

Last but not least, bear in mind that the "Basileus" achievement is rated as Very Hard by the EU4 Wiki, so, if you manage to obtain it, feel free to congratulate yourself. You've done the impossible; you saved the Empire of the Romans from the Ottoman heathens!

[Gregor Samsa]

doesnt work in 1.33

[Georgi]

doesn't work in 1.13
austria wouldnt ally me
ottomans always ally hungary, which keeps all of poland's troops occupied in hungary while i get fucking assraped
wasted 3-4 hours trying this thing, didnt work
ended up using cheats
i want to kill myself

[Oriellien]

2) Instead of building up cogs, I build as many galleys as possible and block the strait. By the time of the first war, I usually have about 30 galleys. Eventually, Ottomons will attack and you'll have to retreat. But then, the Ottomon fleet leaves to go patrol or whatever, and you can block the straits again, and once again, it takes them a while to attack again. No idea what the game mechanic is there. They WILL attack unlike previous versions, but it usually takes them a long time to do it if you have a decent fleet. And all you have to do is retreat, and in my game at least, they left instantly and I was able to block the straits again before any army crossed. Seems to be very random though.

Those two things have always helped me a lot in Byzantium games. Also, I don't know if they changed this in 1.13 or what, but in my recently started game, Byzantium has cores on the entire Greece region once again. Helps alot.

[Oriellien]

Great guide! I just wanted to let you know some different things I do with Byzantium too and see what you think. Sorry if someone mentioned this already, but I didn't want to read all 8 pages.

1) I no-CB DOW on Serbia by December, before Ottomons can warn me, and before they have any alliances. With the fleet you already have, you can land troops 6 at a time in Zeta. Serbia will never attack you in Zeta because it's Mountainous. War is easily winnable without sacrificing too much manpower. I take Zeta and Kosovo (gold!), and vassalize. The biggest negative is the 10-15 AE you will get with Austria and Poland, but in my games, by the time the war is finishing, I can RM both Austria and Poland, and then alliance after the peace. This gives you a little extra manpower, gold = income, and you can then fabricate on Ragusa and Bosnia. After I ally Austria/Poland and dont have to worry about AE, I take Ragusa and vassalize Bosnia.

[Bald and Bearded]

Good evening guys! Please forgive the bad time of response to your questions but from August till now, it has been an exam period in my University, so I didn't play the game, all this time.
I see, now, that there has been a new patch and the game version is 1.13 which means that, probably, this guide isn't much of a help, anymore, since it refers to an older version of the game. Some things might still work, though, I'm not sure. Feel free to comment and help each other if you want or point me any errors or changes in the strategy.
Capital controls in the Greek banks, currently blocks me, totally, from buying the new DLC and the "El Dorado" thing that I wanted so much, as all money transfers are prohibited for a few months (till early '16, I hope!), sadly and Paysafe Greece isn't working anymore. So, my hands are kinda tight...
Have fun, keep playing and God bless us all! Cheers!

[Karlaeus]

Damn fine guide my friend! Easy to read easy to learn, good jobb! =)

[Scottx125]

If people are still looking at this guide best thing to do now is Ally Hungary and Wallachia and anyone else you can get, Lithuania can usually be allied, just hope they don't get PU'd and break alliance. Don't go for Galley spam as you wont be able to beat Otto ship building, go full military. Stick with Hungarian army and don't let it retreat, if it retreats then its GG. War with Ottomans is not guarenteed to work. If Ottomans are occupied in a large war or seem to be weak pounce when you can. Once you reclaim most of your territory after first war, build fleet of Galleys and maintain a small army of around 12-16k men, use them to take Balklands during peace time with Ottomans and reclaim Venitian lands for Byzantium, 2nd war reclaim remaining Ottoman territory in Europe. Then GLHF!

[Scottx125]

It's now no longer possible to Ally Poland.

[Auzziy]

I seem to capout relations before I can get an alliance with poland and austria

[Saint Troi]

3 days before i allied Poland i get declared on ....